COVID-19 Commons^™

Differences In American Adolescent Sport Participation During The Covid-19 Pandemic By Learning Mode: A National Survey, Ashleigh M Johnson, Gregory Knell, Timothy J Walker, Emily Kroshus

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This study aimed to examine the relation between learning mode with sport participation and compare participation prevalence in different settings by learning mode among United States adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional, national survey was conducted by a market research company (December 2021-January 2022) among parents whose child participated in sports pre-pandemic. Parents were asked about their child's learning mode (in-person, online, hybrid); sports participation (yes/no) during the pandemic; and participation setting (school, community, club/elite). Weighted logistic regression models examined the relation between learning mode with sport participation. Weighted prevalence estimates of participation setting were compared by learning mode. …

Covid-19 And Employee Job Performance Trajectories: The Moderating Effect Of Different Sources Of Status, Xin Liu, Xiaoming Zheng, Byron Y Lee, Yu Yu, Mengyi Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on employee job performance trajectories, and further examines the moderating effects of different sources of status. Drawing from event system theory (EST), we propose that employee job performance decreases upon COVID-19 onset, but gradually increases during the postonset period. Furthermore, we argue that status from society, occupation, and workplace functions to moderate such performance trajectories. We test our hypotheses with a unique dataset of 708 employees that combines survey responses and job performance archival data over 21 consecutive months (10,808 observations) spanning the preonset, onset, and postonset periods of the initial …

Institutional Strategies To Maintain And Grow Imaging Research During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Mai-Lan Ho, Corey W Arnold, Summer J Decker, John D Hazle, Elizabeth A Krupinski, David A Mankoff

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Understanding imaging research experiences, challenges, and strategies for academic radiology departments during and after COVID-19 is critical to prepare for future disruptive events. We summarize key insights and programmatic initiatives at major academic hospitals across the world, based on literature review and meetings of the Radiological Society of North America Vice Chairs of Research (RSNA VCR) group. Through expert discussion and case studies, we provide suggested guidelines to maintain and grow radiology research in the postpandemic era.

Sars-Cov-2 Restructures Host Chromatin Architecture, Ruoyu Wang, Joo-Hyung Lee, Jieun Kim, Feng Xiong, Lana Al Hasani, Yuqiang Shi, Erin N Simpson, Xiaoyu Zhu, Yi-Ting Chen, Pooja Shivshankar, Joanna Krakowiak, Yanyu Wang, David M Gilbert, Xiaoyi Yuan, Holger K Eltzschig, Wenbo Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Some viruses restructure host chromatin, influencing gene expression, with implications for disease outcome. Whether this occurs for SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, is largely unknown. Here we characterized the 3D genome and epigenome of human cells after SARS-CoV-2 infection, finding widespread host chromatin restructuring that features widespread compartment A weakening, A-B mixing, reduced intra-TAD contacts and decreased H3K27ac euchromatin modification levels. Such changes were not found following common-cold-virus HCoV-OC43 infection. Intriguingly, the cohesin complex was notably depleted from intra-TAD regions, indicating that SARS-CoV-2 disrupts cohesin loop extrusion. These altered 3D genome/epigenome structures correlated with transcriptional suppression of interferon response genes …

Effect Of Thromboprophylaxis On Clinical Outcomes After Covid-19 Hospitalization, Tracy Y Wang, Abdus S Wahed, Alison Morris, Lisa Baumann Kreuziger, John G Quigley, Gervasio A Lamas, Alexandra J Weissman, Jose Lopez-Sendon, M Margaret Knudson, Deborah M Siegal, Raj S Kasthuri, Andrew J Alexander, Lana Wahid, Bassel Atassi, Peter J Miller, Janice W Lawson, Bela Patel, Jerry A Krishnan, Nancy L Shapiro, Deborah E Martin, Andrei L Kindzelski, Eric S Leifer, Jungnam Joo, Lingyun Lyu, Annie Pennella, Brendan M Everett, Mark W Geraci, Kevin J Anstrom, Thomas L Ortel, Activ-4c Study Group

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 have an increased incidence of thromboembolism. The role of extended thromboprophylaxis after hospital discharge is unclear.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether anticoagulation is superior to placebo in reducing death and thromboembolic complications among patients discharged after COVID-19 hospitalization.

DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04650087).

SETTING: Done during 2021 to 2022 among 127 U.S. hospitals.

PARTICIPANTS: Adults aged 18 years or older hospitalized with COVID-19 for 48 hours or more and ready for discharge, excluding those with a requirement for, or contraindication to, anticoagulation.

INTERVENTION: 2.5 mg of apixaban versus placebo twice daily for …

The Emergence Of A Virus Variant: Dynamics Of A Competition Model With Cross-Immunity Time-Delay Validated By Wastewater Surveillance Data For Covid-19, Bruce Pell, Samantha Brozak, Tin Phan, Fuqing Wu, Yang Kuang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We consider the dynamics of a virus spreading through a population that produces a mutant strain with the ability to infect individuals that were infected with the established strain. Temporary cross-immunity is included using a time delay, but is found to be a harmless delay. We provide some sufficient conditions that guarantee local and global asymptotic stability of the disease-free equilibrium and the two boundary equilibria when the two strains outcompete one another. It is shown that, due to the immune evasion of the emerging strain, the reproduction number of the emerging strain must be significantly lower than that of …

Cardiopulmonary Outcomes In Covid-19 Patients Discharged From A Tertiary Care Center: A Prospective Study, Lakshmi Prasanna Vaishnavi Kattamuri, Vibhav Sharma, Radhika Sarda, Kunal Sharma, Anuj Ajayababu, Gaurav Gupta, Surabhi Vyas, Shivam Pandey, Arvind Kumar, Naveet Wig, Rajiv Narang, Sanjeev Sinha

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

To determine the cardiopulmonary changes in the survivors of acute COVID-19 infection at 3-6 month and 6-12 month. We followed up 53 patients out of which 28 (52%) had mild COVID-19 and 25 (48%) had severe COVID-19. The first follow-up was between 3 month after diagnosis up to 6 month and second follow-up between 6 and 12 month from the date of diagnosis of acute COVID-19. They were monitored using vital parameters, pulmonary function tests, echocardiography and a chest computed tomography (CT) scan. We found improvement in diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) with a median of 52% of predicted …

Associations Of Physical Inactivity And Covid-19 Outcomes Among Subgroups, Gary N. Smith, Deborah Rohm Young, James F. Sallis, Aileen Baecker, Deborah A. Cohen, Robert E. Sallis, Claudia L. Nau

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

Selected as the AJPM paper of the year. This paper reports additional evidence that regular physical exercise prior to COVID infection substantially reduces the chances of hospitalization, admission to intensive care units, and death.

A Scoping Review Of Digital Health Interventions For Combating Covid-19 Misinformation And Disinformation, Katarzyna Czerniak, Raji Pillai, Abhi Parmar, Kavita Ramnath, Joseph Krocker, Sahiti Myneni

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: We provide a scoping review of Digital Health Interventions (DHIs) that mitigate COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation seeding and spread.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We applied our search protocol to PubMed, PsychINFO, and Web of Science to screen 1666 articles. The 17 articles included in this paper are experimental and interventional studies that developed and tested public consumer-facing DHIs. We examined these DHIs to understand digital features, incorporation of theory, the role of healthcare professionals, end-user experience, and implementation issues.

RESULTS: The majority of studies (n = 11) used social media in DHIs, but there was a lack of platform-agnostic generalizability. …

How Have Researchers Defined Institutions, Politics, Organizations And Governance In Research Related To Epidemic And Pandemic Response? A Scoping Review To Map Current Concepts, Austin Wu, Shivangi Khanna, Shelly Keidar, Peter Berman, Laura Jane Brubacher

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In recent years, the literature on public health interventions and health outcomes in the context of epidemic and pandemic response has grown immensely. However, relatively few of these studies have situated their findings within the institutional, political, organizational and governmental (IPOG) context in which interventions and outcomes exist. This conceptual mapping scoping study synthesized the published literature on the impact of IPOG factors on epidemic and pandemic response and critically examined definitions and uses of the terms IPOG in this literature. This research involved a comprehensive search of four databases across the social, health and biomedical sciences as well as …

The P323l Substitution In The Sars-Cov-2 Polymerase (Nsp12) Confers A Selective Advantage During Infection, Hannah Goldswain, Xiaofeng Dong, Rebekah Penrice-Randal, Muhannad Alruwaili, Ghada T Shawli, Tessa Prince, Maia Kavanagh Williamson, Jayna Raghwani, Nadine Randle, Benjamin Jones, I'Ah Donovan-Banfield, Francisco J Salguero, Julia A Tree, Yper Hall, Catherine Hartley, Maximilian Erdmann, James Bazire, Tuksin Jearanaiwitayakul, Malcolm G Semple, Peter J M Openshaw, J Kenneth Baillie, Isaric4c Investigators, Stevan R Emmett, Paul Digard, David A Matthews, Lance Turtle, Alistair C Darby, Andrew D Davidson, Miles W Carroll, Julian A Hiscox

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The mutational landscape of SARS-CoV-2 varies at the dominant viral genome sequence and minor genomic variant population. During the COVID-19 pandemic, an early substitution in the genome was the D614G change in the spike protein, associated with an increase in transmissibility. Genomes with D614G are accompanied by a P323L substitution in the viral polymerase (NSP12). However, P323L is not thought to be under strong selective pressure.

RESULTS: Investigation of P323L/D614G substitutions in the population shows rapid emergence during the containment phase and early surge phase during the first wave. These substitutions emerge from minor genomic variants which become dominant …

The Risk Of Sars-Cov-2 Omicron Variant Emergence In Low And Middle-Income Countries (Lmics), Kaiming Bi, Jose Luis Herrera-Diestra, Yuan Bai, Zhanwei Du, Lin Wang, Graham Gibson, Maureen Johnson-Leon, Spencer J Fox, Lauren Ancel Meyers

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We estimated the probability of undetected emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in 25 low and middle-income countries (LMICs) prior to December 5, 2021. In nine countries, the risk exceeds 50 %; in Turkey, Pakistan and the Philippines, it exceeds 99 %. Risks are generally lower in the Americas than Europe or Asia.

Impact Of High Neutrophil-To-Lymphocyte Ratio On Survival In Hospitalized Cancer Patients With Covid-19, Fernando A Díaz-Couselo, Santiago Flagel, Carla Nicolini, Sebastián Halac, Natalia Manzano, Marina Aguirre, Juan Rébora, Sandra Valle, Laura Noro, Chirayu Mohindroo, Florencia Mcallister, Marcelo Zylberman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been studied as a prognostic factor for mortality in COVID-19 patients. Our study aimed to evaluate the association between NLR at COVID-19 diagnosis and survival during the following 90 days in hospitalized patients with solid cancer. Between May 2020 and June 2021, 120 patients were included in a retrospective cohort study. Univariable analysis showed patients with an NLR > 8.3 were associated with an increased risk of death (HR: 4.34; 95% CI: 1.74-10.84) compared to patients with NLR < 3.82 and with NLR ≥3.82 and ≤8.30 (HR: 2.89; 95% CI: 1.32-6.36). Furthermore, on multivariable analysis, NLR > 8.30 independently correlated with increased mortality. In patients with solid malignancies with COVID-19, an NLR > 8.3 is associated with …

Clinical Characteristics And Cause Of Death Among Hospitalized Decedents With Cancer And Covid-19, Dereddi Raja Reddy, John A Cuenca, Joshua Botdorf, Mayoora Muthu, Ankit Hanmandlu, Robert Wegner, John Crommett, Cristina Gutierrez, Nisha Rathi, Bilja Sajith, Mark Knafl, Hussein A Abbas, Scott E Woodman, Joseph L Nates

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

There is scant information on the clinical progression, end-of-life decisions, and cause of death of patients with cancer diagnosed with COVID-19. Therefore, we conducted a case series of patients admitted to a comprehensive cancer center who did not survive their hospitalization. To determine the cause of death, 3 board-certified intensivists reviewed the electronic medical records. Concordance regarding cause of death was calculated. Discrepancies were resolved through a joint case-by-case review and discussion among the 3 reviewers. During the study period, 551 patients with cancer and COVID-19 were admitted to a dedicated specialty unit; among them, 61 (11.6%) were nonsurvivors. Among …

A Look At The Global Impact Of Covid-19 Pandemic On Neurosurgical Services And Residency Training, Cathleen C Kuo, Alexander O Aguirre, Andrea Kassay, Brianna M Donnelly, Hebatalla Bakr, Mohamed Aly, Ahmed A M Ezzat, Mohamed A R Soliman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has left an indelible effect on healthcare delivery and education system, including residency training. Particularly, neurosurgical departments worldwide had to adapt their operating model to the constantly changing pandemic landscape. This review aimed to quantify the reduction in neurosurgical operative volume and describe the impact of these trends on neurosurgical residency training.

METHODS: We performed a comprehensive search of PubMed and EMBASE between December 2019 and October 2022 to identify studies comparing pre-pandemic and pandemic neurosurgical caseloads as well as articles detailing the impact of COVID-19 on neurosurgery residency training. Statistical analysis of quantitative data was …

Place Still Matters: Social Vulnerabilities, Place-Level Disadvantage, And Food Insecurity During Covid-19, Kevin M. Fitzpatrick, Casey Harris, Don Willis, Amber Obermaier, Grant Drawve

Sociology and Criminology Faculty Publications and Presentations

COVID-19 variants continue to create public health danger impacting mortality and morbidity across the United States. The spillover effects of COVID-19 on the economy and social institutions pose a significant threat to broader wellbeing, including the food security of millions across the country. We aim to explore whether the context of place matters above and beyond individual and social vulnerabilities for food insecurity. To do so, we employ a multi-level framework using data from a survey of over 10,000 U.S. adults from March 2020 with American Community Survey (ACS) and John Hopkins COVID Dashboard county-level data. We find nearly two …

The Assessment Tools For Measuring Healthcare Workers’ Preparedness For Covid-19, Erie Failenggo

Jurnal ARSI : Administrasi Rumah Sakit Indonesia

Most countries in the world have not been prepared for COVID - 19 pandemic, so there is a need to analyze the strategies to measure our healthcare workers’ preparedness for preventing healthcare workers (HCWs) from becoming victims of COVID-19. This systematic literature review is for reviewing the various assessment tools used to measure the preparedness of healthcare workers for COVID - 19 in the time of pandemic of COVID-19 (2019 November - June 2021). During this time, we analyzed how the researchers defined and constructed the assessment tool for measuring the preparedness of healthcare workers for COVID-19. We used Scopus, …

Identification Of And Mechanistic Insights Into Sars-Cov-2 Main Protease Non-Covalent Inhibitors: An In-Silico Study, Jian-Xin Shen, Wen-Wen Du, Yuan-Ling Xia, Zhi-Bi Zhang, Ze-Fen Yu, Yun-Xin Fu, Shu-Qun Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The indispensable role of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) in the viral replication cycle and its dissimilarity to human proteases make Mpro a promising drug target. In order to identify the non-covalent Mpro inhibitors, we performed a comprehensive study using a combined computational strategy. We first screened the ZINC purchasable compound database using the pharmacophore model generated from the reference crystal structure of Mpro complexed with the inhibitor ML188. The hit compounds were then filtered by molecular docking and predicted parameters of drug-likeness and pharmacokinetics. The final molecular dynamics (MD) simulations identified three effective candidate inhibitors (ECIs) capable of maintaining …

The Silent Suffering Of Survivors: The Covid-19 Pandemic's Impact On Domestic Violence Resources, Osoniya I. Wodi

XULAneXUS

Increased reports of domestic violence has coincided with the eruptions and growth of the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous research has shown a positive correlation between domestic violence and the occurrence of humanitarian crises. Recently published research about domestic violence police reports in the COVID-19 pandemic has also supported this correlation. We used data from the National Network To End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) to analyze the number of survivors served by domestic violence programs in the United States, type of resources available, and unmet request from 2019-2021, one year pre-pandemic and the first two years of the pandemic. Findings from this study …

Mortality And Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events In Hospitalized Patients With Atrial Fibrillation With Covid-19, Lucas Wang, Lawrence Hoang, Kristopher Aten, Mujahed Abualfoul, Victor Canela, Sri Prathivada, Michael Vu, Yi Zhao, Manavjot Sidhu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

COVID-19 results in increased incidence of cardiac arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation (AF). However, little is known about the combined effect of AF and COVID-19 on patient outcomes. This study aimed to determine if AF, specifically new-onset AF (NOAF), is associated with increased risk of mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. This multicenter retrospective analysis identified 2,732 patients with COVID-19 admitted between March and December 2020. Data points were manually reviewed in the patients' electronic health records. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess if AF was associated with death or MACE. Patients with AF …

Small Area Forecasting Of Opioid-Related Mortality: Bayesian Spatiotemporal Dynamic Modeling Approach, Cici Bauer, Kehe Zhang, Wenjun Li, Dana Bernson, Olaf Dammann, Marc R Larochelle, Thomas J Stopka

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Opioid-related overdose mortality has remained at crisis levels across the United States, increasing 5-fold and worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ability to provide forecasts of opioid-related mortality at granular geographical and temporal scales may help guide preemptive public health responses. Current forecasting models focus on prediction on a large geographical scale, such as states or counties, lacking the spatial granularity that local public health officials desire to guide policy decisions and resource allocation.

OBJECTIVE: The overarching objective of our study was to develop Bayesian spatiotemporal dynamic models to predict opioid-related mortality counts and rates at temporally and geographically …

An Epithelial-Immune Circuit Amplifies Inflammasome And Il-6 Responses To Sars-Cov-2, Katherine C Barnett, Yuying Xie, Takanori Asakura, Dingka Song, Kaixin Liang, Sharon A Taft-Benz, Haitao Guo, Shuangshuang Yang, Kenichi Okuda, Rodney C Gilmore, Jennifer F Loome, Thomas H Oguin Iii, Gregory D Sempowski, Scott H Randell, Mark T Heise, Yu Leo Lei, Richard C Boucher, Jenny P-Y Ting

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Elevated levels of cytokines IL-1β and IL-6 are associated with severe COVID-19. Investigating the underlying mechanisms, we find that while primary human airway epithelia (HAE) have functional inflammasomes and support SARS-CoV-2 replication, they are not the source of IL-1β released upon infection. In leukocytes, the SARS-CoV-2 E protein upregulates inflammasome gene transcription via TLR2 to prime, but not activate, inflammasomes. SARS-CoV-2-infected HAE supply a second signal, which includes genomic and mitochondrial DNA, to stimulate leukocyte IL-1β release. Nuclease treatment, STING, and caspase-1 inhibition but not NLRP3 inhibition blocked leukocyte IL-1β release. After release, IL-1β stimulates IL-6 secretion from HAE. Therefore, …

Life-Threatening Complications Of Influenza Vs Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) In Us Children, Natasha B Halasa, Andrew J Spieker, Cameron C Young, Samantha M Olson, Margaret M Newhams, Justin Z Amarin, Kristin L Moffitt, Mari M Nakamura, Emily R Levy, Vijaya L Soma, Rana Talj, Scott L Weiss, Julie C Fitzgerald, Elizabeth H Mack, Aline B Maddux, Jennifer E Schuster, Bria M Coates, Mark W Hall, Stephanie P Schwartz, Adam J Schwarz, Michele Kong, Philip C Spinella, Laura L Loftis, Gwenn E Mclaughlin, Charlotte V Hobbs, Courtney M Rowan, Melania M Bembea, Ryan A Nofziger, Christopher J Babbitt, Cindy Bowens, Heidi R Flori, Shira J Gertz, Matt S Zinter, John S Giuliano, Janet R Hume, Natalie Z Cvijanovich, Aalok R Singh, Hillary A Crandall, Neal J Thomas, Melissa L Cullimore, Manish M Patel, Adrienne G Randolph, Pediatric Intensive Care Influenza, Overcoming Covid-19 Investigators

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Clinical differences between critical illness from influenza infection vs coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have not been well characterized in pediatric patients.

Methods: We compared demographics, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of US children (aged 8 months to 17 years) admitted to the intensive care or high-acuity unit with influenza or COVID-19. Using mixed-effects models, we assessed the odds of death or requiring life support for influenza vs COVID-19 after adjustment for age, sex, race and Hispanic origin, and underlying conditions including obesity.

Results: Children with influenza (n = 179) were younger than those with COVID-19 (n = 381; median, 5.2 …

How Much Did It Cost To Develop And Implement An Ehealth Intervention For A Minority Children Population That Overlapped With The Covid-19 Pandemic?, Alexandra Monashefsky, Dar Alon, Tom Baranowski, Tiago V Barreira, Kelly A Chiu, Amy Fleischman, Melanie C Green, Shirley Huang, Ronald C Samuels, Caio Victor Sousa, Debbe Thompson, Amy S Lu

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Background: eHealth interventions using active video games (AVGs) offer an alternative method to help children exercise, especially during a pandemic where options are limited. There is limited data on costs associated with developing and implementing such interventions.

Objectives: We quantified the costs of delivering an eHealth RCT intervention among minority children during COVID-19.

Methods: We categorized the total trial cost into five subcategories: intervention material development, advertising and recruitment, intervention delivery, personnel salaries, and COVID-19-related equipment costs.

Results: The total RCT cost was $1,927,807 (Direct: $1,227,903; Indirect: $699,904) with three visits required for each participant. The average cost per participant …

How Much Did It Cost To Develop And Implement An Ehealth Intervention For A Minority Children Population That Overlapped With The Covid-19 Pandemic?, Alexandra Monashefsky, Dar Alon, Tom Baranowski, Tiago V Barreira, Kelly A Chiu, Amy Fleischman, Melanie C Green, Shirley Huang, Ronald C Samuels, Caio Victor Sousa, Debbe Thompson, Amy S Lu

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Background: eHealth interventions using active video games (AVGs) offer an alternative method to help children exercise, especially during a pandemic where options are limited. There is limited data on costs associated with developing and implementing such interventions.

Objectives: We quantified the costs of delivering an eHealth RCT intervention among minority children during COVID-19.

Methods: We categorized the total trial cost into five subcategories: intervention material development, advertising and recruitment, intervention delivery, personnel salaries, and COVID-19-related equipment costs.

Results: The total RCT cost was $1,927,807 (Direct: $1,227,903; Indirect: $699,904) with three visits required for each participant. The average cost per participant …

Conducting Clinical Genomics Research During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned From The Cser Consortium Experience, Stephanie A Kraft, Heidi Russell, Jeannette T Bensen, Katherine E Bonini, Jill O Robinson, Nuriye Sahin-Hodoglugil, Kathleen Renna, Lucia A Hindorff, Dave Kaufman, Carol R Horowitz, Margaret Waltz, Jamilyn M Zepp, Sara J Knight

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Clinical research studies have navigated many changes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We sought to describe the pandemic's impact on research operations in the context of a clinical genomics research consortium that aimed to enroll a majority of participants from underrepresented populations. We interviewed (July to November 2020) and surveyed (May to August 2021) representatives of six projects in the Clinical Sequencing Evidence-Generating Research (CSER) consortium, which studies the implementation of genome sequencing in the clinical care of patients from populations that are underrepresented in genomics research or are medically underserved. Questions focused on COVID's impact on participant recruitment, enrollment, and …

The Orf7a Protein Of Sars-Cov-2 Initiates Autophagy And Limits Autophagosome-Lysosome Fusion Via Degradation Of Snap29 To Promote Virus Replication, Peili Hou, Xuefeng Wang, Hongmei Wang, Tiecheng Wang, Zhangping Yu, Chunqing Xu, Yudong Zhao, Wenqi Wang, Yong Zhao, Fengyun Chu, Huasong Chang, Hongchao Zhu, Jiahui Lu, Fuzhen Zhang, Xue Liang, Xingyu Li, Song Wang, Yuwei Gao, Hongbin He

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is closely related to various cellular aspects associated with autophagy. However, how SARS-CoV-2 mediates the subversion of the macroautophagy/autophagy pathway remains largely unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that overexpression of the SARS-CoV-2 ORF7a protein activates LC3-II and leads to the accumulation of autophagosomes in multiple cell lines, while knockdown of the viral ORF7a gene via shRNAs targeting ORF7a sgRNA during SARS-CoV-2 infection decreased autophagy levels. Mechanistically, the ORF7a protein initiates autophagy via the AKT-MTOR-ULK1-mediated pathway, but ORF7a limits the progression of autophagic flux by activating CASP3 (caspase 3) to cleave the …

Public Health Measures And Sars-Cov-2 Cases In The Juvenile Justice System: Implications For Pandemic Response In The Detention Setting, Asha Davidson, Shelley Aggarwal, Mona Eissa, Laura Benjamins, John Will, Rebecca Beyda

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 case positivity in juvenile justice facilities of two different states alongside institutional, local, and state public health policies during the first 6 months of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

METHODS: This retrospective chart review examined two large, urban juvenile justice centers in California and Texas. Positive intake or day 12 tests were considered suggestive of community-acquired severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 infection. Researchers examined state and county restrictions, closings, and openings. The study included all of the youths 10 to 18 years residing in the facilities between March …

Hyaluronan In The Pathogenesis Of Acute And Post-Acute Covid-19 Infection, Henry W Barnes, Sally Demirdjian, Naomi L Haddock, Gernot Kaber, Hunter A Martinez, Nadine Nagy, Harry Karmouty-Quintana, Paul L Bollyky

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) recently emerged as the cause of a global pandemic. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 can result in COVID-19 with both acute and chronic disease manifestations that continue to impact many patients long after the resolution of viral replication. There is therefore great interest in understanding the host factors that contribute to COVID-19 pathogenesis. In this review, we address the role of hyaluronan (HA), an extracellular matrix polymer with roles in inflammation and cellular metabolism, in COVID-19 and critically evaluate the hypothesis that HA promotes COVID-19 pathogenesis. We first provide a brief overview of COVID-19 infection. …

Identification Of Bradycardia Following Remdesivir Administration Through The Us Food And Drug Administration American College Of Medical Toxicology Covid-19 Toxic Pharmacovigilance Project, Jason M Devgun, Rongmei Zhang, Jeffrey Brent, Paul Wax, Keith Burkhart, Alison Meyn, Sharan Campleman, Stephanie Abston, Kim Aldy

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

IMPORTANCE: The rapid spread and mortality associated with COVID-19 emphasized a need for surveillance system development to identify adverse events (AEs) to emerging therapeutics. Bradycardia is a remdesivir infusion-associated AE listed in the US Food and Drug Administration-approved prescribing information.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the magnitude and duration of bradycardic events following remdesivir administration.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A multicenter cohort study of patients with recorded heart rate less than 60 beats per minute within 24 hours after administration of a remdesivir dose was conducted between November 23, 2020, and October 31, 2021. Participants included patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at 15 …