Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 ORF7a Deletions from COVID-19-Positive Individuals and Its Impact on Virus Spread in Cell Culture.

The spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing the COVID-19 outbreak, posed a primary concern of public health worldwide. The most common changes in SARS-CoV-2 are single nucleotide substitutions, also reported insertions and deletions. This work investigates the presence of SARS-CoV-2 ORF7a deletions identified in COVID-19-positive individuals.

Prolonged SARS-CoV-2 Positivity in Immunocompetent Patients: Virus Isolation, Genomic Integrity, and Transmission Risk.

Current guidelines for patient isolation in COVID-19 cases recommend a symptom-based approach, averting the use of control real-time reverse transcription PCR (rRT-PCR) testing. However, we hypothesized that patients with persistently positive results by RT-PCR for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) could be potentially infectious for a prolonged time, even if immunocompetent and asymptomatic, which would demand a longer social isolation period than presently recommended. To test this hypothesis, 72 samples from 51 mildly symptomatic immunocompetent patients with long-lasting positive rRT-PCR results for SARS-CoV-2 were tested for their infectiousness in cell culture.

Chikungunya Virus: An Emergent Arbovirus to the South American Continent and a Continuous Threat to the World.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) of epidemic concern, transmitted by ssp. mosquitoes, and is the etiologic agent of a febrile and incapacitating arthritogenic illness responsible for millions of human cases worldwide. After major outbreaks starting in 2004, CHIKV spread to subtropical areas and western hemisphere coming from sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia, and the Indian subcontinent.

Major depression model induced by repeated and intermittent lipopolysaccharide administration: Long-lasting behavioral, neuroimmune and neuroprogressive alterations.

Major depressed patients show increased bacterial translocation with elevated plasma levels of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which may trigger immune-inflammatory and neuro-oxidative responses. Recently, an animal model based on chronic LPS administration was developed which was associated with long-lasting depressive-like and neuro-oxidative alterations in female mice. The aim of the current study was to investigate behavioral, neuroimmune and neuroprogressive alterations in female mice 6 weeks after LPS chronic exposure.

The interplay between ventro striatal BDNF levels and the effects of valproic acid on the acquisition of ethanol-induced conditioned place preference in mice.

Alcohol addiction is a chronic, relapsing and progressive brain disease with serious consequences for health. Compulsive use of alcohol is associated with the capacity to change brain structures involved with the reward pathway, such as ventral striatum. Recent evidence suggests a role of chromatin remodeling in the pathophysiology of alcohol dependence and addictive-like behaviors.