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BackgroundData on cellular and humoral immunogenicity triggered by SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARDs) are limited. While current vaccine efforts have focused on the induction of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, T-cell immunity may also provide protection against infection. Experimental data suggest that CD8+ T cell responses may have a protective role in the presence of decreasing or sub protective antibody titers [1].ObjectivesThe aim of this project is to describe the serological and T cell responses to the third dose of vaccine (either with BNT162b2 mRNA or ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 replication-deficient adenoviral vector vaccines) in a cohort of patients with ARDs (rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthropathies) treated with biologic therapies, to describe the impact of these treatments on vaccine response in this patient population. As a second objective, we will describe the characteristics of patients who did not present an adequate immunogenic response.MethodsCase-control study. We studied in 79 patients with ARDs and in 31 healthy controls, anti-SARS-CoV-2 specific interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) production measured by IGRA between 8-12 weeks after the third dose of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. In addition, humoral response was measured by anti-S1 IgG antibody production measured by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay. Statistical comparison between categorical variables was performed by Fisher's or χ2 test. For quantitative variables by Kruskal-Wallis test or Mann-Whitney test.Results79 patients with ARDs (48 women, 31 men;mean age 58±11.4) 43 (54%), with rheumatoid arthritis and 36 (45.6%) with spondyloarthropathies. 32 (49.5%) of them were on glucocorticoid treatment (mean dose 4.92 mg/day), 25 (31.6%) on methotrexate and 56 (70.9%) on anti-TNF. Post-vaccination results showed positive T-cell immune responses in 68 of 79 (86.1%) ARDs patients with mean IFN- γ anti-SARS-CoV-2 titers of 1,606.85 mUI/ml. 7 (8.9%) of ARDs patients showed negative IFN-γ SARS-CoV-2 levels, while 4 (5%) had borderline titers. 100% of patients with previous COVID 19 disease had positive cellular responses. Within the group of negative or borderline cellular responses, 7 of 10 were men (70%), with no significant differences in terms of diagnosis, comorbidities or immunosuppressive treatments used. In the control group, 100% presented positive cellular responses. Anti-Spike IgG antibodies were detectable in all patients with ARDs as in the control group.ConclusionOur preliminary data show that most patients with ARD were able to generate an adequate specific cellular response after vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, emphasizing the relevance of vaccination in this group. Specific antibody responses secondary to anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination were detected in all patients with ARD. Our data could support the relevance of these immune responses to personalize prevention, vaccination decision-making and treatment in this subgroup of patients.References[1]Sieiro Santos C, Calleja Antolin S, Moriano Morales C, Garcia Herrero J, Diez Alvarez E, Ramos Ortega F, et al. Immune responses to mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory rheumatic diseases. RMD Open. 2022 Jan 5;8(1).Figure 1.Specific anti-SARS-CoV-2-IFN- γ responses measured by IGRA. Dotted lines represent positivity cut-off: ≥200mUI/ml. HC: Healthy controls. AIRDs: Autoimmune rheumatic diseases.[Figure omitted. See PDF]Acknowledgements:NIL.Disclosure of InterestsNone Declared.
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Introduction: risk factors associated with complications in the mother-child pair include: history of hypertensive disorders, adolescent pregnancy, drug use, unfavorable obstetric history with a background of miscarriages or abortions, sexually transmitted diseases and urinary tract infections. Background: to identify the obstetric risk in times of COVID-19 pandemic at the "Bastion Popular" health area, Guayaquil, Ecuador, from January to June 2021. Method: a descriptive-transversal field research was carried out, with a quantitative approach, which favored the analysis of the obstetric risk categories recorded in the medical history of 117 pregnant women, who signed an informed consent, for the collection of data through home visits, using the obstetric risk scale or score. Results: outcomes assessment showed, as main result, that the most frequent obstetric risk group was the age group 20 to 24 and the high risk factor was the main category identified. Obstetric risk increased proportionally when the interpregnancy interval was reduce. Conclusions: young women between 20 and 24 years of age are those who presented the highest obstetric risk, which is correlate with a higher number of gestations, abortions, deliveries and cesarean sections. Therefore, it is necessary to provide women with information about pregnancy and its complications, so that they are able to identify risk factors during pregnancy, delivery and the puerperium.
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Because the high infectious rates of Coronavirus in south countries, the compliance with prevention guidelines (WHO and Ecuadorian Emergency Committee (COE) prevention guidelines) is necessary to prevent the spread of the virus. People ignoring instructions likely exacerbating the social, economic, and environmental concerns about the pandemic. According to sociodemographic descriptors in urban and rural areas of Guayaquil, average falls to over 70% for people having only below upper secondary education and over 50% for employed people among 20-34 years old, in the middle of a popular economy weakened context. The risk perception (F2), safety climate (F3) and the perceived understanding (F4) are believed to directly influence the compliance (F1) within this context. The mediating role of perceived understanding and safety on compliance response is also considered. This study aimed to identify factors that make an Ecuadorian population more/less likely to comply infectious COE guidelines. The data was collected after the last COVID-19 lockdown in Guayaquil city via online survey of 927 participants. The SPSS®Amos 27.0 - SEM based on maximum likelihood estimation was implemented to evaluate all the considered hypotheses (χ2/df=3.6, CFI ≥ 0.91, TLI ≥ 0.90, RMSEA ≤ 0.05). The analysis of this hypothesis suggests that positive change in compliance is possible mediating the effect of risk positively. The study leaded to factors affecting a fully restrictions compliance after the last regulation in Guayaquil City (April-May 2021): the self-awareness of following the rules seems to have a strong relationship with perception of having enough knowledge about the coronavirus to primarily leads the behavioral control. Low confidence about government management during crisis events is another factor that enhance non-preventive behavior. This combination seems to be enough to decide about the convenience of following health precautions, especially during period of relaxation. © 2022 Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions. All rights reserved.
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The objective of this work was to analyze the agroecological system from the management sciences, in the province of Azuay in Ecuador. For this, systems theory was used from administrative sciences in Ecuadorian agriculture, through analytical research and field design. The population was made up of all the agroecological associations and a stratified sampling was applied;To collect the data, a structured questionnaire with a Likert scale was used, the results of which were treated from descriptive statistics. Among the results, a favorable trend prevails to maintain the strengths of an integral system that provides food to the entire nation. It is concluded that the complications of the environment were strengthened by the pandemic;however, the associations demonstrated in general terms their willingness and capabilities to overcome the demands of COVID-19, as they have a system with four flexible subsystems, capable of adapting to market influences. © 2022, Associacao Iberica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informacao. All rights reserved.
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The covid-19 pandemic determined that different governments established mandatory confinement or quarantine;for this reason, the education had to be carried out at a distance or remotely;However, some universities already taught this modality;on the other hand, these changes caused discontent for many students because they were forcibly drawn to this modality without having been the choice for their professional training. In this context, the role played by the academic guide turned out to be fundamental to motivate and keep them hooked, preventing students from abandoning their careers. The objective of the study was to determine the relationship between the accompaniment of the academic guide and the level of academic satisfaction in the students of a private university during the COVID-19 pandemic. The quantitative approach method was used. From the statistical processing, it was concluded that there is a significant relationship between the variables academic guidance and academic satisfaction.
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BACKGROUND Cellular therapies (allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation, allo-HCT, autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation, auto-HCT, and chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy, CAR T) render patients severely immunocompromised for extended periods post-therapy. Emerging data suggest reduced immune responses to COVID-19 vaccines among patients with hematologic malignancies, but data for cellular therapy recipients are sparse. We therefore assessed immune responses to mRNA COVID-19 vaccines among patients who underwent cellular therapies at our center to identify predictors of response. PATIENT AND METHODS In this observational prospective study, anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike IgG antibody titers and circulating neutralizing antibodies were measured at 1 and 3 months after the 1 st dose of vaccination. CD4, CD19, mitogen, and IgG levels from patient samples collected prior to initiation of vaccination in a subset of patients were used to assess immune recovery and association with response. A concurrent healthy donor (HD) cohort provided control response rates. RESULTS Allo-HCT (N=149), auto HCT (N=61), and CAR T (N=7) patients vaccinated between 12/22/2020- 2/28/2021 with mRNA vaccines and 69 HD participated in this study. At 3 months, 188 pts (87%) had a positive anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike IgG levels (median 5,379 AU/mL, IQR 451-15,750), and 139 (77%) had a positive neutralization Ab assay (median 93%, IQR 36-96%). All HD (100%) had a positive anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike IgG and a positive neutralization Ab assay with median levels of 8,011 AU/mL (IQR 4573-11,159) and 96% (IQR 78- 96%), respectively. Time from vaccination to cellular therapy was associated with response;67% of patients vaccinated in the first 12 months post-cellular therapy (N=42) mounted a serologic response, compared with patients vaccinated between 12-24 (89%) (N=45), 24-36 (91%) (N=32) and >36 (93%) (N=98) months post-treatment, p= 0.001 (figure 1). Patients with immune parameters below the recommended threshold for vaccinations post-cellular therapies were also less likely to mount a response (figure 2): CD4+ T-cell count < 200 vs >200 cells/μL, 66% vs 87% (p=0.012);CD19+ B-cell count <50 vs >50 cells/μL;33% vs 95% (p<0.001), phytohemagglutinin mitogen response <40% vs >40%, 42% vs 89% (p<0.001), and IgG <500 vs >500 mg/dl, 71% vs 91% (p=0.003). Patient age, gender, prior COVID-19 infection, treatment with IVIG, and type of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine were not associated with the likelihood of serologic response. CONCLUSION This largest cohort to date, demonstrates that COVID-19 vaccine responses of cellular therapy recipients are reduced compared to healthy control and response varies based on time interval from cellular therapy and immune function at the time of vaccination, underscoring the importance of monitoring immune status parameters, as well as qualitative measures (neutralizing Ab) of vaccine response, in informing clinical decisions, including the indication for booster vaccines. [Formula presented] Disclosures: Politikos: Merck: Research Funding;ExcellThera, Inc: Other: Member of DSMB - Uncompensated. Vardhana: Immunai: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Perales: Equilium: Honoraria;Cidara: Honoraria;Sellas Life Sciences: Honoraria;Miltenyi Biotec: Honoraria, Other;Celgene: Honoraria;MorphoSys: Honoraria;Takeda: Honoraria;Incyte: Honoraria, Other;Karyopharm: Honoraria;Kite/Gilead: Honoraria, Other;Merck: Honoraria;NexImmune: Honoraria;Novartis: Honoraria, Other;Medigene: Honoraria;Omeros: Honoraria;Servier: Honoraria;Bristol-Myers Squibb: Honoraria;Nektar Therapeutics: Honoraria, Other. Shah: Amgen: Research Funding;Janssen Pharmaceutica: Research Funding.
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The COVID-19 induced confinement has instantaneously changed the worlds of teaching and research, by forcing all activities to be performed online. Facing the prohibition of leaving our homes, it became clear the need for libraries, archives and other research related institutions to adapt to the digital age. This input to the debate takes the current scenario to analyse the state of documents digitalisation and online availability in municipal archives in Southern Spain and Portugal, its strengths and shortcomings. The advantages of this new method for registering and searching documents are also discussed.
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Introduction. As a measure for controlling COVID-19, lockdown has had a psychological impact on people. Since subjective well-being (SW) has been positively associated with mental health, the identification of its predictors in this context will enable it to be strengthened. Objective. To generate and test explanatory models for SW in men and women under lockdown due to the pandemic. Method. Four thousand seven hundred and seventy-one inhabitants of Mexico, with paid employment, under lockdown, answered a set of instruments via the Internet that evaluated positive and negative psychological factors in addition to SW. Based on correlation and multiple regression analysis, models were proposed for men and women, which were tested by path analysis. Results. Both models successfully fit the data and explained a high proportion of the SW variance. Spiritual strength was the best predictor, mainly for women, while the capacity for enjoyment was central to the models, mediating the effect of empathy and depression. Discussion and conclusion. SW is significantly predicted by the factors studied, especially spiritual strength and capacity for enjoyment, which seem to provide men and women with fortitude and meaning of life in adverse circumstances such as today's.
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Currently, the rapid global spread of SARS-CoV-2 is related to G clade (including GH, GR, GRY and GV clades), which are associated with more than 98 % of sequenced viral isolates worldwide. The unprecedented velocity of spread of SARS-CoV-2 outbreak represents a critical need for prevention strategies. Vaccines are recently being available and antiviral drugs have shown limited efficacy in COVID-19 patients. Thus, it is needed to know how to reduce the infectivity of the virus by different physicochemical conditions in order to prevent exposure to contaminated material. This work describes heating and irradiating UV-C light procedures to reduce the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 belonging to different three lineages. Results of physicochemical treatment showed no differences among viral lineages. Analytical conditions for efficient inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 were determined.
Subject(s)
SARS-CoV-2/radiation effects , Virus Inactivation/radiation effects , COVID-19/virology , Hot Temperature , Humans , SARS-CoV-2/genetics , SARS-CoV-2/isolation & purification , Ultraviolet RaysABSTRACT
COVID-19 has disrupted the lives of humans causing devastating health effects and life of a large part of the world population, affecting the social, economic and educational spheres of the planet. The scientific community is facing one of its greatest challenges to solve a global health problem such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation has generated an unprecedented volume of publications. The impact of COVID-19 on teaching has meant that moments of social contact have disappeared in exchange for meetings, classes, exams or virtual meetings. In this scenario, the university classrooms when reopened will not be the same, nor will their campuses or spaces in the educational field, should contribute creativity in organizing and using them. The objective of the study was to identify scientific publications related to the effects of COVID-19 in university classrooms during the period 2019 to the present. For this, a bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature was performed. Thus, 676 documents were identified on this subject. The results of the analysis revealed that scientific productivity has increased since January 2020 with more than 650 articles on the disease, verifying the deep interest in COVID-19 in all disciplines. The main research trends include the impact of returning to the classroom with the effects on the cognitive processes, motivations and academic performance of students.
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Since the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic was declared a year ago, the search for vaccines has become the top priority in order to restore normalcy after 2.5 million deaths worldwide, overloaded sanitary systems, and a huge economic burden. Vaccine development has represented a step towards the desired herd immunity in a short period of time, owing to a high level of investment, the focus of researchers, and the urge for the authorization of the faster administration of vaccines. Nevertheless, this objective may only be achieved by pursuing effective strategies and policies in various countries worldwide. In the present review, some aspects involved in accomplishing a successful vaccination program are addressed, in addition to the importance of vaccination in a pandemic in the face of unwillingness, conspiracy theories, or a lack of information among the public. Moreover, we provide some updated points related to the landscape of the clinical development of vaccine candidates, specifically, the top five vaccines that are already being assessed in Phase IV clinical trials (BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, AZD1222, Ad26.COV2.S, and CoronaVac).
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Introduction and Objectives: Cancer patients are more susceptible to infections because of the active treatmentthat they need to treat their disease. A new coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, has caused a global pandemic wherecancer patients have an increased risk of morbidity and mortality associated with COVID-19. However, the incidencedata of COVID-19 in cancer patient with active treatment are not known, although the main oncology societiesrecommend a delay and/or stop in active cancer treatment during this pandemic. Whether this stop will have animpact on the future evolution of their disease is also not known. Therefore, a study of the incidence of COVID-19 inthis type of patient can help us to organize the protocols and the treatment in these high-risk patient group. Materials and Methods: We conducted a prospective clinical study of cancer patients within active treatment(chemotherapy, palliative hormonotherapy, radiotherapy, target therapies, or immunotherapy), analyzing the numberof COVID-19 diagnoses between February 26 and May 13 in two oncology services of the Andalusian community. Adescriptive analysis of 692 patients with active treatment was carried out. In addition, the cumulative incidence andthe differences between groups were calculated using the SPSS vs 18. Results: A total of 692 cancer patients undergoing active treatment at the Hospital Costa del Sol (Marbella) and atthe Hospital San Cecilio (Granada) were analyzed. Sixty four percent were men with a mean age of 60 years. Fortyone percent had a breast cancer diagnosis, 12.9% had lung cancer, and 14.5% had colorectal tumor. Fifty threepercent of them received treatment for stage IV disease, and up to 43% were delayed treatment due to pandemic.The total number of infections was 9, a cumulative incidence of 1.3%, 95% CI (0.384-2.217), and 22% of them diedafter developing the infection. Advanced age (p = 0.011), an admission in the 3 months prior to the diagnosis ofCOVID-19 (p = 0.031), and active treatment with chemotherapy (p = 0.003) were the factors that were associated with an increased risk of developing COVID-19. Conclusions: The incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in cancer patients on active treatment is low but the mortality is high, as previously reported for these patients. Given that the incidence of COVID-19 in patients with treatment is low, wecannot conclude any role of treatment delay in the development of COVID-19 in these patients..
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a pandemic caused by a new coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2. The growing demand for commercial kits used for automated extraction of SARS-CoV-2 RNA, a key step before rRT-PCR diagnosis, could cause a shortage of stocks that hinders the rapid processing of samples. Although the recommendation is to use automated methods for nucleic acid extraction, alternatives are necessary to replace commercial kits. However, these alternatives should be as reliable as automated methods. This work describes a simple method to detect SARS-CoV-2 from specimens collected in different preservation media. Samples were previously inactivated by heating and precipitating with a PEG/NaCl solution before rRT-PCR assays for Orf1ab, N and S genes. The new method was compared with an automated protocol of nucleic acid extraction. Both procedures showed similar analytical results. Consequently, this simple and inexpensive method is a suitable procedure for laboratory diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Subject(s)
Betacoronavirus/genetics , Clinical Laboratory Techniques , Coronavirus Infections/diagnosis , Coronavirus Infections/virology , Pneumonia, Viral/diagnosis , Pneumonia, Viral/virology , Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction , COVID-19 , COVID-19 Testing , Clinical Laboratory Techniques/methods , Clinical Laboratory Techniques/standards , Genes, Viral , Humans , Pandemics , RNA, Viral/genetics , RNA, Viral/isolation & purification , Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction/methods , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
Introduction: Pneumomediastinum is an infrequent and rare pathology. The typical radiological manifestations in patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia consist of the presence of bilateral pulmonary opacities, of peripheral distribution. In a recent series of patients with COVID-19, it indicates that 1% of patients can develop spontaneous pneumomediastinum as a complication, it is generally benign and it is not yet clear that this may be an indicator of worsening. Clinical Case: This is a 43-year-old male patient who presented a 15-day illness characterized by pharyngeal pain, fever, chest pain and respiratory distress, receiving multiple antiviral and antibiotic treatment schemes without response, for which he attended to Rebagliati Hospital where he was found respiratory failure, hypoxemia and sepsis. His tomography was compatible with ground glass infiltrate, areas of bilateral lung consolidation, and pneumomediastinum. It did not require surgical treatment and it evolved favorably to pneumonia with a decrease in inflammatory markers and remission of pneumomediastinum in tomographic control. Conclusion: This report highlights that in COVID-19 infection the pulmonary complications to take into account are bilateral pneumonia, bacterial coinfection, sepsis and spontaneous pneumomediastinum.