Monochorionicity in the absence of TTTS is not associated with an increased risk of adverse neurodevelopment at 5 years of age.Richard N Brown, MBBS, FRCOG, FACOGDirector of Obstetrics and Maternal Fetal Medicine, McGill University, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, CanadaCorrespondence AddressRichard Brown, Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, McGill University Health Centre, 1001 Decarie Blvd, Montreal, Canada H4A 3J1Richard.brown@mcgill.caDisclosures: noneDespite stabilising twin pregnancy rates over the last two decades, as much as one birth in 30 is a twin birth. With twin preterm birth rates being as high as 60% (Martin et al, National Vital Statistics Reports;2019:68), prematurity represents the major factor influencing overall perinatal outcomes in twins. Monochorionicity (MC), with its attendant unique complications (including twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) and selective fetal growth restriction (sFGR)), represents another major risk factor for adverse perinatal outcome in twinning. MC complications contribute to the increased perinatal death rate evident in MC twins compared to dichorionic (DC) twins, as well as the greater premature birth rates [often iatrogenic] amongst MC twins. The potential for neurological harm associated with TTTS is now well understood, whilst in comparison that associated with growth discordance / sFGR or monochorionicity itself, remains less well established.Existing data have suggested increased rates of long-term neurodevelopmental deficits in MC twins overall and especially in those with growth discordance. Perinatal care of twins has improved significantly since data from cases followed in the 90’s reported an 8-fold greater risk of cerebral palsy (CP) in MC twins over DC twins, with this being 19-fold higher in MC twins with discordant growth (Adegbite et al AJOG 2004,190:156-63). A 37% rate of neurological damage has been reported even in the normally grown twin of an sFGR pair, when the co-twin has abnormal Dopplers; however, this was based on neuro-imaging findings within the first month and a half of life (Gratacos et al Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2004;24: 15-63). More recent data has shown a difference in mild neurological morbidities only, but follow-up, at a median of 24 months, ranged broadly from 12 months to 7 years (Rustico et al Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2017,49, 387-93). Despite the limitations of the available outcome data, such information underpins counselling in MC gestations complicated by sFGR. The question “will my twins be OK in the end?” remains one that is not easy to answer with confidence.The EPIPAGE2 cohort has the advantage of representing a more recent large national cohort of preterm births, recruited over a single year and with long term follow-up data. The sub-analysis presented here (Horau et al BJOG 2023, TBC), addresses the association of chorionicity and neurodevelopmental outcomes of prematurely delivered twins (22-34 weeks) at early school age (5 ½ years). The comprehensive testing likely paints a more realistic picture of the neurodevelopmental and neurobehavioural status of MC twins than these prior studies.Within the described population, 24% of twins were MC. The 20% of these complicated by TTTS were excluded from the outcome analysis given the known impact of TTTS. Growth discordance of 20% or more was found in 26.2% of the MC twins compared with 11.8% of the DC twins. In the context of a population with over a quarter of MC twins displaying significant growth discordance, the results are encouraging. Although fewer (68%) of MC twins were alive at discharge compared to DC twins (78%), the severe CP rates at 5 years were equivalent at around 1%. Amongst survivors there were no differences in the neuro-developmental or neuro-behavioural assessments between the MC and DC twins; with adverse outcomes seemingly therefore being linked principally to prematurity rather than chorionicity or growth discordance itself.

Introduction:Brucellosis is a zoonotic infectious disease with a wide range of manifestations including malaise, anorexia, fever, and profound muscular weakness, as described by Marston in 18601. It is caused by the Gram-negative coccobacillus, Brucella, and remains endemic in some developing countries, such as Iran. There are 6 types of brucella that 4 of which include Brucella melitensis, Brucella abortus, Brucella canis, and Brucella suis were recognized as pathogens involving humans. Brucella melitensis was described as the most common and virulent pathogen worldwide. The first case of ocular brucellosis in a human being was described by Lemaire in 1924 2, presented with bilateral optic neuritis and external ophthalmoplegia in a patient with brucella meningitis.Ocular manifestations of acute and chronic infection include anterior and posterior uveitis, panuveitis, keratitis, conjunctivitis, papillitis, cataract, maculopathies, glaucoma, and ocular muscle paresis. Modern treatments of ocular brucellosis, intraocular as well as systemic antibiotics, have improved the prognosis of the disease3. Herein, we present a patient with endogenous endophthalmitis caused by Brucella Melitensis (B.Melitensis), which is very rare and unusual.

As a result of a warming global climate, understanding how organisms adjust their behaviour to environmental thermal conditions has become an increasingly important question in animal biology. Temperature-driven adjustments in parental care are potentially important due to their repercussions on offspring size, quality and survival. In 2015 and 2016 we monitored 70 zebra finch (Taeniopygia castanotis) breeding attempts in the wild. We recorded the frequency of parental visits to the nest together with mean maximum ambient temperature experienced between day 7 and 14 of the nestling period. We found that for each increase of 1 °C in the daytime temperature there was a 1% reduction in the hourly rate of parental visits. Our data suggest that nestlings may receive less food under thermally challenging conditions, which is consistent with recent studies that demonstrate offspring are smaller when reared during periods of high temperature. Understanding the behavioural drivers that may contribute to the production of smaller offspring in the heat could prove useful to forecast long-term consequences for fitness triggered by climate change.

The biopharmaceutical industry is still running in batch mode, mostly because it is a highly regulated industry sector. In the past, sensors were not readily available and in-process control was mainly executed off-line. The most important product parameters are quantity, purity and potency besides adventitious agents and bioburden. There is increasing economic pressure on time-to-market and also on the environmental sustainability of biopharmaceutical manufacturing. New concepts for manufacturing using disposable single-use technologies and integrated bioprocessing will dominate the future of bioprocessing. In order to ensure the quality of pharmaceuticals initiatives such as Process Analytical Technologies, Quality by Design and Continuous Integrated Manufacturing have been established. The vision must be that these initiatives together with technology development pave the way for process automation and autonomous bioprocessing without any human intervention. Then a real-time release would be realized leading to a highly predictive and robust biomanufacturing system. The steps toward such automated and autonomous bioprocessing are reviewed in context of monitoring and control. Starting from statistical treatment of single and multiple sensors, establishing soft sensors with predictive chemometrics and hybrid models. A scenario is described how to integrate soft sensors and predictive chemometrics into modern process control. This will be exemplified by selective downstream processing steps such as chromatography and membrane filtration, the most common unit operations for separation of biopharmaceuticals.

Background: Longitudinal strain is helpful in discriminating between cardiac amyloidosis and other causes of left ventricle hypertrophy. We aimed to compare left atrial strain between light chain cardiac amyloidosis (AL-CA) and hypertensive heart disease (HHD). Methods: Echocardiography was performed at 21 consecutive AL-CA patients, 56 HHD patients and 21 controls who were enrolled in the current study between April 2018 and January 2021. Echo PAC workstation was employed to analyze LA strain of all the participants. Standard echocardiographic parameters and LA strain parameters were compared between AL-CA and HHD patients. ROC curves were employed to assess the discriminating ability of LA strain. Results: LASr and LASct were significantly lower (21.03 vs 26.17, P =0.009, and 12.11 vs 15.51, P=0.009, respectively) in AL-CA group than those in HHD group, whereas LAScd and SD-TPS were similar between the two groups (P=0.17 and P=0.27, respectively). The cutoff points of LASr and LASct for discriminating between AL-CA and HHD were 19.53% and 11.34%, respectively. Conclusions: AL-CA patients had marked reductions in LASr and LASct. LA strain had additional value in differentiating AL-CA from HHD patients.

In 1921, Otto Stern conceived the idea for an experiment that would decide between a classical and a quantum description of atomic behavior, as epitomized by the Bohr-Sommerfeld-Debye model of the atom. This model entailed not only the quantization of the magnitude of the orbital electronic angular momentum but also of the projection of the angular momentum on an external magnetic field-the so-called space quantization. Stern recognized that space quantization would have observable consequences: namely, that the magnetic dipole moment due to the orbital angular momentum would be space quantized as well, taking two opposite values for atoms whose only unpaired electron has just one quantum of orbital angular momentum. When acted upon by a suitable inhomogeneous magnetic field, a beam of such atoms would be split into two beams consisting of deflected atoms with opposite projections of the orbital angular momentum on the magnetic field. In contradistinction, if atoms behaved classically, the atomic beam would only broaden along the field gradient and have maximum intensity at zero deflection, i.e., where there would be a minimum or no intensity for a beam split due to space quantization. Stern anticipated that, although simple in principle, the experiment would be difficult to carry out-and invited Walther Gerlach to team up with him.

The volume of scientific publications is ever increasing, making it difficult for scholars to publish papers that can capture the readers’ attention. An obvious way to attract readership is by making a truly significant discovery; yet another way may involve tweaking the language to overemphasize the novelty of results. Using a dataset of 52,236 paper abstracts published between 1997 and 2017 in 17 ecological journals, we found that the relative frequency of the use of novelty terms (e.g., ‘groundbreaking’, ‘new’) almost doubled over time. Conversely, we found no such pattern with the use of confirmatory terms (e.g., ‘replicated’, ‘reproducibility’). We argue that, while increasing research opportunities are triggering advances in ecology, the writing style of authors and publishing habits of journals should better reflect the inherent confirmatory nature of ecology.

Designing an effective blended learning strategy requires carefully considering the right blend for different learning objectives. Blended learning is more than just blending in-person and online instruction. Finding the best-blended learning methodologies to achieve various desired learning outcomes is the tricky part. To address this issue, blended learning designers use a model of criteria as a guideline. The common challenges are matching the developed model with a conceptual framework and understanding the efficiency of the developed model. Therefore, formative assessment methods, such as expert review, one-on-one evaluation, and field testing, were used to address these study concerns. The goal of this paper is to present an overview of the methods and models for selecting the best-blended learning approach. It also highlights the need for further investigations to address students, teachers, and institutional challenges in blended learning.

Oceanic islands are among the most transformed ecosystems in the world, with many having experienced major biotic changes through the combined effects of species extinctions and introductions. We map global patterns of taxonomic and functional change in 64 oceanic island bird assemblages and investigate whether these patterns can be explained by either island characteristics (geography, climate) or anthropogenic factors (human occupation, connectivity). The Hawaiian and Mascarene islands stand out as hotspots of taxonomic and functional change, but all islands changed taxonomically and functionally, mostly gaining species but losing functional richness. Island isolation and aridity can explain some of the observed variation in levels of change, but anthropogenic factors have a stronger effect. Remote humid islands have a stronger susceptibility to assemblage turnover and should be prioritized for conservation through the protection of native species and their ecosystems, and by preventing further introductions.

A document by Shahad Alhazmi. Click on the document to view its contents.

Chronic Diarrhea as a Presentation of Behçet’s DiseaseMarawan Elmassry MD1*, Sayed Matar MD2, Jerapas Thongpiya MD1, Pitchaporn Yingchoncharoen MD1, Mostafa Abohelwa MD1, Sameer Islam MD31-Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech university Health Sciences Centre, Lubbock, TX, USA.2- Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.3- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Texas Tech university Health Sciences Centre, Lubbock, TX, USA.*Corresponding Author: Marawan Elmassry MDTexas Tech University Health Sciences Centre at Lubbock, Texas, USA.3601 4th street, Lubbock, TX 79430.Telephone/ Fax: +1-806-773-2831E-mail: Marawan.elmassry@ttuhsc.eduConflict of interest: The authors have no financial conflicts to disclose.Patient’s consent: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient to publish this report in accordance with the journal’s patient consent policy.

C-Glycosides are critical, naturally occurring products and medicinal candidates, and extensive efforts have been made to explore efficient approaches for creating C-glycosidic bonds. Transition-metal-catalysis, particularly nickel-catalyzed C-glycosylation reactions constitute a promising strategy. However, achieving a stereoselective synthesis of α- and β-C-glycosides has been a long-standing challenge. To address this problem, a variety of nickel-mediated strategies have been developed. This review highlights recent developments in the nickel-catalyzed diastereoselective C-glycosylation reactions and briefly summarizes the mechanistic understandings of these methods.

Epilepsy is a recurrent neurological disease caused by hypersynchronous firing of neurons in the brain. Neuronal apoptosis, microgliosis, or astrogliosis in hippocampus are considered to be important features of temporal lobe epilepsy. As an important part of the ventral striatum, the nucleus accumbens is closely connected to the hippocampus. As the findings of the reviewed articles indicated, the nuleus accumbens is divided into the shell and the core. The nucleus accumbens shell is a relevant brain region to process reward-related and motivated behaviours, emotional process and social information. Nucleus accumbens shell has a good application effect in the field of drug addiction and mania. Our previous studies have shown that the nucleus accumbens shows abnormal excitation after seizures. In our previous experiments, the number of seizures decreased when this excitation was disrupted. However, the mechanisms of action of Nucleus accumbens shell lesions remain unclear. In this paper, we explored the hippocampal changes inhibited by nucleus accumbens lesions on the basis of the kainic acid animal model of epilepsy. We explored the anti-epileptic effect and mechanism of action of electrical lesions in nucleus accumbens, and found that the mechanism may be to reduce the toxic effects caused by the proliferation of astrocytes and microglia in the hippocampus. It can also inhibit the reduction of neurons and thus play a role in controlling seizures. These results suggest that the nucleus accumbens plays an important role in inhibiting seizures.

Over 645 million people worldwide have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Critical knowledge gaps regarding the characteristics, duration, and impact of symptoms due to “long COVID”. This study evaluated the persistence of symptoms at one year following hospitalization with COVID-19, comparing responses on standardized measurement tools to population norms. Adults hospitalized with COVID-19 March-October 2020 during the initial emergence period in Southeast Michigan were eligible. A detailed survey was conducted via telephone 9-15 months after hospital discharge. Questions assessed fatigue, dyspnea, and physical functioning related to their COVID-19 illness. The median World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) polytomous score placed 50% (n=20/40) of participants in the 90 th percentile of disability based on population norms. The mean SF-36 physical functioning score was almost nine points below population norms (mean=70.6, standard deviation=27.4). Additionally, 47.5% of individuals (n=19) were severely emotionally affected by their health condition. Over half of participants surveyed were still impacted a year after initial infection, experiencing limited functional ability, fatigue, and emotional difficulties. Given the impact of these symptoms on day-to-day quality of life, further studies are needed to develop strategies for treatment and management of post-COVID conditions.

Li-ion batteries are widely used in electronic products, such as electric vehicles, mobile phones, computers. The electrolytes currently used in batteries are mostly organic liquids, which are less safe. In order to fundamentally improve the safety of batteries, the use of solid electrolytes instead of the once organic liquid electrolytes is gradually becoming a major trend. The ultimate goal is to improve the battery in terms of large capacity and extended service life and then push forward the normalization of all-solid-state Li-ion batteries in an all-around way. The current priority is to develop key battery materials and optimize battery performance. Starting from the key materials of all-solid-state Li-ion batteries, this paper reviews the various types of solid electrolytes, investigates the performance characteristics of positive and negative electrodes, the optimization methods of interfaces, and discusses the challenges ahead for further technology improvement.

Purpose: To explore the differences among erectile aids (i.e., phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors [PDE5i] and intracavernousal drugs) of the relative risk of priapism and identify age groups at risk. Methods: We queried the World Health Organization global database of individual case safety reports (VigiBase) for records of the ADR with sildenafil, tadalafil, avanafil, vardenafil, papaverine, and alprostadil. Disproportionality analyses (case/non-case approach) were performed to assess the relative risk of priapism reporting in PDE5i consumers compared to intracavernousal drug recipients. Results: From a total of 133,819 ADR events for erectogenic medications, 632 were priapism (PDE5is: n=550, 0.41%; intracavernousal drugs: n=82, 9.92%). We observed a strong signal for priapism induction for intracavernousal drugs than PDE5is (reporting odds ratio [ROR]=34.7; confidence interval [CI] 95%: 27.12 - 43.94 vs. ROR= 1.38; CI 95%: 1.24 - 1.54). For all PDE5i agents, the 12-17 years age group had the highest highest ROR (ROR=9.49, CI 95%: 3.76 - 19.93) followed by 2-11 years (ROR=4.31, CI 95%: 1.57 - 9.4). Disproportionality signals for consumers under eighteen for both all PDE5is as a whole (ROR=4.57, CI 95%: 2.48 - 7.73) and sildenafil (ROR=4.89, CI 95%: 2.51 - 8.62) were significantly stronger than individuals eighteen or older (ROR=1.06, CI 95%: 0.93 - 1.21 and ROR=1.08, CI 95%: 0.91 - 1.26, respectively). Conclusions: While the overall risk of priapism following the oral administration of PDE5is is extremely low compared with intracavernousal remedies, adolescents are at a higher risk of priapism than older men.

The intensification of warming-induced mass-mortalities in invertebrate populations is a critical phenomenon that affects many regions worldwide, including temperate ones. Mesophotic zones (from 30 to 150 meters depth) have been hypothesized to provide refuge from climate change to gorgonian populations, a promise for re-seeding damaged or destroyed shallow populations. Using a proteomic approach, we investigated the responses and acclimatization ability of the yellow gorgonian Eunicella cavolini along an environmental gradient following reciprocal transplantations between shallow (20m) and mesophotic (70m) zones. Our results suggested that yellow gorgonians from mesophotic waters exhibit a more plastic response when transplanted into shallow waters, compared to shallow gorgonians when placed at 70m. Colonies transplanted from mesophotic to shallow waters presented a down-regulation of immune response compared to colonies that stayed at 70m. Despite immunodepression, transplanted colonies displayed no signs of necrosis or apoptosis, underscoring the potential acclimation capacity of mesophotic populations. Under future climate change scenarios, Eunicella cavolini populations could thus exhibit physiological plasticity in the face of environmental stress, suggesting that no physiological barrier may limit natural colonization from mesophotic populations. This analysis provides new insights into the cellular and molecular responses of gorgonians to environmental changes.

Gut microbial communities confer protection against natural pathogens in important pollinators from the genera Bombus and Apis. In commercial species B. terrestris and B. impatiens, the microbiota increases their resistance to the common and virulent trypanosomatid parasite Crithidia bombi. However, the mechanisms by which gut microorganisms protect the host are still unknown. Here, we test two hypotheses: microbiota protect the host 1) through stimulation of its immune response or protection of the gut epithelium and 2) by competing for resources with the parasite inside the gut. To test them, we reduced the microbiota of workers and fed part of them with microbiota supplements. We exposed them to an infectious dose of C. bombi and characterised gene expression and gut microbiota composition. We examined the expression of three antimicrobial peptide (AMP) genes and Mucin-5AC, a gene with a putative role in gut epithelium protection, using qPCR. Although a protective effect against C. bombi was observed in bumblebees with supplemented microbiota, we did not observe an effect of the microbiota on gene expression that could explain alone the protective effect observed. On the other hand, we found an increased relative abundance of Lactobacillus bacteria within the gut of infected workers and a negative correlation of this genus with Gilliamella and Snodgrassella genera. Therefore, our results point to a displacement of bumblebee endosymbionts by C. bombi that might be caused by competition for space and nutrients between the parasite and the microbiota within the gut.

Dissolved organic matter and inorganic nutrients released from forest leaf litter through leaching are the important energy and nutrient sources that support the production of aquatic food webs. Litter leachate-derived dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a critical energy source for aquatic heterotrophic microbes, and inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus can enhance primary production. In this study, we experimentally measured the release efficiencies and amounts of dissolved organic DOC, total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) and total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) of the leaf litter from 11 temperate tree species by soaking the leaf litter in water for 28 days. We found that the maximal release efficiency (% of element released per estimated mass of the element) was the highest for P and lowest for N. These efficiencies were species-specific. Additionally, the DOC:TDP and TDN:TDP ratios varied among the leachates of different leaf litter species and were considerably lower than the C:P and N:P ratios in leaf litter biomass; the DOC:TDN ratio was higher than the C:N ratio in leaf litter biomass. These results suggested that the ratios of organic carbon to nutrients dissolved into water cannot be fully elucidated using the elemental ratios of leaf litter mass. Based on these findings, we concluded that changes in the vegetations with different leaf litter stoichiometry can alter the relative importance of detrital and grazing food chains in aquatic ecosystems.

¾-power scaling between metabolic rate and body mass is regarded as near-universal across organisms. However, there are compelling reasons to question ¾-power scaling in woody plants, where metabolic rate≈leaf area. This leaf area must provide carbon to the metabolically active sapwood volume (V MASW). V MASW is necessarily a much smaller volume than total wood volume, meaning that scaling of total leaf area LA tot with V MASW should be >¾. Within populations of a species, variants in which V MASW increases per unit leaf area with height growth (e.g. ¾ scaling) would have proportionally less carbon for growth and reproduction as they grow taller. Therefore, selection should favor individuals in which, as they grow taller, leaf area scales isometrically with V MASW. Using tetrazolium staining, we measured total V MASW and total leaf area across 22 individuals of Ricinus communis and confirmed that leaf area scales isometrically with V MASW, and that V MASW is much smaller than total sapwood volume. . With the potential of the LA tot-V MASW relationship to shape factors as diverse as the crown area-stem diameter relationship, conduit diameter scaling, reproductive output, and drought-induced mortality, our work suggests that the notion that sapwood increases per unit leaf area with height growth requires revision.

Structure from Motion (SfM) is a proficient technique for 3D reconstruction from multiple views. However, its potentials could only be seen after the development of computer and digital photograph especially in the developing countries. Nowadays, SfM is applied in many applicative scenarios ranging from earth observation to heritage documentation. An important task in SfM that has been solved just recently in practice is bundle adjustment, which is accomplished through nonlinear least-squares optimization based on Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm. The aim of this paper is to present an experimental validation of the most popular open-source optimization frameworks, which implanted LM algorithm for solving bundle adjustment in SfM. For this purpose, the comparison among their performance is conducted by using bundle adjustment in the large benchmark.

The adverse effect of transient torque reversals (TTRs) on wind turbine gearboxes can be severe due to their magnitude and rapid occurrence compared to other equipment. The primary damage is caused to the bearings as the bearing loaded zone rapidly changes its direction. Other components are also affected by TTRs (such as gear tooth); however, its impact on bearings is the largest. While the occurrence and severity of TTRs are acknowledged in the industry, there is a lack of academic literature on their initiation, propagation and the associated risk of damage. Furthermore, in the wide range of operation modes of a wind turbine, it is not known which modes can lead to TTRs. Further, the interdependence of TTRs on environmental loading like the wind is also not reported. This paper aims to address these unknowns by expanding on the understanding of TTRs using a high fidelity numerical model of an indirect drive wind turbine with a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG). To this end, a multibody model of the drivetrain is developed in SIMPACK. The model of the drivetrain is explicitly coupled to state-of-the-art wind turbine simulator Open-FAST, and a grid-connected DFIG developed in MATLAB ® 's Simulink ® allowing a coupled analysis of the electromechanical system. A metric termed slip risk duration is proposed in this paper to quantify the risk associated with the TTRs. The paper first investigates a wide range of IEC design load cases to uncover which load cases can lead to TTRs. It was found that emergency stop and symmetric grid voltage drops can lead to TTRs. Next, the dependence of the TTRs on inflow wind parameters is investigated using a sensitivity analysis. It was found that the instantaneous wind speed at the onset of the grid fault or emergency shutdown was the most influential factor in the slip risk duration. The investigation enables the designer to predict the occurrence of TTRs and quantify the associated risk of damage. The paper concludes with recommendations for utility-scale wind turbines and directions for future research.

Salmonella is a major pathogen worldwide causing acute foodborne outbreaks. Traditional identification methods, however, are time-consuming and faced complexity to detect contamination of bacteria in the food supply chain timely. We herein aimed to develop a method for rapid and robust detection of Salmonella Typhimurium in milk and chicken meat based on recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) integrated with agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE). Three primers pairs were designed which function both in RPA as well as in polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A total number of 254 S. Typhimurium field isolates from various sources of North Eastern Region (NER) of India were evaluated using both RPA and PCR for validating the assay. The results were consistent in RPA and PCR-based detection using crude DNA obtained by a simple boiling method without any purification step. The RPA-AGE showed versatility functioning at 350C to 410C, and at the temperature of 370C, it only took 5 min of amplification to reach the test threshold of amplicon. The established method had both a good specificity and a sensitivity of 10fg DNA per reaction of 15µL volume. It showed high sensitivity when artificially inoculated in fresh chicken samples even at 10-9 fold dilutions containing 1.95 X 101 to 1.95 X 104 cfu/mL. There was no cross-reactivity with the other four Salmonella serovars and seven bacterial pathogens tested. To our knowledge, this is the first report of reliable serovar specific detection of Salmonella Typhimurium by RPA using crude DNA extracted by a simple boiling method.

Objective: To explore the effects of antenatal anxiety on fetal growth, and to investigate the effect of anxiety timing and the potentially different effect of trait anxiety and state anxiety on fetal growth. Design: Observational cohort study. Setting: Barcelona, Spain. Population: A cohort of 204 women with singleton pregnancies attending the antenatal clinic of a tertiary care setting during the strict lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Methods: Psychosocial factors, maternal demographics, and obstetric outcomes were studied as potential predictors of low birth weight. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAIs, STAIt), the Edinburgh postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (MOS-SSS) were used to assess symptoms of anxiety, symptoms of depression, and social support, respectively. Main Outcome Measures: Neonatal birth weight, head circumference and length. Results: There was a negative correlation between STAIt score (trait anxiety) and birth weight percentile (r=-0.228, p=0.047). In the univariate linear regression analysis, a lower maternal weight and BMI before pregnancy, parity, increased STAIt score and preterm birth below 37 weeks of gestation (p=0.008, p=0.015, p=0.028, p=0.047 and p=0.022, respectively) were identified as predictive risk factors for low birth weight. In the multivariate lineal regression analysis only a lower maternal weight before pregnancy and an increased STAIt score were independent predictors for low birth weight (p=0.020, p=0.049, respectively). Conclusions: Anxiety during pregnancy impacts birth weight, and specifically the trait anxiety, the one associated with the personality attributes, is a predictor for low birth weight.