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Background: Anaphylaxis, which is rare, has been reported after COVID-19 vaccination, but its management is not standardized., Method: Members of the European Network for Drug Allergy and the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology interested in drug allergy participated in an online questionnaire on pre-vaccination screening and management of allergic reactions to COVID-19 vaccines, and literature was analysed., Results: No death due to anaphylaxis to COVID-19 vaccines has been confirmed in scientific literature. Potential allergens, polyethylene glycol (PEG), polysorbate and tromethamine are excipients. The authors propose allergy evaluation of persons with the following histories: 1-anaphylaxis to injectable drug or vaccine containing PEG or derivatives; 2-anaphylaxis to oral/topical PEG containing products; 3-recurrent anaphylaxis of unknown cause; 4-suspected or confirmed allergy to any mRNA vaccine; and 5-confirmed allergy to PEG or derivatives. We recommend a prick-to-prick skin test with the left-over solution in the suspected vaccine vial to avoid waste. Prick test panel should include PEG 4000 or 3500, PEG 2000 and polysorbate 80. The value of in vitro test is arguable., Conclusions: These recommendations will lead to a better knowledge of the management and mechanisms involved in anaphylaxis to COVID-19 vaccines and enable more people with history of allergy to be vaccinated., (© 2022 EAACI and John Wiley and Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd.)

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) first emerged in China in November 2019. Most governments have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by imposing a lockdown. Some evidence suggests that a period of isolation might have led to a spike in alcohol misuse, and in the case of patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD), social isolation can favour lapse and relapse. The aim of our position paper is to provide specialists in the alcohol addiction field, in psychopharmacology, gastroenterology and in internal medicine, with appropriate tools to better manage patients with AUD and COVID-19,considering some important topics: (a) the susceptibility of AUD patients to infection; (b) the pharmacological interaction between medications used to treat AUD and to treat COVID-19; (c) the reorganization of the Centre for Alcohol Addiction Treatment for the management of AUD patients in the COVID-19 era (group activities, telemedicine, outpatients treatment, alcohol-related liver disease and liver transplantation, collecting samples); (d) AUD and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Telemedicine/telehealth will undoubtedly be useful/practical tools even though it remains at an elementary level; the contribution of the family and of caregivers in the management of AUD patients will play a significant role; the multidisciplinary intervention involving experts in the treatment of AUD with specialists in the treatment of COVID-19 disease will need implementation. Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly leading addiction specialists towards a new governance scenario of AUD, which necessarily needs an in-depth reconsideration, focusing attention on a safe approach in combination with the efficacy of treatment., (© 2021 The Authors. Addiction Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for the Study of Addiction.)

The latest outbreak of a coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), evolved into a worldwide pandemic with massive effects on health, quality of life, and economy. Given the short period of time since the outbreak, there are several knowledge gaps on the comparative and zoonotic aspects of this new virus. Within the One Health concept, the current EAACI position paper dwells into the current knowledge on SARS-CoV-2's receptors, symptoms, transmission routes for human and animals living in close vicinity to each other, usefulness of animal models to study this disease and management options to avoid intra- and interspecies transmission. Similar pandemics might appear unexpectedly and more frequently in the near future due to climate change, consumption of exotic foods and drinks, globe-trotter travel possibilities, the growing world population, the decreasing production space, declining room for wildlife and free-ranging animals, and the changed lifestyle including living very close to animals. Therefore, both the society and the health authorities need to be aware and well prepared for similar future situations, and research needs to focus on prevention and fast development of treatment options (medications, vaccines)., (© 2021 The Authors. Allergy published by European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Further to the approval of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine BNT162b2, several severe anaphylaxis cases occured within the first few days of public vaccination. An investigation is taking place to understand the cases and their triggers. The vaccine will be administered to a large number of individuals worldwide and there are raising concerns that severe adverse events might occur. With the current information, the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) states its position for the following preliminary recommendations that are to be revised as soon as more data emerge. To minimize the risk of severe allergic reactions in vaccinated individuals, it is urgently required to understand the specific nature of the reported severe allergic reactions, including the background medical history of the individuals affected and the mechanisms involved. To achieve this goal, all clinical and laboratory information should be collected and reported. Mild and moderate allergic patients should not be excluded from the vaccine as this could have a significant impact on reaching the goal of population immunity. Healthcare practitioners vaccinating against COVID-19 are required to be sufficiently prepared to recognize and treat anaphylaxis properly with the ability to administer adrenaline. Further to vaccine administration, a mandatory observation period of at least 15 minutes should be followed for all individuals. The current data have not shown any higher risk for patients suffering from allergic rhinitis or asthma, and this message should be clearly stated by physicians to enable our patients to trust the vaccine. More than 30% of the population suffers from allergic diseases and the benefit of the vaccination clearly outweighs the risk of severe COVID-19 development., (© 2020 EAACI and John Wiley and Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd.)

Background: Chronic rhinosinusitis is regarded as a chronic airway disease. According to WHO recommendations, it may be a risk factor for COVID-19 patients. In most CRSwNP cases, the inflammatory changes affecting the nasal and paranasal mucous membranes are type-2 (T2) inflammation endotypes., Methods: The current knowledge on COVID-19 and on treatment options for CRS was analyzed by a literature search in Medline, Pubmed, international guidelines, the Cochrane Library and the Internet., Results: Based on international literature, on current recommendations by WHO and other international organizations as well as on previous experience, a panel of experts from EAACI and ARIA provided recommendations for the treatment of CRS during the COVID-19 pandemic., Conclusion: Intranasal corticosteroids remain the standard treatment for CRS in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Surgical treatments should be reduced to a minimum and surgery preserved for patients with local complications and for those with no other treatment options. Systemic corticosteroids should be avoided. Treatment with biologics can be continued with careful monitoring in noninfected patients and should be temporarily interrupted during the course of the COVID-19 infection., (© 2020 EAACI and John Wiley and Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd.)

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has evolved into a pandemic infectious disease transmitted by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Allergists and other healthcare providers (HCPs) in the field of allergies and associated airway diseases are on the front line, taking care of patients potentially infected with SARS-CoV-2. Hence, strategies and practices to minimize risks of infection for both HCPs and treated patients have to be developed and followed by allergy clinics., Method: The scientific information on COVID-19 was analysed by a literature search in MEDLINE, PubMed, the National and International Guidelines from the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI), the Cochrane Library, and the internet., Results: Based on the diagnostic and treatment standards developed by EAACI, on international information regarding COVID-19, on guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international organizations, and on previous experience, a panel of experts including clinicians, psychologists, IT experts, and basic scientists along with EAACI and the "Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA)" initiative have developed recommendations for the optimal management of allergy clinics during the current COVID-19 pandemic. These recommendations are grouped into nine sections on different relevant aspects for the care of patients with allergies., Conclusions: This international Position Paper provides recommendations on operational plans and procedures to maintain high standards in the daily clinical care of allergic patients while ensuring the necessary safety measures in the current COVID-19 pandemic., (© 2020 EAACI and John Wiley and Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd.)

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a respiratory tract infection caused by a novel human coronavirus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, leads to a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations ranging from asymptomatic cases to patients with mild and severe symptoms, with or without pneumonia. Given the huge influence caused by the overwhelming COVID-19 pandemic affecting over three million people worldwide, a wide spectrum of drugs is considered for the treatment in the concept of repurposing and off-label use. There is no knowledge about the diagnosis and clinical management of the drug hypersensitivity reactions that can potentially occur during the disease. This review brings together all the published information about the diagnosis and management of drug hypersensitivity reactions due to current and candidate off-label drugs and highlights relevant recommendations. Furthermore, it gathers all the dermatologic manifestations reported during the disease for guiding the clinicians to establish a better differential diagnosis of drug hypersensitivity reactions in the course of the disease., (© 2020 EAACI and John Wiley and Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd.)

Background and Objectives: Chest pain is a relatively long-term symptom that commonly occurs in patients who have contracted COVID-19. The reasons for these symptoms remain unclear, with coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) emerging as a potential factor. This study aimed to assess the presence of CMD in these patients by measuring the angio-derived index of microcirculatory resistance (AMR)., Methods: In this cross-sectional case-control study, patients who had chest pain and a history of COVID-19 infection within the preceding 30 to 60 days were included. The control subjects were patients without COVID-19. Demographic, clinical, and echocardiographic data were recorded. Angiographic images were collected for AMR analysis through an angioplus quantitative flow ratio measurement system. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to match the two groups. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the association between COVID-19 incidence and the increase in AMR (AMR > 285 mmHg*s/m) after correction for other confounders., Results: After PSM, there were 58 patients in each group (the mean age was 66.3 ± 9.04 years, and 55.2% were men). The average time between the onset of COVID-19 infection and patient presentation at the hospital for coronary angiography was 41 ± 9.5 days. Moreover, there was no significant difference in the quantitative flow ratio between the two groups. Patients with COVID-19 had a greater mean AMR (295 vs. 266, p = 0.002). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that COVID-19 (OR = 3.32, 95% CI = 1.50-7.60, p = 0.004) was significantly associated with an increase in AMR., Conclusions: Long-term COVID-19 patients who experience chest pain without evidence of myocardial ischemia exhibit an increase in AMR, and CMD may be one of the reasons for this increase. COVID-19 is an independent risk factor for an increase in AMR., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The COVID‐19 outbreak led to widespread disruption and stress to people's lives. Concern about the escalation of domestic violence (DV) rates and related mental health issues soon emerged following the implementation of strategies aimed at curbing the spread of the virus. This perspective paper presents an overview of the issues, argues for greater recognition of the link between DV against women and serious emotional distress, and the need for greater awareness and knowledge about DV among mental health professionals. While we acknowledge that men also experience DV, their rates are much lower than for women and in this paper our focus is on women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past years, eosinophils have become a focus of scientific interest, especially in the context of their recently uncovered functions (e.g. antiviral, anti‐inflammatory, regulatory). These versatile cells display both beneficial and detrimental activities under various physiological and pathological conditions. Eosinophils are involved in the pathogenesis of many diseases which can be classified into primary (clonal) and secondary (reactive) disorders and idiopathic (hyper)eosinophilic syndromes. Depending on the biological specimen, the eosinophil count in different body compartments may serve as a biomarker reflecting the underlying pathophysiology and/or activity of distinct diseases and as a therapy‐driving (predictive) and monitoring tool. Personalized selection of an appropriate therapeutic strategy directly or indirectly targeting the increased number and/or activity of eosinophils should be based on the understanding of eosinophil homeostasis including their interactions with other immune and non‐immune cells within different body compartments. Hence, restoring as well as maintaining homeostasis within an individual's eosinophil pool is a goal of both specific and non‐specific eosinophil‐targeting therapies. Despite the overall favourable safety profile of the currently available anti‐eosinophil biologics, the effect of eosinophil depletion should be monitored from the perspective of possible unwanted consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients affected by multiple myeloma (MM) have an increased risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and subsequent coronavirus (20)19 disease (COVID-19)-related death. The changing epidemiological and therapeutic scenarios suggest that there has been an improvement in severity and survival of COVID-19 during the different waves of the pandemic in the general population, but this has not been investigated yet in MM patients. Here we analyzed a large cohort of 1221 patients with MM and confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection observed between February 2020, and August 2022, in the EPICOVIDEHA registry from 132 centers around the world. Median follow-up was 52 days for the entire cohort and 83 days for survivors. Three-hundred and three patients died (24%) and COVID-19 was the primary reason for death of around 89% of them. Overall survival (OS) was significantly higher in vaccinated patients with both stable and active MM versus unvaccinated, while only a trend favoring vaccinated patients was observed in subjects with responsive MM. Vaccinated patients with at least 2 doses showed a better OS than those with one or no vaccine dose. Overall, according to pandemic waves, mortality rate decreased over time from 34% to 10%. In multivariable analysis, age, renal failure, active disease, hospital, and intensive care unit admission, were independently associated with a higher number of deaths, while a neutrophil count above 0.5 × 10 9 /L was found to be protective. This data suggests that MM patients remain at risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection even in the vaccination era, but their clinical outcome, in terms of OS, has progressively improved throughout the different viral phases of the pandemic., (© 2023 The Authors. Hematological Oncology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Point‐of‐care testing (POCT) can be the method of choice for detecting infectious pathogens; these pathogens are responsible for not only infectious diseases such as COVID‐19, but also for certain types of cancers. For example, infections by human papillomavirus (HPV) or Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) are the main cause of cervical and stomach cancers, respectively. COVID‐19 and many cancers are treatable with early diagnoses using POCT. A variety of nucleic acid testing have been developed for use in resource‐limited environments. However, questions like unintegrated nucleic acid extraction, open detection systems increase the risk of cross‐contamination, and dependence on expensive equipment and alternating current (AC) power supply, significantly limit the application of POCT, especially for on‐site testing. In this paper, a simple portable platform is reported capable of rapid sample‐to‐answer testing within 30 min based on recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) at a lower temperature, to detect SARS‐CoV‐2 virus and H. pylori bacteria with a limit of detection as low as 4 × 102 copies mL−1. The platform used a battery‐powered portable reader for on‐chip one‐pot amplification and fluorescence detection, and can test for multiple (up to four) infectious pathogens simultaneously. This platform can provide an alternative method for fast and reliable on‐site diagnostic testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the coronavirus pandemic, changes in the way science is done and shared occurred, which motivates meta‐research to help understand science communication in crises and improve its effectiveness. The objective is to study how many Spanish scientific papers on COVID‐19 published during 2020 share their research data. Qualitative and descriptive study applying nine attributes: (a) availability, (b) accessibility, (c) format, (d) licensing, (e) linkage, (f) funding, (g) editorial policy, (h) content, and (i) statistics. We analyzed 1,340 papers, 1,173 (87.5%) did not have research data. A total of 12.5% share their research data of which 2.1% share their data in repositories, 5% share their data through a simple request, 0.2% do not have permission to share their data, and 5.2% share their data as supplementary material. There is a small percentage that shares their research data; however, it demonstrates the researchers' poor knowledge on how to properly share their research data and their lack of knowledge on what is research data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patient-oriented research (POR) is a trend that has emerged over several decades and is particularly prominent in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. It involves patient and other stakeholder participation in the planning, conduct and dissemination of biomedical and health services research and it can be seen as a form of public participation and engagement in activities that affect the lives and well-being of communities. Criticisms of POR revolve around its susceptibility to tokenistic treatment of patient participants and paternalistic dominance of the research agenda by professional researchers, academics and clinicians. This commentary addresses one such critique by situating the POR agenda within the challenges and dilemmas faced by the health-related research enterprise over the past 30 years. It will explore the interface between POR, community activism and community-based participatory research. The contextual importance of the COVID-19 pandemic experience is stressed. The commentary will particularly focus on the US-based Patient Centred Outcomes Research Institute, its origins within a movement to enhance emphasis on publicly funded comparative effectiveness research, and its more recent evolution in the direction of community empowerment in POR., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Public health responses to the Covid-19 pandemic included various measures to mitigate the spread of the virus. Among these, the most restrictive was a broad category referred to as "lockdowns." We argue that the reasoning offered in favor of extended lockdowns-those lasting several months or longer-did not adequately account for a host of countervailing considerations, including the impact on mental illness, education, employment, and marginalized communities as well as health, educational, and economic inequities. Furthermore, justifications offered for extended lockdowns set aside a basic tenet of public health ethics: restrictions on liberty and autonomy should be the least intrusive means of achieving the desired end. Since it is now clear that extended lockdowns cause severe harm to many vulnerable populations, the burden of proof is on those who would advocate for them, and there must be a much higher bar to implement an extended lockdown, with high-quality evidence that the benefit would substantially exceed its harm., (© 2023 The Hastings Center.)

Background: While the occupational risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection for healthcare personnel in the United States has been relatively well characterized, less information is available on the occupational risk for workers employed in other settings. Even fewer studies have attempted to compare risks across occupations and industries. Using differential proportionate distribution as an approximation, we evaluated excess risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection by occupation and industry among non-healthcare workers in six states., Methods: We analyzed data on occupation and industry of employment from a six-state callback survey of adult non-healthcare workers with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and population-based reference data on employment patterns, adjusted for the effect of telework, from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We estimated the differential proportionate distribution of SARS-CoV-2 infection by occupation and industry using the proportionate morbidity ratio (PMR)., Results: Among a sample of 1111 workers with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, significantly higher-than-expected proportions of workers were employed in service occupations (PMR 1.3, 99% confidence interval [CI] 1.1-1.5) and in the transportation and utilities (PMR 1.4, 99% CI 1.1-1.8) and leisure and hospitality industries (PMR 1.5, 99% CI 1.2-1.9)., Conclusions: We found evidence of significant differences in the proportionate distribution of SARS-CoV-2 infection by occupation and industry among respondents in a multistate, population-based survey, highlighting the excess risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection borne by some worker populations, particularly those whose jobs require frequent or prolonged close contact with other people., (© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

The disruptions to community functioning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic spurred individuals to action. This empirical study investigated the social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) skill antecedents to college students' volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic (N = 248, Mage = 20.6). We assessed eight SEB skills at the onset of a volunteering program, and students' volunteer hours were assessed 10-weeks later. Approximately 41.5% of the sample did not complete any volunteer hours. Higher levels of perspective taking skill, abstract thinking skill, and stress regulation were associated with more time spent volunteering. These results suggest that strength in particular SEB skills can prospectively predict prosocial civic behaviors., (© 2023 Society for Research on Adolescence.)