Hepatitis E Virus Seroprevalence and Chronic Infections in Patients with HIV, Switzerland

We screened 735 HIV-infected patients in Switzerland with unexplained alanine aminotransferase elevation for hepatitis E virus (HEV) immunoglobulin G. Although HEV seroprevalence in this population is low (2.6%), HEV RNA can persist in patients with low CD4 cell counts. Findings suggest chronic HEV infection should be considered as a cause of persistent alanine aminotransferase elevation

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

Meeting abstrac

Current concepts in the prevention of pathogen transmission via blood/plasma-derived products for bleeding disorders

The pathogen safety of blood/plasma-derived products has historically been a subject of significant concern to the medical community. Measures such as donor selection and blood screening have contributed to increase the safety of these products, but pathogen transmission does still occur. Reasons for this include lack of sensitivity/specificity of current screening methods, lack of reliable screening tests for some pathogens (e.g. prions) and the fact that many potentially harmful infectious agents are not routinely screened for. Methods for the purification/inactivation of blood/plasma-derived products have been developed in order to further reduce the residual risk, but low concentrations of pathogens do not necessarily imply a low level of risk for the patient and so the overall challenge of minimising risk remains. This review aims to discuss the variable level of pathogenic risk and describes the current screening methods used to prevent/detect the presence of pathogens in blood/plasma-derived products

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Alain Vernis. Le Tao du Potier

Colson Laurent. Alain Vernis. Le Tao du Potier. In: Sèvres. Revue de la Société des Amis du musée national de Céramique, n°21, 2012. pp. 145-151

Synthèse sur la genèse moléculaire de l'automatisme cardiaque

Chez les Mammifères, le noeud sino-atrial constitue le pacemaker dominant. Il est toujours situé dans l'atrium droit, mais sa taille et ses rapports avec les tissus environnants diffèrent d'une espèce à l'autre. Il est formé de tissu de connexion et de cellules sino-atriales, dont la morphologie et les propriétés électriques varient fortement du centre vers la périphérie. L'automatisme des cellules sino-atriales repose sur l'absence de potentiel de repos et l'existence de la phase de dépolarisation diastolique spontanée. Cette dépolarisation membranaire est due à l'expression de courants entrants dépolarisants de nature ionique différente. Il existe des courants sodiques (Ist, INa TTX-sensible et INa TTX-résistant), calciques (ICa,L et ICa,T) et mixtes (If). Certains courants potassiques repolarisants interviennent également au cours de cette phase (IK,r et IK,s). Ils s'opposent aux courants dépolarisants et régulent la vitesse de dépolarisation. La phase de dépolarisation systolique est assurée par les courants INa et ICa,L, tandis que d'autres assurent la repolarisation membranaire (Ito, ICa,Cl, IK,r et IK,s). Le tissu sino-atrial est hétérogène : la densité de la majorité des courants sino-atriaux augmente du centre vers la périphérie. Le modèle du gradient semble donc être le plus adapté pour expliquer les observations expérimentales.MAISONS-ALFORT-Ecole Vétérin (940462302) / SudocSudocFranceF

Electric Field Switching of theMagnetic Anisotropy of a Ferromagnetic Layer Exchange Coupled to the Multiferroic Compound BiFeO3

International audienceWe report here that a Permalloy layer deposited on top of a multiferroic BiFeO3 single crystal acquires an easy magnetic direction along the propagation vector of the cycloidal arrangement of antiferromagnetic moments in BiFeO3. This anisotropy originates from a direct magnetic coupling with the canted spins forming the cycloid. Moreover, we show that an electric field-induced change of electric polarization is able to toggle the direction of anisotropy in the ferromagnet through the magnetoelectric effect, which links the antiferromagnetic spins to the local polarization in BiFeO3