The Structure of the Relationship between Physical Activity and Psychosocial Functioning of Women and Men during the COVID-19 Epidemic in Poland.

Since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is a serious crisis in many countries around the world, it is important to conduct empirical research aimed at identifying risks and factors protecting the functioning of people affected by it. For this reason, the goals of the present research were to determine the level of physical activity and the severity of symptoms characteristic of mental disorders, cognitive disorders and the quality of social functioning, as well as the structure of the relationship between physical activity and psychosocial functioning of 226 women and 226 men during the COVID-19 epidemic in Eastern Poland. The research was conducted using the IPAQ-SF Questionnaire, GHQ-28 Questionnaires, TUS Test-6/9 version, the original SFS Scale and a self-developed sociodemographic survey. The collected data indicate that women as compared to men show lower levels of weekly physical activity, walking, moderate activity, vigorous activity and quality of functioning in family relationships, but higher severity of mental health disorders, somatic symptoms, functional disorders, depressive symptoms, cognitive disorders, perceptual work disorders, attention deficits and higher quality of functioning in work relationships. On the other hand, the structural model indicates that physical activity, interacting with mental health disorders and cognitive disorders, is positively associated with the social functioning of the respondents, and gender is the moderator of the occurring dependencies. This suggests that physical activity adapted to the condition of health may be an important component of gender-individualized psychopreventive interventions.

Rapid test to assess the escape of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants are concerning in the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Here, we developed a rapid test, termed CoVariant-SCAN, that detects neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) capable of blocking interactions between the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor and the spike protein of wild-type (WT) SARS-CoV-2 and three other variants: B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and P.1. Using CoVariant-SCAN, we assessed neutralization/blocking of monoclonal antibodies and plasma from COVID-19­positive and vaccinated individuals. For several monoclonal antibodies and most plasma samples, neutralization against B.1.351 and P.1 variants is diminished relative to WT, while B.1.1.7 is largely cross-neutralized. We also showed that we can rapidly adapt the platform to detect nAbs against an additional variant­B.1.617.2 (Delta)­without reengineering or reoptimizing the assay. Results using CoVariant-SCAN are consistent with live virus neutralization assays and demonstrate that this easy-to-deploy test could be used to rapidly assess nAb response against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants.