Pandemics, economics and resilience

Abstract. Pandemics and epidemics have occurred throughout human history, with significant impacts to both population and societies. Their economic impacts, however, have seen only limited research. Research has been limited by the lack of data and empirical evidence, due to the rarity of large-scale pandemics. For this reason, the estimates about the economic impacts of pandemics that have been made have had to use a lot of assumptions and guesses. The subject of economic resilience to pandemics is largely untouched in past research, and parts of this thesis focus on that. It is an interesting concept that deserves further attention. The current COVID-19 pandemic, caused by a coronavirus strain called SARS-CoV-2, has put the previous models and estimates to a test. The scale and speed of its economic impacts have been unprecedented and partly unexpected, with government spending and unemployment rising rapidly in many countries. The purpose of this thesis is to give the reader a background about both past pandemics and past research into the economic impacts of pandemics. Knowledge about past events and literature helps to understand both realised and potential economic impacts of the current pandemic. This thesis can also be used as a starting point for future research. Different policies to stop the spread of the pandemic are reviewed from multiple perspectives, utilising previous and current research. There seems to be an optimal policy when considering economic, social and health impacts. Quick reaction with heavy restrictions on mobility combined with extensive testing seems to minimise the impacts in all three mentioned categories. Such actions aim to suppress the virus, minimising the length of the pandemic. With suppression as the policy, the overall resilience of a system is maximised, while risk to an individual is minimised

Modeling the semantics of contextual and content-specific research metadata using ontology languages: issues on combining CERIF and OWL

Current Research Information Systems (CRISs) enable the maintenance of information related to research activities of organizations and their members, including outputs or products from these activities. Such contextual information is of uttermost importance for the processing of datasets and with the retrieval of scientific documents, providing e.g. the key information on provenance and characteristics of research activities that are needed when searching for data or scholarly content. In the context of the expanding initiative of the Web of Linked Data, translating that information into semantic languages enables new ways of querying benefitting from the reuse of domain ontologies. In that direction, this paper reports on the engineering of an ontology based version of the CERIF standard for CRISs using the OWL language and a proposed mapping to research datasets

Individual identification of Black-throated Divers (Gavia arctica)

The potential to identify individual Black-throated Divers (Gavia arctica) on the basis of breeding plumage features was explored using 278 photos, including two paired birds followed during the years 2007-2015 at a specific breeding location. Observations were focused on: 1) white lines on the sides of neck, 2) mantle having rows of sharply contrasting white squares, and 3) small white spots on lesser andmedian coverts. In photos, the number ofwhite lines on the sides of neck varied from four to seven (mean = 5.0, n = 278), and the second line from the head was the highest in 92.1% of the photos. The number of " white square" rows on the mantle varied from 11 to 14 and the small white spots on coverts from 27 to 67. Identification of individual Black-throated Divers was potentially easiest if the plumage had some special patterns (19.4% of birds, n = 278). Plumage remained the same in the followed pair between years, as was also shown by the discriminant analysis, since the followed pair was correctly classified by sex but not by sides showing that sides are similar. To estimate whether it is possible to separate these two birds from other birds, a second discriminant analysis was accomplished. Thus, 125 other birds were added to analysis as a third group together with the followed pair (female andmale, nine years and n = 18 per sex). The linear discriminant analysis yielded a classification rate of 70.8% in original analysis and 69.6% based on the leave-one-out analysis (n = 161). These analyses were based on the relative height of the neck lines, their average relative height and standard deviation. When the number ofwhite spotswere added to this discriminant analysis, a correct classification rate of 77.4% in original analysis and 75.7% in the leave-one-out analysis was obtained (n = 115). These following nesting pairs during their breeding seasons in different years. Presumed female andmaleBlack-throatedDiver could be distinguished based on the shape of the forehead.Peer reviewe

ABBA regulates plasma-membrane and actin dynamics to promote radial glia extension

Radial glia play key roles in neuronal migration, axon guidance, and neurogenesis during development of the central nervous system. However, the molecular mechanisms regulating growth and morphology of these extended cells are unknown. We show that ABBA, a novel member of the IRSp53-MIM protein family, is enriched in different types of radial glia. ABBA binds ATP-actin monomers with high affinity and deforms PtdIns(4,5)P2-rich membranes in vitro through its WH2 and IM domains, respectively. In radial-glia-like C6-R cells, ABBA localises to the interface between the actin cytoskeleton and plasma membrane, and its depletion by RNAi led to defects in lamellipodial dynamics and process extension. Together, this study identifies ABBA as a novel regulator of actin and plasma membrane dynamics in radial glial cells, and provides evidence that membrane binding and deformation activity is critical for the cellular functions of IRSp53-MIM-ABBA family proteins

Randomised clinical trial: the long‐term safety and tolerability of naloxegol in patients with pain and opioid‐induced constipation

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108643/1/apt12899.pd

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antigen from serum can aid in timing of COVID-19 infection

SARS-CoV-2 RNA can be detected in respiratory samples for weeks after onset of COVID-19 disease. Therefore, one of the diagnostic challenges of PCR positive cases is differentiating between acute COVID-19 disease and convalescent phase. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antigen in serum and plasma samples of COVID-19 patients has been demonstrated previously. Our study aimed to characterize the analytical specificity and sensitivity of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Salocor SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Quantitative Assay Kit (c) (Salofa Ltd, Salo, Finland)) for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antigen in serum, and to characterize the kinetics of antigenemia. The evaluation material included a negative serum panel of 155 samples, and 126 serum samples from patients with PCR-confirmed COVID-19. The specificity of the Salocor SARS-CoV-2 serum nucleocapsid antigen test was 98.0 %. In comparison with simultaneous positive PCR from upper respiratory tract (URT) specimens, the test sensitivity was 91.7 %. In a serum panel in which the earliest serum sample was collected two days before the collection of positive URT specimen, and the latest 48 days after (median 1 day post URT sample collection), the serum N antigen test sensitivity was 95.6 % within 14 days post onset of symptoms. The antigenemia resolved approximately two weeks after the onset of disease and diagnostic PCR. The combination of simultaneous SARS-CoV-2 antigen and antibody testing appeared to provide useful in-formation for timing of COVID-19. Our results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 N-antigenemia may be used as a diag-nostic marker in acute COVID-19.Peer reviewe

Rapid increase in SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence during the emergence of Omicron variant, Finland

Non peer reviewe

The current state of Open Access to research articles from the University of Helsinki

Ryhmämme kiinnostuksen kohteena oli Helsingin yliopiston julkaisujen näkyvyys verkossa. Kysymys kuului: kuinka moni tutkimusartikkeleista löytyy avoimesti kokotekstiversiona? Tutkimusotoksena käytimme Helsingin yliopiston JULKI-julkaisutietokannan viitteitä vuosilta 2007 ja 2008. Yritimme etsiä lehtiartikkelien kokotekstiversioita käyttäen kahta yleisesti käytössä olevaa hakukonetta sekä kahta avointen julkaisuarkistojen metatietoja haravoivaa hakukonetta. Avoimesti saatavilla oleva kokotekstiversio löytyi 49,1%:ssa otoksen artikkeleista. Google ja Google Scholar -hakukoneilla tehdyt haut olivat tuloksellisempia kuin avointen julkaisuarkistojen metatietoja haravoivilla hakukoneilla tehdyt haut. Hakujen onnistumisprosentit olivat: Google 42,5%, Google Scholar 38,1%, OpenDOAR 14,3% ja Scientific Commons 15,7%. Kaikkiaan 49,1% artikkeleista löytyi kokotekstiversiona. Englanninkielisten artikkelien saatavuusprosentti oli huomattavasti parempi kuin suomenkielisten. Vaikka Google ja Google Scholar ovat tällä hetkellä parhaita välineitä verkossa avoimesti saatavilla olevien tieteellisten tutkimusartikkelien etsimiseen, tutkimustuloksemme perusteella avointen julkaisuarkistojen metatietoja haravoivia hakukoneita ei kannata jättää huomiotta.Non peer reviewe