Resilience and coping behaviour among adolescents in a high-income city-state during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study aimed to determine the resilience of multi-ethnic, multi-cultural adolescent students in cosmopolitan Singapore, their coping abilities, and the impact on their social and physical activities during the COVID-19 pandemic and its association with their resilience. A total of 582 adolescents in post-secondary education institutes completed an online survey from June to November 2021. The survey assessed their sociodemographic status, resilience level using the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) and Hardy-Gill Resilience Scale (HGRS), the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their daily activities, life settings, social life, social interactions, and coping ability in these aspects of life. Poor ability to cope with school life (adjusted beta = - 0.163, 95% CI - 1.928 to 0.639, p < 0.001), staying home (adjusted beta = - 0.108, 95% CI = - 1.611 to - 0.126, p = 0.022), sports (adjusted beta = - 0.116, 95% CI - 1.691 to - 0.197, p = 0.013) and friends (adjusted beta = - 0.143, 95% CI - 1.904 to - 0.363, p = 0.004) were associated with statistically significant low resilience level measured with HGRS. About half and a third of the participants reported normal and low resilience, respectively, based on BRS (59.6%/32.7%) and HGRS (49.0%/29.0%) scores. Adolescents of Chinese ethnicity and low socioeconomic status had comparatively lower resilience scores. Approximately half of the adolescents in this study had normal resilience despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Adolescents with lower resilience tended to have lower coping abilities. The study did not compare changes in the social life and coping behaviour of the adolescents due to COVID-19, as data on these aspects prior to the pandemic was unavailable.

Awareness, Barriers and Concerns of Adolescents Toward the COVID-19 Vaccine: A Cross-Sectional Study in Singapore.

Background: COVID-19 vaccination is a key public health measure to mitigate the crippling effects of the pandemic. COVID-19 vaccination began in adults and targeted adolescents at a later stage. However, medical decision-making on its uptake among the latter was unknown, which could be affected by their literacy and concerns about the vaccine. The study aimed to elucidate the awareness, concerns and barriers of adolescents toward the COVID-19 vaccine. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey using a self-developed questionnaire was conducted between June to November 2021. The adolescent participants were students from institutes of post-secondary education who were recruited via convenience sampling. The data were collated from an officially approved electronic platform, audited and analyzed. Continuous and categorical variables were expressed as mean (standard deviation) and percentages, respectively. Results: A total of 460 adolescents participated in the study (mean age: 16.99 ± 0.99; 73% female). Most of them (91.5%) were aware of the COVID-19 vaccines. The main barriers to vaccination were uncertainty about long-term health risks (38.6%) and vaccine efficacy (37.3%). Regarding the potential vaccine side effects, they were concerned about: anaphylactic shock (73.2%), low blood pressure (58.3%) and fast heartbeat (58.0%). Only 58% expressed willingness for repeated COVID-19 vaccination. Conclusion: Despite high COVID-19 vaccine awareness, the adolescents were concerned about the potentially severe but rare side-effects. The study identified apprehension regarding vaccine efficacy and the potential long-term health impact as the main barriers to vaccination. Future studies should address these concerns to scale vaccination programs among adolescents.

Proteomic and metabolomic profiling of urine uncovers immune responses in patients with COVID-19.

The utility of the urinary proteome in infectious diseases remains unclear. Here, we analyzed the proteome and metabolome of urine and serum samples from patients with COVID-19 and healthy controls. Our data show that urinary proteins effectively classify COVID-19 by severity. We detect 197 cytokines and their receptors in urine, but only 124 in serum using TMT-based proteomics. The decrease in urinary ESCRT complex proteins correlates with active SARS-CoV-2 replication. The downregulation of urinary CXCL14 in severe COVID-19 cases positively correlates with blood lymphocyte counts. Integrative multiomics analysis suggests that innate immune activation and inflammation triggered renal injuries in patients with COVID-19. COVID-19-associated modulation of the urinary proteome offers unique insights into the pathogenesis of this disease. This study demonstrates the added value of including the urinary proteome in a suite of multiomics analytes in evaluating the immune pathobiology and clinical course of COVID-19 and, potentially, other infectious diseases.

Multi-organ proteomic landscape of COVID-19 autopsies.

The molecular pathology of multi-organ injuries in COVID-19 patients remains unclear, preventing effective therapeutics development. Here, we report a proteomic analysis of 144 autopsy samples from seven organs in 19 COVID-19 patients. We quantified 11,394 proteins in these samples, in which 5,336 were perturbed in the COVID-19 patients compared to controls. Our data showed that cathepsin L1, rather than ACE2, was significantly upregulated in the lung from the COVID-19 patients. Systemic hyperinflammation and dysregulation of glucose and fatty acid metabolism were detected in multiple organs. We also observed dysregulation of key factors involved in hypoxia, angiogenesis, blood coagulation, and fibrosis in multiple organs from the COVID-19 patients. Evidence for testicular injuries includes reduced Leydig cells, suppressed cholesterol biosynthesis, and sperm mobility. In summary, this study depicts a multi-organ proteomic landscape of COVID-19 autopsies that furthers our understanding of the biological basis of COVID-19 pathology.

Proteomic and Metabolomic Characterization of COVID-19 Patient Sera.

Early detection and effective treatment of severe COVID-19 patients remain major challenges. Here, we performed proteomic and metabolomic profiling of sera from 46 COVID-19 and 53 control individuals. We then trained a machine learning model using proteomic and metabolomic measurements from a training cohort of 18 non-severe and 13 severe patients. The model was validated using 10 independent patients, 7 of which were correctly classified. Targeted proteomics and metabolomics assays were employed to further validate this molecular classifier in a second test cohort of 19 COVID-19 patients, leading to 16 correct assignments. We identified molecular changes in the sera of COVID-19 patients compared to other groups implicating dysregulation of macrophage, platelet degranulation, complement system pathways, and massive metabolic suppression. This study revealed characteristic protein and metabolite changes in the sera of severe COVID-19 patients, which might be used in selection of potential blood biomarkers for severity evaluation.