There has been a compelling body of evidence of COVID-19 causing cardiac complications such as myocarditis and increased risk of coronary thrombosis. Acute coronary syndrome due to coronary vasospasm is an unusual occurrence.

We describe an adult patient who presented with purulent pericarditis in whom two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography demonstrated a marked decrease in the area of the right ventricular wall together with the overlying fibrin following intrapericardial administration of a fibrinolytic agent. Documentation of this decrease by measurements performed and illustrated on two-dimensional images have not been reported previously in an adult patient with purulent pericarditis, to the best of our knowledge.

The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter superfamily comprises membrane proteins that efflux various substrates across extra- and intra-cellular membranes. Mutations in ABC genes cause 21 human disorders or phenotypes with Mendelian inheritance, including cystic fibrosis, adrenoleukodystrophy, retinal degeneration, cholesterol, and bile transport defects. Common polymorphisms and rare variants in ABC genes are associated with several complex phenotypes such as gout, gallstones, and cholesterol levels. Overexpression or amplification of specific drug efflux genes contributes to chemotherapy multidrug resistance. Conservation of the ATP-binding domains of ABC transporters defines the superfamily members, and phylogenetic analysis groups the 48 human ABC transporters into seven distinct subfamilies. While the conservation of ABC genes across most vertebrate species is high, there is also considerable gene duplication, deletion, and evolutionary diversification.

The diversity of butterflies is known to some extent in Nepal, but the study of their interactions with nectar plant sources and floral attributes is limited. This study was conducted along the periphery of Rupa Wetland, a Ramsar site, from February to November 2019 to assess butterfly species diversity and to identify the factors influencing their foraging choices at nectar plants. We assessed the number of butterfly species, their abundance, and their floral foraging behavior, from 28 linear transects (500 m long each) placed in a stratified and random manner throughout the study area. Five factors, i.e., category of plant, flower colour, corolla shape, corolla depth, and the proboscis length of butterfly species were taken into account to assess the nectar plant choices of butterfly families. Moreover, species diversity at the family level, and overall, were determined through several indices. When examining overall butterfly diversity and abundance, we recorded a total of 1,535 butterflies belonging to 138 species within six families. For our examination of butterfly-nectar plant observations, we recorded a total of 298 individuals belonging to 31 species of butterfly visiting a total of 28 nectar plant species. Among the recorded butterflies, Zemeros flegyas was found to be the most abundant (92 individuals), while only a single individual each of the species Troides helena, Gandaca herina and Belonois aurota were recorded. Of the 28 nectar host plant species, Biden pilosa was the most popular and was visited by 13 species of butterflies. Overall, total butterfly visitation was found to be significantly influenced by plant category (herbaceous preferred over woody), floral colour (yellow, white, and purple preferred over pink), and corolla shape (tubular preferred over non-tubular). Moreover, there was a significant positive correlation (r = 0.466) between the proboscis length of butterflies and the corolla tube length of flowers (p<0.001).

Hirudo nipponia is not only an important economic pillar for farmers, but is also a precious raw material for medicinal materials. However, in recent years, H. nipponia suffered from diseases with symptoms including systemic edema and hyperemia. It has not yet been demonstrated which pathogen causes this disease and whether this could be transmitted to humans. In this study, Klebsiella pneumoniae was isolated and identified from diseased H. nipponia and the pathogenicity of the isolated strain was confirmed. Furthermore, by comparing the sequence of the pathogen isolated from leeches to the same pathogen infecting humans, we identified that the isolated strain is a threat to human health. This work emphasizes the importance of the first discovery of pathogenic bacteria from leeches similar to human pathogens, as well as the need for identifying comorbidities for both humans and aquatic animals.

The COVID-19 crisis has forced researchers in Ecology to change the way we work almost overnight. Nonetheless, the pandemic has provided us with several novel components for a new way of conducting international Science. In this perspective piece, we summarize eight central insights that are helping us, as early career researchers, navigate the uncertainties, fears and challenges of advancing Science during the COVID-19 pandemic. We highlight how innovative, collaborative and often Open Science-driven developments that have arisen from this crisis can form a blueprint for a community reinvention in academia. Our insights include personal approaches to managing our new reality, maintaining capacity to focus and resilience in our projects, and a variety of tools that facilitate remote collaboration. We also highlight how, at a community level, we can take advantage of online communication platforms for gaining accessibility to conferences and meetings, and for maintaining research networks and community engagement while promoting a more diverse and inclusive community. Overall, we are confident that these practices can support a more inclusive and kinder scientific culture for the longer term.

Euglycemic DKA (EKDA) is a variant of DKA. In this case report, we discuss the course of COVID-19 infection in a pregnant woman with gestational diabetes who developed severe euglycemic diabetic ketoacidosis triggered by various precipitating factors, including starvation, caused by Covid-19 infection and its gastrointestinal effects.

Rabies is an ancient neuroinvasive viral (genus Lyssavirus, family Rhabdoviridae) disease affecting approximately 59,000 people worldwide. The central nervous system (CNS) is targeted, and rabies has a case fatality rate of almost 100% in humans and animals. Rabies is entirely preventable through proper vaccination, and thus, the highest incidence is typically observed in developing countries, mainly in Africa and Asia. However, there are still cases in European countries and the US. Recently, demographic, increasing income levels, and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have caused a massive raising in the animal population, enhancing the need for preventive measures (e.g., vaccination, surveillance, animal control programs), post-exposure prophylaxis, and a better understanding of rabies pathophysiology to identify therapeutic targets, since there is no effective treatment after the onset of clinical manifestations. Here we review the neuroimmune biology and mechanisms of rabies. Its pathogenesis involves a complex and poorly understood modulation of immune and brain functions associated with metabolic, synaptic, and neuronal impairments, resulting in fatal outcomes without significant histopathological lesions in the CNS. In this context, the neuroimmunological and neurochemical aspects of excitatory/inhibitory signaling (e.g., GABA/glutamate crosstalk) are likely related to the clinical manifestations of rabies infection. Uncovering new links between immunopathological mechanisms and neurochemical imbalance will be essential to identify novel potential therapeutic targets to reduce rabies morbidity and mortality.

The biopharmaceutical industry is transitioning from currently deployed batch-mode bioprocessing to a highly efficient and agile next generation bioprocessing with the adaptation of continuous bioprocessing, which reduces the capital investment and operational costs. Continuous bioprocessing, aligned with FDA’s quality-by-design (QbD) platform, is designed to develop robust processes to deliver safe and effective drugs. With the deployment of knowledge based operations, product quality can be built into the process to achieve desired critical quality attributes (CQAs) with reduced variability. To facilitate next generation continuous bio-processing, it is essential to embrace a fundamental shift-in-paradigm from “quality-by-testing” to “quality-by-design”, which requires the deployment of process analytical technologies (PAT). With the adaptation of PAT, a systematic approach of process and product understanding and timely process control are feasible. Deployment of PAT tools for real-time monitoring of CQAs and feedback control is critical for continuous bioprocessing. Given the current deficiency in PAT tools to support continuous bioprocessing, we have integrated Agilent 2D-LC with a post-flow-splitter in conjunction with the SegFlow automated sampler to the bioreactors. With this integrated system, we have established a platform for online measurements of titer and CQAs of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) as well as amino acid concentrations of bioreactor cell culture.

Here we present an annotated, chromosome-anchored, genome assembly for Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush) – a highly diverse salmonid species of notable conservation concern and an excellent model for research on adaptation and speciation. We leveraged Pacific Biosciences long-read sequencing, paired-end Illumina sequencing, proximity ligation (Hi-C), and a previously published linkage map to produce a highly contiguous assembly composed of 7,378 contigs (contig N50 = 1.8 mb) assigned to 4,120 scaffolds (scaffold N50 = 44.975 mb). 84.7% of the genome was assigned to 42 chromosome-sized scaffolds and 93.2% of Benchmarking Universal Single Copy Orthologs were recovered, putting this assembly on par with the best currently available salmonid genomes. Estimates of genome size based on k-mer frequency analysis were highly similar to the total size of the finished genome, suggesting that the entirety of the genome was recovered. A mitome assembly was also produced. Self-vs-self synteny analysis allowed us to identify homeologs resulting from the Salmonid specific autotetraploid event (Ss4R) and alignment with three other salmonid species allowed us to identify homologous chromosomes in other species. We also generated multiple resources useful for future genomic research on Lake Trout including a repeat library and a sex averaged recombination map. A novel RNA sequencing dataset was also used to produce a publicly available set of gene annotations using the National Center for Biotechnology Information Eukaryotic Genome Annotation Pipeline. Potential applications of these resources to population genetics and the conservation of native populations are discussed.

BACKGROUND: Despite SARS-CoV-2 immunizations have started in most countries, children are not currently included in the vaccination programs, thus it remains crucial to define their anti-SARS-CoV-2 immune response in order to minimize the risk for other epidemic waves. This study seeks to provide a description of the virology ad anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunity in children with distinct symptomatology. METHODS: Between March and July 2020, we recruited 15 SARS-CoV-2 asymptomatic (AS) and 51 symptomatic children (SY), stratified according to WHO clinical classification. We measured SARS-CoV-2 viral load using ddPCR and qPCR in longitudinally collected nasopharyngeal swabs samples. To define anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies we measured neutralization activity and total IgG load (Diasorin). We also evaluated antigen-specific B and CD8+T-cells, using a labelled S1+S2 protein and ICAM expression, respectively. Plasma protein profiling was performed with Olink. RESULTS: Virological profiling showed that AS had lower viral load at diagnosis (p=0.004) and faster virus clearance (p=0.0002) compared to SY. Anti-SARS CoV-2 humoral and cellular response did not appear to be associated with the presence of symptoms. AS and SY showed similar titers of SARS-CoV-2 IgG, levels of neutralizing activity, and frequency of Ag-specific B and CD8+T-cells. Whereas pro-inflammatory plasma protein profile was associated to symptomatology. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated the development of anti-SARS-CoV-2 humoral and cellular response with any regards to symptomatology, suggesting the ability of both SY and AS to contribute towards herd immunity. The virological profiling of AS suggested that they have lower virus load associated with faster virus clearance.

There is increasing understanding, globally, that climate change and increased pollution will have a profound and mostly harmful effect on human health. This review brings together international experts to describe both the direct (such as heat waves) and indirect (such as vector-borne disease incidence) impacts of climate change depending on their vulnerability (i.e., diseases) on an international, economic, political and environmental context. This unique review also expands on these issues to address a third category of potential longer-term impacts on global health: famine, population dislocation, and environmental justice and education. This scholarly resource explores these issues fully, linking them to global health in urban and rural settings in developed and developing countries. The review finishes with a practical discussion of action that health professionals around the world in our field can yet take.

The recent development of ecological studies has been fueled by the introduction of massive information based on chromosome-scale genome sequences, even for species for which genetic linkage is not accessible. This was enabled mainly by the application of Hi-C, a method for genome-wide chromosome conformation capture that was originally developed for investigating the long-range interaction of chromatins. Performing genomic scaffolding using Hi-C data is highly resource-demanding and employs elaborate laboratory steps for sample preparation. It starts with building a primary genome sequence assembly as an input, which is followed by computation for genome scaffolding using Hi-C data, requiring careful validation. This article presents technical considerations for obtaining optimal Hi-C scaffolding results and provides a test case of its application to a reptile species, the Madagascar ground gecko (Paroedura picta). Among the metrics that are frequently used for evaluating scaffolding results, we investigate the validity of the completeness assessment of chromosome-scale genome assemblies using single-copy reference orthologs, and report problems of the widely used program pipeline BUSCO.

Luminescence, a physical phenomenon that producing cool light in vivo, has been found in bacteria, fungi and anminals but not yet in terrestrial higher plants. Through genetic engineering, it is feasible to introduce luminescence system into living plant cells as biomarkers. Recently, some plants transformed with luminescent systems can glimmer in darkness, which can be observed by our naked eyes and provide a novel lighting resource. In this review, we summarized the development of luminescence in plant cells, followed by exampling the successful cases of glowing plants transformed with diverse luminescent systems. The potential key factors to optimize a glowing plant are also discussed. Our review is useful for the creation of the optimized glowing plants, which can be used not only in scientific research, but also as promising substitutes of artificial light sources in the future.

Background: Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination policies of countries are postulated to have effect on the course of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted between March 11-June 10, 2020 in a chest clinic in a state hospital in Istanbul,Turkey. Adults with diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia confirmed with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 polymerase chain reaction positivity in a nasopharyngeal sample and pulmonary infiltrates in computed chest tomography were included consecutively. Sociodemographic characteristics, body-mass index, smoking status, comorbid diseases, income rates, and BCG-vaccination status were compared between severe and mild patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Results: Study population consisted of 123 adults (mean age, 49.7 years [standard deviation, 13.3 years]; 82 (66.7%) male). The proportion of BCG-vaccinated cases was significantly lower among severe patients than mild patients with COVID-19 pneumonia (68.5% vs 88.2%; p=.026). Mean age (54.0 ± 11.5 years vs 38.3 ±10.7 years; p <.001), diabetes rate (32.6% vs 5.9%; p=.002) and low-income (84.3% vs 52.9% p<.001) are higher in patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia than in patients with mild COVID-19 pneumonia. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that increasing age (odds ratio [OR], 1.112; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.058 – 1.169; p<.001) and low income (OR, 3.369; 95% CI, 1.074 – 10.570; p =.037) are associated with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. Conclusion: Clinical data does not support that being vaccinated with BCG is associated with disease severity in COVID-19 pneumonia. Age and low-income are the major predictors for disease severity.

Introduction: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is characterized by lung injury with varying degrees of disrupted alveolarization, vascular remodeling, inflammatory cell proliferation, and pulmonary edema. Diuretics are often used to ameliorate the symptoms or progression of BPD. Our primary objective was to use lung ultrasound (LUS) to determine if diuretics decrease pulmonary edema in infants with BPD. The secondary objective was to assess changes in respiratory support during the first week after initiation of diuretics. Methods: Premature infants requiring non-invasive respiratory support and starting diuretic therapy for evolving BPD were compared with a similar group of infants not receiving diuretics (control). For the diuretic group, LUS exams were performed before and on days 1, 3 and 6 after initiation of treatment. For the control group, LUS was performed at equivalent time points. A composite pulmonary edema severity (PES) score of 0 to 5 was calculated based on the total number of B-lines in 6 scanned areas. Respiratory support parameters (FiO2, nasal cannula flow or CPAP) were also recorded. Results: Infants in the diuretic (n=28) and control (n=23) groups were recruited at median corrected gestational ages of 34.2 (33.3-35.9) and 34.0 (33.4-36.3) weeks, respectively ( p=0.82). PES scores, FiO2, and respiratory flow support decreased significantly from day 0 to 6 ( p<.0001, p=0.001, and p=0.01, respectively) in the diuretic group, but not in the control group. Conclusion: Diuretic use is associated with decreased pulmonary edema and improved oxygenation in infants with BPD during the first week of treatment.

Although the use and development of molecular biomonitoring tools based on eNAs (environmental nucleic acids; eDNA and eRNA) have gained broad interest for the quantification of biodiversity in natural ecosystems, studies investigating the impact of site-specific physicochemical parameters on eNA-based detection methods (particularly eRNA) remain scarce. Here, we used a controlled laboratory microcosm experiment to comparatively assess the environmental degradation of eDNA and eRNA across an acid-base gradient following complete removal of the progenitor organism (Daphnia pulex). Using water samples collected over a 30-day period, eDNA and eRNA copy numbers were quantified using a droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) assay targeting the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene of D. pulex. We found that eRNA decayed more rapidly than eDNA at all pH conditions tested, with detectability—predicted by an exponential decay model—for up to 57 hours (eRNA; neutral pH) and 143 days (eDNA; acidic pH) post organismal removal. Decay rates for eDNA were significantly higher in neutral and alkaline conditions than in acidic conditions, while decay rates for eRNA did not differ significantly among pH levels. Collectively, our findings provide the basis for a predictive framework assessing the persistence and degradation dynamics of eRNA and eDNA across a range of ecologically relevant pH conditions, establish the potential for eRNA to be used in spatially and temporally sensitive biomonitoring studies (as it is detectable across a range of pH levels), and may be used to inform future sampling strategies in aquatic habitats.

Early detection of increasing values of intraocular pressure (IOP) due to glaucoma can prevent sever ocular diseases and ultimately, prevent loss of vision. Currently, the need for an accurate, mobile measurement of intraocular pressure is unmet within the modern healthcare practices. There is a potential to utilize soundwaves as a mobile measurement method and therefore, the relationship between IOP and the reflection coefficient of sound waves is investigated. Simulations are conducted using COMSOL Multiphysics to provide theoretical confirmation of the worthiness of the experiment. An experimental demonstrated is presented to further investigate the relationship between the internal pressure of an object and its acoustic reflection coefficient. The experiment exploits the use of hydrostatic pressure to determine internal pressure, and the reflection coefficient is measured and analyzed. An initial experiment is conducted to identify the resonant frequency of the object and the optimal frequency for maximizing reflection. The experiment shows comprehensively that there is a relationship between the internal pressure of an object and its acoustic reflection coefficient, providing a confirmation of the theory that would allow mobile measurements of IOP to be conducted with the use of a smart phone.