Upper Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) marine gastropods from the Cleveland Basin, England: systematics, palaeobiogeography and contribution to biotic recovery from the early Toarcian extinction event

Here we describe a new upper Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) marine gastropod fauna from rocks of the Cleveland Basin exposed on the North Yorkshire coast of England. The fossil assemblage consists of 16 species, of which three are new: Katosira ? bicarinata sp. nov., Turritelloidea stepheni sp. nov. and Striactaenonina elegans sp. nov. Four species are described in open nomenclature as Tricarilda ? sp., Jurilda sp., Cylindrobullina sp. and Cossmannina sp. The other species have previously been described: Coelodiscus minutus (Schübler in Zieten), Procerithium quadrilineatum (Römer), Pseudokatosira undulata (Benz in von Zieten), Palaeorissoina aff. acuminata (Gründel), Pietteia unicarinata (Hudleston), Globularia cf. canina (Hudleston), Striactaeonina cf. richterorum Schulbert & Nützel, Striactaenonina aff. tenuistriata (Hudleston) and Sulcoactaeon sedgvici (Phillips). Most of these species are the earliest records of their respective genera and show palaeobiogeographical connections with contemporary gastropod associations from other regions of Europe and South America. The taxonomic composition of the upper Toarcian Cleveland Basin gastropod assemblage differs substantially from the faunas of the upper Pliensbachian and lower Toarcian Tenuicostatum Zone, showing the strong effect of the early Toarcian mass extinction event on the marine gastropod communities in the basin. Only a few gastropod species are shared between the late Toarcian faunas and the much more diverse Aalenian gastropod faunas in the Cleveland Basin, suggesting that there was a facies control on gastropod occurrences at that time. This is also a potential explanation for the taxonomic differences between the late Toarcian gastropod faunas in the Cleveland Basin and those in France, and northern and southern Germany

Efficient antibody evasion but reduced ACE2 binding by the emerging SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.640.2

Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) https://doi.org/10.13039/501100002347Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur (Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony) https://doi.org/10.13039/501100010570Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001659Sartorius AG, Lung research fundingDeutsches Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (German Center for Infection Research) https://doi.org/10.13039/10000913

Host Cell Entry and Neutralization Sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 Lineages B.1.620 and R.1

The spike (S) protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) facilitates viral entry into host cells and is the key target for neutralizing antibodies. The SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.620 carries fifteen mutations in the S protein and is spread in Africa, the US and Europe, while lineage R.1 harbors four mutations in S and infections were observed in several countries, particularly Japan and the US. However, the impact of the mutations in B.1.620 and R.1 S proteins on antibody-mediated neutralization and host cell entry are largely unknown. Here, we report that these mutations are compatible with robust ACE2 binding and entry into cell lines, and they markedly reduce neutralization by vaccine-induced antibodies. Our results reveal evasion of neutralizing antibodies by B.1.620 and R.1, which might have contributed to the spread of these lineages

Migrant healthcare workers during COVID-19: bringing an intersectional health system-related approach into pandemic protection. A German case study

IntroductionMigrant healthcare workers played an important role during the COVID-19 pandemic, but data are lacking especially for high-resourced European healthcare systems. This study aims to research migrant healthcare workers through an intersectional health system-related approach, using Germany as a case study.MethodsAn intersectional research framework was created and a rapid scoping study performed. Secondary analysis of selected items taken from two COVID-19 surveys was undertaken to compare perceptions of national and foreign-born healthcare workers, using descriptive statistics.ResultsAvailable research is focused on worst-case pandemic scenarios of Brazil and the United Kingdom, highlighting racialised discrimination and higher risks of migrant healthcare workers. The German data did not reveal significant differences between national-born and foreign-born healthcare workers for items related to health status including SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination, and perception of infection risk, protective workplace measures, and government measures, but items related to social participation and work conditions with higher infection risk indicate a higher burden of migrant healthcare workers.ConclusionsCOVID-19 pandemic policy must include migrant healthcare workers, but simply adding the migration status is not enough. We introduce an intersectional health systems-related approach to understand how pandemic policies create social inequalities and how the protection of migrant healthcare workers may be improved

Virological Traits of the SARS-CoV-2 BA.2.87.1 Lineage

Transmissibility and immune evasion of the recently emerged, highly mutated SARS-CoV-2 BA.2.87.1 are unknown. Here, we report that BA.2.87.1 efficiently enters human cells but is more sensitive to antibody-mediated neutralization than the currently dominating JN.1 variant. Acquisition of adaptive mutations might thus be needed for efficient spread in the population.S.P. acknowledges funding by the EU project UNDINE (grant agreement number 101057100), the COVID-19-Research Network Lower Saxony (COFONI) through funding from the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony in Germany (14-76103-184, projects 7FF22, 6FF22, 10FF22) and the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG; PO 716/11-1). L.Z. acknowledges funding by the China Scholarship Council (CSC) (202006270031). A.D.-J. acknowledges funding by the European Social Fund (ZAM5-87006761) and by the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony (Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur; 14-76103-184, COFONI Network, project 4LZF23). H.-M.J. received funding from BMBF (01KI2043, NaFoUniMedCovid19-COVIM: 01KX2021), Bavarian State Ministry for Science and the Arts and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) through the research training groups RTG1660 and TRR130, the Bayerische Forschungsstiftung (Project CORAd) and the Kastner Foundation. G.M.N.B. acknowledges funding by German Center for Infection Research (grant no 80018019238), the European Regional Development Fund Getting AIR (ZW7-85151373), and the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony (Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur; 14-76103-184, COFONI Network, project 4LZF23). The funding sources had no role in the design and execution of the study, the writing of the manuscript and the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The authors did not receive payment by a pharmaceutical company or other agency to write the publication. The authors were not precluded from accessing data in the study, and they accept responsibility to submit for publication.EU project UNDINEMinistry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony in GermanyGerman Research FoundationChina Scholarship Council (CSC)European Social FundMinistry for Science and Culture of Lower SaxonyBMBFNaFoUniMedCovid19-COVIMBavarian State Ministry for Science and the Arts and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)Bayerische Forschungsstiftung (Project CORAd)Kastner FoundationGerman Center for Infection ResearchEuropean Regional Development Fund Getting AIRMinistry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxon

Earliest Jurassic Patellogastropod, Vetigastropod, and Neritimorph Gastropods from Luxembourg with Considerations on the Triassic—Jurassic Faunal Turnover

The Hettangian to earliest Sinemurian Vetigastropoda, Patellogastropoda, and Neritimorpha housed in the National Museum of Natural History of Luxembourg are studied. Most of the species comes from the Luxembourg Sandstone Formation. This deposit formed along the southern margin of the London-Brabant-Ardennes Landmass, in a region that during the earliest Jurassic constituted a seaway connecting the Paris Basin with the epicontinental seas of the Netherlands and northern Germany. The systematic analysis revealed high diversity of the studied fauna; we identified twenty-two species, eleven genera, nine families, and six superfamilies. A new genus, Meiersia gen. nov., and three new species. Anodotnaria schroederi sp. nov., Meiersia disarmata sp. nov., and Spirocirrus weisi sp. nov. are described. The fauna is dominated by pleurotomarioideans representing the genera Ptychomphalus, Pleurotomaria, and Trochotoma, and by the patellogastropod genus Scurriopsis both in number of species and specimens. The neritimorph genus Neridomus is also well represented. Among the accessory taxa, Anodomaria and Spirocirrus first appeared in the Late Hettangian of the Luxembourg area. Most of these genera show a species radiation in the Early Jurassic and are distributed over the western European epicontinental shelf, probably favoured by an east to west marine transgression which influenced wide areas from the basins of the northern Germany to the Paris Basin through the Luxembourg seaway. The evolutionary and palaeobiogeographical data demonstrate that this radiation was already considerably advanced in the Late Hettangian. This suggests that the recovery of the gastropod diversity after the end-Triassic crisis was relatively fast in western Europe

Appendix No. 4 au Catalogue Illustr\ue9 des coquilles Fossiles de l\u27Eoc\ue9ne des environs de Paris

Volume: 41Start Page: 186End Page: 28