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27-day cycles in human mortality: Traute and Bernhard Düll
No full textThis tribute to her parents by one co-author (NDP) is the fruit of a more than a decade-long search by the senior author (FH) for the details of the lives of Bernhard and Gertraud (''Traute'') Düll. These pioneers studied how space/terrestrial weather may differentially influence human mortality from various causes, the 27-day mortality pattern being different whether death was from cardiac or respiratory disease, or from suicide. FH is the translator of personal information about her parents provided by NDP in German. Figuratively, he also attempts to ''translate'' the Dülls' contribution in the context of the literature that had appeared before their work and after their deaths. Although the Dülls published in a then leading journal, among others (and FH had re-analyzed some of their work in a medical journal), they were unknown to academies or libraries (where FH had inquired about them). The Dülls thoroughly assembled death certificates to offer the most powerful evidence for an effect of solar activity reflected in human mortality, as did others before them. They went several steps further than their predecessors, however. They were the first to show possibly differential effects of space and/or Earth weather with respect to suicide and other deaths associated with the nervous and sensory systems vs. death from cardiac or respiratory disease as well as overall death by differences in the phase of a common 27-day cycle characterizing these mortality patterns. Furthermore, Bernhard Düll developed tests of human visual and auditory reaction time to study effects of weather and solar activity, publishing a book (his professorial dissertation) on the topic. His unpublished finding of an increased incidence of airplane crashes in association with higher solar activity was validated after his death, among others, by Tatiana Zenchenko and A. M. Merzlyi. © 2013 Copernicus GmbH. All rights reserved
Dispirotripiperazine-core compounds, their biological activity with a focus on broad antiviral property, and perspectives in drug design (mini-review)
No full textViruses are obligate intracellular parasites and have evolved to enter the host cell. To gain access they come into contact with the host cell through an initial adhesion, and some viruses from different genus may use heparan sulfate proteoglycans for it. The successful inhibition of this early event of the infection by synthetic molecules has always been an attractive target for medicinal chemists. Numerous reports have yielded insights into the function of compounds based on the dispirotripiperazine scaffold. Analysis suggests that this is a structural requirement for inhibiting the interactions between viruses and cell-surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans, thus preventing virus entry and replication. This review summarizes our current knowledge about the early history of development, synthesis, structure-activity relationships and antiviral evaluation of dispirotripiperazine-based compounds and where they are going in the future. © 2020 Elsevier Masson SA
Corrigendum to “Toxic metal exposure as a possible risk factor for COVID-19 and other respiratory infectious diseases” [Food Chem. Toxicol. 146 111809] (Food and Chemical Toxicology (2020) 146, (S0278691520306992), (10.1016/j.fct.2020.111809))
No full textThe authors regret the number of the project funded by the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education was cited incorrectly. The correct reference to the project support should appear as “The study was performed with the support of the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Project № 0856-2020-0008.” The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. © 2021 Elsevier Lt
Impact of COVID-19 on Pediatric Asthma: Practice Adjustments and Disease Burden
No full textBackground: It is unclear whether asthma may affect susceptibility or severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in children and how pediatric asthma services worldwide have responded to the pandemic. Objective: To describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric asthma services and on disease burden in their patients. Methods: An online survey was sent to members of the Pediatric Asthma in Real Life think tank and the World Allergy Organization Pediatric Asthma Committee. It included questions on service provision, disease burden, and the clinical course of confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection among children with asthma. Results: Ninety-one respondents, caring for an estimated population of more than 133,000 children with asthma, completed the survey. COVID-19 significantly impacted pediatric asthma services: 39% ceased physical appointments, 47% stopped accepting new patients, and 75% limited patients' visits. Consultations were almost halved to a median of 20 (interquartile range, 10-25) patients per week. Virtual clinics and helplines were launched in most centers. Better than expected disease control was reported in 20% (10%-40%) of patients, whereas control was negatively affected in only 10% (7.5%-12.5%). Adherence also appeared to increase. Only 15 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported among the population; the estimated incidence is not apparently different from the reports of general pediatric cohorts. Conclusions: Children with asthma do not appear to be disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Outcomes may even have improved, possibly through increased adherence and/or reduced exposures. Clinical services have rapidly responded to the pandemic by limiting and replacing physical appointments with virtual encounters. © 2020 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunolog
Both influenza hemagglutinin and polymerase acidic genes are important for delayed pandemic 2009 H1N1 virus clearance in the ferret model
No full textWe previously showed that a pandemic virus, A/Tennessee/560/09(H1N1), had the potential to adapt to human bronchial epithelial cells by the acquisition of hemagglutinin (HA) K154Q and polymerase acidic (PA) protein L295P mutations that conferred a more virulent phenotype. To better elucidate the role of each mutations, we generated recombinant viruses carrying single mutations or both mutations concurrently. The replication of all mutant viruses was significantly higher than that of the wild-type A/Tennessee/560/09 virus in human cells. The HA K154Q mutation reduced the receptor binding affinity of A/Tennessee/560/09 virus to 6-Su-6'SLN and biantennary 6'SLN receptors. In ferrets, H1N1 virus with HA K154Q and PA L295P mutations exhibited significantly higher titers in the upper respiratory tract compared to all other viruses 6 days post-infection. Our results suggest that both single mutations HA K154Q and PA L295P are necessary for delayed virus clearance of A/Tennessee/560/09(H1N1) influenza virus in a ferret animal model. © 2012 Elsevier Inc
Social aspects of environmental issues in the context of the national project “Ecology”
No full textThe article is studying the prospects of the environmental issues impact on social policy in Russia. Environmental issues are coming to the fore in the context of public discourse around the world - a new surge in public discourse on this topic is expected following the resolution of the pandemic crisis. Much attention was paid to the consideration of the national project "Ecology", which is a response to a public request related to changes in the field of domestic ecology and the approach to it. The authors come to the conclusion that public attention to environmental problems will only increase, while it is advised to the state to keep it in the system field. Otherwise, it is precisely the “environmental agenda” that may become one of the main factors of destabilization of the domestic political field in Russia. Further systematic expert development of this topic should designate state structures and public organizations as a sufficient set of “roadmaps” for a consistent reduction in the level of conflict in the context of a “green” issue. © 2020 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved
Echolocation of bats (Chiroptera Blumenbach, 1779) as an element of their ecological plasticity
No full textAim. The aim of this work was to briefly summarize the current understanding of the phenomenon of echolocation in the order of bats (Chiroptera Blumenbach, 1779). Discussion. The paper discusses: The place of bats among other taxonomic groups of animals that have the ability of echolocation; the history of the discovery of "ear vision" in bats by L. Spallanzani in the 18th century; the first scientifically based assumptions regarding the use of ultrasound by bats and the discovery of this phenomenon in the middle of the last century; methods for emitting and receiving ultrasound by various taxonomic groups of bats; physical patterns underlying the propagation of ultrasonic waves; characteristics of the returned echo and algorithms for echolocation in bats; echolocation interactions between insectivorous bats and nocturnal moths and possibilities for ultrasonic monitoring of bat populations. Conclusion. The inclusion of ultrasound monitoring of bat populations in integrated ecological and virological studies could form a new point of growth in systems to ensure biological security at both national and global levels. © 2020 Kamerton. All rights reserved
Precarisation of labour as a growing form of employment of young specialists in the context of the Сovid-19 pandemic [Прекаризация труда как растущая форма занятости молодых специалистов в условиях пандемии]
No full textThe Сovid-19 pandemic has catalysed the inevitable digitalisation of communications and rapidly changed the organisation and technologies of professional activities of millions of employees worldwide. The growth of unemployment, the transition of professional groups to remote work (wherever possible) due to the need for isolation to minimise the spread of COVID-19 in 2020 led to radical changes in the labour market. Studying the processes of precariation can facilitate the search for responses to new challenges related to deregulation of labour relations. We are interested in examining the participation of youth in these processes. Young population is receptive to social innovation and has excellent competencies in the field of information technology. An analysis of professional trajectories of university graduates (employed in the Ural region and beyond) helps identify whether precarious employment in the labour market can be successful, and determine the characteristics of social groups involved. We used the monitoring of university graduates conducted in 2017-2019 based on survey and administrative data. To process the data, we applied the methods of classification and expert evaluations. The analysis showed that 34.4 % of university graduates belong to the precariat, with only 8.8 % being unemployed. Young freelancers and IT-professionals are successfully employed, satisfied with their jobs and high salaries, demonstrating high rates of employment in their specialty. The results can be applied for balancing precarious work; its best practices, accumulated by freelancers and IT-professionals, can be used as a social tool for regulating labour relations in an unfavourable epidemiological situation. © 2020 Institute of Economics, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
Urgent surgical department in multidisciplinary hospital repurposed as infectious hospital for new coronavirus infection (COVID-19)
No full textOBJECTIVE. In this paper, we show the work of the emergency surgical department on the example of a large repurposed multidisciplinary hospital, also its necessity even for infectious hospitals not accepting patients with acute surgical pathology. METHODS AND MATERIALS. The work of surgical department of Pavlov First Saint Petersburg State Medical University repurposed for COVID-19 patients was analyzed. About 1500 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized during 4-month period. RESULTS. All patients undergoing surgery were in severe condition (at intensive care unit). Most common surgery in abdomen was diagnostic laparoscopy. Spontaneous bleedings of different localization occurred in these patients, what required endovascular and endoscopic treatment. We observed only Clavien - Dindo 1-degree postoperative complications. Mortality rate was high and amounted to 75 %. CONCLUSION. The work of surgical department in an infectious hospital for the treatment of a new coronavirus infection is extremely difficult. An infectious hospital should have a 24-hour diagnostic service (US, CT, MRI). Patients severity and the working conditions necessitate the availability of the trained surgical personnel. Given the high risks of bleedings in patients with COVID-19, it is necessary to have a 24-hour endoscopy and endovascular surgery departments with the ability to perform diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. © 2020 Grekov's Bulletin of Surgery
Cancer vaccines: Antigen selection strategy
No full textUnlike traditional cancer therapies, cancer vaccines (CVs) harness a high specificity of the host’s immunity to kill tumor cells. CVs can train and bolster the patient’s immune system to recognize and eliminate malignant cells by enhancing immune cells’ identification of antigens expressed on cancer cells. Various features of antigens like immunogenicity and avidity influence the efficacy of CVs. Therefore, the choice and application of antigens play a critical role in establishing and developing CVs. Tumor-associated antigens (TAAs), a group of proteins expressed at elevated levels in tumor cells but lower levels in healthy normal cells, have been well-studied and developed in CVs. However, immunological tolerance, HLA restriction, and adverse events are major obstacles that threaten TAA-based CVs’ efficacy due to the “self-protein” characteristic of TAAs. As “abnormal proteins” that are completely absent from normal cells, tumor-specific antigens (TSAs) can trigger a robust immune response against tumor cells with high specificity and without going through central tolerance, contributing to cancer vaccine development feasibility. In this review, we focus on the unique features of TAAs and TSAs and their application in vaccines, summarizing their performance in preclinical and clinical trials. © 2021 by the authors