Exploring the impact of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on informal settlements in Tshwane Gauteng Province,South Africa

ABSTRACT

Informal settlements remain a public health problem as they lack basic infrastructure. Furthermore, it is challenging to enforce public health regulations and protocols to prevent the spread of infection during a pandemic. This paper was set out to explore the impact of lockdown during COVID-19 among people living in informal settlements. An exploratory qualitative design was utilised. Purposive sampling was used to select research participants. In-depth one-to-one interviews were held involving 30 research participants through a WhatsApp online telephone platform. A thematic approach underpinned by the four stages of data analysis in interpretive phenomenological analysis was utilised to analyse the data. The study found that during the the research participants were affected by lack of space to practice social distancing, over-burdened infrastructure, lack of savings, loss of income and shortage of food, hunger and diseases, anxiety and depression and poor access to education. There is a need to prioritise the needs of informal settlers and endeavour to establish permanent homes. Health promotion and communication initiatives and pandemic awareness programmes are needed to mitigate the impact of lockdown during a pandemic in informal settlements.     

Development of an IgG-Fc fusion COVID-19 subunit vaccine,AKS-452

AKS-452 is a biologically-engineered vaccine comprising an Fc fusion protein of the SARS-CoV-2 viral spike protein receptor binding domain antigen (Ag) and human IgG1 Fc (SP/RBD-Fc) in clinical development for the induction and augmentation of neutralizing IgG titers against SARS-CoV-2 viral infection to address the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fc moiety is designed to enhance immunogenicity by increasing uptake via Fc-receptors (FcγR) on Ag-presenting cells (APCs) and prolonging exposure due to neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) recycling. AKS-452 induced approximately 20-fold greater neutralizing IgG titers in mice relative to those induced by SP/RBD without the Fc moiety and induced comparable long-term neutralizing titers with a single dose vs. two doses. To further enhance immunogenicity, AKS-452 was evaluated in formulations containing a panel of adjuvants in which the water-in-oil adjuvant, Montanide™ ISA 720, enhanced neutralizing IgG titers by approximately 7-fold after one and two doses in mice, including the neutralization of live SARS-CoV-2 virus infection of VERO-E6 cells. Furthermore, ISA 720-adjuvanted AKS-452 was immunogenic in rabbits and non-human primates (NHPs) and protected from infection and clinical symptoms with live SARS-CoV-2 virus in NHPs (USA-WA1/2020 viral strain) and the K18 human ACE2-trangenic (K18-huACE2-Tg) mouse (South African B.1.351 viral variant). These preclinical studies support the initiation of Phase I clinical studies with adjuvanted AKS-452 with the expectation that this room-temperature stable, Fc-fusion subunit vaccine can be rapidly and inexpensively manufactured to provide billions of doses per year especially in regions where the cold-chain is difficult to maintain.     

Internet of things-based health monitoring system for early detection of cardiovascular events during COVID-19 pandemic

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has currently caused the mortality of millions of people around the world. Aside from the direct mortality from the COVID-19, the indirect effects of the pandemic have also led to an increase in the mortality rate of other non-COVID patients. Evidence indicates that novel COVID-19 pandemic has caused an inflation in acute cardiovascular mortality, which did not relate to COVID-19 infection. It has in fact increased the risk of death in cardiovascular disease (CVD) patients. For this purpose, it is dramatically inevitable to monitor CVD patients’ vital signs and to detect abnormal events before the occurrence of any critical conditions resulted in death. Internet of things (IoT) and health monitoring sensors have improved the medical care systems by enabling latency-sensitive surveillance and computing of large amounts of patients’ data. The major challenge being faced currently in this problem is its limited scalability and late detection of cardiovascular events in IoT-based computing environments. To this end, this paper proposes a novel framework to early detection of cardiovascular events based on a deep learning architecture in IoT environments. Experimental results showed that the proposed method was able to detect cardiovascular events with better performance (95.30% average sensitivity and 95.94% mean prediction values).     

Encouraging COVID-19 vaccination via an evolutionary theoretical approach: A randomized controlled study in Japan

ObjectiveWe aimed to examine the effect of a message that target the fundamental human motive of kin care on COVID-19 vaccination recommendations among participants with young children, based on an evolutionary theoretical approach.MethodsParticipants with young children (n = 969) were randomly assigned either to a group that received an intervention message that targeted the fundamental motive of kin care, or that targeted the fundamental motive of disease avoidance, or a control message. Intention to receive COVID-19 vaccination was assessed both before and after reading the messages. A one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s or Games–Howell test was conducted.ResultsAn intervention message targeting the fundamental motive of kin care and disease avoidance significantly increased intention of vaccination versus a control message (p < 0.001, respectively).ConclusionThe evolutionary theoretical approach that focuses on fundamental human motives has the potential to extend the communication strategy for COVID-19 vaccination recommendations.Practice implicationsHealth professionals should deliver messages that target the fundamental motive of kin care as well as messages about the susceptibility and severity of COVID-19 and vaccine efficacy (e.g., “Get vaccinated against COVID-19 for your child’s sake, because if you are infected, you will be unable to care for your child.”)     

Development and approval of live attenuated influenza vaccines based on Russian master donor viruses: Process challenges and success stories

Influenza is a viral infection that affects much of the global population each year. Vaccination remains the most effective tool for preventing the disease. Live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) has been used since the 1950s to protect humans against seasonal influenza. LAIVs developed by the Institute of Experimental Medicine (IEM), Saint Petersburg, Russia, have been successfully used in Russia since 1987.In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a Global action plan for influenza vaccines (GAP). WHO, recognizing potential advantages of LAIV over the inactivated influenza vaccine in a pandemic situation, included LAIV in the GAP.BioDiem Ltd., a vaccine development company based in Melbourne, Australia which held the rights for the Russian LAIV, licensed this technology to WHO in 2009. WHO was permitted to grant sub-licenses to vaccine manufacturers in newly industrialized and developing countries to use the Russian LAIV for the development, manufacture, use and sale of pandemic and seasonal LAIVs. To date, WHO has granted sub-licenses to vaccine manufacturers in China (Changchun BCHT Biotechnology Co., Ltd.), India (Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd.) and Thailand (Government Pharmaceutical Organization). In parallel, in 2009, IEM signed an agreement with WHO, under which IEM committed to supply pandemic and seasonal candidate vaccine viruses to the sub-licensees.This paper describes the progress made by collaborators from China, India, Russia and Thailand in developing preventive measures, including LAIV against pandemic influenza.     

Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Surgical Breast Cancer Care in the Netherlands: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study

BackgroundCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has put a strain on regular healthcare worldwide. In the Netherlands, the national screening programs, including for breast cancer, were halted temporarily. This posed a challenge to breast cancer care, because ∼40% of cases are detected through national screening. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the surgical care of patients with breast cancer in the Netherlands.Materials and MethodsThe present multicenter retrospective cohort study investigated the effects of COVID-19 on patients with breast cancer who had undergone surgery from March 9 to May 17, 2020. The primary endpoints were the number of surgical procedures performed during the study period, tumor characteristics, surgery type, and route of referral. The secondary endpoint was the incidence of postoperative complications during the study period.ResultsA total of 217 consecutive patients with breast cancer requiring surgery were included. We found an overall decrease in the number of patients with breast cancer who were undergoing surgery. The most significant decline was seen in surgery for T1-T2 and N0 tumors. A decline in the number of referrals from both the national screening program and general practitioners was observed. The incidence of postoperative complications remained stable during the study period.ConclusionsThe temporary halt of the national screening program for breast cancer resulted in fewer surgical procedures during the study period and a pronounced decrease in surgery of the lower tumor stages.     

Plan de contingencia para los servicios de medicina intensiva frente a la pandemia COVID-19

In January 2020, the Chinese authorities identified a new virus of the Coronaviridae family as the cause of several cases of pneumonia of unknown aetiology. The outbreak was initially confined to Wuhan City, but then spread outside Chinese borders. On 31 January 2020, the first case was declared in Spain. On 11 March 2020, The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. On 16 March 2020, there were 139 countries affected. In this situation, the Scientific Societies SEMICYUC and SEEIUC, have decided to draw up this Contingency Plan to guide the response of the Intensive Care Services. The objectives of this plan are to estimate the magnitude of the problem and identify the necessary human and material resources. This is to provide the Spanish Intensive Medicine Services with a tool to programme optimal response strategies.     

间日疟原虫深圳株红内期SSUrDNA基因片段的克隆与序列分析

目的 体外扩增间日疟原虫深圳株红内期小亚单位核糖体核糖核酸编码基因(SSUrDNA)片段，研究其结构与功能。方法 设计一对特异性引物，采用聚合酶链反应(PCR)从间日疟原虫患者血样中扩增出间日疟原虫SSUrDNA片段，以PUC19质粒T载体构建重组子导入大肠杆菌JM109；阳性克隆双酶切鉴定后，双脱氧末端终止法测定序列。结果 间日疟原虫SSUrDNA扩增片段大小为341bp；阳性克隆双酶切及PCR扩增均得到预期大小的片段；序列测定插入片段为341bp，与Sal I株顺序相比，仅在第151位处缺失一个碱基C。结论 成功克隆了间日疟原虫SSUrDNA片段．该序列在间日疟原虫虫株间高度保守。     

人抵抗素基因cDNA的克隆

目的克隆人抵抗素基因(hRETN)cDNA,为进一步研究RETN的结构和功能提供实验基础.方法应用RT-PCR方法从中国人网膜脂肪垫总RNA中扩增出RETN 基因cDNA,克隆入载体pMD18-T中,形成重组载体pMD18-T/hRETN.通过蓝白斑筛选出阳性克隆,限制性内切酶酶切鉴定后对其进行测序.结果从脂肪组织总RNA中扩增得到363 bp片段hRETN基因,其cDNA序列与Genbank hRETN基因序列基本相同.结论成功地克隆中国人hRETN cDNA.     

霍乱毒素B亚单位基因的克隆和表达

用DNA重组技术构建CT-B表达性质粒pXB1及进一步修饰的pXB2,使CT-B基因在大肠杆菌中得到较高水平的表达(280～350ng/ml),且有71.5％分泌率。表达动力学研究阐明,克隆子培养24h产物收率较高。一定浓度的Mg~(2+)、L-组氨酸和天冬酰胺能刺激CT-B的表达。GM1-ELISA、CHO细胞测毒结合间接免疫荧光检测和家兔肠段结扎试验证实,表达的CT-B能与游离的或活细胞膜上的GM1受体结合,但无细胞和肠段毒性。这种细胞测毒结合免疫荧光序贯试验,为客观证实CT-B的生物学活性开拓了新途径。