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10.1101/2020.06.25.20139725
Genome-Wide Association Studies of retinal vessel tortuosity identify 173 novel loci, capturing genes and pathways associated with disease and vascular tissue pathomechanics
BackgroundFundus images allow for non-invasive assessment of the retinal vasculature whose features provide important information on health. Blood vessel tortuosity is a morphological feature associated with many diseases including hypertension. MethodsWe analyzed 116 639 fundus images of suitable quality from 63 662 ...
genetic and genomic medicine
10.1101/2020.06.25.20139725
GWAS of Retinal Vessel Tortuosity Identifies 173 Novel Loci Revealing Genes and Pathways Associated with Vascular Pathomechanics and Diseases
BackgroundFundus images allow for non-invasive assessment of the retinal vasculature whose features provide important information on health. Blood vessel tortuosity is a morphological feature associated with many diseases including hypertension. MethodsWe analyzed 116 639 fundus images of suitable quality from 63 662 ...
genetic and genomic medicine
10.1101/2020.06.25.20139725
GWAS of Retinal Vessel Tortuosity Identifies 173 Novel Loci Revealing Genes and Pathways Associated with Vascular Pathomechanics and Cardiometabolic Diseases
BackgroundFundus images allow for non-invasive assessment of the retinal vasculature whose features provide important information on health. Blood vessel tortuosity is a morphological feature associated with many diseases including hypertension. MethodsWe analyzed 116 639 fundus images of suitable quality from 63 662 ...
genetic and genomic medicine
10.1101/2020.06.25.20139725
GWAS of Retinal Vessel Tortuosity Identifies 173 Novel Loci Revealing Genes and Pathways Associated with Vascular Pathomechanics and Cardiometabolic Diseases
BackgroundFundus images allow for non-invasive assessment of the retinal vasculature whose features provide important information on health. Blood vessel tortuosity is a morphological feature associated with many diseases including hypertension. MethodsWe analyzed 116 639 fundus images of suitable quality from 63 662 ...
genetic and genomic medicine
10.1101/2020.06.26.20140590
A Metapopulation Network Model for the Spreading of SARS-CoV-2: Case Study for Ireland
We present preliminary results on an all-Ireland network modelling approach to simulate the spreading the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), commonly known as the coronavirus. In the model, nodes correspond to locations or communities that are connected by links indicating travel and commutin...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.06.25.20139980
Sex influences the effects of APOE genotype and Alzheimer's diagnosis on neuropathology and memory
Alzheimers disease (AD) is characterised by severe cognitive decline and pathological changes in the brain (brain atrophy, hyperphosphorylation of tau, and deposition of toxic amyloid-beta protein). Females have greater neuropathology (AD biomarkers and brain atrophy rates) and cognitive decline than males, however the...
neurology
10.1101/2020.06.25.20139980
Sex influences the effects of APOE genotype and Alzheimer's diagnosis on neuropathology and memory
Alzheimers disease (AD) is characterised by severe cognitive decline and pathological changes in the brain (brain atrophy, hyperphosphorylation of tau, and deposition of toxic amyloid-beta protein). Females have greater neuropathology (AD biomarkers and brain atrophy rates) and cognitive decline than males, however the...
neurology
10.1101/2020.06.25.20140186
Maternal obesity and metabolic disorders associate with congenital heart defects in the offspring: a systematic review
Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are the most common congenital malformations and affect neonatal mortality and morbidity. The aetiology of CHDs is complex. Large cohort studies have reported an association between higher risk of CHDs in the offspring and individual maternal metabolic disorders such as obesity, diabetes...
obstetrics and gynecology
10.1101/2020.06.26.20140780
Assessing the nationwide impact of COVID-19 mitigation policies on the transmission rate of SARS-CoV-2 in Brazil
COVID-19 is now identified in almost all countries in the world, with poorer regions being particularly more disadvantaged to efficiently mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. In the absence of efficient therapeutics or vaccines, control strategies are currently based on non-pharmaceutical interventions, comprising cha...
health policy
10.1101/2020.06.29.20142323
Group testing: revisiting the ideas
The task of identification of randomly scattered bad items in a fixed set of objects is a frequent one, and there are many ways to deal with it. Group testing (GT) refers to the testing strategy aiming to effectively replace the inspection of single objects by the inspection of groups spanning more than one object. F...
infectious diseases
10.1101/2020.06.27.20141549
Health care seeking behaviour and financial protection of patients with hypertension: a cross-sectional study in rural West Bengal, India
BackgroundElevated blood pressure or hypertension is responsible for around 10 million annual deaths globally, and people residing in low and middle-income countries are disproportionately affected by it. India is no exception, where low rate of treatment seeking for hypertension coupled with widespread out-of-pocket p...
health economics
10.1101/2020.06.28.20142158
A new estimation method for COVID-19 time-varying reproduction number using active cases
We propose a new method to estimate the time-varying effective (or instantaneous) reproduction number of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The method is based on a discrete-time stochastic augmented compartmental model that describes the virus transmission. A two-stage estimation method, which combines the Exte...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.06.29.20141283
Inexpensive multi-patient respiratory monitoring system for helmet ventilation during COVID-19 pandemic
BackgroundHelmet continuous positive applied pressure is a form of non-invasive ventilation (NIV) that has been used to provide respiratory support to COVID-19 patients. Helmet NIV is low-cost, readily available, provides viral filters between the patient and clinician, and may reduce the need for invasive ventilation....
intensive care and critical care medicine
10.1101/2020.06.29.20142760
Modeling impact and cost-effectiveness of gene drives for malaria elimination in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
BackgroundThe tremendous burden of malaria has led to renewed efforts focusing on malaria elimination in high burden countries and has spurred the development of novel tools such as the use of transgenic mosquitoes to modify or suppress vector populations to interrupt transmission. Gene drives offer a pathway to propag...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.06.29.20142851
Modeling the early phase of the Belgian COVID-19 epidemic using a stochastic compartmental model and studying its implied future trajectories
Following the onset of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic throughout the world, a large fraction of the global population is or has been under strict measures of physical distancing and quarantine, with many countries being in partial or full lockdown. These measures are imposed in order to reduce the spread of the disease ...
infectious diseases
10.1101/2020.06.29.20141564
A phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) of COVID-19 outcomes by race using the electronic health records data in Michigan Medicine
BackgroundWe perform a phenome-wide scan to identify pre-existing conditions related to COVID-19 susceptibility and prognosis across the medical phenome and how they vary by race. MethodsThe study is comprised of 53,853 patients who were tested/positive for COVID-19 between March 10 and September 2, 2020 at a large ac...
infectious diseases
10.1101/2020.07.01.20144196
Phenoflow: A Microservice Architecture for Portable Workflow-based Phenotype Definitions
Phenotyping is an effective way to identify cohorts of patients with particular characteristics within a population. In order to enhance the portability of a phenotype definition across institutions, it is often defined abstractly, with implementers expected to realise the phenotype computationally before executing it ...
health informatics
10.1101/2020.06.30.20143669
Spatiotemporal Trends in Bed Bug Metrics, New York City
Bed bug outbreaks pose a major challenge in urban environments and cause significant strain on public resources. Few studies have systematically analyzed the epidemic or the potential effects of policies to combat bed bugs. Here we use three sources of administrative data to characterize the spatial-temporal trends of ...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.03.20145847
Identifying target regions for enhanced control of gambiense human African trypanosomiasis in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Gambiense human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness, gHAT) is a disease targeted for elimination of transmission (EOT) by 2030. Despite the number of new cases reported annually being at a historical minimum, the likelihood of achieving EOT is unknown. We utilised modelling to study the impact of four strategies...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.02.20143941
Convolutional neural networks on eye tracking trajectories classify patients with spatial neglect
Background and ObjectiveEye-movement trajectories are rich behavioral data, providing a window on how the brain processes information. We address the challenge of characterizing signs of visuo-spatial neglect from saccadic eye trajectories recorded in brain-damaged patients with spatial neglect as well as in healthy co...
neurology
10.1101/2020.07.05.20146324
Impact of climate on COVID-19 transmission: A case study with Indian states
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) started in Wuhan province of China in November 2019 and within a short time, it was declared as a worldwide pandemic by the World Health Organisation due to the very fast worldwide spread of the virus. There were a few studies that look for the correlation with infected individuals a...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.07.20148064
Developing a deep learning system to drive the work of the critical care outreach team
BackgroundCare of patients at risk of deterioration on acute medical and surgical wards requires timely identification, increased monitoring and robust escalation procedures. The critical care outreach role brings specialist-trained critical care nurses and physicians into acute wards to facilitate these processes. Per...
health informatics
10.1101/2020.07.06.20144345
Community factors associated with local epidemic timing of respiratory syncytial virus: a spatiotemporal modeling study
BackgroundRespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes a large burden of morbidity in infants, young children, and the elderly. The timing of RSV seasonal epidemics exhibits strong spatial patterns within the United States. Spatial variability in the timing of RSV epidemics provides an opportunity to probe the factors driv...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.06.20144345
Community factors associated with local RSV epidemic patterns: a spatiotemporal modeling study
BackgroundRespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes a large burden of morbidity in infants, young children, and the elderly. The timing of RSV seasonal epidemics exhibits strong spatial patterns within the United States. Spatial variability in the timing of RSV epidemics provides an opportunity to probe the factors driv...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.06.20147231
Characterisation of alcohol polygenic risk scores in the context of mental health outcomes: Within-individual and intergenerational analyses in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children
BackgroundHeavy alcohol consumption often co-occurs with mental health problems; this could be due to confounding, shared biological mechanisms, or causal effects. Polygenic risk scores (PRS) for alcohol use can be used to explore this association at critical life stages. DesignWe characterised a PRS reliably associat...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.02.20145557
APOE-stratified genome-wide association study suggests potential novel genes for late-onset Alzheimers disease in East-Asian descent
In this study, we report two new possible susceptible genes for late-onset Alzheimers disease identified through an APOE-stratified genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) using East Asian samples. In the discovery phase, we performed a GWAS of Alzheimers disease in 2,291 Korean seniors from the Gwangju Alzheimers and ...
genetic and genomic medicine
10.1101/2020.07.07.20148155
Ward-Level Factors Associated with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Acquisition - an Electronic Medical Records study in Singapore
BackgroundMethicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is endemic in hospitals worldwide. When patients are transferred between wards within a hospital, their risk of acquiring MRSA may change. In this study, we investigated how ward characteristics and connectivity are associated with MRSA acquisition. MethodsW...
infectious diseases
10.1101/2020.07.06.20147462
Two Separate, Large Cohorts Reveal Potential Modifiers of Age-Associated Variation in Visual Reaction Time Performance
To identify individual differences and potential factors influencing age-related cognitive decline and disease, we created MindCrowd. MindCrowd is a cross-sectional web-based assessment of simple visual (sv) reaction time (RT, index of processing speed) and paired-associate learning (PAL, index of verbal episodic memor...
geriatric medicine
10.1101/2020.07.07.20148221
Growth Differentiation Factor-15 as a candidate biomarker in gynecologic malignancies: a meta-analysis
Growth Differentiation Factor-15 (GDF-15), though emerged as a novel marker in gynecological cancers, is yet to be recognized in clinical diagnostics. Eligible studies were sorted from multiple online databases, namely PubMed, Cochrane, ClinicalTrials.gov, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, LILACS, OpenGre...
obstetrics and gynecology
10.1101/2020.07.08.20113035
Using computable knowledge mined from the literature to elucidate confounders for EHR-based pharmacovigilance
IntroductionConfounding bias threatens the reliability of observational studies and poses a significant scientific challenge. This paper introduces a framework for identifying confounding factors by exploiting literature-derived computable knowledge. In previous work, we have shown that semantic constraint search over ...
health informatics
10.1101/2020.07.08.20149120
Zika Virus Congenital Microcephaly Severity Classification and the Association of Severity with Neuropsychomotor Development
BackgroundZika virus infection during pregnancy is linked to birth defects, most notably, microcephaly, which in its turn, is associated with neurodevelopmental delays. ObjectiveThe goal of the study is to propose a method for severity classification of congenital microcephaly based on neuroradiological findings of MR...
neurology
10.1101/2020.07.10.20150664
What effect might border screening have on preventing importation of COVID-19 compared with other infections? A modelling study
The effectiveness of screening travellers during times of international disease outbreak is contentious, especially as the reduction in the risk of disease importation can be very small. Border screening typically consists of travellers being thermally scanned for signs of fever and/or completing a survey declaring any...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.10.20150607
Wastewater SARS-CoV-2 Concentration and Loading Variability from Grab and 24-Hour Composite Samples
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) requires a significant, coordinated public health response. Assessing case density and spread of infection is critical and relies largely on clinical testing data. However, clinical testing suffers from known limitation...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.09.20143164
Excess Mortality probably due to COVID-19 in Tokyo, Japan in August, 2020
BackgroundNo remarkable mortality attributable to COVID-19 confirmed by PCR test has been observed in Japan. ObjectWe sought to quantify excess mortality using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. MethodWe applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through October, 2021 for the...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.09.20143164
Few Excess Mortality probably due to COVID-19 in Tokyo, Japan in August and October, 2020
BackgroundNo remarkable mortality attributable to COVID-19 confirmed by PCR test has been observed in Japan. ObjectWe sought to quantify excess mortality using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. MethodWe applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through October, 2021 for the...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.09.20143164
Excess Mortality probably due to COVID-19 in Tokyo, Japan in August and September, 2020
BackgroundNo remarkable mortality attributable to COVID-19 confirmed by PCR test has been observed in Japan. ObjectWe sought to quantify excess mortality using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. MethodWe applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through October, 2021 for the...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.09.20143164
Excess Mortality probably due to COVID-19 in Tokyo, Japan in August and September, 2020
BackgroundNo remarkable mortality attributable to COVID-19 confirmed by PCR test has been observed in Japan. ObjectWe sought to quantify excess mortality using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. MethodWe applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through October, 2021 for the...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.09.20143164
Excess Mortality probably due to COVID-19 in Tokyo, Japan between August and October, 2020
BackgroundNo remarkable mortality attributable to COVID-19 confirmed by PCR test has been observed in Japan. ObjectWe sought to quantify excess mortality using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. MethodWe applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through October, 2021 for the...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.09.20143164
Excess Mortality probably due to COVID-19 in Tokyo, Japan between August and October, 2020
BackgroundNo remarkable mortality attributable to COVID-19 confirmed by PCR test has been observed in Japan. ObjectWe sought to quantify excess mortality using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. MethodWe applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through October, 2021 for the...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.09.20143164
Excess Mortality probably due to COVID-19 in Tokyo, Japan between August and October, 2020
BackgroundNo remarkable mortality attributable to COVID-19 confirmed by PCR test has been observed in Japan. ObjectWe sought to quantify excess mortality using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. MethodWe applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through October, 2021 for the...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.09.20143164
Excess Mortality probably due to COVID-19 in Tokyo, Japan between August and October, 2020
BackgroundNo remarkable mortality attributable to COVID-19 confirmed by PCR test has been observed in Japan. ObjectWe sought to quantify excess mortality using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. MethodWe applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through October, 2021 for the...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.09.20143164
Excess Mortality probably due to COVID-19 in Tokyo, Japan between August and October, 2020
BackgroundNo remarkable mortality attributable to COVID-19 confirmed by PCR test has been observed in Japan. ObjectWe sought to quantify excess mortality using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. MethodWe applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through October, 2021 for the...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.09.20143164
Significant Excess Mortality probably due to COVID-19 in Tokyo, Japan until March, 2021
BackgroundNo remarkable mortality attributable to COVID-19 confirmed by PCR test has been observed in Japan. ObjectWe sought to quantify excess mortality using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. MethodWe applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through October, 2021 for the...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.09.20143164
Significant Excess Mortality probably due to COVID-19 in Tokyo, Japan until April, 2021
BackgroundNo remarkable mortality attributable to COVID-19 confirmed by PCR test has been observed in Japan. ObjectWe sought to quantify excess mortality using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. MethodWe applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through October, 2021 for the...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.09.20143164
Significant Excess Mortality probably due to COVID-19 in Tokyo, Japan until May, 2021
BackgroundNo remarkable mortality attributable to COVID-19 confirmed by PCR test has been observed in Japan. ObjectWe sought to quantify excess mortality using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. MethodWe applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through October, 2021 for the...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.09.20143164
Huge Excess Mortality due to the delta strain of COVID-19 in Japan in August, 2021
BackgroundNo remarkable mortality attributable to COVID-19 confirmed by PCR test has been observed in Japan. ObjectWe sought to quantify excess mortality using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. MethodWe applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through October, 2021 for the...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.09.20143164
Huge Excess Mortality due to the delta strain of COVID-19 in Japan in August, 2021
BackgroundNo remarkable mortality attributable to COVID-19 confirmed by PCR test has been observed in Japan. ObjectWe sought to quantify excess mortality using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. MethodWe applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through October, 2021 for the...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.09.20143164
Huge Excess Mortality due to the delta strain of COVID-19 in Japan in August and September, 2021
BackgroundNo remarkable mortality attributable to COVID-19 confirmed by PCR test has been observed in Japan. ObjectWe sought to quantify excess mortality using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. MethodWe applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through October, 2021 for the...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.09.20143164
Huge Excess Mortality due to the delta strain of COVID-19 in Japan in August and September, 2021
BackgroundNo remarkable mortality attributable to COVID-19 confirmed by PCR test has been observed in Japan. ObjectWe sought to quantify excess mortality using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. MethodWe applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through October, 2021 for the...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.09.20143164
Huge Excess Mortality due to the delta strain of COVID-19 in Japan in August and September, 2021
BackgroundNo remarkable mortality attributable to COVID-19 confirmed by PCR test has been observed in Japan. ObjectWe sought to quantify excess mortality using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. MethodWe applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 up through October, 2021 for the...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.10.20147488
Associations of Loneliness and Social Isolation with Healthspan and Lifespan in the US Health and Retirement Study
BackgroundLoneliness and social isolation are emerging public health challenges for aging populations. MethodsWe followed N=11,302 US Health and Retirement Study (HRS) participants aged 50-95 from 2006-2014 to measure persistence of experiences of loneliness and exposure to social isolation. We tested associations of ...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.11.20142745
Evolution of DNA methylome from precancerous lesions to invasive lung adenocarcinomas
The evolution of DNA methylome and methylation intra-tumor heterogeneity (ITH) during early carcinogenesis of lung adenocarcinoma has not been systematically studied. We perform reduced representation bisulfite sequencing of invasive lung adenocarcinoma and its precursors, atypical adenomatous hyperplasia, adenocarcino...
genetic and genomic medicine
10.1101/2020.07.12.20150367
Causal influence of dietary habits on the risk of major depressive disorder: A diet-wide Mendelian randomization analysis
Background & aimsSome evidence suggests that diet may potentially increase or decrease the risk of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the association between dietary habits and MDD remains controversial. The aim of this study is to systemically investigate the causal influence of dietary habits on the risk of MD...
psychiatry and clinical psychology
10.1101/2020.07.13.20152413
The consequences of adjustment, correction and selection in genome-wide association studies used for two-sample Mendelian randomization
IntroductionGenome-wide association studies (GWASs) often adjust for covariates, correct for medication use, or select on medication users. If these summary statistics are used in two-sample Mendelian randomization analyses, estimates may be biased. We used simulations to investigate how GWAS adjustment, correction and...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.13.20152272
Fluvastatin mitigates SARS-CoV-2 infection in human lung cells
The retrospective analysis of clinical data of patients suffering from COVID-19 has indicated that statin therapy, used to lower plasma cholesterol levels, is associated with a better clinical outcome. We therefore investigated the effect of statins on SARS-CoV-2 infection and found that selective statins reduced SARS-...
infectious diseases
10.1101/2020.07.12.20152140
Power law behaviour in the saturation regime of fatality curves of the COVID-19 pandemic
ABSTRACWe apply a versatile growth model, whose growth rate is given by a generalised beta distribution, to describe the complex behaviour of the fatality curves of the COVID-19 disease for several countries in Europe and North America. We show that the COVID-19 epidemic curves not only may present a subexponential ear...
infectious diseases
10.1101/2020.07.13.20144808
Persistent intestinal abnormalities and symptoms in cystic fibrosis: The underpinning mechanisms impacting gut health and motility. Protocol for a systematic review.
BackgroundPatients with cystic fibrosis (CF) are characterised by abnormalities of the intestinal tract relating to gut motility and physiological issues, with daily symptoms of disease including abdominal pain, flatulence, bloating, and constipation. With improvements in respiratory outcomes, a shift in disease manife...
gastroenterology
10.1101/2020.07.14.20152629
Covid-19 infection and attributable mortality in UK Long Term Care Facilities: Cohort study using active surveillance and electronic records (March-June 2020)
BackgroundEpidemiological data on COVID-19 infection in care homes are scarce. We analysed data from a large provider of long-term care for older people to investigate infection and mortality during the first wave of the pandemic. MethodsCohort study of 179 UK care homes with 9,339 residents and 11,604 staff.We used m...
infectious diseases
10.1101/2020.07.13.20153114
Dynamics of B-cell repertoires and emergence of cross-reactive responses in COVID-19 patients with different disease severity
COVID-19 patients show varying severity of the disease ranging from asymptomatic to requiring intensive care. Although a number of SARS-CoV-2 specific monoclonal antibodies have been identified, we still lack an understanding of the overall landscape of B-cell receptor (BCR) repertoires in COVID-19 patients. Here, we u...
infectious diseases
10.1101/2020.07.13.20152884
Development and large-scale validation of a highly accurate SARS-COV-2 serological test using regular test strips for autonomous and affordable finger-prick sample collection, transportation, and storage
Accurate serological tests are essential tools to allow adequate monitoring and control of COVID-19 spread. Production of a low-cost and high-quality recombinant viral antigen can enable the development of reliable and affordable serological assays, which are urgently needed to facilitate epidemiological surveillance s...
infectious diseases
10.1101/2020.07.13.20153163
Comparison of seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections with cumulative and imputed COVID-19 cases: systematic review
BackgroundAccurate seroprevalence estimates of SARS-CoV-2 in different populations could clarify the extent to which current testing strategies are identifying all active infection, and hence the true magnitude and spread of the infection. Our primary objective was to identify valid seroprevalence studies of SARS-CoV-2...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.13.20153247
Long Term Safety and Efficacy of Sub-Lingual Ketamine Troches / Lozenges in Chronic Non-Malignant Pain Management
IntroductionChronic non-malignant pain is a disabling condition that results in a reduction in function and quality of life when inadequately managed. Sub-lingual ketamine has been shown to be efficacious for use in chronic pain. Despite its use for decades in chronic non-malignant pain, there is no published long-term...
pain medicine
10.1101/2020.07.15.20154245
Organizational culture, quality of care and leadership style in government general hospitals in Kuwait: a multimethod study
PurposeTo investigate the organizational culture, assess the quality of care, and measure their association with a transformational/transactional leadership style in six hospitals. Materials and methodsWe used cross-sectional and retrospective quantitative approaches in government-sponsored secondary-care hospitals. A...
health systems and quality improvement
10.1101/2020.07.15.20154609
Protocol for a multicentre randomized controlled trial of normobaric versus hyperbaric oxygen therapy for hypoxemic COVID-19 patients
BackgroundAt least 1 in 6 COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital and receiving supplemental oxygen will die of complications. More than 50% of patients with COVID-19 that receive invasive treatment such as mechanical ventilation will die in hospital. Such impacts overwhelm the limited intensive care unit resources and ...
infectious diseases
10.1101/2020.07.15.20154765
Controlling COVID-19 via test-trace-quarantine
Initial COVID-19 containment in the United States focused on limiting mobility, including school and workplace closures. However, these interventions have had enormous societal and economic costs. Here we demonstrate the feasibility of an alternative control strategy, test-trace-quarantine: routine testing of primarily...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.15.20154765
Controlling COVID-19 via test-trace-quarantine
Initial COVID-19 containment in the United States focused on limiting mobility, including school and workplace closures. However, these interventions have had enormous societal and economic costs. Here we demonstrate the feasibility of an alternative control strategy, test-trace-quarantine: routine testing of primarily...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.15.20154849
New insight of adrenal responses in premature neonates versus full term neonates in critical care setting
BackgroundAdequate adrenocortical function is essential for survival of critically ill neonates. Although most of them display elevated plasma cortisol concentrations, which reflects activation of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis (HPA), yet; adrenocortical insufficiency is seen in septic shock. Objectives: Evalu...
pediatrics
10.1101/2020.07.15.20154849
New insight of adrenal responses in premature neonates versus full term neonates in critical care setting
BackgroundAdequate adrenocortical function is essential for survival of critically ill neonates. Although most of them display elevated plasma cortisol concentrations, which reflects activation of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis (HPA), yet; adrenocortical insufficiency is seen in septic shock. Objectives: Evalu...
pediatrics
10.1101/2020.07.15.20154864
Dense phenotyping from electronic health records enables machine-learning-based prediction of preterm birth
Identifying pregnancies at risk for preterm birth, one of the leading causes of worldwide infant mortality, has the potential to improve prenatal care. However, we lack broadly applicable methods to accurately predict preterm birth risk. The dense longitudinal information present in electronic health records (EHRs) is ...
health informatics
10.1101/2020.07.14.20153825
Impact of body composition on COVID-19 susceptibility and severity: a two-sample multivariable Mendelian randomization study
ObjectivesRecent studies suggested obesity to be a possible risk factor for COVID-19 disease in the wake of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection. However, the causality and especially the role of body fat distribution in this context is still unclear. Thus, using a univariable as well as multivariable two-sample Mend...
infectious diseases
10.1101/2020.07.14.20153742
Assessing the causal impact of adiposity variation on rates of hospital admission: Application of Mendelian randomization
We analyze how measures of adiposity - body mass index (BMI) and waist-hip ratio (WHR) - causally influence rates of hospital admission. Conventional analyses of this relationship are susceptible to omitted variable bias from variables that jointly influence both hospital admission and adipose status. We implement a no...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.16.20150250
Saliva TwoStep for rapid detection of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 carriers
Here, we develop a simple molecular test for SARS-CoV-2 in saliva based on reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP). The test has two steps: 1) heat saliva with a stabilization solution, and 2) detect virus by incubating with a primer/enzyme mix. After incubation, saliva samples containing...
infectious diseases
10.1101/2020.07.16.20155127
The heart of an endurance athlete: impact of and recovery after an ultra-endurance event.
AimsAcute bouts of ultra-endurance exercise may cause an acute reduction in cardiac function, causing a physiological cascade which releases cardiac biomarkers. This study set out to determine the cardiac stress and recovery of participation in a three-day ultra-endurance mountain biking event of athletes using heart r...
sports medicine
10.1101/2020.07.17.20156034
Assessing the effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions on SARS-CoV-2 spread in Belgium by means of a compartmental, age-stratified, extended SEIQRD model and public mobility data
We present a compartmental extended SEIQRD metapopulation model for SARS-CoV-2 spread in Belgium. We demonstrate the robustness of the calibration procedure by calibrating the model using incrementally larger datasets and dissect the model results by computing the effective reproduction number at home, in workplaces, i...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.17.20156034
Assessing the effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions on SARS-CoV-2 spread in Belgium by means of a compartmental, age-stratified, extended SEIQRD model and public mobility data
We present a compartmental extended SEIQRD metapopulation model for SARS-CoV-2 spread in Belgium. We demonstrate the robustness of the calibration procedure by calibrating the model using incrementally larger datasets and dissect the model results by computing the effective reproduction number at home, in workplaces, i...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.17.20155937
Probabilistic approaches for classifying highly variable anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses
Serological studies are critical for understanding pathogen-specific immune responses and informing public health measures1,2. Here, we evaluate tandem IgM, IgG and IgA responses in a cohort of individuals PCR+ for SARS-CoV-2 RNA (n=105) representing different categories of disease severity, including mild and asymptom...
allergy and immunology
10.1101/2020.07.18.20156653
Estimation of stroke outcomes based on time to thrombolysis and thrombectomy
Background & MotivationStroke outcomes following revascularization therapy (intravenous thrombolysis, IVT, and/or mechanical thrombectomy, MT) depend critically on time from stroke onset to treatment. Different service configurations may prioritise time to IVT or time to MT. In order to evaluate alternative acute strok...
cardiovascular medicine
10.1101/2020.07.17.20156539
Quantifying SARS-CoV-2 infection risk within the Google/Apple exposure notification framework to inform quarantine recommendations
Most Bluetooth-based exposure notification apps use three binary classifications to recommend quarantine following SARS-CoV-2 exposure: a window of infectiousness in the transmitter, [≥]15 minutes duration, and Bluetooth attenuation below a threshold. However, Bluetooth attenuation is not a reliable measure of dista...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.15.20154286
A privacy-preserving Bayesian network model for personalised COVID19 risk assessment and contact tracing
Concerns about the practicality and effectiveness of using Contact Tracing Apps (CTA) to reduce the spread of COVID19 have been well documented and, in the UK, led to the abandonment of the NHS CTA shortly after its release in May 2020. One of the key non-technical obstacles to widespread adoption of CTA has been conce...
health informatics
10.1101/2020.07.17.20152702
Evaluation of efficiency and sensitivity of 1D and 2D sample pooling strategies for SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR screening purposes
To increase the throughput, lower the cost, and save scarce test reagents, laboratories can pool patient samples before SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR testing. While different sample pooling methods have been proposed and effectively implemented in some laboratories, no systematic and large-scale evaluations exist using real-life ...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.17.20152702
Evaluation of efficiency and sensitivity of 1D and 2D sample pooling strategies for SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR screening purposes
To increase the throughput, lower the cost, and save scarce test reagents, laboratories can pool patient samples before SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR testing. While different sample pooling methods have been proposed and effectively implemented in some laboratories, no systematic and large-scale evaluations exist using real-life ...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.13.20146118
Practical strategies for extreme missing data imputation in dementia diagnosis
Accurate computational models for clinical decision support systems require clean and reliable data but, in clinical practice, data are often incomplete. Hence, missing data could arise not only from training datasets but also test datasets which could consist of a single undiagnosed case, an individual. This work addr...
health informatics
10.1101/2020.07.20.20157644
Depression stigma effects on help-seeking attitudes in college students: Baseline results of a randomized controlled trial
ObjectiveDepression stigma has been considered a significant barrier to treatment and rehabilitation. This study aimed to understand the effects of gender, previous health care use, and symptomatology on depression stigma and analyze the impact of depression stigma on help-seeking attitudes. MethodsA total of 969 stud...
psychiatry and clinical psychology
10.1101/2020.07.20.20157644
The association between stigmatizing attitudes towards depression and help-seeking attitudes in college students: Baseline results of a randomized controlled trial
ObjectiveDepression stigma has been considered a significant barrier to treatment and rehabilitation. This study aimed to understand the effects of gender, previous health care use, and symptomatology on depression stigma and analyze the impact of depression stigma on help-seeking attitudes. MethodsA total of 969 stud...
psychiatry and clinical psychology
10.1101/2020.07.20.20157644
The association between stigmatizing attitudes towards depression and help-seeking attitudes in college students
ObjectiveDepression stigma has been considered a significant barrier to treatment and rehabilitation. This study aimed to understand the effects of gender, previous health care use, and symptomatology on depression stigma and analyze the impact of depression stigma on help-seeking attitudes. MethodsA total of 969 stud...
psychiatry and clinical psychology
10.1101/2020.07.19.20157404
The genetic architecture of human infectious diseases and pathogen-induced cellular phenotypes
Here, we develop a genetics-anchored framework to decipher mechanisms of infectious disease (ID) risk and infer causal effect on potential complications. We perform transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) of 35 ID traits in 27,615 individuals in a broad collection of human tissues, identifying 70 gene-level assoc...
genetic and genomic medicine
10.1101/2020.07.19.20157354
The Effect of GDP and Distance on Timing of COVID-19 Spread in Chinese Provinces in 2020
The geographical spread of COVID-19 across Chinas provinces provides the opportunity for retrospective analysis on contributors to the timing of the spread. Highly contagious diseases need to be seeded into populations and we hypothesized that greater distance from the epicenter in Wuhan, as well as higher province-lev...
health economics
10.1101/2020.07.16.20155556
Recruitment of Older African Americans in Alzheimers Disease Clinical Trials Using A Community Based Research Approach
African Americans are disproportionately affected by Alzheimers disease and related dementias (ADRD) and are two times more likely to develop ADRD compared to their White counterparts. Despite the higher prevalence of ADRD among older African Americans, recent estimates suggest research enrollment by those who identify...
public and global health
10.1101/2020.07.15.20154955
Managing the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak from border arrivals
In an attempt to maintain elimination of COVID-19 in New Zealand, all international arrivals are required to spend 14 days in government-managed quarantine and to return a negative test result before being released. We model the testing, isolation and transmission of COVID-19 within quarantine facilities to estimate th...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.22.20159707
Excess deaths in Spain during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak from age/sex-adjusted death rates
OO_SCPLOWBJECTIVESC_SCPLOWAssess the impact of the illness designated COVID-19 during the first year of pandemic outbreak in Spain through age/sex-specific death rates. SO_SCPLOWTUDYC_SCPLOWO_SCPCAP C_SCPCAPO_SCPLOWDESIGNC_SCPLOWAge/sex-specific weeekly deaths in Spain were retrieved from Eurostat. Spanish resident po...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.22.20159707
Excess deaths in Spain during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak from age/sex-adjusted death rates
OO_SCPLOWBJECTIVESC_SCPLOWAssess the impact of the illness designated COVID-19 during the first year of pandemic outbreak in Spain through age/sex-specific death rates. SO_SCPLOWTUDYC_SCPLOWO_SCPCAP C_SCPCAPO_SCPLOWDESIGNC_SCPLOWAge/sex-specific weeekly deaths in Spain were retrieved from Eurostat. Spanish resident po...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.22.20159707
Excess deaths in Spain during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak from age/sex-adjusted death rates
OO_SCPLOWBJECTIVESC_SCPLOWAssess the impact of the illness designated COVID-19 during the first year of pandemic outbreak in Spain through age/sex-specific death rates. SO_SCPLOWTUDYC_SCPLOWO_SCPCAP C_SCPCAPO_SCPLOWDESIGNC_SCPLOWAge/sex-specific weeekly deaths in Spain were retrieved from Eurostat. Spanish resident po...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.22.20159707
Excess deaths in Spain during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak from age/sex-adjusted death rates
OO_SCPLOWBJECTIVESC_SCPLOWAssess the impact of the illness designated COVID-19 during the first year of pandemic outbreak in Spain through age/sex-specific death rates. SO_SCPLOWTUDYC_SCPLOWO_SCPCAP C_SCPCAPO_SCPLOWDESIGNC_SCPLOWAge/sex-specific weeekly deaths in Spain were retrieved from Eurostat. Spanish resident po...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.22.20159707
Excess deaths in Spain during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak from age/sex-adjusted death rates
OO_SCPLOWBJECTIVESC_SCPLOWAssess the impact of the illness designated COVID-19 during the first year of pandemic outbreak in Spain through age/sex-specific death rates. SO_SCPLOWTUDYC_SCPLOWO_SCPCAP C_SCPCAPO_SCPLOWDESIGNC_SCPLOWAge/sex-specific weeekly deaths in Spain were retrieved from Eurostat. Spanish resident po...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.22.20159707
Excess deaths in Spain during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak from age/sex-adjusted death rates
OO_SCPLOWBJECTIVESC_SCPLOWAssess the impact of the illness designated COVID-19 during the first year of pandemic outbreak in Spain through age/sex-specific death rates. SO_SCPLOWTUDYC_SCPLOWO_SCPCAP C_SCPCAPO_SCPLOWDESIGNC_SCPLOWAge/sex-specific weeekly deaths in Spain were retrieved from Eurostat. Spanish resident po...
epidemiology
10.1101/2020.07.22.20159251
Exome sequencing identifies rare damaging variants in the ATP8B4 and ABCA1 genes as novel risk factors for Alzheimers Disease.
The genetic component of Alzheimers disease (AD) has been mainly assessed using Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS), which do not capture the risk contributed by rare variants. Here, we compared the gene-based burden of rare damaging variants in exome sequencing data from 32,558 individuals --16,036 AD cases and 16,...
genetic and genomic medicine
10.1101/2020.07.22.20159251
Exome sequencing identifies rare damaging variants in the ATP8B4 and ABCA1 genes as novel risk factors for Alzheimers Disease.
The genetic component of Alzheimers disease (AD) has been mainly assessed using Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS), which do not capture the risk contributed by rare variants. Here, we compared the gene-based burden of rare damaging variants in exome sequencing data from 32,558 individuals --16,036 AD cases and 16,...
genetic and genomic medicine
10.1101/2020.07.22.20159251
Exome sequencing identifies rare damaging variants in the ATP8B4 and ABCA1 genes as novel risk factors for Alzheimers Disease.
The genetic component of Alzheimers disease (AD) has been mainly assessed using Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS), which do not capture the risk contributed by rare variants. Here, we compared the gene-based burden of rare damaging variants in exome sequencing data from 32,558 individuals --16,036 AD cases and 16,...
genetic and genomic medicine
10.1101/2020.07.22.20159251
Exome sequencing identifies rare damaging variants in ATP8B4 and ABCA1 as novel risk factors for Alzheimers Disease
The genetic component of Alzheimers disease (AD) has been mainly assessed using Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS), which do not capture the risk contributed by rare variants. Here, we compared the gene-based burden of rare damaging variants in exome sequencing data from 32,558 individuals --16,036 AD cases and 16,...
genetic and genomic medicine
10.1101/2020.07.21.20159228
Genetic correlates of phenotypic heterogeneity in autism
The substantial phenotypic heterogeneity in autism limits our understanding of its genetic aetiology. To address this gap, we investigated genetic differences between autistic individuals (Nmax = 12,893) based on core (i.e., social communication difficulties, and restricted and repetitive behaviours) and associated fea...
genetic and genomic medicine