The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Mediterranean region over 18 months: bridging the health outcomes and sustainable development goals

Abstract Background: The COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe, including across the Mediterranean basin. This region presents diversity in economy, culture, and societal affairs. We attempted to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the population and on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), our aim being to aid in the development of COVID-19 national plans. Methods: Epidemiological data was obtained from ‘Our World in Data’ databases (January 2020 – July 2021). Case, mortality, and vaccination incidence comparisons were made across neighbouring countries. The SDG index, universal health coverage (UHC) and health workforce targets were collected for each country. Correlations between SDG targets and COVID-19 outcomes were analysed. Results: Similarities in morbidity and mortality outcomes were present across neighbouring countries, with a bidirectional relationship between cumulative fully vaccinated population and infectivity fatality rates. Positive relationships were present between SDG indexes, UHC and health workforces and COVID-19 cases, deaths, and vaccinations. Conclusion: At prima face, high-income countries seem to have sustained worse morbidity and mortality outcomes, despite having had better UHC and a greater health workforce in the pre-COVID-19 era however, one must also consider that factors such as health-seeking behaviour and underdiagnosis may have influenced this. Cross-border infectivity was, however, evident. Pan-Mediterranean action must therefore be taken to ensure COVID-19 transmissibility and mortality are reduced across borders, while ensuring an equitable health outcome across populations. Keywords: COVID-19; Mediterranean; Morbidity; Mortality; Vaccination; Sustainable Development Goals; Outcome Assessment

Taking down the FLAG! How Insect Cell Expression Challenges an Established Tag-System

In 1988 the preceding journal of Nature Biotechnology, Bio/Technology, reported a work by Hopp and co-workers about a new tag system for the identification and purification of recombinant proteins: the FLAG-tag. Beside the extensively used hexa-his tag system the FLAG-tag has gained broad popularity due to its small size, its high solubility, the presence of an internal Enterokinase cleavage site, and the commercial availability of high-affinity anti-FLAG antibodies. Surprisingly, considering the heavy use of FLAG in numerous laboratories world-wide, we identified in insect cells a post-translational modification (PTM) that abolishes the FLAG-anti-FLAG interaction rendering this tag system ineffectual for secreted proteins. The present publication shows that the tyrosine that is part of the crucial FLAG epitope DYK is highly susceptible to sulfation, a PTM catalysed by the enzyme family of Tyrosylprotein-Sulfo-transferases (TPSTs). We showed that this modification can result in less than 20% of secreted FLAG-tagged protein being accessible for purification questioning the universal applicability of this established tag system

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Mediterranean region over 18 months : bridging the health outcomes and sustainable development goals

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe, including across the Mediterranean basin. This region presents diversity in economy, culture, and societal affairs. We attempted to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the population and on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), our aim being to aid in the development of COVID-19 national plans. Methods: Epidemiological data was obtained from ‘Our World in Data’ databases (January 2020 – July 2021). Case, mortality, and vaccination incidence comparisons were made across neighbouring countries. The SDG index, universal health coverage (UHC) and health workforce targets were collected for each country. Correlations between SDG targets and COVID-19 outcomes were analysed. Results: Similarities in morbidity and mortality outcomes were present across neighbouring countries, with a bidirectional relationship between cumulative fully vaccinated population and infectivity fatality rates. Positive relationships were present between SDG indexes, UHC and health workforces and COVID-19 cases, deaths, and vaccinations. Conclusion: At prima face, high-income countries seem to have sustained worse morbidity and mortality outcomes, despite having had better UHC and a greater health workforce in the pre-COVID-19 era however, one must also consider that factors such as health-seeking behaviour and underdiagnosis may have influenced this. Cross-border infectivity was, however, evident. Pan-Mediterranean action must therefore be taken to ensure COVID-19 transmissibility and mortality are reduced across borders, while ensuring an equitable health outcome across populations.peer-reviewe

Towards a muon collider

A muon collider would enable the big jump ahead in energy reach that is needed for a fruitful exploration of fundamental interactions. The challenges of producing muon collisions at high luminosity and 10 TeV centre of mass energy are being investigated by the recently-formed International Muon Collider Collaboration. This Review summarises the status and the recent advances on muon colliders design, physics and detector studies. The aim is to provide a global perspective of the field and to outline directions for future work

Towards a Muon Collider

A muon collider would enable the big jump ahead in energy reach that is needed for a fruitful exploration of fundamental interactions. The challenges of producing muon collisions at high luminosity and 10 TeV centre of mass energy are being investigated by the recently-formed International Muon Collider Collaboration. This Review summarises the status and the recent advances on muon colliders design, physics and detector studies. The aim is to provide a global perspective of the field and to outline directions for future work.Comment: 118 pages, 103 figure

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass