Daily curated COVID-19 literature
WP11 - The objective of this work package is to respond to requests concerning the current scientific knowledge on SARS-CoV-2. Based on the latest scientific literature the team will compile findings and give advice when needed
150 publications
2020-06-08
COVID-19 Research in Brief: 30 May to 5 June, 2020
Expert Summary: Nature Medicine summarizes all the research you need to know this week to keep on top of how science is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2020-06-02
COVID-19 Research in Brief: 23 May to 29 May, 2020
Expert Summary: Nature Medicine summarizes the new advances and publication on COVID-19 on the week prior. Last week there was progress in the field of clinical and pre-clinical studies.
2020-05-29
Small droplet aerosols in poorly ventilated spaces and SARS-CoV-2 transmission
Expert Summary: To better understand the spreading of respiratory droplets and possible preventive measures, the authors analysed droplet production due to coughs and speech. The authors show that transmission by aerosols of the small droplets can only be prevented by use of high-performance face masks; a conventional surgical mask only stops 30% of those for inhaled breath; for exhaled breath the efficacy is higher. The study shows that better ventilation of spaces substantially reduces the airborne time of respiratory droplets.
Proteomic and Metabolomic Characterization of COVID-19 Patient Sera
Expert Summary: The authors performed proteomic and metabolomic profiling of sera from 46 COVID-19 patients, from which 13 were severe, and respective conrols. There were olecular changes in the sera of COVID-19 patients compared to other groups, mainly concerning dysregulation of macrophage, platelet degranulation and complement system pathways. Through the sera, it can also be observed great metabolic suppression.
Clinical impact of COVID-19 on patients with cancer (CCC19): a cohort study
Expert Summary: This study investigated the outcomes of cancer patients with COVID-19 and examined whether cancer-associated and non-associated factors are related with mortality and severe illness. They found that independent factors associated with increased 30-day mortality, after partial adjustment, were: increased age (per 10 years), male sex, smoking status, number of comorbidities, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 2 or higher, active cancer, and receipt of azithromycin plus hydroxychloroquine (vs treatment with neither). Cancer patients show an increased 30-day all cause mortality.
2020-05-28
Type I and Type III Interferons - Induction, Signaling, Evasion, and Application to Combat COVID-19
Expert Summary: In this review, the authors describe the progress in the understanding of type I and type III IFN-mediated innate antiviral responses against coronaviruses. They also discuss the potential use of IFNs as a treatment for COVID-19.
Remdesivir for 5 or 10 Days in Patients with Severe Covid-19
Expert Summary: This article presents the results of randomized, open-labeled, phase 3 trial involving hospitalized patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection comparing the clinical outcome of patients receiving 5-days or 10-days treatments of Remdesivir. They found that patients randomly assigned to the 10-days group had significantly worse clinical status than those assigned to the 5-day group (P = 0.02). After adjustment for baseline clinical status, patients in 10-days treatment group at day 14 showed the clinical status similar to patients receiving 5-days treatment.
Comparison of Clinical Characteristics of Patients with Asymptomatic vs Symptomatic Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Wuhan, China
Expert Summary: The differences of clinical features and prognosis between patients who were asymptomatic vs those who were symptomatic remains to be understood. This case series describe the clinical characteristics of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from 26 transmission cluster series in Wuhan, China. Patients who were asymptomatic, compared with patients with symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection had a higher proportion of women, and less consumption of CD4+T lymphocyte, indicating reduced damage to immune system
