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Aebi N, Meier CR, Jick SS, Lang U, Spoendlin J. The risk of acute infections in new users of antidepressants: An observational cohort study. J Affect Disord 2024; 354:152-159. [PMID: 38479501 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.03.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2023] [Revised: 01/13/2024] [Accepted: 03/03/2024] [Indexed: 03/19/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Preclinical studies suggested that drugs that functionally inhibit acid sphingomyelinase (FIASMA)may enhance immune cell longevity and potentially offer protection against infections. Many antidepressants have shown FIASMA activity. METHODS We conducted a cohort study using primary-care data from the UK-based Clinical Practice Research Datalink (2000-2021). We assessed the association of composite diagnosed acute infections in new users of fluoxetine, sertraline, paroxetine, or venlafaxine aged 18-80 years compared to citalopram. We compared SARS-CoV-2 infections between groups in a secondary analysis. We estimated incidence rates (IR) and IR ratios (IRR) of acute infections in four pairwise comparisons using negative binomial regression. We applied propensity score (PS) fine stratification to control for confounding. RESULTS In the PS-weighted cohorts, we included 353,138 fluoxetine, 222,463 sertraline, 69,963 paroxetine, 32,608 venlafaxine, and between 515,996 and 516,583 new citalopram users. PS-weighted IRs ranged between 76.8 acute infections /1000 person-years (py) (sertraline) and 98.9 infections/1000 py (citalopram). We observed PS-weighted IRRs around unity for paroxetine (0.97, 95 % CI, 0.95-1.00), fluoxetine (0.94, 95 % CI, 0.92-0.95), and venlafaxine (0.90, 95 % CI, 0.87-0.94) vs citalopram. Reduced IRR for sertraline vs citalopram (0.84, 95 % CI, 0.82-0.85), became null within subgroups by cohort entry date. In the analysis of SARS-CoV-2 infection, no statistically relevant risk reduction was seen. LIMITATIONS Analysis not limited to patients with diagnosed depression, possible underestimation of infection incidence, and unclear FIASMA activity of citalopram. CONCLUSIONS Fluoxetine, sertraline, paroxetine, and venlafaxine were not associated with a reduced risk of acute infection when compared with the presumably weak FIASMA citalopram.
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Affiliation(s)
- N Aebi
- Basel Pharmacoepidemiology Unit, Division of Clinical Pharmacy and Epidemiology, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Hospital Pharmacy, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland; University Psychiatric Clinics Basel, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
| | - C R Meier
- Basel Pharmacoepidemiology Unit, Division of Clinical Pharmacy and Epidemiology, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Hospital Pharmacy, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, Lexington, MA, USA.
| | - S S Jick
- Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, Lexington, MA, USA; Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - U Lang
- University Psychiatric Clinics Basel, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - J Spoendlin
- Basel Pharmacoepidemiology Unit, Division of Clinical Pharmacy and Epidemiology, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Hospital Pharmacy, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
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Aganovic A, Kurnitski J, Wargocki P. A quanta-independent approach for the assessment of strategies to reduce the risk of airborne infection. Sci Total Environ 2024; 927:172278. [PMID: 38583631 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2024] [Revised: 04/02/2024] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 04/09/2024]
Abstract
The Wells-Riley model is extensively used for retrospective and prospective modelling of the risk of airborne transmission of infection in indoor spaces. It is also used when examining the efficacy of various removal and deactivation methods for airborne infectious aerosols in the indoor environment, which is crucial when selecting the most effective infection control technologies. The problem is that the large variation in viral load between individuals makes the Wells-Riley model output very sensitive to the input parameters and may yield a flawed prediction of risk. The absolute infection risk estimated with this model can range from nearly 0 % to 100 % depending on the viral load, even when all other factors, such as removal mechanisms and room geometry, remain unchanged. We therefore propose a novel method that removes this sensitivity to viral load. We define a quanta-independent maximum absolute before-after difference in infection risk that is independent of quanta factors like viral load, physical activity, or the dose-response relationships. The input data needed for a non-steady-state calculation are just the removal rates, room volume, and occupancy duration. Under steady-state conditions the approach provides an elegant solution that is only dependent on removal mechanisms before and after applying infection control measures. We applied this method to compare the impact of relative humidity, ventilation rate and its effectiveness, filtering efficiency, and the use of ultraviolet germicidal irradiation on the infection risk. The results demonstrate that the method provides a comprehensive understanding of the impact of infection control strategies on the risk of airborne infection, enabling rational decisions to be made regarding the most effective strategies in a specific context. The proposed method thus provides a practical tool for mitigation of airborne infection risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amar Aganovic
- Department of Automation and Process Engineering, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
| | - Jarek Kurnitski
- Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia; Department of Civil Engineering, Aalto university, Espoo, Finland
| | - Pawel Wargocki
- Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Wang L, Jia Q, Zhu G, Ou G, Tang T. Transmission dynamics of Zika virus with multiple infection routes and a case study in Brazil. Sci Rep 2024; 14:7424. [PMID: 38548897 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-58025-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2023] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024] Open
Abstract
The Zika virus (ZIKV) is a serious global public health crisis. A major control challenge is its multiple transmission modes. This paper aims to simulate the transmission patterns of ZIKV using a dynamic process-based epidemiological model written in ordinary differential equations, which incorporates the human-to-mosquito infection by bites and sewage, mosquito-to-human infection by bites, and human-to-human infection by sex. Mathematical analyses are carried out to calculate the basic reproduction number and backward bifurcation, and prove the existence and stability of the equilibria. The model is validated with infection data by applying it to the 2015-2016 ZIKV epidemic in Brazil. The results indicate that the reproduction number is estimated to be 2.13, in which the contributions by mosquito bite, sex and sewage account for 85.7%, 3.5% and 10.8%, respectively. This number and the morbidity rate are most sensitive to parameters related to mosquito ecology, rather than asymptomatic or human-to-human transmission. Multiple transmission routes and suitable temperature exacerbate ZIKV infection in Brazil, and the vast majority of human infection cases were prevented by the intervention implemented. These findings may provide new insights to improve the risk assessment of ZIKV infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liying Wang
- Key Laboratory of Cognitive Radio and Information Processing, Ministry of Education (Guilin University of Electronic Technology), Guilin, 541004, China
- School of Mathematics and Computing Science, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, 541004, China
| | - Qiaojuan Jia
- School of Mathematics and Computing Science, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, 541004, China
| | - Guanghu Zhu
- Key Laboratory of Cognitive Radio and Information Processing, Ministry of Education (Guilin University of Electronic Technology), Guilin, 541004, China
- School of Mathematics and Computing Science, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, 541004, China
| | - Guanlin Ou
- Key Laboratory of Cognitive Radio and Information Processing, Ministry of Education (Guilin University of Electronic Technology), Guilin, 541004, China
| | - Tian Tang
- Key Laboratory of Cognitive Radio and Information Processing, Ministry of Education (Guilin University of Electronic Technology), Guilin, 541004, China.
- School of Information and Communication, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, 541004, China.
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Zhang N, Yang X, Su B, Dou Z. Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in a university classroom based on real human close contact behaviors. Sci Total Environ 2024; 917:170346. [PMID: 38281642 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2023] [Revised: 12/29/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2024] [Indexed: 01/30/2024]
Abstract
Due to high-population density, frequent close contact, possible poor ventilation, university classrooms are vulnerable for transmission of respiratory infectious diseases. Close contact and long-range airborne are possibly main routes for SARS-CoV-2 transmission. In this study, taking a university classroom in Beijing for example, close contact behaviors of students were collected through a depth-detection device, which could detect depth to each pixel of the image, based on semi-supervised learning. Finally, >23 h of video data were obtained. Using Computational Fluid Dynamics, the relationship between viral exposure and close contact behaviors (e.g. interpersonal distance, relative facial orientations, and relative positions) was established. A multi-route transmission model (short-range airborne, mucous deposition, and long-range airborne) of infectious diseases considering real close contact behaviors was developed. In the case of Omicron, the risk of infection in university classrooms and the efficacy of different interventions were assessed based on dose-response model. The average interpersonal distance in university classrooms is 0.9 m (95 % CI, 0.5 m-1.4 m), with the highest proportion of face-to-back contact at 87.0 %. The risk of infection of susceptible students per 45-min lesson was 1 %. The relative contributions of short-range airborne and long-range airborne transmission were 40.5 % and 59.5 %, respectively, and the mucous deposition was basically negligible. When all students are wearing N95 respirators, the infection risk could be reduced by 96 %, the relative contribution of long-range airborne transmission increases to 95.6 %. When the fresh air per capita in the classroom is 24 m3/h/person, the virus exposure could be decreased by 81.1 % compared to the real situation with 1.02 m3/h/person. In a classroom with an occupancy rate of 50 %, after optimized arrangement of student distribution, the infection risk could be decreased by 62 %.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nan Zhang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Built Environment and Energy Efficient Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Xueze Yang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Built Environment and Energy Efficient Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Boni Su
- China Electric Power Planning & Engineering Institute, Beijing, China
| | - Zhiyang Dou
- Department of Computer Science, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
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Stefanski AL, Dörner T, Kneitz C. [Influence of underlying disease and immunosuppression on the immunocompetence in inflammatory rheumatic diseases]. Z Rheumatol 2024; 83:87-97. [PMID: 37644129 DOI: 10.1007/s00393-023-01408-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/04/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023]
Abstract
Patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases have a higher risk of infections in comparison to the general population. For this patient group, in addition to cardiovascular diseases, infections play an important role with respect to morbidity and mortality. Even if it is difficult to make concrete statements with respect to individual diseases, it can be assumed that there is a lower risk of infections in inflammatory joint diseases in comparison to connective tissue diseases and vasculitides. The increased risk of infections is determined by multiple factors, whereby the underlying factors are classified into three main categories: patient-related factors (age, comorbidities, lifestyle), disease-related factors (immunological dysfunction as part of the disease pathophysiology) and drug-related factors (type and dosage of the immunosuppression and/or immunomodulation). An improved understanding of the complexity of these associations enables the optimization of treatment and disease control taking the individual risk factors into account, with the aim of a significant reduction in the risk of infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- A-L Stefanski
- Medizinische Klinik mit Schwerpunkt Rheumatologie und Klinische Immunologie, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Deutschland.
- Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum Berlin, Berlin, Deutschland.
| | - T Dörner
- Medizinische Klinik mit Schwerpunkt Rheumatologie und Klinische Immunologie, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Deutschland
- Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum Berlin, Berlin, Deutschland
| | - C Kneitz
- Rheumatologische Schwerpunktpraxis Schwerin, Schwerin, Deutschland
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Abdrabo KI, Mabrouk M, Han H, Saber M, Kantoush SA, Sumi T. Mapping COVID-19's potential infection risk based on land use characteristics: A case study of commercial activities in two Egyptian cities. Heliyon 2024; 10:e24702. [PMID: 38312664 PMCID: PMC10834811 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2023] [Revised: 01/07/2024] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/06/2024] Open
Abstract
The contagious COVID-19 has recently emerged and evolved into a world-threatening pandemic outbreak. After pursuing rigorous prophylactic measures two years ago, most activities globally reopened despite the emergence of lethal genetic strains. In this context, assessing and mapping activity characteristics-based hot spot regions facilitating infectious transmission is essential. Hence, our research question is: How can the potential hotspots of COVID-19 risk be defined intra-cities based on the spatial planning of commercial activity in particular? In our research, Zayed and October cities, Egypt, characterized by various commercial activities, were selected as testbeds. First, we analyzed each activity's spatial and morphological characteristics and potential infection risk based on the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) criteria and the Kriging Interpolation method. Then, using Google Mobility, previous reports, and semi-structured interviews, points of interest and population flow were defined and combined with the last step as interrelated horizontal layers for determining hotspots. A validation study compared the generated activity risk map, spatial COVID-19 cases, and land use distribution using logistic regression (LR) and Pearson coefficients (rxy). Through visual analytics, our findings indicate the central areas of both cities, including incompatible and concentrated commercial activities, have high-risk peaks (LR = 0.903, rxy = 0.78) despite the medium urban density of districts, indicating that urban density alone is insufficient for public health risk reduction. Health perspective-based spatial configuration of activities is advised as a risk assessment tool along with urban density for appropriate decision-making in shaping pandemic-resilient cities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karim I. Abdrabo
- Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
- Faculty of Urban and Regional Planning, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
| | - Mahmoud Mabrouk
- College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Faculty of Urban and Regional Planning, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
| | - Haoying Han
- College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Faculty of Innovation and Design, City University of Macau, Macau
| | - Mohamed Saber
- Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Sameh A. Kantoush
- Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Tetsuya Sumi
- Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
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Alharbi SF, Althbah AI, Mohammed AH, Alrasheed MA, Ismail M, Allemailem KS, Alnuqaydan AM, Baabdullah AM, Alkhalifah A. Microbial and heavy metal contamination in herbal medicine: a prospective study in the central region of Saudi Arabia. BMC Complement Med Ther 2024; 24:2. [PMID: 38166914 PMCID: PMC10759756 DOI: 10.1186/s12906-023-04307-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Herbal medicine is a medical system based on the utilization of plants or plant extracts for therapy. The continual increase in global consumption and the trade of herbal medicine has raised safety concerns in many regions. These concerns are mainly linked to microbial contamination, which could spread infections with multi-resistant bacteria in the community, and heavy metal contamination that may lead to cancers or internal organs' toxicity. METHODS This study was performed using an experimental design. A total of 47 samples, herbal medicine products sold in local stores in Qassim region, were used in the experiments. They were tested for bacterial contamination, alongside 32 samples for heavy metal analysis. Bacterial contamination was determined by the streak plate method and further processed to determine their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns using MicroScan WalkAway96 pulse; heavy metals were determined using a spectrometer instrument. RESULTS A total of 58 microorganisms were isolated. All samples were found to be contaminated with at least one organism except three samples. The majority of the isolated bacterial species were gram negative bacteria, such as Klebsiella spp., Pseudomonas spp. and E. coli., which could be of fecal origin and may lead to pneumonia, skin, or internal infections. Furthermore, most of the gram-positive bacteria were found to be multi-drug resistant. Moreover, for heavy metals, all samples had levels exceeding the regulatory limits. CONCLUSION This study demonstrated the presence of bacteria and heavy metals in samples of herbal medicines. Using these contaminated products may spread resistant infections, metal toxicities, or even cancers in the community.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah F Alharbi
- Department of Medical Laboratories, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, 51452, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Ameerah I Althbah
- Department of Medical Laboratories, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, 51452, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Amal H Mohammed
- Department of Medical Laboratories, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, 51452, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Mishaal A Alrasheed
- Department of Laboratory and Blood Bank, King Fahd Specialist Hospital, 52211, Buraydah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
| | - Mukhtar Ismail
- Department of Chemistry, College of Science and Arts, Qassim University, Al-Rass, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
| | - Khaled S Allemailem
- Department of Medical Laboratories, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, 51452, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Abdullah M Alnuqaydan
- Department of Medical Biotechnology, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia
| | | | - Azzam Alkhalifah
- Department of Medicine, Unaizah College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Unaizah, Saudi Arabia.
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Bjorvatn B, Rørtveit G, Rebnord I, Waage S, Emberland KE, Forthun I. Self-reported short and long sleep duration, sleep debt and insomnia are associated with several types of infections: Results from the Norwegian practice-based research network in general practice - PraksisNett. Sleep Med X 2023; 5:100074. [PMID: 37223609 PMCID: PMC10200965 DOI: 10.1016/j.sleepx.2023.100074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Revised: 04/26/2023] [Accepted: 05/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Objective The objective was to assess the association between self-reported infections and sleep duration, sleep debt, chronic insomnia, and insomnia severity. Methods In total, 1023 participants were recruited from the Norwegian practice-based research network in general practice to a cross-sectional online survey with validated questions about sleep habits and insomnia symptoms (Bergen Insomnia Scale (BIS) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI)), and whether they had experienced various infections during the last three months. Data were analyzed with chi-square tests and logistic regressions with adjustment for relevant confounders. Results Self-reported short sleep duration (<6 h) was significantly associated with increased odds of throat infection (OR = 1.60), ear infection (OR = 2.92), influenzalike illness (OR = 1.81) and gastrointestinal infection (OR = 1.91) whereas long sleep duration (>9 h) was associated with increased odds of throat (OR = 3.33) and ear infections (OR = 5.82), compared to sleep duration of 6-9 h, respectively. Sleep debt of >2 h was associated with increased odds of the common cold (OR = 1.67), throat infection (OR = 2.58), ear infection (OR = 2.84), sinusitis (OR = 2.15), pneumonia/bronchitis (OR = 3.97), influenzalike illness (OR = 2.66), skin infection (OR = 2.15), and gastrointestinal infection (OR = 2.80), compared to no sleep debt. Insomnia (based on BIS and ISI) was associated with throat infection (OR = 2.06, 2.55), ear infection (OR = 2.43, 2.45), sinusitis (OR = 1.82, 1.80), pneumonia/bronchitis (OR = 2.23, 3.59), influenzalike illness (OR = 1.77, 1.90), skin infection (OR = 1.64, 2.06), gastrointestinal infection (OR = 1.94, 3.23), and eye infection (OR = 1.99, 2.95). Conclusions These novel findings support the notion that people who have insufficient sleep or sleep problems are at increased risk of infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bjørn Bjorvatn
- Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Norwegian Competence Center for Sleep Disorders, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
| | - Guri Rørtveit
- Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Ingrid Rebnord
- Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Siri Waage
- Norwegian Competence Center for Sleep Disorders, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
- Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Knut Erik Emberland
- Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Ingeborg Forthun
- Department of Disease Burden, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Bergen, Norway
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Ramalho JP, Simões DG, Aguiar P. Impact of sociodemographic and economic determinants of health on COVID-19 infection: incidence variation between reference periods. Public Health 2023; 225:305-310. [PMID: 37963420 DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2023.10.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2023] [Revised: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The COVID-19 pandemic hit Portugal in March 2020, causing widespread disruption to various aspects of society. While extensive research has been conducted on the significance of socio-economic disparities in infection risk, this study aims to enhance our understanding of their evolving relationship over time by analysing four distinct periods in 2020. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS This retrospective observational ecological study included individuals residing in the Primary Healthcare Cluster areas of Almada-Seixal and Western Lisbon and Oeiras, who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 through a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test between the 2nd of March and the 8th of November of 2020. Using incidence rates for each specific neighbourhood (n = 29) and period, we explored the relationship between neighbourhood-level socio-economic variables and the risk of infection using negative-binomial regression models. RESULTS In the analysed period, a total of 8562 confirmed COVID-19 cases were identified. Overall incidence rates for each period were sequentially 2.74, 5.03, 3.99 and 14.29 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 person-days. Housing overcrowding, illiteracy rate and place of birth were associated with increased risk of infection, while age, congregate living, and employment in the secondary sector exhibited the opposite association. No association was consistent across all time periods. CONCLUSIONS Our findings support the idea that the influence of socio-economic determinants of health is not immutable throughout time. In a pandemic context where information, knowledge, beliefs, and behaviours are ever-changing and evolving, a dynamic, inclusive, and adaptable approach to disease control can lead to a more equitable distribution of improved outcomes, benefiting all strata of society.
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Affiliation(s)
- J P Ramalho
- Public Health Unit of Primary Healthcare Cluster of Western Lisbon and Oeiras, Regional Health Administration of Lisbon and Tagus Valley, Lisbon, Portugal; National School of Public Health, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal.
| | - D G Simões
- National School of Public Health, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal; Public Health Unit of Primary Healthcare Cluster of Almada-Seixal, Regional Health Administration of Lisbon and Tagus Valley, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - P Aguiar
- National School of Public Health, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal; Public Health Research Centre (CISP/PHRC), NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal; Comprehensive Health Research Centre (CHRC), NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal
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Derx J, Müller-Thomy H, Kılıç HS, Cervero-Arago S, Linke R, Lindner G, Walochnik J, Sommer R, Komma J, Farnleitner AH, Blaschke AP. A probabilistic-deterministic approach for assessing climate change effects on infection risks downstream of sewage emissions from CSOs. Water Res 2023; 247:120746. [PMID: 37984031 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.120746] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2023] [Revised: 10/06/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
The discharge of pathogens into urban recreational water bodies during combined sewer overflows (CSOs) pose a potential threat for public health which may increase in the future due to climate change. Improved methods are needed for predicting the impact of these effects on the microbiological urban river water quality and infection risks during recreational use. The aim of this study was to develop a novel probabilistic-deterministic modelling approach for this purpose building on physically plausible generated future rainfall time series. The approach consists of disaggregation and validation of daily precipitation time series from 21 regional climate models for a reference period (1971-2000, C20), a near-term future period (2021-2050, NTF) and a long-term future period (2071-2100, LTF) into sub-daily scale, and predicting the concentrations of enterococci and Giardia and Cryptosporidium, and infection risks during recreational use in the river downstream of the sewage emissions from CSOs. The approach was tested for an urban river catchment in Austria which is used for recreational activities (i.e. swimming, playing, wading, hand-to-mouth contact). According to a worst-case scenario (i.e. children bathing in the river), the 95th percentile infection risks for Giardia and Cryptosporidium range from 0.08 % in winter to 8 % per person and exposure event in summer for C20. The infection risk increase in the future is up to 0.8 log10 for individual scenarios. The results imply that measures to prevent CSOs may be needed to ensure sustainable water safety. The approach is promising for predicting the effect of climate change on urban water safety requirements and for supporting the selection of sustainable mitigation measures. Future studies should focus on reducing the uncertainty of the predictions at local scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Derx
- Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria
| | - H Müller-Thomy
- Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria; Leichtweiß Institute for Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources, Department of Hydrology and River Basin Management, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Brunswick, Germany.
| | - H S Kılıç
- Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria
| | - S Cervero-Arago
- Institute for Hygiene and Applied Immunology, Unit Water Hygiene, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - R Linke
- Research Group Microbiology and Molecular Diagnostics, Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering, TU Wien, Austria
| | - G Lindner
- Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria; Institute for Hygiene and Applied Immunology, Unit Water Hygiene, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - J Walochnik
- Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Specific Prophylaxis and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
| | - R Sommer
- Institute for Hygiene and Applied Immunology, Unit Water Hygiene, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - J Komma
- Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria
| | - A H Farnleitner
- Research Group Microbiology and Molecular Diagnostics, Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering, TU Wien, Austria; Division Water Quality and Health, Department of Pharmacology, Physiology and Microbiology, Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Krems/Donau, Austria
| | - A P Blaschke
- Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria
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11
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Rutala WA, Weber DJ. Risk of disease transmission to patients from "contaminated" surgical instruments and immediate use steam sterilization. Am J Infect Control 2023; 51:A72-A81. [PMID: 37890956 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2023.01.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2023] [Accepted: 01/31/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND There are several sources of pathogens that cause surgical site infections (SSI) to include the patients endogenous microflora and exogenous sources (e.g., air, surfaces, staff, surgical equipment). METHODS We searched the published English literature (Google, Google Scholar, PubMed) for articles on reprocessing surgical instruments, effectiveness of sterilization methods, microbial load on surgical instruments, frequency of "contaminated" instruments, and the infection risk associated with "contaminated" surgical instruments and immediate use steam sterilization. RESULTS There is substantial redundancy in instrument reprocessing to include: even if a patient was exposed to a "contaminated" instrument, the decontamination and sterilization process would have removed and/or inactivated the contaminating pathogens due to the exceptional effectiveness of the manual and mechanical cleaning (i.e., washer-disinfector) and the remarkable robustness of sterilization technology; and the low-level of microorganisms on surgical instruments after use and before cleaning. CONCLUSIONS A critical review of the literature suggests that the risk of acquiring an SSI from instruments used in surgery is essentially zero if the sterilization cycle is validated.
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Affiliation(s)
- William A Rutala
- Statewide Program for Infection Control and Epidemiology, University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC; Division of Infectious Diseases, UNC School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC.
| | - David J Weber
- Statewide Program for Infection Control and Epidemiology, University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC; Division of Infectious Diseases, UNC School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC; Infection Prevention, University of North Carolina Medical Center, Chapel Hill, NC
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12
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Baloch G, Gzara F, Elhedhli S. Risk-based allocation of COVID-19 personal protective equipment under supply shortages. Eur J Oper Res 2023; 310:1085-1100. [PMID: 37284205 PMCID: PMC10091728 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2023.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2022] [Accepted: 04/01/2023] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 outbreak put healthcare systems across the globe under immense pressure to meet the unprecedented demand for critical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE). The traditional cost-effective supply chain paradigm failed to respond to the increased demand, putting healthcare workers (HCW) at a much higher infection risk relative to the general population. Recognizing PPE shortages and high infection risk for HCWs, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends allocations based on ethical principles. In this paper, we model the infection risk for HCWs as a function of usage and use it as the basis for distribution planning that balances government procurement decisions, hospitals' PPE usage policies, and WHO ethical allocation guidelines. We propose an infection risk model that integrates PPE allocation decisions with disease progression estimates to quantify infection risk among HCWs. The proposed risk function is used to derive closed-form allocation decisions under WHO ethical guidelines in both deterministic and stochastic settings. The modelling is then extended to dynamic distribution planning. Although nonlinear, we reformulate the resulting model to make it solvable using off-the-shelf software. The risk function successfully accounts for virus prevalence in space and in time and leads to allocations that are sensitive to the differences between regions. Comparative analysis shows that the allocation policies lead to significantly different levels of infection risk, especially under high virus prevalence. The best-outcome allocation policy that aims to minimize the total infected cases outperforms other policies under this objective and that of minimizing the maximum number of infections per period.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gohram Baloch
- Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
| | - Fatma Gzara
- Department of Management Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
| | - Samir Elhedhli
- Department of Management Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
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13
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Rutala WA, Weber DJ. Sterilization of 20 billion medical devices by ethylene oxide (ETO): Consequences of ETO closures and alternative sterilization technologies/solutions. Am J Infect Control 2023; 51:A82-A95. [PMID: 37890957 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2023.01.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2023] [Accepted: 01/31/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND To prevent healthcare-associated infections, it is essential that critical medical devices be sterilized before use. Although there are several sterilization technologies for medical devices, only ethylene oxide (ETO) sterilization has virtually universal material compatibility. METHODS We searched the published English literature (Google, Google scholar and PubMed) for articles on the sterilization of medical devices by ethylene oxide, the consequences of ETO closures, and alternative sterilization technologies/solutions. RESULTS ETO's compatibility and effectiveness with medical products allows for sterilization of many medical devices that would otherwise be rendered ineffective or unsafe if sterilized with an alternative method. CONCLUSIONS At present, there are no alternatives to ETO that provide the same sterility assurance and result in the same device performance as ETO; therefore, it is likely irreplaceable for years.
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Affiliation(s)
- William A Rutala
- Statewide Program for Infection Control and Epidemiology, University of North Carolina Hospitals, Chapel Hill, NC; Division of Infectious Diseases, UNC School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC.
| | - David J Weber
- Statewide Program for Infection Control and Epidemiology, University of North Carolina Hospitals, Chapel Hill, NC; Division of Infectious Diseases, UNC School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC; Infection Prevention, University of North Carolina Medical Center, Chapel Hill, NC
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14
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Ren C, Wang J, Feng Z, Kim MK, Haghighat F, Cao SJ. Refined design of ventilation systems to mitigate infection risk in hospital wards: Perspective from ventilation openings setting. Environ Pollut 2023; 333:122025. [PMID: 37336354 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2022] [Revised: 06/09/2023] [Accepted: 06/10/2023] [Indexed: 06/21/2023]
Abstract
To prevent respiratory infections between patients and medical workers, the transmission risk of airborne pollutants in hospital wards must be mitigated. The ventilation modes, which are regarded as an important strategy to minimize the infection risk, are challenging to be systematically designed. Studies have considered the effect of ventilation openings (inlets/outlets) or infected source locations on the airflow distribution, pollutant removal, and infection risk mitigation. However, the relationship (such as relative distance) between ventilation openings and infected sources is critical because it affects the direct exhaust of exhaled pollutants, which has not been thoroughly studied. To explore pollutant removal and infection prevention in wards, different ventilation modes (with varying ventilation openings) and infected patient locations must be jointly considered. This study investigated displacement ventilation (DV), downward ventilation (DWV), and stratum ventilation (SV) with 4, 6, and 10 scenarios of ventilation openings, respectively. The optimal ventilation mode and relative distance between outlets and infected patients were analyzed based on the simulated pollutant concentration fields and the evaluated infection risk. The pollutant removal effect and infection risk mitigation of SV in the ward were largely improved by 75% and 59% compared with DV and DWV, respectively. The average infection risk was reduced below 7% when a non-dimensional relative distance (a ratio of the actual distance to the cubic root of the ward volume) was less than 0.25 between outlets and infected patient. This study can serve as a guide for the systematic ventilation system design in hospitals during the epidemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Ren
- School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China
| | - Junqi Wang
- School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China; School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215009, China.
| | - Zhuangbo Feng
- School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China
| | - Moon Keun Kim
- Department of Civil Engineering and Energy Technology, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, 0130, Norway
| | - Fariborz Haghighat
- Energy and Environment Group, Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, H3G 1M8, Canada
| | - Shi-Jie Cao
- School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China; Global Centre for Clean Air Research, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom
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15
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Ferrari S, Blázquez T, Cardelli R, De Angelis E, Puglisi G, Escandón R, Suárez R. Air change rates and infection risk in school environments: Monitoring naturally ventilated classrooms in a northern Italian urban context. Heliyon 2023; 9:e19120. [PMID: 37809762 PMCID: PMC10558299 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Revised: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 08/11/2023] [Indexed: 10/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The importance of building ventilation in avoiding long-distance airborne transmission has been highlighted with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemics. Among others, school environments, in particular classrooms, present criticalities in the implementation of ventilation strategies and their impact on indoor air quality and risk of contagion. In this work, three naturally ventilated school buildings located in northern Italy have undergone monitoring at the end of the heating season. Environmental parameters, such as CO2 concentration and indoor/outdoor air temperature, have been recorded together with the window opening configurations to develop a two-fold analysis: i) the estimation of real air change rates through the transient mass balance equation method, and ii) the individual infection risk via the Wells-Riley equation. A strong statistical correlation has been found between the air change rates and the windows opening configuration by means of a window-to-volume ratio between the total opening area and the volume of the classroom, which has been used to estimate the individual infection risk. Results show that the European Standard recommendation for air renewal could be achieved by a window opening area of at least 1.5 m2, in the most prevailing Italian classrooms. Furthermore, scenarios in which the infector agent is a teacher show higher individual infection risk than those in which the infector is a student. In addition, the outcomes serve school staff as a reference to ensure adequate ventilation in classrooms and keep the risk of infection under control based on the number of the students and the volume of the classroom.
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Affiliation(s)
- S. Ferrari
- Dept. of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - T. Blázquez
- Dept. of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - R. Cardelli
- Dept. of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - E. De Angelis
- Dept. of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - G. Puglisi
- Dept. of Energy Efficiency Department, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Rome, Italy
| | - R. Escandón
- Instituto Universitario de Arquitectura y Ciencias de la Construcción, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
| | - R. Suárez
- Instituto Universitario de Arquitectura y Ciencias de la Construcción, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
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16
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Li H, Nannu Shankar S, Witanachchi CT, Lednicky JA, Loeb JC, Alam MM, Fan ZH, Lauzardo M, Mohamed K, Eiguren-Fernandez A, Wu CY. Lack of SARS-CoV-2 in environmental samples collected from September 2020-February 2021 in a university that followed CDC reopening guidance. Hyg Environ Health Adv 2023; 7:100061. [PMID: 37305381 PMCID: PMC10198740 DOI: 10.1016/j.heha.2023.100061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2022] [Revised: 04/27/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
This study aimed to provide environmental surveillance data for evaluating the risk of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 in public areas with high foot traffic in a university. Air and surface samples were collected at a university that had the second highest number of COVID-19 cases among public higher education institutions in the U.S. during Fall 2020. A total of 60 samples were collected in 16 sampling events performed during Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. Nearly 9800 students traversed the sites during the study period. SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in any air or surface samples. The university followed CDC guidance, including COVID-19 testing, case investigations, and contact tracing. Students, faculty, and staff were asked to maintain physical distancing and wear face coverings. Although COVID-19 cases were relatively high at the university, the possibility of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 infections at the sites tested was low.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongwan Li
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, USA
- Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, USA
| | | | | | - John A Lednicky
- Department of Environmental and Global Health, University of Florida, USA
- Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, USA
| | - Julia C Loeb
- Department of Environmental and Global Health, University of Florida, USA
- Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, USA
| | - Md Mahbubul Alam
- Department of Environmental and Global Health, University of Florida, USA
- Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, USA
| | - Z Hugh Fan
- Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, USA
- J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, USA
| | - Michael Lauzardo
- Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, USA
- Department of Medicine, University of Florida, USA
| | - Karim Mohamed
- J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, USA
| | | | - Chang-Yu Wu
- Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, USA
- Department of Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, University of Miami, USA
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17
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Liu S, Deng Z. Transmission and infection risk of COVID-19 when people coughing in an elevator. Build Environ 2023; 238:110343. [PMID: 37143581 PMCID: PMC10122966 DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2023] [Revised: 04/02/2023] [Accepted: 04/20/2023] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
People in cities use elevators daily. With the COVID-19 pandemic, there are more worries about elevator safety, since elevators are often small and crowded. This study used a proven CFD model to see how the virus could spread in elevators. We simulated five people taking in an elevator for 2 min and analyzed the effect of different factors on the amount of virus that could be inhaled, such as the infected person's location, the standing positions of the persons, and the air flow rate. We found that the position of the infected person and the direction they stood greatly impacted virus transmission in the elevator. The use of mechanical ventilation with a flow rate of 30 ACH (air changes per hour) was effective in reducing the risk of infection. In situations where the air flow rate was 3 ACH, we found that the highest number of inhaled virus copies could range from 237 to 1186. However, with a flow rate of 30 ACH, the highest number was reduced to 153 to 509. The study also showed that wearing surgical masks decreased the highest number of inhaled virus copies to 74 to 155.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sumei Liu
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China
| | - Zhipeng Deng
- Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 13244, United States
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18
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Ren C, Zhu HC, Wang J, Feng Z, Chen G, Haghighat F, Cao SJ. Intelligent operation, maintenance, and control system for public building: Towards infection risk mitigation and energy efficiency. Sustain Cities Soc 2023; 93:104533. [PMID: 36941886 PMCID: PMC10017170 DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2023.104533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2022] [Revised: 02/07/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
During the post-COVID-19 era, it is important but challenging to synchronously mitigate the infection risk and optimize the energy savings in public buildings. While, ineffective control of ventilation and purification systems can result in increased energy consumption and cross-contamination. This paper is to develop intelligent operation, maintenance, and control systems by coupling intelligent ventilation and air purification systems (negative ion generators). Optimal deployment of sensors is determined by Fuzzy C-mean (FCM), based on which CO2 concentration fields are rapidly predicted by combing the artificial neural network (ANN) and self-adaptive low-dimensional linear model (LLM). Negative oxygen ion and particle concentrations are simulated with different numbers of negative ion generators. Optimal ventilation rates and number of negative ion generators are decided. A visualization platform is established to display the effects of ventilation control, epidemic prevention, and pollutant removal. The rapid prediction error of LLM-based ANN for CO2 concentration was below 10% compared with the simulation. Fast decision reduced CO2 concentration below 1000 ppm, infection risk below 1.5%, and energy consumption by 27.4%. The largest removal efficiency was 81% when number of negative ion generators was 10. This work can promote intelligent operation, maintenance, and control systems considering infection prevention and energy sustainability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Ren
- School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China
| | - Hao-Cheng Zhu
- School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China
| | - Junqi Wang
- School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215009, China
| | - Zhuangbo Feng
- School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China
| | - Gang Chen
- The Third Construction Co., Ltd of China Construction Eighth Engineering Division, Nanjing, 210046, China
| | - Fariborz Haghighat
- Energy and Environment Group, Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, H3G 1M8, Canada
| | - Shi-Jie Cao
- School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China
- Global Centre for Clean Air Research, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom
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19
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Luo Q, Yang X, Hang J, Fan X, Luo Z, Gu Z, Ou C. Influence of natural ventilation design on the dispersion of pathogen-laden droplets in a coach bus. Sci Total Environ 2023; 885:163827. [PMID: 37121320 PMCID: PMC10147445 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163827] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2023] [Revised: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 04/25/2023] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Natural ventilation is an energy-efficient design approach to reduce infection risk (IR), but its optimized design in a coach bus environment is less studied. Based on a COVID-19 outbreak in a bus in Hunan, China, the indoor-outdoor coupled CFD modeling approach is adopted to comprehensively explore how optimized bus natural ventilation (e.g., opening/closing status of front/middle/rear windows (FW/MW/RW)) and ceiling wind catcher (WCH) affect the dispersion of pathogen-laden droplets (tracer gas, 5 μm, 50 μm) and IR. Other key influential factors including bus speed, infector's location, and ambient temperature (Tref) are also considered. Buses have unique natural ventilation airflow patterns: from bus rear to front, and air change rate per hour (ACH) increases linearly with bus speed. When driving at 60 km/h, ACH is only 6.14 h-1 and intake fractions of tracer gas (IFg) and 5 μm droplets (IFd) are up to 3372 ppm and 1394 ppm with ventilation through leakages on skylights and no windows open. When FW and RW are both open, ACH increases by 43.5 times to 267.50 h-1, and IFg and IFd drop rapidly by 1-2 orders of magnitude compared to when no windows are open. Utilizing a wind catcher and opening front windows significantly increases ACH (up to 8.8 times) and reduces IF (5-30 times) compared to only opening front windows. When the infector locates at the bus front with FW open, IFg and IFd of all passengers are <10 ppm. More droplets suspend and further spread in a higher Tref environment. It is recommended to open two pairs of windows or open front windows and utilize the wind catcher to reduce IR in coach buses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiqi Luo
- School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, PR China; Key Laboratory of Tropical Atmosphere-Ocean System (Sun Yat-sen University), Ministry of Education, Zhuhai 519000, PR China
| | - Xia Yang
- Guangdong Province Engineering Laboratory for Air Pollution Control, Guangzhou, PR China
| | - Jian Hang
- School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, PR China; Key Laboratory of Tropical Atmosphere-Ocean System (Sun Yat-sen University), Ministry of Education, Zhuhai 519000, PR China
| | - Xiaodan Fan
- School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, PR China; Key Laboratory of Tropical Atmosphere-Ocean System (Sun Yat-sen University), Ministry of Education, Zhuhai 519000, PR China
| | - Zhiwen Luo
- Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, UK
| | - Zhongli Gu
- Guangdong Fans-tech Agro Co., Ltd., PR China
| | - Cuiyun Ou
- School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, PR China; Key Laboratory of Tropical Atmosphere-Ocean System (Sun Yat-sen University), Ministry of Education, Zhuhai 519000, PR China.
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20
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Semple T, Fountas G, Fonzone A. Who is More Likely (Not) to Make Home-Based Work Trips During the COVID-19 Pandemic? The Case of Scotland. Transp Res Rec 2023; 2677:904-916. [PMID: 38603273 PMCID: PMC9490396 DOI: 10.1177/03611981221119192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
In this study, we used survey data (n = 6,000) to investigate the work trip patterns of Scottish residents at various points of the COVID-19 pandemic. We focused specifically on the reported patterns of weekly work trips made during the government-enforced lockdown and subsequent phases of restriction easing. This was of particular importance given the widespread changes in work trips prompted by COVID-19, including a significant rise in telecommuting and a reduction in public transport commuting trips. The survey data showed that the vast majority of respondents (∼85%) made no work trips during lockdown, dropping to ∼77% following the easing of some work-related restrictions. Zero-inflated hierarchical ordered probit models were estimated to determine the sociodemographic and behavioral factors affecting the frequency of work trips made during three distinct periods. The model estimation results showed that the socioeconomic characteristics of respondents influenced work trips made throughout the pandemic. In particular, respondents in households whose main income earner was employed in a managerial/professional occupation were significantly more likely to make no work trips at all stages of the pandemic. Those with a health problem or disability were also significantly more likely to make no work trips throughout the pandemic. Other interesting findings concern respondents' gender, as males were more likely to complete frequent work trips than females throughout the pandemic, and differences between densely populated areas and the rest of Scotland, as respondents from a large city (Edinburgh or Glasgow) were significantly more likely to make frequent work trips as restrictions were eased.
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Affiliation(s)
- Torran Semple
- School of Computer Science, University
of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - Grigorios Fountas
- Department of Transportation and
Hydraulic Engineering, School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, Aristotle
University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Achille Fonzone
- School of Engineering and The Built
Environment, Transport Research Institute, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh,
UK
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21
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Shinohara N, Ogata M, Kim H, Kagi N, Tatsu K, Inui F, Naito W. Evaluation of shields and ventilation as a countermeasure to protect bus drivers from infection. Environ Res 2023; 216:114603. [PMID: 36279914 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114603] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2022] [Revised: 09/22/2022] [Accepted: 10/13/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
We evaluated the deposition of droplets and droplet nuclei-generated by simulated coughing and talking from three points in a bus-on the driver's face and on surfaces around the driver (e.g., the steering wheel), based on whether countermeasures were taken, and assuming that an infected passenger was talking to the driver. When a shield, such as acrylic boards or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sheets, was used as the countermeasure, the deposition of artificial droplets (>4 μm), emitted from beside or behind the driver, on his eyes, mouth, and cheeks reduced by two to three orders of magnitude or more. Deposition on the surfaces around the driver was also reduced following the use of shields. For artificial droplet nuclei (1.3 μm of polystyrene latex (PSL)) emitted from atomizers beside the driver, the operation of the ventilation fan (VF) and air conditioner (AC), and defroster (DEF) greatly reduced the driver's exposure, while the use of the shield did not. The infection risk of the driver was estimated through exposure to the virus via transfer to the mucosa via hands or surface-to-finger, direct adhesion on the mucosa, and direct inhalation of droplets and droplet nuclei. This is under the assumption that the droplets and droplet nuclei measured in this study are 40% the diameter of those after immediately leaving the mouth of the infected person and are constant regardless of particle size. When using the shield, total infection risk via droplet, airborne, and contact transmission was decreased by 75.0-99.8%. When the shield was not installed, the infection risk decreased by 9.74-48.7% with the operation of the VF, AC, and/or DEF.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naohide Shinohara
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 16-1 Onogawa, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki, 305-8569, Japan.
| | - Masayuki Ogata
- Tokyo Metropolitan University, 1-1 Minami-Osawa, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo, 192-0397, Japan
| | - Hoon Kim
- National Institute of Public Health, 2-3-6 Minami, Wako-shi, Saitama, 351-0197, Japan
| | - Naoki Kagi
- Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8552, Japan
| | - Koichi Tatsu
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 16-1 Onogawa, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki, 305-8569, Japan; Isuzu Motors Ltd., 8 Tsuchidana, Fujisawa-shi, Kanagawa, 252-8501, Japan
| | - Fuminori Inui
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 16-1 Onogawa, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki, 305-8569, Japan
| | - Wataru Naito
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 16-1 Onogawa, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki, 305-8569, Japan
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Albrecht K, Poddubnyy D, Leipe J, Sewerin P, Iking-Konert C, Scholz R, Krüger K. Perioperative management of patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases : Updated recommendations of the German Society for Rheumatology. Z Rheumatol 2023; 82:1-11. [PMID: 35235025 DOI: 10.1007/s00393-021-01150-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/08/2021] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Prior to surgical interventions physicians and patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases remain concerned about interrupting or continuing anti-inflammatory medication. For this reason, the German Society for Rheumatology has updated its recommendations from 2014. METHODS After a systematic literature search including publications up to 31 August 2021, the recommendations on the use of of glucocorticoids, conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) and biologics (bDMARDs) were revised and recommendations on newer drugs and targeted synthetic (ts)DMARDs were added. RESULTS The glucocorticoid dose should be reduced to as low as possible 2-3 months before elective surgery (in any case <10 mg/day) but should be kept stable 1-2 weeks before and on the day of surgery. In many cases csDMARDs can be continued, exceptions being a reduction of high methotrexate doses to ≤15 mg/week and wash-out of leflunomide if there is a high risk of infection. Azathioprine, mycophenolate and ciclosporin should be paused 1-2 days prior to surgery. Under bDMARDs surgery can be scheduled for the end of each treatment interval. For major interventions Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors should be paused for 3-4 days. Apremilast can be continued. If interruption is necessary, treatment should be restarted as soon as possible for all substances, depending on wound healing. CONCLUSION Whether bDMARDs increase the perioperative risk of infection and the benefits and risks of discontinuation remain unclear based on the currently available evidence. To minimize the risk of a disease relapse under longer treatment pauses, in the updated recommendations the perioperative interruption of bDMARDs was reduced from at least two half-lives to one treatment interval.
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Isaksson Rø K, Magelssen M, Bååthe F, Miljeteig I, Bringedal B. Duty to treat and perceived risk of contagion during the COVID-19 pandemic: Norwegian physicians' perspectives and experiences-a questionnaire survey. BMC Health Serv Res 2022; 22:1509. [PMID: 36503432 PMCID: PMC9742031 DOI: 10.1186/s12913-022-08905-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic actualised the dilemma of how to balance physicians´ obligation to treat patients and their own perceived risk of being infected. To discuss this in a constructive way we need empirical studies of physicians´ views of this obligation. METHODS A postal questionnaire survey was sent to a representative sample of Norwegian physicians in December 2020. We measured their perceived obligation to expose themselves to infection, when necessary, in order to provide care, concerns about being infected themselves, for spreading the virus to patients or to their families. We used descriptive statistics, chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses. RESULTS The response rate was 1639/2316 (70.9%), 54% women. Of doctors < 70, 60,2% (95% CI 57.7-62.7) acknowledged to some or a large degree an obligation to expose themselves to risk of infection, and 42.0% (39.5-44.5) held this view despite a scarcity of personal protective equipment (PPE). Concern about being infected oneself to some or to a large extent was reported by 42.8% (40.3-45.3), 47.8% (45.3-50.3) reported concern about spreading the virus to patients, and 63.9% (61.5-66.3) indicated worry about spreading it to their families. Being older increased the odds of feeling obligated (ExpB = 1.02 p < 0.001), while experiencing scarcity of PPE decreased the odds (ExpB = 0.74, p = 0.01). The odds of concern about spreading virus to one´s family decreased with higher age (Exp B = 0.97, p < 0.001), increased with being female (Exp B = 1.44, p = 0.004), and perceived lack of PPE (Exp B = 2.25, p < 0.001). Although more physicians working in COVID-exposed specialties experienced scarcity of PPE and reported perceived increased risks for health personnel, the odds of concern about being infected themselves or spreading the virus to their families were not higher than for other doctors. CONCLUSION These empirical findings lead to the question if fewer physicians in the future will consider the duty to treat their top priority. This underscores the need to revisit and revitalise existing ethical codes to handle the dilemma between physicians´ duty to treat versus the duty to protect physicians and their families. This is important for the ability to provide good care for the patient and the provider in a future pandemic situation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Morten Magelssen
- grid.5510.10000 0004 1936 8921Centre for Medical Ethics, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway ,Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Oslo, Norway
| | - Fredrik Bååthe
- Institute for Studies of the Medical Profession, Oslo, Norway ,Institute of Stress Medicine -ISM at Region VGR, Gothenburg, Sweden ,grid.8761.80000 0000 9919 9582Institute of Health and Care Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Ingrid Miljeteig
- grid.7914.b0000 0004 1936 7443Bergen Centre for Ethics and Priority Setting (BCEPS), Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway ,Department of Research and Development, Helse Bergen Health Trust, Bergen, Norway
| | - Berit Bringedal
- Institute for Studies of the Medical Profession, Oslo, Norway
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Aganovic A, Cao G, Kurnitski J, Melikov A, Wargocki P. Zonal modeling of air distribution impact on the long-range airborne transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2. Appl Math Model 2022; 112:800-821. [PMID: 36060304 PMCID: PMC9420246 DOI: 10.1016/j.apm.2022.08.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2022] [Revised: 08/15/2022] [Accepted: 08/25/2022] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
A widely used analytical model to quantitatively assess airborne infection risk is the Wells-Riley model which is limited to complete air mixing in a single zone. However, this assumption tends not to be feasible (or reality) for many situations. This study aimed to extend the Wells-Riley model so that the infection risk can be calculated in spaces where complete mixing is not present. Some more advanced ventilation concepts create either two horizontally divided air zones in spaces as displacement ventilation or the space may be divided into two vertical zones by downward plane jet as in protective-zone ventilation systems. This is done by evaluating the time-dependent distribution of infectious quanta in each zone and by solving the coupled system of differential equations based on the zonal quanta concentrations. This model introduces a novel approach by estimating the interzonal mixing factor based on previous experimental data for three types of ventilation systems: incomplete mixing ventilation, displacement ventilation, and protective zone ventilation. The modeling approach is applied to a room with one infected and one susceptible person present. The results show that using the Wells-Riley model based on the assumption of completely air mixing may considerably overestimate or underestimate the long-range airborne infection risk in rooms where air distribution is different than complete mixing, such as displacement ventilation, protected zone ventilation, warm air supplied from the ceiling, etc. Therefore, in spaces with non-uniform air distribution, a zonal modeling approach should be preferred in analytical models compared to the conventional single-zone Wells-Riley models when assessing long-range airborne transmission risk of infectious respiratory diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amar Aganovic
- Department of Automation and Process Engineering, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Postboks 6050 Langnes, Tromsø 9037, Norway
| | - Guangyu Cao
- Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology - NTNU, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Jarek Kurnitski
- REHVA Technology and Research Committee, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia
| | - Arsen Melikov
- Department of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Pawel Wargocki
- Department of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Colaneri M, Lombardi A, Maffezzoni M, Sambo M, Fabbiani M, Quaretti P, Asperges E, Moramarco L, Sacchi P, Bruno R. The infection risk after transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt: A multiple competing risk analysis from a tertiary care center. Dig Liver Dis 2022; 54:1686-1690. [PMID: 35697589 DOI: 10.1016/j.dld.2022.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2022] [Revised: 05/07/2022] [Accepted: 05/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Infections following transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) placement have been poorly described. We aim to investigate the rate and the potential predictors of infections occurring after TIPS placement. METHODS Single center, retrospective, observational study. All patients who had undergone TIPS placement in the last 10 years with a minimum 1-year FU, were considered. Multiple competing risk analyses were performed to identify infection risk factors and a multivariable Cox proportional-hazard regression model to evaluate the predictors of death. RESULTS Forty-nine patients were considered. Among these, 23 (46%) developed at least 1 infection during the FU, at a median time of 237.7 days (IQR 151.5) from the TIPS placement. We did not find any predictor of infection, while MELD score and cancer were associated with death (p = .04; HR 1.14; CI 1.00- 1.30). CONCLUSION We found a high rate of all-type infections during the FU times. However, most of these infections occurred as late-onset infections and were caused by Gram-positive microorganisms. Thus, TIPS procedure itself does not seem to be burdened with high infectious perioperative risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Colaneri
- Infectious Diseases I Unit, IRCCS San Matteo, Pavia, Italy and Department of Medical, Surgical, Diagnostic and Paediatric Science, University of Pavia, V.le Golgi, 19, PV, 27100, Padiglione n. 42, Pavia, Italy.
| | - Andrea Lombardi
- Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milano, Milano, Italy; Infectious Diseases Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milano, Italy
| | - Marcello Maffezzoni
- Infectious Diseases I Unit, IRCCS San Matteo, Pavia, Italy and Department of Medical, Surgical, Diagnostic and Paediatric Science, University of Pavia, V.le Golgi, 19, PV, 27100, Padiglione n. 42, Pavia, Italy
| | - Margherita Sambo
- Infectious Diseases I Unit, IRCCS San Matteo, Pavia, Italy and Department of Medical, Surgical, Diagnostic and Paediatric Science, University of Pavia, V.le Golgi, 19, PV, 27100, Padiglione n. 42, Pavia, Italy
| | - Massimiliano Fabbiani
- Infectious and Tropical Diseases Unit, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Senese, Siena, Italy
| | - Pietro Quaretti
- Diagnostic Radiology and General Interventional Radiology, IRCCS San Matteo, Pavia, Italy
| | - Erika Asperges
- Infectious Diseases I Unit, IRCCS San Matteo, Pavia, Italy and Department of Medical, Surgical, Diagnostic and Paediatric Science, University of Pavia, V.le Golgi, 19, PV, 27100, Padiglione n. 42, Pavia, Italy
| | - Lorenzo Moramarco
- Diagnostic Radiology and General Interventional Radiology, IRCCS San Matteo, Pavia, Italy
| | - Paolo Sacchi
- Infectious Diseases I Unit, IRCCS San Matteo, Pavia, Italy and Department of Medical, Surgical, Diagnostic and Paediatric Science, University of Pavia, V.le Golgi, 19, PV, 27100, Padiglione n. 42, Pavia, Italy
| | - Raffaele Bruno
- Infectious Diseases I Unit, IRCCS San Matteo, Pavia, Italy and Department of Medical, Surgical, Diagnostic and Paediatric Science, University of Pavia, V.le Golgi, 19, PV, 27100, Padiglione n. 42, Pavia, Italy; Department of Medical, Surgical, Diagnostic and Paediatric Science, University of Pavia, Italy
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Jiang B, Yang Y, Chen L, Liu X, Wu X, Chen B, Webster C, Sullivan WC, Larsen L, Wang J, Lu Y. Green spaces, especially nearby forest, may reduce the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate: A nationwide study in the United States. Landsc Urban Plan 2022; 228:104583. [PMID: 36158763 PMCID: PMC9485427 DOI: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2022] [Revised: 09/14/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
The coronavirus pandemic is an ongoing global crisis that has profoundly harmed public health. Although studies found exposure to green spaces can provide multiple health benefits, the relationship between exposure to green spaces and the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate is unclear. This is a critical knowledge gap for research and practice. In this study, we examined the relationship between total green space, seven types of green space, and a year of SARS-CoV-2 infection data across 3,108 counties in the contiguous United States, after controlling for spatial autocorrelation and multiple types of covariates. First, we examined the association between total green space and SARS-CoV-2 infection rate. Next, we examined the association between different types of green space and SARS-CoV-2 infection rate. Then, we examined forest-infection rate association across five time periods and five urbanicity levels. Lastly, we examined the association between infection rate and population-weighted exposure to forest at varying buffer distances (100 m to 4 km). We found that total green space was negative associated with the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate. Furthermore, two forest variables (forest outside park and forest inside park) had the strongest negative association with the infection rate, while open space variables had mixed associations with the infection rate. Forest outside park was more effective than forest inside park. The optimal buffer distances associated with lowest infection rate are within 1,200 m for forest outside park and within 600 m for forest inside park. Altogether, the findings suggest that green spaces, especially nearby forest, may significantly mitigate risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Jiang
- Urban Environments and Human Health Lab, HKUrbanLabs, Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
- Division of Landscape Architecture, Department of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
| | - Yuwen Yang
- Urban Environments and Human Health Lab, HKUrbanLabs, Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
- Division of Landscape Architecture, Department of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
| | - Long Chen
- Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
| | - Xueming Liu
- Urban Environments and Human Health Lab, HKUrbanLabs, Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
- Division of Landscape Architecture, Department of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
| | - Xueying Wu
- Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
| | - Bin Chen
- Future Urbanity & Sustainable Environment (FUSE) Lab, Division of Landscape Architecture, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
- Urban Systems Institute, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
- HKU Musketeers Foundation Institute of Data Science, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
| | - Chris Webster
- HKUrbanLabs, Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
| | - William C Sullivan
- Smart, Healthy Communities Initiative, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
- Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
| | - Linda Larsen
- Smart Energy Design Assistance Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
| | - Jingjing Wang
- Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
| | - Yi Lu
- Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
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Li P, Chen X, Ma C, Zhu C, Lu W. Risk assessment of COVID-19 infection for subway commuters integrating dynamic changes in passenger numbers. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 2022; 29:74715-74724. [PMID: 35639325 PMCID: PMC9153871 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-20920-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2022] [Accepted: 05/13/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 global pandemic has had a significant impact on mass travel. We examined the risk of transmission of COVID-19 infection between subway commuters using the Susceptible Exposed Infected Recovered (SEIR) model. The model considered factors that may influence virus transmission, namely subway disinfection, ventilation capacity, average commuter spacing, single subway journey time, COVID-19 transmission capacity, and dynamic changes in passenger numbers. Based on these parameters, above a certain threshold (25 min), the risk of infection for susceptible people increased significantly as journey time increased. Average distance between commuters and levels of ventilation and disinfection were also important influencing factors. Meanwhile, the model also indicated that the risk of infection varied at different times of the day. Therefore, this paper recommends strengthening ventilation and disinfection in the carriages and limiting the time of single journeys, with an average distance of at least 1 m between passengers. In this light, subway commuters need to take proactive precautions to reduce their risk of COVID-19 infection. Also, the results show the importance of managing subway stations efficiently during epidemic and post-epidemic eras.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peikun Li
- Key Laboratory of Transport Industry of Big Data Application Technologies for Comprehensive Transport, Ministry of Transport, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, 100044, China
| | - Xumei Chen
- Key Laboratory of Transport Industry of Big Data Application Technologies for Comprehensive Transport, Ministry of Transport, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, 100044, China.
| | - Chaoqun Ma
- College of Transportation Engineering, Chang'an University, Xi'an, 710064, Shaanxi, China
| | - Caihua Zhu
- College of Transportation Engineering, Chang'an University, Xi'an, 710064, Shaanxi, China
| | - Wenbo Lu
- School of Transportation, Southeast University, Nanjing, 214135, Jiangsu, China
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Zheng J, Tao Q, Chen Y. Airborne infection risk of inter-unit dispersion through semi-shaded openings: A case study of a multi-storey building with external louvers. Build Environ 2022; 225:109586. [PMID: 36105610 PMCID: PMC9461617 DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2022] [Revised: 08/17/2022] [Accepted: 09/05/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Building design for natural ventilation and indoor air quality have become increasingly important during the past decades. Investigating airflow routes of airborne transmission and evaluating the potential infection risk in the multi-storey building is helpful to the reduction of airborne transmission. Therefore, this study applies computational fluid dynamics simulations to investigate the inter-unit dispersion pattern of gaseous pollutant between different units through semi-shaded openings. The airflow exchange and pollutant dispersion in a multi-storey building is driven by wind-induced natural ventilation. External shading louvers, which are widely used in building facades to reduce heat gain from solar radiation, are chosen to establish the semi-shaded environment. Experimental validation is performed to make sure the accuracy of numerical settings in airflow investigation of semi-shaded openings. The airflow characteristics around semi-shaded openings is analyzed in the numerical simulations. The re-entry ratio of tracer gas and the airborne infection risk of COVID-19 is investigated in the cases with different louvers' locations and source units. The results show that the airflow is commonly slower in the semi-shaded space between louvers and openings. But the ventilation rate is not always consistent with the airflow speed because of the diversion effect from louver slats. The inter-unit infectious risk in the worst unit rises from 7.82% to 26.17% for windward shading, while it rises from 7.89% to 22.52% for leeward shading. These results are helpful to the further understanding of inter-unit transmission of infectious respiratory aerosols through external openings with complex structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianwen Zheng
- College of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Jimei University, Xiamen, 361021, China
| | - Qiuhua Tao
- College of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Jimei University, Xiamen, 361021, China
- Fujian Province Key Laboratory of Energy Cleaning Utilization and Development, Xiamen, 361021, China
| | - Yangui Chen
- College of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Jimei University, Xiamen, 361021, China
- Fujian Province Key Laboratory of Energy Cleaning Utilization and Development, Xiamen, 361021, China
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29
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Wu X, Liu J, Zhang H, Zhou H, Wang W, Ma Y, Shen S, Cai X, Huang A, Wang D. Immunomolecular assay based on selective virion capture by spike antibody and viral nucleic acid amplification for detecting intact SARS-CoV-2 particles. J Nanobiotechnology 2022; 20:399. [PMID: 36064407 PMCID: PMC9444083 DOI: 10.1186/s12951-022-01558-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2022] [Accepted: 07/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Effective therapeutics and vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are currently lacking because of the mutation and immune escape of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Based on the propagation characteristics of SARS-CoV-2, rapid and accurate detection of complete virions from clinical samples and the environment is critical for assessing infection risk and containing further COVID-19 outbreaks. However, currently applicable methods cannot achieve large-scale clinical application due to factors such as the high viral load, cumbersome virus isolation steps, demanding environmental conditions, and long experimental periods. In this study, we developed an immuno molecular detection method combining capture of the viral spike glycoprotein with monoclonal antibodies and nucleic acid amplification via quantitative reverse transcription PCR to rapidly and accurately detect complete virions. Results After constructing a novel pseudovirus, screening for specific antibodies, and optimizing the detection parameters, the assay achieved a limit of detection of 9 × 102 transduction units/mL of viral titer with high confidence (~ 95%) and excellent stability against human serum and common virus/pseudovirus. The coefficients of variation were 1.0 ~ 2.0% for intra-assay and inter-assay analyses, respectively. Compared with reverse transcription-PCR, the immunomolecular method more accurately quantified complete virions. SARS-CoV-2/pseudovirus was more stable on plastic and paper compared with aluminum and copper in the detection of SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus under different conditions. Complete virions were detected up to 96 h after they were applied to these surfaces (except for copper), although the titer of the virions was greatly reduced. Conclusion Convenient, inexpensive, and accurate complete virus detection can be applied to many fields, including monitoring the infectivity of convalescent and post-discharge patients and assessing high-risk environments (isolation rooms, operating rooms, patient living environments, and cold chain logistics). This method can also be used to detect intact virions, including Hepatitis B and C viruses, human immunodeficiency virus, influenza, and the partial pulmonary virus, which may further improve the accuracy of diagnoses and facilitate individualized and precise treatments. Graphical Abstract ![]()
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12951-022-01558-8.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoli Wu
- The Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Infectious Diseases designated by the Chinese Ministry of Education, Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute for Viral Hepatitis, Chongqing Medical University, Yuzhong, 400016, Chongqing, China.,College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, Yuzhong, China
| | - Junye Liu
- The Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Infectious Diseases designated by the Chinese Ministry of Education, Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute for Viral Hepatitis, Chongqing Medical University, Yuzhong, 400016, Chongqing, China
| | - Hongpeng Zhang
- Department of Blood Transfusion, Women and Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 401147, China.,Department of Blood Transfusion, Chongqing Health Center for Women and Children, Chongqing, 401147, China
| | - Hua Zhou
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400010, Yuzhong, China
| | - Wen Wang
- The Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Infectious Diseases designated by the Chinese Ministry of Education, Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute for Viral Hepatitis, Chongqing Medical University, Yuzhong, 400016, Chongqing, China
| | - Yuanyan Ma
- The Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Infectious Diseases designated by the Chinese Ministry of Education, Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute for Viral Hepatitis, Chongqing Medical University, Yuzhong, 400016, Chongqing, China
| | - Shimei Shen
- The Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Infectious Diseases designated by the Chinese Ministry of Education, Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute for Viral Hepatitis, Chongqing Medical University, Yuzhong, 400016, Chongqing, China
| | - Xuefei Cai
- The Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Infectious Diseases designated by the Chinese Ministry of Education, Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute for Viral Hepatitis, Chongqing Medical University, Yuzhong, 400016, Chongqing, China
| | - Ailong Huang
- The Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Infectious Diseases designated by the Chinese Ministry of Education, Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute for Viral Hepatitis, Chongqing Medical University, Yuzhong, 400016, Chongqing, China
| | - Deqiang Wang
- The Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Infectious Diseases designated by the Chinese Ministry of Education, Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute for Viral Hepatitis, Chongqing Medical University, Yuzhong, 400016, Chongqing, China. .,College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, Yuzhong, China.
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Mei D, Duan W, Li Y, Li J, Chen W. Evaluating risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection of the elderly in the public bus under personalized air supply. Sustain Cities Soc 2022; 84:104011. [PMID: 35756366 PMCID: PMC9212980 DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2022.104011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2022] [Revised: 06/17/2022] [Accepted: 06/17/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
In developing countries, public transportation is the first choice for the elderly because of its convenience and cheapness. The high density population of public transportation increases the risk of passengers contracting infectious diseases, so it is extremely critical to determine healthy transportation systems to safeguard the health of passengers. The propagation characteristics of droplets in the ZK-type public bus were studied by computational fluid simulation employing the Realizable k-ε turbulence model and discrete phase model. The modified Wells-Riley model was used to quantitatively assess the infection risk of SARS-CoV-2 spread by droplets on the elderly. The risk assessment shows that when the personalized air supply angle is 30°, the number of infected passengers is the least, reaching 14, which shows that the infection risk of passengers can be reduced through the design of personalized air supply angle. Regardless of the angle of the personalized air supply, the rear seats are in a low-risk area. Therefore, it's recommended that elderly passengers choose the rear seats of the public bus during the epidemic to prevent being infected. This study can provide a reference for healthy transportation systems to construct a healthy environment inside the public bus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Mei
- Hubei Key Laboratory for Efficient Utilization and Agglomeration of Metallurgic Mineral Resources, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430081, China
- Hubei Provincial Industrial Safety Engineering Technology Research Center, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430081, China
| | - Wenzhu Duan
- Hubei Key Laboratory for Efficient Utilization and Agglomeration of Metallurgic Mineral Resources, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430081, China
| | - Yao Li
- Hubei Key Laboratory for Efficient Utilization and Agglomeration of Metallurgic Mineral Resources, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430081, China
| | - Jiaqian Li
- Hubei Provincial Industrial Safety Engineering Technology Research Center, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430081, China
| | - Wangsheng Chen
- Hubei Key Laboratory for Efficient Utilization and Agglomeration of Metallurgic Mineral Resources, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430081, China
- Hubei Provincial Industrial Safety Engineering Technology Research Center, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430081, China
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De Borger B, Proost S. Covid-19 and optimal urban transport policy. Transp Res Part A Policy Pract 2022; 163:20-42. [PMID: 35815170 PMCID: PMC9250907 DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2022.06.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Covid-19 has important implications for public transport operations. Increased teleworking and the perceived infection risk on public transport vehicles have drastically reduced demand in many cities. At the same time, physical distancing has effectively reduced available peak-period public transport capacity. In this paper, we use a simple model to study the effect of these changes on second-best optimal pricing and frequency provision, assuming that car use is underpriced. A numerical application reflecting the public transport situation in Brussel is provided. Results include the following. First, more telework and the increased perceived infection risk have opposite effects on the fare, so that it may be optimal not to change the fare at all. Optimal frequency is likely to decline. Second, holding the fare and frequency constant at their pre-Covid second-best optimal values, more telework reduces the public transport deficit if car use is underpriced. Third, extending the model to allow for passengers with different vulnerability towards Covid-19, allowing fare and frequency differentiation implies that vulnerable users will face higher fares only if their risk perception is sufficiently higher than that of the non-vulnerable, and car use is not too much underpriced. Occupancy rates will be lower for the vulnerable passengers. Fourth, the numerical results for Brussels show that telework and a high perceived infection risk for workers may yield a welfare optimum whereby commuters do almost not use public transport. Offering a low frequency suffices to deal with the captive demand by school children and students. Lastly, reserved capacity for the vulnerable users and stimuli for walking and biking to school may be useful policies to deal with the crowding risk.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Stef Proost
- Department of Economics and LMOB, KULeuven, Belgium
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32
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Ren C, Chen H, Wang J, Feng Z, Cao SJ. Ventilation impacts on infection risk mitigation, improvement of environmental quality and energy efficiency for subway carriages. Build Environ 2022; 222:109358. [PMID: 35822126 PMCID: PMC9263602 DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109358] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2022] [Revised: 06/27/2022] [Accepted: 06/29/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Subway carriages are enclosed for extended periods of time, with a high density of passengers. Providing a safe, healthy, and comfortable cabin environment is a great challenge, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. An increase in ventilation rate can potentially reduce infection probability, which may result in worsening environmental quality (e.g., thermal comfort) and larger energy consumption. Thus, exploring the trade-off among infection risk, environmental quality (with regard to ventilation, thermal comfort, and air quality), and energy consumption is important to optimize ventilation systems for carriages. The effect of different supply air parameters (e.g., velocity and temperature) and ventilation modes of mixing ventilation (MV) & Supply air from the Floor and Return air from the Ceiling (SFRC) was studied. The questionnaires were analyzed to explore passenger dissatisfaction with the carriage environment using a MV system. Simulations were performed to predict the velocity, temperature, and CO2 concentration fields. In addition, the comprehensive benefit was evaluated by analytic hierarchy process (AHP), based on infection probability from the revisited Wells-Riley equation, Air Diffusion Performance Index (ADPI), Predicted Mean Vote (PMV), Pollutant Removal Effectiveness (PRE) and energy consumption estimated by cooling load (Lcool). Compared with MV, the optimized SFRC provided softer draft sensation and decreased CO2 concentration by 42%. The SFRC achieved better comprehensive benefits, with an infection risk reduced to 0.4%, ADPI of 80%, PMV approaching zero, PRE up to 16, and energy efficiency increased by 30%. This work contributes to the optimal design of subway carriage ventilation systems in the post-epidemic era.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Ren
- School of Architecture, Southeast University, 2 Sipailou, Nanjing, 210096, China
| | - Haofu Chen
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China
| | - Junqi Wang
- School of Architecture, Southeast University, 2 Sipailou, Nanjing, 210096, China
| | - Zhuangbo Feng
- School of Architecture, Southeast University, 2 Sipailou, Nanjing, 210096, China
| | - Shi-Jie Cao
- School of Architecture, Southeast University, 2 Sipailou, Nanjing, 210096, China
- Global Centre for Clean Air Research, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom
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33
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Ferrari S, Blázquez T, Cardelli R, Puglisi G, Suárez R, Mazzarella L. Ventilation strategies to reduce airborne transmission of viruses in classrooms: A systematic review of scientific literature. Build Environ 2022; 222:109366. [PMID: 35818484 PMCID: PMC9259197 DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2022] [Revised: 06/20/2022] [Accepted: 07/02/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The recent pandemic due to SARS-CoV-2 has brought to light the need for strategies to mitigate contagion between human beings. Apart from hygiene measures and social distancing, air ventilation highly prevents airborne transmission within enclosed spaces. Among others, educational environments become critical in strategic planning to control the spread of pathogens and viruses amongst the population, mainly in cold conditions. In the event of a virus outbreak - such as COVID or influenza - many school classrooms still lack the means to guarantee secure and healthy environments. The present review examines school contexts that implement air ventilation strategies to reduce the risk of contagion between students. The analysed articles present past experiences that use either natural or mechanical systems assessed through mathematical models, numerical models, or full-scale experiments. For naturally ventilated classrooms, the studies highlight the importance of the architectural design of educational spaces and propose strategies for aeration control such as CO2-based control and risk-infection control. When it comes to implementing mechanical ventilation in classrooms, different systems with different airflow patterns are assessed based on their ability to remove airborne pathogens considering parameters like the age of air and the generation of airflow streamlines. Moreover, studies report that programmed mechanical ventilation systems can reduce risk-infection during pandemic events. In addition to providing a systematic picture of scientific studies in the field, the findings of this review can be a valuable reference for school administrators and policymakers to implement the best strategies in their classroom settings towards reducing infection risks.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Ferrari
- Dept. of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - T Blázquez
- Dept. of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - R Cardelli
- Dept. of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - G Puglisi
- Dept. of Energy Efficiency Department, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Rome, Italy
| | - R Suárez
- Instituto Universitario de Arquitectura y Ciencias de la Construcción, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
| | - L Mazzarella
- Dept. of Energy, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy
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Yasutaka T, Murakami M, Iwasaki Y, Naito W, Onishi M, Fujita T, Imoto S. Assessment of COVID-19 risk and prevention effectiveness among spectators of mass gathering events. Microb Risk Anal 2022; 21:100215. [PMID: 35382415 PMCID: PMC8969296 DOI: 10.1016/j.mran.2022.100215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2021] [Revised: 02/20/2022] [Accepted: 03/29/2022] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
There is a need to evaluate and minimize the risk of novel coronavirus infections at mass gathering events, such as sports. In particular, to consider how to hold mass gathering events, it is important to clarify how the local infection prevalence, the number of spectators, the capacity proportion, and the implementation of preventions affect the infection risk. In this study, we used an environmental exposure model to analyze the relationship between infection risk and infection prevalence, the number of spectators, and the capacity proportion at mass gathering events in football and baseball games. In addition to assessing risk reduction through the implementation of various preventive measures, we assessed how face-mask-wearing proportion affects infection risk. Furthermore, the model was applied to estimate the number of infectors who entered the stadium and the number of newly infected individuals, and to compare them with actual reported cases. The model analysis revealed an 86-95% reduction in the infection risk due to the implementation of face-mask wearing and hand washing. Under conditions in which vaccine effectiveness was 20% and 80%, the risk reduction rates of infection among vaccinated spectators were 36% and 96%, respectively. Among the individual measures, face-mask wearing was particularly effective, and the infection risk increased as the face-mask-wearing proportion decreased. A linear relationship was observed between infection risk at mass gathering events and the infection prevalence. Furthermore, the number of newly infected individuals was also dependent on the number of spectators and the capacity proportion independent of the infection prevalence, confirming the importance of considering spectator capacity in infection risk management. These results highlight that it is beneficial for organisers to ensure prevention compliance and to mitigate or limit the number of spectators according to the prevalence of local infection. Both the estimated and reported numbers of newly infected individuals after the events were small, below 10 per 3-4 million spectators, despite a small gap between these numbers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tetsuo Yasutaka
- Institute for Geo-Resources and Environment, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-1-1, Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8567, Japan
| | - Michio Murakami
- Department of Health Risk Communication, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, 1 Hikarigaoka, Fukushima, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan
- Division of Scientific Information and Public Policy, Center for Infectious Disease Education and Research (CiDER), Osaka University, Techno Alliance C209, 2-8 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
| | - Yuichi Iwasaki
- Research Institute of Science for Safety and Sustainability, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 16-1, Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8569, Japan
| | - Wataru Naito
- Research Institute of Science for Safety and Sustainability, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 16-1, Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8569, Japan
| | - Masaki Onishi
- Artificial Intelligence Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 2-4-7 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0064, Japan
| | - Tsukasa Fujita
- Institute for Geo-Resources and Environment, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-1-1, Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8567, Japan
| | - Seiya Imoto
- Division of Health Medical Intelligence, Human Genome Center, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan
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35
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Lee H, Andrasfay T, Riley A, Wu Q, Crimmins E. Do social determinants of health explain racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 infection? Soc Sci Med 2022; 306:115098. [PMID: 35759973 PMCID: PMC9162789 DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2021] [Revised: 05/27/2022] [Accepted: 05/29/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Racial/ethnic minorities have experienced higher COVID-19 infection rates than whites, but it is unclear how individual-level housing, occupational, behavioral, and socioeconomic conditions contribute to these disparities in a nationally representative sample. In this study, we assess the extent to which social determinants of health contribute to racial/ethnic differences in COVID-19 infection. Data are from the Understanding America Study's Understanding Coronavirus in America survey (UAS COVID-19 waves 7-29). UAS COVID-19 is one of the only nationally representative longitudinal data sources that collects information on household, work, and social behavioral context during the pandemic. We analyze onset of COVID-19 cases, defined as a positive test or a diagnosis of COVID-19 from a healthcare provider since the previous survey wave, over a year of follow-up (June 2020-July 2021). We consider educational attainment, economic resources, work arrangements, household size, and social distancing as key social factors that may be structured by racism. Cox hazard models indicate that Hispanic people have 48% higher risk of experiencing a COVID-19 infection than whites after adjustment for age, sex, local infection rate, and comorbidities, but we do not observe a higher risk of COVID-19 among Black respondents. Controlling for engagement in any large or small social gathering increases the hazard ratio for Hispanics by 9%, suggesting that had Hispanics had the same social engagement patterns as whites, they may have had even higher risk of COVID-19. Other social determinants-lower educational attainment, working away from home, and number of coresidents-all independently predict higher risk of COVID-19, but do not explain why Hispanic Americans have higher COVID-19 infection risk than whites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haena Lee
- Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
| | - Theresa Andrasfay
- Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Alicia Riley
- Department of Sociology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Qiao Wu
- Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Eileen Crimmins
- Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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36
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Zhu G, Shi Y, Li Y, Xiao G, Xiao J, Liu Q. Model-Based Projection of Zika Infection Risk with Temperature Effect: A Case Study in Southeast Asia. Bull Math Biol 2022; 84:92. [PMID: 35864431 DOI: 10.1007/s11538-022-01049-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2022] [Accepted: 07/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Zika virus (ZIKV) recently reemerged in the Americas and rapidly expanded in global range. It is posing significant concerns of public health due to its link to birth defects and its complicated transmission routes. Southeast Asia is badly hit by ZIKV, but limited information was found on the transmission potential of ZIKV in the region. In this paper, we develop a new dynamic process-based mathematical model, which incorporates the interactions among humans (sexual transmissibility), and between human and mosquitoes (biting transmissibility), as well as the essential impacts of temperature. The model is first validated by fitting the 2016 ZIKV outbreak in Singapore via Markov chain Monte Carlo method. Based on that, we demonstrate the effects of temperature on mosquito ecology and ZIKV transmission, and further clarify the potential risk of ZIKV outbreak in Southeast Asian countries. The results show that (i) the estimated infection reproduction number [Formula: see text] in Singapore fell from 6.93 (in which the contribution of sexual transmission was 0.89) to 0.24 after the deployment of control strategies; (ii) the optimal temperature for the reproduction of ZIKV infections and adult mosquitoes are estimated to be [Formula: see text]C and [Formula: see text]C, respectively; and (iii) the [Formula: see text] in Southeast Asia could be between 3 and 7, with an inverted-U shape around the year. The large values of [Formula: see text] and the simulative patterns of ZIKV transmission in each country highlights the high risk of ZIKV attack in Southeast Asia.
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37
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Hu T, Ji Y, Fei F, Zhu M, Jin T, Xue P, Zhang N. Optimization of COVID-19 prevention and control with low building energy consumption. Build Environ 2022; 219:109233. [PMID: 35664635 PMCID: PMC9148426 DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2022] [Revised: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 05/23/2022] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
COVID-19 is a global threat. Non-pharmaceutical interventions were commonly adopted for COVID-19 prevention and control. However, during stable periods of the pandemic, energy would be inevitably wasted if all interventions were implemented. The study aims to reduce the building energy consumption when meet the demands of epidemic prevention and control under the stable period of COVID-19. Based on the improved Wells-Riley model considering dynamic quanta generation and pulmonary ventilation rate, we established the infection risk - equivalent fresh air volume - energy consumption model to analyze the infection risk and building energy consumption during different seasons and optimized the urban building energy consumption according to the spatio-temporal population distribution. Shopping centers and restaurants contributed the most in urban energy consumption, and if they are closed during the pandemic, the total infection risk would be reduced by 25%-40% and 15%-25% respectively and the urban energy consumption would be reduced by 30%-40% and 13%-20% respectively. If people wore masks in all public indoor environments (exclude restaurants and KTV), the infection risk could be reduced by 60%-70% and the energy consumption could be reduced by 20%-60%. Gyms pose the highest risk for COVID-19 transmission. If the energy consumption kept the same with the current value, after the optimization, infection risk in winter, summer and the transition season could be reduced by 65%, 53% and 60%, respectively. After the optimization, under the condition of R t < 1, the energy consumption in winter, summer, and the transition season could be reduced by 72%, 64%, and 68% respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tingrui Hu
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Built Environment and Energy Efficient Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Ying Ji
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Built Environment and Energy Efficient Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Fan Fei
- College of Mechatronical and Electrical Engineering, Hebei Agricultural University, Hebei province, China
| | - Min Zhu
- 6th Medical Center of General Hospital of PLA, Beijing, China
| | - Tianyi Jin
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Built Environment and Energy Efficient Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Peng Xue
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Built Environment and Energy Efficient Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Nan Zhang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Built Environment and Energy Efficient Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China
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38
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Liu F, Qian H. Uncertainty analysis of facemasks in mitigating SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Environ Pollut 2022; 303:119167. [PMID: 35307493 PMCID: PMC8926848 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2021] [Revised: 02/14/2022] [Accepted: 03/14/2022] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
In the context of global spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), there is a controversial issue on whether the use of facemasks is promising to control or mitigate the COVID-19 transmission. This study modeled the SARS-CoV-2 transmission process and analyzed the ability of surgical mask and N95 in reducing the infection risk with Sobol's analysis. Two documented outbreaks of COVID-19 with no involvers wearing face masks were reviewed in a restaurant in Guangzhou (China) and a choir rehearsal in Mount Vernon (USA), suggesting that the proposed model can be well validated when airborne transmission is assumed to dominate the virus transmission indoors. Subsequently, the uncertainty analysis of the protection efficiency of N95 and surgical mask were conducted with Monte Carlo simulations, with three main findings: (1) the uncertainty in infection risk is primarily apportioned by respiratory activities, virus dynamics, environment factors and individual exposures; (2) wearing masks can effectively reduce the SARS-CoV-2 infection risk to an acceptable level (< 10-3) by at least two orders of magnitude; (3) faceseal leakage can reduce protection efficiency by approximately 4% when the infector is speaking or coughing, and by approximately 28% when the infector is sneezing. This work indicates the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions during the pandemic, and implies the importance of the synergistic studies of medicine, environment, social policies and strategies, etc., on reducing hazards and risks of the pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fan Liu
- School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, China; School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
| | - Hua Qian
- School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, China; Engineering Research Center for Building Energy Environments & Equipments, Ministry of Education, China.
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39
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Wang J, Tang H, Wang J, Zhong Z. An agent-based study on the airborne transmission risk of infectious disease in a fever clinic during COVID-19 pandemic. Build Environ 2022; 218:109118. [PMID: 35474851 PMCID: PMC9023374 DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2022] [Revised: 04/16/2022] [Accepted: 04/18/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Prevention of nosocomial infections is particularly important for the control of COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a field study and performed extensive numerical simulations of infection transmission in a fever clinic during pandemic through an agent-based model with pedestrian dynamic and an infection transmission model. Furthermore, we evaluated the cross-infection risk of the patients influenced by the patient inject flow, medical service capability and plane layout. The service capability of fever clinic is determined by the least efficient medical session. When patient inject flow exceeded the service capability, the average dwell time, contact time, exposure dose, and risk of infection of patients all increased dramatically. With the patient inject flow exceeding the service capability, the growth rate of the contact time between patients and the cross-infection risk increased by 11.5-fold and 29.5-fold, respectively. The plane layout of the fever clinic affected the exposure dose and risk of infection. The waiting areas in the fever clinic had the highest risk, where the cumulative exposure dose of virus occupied up to 66.5% of the total. Our research will help to evaluate the biosafety of hospital buildings used for the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junjie Wang
- School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China
| | - Haida Tang
- School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China
| | - Jingwei Wang
- School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210000, China
| | - Zhitao Zhong
- School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210000, China
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40
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Tang H, Pan Z, Li C. Tempo-spatial infection risk assessment of airborne virus via CO 2 concentration field monitoring in built environment. Build Environ 2022; 217:109067. [PMID: 35464750 PMCID: PMC9013429 DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2022] [Revised: 03/10/2022] [Accepted: 04/03/2022] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
The aerosol transmission was academically recognized as a possible transmission route of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We established an approach to assess the indoor tempo-spatial airborne-disease infection risks through aerosol transmission via real-time CO2 field measurement and occupancy monitoring. Compared to former studies, the proposed method can evaluate real-time airborne disease infection risks through aerosol transmission routes. The approach was utilized in a university office. The accumulated infection risk was calculated for three occupants with practical working schedules (from occupancy recording) and one hypothesis occupant with a typical working schedule. COVID-19 was used as an example. Results demonstrated that the individual infection risks diversified with different dwell times and working places in the office. For the three occupants with a practical working schedule, their 3-day accumulated infection risks were respectively 0.050%, 0.035%, 0.027% and 0.041% due to 11.6, 9.0 and 13.8 h exposure with an initial infector percentage of 1%. The results demonstrate that location and dwell time are both important factors influencing the infection risk of certain occupant in built environment, whereas existing literature seldom took these two points into consideration simultaneously. On the contrary, our proposed approach treated the infection risks as place-by-place, time-by-time and person-by-person diversified in the built environment. The risk assessment results can provide early warning for building occupants and contribute to the transmission control of air-borne disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haida Tang
- School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China
| | - Zhenyu Pan
- School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China
| | - Chunying Li
- School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China
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41
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Albettar M, Leon Wang L, Katal A. A real-time web tool for monitoring and mitigating indoor airborne COVID-19 transmission risks at city scale. Sustain Cities Soc 2022; 80:103810. [PMID: 35261876 PMCID: PMC8891144 DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2022.103810] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Revised: 01/27/2022] [Accepted: 02/25/2022] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Airborne transmission of aerosols contributes to a large portion of the SARS-CoV-2 spread indoors. This study develops a real-time interactive web-based platform for the public to compare various strategies to curb indoor airborne transmission of COVID-19 in different archetype buildings at a city scale. Although many countries have started vaccination and a gradual re-opening, because of emerging new variants of the virus and the possibility of future pandemics, a lively updated tool for monitoring and mitigation of infection risk is essential. As a demonstration, we evaluated the impacts of six mitigation measures on the infection risks in various building types in a city. It shows that the same strategy could perform quite differently, depending on building types and properties. All strategies are shown to reduce the infection risk but wearing a mask and reducing exposure time are the most effective strategies in many buildings, with around 60% reduction. Doubling the minimum required outdoor air ventilation rate is not as effective as other strategies to reduce the risk. It also causes considerable penalties on energy consumption. Therefore, new building ventilation standards, control actions, and design criteria should be considered to mitigate the infection risk and save energy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maher Albettar
- Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal H3G 1M8, Canada
| | - Liangzhu Leon Wang
- Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal H3G 1M8, Canada
| | - Ali Katal
- Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal H3G 1M8, Canada
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42
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Guo Y, Zhang N, Hu T, Wang Z, Zhang Y. Optimization of energy efficiency and COVID-19 pandemic control in different indoor environments. Energy Build 2022; 261:111954. [PMID: 35185270 PMCID: PMC8848536 DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2022.111954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2021] [Revised: 01/23/2022] [Accepted: 02/12/2022] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to considerable morbidity and mortality, and consumed enormous resources (e.g. energy) to control and prevent the disease. It is crucial to balance infection risk and energy consumption when reducing the spread of infection. In this study, a quantitative human, behavior-based, infection risk-energy consumption model for different indoor environments was developed. An optimal balance point for each indoor environment can be obtained using the anti-problem method. For this study we selected Wangjing Block, one of the most densely populated places in Beijing, as an example. Under the current ventilation standard (30 m3/h/person), prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic would be insufficient because the basic reproduction number (R0 ) for students, workers and elders are greater than 1. The optimal required fresh air ventilation rates in most indoor environments are near or below 60 m3/h/person, after considering the combined effects of multiple mitigation measures. In residences, sports buildings and restaurants, the demand for fresh air ventilation rate is relatively high. After our global optimization of infection risk control (R0 ≤ 1), energy consumption can be reduced by 13.7% and 45.1% on weekdays and weekends, respectively, in contrast to a strategy of strict control (R0 = 1 for each indoor environment).
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Affiliation(s)
- Yong Guo
- Department of Building Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Quality Evaluation and Control, Beijing, China
| | - Nan Zhang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Built Environment and Energy Efficient Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Tingrui Hu
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Built Environment and Energy Efficient Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Zhenyu Wang
- College of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Yinping Zhang
- Department of Building Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Quality Evaluation and Control, Beijing, China
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Ding S, Lee JS, Mohamed MA, Ng BF. Infection risk of SARS-CoV-2 in a dining setting: Deposited droplets and aerosols. Build Environ 2022; 213:108888. [PMID: 35169378 PMCID: PMC8828387 DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.108888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2021] [Revised: 02/01/2022] [Accepted: 02/08/2022] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Considering that safe-distancing and mask-wearing measures are not strictly enforced in dining settings in the context of SARS-CoV-2, the infection risks of patrons in a dining outlet (e.g., a cafe) is assessed in this study. The size-resolved aerosol emission rate (AER) and droplets deposition rate (DDR) on dining plates from speaking were obtained through chamber measurements and droplet deposition visualization via fluorescent imaging technique (FIT), respectively. The AER from speaking was 24698 #/min in the size range of 0.3-5.5 μm, while the DDR was 365 #/min in the size range of 43-2847 μm. Furthermore, an infection risk model was adopted and revised to evaluate the infection risk of 120 diners for a "3-h event" in the cafe. In a four-person dining setting around a rectangular table, a diner seated diagonally across an infected person posed the least infection risk due to the deposited droplets on dining plates. The deposited droplets on a dining plate were dominant in possible viral transmission as compared to the long-range airborne route when a diner shared a table with the infected person. Yet, long-range airborne transmission had the potential to infect other diners in the cafe, even resulting in super-spreading events. A fresh air supply of 12.1-17.0 L/s per person is recommended for the cafe to serve 4-20 diners concurrently to minimize infection risks due to aerosols. Current ventilation standards (e.g., 8-10 L/s per person) for a cafe are not enough to avoid the airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shirun Ding
- School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore
| | - Jia Shing Lee
- School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore
| | - Mohamed Arif Mohamed
- School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore
| | - Bing Feng Ng
- School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore
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Sari Motlagh R, Abufaraj M, Karakiewicz PI, Rajwa P, Mori K, Mun DH, Shariat SF. Association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease severity among prostate cancer patients on androgen deprivation therapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. World J Urol 2022; 40:907-914. [PMID: 34477955 PMCID: PMC8414446 DOI: 10.1007/s00345-021-03810-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2021] [Accepted: 08/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE Androgen-regulated enzymes such as the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and the transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2) are involved in the SARS-CoV-2 infection process. The expression of TMPRSS2 and its fusion gene, which are increased in the epithelium of the human prostate gland during prostate carcinogenesis, are regulated by androgens. Our goal was to assess the risk of the SARS-CoV-2 infection and the severity of the disease in PCa patients treated with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). METHODS We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis according to PRISMA guidelines. We queried PubMed and Web of Science databases on 1 July 2021. We used random- and/or fixed-effects meta-analytic models in the presence or absence of heterogeneity according to Cochrane's Q test and I2 statistic, respectively. RESULTS Six retrospective studies (n = 50,220 patients) were selected after considering inclusion and exclusion criteria for qualitative evidence synthesis. Four retrospective studies were included to assess the SARS-CoV-2 infection risk in PCa patients under ADT vs. no ADT and the summarized risk ratio (RR) was 0.8 (95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.44-1.47). Five retrospective studies were included to assess the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in PCa patients under ADT versus no ADT and the summarized RR was 1.23 (95% CI 0.9-1.68). CONCLUSION We found a non-significant association between the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity in PCa patients treated with ADT. However, our results suggest that during the COVID-19 pandemic PCa patients can safely undergo ADT as a cancer therapy without worsening COVID-19 risk and trajectory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reza Sari Motlagh
- Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Vienna General Hospital, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria
- Men's Health and Reproductive Health Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mohammad Abufaraj
- Department of Special Surgery, Jordan University Hospital, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
- The National Center for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Genetics, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
| | - Pierre I Karakiewicz
- Cancer Prognostics and Health Outcomes Unit, University of Montreal Health Center, Montreal, Canada
| | - Pawel Rajwa
- Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Vienna General Hospital, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Urology, Medical University of Silesia, Zabrze, Poland
| | - Keiichiro Mori
- Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Vienna General Hospital, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Urology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Dong-Ho Mun
- Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Vienna General Hospital, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Shahrokh F Shariat
- Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Vienna General Hospital, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
- Department of Special Surgery, Jordan University Hospital, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
- Institute for Urology and Reproductive Health, Sechenov University, Moscow, Russia.
- Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA.
- Department of Urology, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX, USA.
- Second Faculty of Medicine, Department of Urology, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
- Karl Landsteiner Institute of Urology and Andrology, Vienna, Austria.
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Low LL, Tong SF, Ang JY, Abdullah Z, Hamid MA, Risman MS, Wong YT, Jamalul-Lail NI, Chelladorai K, Tan YP, Tay YL, Nordin AA, Hss AS. Social responsibility perspective in public response to the COVID-19 pandemic: a grounded theory approach. BMC Public Health 2022; 22:469. [PMID: 35264136 PMCID: PMC8905029 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-022-12819-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2021] [Accepted: 02/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Combating viral outbreaks extends beyond biomedical and clinical approaches; thus, public health prevention measures are equally important. Public engagement in preventive efforts can be viewed as the social responsibility of individuals in controlling an infectious disease and are subjected to change due to human behaviour. Understanding individuals’ perception of social responsibility is crucial and is not yet explored extensively in the academic literature. We adopted the grounded theory method to develop an explanatory substantive theory to illustrate the process of how individual responded to the outbreak from a social responsibility perspective. Methods In-depth interviews were conducted among 23 Malaysians either through telephone or face-to-face depending on the participant’s preference. Both purposive and theoretical sampling were used. Participants were invited to share their understanding, perceptions and activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. They were further probed about their perceptions on complying with the public health interventions imposed by the authorities. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data was analysed via open coding, focus coding and theoretical coding, facilitated by memoing, sketching and modelling. Results Study findings showed that, social responsibility is perceived within its role, the perceived societal role responsibility. In a particular context, an individual assumed only one of the many expected social roles with their perceived circle of responsibility. Individuals negotiated their actions from this perspective, after considering the perceived risk during the outbreak. The four types of behaviour depicted in the matrix diagram facilitate the understanding of the abstract concept of negotiation in the human decision-making process, and provide the spectrum of different behaviour in relation to public response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions Our study adopted the grounded theory approach to develop a theoretical model that illustrates how individual response to COVID-19 preventive measures is determined by the negotiation between perceived societal role responsibility and perceived infection risk. This substantive theoretical model is abstract, thus has relevance for adoption within similar context of an outbreak.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lee Lan Low
- Institute for Health Systems Research, National Institutes of Health Malaysia, Ministry of Health Malaysia, B2, Jalan Setia Murni U13/52 Seksyen U13, Bandar Setia Alam, Selangor, 40170, Shah Alam, Malaysia.
| | - Seng Fah Tong
- Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Yaacob Latif, Bandar Tun Razak, 56000, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Ju Ying Ang
- Clinical Research Centre, Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Level 4, Ambulatory Care Centre (ACC), Jalan Raja Ashman Shah, 30450, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
| | - Zalilah Abdullah
- Institute for Health Systems Research, National Institutes of Health Malaysia, Ministry of Health Malaysia, B2, Jalan Setia Murni U13/52 Seksyen U13, Bandar Setia Alam, Selangor, 40170, Shah Alam, Malaysia
| | - Maimunah A Hamid
- Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, International Medical University Malaysia, No. 126, Jalan Jalil Perkasa 19, Bukit Jalil, 57000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Mikha Saragi Risman
- Institute for Health Systems Research, National Institutes of Health Malaysia, Ministry of Health Malaysia, B2, Jalan Setia Murni U13/52 Seksyen U13, Bandar Setia Alam, Selangor, 40170, Shah Alam, Malaysia
| | - Yun Teng Wong
- Institute for Health Systems Research, National Institutes of Health Malaysia, Ministry of Health Malaysia, B2, Jalan Setia Murni U13/52 Seksyen U13, Bandar Setia Alam, Selangor, 40170, Shah Alam, Malaysia
| | - Nurul Iman Jamalul-Lail
- Institute for Health Systems Research, National Institutes of Health Malaysia, Ministry of Health Malaysia, B2, Jalan Setia Murni U13/52 Seksyen U13, Bandar Setia Alam, Selangor, 40170, Shah Alam, Malaysia
| | - Kalvina Chelladorai
- Institute for Health Systems Research, National Institutes of Health Malaysia, Ministry of Health Malaysia, B2, Jalan Setia Murni U13/52 Seksyen U13, Bandar Setia Alam, Selangor, 40170, Shah Alam, Malaysia
| | - Yui Ping Tan
- Institute for Health Systems Research, National Institutes of Health Malaysia, Ministry of Health Malaysia, B2, Jalan Setia Murni U13/52 Seksyen U13, Bandar Setia Alam, Selangor, 40170, Shah Alam, Malaysia
| | - Yea Lu Tay
- Institute for Health Systems Research, National Institutes of Health Malaysia, Ministry of Health Malaysia, B2, Jalan Setia Murni U13/52 Seksyen U13, Bandar Setia Alam, Selangor, 40170, Shah Alam, Malaysia
| | - Awatef Amer Nordin
- Institute for Health Systems Research, National Institutes of Health Malaysia, Ministry of Health Malaysia, B2, Jalan Setia Murni U13/52 Seksyen U13, Bandar Setia Alam, Selangor, 40170, Shah Alam, Malaysia
| | - Amar-Singh Hss
- Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy, Suite C-13A-12, Block C, The Scott Garden SOHO, Jalan Klang Lama, 58100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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Ojeda-Robertos NF, Peralta-Torres JA, Parra-Bracamonte GM, Cruz-González AR, Luna-Palomera C, Ulín-Yzquierdo C, Pires LA, Molento MB. First report and risk of infection of Fasciola hepatica (Linnaeus, 1761) in water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis - Linnaeus, 1758) in Mexico. Vet Parasitol Reg Stud Reports 2022; 28:100682. [PMID: 35115121 DOI: 10.1016/j.vprsr.2021.100682] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2021] [Revised: 11/27/2021] [Accepted: 12/18/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and risk of Fasciola hepatica infection in water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) during peripartum in southeastern Mexico. An observational study was designed, in which 94 pregnant buffalo cows near calving and naturally exposed to F. hepatica were included. Farm visits were made on days 60, 30, 15 prepartum, at calving, and on days 15 and 30 postpartum. Feces were obtained from all animals to confirm the presence of F. hepatica eggs. A group of 49 animals was randomly treated twice at day 60 prepartum and at calving with nitroxynil and the other group (n = 45) was kept untreated. Buffaloes would be treated once presenting a positive coproparasitological diagnosis up to 30 days postpartum. F. hepatica was detected in 5.3% of the buffaloes (5/94) with a prevalence between 1.7 and 12%. It was observed that treated buffaloes had a lower risk (4.08%) of being positive than untreated buffaloes (6.67%) (P > 0.05). It was also found that untreated animals had 1.6 times more risk of being positive than treated buffaloes. This paper presents the first report of F. hepatica in water buffaloes in Mexico, demonstrating that the two preventive treatments reduced F. hepatica egg shedding during parturition. These findings highlight the need for monitoring for F. hepatica even in unreported/silent potential disease areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadia F Ojeda-Robertos
- División Académica de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, Carretera Vhsa-Teapa Km 25, CP 86290, Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico
| | - Jorge A Peralta-Torres
- División Académica de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, Carretera Vhsa-Teapa Km 25, CP 86290, Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico
| | - Gaspar M Parra-Bracamonte
- Centro de Biotecnología Genómica, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Boulevard del Maestro SN, Esq. Elías Piña, Col.Narciso Mendoza, Reynosa 88710, Tamaulipas, Mexico
| | - Alba R Cruz-González
- División Académica de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, Carretera Vhsa-Teapa Km 25, CP 86290, Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico
| | - Carlos Luna-Palomera
- División Académica de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, Carretera Vhsa-Teapa Km 25, CP 86290, Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico
| | - Cruz Ulín-Yzquierdo
- División Académica de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, Carretera Vhsa-Teapa Km 25, CP 86290, Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico
| | - Luciana A Pires
- Laboratório de Parasitologia Clínica Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Agrárias, Rua dos Funcionários, 1540, 80035-050 Curitiba, PR, Brazil
| | - Marcelo B Molento
- Laboratório de Parasitologia Clínica Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Agrárias, Rua dos Funcionários, 1540, 80035-050 Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
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47
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Zander T, Hallek M. [What should specialist in internal medicine be aware of in patients treated with biologics? : Infections and autoimmune phenomena]. Internist (Berl) 2022. [PMID: 35089363 DOI: 10.1007/s00108-021-01259-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/22/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Biologics that influence the immune system play a crucial role in the treatment of autoimmune and malignant diseases. Overall these drugs have revolutionized treatment as they demonstrate high efficacy and a relatively low amount of side effects. This leads to longer treatment of patients with a high quality of life. Side effects, especially longer-term side effects, become ever more important as patients are simultaneously seen by different physicians due to comorbidities. Infections, mainly of the upper airway or urogenital tract, represent the main side effect of immunosuppressive biologics, but atypical infections by fungi or mycobacteria may also occur. Biologics that enhance the immune response such as checkpoint inhibitors lead to autoimmune phenomena necessitating the interruption of treatment or immunosuppressive treatment.
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Liu M, Liu J, Cao Q, Li X, Liu S, Ji S, Lin CH, Wei D, Shen X, Long Z, Chen Q. Evaluation of different air distribution systems in a commercial airliner cabin in terms of comfort and COVID-19 infection risk. Build Environ 2022; 208:108590. [PMID: 34812218 PMCID: PMC8599143 DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108590] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2021] [Revised: 10/09/2021] [Accepted: 11/15/2021] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
The air distribution system in an airliner plays a key role in maintaining a comfortable and healthy environment in the aircraft cabin. To evaluate the performance of a novel displacement ventilation (DV) system and a traditional mixing ventilation (MV) system in an airliner cabin, this study conducted experiments and simulations in a seven-row cabin mockup. This investigation used ultrasonic anemometers and T-thermocouples to measure the air velocity, temperature and distribution of 1 μm and 5 μm particles. Simulation verifications were performed for these operating conditions, and additional scenarios with different occurrence source locations were also simulated. This study combined the Wells-Riley equation with a real case based on a COVID-19 outbreak among passengers on a long-distance bus to obtain the COVID-19 quanta value. Through an evaluation of the airflow organization, thermal comfort, and risk of COVID-19 infection, the two ventilation systems were compared. This investigation found that polydisperse particles should be used to calculate the risk of infection in airliner cabins. In addition, at the beginning of the pandemic, the infection risk with DV was lower than that with MV. In the middle and late stages of the epidemic, the infection risk with MV can be reduced when passengers wear masks, leading to an infection risk approximately equal to that of DV.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingxin Liu
- Tianjin Key Lab of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China
| | - Junjie Liu
- Tianjin Key Lab of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China
| | - Qing Cao
- School of Civil Engineering, Dalian University of Technology (DUT), 2 Linggong Road, Dalian, 116024, China
- Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
| | - Xingyang Li
- Tianjin Key Lab of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China
| | - Sumei Liu
- Tianjin Key Lab of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China
| | - Shengcheng Ji
- Beijing Aeronautical Science & Technology Research Institute of COMAC, Beijing, China
| | - Chao-Hsin Lin
- Environmental Control Systems, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Everett, WA, 98203, USA
| | - Daniel Wei
- Boeing Research & Technology, Beijing, 100027, China
| | - Xiong Shen
- Tianjin Key Lab of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China
| | - Zhengwei Long
- Tianjin Key Lab of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China
| | - Qingyan Chen
- Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
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49
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Motamedi H, Shirzadi M, Tominaga Y, Mirzaei PA. CFD modeling of airborne pathogen transmission of COVID-19 in confined spaces under different ventilation strategies. Sustain Cities Soc 2022; 76:103397. [PMID: 34631393 PMCID: PMC8487408 DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2021.103397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2021] [Revised: 09/21/2021] [Accepted: 09/23/2021] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
Airborne transmission is an important route of spread of viral diseases (e.g., COVID-19) inside the confined spaces. In this respect, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) emerged as a reliable and fast tool to understand the complex flow patterns in such spaces. Most of the recent studies, nonetheless, focused on the spatial distribution of airborne pathogens to identify the infection probability without considering the exposure time. This research proposes a framework to evaluate the infection probability related to both spatial and temporal parameters. A validated Eulerian-Lagrangian CFD model of exhaled droplets is first developed and then evaluated with an office case study impacted by different ventilation strategies (i.e., cross- (CV), single- (SV), mechanical- (MV) and no-ventilation (NV)). CFD results were analyzed in a bespoke code to calculate the tempo-spatial distribution of accumulated airborne pathogens. Furthermore, two indices of local and general infection risks were used to evaluate the infection probability of the ventilation scenarios. The results suggest that SV has the highest infection probability while SV and NO result in higher dispersions of airborne pathogens inside the room. Eventually, the time history of indices reveals that the efficiency of CV and MV can be poor in certain regions of the room.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hamid Motamedi
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Iran
| | - Mohammadreza Shirzadi
- Wind and Fluid Engineering Research Center, Niigata Institute of Technology, Kashiwazaki, Japan
- Fine Particle Technology Laboratory, Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, 739-8527, Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Yoshihide Tominaga
- Wind and Fluid Engineering Research Center, Niigata Institute of Technology, Kashiwazaki, Japan
| | - Parham A Mirzaei
- Architecture & Built Environment Department, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG2RD, United Kingdom
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50
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Zhang CM, Xu PC, Du WW, Wang XC. Exposure parameters and health risk of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in the recreational water activities for urban residents in China. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 2022; 29:1573-1583. [PMID: 34363153 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-15463-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Knowledge gaps in the exposure parameters for recreational water activities make quantitative risk assessment related to water recreation difficult. Therefore, the annual exposure frequency and single exposure duration for the recreational water activities of residents from ten cities in the North and South of China were investigated. Questionnaire interviews were carried on recreational water activities comprising swimming (SW), boating (BA), playing in interactive fountains (PF), and watching fountains (WF). Quantitative microbial risk assessment for the exposure of urban residents to Cryptosporidium and Giardia was also performed. For the four recreational water activities, the participation rates of urban residents in SW and WF were higher than the others. For SW and BA, the mean annual exposure frequency and single exposure duration for males were significantly higher than those for females. PF and WF showed the opposite. The annual exposure frequency for above 35-year-old residents was higher than that for young residents (18-35 years). However, the single exposure duration for young residents was highest in SW, BA, and PF. The mean annual exposure frequency and single exposure duration for North China residents were higher than those for South China residents in all recreational water activities, except for SW. Overall, the annual exposure frequency and single exposure duration in recreational water activities for all urban residents followed a lognormal distribution. In the four recreational water activities, the total annual infection risk of male exposure to Cryptosporidium was 1.0 × 10-2, with the confidence intervals between 95 and 5% of [4.3 × 10-4, 3.7 × 10-2], whereas that for females was 6.8 × 10-3 and [4.2 × 10-4, 2.4 × 10-2]. Also, the annual infection risk of males to Giardia was 8.8 × 10-3 and [5.1×10-4, 3.2×10-2], and that of females was 5.3 × 10-3 and [4.0 × 10-4, 1.8 × 10-2]. These results demonstrated that SW and PF made the highest contribution to the total annual infection risk. Sensitivity analysis highlighted that the characterization of exposure parameters plays a critical role in health risk assessment, which may provide a scientific basis for recreational water quality standards formulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chong-Miao Zhang
- School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, 710055, China.
- Key Laboratory of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, Ministry of Education, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, 710055, China.
- Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, 710055, China.
- International Science and Technology Cooperation Center for Urban Alternative Water Resources Development, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, 710055, China.
| | - Peng-Cheng Xu
- School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, 710055, China
- Key Laboratory of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, Ministry of Education, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, 710055, China
- Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, 710055, China
- International Science and Technology Cooperation Center for Urban Alternative Water Resources Development, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, 710055, China
| | - Wei-Wei Du
- School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, 710055, China
- Key Laboratory of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, Ministry of Education, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, 710055, China
- Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, 710055, China
| | - Xiaochang C Wang
- Key Laboratory of Northwest Water Resource, Environment and Ecology, Ministry of Education, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, 710055, China
- International Science and Technology Cooperation Center for Urban Alternative Water Resources Development, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, 710055, China
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