A Narrative Review of COVID-19 Vaccines.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the world since early 2020 and its health, social, economic, and societal negative impacts at the global scale have been catastrophic. Since the early days of the pandemic, development of safe and effective vaccines was judged to be the best possible tool to minimize the effects of this pandemic. Drastic public health measures were put into place to stop the spread of the virus, with the hope that vaccines would be available soon. Thanks to the extraordinary commitments of many organizations and individuals from around the globe and the collaborative effort of many international scientists, vaccines against COVID-19 received regulatory approval for emergency human use in many jurisdictions in less than a year after the identification of the viral sequence. Several of these vaccines have been in use for some time; however, the pandemic is still ongoing and likely to persist for the foreseeable future. This is due to many reasons including reduced compliance with public health restrictions, limited vaccine manufacturing/distribution capacity, high rates of vaccine hesitancy, and the emergence of new variants with the capacity to spread more easily and to evade current vaccines. Here we discuss the discovery and availability of COVID-19 vaccines and evolving issues around mass vaccination programs.

Thigh-worn accelerometry for measuring movement and posture across the 24-hour cycle: a scoping review and expert statement.

INTRODUCTION: The Prospective Physical Activity Sitting and Sleep consortium (ProPASS) is an international collaboration platform committed to harmonise thigh-worn accelerometry data. The aim of this paper is to (1) outline observational thigh-worn accelerometry studies and (2) summarise key strategic directions arising from the inaugural ProPASS meeting. METHODS: (1) We performed a systematic scoping review for observational studies of thigh-worn triaxial accelerometers in free-living adults (n≥100, 24 hours monitoring protocols). (2)Attendees of the inaugural ProPASS meeting were sent a survey focused on areas related to developing ProPASS: important terminology (Q1); accelerometry constructs (Q2); advantages and distinct contribution of the consortium (Q3); data pooling and harmonisation (Q4); data access and sharing (Q5 and Q6). RESULTS: (1) Eighty eligible articles were identified (22 primary studies; n~17 685). The accelerometers used most often were the ActivPAL3 and ActiGraph GT3X. The most commonly collected health outcomes were cardiometabolic and musculoskeletal. (2) None of the survey questions elicited the predefined 60% agreement. Survey responses recommended that ProPASS: use the term physical behaviour or movement behaviour rather than 'physical activity' for the data we are collecting (Q1); make only minor changes to ProPASS's accelerometry construct (Q2); prioritise developing standardised protocols/tools (Q4); facilitate flexible methods of data sharing and access (Q5 and Q6). CONCLUSIONS: Thigh-worn accelerometry is an emerging method of capturing movement and posture across the 24 hours cycle. In 2020, the literature is limited to 22 primary studies from high-income western countries. This work identified ProPASS's strategic directions-indicating areas where ProPASS can most benefit the field of research: use of clear terminology, refinement of the measured construct, standardised protocols/tools and flexible data sharing.

Current Advancements in Addressing Key Challenges of Therapeutic Antibody Design, Manufacture, and Formulation.

Therapeutic antibody technology heavily dominates the biologics market and continues to present as a significant industrial interest in developing novel and improved antibody treatment strategies. Many noteworthy advancements in the last decades have propelled the success of antibody development; however, there are still opportunities for improvement. In considering such interest to develop antibody therapies, this review summarizes the array of challenges and considerations faced in the design, manufacture, and formulation of therapeutic antibodies, such as stability, bioavailability and immunological engagement. We discuss the advancement of technologies that address these challenges, highlighting key antibody engineered formats that have been adapted. Furthermore, we examine the implication of novel formulation technologies such as nanocarrier delivery systems for the potential to formulate for pulmonary delivery. Finally, we comprehensively discuss developments in computational approaches for the strategic design of antibodies with modulated functions.

Novel Thiazolidinone-Azole Hybrids: Design, Synthesis and Antimycobacterial Activity Studies.

To develop novel antimycobacterial agents, a new series of thiazolidinone-azole hybrids 4a-b, 5a-b and 6-13 were designed and synthesized. Thiazolidin-4-ones (4a-b and 5a-b) were obtained by the reaction of Schiff bases and hydrazones (2a-b and 3a-b) with mercaptoacetic acid. 5-Benzylidene derivatives (6-13) were gained by treatment of 5a-b with appropriate benzaldehydes according to Knoevenagel condensation. To evaluate their structures 1H NMR, IR, mass spectrometry and elemental analysis data were used. The target compounds were screened for their antimycobacterial activity against M. tuberculosis H37Rv strain using the microplate alamar blue assay method. Among them, 6, 10 and 12 (MIC: 14.27-14.74 µM) were found as most active compounds in the series. It was seen that both phenylamino and benzylidene substitutions on thiazolidin-4-one ring caused an improvement in the antimycobacterial activity.