Geospatial Analysis of COVID-19: A Scoping Review.

The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, China in late December 2019 became the harbinger of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, geospatial techniques, such as modeling and mapping, have helped in disease pattern detection. Here we provide a synthesis of the techniques and associated findings in relation to COVID-19 and its geographic, environmental, and socio-demographic characteristics, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) methodology for scoping reviews. We searched PubMed for relevant articles and discussed the results separately for three categories: disease mapping, exposure mapping, and spatial epidemiological modeling. The majority of studies were ecological in nature and primarily carried out in China, Brazil, and the USA. The most common spatial methods used were clustering, hotspot analysis, space-time scan statistic, and regression modeling. Researchers used a wide range of spatial and statistical software to apply spatial analysis for the purpose of disease mapping, exposure mapping, and epidemiological modeling. Factors limiting the use of these spatial techniques were the unavailability and bias of COVID-19 data-along with scarcity of fine-scaled demographic, environmental, and socio-economic data-which restrained most of the researchers from exploring causal relationships of potential influencing factors of COVID-19. Our review identified geospatial analysis in COVID-19 research and highlighted current trends and research gaps. Since most of the studies found centered on Asia and the Americas, there is a need for more comparable spatial studies using geographically fine-scaled data in other areas of the world.

Emerging Targets and Latest Proteomics Based Therapeutic Approaches in Neurodegenerative Diseases.

Protein homeostasis (proteostasis) is achieved by the interplay among various components and pathways inside a cell. Dysfunction in proteostasis leads to protein misfolding and aggregation which is ubiquitously associated with many neurodegenerative disorders, although the exact role of these aggregate in the pathogenesis remains unknown. Many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and others are characterized by the conversion of specific protein aggregates into protein inclusions and/or plaques in degenerating brains. Apart from the conventional disease specific proteins, such as amyloid-ß, α - synuclein, huntingtin protein, and prions that are known to aggregate, a number of other proteins play a vital role in aggravating the disease condition. In this review, we discuss the disease etiology, mechanism, the role of various pathways, molecular machinery including molecular chaperones, protein degradation pathways, and the active formation of inclusions in various neurodegenerative diseases. We also highlight the approaches, strategies, and methods that have been used for the treatment of these complex diseases over the years and the efforts that have potential in the near future.