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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic had a widespread global impact and presented numerous challenges. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants has changed transmission rates and immune evasion, possibly impacting the severity. This study aims to investigate the impact of variants on clinical outcomes in southern Brazil. Methods: In total, samples from 277 patients, hospitalized and non-hospitalized, were collected between March 2020 and March 2021, before the vaccine was made widely available to the general population in Brazil. Whole genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 was performed and bioinformatics and biostatistics analyses were implemented on molecular and clinical data, respectively. Results: The study identified significant demographic and clinical differences. The hospitalized group exhibited a higher proportion of males (51.9%) and an increased prevalence of comorbidities, including hypertension (66.0%), obesity (42.6%), and chronic kidney disease (23.6%). Patients were identified with twelve SARS-CoV-2 strains, predominantly B.1.1.28 and B.1.1.33 in the early 2020 first wave, and P.1 overlapping in the late 2020 and early 2021 second wave of COVID-19. Significant differences in hospitalization rates were found among patients infected with the different SARS-CoV-2 lineages: B.1.1.33 (46.0%), B.1.1.28 (65.9%), and P.1 (97.9%). Severity markers, such as pneumonia (62.5%, p=0.002), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS, 72.9%, p<0.001), and oxygen support >6 L/min O2 (64.6%, p<0.001), were more frequent in patients from the second wave. These findings highlight the impact of different variants on the clinical evolution and prognosis of COVID-19, especially when comparing the first and second waves of the pandemic. Conclusions: The study underscores the association between SARS-CoV-2 strains and COVID-19 severity by integrating clinical and viral data for public health responses during different pandemic phases, highlighting the importance of adapting pandemic strategies as the pandemic evolves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cultural and biological diversity of South American indigenous groups represent extremes of human variability, exhibiting one of the highest linguistic diversities alongside a remarkably low within-population genetic variation and an extremely high inter-population genetic differentiation. On top of that, this region has seen some of the most dramatic demographic events in human history unleashed by the European colonization of the Americas. As a result of this process, the distribution of indigenous populations has been radically changed. In this review we focus on the Tupi, the largest and most widespread linguistic family in eastern South America. Tupi are believed to have originated in southwestern Amazon, from where some of its subfamilies expanded into other parts of the Amazon and, in the case of the Tupi-Guarani, beyond its borders. Recent evidence from archaeology, linguistics, and genetics aligns with José Brochado's Tupi Expansion model. He proposed that the gradual development of agricultural systems within the Amazon resulted in population growth and, eventually, territorial expansion. This model also supports separate Tupi Expansion branches: Tupinambá (Atlantic coast) and Guarani (south, midwest Brazil). Although being the most populous group on Brazil's Atlantic coast, which was the most affected by European colonization, the Tupi still account for roughly 20% of the country's overall indigenous population. Finally, despite its importance and more than a century of research on the Tupi and their expansion history, many key questions remain unanswered, which we attempt to summarize and explore here., (© 2023 The Authors. American Journal of Biological Anthropology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)