Long‐term care facilities' response to the COVID ‐19 pandemic: An international, cross‐sectional survey

Aims To (i) assess the adherence of long‐term care (LTC) facilities to the COVID‐19 prevention and control recommendations, (ii) identify predictors of this adherence and (iii) examine the association between the adherence level and the impact of the pandemic on selected unfavourable conditions. Design Cross‐sectional survey. Methods Managers (n = 212) and staff (n = 2143) of LTC facilities (n = 223) in 13 countries/regions (Brazil, Egypt, England, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Thailand and Turkey) evaluated the adherence of LTC facilities to COVID‐19 prevention and control recommendations and the impact of the pandemic on unfavourable conditions related to staff, residents and residents' families. The characteristics of participants and LTC facilities were also gathered. Data were collected from April to October 2021. The study was reported following the STROBE guidelines. Results The adherence was significantly higher among facilities with more pre‐pandemic in‐service education on infection control and easier access to information early in the pandemic. Residents' feelings of loneliness and feeling down were the most affected conditions by the pandemic. More psychological support to residents was associated with fewer residents' aggressive behaviours, and more psychological support to staff was associated with less work–life imbalance. Conclusions Pre‐pandemic preparedness significantly shaped LTC facilities' response to the pandemic. Adequate psychological support to residents and staff might help mitigate the negative impacts of infection outbreaks. Impact This is the first study to comprehensively examine the adherence of LTC facilities to COVID‐19 prevention and control recommendations. The results demonstrated that the adherence level was significantly related to pre‐pandemic preparedness and that adequate psychological support to staff and residents was significantly associated with less negative impacts of the pandemic on LTC facilities' staff and residents. The results would help LTC facilities prepare for and respond to future infection outbreaks. Patient or public contribution No Patient or Public Contribution

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

Numerical Simulation for the Fractional SIRC Model and Influenza A

Abstract: In this paper, A Chebyshev spectral method is presented to study the deals with the fractional SIRC model associated with the evolution of influenza A disease in human population. The properties of the Chebyshev polynomials are used to derive an approximate formula of the Caputo fractional derivative. This formula reduces the SIRC model to the solution of a system of algebraic equations which is solved using Newton iteration method. The convergence analysis and an upper bound of the error of the derived formula are given. We compared our numerical solutions with those numerical solutions using fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. The obtained results of the SIRC model show the simplicity and the efficiency of the proposed method. Also, illustration for propagation of influenza A virus and the relation between the four cases of it along the time at the fractional derivative are given

Enhancement of phenolics, flavonoids and glucosinolates of Broccoli (Brassica olaracea, var. Italica) as antioxidants in response to organic and bio-organic fertilizers

A field experiment was carried out to study the effect of organic and bioorganic fertilizers on growth parameters, yield and the quality of two broccoli cultivars (Calabrese and Southern star). Bio-organic fertilizers gave better results for all vegetative growth parameters for Southern star cultivar compared to Calabrese cultivar. Total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and total glucosinolates content (TGsC) were almost higher in Calabrese cultivar as a result of organic fertilizer treatment. The antioxidant activities of both cultivars were evaluated and Calabrese cultivar showed the higher1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl DPPH. scavenging activity expressed as IC50 (its concentrations for 50% inhibition) (16.56 μg/ml) compared to Southern star (19.42 μg/ml). In addition, Calabrese cultivar showed the higher chelating power (75.36 μg/ml) than Southern star (72.43 μg/ml) at (30 μg/ml) when the organic fertilizer was applied. The results indicated that there is a good margin for enhancing antioxidant compounds of broccoli for economic production using organic fertilization. This study indicated the potential application of broccoli as a potent natural source of antioxidants as nutraceuticals