scholarly journals Global Seasonality of Human Coronaviruses: A Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangshin Park ◽  
Yeonjin Lee ◽  
Ian C Michelow ◽  
Young June Choe

Abstract In the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, we aimed to systematically address the global seasonal patterns of human coronavirus (HCoV) infections. We identified relevant articles from MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL Plus as of May 11, 2020. The main outcomes were the peak months of HCoV infections each year and the months during which more than 5% of positive respiratory specimen tests were attributable to HCoV. Of 707 articles reviewed, 22 met the inclusion criteria. The annual percentage of HCoV infections reached a peak in February globally. We found a higher HCoV positivity rate among studies that tested only children (median: 5.9%, range: 0.9%–18.4%), compared with other studies of adults alone (median: 5.2%, range: 3.3%–7.1%) or the entire population (median: 1.9%, range: 0.2%–8.1%). We found the largest global peak of HCoV during the winter season, with the highest rate of positivity among children.

2021 ◽  

Background & Objectives: Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, applying telehealth and telemedicine to prevent the spread of disease is inevitable. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the application of telehealth and telemedicine in the human coronavirus epidemic. Materials and Methods: The systematic search was conducted in Medline (through PubMed), Scopus, and ISI Web of Science to identify relevant studies published until June 10, 2020. Inclusion criteria included studies in which telemedicine and telehealth were utilized as healthcare services in COVID-19, SARS, or MERS epidemics. This review was performed according to PRISMA guidelines. Results: A total of 598 articles were identified after removing duplicates. After the systematic screening, 18 studies were met our criteria. The analysis showed that only one study was related to SARS, and the rest were on COVID-19 disease. Teleconsultation and televisit had a high percentage (55.6%) among other types of telemedicine services. The most mentioned obstacles were access to suitable technologies and lack of assessment or follow-up to achieve outcomes. Conclusion: The results showed that telehealth and telemedicine could have advantages such as preventing the spread of COVID-19, reducing the healthcare burden, and maintaining appropriate patient care. In addition to these benefits, several limitations and obstacles, including organizational, technological, and patient-related barriers, may be encountered, so it is better to consider the necessary arrangements before implementing telemedicine.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayat Zawawi ◽  
Abdallah Y Naser ◽  
Hassan Alwafi ◽  
Faisal Minsahwi

AbstractBackgroundSARS, MERS, and COVID-19 share similar characteristics as the genetic homology of SARS-CoV-2 compared to SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV is 80% and 50% respectively and cause similar clinical features. Uncontrolled release of proinflammatory mediators (cytokine storm) by activated immune cells in SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 leads to severe phenotype development.AimThis systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the inflammatory cytokines profile associated with severe human coronavirus diseases, including three stains: MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV SARS-CoV-2, in severe patients.MethodPubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were searched up to July 2020. Randomized and Observational studies reporting the inflammatory cytokines associated with severe and non-severe human coronavirus diseases, including MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV SARS-CoV-2 were included. Two reviewers independently screened articles, extracted data, and assessed the quality of included studies. Meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model with a 95% confidence interval (CI) to estimate the pooled mean of inflammatory biomarkers.ResultsA high level of circulating IL-6 could be associated with the severity of the three strains of coronaviruses infection. TNF, IL-10, and IL-8 is associated with the severity of COVID-19. Increased circulating levels of CXCL10/IP10 and CCL2/MCP-1 might also be related to the severity of MERS.ConclusionThis study suggests that the immune response and immunopathology in the three severe human coronavirus strains are similar to some extent. These findings highlight that nearly all studies reporting severe cases of SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 have been associated with elevated levels of IL-6, which could be used as a potential therapeutic target to improve patients’ outcomes in severe cases.


2020 ◽  
Vol 01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Pires ◽  
Ana Fernandes

Background: Natural products are commonly used for treating health problems. These products may be associated with adverse events, which are defined as "noxious and unintended response to a medicinal product" by the European Medicine Agency. Objectives: To identify studies describing at least one adverse event (or with potential to promote an adverse event) related to the use of natural products, as well as to describe the involved product(s) and adverse event(s). Methods: A pre-systematic review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses criteria. Keywords: "natural product(s)" and ["adverse drug reaction(s)" or "adverse effect(s)"]. Screened databases: PubMed, SciELO, DOAJ and Google Scholar. Inclusion criteria: papers describing at least one adverse event associated with the use of natural products and published between 2017 and 2019. Exclusion criteria: Repeated studies, reviews and papers written in other languages than English, Portuguese, French or Spanish. Results: 104 studies were identified (20 PubMed; 0 SciELO; 2 DOAJ; 82 Google Scholar), but only 10 were selected (4 PubMed and 6 Google Scholar): 1 in-vitro study; 2 non-clinical studies, 1 study reporting in-vitro and clinical data and 5 studies were cases reports. Globally, 997 reports of adverse drug reactions with natural products were identified, mainly non-severe cases. Conclusion: Since a limited number of studies was found, we conclude that adverse events due to natural products may be underreported, or natural products may have a good safety profile. This review contributes for assuring the safety of natural products consumers, by evaluating the knowledge/information on the potential adverse events and interactions of these products.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan T Evangelista

UNSTRUCTURED The seasonality of influenza viruses and endemic human coronaviruses was tracked over an 8-year period to assess key epidemiologic reduction points in disease incidence for an urban area in the northeast United States. Patients admitted to a pediatric hospital with worsening respiratory symptoms were tested using a multiplex PCR assay from nasopharyngeal swabs. The additive seasonal effects of outdoor temperatures and indoor relative humidity (RH) were evaluated. The 8-year average peak activity of human coronaviruses occurred in the first week of January, when droplet and contact transmission was enabled by the low indoor RH of 20-30%. Previous studies have shown that an increase in RH to 50% has been associated with markedly reduced viability and transmission of influenza virus and animal coronaviruses. As disease incidence was reduced by 50% in early March, to 75% in early April, to greater than 99% at the end of April, a relationship was observed from colder temperatures in January with a low indoor RH to a gradual increase in outdoor temperatures in April with an indoor RH of 45-50%. As a lipid-bound, enveloped virus with similar size characteristics to endemic human coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 should be subject to the same dynamics of reduced viability and transmission with increased humidity. In addition to the major role of social distancing, the transition from lower to higher indoor RH with increasing outdoor temperatures could have an additive effect on the decrease in SARS-CoV-2 cases in May. Over the 8-year period of this study, human coronavirus activity was either zero or >99% reduction in the months of June through September, and the implication would be that SARS-Cov-2 may follow a similar pattern. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.15.20103416


2021 ◽  
pp. 030157422110195
Author(s):  
Ashish Agrawal ◽  
TM Chou

Introduction: The objective of this systematic review is to assess the effect of vibrational force on biomarkers for orthodontic tooth movement. Methods: An electronic search was conducted for relevant studies (up to December 31, 2020) on the following databases: Pubmed, Google scholar, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Wiley Library, and ProQuest Dissertation Abstracts and Thesis database. Hand searching of selected orthodontic journals was also undertaken. The selected studies were assessed for the risk of bias in Cochrane collaboration risk of bias tool. The “traffic plot” and “weighted plot” risk of bias distribution are designed in the RoB 2 tool. The 2 authors extracted the data and analyzed it. Results: Six studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The risks of biases were high for 4, low and some concern for other 2 studies. The biomarkers, medium, device, frequency and duration of device, as well as other data were extracted. The outcomes of the studies were found to be heterogenous. Conclusion: One study showed highly statistically significant levels of IL-1 beta with <.001. Rate of tooth movement was correlated with levels of released biomarkers under the influence of vibrational force in 3 studies, but it was found to be significant only in 1 study. It was further observed that vibration does not have any significant reduction in pain and discomfort.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (13) ◽  
pp. 2873
Author(s):  
Cornelia Melinda Adi Santoso ◽  
Fera Ketti ◽  
Taufan Bramantoro ◽  
Judit Zsuga ◽  
Attila Nagy

Emerging evidence has linked poor oral hygiene to metabolic syndrome (MetS), but previously, no summary of evidence has been conducted on the topic. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to evaluate the associations of oral hygiene status and care with MetS. A systematic search of the PubMed and Web of Science databases from inception to March 17, 2021, and examination of reference lists was conducted to identify eligible observational studies. A random-effects model was applied to pool the effects of oral hygiene status and care on MetS. Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria and had sufficient methodological quality. Good oral hygiene status (OR = 0.30 (0.13–0.66); I2 = 91%), frequent tooth brushing (OR = 0.68 (0.58–0.80); I2 = 89%), and frequent interdental cleaning (OR = 0.89 (0.81–0.99); I2 = 27%) were associated with a lower risk of MetS. Only one study examined the association between dental visits and MetS (OR = 1.10 (0.77–1.55)). Our findings suggested that there might be inverse associations of oral hygiene status, tooth-brushing frequency, and interdental cleaning with MetS. However, substantial heterogeneity for tooth-brushing frequency and inconsistent results for oral hygiene status in subgroup analyses were observed. There was insufficient evidence for the association between dental visits and MetS. Further longitudinal studies are needed to investigate these associations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Josefa Domingos ◽  
Tamine Capato ◽  
Catarina Godinho

Exercise is widely recommended for people with Parkinson (PD). Boxing is a popular mode of training. However, including individuals with less favorable profiles may have a negative impact on participation. We performed a systematic review to study the patient characteristics that were included in boxing exercise programs research and reflect on the possible inclusion criteria that professionals can use for boxing exercise programs. Indications for the best profiles were limited due to the small number of studies. Boxing programs should include people with the diagnosis of PD in earlier stages, independently ambulatory, and without current severe musculoskeletal or cardiovascular conditions.


Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 868
Author(s):  
Jorge Lorenzo Calvo ◽  
Xueyin Fei ◽  
Raúl Domínguez ◽  
Helios Pareja-Galeano

Cognitive functions are essential in any form of exercise. Recently, interest has mounted in addressing the relationship between caffeine intake and cognitive performance during sports practice. This review examines this relationship through a structured search of the databases Medline/PubMed and Web of Science for relevant articles published in English from August 1999 to March 2020. The study followed PRISMA guidelines. Inclusion criteria were defined according to the PICOS model. The identified records reported on randomized cross-over studies in which caffeine intake (as drinks, capsules, energy bars, or gum) was compared to an identical placebo situation. There were no filters on participants’ training level, gender, or age. For the systematic review, 13 studies examining the impacts of caffeine on objective measures of cognitive performance or self-reported cognitive performance were selected. Five of these studies were also subjected to meta-analysis. After pooling data in the meta-analysis, the significant impacts of caffeine only emerged on attention, accuracy, and speed. The results of the 13 studies, nevertheless, suggest that the intake of a low/moderate dose of caffeine before and/or during exercise can improve self-reported energy, mood, and cognitive functions, such as attention; it may also improve simple reaction time, choice reaction time, memory, or fatigue, however, this may depend on the research protocols.


2021 ◽  
pp. 155005942199168
Author(s):  
Yuji Yamada ◽  
Takuma Inagawa ◽  
Naotsugu Hirabayashi ◽  
Tomiki Sumiyoshi

Background. Social cognition deficits are a core feature of psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and mood disorder, and deteriorate the functionality of patients. However, no definite strategy has been established to treat social cognition (eg, emotion recognition) impairments in these illnesses. Here, we provide a systematic review of the literature regarding transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for the treatment of social cognition deficits in individuals with psychiatric disorders. Methods. A literature search was conducted on English articles identified by PubMed, PsycINFO, and Web of Science databases, according to the guidelines of the PRISMA statement. We defined the inclusion criteria as follows: (1) randomized controlled trials (RCTs), (2) targeting patients with psychiatric disorders (included in F20-F39 of the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems [ICD-10]), (3) evaluating the effect of tDCS or rTMS, (4) reporting at least one standardized social cognition test. Results. Five papers (3 articles on tDCS and 2 articles on rTMS) met the inclusion criteria which deal with schizophrenia or depression. The significant effects of tDCS or rTMS targeting the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on the emotion recognition domain were reported in patients with schizophrenia or depression. In addition, rTMS on the right inferior parietal lobe was shown to ameliorate social perception impairments of schizophrenia. Conclusions. tDCS and rTMS may enhance some domains of social cognition in patients with psychiatric disorders. Further research is warranted to identify optimal parameters to maximize the cognitive benefits of these neuromodulation methods.


BMC Cancer ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ottovon Bismark Dakurah ◽  
Cynthia Raissa Tchuem Tamandjou ◽  
Moleen Zunza ◽  
Wolfgang Preiser ◽  
Tongai Gibson Maponga

Abstract Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in Africa. In Africa, the major causes of HCC include chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and/or hepatitis C virus (HCV). Knowledge of the changes in the incidence of viral hepatitis-associated HCC over time and the factors responsible for such changes is key in informing policies for the prevention of viral hepatitis-associated HCC in Africa. Aim The study aimed to systematically summarize the changes in the prevalence of viral hepatitis among HCC patients and the overall effect of the prevalence of viral hepatitis on the incidence of HCC over the past four decades in Africa (1980–2019). Methods A literature search was conducted in MEDLINE (PubMed), Google Scholar, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, and African wide web for articles published on viral hepatitis-associated HCC in Africa from 1980 to 2019. The abstracts of the articles were screened for eligibility and those meeting the inclusion criteria were retrieved and reviewed. Results A total of 272 studies were included in the analysis. Viral hepatitis-related HCC incidence changed by 1.17% (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.63–1.71, p < 0.001), 0.82% (95% CI: 0.45–1.18, p < 0.001), and 3.34% (95% CI: 2.44–4.25, p < 0.001) for every 1% change in the prevalence of HBV, HCV, and hepatitis D virus (HDV) respectively, per decade. The incidence of HBV-related HCC decreased by − 0.50% (95% CI: − 0.74 – − 0.25, p < 0.001) over the last 40 years, while HCV-related HCC increased. Conclusion Overall, the incidence of viral hepatitis-associated HCC has not declined, mainly due to no decline in the prevalence of HCV, HDV, and the high number of chronic hepatitis B carriers on the African continent. There is an urgent need for the allocation of resources for the implementation of treatment and preventive programs for HBV, HCV, HDV, and HCC in Africa. This systematic review is registered with PROSPERO®, number CRD42020169723.


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