Interleukin-6 and severity of COVID-19 patients in Hefei, China

Reviewing the Potential Links between Viral Infections and TDP-43 Proteinopathies

Transactive response DNA binding protein 43 kDa (TDP-43) was discovered in 2001 as a cellular factor capable to inhibit HIV-1 gene expression. Successively, it was brought to new life as the most prevalent RNA-binding protein involved in several neurological disorders, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Despite the fact that these two research areas could be considered very distant from each other, in recent years an increasing number of publications pointed out the existence of a potentially important connection. Indeed, the ability of TDP-43 to act as an important regulator of all aspects of RNA metabolism makes this protein also a critical factor during expression of viral RNAs. Here, we summarize all recent observations regarding the involvement of TDP-43 in viral entry, replication and latency in several viruses that include enteroviruses (EVs), Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), hepatitis B virus (HBV), severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), West Nile virus (WNV), and herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV). In particular, in this work, we aimed to highlight the presence of similarities with the most commonly studied TDP-43 related neuronal dysfunctions.

Analysis of post COVID-19 condition and its overlap with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome

BACKGROUND

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) disease (COVID-19) triggers the development of numerous pathologies and infection-linked complications and exacerbates existing pathologies in nearly all body systems. Aside from the primarily targeted respiratory organs, adverse SARS-CoV-2 effects were observed in nervous, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal/metabolic, immune, and other systems in COVID-19 survivors. Long-term effects of this viral infection have been recently observed and represent distressing sequelae recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a distinct clinical entity defined as post-COVID-19 condition. Considering the pandemic is still ongoing, more time is required to confirm post COVID-19 condition diagnosis in the COVID-19 infected cohorts, although many reported post COVID-19 symptoms overlap with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).

AIMS OF REVIEW

In this study, COVID-19 clinical presentation and associated post-infection sequelae (post-COVID-19 condition) were reviewed and compared with ME/CFS symptomatology.

KEY SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS OF REVIEW

The onset, progression, and symptom profile of post COVID-19 condition patients have considerable overlap with ME/CFS. Considering the large scope and range of pro-inflammatory effects of this virus, it is reasonable to expect development of post COVID-19 clinical complications in a proportion of the affected population. There are reports of a later debilitating syndrome onset three months post COVID-19 infection (often described as long-COVID-19), marked by the presence of fatigue, headache, cognitive dysfunction, post-exertional malaise, orthostatic intolerance, and dyspnoea. Acute inflammation, oxidative stress, and increased levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), have been reported in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. Longitudinal monitoring of post COVID-19 patients is warranted to understand the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the pathomechanism of post COVID-19 condition.

Coevolution of COVID-19 research and China's policies

BACKGROUND

In the era of evidence-based policy-making (EBPM), scientific outputs and public policy should engage with each other in a more interactive and coherent way. Notably, this is becoming increasingly critical in preparing for public health emergencies.

METHODS

To explore the coevolution dynamics between science and policy (SAP), this study explored the changes in, and development of, COVID-19 research in the early period of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, from 30 December 2019 to 26 June 2020. In this study, VOSviewer was adopted to calculate the link strength of items extracted from scientific publications, and machine learning clustering analysis of scientific publications was carried out to explore dynamic trends in scientific research. Trends in relevant policies that corresponded to changing trends in scientific research were then traced.

RESULTS

The study observes a salient change in research content as follows: an earlier focus on "children and pregnant patients", "common symptoms", "nucleic acid test", and "non-Chinese medicine" was gradually replaced with a focus on "aged patients", "pregnant patients", "severe symptoms and asymptomatic infection", "antibody assay", and "Chinese medicine". "Mental health" is persistent throughout China's COVID-19 research. Further, our research reveals a correlation between the evolution of COVID-19 policies and the dynamic development of COVID-19 research. The average issuance time of relevant COVID-19 policies in China is 8.36 days after the launching of related research.

CONCLUSIONS

In the early stage of the outbreak in China, the formulation of research-driven-COVID-19 policies and related scientific research followed a similar dynamic trend, which is clearly a manifestation of a coevolution model (CEM). The results of this study apply more broadly to the formulation of policies during public health emergencies, and provide the foundation for future EBPM research.