ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact the Japanese economy as well as the political fortunes of Japan's leader in 2021. For the second year in a row, Japan's Prime Minister was forced to stand down, portending a return to the revolving door of one-year prime ministerships that characterized the politically tumultuous period between 2006 and 2012. Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide's announcement that he would not seek reappointment as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), therefore effectively resigning as prime minister, precipitated the most competitive race for the LDP leadership in a decade in September. Suga's anointed replacement was former record-setting Minister of Foreign Affairs Kishida Fumio. Kishida was not the most popular choice for Japan's next prime minister among the public or even the LDP party cadres. His initial cabinet ratings reflected this and the fact that Kishida had triumphed over then «vaccine minister» Kōno Tarō in the party contest primarily due to factional manoeuvrings facilitated by former Prime Minister Abe Shinzō. To the traditionally dovish Kishida's credit, he demonstrated great pragmatism in 2021. He managed to win the backing of Abe and other conservatives by adapting his own political positions and adopting others from the conservative wing of the LDP, particularly on Taiwan policy, national security, and economic security policy. Kishida survived Japan's October House of Representatives election in better-than-expected shape and went on to improve his cabinet ratings in the last two months of 2021. Kishida entered 2022 in a strong position with both the COVID-19 and economic situation heading in the right direction ahead of the mid-2022 House of Councillors election—the last national election Kishida will have to face for three years if he prevails.
ABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has now entered a critical stage worldwide.Patients typically show fever and severe respiratory symptoms, and some others also present gastrointestinal symptoms, like diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, anorexia and also abdominal pain.At present, it is still lack of effective antiviral medicines for this disease, and now clinics mainly focus on symptomatic treatment. The classical theory of traditional Chinese medicine "exterior and interior relationship between lung and large intestine" which coincides with the "gut-lung axis" in modern medicine, this theory indicate alternatives related to gut microbiota might help to control this viral infection. Therefore, this review focus on discusses the relationship between gut microbiota and respiratory viral diseases, the use of probiotics and nutritional therapies to balance the gut microbiota, modulate the immune response and inhibit viral replication. These might be promising alternative pathways in the treatment of COVID-19. Copyright © 2022, Editorial Board of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. All right reserved.
ABSTRACT
Objective: We investigated whether there was a difference in the antibody profile after Pfizer/BioNtech vaccination in persons who had already been infected with COVID-19 and those who had not. Method: Blood samples were obtained before, after the first dose and after the second dose of Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine inoculation in 4 subjects with a history of COVID-19 infection and 62 subjects without a history of COVID-19 infection after obtaining their informed consent. The differences in the antibody titers were examined between those with and without a prior history of COVID-19. Result: As compared with those without a prior history of COVID-19, those with a prior history of COVID-19 showed significantly higher antibody titers after the first inoculation, and the antibody titers were significantly higher than even those after the second inoculation of subjects without a prior history of COVID-19.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Since the beginning of the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic, several evidences have been gathered on the use of Disease Modifying Drugs (DMTs) in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) .The introduction of the Sars-Cov-2 vaccine marked a turning point for MS patients, considered fragile patients. Aim(s):The objective of this study is to describe changes about the use of first-line DMTs in patients with a new diagnosis of MS, comparing the semester before and after the start of vaccination campaign for Sars-Cov-2. Method(s): The study included patients newly diagnosed with MS according to McDonald's 2017 criteria. The proportion of patients initiated into the use of Interferon Beta (IFN), Dimethylfumarate (DMF) and Teriflunamide (TERI) was defined as a proportion for the previous semester (October 2020- March 2021) and subsequent (April 2021-September 2021) to the avaibility of Sars- Cov-2 vaccine. The determinants of the choice of first-line DMTs were evaluated through regression analysis. Result(s): The study included 134 patients, including 40 (29.9%) male, average age of 38.3 +/- 12.3 years, disease duration of 3.0 +/- 4.6 years, average EDSS of 1.7 +/- 1.1. Among these, 75 (56%) patients started a first-line DMTs in the semester before the start of vaccination campaign [IFN 13 (9.7%), TERI 6 (4.5%), GA 28 (20.9%), DMF 28 (20.9%)], while 59 (44%) in the following semester [IFN 4 (3%), TERI 11(8.2%), GA 12 (8.9%) and DMF 32 (23.9%)]. A reduction of 40% and 53% respectively in the use of GA and IFN was observed in the semester following the start of the vaccination campaign. In contrast, an increase of 29 % in the use of TERI and 6% in the use of DMF respectively was reported in the same semester. The regression analysis shows the use of injection therapies (IFN, GA) being associated with female gender (p= 0.032) and with the previous semester to the availability of Sars- Cov-2 vaccine (p=0.006). In contrast, the use of TERI is associated with male gender (p=0.031) and with the following semester the introduction of the vaccine (p=0.05). About the use of DMF, a relationship with the post-introduction semester of the vaccine has been observed (p=0.037) the relapse rate in the previous 2 years is the strongest determinant in the choice of this treatment (p=0.001). Conclusion(s): Our data show how the start of the vaccination campaign for Sars-Cov-2 influenced the use of first-line immunotheraphies in patients with new diagnosis of MS.