Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at the Huanan Seafood Market.

SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, emerged in December 2019. Its origins remain uncertain. It has been reported that a number of the early human cases had a history of contact with the Huanan Seafood Market. Here we present the results of surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 within the market. From January 1st 2020, after closure of the market, 923 samples were collected from the environment. From 18th January, 457 samples were collected from 18 species of animals, comprising of unsold contents of refrigerators and freezers, swabs from stray animals, and the contents of a fish tank. Using RT-qPCR, SARS-CoV-2 was detected in 73 environmental samples, but none of the animal samples. Three live viruses were successfully isolated. The viruses from the market shared nucleotide identity of 99.99% to 100% with the human isolate HCoV-19/Wuhan/IVDC-HB-01/2019. SARS-CoV-2 lineage A (8782T and 28144C) was found in an environmental sample. RNA-seq analysis of SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative environmental samples showed an abundance of different vertebrate genera at the market. In summary, this study provides information about the distribution and prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the Huanan Seafood Market during the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak.

A unique case report of Vogt‐Koyanagi‐Harada syndrome following COVID‐19 vaccination

Purpose: To report a case of Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada‐like disease (VKH) associated with COVID‐19 vaccination. Methods: Analysis of a single case report in a single tertiary institution. Results: A 48‐year‐old female presented with bilateral progressive blurring of vision 2 days after receiving her first dose of Pfizer‐BioNTech COVID‐19 vaccine. Clinical examination revealed multiple deep yellow lesions in the posterior pole and multifocal serous retinal detachments. Serological test for infective and autoimmune markers were negative. The patient was started on oral corticosteroids and had resolution of symptoms with near‐total improvement in visual acuity. Conclusions: There have been previous cases of vaccine associated uveitis from reported cases of hepatitis B vaccine, human papilloma virus vaccine and influenza vaccine1,2,3,4,5. The exact mechanism of vaccine‐associated uveitis is currently not clear. In this present case, because of the short time interval between COVID‐19 vaccination and the onset of ocular inflammation in our patient, this raises the possibility that COVID‐19 vaccination may be a possible trigger for VKH. References 1. Benage M, Fraunfelder FW. Vaccine‐associated uveitis. Mo Med. 2016;113(1): 48–52. 2. Holt HD, Hinkle DM, Falk NS, Fraunfelder FT, Fraunfelder FW. Human papilloma virus vaccine associated uveitis. Curr Drug Saf 2014;9(1): 65–8. doi:10.2174/15748863113086660062 3. Cunningham ET, Jr., Moorthy RS. Vaccine‐Associated Posterior Uveitis. Retina 2020;40(4): 595–8. doi:10.1097/IAE.0000000000002816 4. Escott S, Tarabishy AB, Davidorf FH. Multifocal choroiditis following simultaneous hepatitis A, typhoid, and yellow fever vaccination. Clin Ophthalmol 2013;7: 363–5. doi:10.2147/OPTH.S37443 5. Fraunfelder FW, Suhler EB, Fraunfelder FT. Hepatitis B vaccine and uveitis: an emerging hypothesis suggested by review of 32 case reports. Cutan Ocul Toxicol 2010;29(1): 26–9. doi:10.3109/15569520903427717

Usage of mobile health interventions among overweight/obese PCOS patients undergoing assisted reproductive technology treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: In the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, telemedicine is a promising tool for providing clinical care for patients. Since the first-line treatment for infertile women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is lifestyle modification, a mobile-based service that provides lifestyle modification education would be helpful in the treatment of PCOS patients. In this observational study, the effect of a mobile Health (mHealth) application for lifestyle modification on PCOS patients undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment was evaluated.Methods: A total of 79 overweight/obese patients (40 in the paper group and 39 in the WeChat application group) with PCOS from the First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China were enrolled in the study. The changes in the outcomes of BMI and ART treatment were analyzed between the two groups.Results: After three months of intervention, the BMIs in the control and mHealth groups were 24.5 ± 3.3 and 23.7 ± 3.1, respectively. The percentage of patients who lost weight was higher in the WeChat group than in the control group (87.2% vs. 67.5%). Furthermore, PCOS patients in the WeChat group were found to have a higher live birth rate than those in the control group (p = 0.005).Conclusion: Lifestyle modifications for PCOS patients undergoing ART treatment using the WeChat application improved weight loss and oocyte quality. Infertile patients with PCOS were more likely to make lifestyle modifications based on the usage of mobile applications during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Choroidal Microvascular Alterations in COVID-19 Patients.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate alterations in the choroidal angioarchitecture of COVID-19 patients using optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) based surrogate markers. METHODS: This prospective case-control study recruited 56 COVID-19 patients (111 eyes) and 61 healthy individuals (120 eyes). Choroidal thickness (CT) and Choroidal vascularity index (CVI) were derived from OCT images using a purpose-built automated software for choroidal image segmentation. A linear mixed model with age and gender as covariates was employed to compare CVI and CT between groups. RESULTS: COVID-19 patients had significantly higher subfoveal (81.3um vs 86.8um, p = .02), temporal (78.8um vs 84.3um, p = .005), nasal (87.5um vs 95.1um, p = .001) and average CT (82.5um vs 88.7um, p = .001). COVID-19 patients had significantly lower subfoveal (64.0 vs 63.5, p = .02) and average CVI (63.5 vs 63.1, p = .02). CONCLUSION: COVID-19 results in significantly thicker choroid with reduced relative vascularity. This may be attributable to increased vascular permeability secondary to inflammation, resulting in choroidal stromal edema.

Study on the active components of Xinjiang Zukamu granules in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 based on integrative pharmacology and network pharmacology

To explore the mechanism of anti-coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) of Xinjiang Zukamu granule based on integrated pharmacology, network pharmacology and molecular docking. Ten traditional Chinese medicines of Zukamu granules were searched by four open databases, and 48 candidate components were screened by ADMET level. The candidate components were pretreated as ligands for molecular docking.2019-nCoV-Mpro and ACE2 were used as receptors for molecular docking, and Autodock software was used for molecular docking. There are 16 compounds with good binding activity to 2019-nCoV-Mpro and ACE2 receptors. Among them, luteolin, eriodictyol, rhein, formononetin, kaempferide, semiicoisoflavone B, isorhamnetin, diosmetin, kaempferol and quercetin met the requirement of score0.8, and 91 core targets such as PIK3CG, AKT1 and CDK6 were obtained. The core target involves 226 GO and 53 signaling pathways. Zukamu granules play an important role in COVID-19 through multi-component, multi-level and multi-channel "neuro-endocrine-immune", which provides a theoretical basis for the further study of pharmacodynamic material basis, mechanism and clinical application of traditional Chinese medicine and ethnic medicine.

Study on active components of Jinyebaidu granules in COVID-19 treatment using ADME and "Lipinski's Rules"

To explore the mechanism of anti-coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) of Jinyebaidu granules, 47 active components and 128 corresponding targets were screened by the network pharmacology platform of traditional Chinese medicine and molecular docking, according to ADME and Lipinski's Rules. Twenty potential targets were selected by taking the intersection between 128 targets and 251 COVID-19 related genes from GeneCards database. The 20 potential targets were related to 256 gene functions and 67 signal pathways (FDR 0.01) by analyzing the datum collected from DAVID. Cytoscape 3.7.1 was used for analyzing and visualizing the core targets, including PTGS2, PTGS1, NOS3, PPARG, and NOS2. Then the binding ability between the 47 active components and the 5 core targets was analyzed by Autodock, it revealed that the active components including kaempferol, glycyrol and indirubin were predicted to be the core components in the network interaction. The results of the current study are expected to provide information for the further investigation of Jinyebaidu granules in prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

Implementing sequencing-based surveillance in developing countries: findings from a pilot rollout for hepatitis A in China.

BACKGROUND: The emergence of SARS-Cov2 variants has highlighted the need to implement sequencing-based surveillance in developing countries for early response to mutant viruses of concern. However, limited information on how to implement sequencing-based surveillance is available, and the feasibility and performance of this new type of surveillance are still in question. METHODS: To understand the challenges with the implementation and to promote sequencing-based surveillance, we reported findings from a pilot for hepatitis A (HepA) in five sentinel provinces in China as an example of sequencing-based surveillance implementation. The performance of the surveillance system was evaluated by indicators related to acceptability, data quality, simplicity, utility, and timeliness. We use a scale from 1 to 3 was used to provide a score for each aspect. RESULTS: During the pilot, 306 cases of HepA were reported, and 49.79% of samples were available for sequencing. Eleven genomic clusters were found, of which seven clusters were potentially related to a foodborne outbreak oyster based on identical viral sequence and epidemiologic investigations. The greatest strength of the system was its simplicity (Score: 2.63). The acceptability (Score: 2.0) and utility (Score: 2.33) were modest, but data quality (Score: 1.75) and timeliness (Score: 1.75) were the main challenges. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the system performed satisfactorily and proved to be useful for virological characterization of cases and early outbreak detection, with a great potential for scale-up. Further efforts are required to address financial and human resource constraints and inadequate support among physicians. Education should be given to health care professionals to improve the data quality. The establishment of decentralized surveillance networks can be an approach to improve timeliness for emerging infections.

Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 RBD with a built in T helper epitope induces strong neutralization antibody response.

Without approved vaccines and specific treatments, COVID-19 is spreading around the world with above 26 million cases and approximately 864 thousand deaths until now. An efficacious and affordable vaccine is urgently needed. The Val308 - Gly548 of spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 linked with Gln830 - Glu843 of Tetanus toxoid (TT peptide) (designated as S1-4) and without TT peptide (designated as S1-5) were expressed and renatured. The antigenicity and immunogenicity of S1-4 were evaluated by Western Blotting (WB) in vitro and immune responses in mice, respectively. The protective efficiency was measured preliminarily by microneutralization assay (MN50). The soluble S1-4 and S1-5 protein was prepared to high homogeneity and purity. Adjuvanted with Alum, S1-4 protein stimulated a strong antibody response in immunized mice and caused a major Th2-type cellular immunity supplemented with Th1-type immunity. Furthermore, the immunized sera could protect the Vero E6 cells from SARS-CoV-2 infection with neutralizing antibody titer 256. Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 RBD with a built in T helper epitope could stimulate both strong humoral immunity supplemented with cellular immunity in mice, demonstrating that it could be a promising subunit vaccine candidate.

The biological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein Pro330-Leu650.

SARS-CoV-2 is the cause of the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 that has been characterized as a pandemic by the WHO. Since the first report of COVID-19 on December 31, 2019, 179,111 cases were confirmed in 160 countries/regions with 7426 deaths as of March 17, 2020. However, there have been no vaccines approved in the world to date. In this study, we analyzed the biological characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein, Pro330-Leu650 (SARS-CoV-2-SPL), using biostatistical methods. SARS-CoV-2-SPL possesses a receptor-binding region (RBD) and important B (Ser438-Gln506, Thr553-Glu583, Gly404-Aps427, Thr345-Ala352, and Lys529-Lys535) and T (9 CD4 and 11 CD8 T cell antigenic determinants) cell epitopes. High homology in this region between SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV amounted to 87.7%, after taking the biological similarity of the amino acids into account and eliminating the receptor-binding motif (RBM). The overall topology indicated that the complete structure of SARS-CoV-2-SPL was with RBM as the head, and RBD as the trunk and the tail region. SARS-CoV-2-SPL was found to have the potential to elicit effective B and T cell responses. Our findings may provide meaningful guidance for SARS-CoV-2 vaccine design.