Psychological reactions to COVID-19: Survey data assessing perceived susceptibility, distress, mindfulness, and preventive health behaviors.

The COVID-19 pandemic created a complex psychological environment for persons in America. A total of 450 USA MTurk workers completed measures of: (a) basic demographic characteristics; (b) health risk factors for COVID-19; (c) perceived susceptibility variables related to COVID-19; (d) COVID-19 preventive health behaviors; and (e) distress, physical symptoms, and quality of life measures. The surveys were completed between April 9, 2020 and April 18, 2020. This recruitment period corresponded to the first 2-3 weeks of lockdown in most of the USA. Follow-up surveys were completed by 151 of the USA participants between June 19, 2020 and July 11, 2020 (approximately 2 months after the first measurement). These data permit evaluation of relationships among demographic variables, COVID-19 stress and coping, COVID-19 preventive health behavior, and the role of mindfulness as a possible moderator of distress as well as a predictor of preventive health behavior. The availability of follow-up data permit longitudinal analyses that provide a stronger basis for causal inference.

Bioinformatic prediction of immunodominant regions in spike protein for early diagnosis of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

BACKGROUND: To contain the pandemics caused by SARS-CoV-2, early detection approaches with high accuracy and accessibility are critical. Generating an antigen-capture based detection system would be an ideal strategy complementing the current methods based on nucleic acids and antibody detection. The spike protein is found on the outside of virus particles and appropriate for antigen detection. METHODS: In this study, we utilized bioinformatics approaches to explore the immunodominant fragments on spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. RESULTS: The S1 subunit of spike protein was identified with higher sequence specificity. Three immunodominant fragments, Spike56-94, Spike199-264, and Spike577-612, located at the S1 subunit were finally selected via bioinformatics analysis. The glycosylation sites and high-frequency mutation sites on spike protein were circumvented in the antigen design. All the identified fragments present qualified antigenicity, hydrophilicity, and surface accessibility. A recombinant antigen with a length of 194 amino acids (aa) consisting of the selected immunodominant fragments as well as a universal Th epitope was finally constructed. CONCLUSION: The recombinant peptide encoded by the construct contains multiple immunodominant epitopes, which is expected to stimulate a strong immune response in mice and generate qualified antibodies for SARS-CoV-2 detection.

Immunodominant regions prediction of nucleocapsid protein for SARS-CoV-2 early diagnosis: a bioinformatics and immunoinformatics study.

COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 is sweeping the world and posing serious health problems. Rapid and accurate detection along with timely isolation is the key to control the epidemic. Nucleic acid test and antibody-detection have been applied in the diagnosis of COVID-19, while both have their limitations. Comparatively, direct detection of viral antigens in clinical specimens is highly valuable for the early diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2. The nucleocapsid (N) protein is one of the predominantly expressed proteins with high immunogenicity during the early stages of infection. Here, we applied multiple bioinformatics servers to forecast the potential immunodominant regions derived from the N protein of SARS-CoV-2. Since the high homology of N protein between SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV, we attempted to leverage existing SARS-CoV immunological studies to develop SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic antibodies. Finally, N229-269, N349-399, and N405-419 were predicted to be the potential immunodominant regions, which contain both predicted linear B-cell epitopes and murine MHC class II binding epitopes. These three regions exhibited good surface accessibility and hydrophilicity. All were forecasted to be non-allergen and non-toxic. The final construct was built based on the bioinformatics analysis, which could help to develop an antigen-capture system for the early diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2.

The Relationship Between Chest Imaging Findings and the Viral Load of COVID-19.

Purpose: We aimed to investigate the relationship between clinical characteristics, radiographic features, and the viral load of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods and Materials: We retrospectively collected 56 COVID-19 cases from two institutions in Hunan province, China. The basal clinical characteristics, detail imaging features and follow-up CT changes were evaluated and the relationship with the viral load was analyzed. Results: GGO (48, 85.7%) and vascular enlargement (44, 78.6%) were the most frequent signs in COVID-19 patients. Of the lesions, 64.3% of the margins were uneasily differentiated. However, no significant correlations were found in terms of leucocytes, neutrophils, lymphocytes, platelets, and C-reactive protein (all P > 0.05). In contrast, the uneasily differentiated margin was negatively correlated with the Ct value (r = -0.283, P = 0.042), that is, an uneasily differentiated margin indicated a lower Ct value (P = 0.043). Patients with a lower Ct value were likely to present a progress follow-up change (P = 0.022). The Ct value at baseline could predict a progress follow-up change with an AUC of 0.685 (Cut-off value = 29.48). All four patients with normal CT findings presented new lesion(s) on follow-up CT scans. Conclusion: The viral load of COVID-19 is negatively correlated with an uneasily differentiated lesion margin on initial CT scan images and the Ct value should noted when making a diagnosis. In addition, following-up CT scans are necessary for patients who presented a normal CT at the initial diagnosis, especially for those with a low Ct value.

Bioinformatics analysis of epitope-based vaccine design against the novel SARS-CoV-2.

BACKGROUND: An outbreak of infection caused by SARS-CoV-2 recently has brought a great challenge to public health. Rapid identification of immune epitopes would be an efficient way to screen the candidates for vaccine development at the time of pandemic. This study aimed to predict the protective epitopes with bioinformatics methods and resources for vaccine development. METHODS: The genome sequence and protein sequences of SARS-CoV-2 were retrieved from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database. ABCpred and BepiPred servers were utilized for sequential B-cell epitope analysis. Discontinuous B-cell epitopes were predicted via DiscoTope 2.0 program. IEDB server was utilized for HLA-1 and HLA-2 binding peptides computation. Surface accessibility, antigenicity, and other important features of forecasted epitopes were characterized for immunogen potential evaluation. RESULTS: A total of 63 sequential B-cell epitopes on spike protein were predicted and 4 peptides (Spike315-324, Spike333-338, Spike648-663, Spike1064-1079) exhibited high antigenicity score and good surface accessibility. Ten residues within spike protein (Gly496, Glu498, Pro499, Thr500, Leu1141, Gln1142, Pro1143, Glu1144, Leu1145, Asp1146) are forecasted as components of discontinuous B-cell epitopes. The bioinformatics analysis of HLA binding peptides within nucleocapsid protein produced 81 and 64 peptides being able to bind MHC class I and MHC class II molecules respectively. The peptides (Nucleocapsid66-75, Nucleocapsid104-112) were predicted to bind a wide spectrum of both HLA-1 and HLA-2 molecules. CONCLUSIONS: B-cell epitopes on spike protein and T-cell epitopes within nucleocapsid protein were identified and recommended for developing a protective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2.

The implications of preliminary screening and diagnosis: Clinical characteristics of 33 mild patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection in Hunan, China.

BACKGROUND: In December 2019, coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The disease has rapidly spread from Wuhan to other regions. OBJECTIVES: To describe the clinical manifestations and epidemiological characteristics of patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in Hunan Province in 2020. STUDY DESIGN: From January 19 to February 7, 2020, 33 patients with positive in nucleic acid test of pharyngeal swab were retrospectively collected and analyzed. RESULTS: There are 33 COVID-19 patients (16 male, 17 female), and the median age was 46 years. Nineteen patients (48 %) were associated with a family cluster outbreak. Seventeen patients (52 %) had traveled or lived in Hubei Province. These patients are early mild cases, most common symptoms are fever [23 (70 %)] and cough [13 (39 %)]. Most patients' white blood cell counts are normal, while they manifest as significant reduction in lymphocytes [17/28 (61 %)]. The levels of c-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate suggest a typical viral infection. Procalcitonin did not increase and D-dimer increased slightly. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels have elevated in most patients. CT images of these patients showed bilateral multiple plaques or nodular ground-glass opacities (68.4 %). Fecal nucleic acid results were positive in eight COVID-19 patients accompanied with diarrhea. Tear nucleic acid results were negative in six COVID-19 patients. And four asymptomatic patients were infected with SARS-CoV-2. CONCLUSIONS: The clinical symptoms, laboratory results and imaging reports of patients with COVID-19 in Hunan area are significantly different from those in Wuhan area. For non-Wuhan epidemic areas, more attention should be paid to nucleic acid test results of throat swabs and stools, and it is not easily to diagnose based on clinical symptoms and CT results. Reduced whole blood lymph count can be used as an adjuvant diagnosis of early SARS-CoV-2 infection. Attention should be paid to asymptomatic carriers, which is of great significance for the control of the global epidemic.