9 , John McCalpin 9 , Mahidhar Tatineni 10 , Tom Gibbs 8 , John E. Stone 3 , Shantenu Jha 5 , Arvind Ramanathan 2∗ , Rommie E. Amaro 1∗ . 2020. AI-Driven Multiscale Simulations Illuminate Mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Dynamics. In Supercomputing ’20 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 14 pages. https//doi.org/finalDOI.Increasing age is the strongest predictor of risk of COVID-19 severity. Unregulated cytokine storm together with impaired immunometabolic response leads to highest mortality in elderly infected with SARS-CoV-2. To investigate how aging compromises defense against COVID-19, we developed a model of natural murine beta coronavirus (mCoV) infection with mouse hepatitis virus strain MHV-A59 (mCoV-A59) that recapitulated majority of clinical hallmarks of COVID-19. Aged mCoV-A59-infected mice have increased mortality and higher systemic inflammation in the heart, adipose tissue and hypothalamus, including neutrophilia and loss of γδ T cells in lungs. Ketogenic diet increases beta-hydroxybutyrate, expands tissue protective γδ T cells, deactivates the inflammasome and decreases pathogenic monocytes in lungs of infected aged mice. These data underscore the value of mCoV-A59 model to test mechanism and establishes harnessing of the ketogenic immunometabolic checkpoint as a potential treatment against COVID-19 in the elderly.

– Natural MHV-A59 mouse coronavirus infection mimics COVID-19 in elderly.- Aged infected mice have systemic inflammation and inflammasome activation.- Murine beta coronavirus (mCoV) infection results in loss of pulmonary γδ T cells.- Ketones protect aged mice from infection by reducing inflammation.

Elderly have the greatest risk of death from COVID-19. Here, Ryu et al report an aging mouse model of coronavirus infection that recapitulates clinical hallmarks of COVID-19 seen in elderly. The increased severity of infection in aged animals involved increased inflammasome activation and loss of γδ T cells that was corrected by ketogenic diet.

Elderly have the greatest risk of death from COVID-19. WS6 concentration Here, Ryu et al report an aging mouse model of coronavirus infection that recapitulates clinical hallmarks of COVID-19 seen in elderly. The increased severity of infection in aged animals involved increased inflammasome activation and loss of γδ T cells that was corrected by ketogenic diet.Background The COVID-19 pandemic pose significant risk to mental health and may disproportionately affect people living with HIV (PLWH). This study examined the interaction of social support and resilient coping in predicting depressive symptoms among PLWH. Methods PLWH residing in Buenos Aires, Argentina and in Miami, Florida (US) were asked to complete an anonymous survey on the impact of COVID-19. Statistical analysis included ordinary least squares regression. Results A total of 1,554 participants were included. Mean age was 47.30 years; 63.7 % were men. A test of three-way interaction of social support resilient coping study site indicated differences by site (b = -0.63.862, p = .043010, 95% CI [-1.24, -0.02.205, 1.52]). In Argentina, at higher social support and resilient coping, depressive symptoms were lowest. At lower social support and resilient coping, depressive symptoms were highest. Discussion The impact of COVID-19 on mental health illustrates the need to develop innovative strategies to support resilience and to enhance coping with stress and adversity among PLWH.Age is the dominant risk factor for infectious diseases, but the mechanisms linking the two are incompletely understood1,2. Age-related mosaic chromosomal alterations (mCAs) detected from blood-derived DNA genotyping, are structural somatic variants associated with aberrant leukocyte cell counts, hematological malignancy, and mortality3-11. Whether mCAs represent independent risk factors for infection is unknown. Here we use genome-wide genotyping of blood DNA to show that mCAs predispose to diverse infectious diseases. We analyzed mCAs from 767,891 individuals without hematological cancer at DNA acquisition across four countries. Expanded mCA (cell fraction >10%) prevalence approached 4% by 60 years of age and was associated with diverse incident infections, including sepsis, pneumonia, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) hospitalization. A genome-wide association study of expanded mCAs identified 63 significant loci. Germline genetic alleles associated with expanded mCAs were enriched at transcriptional regulatory sites for immune cells. Our results link mCAs with impaired immunity and predisposition to infections. Furthermore, these findings may also have important implications for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in prioritizing individual preventive strategies and evaluating immunization responses.Heart injury has been reported in up to 20% of COVID-19 patients, yet the cause of myocardial histopathology remains unknown. In order to study the cause of myocardial pathology in COVID-19 patients, we used a hamster model to determine whether following infection SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, can be detected in heart tissues. Here, we clearly demonstrate that viral RNA and nucleocapsid protein is present in cardiomyocytes in the hearts of infected hamsters. Interestingly, functional cardiomyocyte associated gene expression was decreased in infected hamster hearts, corresponding to an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS). This data using an animal model was further validated using autopsy heart samples of COVID-19 patients. Moreover, we show that both human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-derived CMs) and adult cardiomyocytes (CMs) can be infected by SARS-CoV-2 and that CCL2 is secreted upon SARS-CoV-2 infection, leading to monocyte recruitment. Increased CCL2 expression and macrophage infiltration was also observed in the hearts of infected hamsters. Using single cell RNA-seq, we also show that macrophages are able to decrease SARS-CoV-2 infection of CMs. Overall, our study provides direct evidence that SARS-CoV-2 infects CMs in vivo and proposes a mechanism of immune-cell infiltration and pathology in heart tissue of COVID-19 patients.