Determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and access among people experiencing homelessness in Germany: A qualitative interview study

Introduction: People experiencing homelessness face lower life expectancy, higher prevalence of somatic and mental diseases and a more difficult access to healthcare compared to people in secure living. During the COVID-19 pandemic transmission rates were higher among people experiencing homelessness and preventive public health measures were not properly adapted to the specific needs of people experiencing homelessness. Thus, goal of our study was understanding the determinants of acceptability and access of the COVID-19 vaccine. Materials and methods: We conducted a qualitative interview study with twenty guideline interviews with adult people currently experiencing homelessness in Berlin, Germany (August 2021 - April 2022). Participants were approached in a purposive sampling strategy. The interviews were analyzed with qualitative content analysis according to Mayring. Results: Acceptance and attitude toward the COVID-19 vaccine is influenced by confidence in the vaccine as well as in the political and healthcare system, the individual COVID-19 risk perception and sense of collective responsibility. Overall, the acceptance of the vaccine was high among our participants. Facilities offering low threshold COVID-19 vaccines for people experiencing homelessness were perceived as helpful. Language barriers and the need for identity documents were major barriers to access the COVID 19 vaccine. Discussion: People experiencing homelessness are a marginalized and vulnerable group often underrepresented in the public and scientific discourse. During the COVID-19 pandemic, preventive public health measures, including the COVID-19 vaccine, failed to consider specific needs of people experiencing homelessness. Multidimensional strategy to enhance inclusive healthcare are needed to improve access and to reduce discrimination and stigmatization

Steeper Iris Conicity Is Related to a Shallower Anterior Chamber: The Gutenberg Health Study

Purpose. To report the distribution of iris conicity (steepness of the iris cone), investigate associated factors, and test whether pseudophakia allows the iris to sink back. Methods. A population-based cross-sectional study was carried out. Ophthalmological examination including objective refraction, biometry, noncontact tonometry, and Scheimpflug imaging (Pentacam®, Oculus) was performed including automated measurement of iris conicity. 3708 phakic subjects, 144 subjects with bilateral and 39 subjects with unilateral pseudophakia were included. Multivariable analyses were carried out to determine independently associated systemic and ocular factors for iris conicity in phakic eyes. Results. Mean iris conicity was 8.28° ± 3.29° (right eyes). Statistical analysis revealed associations between steeper iris conicity and shallower anterior chamber depth, thicker human lens and higher corneal power in multivariable analysis, while older age was related to a flatter iris conicity. Refraction, axial length, central corneal thickness, pupil diameter, and intraocular pressure were not associated with iris conicity. Pseudophakia resulted in a 5.82° flatter iris conicity than in the fellow phakic eyes. Conclusions. Associations indicate a correlation between iris conicity with risk factors for angle-closure, namely, shallower anterior chamber depth and thicker human lens. In pseudophakic eyes, iris conicity is significantly lower, indicating that cataract surgery flattens the iris

Prevalence of depression and anxiety among participants with glaucoma in a population-based cohort study : the Gutenberg Health Study

Background To investigate the prevalence of depression and anxiety among subjects with self-reported glaucoma and the association between self-reported glaucoma and depression respectively anxiety in a European cohort. Methods A study sample of 14,657 participants aged 35 to 74 years was investigated in a population-based cohort study. All participants reported presence or absence of glaucoma. Ophthalmological examinations were carried out in all participants and demographic and disease related information were obtained by interview. Depression was assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and generalized anxiety with the two screening items (GAD-2) of the short form of the GAD-7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 Scale). Prevalence of depression and generalized anxiety were investigated for subjects with and without self-reported glaucoma. Logistic regression analyses with depression, respectively anxiety as dependent variable and self-reported glaucoma as independent variable were conducted and adjusted for socio-demographic factors, systemic comorbidities (arterial hypertension, myocardial infarction, stroke, diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer), ocular diseases (cataract, macular degeneration, corneal diseases, diabetic retinopathy), visual acuity, intraocular pressure, antiglaucoma eye drops (sympathomimetics, parasympathomimetics, carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, beta-blockers, prostaglandins) and general health status. Results 293 participants (49.5% female) reported having glaucoma. Prevalence of depression among participants with and without self-reported glaucoma was 6.6% (95%-CI 4.1–10.3) respectively 7.7% (95%-CI 7.3–8.2), and for anxiety 5.3% (95%-CI 3.1–8.7) respectively 6.6% (95%-CI 6.2–7.1). Glaucoma was not associated with depression (Odds ratio 1.10, 95%-CI 0.50–2.38, p = 0.80) or anxiety (1.48, 95%-CI 0.63–3.30, p = 0.35) after adjustment for socio-demographic factors, ocular/systemic diseases, ocular parameters, antiglaucoma drugs and general health status. A restriction to self-reported glaucoma cases either taking topical antiglaucoma medications or having a history of glaucoma surgery did not alter the result. Conclusions This is the first study analyzing both depression and anxiety among glaucoma patients in a European cohort. Subjects with and without self-reported glaucoma had a similar prevalence of depression and anxiety in our population-based sample. Self-reported glaucoma was not associated with depression or anxiety. A lack of a burden of depressive symptoms may result from recruitment from a population-based sample as compared to previous study groups predominantly recruited from tertiary care hospitals

The impact of pseudophakia on vision-related quality of life in the general population -The Gutenberg Health Study

ABSTRACT Cataract surgery is the most frequently performed surgical procedure worldwide. We aim to determine the prevalence of having implanted an artificial lens (pseudophakia) and of no lens (aphakia) and to compare visual function. As part of the Gutenberg Health study, a population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Germany. An ophthalmological examination including slit-lamp examination was conducted. Prevalence including 95% confidential intervals were calculated and analyses were conducted for systemic and ocular associated factors with pseudophakia using multivariable logistic regression models. Vision-related quality of life was assessed using a standardized questionnaire and Rasch transformation. 14,696 people were included. Of these, 1.55% [1.36%-1.77%] had unilateral pseudophakia and 3.08% [2.81%-3.37%] had bilateral pseudophakia. Unilateral aphakia was present in 21 people and bilateral aphakia in 2 people. Pseudophakia was independently associated with age, higher body weight and lower body height, diabetes and smoking. Vision-related quality of life values were similar for those with bilateral phakia and pseudophakia but were lower for those with unilateral pseudophakia. The pseudophakia status is related to several cardiovascular risk factors, indicating a relationship to an aging effect that causes premature lens opacification. Bilateral pseudophakia can almost imitate the physiological condition of phakia except for the need to use glasses

Low CO Luminosities in Dwarf Galaxies

[Abridged] We present maps of CO 2-1 emission covering the entire star-forming disks of 16 nearby dwarf galaxies observed by the IRAM HERACLES survey. The data have 13 arcsec angular resolution, ~250 pc at our average distance of 4 Mpc, and sample the galaxies by 10-1000 resolution elements. We apply stacking techniques to perform the first sensitive search for CO emission in dwarfs outside the Local Group ranging from single lines-of-sight, stacked over IR-bright regions of embedded star formation, and stacked over the entire galaxy. We detect 5 dwarfs in CO with total luminosities of L_CO = 3-28 1e6 Kkmspc2. The other 11 dwarfs remain undetected in CO even in the stacked data and have L_CO < 0.4-8 1e6 Kkmspc2. We combine our sample of dwarfs with a large literature sample of spirals to study scaling relations of L_CO with M_B and metallicity. We find that dwarfs with metallicities of Z ~ 1/2-1/10 Z_sun have L_CO about 1e2-1e4x smaller than spirals and that their L_CO per unit L_B is 10-100x smaller. A comparison with tracers of star formation (FUV and 24 micron) shows that L_CO per unit SFR is 10-100x smaller in dwarfs. One possible interpretation is that dwarfs form stars much more efficiently, however we argue that the low L_CO/SFR ratio is due to significant changes of the CO-to-H2 conversion factor, alpha_CO, in low metallicity environments. Assuming a constant H2 depletion time of 1.8 Gyr (as found for nearby spirals) implies alpha_CO values for dwarfs with Z ~ 1/2-1/10 Z_sun that are more than 10x higher than those found in solar metallicity spirals. This significant increase of alpha_CO at low metallicity is consistent with previous studies, in particular those which model dust emission to constrain H2 masses. Even though it is difficult to parameterize the metallicity dependence of alpha_CO, our results suggest that CO is increasingly difficult to detect at lower metallicities.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal, 19 pages, 7 figure

The impact of pseudophakia on vision-related quality of life in the general population - The Gutenberg Health Study.

Cataract surgery is the most frequently performed surgical procedure worldwide. We aim to determine the prevalence of having implanted an artificial lens (pseudophakia) and of no lens (aphakia) and to compare visual function.As part of the Gutenberg Health study, a population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Germany. An ophthalmological examination including slit-lamp examination was conducted. Prevalence including 95% confidential intervals were calculated and analyses were conducted for systemic and ocular associated factors with pseudophakia using multivariable logistic regression models. Vision-related quality of life was assessed using a standardized questionnaire and Rasch transformation.14,696 people were included. Of these, 1.55% [1.36%-1.77%] had unilateral pseudophakia and 3.08% [2.81%-3.37%] had bilateral pseudophakia. Unilateral aphakia was present in 21 people and bilateral aphakia in 2 people. Pseudophakia was independently associated with age, higher body weight and lower body height, diabetes and smoking. Vision-related quality of life values were similar for those with bilateral phakia and pseudophakia but were lower for those with unilateral pseudophakia.The pseudophakia status is related to several cardiovascular risk factors, indicating a relationship to an aging effect that causes premature lens opacification. Bilateral pseudophakia can almost imitate the physiological condition of phakia except for the need to use glasses

FASIMU: flexible software for flux-balance computation series in large metabolic networks

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Flux-balance analysis based on linear optimization is widely used to compute metabolic fluxes in large metabolic networks and gains increasingly importance in network curation and structural analysis. Thus, a computational tool flexible enough to realize a wide variety of FBA algorithms and able to handle batch series of flux-balance optimizations is of great benefit.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We present FASIMU, a command line oriented software for the computation of flux distributions using a variety of the most common FBA algorithms, including the first available implementation of (i) weighted flux minimization, (ii) fitness maximization for partially inhibited enzymes, and (iii) of the concentration-based thermodynamic feasibility constraint. It allows batch computation with varying objectives and constraints suited for network pruning, leak analysis, flux-variability analysis, and systematic probing of metabolic objectives for network curation. Input and output supports SBML. FASIMU can work with free (lp_solve and GLPK) or commercial solvers (CPLEX, LINDO). A new plugin (faBiNA) for BiNA allows to conveniently visualize calculated flux distributions. The platform-independent program is an open-source project, freely available under GNU public license at <url>http://www.bioinformatics.org/fasimu</url> including manual, tutorial, and plugins.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We present a flux-balance optimization program whose main merits are the implementation of thermodynamics as a constraint, batch series of computations, free availability of sources, choice on various external solvers, and the flexibility on metabolic objectives and constraints.</p

Kinetics of maternal immunity against rabies in fox cubs (Vulpes vulpes)

BACKGROUND: In previous experiments, it was demonstrated that maternal antibodies (maAb) against rabies in foxes (Vulpes vulpes) were transferred from the vixen to her offspring. However, data was lacking from cubs during the first three weeks post partum. Therefore, this complementary study was initiated. METHODS: Blood samples (n = 281) were collected from 64 cubs (3 to 43 days old) whelped by 19 rabies-immune captive-bred vixens. Sera was collected up to six times from each cub. The samples were analysed by a fluorescence focus inhibition technique (RFFIT), and antibody titres (nAb) were expressed in IU/ml. The obtained data was pooled with previous data sets. Subsequently, a total of 499 serum samples from 249 cubs whelped by 54 rabies-immune vixens were fitted to a non-linear regression model. RESULTS: The disappearance rate of maAb was independent of the vixens' nAb-titre. The maAb-titre of the cubs decreased exponentially with age and the half-life of the maAb was estimated to be 9.34 days. However, maAb of offspring whelped by vixens with high nAb-titres can be detected for longer by RFFIT than that of offspring whelped by vixens with relatively low nAb-titres. At a mean critical age of about 23 days post partum, maAb could no longer be distinguished from unspecific reactions in RFFIT depending on the amount of maAb transferred by the mother. CONCLUSIONS: The amount of maAb cubs receive is directly proportional to the titre of the vixen and decreases exponentially with age below detectable levels in seroneutralisation tests at a relatively early age

Chronic Nicotine Exposure Induces Murine Aortic Remodeling and Stiffness Segmentation—Implications for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Susceptibility

Aim: Arterial stiffness is a significant risk factor for many cardiovascular diseases, including abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). Nicotine, the major active ingredient of e-cigarettes and tobacco smoke, induces acute vasomotor effects that may temporarily increase arterial stiffness. Here, we investigated the effects of long-term nicotine exposure on structural aortic stiffness.Methods: Mice (C57BL/6) were infused with nicotine for 40 days (20 mg/kg/day). Arterial stiffness of the thoracic (TS) and abdominal (AS) aortic segments was analyzed using ultrasound (PWV, pulse wave velocity) and ex vivo pressure myograph measurements. For mechanistic studies, aortic matrix-metalloproteinase (MMP) expression and activity as well as medial elastin architecture were analyzed.Results: Global aortic stiffness increased with nicotine. In particular, local stiffening of the abdominal segment occurred after 10 days, while thoracic aortic stiffness was only increased after 40 days, resulting in aortic stiffness segmentation. Mechanistically, nicotine exposure enhanced expression of MMP-2/-9 and elastolytic activity in both aortic segments. Elastin degradation occurred in both segments; however, basal elastin levels were higher in the thoracic aorta. Finally, MMP-inhibition significantly reduced nicotine-induced MMP activity, elastin destruction, and aortic stiffening.Conclusion: Chronic nicotine exposure induces aortic MMP expression and structural aortic damage (elastin fragmentation), irreversibly increasing aortic stiffness. This process predominantly affects the abdominal aortic segment, presumably due in part to a lower basal elastin content. This novel phenomenon may help to explain the role of nicotine as a major risk factor for AAA formation and has health implications for ECIGs and other modes of nicotine delivery

Ultrafast all-optical switching by single photons

An outstanding goal in quantum optics is the realization of fast optical non-linearities at the single-photon level. Such non-linearities would allow for the realization of optical devices with new functionalities such as a single-photon switch/transistor or a controlled-phase gate, which could form the basis of future quantum optical technologies. While non-linear optics effects at the single-emitter level have been demonstrated in different systems, including atoms coupled to Fabry-Perot or toroidal micro-cavities, super-conducting qubits in strip-line resonators or quantum dots (QDs) in nano-cavities, none of these experiments so far has demonstrated single-photon switching on ultrafast timescales. Here, we demonstrate that in a strongly coupled QD-cavity system the presence of a single photon on one of the fundamental polariton transitions can turn on light scattering on a transition from the first to the second Jaynes-Cummings manifold with a switching time of 20 ps. As an additional device application, we use this non-linearity to implement a single-photon pulse-correlator. Our QD-cavity system could form the building-block of future high-bandwidth photonic networks operating in the quantum regime