Detection and quantification of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater influent in relation to reported COVID-19 incidence in Finland

Wastewater-based surveillance is a cost-effective concept for monitoring COVID-19 pandemics at a population level. Here, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was monitored from a total of 693 wastewater (WW) influent samples from 28 wastewater treatment plants (WWTP, N = 21-42 samples per WWTP) in Finland from August 2020 to May 2021, covering WW of ca. 3.3 million inhabitants (~ 60% of the Finnish population). Quantity of SARS-CoV-2 RNA fragments in 24 h-composite samples was determined by using the ultrafiltration method followed by nucleic acid extraction and CDC N2 RT-qPCR assay. SARS-CoV-2 RNA signals at each WWTP were compared over time to the numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases (14-day case incidence rate) in the sewer network area.& nbsp;Over the 10-month surveillance period with an extensive total number of samples, the detection rate of SARSCoV-2 RNA in WW was 79% (including 6% uncertain results, i.e., amplified only in one out of four, two original and two ten-fold diluted replicates), while only 24% of all samples exhibited gene copy numbers above the quantification limit. The range of the SARS-CoV-2 detection rate in WW varied from 33% (including 10% uncertain results) in Pietarsaari to 100% in Espoo. Only six out of 693 WW samples were positive with SARS-COV-2 RNA when the reported COVID-19 case number from the preceding 14 days was zero. Overall, the 14-day COVID19 incidence was 7.0, 18, and 36 cases per 100 000 persons within the sewer network area when the probability to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater samples was 50%, 75% and 95%, respectively. The quantification of SARS-CoV-2 RNA required significantly more COVID-19 cases: the quantification rate was 50%, 75%, and 95% when the 14-day incidence was 110, 152, and 223 COVID-19 cases, respectively, per 100 000 persons. Multiple linear regression confirmed the relationship between the COVID-19 incidence and the SARS-CoV-2 RNA quantified in WW at 15 out of 28 WWTPs (overall R2 = 0.36, p < 0.001). At four of the 13 WWTPs where a significant relationship was not found, the SARS-CoV-2 RNA remained below the quantification limit during the whole study period. In the five other WWTPs, the sewer coverage was less than 80% of the total population in the area and thus the COVID-19 cases may have been inhabitants from the areas not covered.& nbsp;Based on the results obtained, WW-based surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 could be used as an indicator for local and national COVID-19 incidence trends. Importantly, the determination of SARS-CoV-2 RNA fragments from WW is a powerful and non-invasive public health surveillance measure, independent of possible changes in the clinical testing strategies or in the willingness of individuals to be tested for COVID-19.Peer reviewe

High genetic diversity at the extreme range edge: nucleotide variation at nuclear loci in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in Scotland

Nucleotide polymorphism at 12 nuclear loci was studied in Scots pine populations across an environmental gradient in Scotland, to evaluate the impacts of demographic history and selection on genetic diversity. At eight loci, diversity patterns were compared between Scottish and continental European populations. At these loci, a similar level of diversity (θsil=~0.01) was found in Scottish vs mainland European populations, contrary to expectations for recent colonization, however, less rapid decay of linkage disequilibrium was observed in the former (ρ=0.0086±0.0009, ρ=0.0245±0.0022, respectively). Scottish populations also showed a deficit of rare nucleotide variants (multi-locus Tajima's D=0.316 vs D=−0.379) and differed significantly from mainland populations in allelic frequency and/or haplotype structure at several loci. Within Scotland, western populations showed slightly reduced nucleotide diversity (πtot=0.0068) compared with those from the south and east (0.0079 and 0.0083, respectively) and about three times higher recombination to diversity ratio (ρ/θ=0.71 vs 0.15 and 0.18, respectively). By comparison with results from coalescent simulations, the observed allelic frequency spectrum in the western populations was compatible with a relatively recent bottleneck (0.00175 × 4Ne generations) that reduced the population to about 2% of the present size. However, heterogeneity in the allelic frequency distribution among geographical regions in Scotland suggests that subsequent admixture of populations with different demographic histories may also have played a role

Tinklalaidės neformaliajame mokymesi: socialinių medijų naudojimas asmeninės mokymosi aplinkos, asmeninio mokymosi tinklo kūrimui

The use of second-generation web technology (WEB2) in education is emphasising the role of social media as educational sources. Researchers that are analysing personal learning environments (Schaffert, Kalz, 2009; Dabbagh, Kitsantas, 2012), personal learning networks (Couros, 2010) suggest the importance of social media, although this emphasis is attributed to the collaborative interaction of learners. To comprehensively assess the potential of podcasts as social media in the creation of personal learning environments, personal learning networks, the research described in this article does not restrict the definition of podcasts as the potential of collaboration provided by social media. In this article, attention is directed towards the potential of podcasts in the creation of personal learning environment and personal learning networks. By using integrated information behaviour module analysis to determine if the students of Lithuanian higher education institutions value the potential of informal learning provided by podcasts. To determine if these technologies are used for the formation of personal learning environments, personal learning networks, a discussion group research was conducted. During the research the analysis of participant podcast usage showed there is interaction between media content used for recreation and media content used for formal and informal learning. This means that the participants of the research use podcasts to create personal learning environments. On the other hand, this interaction is minimal, created only by the learners and reasoned by the search of educational podcasts. The analysis of the experiences of the discussion participants revealed that the collaborative interaction between learners involved in the research in searching, sharing and using podcasts in the process of learning is not intensive, it is typically fragmented. This allows to point out that the communities that use podcasts for informal learning are not forming. This shows that the potential of podcasts in creating a learning network is not fulfilled, and that podcasts don’t inspire participatory learning.Antrosios kartos saityno technologijų (WEB2) naudojimas mokymesi nurodo socialinių medijų kaip mokymosi šaltinių, išteklių reikšmės augimą. Šiame straipsnyje dėmesys atkreipiamas į tinklalaidžių potencialą besimokančiųjų asmeninės mokymosi aplinkos, asmeninio mokymosi tinklo kūrimui. Mokslininkai, analizuojantys asmeninę mokymosi aplinką (Schaffert, Kalz, 2009; Dabbagh, Kitsantas, 2012), asmeninius mokymosi tinklus (Couros, 2010), nurodo išskirtinę socialinių medijų svarbą. Tačiau toks socialinių medijų sureikšminimas siejamas su besimokančiųjų bendradarbiaujamosios sąveikos užtikrinimu. Šiame straipsnyje pristatomame tyrime siekiant visapusiškai įvertinti tinklalaidžių kaip socialinių medijų potencialą kuriant asmeninę mokymosi aplinką, asmeninį mokymosi tinklą, neapsiribota tik jų kaip socialinių medijų teikiamų bendradarbiavimo galimybių įvertinimu. Taikant integruoto informacinės elgsenos modelio tyrimo prieigą nustatant, kaip Lietuvos aukštųjų mokyklų studentai vertina tinklalaidžių neformaliojo savaiminio mokymosi potencialą: ar šios technologijos naudojamos asmeninei mokymosi aplinkai, asmeniniam mokymosi tinklui formuoti, buvo atliktas diskusijų grupių tyrimas. Tyrimo metu atlikta diskusijos dalyvių tinklalaidžių naudojimo analizė parodė, kad yra formuojama sąveika tarp pramogoms ir formaliajam bei neformaliajam mokymuisi naudojamo šių naujųjų medijų turinio. Tai reiškia, kad tyrimo dalyviai tinklalaides naudoja asmeninės mokymosi aplinkos kūrimui. Tačiau ši sąveika yra minimali, kuriama tik pačių besimokančiųjų, ji grindžiama mokymosi turinio tinklalaidžių saviieška. Diskusijos dalyvių patirčių analizė atskleidė, kad bendradarbiaujamoji sąveika tarp tyrime dalyvavusių besimokančiųjų ieškant, dalijantis, naudojant tinklalaides mokymuisi nėra intensyvi, jai būdingas fragmentiškumas. Tai leidžia pastebėti, kad neformaliojo mokymosi naudojant tinklalaides bendruomenės nesiformuoja. Tai rodo, kad tinklalaidžių potencialas neišnaudojamas dalyvaujamojo mokymosi tinklo kūrimui, tinklalaidės neinspiruoja dalyvaujamojo mokymosi

Recombination in the Evolution of Enterovirus C Species Sub-Group that Contains Types CVA-21, CVA-24, EV-C95, EV-C96 and EV-C99

Peer reviewe

Evidence of Recombination and Genetic Diversity in Human Rhinoviruses in Children with Acute Respiratory Infection

International audienceOur study showed a high diversity of HRV strains that cause bronchitis and pneumonia in children. A predominance of HRV-C over HRV-A and HRV-B was observed, and two subspecies of HRV-C were identified, the diversity of which seemed to be related to recombination with former HRV-A strains. None of the HRV-C strains appeared to have a higher clinical impact than HRV-A or HRV-B on respiratory compromise

Advanced Technologies for Oral Controlled Release: Cyclodextrins for oral controlled release

Cyclodextrins (CDs) are used in oral pharmaceutical formulations, by means of inclusion complexes formation, with the following advantages for the drugs: (1) solubility, dissolution rate, stability and bioavailability enhancement; (2) to modify the drug release site and/or time profile; and (3) to reduce or prevent gastrointestinal side effects and unpleasant smell or taste, to prevent drug-drug or drug-additive interactions, or even to convert oil and liquid drugs into microcrystalline or amorphous powders. A more recent trend focuses on the use of CDs as nanocarriers, a strategy that aims to design versatile delivery systems that can encapsulate drugs with better physicochemical properties for oral delivery. Thus, the aim of this work was to review the applications of the CDs and their hydrophilic derivatives on the solubility enhancement of poorly water soluble drugs in order to increase their dissolution rate and get immediate release, as well as their ability to control (to prolong or to delay) the release of drugs from solid dosage forms, either as complexes with the hydrophilic (e.g. as osmotic pumps) and/ or hydrophobic CDs. New controlled delivery systems based on nanotechonology carriers (nanoparticles and conjugates) have also been reviewed