Articles: coronavirus.
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The global crisis provoked by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and the economic and social consequences associated to the essential policies applied to contain it, necessitates the expedited development of therapeutic solutions. It is a priority to produce data both rapidly and accurately in order to identify current therapies that can be repurposed to offer protection from SARS-CoV-2 infection. ⋯ A systematic data analysis of exposure and infection rates among healthcare workers could yield patterns identifying common protective factors, such as medications with prophylactic potential against SARS-CoV-2, that can be fast-tracked into available therapies. With results suggesting their activity against other coronaviruses and their widespread adoption, Antiretroviral cocktails could be a promising initial target for such large-scale data analysis approach.
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Frontiers in immunology · Jan 2020
Excessive Neutrophils and Neutrophil Extracellular Traps in COVID-19.
Background: Cases of excessive neutrophil counts in the blood in severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients have drawn significant attention. Neutrophil infiltration was also noted on the pathological findings from autopsies. It is urgent to clarify the pathogenesis of neutrophils leading to severe pneumonia in COVID-19. ⋯ Increasing neutrophil counts paralleled lesion CT values (slope: 0.8 and 0.3-1.2), reflecting neutrophilia-induced lung injury in severe patients. Transcriptome analysis revealed that neutrophil activation was correlated with 17 neutrophil extracellular trap (NET)-associated genes in COVID-19 patients, which was related to innate immunity and interacted with T/NK/B cells, as supported by a protein-protein interaction network analysis. Conclusion: Excessive neutrophils and associated NETs could explain the pathogenesis of lung injury in COVID-19 pneumonia.
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The outbreak of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread worldwide. Nasopharyngeal swabs are widely used in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to detect SARS-CoV-2. ⋯ The usefulness of saliva screening tests is compared to conventional swab tests in this report. The results suggest that saliva could be a reliable sample for detecting SARS-CoV-2.