COVID-19 Commons^™

Change In Trust In Us Government Health Agencies For Cancer Information In The Covid-19 Era, Onyema G Chido-Amajuoyi, Rajesh Talluri, Henry K Onyeaka, Itunu Sokale, Gideon T Dosunmu, Noelle Loconte, Sanjay Shete

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This cross-sectional study assesses changes in levels of public trust in US government health agencies providing cancer information.

Covid-19 Vaccine Confidence, Concerns, And Uptake In Children Aged 5 And Older In Calgary, Alberta: A Longitudinal Cohort Study, Emily J Doucette, Leah Ricketson, Tarannum Tarannum, Isabella Alatorre, Joslyn Gray, Cora Constantinescu, Susan Kuhn, Jessica K E Dunn, James D Kellner

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVES: Beginning early in the pandemic, there was a worldwide effort to develop effective vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Before and after the approval and implementation of vaccines, there were concerns about their need as well as their safety and rapid development. We explored child demographic characteristics and parental concerns to identify factors associated with the decision to vaccinate.

METHODS: A cohort of 1035 children from Calgary was assembled in 2020 to participate in 5 visits every 6 months for survey completion and blood sampling for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Visits 1 to 2 occurred before approval of vaccines for children; Visits …

Automated Spontaneous Echo Contrast Detection Using A Multisequence Attention Convolutional Neural Network, Ouwen Huang, Zewei Shi, Naveen Garg, Corey Jensen, Mark L Palmeri

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Spontaneous echo contrast (SEC) is a vascular ultrasound finding associated with increased thromboembolism risk. However, identification requires expert determination and clinician time to report. We developed a deep learning model that can automatically identify SEC. Our model can be applied retrospectively without deviating from routine clinical practice. The retrospective nature of our model means future works could scan archival data to opportunistically correlate SEC findings with documented clinical outcomes.

METHODS: We curated a data set of 801 archival acquisitions along the femoral vein from 201 patients. We used a multisequence convolutional neural network (CNN) with ResNetv2 backbone and visualized …

Increased Incidence Of Vestibular Disorders In Patients With Sars-Cov-2, Lawrance Lee, Evan French, Daniel H Coelho, Nauman F Manzoor, Adam B Wilcox, Adam M Lee, Alexis Graves, Alfred Anzalone, Amin Manna, Amit Saha, Amy Olex, Andrea Zhou, Andrew E Williams, Andrew Southerland, Andrew T Girvin, Anita Walden, Anjali A Sharathkumar, Benjamin Amor, Benjamin Bates, Brian Hendricks, Brijesh Patel, Caleb Alexander, Carolyn Bramante, Cavin Ward-Caviness, Charisse Madlock-Brown, Christine Suver, Christopher Chute, Christopher Dillon, Chunlei Wu, Clare Schmitt, Cliff Takemoto, Dan Housman, Davera Gabriel, David A Eichmann, Diego Mazzotti, Don Brown, Eilis Boudreau, Elaine Hill, Elizabeth Zampino, Emily Carlson Marti, Emily R Pfaff, Evan French, Farrukh M Koraishy, Federico Mariona, Fred Prior, George Sokos, Greg Martin, Harold Lehmann, Heidi Spratt, Hemalkumar Mehta, Hongfang Liu, Hythem Sidky, J W Awori Hayanga, Jami Pincavitch, Jaylyn Clark, Jeremy Richard Harper, Jessica Islam, Jin Ge, Joel Gagnier, Joel H Saltz, Joel Saltz, Johanna Loomba, John Buse, Jomol Mathew, Joni L Rutter, Julie A Mcmurry, Justin Guinney, Justin Starren, Karen Crowley, Katie Rebecca Bradwell, Kellie M Walters, Ken Wilkins, Kenneth R Gersing, Kenrick Dwain Cato, Kimberly Murray, Kristin Kostka, Lavance Northington, Lee Allan Pyles, Leonie Misquitta, Lesley Cottrell, Lili Portilla, Mariam Deacy, Mark M Bissell, Marshall Clark, Mary Emmett, Mary Morrison Saltz, Matvey B Palchuk, Melissa A Haendel, Meredith Adams, Meredith Temple-O'Connor, Michael G Kurilla, Michele Morris, Nabeel Qureshi, Nasia Safdar, Nicole Garbarini, Noha Sharafeldin, Ofer Sadan, Patricia A Francis, Penny Wung Burgoon, Peter Robinson, Philip R O Payne, Rafael Fuentes, Randeep Jawa, Rebecca Erwin-Cohen, Rena Patel, Richard A Moffitt, Richard L Zhu, Rishi Kamaleswaran, Robert Hurley, Robert T Miller, Saiju Pyarajan, Sam G Michael, Samuel Bozzette, Sandeep Mallipattu, Satyanarayana Vedula, Scott Chapman, Shawn T O'Neil, Soko Setoguchi, Stephanie S Hong, Steve Johnson, Tellen D Bennett, Tiffany Callahan, Umit Topaloglu, Usman Sheikh, Valery Gordon, Vignesh Subbian, Warren A Kibbe, Wenndy Hernandez, Will Beasley, Will Cooper, William Hillegass, Xiaohan Tanner Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Determine the incidence of vestibular disorders in patients with SARS-CoV-2 compared to the control population.

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective.

SETTING: Clinical data in the National COVID Cohort Collaborative database (N3C).

METHODS: Deidentified patient data from the National COVID Cohort Collaborative database (N3C) were queried based on variant peak prevalence (untyped, alpha, delta, omicron 21K, and omicron 23A) from covariants.org to retrospectively analyze the incidence of vestibular disorders in patients with SARS-CoV-2 compared to control population, consisting of patients without documented evidence of COVID infection during the same period.

RESULTS: Patients testing positive for COVID-19 were significantly more likely to have …

Vaccine Uptake And Intentions: Insights From A Texas Survey On Factors Influencing Covid-19 Vaccination Decisions, Yordanos M Tiruneh, Paula M Cuccaro, Kimberly S Elliott, Jing Xie, Journey Martinez, Mark Owens, Christian R Alvarado, Jose-Miguel Yamal

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines depends on widespread vaccine uptake. Employing a telephone-administered weighted survey with 19,502 participants, we examined the determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among adults in Texas. We used multiple regression analysis with LASSO-selected variables to identify factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake and intentions to receive the vaccine among the unvaccinated. The prevalence of unvaccinated individuals (22%) was higher among those aged 18-39, males, White respondents, English speakers, uninsured individuals, those facing financial challenges, and individuals expressing no concern about contracting the illness. In a fully adjusted regression model, higher odds of being unvaccinated were observed …

Parental Factors Associated With Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake For Children Over 5 Years Of Age In Texas, Paula M Cuccaro, Jihye Choi, Yordanos M Tiruneh, Journey Martinez, Jing Xie, Michelle Crum, Mark Owens, Jose-Miguel Yamal

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective for children, yet parental hesitancy towards vaccinating children against the virus persists. We conducted a telephone-administered weighted survey in Texas to examine parents' sociodemographic factors and medical conditions associated with COVID-19 vaccination intention for parents with unvaccinated children ages 5-17 years. We collected responses from 19,502 participants, of which 4879 were parents of children ages 5-17 years. We conducted multiple logistic regression with Lasso-selected variables to identify factors associated with children's vaccination status and parents' intention to vaccinate their children. From the unweighted sample, less than half of the parents (46.8%) had at …

Sars-Cov-2 Viral Load In The Nasopharynx At Time Of First Infection Among Unvaccinated Individuals, Leigh H Fisher, Jia Jin Kee, Albert Liu, Claudia M Espinosa, April K Randhawa, James Ludwig, Craig A Magaret, Samuel T Robinson, Peter B Gilbert, Ollivier Hyrien, James G Kublin, Nadine Rouphael, Ann R Falsey, Magdalena E Sobieszczyk, Hana M El Sahly, Beatriz Grinsztejn, Glenda E Gray, Karen L Kotloff, Cynthia L Gay, Brett Leav, Ian Hirsch, Frank Struyf, Lisa M Dunkle, Kathleen M Neuzil, Lawrence Corey, Yunda Huang, Paul A Goepfert, Stephen R Walsh, Lindsey R Baden, Holly Janes, Covid-19 Prevention Network (Covpn)

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Importance: SARS-CoV-2 viral load (VL) in the nasopharynx is difficult to quantify and standardize across settings, but it may inform transmission potential and disease severity.

Objective: To characterize VL at COVID-19 diagnosis among previously uninfected and unvaccinated individuals by evaluating the association of demographic and clinical characteristics, viral variant, and trial with VL, as well as the ability of VL to predict severe disease.

Design, setting, and participants: This secondary cross-protocol analysis used individual-level data from placebo recipients from 4 harmonized, phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine efficacy trials sponsored by Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen, and Novavax. Participants were SARS-CoV-2 negative at baseline …

Emerging Variants Develop Total Escape From Potent Monoclonal Antibodies Induced By Ba4/5 Infection, Chang Liu, Raksha Das, Aiste Dijokaite-Guraliuc, Daming Zhou, Alexander J Mentzer, Piyada Supasa, Muneeswaran Selvaraj, Helen M E Duyvesteyn, Thomas G Ritter, Nigel Temperton, Paul Klenerman, Susanna J Dunachie, Neil G Paterson, Mark A Williams, David R Hall, Elizabeth E Fry, Juthathip Mongkolsapaya, Jingshan Ren, David I Stuart, Gavin R Screaton

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The rapid evolution of SARS-CoV-2 is driven in part by a need to evade the antibody response in the face of high levels of immunity. Here, we isolate spike (S) binding monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from vaccinees who suffered vaccine break-through infections with Omicron sub lineages BA.4 or BA.5. Twenty eight potent antibodies are isolated and characterised functionally, and in some cases structurally. Since the emergence of BA.4/5, SARS-CoV-2 has continued to accrue mutations in the S protein, to understand this we characterize neutralization of a large panel of variants and demonstrate a steady attrition of neutralization by the panel of …

Diffuse Alveolar Haemorrhage Due To Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (Ahus) Associated With Covid-19, Atif Siddiqui, Amanda Tchakarov

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Delayed presentation of atypical HUS after COVID‐19 with diffuse alveolar haemorrhage is uncommon and can be life threatening.

Large-Scale Phenotyping Of Patients With Long Covid Post-Hospitalization Reveals Mechanistic Subtypes Of Disease, Felicity Liew, Claudia Efstathiou, Sara Fontanella, Matthew Richardson, Ruth Saunders, Dawid Swieboda, Jasmin K Sidhu, Stephanie Ascough, Shona C Moore, Noura Mohamed, Jose Nunag, Clara King, Olivia C Leavy, Omer Elneima, Hamish J C Mcauley, Aarti Shikotra, Amisha Singapuri, Marco Sereno, Victoria C Harris, Linzy Houchen-Wolloff, Neil J Greening, Nazir I Lone, Matthew Thorpe, A A Roger Thompson, Sarah L Rowland-Jones, Annemarie B Docherty, James D Chalmers, Ling-Pei Ho, Alexander Horsley, Betty Raman, Krisnah Poinasamy, Michael Marks, Onn Min Kon, Luke S Howard, Daniel G Wootton, Jennifer K Quint, Thushan I De Silva, Antonia Ho, Christopher Chiu, Ewen M Harrison, William Greenhalf, J Kenneth Baillie, Malcolm G Semple, Lance Turtle, Rachael A Evans, Louise V Wain, Christopher Brightling, Ryan S Thwaites, Peter J M Openshaw, Phosp-Covid Collaborative Group, Isaric Investigators

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

One in ten severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections result in prolonged symptoms termed long coronavirus disease (COVID), yet disease phenotypes and mechanisms are poorly understood1. Here we profiled 368 plasma proteins in 657 participants ≥3 months following hospitalization. Of these, 426 had at least one long COVID symptom and 233 had fully recovered. Elevated markers of myeloid inflammation and complement activation were associated with long COVID. IL-1R2, MATN2 and COLEC12 were associated with cardiorespiratory symptoms, fatigue and anxiety/depression; MATN2, CSF3 and C1QA were elevated in gastrointestinal symptoms and C1QA was elevated in cognitive impairment. Additional markers …

Abatacept Pharmacokinetics And Exposure Response In Patients Hospitalized With Covid-19, Stephen J Balevic, Daniel K Benjamin, William G Powderly, P Brian Smith, Daniel Gonzalez, Matthew W Mccarthy, Linda K Shaw, Christopher J Lindsell, Sam Bozzette, Daphne Williams, Benjamin P Linas, John Blamoun, Heta Javeri, Christoph P Hornik

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

IMPORTANCE: The pharmacokinetics of abatacept and the association between abatacept exposure and outcomes in patients with severe COVID-19 are unknown.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize abatacept pharmacokinetics, relate drug exposure with clinical outcomes, and evaluate the need for dosage adjustments.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This study is a secondary analysis of data from the ACTIV-1 (Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines) Immune Modulator (IM) randomized clinical trial conducted between October 16, 2020, and December 31, 2021. The trial included hospitalized adults who received abatacept in addition to standard of care for treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia. Data analysis was performed between September 2022 …

Potential Impact Of Annual Vaccination With Reformulated Covid-19 Vaccines: Lessons From The Us Covid-19 Scenario Modeling Hub, Sung-Mok Jung, Sara L Loo, Emily Howerton, Lucie Contamin, Claire P Smith, Erica C Carcelén, Katie Yan, Samantha J Bents, John Levander, Jessi Espino, Joseph C Lemaitre, Koji Sato, Clifton D Mckee, Alison L Hill, Matteo Chinazzi, Jessica T Davis, Kunpeng Mu, Alessandro Vespignani, Erik T Rosenstrom, Sebastian A Rodriguez-Cartes, Julie S Ivy, Maria E Mayorga, Julie L Swann, Guido España, Sean Cavany, Sean M Moore, T Alex Perkins, Shi Chen, Rajib Paul, Daniel Janies, Jean-Claude Thill, Ajitesh Srivastava, Majd Al Aawar, Kaiming Bi, Shraddha Ramdas Bandekar, Anass Bouchnita, Spencer J Fox, Lauren Ancel Meyers, Przemyslaw Porebski, Srini Venkatramanan, Aniruddha Adiga, Benjamin Hurt, Brian Klahn, Joseph Outten, Jiangzhuo Chen, Henning Mortveit, Amanda Wilson, Stefan Hoops, Parantapa Bhattacharya, Dustin Machi, Anil Vullikanti, Bryan Lewis, Madhav Marathe, Harry Hochheiser, Michael C Runge, Katriona Shea, Shaun Truelove, Cécile Viboud, Justin Lessler

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to cause significant hospitalizations and deaths in the United States. Its continued burden and the impact of annually reformulated vaccines remain unclear. Here, we present projections of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in the United States for the next 2 years under 2 plausible assumptions about immune escape (20% per year and 50% per year) and 3 possible CDC recommendations for the use of annually reformulated vaccines (no recommendation, vaccination for those aged 65 years and over, vaccination for all eligible age groups based on FDA approval).

METHODS AND FINDINGS: The COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub …

Transitioning From An In-Person Intervention To Augmented Text Messaging During Covid-19 In Mexican Americans With Prediabetes: The Starr County Diabetes Prevention Randomized Clinical Trial, Sharon A Brown, Mary A Winter, Heather A Becker, Alexandra A García, Mary M Velasquez, Hirofumi Tanaka, William B Perkison, Eric L Brown, David Aguilar, Craig L Hanis

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to explore the feasibility of using commonly available technology, such as text messaging, for diabetes prevention in rural Mexican American communities during COVID-19.

METHODS: Participants were selected from a diabetes prevention study funded by the National Institutes of Health that, prior to COVID-19, involved in-person group intervention sessions. Participants were predominantly female adults born in Mexico and Spanish-speaking. A subsample (n = 140) was divided into 3 cohorts: (1) 50 who completed the initial in-person intervention prior to the COVID-19 research pause, (2) 60 who needed additional support sessions to complete the intervention …

Maintaining Program Fidelity In A Changing World: National Implementation Of A School-Based Hiv Prevention Program, Elizabeth Schieber, Lynette Deveaux, Lesley Cotrell, Xiaoming Li, Stephenie C Lemon, Arlene S Ash, Karen Macdonell, Samiran Ghosh, Maxwell Poitier, Glenda Rolle, Sylvie Naar, Bo Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Large-scale, evidence-based interventions face challenges to program fidelity of implementation. We developed implementation strategies to support teachers implementing an evidence-based HIV prevention program in schools, Focus on Youth in The Caribbean (FOYC) and Caribbean Informed Parents and Children Together (CImPACT) in The Bahamas. We examined the effects of these implementation strategies on teachers' implementation in the subsequent year after the initial implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from 79 Grade 6 teachers in 24 government elementary schools. Teachers completed training workshops and a pre-implementation questionnaire to record their characteristics and perceptions that might affect their program fidelity. School …

Pre-Covid-19 Hospital Quality And Hospital Response To Covid-19: Examining Associations Between Risk-Adjusted Mortality For Patients Hospitalised With Covid-19 And Pre-Covid-19 Hospital Quality, Doris Peter, Shu-Xia Li, Yongfei Wang, Jing Zhang, Jacqueline Grady, Kerry Mcdowell, Erica Norton, Zhenqiu Lin, Susannah Bernheim, Arjun K Venkatesh, Lee A Fleisher, Michelle Schreiber, Lisa G Suter, Elizabeth W Triche

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVES: The extent to which care quality influenced outcomes for patients hospitalised with COVID-19 is unknown. Our objective was to determine if prepandemic hospital quality is associated with mortality among Medicare patients hospitalised with COVID-19.

DESIGN: This is a retrospective observational study. We calculated hospital-level risk-standardised in-hospital and 30-day mortality rates (risk-standardised mortality rates, RSMRs) for patients hospitalised with COVID-19, and correlation coefficients between RSMRs and pre-COVID-19 hospital quality, overall and stratified by hospital characteristics.

SETTING: Short-term acute care hospitals and critical access hospitals in the USA.

PARTICIPANTS: Hospitalised Medicare beneficiaries (Fee-For-Service and Medicare Advantage) age 65 and older hospitalised …

Reliability And Validity Of The Patient Health Questionnaire-4 Scale And Its Subscales Of Depression And Anxiety Among Us Adults Based On Nativity, David Adzrago, Timothy J Walker, Faustine Williams

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The burdens of anxiety and depression symptoms have significantly increased in the general US population, especially during this COVID-19 epidemiological crisis. The first step in an effective treatment for anxiety and depression disorders is screening. The Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4, a 4-item measure of anxiety/depression) and its subscales (PHQ-2 [a 2-item measure of depression] and Generalized Anxiety Disorder [GAD-2, a 2-item measure of anxiety]) are brief but effective mass screening instruments for anxiety and depression symptoms in general populations. However, little to no study examined the psychometric properties (i.e., reliability and validity) of the PHQ-4 and its subscales (PHQ-2 …

Effect Of Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibody Treatment On Early Trajectories Of Virologic And Immunologic Biomarkers In Patients Hospitalized With Covid-19, Tomas O Jensen, Greg A Grandits, Mamta K Jain, Thomas A Murray, Birgit Grund, Kathryn Shaw-Saliba, Michael A Matthay, Mahsa Abassi, Magdalena Ardelt, Jason V Baker, Peter Chen, Robin L Dewar, Anna L Goodman, Timothy J Hatlen, Helene C Highbarger, Mark Holodniy, Perrine Lallemand, Sylvain Laverdure, Bradley G Leshnower, David Looney, Charalampos D Moschopoulos, Henry Mugerwa, Daniel D Murray, Eleftherios Mylonakis, Stephanie Nagy-Agren, M Tauseef Rehman, Adam Rupert, Randy A Stevens, Stuart Turville, Amy Weintrob, Katherine Wick, Jens Lundgren, Emily R Ko

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (nmAbs) failed to show clear benefit for hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Dynamics of virologic and immunologic biomarkers remain poorly understood.

METHODS: Participants enrolled in the Therapeutics for Inpatients with COVID-19 trials were randomized to nmAb versus placebo. Longitudinal differences between treatment and placebo groups in levels of plasma nucleocapsid antigen (N-Ag), anti-nucleocapsid antibody, C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and D-dimer at enrollment, day 1, 3, and 5 were estimated using linear mixed models. A 7-point pulmonary ordinal scale assessed at day 5 was compared using proportional odds models.

RESULTS: Analysis included 2149 participants enrolled between …

Effect Of Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibody Treatment On Early Trajectories Of Virologic And Immunologic Biomarkers In Patients Hospitalized With Covid-19, Tomas O Jensen, Greg A Grandits, Mamta K Jain, Thomas A Murray, Birgit Grund, Kathryn Shaw-Saliba, Michael A Matthay, Mahsa Abassi, Magdalena Ardelt, Jason V Baker, Peter Chen, Robin L Dewar, Anna L Goodman, Timothy J Hatlen, Helene C Highbarger, Mark Holodniy, Perrine Lallemand, Sylvain Laverdure, Bradley G Leshnower, David Looney, Charalampos D Moschopoulos, Henry Mugerwa, Daniel D Murray, Eleftherios Mylonakis, Stephanie Nagy-Agren, M Tauseef Rehman, Adam Rupert, Randy A Stevens, Stuart Turville, Amy Weintrob, Katherine Wick, Jens Lundgren, Emily R Ko, Activ-3/Tico Study Group

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (nmAbs) failed to show clear benefit for hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Dynamics of virologic and immunologic biomarkers remain poorly understood.

METHODS: Participants enrolled in the Therapeutics for Inpatients with COVID-19 trials were randomized to nmAb versus placebo. Longitudinal differences between treatment and placebo groups in levels of plasma nucleocapsid antigen (N-Ag), anti-nucleocapsid antibody, C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and D-dimer at enrollment, day 1, 3, and 5 were estimated using linear mixed models. A 7-point pulmonary ordinal scale assessed at day 5 was compared using proportional odds models.

RESULTS: Analysis included 2149 participants enrolled between …

Efficacy Of A Primary Care Ehealth Obesity Treatment Pilot Intervention Developed For Vulnerable Pediatric Patients, Joshua S Yudkin, Marlyn A Allicock, Folefac D Atem, Carol A Galeener, Sarah E Messiah, Sarah E Barlow

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background:

Challenges to treat excess weight in primary care settings include time constraints during encounters and barriers to multiple visits for patient families, especially those from vulnerable backgrounds. Dynamo Kids! (DK), a bilingual (English/Spanish) e-health intervention, was created to address these system-level challenges. This pilot study assessed the effect of DK use on parent-reported healthy habits and child BMI.

Methods:

In this 3-month, quasi-experimental cohort design, DK was offered to parents with children aged 6–12 years with BMI ≥85th percentile in three public primary care sites in Dallas, Texas. DK included three educational modules, one tracking tool, recipes, and links …

Single-Cell Transcriptomics Reveals Pre-Existing Covid-19 Vulnerability Factors In Lung Cancer Patients, Wendao Liu, Wenbo Li, Zhongming Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and cancer are major health threats, and individuals may develop both simultaneously. Recent studies have indicated that patients with cancer are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, but the molecular mechanisms underlying the associations remain poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we collected single-cell RNA-sequencing data from COVID-19, lung adenocarcinoma, small cell lung carcinoma patients, and normal lungs to perform an integrated analysis. We characterized altered cell populations, gene expression, and dysregulated intercellular communication in diseases. Our analysis identified pathologic conditions shared by COVID-19 and lung cancer, including upregulated TMPRSS2 expression in epithelial cells, stronger inflammatory responses …

Description Of Cryptococcosis Following Sars-Cov-2 Infection: A Disease Survey Through The Mycosis Study Group Education And Research Consortium (Msg-19), Jeremey Walker, Todd Mccarty, Gerald Mcgwin, Eloy E Ordaya, Paschalis Vergidis, Luis Ostrosky-Zeichner, Mehriban Mammadova, Andrej Spec, Adriana M Rauseo, John Perfect, Julia Messina, Gabriel Vilchez, Rachel Mcmullen, Carolynn T Jones, Peter G Pappas

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Invasive fungal infections have been described throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Cryptococcal disease after infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been reported in several isolated case reports and 1 larger case series. We sought to describe cryptococcal infections following SARS-CoV-2 through establishing a database to investigate underlying risk factors, disease manifestations, and outcomes.

METHODS: We created a crowdsourced call for cases solicited through the Mycoses Study Group Education and Research Consortium, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Emerging Infectious Diseases Network, and infectious diseases Twitter groups. Data were collected in a web-based and secure REDCap …

Backfilling Patients In Phase I Dose-Escalation Trials Using Bayesian Optimal Interval Design (Boin), Yixuan Zhao, Ying Yuan, Edward L Korn, Boris Freidlin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In recent years, there has been increased interest in incorporation of backfilling into dose-escalation clinical trials, which involves concurrently assigning patients to doses that have been previously cleared for safety by the dose-escalation design. Backfilling generates additional information on safety, tolerability, and preliminary activity on a range of doses below the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), which is relevant for selection of the recommended phase II dose and dose optimization. However, in practice, backfilling may not be rigorously defined in trial protocols and implemented consistently. Furthermore, backfilling designs require careful planning to minimize the probability of treating additional patients with potentially …

Health Economic Consequences Associated With Covid-19-Related Delay In Melanoma Diagnosis In Europe, Lara V Maul, Dagmar Jamiolkowski, Rebecca A Lapides, Alina M Mueller, Axel Hauschild, Claus Garbe, Paul Lorigan, Jeffrey E Gershenwald, Paolo Antonio Ascierto, Georgina V Long, Michael Wang-Evers, Richard A Scolyer, Babak Saravi, Matthias Augustin, Alexander A Navarini, Stefan Legge, István B Németh, Ágnes J Jánosi, Simone Mocellin, Anita Feller, Dieter Manstein, Alexander Zink, Julia-Tatjana Maul, Alessandra Buja, Kaustubh Adhikari, Elisabeth Roider

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

IMPORTANCE: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in delayed access to medical care. Restrictions to health care specialists, staff shortages, and fear of SARS-CoV-2 infection led to interruptions in routine care, such as early melanoma detection; however, premature mortality and economic burden associated with this postponement have not been studied yet.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the premature mortality and economic costs associated with suspended melanoma screenings during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns by estimating the total burden of delayed melanoma diagnoses for Europe.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This multicenter economic evaluation used population-based data from patients aged at least 18 years with invasive primary cutaneous …

Pandemic-Related Changes In Incidence And Mortality Rates Of Gastrointestinal Cancers During 2020, Caitlin C Murphy, Anna Tavakkoli, Sachin Wani, Amit G Singal

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Coronavirus Disease 2019 disrupted cancer-related care in early 2020.

METHODS: We used population-based cancer registry data to estimate incidence and mortality rates of gastrointestinal cancers between 2016 and 2020.

RESULTS: Incidence rates were unchanged from 2016 to 2019 but decreased in 2020, with the largest declines for colorectal cancer (rate ratio [RR] 0.88; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.87-0.90) and hepatocellular carcinoma (RR 0.85; 95% CI 0.82-0.88). Mortality rates of colorectal cancer (RR 1.06; 95% CI 1.04-1.08) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (RR 1.06; 95% CI 1.00-1.13) increased in 2020.

DISCUSSION: Incidence and mortality rates of gastrointestinal cancers may increase in the …

Covid-19 Convalescent Plasma Therapy Decreases Inflammatory Cytokines: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Feben Habtehyimer, Xianming Zhu, Andrew D Redd, Kelly A Gebo, Alison G Abraham, Eshan U Patel, Oliver Laeyendecker, Thomas J Gniadek, Reinaldo E Fernandez, Owen R Baker, Malathi Ram, Edward R Cachay, Judith S Currier, Yuriko Fukuta, Jonathan M Gerber, Sonya L Heath, Barry Meisenberg, Moises A Huaman, Adam C Levine, Aarthi Shenoy, Shweta Anjan, Janis E Blair, Daniel Cruser, Donald N Forthal, Laura L Hammitt, Seble Kassaye, Giselle S Mosnaim, Bela Patel, James H Paxton, Jay S Raval, Catherine G Sutcliffe, Matthew Abinante, Kevin S Oei, Valerie Cluzet, Marie Elena Cordisco, Benjamin Greenblatt, William Rausch, David Shade, Amy L Gawad, Sabra L Klein, Andrew Pekosz, Shmuel Shoham, Arturo Casadevall, Evan M Bloch, Daniel Hanley, Aaron A R Tobian, David J Sullivan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This study examined the role that cytokines may have played in the beneficial outcomes found when outpatient individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 were transfused with COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) early in their infection. We found that the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 decreased significantly faster in patients treated early with CCP. Participants with COVID-19 treated with CCP later in the infection did not have the same effect. This decrease in IL-6 levels after early CCP treatment suggests a possible role of inflammation in COVID-19 progression. The evidence of IL-6 involvement brings insight into the possible mechanisms involved in CCP treatment mitigating SARS-CoV-2 severity.

Cov2var, A Function Annotation Database Of Sars-Cov-2 Genetic Variation, Yuzhou Feng, Jiahao Yi, Lin Yang, Yanfei Wang, Jianguo Wen, Weiling Zhao, Pora Kim, Xiaobo Zhou

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has resulted in the loss of millions of lives and severe global economic consequences. Every time SARS-CoV-2 replicates, the viruses acquire new mutations in their genomes. Mutations in SARS-CoV-2 genomes led to increased transmissibility, severe disease outcomes, evasion of the immune response, changes in clinical manifestations and reducing the efficacy of vaccines or treatments. To date, the multiple resources provide lists of detected mutations without key functional annotations. There is a lack of research examining the relationship between mutations and various factors such as disease severity, pathogenicity, patient age, patient gender, cross-species …

Integrated Multi-Omics Analyses Identify Anti-Viral Host Factors And Pathways Controlling Sars-Cov-2 Infection, Jiakai Hou, Yanjun Wei, Jing Zou, Roshni Jaffery, Long Sun, Shaoheng Liang, Ningbo Zheng, Ashley M Guerrero, Nicholas A Egan, Ritu Bohat, Si Chen, Caishang Zheng, Xiaobo Mao, S Stephen Yi, Ken Chen, Daniel J Mcgrail, Nidhi Sahni, Pei-Yong Shi, Yiwen Chen, Xuping Xie, Weiyi Peng

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Host anti-viral factors are essential for controlling SARS-CoV-2 infection but remain largely unknown due to the biases of previous large-scale studies toward pro-viral host factors. To fill in this knowledge gap, we perform a genome-wide CRISPR dropout screen and integrate analyses of the multi-omics data of the CRISPR screen, genome-wide association studies, single-cell RNA-Seq, and host-virus proteins or protein/RNA interactome. This study uncovers many host factors that are currently underappreciated, including the components of V-ATPases, ESCRT, and N-glycosylation pathways that modulate viral entry and/or replication. The cohesin complex is also identified as an anti-viral pathway, suggesting an important role of …

Inpatient Costs Of Treating Patients With Covid-19, Kandice A Kapinos, Richard M Peters, Robert E Murphy, Samuel F Hohmann, Ankita Podichetty, Raymond S Greenberg

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

IMPORTANCE: With more than 6.2 million hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in the US, recognition of the average hospital costs to provide inpatient care during the pandemic is necessary to understanding the national medical resource use and improving public health readiness and related policies.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the mean cost to provide inpatient care to treat COVID-19 and how it varied through the pandemic waves and by important sociodemographic patient characteristics.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional study used inpatient-level data from March 1, 2020, to March 31, 2022, extracted from a repository of clinical, administrative, and financial information covering 97% …

Impact Of Covid Status And Blood Group On Complications In Patients In Hemorrhagic Shock, Jason Bradley Brill, Krislynn M Mueck, Madeline E Cotton, Brian Tang, Mariela Sandoval, Lillian S Kao, Bryan A Cotton

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Among critically injured patients of various blood groups, we sought to compare survival and complication rates between COVID-19-positive and COVID-19-negative cohorts.

BACKGROUND: SARS-CoV-2 infections have been shown to cause endothelial injury and dysfunctional coagulation. We hypothesized that, among patients with trauma in hemorrhagic shock, COVID-19-positive status would be associated with increased mortality and inpatient complications. As a secondary hypothesis, we suspected group O patients with COVID-19 would experience fewer complications than non-group O patients with COVID-19.

METHODS: We evaluated all trauma patients admitted 4/2020-7/2020. Patients 16 years or older were included if they presented in hemorrhagic shock and received …

Covid-19 Convalescent Plasma Therapy: Long-Term Implications, Hyunah Yoon, Yi Li, Keith S Goldfeld, Gia F Cobb, Caroline L Sturm-Reganato, Luis Ostrosky-Zeichner, Dushyantha T Jayaweera, Julie V Philley, Mahalia S Desruisseaux, Marla J Keller, Judith S Hochman, Liise-Anne Pirofski, Mila B Ortigoza

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The long-term effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) acute treatments on postacute sequelae of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection (PASC) is unknown. The CONTAIN-Extend study explores the long-term impact of COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) therapy on postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) symptoms and general health 18 months following hospitalization.

METHODS: The CONTAIN-Extend study examined 281 participants from the original CONTAIN COVID-19 trial (CONTAIN-RCT, NCT04364737) at 18 months post-hospitalization for acute COVID-19. Symptom surveys, global health assessments, and biospecimen collection were performed from November 2021 to October 2022. Multivariable logistic and linear regression estimated associations between …