Associations of pre-existing cardiovascular morbidity with severity and the fatality rate in COVID-19 patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of pre-existing cardiovascular comorbidities, including hypertension and coronary heart disease, with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity and mortality. METHODS: PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Scopus were searched between January 1, 2020, and July 18, 2020, to identify eligible studies. Random-effect models were used to estimate the pooled event rates of pre-existing cardiovascular disease comorbidities and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) of disease severity and mortality associated with the exposures of interest. RESULTS: A total of 34 studies involving 19,156 patients with COVID-19 infection met the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of pre-existing cardiovascular disease in the included studies was 14.0%. Pre-existing cardiovascular disease in COVID-19 patients was associated with severe outcomes (OR, 4.1; 95% CI, 2.9 to 5.7) and mortality (OR, 6.1; 95% CI, 2.9 to 12.7). Hypertension and coronary heart disease increased the risk of severe outcomes by 2.6 times (OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.9 to 3.6) and 2.5 times (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.7 to 3.8), respectively. No significant publication bias was indicated. Conclusion: COVID-19 patients with pre-existing cardiovascular comorbidities have a higher risk of severe outcomes and mortality. Awareness of pre-existing cardiovascular comorbidity is important for the early management of COVID-19.

Epidemiology of Human Bocavirus in the Middle East and North Africa: Systematic Review.

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of studying newly emerging viruses that cause respiratory illnesses. Human bocavirus (HBoV) is one of the relatively newly discovered viruses that has been detected worldwide and causes respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, mainly in pediatric patients. However, little is known about the pathogenicity and evolution of HBoV. This systematic review was initiated to clarify the prevalence and circulating genotypes of HBoV in both respiratory and stool samples from patients of all age groups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) from 2005 to February 2021. We performed an electronic search through Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed, Mendeley and Cochrane Library databases. We included all studies reporting the detection rate of HBoV in the MENA region. Data were extracted, and the quality of the included articles was assessed. We included articles containing data on HBoV only or with other respiratory or gastrointestinal viral infections. Review articles, case studies, and animal and environmental studies were excluded. The final number of articles included in this study was 65 articles. The results showed that the HBoV prevalence in children was the lowest in Iran (0%) and the highest in Egypt (56.8%). In adults, the lowest and the highest prevalence were reported in Iran, with values of 0% and 6.6%, respectively. Regarding the respiratory cases, our findings revealed no significant difference between HBoV prevalence among the tested categories (p-value = 0.998). The present study has shown that HBoV is common in children and adults in the MENA region. This systematic review highlights the need for more data on the role of coinfection of HBoV and other viruses, for instance, SARS-CoV-2 in children with acute bronchiolitis.

New SARS-CoV-2 Variant from Jordan.

A variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from Jordan was identified during the second wave of infection. The genome of this variant has a unique set of mutations that suggest local evolution. Due to the continuous emergence of new variants worldwide, molecular surveillance is crucial for fighting the pandemic.

Cerebrovascular comorbidity, high blood levels of C-reactive protein and D-dimer are associated with disease outcomes in COVID-19 patients.

The emerging coronavirus disease (COVID-19) swept the world, affecting more than 200 countries and territories. As of August 22, 2020, the pandemic infected more than 23,329,752 including 807,054 patients who have died. Although the main clinical features of the pandemic disease are respiratory, cerebrovascular comorbidities emerged as one of the leading causes of death associated with COVID-19. Different case reports have indicated that C-reactive protein (CRP) and D-dimer (pro-inflammatory biomarkers) were elevated in COVID-19 patients, which can significantly increase the risk of ischemic stroke. Available data on cerebrovascular complications in COVID-19 patients were collected and a meta-analysis was designed and carried out to evaluate the risk of severity and mortality associated with high levels of CRP and D-dimer levels in COVID-19 patients. In addition, we aimed to describe the overall event rate of pre-existing cerebrovascular disease in COVID-19 patients. In our analysis, 5,614 cases have been studied, out of these patients 164 cases have developed cerebrovascular comorbities. Cerebrovascular comorbidity increased the risk of disease severity (odd ratio = 4.4; 95% CI: 1.48 to 12.84) and mortality (odd ratio = 7.0; 95% CI: 2.56 to 18.99). Statistical analyses showed that CRP and D-dimer serum levels were elevated by six-folds in the severe cases of COVID-19 patients. This significant increase in these two proteins levels can serve as a vital indicator for COVID-19 patients who are at increased risk of severe COVID-19 cerebrovascular complications, such as stroke.

The optimal therapeutic irisin dose intervention in animal model: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Irisin, a novel myocyte-secreted hormone, was proposed to mediate some of the beneficial effects of exercise such as browning of adipocytes, thermogenesis, and metabolic homeostasis. Recently, several animals' models' studies have been performed to investigate the therapeutic impact of irisin in several disorders. Several interventional trials used different doses. However, optimum dose was not determined. This systematic review aims to identify the optimal dose of interventional irisin in mice and rat animal models. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Online databases PubMed, Google Scholar, and Springer were systematically searched from 2012 to 2019. The words searched were irisin, irisin and animal model, physical activity, and irisin and irisin dosage. Non-irisin doses, in vitro studies, and factors influencing irisin levels were excluded. RESULTS: Eleven of the total 391 qualifying studies were included. A daily injection of 500 µg/kg irisin may be the optimum dose of effect in mice and rats. CONCLUSION: More studies are required to determine the optimum dose of irisin to be used as a therapeutic intervention based on animal model.

Risk of using hydroxychloroquine as a treatment of COVID-19.

The emerging COVID-19 pandemic poses a threat to the global health care system. Given the lack of antiviral therapies or vaccines for the disease, the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) obtained much attention as a treatment for COVID-19. However, there are limited and uncertain clinical data to support the beneficial effect of this drug in COVID-19 treatment. HCQ has several side effects and warnings, including blindness, heart failure, and renal toxicity, even with recommended doses. For severe cases of COVID-19 or in patients with preexisting conditions, administering such a drug could be fatal, particularly when taken at high doses or in combination with other antibiotics. However, further well-designed studies that would address the optimal dose, duration of treatment, possible side effects, and long-term usage outcomes are needed to make the final decision. In this paper, we aim to discuss the risk of using HCQ in treating COVID-19 patients, including its possible side effects.

The Human Coronavirus Disease COVID-19: Its Origin, Characteristics, and Insights into Potential Drugs and Its Mechanisms.

The emerging coronavirus disease (COVID-19) swept across the world, affecting more than 200 countries and territories. Genomic analysis suggests that the COVID-19 virus originated in bats and transmitted to humans through unknown intermediate hosts in the Wuhan seafood market, China, in December of 2019. This virus belongs to the Betacoronavirus group, the same group of the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), and for the similarity, it was named SARS-CoV-2. Given the lack of registered clinical therapies or vaccines, many physicians and scientists are investigating previously used clinical drugs for COVID-19 treatment. In this review, we aim to provide an overview of the CoVs origin, pathogenicity, and genomic structure, with a focus on SARS-CoV-2. Besides, we summarize the recently investigated drugs that constitute an option for COVID-19 treatment.

Coronavirus drugs: Using plasma from recovered patients as a treatment for COVID-19.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has infected nearly 3,582,233 individuals with 248,558 deaths since it was first identified in human populations in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. No antiviral therapies or vaccines are available for their treatment or prevention. Passive immunization PI through broadly neutralizing antibodies that bind to the specific antigens of SARS-CoV 2 might be a potential solution to address the immediate health threat of COVID-19 pandemic while vaccines are being developed. The PI approach in treating COVID-19 is discussed herein, including a summary of its historical applications to confront epidemics.

Assessing intragenomic variation of the internal transcribed spacer two: Adapting the Illumina metagenomics protocol.

Primary and secondary structural data from the internal transcribed spacer two (ITS2) have been used extensively for diversity studies of many different eukaryotic organisms, including the green algae. Ease of amplification is due, at least in part, to the fact that ITS2 is part of the tandemly-repeated rRNA array. The potential confounding influence of intragenomic variability has yet to be addressed except in a few organisms. Moreover, few of the assessments of intragenomic variation have taken advantage of the deep sequencing capacity of sequence-by-synthesis protocols. We present results from our adaptation of the 16S Metagenomics Sequencing Library Preparation/Illumina protocol for deep sequencing of the ITS2 genes in selected isolates of the green algal genus, Haematococcus. Deep sequencing yielded from just under 20,000 to more than 500,000 merged reads, outpacing results from recent pyrosequencing efforts. Furthermore, a conservative evaluation of these data revealed a range of three to six ITS2 sequence haplotypes (defined as unique sets of nucleotide polymorphisms) across the taxon sampling. The frequency of the dominant haplotype ranged from 0.35 to 0.98. In all but two cases, the haplotype with the greatest frequency corresponded to a sequence obtained by the Sanger method using PCR templates. Our data also show that results from the sequencing-by-synthesis approach are reproducible. In addition to advancing our understanding of ribosomal RNA variation, the results of this investigation will allow us to begin testing hypotheses regarding the maintenance of homogeneity across multi-copy genes.