Machine learning analysis of humoral and cellular responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection in young adults.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) induces B and T cell responses, contributing to virus neutralization. In a cohort of 2,911 young adults, we identified 65 individuals who had an asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and characterized their humoral and T cell responses to the Spike (S), Nucleocapsid (N) and Membrane (M) proteins. We found that previous infection induced CD4 T cells that vigorously responded to pools of peptides derived from the S and N proteins. By using statistical and machine learning models, we observed that the T cell response highly correlated with a compound titer of antibodies against the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD), S and N. However, while serum antibodies decayed over time, the cellular phenotype of these individuals remained stable over four months. Our computational analysis demonstrates that in young adults, asymptomatic and paucisymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections can induce robust and long-lasting CD4 T cell responses that exhibit slower decays than antibody titers. These observations imply that next-generation COVID-19 vaccines should be designed to induce stronger cellular responses to sustain the generation of potent neutralizing antibodies.

Some like it specific: the difference between treatment goals of anxious and depressed patients.

OBJECTIVES: While clinical diagnoses are the primary criteria for differential indication in psychotherapy, treatment-goal themes may provide additional information on diagnosis-specific and extra-diagnostic aspects of treatment motivation. It is hypothesized that the goals of anxiety patients focus on symptom relief, while the goals of depression patients are thematically more heterogeneous. Additionally, it is hypothesized that patients with various specific anxiety disorders can be differentiated on their treatment-goal themes. DESIGN: To obtain a sufficiently large number of diagnostically non-comorbid patients, a sample of 328 patients with non-comorbid anxiety and depression patients was merged from two subsamples: 255 outpatients from a university-based clinic in Germany and 73 outpatients from a comparable clinic in German-speaking Switzerland. METHODS: The treatment-goal themes of the 328 outpatients were coded using the Bern inventory of treatment goals. RESULTS: Patients with non-comorbid diagnoses of depression or anxiety differed as hypothesized. Anxiety patients' treatment goals predominantly focused on symptom relief, while depression patients' treatment goals were thematically more heterogeneous. In addition, patients with various specific anxiety disorders differed in their treatment-goal themes. CONCLUSIONS: Implications for clinical assessment and treatment planning are discussed.