Preparation and Property of Antibacterial Nucleus with the Combination of Nano-Silver and Antibiotics

To improve the yield and quality of pearls in freshwater pearl culture and the survival rates after nucleus implanting surgery, pearl farmers used artificial pearl nuclear transplantation techniques to raise pearls. To address the common problem of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli infection in oyster farming, a new prophylactic method by using compound antibiotics to prepare the medicine coated pearl nucleus was put forward based on existing research results of the nanosilver antibacterial nucleus. Single-factor experiment, multi-factor experiment, orthogonal experiment, SPSS analysis of variance was used to optimize the antibacterial formulation on the assumption that the contaminated probability of these two pathogenic bacteria was the same. The result showed that the optimal ratio of compound antibiotics was 0.0075g/ml of the flavomycin solution and 0.01g/mL of the terramycin solution; the inhibition zones diameter of both pathogenic bacteria was more than 2.6cm in vitro, which was higher than the nanosilver antibacterial nucleus of 0.9cm in vitro. Indicating that the addition of this compound antibiotic formula for the nanosilver antibacterial nucleus could reduce the usage of antibiotics under the premise of maintaining antibacterial effectiveness, and could preferably inhibit the pathogenic microorganisms in the postoperative infection period. This also indicates that compound antibiotics coated antibacterial nanosilver nucleus would be applied more widely.

Analysis of Superspreading Potential from Transmission Clusters of COVID-19 in South Korea

The COVID-19 pandemic has been spreading worldwide with more than 246 million confirmed cases and 5 million deaths across more than 200 countries as of October 2021. There have been multiple disease clusters, and transmission in South Korea continues. We aim to analyze COVID-19 clusters in Seoul from 4 March to 4 December 2020. A branching process model is employed to investigate the strength and heterogeneity of cluster-induced transmissions. We estimate the cluster-specific effective reproduction number Reff and the dispersion parameter κ using a maximum likelihood method. We also compute Rm as the mean secondary daily cases during the infection period with a cluster size m. As a result, a total of 61 clusters with 3088 cases are elucidated. The clusters are categorized into six groups, including religious groups, convalescent homes, and hospitals. The values of Reff and κ of all clusters are estimated to be 2.26 (95% CI: 2.02–2.53) and 0.20 (95% CI: 0.14–0.28), respectively. This indicates strong evidence for the occurrence of superspreading events in Seoul. The religious groups cluster has the largest value of Reff among all clusters, followed by workplaces, schools, and convalescent home clusters. Our results allow us to infer the presence or absence of superspreading events and to understand the cluster-specific characteristics of COVID-19 outbreaks. Therefore, more effective suppression strategies can be implemented to halt the ongoing or future cluster transmissions caused by small and sporadic clusters as well as large superspreading events.

An HIV-1 Positive Woman Without Usual Immunodeficiency

Introduction: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) inflicts severe damage to the immune system. It transmits from one person to another through blood transfusions and vertical and sexual transmission. It should be noted that almost all papers reporting AIDS emphasized that HIV led to immune deficiency. However, this study reported the first HIV-1 seropositive woman who had an active viral load of HIV-1 without any signs or CD4 lymphocyte count depletion. Case Presentation: This study, for the first time, reported a 46-year-old HIV-1 seropositive woman without any signs and symptoms diagnosed 31 years ago by laboratory tests. Also, it is noteworthy that the patient had not received regular therapeutics during the infection period. Our serologic tests showed an active seropositive patient without any CD4 depletion. The viral load of HIV-1 was 132967.2 u/L, which was quantified by a real-time PCR assay. Also, a CBC test was performed and showed no abnormal results. Conclusions: An untreated HIV-1 positive patient without immunodeficiency is a rare condition, and we found no report of it in the literature. This article reported an HIV-1 positive patient in whom the infection was confirmed several times using the real-time PCR method.

Severity assessment of single-dose Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccinated individuals infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in Southeast Bangladesh

Background and Aim: A vaccine program for coronavirus illness (coronavirus disease [COVID-19]) is currently underway in numerous regions of the world, including Bangladesh, but no health data on those who have been vaccinated are available at this time. The study aimed to investigate the health condition of people who had received their first dose of the Oxford- AstraZeneca vaccine and were infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Materials and Methods: To detect SARS-CoV-2, a standard virological approach, real-time reverse transcriptase-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), was used. Several health indicators from vaccinated patients were collected using pre-structured questionnaires during the infection phase. Results: A total of 6146 suspicious samples were analyzed, and 1752 were found to be positive for SARS-CoV-2, with 200 people receiving the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. One hundred and sixty-five (82.5%) were not hospitalized among the vaccinated people, and 177 (88.5%) did not have any respiratory problems. Only 8% of patients required further oxygen support, and 199 (99.5%) did not require intensive care unit intervention. Overall, oxygen saturation was recorded at around 96.8% and respiratory difficulties did not extend more than 5 days during the infection period. Among the vaccinated COVID-19-positive people, 113 (56.5%) and 111 (55.5%) had typical physiological taste and smell. Surprisingly, 129 (64.5%) people had diverse comorbidities, with high blood pressure (27.9%) and diabetes (32 [24.8%]) being the most common. The major conclusion of the current study was that 199 (99.5%) of vaccinated patients survived in good health and tested negative for RT-qPCR. Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, administering the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine considerably reduces health risks during the COVID-19 infection period.

Headaches in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: preliminary results of a national survey

Headache in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic is a current topic, being divided into pre-infection headache, headache attributed to COVID-19 infection and post-COVID-19 headaches. The aim of the research was to analyze the peculiarities of the evolution and treatment of headache during the COVID-19 pandemic in the cohort of patients from the Republic of Moldova. The study was an online survey. People with COVID-19 infection and headaches were asked to complete a structured, validated and approved questionnaire, which included questions on: demographics, comorbidities, clinical signs of COVID-19 infection, headache before, during and after COVID-19 infection, screening for anxiety, depression and sleep disorders. The data collected for 3 months from the launch are presented (January - March 2021). The study showed that half (58.3%) of the respondents had different forms of headache before COVID-19 infection. During the infection period - 91% of the respondents had bouts of headache attributed to COVID-19, which were of high intensity, holocranial localization, being associated with such signs as vertigo, nausea, peripheral vegetative signs, pronounced asthenia (80%) and pain with another location (85.5%). Persistent headache after COVID-19 was reported by 62.7% of respondents, it being severe for 16.7% of them. Preliminary results show that headache during COVID-19 is prevalent and persists after COVID-19 causing disability and increased costs. Further studies are needed to validate these results.

Impacts of feeding organic-acid-based feed additives on diarrhea, performance, and fecal microbiome characteristics of pigs after weaning challenged with an enterotoxigenic strain of Escherichia coli

Post weaning diarrhea (PWD) caused by enterotoxigenic strains of E. coli (ETEC) remains a major problem in the industry, causing decreases in performance and survival of weaned pigs. Traditionally, antimicrobials have been used for its mitigation/control. This study tested the hypothesis that a combination of two organic acid (OA)-based commercial feed additives, Presan FX [an OA, medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA) and phenolic compound-based product] and Fysal MP (free and buffered OA based on formic acid), would reduce PWD and improve post-weaning performance in pigs challenged with an F4-ETEC. This combination was assessed against a Negative control diet without any feed additives and a diet containing amoxicillin. Combined with a reduction in temperature during the infection period, inoculation with F4-ETEC resulted in 81% of pigs developing diarrhea, but with no differences between treatments (P > 0.05). However, between d 14-20 of the study and due to colonization by Salmonella serovars, pigs fed the combination of Presan FX and Fysal MP showed less (P = 0.014) diarrhea commensurate with a lower (P = 0.018) proportion of Salmonella numbers relative to total bacterial numbers. This caused less (P = 0.049) therapeutic antibiotic administrations relative to the diet with amoxicillin during this time. The diversity of bacteria within amoxicillin-treated pigs was lower (P = 0.004) than the diversity in control or Presan + Fysal MP-treated pigs (P = 0.01). Pair-wise comparisons showed that amoxicillin-treated pigs had altered (P < 0.001) fecal microbial communities relative to both Presan FX + Fysal MP-treated pigs and control pigs. Amoxicillin-treated pigs were characterized by an increased abundance of bacterial families generally linked to inflammation and dysbiosis in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), whereas Presan FX + Fysal MP-treated pigs had an increased abundance of bacterial families considered beneficial commensals for the GIT. Control pigs were characterised by an increased abundance of Spirochaetaceae associated with healthy piglets, as well as bacterial families associated with reduced feed intake and appetite. The combination of two OA-based feed additives did not reduce the incidence of F4 ETEC-associated diarrhea nor enhance performance. However, the combination markedly reduced diarrhea caused by Salmonella that occurred following the ETEC infection, commensurate with less therapeutic administrations relative to the diet with amoxicillin.

Ovine COX-1 isoenzyme bio-production

Background: Recent findings enlightened the pivotal role of cyclooxygenases-1 and -2 (COX-1 and COX-2) in human diseases with inflammation as the committed earliest stage, such as cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. COXs are the main targets of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and catalyze the bis-oxygenation of arachidonic acid into prostaglandin PGH2, then converted into prostaglandins, thromboxane, and prostacyclin by tissue-specific isomerases. A remarkable amount of pure COX-1 results is necessary to investigate COX-1 structure and function, as well as for in vitro disease biochemical pathway investigations. Methods: Spodoptera frugiperda cells were infected with Baculovirus that revealed to be an efficient expression system to obtain a high amount of ovine COX-1. Protein solubilization time in the presence of a non-ionic detergent was modified, and a second purification step was introduced. Results and Discussion: An improvement of a previously reported method for pure recombinant oCOX-1 production and isolation has been achieved, leading to a lower starting volume of infected cells for each purification, an increased cell density, and of the number of viral particles per cell, and a shortened infection period. The protocol for the recombinant oCOX-1 expression and purification has been in-depth elaborated to obtain 1 mg/L of protein. Conclusion: The optimized procedure could be suitable for producing other membrane proteins as well, for which an improvement in the solubilization step is necessary to have the availability of high concentration proteins.

Financial loss due to foot and mouth disease outbreak in cattle in some affected areas of Bangladesh

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a severe and highly contagious disease that causes immense financial losses due to mortality, reduced milk production, treatment cost of affected cattle, weight loss of fattening cattle and manpower loss for taking care of affected cattle, which occurs in Bangladesh almost every year. Outbreak of this disease causes financial loss to the farmers as well as the national economy of Bangladesh. Therefore, an attempt was made to assess the morbidity and mortality by FMD and to estimate financial loss incurred therein. For this study, data were collected from 850 affected households of Dhaka, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna and Chattogram divisions of Bangladesh during July 2017 to June 2018 using a pre-tested interview schedule responding to the study objectives. In total, there were 4857 crossbred and 2138 native cattle in the affected household. The study revealed that the overall morbidity and mortality rates were 55.43% and 5.15%, respectively in crossbred cattle and 77.83% and 12.39%, respectively in native cattle and it differed significantly (p<0.01) with areas and category of cattle. Infection period for an FMD affected crossbred cattle were an average of 18.46±0.27 days and for native cattle were an average of 19.56±0.40 days. The total financial loss due to the FMD outbreak was calculated as Taka 53172067 (Tk. 53.17 million or US$ 0.63 million) for 850 affected households. The percentage of loss incurred was the highest for the death of affected cattle (63.47%) followed by veterinary cost (10.71%), weight loss of fattening cattle (10.68%), reduction in milk yield (9.17%) and manpower loss for taking care of affected cattle (5.98%). Based on this calculation the projected financial loss due to the FMD outbreak would be Taka 18856.96 crore (Tk. 188.57 billion or US$ 2.22 billion) per year in Bangladesh. Bang. J. Livs. Res. Vol. 27 (1&2), 2020: P. 82-94

Reduction in Absolute Neutrophil Counts in Patient on Clozapine Infected with COVID-19

Despite its severe adverse effects, such as agranulocytosis, clozapine is the primary treatment for treatment-resistant schizophrenia. The established clozapine monitoring system has contributed to reducing agranulocytosis incidence and mortality rates. However, the pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused changes in the monitoring system. This review aimed to assess the current evidence on the neutrophil changes in the patient on clozapine treatment and infected with COVID-19. Individual cases reported various absolute neutrophil count (ANC) levels, normal, reduced, or elevated. No agranulocytosis case was reported. One case had a borderline moderate-severe ANC level, but the patient was in the 18-week period of clozapine treatment. A cumulative analysis of case the series initially reported inconclusive results. However, a more recent study with a larger sample size reported a significant reduction in the ANC during COVID-19 infection. Nevertheless, this effect is transient as no significant difference was found between the baseline and the post-infection period in ANC levels. In conclusion, COVID-19 is associated with a temporary reduction in ANC levels. The results supported the recommendation to reduce the frequency of clozapine monitoring in the eligible candidates. However, more data are required to confirm the current findings given the limitations, including study design, sample size, and statistical analysis.

Virulence constrains transmission even in the absence of a genetic trade-off

The virulence-transmission trade-off predicts that parasite fitness peaks at intermediate virulence. However, whether this relationship is driven by the environment or genetically determined and if it depends on transmission opportunities remains unclear. We tackled these issues using inbred lines of the macro-parasitic spider-mite Tetranychus urticae. When transmission was not possible during the infection period, we observed a hump-shaped relationship between virulence and parasite fitness, as predicted by theory. This was environmentally driven, as no genetic correlation between traits was detected. However, when transmission to uninfected hosts occurred during the infection period, virulence was positively, environmentally and genetically correlated with parasite fitness. Therefore, the virulence-transmission trade-off depends on within-host dynamics and on the timing of transmission, rather than on a genetic correlation. This fundamental correlation may thus be easier to manipulate than previously thought.