Systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of coronavirus: One health approach for a global strategy.

Coronaviruses have been responsible for major epidemic crises in 2003 with SARS-CoV-1, in 2012 with MERS-CoV and in 2019 with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), causing serious atypical pneumonia in humans. We intend, with this systematic analysis and meta-analysis, to clarify the prevalence of the various strains of coronavirus in different animal species. For this purpose, we carried out an electronic survey using Pubmed's Veterinary Science search tool to conduct a systematic assessment of published studies reporting the prevalence of different strains of coronavirus in different animal species between 2015 and 2020. We conducted different analysis to assess sensitivity, publication bias, and heterogeneity, using random effect. The final meta-analysis included 42 studies for systematic review and 29 in the meta-analysis. For the geographic regions with a prevalence greater than or equal to 0.20 (Forest plot overall; prevalence = 0.20, p < 0.01, Q = 10,476.22 and I2 = 100%), the most commonly detected viruses were: enteric coronavirus (ECoV), pigeon-dominant coronavirus, (PdCoV), Avian coronavirus M41, Avian coronavirus C46, Avian coronavirus A99, Avian coronavirus JMK, MERS-CoV, Bovine coronavirus, Ro-BatCoV GCCDC1, Alphacoronavirus, Betacoronavirus, Deltacoronavirus, Gamacoronavirus and human coronaviruses (HCoVs). The wide presence of different strains of coronavirus in different animal species on all continents demonstrates the great biodiversity and ubiquity of these viruses. The most recent epidemiological crises caused by coronavirus demonstrates our unpreparedness to anticipate and mitigate emerging risks, as well as the need to implement new epidemiological surveillance programs for viruses. Combined with the need to create advanced training courses in One Health, this is paramount in order to ensure greater effectiveness in fighting the next pandemics.

Contaminants: a dark side of food supplements?

Food supplements (FS) are often consumed as one of the strategies to fight ageing-associated pathologies, especially in the case of oxidative stress-related diseases. Despite the popularity of FS, some concerns about their quality and safety have been raised, especially regarding the presence of contaminants. This paper reviews and discusses the occurrence of contaminants in marketed samples of FS in the last two decades, considering both scientific literature and notifications registered on RASFF portal. The most relevant classes of contaminants were included namely metals, toxins, pesticides, dioxins and PCBs, as well as pharmacologically active ingredients. Variable amounts of contaminants were reported in a significant number of commercially available FS. Although the presence of contaminants does not necessarily mean that their levels exceed the regulatory limits or that the FS intake constitutes a risk to human health, it alerts for the need to further monitor FS safety. The evaluation of the risk associated to the consumption of FS, especially in the elderly population, is particularly challenging due to the frequent exposure to multiple toxicants and to different exposure sources, as well as due to possible pre-existing diseases and respective therapeutics. Therefore, improved quality control procedures and monitoring programs should be pursued in order to avoid undesirable products and assure the safety of FS.

Activity of Rifabutin and Hemi-synthetic Derivatives Against Mycobacterium abscessus.

BACKGROUND: Mycobacterium abscessus causes a wide range of clinical diseases that are difficult to treat. This microorganism is resistant not only to the classical antituberculosis agents but also to most of the antimicrobials that are currently available, resulting in limited therapeutic options and treatment failure. This scenario stresses the need to search for new drugs with activity against M. abscessus. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate in vitro the antimycobacterial activity and cytotoxicity of rifabutin (RFB 1) and ten derivatives (2-11) against M. abscessus ATCC 19977. METHOD: The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the molecules was determined by the microdilution broth method according to the guideline described in CLSI. The toxicity evaluation was carried in 96-well microplates, using the cell line J774A.1 (ATCC TIB-67). RESULT: From the eleven molecules tested, RFB 1 and RFB 4 were the compounds showing higher activities against M. abscessus, with MICs of 0.9 and 1.0 µM, respectively. The R1 and R2 moieties seem to have deciding influence over the final activity. Furthermore, N-oxide derivatives 9, 10, and 11 were also active against M. abscessus, with MICs of 7.2 µM, 1.8 µM and 3.8 µM, respectively. An explanatory hypothesis for the better activities of compounds RFB 1, RFB 4, RFB 10 and RFB 11 considers the likely hydrogen bonding between ligands and receptor, balancing the global flexibility and interaction energies. RFB 1 and its most effective derivatives were found to be not toxic. CONCLUSION: Besides RFB 1, its derivatives 4, 10 and 11 show potential for clinical development in the M. abscessus treatment.

Regulatory approach on environmental risk assessment. Risk management recommendations, reasonable and prudent alternatives.

Current knowledge shows that residues of human medicinal products at trace quantities are widespread in aquatic systems. The sewage treatment plants are pointed out as the major source discharge of these compounds on the environment. In this context, it has been worldwide recognised that the environmental impact of medicinal products have to be evaluated, according to recent EU legislation and regulatory guidance. The strategy of the global risk assessment includes primarily a pre-screening based on the estimation of exposure concentrations of drugs in the wastewater. The present paper addresses the decision-maker frontier of the ecologically relevant endpoints. Risk management recommendation and reasonable and prudent alternatives are discussed to minimise the possible environmental impact.

Direct identification and quantitative determination of costunolide and dehydrocostuslactone in the fixed oil of Laurus novocanariensis by 13C-NMR spectroscopy.

The fixed oil of Laurus novocanariensis (previously L. azorica) contains mostly glycerides together with minor non-saponifiable compounds. The direct identification and quantitative determination of costunolide and dehydrocostuslactone, two sesquiterpene lactones components of the oil that exhibit biological activities, is described. The analysis was carried out using 13C-NMR spectroscopy (signal acquisition with inverse gated decoupling of protons; diglyme as internal standard) without separation, derivatisation or any sample preparation.