The impact of COVID-19 vaccines on patients with immune thrombocytopenic purpura:A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis (preprint)

Abstract Introduction Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is characterized by a decrease in platelet counts and can be triggered by various factors, such as viral infections and vaccinations. Concerns have emerged regarding potential links between the vaccines for COVID-19 and the worsening of ITP. This systematic review aims to comprehensively assess the impact of COVID-19 vaccines on patients with ITP, including associated risks and outcomes. Methods and Analysis A thorough search will be conducted across multiple electronic databases, including PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wan Fang, VIP, and CBM, to identify pertinent studies. This study will encompass randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, and case series that assess the effects of COVID-19 vaccines on individuals with ITP. The primary outcome will center on alterations in platelet count, while secondary outcomes will encompass the occurrence of thromboembolic events, bleeding complications, recurrence rate of ITP, impact of ITP exacerbation, and adverse events. The data will be synthesized and subjected to meta-analysis using Review Manager Software (RevMan) V.5.3. Additionally, subgroup analyses will be conducted to investigate potential sources of heterogeneity.

Long-term Association between NO2 and Human Mobility: A Two-year Spatiotemporal Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Southeast Asia (preprint)

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, governments have implemented lockdowns and movement restrictions to contain the disease outbreak. Previous studies have reported a significant positive correlation between NO2 and mobility level during the lockdowns in early 2020. Though NO2 level and mobility exhibited similar spatial distribution, our initial exploration indicated that the decreased mobility level did not always result in concurrent decreasing NO2 level during a two-year time period in Southeast Asia with human movement data at a very high spatial resolution (i.e., Facebook origin-destination data). It indicated that factors other than mobility level contributed to NO2 level decline. Our subsequent analysis used a trained Multi-Layer Perceptron model to assess mobility and other contributing factors (e.g., travel modes, temperature, wind speed) and predicted future NO2 levels in Southeast Asia. The model results suggest that, while as expected mobility has a strong impact on NO2 level, a more accurate prediction requires considering different travel modes (i.e., driving and walking). Mobility shows two-sided impacts on NO2 level: mobility above the average level has a high impact on NO2, whereas mobility at a relatively low level shows negligible impact. The results also suggest that spatio-temporal heterogeneity and temperature also have impacts on NO2 and they should be incorporated to facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of the association between NO2 and mobility in the future study.

Immunogenicity and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in people living with HIV: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective Available data show that COVID-19 vaccines may be less effective in people living with HIV (PLWH), who are at increased risk of severe COVID-19. This meta-analysis aimed to compare immunogenicity and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in PLWH with healthy individuals. Methods Pubmed/Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were searched. Risk ratios of seroconversion were separately pooled with the use of random effects meta-analysis, and systematic review without meta-analysis of SARS-CoV-2 antibody titer levels was performed after the first and second doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. Results Twenty-two studies with 6522 subjects met the inclusion criteria. After first vaccine dose, seroconversion in PLWH was comparable to that in healthy individuals. After a second dose, seroconversion was slightly lower in PLWH compared with healthy controls, and antibody titers did not seem to be significantly affected or reduced among participants of both groups. Conclusions COVID-19 vaccines show favorable immunogenicity and efficacy in PLWH. A second dose is associated with consistently improved seroconversion, although it is slightly lower in PLWH compared with healthy individuals. Additional strategies, such as a booster vaccination with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, might improve seroprotection for these patients.

Negotiating interdisciplinary practice under the COVID-19 crisis: opportunities and challenges for tourism research

Purpose>COVID-19 is currently the most serious crisis facing the world, and scholars in the medical and social sciences are working to save lives and mitigate the societal effects of the pandemic. This global public health emergency requires interdisciplinary work to provide comprehensive insight into a rapidly changing situation. However, attempts to integrate the medical and social sciences have met several barriers. This paper aims to identify feasible research opportunities for interdisciplinary studies across tourism and public health regarding COVID-19.Design/methodology/approach>This paper presents a critical review of the literature and generates corresponding conceptual and theoretical frameworks to provide an in-depth discussion.Findings>Tourism-related issues of destination management policies and capital are addressed from an interdisciplinary perspective. The conclusions encourage interdisciplinary research into global health problems, which will promote tourism’s renaissance and sustainable development while enhancing social welfare.Practical implications>This study focuses on integrating tourism and public health to offer stakeholders recommendations regarding destination management and tourism industry recovery amid COVID-19.Originality/value>This paper represents a frontier study, critically uncovering a host of innovative interdisciplinary research directions and tourism-focused collaboration opportunities related to COVID-19.

The Impact of COVID-19 on NO2 and PM2.5 Levels and Their Associations with Human Mobility Patterns in Singapore (preprint)

The decline in NO 2 and PM 2.5 pollutant levels were observed during COVID-19 around the world, especially during lockdowns. Previous studies explained such observed decline with the decrease in human mobility, whilst overlooking the meteorological changes (e.g., rainfall, wind speed) that could mediate air pollution level simultaneously. This pitfall could potentially lead to over-or under-estimation of the effect of COVID-19 on air pollution. Consequently, this study aims to re-evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on NO 2 and PM 2.5 pollutant level in Singapore, by incorporating the effect of meteorological parameters in predicting NO 2 and PM 2.5 baseline in 2020 using machine learning methods. The results found that NO 2 and PM 2.5 declined by a maximum of 38% and 36%, respectively, during lockdown period. As two proxies for change in human mobility, taxi availability and carpark availability were found to increase and decrease by a maximum of 12.6% and 9.8%, respectively, in 2020 from 2019 during lockdown. To investigate how human mobility influenced air pollutant level, two correlation analyses were conducted: one between PM 2.5 and carpark availability changes at regional scale and the other between NO 2 and taxi availability changes at a spatial resolution of 0.01°. The NO 2 variation was found to be more associated with the change in human mobility, with the correlation coefficients vary spatially across Singapore. A cluster of stronger correlations were found in the South and East Coast of Singapore. Contrarily, PM 2.5 and carpark availability had a weak correlation, which could be due to the limit of regional analyses. Drawing to the wider context, the high association between human mobility and NO 2 in the South and East Coast area can provide insights into future NO 2 reduction policy in Singapore. Graphical Abstract