Serological and Molecular Survey of Hepatitis E Virus in Small Ruminants from Central Portugal

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is currently recognized as an emerging problem and a growing concern for public health in developed countries, with HEV infections mainly attributable to foodborne transmission of HEV-3. The zoonotic HEV genotype 3 infects a wide range of mammalian hosts, with swine considered as the primary host. This study investigates the occurrence of HEV among small ruminants in Portugal. The primary aim of the present research was to evaluate the circulation and the potential for HEV infection among sheep and goats. A total of 400 bile samples and 493 blood samples were collected from sheep and goats at a slaughterhouse in the center region of Portugal, between January 2022 and March 2023. The HEV RNA detection in bile samples was performed using a nested broad-spectrum RT-PCR targeting the ORF1 region. Serological analysis to detect anti-HEV antibodies was conducted using a commercial double-antigen sandwich multi-species ELISA. The HEV RNA was not detected in any bile samples using the nested broad-spectrum RT-PCR. Serological analysis revealed an overall HEV antibody seroprevalence of 2% (10/493, 95% CI: 0.98–3.70) among the small ruminants, namely 2.2% in goats and 2.0% in sheep. Curiously, no statistically significant association among the factors, age, sex and species and HEV seroprevalence was observed. Although HEV RNA was not detected in the bile of sheep and goats, this study the evidence of seroprevalence in these small ruminant species. Further research could provide additional insights into the factors influencing HEV transmission dynamics in small ruminants in Portugal and its potential implications for public health. © The Author(s) 2024."Sérgio Santos-Silva thanks Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) for the financial support of his Ph.D work under the scholarship 2021.09461.BD contract through the Maria de Sousa-2021 program. Helena M.R. Gonçalves received financial support from FCT/MCTES, DOI 10.54499/UIDP/50006/2020 and DOI 10.54499/2022.04199.CEECIND/CP1724/CT0008. António Rivero-Juarez is supported by a contract from the Spanish Junta de Andalucía (Nicolas Monardes program: C1-0001-2023). Pedro López-López was the recipient of a Margarita Salas contract funded by Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia, NextGeneration EU. Open access funding provided by FCT|FCCN (b-on). This research was funded by Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), grant number 2021.09461.BD.

The role of host genetic factors in respiratory tract infectious diseases:systematic review, meta-analyses and field synopsis

Host genetic factors have frequently been implicated in respiratory infectious diseases, often with inconsistent results in replication studies. We identified 386 studies from the total of 24,823 studies identified in a systematic search of four bibliographic databases. We performed meta-analyses of studies on tuberculosis, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, SARS-Coronavirus and pneumonia. One single-nucleotide polymorphism from IL4 gene was significant for pooled respiratory infections (rs2070874; 1.66 [1.29-2.14]). We also detected an association of TLR2 gene with tuberculosis (rs5743708; 3.19 [2.03-5.02]). Subset analyses identified CCL2 as an additional risk factor for tuberculosis (rs1024611; OR = 0.79 [0.72-0.88]). The IL4-TLR2-CCL2 axis could be a highly interesting target for translation towards clinical use. However, this conclusion is based on low credibility of evidence - almost 95% of all identified studies had strong risk of bias or confounding. Future studies must build upon larger-scale collaborations, but also strictly adhere to the highest evidence-based principles in study design, in order to reduce research waste and provide clinically translatable evidenc

Avaliação da qualidade de vida em idosos submetidos ao tratamento hemodialítico

A hemodiálise afeta não só aspectos físicos, como psicológicos e sociais, com repercussão na vida pessoal e familiar.Considerando que no Brasil está ocorrendo um aumento da população idosa, esta pesquisa objetivou avaliar aqualidade de vida dos idosos com insuficiência renal crônica, submetidos ao tratamento hemodialítico. Trata-se deuma pesquisa quantitativa, de caráter descritivo exploratório, com idosos de um serviço especializado em hemodiálisede Guarapuava, Paraná. Os dados foram coletados entre maio a junho de 2010, através de um instrumentoestruturado e, após, submetidos ao programa estatístico Statistica 7.1. Analisando os domínios do questionário, omaior escore diz respeito ao domínio social (70,42) e o menor, ao domínio físico (49,37). Assim, a qualidade de vidadesses idosos apresentou-se baixa, com variações de acordo com o domínio analisado. Pesquisas voltadas à avaliaçãode qualidade de vida são relevantes e instrumentalizam a prática diária do cuidado