Discovery of Peptidic Ligands against the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein and Their Use in the Development of a Highly Sensitive Personal Use Colorimetric COVID-19 Biosensor.

In addition to efficacious vaccines and antiviral therapeutics, reliable and flexible in-home personal use diagnostics for the detection of viral antigens are needed for effective control of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the approval of several PCR-based and affinity-based in-home COVID-19 testing kits, many of them suffer from problems such as a high false-negative rate, long waiting time, and short storage period. Using the enabling one-bead-one-compound (OBOC) combinatorial technology, several peptidic ligands with a nanomolar binding affinity toward the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (S-protein) were successfully discovered. Taking advantage of the high surface area of porous nanofibers, immobilization of these ligands on nanofibrous membranes allows the development of personal use sensors that can achieve low nanomolar sensitivity in the detection of the S-protein in saliva. This simple biosensor employing naked-eye reading exhibits detection sensitivity comparable to some of the current FDA-approved home detection kits. Furthermore, the ligand used in the biosensor was found to detect the S-protein derived from both the original strain and the Delta variant. The workflow reported here may enable us to rapidly respond to the development of home-based biosensors against future viral outbreaks.

Microcredit as a public policy for generating jobs and income

The Oriented Productive Microcredit is an incentive to the development of entrepreneurs through financing to promote productive activities. This subsidizes consumption, business development, well-being, education and technology, having business orientation as an essential factor. Attention to this relevant and fragile segment is growing, among other factors, due to public policies to alleviate the vulnerability of microenterprises through actions to combat COVID-19. Therefore, this article as a basic, descriptive and qualitative research, aims to analyze the OPM as a public policy, specifically to evaluate the program as a strategy for Sustainable Development. Finally, the result defined that the OPM is a public policy that contributes to the SD.

Prevalence of phalangeal bone marrow edema on MRI before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and correlation with chilblain skin lesions.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to establish the prevalence bone marrow edema of the phalanges of the feet and hands before and during the COVID-19 pandemic on MRI studies and correlate with clinically chilblain skin lesions and epidemiological data. METHODS: This observational retrospective study. In patients with confirmed bone marrow edema of the phalanges, epidemiological data and clinical findings were collected, including the history of current or remote COVID-19 infection and vaccination status. The two-proportion test was used to compare the frequency of bone marrow edema in the phalanges before and during the pandemic, and the comparison between the categories variables was performed using the one-proportion test. RESULTS: Of the total of 7215 patients, only 20 presented isolated bone marrow edema of the digits in MRI studies; 2 (0.05%) were found two years before the pandemic's beginning, and 18 (0.64%) after the pandemic's onset, demonstrating an increase of 13-fold in this period. 16 were women with a mean age of 40.3 years and 4 were men with a mean age of 53.5 years. The most frequently reported clinical symptoms by the patients were pain (85.0%), and erythema of the skin (45.0%). Of the 18 patients found after the pandemic's onset, only 27.8% had COVID-19 infections confirmed by RT-PCR before the imaging study, and all cases were mild. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated a significant increase in the prevalence of bone marrow edema of the phalanges after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in middle-aged and younger women.

Knowledge, attitude and perception of West Africans towards COVID-19: a survey to inform public health intervention.

BACKGROUND: The first case of the novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) in West Africa was first confirmed in Nigeria in February 2020. Since then, several public health interventions and preventive measures have been implemented to curtail transmission of the causative agent, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Therefore, this study was performed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of West Africans towards COVID-19. METHODS: An online survey was conducted between 29 September to 29 October 2020 among West Africans. Thirty-three survey questions were designed to collect sociodemographic data and participants' knowledge, attitude and perception towards COVID-19. The study targeted all West African nationals who were 18 years and above, and willing to participate in the study. Participants were either in-country or abroad. RESULTS: Overall, 1106 respondents (≥18 years) from 16 West African countries, with about 12.1% of them residing outside the West African subregion, participated in the survey. The respondents had an average COVID-19 knowledge score of 67.82 ± 8.31, with knowledge of the disease significantly associated with the country of residence (p = 0.00) and marginally (p = 0.05) so with settlement types (i.e., urban, suburban and rural areas). Most respondents (93.4%) could identify the main COVID-19 symptoms, and 73.20% would consult a healthcare professional if infected with SARS-CoV-2. Also, 75.2% of the respondents are willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, whereas 10.40% and 14.40% are unwilling and undecided, respectively. Perceptions of what constitute COVID-19 preventive measures were highly variable. Approximately, 8% of the respondents felt that their government responded excellently in managing the pandemic while a third felt that the response was just good. Also, more than half (54%) opined that isolation and treatment of COVID-19 patients is a way of curbing SARS-CoV-2 spread. CONCLUSIONS: Most West Africans have basic knowledge of COVID-19 and showed a positive attitude, with likely proactive practice towards the disease. However, results showed that these varied across countries and are influenced by the types of settlements. Therefore, the health and education authorities in various countries should develop focused measures capturing people in different settlements to improve their preventative measures when designing public health interventions for COVID-19 and any future epidemics or pandemics.

Fear & anxiety in the time of COVID-19: How they influence behavior

The emotional factors that influence adherence to public health guidelines for containing the spread of COVID-19 are poorly understood and are limiting policymakers’ ability to elicit compliance. In this article, we report the results of a nationwide survey conducted in April 2020 to gain insight into the relation between emotional stress and adherence to the public health guidelines of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). We found that levels of anxiety and perceived risk from COVID-19 correlated with adherence to the CDC’s recommended cleanliness behaviors, such as handwashing. High anxiety increased individuals’ adherence in part by increasing the perceived seriousness of the risk COVID-19 posed to them. Anxiety and perceived risk were not, however, associated with adherence to social distancing guidelines. Our findings highlight a need for more research into the emotional factors that predict public compliance with the CDC’s recommendations. The results also indicate that policymakers may need to deliver different messages to promote different COVID-limiting behaviors, such as handwashing and social distancing. © 2020, Brookings Institution Press. All rights reserved.

Knowledge, Attitude and Perception of West Africans Towards COVID-19: A Survey to Inform Public Health Intervention (preprint)

Background: The first case of the novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) in West Africa was first confirmed in Nigeria in February 2020. Since then, several public health interventions and preventive measures have been implemented to curtail transmission of the causative agent, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Therefore, this study was performed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of West Africans towards COVID-19. Methods: An online survey was conducted between 29 September to 29 October 2020 among West Africans. Thirty-three survey questions were designed to collate demographics data and participants’ knowledge, attitude and perception towards COVID-19.Results: Overall, 1106 respondents from 16 West African countries, ranging from 1 to 548 with about 11.8% residing outside the subregion, participated in the survey. The respondents had an average COVID-19 knowledge score of 67.82 ± 8.31, with knowledge of the disease significantly associated with the country of residence (P = 0.00) and marginally so in settlement types (P = 0.05). Most respondents (93.4%) could identify the main COVID-19 symptoms, and 73.20% would consult a healthcare professional if infected with SARS-CoV-2. Also, 75.2% of the respondents are willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, whereas 10.40% and 14.40 % are unwilling and undecided, respectively. Perceptions of what constitute COVID-19 preventive measures were highly variable. Approximately, 8% of the respondents felt that their government responded excellently in managing the pandemic while a third felt that the response was just good. Also, more than half (54%) opined that isolation and treatment of COVID-19 patients is a way of curbing SARS-CoV-2 spread.Conclusions: Most West Africans have basic knowledge of COVID-19 and showed a positive attitude, with likely proactive practice towards the disease. However, results showed that these varied across countries and are influenced by the types of settlements. Therefore, the health and education authorities in various countries should develop focused measures capturing people in different settlements to improve their preventative measures when designing public health interventions for COVID-19 and any future epidemics or pandemics.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Docking Simulations in the SARS-CoV-2 Era: the Main Protease (Mpro) Case Study.

The scientific community is working against the clock to arrive at therapeutic interventions to treat patients with COVID-19. Among the strategies for drug discovery, virtual screening approaches have the capacity to search potential hits within millions of chemical structures in days, with the appropriate computing infrastructure. In this article, we first analyzed the published research targeting the inhibition of the main protease (Mpro), one of the most studied targets of SARS-CoV-2, by docking-based methods. An alarming finding was the lack of an adequate validation of the docking protocols (i.e., pose prediction and virtual screening accuracy) before applying them in virtual screening campaigns. The performance of the docking protocols was tested at some level in 57.7% of the 168 investigations analyzed. However, we found only three examples of a complete retrospective analysis of the scoring functions to quantify the virtual screening accuracy of the methods. Moreover, only two publications reported some experimental evaluation of the proposed hits until preparing this manuscript. All of these findings led us to carry out a retrospective performance validation of three different docking protocols, through the analysis of their pose prediction and screening accuracy. Surprisingly, we found that even though all tested docking protocols have a good pose prediction, their screening accuracy is quite limited as they fail to correctly rank a test set of compounds. These results highlight the importance of conducting an adequate validation of the docking protocols before carrying out virtual screening campaigns, and to experimentally confirm the predictions made by the models before drawing bold conclusions. Finally, successful structure-based drug discovery investigations published during the redaction of this manuscript allow us to propose the inclusion of target flexibility and consensus scoring as alternatives to improve the accuracy of the methods.

Filtration efficiency of a large set of COVID-19 face masks commonly used in Brazil

The use of face masks is mandatory in public places in many countries to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. In developing countries, homemade masks with varying techniques and fabrics are used on the streets. On these fabric masks, the protection against SARS-CoV-2 varies significantly. The most common mask types are N95, surgical masks, and homemade nonwoven and cotton masks. The performance of 227 different face masks used in Brazil was evaluated to quantify their breathability and filtration efficiency (FE) for airborne particles. FE values were measured using NaCl aerosol particles sized from 60 to 300 nm and at 300 nm, minimum efficiency. The differential pressure drop over the mask and the FEmin at 300 nm was used to calculate the mask Quality Factor (QF). The N95 masks showed the highest FE60-300, around 0.98, and a QF of 13.2 KPa−1, and were considered the reference for evaluating homemade masks performance. Surgical masks have an FE60-300 of 0.89, with a good QF of 15.9 KPa−1. Nonwoven masks showed an average FE60-300 of 0.78, with an excellent QF of 24.9 KPa−1, and can be regarded as the best material for homemade masks. The most commonly used material for homemade masks, cotton fabrics, showed significant variability in FE60-300, ranging from a low 0.20 to 0.60, with a low QF of 1.4 KPa−1. Masks always reduce droplets and aerosols emitted by COVID-19 symptomatic and asymptomatic persons, reducing SARS-CoV-2 contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Aerosol Science & Technology is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The impact of COVID-19 on clinical trials in the Asia-Pacific region and future implications (preprint)

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the conduct of clinical trials in an unparalleled manner due to multiple levels of restrictions imposed to control the spread of SARS-CoV2. These restrictions have presented major challenges for clinicians, sponsors, contract research organizations and patients participating in ongoing clinical trials and have necessitated alternative solutions to ensure study and patient care continuity. In this review, we assessed the impact of the pandemic on key metrics of the commencement and continuation of clinical trials in the Asia-Pacific region and the efforts made to mitigate these challenges. Overall, newly initiated studies in 2020, outside of those directly related to COVID-19, were reduced. Access to sites and recruitment were also impacted significantly although recovery has begun in the latter half of 2020. Clinical trials consist of complex workflows across study procedures and site-patient engagements. Based on clinician and industry surveys, the impact of COVID-19 may drive an increase in interest and adoption of virtual, digital technologies and tools to help alleviate the numerous challenges for clinical trial stakeholders. We discuss these new approaches and debate their readiness and appropriateness for widespread use. With ongoing acceleration of the pandemic and the maturation of technology, we expect increasing near-term adoption of virtual and digital methodologies in clinical trials. As a silver lining of the pandemic, these approaches may make studies more patient centric, improve clinical trial efficiency and enhance the experience and care of the patients enrolled on trials.

Genomic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 reveals local viral evolution in Ghana.

The confirmed case fatality rate for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Ghana has dropped from a peak of 2% in March to be consistently below 1% since May 2020. Globally, case fatality rates have been linked to the strains/clades of circulating severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) within a specific country. Here we present 46 whole genomes of SARS-CoV-2 circulating in Ghana, from two separate sequencing batches: 15 isolates from the early epidemic (March 12-April 1 2020) and 31 from later time-points ( 25-27 May 2020). Sequencing was carried out on an Illumina MiSeq system following an amplicon-based enrichment for SARS-CoV-2 cDNA. After genome assembly and quality control processes, phylogenetic analysis showed that the first batch of 15 genomes clustered into five clades: 19A, 19B, 20A, 20B, and 20C, whereas the second batch of 31 genomes clustered to only three clades 19B, 20A, and 20B. The imported cases (6/46) mapped to circulating viruses in their countries of origin, namely, India, Hungary, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. All genomes mapped to the original Wuhan strain with high similarity (99.5-99.8%). All imported strains mapped to the European superclade A, whereas 5/9 locally infected individuals harbored the B4 clade, from the East Asian superclade B. Ghana appears to have 19B and 20B as the two largest circulating clades based on our sequence analyses. In line with global reports, the D614G linked viruses seem to be predominating. Comparison of Ghanaian SARS-CoV-2 genomes with global genomes indicates that Ghanaian strains have not diverged significantly from circulating strains commonly imported into Africa. The low level of diversity in our genomes may indicate lower levels of transmission, even for D614G viruses, which is consistent with the relatively low levels of infection reported in Ghana.

Airway management guidance for the endemic phase of COVID-19.

It is now apparent that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) will remain endemic for some time. Improved therapeutics and a vaccine may shorten this period, but both are far from certain. Plans must be put in place on the assumption that the virus and its disease will continue to affect the care of patients and the safety of staff. This will impact particularly on airway management due to the inherent risk to staff during such procedures. Research is needed to clarify the nature and risk of respiratory aerosol-generating procedures. Improved knowledge of the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 infection and immunity is also required. In the meantime, we describe the current status of airway management during the endemic phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some controversies remain unresolved, but the safety of patients and staff remains paramount. Current evidence does not support or necessitate dramatic changes to choices for anaesthetic airway management. Theatre efficiency and training issues are a challenge that must be addressed, and new information may enable this.