The "Three Italy" of the COVID-19 epidemic and the possible Involvement of SARS-CoV-2 in triggering complications other than pneumonia

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), first reported in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, China, has been associated to a novel coronavirus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the SARS-CoV-2 infection a global pandemic. Soon after, the number of cases soared dramatically, spreading across China and worldwide. Italy has had 12,462 confirmed cases according to the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS) as of March 11, and after the "lockdown" of the entire territory, by May 4, 209,254 cases of COVID-19 and 26,892 associated deaths have been reported. We performed a review to describe, in particular, the origin and the diffusion of COVID-19 in Italy, underlying how the geographical circulation has been heterogeneous and the importance of pathophysiology in the involvement of cardiovascular and neurological clinical manifestations

Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Young Adults Following Covid-19

Introduction: SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, may cause a dysregulated systemic inflammatory response that could lead to cardiovascular damage and cause individuals recovering from COVID-19 to be at an increased risk for future cardiovascular disease (CVD). Physical activity (PA) is inversely associated with systemic inflammation and CVD risk, which may make it a useful cardioprotective lifestyle factor for individuals recovering from COVID-19. Purpose: 1) Compare arterial stiffness and systemic inflammatory levels between individuals recovering from COVID-19 and uninfected controls, 2) explore systemic inflammation as a predictor of arterial stiffness, and 3) explore PA as a mediator for the relationship for COVID-19 history with arterial stiffness and systemic inflammation. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis was performed on 23 SARS-CoV-2 participants (8M/15F, 25.0±8.9 years, 24.1±3.5 kg/m2) and 32 uninfected controls (14M/18F, 24.4±6.5 years, 25.1±3.5 kg/m2). Arterial stiffness, as a proxy for CVD risk, was estimated as pulse wave velocity (PWV) during 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring using an oscillometric blood pressure device. Systemic inflammation was assessed as salivary cytokine and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels collected using the passive drool method. PA was objectively measured via accelerometry and assessed as moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). An independent samples t-test was used to compare measures of arterial stiffness and systemic inflammation between the SARS-CoV-2 and control groups. Simultaneous multiple regression was used to assess how well proinflammatory cytokine and CRP levels predicted arterial stiffness. Mediational analysis was used to determine whether there is a significant indirect effect of COVID-19 history through MVPA on arterial stiffness and CRP levels. Results: Participants recovering from COVID-19 were studied, on average, 111.6±118.3 days after testing positive, experienced 5.2±3.8 symptoms, and had mild COVID-19 disease severity. The results from independent samples t-test showed no significant differences (all p\u3e0.05) between the SARS-CoV-2 and control group in PWV (5.0±0.5 m/s vs 5.1±0.5 m/s) , IL-8 (821.1±772.6 pg/mL vs 843.8±958.4 pg/mL), IL-1β (126.3±102.2 pg/mL vs 143.6±157.9 pg/mL), IL-6 (11.7±25.4 pg/mL vs 5.9±7.9 pg/mL), TNF-α (4.8±3.9 pg/mL vs 5.1±5.9 pg/mL), or CRP (765.4±672.9 pg/mL vs 526.3±674.8 pg/mL). Additionally, the combination of IL-8, IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and CRP were not found to significantly predict PWV, with no individual measure of systemic inflammation significantly contributing to the regression equation (all p\u3e0.05). Finally, mediational analysis did not find a significant indirect effect of COVID-19 history through MVPA on PWV (estimate = 0.0220, 95% CI = -0.0488 – 0.2427) or of COVID-19 history through MVPA on CRP levels (estimate = 0.0254, 95% CI = -0.0675 – 0.1646). Conclusion: This investigation found no differences in arterial stiffness and systemic inflammation between young adults recovering from COVID-19 and uninfected controls. Additionally, systemic inflammation was not found to be a significant predictor of arterial stiffness. Finally, MVPA was not found to significantly mediate the relationship for COVID-19 history with arterial stiffness and systemic inflammation

Interstitial Lung Diseases in Developing Countries

More than 100 different conditions are grouped under the term interstitial lung disease (ILD). A diagnosis of an ILD primarily relies on a combination of clinical, radiological, and pathological criteria, which should be evaluated by a multidisciplinary team of specialists. Multiple factors, such as environmental and occupational exposures, infections, drugs, radiation, and genetic predisposition have been implicated in the pathogenesis of these conditions. Asbestosis and other pneumoconiosis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP), chronic beryllium disease, and smoking-related ILD are specifically linked to inhalational exposure of environmental agents. The recent Global Burden of Disease Study reported that ILD rank 40th in relation to global years of life lost in 2013, which represents an increase of 86% compared to 1990. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is the prototype of fibrotic ILD. A recent study from the United States reported that the incidence and prevalence of IPF are 14.6 per 100,000 person-years and 58.7 per 100,000 persons, respectively. These data suggests that, in large populated areas such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China (the BRIC region), there may be approximately 2 million people living with IPF. However, studies from South America found much lower rates (0.4-1.2 cases per 100,000 per year). Limited access to high-resolution computed tomography and spirometry or to multidisciplinary teams for accurate diagnosis and optimal treatment are common challenges to the management of ILD in developing countries

Analysis of Online Newspapers’ Framing Patterns of COVID-19 in Nigeria

Online newspapers have become one of the leading hubs for information disemination especially with the advent of web 2.0. Internet penetration in Nigeria has also contributed immensily in making diferent news contents avaliable on the web. Many people now depend on their smart phones, laptops and tablets to access news from the internet. Articles in online newspapers on COVID-19 are shared social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram amongst others, making it possible for stories to easily go viral. The manner in which online newspapers frame issues of public importance determines the level of knowledge of online news consumers and their perception of the issues. This study investigates how three online newspapers framed the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Anchored on Frame Analysis Theory, the study also employs Relational Content Analysis as its design. Finding shows that fear and death, government and/political influence, and palliative frames emerged as the dominant frames across the three online newspapers – Sahara Reporters, Premium Times and Daily Post studied for three months.The implication of this finding is that online newspapers reported COVID-19 outbreak in ways that made the audience jittery before the eventual outbreak of the pandemic. The study recommends that online newspapers should harp more on palliative as against fear and death frames in reporting any health emergancy in the future

All around suboptimal health — a joint position paper of the suboptimal health study consortium and European association for predictive, preventive and personalised medicine

First two decades of the twenty-first century are characterised by epidemics of non-communicable diseases such as many hundreds of millions of patients diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases and the type 2 diabetes mellitus, breast, lung, liver and prostate malignancies, neurological, sleep, mood and eye disorders, amongst others. Consequent socio-economic burden is tremendous. Unprecedented decrease in age of maladaptive individuals has been reported. The absolute majority of expanding non-communicable disorders carry a chronic character, over a couple of years progressing from reversible suboptimal health conditions to irreversible severe pathologies and cascading collateral complications. The time-frame between onset of SHS and clinical manifestation of associated disorders is the operational area for an application of reliable risk assessment tools and predictive diagnostics followed by the cost-effective targeted prevention and treatments tailored to the person. This article demonstrates advanced strategies in bio/medical sciences and healthcare focused on suboptimal health conditions in the frame-work of Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine (3PM/PPPM). Potential benefits in healthcare systems and for society at large include but are not restricted to an improved life-quality of major populations and socio-economical groups, advanced professionalism of healthcare-givers and sustainable healthcare economy. Amongst others, following medical areas are proposed to strongly benefit from PPPM strategies applied to the identification and treatment of suboptimal health conditions:Stress overload associated pathologiesMale and female healthPlanned pregnanciesPeriodontal healthEye disordersInflammatory disorders, wound healing and pain management with associated complicationsMetabolic disorders and suboptimal body weightCardiovascular pathologiesCancersStroke, particularly of unknown aetiology and in young individualsSleep medicineSports medicineImproved individual outcomes under pandemic conditions such as COVID-19

Immune-mediated cerebellar ataxias : clinical diagnosis and treatment based on immunological and physiological mechanisms

Since the first description of immune-mediated cerebellar ataxias (IMCAs) by Charcot in 1868, several milestones have been reached in our understanding of this group of neurological disorders. IMCAs have diverse etiologies, such as gluten ataxia, postinfectious cerebellitis, paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration, opsoclonus myoclonus syndrome, anti-GAD ataxia, and primary autoimmune cerebellar ataxia. The cerebellum, a vulnerable autoimmune target of the nervous system, has remarkable capacities (collectively known as the cerebellar reserve, closely linked to plasticity) to compensate and restore function following various pathological insults. Therefore, good prognosis is expected when immune-mediated therapeutic interventions are delivered during early stages when the cerebellar reserve can be preserved. However, some types of IMCAs show poor responses to immunotherapies, even if such therapies are introduced at an early stage. Thus, further research is needed to enhance our understanding of the autoimmune mechanisms underlying IMCAs, as such research could potentially lead to the development of more effective immunotherapies. We underscore the need to pursue the identification of robust biomarkers

Risk ranking and source attribution of food- and waterborne pathogens for surveillance purposes. Opinion of the Panel on Biological Hazards of the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food and Environment

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Risk ranking and source attribution of food- and waterborne pathogens for surveillance purposes. Opinion of the Panel on Biological Hazards of the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food and Environment

publishedVersio

Risk ranking and source attribution of food- and waterborne pathogens for surveillance purposes

publishedVersio

Risk ranking and source attribution of food- and waterborne pathogens for surveillance purposes

publishedVersio