scholarly journals In depth analysis of Cyprus-specific mutations of SARS-CoV-2 strains using computational approaches

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasis Oulas ◽  
Jan Richter ◽  
Maria Zanti ◽  
Marios Tomazou ◽  
Kyriaki Michailidou ◽  
...  

Abstract Background This study aims to characterize SARS-CoV-2 mutations which are primarily prevalent in the Cypriot population. Moreover, using computational approaches, we assess whether these mutations are associated with changes in viral virulence. Methods We utilize genetic data from 144 sequences of SARS-CoV-2 strains from the Cypriot population obtained between March 2020 and January 2021, as well as all data available from GISAID. We combine this with countries’ regional information, such as deaths and cases per million, as well as COVID-19-related public health austerity measure response times. Initial indications of selective advantage of Cyprus-specific mutations are obtained by mutation tracking analysis. This entails calculating specific mutation frequencies within the Cypriot population and comparing these with their prevalence world-wide throughout the course of the pandemic. We further make use of linear regression models to extrapolate additional information that may be missed through standard statistical analysis. Results We report a single mutation found in the ORF1ab gene (nucleotide position 18,440) that appears to be significantly enriched within the Cypriot population. The amino acid change is denoted as S6059F, which maps to the SARS-CoV-2 NSP14 protein. We further analyse this mutation using regression models to investigate possible associations with increased deaths and cases per million. Moreover, protein structure prediction tools show that the mutation infers a conformational change to the protein that significantly alters its structure when compared to the reference protein. Conclusions Investigating Cyprus-specific mutations for SARS-CoV-2 can lead to a better understanding of viral pathogenicity. Researching these mutations can generate potential links between viral-specific mutations and the unique genomics of the Cypriot population. This can not only lead to important findings from which to battle the pandemic on a national level, but also provide insights into viral virulence worldwide.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasis Oulas ◽  
Jan Richter ◽  
Maria Zanti ◽  
Marios Tomazou ◽  
Kyriaki Michailidou ◽  
...  

This study aims to characterize SARS-CoV-2 mutations which are primarily prevalent in the Cypriot population. Moreover, using computational approaches, we assess whether these mutations are associated with changes in viral virulence. We utilize genetic data from 144 sequences of SARS-CoV-2 strains from the Cypriot population obtained between March 2020 and January 2021, as well as all data available from GISAID. We combine this with countries' regional information, such as deaths and cases per million, as well as COVID-19-related public health austerity measure response times. Initial indications of selective advantage of Cyprus-specific mutations are obtained by mutation tracking analysis. This entails calculating specific mutation frequencies within the Cypriot population and comparing these with their prevalence world-wide throughout the course of the pandemic. We further make use of linear regression models to extrapolate additional information that may be missed through standard statistical analysis. We report a single mutation found in the ORF1ab gene (S6059F) that appears to be significantly enriched within the Cypriot population. We further analyse this mutation using regression models to investigate possible associations with increased deaths and cases per million. Moreover, protein structure prediction tools show that the mutation infers a conformational change to the protein that significantly alters its structure when compared to the reference protein. Investigating Cyprus-specific mutations for SARS-CoV-2 can not only lead to important findings from which to battle the pandemic on a national level, but also provide insights into viral virulence worldwide.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Rovetta ◽  
Akshaya Srikanth Bhagavathula

BACKGROUND COVID-19 mortality was associated with several reasons, including conspiracy theories and infodemic phenomena. However, little is known about the potential endogenous reasons for the increase in COVID-19 associated mortality in Italy. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to search the potential endogenous reasons for the increase in COVID-19 mortality recorded in Italy during the year 2020 and evaluate the statistical significance of the latter. METHODS We analyzed all the trends in the timelapse 2011-2019 related to deaths by age, sex, region, and cause of death in Italy and compared them with those of 2020. Ordinary least squares (OLS) linear regressions and ARIMA (p, d, q) models were applied to investigate the predictions of death in 2020 as compared to death reported in the same year. Grubbs and Iglewicz-Hoaglin tests were used to identify the statistical differences between the predicted and observed deaths. The relationship between mortality and predictive variables was assessed using OLS multiple regression models. RESULTS Both ARIMA and OLS linear regression models predicted the number of deaths in Italy during 2020 to be between 640,000 and 660,000 (95% confidence intervals range: 620,000 – 695,000) and these values were far from the observed deaths reported (above 750,000). Significant difference in deaths at national level (P = 0.003), and higher male mortality than women (+18% versus +14%, P < 0.001 versus P = 0.01) was observed. Finally, higher mortality was strongly and positively correlated with latitude (R = 0.82, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Our findings support the absence of historical endogenous reasons capable of justifying the increase in deaths and mortality observed in Italy in 2020. Together with the current knowledge on the novel coronavirus 2019, these findings provide decisive evidence on the devastating impact of COVID-19 in Italy. We suggest that this research be leveraged by government, health, and information authorities to furnish proof against conspiracy hypotheses. Moreover, given the marked concordance between the predictions of the ARIMA and OLS regression models, we suggest that these models be exploited to predict mortality trends.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0238665
Author(s):  
Anastasis Oulas ◽  
Maria Zanti ◽  
Marios Tomazou ◽  
Margarita Zachariou ◽  
George Minadakis ◽  
...  

This study aims to highlight SARS-COV-2 mutations which are associated with increased or decreased viral virulence. We utilize genetic data from all strains available from GISAID and countries’ regional information, such as deaths and cases per million, as well as COVID-19-related public health austerity measure response times. Initial indications of selective advantage of specific mutations can be obtained from calculating their frequencies across viral strains. By applying modelling approaches, we provide additional information that is not evident from standard statistics or mutation frequencies alone. We therefore, propose a more precise way of selecting informative mutations. We highlight two interesting mutations found in genes N (P13L) and ORF3a (Q57H). The former appears to be significantly associated with decreased deaths and cases per million according to our models, while the latter shows an opposing association with decreased deaths and increased cases per million. Moreover, protein structure prediction tools show that the mutations infer conformational changes to the protein that significantly alter its structure when compared to the reference protein.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Rovetta ◽  
Akshaya Srikanth Bhagavathula

Background: COVID-19 mortality was associated with several reasons, including conspiracy theories and infodemic phenomena. However, little is known about the potential endogenous reasons for the increase in COVID-19 associated mortality in Italy. Objective: This study aimed to search the potential endogenous reasons for the increase in COVID-19 mortality recorded in Italy during the year 2020 and evaluate the statistical significance of the latter. Methods: We analyzed all the trends in the timelapse 2011-2019 related to deaths by age, sex, region, and cause of death in Italy and compared them with those of 2020. Ordinary least squares (OLS) linear regressions and ARIMA (p, d, q) models were applied to investigate the predictions of death in the year 2020 as compared to death reported in 2020. Grubbs and Iglewicz-Hoaglin tests were used to identify the statistical differences between the predictors and observed death during the year 2020. The relationship between mortality and predictive variables was assessed using OLS multiple regression models. Results: Both ARIMA and OLS linear regression models predicted the number of deaths in Italy during the year 2020 is between 640,000 and 660,000 (95% confidence intervals range: 620,000 - 695,000) and these values were far from the observed deaths reported (n = 750,000). Significant difference in deaths at national level (P = 0.003), and higher male mortality than women (+18% versus +14%, P < 0.001 versus P = 0.01) was observed. Finally, higher mortality was strongly and positively correlated with latitude (R = 0.82, P < 0.001) Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the absence of historical endogenous reasons capable of justifying the increase in deaths and mortality observed in Italy in 2020. Together with the current knowledge on the novel coronavirus 2019, these findings provide decisive evidence on the devastating impact of COVID-19 in Italy. We suggest that this research be leveraged by government, health, and information authorities to furnish proof against conspiracy theorists. Moreover, given the marked concordance between the predictions of the ARIMA and OLS regression models, we suggest that these models be exploited to predict mortality trends.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasis Oulas ◽  
Maria Zanti ◽  
Marios Tomazou ◽  
Margarita Zachariou ◽  
George Minadakis ◽  
...  

AbstractThis study aims to highlight SARS-COV-2 mutations which are associated with increased or decreased viral virulence. We utilize, genetic data from all strains available from GISAID and countries’ regional information such as deaths and cases per million as well as covid-19-related public health austerity measure response times. Initial indications of selective advantage of specific mutations can be obtained from calculating their frequencies across viral strains. By applying modelling approaches, we provide additional information that is not evident from standard statistics or mutation frequencies alone. We therefore, propose a more precise way of selecting informative mutations. We highlight two interesting mutations found in genes N (P13L) and ORF3a (Q57H). The former appears to be significantly associated with decreased deaths and cases per million according to our models, while the latter shows an opposing association with decreased deaths and increased cases per million. Moreover, protein structure prediction tools show that the mutations infer conformational changes to the protein that significantly alter its structure when compared to the reference protein.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-71
Author(s):  
Wigiyanti Masodah

Offering credit is the main activity of a Bank. There are some considerations when a bank offers credit, that includes Interest Rates, Inflation, and NPL. This study aims to find out the impact of Variable Interest Rates, Inflation variables and NPL variables on credit disbursed. The object in this study is state-owned banks. The method of analysis in this study uses multiple linear regression models. The results of the study have shown that Interest Rates and NPL gave some negative impacts on the given credit. Meanwhile, Inflation variable does not have a significant effect on credit given. Keywords: Interest Rate, Inflation, NPL, offered Credit.


Author(s):  
Nykolas Mayko Maia Barbosa ◽  
João Paulo Pordeus Gomes ◽  
César Lincoln Cavalcante Mattos ◽  
Diêgo Farias Oliveira

2003 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Slamet Sugiri

The main objective of this study is to examine a hypothesis that the predictive content of normal income disaggregated into operating income and nonoperating income outperforms that of aggregated normal income in predicting future cash flow. To test the hypothesis, linear regression models are developed. The model parameters are estimated based on fifty-five manufacturing firms listed in the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) up to the end of 1997.This study finds that empirical evidence supports the hypothesis. This evidence supports arguments that, in reporting income from continuing operations, multiple-step approach is preferred to single-step one.


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