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Our aim was to evaluate the immune response of healthcare workers included in the RIPOVAC study, after receiving a booster dose (third dose), in terms of intensity and persistence of induced antibodies. In the second phase of the RIPOVAC study, between December 2021 and January 2022, eight months after the second dose, 389 voluntary, immunocompetent, non-pregnant healthcare workers received a booster dose of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, and a serum sample was obtained. Two groups of patients were established: with and without previous SARS-CoV-2 infection. In order to quantify anti-S1 IgG (AU/mL) we used CMIA (Abbott). All of the health workers were anti-S IgG positive 8 months after receiving the booster dose of the vaccine, with a mean of 17,040 AU/mL. In 53 patients without previous infection, antibody levels increased by a mean of 10,762 AU/mL. This figure is seven times higher than the one produced after the second dose (1506 AU/mL). The booster dose produces a robust elevation of the antibody level, which persists at 8 months, with levels significantly higher than those reached after the second dose, which allow one to predict a persistence of more than one year. The study demonstrates the efficacy of the booster dose of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.

Background: The outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) resulted in the global COVID-19 pandemic. The urgency for an effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccine has led to the development of the first series of vaccines at unprecedented speed. The discovery of SARS-CoV-2 spike-glycoprotein mutants, however, and consequentially the potential to escape vaccine-induced protection and increased infectivity, demonstrates the persisting importance of monitoring SARS-CoV-2 mutations to enable early detection and tracking of genomic variants of concern. Results: We developed the CoVigator tool with three components: (1) a knowledge base that collects new SARS-CoV-2 genomic data, processes it and stores its results; (2) a comprehensive variant calling pipeline; (3) an interactive dashboard highlighting the most relevant findings. The knowledge base routinely downloads and processes virus genome assemblies or raw sequencing data from the COVID-19 Data Portal (C19DP) and the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA), respectively. The results of variant calling are visualized through the dashboard in the form of tables and customizable graphs, making it a versatile tool for tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants. We put a special emphasis on the identification of intrahost mutations and make available to the community what is, to the best of our knowledge, the largest dataset on SARS-CoV-2 intrahost mutations. In the spirit of open data, all CoVigator results are available for download. The CoVigator dashboard is accessible via covigator.tron-mainz.de. Conclusions: With increasing demand worldwide in genome surveillance for tracking the spread of SARS-CoV-2, CoVigator will be a valuable resource of an up-to-date list of mutations, which can be incorporated into global efforts.

Recentemente, a avaliação da epilepsia tem melhorado muito, devido aos novos procedimentos diagnósticos e também aos resultados das pesquisas na área clínica e experimental. Anos atrás, a prática neuropediátrica estava muito mais envolvida com as crianças seqüeladas. Atualmente, em especial no campo da pediatria, existe maior ênfase para os aspectos preventivos, incluindo os de saúde mental, nos quais o neuropediatra tem posição estratégica. Neste artigo, seguindo a cadeia fisiopatogênica, são inicialmente discutidos os fatores de risco para epilepsia, além das situações que possam diminuir o limiar para convulsões. A epileptogênese é revisada a partir das publicações com modelos experimentais; são apresentadas as drogas neuroprotetoras e as novas modalidades de tratamento, tais como cirurgia da epilepsia e estimulação vagal, que podem ter ação preventiva. Finalmente, são descritas as futuras abordagens possíveis, que incluem medicações fitoterápicas, terapia gênica e vacinação antiepiléptica específica.

Background: Published guidance concerning emergency management of left ventricular assist device (LVAD) recipients is both limited and lacking in consensus which increases the risk of delayed and/or inappropriate actions. Methods: In our specialist tertiary referral centre we developed, by iteration, a novel in-hospital resuscitation algorithm for LVAD emergencies which we validated through simulation and assessment of our multi-disciplinary team. A Mechanical Life Support course was established to provide theoretical and practical education combined with simulation to consolidate knowledge and confidence in algorithm use. We assessed these measures using confidence scoring, a key performance indicator (the time taken to restart LVAD function) and a multiple-choice question (MCQ) examination. Results: The mean baseline staff confidence score in management of LVAD emergencies was 2.4 ± 1.2 out of a maximum of 5 (n = 29). After training with simulation, mean confidence score increased to 3.5 ± 0.8 (n = 13).Clinical personnel who were provided with the novel resuscitation algorithm were able to reduce time taken to restart LVAD function from a mean value of 49 ± 8.2 seconds (pre-training) to 20.4 ± 5 seconds (post-training) (n = 42, p

The preparation of teachers in the field of agricultural vocational training is a situation that has not yet been satisfactorily resolved in the Cuban educational system, it constitutes a complex challenge to assume at the present time, due to the difficulties that persist, which places the teachers faced with the responsibility of redoubling efforts to carry out in-depth analyzes and changes, on the eve of offering a correct response to reverse the situation. The present article aims to present a pedagogical conception that contributes to the preparation of primary teachers for the work of agricultural vocational training. In its development, theoretical level methods such as historical-logical, modeling and systemic-structural-functional were used; At the empirical level, observation and interview were used, in addition to those corresponding to descriptive and inferential statistics that allowed the collection, interpretation and processing of information related to the subject. This pedagogical conception raises three guiding ideas with a systemic, organized and preparation-oriented nature, in each of them the cognitive, procedural-methodological and affective-motivational aspects are made explicit and they materialize in workshops, scientific debates and exchanges of experiences.

Objectives: The purposes of this study were to validate the Acoustic Breathiness Index (ABI) for the Japanese-speaking population and to determine whether it is independent of factors such as sex, age, and perceptual ratings of roughness. Method: First, the concurrent validity of the ABI for perceptual breathiness was evaluated on the concatenations of continuous speech and sustained vowels from 288 patients with varying degrees of dysphonia. The diagnostic accuracy was examined on 343 samples with 55 additional normophonic speakers. Second, the validity related to responsiveness-to-change was estimated on 222 samples obtained before and after interventions for 111 voice-disordered patients. Third, the relationships between the ABI and other variables (i.e., perceptual hoarseness/breathiness/roughness, sex, and age) were explored using bivariate and multivariate analyses for the 288 patients. Results: First, the concurrent validity and the responsiveness-to-change validity were confirmed by strong correlation coefficients of 0.890 and 0.878, respectively. Second, the receiver operating characteristic analysis showed the area under the curve to be 0.939, indicating excellent accuracy. The ABI of 3.44 exhibited a sensitivity of 76.3% and a specificity of 94.1%. Third, although bivariate analyses revealed a weak relationship between ABI and roughness and an ABI difference by age, multiple regression analyses showed a strong relation between only ABI and breathiness, without a meaningful contribution from roughness, sex, and age factors. Conclusion: The study confirmed that the ABI is an accurate and specific tool to estimate breathiness levels in the Japanese-speaking population and neither roughness, sex, nor age significantly affects the ABI.

This study aims to translate the Brief Autism Mealtime Behaviour Inventory (BAMBI) questionnaire to Brazilian Portuguese, in order to provide a tool to be used in clinic routine that encourages the evaluation of the feeding behaviour of patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The final sample contained 410 participants, the mean age was 9.58 [plus minus] 1.2 and the majority of participants were male (95%). Validation of this questionnaire allows a structured evaluation for this population to be integrated not only into the clinical routine but also to help parent's interventions about the eating problems and possible consequences. This is of utmost importance, since parents are reporting the nutritional aspects more often, and studies indicate that up to 80% of ASD patients may present feeding behavior problems.

The main objective of an Adaptive Optics (AO) system is to correct the aberrations produced in the received wavefronts, caused by atmospheric turbulence. From some measures taken by ground-based telescopes, AO systems must reconstruct all the turbulence traversed by the incoming light and calculate a correction. The turbulence is characterized as a phenomenon that can be modeled as several independent, random, and constantly changing layers. In the case of Solar Single-Conjugated Adaptive Optics (Solar SCAO), the key is to reconstruct the turbulence on-axis with the direction of the observation. Previous research has shown that ANNs are a possible alternative when they have been trained in the Sun’s regions where they must make the reconstructions. Along this research, a new solution based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) is proposed to predict the atmospheric turbulence from the data obtained by the telescope sensors that can generalize recovering wavefronts in regions of the sun completely unknown previously. The presented results show the quality of the reconstructions made by this new technique based on Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), specifically the Multi-layer Perceptron (MLP).

Feeding difficulties are prevalent among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Nevertheless, the knowledge about the association between feeding-related early signs and child development remains limited. This review aimed to describe the signs and symptoms related to feeding during child development and to explore their relevance to the diagnosis of ASD. Specialists in nutrition and/or ASD conducted a search of MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Web of Science databases. Although studies in typically developing children demonstrate age-related variations in hunger and satiety cues, the literature about early feeding indicators in ASD is scarce. Challenges such as shortened breastfeeding duration, difficulties in introducing solid foods, and atypical mealtime behaviors are frequently observed in children with ASD. The eating difficulties experienced during childhood raise concerns for caregivers who base their feeding practices on their perceptions of food acceptance or refusal. Considering the observed associations between feeding difficulties and ASD, the importance of recognizing feeding-related signs according to developmental milestones is emphasized to alert medical professionals that deviation in the formation of feeding habits and skills could indicate the need for ASD diagnostic investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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