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Abstract: Introduction: Short sleep, physical inactivity, and being locked up are risk factors for weight gain. Objective: We evaluated weight gain according to sex, age, hours of sleep and physical activity in university students from 10 Latin American countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Cross-sectional and multicenter study (n = 4880). Results: The average age was 22.5 ± 4.4 years. 60.2% were currently locked up. 73.6% were women, 48.2% increased their body weight, 66% reported insufficient sleep hours, and 65.9% were inactive. Women gained more weight than men (73.2%) and younger students gained more weight (85.1%). Those who had insufficient sleep hours gained most weight (67.6%). Inactive participants gained most weight (74.7%). Students who have insufficient sleep are 21% more likely to have changes in body weight compared to students who have optimal sleep. Conclusion: The increase in body weight and its risk factors during confinement should be considered as emerging from public health.

Abstract: Background: Information on neurological and psychiatric adverse events following immunization (AEFIs) with COVID-19 vaccines is limited. Research design & methods: We examined and compared neurological and psychiatric AEFIS reports related to BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) and ChAdOx1 (Oxford-AstraZeneca) COVID-19 vaccines and recorded in the United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency between 9 December 2020 and 30 June 2021. Results: As of 30 June 2021, 46.1 million doses of ChAdOx1 and 30.3 million doses of BNT162b2 had been administered. The most frequently reported AEFI was headache with 1,686 and 575 cases per million doses of ChAdOx1 and BNT162b2, respectively. AEFIs more frequently reported after CHAdOx1 compared with BNT162b2 vaccination were Guillain-Barré syndrome (OR, 95% CI = 2.53, 1.82–3.51), freezing (6.66, 3.12–14.22), cluster headache (1.53, 1.28–1.84), migraine (1.23,1.17–1.30), postural dizziness (1.24,1.13–1.37), tremor (2.86, 2.68–3.05), headache (1.40, 1.38–1.43), paresthesia (1.11, 1.06–1.16), delirium (1.85, 1.45–2.36), hallucination (2.20, 1.82–2.66), poor quality sleep (1.53, 1.26–1.85), and nervousness (1.54, 1.26–1.89) Reactions less frequently reported with ChAdOx1 than with BNT162b2 were Bell’s palsy (0.47, 0.41–0.55), anosmia (0.58, 0.47–0.71), facial paralysis (0.35, 0.29– 0.41), dysgeusia (0.68, 0.62–0.73), presyncope (0.48, 0.42–0.55), syncope (0.63, 0.58–0.67), and anxiety (0.75 (0.67–0.85). Conclusion: Neurological and psychiatric AEFIs were relatively infrequent, but each vaccine was associated with a distinctive toxic profile. Plain Language Summary We examined reports on adverse neurological and psychiatric effects following immunization with BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) and ChAdOx1 (Oxford-AstraZeneca) for COVID-19 to the United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency between 9 December 2020 and 30 June 2021. Adverse effects following immunization (AEFIs) were relatively infrequent. Compared to BNT162b2, Guillain-Barré syndrome, freezing phenomenon, cluster headache, migraine, postural dizziness, tremor, headache, paresthesia, delirium, hallucination, poor quality sleep, and nervousness were more frequently reported for ChAdOx1. Reactions less frequently reported for ChAdOx1 than for BNT162b2 were Bell’s palsy, anosmia, facial paralysis, dysgeusia, presyncope, syncope, and anxiety.

The BAG is quite large with 24 principal investigators covering almost all groups in Israel. The scientific topics are diverse and so different that depicting them in a short Abstract is extremely difficult. In this context BAG members are studying the parameters that govern protein assemblage, structural impacts of signaling processes in different cascades. There are several projects that are directed towards molecular recognition with implementation towards drug design. In addition, we still have the ribosome project and the design of unique antibiotics with specific functional interactions from the mycinamycins family and their resistance related mechanism compared with other macrolides and the photosystem and how it converts light into energy. Since Covid-19 is still a relevant topic as are other viral infections BAG members are and have been involved in the understanding of the infection process and the means to hinder it.

Concomitantly to the first pandemic wave of Covid19, an unexpected high number of chilblains cases of the toes have been reported, without a clear demonstrated relationship between both phenomena. Histological studies are limited to 2D at a given resolution, whilst, thanks to its 3D high resolution and very high contrast capabilities in soft tissue, Synchrotron micro and nano X-ray phase contrast imaging might help in understanding the link between these two phenomena. The aim of this continuation proposal is to perform a complementary multi-scale three-dimensional PCI analysis of human skin samples from COVID19 positive and negative chilblain toes patients biopsied during the first pandemic wave to strengthen our results and to perform a semi-quantitative analysis of the data.

The BAG is quite large with 24 principal investigators covering almost all groups in Israel. The scientific topics are diverse and so different that depicting them in a short Abstract is extremely difficult. In this context BAG members are studying the parameters that govern protein assemblage, structural impacts of signaling processes in different cascades. There are several projects that are directed towards molecular recognition with implementation towards drug design. In addition, we still have the ribosome project and the design of unique antibiotics with specific functional interactions from the mycinamycins family and their resistance related mechanism compared with other macrolides and the photosystem and how it converts light into energy. Since Covid-19 is still a relevant topic as are other viral infections BAG members are and have been involved in the understanding of the infection process and the means to hinder it.

This BAG application builds on the development of single particle cryoEM in the Italian Structural Biology community, as in Italy there is no top-end instrument is yet available. The groups in this application have acquired know-how in cryoEM through international collaborations or by acquiring medium-level in-house equipment. Access to the CM01 beamline at the ESRF from August 2020 has allowed the development of projects from groups that do not have in-house equipment that will most likely result in high top level publications in 2021. The three screening microscopes presently installed in Italy boosted sample production in 2020 in spite of the Covid-19 pandemic and the number of samples foreseen for 2021 has greatly increased. The BAG from Italian institutions is nurturing the expansion of the field in Italy and will result in a high-level scientific production.

SARS-CoV-2 is an encapsulated virus responsible for a lethal respiratory illness since its outbreak at the end of 2019. Interestingly, the fusion domain of the spike protein triggers the fusion between viral and host membranes, initializing the infection. However, the molecular mechanism regulating this process has not been deeply understood. Our approach to date has been to study the interaction of several putative fusion peptides at or near the N-terminus of S2 subunit with model membranes in the form of monolayers, composed of cholesterol and natural lipids extracted from yeast cells. A combination of different X-ray surface scattering methods available at ID10 beamline (XRR, GISAXS, and GIXD) will help to answer questions still not answered such as how does the fusion region induces the reorganization of the lipid packing, as well as, how is the fusion process modulated by lipid composition and environmental factors such as the presence of divalent cations.

The BAG is quite large with 24 principal investigators covering almost all groups in Israel. The scientific topics are diverse and so different that depicting them in a short Abstract is extremely difficult. In this context BAG members are studying the parameters that govern protein assemblage, structural impacts of signaling processes in different cascades. There are several projects that are directed towards molecular recognition with implementation towards drug design. In addition, we still have the ribosome project and the design of unique antibiotics with specific functional interactions from the mycinamycins family and their resistance related mechanism compared with other macrolides and the photosystem and how it converts light into energy. Since Covid-19 is still a relevant topic as are other viral infections BAG members are and have been involved in the understanding of the infection process and the means to hinder it.

The BAG includes numerous principal investigators which are the majority of structural biologists in Israel. The scientific topics are diverse and so different that depicting them in a short Abstract is extremely difficult. In this context BAG members are studying the parameters that govern protein assemblage, structural impacts of signaling processes in different cascades, Thermodynamics of proteolytic reaction. In addition, we have the ribosome project and the design of unique antibiotics with specific functional interactions from the mycinamycins family and their resistance related mechanism compared with other macrolides and the photosystem and how it converts light into energy. The current events promote several Covid-19 related projects but BAG members are and have been involved and virus infection and inhibitory strategies including Hepatitis C virus, arthropod borne viruses (e.g .dengue, West Nile, Zika, Israel Turkey Meningoencephalitis), chikungunya virus and more.