Ureasil-polyether hybrid blend with tuneable hydrophilic/hydrophobic features based on U-PEO1900 and U-PPO400 mixtures

Urea-cross-linked polyether-siloxane hybrid blends with tuneable hydrophilic/hydrophobic features were prepared from a mixture of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO1900) and poly(propylene oxide) (PPO400), hybridized by end-chain functionalization with (3-isocyanatopropyl)triethoxysilane. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that the combination of the different polyether phases produces materials with hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties. An anti-fog coating and a transparent monolithic swellable hydrogel were produced from the PEO1900 hybrid. Swellability and drug release profiles could be easily tuned by varying the ureasil-PEO/ureasil-PPO ratio in the hybrid matrix. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) analyses indicated that the nanostructure of the hybrid blends could be described by the existence of a biphasic mixture of PEO1900-rich and PPO400-rich phases, with a fraction of the lamellar domains being derived from the PEO1900 crystallinity. A correlation between the nanoscopic features and the kinetics of the swelling mechanism is proposed, based on the results of in situ SAXS analyses. In vitro monitoring using UV-Vis spectroscopy indicated that the kinetics of drug release from the PEO1900:PPO400 hybrid blends could be controlled by varying the proportions of the hydrophilic (PEO1900) and hydrophobic (PPO400) hybrids. The response to pH change and to application of a magnetic field to the PEO1900-magnetite nanocomposite indicated that the production of stimuli-responsive delivery devices based on ureasil-PE should be feasible in the near future.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Evolution and epidemic spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Brazil

Detailed metadata on all 1,182 sequences used in this study. File contains information on epidemiology, demography, location, diagnostics, sequencing statistics and evolution of 427 SARS-CoV-2 sequences generated in this study and 755 sequences downloaded from GISAID

Data from: Evolution and epidemic spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Brazil

Brazil currently has one of the fastest growing SARS-CoV-2 epidemics in the world. Owing to limited available data, assessments of the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) on virus spread remain challenging. Using a mobility-driven transmission model, we show that NPIs reduced the reproduction number from >3 to 1–1.6 in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Sequencing of 427 new genomes and analysis of a geographically representative genomic dataset identified >100 international virus introductions in Brazil. We estimate that most (76%) of the Brazilian strains fell in three clades that were introduced from Europe between 22 February11 March 2020. During the early epidemic phase, we found that SARS-CoV-2 spread mostly locally and within-state borders. After this period, despite sharp decreases in air travel, we estimated multiple exportations from large urban centers that coincided with a 25% increase in average travelled distances in national flights. This study sheds new light on the epidemic transmission and evolutionary trajectories of SARS-CoV-2 lineages in Brazil, and provide evidence that current interventions remain insufficient to keep virus transmission under control in the country

International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortiu (INICC) report, data summary of 43 countries for 2007-2012. Device-associated module

We report the results of an International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) surveillance study from January 2007-December 2012 in 503 intensive care units (ICUs) in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. During the 6-year study using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) U.S. National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definitions for device-associated health care–associated infection (DA-HAI), we collected prospective data from 605,310 patients hospitalized in the INICC's ICUs for an aggregate of 3,338,396 days. Although device utilization in the INICC's ICUs was similar to that reported from ICUs in the U.S. in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals: the pooled rate of central line–associated bloodstream infection in the INICC's ICUs, 4.9 per 1,000 central line days, is nearly 5-fold higher than the 0.9 per 1,000 central line days reported from comparable U.S. ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia was also higher (16.8 vs 1.1 per 1,000 ventilator days) as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (5.5 vs 1.3 per 1,000 catheter days). Frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas isolates to amikacin (42.8% vs 10%) and imipenem (42.4% vs 26.1%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (71.2% vs 28.8%) and imipenem (19.6% vs 12.8%) were also higher in the INICC's ICUs compared with the ICUs of the CDC's NHSN