Search results for " epidemics"
showing 10 items of 10 documents
Health risks and potential remedies during prolonged lockdowns for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
2020
Abstract As coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues, an increasing number of countries and territories are adopting restrictive measures based on physical (“social”) distancing, aimed at preventing human-to-human transmission and thereby limiting virus propagation. Nationwide lockdowns, encompassing mass quarantine under stay-at-home ordinances, have already been proven effective to contain the COVID-19 outbreak in some countries. Nevertheless, a prolonged homestay may also be associated with potential side effects, which may jeopardize people’s health and thus must be recognized and mitigated in a way without violating local ordinances. Some of the most important undesirable…
Why is COVID-19 especially impacting the African American population?
2020
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, penetrates human cells through direct binding with ...
Real-time parameter estimation of Zika outbreaks using model averaging
2017
SUMMARYEarly prediction of the final size of any epidemic and in particular for Zika disease outbreaks can be useful for health authorities in order to plan the response to the outbreak. The Richards model is often been used to estimate epidemiological parameters for arboviral diseases based on the reported cumulative cases in single- and multi-wave outbreaks. However, other non-linear models can also fit the data as well. Typically, one follows the so called post selection estimation procedure, i.e., selects the best fitting model out of the set of candidate models and ignores the model uncertainty in both estimation and inference since these procedures are based on a single model. In this…
Clinical and demographic characteristics of patients dying from COVID-19 in Italy vs China.
2020
Abstract Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19), an infectious outbreak caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2),1 has now progressed to global pandemic.2 Besides the compelling need to understand the novel biological pathways underlying the virulence and pathogenicity of SARS‐CoV‐2 in humans to enable the development of appropriate interventions and therapies,3,4 the noticeable difference in mortality rates between Asian and European populations is one of the most significant issues demanding the attention of biologists, epidemiologists and clinicians around the world. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Elective Cancer Surgery in COVID-19-Free Surgical Pathways during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: An International, Multicenter, Comparative Cohort Study
2020
PURPOSE As cancer surgery restarts after the first COVID-19 wave, health care providers urgently require data to determine where elective surgery is best performed. This study aimed to determine whether COVID-19–free surgical pathways were associated with lower postoperative pulmonary complication rates compared with hospitals with no defined pathway. PATIENTS AND METHODS This international, multicenter cohort study included patients who underwent elective surgery for 10 solid cancer types without preoperative suspicion of SARS-CoV-2. Participating hospitals included patients from local emergence of SARS-CoV-2 until April 19, 2020. At the time of surgery, hospitals were defined as having a …
Amulet, Cure and Ornament. Red Coral in Trapani during the Plague Epidemics of 1575 and 1624
2023
Among the numerous epidemic episodes that have affected western Sicily in modern times, sadly famous are the plague of 1575 and 1624. The latter was the most serious occurred in Trapani and the one of which the most dramatic testimonies are preserved. Trapani quickly assumed the role of the starting point of the plague epidemic that raged in Sicily until 1626. The documents of the time testify to the coexistence of popular and religious beliefs of a superstitious nature with embryonic policies to contain the contagion on a scientific basis. The most famous doctor of the time in Trapani, Pietro Parisi, as it is known also linked to Malta, among other things recommended a coral-based therapy …
Wastewater-based epidemiology for early warning of SARS-COV-2 circulation: A pilot study conducted in Sicily, Italy
2022
There is increasing evidence of the use of wastewater-based epidemiology to integrate conventional monitoring assessing disease symptoms and signs of viruses in a specific territory. We present the results of SARS-CoV-2 environmental surveillance activity in wastewater samples collected between September 2020 and July 2021 in 9 wastewater treatment plants (WTPs) located in central and western Sicily, serving over 570,000 residents. The presence of SARS-CoV-2, determined in 206 wastewater samples using RT-qPCR assays, was correlated with the notified and geo-referenced cases on the areas served by the WTPs in the same study period. Overall, 51% of wastewater samples were positive. Samples we…
Distinct Clones of Yersinia pestis Caused the Black Death
2010
From AD 1347 to AD 1353, the Black Death killed tens of millions of people in Europe, leaving misery and devastation in its wake, with successive epidemics ravaging the continent until the 18th century. The etiology of this disease has remained highly controversial, ranging from claims based on genetics and the historical descriptions of symptoms that it was caused by Yersinia pestis to conclusions that it must have been caused by other pathogens. It has also been disputed whether plague had the same etiology in northern and southern Europe. Here we identified DNA and protein signatures specific for Y. pestis in human skeletons from mass graves in northern, central and southern Europe that …
No uniform associations between parasite prevalence and environmental nutrients
2014
The resource quality of the host has been shown to affect parasite transmission success, prevalence, and virulence. Seasonal availability of environmental nutrients alters density and stoichiometric quality (carbon–nutrient ratios) of both producers and consumers, suggesting that nutrient availability may drive fluctuations in parasite prevalence patterns observed in nature. We examined the interactions between the population dynamics of a keystone herbivore, Daphnia, and its parasites, and their associations with water nutrient concentrations, resource quantity and quality, and other environmental variables (temperature, pH, oxygen concentration) in a small lake, using general linear model…
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): the portrait of a perfect storm
2020
The “novel” coronavirus disease 2019 (abbreviated “COVID-19”) is the third coronavirus outbreak emerging during the past two decades. This infectious disease, sustained by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been recently declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. Despite the concerning epidemiological burden, many people, including some policymakers, are underestimating this pandemic and are remaining enigmatically inactive against a human pathology which, for a combination of reasons, can be reasonably defined as a perfect storm (i.e., the “wrong virus” at the “wrong time”). These many paradigmatic aspects include SARS-CoV-2 structure and pe…