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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that causes acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) which is the main reason for patients mortality. One of the effective treatments to reduce the effects of this virus is parthenolide (PN). Parthenolide is a sesquiterpene lactone found in medicinal plants. It can inhibit several pro-inflammatory signaling pathways, in particular the ATPase activity of NLRP3. Based on its ability to suppress inflammatory signal transduction and elevated level of serum IL-1β (a surrogate marker for NLRP3 activation) in COVID-19 patients, we suggest that PN could be potentiallyeffective for the treatment of COVID-19.

Summary: Background: COVID-19 in paediatric ages could result in hospitalizations and death. In addition, excluding children from vaccination could turn them into reservoirs of the SARS-COV-2. Safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines are urgently needed for large-scale paediatric vaccination. ISMAELILLO study aimed to evaluate safety and immunogenicity of two strengths of a new recombinant receptor-binding domain (RBD) protein vaccine (Abdala) in paediatric population. Methods: A double-blinded, multicentre, randomised, phase 1/2 clinical trial was conducted in nine polyclinics in the province of Camagüey, Cuba. Healthy children and adolescents were stratified according to age (3–11 years old, or 12–18 years old) and they were randomly assigned (1:1; block size four) in two dosage level groups of vaccine to receive three intramuscular doses of 25 μg or 50 μg of RBD, 14 days apart. Main safety endpoint was analyzed as the percentage of serious adverse reactions during vaccination up to 28 days after the third dose (Day 56) in participants who received at least one dose vaccination. The primary immunogenicity endpoint assessed was seroconversion rate of anti-RBD IgG antibody at day 56. The immunogenicity outcomes were assessed in the per-protocol population. This trial is registered with Cuban Public Registry of Clinical Trials, RPCEC00000381. Findings: Between July 15, 2021, and August 16, 2021, 644 paediatric subjects were screened, of whom 592 were enrolled after verifying that they met the selection criteria: firstly 88 were included in Phase 1 of the study and 504 who completed Phase 2. The vaccine was well tolerated. Injection site pain was the most frequently reported local event (143 [8·4%] of 1707 total doses applied), taking place in 66/851 (7·8%) in the 25 μg group and in 77/856 (9·0%) in the 50 μg. The most common systemic adverse event (AE) was headache: 23/851 (2·7%) in the 25 μg group and 19/856 (2·2%) in the 50 μg. Reactogenicity was mild or moderate in severity, represented in 75% of cases by local symptoms, completely resolved in the first 24–48 h. Twenty-eight days after the third dose, seroconversion anti-RBD IgG were observed in 98·2% of the children and adolescents (231/234) for the 50 μg group and 98·7% (224/228) for the 25 μg group without differences between both strength. The specific IgG antibody geometric mean titres (GMT) showed higher titres between participants who received Abdala 50 μg (231·3; 95% CI 222·6–240·4) compared to those who received 25 μg (126·7; 95% CI 121·9–131·7). The mean ACE2 inhibition %, were 59·4% for 25 μg, and for 50 μg, 72·9% (p

Colistin has become the last-line antimicrobial for the treatment of multidrug resistant (MDR) Enterobacterales in human medicine. To date, several colistin resistance genes have been described. Of them mcr-1 is disseminated worldwide in Escherichia coli of human and animal origin. The aim of this study was to characterize mcr-mediated resistance plasmids from E. coli of animal origin in Spain. From our strain collection, 70 E. coli of pig origin collected between 2005 and 2014 (10 per year, except for years 2009–2010–2013) were randomly selected and screened for the presence of mcr-genes. Additionally, 20 E. coli isolated in 2011 from white storks (Ciconia ciconia) from the same urban household waste landfill associated colony were also included. Whole genome sequencing of mcr-positive isolates was carried out on a MiSeq (Illumina). Hybrid whole genome sequencing strategy combining nanopore and Illumina technologies were performed in a selection of isolates to close the genomes and plasmids and identify the presence of antimicrobial resistance genes. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was used to assess the susceptibility to colistin. Mating experiments were carried out to evaluate transferability of the mcr-genes. A total of 19 mcr-1 and one mcr-4 positive isolates were detected, 15 from pigs distributed during the study period, and five from storks collected in 2011. No other mcr-variants were found. The MICs for colistin ranged between 4 and >4 mg/L. High diversity of STs were detected among the mcr-1 positive E. coli isolates, with only ST-10 shared between pigs and white storks. Except for one isolate, all were genotypic and phenotypically MDR, and five of them also harbored cephalosporin resistance genes (blaCTX–M–14, blaSHV–12, and three blaCMY–2). mcr-1 genes were mobilizable by conjugation, associated with IncX4, IncHI2, and IncI2 plasmids. In our study, mcr-1 genes have been circulating in pig farms since 2005 harbored by a variety of E. coli clones. Its persistence may be driven by co-selection since plasmids containing mcr-1 also exhibit resistance to multiple drugs used in veterinary medicine. Furthermore, this is the first report of the presence of mcr-1 gene in isolates from white storks in Spain. This finding highlights the potential importance of wildlife that forage at urban household waste landfills in the transmission and spread of colistin resistance genes.

Strong characterization methods are needed to fully comprehend the chemistry and composition of perovskite solar cells. Understanding the interaction between layers inside a cell and how they react with the environment is important to achieve optimum manufacturing processes, and improve efficiency of perovskite solar cells. Here, we probe a hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite cell structure formed by a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO), cassiterite (SnO2), mixed halide perovskite, Spiro-OMeTAD and silver layers. We have demonstrated a power conversion efficiency (PCE) greater than 19% and aVoc of more than 1.1 V for a wide-band gap (1.6 eV) perovskite solar cell.

Con el fin de mejorar la resistencia a bajas temperaturas, se probó la aplicación de diferentes concentraciones de Nitrato de Potasio a plantas en vivero de 13 meses de edad de Pinus hartwegii Lindl. Se estableció un diseño experimental en bloques completos al azar, con cuatro repeticiones. Los tratamientos fueron cinco aplicaciones complementarias de 180, 150 y 114 ppm K, este último es la fertilización regular en el vivero forestal, durante la fase de endurecimiento. Dieciséis brinzales de cada tratamiento fueron colocados en una cámara de ambiente controlado, donde se simuló una helada a -5 °C por 2 h. Después de ello se estimó visualmente el nivel de daño (%) en tallo y raíz, así como en follaje. Mediante un modelo logístico se obtuvo la probabilidad de sufrir daño por bajas temperaturas en las plantas de los distintos tratamientos. Este modelo de probabilidad de daño en tallo y raíz y el modelo para follaje resultaron significativos. En este último caso, a mayor potasio en los tratamientos, menor probabilidad de daño en los brinzales.

El presente estudio tuvo como objetivo determinar la participación del etileno en el proceso de abscisión de los frutos en tres especies de Opuntia, y su relación con la producción de CO2 durante el crecimiento y maduración del fruto. Se midió la concentración de etileno y de CO2, pH y acidez titulable en cuatro fases de maduración (inicial: M1; intermedia: M2; máxima: M3; y final: M4) de los frutos de O. matudae, O. oligacantha y O. amyclaea. La mayor concentración de etileno y de CO2 en O. amyclaea se obtuvieron en la fase M3, coincidiendo con la plena madurez y máxima caída de frutos, lo que sugiere que la producción de estos gases está relacionada con el proceso de abscisión de frutos. Para O. matudae y O. oligacantha la mayor concentración de etileno se registró en la fase M1, éste podría estar funcionando como disparador del desarrollo y maduración del fruto, pero no ser suficiente para estimular la abscisión de éstos. La máxima producción de CO2 en estas dos especies ocurrió en la fase de máxima madurez (M3), y puede estar relacionada con el cambio en coloración y transformación de ácidos en azúcares en los frutos

Introduction: The ability to name pictures has been investigated widely in healthy people and clinical populations. The Object and Action Naming Battery (OANB) is widely used for psycholinguistic research, aphasia research, and clinical practice. Normative databases for pictorial stimuli have been conducted in language processing studies to control for various psycholinguistic variables known to affect the availability of picture names. The present study provides Moroccan Arabic norms for name agreement, familiarity, imageability, visual complexity, and age of acquisition for 100 line drawings of actions and 162 line drawings of objects taken from Druks and Masterson., Methods and Procedures: 160 healthy Moroccan Arabic-speaking individuals participated in this study. Name agreement values for the OANB items were collected from forty subjects, followed by collecting data for the psycholinguistic variables: spoken-word frequency, imageability, visual complexity, and age of acquisition from 120 participants., Results: The Moroccan Arabic OANB (MA-OANB) comprises 70 objects and 60 action pictures. 77% of the nouns and 68% of the verbs obtained 100% target responses. A minimum of 93 percent name agreement was reached for the remaining items. Norms were also collected for the following psycholinguistic variables: spoken-word frequency, imageability, age of acquisition, and visual complexity., Conclusion: The stimuli can be used for various psycholinguistic investigations and also for assessment and therapeutic purposes in Morocco.

Introduction: The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is widely used for dementia screening. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, to cross-culturally adapt the Moroccan Arabic version of MMSE (MA-MMSE) to screen dementia among literate and illiterate elderly Moroccans, and second to analyze its psychometric properties., Methods: The MA-MMSE was administered to 80 elderly patients, 28 were females and 52 were males. Among all the participants, 22 showed evidence of dementia. Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC), internal consistency, and test-retest reliability were investigated. The test-retest reliability was assessed by Spearman correlation analysis. Cronbach's α coefficients for internal consistency between total scores and subscores of the test were calculated., Results: Areas under the ROC curve in literate and illiterate elderly Moroccans participants corresponded to 0.932 and 0.936, respectively. The cutoff point of 21/22 on the MA-MMSE in literate elderly had the highest sensitivity (85.7%), specificity (94.7%), and a positive likelihood ratio of (16.29%), whereas the cutoff point of 18/19 of the screening test in illiterate elderly yielded the highest sensitivity (92.9%), specificity (95.0%), and a positive likelihood ratio of (18.57%). The Cronbach's α values of the MA-MMSE for literate and illiterate elderly Moroccans were higher than 0.7. Thirty subjects were randomly selected for participation in the test-retest protocol. Participants were retested after an interval of 4-6 weeks. The test-retest reliability for total scores was significant 0.78 ( p  < 0.01)., Conclusion: The findings provide preliminary evidence that the MA-MMSE is a feasible instrument for dementia screening.

Purpose: The objectives of this study were (a) to linguistically and culturally adapt the English bedside version of the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised (Bedside WAB-R) into Moroccan Arabic (MA) and (b) to assess its psychometric properties., Method: The Bedside MA-WAB-R was piloted on a population of 20 participants after a process of linguistic adaptation from English to MA. To verify the psychometric properties of the test, a group of healthy controls ( n = 106) and a group of persons with chronic aphasia ( n = 52) completed the Bedside MA-WAB-R. The test's content validity, construct validity, and the concurrent validity of the aphasia classification system were examined. In addition, the interrater reliability, intrarater reliability, test-retest reliability, and internal consistency of the instrument were evaluated., Results: The results indicated that the Bedside MA-WAB-R overall met standard criteria for excellent psychometric properties, as evinced by high content and construct validity and concurrent validity with independent measures of aphasia diagnosis (speech-language pathologists' impression and lesion location) as well as high internal consistency, inter- and intrarater reliability, and test-retest reliability. The test was also found to have very high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of aphasia, as revealed by the performance of controls. By controlling for age and educational level effects, specific cutoff values were determined to optimize the aphasia diagnosis., Conclusions: The Bedside MA-WAB-R is the first standardized quick aphasia assessment tool with associated psychometric properties for clinical use with an MA-speaking population, particularly within the 26- to 58-year age range. It meets standard criteria for a valid and reliable measure than can have a variety of clinical and research applications.

The general population is voluntarily or unintentionally exposed to heavy metals through ingestion of food, polluted water, or contact with soil, dust, or polluted air. A number of metals are considered as endocrine disruptors and can alter the level of reproductive hormones. This study aims to systematically review the epidemiological studies on the association between heavy metals exposure and sex hormones level. We conducted a systematic search from available databases, including PubMed, Clarivate Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Collaboration, until April 2021. The relevant studies were selected, and two reviewers conducted the quality assessment. Then, data were extracted based on the inclusion criteria. We identified nine articles related to the association between heavy metals exposure and sex hormones level. We summarized the relevant information. Due to the diversity of metals and the variety of sex hormones, the effect of exposure on hormones level was not clear; however in most studies, at least for one metal, a significant association (inverse or positive) was observed between metals exposure and hormones level. Heavy metals exposure may potentially alter sex hormone levels; however, further research is needed to evaluate the impact of this association., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)