COVID-19 vaccine acceptance, hesitancy and resistancy among university students in France

Clinical Investigation Center, CHU Rouen, Normandie University, Rouen, France, CHU Rouen, Normandie University, Rouen, France, Rouen University Hospital, Normandie University, Rouen, FranceIntroduction. Young adults, specifically college students, are at risk of being infected with COVID-19 and transmitting the infection to others owing to their sense of invulnerability and can be a source of transmission to at-risk populations and could be the public acceptance of a new vaccine for COVID-19 developed within a short period remains uncertain despite the forthcoming availability. The objectives were to explore, among university students, the level of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance, hesitancy and resistancy and to determine the motivations and barriers, and the reasons that may change student vaccination decision making. Material and methods. An online cross-sectional study was conducted among students of a French university in January 2021 with questions about the intention to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the motivations and the barriers: ”Do you intend to be vaccinated against COVID-19 (when it is possible for you to do so)?” with the choice answers of: “Yes, absolutely”; “Yes, probably”; “No, probably not”; “No, certainly not” and “I don’t know”. Students reported the motivations or the reasons of hesitations with several possible answers. Results. A total of 3089 students were included, with a mean of age of 20.3 (SD=1.9). A total of 3089 students were included, with a mean of age of 20.3 (SD=1.9), and 71.4% were female. The self-estimated knowledge of conventional vaccines and COVID-19 vaccines was 5.9/10 (2.3) and 4.9/10 (2.3), respectively. Confidence in the efficacy and safety of conventional vaccines (excluding COVID-19 vaccines) was 8.0/10 (2.3) and 7.7/10 (2.3), respectively. To the question on the intention to vaccinate against the COVID-19, 58.0% of students reported that they would choose to have a vaccination, 17.0% reported that they would not and 25.0% were not sure. The main motivation for vaccine acceptance were “I don't want to transmit COVID-19 to others”, the main barrier for vaccine resistance or hesitancy were “I prefer to wait until I have more experience with these new vaccines”. Age, female gender, being in first three years of study, studied sciences courses and neither sciences nor healthcare courses were significantly associated with a higher risk of vaccine hesitancy or resistancy. Self-estimated knowledge of conventional vaccines and COVID-19 vaccines, and confidence in efficiency and safety of conventional vaccination were associated with a lower risk of vaccine hesitancy or resistancy. Conclusions. Our study shows that, in January 2021, before students have the opportunity to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in France, more than half of the students were vaccine acceptance, a quarter were hesitant, and one in five students were resistant. It is relevant to disseminate evidence-based interventions to promote COVID-19 vaccine acceptability for college students, especially for the students in neither sciences nor healthcare, as college students will soon be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Preventive university medicine, campus-based student organizations, and college students could be consider designing educational programs and messaging that promotes behavioral confidence among college students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine

BecA-ILRI Hub capacity building program: Empowering African scientists and institutions to solve Africa’s agricultural challenges

<p>Bars show medians, *p<0.05, **p<0.01 Dunn's tests vs. controls. # p<0.05 two-tails, Mann-Whitney -test vs. controls.</p

Identification and Characterization of Human Observational Studies in Nutritional Epidemiology on Gut Microbiomics for Joint Data Analysis

In any research field, data access and data integration are major challenges that even large, well-established consortia face. Although data sharing initiatives are increasing, joint data analyses on nutrition and microbiomics in health and disease are still scarce. We aimed to identify observational studies with data on nutrition and gut microbiome composition from the Intestinal Microbiomics (INTIMIC) Knowledge Platform following the findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) principles. An adapted template from the European Nutritional Phenotype Assessment and Data Sharing Initiative (ENPADASI) consortium was used to collect microbiome-specific information and other related factors. In total, 23 studies (17 longitudinal and 6 cross-sectional) were identified from Italy (7), Germany (6), Netherlands (3), Spain (2), Belgium (1), and France (1) or multiple countries (3). Of these, 21 studies collected information on both dietary intake (24 h dietary recall, food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), or Food Records) and gut microbiome. All studies collected stool samples. The most often used sequencing platform was Illumina MiSeq, and the preferred hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene were V3-V4 or V4. The combination of datasets will allow for sufficiently powered investigations to increase the knowledge and understanding of the relationship between food and gut microbiome in health and disease

Increased Immune Complexes of Hypocretin Autoantibodies in Narcolepsy

International audienceBACKGROUND: Hypocretin peptides participate in the regulation of sleep-wake cycle while deficiency in hypocretin signaling and loss of hypocretin neurons are causative for narcolepsy-cataplexy. However, the mechanism responsible for alteration of the hypocretin system in narcolepsy-cataplexy and its relevance to other central hypersomnias remain unknown. Here we studied whether central hypersomnias can be associated with autoantibodies reacting with hypocretin-1 peptide present as immune complexes. METHODOLOGY: Serum levels of free and dissociated (total) autoantibodies reacting with hypocretin-1 peptide were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and analyzed with regard to clinical parameters in 82 subjects with narcolepsy-cataplexy, narcolepsy without cataplexy or idiopathic hypersomnia and were compared to 25 healthy controls. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Serum levels of total but not free IgG autoantibodies against hypocretin-1 were increased in narcolepsy-cataplexy. Increased levels of complexed IgG autoantibodies against hypocretin-1 were found in all patients groups with a further increase in narcolepsy-cataplexy. Levels of total IgM hypocretin-1 autoantibodies were also elevated in all groups of patients. Increased levels of anti-idiotypic IgM autoantibodies reacting with hypocretin-1 IgG autoantibodies affinity purified from sera of subjects with narcolepsy-cataplexy were found in all three groups of patients. Disease duration correlated negatively with serum levels of hypocretin-1 IgG and IgM autoantibodies and with anti-idiotypic IgM autoantibodies. CONCLUSION: Central hypersomnias and particularly narcolepsy-cataplexy are characterized by higher serum levels of autoantibodies directed against hypocretin-1 which are present as immune complexes most likely with anti-idiotypic autoantibodies suggesting their relevance to the mechanism of sleep-wake cycle regulation

Faire face à l’obésité : progrès dans la physiopathologie et la prise en charge médicale

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Sharp Increase in Eating Disorders among University Students since the COVID-19 Pandemic

International audienceThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused stress as well as modified physical activity and eating habits among university students. The objectives were to identify the changes in body mass index (BMI) and eating disorders among university students between 2009 and 2021. Between 2009 and 2021, five repeated cross-sectional studies were conducted among university students who filled in an anonymous online self-questionnaire. Age, gender, and BMI were recorded, and the SCOFF questionnaire was used for ED screening which, in combination with BMI, allows to identify the four broad categories of ED with the Expali algorithm. With the five studies, 8981 university students were included in total. Obesity steadily increased between 2009 and 2021, for both men and women. The prevalence of ED was stable between 2009 and 2018 and significantly increased from 31.8% in 2018 to 51.8% in 2021 for women (p trend < 0.0001), and from 13.0% in 2009 to 31.3% in 2021 for men (p trend < 0.0001). All types of ED increased significantly between 2009 and 2021, except for restrictive ED among men. These results indicate for the first time a significant increase in ED prevalence among students since the COVID-19 pandemic. Initiatives to reinforce early screening of ED to implement targeted interventions in the student population are urgently needed

Bone Mineral Density after Weight Gain in 160 Patients with Anorexia Nervosa

Low bone mineral density (BMD) is a frequent complication in anorexia nervosa (AN). There are controversial points of views regarding the restoration of bone mineralization after recovery in AN. We aimed to assess changes of BMD at 3 years in patients with AN and to explore the relationships between body composition, physical activity, and BMD. Patients with AN were included from 2009 to 2011 in a first visit (T0) with evaluation of weight, height, body mass index (BMI), body composition [fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass], and BMD. Those who had low BMD, either osteoporosis or osteopenia, were admitted in a second visit (T1) to carry out a new bone densitometry examination and body composition; they were also asked for their physical activity. At T0, our study involved 160 patients. Low BMD was observed in 53.6% of them and significant factors associated with demineralization were lower BMIs (16.5 ± 2.1 vs 17.3 ± 2.3 kg/m2, p = 0.01) and higher duration of AN (11.4 ± 10.5 vs 6.4 ± 6.5 years, p = 0.001). At 3 years follow-up (T1), 42 patients were involved and no significant changes in BMD were observed despite body weight increase (3.8 ± 6.1 kg). Interestingly, FM gain was a significant factor associated with BMD improvement at follow-up (8.0 ± 9.1 vs 3.0 ± 3.5 kg, p = 0.02). Our findings suggest that the restoration of normal bone values is not related to the increase of body weight, at least after 3 years. FM seems to play an important role in the pathophysiological mechanism of osteoporosis and osteopenia in AN

Intestinal Permeability in Patients With Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Is There a Place for Glutamine Supplementation?

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