ABSTRACT
Background/Objectives: COVID-19 can affect anyone with the disease's symptoms ranging from mild to very severe. Although environmental, clinical, and social factors play an important role in the disease process, host genetic factors are not negligible either. In the present article, we attempted to elaborate on the spectrum of risk variants and genes identified in different ways and their possible relationship to COVID-19 severity and/or mortality. Method(s): We present three different approaches to search host genetic risk factors that influence the development of COVID-19 disease. First, we analyzed the exome sequencing data obtained from Slovak patients who died of COVID-19. Second, we selected risk factors/genes that were associated with COVID-19. Finally, we compared each group of found risk variants with data from dead patients and two control groups, worldwide public data of the Non-Finnish European population from the gnomAD database, and genetic data from Non-invasive prenatal testing in the Slovak population. Result(s): We illustrate the utility of genomic data showed strong association in meta-analyses conducted by the COVID-19 HGI Browser. Conclusion(s): To our knowledge, the present study is the first population analysis of COVID-19 variants worldwide and also in the Slovak population that provides different approaches to the analysis of genetic variants in whole-exome sequencing data from patients who have died of COVID-19.
ABSTRACT
Drawing upon a case study of a heated public online debate on vaccination related to a measles epidemic in the Czech Republic in 2019, this article’s contribution is twofold: First, it adds to recent debates about the emotionalization of the (online) public sphere, and second, it examines communication strategies of vaccination supporters. To capture the heterogeneity of the online debate, we analyzed the discussion forums of 3 mainstream online news servers. Providing observations relevant to current debates surrounding anti-COVID-19 vaccination, our data reveal that the deliberative potential of online debate concerning vaccination is undermined by the offensive nature of pro-vaccination comments. These comments tend to be uncivil, toxic, and offensive mainly due to the use of communication strategies employing destructive emotions. We conclude that by labeling their opponents and constructing dichotomies in which they associate them with individualism and irrationality, the pro-vaccination discussants contribute to further polarization of stances toward vaccination. © 2022 (Lenka Vochocová, Dino Numerato, and Tereza Sedláčková).