Prognostic factors and predictors of outcome in patients with COVID-19 and related pneumonia: a retrospective cohort study

The aim of the present study was to simultaneously assess several potential predictors of outcome (co-morbidity, previous and in-hospital treatment, radiologic Brixia score) in patients with COVID-19.This retrospective cohort study included 258 consecutive patients with confirmed COVID-19 admitted to a medical ward at Montichiari Hospital, Brescia, Italy from February 28th to April 30rd, 2020. Patients had SARS-CoV-2 related pneumonia with respiratory failure, and were treated with hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir plus ritonavir. In some patients, additional treatment with tocilizumab, dexamethasone and enoxaparin was adopted. Outcomes (death or recovery) were assessed at the end of the discharge period or at the end of the follow-up (August 2020).During hospitalization, 59 patients died, while 6 died after discharge. The following variables were demonstrated to be associated with a worse prognosis: Radiologic Brixia score higher than 8, presence at baseline of hypertension, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, cancer, previous treatment with ACE-inhibitors or anti-platelet drugs. Anticoagulant treatment during hospital admission with enoxaparin at a dose higher than 4000 U once daily was associated with a better prognosis.In conclusion, our study demonstrates that some co-morbidities and cardiovascular risk factors may affect prognosis. The radiologic Brixia score may be a useful tool to stratify the risk of death at baseline. Anticoagulant treatment with enoxaparin might be associated to a clinical benefit in terms of survival in patients with COVID-19.     

Improvement in cyst recovery and molecular detection of Giardia duodenalis from stool samples

Molecular Biology Reports - Molecular detection of Giardia duodenalis by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is difficult in faecal samples due to inhibitors that contaminate DNA preparations, or due...     

Feeding of Arapaima sp.: integrating stomach contents and local ecological knowledge

The giant arapaima (Arapaima sp.) has been described as a fish of change in Amazonia because of its important role in the conservation of floodplains, food security and income generation for rural communities. Nonetheless, despite the cultural, ecological and economic importance of arapaima, data on diet are scarce. Aiming to expand knowledge about arapaima diet in western Amazonia, scientific knowledge was integrated with the knowledge of local dwellers. During the low-water period (September 2018) and the falling-water period (June 2019), arapaima stomachs were collected from 11 floodplain lakes in the middle Juruá River. All fishes were measured [TL (total length)] and sexed. Food items from each stomach were categorized as fishes, invertebrates, plants and bone remains and weighed. Also, in the latter period, experienced local fishers were interviewed about arapaima feeding. This integrated approach revealed that young arapaima eat fish and invertebrates but adult arapaima eat fish of a wide range of species, which were mainly of low and intermediate trophic positions. This study reports the first case of cannibalism for arapaima and also shows that during the low-water period, many individuals had empty stomachs or only some small fish-bone remains and/or plant material. Arapaima sex and TL had no influence on the absence of prey in stomach contents. Overall, it can be concluded that local people had consistent ethnobiological knowledge of arapaima feeding ecology that could be useful within management projects in the region.     

Diagnostic utility of HFE variants in Spanish patients: Association with HLA alleles and role in susceptibility to acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the Human Hemochromatosis (HFE) gene, C282Y and H63D, are the major variants associated to altered iron status and it is well known that these mutations are in linkage disequilibrium with certain Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA)-A alleles. In addition, the C282Y SNP has been previously suggested to confer susceptibility to acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). We have aimed to assess the diagnosis utility of these polymorphisms in a population of Spanish subjects with suspicion of hereditary iron overload and to evaluate the effect of their associations with HLA-A alleles on the susceptibility to ALL. Both the 63DD [OR = 4.31 (1.7–11.2)] and 282YY (p for trend = 0.02) genotypes were more frequently found among subjects with suspicion of iron overload than among controls. 282YY carriers displayed significantly higher transferrin saturation index (TSI) values (p < 0.001) as well as serum iron (p = 0.01) and ferritin (p = 0.01) levels. In addition, transferrin levels were lower in these subjects (p = 0.01). Likewise, patients who were carriers of the compound heterozygous diplotype (282CY/63HD) showed significantly higher TSI and serum iron and ferritin concentrations. The H63D SNP did not significantly affect the analytical parameters measured. All 282YY carriers and 69.2% of compound heterozygotes showed an altered biochemical index. The frequencies of the HFE SNPs in ALL pediatric patients were lower than those found in controls, whereas the HLA-A*24 allele was significantly overrepresented in the patients group [OR = 3.76 (1.9–7.3)]. No HFE-HLA-A associations were found to modulate the ALL risk. These results suggest that it may be useful to test for both HFE H63D and C282Y polymorphisms in patients with iron overload, as opposed to just genotyping for the C282Y SNP, which is customary in some healthcare centers. These HFE variants and their associations with HLA-A alleles were not observed to be relevant for the susceptibility to ALL in our population.     

Characterization of the first eukaryotic cold-adapted patatin-like phospholipase from the psychrophilic Euplotes focardii: Identification of putative determinants of thermal-adaptation by comparison with the homologous protein from the mesophilic Euplotes crassus

The ciliated protozoon Euplotes focardii, originally isolated from the coastal seawaters of Terra Nova Bay in Antarctica, shows a strictly psychrophilic phenotype, including optimal survival and multiplication rates at 4–5 °C. This characteristic makes E. focardii an ideal model species for identifying the molecular bases of cold adaptation in psychrophilic organisms, as well as a suitable source of novel cold-active enzymes for industrial applications. In the current study, we characterized the patatin-like phospholipase from E. focardii (EfPLP), and its enzymatic activity was compared to that of the homologous protein from the mesophilic congeneric species Euplotes crassus (EcPLP). Both EfPLP and EcPLP have consensus motifs conserved in other patatin-like phospholipases.     

Interstitial 2q24.3 deletion including SCN2A and SCN3A genes in a patient with autistic features,psychomotor delay,microcephaly and no history of seizures

Mutations in neuronal voltage-gated sodium channel genes SCN1A, SCN2A, and SCN3A may play an important role in the etiology of neurological diseases and psychiatric disorders, besides various types of epilepsy. Here we describe a 3-year-old boy with autistic features, language delay, microcephaly and no history of seizures. Array-CGH analysis revealed an interstitial deletion of ~ 291.9 kB at band 2q24.3 disrupting the entire SCN2A gene and part of SCN3A. We discuss the effects of haploinsufficiency of SCN2A and SCN3A on the genetic basis of neurodevelopmental and neurobehavioral disorders and we propose that this haploinsufficiency may be associated not only with epilepsy, but also with autistic features.     

Efficacy of different antifouling treatments for seawater cooling systems

In an industrial seawater cooling system, the effects of three different antifouling treatments, viz. sodium hypochlorite (NaClO), aliphatic amines (Mexel®432) and UV radiation, on the characteristics of the fouling formed were evaluated. For this study a portable pilot plant, as a side-stream monitoring system and seawater cooling system, was employed. The pilot plant simulated a power plant steam condenser, having four titanium tubes under different treatment patterns, where fouling progression could be monitored. The nature of the fouling obtained was chiefly inorganic, showing a clear dependence on the antifouling treatment employed. After 72 days the tubes under treatment showed a reduction in the heat transfer resistance (R) of around 70% for NaClO, 48% for aliphatic amines and 55% for UV, with respect to the untreated tube. The use of a logistic model was very useful for predicting the fouling progression and the maximum asymptotic value of the increment in the heat transfer resistance (ΔR _max). The apparent thermal conductivity (λ) of the fouling layer showed a direct relationship with the percentage of organic matter in the collected fouling. The characteristics and mode of action of the different treatments used led to fouling with diverse physicochemical properties.     

Joint distribution of first exit times of a two dimensional Wiener process with jumps with application to a pair of coupled neurons

Motivated by a neuronal modeling problem, a bivariate Wiener process with two independent components is considered. Each component evolves independently until one of them reaches a threshold value. If the first component crosses the threshold value, it is reset while the dynamics of the other component remains unchanged. But, if this happens to the second component, the first one has a jump of constant amplitude; the second component is then reset to its starting value and its evolution restarts. Both processes evolve once again until one of them reaches again its boundary. In this work, the coupling of the first exit times of the two connected processes is studied.