1. Animal movement studies are conducted to monitor ecosystem health, understand ecological dynamics and address management and conservation questions. In marine environments, traditional sampling and monitoring methods to measure animal movement are invasive, labour intensive, costly, and measuring movement of many individuals is challenging. Automated detection and tracking of small-scale movements of many animals through cameras are possible. However, automated techniques are largely untested in field conditions, and this is hampering applications to ecological questions. 2. Here, we aimed to test the ability of computer vision algorithms to track small-scale movement of many individuals in videos. We apply the method to track fish movement in the field and characterize movement behaviour. First, we automated the detection of a common fisheries species (yellowfin bream, Acanthopagrus australis) from underwater videos of individuals swimming along a known movement corridor. We then tracked fish movement with three types of tracking algorithms (MOSSE, Seq-NMS and SiamMask), and evaluated their accuracy at characterizing movement. 3. We successfully detected yellowfin bream in a multi-species assemblage (F1 score = 91%). At least 120 of the 169 individual bream present in videos were correctly identified and tracked. The accuracies among the three tracking architectures varied, with MOSSE and SiamMask achieving an accuracy of 78%, and Seq-NMS 84%. 4. By employing these emerging computer vision technologies, we demonstrated a non-invasive and reliable approach to studying fish behaviour by tracking their movement under field conditions. These cost-effective technologies potentially will allow future studies to scale-up analysis of movement across many underwater visual monitoring systems.

Successful treatment of refractory prurigo nodularis with abrocitinibFang Sun1, Zhenzhen Wu11 Derpartment of Dermatology, Affiliated AoYang Hospital of Jiangsu University, Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu, ChinaCorresponding author: Zhenzhen Wu, Derpartment of Dermatology, Affiliated AoYang Hospital of Jiangsu University, Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu, ChinaZhangjiagang 222 Gangcheng Road, Jiangsu, China, E-mail: 19951236675 @163.com

The nitration of chlorobenzene with concentrated mixed acids is a fast and highly exothermic process, which suffers from considerable mass transfer resistance and poor heat transfer rates. The reaction kinetics has not been thoroughly reported before. In this work, a continuous-flow microreactor system and a homogeneous reaction condition were proposed to obtain accurate chlorobenzene nitration kinetics data at high mixed acid concentrations. A general model for predicting the observed reaction rate constants was established. With a new method for estimating the equilibria associated with HNO3 in aqueous sulfuric acid, the rate constants based on nitronium ion and activation energies were obtained. Compared with batch reactors, the continuous-flow microreactor system allows for a sufficient heat transfer efficiency and accurate residence time control, making it possible to study the reaction performance more quickly and sensitively. This work may provide a reliable reference for the kinetic study of similar processes.

Differences in gut microbiome composition are linked with health, disease and ultimately host fitness; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying that relationship are not well characterized. Here, we modified the fish gut microbiota using antibiotic and probiotic feed treatments to address the effect of host microbiome on gene expression patterns. Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) gut gene expression was evaluated using whole transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq) on hindgut mucosa samples from individuals treated with antibiotic, probiotic and control diets to determine differentially expressed (DE) host genes. Fifty DE host genes were selected for further characterization using nanofluidic qPCR chips. We used 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding to characterize the rearing water and host gut microbiome bacterial communities. Daily administration of antibiotics and probiotics resulted in significant changes in fish gut and aquatic microbiota as well as more than 100 DE genes in the antibiotic and probiotic treatment fish, relative to healthy controls. Normal microbiota depletion by antibiotics mostly led to downregulation of different aspects of immunity and upregulation of apoptotic process. In the probiotic treatment, genes related to post-translation modification and inflammatory responses were up-regulated relative to controls. Our qPCR results revealed significant effects of treatment (antibiotic and probiotic) on rabep2, aifm3, manf, prmt3 gene transcription. Moreover, we found significant associations between members of Lactobacillaceae and Aeromonadaceae with host gene expression patterns. Overall, our analysis showed that the microbiota had significant impacts on many host signaling pathways, specifically targeting immune, developmental, and metabolic processes. Our characterization of some of the molecular mechanisms involved in microbiome-host interactions will help develop new strategies for preventing/ treating microbiome disruption-related diseases.

The nutritional diversity of resources can affect the adaptive evolution of consumer metabolism and consumer diversification. Omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LC-PUFA) have a high potential to affect consumer fitness, through their widespread effects on reproduction, growth, and survival. However, few studies consider the evolution of fatty acid metabolism within an ecological context. In this review, we first document the extensive diversity in both primary producer and consumer n-3 LC-PUFA distributions among major ecosystems, between habitats, and among species within habitats. We highlight some of the key nutritional contrasts that can shape behavioral and/or metabolic adaptation in consumers, discussing how consumers can evolve in response to the spatial, seasonal, and community-level variation of resource quality. We propose a hierarchical trait-based approach for studying the evolution of consumers’ metabolic networks, and review the evolutionary genetic mechanisms underpinning consumer adaptation to n-3 LC-PUFA distributions. In doing so, we consider how the metabolic traits of consumers are hierarchically structured, from cell membrane function to maternal investment, and have strongly environment-dependent expression. Finally, we conclude with an outlook on how studying the metabolic adaptation of consumers within the context of nutritional landscapes can open up new opportunities for understanding evolutionary diversification.

SARS-CoV-2 infection may present with numerous neurological manifestations. We report the case of a young obese lady, recently discharged after treatment for COVID-19 infection, who later presented with headache and blurred vision, diagnosed to have pseudotumor cerebri and concurrent bilateral optic neuritis.

Background Artificial intelligence (AI) is a promising field in the neonatal field.  We focused on lung ultrasound (LUS), a useful tool for the neonatologist. Our aim was to train a neural network to create a model able to interpret LUS. Methods Our multicentric, prospective study included newborns with gestational age (GA) ≥ 33+0 weeks with early tachypnea/dyspnea/oxygen requirements. For each baby, three LUS were performed: within 3 hours of life (T0), at 4–6 hours of life (T1) and in the absence of respiratory support (T2). Each scan was processed to extract ROI used to train a neural network to classify it according to the LUS score. We assessed sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of the AI model’s scores in predicting the need for respiratory assistance with nasal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (nCPAP) and for surfactant, compared to the “classical” scores. Results We enrolled 62 newborns (GA=36±2 weeks). In the prediction of the need for CPAP, we found a cut-off of 6 (at T0) and 5 (at T1) for both the classical nLUS and AI score. In the prediction of surfactant therapy we found a cut-off of 9 for both scores at T0, at T1 the nLUS cut-off was 6, while the AI’s one was 5. Classification accuracy was good both at the image and classes level. Conclusions This is, to our knowledge, the first attempt to use an AI model to interpret early neonatal LUS and can be extremely useful for neonatologist in the clinical setting.

Recently, a bacterium strain of Ideonella sakaiensis was identified with the uncommon ability to degrade the poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET). The PETase from I. sakaiensis strain 201-F6 catalyzes the hydrolysis of PET converting it to mono(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalic acid (MHET), bis(2-hydroxyethyl)-TPA (BHET), and terephthalic acid (TPA). Despite the potential of this enzyme for mitigation or elimination of environmental contaminants, one of the limitations of the use of PETase for PET degradation is the fact that it acts only at moderate temperature due to its low thermal stability. Besides, molecular details of the main interaction of PET in the active site of PETase remains unclear. Herein, molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were applied to analyze structural changes of PETase induced by PET binding. Results from the essential dynamics revealed that β1-β2 connecting loop is very flexible. This Loop is located far from the active site of PETase and we suggest that it can be considered for mutagenesis in order to increase the thermal stability of PETase. The free energy landscape (FEL) demonstrates that the main change in the transition between the unbounded to the bounded state is associated with β7-α5 connecting loop, where the catalytic residue Asp206 is located. Overall, the present study provides insights into the molecular binding mechanism of PET into the PETase structure and a computational strategy for mapping flexible regions of this enzyme, which can be useful for the engineering of more efficient enzymes for recycling the plastic polymers using biological systems.

Anthropogenic climate change has led to unprecedented shifts in temperature across many ecosystems. In a context of rapid environmental changes, acclimation is an important process as it may influence the capacity of organisms to survive under novel thermal conditions. Mechanisms of acclimation could involve upregulation of stress response genes involved in protein folding, DNA damage repair and the regulation of signal transduction genes, along with a simultaneous downregulation of genes involved in growth or cell cycle, in order to maintain cellular functions and equilibria. We transplanted Lobaria pulmonaria lichens originating from different forests to determine the relative effects of long-term acclimation and genetic factors on the variability in expression of mycobiont and photobiont genes. We found a strong response of mycobiont and photobiont to high temperatures, regardless of sample origin. The green-algal photobiont had an overall lower response than the mycobiont. The gene expression of both symbionts was also influenced by acclimation to transplantation sites and by genetic factors. Lobaria pulmonaria seems to have evolved powerful molecular pathways to deal with environmental fluctuations and stress and can acclimate to new habitats by transcriptomic convergence. Although L. pulmonaria has the molecular machinery to counteract short-term thermal stress, survival of lichens like L. pulmonaria depends mostly on their long-term positive carbon balance, which can be compromised by warmer temperatures and reduced precipitation, and both these outcomes have been predicted for Central Europe in connection with global climate change

Vaccination against the COVID-19 virus began in December 2020 in the UK and is now running at 5% population/week. High Levels of social restrictions were implemented for the third time in January 2021 to control the second wave and resulting increases in hospitalisations and deaths. Easing those restrictions must balance multiple challenging priorities, weighing the risk of more deaths and hospitalisations against damage done to mental health, incomes and standards of living, education outcomes and provision of non-Covid-19 healthcare. Weekly and monthly officially published values in 2020/21 were used to estimate the impact of seasonality and social restrictions on the spread of COVID-19 by age group, on the economy and healthcare services. These factors were combined with the estimated impact of vaccinations and immunity from past infections into a model that retrospectively reflected the actual numbers of reported deaths closely both in 2020 and early 2021. It was applied prospectively to the next 6 months to evaluate the impact of different speeds of easing social restrictions. The results show vaccinations are significantly reducing the number of hospitalisations and deaths. The central estimate is that relative to a rapid easing, the avoided loss of 57,000 life years from a strategy of relatively slow easing over the next 4 months comes at a cost in terms of GDP reduction of around £0.4 million/life-year loss avoided. This is over 10 times higher than the usual limit the NHS uses for spending against Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) saved. Alternative assumptions for key factors affecting give significantly different trade-offs between costs and benefits of different speeds of easing. Disruption of non-Covid-19 Healthcare provision also increases in times of higher levels of social restrictions. In most cases, the results favour a somewhat faster easing of restrictions in England than current policy implies.

Adoptive immunotherapy using Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-specific T cells is a potentially curative treatment for patients with EBV-related malignancies where other clinical options have proved ineffective. We describe improved GMP-compliant culture and analysis processes for conventional lymphoblastoid cell line (LCL)-driven EBV-specific T cell manufacture, and describe an improved phenotyping approach for analyzing T cell products. We optimized the current LCL-mediated clinical manufacture of EBV-specific T cells to establish an improved process using xenoprotein-free GMP-compliant reagents throughout, and compared resulting products with our previous banked T cell clinical therapy. We assessed effects of changes to LCL: T cell ratio in T cell expansion, and developed a robust flow cytometric marker panel covering T cell memory, activation, differentiation and intracellular cytokine release to characterize T cells more effectively. These data were analyzed using t-Stochastic Neighbour Embedding (t-SNE) algorithm. The optimized GMP-compliant process resulted in reduced cell processing time and improved retention and expansion of central memory T cells. Multi-parameter flow cytometry determined the optimal protocol for LCL stimulation and expansion of T cells and demonstrated that cytokine profiling using IL-2, TNF-α and IFN-γ was able to determine the differentiation status of T cells throughout culture and in the final product. We show that fully GMP-compliant closed-process culture of LCL-mediated EBV-specific T cells is feasible and profiling of T cells through cytokine expression gives improved characterization of start material, in-process culture conditions and final product. Visualization of the complex multi-parameter flow cytometric data can be simplified using t-SNE analysis.

This paper presents the latest achievements concerning 3GPP Release-17 adjacent band coexistence simulation work on 5G New Radio Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs) for satellite communications. For the first time, 3GPP considered the introduction of Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) frequency bands for 3GPP User Equipment (UE) direct connectivity with satellites and had to consider the coexistence in adjacent bands with Terrestrial Networks (TNs). This paper will further explain the most challenging and the main surprising outcomes of this work, which opened new market opportunities for both terrestrial and non-terrestrial stakeholders. The main conclusions can be summarized as (1) NTN UE can reuse the current requirements of the TN UE, (2) the satellite connectivity does not require a dedicated satellite waveform, and (3) TN can co-exist with NTN on adjacent channels with relaxed ACIR requirements for the tested simulation scenario.

Concerns have been raised regarding the potential negative effects on human health of water disinfectants used in swimming-pools. Among the disinfection options, the approaches using chlorine-based products have been typically preferred. Chlorine readily reacts with natural organic matter that are introduced in the water mainly through the bathers, leading to the formation of potentially harmful chlorination by-products (CBPs). The formation of CBPs is of particular concern since they have been epidemiologically associated with the development of various clinical manifestations. The higher the concentration of these volatile CBPs in the water, the higher their concentration in the air above the pool, and different routes of exposure to chemicals in swimming-pools (water ingestion, skin absorption and inhalation) contribute to the individual exposome. CBPs may affect the respiratory and skin health of those who stay indoor for long periods, such as swimming instructors, pool staff, and competitive swimmers. Whether those who use chlorinated-pools as customers, particularly children, may also be affected has been a matter of debate. In this article, the EAACI Joint Task Force of the Working Group of Allergy, Asthma & Sports and the Interest Groupf of Environmental & Occupational Allergy discusses the current evidence regarding the health effects of both acute and chronic exposures in different populations (work-related exposures, intensive sports and recreational attendance) and identify the main recommendations and unmet needs for research in this area.

Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) is a rare genodermatosis characterized by defective DNA repair, leading to hypersensitivity to ultraviolet (UV) sunlight and predisposes to various cutaneous and non-cutaneous malignancies. Platinum compounds are used against cutaneous cancers as concurrent chemoradiotherapy. But the XP gene polymorphism has a potential role in metabolism of these agents and their susceptibility. Here, we report a case of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma in a patient with XP who had severe toxicity to chemotherapy. We also discuss other similar cases reported in literature of this entity, to highlight this potentially lethal pharmacogenomic association.

ABSTRACT Aim: The aim of our research was to investigate retrospectively the relationship between the symptoms and general characteristics, initial laboratory values and treatments in patients who had COVID- 19 and who applied to the chest diseases outpatient clinic for control after 1 month. Methods: Three hundred fifteen patients who were diagnosed with COVID- 19 and applied to the chest diseases outpatient clinic between May 2020 and August 2020 for control in the 1st month were included in the study. Patient information was collected from the hospital information system and the e-pulse system. Results: Females accounted for 50.2 % of the our patients and their mean age was 47.98 ± 14.81 (19-88) years. 14.3% (n: 45) of the individuals were 65 years of age and older. 20.6% (n: 65) of our patients were smoking. 70.2% (n: 221) of our patients were treated at home. 133 patients had at least one comorbid disease. The patients most frequently reported cough, dyspnea, weakness, myalgia and diarrhea. The most common symptoms were cough, dyspnea, weakness and myalgia in the first month. It was determined that the symptoms had persisted in patients who had been hospitalized, had dual therapy, had comorbid diseases and had more common pathologies in their pulmonary imagings. Conclusion: Symptoms may persist for a long time in hospitalized patients, in patients with COVID-19-related pneumonia and concomitant chronic diseases and in patients with high d-dimer and high CRP at the time of admission. Patients are informed that their symptoms may last for a long time, unnecessary hospital admissons can be avoided.

Title: COVID-19 vaccine anaphylaxis: IgE, complement or what else? A reply to: “COVID-19 vaccine anaphylaxis: PEG or not?”

Background Many people are used to administering their drugs with food, beverages, or herbs, which may contain chemicals that interfere with the prescribed drugs that could potentially lead to changes in their efficacy or safety and alteration in their pharmacokinetic properties. Objective To assess the extent of perception and use of food, beverages and herbs alongside with conventional drugs and their potential interactions among Jordanian society. Methods This descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted in Jordan (20 April - 5 May 2020). The survey was developed using Google forms, validated and distributed via social media platforms. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences-24. Main outcome measure Use and perception of food, beverages, herbs and their drug interactions among Jordanians. Results Of all participants (n = 789), 77.8% were females, 46.2% were 50-year-old, 69.7% were married, 70.8% were medically insured, and 51.1% had a bachelor’s degrees. Seventy percent of the study participants reported use of medicinal plants. About 66% of participants agreed that medicinal plants or herbs could treat diseases and 58.6% thought that medications could interact with drugs. In general, the participants’ knowledge about food/beverage/herb-drug interactions was considered poor. However, linear regression analysis illustrated that the level of knowledge was significantly affected (p-value <0.05) by gender, marital status, social status, the educational level, and employment sector. Conclusion Jordanians have a positive perception towards herbs and their ability to treat diseases. However, their knowledge about food/beverage-drug interactions was poor. This call needs to enhance the community awareness on food/beverage/herb-drug interactions.

Objective: To present a nation-wide analysis of the workload of urology departments in Turkey week-by-week during Covid-19 pandemic. Methodology: The centers participating in the study were divided into three groups as tertiary referral centers, state hospitals and private practice hospitals. The number of outpatients, inpatients, daily interventions and urological surgeries were recorded prospectively between 9-March-2020 and 31-May-2020. All these variables were recorded for the same time interval of 2019 as well. The weekly change of the workload of urology during pandemic period was evaluated; also the workload of urology and the distributions of certain urological surgeries were compared between the pandemic period and the same time interval of the year 2019. Results: A total of 51 centers participated in the study. The number of outpatients, inpatients, urological surgeries and daily interventions were found to be dramatically decreased by the third week of pandemics in state hospitals and tertiary referral centers; however the daily urological practice were similar in private practice hospitals throughout the pandemic period. When the workload of urology in pandemic period and the same time interval of the year 2019 were compared; a huge decrease was observed in all variables during pandemic period. However, temporary measures like ureteral stenting, nephrostomy placement and percutaneous cystostomy have been found to increase during Covid-19 pandemic compared to normal life. Conclusions: Covid-19 pandemic significantly effected the routine daily urological practice likewise other subspecialties and priority was given to emergent and non-deferrable surgeries by urologists in concordance with published clinical guidelines.