Positive effects of COVID-19 control measures on influenza prevention

Introduction. In clinical practice, the differential diagnosis of COVID-19 can be challenging during the flu season, entailing serious consequences such as delays in appropriate control measures against the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Another problem is posed by co-infection of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus (IV), which significantly contributes to the severity of the COVID-19 disease. This study was aimed to explore the cross-impact of co-administration of Russian influenza and COVID-19 vaccines on development of specific immunity in laboratory animals.Materials and methods. The study was conducted on BALB/c mice. The animals were inoculated intramuscularly with the vaccine for COVID-19 prevention (CoviVac) and the vaccine for influenza prevention (Flu-M). The sera from the immunized animals were examined separately. Three IV strains were used in the hemagglutination inhibition assay. Antibodies (Abs) against SARS-CoV-2 were detected by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The neutralization test was performed to detect virus neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and IV.Results. Relatively high titers of specific Abs were found in the groups of animals inoculated with one vaccine and with two vaccines concurrently. In the groups of animals inoculated with CoviVac and with two vaccines concurrently, both in the ELISA test and in the neutralization test, the average titers of specific Abs against SARSCoV- 2 did not demonstrate any statistical difference. The group of animals inoculated concurrently with two vaccines demonstrated statistically higher titers of Abs against IV after the second immunization compared to the group of animals inoculated with Flu-M.Discussion. The study has shown that post-vaccination immunity both to IV and to SARS-CoV-2 develops after co-vaccination with two vaccines. The observed enhanced post-vaccination immune response to IV in the coimmunized laboratory animals needs further research.Conclusion. The performed studies suggest the possibility of co-administration of two vaccines to prevent influenza and COVID-19.

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Effects of Urban Stormwater Control Measures on Denitrification in Receiving Streams

Water ◽

10.3390/w10111582 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 1582 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Erin Rivers ◽

Sara McMillan ◽

Colin Bell ◽

Sandra Clinton

Keyword(s):

Ecosystem Function ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Control Measures ◽

Benthic Habitat ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Impervious Area ◽

Denitrification Activity ◽

Highly Correlated ◽

Stormwater Control Measures ◽

Stormwater Control

Urban areas are increasingly adopting the use of ecologically-based technologies for stormwater management to mitigate the effects of impervious surface runoff on receiving water bodies. While stormwater control measures (SCMs) reduce runoff, their ability to influence ecosystem function in receiving streams is not well known. To understand the effect of SCMs on net ecosystem function in stream networks, we measured sediment denitrification in four streams across a gradient of urban and suburban residential development in Charlotte, NC. We evaluated the influence of SCM inputs on actual (DNF) and potential (DEA) denitrification activity in stream sediments at the SCM-stream confluence to quantify microbial processes and the environmental factors that control them. DNF was variable across sites, ranging from 0–6.60 mg-N·m−2·h−1 and highly correlated with in-stream nitrate (NO3-N) concentrations. Sites with a greater impervious area showed a pattern of significantly higher DEA rates upstream of the SCM compared to downstream, while sites with less imperviousness showed the opposite trend. We hypothesize that this is because of elevated concentrations of carbon and nitrogen provided by pond and wetland outflows, and stabilization of the benthic habitat by lower peak discharge. These results suggest that SCMs integrated into the watershed have the potential to create cascading positive effects on in-stream nutrient processing and thereby improve water quality; however, at higher levels of imperviousness, the capacity for SCMs to match the scale of the impacts of urbanization likely diminishes.

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The Impact of Information System Risk Management on the Frequency and Intensity of Security Incidents

International journal of electrical and computer engineering systems ◽

10.32985/ijeces.8.2.1 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 41-46

Author(s):

Hrvoje Očevčić ◽

Krešimir Nenadić ◽

Krešimir Šolić ◽

Tomislav Keser

Keyword(s):

Information System ◽

Risk Management ◽

Control Measures ◽

Security Risk ◽

Methodology Development ◽

Positive Effects ◽

System Risk ◽

Security Risk Management ◽

Mitigation Methods ◽

The Impact

The survey identified positive effects of work on information security risk management. Regarding the survey results of information system incidents, a significant reduction was recorded in the number of system downtime incidents. The scope of implementation of the risk assessment methodology is the whole ICT system, and therefore the implementation covers all parts of information assets. Positive effects are obtained by reducing the risk by known mitigation methods. Technical details of the implemented control measures were not considered in this paper. In accordance with the standards used in methodology development, significant and increasing levels of user awareness of ICT systems have been considered. The effects of all implemented measures have resulted in a significant increase in the availability of parts of ICT systems

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Corrigendum to “Positive effects of COVID-19 control measures on pneumonia prevention” [Int J Infect Dis 96 (July) (2020) 548–549]

International Journal of Infectious Diseases ◽

10.1016/j.ijid.2020.07.015 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 97 ◽

pp. 404

Author(s):

Jianyun Lu ◽

Di Wu ◽

Lan Cao ◽

Xiaowei Ma ◽

Qun Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Control Measures ◽

Positive Effects

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Agricultural Household Response to Avian Influenza Prevention and Control Policies

Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics ◽

10.1017/s1074070800023002 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 39 (2) ◽

pp. 301-311 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Robert H. Beach ◽

Christine Poulos ◽

Subhrendu K. Pattanayak

Keyword(s):

Avian Influenza ◽

Prevention And Control ◽

Disease Risk ◽

Control Measures ◽

Trade Restrictions ◽

Agricultural Household ◽

Bird Mortality ◽

Influenza Prevention ◽

Prevention And Control Measures ◽

And Control

Recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Asia, Europe, and Africa have caused severe impacts on the poultry sector through bird mortality and culling, as well as resulting trade restrictions and negative demand shocks. Although poultry producers play a major role in preventing and controlling avian influenza, little research has examined the influence of their farm-level decision making on the spread of the disease. In this study, we describe farm behavior under livestock disease risk and discuss data and analyses necessary to generate sound empirical evidence to inform public avian influenza prevention and control measures.

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Carbon Neutrality Pathways Effects on Air Pollutant Emissions: The Portuguese Case

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos12030324 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 324

Author(s):

Joana Monjardino ◽

Luís Dias ◽

Patrícia Fortes ◽

Hugo Tente ◽

Francisco Ferreira ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ghg Emissions ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

Control Measures ◽

Pollutant Emissions ◽

Climate Mitigation ◽

Carbon Neutrality ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Trade Offs ◽

End Use

Air pollution and climate change are closely interlinked, once both share common emission sources, which mainly arise from fuel combustion and industrial processes. Climate mitigation actions bring co-benefits on air quality and human health. However, specific solutions can provide negative trade-offs for one side. The Portuguese Carbon Neutrality Roadmap was developed to assess conceivable cost-effective pathways to achieve zero net carbon emissions by 2050. Assessing its impacts, on air pollutant emissions, is the main focus of the present work. The bottom-up linear optimization energy system the integrated MARKAL-EFOM system (TIMES) model was selected as a modeling tool for the decarbonization scenarios assessment. The estimation of air pollutant emissions was performed exogenously to the TIMES model. Results show that reaching net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is possible, and technologically feasible, in Portugal, by 2050. The crucial and most cost-effective vector for decarbonizing the national economy is the end-use energy consumption electrification, renewable based, across all end-use sectors. Decarbonization efforts were found to have strong co-benefits for reducing air pollutant emissions in Portugal. Transport and power generation are the sectors with the greatest potential to reduce GHG emissions, providing likewise the most significant reductions of air pollutant emissions. Despite the overall positive effects, there are antagonistic effects, such as the use of biomass, mainly in industry and residential sectors, which translates into increases in particulate matter emissions. This is relevant for medium term projections, since results show that, by 2030, PM2.5 emissions are unlikely to meet the emission reduction commitments set at the European level, if no additional control measures are considered.

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On the Transmission Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in a Temperate Climate

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18041660 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 1660

Author(s):

Ioannis Kioutsioukis ◽

Nikolaos I. Stilianakis

Keyword(s):

Dynamic Change ◽

Control Measures ◽

Transmission Dynamics ◽

Temperate Climate ◽

Model Parameters ◽

Forecast Horizon ◽

Public Health Decision ◽

Epidemic Dynamics ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Household Crowding

An epidemiological model, which describes the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 under specific consideration of the incubation period including the population with subclinical infections and being infective is presented. The COVID-19 epidemic in Greece was explored through a Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis framework, and the optimal values for the parameters that determined the transmission dynamics could be obtained before, during, and after the interventions to control the epidemic. The dynamic change of the fraction of asymptomatic individuals was shown. The analysis of the modelling results at the intra-annual climatic scale allowed for in depth investigation of the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 and the significance and relative importance of the model parameters. Moreover, the analysis at this scale incorporated the exploration of the forecast horizon and its variability. Three discrete peaks were found in the transmission rates throughout the investigated period (15 February–15 December 2020). Two of them corresponded to the timing of the spring and autumn epidemic waves while the third one occurred in mid-summer, implying that relaxation of social distancing and increased mobility may have a strong effect on rekindling the epidemic dynamics offsetting positive effects from factors such as decreased household crowding and increased environmental ultraviolet radiation. In addition, the epidemiological state was found to constitute a significant indicator of the forecast reliability horizon, spanning from as low as few days to more than four weeks. Embedding the model in an ensemble framework may extend the predictability horizon. Therefore, it may contribute to the accuracy of health risk assessment and inform public health decision making of more efficient control measures.

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Association between meteorological factors and the prevalence dynamics of Japanese encephalitis

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0247980 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

pp. e0247980

Author(s):

Taotian Tu ◽

Keqiang Xu ◽

Lei Xu ◽

Yuan Gao ◽

Ying Zhou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Japanese Encephalitis ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Meteorological Factors ◽

Mosquito Species ◽

Control Measures ◽

Short Term ◽

Generalised Additive Model ◽

Term Memory ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Long Short Term Memory

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is an acute infectious disease caused by the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) and is transmitted by mosquitoes. Meteorological conditions are known to play a pivotal role in the spread of JEV. In this study, a zero-inflated generalised additive model and a long short-term memory model were used to assess the relationship between the meteorological factors and population density of Culex tritaeniorhynchus as well as the incidence of JE and to predict the prevalence dynamics of JE, respectively. The incidence of JE in the previous month, the mean air temperature and the average of relative humidity had positive effects on the outbreak risk and intensity. Meanwhile, the density of all mosquito species in livestock sheds (DMSL) only affected the outbreak risk. Moreover, the region-specific prediction model of JE was developed in Chongqing by used the Long Short-Term Memory Neural Network. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the JE dynamics and helps the local government establish precise prevention and control measures.

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Mitigating Polluted Runoff from Industrial Estates by SUDS Retrofits: Case Studies of Problems and Solutions Co-Designed with a Participatory Approach

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su132212357 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (22) ◽

pp. 12357

Author(s):

Vladimir Krivtsov ◽

Brian J. D’Arcy ◽

Alejandro Escribano Sevilla ◽

Scott Arthur ◽

Chris Semple

Keyword(s):

Case Studies ◽

Green Infrastructure ◽

Pollution Prevention ◽

Well Being ◽

Control Measures ◽

Environmental Benefits ◽

Individual Treatment ◽

Major Barrier ◽

Industrial Estates ◽

Positive Effects

Contaminated runoff from industrial estates is a significant cause of poor quality in receiving watercourses. Pollution risk begins at each of the industrial premises, presenting different environmental risks which require individual treatment and contingency plans. This is best achieved using SUDS technology, which adds green infrastructure with passive drainage features to the existing drainage and treatment systems, designed to capture the pollutants present in runoff at source on individual sites, for conveyance and on a regional basis serving the whole estate. Here, we develop a multistage investigative framework structured to facilitate the search for relevant solutions and optimization of their design. This paper presents the results of the awareness survey, identifies barriers and opportunities, and reports on case studies dealing with potential SUDS retrofits at industrial facilities, assessing the existing control measures and the scope for new ones with the aim of improving pollution management. The feasibility of SUDS components was assessed with respect to their functional characteristics, economic costs, and logistical constraints. Lack of knowledge related to SUDS and pollution prevention legislation was identified as the major barrier to retrofits, which should be addressed through educational measures. Although comprehensive SUDS retrofits could be prohibitive in cost for small and medium-sized companies, partial and affordable retrofit solutions can be easily implemented to achieve the environmental benefits sought. In addition to the improvements in water quality and alleviation of flood risk, the introduction of Blue-Green Infrastructure will bring about further multiple benefits related to such ecosystem services as the amelioration of the local climate, reduction of noise, improvements in air quality, enhancement of the local biodiversity, and positive effects for the human well-being and mental health.

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