Articles: coronavirus.
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Examine how interventional pain physicians navigated the early phase of reopening practices during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. ⋯ COVID-19 has dramatically affected interventional pain practices with regard to telehealth, in-clinic precautions, screening/testing protocols, and patient counseling. Practice patterns will continue to evolve as we learn more about the disease and improve methods to provide safe and effective care.
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In December 2019, the first case of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 viral infection was described in Wuhan. Similar to SARS in 2003, COVID-19 also had a lasting impact. Approximately 76% of patients discharged after hospitalization for COVID-19 had neurological manifestations which could persist for 6 months, and some long-term consequences such as the gradual loss of lung function due to pulmonary interstitial fibrosis could have comprehensive effects on daily quality of life for people who were initially believed to have recovered from COVID-19. ⋯ CRD42021258711.
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, keeps spreading globally. Evidence suggests that a subgroup of patients with severe symptomatology might have cytokine storms, which increases mortality. The use of interleukin-6 (IL-6) inhibitors may help in controlling the pathological immune response to the virus. ⋯ Treatment with tocilizumab significatively increased IL-6 levels, (554.45; CI 95% 186.69, 1032.93; P < .05) while C-reactive protein mean levels were reduced (-108.19; CI 95% -140.15, -75.33; P < .05), but no significant difference was found between cohorts. In comparison with the controls, tocilizumab reduced mortality (25.0% vs 42.9%, P = .021) and the number of ICU admissions (63.9% vs 100.0%, P = .021). 44.1% of patients treated with tocilizumab showed favorable radiological evolution, when compared with 15.4% of patients from the control group. Tocilizumab may improve clinical symptoms and mitigate deterioration observed in severe COVID-19 patients, and could be considered as an effective therapeutic option in subjects experiencing a significant inflammatory response to the disease.
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Dietary factors in the etiology of COVID-19 are understudied. High dietary sodium intake leading to sodium toxicity is associated with comorbid conditions of COVID-19 such as hypertension, kidney disease, stroke, pneumonia, obesity, diabetes, hepatic disease, cardiac arrhythmias, thrombosis, migraine, tinnitus, Bell's palsy, multiple sclerosis, systemic sclerosis, and polycystic ovary syndrome. This article synthesizes evidence from epidemiology, pathophysiology, immunology, and virology literature linking sodium toxicological mechanisms to COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 infection. ⋯ Sodium dietary intake also increases in the winter, when sodium losses through sweating are reduced, correlating with influenza-like illness outbreaks. Increased SARS-CoV-2 infections in lower socioeconomic classes and among people in government institutions are linked to the consumption of foods highly processed with sodium. Interventions to reduce COVID-19 morbidity and mortality through reduced-sodium diets should be explored further.
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Jpn. J. Infect. Dis. · Jul 2021
Isolation of human coronaviruses OC43, HKU1, NL63, and 229E in Yamagata, Japan, using primary human airway epithelium cells cultured by employing an air-liquid interface culture.
Isolation of seasonal coronaviruses, which include human coronavirus (HCoV) OC43, HCoV-HKU1, and HCoV-NL63, from primary cultures is difficult because it requires experienced handling, an exception being HCoV-229E, which can be isolated using cell lines such as RD-18S and HeLa-ACE2-TMPRSS2. We aimed to isolate seasonal CoVs in Yamagata, Japan to obtain infective virions useful for further research and to accelerate fundamental studies on HCoVs and SARS-CoV-2. Using modified air-liquid interface (ALI) culture of the normal human airway epithelium from earlier studies, we isolated 29 HCoVs (80.6%: 16, 6, 6, and 1 isolates of HCoV-OC43, HCoV-HKU1, HCoV-NL63, and HCoV-229E, respectively) from 36 cryopreserved nasopharyngeal specimens. ⋯ Our results suggest that ALI culture is useful for isolating seasonal CoVs and sustainably obtaining HCoV-OC43 and HCoV-NL63 virions. Furthermore, the LLC-MK2 cell line in combination with ALI cultures can be used for the large-scale culturing of HCoV-NL63. Further investigations are necessary to develop methods for culturing difficult-to-culture seasonal CoVs in cell lines.