scholarly journals Profiling COVID-19 Genetic Research: A Data-Driven Study Utilizing Intelligent Bibliometrics

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengjia Wu ◽  
Yi Zhang ◽  
Mark Grosser ◽  
Steven Tipper ◽  
Deon Venter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Gene Expression ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Genetic Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Health Administration ◽  
Disease Spectrum ◽  
Human Coronaviruses

The COVID-19 pandemic constitutes an ongoing worldwide threat to human society and has caused massive impacts on global public health, the economy and the political landscape. The key to gaining control of the disease lies in understanding the genetics of SARS-CoV-2 and the disease spectrum that follows infection. This study leverages traditional and intelligent bibliometric methods to conduct a multi-dimensional analysis on 5,632 COVID-19 genetic research papers, revealing that 1) the key players include research institutions from the United States, China, Britain and Canada; 2) research topics predominantly focus on virus infection mechanisms, virus testing, gene expression related to the immune reactions and patient clinical manifestation; 3) studies originated from the comparison of SARS-CoV-2 to previous human coronaviruses, following which research directions diverge into the analysis of virus molecular structure and genetics, the human immune response, vaccine development and gene expression related to immune responses; and 4) genes that are frequently highlighted include ACE2, IL6, TMPRSS2, and TNF. Emerging genes to the COVID-19 consist of FURIN, CXCL10, OAS1, OAS2, OAS3, and ISG15. This study demonstrates that our suite of novel bibliometric tools could help biomedical researchers follow this rapidly growing field and provide substantial evidence for policymakers’ decision-making on science policy and public health administration.

scholarly journals Linking rattiness, geography and environmental degradation to spillover Leptospira infections in marginalised urban settings: an eco-epidemiological community-based cohort study in Brazil

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max T Eyre ◽  
Fábio N Souza ◽  
Ticiana S. A. Carvalho-Pereira ◽  
Nivison Nery ◽  
Daiana de Oliveira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Intervention ◽  
Spatial Modelling ◽  
The United States ◽  
Infection Risk ◽  
Human Infection ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Entire Study ◽  
Urban Settings ◽  
Public Health Burden

Background: Zoonotic spillover from animal reservoirs is responsible for a significant global public health burden, but the processes that promote spillover events are poorly understood in complex urban settings. Endemic transmission of Leptospira, the agent of leptospirosis, in marginalised urban communities occurs through human exposure to an environment contaminated by bacteria shed in the urine of the rat reservoir. However, it is unclear to what extent transmission is driven by variation in the distribution of rats or by the dispersal of bacteria in rainwater runoff and overflow from open sewer systems. <br /><br />Methods: We conducted an eco-epidemiological study in a high-risk community in Salvador, Brazil, by prospectively following a cohort of 1,401 residents to ascertain serological evidence for leptospiral infections. A concurrent rat ecology study was used to collect information on the fine-scale spatial distribution of ‘rattiness’, our proxy for rat abundance and exposure of interest. We developed and applied a novel geostatistical framework for joint spatial modelling of multiple indices of disease reservoir abundance and human infection risk. <br /><br />Results: The estimated infection rate was 51.4 (95\%CI 40.4, 64.2) infections per 1,000 follow-up events. Infection risk increased with age until 30 years of age and was associated with male gender. Rattiness was positively associated with infection risk for residents across the entire study area, but this effect was stronger in higher elevation areas (OR 3.27 95\%CI 1.68, 19.07) than in lower elevation areas (OR 1.14 95\%CI 1.05, 1.53). <br /><br />Conclusions: These findings suggest that, while frequent flooding events may disperse bacteria in regions of low elevation, environmental risk in higher elevation areas is more localised and directly driven by the distribution of local rat populations. The modelling framework developed may have broad applications in delineating complex animal-environment-human interactions during zoonotic spillover and identifying opportunities for public health intervention.<br /><br />Funding: This work was supported by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation and Secretariat of Health Surveillance, Brazilian Ministry of Health, the National Institutes of Health of the United States (grant numbers F31 AI114245, R01 AI052473, U01 AI088752, R01 TW009504 and R25 TW009338); the Wellcome Trust (102330/Z/13/Z), and by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia (FAPESB/JCB0020/2016). M.T.E is supported by an MRC doctorate studentship. F.N.S. participated in this study under a FAPESB doctorate scholarship.

scholarly journals Vaccine trials during a pandemic: potential approaches to ethical dilemmas

Trials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manaf Alqahtani ◽  
Saad I. Mallah ◽  
Nigel Stevenson ◽  
Sally Doherty
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Clinical Medicine ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
Clinical Success ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Stepped Wedge ◽  
Open Label ◽  
Vaccine Trials ◽  
Trial Testing

AbstractEver since the emergence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), global public health infrastructures and systems, along with community-wide collaboration and service, have risen to an unprecedented challenge. Vaccine development was immediately propelled to the centre of all our scientific, public health and community efforts. Despite the development of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines arguably being the greatest and most palpable achievements of the past 12 months, they have also been one of the most contentious and debated issues during the pandemic. However, what uniquely differentiates vaccine development is its intimate relationship with the community it seeks to serve; both in its clinical trial testing as an efficacious and safe prophylactic, and its post-developmental ‘roll-out’ success, as an effective public health tool. These relationships have birthed a myriad of complexities, from community-based mistrust, to academically contended ethical dilemmas. Indeed, the accelerated advances in the COVID-19 vaccine race have further exacerbated this phenomenon, bringing with it new ethical dilemmas that need to be examined to ensure the continued clinical success of these therapeutics and a renewed societal trust in clinical medicine.In this paper, we discuss two major ethical dilemmas: (1) the equipoise of continuing new vaccine trials in the advent of successful candidates and (2) the maleficence of blinded placebo arms. Accordingly, we discuss six different potential approaches to these ethical dilemmas: (1) continuing with placebo-controlled trials, (2) transitioning from placebo-controlled to open-label, (3) unblinding at-risk priority groups only, (4) transitioning to a blinded stepped-wedge cross-over design, (5) progressing to a blinded active-controlled stepped-wedge cross-over trial, and (6) conducting randomised stepped-wedge community trials. We also propose a decision-making algorithm for relevant stakeholders in advanced stages of vaccine trials.It is important to remember that the emergent nature of the COVID-19 situation does not justify a compromise on core ethical values. In fact, the discourse surrounding this topic and the decisions made will remain a potent case study and a continuously referenced example for all such future scenarios.

Air pollution and your brain: what do you need to know right now

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (04) ◽  
pp. 329-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilian Calderón-Garcidueñas ◽  
Ana Calderón-Garcidueñas ◽  
Ricardo Torres-Jardón ◽  
José Avila-Ramírez ◽  
Randy J. Kulesza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Fine Particles ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Parkinson’S Diseases ◽  
The Brain

Research links air pollution mostly to respiratory and cardiovascular disease. The effects of air pollution on the central nervous system (CNS) are not broadly recognized. Urban outdoor pollution is a global public health problem particularly severe in megacities and in underdeveloped countries, but large and small cities in the United States and the United Kingom are not spared. Fine and ultrafine particulate matter (UFPM) defined by aerodynamic diameter (&lt;2.5-μm fine particles, PM2.5, and &lt;100-nm UFPM) pose a special interest for the brain effects given the capability of very small particles to reach the brain. In adults, ambient pollution is associated to stroke and depression, whereas the emerging picture in children show significant systemic inflammation, immunodysregulation at systemic, intratechal and brain levels, neuroinflammation and brain oxidative stress, along with the main hallmarks of Alzheimer and Parkinson’s diseases: hyperphosphorilated tau, amyloid plaques and misfoldedα-synuclein. Animal models exposed to particulate matter components show markers of both neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. Epidemiological, cognitive, behavioral and mechanistic studies into the association between air pollution exposures and the development of CNS damage particularly in children are of pressing importance for public health and quality of life. Primary health providers have to include a complete prenatal and postnatal environmental and occupational history to indoor and outdoor toxic hazards and measures should be taken to prevent or reduce further exposures.

scholarly journals Nanobiosensors for the Detection of Novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV and Other Pandemic/Epidemic Respiratory Viruses: A Review

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (22) ◽  
pp. 6591
Author(s):  
Badriyah Alhalaili ◽  
Ileana Nicoleta Popescu ◽  
Olfa Kamoun ◽  
Feras Alzubi ◽  
Sami Alawadhia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Respiratory Viruses ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Detection Methods ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
The World ◽  
Human Coronaviruses ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Made In

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is considered a public health emergency of international concern. The 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that caused this pandemic has spread rapidly to over 200 countries, and has drastically affected public health and the economies of states at unprecedented levels. In this context, efforts around the world are focusing on solving this problem in several directions of research, by: (i) exploring the origin and evolution of the phylogeny of the SARS-CoV-2 viral genome; (ii) developing nanobiosensors that could be highly effective in detecting the new coronavirus; (iii) finding effective treatments for COVID-19; and (iv) working on vaccine development. In this paper, an overview of the progress made in the development of nanobiosensors for the detection of human coronaviruses (SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is presented, along with specific techniques for modifying the surface of nanobiosensors. The newest detection methods of the influenza virus responsible for acute respiratory syndrome were compared with conventional methods, highlighting the newest trends in diagnostics, applications, and challenges of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 causative virus) nanobiosensors.

scholarly journals Emerging Antimicrobial-Resistant High-Risk Klebsiella pneumoniae Clones ST307 and ST147

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gisele Peirano ◽  
Liang Chen ◽  
Barry N. Kreiswirth ◽  
Johann D. D. Pitout
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Klebsiella Pneumoniae ◽  
The United States ◽  
Medical Community ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Health Burden ◽  
Worldwide Distribution

ABSTRACT There is an enormous global public health burden due to antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) Klebsiella pneumoniae high-risk clones. K. pneumoniae ST307 and ST147 are recent additions to the family of successful clones in the species. Both clones likely emerged in Europe during the early to mid-1990s and, in a relatively short time, became prominent global pathogens, spreading to all continents (with the exception of Antarctica). ST307 and ST147 consist of multiple clades/clusters and are associated with various carbapenemases (i.e., KPCs, NDMs, OXA-48-like, and VIMs). ST307 is endemic in Italy, Colombia, the United States (Texas), and South Africa, while ST147 is endemic in India, Italy, Greece, and certain North African countries. Both clones have been introduced into regions of nonendemicity, leading to worldwide nosocomial outbreaks. Genomic studies showed ST307 and ST147 contain identical gyrA and parC mutations and likely obtained plasmids with blaCTX-M-15 during the early to mid-2000s, which aided in their global distribution. ST307 and ST147 then acquired plasmids with various carbapenemases during the late 2000s, establishing themselves as important AMR pathogens in certain regions. Both clones are likely underreported due to restricted detection methodologies. ST307 and ST147 have the ability to become major threats to public health due to their worldwide distribution, ability to cause serious infections, and association with AMR, including panresistance. The medical community at large, especially those concerned with antimicrobial resistance, should be aware of the looming threat posed by emerging AMR high-risk clones such as K. pneumoniae ST307 and ST147.

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