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[EN] Introduction Povidone-iodine and hydrogen peroxide could be effective in against SARS-CoV-2. Methods A “non-interventional trial” in 88 patients (43 ± 17 yrs., 55% men) with SARS-CoV-2 in nasopharyngeal swabs (RT-PCR). 31 received mouth rinses/gargling with povidone-iodine (every 8 h, two consecutive days), 17 with mouth rinses/gargling of hydrogen peroxide, and 40 controls. Were repeated PCR in 3, 11 and 17 days. Results After intervention the viral load (Log10 copies/ml) remained similar in povidone-iodine (4.3 ± 2.7 copies/ml), hydrogen peroxide (4.6 ± 2.9 copies/ml; p = 0.40) and controls (4.4 ± 3.0 copies/ml). The percentage of patients with a negative result in the second PCR was 27% in povidone-iodine group, 23% in hydrogen peroxide and 32% in controls; in the third PCR, 62%, 54% y 58% respectively; and in the fourth PCR, 81%, 75% y 81%. Conclusion Our results do not support the clinical usefulness of mouth rinses/gargling with povidone-iodine or hydrogen peroxide in patients with COVID-19. [ES] Introducción La povidona yodada y el peróxido de hidrógeno podrían ser eficaces contra el SARS-CoV-2. Métodos Estudio observacional de seguimiento prospectivo (EPA-AS) en 88 pacientes (43 ± 17 años, 55% varones) con SARS-CoV-2 en muestras nasofaríngeas (RT-PCR). 31 recibieron enjuagues/gargarismos con povidona yodada cada 8 horas dos días consecutivos, 17 con la misma pauta de peróxido de hidrógeno, y 40 controles sin enjuagues. Se repitió PCR a 3, 11 y 17 días. Resultados Tras la intervención no hubo diferencias en la carga viral: povidona yodada (4,3 ± 2,7 copias/ml), peróxido de hidrógeno (4,6 ± 2,9 copias/ml; p = 0,40), controles (4,4 ± 3,0 copias/ml). El porcentaje de pacientes con 2ª PCR negativa fue 27% povidona yodada, 23% peróxido de hidrógeno y 32% controles; en la 3ª PCR 62%, 54% y 58% respectivamente y en la 4ª PCR, 81%, 75% y 81%. Conclusión Nuestros resultados no apoyan la utilidad de los enjuagues de estos dos antisépticos en pacientes con COVID-19. This work was financed with a Research Grant awarded by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [Spanish National Research Council] (CSIC. 202050E106). Spain. Peer reviewed

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgent need for the identification of new antiviral drug therapies for a variety of diseases. COVID-19 is caused by infection with the human coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, while other related human coronaviruses cause diseases ranging from severe respiratory infections to the common cold. We developed a computational approach to identify new antiviral drug targets and repurpose clinically-relevant drug compounds for the treatment of a range of human coronavirus diseases. Our approach is based on graph convolutional networks (GCN) and involves multiscale host-virus interactome analysis coupled to off-target drug predictions. Cell-based experimental assessment reveals several clinically-relevant drug repurposing candidates predicted by the in silico analyses to have antiviral activity against human coronavirus infection. In particular, we identify the MET inhibitor capmatinib as having potent and broad antiviral activity against several coronaviruses in a MET-independent manner, as well as novel roles for host cell proteins such as IRAK1/4 in supporting human coronavirus infection, which can inform further drug discovery studies. We gratefully acknowledge funding that supported this research support from the Ryerson University Faculty of Science (CNA), as well as funding support in the form of a CIFAR Catalyst Grant (JPJ and CNA), an NSERC Alliance Grant (CNA) and the Ryerson COVID-19 SRC Response Fund award (CNA). BW is partly supported by CIFAR AI Chairs Program. This work was also supported by a Mitacs award (BW), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under a Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant (ER), by the CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar program (JPJ), by the Ontario Early Researcher Awards program (JPJ and CNA), and by the Canada Research Chairs program (JPJ). We also thank Dr. James Rini (University of Toronto) for the kind gift of the 9.8E12 antibody used to detect the 229E Spike protein, and Dr. Scott Gray-Owen (University of Toronto) for the kind gift of the NL63 human coronavirus. Peer reviewed

Rationale Turkey is identified annually as a material country for the Spanish and euro area banking systems. Moreover, Turkey and Spain are linked by major trade and financial flows. It is therefore important to monitor the country’s macro-financial situation and main weaknesses. Takeaways The Turkish economy continued to post very high inflation rates at end-2022, while economic activity began to slow in Q3, following its strong previous momentum. All of this in the context of sizeable external financing needs, foreign currency debt and low international reserves. Fiscal policy performed better than expected, and the country’s accounts remain healthy. In terms of monetary policy, in August the Turkish central bank resumed the process of reducing the policy interest rate initiated a year earlier, with the real interest rate standing at -75.5% in November. Nonetheless, macroprudential and regulatory measures were implemented to keep credit growth in check and encourage only lending to certain productive sectors. Meanwhile, the banking sector’s balance sheets remain relatively healthy, although some indicators have worsened.

Motivación: Turquía se identifica anualmente como un país material para el sistema bancario español y para el del área del euro. Además, mantienen importantes flujos comerciales y financieros. Por ello, es relevante hacer un seguimiento de la situación macrofinanciera del país y de sus principales vulnerabilidades. Ideas principales: • La economía turca siguió registrando tasas muy elevas de inflación a finales de 2022, y la actividad económica comenzó a moderarse en el tercer trimestre, tras su fuerte dinamismo previo. Todo ello en un contexto de cuantiosas necesidades de financiación exterior, endeudamiento en moneda extranjera y reducidas reservas internacionales. • La política fiscal evolucionó mejor de lo previsto, manteniéndose saneadas sus cuentas. En cuanto a la política monetaria, el banco central de Turquía retomó en agosto el proceso de reducción del tipo de interés oficial iniciado un año antes, situando el tipo de interés real en el –75,5 % en noviembre. • No obstante, para controlar el crecimiento del crédito y favorecer solo el dirigido a ciertos sectores productivos, se introdujeron medidas macroprudenciales y regulatorias. Mientras, los balances del sector bancario se mantienen relativamente saneados, aunque algunos indicadores se han deteriorado.

This study aimed to evaluate the levels and phenomenology of equivalent black carbon (eBC) at the city center of Augsburg, Germany (01/2018 to 12/2020). Furthermore, the potential health risk of eBC based on equivalent numbers of passively smoked cigarettes (PSC) was also evaluated, with special emphasis on the impact caused by the COVID19 lockdown restriction measures. As it could be expected, peak concentrations of eBC were commonly recorded in morning (06:00-8:00 LT) and night (19:00-22:00 LT) in all seasons, coinciding with traffic rush hours and atmospheric stagnation. The variability of eBC was highly influenced by diurnal variations in traffic and meteorology (air temperature (T), mixing-layer height (MLH), wind speed (WS)) across days and seasons. Furthermore, a marked "weekend effect" was evidenced, with an average eBC decrease of ∼35% due to lower traffic flow. During the COVID19 lockdown period, an average ∼60% reduction of the traffic flow resulted in ∼30% eBC decrease, as the health risks of eBC exposure was markedly reduced during this period. The implementation of a multilinear regression analysis allowed to explain for 53% of the variability in measured eBC, indicating that the several factors (e.g., traffic and meteorology) may contribute simultaneously to this proportion. Overall, this study will provide valuable input to the policy makers to mitigate eBC pollutant and its adverse effect on environment and human health. The work is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (42101470), Support Project of High-level Teachers in Beijing Municipal Universities in the Period of 13th Five–year Plan (CIT&TCD201904037), the RI-URBANS project (Research Infrastructures Services Reinforcing Air Quality Monitoring Capacities in European Urban & Industrial Areas, European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, Green Deal, European Commission, contract 101036245), the dtec.bw -Digitalization and Technology Research Center of the Bundeswehr (project MORE), and Peiyang Future Scholar Scholarship (6120000246). We would like to thank to the Administration of Augsburg City for giving access to the traffic data (Tiefbauamt, Markus Furnier). We also would like to thank Prof. Dr. Stefan Emeis from Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research - Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK-IFU) of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology for providing a ceilometer. Peer reviewed

Background: Research into the association between the microbiome and SARS-CoV-2 infection and acute respiratory distress syndrome remains unclear. Here we examined the dynamics of the gut and respiratory microbiomes in severe COVID-19 cases in need of mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU). Methods: We recruited 76 critically ill patients (48 with COVID-19 and 32 without COVID-19) and 17 healthy controls (HCs) and monitored them for up to 4 weeks. We analyzed the bacterial and fungal taxonomic profiles and loads of 232 gut and respiratory samples and we measured blood levels of Interleukin 6, IgG, and IgM in COVID-19 patients. Results: At ICU admission, bacterial composition and load in the gut and respiratory samples were altered in critically ill patients compared to HCs. Six bacterial species could discriminate ICU-COV(+) from ICU-COV(-) cases. During their time in the ICU, all patients experienced increased bacterial and fungal loads, decreased bacterial richness, and progressive changes in bacterial and fungal taxonomic profiles. In ICU-COV(+) patients, Pseudomonas was found positively and Streptococcus negatively correlated with the length of ICU stay. Respiratory bacterial signatures, associated with disease severity and inflammation markers, were predictive of death and a fecal dysbiosis score, associated negatively with PaO2/FiO2 ratio, could be used as an additional indicator for ICU admission. Conclusion: We propose using a high-throughput sequencing approach as an alternative to traditional isolation techniques to monitor the ICU-COV(+) patient infection. Zixuan Xie received a fellowship from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action, Innovative Training Network: FunHoMic; grant number 812969. Chaysavanh Manichanh received a grant from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III/FEDER (PI17/00614; PI20/00130) No

AbstractBackgroundAt the end of 2019, a novel coronavirus denominated SARS-CoV-2 rapidly spread through the world causing the pandemic coronavirus disease known as COVID-19. The difference in the inflammatory response against SARS-CoV-2 infection among people living at different altitudes is a variable not yet studied.MethodsA descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in two Peruvian cities at different altitudes for comparison: Lima and Huaraz. Five important proinflammatory cytokines were measured including: IL-6, IL-2, IL-10, IFN-γand TNF-α using ELISA assays.ResultsA total of 35 COVID-19 patients and 10 healthy subjects were recruited from each study site. The mean levels of IL-6 (p < 0.03) and TNF-α (p < 0.01) were significantly different among the study groups. In the case of IL-6, patients from Lima had a mean level of 16.2 pg/ml (healthy) and 48.3 pg/ml (COVID-19), meanwhile, patients from Huaraz had levels of 67.3 pg/ml (healthy) and 97.9 pg/ml (COVID-19). Regarding TNF-α, patients from Lima had a mean level of 25.9 pg/ml (healthy) and 61.6 pg/ml (COVID-19), meanwhile, patients from Huaraz had levels of 89.0 pg/ml (healthy) and 120.6 pg/ml (COVID-19). The levels of IL-2, IL-10 and IFN-γ were not significantly different in the study groups.ConclusionPatients with COVID-19 residing at high-altitude tend to have higher levels of inflammatory cytokines compared to patients living at sea level, particularly IL-6 and TNF-α. A better understanding of the inflammatory response in different populations can contribute to the implementation of therapeutic and preventive approaches. Further studies evaluating more patients, a greater variety of cytokines and their clinical impact are required.

[Abstract]: In this article we mainly extend a newly introduced deterministic model for the COVID-19 disease to a stochastic setting. More precisely, we incorporated randomness in some coefficients by assuming that they follow a prescribed stochastic dynamics. In this way, the model variables are now represented by stochastic process, that can be simulated by appropriately solving the system of stochastic differential equations. Thus, the model becomes more complete and flexible than the deterministic analogous, as it incorporates additional uncertainties which are present in more realistic situations. In particular, confidence intervals for the main variables and worst case scenarios can be computed.

This paper deals with the analysis of the evolution of international trade after COVID-19, examining commodity prices, the shipping industry, and the influence of the cost of bunker fuel. To this end, we use techniques based on fractional integration, fractional cointegration VAR (FCVAR) and wavelet analysis. Monthly data relating to heavy fuel oil prices and the shipping market from October 2011 to September 2021 are used. Using fractional integration in the post-break period, a lack of mean reversion is observed in all cases, which means that, for the commodity prices and shipping market indices, a change in trend will be permanent after COVID-19 unless strong measures are carried out by the authorities. Using wavelet analysis, we conclude that the demand shock represented in the indices mentioned above has led the price of fuel oil since the beginning of the pandemic, and bunker fuel is not relevant in determining the cost of maritime transport. post-print 2426 KB

AbstractData on convalescent plasma (CP) treatment in COVID-19 outpatients are scarce. We aimed to assess whether CP administered during the first week of symptoms reduced the disease progression or risk of hospitalization of outpatients. Two multicenter, double-blind randomized trials (NCT04621123, NCT04589949) were merged with data pooling starting when <20% of recruitment target was achieved. A Bayesian-adaptive individual patient data meta-analysis was implemented. Outpatients aged ≥50 years and symptomatic for ≤7days were included. The intervention consisted of 200–300mL of CP with a predefined minimum level of antibodies. Primary endpoints were a 5-point disease severity scale and a composite of hospitalization or death by 28 days. Amongst the 797 patients included, 390 received CP and 392 placebo; they had a median age of 58 years, 1 comorbidity, 5 days symptoms and 93% had negative IgG antibody-test. Seventy-four patients were hospitalized, 6 required mechanical ventilation and 3 died. The odds ratio (OR) of CP for improved disease severity scale was 0.936 (credible interval (CI) 0.667–1.311); OR for hospitalization or death was 0.919 (CI 0.592–1.416). CP effect on hospital admission or death was largest in patients with ≤5 days of symptoms (OR 0.658, 95%CI 0.394–1.085). CP did not decrease the time to full symptom resolution.Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT04621123 and NCT04589949. Registration: NCT04621123 and NCT04589949 on https://www.clinicaltrials.gov