Summary

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, and the disease now affects nearly every country and region. Caused by SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 continues nearly 18 months later to present significant challenges to health systems and public health in both hemispheres, as well as the economies of every country. The morbidity and mortality of the infection caused by SARS-CoV-2 has been significant, and various waves of disease outbreaks initially overwhelmed many hospitals and clinics and continue to do so in many countries. This influences everyone, and public health countermeasures have been dramatic in terms of their impact on employment, social systems, and mental health. This entry collection aims to gather diverse fields about COVID-19, including in epidemiology, public health, medicine, genetics, systems biology, informatics, data science, engineering, sociology, anthropology, nursing, environmental studies, statistics, and psychology.

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Entries
Topic Review
Protein Quality Control Systems in SARS-CoV-2 Infection
SARS-CoV-2’s structure and mechanism of infection have been well characterized. The virus comprises a lipid envelope studded with spike (S) proteins. These spikes facilitate viral entry into host cells by binding to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors on the cell surface. Following attachment, the virus enters the cell by endocytosis. Its genetic material consists of a single-stranded RNA molecule, which encodes structural proteins, non-structural proteins (NSP), and accessory proteins. Once inside, the viral RNA is translated into proteins, including those for replication and the formation of new virus particles.
  • 194
  • 24 Jan 2024
Topic Review
SARS-CoV-2 and Oral Inflammatory Diseases
The oral cavity is a niche for diverse microbes, including viruses. Members of the Herpesviridae family, comprised of dsDNA viruses, as well as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), an ssRNA virus, are among the most prevalent viruses infecting the oral cavity, and they exhibit clinical manifestations unique to oral tissues. Herpesviruses and SARS-CoV-2 are individually associated with oral inflammatory diseases, particularly periodontitis, peri-implantitis, and endodontic disease.
  • 339
  • 15 Jan 2024
Topic Review
SARS-CoV-2 Clinical Trial Results
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has claimed over 7 million lives worldwide, providing a stark reminder of the importance of pandemic preparedness. Due to the lack of approved antiviral drugs effective against coronaviruses at the start of the pandemic, the world largely relied on repurposed efforts. Here, the researchers summarise results from randomised controlled trials to date, as well as selected in vitro data of directly acting antivirals, host-targeting antivirals, and immunomodulatory drugs. Overall, repurposing efforts evaluating directly acting antivirals targeting other viral families were largely unsuccessful, whereas several immunomodulatory drugs led to clinical improvement in hospitalised patients with severe disease. In addition, accelerated drug discovery efforts during the pandemic progressed to multiple novel directly acting antivirals with clinical efficacy, including small molecule inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies.
  • 294
  • 09 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Digital Economy, Waste Treatment and Urban Waste
Waste management has always been an integral part of urban governance, and in the post-pandemic era, the choice of waste disposal methods has become a focal point of public attention. While there is existing literature pointing to new waste disposal methods, such as the conversion of biomass-derived polymers into functional biochar materials through pyrolysis, according to the Chinese Urban Statistical Yearbook, there are currently two primary waste disposal methods: landfill disposal and incineration.
  • 288
  • 03 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Financial Stress and COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic presented a unique set of challenges for individuals, households, and policymakers, leaving people to grapple with a multitude of health-related concerns, reduced social interactions, drastic disruptions to daily routines, and looming financial uncertainties.
  • 226
  • 26 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Nanotechnology Platform for Advancing Vaccine Development Against COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on societies, public health, healthcare systems, and the world economy. Vaccination emerged as the most effective strategy to combat this infectious disease. For vaccination strategies, any conventional vaccine approach using attenuated live or inactivated/engineered virus, as well as other approaches, typically requires years of research and assessment. However, the urgency of the situation promoted a faster and more effective approach to vaccine development against COVID-19. The role of nanotechnology in designing, manufacturing, boosting, and delivering vaccines to the host to counter this virus was unquestionably valued and assessed.
  • 275
  • 26 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Student Experience and Communication during the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 prompted higher education institutions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to switch to online learning for the safety of their citizens.
  • 431
  • 21 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Different Cardiac Clinical Scenarios in Long COVID
Long COVID-19 or ‘post-acute COVID-19 syndrome’ emerged as the new pandemic, being characterized by a high variability of clinical manifestations ranging from cardiorespiratory and neurological symptoms such as chest pain, exertional dyspnoea or cognitive disturbance to psychological disturbances, e.g., depression, anxiety or sleep disturbance with a crucial impact on patients’ quality of life. Moreover, Long COVID is viewed as a new cardiovascular risk factor capable of modifying the trajectory of current and future cardiovascular diseases, altering the patients’ prognosis. 
  • 231
  • 19 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Agile for Public Administration during the COVID-19 Crisis
During the COVID-19 pandemic (and associated lockdowns), the need to digitalise public administration services and processes grew strongly, and digitalisation has emerged as an important enabler of good governance and an essential factor in the functioning of all segments of society. In particular, the mentioned pandemic was a very specific crisis with drastic restriction measures on the one hand and the availability of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure on the other. The pandemic has provided significant windows of opportunity for a radical digital transformation of public administration. More digital practices have been introduced around the world at different speeds, seeing the levels of the digitalisation of public services and processes rising exponentially compared to in the past. To increase the flexibility, responsiveness, adaptability, and resilience of public administrations in times of crisis, accelerated digitalisation and “agile” as a management concept (hereinafter: agile) could be adopted for them to function in line with good governance principles in today’s VUCA world.
  • 278
  • 18 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Conference Tourism in the Post-COVID-19 Era
As is widely known, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected tourism and related activities globally. Due to the restrictive measures implemented for gatherings and movements in order to limit the spread of the virus, conferences and conference tourism received a strong shock since the majority of them were canceled or postponed. 
  • 324
  • 14 Dec 2023
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