Euthyroid Sick Syndrome as a Prognostic Indicator of COVID-19 Pulmonary Involvement,Associated With Poorer Disease Prognosis and Increased Mortality

ObjectiveThe prevalence of euthyroid sick syndrome (ESS) and its association with the prognosis of COVID-19 and mortality in patients with lung involvement in COVID-19 have not yet been elucidated.MethodsClinical and laboratory data of patients with COVID-19 with or without ESS were collected retrospectively and analyzed on admission. All subjects were admitted to the Department of Internal Diseases and Clinical Pharmacology at Bieganski Hospital between December 2020 and April 2021.ResultsIn total, 310 medical records of patients with COVID-19 were analyzed retrospectively. Among 215 enrolled patients, 82 cases of ESS were diagnosed. The patients with ESS had higher pro-inflammatory factor levels, longer hospitalizations, and a higher risk of requiring high-flow nasal oxygen therapy or intubation than the patients without ESS. The Kaplan-Meier curve indicated that the patients with ESS had a lower probability of survival when computed tomography showed ≤50% parenchymal involvement compared with that in patients without ESS. However, no differences in mortality were noted in those with more than 50% parenchymal involvement. The survival curve showed that ESS was associated with a higher risk of mortality during hospitalization.ConclusionESS is closely associated with a poor prognosis, including longer hospitalizations, more frequent intubation, transfer to the intensive care unit, and a higher mortality rate in patients with COVID-19. ESS is a potential prognostic predictor of survival, regardless of lung involvement in COVID-19.     

The Possibility of Meeting Greenhouse Energy and CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> Demands Through Utilisation of Cucumber and Tomato Residues

The article examines the possibility of using residues from greenhouse cucumber and tomato cultivation as biomass for energy and CO₂ production in order to meet greenhouse needs. Methane fermentation and combustion were compared. Moreover, the legitimacy of ensiling as a storage method for biogas plant was evaluated. The tested waste was found to be an unsuitable feedstock for the production of silage due to low sugar and high protein content. Fresh waste had a higher biogas yield than silage; however, its fermentation lasted longer. Furthermore, the results showed that, in the case of fresh residues, the methane fermentation proved to be a more energy-efficient process, while air-dry biomass is a more sustainable feedstock for combustion. The energy and CO₂ balance showed that, regardless of the method used, the available quantity of waste is too small to meet the greenhouse needs.     

Glioma 2021 WHO Classification: The Superiority of NGS Over IHC in Routine Diagnostics

Molecular Diagnosis & Therapy - The accurate detection of genetic variants such as single substitutions (IDH1/2, TERT), chromosomal abnormalities (CDKN2A, 1p/19q deletions, and EGFR...     

Demonstration of the Bzura River restoration using diatom indices

The quality of running waters is reflected in the composition of benthic diatom assemblages. The biological assessment of changes in the composition, and thus of changes in water quality, was carried out in the lowland mid-sized Bzura River, Central Poland, over the period of 30 years. The benthic diatom material consisted of samples collected in two investigation periods, in 1972 and in 2003–2004. The methods applied were three diatom indices, IPS — Specific Pollution Sensitivity Index, GDI — Genetic Diatom Index and TDI —Trophic Diatom Index, and the OMNIDIA computer program, which are commonly used in Europe. The aim of the study was demonstrating the process of restoration that occurred in the river. The Bzura was included to the most polluted ones in Poland till 1996. Since 1998 a gradual improvement in water quality has been observed, which is caused by a number of biological-technical measures, mostly a proper organization of sewage management in most cites located on the river. In 1972 the IPS classified Bzura water into Water Quality Class IV-V, while in 2003–2004 it reached much higher values, i.e. Class III–IV. On the basis of the GDI Class III was determined in the whole river in 2003–2004, while its values indicated Class III–IV in 1972. The trophic index, TDI attributed Bzura water to the eutrophic to hypereutrophic zone in 2003–2004, and to one degree better water, i.e. from the mesoeutrophic to eutrophic zone, in 1972.     

Microfluidic chip-based single-cell cloning to accelerate biologic production timelines

Cell line development (CLD) represents a critical, yet time-consuming, step in the biomanufacturing process as significant resources are devoted to the scale-up and screening of several hundreds to thousands of single-cell clones. Typically, transfected pools are fully recovered from selection and characterized for growth, productivity, and product quality to identify the best pools suitable for single-cell cloning (SCC) using limiting dilution or fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). Here we report the application of the Berkeley Lights Beacon Instrument (BLI) in an early SCC process to accelerate the CLD timeline. Transfected pools were single-cell cloned when viabilities reached greater than 85% or during selection when viabilities were less than 30%. Clones isolated from these accelerated processes exhibited comparable growth, productivity, and product quality to those derived from a standard CLD process and fit into an existing manufacturing platform. With these approaches, up to a 30% reduction in the overall CLD timeline was achieved. Furthermore, early process-derived clones demonstrated equivalent long-term stability compared with standard process-derived clones over 50 population doubling levels (PDLs). Taken together, the data supported early SCC on the BLI as an attractive approach to reducing the standard CLD timeline while still identifying clones with acceptable manufacturability.