Leveraging wastewater surveillance for managing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and concerned pathogens during FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been proven effective for the monitoring of infectious disease outbreaks during mass gathering events and for timely public health interventions. As part of Qatar's efforts to monitor and combat the spread of infectious diseases during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ (FWC'22), wastewater surveillance was used to monitor the spread of SARS-CoV-2, human enterovirus, and poliovirus. The screening covered five major wastewater treatment plants servicing the event locations between October 2022 and January 2023.

Dosage, time, and polytherapy dependent effects of different levetiracetam regimens on cognitive function.

Objective: Cognitive impairment is a potential drawback of antiseizure medications. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of different levetiracetam drug regimens on cognitive function.

Methods: A retrospective analysis identified 221 patients diagnosed with seizures who underwent cognitive screening.

Drug-resistant epilepsy: Definition, pathophysiology, and management.

There are currently >51 million people with epilepsy (PWE) in the world and every year >4.9 million people develop new-onset epilepsy. The cornerstone of treatment in PWE is drug therapy with antiseizure medications (ASMs).

Seizure clusters.

Acute repetitive seizures, also called seizure clusters, are common phenomena in patients with epilepsy. They are a burden on patients and their caregivers and may be very disruptive to the patients' lives. They may progress to prolonged seizures or status epilepticus if they are not aborted as soon as possible.

Evaluation of automated molecular tests for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in pooled nasopharyngeal and saliva specimens.

Background: Pooling of samples for SARS-CoV-2 testing in low-prevalence settings has been used as an effective strategy to expand testing capacity and mitigate challenges with the shortage of supplies. We evaluated two automated molecular test systems for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in pooled specimens.

Methods: Pooled nasopharyngeal and saliva specimens were tested by Qiagen QIAstat-Dx Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Panel (QIAstat) or Cepheid Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2 (Xpert), and the results were compared to that of standard RT-qPCR tests without pooling.