Impact of comorbidities on the serological response to COVID-19 vaccination in a Taiwanese cohort.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is one of the best policies to control COVID-19 pandemic. The serological response to COVID-19 vaccination in Taiwanese patients with different comorbidities is elusive. METHODS: Uninfected subjects who received 3 doses of mRNA vaccines (BNT162b2 [Pfizer-BioNTech, BNT] and mRNA-1273 [Moderna]), viral vector-based vaccines (ChAdOx1-S (AZD1222, AZ) or protein subunit vaccines (Medigen COVID-19 vaccine) were prospectively enrolled. The SARS-CoV-2-IgG spike antibody level was determined within three months after the 3rd dose of vaccination. The Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) was applied to determine the association between vaccine titers and underlying comorbidities. RESULTS: A total of 824 subjects were enrolled in the current study. The proportions of CCI scores of 0-1, 2-3 and > 4 were 52.8% (n = 435), 31.3% (n = 258) and 15.9% (n = 131), respectively. The most commonly used vaccination combination was AZ-AZ-Moderna (39.2%), followed by Moderna-Moderna-Moderna (27.8%). The mean vaccination titer was 3.11 log BAU/mL after a median of 48 days after the 3rd dose. Factors associated with potentially effective neutralization capacity (IgG level ≥ 4160 AU/mL) included age ≥ 60 years (odds ratio [OR]/95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.50/0.34-0.72, P < 0.001), female sex (OR/CI: 1.85/1.30-2.63, P = 0.001), Moderna-Moderna-based vaccination (compared to AZ-AZ-based vaccination, OR/CI: 6.49/3.90-10.83, P < 0.001), BNT-BNT-based vaccination (compared to AZ-AZ-based vaccination, OR/CI: 7.91/1.82-34.3, P = 0.006) and a CCI score ≥ 4 (OR/CI: 0.53/0.34-0.82, P = 0.004). There was a decreasing trend in antibody titers with increasing CCI scores (trend P < 0.001). Linear regression analysis revealed that higher CCI scores (ß: - 0.083; 95% CI: - 0.094-0.011, P = 0.014) independently correlated with low IgG spike antibody levels. CONCLUSIONS: Subjects with more comorbidities had a poor serological response to 3 doses of COVID-19 vaccination.

A people-centered decentralized outreach model toward HCV micro-elimination in hyperendemic areas: COMPACT study in SARS Co-V2 pandemic.

OBJECTIVES: Gaps in linkage-to-care remain the barriers toward hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination in the directly-acting-antivirals (DAA) era, especially during SARS Co-V2 pandemics. We established an outreach project to target HCV micro-elimination in HCV-hyperendemic villages. METHODS: The COMPACT provided "door-by-door" screening by an "outreach HCV-checkpoint team" and an "outreach HCV-care team" for HCV diagnosis, assessment and DAA therapy in Chidong/Chikan villages between 2019 and 2021. Participants from neighboring villages served as Control group. RESULTS: A total of 5731 adult residents participated in the project. Anti-HCV prevalence rate was 24.0% (886/3684) in Target Group and 9.5% (194/2047) in Control group (P < 0.001). The HCV-viremic rates among anti-HCV-positive subjects were 42.7% and 41.2%, respectively, in Target and Control groups. After COMPACT engagement, 80.4% (304/378) HCV-viremic subjects in the Target group were successfully linked-to-care, and Control group (70% (56/80), P = 0.039). The rates of link-to-treatment and SVR12 were comparable between Target (100% and 97.4%, respectively) and Control (100% and 96.4%) groups. The community effectiveness was 76.4% in the COMPACT campaign, significantly higher in Target group than in Control group (78.3% versus 67.5%, P = 0.039). The community effectiveness decreased significantly during SARS Co-V2 pandemic in Control group (from 81% to 31.8%, P < 0.001), but not in Target group (80.3% vs. 71.6%, P = 0.104). CONCLUSIONS: The outreach door-by-door screen strategy with decentralized onsite treatment programs greatly improved HCV care cascade in HCV-hyperendemic areas, a model for HCV elimination in high-risk marginalized communities in SARS Co-V2 pandemic.

Evaluating the Safe-Haven Abilities of Bitcoin and Gold for Crude Oil Market: Evidence During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a serious threat to investors in the crude oil market. Furthermore, investors have an increasing need to find a safe haven in their investment portfolios when facing unprecedented risks in crude oil markets during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a review of the literature, there are contradictory findings on which investment is the safer haven for the oil market. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate whether bitcoin is a safer haven for the crude oil market than the commonly used gold during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three spillover measurements based on the time, and frequency domains, and a network framework are employed to quantify the return spillover effects among bitcoin, gold and three major crude oil futures markets. We divide the sample into two periods, pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19. The results show that bitcoin has a weak safe-haven effect on the crude oil market only over a short period, while gold maintains a good safe-haven ability for crude oil futures across various time horizons (frequencies), both before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of this study have important implications for policy-makers, crude oil producers and global investors. In particularly, investors cannot ignore the importance of bitcoin and gold in selecting more profitable portfolio policies when searching for safe-haven assets.

Circulating pediatric respiratory pathogens in Taiwan during 2020: Dynamic change under low COVID-19 incidence.

BACKGROUND: In Taiwan, there were only 799 confirmed COVID-19 cases in 2020. The unique backdrop amidst a pandemic and promotion of nonpharmaceutical interventions generated some distinct changes in the epidemiology of common respiratory pathogens. In this study, we aimed to investigate the dynamic changes in respiratory pathogens in children during 2020. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study at a tertiary hospital in southern Taiwan during 2020. Patients aged 0-18 years who visited the pediatric emergency department were enrolled. Children who presented with clinical symptoms (fever or respiratory illness) and received nasopharyngeal swabs for multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were included in our analysis. We also compared respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) trends from previous years by PCR and lateral flow immunochromatographic assays from 2017 to 2020. RESULTS: A total of 120 children were tested. The overall detection rate was 55%. With strengthened restrictions, the detection rate dropped from 70% to 30%. However, non-enveloped viruses (rhinovirus/enterovirus and adenovirus) were in constant circulation. Upon easing prevention measures, the detection rate remained above 60%, and an outbreak of an enveloped virus (RSV and parainfluenza virus) was noted. Compared with 2017-2019, the cyclical RSV epidemic was delayed, with a large surge in late 2020. CONCLUSIONS: We observed a constant circulation of non-enveloped viruses when strict nonpharmaceutical interventions were employed and a delayed surge of enveloped viruses during the easing of restrictions. Continuous surveillance and monitoring of the evolutionary dynamics of respiratory viruses is important, while easing restrictions requires balanced judgment.

Transcription factor Dmrt1 triggers the SPRY1-NF-κB pathway to maintain testicular immune homeostasis and male fertility.

Bacterial or viral infections, such as Brucella, mumps virus, herpes simplex virus, and Zika virus, destroy immune homeostasis of the testes, leading to spermatogenesis disorder and infertility. Of note, recent research shows that SARS-CoV-2 can infect male gonads and destroy Sertoli and Leydig cells, leading to male reproductive dysfunction. Due to the many side effects associated with antibiotic therapy, finding alternative treatments for inflammatory injury remains critical. Here, we found that Dmrt1 plays an important role in regulating testicular immune homeostasis. Knockdown of Dmrt1 in male mice inhibited spermatogenesis with a broad inflammatory response in seminiferous tubules and led to the loss of spermatogenic epithelial cells. Chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) revealed that Dmrt1 positively regulated the expression of Spry1, an inhibitory protein of the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signaling pathway. Furthermore, immunoprecipitation-mass spectrometry (IP-MS) and co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) analysis indicated that SPRY1 binds to nuclear factor kappa B1 (NF-κB1) to prevent nuclear translocation of p65, inhibit activation of NF-κB signaling, prevent excessive inflammatory reaction in the testis, and protect the integrity of the blood-testis barrier. In view of this newly identified Dmrt1- Spry1-NF-κB axis mechanism in the regulation of testicular immune homeostasis, our study opens new avenues for the prevention and treatment of male reproductive diseases in humans and livestock.

The Association Between Inhaled Corticosteroid and the Risks of SARS-COV-2 infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background The effect of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) on the risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) infection is unclear. Methods We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical studies that assessed the association between the use of ICS and the risk of SARS-COV-2 infection. PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar were searched to January 1st, 2023. ROBINS-I was used to assess risk of bias of included studies. The outcome of interest was the risk of SARS-COV-2 infection in patients and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated using Comprehensive Meta-analysis software version 3. Results Twelve studies involving seven observational cohort studies, three case-control studies, and two cross-sectional studies were included in this meta-analysis. Overall, compared to non-ICS use, the pooled odds ratio (OR) of the risk of SARS-COV-2 infection was 0.997 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.664-1.499;p=0.987) for patients with ICS use. Subgroup analyses demonstrated no statistical significance in the increased risk of SARS-COV-2 infection in patients with ICS monotherapy or in combination with bronchodilators (pooled OR=1.408;95% CI=0.693-2.858;p=0.344 in ICS monotherapy, and pooled OR=1.225;95% CI=0.533-2.815;p=0.633 in ICS combination, respectively). In addition, no significant association was observed between ICS use and the risk of SARS-COV-2 infection for patients with COPD (pooled OR=0.715;95% CI=0.415-1.230;p=0.225) and asthma (pooled OR=1.081;95% CI=0.970-1.206;p=0.160). Conclusions The use of ICS, either monotherapy or in combination with bronchodilators, does not have impact on the risk of SARS-COV-2 infection. Data availability The datasets used and analysed in the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

A cationic lipid with advanced membrane fusion performance for pDNA and mRNA delivery.

The success of mRNA vaccines for COVID-19 prevention raised global awareness of the importance of nucleic acid drugs. The approved systems for nucleic acid delivery were mainly formulations of different lipids, yielding lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) with complex internal structures. Due to the multiple components, the relationship between the structure of each component and the overall biological activity of LNPs is hard to study. However, ionizable lipids have been extensively explored. In contrast to former studies on the optimization of hydrophilic parts in single-component self-assemblies, we report in this study on structural alterations of the hydrophobic segment. We synthesize a library of amphiphilic cationic lipids by varying the lengths (C = 8-18), numbers (N = 2, 4), and unsaturation degrees (Ω = 0, 1) of hydrophobic tails. Notably, all self-assemblies with nucleic acid have significant differences in particle size, stability in serum, membrane fusion, and fluidity. Moreover, the novel mRNA/pDNA formulations are characterized by overall low cytotoxicity, efficient compaction, protection, and release of nucleic acids. We find that the length of hydrophobic tails dominates the formation and stability of the assembly. And at a certain length, the unsaturated hydrophobic tails enhance the membrane fusion and fluidity of assemblies and thus significantly affect the transgene expression, followed by the number of hydrophobic tails.

The association between inhaled corticosteroid and the risks of SARS-COV-2 infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The effect of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) on the risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) infection is unclear. METHODS: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical studies that assessed the association between the use of ICS and the risk of SARS-COV-2 infection. PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar were searched to January 1st, 2023. ROBINS-I was used to assess risk of bias of included studies. The outcome of interest was the risk of SARS-COV-2 infection in patients and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated using Comprehensive Meta-analysis software version 3. RESULTS: Twelve studies involving seven observational cohort studies, three case-control studies, and two cross-sectional studies were included in this meta-analysis. Overall, compared to non-ICS use, the pooled odds ratio (OR) of the risk of SARS-COV-2 infection was 0.997 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.664-1.499; p = 0.987) for patients with ICS use. Subgroup analyses demonstrated no statistical significance in the increased risk of SARS-COV-2 infection in patients with ICS monotherapy or in combination with bronchodilators (pooled OR=1.408; 95% CI=0.693-2.858; p = 0.344 in ICS monotherapy, and pooled OR=1.225; 95% CI=0.533-2.815; p = 0.633 in ICS combination, respectively). In addition, no significant association was observed between ICS use and the risk of SARS-COV-2 infection for patients with COPD (pooled OR=0.715; 95% CI=0.415-1.230; p = 0.225) and asthma (pooled OR=1.081; 95% CI=0.970-1.206; p = 0.160). CONCLUSIONS: The use of ICS, either monotherapy or in combination with bronchodilators, does not have impact on the risk of SARS-COV-2 infection.

Lentiviral Vectors as a Vaccine Platform against Infectious Diseases.

Lentiviral vectors are among the most effective viral vectors for vaccination. In clear contrast to the reference adenoviral vectors, lentiviral vectors have a high potential for transducing dendritic cells in vivo. Within these cells, which are the most efficient at activating naive T cells, lentiviral vectors induce endogenous expression of transgenic antigens that directly access antigen presentation pathways without the need for external antigen capture or cross-presentation. Lentiviral vectors induce strong, robust, and long-lasting humoral, CD8+ T-cell immunity and effective protection against several infectious diseases. There is no pre-existing immunity to lentiviral vectors in the human population and the very low pro-inflammatory properties of these vectors pave the way for their use in mucosal vaccination. In this review, we have mainly summarized the immunological aspects of lentiviral vectors, their recent optimization to induce CD4+ T cells, and our recent data on lentiviral vector-based vaccination in preclinical models, including prophylaxis against flaviviruses, SARS-CoV-2, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Coronavirus disease 2019: Repeated immersion of chlorine-containing disinfectants has adverse effects on goggles.

Introduction: During COVID-19, some front-line personnel experienced varying degrees of eye discomfort due to the use of goggles repeatedly disinfected with chlorine-containing disinfectant. Methods: The eye damage information of 276 front-line personnel who used goggles in a hospital from October 1, 2021, to December 1, 2021, was collected by filling out a questionnaire. To study the effect of chlorinated disinfectants on goggles, we immersed the goggles in the same volume of water and chlorinated disinfectant buckets. We tested the light transmittance, color and texture, and airtightness of the goggles at different times (1, 3, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 96, 120, 144, 168, 192, 216, 240, and 268 h). In addition, we detected where chlorinated disinfectant remained in the goggles by using disinfectant concentration test paper. Results: 60 (21.82%) people experienced dry eyes, stinging pain, photophobia and tearing, conjunctival congestion, eyelid redness, and swelling. After treatment or rest, the patient's ocular symptoms were significantly relieved within 3 days. With the extension of disinfection time, the light transmission of the lenses gradually decreased, and the light transmission reduced when immersion occurred at 216 h. After 72 h of disinfection, the color of the goggle frame began to change to light yellow, the texture gradually became hard and brittle, and the color became significantly darker at 268 h of disinfection. The airtightness of the goggles began to decrease after 168 h of disinfection, the airtightness decreased substantially at 268 h, and the shape changed significantly. In addition, the concentration test paper results show that the disinfection solution mainly resides in the goggle frame seam and goggles' elastic bands' bundle. Conclusions: Repeated chlorine disinfectant disinfection will reduce the effectiveness of goggles protection and damage front-line personnel's eye health.

Clinical significance of serum IgM and IgG levels in COVID-19 patients in Hubei Province, China.

Background: There have been many studies about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but the clinical significance of quantitative serum severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)-specific IgM and IgG levels of COVID-19 patients have not been exhaustively analyzed. We aimed to investigate the time profiles of these IgM/IgG levels in COVID-19 patients and their correlations with clinical features. Methods: A multicenter clinical study was conducted from February 20 to March 5 2020. It involved 179 COVID-19 patients (108 males and 71 females) from five hospitals in Huangshi in Hubei Province, China. To detect SARS-CoV-2-specific IgM/IgG, quantitative antibody assays (two-step indirect immunoassays with direct chemiluminescence technology) based on the nucleocapsid protein (NP) and spike protein 1 (S1) were used. For normally distributed data, means were compared using the t-test, χ 2-test, or exact probability method. For categorical data, medians were compared using Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The median age was 57 (44-69) years (58 [38-69] for males and 57 [49-68] for females). The median duration of positive nucleic acid test was 22.32 (17.34-27.43) days. The mortality rate was relatively low (3/179, 1.68%). Serum SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG was detected around week 1 after illness onset, gradually increased until peaking in weeks 4 and 5, and then declined. Serum IgM peaked in weeks 2 and 3, then gradually declined and returned to its normal range by week 7 in all patients. Notably, children had milder respiratory symptoms with lower SARS-CoV-2-specific IgM/IgG levels. The duration of positive nucleic acid test in the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) group was 30.36 (18.99-34.76) days, which was significantly longer than that in the non-COPD group (21.52 [16.75-26.51] days; P = 0.025). The peak serum SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG was significantly positively correlated with the duration of positive nucleic acid test. The incidence rate of severe and critical cases in the IgMhi group (using the median IgM level of 29.95 AU/mL as the cutoff for grouping) was about 38.0% (19/50), which was twice as much as that in the IgMlo group (18.4%; 9/49). The patients with positive chest imaging and lymphocytopenia (<1 × 109/L) had a higher SARS-CoV-2-specific IgM level. Conclusions: Quantitative SARS-CoV-2-specific IgM and IgG levels are helpful for the diagnosis, severity classification, and management of COVID-19 patients, and they should be monitored in each stage of this disease.

Coronavirus disease 2019: Repeated immersion of chlorine-containing disinfectants has adverse effects on goggles

Introduction During COVID-19, some front-line personnel experienced varying degrees of eye discomfort due to the use of goggles repeatedly disinfected with chlorine-containing disinfectant. Methods The eye damage information of 276 front-line personnel who used goggles in a hospital from October 1, 2021, to December 1, 2021, was collected by filling out a questionnaire. To study the effect of chlorinated disinfectants on goggles, we immersed the goggles in the same volume of water and chlorinated disinfectant buckets. We tested the light transmittance, color and texture, and airtightness of the goggles at different times (1, 3, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 96, 120, 144, 168, 192, 216, 240, and 268 h). In addition, we detected where chlorinated disinfectant remained in the goggles by using disinfectant concentration test paper. Results 60 (21.82%) people experienced dry eyes, stinging pain, photophobia and tearing, conjunctival congestion, eyelid redness, and swelling. After treatment or rest, the patient's ocular symptoms were significantly relieved within 3 days. With the extension of disinfection time, the light transmission of the lenses gradually decreased, and the light transmission reduced when immersion occurred at 216 h. After 72 h of disinfection, the color of the goggle frame began to change to light yellow, the texture gradually became hard and brittle, and the color became significantly darker at 268 h of disinfection. The airtightness of the goggles began to decrease after 168 h of disinfection, the airtightness decreased substantially at 268 h, and the shape changed significantly. In addition, the concentration test paper results show that the disinfection solution mainly resides in the goggle frame seam and goggles' elastic bands' bundle. Conclusions Repeated chlorine disinfectant disinfection will reduce the effectiveness of goggles protection and damage front-line personnel's eye health.

Full-Lung Prophylaxis against SARS-CoV-2 by One-Shot or Booster Intranasal Lentiviral Vaccination in Syrian Golden Hamsters.

Following the breakthrough of numerous severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants in recent months and the incomplete efficiency of the currently available vaccines, development of more effective vaccines is desirable. Non-integrative, non-cytopathic and non-inflammatory lentiviral vectors elicit sterilizing prophylaxis against SARS-CoV-2 in preclinical animal models and are particularly suitable for mucosal vaccination, which is acknowledged as the most effective in reducing viral transmission. Here, we demonstrate that a single intranasal administration of a vaccinal lentiviral vector encoding a stabilized form of the original SARS-CoV-2 Spike glycoprotein induces full-lung protection of respiratory tracts and strongly reduces pulmonary inflammation in the susceptible Syrian golden hamster model against the prototype SARS-CoV-2. In addition, we show that a lentiviral vector encoding stabilized Spike of SARS-CoV-2 Beta variant (LV::SBeta-2P) prevents pathology and reduces infectious viral loads in lungs and nasal turbinates following inoculation with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. Importantly, an intranasal boost with LV::SBeta-2P improves cross-seroneutralization much better in LV::SBeta-2P-primed hamsters than in their counterparts primed with an LV-encoding Spike from the ancestral SARS-CoV-2. These results strongly suggest that an immune imprint with the original Spike sequence has a negative impact on cross-protection against new variants. Our results tackle the issue of vaccine effectiveness in people who have already been vaccinated and have vanished immunity and indicate the efficiency of LV-based intranasal vaccination, either as a single dose or as booster.

Can Green Economy stocks hedge natural gas market risk? Evidence during Russia-Ukraine conflict and other crisis periods

One of the ultimate goals of the Green Economy is to move away from dependence on fossil energy, thereby achieving a sustainable development of a resource-saving and environment-friendly society. Thus, whether Green Economy stocks can hedge the risks of fossil energy markets, especially for natural gas market during recent crisis periods, is of great importance for both policy makers and portfolio managers. This paper identifies the time-varying connectedness and hedging effects of twelve NASDAQ OMX Green Economy sector stocks on NYMEX natural gas futures during three major turmoil events, i.e., European debt crisis, COVID-19 pandemic, and recent Russia-Ukraine conflict. The empirical results show that various Green Economy sector stocks can provide gratifying hedge effectiveness on the market risk of natural gas futures, and some of them can even perform similarly to gold and USD. Moreover, NASDAQ OMX Green Economy sector stocks offer better hedge effectiveness during recent Russia-Ukraine conflict than those of them in the periods of European debt crisis and COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the Sharpe ratio results further show the important but time-varying roles of Green Economy sector stocks in hedging risks of natural gas market.

Connectedness among El Niño-Southern Oscillation, carbon emission allowance, crude oil and renewable energy stock markets: Time- and frequency-domain evidence based on TVP-VAR model

Understanding the interactions among climate change, carbon emission allowance trading, crude oil and renewable energy stock markets, especially the role of climate change in this system is of great significance for policy makers, energy producers/consumers and relevant investors. The present paper aims to quantify the time-varying connectedness effects among the four factors by using the TVP-VAR based extensions of both time- and frequency-domain connectedness index measurements proposed by Antonakakis et al. (2020) and Ellington and Barunik (2021) [8,48]. The empirical results suggest that, firstly, the average total connectedness among climate change, carbon emission allowance trading, crude oil and renewable energy stock markets is not so strong for the heterogenous fundamentals underlying them. Nevertheless, the time-varying total connectedness fluctuates fiercely through May 2005 to September 2021, varying from about 8% to 30% and rocket to very high levels during the global subprime mortgage crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the total connectedness mainly centers on the short-term frequency, i.e., 1–3 months. Secondly, climate change is generally the leading information contributor among the four factors, although not particularly strong, and its leading role also performs mainly on the short-term frequency (1–3 months). Thirdly, renewable energy stock market and crude oil market show tight interactions between them and they are the two major bridges of information exchanges across various time frequencies (horizons) in this system. Finally, we confirm the evidence that the primary net connectedness contributor and receiver switch frequently across different time frequencies, implying that it is extremely essential for policy makers, energy producers/consumers and investors to make time-horizon-specific regulatory, production/purchasing or investment decisions when facing the uncertain effects of climate change on the interactions among carbon emission allowance, crude oil and renewable energy stock markets.

COVID-19 vaccine update: vaccine effectiveness, SARS-CoV-2 variants, boosters, adverse effects, and immune correlates of protection.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been the most severe public health challenge in this century. Two years after its emergence, the rapid development and deployment of effective COVID-19 vaccines have successfully controlled this pandemic and greatly reduced the risk of severe illness and death associated with COVID-19. However, due to its ability to rapidly evolve, the SARS-CoV-2 virus may never be eradicated, and there are many important new topics to work on if we need to live with this virus for a long time. To this end, we hope to provide essential knowledge for researchers who work on the improvement of future COVID-19 vaccines. In this review, we provided an up-to-date summary for current COVID-19 vaccines, discussed the biological basis and clinical impact of SARS-CoV-2 variants and subvariants, and analyzed the effectiveness of various vaccine booster regimens against different SARS-CoV-2 strains. Additionally, we reviewed potential mechanisms of vaccine-induced severe adverse events, summarized current studies regarding immune correlates of protection, and finally, discussed the development of next-generation vaccines.

The impacts of infectious disease pandemic on China’s edible vegetable oil futures markets: A long-term perspective

For the extremely important role of China in global edible vegetable oil market and its decisive measures in the epidemic controlling and stable economic recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic, the aim of this article is to inspect the quantitative impacts of infectious disease pandemic on the returns, volatilities and correlations of China's edible vegetable oil futures markets by using a DCC-MVGARCH-X model incorporating Baidu searching index as the proxy of pandemic severity. Our empirical results show that infectious disease pandemic does have significantly positive impacts on the returns and volatilities of China's soybean, canola and palm oil futures markets. Second, there are significant volatility spillover effects among the three vegetable oils, suggesting strong contagion effect from one oil market to the others. Third, soybean oil and palm oil show the largest correlation, while the dependence between canola oil and palm oil is the smallest one among the three pairwise correlations. Moreover, no matter to consider epidemic situation in China or in global environment, infectious disease pandemic has significant effects on these correlations.

Effectiveness and safety analysis of SanHanHuaShi granules for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019: Study protocol and statistical analysis plan for a randomized, parallel-controlled, open-label clinical trial.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic in March 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO). As of July 2, 2022, COVID-19 has caused more than 545 million infections and 6.3 million deaths worldwide, posing a significant threat to human health. Currently, there is still a lack of effective prevention and control strategies for the variation and transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which has a unique theoretical system, has treated various conditions for thousands of years. Importantly, recent studies have revealed that TCM contributed significantly to COVID-19. SanHanHuaShi (SHHS) granules, a Chinese herbal medicine, which has been included in Protocol for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (6th to 9th editions) issued by the National Health Commission of China and used to prevent and treat COVID-19 disease. A previous retrospective cohort study showed that SHHS could significantly reduce the severity of mild and moderate COVID-19. However, there is an absence of high-quality randomized controlled clinical studies to confirm the clinical effectiveness of SHHS. Therefore, a clinical study protocol and a statistical analysis plan were designed to investigate the efficacy and safety of SHHS for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. This study will increase the integrity and data transparency of the clinical research process, which is of great significance for improving the practical application of SHHS granules in the future. Methods and analysis: The study was designed as a 7-day, randomized, parallel controlled, open-label, noninferiority clinical trial of positive drugs. A total of 240 patients with mild and moderate COVID-19 will be enrolled and randomly assigned to receive SanHanHuaShi granules or LianHuaQingWen granules treatment in a 1:1 ratio. Disease classification, vital signs, SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid testing, symptoms, medications, adverse events, and safety evaluations will be recorded at each visit. The primary outcome will be the clinical symptom recovery rate. Secondary outcomes will include the recovery time of clinical symptoms, negative conversion time of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test negative conversion rate, hospitalization time, antipyretic time, rate of conversion to severe patients, and time and rate of single symptom recovery. Adverse incidents and safety assessments will be documented. All data will be analyzed using a predetermined statistical analysis plan, including our method for imputation of missing data, primary and secondary outcome analyses, and safety outcomes. Discussion: The results of this study will provide robust evidence to confirm the effectiveness and safety of SHHS in the treatment of COVID-19. Clinical Trial Registration: http://www.chictr.org.cn. Trial number: ChiCTR2200058080. Registered on 29 March 2022.