Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Real World Data Infrastructure: A Big-Data Resource for Study of the Impact of COVID-19 in Patient Populations With Immunocompromising Conditions.

Background: We developed a United States-based real-world data resource to better understand the continued impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on immunocompromised patients, who are typically underrepresented in prospective studies and clinical trials.

Methods: The COVID-19 Real World Data infrastructure (CRWDi) was created by linking and harmonizing de-identified HealthVerity medical and pharmacy claims data from 1 December 2018 to 31 December 2023, with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 virologic and serologic laboratory data from major commercial laboratories and Northwell Health; COVID-19 vaccination data; and, for patients with cancer, 2010 to 2021 National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry data.

Results: The CRWDi contains 4 cohorts: patients with cancer; patients with rheumatic diseases receiving pharmacotherapy; noncancer solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients; and people from the general population including adults and pediatric patients.

Immune Cells Are Differentially Affected by SARS-CoV-2 Viral Loads in K18-hACE2 Mice.

Viral load and the duration of viral shedding of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are important determinants of the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019. In this study, we examined the effects of viral doses on the lung and spleen of K18-hACE2 transgenic mice by temporal histological and transcriptional analyses. Approximately, 1×10 plaque-forming units (PFU) of SARS-CoV-2 induced strong host responses in the lungs from 2 days post inoculation (dpi) which did not recover until the mice died, whereas responses to the virus were obvious at 5 days, recovering to the basal state by 14 dpi at 1×10 PFU.

Establishment of multicenter COVID-19 therapeutics preclinical test system in Republic of Korea.

Throughout the recent COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea led national efforts to develop vaccines and therapeutics for SARS-CoV-2. The project proceeded as follows: 1) evaluation system setup (including Animal Biosafety Level 3 (ABSL3) facility alliance, standardized nonclinical evaluation protocol, and laboratory information management system), 2) application (including committee review and selection), and 3) evaluation (including expert judgment and reporting). After receiving 101 applications, the selection committee reviewed pharmacokinetics, toxicity, and efficacy data and selected 32 final candidates.

Corrigendum: Mouse models of lung-specific SARS-CoV-2 infection with moderate pathological traits.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.

Mouse models of lung-specific SARS-CoV-2 infection with moderate pathological traits.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been a global health concern since 2019. The viral spike protein infects the host by binding to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) expressed on the cell surface, which is then processed by type II transmembrane serine protease. However, ACE2 does not react to SARS-CoV-2 in inbred wild-type mice, which poses a challenge for preclinical research with animal models, necessitating a human ACE2 (hACE2)-expressing transgenic mouse model.

Laboratory information management system for COVID-19 non-clinical efficacy trial data.

Background: As the number of large-scale studies involving multiple organizations producing data has steadily increased, an integrated system for a common interoperable format is needed. In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a number of global efforts are underway to develop vaccines and therapeutics. We are therefore observing an explosion in the proliferation of COVID-19 data, and interoperability is highly requested in multiple institutions participating simultaneously in COVID-19 pandemic research.

Development of Molecular Marker to Detect Citrus Melanose Caused by Diaporthe citri from Citrus Melanose-like Symptoms.

It is difficult to distinguish melanose and melanoses-like symptoms with the naked eye because they appear similar. To accurately detect melanose symptoms caused by Diaporthe citri from melanose-like symptoms, we developed PCR-based specific primers Dcitri by aligning the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of D. citri with the ITS of Diaporthe cytosporella, Diaporthe foeniculina, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Botrytis cinerea, Alternaria citri, and Fusarium oxysporum found on citrus peel.

Microhomology-mediated end joining induces hypermutagenesis at breakpoint junctions.

Microhomology (MH) flanking a DNA double-strand break (DSB) drives chromosomal rearrangements but its role in mutagenesis has not yet been analyzed. Here we determined the mutation frequency of a URA3 reporter gene placed at multiple locations distal to a DSB, which is flanked by different sizes (15-, 18-, or 203-bp) of direct repeat sequences for efficient repair in budding yeast. Induction of a DSB accumulates mutations in the reporter gene situated up to 14-kb distal to the 15-bp MH, but more modestly to those carrying 18- and 203-bp or no homology.

MiRGator v3.0: a microRNA portal for deep sequencing, expression profiling and mRNA targeting.

Biogenesis and molecular function are two key subjects in the field of microRNA (miRNA) research. Deep sequencing has become the principal technique in cataloging of miRNA repertoire and generating expression profiles in an unbiased manner. Here, we describe the miRGator v3.

ChimerDB 2.0--a knowledgebase for fusion genes updated.

Chromosome translocations and gene fusions are frequent events in the human genome and have been found to cause diverse types of tumor. ChimerDB is a knowledgebase of fusion genes identified from bioinformatics analysis of transcript sequences in the GenBank and various other public resources such as the Sanger cancer genome project (CGP), OMIM, PubMed and the Mitelman's database. In this updated version, we significantly modified the algorithm of identifying fusion transcripts.

Ahnak protein activates protein kinase C (PKC) through dissociation of the PKC-protein phosphatase 2A complex.

We have previously reported that central repeated units (CRUs) of Ahnak act as a scaffolding protein networking phospholipase Cgamma and protein kinase C (PKC). Here, we demonstrate that an Ahnak derivative consisting of four central repeated units binds and activates PKC-alpha in a phosphatidylserine/1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycerol-independent manner. Moreover, NIH3T3 cells expressing the 4 CRUs of Ahnak showed enhanced c-Raf, MEK, and Erk phosphorylation in response to phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) compared with parental cells.