Omicron variant susceptibility to neutralizing antibodies induced in children by natural SARS-CoV-2 infection or COVID-19 vaccine

The novel SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant may increase the risk of re-infection and vaccine breakthrough infections as it possesses key mutations in the spike protein that affect neutralizing antibody response. Most studies on neutralization susceptibility were conducted using specimens from adult COVID-19 patients or vaccine recipients. However, since the paediatric population has an antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 infection that is distinct from the adult population, it is critical to assess the neutralization susceptibility of pediatric serum specimens. This study compared the neutralization susceptibility of serum specimens collected from 49 individuals of <18 years old, including 34 adolescent BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine recipients, and 15 recovered COVID-19 patients aged between 2 and 17. We demonstrated that only 38.2% of BNT162b2 vaccine recipients and 26.7% of recovered COVID-19 patients had their serum neutralization titre at or above the detection threshold in our live virus microneutralization assay. Furthermore, the neutralizing antibody titer against the Omicron variant was substantially lower than those against the ancestral virus or the Beta variant. Our results suggest that vaccine recipients and COVID-19 patients in the pediatric age group will likely be more susceptible to vaccine breakthrough infections or reinfections due to the Omicron variant than previous variants

Comprehensive in vitro and in vivo studies of novel melt-derived Nb-substituted 45S5 bioglass reveal its enhanced bioactive properties for bone healing

The present work presents and discusses the results of a comprehensive study on the bioactive properties of Nb-substituted silicate glass derived from 45S5 bioglass. In vitro and in vivo experiments were performed. We undertook three different types of in vitro analyses: (i) investigation of the kinetics of chemical reactivity and the bioactivity of Nb-substituted glass in simulated body fluid (SBF) by 31P MASNMR spectroscopy, (ii) determination of ionic leaching profiles in buffered solution by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), and (iii) assessment of the compatibility and osteogenic differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) treated with dissolution products of different compositions of Nb-substituted glass. The results revealed that Nb-substituted glass is not toxic to hESCs. Moreover, adding up to 1.3 mol% of Nb2O5 to 45S5 bioglass significantly enhanced its osteogenic capacity. For the in vivo experiments, trial glass rods were implanted into circular defects in rat tibia in order to evaluate their biocompatibility and bioactivity. Results showed all Nb-containing glass was biocompatible and that the addition of 1.3 mol% of Nb2O5, replacing phosphorous, increases the osteostimulation of bioglass. Therefore, these results support the assertion that Nb-substituted glass is suitable for biomedical applications

Time-Stratified Case Crossover Study of the Association of Outdoor Ambient Air Pollution With the Risk of Acute Myocardial Infarction in the Context of Seasonal Exposure to the Southeast Asian Haze Problem

Background-—Prior studies have demonstrated the association of air pollution with cardiovascular deaths. Singapore experiences seasonal transboundary haze. We investigated the association between air pollution and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) incidence in Singapore. Methods and Results-—We performed a time-stratified case-crossover study on all AMI cases in the Singapore Myocardial Infarction Registry (2010–2015). Exposure on days where AMI occurred (case days) were compared with the exposure on days where AMI did not occur (control days). Control days were chosen on the same day of the week earlier and later in the same month and year. We fitted conditional Poisson regression models to daily AMI incidence to include confounders such as ambient temperature, rainfall, wind-speed, and Pollutant Standards Index. We assessed relationships between AMI incidence and Pollutant Standards Index in the entire cohort and subgroups of individual-level characteristics. There were 53 948 cases. Each 30-unit increase in Pollutant Standards Index was association with AMI incidence (incidence risk ratio [IRR] 1.04, 95% CI 1.03–1.06). In the subgroup of ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction the IRR was 1.00, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.03, while for non–ST-segment– elevation myocardial infarction, the IRR was 1.08, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.10. Subgroup analyses showed generally significant. Moderate/ unhealthy Pollutant Standards Index showed association with AMI occurrence with IRR 1.08, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.11 and IRR 1.09, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.18, respectively. Excess risk remained elevated through the day of exposure and for >2 years after. Conclusions-—We found an effect of short-term air pollution on AMI incidence, especially non–ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction and inpatient AMI. These findings have public health implications for primary prevention and emergency health services during haze

A Cross-Sectional Study of HPV Vaccine Acceptability in Gaborone, Botswana

Background Cervical cancer is the most common cancer among women in Botswana and elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa. We sought to examine whether HPV vaccine is acceptable among parents in Botswana, which recently licensed the vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. Methods and Findings We conducted a cross-sectional survey in 2009, around the time the vaccine was first licensed, with adults recruited in general medicine and HIV clinics in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana. Although only 9% (32/376) of respondents had heard of HPV vaccine prior to the survey, 88% (329/376) said they definitely will have their adolescent daughters receive HPV vaccine. Most respondents would get the vaccine for their daughters at a public or community clinic (42%) or a gynecology or obstetrician\u27s office (39%), and 74% would get it for a daughter if it were available at her school. Respondents were more likely to say that they definitely will get HPV vaccine for their daughters if they had less education (OR = 0.20, 95% CI = 0.07–0.58) or lived more than 30 kilometers from the capital, Gaborone (OR = 2.29, 95% CI = 1.06–4.93). Other correlates of acceptability were expecting to be involved in the decision to get HPV vaccine, thinking the vaccine would be hard to obtain, and perceiving greater severity of HPV-related diseases. Conclusions HPV vaccination of adolescent girls would be highly acceptable if the vaccine became widely available to the daughters of healthcare seeking parents in Gaborone, Botswana. Potential HPV vaccination campaigns should provide more information about HPV and the vaccine as well as work to minimize barriers

International Veterinary Epilepsy Task Force consensus proposal: Medical treatment of canine epilepsy in Europe

In Europe, the number of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) licensed for dogs has grown considerably over the last years. Nevertheless, the same questions remain, which include, 1) when to start treatment, 2) which drug is best used initially, 3) which adjunctive AED can be advised if treatment with the initial drug is unsatisfactory, and 4) when treatment changes should be considered. In this consensus proposal, an overview is given on the aim of AED treatment, when to start long-term treatment in canine epilepsy and which veterinary AEDs are currently in use for dogs. The consensus proposal for drug treatment protocols, 1) is based on current published evidence-based literature, 2) considers the current legal framework of the cascade regulation for the prescription of veterinary drugs in Europe, and 3) reflects the authors’ experience. With this paper it is aimed to provide a consensus for the management of canine idiopathic epilepsy. Furthermore, for the management of structural epilepsy AEDs are inevitable in addition to treating the underlying cause, if possible

Small area contextual effects on self-reported health: Evidence from Riverside, Calgary

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We study geographic variation within one community in the City of Calgary using a more fine-grained geographic unit than the Census tract, the Census Dissemination Area (DA). While most Riverside residents consider their neighbourhood to be a fairly cohesive community, we explore the effect of socio-economic variation between these small geographic areas on individuals' self-reported health, net of individual level determinants.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We merge data from the 2001 Census for Riverside, Calgary with a 2004 random telephone survey of Riverside residents. Our data are unique in that we have information on individuals from every DA wholly contained in the Riverside community. These data enable us to conduct multinomial logistic regression analyses of self-reported health using both individual-level and DA-level variables as predictors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We find significant variation in measures of DA socio-economic status within the Riverside community. We find that individual self-reported health is affected by variation in an index of DA-level socio-economic disadvantage, controlling for individual variation in gender, age, and socio-economic status. We investigate each aspect of the DA index of disadvantage separately, and find that average education and the percent of households that are headed by a lone parent are most important.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These findings demonstrate that, even within a cohesive community, contextual effects on health can be located at a smaller geographic level than the Census tract. Research on the effects of local area socio-economic disadvantage on health that combines administrative and survey data enables researchers to develop more comprehensive measures of social and material deprivation. Our findings suggest that both social and material deprivation affect health at the local level.</p

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

X-ray emission from the Sombrero galaxy: discrete sources

We present a study of discrete X-ray sources in and around the bulge-dominated, massive Sa galaxy, Sombrero (M104), based on new and archival Chandra observations with a total exposure of ~200 ks. With a detection limit of L_X = 1E37 erg/s and a field of view covering a galactocentric radius of ~30 kpc (11.5 arcminute), 383 sources are detected. Cross-correlation with Spitler et al.'s catalogue of Sombrero globular clusters (GCs) identified from HST/ACS observations reveals 41 X-rays sources in GCs, presumably low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). We quantify the differential luminosity functions (LFs) for both the detected GC and field LMXBs, whose power-low indices (~1.1 for the GC-LF and ~1.6 for field-LF) are consistent with previous studies for elliptical galaxies. With precise sky positions of the GCs without a detected X-ray source, we further quantify, through a fluctuation analysis, the GC LF at fainter luminosities down to 1E35 erg/s. The derived index rules out a faint-end slope flatter than 1.1 at a 2 sigma significance, contrary to recent findings in several elliptical galaxies and the bulge of M31. On the other hand, the 2-6 keV unresolved emission places a tight constraint on the field LF, implying a flattened index of ~1.0 below 1E37 erg/s. We also detect 101 sources in the halo of Sombrero. The presence of these sources cannot be interpreted as galactic LMXBs whose spatial distribution empirically follows the starlight. Their number is also higher than the expected number of cosmic AGNs (52+/-11 [1 sigma]) whose surface density is constrained by deep X-ray surveys. We suggest that either the cosmic X-ray background is unusually high in the direction of Sombrero, or a distinct population of X-ray sources is present in the halo of Sombrero.Comment: 11 figures, 5 tables, ApJ in pres

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

Search for direct stau production in events with two hadronic tau-leptons in root s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of the supersymmetric partners ofτ-leptons (staus) in final stateswith two hadronically decayingτ-leptons is presented. The analysis uses a dataset of pp collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of139fb−1, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LargeHadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. No significant deviation from the expected StandardModel background is observed. Limits are derived in scenarios of direct production of stau pairs with eachstau decaying into the stable lightest neutralino and oneτ-lepton in simplified models where the two staumass eigenstates are degenerate. Stau masses from 120 GeV to 390 GeV are excluded at 95% confidencelevel for a massless lightest neutralino