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Online program promotes exercise and maintains well-being during pandemic
Digital training at home to beat lockdown frustration
Interactive training programs for use at home can make the restrictions during a lockdown more bearable. The live-streaming of sports offerings allows for a significant increase in physical activity, revealed a research team from ten countries headed by the Institute of Sport Science at Goethe University Frankfurt. At the same time well-being improved compared to an inactive control group. One year previously, the team had described the negative impacts of coronavirus restrictions on exercise and well-being.
FRANKFURT. People
were about 40 per cent less active during the first lockdown in the spring of 2020.
This has been revealed by an international study headed by Goethe University
Frankfurt. Psychological well-being also declined, with the proportion of
people at risk of depression increasing threefold. In order to cushion the
effects of this negative development, the research team designed an online training
program for use at home and studied whether the physical activity that is so
important to general health could be maintained during a lockdown. The results
of the study were recently published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Of 763 healthy subjects from nine
countries on four continents, half trained for four weeks using a live-stream program,
the others formed the control group. Those training could select from a number
of daily workouts – for example with the focus on strength, endurance, balance
or relaxation. Professional trainers actively accompanied them with a camera
and microphone. Each week both groups completed standardised questionnaires on physical activity, anxiety, mental well-being, quality
of sleep, pain and sport motivation.
The training program was particularly
effective in improving movement behavior in the participants: physical activity
was initially as much as 65 per cent higher on average in the online group than
in the comparison group, and still 20 to 25 per cent higher after four weeks. Thus,
the course participants clearly surpassed the WHO recommendations of at least 150
minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of intensive exercise per week, while the control
group only just attained these. At the same time the motivation to do sport,
psychological well-being and sleep improved, and anxiety levels decreased.
“While these improvements are minor, they are nevertheless potentially relevant,"
stresses study head Dr. Jan Wilke from the Institute
of Sport Science at Goethe University Frankfurt. “Our participants were all
healthy – the effects with patients could be significantly greater, in
particular with people who have chronic disease." In addition, he said, four
weeks is a very short period for such efficacy studies. Participants who took
part in at least two courses per week stated their fitness was even better and they
had a greater feeling of well-being, yet did not note any further improvement
with sleep or fears.
Unfortunately, only just under half of the
participants completed the study. The research group attributed this in
particular to the considerable effort of completing the questionnaires each week.
This frequent information retrieval was intended to ensure that the study would
allow conclusions to be drawn even if the lockdown regulations were relaxed. The
changes in local conditions in the same period could also have lowered the motivation
of some participants, for example if local fitness studios had reopened.
Moreover, the requirements were very strict: those who did not respond by
completing the questionnaire were eliminated from the study.
“Train at home, but not alone" – it is
best to train at home with others, this is how the working group summarised its
findings on exercise offerings in the pandemic-induced lockdown. For: following
the main section of the study – the live-streaming – when both groups had
access to recorded contents, the differences that had been observed declined in
part. According to Wilke, this is due to both the activation of the control group
as well as to the change in the form of the physical activity intervention
(live vs. recorded).
The study authors expressly underline the importance
of exercise in our daily lives: in line with the latest data, physical inactivity
causes eight to nine per cent of all premature deaths, increases the risk of
cardiac disease, metabolic disorders and cancers, as well as proneness to the
novel coronavirus. They believe that it is probably all the more important in
lockdown to offer online training for people with chronic illnesses – for
example diabetics – whose health could possibly suffer additionally under the
restrictions imposed by a pandemic.
Publication:
Jan Wilke, Lisa Mohr, Gustavo Yuki, Adelle
Kemlall Bhundoo, David Jiménez-Pavón, Fernando Laiño, Niamh Murphy, Bernhard
Novak, Stefano Nuccio, Sonia Ortega-Gómez, Julian David Pillay, Falk Richter,
Lorenzo Rum, Celso Sanchez-Ramírez, David Url, Lutz Vogt, Luiz Hespanhol. Train at home, but not alone: a randomised
controlled multicentre trial assessing the effects of live-streamed
tele-exercise during COVID-19-related lockdowns. Br. J. Sports Med. (2022) https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2021-104994
Picture
download:
https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/117155105
Caption:
Sports offerings via live streaming promotes
activity and well-being during pandemic lockdowns. Photo: Jan Wilke,
Goethe-University Frankfurt
Further
information:
Dr. phil. Jan Wilke
Institute of Sports Sciences
Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
Phone +49 (69) 798-24588,
wilke@sport.uni-frankfurt.de
Moreover, COVID-19 drugs remain active against Omicron in cell culture study
Researchers of the University of Kent and Goethe-University Frankfurt find explanation why the Omicron variant causes less severe disease
A new study by researchers from the University of Kent and the Goethe-University Frankfurt shows that the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is less effective than Delta at blocking a cellular defence mechanism against viruses, the so-called “interferon response". Moreover, cell culture findings indicate that eight important COVID-19 drugs and drug candidates remain effective against Omicron.
FRANKFURT/CANTERBURY. The
SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant causes less severe disease than Delta although it is
better at escaping immune protection by vaccinations and previous infections.
The reasons for this have so far remained elusive.
A new study by a research team with scientists
from the University of Kent and the Goethe-University Frankfurt has now shown
that Omicron variant viruses are particularly sensitive to inhibition by the
so-called interferon response, an unspecific immune response that is present in
all body cells. This provides the first explanation of why COVID-19 patients
infected with the Omicron variant are less likely to experience severe disease.
The cell culture study also showed that Omicron viruses remain sensitive to eight of the most important antiviral drugs and drug candidates for the treatment of COVID-19. This included EIDD-1931 (active metabolite of molnupiravir), ribavirin, remdesivir, favipravir, PF-07321332 (nirmatrelvir, active ingredient of paxlovid), nafamostat, camostat, and aprotinin.
Prof Martin Michaelis, School of
Bioscience, University of Kent, said: “Our study provides for the first time an
explanation, why Omicron infections are less likely to cause severe disease.
Obviously, Omicron can in contrast to Delta not effectively inhibit the host
cell interferon immune response.“
Prof. Jindrich Cinatl, Institute of
Medical Virology at the Goethe-University, added: “Although cell culture
experiments do not exactly recapitulate the more complex situation in a
patient, our data provide encouraging evidence that the available antiviral
COVID-19 drugs are also effective against Omicron.“
Publication: Denisa Bojkova, Marek
Widera, Sandra Ciesek, Mark N. Wass, Martin Michaelis, Jindrich Cinatl jr. Reduced interferon antagonism but similar
drug sensitivity in Omicron variant compared to Delta variant SARS-CoV-2
isolates. In: Cell. Res. (2022) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41422-022-00619-9
Further
information: The drug aprotinin inhibits entry of
SARS-CoV-2 in host cells (23rd Nov 2020)
https://aktuelles.uni-frankfurt.de/englisch/the-drug-aprotinin-inhibits-entry-of-sars-cov2-in-host-cells/
Scientific
Contact:
Professor Jindrich Cinatl
Institute of MedicalVirology
Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt
Phone: +49 (0) 69 6301-6409
cinatl@em.uni-frankfurt.de
School of Biosciences
University of Kent
Phone: +44 (0)1227 82-7804
Mobile: +44 (0)7561 333 094
m.michaelis@kent.ac.uk
Instruct-ERIC has appointed Professor Harald Schwalbe as its new Director, succeeding Professor Sir David Stuart in the role.
OXFORD/FRANKFURT. Integrated structural biology has demonstrated its innovative power in a breath-taking manner in recent years, notably with impressive technological advances. As a European distributed research infrastructure, Instruct-ERIC has been at the forefront of this technological innovation, with centres across the continent providing access to advanced structural biology equipment and techniques.
The COVID-19 pandemic made it increasingly
clear that coordinated research is required to utilise the power of structural
biology to structurally understand the impact of new mutations in variants of
concern. Such coordinated research has been conducted within Instruct-ERIC
centres, providing a huge boost for vaccine development and drug discovery.
It is at this transition period that Prof.
Harald Schwalbe from Goethe-University Frankfurt becomes the new Instruct-ERIC
director as successor of Prof. David Stuart from Oxford University and Diamond
Light Source.
David Stuart commented: “Instruct has been
at the forefront of the transition of structural biology into a field that
routinely provides deep insights from atomic structure to cellular function and
disease. It has been a real privilege to have been involved in setting up the
infrastructure and working with leading scientists across Europe and the
fantastic staff at the Oxford hub, to realise a vision that, although now
widely accepted, seemed far-fetched when it was laid out over ten years ago.
The next ten years will see fundamental change across the experimental modalities
with increasing integration of experiment with computation as AI and deep
learning develop more predictive power to help make sense of the avalanche of
experimental data. I look forward to seeing Harald lead Instruct as it responds
to the exciting challenges and opportunities."
Harald Schwalbe: "It will be key to
strengthen European research in Structural Biology. In NMR spectroscopy, new
1.2 GHz machines are available, pushing the boundaries for solid-state and
liquid-state NMR spectroscopy. Technology advances for cryo-EM single particle
and tomography analyses are impressive."
“The initiatives in structural biology
have an impact not just on a continental scale, but also at a global level.
Access needs to be provided to maximise the research impact. Given the pandemic
- but also the requirements from global societal challenges - it will be
important to link global research endeavours for the benefit of fundamental and
applied research, and for fast reactions to immediate threats and challenges."
“I am taking over from Dave Stuart with
huge gratitude. He has paved the way for coordinated European research in
structural biology."
Professor Harald Schwalbe's career so far
has led to him being well known both for development of NMR methods and pulse
sequences, and their application to very challenging questions in Chemistry and
Biology. His NMR contributions thus have tremendous impact to understand
biological processes.
Instruct-ERIC is a pan-European distributed research infrastructure making high-end
technologies and methods in structural biology available to users. ERIC stands
for European Research Infrastructure Consortium, and refers to a specific legal
form that facilitates the establishment and operation of Research
Infrastructures with European interest, on a not-for-profit basis. ERICs are
funded by subscription from member countries and governed by member country
representatives. Instruct-ERIC is comprised of 15 Member Countries: Belgium,
Czech Republic, EMBL, Finland, France, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and United Kingdom, and one Observer
Country: Greece. Through its specialist research centres in Europe,
Instruct-ERIC offers funded research visits, training, internships and R&D
awards. By promoting integrative methods, Instruct-ERIC enables excellent
science and technological development for the benefit of all life scientists.
More on https://instruct-eric.org/
Picture
download:
https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/111177368
Caption:
Prof. Dr. Harald Schwalbe, Goethe
University Frankfurt (Photo: Jürgen Lecher, Goethe University)
Further
Information:
Prof. Dr. Harald Schwalbe
Institute for Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Center for Biomolecular Magnetic Resonance (BMRZ)
Goethe University Frankfurt
Phone: +49 69 798-29737
schwalbe@nmr.uni-frankfurt.de
http://schwalbe.org.chemie.uni-frankfurt.de/
Researchers have identified a potential new treatment that suppresses the replication of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. In order to multiply, all viruses, including coronaviruses, infect cells and reprogramme them to produce novel viruses. The research revealed that cells infected with SARS-CoV-2 can only produce novel coronaviruses when their metabolic pentose phosphate pathway is activated.
When applying the drug benfooxythiamine, an inhibitor of this
pathway, SARS-CoV-2 replication was suppressed and infected cells did not
produce coronaviruses.
The research from the University of Kent's School of Biosciences
and the Institute of Medical Virology at Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main,
found the drug also increased the antiviral activity of '2-deoxy-D-glucose'; a
drug which modifies the host cell's metabolism to reduce virus multiplication.
This shows that pentose phosphate pathway inhibitors like benfooxythiamine
are a potential new treatment option for COVID-19, both on their own and in
combination with other treatments.
Additionally, Benfooxythiamin's antiviral mechanism differs from
that of other COVID-19 drugs such as remdesivir and molnupiravir. Therefore,
viruses resistant to these may be sensitive to benfooxythiamin.
Professor Martin Michaelis, University of Kent, said: 'This is a
breakthrough in the research of COVID-19 treatment. Since resistance
development is a big problem in the treatment of viral diseases, having
therapies that use different targets is very important and provides further
hope for developing the most effective treatments for COVID-19.'
Professor Jindrich Cinatl, Goethe-University Frankfurt, said: 'Targeting
virus-induced changes in the host cell metabolism is an attractive way to
interfere specifically with the virus replication process.'
Publication: Denisa
Bojkova, Rui Costa, Philipp Reus, Marco Bechtel, Mark-Christian Jaboreck, Ruth
Olmer, Ulrich Martin, Sandra Ciesek, Martin Michaelis, Jindrich Cinatl, Jr.: Targeting the pentose phosphate pathway for
SARS-CoV-2 therapy. In: Metabolites 2021, 11(10), 699; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo11100699
Background
information: Cell culture model: several compounds
stop SARS-CoV-2 virus. Frankfurt researchers discover potential targets for
COVID-19 therapy
https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/88382885/Frankfurt_researchers_discover_potential_targets_for_COVID_19_therapy?locale=en
Editor: Dr. Markus Bernards, Science Editor, PR & Communication Department, Tel: -49 (0) 69 798-12498, Fax: +49 (0) 69 798-763 12531, E-Mail: bernards@em.uni-frankfurt.de
Researchers at Goethe University find small molecules as binding partners for genomic RNA of the coronavirus
SARS-CoV-2: Achilles’ heel of viral RNA
Certain regions of the SARS-CoV-2 genome might be a suitable target for future drugs. This is what researchers at Goethe University, together with their collaborators in the international COVID-19-NMR consortium, have now discovered. With the help of dedicated substance libraries, they have identified several small molecules that bind to certain areas of the SARS-CoV-2 genome that are almost never altered by mutations.
FRANKFURT. When
SARS-CoV-2 infects a cell, it introduces its RNA into it and re-programmes it
in such a way that the cell first produces viral proteins and then whole viral
particles. In the search for active substances against SARS-CoV-2, researchers
have so far mostly concentrated on the viral proteins and on blocking them, since
this promises to prevent, or at least slow down, replication. But attacking the
viral genome, a long RNA molecule, might also stop or slow down viral
replication.
The scientists in the COVID-19-NMR
consortium, which is coordinated by Professor Harald Schwalbe from the
Institute of Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Goethe University, have
now completed an important first step in the development of such a new class of
SARS-CoV-2 drugs. They have identified 15 short segments of the SARS-CoV-2
genome that are very similar in various coronaviruses and are known to perform
essential regulatory functions. In the course of 2020 too, these segments were
very rarely affected by mutations.
The researchers let a substance library of
768 small, chemically simple molecules interact with the 15 RNA segments and analysed
the result by means of NMR spectroscopy. In NMR spectroscopy, molecules are
first labelled with special types of atoms (stable isotopes) and then exposed
to a strong magnetic field. The atomic nuclei are excited by means of a short
radio frequency pulse and emit a frequency spectrum, with the help of which it
is possible to determine the RNA and protein structure and how and where small
molecules bind.
This enabled the research team led by
Professor Schwalbe to identify 69 small molecules that bound to 13 of the 15
RNA segments. Professor Harald Schwalbe: “Three of the molecules even bind specifically
to just one RNA segment. Through this, we were able to show that the SARS-CoV-2
RNA is highly suitable as a potential target structure for drugs. In view of
the large number of SARS-CoV-2 mutations, such conservative RNA segments, like
the ones we've identified, are particularly interesting for developing potential
inhibitors. And since the viral RNA accounts for up to two thirds of all RNA in
an infected cell, we should be able to disrupt viral replication on a
considerable scale by using suitable molecules." Against this background,
Schwalbe continues, the researchers have now already started follow-up trials
with readily available substances that are chemically similar to the binding
partners from the substance library.
Publication:
Sridhar Sreeramulu, Christian Richter,
Hannes Berg, Maria A Wirtz Martin, Betül Ceylan, Tobias Matzel, Jennifer Adam,
Nadide Altincekic, Kamal Azzaoui, Jasleen Kaur Bains, Marcel J.J. Blommers, Jan
Ferner, Boris Fürtig, M. Göbel, J Tassilo Grün, Martin Hengesbach, Katharina F.
Hohmann, Daniel Hymon, Bozana Knezic, Jason Martins, Klara R Mertinkus, Anna
Niesteruk, Stephen A Peter, Dennis J Pyper, Nusrat S. Qureshi, Ute Scheffer,
Andreas Schlundt, Robbin Schnieders, Elke Stirnal, Alexey Sudakov, Alix Tröster,
Jennifer Vögele, Anna Wacker, Julia E Weigand, Julia Wirmer-Bartoschek, Jens
Wöhnert, Harald Schwalbe: Exploring the
druggability of conserved RNA regulatory elements in the SARS-CoV-2 genome,
Angewandte Chemie International Edition, https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202103693
About
the COVID-19-NMR consortium
Worldwide,
over 40 working groups from 18 countries with a total of 230 scientists are
conducting research within the COVID-19-NMR consortium. In Frankfurt, 45
doctoral and post-doctoral candidates have partly been working in two shifts
per day, seven days a week, since the end of March 2020. www.covid19-nmr.de
Earlier
press release: “Folding of SARS-CoV2 genome reveals drug targets – and
preparation for “SARS-CoV3" https://tinygu.de/sEhyD
Professor Harald Schwalbe
Institute for Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Center for Biomolecular Magnetic Resonance (BMRZ)
Goethe University
Tel +49 69 798-29137
schwalbe@nmr.uni-frankfurt.de
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