Epidemiology

Evidence and characteristics of human-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2

1. Min Kang
2. Jie Wu
3. Wenjun Ma
4. Jianfeng He
5. Jing Lu
6. Tao Liu
7. Baisheng Li
8. Shujiang Mei
9. Feng Ruan
10. Lifeng Lin
11. Lirong Zou
12. Changwen Ke
13. Haojie Zhong
14. Yingtao Zhang
15. Xuguang Chen
16. Zhe Liu
17. Qi Zhu
18. Jianpeng Xiao
19. Jianxiang Yu
20. Jianxiong Hu
21. Weilin Zeng
22. Xing Li
23. Yuhuang Liao
24. Xiujuan Tang
25. Songjian Xiao
26. Ying Wang
27. Yingchao Song
28. Xue Zhuang
29. Lijun Liang
30. Siqing Zeng
31. Guanhao He
32. Peng Lin
33. Huihong Deng
34. Tie Song

Reviewed by ScreenIT

Early epidemiological analysis of the 2019-nCoV outbreak based on a crowdsourced data

1. Kaiyuan Sun
2. Jenny Chen
3. Cécile Viboud

Reviewed by ScreenIT

Real-Time Estimation of the Risk of Death from Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection: Inference Using Exported Cases

1. Sung-mok Jung
2. Andrei R. Akhmetzhanov
3. Katsuma Hayashi
4. Natalie M. Linton
5. Yichi Yang
6. Baoyin Yuan
7. Tetsuro Kobayashi
8. Ryo Kinoshita
9. Hiroshi Nishiura

Reviewed by ScreenIT

Estimated effectiveness of symptom and risk screening to prevent the spread of COVID-19

1. Katelyn Gostic
2. Ana CR Gomez
3. Riley O Mummah
4. Adam J Kucharski
5. James O Lloyd-Smith

Reviewed by ScreenIT

The impact of COVID-19 on cancer screening and treatment in older adults: The Multiethnic Cohort Study

1. Victoria P Mak
2. Kami White
3. Lynne R Wilkens
4. Iona Cheng
5. Christopher A Haiman
6. Loic Le Marchand

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The authors used the Multiethnic Cohort (MEC) study to study how COVID-19 impacted access to cancer screenings and treatment. This study's important findings served to identify key factors associated with cancer-related screening and healthcare-seeking during the pandemic. This investigation provides solid evidence to inform future policies, particularly in older and vulnerable populations.

Reviewed by eLife

Associations of four biological age markers with child development: A multi-omic analysis in the European HELIX cohort

1. Oliver Robinson
2. ChungHo E Lau
3. Sungyeon Joo
4. Sandra Andrusaityte
5. Eva Borras
6. Paula de Prado-Bert
7. Lida Chatzi
8. Hector C Keun
9. Regina Grazuleviciene
10. Kristine B Gutzkow
11. Lea Maitre
12. Dries S Martens
13. Eduard Sabido
14. Valérie Siroux
15. Jose Urquiza
16. Marina Vafeiadi
17. John Wright
18. Tim S Nawrot
19. Mariona Bustamante
20. Martine Vrijheid

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This is an important study that examined multiple biological age measures in children, which has been lacking in literature. The findings of this study provided convincing evidence to interpret and understand the aging and developmental processes in children.

Reviewed by eLife

Quantification of impact of COVID-19 pandemic on cancer screening programmes – a case study from Argentina, Bangladesh, Colombia, Morocco, Sri Lanka, and Thailand

1. Eric Lucas
2. Raul Murillo
3. Silvina Arrossi
4. Martin Bárcena
5. Youssef Chami
6. Ashrafun Nessa
7. Suraj Perera
8. Padmaka Silva
9. Suleeporn Sangrajrang
10. Richard Muwonge
11. Partha Basu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study provides important estimates from international cancer screening data repository about the impact of the COVID-pandemic related disruptions on cancer screening programs in selected low- and middle-income countries. The evidence supporting the study is solid and relies on national-level screening program attendee volumes and assessments of screen positives during 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2020 (during the pandemic). The study provides real-world data estimates of proportions/volumes of missed screenings due to pandemic control measures (lockdowns and closures) and may contribute to future modelling efforts for measuring the impact on late/advanced stage detection and excess case burden and mortality.

Reviewed by eLife

Impact of social isolation on grey matter structure and cognitive functions: A population-based longitudinal neuroimaging study

1. Laurenz Lammer
2. Frauke Beyer
3. Melanie Luppa
4. Christian Sanders
5. Ronny Baber
6. Christoph Engel
7. Kerstin Wirkner
8. Markus Loffler
9. Steffi G Riedel-Heller
10. Arno Villringer
11. A Veronica Witte

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study provides an important demonstration that loneliness is associated with smaller hippocampal volume, reduced cortical thickness, and worse cognition in healthy older adults. This has theoretical or practical implications beyond a single subfield. The strength of evidence is solid given the cross-sectional and longitudinal design with a few weaknesses. With the analytical and interpretational part strengthened, this paper would be of interest to gerontologists, and dementia/cognitive aging researchers.

Reviewed by eLife

Rapid geographical source attribution of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis genomes using hierarchical machine learning

1. Sion C Bayliss
2. Rebecca K Locke
3. Claire Jenkins
4. Marie Anne Chattaway
5. Timothy J Dallman
6. Lauren A Cowley

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study presents a machine learning-based classifier that can accurately determine the geographic origin of a Salmonella enterica sample from its whole-genome sequencing data in under five minutes leading to actionable public health insights. Applying the method to 2,313 whole genome sequences collected in the United Kingdom and several external validation datasets, the authors provide convincing evidence that Salmonella genomic data can be used to identify the likely geographic source of a food-borne outbreak and, in most cases, correctly identify the country of origin of an infection acquired overseas. The work presents an excellent case for the potential utility of routine genomics coupled with machine learning for public health microbiology and the methods are likely to be applicable to other pathogens besides Salmonella enterica.

Reviewed by eLife

An umbrella review of systematic reviews on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer prevention and management, and patient needs

1. Taulant Muka
2. Joshua JX Li
3. Sahar J Farahani
4. John PA Ioannidis

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This convincing work reviews and synthesizes evidence of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a variety of cancer outcomes. The results have potentially useful implications for various fields of cancer research as they review evidence spanning from cancer prevention efforts to changes in diagnoses and cancer treatment modalities.

Reviewed by eLife