Gestion de la crise sanitaire par des interventions non pharmaceutiques et surmortalité de l'épidémie COVID-19.

INTRODUCTION: This study observes the results of outbreak and mortality in three comparable countries that have been widely affected: Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden. These countries carried out “non-pharmaceutical interventions” at three different levels, from lockdown (Belgium) to social distancing (Sweden). OBJECTIVE: This study examines the effectiveness of general and undifferentiated interventions (lockdown) and their side effects. It implements models as a decision-making and crisis management tool. It examines relevant statistical predictive use (hospitalization and mortality projections) in the case of a versatile coronavirus outbreak. RESULTS: General non-pharmaceutical interventions (lockdown, shut down, social distancing) did not “delay” the peak or “flatten” the curves. CONCLUSION: Non-targeted “Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions” (NPIs) do not have any direct effect on the R indicator (basic reproductive number). On the other hand, overly intense NPIs keep R above the imagined level.

Time trends in cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in the 'old' and 'new' European Union countries.

AIMS: There are large differences in all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality between eastern and western countries in Europe. We reviewed the development of these mortality trends in countries of the European Union (EU) over the past 40 years and evaluated available data regarding possible determinants of these differences. METHODS AND RESULTS: We summarized all-cause mortality and specific cardiovascular mortality for two country groups - 10 countries that joined the European Union (EU) after 2004 (East), and 15 countries that joined before 2004 (West). Standardized mortality rates were retrieved from the World Health Organization "European Health for All" database for each country between 1970 and 2007. Currently (in the 2000s), mortality due to circulatory system disease, ischemic heart disease (IHD), cerebrovascular disease (CBVD), and all-causes in the 'new' EU countries (East) is approximately twice that in the 'old' EU countries (West). These differences were much smaller in the 1970s. The increasing gap in mortality between West and East is primarily the result of a continuous and rapid improvement in the West. CONCLUSION: Differences in lifestyle (i.e. diet, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and smoking) provide insufficient explanation for the observed mortality gap in these two groups of EU countries. Higher expenditures on health, better access to invasive and acute cardiac care, and better pharmacological control of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia in the West are well documented. Socioeconomic and psychosocial factors may also contribute to the changes in mortality trends.

Unexpected rescue of alpha-synuclein and multimerin1 deletion in C57BL/6JOlaHsd mice by beta-adducin knockout.

Uniform genetic background of inbred mouse strains is essential in experiments with genetically modified mice. In order to assess Add2 (beta-adducin) function, its null mutation was produced in embryonic stem cells derived from 129Sv mouse and the subsequently obtained mouse mutants were backcrossed for 6 generations with C57BL/6JOlaHsd strain. Comparison of brain proteins between mutated and control animals by two-dimensional gels linked to mass spectroscopy analysis showed expression of Snca (alpha-synuclein) in the mutated animals, but unexpectedly not in the control C57BL/6JOlaHsd mice. Comparison between C57BL/6JOlaHsd and C57BL/6NCrl mice confirmed the presence of a deletion encompassing Snca and in addition Mmrn1 (multimerin1) loci in C57BL/6JOlaHsd strain. The segregation of mutated Add2 together with an adjacent part of the chromosome 6 derived from 129Sv mice, rescued the loss of these two genes in knockout mice on C57BL/6JOlaHsd background. The fact that Add2 knockout was compared with the C57BL/6JOlaHsd mouse strain, which is actually a double knockout of Snca and Mmrn1 emphasizes a need for information provided by commercial suppliers and of exact denominations of substrains used in research.