Policy Recommendations Regarding Skilled Nursing Facility Management of Coronavirus 19 (COVID-19): Lessons from New York State

To provide policy recommendations for managing Coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) in skilled nursing facilities, a group of certified medical directors from several facilities in New York state with experience managing the disease used e-mail, phone, and video conferencing to develop consensus recommendations. The resulting document provides recommendations on screening, protection of staff, screening of residents, management of Coronavirus 19 positive and presumed positive cases, communication during an outbreak, management of admissions and readmissions, and providing emotional support for staff. These consensus guidelines have been endorsed by the Executive Board of the New York Medical Directors Association and the Board of the Metropolitan Area Geriatrics Society.     

Recomendaciones sobre el manejo clínico de la infección por el «nuevo coronavirus» SARS-CoV2. Grupo de trabajo de la Asociación Española de Pediatría (AEP)

On 31 December 2019, the Wuhan Municipal Committee of Health and Healthcare (Hubei Province, China) reported that there were 27 cases of pneumonia of unknown origin with symptoms starting on the 8 December. There were 7 serious cases with common exposure in market with shellfish, fish, and live animals, in the city of Wuhan. On 7 January 2020, the Chinese authorities identified that the agent causing the outbreak was a new type of virus of the Coronaviridae family, temporarily called «new coronavirus», 2019-nCoV. On January 30th, 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the outbreak an International Emergency. On 11 February 2020 the WHO assigned it the name of SARS-CoV2 and COVID-19 (SARS-CoV2 and COVID-19).The Ministry of Health summoned the Specialties Societies to prepare a clinical protocol for the management of COVID-19. The Spanish Paediatric Association appointed a Working Group of the Societies of Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Paediatric Intensive Care to prepare the present recommendations with the evidence available at the time of preparing them.     

医院信息化系统在武汉新冠肺炎防疫救治过程中暴露出的问题及其引发的思考

目的针对武汉地区医院信息化系统在新型冠状病毒肺炎(简称新冠肺炎)防疫救治过程中暴露出的问题,提出应对突发公共卫生事件时医院信息化的完善方法。方法充分分析医院信息化系统在新冠肺炎防疫救治中所暴露出的各个医院信息化系统结构不同、各个医院之间无法实施信息共享、门诊病房之间系统相互独立、数据信息更新不及时等九大问题,并提出医院信息化基础布局的建立、区域链及大数据临床中的应用等多项措施。结果医院信息化能力的提高有助于降低医护人员工作强度,提高患者的安全。结论新冠肺炎疫情的发生给我国医院信息化系统带来了严峻的挑战,但同时也给我们带来了更大的机遇。我国在未来针对突发公共卫生事件时,医院信息化将为医护人员、患者提供更有利的支持。     

Impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on digital device-related ocular health

Purpose:Since the declaration of the lockdown due to COVID-19, the usage of digital devices has gone up across the globe, resulting in a challenge for the visual systems of all ages. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of the lockdown on digital device usage, and consequently, the ocular surface health implications and circadian rhythm abnormalities related to digital eye strain.Methods:An open online survey was sent through various social media platforms and was open for a period of 2 weeks.Results:A total of 407 usable responses were obtained; the average age of respondents was 27.4 years. Typically, 93.6% of respondents reported an increase in their screen time since the lockdown was declared. The average increase in digital device usage was calculated at about 4.8 ± 2.8 h per day. The total usage per day was found to be 8.65 ± 3.74 hours. Sleep disturbances have been reported by 62.4% of people. Typically, 95.8% of respondents had experienced at least one symptom related to digital device usage, and 56.5% said that the frequency and intensity of these symptoms increased since the lockdown was declared.Conclusion:The study highlighted the drastic increase in use of digital devices after the initiation of the COVID-19 lockdown, and along with it, the slow deterioration of ocular health across all age groups. Awareness about prevention of digital eye strain should be stressed, and going forward, measures to bring these adverse effects to a minimum should be explored.     

Risk-based cost-benefit analysis of alternative vaccines against COVID-19 in Brazil: Coronavac vs. Astrazeneca vs. Pfizer

We propose a probabilistic model to quantify the cost-benefit of mass Vaccination Scenarios (VSs) against COVID-19. Through this approach, we conduct a six-month simulation, from August 31st, 2021 to March 3rd, 2022, of nine VSs, i.e., the three primary vaccine brands in Brazil (CoronaVac, AstraZeneca and Pfizer), each with three different vaccination rates (2nd doses per week). Since each vaccine has different individual-level effectiveness, we measure the population-level benefit as the probability of reaching herd immunity (HI). We quantify and categorize the cost-benefit of VSs through risk graphs that show: (i) monetary cost vs. probability of reaching HI; and (ii) number of new deaths vs. probability of reaching HI. Results show that AstraZeneca has the best cost-benefit when prioritizing acquisition costs, while Pfizer is the most cost-beneficial when prioritizing the number of deaths. This work provides helpful information that can aid public health authorities in Brazil to better plan VSs. Furthermore, our approach is not restricted to Brazil, the COVID-19 pandemic, or the mentioned vaccine brands. Indeed, the method is flexible so that this study can be a valuable reference for future cost-benefit analyses in other countries and pandemics, especially in the early stages of vaccination, when data is scarce and uncertainty is high.     

新型冠状病毒肺炎出院患者生活质量及影响因素研究

目的:了解新型冠状病毒肺炎(COVID-19)患者出院后的生活质量及其影响因素,为优化早期干预方案,预防社区生活受限,制定相应社区康复措施提供依据。方法:选择2020年3—4月在武汉华润武钢总医院治愈出院的COVID-19患者57例,于2020年4—5月通过"问卷星"平台采用简明健康状况调查量表(SF-12V2)调查患者的生活质量;采用焦虑自评量表(SAS)调查患者的焦虑状态;采用抑郁自评量表(SDS)调查患者的抑郁状态;采用呼吸困难指数量表(mMRC)调查患者的呼吸困难程度。比较不同特征COVID-19患者生活质量的差异;分析患者生活质量与焦虑、抑郁和呼吸困难程度的相关性及其相关的影响因素。结果:共发放57份调查问卷,剔除重复及无效问卷3份,获得有效问卷54份,问卷有效率达94.74%。(1)COVID-19出院后患者生活质量情况:生理总评分和心理总评分分别为(37.02±12.32)分、(38.46±14.42)分;呼吸困难等级0~3级的分别为3例(5.56%)、45例(83.33%)、5例(9.26%)、1例(1.85%);有19例(35.19%)存在焦虑情绪(SAS≥50分)和抑郁情绪(SDS≥53分)。(2)不同特征COVID-19患者生活质量比较:不同疾病分型的患者在生理总评分方面差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。(3)生活质量与焦虑、抑郁和呼吸困难程度的相关性分析:Pearson相关分析结果显示,SF-12V2生理总评分与焦虑程度(r=-0.34,P=0.011)和呼吸困难程度(r=-0.39,P=0.003)之间存在负相关性,SF-12V2心理总评分与焦虑程度(r=-0.46,P=0.001)和抑郁程度(r=-0.40,P=0.002)之间存在负相关性。(4)COVID-19患者生活质量的影响因素分析:多元线性回归分析显示,性别(β=8.27)、抑郁程度(β=-0.34)和疾病分型(β=-11.68)是患者SF-12V2生理总评分的重要决定因素(P<0.05);焦虑程度(β=-0.62)是患者SF-12V2心理总评分的重要决定因素(P<0.05)。结论:COVID-19出院患者存在呼吸困难、焦虑抑郁情绪和生活质量下降的问题;性别、疾病分型、抑郁程度和焦虑程度是COVID-19患者生活质量下降的重要因素。COVID-19患者(特别是女性患者和重型患者)出院后要尽早进行抑郁症和焦虑症的筛查和干预,减少患者负性情绪,鼓励患者适当参与康复训练,提高呼吸功能,从而促进生活质量提高。     

miR-30c Impedes Glioblastoma Cell Proliferation and Migration by Targeting SOX9

miR-30c has been acknowledged as a tumor suppressor in various human cancers, such as ovarian cancer, gastric cancer, and prostate cancer. However, the role of miR-30c in glioblastoma (GBM) needs to be investigated. In our study, we found that the expression of miR-30c was significantly downregulated in GBM tissues and cell lines. We found that overexpression of miR-30c inhibited cellular proliferation of GBM cells in vitro and in vivo. More GBM cells were arrested in the G₀ phase after miR-30c overexpression. Moreover, we showed that miR-30c overexpression suppressed the migration and invasion of GBM cells. Mechanistically, we found that SOX9 was a direct target of miR-30c in GBM cells. Overexpression of miR-30c inhibited the mRNA and protein levels of SOX9 in GBM cells. Moreover, there was a negative correlation between the expression of miR-30c and SOX9 in GBM tissues. Finally, we showed that restoration of SOX9 in GBM cells reversed the proliferation, migration, and invasion of GBM cells transfected with miR-30c mimic. Collectively, our results demonstrated that miR-30c suppressed the proliferation, migration, and invasion of GBM cells via targeting SOX9.     

Development of an IgG-Fc fusion COVID-19 subunit vaccine,AKS-452

AKS-452 is a biologically-engineered vaccine comprising an Fc fusion protein of the SARS-CoV-2 viral spike protein receptor binding domain antigen (Ag) and human IgG1 Fc (SP/RBD-Fc) in clinical development for the induction and augmentation of neutralizing IgG titers against SARS-CoV-2 viral infection to address the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fc moiety is designed to enhance immunogenicity by increasing uptake via Fc-receptors (FcγR) on Ag-presenting cells (APCs) and prolonging exposure due to neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) recycling. AKS-452 induced approximately 20-fold greater neutralizing IgG titers in mice relative to those induced by SP/RBD without the Fc moiety and induced comparable long-term neutralizing titers with a single dose vs. two doses. To further enhance immunogenicity, AKS-452 was evaluated in formulations containing a panel of adjuvants in which the water-in-oil adjuvant, Montanide™ ISA 720, enhanced neutralizing IgG titers by approximately 7-fold after one and two doses in mice, including the neutralization of live SARS-CoV-2 virus infection of VERO-E6 cells. Furthermore, ISA 720-adjuvanted AKS-452 was immunogenic in rabbits and non-human primates (NHPs) and protected from infection and clinical symptoms with live SARS-CoV-2 virus in NHPs (USA-WA1/2020 viral strain) and the K18 human ACE2-trangenic (K18-huACE2-Tg) mouse (South African B.1.351 viral variant). These preclinical studies support the initiation of Phase I clinical studies with adjuvanted AKS-452 with the expectation that this room-temperature stable, Fc-fusion subunit vaccine can be rapidly and inexpensively manufactured to provide billions of doses per year especially in regions where the cold-chain is difficult to maintain.     

Supraclavicular lymphadenopathy following COVID-19 vaccination: an increasing presentation to the two-week wait neck lump clinic?

The first COVID-19 vaccination was given in December 2020 and there is an effort to vaccinate the international population on a massive scale. Common side effects from the vaccine include headache and tiredness. Regional lymphadenopathy has been described in relation to other vaccines. We describe two cases of supraclavicular reactive lymphadenopathy presenting in patients who had the COVID vaccination in the ipsilateral arm. Awareness of this diagnosis is important for patients presenting to the neck lump clinic.