Aviation passenger screening has been used worldwide to mitigate the translocation risk of SARS-CoV-2. We present a model that evaluates factors in screening strategies used in air travel and assess their relative sensitivity and importance in identifying infectious passengers. We use adapted Monte Carlo simulations to produce hypothetical disease timelines for the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 for travelling passengers. Screening strategy factors assessed include having one or two RT-PCR and/or antigen tests prior to departure and/or post-arrival, and quarantine length and compliance upon arrival. One or more post-arrival tests and high quarantine compliance were the most important factors in reducing pathogen translocation. Screening that combines quarantine and post-arrival testing can shorten the length of quarantine for travelers, and variability and mean testing sensitivity in post-arrival RT-PCR and antigen tests decrease and increase with the greater time between the first and second post-arrival test, respectively. This study provides insight into the role various screening strategy factors have in preventing the translocation of infectious diseases and a flexible framework adaptable to other existing or emerging diseases. Such findings may help in public health policy and decision-making in present and future evidence-based practices for passenger screening and pandemic preparedness.

The probability of a Black African finding a matched unrelated donor for a hematopoietic stem cell transplant is minimal due to the high degree of genetic diversity amongst individuals of African origin. This problem could be resolved in part by the establishment of a public cord blood (CB) stem cell bank. The high prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) amongst women attending antenatal clinics in sub-Saharan Africa together with the risk of mother-to-child transmission increases the risk of transplant transmissible infection. In addition to screening the mother in a period inclusive of 7 days prior to the following delivery, we propose that all CB units considered for storage undergo rigorous and reliable screening for HIV. The Ultrio-plus® assay is a highly specific and sensitive test for detecting HIV, hepatitis-B and hepatitis-C viruses in peripheral blood. We validated the Ultrio-plus® assay for analytical sensitivity in detecting HIV in CB at the level of detection of the assay. Until more comprehensive and sensitive methods are developed, the sensitivity and reliability of the Ultrio-plus® assay suggest that it could be used for the routine screening of CB units in conjunction with currently recommended maternal screening to reduce the risk of transplant transmissible infection.

We are using light curves from the KELT exoplanet transit survey (Pepper et al. 2007) to study the variability of hundreds of Be stars. Combining these light curves with simultaneous time-series spectra from the APOGEE survey (Majewski et al. 2015) provides a glimpse into how changes in the circumstellar environment are correlated to brightness variations.