CONCLUSION: Higher expression, polymorphisms, mutations, and deletions of several genes are linked with the susceptibility, severity, and clinical outcomes of COVID-19. Early treatment and vaccination of individuals with genetic predisposition could help minimize the severity and mortality associated with COVID-19.

CONCLUSION: The meta-analysis demonstrated high-dose corticosteroids did not reduce mortality rate. However, high-dose corticosteroids did not pose higher risk of hyperglycemia and infection rate for COVID-19 patients. Due to the inconclusive trial sequential analysis, substantial heterogeneity and low level of evidence, future large-scale randomized clinical trials are warranted to improve the certainty of evidence for the use of high-dose compared to low-dose corticosteroids in COVID-19...

In diagnostic testing, establishing an indeterminate class is an effective way to identify samples that cannot be accurately classified. However, such approaches also make testing less efficient and must be balanced against overall assay performance. We address this problem by reformulating data classification in terms of a constrained optimization problem that (i) minimizes the probability of labeling samples as indeterminate while (ii) ensuring that the remaining ones are classified with an...

CONCLUSIONS: Our study evaluated the overall pandemic impact on cancer diagnosis on a large scale and with minimal selection bias, showing that as of February 2022, cancer detection in Catalonia had not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Pending cancer incidence data from population-based cancer registries, early CPR data could inform the development of Spanish cancer control plans.

In this work, a bioassay-guided fractionation strategy was used to isolate 26 phenolic compounds from the ethyl acetate partition of an ethanol extract of the aerial parts of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. ex DC. Among them, 8 prenylated phenolic compounds (glycyuralin Q-X) were described for the first time. The two enantiomers of glycyuralin Q were purified and their absolute configurations were established by ECD spectral calculations. (1″R, 2″S)-glycyuralin Q and (1″S, 2″R)-glycyuralin Q showed...

CONCLUSIONS: Substantial disruptions in clinical trial activities were observed early during the pandemic, with a gradual recovery during ensuing time periods, both from an enrollment and an activation standpoint. The observed decline was more prominent among academically sponsored trials, and racial disparities were seen among people taken off trial.

CONCLUSION: Policies aimed at improving vaccine acceptance should target vulnerable populations, particularly female diabetes patients, whose concerns must be addressed to increase their vaccination rates.

CONCLUSIONS: Humoral and cellular response rates to primary and booster SARS-CoV-2 vaccination differ among immunosuppressed patient groups. Clinical testing of cellular immunity is important in monitoring vaccine response in vulnerable populations.

BACKGROUND: Excessive inflammation is pathogenic in the pneumonitis associated with severe COVID-19. Neutrophils are among the most abundantly present leukocytes in the inflammatory infiltrates and may form neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) under the local influence of cytokines. NETs constitute a defense mechanism against bacteria but have also been shown to mediate tissue damage in a number of diseases.

CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a marked increase in the number of patients seeking consultation for orofacial pain and associated symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS: Clustering of COVID-19 was common among HCWs and related to shared accommodation and social gatherings, infection was of mild severity, and was not associated with caring for COVID-19 patients.

CONCLUSION: Strategies that foster social connectedness over the longer term, need to prioritize the needs of older adults who face multiple barriers to equitable social participation.

Nursing home (NH) providers would benefit from adopting evidence-based measures for gathering and utilizing resident preference information in their daily care activities. However, providers face barriers when implementing assessment tools used to promote person-centered care (PCC). Although Agile methodology is not commonly used in NH settings, this case study shows how it can be used to achieve the goal of delivering preference-based, PCC, within a large NH. We present a road map for breaking...

Preservation of the integrity of macromolecular higher-order structure is a tenet central to achieving biologic drug and vaccine product stability toward manufacturing, distribution, storage, handling, and administration. Given that mRNA lipid nanoparticles (mRNA-LNPs) are held together by an intricate ensemble of weak forces, there are some intriguing parallels to biologic drugs, at least at first glance. However, mRNA vaccines are not without unique formulation and stabilization challenges...

More than 320 million people worldwide were affected by SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19, which already caused more than 5.5 million deaths. COVID-19 spreads through air when an infected person breathes, coughs, or sneezes out droplets containing virus particles. Emerging variants like Omicron with positivity rate of 16 (highest among others) present greater risk of virus spread, so that all types of indoor environments become critically important. Strategically adopted Heating Ventilation and Air...

CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest little neonatal morbidity associated with maternal COVID-19, except for those born to mothers admitted to intensive care unit. However, under breastfeeding conditions with rigorous hygiene precautions and parental education, the risk of transmission of SARS-COV-2 virus to the newborn was very low.