Development and Clinical Validation of a Potential Penside Colorimetric Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Assay of Porcine Circovirus Type 3

Porcine circovirus type 3 (PCV3), a novel circovirus, imposes great burdens on the global pig industry. The penside tests for detecting PCV3 are critical for assessing the epidemiological status and working out disease prevention and control programs due to the unavailability of a commercial vaccine. A one-step molecular assay based on visual loop-mediated isothermal amplification (vLAMP) was developed for simple and rapid detection of PCV3. We compared its sensitivity and specificity with TaqMan quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and applied the developed assay in the epidemiological study of (n = 407) pooled swine sera collected from almost the entire mainland China during the years 2017–2018. We also explored the feasibility of the vLAMP assay for detecting raw samples without a prior DNA isolation step to expand its application capability. Results showed that the vLAMP assay could reliably detect the PCV3 cap gene with a detection limit of 10 DNA copies equal to that of the Taqman qPCR assay. In the epidemiological study, the PCV3 positive detection rate for 407 swine pooled sera detected by the vLAMP assay was 37.35% (152/407), whereas it was 39.01% (159/407) for Taqman qPCR. For the detection method without genome extraction, the results kept satisfactory specificity (100%) but displayed lower sensitivity (100% for CT < 32), indicating the direct detection is not sensitive enough to discriminate the samples with low viral loads. The one-step vLAMP is a convenient, rapid, and cost-effective diagnostic for penside detection and will enable the epidemiological surveillance of PCV3, which has widely spread in mainland China.

Correlation of dengue cases and pluviometric precipitation, in Pará state, Brazil (2014 to 2019)

The climate can lead to the emergence of environments conducive to the proliferation of dengue vectors, in addition to diseases and illnesses related to climatic phenomena. In this context, it is necessary to relate the exposure devices, that is, as associated variables associated with dengue cases. The objective of this research was to carry out a retrospective epidemiological study, with an emphasis on sex, age group and municipalities reporting dengue cases, as well as to correlate the cases of the disease with rainfall levels, in the state of Pará, Brazil. The correlation between rainy periods, transition from rainy to less rainy (C-MC) and less rainy to rainy (MC-C) showed a statistical correlation (p <0.05) with dengue cases in the period studied. Thus, it was found that dengue cases had an increase in the year subsequent to 2018, in which the majority were women with complete high school, in the age group of 20 to 39 years old. Given this scenario, the analysis of epidemiological data is important so that preventive measures and control of the agent are adopted by the government.Keywords: clinical-laboratory; epidemiological; gender; age group. Correlação de casos de dengue e precipitação pluviométrica, no estado do Pará, Brasil (2014 a 2019) RESUMOO clima pode levar ao surgimento de ambientes propícios à proliferação de vetores da dengue, além de doenças e enfermidades relacionadas aos fenômenos climáticos. Nesse contexto, é necessário relatar os mecanismos de exposição, ou seja, as variáveis climáticas associada aos casos de dengue. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi realizar um estudo epidemiológico retrospectivo, com ênfase no sexo, faixa etária e municípios que notificaram casos de dengue, bem como correlacionar os casos da doença com os níveis de precipitação, no estado do Pará, Brasil. A correlação entre os períodos chuvoso, transição de chuvoso para menos chuvoso (C-MC) e menos chuvoso para chuvoso (MC-C) apresentou correlação estatística (p <0,05) com os casos de dengue no período estudado. Assim, constatou-se que os casos de dengue aumentaram no ano subsequente a 2018, em que a maioria eram mulheres com ensino médio completo, na faixa etária de 20 a 39 anos. Diante desse cenário, a análise dos dados epidemiológicos é importante para que medidas preventivas e de controle do agente sejam adotadas pelo poder público.Palavras-chave: clínico-laboratorial; epidemiológico; Gênero sexual; grupo de idade.

Analysis of contemporary epidemiological study research design formats on addressing functional food efficacy

The entirety of this particular review article demonstrates an in-depth analysis of the overall functionality of nutritional functional foods, imperative bioactive compounds, and essential biomarkers within the metabolic pathway and in chronic disease progression. Specifically, this review article assesses the efficacy of a plethora of functional foods and their associated bioactive compounds via the interpretation of epidemiological research studies that were conducted in the following design formats: cohort design, case-control design, cross-sectional design, and randomized controlled trial design. Although there has been a source of ambiguity demonstrated by food scientists and government organizations surrounding what would be the standard definition of functional food, this review article attempts to advocate for a contemporary definition that acknowledges the primary attributes of present-day functional food. Having said this, the main intention of this review article is to help address the necessity of analyzing the overarching efficacy of specific functional foods via the analysis of different retrospective epidemiological studies. Moreover, this review article will acknowledge which specific epidemiological study research design format is most applicable in the evaluation of functional food products within upcoming epidemiological studies. Ultimately, food scientists and nutritionists alike will get the opportunity to develop an all-encompassing contemporary definition for functional food upon the recognition and incorporation of different epidemiological study research design formats in a timely and cost-effective manner. KEYWORDS: Functional food, bioactive compounds, biomarkers, epidemiology, cohort design, case-control design, cross-sectional design, and randomized controlled trial design.

Inhaled antiseptics and inhaled antiviral non-prescription drugs in the prevention of ARVI, in particular COVID-19: an epidemiological study

BACKGROUND. The article presents the results of a continuous, cross-sectional, non-interventional, multicenter retrospective epidemiological study, which included cases of 3443 participants. Questionnaires and rapid test for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 were used to collect data. OBJECTIVE. To determine the relationship between the systematic use of additional drugs for the prevention of COVID-19, including inhaled antiseptics and inhaled antiviral drugs, separately and in combination with other drugs, and the risk of developing of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. 396 participants (11.8 %) took inhaled antiseptics in any period since March 2020, and 410 participants (12.2 %) took inhaled antivirals. A statistically significant protective relationship between episode of COVID-19 when taking inhaled antiseptics and inhaled antiviral drugs (risk ratio 0.901; 95 % confidence interval 0.856-0.948) was determined. CONCLUSIONS. The use of inhaled antiseptics and inhaled antiviral drugs as additional methods of prevention of COVID-19 has shown a statistically significant effect not only on reducing the risk of COVID-19, but different combinations of inhaled antiseptics or inhaled antiviral drugs with other drug groups as additional methods of preventing COVID-19 had a statistically significant protective relationship with the episode of the disease, with the severity of COVID-19 and with the need for hospitalization.