Toxicity and Local Tolerance of COVID- Vax, a Plasmid DNA Vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, Delivered by Electroporation.

COVID-19 is a rapidly spreading disease, posing a huge hazard to global health. The plasmid vaccine pTK1A-TPA-SpikeA (named COVID-Vax) encodes the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 S protein receptor-binding domain, developed for intramuscular injection followed by electroporation (EP). The aim of this study was to assess the systemic toxicity and local tolerance of COVID-Vax delivered intramuscularly followed by EP in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats.

Electrocardiographic Predictors of Silent Atrial Fibrillation in Cryptogenic Stroke.

Background: Prolonged screening for the presence of atrial fibrillation (AF) is recommended after cryptogenic stroke (CS) and different electrocardiographic markers of atrial cardiopathy have been proposed as tools to identify patients at high-risk for AF.

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between different electrocardiographic parameters and in-hospital AF occurrence after acute CS.

Method: In total, 222 patients with CS underwent 12-lead resting electrocardiogram (ECG) at admission and 7-day in-hospital ECG monitoring in order to evaluate the possible occurrence of silent AF.

Overview of the marmoset as a model in nonclinical development of pharmaceutical products.

Callithrix jacchus (common marmoset) is one of the more primitive non-human primate species and is used widely in fundamental biology, pharmacology and toxicology studies. Marmosets breed well in captivity with good reproductive efficiencies and their sexual maturity is reached within 18 months of age allowing for rapid expansion of colonies and early availability of sexually mature animals permitting an earlier assessment of product candidates in the adult. Their relatively small size allows a reduction in material requirements leading to a reduction in development time and cost.