Evidence of the Importance of Erythroblasts and Immature Granulocytes as Negative Prognostic Indices in Sars-Cov2 Infection

Introduction: Some parameters evaluated in the complete count blood examination may have prognostic value in many hematological and infectious diseases Erythroblasts (NRBC) are physiologically present in peripheral blood only in the neonatal period at low concentrations, however they may be present in numerous adult pathologies such as thalassemia syndromes, myeloproliferative diseases and extramedullary hematopoiesis. In these cases their presence has been correlated to the severity of the prognosis.Immature granulocytes (IG) are present from 1% to 5%, they can be related to the development of an infection, to an inflammatory or pathological process or to a severe state of hypoxia. The aim of this study is to investigate the prognostic significance of blood erythroblasts and immature granulocytes in of Sars- CoV-2 infection. Method(s): A total of 314 Covid-19 patients (median age 61 years) including 224 males and 90 females were included in this study. NRBC were identified and counted by Sysmex XN-3000 that measures the nucleic acid content using fluorescence angle in the same channel in which white blood cells are counted. Evaluation of IG was performed with the fluorescence optical method Results: Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves where used to determine the optimal cut-off values for IG and NRBC that distinguished between critical (IP) and noncritical patients (NIP). Approximately 14.6% of all Covid-19 patients were NRBC-positive while 28.7% were IGpositive The majority of NRBC-positive and IG-positive patients had relevant values already in the first week of hospitalization. The values were more than tripled in IP then in NIP. Finally, in-hospital mortality of NRBCpositive and IG-positive patients were 7.6% and 10.2% respectively Conclusion(s): NRBCs and GIs can help in the early identification of high-risk Covid-19 patients The screening for NRBCs and GIs and can be useful to distinguish between IP and NIP.

An impressive case of alopecia universalis after COVID-19 vaccination: a coincidental finding or a consequence?

BACKGROUND: Several cutaneous manifestations in patients undergoing COVID-19 vaccination have been described in literature. CASE REPORT: Herein, we present a case of alopecia universalis that occurred after the first and second dose of Comirnaty vaccine. A bibliographic search was conducted and a total of 14 studies concerning the association were reviewed. CONCLUSIONS: Given the autoimmune pathogenesis of the disease, we discussed the potential role of SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination as a trigger for the development of hair loss. Physicians should be aware of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-related hair loss and properly treat this undesirable effect.

The Socio-Sexual Experiences in Southern Italians during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Clustering Analysis

The COVID-19 outbreak has dramatically impacted on socioeconomic structure, individual freedom, general wellbeing, psychological health and sexuality. Indeed, social distancing, home confinement and the fear of contagion have reduced the possibility of romantic encounters thus influencing sexual activity, desire and behavior and, consequently, modifying socio-sexual experiences. The aim of this study is to examine sociosexuality and sociosexual experiences in southern Italians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

YOLOv3-based mask and face recognition algorithm for individual protection applications

To combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential to strictly obey social distancing measures, as well as have the possibility to possess and wear personal protective equipment. This paper proposes a mask and face recognition algorithm based on YOLOv3 for individual protection applications. The proposed method processes images directly in raw data format input to a neural network trained with deep learning techniques. System training was performed on a set of images appropriately obtained from the MAFA dataset by selecting those with surgical masks for a total of about 6,000 cases. The performances obtained indicate 84% accuracy in recognizing a mask and 96% in the case of a face. © 2020 Copyright for this paper by its authors.