title: Management of acute myocardial infarction during the COVID-19 pandemic: A Consensus Statement from the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), the American College of Cardiology (ACC), and the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP)

text: The worldwide pandemic caused by the novel acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has resulted in a new and lethal disease termed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although there is an association between cardiovascular disease and COVID-19, the majority of patients who need cardiovascular care for the management of ischemic heart disease may not be infected with this novel coronavirus. The objective of this document is to provide recommendations for a systematic approach for the care of patients with an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a recognition of two major challenges in providing recommendations for AMI care in the COVID-19 era. Cardiovascular manifestations of COVID-19 are complex with patients presenting with AMI, myocarditis simulating an ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) presentation, stress cardiomyopathy, non-ischemic cardiomyopathy, coronary spasm, or nonspecific myocardial injury, and the prevalence of COVID-19 disease in the US population remains unknown with risk of asymptomatic spread. This document addresses the care of these patients focusing on (a) varied clinical presentations; (b) appropriate personal protection equipment (PPE) for health care workers; (c) the roles of the emergency department, emergency medical system, and the cardiac catheterization laboratory (CCL); and (4) regional STEMI systems of care. During the COVID-19 pandemic, primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) remains the standard of care for STEMI patients at PCI-capable hospitals when it can be provided in a timely manner, with an expert team outfitted with PPE in a dedicated CCL room. A fibrinolysis-based strategy may be entertained at non-PCI-capable referral hospitals or in specific situations where primary PCI cannot be executed or is not deemed the best option.


title: COVID-19 Serosurveillance May Facilitate Return-to-Work Decisions

text: Public health measures are needed to resolve the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, although a looming economic fallout merits close attention. Early safe reintroduction of immune individuals into the workforce may be essential to protecting the economic welfare of communities. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction testing, our primary diagnostic tool to date, has sensitivity and timing concerns, owing to sampling/handling errors, as well as a complex virus-host interaction. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction assays do not establish immune status once the virus has been cleared. Targeted serosurveillance for the determination of individuals' potential for transmissibility, particularly if paired with direct pathogen testing, may aid in "cleared for business" decision-making.


Covid-19: pregnant doctors should speak to occupational health, say experts


title: Lockdown in a specialised rehabilitation unit: the best of times

text: Specialised rehabilitation units offer inpatient multi-disciplinary rehabilitation for individuals with severe and enduring mental illness. A cornerstone of therapy is the work in the community through further education and community organisations. However, coronavirus restrictions have meant that such external supports are no longer available for the duration of the crisis. This has led to opportunities for developing new ways of offering rehabilitation within hospital environments. This article describes some of the new initiatives developed. The benefits of the lockdown for service users are also discussed. Many found the cessation of visits from family members with whom they had an ambivalent relationship helpful. The lockdown improved relationships between patients on the unit and encouraged a greater feeling of community. The lockdown has also emphasised the importance of team self-awareness and an awareness of the nature of the treatments offered.


Training in the year of the eye: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ophthalmic education


title: A Chemographic Audit of anti-Coronavirus Structure-Activity Information from Public Databases (ChEMBL)

text: Discovery of drugs against newly emerged pathogenic agents like the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (CoV) must be based on previous research against related species. Scientists need to get acquainted with and develop a global oversight over so-far tested molecules. Chemography (herein used Generative Topographic Mapping, in particular) places structures on a human-readable 2D map (obtained by dimensionality reduction of the chemical space of molecular descriptors) and is thus well suited for such an audit. The goal is to map medicinal chemistry efforts so far targeted against CoVs. This includes comparing libraries tested against various virus species/genera, predicting their polypharmacological profiles and highlighting often encountered chemotypes. Maps are challenged to provide predictive activity landscapes against viral proteins. Definition of "anti-CoV" map zones led to selection of therein residing 380 potential anti-CoV agents, out of a vast pool of 800â M organic compounds.


Evaluation of RdRp & ORF-1b-nsp14-based real-time RT-PCR assays for confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 infection: An observational study


Nursing's response to COVID-19: Lessons learned from SARS in Taiwan


title: Mathematical modelling of COVID-19 transmission and mitigation strategies in the population of Ontario, Canada

text: BACKGROUND: Physical-distancing interventions are being used in Canada to slow the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, but it is not clear how effective they will be. We evaluated how different nonpharmaceutical interventions could be used to control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and reduce the burden on the health care system. METHODS: We used an age-structured compartmental model of COVID-19 transmission in the population of Ontario, Canada. We compared a base case with limited testing, isolation and quarantine to scenarios with the following: enhanced case finding, restrictive physical-distancing measures, or a combination of enhanced case finding and less restrictive physical distancing. Interventions were either implemented for fixed durations or dynamically cycled on and off, based on projected occupancy of intensive care unit (ICU) beds. We present medians and credible intervals from 100 replicates per scenario using a 2-year time horizon. RESULTS: We estimated that 56% (95% credible interval 42%-63%) of the Ontario population would be infected over the course of the epidemic in the base case. At the epidemic peak, we projected 107 000 (95% credible interval 60 760-149 000) cases in hospital (non-ICU) and 55 500 (95% credible interval 32 700-75 200) cases in ICU. For fixed-duration scenarios, all interventions were projected to delay and reduce the height of the epidemic peak relative to the base case, with restrictive physical distancing estimated to have the greatest effect. Longer duration interventions were more effective. Dynamic interventions were projected to reduce the proportion of the population infected at the end of the 2-year period and could reduce the median number of cases in ICU below current estimates of Ontario's ICU capacity. INTERPRETATION: Without substantial physical distancing or a combination of moderate physical distancing with enhanced case finding, we project that ICU resources would be overwhelmed. Dynamic physical distancing could maintain health-system capacity and also allow periodic psychological and economic respite for populations.


title: Differences in the frequency of genetic variants associated with iron imbalance among global populations

text: Iron deficiency anaemia is a major health problem affecting approximately 1.2 billion people worldwide. Young children, women of reproductive age and pregnant women living in sub-Saharan Africa are the most vulnerable. It is estimated that iron deficiency accounts for half of anaemia cases. Apart from nutritional deficiency, infection, inflammation and genetic factors are the major drivers of anaemia. However, the role of genetic risk factors has not been thoroughly investigated. This is particularly relevant in African populations, as they carry high genetic diversity and have a high prevalence of anaemia. Multiple genetic variations in iron regulatory genes have been linked to impaired iron status. Here we conducted a literature review to identify genetic variants associated with iron imbalance among global populations. We compare their allele frequencies and risk scores and we investigated population-specific selection among populations of varying geographic origin using data from the Keneba Biobank representing individuals in rural Gambia and the 1000 Genomes Project. We identified a significant lack of data on the genetic determinants of iron status in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the studies on genetic determinants of iron status have been conducted in Europeans. Also, we identified population differences in allele frequencies in candidate putative genetic risk factors. Given the disproportionately high genetic diversity in African populations coupled with their high prevalence of iron deficiency, there is need to investigate the genetic influences of low iron status in Sub-Saharan Africa. The resulting insights may inform the future implementation of iron intervention strategies.


Extended use or reuse of N95 respirators during COVID-19 pandemic: An overview of national regulatory authority recommendations


Reflection on passive immunotherapy in those who need most: some novel strategic arguments for obtaining safer therapeutic plasma or autologous antibodies from recovered COVID-19 infected patients


title: Double-quencher probes improve detection sensitivity toward Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in a reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay

text: BACKGROUND: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) which emerged in the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, has spread worldwide and is threatening human life. The detection of SARS-CoV-2 is critical for preventing new outbreaks, curbing disease spread, and managing patients. Currently, a reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay is used to detect the virus in clinical laboratories. However, although this assay is considered to have high specificity, its sensitivity is reportedly as low as 60-70%. Improved sensitivity is, therefore, urgently required. METHODS: We used the primers and single-quencher probes recommended by the CDC (N1, N2 and N3) in the USA and the NIID (N1 and N2) in Japan. In addition, we designed double-quencher probes according to the virus sequence provided by the NIID to develop a further assay (termed the YCH assay [N1 and N2]). Using these assays, we conducted RT-PCR with serially diluted DNA positive controls to assess and compare the detection sensitivity of the three assays. Furthermore, 66 nasopharyngeal swabs were tested to determine the diagnostic performances. RESULTS: The threshold cycle (Ct) value of the RT-PCR was relatively low for the CDC and YCH assays compared with the NIID assay. Serial dilution assays showed that both the CDC and YCH assays could detect low copy numbers of the DNA positive control. The background fluorescence signal at the baseline was lower for the YCH assay compared with the NIID assay. We assessed the diagnostic performance between single- (NIID) and double-quencher (YCH) probes using 66 nasopharyngeal swabs. When the results of YCH-N2 assay were used as a reference, each assay detected SARS-CoV-2 with positive percent agreements of 56% for NIID-N1, 61% for YCH-N1, and 94% for NIID-N2, and 100% negative percent agreements for NIID-N1, YCH-N1 and NIID-N2. CONCLUSION: Double-quencher probes decreased the background fluorescence and improved the detection sensitivity of RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2.


Pentoxifylline and complicated COVID-19: A pathophysiologically based treatment proposal


When ophthalmologists step up to the COVID-19 frontlines


title: Robotic Sewing and Knot Tying for Personalized Stent Graft Manufacturing

text: This paper presents a versatile robotic system for sewing 3D structured object. Leveraging on using a customized robotic sewing device and closed-loop visual servoing control, an all-in-one solution for sewing personalized stent graft is demonstrated. Stitch size planning and automatic knot tying are proposed as the two key functions of the system. By using effective stitch size planning, sub-millimetre sewing accuracy is achieved for stitch sizes ranging from 2mm to 5mm. In addition, a thread manipulator for thread management and tension control is also proposed to perform successive knot tying to secure each stitch. Detailed laboratory experiments have been performed to access the proposed instruments and allied algorithms. The proposed framework can be generalised to a wide range of applications including 3D industrial sewing, as well as transferred to other clinical areas such as surgical suturing.


title: Preparing Students for a More Public Health-Aware Market in Response to COVID-19

text: The COVID-19 pandemic has made the public more aware of public health and the role its professionals play in addressing the pandemic. Schools and programs in public health have a new opportunity to recruit, train, and sustain the public health workforce. Academic public health can further educate the public and prepare students for meaningful careers through interprofessional education and practice-based learning.


title: Blood Component Use in Critical Care in Patients with COVID-19 Infection: A Single Centre Experience

text: There has been a significant surge in admissions to critical care during the COVID-19 pandemic. At present, the demands on blood components have not been described. We reviewed their use during the first 6 weeks of the outbreak from 3rd March 2020 in a tertiary-level critical care department providing veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (vv-ECMO). 265 patients were reviewed - 235 not requiring ECMO and 30 requiring vv-ECMO. In total, 50 patients required blood components during their critical care admission. Red cell concentrates were the most frequently transfused component in COVID-19 infected patients with higher rates of use during vv-ECMO. The use of fresh frozen plasma, cryoprecipitate and platelet transfusions was low in a period prior to the use of convalescent plasma.


Falling usage of hospital-based emergency care during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK


Non-SARS CoV2 positive critical patients: Sons of a lesser God?


title: A Critical Assessment of Some Recent Work on COVID-19

text: I tentatively re-analyze data from two well-publicized studies on COVID-19, namely the Charit\'{e}"viral load in children"and the Bonn"seroprevalence in Heinsberg/Gangelt"study, from information available in the preprints. The studies have the following in common: - They received worldwide attention and arguably had policy impact. - The thrusts of their findings align with the respective lead authors' (different) public stances on appropriate response to COVID-19. - Tentatively, my reading of the Gangelt study neutralizes its thrust, and my reading of the Charit\'{e} study reverses it. The exercise may aid in placing these studies in the literature. With all caveats that apply to n=2 quickfire analyses based off preprints, one also wonders whether it illustrates inadvertent effects of"researcher degrees of freedom."


The host's angiotensin-converting enzyme polymorphism may explain epidemiological findings in COVID-19 infections


title: Die Corona-Pandemie 2020  über eine allumfassende Prävention hinaus./ [The 2020 Corona Pandemic-Beyond Omnipresent Prevention]

text: This paper is part of Forum COVID-19: Perspectives in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The Spanish Flu 1918-1920 caused between 50 and 100 million deaths. Despite this, West German officials ignored the pandemics of 1957/1958 and 1968-1970. Patient perseverance seems to be an appropriate label for the lack of any action. The appearance of new viruses had a massive impact on the discourse concerning pandemics: "patient perseverance" became "omnipresent prevention." The actual measures against SARS-CoV2 exceed the "omnipresent prevention" used during the 2009 swine flu pandemic by far.


title: Emergency response to the outbreak of COVID-19: the Korean case

text: This letter aims to describe how Korea can improve its emergency response to the outbreak of COVID-19. The key finding is that the nation has to shift from a self-interest-oriented response to a shared-interest-oriented response. Similarly, neighboring nations could form a national framework of networks among stakeholders.


Negative-pressure box under continuous suction for shielding against aerosols produced by patients with COVID-19 during abdominal ultrasound-guided intervention


Supraglottic airway guided intubation during the COVID-19 pandemic: a closed technique


Adapting Radiation Therapy Treatments for Patients with Breast Cancer During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Hypo-Fractionation and Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation to Address World Health Organization Recommendations


title: Potential adjuvants for the development of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine based on experimental results from similar coronaviruses

text: The extensive efforts around the globe are being made to develop a suitable vaccine against COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2). An effective vaccine should be able to induce high titers of neutralizing antibodies to prevent the virus from attaching to the host cell receptors. However, to elicit the protective levels of antibodies, a vaccine may require multiple doses or assistance from other immunostimulatory molecules. Further, the vaccine should be able to induce protective levels of antibodies rapidly with the least amount of antigen used. This decreases the cost of a vaccine and makes it affordable. As the pandemic has hit most countries across the globe, there will be an overwhelming demand for the vaccine in a quick time. Incorporating a suitable adjuvant in a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine may address these requirements. This review paper will discuss the experimental results of the adjuvanted vaccine studies with similar coronaviruses (CoVs) which might be useful to select an appropriate adjuvant for a vaccine against rapidly emergingSARS-CoV-2. We also discuss the current progress in the development of adjuvanted vaccines against the disease.


title: Addressing challenges for clinical research responses to emerging epidemics and pandemics: a scoping review

text: BACKGROUND: Major infectious disease outbreaks are a constant threat to human health. Clinical research responses to outbreaks generate evidence to improve outcomes and outbreak control. Experiences from previous epidemics have identified multiple challenges to undertaking timely clinical research responses. This scoping review is a systematic appraisal of political, economic, administrative, regulatory, logistical, ethical and social (PEARLES) challenges to clinical research responses to emergency epidemics and solutions identified to address these. METHODS: A scoping review. We searched six databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Global Health, PsycINFO, Scopus and Epistemonikos) for articles published from 2008 to July 2018. We included publications reporting PEARLES challenges to clinical research responses to emerging epidemics and pandemics and solutions identified to address these. Two reviewers screened articles for inclusion, extracted and analysed the data. RESULTS: Of 2678 articles screened, 76 were included. Most presented data relating to the 2014-2016 Ebola virus outbreak or the H1N1 outbreak in 2009. The articles related to clinical research responses in Africa (n = 37), Europe (n = 8), North America (n = 5), Latin America and the Caribbean (n = 3) and Asia (n = 1) and/or globally (n = 22). A wide range of solutions to PEARLES challenges was presented, including a need to strengthen global collaborations and coordination at all levels and develop pre-approved protocols and equitable frameworks, protocols and standards for emergencies. Clinical trial networks and expedited funding and approvals were some solutions implemented. National ownership and community engagement from the outset were a key enabler for delivery. Despite the wide range of recommended solutions, none had been formally evaluated. CONCLUSIONS: To strengthen global preparedness and response to the COVID-19 pandemic and future epidemics, identified solutions for rapid clinical research deployment, delivery, and dissemination must be implemented. Improvements are urgently needed to strengthen collaborations, funding mechanisms, global and national research capacity and capability, targeting regions vulnerable to epidemics and pandemics. Solutions need to be flexible to allow timely adaptations to context, and research led by governments of affected regions. Research communities globally need to evaluate their activities and incorporate lessons learnt to refine and rehearse collaborative outbreak response plans in between epidemics.


title: Management of a COVID-19 outbreak in a hotel in Tenerife, Spain

text: Since the first accounts of SARS-CoV-2, authorities have encountered numerous unprecedented situations threatening public health. This rapid communication addresses events that led to the quarantining of a hotel in Tenerife, Spain and the effectiveness of the rapidly implemented control measures. In total, eight cases have been associated with the hotel. Due to the international nature of the guests, had these timely precautions not been in place, a multinational cluster might have formed.


title: Back to the Future: Principles on Resuming Outpatient Services in the COVID-19 Era

text: The rapidly changing health care climate related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in numerous changes to health care systems and in practices that protect both the public and the workers who serve in hospitals around the country. As a result, these past few months have seen a drastic reduction in outpatient visits. With phased reopening and appropriate guidance, health care systems are attempting to return to normal. The experiences and lessons learned are described, and we provide guiding principles to allow for a safe and effective return to outpatient care.


Covid-19 and Diabetes in Hawaii


Covid-19: research methods must be flexible in a crisis


Missing the Target


Inaccurate conclusions by Tang and colleagues


title: Protocolo para la atención de personas con sospechas o infección confirmada por Coronavirus (2019-nCoN)

text: El protocolo contiene definiciones de casos sospechosos, manejo de pacientes con sospecha de infección por Coronavirus, tratamiento específicos anti-Novel CoV e investigación clínica y las consideraciones especiales para pacientes embarazadas


Use of a Modified System for Manual Ventilation of the Patient for In-hospital and Extra Hospital Transport to Avoid Aerosolizing Spread of Droplets during Covid-19 Outbreak


title: Perioperative Management of Patients Infected with the Novel Coronavirus: Recommendation from the Joint Task Force of the Chinese Society of Anesthesiology and the Chinese Association of Anesthesiologists

text: The outbreak of the new Coronavirus disease, COVID-19, has been involved in 77,262 cases in China as well as in 27 other countries as of February 24, 2020. Because the virus is novel to human beings, and there is no vaccine yet available, every individual is susceptible and can become infected. Healthcare workers are at high risk, and unfortunately, more than 3,000 healthcare workers in China have been infected. Anesthesiologists are among healthcare workers who are at an even higher risk of becoming infected because of their close contact with infected patients and high potential of exposure to respiratory droplets or aerosol from their patients' airways. In order to provide healthcare workers with updated recommendations on the management of patients in the perioperative setting as well as for emergency airway management outside of the operating room, the two largest anesthesia societies, the Chinese Society of Anesthesiology (CSA) and the Chinese Association of Anesthesiologists (CAA) have formed a task force to produce the recommendations. The task force hopes to help healthcare workers, particularly anesthesiologists, optimize the care of their patients and protect patients, healthcare workers, and the public from becoming infected. The recommendations were created mainly based on the practice and experience of anesthesiologists who provide care to patients in China. Therefore, adoption of these recommendations outside of China must be done with caution, and the local environment, culture, uniqueness of the healthcare system, and patients' needs should be considered. The task force will continuously update the recommendations and incorporate new information in future versions.


title: Vox Sanguinis International Forum on Hospital Transfusion Services' Response to COVID-19

text: The novel coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2) that was first reported in Wuhan, China and provokes the COVID-19 disease has developed into a pandemic with hundreds of thousands of people infected. Many governments have enforced social isolation protocols on their citizens, which has led to the closure of many large public gatherings in order to limit the spread of the virus. These closures could reasonably be expected to affect blood collections, thereby presaging shortages of blood for transfusion. On the other hand, steps such as the postponement of elective surgeries and other non-urgent transfusions could mitigate against potential shortfalls in the blood supply.


title: Gene-Environment Interaction in the Era of Precision Medicine -- Fix the Potholes or Start Building a New Road?

text: Genetic mapping sprung in the last decade of the 20th century with the development of statistical procedures putting classical models of genetic effects together with molecular biology techniques. It eventually became clear that those models, originally developed to serve other purposes, implied limitations at different stages of the analyses-disclosing loci, measuring their effects and providing additional parameters for adequate biological/medical interpretations. The present paper is aimed to ponder whether it is realistic and worth to try and further amend classical models of genetic effects or it proves more sensible to undertake alternative theoretical strategies instead. In order to further feed into that debate, mathematical developments for gene-environment interaction stemming from the classical models of genetic effects are here revised and brought up-to-date with the prospects present-day available data bestow, particularly in the context of precision medicine. Those developments strengthen the methodology required to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Structure of mouse coronavirus spike protein complexed with receptor reveals mechanism for viral entry

text: Coronaviruses recognize a variety of receptors using different domains of their envelope-anchored spike protein. How these diverse receptor recognition patterns affect viral entry is unknown. Mouse hepatitis coronavirus (MHV) is the only known coronavirus that uses the N-terminal domain (NTD) of its spike to recognize a protein receptor, CEACAM1a. Here we determined the cryo-EM structure of MHV spike complexed with mouse CEACAM1a. The trimeric spike contains three receptor-binding S1 heads sitting on top of a trimeric membrane-fusion S2 stalk. Three receptor molecules bind to the sides of the spike trimer, where three NTDs are located. Receptor binding induces structural changes in the spike, weakening the interactions between S1 and S2. Using protease sensitivity and negative-stain EM analyses, we further showed that after protease treatment of the spike, receptor binding facilitated the dissociation of S1 from S2, allowing S2 to transition from pre-fusion to post-fusion conformation. Together these results reveal a new role of receptor binding in MHV entry: in addition to its well-characterized role in viral attachment to host cells, receptor binding also induces the conformational change of the spike and hence the fusion of viral and host membranes. Our study provides new mechanistic insight into coronavirus entry and highlights the diverse entry mechanisms used by different viruses.


title: Condições de trabalho e o impacto na saúde dos profissionais de enfermagem frente a Covid-19

text: Objetivo: refletir sobre as condições de trabalho dos profissionais de enfermagem no enfrentamento ao novo coronavírus e apontar o impacto na vida desses profissionais em meio à pandemia Desenvolvimento: as fragilidades encontradas no cotidiano laboral dos profissionais de enfermagem são descritas pela literatura nacional e internacional, nas quais estão incluídas as más condições de trabalho, sobrecarga física e mental, baixa remuneração e ausência de Equipamentos de Proteção Individual adequados para o enfrentamento desse agravo Considerações finais: esta reflexão pode contribuir para repensar a saúde e segurança dos profissionais de enfermagem visando uma assistência com qualidade e segurança aos pacientes frente a esta doença


title: Public Health Emergency and Crisis Management: Case Study of SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak

text: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused an unparalleled public health crisis, delivering an immense shock to humanity. With the virus's health consequences largely unknown, different health systems around the globe have pursued various avenues of crisis management. South Korea, troubled early by the virus, was once the second most affected nation in the world. Arrays of measures in South Korea, such as large-scale diagnostic testing and technology-based comprehensive contact tracing, have brought about debates among public health experts and medical professionals. This case study describes the major cluster transmissions in SARS-CoV-2 hotspots in South Korea (such as a religious sect, a call center, logistics facilities, and nightclubs) and offers early observations on how South Korean public health authorities acted in response to the initial outbreak of the virus and to the new waves prompted by re-opening economies. We then discuss the way in which South Korea's experience can act as a reference for shaping other countries' public health strategies in pandemic crisis management.


title: Identification and Monitoring of International Travelers During the Initial Phase of an Outbreak of COVID-19 - California, February 3-March 17, 2020

text: The threat of introduction of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) into the United States with the potential for community transmission prompted U.S. federal officials in February 2020 to screen travelers from China, and later Iran, and collect and transmit their demographic and contact information to states for follow-up. During February 5-March 17, 2020, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) received and transmitted contact information for 11,574 international travelers to 51 of 61 local health jurisdictions at a cost of 1,694 hours of CDPH personnel time. If resources permitted, local health jurisdictions contacted travelers, interviewed them, and oversaw 14 days of quarantine, self-monitoring, or both, based on CDC risk assessment criteria for COVID-19. Challenges encountered during follow-up included errors in the recording of contact information and variation in the availability of resources in local health jurisdictions to address the substantial workload. Among COVID-19 patients reported to CDPH, three matched persons previously reported as travelers to CDPH. Despite intensive effort, the traveler screening system did not effectively prevent introduction of COVID-19 into California. Effectiveness of COVID-19 screening and monitoring in travelers to California was limited by incomplete traveler information received by federal officials and transmitted to states, the number of travelers needing follow-up, and the potential for presymptomatic and asymptomatic transmission. More efficient methods of collecting and transmitting passenger data, including electronic provision of flight manifests by airlines to federal officials and flexible text-messaging tools, would help local health jurisdictions reach out to all at-risk travelers quickly, thereby facilitating timely testing, case identification, and contact investigations. State and local health departments should weigh the resources needed to implement incoming traveler monitoring against community mitigation activities, understanding that the priorities of each might shift during the COVID-19 pandemic.


Is termination of early pregnancy indicated in women with COVID-19?


title: SARS-CoV originated from bats in 1998 and may still exist in humans

text: SARS-CoV is believed to originate from civets and was thought to have been eliminated as a threat after the 2003 outbreak. Here, we show that human SARS-CoV (huSARS-CoV) originated directly from bats, rather than civets, by a cross-species jump in 1991, and formed a human-adapted strain in 1998. Since then huSARS-CoV has evolved further into highly virulent strains with genotype T and a 29-nt deletion mutation, and weakly virulent strains with genotype C but without the 29-nt deletion. The former can cause pneumonia in humans and could be the major causative pathogen of the SARS outbreak, whereas the latter might not cause pneumonia in humans, but evolved the ability to co-utilize civet ACE2 as an entry receptor, leading to interspecies transmission between humans and civets. Three crucial time points - 1991, for the cross-species jump from bats to humans; 1998, for the formation of the human-adapted SARS-CoV; and 2003, when there was an outbreak of SARS in humans - were found to associate with anomalously low annual precipitation and high temperatures in Guangdong. Anti-SARS-CoV sero-positivity was detected in 20% of all the samples tested from Guangzhou children who were born after 2005, suggesting that weakly virulent huSARS-CoVs might still exist in humans. These existing but undetected SARS-CoVs have a large potential to evolve into highly virulent strains when favorable climate conditions occur, highlighting a potential risk for the reemergence of SARS.


title: The BMA COVID-19 ethical guidance: a legal analysis

text: The paper considers the recently published British Medical Association Guidance on ethical issues arising in relation to rationing of treatment during the COVID-19 Pandemic. It considers whether it is lawful to create policies for the rationing and withdrawal of treatment, and goes on to consider how such policies might apply in practice. Legal analysis is undertaken of certain aspects of the Guidance which appear to misunderstand the law in respect of withdrawing treatment.


WHO warns that averting flu pandemic may be harder as surveillance switches to covid-19


title: Pharmacologic Treatments for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): A Review

text: Importance: The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) presents an unprecedented challenge to identify effective drugs for prevention and treatment. Given the rapid pace of scientific discovery and clinical data generated by the large number of people rapidly infected by SARS-CoV-2, clinicians need accurate evidence regarding effective medical treatments for this infection. Observations: No proven effective therapies for this virus currently exist. The rapidly expanding knowledge regarding SARS-CoV-2 virology provides a significant number of potential drug targets. The most promising therapy is remdesivir. Remdesivir has potent in vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2, but it is not US Food and Drug Administration approved and currently is being tested in ongoing randomized trials. Oseltamivir has not been shown to have efficacy, and corticosteroids are currently not recommended. Current clinical evidence does not support stopping angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers in patients with COVID-19. Conclusions and Relevance: The COVID-19 pandemic represents the greatest global public health crisis of this generation and, potentially, since the pandemic influenza outbreak of 1918. The speed and volume of clinical trials launched to investigate potential therapies for COVID-19 highlight both the need and capability to produce high-quality evidence even in the middle of a pandemic. No therapies have been shown effective to date.


title: Fyrsta meðferð með tocilizumab við COVID-19 hérlendis - sjúkratilfelli/ [First case of COVID-19 treated with tocilizumab in Iceland]

text: A gentleman in his early fifties became ill with flu-like symptoms after vacationing abroad and was diagnosed with COVID-19 after returning to Iceland. A few days later he was admitted to the University Hospital, Landspitali, due to worsening respiratory symptoms and severe fatigue. A computed tomography scan of lthe lungs showed diffuse bilateral consolidations and ground glass changes. He developed respiratory failure and was transferred to the intensive care unit where he received further treatment, including tocilizumab (IL-6 receptor inhibitor). He subsequently showed clinical improvement and did not require endotracheal intubation.


Letter to the Editor in response to the article "Could IL-17 represent a new therapeutic target for the treatment and/or management of COVID-19-related respiratory syndrome?"


title: Potential therapeutic agents against COVID-19: What we know so far

text: The emerging outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 continues to spread all over the world. Agents or vaccines of proven efficacy to treat or prevent human coronavirus infection are in urgent need and are being investigated vigorously worldwide. This review summarizes the current evidence of potential therapeutic agents, such as lopinavir/ritonavir, remdesivir, favipiravir, chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, interferon, ribavirin, tocilizumab, and sarilumab. More clinical trials are being conducted for further confirmation of the efficacy and safety of these agents in treating COVID-19.


An 81-Nucleotide Deletion in SARS-CoV-2 ORF7a Identified from Sentinel Surveillance in Arizona (January to March 2020)


How disease stage impacts the rate of second primary malignancies in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma


title: Time series modelling to forecast the confirmed and recovered cases of COVID-19

text: Coronaviruses are enveloped RNA viruses from the Coronaviridae family affecting neurological, gastrointestinal, hepatic and respiratory systems. In late 2019 a new member of this family belonging to the Betacoronavirus genera (referred to as COVID-19) originated and spread quickly across the world calling for strict containment plans and policies. In most countries in the world, the outbreak of the disease has been serious and the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased daily, while, fortunately the recovered COVID-19 cases have also increased. Clearly, forecasting the "confirmed" and "recovered" COVID-19 cases helps planning to control the disease and plan for utilization of health care resources. Time series models based on statistical methodology are useful to model time-indexed data and for forecasting. Autoregressive time series models based on two-piece scale mixture normal distributions, called TP-SMN-AR models, is a flexible family of models involving many classical symmetric/asymmetric and light/heavy tailed autoregressive models. In this paper, we use this family of models to analyze the real world time series data of confirmed and recovered COVID-19 cases.


title: Regulating Accuracy-Efficiency Trade-Offs in Distributed Machine Learning Systems

text: In this paper we discuss the trade-off between accuracy and efficiency in distributed machine learning (ML) systems and analyze its resulting policy considerations. This trade-off is in fact quite common in multiple disciplines, including law and medicine, and it applies to a wide variety of subfields within computer science. Accuracy and efficiency trade-offs have unique implications in ML algorithms because, being probabilistic in nature, such algorithms generally exhibit error tolerance. After describing how the trade-off takes shape in real-world distributed computing systems, we show the interplay between such systems and ML algorithms, explaining in detail how accuracy and efficiency interact particularly in distributed ML systems. We close by making specific calls to action for approaching regulatory policy for the emerging technology of real-time distributed ML systems.


title: A Call for Consistency in the Official Naming of the Disease Caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Non-English Languages

text: We investigated the adoption of World Health Organization (WHO) naming of COVID-19 into the respective languages among the Group of Twenty (G20) countries, and the variation of COVID-19 naming in the Chinese language across different health authorities. On May 7, 2020, we identified the websites of the national health authorities of the G20 countries to identify naming of COVID-19 in their respective languages, and the websites of the health authorities in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Singapore and identify their Chinese name for COVID-19. Among the G20 nations, Argentina, China, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Turkey do not use the literal translation of COVID-19 in their official language(s) to refer to COVID-19, as they retain "novel" in the naming of this disease. China is the only G20 nation that names COVID-19 a pneumonia. Among Chinese-speaking jurisdictions, Hong Kong and Singapore governments follow the WHO's recommendation and adopt the literal translation of COVID-19 in Chinese. In contrast, mainland China, Macau, and Taiwan refer to COVID-19 as a type of pneumonia in Chinese. We urge health authorities worldwide to adopt naming in their native languages that are consistent with WHO's naming of COVID-19.


The Pandemic of Hate is Giving COVID-19 a Helping Hand


Machine learning can help get COVID-19 aid to those who need it most


title: Keystroke Biometrics in Response to Fake News Propagation in a Global Pandemic

text: This work proposes and analyzes the use of keystroke biometrics for content de-anonymization. Fake news have become a powerful tool to manipulate public opinion, especially during major events. In particular, the massive spread of fake news during the COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments and companies to fight against missinformation. In this context, the ability to link multiple accounts or profiles that spread such malicious content on the Internet while hiding in anonymity would enable proactive identification and blacklisting. Behavioral biometrics can be powerful tools in this fight. In this work, we have analyzed how the latest advances in keystroke biometric recognition can help to link behavioral typing patterns in experiments involving 100,000 users and more than 1 million typed sequences. Our proposed system is based on Recurrent Neural Networks adapted to the context of content de-anonymization. Assuming the challenge to link the typed content of a target user in a pool of candidate profiles, our results show that keystroke recognition can be used to reduce the list of candidate profiles by more than 90%. In addition, when keystroke is combined with auxiliary data (such as location), our system achieves a Rank-1 identification performance equal to 52.6% and 10.9% for a background candidate list composed of 1K and 100K profiles, respectively.


title: Risk, resilience, psychological distress, and anxiety at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany

text: BACKGROUND: The current COVID-19 pandemic comes with multiple psychological stressors due to health-related, social, economic, and individual consequences and may cause psychological distress. The aim of this study was to screen the population in Germany for negative impact on mental health in the current COVID-19 pandemic and to analyze possible risk and protective factors. METHODS: A total of 6,509 people took part in an online survey in Germany from 27 March to 6 April. The questionnaire included demographic information and ascertained psychological distress, anxiety and depressive symptoms, and risk and protective factors. RESULTS: In our sample, over 50% expressed suffering from anxiety and psychological distress regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants spent several hours per day thinking about COVID-19 (M = 4.45). Psychological and social determinants showed stronger associations with anxiety regarding COVID-19 than experiences with the disease. CONCLUSIONS: The current COVID-19 pandemic does cause psychological distress, anxiety, and depression for large proportions of the general population. Strategies such as maintaining a healthy lifestyle and social contacts, acceptance of anxiety and negative emotions, fostering self-efficacy, and information on where to get medical treatment if needed, seem of help, while substance abuse and suppression of anxiety and negative emotions seem to be associated with more psychological burden.


title: The Interaction Between Credit Constraints and Uncertainty Shocks

text: Can uncertainty about credit availability trigger a slowdown in real activity? This question is answered by using a novel method to identify shocks to uncertainty in access to credit. Time-variation in uncertainty about credit availability is estimated using particle Markov Chain Monte Carlo. We extract shocks to time-varying credit uncertainty and decompose it into two parts: the first captures the"pure"effect of a shock to the second moment; the second captures total effects of uncertainty including effects on the first moment. Using state-dependent local projections, we find that the"pure"effect by itself generates a sharp slowdown in real activity and the effects are largely countercyclical. We feed the estimated shocks into a flexible price real business cycle model with a collateral constraint and show that when the collateral constraint binds, an uncertainty shock about credit access is recessionary leading to a simultaneous decline in consumption, investment, and output.


title: Simulation-guided preparations for the management of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases in the obstetric emergency theater

text: Aims: The coronavirus 2019 infection (COVID-19) global outbreak has resulted in unprecedented pressures on health services, the need to prepare for the worst-case scenario, and the need for health experts to utilize their knowledge and expertise to fight this virus. The simulation training objective of this study was to enhance the neonatal, maternity, and anesthetics teams' preparedness for the management of the emergency delivery of pregnant women with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection.Methods: Three clinical simulation training sessions were conducted in March 2020 at the University Hospital Plymouth, Plymouth, UK. The neonatal, maternity, and anesthetics clinical teams participated in these joint training sessions in the obstetric emergency theater.Results: Each session lasted for around an hour. Suggestions were discussed and recommendations made. The key changes were: first, floor plan adjustment, increase of the clinical area by converting some offices to clinical spaces, and standard operating procedures for transporting patients; second, enhancement of the efficiency of the communication and coordination between the clinical teams; third, availability of extra support for the staff in the Central Delivery Suite (CDS); and fourth, introduction of a neonatal care pathway to manage neonatal resuscitation in such an emergency.Conclusions: Collaboration and joint training between the different clinical teams involved in the care of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients was proven to be one of the most effective ways of improving performance.


The utility of fecal calprotectin in the era of COVID-19 pandemic


title: Shotgun proteomics analysis of SARS-CoV-2-infected cells and how it can optimize whole viral particle antigen production for vaccines

text: Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in a pandemic and is continuing to spread rapidly around the globe. No effective vaccine is currently available to prevent COVID-19, and intense efforts are being invested worldwide into vaccine development. In this context, all technology platforms must overcome several challenges resulting from the use of an incompletely characterized new virus. These include finding the right conditions for virus amplification for the development of vaccines based on inactivated or attenuated whole viral particles. Here, we describe a shotgun tandem mass spectrometry workflow, the data produced can be used to guide optimization of the conditions for viral amplification. In parallel, we analysed the changes occurring in the host cell proteome following SARS-CoV-2 infection to glean information on the biological processes modulated by the virus that could be further explored as potential drug targets to deal with the pandemic.


Thyroid FNA in the time of coronavirus: The interventional cytopathologist point of view


Facing COVID-19 in the ICU: vascular dysfunction, thrombosis, and dysregulated inflammation


title: Oral mucosal lesions in a COVID-19 patient: New signs or secondary manifestations?

text: Some oral manifestations have been observed in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, there is still a question about whether these lesions are due to coronavirus infection or secondary manifestations resulting from the patient's systemic condition. Thus, this article aims to report an additional case of an oral condition in a patient diagnosed with COVID-19. Our patient, a sixty-seven-year-old Caucasian man, tested positive to coronavirus and presented oral manifestations such as recurrent herpes simplex, candidiasis, and geographic tongue. We support the argument that some oral conditions could be secondary to the deterioration of systemic health or due to treatments for COVID-19. The present case report highlights the importance of including dentists in the intensive care unit multi-professional team to improve oral health in critical patients, not only COVID-19 patients, but also, to contribute to evidence-based and decision-making in managing infectious diseases.


title: Current epidemiological and clinical features of COVID-19; a global perspective from China

text: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and represents a potentially fatal disease of great global public health importance. As of March 26, 2020, the outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in 462,801 confirmed cases and 20,839 deaths globally, which is more than those caused by SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2003 and 2013, respectively. The epidemic has posed considerable challenges worldwide. Under a strict mechanism of massive prevention and control, China has seen a rapid decrease in new cases of coronavirus; however, the global situation remains serious. Additionally, the origin of COVID-19 has not been determined and no specific antiviral treatment or vaccine is currently available. Based on the published data, this review systematically discusses the etiology, epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and current intervention measures related to COVID-19 in the hope that it may provide a reference for future studies and aid in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic.


Audio Interview: Approaches to Covid-19 Vaccines and Antivirals


Junior researchers hit by coronavirus-triggered hiring freezes


title: Development of a Machine-Learning System to Classify Lung CT Scan Images into Normal/COVID-19 Class

text: Recently, the lung infection due to Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) affected a large human group worldwide and the assessment of the infection rate in the lung is essential for treatment planning. This research aims to propose a Machine-Learning-System (MLS) to detect the COVID-19 infection using the CT scan Slices (CTS). This MLS implements a sequence of methods, such as multi-thresholding, image separation using threshold filter, feature-extraction, feature-selection, feature-fusion and classification. The initial part implements the Chaotic-Bat-Algorithm and Kapur's Entropy (CBA+KE) thresholding to enhance the CTS. The threshold filter separates the image into two segments based on a chosen threshold 'Th'. The texture features of these images are extracted, refined and selected using the chosen procedures. Finally, a two-class classifier system is implemented to categorize the chosen CTS (n=500 with a pixel dimension of 512x512x1) into normal/COVID-19 group. In this work, the classifiers, such as Naive Bayes (NB), k-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Decision Tree (DT), Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector Machine with linear kernel (SVM) are implemented and the classification task is performed using various feature vectors. The experimental outcome of the SVM with Fused-Feature-Vector (FFV) helped to attain a detection accuracy of 89.80%.


The COVID-19 Pandemic Presents an Opportunity to Reassess the Value of Polysomnography


title: Ramping up Delivery of Cardiac Surgery During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Guidance Statement from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons COVID-19 Task Force

text: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound global impact. Its rapid transmissibility has transformed healthcare delivery and forced countries to adopt strict measures to contain its spread. The vast majority of U.S. cardiac surgical programs have deferred all but truly emergent/urgent operative procedures in an effort to reduce the burden on the healthcare system and to mobilize resources to combat the pandemic surge. While the number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase worldwide, the incidence of new cases has begun to decline in many North American cities. This "flattening of the curve" has prompted interest in re-opening the economy, relaxing public health restrictions, and resuming non-urgent health care delivery.


Re: "Strategy for the practice of digestive and oncological surgery during the COVID-19 epidemic"


Methodological challenges in studying the COVID-19 pandemic crisis


title: COUNTCOLORS, AN R PACKAGE FOR QUANTIFICATION OF THE FLUORESCENCE EMITTED BY PSEUDOGYMNOASCUS DESTRUCTANS LESIONS ON THE WING MEMBRANES OF HIBERNATING BATS

text: Pseudogymnoascus destructans colonizes the wing membrane of hibernating bats with the potential to form dense fungal hyphae aggregates within cupping erosions. These fungal cupping erosions emit a characteristic fluorescent orange-yellow color when the wing membrane is transilluminated with 385 nm UV light. The purpose of this study was to create and validate the R package, countcolors, for quantifying the distinct orange-yellow ultraviolet (UV) fluorescence in bat-wing membrane lesions caused by P. destructans. Validation of countcolors was completed by first quantifying the percent area of 20, 2.5 cm2 images. These generated images were of two known pixel colors ranging from 0% to 100% of the pixels. The countcolors package accurately measured the known proportion of a given color in each image. Next, 40, 2.5 cm2 sections of UV transilluminated photographs of little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) wings were given to a single evaluator. The area of fluorescence was both manually measured and calculated using image analysis software and quantified with countcolors. There was good agreement between the two methods (Pearson's correlation=0.915); however, the manual use of imaging software showed a consistent negative bias. Reproducibility of the analysis methods was tested by providing the same images to naive evaluators who previously never used the software; no significant difference (P=0.099) was found among evaluators. Using the R package countcolors takes less time than does manually measuring the fluorescence in image analysis software, and our results showed that countcolors can improve the accuracy when quantifying the area of P. destructans infection in bat wing-membranes.


title: Well-Being During Coronavirus Disease 2019: A PICU Practical Perspective

text: The importance of promoting well-being for healthcare professionals has never been as important as during the current coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. It is recognized that the concept of well-being is a multifaceted phenomenon which is influenced by individual, team, and system characteristics. We outline an approach to practically initiating supportive strategies within the PICU using a well-being approach to improve baseline resilience alongside an acute rescue strategy utilizing a peer-support network. These strategies are practical interventions and we share them with the aim of encouraging the international PICU community to use these or other strategies to support their teams. We encourage shared learning and collaboration during these difficult times.


title: A systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients on angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers

text: INTRODUCTION: Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) share their target receptor site with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, that may cause ACE2 receptor up-regulation which raised concerns regarding ACEI and ARB use in COVID-19 patients. However, many medical professional societies recommended their continued use given the paucity of clinical evidence, but there is a need for an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of the latest clinical studies. METHODS AND RESULTS: A search was conducted on PubMed, Google Scholar, EMBASE, and various preprint servers for studies comparing clinical outcomes and mortality in COVID-19 patients on ACEIs and/or ARBs, and a meta-analysis was performed. A total of 16 studies were included for the review and meta-analysis. There were conflicting findings reported in the rates of severity and mortality in several studies. In a pooled analysis of four studies, there was a statistically non-significant association of ACEI/ARB use with lower odds of developing severe disease vs. non-users [odds ratio (OR) = 0.81, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.41-1.58, I2=50.52, P-value = 0.53). In a pooled analysis of six studies, there was a statistically non-significant association of ACEI/ARB use with lower odds of mortality as compared with non-users (OR = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.53-1.41, I2 = 79.12, P-value = 0.55). CONCLUSION: It is concluded that ACEIs and ARBs should be continued in COVID-19 patients, reinforcing the recommendations made by several medical societies. Additionally, the individual patient factors such as ACE2 polymorphisms which might confer higher risk of adverse outcomes need to be evaluated further.


title: An Early Study on Intelligent Analysis of Speech under COVID-19: Severity, Sleep Quality, Fatigue, and Anxiety

text: The COVID-19 outbreak was announced as a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation in March 2020 and has affected a growing number of people in the past few weeks. In this context, advanced artificial intelligence techniques are brought to the fore in responding to fight against and reduce the impact of this global health crisis. In this study, we focus on developing some potential use-cases of intelligent speech analysis for COVID-19 diagnosed patients. In particular, by analysing speech recordings from these patients, we construct audio-only-based models to automatically categorise the health state of patients from four aspects, including the severity of illness, sleep quality, fatigue, and anxiety. For this purpose, two established acoustic feature sets and support vector machines are utilised. Our experiments show that an average accuracy of .69 obtained estimating the severity of illness, which is derived from the number of days in hospitalisation. We hope that this study can foster an extremely fast, low-cost, and convenient way to automatically detect the COVID-19 disease.


Sometimes Less Is Worse: A Recommendation Against Nonintubated Video-Assisted Thoracoscopy During the COVID-19 Pandemic


title: The application of Temporary Ark Hospitals in controlling COVID-19 spread: The experiences of one Temporary Ark Hospital, Wuhan, China

text: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had its evolution in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, and now it has spread around the world, resulting in a large number of deaths. Temporary Ark hospitals (TAHs) have played an important role in controlling the spread of the epidemic in the city of Wuhan. Taking one TAH with 800 beds as an example, we summarized details of the layout, setting, working mode of medical staff, patient management, admission standards, discharge standards, and standards for transferring to another hospital, hospital operation, and so on. Over the period of operation, a total of 1124 patients were admitted for treatment. Of these, 833 patients were cured and discharged from the hospital and 291 patients were transferred to other designated hospitals, owing to aggravation of their condition. The achievement was to have zero infection for medical staff, zero in-hospital deaths among admitted patients, and zero readmission for discharged patients. The rapid deployment of TAH provided a suitable place for treating mild/moderate or no asymptomatic COVID-19 patients, which successfully helped to control the infection in Wuhan. The successful model of TAH would rapidly and effectively control the spread of COVID-19 in other cities.


Accelerating Development of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines - The Role for Controlled Human Infection Models


Gun violence during COVID-19 pandemic: Paradoxical trends in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Baltimore


title: Review of Emerging Pharmacotherapy for the Treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019

text: The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has evolved into an emergent global pandemic. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can manifest on a spectrum of illness from mild disease to severe respiratory failure requiring intensive care unit admission. As the incidence continues to rise at a rapid pace, critical care teams are faced with challenging treatment decisions. There is currently no widely accepted standard of care in the pharmacologic management of patients with COVID-19. Urgent identification of potential treatment strategies is a priority. Therapies include novel agents available in clinical trials or through compassionate use, and other drugs, repurposed antiviral and immunomodulating therapies. Many have demonstrated in vitro or in vivo potential against other viruses that are similar to SARS-CoV-2. Critically ill patients with COVID-19 have additional considerations related to adjustments for organ impairment and renal replacement therapies, complex lists of concurrent medications, limitations with drug administration and compatibility, and unique toxicities that should be evaluated when utilizing these therapies. The purpose of this review is to summarize practical considerations for pharmacotherapy in patients with COVID-19, with the intent of serving as a resource for health care providers at the forefront of clinical care during this pandemic.


COVID-19 Data and the Cancer Patient: A Need for Registry Inclusion


title: CoViD-19 e malattie croniche: conoscenze attuali, passi futuri e il progetto MaCroScopio./ [CoViD-19 and chronic diseases: current knowledge, future steps and the MaCroScopio project.]

text: Chronicity and comorbidity influence the risk of CoViD-19 infection and the course of the disease. Epidemiological data and studies performed show different rates of chronic diseases and multimorbidity among patients affected by CoViD-19 in the various countries and areas, but they consistently stress their impact on CoViD-19 infection. In order to protect chronic and frail patients, the Italian Medicines Agency has taken measures to extend the therapeutic plans and monitoring registers; hopefully, therapeutic plans for antidiabetics, drugs for respiratory diseases and oral anticoagulant drugs will be abolished since they do not offer any additional advantage in terms of appropriateness and traceability of outcomes. The MaCroScopio project (Observatory on Chronic Diseases), regarding the CoViD-19 emergency, has started a new research path to foster the integration of the administrative data flows with the CoViD-19 Registers for planning and research purposes in the context of chronicity, as well as to evaluate the economic and organizational impact of the pandemic.


Physical Distancing and Emotional Closeness Amidst COVID-19


Allergy and asthma in children and adolescents during the COVID outbreak: What we know and how we could prevent allergy and asthma flares


title: Allergy and asthma in children and adolescents during the COVID outbreak: what we know and how we could prevent allergy and asthma flares?

text: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is affecting people at any age with a more severe course in patients with chronic diseases or comorbidities, males and elderly patients. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) initially proposed that patients with chronic lung diseases, including moderate-severe asthma, and allergy may have a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 than otherwise healthy people (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/specific-groups/asthma.html).


title: iBioProVis: Interactive Visualization and Analysis of Compound Bioactivity Space

text: SUMMARY: iBioProVis is an interactive tool for visual analysis of the compound bioactivity space in the context of target proteins, drugs, and drug candidate compounds. iBioProVis tool takes target protein identifiers and, optionally, compound SMILES as input, and uses the state-of-the-art non-linear dimensionality reduction method t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (t-SNE) to plot the distribution of compounds embedded in a 2-D map, based on the similarity of structural properties of compounds and in the context of compounds' cognate targets. Similar compounds, which are embedded to proximate points on the 2-D map, may bind the same or similar target proteins. Thus, iBioProVis can be used to easily observe the structural distribution of one or two target proteins' known ligands on the 2-D compound space, and to infer new binders to the same protein, or to infer new potential target(s) for a compound of interest, based on this distribution. Principal component analysis (PCA) projection of the input compounds is also provided, Hence the user can interactively observe the same compound or a group of selected compounds which is projected by both PCA and embedded by t-SNE. iBioProVis also provides detailed information about drugs and drug candidate compounds through cross-references to widely used and well-known databases, in the form of linked table views. Two use-case studies were demonstrated, one being on ACE2 protein which is SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein receptor. ACE2 binding compounds and 7 antiviral drugs were closely embedded in which two of them have been under clinical trial for COVID-19. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: iBioProVis and its carefully filtered dataset are available at https://ibpv.kansil.org/ for public use. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


title: Characteristics of COVID-19 Clinical Trials in China Based on the Registration Data on ChiCTR and ClinicalTrials.gov

text: Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the fundamental characteristics of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) clinical trials registered in China. Methods: COVID-19 clinical trials registered in China were analyzed from databases on ChiCTR and ClinicalTrials.gov. The study designs, samples, primary end points, and intervention measures were evaluated. Results: In total, 262 intervention clinical trials were retrieved on March 10, 2020. Overall, 181 (69.1%) trials involved two groups, 200 (76.3%) trials were randomized parallel trials, 24 (9.2%) trials were double blind, and 60.3% of trials included ≤100 participants. Sixty (22.9%) trials considered symptom improvement as the primary endpoint and 43 (16.4%) trials considered the rate or time at which the subjects became virus-free as the primary endpoint. Of 262 intervention studies, chemical drugs and biological products were studied in 105 (40.1%) intervention studies, of which antiviral drugs accounted for 15.3% and malaria drugs accounted for 8.4% of the studies. Among all trials, 27.9% of the studies used traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), 10.3% used cell therapy, and 5.0% used plasma therapy. Conclusion: This study is the first snapshot of the landscape of COVID-19 clinical trials registered in China and provided the basic features of clinical trial designs for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19 to offer useful information to guide future clinical trials on COVID-19 in other countries.


title: Hand Hygiene, Mask-Wearing Behaviors and Its Associated Factors during the COVID-19 Epidemic: A Cross-Sectional Study among Primary School Students in Wuhan, China

text: Although the emphasis on behaviors of hand-washing and mask-wearing was repeated during the pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), not everyone paid enough attention to this. A descriptive statistic was used to make sense of the status of hand hygiene and mask-wearing among primary school students in Wuhan, China. A binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the risk factors affecting the behaviors of hand-washing and mask-wearing. p < 0.05 (two-sides) was considered as significant at statistics. 42.05% of the primary school students showed a good behavior of hand-washing, while 51.60% had a good behavior of mask-wearing. Gender, grade, out-going history, father's occupation, mother's educational background, and the time filling out the survey were significantly associated with hand hygiene, whereas grade, mother's educational background, and residence were associated with mask-wearing. The behaviors of hand-washing and mask-wearing among primary school students were influenced by gender, grade, shady is back tell a friendand other factors, therefore, parents should make efforts of behavior guidance whereas governments should enlarge medium publicity.


Managing neonates with respiratory failure due to SARS-CoV-2 - Authors' reply


Is gustatory impairment the first report of an oral manifestation in COVID-19?


title: Are Italy and Iran really suffering from COVID-19 epidemic? A controversial study

text: The number of global COVID-19 infected cases is increased rapidly to exceed 370 thousand. COVID-19 is transmitted between humans through direct contact and touching dirty surfaces. This paper aims to find the similarity between DNA sequences of COVID-19 in different countries, and to compare these sequences with three different diseases [HIV, Hand-Foot-Mouth disease (HFMD), and Cryptococcus]. The study used pairwise distance, maximum likelihood tree, and similarity between amino acid to find the results. The results showed that different three main types of viruses namely, COVID-19 are found. The virus in both Italy and Iran is not similar to COVID-19 in China and USA. While, two viruses were spread in Wuhan (before and after December 26, 2019). Besides Cryptococcus and HFMD are found as dominant diseases with Group 1 and Group 3, respectively. Authors claim that the current virus in Italy and Iran that killed thousands of people is not COVID-19 based on the available data.


title: [Dynamic changes of chest CT imaging in patients with COVID-19]

text: OBJECTIVE: To analyze the dynamic changes of chest CT images of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: Fifty-two cases of COVID-19 were admitted in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine. The consecutive chest CT scans were followed up for all patients with an average of 4 scans performed per patient during the hospitalization. The shortest interval between each scan was 2 days and the longest was 7 days. The shape, number and distribution of lung shadows, as well as the characteristics of the lesions on the CT images were reviewed. RESULTS: The obvious shadows infiltrating the lungs were shown on CT images in 50 cases, for other 2 cases there was no abnormal changes in the lungs during the first CT examination. Ground-glass opacities (GGO) were found in 48 cases (92.3%), and 19 cases (36.5%) had patchy consolidation and sub-consolidation, which were accompanied with air bronchi sign in 17 cases (32.7%). Forty one cases (78.8%) showed a thickened leaflet interval, 4 cases (7.6%) had a small number of fibrous stripes. During hospitalization, GGO lesions in COVID-19 patients gradually became rare,the fibrous strip shadows increased and it became the most common imaging manifestation. The lesions rapidly progressed in 39 cases (75.0%) within 6-9 days after admission. On days 10-14 of admission, the lesions distinctly resolved in 40 cases (76.9%). CONCLUSIONS: The chest CT images of patients with COVID-19 have certain characteristics with dynamic changes, which are of value for monitoring disease progress and clinical treatment.


Paediatric aspects of COVID-19: An update


Pediatric endoscopic procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic: an Italian center experience


title: Evaluation of the Adjuvant Efficacy of Natural Herbal Medicine on COVID-19: A Retrospective Matched Case-Control Study

text: Since the outbreak of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Hubei province, the epidemic scale has increased rapidly, and no effective antiviral drug therapy has been identified yet. This study aimed to evaluate the adjuvant efficacy of Natural Herbal Medicine (NHM) combined with Western medicine in the treatment of COVID-19. We performed a retrospective, 1:1 matched, case-control study of the first cohort of hospitalized COVID-19-confirmed cases (January 17, 2020 to January 28, 2020). A total of 22 of the 36 confirmed patients were included in this study, split into two groups of 11: the NHM group (NHM combined standard Western medicine treatment) and control group (standard Western medicine treatment alone). All patients received appropriate supportive care and regular clinical and laboratory monitoring. Main evaluation indicators included improvement of clinical symptoms such as fever, cough and diarrhea after hospitalization; pathogen nucleic acid test result of respiratory tract and fecal specimens of the patient after hospitalization, and change of chest CT examination after hospitalization. The duration of fever in the NHM group ([Formula: see text] days) was significantly shorter than that in the control group ([Formula: see text] days) ([Formula: see text]). During the whole hospitalization period, the number of cases with diarrhea in the NHM group (two cases) was less than that in the control group (eight cases) ([Formula: see text]). Compared with the control group ([Formula: see text]), the duration for improvement (DI) of chest CT in the NHM group ([Formula: see text]) was significantly shorter ([Formula: see text]). Our results suggest that NHM could improve the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 patients and may be effective in treating COVID-19; thus, a larger, prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial should be conducted to further evaluate the adjuvant efficacy of NHM in the treatment of COVID-19.


title: First case of COVID-19 complicated with fulminant myocarditis: a case report and insights

text: BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been demonstrated to be the cause of pneumonia. Nevertheless, it has not been reported as the cause of acute myocarditis or fulminant myocarditis. CASE PRESENTATION: A 63-year-old male was admitted with pneumonia and cardiac symptoms. He was genetically confirmed as having COVID-19 according to sputum testing on the day of admission. He also had elevated troponin I (Trop I) level (up to 11.37 g/L) and diffuse myocardial dyskinesia along with a decreased left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) on echocardiography. The highest level of interleukin-6 was 272.40 pg/ml. Bedside chest radiographs showed typical ground-glass changes indicative of viral pneumonia. Laboratory test results for viruses that cause myocarditis were all negative. The patient conformed to the diagnostic criteria of the Chinese expert consensus statement for fulminant myocarditis. After receiving antiviral therapy and mechanical life support, Trop I was reduced to 0.10 g/L, and interleukin-6 was reduced to 7.63 pg/mL. Moreover, the LVEF of the patient gradually recovered to 68%. The patient died of aggravation of secondary infection on the 33rd day of hospitalization. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 patients may develop severe cardiac complications such as myocarditis and heart failure. This is the first report of COVID-19 complicated with fulminant myocarditis. The mechanism of cardiac pathology caused by COVID-19 needs further study.


Towards a better case fatality estimate for SARS-CoV-2 during the early phase of the United States outbreak


Role of clinical laboratories in response to the COVID-19 pandemic


Canadian Geriatrics in the Time of COVID-19


title: Counting Risk Increments to Make Decisions During an Epidemic

text: I propose a smartphone app that will allow people to participate in the management of their own safety during an epidemic or pandemic such as COVID-19 by enabling them to view, in advance, the risks they would take if they visit some given venue (a cafe, the gym, the workplace, the park,...) and, furthermore, track the accumulation of such risks during the course of any given day or week. This idea can be presented to users of the app as counting points. One point represents some constant probability, $p_\text{point}$, of infection. Then the app would work in a similar way to a calorie counting app (instead of counting calories we count probability increments of being infected). Government could set a maximum recommended number of daily (or weekly) points available to each user in accord with its objectives (bringing the disease under control, allowing essential workers to work, protecting vulnerable individuals, ...). It is posited that this, along with other proposed"levers"would allow government to manage a gradual transition to normalcy. I discuss a circuit framework with wires running between boxes. In this framework the wires represent possible sources of infection, namely individuals and the venues themselves (through deposits of pathogens left at the venue). The boxes represent interactions of these sources (when individuals visit a venue). This circuit framework allows (i) calculation of points cost for visiting venues and (ii) probabilistic contact tracing. The points systems proposed here could complement existing contact tracing apps by adding functionality to permit users to participate in decision making up front.


title: COVID-19 admissions calculators: General population and paediatric cohort

text: The world is in the grip of pandemic COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2). Children appear to be only mildly affected but for those countries that are still preparing for their first wave of infections, it is salutary to have some estimates with which to plan for eventual contingencies. These assessments would include acute hospital admission requirements, intensive care admissions and deaths per given population. It is also useful to have an estimate of how many paediatric admissions to expect per given population. However it is only very recently that paediatric epidemiological data has become available. This paper will create an interactive spreadsheet model to estimate population and paediatric admissions for a given population, with the author's country, Malta, as a worked example for both.


Severity of cardiovascular diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic: A letter in response to "One train may hide another: Acute cardiovascular diseases could be neglected because of the COVID-19 pandemic." by Huet et al


Spreadsheet Calculator for Medically Necessary, Time-Sensitive Procedures During and after the COVID-19 Pandemic


Management of the corpse with suspect, probable or confirmed COVID-19 respiratory infection - Italian interim recommendations for personnel potentially exposed to material from corpses, including body fluids, in morgue structures and during autopsy practice


COVID-19, A Clinical Syndrome Manifesting as Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis


Impact of initial respiratory compliance in ventilated patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome related to COVID-19


title: Angiotension-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin-receptor blockers are not associated with increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection

text: In a large Israeli dataset of 14 520 individuals tested for SARS-CoV-2, angiotension-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin-receptor blockers were not found to be associated with increased SARS-CoV-2 infection after adjusting for major confounders. Patients on these medications should not stop their medication prophylactically.


title: Super-factors associated with transmission of occupational COVID-2019 infection among healthcare staff in Wuhan , China

text: BACKGROUND: Globally, there have been many cases of COVID-2019 cases among medical staff, however, the main factors associated with the infection are not well understood. AIM: To identify the super-factors causing COVID-19 infection in medical staff in China. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted between Jan. 1st, and Feb. 30th, 2020, where front line members of medical staff that took part in the care and treatment of patients with COVID-19 were enrolled. Epidemiological and demographic data between infected and uninfected groups were collected and compared. Social network analysis (SNA) was used to establish socio-metric social links between influencing factors. FINDINGS: A total of 92 medical staff were enrolled. In all participant groups, the super-factor identified by the network was wearing a medical protective mask or surgical mask correctly (degree = 572; closeness =25; betweenness centrality = 3·23). Touching the cheek, nose, and mouth while working was the super-factor in the infected group. This was the biggest node in the network and had the strongest influence (degree = 370; closeness = 29; betweenness centrality = 0·37). Self-protection score was the super-factor in the uninfected group but was the isolated factor in the infected group (degree = 201; closeness = 28; betweenness centrality = 5·64). For family members, the exposure history to Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market and the contact history to wild animals were two isolated nodes. CONCLUSION: High self-protection score was the main factor that prevented medical staff from contracting COVID-19 infection. The main factor that contributed to COVID-19 infections among medical staff was touching the cheek, nose and mouth while working.


title: Commentary: Challenges for PhD students during COVID-19 pandemic: Turning crisis into an opportunity

text: COVID-19 results in the suspension of life all over the world. Universities suspended their academic activities except for online courses for undergrad and grad students. However, PhD students in both biochemistry and molecular biology fields must hold their experiments at the laboratories. Even under these extreme circumstances, the academic journey of a master's or PhD student should not be stopped; on contrary, they need to use these times to improve their knowledge related to their fields. Therefore, they can turn this COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity for themselves.


COVID-19: clinical presentation and implications. A primer for obstetricians


Our recommendations for acute management of COVID-19


Future litigation after Covid-19 pandemic in Italy


Coronavirus Pandemic


Combat COVID-19 with artificial intelligence and big data


Comprehensive approach to managing hidradenitis suppurativa patients


title: Fighting against the common enemy of COVID-19: a practice of building a community with a shared future for mankind

text: The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused more than 80 813 confirmed cases in all provinces of China, and 21 110 cases reported in 93 countries of six continents as of 7 March 2020 since middle December 2019. Due to biological nature of the novel coronavirus, named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) with faster spreading and unknown transmission pattern, it makes us in a difficulty position to contain the disease transmission globally. To date, we have found it is one of the greatest challenges to human beings in fighting against COVID-19 in the history, because SARS-CoV-2 is different from SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV in terms of biological features and transmissibility, and also found the containment strategies including the non-pharmaceutical public health measures implemented in China are effective and successful. In order to prevent a potential pandemic-level outbreak of COVID-19, we, as a community of shared future for mankind, recommend for all international leaders to support preparedness in low and middle income countries especially, take strong global interventions by using old approaches or new tools, mobilize global resources to equip hospital facilities and supplies to protect noisome infections and to provide personal protective tools such as facemask to general population, and quickly initiate research projects on drug and vaccine development. We also recommend for the international community to develop better coordination, cooperation, and strong solidarity in the joint efforts of fighting against COVID-19 spreading recommended by the joint mission report of the WHO-China experts, against violating the International Health Regulation (WHO, 2005), and against stigmatization, in order to eventually win the battle against our common enemy - COVID-19.


Asthma, biologics, corticosteroids, and coronavirus disease 2019


title: [Exploration on scientific connotation of TCM syndromes and recommended prescriptions against COVID-19 based on TCMTP V2.0]

text: Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) has attracted great attentions from the whole world. Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) has been widely used and shown satisfying efficacies in treating all stages of COVID-19. In this study, the molecular interaction networks of different stages of COVID-19(the early, severe, critical and recovery stage) were constructed using the links among symptoms-related genes collected from TCMIP V2.0(http://www.tcmip.cn/), an integrated pharmacology network-computing platform for TCM. Following the network topological feature calculation and functional enrichment analysis, we found that the molecular targets and pathways related with the "immune-inflammation system" were involved throughout all the stages of COVID-19. The severe stage and the critical period of COVID-19 were occupied by a large proportion of inflammatory factors and pathways, suggesting that there might be a cytokine storm in these periods, along with respiratory disorders, cardiopulmonary dysfunction, nervous system disorders, etc. Accordingly, the therapeutic targets and pathways hit by the recommended prescriptions against COVID-19 were also aimed to regulate the balance of immune-inflammation system, nutrient absorption and metabolism, abnormal energy metabolism, the cardio-pulmonary function, nerve system function, etc., which may be related to the therapeutic effects of these prescriptions in terms of several clinical symptoms, such as expiratory dyspnea, chest tightness and shortness of breath, abdominal distension and constipation, sweating and limb cold, dizziness, and irritability, etc. The above findings reflect the integrative actions of TCM characterizing by multiple-components, multiple-targets, multiple-pathways, and multiple-effects. This study systematically constructed the molecular networks of different TCM syndromes during the development and progression of COVID-19 and uncovered the biological basis for symptomatic treatment of TCM. Furthermore, our data revealed the pharmacological mechanisms and the scientific connotation of recommended prescriptions, which may provide supports for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 using TCM.


title: Performance of SARS-CoV-2 antibody assays in different stages of the infection: Comparison of commercial ELISA and rapid tests

text: We comparatively assessed sensitivities and specificities of four commercial ELISAs and two rapid tests in 77 patients with PCR confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, grouped by intervals since symptom onset. While test sensitivities were low (<40%) within the first 5 days post disease onset, IgM-, IgA- and total antibody-ELISAs increased in sensitivity to >80% between the 6th and 10th day post symptom onset. The evaluated tests (including IgG and rapid tests) provided positive results in all patients at or after the 11th day post onset of disease. Specificities of the ELISAs were 83% (IgA), 98% (IgG) and 97% (IgM and total antibodies).


Susceptibility of felids to coronaviruses


title: Head and Neck Microsurgeon Practice Patterns and Perceptions Regarding Venous Thromboembolism Prophylaxis

text: BACKGROUND: Patients undergoing head and neck (H&N) microvascular reconstruction comprise a population at high risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE). Free flap and VTE thromboprophylaxis may coincide but tend to vary from surgeon to surgeon. This study identifies VTE prophylaxis patterns and perceptions among H&N microsurgeons in the United States. METHODS: An online survey on VTE prophylaxis practice patterns and perceptions was emailed to 172 H&N microsurgeons in the United States using an anonymous link. RESULTS: There were 74 respondents (43% response rate). These surgeons completed residencies in otolaryngology (59%), plastic surgery (31%), and oral maxillofacial surgery (7%). Most underwent fellowship training (95%) and have practiced at an academic center (97%) for at least 6 years (58%), performing an average of 42 ± 31 H&N free flap cases per year (range = 1-190). Most adhered to general VTE prophylaxis guidelines (69%) while 11% did not and 20% were unsure. Nearly all surgeons (99%) would provide prophylactic anticoagulation, mostly in the form of subcutaneous heparin (51%) or enoxaparin (44%); 64% additionally used aspirin, while 4% used aspirin alone. The majority of surgeons (68%) reported having postoperative VTE complications, with six surgeons (8%) reporting patient deaths due to pulmonary embolism. A third of the surgeons have encountered VTE prophylaxis-related adverse bleeding events, but most still believe that chemoprophylaxis is important for VTE prevention (92%). While 35% of surgeons were satisfied with their current practice, most would find it helpful to have official prophylactic anticoagulation guidelines specific to H&N free flap cases. CONCLUSION: The majority of microsurgeons experienced postoperative VTE complications after H&N free flap reconstruction despite the routine use of prophylactic anticoagulation. Though bleeding events are a concern, most surgeons believe chemoprophylaxis is important for VTE prevention and would welcome official guidelines specific to this high-risk population.


An andrologist in the front line Covid-19 team


title: Understanding of guidance for acupuncture and moxibustion interventions on COVID-19 (Second edition) issued by CAAM

text: At present, the situation of global fight against COVID-19 is serious. WHO (World Health Organization)-China Joint Mission fully confirms the success of "China's model" against COVID-19 in the report. In fact, one particular power in "China's model" is acupuncture and moxibustion of traditional Chinese medicine. To better apply "non-pharmaceutic measures"-the external technique of traditional Chinese medicine, in the article, the main content of Guidance for acupuncture and moxibustion interventions on COVID-19 (Second edition) issued by China Association of Acupuncture-Moxibution is introduced and the discussion is stressed on the selection of moxibustion device and the duration of its exertion.


title: Coronavirus (COVID-19): Let's Prevent Not Panic

text: It was on 31st December 2019, that a cluster of pneumonia cases was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by China. The initial investigations revealed the cases to be due to a previously unknown "never before seen strain of coronavirus". Coronaviruses are a group of viruses, which are normally present among animals such as cows, bats, camels and cats. The disease was officially named COVID-19 by WHO on 11th February 2020. The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses named the virus as SARS-CoV-2 due to its resemblance to SARS coronavirus. According to WHO's Situation Report-28 as of 17th February 2020, globally there were 71,429 confirmed cases, which included both laboratories confirmed and clinically diagnosed cases (applicable only to Hubei province of China). Cases are clinically diagnosed based on their signs and symptoms and chest x-rays without laboratory testing. More than 99% of these are in China i.e. 70,635 and 794 are outside China. The cases reported outside of China belong to 25 countries in various regions of WHO: China having the epicenter of the disease bears the greatest brunt, with 1772 deaths. The three deaths outside China have been reported in Philippines, Japan and France. The case fatality rate of COVID-19 ranges between 2-3% A wide spectrum of disease, ranging from mild to severe, has been reported in confirmed cases of COVID-19. Respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, dyspnoea, myalgia, fatigue, breathing difficulties and bilateral lung infiltrates on C.T are common findings. Pakistan so far has not reported any confirmed case of COVID-19. Government is showing its commitment towards the threat of importation. This novel coronavirus, called as a "devil" by Chinese Prime Minister, Xi Ping is really an enigma.


COVID-19: An initial view from the Scottish critical care frontline


title: Recommendations for the management of patients with immune-mediated kidney disease during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic

text: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created major challenges for all countries around the globe. Retrospective studies have identified hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and older age as risk factors for high morbidity and mortality from COVID-19. There is a general concern that patients with immune-mediated kidney diseases, namely those on immunosuppressive therapies and/or those with more advanced kidney failure, could particularly be at risk for adverse outcomes due to a compromised antiviral immunity. Uncertainties exist on how management routines should be reorganized to minimize the risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection and what measures are necessary for infected patients. The aim of the present review of the Immunonephrology Working Group of the European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association is to provide recommendations for the management of patients with immune-mediated kidney diseases based on the available evidence, similar circumstances with other infectious organisms and expert opinions from across Europe. Such recommendations may help to minimize the risk of encountering COVID-19 or developing complications during COVID-19 in patients with immune-mediated kidney disease.


Il ruolo del cardiochirurgo negli ospedali COVID-19./ [Role of the cardiac surgeon in the COVID-19 hospital]


title: Ten recommendations for supporting open pathogen genomic analysis in public health

text: Increasingly, public-health agencies are using pathogen genomic sequence data to support surveillance and epidemiological investigations. As access to whole-genome sequencing has grown, greater amounts of molecular data have helped improve the ability to detect and track outbreaks of diseases such as COVID-19, investigate transmission chains and explore large-scale population dynamics, such as the spread of antibiotic resistance. However, the wide adoption of whole-genome sequencing also poses new challenges for public-health agencies that must adapt to support a new set of expertise, which means that the capacity to perform genomic data assembly and analysis has not expanded as widely as the adoption of sequencing itself. In this Perspective, we make recommendations for developing an accessible, unified informatic ecosystem to support pathogen genomic analysis in public-health agencies across income settings. We hope that the creation of this ecosystem will allow agencies to effectively and efficiently share data, workflows and analyses and thereby increase the reproducibility, accessibility and auditability of pathogen genomic analysis while also supporting agency autonomy.


Clinical prediction model for mortality of adult diabetes inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: A retrospective pilot study


COVID-19 in pregnant women - Authors' reply