Berlin auf der Karte der polnischen Kunst

Das künstlerische Berlin war seit Aufbruch der Avantgarde des 20. Jahrhunderts bis zum Ende der Weimarer Republik für die modernen Künstler aus Osteuropa, u. a. auch für polnische, eine attraktive Alternative zu den eigenen, eher konservativen und in sich geschlossenen Kreisen. Mit der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft nahm diese Tradition zwangsläufig ein jähes Ende und geriet nach Entstehen der zwei gegnerischen politischen Blöcke in Europa bis 1989 in Vergessenheit. 20 Jahre nach der deutschen Wiedervereinigung fragt die Autorin, welche kulturelle Position Berlin heute einnimmt. Waren der Optimismus und die hohen Erwartungen, die nach dem Mauerfall nicht zuletzt aus polnischer Perspektive aufkeimten, berechtigt oder aber zu übertrieben und ohne reellen Rückhalt? Die Antwort der Analyse lautet: Ja und nochmals ja: berechtigt, aber vieles liegt noch vor uns. Dafür steht unter anderen der polnische Künstler Artur Żmijewski, der zum Kurator der siebenten Berliner Biennale of Contemporary Art ernannt wurde, die 2012 stattfinden wird

Co-circulating Arboviruses in Latin America: Zika Virus, Chikungunya Virus and Dengue Virus

Chikungunya (CHIKV), Dengue (DENV) and Zika (ZIKV) viruses have been of growing public health concern in Latin America. Increasing incidence of new infections alongside the continuing lack of licenced antivirals or vaccines have contributed to a rising burden of disease in populations and cost for healthcare systems. These burdens are further exacerbated due to the difficulty of achieving accurate diagnosis in settings where these viruses co-circulate. Thus, the aim of this research was to study co-circulating CHIKV, DENV and ZIKV in Latin America, particularly in relation to co-infections and the accurate identification of specific arbovirus infections. First, a systematic review of the published literature on ZIKV co-infections was conducted, assessing the co-infection frequency among ZIKV infected cases and the impact of co-infection on the clinical presentation of ZIKV. Second, the co-circulation of CHIKV and ZIKV in a cohort of pregnant women in Recife, Brazil from 2015-2017 was described and the potential to differentiate between infections at symptom presentation was assessed. The systematic review's main findings showed that the most frequent ZIKV co-infections occurred with CHIKV and DENV, and in some circumstances occurred in up to half of the ZIKV infections. Additionally, co-infection did not seem to affect the mild clinical presentation of ZIKV infections. However, the review was not able to assess a potential increase of complications associated with ZIKV co-infections compared to ZIKV mono-infections. Furthermore, the analysis of the cohort study showed that CHIKV and ZIKV infection were distinguishable upon clinical presentation in pregnant women. Our findings on ZIKV co-infections and the clinical presentation of ZIKV and CHIKV infected pregnant women contribute to improved patient management in settings of arbovirus co-circulation, through aiming to facilitate clinical diagnosis and guide laboratory testing, in order to administer appropriate follow up if needed, and consequently to reduce complications associated with arbovirus infection

Addressing the COVID-19 emergency during the ongoing political and economic crisis in Fragile Lebanon: A call to action

From Springer Nature via Jisc Publications RouterThis Letter to the Editor aims to reflect on the current challenges to increase the coverage of COVID-19 vaccination in the fragile and conflict-affected setting of Lebanon, which is currently experiencing one of the biggest economic crises globally as well as a recent surge in COVID-19 cases. Addressing the supply- and demand-related factors affecting vaccination would increase COVID-19 vaccine coverage and prevent the complete collapse of an already overwhelmed Lebanese health care system.15pubpu

Socioeconomic risk markers of arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) infections: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION: Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) are of notable public health importance worldwide, owing to their potential to cause explosive outbreaks and induce debilitating and potentially life-threatening disease manifestations. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to assess the relationship between markers of socioeconomic position (SEP) and infection due to arboviruses with mosquito vectors. METHODS: We conducted a systematic search on PubMed, Embase, and LILACS databases to identify studies published between 1980 and 2020 that measured the association of SEP markers with arbovirus infection. We included observational studies without geographic location or age restrictions. We excluded studies from grey literature, reviews and ecological studies. Study findings were extracted and summarised, and pooled estimates were obtained using random-effects meta-analyses. RESULTS: We identified 36 observational studies using data pertaining to 106 524 study participants in 23 geographic locations that empirically examined the relationship between socioeconomic factors and infections caused by seven arboviruses (dengue, chikungunya, Japanese encephalitis, Rift Valley fever, Sindbis, West Nile and Zika viruses). While results were varied, descriptive synthesis pointed to a higher risk of arbovirus infection associated with markers of lower SEP, including lower education, income poverty, low healthcare coverage, poor housing materials, interrupted water supply, marital status (married, divorced or widowed), non-white ethnicities and migration status. Pooled crude estimates indicated an increased risk of arboviral infection associated with lower education (risk ratio, RR 1.5 95% CI 1.3 to 1.9); I CONCLUSION: Evidence from this systematic review suggests that lower SEP increases the risk of acquiring arboviral infection; however, there was large heterogeneity across studies. Further studies are required to delineate the relationship between specific individual, household and community-level SEP indicators and arbovirus infection risks to help inform targeted public health interventions. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42019158572

Measurement of direct photon production at Tevatron fixed target energies

Measurements of the production of high transverse momentum direct photons by a 515 GeV/c piminus beam and 530 and 800 GeV/c proton beams in interactions with beryllium and hydrogen targets are presented. The data span the kinematic ranges of 3.5 < p_T < 12 GeV/c in transverse momentum and 1.5 units in rapidity. The inclusive direct-photon cross sections are compared with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations and expectations based on a phenomenological parton-k_T model.Comment: RevTeX4, 23 pages, 32 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.