Notes

Would double lockdown approach backfire? Cobra effect on containment method of COVID-19.
ns. Cedar virus (CedV), a nonpathogenic henipavirus, may be a useful tool to gain knowledge on henipaviral pathogenicity. Here, using homotypic and heterotypic full-length and headless CedV, NiV, and HeV G/F combinations, we discovered that CedV G/F are significantly less fusogenic than NiV or HeV G/F, and that the G head/stalk junction is key to modulating cell-cell fusion, refining the mechanism of henipaviral membrane fusion events. Our study exemplifies how CedV may be a useful tool to elucidate broader mechanistic understanding for the important henipaviruses.
Since the dawn of cities, the built environment has both affected infectious disease transmission and evolved in response to infectious diseases. COVID-19 illustrates both dynamics. The pandemic presented an opportunity to implement health promotion and disease prevention strategies in numerous elements of the built environment.

This commentary aims to identify features of the built environment that affect the risk of COVID-19 as well as to identify elements of the pandemic response with implications for the built environment (and, therefore, for long-term public health).

Built environment risk factors for COVID-19 transmission include crowding, poverty, and racism (as they manifest in housing and neighborhood features), poor indoor air circulation, and ambient air pollution. Potential long-term implications of COVID-19 for the built environment include changes in building design, increased teleworking, reconfigured streets, changing modes of travel, provision of parks and greenspace, and population shi decision makers, as well as members of the public, optimize healthy built environments during and after recovery from the pandemic. https//doi.org/10.1289/EHP8888.
Thousands of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) with diverse structures have been detected in the ambient environment. Apart from a few well-studied PFAS, the structure-related toxicokinetics of a broader set of PFAS remain unclear.

To understand the toxicokinetics of PFAS, we attempted to characterize the metabolism pathways of 74 structurally diverse PFAS samples from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's PFAS screening library.

Using the early life stages of zebrafish (
) as a model, we determined the bioconcentration factors and phenotypic toxicities of 74 PFAS. Then, we applied high-resolution mass spectrometry-based nontargeted analysis to identify metabolites of PFAS in zebrafish larvae after 5 d of exposure by incorporating retention time and mass spectra.
enzymatic activity experiments with human recombinant liver carboxylesterase (
CES1) were employed to validate the structure-related hydrolysis of 11 selected PFAS.

Our findings identified five structural categories of PFASr PFAS. https//doi.org/10.1289/EHP7169.While the incidence of COVID-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) in COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU in Europe is widely published (incidence up to 30%) (1), data on CAPA from the United States is lacking or has not been well described (2, 3).….Background. The increased transmission of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) which originated in the United Kingdom (B.1.1.7/alpha), South Africa (B1.351/Beta), Brazil (P.1/Gamma), in the United States (B.1.427/429 or Epsilon) and in India (B.1.617.2/Delta) requires a vigorous public health response, including real time strain surveillance on a global scale. Nanvuranlat molecular weight Although genome sequencing is the gold standard for identifying these VOCs, it is time consuming and expensive. Here, we describe a simple, rapid and high-throughput reverse-transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) melting temperature (Tm) screening assay that identifies the first three major VOCs. Methods. RT-PCR primers and four sloppy molecular beacon (SMB) probes were designed to amplify and detect the SARS-CoV-2 N501Y (A23063T) and E484K (G23012A) mutations and their corresponding wild type sequences. After RT-PCR, the VOCs were identified by a characteristic Tm of each SMB. Assay optimization and testing was performed with RNA from SARS-CoV-2 USA WA1/2020 (WT), B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variant strains. The assay was then validated using clinical samples. Results. The limit of detection (LOD) for both the WT and variants was 4 and 10 genomic copies/reaction for the 501 and 484 codon assays, respectively. The assay was 100% sensitive and 100% specific for identifying the N501Y and E484K mutations in cultured virus and in clinical samples as confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Conclusion. We have developed an RT-PCR melt screening test for the major VOCs which can be used to rapidly screen large numbers of patient samples providing an early warning for the emergence of these variants and a simple way to track their spread.Frequent screening of SARS-CoV-2 among asymptomatic populations using antigen-based point of care tests (APOCT) is occurring globally with limited clinical performance data. The positive predictive value (PPV) of two APOCT used in the asymptomatic screening of SARS-CoV-2 among healthcare workers (HCW) at continuing care (CC) sites across Alberta, Canada was evaluated. Between February 22 and May 2, 2021, CC sites implemented SARS-CoV-2 voluntary screening of their asymptomatic HCW. Onsite testing with Abbott Panbio or BD Veritor occurred on a weekly or twice weekly basis. Positive APOCT were confirmed with a real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) reference method. A total of 71,847 APOCT (17,689 Veritor and 54,158 Panbio) were performed among 369 CC sites. Eighty-seven (0.12%) APOCT were positive, of which 39 (0.05%) confirmed as true positives using rRT-PCR. Use of the Veritor and Panbio resulted in a 76.6% and 30.0% false positive detection, respectively (p less then 0.001). This corresponded to a 23.4% and 70.0% PPV for the Veritor and Panbio, respectively. Frequent screening of SARS-CoV-2 among asymptomatic HCW in CC, using APOCT, resulted in a very low detection rate and a high detection of false positives. Careful assessment between the risks vs benefits of APOCT programs and prevalence of infection in this population needs to be thoroughly considered before implementation.
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