SARS-CoV-2 introductions and early dynamics of the epidemic in Portugal

Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal was rapidly implemented by the National Institute of Health in the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic, in collaboration with more than 50 laboratories distributed nationwide. Methods By applying recent phylodynamic models that allow integration of individual-based travel history, we reconstructed and characterized the spatio-temporal dynamics of SARSCoV-2 introductions and early dissemination in Portugal. Results We detected at least 277 independent SARS-CoV-2 introductions, mostly from European countries (namely the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, and Switzerland), which were consistent with the countries with the highest connectivity with Portugal. Although most introductions were estimated to have occurred during early March 2020, it is likely that SARS-CoV-2 was silently circulating in Portugal throughout February, before the first cases were confirmed. Conclusions Here we conclude that the earlier implementation of measures could have minimized the number of introductions and subsequent virus expansion in Portugal. This study lays the foundation for genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal, and highlights the need for systematic and geographically-representative genomic surveillance.We gratefully acknowledge to Sara Hill and Nuno Faria (University of Oxford) and Joshua Quick and Nick Loman (University of Birmingham) for kindly providing us with the initial sets of Artic Network primers for NGS; Rafael Mamede (MRamirez team, IMM, Lisbon) for developing and sharing a bioinformatics script for sequence curation (https://github.com/rfm-targa/BioinfUtils); Philippe Lemey (KU Leuven) for providing guidance on the implementation of the phylodynamic models; Joshua L. Cherry (National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health) for providing guidance with the subsampling strategies; and all authors, originating and submitting laboratories who have contributed genome data on GISAID (https://www.gisaid.org/) on which part of this research is based. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the view of the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the United States government. This study is co-funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Agência de Investigação Clínica e Inovação Biomédica (234_596874175) on behalf of the Research 4 COVID-19 call. Some infrastructural resources used in this study come from the GenomePT project (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022184), supported by COMPETE 2020 - Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Lisboa Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa2020), Algarve Portugal Regional Operational Programme (CRESC Algarve2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Educomunicação, Transformação Social e Desenvolvimento Sustentável

Esta publicação apresenta os principais trabalhos dos GTs do II Congresso Internacional de Comunicação e Educação nos temas Transformação social, com os artigos que abordam principalmente Educomunicação e/ou Mídia-Educação, no contexto de políticas de diversidade, inclusão e equidade; e, em Desenvolvimento Sustentável os artigos que abordam os avanços da relação comunicação/educação no contexto da educação ambiental e desenvolvimento sustentável

Impacto da ingestão de uma infusão de funcho pelas mães na cólica infantil em bebés amamentados com leite materno

ABSTRACT Background: Infantile colic is one of the main causes of discomfort and suffering for an infant, as well as concern and psychological, emotional, and physical strain for the parents. For this reason, infantile colic is a field of clinical research both in terms of etiology and treatment. Some studies suggest that a large ratio of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus in the intestinal microbiota of infants protects against colic and agitation. Other studies also point to fennel-based teas having a positive impact on improving symptoms of colic in infants. Objective: To assess the possible changes to the microbiota of the breast milk and of the feces of infants with or under five months old breastfed after the ingestion of a fennel-based tea by the mothers. To isolate and identify bacteria with a potential probiotic effect from the breast milk and feces of the infants. Design: This is a clinical study that includes newborn infants under five months old with symptoms of colic. The intervention involves the ingestion of 1 liter of fennel tea by the mothers throughout the day, over a period of 7 days. It was requested that the mothers collect a sample of their own breast milk and of their infants’ feces. The samples were collected at the beginning and end of the intervention. These were used to identify the bacterial community with high throughput sequencing and to isolate the bacteria with a probiotic aspect. Results: 13 samples of feces and 5 samples of breast milk were examined at the level of the microbiota. Several species that belong to the genus Bifidobacterium were detected in the samples of feces. The number of ASVs in the samples of feces rose significantly (P < 0.05) after the intervention. There was also a significant rise (P < 0.05) of the ASVs belonging to the phylum Firmicutes in the samples of the feces after the intervention, excluding one sample that was drastically different to the rest. Conclusion: This study indicates that the bioactive compounds in fennel have a prebiotic effect in infants breastfed by mothers who consume fennel tea by selectively stimulating the rise of the number of beneficial bacteria in the intestinal microbiota, namely some genera belonging to the phylum Firmicutes and bacteria of the genus Bifidobacterium, thus reducing the symptoms of infantile colic. This study represents an inspiration for possible future studies who seek to better understand the effects of fennel tea in the decrease of symptoms of colic in infants

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved