Coronavirus pandemic in the Nordic countries: Health policy and economy trade-off.

Background: Countries making up the Nordic region - Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden - have minimal socioeconomic, cultural, and geographical differences between them, allowing for a fair comparative analysis of the health policy and economy trade-off in their national approaches towards mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This study utilized publicly available COVID-19 data of the Nordic countries from January 2020 to January 3, 2021. COVID-19 epidemiology, public health and health policy, health system capacity, and macroeconomic data were analysed for each Nordic country. Joinpoint regression analysis was performed to identify changes in temporal trends using average monthly percent change (AMPC) and average weekly percent change (AWPC). Results: Sweden's health policy, being by far the most relaxed response to COVID-19, was found to have the largest COVID-19 incidence and mortality, and the highest AWPC increases for both indicators (13.5, 95% CI = 5.6, 22.0, P < 0.001; 6.3, 95% CI = 3.5, 9.1, P < 0.001). Denmark had the highest number of COVID-19 tests per capita, consistent with their approach of increased testing as a preventive strategy for disease transmission. Iceland had the second-highest number of tests per capita due to their mass-testing, contact tracing, quarantine and isolation response. Only Norway had a significant increase in unemployment (AMPC = 2.8%, 95% CI = 0.7-4.9, P < 0.009) while the percentage change in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was insignificant for all countries. Conclusions: There was no trade-off between public health policy and economy during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Nordic region. Sweden's relaxed and delayed COVID-19 health policy response did not benefit the economy in the short term, while leading to disproportionate COVID-19 hospitalizations and mortality.

Sex Differences in a Rodent Model of HIV-1-Associated Neuropathic Pain.

Worldwide, women account for approximately 51% of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV) seropositive individuals. The prevalence of neuropathic pain among individuals with HIV and a lack of preclinical data characterizing sex differences prompted us to address this knowledge gap. C57BL/6 male and female mice received multiple intrathecal injections of HIV-glycoprotein 120 (gp120), followed by determination of mechanical allodynia and thermal hypersensitivity for four weeks. The influence of ovarian hormones in the gp120 pain model was evaluated by comparison of ovariectomized (OVX) mice versus sham control. We found that gp120-induced neuropathic pain-like behaviors are sex-dependent. Female mice showed both increased mechanical allodynia and increased cold sensitivity relative to their male counterparts. The OVX mice showed reduced pain sensitivity compared to sham, suggesting a role of the ovarian hormones in sex differences in pain sensitivity to gp120. Gp120-induced neuropathic pain caused a shift in estrous cycle toward the estrus phase. However, there is a lack of clear correlation between the estrous cycle and the development of neuropathic pain-like behaviors during the four week recording period. This data provided the first evidence for sex differences in a rodent model of HIV-related neuropathic pain, along with a potential role of ovarian hormones.