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Model of economic growth of the economy of small and medium-sized enterprises in the context of the spread of coronavirus infection
No full textIn the last three months, the dynamics of economic development began to decline, due to the influence of the pandemic. The world was not ready for the big challenge of nature. The article describes the state of small and medium-sized businesses, the state of the economy, the market and the market environment of the countries most affected by the spread of the coronavirus, and also describes the support measures taken by the state for these enterprises. The article presents a model of economic growth for small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the context of the new coronavirus infection. © 2020 The Authors, published by EDP Sciences
Assessment of the impact of risks of energy companies in a pandemic
No full textThe life-supporting role of the electric power industry during the spread of the coronavirus was especially pronounced. Electricity has become necessary for remote education of children, video calls, hospitals, etc. The main trends in electricity demand include changes in the ratio of electricity consumption in industry, transport and commercial sectors, as well as households due to the quarantine of some consumers. The paper identifies key risk-forming factors for the energy industry at the macro level and, based on an expert assessment, identifies the most probable and most powerful risks. By analogy with external risk-forming factors, the internal risk-forming factors of energy companies were analyzed, and their range of internal risks was determined. © 2020 The Authors, published by EDP Sciences
Is perinatal CoVID-19 possible: first results [возможНа ли ПериНатальНая COVID-19: Первые результаты]
No full textAmong the problems associated with a new coronavirus infection, the possibility of its occurrence in pregnant women plays an important role. Until now, there is very little data on perinatal COVID-19, and there are no descriptions of structural changes in the afterbirth at all. Material and methods. A clinical and morphological analysis of 6 cases in which women with verified COVID-19 gave birth in an infectious hospital was performed. In all cases, the placenta was examined in detail morphologically using antibodies to the nucleoprotein and spike (S1 subunit spike protein) SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 Results. It is shown that the clinical course of COVID-19 in pregnant women may be different, three were in the intensive care unit, including one was shown to be on a ventilator. 4 children were born at term, 2 children prematurely (at 31-33 weeks of pregnancy). The condition of children in 5 nab. was assessed as satisfactory, only one child in serious condition was transferred to a children’s hospital. Intrauterine infection with the polymerase chain reaction documented in a single observation. When histological examination of the afterbirth in all observations, both in the maternal and fetal parts, changes characteristic of RNA viral infection was detected. Both of the studied antigens were found in moderate amounts in IHC. Conclusions. Intrauterine transplacental infection with a new coronavirus is certainly possible. Its frequency and clinical significance require further comprehensive study. © 2020 Interregional public organization Association of infectious disease specialists of Saint-Petersburg and Leningrad region (IPO AIDSSPbR). All rights reserved
Ostwald growth rate in controlled covid-19 epidemic spreading as in arrested growth in quantum complex matter
No full textHere, we focus on the data analysis of the growth of epidemic spread of Covid-19 in countries where different policies of containment were activated. It is known that the growth of pandemic spread at its threshold is exponential, but it is not known how to quantify the success of different containment policies. We identify that a successful approach gives an arrested phase regime following the Ostwald growth, where, over the course of time, one phase transforms into another metastable phase with a similar free energy as observed in oxygen interstitial diffusion in quantum complex matter and in crystallization of proteins. We introduce the s factor which provides a quantitative measure of the efficiency and speed of the adopted containment policy, which is very helpful not only to monitor the Covid-19 pandemic spread but also for other countries to choose the best containment policy. The results show that a policy based on joint confinement, targeted tests, and tracking positive cases is the most rapid pandemic containment policy; in fact, we found values of 9, 5, and 31 for the success s factor for China, South Korea, and Italy, respectively, where the lowest s factor indicates the best containment policy. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland
Assessment of Immunogenicity of Adjuvanted Quadrivalent Inactivated Influenza Vaccine in Healthy People and Patients With Common Variable Immune Deficiency
No full textBackground: Recent addition to vaccines of adjuvants has been actively used to enhance the immunogenicity. However, the use of adjuvants for the development of quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccines (QIV) is currently limited. The aim of this study was to examine immunogenicity of adjuvanted QIV in healthy people and patients with primary immune deficiency—common variable immune deficiency (CVID). Methods: In total before the flu season 2018–2019 in the study were involved 32 healthy volunteers aged 18–52 years and 6 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of CVID aged 18–45 years. To evaluate antibody titers 21 days after vaccination against the influenza A and B strains a hemagglutination inhibition assay (HI) was used. Results: In healthy volunteers adjuvanted QIV has proved its immunogenicity to strains A/H1N1, A/H3N2, B/Phuket and B/Colorado in seroprotection (90, 97, 86, and 66%, respectively), seroconversion (50, 60, 52, and 45%, respectively), GMR (6.2, 5.7, 4.2, and 3.4, respectively). Statistically significant differences in the level of all criteria were revealed between groups of healthy and CVID patients regardless of the virus strain. Most patients with CVID showed an increase in post-vaccination antibody titer without reaching conditionally protective antibody levels. Conclusion: Immunization with single dose of adjuvanted QIV with decreased amount of hemagglutinin protein to all virus strains due to the use of azoximer bromide forms protective immunity in healthy people, but in patients with CVID the search for new vaccination schemes is the subject of further investigations, as well as the effectiveness of boosterization with adjuvant vaccines. © Copyright © 2020 Kostinova, Akhmatova, Latysheva, Dagil, Klimova, Vlasenko, Khromova, Latysheva and Kostinov
Why covid-19 transmission is more efficient and aggressive than viral transmission in previous coronavirus epidemics?
No full textSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is causing a pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The worldwide transmission of COVID-19 from human to human is spreading like wildfire, affecting almost every country in the world. In the past 100 years, the globe did not face a microbial pandemic similar in scale to COVID-19. Taken together, both previous outbreaks of other members of the coronavirus family (severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV) and middle east respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV)) did not produce even 1% of the global harm already inflicted by COVID-19. There are also four other CoVs capable of infecting humans (HCoVs), which circulate continuously in the human population, but their phenotypes are generally mild, and these HCoVs received relatively little attention. These dramatic differences between infection with HCoVs, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 raise many questions, such as: Why is COVID-19 transmitted so quickly? Is it due to some specific features of the viral structure? Are there some specific human (host) factors? Are there some environmental factors? The aim of this review is to collect and concisely summarize the possible and logical answers to these questions. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland
Antifibrotic and regenerative effects of treamid in pulmonary fibrosis
No full textIdiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic progressive disease characterized by interstitial fibrosis and progressive respiratory failure. Pirfenidone and nintedanib slow down but do not stop the progression of IPF. Thus, new compounds with high antifibrotic activity and simultaneously regenerative activity are an unmet clinical need. Recently, we showed that Treamid can help restoring the pancreas and testicular tissue in mice with metabolic disorders. We hypothesized that Treamid may be effective in antifibrotic therapy and regeneration of damaged lung tissue in pulmonary fibrosis. In this study, experiments were performed on male C57BL/6 mice with bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. We applied histological and immunohistochemical methods, ELISA, and assessed the expression of markers of endothelial and epithelial cells in primary cultures of CD31+ and CD326+ lung cells. Finally, we evaluated esterase activity and apoptosis of lung cells in vitro. Our data indicate that Treamid exhibits antifibrotic activity in mice with pulmonary fibrosis and has a positive effect on capillaries of the lungs. Treamid also increases the number of endothelial progenitor cells in the lungs of animals with pulmonary fibrosis. Lastly, Treamid increases esterase activity and decreases apoptosis of CD31+ lung cells in vitro. Based on these findings, we suggest that Treamid may represent a promising compound for the development of new antifibrotic agents, which are capable of stimulating regeneration of lung endothelium in IPF patients. © 2020, MDPI AG. All rights reserved
Listeria monocytogenes infection of bat pipistrellus nathusii epithelial cells depends on the invasion factors inla and inlb
No full textL. monocytogenes is a widespread facultative intracellular pathogen. The range of natural hosts that supporting L. monocytogenes persistence in the environment has not been fully established yet. In this study, we were interested in the potential of L. monocytogenes to infect cells of bats, which are being increasingly recognized as a reservoir for microorganisms that are pathogenic to humans and domestic animals. A stable epithelial cell line was developed from the kidneys of Pipistrellus nathusii, a small bat widely distributed across Europe. The wild-type L. monocytogenes strain EGDe infected this cell line with an invasion efficiency of 0.0078 ± 0.0009%. Once it entered bat cells, L. monocytogenes doubled within about 70 minutes. When L. monocytogenes lacked either of the major invasion factors, InlA and InlB, invasion efficiency decreased by a factor of 10 and 25 respectively (p < 0.000001). The obtained results suggest that bat epithelial cells are susceptible to L. monocytogenes infection and that L. monocytogenes invasion of bat cells depends on the major invasion factors InlA and InlB. These results constitute the first report on in vitro studies of L. monocytogenes infection in bats. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland
In Search of Herbal Anti-SARS-Cov2 Compounds
No full textOn March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the spread of the new coronavirus had reached the stage of a pandemic. To date (23.10.2020), there are more than 40 million confirmed cases of the disease in the world, at the same time there is still no effective treatment for the disease. For management and treatment of SARS-Cov2, the development of an antiviral drug is needed. Since the representatives of all human cultures have used medicinal plants to treat viral diseases throughout their history, plants can be considered as sources of new antiviral drug compounds against emerging viruses. The huge metabolic potential of plants allows us to expect discovery of plant compounds for the prevention and treatment of coronavirus infection. This idea is supported by number of papers on the anti-SARS-Cov2 activity of plant extracts and specific compounds in the experiments in silico, in vitro, and in vivo. Here, we summarize information on methods and approaches aimed to search for anti-SARS-Cov2 compounds including cheminformatics, bioinformatics, genetic engineering of viral targets, interacting with drugs, biochemical approaches etc. Our mini-review may be useful for better planning future experiments (including rapid methods for screening compounds for antiviral activity, the initial assessment of the antiviral potential of various plant species in relation to certain pathogens, etc.) and giving a hand to those who are making first steps in this field. © Copyright © 2020 Matveeva, Khafizova and Sokornova