Using data from a private provider of telemedicine to assess the severity of the early 2021 Covid-19 wave in Brazil.

In early 2021, Brazil saw a dramatic recurrence in Covid-19 cases associated to the spread of a novel variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the P1 variant. In light of previous reports showing that this variant is more transmissible and more likely to infect people who had recovered from previous infection, a retrospective analysis was conducted to assess if the early 2021 Covid-19 wave in Brazil was associated with an increase in the number of individuals presenting with a more severe clinical course. Fifty-one thousand and fourteen individuals who underwent telemedicine consultations were divided into two groups: patients seen on or before January 31, 2021, and on or after February 1, 2021. These dates were chosen based on the spread of the P1 variant in Brazil. Referral to the emergency department (ED) was used as a marker of a more severe course of the disease. No differences were seen in the proportion of patients referred to the ED in each group nor in the odds ratio of being referred to the ED from the 1st of February 2021 (OR=0.909; 95%CI: 0.81-1.01). Considering the entire cohort, age had an impact on the odds of being referred to the ED, with individuals older than 59 years showing twice the risk of the remaining population and those less than 19 years showing a lower risk.

Using data from a private provider of telemedicine to assess the severity of the early 2021 Covid-19 wave in Brazil

In early 2021, Brazil saw a dramatic recurrence in Covid-19 cases associated to the spread of a novel variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the P1 variant. In light of previous reports showing that this variant is more transmissible and more likely to infect people who had recovered from previous infection, a retrospective analysis was conducted to assess if the early 2021 Covid-19 wave in Brazil was associated with an increase in the number of individuals presenting with a more severe clinical course. Fifty-one thousand and fourteen individuals who underwent telemedicine consultations were divided into two groups: patients seen on or before January 31, 2021, and on or after February 1, 2021. These dates were chosen based on the spread of the P1 variant in Brazil. Referral to the emergency department (ED) was used as a marker of a more severe course of the disease. No differences were seen in the proportion of patients referred to the ED in each group nor in the odds ratio of being referred to the ED from the 1st of February 2021 (OR=0.909; 95%CI: 0.81-1.01). Considering the entire cohort, age had an impact on the odds of being referred to the ED, with individuals older than 59 years showing twice the risk of the remaining population and those less than 19 years showing a lower risk.

Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis infection and dissemination in mice inoculated with stationary-phase or with purified metacyclic promastigotes.

Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis is a protozoan of the American Continent that causes localized cutaneous leishmaniasis and, rarely, the diffuse cutaneous form of disease in humans. It has become clear in recent years that the course of Leishmania major infection in the mouse model differs when low numbers of purified metacyclic forms are used as inocula in comparison with the traditionally hitherto studied infection models that used large numbers of stationary-phase (SP) promastigotes. The low-number metacyclic inocula are thought to reproduce more closely the natural infection transmitted by the vector. In the present study the course of L. amazonensis infection, its local and distant dissemination patterns, and parasite load were compared in susceptible BALB/c and relatively resistant C57BL/6 mice infected in the footpad with inocula of 107 SP-promastigotes or with 104 purified metacyclic forms. Longer lag-phases were observed for infection with purified metacyclics but the characteristic patterns of disease susceptibility and cytokine production for either mouse strain were similar to those observed for SP-promastigote inocula. An inoculation dose of the order of 104 metacyclics was required to obtain consistent infections; 10- or 100-fold lower doses resulted in variable infection rates. Characteristically, L. amazonensis infection spread to distant organs and persisted there also in the relatively resistant C57BL/6 mice examined after 6 months of infection.

Effect of caffeine administration on latent learning ability of male rats in a simple maze task

The proximal and distal stumps of severed mouse sciatic nerves were inserted into opposite ends of polyethylene tubes. The tubes were implanted either empty ofr filled with collagen alone or in combination with interleukin-1 (IL1). Six weeks later, neurons in the L3-L5 dorsal root ganglia were back-filled with HRP. The number of HRP reactive sensory neurons detected in the IL1-treated animals was significantly greater than that seen in the other experimental groups. Thus, exogenous IL1 may partially mimic the effects obtained with in vivo administration of nerve growth factor in protecting sensory neurons from lesion-induced death