The role of children in household transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) remains unclear. We describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of ...children with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Catalonia, Spain, and investigate the household transmission dynamics.
A prospective, observational, multicenter study was performed during summer and school periods (1 July 2020-31 October 2020) to analyze epidemiological and clinical features and viral household transmission dynamics in COVID-19 patients aged <16 years. A pediatric index case was established when a child was the first individual infected. Secondary cases were defined when another household member tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 before the child. The secondary attack rate (SAR) was calculated, and logistic regression was used to assess associations between transmission risk factors and SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The study included 1040 COVID-19 patients. Almost half (47.2%) were asymptomatic, 10.8% had comorbidities, and 2.6% required hospitalization. No deaths were reported. Viral transmission was common among household members (62.3%). More than 70% (756/1040) of pediatric cases were secondary to an adult, whereas 7.7% (80/1040) were index cases. The SAR was significantly lower in households with COVID-19 pediatric index cases during the school period relative to summer (P = .02) and compared to adults (P = .006). No individual or environmental risk factors associated with the SAR.
Children are unlikely to cause household COVID-19 clusters or be major drivers of the pandemic, even if attending school. Interventions aimed at children are expected to have a small impact on reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
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Breast cancer (BC) is the most frequent neoplasm and one of the main causes of death in women. The pharmacological treatment of BC consists of hormonal therapy, chemotherapeutic ...agents and targeted therapy. The response to BC therapy is highly variable in clinical practice. This variability can be explained by the presence of genetic polymorphisms in genes involved in the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics or immune response of patients. The abundant evidence of associations between low-activity alleles CYP2D6*3, *4, *5, *6, *10 and *41 and poor results with tamoxifen therapy, and between DPYD gene polymorphisms rs3918290, rs55886062, rs67376798 and rs75017182 and increased risk of toxicity to fluoropyrimidine therapy, justify the existence of clinical pharmacogenetic guidelines. The NQO1 rs1800566 polymorphism is related to poorer results in BC therapy with chemotherapy agents. The polymorphism rs1695 of the GSTP1 gene has been associated with the effectiveness and toxicity of fluorouracil, cyclophosphamide and epirubicin therapy. Finally, the HLA-DQA1*02:01 allele is significantly associated with the occurrence of liver toxicity events in patients receiving lapatinib. There is moderate evidence to support the aforementioned associations and, therefore, a high probability of these being considered as future predictive genetic biomarkers of response. However, further studies are required to reinforce or clarify their clinical relevance.
Solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation, especially UVB (290 nm-320 nm) component, causes DNA damage, pyrimidine dimmers, 8-hydroxy-2´-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), p53 induction, protein oxidation and ...generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Some polyphenols show the ability to protect the skin from the adverse effects of UVB radiation, including the risk of skin cancers. This study evaluated the protective effects of formulations containing citrus, rosemary and olive polyphenols (F1 and F2) against UVB-induced damage in human keratinocytes. F1 contained citrus, rosemary diterpenes and olive polyphenols and F2 citrus and olive flavones.
The antioxidant capacity was determined using the ROS-sensitive dye 2’,7’-dichlorofluorescein diacetate (DCF-DA). Late apoptosis, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and H2A.X histone phosphorylation were measured using Muse Cell Analyzer. The treatment with both formulations suppressed UVB-induced ROS production, and decreased late apoptosis, cell depolarization and DNA damage by H2A.X assay.
In conclusion, these results suggest that the compounds present in both formulations might contribute to the observed protective effect. Formulations may be considered as candidates for oral or topical photoprotection and their mechanism of action may deserve further attention.
Apigenin is a common bioactive flavonoid found in a variety of fruits, plants and vegetables. Many pharmacological activities of apigenin have been identified, but its low water solubility limits ...clinical evidence on its oral bioavailability. This study estimated the antioxidant activity of apigenin and its potassium salt derivative (apigenin-K) and the intestinal permeability of both compounds in Caco-2 cell monolayers.
The antioxidant activity was evaluated with different methods: trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) and ferric reducing-antioxidant power (FRAP). Intestinal permeability coefficient was estimated in Caco-2 cell monolayer model with the addition of apigenin or apigenin-K to the apical (AP) or basolateral (BL) site.
Apigenin exhibited a higher antioxidant activity than apigenin-K. Intestinal absorption evaluation corroborated the low permeability of both apigenin and apigenin-K.
These results indicate that apigenin and apigenin-K may be considered as antioxidant ingredients for oral administration. Their low absorption estimation suggests that encapsulation may be necessary to enhance apigenin bioavailability for oral applications.
Carnosic acid, carnosol and betulinic acid are the main compounds present in rosemaryextract (RE) and have shown anti-proliferative effects on various tumor cell lines. The objective of this work was ...to study the anticancer effects of rosemary extract on different human colon cancer cell lines (HGUE-C-1, HT-29 and SW480).
For this purpose, intracellular free radical generation and modulation of nuclear factor erythroid 2 NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway was explored. Cells were treated with RE (20–40µg/mL) for 24h at 37°C and cell viability was determined by MTT assay. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was measured with DCF-DA. In addition, cells were transfected with Nrf2-targeting siRNA to determine the potential role of this transcription factor.
The inhibition of cell proliferation was correlated to an increase of intracellular ROS content by RE. Furthermore, Nrf2 silencing in siRNA experiments decreased cell viability in all cell lines, then the molecular mechanism seems to involve activation Nrf2/ARE pathway as a response for cell survival at least in this cell line.
In conclusion, the antiproliferative effects of a rosemary extract obtained by CO2-supercritical fluid extraction may be related to their pro-oxidative capability by increasing the intracellular generation of ROS, which leads to the activation of Nrf2 as a response for cancer cell survival.
UV radiation, absorbed by the epidermis, is the major cause of a variety of cutaneous disorders including photoageing and skin cancers. In recent years, an increase in the use of botanicals with ...antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties as skin photoprotective agents is emerging. This study evaluated the antioxidant activity and the protective effect of citrus and olive formulations (F1 and F2), against UVB-induced damage in human keratinocytes. F1 contained citrus, rosemary diterpenes and olive polyphenols and F2 citrus and olive flavones.
Total phenolic content was determined with Folin-Ciocalteu. The antioxidant activity was evaluated with different methods: trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), ferric reducing-antioxidant power (FRAP) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assays. Photoprotection study was performed determining the viability of HaCaT cells exposed to UVB through MTT assay.
The F1 showed higher phenolic content and antioxidant capacity. Both formulations also exhibited high protective effects on cell survival upon UVB radiation, finding a higher effect for F1 when both were used at same concentration.
These results indicate that F1 may be considered as a better ingredient for oral or topical photoprotection. This suggests that, probably not only citrus and olive polyphenols but also rosemary compounds act in the protective action.
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