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Phylogenetics has been foundational to SARS-CoV-2 research and public health policy, assisting in genomic surveillance, contact tracing, and assessing emergence and spread of new variants. However, phylogenetic analyses of SARS-CoV-2 have often relied on tools designed for de novo phylogenetic inference, in which all data are collected before any analysis is performed and the phylogeny is inferred once from scratch. SARS-CoV-2 datasets do not fit this mould. There are currently over 5 million sequenced SARS-CoV-2 genomes in public databases, with tens of thousands of new genomes added every day. Continuous data collection, combined with the public health relevance of SARS-CoV-2, invites an "online" approach to phylogenetics, in which new samples are added to existing phylogenetic trees every day. The extremely dense sampling of SARS-CoV-2 genomes also invites a comparison between Likelihood and Parsimony approaches to phylogenetic inference. Maximum Likelihood (ML) methods are more accurate when there are multiple changes at a single site on a single branch, but this accuracy comes at a large computational cost, and the dense sampling of SARS-CoV-2 genomes means that these instances will be extremely rare. Therefore, it may be that approaches based on Maximum Parsimony (MP) are sufficiently accurate for reconstructing phylogenies of SARS-CoV-2, and their simplicity means that they can be applied to much larger datasets. Here, we evaluate the performance of de novo and online phylogenetic approaches, and ML and MP frameworks, for inferring large and dense SARS-CoV-2 phylogenies. Overall, we find that online phylogenetics produces similar phylogenetic trees to de novo analyses for SARS-CoV-2, and that MP optimizations produce more accurate SARS-CoV-2 phylogenies than do ML optimizations. Since MP is thousands of times faster than presently available implementations of ML and online phylogenetics is faster than de novo, we therefore propose that, in the context of comprehensive genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2, MP online phylogenetics approaches should be favored.

Healthcare professionals experience difficult processes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the whole world in a short time. They are especially likely to be exposed to the disease agent due to their close contact with people affected by the virus. For this reason, it is important for healthcare professionals to choose and use of PPE correctly before approaching the patient, and pay attention to hand hygiene and social distance. In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the application developed for the use of PPE.

Background: A worldwide vaccination program is the chosen strategy against the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccine hesitancy however, forms a threat because vaccine uptake is voluntary in most countries. Care-professionals of people with intellectual disabilities are exposed to greater risks than other healthcare workers due to the vulnerable group they attend to and the assisted-living facilities in which they often work. Little is still known of the reasons for vaccine hesitancy in this specific group in contrast to those of other healthcare workers. Objective: To provide insight in the intentions and attitudes on COVID-vaccination of healthcare workers, including those who care for people with intellectual disabilities, by means of a scoping review. Methods: The databases that were searched for papers are CINAHL, APA PsycArticles, APA PsycInfo, Web of Science, Semantic Scolar, Prospero, Outbreak Science, Cochrane and Scopus. The search was broadened to healthcare workers in general because only two papers were found on those caring for people with intellectual disabilities. A total of 26 papers were identified concerning the vaccine intentions of 43,199 healthcare workers worldwide. Data were gathered both quantitively and qualitatively. The papers were analysed for all themes regarding vaccine willingness and vaccine hesitancy. Results: The themes that came to light included: percentages of vaccine willingness, predictors of willingness differentiated by 11 sub-themes (mainly profession, age, gender and past vaccine behaviour), attitudes of willingness and hesitancy differentiated by 19 sub-themes (perceived COVID treat and protecting others for willingness, concerns on vaccine safety and efficacy for hesitancy), sources of vaccination information, contextual factors and changes in COVID-19 vaccine acceptance over time and finally, future strategies for interventions. Conclusions: There was overlap in the percentages of vaccination, predictors of vaccine willingness and the attitudes of vaccine willingness and hesitancy between healthcare workers and those caring for people with intellectual disabilities. Vaccine safety and efficacy are the most prominent concerns with regard to vaccine hesitancy. Therefore, future strategies for interventions should address vaccine safety and efficacy. Furthermore, interventions are recommended to be interactive in order to facilitate exchange. Discussion groups that are able to address specific concerns and personal experiences, show to be effective in addressing vaccine hesitancy. Accurate information can also be made more accessible to target groups by promoting video’s on social media platforms. Hence, further research is necessary to specify more precisely the attitudes of healthcare workers caring for people with intellectual disabilities and in more countries worldwide.

Selective bibliography of monographies and articles from representative scientific and professional journals in the field of information science and book science as well as social communication and media, which were published in Poland in 2020 and 2021 (until August 2021).

Artículo de divulgación publicado en The Conversation España el día 30/12/2021. Se cumplen dos años del comienzo de la pandemia del SARS-CoV-2 y la covid-19. La ciencia nunca había sido tan prolífica, ni tan mediática, durante tanto tiempo ni con tanta intensidad como ahora. No

We assessed the in vitro antiviral activity of remdesivir and its parent nucleoside GS-441524, molnupiravir and its parent nucleoside EIDD-1931 and the viral protease inhibitor nirmatrelvir against the ancestral SARS-CoV2 strain and the five variants of concern including Omicron. VeroE6-GFP cells were pre-treated overnight with serial dilutions of the compounds before infection. The GFP signal was determined by high-content imaging on day 4 post-infection. All molecules have equipotent antiviral activity against the ancestral virus and the VOCs Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Omicron. These findings are in line with the observation that the target proteins of these antivirals (respectively the viral RNA dependent RNA polymerase and the viral main protease Mpro) are highly conserved. ispartof: bioRxiv ispartof: bioRxiv status: published

El gobernador interviene en la discusión del Proyecto de Presupuestos Generales del Estado para 2022, que da soporte a las consideraciones de la política fiscal ante la recuperación gradual de la economía española y mundial tras la profunda crisis económica provocada por la pandemia de COVID-19. Inicia sus comparecencias ante la Comisión de Presupuestos del Congreso de los Diputados con un análisis de la evolución de la economía española y de las perspectivas macroeconómicas, y pasa a detallar los desarrollos nacionales e internacionales más recientes y las fuentes de incertidumbre que van a condicionar el avance de la actividad en los próximos años. En ese marco sitúa su visión del papel de las políticas económicas. En relación con el Proyecto de Presupuestos Generales del Estado, ofrece su valoración sobre el cuadro macroeconómico que incorpora la evolución de los ingresos y gastos públicos, el tono resultante de la política fiscal y la dinámica de la deuda pública. Asimismo, plantea los principales retos para la política fiscal española a medio y a largo plazo, que se estructuran en torno a dos ejes estrechamente vinculados: reforzar la sostenibilidad de las finanzas públicas y mejorar la calidad de las cuentas públicas. The Governor’s testimony is part of the discussion of the Draft State Budget for 2022. The Budget underpins the fiscal policy considerations ahead of a gradual recovery in the Spanish and global economy, following the deep-seated economic crisis prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. His testimony before the Congress of Deputies Budget Committee begins with an analysis of developments in the Spanish economy and the macroeconomic outlook. He sets out the latest national and international developments, along with the sources of uncertainty set to influence how economic activity evolves in the coming years. Against this background, he frames his view of the role of economic policies. In connection with the Draft State Budget, he offers his assessment of the attendant macroeconomic forecast, government receipts and spending, the resulting fiscal policy stance and public debt dynamics. He further considers the main challenges for Spanish fiscal policy in the medium and long term, which are structured around two closely linked axes: shoring up the sustainability and improving the quality of public finances. He concludes with some brief thoughts on the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact. In his testimony before the Senate Budget Committee, the Governor updates the information on the economic situation according to the latest information available and analyses in greater detail the latest inflation developments, their causes and how long they may last, and their impact on the European Central Bank’s monetary policy.

Although the types of coronaviruses seen in animals differ, recent studies have also shown that they are affected by COVID-19, known as SARS-CoV-2. The impact of COVID-19 on animals is a factor that should be followed carefully, especially since different variants appear in humans every day and this disease is transmitted from human to animal. Thanks to vaccination, animals are less affected by different types of coronaviruses. Cats and ferrets are especially affected much more in COVID-19, causing damage to the lungs and other organs. Recently, it has been shown that the use of monoclonal antibodies, especially in the early stages of COVID-19, by people with chronic diseases, positively affects the course of the disease, reduces the frequency of hospitalization and the possibility of falling into intensive care. Sotrovimab is a pan-sarbecovirus monoclonal antibody, and 12-13 studies to date have shown that individuals with chronic disease are less affected when given in the early stages of the disease when the symptoms are mild. We also think that if especially old cats and ferrets are treated with Sotrovimab in the early stages of the disease when they contract COVID-19, it will positively affect the prognosis of the disease.

The outbreak of Covid-19 brought back to the forefront the crucial importance of structural change and productive development for economic resilience to economic shocks. Several recent contributions have already stressed the perverse relation that may exist between productive backwardness and the intensity of the Covid-19 socio-economic crisis. In this paper, we analyze the factors that may have hindered productive development for over four decades before the pandemic. We investigate the role of (non-FDI) net capital inflows as a potential source of premature de-industrialization. We consider a sample of 36 developed and developing countries from 1980 to 2017, with major emphasis on the case of emerging and developing (EDE) economies in the context of increasing financial integration. We show that periods of abundant capital inflows may have caused the significant contraction of manufacturing share to employment and GDP, as well as the decrease of the economic complexity index. We also show that phenomena of “perverse” structural change are significantly more relevant in EDE countries than advanced ones. Based on such evidence, we conclude with some policy suggestions highlighting capital controls and external macroprudential measures taming international capital mobility as useful policy tools for promoting long-run productive development on top of strengthening (short-term) financial and macroeconomic stability.