Global analysis of the COVID-19 research landscape and scientific impact.

OBJECTIVES: To consider a 1-year time window of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis to integrate qualitative and quantitative data and provide an in-depth analysis of all COVID-19 publications from geographical, epidemiological and chronological perspectives. METHODS: Publications on COVID-19 from December 1, 2019, to December 31, 2020 without document type limitations were extracted from the Web of Science database. Microsoft Excel 2016, GraphPad Prism 9, VOSviewer 1.6.15 and IBM SPSS 21.0 were used to analyze the global epidemiological publication landscape and its correlations, research hotspots around the world and the top 5 countries in terms of publications. RESULTS: A total of 51,317 documents were analyzed in the present study. The publication trend could be divided into an increasing output stage and an explosive output stage. There were positive correlations between monthly publications, confirmed cases and deaths. Research hotspots from the whole year, from individual quarters, and from the top 5 countries with the most publications were further identified. CONCLUSIONS: The correlation analysis of publications indicated that confirmed cases and deaths were forces driving the scientific output, reflecting the growing trend to some extent. Moreover, the hotspot analysis provided valuable information for scientists, funders, policy and decision-makers to determine what areas should be their focus when faced with public health emergencies in the future.

A non-ACE2 competing human single-domain antibody confers broad neutralization against SARS-CoV-2 and circulating variants.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has heavily burdened the global public health system and may keep simmering for years. The frequent emergence of immune escape variants have spurred the search for prophylactic vaccines and therapeutic antibodies that confer broad protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants. Here we show that the bivalency of an affinity maturated fully human single-domain antibody (n3113.1-Fc) exhibits exquisite neutralizing potency against SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus, and confers effective prophylactic and therapeutic protection against authentic SARS-CoV-2 in the host cell receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) humanized mice. The crystal structure of n3113 in complex with the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2, combined with the cryo-EM structures of n3113 and spike ecto-domain, reveals that n3113 binds to the side surface of up-state RBD with no competition with ACE2. The binding of n3113 to this novel epitope stabilizes spike in up-state conformations but inhibits SARS-CoV-2 S mediated membrane fusion, expanding our recognition of neutralization by antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. Binding assay and pseudovirus neutralization assay show no evasion of recently prevalent SARS-CoV-2 lineages, including Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Gamma (P.1), and Delta (B.1.617.2) for n3113.1-Fc with Y58L mutation, demonstrating the potential of n3113.1-Fc (Y58L) as a promising candidate for clinical development to treat COVID-19.

Bibliometric analysis of mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: As a global pandemic, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a profound effect on public mental health. METHODS: Publications related to mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic from December 1, 2019, to November 13, 2020, were extracted from the Web of Science database. Bibliometric indicator analysis was performed using VOSviewer 1.6.15. RESULTS: In total, 1233 documents from 2020 were retrieved, of which 680 were original articles. The United States contributed the largest publication output (285, 23.1%). Huazhong University of Science and Technology published the most articles in this field (35), while Wuhan University received the most citations (1149). The United Kingdom had the strongest collaboration network. Four keyword clusters representing hotspots in this field were identified. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to developed countries, countries seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic also made significant contributions to mental health research during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study focused on various aspects, such as mental health during isolation, mental health in healthcare workers, and public mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the future, countries should strengthen global cooperation and pay more attention to the mental health of vulnerable groups during pandemics.