To study the effect of the invasion of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus on the functional relationship between woody plants and insect communities, the populations of tree species and insect communities were investigative in the Masson pine forests with different infestation durations of B. xylophilus. In this study, the number of Pinus massoniana began to decrease sharply, whereas the total number of other tree species in the arboreal layer increased gradually with the infestation duration of B. xylophilus. The principal component analysis ordination biplot shows that there was a significant change in the spatial distribution of woody plant species in different Masson pine forest stands. Additionally, a total of 7,188 insect specimens was obtained. The insect population showed an upward trend in stand types with the increase of pine wilt disease infection periods, which demonstrated that the insect community had been significantly affected by the invasion of B. xylophilus. The structure of insect functional groups changed from herbivorous (He) > omnivorous (Om) > predatory (Pr) > parasitic (Pa) > detritivorous (De) in the control stand to He > Pa > Om, De > Pr after B. xylophilus infestation in the forests. The results showed that the populations of He, Pa, and De increased after the invasion of B. xylophilus, but the populations of Pr decreased. Moreover, the redundancy analysis ordination bi-plots reflected the complicated functional relationship between woody plant communities and insects after the invasion of B. xylophilus. The present study provides insights into the changes in the community structure of woody plants and insects, as well as the functional relationship between woody plant communities and insect communities after invasion of B. xylophilus.

Dens are places for cavernicolous animals to hibernate, reproduce, and avoid predators and harsh weather conditions, and thus they have a vital impact on their survival. M. himalayana is the main large cavernicolous rodent on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The analysis of den traits and their ecological functions can reveal mechanisms by which marmots have adapted to their environment, which is important for further understanding the ecological significance of this species. From July to August 2019 (warm season), we used unmanned aerial vehicles to fly at low altitudes and slow speeds to locate 131 marmot burrows (45 on shaded slopes, 51 on sunny slopes, and 35 on flat areas) in the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. We then measured the physical characteristics (den density, entrance size, first tunnel length, volume, orientation and plant characteristics near the den entrance) of these dens on site. The physical parameters of the M. himalayana dens showed that they function to protect the marmots from natural enemies and bad weather, provide good drainage, and maintain a stable microclimate around the entrance. This is a result of the marmot’s adaptation to the harsh environment (cold and humidity) of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

A document by Bretislav Friedrich, written on Authorea.

SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the viral spike (S) encoding a SARS-COV-2 SPIKE D614G mutation protein predominate over time in locales revealing the dynamic aspects of its key viral processes where it is found, implying that this change enhances viral transmission. It has also been observed that retroviruses infected ACE2-expressing cells pseudotyped with SG614 that is presently affecting a growing number of countries markedly more efficiently than those with SD614. The availability of newer powerful computational resources, molecular modeling techniques, and cheminformatics quality data have made it feasible to generate reliable algebraic calculations to design new chemical entities, merging chemicals, recoring natural products, and a lot of other substances fuelling further development and growth of this AI-quantum based drug design field to balance the trade-off between the structural complexity and the quality of such biophysics predictions that cannot be obtained by any other method. In this paper, we strongly combine topology geometric methods targeting at the atomistic level the protein apparatus of the SARS-COV-2 virus that are simple in machine learning anti-viral characteristics, to propose computer-aided rational drug design strategies efficient in computing docking usage, and powerful enough to achieve very high accuracy levels for this in-silico effort for the generation of the AI-Quantum designed molecule the RoccustyrnaTM small molecule, a multi-targeting druggable scaffold (1S,2R,3S)‐2‐({[(1S,2S,4S,5R)‐4‐ethenyl‐4‐sulfonylbicyclo[3.2.0]heptan‐2‐yl]oxy}amino)‐3‐[(2R,5R)‐5‐(2‐methyl‐6‐methylidene‐6,9‐dihydro‐3H‐purin‐9‐yl)‐3‐methylideneoxolan‐2‐yl]phosphirane‐1‐carbonitrile targeting the COVID-19-SARS-COV-2 SPIKE D614G mutation using Chern-Simons Topology Euclidean Geometric in a Lindenbaum-Tarski generated QSAR automating modeling and Artificial Intelligence-Driven Predictive Neural Networks.

Νovel SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) of the family Coronaviridae starting in China and spreading around the world is an enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA of the genus betacoronavirus encoding the SARS-COV-2 (2019-NCOV, Coronavirus Disease 2019. Remdesivir drug, or GS-5734 lead compound, first described in 2016 as a potential anti-viral agent for Ebola diseade and has also being researched as a potential therapeutic agent against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the coronavirus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Computer-aided drug design (CADD), Structure and Ligand based Drug Repositioning strategies based on parallel docking methodologies have been widely used for both modern drug development and drug repurposing to find effective treatments against this disease. Quantum mechanics, molecular mechanics, molecular dynamics (MD), and combinations have shown superior performance to other drug design approaches providing an unprecedented opportunity in the rational drug development fields and for the developing of innovative drug repositioning methods. We tested 18 phytochemical small molecule libraries and predicted their synergies in COVID-19 (2019- NCOV), to devise therapeutic strategies, repurpose existing ones in order to counteract highly pathogenic SARS-CoV-2 infection. We anticipate that our geometry hashing driven quantum deep learing similarity approaches which is based on separated pairs of short consecutive matching fragments, can be used for the development of anticoronaviral drug combinations in large scale HTS screenings, and to maximize the safety and efficacy of the Remdesivir, Colchicine and Ursolic acid drugs already known to induce synergy with potential therapeutic value or drug repositioning to COVID-19 patients.

For the treatment of Covid-19 patients with remdesivir, poor renal- and liver function were both exclusion criteria in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and contra-indication for treatment. Also, nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity are reported as adverse events. We retrospectively reviewed renal- and liver functions of covid-19 patients who received remdesivir in the 15 days after treatment initiation. Approximately 20% of the patient population met RCT exclusion criteria. In total, 11% of the patients had a decrease in estimated glomerular filtration rate larger than 10 ml/min/1.73m2. Also, 25% and 35% had increased alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase levels, respectively. However, serious adverse events were limited. Therefore, contra-indications based on kidney- and liver function should not be absolute for remdesivir treatment in patients with Covid-19 if these functions are monitored regularly.

Background: Case study of 30 years male having suspending mass found over upper surface of soft palate hanging in nasopharynx. Methods: After evaluation, patient underwent combined approach (Trans-oral + Endoscopic) excision. Results: Histopathological examination concluded possibility of intra-oral lipoma. Conclusion: Palatal mass (lipoma) requires surgical excision post complete evaluation.

Fish bones have a risk of damaging the mucosa when lodged in the pharynx. Fish bones migrated into surrounding tissues is relatively unusual. We present 2 cases of patients who ingested fish bone, which migrated into retropharyngeal space and hypopharynx. All fish bones were removed without complications.

Viral entry of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) via the spike protein enables endocytosis into host cells using the ACE2 receptor and TMPRSS2. The frequent upper respiratory tract symptoms of COVID-19 and the localization of the virus to the nasopharynx, the most common site of swabbing, indicate that the sinonasal mucosa may play an important role in SARS-CoV2 infection and viral replication. This paper investigates the presence of ACE2 Receptor and TMPRESS2 expression in the primary human nasal epithelial cells (HNECs) from Control, CRSsNP, and CRSwNP and maps the expression changes when exposed to Th1, Th2, Th17 associated cytokines. We found that ACE2 and TMPRSS2 expression is higher in control HNECs than CRSwNP HNECs, and that both ACE2 and TMPRSS2 are downregulated further by Th2 cytokines in CRSwNP HNECs. This indicates an immune dysregulated state of CRSwNP mucosa, which normally contributes to a chronic inflammatory state, might support an altered susceptibility to SARS-CoV2 infection and transmission.

Introduction Multiple contact-based ablation technologies have been developed to allow real-time judgement of lesion effectiveness; local impedance (LI) guided ablation and the role of ultra-high density (UHD) mapping have not yet been evaluated for cavotricuspid isthmus dependent atrial flutter (CTI-AFL). Methods This non-randomised observational study evaluated patients undergoing CTI-AFL ablation using conventional, contact force (CF) and LI guided strategies. Ablation metrics were collected, and in the LI cohort, the use of UHD mapping for breakthrough was evaluated. Results 30 patients were included, 10 in each group. Mean total ablation time was significantly shorter with LI (3.2±1.3min) vs conventional (5.6±2.7min) and CF (5.7±2.0min, p=0.0042). Time from start of ablation to CTI block was numerically shorter with LI (14.2±8.0min) vs conventional and CF (19.7±14.1 and 22.5±19.1min, p=0.4408). There were no differences in the number of lesions required to achieve block, procedural success, complication rates or recurrence. 15/30 patients did not achieve block following first-pass ablation. UHD mapping rapidly identified breakthrough in the 5 LI patients, including epicardial-endocardial breakthrough (EEB) away from the line. Conclusion The use of LI for real-time assessment of lesion formation resulted in significantly less ablation requirement. UHD mapping rapidly identified breakthrough, including EEB, which would likely have been difficult to identify otherwise and possibly require extensive ablation, contributing towards shortening of time to CTI block with LI.

Background and Purpose: Ischemic stroke remains one of the leading causes of death in the population. In addition, mitochondrial dysfunction is an essential part of the pathogenesis of cerebral ischemia and is a promising pharmacotherapeutic target. Experimental Approach: the work was performed on male Wistar rats, which were simulated cerebral ischemia by irreversible occlusion of the middle cerebral artery. 4-hydroxy-3,5-di-tret-butyl cinnamic acid (25 mg/kg, 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally for 3 days after ischemia (daily). On the 4th day of the experiment, the changes of rat’s cognitive functions in the Morris water maze test, cellular respiration processes, the activity of the mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes and citrate synthase activity, the intensity of oxidative stress and apoptosis reactions were assessed. Key Results: it was found that the administration of 4-hydroxy-3,5-di-tret-butyl cinnamic acid at doses of 25 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg practically equivalently promotes the restoration of aerobic metabolism reactions and the activity of the mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes, decrease of the intensity of oxidative stress reactions and apoptosis, as well as an increase in the activity of citrate synthase. As a result, the restoration of mitochondrial function in the hippocampal cells contributed to the restoration of the animal’s spatial memory. Conclusion and Implications: a study showed that 4-hydroxy-3,5-di-tret-butyl cinnamic acid at doses of 25 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg has a neuroprotective effect on hippocampal neurons under conditions of permanent occlusion of the middle cerebral artery, realized by restoration of mitochondrial function.

Introduction: The impact of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) on cardiovascular events and mortality is controversial. We investigated the impact of sinus rhythm maintenance on major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events after AF ablation from a Japanese multicenter cohort of AF ablation. Methods and Results: We investigated 2737 consecutive patients (25.6% female, mean age 63.4 ± 10.3 years) who underwent a first catheter ablation for AF from the Atrial Fibrillation registry to Follow the long-teRm Outcomes and use of aNTIcoagulants aftER Ablation (AF Frontier Ablation Registry). The primary endpoint was a composite of stroke, transient ischemic attack, cardiovascular events, and all-cause death. During a mean follow-up of 25.2 months, 2070 (75.6%) patients were free from AF after catheter ablation, and the primary composite endpoint occurred in 122 (4.5%) patients. The AF nonrecurrence group had a significantly lower incidence of the primary endpoint (1.7 per 100 person-years) compared with the AF recurrence group (3.2 per 100 person-years; P = 0.001). The multivariate analysis revealed that freedom from AF (hazard ratio 0.57; 95% confidence interval 0.39–0.83; P = 0.003) was independently associated with the incidence of the composite event.¬¬ Conclusion: In the multicenter cohort of AF ablation, sinus rhythm maintenance after catheter ablation was independently associated with lower rates of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events.

A man with chronic kidney disease (CKD) under hemodialysis was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). He received arsenic trioxide as a single agent and achieved complete molecular remission without severe adverse events. Arsenic trioxide (ATO) can be used safely and effectively for APL with CKD

The dynamic adsorption isotherms of CO2-EGR were measured by using a Intelligent Gravimetric Analysis system.In the beginning stage of CO2 injection, all the injected CO2 enters into the adsorbent and the mole fraction of CH4 (yCH4) keeps 1.0. The CH4 recovery factor (RCH4) increases. The during of this stage (tcd) depends on the selectivity of CO2 over CH4 ( SCO2/CH4). A adsorbent with large SCO2/CH4 has long tCD. When SCO2/CH4 is greater than 1.0, CO2 reduces the fraction of CH4 in the adsorbed phase (xCH4) and more CH4 is driven out. In the second stage,the injected CO2 competes with CH4 for adsorption. The cumulative RCH4 of this stage is much larger than that of the initial stage. However, yCH4 decrease sharply. pCH4 in the whole CO2 injection is always larger than that before CO2 injection, suggesting CH4 desorption results from the displacement by CO2 rather than from pressure depletion.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common atrial arrhythmia but it is not a benign disease. AF is an important risk factor for thromboembolic events, causing significant morbidity and mortality. The left atrial appendage (LAA) plays an important role in thrombus formation but the ideal way to manage the LAA is still debated. The increasing popularity of surgical epicardial ablation and hybrid endo-epicardial ablation approaches, especially in patients with a more advanced diseased substrate, has raised the interest in epicardial LAA management. Minimally invasive treatment options for the LAA offer a unique opportunity to close the LAA with a clip device. This review highlights morphologic, electrophysiologic and surgical aspects of the left atrial appendage with regard to atrial fibrillation surgery, and aims to illustrate the different surgical management strategies.

This is an article that share clinical manifestation and diagnosis of patient with THR mutation, who found to have very rare mutation in THR-beta.

In considerazione della sempre minore disponibilità di acque di buona qualità, un tema, oggetto di attenzione sia scientifica che legislativa, è la possibilità di riutilizzo delle acque reflue. Obiettivo del riutilizzo è la limitazione del prelievo delle acque superficiali e sotterranee, e la riduzione degli scarichi sui corpi idrici recettori. Il trattamento biologico rappresenta la fase più importante del ciclo depurativo delle acque reflue. I naturali processi biologici sono sfruttati all’interno degli impianti a fanghi attivi (CAS). Gli impianti di depurazione MBR si sono affermati nel panorama nazionale e internazionale come una consolidata alternativa ai convenzionali impianti a fanghi attivi, in particolare laddove sia necessario contenere l’ingombro planimetrico e/o garantire un effluente di qualità elevata. L’attività di tirocinio, svolta presso il Laboratorio di Ingegneria Sanitaria Ambientale (SEED) dell’Università degli Studi di Salerno, è stata finalizzata in una prima fase allo studio approfondito e al confronto tra le tipologie di trattamento convenzionali e innovative e, nella seconda fase, alla progettazione di modelli virtuali tridimensionali che rappresentano impianti innovativi, basati sull’utilizzo della tecnologia MBR.

Abstract An 80-year-old male patient developed exertional dyspnea and bilateral peripheral oedema. Investigations including an echocardiogram, cardiac computed tomography and cardiac magnetic resonance suggested calcific pericardial thickening encapsulating the heart with associated constriction. This is an interesting case as constriction was associated with a large chylopericardium of unknown cause

In this study our aim was to assess the diversity and distribution of cavity-nesting solitary bees, wasps and the spider-hunting wasps' prey with regards to the influence of landscape context in a study area with relatively low human disturbance. The study took place between May and August 2018 at eight study sites in the hilly-mountainous central part of Romania, where the majority of the landscape is used for extensive farming or forestry. During the processing of the trap nest material, we recorded several parameters regarding the nests of different hymenopteran groups, the spider prey found inside these nests, and also tested the influence of the landscape structure surrounding the sites on both hymenopteran groups and spider prey. The majority of nests was built by the solitary wasp group of Trypoxylon, followed by Dipogon and Eumeninae. Solitary bees were much rarer, with Hylaeus being most common group. The groups showed partially differing size preferences concerning the diameter of the occupied reed stalks. In the nests of Trypoxylon we predominantly found spider prey from the family of Araneidae, followed by representatives from the families of Linyphiidae and Theridiidae. In contrast to Trypoxylon, the wasp group Dipogon preferred spider prey from the family of Thomisidae. Concerning the hymenopteran groups, significant effects of landscape structure were found on the number of both nests and brood cells of Eumeninae and on the number of brood cells of Hylaeus, Osmia and Trypoxylon. We also found that the diversity of Trypoxylon spider prey was significantly positively affected by an increasing proportion of grassland and negatively by an increasing proportion of woodland. Altogether, our study presents several new aspects concerning the diversity and distribution of solitary bees, wasps and the spider-hunting wasps' prey and also the effects of landscape context on these groups.

Species invasion represents one of the major drivers of biodiversity change globally, yet there is widespread scientific and popular confusion and controversy about the nature of non-indigenous species (NIS) impact. This confusion stems from differing notions and understanding of what constitutes invasive species ‘impact’ and the scales at which it should be assessed. I argue that the proximate mechanisms determining invasive species impact happen at smaller scales where species interact, and by understanding these mechanisms, we can scale up to a broader understanding of how invasive species impact biodiversity. The mechanisms of NIS impact on potential competitors can be classified into four scenarios: 1) minimal impact from NIS inhabiting unique niche space; 2) neutral impact spread across the community and proportional to NIS abundance; 3) targeted impact on a small number of competitors with overlapping niches; and 4) pervasive impact that is disproportionate to NIS abundance and ostensibly caused by ecosystem modification that filters out other species. I develop a statistical test to distinguish these four mechanisms based on community rank-abundance curves. Using an example dataset from plant communities invaded by the dominant invasive vine, Vincetoxicum rossicum, I show that in long-term plots that had high native plant diversity and where V. rossicum increased, impact resulted in either targeted extirpations (scenario 3) or widespread biodiversity loss (scenario 4). Regardless of whether NIS impact is neutral, targeted or pervasive, the net outcome will be the homogenization of ecosystems and reduced biodiversity at larger scales, perhaps reducing ecosystem resilience.

Prediction scores and metrics are being increasingly utilized throughout the fields of cardiothoracic and congenital cardiac surgery to identify areas for perioperative optimization or guide therapeutic intent. Here, we review a novel submission by Yang and colleagues to the Journal of Cardiac Surgery identifying preoperative factors which predict adverse postoperative outcomes from cone reconstruction for Ebstein's anomaly.

The use of radial artery (RA) grafts for coronary bypass surgery has recently gained newer attention since it has been associated with significant reduction in the risk of midterm cardiac events. Surprisingly the use on the RA graft as second ‘best’ conduit has been limited among the surgical community. There may be several explanations for the little popularity of the RA graft; one of the reasons that could prevent surgeons to include the RA in the daily surgical armamentarium it is that patients with RA grafts may require postoperative calcium-channel blocker (CB) therapy. Due to the thick muscular wall, it seems possible that the RA would needs CB in order to prevent spasm and ameliorate patency. CBs are, however, associated with important side effects; also they have hypotensive effect that can hamper the use of other therapy such as beta-blocker or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. The evidence supporting the use of CB after RA graft (either in the early phase or as chronic calcium-blocker (CCB)) is weak. A the post-hoc analysis from the ‘RADIAL’ (Radial Artery Database International ALliance), showed that in patients with RA, the use of CB for at least 12 months was associated with better clinical and angiographic outcomes at mid-term follow-up, but confounders and bias may be responsible for the reported findings (as healthier patients are more likely to tolerate CB) . This review aims to summarize current evidences available on the topic and to serve as benchmark for evidence-based decision-making for CB prescription after RA grafting.

Habitat fragmentation and infectious disease threaten amphibians globally, but little is known about how these two threats interact. In this study, we examined the effects of Brazilian Atlantic Forest habitat fragmentation on frog genetic diversity at an immune locus known to affect disease susceptibility in amphibians, the MHC IIB locus. We used a custom high-throughput assay to sequence the MHC IIB locus across six focal frog species in two regions of the Atlantic Forest. We also used a molecular assay to quantify infections by the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). We found that habitat fragmentation is associated with genetic erosion at the MHC IIB locus, and that this erosion is most severe in frog species restricted to intact forests. Significant Bd infections were recovered only in one Atlantic Forest region, potentially due to the relatively higher elevation. In this region, forest specialists showed an increase in both Bd prevalence and loads in fragmented habitats. We also found that reduced population-level MHC IIB diversity was associated with increased Bd infection risk. On the individual-level, MHC IIB heterozygotes (by allelic genotype as well as supertype) exhibited a reduced risk of Bd infection. Our results suggest that habitat fragmentation increases infection susceptibility in amphibians, mediated at least in part through loss of immunogenetic diversity. Our findings have implications for the conservation of fragmented populations in the face of emerging infectious diseases.

1. The description and analysis of animal behaviour over long periods of time is one of the most important challenges in ecology. However, most of these studies are limited due to the time and cost required by human observers. The collection of data via video recordings allows observation periods to be extended. However, their evaluation by human observers is very time-consuming. Progress in automated evaluation, using suitable deep learning methods, seems to be a forwardlooking approach to analyse even large amounts of video data in an adequate time frame. 2. In this study we present amulti-step convolutional neural network system for detecting animal behaviour states, which works with high accuracy. An important aspect of our approach is the introduction of model averaging and post-processing rules to make the system robust to outliers. 3. Our trained system achieves an in-domain classification accuracy of >0.92, which is improved to >0.96 by a postprocessing step. In addition, the whole system performs even well in an out-of-domain classification task with two unknown types, achieving an average accuracy of 0.93. We provide our system at https://github.com/Klimroth/Video-Action-Classifier-for-African-Ungulates-in-Zoos/tree/main/mrcnn_based so that interested users can train their own models to classify images and conduct behavioural studies of wildlife. 4. The use of a multi-step convolutional neural network for fast and accurate classification of wildlife behaviour facilitates the evaluation of large amounts of image data in ecological studies and reduces the effort of manual analysis of images to a high degree. Our system also shows that post-processing rules are a suitable way to make species-specific adjustments and substantially increase the accuracy of the description of single behavioural phases (number, duration). The results in the out-of-domain classification strongly suggest that our system is robust and achieves a high degree of accuracy even for new species, so that other settings (e.g. field studies) can be considered.