SARS-CoV-2 infects the human kidney and drives fibrosis in kidney organoids

Kidney failure is frequently observed during and after COVID-19, but it remains elusive whether this is a direct effect of the virus. Here, we report that SARS-CoV-2 directly infects kidney cells and is associated with increased tubule-interstitial kidney fibrosis in patient autopsy samples. To study direct effects of the virus on the kidney independent of systemic effects of COVID-19, we infected human-induced pluripotent stem-cell-derived kidney organoids with SARS-CoV-2. Single-cell RNA sequencing indicated injury and dedifferentiation of infected cells with activation of profibrotic signaling pathways. Importantly, SARS-CoV-2 infection also led to increased collagen 1 protein expression in organoids. A SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitor was able to ameliorate the infection of kidney cells by SARS-CoV-2. Our results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 can directly infect kidney cells and induce cell injury with subsequent fibrosis. These data could explain both acute kidney injury in COVID-19 patients and the development of chronic kidney disease in long COVID

Visualizing Threaded Conversation Networks: Mining Message Boards and Email Lists for Actionable Insights

Abstract. Analyzing complex online relationships is a difficult job, but new information visualization tools are enabling a wider range of users to make actionable insights from the growing volume of online data. This paper describes the challenges and methods for conducting analyses of threaded conversations such as found in enterprise message boards, email lists, and forums. After defining threaded conversation, we characterize the types of networks that can be extracted from them. We then provide 3 mini case studies to illustrate how actionable insights for community managers can be gained by applying the network analysis metrics and visualizations available in the free, open source NodeXL tool, which is a powerful, yet easy-to-use tool embedded in Excel 2007/2010.