Active pharmacovigilance in patients immunized with the CoronaVac vaccine in the port of Cartagena group.

Introduction: The crisis caused during the COVID-19 pandemic led scientists around the world to think about the creation of different vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. One of them was the inactivated virus vaccine CoronaVac, which was approved by Colombia's Ministry of Health. However, there are few pharmacovigilance studies conducted by occupational medicine to know the adverse events caused by vaccines. Objective(s): To estimate the safety of the CoronaVac vaccine. Methodology: Descriptive, retrospective and quantitative study, in which a population group of 508 workers from the port of Cartagena group was chosen, who were selected under inclusion criteria, during the second period of 2021 and the first of 2022. Result(s): 3.54 % of workers reported adverse events within the study population. Men had the most reports with 72.2% and women 27.8%. The most affected population group in terms of age was those aged 30 to 35 years, with a report of 44.4%. Likewise, the systems where there was a higher percentage of reports were the musculoskeletal, respiratory, and nervous system for first, second and third doses respectively;with symptoms such as headache, malaise, fever, muscle and joint pain, followed by pain in the injection area. Conclusion(s): In this study it was possible to identify the adverse events reported by the study population. However, none of the events presented had a serious or negative influence on the health and integrity of the workers during the study period. In this way, the safety of the vaccine was estimated. It should be noted that the CoronaVac vaccine did not prevent the spread or possible reinfection of the virus. Copyright © 2022, Editorial Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.

Multisystemic inflammatory syndrome associated with COVID-19 in pediatric patients

Introduction: since the first cases of COVID-19 appeared, it has spread around the world dangerously fast. At the beginning, it was thought that it mainly affected adults and the elderly, but in early May 2020, cases of children began to be described, who after being infected, developed a multisystemic inflammatory syndrome, causing death in some cases.

Volatile compounds from Phyla scaberrima (Juss. ex Pers.) Moldenke and Dysphania ambrosioides (L.) Mosyakin & Clemants as possible SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitors: Identification and in-silico study

Context: COVID-19 is a pandemic that has affected the entire population, characterized by multisystemic involvement. With around 130 million cases of infection and more than 2.5 million deaths globally. However, the development of a low-efficacy treatment has led to the study of natural products as possible therapeutic alternatives against SARS-CoV-2. Aims: To identify volatile compounds present in two plants in the Colombian Pacific and carry out in-silico studies to search for promising inhibitory molecules against SARS-CoV-2 proteases. Methods: This research carried out the identification of metabolites of two plants identified in the Colombian Pacific, called P. scaberrima (Juss. ex Pers.) Moldenke y D. ambrosioides (L.) Mosyakin & Clemants. Ethanolic extracts were obtained by rotary-evaporation and determinated by GC-MS. Subsequently, in-silico studies were carried out by molecular docking against Mpro and PLpro using Autodock-vina 1.1. Also, a prediction of ADMET properties using SwissADME and GUSAR-Online server was performed. Results: Thus, 15 volatile compounds with similarities greater than 85% were identified from both extracts, mostly sesquiterpenic and monoterpenic compounds. The compounds that showed the highest affinity against Mpro were α-amorphene and phytol for PLpro. Likewise, these were contrasted with co-crystallized molecules such as boceprevir and VIR2-251 as control structures. Finally, the predictions of ADMET properties showed values consistent with the literature. Conclusions: Therefore, the follow-up of in-silico studies with these plants from Colombian pacific are considered as possible tools in the search for active molecules against proteases linked to virus.

Abruptly Transitioning an In-Person Hands-on Prototyping Course to Fully Online Instruction: The Creative Tension Between Maintaining a Positive Experience and Achieving Learning Outcomes

This report details the result of shifting an in-person prototyping and fabrication class to fully online, mid-semester, in the face of the COVID pandemic. During any normal semester, in this class students work individually and in pairs to gain proficiency on tools and processes in the university design prototyping space. Students learn the following: hand/power tools, sewing, 2D drawing, laser cutting, water jet cutting, plasma cutting, 3D printing, CNC machining, and molding/casting. Homework products are the result of practicing those tools or skills to produce a physical artifact, like a CNC machined piece, or a laser cut box. Instruction in this course is two-pronged, first to teach the students to be competent operators of the tool, and second to help them to exercise technique or skill in the usage of that skill to produce these artifacts. The learning outcomes of the course follow this instruction and state that the students should gain functional proficiency. Therefore the CNC machined piece should be produced with the correct settings and post-processed accordingly, and the laser cut box should have finger joints that fit together tightly with the correct tolerances. In the spring, when classes moved online, this course was challenged to execute a hard pivot to meet learning outcomes while students were no longer in person. Typically, classes that have a physical making component have struggled to offer alternatives to those assignments when classes are delivered without the use of an in-person makerspace. We shifted our homework deliverables to accommodate the new normal of online education only by leaning on the many digital tools that are available to students. The students designed work and it was then produced by the instructor and tested based on a criterion set for the homework. The best example of this transition was in the conversion of the laser cutter assignment from the traditional “produce a laser cut box” to “produce a laser cut PPE mask.” Student versions were designed using 2D design tools and then cut with the laser cutter by the instructor. The resulting face shields were assembled (or attempted to be) and feedback was given to students who then revised the design for another round. The results of this study highlight how the shift of assignments from the late-process stage of making to the early-process stage of designing can adjust learning outcomes away from hands-on while still offering design experience for students even when instruction is in a virtual environment and not in the native environment of the physical makerspace. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021

To aid and how to aid: Policy options to preserve markets

All countries across the globe are speeding up economic measures to tackle the impact of thecoronaviruspandemic.Manyofthesemeasures,whichhaveadopteddifferentforms,fun-damentallyaimatprovidingliquiditytocompaniesandreducingthepressureoncash-flows of most affected sectors. Even if subsidies and State aid can provide immediate support to ailingcompaniesinextraordinarycircumstances,governmentsshouldnotforgetthedisrup-tiveeffectsthatsubsidiescanbringoncompetitionandinternationaltradeinthelongerrun. © 2020, Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. All rights reserved.

Virtual screening of natural metabolites and antiviral drugs with potential inhibitory activity against 3 CL-PRO and PL-PRO

Aims: COVID-19 is a global pandemic that has affected around 186 countries in the world, related to clinical signs as fever, cough and pneumonia. The disease is caused by SARS-CoV-2, in the pathophysiology of SARS-CoV-2 it presents the importance of different structural and functional proteins. Some of these mechanisms are based on proteases such as 3CL-PRO and PL-PRO related to the specific cleavage of polypeptides to replication. Materials and Methods: In order to search for alternatives to counteract the virus, computational screening tools have been used, employing molecular docking methodologies through natural ligands, drugs and analogues against SARS-CoV-2 proteases. Subsequently, were tested by ligand-protein interaction employed AutoDock-Vina and PyRx 0.8.

Recommendations for the reopening and activity resumption of the neurogastroenterology units in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Position of the Sociedad Latinoamericana de Neurogastroenterología. / Recomendaciones para la reapertura y reinicio de actividades de las Unidades de Neurogastroenterología ante la pandemia por COVID-19. Posicionamiento de la Sociedad Latinoamericana de Neurogastroenterología.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the establishment of preventive measures against contagion during the performance of diagnostic and therapeutic tests in gastroenterology. Digestive tract motility tests involve an intermediate and elevated risk for the transmission of COVID-19 infection. Given their elective or non-urgent indication in the majority of cases, we recommend postponing those tests until significant control of the infection rate in each Latin American country has been achieved during the pandemic. When the health authorities allow the return to normality, and in the absence of an effective treatment for or preventive vaccine against COVID-19 infection, we recommend a strict protocol for classifying patients according to their infectious-contagious status through the appropriate use of tests for the detection of the virus and the immune response to it, and the following of protective measures by the healthcare personnel to prevent contagion during the performance of a gastrointestinal motility test.

Recommendations for the reopening and activity resumption of the neurogastroenterology units in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Position of the Sociedad Latinoamericana de Neurogastroenterología

The COVID 19 pandemic has forced the establishment of measures to avoid contagion during diagnostic and therapeutic tests in gastroenterology. Gastrointestinal motility studies involve a high and intermediate risk of transmission of infection by this virus. Given its elective or non-urgent indication in most cases, we recommend deferring the performance of these tests until there is a significant control of the infection rate in each country, during the pandemic. When health authorities allow a return to normalcy and in the absence of effective treatment or a preventive vaccine for COVID 19 infection, we recommend a strict protocol to classify patients according to their infectious-contagious status through the appropriate use of tests to detect the virus and its immune response, as well as the use of protective measures to be followed by health personnel to avoid contagion during the performance of a gastrointestinal motility test. Resumen La pandemia por COVID 19 ha obligado a establecer medidas para evitar los contagios durante la realización de pruebas diagnósticas y terapéuticas en gastroenterología. Los estudios motores del tubo digestivo implican un riesgo elevado e intermedio de trasmisión de la infección por este virus. Dada su indicación electiva o no urgente en la mayoría de los casos, recomendamos diferir la realización de estas pruebas hasta que haya un control significativo de la tasa de infección en cada país, durante la pandemia. Cuando las autoridades sanitarias permitan el regreso a la normalidad y en ausencia de un tratamiento efectivo o una vacuna preventiva de la infección por COVID 19, recomendamos un protocolo estricto para clasificar a los pacientes de acuerdo a su estatus infecto-contagioso mediante el uso apropiado de pruebas para la detección del virus y su respuesta inmune, así como el uso de medidas de protección que deberá seguir el personal de la salud para evitar el contagio durante la realización de una prueba de motilidad gastrointestinal.