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The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has resulted in an unprecedented challenge to our healthcare system. Secondary and concurrent bacterial and viral co-infections are well documented for other viral respiratory pathogens; however knowledge regarding co-infections in COVID-19 remains limited. In the present study, concurrent testing of 50 419 individual samples for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 and other bacterial and viral respiratory pathogens was performed between March and August 2020. Overall, a lower rate of viral co-infection was observed in the SARS-CoV-2-positive population when compared to the population testing negative for the virus. Significant levels of Staphylococcus aureus and Epstein–Barr virus co-infections were detected in the SARS-CoV-2-positive population. This is one of the largest surveys looking into the co-infection patterns of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the United States. Data from this study will enhance our understanding of the current pandemic and will assist clinicians in making better patient care decisions, especially with respect to antimicrobial therapy.

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The negative side effects of opioid-based narcotics underscore the search for alternative non-opioid bioactive compounds that act on the peripheral nervous system to avoid central nervous system-mediated side effects. The transient receptor potential V1 ion channel (TRPV1) is a peripheral pain generator activated and sensitized by heat, capsaicin, and a variety of endogenous ligands. TRPV1 contributes to peripheral sensitization and hyperalgesia, in part, via triggering the release of proinflammatory peptides, such as calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), both locally and at the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Ultrapotent exogenous TRPV1 agonists, such as resiniferatoxin identified in the latex of the exotic Euphorbia resinifera, trigger hyperalgesia followed by long lasting, peripheral analgesia. The present study reports on the analgesic properties of Euphorbia bicolor, a relative of E. resinifera, native to the Southern United States. The study hypothesized that E. bicolor latex extract induces long-lasting, non-opioid peripheral analgesia in a rat model of inflammatory pain. Both inflamed and non-inflamed adult male and female rats were injected with the methanolic extract of E. bicolor latex into the hindpaw and changes in pain behaviors were reassessed at various time points up to 4 weeks. Primary sensory neuron cultures also were treated with the latex extract or vehicle for 15 min followed by stimulation with the TRPV1 agonist capsaicin. Results showed that E. bicolor latex extract evoked significant pain behaviors in both male and female rats at 20 min post-injection and lasting around 1–2 h. At 6 h post-injection, analgesia was observed in male rats that lasted up to 4 weeks, whereas in females the onset of analgesia was delayed to 72 h post-injection. In sensory neurons, latex extract significantly reduced capsaicin-evoked CGRP release. Blocking TRPV1, but not opioid receptors, attenuated the onset of analgesia and capsaicin-induced CGRP release. Latex was analyzed by mass spectrometry and eleven candidate compounds were identified and reported here. These findings indicate that phytochemicals in the E. bicolor latex induce hyperalgesia followed by peripheral, non-opioid analgesia in both male and female rats, which occurs in part via TRPV1 and may provide novel, non-opioid peripheral analgesics that warrant further examination.

Torture is an important element in the state sanctioned violence of the Roman imperium. Although Romans enjoyed portraying various aspects of daily life with graffiti including gladiatorial combat, they were apparently reluctant to depict the tools used by the torturer. In Roman authors, however, one finds many hints about the nature of the objects that were employed to extract evidence. Although surveys of various implements used in Roman torture have appeared in the scholarly literature, it is worthwhile to gather into one investigation what is currently known and include images of objects that have survived antiquity that are from the panoply of the carnifex. To better envision the suffering of the victims of torture, a new analysis of those tools is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Markan account of Salome’s dance before the Herodian court is historically plausible. There is a logical gap, however, between what is historically plausible and what is historically probable. Roman (i.e., pagan) and Jewish individuals that were high born and low born – both men and women – could occasionally dance. Sometimes those dances were seen as transgressive according to Roman mores. Sometimes they occurred in the context of festivals. Mark describes Salome’s dance in such a context. The narrative explains Herod’s puzzlement about Jesus’ identity and his view that Jesus is Iohannes redivivus and is significant for historical Jesus research because Mark uses it to foreshadow Jesus’ own death for seditio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are good warrants for believing that either the word Christianos or the word Christiani , a reference to the Christians, was probably in a graffito on the wall of the atrium of the house now identified as vii.11.11 in Pompeii when Giuseppe Fiorelli excavated it in 1862. Karl Zangemeister edited it in 1871 as CIL iv, 679 and included two divergent transcriptions. In 1995, Paul Berry published a book in which he claimed that he had made an image of the word Christianos using an industrial microscope and high-intensity light. A research project to investigate that claim could be potentially useful for verifying or falsifying Berry's results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amulo, one of the earliest western witnesses for the Toledot Yeshu, uses 'adulterata' to describe the mother of Jesus. Some scholars have claimed that the word 'adulterata' implies that she was raped either by force or by deception. Forcible rape is questionable based on a linguistic argument: Latin usage of 'adultero', both classical and Christian, normally refers to a woman with the accusative case or the passive voice and distinguishes clearly between adultery and violent rape. It is possible that narratives such as the one about Jesus' mother played a role in the conversion of the palace deacon Bodo to Judaism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ruben van Wingerden's articles on carrying a patibulum and σταυρός are admirably precise. However, his analyses of two texts of Plautus and a fragment of Clodius Licinus are problematic. In contrast to van Wingerden's rather minimalistic conclusions regarding carrying a patibulum or σταυρός, it seems likely that carrying a patibulum was a general element in Roman practice in accounts in which patibula are mentioned in conjunction with crucifixions – even when there is no explicit reference to carrying the patibulum through the streets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The antagonistic responses by certain ancient philosophers to several New Testament themes that appear in Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians and one specific text (1 Thess 4.15-17) which shows the difficulties involved in persuading some individuals to give up paganism is narrated. The difficulties that the antagonistic philosophers had with the Christian proclamation cast some light on the difficult transition Paul's Thessalonians had to make from paganism to Christianity.

Mark 1.30 can be interpreted in different ways given the diverse cultural possibilities for understanding the word 'fever.' The New Testament verse mentions Simon's mother-in-law having a fever which left her immediately after the apostle touched her. The fever can be attributed to medical, astrological, divine or demonic causes depending on the reader's interpretation of fever. It is argued that this ambiguity should be preserved because it generates abundant interpretive possibilities.