Nonpharmaceutical interventions for COVID‐19 disrupt the dynamic balance between influenza A virus and human immunity

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Nonpharmaceutical interventions for COVID‐19 disrupt the dynamic balance between influenza A virus and human immunity via Journal of Medical Virology Abstract Background During the COVID-19 epidemic, nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) blocked the transmission route of respiratory diseases. This study aimed to investigate the impact of NPIs on the influenza A virus (IAV) outbreak. Methods The present study enrolled all children with respiratory tract infections who came to the Children's Hospital of Zhejiang University between January 2019 and July 2022. A direct immunofluorescence assay kit detected IAV. Virus isolation and Sanger sequencing were performed. Results From June to July 2022, in Hangzhou, China, the positive rate of IAV infection in children has increased rapidly, reaching 30.41%, and children over three years old are the main infected population, accounting for 75% of the total number of infected children. Influenza A (H3N2) viruses are representative strains during this period. In this outbreak, H3N2 was isolated from a cluster of its own and is highly homologous with A/South_Dakota /22/2022 (2021-2022 northern hemisphere). Between isolated influenza A(H3N2) viruses and A/South_Dakota/22/2022, the nucleotide homology of the HA gene ranged from 97.3% to 97.5%; the amino acid homology was 97% - 97.2%, and the genetic distance of nucleotides ranged from 0.05 to 0.052. Compared with A/South_Dakota/22/2022, the isolated H3N2 showed S156H, N159Y, I160T, D186S, S198P, I48T, S53D, and K171N mutations. There was no variation in 13 key amino acid sites associated with neuraminidase inhibitor resistance in NA protein. Conclusion Long-term NPIs have significantly affected the evolution and transmission of the influenza virus and human immunity, breaking the dynamic balance between the influenza A virus and human immunity. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. View on Web

Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Transplacental transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 immunoglobulin G antibody to infants from maternal COVID‐19 vaccine immunization before pregnancy

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Transplacental transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 immunoglobulin G antibody to infants from maternal COVID‐19 vaccine immunization before pregnancy via Journal of Medical Virology Abstract Background & aim Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine generates functional antibodies in maternal circulation that are detectable in infants, while the information is restricted to the usage of COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of maternal COVID-19 vaccines before pregnancy. Method Infants were included from mothers with no inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, 1-dose, 2-dose and 3-dose before pregnancy, and SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies were tested. Comparative analysis was done between the groups. Results A total of 130 infants were enrolled in the study. Significantly higher levels of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in infants born to mothers with 3-dose COVID-19 vaccine before pregnancy compared with 1-dose and 2-dose groups (p<0.0001). The levels of antibodies decreased significantly with age in infants born to mothers with the 3-dose COVID-19 vaccine before pregnancy (r=-0.338, p=0.035), and it w as still higher than that 2-dose COVID-19 vaccine group. Conclusion The maternal SARS-CoV-2 antibodies produced from the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine before pregnancy can be transferred to newborns via the placenta. Maternal immunization with 3-dose of the COVID-19 vaccine before pregnancy could be more beneficial for both mothers and infants. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. View on Web

Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

The widest use of paracetamol in home therapy might have actually increased the occurrence of severe forms of COVID‐19 in Italy, affecting hospitalization and death rates.

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader The widest use of paracetamol in home therapy might have actually increased the occurrence of severe forms of COVID‐19 in Italy, affecting hospitalization and death rates. via Journal of Medical Virology Abstract A recent contribution by Perico et al., recommended the use of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) in the early stage of SARS-CoV2 infection, preventing the onset of a severe form of COVID-19 and hence reducing the hospitalization rate and the risk of mortality 1. Many previous reports from the same group 2-3 and from ours 4, showed that the use of paracetamol, as recommended by the Italian Ministry of Health since Nov 30 th 2020, usually associated with the advice to monitor one's own developing symptoms at home ("watchful waiting"), increased the risk to be hospitalized. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. View on Web

Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

The use of electrodermal activity in pulpal diagnosis and dental pain assessment

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader The use of electrodermal activity in pulpal diagnosis and dental pain assessment via International Endodontic Journal Abstract Abstract Aims To explore whether electrodermal activity (EDA) can serve as a complementary tool for pulpal diagnosis (Aim 1) and an objective metric to assess dental pain before and after local anaesthesia (Aim 2). Methodology A total of 53 subjects (189 teeth) and 14 subjects (14 teeth) were recruited for Aim 1 and Aim 2, respectively. We recorded EDA using commercially available devices, PowerLab and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) Amplifier, in conjunction with cold and electric pulp testing (EPT). Participants rated their level of sensation on a 0-10 visual analogue scale (VAS) after each test. We recorded EPT-stimulated EDA activity before and after the administration of local anaesthesia for participants who required root canal treatment (RCT) due to painful pulpitis. The raw data were converted to the time-varying index of sympathetic activity (TVSymp), a sensitive and specific parameter of EDA. Statistical analysis was performed using Python 3.6 and its Scikit-post hoc library. Results EDA activity was upregulated by the stimuli of cold and EPT testing in normal pulp. TVSymp signals were significantly increased in vital pulp compared to necrotic pulp by both, cold test and EPT. Teeth that exhibited intensive sensitivity to cold with or without lingering pain had increased peak numbers of TVSymp than teeth with mild sensation to cold. Pre- and post-anaesthesia EDA activity and VAS scores were recorded in patients with painful pulpitis. Post-anaesthesia EDA signals were significantly lower compared to pre-anaesthesia levels. Approximately 71 % of patients (10 out of 14 patients) experienced no pain during treatment and reported VAS score zero or 1. Majority of patients (10 out of 14) showed the reduction of TVSymp after the administration of anaesthesia. Two out of three patients who experienced increased pain during root canal treatment (post-treatment VAS > pre-treatment VAS) exhibited increased post-anaesthesia TVSymp. Conclusions Our data show promising results for using EDA in pulpal diagnosis and for assessing dental pain. While our testing was limited to subjects who had adequate communication skills, our future goal is to be able to use this technology to aid in the endodontic diagnosis of patients who have limited communication ability. View on Web

Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Neck management of pathological N1 oral squamous cell carcinoma: a retrospective study

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Neck management of pathological N1 oral squamous cell carcinoma: a retrospective study via International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery via MedWorm.com This study was performed to compare the effects of neck dissection procedures on the prognosis of patients with pathological N1 (pN1) oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), analyse factors affecting the prognosis, and provide a neck management strategy for clinical N1 (cN1) oral cancer. The study patients were divided into two groups according to the neck dissection: a selective neck dissection (SND) group (n  = 85) and a radical or modified radical neck dissection (RND/MRND) group (n = 22). There was no statistically significant difference in recurrence rates at local, regional, and distant sites between the SND and RND/MRND groups. (Source: International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery) View on Web

Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Absolute lymphocyte count recovery following initial acute myelogenous leukemia therapy: Implications for adoptive cell therapy

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Absolute lymphocyte count recovery following initial acute myelogenous leukemia therapy: Implications for adoptive cell therapy via Pediatric Blood & Cancer Abstract Background An adequate absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) is an essential first step in autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell manufacturing. For patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), the intensity of chemotherapy received may affect adequate ALC recovery required for CAR T-cell production. We sought to analyze ALC following each course of upfront therapy as one metric for CAR T-cell manufacturing feasibility in children and young adults with AML. Procedure ALC data were collected from an observational study of patients with newly diagnosed AML between the ages of 1 month and 21 years who received treatment between the years of 2006 and 2018 at one of three hospitals in the Leukemia Electronic Abstraction of Records Network (LEARN) consortium. Results Among 193 patients with sufficient ALC data for analysis, the median ALC following induction 1 was 1715 cells/μl (interquartile range: 1166–2388), with successive decreases in ALC with each subsequent course. Similarly, the proportion of patients achieving an ALC >400 cells/μl decreased following each course, ranging from 98.4% (190/193) after course 1 to 66.7% (22/33) for patients who received a fifth course of therapy. Conclusions There is a successive decline of ALC recovery with subsequent courses of chemotherapy. Despite this decline, ALC values are likely sufficient to consider apheresis prior to the initiation of each course of upfront therapy for the majority of newly diagnosed pediatric AML patients, thereby providing a window of opportunity for T-cell collection for those patients identified at high risk of relapse or with refractory disease. View on Web

Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.