The Clinical Anatomy of SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern in Central Greece During October 2020-July 2022.

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) during the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates investigation into their clinical differentiation and outcomes. This study aimed to examine these differences among VOCs, considering multiple related factors. An observational cohort study was conducted on patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection via nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swab who visited the emergency department of a public Greek hospital between October 2020 and July 2022 during different VOC circulation in the region.

Wastewater Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2: A Comparison of Two Concentration Methods.

Wastewater surveillance is crucial for the epidemiological monitoring of SARS-CoV-2. Various concentration techniques, such as skimmed milk flocculation (SMF) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation, are employed to isolate the virus effectively. This study aims to compare these two methods and determine the one with the superior recovery rates.

Predicting the immunomodulatory activity of probiotic lactic acid bacteria using supervised machine learning in a Cornu aspersum snail model.

In the process of screening for probiotic strains, there are no clearly established bacterial phenotypic markers which could be used for the prediction of their in vivo mechanism of action. In this work, we demonstrate for the first time that Machine Learning (ML) methods can be used for accurately predicting the in vivo immunomodulatory activity of probiotic strains based on their cell surface phenotypic features using a snail host-microbe interaction model. A broad range of snail gut presumptive probiotics, including 240 new lactic acid bacterial strains (Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Lactococcus, and Enterococcus), were isolated and characterized based on their capacity to withstand snails' gastrointestinal defense barriers, such as the pedal mucus, gastric mucus, gastric juices, and acidic pH, in association with their cell surface hydrophobicity, autoaggregation, and biofilm formation ability.

Interventional Study of Nonpharmaceutical Measures to Prevent COVID-19 Aboard Cruise Ships.

Cruise ships carrying COVID-19-vaccinated populations applied near-identical nonpharmaceutical measures during July-November 2021; passenger masking was not applied on 2 ships. Infection risk for masked passengers was 14.58 times lower than for unmasked passengers and 19.

Does tourism affect the long term course of COVID-19 pandemic in a country of destination? Evidence from a popular Greek island in 2020 where control measures were implemented.

Greece opened its points of entry on July 1, 2020, with specific guidelines for travellers arriving by sea, air or land. The aim of this article is to examine the effect of tourism on the long term course of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic during the pre-vaccination era (June to December 2020) on the popular Greek island of Crete. To achieve this, a cross-sectional serosurvey, repeated at monthly intervals, was conducted to compare the seroprevalence in Crete with seroprevalence in the mainland of Greece.