ABSTRACT
Shortly after the WHOs first notice a suspected case of omicron SARS-CoV-2 was reported in Liberec, Czech Republic. The primary goal of the following actions was to test the presence of the variant and stop the spread of the virus variant. On November 25 a sixty-year-old lady, who had recently returned from Namibia, visited a GP with flu-like symptoms and a rash on her chest. The antigen test was positive for SARS-CoV-2, a PCR test was planned. At that time, it was not known that a new variant of concern was spreading from Africa. On November 26 in the morning the GP announced a suspected omicron case to the Regional public health authority, who organized the following steps. A mobile sampling team was sent to the patient's home immediately, sample transported into the regional hospital and analyzed with the help of the national reference laboratory. The captured virus SARS-CoV-2 fitted the description of the omicron variant, was shared in the GISAID database and named hCoV-19/Czech Republic/KNL_2021-110119140/2021. Contact tracing was started immediately, eleven persons were tested and quarantined. One of them positive with no further spread. It is the first documented omicron case in the Czech Republic and one of the first cases in Europe, with an excellent systemic response to the alert. The laboratory was able to detect the omicron variant instantly after the request. This case also demonstrates how easily the virus spreads on long distances and how important it might be to increase the uptake of the booster vaccine.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , SARS-CoV-2 , Europe , Female , Humans , Middle Aged , ResearchABSTRACT
Proximate and fatty acid (FA) composition of seven freshwater fish species from the Czech Republic were examined. Moreover, the index of atherogenicity (IA) and the index of thrombogenicity (IT) were calculated from the obtained data. These two indices along with the total content of the essential n-3 FAs, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) as well as the ratio of n-6/n3 FAs, provide good indicators for the nutritional value of the fish. The species had been selected owing to the limited amount of information about their nutritional composition available. Furthermore, they are not typically subject to aquaculture, being almost exclusively obtained by angling. The protein content was relatively stable in all species (17.1 ± 1.55 to 19.2 ± 2.20 g/100 g). The content of carbohydrates ranged from 0.02 ± 0.1 to 0.99 ± 0.0 g/100 g and ash from 1.08 ± 0.20 to 2.54 ± 1.57 g/100 g. As expected, a high variability was observed in the fat content (0.74 ± 0.04 to 4.04 ± 0.81 g/100 g) and the FA composition, as well as the contents of EPA and DHA. IA and IT were close to the values stated for the Eskimo diet, indicating a high nutritional value with a positive effect for human health.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Fish is the major source of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) which are well known to have positive effects in prevention of cardiovascular diseases. This study investigated the possibility to produce common carp with defined flesh quality using finishing feeding strategy and predict changes of fillet FA by a dilution model. METHODS: During the 110-day experiment, fish were fed diets with two different vegetable oils (rapeseed/linseed blend, VO; olive oil, OO) only, or with a subsequent fish oil (FO) finishing treatment for 30 or 60 days. Fillet FA composition was measured and data were compared to the ones predicted by the dilution model. RESULTS: The FO finishing treatment resulted in the higher percentage of SFA (from 19.1% to 23.6%; p<0.001), MUFA (from 46.8% to 51.9%; p<0.001), n-3 PUFA (from 3.6% to 7.4%; p<0.001) and lower n-6 PUFA (from 30.5% to 16.9%; p<0.001) and n-6/n-3 ratio (from 8.7 to 2.3; p<0.001) in groups previously fed the VO diet and in lower MUFA percentage (from 67% to 63%; p<0.001) and n-6/n-3 ratio (from 8.2 to 2.8; p<0.001) and higher n-3 PUFA percentage (from 1.5% to 4.5%; p<0.001) in group previously fed the OO diet. The dilution model gave a good prediction for fillet FA changes (slope of the regression line 0.97-1.00; R2 value of 0.992-0.996). CONCLUSION: The finishing feeding strategy is suggested for production of common carp with a required flesh FA composition for purposes of special nutritional needs, especially for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.
