Siberian Roe Deer (Capreolus pygargus Pallas, 1771) in Ukraine: Analysis of the Mitochondrial and Nuclear DNA

A molecular-genetic analysis of the nucleotide sequences of the cytochrome b gene (1140 base pairs) of the mitochondrial DNA and 17 microsatellite loci of eight samples of roe deer from the Samara forest of Dnipropetrovsk oblast (Ukraine) was carried out. For comparison, 212 corresponding mtDNA sequences of the Siberian and European roe deer and data on the variability of microsatellite markers in 49 representatives of these species were included in the study. It was noted that all the analyzed mitochondrial sequences of individuals from the Samara forest are characteristic of the Siberian roe Capreolus pygargus Pallas, 1771. Four haplotypes were described, all of which belonged to the haplogroup typical for the western part of the range of C. pygargus. A fragment analysis of the microsatellite loci of nuclear DNA confirmed the identification of the investigated group with the Siberian species

Thermodynamic aspects of materials' hardness: prediction of novel superhard high-pressure phases

In the present work we have proposed the method that allows one to easily estimate hardness and bulk modulus of known or hypothetical solid phases from the data on Gibbs energy of atomization of the elements and corresponding covalent radii. It has been shown that hardness and bulk moduli of compounds strongly correlate with their thermodynamic and structural properties. The proposed method may be used for a large number of compounds with various types of chemical bonding and structures; moreover, the temperature dependence of hardness may be calculated, that has been performed for diamond and cubic boron nitride. The correctness of this approach has been shown for the recently synthesized superhard diamond-like BC5. It has been predicted that the hypothetical forms of B2O3, diamond-like boron, BCx and COx, which could be synthesized at high pressures and temperatures, should have extreme hardness

Development and preliminary data on the use of a mobile app specifically designed to increase community awareness of invasive pneumococcal disease and its prevention

PublishedGiven the growing use and great potential of mobile apps, this project aimed to develop and implement a user-friendly app to increase laypeople's knowledge and awareness of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). Despite the heavy burden of IPD, the documented low awareness of IPD among both laypeople and healthcare professionals and far from optimal pneumococcal vaccination coverage, no app specifically targeting IPD has been developed so far. The app was designed to be maximally functional and conceived in accordance with user-centered design. Its content, layout and usability were discussed and formally tested during several workshops that involved the principal stakeholders, including experts in IPD and information technology and potential end-users. Following several workshops, it was decided that, in order to make the app more interactive, its core should be a personal “checker” of the risk of contracting IPD and a user-friendly risk-communication strategy. The checker was populated with risk factors identified through both Italian and international official guidelines. Formal evaluation of the app revealed its good readability and usability properties. A sister web site with the same content was created to achieve higher population exposure. Seven months after being launched in a price- and registration-free modality, the app, named “Pneumo Rischio,” averaged 20.9 new users/day and 1.3 sessions/user. The first in-field results suggest that “Pneumo Rischio” is a promising tool for increasing the population's awareness of IPD and its prevention through a user-friendly risk checker.The development of the app is a part of the project on increasing the population's awareness of invasive pneumococcal disease and has been supported by sponsorship from Pfizer S.r.l. The sponsor had no role in the app design and development. The authors thank Progetti di Impresa Srl for creating the app and website

Phytoindication approach to assessing factors determining the habitat preferences of red deer (Cervus elaphus)

The study examined the possibility of using the phytoindication technique to describe habitat preferences of red deer in a relatively homogeneous area. Two alternative hypotheses were tested. Hypothesis 1 suggests that the relationship between red deer and vegetation is due to a trophic factor, so preferences for individual plant species cause vegetation to influence the distribution of animal numbers. Hypothesis 2 suggests that environmental factors influence vegetation, structuring and determining the productive level of the community as a whole. Therefore, environmental factors, rather than individual plant species, cause vegetation-animal interactions. The research was conducted on Biryuchiy Island Spit, where the Azov-Sivash National Nature Park is located. The geobotanical surveys were performed in three types of ecosystems: sandy steppe (vegetation class Festucetea vaginatae), saline meadows (vegetation class Festuco–Puccinellietea), and artificial forest plantation (vegetation class Robinietea). 250 releves were recorded according to the Brown-Blanquet approach. The number of fecal pellets and the number of groups of pellets of red deer was recorded together with geobotanical surveys in the same sample plots. The pellet groups counted in the field were converted to deer densities in specific vegetation classes taking into account the number of pellet groups on the site and the decay rate of the fecal pellets. The vegetation types were distinguished by the number of deer fecal pellets per unit area. The highest number of fecal pellets was found for the plant class Festucetea vaginatae, somewhat fewer fecal pellets were in the plant class Robinietea, and the lowest number was in the plant class Festuco-Puccinellietea. A geometric distribution model is adequate for explaining the experimental data on the number of fecal pellets. A total of 59 species of flowering plants were found. Based on the species composition and projective cover of species, the ecological regimes of ecotopes were identified by phytoindication. The correspondence analysis of the vegetation revealed two ordination axes. The ordination axis 1 (CA1) was able to explain 11.3% of community inertia, and the ordination axis 2 (CA2) was able to explain 5.2% of community inertia. The maximum excretory activity of animals was recorded for the central part of the ordination space, indicating the presence of an optimum zone in the gradient of environmental factors that structure plant communities. The forward selection procedure allowed the Nutrients Availability variable to be selected as the most important variable to explain variation in the plant community structure. The number of deer fecal pellets exhibited different patterns of response in the Nutrients Availability gradient. The response within the plant class Festucetea vaginatae could best be explained by Model III from the list of HOF-models. The response of the excretory activity of deer within the class Festuco-Puccinellietea could best be fitted by the model IV, which represents a symmetric Gaussian curve. The response of excretory activity in the Robinietea vegetation class was asymmetrical bimodal. The ecological properties of the red deer ecological niche in both the drier and less mineralized part of the range of ecological conditions and the wetter and more mineralized part should be assessed in the context of the prospects for future studies

Vaccination against Tick-Borne Encephalitis (TBE) in Italy: Still a Long Way to Go

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is endemic in several European countries, and its incidence has recently increased. Various factors may explain this phenomenon: social factors (changes in human behavior, duration and type of leisure activities and increased tourism in European high-risk areas), ecological factors (e.g., effects of climate change on the tick population and reservoir animals), and technological factors (improved diagnostics, increased medical awareness). Furthermore, the real burden of TBE is not completely known, as the performance of surveillance systems is suboptimal and cases of disease are under-reported in several areas. Given the potentially severe clinical course of the disease, the absence of any antiviral therapy, and the impossibility of interrupting the transmission of the virus in nature, vaccination is the mainstay of prevention and control. TBE vaccines are effective (protective effect of approximately 95% after completion of the basic vaccination\u2014three doses) and well tolerated. However, their uptake in endemic areas is suboptimal. In the main endemic countries where vaccination is included in the national/regional immunization program (with reimbursed vaccination programs), this decision was driven by a cost-effectiveness assessment (CEA), which is a helpful tool in the decision-making process. All CEA studies conducted have demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of TBE vaccination. Unfortunately, CEA is still lacking in many endemic countries, including Italy. In the future, it will be necessary to fill this gap in order to introduce an effective vaccination strategy in endemic areas. Finally, raising awareness of TBE, its consequences and the benefit of vaccination is critical in order to increase vaccination coverage and reduce the burden of the disease

Hot nanoindentation in inert environments

An instrument capable of performing nanoindentation at temperatures up to 500 °C in inert atmospheres, including partial vacuum and gas near atmospheric pressures, is described. Technical issues associated with the technique (such as drift and noise) and the instrument (such as tip erosion and radiative heating of the transducer) are identified and addressed. Based on these considerations, preferred operation conditions are identified for testing on various materials. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, the hardness and elastic modulus of three materials are measured: fused silica (nonoxidizing), aluminum, and copper (both oxidizing). In all cases, the properties match reasonably well with published data acquired by more conventional test methods.United States. Office of Naval Research (Contract No. N00014-08-1-0312)Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologie

COVID-19 and Seasonal Influenza Vaccination: Cross-Protection, Co-Administration, Combination Vaccines, and Hesitancy

SARS-CoV-2 and influenza are the main respiratory viruses for which effective vaccines are currently available. Strategies in which COVID-19 and influenza vaccines are administered simultaneously or combined into a single preparation are advantageous and may increase vaccination uptake. Here, we comprehensively review the available evidence on COVID-19/influenza vaccine coadministration and combination vaccine candidates from the standpoints of safety, immunogenicity, efficacy, policy and public acceptance. While several observational studies have shown that the trained immunity induced by influenza vaccines can protect against some COVID-19-related endpoints, it is not yet understood whether co-administration or combination vaccines can exert additive effects on relevant outcomes. In randomized controlled trials, co-administration has proved safe, with a reactogenicity profile similar to that of either vaccine administered alone. From the immunogenicity standpoint, the immune response towards four influenza strains and the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in co-administration groups is generally non-inferior to that seen in groups receiving either vaccine alone. Several public health authorities have advocated co-administration. Different combination vaccine candidates are in (pre)-clinical development. The hesitancy towards vaccine co-administration or combination vaccines is a multifaceted phenomenon and may be higher than the acceptance of either vaccine administered separately. Public health implications are discussed

Mapping host-related correlates of influenza vaccine-induced immune response: An umbrella review of the available systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Seasonal influenza is the leading infectious disease in terms of its health and socioeconomic impact. Annual immunization is the most efficient way to reduce this burden. Several correlates of influenza vaccine-induced protection are commonly used, owing to their ready availability and cheapness. Influenza vaccine-induced immunogenicity is a function of host-, virus-and vaccine-related factors. Host-related factors constitute the most heterogeneous group. The objective of this study was to analyze the available systematic evidence on the host factors able to modify influenza vaccine-induced immunogenicity. An umbrella review approach was undertaken. A total of 28 systematic reviews/meta-analyses were analyzed—these covered the following domains: intravenous drug use, psychological stress, acute and chronic physical exercise, genetic polymorphisms, use of pre-/pro-/symbiotics, previous Bacillus Calmette–Guérin vaccination, diabetes mellitus, vitamin D supplementation/deficiency, latent cytomegalovirus infection and various forms of immunosuppression. In order to present effect sizes on the same scale, all possible meta-analyses were re-performed and cumulative evidence synthesis ranking was carried out. The meta-analysis was conducted separately on each health condition category and virus (sub)type. A total of 97 pooled estimates were used in order to construct an evidence-based stakeholder-friendly map. The principal public health implications are discussed

Evaluation of extraction-free RT-qPCR methods for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics

Extraction-based real-time reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is currently the “gold standard” in SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics. However, some extraction-free RT-qPCR techniques have recently been developed. In this study, we compared the sensitivity of traditional extraction-based, heated extraction-free, and unheated extraction-free RT-qPCR methods for SARS-CoV-2 detection in nasopharyngeal swabs from symptomatic individuals. The unheated extraction-free method showed perfect agreement with the standard extraction-based RT-qPCR. By contrast, the heat-treated technique was associated with an 8.2% false negativity rate. Unheated extraction-free RT-qPCR for the molecular diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 is a valuable alternative to the traditional extraction-based methods and may accelerate turnaround times by about two hours

Relative effectiveness of the adjuvanted vs non-adjuvanted seasonal influenza vaccines against severe laboratory-confirmed influenza among hospitalized Italian older adults

Objectives: In this study, we aimed to investigate the relative vaccine effectiveness (rVE) of the MF59-adjuvanted trivalent (aTIV) and non-adjuvanted quadrivalent (QIVe) egg-based standard-dose vaccines against severe laboratory-confirmed influenza. Methods: This test-negative case-control study was conducted in a hospital setting during four recent Italian influenza seasons (from 2018/19 to 2021/22). The clinical outcome was severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) with laboratory confirmation diagnosed among subjects aged ≥65 years. rVE of aTIV versus QIVe was estimated through propensity score matching followed by logistic regression. Results: The influenza virus circulated to a significant extent only during the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons. The final population included 512 vaccinated older adults, of which 83 were cases and 429 were test-negative controls. aTIV and QIVe users differed substantially from the point of view of several baseline characteristics. The propensity score adjusted rVE of aTIV vs QIVe was 59.2% (95% CI: 14.6%, 80.5%), 54.7% (95% CI: -28.7%, 84.0%) and 56.9% (95% CI: -7.8%, 82.8%) against any influenza, A(H1N1)pdm09 and A(H3N2), respectively. Conclusion: aTIV was more effective than QIVe in preventing laboratory-confirmed SARI. The benefits of aTIV may be obscured by confounding indication