The impact of Omicron pandemic and COVID-19 vaccination on the pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in enormous medical and economic burden worldwide during the past 3 years. The vaccination was deemed the effective option to prevent the severe symptoms, and especially recommended among cancer patients. Shanghai experienced the first lockdown during the recent Omicron pandemic since 2019. How patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC) suffered from the pandemic and how vaccination influenced their oncological outcomes were unexplored yet. Method: The retrospective study was carried out in a high-volume referral center including 1157 consecutively enrolled patients with PAC experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary outcome was the overall survival (OS). Results: Limited postoperative patients (9.21%) received the vaccination. The lockdown in Shanghai (April to May, 2022) was not observed impacting the survival prognoses of patients with PAC. Though vaccination was not significantly associated with OS itself (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR): 2.032 [0.940-4.391], p = 0.071), it was discovered to synergistically improve the chemotherapy effect in the multivariate analyses (interaction p = 0.023). Conclusion: The vaccination itself did not influence the survival prognoses of patients with PAC. A potential positive interaction was observed between chemotherapy and vaccination despite the limited follow-up time. The postoperative patients should consider the vaccination more. The patients with PAC did not suffer worse prognostic outcomes from the strict sanitary policy during the wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Shanghai.

Mental health and psychosocial problems among laboratory technicians in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Hebei, China.

Objective: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, an increased mental burden has been widely reported among medical health workers such as physicians and nurses. However, data on laboratory technicians exposed to COVID-19 have rarely been published. The aim of this study was to assess the magnitude of psychological symptoms among laboratory technicians and analyze potential risk factors associated with these symptoms. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was performed via the Wenjuanxing platform (a professional online questionnaire platform) (https://www.wjx.cn/mobile/statnew.aspx) to investigate the mental health of laboratory technicians during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hebei, China from October 4, 2021, to November 3, 2021. The online questionnaire included demographic and occupational characteristics data of responders, and the Symptom Check List-90-Revised (SCL90-R)was used to quantify the magnitude of psychological symptoms among laboratory technicians. Participants' demographic and occupational characteristics were analyzed using descriptive statistical analyses. Chi-square tests were applied to compare the severity of each symptom between two or more groups. A binary logistic regression model was developed to identify the predictors of laboratory technicians' mental health in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and outcomes are presented as odds ratios and 95% confidence interval. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 21 (SPSS, New Orchard Road, Armonk, New York, USA). Results: A total of 3081 valid questionnaires were collected. Of these 3081 participants, 338 (11.0%) reported a total SCL90-R score >160, which indicated positive psychological symptoms. Among the 338 participants who reported psychological problems, most of them were mild symptoms. Several factors associated with mental health problems in laboratory technicians during COVID-19 were found, which include a history of physical and/or psychological problems (all 10 symptoms p < 0.001), more than 10 years of work experience (depression symptoms: OR = 2.350, p = 0.024; anxiety symptoms: OR = 2.642, p = 0.038), frontline work (depression symptoms: OR = 1.761, p = 0.001; anxiety symptoms: OR = 2.619, p < 0.001; hostility symptoms: OR = 1.913, p = 0.001), participant in more than 3 times large-scale SARS-CoV-2 screenings and more than 36 h per week in SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid testing. Conclusion: A portion of laboratory technicians reported experiencing varying levels of psychological burden. During the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple interventions should be developed and implemented to address existing psychosocial challenges and promote the mental health of laboratory technicians.

A Detailed Comparison of the Use of Dietary Supplements before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background and aim: Considering the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the expectation that dietary supplements (DS) boost the immune system of individuals, the aim of this research was to evaluate the use of DS and related factors by comparing periods before and during the pandemic. Method(s): A descriptive cross-sectional internet-based study was conducted with 1488 participants from the general public aged above 19 years. Result(s): The median age of participants was 33.0 (19-69) years and 88% of participants were women. A total of 48.9% of participants (50.2% of females, 39.9% of males) used DS before COVID-19, and DS use during COVID-19 was reported to be 57.9% (58.6% of females, 52.8% males). Independent variables of DS use before and during COVID-19 were sex, age, body mass index (BMI), education, income, vitamin/mineral deficiency (VMD), alcohol use, and medication use. Participants who had no VMD used more DS, mostly herbal supplements such as grape seed, gotu kola, ginseng, ginkgo biloba and green tea. Vitamin D and C were the most commonly-used DS among participants with vitamin/mineral deficiency, followed by zinc and multivitamins. The main reason for DS use (47.2%) during COVID-19 was to strengthen immunity. Conclusion(s): The current findings may help to understand the preferences of individuals about DS use during pandemics. Understanding factors associated with the use of DS and their claimed immune-boosting effects may support future studies aiming to provide accurate information and motivate individuals towards healthy use of supplements during pandemics. Copyright © Mattioli 1885.

Uncovering the information immunology journals transmitted for COVID-19: A bibliometric and visualization analysis.

Background: Since the global epidemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a large number of immunological studies related to COVID-19 have been published in various immunology journals. However, the results from these studies were discrete, and no study summarized the important immunological information about COVID-19 released by these immunology journals. This study aimed to comprehensively summarize the knowledge structure and research hotspots of COVID-19 published in major immunology journals through bibliometrics. Methods: Publications on COVID-19 in major immunology journals were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection. CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and R-bibliometrix were comprehensively used for bibliometric and visual analysis. Results: 1,331 and 5,000 publications of 10 journals with high impact factors and 10 journals with the most papers were included, respectively. The USA, China, England, and Italy made the most significant contributions to these papers. University College London, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Harvard Medical School, University California San Diego, and University of Pennsylvania played a central role in international cooperation in the immunology research field of COVID-19. Yuen Kwok Yung was the most important author in terms of the number of publications and citations, and the H-index. CLINICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES and FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY were the most essential immunology journals. These immunology journals mostly focused on the following topics: "Delta/Omicron variants", "cytokine storm", "neutralization/neutralizing antibody", "T cell", "BNT162b2", "mRNA vaccine", "vaccine effectiveness/safety", and "long COVID". Conclusion: This study systematically uncovered a holistic picture of the current research on COVID-19 published in major immunology journals from the perspective of bibliometrics, which will provide a reference for future research in this field.

Statistical Analysis and Machine Learning Prediction of Disease Outcomes for COVID-19 and Pneumonia Patients.

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread all over the world and impacted many people's lives. The characteristics of COVID-19 and other types of pneumonia have both similarities and differences, which confused doctors initially to separate and understand them. Here we presented a retrospective analysis for both COVID-19 and other types of pneumonia by combining the COVID-19 clinical data, eICU and MIMIC-III databases. Machine learning models, including logistic regression, random forest, XGBoost and deep learning neural networks, were developed to predict the severity of COVID-19 infections as well as the mortality of pneumonia patients in intensive care units (ICU). Statistical analysis and feature interpretation, including the analysis of two-level attention mechanisms on both temporal and non-temporal features, were utilized to understand the associations between different clinical variables and disease outcomes. For the COVID-19 data, the XGBoost model obtained the best performance on the test set (AUROC = 1.000 and AUPRC = 0.833). On the MIMIC-III and eICU pneumonia datasets, our deep learning model (Bi-LSTM_Attn) was able to identify clinical variables associated with death of pneumonia patients (AUROC = 0.924 and AUPRC = 0.802 for 24-hour observation window and 12-hour prediction window). The results highlighted clinical indicators, such as the lymphocyte counts, that may help the doctors to predict the disease progression and outcomes for both COVID-19 and other types of pneumonia.

Alcohol Use and Its Related Psychosocial Effects during the Prolonged COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

We conducted a large-scale survey in the Japanese population, about one year after the initial declaration of the state of emergency, to investigate alcohol use under the prolonged coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its related psychosocial and demographic characteristics. The survey was conducted online between 15 and 20 June 2021. A total of 11,427 participants were included in the analysis (48.5% female, 48.82 ± 13.30 years, range = 20-90 years). Compared with females, males were more prevalent in the hazardous user and the potential alcoholism group and were less prevalent in the no alcohol-related problem group. However, the prevalence of potential alcoholism among the participants in our study was higher than that previously reported. This trend was particularly pronounced in women. The presence of potential alcoholism was related to a deteriorated psychological status, particularly depression and anxiety, and various difficulties in their daily lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the future, intervention methods and systems should be developed to provide optimal assistance to people with psychological problems who are vulnerable to alcohol-related problems during the COVID-19 pandemic, while conducting further long-term follow-up studies.

During the COVID-19 Epidemic: Recommendations for the Admission and Treatment of Patients With Ovarian Cancer.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had become a health care event endangering humans globally. It takes up a large number of healthcare resources. We studied the impact of COVID-19 on patients with ovarian cancer by comprehensively analyzing their admissions before and after the epidemic, and made reasonable suggestions to improve their current situation. Methods: We randomly divided the enrolled patients into three groups, PreCOVID-19 Group (PCG) (2019.8.20-2020.1.20), COVID-19 Group (CG) (2020.1.21-2020.6.14), and Secondary Outbreak COVID-19 Group (SOCG) (2020.6.15-2020.10.10). One-way ANOVA and chi-square test were used for analysis. Results: The number of patients from other provinces decreased significantly (p < 0.05). The total hospital stay during the epidemic was substantially more extended (p < 0.05). Before the epidemic, our department performed more open surgery while during the epidemic outbreak, we tended to choose laparoscopy (p < 0.01). We took a longer surgery time (P < 0.05). Patients had significantly less post-operative fever during the epidemic (p < 0.001). Conclusion: During the COVID-19 epidemic, no patient was infected with COVID-19, and no patient experienced severe post-operative complications. We recommend maintaining the admissions of patients with ovarian cancer during the epidemic following the rules: 1. The outpatients must complete a nucleic acid test and chest CT in the outpatient clinic; 2. Maintain full daily disinfection of the ward and insist that health care workers disinfect their hands after contact with patients; 3. Increase the use of minimally invasive procedures, including laparoscopy and robotics; 4. Disinfect the ward twice a day with UV light and sodium hypochlorite disinfectant; 5. Patients need to undergo at least three nucleic acid tests before entering the operating room.

A bioinformatics approach for identifying potential molecular mechanisms and key genes involved in COVID-19 associated cardiac remodeling.

In 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), whose main complication is respiratory involvement, different organs may also be affected in severe cases. However, COVID-19 associated cardiovascular manifestations are limited at present. The main purpose of this study was to identify potential candidate genes involved in COVID-19-associated heart damage by bioinformatics analysis. Differently expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using transcriptome profiles (GSE150392 and GSE4172) downloaded from the GEO database. After gene and pathway enrichment analyses, PPI network visualization, module analyses, and hub gene extraction were performed using Cytoscape software. A total of 228 (136 up and 92 downregulated) overlapping DEGs were identified at these two microarray datasets. Finally, the top hub genes (FGF2, JUN, TLR4, and VEGFA) were screened out as the critical genes among the DEGs from the PPI network. Identification of critical genes and mechanisms in any disease can lead us to better diagnosis and targeted therapy. Our findings identified core genes shared by inflammatory cardiomyopathy and SARS-CoV-2. The findings of the current study support the idea that these key genes can be used in understanding and managing the long-term cardiovascular effects of COVID-19.

A Resource for the Network Representation of Cell Perturbations Caused by SARS-CoV-2 Infection.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused more than 2.3 million casualties worldwide and the lack of effective treatments is a major health concern. The development of targeted drugs is held back due to a limited understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the perturbation of cell physiology observed after viral infection. Recently, several approaches, aimed at identifying cellular proteins that may contribute to COVID-19 pathology, have been reported. Albeit valuable, this information offers limited mechanistic insight as these efforts have produced long lists of cellular proteins, the majority of which are not annotated to any cellular pathway. We have embarked in a project aimed at bridging this mechanistic gap by developing a new bioinformatic approach to estimate the functional distance between a subset of proteins and a list of pathways. A comprehensive literature search allowed us to annotate, in the SIGNOR 2.0 resource, causal information underlying the main molecular mechanisms through which severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and related coronaviruses affect the host-cell physiology. Next, we developed a new strategy that enabled us to link SARS-CoV-2 interacting proteins to cellular phenotypes via paths of causal relationships. Remarkably, the extensive information about inhibitors of signaling proteins annotated in SIGNOR 2.0 makes it possible to formulate new potential therapeutic strategies. The proposed approach, which is generally applicable, generated a literature-based causal network that can be used as a framework to formulate informed mechanistic hypotheses on COVID-19 etiology and pathology.

Public Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice towards COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia: A Web-Based Cross-Sectional Survey.

(1) Background: COVID-19 has become a worldwide public health problem. No previous study has investigated factors associated with COVID-19 knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) after completely lifting the curfew in all Saudi Arabia regions and cities. Therefore, adequate knowledge, a positive attitude, and correct control of COVID-19 are essential to eradicate the disease. Hence, this study aims to assess factors associated with KAP of COVID-19; (2) Methods: This cross-sectional web-based survey was performed with the participation of 4305 individuals aged over 15 years living in Saudi Arabia from 11 to 19 August 2020. They were included using the snowball sampling method; (3) Results: Of the 4305 participants, 94.9% were Saudis, 60% females, and 45.4% were in the age group of 20-34 years, 61.7% married, and 49.3% from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Most of the participants demonstrated good KAP levels (89.6%, 87.2%, and 87.2%) towards the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. In addition, most of the participants (85.8%) used the internet and social media as a source for COVID-19 information (4) Conclusions: The finding showed that most of the participants demonstrated good knowledge of COVID-19, positive attitudes, and demonstrated good practices for preventing the spread of disease infection.

Exploring changes in cigar smoking patterns and motivations to quit cigars among black young adults in the time of COVID-19.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted the Black/African American communities in the U.S. The objective of this study is to understand the change in cigar smoking patterns and motivations to quit cigars during the COVID-19 pandemic among Black young adult cigar smokers. METHODS: During May-June 2020, in-depth telephone interviews were conducted to investigate cigar (i.e., large cigars, cigarillos, filtered cigars, and blunts) smoking behaviors during the pandemic among self-identified, non-Hispanic Black/African American young adult cigar smokers (n = 40; ages 21-29). Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded separately by three coders. Thematic analysis was used to assess thematic patterns arising from the interviews. RESULTS: Most participants reported smoking cigarillos and blunts in higher frequency and quantity to cope with COVID-19-induced stress, anxiety, loneliness, and boredom due to economic losses and physical isolation. Some also reported contextual changes in cigarillo and blunt smoking, including smoking around the clock, smoking immediately after waking up, and smoking an entire cigarillo or blunt in one setting. Very few participants reported motivations to quit cigars during the pandemic. Perceiving higher risks of progressed COVID-19 outcomes did not prompt participants' increased motivations for quitting cigars. CONCLUSIONS: Black young adults in this study increasingly smoked cigarillos and blunts during the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly attributed to daily life stressors. Participants did not have increased motivations for quitting cigars to reduce COVID-19-related risks. Promoting contextually appropriate healthy coping and cigar smoking cessation may minimize COVID-19-related health consequences of cigar smoking and reduce health disparities among Black young adults.

PRactice of VENTilation in Patients with Novel Coronavirus Disease (PRoVENT-COVID): rationale and protocol for a national multicenter observational study in The Netherlands.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is rapidly expanding across the world, with more than 100,000 new cases each day as of end-June 2020. Healthcare workers are struggling to provide the best care for COVID-19 patients. Approaches for invasive ventilation vary widely between and within countries and new insights are acquired rapidly. We aim to investigate invasive ventilation practices and outcome in COVID-19 patients in the Netherlands. METHODS: PRoVENT-COVID ('study of PRactice of VENTilation in COVID-19') is an investigator-initiated national, multicenter observational study to be undertaken in intensive care units (ICUs) in The Netherlands. Consecutive COVID-19 patients aged 18 years or older, who are receiving invasive ventilation in the participating ICUs, are to be enrolled during a 10-week period, with a daily follow-up of 7 days. The primary outcome is ventilatory management (including tidal volume expressed as mL/kg predicted body weight and positive end-expiratory pressure expressed as cmH2O) during the first 3 days of ventilation. Secondary outcomes include other ventilatory variables, use of rescue therapies for refractory hypoxemia such as prone positioning and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, use of sedatives, vasopressors and inotropes; daily cumulative fluid balances; acute kidney injury; ventilator-free days and alive at day 28 (VFD-28), duration of ICU and hospital stay, and ICU, hospital and 90-day mortality. DISCUSSION: PRoVENT-COVID will be the largest observational study to date, with high density ventilatory data and major outcomes. There is urgent need for a better understanding of ventilation practices, and the effects of ventilator settings on outcomes in COVID-19 patients. The results of PRoVENT-COVID will be rapidly disseminated through electronic presentations, such as webinars and electronic conferences, and publications in international peer-reviewed journals. Access to source data will be made available through local, regional and national anonymized datasets on request, and after agreement of the PRoVENT-COVID steering committee. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PRoVENT-COVID is registered at clinicaltrials.gov (identifier NCT04346342).

Critical Care Demand and Intensive Care Supply for Patients in Japan with COVID-19 at the Time of the State of Emergency Declaration in April 2020: A Descriptive Analysis.

Background and objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is overwhelming Japan's intensive care capacity. This study aimed to determine the number of patients with COVID-19 who required intensive care and to compare the numbers with Japan's intensive care capacity. Materials and Methods: Publicly available datasets were used to obtain the number of confirmed patients with COVID-19 undergoing mechanical ventilation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) between 15 February and 19 July 2020 to determine and compare intensive care unit (ICU) and attending bed needs for patients with COVID-19, and to estimate peak ICU demands in Japan. Results: During the epidemic peak in late April, 11,443 patients (1.03/10,000 adults) had been infected, 373 patients (0.034/10,000 adults) were in ICU, 312 patients (0.028/10,000 adults) were receiving mechanical ventilation, and 62 patients (0.0056/10,000 adults) were under ECMO per day. At the peak of the epidemic, the number of infected patients was 651% of designated beds, and the number of patients requiring intensive care was 6.0% of ICU beds, 19.1% of board-certified intensivists, and 106% of designated medical institutions in Japan. Conclusions: The number of critically ill patients with COVID-19 continued to rise during the pandemic, exceeding the number of designated beds but not exceeding ICU capacity.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Colombian population according to mitigation measures Preliminary data from epidemiological models for the period March 18 to April 18, 2020

Introduction First case of COVID-19 in Colombia was diagnosed on March 6th. Two weeks later, cases have rapidly increased, leading the government to establish some mitigation measures. Objectives The first objective is to estimate and model the number of cases, use of hospital resources and mortality by using different R0 scenarios in a 1-month scenario (from March 18 to April 18, 2020), based on the different isolation measures applied. This work also aims to model, without establishing a time horizon, the same outcomes given the assumption that eventually 70% of the population will be infected. Materials and Methods Data on the number of confirmed cases in the country as of March 18, 2020 (n=93) were taken as the basis for the achievement of the first objective. An initial transmission rate of R0= 2.5 and a factor of 27 for undetected infections per each confirmed case were taken as assumptions for the model. The proportion of patients who may need intensive care or other in-hospital care was based on data from the Imperial College of London. On the other hand, an age-specific mortality rate provided by the Instituto Superiore di Sanità in Italy was used for the second objective. Results Based on the 93 cases reported as of March 18, if no mitigation measures were applied, by April 18, the country would have 613 037 cases. Mitigation measures that reduce R0 by 10% generate a 50% reduction in the number of cases. However, despite halving the number of cases, there would still be a shortfall in the number of beds required and only one in two patients would have access to this resource. Conclusion This model found that the mitigation measures implemented to date by the Colombian government and analyzed in this article are based on sufficient evidence and will help to slow the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Colombia. Although a time horizon of one month was used for this model, it is plausible to believe that, if the current measures are sustained, the mitigation effect will also be sustained over time. © 2020, Universidad Nacional de Colombia. All rights reserved.