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It caused a re-infection in 11 patients diagnosed with different SARS-CoV-2 strains before June 2020, suggesting either short-term protective immunity or a lack of cross-immunity.

Marseille-4 should be considered as a major SARS-CoV-2 variant. Its sudden appearance points towards an animal reservoir, possibly mink. The protective role of past exposure and current vaccines against this variant should be evaluated.

Marseille-4 should be considered as a major SARS-CoV-2 variant. Its sudden appearance points towards an animal reservoir, possibly mink. The protective role of past exposure and current vaccines against this variant should be evaluated.

Scientists suggest that soy isoflavones or the combination of soy isoflavones and soy protein may have beneficial effects on inflammation. Thus, the present study aims at conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in which the effect of soy isoflavones and the combination of soy isoflavones and soy protein on serum concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP) among postmenopausal women is assessed.

A literature searching was done to identify a breadth of related references in PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Clinicaltrials.gov up to December 2020. The mean change from baseline in the CRP concentrations and its standard deviation (SD) for both intervention and comparison groups were used to calculate the effect size. The summary of the overall effects and heterogeneity was estimated by using the DerSimonian and Laird random effects model. The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (No. CRD42020166053).

This study considered 23 articles for systematic review and 19 articles for meta-analysis. The overall effect presented a non-significant effect of soy isoflavones on serum CRP concentrations (WMD = 0.08 mg/L, 95 % CI -0.08, 0.24; p = 0.302) and the overall effect of the combination of soy isoflavones and soy protein indicated non-significant effect in serum levels of CRP (WMD= -0.02 mg/L 95 % CI -0.12, 0.08; p = 0.715).

Published RCTs did not provide strong evidence regarding beneficial effect of soy isoflavones or the combination of soy isoflavones and soy protein on serum CRP concentration among postmenopausal women.

Published RCTs did not provide strong evidence regarding beneficial effect of soy isoflavones or the combination of soy isoflavones and soy protein on serum CRP concentration among postmenopausal women.

In response to COVID-19, the Swedish government imposed few travel and mobility restrictions. learn more This contrasted with its Scandinavian neighbours which implemented stringent restrictions. The influence these different approaches had on mobility, and thus on COVID-19 mortality was investigated.

Datasets indicating restriction severity and community mobility were examined; Google’s ‘Community Movement Reports’ (CMR) show activity at key location categories; the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker collates legislative restrictions into a ‘Stringency Index’ (SI).

CMR mobility categories were negatively correlated with COVID-19 mortality. The strongest correlations were obtained by negatively time lagging mortality data, suggesting restrictions had a delayed influence. During the ‘first wave’ a model using SI (AIC 632.87) proved favorable to one using contemporaneous CMR data and SI (AIC 1193.84), or lagged CMR data and SI (AIC 642.35). Validation using ‘second wave’ data confirmed this; the model using SI solely again being optimal (RMSE 0.2486 vs. 0.522 and 104.62). Cross-country differences were apparent in all models; Swedish data, independent of SI and CMR, proved significant throughout. There was a significant association for Sweden and the death number across models.

SI may provide a broader, more accurate, representation of changes in movement in response to COVID-19 restrictions.

SI may provide a broader, more accurate, representation of changes in movement in response to COVID-19 restrictions.

There are few data on imported schistosomiasis – especially in children. The objectives of the present study were to estimate the prevalence of imported schistosomiasis in at-risk children in the greater Paris region of France and to compare diagnostic methods.

Children at risk of schistosomiasis who consulted or were hospitalized in four hospitals in the greater Paris region were prospectively included. Clinical and laboratory data were collected. Urine and feces samples were screened for Schistosoma spp. using microscopy, a point-of-care circulating cathodic antigen and a real-time polymerase chain reaction assay. Serum samples were screened using Western blot, ELISA, indirect hemagglutination, and immunochromatographic assays. The diagnosis was characterized as confirmed (positive microscopy analysis) and as suspected (positive ELISA and Western blot assays). The prevalence of schistosomiasis and the tests’ performances were estimated using the latent class method.

A total of 114 children were included. Most of the children were newly arrived migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. The mean age was 13.2 years-old. There were 12 (10.5%) confirmed cases and 13 (11.4%) suspected cases. Half of the confirmed and suspected cases were asymptomatic. The prevalence was 24.3%. The ELISA and the Western blot assays presented the same sensitivity (83%) and specificity (99%). The serum immunochromatographic assay also showed good performance.

The high prevalence of imported schistosomiasis among at-risk children in the greater Paris region confirms the need for systematic screening. A serum immunochromatographic assay appears to be one of the most effective screening methods for a low cost.

The high prevalence of imported schistosomiasis among at-risk children in the greater Paris region confirms the need for systematic screening. A serum immunochromatographic assay appears to be one of the most effective screening methods for a low cost.The exploration and application of hollow manganese dioxide nanoparticle (HMDN) for biosensing and biomedicine has gained significant research attention in the past decade. In this study, a type of biodegradable HMDN is prepared for multi-stimuli responsive tumor-targeted drug delivery, which was successfully loaded with doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX). Then, the drug-loaded HMDN is functionalized with polyethyleneimine (PEI) as a gatekeeper followed by citraconic anhydride (cit) functionalized poly-L-lysine (PLL(cit)) as a charge reversal moiety successively to yield the resultant DOX@HMDN-PEI-PLL(cit) nanoparticles. In vitro study showed that DOX@HMDN-PEI-PLL(cit) exhibited a ”stealthy” property under physiological conditions and enhanced cellular uptake activity in response to the mild acidic tumor microenvironment due to the departure of cit. In vitro release profiles proved that the decomposition of HMDN to Mn2+ under acidic condition/high glutathione (GSH) concentration triggered the release of DOX and Fenton-like reaction for improved therapeutic effect.