3- Wednesday Research News – 18th August

1 – Quantifying impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic through life expectancy losses: a population-level study of 29 countries

• Variations in the age patterns and magnitudes of excess deaths, as well as differences in population sizes and age structures make cross-national comparisons of the cumulative mortality impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic challenging.
• Life expectancy is a widely-used indicator that provides a clear and cross-nationally comparable picture of the population-level impacts of the pandemic on mortality.
• Using decomposition techniques, they examined which specific age groups contributed to reductions in life expectancy in 2020 and to what extent reductions were attributable to official COVID-19 deaths.
• The COVID-19 pandemic triggered significant mortality increases in 2020 of a magnitude not witnessed since WW-II in Western Europe or the breakup of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe.

Source: MedRxiv

2- Adverse events following COVID-19 virus vaccination in Japanese young population: The first cross-sectional study conducted by a questionnaire survey after the first-time-injection

• A cross-sectional study was conducted to clarify the adverse events of COVID-19 vaccines in Japanese young population.
• The proportion of participants with adverse events at the vaccination site (immediately or within 30 minutes after vaccination) was 0.5%, and anaphylaxis occurred in one female student (0.03%).
• The results of this study clarified for the first time that age less than 20 years is a risk factor for systemic adverse events from the COVID-19 Vaccine Moderna Intramuscular Injection.
• This information will give impacts on considering adverse events and its mechanisms in mRNA vaccination.

Source: MedRxiv

3- Quantitative SARS-CoV-2 tracking of variants Delta, Delta plus, Kappa and Beta in wastewater by allele-specific RT-qPCR

The Delta (B.1.617.2) variant has caused major devastation in India and other countries around the world.

• First detected in October 2020, it has now spread to more than 100 countries, prompting WHO to declare it as a global variant of concern (VOC).
• The Delta (B.1.617.2), Delta plus (B.1.617.2.1) and Kappa (B.1.617.1) variants are all sub-lineages of the original B.1.617 variant.
• Prior to the inception of B.1.617, vaccine rollout, safe-distancing and timely lockdowns greatly reduced COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths.
• However, the Delta variant, allegedly more infectious and for which existing vaccines seemed less effective, has catalyzed the resurgence of cases.
• Therefore, there is an imperative need for increased surveillance of the B.1.617 variants.
• Following on the design principles of our previous assays for the Alpha variant, here they report allele-specific and multiplex-compatible RT-qPCR assays targeting mutations T19R, D80A, K417N, T478K and E484Q, for quantitative detection and discrimination of the Delta, Delta plus, Kappa and Beta variants in wastewater.

Source: MedRxiv

4- SARS-CoV-2 antibody changes in patients receiving COVID-19 convalescent plasma from normal and vaccinated donors

• Vaccination has been shown to stimulate remarkably high antibody levels in donors who have recovered from COVID-19.
• The objective was to examine patient antibody responses following COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma (CCP) transfusion and compare responses to CCP from vaccinated and non-vaccinated donors.
• If available, CCP from vaccinated donors with very high antibody levels should be used.
• CCP from vaccinated donors increases patient antibody levels much more than 1 or 2 units of CCP from unvaccinated donors.

Source: MedRxiv

5-: a systematic review and meta-analysis

• Colchicine may inhibit inflammasome signaling and reduce proinflammatory cytokines, a purported mechanism of COVID-19 pneumonia.
• The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to report on the state of the current literature on the use of colchicine in COVID-19 and to investigate the reported clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients by colchicine usage.
• Colchicine may reduce the risk of mortality in individuals with COVID-19.
• Further prospective investigation may further determine the efficacy of colchicine as treatment in COVID-19 patients in various care settings of the disease, including post-hospitalization and long-term care.

Source: MedRxiv

6- Azithromycin in patients with Covid-19; a systematic review and metanalysis

• Azithromycin (AZM) has been widely used in the management of Covid-19.
• However, the evidence on its actual effects remains disperse and difficult to apply in clinical settings.
• This systematic review and metanalysis summarizes the available evidence to date on the beneficial and adverse effect of AZM in patients with Covid-19.
• These results presented in this review do not support the use of AZM in the management of Covid-19.
• They also show that any harm caused to the patient who received it is unlikely.
• Future research on treatment for patients with Covid-19 may need to focus on other drugs

Source: MedRxiv

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