Studies corner

[Branster]

There are so many snippets of information regarding small tests, case studies and even research from all over the world, some interesting, some surprising, some hopeful. Too many and too small or sometimes obscure to make the main news

If you’d like to share you are welcome to join the thread.

I’ll make a start with these findings from Canada about a potential inhibitor drug

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200402144526.htm

[oldbagface]

Interesting what you say about second wave and a new responses.

[BigChocFrenzy]

Part of the answer to the much higher male death rate ?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/bald-men-higher-risk-severe-case-covid-19-research-finds/

Bald men may be at higher risk of suffering from severe Covid-19 symptoms, emerging evidence suggests.  
......
increasingly they believe it could be because androgens - male sex hormones like testosterone -
may play a part not only in hair loss, but also in boosting the ability of coronavirus to attack cells.

[whatsnext2]

Interesting paper From 2007 on how respiratory infections change inflammatory process and immune response in subsequent infections even if not similar

www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10.1513/pats.200706-066TH

[alreadytaken]

More confirmation that surfaces are really not that much of a risk, it's people that are the problem www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.28.20114041v1

[alreadytaken]

Blood group A is slightly more common in men - but better to be O than A www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.31.20114991v1

[alreadytaken]

Not going to pretend I've read this, it's heavy going - but the summary that led me to in says they believe the virus gets in the nose first, then spreads downwards. Might explain some of the conflicting views on masks because many people dont wear them properly.

www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(20)30675-9.pdf?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867420306759%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

[BigChocFrenzy]

But blood group A is more common than O in Scandi / Nordic countries - which have among the lowest cases in Europe, with lockdown.

[BigChocFrenzy]

Skin ailments in up to 20% of COVID cases

Photos & skin symptoms here:

https://covid.joinzoe.com/post/covid-skinrash

[BigChocFrenzy]

Pollen may be protective

Pollen is documented to be antiviral and allergenic, to play a role in immuno-activation
and seems to create a bio-aerosol lowering R0 of viruses with respiratory transmission

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.05.20123133v1

[alreadytaken]

pollen thing is interesting - but they are perhaps ignoring the influence it has on keeping some people indoors

[alreadytaken]

are the declines herd immunity or lockdown www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31357-X/fulltext?dgcid=raven_jbs_etoc_email

population study geneva www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31304-0/fulltext

asymptomatic people have lower viral load and clear the virus faster but still transmit it academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa711/5851471

Increasing c;ear that the virus affects blood so differences between blood groups would not be surprising. High levels of omega 3 consumption could mitigiate the effect in some countries.

[BigChocFrenzy]

CDC: High SARS-CoV-2 Attack Rate Following Exposure at a Choir Practice

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6919e6.htm
....
Superspreading events involving SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, have been reported.
.....
Following a 2.5-hour choir practice attended by 61 persons, including a symptomatic index patient,
32 confirmed and 20 probable secondary COVID-19 cases occurred (attack rate = 53.3% to 86.7%);
three patients were hospitalized,
and two died.

Transmission was likely facilitated by close proximity (within 6 feet) during practice and augmented by the act of singing.

What are the implications for public health practice?

The potential for superspreader events underscores the importance of physical distancing, including avoiding gathering in large groups, to control spread of COVID-19

[BigChocFrenzy]

(Preprint) Cremation based estimates suggest significant under- and delayed reporting of COVID-19 epidemic data in Wuhan and China

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.28.20116012v1

The implied starting time of the outbreak is October 2019

Under the assumption of the official 3.14% death rate and doubling time of 2.54 days (which was derived based on Chinese official data),
the infection cases reached 2.2 million on February 7.

The estimates of cumulative deaths,
based on both funeral urns distribution and continuous full capacity operation of cremation services up to March 23, 2020,
give results around 36,000,
more than 10 times of the official death toll of 2,524.

[alreadytaken]

Two months after mumsnet highlighted the importance of vitamin D NICE is finally to conduct a review of the evidence - but still no clinical trials in the UK on supplementation (as far as I know). However a meta analysis for them www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200507121353.htm

one showing a link to inflammation www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.08.20058578v4

Lancet getting in on the act (suggesting its a cheap intervention worth study) www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(20)30183-2/fulltext

correlation study urging supplementation www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-21211/v1

This has not reported yet but it's a Spanish intervention study - pretty small though and on non-severe patients so not investigating the effect if given to severe patients and not looking at possible effect in preventing infection. clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04334005

[alreadytaken]

Another study that has not reported yet - the French are dosing elderly patients (70 plus) with either high or low dose vitamin D. clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04344041

[alreadytaken]

Rather sceptical about this one but - study claiming that face masks work www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200612172200.htm

[marcus242628]

I cannot understand why vitamin d is not being recommended. Does anyone know if it is being given to everyone shielding or in care homes at least? At the very least it would help mood for those not getting out at this time. It is vital for wellbeing. I really believe having optimum levels of vit D (higher than just being acceptable to NICE guidelines) would prevent deaths and severe symptoms. Have patients been tested for Vit D to see if any of those dying/on oxygen have optimum levels? I know BAME people living here need much higher doses of VitD but do they need higher levels or just higher dose to achieve same levels? I just cant understand why it has been so dismissed. Are there concerns about supply of the supplements?

[alreadytaken]

Study of household transmission suggesting children are less likely to become infected than adults. www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/laninf/PIIS1473-3099(20)30471-0.pdf

[alreadytaken]

A study in monkeys - but suggesting there may be a genetic basis for why some people are more severely affected www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.16.155101v1

[alreadytaken]

More information on how coronavirus infects us - and therefore another target for therapeutic agents www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.07.137802v2

[alreadytaken]

Respiratory failure and a genetic explanation for differential risk between blood groups.

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.31.20114991v1

[whatsnext2]

@alreadytaken

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.22.20137299v1

Vitamin D

[alreadytaken]

whatsnext2 studies like that a link - but not that one causes the other or that supplementation would help. However it does show enough evidence for scientists to want to explore it further. I'll try to keep an eye on the intervention studies and post them here when they report. Only 2 of the studies are in the uk.

The people who run this study www.qmul.ac.uk/covidence/about-the-covidence-uk-study/
want to try and get a study of vitamin D as a preventive going. Personally I'm more interested in the studies that look at using it as a treatment. If giving someone vitamin D reduces the severity of illness then it's pretty obviously going to be worth supplementing with it.

Been out today topping up my level anyway.

[BigChocFrenzy]

Effect of Dexamethasone in Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19: Preliminary Report

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.06.22.20137273v1

Dexamethasone significantly reduced deaths of the most seriously ill patients - those on ventilators
and to a much lesser extent those just on oxygen.

It worsens the risk for those less seriously ill and not on either

No statistically significant benefit to patients aged 70+

• who comprise over 80% of COVID deaths
  
  but helps the minority of seriously ill younger patients

[oldbagface]

That's interesting. Thank you