Intrafamilial transmission and clustering of COVID-19: a socioepidemiological perspective.

INTRODUCTION: The dynamics of COVID-19 transmission occurring in familial clusters may be related to sociodemographic and epidemiological characteristics of cases and contacts. The aim of this study was to identify the dynamics of COVID-19 transmission in families with more than one documented case. METHODOLOGY: Data of about 58 familiar clusters of COVID-19 was gathered and followed up clinically and by telephonic interview. Age, gender, social security plan, comorbidities, occupation, incubation, and symptoms were analyzed using Students' t-test and Chi squared test. RESULTS: The contacts were younger and healthier than cases, and students were predominant (28%). Among the symptomatic contacts, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction yielded a positive rate of 69%. There were 2.93 contacts per case. Families with clustered cases had more family members when compared to families without clustered cases (4.2 vs. 3.3; p = 0.022). Mean age of contacts in families with clustered cases compared to families without clustered cases also showed differences (29.5 vs. 35.7; p = 0.047). CONCLUSIONS: Characterization of cases and contacts amidst a pandemic is essential for the effective implementation of health policies and research perspectives.

The Increased Expression of Regulator of G-Protein Signaling 2 (RGS2) Inhibits Insulin-Induced Akt Phosphorylation and Is Associated with Uncontrolled Glycemia in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes.

Experimental evidence in mice models has demonstrated that a high regulator of G-protein signaling 2 (RSG2) protein levels precede an insulin resistance state. In the same context, a diet rich in saturated fatty acids induces an increase in RGS2 protein expression, which has been associated with decreased basal metabolism in mice; however, the above has not yet been analyzed in humans. For this reason, in the present study, we examined the association between RGS2 expression and insulin resistance state. The incubation with palmitic acid (PA), which inhibits insulin-mediated Akt Ser473 phosphorylation, resulted in the increased RGS2 expression in human umbilical vein endothelial-CS (HUVEC-CS) cells. The RGS2 overexpression without PA was enough to inhibit insulin-mediated Akt Ser473 phosphorylation in HUVEC-CS cells. Remarkably, the platelet RGS2 expression levels were higher in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients than in healthy donors. Moreover, an unbiased principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that RGS2 expression level positively correlated with glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and negatively with age and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) in T2DM patients. Furthermore, PCA showed that healthy subjects segregated from T2DM patients by having lower levels of HbA1c and RGS2. These results demonstrate that RGS2 overexpression leads to decreased insulin signaling in a human endothelial cell line and is associated with poorly controlled diabetes.