International Journal of Coronaviruses最新文献

{"title":"Marginal SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Increases Interferon and Balances Cytokine Gene Expression","authors":"Satadal Das, D. Chatterjee, Krishnendu Paira","doi":"10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-22-4296","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-22-4296","url":null,"abstract":"Some evidence confirms the paradoxical beneficial role of harmful antigens when used in highly diluted forms. In this experiment, we observed cytokine gene expression changes in Gallus gallus embryo after challenge with Delta SARS-CoV-2 RBD spike protein antigen, from a concentration of 10 µg/mL to a series of highly diluted forms in ethanol, along with controls. We have also studied pre-and post- experimental combined sets of higher (10 µg/mL) and significantly lower antigen concentrations (attogram level). Attogram and zeptogram level concentrations of the antigen showed consistently remarkable up-regulation of INF-α among different cytokine gene expressions. INF-β gene expressions at the zeptogram level of the antigen showed consistent changes, although not so outstanding. The pre-experimental set having attogram level antigen administered first, followed by a 10µg/mL antigen challenge, showed excellent cytokine balance. Other experimental groups, including the control sets, showed variable results at different concentrations.","PeriodicalId":373064,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coronaviruses","volume":"137 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132418408","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Impact of Chest Computed Tomography in A Covid-19 Reference Hospital - First Wave - Distrito Federal - Brazil","authors":"Gleim Dias de Souza, Luciana Rodrigues Queiroz De Souza, Gabriela Gomes De Souza, Thales Queiroz Souza, Ulysses Rodrigues Castro, Adriano Guimaraes Ibiapina, Paulo Henrique Ramos Feitosa, S. Ajzen","doi":"10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-22-4328","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-22-4328","url":null,"abstract":"Objectives\u0000To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of chest CT for the diagnosis of COVID-19 associated with the clinical presentation and in relation to the PCR-RT. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value, gender, age group and degree of lung involvement will be evaluated.\u0000\u0000Methods\u0000We evaluated 1545 patients with chest CT, delineating the age range and degree of lung involvement, and 306 patients with chest CT and PCR-RT.\u0000\u0000Results\u0000Of the 1545 examinations, 53% were men and 47% were women, there was greater involvement in the 50-59 age group. In the pulmonary study, 55.05% were COVID-19. In the degree of lung involvement 37.70% were mild, 35.76% were moderate, and 26.54% were severe. In the distribution by age, there was a greater involvement between 50-59 years with 56% between moderate (27.6%) and severe (28.0%). Between tomography and PCR-RT, the sensitivity was 68.8%, specificity 59.5%, accuracy 91.3%, with prevalence 31.9%, positive predictive value 44.3% and negative predictive value 80.3%, in females, sensitivity 55.3%, positive predictive value 37.1%, negative predictive value 75.3%, in males, sensitivity 81.6%, positive predictive value 50, 6 and negative predictive value 86.6%.The sensitivities are different between the genders with p of 0.005 and specificity of 0.938, with age effect, starting at 45 years we have a p of 0.057 that decreases to 0.006 at 80 years for sensitivity and specificity.\u0000\u0000Conclusions\u0000The sensitivity and accuracy of CT scan in relation to PCR-RT was significant. Sensitivity increases with prevalence and in the older age group and in men.","PeriodicalId":373064,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coronaviruses","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133247762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prevalence of Covid 19 in Students Attended Al-Dora Family Medical Center for Covid 19 Test","authors":"Rawa Jaafar Kadhim Al-Ameri","doi":"10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-22-4174","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-22-4174","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction: Covid 19 pandemic affected all aspect of life, particularly schools attending. Students replaced their presentational lessons by on line distance learn. Ministry of health decisions varied between complete electronic study and attendance several days per week depending on the number of cases of the whole population. In Iraq, total cases till 15 of September, 2021, reached 1.963,264 and total death 21,631. Highest percent of confirmed cases in age group (30-39) years; 24.7%, while in children aged (0-9) years only 1.6%, and in older age group (10-19) years; 7.5%. Cases of covid19 at lower percent in small children and in school age children and tend to increase with age as it reached to 22.6% in age group (20-29). Objectives: Prevalence of covid 19 in students attending AL-dora medical center lab. Comparisons in number of cases of students before and after the school lock –down. Methods: It is a cross sectional study, included the records of schools health unit and lab records of VTM nasal or pharyngeal swab and rapid test in Al-Dora family health center from 1/10/2020 to 15/7/2021. Results: The study included 1711 students, the mean age group was 15.7 (± 4.9) years. The study showed the prevalence of covid19 in students attained the lab was 23.4%, highest percent was in age group >18 years and the lowest percent was in age group 6-12 years. The percent of vaccinated students in academic year 2020/2021 was 0.3 %( 3/1000). There is no significance difference in age group 6-12 years and age group >18 years before closing schools and colleges and after closing while age group 13-18 years showed a significant increase in positive cases after closing schools as cases increase from 18.1% to 25.9% after closing schools. Positive cases showed no significance difference with sex before and after closing. Discussions: The educational path of students in different age groups had broken down. Fear of parents could be justified but it could be exaggerated. School closures were applied almost around the world trying to decrease the potential spread of disease despite early studies suggested this would have less impact than most other non-pharmacological interventions.","PeriodicalId":373064,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coronaviruses","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134348357","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Analysis of Risk of Death due to COVID-19 in Cameroon","authors":"S. W. Youdom, Henri E. Z. Tonnang","doi":"10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-22-4115","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-22-4115","url":null,"abstract":"Background\u0000Cameroon is battling against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Although several control measures have been implemented, the epidemic continues to progress. This paper analyses the evolution of the pandemic in Cameroon and attempts to provide insight on the evolution of COVID-19 within the country’s population.\u0000\u0000Methods\u0000A susceptible-infected-recovered-dead (SIRD)-like model coupled with a discrete time-dependent Markov chain was applied to predict COVID-19 distribution and assess the risk of death. Two main assumptions were examined in a 10-state and 3-state Markov chain: i) a recovered person can get infected again; ii) the person will remain recovered. The COVID-19 data collected in Cameroon during the period of March 6 to July 30, 2020 were used in the analysis.\u0000\u0000Results\u0000COVID-19 epidemic showed several peaks. The reproductive number was 3.08 between May 18 and May 31; 2.75 between June 1 and June 25, and 2.84 between June 16 and June 24. The number of infected individuals ranged from 17632 to 26424 (June 1 to June 15), and 28100 to 36628 (June 16 to June 24). The month of January 2021 was estimated as the last epidemic peak. Under the assumption that a recovered person will get infected again with probability 0.15, 50000 iterations of the Markov chain (10 and 3- state) demonstrated that the death state was the most probable state. The estimated lethality rate was 0.44, 95%CI=0.10%-0.79%. Mean lethality rate assuming ii) was 0.10. Computation of transition probabilities from reported data revealed a significant increase in the number of active cases throughout July and August, 2020, with a mean lethality rate of 3% by September 2020.\u0000\u0000Conclusion\u0000Multiple approaches to data analysis is a fundamental step for managing and controlling COVID-19 in Cameroon. The rate of transmission of COVID-19 is growing fast because of insufficient implementation of public health measures. While the epidemic is spreading, assessment of major factors that contribute to COVID-19-associated mortality may provide the country’s public health system with strategies to reduce the burden of the disease. The model outputs present the threatening nature of the disease and its consequences. Considering the model outputs and taking concrete actions may enhance the implementation of current public health intervention strategies in Cameroon. Strict application of preventive measures, such as wearing masks and social distancing, could be reinforced before and after the opening of learning institutions (schools and universities) in the 2020/2021 calendar year and next.","PeriodicalId":373064,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coronaviruses","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123881341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Expression of Concern: Potential Risks and Unknown Effects of mRNA Vaccines On Population Health","authors":"Jianqing Wu","doi":"10.31219/osf.io/yudvh","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/yudvh","url":null,"abstract":"The litigation outcome of Rundup caused me to examine the risks of the two mRNA vaccines (Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna), which are used in the population vaccination campaign in the U.S. I will explain the flaws in clinical trials and side-effect evaluation methods, and limitations in laboratory studies and mechanism studies. In addition, I will examine the history of product liabilities and consistent failure of past medical studies to predict severity of drug side effects. Based on all evidence, I conclude that the vaccination may pose many risks that have not been studied and cannot be ruled out. I predict that vaccines will increase cancer risks through its adverse impacts on Central Nervous System and negatively affect the future health of the population in the long run. The vaccines may alter the normal selecting process for viral evolution and will worsen future pandemic measures. It is important for people to understand those issues before they can give their informed consent for being vaccinated.","PeriodicalId":373064,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coronaviruses","volume":"160 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128424966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"What Could Represent the Mantissa of the Registered Covid-19 Cases?","authors":"R. Isea","doi":"10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-22-4108","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-22-4108","url":null,"abstract":"In this work we present how it is possible to visualize the different coronavirus outbreaks from the calculation of the mantissa from the daily record of cases by Covid-19.This curve can also indicate the speed of propagation of the disease from the calculated infection rate. These conclusions are derived from the respective calculations in four different countries: Australia, Brazil, Italy, and Venezuela.","PeriodicalId":373064,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coronaviruses","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125127295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"FDA Should Re-evaluate All mRNA Vaccines and Revoke Their Use Authorizations (The Short Version).","authors":"Jianqing Wu","doi":"10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-21-4053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-21-4053","url":null,"abstract":"Drug industry, controlling medical publishers and large media promote flawed medicine for their revenues by systematically laundering medical knowledge in decades. They maintain and promote flawed research models and suppress disruptive discoveries, thereby precluding reform of medicine. In this study, I will deeply explore how the wrong life model, population-based research model, misused clinical trials, flawed statistical models, the symptom based research methods, binary disease classification, failure to address the massive vital organ capacities, failure to correct biases caused by expected delay in realizing side effects, and failure to address the interference effects of non-controllable factors affect the conclusions of “effectiveness and safety” for mRNA vaccines. I will directly analyze three studies that have been relied upon by FDA in approving mNRA use authorizations: one BNT162b2 effectiveness study published in NEJM, one booster shot study published in NEJM and a Seven Integrated Health Care Organizations study published by CDC. I will expose fatal flaws in the frequency risk concept, effectiveness rate, and hazard reduction ratios, and show why 3% death rate, 95% effectiveness rate and 90% mortality reduction are all meaningless and misleading, and should never have been used as treatment guidance. I will also examine common biases that can be easily practiced by sponsors’ researchers to alter conclusions in favor of approval. By relying on laundered medical “knowledge”, FDA has consistently failed to predict latent drug side effects for any drugs and vaccines in its history. FDA approved disastrous DES in 1941, Swine Flu vaccine in 1976, and mRNA vaccines in 2020. The vaccines are used to deliver short-term benefits on a small percent of persons at the costs of damaging health, causing deaths that could be avoided, and shortening lifespans for all people in the population. I thus urge FDA to reevaluate all mRNA vaccines and revoke their use authorizations.","PeriodicalId":373064,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coronaviruses","volume":"125 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115623400","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Proposal of Revised Curriculum to Circumvent the Impact of COVID Restrictions on Final Year Medical Students","authors":"R. K. Mehmood, Pawar Gaurav, Kaleem Akhtar, Farooq Dar, Muhammad Akhtar Hamid","doi":"10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-22-4101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-22-4101","url":null,"abstract":"Medical education has been extraordinarily disrupted during the COVID-19 era worldwide. The pandemic limited routine ward or patient-based medical education. These limitations have resulted in new challenges for medical students, especially the final year students in completing their mandated curriculum. We are suggesting a revised curriculum for final year medical students, by following which we can address COVID restriction while making sure all competencies have been achieved by students. This revised curriculum centers around the usual placement of students in Surgical Assessment Unit (SAU), however all students will be posted in simulation wards/labs on their turn to enhance and consolidate their understanding and learning of common surgical cases in these wards, so that they can replicate these skills in SAU and wards on their turns. This article highlights how the proposed curriculum addresses the learning needs of final year medical students in their surgery rotation. The article will also summarize the critical appraisal process of our curriculum in the context of curriculum design theories. Finally, the article will highlight the quality assurance measures adhered to while developing the curriculum.","PeriodicalId":373064,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coronaviruses","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124264580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cytokine Profiling in COVID-19 Patients in a Tertiary Hospital in Saudi Arabia; the Pre-Storm Phase","authors":"M. Alabdely, W. Conca, M. Alkaff, Aziza Alonaizie, F. Almohanna, F. Almohanna, W. Conca, W. Conca, W. Conca","doi":"10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-21-4051","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-21-4051","url":null,"abstract":"Background\u0000As COVID-19 immunomodulation has been a part of interest for studies, it has been found that severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with hyper-inflammatory response and increased levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-10 (IL-10). This can progress to cytokine storm syndrome and eventually development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) is a protein that is a member of the interleukin 1 cytokine family. Monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP1) is a small cytokine that belongs to the CC chemokine family. Interferon gamma-induced protein 10 (IP-10) is a protein secreted by several cell types in response to Interferon-Gamma (IFN-γ). All of these have roles in the immune response and eventually development of a cytokine storm.\u0000\u0000Methods\u0000Serum levels of IL-1RA, MCP-1 and IP-10 were measured in a cohort of 21 patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on admission to a tertiary care hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as well as in an approximately age-sex matched group of 4 uninfected controls. The study population was classified into severe, moderate, mild and controls.\u0000\u0000Results\u0000Serum levels of IL-1RA, MCP-1 and IP-10 were found to be elevated before the clinical deterioration.\u0000\u0000Conclusion\u0000These cytokines may play a role in early detection of disease severity especially in the pre-storm phase. Medications that target cytokines may prevent the development of an overt cytokine storm.","PeriodicalId":373064,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coronaviruses","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124240803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Validity of PIRO Score as an Assessment Tool for Mortality Risk of COVID-19 Pneumonia among Patients Admitted to World Citi Medical Center from March to August 2020. A Retrospective Observational Cohort Study","authors":"Graciano D. Natividad III, Edmart Pastrana, Rizalyn Piñera","doi":"10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-21-4045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14302/issn.2692-1537.ijcv-21-4045","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction\u0000In December 2019, cases of serious illness causing pneumonia and death were first reported in Wuhan, China.2 The clinical features of Corona Virus Disease-19 (COVID-19) are ranging from asymptomatic to multi organ dysfunction. The disease can progress to pneumonia, respiratory failure and death.4 Thus, a tool is needed that can predict the severity and in-hospital mortality risk of a patient with COVID-19 Pneumonia.\u0000\u0000The PIRO (predisposition, insult, response, and organ dysfunction) scoring was developed for use in the emergency department to risk stratify sepsis cases.15 Eventually it was adapted in pneumonia cases to predict its severity.\u0000\u0000Objective\u0000To validate PIRO score as an assessment tool for COVID-19 mortality risk among patients with confirmed COVID-19 RT-PCR test among patients aged 19 and above admitted in World Citi Medical Center from March 2020 to August 2020\u0000\u0000Methods\u0000This study included 93 patients aged 19 and above admitted in World Citi Medical Center with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19 Confirmed with pneumonia between March 2020 to August 2020. The patients’ charts were retrieved from the hospital medical records and case notes were reviewed. A severity assessment score was developed based on PIRO score (Predisposition comorbidities and age; Insult multilobar opacities and viremia; Response shock and hypoxemia; Organ Dysfunciton) were extracted. The patients were stratified in four levels of risk: a)Low,0-2 points; b)Mild,3 points; c)High,4 points; d)Very High,5-8 points. The PIRO score and the clinical outcome were compared. The discriminative ability of PIRO score to predict mortality risk was evaluated under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).\u0000\u0000Results\u0000The PIRO score had an excellent predictive ability for in-hospital mortality (AUC0.9197). Analysis of variance showed that higher levels of PIRO scores were significantly associated with higher mortality (p<0.001). Patients with Mild PIRO risk category were 98.65% less likely to expire (p<0.001, 95%CI 0.0015) and High PIRO risk category were 94.47% less likely to expire (p<0.001, 95%CI 0.0124), both compared to patients with Very high PIRO risk category. Finally, Very High PIRO risk category were more than 44 times likely to expire compared to patients with Low, Mild and High PIRO risk category (p<0.001, 95%CI 11.738).\u0000\u0000Conclusions\u0000The PIRO score is a valid risk model that can be used to predict in-hospital mortality, that can help clinicians provide timely and accurate assessment, and hence appropriate management to patients with COVID-19 Pneumonia.","PeriodicalId":373064,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Coronaviruses","volume":"37 6","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134093427","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}