Is COVID-19 All That Glitters?

Over the last three years, the Coronavirus-19 disease has been a global health emergency, playing a primary role in the international scientific community. Clinical activity and scientific research have concentrated their efforts on facing the pandemic, allowing the description of novel pathologies correlated to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), such as the Multisystemic Inflammatory Syndrome in Children and Adults (MIS-C, MIS-A). Conversely, this shift of attention to COVID-19 disease and its complications could, in some cases, have delayed and underestimated the diagnosis of diseases not associated with SARS-CoV-2, including rare diseases. Here we describe the diagnostic process that led to the definition of a rare vasculitis in a young woman with a recent clinical history of SARS-CoV-2.

Candidate genes of SARS-CoV-2 gender susceptibility.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) initiated a global viral pandemic since late 2019. Understanding that Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) disproportionately affects men than women results in great challenges. Although there is a growing body of published study on this topic, effective explanations underlying these sex differences and their effects on the infection outcome still remain uncertain. We applied a holistic bioinformatics method to investigate molecular variations of known SARS-CoV-2 interacting human proteins mainly expressed in gonadal tissues (testis and ovary), allowing for the identification of potential genetic targets for this infection. Functional enrichment and interaction network analyses were also performed to better investigate the biological differences between testicular and ovarian responses in the SARS-CoV-2 infection, paying particular attention to genes linked to immune-related pathways, reactions of host cells after intracellular infection, steroid hormone biosynthesis, receptor signaling, and the complement cascade, in order to evaluate their potential association with sexual difference in the likelihood of infection and severity of symptoms. The analysis revealed that within the testis network TMPRSS2, ADAM10, SERPING1, and CCR5 were present, while within the ovary network we found BST2, GATA1, ENPEP, TLR4, TLR7, IRF1, and IRF2. Our findings could provide potential targets for forthcoming experimental investigation related to SARS-CoV-2 treatment.

ROME TRANSFORMED: INTERDISCIPLINARY ANALYSIS OF THE EASTERN CAELIAN (ROME)

The ongoing off-site analysis of data captured in the field prior to early March 2020 and a range of equally essential work on archival sources and database development kept team members fully occupied. The British School at Rome team, led by Stephen Kay, used two Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) antennas, a 400 MHz and 200 MHz;the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche team, led by Salvatore Piro, deployed GPR with a 70 MHz monostatic antenna and a GSSI 300/800 MHz dual-frequency digital antenna;and Geostudi Astier, led by Gianfranco Morelli, operated GPR with the IDS Stream multi-channel system, surveying between them a wide-ranging set of targets. Coordination of this work required not only the generous help of many key Roman stakeholders, more fully acknowledged below, but also a good understanding of the history of investigation at each location, something being further developed through archival research and data sharing with SITAR (https://www.archeositarproject.it/), the latter project led by Mirella Serlorenzi, and the Archivio Centrale dello Stato where, thanks to Mirco Modolo, we got the opportunity to work on the important documents that form part of Edoardo and Guglielmo Gatti's archive. [...]all three teams converged to take a combined approach to GPR and ERT.

Direct and Indirect Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Subjects with Familial Hypercholesterolemia: A Single Lipid-Center Real-World Evaluation.

We evaluated the impact of direct and indirect effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection in subjects with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). In this observational, retrospective study, 260 FH subjects participated in a telephone survey concerning lipid profile values, lipidologist and cardiologist consultations and vascular imaging evaluation during the 12 months before and after the Italian lockdown. The direct effect was defined as SARS-CoV-2 infection; the indirect effect was defined as the difference in one of the parameters evaluated by the telephone survey before and after lockdown. Among FH subjects, the percentage of the lipid profile evaluation was lower after lockdown than before lockdown (56.5% vs. 100.0%, p < 0.01), HDL-C was significantly reduced (47.78 ± 10.12 vs. 53.2 ± 10.38 mg/dL, p < 0.05) and a significant increase in non-HDL-C was found (117.24 ± 18.83 vs. 133.09 ± 19.01 mg/dL, p < 0.05). The proportions of lipidologist and/or cardiologist consultations and/or vascular imaging were lower after lockdown than before lockdown (for lipidologist consultation 33.5% vs. 100.0%, p < 0.001; for cardiologist consultation 22.3% vs. 60.8%, p < 0.01; for vascular imaging 19.6% vs. 100.0%, p < 0.001); the main cause of missed lipid profile analysis and/or healthcare consultation was the fear of SARS-CoV-2 contagion. The percentage of FH subjects affected by SARS-CoV-2 was 7.3%. In conclusion, a lower percentage of FH subjects underwent a lipid profile analysis, lipidologist and cardiologist consultations and vascular imaging evaluation after SARS-CoV-2 Italian lockdown.

ROME TRANSFORMED: RESEARCHING THE EASTERN CAELIAN C1-C8 CE (ROME)

[...]it brings these elements together to model the transformations that saw the eastern Caelian reshaped to meet the needs of shifting political, military, and religious ideas. [...]it offers a longer-term interdisciplinary perspective on the changing shape of this pivotal area than any previously attempted. The holistic approach taken to the standing archaeology in the area is designed to contribute to several strands of further analysis, including, but not restricted to, work on the wider water supply network and its longevity, movement, and connectivity in the ancient suburbs/city, and at a very fundamental level, a reappraisal of successive shifts in the ground surface in antiquity. [...]we believe that a return to and expansion of earlier work we undertook as part of the Lateran Project in 2012 (Haynes, Liverani, Piro and Spinola 2013) is of considerable importance.