"Flattening the curve": Communication, risk and COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey.

This study examines Turkish online news media coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. It explores media framing narratives, particularly how they reflected and promoted elite polarization or consensus in the COVID-19 debate. The findings shed light on Turkish political power dynamics during the first stage in the national response to the pandemic.

Humoral and cellular response of two different vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 in a group of healthcare workers: An observational study.

On March 13, 2021, Tunisia started a widespread immunization program against SARS-CoV-2 utilizing different vaccinations that had been given emergency approval. Herein, we followed prospectively a cohort of participant who received COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer BioNTech and Sputnik-Gameleya V). The goal of this follow-up was to define the humoral and cellular immunological profile after immunization by assessing neutralizing antibodies and IFN- γ release.

A sero-epidemiological investigation of West Nile virus among patients without any records of their symptoms from three different hospitals from Tunisia.

West Nile virus is one of the most known arboviruses around the world, along with Dengue virus, Toscana virus, Chikungunya (CHIK). In Tunisia, many epidemics of WNV had occurred in the past. The last one dated from 2018.

COVID-19 prophylaxis with doxycycline and zinc in health care workers: a prospective, randomized, double-blind clinical trial.

Objectives: This study aims to assess the efficacy of a combination treatment of doxycycline and zinc in the primary prevention of COVID-19 infection in Tunisian health care workers compared with two control groups.

Methods: We conducted a prospective, randomized, double-blind clinical trial over 5 months to determine the efficacy of a preventive combination treatment dose of doxycycline (100 mg/day) and zinc (15 mg/day), compared with a single-dose treatment with doxycycline versus placebo. The effectiveness of preventive treatment was measured by the significant decline in the number of cases of COVID-19 infection and/or a decrease in the viral load as determined by SARS-CoV-2 cycle threshold value using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction tests.

Comparison of FDG and FMISO uptakes and distributions in head and neck squamous cell cancer tumors.

Purpose: Glycolysis is increased by hypoxia, suggesting a possible correlation between the accumulation of 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) in malignant tumors and regional hypoxia defined by 1H-1-(3-[18F]fluoro-2-hydroxypropyl)-2-nitroimidazole (FMISO) PET. The aim of this study is to investigate the intra-tumoral spatial distribution and quantitative relationship between FDG and FMISO in a cohort of head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) patients.

Methods: Twenty HNSCC patients with 20 primary tumors and 19 metastatic lymph nodes (LNs) underwent FDG and FMISO PET within 1 week.

Nosocomial dissemination of plasmids carrying blaTEM-24, blaDHA-1, aac(6')-Ib-cr, and qnrA6 in Providencia spp. strains isolated from a Tunisian hospital.

The aim of this study is to report the emergence of IncA/C conjugative plasmids harboring blaTEM-24, blaDHA-1, qnrA6, and aac(6')-Ib-cr genes among Providencia spp. isolates recovered in 2008 in Tunisia. The double-disk synergy test confirmed the phenotype extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) in 2 Providencia stuartii and 5 Providencia rettgeri.

Chromosomal blaCTX-M-₁₅ associated with ISEcp1 in Proteus mirabilis and Morganella morganii isolated at the Military Hospital of Tunis, Tunisia.

This study investigated the genetic environment of bla(CTX-M) genes and associated resistance genes in seven Proteus mirabilis and six Morganella morganii extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-positive isolates. The isolates were recovered from hospitalized patients with respiratory or urinary tract infections at the Military Hospital of Tunis, Tunisia. Twenty-one of the 200 strains exhibited non-susceptibility to third generation cephalosporins and, among these strains, the double-disk synergy test confirmed the ESBL phenotype in 13 isolates.

Emergence of SHV-12 extended spectrum beta-lactamase among clinical isolates of Enterobacter cloacae in Tunisia.

A collection of seven multidrug-resistant clinical isolates of Enterobacter cloacae with reduced susceptibility to ceftazidime and cefepime recovered from 2009 to 2010 at the University Hospital of Mahdia, Tunisia, was analysed. PCR analysis and sequencing demonstrated that all study isolates harbored SHV-12 β-lactamase that was transferred by conjugation. Characterization of the regions surrounding the bla(SHV-12) showed that this gene was flanked by two IS26 elements.