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.

Mapping the SOC distributions in coastal wetlands plays an important role in assessing ecosystem services, predicting the greenhouse effects and investigating global carbon cycle. Few research has explored the relationships of SOC and environmental variables with seasonal changes, and the effects of multi-temporal environmental variables on Digital Soil Mapping (DSM). The results showed that the relationships between SOC and environmental variables in different months varied significantly in coastal wetlands of the Yellow River Delta (YRD). In general, the environmental variables in wet season showed stronger correlations and higher importance scores with SOC compared with those in dry season. In addition, SOC prediction models based on multi-temporal data in wet season and mono-temporal data in April had stronger prediction performance compared with those based on multi-temporal data in dry season. As a result, data fusion of multi-temporal data did not necessarily contribute to the model performance enhancement. Relative homogenous soil-landscape attributes and spectral characteristics in coastal wetlands of the YRD in dry season could not accurately explain the strong spatial variation of SOC in this area, and it might be the major reason that caused the stronger model performance of soil prediction models based on wet season than those based on dry season. Therefore, the accurate spatial prediction of soil properties requires the characterization of the seasonal dynamics of soil-landscape relationships. In general, the findings of this research demonstrated that the selection of the environmental variables in the establishment of DSM model should consider the seasonal effects of environmental variables.

- We retrospectively evaluated a large series of patients (n: 15) underwent a modified transmanubrial approach for wide mediastinal resection in case of malignance thyroid mass - In fourteen cases, also with thyroid tumor involving the middle line. A bilateral mTMA was necessary to perform a cava vein resection. - No major postoperative and cutaneous/sternum complications were detected. - mTMA allows an optimal exposure of the upper thoracic inlet achieving a complete radical oncological resection of the tumor/lymph-node and a safety vascular/tracheal control. - As a limitation, the modified mTMA is anatomically more demanding and not familiar for most surgeons in comparison to sternotomy

The deformation and detachment of bacterial biofilm are related to the structural and mechanical properties of the biofilm itself. Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) play an important role on keeping the mechanical stability of biofilms. The understanding of biofilm mechanics and detachment can help to reveal biofilm survival mechanisms under fluid shear and provide insight about what flows might be needed to remove biofilm in a cleaning cycle or for a ship to remove biofilms. However, how the EPS may affect biofilm mechanics and its deformation in flow conditions remains elusive. To address this, a coupled computational fluid dynamic – discrete element method (CFD-DEM) model was developed. The mechanisms of biofilm detachment, such as erosion and sloughing have been revealed by imposing hydrodynamic fluid flow at different velocities and loading rates. The model, which also allows adjustment of the proportion of different functional group of microorganisms in the biofilm, enables the study of the contribution of EPS towards biofilm resistance to fluid shear stress. Furthermore, the stress-strain curves during biofilm deformation have been captured by loading and unloading fluid shear stress to study the viscoelastic properties of the biofilm.

Drug-induced enterocolitis syndrome with paracetamol (acetaminophen) in a 12-month-old-old boy B.Pascalab, B.Evrardac, E.Merlinbc, C.Egronb, B.Bonnetac, E.Michaudba Service d’immunologie, hôpital Gabriel Montpied, Clermont-ferrand, Franceb Service de pédiatrie générale, hôpital Estaing, Clermont-ferrand, Francec Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont ferrand, FranceTo the Editor,Drug-induced enterocolitis syndrome (DIES) is a new clinical presentation similar to food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES). It was described for the first time in 2014 by Novembre et al.(1). More and more cases have been described since and clinical diagnostic criteria have recently been proposed. (2)A 12-month-old boy was referred to our Pediatric Allergy Unit for a suspected drug hypersensitivity. At age 10 months, he was admitted to the pediatric emergency room for vomiting and fever, previously treated with two intake of intrarectal paracetamol (15 mg/kg every 6 hours), the last one 4 hours before admission. He had no previous history (and no allergic history). During the initial examination, we observed asthenia, paleness, no fever (after antipyretics) and tachycardia, followed by four episodes of mucus vomiting without diarrhea. An occlusive syndrome was suspected. Given the hemodynamic disorders, continued fluid resuscitation was performed. Blood tests showed an isolated hyperleukocytosis with neutrophils (11.08 G/L). Eosinophils (0.210 G/L), lymphoid cells (7.25 G/L), the ionogramm and CRP (4.9 mg/L) were normal. Blood gas revealed a compensated respiratory alkalosis (lactates 2.2 mmol/L, methemoglobinemia 1.3%). No tryptase or specific IgE test was performed. Abdominal ultrasound was normal. Microbiological workup was negative. The next day, he was still irritable with several night vomiting episodes. He was discharged with some clinical improvement (diagnosed viral disease).By questioning the parents, they noticed that their child presented digestive disorders’ events at home since birth, which coincided with the 5 times intake of Paracetamol, twice orally and then intrarectally. The symptoms appeared systematically from the first intake. In the child’s medical history, we found no rhythmicity related to meals or other etiologies. His father has a well-known pollen and Penicillin allergies. By reviewing the emergency room observations (Figure 1), we noticed systematic digestive disorders approximately 3h to 6h after each paracetamol intake, explaining the moderate initial clinical improvement.Four months later, skin prick tests (10 mg/mL) and intradermal tests (0.1 mg/mL) were negative. The drug oral challenge (Table 1) was positive: repeated vomiting, marked pallor, lethargy, and crying without cutaneous or respiratory symptoms 2 hours after the last paracetamol intake. Rehydration and corticosteroid therapy brought a complete clinical recovery. No mast cell degranulation was observed (normal tryptase levels: 6.6 µg/L to 6.2 µg/L 1 hour after reaction). There was no infectious context or other confounding factors on the day of the challenge test.We inferred a drug-induced enterocolitis syndrome (DIES) caused by paracetamol, in the absence of other plausible causes. This child’s reaction met the various major and minor criteria described (3), independently of the dosage form, formally implicating paracetamol (Table 2). Therefore, the assay of specific immunoglobulins and the performance of a basophils activation test were not performed.Based on all these observations, we decided to propose an alternative treatment with ibuprofen, if the child had fever and eliminate cross allergy, confirmed by a negative challenge test. We will follow the child and perhaps propose another Paracetamol challenge test, in a few years, to assess possible cure of the syndrome. Since the provocation test, parents kept paracetamol excluded, the child no longer presented any digestive disorder. Prognosis of the DIES is actually unknown. Oral challenge seems to be indeed the only useful test to confirm or exclude DIES (3). In contrast, skin tests don’t provide conclusive evidence to diagnose DIES, as for FPIES.This is the first clinical presentation of DIES with paracetamol. Similar cases following antibiotic intakes (including amoxicillin) and only one for pantoprazole have been described, with similar clinical and biological manifestations (2). DIES is a clinical entity more frequent in a pediatric population, described with a minimum age of 2 years old, but adult cases are more and more reported in the literature. The patient is therefore younger than the cases described in the literature.Currently, it is considered in the literature that DIES is a syndrome equivalent to FPIES but with allergens of a different nature, respectively drug versus food. FPIES is a non-IgE mediated gastrointestinal food allergy (prevalence 1%), symptoms depend on the frequency of food exposure. FPIES affects infants and young children, diagnosis is clinical, and there are no specific biomarkers. In the literature, there were two kinds of FPIES being described: chronic FPIES occurs when food consumption is regular, symptoms (chronic diarrhea, vomiting, weight loss..) resolve with a period of avoidance, and acute FPIES occurs with occasional consumption of food and can have severe symptoms which may lead to shockSimilarly, DIES present specific criteria of non-IgE-mediated hypersensitivity, based only on the presence of typical symptoms (Table 2). However, to date, acute or chronic forms have not yet been described.Although its clinical manifestations can be severe and lead to hypovolemic shock, DIES pathophysiology is still not well understood. There is also no validated biomarker. According to Powell and al (4), neutrophilia has been recognized as a common finding in patients presenting with acute FPIES for a long time. The increase of the eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) in stool samples from 24 and 48 h after the reaction was also described. (5) Many cases of FPIES will be probably described in the coming years, maybe with new different drugs. This diagnosis should be considered in the event of a recurrent digestive disorder, at any age.To date, several unanswered questions need to be addressed. Clinicians must be known for example if DIES is a transient or persistent trouble. Further studies may allow to find the origin, evolution and treatment of DIES.In conclusion, we reported the first DIES induced by PARACETAMOL, with tolerance to IBUPROFEN, confirmed by oral challenge test. Until now, it is the youngest patient case report and the first for PARACETAMOL.Keywords: children; drug hypersensitivity reactions; drug-induced enterocolitis syndrome; drug allergy; antipyreticReferences1. Drug-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (DIES) Elio Novembre, Francesca Mori, Simona Barni, Neri Pucci,2. Mori F, Liccioli G, Fuchs O et al. Drug-induced enterocolitis syndrome: Similarities and differences compared with food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2021 Mar 2.3. Van Thuijl AOJ, Landzaat LJ, Liem O, et al. Drug-induced enterocolitis syndrome (DIES): A clinical entity that deserves more awareness. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2019 May;122(5):538-539.4. G K Powell. Enterocolitis in low-birth-weight infants associated with milk and soy protein intolerance J Pediatr. 1976 May;88(5):840-4.5. Freundt Serpa NP, Sánchez-Morillas L, Jaqueti Moreno P, González-Gutiérrez ML, Cimarra M, Cerecedo I, Fernández-Rivas M. Drug-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome Due to Amoxicillin-Clavulanic Acid With Good Tolerance to Penicillin. J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol. 2020;30(4):301-302. doi: 10.18176/jiaci.0500. Epub 2020 Feb 25. PMID: 32101171.

We are concerned with the global existence and decay rates of large solutions for the Poisson--Nernst--Planck equations. Based on careful observation of algebraic structure of the equations and using the weighted Chemin--Lerner type norm, we obtain the global existence and optimal decay rates of large solutions without requiring the summation of initial densities of a negatively and positively charged species is small enough. Moreover, the large solution is obtained for initial data belonging to the low regularity Besov spaces with different regularity and integral indices for the different charged species, which indicates more specific coupling relations between the negatively and positively charged species.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines had a great impact on world health and well-being. However, various adverse events have been observed following COVID-19 vaccination. Cutaneous reactions have been prevalent following many vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines. Here, we present a case of new-onset lichen planus in a COVID-19 patient.

Case Video Summary: This video demonstrates the principle of spiral PA plasty whereby the length of branch pulmonary arteries can be increased simultaneous to the increase in diameter by using a patch that is anastomosed spirally around the vessels.

Mergers and acquisitions operations continue to be one of the most explored growth strategies in all markets, and this is indeed the case in the elevator industry. The volume of investments grows year after year. It is the fastest way to grow in international and domestic markets, but the reality is that a high percentage of the operations carried out do not meet the expectations of the investors once the integration phase has been completed. There are several causes of failures in mergers and acquisitions processes, such as lack of commitment from the management, an unrealistic business plan, cultural shock, etc. But the most common one, and the one with the highest risk in an acquisition decision, is information asymmetry. During the negotiation phase a large amount of data is collected, and subsequently analyzed during the due diligence period, but it may not correspond to the reality during the integration phase. In this article we will propose how information asymmetry can be avoided through the application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) via internet of things (hereinafter IoT) devices in the elevator industry. This can also be applied to other industries.

Indirect costs of animal disease outbreaks often significantly exceed the direct costs. Despite their importance, indirect costs remain poorly characterised due to their complexity. In this study, we developed a framework to assess the indirect costs of a hypothetical African Swine Fever outbreak in Switzerland. We collected data through international and national stakeholder interviews, analysis of national disease control regulations and industry data. We developed a framework to capture the resulting qualitative and quantitative data, categorise the impacts of these regulations, and rank the impacts in order of importance. We then developed a spreadsheet model to calculate the indirect costs of one category of control measure for an individual group of stakeholders. We developed a decision tree model to guide the most economically favourable implementation plan for a given control measure category, under different outbreak scenarios. Our results suggest that the most important measure/impact categories were ‘Transport logistics’, ‘Consumer demand’, ‘Prevention of wild boar and domestic pig contact’ and ‘Slaughter logistics’. In our hypothetical scenario, the greatest costs associated with ‘Prevention of wild boar and domestic pig contact’ were due to assumed partial or total depopulation of pig farms in order to reduce herd size to comply with the simulated control regulations. The model also provides suggestions on the most economically favourable strategy to reduce contact between wild boar and domestic pigs in control areas depending on the duration of the outbreak. Our approach provides a new framework to integrate qualitative and quantitative data to guide disease control strategy. This method could be useful in other countries and for other diseases, including in data- and resource-poor settings, or areas with limited experience of animal disease outbreaks.

The genus Phyllachora contains numerous obligate fungal parasites that produce raised, melanized structures called stromata on their plant hosts referred to as tar spot. Members of this genus are known to infect many grass species but generally do not cause significant damage or defoliation, with the exception of P. maydis which has emerged as an important pathogen of maize throughout the Americas, but the origin of this pathogen remains unknown. To date, species designations for Phyllachora have been based on host associations and morphology, and most species are assumed to be host specific. We assessed the sequence diversity of 186 single stroma isolates collected from 16 hosts representing 15 countries. Samples included both herbarium and contemporary strains that covered a temporal range from 1905-2019. These 186 isolates were grouped into 5 distinct species with strong bootstrap support. We found three closely related, but genetically distinct groups of Phyllachora are capable of infecting maize in the United States, we refer to these as the P. maydis species complex. Based on herbarium species, we hypothesize that these three groups in the P. maydis species complex originated from Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. Although two of these groups were only found on maize, the third and largest group contained contemporary strains found on maize and other grass hosts, as well as herbarium specimens from maize and other grasses that include 10 species of Phyllachora. The herbarium specimens were identified based on morphology and host association, but our sequence data indicates some Phyllachora species are capable of infecting a broad range of host species and there may be significant synonymy in the Phyllachora genus and additional work on species delineation and host specificity should be considered.

Many problems in computer vision today are solved via deep learning. Tasks like pose estimation from images, pose estimation from point clouds or structure from motion can all be formulated as a regression on rotations. However, there is no unique way of parametrizing rotations mathematically: matrices, quaternions, axis-angle representation or Euler angles are all commonly used in the field. Some of them, however, present intrinsic limitations, including discontinuities, gimbal lock or antipodal symmetry. These limitations may make the learning of rotations via neural networks a challenging problem, potentially introducing large errors. Following recent literature, we propose three case studies: a sanity check, a pose estimation from 3D point clouds and an inverse kinematic problem. We do so by employing a full geometric algebra (GA) description of rotations. We compare the GA formulation with a 6D continuous representation previously presented in the literature in terms of regression error and reconstruction accuracy. We empirically demonstrate that parametrizing rotations as bivectors outperforms the 6D representation. The GA approach overcomes the continuity issue of representations as the 6D representation does, but it also needs fewer parameters to be learned and offers an enhanced robustness to noise. GA hence provides a broader framework for describing rotations in a simple and compact way that is suitable for regression tasks via deep learning, showing high regression accuracy and good generalizability in realistic high-noise scenarios.

n this work, we investigate the poroelastic waves by solving the time-domain Biot-JKD equation with an efficient numerical method. The viscous dissipation occurring in the pores depends on the square root of the frequency and is described by the Johnson-Koplik-Dashen (JKD) dynamic tortuosity/permeability model. The temporal convolutions of order 1/2 shifted fractional derivatives are involved in the time-domain Biot-JKD model, causing the problem to be stiff and challenging to be implemented numerically. Based on the best relative approximation of the square-root function, we design an efficient algorithm to approximate and localize the convolution kernel by introducing a finite number of auxiliary variables that satisfy a local system of ordinary differential equations. The imperfect hydraulic contact condition is used to describe the interface boundary conditions and the Runge-Kutta discontinuous Galerkin (RKDG) method together with the splitting method is applied to compute the numerical solutions. Several numerical examples are presented to show the accuracy and efficiency of our approach.

We will study binocular vision for 6-DOF robotic manipulator in conformal geometric algebra approach. We will focus on the case where some information as relative cameras positions, has been lost. In particular, we will use the construction of the manipulator to infer a self calibration method for cameras position based in binocular vision with incomplete information.

Here I describe the novel R package SNPfiltR and demonstrate its functionalities as the backbone of a customizable, reproducible SNP filtering pipeline implemented exclusively via the widely adopted R programming language. SNPfiltR extends existing SNP filtering functionalities by automating the visualization of key parameters such as depth, quality, and missing data, then allowing users to set filters based on optimized thresholds, all within a single, cohesive working environment. All SNPfiltR functions require a vcfR object as input, which can be easily generated by reading a SNP dataset stored as a standard vcf file into an R working environment using the function read.vcfR() from the R package vcfR. Performance benchmarking reveals that for moderately sized SNP datasets (up to 50M genotypes with associated quality information), SNPfiltR performs filtering with comparable efficiency to current state of the art command-line-based programs. These benchmarking results indicate that for most reduced-representation genomic datasets, SNPfiltR is an ideal choice for investigating, visualizing, and filtering SNPs as part of a cohesive and easily documentable bioinformatic pipeline. The SNPfiltR package can be downloaded from CRAN with the command [install.packages(“SNPfiltR”)], and a development version is available from GitHub at: (github.com/DevonDeRaad/SNPfiltR). Additionally, thorough documentation for SNPfiltR, including multiple comprehensive vignettes, is available at the website: (devonderaad.github.io/SNPfiltR/).

Understanding the genetic changes associated with the evolution of biological diversity is of fundamental interest to molecular ecologists. The assessment of genetic variation at hundreds or thousands of unlinked genetic loci forms a sound basis to address questions ranging from micro- to macro-evolutionary timescales, and is now possible thanks to advances in sequencing technology. Major difficulties are associated with i) the lack of genomic resources for many taxa, especially from tropical biodiversity hotspots, ii) scaling the numbers of individuals analyzed and loci sequenced, and iii) building tools for reproducible bioinformatic analyses of such datasets. To address these challenges, we developed a set of target capture probes for phylogenomic studies of the highly diverse, pantropically distributed and economically significant rosewoods (Dalbergia spp.), explored the performance of an overlapping probe set for target capture across the legume family (Fabaceae), and built a general-purpose bioinformatics pipeline. Phylogenomic analyses of Dalbergia species from Madagascar yielded highly resolved and well supported hypotheses of evolutionary relationships. Population genomic analyses identified differences between closely related species and revealed the existence of a potentially new species, suggesting that the diversity of Malagasy Dalbergia species has been underestimated. Analyses at the family level corroborated previous findings by the recovery of monophyletic subfamilies and many well-known clades, as well as high levels of gene tree discordance, especially near the root of the family. The new genomic and bioinformatics resources will hopefully advance systematics and ecological genetics research in legumes, and promote conservation of the highly diverse and endangered Dalbergia rosewoods.

The dissociation conditions of hydrate in clayey silts are of great significance for its efficient production. In this work, the dissociation conditions of methane hydrate in clayey silt cores were experimentally measured by step-heating method. Various cores including quartz powder, montmorillonite and South China Sea sediments were used for investigation. The results showed that the dissociation temperatures of methane hydrate in clayey silt cores depressed compared to bulk hydrate. In comparison to grain size, salinity and lithology had a more significant influence on the equilibrium temperature depression. A water activity meter was used to measure the water activity in clayey silt cores. The influence of salt and minerals on water activity was investigated. By combining the measured water activity data with the Chen-Guo model, a novel water activity measurement method (WAM) for the hydrate dissociation conditions prediction was proposed. The predicted results are in good agreement with the experimental data.

Ocean pollution is a worldwide environmental challenge that could be partially tackled through microbial applications. To shed light on the diversity and applications of the bacterial communities that inhabit the sediments trapped in artificial containers, we analyzed residues (Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and aluminum cans) collected from the Mediterranean Sea by scanning electron microscopy and Next Generation Sequencing. Moreover, we set a collection of culturable bacteria from the plastisphere that were screened for their ability to use PET as a carbon source. Our results reveal that Proteobacteria are the predominant phylum in all the samples and that Rhodobacteraceae, Woeseia, Actinomarinales, or Vibrio are also abundant in these residues. Moreover, we identified marine isolates with enhanced growth in the presence of PET: Aquimarina intermedia, Citricoccus spp., and Micrococcus spp. Our results suggest that the marine environment is a source of biotechnologically promising bacterial isolates that may use PET or PET additives as carbon sources.