Bounding the levels of transmissibility & immune evasion of the Omicron variant in South Africa

A new SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern, Omicron (B.1.1.529), has been identified based on genomic sequencing and epidemiological data in South Africa. Presumptive Omicron cases in South Africa have grown extremely rapidly, despite high prior exposure and moderate vaccination coverage. The available evidence suggests that Omicron spread is at least in part due to evasion of this immune protection, though it may also exhibit higher intrinsic transmissibility. Using detailed laboratory and epidemiological data from South Africa, we estimate the constraints on these two characteristics of the new variant and their relationship. Our estimates and associated uncertainties provide essential information to inform projection and scenario modeling analyses, which are crucial planning tools for governments around the world.

Download Full-text

Structural analysis of the Spike of the Omicron SARS-COV-2 variant by Cryo-EM and implications for immune evasion

10.1101/2021.12.27.474250 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Dongchun Ni ◽

Kelvin Lau ◽

Priscilla Turelli ◽

Charlene Raclot ◽

Bertrand Beckert ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

United Kingdom ◽

Structural Analysis ◽

High Resolution ◽

Immune Evasion ◽

Spike Protein ◽

Spike Glycoprotein ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

New Variant ◽

Structural Insights

The Omicron (B.1.1.529) SARS-COV-2 was reported on November 24, 2021 and declared a variant of concern a couple of days later. With its constellation of mutations acquired by this variant on its Spike glycoprotein and the speed at which this new variant has replaced the previously dominant variant Delta in South Africa and the United Kingdom, it is crucial to have atomic structural insights to reveal the mechanism of its rapid proliferation. Here we present a high-resolution cryo-EM structure of the Spike protein of the Omicron variant.

Download Full-text

Coronavirus new variants: the mutations cause and the effect on the treatment and vaccination

Baghdad Journal of Biochemistry and Applied Biological Sciences ◽

10.47419/bjbabs.v2i02.54 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (02) ◽

pp. 70-78

Author(s):

Rasha Raheem ◽

Raghda Alsayed ◽

Emad Yousif ◽

Nany Hairunisa

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Symptom Severity ◽

Vaccine Efficacy ◽

Rna Viruses ◽

The Other ◽

New Variant ◽

The World ◽

Shed Light

Background: The world has watched with growing alarm as scientists in the U.K. Identified a new coronavirus variant that appears to be more contagious than, and genetically distinct from, other established variants. The scientists keep collecting the facts about the new variant and its impact on symptom, severity, mortality, and vaccine efficacy. Objective: This review shed light on the SARS-CoV-2 2020 virus that appeared in Britain and South Africa in December 2020, known as B.1.1.7. Furthermore, it highlights the main differences between the new COVID-19 version (B.1.1.7) and the other strains of the virus. Conclusion: Mutations are still happening in the SARS-CoV-2 virus as the RNA viruses cause many changes in the proteins of the spikes of the virus and other parts. The British variant has 23 mutations, compared with the version that erupted in Wuhan, that renders the virus more contagious; however, these mutations do not change the disease's severity.

Download Full-text

S glycoprotein diversity of the Omicron variant

10.1101/2021.12.04.21267284 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Rakesh Sarkar ◽

Mahadeb Lo ◽

Ritubrita Saha ◽

Shanta Dutta ◽

Mamta Chawla-Sarkar

Keyword(s):

Structure Function ◽

Immune Evasion ◽

Comprehensive Analysis ◽

New Variant ◽

The World ◽

Glycoprotein Structure ◽

Induced Immunity ◽

Virus Biology

AbstractOn the backdrop of ongoing Delta variant infection and vaccine-induced immunity, the emergence of the new Variant of Concern, the Omicron, has again fuelled the fears of COVID-19 around the world. Currently, very little information is available about the S glycoprotein mutations, transmissibility, severity, and immune evasion behaviour of the Omicron variant. In the present study, we have performed a comprehensive analysis of the S glycoprotein mutations of 309 strains of the Omicron variant and also discussed the probable effects of observed mutations on several aspects of virus biology based on known available knowledge of mutational effects on S glycoprotein structure, function, and immune evasion characteristics.

Download Full-text

Invasive Shot Hole Borers Euwallacea fornicatus, E. kuroshio, and E. perbrevis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae)

EDIS ◽

10.32473/edis-fr422-2019 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2020 (1) ◽

pp. 7

Author(s):

Demian F. Gomez ◽

Jiri Hulcr ◽

Daniel Carrillo

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Invasive Species ◽

Prevention And Control ◽

Economic Impacts ◽

Forest Resources ◽

Economic Damage ◽

Ambrosia Beetles ◽

Invasive Insects ◽

The World ◽

And Control

Invasive species, those that are nonnative and cause economic damage, are one of the main threats to ecosystems around the world. Ambrosia beetles are some of the most common invasive insects. Currently, severe economic impacts have been increasingly reported for all the invasive shot hole borers in South Africa, California, Israel, and throughout Asia. This 7-page fact sheet written by Demian F. Gomez, Jiri Hulcr, and Daniel Carrillo and published by the School of Forest Resources and Conservation describes shot hole borers and their biology and hosts and lists some strategies for prevention and control of these pests. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fr422

Download Full-text

The World Economic Forum Principles on "Climate Governance on Corporate Boards": can soft law help to face climate change around the world?

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT STUDIES ◽

10.3280/cgrds1-2019oa8509 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 37-55

Author(s):

Sabrina Bruno

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

South Africa ◽

Comparative Analysis ◽

Boards Of Directors ◽

Soft Law ◽

Corporate Boards ◽

World Economic Forum ◽

Financial Factor ◽

The World ◽

World Economic

Climate change is a financial factor that carries with it risks and opportunities for companies. To support boards of directors of companies belonging to all jurisdictions, the World Economic Forum issued in January 2019 eight Principlescontaining both theoretical and practical provisions on: climate accountability, competence, governance, management, disclosure and dialogue. The paper analyses each Principle to understand scope and managerial consequences for boards and to evaluate whether the legal distinctions, among the various jurisdictions, may undermine the application of the Principles or, by contrast, despite the differences the Principles may be a useful and effective guidance to drive boards' of directors' conduct around the world in handling climate change challenges. Five jurisdictions are taken into consideration for this comparative analysis: Europe (and UK), US, Australia, South Africa and Canada. The conclusion is that the WEF Principles, as soft law, is the best possible instrument to address boards of directors of worldwide companies, harmonise their conduct and effectively help facing such global emergency.

Download Full-text

Social Design for Services Framework

Conference Proceedings of the Academy for Design Innovation Management ◽

10.33114/adim.2017.89 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Melanie SARANTOU ◽

Satu MIETTINEN

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Research Group ◽

Design Research ◽

Service Design ◽

Social Design ◽

Practical Action ◽

The Social ◽

The World

This paper addresses the fields of social and service design in development contexts, practice-based and constructive design research. A framework for social design for services will be explored through the survey of existing literature, specifically by drawing on eight doctoral theses that were produced by the World Design research group. The work of World Design researcher-designers was guided by a strong ethos of social and service design for development in marginalised communities. The paper also draws on a case study in Namibia and South Africa titled ‘My Dream World’. This case study presents a good example of how the social design for services framework functions in practice during experimentation and research in the field. The social design for services framework transfers the World Design group’s research results into practical action, providing a tool for the facilitation of design and research processes for sustainable development in marginal contexts.

Download Full-text

International Listening Post report summary: the world at the dawn of 2019

Organisational and Social Dynamics ◽

10.33212/osd.v19n1.2019.121 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

pp. 121-124

Author(s):

Sandy Henderson ◽

Ulrike Beland ◽

Dimitrios Vonofakos

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Faroe Islands ◽

The South ◽

The World ◽

The Uk

On or around 9 January 2019, twenty-two Listening Posts were conducted in nineteen countries: Canada, Chile, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Germany (Frankfurt and Berlin), Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy (two in Milan and one in the South), Peru, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, and the UK. This report synthesises the reports of those Listening Posts and organises the data yielded by them into common themes and patterns.

Download Full-text

An Econometric Analysis on the Relationship between Globalisation and Inequality in South Africa

11th GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON BUSINESS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES - Global Conference on Business and Social Sciences Proceeding ◽

10.35609/gcbssproceeding.2020.11(89) ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 89-89

Author(s):

Jacques de Jongh

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Well Being ◽

Causality Analysis ◽

Global Integration ◽

Development Indicators ◽

Long Run ◽

The World ◽

Distribution Of Resources ◽

Short Run ◽

The Impact

Globalisation has had an unprecedented impact on the development and well-being of societies across the globe. Whilst the process has been lauded for bringing about greater trade specialisation and factor mobility many have also come to raise concerns on its impact in the distribution of resources. For South Africa in particular this has been somewhat of a contentious issue given the country's controversial past and idiosyncratic socio-economic structure. Since 1994 though, considerable progress towards its global integration has been made, however this has largely coincided with the establishment of, arguably, the highest levels of income inequality the world has ever seen. This all has raised several questions as to whether a more financially open and technologically integrated economy has induced greater within-country inequality (WCI). This study therefore has the objective to analyse the impact of the various dimensions of globalisation (economic, social and political) on inequality in South Africa. Secondary annual time series from 1990 to 2018 were used sourced from the World Bank Development indicators database, KOF Swiss Economic Institute and the World Inequality database. By using different measures of inequality (Palma ratios and distribution figures), the study employed two ARDL models to test the long-run relationships with the purpose to ensure the robustness of the results. Likewise, two error correction models (ECM) were used to analyse the short-run dynamics between the variables. As a means of identifying the casual effects between the variables, a Toda-Yamamoto granger causality analysis was utilised. Keywords: ARDL, Inequality, Economic Globalisation; Social Globalisation; South Africa

Download Full-text

Cerebral venous thrombosis in a patient with Down syndrome and coronavirus disease 2019: a case report

Journal of Medical Case Reports ◽

10.1186/s13256-021-02908-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Henry Robayo-Amortegui ◽

Natalia Valenzuela-Faccini ◽

Cesar Quecano-Rosas ◽

Darlyng Zabala-Muñoz ◽

Michel Perez-Garzon

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Down Syndrome ◽

Case Report ◽

Venous Thrombosis ◽

Cerebral Venous Thrombosis ◽

Epidemiological Data ◽

Thromboembolic Disease ◽

Hispanic Woman ◽

Case Presentation ◽

The World

Abstract Background The new coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has spread throughout most of the world. Cerebral venous thrombosis is a rare thromboembolic disease that can present as an extrapulmonary complication in coronavirus disease 2019 infection. Case presentation We report the case of a Hispanic woman with Down syndrome who has coronavirus disease 2019 and presents as a complication extensive cerebral venous thrombosis. Conclusions Cerebral venous thrombosis is a rare thromboembolic disease that can present as an extrapulmonary complication in coronavirus disease 2019 infection. In the absence of clinical and epidemiological data, it is important to carry out further investigation of the risk factors and pathophysiological causes related to the development of cerebrovascular thrombotic events in patients with Down syndrome with coronavirus disease 2019 infection.

Download Full-text