0000000000349580
AUTHOR
Francesca Gucciardi
A comprehensive one-year correlation analysis between prevalence and number of sars-cov-2 rna copies detected in wastewater from 8 sicilian cities in italy
Background and objectives: Several authors have reported positive correlations between wastewater SARS-CoV-2 concentrations and the community’s burden of infection, providing information about the disease’s epidemiological trend. This pre-post study evaluated – within a year of active surveillance, from October 1st,2021, to September 30th, 2022 – the relation between daily SARSCoV-2 prevalence and the number of genome copies/L detected in West Sicily wastewater samples. This study is part of a national framework coordinated by Istituto Superiore di Sanità. Methods: Quantitative data from analysing 486 wastewater samples collected from 9 purification plants in 8 Sicilian cities (Agrigento, B…
Differentiation and characterization of rat adipose tissue mesenchymal stem cells into endothelial-like cells
In this study, mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from rat adipose tissue (AD-MSCs) to characterize and differentiate them into endothelial-like cells. AD-MSCs were isolated by mechanical and enzymatic treatments, and their identity was verified by colony-forming units (CFU) test and by differentiation into cells of mesodermal lineages. The endothelial differentiation was induced by plating another aliquot of cells in EGM-2 medium, enriched with specific endothelial growth factors. Five subcultures were performed. The expression of stemness genes (OCT4, SOX2 and NANOG) was investigated. The presence of CD90 and the absence of the CD45 were evaluated by flow cytometry. The endothelial-like…
Wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 variants in October-November 2022 in Italy: detection of XBB.1, BA.2.75 and rapid spread of the BQ.1 lineage
This study adds insight regarding the occurrence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern (VOCs) and Var-iants of Interest (VOIs) in Italy in October and November 2022, by testing urban wastewater collected through-out the country. A total of 332 wastewater samples were collected from 20 Italian Regions/Autonomous Provinces (APs) within the framework of national SARS-CoV-2 environmental surveillance. Of these, 164 were collected in the first week of October and 168 in the first week of November. A similar to 1600 bp fragment of the spike protein was sequenced by Sanger (for individual samples) and long-read nanopore sequencing (for pooled Region/AP samples).In October, mutations charact…