Telephone screening of cognitive status (TICS) in severe COVID-19 patients: Utility in the era of social isolation
Soldati AB, Almeida C, Lima M, Araujo A, Araujo-Leite MA and Silva MTT
Telephone screening of cognitive status (TICS) in severe COVID-19 patients: Utility in the era of social isolation
Soldati AB, Almeida C, Lima M, Araujo A, Araujo-Leite MA and Silva MTT
Clinical management of individuals with Intellectual Disability: The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic as experienced in a clinical and research center Research in Developmental Disabilities
Buono S, Zingale M, Città S, Mongelli V, Trubia G, Mascali G, Occhipinti P, Pettinato E, Ferri R, Gagliano C and Greco D
Clinical management of individuals with Intellectual Disability: The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic as experienced in a clinical and research center Research in Developmental Disabilities
Buono S, Zingale M, Città S, Mongelli V, Trubia G, Mascali G, Occhipinti P, Pettinato E, Ferri R, Gagliano C and Greco D
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Oasi Research Institute of Troina (Italy) became an important hotbed for infection; in fact, 109 patients with different levels of Intellectual Disability (ID) tested positive for COVID-19. The procedures and interventions put in place at the Oasi Research Institute due to the COVID-19 pandemic are exhaustively reported in this paper. The description of the clinical procedures as well as remote/in person psychological support services provided to people with ID and their families are here divided into three different sections: Phase I (or Acute phase), Phase II (or Activity planning), and Phase III (or Activity consolidation). In each section, the main psycho-pathological characteristics of patients, the reactions of family members and the multidisciplinary interventions put in place are also described.
SARS-CoV-2 serology levels in pregnant women and their neonates
Kubiak JM, Murphy EA, Yee J, Cagino K, Friedlander RL, Glynn SM, Matthews KC, Jurkiewicz M, Sukhu AC, Zhao Z, Prabhu M, Riley L and Yang YJ
SARS-CoV-2 serology levels in pregnant women and their neonates
Kubiak JM, Murphy EA, Yee J, Cagino K, Friedlander RL, Glynn SM, Matthews KC, Jurkiewicz M, Sukhu AC, Zhao Z, Prabhu M, Riley L and Yang YJ
Pregnant women and their neonates represent two vulnerable populations highly susceptible to viral infections with an interdependent immune system. The immune response of pregnant women to SARS-CoV-2 and the interplay of how the maternal immune response affects neonatal passive immunity have not been systematically studied.
Susceptibility-weighted imaging reveals cerebral microvascular injury in severe COVID-19
Conklin J, Frosch MP, Mukerji SS, Rapalino O, Maher MD, Schaefer PW, Lev MH, Gonzalez RG, Das S, Champion SN, Magdamo C, Sen P, Harrold GK, Alabsi H, Normandin E, Shaw B, Lemieux JE, Sabeti PC, Branda JA, Brown EN, Westover MB, Huang SY and Edlow BL
Susceptibility-weighted imaging reveals cerebral microvascular injury in severe COVID-19
Conklin J, Frosch MP, Mukerji SS, Rapalino O, Maher MD, Schaefer PW, Lev MH, Gonzalez RG, Das S, Champion SN, Magdamo C, Sen P, Harrold GK, Alabsi H, Normandin E, Shaw B, Lemieux JE, Sabeti PC, Branda JA, Brown EN, Westover MB, Huang SY and Edlow BL
We evaluated the incidence, distribution, and histopathologic correlates of microvascular brain lesions in patients with severe COVID-19. Sixteen consecutive patients admitted to the intensive care unit with severe COVID-19 undergoing brain MRI for evaluation of coma or neurologic deficits were retrospectively identified. Eleven patients had punctate susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) lesions in the subcortical and deep white matter, eight patients had >10 SWI lesions, and four patients had lesions involving the corpus callosum. The distribution of SWI lesions was similar to that seen in patients with hypoxic respiratory failure, sepsis, and disseminated intravascular coagulation. Brain autopsy in one patient revealed that SWI lesions corresponded to widespread microvascular injury, characterized by perivascular and parenchymal petechial hemorrhages and microscopic ischemic lesions. Collectively, these radiologic and histopathologic findings add to growing evidence that patients with severe COVID-19 are at risk for multifocal microvascular hemorrhagic and ischemic lesions in the subcortical and deep white matter.
Generalized linear models provide a measure of virulence for specific mutations in SARS-CoV-2 strains
Oulas A, Zanti M, Tomazou M, Zachariou M, Minadakis G, Bourdakou MM, Pavlidis P and Spyrou GM
Generalized linear models provide a measure of virulence for specific mutations in SARS-CoV-2 strains
Oulas A, Zanti M, Tomazou M, Zachariou M, Minadakis G, Bourdakou MM, Pavlidis P and Spyrou GM
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.
