COVID-19 impedimetric biosensor based on polypyrrole nanotubes, nickel hydroxide and VHH antibody fragment: specific, sensitive, and rapid viral detection in saliva samples.

SARS-CoV-2 rapid spread required urgent, accurate, and prompt diagnosis to control the virus dissemination and pandemic management. Several sensors were developed using different biorecognition elements to obtain high specificity and sensitivity. However, the task to achieve these parameters in combination with fast detection, simplicity, and portability to identify the biorecognition element even in low concentration remains a challenge. Therefore, we developed an electrochemical biosensor based on polypyrrole nanotubes coupled via Ni(OH)2 ligation to an engineered antigen-binding fragment of heavy chain-only antibodies (VHH) termed Sb#15. Herein we report Sb#15-His6 expression, purification, and characterization of its interaction with the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 in addition to the construction and validation of a biosensor. The recombinant Sb#15 is correctly folded and interacts with the RBD with a dissociation constant (KD) of 27.1 ± 6.4 nmol/L. The biosensing platform was developed using polypyrrole nanotubes and Ni(OH)2, which can properly orientate the immobilization of Sb#15-His6 at the electrode surface through His-tag interaction for the sensitive SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection. The quantification limit was determined as 0.01 pg/mL using recombinant RBD, which was expressively lower than commercial monoclonal antibodies. In pre-characterized saliva, both Omicron and Delta SARS-CoV-2 were accurately detected only in positive samples, meeting all the requirements recommended by the World Health Organization for in vitro diagnostics. A low sample volume of saliva is needed to perform the detection, providing results within 15 min without further sample preparations. In summary, a new perspective allying recombinant VHHs with biosensor development and real sample detection was explored, addressing the need for accurate, rapid, and sensitive biosensors.

Contingency Measures in the Face of the Sars-Cov-2 Pandemic in a Higher Education Institution

On November 17, 2019, the first known case of COVID-19 in the world emerged. It was diagnosed in the Chinese province of Hubei, Wuhan (observer, 2019). Little or nothing was known until then, but the virus quickly spread around the world. More than three months after the first cases appeared in Wuhan, China, COVID-19 was no longer considered an epidemic and was, for the first time, declared by the WHO as a pandemic on March 13, 2020 (Publico, 2020). The world never thought to live a drama of this dimension, airplanes stopped, desert cities, schools closed, with students studying at distance and almost all people working from home. Given its transferability, there was a need for higher education schools to reorganize and implement contingency plans in order to mitigate the spread of the disease. In this work, we intend to show how this implementation in situ was achieved, so that the classes return to a possible normality, taking into account the imposed conditions. A comparing between the case of a national educational establishment and those of another country was made.

Protein Blend Suppress Inflammatory Response from Bronchial Epithelial Cells Induced by SARS-Cov-2

Even after virus elimination, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019) leaves numerous sequelae. Growing evidence demonstrates that massive release of proinflammatory cytokines, which drives COVID-19 progression, severity, and mortality, remains elevated after acute phase of COVID-2019, playing a central role in the disease' sequelae. In this way, bronchial epithelial cells are the first cells hyperactivated by coronavirus-2 (SARS-Cov-2) leading to massive cytokine release, triggering leukocytes and other cells hyperactivation, mediating COVID-19 sequelae. So, proinflammatory cytokines are initiated by the host. Thus, this in vitro study tested the hypothesis that ImmuneRecovTM, a protein blend, could inhibit the hyperactivation of human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) induced by SARS-Cov-2. BEAS-2B (5x104/mL/well) cells were co-cultivated with 1ml of blood of a SARS-Cov-2 infected patient for 4 hours and protein blend (1ug/mL) was added in the first minute of the co-culture. After 4 hours, the cells were recovered and used for analysis of cytotoxicity by MTT and for mRNA expression of IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-10. The supernatant was used to measure cytokines. SARS-Cov-2 incubation resulted in increased levels of IL-1beta and IL-6 by BEAS-2B cells (p<0.001). Treatment with the protein blend resulted in reduced levels of pro-inflammatory IL1beta and IL-6 (p<0.001), and increased the levels of anti-inflammatory IL-10 (p<0.001). Protein blend reduced SARS Cov-2-increased the mRNA expression of IL-1beta and IL-6, and increased the expression of IL-10 and IFN-gamma. In conclusion, protein blend presents important anti-inflammatory effects in the context of SARS-Cov-2 infection.

THE EFFECT OF SURGICAL MASKS ON OXYGEN SATURATION AND PERCEIVED EXERTION DURING RESISTANCE TRAINING

Objective: This investigation aimed to evaluate SpO2, and the rate of perceived exertion (RPE) derived from a strength training session in two distinct scenarios: normal condition versus the usage of surgical masks for COVID-19 prevention. Methods: Fifteen trained men (81.66 ± 8.37 kg;177.66 ± 6.31 cm;26.88 ± 5.55 years of age;12.17 ± 5.98 % fat;1.15 ± 0.19 kg/kg bench press relative strength/body weight) were selected, and they performed two test sessions to determine 10-RM loads for all exercises adjusted for 80%. The SpO2 measurement was verified immediately after each set for every exercise, and, concomitantly, the participants were asked to identify their RPE to provide a subjective measure of fatigue. In the first session, subjects performed the training routine using the SARS-CoV-2 protection surgical mask with a passive rest interval of 2 minutes, but the second was performed without wearing a surgical mask. Results: The SpO2 showed a difference (p = 0.03) under the condition curve with the mask (481.33 ± 3.04) versus without the mask (484.46 ± 5.96), with increments in SpO2 for the condition without the mask at different verification times (p = 0.039). Regarding the initial sets and exercises, there were no significant differences between the RPE values between the different conditions, that is, regardless of the mask use (p = 0.052). However, for the final exercises, significant differences were observed in the second set (PD, p = 0.01;LC, p = 0.02) and in the three sets of the TE exercise (p = 0.006). Conclusion: Overall, we found that the use of surgical masks reduces SpO2 and increases RPE in a strength training session. © 2022, Drustvo Pedagoga Tjelesne i Zdravstvene Kulture. All rights reserved.

Covid-19—Effects and Mitigation Measures in Stone Industry

In Portugal there are more than 2500 companies and 15,000 people who work directly in the stone industry. In addition to all the known risks in this type of industry, the critical in terms of safety and health that companies and people linked to the stone sector have faced in recent years has been COVID-19, given that, in addition to all the damage that this disease on people's health has (and still does) lead to a reduction in business productivity, an increase in labour costs and a delay in product delivery times. The research in this study intends to investigate safety and health measures to be implemented by the stone industry and their usefulness to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 in the stone industry and analyse how COVID-19 pandemic affected the stone industry. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

The visual art education mediated by technologies: situations and teaching strategies in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic

The teaching of visual arts during the COVID-19 pandemic is the subject of this writing, which seeks to point out situations and strategies used by teachers who worked in this area of knowledge in the school context, during the years 2020 and 2021. Interviews were held with four professors who worked in different institutions and teaching networks, so that it was possible to understand similarities and differences between them. The aforementioned period was marked in school education by the use of TDIC and remote classes. Several and distinct experiences were recorded by the professors, who, in general, had to dedicate themselves to so many different demands that the specific practices of the visual Arts ended up becoming less evident. © 2022 IEEE.

Experience in managing action research on hepatitis C survey in the prison community

We aimed to report the experience in managing action research on hepatitis C investi-gation in the prison community in the Triangulo Mineiro region, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The proposal was developed from March 2019 to March 2020, reaching 240 people to contain the spread of the disease through a survey, testing, and mo-nitoring of positive cases. We adopted intersecto-ral action with articulation between Universities, Medical Society, Teaching Hospital, and State Secretariat for Justice and Public Security. Strategies for the management of action research are descri-bed: study settings and stakeholders, registration and formalization of the activity, application of tests, and management of reagent inmates. We identified difficulties regarding the accommoda-tion of routines among the research team and the proper functioning of the penitentiary, which required extensive training between the parties and managerial articulations. We consider that the report collaborates with the organization of future research aimed at accessing this still invi-sible population, the prison community when it highlights the strategies adopted to conduct the research. Copyright © 2022, Associacao Brasileira de Pos - Graduacao em Saude Coletiva. All rights reserved.

Analise Do Indicador Volume Ideal De Coleta (Vic) Na Fundacao Hemominas

Objetivo: Analisar a performance do indicador Volume Ideal de Coleta (VIC) da Fundacao Hemominas no periodo de 2019 a 2021. Material e metodo: Trata-se de um estudo retrospectivo, descritivo, analitico, realizado atraves do levantamento dos registros eletronicos dos volumes coletados das doacoes de sangue total. O indicador foi calculado seguindo o seguinte parametro: numero de bolsas coletadas com volume entre 405 e 495ml / numero total de bolsas coletadas x 100. Foi realizada a analise da performance anual dos indicadores. Resultados: O numero de bolsas de sangue total coletadas na rede Hemominas, nas coletas internas foi de 267532 em 2019, 238014 em 2020 e 245381 em 2021. O desempenho dos indicadores VIC foi de 97,2% em 2019, 97,2% em 2020 e 97,5% em 2021. Discussao: A analise revelou que nao houve mudanca significativa no desempenho do indicador no periodo avaliado. A meta de 70%, estabelecida para como indicador para a coleta interna, foi cumprida nos tres anos avaliados, com aumento de 0,3% em 2021. Houve uma reducao de 11% do numero de bolsas de sangue total coletadas de 2019 para 2020. Neste periodo, especificamente em marco de 2020, a OMS decretou estado de Pandemia da COVID-19, acarretando mudancas no comportamento da sociedade, refletindo nas rotinas dos Hemocentros de todo Brasil. A necessidade primaria de se estabelecer um distanciamento social e o crescente indice de contaminacao pela doenca geraram impactos diretos na reducao da capacidade operacional, em decorrencia do afastamento de profissionais do ciclo do sangue que se contaminaram pelo virus;e na queda da procura por parte dos doadores aos locais de doacao. Mesmo com a reducao do numero de bolsas coletadas, o indicador se manteve. Como os indicadores levam em conta valores relativos, ou seja, que consideram um nivel adequado dentro de um espaco amostral determinado, o resultado se manteve dentro da meta de 70%. Isso significa que houve o atendimento de parametros minimos para garantia do indice. Os principais fatores que contribuem para o cumprimento das metas sao a avaliacao adequada do Acesso Venoso Periferico, o manuseio adequado da agulha de puncao e sua posicao no braco do doador, o monitoramento do fluxo de coleta, o correto manejo das intercorrencias clinicas durante a doacao e a deteccao e resolucao dos problemas tecnicos com materiais e equipamentos. As reunioes com as equipes de enfermagem durante a execucao dos planos de acao proporcionam a discussao sobre fatores que possam ter contribuido para o exito da coleta de sangue total com volume adequado. A assistencia de enfermagem durante a Coleta de Sangue Total tem como finalidade monitorar o doador;o fluxo sanguineo;o tempo de coleta durante todo o procedimento, a fim de detectar e prevenir sinais e sintomas de reacoes adversas;e de minimizar a ocorrencia de Volume insuficiente e a perda de acesso venoso, garantindo a seguranca do doador e a rastreabilidade do procedimento. A equipe de profissionais de saude que atua na Coleta de Sangue deve estar habilitada para identificar e atender adequadamente a todo o espectro de reacoes apresentadas pelos doadores. Sao primordiais a tranquilidade e a sintonia da equipe para oferecer um atendimento de qualidade ao doador, em um ambiente calmo, seguro e bem organizado. Conclusao: Mesmo com as adversidades decorrentes do periodo pandemico, o indicador nao teve alteracoes significativas, o que pode ser creditado as constantes avaliacoes de procedimentos e treinamentos de equipes, contribuindo para a tomada de decisao em enfermagem de forma sistematizada, identificando a necessidade de mudanca na padronizacao de procedimentos e tecnicas de acordo com as normas vigentes. Copyright © 2022

Analise Dos Registros Da Comunicacao De Sinais E Sintomas De Processos Infecciosos Do Hemonucleo Regional De Araraquara

Introducao: No item 5, do paragrafo 4, do artigo 76, da Secao III, Da Coleta de Sangue do Doador, da Portaria da Consolidacao ndegree5, consta que os doadores serao instruidos para que comuniquem o servico de hemoterapia caso apresentem qualquer sinal e sintoma de processos infecciosos, como febre ou diarreia, ou que tenham tido o diagnostico de alguma doenca infectocontagiosa ate 7 dias apos a doacao. Na Nota Tecnica ndegree5/2020-CGSH/DAET/SAES/MS de 21/02/2020, sobre atualizacao dos criterios tecnicos para triagem de dengue, chikungunya, zica e coronavirus, estendeu-se este prazo de 7 para ate 14 dias apos a doacao. Ate janeiro de 2022, no Hemonucleo Regional de Araraquara (HN), o registro da comunicacao do doador, do resgate dos hemocomponentes em estoque e da busca ativa dos receptores era realizado na Tela do Doador Positivo da Tela da Triagem do Sistema HEMOVIDA. Com a elevacao dos registros da comunicacao no inicio de janeiro 2022 foi necessario criar o Formulario de Rastreabilidade de Sinais e Sintomas de Infeccao apos Doacao. Os comunicados eram recebidos pelas funcionarias da Recepcao via telefone ou WhatsApp, e se necessario, as enfermeiras ou os medicos contatavam os doadores para tirar duvidas sobre o inicio dos sinais e sintomas ou confirmar resultados de exames. Objetivos: Analisar os registros dos comunicados de sinais e sintomas de processos infecciosos, dos resgastes dos hemocomponentes e da busca ativa dos receptores nas Agencias Transfusionais (AT) de 24/01 a 04/07/2022. Material e metodos: Para obter os dados utilizamos a Tela do Servico Social do Sistema Hemovida e os Formularios de Rastreabilidade de Sinais e Sintomas de Infeccao apos Doacao dos periodos de 24/01 a 04 /07/2022. Resultados: No periodo de 24/01 a 04/07/2022, do total de 3130 doadores, 38 (1,2%) entraram em contato com o HN para informar sinais e sintomas de processos infecciosos. Destes, 52,5% eram relacionados a COVID, 39,5% aos sinais e sintomas de infeccao como febre, cefaleia, mialgia e dor de garganta e 8% a dengue. Estes doadores comunicaram o HN, em media, 7 dias apos a data da doacao de sangue. Destes, 2 contatos assintomaticos de casos de COVID estavam negativos para a doenca e os hemocomponentes retornaram para o estoque. Discussao: Neste periodo expurgamos 19 (57,6%) concentrados de hemacias (CH), 10 (34,5%) concentrados de plaquetas (CP) e 32 plasmas frescos congelados (PFC) que estavam no estoque do HN. Dos CH, 14 foram distribuidos para as AT e destes, 7 foram (21,2%) devolvidos para expurgo e 7 (21,2%) foram transfundidos. Dos CP, 19 foram distribuidos e destes, 10 (34,5%) devolvidos para o HN e 9 (31%) transfundidos. Na busca ativa dos 16 receptores das AT, apenas 1 apresentou reacao adversa febril apos transfusao de CP. No total, expurgamos 78 hemocomponentes (83%) e transfundimos 16 (17%). Conclusao: Com as analises do estudo, observamos a importancia do doador nos comunicar estes sinais e sintomas de infeccao o mais rapido possivel para que na busca ativa evitemos a transfusao dos hemocomponentes e possamos acompanhar os receptores envolvidos. Observamos tambem que alguns doadores levaram ate 7 dias apos o aparecimento da febre para comunicar o HN, esperando, talvez, diagnostico definitivo de doenca infectocontagiosa. Para que isto nao ocorra, comecamos a reforcar nas informacoes pos doacao, a importancia de os doadores contatarem o servico logo no inicio dos sinais e sintomas do processo infeccioso, principalmente a ocorrencia de febre. Copyright © 2022

Prevalence of Burnout in Physiotherapists During COVID-19: A Systematic Review

Burnout is characterized by emotional exhaustion and is caused by excessive and prolonged stress related to working conditions. Objective: to assess the prevalence of burnout in physiotherapists during the pandemic COVID-19. Methodology: a computerized search of articles published between December 2019 and July 30, 2021, in the PubMed, Academic Search Complete, MEDLINE, CINAHL Plus, and Web of Science databases and in the Google Scholar search engine was conducted to identify studies of burnout in physiotherapists during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: 4 studies were included in this review, involving 684 physiotherapists. The studies analysed the number of participants, the characteristics of the sample, the assessment tool, intervention domain, and main outcomes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, physiotherapists exhibited moderate to high rates of burnout symptoms. Conclusion: results suggest that burnout symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic are prominent among physiotherapists working directly with patients. The current results show moderate to high burnout symptom rates, which have increased compared to data published prior to the pandemic. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Covid-19—Effects and Mitigation Measures in Stone Industry

In Portugal there are more than 2500 companies and 15,000 people who work directly in the stone industry. In addition to all the known risks in this type of industry, the critical in terms of safety and health that companies and people linked to the stone sector have faced in recent years has been COVID-19, given that, in addition to all the damage that this disease on people’s health has (and still does) lead to a reduction in business productivity, an increase in labour costs and a delay in product delivery times. The research in this study intends to investigate safety and health measures to be implemented by the stone industry and their usefulness to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 in the stone industry and analyse how COVID-19 pandemic affected the stone industry. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Targeting brain-resident viruses across the blood-brain barrier in vitro using peptideporphyrin conjugates

The recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic brought awareness to the permanent dangers of viral infections and outbreaks. Beyond its inherent infections, several viruses such as Dengue (DENV), Zika (ZIKV), HIV and even SARS-CoV-2 have the potential to infect the brain, causing more aggressive and irreversible injuries. These brain infections are particularly hard to treat not only because the number of efficient antiviral drugs against these viruses is scarce, but also due to the restrictive permeability of the blood- brain barrier (BBB) that hinders brain drug-intake. To overcome these issues, we designed peptide-drug conjugates formed by covalent attachment of a BBB peptide shuttle and a broad-spectrum antiviral porphyrin drug. We synthesized eighteen novel peptide-porphyrins conjugates (PPCs) and tested their activity in vitro, both in BBB-translocation and antiviral capacity against DENV, ZIKV, HIV and SARS-CoV-2. Cytotoxicity towards pharmacologic relevant cell lines was also studied. After careful fine-tuning of the on-resin synthetic chemistry, DIC/Oxyma coupling has emerged as preferred method, bearing a 99% conjugation yield. Ten PPCs inactivate at least two different viruses in vitro, a selection criterion for further evaluation, with IC50s ranging between 0.5 to 33 lM. Although all ten PPCs efficiently translocate the cellular BBB model in vitro, a set of seven stand out as the most druggable since they are not cytotoxic towards all cell lines tested. Overall, peptide-porphyrin conjugation shows to be an innovative and promising strategy to treat viral brain infections.

Repurposing drugs to fight COVID-19: SARSCoV- 2 envelope targeting by clinically approved porphyrins and analogues

Despite mitigation measures and vaccination programs, there are still very few medicines to treat COVID-19. Porphyrins and analogues (P&A) usually present broad-spectrum antiviral activity. Some are clinically approved for photodynamic therapy in cancer. Therefore, repurposing clinically approved P&A might be an alternative to treat COVID-19. In this work, we evaluate the ability of the clinically approved temoporfin, verteporfin, talaporfin and redaporfin to inactivate SARS-CoV-2 infectious particles, characterizing their mechanism of action. Loss of infectivity of P&A treated SARS-CoV-2 was assessed by plaque assay. P&A photoactivation successfully inactivated SARS-CoV-2 with very low concentrations and light doses. However, only temoporfin and verteporfin were able to inactivate SARS-CoV-2 in the dark, verteporfin being the most effective. Next, P&A dark antiviral mechanism was characterized starting from P&A interaction with membrane models. P&A partition, membrane-insertion depth, lipid-membrane disruption and changes in membrane ordering were investigated using fluorescent spectroscopy. Among all tested P&A, verteporfin presented the highest partition coefficient, Kp. Curiously, temoporfin and redaporfin presented similar Kp values, although redaporfin did not present dark antiviral activity. Noteworthy, redaporfin was located closer to the surface of the lipid bilayer and both temoporfin and verteporfin were located closer to the centre. Finally, only temoporfin and verteporfin induced reduction of GP (laurdan-generalized polarization), with transition from an ordered phase to a liquidcrystalline phase. Our results suggest that dark antiviral activity is dependent on P&A interaction with viral envelope. Membrane affinity, penetration, and destabilization are critical for P&A dark antiviral activity. Furthermore, dark anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity opens the possibility for off-label P&A application in the systemic treatment of COVID-19.

Mild-to-moderate COVID-19 impact on the cardiorespiratory fitness in young and middle-aged populations.

The goal of the present study was to compare pulmonary function test (PFT) and cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) performance in COVID-19 survivors with a control group (CG). This was a cross-sectional study. Patients diagnosed with COVID-19, without severe signs and symptoms, were evaluated one month after the infection. Healthy volunteers matched for sex and age constituted the control group. All volunteers underwent the following assessments: i) clinical evaluation, ii) PTF; and iii) CPET on a cycle ergometer. Metabolic variables were measured by the CareFusion Oxycon Mobile device. In addition, heart rate responses, peak systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and perceived exertion were recorded. Twenty-nine patients with COVID-19 and 18 healthy control subjects were evaluated. Surviving patients of COVID-19 had a mean age of 40 years and had higher body mass index and persistent symptoms compared to the CG (P<0.05), but patients with COVID-19 had more comorbidities, number of medications, and greater impairment of lung function (P<0.05). Regarding CPET, patients surviving COVID-19 had reduced peak workload, oxygen uptake (V̇O2), carbon dioxide output (V̇CO2), circulatory power (CP), and end-tidal pressure for carbon dioxide (PETCO2) (P<0.05). Additionally, survivors had depressed chronotropic and ventilatory responses, low peak oxygen saturation, and greater muscle fatigue (P<0.05) compared to CG. Despite not showing signs and symptoms of severe disease during infection, adult survivors had losses of lung function and cardiorespiratory capacity one month after recovery from COVID-19. In addition, cardiovascular, ventilatory, and lower limb fatigue responses were the main exercise limitations.