title: African swine fever vaccines: a promising work still in progress

text: ABSTRACT: African swine fever (ASF), a disease of obligatory declaration to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), has contributed to poverty and underdevelopment of affected areas. The presence of ASF has been historically neglected in Africa, contributing to its uncontrolled expansion and favouring its spread to continental Europe on at least three occasions, the last one in 2007 through the Republic of Georgia. Since then, African swine fever virus (ASFV) has spread to neighbouring countries, reaching the European Union in 2014, China in the summer of 2018 and spreading through Southeast Asia becoming a global problem. Lack of available vaccines against ASF makes its control even more difficult, representing today the number one threat for the swine industry worldwide and negatively affecting the global commerce equilibrium. MAIN BODY: In this review, we intend to put in perspective the reality of ASF vaccination today, taking into account that investment into ASF vaccine development has been traditionally unattractive, overall since ASF-free areas with large swine industries applied a non-vaccination policy for diseases listed by the OIE. The dramatic situation suffered in Asia and the increasing threat that ASF represents for wealthy countries with large swine industries, has dramatically changed the perspective that both private and public bodies have about ASF vaccinology, although this is controversial. The feasibility of modifying the ASFV genome has led to safe and efficacious experimental recombinant live attenuated viruses (LAVs). The main challenge today will be confirming the safety and efficacy of these technologies in the field, accelerating transfer to the industry for official registration and commercialization. The complexity of ASFV, together with the lack of knowledge about the mechanisms involved in protection and the specific antigens involved in it, requires further investment in research and development. Although far from the efficacy achieved by LAVs, subunit vaccines are the optimal choice for the future. If the world can wait for them or not is a contentious issue. CONCLUSION: Despite their inherent disadvantages, LAVs will be the first technology to reach the market, while subunit vaccines will need much further research to become a successful commercial reality.


Teleurology and digital health app in COVID-19 pandemic


COVID-19: What are the Challenges for NHS Surgery


Ocular manifestations of mycoplasma-induced rash and mucositis


A further analysis of Manning and Fink (2020)


title: Fiocruz Biological Collections: strengthening Brazil's biodiversity knowledge and scientific applications opportunities

text: Biological collections are central in understanding and preserving life on Earth. In Brazil, the most representative collections are kept by natural history museums, whose primary focus is in invertebrates, vertebrates and vascular plants. Only a few institutions keep repositories in different kingdoms. The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), established in 1900, is a strategic public health institution of the Ministry of Health of Brazil. As such, Fiocruz is responsible for a wide range of activities, from basic research to the development and production of vaccines, drugs, reagents and diagnostic kits. Its biological collections were soon established in the expeditions made by naturalists and physicians seeking integrated knowledge of the fauna, flora and tropical diseases. Since then, they have been part of the institutional policy. In a few decades, those collections were already in the forefront of basic and applied research on tropical parasitic and infectious diseases. Currently, they comprise thirty-three repositories representing part of the Brazilian diversity of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, helminths, arthropods, molluscs and plants of medical and environmental importance. Different methods of long-term preservation are applied for the conservation of this wide range of organisms represented by about 6 million specimens. Herein, we describe this range of collections and discuss their complementary role as repositories of groups not represented in other biological collections in Brazil. These valuable biological materials have been used in public health and medical research, as well as for technological development and innovation in Brazil. Parallel to this specific usage, Fiocruz biological collections have played and continue to play a unique and important role in understanding and conserving part of Brazil’s biodiversity that is currently under-represented in other biological and natural history collections in Brazil and South America.


Rethinking transport – towards clean and inclusive mobility (Highlights of the 2020 Transport Research Arena conference)


title: Current Challenges in Vaccinology

text: The development of vaccines, which prime the immune system to respond to future infections, has led to global declines in morbidity and mortality from dreadful infectious communicable diseases. However, many pathogens of public health importance are highly complex and/or rapidly evolving, posing unique challenges to vaccine development. Several of these challenges include an incomplete understanding of how immunity develops, host and pathogen genetic variability, and an increased societal skepticism regarding vaccine safety. In particular, new high-dimensional omics technologies, aided by bioinformatics, are driving new vaccine development (vaccinomics). Informed by recent insights into pathogen biology, host genetic diversity, and immunology, the increasing use of genomic approaches is leading to new models and understanding of host immune system responses that may provide solutions in the rapid development of novel vaccine candidates.


title: The political economy of multilateral lending to European regions

text: We study the political economy of allocation decisions within a major state investment bank. Our focus is the European Investment Bank (EIB) – “The Bank of the EU” – which is the largest multilateral lending (and borrowing) institution in the world. We study the behavior of about 500 national representatives at the EIB’s Board of Directors – the bank’s decisive body for loan approvals – and show that a representative’s appointment increases the probability that the sub-national region where she works receives a loan by about 17 percentage points. This “home-bias” effect is driven by large loans financing infrastructure projects. We discuss several pieces of evidence, which are consistent with the hypothesis that this home-bias lending may be due to favoritism, however, we cannot conclusively demonstrate this case of resource misallocation. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s11558-020-09385-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.


title: MicroGMT: A Mutation Tracker for SARS-CoV-2 and Other Microbial Genome Sequences

text: With the continued spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus around the world, researchers often need to quickly identify novel mutations in newly sequenced SARS-CoV-2 genomes for studying the molecular evolution and epidemiology of the virus. We have developed a Python package, MicroGMT, which takes either raw sequence reads or assembled genome sequences as input and compares against database sequences to identify and characterize indels and point mutations. Although our default setting is optimized for SARS-CoV-2 virus, the package can be also applied to any other microbial genomes. The software is freely available at Github URL https://github.com/qunfengdong/MicroGMT.


title: SUMOylation in α-Synuclein Homeostasis and Pathology

text: The accumulation and aggregation of α-synuclein are central to Parkinson’s disease (PD), yet the molecular mechanisms responsible for these events are not fully understood. Post-translational modifications of α-synuclein regulate several of its properties, including degradation, interaction with proteins and membranes, aggregation and toxicity. SUMOylation is a post-translational modification involved in various nuclear and extranuclear processes, such as subcellular protein targeting, mitochondrial fission and synaptic plasticity. Protein SUMOylation increases in response to several stressful situations, from viral infections to trauma. In this framework, an increasing amount of evidence has implicated SUMOylation in several neurodegenerative diseases, including PD. This review will discuss recent findings in the role of SUMOylation as a regulator of α-synuclein accumulation, aggregation and toxicity, and its possible implication in neurodegeneration that underlies PD.


GeSRU


'In een crisis is perspectief bieden cruciaal'


docid: buigokjo

title: Jet Bussemaker: hoogleraar en voorzitter


E-health na de grote sprong voorwaarts


title: Haemato-immunological responses and effectiveness of feed-based bivalent vaccine against Streptococcus iniae and Aeromonas hydrophila infections in hybrid red tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus × O. niloticus)

text: BACKGROUND: Streptococcosis and Motile Aeromonad Septicemia (MAS) are important diseases of tilapia, Oreochromis spp. and causes huge economic losses in aquaculture globally. The feed-based vaccination may be an alternative to minimize major infectious diseases in tilapia. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the haemato-immunological responses and effectiveness of a newly developed feed-based killed bivalent vaccine against Streptococcus iniae and Aeromonas hydrophila in hybrid red tilapia. A total of 495 hybrid red tilapia of 61.23 ± 4.95 g were distributed into 5 groups (each with triplicate). The fish were immunized orally through bivalent (combined S. iniae and A. hydrophila) spray vaccine (BS group), bivalent formulate vaccine (BF group), monovalent S. iniae vaccine (MS group), monovalent A. hydrophila vaccine (MA group) and unvaccinated as a control group. The vaccine was orally administered on days 0, 14 and 42 applied feed-based bacterin at 5% body weight. The blood and spleen samples were collected from all groups on 7, 21 and 49 days post-vaccination, and also 96 h post-infection to assess their haemato-immune responses. RESULTS: Compared with the unvaccinated group, leukocyte, lymphocytes, monocytes, granulocytes counts in vaccinated groups were significantly (P < 0.05) increased on 21, 49 days post-vaccination and also 96 h post-infection, while erythrocytes, haemoglobin and haematocrit in vaccinated groups were significantly (P < 0.05) enhanced only 96 h post-infection. Additionally, the lysozyme and phagocytic activity and, serum antibody (IgM) were significantly higher (P < 0.05) against S. iniae and A. hydrophila in vaccinated groups compared to the unvaccinated group in the pre- and post-infection. Results from the challenge through co-infection with S. iniae and A. hydrophila showed the relative percent survival (RPS) in BF group was 76.67 ± 4.71%, which had the capacity to induce significant protection (P < 0.05) compared to others groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the bivalent formulate (BF) group could elicit significant non-specific and specific immunological responses with higher protection in hybrid red tilapia. In addition, this newly developed feed-based bivalent vaccination can be a promising technique for effective and large scale fish immunization in the aquaculture industry.


'Ik checkte te laat of anderen genoeg voorraad hadden'


Zoeken naar het nieuwe normaal


Ic-nachtdienst op duizenden kilometers afstand


title: Accumulation of antibiotic-resistant genes in anaerobic biofilm reactor fed with household chemical products

text: This research aims to determine the presence of antibiotic-resistant genes (ARG) in anaerobic biofilm reactors (ABR) fed with household chemical products (HCP) such as laundry detergents and handwash without any influx of antibiotics. The ABR comprised a three-chamber design with bottom sludge, a middle chamber containing fluidized PVC spiral, and a top chamber with packed coir fiber as a biofilm support medium, respectively. Four different ABRs were simultaneously operated for a prolonged period (200 day) and subjected to variations in physicochemical conditions. The ABRs fed with HCP exhibited solitary accumulation of log (4.4–7.5) ermC gene copies/g VS whereas, ARG was undetectable in glucose fed ABRs indicating that HCP exhibited antimicrobial activities synonyms to Erythromycin. Accumulation of Erythromycin-C (ermC) was relatively higher on the biofilm inhabiting PVC support medium and further accentuated by effluent recycling to log 7.5 ermC gene copies at a ratio of ermC/16S gene copies of 0.65. Physico-chemical factors such as substrate composition, biofilm support medium, and effluent recycling simultaneously elevated the concentration of ermC genes. The results indicated that HCP augments the accumulation of ARG in the microbiome, subsequently, increasing the risk in ARG transmission from sewage treatment plants to the ecology and humans. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s42452-020-3143-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.


title: Complicated hospitalization due to influenza: results from the Global Hospital Influenza Network for the 2017–2018 season

text: BACKGROUND: Since 2011, the Global Influenza Hospital Surveillance Network (GIHSN) has used active surveillance to prospectively collect epidemiological and virological data on patients hospitalized with influenza virus infection. Here, we describe influenza virus strain circulation in the GIHSN participant countries during 2017–2018 season and examine factors associated with complicated hospitalization among patients admitted with laboratory-confirmed influenza illness. METHODS: The study enrolled patients who were hospitalized in a GIHSN hospital in the previous 48 h with acute respiratory symptoms and who had symptoms consistent with influenza within the 7 days before admission. Enrolled patients were tested by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction to confirm influenza virus infection. “Complicated hospitalization” was defined as a need for mechanical ventilation, admission to an intensive care unit, or in-hospital death. In each of four age strata (< 15, 15–< 50, 50–< 65, and ≥ 65 years), factors associated with complicated hospitalization in influenza-positive patients were identified by mixed effects logistic regression and those associated with length of hospital stay using a linear mixed-effects regression model. RESULTS: The study included 12,803 hospitalized patients at 14 coordinating sites in 13 countries, of which 4306 (34%) tested positive for influenza. Influenza viruses B/Yamagata, A/H3N2, and A/H1N1pdm09 strains dominated and cocirculated, although the dominant strains varied between sites. Complicated hospitalization occurred in 10.6% of influenza-positive patients. Factors associated with complicated hospitalization in influenza-positive patients included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (15–< 50 years and ≥ 65 years), diabetes (15–< 50 years), male sex (50–< 65 years), hospitalization during the last 12 months (50–< 65 years), and current smoking (≥65 years). Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (50–< 65 years), other chronic conditions (15–< 50 years), influenza A (50–< 65 years), and hospitalization during the last 12 months (< 15 years) were associated with a longer hospital stay. The proportion of patients with complicated influenza did not differ between influenza A and B. CONCLUSIONS: Complicated hospitalizations occurred in over 10% of patients hospitalized with influenza virus infection. Factors commonly associated with complicated or longer hospitalization differed by age group but commonly included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, and hospitalization during the last 12 months.


title: Gaussian bandwidth selection for manifold learning and classification

text: Kernel methods play a critical role in many machine learning algorithms. They are useful in manifold learning, classification, clustering and other data analysis tasks. Setting the kernel’s scale parameter, also referred to as the kernel’s bandwidth, highly affects the performance of the task in hand. We propose to set a scale parameter that is tailored to one of two types of tasks: classification and manifold learning. For manifold learning, we seek a scale which is best at capturing the manifold’s intrinsic dimension. For classification, we propose three methods for estimating the scale, which optimize the classification results in different senses. The proposed frameworks are simulated on artificial and on real datasets. The results show a high correlation between optimal classification rates and the estimated scales. Finally, we demonstrate the approach on a seismic event classification task.


title: To Follow or Not to Follow: Social Norms and Civic Duty during a Pandemic

text: The outbreak of COVID-19 has put substantial pressure on individuals to adapt and change their behaviours. As the hope of a vaccine remains at least a year away, everyone is urged to take action to slow the spread of the virus. Thus, “flattening the curve” has become vital in preventing medical systems from being overrun, and it relies on massive collective action by citizens to follow specific public health measures such as physical distancing, hand washing, and physical isolation for vulnerable individuals. Despite the recommendations, the public has often been confronted with the reality that some individuals are not respecting them, including elected officials (Aguilar, 2020).


title: A chronicle on genetics and the March of Darwinian and Mendelian Medicine

text: Ken Burns, a well-known documentarian has produced a film titled, “The Gene: An Intimate History” based on Siddhartha Mukherjee’s book by the same name. The film focuses sharply on the history of genetics, the science of inheritance and variation, in particular, the gene, the central player in genetics, its discovery, structure and function as well as its myriad influence on development, growth, health, disease and evolution of all organisms. Importantly, he has shown how geneticists, physicians, patients and their families as well as society at large must cooperate, develop mutual trust and share ethical responsibilities in order to predict, prevent, manage and cure many inherited disorders. Mr. Burns has reinforced these ideas beautifully with illustrations, archived film footage, location filming and commentaries. The film also hints at the need for taking a unified Darwinian-Mendelian and Hippocratic approach toward building a healthier human society. In short, this is a beautiful and engrossing documentary on the future of Genetic Medicine.


docid: xsxeiwwc

title: Non-invasive assessment of respiratory muscle activity during pressure support ventilation: accuracy of end-inspiration occlusion and least square fitting methods

text: Pressure support ventilation (PSV) should be titrated considering the pressure developed by the respiratory muscles (P(musc)) to prevent under- and over-assistance. The esophageal pressure (P(es)) is the clinical gold standard for P(musc) assessment, but its use is limited by alleged invasiveness and complexity. The least square fitting method and the end-inspiratory occlusion method have been proposed as non-invasive alternatives for P(musc) assessment. The aims of this study were: (1) to compare the accuracy of P(musc) estimation using the end-inspiration occlusion (P(musc,index)) and the least square fitting (P(musc,lsf)) against the reference method based on P(es); (2) to test the accuracy of P(musc,lsf) and of P(musc,index) to detect overassistance, defined as P(musc) ≤ 1 cmH(2)O. We studied 18 patients at three different PSV levels. At each PSV level, P(musc), P(musc,lsf), P(musc,index) were calculated on the same breaths. Differences among P(musc), P(musc,lsf), P(musc,index) were analyzed with linear mixed effects models. Bias and agreement were assessed by Bland–Altman analysis for repeated measures. The ability of P(musc,lsf) and P(musc,index) to detect overassistance was assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve. Positive and negative predictive values were calculated using cutoff values that maximized the sum of sensitivity and specificity. At each PSV level, P(musc,lsf) was not different from P(musc) (p = 0.96), whereas P(musc,index) was significantly lower than P(musc). The bias between P(musc) and P(musc,lsf) was zero, whereas P(musc,index) systematically underestimated P(musc) of 6 cmH(2)O. The limits of agreement between P(musc) and P(musc,lsf) and between P(musc) and P(musc,index) were ± 12 cmH(2)O across bias. Both P(musc,lsf) ≤ 4 cmH(2)O and P(musc,index) ≤ 1 cmH(2)O had excellent negative predictive value [0.98 (95% CI 0.94–1) and 0.96 (95% CI 0.91–0.99), respectively)] to identify over-assistance. The inspiratory effort during PSV could not be accurately estimated by the least square fitting or end-inspiratory occlusion method because the limits of agreement were far above the signal size. These non-invasive approaches, however, could be used to screen patients at risk for absent or minimal respiratory muscles activation to prevent the ventilator-induced diaphragmatic dysfunction.


title: Regional unemployment and cyclical sensitivity in Spain

text: Unemployment has been routinely used as a measure of the economic cycle. In addition, regional unemployment rates are characterized by, among other factors, their relation to the national unemployment rate. In this regard, the literature on regional sensitivity to the economic cycle has analyzed how fluctuations in the national unemployment rate affect the regions. In recent years, due to the great impact of past crises, the development of new econometric techniques and the possible arrival of new crises, the debate on how sensitive regions are to the economic cycle has reopened. In Spain, this debate is necessary since unemployment rates are very high and display a great deal of heterogeneity. We analyzed regional unemployment rates in Spain between 1978 and 2018 through a recently developed dynamic spatial econometric model with common factors and found that some regions are more sensitive than others to the economic cycle. The results seem to show that in Spain, the sensitivity to the economic cycle displays a geographical pattern where the most sensitive regions are those located on the Mediterranean coast. Specifically, we find that the sensitivity to the economic cycle of unemployment is not determined by the fact that regions have high or low unemployment; it seems that geographical location plays an important role. These results can be useful for the national and regional governments when they implement countercyclical policies.


EAN VIRTUAL 2020 — THE LARGEST NEUROLOGY CONFERENCE IN HISTORY


title: Emergence of multidrug-resistant non-fermentative gram negative bacterial infection in hospitalized patients in a tertiary care center of Nepal

text: OBJECTIVE: This study was designed for the characterization and establishment of antibiotic susceptibility profiles of non-fermentative gram negative bacteria isolated from hospitalized patients in a tertiary care hospital of Nepal. RESULTS: A total of 402 non-fermentative gram negative bacteria was isolated in 1486 culture-positive cases from 6216 different clinical samples obtained from hospitalized patients. Among total non-fermentative gram negative bacterial isolates, the highest number was recovered from specimens collected from lower respiratory tract infections (n = 173, 43.0%) of hospitalized patients followed by pus/swab samples (n = 99, 24.6%) and urinary tract infections (n = 49, 12.2%). The most common non-fermentative gram negative bacteria identified were Acinetobacter baumannii (n = 177, 44.0%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 161, 40.1%) and Burkholderia cepacia complex (n = 33, 8.2%). These bacterial isolates exhibited a higher rate of insusceptibility to beta-lactam antibiotics, fluoroquinolones, and aminoglycosides. On the other hand, all the isolates of P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii were completely susceptible to colistin sulfate and polymyxin B. Among total isolates, 78.1% (n = 314) were multidrug-resistant with a high rate of multidrug-resistant among A. baumannii (91.0%).


Digitalization, clinical microbiology and infectious diseases


COVID-19 diagnosis through image()


The Humanities in Chest Medicine and CHEST: The Case for a Holistic, Patient-Centered Approach to Delivering Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine in the Twenty-First Century


Erythema multiforme in the context of SARS-Coronavirus-2 infection()


AANA: Education, Innovation, and the Power of Volunteerism


Introducing ASE's Critical Care Echocardiography (CCE) Specialty Interest Group!


ASE: Ready for a New World


title: Strukturiertes fallorientiertes Lernen: Eine Win-win-Situation für Forschung, Lehre und Behandlung

text: Modern case-based eLearning is an excellent tool for skills and communication training, as diagnostic reasoning can be seen as schema-based problem-solving. We report on a patient with coagulation disorder due to chronic substance abuse, in whom reasonable success can only be achieved with an interdisciplinary approach. In this regard, it should be mentioned that there is still little evidence and that more research is needed on this topic.


title: The state of South African media: a space to contest democracy

text: The South African media has played an important political and social role in the two and a half decades since the end of apartheid. Benefiting from strong Constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression and a vibrant civil society, the South African media have contributed to a culture of democratic debate while playing a watchdog role to keep political power to account through investigative reporting into corruption and malfeasance. Despite these positive developments in the emerging democracy, the role of the South African media has also been strongly contested. The media itself bears the characteristics of the continuing severe socio-economic inequalities in the rest of South African society, and especially the print media have been accused of serving mostly an elite. Normative self-regulatory policy in the country has also been contested and has gone through several revisions in order to be more responsive to the needs of the developing South African society. This article provides an overview of the major issues and debates pertaining to the normative values and ethical practices of the South African media and assesses the extent to which the media emerged as a space where democracy itself was contested.


title: Decreased duration of intravenous cephalosporins in intensive care unit patients with selective digestive decontamination: a retrospective before-and-after study

text: Selective digestive decontamination (SDD) reduces the rate of infection and improves the outcomes of patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). A risk associated with its use is the development of multi-drug-resistant organisms. We hypothesized that a 1-day reduction in systemic antimicrobial exposure in the SDD regimen would not affect the outcomes of our patients. In this before-and-after study design, 199 patients and 248 patients were included in a 3-day SDD group and a 2-day SDD group, respectively. The rates of hospital-acquired pneumonia and ICU infections were similar in both groups. The rates of bloodstream infection and bacteriuria were significantly lower in the 2-day SDD group than in the 3-day SDD group. Compared with the patients in the 3-day group, the patients in the 2-day SDD group received fewer antibiotics and less exposure to mechanical ventilation, and they used fewer ICU resources. The rates of ICU mortality and 28-day mortality were similar in both groups. The incidence of multi-drug-resistant organisms was similar in both groups. Within the limitations inherent to our study design, reducing the exposure of prophylactic systemic antibiotics in the SDD setting from 3 days to 2 days was not associated with impaired outcomes. Future randomized controlled trials should be conducted to test this hypothesis and investigate the effects on the development of multi-drug resistant organisms. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s10096-020-03966-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.


title: Mapping population mental health concerns related to COVID-19 and the consequences of physical distancing: a Google trends analysis

text: Background: The 2020 Coronavirus pandemic is a major international public health challenge. Governments have taken public health protection measures to reduce the spread of the virus through non-pharmalogical measures. The impact of the pandemic and the public health response on individual and population mental health is unknown. Methods: We used Google Trends data (1 Jan 2020 - 30 Mar 2020) to investigate the impact of the pandemic and government measures to curb it on people’s concerns, as indexed by changes in search frequency for topics indicating mental distress, social and economic stressors and mental health treatment-seeking. We explored the changes of key topics in Google trends in Italy, Spain, USA, UK, and Worldwide in relation to sentinel events during the pandemic. Results: Globally there appears to be significant concerns over the financial and work-related consequences of the pandemic, with some evidence that levels of fear are rising. Conversely relative searching for topics related to depression and suicide fell after the pandemic was announced, with some evidence that searches for the latter have risen recently. Concerns over education and access to medication appear to be particular social stressors. Whilst searches for face-to-face treatments have declined, those for self-care have risen. Conclusions: Monitoring Google trends shows promise as a means of tracking changing public concerns. In weeks to come it may enable policy makers to assess the impact of their interventions including those aiming to limit negative consequences, such as government funded financial safety nets.


South African Journal of Psychology: Special section Africa’s vulnerabilities, challenges and responses to pandemics like COVID-19


Corona-Pandemie wirbelt die Lehre an den Hochschulen durcheinander


Police Brutality and Racism in America


Reduction in Hospital Admissions for COPD Exacerbation During the Covid-19 Pandemic


docid: znsbsbhe

title: From Theoretical to Applied Geometry – Recent Developments


Brève : Handicap et déconfinement


C’est parti pour une nouvelle période triennale de formation


docid: lwxhaore

title: BALEAP News June 2020


Stop blues, sortir de la dépression


Stem Cell Network


Au plus près des chercheurs et des soignants


docid: jkuatmre

title: Bilan d’un an d’engagement auprès des étudiants


title: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Sex-Specific COVID-19 Clinical Outcomes

text: To successfully mitigate the extraordinary devastation caused by the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, it is crucial to identify important risk factors for this disease. One such neglected health determinant is the sex of the patient. This is an essential clinical characteristic, as it can factor into a patient's clinical management and preventative measures. Some clinical studies have shown disparities in the proportion between males and females that have more severe clinical outcomes or, subsequently, die from this disease. However, this association has not been unequivocally established. Thus, the purpose of this investigation was to examine the association between male sex and COVID-19 severity. We systematically reviewed the literature, identified studies that matched predetermined selection criteria, and performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the proportion of males among four disease severity categories. Appropriate assessment strategies were implemented to assess and minimize potential biases. The results of this meta-analysis indicated that males constituted a significantly higher proportion of those who had adverse clinical outcomes and died from COVID-19. As the coronavirus spread from the East to the West, male sex remained a consistent risk factor. Our results support the establishment of the male sex as an important risk factor for this disease. Early identification and appropriate medical care for males with lab-confirmed COVID-19 may substantially change the course of clinical prognosis, resulting in greater numbers of lives saved.


title: Feature-Based Learning in Drug Prescription System for Medical Clinics

text: Rapid increases in data volume and variety pose a challenge to safe drug prescription for health professionals like doctors and dentists. This is addressed by our study, which presents innovative approaches in mining data from drug corpus and extracting feature vectors to combine this knowledge with individual patient medical profiles. Within our three-tiered framework—the prediction layer, the knowledge layer and the presentation layer—we describe multiple approaches in computing similarity ratios from the feature vectors, illustrated with an example of applying the framework in a typical medical clinic. Experimental evaluation shows that the word embedding model performs better than the adverse network model, with a F score of 0.75. The F score is a common metrics used for evaluating the performance of classification algorithms. Similarity to a drug the patient is allergic to or is taking are important considerations for the suitability of a drug for prescription. Hence, such an approach, when integrated within the clinical work-flow, will reduce prescription errors thereby increasing patient health outcomes.


title: The structure and dynamics of multilayer networks

text: In the past years, network theory has successfully characterized the interaction among the constituents of a variety of complex systems, ranging from biological to technological, and social systems. However, up until recently, attention was almost exclusively given to networks in which all components were treated on equivalent footing, while neglecting all the extra information about the temporal- or context-related properties of the interactions under study. Only in the last years, taking advantage of the enhanced resolution in real data sets, network scientists have directed their interest to the multiplex character of real-world systems, and explicitly considered the time-varying and multilayer nature of networks. We offer here a comprehensive review on both structural and dynamical organization of graphs made of diverse relationships (layers) between its constituents, and cover several relevant issues, from a full redefinition of the basic structural measures, to understanding how the multilayer nature of the network affects processes and dynamics.


COMMUNITY-ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA


INFLUENZA AND VIRAL RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS


Dedicated delegates rise to the challenge


Fostering Design Learning in the Era of Humanism


docid: xukefgof

title: The Positive Sense Single Stranded RNA Viruses


Industries


Agiler Neustart


docid: zqjmzgye

title: Association between employment status and sickness presenteeism among Korean employees: a cross-sectional study

text: BACKGROUND: Sickness presenteeism (SP) indicates “going to work while being ill.” The importance of SP has only recently been investigated, and the association between SP and employment status has been inconsistent across studies. Therefore, we conducted this study to explore the association between SP and employment status by using presenteeism propensity (PP), which can reflect the individual decision-making process. METHODS: The study population included employees participating in the 5th Korean Working Condition Survey. We analyzed data of only employees with at least one health event, which was calculated as the sum of SP and sickness absenteeism days. Employment status was grouped into 3 categories: stable employment, unstable employment (contract period ≥ 1 year), and unstable employment (contract period < 1 year). Survey-weighted logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the association between employment status and PP (dichotomized as “≤ 0.5” and “> 0.5”). RESULTS: Unstable employees (contract period ≥ 1 year) had higher odds of PP than stable employees (odds ratio [OR]: 1.23, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.03–1.47), whereas unstable employees (contract period < 1 year) had lower odds of PP than stable employees (OR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.71–0.96). CONCLUSIONS: Employment status was associated with SP. Given the negative health impact of SP, social efforts, such as paid sick leave, are required to reduce SP and enhance the health status of unstable workers.


title: Physician Burnout: Achieving Wellness for Providers and Patients

text: PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review summarizes the history and scope of physician burnout, and explores recent advances in its understanding. With a particular focus on physicians who have completed their training, it also explores the present and future of interventions designed to alleviate the symptoms and sequelae of burnout. RECENT FINDINGS: Nearly 50 years since first described, burnout continues to remain a pervasive issue within anesthesia and medicine as a whole. Recent work has continued to outline risk factors and specialty-specific prevalence, and explore individual and institutional interventions to prevent and treat symptoms. SUMMARY: Burnout continues to impact all who work in healthcare, at all levels of training. This review highlights recent advances in our understanding of the scope, causes, and management of burnout. In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, we hope that the national and international focus on preventing and remediating burnout will continue to expand and strengthen.


title: The effects of emergency medical service work on the psychological, physical, and social well-being of ambulance personnel: a systematic review of qualitative research

text: BACKGROUND: High rates of mental distress, mental illness, and the associated physical effects of psychological injury experienced by ambulance personnel has been widely reported in quantitative research. However, there is limited understanding of how the nature of ambulance work contributes to this problem, the significant large toll that emergency medical response takes on the individual, and particularly about late and cumulative development of work-related distress among this first responder workforce. METHODS: This study examined peer-reviewed qualitative research published from 2000 to 2018 to outline the effect of emergency medical response work on the psychological, psychosocial, and physical health of paramedics, ambulance officers, ambulance volunteers, and call-takers. Databases searched included: Ovid Medline, CINAHL, Ovid EMcare, PsychInfo and Scopus. The systematic review was organised around five key areas: impact of the work on psychological wellbeing; impact of psychological stress on physical wellbeing; how work-related well-being needs were articulated; effects of workflow and the nature of the work on well-being; and, effects of organisational structures on psychological and physical well-being. RESULTS: Thirty-nine articles met the eligibility criteria. Several factors present in the day-to-day work of ambulance personnel, and in how organisational management acknowledge and respond, were identified as being significant and contributing to mental health and well-being, or increasing the risk for developing conditions such as PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Ambulance personnel articulated their well-being needs across four key areas: organisational support; informal support; use of humour; and individual mechanisms to cope such as detachment and external supports. CONCLUSIONS: Interactions between critical incidents and workplace culture and demands have an overwhelming impact on the psychological, physical and social well-being of ambulance personnel. These include day-to-day managerial actions and responses, the impact of shift work, poorly-managed rosters, and long hours of work with little time between for recovery. Mental health issues result from exposure to traumatic events, and the way managers and peers respond to worker distress. Ambulance personnel suffering from work-related stress feel abandoned by peers, management, and the service, during illness, in return-to-work, and post-retirement. Policy, programmes and interventions, and education need to occur at an individual, peer, organisational, and government level.


‘The Pandemic Will Not be on Zoom’: A Retrospective from the Year 2050


title: Causes and characteristics of death in patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome: a retrospective cohort study

text: BACKGROUND: Acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are associated with high in-hospital mortality. However, in cohorts of ARDS patients from the 1990s, patients more commonly died from sepsis or multi-organ failure rather than refractory hypoxemia. Given increased attention to lung-protective ventilation and sepsis treatment in the past 25 years, we hypothesized that causes of death may be different among contemporary cohorts. These differences may provide clinicians with insight into targets for future therapeutic interventions. METHODS: We identified adult patients hospitalized at a single tertiary care center (2016–2017) with AHRF, defined as PaO(2)/FiO(2) ≤ 300 while receiving invasive mechanical ventilation for > 12 h, who died during hospitalization. ARDS was adjudicated by multiple physicians using the Berlin definition. Separate abstractors blinded to ARDS status collected data on organ dysfunction and withdrawal of life support using a standardized tool. The primary cause of death was defined as the organ system that most directly contributed to death or withdrawal of life support. RESULTS: We identified 385 decedents with AHRF, of whom 127 (33%) had ARDS. The most common primary causes of death were sepsis (26%), pulmonary dysfunction (22%), and neurologic dysfunction (19%). Multi-organ failure was present in 70% at time of death, most commonly due to sepsis (50% of all patients), and 70% were on significant respiratory support at the time of death. Only 2% of patients had insupportable oxygenation or ventilation. Eighty-five percent died following withdrawal of life support. Patients with ARDS more often had pulmonary dysfunction as the primary cause of death (28% vs 19%; p = 0.04) and were also more likely to die while requiring significant respiratory support (82% vs 64%; p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: In this contemporary cohort of patients with AHRF, the most common primary causes of death were sepsis and pulmonary dysfunction, but few patients had insupportable oxygenation or ventilation. The vast majority of deaths occurred after withdrawal of life support. ARDS patients were more likely to have pulmonary dysfunction as the primary cause of death and die while requiring significant respiratory support compared to patients without ARDS.


The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Challenge in Mexico: A Critical and Forced Reflection as Individuals and Society


title: A Low Viral Dose in COVID-19 Patient: A Case Report

text: SARS-CoV-2 outbreak has attracted global attention. Verifying the presence of viral RNA is the gold standard for the diagnosis of COVID-19. However, RT-qPCR diagnosis often fails to catch infected patients, because of inconsistent swab sample collection. Here we report a case that showed 5 consecutive negative and 1 low-viral- dose RT-qPCR results during illness spanning over 20 days. Clinical symptoms suggest SARS-CoV-2 infection with typical ground glass like a lung in computed tomography. SARS-CoV-2 infection was serologically confirmed by the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies in patients' serum. Finally, a high level of protective IgG was produced after the patient recovered. Surprisingly, as a barber and a housewife staying at home for the first 2 weeks after the onset of illness, none of the close contacts were infected, showing a case of low viral load and low infectivity in this patient.


title: The Contribution of Surface Tension-Dependent Alveolar Septal Stress Concentrations to Ventilation-Induced Lung Injury in the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

text: In the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), surface tension, T, is likely elevated. And mechanical ventilation of ARDS patients causes ventilation-induced lung injury (VILI), which is believed to be proportional to T. However, the mechanisms through which elevated T may contribute to VILI have been under-studied. This conceptual analysis considers experimental and theoretical evidence for static and dynamic mechanical mechanisms, at the alveolar scale, through which elevated T exacerbates VILI; potential causes of elevated T in ARDS; and T-dependent means of reducing VILI. In the last section, possible means of reducing T and improving the efficacy of recruitment maneuvers during mechanical ventilation of ARDS patients are discussed.


Faktor Mensch Teil 1 – vor-Corona-Phase


title: Nothing is new, but everything has changed: A viewpoint on the future school

text: This Viewpoint argues that the debates about the future of education and the need to rethink the school model started long before the pandemic crisis. But the situation we are experiencing has accelerated this need and showed that changes are possible. Consumerist trends in education have been accentuated, now with the massive use of digital tools. These trends, which, since the beginning of the twenty-first century, have supported “personalization of learning”, can lead to the disintegration of the school. But dynamics of transformation and metamorphosis of the school have also emerged, reinforcing education as a public and common good. The authors seek to enunciate these dynamics that redefine three bases of the school model: the social contract around education, the organizational structure of the school, and the pedagogy of the lesson.


title: Chest Computed Tomography and Lung Ultrasound Findings in COVID-19 Pneumonia: A Pocket Review for Non-radiologists

text: COVID-19 is an infectious disease that has quickly spread worldwide, causing a pandemic. The main clinical manifestation is pneumonia. The most important test for the diagnosis is represented by RT-PCR, but, given the limited sensitivity, further radiological examinations are necessary. We reviewed the literature to highlight the typical manifestations and advantages of chest computed tomography and lung ultrasound in COVID-19 pneumonia in order to assist clinical researchers in the management of this disease.


title: Tschüss, Einzel-App – willkommen, Plattform-Ökosystem: Die Grundlage der digitalen Revolution

text: Expert(∗)innen gehen davon aus, dass sich die großen, westlichen, digitalen Tech-Firmen wie Amazon, Apple, Google und Facebook weiterentwickeln werden – von Einzelanwendungen zu sogenannten Plattform-Ökosystemen. Ein wesentliches Ergebnis dieser Veränderung wird das Anbieten einer übergangsfreien Customer Journey für Nutzer(∗)innen sein. Das beinhaltet neue Möglichkeiten auch für das Marketing. Diese Entwicklung ist in den großen digitalen Tech-Firmen in China schon weiter fortgeschritten. Dieses Kapitel fasst zusammen, wie die digitale Transformation in der Wirtschaft Chinas gerade vonstattengeht. Es liefert eine Definition der digitalen plattformbasierten Ökosysteme und gibt einen kurzen Überblick über Größe und Angebotsumfang der wichtigsten Plattformanbieter Google, Apple, Facebook und Amazon (GAFA) sowie Baidu, Alibaba und Tencent (BAT). Es vergleicht die Leistungen der westlichen (GAFA) mit denjenigen der chinesischen plattformbasierten Ökosysteme (BAT). Es zeigt, warum die Einführung von BezahlApps der Wachstumsschub für Plattform-Ecosysteme ist. Heiko Anemüller von ING Bank berichtet über seine Beobachtungen dazu in China. Ergänzend legt das Kapitel dar, wie eine typische, lückenlose Customer Journey gegenwärtig in China aussieht und wie demgegenüber eine typische westliche Customer Journey abläuft. Es erklärt ferner, warum eine lückenlose Customer Journey für beide, sowohl für die Konsument(∗)innen als auch für Marken, von Vorteil ist. Matti Antila zeigt im Interview auf, welche Auswirkungen diese digitale Revolution auf das Leben der Menschen und Unternehmen hat und warum Plattform-Ökosysteme die Unternehmensform der Zukunft sein werden.


title: China und die Wirtschaft: Der Riese erwacht nicht, er ist längst auf der Überholspur

text: Die chinesische und die westlich geprägte Welt sind deutlich unterschiedlich. Um die Innovationskraft verstehen und richtig einordnen zu können, die gerade bei KI von China ausgeht und weiter ausgehen wird, zeigt dieses Kapitel, wie sich China im Vergleich zur westlichen Welt wirtschaftlich entwickelt und bis 2050 voraussichtlich entwickeln wird. Dabei wird deutlich, dass China den Westen bereits in einigen Punkten rasant überholt hat und dass dieses Überholen weitergehen wird, insbesondere (aber nicht nur) durch den chinesischen 5-Jahresplan rund um „Made in China 2025“. Wie es sich u. a. anfühlt, diese Entwicklung hautnah seit 30 Jahren mitzuerleben, berichtet anschließend Beatrix Frisch, General Manager China von Mackevision CG Technologies im Interview. Das Kapitel zeigt anschließend die Unterschiede im Datenschutz sowie dem Datenschutzgefühl (also welche Daten wie schützenswert sein sollten) im Westen und in China. Es diskutiert die damit verbundenen Auswirkungen auf die Implementierungsgeschwindigkeit der chinesischen Gesellschaft in Bezug auf neue, datenverarbeitende Technologien, wie Künstliche Intelligenz eine ist. Es legt dar, dass genau diese Unterschiede im Datenschutz einer der entscheidenden Faktoren dafür sein wird, dass China im Bereich Künstliche Intelligenz die weltweite Führung übernehmen wird. Anschließend werden die drei wichtigsten 5-Jahrespläne vorgestellt und diskutiert, also: „Made in China 2025“, das die Industrieproduktion Chinas optimieren und mit hochwertigen Erzeugnissen Chinas Position als wichtige Produktionsmacht weiter ausbauen soll; der 5-Jahresplan Chinas von 2017, der die Zeit von 2017 bis 2050 umfasst und der China an die Spitze der führenden Wirtschaftsmächte bringen soll; der Plan des Zentralkommitees zur Rolle der KI von 2017, der KI als den entscheidenden Faktor für China auf dem Weg zur führenden globalen Macht definiert. Das Kapitel zeigt weiter, wie stark China den Bereich KI bereits heute unterstützt. Es liefert Zahlen zu den finanziellen Mitteln im eigenen Land, zur globalen Unterstützung von KI-Startups (hier ist China global führend) und bringt Beispiele für die unbürokratische Unterstützung der Behörden, sobald ein Thema im Fokus der chinesischen Planung steht. Außerdem gibt einen breiten Überblick über das Schul- und Universitätsgrogramm Chinas, das so angelegt wird, dass es die nötigen Expert(∗)innen hervorbringt, um zu einer „AI first“-Nation zu werden. Es folgt ein Interview mit Matthias Müller, dem General Manager des German Center of Industry and Trade in Shanghai, über seine Erfahrungen nach über 20 Jahren in China. Das Kapitel schließt ab mit einem Fazit, warum es sich lohnt, nach China zu schauen.


title: Randomized Controlled Study Evaluating Efficiency of Low Intensity Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) for Dyspnea Relief in Mechanically Ventilated COVID-19 Patients in ICU: The tDCS-DYSP-COVID Protocol

text: The severe respiratory distress syndrome linked to the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) includes unbearable dyspneic suffering which contributes to the deterioration of the prognosis of patients in intensive care unit (ICU). Patients are put on mechanical ventilation to reduce respiratory suffering and preserve life. Despite this mechanical ventilation, most patients continue to suffer from dyspnea. Dyspnea is a major source of suffering in intensive care and one of the main factors that affect the prognosis of patients. The development of innovative methods for its management, especially non-drug management is more than necessary. In recent years, numerous studies have shown that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) could modulate the perception of acute or chronic pain. In the other hand, it has been shown that the brain zones activated during pain and dyspnea are close and/or superimposed, suggesting that brain structures involved in the integration of aversive emotional component are shared by these two complex sensory experiences. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that stimulation by tDCS with regard to the areas which, in the case of pain have activated one or more of these brain structures, may also have an effect on dyspnea. In addition, our team recently demonstrated that the application of tDCS on the primary cortical motor area can modulate the excitability of the respiratory neurological pathways. Indeed, tDCS in anodal or cathodal modality reduced the excitability of the diaphragmatic cortico-spinal pathways in healthy subjects. We therefore hypothesized that tDCS could relieve dyspnea in COVID-19 patients under mechanical ventilation in ICU. This study was designed to evaluate effects of two modalities of tDCS (anodal and cathodal) vs. placebo, on the relief of dyspnea in COVID-19 patients requiring mechanical ventilation in ICU. Trial Registration: This protocol is derived from the tDCS-DYSP-REA project registered on ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03640455. It will however be registered under its own NCT number.


title: Immune and Metabolic Signatures of COVID-19 Revealed by Transcriptomics Data Reuse

text: The current pandemic of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) has affected millions of individuals and caused thousands of deaths worldwide. The pathophysiology of the disease is complex and mostly unknown. Therefore, identifying the molecular mechanisms that promote progression of the disease is critical to overcome this pandemic. To address such issues, recent studies have reported transcriptomic profiles of cells, tissues and fluids from COVID-19 patients that mainly demonstrated activation of humoral immunity, dysregulated type I and III interferon expression, intense innate immune responses and inflammatory signaling. Here, we provide novel perspectives on the pathophysiology of COVID-19 using robust functional approaches to analyze public transcriptome datasets. In addition, we compared the transcriptional signature of COVID-19 patients with individuals infected with SARS-CoV-1 and Influenza A (IAV) viruses. We identified a core transcriptional signature induced by the respiratory viruses in peripheral leukocytes, whereas the absence of significant type I interferon/antiviral responses characterized SARS-CoV-2 infection. We also identified the higher expression of genes involved in metabolic pathways including heme biosynthesis, oxidative phosphorylation and tryptophan metabolism. A BTM-driven meta-analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from COVID-19 patients showed significant enrichment for neutrophils and chemokines, which were also significant in data from lung tissue of one deceased COVID-19 patient. Importantly, our results indicate higher expression of genes related to oxidative phosphorylation both in peripheral mononuclear leukocytes and BALF, suggesting a critical role for mitochondrial activity during SARS-CoV-2 infection. Collectively, these data point for immunopathological features and targets that can be therapeutically exploited to control COVID-19.


COVID-19: Critical discussion on the applications and implications of chemicals in sanitizers and disinfectants


docid: jwghdtil

title: Accelerating Telemedicine for Cerebral Palsy During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

text: The effects of COVID-19 extend beyond the pandemic and are expected to transform healthcare in various ways, many of which remain unknown. With social distancing, telemedicine may become the preferred communication channel between caregivers and patients. Implications for cerebral palsy (CP) children are that this will pose a challenge within this transformation. CP, as a discreet entity, is not considered a risk factor. However, specific comorbidities in individuals with CP, such as chronic lung disease, are known as COVID-19 risk factors. The overall risk for the CP population is probably a factor of age and comorbidities. Staying at home for CP children is both a challenge and an opportunity. Escalation of behavioral conflicts or improved participation and equality within the household may emerge. Interestingly, restricted mobility for the general population narrows existing gaps of ambulation. Telemedicine is the primary way of providing services for chronic conditions during the pandemic and is expected to expand beyond pre-Coronavirus era use. The advantages of telemedicine vary, more so during pandemic times, according to severity, restrictions, and availably of telemedicine. A multidisciplinary therapeutic presence is more accessible with telemedicine, bringing together various specialties and approaches to the child's natural environment. Accessible, continuous care is expected to lower comorbidities, as demonstrated for other chronic conditions. Enhanced monitoring is crucial for younger children as devastating complications, such as hip dysplasia, could be minimized. Last but not least, we will discuss digital health care as an accelerator for participatory medicine, including networked patients and families, as responsible drivers of their health as full partners.


Chronisch rezidivierendes Angioödem


Plasma-Spende von Rekonvaleszenten als Therapie bei COVID-19: Studien laufen


"Lungenultraschall ist bildgebendes Stethoskop der Zukunft"


Sind ACE-Hemmer eher negativ oder doch von Vorteil bei COVID-19?


COVID-19: Mehr als nur eine virale Pneumonie?


COVID-19 und Krebs: völlig neue Fragen


title: Design and Operation of the Lombardy Parkinson's Disease Network

text: Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common chronic neurological conditions leading to disability and social burden. According to the 2016 Italian National Plan on Chronic Diseases, regional health authorities are implementing dedicated networks to manage neurological diseases, including PD. Methods: A panel of experts representing health-care providers in Lombardy reached consensus on the organization of a patient-centered regional PD healthcare network. Results: The panel proposed a structure and organization implementing a hub-and-spoke PD network model. Three levels of neurological services were identified: General Neurologist, PD Clinic, PD Center. This model was applied to health service providers currently accredited in Lombardy, yielding 12 candidate PD Centers, each serving an area of ~1,000–2,000 km(2), and not less than 27 PD Clinics. The panel agreed on uniform diagnostic and staging criteria for PD, and on a minimum common clinical data set, on PD patient management by the network at initial and follow-up assessments, on the cadence of follow-up visits, on patient referrals, and on outcome measures for the assessment of network activities. Conclusions: The implementation of disease-centered networks for chronic neurological diseases provides an innovative opportunity to improve patient management, facilitate research and education.


title: Severe COVID-19: NLRP3 Inflammasome Dysregulated

text: SARS-CoV-2 might directly activate NLRP3 inflammasome resulting in an endogenous adjuvant activity necessary to mount a proper adaptive immune response against the virus. Heterogeneous response of COVID-19 patients could be attributed to differences in not being able to properly downregulate NLRP3 inflammasome activation. This relates to the fitness of the immune system of the individual challenged by the virus. Patients with a reduced immune fitness can demonstrate a dysregulated NLRP3 inflammasome activity resulting in severe COVID-19 with tissue damage and a cytokine storm. We sketch the outlines of five possible scenarios for COVID-19 in medical practice and provide potential treatment options targeting dysregulated endogenous adjuvant activity in severe COVID-19 patients.


Dissociation of arterial oxygen saturation and oxygen delivery in VV-ECMO: the trend is your friend


No evidence of clinical benefits of early treatment of COVID-19 patients with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin: Comment on “Early treatment of COVID-19 patients with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin: A retrospective analysis of 1061 cases in Marseille, France”


“An open-access, comprehensive otolaryngology—Head and neck surgery video atlas for resident education”()


Opportunités et défis des médias sociaux dans les épidémies : Une préoccupation pour COVID-19[[[en]]]Opportunities and challenges of social media in outbreaks: A concern for COVID-19


Editorial for JHEP Reports


Flash card Lung Ultrasound and COVID-19()


title: Prealbumin as a Predictor of Prognosis in Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019

text: Background: The predictive value of prealbumin for the prognosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has not been extensively investigated. Methods: A total of 1,115 patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled at Tongji hospital from February to April 2020 and classified into fatal (n = 129) and recovered (n = 986) groups according to the patient's outcome. Prealbumin and other routine laboratory indicators were measured simultaneously. Results: The level of prealbumin on admission was significantly lower in fatal patients than in recovered patients. For predicting the prognosis of COVID-19, the performance of prealbumin was better than most routine laboratory indicators, such as albumin, lymphocyte count, neutrophil count, hypersensitive C-reactive protein, d-dimer, lactate dehydrogenase, creatinine, and hypersensitive cardiac troponin I. When a threshold of 126 mg/L was used to discriminate between fatal and recovered patients, the sensitivity and specificity of prealbumin were, respectively, 78.29 and 90.06%. Furthermore, a model based on the combination of nine indexes showed an improved performance in predicting the death of patients with COVID-19. Using a cut-off value of 0.19, the prediction model was able to distinguish between fatal and recovered individuals with a sensitivity of 86.82% and a specificity of 90.37%. Conclusions: A lower level of prealbumin on admission may indicate a worse outcome of COVID-19. Immune and nutritional status may be vital factors for predicting disease progression in the early stage of COVID-19.


title: Atypical Presentation of COVID-19 Leading to ARDS

text: A 60-year-old male was brought into the emergency department by EMS after he was found unresponsive by his neighbors. He was initially admitted to the hospital for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation secondary to pneumonia. However, due to a sudden, rapidly progressing course of events, the patient was evaluated for COVID-19.


title: Corporate social responsibility in agribusiness: climate-related empirical findings from Hungary

text: The corporate sector is one of the most important contributors to the global emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. According to a representative public opinion survey 34% of Hungarian citizens believe that corporations are responsible for climate change. The business sector is motivated to take an active role in the mitigation and adaptation of climate change. As a result, the last few decades saw a marked increase in corporate measures aiming at the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as other initiatives to tackle climate-related problems which result in numerous social issues. The aim of this paper is to assess whether Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be applied as a tool in agribusiness fostering steps towards the implementation of the climate-oriented and sustainable agriculture in Hungary. The research makes an effort to explore the role and opportunities of the Hungarian agricultural sector in adapting to climate change, it also examines the extent of the mitigation and adaptation activities appearing in the CSR portfolio of the companies and what specific measures are taken to realize them. The results of the evaluation show that climate-oriented CSR activities of the companies are relatively undeveloped, but businesses are working to reduce the impact of climate change on the usage of exercising adaptation strategies. There are several actions that can help to reduce vulnerability to the consequences of climate change in the agriculture sector. The results can support not only companies but other decision-makers decisions in climate-oriented CSR activities in agribusiness.


docid: dklpifdj

title: COVID-19 Sepsis and Microcirculation Dysfunction

text: The spreading of Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, known as COVID-19, has caused a great number of fatalities all around the World. Up to date (2020 May 6) in Italy we had more than 28,000 deaths, while there were more than 205.000 infected. The majority of patients affected by COVID-19 complained only slight symptoms: fatigue, myalgia or cough, but more than 15% of Chinese patients progressed into severe complications, with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), needing intensive treatment. We tried to summarize data reported in the last months from several Countries, highlighting that COVID-19 was characterized by cytokine storm (CS) and endothelial dysfunction in severely ill patients, where the progression of the disease was fast and fatal. Endothelial dysfunction was the fundamental mechanism triggering a pro-coagulant state, finally evolving into intravascular disseminated coagulation, causing embolization of several organs and consequent multiorgan failure (MOF). The Italian Society of Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation was aimed to highlight the role of microcirculatory dysfunction in the pathogenetic mechanisms of COVID-19 during the spreading of the biggest challenges to the World Health.


title: T Cells in Fibrosis and Fibrotic Diseases

text: Fibrosis is the extensive deposition of fibrous connective tissue, and it is characterized by the accumulation of collagen and other extracellular matrix (ECM) components. Fibrosis is essential for wound healing and tissue repair in response to a variety of triggers, which include infection, inflammation, autoimmune disorder, degenerative disease, tumor, and injury. Fibrotic remodeling in various diseases, such as liver cirrhosis, pulmonary fibrosis, renal interstitial fibrosis, myocardial infarction, systemic sclerosis (SSc), and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), can impair organ function, causing high morbidity and mortality. Both innate and adaptive immunity are involved in fibrogenesis. Although the roles of macrophages in fibrogenesis have been studied for many years, the underlying mechanisms concerning the manner in which T cells regulate fibrosis are not completely understood. The T cell receptor (TCR) engages the antigen and shapes the repertoire of antigen-specific T cells. Based on the divergent expression of surface molecules and cell functions, T cells are subdivided into natural killer T (NKT) cells, γδ T cells, CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL), regulatory T (Treg) cells, T follicular regulatory (Tfr) cells, and T helper cells, including Th1, Th2, Th9, Th17, Th22, and T follicular helper (Tfh) cells. In this review, we summarize the pro-fibrotic or anti-fibrotic roles and distinct mechanisms of different T cell subsets. On reviewing the literature, we conclude that the T cell regulations are commonly disease-specific and tissue-specific. Finally, we provide perspectives on microbiota, viral infection, and metabolism, and discuss the current advancements of technologies for identifying novel targets and developing immunotherapies for intervention in fibrosis and fibrotic diseases.


title: The Role of TRPV4 in Regulating Innate Immune Cell Function in Lung Inflammation

text: Ion channels/pumps are essential regulators of innate immune cell function. Macrophages have been increasingly recognized to have phenotypic plasticity and location-specific functions in the lung. Transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) function in lung injury has been shown to be stimulus- and cell-type specific. In the current review, we discuss the importance of TRPV4 in macrophages and its role in phagocytosis and cytokine secretion in acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Furthermore, TRPV4 controls a MAPK molecular switch from predominately c-Jun N-terminal kinase, JNK activation, to that of p38 activation, that mediates phagocytosis and cytokine secretion in a matrix stiffness-dependent manner. Expanding knowledge regarding the downstream mechanisms by which TRPV4 acts to tailor macrophage function in pulmonary inflammatory diseases will allow for formulation of novel therapeutics.


title: Thinking ‘The End of Times’: The Significance of Bioart|BioArt for Art|Education

text: This chapter explores the importance of bioart within the historical moment of the Anthropocene. It raises questions as to why artists and art educators need to pay attention to such developments, although they seem marginal and minor. To do so, I turn to the early works of Eduardo Kac and Tissue Culture and Art Project (TC&A) and Natalie Jeremijenko where the question of ‘life’ is explored in order to outline the impact that BioArt has made concerning the ethical and political issues surrounding bioengineering. This raises the difference between philosophy of biology and biophilosophy as raised by the theorist Eugene Thacker. I make the distinction between bioart and BioArt: the former is less political and is more concerned with biomimesis, while the latter is ‘minoritarian’ in Deleuze and Guattari’s terms, attempting to intervene in the dominant discourse of bioengineering.


title: Art|Education: In the Service of Designer Capitalism

text: This chapter furthers the question of creativity as introduced in my previous chapter. I argue that by-and-large creativity in art and its education is being rethought to meet the requirements of our current economic condition that supports designer capitalism. The creative industries have successfully generated a subject position that demands a coming together of art, technology, and knowledge to answer to the information age of the twenty-first century. Creativity in art education is following this trend. I end this essay with another view of creativity with the hope that it may be an alternative that some teachers are willing to follow.


title: Engineering Design Thinking and Making: Online Transdisciplinary Teaching and Learning in a Covid-19 Context

text: This paper introduces an engineering design thinking and making course that has been taught at Beijing Normal University since 2019. In its 2-year journey and iterations, both teachers and students learn to dance with ambiguity, collaborate in teams, build to think, and make ideas real. They embrace engineering design thinking and making and experience the maker culture of the China-US young maker competition in this 16-week semester-long course. This year because of the Covid-19, the innovative course changed to online teaching. The course focus on people’s basic needs during the Covid-19, including study, fitness, shopping, entertainments and long-distance relation-ships and communication with family members. Student teams collaborate online to solve the special challenges of Covid-19 in innovative ways and de-liver functional proof-of-concept prototypes along with in-depth documenta-tion that not only captures the essence of designs but the learnings that led to the ideas.


title: Aesthetic Wars: Between the Creative Industries and Nomadology

text: In this chapter, I argue that creativity has been exploited by the creative industries of designer capitalism. I try to show how a different formulation of creativity might be conceptualized by drawing on the nomadic philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari. I end this essay with a speculation as to where art|education might invest its energies as a field of endeavor to forward a minoritarian political position


title: Introduction: The Paradoxes and Worries in Contemporary Times

text: In this introduction, I attempt to map out what I have previously called ‘designer capitalism.’ The way media and technologies in a digitalized world structure existence in what Gilles Deleuze called ‘control societies’ and theorists like Bernard Stiegler continue to develop through an expansive theory of technics, more specifically through his two-volume work on Symbolic Misery. In many respects, this introduction is consonant with Gregory Ulmer’s theorization of ‘electracy,’ which crops up now and again throughout the chapters that follow. Ulmer develops his own ‘electorate transversal,’ a remarkable combination of Spinoza with Nietzsche where pain and pleasure (or sadness and joy) as experiences are theorized within this changed contemporary digitalized world. My emphasis, however, rests with Deleuze and Guattari who play a dominant position throughout this book. In this introduction, I review several important developments to grasp ‘designer capitalism,’ the most prominent being ‘the stack’ by Benjamin Bratton and ‘surveillance capitalism’ by Shoshana Zuboff. Both help us grasp the power of platform capitalism and the place of Big Data in it. This forms a backdrop to my own involvement with South Korean culture and my concerns with (art) pedagogy, technology, and visual media in the chapters that follow. The last part of this introduction offers a hint of what becomes more and more apparent as the book progresses: the questions that surround the Anthropocene, which is explored in the third part of this book, stated sensationally as ‘the end of the world’ as we know it.


title: Between the Nonhuman and Inhuman: The Challenge of the Posthuman for Art|Education in the Twenty-First Century

text: What is ‘human’ is modulated by inhuman (inorganic) and nonhuman (organic) forces, which provides an understanding of the posthuman. This is the process of technogenesis. In this chapter, I draw on Deleuze and Guattari’s understanding of control societies to question Big Data, and how it impacts art|education, especially the field of design in ‘designer capitalism.’ The chapter ends by arguing that the hylomorphic tradition that has shaped design studies can be overcome through only certain forms of biomimicry that recognizes the ‘vibrancy’ of matter that utilize ‘technologies of Lassen.’ This is a twenty-first-century competency needed in the era of the Anthropocene, or euphemistically called climate change.


title: Inflexions of Deleuze|Guattari: For a New Ontology of Media, When West-East Meet

text: Deleuze|Guattari’s philosophical oeuvre has become increasingly known in East Asia as scholars recognize their importance for virtually all disciplines. In this chapter, I try to show why representational thought, which they overturn, continues to retain its force over us. By introducing concepts, which they developed, such as simulacrum, powers of the false, the event, and affect, I make the attempt to show how non-representational thought can be understood within visual art and media. Lastly, when West-East Meet, there is an attempt on my part to show the relationship between Taoist understanding of chaos and Deleuze|Guattari’s use of the transcendental plane to grasp the genesis of creativity proper.


title: Art|Education at the ‘End of the World’

text: What would it mean to explore such a title: ‘Art Education at the ‘End of the World’? And why at the ‘end’ of the world? It seems somewhat foreboding and disturbing. We live in a time of extraordinary complexity, made possible by the technological advances that have their nascent beginnings during the computer age in the 1950s just after World War II. The United States used 50% of the world’s resources at that time to industrialize its economy as Europe was devastated by the war. Many countries in Asia were also torn apart by various forms of military dictatorships, north-south rivalries, and communist revolutions. This has all changed now. Korea is a global economic force in its own right. The Samsung Empire rivals Apple’s Empire with their electronic products, while Kia Motors is equally worldwide, competing against giant corporations like Ford. Korea now belongs to the G-20 major economies of the world. This chapter addresses the changed reality.


title: Kv7 Channels in Lung Diseases

text: Lung diseases constitute a global health concern causing disability. According to WHO in 2016, respiratory diseases accounted for 24% of world population mortality, the second cause of death after cardiovascular diseases. The Kv7 channels family is a group of voltage-dependent K(+) channels (Kv) encoded by KCNQ genes that are involved in various physiological functions in numerous cell types, especially, cardiac myocytes, smooth muscle cells, neurons, and epithelial cells. Kv7 channel α-subunits are regulated by KCNE1–5 ancillary β-subunits, which modulate several characteristics of Kv7 channels such as biophysical properties, cell-location, channel trafficking, and pharmacological sensitivity. Kv7 channels are mainly expressed in two large groups of lung tissues: pulmonary arteries (PAs) and bronchial tubes. In PA, Kv7 channels are expressed in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs); while in the airway (trachea, bronchus, and bronchioles), Kv7 channels are expressed in airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs), airway epithelial cells (AEPs), and vagal airway C-fibers (VACFs). The functional role of Kv7 channels may vary depending on the cell type. Several studies have demonstrated that the impairment of Kv7 channel has a strong impact on pulmonary physiology contributing to the pathophysiology of different respiratory diseases such as cystic fibrosis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic coughing, lung cancer, and pulmonary hypertension. Kv7 channels are now recognized as playing relevant physiological roles in many tissues, which have encouraged the search for Kv7 channel modulators with potential therapeutic use in many diseases including those affecting the lung. Modulation of Kv7 channels has been proposed to provide beneficial effects in a number of lung conditions. Therefore, Kv7 channel openers/enhancers or drugs acting partly through these channels have been proposed as bronchodilators, expectorants, antitussives, chemotherapeutics and pulmonary vasodilators.


title: COVID-19 in the Americas: Who’s Looking After Refugees and Migrants?

text: Several characteristics of refugee and migrant populations make them susceptible to acquire COVID-19. To fully understand the impact of COVID-19 on refugees and migrants in the Americas, it is important to consider the broader geopolitical context and appreciate the differences among migratory groups. There are three migrant groups in the Americas that are particularly susceptible to COVID-19: Central American migrants at the northern Mexico border, Venezuelans within South America, and Haitians in the Dominican Republic. Refugees and displaced migrants are the world’s collective responsibility, and thus, it would be imprudent to displace their care to resource constrained developing nations.


title: Contingency Nursing Management in Designated Hospitals During COVID-19 Outbreak

text: BACKGROUND: In December 2019, early cases of COVID-19 were identified in Wuhan, China. By late January 2020, it was evident that COVID-19 was rapidly spreading and represented a national health emergency. In order to contain the spread of COVID-19, China adopted a centralized treatment plan by appointing designated hospitals in each region. Shantou Central Hospital is a Grade A Class A general hospital in Guangdong Province. It was appointed as a provincial COVID-19 designated treatment hospital on January 21, 2020, to provide all COVID-19-related treatments for the city of Shantou. The nursing department at Shantou Central Hospital is fully responsible for hospital nursing administration, nursing human resource management, nursing quality management, and all nursing tasks related to hospital medical care, nursing, teaching, scientific research, preventive healthcare, and so on. OBJECTIVE: To summarize the role of nursing management in transforming a general hospital into a designated hospital for treatment of COVID-19 patients. METHODS: We undertook a series of nursing management measures in the strategic phase and the implementation phase. FINDINGS: Through a series of nursing management measures, all COVID-19 patients admitted to our hospital were cured and discharged. All non-COVID-19 patients and staff hospitalized during the same period were not infected with the virus. During this period, our hospital completed 7,466 operations. Hence, our nursing management measures were effective. CONCLUSIONS: Our efficient nursing management system, first of all, effectively mobilized all available manpower; secondly, up-skilled and trained personnel within a very short period of time; thirdly, provided reliable logistical support for front-line protection equipments; and finally, motivated nurses during this very difficult time to make a significant positive contribution to the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.


Starting the Transition Towards Integrated Community Care 4all


title: Psychosocial and Socio-Economic Crisis in Bangladesh Due to COVID-19 Pandemic: A Perception-Based Assessment

text: Background: The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the partial lockdown, the disease intensity, weak governance in the healthcare system, insufficient medical facilities, unawareness, and the sharing of misinformation in the mass media has led to people experiencing fear and anxiety. The present study intended to conduct a perception-based analysis to get an idea of people's psychosocial and socio-economic crisis, and the possible environmental crisis, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. Methods: A perception-based questionnaire was put online for Bangladeshi citizens of 18 years and/or older. The sample size was 1,066 respondents. Datasets were analyzed through a set of statistical techniques including principal component and hierarchical cluster analysis. Results: There was a positive significant association between fear of the COVID-19 outbreak with the struggling healthcare system (p < 0.05) of the country. Also, there was a negative association between the fragile health system of Bangladesh and the government's ability to deal with the pandemic (p < 0.05), revealing the poor governance in the healthcare system. A positive association of shutdown and social distancing with the fear of losing one's own or a family members' life, influenced by a lack of healthcare treatment (p < 0.05), reveals that, due to the decision of shutting down normal activities, people may be experiencing mental and economic stress. However, a positive association of the socio-economic impact of the shutdown with poor people's suffering, the price hike of basic essentials, the hindering of formal education (p < 0.05), and the possibility of a severe socio-economic and health crisis will be aggravated. Moreover, there is a possibility of a climate change-induced disaster and infectious diseases like dengue during/after the COVID-19 situation, which will create severe food insecurity (p < 0.01) and a further healthcare crisis. Conclusions: The partial lockdown in Bangladesh due to the COVID-19 pandemic increased community transmission and worsened the healthcare crisis, economic burden, and loss of GDP despite the resuming of industrial operations. In society, it has created psychosocial and socio-economic insecurity among people due to the loss of lives and livelihoods. The government should take proper inclusive steps for risk assessment, communications, and financial stimulus toward the public to alleviate their fear and anxiety, and to take proper action to boost mental health and well-being.


Revisiting gender workspace blind spots


Amy Louise Maynard: A Scene in Sequence: Australian Comics Production as a Creative Industry 1975–2017: University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia, 1975–2017, 2017, 264 pp., Thesis, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, 5005 Australia


title: Theory on Exploring Acceptance and Adoption of Digital Textbooks: A Guide for the Book Publishing Industry

text: An uncertain world due to the Covid-19 pandemic embarks the publishers to find the best solution when designing the digital textbook to meet the student’s new norms. Therefore, understanding the theories of user acceptance and adoption of technology is very critical. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the existing literature on the theory used for exploring the acceptance and adoption of digital textbooks among students. Thirty-two studies guided by PRISMA’s statement of Preferred Reporting Articles for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis were acknowledged for the systematic evaluation of Scopus and Web of Science databases. This work provided two main contributions. First, the study delivered condensed information on the theory used in the acceptance and adoption of digital textbook usage which will guide the publishers to consider when designing the digital textbook. Second, the results provided insights into the relevance of a new aspect for future research in the digital textbook context.


title: Aerosol Containment Box

text: In the pandemic situation created by COVID-19, which is a fast spreading human-to-human transmittable disease, it is essential to protect health care providers. They are frontline warriors who fight this disease by treating patients and are most vulnerable to the same disease. In the current scenario, it is required to come up with innovative solutions to protect health care providers, such innovations should be made in to usable products with limited resources available due to lock down condition prevailing in the market and should be provided to them instantly. Main routes of infection of COVID-19 disease are, direct contact with objects that has virus on it and indirect contact by inhaling droplets emitted through sneezes and cough of patients. Healthcare providers can avoid direct contact with objects having virus by using proper PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). However, they are at risk of transmissions by microscopic aerosol particles consisting of the residual solid components of evaporated respiratory droplets, which are tiny enough (< 5 μm) to remain airborne for hours created by cough and sneeze. Authors have come with such a solution, called as ‘Aerosol Containment Box’ that act as barrier to safeguard health care providers from viral infection while performing medical procedures. It is made of transparent acrylic box, and covers COVID-19 patient from head up to chest. This box has to be placed on the body of the patient while he is being treated. This box is of low cost, can be made easily with limited resources and can be re-used after disinfection. This box is conceptualized, designed, manufactured, engineered and demonstrated within a record duration of 3 days. 100 nos of such boxes are made within 15 days and are distributed at various hospitals in Hyderabad. Engineering drawings and manufacturing process are documented and shared with outstation enthusiastic manufacturers.


title: Die digitale Transformation der Medizin

text: Medicine will continue to become more personalized over the coming years. Beyond the availability of a central data repository in the form of an electronic patient record (ePA), the reaching of optimal diagnostic and therapeutic conclusions requires digital tools capable of handling the enormous flood of data. Accordingly, digitization of medicine is driven by three central developments: 1) better understanding of the biological basis of life, based on the wider use of DNA sequencing, 2) technological quantum leaps in computing and data storage coupled with ubiquitous access to data via smartphones; and 3) a considerable increase in patients’ desire for sovereignty based on increasing transparency and digital communication. Thus, the digitization of medicine is evolving into a means for better health care. Despite all technological advances, it is important to continue focusing on the human component—only a “humane digitization” strategy, which places benefits for patients as well as those providing treatment and care at its core, will realize their full potential.


title: Epidemiologically and Socio-economically Optimal Policies via Bayesian Optimization

text: Mass public quarantining, colloquially known as a lock-down, is a non-pharmaceutical intervention to check spread of disease. This paper presents ESOP (Epidemiologically and Socio-economically Optimal Policies), a novel application of active machine learning techniques using Bayesian optimization, that interacts with an epidemiological model to arrive at lock-down schedules that optimally balance public health benefits and socio-economic downsides of reduced economic activity during lock-down periods. The utility of ESOP is demonstrated using case studies with VIPER (Virus-Individual-Policy-EnviRonment), a stochastic agent-based simulator that this paper also proposes. However, ESOP is flexible enough to interact with arbitrary epidemiological simulators in a black-box manner, and produce schedules that involve multiple phases of lock-downs.


Acute pericarditis due to COVID-19 infection: An underdiagnosed disease?


COVID-19 and thrombosis: Beyond a casual association


Pre- and post-treatment chest CT changes in a patient with COVID-19


Nasopharyngeal Haemophilus and Local Immune Response during Infant Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection


Ultrasound findings in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in early and late stages: Two case-reports


title: Engineering and Combining Oncolytic Measles Virus for Cancer Therapy

text: Cancer immunotherapy using tumor-selective, oncolytic viruses is an emerging therapeutic option for solid and hematologic malignancies. A considerable variety of viruses ranging from small picornaviruses to large poxviruses are currently being investigated as potential candidates. In the early days of virotherapy, non-engineered wild-type or vaccine-strain viruses were employed. However, these viruses often did not fully satisfy the major criteria of safety and efficacy. Since the advent of reverse genetics systems for manipulating various classes of viruses, the field has shifted to developing genetically engineered viruses with an improved therapeutic index. In this review, we will summarize the concepts and strategies of multi-level genetic engineering of oncolytic measles virus, a prime candidate for cancer immunovirotherapy. Furthermore, we will provide a brief overview of measles virus-based multimodal combination therapies for improved tumor control and clinical efficacy.


Special Attention to Diet and Physical Activity in Children and Adolescents With Obesity During the Coronavirus Disease-2019 Pandemic


title: Treating Hematologic Malignancies During a Pandemic: Utilizing Telehealth and Digital Technology to Optimize Care

text: In late January 2020, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS CoV-2) was reported as an outbreak in Wuhan, China. Within 2 months it became a global pandemic. Patients with cancer are at highest risk for both contracting and suffering complications of its resultant disease, Coronavirus 19 (COVID-19). Healthcare systems across the world had to adapt quickly to mitigate this risk, while continuing to provide potentially lifesaving treatment to patients. Bringing care to the home through the use of telehealth, home based chemotherapy, and remote patient monitoring technologies can help minimize risk to the patient and healthcare workers without sacrificing quality of care delivered. These care models provide the right treatment, to the right patient, at the right time, in the right place. Whether these patient-centered models of care will continue to be embraced by key stakeholders after the pandemic remains uncertain.


title: “Small” Intestinal Immunopathology Plays a “Big” Role in Lethal Cytokine Release Syndrome, and Its Modulation by Interferon-γ, IL-17A, and a Janus Kinase Inhibitor

text: Chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CART) therapy, administration of certain T cell-agonistic antibodies, immune check point inhibitors, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome–coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) caused by streptococcal as well as staphylococcal superantigens share one common complication, that is T cell-driven cytokine release syndrome (CRS) accompanied by multiple organ dysfunction (MOD). It is not understood whether the failure of a particular organ contributes more significantly to the severity of CRS. Also not known is whether a specific cytokine or signaling pathway plays a more pathogenic role in precipitating MOD compared to others. As a result, there is no specific treatment available to date for CRS, and it is managed only symptomatically to support the deteriorating organ functions and maintain the blood pressure. Therefore, we used the superantigen-induced CRS model in HLA-DR3 transgenic mice, that closely mimics human CRS, to delineate the immunopathogenesis of CRS as well as to validate a novel treatment for CRS. Using this model, we demonstrate that (i) CRS is characterized by a rapid rise in systemic levels of several Th1/Th2/Th17/Th22 type cytokines within a few hours, followed by a quick decline. (ii) Even though multiple organs are affected, small intestinal immunopathology is the major contributor to mortality in CRS. (iii) IFN-γ deficiency significantly protected from lethal CRS by attenuating small bowel pathology, whereas IL-17A deficiency significantly increased mortality by augmenting small bowel pathology. (iv) RNA sequencing of small intestinal tissues indicated that IFN-γ-STAT1-driven inflammatory pathways combined with enhanced expression of pro-apoptotic molecules as well as extracellular matrix degradation contributed to small bowel pathology in CRS. These pathways were further enhanced by IL-17A deficiency and significantly down-regulated in mice lacking IFN-γ. (v) Ruxolitinib, a selective JAK-1/2 inhibitor, attenuated SAg-induced T cell activation, cytokine production, and small bowel pathology, thereby completely protecting from lethal CRS in both WT and IL-17A deficient HLA-DR3 mice. Overall, IFN-γ-JAK-STAT-driven pathways contribute to lethal small intestinal immunopathology in T cell-driven CRS.


title: Neurological and Musculoskeletal Features of COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

text: Importance: Some of the symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, cough, and breathing difficulty. However, the mechanism of the disease, including some of the symptoms such as the neurological and musculoskeletal symptoms, is still poorly understood. Objective: The aim of this review is to summarize the evidence on the neurological and musculoskeletal symptoms of the disease. This may help with early diagnosis, prevention of disease spread, and treatment planning. Data Sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Google Scholar (first 100 hits) were searched until April 17, 2020. The key search terms used were “coronavirus” and “signs and symptoms.” Only studies written in English were included. Study Selection: The selection was performed by two independent reviewers using EndNote and Rayyan software. Any disagreement was resolved by consensus or by a third reviewer. Data Extraction and Synthesis: PRISMA guidelines were followed for abstracting data and assessing the quality of the studies. These were carried out by two and three independent reviewers, respectively. Any disagreement was resolved by consensus or by a third reviewer. The data were analyzed using qualitative synthesis and pooled using a random-effect model. Main Outcome(s) and Measure(s): The outcomes in the study include country, study design, participant details (sex, age, sample size), and neurological and musculoskeletal features. Result: Sixty studies (n = 11, 069) were included in the review, and 51 studies were used in the meta-analysis. The median or mean age ranged from 24 to 95 years. The prevalence of neurological and musculoskeletal manifestations was 35% for smell impairment (95% CI 0–94%; I(2) 99.63%), 33% for taste impairment (95% CI 0–91%; I(2) 99.58%), 19% for myalgia (95% CI 16–23; I(2) 95%), 12% for headache (95% CI 9–15; I(2) 93.12%), 10% for back pain (95% CI 1–23%; I(2) 80.20%), 10% for dizziness (95% CI 3–19%; I(2) 86.74%), 3% for acute cerebrovascular disease (95% CI 1–5%; I(2) 0%), and 2% for impaired consciousness (95% CI 1–2%; I(2) 0%). Conclusion and Relevance: Patients with COVID-19 present with neurological and musculoskeletal symptoms. Therefore, clinicians need to be vigilant in the diagnosis and treatment of these patients.


title: DOT: a crowdsourcing Mobile application for disease outbreak detection and surveillance in Mauritius

text: Early detection of disease outbreaks is crucial and even small improvements in detection can significantly impact on a country’s public health. In this work, we investigate the use of a crowdsourcing application and a real-time disease outbreak surveillance system for five diseases; Influenza, Gastroenteritis, Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (URTI), Scabies and Conjunctivitis, that are closely monitored in Mauritius. We also analyze and correlate the collected data with past statistics. A crowdsourcing mobile application known as Disease Outbreak Tracker (DOT) was implemented and made public. A real-time disease surveillance system using the Early Aberration Reporting System algorithm (EARS) for analysis of the collected data was also implemented. The collected data were correlated to historical data for 2017. Data were successfully collected and plotted on a daily basis. The results show that a few cases of Flu and Scabies were reported in some districts. The EARS methods C1, C2 and C3 also depicted spikes above the set threshold on some days. The study covers data collected over a period of one month. Once symptoms data were collected using DOT, probabilistic methods were used to find the disease or diseases that the user was suffering from. The data were further processed to find the extent of the disease outbreak district-wise, per disease. These data were represented graphically for a rapid understanding of the situation in each district. Our findings concur with existing data for the same period for previous years showing that the crowdsourcing application can aid in the detection of disease outbreaks.