COVID-19 mortality attenuated during widespread Omicron transmission, Denmark, 2020 to 2022.

BackgroundIt sparked considerable attention from international media when Denmark lifted restrictions against COVID-19 in February 2022 amidst widespread transmission of the new SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant and a steep rise in reported COVID-19 mortality based on the 30-day COVID-19 death count.AimOur aim was to investigate how coincidental infections affected COVID-19 mortality estimates following the introduction of the Omicron variant in late 2021.MethodsWe compared the 30-day COVID-19 death count with the observed mortality using three alternative mortality estimation methods; (i) a mathematical model to correct the 30-day COVID-19 death count for coincidental deaths, (ii) the Causes of Death Registry (CDR) and (iii) all-cause excess mortality.

Disability adjusted life years associated with COVID-19 in Denmark in the first year of the pandemic.

Background: Burden of disease studies measure the public health impact of a disease in a society. The aim of this study was to quantify the direct burden of COVID-19 in the first 12 months of the epidemic in Denmark.

Methods: We collected national surveillance data on positive individuals for SARS-CoV-2 with RT-PCR, hospitalization data, and COVID-19 mortality reported in the period between 26 of February, 2020 to 25 of February, 2021.

The soil organic matter decomposition mechanisms in ectomycorrhizal fungi are tuned for liberating soil organic nitrogen.

Many trees form ectomycorrhizal symbiosis with fungi. During symbiosis, the tree roots supply sugar to the fungi in exchange for nitrogen, and this process is critical for the nitrogen and carbon cycles in forest ecosystems. However, the extents to which ectomycorrhizal fungi can liberate nitrogen and modify the soil organic matter and the mechanisms by which they do so remain unclear since they have lost many enzymes for litter decomposition that were present in their free-living, saprotrophic ancestors.

Airway Inflammation in Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps and Asthma: The United Airways Concept Further Supported.

Background: It has been established that patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) often have co-existing asthma.

Objective: We aimed to test two hypotheses: (i) upper and lower airway inflammation in CRSwNP is uniform in agreement with the united airways concept; and (ii) bronchial inflammation exists in all CRSwNP patients irrespective of clinical asthma status.

Methods: We collected biopsies from nasal polyps, inferior turbinates and bronchi of 27 CRSwNP patients and 6 controls.

The middle ear immune defense changes with age.

Otitis media is a common disease in childhood. In adults, the disease is relatively rare, but more frequently associated with complications. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are age-related differences in pathogen exposure, anatomy of the Eustachian tube and immune system.

Differential gene expression in the otic capsule and the middle ear--an annotation of bone-related signaling genes.

Hypothesis: A number of bone-related genes may be responsible for the unique suppression of perilabyrinthine bone remodeling.

Background: Bone remodeling is highly inhibited around the inner ear space most likely because of osteoprotegerin (OPG), which is a well-known potent inhibitor of osteoclast formation and function. However, other signaling molecules may also be responsible for the inhibition of bone remodeling within the otic capsule.

Bone signaling in middle ear development: a genome-wide differential expression analysis.

Common middle ear diseases may affect bone behavior in the middle ear air cell system. To understand this pathologic pneumatization, the normal development of bone in the middle ear should be investigated. The objective of this study was to analyze gene expression of bone-related signaling factors and gene sets in the developing middle ear.

Enterococcus faecalis infection causes inflammation, intracellular oxphos-independent ROS production, and DNA damage in human gastric cancer cells.

Background: Achlorhydria caused by e.g. atrophic gastritis allows for bacterial overgrowth, which induces chronic inflammation and damage to the mucosal cells of infected individuals driving gastric malignancies and cancer.

Gene expression of the endolymphatic sac.

Conclusion: The endolymphatic sac is part of the membranous inner ear and is thought to play a role in the fluid homeostasis and immune defense of the inner ear; however, the exact function of the endolymphatic sac is not fully known. Many of the detected mRNAs in this study suggest that the endolymphatic sac has multiple and diverse functions in the inner ear.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to provide a comprehensive review of the genes expressed in the endolymphatic sac in the rat and perform a functional characterization based on measured mRNA abundance.