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López-Lacort M, Amini M, Emborg HD, Nielsen J, McDonald SA, Valentiner-Branth P, Díez-Domingo J, Orrico-Sánchez A. Incidence of Invasive and Noninvasive Pneumococcal Pneumonia Hospitalizations in People Aged ≥50 Years: Assessing Variability Across Denmark and Spain. J Infect Dis 2024:jiae088. [PMID: 38459772 DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiae088] [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] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Determining pneumococcal pneumonia (PP) burden in the elderly population is challenging due to limited data on invasive PP (IPP) and, in particular, noninvasive PP (NIPP) incidence. Using retrospective cohorts of adults aged ≥50 years in Denmark (2 782 303) and the Valencia region, Spain (2 283 344), we found higher IPP hospitalization rates in Denmark than Valencia (18.3 vs 9/100 000 person-years [PY], respectively). Conversely, NIPP hospitalization rates were higher in Valencia (48.2 vs 7.2/100 000 PY). IPP and NIPP rates increased with age and comorbidities in both regions, with variations by sex and case characteristics (eg, complications, mortality). The burden of PP in adults is substantial, yet its true magnitude remains elusive. Discrepancies in clinical practices impede international comparisons; for instance, Valencia employed a higher frequency of urinary antigen tests compared to Denmark. Additionally, coding practices and prehospital antibiotic utilization may further influence these variations. These findings could guide policymakers and enhance the understanding of international disparities in disease burden assessments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mónica López-Lacort
- Vaccine Research Department of Fisabio-Public Health, Valencia, Spain
- CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Marzyeh Amini
- P95 Epidemiology and Pharmacovigilance, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Hanne-Dorthe Emborg
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jens Nielsen
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Scott A McDonald
- Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Palle Valentiner-Branth
- Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Javier Díez-Domingo
- Vaccine Research Department of Fisabio-Public Health, Valencia, Spain
- CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
- Chair of Vaccines, Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir, Valencia, Spain
| | - Alejandro Orrico-Sánchez
- Vaccine Research Department of Fisabio-Public Health, Valencia, Spain
- CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
- Chair of Vaccines, Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir, Valencia, Spain
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Galkina I, Faid AY, Jiang W, Scheepers F, Borowski P, Sunde S, Shviro M, Lehnert W, Mechler AK. Stability of Ni-Fe-Layered Double Hydroxide Under Long-Term Operation in AEM Water Electrolysis. Small 2024:e2311047. [PMID: 38269475 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202311047] [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] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2023] [Revised: 12/14/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2024]
Abstract
Anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) is an attractive method for green hydrogen production. It allows the use of non-platinum group metal catalysts and can achieve performance comparable to proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers due to recent technological advances. While current systems already show high performances with available materials, research gaps remain in understanding electrode durability and degradation behavior. In this study, the performance and degradation tracking of a Ni3 Fe-LDH-based single-cell is implemented and investigated through the correlation of electrochemical data using chemical and physical characterization methods. A performance stability of 1000 h, with a degradation rate of 84 µV h-1 at 1 A cm-2 is achieved, presenting the Ni3 Fe-LDH-based cell as a stable and cost-attractive AEMWE system. The results show that the conductivity of the formed Ni-Fe-phase is one key to obtaining high electrolyzer performance and that, despite Fe leaching, change in anion-conducting binder compound, and morphological changes inside the catalyst bulk, the Ni3 Fe-LDH-based single-cells demonstrate high performance and durability. The work reveals the importance of longer stability tests and presents a holistic approach of electrochemical tracking and post-mortem analysis that offers a guideline for investigating electrode degradation behavior over extended measurement periods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irina Galkina
- Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, Electrochemical Process Engineering (IEK-14), 52425, Jülich, Germany
| | - Alaa Y Faid
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, 7491, Norway
| | - Wulyu Jiang
- Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, Electrochemical Process Engineering (IEK-14), 52425, Jülich, Germany
| | - Fabian Scheepers
- Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, Electrochemical Process Engineering (IEK-14), 52425, Jülich, Germany
| | | | - Svein Sunde
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, 7491, Norway
| | - Meital Shviro
- Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, Electrochemical Process Engineering (IEK-14), 52425, Jülich, Germany
- Chemistry and Nanoscience Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO, 80401, USA
| | - Werner Lehnert
- Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, Electrochemical Process Engineering (IEK-14), 52425, Jülich, Germany
- RWTH Aachen University, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Modeling in Electrochemical Process Engineering, 52056, Aachen, Germany
| | - Anna K Mechler
- RWTH Aachen University, Electrochemical Reaction Engineering (AVT.ERT), 52056, Aachen, Germany
- Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research, Fundamentals of Electrochemistry (IEK-9), 52425, Jülich, Germany
- JARA-ENERGY, 52056, Aachen, Germany
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Strand TM, Olsson Engvall E, Lahti E, Hjertqvist M, Lundkvist Å. Leptospira Status in Sweden during the Past Century, Neglected and Re-Emerging? Microorganisms 2023; 11:1991. [PMID: 37630551 PMCID: PMC10459319 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11081991] [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] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2023] [Revised: 07/21/2023] [Accepted: 07/27/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
We compiled data on notified cases of leptospirosis in animals and humans in Sweden. Published studies on leptospirosis in humans and animals from the beginning of the 20th century onwards are summarized. During the Second World War, hundreds of leptospirosis cases in humans were reported in Sweden, but since then, there have been only a few severe cases. Surveillance of leptospirosis in domestic animals demonstrates that the pathogen is still occurring. The occurrence of Leptospira in humans and animals in the other Nordic countries resembles that in Sweden. Leptospirosis is an underdiagnosed and underreported disease globally, both in animals and humans, partly due to the lack of simple, rapid diagnostic tools but possibly also due to the lack of awareness among physicians, veterinarians and nurses. Traditionally, leptospirosis has been mostly diagnosed by serology, but development of molecular methodshas improved the capability for correct diagnosis. As of today, leptospirosis is regarded as a relatively uncommon disease in the Nordic countries, but in some other countries, it is considered a neglected zoonosis or a (re-)emerging disease that may become more common in the future. Possible factors that could contribute to an increase in incidence are discussed in this review. Active surveillance of humans and domestic and wild animals and stringent rodent control in society and animal farms are of outmost importance for prevention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tanja M. Strand
- National Veterinary Institute, SE-751 89 Uppsala, Sweden
- Zoonosis Science Center, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, SE-751 23 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Eva Olsson Engvall
- Zoonosis Science Center, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, SE-751 23 Uppsala, Sweden
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Elina Lahti
- National Veterinary Institute, SE-751 89 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Marika Hjertqvist
- Department of Communicable Disease Control and Health Protection, Public Health Agency of Sweden, SE-171 82 Solna, Sweden
| | - Åke Lundkvist
- Zoonosis Science Center, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, SE-751 23 Uppsala, Sweden
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Hoffman T, Kolstad L, Akaberi D, Järhult JD, Rönnberg B, Lundkvist Å. Reduced Binding between Omicron B.1.1.529 and the Human ACE2 Receptor in a Surrogate Virus Neutralization Test for SARS-CoV-2. Viruses 2023; 15:1280. [PMID: 37376580 DOI: 10.3390/v15061280] [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] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2023] [Revised: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 05/25/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The current gold standard assay for detecting neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the conventional virus neutralization test (cVNT), which requires infectious virus and a biosafety level 3 laboratory. Here, we report the development of a SARS-CoV-2 surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT) that, with Luminex technology, detects NAbs. The assay was designed to mimic the virus-host interaction and is based on antibody blockage between the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) receptor and the spike (S) protein of the Wuhan, Delta, and Omicron (B.1.1.529) variants of SARS-CoV-2. The sVNT proved to have a 100% correlation with a SARS-CoV-2 cVNT regarding qualitative results. Binding between the hACE2 receptor and the S1 domain of the B.1.1.529 lineage of the Omicron variant was not observed in the assay but between the receptor and an S1 + S2 trimer and the receptor binding domain (RBD) in a reduced manner, suggesting less efficient receptor binding for the B.1.1.529 Omicron variant. The results indicate that the SARS-CoV-2 sVNT is a suitable tool for both the research community and the public health service, as it may serve as an efficient diagnostic alternative to the cVNT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tove Hoffman
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Zoonosis Science Center (ZSC), Uppsala University, 752 37 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Linda Kolstad
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Zoonosis Science Center (ZSC), Uppsala University, 752 37 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Dario Akaberi
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Zoonosis Science Center (ZSC), Uppsala University, 752 37 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Josef D Järhult
- Department of Medical Sciences, Zoonosis Science Center (ZSC), Uppsala University, 751 85 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Bengt Rönnberg
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Zoonosis Science Center (ZSC), Uppsala University, 752 37 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Åke Lundkvist
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Zoonosis Science Center (ZSC), Uppsala University, 752 37 Uppsala, Sweden
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