Search

Here, we developed a field-deployable molecular diagnostic kit for the detection of RNA viruses that operates in a pipette-free manner. The kit is composed of acrylic sticks, PCR tubes, and palm-sized three-dimensional(3D)-printed heaters operated by batteries. The kit performs RNA extraction, reverse transcriptase loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP), and visual detection in one kit. An acrylic stick was engraved with one shallow and one deep cylindrical chamber at each end for the insertion of an FTA card and ethidium homodimer-1 (EthD-1), respectively, to perform RNA extraction/purification and bimodal visual detection of the target amplicons. First, an intercalation of EthD-1 into the target DNA initially produces fluorescence upon UV illumination. Next, the addition of a strong oxidant, in this case sodium (meta) periodate (NaIO 4 ), produces intense aggregates in the presence of EthD-1-intercalated DNA, realized by electrostatic interaction. In the absence of the target amplicon, no fluorescence or aggregates are observed. Using this kit, two major infectious viruses-severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)-were successfully detected in 1 h, and the limits of detection (LOD) were approximately 1 virus μL -1 for SFTSV and 10 3 copies μL -1 for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. The introduced kit is portable, end-user-friendly, and can be operated in a pipette-free manner, paving the way for simple and convenient virus detection in resource-limited settings., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Current biomarkers to assess the risk of complications of both acute and chronic viral infection are suboptimal. Prevalent viral infections like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B and C virus, herpes viruses, and, more recently, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) may be associated with significant sequelae including the risk of cardiovascular disease, other end-organ diseases, and malignancies. This review considers some biomarkers which have been investigated in diagnosis and prognosis of key viral infections including inflammatory cytokines, markers of endothelial dysfunction and activation and coagulation, and the role that more conventional diagnostic markers, such as C-reactive protein and procalcitonin, can play in predicting these secondary complications, as markers of severity and to distinguish viral and bacterial infection. Although many of these are still only available in the research setting, these markers show promise for incorporation in diagnostic algorithms which may assist to predict adverse outcomes and to guide therapy., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that viral diseases represent an enormous public health and economic threat to mankind and that individuals with compromised immune systems are at greater risk of complications and death from viral diseases. The development of broad-spectrum antivirals is an important part of pandemic preparedness. Here, we have engineer a series of designer cells which we term autonomous, intelligent, virus-inducible immune-like (ALICE) cells as sense-and-destroy antiviral system. After developing a destabilized STING-based sensor to detect viruses from seven different genera, we have used a synthetic signal transduction system to link viral detection to the expression of multiple antiviral effector molecules, including antiviral cytokines, a CRISPR-Cas9 module for viral degradation and the secretion of a neutralizing antibody. We perform a proof-of-concept study using multiple iterations of our ALICE system in vitro, followed by in vivo functionality testing in mice. We show that dual output ALICE SaCas9+Ab system delivered by an AAV-vector inhibited viral infection in herpetic simplex keratitis (HSK) mouse model. Our work demonstrates that viral detection and antiviral countermeasures can be paired for intelligent sense-and-destroy applications as a flexible and innovative method against virus infection., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Objectives: Viruses are the main infectious agents of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) in children. We aim to describe the changes in epidemic characteristics of viral ARIs in outpatient children before and during the COVID-19 pandemic., Patients and Methods: From 2017 to 2022, the results of viral detection in oral pharyngeal swabs in 479,236 children with ARIs in the outpatient department of Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, were retrospectively analyzed. Viral antigens, including adenovirus (ADV), influenza A (FLUA), influenza B (FLUB) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) were detected by the colloidal gold method., Results: The median age was 3.4 (1.6-5.6) years. Among all the children, 159,895 cases (33.4 %) were positive for at least one virus. The total positive rate for ADV, FLUA and FLUB during the pandemic period was lower than during the pre-pandemic period in every season (pre-pandemic period vs. pandemic period11.7 % vs. 4.7 %, 13.9 % vs. 9.2 %, 7.0 % vs. 5.2 %, respectively, with overall p value < 0.001). However, the positive rate fir RSV was not significantly different between the pre-pandemic period and the pandemic period (5.6 % vs. 5.8 %, p = 0.117). Atypical timing of RSV (summer-autumn 2021) and FLUA (summer 2022) was noted., Conclusions: Public health interventions for different pathogens are maximally effective. While positive rates for ADV, FLUA and FLUB decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic period, positive rates for RSV remained similar. In RSV and FLUA, off-season outbreaks were observed. Measures need to be taken to protect children from possible infection surges due to immunity debt having accrued over the last three years., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Background: Application of accumulated experience and management measures in the prevention and control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has generally depended on the subjective judgment of epidemic intensity, with the quality of prevention and control management being uneven. The present study was designed to develop a novel risk management system for COVID-19 infection in outpatients, with the ability to provide accurate and hierarchical control based on estimated risk of infection., Methods: Infection risk was estimated using an auto regressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA). Weekly surveillance data on influenza-like-illness (ILI) among outpatients at Xuanwu Hospital Capital Medical University and Baidu search data downloaded from the Baidu Index in 2021 and 22 were used to fit the ARIMA model. The ability of this model to estimate infection risk was evaluated by determining the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), with a Delphi process used to build consensus on hierarchical infection control measures. COVID-19 control measures were selected by reviewing published regulations, papers and guidelines. Recommendations for surface sterilization and personal protection were determined for low and high risk periods, with these recommendations implemented based on predicted results., Results: The ARIMA model produced exact estimates for both the ILI and search engine data. The MAPEs of 20-week rolling forecasts for these datasets were 13.65% and 8.04%, respectively. Based on these two risk levels, the hierarchical infection prevention methods provided guidelines for personal protection and disinfection. Criteria were also established for upgrading or downgrading infection prevention strategies based on ARIMA results., Conclusion: These innovative methods, along with the ARIMA model, showed efficient infection protection for healthcare workers in close contact with COVID-19 infected patients, saving nearly 41% of the cost of maintaining high-level infection prevention measures and enhancing control of respiratory infections., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted immense work on the investigation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Rapid, accurate, and consistent interpretation of generated data is thereby of fundamental concern. Ontologies-structured, controlled, vocabularies-are designed to support consistency of interpretation, and thereby to prevent the development of data silos. This paper describes how ontologies are serving this purpose in the COVID-19 research domain, by following principles of the Open Biological and Biomedical Ontology (OBO) Foundry and by reusing existing ontologies such as the Infectious Disease Ontology (IDO) Core, which provides terminological content common to investigations of all infectious diseases. We report here on the development of an IDO extension, the Virus Infectious Disease Ontology (VIDO), a reference ontology covering viral infectious diseases. We motivate term and definition choices, showcase reuse of terms from existing OBO ontologies, illustrate how ontological decisions were motivated by relevant life science research, and connect VIDO to the Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology (CIDO). We next use terms from these ontologies to annotate selections from life science research on SARS-CoV-2, highlighting how ontologies employing a common upper-level vocabulary may be seamlessly interwoven. Finally, we outline future work, including bacteria and fungus infectious disease reference ontologies currently under development, then cite uses of VIDO and CIDO in host-pathogen data analytics, electronic health record annotation, and ontology conflict-resolution projects., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Beverley et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

A global pandemic COVID-19 resulting from SARS-CoV-2 has affected a significant portion of the human population. Antiviral innate immunity is critical for controlling and eliminating the viral infection. Ubiquitination is extensively involved in antiviral signaling, and recent studies suggest that ubiquitin-like proteins (Ubls) modifications also participate in innate antiviral pathways such as RLR and cGAS-STING pathways. Notably, virus infection harnesses ubiquitination and Ubls modifications to facilitate viral replication and counteract innate antiviral immunity. These observations indicate that ubiquitination and Ubls modifications are critical checkpoints for the tug-of-war between virus and host. This review discusses the current progress regarding the modulation of the SARS-CoV-2 life cycle and antiviral innate immune pathways by ubiquitination and Ubls modifications. This paper emphasizes the arising concept that ubiquitination and Ubls modifications are powerful modulators of virus and host interaction and potential drug targets for treating the infection of SARS-CoV-2., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None declared., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2 has become the most threatening issue to all populations around the world. It is, directly and indirectly, affecting all of us and thus, is an emerging topic dealt in global health. To avoid the infection, various studies have been done and are still ongoing. COVID-19 cases are reported all over the globe, and among the millions of cases, genetic similarity may be seen. The genetical common features seen within confirmed cases may help outline the tendency of infection and degree severity of the disease. Here, we reviewed multiple papers on SNPs related to SARS-CoV-2 infection and analyzed their results. Methods: The PubMed databases were searched for papers discussing SNPs associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and severity. Clinical studies with human patients and statistically showing the relevance of the SNP with virus infection were included. Quality Assessment of all papers was done with Newcastle Ottawa Scale. Results: In the analysis, 21 full-text literature out of 2956 screened titles and abstracts, including 63,496 cases, were included. All were human-based clinical studies, some based on certain regions gathered patient data and some based on big databases obtained online. ACE2, TMPRSS2, and IFITM3 are the genes mentioned most frequently that are related to SARS-CoV-2 infection. 20 out of 21 studies mentioned one or more of those genes. The relevant genes according to SNPs were also analyzed. rs12252-C, rs143936283, rs2285666, rs41303171, and rs35803318 are the SNPs that were mentioned at least twice in two different studies. Conclusions: We found that ACE2, TMPRSS2, and IFITM3 are the major genes that are involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection. The mentioned SNPs were all related to one or more of the above-mentioned genes. There were discussions on certain SNPs that increased the infection and severity to certain groups more than the others. However, as there is limited follow-up and data due to a shortage of time history of the disease, studies may be limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung infections are one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and this situation has been exacerbated by the emergence of COVID-19. Pre-clinical modelling of viral infections has relied on cell cultures that lack 3D structure and the context of lung extracellular matrices. Here, we propose a bioreactor-based, whole-organ lung model of viral infection. The bioreactor takes advantage of an automated system to achieve efficient decellularization of a whole rat lung, and recellularization of the scaffold using primary human bronchial cells. Automatization allowed for the dynamic culture of airway epithelial cells in a breathing-mimicking setup that led to an even distribution of lung epithelial cells throughout the distal regions. In the sealed bioreactor system, we demonstrate proof-of-concept for viral infection within the epithelialized lung by infecting primary human airway epithelial cells and subsequently injecting neutrophils. Moreover, to assess the possibility of drug screening in this model, we demonstrate the efficacy of the broad-spectrum antiviral remdesivir. This whole-organ scale lung infection model represents a step towards modelling viral infection of human cells in a 3D context, providing a powerful tool to investigate the mechanisms of the early stages of pathogenic infections and the development of effective treatment strategies for respiratory diseases., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Interferons (IFNs) are a family of proteins that are generated in response to viral infection and induce an antiviral response in many cell types. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed that patients with inborn errors of type-I IFN immunity were more prone to severe infections, but also found that many patients with severe COVID-19 had anti-IFN autoantibodies that led to acquired defects in type-I IFN immunity. These findings revealed the previously unappreciated finding that central immune tolerance to IFN is essential to immune health. Further evidence has also highlighted the importance of IFN within the thymus and its impact on T-cell development. This review will highlight what is known of IFN's role in T-cell development, T-cell central tolerance, and the impact of IFN on the thymus., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A multiplex quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR)-based method was designed for the simultaneous detection of influenza A, SARS-CoV-2, respiratory syncytial virus, and measles virus. The performance of the multiplex assay was compared to four monoplex assays for relative quantification using standard quantification curves. Results showed that the multiplex assay had comparable linearity and analytical sensitivity to the monoplex assays, and the quantification parameters of both assays demonstrated minimal differences. Viral reporting recommendations for the multiplex method were estimated based on the corresponding limit of quantification (LOQ) and the limit of detection at 95 % confidence interval (LOD) values for each viral target. The LOQ was determined by the lowest nominal RNA concentrations where %CV values were ≤35 %. Corresponding LOD values for each viral target were between 15 and 25 gene copies per reaction (GC/rxn), and LOQ values were within 10 to 15 GC/rxn. The detection performance of a new multiplex assay was validated in the field by collecting composite wastewater samples from a local treatment facility and passive samples from three sewer shed locations. Results indicated that the assay could accurately estimate viral loads from various sample types, with samples collected from passive samplers showing a greater range of detectable viral concentrations than composite wastewater samples. This suggests that the sensitivity of the multiplex method may be improved when paired with more sensitive sampling methods. Laboratory and field results demonstrate the robustness and sensitivity of the multiplex assay and its applicability to detect the relative abundance of four viral targets among wastewater samples. Conventional monoplex RT-qPCR assays are suitable for diagnosing viral infections. However, multiplex analysis using wastewater provides a fast and cost-effective way to monitor viral diseases in a population or environment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The contribution of circulating verses tissue resident memory T cells (TRMs) to clinical neuropathology is an enduring question due to a lack of mechanistic insights. The prevailing view is TRMs are protective against pathogens in the brain. However, the extent to which antigen-specific TRMs induce neuropathology upon reactivation is understudied. Using the described phenotype of TRMs, we found that brains of naïve mice harbor populations of CD69 + CD103 - T cells. Notably, numbers of CD69 + CD103 - TRMs rapidly increase following neurological insults of various origins. This TRM expansion precedes infiltration of virus antigen-specific CD8 T cells and is due to proliferation of T cells within the brain. We next evaluated the capacity of antigen-specific TRMs in the brain to induce significant neuroinflammation post virus clearance, including infiltration of inflammatory myeloid cells, activation of T cells in the brain, microglial activation, and significant blood brain barrier disruption. These neuroinflammatory events were induced by TRMs, as depletion of peripheral T cells or blocking T cell trafficking using FTY720 did not change the neuroinflammatory course. Depletion of all CD8 T cells, however, completely abrogated the neuroinflammatory response. Reactivation of antigen-specific TRMs in the brain also induced profound lymphopenia within the blood compartment. We have therefore determined that antigen-specific TRMs can induce significant neuroinflammation, neuropathology, and peripheral immunosuppression. The use of cognate antigen to reactivate CD8 TRMs enables us to isolate the neuropathologic effects induced by this cell type independently of other branches of immunological memory, differentiating this work from studies employing whole pathogen re-challenge. This study also demonstrates the capacity for CD8 TRMs to contribute to pathology associated with neurodegenerative disorders and long-term complications associated with viral infections. Understanding functions of brain TRMs is crucial in investigating their role in neurodegenerative disorders including MS, CNS cancers, and long-term complications associated with viral infections including COVID-19., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA) are classified in three different classes I, II and III, and represent the key mediators of immune responses, self-tolerance development and pathogen recognition. Among them, non-classical subtypes (HLA-Ib), e.g. HLA-E and HLA-G, are characterize by tolerogenic functions that are often exploited by viruses to evade the host immune responses. In this perspective, we will review the main current data referred to HLA-G and HLA-E and viral infections, as well as the impact on immune response. Data were selected following eligibility criteria accordingly to the reviewed topic. We used a set of electronic databases (Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Web of Sciences (WOS), Cochrane library) for a systematic search until November 2022 using MeSH keywords/terms (i.e. HLA, HLA-G, HLA-E, viral infection, SARS-CoV-2, etc.…). Recent studies support the involvement of non-classical molecules, such as HLA-E and HLA-G, in the control of viral infection. On one side, viruses exploit HLA-G and HLA-E molecule to control host immune activation. On the other side, the expression of these molecules might control the inflammatory condition generated by viral infections. Hence, this review has the aim to summarize the state of art of literature about the modulation of these non-classical HLA-I molecules, to provide a general overview of the new strategies of viral immune system regulation to counteract immune defenses., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

[Display omitted] • A novel ChF/ZnO/CNT nano-hybrid was fabricated for detection of COVID-19. • Paper based aptasensor with colorimetric detection approach was developed. • Oxidation of TMB substrate by biosensor was detectable by naked eye sensitively. • The LOD of method was 0.05 pg/mL in colorimetric and 8 pg/mL in paper-based platform. Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) as the infectious disease caused the pandemic disease around the world through infection by SARS-CoV-2 virus. The common diagnosis approach is Quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) which is time consuming and labor intensive. In the present study a novel colorimetric aptasensor was developed based on intrinsic catalytic activity of chitosan film embedded with ZnO/CNT (ChF/ZnO/CNT) on 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) substrate. The main nanocomposite platform was constructed and functionalized with specific COVID-19 aptamer. The construction subjected with TMB substrate and H 2 O 2 in the presence of different concentration of COVID-19 virus. Separation of aptamer after binding with virus particles declined the nanozyme activity. Upon addition of virus concentration, the peroxidase like activity of developed platform and colorimetric signals of oxidized TMB decreased gradually. Under optimal conditions the nanozyme could detect the virus in the linear range of 1–500 pg mL and LOD of 0.05 pg mL. Also, a paper-based platform was used for set up the strategy on applicable device. The paper-based strategy showed a linear range between 50 and 500 pg mL with LOD of 8 pg mL. The applied paper based colorimetric strategy showed reliable results for sensitive and selective detection of COVID-19 virus with the cost-effective approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 is a global threat, causing high mortality, especially in the elderly. The main symptoms and the primary cause of death are related to interstitial pneumonia. Viral entry also into myocardial cells mainly via the angiotensin converting enzyme type 2 (ACE2) receptor and excessive production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, however, also make the heart susceptible to injury. In addition to the immediate damage caused by the acute inflammatory response, the heart may also suffer from long-term consequences of COVID-19, potentially causing a post-pandemic increase in cardiac complications. Although the main cause of cardiac damage in COVID-19 remains coagulopathy with micro- (and to a lesser extent macro-) vascular occlusion, open questions remain about other possible modalities of cardiac dysfunction, such as direct infection of myocardial cells, effects of cytokines storm, and mechanisms related to enhanced coagulopathy. In this opinion paper, we focus on these lesser appreciated possibilities and propose experimental approaches that could provide a more comprehensive understanding of the cellular and molecular bases of cardiac injury in COVID-19 patients. We first discuss approaches to characterize cardiac damage caused by possible direct viral infection of cardiac cells, followed by formulating hypotheses on how to reproduce and investigate the hyperinflammatory and pro-thrombotic conditions observed in the heart of COVID-19 patients using experimental in vitro systems. Finally, we elaborate on strategies to discover novel pathology biomarkers using omics platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The viral diseases encouraged scientific community to evaluate the natural antiviral bioactive components rather than protease inhibitors, harmful organic molecules or nucleic acid analogues. For this purpose, medicinal plants have been gaining tremendous importance in the field of attenuating the various kinds of infectious and non-infectious diseases. Most of the commonly used medicines contains the bioactive components/phytoconstituents that are generally extracted from medicinal plants. Moreover, the medicinal plants offer many advantages for the recovery applications of infectious disease especially in viral infections including HIV-1, HIV-2, Enterovirus, Japanese Encephalitis Virus, Hepatitis B virus, Herpes Virus, Respiratory syncytial virus, Chandipura virus and Influenza A/H1N1. Considering the lack of acceptable drug candidates and the growing antimicrobial resistance to existing drug molecules for many emerging viral diseases, medicinal plants may offer best platform to develop sustainable/efficient/economic alternatives against viral infections. In this regard, for exploring and analyzing large volume of scientific data, bibliometric analysis was done using VOS Viewer shedding light on the emerging areas in the field of medicinal plants and their antiviral activity. This review covers most of the plant species that have some novel bioactive compound like gnidicin, gniditrin, rutin, apigenin, quercetin, kaempferol, curcumin, tannin and oleuropin which showed high efficacy to inhibit the several disease causing virus and their mechanism of action in HIV, Covid-19, HBV and RSV were discussed. Moreover, it also delves the in-depth mechanism of medicinal with challenges and future prospective. Therefore, this work delves the key role of environment in the biological field., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Significant efforts and initiatives were already made in the health care systems, however in the last few years; our world is facing emergences of viral infections which potentially leading to considerable challenges in terms of higher morbidity, mortality, increased and considerable financial loads on the affected populations. Over ten major epidemics or pandemics have been recorded in the twenty-first century, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic being one of them. Viruses being distinct obligate pathogens largely dependent on living beings are considered as one of the prominent causes of death globally. Although effective vaccines and antivirals have led to the eradication of imperative viral pathogens, the emergences of new viral infections as well as novel drug-resistant strains have necessitated the implementation of ingenious and efficient therapeutic approaches to treat viral outbreaks in the future. Nature being a constant source of tremendous therapeutical resources has inspired us to develop multi-target antiviral drugs, overcoming the challenges and limitations faced by pharmaceutical industry. Recent breakthroughs in the understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of viral reproduction have laid the groundwork for potential treatment approaches including antiviral gene therapy relying on the application of precisely engineered nucleic acids for disabling pathogen replication. The development of RNA interference and advancements in genome manipulating tools have proven to be especially significant in this regard. In this review, we discussed mode of actions and pathophysiological events associated with the viral infections; followed by distributions, and advancement made towards the detection strategies for timely diagnosis. In the later section, current approaches to cope up the viral pathogens and their key limitations have also been elaborated. Lastly, we also explored some novel and potential targets to treat such infections, where attentions were made on next generation gene editing technologies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In recent times, the key role of the human microbiota in the body's response to infectious diseases has been increasingly demonstrated. The human microbiota is the set of symbiotic microorganisms which coexist with the human organism without harming it. However, diseases related to the microbiota occur and are being studied, and numerous publications suggest that altered microbiota composition is implicated in psychiatric diseases, chronic inflammatory diseases, and some viral infections. On the other hand, the role of the human microbiota in the host immune response to viral infections is not entirely clear. Metabolites or components produced by the microbiota are the main mediators of microbiota-host interactions that influence host immunity. It has been shown that in patients with COVID-19 and post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS), the microbiota is significantly altered. In this brief review, we examine the associations between the role of the microbiota in response to COVID-19 infection in terms of molecular biology and clinical relevance. We finally discuss the mechanisms by which metabolites produced by the microbiota modulate host immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Purpose of the Review: Persistent infections capable of causing central nervous system (CNS) complications months or years after the initial infection represent a major public health concern. This concern is particularly relevant considering the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, where the long-term neurological effects are still being recognized., Recent Findings: Viral infections are a risk factor for the development of neurodegenerative diseases. In this paper, we provide an in-depth exploration of the prevalent known and suspected persistent pathogens and their epidemiological and mechanistic links to later development of CNS disease. We examine the pathogenic mechanisms involved, including direct viral damage and indirect immune dysregulation, while also addressing the challenges associated with detecting persistent pathogens., Summary: Viral encephalitis has been closely associated with the later development of neurodegenerative diseases and persistent viral infections of the CNS can result in severe and debilitating symptoms. Further, persistent infections may result in the development of autoreactive lymphocytes and autoimmune mediated tissue damage. Diagnosis of persistent viral infections of the CNS remains challenging and treatment options are limited. The development of additional testing modalities as well as novel antiviral agents and vaccines against these persistent infections remains a crucial research goal.

The cardiovascular system is significantly affected in coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Microvascular injury, endothelial dysfunction, and thrombosis resulting from viral infection or indirectly related to the intense systemic inflammatory and immune responses are characteristic features of severe COVID-19. Pre-existing cardiovascular disease and viral load are linked to myocardial injury and worse outcomes. The vascular response to cytokine production and the interaction between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor may lead to a significant reduction in cardiac contractility and subsequent myocardial dysfunction. In addition, a considerable proportion of patients who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 do not fully recover and continue to experience a large number of symptoms and post-acute complications in the absence of a detectable viral infection. This conditions often referred to as 'post-acute COVID-19' may have multiple causes. Viral reservoirs or lingering fragments of viral RNA or proteins contribute to the condition. Systemic inflammatory response to COVID-19 has the potential to increase myocardial fibrosis which in turn may impair cardiac remodelling. Here, we summarize the current knowledge of cardiovascular injury and post-acute sequelae of COVID-19. As the pandemic continues and new variants emerge, we can advance our knowledge of the underlying mechanisms only by integrating our understanding of the pathophysiology with the corresponding clinical findings. Identification of new biomarkers of cardiovascular complications, and development of effective treatments for COVID-19 infection are of crucial importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent global Omicron epidemics underscore the great need for the development of small molecule therapeutics with appropriate mechanisms. The trimeric spike protein (S) of SARS-CoV-2 plays a pivotal role in mediating viral entry into host cells. We continued our efforts to develop small-molecule SARS-CoV-2 entry inhibitors. In this work, two sets of BA derivatives were designed and synthesized based on the hit BA-1 that was identified as a novel SARS-CoV-2 entry inhibitor. Compound BA-4, the most potent one, showed broad inhibitory activities against pOmicron and other pseudotyped variants with EC 50 values ranging 2.73 to 5.19 μM. Moreover, pSARS-CoV-2 assay, SPR analysis, Co-IP assay and the cell-cell fusion assay coupled with docking and mutagenesis studies revealed that BA-4 could stabilize S in the pre-fusion step to interfere with the membrane fusion, thereby displaying promising inhibition against Omicron entry., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic caused by coronavirus with mild to severe respiratory symptoms. This paper aimed to investigate the effect of nutrients on the immune system and their possible roles in the prevention, treatment, and management of COVID-19 in adults., Methods: This Systematic review was designed based on the guideline of the Preferred Reporting for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA). The articles that focussed on nutrition, immune system, viral infection, and coronaviruses were collected by searching databases for both published papers and accepted manuscripts from 1990 to 2020. Irrelevant papers and articles without English abstract were excluded from the review process., Results: Some nutrients are actively involved in the proper functioning and strengthening of the human immune system against viral infections including dietary protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin B 1 , vitamin B 6 , vitamin B 12 , vitamin C, iron, zinc, and selenium. Few studies were done on the effect of dietary components on prevention of COVID-19, but supplementation with these nutrients may be effective in improving the health status of patients with viral infections., Conclusion: Following a balanced diet and supplementation with proper nutrients may play a vital role in prevention, treatment, and management of COVID-19. However, further clinical trials are needed to confirm these findings and presenting the strong recommendations against this pandemic.

After the detection of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China in late December, the cases of Covid-19 have spiralled out around the globe. Due to the clinical similarity of Covid-19 with other flulike syndromes, patients are assayed for other pathogens of influenza like illness. There have been reported cases of co-infection amongst patients with Covid-19. Bacteria for example Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Chlamydia pneumonia, Legionella pneumophila etc and viruses such as influenza, coronavirus, rhinovirus/enterovirus, parainfluenza, metapneumovirus, influenza B virus etc are identified as co-pathogens. In our current effort, we develop and analysed a compartmental based Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE) type mathematical model to understand the co-infection dynamics of Covid-19 and other influenza type illness. In this work we have incorporated the saturated treatment rate to take account of the impact of limited treatment resources to control the possible Covid-19 cases. As results, we formulate the basic reproduction number of the model system. Finally, we have performed numerical simulations of the co-infection model to examine the solutions in different zones of parameter space., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Nanoscale plasmonic hotspots play a critical role in the enhancement of molecular Raman signals, enabling the sensitive and reliable trace analysis of biomedical molecules via surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). However, effective and label-free SERS diagnoses in practical fields remain challenging because of clinical samples' random adsorption and size mismatch with the nanoscale hotspots. Herein, we suggest a novel SERS strategy for interior hotspots templated with protein@Au core-shell nanostructures prepared via electrochemical one-pot Au deposition. The cytochrome c and lysates of SARS-CoV-2 (SLs) embedded in the interior hotspots were successfully functionalized to confine the electric fields and generate their optical fingerprint signals, respectively. Highly linear quantitative sensitivity was observed with the limit-of-detection value of 10 -1  PFU/mL. The feasibility of detecting the targets in a bodily fluidic environment was also confirmed using the proposed templates with SLs in human saliva and nasopharyngeal swabs. These interior hotspots templated with the target analytes are highly desirable for early and on-site SERS diagnoses of infectious diseases without any labeling processes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Microbial diseases, specifically originating from viruses are the major cause of human mortality all over the world. The current COVID-19 pandemic is a case in point, where the dynamics of the viral-human interactions are still not completely understood, making its treatment a case of trial and error. Scientists are struggling to devise a strategy to contain the pandemic for over a year and this brings to light the lack of understanding of how the virus grows and multiplies in the human body., Methods: This paper presents the perspective of the authors on the applicability of computational tools for deep learning and understanding of host-microbe interaction, disease progression and management, drug resistance and immune modulation through in silico methodologies which can aid in effective and selective drug development. The paper has summarized advances in the last five years. The studies published and indexed in leading databases have been included in the review., Results: Computational systems biology works on an interface of biology and mathematics and intends to unravel the complex mechanisms between the biological systems and the inter and intra species dynamics using computational tools, and high-throughput technologies developed on algorithms, networks and complex connections to simulate cellular biological processes., Conclusion: Computational strategies and modelling integrate and prioritize microbial-host interactions and may predict the conditions in which the fine-tuning attenuates. These microbial-host interactions and working mechanisms are important from the aspect of effective drug designing and fine- tuning the therapeutic interventions., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

The identification of a COVID-19 host response signature in blood can increase the understanding of SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis and improve diagnostic tools. Applying a multi-objective optimization framework to both massive public and new multi-omics data, we identified a COVID-19 signature regulated at both transcriptional and epigenetic levels. We validated the signature's robustness in multiple independent COVID-19 cohorts. Using public data from 8,630 subjects and 53 conditions, we demonstrated no cross-reactivity with other viral and bacterial infections, COVID-19 comorbidities, or confounders. In contrast, previously reported COVID-19 signatures were associated with significant cross-reactivity. The signature's interpretation, based on cell-type deconvolution and single-cell data analysis, revealed prominent yet complementary roles for plasmablasts and memory T cells. Although the signal from plasmablasts mediated COVID-19 detection, the signal from memory T cells controlled against cross-reactivity with other viral infections. This framework identified a robust, interpretable COVID-19 signature and is broadly applicable in other disease contexts. A record of this paper's transparent peer review process is included in the supplemental information., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has submitted a provisional patent related to this work. A.C., D.G.C., S.C.S., S.H.K., and E.Z. are inventors of the technology filed through ISMMS related to this manuscript. S.H.K. receives consulting fees from Peraton. C.W.W. is a founder of Predigen, Inc, and consultant and Chief Medical Officer of Biomeme. C.W.W. also consults for Arena Pharmaceuticals, Biofire, Karius, and FHI Clinical. T.W.B. is a consultant for and equity owner in Biomeme. E.L.T. is an employee and shareholder of Danaher Corp. M.T.M., E.L.T., R.H., T.W.B., and C.W.W. are co-inventors of technology filed under patent application “Methods to Detect and Treat SARS-COV2 (COVID19) Infection.” O.G.T. is on the advisory board of Cell Systems., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Association between messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccines and myocarditis has aroused public concern over vaccine safety., Objectives: The goal of this study was to compare the prognosis of this condition with viral infection-related myocarditis over 180 days., Methods: A territory-wide electronic public health care database in Hong Kong linked with population-based vaccination records was used to conduct a retrospective cohort study. Since the roll-out of BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech), patients aged ≥12 years hospitalized with myocarditis within 28 days after BNT162b2 vaccination were compared against viral infection-related myocarditis recorded before the pandemic (2000-2019), over a 180-day follow-up period (starting from diagnosis of myocarditis). All-cause mortality, heart failure, dilated cardiomyopathy, heart transplant, and postdischarge health care utilization were examined with Cox proportional hazards models., Results: A total of 866 patients were included for analysis. Over the follow-up period, 1 death (1.0%) of 104 patients with postvaccination myocarditis and 84 deaths (11.0%) of 762 patients with viral infection-related myocarditis were identified. One case (1.0%) of dilated cardiomyopathy and 2 cases (1.9%) of heart failure were identified in the postvaccination group, compared with 28 (3.7%) and 93 (12.2%) in the viral infection-related myocarditis group, respectively. Adjusted analysis showed that the postvaccination myocarditis group had a 92% lower mortality risk (adjusted HR: 0.08; 95% CI: 0.01-0.57). No significant differences in other prognostic outcomes were seen., Conclusions: This study found a significantly lower rate of mortality among individuals with myocarditis after mRNA vaccination compared with those with viral infection-related myocarditis. Prognosis of this iatrogenic condition may be less severe than naturally acquired viral infection-related myocarditis., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures This study was funded by a research grant from the Food and Health Bureau, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (reference COVID19F01). Drs Lai and I.C. Wong are partially supported by the Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health (D(2)4H) funded by AIR@InnoHK administered by the Innovation and Technology Commission. Dr Lai has been supported by the RGC Postdoctoral Fellowship under the Hong Kong Research Grants Council; and has received research grants from the Food and Health Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, outside the submitted work. Dr Chui has received grants from the Food and Health Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong Research Grant Council, Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission, Pfizer, IQVIA, and Amgen; and has received personal fees from PrimeVigilance, outside the submitted work. Dr Li has received research grants from the Food and Health Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; has received research and educational grants from Janssen and Pfizer; has received internal funding from the University of Hong Kong; and has received consultancy fees from Merck Sharp & Dohme, unrelated to this work. Dr Wan has received research grants from the Food and Health Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, outside the submitted work. Dr Chan has received honorarium from the Hospital Authority; and has received grants from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, Research Fund Secretariat of the Food and Health Bureau, National Natural Science Fund of China, Wellcome Trust, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Janssen, Amgen, Takeda, and Narcotics Division of the Security Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, outside the submitted work. Dr Wong has received research funding outside the submitted work from Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Janssen, Bayer, GSK, Novartis, the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, the Food and Health Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, National Institute for Health Research in England, European Commission, and the National Health and Medical Research Council in Australia; has received speaker fees from Janssen and Medice in the previous 3 years; and is an independent non-executive director of Jacobson Medical in Hong Kong. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2022 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has placed a massive impact on global civilization. Finding effective treatments and drugs for these viral diseases was crucial. This paper outlined and highlighted key elements of recent advances in nonthermal biocompatible plasma (NBP) technology for antiviral applications. We searched for papers on NBP virus inactivation in PubMed ePubs, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. The data and relevant information were gathered in order to establish a mechanism for NBP-based viral inactivation. NBP has been developed as a new, effective, and safe strategy for viral inactivation. NBP may be used to inactivate viruses in an ecologically friendly way as well as activate animal and plant viruses in a number of matrices. The reactive species have been shown to be the cause of viral inactivation. NBP-based disinfection techniques provide an interesting solution to many of the problems since they are simply deployable and do not require the resource-constrained consumables and reagents required for traditional decontamination treatments. Scientists are developing NBP technology solutions to assist the medical community in dealing with the present COVID-19 outbreak. NBP is predicted to be the most promising strategy for battling COVID-19 and other viruses in the future.

Pathogenic viral infections have become a serious public health issue worldwide. Viruses can infect all cell-based organisms and cause varying injuries and damage, resulting in diseases or even death. With the prevalence of highly pathogenic viruses, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), it is urgent to develop efficient and safe approaches to inactivate pathogenic viruses. Traditional methods of inactivating pathogenic viruses are practical but have several limitations. Electromagnetic waves, with high penetration capacity, physical resonance, and non-contamination, have emerged as a potential strategy to inactivate pathogenic viruses and have attracted increasing attention. This paper reviews the recent literature on the effects of electromagnetic waves on pathogenic viruses and their mechanisms, as well as promising applications of electromagnetic waves to inactivate pathogenic viruses, to provide new ideas and methods for this inactivation., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

This mini review focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of virus diseases using Crisper-Cas technology. The present paper describes various strategies involved in diagnosing diseases using Crispr-Cas-based assays. Additionally, CRISPR-Cas systems offer great potential as new therapeutic tools for treating viral infections including HIV, Influenza, and SARS-CoV-2. There are several major challenges to be overcome before this technology can be applied routinely in clinical settings, such as finding a suitable delivery tool, toxicity, and immunogenicity, as well as off-target effects. This review also discusses ways to deal with the challenges associated with Crisper-Cas technology. KEY POINTS: • Crisper technology is being applied to diagnose infectious and non-infectious diseases. • A new generation of CRISPR-Cas-based assays has been developed which detect pathogens within minutes, providing rapid diagnosis of diseases. • Crispr-Cas tools can be used to combat viral infections, specifically HIV, influenza, and SARS-CoV-2., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Surveillance systems are important in detecting changes in disease patterns and can act as early warning systems for emerging disease outbreaks. We hypothesized that analysis of data from existing global influenza surveillance networks early in the COVID-19 pandemic could identify outliers in influenza-negative influenza-like illness (ILI). We used data-driven methods to detect outliers in ILI that preceded the first reported peaks of COVID-19., Methods and Findings: We used data from the World Health Organization's Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System to evaluate time series outliers in influenza-negative ILI. Using automated autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) time series outlier detection models and baseline influenza-negative ILI training data from 2015-2019, we analyzed 8,792 country-weeks across 28 countries to identify the first week in 2020 with a positive outlier in influenza-negative ILI. We present the difference in weeks between identified outliers and the first reported COVID-19 peaks in these 28 countries with high levels of data completeness for influenza surveillance data and the highest number of reported COVID-19 cases globally in 2020. To account for missing data, we also performed a sensitivity analysis using linear interpolation for missing observations of influenza-negative ILI. In 16 of the 28 countries (57%) included in this study, we identified positive outliers in cases of influenza-negative ILI that predated the first reported COVID-19 peak in each country; the average lag between the first positive ILI outlier and the reported COVID-19 peak was 13.3 weeks (standard deviation 6.8). In our primary analysis, the earliest outliers occurred during the week of January 13, 2020, in Peru, the Philippines, Poland, and Spain. Using linear interpolation for missing data, the earliest outliers were detected during the weeks beginning December 30, 2019, and January 20, 2020, in Poland and Peru, respectively. This contrasts with the reported COVID-19 peaks, which occurred on April 6 in Poland and June 1 in Peru. In many low- and middle-income countries in particular, the lag between detected outliers and COVID-19 peaks exceeded 12 weeks. These outliers may represent undetected spread of SARS-CoV-2, although a limitation of this study is that we could not evaluate SARS-CoV-2 positivity., Conclusions: Using an automated system of influenza-negative ILI outlier monitoring may have informed countries of the spread of COVID-19 more than 13 weeks before the first reported COVID-19 peaks. This proof-of-concept paper suggests that a system of influenza-negative ILI outlier monitoring could have informed national and global responses to SARS-CoV-2 during the rapid spread of this novel pathogen in early 2020., Competing Interests: I have read the journal’s policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: TEW: Funding for studies of respiratory infection from NIH and CDC. The other Authors have declared no competing interests.

This paper aims to analyze and understand the impact of the corona virus disease (COVID-19) on aviation and also the role aviation played in the spread of COVID-19, by reviewing the recent scientific literature. We have collected 110 papers on the subject published in the year 2020 and grouped them according to their major application domain, leading to the following categories: Analysis of the global air transportation system during COVID-19, the impacts on the passenger-centric flight experience, and the long-term impacts on broad aviation. Based on the aggregated reported findings in the literature, this paper concludes with a set of recommendations for future scientific directions; hopefully helping aviation to prepare for a post-COVID-19 world. • We give an overview of the COVID-19 impact on air transportation. • In total, 110 papers have been carefully studied, categorized, and reported. • We investigate airlines, passenger experience, and long-term impact. • We conclude our review paper with future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fruits, vegetables, spices, and herbs are a potential source of phenolic acids and polyphenols. These compounds are known as natural by-products or secondary metabolites of plants, which are present in the daily diet and provide important benefits to the human body such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, anti-allergic, antihypertensive and antiviral properties, among others. Plentiful evidence has been provided on the great potential of polyphenols against different viruses that cause widespread health problems. As a result, this review focuses on the potential antiviral properties of some polyphenols and their action mechanism against various types of viruses such as coronaviruses, influenza, herpes simplex, dengue fever, and rotavirus, among others. Also, it is important to highlight the relationship between antiviral and antioxidant activities that can contribute to the protection of cells and tissues of the human body. The wide variety of action mechanisms of antiviral agents, such as polyphenols, against viral infections could be applied as a treatment or prevention strategy; but at the same time, antiviral polyphenols could be used to produce natural antiviral drugs. A recent example of an antiviral polyphenol application deals with the use of hesperidin extracted from Citrus sinensis. The action mechanism of hesperidin relies on its binding to the key entry or spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. Finally, the extraction, purification and recovery of polyphenols with potential antiviral activity, which are essential for virus replication and infection without side-effects, have been critically reviewed., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The epidemic of viral respiratory diseases in the last 20 years has affected many people around the world. In these situations, telemedicine may reduce unnecessary contacts and the risk of exposure to infection. This study aimed to review the papers performed to manage viral respiratory disease epidemics using telemedicine. Material and Methods: The PubMed and Scopus databases were searched in May 2020 for this systematic review study. Data were extracted from the final included papers based on the author, country, type of epidemic, telemedicine modality, telecommunication method, objective, participants, clinical outcome, cost, and satisfaction. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data. Results: From 365 retrieved papers, 18 papers were included. Most of the papers were done in the US and China (67%). Half of the papers were done during the COVID-19 pandemic. Real-time modality was used in 78% of the papers. The telecommunication method in half of the papers was internetbased. Patients’ management and treatment was the main objective of the six papers. In 81% of the teleconsultation papers, the consultation was performed between patients and healthcare providers. The clinical outcome of all papers showed that telemedicine was successful in the management of viral respiratory disease epidemics. Cost and satisfaction outcomes were considered in a few papers. Conclusion: There is considerable evidence to show that telemedicine is a useful and convenient method to manage and control viral respiratory disease epidemics. Therefore, countries should pay special attention to telemedicine to control the current pandemic and future epidemics and use it extensively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: The currently active COVID-19 pandemic has increased, among others, public interest in the computational techniques enabling the study of disease-spreading processes. Thus far, numerous approaches have been used to study the development of epidemics, with special attention paid to the identification of crucial elements that can strengthen or weaken the dynamics of the process. The main thread of this research is associated with the use of the ordinary differential equations method. There also exist several approaches based on the analysis of flows in the Cellular Automata (CA) approach., Methods: In this paper, we propose a new approach to disease-spread modeling. We start by creating a network that reproduces contacts between individuals in a community. This assumption makes the presented model significantly different from the ones currently dominant in the field. It also changes the approach to the act of infection. Usually, some parameters that describe the rate of new infections by taking into account those infected in the previous time slot are considered. With our model, we can individualize this process, considering each contact individually., Results: The typical output from calculations of a similar type are epidemic curves. In our model, except of presenting the average curves, we show the deviations or ranges for particular results obtained in different simulation runs, which usually lead to significantly different results. This observation is the effect of the probabilistic character of the infection process, which can impact, in different runs, individuals with different significance to the community. We can also easily present the effects of different types of intervention. The effects are studied for different methods used to create the graph representing a community, which can correspond to different social bonds., Conclusions: We see the potential usefulness of the proposition in the detailed study of epidemic development for specific environments and communities. The ease of entering new parameters enables the analysis of several specific scenarios for different contagious diseases., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The fast-moving world came to halt with the outbreak of Coronavirus in 2020. In the 21st century, often referred to as the 'Digital Age', where everyone was running to achieve new heights of success everyday, a pandemic applied a break on the world and introduced a new way of life, i.e., lockdown, a life with all the boundations that one can't even thought of. The purpose of this study is to unveil the current situation of the world after the outbreak of the pandemic, the impact of the COVID-19, the new life during the lockdown and the way people adapt themselves towards the new normal. It also presents the positive impact of the pandemic on nature and the efforts of doctors and scientists to protect the world from this pandemic and their invention of vaccine against the virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The African continent has witnessed most health crises including yellow fever, meningitis, cholera, and Ebola. Two recent health crises faced by Ghana have been the Ebola virus and the Covid-19 virus diseases. This paper attempts to compare these two crises to understand what preparedness approaches were used by the government of Ghana during these two crises. Also, the paper attempts to identify what the similarities and differences have been and why these similarities and differences existed in the preparedness towards these crises that happened over different periods and whether Ghana's Covid-19 preparedness was based on lessons from Ebola. Through the policy legacies analytical framework and a review of the literature, the paper argues that Ghana's preparedness shows a lot of similarities from the training of healthcare workers, the health infrastructure introduced, approaches to public engagement, and political decisions made to fight both crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background COVID-19 is the most rapidly expanding coronavirus outbreak in the past 2 decades. To provide a swift response to a novel outbreak, prior knowledge from similar outbreaks is essential. Results Here, we study the volume of research conducted on previous coronavirus outbreaks, specifically SARS and MERS, relative to other infectious diseases by analyzing >35 million articles from the past 20 years. Our results demonstrate that previous coronavirus outbreaks have been understudied compared with other viruses. We also show that the research volume of emerging infectious diseases is very high after an outbreak and decreases drastically upon the containment of the disease. This can yield inadequate research and limited investment in gaining a full understanding of novel coronavirus management and prevention. Conclusions Independent of the outcome of the current COVID-19 outbreak, we believe that measures should be taken to encourage sustained research in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]