1. The Environmental Data Initiative (EDI) is a trustworthy, stable data repository and data management support organization for the environmental scientist. In a bottom-up community process EDI was built with the premise that freely and easily available data are necessary to advance the understanding of complex environmental processes and change, to improve transparency of research results, and to democratize ecological research. 2. EDI provides tools and support that allow the environmental researcher to easily integrate data publishing into the research workflow. 3. Almost ten years since going into production, we analyze metadata to provide a general description of EDI’s collection of data and its data management philosophy and placement in the repository landscape. We discuss how comprehensive metadata and the repository infrastructure lead to highly findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) data by evaluating compliance with specific community proposed FAIR criteria. 4. Finally, we review measures and patterns of data (re)use, assuring that EDI is fulfilling its stated premise.

Plasmids are extra-chromosomal genetic elements that encode a wide variety of phenotypes and can be maintained in bacterial populations through vertical and horizontal transmission, thus increasing bacterial adaptation to hostile environmental conditions like those imposed by antimicrobial substances. To circumvent the segregational instability resulting from randomly distributing plasmids between daughter cells upon division, non-transmissible plasmids tend to be carried in multiple copies per cell, which also results in a metabolic burden to the bacterial host, therefore reducing the overall fitness. This trade-off poses an existential question for plasmids: What is the optimal plasmid copy number? We address this question using a combination of population genetics modeling with microbiology experiments consisting of Escherichia coli K12 bearing a multi-copy plasmid encoding for blaTEM-1, a gene conferring resistance to b-lactam antibiotics. We use a Wright-Fisher model to evaluate the interaction between the above mentioned opposing forces. By numerically determining the optimal plasmid copy number for constant and fluctuating selection regimes, we conclude that plasmid copy number is an optimized evolutionary trait that depends on the rate of environmental fluctuation and balances the benefit between increased stability in the absence of selection with the burden associated with carrying multiple copies of the plasmid.

Evolution of the giraffe neck was originally proposed as an adaptation to foraging at the tops of acacia trees, but this theory has been overshadowed by the “necks for sex” hypothesis that proposed that long necks evolved via sexual selection associated with male neck fighting. The necks for sex hypothesis predicted that males would have longer necks than females and that their necks would continue to grow throughout their lives. Because adult giraffe males are much larger than adult females, male giraffe necks are indeed longer but this is also true for all the core anatomy. We measured and analyzed the relative anatomical proportions of the neck, legs, and body trunk of the Masai giraffe (G.c. tippelskirchi) in captivity in North America and from wild populations in Tanzania. In contradiction to the necks for sex hypothesis, female giraffe have proportionally longer necks compared to their forelegs than males. Moreover, the female body trunk is proportionally longer whereas male forelegs are proportionally longer. We speculate that the proportionally longer female neck is to compensate for female’s overall shorter stature in foraging and their longer trunk is to accommodate fetal growth. Male’s longer forelegs may be an adaptation for mounting females during mating. Mean differences in these major body components define sex phenotypes, but several male and female giraffe display opposite-sex phenotypes with a significantly higher level of discordancy is seen in captive males. We speculate that the sex-differential phenotype is maintained by mate choice selection in the wild, and this selection is relaxed in captivity where mates are arranged by humans.

Background Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) seasonality is dependent on the local climate. We assessed the stability of RSV seasonality prior to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Western Australia (WA), a state spanning temperate and tropical regions. Method RSV laboratory testing data were collected from January 2012 to December 2019. WA was divided into three regions determined by population density and climate; Metropolitan, Northern and Southern. Season threshold was calculated per region at 1.2% annual cases, with onset the first of ≥2 weeks above this threshold and offset as the last week before ≥2 weeks below. Results The incidence of RSV in WA was 6.3/10,000. The Northern region had the highest incidence (15/10,000), more than 2.5 times the Metropolitan region (IRR 2.7; 95% CI, 2.6-2.9). Test percentage positive was similar in the Metropolitan (8.6%) and Southern (8.7%) regions, with the lowest in the Northern region (8.1%). RSV seasons in the Metropolitan and Southern regions occurred annually, with a single peak and had consistent timing and intensity. The Northern tropical region did not experience a distinct season. Proportion of RSV A to RSV B in the Northern region differed from the Metropolitan region in 5 of the 8 years studied. Conclusions Incidence of RSV in WA is high, especially in the Northern region, where climate, an expanded at-risk population, and increased testing may have contributed to greater numbers. Before the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, RSV seasonality WA was consistent in timing and intensity for the Metropolitan and Southern regions.

Antibiotic resistance is a global health threat. To combat against infections, we urgently need better strategies. Currently there are limited number of antibiotics in the treatment repertoire of existing bacterial infections. Among them rifampicin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic against various bacterial pathogens. Efficacy of rifampicin decreases by time due to appearance of rifampicin persister or resistant phenotypes in the population. To benefit more from rifampicin, its current standard dosage might be reconsidered and deeply explored using both computational tools and experimental or clinical studies. In this study, we present the mathematical relationship between the concentration of rifampicin and the growth and killing kinetics of Escherichia coli cells. We generated time-killing curves of Escherichia coli cells in the presence of 4 µg/ml, 16 µg/ml, and 32 µg/ml rifampicin exposures. We fitted time-killing curve data using the lsqcurvefit function in MATLAB to model rifampicin responses of Escherichia coli cells.

In this paper, we investigate some Tur\’{an}-type inequalities for the hypergeometric superhyperbolic sine and cosine functions associated with Kummer confluent hypergeometric series of first type.

The improvement of the performance of a distributed Bragg reflector laser bar emitting near 905 nm through the use of multiple epitaxially stacked active regions and tunnel junctions is reported. The bar consisting of 48 emitters (each having an aperture of 50 μm) emits an optical power of 2.2 kW in 8 ns long pulses at an injection current of 1.1 kA. This corresponds to an almost threefold increase of the pulse power compared to a bar with lasers having only a single active region. Due to the integrated surface Bragg grating, the bar exhibits a narrow spectral bandwidth of about 0.3 nm and a thermal tuning of only 68 pm/K.

The original music artists and their Music l love II: Bob DylanYiren Qin1,*1Black Family Stem Cell Institute, Department of Cell, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA.*Correspondence address: yiren.qin@mssm.edu       

Trunk neural crest cells (TNCC) are representing a model for epithelial to mesenchymal transition, this correlates the importance of studying the migration of these cells to cancer metastasis. Reptiles are unique group of animals being very morphologically diverse and their close position to synapsid leading to mammals. Recently, more publications focused on the migratory behavior of trunk NCC during embryonic development of squamates. Only one colubrid snake has been studied so far regarding the NCC migration. Here we follow the migratory behavior of TNCC with HNK1 in the elapid snake Naja h. haje from early stage to 16-20 days postoviposition. Our findings show: First, comparing the colubrid snake with the Egyptian cobra shows that both snakes overall follow the conserved TNCC migratory pathways of both birds and mammals by following the rostral and avoiding the caudal portions of the somites. Second, TNCC intra-somitic migration suggests that cobra TNCC could contribute to snake scale formation analogously to turtle shell. Third, the presence of MITF in Schwann cell precursors along developing nerves, which suggests that reptile Schwann cell precursors could have the same multipotency as mammalian migrating NCC and thus give rise to its varied derivatives. Our present results of the Egyptian cobra in combination with those on a colubrid and turtle supports intersomitic TNCC as a unique reptile phenomena.

A document by Sharjeel khan. Click on the document to view its contents.

Background: Music therapy (MT) is a complementary therapy offered to children, young adults and their families in pediatric oncology and palliative care. We performed a survey to collect information about MT in pediatric oncology in Italy. The outbreak of COVID-19 unavoidably changed the scenario of MT, suggesting some considerations presented in this survey. Methods: 27/32 (84,4%) Centres belonging to the Italian Association of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (AEIOP) completed in 2 different time points (T1 and T2) an online survey on MT, before and after Covid-19 pandemia. Results: Different kinds of music approach were used taking care of patients in 21/27 centers, while in 14/21 (66%) a specific project of MT conducted by a music therapist was present. In 6/14 Centres MT activities were delivered for <3 hours/week, in 3 Centres for >3 and <10 hours/week, in the remaining 5 for >3 hours/week. MT sessions were in different areas, day hospital or ward (patient rooms, operating rooms, waiting rooms), on an individual basis or by groups. Patients were invited to MT by psychologists, caring physician or nurse, or on equipé decision. MT was evaluated with tools self-made by Music therapist in 11/14 centres. After Covid-19. MT has been withdrawal in 3 centres, sessions in the waiting rooms were reduced, individual sessions were preferred and enrollment by multidisciplinary teams increased. Conclusion: This survey represents the starting platform to compare and discuss different experience of MT in AIEOP Centres, to implement MT in pediatric oncology for a more qualified assistance to patients and to improve quality of care.

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is one of the most interesting evolutionary events in Eukaryotic life. It has been proven that fungi share genes or gene clusters with other organisms such as plants, animals, or other fungi. The amatoxins biosynthesis metabolic pathway produces lethal bicyclic peptides responsible for most of the deaths by mushroom poisoning. It is assumed that involved genes passed from Galerina and Lepiota to the Amanita secc. Phalloidae species by HGT. We used de novo genome assembling and gene mining for homologous amanitin genes among Agaricomycetes lineages. Phylogenetic and reconciliation trees were constructed to address the evolutionary history of POP gene family responsible for amanitin maturation. We also looked for the potential cytotoxicity of sequenced samples on plant bioassays. New and known edible species in Amanita rubescens complex have, partially or completely, the gene’s package implied in the synthesis of amatoxins, making them potentially capable of synthesizing these lethal metabolites. The evolutionary history of these genes is more complex than previously reported involving at least ten HGT events, four duplication events, other fungal genera such as Piloderma and Russula, and several edible mushrooms. Furthermore, we showed that samples from a traditionally consumed species within Amanita rubescens complex had the same cytotoxicity capabilities as the lethal amanitas from the Phalloideae section. In conclusion, several old duplications and horizontal gene transfer events originated a cryptic diversity of the POP gene family in toxic and edible fungi raising questions on the safe consumption of species in the A. rubescens complex.

Tablet application designed for scuba divers and dive operators to report species during post-dive surveys. The app collects abundance/scarcity of pre-established marine taxa and ask divers to report abundance using a categorical semi-quantitative scale. Current taxa list has been developed for Madeira archipelago by local marine scientists in a case study designed to collect data and assess the usability of the application by divers. The application has scale-up capacity to be used in other geographic locations for regional longitudinal studies with custom lists of target species and enabling large spatial studies over time. Mobile application is available online 1 while the graphical user interface is seen in Figure 1.

Transhumant migratory sheep and goats of Himalayas were molecularly screened for various haemoparasites like Anaplasma/Ehrlichia, Theileria/Babesia, Babesia spp., Theileria spp., Anaplasma marginale, Theileria luwenshuni, Theileria orientalis and Trypanosoma evansi using their specific primers. Out of the 171 animals screened, 73.09% of the animals were infected with Anaplasma spp. and 74.85% of the animals with Theileria spp., while no animals were found infected with Babesia spp. and Trypanosoma evansi. In a quest to identify the species, few positive PCR amplicons representing Anaplasma spp., Theileria spp. and Theileria/Babesia spp. were sequenced. The sequences obtained were further BLAST analysed to reveal maximum identity with Anaplasma capra (100%), Theileria luwenshuni (99.71%) and Theileria sinensis (98.73%). Among them Theileria luwenshuni was further confirmed with their species-specific PCR and the positive amplicons were sequenced and BLAST analysed to reveal their maximum identity with Chinese isolates rather than Indian isolates. Further, phylogenetic analyses of the resulting sequences were conducted to identify their evolutionary history. It revealed that 1100 bp - amplicons of Theileria spp. were showing maximum identity to Theileria sp. MK, a non-transforming Theileria. This is the first report of zoonotic Anaplasma capra and Theileria sp. MK in small ruminants from India and it could be mostly due to their transboundary migration history through Indo-Tibetan border during summer seasons as a part of traditional migratory system of livestock rearing practice in Himalayas. The high prevalence of haemoparasites in migratory small ruminants call for adoption of effective control measures.

Introduction The Carpentier-Edwards PERIMOUNT Magna Ease valve is a third-generation bioprosthesis for aortic valve replacement (AVR). This is a postapproval study reporting on its 8‑year outcomes. Methods Adults undergoing AVR with the Magna Ease valve between October 2007 and December 2012 were enrolled for this prospective, nonrandomized, single‑arm, multicenter study. Assessments occurred preoperatively, at hospital discharge, 6 months, 1 year, and annually thereafter up to 8 years. Outcomes included safety endpoints, hemodynamic performance, and New York Heart Association (NYHA) Functional Class. Results Of the 258 study patients, 67.5% were in NYHA Class I or II, and 32.5% were in NYHA Class III or IV at baseline. Concomitant procedures were performed in 44.2%. Total follow-up was 1,597.6 patient-years, median follow‑up was 7 years (interquartile range: 5.5–8.0 years). Eight years following AVR, functional class remained improved from baseline with 93.9% in NYHA Class I/II and 6.1% in NYHA Class III; thirty-eight deaths had occurred, eight of which were valve related; freedom from all‑cause mortality was 80.7% (95% confidence intervals 74.9, 86.4); freedom from valve-related mortality was 95.8% (92.8, 98.8); freedom from reintervention, explant, major bleeding events, and structural valve deterioration were 89.8% (85.1, 94.6), 94.8% (91.7, 97.9), 85.1% (80.0, 90.1), and 90.1% (84.7, 95.4), respectively; effective orifice area was 1.5±0.5 cm 2, mean gradient was 14.8±8.3 mmHg, and 88.6% of patients had no or trivial aortic regurgitation. Conclusions This study demonstrated satisfactory safety and sustained hemodynamic and functional improvements at 8 years following AVR with the Magna Ease valve.

Objective(s): Trainee assessments aim to identify areas for improvement and address problems within training programs. However, effectiveness is limited by an inability to assess programs anonymously. We hypothesized concern for undesired repercussions may discourage honest responses. To test this, we conducted a comprehensive survey of trainees to assess their educational and work-related experiences anonymously.  Design: A 51-question survey was distributed electronically to the Thoracic Surgery Residents Association (TSRA) membership. Questions were multiple-choice. The Likert scale was utilized.  Setting: The survey was accessed electronically and was completed by participants nationwide. Participants: Trainees were incentivized to complete the survey with the opportunity to receive a $50 gift card or TSRA textbook. 109 of 551 cardiothoracic surgery trainees completed the survey. Results: 109 trainees (109/551, 19.8%) completed the survey. 57.8% of respondents reported complying with work hour restrictions, but 32.2% (n=35) did not feel comfortable reporting violations honestly. The majority of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their program was preparing them to independently perform low risk cardiac (4.19 [1.22]) and thoracic (4.08 [1.13]) cases independently, 30.3% of chief residents reported planning to pursue additional training. 66% of respondents stated they would select the same program again. 33% reported having high morale, 47.7% moderate and 19.3% poor or declining morale. 84.4% of respondents did not feel their race or gender significantly impacted their training, 26.6% reported systemic bias in recruitment of new trainees or faculty, and 38.5% believed there was inadequate diversity among faculty and trainees. 30.3% reported experiencing verbal or physical harassment by an attending or fellow (14.7%).  Conclusions: Despite reporting an overall positive operative experience, a significant number of trainees plan to pursue additional training. The survey identifies important areas for attention including underreporting of issues related to diversity, as well as verbal and physical harassment by fellows and attendings.

This article attempts to assess the impact of Corona pandemic on businesses with particular reference to Agriculture and Food processing industries in MSME sector in India and tracing the possible recovery in terms of recreating the lost demand in domestic as well as in international markets. The industries were caught unaware to face the challenges of disruption with sudden announcement of lockdown and the resulting consequences. Industries in MSME sector depends on the functioning of large processors as their support and contract manufacturers as well as on their limited market opportunities which they have developed. During pandemic both collapsed. With the drastic reduction in consumption expenditure and disruption in supply chain coupled with the severe cash crunch, MSME sector has suffered the most. While the impact of COVID-19 on food and agricultural sector was less when compared with other sectors but even in this sector for MSME it was devastating. This article attempts to trace the reasons and estimating the magnitude of the impact and the possible way forward.

A network of real time devices that can sense and transmit the information from the deployed environment by using multi hop communication is called as Wireless Sensor Network (WSNs). Despite the rapid advancement of WSN, where an increasing number of physical devices so called as sensors nodes are connected with each other, providing the improved security with optimized energy consumption during data transmission, communication and computation remains huge challenge. In wireless sensor networks, numerous sensor nodes are deployed in the physical environment to sense and collect the required information from the given environment. The sensed information are needed to be transmitted from the nodes to the control station in an energy efficient manner. Data aggregation is one kind of techniques which will optimize the energy usage in wireless sensor networks during the data transmission. In data aggregation, the unnecessary data is removed which will significantly reduce energy of the nodes during data transmission. However, collected data during the data aggregation should be completely protected and there are various threats that can be launched by the intruders to carry out unauthorised data access and can cause threat to the integrity of the network. Therefore, ensuring data security during the data aggregation process is very important and essential for the security of the network. In this paper, a Secure Cluster based Data Aggregation Protocol (SCDAP) have been proposed to provide better security through secure authentication and verification process, and to reduce overall energy consumption of the network by implementing secure clustering process to eliminate the redundant data in the network. Moreover, the proposed system is more efficient in generating public and private keys for effective and secure data transmission and verification process. The proposed system is experimentally tested in NS3 tool and proves that the proposed system reduces high energy consumption.

Objective: To analyse the impact of parity on pelvic floor morphology and function in postpartum period. Design: Retrospective study Setting: single-country . Population: This study included 1076 participants who visited Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital from December 2019 to August 2022. Methods: One-way ANOVA and covariance analysis were used between groups. Pearson correlation analysis and partial correlation analysis were used to assess the relationship between variables. Main outcome measures: Modified Oxford scale, surface electromyography, and pelvic floor three dimensions ultrasound. Results: Both one-way ANOVA analysis and covariance analysis indicated that the differences between primipara, deuteripara, and tertipara in bladder neck presentation, urethral rotation angle, bladder neck descent, and hiatal area were statistically significant. Pearson and partial correlation analysis all showed the positive correlations between rapid contraction, tonic contraction, endurance contraction and the grade of modified Oxford scale. Unlike pearson correlation analysis, most correlations subsided in the further partial correlation analysis except pretest resting baseline with urethral rotation angle. Conclusion: The grade of modified Oxford scale exhibited a positively correlation with the contractions of surface electromyography which reflected the reliability of pelvic floor surface electromyography. The impact of parity on not only the grade of modified Oxford scale but also surface electromyography was not statistically significant, but the descent of pelvic organ increased as parity increased. Except pretest resting baseline, any other factors of modified Oxford scale and surface electromyography had no correlation with pelvic organ displacement.

Gram-negative bacteria of the genus Pantoea are emerging bacterial causes of diverse sporadic and outbreak-linked infections. Chronic Pantoea abscesses are unusual and may give rise to a differential diagnosis of malignancy. Foreign body retention and host immune defects may be risk factors for such chronic infections.

Low Grade Fibromyxoid Sarcoma (LGFMS) is an uncommon neoplasm generally affecting muscle tissue. It presents rarely in abdominal viscera and even more rarely occurs in the pancreas. We present the case of a 49-year-old female who underwent a distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy for a LGFMS causing epigastric pain.

Objective This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of high dose vitamin D as compared to that of standard dose in women with GDM having vitamin D deficiency. Design Randomized controlled trial Setting This study was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, (AIIMS) Bhubaneswar. Population or sample 76 women with GDM having vitamin D deficiency were included in this study. Methods Participants were randomly recruited in intervention and control group. Participants of the intervention group were provided with 60,000 IU of vitamin D every two weeks (upto a maximum of ten doses) and participants of the control group were provided with standard dose of vitamin D (500 IU/day). All the participants were assessed for glycemic control and perinatal outcomes. Main outcome measures Perinatal outcomes, blood sugar levels and change in insulin requirement between the two groups. Results Among 68 participants, mean difference of 1.06 mg/dl and 1.48 mg/dl was observed for fasting and post-prandial blood glucose levels. Mean insulin requirement increased by 5 units in control group during pregnancy, whereas it was reduced by 1.1 unit in intervention group. Poor perinatal outcome was observed among 65.2% of the participants and 34.8% amongst the participants in the intervention group. Conclusion High dose of vitamin D supplementation is useful for better glycemic control and preventing poor perinatal outcome among GDM women with vitamin D deficiency. Routine Vitamin D testing and high dose supplementation in antenatal women with proven Vitamin D deficiency should be considered.

Objectives: To assess long-term results of surgical resections of the sporadic extra-large pelvi-perineal soft tissue tumors. Design: Retrospective series of patients referred to the National Cancer Institute 2001-2022. Setting: Tertiary care cancer university hospital in Egypt. Population: 13 patients (3 males) averaged age 57 years, had large 29 cm (18-38) pelvi perineal tumors (10 to the paraanal ischiorectal spaces & 3 vulval) plus upper intra-abdominal extensions in 9 cases. Methods: The entire underwent combined open abdomino-perineal approach to widely en masse resect tumors plus infiltrated organ. No downsizing hormonal treatment was offered preoperative. Main Outcome Measures: Disease free Survival, recurrence characters and salvage Results: Extensive pelvic and perineal tumor resection is tough and meticulous but straightforward with minor (CDC grade I&II) early and delayed morbidity. Resection extends to hysterectomy, vaginectomy and vascular resection. Histopathology plus immunohistochemistry show 9-aggressive angiomyxoid tumors (AA), 2-fibromatosis and 2-neurofibromas. Margins of resection are all adequate (R0) except for 2 (R1). After 50-months median follow up, 8/ 13 total series (61.5%) were surviving free of disease, 4/9 of AA (44%) had local perineal and/or pelvic recurrences (13-27 m) and were amenable to curative salvage resections; while, 1/2 of patients with fibromatosis died of disseminated peritoneal relapses. No systemic metastases are noticed. Conclusions: Extensive meticulous surgery with experienced pelvic dissection and resection could offer alone long term cure even after recurrences with minor morbidity in a good percent. Fertility sparing resection is not oncologically safe because of the frequent uterine and ovarian invasions.

The National Forestry Commission of Mexico continuously monitors forest structure within the country’s continental territory by the implementation of the National Forest and Soils Inventory (INFyS). Due to the challenges involved in collecting data exclusively from field surveys, there are spatial information gaps for important forest attributes. This can produce bias or increase uncertainty when generating estimates required to support forest management decisions. Our objective is to predict the spatial distribution of tree height and tree density in all Mexican forests. We performed wall-to-wall spatial predictions of both attributes in 1-km grids, using ensemble machine learning across each forest type in Mexico. Predictor variables include remote sensing imagery and other geospatial data (e.g., vegetation indexes, surface temperature). Training data is from the 2009-2014 cycle (n>26,000 sampling plots). Spatial cross validation suggested that the model had a better performance when predicting tree height r2=0.4 [0.15,0.55] (mean[min, max]) than for tree density r2=0.2[0.10,0.31]. Maximum values of tree height were for coniferous forests, coniferous-broadleaf forests and cloud mountain forest (~36 m, 30 m and 21 m, respectively). Tropical forests had maximum values of tree density (~1370 trees/ha), followed by tropical dry forest (1006 trees/ha) and coniferous forest (988 trees/ha). Although most forests had relatively low values of uncertainty, e.g., values <40%, arid and semiarid ecosystems had high uncertainty in both tree height and tree density predictions, e.g., values >60%. The applied open science approach we present is easily replicable and scalable, thus it is helpful to assist in the decision-making and future of the National Forest and Soils Inventory. This work highlights the need for technical capabilities aimed to use and resignify all the effort done by the Mexican Forestry Commission in implementing the INFyS.