COVID-19 Clinical Trials and Expanded Access

To assess whether the COVID-19 pandemic delayed breast cancer diagnosis in Taiwan, an Asian country with a low COVID-19 incidence.

Viral respiratory infections are common infectious complications after kidney transplantation, especially in the pediatric age group, and immunosuppressed patients may develop more severe disease. Immunosuppressive medications alter the patient's immune response by acting on humoral, cellular immunity and neutrophil function, increasing the risk of serious viral infections. Little is known about how these patients respond to infection by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Experience with SARS caused by the Influenza H1N1 virus suggests that the severity of the disease depends on pre-existing comorbidities and the individual immune response. In more severe cases, an imbalance between the inflammatory system and the immune system is observed, determining direct consequences when pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines reach the systemic circulation in an exacerbated and unbalanced manner. Such fact can generate "cytokine storm syndrome", resulting in multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. March 2020 reports from Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital in Bergamo, Italy - one of the largest pediatric liver transplant centers - showed that the number of transplant patients infected with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19) increased progressively. However, they did not see greater severity and complications in this population. Immunosuppression could act as a protective factor. The present study aims to describe the prevalence of viral infection by SARS-CoV-2 in a sample of immunosuppressed children, from three groups: kidney transplants, liver transplants and oncohematological. The investigators will also look for the epidemiological profile and clinical evolution of these patients, enabling a better understanding of the COVID-19 in this special population. The investigators' hypothesis is that infection with the new coronavirus may be asymptomatic in a large number of children and that immunosuppression, observed in liver and kidney transplant patients and also seen in cancer patients, may act as protection for severe forms of COVID-19. After obtaining written informed consent from the family, the investigators will include patients from 0-18 years of age, on regular outpatient follow-up, symptomatic or not, and will check for the presence of IgM/IgG antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2. For those symptomatic or with a positive IgM result, material (oro/nasopharyngeal swabs) for RT-PCR trial for the new coronavirus will be collected. Demographic and clinical variables will be registered. The outcomes are: Serology for COVID-19 result; PCR for COVID-19 result; presence of symptoms of COVID-19; proportion of patients with viral shedding on days 3,7,14,21 and 30 after diagnosis; need for hospital admission; need for Intensive care admission; death.

The investigators present a randomised open label phase Ib/IIa trial of nebulised unfractionated heparin to evaluate the effect of nebulised unfractionated heparin on the procoagulant response in ICU patients with SARS-CoV-2 requiring advanced respiratory support. As this is one of the first studies of nebulised heparin in COVID 19 lung disease the investigators will assess safety as a co-primary outcome.

Based on the experience of previous pandemics, countries reacted by applying different upgrade strategies to prevent or delay the widespread of the disease. Therefore, measures such as border closure, school closure, restrict social gathering (even shutdown of workplaces), limit population movements, and confinement meaning quarantines at the scale of cities or regions. In public hospitals, several measures have been decided to concentrate the power of care on potential wave of admissions of patients with severe forms of Covid-19. In this purpose, the number of available beds in Intensive Care Units (ICU) has been increased by two-fold and scheduled non-emergency surgical procedure have been cancelled. That means: 1. For the most severe patients, new personals (physician such as anesthesiologists, nurses of other units) have been transferred in ICUs. 2. For the less severe patients, personals of non-busy units have been transferred in busier ones. All these measures lead to major daily-life change sets that could be stressful. In the general population, it has been well documented that quarantine or confinement or isolation could lead to the occurrence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) syndrome in about 30% overall population. Importantly, high depressive symptoms have been reported in 9% of hospital staff. Numerous symptoms have been reported after quarantine or isolation such as emotional disturbance, depression, stress, low mood, irritability, insomnia, and post-traumatic stress symptoms. In hospital setting, few studies have been performed for assessing the psychological impact of quarantine and isolation. However, two studies reported a high prevalence of burn-out syndrome (BOS) in ICU physician and PTSD syndrome and depression in ICU nurses. As the consequences of all the measures decided and applied during Covid-19 pandemic could be important on caregivers, the present study primarily aims at assessing the prevalence of PTSD syndrome in a large population of caregivers implied or not in Intensive Care Units. The secondary objective were 1) to assess the prevalence of severe depression and anxiety and BOS 2) to isolate potential factors associated with PTSD, severe depression, anxiety or BOS.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to grow exponentially. Angiotensin II levels are increased in human influenza and are associated with influenza viral load, disease progression and mortality. Preliminary data shows angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) limits lung injury in murine influenza H7N9, as well as viral titre and RNA. ARBs could limit viral titre and organ injury in COVID-19. We will therefore collect clinical chart data and test angiotensin II levels of patients who are admitted to ICU with COVID-19 to determine whether there is a correlation between taking ARBs and clinical outcomes in these patients. Other blood biomarkers and clinical risk factors for COVID-19 have come to light in recent weeks. We include these in our observational analysis to help generate an understanding of COVID-19 presentation and blood biomarker characterization of disease.

The C-MORE study is prospective observational holistic longitudinal study which will characterise the prevalence of multi-organ injury among COVID-19 survivors post hospital discharge and assess its effects on quality of life, exercise tolerance and mental health.

The global escalation of COVID19 pandemic has put the health care system under pressure with urgent need for treatment. In the absence of vaccine and approved drug against SARS-COV2 over the past 6 months, the health authorities were obliged to re-purpose existing drugs to fight this pandemic.

Dogs are some of nature's greatest detectives, owing to their incredible sense of smell and ability to be trained. Most of us will be familiar with seeing trained sniffer dogs at airports looking for drugs and other prohibited items, but their skills don't stop there. The use of medical detection dogs is becoming increasingly common, as they are able to identify cancers, changes in blood sugar levels and even predict seizures. These are just a few examples of dogs playing a key role in public health. Many diseases can alter the way humans smell. A study undertaken by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Durham University has shown that dogs are able to accurately diagnose malaria. The investigators know that respiratory illnesses can alter your body odours, and thus the investigators plan to determine whether dogs are able to identify the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 (or SARS-CoV-2). COVID-19 can present itself asymptomatically (i.e. causing no apparent symptoms), which could lead to the spread of infection in the population. The investigators believe that dogs may be able to identify asymptomatic patients, as well as those who have mild symptoms (symptoms not requiring treatment, hospital stay or limiting normal activities). It is thought that a single medical detection dog stationed within an airport would be able to screen up to 750 people for COVID-19 infection in just 1 hour, informing those who are infected to isolate, preventing further spread of the disease. In order to determine whether it is possible for dogs to accurately diagnose COVID-19, the investigators must first collect samples. NHS staff and members of their households that are eligible for SARS-CoV-2 screening, have been selected to participate in this study due to their potential exposure to this disease agent. In addition, participants from the general population who are displaying mild COVID-19 symptoms or have been exposed to COVID-19 will be recruited via hospitals, testing centers, outbreak testing programs and home testing programs. Initially, participants will attend their screening test as planned or confirm that they have had a swab test within the previous 24 hours. Immediately following this, the investigators will ask participants to collect samples of breath odour and body odour, which will be collected passively through the wearing of face masks, shirts, and nylon socks. The investigators will ask to be provided with the results of the SARS-CoV-2 screening swab, which will allow for us to determine whether participants are positive or negative for SARS-CoV-2. These odour samples will be grouped by positive or negative test results, and transported to LSHTM where these will be processed in order to prevent contact with the virus, negating the risk for dogs and their handlers. A pilot study will be undertaken to confirm whether dogs are able to distinguish between positive and negative samples using traditional sniffer dog training methods. If this is possible, the investigators will proceed to the main study to determine the accuracy (known as sensitivity and specificity) of the dogs' ability to identify the virus. Both the handler and the dogs themselves will be 'blinded' to the samples, and thus unaware of which sample is which. When the data generated by these tests is entered, it will be confirmed whether or not the samples have been correctly identified. The dogs will be trained to detect and report the detection of the volatile odours characteristic of COVID-19 infection. For quality control purposes the investigators also aim to characterise the COVID-19 odour profile by analysing samples with a special process called GC (gas chromatography) and/or GC-MS (gas chromatography coupled mass spectrometry). This will help to inform the identification of compounds showing differences between infected and non-infected samples. The investigators believe that this work could be useful in the fight against COVID-19.

The current study is aimed to determine the procedures applied in the dysphagia clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic period. A questionnaire consisting of 30 questions will be implemented. Each participant will be asked to answer the questions.

Title: Phase I/II Trial (Safety and Dosing) of Povidone-iodine (PVP-I) Nasal Swab For Preventing COVID-19 Spread in Healthy Subjects: Summary: This study will evaluate in a PH I/II trial in healthy volunteers the safety and tolerability of PVP-I nasal swabs daily application. The intent is to follow with a PH III randomized controlled clinical trial to assess the capacity for PVP-I nasal swabs to mitigate the transmission of respiratory viruses specifically COVID 19.