ABSTRACT
Covid-19 virus variants identified so far are due to viral genetic diversity, genetic evolution, and variable infectivity, suggesting that high infection rates and high mortality rates may be contributed by these mutations. And it has been reported that the targeting strategies for innate immunity should be less vulnerable to viral evolution, variant emergence and resistance. Therefore, the most effective solution to Covid-19 infection has been proposed to prevent and treat severe exacerbation of patients with moderate disease by enhancing human immune responses such as NK cell and T cell. In previous studies, we demonstrated for the first time that gamma-PGA induced significant antitumor activity and antiviral activity by modulating NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Especially intranasal administration of gamma-PGA was found to effectively induce protective innate and CTL immune responses against viruses and we found out that gamma-PGA can be an effective treatment for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 1 through phase 2b clinical trial. In this study, the possibility of gamma-PGA as a Covid-19 immune modulating agent was confirmed by animal experiments infected with Covid-19 viruses. After oral administration of gamma-PGA 300mug/mouse once a day for 5 days in a K18-hACE2 TG mouse model infected with SARS-CoV-2 (NCCP 43326;original strain) and SARS-CoV-2 (NCCP 43390;Delta variant), virus titer and clinical symptom improvement were confirmed. In the RjHan:AURA Syrian hamster model infected with SARS-CoV-2 (NCCP 49930;Delta variant), 350 or 550 mug/head of gamma-PGA was administered orally for 10 days once a day. The virus for infection was administered at 5 x 104 TCID50, and the titer of virus and the improvement of pneumonia lesions were measured to confirm the effectiveness in terms of prevention or treatment. In the mouse model infected with original Covid-19 virus stain, the weight loss was significantly reduced and the survival rate was also improved by the administration of gamma-PGA. And gamma-PGA alleviated the pneumonic lesions and reduced the virus titer of lung tissue in mice infected with delta variant. In the deltavariant virus infected hamster model, gamma-PGA showed statistically significant improvement of weight loss and lung inflammation during administration after infection. This is a promising result for possibility of Covid-19 therapeutics along with the efficacy results of mouse model, suggesting gammaPGA can be therapeutic candidate to modulate an innate immune response for Covid-19.
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Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is a very serious health concern to the human life throughout the world. The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) allows us to deploy several wearable Internet of Things-enabled smart devices in a patient's body. The deployed smart devices should then securely communicate to nearby mobile devices installed in a smart home, which then securely communicate with the associated fog server for information processing. The processed information in terms of transactions are formed as blocks and put into a private blockchain consisting of cloud servers. Since the patient's vital signs are very confidential and private, we apply the private blockchain. This article makes utilization of fog computing and blockchain technology simultaneously to come up with more secure system in an IoMT-enabled COVID-19 situation for patients' home monitoring purpose. We first discuss various phases related to development of a new fog-based private blockchain-enabled home monitoring framework. Next, we discuss how artificial intelligence-enabled big data analytics helps in analyzing and tracking the patients' information related to COVID-19 cases. Finally, a blockchain implementation has been performed to exhibit practical demonstration of the proposed blockchain system.
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Incidences of major feline viral diseases provide basic information for preventing viral disease in cats. Despite the growing interest in feline viral diseases, sero-surveillances have been lacking. In this study, we analyzed the diagnoses of feline viral diseases and conducted a sero surveillance of feline panleukopenia virus (FPV), feline calicivirus (FCV), feline herpesvirus-1 (FHV-1), and feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV) in Korean cats. Of the 204 confirmed cases since 2015, the numbers of diagnoses for FPV, FIPV, FCV, feline influenza virus, and FHV-1 were 156, 32, 12, 3, and 1 case, respectively. In total, 200 sera, collected between 2019 and 2021, were screened for the presence of antibodies against FPV, 2 FCVs, FHV-1, and FIPV using a hemagglutination inhibition test and a virus-neutralizing assay (VNA). The overall seropositive rates in cats tested for FPV, the 2 FCVs, FHV-1, and FIPV were 92.5%. 42.0%, 37.0%, 52.0%, and 14.0%, respectively. A low correlation (r = 0.466) was detected between the VNA titers of 2 FCV strains. The highest incidence and seropositive rate of FPV reveal that FPV is circulating in Korean cats. The low r-value between 2 FCVs suggests that a new feline vaccine containing the 2 kinds of FCVs is required.
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Intro: COVID-19 Vaccination has proven to be very effective in preventing infection and progression to severity and death. However, there were concerns about very rare but potentially fatal adverse reactions after vaccination;myocarditis/pericarditis, TTS/VITT et al. It suggested that the evaluation of the two values of personal safety and public benefit is necessary. Method(s): The benefit of vaccination was measured by the number of critically ill patients prevented from vaccination. The number of critically ill patients predicted in the future was measured through two Methods: based on a fixed scenario, and using a mathematical model. Damage through vaccination was calculated as the occurrence of TTS/VITT, Myocarditis/Pericarditis, and of severe cases. Finding(s): The evaluation results on vaccine safety and effectiveness were made in the form of age restrictions for vaccination by each vaccine platform. As a result of the evaluation, the AstraZeneca vaccine was limited to those under the age of 30 but there was no restriction on the age of mRNA vaccination. In addition, the risks and benefits of vaccination for children aged 5-11 years and 12-17 years of age were evaluated respectively, and it was confirmed that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the potential harm in children and adolescents. Conclusion(s): Our nation has the own policy for COVID 19 vaccination from the results. The pandemic situation has presented a new approach to the benefits and risks of large-scale vaccination. In particular, the method of comparing the risks and benefits of vaccination was considered as a useful method for health communication.Copyright © 2023
ABSTRACT
The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which emerged in late 2019, has since spread around the world and infected hundreds of millions of people with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). While this viral species was unknown prior to January 2020, its similarity to other coronaviruses that infect humans has allowed for rapid insight into the mechanisms that it uses to infect human hosts, as well as the ways in which the human immune system can respond. Here, we contextualize SARS-CoV-2 among other coronaviruses and identify what is known and what can be inferred about its behavior once inside a human host. Because the genomic content of coronaviruses, which specifies the virus's structure, is highly conserved, early genomic analysis provided a significant head start in predicting viral pathogenesis and in understanding potential differences among variants. The pathogenesis of the virus offers insights into symptomatology, transmission, and individual susceptibility. Additionally, prior research into interactions between the human immune system and coronaviruses has identified how these viruses can evade the immune system's protective mechanisms. We also explore systems-level research into the regulatory and proteomic effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the immune response. Understanding the structure and behavior of the virus serves to contextualize the many facets of the COVID-19 pandemic and can influence efforts to control the virus and treat the disease. IMPORTANCE COVID-19 involves a number of organ systems and can present with a wide range of symptoms. From how the virus infects cells to how it spreads between people, the available research suggests that these patterns are very similar to those seen in the closely related viruses SARS-CoV-1 and possibly Middle East respiratory syndrome-related CoV (MERS-CoV). Understanding the pathogenesis of the SARS-CoV-2 virus also contextualizes how the different biological systems affected by COVID-19 connect. Exploring the structure, phylogeny, and pathogenesis of the virus therefore helps to guide interpretation of the broader impacts of the virus on the human body and on human populations. For this reason, an in-depth exploration of viral mechanisms is critical to a robust understanding of SARS-CoV-2 and, potentially, future emergent human CoVs (HCoVs).Copyright © 2021 Rando et al.
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Cough is a major symptom of COVID-19. To detect and localize cough sounds, a convolutional neural network (CNN) based model was developed and integrated with an acoustic camera for visualization of cough sounds. The cough detection model is a binary classifier whose input is a two-second acoustic feature and output is Cough or Others. The collected sound samples were augmented to mitigate class imbalance and reflect various background noises. For effective feature extraction, conventional features such as spectrograms, mel-scaled spectrograms, and mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) were enhanced by their velocity (V) and acceleration (A) maps. VGGNet, GoogLeNet, and ResNet were simplified to binary classifiers such as V-net, G-net, and R-net, respectively. To find the best combination of features and networks, a total of 39 models were trained and the prediction results were evaluated using test F1 score. Finally, a test F1 score of 91.9% was achieved from G-net with the MFCC-V-A feature. The best cough detection model was embedded in the acoustic camera that visualizes sound sources using a beamforming microphone array. In a pilot test, the cough detection camera detected cough sounds with an F1 score of 90.0%, and tracked cough locations in real time on the camera image. © ICA 2022.All rights reserved
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Background: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, large-scale vaccinations have been performed worldwide without sufficient verification of safety profiles. So far, little is known about skin manifestations following COVID-19 vaccination in Korean patients. Objective: We investigated the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients who had skin manifestations following COVID-19 vaccination in Korea. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed me data of 123 patients that presented with skin manifestations within 1 month after COVID-19 vaccination from two tertiary referral hospitals in Korea. The types of COVID-19 vaccinations administered to the patients, demographics, comorbidities, and clinical course of the patients were obtained from the data. Statistical analyses of the extracted data were performed using Microsoft Excel. Results: Skin manifestations following COVID-19 vaccination were mostly observed in patients in their 40s (23.6%), according to our data. Urticarial eruption was the most common manifestation, followed by macular rash (17.1%) and papulosquamous eruption (17.1%). Notably, 70% of the patients showed delayed reactions. More than half of the patients showed a good prognosis, and their symptoms were relieved with conservative treatment, including corti-costeroids and antihistamines, even after additional vaccination. Conclusion: We statistically analyzed the prevalence and characteristics of skin manifestations after COVID-19 vaccination. Urticarial eruptions are the most common skin manifestations associated with the COVID-19 vacci¬nation. We believe that this real-world retrospective study will provide valuable information for doctors who treat patients with skin manifestations after COVID-19 vaccination by providing real-world experience in Korea. (Korean J Dermatol 2022;60(9):576~584). © 2022 Korean Dermatological Association. All rights reserved.
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With the worldwide spread of COVID-19, existing face-to-face activities, especially social activities, have been incorporated as part of online services in the pandemic era. Therefore, the digital divide that continues to change with the development of technology has also become a serious social problem in the aftermath of COVID-19. This study aims to illuminate how the divide in a more digitized society and changes in Internet use caused by COVID-19 affect satisfaction with social participation activities. The analysis revealed that the motivation to use digital devices has a static effect on satisfaction with social participation activities. The variance in Internet social participation due to COVID-19 showed a significant mediating effect between digital motivation and social participation satisfaction. Furthermore, mobile usage skills were found to have static moderating effects between digital motivation and variance in Internet social participation, digital motivation, and satisfaction with social participation. These results suggest that there is a clear gap in social participation according to individual digital capabilities in the spread of information and communication technology services after COVID-19. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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With the widespread use of social media, online social platforms like Twitter have become a place of rapid dissemination of information―both accurate and inaccurate. After the COVID-19 outbreak, the overabundance of fake information and rumours on online social platforms about the COVID-19 pandemic has spread over society as quickly as the virus itself. As a result, fake news poses a significant threat to effective virus response by negatively affecting people's willingness to follow the proper public health guidelines and protocols, which makes it important to identify fake information from online platforms for the public interest. In this research, we introduce an approach to detect fake news using deep learning techniques, which outperform traditional machine learning techniques with a 93.1% accuracy. We then investigate the content differences between real and fake news by applying topic modeling and linguistic analysis. Our results show that topics on Politics and Government services are most common in fake news. In addition, we found that fake news has lower analytic and authenticity scores than real news. With the findings, we discuss important academic and practical implications of the study. © 2022,Asia Pacific Journal of Information Systems.All Rights Reserved.
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Background: Patients with HR- advanced/metastatic breast cancer (a/mBC) with a low level of HER2 (immunohistochemistry [IHC] score 1+ or IHC 2+ and negative in situ hybridization [ISH]) have poor prognosis. Combining 1L chemotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors can modestly improve outcomes vs chemotherapy alone, but treatment benefit is largely seen in patients with PD-L1+ disease. BEGONIA (NCT03742102) is an ongoing 2-part, open-label platform study, evaluating safety and efficacy of D, an anti-PD-L1 antibody, combined with other novel therapies in 1L triple-negative a/mBC, including HR-, HER2-low disease. T-DXd is a trastuzumab-topoisomerase I inhibitor antibody-drug conjugate that improves survival in patients with previously treated HR-, HER2-low mBC (NCT03734029;Modi NEJM 2022). Here, we report updated results of the T-DXd + D combination from BEGONIA. Method(s): Patients with unresectable HR-, HER2-low (per local testing, IHC 2+/ISH-, IHC 1+/ISH-, or IHC 1+/ISH untested) a/mBC were enrolled in the T-DXd + D arm. Patients eligible for 1L treatment, regardless of PD-L1 status, received intravenous T-DXd 5.4 mg/kg + D 1120 mg every 3 weeks until progression or unacceptable toxicity. PD-L1, assessed using the VENTANA PD-L1 (SP263) Assay, was defined as high if >= 5% of the tumor area was populated by PDL1-expressing tumor or immune cells. Primary endpoints were safety and tolerability. Secondary endpoints included investigator-assessed objective response rate (ORR;RECIST v1.1);progressionfree survival [PFS];and response duration. Patients included in the efficacy analysis had >= 2 ontreatment disease assessments, progressed, died, or withdrew from the study. Result(s): As of April 8, 2022, 56 patients received T-DXd + D (34 ongoing) and 46 were included in the efficacy analysis. Median (range) follow-up was 10.1 (0-22) months. Median age was 53.5 years, 71% had received prior treatment for early stage BC, and 64% had visceral metastases at baseline. Confirmed ORR was 26/46 (57% 95% CI, 41-71) and unconfirmed ORR was 33/54 (61% 95% CI, 47-74);1/46 patients (2%) had complete and 25/46 (54%) had partial responses. Confirmed response occurred irrespective of PD-L1 expression (PD-L1 high ORR, 5/7 [71%];PD-L1 low, 13/21 [62%];PD-L1 missing, 8/18 [44%]). Median duration of response was not reached;however, 64% of patients remained in response at 12 month follow-up and 73% had an ongoing response at data cutoff. Median PFS was 12.6 months (95% CI, 8-not reached). Adverse events (AEs) were consistent with the agents' known safety, with treatment-related AEs occurring in 49 patients (88%), any Grade 3/4 AEs in 18 patients (32%), and any serious AEs in 10 patients (18%). The most common all-Grade AEs were nausea (41 [73%]), fatigue (26 [46%]), and vomiting (17 [30%]). Adjudicated treatment-related interstitial lung disease/pneumonitis occurred for 5 patients (9%), which were mostly Grade 1 or 2 and 1 case of Grade 5 associated with COVID pneumonia. Seven patients (13%) and 21 patients (38%) had T-DXd dose reduction and dose delay, respectively;22 (39%) had D dose delay. Seven patients (13%) discontinued treatment due to AEs. Conclusion(s): For patients with HR-, HER2-low a/mBC, T-DXd in combination with D in the 1L setting shows manageable safety and promising efficacy including durable responses and an encouraging PFS. Although subgroups were small, responses were observed irrespective of PD-L1 expression. Analysis of additional translational data is ongoing. Funding(s): AstraZeneca/Daiichi Sankyo.
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Aim of the study: Effective CPR training is important for provision of high-quality bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). However, the COVID-19 pandemic has hindered conventional face-to-face CPR training. To overcome the limitation, we developed a distance learning CPR training course (HEROS-Remote) that utilized a smartphone app and a delivery-collection system for CPR training manikins. The objective of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of the HEROSRemote course by comparing chest compression quality between trainees who participated in the conventional CPR training (C-training) and HEROS-Remote course (R-training). Method(s): The non-inferiority trial included adult nonhealthcare providers who applied for CPR training. Both groups underwent 2-minute post-training chest compression test followed by course survey on trainees' course and delivery system satisfaction. The primary outcome of the study was mean chest compression depth during the 2-minute post-training test. Result(s): A total of 180 trainees were enrolled with 90 trainees for each training group. There was no statistically significant difference in chest compression depth between R-training and C-training groups (67.4 vs. 67.8, p=0.78) as well as proportion of adequate chest compression depth, chest compression rate, proportion of chest compressions with complete chest recoil and chest compression score (90.8 vs. 92.1, p=0.69;110.8 vs. 110.4, p=0.60;89.8 vs. 94.7, p=0.05;92.7 vs. 95.5, p=0.16, respectively). In the R-training group, 90.0% of the trainees were satisfied with the course, 96% responded that the delivery system was satisfactory and convenient. Conclusion(s): The R-training course was noninferior to the C-training course. The distance learning CPR training method utilizing smartphone app and mannikin delivery-collection system had high user satisfaction and was logistically feasible.
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Background. We aimed to evaluate household secondary attack rate (SAR) of SARS-CoV-2 variants, omicron and delta, based on index case and contact vaccination status, and antibody level effect of vaccinated index cases on household transmission. Methods. A prospective study of 92 index cases and 197 quarantined household contacts was performed. Tests for SARS-CoV-2 variant type and antibody level were conducted in index cases, and results of PCR tests (during the quarantine period) were collected from contacts. Association of antibody levels in vaccinated index cases and SAR was evaluated by multivariate regression analysis. To evaluate the association between antibody levels in vaccinated index cases and household transmission, the probability of transmission was calculated using the logistic regression model. We refit the model for the probability of transmission using the variables that could affect the household transmission (meal with index, contact with index case >=5/day, respiratory symptoms and immunocompromised status of index patients, and vaccination status of contacts). For this analysis, only vaccinated index cases who tested antibody levels within 7 days of symptom onset or diagnosis, whichever was earlier, were included. The link between index cases and household contacts according to their vaccination status is shown in Figure. A total of 40, 27, and 10 contacts were linked with 20 unvaccinated index cases, 14 booster-unvaccinated index cases, and 7 booster-vaccinated index cases with delta variant infection, respectively. Among the contacts of index cases with omicron variant infection, 20, 65, and 35 contacts were exposed to 7 unvaccinated, 25 booster-unvaccinated, and 9 booster-vaccinated index cases, respectively. Results. SAR was higher in households exposed to omicron variant than those exposed to delta variant. SAR was 35% and 23% for unvaccinated and vaccinated delta variant exposed contacts, respectively. SAR was 44% and 41% for unvaccinated and vaccinated omicron exposed contacts, respectively. Booster dose immunisation of contacts or vaccination of index cases reduced SAR of vaccinated omicron variant exposed contacts. In a model with adjustment, anti-receptor binding domain antibody levels in vaccinated index cases were inversely correlated with household transmission of both delta and omicron variants. Neutralising antibody levels had a similar relationship. When we performed sensitivity analyses using 3 day and 5 day thresholds for the period of antibody test, the results did not differ from the main analyses. In a model with adjustment for factors that could affect the household transmission, the estimated probabilities of SARS-CoV-2 infection among 132 contacts according to the level of anti-RBD antibodies (A) and neutralising antibodies (B) of 62 index cases. Serum samples for antibody tests were collected within 7 days of symptom onset or diagnosis, whichever was earlier, in vaccinated index cases. Shaded areas indicate 95% confidence intervals.
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Background. Pregnancy is one of the risk factor associated with the severity of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The perinatal complications also known to be increased when pregnant women become infected with COVID-19. However, there were not enough studies involving pregnant women with severe COVID-19, especially in Korea. The purpose of this study was to analyze the cases of pregnant women with COVID-19 infection with various severities, and to compare and describe the clinical course and the effects on pregnancy and perinatal prognosis according to severity. Methods. We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of adults 18 years of age or older who were PCR-confirmed COVID-19 and proved pregnancy, from February 1, 2020 to January 31, 2022. Through the epidemiological investigation report, the patient's medical history, obstetric history, date of diagnosis and variants of COVID-19, and vaccination history were collected. Clinical symptoms, oxygen demand, chest imagings, treatment, perinatal complications, fetal conditions, delivery results, and complications were collected through medical records. Results. A total of 104 pregnant women with PCR-confirmed COVID-19 were hospitalized. The age at the time of diagnosis was 33 +/-4.24 (Mean +/- SD) years, and 4 patients (3.8%) were vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine. During hospital stay, the most common complaints were cough (99 patients, 95.2%) and fever (85 patients, 81.7%). Oxygen was applied in 40 patients (38.5%), and in 19 patients (18.3%) in severe cases. Thirty-seven patients (35.6%) delivered during isolation treatment. Critical COVID-19 patients group has statisticaly significant higher rate of preterm delivery compared with mild COVID-19 patient group (31.6 % versus 6.3 %, p=0.009). One patient died from septic shock caused by multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii during treatment. A total of 39 babies were born, of which 4 received postnatal oxygen therapy. Conclusion. Pregnant women with COVID-19 had higher mortality rates, aggravation rates, and premature birth rates compared to non-pregnant patients of the same age. In a situation where effective and safe COVID-19 treatments for pregnant women are limited, it is necessary to increase the vaccination rate to prevent undesired outcomes in both mother and child.
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Background. This study aimed to determine the effect of vaccine on clinical course of delta and omicron variant infection. Furthermore, we tried to evaluate the utility of antibody level against spike protein as a predictor of disease course of COVID-19 in vaccinated patients. Methods. Between December 11, 2021 and February 10, 2022, we performed a prospective observational cohort study in an institution of South Korea. Among adult patients admitted due to COVID-19, individuals with confirmed delta and omicron variant infection were included. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the association between antibody level and clinical course of breakthrough infection in vaccinated patients. The relationship between antibody level and cycle threshold (Ct) values was confirmed using a generalized linear model. We used the antibody titers collected within 7 days of symptom onset or diagnosis and the Ct values tested on days 5-7 days after initial diagnosis. Results. Of 161 patients with delta and omicron variant infection, 106 vaccinated patients (39 delta and 67 omicron) had available serum samples. The geometric mean titers of antibodies in patients who experienced the fever (>=37.5degreeC), hypoxia (<=94% of SpO2), pneumonia, C-reactive protein (CRP) elevation ( >8 mg/L) or lymphopenia (< 1,100 cells/muL) during hospitalization were 1201.5 U/mL, 98.8 U/mL, 774.1 U/mL, 1335.1 U/mL, and 1032.2 U/mL, respectively, which were lower compared with those who did not (p< 0.05 for all). Increase in antibody level of vaccinated patients with delta and omicron infection was associated with decrease in occurrence of fever (aOR, 0.23;95% CI, 0.12-0.51), hypoxia (aOR, 0.23;95% CI, 0.08-0.7), CRP elevation (aOR, 0.52;95% CI, 0.29-0.0.94), and lymphopenia (aOR, 0.57;95% CI, 0.33-0.98) during hospitalization, regardless of virus type or booster vaccination status. Data from 33 patients who had Ct values suitable for analysis showed a positive correlation between antibody levels and Ct values (p=0.02). This analysis included 106 patients with delta and omicron variant infections whose serum samples were collected within 7 days of symptom onset or diagnosis. Antibody levels are described as box plots of medians with interquartile ranges. BT, body temperature;SpO2, percutaneous oxygen saturation;w/o, without;CRP, C-reactive protein Data from 33 patients, with Ct values measured 5-7 days after diagnosis, showed a positive correlation between antibody levels and Ct values (slope: 0.0004, p=0.022) Abbreviations: Ct, cycle threshold;PCR, polymerase chain reaction Conclusion. Antibody levels are predictive of the clinical course of COVID-19 in vaccinated patients with delta and omicron variant infections. Our data highlight the need for concentrated efforts to monitor patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection who are at risk of low antibody levels.
ABSTRACT
Background. The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is well-known for its broad spectrum of immune-related phenotypes similar to those seen in autoimmune or inflammatory diseases. Furthermore, evidence has gradually accumulated that COVID-19 may induce systemic inflammatory manifestations such as multisystem inflammatory syndrome, haemophagocytic syndromes, and systemic vasculitis. Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) is a small vessel vasculitis characterised by necrotising vasculitis. So far, there have been several case reports regarding AAV occurrence after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, which have indicated a triggering potential of SARS-CoV-2 infection for AAV occurrence. This study investigated the rate of ANCA positivity and its clinical significance in COVID-19 patients. Methods. This study included 178 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 who were enrolled in a cohort of a single center. Myeloperoxidase (MPO)-ANCA and proteinase 3 (PR3)-ANCA from the stored blood sera were measured using the immunoassay kits. Mortality, mechanical ventilator care, and severe infection were assessed as poor outcomes. Severe infection was defined as a medical condition that required a high-flow nasal cannula and/or mechanical ventilator care. The 2022 American College of Rheumatology and the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology classification criteria for the three subtypes of AAV were applied only to patients who had MPO-ANCA or PR3-ANCA among the study subjects Results. The detection rate of ANCA positivity was 18.5%: MPO-ANCA and PR3-ANCA were found in 22 (12.4%) and 14 (7.9%) patients. Patients with ANCA positivity exhibited a lower cumulative survival rate than those without, but the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.057). However, neither MPO-ANCA nor PR3-ANCA affected the three poor outcomes. According to the new criteria, 12 (6.7%) and 21 (11.8%) patients were classified as having granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) Neither ANCA positivity nor ANCA subtype (MPO-ANCA and PR3-ANCA) positivity had a significant influence on poor outcomes of SARS-CoV-2. ANCA: antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody;MPO: myeloperoxidase;PR3: proteinase 3;SARS-CoV-2: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Conclusion. SARS-CoV-2 infection may increase the rate of ANCA positivity, which may not affect poor outcomes but contribute to the classification of GPA and MPA despite uncertain clinical significance.
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Background. Vaccine hesitancy remains a significant barrier against COVID-19 vaccination uptake in Black/Hispanic population. The objectives of our study were to assess attitudes such as trust in the process of vaccine development, its approval and its stakeholders and mistrust due to racial discrimination to determine their relationship to vaccine receipt. Methods. We collected close-ended survey responses in English/Spanish among participants self-identifying as Black/Hispanic in ambulatory clinics affiliated to NYU Langone Health across Brooklyn in June 2021. The survey consisted of demographic questions, and those assessing components outlined in objectives. Results. A total of 156 participants answered the survey;majority being women (77%), < 50years old (62%), employed full time (51%), annual household income < $75,000 (75%). A vast majority reported trusting their healthcare providers (91%). Of the respondents, 67% (105) self-reported receiving the COVID-19 vaccination, which was higher than the prevailing rate at that time in this population in Brooklyn. Significant proportions of vaccinated group compared to unvaccinated group reported (Table1): understanding how vaccines worked overall (85% vs 53%);trusted their healthcare providers' advice to get vaccinated (82% vs 50%);trusted the scientists who created and tested the vaccine (80% vs 48%);agreed that it was very important that the community gets vaccinated (82% vs 27%), and it was people's responsibility to get vaccinated to stop the spread of virus in their community (96% vs 70%);agreed that confidence in the vaccine's safety (86% vs 50%) and effectiveness (85% vs 52%) were very important. Unvaccinated group reported concerns about the side effects of vaccines, and greater doubt about adequacy of testing for safety and effectiveness of vaccine in their racial/ethnic group, and mistrust with government. Conclusion. Despite higher self-reported COVID-19 vaccine uptake rate in Black/Hispanic study respondents in June 2021, significant mistrust and concerns about the vaccine remain. The effect of racial discrimination and mistrust can mitigated by greater trust in healthcare team, and future interventions can test this hypothesis in order to improve vaccine uptake in these populations. (Table Presented).
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Background and objective: Since the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been staying at home more and "balcony vegetable gardens," a form of urban agriculture, have been mentioned more frequently. As a result of the Korea Housing Survey in 2020, the percentage of households living in apartments among general households in Korea was 51.1%, but there is insufficient research to understand public perception and trends of the balcony vegetable gardens. Therefore, this study was conducted to analyze the trends of balcony vegetable gardens over the last 4 years including before and after the COVID-19 outbreak and to provide basic data for effective application to related policies and research. Methods: A total of 5,011 posts that mentioned balcony vegetable gardens were collected from Naver blogs and cafes from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2021. To tokenize nouns, Okt morphological analysis of KoNLPy was used, and keywords were derived using TfidfVectorizer of Scikit-learn library. Following that, LDA topic modeling was performed by setting the hyper parameters as α= 0.1, β = 0.01 and iterations = 1,000. The above analysis was conducted using Python 3.9.5. Results: Before the outbreak of COVID-19, balcony vegetable gardening began to receive attention and vitalized as a form of participation in urban agriculture, but after the outbreak, they are established as an activity for healing, emotional support, environmental campaign, and healthy hobby. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, people clearly seemed to seek a more sustainable lifestyle through balcony vegetable garden activities. This shows the values and expected outcomes the public has toward urban agriculture. Conclusion: Balcony gardening activities heal the public, and this healing effect could be a key to the revitalization and development of urban agriculture. These findings can help establish policies and set the directions for urban agriculture that reflect the values and expected outcomes the public has toward urban agricultural activities. © 2022 by the Society for People, Plants, and Environment.
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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) possesses high replicative capacity and pathogenicity than the classical coronavirus. However, the factors that lead to enhanced replication and pathogenicity remain unclear. Among the non-structural proteins of SARS-CoV, non-structural proteins 9 (NSP9) is known to most likely be involved with viral RNA synthesis. In this study, we investigated the effect of NSP9 on the human upper respiratory system using tonsil-derived mesenchymal stem cells (TMSCs). In order to confirm the significant toxic effect, NSP9 were treated to TMSCs in various concentrations as follows;0.01 ,0.05 ,0.2, 0.4, and 0.8 ug/ml. Cell proliferation assay and LIVE/DEAD assay revealed that NSP9 was most toxic to TMSCs at a concentration of 0.2 ug/ml. In addition, NSP9 treated TMSCs showed a pattern of decreased metabolic efficiency in mitochondria. The phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and phosphorylated Akt protein markers were compared to confirm that it affects cell proliferation by reducing the metabolic rate. These results showed that NSP9 inhibits PI3K/Akt signaling proteins related to cell proliferation in TMSCs and induces toxicity by decreasing the cellular metabolic rate. Taken together, the NSP9, possessing toxicity to TMSCs, can affect to upper respiratory system by inhibiting cell proliferation and metabolic rate.
ABSTRACT
Leukocytoclastic vasculitis after the BNT162b2 vaccine and ChAdOxl nCoV-19 Corona Virus vaccine [recombinant] has been observed. Herein, we report two cases of leukocytoclastic vasculitis that developed after the ChAdOxl-S [recombinant] vaccination. A 61-year-old and a 52-year-old woman presented with pruritic purpuric macules and papules on both lower legs. The patients had been vaccinated with the ChAdOxl-S [recombinant] vaccine. The histopathological analyses were consistent with a diagnosis of leukocytoclastic vasculitis. They were treated with oral prednisolone and improved within 1 month of treatment. We assume that the rash had arisen from the deposition of spike protein at the skin tissue induced by the viral vector of the COVID-19 vaccine or hyperimmune responses by excipients present in vaccine preparations. To our knowledge, our cases would be the first Korean cases of leukocytoclastic vasculitis after the ChAdOxl-S [recombinant] vaccination. © 2022 Korean Dermatological Association. All rights reserved.