The rapid spread of SARS-COV-2 Omicron variant in Italy reflected early through wastewater surveillance

The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant emerged in South Africa in November 2021, and has later been identified worldwide, raising serious concerns. A real-time RT-PCR assay was designed for the rapid screening of the Omicron variant, targeting characteristic mutations of the spike gene. The assay was used to test 737 sewage samples collected throughout Italy (19/21 Regions) between 11 November and 25 December 2021, with the aim of assessing the spread of the Omicron variant in the country. Positive samples were also tested with a real-time RT-PCR developed by the European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), and through nested RT-PCR followed by Sanger sequencing. Overall, 115 samples tested positive for Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant. The first occurrence was detected on 7 December, in Veneto, North Italy. Later on, the variant spread extremely fast in three weeks, with prevalence of positive wastewater samples rising from 1.0% (1/104 samples) in the week 5-11 December, to 17.5% (25/143 samples) in the week 12-18, to 65.9% (89/135 samples) in the week 19-25, in line with the increase in cases of infection with the Omicron variant observed during December in Italy. Similarly, the number of Regions/Autonomous Provinces in which the variant was detected increased from one in the first week, to 11 in the second, and to 17 in the last one. The presence of the Omicron variant was confirmed by the JRC real-time RT-PCR in 79.1% (91/115) of the positive samples, and by Sanger sequencing in 66% (64/97) of PCR amplicons. In conclusion, we designed an RT-qPCR assay capable to detect the Omicron variant, which can be successfully used for the purpose of wastewater-based epidemiology. We also described the history of the introduction and diffusion of the Omicron variant in the Italian population and territory, confirming the effectiveness of sewage monitoring as a powerful surveillance tool

Outcomes from elective colorectal cancer surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Assessing the Water Quality in Big Fishing Creek Watershed in Relation to the TMDL For the Chesapeake Bay

Agricultural non-point source pollution is the leading source of water-quality impairment to many of the nation\u27s rivers, lakes, and estuaries, including the Chesapeake Bay. A TMDL plan was developed by the US EPA in 2010 to reduce nutrient and sediment loads for the Bay. The agricultural sector in Pennsylvania portion of the Bay watershed did not meet the interim target set in the TMDL in 2017. Detailed data, addressing the spatial and temporal variations in nutrients and suspended sediment, are essential in order to characterize small, rural watersheds and thus generate effective BMPs and TMDLs for higher-order streams. A base-line data collection was carried out during 2002-06 focusing on nutrient and sediment flux within the Big Fishing Creek watershed in Clinton County, PA, which is a major tributary to Bald Eagle Creek, which, in turn, flows into the West Branch Susquehanna River, and ultimately to the Chesapeake Bay. A follow up data collection was done during June-September in 2018. The results of this two-phase water quality analysis was used to evaluate relative contribution of nutrients and sediments loads by Big Fishing Creek watershed to the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Eleven water quality parameters were tested on ten locations along Big Fishing Creek and in several tributaries. These parameters included pH, Conductivity, Temperature, DO, BOD, TSS, NO3-N, NO2-N, NH3-N, Total Phosphorus, and COD. These parameters were used to calculate a Water Quality Index score on a scale of 0 to 100. The results of these two studies indicate the following: (1) high nitrate and phosphate concentrations correlate to both specific point as well as non-point sources; (2) the Big Fishing Creek watershed contributes to nutrient and sediment loads of the Chesapeake Bay watershed at a much higher rates than the average values observed by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission at locations that are situated upstream and downstream of this study area; and (3) for the Chesapeake Bay TMDL plan to succeed, the landuse practices in watersheds for the first and second order streams that are dominated by agriculture and karst topography need to be targeted for implementation of BMPs

An Advanced Clonal Selection Algorithm with Ad-Hoc Network-Based Hypermutation Operators for Synthesis of Topology and Sizing of Analog Electrical Circuits

In electronics, there are two major classes of circuits, analog and digital electrical circuits. While digital circuits use discrete voltage levels, analog circuits use a continuous range of voltage. The synthesis of analog circuits is known to be a complex optimization task, due to the continuous behaviour of the output and the lack of automatic design tools; actually, the design process is almost entirely demanded to the engineers. In this research work, we introduce a new clonal selection algorithm, the elitist Immune Programming, (eIP) which uses a new class of hypermutation operators and a network-based coding. The eIP algorithm is designed for the synthesis of topology and sizing of analog electrical circuits; in particular, it has been used for the design of passive filters. To assess the effectiveness of the designed algorithm, the obtained results have been compared with the passive filter discovered by Koza and co-authors using the Genetic Programming (GP) algorithm. The circuits obtained by eIP algorithm are better than the one found by GP in terms of frequency response and number of components required to build it. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg