The intranasal administration of drugs allows an effective and noninvasive therapeutic action on the respiratory tract. In an era of rapidly increasing antimicrobial resistance, new approaches to the treatment of communicable diseases, especially lung infections, are urgently needed. Metal nanoparticles are recognized as a potential last-line defense, but limited data on the biosafety and nano/biointeractions preclude their use. Here, we quantitatively and qualitatively assess the fate and the...

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 has further increased the urgent need for digital transformation within the health care settings, with the use of artificial intelligence/deep learning, internet of things, telecommunication network/virtual platform, and blockchain. The recent advent of metaverse, an interconnected online universe, with the synergistic combination of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality described several years ago, presents a new era of immersive and real-time...

People with limited English proficiency in the United States have suffered disproportionate negative health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Effective communications are critical tools in addressing inequities insofar as they can motivate adoption of protective behaviors and reduce incidence of disease; however, little is known about experiences of communities with limited English proficiency receiving relevant information during COVID-19 or other outbreaks. To address this gap and provide...

SARS-CoV-2 causes the current global pandemic coronavirus disease 2019. Widely-available effective drugs could be a critical factor in halting the pandemic. The main protease (3CLpro) plays a vital role in viral replication; therefore, it is of great interest to find inhibitors for this enzyme. We applied the combination of virtual screening based on molecular docking derived from the crystal structure of the peptidomimetic inhibitors (N3, 13b, and 11a), and experimental verification revealed...

Throughout 2020, national and subnational governments worldwide implemented nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to contain the spread of COVID-19. These included community quarantines, also known as lockdowns, of varying length, scope, and stringency that restricted mobility. To assess the effect of community quarantines on urban mobility in the Philippines, we analyze a new source of data: cellphone-based origin-destination flows made available by a major telecommunication company. First, we...

CONCLUSIONS: This study provides baseline SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Kaduna State, Nigeria, immediately prior to the spread of the Omicron variant. It indicates that in October/November 2021, approximately 56% of the population did not have detectable antibodies, and population subgroups with particularly low seroprevalence remain. It highlights limitations in using PCR-confirmed cases to estimate infection rates. The data will inform public health strategies in Nigeria and other sub-Saharan...

Conventional biosensors rely on the diffusion-dominated transport of the target analyte to the sensor surface. Consequently, they require an incubation step that may take several hours to allow for the capture of analyte molecules by sensor biorecognition sites. This incubation step is a primary cause of long sample-to-result times. Here, we integrate alternating current electrothermal flow (ACET) in an organic electrochemical transistor (OECT)-based sensor to accelerate the device operation....

The Covid-19 pandemic has inspired the implementation of a number of online educational activities designed to promote appropriate measures, such as social distancing, in order to avoid spread of the disease. In these circumstances, ensuring that extracurricular activities in science education adapt to the changing situation is of crucial importance. Recognizing the important role high school science olympiads play in science education, we organized an in-person socially distanced 2-day...

CONCLUSION: The results confirm a decline in hospitalized oncology patients for the entire pandemic in the setting of a maximum care provider. Imposed lockdown and contact restrictions, rising COVID-19 case numbers, as well as discovery of new virus variants have a negative impact on hospitalized treated oncological patients.

CONCLUSION: eePH is frequently observed in COVID-19 patients and is correlated with increased mortality. COVID-19-related eePH appears to be reversible after recovery. Vigilant attention and a low threshold for performance of echocardiography in COVID-19 patients seems warranted, as eePH may be applicable as a prognostic risk factor.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly effective for HIV prevention, yet PrEP delivery to women in periconception and pregnancy has lagged. We report qualitative research from a study evaluating PrEP use as part of safer conception care for 330 South African women. Fifty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 study participants to identify influences on PrEP adherence. Influences were: (1) changing proximity to male partners; (2) COVID-19 lockdown; (3) mobile lifestyle; (4)...

Pandemics have devastating effects that can be mitigated with the existence of global infrastructure for pandemic preparedness along with the adaptation of existing research studies and establishment of biorepositories early in an outbreak. Observational cohort studies in place prior to a pandemic, that are rapidly scalable in response to emerging infectious diseases, are essential for both the early pandemic response and evaluation of its long-term effects. The ability to quickly collect and...

There is a pressing need for host-directed therapeutics that elicit broad-spectrum antiviral activities to potentially address current and future viral pandemics. Apratoxin S4 (Apra S4) is a potent Sec61 inhibitor that prevents cotranslational translocation of secretory proteins into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), leading to anticancer and antiangiogenic activity both in vitro and in vivo. Since Sec61 has been shown to be an essential host factor for viral proteostasis, we tested Apra S4 in...

The rapid emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants raised public health questions concerning the capability of diagnostic tests to detect new strains, the efficacy of vaccines, and how to map the geographical distribution of variants to understand transmission patterns and loads on healthcare resources. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is the primary method for detecting and tracing new variants, but it is expensive, and it can take weeks before sequence data are available in public repositories. This...

Adults with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) may experience enteral nutrition (EN) intolerance. They often require mechanical ventilation and other specialized management including prone positioning. There is a controversy as to whether patients fed in prone position experience more EN intolerance than when they are in supine position. This narrative review synthesizes the literature published between 2001 and 2021 in adults with ARDS who are fed EN while in the prone position to...

Research teams must collaborate with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to identify effective and inclusive responses to COVID-19 and other public health emergencies. Collaborating remotely requires telecommunication and other technologies. We designed and evaluated a digital "Toolkit for Remote Inclusive Research" to provide research teams with evidence-informed strategies to make remote research accessible to and inclusive of people with intellectual and developmental...