The development of statistical literacy among students: Analyzing messages in media articles with Gal's worry questions

Real‐world data are fundamental to modern teaching methodologies that aim to improve statistical knowledge and reasoning in students. Statistical information is encountered in everyday life, such as media articles and involves real‐world contexts. However, information could be biased or (mis)represented and students should be concerned about the validity of such articles, as well as the nature and trustworthiness of the evidence presented, while considering alternative interpretations of the findings conveyed to them. Statistics educators could make use of media articles to create opportunities for students to reflect on such (mis)representations and build statistical literacy. The purpose of this article is to show how information and data on the Omicron COVID‐19 variant have been (mis)represented in the media and by government entities. I also demonstrate how these examples may be utilized in the statistics classroom as they relate to concepts covered in most basic statistics courses. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Teaching Statistics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

The emerging Omicron variant spike mutation: the relative receptor-binding domain affinity and molecular dynamics

This study aims to fill a knowledge gap in our understanding of Omicron variant receptor-binding domain (RBD) interactions with host cell receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Protein-protein docking, scoring, and filtration were all performed using the HDOCK server. A coarse-grained prediction of the changes in binding free energy caused by point mutations in Omicron RBD was requested from the Binding Affinity Changes upon Mutation (BeAtMuSiC) tools. GROMACS was utilized to perform molecular dynamics simulations (MD). Within the 15 mutations in Omicron RBD, several mutations have been linked to increased receptor affinity, immunological evasion, and inadequate antibody response. Wild-type (wt) SARS-CoV-2 and its Omicron variant have 92.27% identity. Nonetheless, Omicron RBD mutations resulted in a slight increase in the route mean square deviations (RMSD) of the Omicron structural model during protein-protein docking, as evidenced by RMSDs of 0.47 and 0.85 A for the wt SARS-CoV-2 and Omicron RBD-ACE2 complexes, respectively. About five-point mutations had essentially an influence on binding free energy, namely G6D, S38L, N107K, E151A, and N158Y. The rest of the mutations were expected to reduce the binding affinity of Omicron RBD and ACE2. The MD simulation supports the hypothesis that Omicron RBD is more stably bound to ACE2 than wt SARS-CoV-2 RBD. Lower RMSD and greater radius of gyration (Rg) imply appropriate Omicron structure 3D folding and stability. However, the increased solvent accessible surface area (SASA) with a greater Omicron shape may have a different interaction with receptor binding and regulate virus entrance. Omicron RBD's mutations help it maintain its structural stability, compactness, ACE2 binding, and immune evasion.Copyright © 2022 AEPress, s.r.o.. All rights reserved.

The effects of meteorological factors on the COVID-19 omicron variant in Bangladesh.

The COVID-19 omicron variant is exceptionally complicated and uncertain due to its rapid transmission and volume of infections. This study examines the impact of climatic factors on daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 omicron variant in Bangladesh. The secondary data of daily confirmed cases from 1 January 2022, to 31 March 2022, of eight distinct geographic divisions have been used for the current study. The multivariate generalized linear negative binomial regression model was applied to determine the effects of climatic factors on omicron transmission. The model revealed that the maximum temperature (Odds: 0.67, p < 0.05), sky clearness (Odds: 0.05, p < 0.05), wind speed (Odds: 0.76, p < 0.05), relative humidity (Odds: 1.02, p < 0.05), and air pressure (Odds: 0.27, p < 0.05) significantly impacted COVID-19 omicron transmission in Bangladesh. The study's findings can assist the concerned authorities and decision-makers take necessary measures to control the spread of omicron cases in Bangladesh.

Immunoinformatic approach for the construction of multi-epitopes vaccine against omicron COVID-19 variant.

The newly discovered SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant B.1.1.529 is a Variant of Concern (VOC) announced by the World Health Organization (WHO). It's becoming increasingly difficult to keep these variants from spreading over the planet. The fifth wave has begun in several countries because of Omicron variant, and it is posing a threat to human civilization. As a result, we need effective vaccination that can tackle Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variants that are bound to emerge. Therefore, the current study is an initiative to design a peptide-based chimeric vaccine that may potentially battle SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. As a result, the most relevant epitopes present in the mutagenic areas of Omicron spike protein were identified using a set of computational tools and immunoinformatic techniques to uncover common MHC-1, MHC-II, and B cell epitopes that may have the ability to influence the host immune mechanism. A final of three epitopes from CD8+ T-cell, CD4+ T-cell epitopes, and B-cell were shortlisted from spike protein, and that are highly antigenic, IFN-γ inducer, as well as overlapping for the construction of twelve vaccine models. As a result, the antigenic epitopes were coupled with a flexible and stable peptide linker, and the adjuvant was added at the N-terminal end to create a unique vaccine candidate. The structure of a 3D vaccine candidate was refined, and its quality was assessed by using web servers. However, the applied immunoinformatic study along with the molecular docking and simulation of 12 modeled vaccines constructs against six distinct HLAs, and TLRs (TLR2, and TLR4) complexes revealed that the V1 construct was non-allergenic, non-toxic, highly immunogenic, antigenic, and most stable. The vaccine candidate's stability was confirmed by molecular dynamics investigations. Finally, we studied the expression of the suggested vaccination using codon optimization and in-silico cloning. The current study proposed V1 Multi-Epitope Vaccine (MEV) as a significant vaccine candidate that may help the scientific community to treat SARS-CoV-2 infections.

The Politicization of COVID-19 Omicron: Southern Africa Tourism Sector

The Covid-19 virus has impacted the tourism sector heavily. The pandemic provided a fertile ground for politicians, development experts and individuals to ‘open' up and share their emotions. In this article, discourse analysis is used to decipher the politicization of the COVID-19 Omicron variant and its impacts on the tourism Southern African tourism sector. Data is collected from the social media platforms, chiefly, Twitter. The approaches taken by countries that harshly banned travel to the Southern Africa have been described as Afrophobia, anti-scientific and fear and anti-development of the Southern African tourism sector. There is a general agreement among the voices of the participants that the strands of injustice and mistrust still exist among nations and politicians, a situation which is detrimental to tourism development. © 2022. AJHTL /Author(s) ;Open Access. All Rights Reserved.

The development of statistical literacy among students: Analyzing messages in media articles with Gal's worry questions

Real‐world data are fundamental to modern teaching methodologies that aim to improve statistical knowledge and reasoning in students. Statistical information is encountered in everyday life, such as media articles and involves real‐world contexts. However, information could be biased or (mis)represented and students should be concerned about the validity of such articles, as well as the nature and trustworthiness of the evidence presented, while considering alternative interpretations of the findings conveyed to them. Statistics educators could make use of media articles to create opportunities for students to reflect on such (mis)representations and build statistical literacy. The purpose of this article is to show how information and data on the recently discovered Omicron COVID‐19 variant have been (mis)represented in the media and by government entities. I also demonstrate how these examples may be utilized in the statistics classroom as they relate to concepts covered in most basic statistics courses. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Teaching Statistics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)