A 2-month-old male harboring a duplication of DMD exons 1-7 classified as pathogenic by an outside institution presented with mildly elevated CK levels; molecular breakpoint analysis by our laboratory reclassified the duplication as likely benign. To date, proband continues to develop normally with decreased CK levels, further supporting our reclassification.

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is commonly used in treating superficial urothelial carcinoma. Though rare, local and systemic disseminated BCG infections are important to recognize as they require prolonged antimicrobial therapy and surveillance. We present an unusual case of a parapharyngeal space mass as manifestation of disseminated BCG following urothelial carcinoma treatment.

PRV1 was first detected in deceased pigs from Hong Kong in 2013. It has since been detected in the USA, Chile and most recently in Hungary. Information on the pathogenicity and global spread is sparse, however it has been speculated to play a role in the porcine respiratory disease complex. In an effort to investigate the porcine virome, we screened 53 pig samples from 29 farms using SMg within the Dutch/German border region. In five farms we detected PRV1. qPCR confirmed the presence of the virus in 2 of these farms and found an additional 6 positive farms. Phylogenetic analysis found the closest match to the first detected PRV1 strain in Hong Kong. The Dutch/German region represents a major area of pig farming within Europe and could provide important information on the characterization and circulation of porcine viruses, such as PRV1. Together with the recent detection of PRV1 in Hungary, these findings suggest widespread of PRV1 in Central Europe, highlighting the need for further research on persistence, pathogenicity and transmission in Europe.

Advanced and accurate forecasting of COVID-19 cases plays a crucial role in planning and supplying resources effectively. Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques have proved its capability in time series forecasting of the non-linear problems. In the present study, the relationship between weather factor and COVID-19 cases was assessed and also developed a forecasting model using long short term memory (LSTM), a deep learning model. The study found that the specific humidity has a strong positive correlation, whereas there is a negative correlation with maximum temperature and positive correlation with minimum temperature was observed in various geographic locations of India. The weather data and COVID-19 confirmed cases data (1st April-30th June 2020) was used to optimize univariate and multivariate LSTM time series forecast models. The optimized models were utilized to forecast the COVID-19 cases for the period 1st July 2020 to 31st July 2020 with 1 to 14 days of lead time. The results showed that the univariate LSTM model was reasonably good for the short term (1day lead) forecast of COVID-19 cases (relative error < 20%). Moreover, the multivariate LSTM model improved the medium-range forecast skill (1-7days) after including the weather factors. The study observed that the specific humidity played a crucial role in improving the forecast skill majorly in the West and northwest region of India. Similarly, the temperature played a significant role in model enhancement in the Southern and Eastern regions of India.

ants share the phytobiome with other members of the ecological community by sharing their physiology. The phytobiome is a collective ecological entity that senses external and internal stimuli via its member’s sensing apparatus (senome). The activated senome generates intercellular, and intra- and inter-organismal signals that induce genetically and epigenetically dependent modifications of phytobiome member transcriptomes. Ultimately, these genetic modifications alter the phenotypes of the collective phytobiome members. Mycorrhiza, epiphytic fungi, and dodder can physically transfer signals between kin and non-kin plants. Phytobiome members can release infochemicals by themselves, or modify plant volatile emissions and root exudates to act as signals for plant–plant interactions. These signals can change plant physiology and induce holobiont updates in receiver plants via a facilitative or competitive mechanism. Receiver plants eavesdrop on phytobiome cues and signals to anticipate responses to unfolding challenges. An emerging body of information in plant–plant interactions through inter-kingdom communication can be exploited in integrated crop management under field conditions. However, a holistic view is crucial for the manipulation of complex systems, such as the phytobiome, to avoid potential butterfly effects.

In this work, we present basic results and applications of Stepanov pseudo almost periodic functions with measure. Using only the continuity assumption, we prove a new composition result of $\mu$-pseudo almost periodic functions in Stepanov sense. Moreover, we present different applications to semilinear differential equations and inclusions in Banach spaces with weak regular forcing terms. We prove the existence and uniqueness of $\mu$-pseudo almost periodic solutions (in the strong sense) to a class of semilinear fractional inclusions and semilinear evolution equations, respectively, provided that the nonlinear forcing terms are only Stepanov $ \mu $-pseudo almost periodic in the first variable and not a uniformly strict contraction with respect to the second argument. Some examples illustrating our theoretical results are also presented.

We develop a one step matrix method in order to obtain approximate solutions of first order non-linear systems and non-linear ordinary differential equations, reducible to first order systems. We find a sequence of such solutions that converge to the exact solution. We apply the method to different well known examples and check its precision, in terms of local error, comparing it with the error produced by other methods. The advantage of the method over others widely used lies on the great simplicity of its implementation.

A document by BiYun Tang. Click on the document to view its contents.

Warfarin has existed for more than seven decades and has been the anticoagulant of choice for many thromboembolic disorders. The recent introduction of direct acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs) has however caused a shift in preference by healthcare professionals all over the world. DOACs have been found to be at least as effective as warfarin in prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation and in treatment of venous thromboembolism. In sub-Saharan Africa, however, the widespread use of DOACs has been hampered mainly by their higher acquisition costs. As the drugs come off patent, their use in sub-Saharan Africa is likely to increase. However, very few trials have been conducted in African settings, and safety concerns will need to be addressed with further study before widespread adoption into clinical practice.

Epitranscriptomics is an exciting emerging area that studies biochemical modifications of RNA. The field is boosted by the technical efforts of the last decade to characterize and quantify RNA modifications which have led to a map of post-transcripcional RNA marks in normal cell fate and develoment. However, the scientific interest has been fueled by the discovery of aberrant epitranscriptomes associated with human diseases, mainly cancer. The challenge is now to see whether epitrancriptomics offers a tunable mechanims to be targeted by small- molecule intervention. In this review, we will describe the principal RNA modifications (with a focus on mRNA), summarize the latest scientific evidences of their dysregulation in cancer and provide an overview of the state-of-the-art drug discovery to target the epitranscriptome. Finally, we will discuss the principal challenges in the field of chemical biology and drug development to increase the potential of targeted-RNA for clinical benefit.

This paper introduces advances in the use of Bessel functions (cylinder functions) in achieving optimal sharpness of shapes delineated by collections of holes (dark valley regions) and bright regions in different areas of a video frame. An image hole is an island of low voxel intensities surrounded by varying voxel intensity peaks. The basic approach is to identify dominant collections of lights (high voxel intensity peaks) and darks (low voxel intensity clusters) in video frames. A main finding in this paper is that surface objects (recorded in images) are sharper wherever there are preponderant contrasting differences between image lights and darks. These contrasting differences lead to the highly accurate detection of shape holes (dark valleys) that delineate surface shapes recorded in sequences of video frames). With the use of cylindrical Bessel functions, contrasting differences between peaks and valleys can be measured in terms of voxel intensities and voxel indices.

Cancer is a disease of somatic mutations. These cellular mutations compete to dominate their microenvironment and dictate the disease outcome. While a therapeutic approach to target specific driver mutations helps to manage the disease, subsequent molecular evolution of tumor cells threatens to overtake therapeutic progress. There is need for rapid, high-throughput, unbiased in-vitro discovery screening platforms that capture the native complexities of the tumor and rapidly identifiy mutations that confer chemotherapeutic drug resistance.Taking the example of CDK4/6 inhibitor (CDK4/6i) class of drugs, we show that the pooled in-vitro CRISPR screening platform enables rapid discovery of drug resistance mutations in a 3D setting. Gene edited cancer cell clones assembled into an organotypic multicellular tumor spheroid (MCTS), exposed to CDK4/6i caused selection and enrichment of the most drug resistant phenotype in a 3D setting, detectable by next gen sequencing after a span of 28 days. The platform was sufficiently sensitive to enrich for even a single drug resistant cell within a large, 2500-cell, drug-responsive complex 3D tumor spheroid. The genome-wide 3D CRISPR-mediated knockout screen (>18,000 genes) identified several genes whose disruptions conferred resistance to CDK4/6i. Further, multiple novel candidate genes were identified as top hits only in the microphysiological 3D enrichment assay platform and not the conventional 2D assays. Taken together, these findings suggest that including phenotypic 3D resistance profiling in decision trees could improve discovery and reconfirmation of drug resistance mechanisms and afford a platform for exploring non-cell autonomous interactions, selection pressures, and clonal competition.

A document by Rufus Cartwright. Click on the document to view its contents.

A document by Lokman Hekim Tanriverdi. Click on the document to view its contents.

PURPOSE: To observe the effect of phacoemulsification and intraocular lens (IOL) implantation with or without lens capsular tension ring (CTR) on retinitis pigmentosa (RP) combined with cataract patients. DESIGN: Retrospective case series study. METHODS: 63 cases (84 eyes) of RP with cataract were collected, including 30 males and 33 females. Phacoemulsification with 3.0 mm clear corneal incision was performed in all the patients. IOL and CTR implantation was performed in 44 eyes, and IOL implantation alone was performed in 40 eyes. All cases were followed up at 1 week and 1, 3, 6 months after the surgery to compare the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure (IOP), corneal endothelial cell count (ECC) and complications before and after the surgery. RESULTS: All surgeries were successfully completed by the same physician, and IOL and CTR were all implanted in capsule without complications. The BCVA at 6 months after surgery was 0.91±0.88 LogMAR. It improved a little compared with the BCVA(1.3±0.7LogMAR) before surgery and there was statistically significant difference (P=0.003). Four cases of capsule contraction syndrome (CCS) occurred in no CTR implantation group and there was no CCS in CTR group. There was statistically significant difference in the incidence of CCS between two groups(P=0.047). CONCLUSIONS: Phacoemulsification for RP combined with cataract is safe and reliable, and CTR implantation is helpful in reducing the complications caused by capsule contraction

To assess the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on cystic fibrosis (CF) pulmonary exacerbations (PEx) we performed a retrospective review of PEx events at our CF Center and compared the rate of PEx in 2019 vs 2020. Restrictions on social interaction due to the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with a lower rate of PEx at our pediatric CF Center, suggesting that these restrictions also reduced exposure to other respiratory viral infection in children with CF.

Concepts for crack propagation as well as fatigue assessment under variable mechanical and thermal loadings are unestablished. For variable mechanical loadings, the damage parameter PJ is well known, for thermal loadings the damage parameter DTMF is established. Both parameters base on the effective cyclic J-Integral, still the definition is different. The damage parameters PJ considers the effective stress and strain ranges from the upper reversal point of each load cycle to the point of crack closure. Depending on the loading sequence the point of crack closure is treated as a history variable. In addition, with a crack length dependant fatigue limit, the most important sequence effects are considered. A new PJ-based concept is developed by considering additional sequence effects. In comparison to experimental results, the developed concept is able to reduce scattering in the range of constant amplitude loading tests.

Management of water, regionally, nationally and globally will continue to be a priority and complex undertaking. In riverine systems, biotic components like flora and fauna, play critical roles in filtering water so it is available for human use and consumption. Preservation of ecosystems and associated ecosystem functions is therefore vital. In highly regulated large river basins, natural ecosystems are often supported through provision of environmental flows. Flow delivery, however, should be underpinned by rigorous monitoring to identify and prioritise biotic water requirements. Broadscale monitoring solutions are thus integral and for woody tree vegetation species, this is can be via measurement of field evapotranspiration, regionally scaled using remote sensing. However, as there is generally a mismatch between field data collection area and remote sensing pixel size, new methods are required to proportion tree evapotranspiration based on tree fractional canopy area per pixel. Within, we present a novel method to derive tree fractional canopy cover (FTCC) at 20 m resolution, in semi-arid and arid floodplain areas. The method employs LiDAR as a canopy area field measurement proxy (10 m resolution). Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2, radar and multispectral imagery, were used in Random forest analysis, undertaken to develop a predictive FTCC model trained using LiDAR for two regions in the Murray-Darling Basin. A predictor model, combing the results of both regions, was able to explain between 85-91% of FTCC variation when compared to LiDAR FTCC, output in 10% increments. Development of this method underpins the advancement of woody vegetation monitoring to inform environmental flow management in the Murray-Darling Basin. The method and fine scale outputs will also be of value to other catchment management concerns such as altered catchment water yields related to bushfires and as such, has application to water management worldwide.