CAMBRIDGE, MA - September 29, 2020--Rapid Reviews: COVID-19 (RR:C19), is an open-access overlay journal published by the MIT Press that accelerates peer review of COVID-19-related research preprints to advance new and important findings and prevent the dissemination of false or misleading scientific news.
For the month of September, the preprints selected for review covered a wide range of subjects with peer reviewers finding an argument for re-envisioning US public health, employment, and anti-discrimination law around social solidarity particularly noteworthy. Also of immediate interest will be papers on whether rescue inhalers protect against COVID-19 related deaths and whether a new diagnostic tool that detects loss of smell can help identify asymptomatic patients.
Peer reviewers also flag as potentially informative but do not fully support the claims that high viral load indicates higher mortality or that Sofosbuvir protects human brain organoids against SARS-CoV-2. They voice caution for these results.
New peer reviews from RR:C19, in order of the evidence scale rating (strong, reliable, potentially informative, not informative, or misleading) as provided by each of the reviewers:
"The Personal Responsibility Pandemic: Centering Solidarity in Public Health and Employment Law" by Lindsay F. Wiley, et al. Preprint | Reviews
Evidence Scale Rating: Strong/Strong
Summary: The authors make a convincing argument for re-envisioning US public health, employment and anti-discrimination law around social solidarity, and a compelling case for further scholarship that considers the public health implications of employment law. Reviewers: Pamela Egan, Ken Jacobs, and Michael C. Duff
"Inhaled corticosteroid use and risk COVID-19 related death among 966,461 patients with COPD or asthma: an OpenSAFELY analysis" by Anna Schultze, et al. Preprint | Reviews
Evidence Scale Rating: Strong/Reliable
Summary: This well-conducted, high powered study provides strong evidence of that inhaled corticosteroids do not protect against COVID-19 related deaths. Reviewers: Philip W. Ind and Bulent Karadag
"Quantitative Assessment of Olfactory Dysfunction Accurately Detects Asymptomatic COVID-19 Carriers" by Anindya Bhattacharjee, et al. Preprint | Reviews
Evidence Scale Rating: Strong/Reliable
Summary: This study offers a quantitative approach for identifying asymptomatic COVID-19 patients paired with a diagnostic device optimized for use in the current pandemic. The claims are reliable, but minor follow up studies will better define implementation constraints. Reviewers: Christopher von Bartheld, Rafal Butowt, and Danielle Reed
"HIV infection and COVID-19 death: population-based cohort analysis of UK primary care data and linked national death registrations within the OpenSAFELY platform" by Krishnan Bhaskaran, et al. Preprint | Reviews
Evidence Scale Rating: Reliable/Reliable
Summary: This study is an important effort to add to the literature on COVID-19 mortality rates among HIV-positive individuals; however, the extremely small relevant sample size, and a number of confounders, make its specific policy implications suspect. Reviewers: Norman Hearst and Caroline Sabin
"Immunoreactive peptide maps of SARS-CoV-2 and other human coronaviruses" by Nischay Mishra, et al. Preprint | Reviews
Evidence Scale Rating: Reliable/Reliable
Summary: This study presents a microarray-based screen that identifies immunoreactive peptide fragments recognized by antibodies present in COVID19+ patients. The primary findings are reliable; however, extrapolating these findings to other analytical approaches require validation. Reviewers: Seema Mishra, Nicolas Winssinger, Lluc Farrera-Soler, Jean-Pierre Daguer, and Sofia Barluenga
"Electoral Repercussions of a Pandemic: Evidence from the 2009 H1N1 Outbreak" by Emilio Gutierrez, et al. Preprint | Reviews
Evidence Scale Rating: Reliable/Reliable
Summary: This paper shows reliable evidence that the timing of 2009 swine flu in Mexico affected voting behavior in the next election. However, there may be different interpretations regarding the influence of other causal factors. Reviewers: Elisa Maffioli and Albert Falcó-Gimeno
"Association of D-dimer and fibrinogen magnitude with hypercoagulability by thromboelastography in severe COVID-19" by Abhimanyu Chandel, et al. Preprint | Reviews
Evidence Scale Rating: Strong/Potentially Informative
Summary: Fibrinogen & G-reactive protein levels correlate with macrothrombosis in critically ill COVID-19 patients, providing a more practical way of identifying at-risk patients. Reviewer consensus is that the paper is potentially informative but has serious methodological limitations. Reviewers: Fady Gerges, Abdallah Almaghraby, Jing Jin, James Horowitz, and Eugene Yuriditsky
"Human organ chip-enabled pipeline to rapidly repurpose therapeutics during viral pandemics" by Longlong Si, et al. Preprint | Reviews
Evidence Scale Rating: Strong/Potentially Informative
Summary: This study employs microfluidic devices to test candidate therapeutics blocking SARS-CoV-2 entry and demonstrates amodiaquine efficacy in preclinical models. The claims presented in this work are reliable but could be strengthened through more rigorous model characterization. Reviewers: Cathryn Sundback, Jeffrey T Borenstein, Ashley L Gard, and Jennifer P Wang
"Reopening universities during the COVID-19 pandemic: A testing strategy to minimize active cases and delay outbreaks" by Lior Rennert, et al. Preprint | Reviews
Evidence Scale Rating: Strong/Potentially Informative
Summary: Pre-entry screening of students entering universities for COVID-19 may help limit the spread of COVID-19, but further analysis is warranted to know the true impact. The modeling is too simple for a complex situation, and should take into account other critical factors. Reviewers: Dominique Gibert, Mohak Gupta, Rishika Mohanta, and Arthur Reingold
"Health Disparities and COVID-19: A Retrospective Study Examining Individual and Community Factors Causing Disproportionate COVID-19 Outcomes in Cook County, Illinois, March 16-May 31, 2020" by Larissa Unruh, et al. Preprint | Reviews
Evidence Scale Rating: Reliable/Potentially Informative
Summary: This study provides further empirical evidence about the racial differences in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. The preprint is potentially informative and somewhat reliable, but there are unmeasured confounders and it lacks some clarity around some data points. Reviewers: Philip Schluter and Zahid Butt
"Is Higher Viral Load in SARS-CoV-2 Associated With Death?" by Klinger Soares Faico-Filho, et al. Preprint | Reviews
Evidence Scale Rating: Potentially Informative
Summary: This study is potentially informative but the results should be approached with caution. The claim that high viral load indicates higher mortality is not fully supported. Multiple confounding variables have not been taken into account. Reviewers: Maria Drogari-Apiranthitou, Chen Yeng, and Michael Meisner
"Sofosbuvir protects human brain organoids against SARS-CoV-2" by Pinar Mesci, et al. Preprint | Review
Evidence Scale Rating: Potentially Informative
Summary: This study claims brain organoids are permissive to SARS-CoV-2 infection and use this model to demonstrate neuroprotective effects of Sofosbuvir. While the findings are compelling, the experiments performed and the data offered are insufficient to deem the stated claims reliable. Reviewers: Ben Maoz and Jay Gopalakrishnan