Chinese PRV variants have frequent recombination and preferential interspecies transmission. So far, 23 confirmed PRV-infected human cases have been reported. In this letter, we discussed the significance of PRV recombination and its public health issue as an occupational zoonosis.

The Protein Data Bank (PDB) file format remains a popular format used and supported by many software to represent coordinates of macromolecular structures. It however suffers from drawbacks such as error-prone manual editing. Because of that, various software toolkits have been developed to facilitate its editing and manipulation, but, to date, there is no online tool available for this purpose. Here we present PDB-Tools Web, a flexible online service for manipulating PDB files. It offers a rich and user-friendly graphical user interface that allows users to mix-and-match more than 40 individual tools from the pdb-tools suite. Those can be combined in a few clicks to perform complex pipelines, which can be saved and uploaded. The resulting processed PDB files can be visualized online and downloaded. The web server is freely available at https://wenmr.science.uu.nl/pdbtools.

Italy has been hard hit by SarV CO2 infection with more than 240,000 cases and 35,000 deaths. During the acute phase of the pandemic the italian government decided on the lockdown which lasted about 2 months. During this period all surgical activities were limited to non-deferable procedures only. The sudden closure posed problems with the management of the heart surgery waiting which at that time included 135 patients. Among these were selected cases with the worst clinical characteristics that were progressively operated on. Compared with a similar period in 2019, the cardiac surgery activity of the “Lancisi Cardiovascular Center” in Ancona has been reduced by 65%. With pandemic mitigation, heart surgery activity has gradually resumed but many open questions remain. Above all, there is the problem of living with a low but persistent level of presence of the virus with the need to organize the activity in order to ensure patients and staff safety and an optimal level of performance.

The emission of carbon dioxide in large amounts is commonly believed to be the main cause of global climate changes. Development of CO2 capture processes is still a big current challenge. Some anions have been studied for the gas sequestration process due their great affinity to CO2. In this work, electronic structure calculations were performed at the MP2/aug-cc-pvtz level to compute the interaction between 20 anions and CO2. A CBS scheme, using extrapolated energies, was also employed for both gas phase and solvent calculations. The reactions between the anions and CO2 were therefore studied in four different conditions (gas phase, toluene, tetrahydrofuran and water). The trends observed for the reaction thermodynamics with the MP2 method is similar to that observed previously with the B3LYP-D3 and M06-2X functionals. The reactions in the gas phase are highly exothermic and do not involve any activation energy. The solvent effect reduces the exothermicity and induces an intrinsic activation barrier. The negative charge is dispersed in the adduct, leading to a weaker interaction in a polar solvent. Then, increasing the medium polarity, the energy difference between the adduct and the reactants decreases. We also observed a limit for solvent stabilization in the low dielectric constant range. For example, the results obtained with tetrahydrofuran are closer to those obtained with water than to those obtained with toluene. Considering both the thermodynamics of the reaction and the differential solvent effects, we were able to indicate anions derived from alkyl sulfides as the most convenient for CO2 sequestration among the set here considered.

• Scapular and parascapular free tissue transfer (SFTT) is a well described reconstructive option for the head and neck. Majority of reported outcomes are of reconstruction of oromandibular and midface defects. The aim was to describe one institution’s experience with SFTT for reconstruction of PE defects. • This study was a retrospective review of patients undergoing SFTT for head and neck defects between 2009 and 2014 at a tertiary center. The cohort included patients undergoing reconstruction of PE defects with at least 6 months follow up. Seventeen patients (13 male and 4 female) met inclusion criteria. Surgical outcomes, speech, voice outcomes, swallowing outcomes, enteral feeding and tracheoesophageal puncture (TEP) usage were evaluated. • Two of 17 patients developed pharyngocutaneous fistulas (PCF) as inpatients. There was one major medical complication (pulmonary embolism) and 7 minor complications. Mean hospital length of stay was 15.7 days (SD 8.2). In post-operative setting, only one patient remained PEG-dependent, 11 patients supplemented oral intake with PEG feeds and 5 patients took nutrition solely by mouth. Four patients utilized written communication exclusively, 6 patients pursued TEP placement and 7 utilized electrolarynx. • The SFTT is a viable option for hypopharyngeal reconstruction. All scapula free tissue transfers remained viable for the duration of our review. Post-operative PCF rate were comparable to that reported after laryngectomy.

We report a case of Plasmablastic Lymphoma occurring in a 45-year-old HIV-negative woman involving extra nodal sites including ovary, breast and adrenal glands. Prognostic outcomes are generally dismal. On relapse, she received conventional as well as novel therapies and is disease free now, two years post allogenic haploidentical transplantation.

Although myxoma represents the most frequent non-malignant cardiac primary tumor; it is extremely rare met in the left ventricle. Clinical features of the neoplasm extend from symptomless to critical signs of either ischemia or embolism. We describe a case of a huge left ventricular myxoma presented with acute myocardial infarction.

Innate immune sensing of viral molecular patterns is essential for development of antiviral responses. Like many viruses SARS CoV-2 has evolved strategies to circumvent innate immune detection including low CpG levels in the genome, glycosylation to shield essential elements including the receptor binding domain, RNA shielding and generation of viral proteins that actively impede anti-viral interferon responses. Together these strategies allow widespread infection and increased viral load. Despite the efforts of immune subversion SARS-CoV-2 infection does activate innate immune pathways inducing a robust type I/III interferon response, production of proinflammatory cytokines, and recruitment of neutrophils and myeloid cells. This may induce hyperinflammation or alternatively, effectively recruit adaptive immune responses that help clear the infection and prevent reinfection. The dysregulation of the renin-angiotensin system due to downregulation of angiotensin converting enzyme 2, the receptor for SARS-CoV-2, together with the activation of type I/III interferon response, and inflammasome response converge to promote free radical production and oxidative stress. This exacerbates tissue damage in the respiratory system but also leads to widespread activation of coagulation pathways leading to thrombosis. Here, we review the current knowledge of the role of the innate immune response following SARS-CoV-2 infection, much of which is based on the knowledge from SARS-CoV and other coronaviruses. Understanding how the virus subverts the initial immune response and how an aberrant innate immune response contributes to the respiratory and vascular damage in COVID-19 may help explain factors that contribute to the variety of clinical manifestations and outcome of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Background: To compare long-term oncological and renal functional outcomes of laparoscopic and robotic partial nephrectomy for small renal masses. Methods: A total of 103 patients who underwent laparoscopic (n= 31) and robotic (n= 72) partial nephrectomy between April 2015 and November 2018 were included in the study. Perioperative parameters, long-term oncological and functional outcomes were compared between the laparoscopic and robotic groups. Results: No significant differences were found in terms of age, tumor size, RENAL and PADUA scores, preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and presence of chronic hypertension and diabetes (p=0.479, p=0.199, p=0.120 and p=0.073, p=0.561 and p=0.082 and p=0.518, respectively). Only estimated blood loss was significantly higher in the laparoscopic group in operative parameters (158.23±72.24 mL vs 121.11±72.17 mL; P=0.019), but transfusion rates were similar between the groups (p=0.33). In the laparoscopic group, two patients (6.5%) required conversion to open, while no conversion was needed in the robotic group (p=0.89). There were no differences in terms of positive surgical margin and complication rates (p=0.636 and p=0.829, respectively). No significant differences were observed in eGFR changes and postoperative new-onset chronic kidney disease at one year after the operation (p=0.768, p=0.614, respectively). The overall mean follow- up period was 36.07±13.56 months (p=0.007). During the follow-up period, no cancer-related death observed in both group and non-cancer specific survival was 93.5% and 94.4% in laparoscopic and robotic groups, respectively (p=0.859). Conclusions: In this study, perioperative and long-term oncological and functional outcomes seems to be comparable between laparoscopic and robotic partial nephrectomies.

This study’s objective was to develop a method by which smallholder forest plantations can be mapped accurately in Andhra Pradesh, India, using multitemporal visible and near-infrared (VNIR) bands from the Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instruments (MSIs). Conversion to agriculture, coupled with secondary dependencies on and scarcity of wood products, has driven the deforestation and degradation of natural forests in Southeast Asia. Concomitantly, forest plantations have been established both within and outside of forests, with the latter (as contiguous blocks) being the focus of this study. Accurately mapping smallholder forest plantations in South and Southeast Asia is difficult using remotely sensed data due to the plantations’ small size (average of 2 hectares), short rotation ages (4-7 years for timber species), and spectral similarities to croplands and natural forests. Cloud-free Harmonized Landsat Sentinel-2 (HLS) S10 data was acquired over six dates, from different seasons, over four years (2015-2018). Available in situ data on forest plantations was supplemented with additional training data resulting in 2,230 high-quality samples aggregated into three land use classes: non-forest, natural forest, and forest plantations. Image classification used random forests on a thirty-band stack consisting of the VNIR bands and NDVI images for all six dates. The median classification accuracy from the 5-fold cross-validation was 94.3%. Our results, predicated on high-quality training data, demonstrate that (mostly smallholder) forest plantations can be separated from natural forests even using only the Sentinel-2 VNIR bands when multitemporal data (across both years and seasons) are used.

We report a novel Cultured Neuronal Network on a chip as a viable alternative to current culture methods for the analysis of neuronal network formation and evolution of the structural properties of the network's graph . This innovative microfluidic chip fabricated from Polydimethylsiloxane, vinyl, and glass offers worthy features such as the posibility to develop and produce custom designs effortlessly, easy handling and monitoring, culture medium renewal, and reducing the exposure to contamination. Due to these benefits, longer survival of the neuronal networks are observed in comparison to conventional methods. In addition to the fast and cost-effective manufacturing of the chip, this technology provides a significant step forward in the studies of neuronal network development and many challening applications such as drug testing of in vitro cell culture models .

Electrochemical machining (ECM) is a method for removing metal by anodic dissolution. At the interface between the workpiece surface and an electrically conductive fluid (electrolyte), the material is dissolved locally without direct physical contact to the cathodic tool. Due to the force-free nature of the process, ECM is used for machining high-strength or hard materials, such as titanium aluminides, Inconel, Waspaloy, and high nickel, cobalt, and rhenium alloys.1 However, determining suitable process parameters remains challenging due to their interacting effects on working distances during the machining process. Therefore a simulation-based approach to process design substantially reduces resource and time investment to achieve the desired geometry of the finished part. This methodology requires data about the materials electrochemical properties, such as removal velocity and current efficiency, which have to be obtained experimentally. In this study, a methodology for acquiring and processing this data as well as the development of multiphysics simulation models is presented for two use cases: (i) manufacturing a centrifugal impeller with a diameter of 14 mm consisting of the nickel alloy Inconel 713C for use in turbomachinery and (ii) the generation of a defined surface micro structure into the novel Mg-Y-Zn alloy WZ73.

The global pandemic of COVID-19 caused by coronavirus has had a profound impact on the delivery of health care in the United States and globally. Boston was among the earliest hit cities in the United States, and within Boston, the Massachusetts General Hospital provided care for more patients with COVID -19 than any other hospital in the region. This necessitated a massive re-allocation of resources and priorities, with near doubling of intensive care bed capacity and a halt in all deferrable surgical cases. During this crisis, the Division of Cardiac Surgery responded in a unified manner, dealing honestly with the necessity to reduce Intensive Care Unit resource utilization, for the benefit of both the institution and our community, by deferring non-emergent cases while also continuing to efficiently care for those patients in urgent or emergent need of surgery. Many of the interventions that we instituted have continued to support teamwork as we adapt to the remarkably fluid changes in resource availability during the recovery phase. We believe that the culture of our division and the structure of our practice facilitated our ability to contribute to the mission of our hospital to support the community in this crisis, and now to its recovery. We describe here the challenge we faced in Boston and some of the details of the structure and function of our division.

Tree spatial patterns in dry coniferous forests of the western US, and analogous ecosystems globally, were historically aggregated, comprising a mixture of single trees and groups of trees. Modern forests, in contrast, are generally more homogeneous and overstocked than their historical counterparts. As these modern forests lack regular fire, pattern formation and maintenance is generally attributed to fire. Accordingly, fires in modern forests may not yield historically analogous patterns. However, direct observations on how selective tree mortality among pre-existing forest structure shapes tree spatial patterns is limited. In this study, we (1) simulated fires in historical and contemporary counterpart plots in a Sierra Nevadan mixed-conifer forest, (2) estimated tree mortality, and (3) examined tree spatial patterns of live trees before and after fire, and of fire-killed trees. Tree mortality in the historical period was clustered and density-dependent, because trees were aggregated and segregated by tree size before fire. Thus, fires maintained an aggregated distribution of tree groups. Tree mortality in the contemporary period was widespread, except for dispersed large trees, because most trees were a part of large, interconnected tree groups. Thus, post-fire tree patterns were more uniform and devoid of moderately sized tree groups. Post-fire tree patterns in the historical period, unlike the contemporary period, were within the historical range of variability identified for the western US. This divergence suggests that decades of forest dynamics without significant disturbances has altered the historical means of pyric pattern formation. Our results suggest that ecological silvicultural treatments, such as forest restoration thinnings, which emulate qualities of historical forests may facilitate the reintroduction of fire as a means to reinforce forest structural heterogeneity.

Goal: Fast Fourier transform (FFT), has been the main tool for EEG spectral analysis (SPA). As EEG can show nonlinear and non-stationary behavior, FFT may at times be meaningless. A novel method was developed for analyzing nonlinear and non-stationary signals using the Hilbert-Huang transform. Methods: We compared spectral analyses of EEG using FFT with Hilbert marginal spectra (HMS) with a multivariate empirical mode decomposition algorithm. Segments of continuous 60-sec EEGs recorded from 19 leads of 47 healthy volunteers were studied. Results: HMS showed a reduction of the alpha activity (-5.64%), with increments in the beta-1 (+1.67%), and gamma (+1.38%) fast activity bands, an increment in theta (+2.14%), and in delta (+0.45%) bands, and vice versa for the FFT method. For weighted mean frequencies, insignificant mean differences (lower than 1Hz) were observed between both methods for delta, theta, alpha, beta-1 and beta-2 bands, and only for gamma band values. The HMS were 3 Hz higher than the FFT method. Conclusion: HMS may be considered a good alternative for SPA of the EEG when nonlinearity or non-stationarity may be present.

This program director survey attempts to determine how coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is impacting current training in cardiothoracic surgery. A transition to virtual didactic sessions may prove beneficial with increasing attendance. On the other hand, decreasing live simulation and case volumes may jeopardize achieving competency in surgical skills.

Background Reliable diagnostics are key to identifying influenza infections. Our objectives were to describe detection of influenza among severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases, to compare test results from the FTD-33 kit for influenza detection to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) human influenza virus detection and characterization panel, and to assess seasonality of influenza in Burkina Faso. Methods: Nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal specimens from SARI cases (hospitalized patients with fever, cough, and onset in the previous 10 days) were tested using the FTD-33 kit and the CDC rRT-PCR influenza assays. We assessed sensitivity and specificity of the FTD-33 kit for detecting Influenza A, Influenza B, and the influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 strain using the CDC human influenza rRT-PCR panel as the gold standard. Results: From December 2016 to February 2019, 1706 SARI cases were identified, 1,511 specimens were tested, and 211 were positive for influenza A (14.0%) and 100 for influenza B (6.6%) by either assay. Higher influenza circulation occurred between November and April with varying peaks of influenza A and B. Sensitivity of the FTD-33 assay was 91.9% for influenza A, 95.7% for influenza B, and 93.8% for A(H1N1)pdm09 subtype. Specificity was over 99% for all three tests. Conclusions: Our study indicates that Burkina Faso has one peak of influenza each year which is similar to the Northern Hemisphere and differs from other countries in West Africa. We found high concordance of influenza results between the two assays indicating FTD-33 can be used to reliably detect influenza among SARI cases.

Implementation of effective conservation planning relies on a robust understanding of the spatio-temporal distribution of the target species. In the marine realm, this is even more challenging for species rarely seen at the sea surface due to their extreme diving behaviour like the sperm whales. Our study aims at (i) investigating the seasonal movements, (ii) predicting the potential distribution and (iii) assessing the diel vertical behaviour of this species in the Mascarene Archipelago in the Southwest Indian Ocean. Using 21 satellite tracks of sperm whales and 8 environmental predictors, 14 supervised machine learning algorithms were tested and compared to predict the whales’ potential distribution during the wet and dry season, separately. Fourteen of the whales remained in close proximity to Mauritius while a migratory pattern was evidenced with a synchronized departure for 8 females that headed towards Rodrigues Island. The best performing algorithm was the random forest, showing a strong affinity of the whales for Sea Surface Height during the wet season and for bottom temperature during the dry season. A more dispersed distribution was predicted during the wet season whereas a more restricted distribution to Mauritius and Reunion waters was found during the dry season, probably related to the breeding period. A diel pattern was observed in the diving behaviour, likely following the vertical migrations of squids. The results of our study fill a knowledge gap regarding seasonal movements and habitat affinities of this vulnerable species, for which aregional IUCN assessment are still missing in the Indian Ocean. Our findings also confirm the great potential of machine learning algorithms in conservation planning and provide highly reproductible tools to support dynamic ocean management.