Association between combination COVID-19-influenza vaccination and long COVID in middle-aged and older Europeans: A cross-sectional study

The potential impact of combined COVID-19 and influenza vaccination on long COVID remains uncertain. In the present cross-sectional study, we aimed to investigate the plausible association between them in middle-aged and older Europeans based on the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). A total of 1910 participants were recruited in the analyses. The study outcome was long COVID. Participants were divided into 4 groups through the self-reported status of COVID-19 and influenza vaccination. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated. 1397 participants experienced long COVID. After multivariable adjustment, those vaccinated with neither COVID-19 nor influenza vaccine had higher risk of long COVID (OR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.26-2.35) compared to those vaccinated with both vaccines. Furthermore, adding the 4 statuses of COVID-19 vaccination/influenza vaccination to conventional risk model improved risk reclassification for long COVID (continuous net reclassification improvement was 16.26% [p = .003], and integrated discrimination improvement was 0.51% [p = .005]). No heterogeneity was found in the subgroup analyses (all p-interaction ≥0.05). Our study might provide a strategy for people aged 50 and over to reduce the occurrence of long COVID, that is, to combine the use of the COVID-19 vaccine and influenza vaccines.

Combined Use of Serum N-terminal Pro-B-Type Natriuretic Peptide and Glypican-6 in the Diagnosis of Heart Failure

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of serum glypican-6 (GPC-6) levels and the combination of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-ProBNP) and GPC-6 in the diagnosis of heart failure (HF).

METHODS

In this prospective study, patients older than 18 years of age, admitted to the emergency department of our hospital between December 2021 and April 2022, diagnosed with heart failure (patient group), and healthy volunteers with similar sociodemographic characteristics (control group) were included. The disease severity classification of the patient group was made according to the 2021 ESC guidelines, using echocardiographic findings. Serum GPC-6 and NT-ProBNP levels were measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method, which determines the antigen-antibody relationship. Optimal GPC-6 and NT-ProBNP levels for the diagnosis of HF were determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The patients were divided into three groups according to these levels. Group 1 consisted of patients with both markers below the cutoff values, Group 2 consisted of patients with either of these markers above the cutoff values, and Group 3 consisted of patients with both markers above the cutoff values.

RESULTS

The study included 65 heart failure patients and 20 healthy volunteers. When the patient and control groups were compared in terms of serum GPC-6 and serum NT-ProBNP levels, both parameters were evaluated as significantly higher in the patient group (p=0.038 and p<0.001; respectively). In the ROC analysis, it was determined that GPC-6 indicated HF with 58.46% sensitivity and 75% specificity for an optimal cutoff value of 390 pg/ml. In the ROC analysis, it was determined that serum NT-ProBNP indicated HF with 89.23% sensitivity and 70% specificity for an optimal cutoff value of 122 pg/ml. When the groups were compared according to the rate of HF, it was found to be higher in Group 3 compared to Group 2 (97.1% vs. 70.3%, p<0.002) and Group 1 (97.1% vs. 38.5%, p<0.001). This rate was seen to be significantly higher in Group 2 compared to Group 1 (70.3% vs. 38.5%, p=0.042).

CONCLUSION

The combination of GPC-6 and NT-ProBNP may help diagnose HF patients admitted to the emergency department.

Combined Use of Antimicrobial Peptides with Antiseptics against Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria: Pros and Cons

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are acknowledged as a promising template for designing new antimicrobials. At the same time, existing toxicity issues and limitations in their pharmacokinetics make topical application one of the less complicated routes to put AMPs-based therapeutics into actual medical practice. Antiseptics are one of the common components for topical treatment potent against antibiotic-resistant pathogens but often with toxicity limitations of their own. Thus, the interaction of AMPs and antiseptics is an interesting topic that is also less explored than combined action of AMPs and antibiotics. Herein, we analyzed antibacterial, antibiofilm, and cytotoxic activity of combinations of both membranolytic and non-membranolytic AMPs with a number of antiseptic agents. Fractional concentration indices were used as a measure of possible effective concentration reduction achievable due to combined application. Cases of both synergistic and antagonistic interaction with certain antiseptics and surfactants were identified, and trends in the occurrence of these types of interaction were discussed. The data may be of use for AMP-based drug development and suggest that the topic requires further attention for successfully integrating AMPs-based products in the context of complex treatment. AMP/antiseptic combinations show promise for creating topical formulations with improved activity, lowered toxicity, and, presumably, decreased chances of inducing bacterial resistance. However, careful assessment is required to avoid AMP neutralization by certain antiseptic classes in either complex drug design or AMP application alongside other therapeutics/care products.

[Combined Use of Zirconium-Modified Bentonite Capping and Calcium Nitrate Addition to Control the Release of Phosphorus from Sediments]

In this study, sediment incubation experiments were carried out to investigate the efficiency and mechanism of the control of phosphorus (P) release from sediments. The results showed that under anoxic conditions, P could be released from the sediment into the pore water first and then the dissolved P in the pore water could be transported into the overlying water, leading to high concentrations of soluble reactive P (SRP) and diffusive gradient in thin-films (DGT)-labile P in the overlying water. However, the combined use of calcium nitrate (CN) addition and zirconium-modified bentonite (ZB) capping could effectively control the release of P from sediment, resulting in the low concentrations of SRP and DGT-labile P in the overlying water. Furthermore, the combined use of CN addition and ZB capping could significantly decrease the concentrations of SRP and DGT-labile P in the sediment. In addition, the combined utilization of CN addition and ZB capping also could result in a reduction of redox sensitive P (BD-P) in the uppermost sediment layer. The reduction of pore water SRP, DGT-labile P, and BD-P in sediment solids is of great importance to the control of sediment-P liberation by the combined use of CN addition and ZB capping. The reduction efficiency of overlying water SRP by combined CN addition/ZB capping technology was higher than that of single CN addition technology. Compared to that of single CN addition technology, the reduction efficiencies of pore water SRP, SRP diffusion flux across the sediment/overlying water interface (SWI), and BD-P in the sediment by the combined use of CN addition and ZB capping were also higher. The combined technology based on CN addition and ZB capping had a higher reduction efficiency of overlying water SRP during the late stage of sediment remediation than the single technology based on ZB capping, and the former had higher reduction efficiencies of pore water SRP, DGT-labile P, and SRP diffusion flux across the SWI and apparent P diffusion flux through the SWI than the latter. The results of this work indicate that the combined use of CN addition and ZB capping is a very promising method for the control of P release from sediments.

Principles of digital PCR and its applications in current obstetrical and gynecological diseases

Digital PCR (dPCR) is a revolutionary technique to precisely quantify nucleic acids. For its high sensitivity and specificity, this technique has been widely replicated worldwide. To verify its applicability, we reviewed all the related articles in PubMed database published before May 10, 2019. Original articles and reviews on the topics were selected. Entered key words included "digital PCR/dPCR", "advantage", "combined use", "microfluidic chip", "gynecological cancer/tumor". We found that dPCR has shown great potential in clinical operations, like tumor liquid biopsy, non-invasive prenatal diagnosis, microorganism detection, and next-generation sequencing library quality-control.

Can the Combined Use of Two Screening Instruments Improve the Predictive Power of Dependency in (Instrumental) Activities of Daily Living, Mortality and Hospitalization in Old Age?

BACKGROUND

Due to differences in the definition of frailty, many different screening instruments have been developed. However, the predictive validity of these instruments among community-dwelling older people remains uncertain.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate whether combined (i.e. sequential or parallel) use of available frailty instruments improves the predictive power of dependency in (instrumental) activities of daily living ((I)ADL), mortality and hospitalization.

DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

A prospective cohort study with two-year follow-up was conducted among pre-frail and frail community-dwelling older people in the Netherlands.

MEASUREMENTS

Four combinations of two highly specific frailty instruments (Frailty Phenotype, Frailty Index) and two highly sensitive instruments (Tilburg Frailty Indicator, Groningen Frailty Indicator) were investigated. We calculated sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) for all single instruments as well as for the four combinations, sequential and parallel.

RESULTS

2,420 individuals participated (mean age 76.3 ± 6.6 years, 60.5% female) in our study. Sequential use increased the levels of specificity, as expected, whereas the PPV hardly increased. Parallel use increased the levels of sensitivity, although the NPV hardly increased.

CONCLUSIONS

Applying two frailty instruments sequential or parallel might not be a solution for achieving better predictions of frailty in community-dwelling older people. Our results show that the combination of different screening instruments does not improve predictive validity. However, as this is one of the first studies to investigate the combined use of screening instruments, we recommend further exploration of other combinations of instruments among other study populations.

One Metarhizium brunneum Strain, Two Uses to Control Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae)

We determined the virulence and insecticidal activity of the hypocrealean fungus Metarhizium brunneum (Petch) strain EAMb 09/01-Su and its crude extract against Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata Wiedemann (Diptera: Tephritidae) and we evaluated the combined use of the fungus with its crude extract. We also determined the effect of fermentation time, temperature, and initial pH of the M. brunneum culture medium on the insecticidal activity of the crude extract. When C. capitata adults were sprayed with a conidial suspension, the strain EAMb 09/01-Su caused 100% mortality with a mean lethal time (LT50) of 5.6 d and mean lethal concentration (LC50) of 2.84 f#x2013; 10(7) conidia per milliliter. Fermentation time significantly affected the lethality of the crude extract when it was provided to C. capitata per os. The highest level of mortality (73.3%) and the shortest median survival time (25.5 h) was obtained from 15-d-old cultures. The crude extract was demonstrated to be thermostable, given that the mortality was >50% at 48 h when the extract had been heated to 100°C for 3 h. Lastly, the optimum initial pH for maximum crude extract activity in terms of mortality ranged between 7 and 9. Additivity was observed for all M. brunneum EAMb 09/01-Su strain crude extract combinations tested, indicating compatibility between products. We concluded that the M. brunneum EAMb 09/01-Su strain is a promising tool for medfly control alone or in combination with its crude extract.

Combined application of origanum vulgare l. essential oil and acetic acid for controlling the growth of staphylococcus aureus in foods

This study evaluated the occurrence of an enhancing inhibitory effect of the combined application of Origanum vulgare L. essential oil and acetic acid against Staphylococcus aureus by the determination of Fractional Inhibitory Concentration (FIC) index and kill-time assay in nutrient broth, meat broth and in a food model (meat pieces). Acetic acid showed MIC and MFC of 0.6 and 1.25 μL.mL^-1, respectively. For O. vulgare essential oil MIC and MBC were 1.25 and 2.5 μL.mL^-1, respectively. FIC indexes of the mixture of essential oil and acetic acid at MIC x ½ were ≤ 1.0, showing an additive effect. No synergy was found at kill-time study. Anti-staphylococcal effect of the antimicrobials alone or in mixture (MIC x ½) was lower in meat than in nutrient and meat broths. The effective combination of essential oils and organic acids could appear as an attractive alternative for the food industry, as the doses to inhibit the microbial growth in foods can be lowered.