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IntroductionA small body of epidemiological research suggests that working in an essential sector is a risk factor for SARS-CoV-2 infection or subsequent disease or mortality. However, there is limited evidence to date on the US, or on how the risks associated with essential work differ across demographic subgroups defined by age, sex, and race/ethnicity. MethodsUsing publicly available data from the National Center for Health Statistics on deaths occurring in the US in 2020, we calculated per-capita COVID-19 mortality by industry and occupation. We additionally calculated per-capita COVID-19 mortality by essential industry--essential or not--by age group, sex, and race/ethnicity. ResultsAmong non-military individuals and individuals with a known industry or occupation, there were 48,030 reported COVID-19 deaths, representing 25.1 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 working-age individuals after age standardization. Per-capita age-standardized COVID-19 mortality was 1.96 times higher among essential workers than among workers in non-essential industries, representing an absolute difference of 14.9 per 100,000. Across industry, per-capita age-standardized COVID-19 mortality was highest in the following industries: accommodation and food services (45.4 per 100,000); transportation and warehousing (43.4); agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting (42.3); mining (39.6); and construction (38.7). DiscussionGiven that SARS-CoV-2 is an airborne virus, we call for collaborative efforts to ensure that workplace settings are properly ventilated and that workers have access to effective masks. We also urge for paid sick leave, which can help increase vaccine access and minimize disease transmission.
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BackgroundDuring the first year of the pandemic, essential workers faced higher rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 mortality than non-essential workers. It is unknown whether disparities in pandemic-related mortality across occupational sectors have continued to occur, amidst SARS-CoV-2 variants and vaccine availability. MethodsWe obtained data on all deaths occurring in the state of California from 2016 through 2021. We restricted our analysis to California residents who were working age (18-65 years at time of death) and died of natural causes. Occupational sector was classified into 9 essential sectors; non-essential; or not in the labor market. We calculated the number of COVID-19 deaths in total and per capita that occurred in each occupational sector. Separately, using autoregressive integrated moving average models, we estimated total, per-capita, and relative excess natural-cause mortality by week between March 1, 2020, and November 30, 2021, stratifying by occupational sector. We additionally stratified analyses of occupational risk into regions with high versus low vaccine uptake, categorizing high-uptake regions as counties where at least 50% of the population completed a vaccination series by August 1, 2021. FindingsFrom March 2020 through November 2021, essential work was associated with higher COVID-19 and excess mortality compared with non-essential work, with the highest per-capita COVID-19 mortality in agriculture (131.8 per 100,000), transportation/logistics (107.1), manufacturing (103.3), and facilities (101.1). Essential workers continued to face higher COVID-19 and excess mortality during the period of widely available vaccines (March through November 2021). Between July and November 2021, emergency workers experienced higher per-capita COVID-19 mortality (113.7) than workers from any other sector. Essential workers faced the highest COVID-19 mortality in counties with low vaccination rates, a difference that was more pronounced during the period of the Delta surge in Summer 2021. InterpretationEssential workers have continued to bear the brunt of high COVID-19 and excess mortality throughout the pandemic, particularly in the agriculture, emergency, manufacturing, facilities, and transportation/logistics sectors. This high death toll has continued during periods of vaccine availability and the delta surge. In an ongoing pandemic without widespread vaccine coverage and anticipated threats of new variants, the US must actively adopt policies to more adequately protect essential workers.
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Aim To explore the anti-proliferation and apoptotic effects of C085, a curcumin derivative, on K562 cells and its mechanism. Methods MTT assay and flow cytometry were used to examine cell prolifera-tion and apoptosis, respectively. The phosphorylation levels of Bcr-Abl initiated signaling proteins were ana-lyzed using Western blot. Results The results showed that C085 suppressed the growth of K562 cells and the IC50 value was about 5-fold lower than that of Cur. C085 also induced significant apoptosis on K562 cells in 24 hours when compared with imatinib. Western blot results demonstrated that C085 down-regulated the phosphorylation of Bcr-Abl in K562 cells in a dose-de-pendent manner. The phosphorylation of Stat 5 and Crkl, which were downstream signaling proteins of Bcr-Abl kinase, was also inhibited by C085. C085 caused the opening of mitochondrial PT holes as detected by JC-1 fluorescent, which inhibited Bcl-2 and enhanced Bax , then induced apoptosis. Conclusion C085 in-hibited BCR-ABL+ K562 cells through inhibiting BCR-ABL kinase activity and down-regulating its down-stream signal proteins. Directly acting on mitochondrial PT hole and then activating apoptosis- associated pro-teins are also involved in the pro-apoptotic effect of C085 .
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Objective To explore the therapeutic effects of combined application of survivin antisense nucleic acid and taxol in subcutaneous xenograft mouse model of Balb/c and to preliminarily investigate the mechanism of the anticancer effects.Methods The model of subcutaneous tumor was established by hypodermic injection of C26 cells into Bal b/c mice.The mice were then randomly divided into five groups through the internal tumor injection:the blank group (C),lipo2000 group (L),paclitaxel group (T),survivin antisense nucleic acid group (A),and survivin antisense nucleic acid combined with paclitaxel group (A+T).We observed tumor growth,determined cell apoptosis by TUNEL method,and detected the expression of survivin by Western blot.Results ① All treatment groups had T/C<60%,which was significantly different from that of group L (P <0.05);the intervention was proved effective in vivo .The tumor inhibition rate of mice tumor weight showed that there were significantly curative effects in groups T,A and A+ T compared with that in group C (P < 0.05 ).The antitumor activity of paclitaxel (tumor inhibition rate of 21.82%±0.84%)could be improved by more than 59% through combination therapy (tumor inhibition rate of 54.1 6% ± 0.32%)concerning inhibition of tumor weight growth.② TUNEL method detected apoptotic cells:The tumor cells hardly had apoptosis in the blank group while T group and A group had a certain number of apoptotic cells.The experiment results suggested that PTX could promote tumor cell apoptosis,and that not only A+T strengthened the effect in killing tumor cells,but also the synergy of both could influence tumor resistance and ultimately make the effect in promoting tumor cell apoptosis conspicuous.③ The expression of survivin protein:The results showed that the expression of survivin protein in group A + T was obviously decreased without the expression of β-actin affected;it did not change significantly in group C compared with group L.The ratio of the A-value in groups T,A and A+T was 0.895 ±0.01 1,0.704 ±0.121 and 0.345 ± 0.01 9,respectively.Analysis of variance t-test showed that the expression level in group A+T obviously differed from that in groups C,L,A and T (P <0.05).Conclusion The combined therapy of survivin antisense nucleic acid and taxol can promote tumor cell apoptosis by downregulating the expression of survivin protein,reduce the body’s resistance to drugs and create synergetic effects.
