Association of SARS-CoV-2 infection with neurological impairments in pediatric population: A systematic review

Neurological manifestations have been widely reported in adults with COVID-19, yet the extent of involvement among the pediatric population is currently poorly characterized. The objective of our systematic review is to evaluate the association of SARS-CoV-2 infection with neurological symptoms and neuroimaging manifestations in the pediatric population. A literature search of Cochrane Library; EBSCO CINAHL; Global Index Medicus; OVID AMED, Embase, Medline, PsychINFO; and Scopus was conducted in accordance with the Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies form (October 1, 2019 to March 15, 2022). Studies were included if they reported (1) COVID-19-associated neurological symptoms and neuroimaging manifestations in individuals aged <18 years with a confirmed, first SARS-CoV-2 infection and were (2) peer-reviewed. Full-text reviews of 222 retrieved articles were performed, along with subsequent reference searches. A total of 843 no-duplicate records were retrieved. Of the 19 identified studies, there were ten retrospective observational studies, seven case series, one case report, and one prospective cohort study. A total of 6985 individuals were included, where 12.8% (n = 892) of hospitalized patients experienced neurocognitive impairments which includes: 1) neurological symptoms (n = 294 of 892, 33.0%), 2) neurological syndromes and neuroimaging abnormalities (n = 223 of 892, 25.0%), and 3) other phenomena (n = 233 of 892, 26.1%). Based on pediatric-specific cohorts, children experienced more drowsiness (7.3% vs. 1.3%) and muscle weakness (7.3% vs. 6.3%) as opposed to adolescents. Agitation or irritability was observed more in children (7.3%) than infants (1.3%). Our findings revealed a high prevalence of immune-mediated patterns of disease among COVID-19 positive pediatric patients with neurocognitive abnormalities.

COVID-19 and the scientific publishing system: growth, open access and scientific fields

We model the growth of scientific literature related to COVID-19 and forecast the expected growth from 1 June 2021. Considering the significant scientific and financial efforts made by the research community to find solutions to end the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented volume of scientific outputs is being produced. This questions the capacity of scientists, politicians and citizens to maintain infrastructure, digest content and take scientifically informed decisions. A crucial aspect is to make predictions to prepare for such a large corpus of scientific literature. Here we base our predictions on the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) and exponential smoothing models using the Dimensions database. This source has the particularity of including in the metadata information on the date in which papers were indexed. We present global predictions, plus predictions in three specific settings: by type of access (Open Access), by domain-specific repository (SSRN and MedRxiv) and by several research fields. We conclude by discussing our findings.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11192-022-04536-x.

BIP4COVID19: Releasing impact measures for articles relevant to COVID-19

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, a large number of relevant articles have been published or become available in preprint servers. These articles, along with earlier related literature, compose a valuable knowledge base affecting contemporary research studies or even government actions to limit the spread of the disease, and directing treatment decisions taken by physicians. However, the number of such articles is increasing at an intense rate, making the exploration of the relevant literature and the identification of useful knowledge challenging. In this work, we describe BIP4COVID19, an open data set that offers a variety of impact measures for coronavirus-related scientific articles. These measures can be exploited for the creation or extension of added-value services aiming to facilitate the exploration of the respective literature, alleviating the aforementioned issue. In the same context, as a use case, we provide a publicly accessible keyword-based search interface for COVID-19-related articles, which leverages our data to rank search results according to the calculated impact indicators.

Destigmatizing public health concerns and supply of COVID-19 vaccines

The end of the global pandemic caused by COVID-19 and a future without masks and restrictions are promising with the discovery of a vaccine. Still, there is much worry about the vaccine itself. Fears about what is inside the vaccine, how quickly it was created and plans for distribution are major concerns. This article aims to address these concerns to relieve vaccine hesitancy. Methods for distribution within the United States as well as different strategies to ensure proper and equitable allocation of COVID-19 vaccine worldwide is also described.

How Has Covid-19 Affected Published Academic Research? A Content Analysis of Journal Articles Mentioning the Virus

Purpose

Methods to tackle Covid-19 have been developed by a wave of biomedical research but the pandemic has also influenced many aspects of society, generating a need for research into its consequences, and potentially changing the way existing topics are investigated. This article investigates the nature of this influence on the wider academic research mission.

Design/methodology/approach

This article reports an inductive content analysis of 500 randomly selected journal articles mentioning Covid-19, as recorded by the Dimensions scholarly database on 19 March 2021. Covid-19 mentions were coded for the influence of the disease on the research.

Findings

Whilst two thirds of these articles were about biomedicine (e.g. treatments, vaccines, virology), or health services in response to Covid-19, others covered the pandemic economy, society, safety, or education. In addition, some articles were not about the pandemic but stated that Covid-19 had increased or decreased the value of the reported research or changed the context in which it was conducted.

Research limitations

The findings relate only to Covid-19 influences declared in published journal articles.

Practical implications

Research managers and funders should consider whether their current procedures are effective in supporting researchers to address the evolving demands of pandemic societies, particularly in terms of timeliness.

Originality/value

The results show that although health research dominates the academic response to Covid-19, it is more widely disrupting academic research with new demands and challenges.

Tracking and Mining the COVID-19 Research Literature

The unprecedented, explosive growth of the COVID-19 domain presents challenges to researchers to keep up with research knowledge within the domain. This article profiles this research to help make that knowledge more accessible via overviews and novel categorizations. We provide websites offering means for researchers to probe more deeply to address specific questions. We further probe and reassemble COVID-19 topical content to address research issues concerning topical evolution and emphases on tactical vs. strategic approaches to mitigate this pandemic and reduce future viral threats. Data suggest that heightened attention to strategic, immunological factors is warranted. Connecting with and transferring in research knowledge from outside the COVID-19 domain demand a viable COVID-19 knowledge model. This study provides complementary topical categorizations to facilitate such modeling to inform future Literature-Based Discovery endeavors.