In order to investigate the size distributions and seasonal variations of carbonaceous aerosols (OC and EC), the carbonaceous species were collected and then analyzed by using a 9-stage Anderson-type aerosol sampler and DRI Model 2001A Thermal/Optical Carbon Analyzer on the typical industrial city Nanjing in Yangtze River Delta, China in the summer, autumn and winter of 2013 and spring of 2014. OC, EC, SOC and POC exhibited obvious seasonal variations, with the highest level in winter (39.1±14.0, 5.7±2.1, 23.6±11.7 and 14.1±5.7 μg•m^-3) and the lowest level in summer (20.6±6.7, 3.3±2.0, 12.2±3.8 and 8.4±4.1 μg•m^-3), and were mainly centralized in PM_1.1 in four seasons. The concentrations of OC in PM_1.1 varied in the order of winter > autumn > spring > summer, while EC ranked in the order of autumn > winter > summer > spring. In the PM_1.1-2.1 and PM_2.1-10, the concentrations of OC and EC decreased in the sequence of winter > spring > autumn > summer. The size spectra of OC, EC and SOC had bimodal distributions in four seasons, except for EC with four peaks in summer. The size spectra of POC varied greatly with seasons, exhibiting bimodal distribution in winter, trimodal distribution in spring and summer, and four peaks in autumn. The OC/EC ratios were 7.0, 6.3, 7.6 and 6.9 in spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively, which demonstrated the abundance of secondary organic aerosols in Nanjing. The sources of carbonaceous aerosol varied significantly with seasons, and were dominated by vehicle exhaust, coal and biomass burning in PM_2.1, and dominant by dust, coal and biomass burning in PM_2.1-10.

Microplastic pollution, particularly particles smaller than 5 mm, poses significant environmental and health risks due to their potential for long-range transport and inhalation. This study provides the first long-term assessment of airborne microplastics in Porto, Portugal, over 18 months (September 2022 to March 2024). Bi-weekly samples were collected using a Microplastic Collector NILU, which were size-fractionated into five categories (>125 μm, 125-63 μm, 63-25 μm, 25-12 μm, and 12-1.2 μm), and quantified via optical microscopy. Microplastics (26 to 1,484 MPs/day/m²) and fibers (14 to 646 fibers/day/m²) showed increasing pollution trends. With a focus on the 12-1.2 μm size-range due to its classification as PM10 and PM2.5, the highest microplastic concentrations were 164 MPs/day/m² (12-1.2 μm) and 534 MPs/day/m² (25-12 μm). Recovery rates of methodology varied among polymers, with PP, PE-HD, and ABS showing high accuracy (75.9%) and PES significantly lower (26.5%). The study highlights significant temporal variability in airborne microplastic pollution, increasing trends, and the need for ongoing monitoring and targeted mitigation strategies to address associated health risks.

Aerosol-cloud interactions play a crucial role in shaping Earth’s climate and hydrological 1 cycle. Observing these interactions with high precision and accuracy is of the utmost importance 2 for improving climate models and predicting Earth’s climate. Over the past few decades, lidar 3 techniques have emerged as powerful tools for investigating aerosol-cloud interactions due to their 4 ability to provide detailed vertical profiles of aerosol particles and clouds with high spatial and 5 temporal resolutions. This review paper provides an overview of recent advancements in the study 6 of aerosol-cloud interactions using lidar techniques. The paper begins with a description of the 7 different cloud microphysical processes that are affected by the presence of the aerosol, and with 8 an outline of lidar remote sensing application in characterizing aerosol particles and clouds. The 9 subsequent sections delve into the key findings and insights gained from lidar-based studies of 10 aerosol-cloud interactions. This includes investigations into the role of aerosol particles in cloud 11 formation, evolution, and microphysical properties. Finally, the review concludes with an outlook 12 on future research. By reporting the latest findings and methodologies, this review aims to provide 13 valuable insights for researchers engaged in climate science and atmospheric research.

The variation of aerosols, especially dust aerosol, in time and space plays an important role in climate forcing studies. Aerosols can effectively reduce land surface longwave emission and re-emit energy at a colder temperature, making estimation of downwelling surface longwave radiation (DSLR) with satellite data difficult. Using the latest atmospheric radiative transfer code (MODTRAN 5.0), we simulate the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and DSLR under different land surface and atmospheric profile conditions. The results show that dust aerosol has an obvious “warming” effect to longwave radiation compared with other aerosols, that aerosol longwave radiative forcing (ALRF) increased with increasing aerosol optical depth (AOD), and that the atmospheric water vapor content (WVC) is critical to the understanding of ALRF. A method is proposed to improve the accuracy of DSLR estimation from satellite data for the skies under heavy dust aerosols. The AOD and atmospheric WVC under cloud-free conditions with a relatively simple satellite-based radiation model that yields the high accurate DSLR under heavy dust aerosol are used explicitly as model input to reduce the effects of dust aerosol on the estimation of DSLR. Validations of the proposed model with satellites data and field measurements show that it estimates the DSLR accurately under heavy dust aerosol skies. The root mean square errors (RMSEs) are 20.4 W/M² and 24.2 W/M² for Terra and Aqua satellites, respectively, at the Yingke site, and the biases are 2.7 W/M² and 9.6 W/M², respectively. For the Arvaikheer site, the RMSEs are 23.2 W/M² and 19.8 W/M² for Terra and Aqua, respectively, and the biases are 7.8 W/M² and 10.5 W/M², respectively. The proposed method is especially applicable to acquire relatively high accurate DSLR under heavy dust aerosol using MODIS data with available WVC and AOD data.

This study aims to investigate the microphysical properties of Arctic, tropospheric aerosol in the transition from the Arctic Haze in spring towards the summer season in 2021. A special focus lies on the hygroscopicity of the aerosol. Therefore, a one-parameter growth curve model is applied to lidar data from the Koldewey Aerosol Raman Lidar (AWIPEV in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard) and simultaneous radiosonde measurements. Hygroscopic growth depends on different factors like aerosol diameter and chemical composition. To detangle this dependency, three trends in hygroscopicity are additionally investigated by classifying the aerosol first by its color ratio, and then by its season and altitude. Furthermore, two special days are discussed using Mie-theory. They show on the one side the complexity of analyzing hygroscopic growth by means of lidar data, but on the other side demonstrate that it is in fact measurable with this approach. For these two case studies we calculated, that the aerosol effective radius increased from 0.16 μm (dry) to 0.18 μm (wet), and from 0.28 μm to 0.32 μm for the second case. Generally, we found two different modes of stronger or weaker hygroscopic particles and a complex altitude dependence with the least hygroscopic particles in the middle free troposphere.

Chemical processing of organic material in aqueous atmospheric aerosols and cloudwater is known to form secondary organic aerosols (SOA), although the extent to which each of these processes contributes to total aerosol mass is unclear. In this study, we use GAMMA 5.0, a photochemical box model with coupled gas and aqueous-phase chemistry, to consider the impact of aqueous organic reactions in both aqueous aerosols and clouds on isoprene epoxydiol (IEPOX) SOA over a range of pH for both aqueous phases, including cycling between cloud and aerosol within a single simulation. Low-pH aqueous aerosol, in the absence of organic coatings or other morphology which may limit uptake of IEPOX, is found to be an efficient source of IEPOX SOA, consistent with previous work. Cloudwater at pH 4 or lower is also found to be a potentially significant source of IEPOX SOA. This phenomenon is primarily attributed to the relatively high uptake of IEPOX to clouds as a result of higher water content in clouds as compared to aerosol. For more acidic cloudwater, the aqueous organic material is comprised primarily of IEPOX SOA and lower-volatility organic acids. For both cloudwater and aqueous aerosol, pH is the most significant factor considered in this study in determining the mass of aqueous phase organic acids and IEPOX SOA. Other factors, such as the time of day or sequence of aerosol-to-cloud or cloud-to-aerosol transitions, contribute to less than 15% difference in the final aqSOA fractional composition. The potential significance of cloud processing as a contributor to IEPOX SOA production could account for discrepancies between predicted IEPOX SOA mass from atmospheric models and measured ambient IEPOX SOA mass, or observations of IEPOX SOA in locations where mass transfer limitations are expected in aerosol particles.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) can potentially compromise both unassisted conception and success rates with assisted reproductive technology (ART). We aimed to evaluate the rates of HPV vaccination among women presenting for fertility care. This was a prospective study analyzing a self-reported intake form completed by all new patients presenting to a fertility clinic. The primary outcome was HPV vaccination status. Among the 523 new patients included in this study 172 (32.9%) were fully vaccinated, 237 (45.3%) were unvaccinated, and 95 (18.2%) patients didn’t respond. There was a significant age difference between fully vaccinated patients (33.1 years) compared to unvaccinated patients (37.4 years) p<0.001 and a significant difference in gravidity between fully vaccinated patients (average 0.65) and unvaccinated patients (average 1.11) p=0.0005. No significant association was found between HPV vaccination status and history of abnormal Pap smears or relationship status (single vs. married). Less than half of patients presenting to our fertility center were vaccinated against HPV, despite being eligible to receive the vaccine. Younger patients with lower gravidity were more likely to be vaccinated against HPV than older patients with higher gravidity. Reproductive Endocrinologists have the opportunity to recommend HPV vaccination for eligible patients presenting for fertility care.

Enclosed public spaces are the hotspots for airborne disease transmission. To measure and maintain indoor air quality in terms of airborne transmission, an open source, low cost and distributed array of Particulate Matter Sensors has been developed and named as Dynamic Aerosol Transport for Indoor Ventilation or DATIV system. This system can use multiple Particulate Matter Sensors (PMS) simultaneously and can be remotely controlled using a Raspberry Pie based operating system. The data acquisition system can be easily operated using the GUI within any common browser installed on a remote device such as a PC or Smartphone with corresponding IP address. The software architecture and validation measurements are presented together with possible future developments.

The Eastern Mediterranean is a highly populated area with air quality problems as well where climate change already is noticed by higher temperatures and changing precipitation pattern. The anthropogenic aerosol affects health and changing concentra-tions and properties of the atmospheric aerosol affect radiation balance and clouds. Continuous long-term observations are essential in assessing the influence of anthro-pogenic aerosols on climate and health. We present 6 years of observations from Navarino Environmental Observatory (NEO), a new station located at the south west tip of Pelo-ponnese, Greece. The two sites at NEO, were evaluated to show the influence of the local meteorology but also to assess the general background aerosol possible. It was found that the background aerosol was originated from aged European aerosols and was strongly influenced by biomass burning, fossil fuel combustion, and industry. When subsiding into the boundary layer, local sources contributed in the air masses moving south. Mesoscale meteorology determined the diurnal variation of aerosol properties such as mass and number by means of typical sea breeze circulation, giving rise to pronounced morning and evening peaks in pollutant levels. While synoptic scale meteorology, mainly large-scale air mass transport and precipitation, strongly influenced the season-ality of the aerosol properties.

Schistosomiasis, acquired by skin-penetrating cercariae of dioecious digenean schistosomes during freshwater contact, afflicts nearly 260 and 440 million people with active infections and residual morbidity, respectively; about 10 million women at reproductive age contract schistosomiasis during gestation every year. Acute schistosomiasis is characterized by pre-patent pro-inflammatory CD4+ T-helper 1 or CD4+ Th1/T-helper 17 reactivity against immature schistosomulae. Chronic schistosomiasis is dominated by post-patent anti-inflammatory CD4+ T-helper 2 reactivity against ova epitopes; flukes co-exist in immunocompetent definitive hosts as they are capable of evading their defense mechanisms. Preventive measures should be complemented by vaccination, inducing long-term protection against transmission, infection, and disease recurrence, given the latest advancements in schistosomal vaccines. Transmission models incorporating vaccination available in PubMed, Embase and Web of Science up to December 31, 2023 are presented. Besides conceptual model differences, predictions meant to guide decision- and policymaking reveal continued worm harboring facilitating transmission besides residual infections, and increased susceptibility to re-infection and rebound morbidity, both shifted to later life stages following the intervention. Consequently, a vaccination schedule is pivotal considering the optimal age for initial immunization, i.e., pre-schoolchildren or schoolchildren, in a cohort-based or population-based manner while incorporating potential non-adherers promoting ongoing transmission; longevity over magnitude of vaccine protection to antigenic schistosomal moieties is crucial including accounting for existing pre-acquired immunity from natural exposure, in utero priming besides herd immunity, and induced by chemotherapy. Combining as one multi-component approach long-term effects of vaccination with short-term effects of chemotherapy as regular repeated vaccine-linked therapy in contrast to a single-component intervention seems most promising for achieving WHO’s endpoints of transmission elimination and morbidity control.

Vaccination is an important method of immunological preventive care required for health management of all animal including fish. More particularly, immunization is important in in-land fisheries for the management of diseases in fish brood stocks and healthy seed production. According to the latest statistics in 2020, 90.3 million tonnes of captured fish production was achieved from the aquaculture sector. Out of the above, 78.8 million tonnes from marine and 11.5 million tonnes from inland waters aquaculture sectors. About 4% decline in fish production was achieved in 2020 than 2018 from inland fisheries sectors. On the other hand, the digestive protein content, healthy fats and nutritional values of fish products are comparitively more affordable as compared to other meat sources. In 2014, about 10% aquatic cultured animals were lost (costing > 10 billion $ global annual loss) due to infectious diseases. Therefore, vaccination in fish especially in brood stocks is one of the most important approaches to stop such losses in the fisheries sector. Fish vaccines consist of either whole killed pathogens, subunit of a protein, a recombinant protein, DNA vaccines or live attenuated vaccines. Challenges existing are adaption of vaccination in fisheries sector, route of administration, use of effective adjuvants and most importantly lack of effective results. Use of autogenous vaccines, vaccination via intramuscular, intraperitoneal or oral routes, and most importantly adding vaccines in feed using top dressing methods or as a constituent in fish feed are now in emerging. These method shall lower the risk of using antibiotics in cultured water which in turn will reduce the environmental contamination.

COVID-19 infection is extremely dangerous for persons with comorbidities such as kidney disease and diabetes. Although many people of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds have suffered due to this pandemic, those with underlying medical conditions like kidney disease and diabetes are more vulnerable to becoming infected with COVID-19 related to weak immunity. However, the role of vaccination in the co-infection of COVID-19 with diabetics is not available in the literature. Therefore, we examine the unique challenges presented by the co-infection of COVID-19 in individuals with diabetes, focusing on its disease transmission dynamics. A mathematical modelling technique is to be employed in this work to analyse the dynamics of COVID-19 outbreaks with seven compartments, including vaccination with comorbidities such as diabetes. We also investigated analytically by displaying the solutions' existence, boundedness, positivity and sensitivity. After calculating the basic reproduction numbers, the stability analysis of model equilibrium points is also covered. If the reproduction numbers are less than unity, the disease-free equilibrium points of the model appear to be both locally and globally stable. The findings of this study are that as the vaccination rate rises, the incidence of COVID-19 and its co-infections with diabetes decreases. Effective disease treatment strategies may be based partly on the possible impact of vaccination on the co-infection of COVID-19 related to diabetic disease insights.

Global dust events have become more frequent due to climate change and increased human activity, significantly impacting air quality and human health. Previous studies have often focused on simulating cross-regional dust transport based on atmospheric parameters; however, comprehensive monitoring of dust events remains challenging. Therefore, this study utilized Fengyun-4A (FY-4A) satellite Advanced Geostationary Radiation Imager (AGRI) imagery, Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) lidar, and other auxiliary data to conduct three-dimensional spatiotemporal monitoring and cross-regional transport analysis of two typical dust events in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region of China using four dust intensity indices (Icsd, Dust Detection Index (DDI), Dust value (DV), and Dust Strength Index (DSI)) and the HYSPLIT model. We found that among the four indices, DDI was the most suitable for studying dust in the BTH region, with a detection accuracy (POCD) of > 88% at all times and reaching a maximum of 96.14%. Both the 2021 and 2023 dust events originated from large-scale deforestation in southern Mongolia and the border area of Inner Mongolia, with dust plumes distributed between 2 and 12 km being transported across regions to the BTH area. Further, when dust aerosols are primarily concentrated below 4 km and PM10 concentrations consistently exceed 600 µg/m³, large dust storms are more likely to occur in the BTH region. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the sources, transport pathways, and environmental impacts of dust aerosols.

Dendritic cell (DC) cancer vaccines are a promising therapeutic approach, leveraging the immune system to fight tumors. These vaccines utilize DCs' ability to present tumor-associated antigens to T cells, triggering a robust immune response. DC vaccine development has progressed through three generations. The first generation involved priming DCs with tumor-associated antigens or messenger RNA outside the body, showing limited clinical success. The second generation improved efficacy by using cytokine mixtures and specialized DC subsets to enhance immunogenicity. The third generation uses blood-derived DCs to elicit a stronger immune response. Clinical trials indicate that cancer vaccines have lower toxicity than traditional cytotoxic treatments. However, achieving significant clinical responses with DC immunotherapy remains challenging. Combining DC vaccines with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) such as anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte Antigen 4 and anti-programmed Death-1 antibodies has shown promise by enhancing T cell responses and improving clinical outcomes. These combinations can transform non-inflamed tumors into inflamed ones, boosting ICIs' efficacy. Current research is exploring new checkpoint targets like LAG-3, TIM-3, and TIGIT, considering their potential with DC vaccines. Additionally, engineering T cells with chimeric antigen receptors or T cell receptors could further augment the anti-tumor response. This comprehensive strategy aims to enhance cancer immunotherapy, focusing on increased efficacy and improved patient survival rates.

In this article, ‎we examine an allocation issue faced by European Health Union (EHU)‎. ‎Given this situation, ‎we introduce the issue of vaccine selection. ‎The model proposed in this paper helps to implement vaccination optimally using matching theory. ‎By adopting the mechanism presented in this article, ‎this is done more easily and more quickly, ‎so that mortality in society is lower and public satisfaction is increased. ‎This is similar to the issues analyzed in the literature on the design mechanism of non-perishable goods.

Annually, more than 1.5 million preventable new hepatitis B (HBV) infections continue to occur, with an estimated global burden of 296 million individuals living with chronic hepatitis B infection. This substantial health challenge results in over 820,000 annual deaths attributed to complications such as liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HBV vaccination remains the cornerstone of public health policy to prevent chronic hepatitis B and its related complications. It serves as a crucial element in the global effort to eliminate HBV, as established by the World Health Organization (WHO), with an ambitious 90% vaccination target by 2030. However, reports on global birth dose coverage reveal substantial variability, with an overall coverage rate of only 46%. This comprehensive review thoroughly examines global trends in HBV vaccination coverage, investigating the profound impact of vaccination on HBV prevalence and its consequences across diverse populations, including both high-risk and general demographics. Additionally, the review addresses the formidable challenges and facilitating factors essential for achieving WHO's HBV vaccination coverage objectives and elimination strategies in the coming decade and beyond.

Three autonomous communities have been the ones that, in the 2022-2023 season, anticipated the document approved by the Public Health Commission, recommending influenza vaccination for all children aged 6 to 59 months. The main objective of this work is to evaluate the attitude of healthcare professionals towards the first universal vaccination campaign in our region, as well as the acceptability of the vaccines used and the attitude towards the piloting of school vaccination. Cross-sectional, survey-based, descriptive study. All healthcare professionals involved in the campaign were invited to participate. The 91.9% of surveyed professionals thought that flu vaccination from 6 to 59 months was important or very important. 89.8% had previous experience regarding the intramuscular vaccine. The professionals valued the intranasal vaccine significantly more positively; however, there were no differences when asking for each of the vaccines without comparison. The inhaled vaccine was preferred by 97.5% for the following campaign. Piloted school vaccination showed 75% acceptance. The inhaled vaccine was preferred by most professionals and the piloted school vaccination was highly accepted, and independently associated to the importance of vaccination as considered by physicians, being a medical doctor, and participation in the pilot program.

University students, particularly those in the healthcare disciplines, constitute a category of particular interest in regard to COVID-19 vaccines and the attitudes to vaccination, as their future professional role will enable them to inform and educate citizens regarding vaccination. The objectives of the study were to investigate the vaccination coverage with a COVID-19 vaccine among students from different degree programs at the Medical universities in Bulgaria behaviors and attitudes toward vaccination with a COVID-19 vaccine. A prospective cross-sectional study in the period September 2021- March 2022 was conducted. Information on demographics, university program, year of study, general attitudes and behavior towards vaccines and attitudes and personal experience with COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines were collected. The chi-square test was used to test for associations and binominal logistic regression was used to identify possible predictors for vaccination. A total of 3050 students with a median age of 22 years, predominantly female took part in the study. Three-thirds of the students (73.5%) have been vaccinated against COVID-19. The main reasons for vaccine hesitancy in both group of students were the fear of side effects and the doubts about the safety of the vaccines although non-vaccinated students significantly more frequently express those fears. Respondents who considered to have: a) limited access to sufficient information to inform COVID-19 vaccine uptake; b) lack of public awareness and education campaigns about effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 vaccines; c) insufficient information about COVID-19 vaccines during the University education; and d) had a positive COVID-19 diagnosis were less likely to be vaccinated. Students who have not completed the mandatory immunization cycle according to country schedule were also less likely to have completed COVID-19 vaccination. The students showed an overall positive attitude towards the COVID-19 vaccines. Promoting informational campaigns that emphasize the vaccine's safety will be more effective to further increase the vaccination coverage with COVID-19 vaccines.

Background: Despite its global eradication in 1977, smallpox remains a concern owing to its potential as a biological agent, thereby prompting the ongoing development and utilization of its vaccine. Vaccination with the Vaccinia virus induces immunity against variola virus, the causative agent of smallpox; however, this immunity does not extend to viruses of different genera within the Poxviridae family. In this study, we aimed to assess the efficacy of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method utilizing Vaccinia virus and recombinant A27L antigen for detecting antibodies against smallpox. Methods. Analysis of serum from 20 individuals pre- and post-vaccination with the CJ strain (CJ50300) revealed neutralizing antibodies, which were confirmed using the plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT). The ELISA method, validated with a PRNT50 cut-off value of >4, exhibited a sensitivity and specificity of >95% and was particularly reactive with the inactivated virus. Furthermore, adherence to the smallpox vaccination policy revealed significant differences in Orthopoxvirus antibody levels among 300 individuals of different age groups. These findings highlight the reliability and efficacy of the ELISA method in detecting post-vaccination antibodies and contribute significantly to diagnostic methods to prepare for potential smallpox resurgence and bioterrorism threats.

Cancer remains one of the main causes of death in the world due to its increasing incidence and treatment difficulties. Although several progresses have been done in this field, innovative approaches are needed to reduce tumor incidence, progression and spreading. In particular, the development of cancer vaccines is currently ongoing like both preventive and therapeutic strategy. This concept is not new, but few vaccines have been approved in oncology. Antigen-based vaccination emerges as a promising strategy, leveraging specific tumor antigens to activate the immune system response. However, challenges persist in finding suitable delivery systems and antigen preparation methods. Exosomes (EXs) are highly heterogeneous bilayered vesicles which carry several molecule types in the extracellular space. The peculiarity is that they may be released from different cells and may be able to induce a direct or indirect stimulation of immune system. In particular, EX-based vaccines may cause anti-tumor immune attack or produce memory cells recognizing cancer antigens and inhibit disease appearance. This review delves into EXs composition, biogenesis, and immune-modulating properties exploring their role as tool for prevention and therapy in solid tumors. Finally, here we describe future research directions to optimize vaccine efficacy and realize the full potential of EX-based cancer immunotherapy.

Post-acute COVID-19 vaccination syndrome (PACVS) is distinguished from the normal post-vaccination state by altered receptor antibodies (Semmler et al. Vaccines 2023, 11, 1642). Here, we explore the symptoms registry and standard serum markers acquired in the above study to delineate the disease phenotype of PACVS. Symptoms reported by the participants overlapped with established complex dysautonomia syndromes (ME/CFS, POTS, MCAS, SFN). However, many participants were qualified for several (131/191) or none (31/191) of these syndromes. Unbiased clustering (modified Jaccard index) revealed a prevalent cross-cohort symptomatology of malaise and chronic fatigue (> 80% of cases). Overlapping clusters of (i) peripheral nerve dysfunction, dysesthesia, motor weakness, pain, vasomotor dysfunction, (ii) cardiovascular impairment, and (iii) cognitive impairment, headache, optic, oculo-motoric and acoustic dysfunctions were also frequently represented. Conspicuous serum markers encompassed increases in interleukins 6 and 8 and low fT3 levels (> 80%), IgG-subclass imbalances and impaired iron-storage (> 50%), and increases in sNFL (> 30%). Serum markers were not correlated to specific symptoms or symptom clusters. A single and unique cause (i. e. SARS-CoV-2 vaccination) is improbable to trigger several distinct etiologies. Therefore, the symptoms and serological features observed in our study cohort probably represent facets of a single complex syndrome.

: Fluoride toxicity has become a global public health concern, and its significant source of exposure is drinking water. This study aimed to determine groundwater fluoride level and assess its related human health risks. Its level was measured from groundwater samples using an ion-selective electrode. The total hazard index was assessed based on the chronic daily oral intake and dermal absorbed dose of groundwater fluoride. Analyses were conducted using ArcGIS and SPSS. This study reported groundwater fluoride ranged from 0.3 mg/L to 38 mg/L, with a mean annual level of 15 mg/L. Groundwater fluoride level above 5 mg/L was reported in 60 % of the water samples. Total hazard index values among sampled locations varied from 0.18 to 22.56. Half (51.5 %) of infants, 85.5 % of children, 82.5 % of adolescents, and 67.5 % of adults had a risk of developing a non-carcinogenic health effect. This study demonstrated that the fluoride level of the groundwater sources was high, and the water was not suitable for drinking, a result that is of special importance for children and adults since they are a hypersensitive subgroup of the population.

Vaccination represents the historical milestone in medical sciences, which has been saving millions of lives. Nonetheless, continued outbreaks of emergent infectious diseases are swamping from every coast to every border all over the world. Modern vaccines are our most powerful arsenals to defend the public health of a global population ever since 1796. As unexpected, modern vaccination approaches have brought out all sorts of unwelcome pathogenic disorders to varying extents. Pathogenic viruses have also continued to evolve to defeat elaborate arsenals devised by human intelligence. In this review, we have covered a variety of vaccination approaches along with their sophisticated materials from the past to the most recent development. Furthermore, we discuss varied serious pathogenic outcomes elicited by contemporary vaccination programmes involving novel materials in real clinical trials. The complex immune mediators will be discussed in the context to tackle the complication of vaccine-induced pathogenesis. We will offer the insight into the intractable discrepancy of vaccine-associated pathology. The precision approach bestowed with evolutionary concepts will be considered as a feasible option to confront various issues of pathogenic complicacy.

This study assessed vaccination coverage and associated factors among children aged 12-23 months in the pastoralist Ethiopia. It was conducted in three woredas of the Afar region using a community-based cross-sectional mixed methods design with quantitative and qualitative methods. A total of 413 mothers with children aged 12-23 months participated in the quantitative study via a simple random sampling technique. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with vaccination, and thematic analysis techniques were used for qualitative data. The percentage of patients who received full vaccination was 25%. Based on vaccination card observations, the dropout rate from Pentavalent-1 to Pentavalent-3 was found to be 2.9%. Logistic regression analysis revealed significant associations between mothers and caretakers with formal education, those who owned mobile phones, had antenatal care (ANC) visits and birthed at a health faciltiy with full vacination. The overall proportion of full immunization is lower than the target set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The findings suggest that programs and policy makers should prioritize improving access and enrolment of women and caretakers, promoting mobile phone ownership, and encouraging ANC visits, and promotion of health facility deliveries, as these are are associated with higher rates of immunization

Background: This study describes the attitudes and practices of Brazilian adults regarding the mandatory vaccination for COVID-19 and the hesitancy to children´s vaccination. Methods: The participants answered an online questionnaire disseminated on social networks. An adaptation of the SAGE-WG questionnaire was used to measure the children's vaccination hesitancy. Results: Among 1,007 participants, 677 (67.4%) believed that vaccination for COVID-19 among adults should be mandatory. Just over half of the participants (51.5%) believe that parents and guardians should be free to decide whether their children should be vaccinated against COVID-19, and 9.1% were unsure about this. Younger, non-religious people who have higher self-perceptions of risk for COVID-19, and who evaluate the federal government's performance in combating the disease as bad or very bad, have a higher agreement with mandatory vaccination, a lower agreement that parents and guardians should be free to vaccinate their children, and lower child vaccination hesitancy scores. Conclusion: In Brazil, mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for adults is far from a consensus, and an expressive part of the population believes that parents and guardians should be free to choose whether or not to vaccinate their children. These perceptions and vaccine hesitancy for children are associated with religious and political inclinations.

Spectral calibration consists of the calibration of wavelengths and the measurement of the instrument's spectral response function (SRF). Unlike conventional slits, the absorbed aerosol sensors (AAS) are used as a slit homogenizer, in which the spectral response function (SRF) is not a conventional Gaussian curve. To be more precise, the SRF is the convolution of the slit function of the spectrometer, the line spread function of the optical system, and the detector response function. The SRF of the slit homogenizer is a flat-topped multi-Gaussian function. Considering the convenience of fitting, a super-Gaussian function, which looks like a similar distribution to the flat-topped multi-Gaussian function, is used to fit the measured data in a spectral calibration. According to the results, the SRF’s shapes, due to the Earth port, resemble a Gaussian curve with a flatted top could be concluded, which contains an FWHM of 1.78–1.82 nm for the AAS. The results show that the correlation coefficients are about 0.99, which proves that the fitting function could better characterize the SRF of the instrument.

The climate change impacts on some regions of the planet faster and stronger. These areas are known as the hot spots for climate change and Cyprus (Nicosia) in the Mediterranean is one of these spots. This paper aims to analyze the significant changes of atmospheric aerosol characteristics in 2019 and during the extreme event of 25 April 2019. We study the aerosol optical thickness (AOT), Ångström exponent, single scattering albedo, refractive index (imaginary and real parts), size, and vertical distribution of aerosol particles during the event of a high atmospheric aerosol contamination over Nicosia in details. For this purpose, we used the ground-based lidar, observations of the sun-photometer AERONET Nicosia station, satellite products from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and back trajectories of air movements calculated using the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model (HYSPLIT). On 23–25 April, according to lidar and sun-photometer observations, strong aerosol pollution over Nicosia was detected. On April 25, 2019, the AOT value exceeds 1.0 at λ = 440 nm. Analysis of the optical and microphysical characteristics supported that the pollution consists of mainly Saharan dust and partly urban aerosols. This assumption was confirmed by HYSPLIT backward trajectories and MODIS images where air masses containing dust particles came from North Africa and from the Eastern part of Europe.

Vaccination, particularly against pneumoccus and influenza, is a low-cost primary prevention, useful to avoid hard complications, particularly among frail older people. In this study, we aimed to assess the effect of a strategy for influenza and pneumococcal vaccination for outpatients, never practiced before, evaluating what could stimulate or demotivate vaccination among older people. This study was conducted during the 2023-2024 influenza season at the outpatient clinics of the Geriatrics section, University Hospital of Palermo (Italy). A total of 101 vaccinations were carried out. Half of the patients could be considered as pre-frail and about 20% frail, according to a comprehensive geriatric evaluation. Among participants, 46.3% received only vaccination against Pneumococcus and 26.8% only anti-influenza or the combination of anti-pneumococcus and anti-influenza. Compared with the previous seasons, a 19.5% increase of influenza and 90.2 % of pneumococcal vaccine uptake was observed. Side effects of vaccination were the main reason of the previous rejections, namely 74.8% for influenza and 29.5% for anti-pneumococcal vaccination. In conclusion, our study indicates how a new vaccination strategy in different settings is possible. Proposing influenza and pneumococcal vaccination for outpatients could be an effective instrument to improve immunization coverage that is still low among older people.

Background: The effectiveness of the anti-COVID-19 vaccine remains a matter to be clarified. Methods: The humoral and cellular immunity after the administration of three doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech and Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 over one year and the appearance of post-vaccination COVID-19 have been studied. Results: Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgA antibodies showed a progressive increase throughout the vaccination period. This increase was greatest after the third dose. The highest levels were observed in subjects who had anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies prior to vaccination. There was an increase in CD4+ αβ, CD8+ γδ and TEM CD8+ γδ T cells, and a decrease in apoptosis in CD4+CD8+ and CD56+ αβ and γδ T cells. Post-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 infection was greater than 60%. The symptoms of COVID-19 were very mild and were related to γδ T cell deficit, specifically CD8+ TEMRA and CD56+ γδ TEM, as well as lower pre-vaccine apoptosis levels. Conclusions: Those results demonstrate the important role that γδ T cells play in SARS-CoV-2 vaccine immunization.

There is little doubt that final victories over pandemics, such as COVID-19, are attributed to herd immunity, either through post-disease convalescence or active immunization of a high percentage of the world's population with vaccines, demonstrating protection from infection and transmission, being available in large quantities and at reasonable prices. However, it is assumable that humans with immune defects or immune suppression, e.g., as a consequence of allograft transplantation, cannot be immunized actively nor produce sufficient immune responses to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections. These subjects desperately need other strategies, such as sophisticated protection measures and active immunization. Hypertonic salt solutions attack vulnerable core areas of viruses, i.e., salt denatures surface proteins and thus prohibits virus penetration of somatic cells. It has to be ensured that somatic proteins are not affected by denaturation regarding this unspecific virus protection. Impregnating filtering facepieces with hypertonic salt solutions is a straightforward way to inactivate viruses and other potential pathogens. As a result of the contact of salt crystals on the filtering facepiece, these pathogens become denatured and inactivated almost quantitatively. Such a strategy could be easily applied to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and other ones that may occur in the future. Another possible tool to fight the COVID-19 pandemic is passive immunization with antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, preferably from human origin. Such antibodies can be harvested from patients´ human sera, which have successfully survived their SARS-CoV-2 infection. The disadvantage of a rapid decrease of the immunoglobulin titer after infection ends can be overcome by immortalizing antibody-producing B-cells via fusion with, e.g., mouse myeloma cells. The resulting monoclonal antibodies are then of human origin and available in, at least theoretically, unlimited amounts. Finally, dry blood spots are a valuable tool for surveilling the population´s immunity.

Since its conception with the smallpox vaccination, worldwide-used vaccines have thwarted multiple pandemics including the recent COVID-19 outbreak. Insightful studies uncovered complexities of different functional networks of CD4 T cells [T helper 1 (Th1); Th2, Th17] and CD8 T cells (T cytotoxic; Tc) as well as B cells (BIgM, BIgG, BIgA and BIgE) subsets during response to vaccination. Both T and B cell subsets forge central, peripheral and tissue-resident subsets during vaccination. It also became apparent that each vaccination formed the network of T regulatory subsets, namely CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T regulatory (Treg) cells and interleukin-10 (IL-10)-producing CD4+Foxp3− T regulatory 1 (Tr1) as well as many others, are shaping the quality/quantity of vaccine-specific IgM, IgG, and IgA antibody production. These components are especially critical for immunocompromised patients, such as older individuals and allograft recipients, as their vaccination may be ineffective or less effective. This review focuses on presenting how pre- and post-vaccination Treg/Tr1 levels influence the vaccination efficacy. Experimental and clinical work revealed that the Treg/Tr1 involvement evoked different immune mechanisms in diminishing vaccine-induced cellular/humoral responses. Alternative steps may be considered to improve the vaccination response by increasing a dose, changing the delivery route and/or repeated booster doses of vaccines. Vaccination may be combined with anti-CD25 (IL-2Ra chain) or anti-PD-1 (programmed cell death protein) monoclonal antibody (mAb) to decrease Tregs and boost the T/B cell immune response. All these data and strategies for immunizations are presented and discussed, aiming to improve the efficacy of vaccination in humans and especially in immunocompromised and older individuals as well as organ transplant patients.

A number of studies suggested that influenza vaccination can provide protection against COVID-19 but the underlying mechanisms that could explain this association is still unclear. In this study, the effect of the 2021/2022 seasonal influenza vaccination on the immune response to the booster dose of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination was evaluated in a cohort of healthy individuals. One hundred and thirteen participants were enrolled, and 74 of them with no prior COVID-19 diagnosis or significant co-morbidities were considered for the analysis. Participants received the anti-influenza tetravalent vaccine and the booster dose of the anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine or the anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine alone. Blood was collected before and 4 weeks after each vaccination and 12 weeks after SARSCoV2 vaccination and analyzed for anti-flu and anti-spike-specific antibody titers and for in vitro influenza and SARS-CoV-2 neutralization capacity. Results indicated an increased reactivity in subjects who received both influenza and SARSCoV2 vaccinations, as compared to those who received only the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, with sustained anti-spike antibody titers up to 12 weeks post-vaccination. Immune response to influenza vaccine was evaluated and individuals were stratified as high or low responders. High responders showed increased antibody titers against SARSCoV2 vaccine both after 4- and 12-weeks post-vaccination. On the contrary, the individuals classified as low responders were less responsive to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. These data indicate that both external stimuli, such as influenza vaccination, and the host's intrinsic ability to respond to stimuli play a role in the response to vaccine.

The RHAPS project was launched in 2019 with the major objective to identify specific properties of the fine atmospheric aerosol from combustion sources that are responsible for toxicological effects and can be used as new metrics for health-related outdoor pollution studies. In this paper, we present the overall methodology of RHAPS, and introduce the phenomenology and the first data observed. A comprehensive physico-chemical aerosol characterization has been achieved by means of high-time resolution measurements (e.g. number size distributions, refractory chemical components, elemental composition,) and low-time resolution analyses (e.g. oxidative potential, toxicological assays, chemical composition,…). Preliminary results show a high complexity in the relations observed, the link between air quality and toxicological endpoints being not obvious. We explore data from different points of view: source apportionment of PM1 and the role of source emissions on aerosol toxicity, the oxidative potential as a predictive variable for PM1 toxicity with focus on the secondary organic aerosol possessing redox-active capacity, exposure-response relationships for PM1, and air quality models to forecast PM1 toxicity. We provide a synthesis of results with the outlook to companion papers where data are analyzed in more detail.

The immune system is central in controlling acute hepatitis B infection and in patients resolving chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Given that 221 million (75%) of CHB patients reside in low- and middle-income countries, developing a vaccine with therapeutic properties represents a rational and cost-effective approach more than a romantic endeavor. This review systematically analyses the critical variables related to the safety, efficacy, and effectiveness of CHB treatments. HeberNasvac's experience is revisited to address the challenges and potentialities of therapeutic vaccines, as well as the current roadblocks in research and development, registration, and large-scale implementation.

Respiratory viral infections, including influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and, more recently, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, continue to pose significant global health threats. Conventional treatments for these infections often face challenges such as limited efficacy, the emergence of drug-resistant strains, and the requirement for frequent administration. In recent years, nanobodies have emerged as a promising class of therapeutic agents due to their unique properties, including small size, high stability, and specific binding capabilities. This mini-review article focuses on the application of nanobodies as spray and aerosol particles for the treatment of respiratory viral infections. Furthermore, we highlight the remarkable efficacy of nanobodies in preclinical and clinical studies against respiratory viruses, including their ability to neutralize viral particles, inhibit viral replication, and modulate the host immune response. We discuss the potential advantages of using nanobodies as inhalable formulations, including their improved delivery to the respiratory tract, enhanced stability in aerosol form, and reduced systemic side effects. Additionally, we explore the various strategies employed to engineer nanobodies for optimal aerosol delivery, such as conjugation to carrier particles or formulation as dry powders. We also examine the potential challenges and limitations associated with the development of nanobody-based aerosol therapies, including production scalability, cost-effectiveness, and regulatory considerations.

During the COVID-19 pandemic face masks grew in importance as their use by the general population was recommended by health officials in order to minimize the risk of infection and prevent further spread of the virus. To ensure health protection of medical personal and other system relevant staff, it is of considerable interest to quickly test if a certain lot of filtering facepiece masks meets the requirements or if the permeability changes under different conditions. As certified penetrometers are rather expensive and were difficult to obtain during the COVID-19 pandemic, we describe two quite simple and cheap methods to quickly test the filter permeability based on an electronic cigarette. The first method uses a precision scale, the second method uses a light scattering detector to measure the filter penetration. To make sure these two methods yield reliable results, both were tested with freshly cut filter samples covering the range of approx. 7% to 60% permeability and compared to the results of a certified penetrometer. The comparison of the two methods with the certified penetrometer showed a good correlation and therefore allow a quick and rather reliable estimation of the permeability. Several examples about the use of faulty masks and the resulting health risks show that simple, fast, cheap and broadly available methods for filter characterization might be useful in these days.

Production and transport of reactive species through plasma-liquid interactions plays a significant role in multiple applications in biomedicine, environment, and agriculture. We experimentally investigated the transport mechanisms of hydrogen peroxide H2O2 and ozone O3, as the typical plasma species, into water. We measured the solvation of gaseous H2O2 and O3 in airflow into water bulk vs. electrosprayed microdroplets while changing the gas and water flow rates, applied voltage that determines the gas-liquid interface area, and treatment time. The solvation rate of H2O2 and O3 increased with the treatment time and the gas-liquid interface area. The total surface area of the electrosprayed microdroplets was larger than that of the bulk, but their lifetime was much shorter. We estimated that only microdroplets with diameters below ~ 40 µm could achieve the saturation by O3 during their lifetime, while the saturation by H2O2 was impossible due to its depletion from air. Besides the short-lived flying microdroplets, the longer-lived bottom microdroplets substantially contributed to H2O2 and O3 solvation in water electrospray. This study contributes to a better understanding of the gaseous H2O2 and O3 transport into water as a function of different parameters and will lead to design optimization of the plasma-liquid interaction systems.

A short review of the important studies was conducted to evaluate the potential of aerosol transmission of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The minimum size of droplets potentially carrying the SARS-CoV-2 was newly estimated and discussed in this review.

Nowadays a recognized need for accurate observations of atmospheric aerosols (AEs) and reactive gases (RGs) exists in the framework of regional, national and global near-surface networks based on permanent or mobile measurement stations. In this context, a paramount and not-trivial issue is related to the correct execution of continuous sampling of ambient air and its subsequent distribution to measurement analyzers hosted inside the stations. Sampling artifacts must be minimized for obtaining reliable pictures of ambient air composition. To respond to this need, a suite of novel “smart” and relatively low-cost systems for the continuous sampling of ambient air was developed in the framework of the Project I-AMICA (2012 – 2015, www.i-amica.eu). These systems were designed to execute AE and RG measurements according with WMO/GAW and ACTRIS recommendations and standard operation procedures. A particular attention was dedicated to the stabilization and control of the sampling flow rates and temperatures. The analysis of one full year of operations at the WMO/GAW regional station of Capo Granitola (GAW ID: CGR, Italy), allowed to conclude that these systems are effective in meeting the technical requirements for correct execution of AE and RG measurements

A new approach to the measurement with elastic lidar of depolarization produced by atmospheric aerosols is presented. The system uses two different telescopes: one for depolarization measurements and another for total-power measurements. The system architecture and principle of operation are described. The first experimental results are also presented, corresponding to a collection of atmospheric conditions over the city of Barcelona.

The high transmissibility, rapid evolution, and immune escape of SARS-CoV-2 variants can influence the course of infection and, in turn, morbidity and mortality in COVID-19, posing a challenge in controlling transmission rates and contributing to the emergence and spread of new variants. The factors that shape viral genetic variation are consequently essential for understanding the evolution and transmission of SARS-CoV-2, especially in vaccinated individuals where immune response plays a role in the progression and spread of this disease. This study assessed. In this context, we evaluated the impact of immunity induced by the CoronaVac vaccine (Butantan/Sinovac) on intra-host genetic diversity, analyzing 118 whole-genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 from unvaccinated and vaccinated patients infected with the Gamma variant. Vaccination with CoronaVac favors negative selection at the intra-host level in different genomic regions and prevent greater genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2, which may help reduce the emergence of new mutations, reinforcing the importance of vaccination in reducing virus transmission.

The Absorbing Aerosol Sensor (AAS) is carried on the Gao Fen 5B (GF-5B) satellite, which allows for measuring the solar backscatter radiation by the atmosphere in UV-VIS wavelength. AAS is an imaging spectrometer using CCD for capturing both continuous spectrum and the cross-track orientation with a 114° wide swath. The broad field-of-view provides daily global envelopment with a 4 km spatial resolution at the nadir. This paper mainly analyzed the initial working status of the instrument in orbit, including wavelength calibration, radiation calibration, detector performance, and product availability. Preliminary observations indicate that the AAS can monitor the absorbing aerosol like dust, biomass burning, volcano ash, and some pollution aerosol and can identify the aerosol events in China and other regions with high spatial resolution.

Extraordinary high aerosol contamination observed in the atmosphere over Kyiv city, Ukraine, during the March – April 2020 period. The source of contamination was the large grass and forest fires in the northern part of Ukraine and the Kyiv region. The level of PM2.5 load investigated using newly established AirVisual sensors mini-network in five areas of the city. The aerosol data from the Kyiv AERONET sun-photometer site analyzed for that period. Aerosol optical depth, Angstrom exponent, and the aerosol particles properties (particles size distribution, single-scattering albedo, and complex refractive index) were analyzed using AERONET sun-photometer observations. The smoke particles observed at Kyiv site during the fires in general correspond to aerosol with optical properties of biomass burning particles. The variability of the optical properties and chemical composition indicates that the aerosol particles in the smoke plumes over Kyiv were produced by different burning material and phases of vegetation fires at different time. The case of enormous PM2.5 aerosol contamination in Kyiv city reveals the need to accept strong measures for forest fire control and prevention in Kyiv region, especially in the north-west region where radioactive contamination from Chornobyl disaster is still significant.

Effects of the convection flow, atmospheric diffusivity and humidity on evolution and travel distances of exhaled aerosol clouds by an infected person are considered. The aim of this work is to evaluate the importance of aerosol transmission routes and the effectiveness of the 2-metre separation distance policy. A potential impact of use of face masks on the infection transmission rate, and an opportunity to reduce infection in hospitals, care homes and other public spaces by appropriate monitoring and filtering of air are also considered. The results obtained demonstrate that aerosol particles generated by coughing and sneezing can travel over 30 m. Modelling of the evolution of aerosol clouds generated by coughing and sneezing enables us to evaluate the deposition dose of aerosol particles in healthy individuals. For example, a person in a public place (e.g. supermarket or car park) can accumulate in the respiratory system up to 200 virus copies in 2 min time by breathing in virus laden aerosols. Wearing face mask considerably reduces the deposited load down to 2 virus copies per 2 min. The modelling also suggests that it should be possible to measure virus causing COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) within aerosol particles in hospitals and public places, e.g. care homes and supermarkets.

We present a new approach to retrieve Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) over the turbid coastal water. This approach supplements the operational Dark Target (DT) aerosol retrieval algorithm that currently don’t conduct any AOD retrieval in the regions with large water-leaving radiances in the visible spectrum. Over the global coastal water regions in all cloud-free conditions, this unavailability of AOD retrievals due to the inherent limitation in existing DT algorithm is ~20%. Here, we refine the MODIS DT algorithm by considering that water-leaving radiance at 2.1 μm is negligible regardless of water turbidity. This refinement, with the assumption that the aerosol single scattering properties over coastal turbid water are similar to that over the adjacent open-ocean pixels, yields ~18% more of MODIS-AERONET collocated pairs for six AEROENT stations in the coastal water regions. Furthermore, comparison with these AERONET observations show that the new AOD retrievals are in either equivalent or better accuracy than those retrieved by the MODIS operational algorithm (over coastal land and non-turbid coastal water). Combining the new retrievals with the existing MODIS operational retrievals not only yield an overall improvement of AOD over those coastal water regions, but also successfully extend the spatial and temporal coverage of MODIS AOD retrievals over the coastal regions where 60% of human population resides, and thereby, aerosol impacts on regional air quality and climate are expected to be significant.

(1) Background: Mpox was declared an international public health emergency by WHO. Initially, Smallpox vaccine in Italy was offered only to laboratory personnel at direct risk of infection. Currently, Healthcare workers (HCWs) are all considered by European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to be at low or moderate risk. (2) Methods: To assess smallpox vaccination coverage among HCWs in an Italian hospital with different levels of risk of exposure to Mpox infection and to assess their attitudes toward vaccination, a self-report was administered to HCWs stratified at high and low/moderate risk. (3) Results: Of the 338 HCWs evaluated, 60.36% provided the requested data; among them the percentage of previously vaccinated staff was 38.7%, which corresponds to 23.4% of the total HCWs in the departments considered. Considering those born before 1979 as vaccinated, vaccination coverage increases from 23.4% to 41.4%. The department with the highest percentage of vaccinated is infectious diseases (60.5%); The percentage of HCWs who adhered to vaccination is 23%; only 8.8% of laboratory staff want to vaccinate, compared with 100% of midwives. The department with the highest percentage of vaccination adherence is proctology (85.7%). (4) Conclusions: Given the vaccination adherence rate and the vaccination coverage of the departments analyzed, it would be useful to extend vaccination against Smallpox to frontline HCWs involved in patient care in Italy too.

The ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has raised concerns surrounding immunological protection against the virus, particularly for people with inborn errors of immunity (IEI). While COVID-19 vaccination induces robust antibody, memory B-cell, and T-cell responses in healthy individuals, how well vaccination protects people with IEI against infection and severe disease remains unclear – especially in the context of new viral variants and vaccine formulations – leading to anxiety, ongoing self-isolation, and repeated vaccination with limited evidence of increased efficacy. Whilst most people with IEI generate some level of cellular and/or humoral immunity to COVID-19 vaccination, the level of protection and durability of the response are unclear. Alongside vaccination, antibody-based therapeutics are aimed at limiting infection and severe disease in this cohort. Immunoglobulin replacement therapy (IgRT) provides passive immunity in antibody-deficient individuals. However, to successfully prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection, a sufficient number of neutralizing antibodies must be present in product. While antibodies against circulating variants are eventually present in IgRT products (both from natural infection and vaccination of the donors), evidence of their capacity to recognize new variants is limited. Furthermore, while antibody-based pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis can be effective, they are susceptible to decreased efficacy in the context of variant evolution. This review provides an in-depth overview of current knowledge about COVID-19 vaccine efficacy in IEIs, the efficacy of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody products, and knowledge and technological advances required for continued protection of people with IEI.

Background: The Shingrix vaccine helps prevent shingles and its complications in adults 50 and older. While minor side effects are common, severe adverse reactions are thought to be rare, and long-term side effects are not well documented. Case Presentation: A 50-year-old woman with Crohn's disease developed joint pain, effusion, and neurological symptoms such as numbness and tingling shortly after receiving the first dose of Shingrix. Symptoms waxed and waned but persisted for over a year despite anti-inflammatories and specialist referrals. Diagnostic imaging and labs were unrevealing. Conclusion: This case of prolonged somatic and neurological symptoms associ-ated temporally with Shingrix administration reinforces the critical need for thorough pharma-covigilance and investigation of possible long-term adverse vaccine reactions. Provider documen-tation and reporting of individual experiences can help improve the detection of rare vaccine-related risks, elucidate potential risk factors, and refine safety screening. Diligent monitoring and research into longitudinal vaccine outcomes remain paramount, especially following recent emergency au-thorizations.

We present a case of serious and progressive neuropathy shortly following administration of the herpes zoster subunit (HZ/su) vaccine. The progressive neuropathy occurred a week following the vaccination and progressed until discharge 16 days post admittance. Mild patient’s symptoms persist. The development of neuropathy following HZ/su is exceedingly rare, with an attributable risk of 3 cases per million vaccines administered. A black box warning was issued for this indication, although diagnosis and treatment were not confirmed for this patient. Reporting cases like this is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of vaccine risks and to characterize the underlying etiology of these serious adverse events.

Clinical, pathological, and imaging evidence in multiple sclerosis (MS) shows that inflammation starts early and progresses with age. B cells play a central role in this process, contributing to cytokine production, defective regulatory functions, and abnormal immunoglobulin production, even in the central nervous system. Anti-CD20 (aCD20) therapies, which deplete CD20+ B cells, are effective for both relapsing-remitting (RR) and progressive-relapsing (PR) MS. While effective against MS symptoms and lesions detectable by magnetic resonance imaging, aCD20 therapies can reduce the immune response to COVID-19 vaccination. By using high-parameter flow cytometry, we examined the antigen-specific (Ag+) immune response six months post-third COVID-19 mRNA-vaccination in MS patients with RR and PR forms on aCD20 therapy. Despite lower Ag+ B cell responses and lower levels of anti-SARS-CoV2, both total and neutralizing antibodies, RR and PR patients developed strong Ag+ T cell responses. We observed similar percentages and numbers of Ag+ CD4+ T cells and high proportion of Ag+ CD8+ T cells, with slight differences in T cell phenotype and functionality, that however suggested the presence of differences in immune responses driven by age and disease severity.

SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination can entail chronic fatigue/dis-autonomy tentatively termed post-acute COVID-19 vaccination syndrome (PACVS). We explored receptor autoantibodies and interleukin-6 (IL-6) as somatic correlates of PACVS. Blood markers determined before and six months after first-time SARS-CoV-2-vaccination of healthy controls (N = 89, 71 females, mean/ median age 39/ 49 years) were compared with corresponding values of PACVS-affected persons (N= 191, 159 females, mean/median age: 40/39 years) exhibiting chronic fatigue/dis-autonomy (≥ three symptoms for ≥ five months after last SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination) not due to SARS-CoV-2 infection and/or confounding diseases/medications. Normal vaccination response encompassed decreases of 11 receptor-antibodies (by 25 - 50 %, p < 0.0001), increases in two receptor-antibodies (by 15 - 25 %, p < 0.0001) and normal IL-6. In PACVS, serological vaccination-response appeared significantly (p < 0.0001) altered, allowing discrimination from normal post-vaccination state (sensitivity = 90%, p &lt; 0.0001) by increased angiotensin II type 1 receptor antibodies (cut-off ≤ 10.7 U/ml, ROC-AUC = 0.824 ± 0.027), decreased alpha-2B adrenergic receptor antibodies (cut-off ≥ 25.2 U/ml, ROC-AUC = 0.828 ± 0.025) and increased IL-6 (cut-off ≤ 2.3 pg/ml, ROC-AUC = 0.850 ± 0.022). PACVS is thus indicated as a somatic syndrome delineated/detectable by diagnostic blood markers

Estimating the infection risks in indoor environments comprises the assessment of the behavior of virus-laden aerosols, i.e. spreading, mixing, removal by air purifiers etc. A promising experimental approach is based on using non-hazardous surrogate aerosols of similar size, e.g. salt particles, to mimic the virus aerosol behavior. This manuscript addresses the issue how a successful transfer of such experiments can be accomplished. Corresponding experiments in two very different environments, a large community hall and a seminar room, with optional use of air purifiers in various constellations were conducted. While high particle concentrations are advantageous in terms of avoiding influence of background aerosol concentrations, it is shown that appropriate consideration of aggregation and settling are vital to theoretically describe the experimentally determined course of particle concentrations. A corresponding model equation for a well-mixed situation is derived and the required parameters are thoroughly determined in separate experiments independently. It is demonstrated that clean air delivery rates (CADR) of air purifiers determined with this approach may differ substantially from common approaches not explicitly taking into account aggregation.

The emergence of new SARSCoV-2 variants can affect vaccine efficacy, laboratory diagnosis and therapies already available, triggering interest in the search for antiviral agents for SARSCoV-2 infections. Ribavirin (RBV) is a broad-spectrum antiviral with demonstrated in vitro activity against multiple viruses, including SARSCoV-2. Methods. This retrospective study evaluated the dynamic and viral clearance of SARSCoV-2 in hospitalized adult participants (PTs) with COVID-19 pneumonia who received RBV aerosol within a compassionate use study. Was also assessed the impact of RBV on the clinical outcome and the mutational profile of SARSCoV-2. Results. The median RNA values measured in nine PTs included in the study de-creased from baseline to discharge (at BL, threshold cycle (Ct)=22.4, IQR 19.84-5.07; at discharge, Ct=27.92, IQR 26.43-36.11). Seven/9 PTs experienced a clinical improvement, while two PTs deceased during hos-pitalization. In PTs with a favorable outcome the virus clearance rate at discharge was 28.6%. The cumulative clearance rate was 71.4% within day 14th from discharge. A mutational pattern after RBV was detected in 3/5 PTs in whom was available whole genome sequencing. Conclusions. RBV may limit SARSCOV-2 replication resulting in a favorable clinical outcome. Ribavirin may also contribute to the mutational spectrum of SARSCoV-2.

In this study, a monoethanolamine aerosol growth model was developed to investigate the aerosol growth factor. Interactions among the internal conditions in an absorber were considered in this aerosol model. Additionally, an experiment was conducted to measure aerosol particle size, for collecting in-house validation data. Sucrose was used as the aerosol nuclei instead of sulfuric acid to prevent the corrosion of equipment used in the experiment. Experimental results showed that the outlet aerosol sizes increased to the same size regardless of the sucrose concentrations. The aerosol growth model was validated using the in-house experimental data. The aerosol growth model efficiently predicted the aerosol size. For investigating aerosol growth effects, particle number concentration was determined to be the primary factor affecting aerosol growth and amine emissions. When the particle number concentration increased, the aerosol size decreased, whereas the MEA emission increased.

The origin and climate impact of Arctic aerosols, like the Arctic Haze, are not fully understood. Therefore, long-term aerosol observations in the Arctic are performed. In this study we present a homogenised data set from sun and star photometer operated in the European Arctic, in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, from 2004 – 2023. Due to polar day and polar night it is crucial to use observations of both instruments. Their data is evaluated in the same way and follows the cloud-screening procedure of AERONET. Additionally, an improved method for the calibration of the star photometer is presented. We found out, that winter months are generally more polluted and have larger particles than summer. While the monthly median Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) decreases in spring, the AOD increases significantly in autumn months. The Arctic Haze is not characterised by large particles and can not be distinguished from large aerosols in winter months. With autocorrelation analysis we found out, that AOD events usually occur with duration of several hours and are therefore caused by large-scale processes and may have a periodicity of several days. Local processes can be neglected in Ny-Ålesund but long-range transport plays a major role for the Arctic aerosol budget. We also compared AOD events with large-scale processes, like large-scale oscillation patterns, sea ice, weather conditions or wildfires on the Northern Hemisphere but did not find one single cause, which clearly determines the Arctic AOD.

Despite the successful introduction of oral cholera vaccines, Zambia continues to experience multiple, sporadic, and protracted cholera outbreaks in various parts of the country. While vaccines have been useful in staying the cholera outbreaks, the ideal window for re-vaccinating individual’s resident in cholera hotspot areas remains unclear. Using a prospective cohort study design, 225 individuals were enrolled, re-vaccinated with two doses of Shanchol™ regardless of previous vaccination and followed-up for 90 days. Bloods collected at baseline before re-vaccination, at day 14 prior to second dosing and subsequently on days 28, 60, and 90. Vibriocidal assay was performed on samples collected at all five time points. Our results showed that anti-LPS and vibriocidal antibody titers increased at day 14 after re-vaccination and decreased gradually at 28, 60 and 90 across all the groups. Seroconversion rates were generally comparable in all treatment arms. We therefore conclude that vibriocidal antibody titers generated in response to re-vaccination still wane quickly irrespective of previous vaccination status. However, despite the observed decline, the levels of vibriocidal antibodies remained elevated over baseline values across all groups, an important aspect for Zambia where there is no empirical evidence as to the ideal time for re-vaccination.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a well-known cause of cervical cancer, with HIV infection exacerbating the prevalence of high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). ART has been shown to reduce the likelihood of developing squamous intraepithelial lesions (SILs) and HR-HPV prevalence, although its impact on invasive cervical cancer remains inconclusive. In a study in Accra, 250 sexually active HIV-positive women exhibited a high HPV prevalence, emphasising the need for regular screening. HPV testing, visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA), and cytology-based tests are primary screening methods, each with specific advantages and limitations. Cervical cancer rates in sub-Saharan Africa are alarmingly high, necessitating targeted vaccination and prevention strategies.

Electronic designers nowadays are facing two challenging demands for various applications: miniaturization and increased functionality. To satisfy these seemingly opposed requirements, reducing the number of mounted components—and thus solder joints—in PCB designs becomes an attractive approach by directly printing passive components such as embedded resistors into the circuit. This approach can also potentially increase the reliability, such as “mean time between failures” (MTBF), while reducing the circuit board size. With its unique capabilities for non-contact precision material deposition, the Aerosol Jet® direct-write technology has been enabling additive manufacturing of fine-feature electronics conformally onto flexible substrates of complicated shapes. The CAD/CAM controlled relative motions between substrate and print head allows convenient adjustment of the pattern and pile height of deposited material at a given ink volumetric deposition rate. To date in the printed electronics industry, additively printing embedded polymer-thick-film (PTF) resistors has mostly been done with screen printing using carbon-based paste inks. Here we demonstrate results of Aerosol Jet® printed PTF resistors of resistance values ranging from ~50 W to > 1 kW, adjustable (among several variable parameters) by the number of stacked layers (or print passes with each pass depositing a fixed amount of ink) between contact pads of around 1 mm apart with footprint line typically < 0.3 mm. In principle, any ink material that can be atomized into fine droplets of 1 to 5 microns can be printed with the Aerosol Jet® system. However, the print quality such as line edge cleanliness can significantly influenced by ink rheology which involves solvent volatility, solids loading, and so on. Our atomizable carbon ink was made by simply diluting a screen printing paste with a compatible solvent of reasonable volatility, which can be cured at temperatures below 200 ^oC. We show that Aerosol Jet® printed overlapping lines can be stacked to large pile height (to reduce the resistance value) without significant increase of line width, which enables fabricating embedded resistors with adjustable resistance values in a limited footprint space.

Several long-term monitoring of aerosol datasets from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board Terra/Aqua, Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) are used to derive the dust aerosol optical depth (DOD) in Central Asia based on the Angstrom exponent parameter and/or the particle shape. All sensors agree very well on the interannual variability of DOD. The seasonal analysis of DOD and dust occurrences identified the largest dust loading and the most frequent dust occurrence in the spring and summer, respectively. No significant trend is found during the research period in terms of both DOD and the dust occurrence. Further analysis of Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) aerosol products on a case-by-case basis in most dust months of 2007 suggested that the vertical structure is varying in terms of the extension and the dust loading from one event to another, although dust particles of most episodes have similar physical characteristics (the particle shape and size). Our analysis on the vertical structure of dust plumes, the layer-integrated color ratio and depolarization ratio indicates a varied climate effect (e.g., the direct radiative impact) by mineral dust, dependent on the event being observed in Central Asia.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) continues to pose a significant challenge, contributing to elevated hospitalization rates among children up to 5 years old, with a disproportionate burden on newborn and infants under 6 months old. The unique characteristics of the young immune system make it prone to altered responses to infections and vaccinations, requiring a tailored approach to disease prevention. The recent approval of the maternal RSV vaccine, (brand name ABRYSVO), represents a pivotal advancement in preventive strategies among newborns and infants, marking a milestone in RSV research as the first market-approved maternal vaccine. The present review examines clinical trial data on both recent and previous vaccine candidates, as well as the licensed vaccine, focusing on the prevention of RSV disease in newborns and young infants through the passive acquisition of antibodies following maternal immunization. Additionally, it evaluates the safety profile of these vaccines.

Alkali-containing submicron particles were measured continuously during three months, including late winter and spring seasons in Gothenburg, Sweden. The overall aims were to characterize the ambient concentrations of combustion-related aerosol particles and to address the importance of local emissions and long-range transport for the atmospheric concentrations in the urban background environment. K and Na concentrations in the PM1 size range were measured by an alkali aerosol mass spectrometer (Alkali-AMS) and a cluster analysis was conducted. Local meteorological conditions and some other data sets were obtained, and back trajectory analyses and chemical transport model (CTM) simulations were included for the evaluation. The Alkali-AMS cluster analysis indicated three major clusters: 1) biomass burning origin, 2) mixture of other combustion sources, and 3) marine origin. Low temperatures and low wind speed conditions correlated with high concentrations of K-containing particles, mainly due to regional emissions from residential biomass combustion; transport of air masses from continental Europe also contribute to cluster 1. The CTM results indicate that open biomass burning in the eastern parts of Europe may have contributed substantially to high PM2.5 concentrations (and to cluster 1) during an episode in late March. According to the CTM results the mixed cluster (2) is likely to include particles emitted from different source types and no single geographical source region seems to dominate for this cluster. The back trajectory analysis and meteorological conditions indicated that the marine origin cluster was correlated with westerly winds and high wind speed; this cluster had high concentrations of Na-containing particles, as expected for sea salt particles.

Objectives: To study the differences between malignant hypermetabolic axillary lymphadenopathy (MHL) and COVID-19 vaccine-associated axillary hypermetabolic lymphadenopathy (VAHL) using clinical imaging. Methods: A total of 1,096 patients underwent Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography (PET-CT) between June 1, 2021 and April 30, 2022, at Ehime University Hospital. In total, 188 patients with axillary lymphadenopathy after the COVID-19 vaccination were evaluated. The patients were classified into three groups such as VAHL (n=27), MHL (n=21), and equivocal hypermetabolic axillary lymphadenopathy (EqHL; n=140). Differences in lymph nodes (LNs) swellings were statistically analyzed using clinical imagings (echography, CT, and 18F-FDG PET) statistically. Results: MHL included a higher female population (90.5%) owing to a higher frequency of breast cancer frequency (80.9%). Axillary LNs of MHL did not show any LN fatty hilums (0%); however, those of VAHL and EqHL did (15.8 and 36%, respectively). After the logistic regression analysis of the patients who had axillary lymphadenopathy without any LN fatty hilums, the minor axis length and ellipticity (minor axis/major axis) in the largest axillary LN, SUVmax, and Tissue-to-Background Ratio (TBR) were useful in distinguishing malignant lymphadenopathies. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis indicated that a cut-off value of ≥7.3 mm for the axillary LN minor axis (sensitivity: 0.714, specificity: 0.684) and of ≥0.671 for ellipticity (0.667 and 0.773, respectively) in the largest LN with the highest SUVmax and TBR were predictive of MHL. Conclusion: Axillary lymphadenopathy ≥7.3 mm of the minor axis and ≥0.671 of ellipticity in LN without fatty hilum suggests malignancy even in patients who have received COVID-19 vaccination. Further examinations such as 18F-FDG PET are recommended for such patients

Immortal-time bias (ITB) is known to be common in cohort studies and distorts the association estimates between treated and untreated groups. We used data from the last of two large studies in an Italian province on COVID-19 vaccines safety and effectiveness incurred this bias, and aligned the entire population on a single index date, to correct the ITB. We considered the "all-cause deaths" outcome to compare the survival curves between the unvaccinated group and the various vaccination statuses. The all-cause deaths Hazard Ratios in univariate analysis for unvaccinated (reference) versus vaccinated with 1, 2, 3/4 doses were 0.88 (CI95: 0.78 –1.00; p-value 0.044), 1.23 (1.16–1.32; p-value ≤0.001) and 1.21 (1.14–1.29; p-value ≤0.001), respectively. The multivariate values were 2.40 (2.00–2.88; p-value <0.0001), 1.98 (1.75–2.24; p-value <0.0001), 0.99 (0.90–1.09; ns). The possible explanations of the trend of the Hazard Ratios as vaccinations increase could be a harvesting effect; a calendar-time bias, accounting for seasonality and pandemic waves; a case-counting windows bias; a healthy-vaccinee bias; or some their combination. With two and even with 3/4 doses the calculated Restricted Mean Survival Time and Restricted Mean Time Lost have shown a small but significant downside for the vaccinated populations.

Default aerosol extinction coefficient profiles are commonly used instead of measured profiles in radiative transfer modelling, increasing the uncertainties in the simulations. The present study aims to determine the magnitude of these uncertainties and contribute towards the understanding of the complex interactions between aerosols and solar radiation. Default, artificial and measured profiles of the aerosol extinction coefficient are used to simulate the profiles of different radiometric quantities in the atmosphere for different surface, atmospheric, and aerosol properties and for four spectral bands: ultraviolet-B, ultraviolet-A, visible, and near infrared. Case studies are performed over different areas in Europe and North Africa. Analysis of the results shows that under cloudless-skies, changing the altitude of an artificial aerosol layer has minor impact on the levels of shortwave radiation at the top and the bottom of the atmosphere, even for high aerosol loads. Differences up to 30% were however detected for individual spectral bands. Using measured instead of default profiles for the simulations leads to more significant differences in the atmosphere, which become very large during dust episodes (10 – 60% for actinic flux at altitudes between 1 and 2 km, and up to 15 K/day for heating rates depending on site and solar elevation).

Human exposure to infectious aerosols results a transmission of diseases, such as influenza, tuberculosis, and COVID-19. Most dental procedures generate a significant number of aerosolized particles, increasing transmission risk in dental settings. Since the generation of aerosols in dentistry is unavoidable, many clinics started using intervention strategies such as area-filtration units and extraoral evacuation equipment, especially under the relatively recent constraints of the pandemics. However, the effectiveness of these devices in dental operatories has not been studied. Therefore, the dental personnel's ability to position and operate such instruments efficiently is also limited. To address these challenges, we utilized a real-time sensor network for assessment of aerosol dynamics during dental restoration and cleaning producers with and without intervention. The strategies tested during the procedures were (i) local area high-efficiency particle air (HEPA) filters and (ii) extra-oral suction device (EOSD). The study was conducted at the University of Washington School of Dentistry using a network of thirteen fixed sensors positioned within the operatory and one wearable sensor worn by the dental operator. The sensor network provides time and space-resolved particulate matter (PM) data. Three-dimensional (3D) visualization informs aerosol persistence in the operatory. It was found that area filters did not improve the overall aerosol concentration in dental offices significantly. An average of 16% decrease in PM concentration was observed when EOSD equipment was used during the procedures. The combination of real-time sensors and 3D visualization can provide dental personnel and facility mangers with actionable feedback to effectively assess aerosol transmission in medical settings and develop evidence-based intervention strategies.

Background: The uptake of COVID-19 booster vaccines has been significantly low. Therefore, it is questionable whether combining the COVID-19 booster vaccines with Influenza vaccines can increase the population's interest in taking such vaccines and manage the health pandemic effectively. Methodology: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, a synthesis of the findings and summary of a total of 30 research articles based on the topic, ‘combining influenza and COVID-19 booster vaccination strategy’ was undertaken. The research articles were identified from three databases, namely, PubMed, Cochran Library, and Google Scholar using specific keywords and inclusion criteria. However, research articles that were not peer-reviewed and not published in English were excluded from the systematic review and meta-analysis. The average risk ratio of the included articles was 0.78% based on a 95% CI. On the other hand, the heterogeneity between such studies was I² = 35%, while the statistical significance of their findings occurred at p < 0.05. The average p-value of the included research studies was p = 0.62, implying that the null hypothesis was not rejected in almost all the studies. Results: A synthesis of the chosen research articles revealed that when influenza and COVID-19 booster vaccines are combined, there is potential for an increase in the uptake of the latter, mainly because many populations have already been accustomed to taking influenza vaccines on an annual basis. Conclusions: In this way, through such findings, medical health experts can make informed decisions to increase the population's willingness to receive the COVID-19 booster vaccines.

The fluid flow field at the upper airways is highly complex due to the complex structure of the airway. The inhaled particle flow, the air streamline and the interaction of the continuum and discrete phase could significantly affect the transport behaviour of the inhaled particles. A range of analytical, mathematical and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models analyzed the airflow and particle transport in different idealized and asymmetric airway models. A precise understanding of the continuum and discrete phase interaction in realistic human airways is missing, and this study aims to develop a CFD-DEM model for particle transport in realistic airways. This study uses the CFD model for the continuum phase and the discrete element method (DEM) for the discrete phase. A soft sphere approach is used for the interaction of the discrete phase. Proper validation is performed for particle transport efficiency. The CFD-DEM model analyzed the particle transport in an idealized and realistic airway model, and different methods are used to analyze the transport behaviour. During the particle-particle interaction, a stagnation point and a high-pressure zone are observed at the airway model's carinal angle. The numerical results report higher deposition efficiency (DE) for particle-particle interaction than without interaction. The flow field becomes highly complex with the spring constant values, and higher DE is found for high spring constant values. The spring dashpot friction-dshf method shows higher deposition at the upper part of the airways than other interaction methods. The findings of this study and more case-specific analysis would improve the knowledge of aerosol transport in airways and the health risk assessment of the patient.

Identifying dust aerosols from passive satellite images is of great interest for many applications. In this study, we developed 5 different machine-learning (ML) and deep-learning (DL) based algorithms, including Logistic Regression, K Nearest Neighbor, Random Forest (RF), Feed Forward Neural Network (FFNN), and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), to identify dust aerosols in the daytime satellite images from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) under cloud-free conditions on a global scale. In order to train the ML and DL algorithms, we collocated the state-of-the-art dust detection product from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) with the VIIRS observations along the CALIOP track. The 16 VIIRS M-band observations with the center wavelength ranging from deep blue to thermal infrared, together with solar-viewing geometries and pixel time and locations, are used as the predictor variables. Four different sets of training input data are constructed based on different combinations of VIIRS pixel and predictor variables. The validation and comparison results based on the collocated CALIOP data indicates that the FFNN method based on all available predictor variables is the best performing one among all methods. It has an averaged dust detection accuracy of about 81 %, 89 % and 85 % over land, ocean and whole globe, respectively, compared with collocated CALIOP. When applied to off-track VIIRS pixels, the FFNN method retrieves geographical distributions of dust that are in good agreement with on-track results as well as CALIOP statistics. For further evaluation, we compared our results based on the ML and DL algorithms to NOAA’s Aerosol Detection Product (ADP) , which is a product that classifies dust, smoke and ash using physical-based methods. The comparison reveals both similarity and differences. Overall, this study demonstrates the great potential of ML and DL methods for dust detection and proves that these methods can be trained on the CALIOP track and then applied to the whole granule of VIIRS granule.

Studies on the detection of layers with elevated black carbon aerosol (BC) concentrations and the formation conditions of these layers help understand the vertical distribution of BC concentrations, which will provide a basis for the assessment of climate effects and early BC pollution warnings. By using the Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) numerical model, we performed a numerical simulation analysis on the authenticity of strong elevated BC concentration layers that were detected by an aircraft in the mixing layer over Harbin, China, which is a high-emission area, on a clear sunny afternoon in the early heating period of 2016. We then discuss possible problems and solutions when non-vertical paths are used to detect the vertical distribution of BC concentrations. Finally, we discuss the favorable conditions for the formation of elevated BC concentration layers by weak vertical flow. The results show that the horizontal variability of BC concentration in the mixing layer in the observation area in Harbin was sufficiently large during the measurement. This produced a false elevated layer, as detected by the aircraft during one round of spiral flight in the mixing layer. The root mean square of the horizontal distribution of BC concentration did not change with height in the mixing layer during the daytime, but it decreased with the thickness of the mixing layer and was higher in the mixing layer than in the free atmosphere. Therefore, the thinner the mixing layer, in which the vertical distribution of the BC concentration is detected in an inclined path, the stronger interference of the horizontal variability on the detected results. When a spiral flight detection path is used, the aircraft should fly at least two rounds in the mixing layer. In the daytime, due to strong turbulence in the mixing layer, weak vertical uplift is not favorable for the occurrence of elevated BC concentration layers in the mixing layer. In the nighttime, if weak vertical uplift is well matched with the BC concentration or its vertical gradient, elevated BC concentration layers can be formed in the atmosphere. Compared with upper layers far from the ground, nighttime elevated layers are easier to form in lower layers near the ground because high BC concentrations or large vertical gradients are more likely to occur in the lower layers. Both cases facilitate the occurrence of large vertical upward transport rates of BC.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients are particularly susceptible to respiratory infections like influenza, which exacerbate symptoms and increase healthcare utilization. While smoking cessation and influenza vaccination are recommended preventive measures, their combined impact on healthcare resource utilization is underexplored. The Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) assesses comorbidity burden in COPD patients and may influence healthcare outcomes. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 357 COPD patients, evaluating smoking cessation success over one year and influenza vaccination receipt, stratifying patients by CCI scores. Healthcare utilization outcomes included emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and medical expenses. Results showed that 51.82% of patients quit smoking and 59.66% received influenza vaccination, with higher comorbidity prevalence in advanced COPD stages (p=0.002). Both smoking cessation and influenza vaccination independently correlated with decreased emergency room visits, hospital admissions, days, and costs. Patients who both quit smoking and received influenza vaccination exhibited the lowest healthcare utilization rates. In conclusion, smoking cessation and influenza vaccination significantly reduce healthcare resource utilization in COPD patients, with the combination yielding synergistic benefits, particularly in those with lower CCI scores. Integrating these interventions and comorbidity management in COPD strategies is essential for optimizing patient outcomes and healthcare efficiency.

This article investigates a proposed new mathematical model that considers the infected individuals using various rate coefficients such as transmission, progression, recovery and vaccination. The fact that the dynamic analysis is completely determined by the basic reproduction number is established. More specifically, local and global stabilities of the disease-free equilibrium and the endemic equilibrium are proved under certain parameter conditions when the basic reproduction number is below or above unity. A realistic computer simulation is performed for better understanding of the variations in trends of different compartments after the outbreak of the disease.

African swine fever (ASF) is a pandemic threat to the global pig industry and wild suids. A safe and efficacious vaccine could monumentally assist in disease eradication. In the past years, promising live attenuated vaccine candidates emerged in proof-of-concept experiments, among them, “ASFV-G-∆MGF”. In our study, we tested the vaccine candidate in three animal experiments intramuscularly in domestic pigs one orally in wild boar. Further, a macrophage-grown vaccine virus and a virus grown on permanent cells could be employed. Irrespective of the production system of vaccine virus, a two-dose intramuscular immunization could induce close to sterile immunity with full clinical protection against challenge infection. After oral immunization, 50% of the vaccinees seroconverted and all responders were completely protected against subsequent challenge. All non-responders developed ASF upon challenge with two acute lethal infections and two mild and transient courses. The latter results show a lower efficiency after oral administration that would have to be taken into consideration when designing vaccination-based control measures. Our findings suggest that “ASFV-G-∆MGF” could help to contain the disease under an appropriate vaccination campaign. Further research is needed to characterize safety aspects and define possible improvements of oral efficiency.

The Combined Inversion of Surface and AeRosols (CISAR) algorithm for the joint retrieval of surface and aerosol single scattering properties has been further developed in order to extend the retrieval to clouds and overcome the need for an external cloud mask. Pixels located in the transition zone between pure cloud and pure aerosol are often discarded by both aerosol and cloud algorithms, despite being essential for studying aerosol-cloud interactions, which still represent the largest source of uncertainty in climate predictions. The proposed approach aims at filling this gap and deepening the understanding of aerosol properties in cloudy environments. The new CISAR version is applied to Sentinel-3A/SLSTR observations and evaluated against different satellite products and ground measurements. The spatial coverage is greatly improved with respect to algorithms processing only pixels flagged as clear sky by the SLSTR cloud mask. The continuous retrieval of aerosol properties without any safety zone around clouds opens new possibilities for studying aerosol properties in cloudy environments.

Microbe laden air particles, known as bio-aerosols, are routinely generated, in clinical dentistry due to the operative instrumentation within a milieu rich in salivary organisms. As the major mode of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 appears to be airborne aerosols and droplets, there has been an intense focus on such aerosol generating procedures (AGP). As there has been no systematic reviews on the efficacy of bio-aerosol reducing measure in dentistry, the objective of this systematic review was to evaluate the literature on three major AGPs, rubber dam application, pre-procedural oral rinse, and high-volume evacuation (HVE) aimed at reducing dental bio-aerosols. Method: PubMed via Ovid MEDLINE, EBSCO host, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases between January 01, 1985, and April 30, 2020, were searched.Results: A total of 156 records in the English language literature were identified, of which 17 clinical studies with 724 patients were included in the final analyses. The eligible reviewed articles revealed the inadequacy of the afore mentioned three principal AGPs used in contemporary dental practice to minimise bio-aerosols. HVE appears to be the most efficacious method, although no single approach provides total elimination of bio-aerosols. Conclusion:This, the first systematic review on methods of controlling bio-aerosols in dental operatory settings, indicates that employing combination strategies of rubber dam, with a pre-procedural antimicrobial oral rinse, and HVE can significantly minimize bio-aerosols. As the quality of the currently available data on dental bio-aerosols are rather poor, further, controlled, multi-centre studies are essential to address this critical issue.

The gap in knowledge regarding the radiative effects of aerosols in the UV region of the solar spectrum is large, mainly due to the lack of systematic measurements of the aerosol single scattering albedo (SSA) and absorption optical depth (AAOD). In the present study, spectral UV measurements performed in Thessaloniki, Greece by a double monochromator Brewer spectrophotometer in the period 1998 - 2017 are used for the calculation of the aforementioned optical properties. The main uncertainty factors have been described and there is an effort to quantify the overall uncertainties in SSA and AAOD. Analysis of the results suggests that the absorption by aerosols is much stronger in the UV relative to the visible. SSA follows a clear annual pattern ranging from ~0.7 in winter to ~0.85 in summer at wavelengths 320 – 360 nm, while AAOD peaks in summer and winter. The average AAOD for 2009 – 2011 is ~50% above the 2003 – 2006 average, possibly due to increased emissions of absorbing aerosols related to the economical crisis and the metro-railway construction works in the city center. A detailed analysis of the uncertainties in the retrieval of the SSA and the AAOD from the Brewer spectrophotometer has been also performed.

We discuss a remote sensing system that is used to simultaneously detect range-resolved differential absorption LIDAR (light detection and ranging; DIAL) signals and integrated path DIAL signals (IP-DIAL) from aerosol targets for ranges up to 22 km. The DIAL/IP-DIAL frequency converter consists of an OPO pumped at 1064 nm to produce light at 1.6 μm and operates at 100 Hz pulse repetition frequency. The probe light is free space coupled to a movable platform that contains one transmitter and two receiver telescopes. Hybrid photon counting/current systems increase the dynamic range for detection by two orders of magnitude. Range resolved and column integrated dry-air CO2 and CH4 mixing ratios are obtained from line shape fits of CO2 and CH4 centered at 1602.2 nm and 1645.5 nm, respectively and measured at 10 different frequencies over ≈ 1.5 cm-1 bandwidth. The signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) of the IP-DIAL returns from cloud aerosols approach 1000:1 and the uncertainties in the mixing ratios weighted according to the integrated counts over the cloud segments range from 0.1 % to 1 %. The range averaged DIAL mixing ratios are in good agreement with the IP-DIAL mixing ratios at the 1 % to 2 % level for both CO2 and CH4. These results can serve as a validation method for future active and passive satellite observational systems.

The COVID-19 pandemics has had an unprecedented global impact, and the COVID-19 mass vaccination campaign has been commonly regarded as crucial to overcome the pandemics. Since all-cause mortality is the best way to measure the consequences of a health intervention, the present study was devised to analyze the all-cause mortality data of the United Kingdom (UK), which are made publicly available broken down by vaccination status. Data from April 2021 to May 2023 were retrospectively collected and analyzed according to age groups and vaccination status and the Standardized Mortality Ratio (SMR) for all-cause mortality and for non-COVID-19 were calculated in comparison to the corresponding unvaccinated groups. Results show that, since an age group dependent date, the all-cause mortality SMRs were increasing in any of the age groups considered. Initially, the all-causes death SMRs were less than 1 for all age groups, but due to their growth, for the age groups 18-39, 80-89 and 90+ years by a certain date they exceeded the reference value. For the other age groups, as long as the trend is maintained, it is possible to predict the date in which the SMR would reach the value 1. Non-COVID-19 SMR values show a very similar trend. Their initial values much lower than 1 suggest the presence of significant biases in the ONS dataset which lead to an underestimation of the risks for those vaccinated, as it is not plausible that the vaccine protects from causes other than COVID-19. The finding that all-cause mortality SMRs in vaccinated in comparison to unvaccinated people increases over time requires careful examination to understand the underlying factors. Meanwhile, the other major countries should undertake a systematic collection of all-causes mortality broken down by vaccination status, and should be implemented a moratorium of the promotion of mass vaccination campaigns.

Like all RNA viruses, SARS-CoV-2 shows high mutation rate, which has led to the emergence of new variants. Among them, Gamma and Delta developed at the turn of 2020-2021 in Amazonas and India, two ecoregions characterized by hot-humid weather, very similar to that of the summer season due to climate change in Italy, the first Western country to have been hit hard by COVID-19 and to experience lockdown restrictions in a democratic framework of 58,85 million people. Methods: during the state of national health emergency and the Draghi government, the Civil Defense Department daily released the aggregate data coming from the Ministry of Health, the Higher Institute of Health, the Independent Provinces and the Italian Regions, in order to inform about the pandemic situation in Italy. Among these data there were the number of deaths, hospitalizations in intensive care units (ICU), non-ICU patients, contagions, and performed swabs. By means of a team effort, we have collected and elaborated all these data, comparing COVID-19 pandemic in Italy during the summers 2020 (following the nationwide lockdown), 2021 and 2022. Results: from summer 2020 (before mass vaccination) to summers 2021 (after primary mass vaccination) and 2022 (after booster mass vaccination) all pandemic trend indicators have showed a sharp worsening in Italy. COVID-19 deaths increased by ≈298% and ≈834%, ICU hospitalizations by ≈386% and ≈310%, non-ICU hospitalizations by ≈224% and ≈600%, contagions by ≈627% and ≈6.850% (i.e. ≈68,50 times), swabs by ≈354% and ≈370%, and the mean positivity rate passed from ≈1% to ≈2% and ≈20%, respectively. Conclusions: SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted in any climate, including areas with hot and humid weather, and the emergence of variants adapted to hot-humid climate may result in summer COVID-19 outbreaks, even in neither tropical nor subtropical countries. Although COVID-19 vaccines can confer cross-protection against newly emerging variants, this cross-immunity is obviously not absolute but limited, also taking into account that vaccine protection wanes considerably after 6 months. It follows that a subject vaccinated at the beginning of winter will not be completely covered in the height of summer, without forgetting the unvaccinated. As a final remark, the long nationwide lockdown made it possible to flatten SARS-CoV-2 circulation and, therefore, its negative impact on Italy during summer 2020.

The innate and adaptive immune systems collaborate to detect SARS-CoV-2 infection, minimize the viral spread, and kill infected cells, ultimately leading to the resolution of the infection. The adaptive immune system develops a memory of previous encounters with the virus, providing enhanced responses when rechallenged by the same pathogen. Such immunological memory is the basis of vaccine function. Here, we review the current knowledge on the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination, focusing on the pivotal role of T cells in establishing protective immunity against the virus. After providing an overview of the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, we describe the main features of SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, including cross-reactive T cells, generated in patients with different degrees of COVID-19 severity, and of Spike-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells induced by vaccines. Finally, we discuss T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 variants and hybrid immunity and conclude by highlighting possible strategies to improve the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination.

Aquaculture has rapidly emerged as one of the fastest growing industries, expanding both on global and on national fronts. With the ever-increasing demand for high biological value protein, the aquaculture industry has established itself as one of the most efficient forms of animal production, proving to be a vital component of global food production, by supplying nearly 50% of the planet’s seafood. As in classic animal production, the prevention of diseases constitutes an enduring challenge associated with severe economic and environmental repercussions. Nevertheless, remarkable strides in the development of aquaculture vaccines have been recently witnessed, offering sustainable solutions to persistent health-related issues challenging resilient aquaculture production. These advancements are characterized by breakthroughs in increased species-specific precision, improved vaccine delivery systems, and innovations in vaccine development, following the recent advent of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence in the -omics era. The objective of this paper was to assess recent developments and milestones revolving around aquaculture vaccinology and provide an updated overview of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the sector, by incorporating and comparatively discussing various diffuse advances that span across a wide range of topics, including emerging vaccine technologies, innovative delivery methods, insights on novel adjuvants, and parasite vaccine development for the aquaculture sector.

COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected seven South Asian countries because of rampaging virus and weak health system response. Vaccination commenced in all countries during early 2021, once the vaccines became available in the international market. Vaccines were donated by international development partners, friendly countries and procured utilizing domestic resources and financial support from various agencies. All countries opted for a phasing of the vaccination by prioritizing high risk populations which included health care personnel, front line workers and elderly with comorbidities. Seven vaccines that had WHO emergency authorization usage were utilized in South Asia. India produced more than 2.4 billion doses of AstraZeneca vaccine and has indigenously developed five COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccine inequity was obvious and characterized by fewer people in South Asia vaccinated with single dose vis a vis the developed countries. Vaccine hesitancy was another obstacle that kept the vaccination rates low. Difficult to reach areas in Afghanistan, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal could not fully access vaccines. South Asian countries need to strengthen their health system for efficient deployment of vaccines in future health emergencies. At the same time the global agencies and developed countries must address the issue of vaccine access to low-income countries to mitigate the impact of pandemic all over the world.

A population dynamics epidemic model is developed that incorporates age of infection and age of vaccination. The model analyzes pre-symptomatic and symptomatic periods of an infected individual in terms of infection age. The model analyzes the efficacy of vaccination in terms of vaccination age. The model is applied to the 2003 SARS epidemic in Taiwan and the current COVID-19 epidemic in New York State.

This study updates previous research showing that 22 all-cause mortality in 31 European countries increased over time the higher the 21 COVID-19 full vaccination uptake. The update illuminates that a one percentage point increase in 21 full vaccination uptake initially decreased all-cause mortality from Jan to Mar 22 by –0.423 percent (95% CI –0.577, –0.270), but the following 14 months, a one percentage point increase in 21 booster vaccination uptake oppositely increased mortality by 0.366 percent (95% CI 0.250, 0.482). The findings indicate that full vaccination initially prevented mortality, but subsequently, booster vaccination, in particular, detrimentally and consistently induced higher mortality. The effects remained robust when controlling for alternative explanations. Studies have argued that heat waves caused mortality in the 22 summer and energy prices caused mortality in the 22-23 winter. However, the update shows that booster vaccination consistently induced higher mortality when neither heat waves nor energy prices were likely explanations.

Background. The main impetus behind the worldwide Covid-19 vaccination campaign in 2021 was to reduce the mortality attributed to SARS-CoV-2 infection in the preceding year. Nevertheless, rigorous analyses of the mortality benefits conferred by this massive vaccination effort have been lacking. Methods Statistics offers us an essential methodological approach for measuring the impacts of Covid-19 vaccination on public health. The mathematical relation between vaccinated-alive groups can be repeated between vaccinated-dead groups with relatively high statistical reliability because of the large population numbers involved. This method also confers greater statistical usefulness because it eliminates the Simpson effect. Results Calculations were performed for each of the following five(5) four-week intervals: weeks 35-38 (2021), weeks 39-42 (2021), weeks 43-46 (2021), weeks 47-50 (2021), and weeks 50(2021)-1(2022). The results obtained confirm that the mortality of the vaccinated coronavirus-infected groups was 14.5% higher on average than the mortality of non-vaccinated coronavirus-infected groups. Conclusions Vaccinated infected groups appear to have higher average mortality than their non-vaccinated infected counterparts. The findings suggest the legitimacy of extending the statistics between vaccinated living and vaccinated dead individuals for different age groups. Calculating the impact of Covid-19 vaccination on the mortality rate is a necessary step towards satisfying the first principle of medicine: “Primum non nocere”, “Do no harm”.

In this study, we surveyed over 600 participants to determine: a) major causes to mental stress during the pandemic and its future impacts, and b) diversity in public perception and acceptance (specifically for children) of Covid-19 vaccination. Statistical results and intelligent clustering outcomes indicate significant relationships between sociodemographic diversity, mental stress causes, vaccination perception, and Covid-19 infections. For instance, statistical results indicate significant dependence between mental stress due to Covid-19 and gender (p = 1.7e-05). Over 25% of males indicated work related stress comparing 35% in females however, females indicated more stressed (17%) due to relationships comparing to males (12%). Around 30% of Asian/Arabic participants don’t feel vaccination being safe as compared to 8% of white-British and 22% of white-European indicating significant dependence (p = 1.8e-08) with ethnicity. More specifically, vaccination acceptance for children is significantly dependent to ethnicity (p = 3.7e-05) where only 47% participants show willingness towards children’s vaccination. Primary dataset in this study along with experimental outcomes identifying sociodemographic information diversity with respect to public perception and acceptance of vaccination to children and potential stress factors might be useful for public and policy makers to be better prepared for future epidemics as well as working globally to combat mental health issues and running more effective vaccination campaigns.

The objective of the study was to evaluate the risk factors associated with lower COVID-19 vaccination rates in the United States. The study evaluated the effect of red-blue political affiliation and the effect of the US state's average educational aptitude score and per capita income on states' vaccination rates. The study found that states with concomitantly lower income along with lower educational aptitude scores are less vaccinated while the states with higher income have higher vaccination rates even among those with lower educational aptitude scores. These findings stayed significant after adjusting for red-blue political affiliation where states with red political affiliation have lower vaccination rates. Further study is needed to evaluate how to stop online misinformation among states with low income and low educational aptitude scores; and whether such an effort will increase overall vaccination rates in the United States.

The COVID-19 pandemic halted progress in global vaccine coverage and disrupted routine childhood vaccination practices worldwide. While there is ample evidence of vaccination declines experienced during the pandemic, it is less clear how low-income countries were affected. We executed a systematic review to synthesize the current literature on impacts to routine childhood vaccinations in low-income countries from January 1, 2020 to February 8, 2023. We collected data using an extraction form on Covidence and assessed the quality of studies included in the review using the Risk of Bias in Non-Randomized Studies of Interventions (ROBINS-I) tool. Effect estimates for changes in vaccination during the pandemic were reported and summarized. Factors that influenced changes were grouped into descriptive themes. Thirteen studies, encompassing 18 low-income countries and evaluating 15 vaccines at varying doses, were included in the final review. We found that routine childhood vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic varied considerably by vaccine type, location, and phase of the pandemic. Nine different themes were identified as factors that influenced changes in vaccination. Documenting past experiences and lessons learned is crucial for informing preparedness efforts in anticipation of future public health emergencies. Failure to effectively address these things in the next public health emergency could result in a recurrence of declining routine childhood vaccinations.

This work investigated the effects of manufacturing variations including coil resistance, initial pod mass, and e-liquid color on coil lifetime and aerosol generation of Vuse ALTO pods. Random samples of pods were used until failure (where e-liquid was consumed, and coil resistance increased to high value indicating a coil break). Initial coil resistance, initial pod mass, and e-liquid net mass ranged between 0.89 to 1.14 [], 6.48 to 6.61 [g], and 1.88 to 2.00 [g] respectively. Coil lifetime with light color e-liquid was (mean) = 149, (standard deviation) = 10.7 puffs while pods with dark color e-liquid was = 185, = 22.7 puffs with a difference of ~36 puffs (p &lt;0.001). Total mass of e-liquid consumed until coil failure was = 1.93, = 0.035 [g]. TPM yield per puff of all test pods for the first session (brand new pods) was = 0.0123, = 0.0003 [g]. During usage, TPM yield per puff of pods with light color e-liquid was relatively steady while it was continuously decreasing for pods with dark e-liquid. Coil lifetime and TPM yield per puff were not correlated with either variation in initial coil resistance or variation in initial pod mass. The absence of e-liquid in the pod is an important factor in causing coil failure. Small bits of the degraded coil could be potentially introduced to the aerosol. There is a potential correlation of e-liquid color with both coil lifetime and TPM yield per puff. Change of e-liquid color might have been a result of oxidation which changed some nicotine into nicotyrine.

In the presence of absorbing aerosol in the atmosphere a number of systematic errors of standard Ocean Color algorithms were noted, for example, negative values of remote sensing reflectance in the short-wavelength region at 412 nm and 443 nm. The main goal of this work is to develop an algorithm for additional correction of remote sensing reflectance level 2 satellite data, taking into account the presence of absorbing aerosol over the Black Sea, where a large number of dust transfers from the Sahara are observed annually. To implement the algorithm, an analytical and experimental evaluation of the interpolation function is carried out, taking into account the optical effects caused by the stratification of the absorbing aerosol. This algorithm is based on the constancy of the color index value, characteristic of the selected region. For the Black Sea the average value of CI(412/443) = 0.80±0.08, a small standard deviation indicates that the sample is slightly variable. Therefore, CI(412/443) = 0.80 will be further considered as the reference value of the color index for calculating new restored Rrs(λ).

Dental services are significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost all dental procedures carry a high infection risk for providers and patients due to spread of aerosols. As a consequence, national public health agencies, and dental professional associations have issued guidelines for enhanced infection control, personal protection equipment and limiting care to urgent or emergency services. However, there is no dental service concept for disaster preparedness or response that might be applied. Similarly, pathways to care provision in a post-pandemic future are missing. We propose Safe Aerosol-free, Emergent Dentistry (SAFE Dentistry) as one approach to dental services during and emerging from pandemics. The concept’s starting point is the identification of the most common patient needs. The next step is to replace common treatments relating to the most common needs with alternative interventions with less infection risk because they do not generate aerosols. SAFE Dentistry is innovative, safe, and responds to the requirements of a pandemic and post-pandemic emergence where the risk of disease transmission remains high. SAFE Dentistry thereby ensures continuity of dental services while protecting providers and patients from infectious pathogens. Moreover, SAFE Dentistry allows dental service providers to remain operational and generate income even under pandemic conditions. Implementation and policy options for SAFE Dentistry include universal availability without co-payments by patients and a uniform bundled payment scheme for providers to simplify budgeting, reimbursement and to provide easier administration during a pandemic. Adaptations and adjustments of the concept are possible and encouraged, as long as the principle of avoiding aerosol-generation is maintained.

The Advanced Meteorological Image (AMI) onboard GEOKOMPSAT 2A (GK-2A) enables the retrieval of dust aerosol optical depth (DAOD) from geostationary satellites using infrared (IR) channels. IR observations allow the retrieval of DAOD and the dust layer altitude (24 hour) over surface properties, particularly over deserts. In this study, dust events in northeast Asia from 2020 to 2021 were investigated using five GK-2A thermal IR bands (8.7, 10.5, 11.4, 12.3, and 13.3 μm). For the dust cloud, the observed brightness temperature differences (BTDs) of 10.5 and 12.3 μm were found to be always negative, while the BTD of 8.7 and 10.5 μm varies relying on the dust intensity. Making the best use of optical properties, a physical approach for DAOD lookup tables (LUTs) was developed using IR channels to retrieve the DAOD. This study simulated the characteristics of thermal radiation transfer using the forward model and dust aerosols can explain by BTD (10.5, 12.3 μm), which is an intrinsic characteristic of dust aerosol. The DAOD and property of dust can be gained from the brightness temperature (BT) of 10.5 μm and the BTD of 10.5, 12.3 μm. Additionally, the cumulative distribution function (CDF) was employed to strengthen the continuity of 24-hour DAOD, which was applied to the algorithm by calculating the conversion value coefficient for the DAOD error correction of the IR with daytime visible aerosol optical depth (VAOD) as the true value. The results show that DAOD product can be successfully used during both daytime and nighttime to continuously monitor the flow of yellow dust from the GK-2A satellite in northeast Asia. In particular, the validation result of IR DAOD was similar to that of the active satellite product (CALIPSO/CALIOP), which showed a tendency similar to that for IR DAOD at night.

Covid-19 is a new coronavirus disease first described in December 2019. This respiratory illness is severe and potentially fatal. Severe cases make up to 15%, lethality ranges between 1.5 and more than 10 %. What is urgently needed is an efficient pharmacological treatment for the treatment of severe cases. During the infection of alveolar epithelial cells of the lung, the ACE2 receptor has a central function. The antimalarial drugs chloroquine phosphate (CQ) and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) impair in vitro the terminal glycosylation of ACE2 without significant change of cell-surface ACE2 and, therefore, might be potent inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Starting inhibition at 0.1 µM, CQ completely prevented in vitro infections at 10 µM, suggesting a prophylactic effect and preventing the virus spread 5 hours after infection. In a first clinical trial, CQ was effective in inhibiting exacerbation of pneumonia, improving lung imaging findings, promotion of virus-negative conversion, and shortening the disease. In addition, HCQ, which is three times more potent than CQ in SARS-CoV-2 infected cells (EC50 0.72 µM), was significantly associated with viral load reduction/disappearance in COVID-19 patients compared to controls. Theoretically, CQ and HCQ could thus be effectively used in the treatment of SARS-CoV pneumonia. From a pharmacological standpoint, however, the major problems of oral treatment with these drugs are possible severe side effects and toxicity. Concretely, this relates to (a) the inconsistent individual bioavailability of these drugs at the alveolar target cells, depending on intestinal resorption, hepatic first-pass metabolism and accumulation in liver, spleen and lung, and (b) the need for a relatively high concentration of 1-5 µM at the alveolar surface. Therefore, we propose in a first dose estimation the use of HCQ as an aerosol in a dosage of 2-4 mg per inhalation in order to reach sufficient therapeutic levels at the alveolar epithelial cells. By using a low-dose non-systemic aerosol, adverse drug reactions will markedly be reduced compared with oral application. This increase in tolerability enables a broader use for prevention and after contact with an infected person, which would be an advantage especially for the high-risk, often multi-morbid and elderly patients. Empirical data on self-medication with a one-week aerosol application by two of the authors is presented. Inhalation was well tolerated without relevant side effects.

Cardiac complications of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection have been well-identified since the beginning of the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Such conditions can occur of various etiologies, such as respiratory failure and hypoxemia, direct cardiac tissue damage due to viral replication, indirect myocarditis as systemic inflammation, and the interaction of different medications. Recently, with the start of the COVID-19 vaccination programs, COVID-19 vaccine-associated cardiac adverse events (AEs) have emerged and are increasingly being reported. Although these AEs are usually mild and self-limited, they can sometimes cause severe, catastrophic outcomes. This review compares the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of the de novo SARS-CoV-2 infection-related and COVID-19 vaccine-related myocarditis and pericarditis.

The planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) is one of the key factors in influencing the dispersion of the air pollutants in the troposphere and hence the air pollutant concentration on ground level. For this reason, accurate air pollutant concentration depends on the performance of PBLH prediction. Recently, ceilometer, a lidar instrument to measure cloud base height, has been used by atmospheric scientists and air pollution control authorities to determine the mixing level height (MLH) in improving forecasting and understanding the evolution of aerosol layers above ground at a site. In this study, ceilometer data at an urban (Lidcombe) and a rural (Merriwa) location in the New South Wales, Australia was used to validate the PBLH prediction from two air quality models (CCAM-CTM and WRF-CMAQ) as well as to understand the aerosol transport from sources to receptor point at Merriwa for the three case studies where high PM10 concentration was detected in each of the three days. The results show that the PBLH prediction by the two air quality models corresponds reasonably well with observed ceilometer data and the cause and source of high PM10 concentration at Merriwa can be found by using ceilometer MLH data to corroborate with back trajectory analysis of transport of aerosols to the receptor point at Merriwa. Of the three case studies, one had aerosol source from north and north west of Merriwa in remote NSW where windblown dust is the main source, and the other two had sources from south and south east of Merriwa where anthropogenic sources dominate,

The worldwide competition to vaccinate against COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of immunization measures in containing the virus. Saudi Arabia, like the rest of the globe, must assess socio-demographic subtleties, chronic illnesses, vaccination effects, and public health policy implications as it navigates this complicated environment. This cross-sectional study examined Saudi COVID-19 vaccine in many ways. It examined the socio-demographic makeup of vaccine recipients, the prevalence of chronic conditions in this population, vaccine administration patterns, post-vaccination side effects, and vaccine-infection rates. A questionnaire-based online survey of 401 participants ensured gender, nationality, age, weight, and educational diversity. We analyzed vaccine manufacturer choice for each dosage, side effects after the first and second doses, and chronic diseases in the sample. Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines are preferred for all three doses, reflecting worldwide vaccination acceptance patterns. Side effects were not significantly different between vaccination kinds. Interestingly, immunization reduced infection rates, demonstrating the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. The data fills important information gaps and illuminates Saudi COVID-19 vaccination kinetics. These data support the global preference for mRNA vaccines, demonstrating the faith in this breakthrough technology. They also sponsor COVID-19 vaccine safety and effectiveness studies. The dramatic drop in infection rates among vaccinated people shows how vaccinations suppress the pandemic. These findings inform Saudi Arabia's immunization efforts. As booster doses become more common, long-term vaccination research is crucial. Vaccine reluctance, especially in certain demographics, must be addressed. Due to vaccines' protective potential, equitable vaccine distribution and large immunization programs are essential for herd immunity and pandemic management. This thorough cross-sectional study helps policymakers and healthcare practitioners build successful and inclusive COVID-19 immunization regimens in Saudi Arabia.

Background: Paracetamol may be use as antipyretic agent for the treatment of fever, as well as an analgesic in the treatment of mild to moderate pain on post vaccination in infants. The use of Paracetamol during fever may be or may not be recommended since it may alter natural human body immune response although it may reduce pain. Objectives: This study described the relevancy of Paracetamol use post infants vaccination based on data collection systematic review analyses. This study aims to describe the effectiveness of breastfeeding in reducing pain and Paracetamol in reducing fever and pain post infants vaccination. Data Sources and Study Selection: Electronic literature search by hand searching six (6) databases which include Ovid LWW Total Access Collection and Medline, CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Alled Health Literature) Plus with Fulltext, Science Direct, Proquest Dissertations and Theses, Proquest Education Journal and Proquest Health and Medical Complete. Additionally, manual reference checks of all articles on Paracetamol and breastfeeding post infants vaccination published in English Language between 1978 and 2017. Two level of screening were used on 9614 citations which include screening of abstracts and titles followed by full text screening. Data Synthesis: Data synthesis were tabulated into study characteristics, quality and effects. Authors of trials were not contacted for further details or provision of original data if the published report contained insufficient information. The study findings, as reported by the authors, were included in this review. The data in this research cannot be pool due to not enough data regarding odd ratio or relative risk as well as confidence interval in each study. Results: Systematic review of breastfeeding included three (3) studies from 9614 of database searching. The reviews of all these three (3) studies found significant benefit from breastfed in pain score and duration of crying as well as behavioral changes. None study stated the unbeneficial of breastfeeding before, during and after immunization. Meanwhile, systematic review of Paracetamol effectiveness included four (4) studies from 1177 of database searching. The reviews of two (2) studies found significant benefit from prophylaxis Paracetamol in fever and only one (1) study found significant benefit from prophylaxis Paracetamol in fussiness. On the other hand, there was one (1) study found not signifiant benefit from prophylaxis Paracetamol in fever. Other than that, there were two (2) studies evaluate the safety of prophylactic Paracetamol which revealed different outcomes, in which study by Prymula et. al. in 2009 found that antibody responses to several antigens were reduced significantly, and the other study by Uhari et. al. in 1988 found that antibody titres to DTP bacteria of placebo and PCM not differ significantly. Thus, Paracetamol seems to be not relevant post infants vaccination and breastfeeding was found to be beneficial post infants vaccination. Conclusions: The relevancy of giving Paracetamol post all types of vaccination may be questionable since the safety issue of this intervention may be arised. Breastfeeding before, during and after immunization are recommended for pain reduction as it was proved effectively. Finally, in deciding Paracetamol to be of rational use following infants immunization, it may need for further research which include in depth quantitative and qualitative studies to identify specific problem and causes regarding this issue.

Laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy (LIFS) is actively used for remote sensing of atmospheric aerosols and currently is one of the most sensitive and selective techniques for determining small concentrations of substances inside particles. The use of high-power femtosecond laser sources for LIFS-based remote sensing of aerosol contributes to the development of new-generation fluorescence atmospheric lidars since it makes it possible overcoming the energy threshold for the nonlinear-optical effects of multiphoton absorption in particles and receiving the emission signal at long distances in the atmosphere. Our study is aimed to the development and experimental demonstration the technique of nonlinear laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy (NLIFS) based on the remote excitation of aerosol fluorescent emission stimulated by a spatially-structured high-power femtosecond laser pulse. Importantly, for the first time to our knowledge, we demonstrate the advances of using stochastically-structured plasma-free intense light channels (postfilaments) specially formed by propagation of femtosecond laser radiation through a turbulent air layer for improving NLIFS efficiency. A multiple increase in the received signal of two-photon-excited fluorescence of polydisperse dyed aqueous aerosol by the structured postfilaments is reported.

We develop a machine learning (ML) approach for improving the accuracy of the horizontal dis-tribution of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) simulated by the CHIMERE chemistry-transport model over Northern Africa using Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) AOD satellite observations. These observations are used during the training phase of the ML method for deriving a regional bias correction of AODs simulated by CHIMERE. The results are daily maps of regional bias corrected AODs with full horizontal coverage over Northern Africa. We test four types of ML models: multiple linear regression (MLR), random forests (RF), gradi-ent boosting (XGB), and multiple layer perceptron networks (NN). We perform comparisons with satellite and independent ground-based observations of AOD that are not used in the training phase. They suggest that all models have overall comparable performances with a slight advantage of the RF model which expresses less spatial artifacts. While the method slightly underestimates the very high AODs, it significantly reduces biases and absolute errors, and clearly enhances linear correlations with respect to independent observations. This im-provement for deriving the AOD is particularly relevant for high dust pollution regions like the Sahara Desert, which dramatically lack ground-based measurements for validations of chemis-try-transport modeling which currently remains challenging and imprecise.

The air quality monitoring network in Alaska is currently limited to ground-based observations in urban areas and national parks leaving a large proportion of the state unmonitored. The use of MODIS aerosol optical depth (AOD) to estimate ground-level particulate pollution concentrations has been successfully demonstrated around the world, and could potentially be used in Alaska. In this work, MODIS AOD measurements at 550 nm were validated against AOD derived from AERONET ground-based sunphotometers in Barrow and Bonanza Creek to determine if MODIS AOD from the Terra and Aqua satellites could be used to estimate ground-level particulate pollution concentrations. The MODIS AOD was obtained from MODIS collection 6 using the dark target Land and Ocean algorithms from 2000 to 2014. MODIS data could only be obtained between the months of April and October; therefore, it could only be validated for those months. Individual and combined Terra and Aqua MODIS data were considered. The results showed that MODIS collection 6 products at 10 km resolution for Terra and Aqua combined are not valid over land but are valid over the ocean. On the other hand, the individual Terra and Aqua MODIS collection 6 AOD products at 10 km resolution are valid over land individually but not when combined. Results also suggest the MODIS collection 6 AOD products at 3 km resolution are valid over land and ocean and perform better over land than the 10-km product. These findings indicate that MODIS collection 6 AOD products can be used quantitatively in air quality applications in Alaska during the summer months.

Objective: Spontaneous infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) after mRNA vaccination causes a marked increase in antibody titer because of the combined effect of vaccine and infection (“hybrid immunity”). In this study, we discuss the significance of the mRNA vaccine booster inoculation that has been repeatedly performed in Japan.Methods: We describe the temporal trends of antibody titers in cases in which antibody titers were markedly increased by hybrid immunization.Results: The antibody titer increased with hybrid immunization and tended to decrease with time. However, several cases maintained high antibody titers for approximately one year after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 diagnosis), even without booster vaccination.Conclusions: Most Japanese patients naturally infected with COVID-19 were infected after mRNA vaccination, and many maintained high antibody titers due to hybrid immunity. The significance of additional vaccination in hybrid-immunized cases is highly questionable regarding cost-effectiveness and risk-benefit.