The vast Karst area in southwestern China is ecologically fragile region, where both soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) are evidently sensitive to LUCC. However, there has not been any comprehensive study to analyze the effects of LUCC on SOC/TN in this region based on large data ensembles. In this paper, the response of SOC and TN storage to LUCC (i.e., deforestation and land restoration) in the Karst region of southwestern China was investigated by meta-analysis, which was found to be controlled by a series of impact factors, such as the type of LUCC, sampling depth, calculation methods and environmental factors. Based on 471 sets of SOC data and 468 sets of TN data, Firstly, we evaluated the calculation methods (i.e., fixed-depth method, the main deviation from the two methods was that the FD procedure neglected the heterogeneity of soil bulk density, which may underestimate the loss of SOC and TN after deforestation but overestimate the benefits of land restoration to SOC and TN. Secondly, we found that when woodland and grassland were converted to cultivated land or other land types, SOC and TN losses were greater; while other LUCCs had less impact. Similarly, land restoration increased the SOC and TN, especially the restoration from farmland to forests. Also, we demonstrated that increasing the soil sampling depth could significantly alter the response of SOC and TN to LUCC. Finally, the environmental factors affecting SOC storage (such as soil properties, geographic and climatic factors and duration) were discussed.

As a high-precision measuring instrument, laser tracker is widely used in the field of geometric error detection of CNC machine tools. However, the employment of this laser tracker will lead to high cost as well as low measurement accuracy caused by the angle error. In order to solve these problems, the passive 3D laser tracking ball bar based on the principle of laser interference is introduced in this paper. The following measurement is realized by the passive stretching of the telescopic mechanism, and the space attitude adjustment of the laser is ensured by two precise rotating shafts. Moreover, the deflection caused by the telescopic guideway is an important factor affecting the accuracy of the device. Therefore, the telescopic mechanism is designed by the maximum deviation of the laser obtained by the experiment, and the finite element analysis is carried out. The results showed that the accuracy requirements are met. The main error model of the device is established and the influence of each error is analyzed. Moreover, the simulation results showed that the vertical axis offset angle error has the greatest impact on the device. At last, the reason of different influence of errors on the device is analyzed.

We describe an unusual case of a large Aorto-pulmonary window which presented as Eisenmenger's syndrome at the age of 20 years in a male patient. We take this opportunity to highlight some of the basic investigations like Chest X Ray and Contrast Echocardiography which can delineate the level of the shunt. Attention should be given to the subtle bedside clinical signs which can give clues to the diagnosis. We did a cardiac CT scan for confirmation of the diagnosis.

The land that is suitable for settlement or live is shortage in Lhasa River Basin (LRB). Alluvial fan is a candidate resource to suitable land in this situation. However, the basic information of alluvial fans, for example its distribution and land-use types, is little known. In this study, Google earth, ArcGIS and visual interpretation were used to get the outlines, areas, quantity and distribution of alluvial fans. Meanwhile, the land use, the distance from alluvial fans to roads, places (town and village) and rivers (including stream) are analyzed. The results show that there are 826 alluvial fans in LRB and the total area is 1166.03 km². The quantity of alluvial fans with area between 0.1 km2 and 1 km2 is 517, which is dominated in all. The quantity of alluvial fans is concentrated in the east of LRB, but that area is mainly distributed in the west. The area of Grassland is the largest in all land use types which is account for 68.70% of alluvial fans. Although cropland area is accounted by 2.16% of alluvial fans, it is accounted by 18.98% of the LRB’s cropland area. The quantity of alluvial fans within in 5km distance to tertiary road, village, and river (including stream) are accounted of 93.70%, 53.63% and 77.38% respectively. Therefore, alluvial fans have played an import role in LRB, and may have huge utilization potential in the future.

Objective: To analyse the proportion of RhD negative women where routine antenatal anti-D prophylaxis (RAADP) in gestational week (gw) 28 is not detectable at delivery and to investigate if a strategy with RAADP administered in gw 28 and 38 result in efficient protection at term, postterm and postdelivery. Design: A retrospective database analysis and a prospective interventional study. Setting: Antenatal centers in the Stockholm region. Sample: RhD negative women carrying an RHD positive fetus, 4280 cases evaluated retrospectively, 39 cases included prospectively. Methods: In a retrospective analysis, RhD negative women with a negative antibody screen at delivery was determined. In 39 pregnancies, quantification of anti-D was analysed before a second dose anti-D was administered in gw 38, and then weekly up to 43 weeks post gestation. Main outcome measures: The proportion of women with non-detectable anti-D at term. The concentration of anti-D measured weekly at term, postterm and postdelivery. Results: In 20,5% (856/4280, retrospective analysis) and 44% (17/39, prospective study) RAADP in gw 28 was below screening detection level, 10 IU/L at term and in 18% (7/39, prospective study) below 1 IU/L in the quantification assay. Anti-D prophylaxis administered in gw 38 showed stable protective levels of anti-D up to 30 days postdelivery, with concentration at delivery 60+34 IU/L (mean+SD). Conclusion: At least one third of the RhD negative women have non-detectable levels of RAADP given at gw 28, at term and postterm. A second dose of RAADP at gw 38 improves the protection.

Aggregate breakdown caused by the impact of raindrops clogs soil pores, reduces soil infiltration and aggravates the formation of soil crusts. To determine the influence of raindrop splash on the microstructure of soil aggregates, the typical loess was studied. We used synchrotron-based X-ray microcomputed tomography (SR-μCT) to analyze the microcharacteristics of soils impacted by rainfall intensities. The results showed that raindrop splash increases the number of surface soil aggregates, especially when the rainfall intensity is 68.61 or 217.26 mm h-1. Compared to the undisturbed soil, the number of soil aggregates increased by 38.71%, 46.77% and 76.77%, and the volume increased by 1.09%, 3.21% and 3.73%, after the impact of rainfall intensities of 5.76, 68.61 and 217.26 mm•h-1, respectively. Raindrop impact on the surface affects the distribution of aggregate particles, causing a decrease in the number of aggregate particles in the 500-1000 μm range and an increase in the < 500 μm range. Compared with unsplashed soil, there is a significant increase in the fractal dimension (FD) and total specific surface area (SSA) of surface soil aggregates in splashed soil. Particularly, the rainfall intensity of 217.26 mm h-1 resulted in an increase of the FD and SSA by 30.24% and 17.49%, respectively. Under the rainfall intensities, the average particle diameter of the soil aggregates decreased by 2.43%, 3.25% and 3.55%, respectively, compared with that of the undisturbed soil. These results indicated that raindrop splash decreased the number of macroaggregates and increased the number of microaggregates in the surface layer of soil.

As a common group-occurring disease, endometritis is caused by endometrial cell injury and chronic inflammation of uteri infected by pathogenic microorganisms, and leads to reproductive failure in dairy cows. Changes in the immune response function of the uteri affect the occurrence and development of endometritis. It was recently discovered that exosomes act as a functional regulator secreted by a variety of cells. However, its regulatory mechanism in the local immune response of the uteri is still unclear. In this study, flow cytometry was adopted to identify that the number of T lymphocytes in the uteri with endometritis increased while the compositional proportion also changed, namely that of Tc cell increased very significantly and that of Th and Treg cells decreased very significantly. Moreover, the functional marker factor Foxp3 of Treg cells was extremely significantly decreased, and the functional marker factor of Th17 cells was significantly increased. The mRNA expression of immune tolerance regulators PD1, CTLA4 and Galectin-1 in the group of Treg cells which were co-incubated with LPS-stimulated endometrial epithelium-derived exosomes was very significantly lower than in the group of Treg cells which were co-incubated with normal EEC-derived exosomes. Furthermore, the protein expression of PD1, CTLA4, Galectin-1, Foxp3, and IL-17 was consistent with the results in the Treg cells co-incubated with different source exosomes in mice. Therefore, it was demonstrated that endometrial epithelium-derived exosomes act as a vital regulator of changes in the composition and function of T lymphocyte subsets in the uterus of dairy cows.

Dear Editor: I read with interest the report by Antonella et al.1 This report described a case of the acute scrotum caused by Anisakis . As the authors write, this condition is rare in its own right. However, I would like to discuss two other rare aspects of this case: that it occurred during childhood and that acute scrotal disease and anaphylaxis occurred simultaneously.There has been a long debate as to whether anaphylaxis caused by Anisakis occurs with the ingestion of live insect bodies only or with dead insect bodies as well.2 Since several allergen components of Anisakis have been identified and their tolerance to heat has been reported, it is theoretically possible that anaphylaxis could occur with the ingestion of dead larvae body parts. However, some reports suggest that even patients sensitized to Anisakis may not develop allergic symptoms with the ingestion of frozen Anisakis larvae.3Nevertheless, there have been very few cases of gastrointestinal anisakiasis and anaphylaxis occurring simultaneously. In fact, previous literature has shown that in 40 cases of anaphylaxis which occurred due to the ingestion of live fish, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed no difference in phenotype between the 20 cases in which live larvae were found and the 20 cases in which they were not found, and even in the case of live Anisakis bodies, the abdominal symptoms were minor.4 Of the 128 cases included in our previous study, only one could be said to have developed anaphylaxis and gastric anisakiasis simultaneously.5The patient we experienced was a 36-year-old woman with a previous history of gastric anisakiasis. Urticaria, watery diarrhea and vomiting, and respiratory distress developed three hours after eating sashimi (sliced raw fish) of young yellowtail. The patient was rapidly administered adrenaline intramuscular injection, followed by H1/H2 blockers and methylprednisolone, and admitted to the hospital for observation. However, after a day of admission, she continued to complain of intermittent epigastric pain and underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. A live Anisakis larva was found in the gastric cavity, and the epigastric pain disappeared after its removal. This case was negative for fish-specific IgE and positive forAnisakis -specific IgE (ImmunoCAP🄬 fluorescent enzyme immunoassay). Similar cases have been reported recently by Shikino et al.6The reason for such phenotypic variations after the ingestion of liveAnisakis is a direction for future research. From this perspective, it would be very interesting to explore what pathological changes, e.g., eosinophilic granulomatous changes, had occurred in the scrotum or lungs of the boy described in Antonella et al. I believe that these characteristics are important to determine the cause of the respiratory impairment in this case.Further, it is interesting to note that this phenomenon occurred in an 8-year-old boy. Only one in our 128 cases of fish-associated anaphylaxis was under 10 years of age, and this case was positive for the IgE specific to horse mackerel and mackerel.5 Therefore, the group I analyzed did not include cases of Anisakisanaphylaxis under the age of 10 years. The case described in Antonella’s manuscript does not appear to have undergone a specific IgE test or other skin tests. However, given the rarity of Anisakisanaphylaxis in this age group, anaphylaxis due to other culprits such as parvalbumin caused by fish ingestion should also be considered.Ryo Morishima MDDepartment of Neurology, Tokyo Metropolitan Neurological Hospital,Tokyo, JapanReferenceAntonella C, Stellario C, Aurelio M, Domenico S, Domenico S, Ilaria PP, et al. Acute scrotum in a 8-year-old Italian child caused by extraintestinal anisakiasis in a seaside area. Allergy 2020 [in press]Nieuwenhuizen NE. Anisakis – immunology of a foodborne parasitosis. Parasite Immunology 2016 Sep;38(9):548-57. doi: 10.1111/pim.12349. PMID: 27428817Alonso-Gómez A, Moreno-Accillo A, López-Serrano MC, Suarez-de-Parga JM, Daschner A, Cabañas R, et al. Anisakis simplex only provokes allergic symptoms when the worm parasitizes the gastrointestinal tract. Parasitol Res. 2004 Aug;93(5):378-84. doi: 10.1007/s00436-004-1085-9. PMID: 15221464Daschner A, Alonso-Gómez A, Cabañas R, Suarez-de-Parga JM, López-Serrano MC. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2000 Jan;105(1 Pt 1):176-81. doi: 10.1016/s0091-6749(00)90194-5. PMID: 10629469Morishima R, Motojima S, Tsuneishi D, Kimura T, Nakashita T, Nishino H, et al. Anisakis is a major cause of anaphylaxis in seaside areas: an epidemiological study in Japan. Allergy. 2020 Feb;75(2):441-444. doi: 10.1111/all.13987. PMID: 31315145Shikino K, Ikusaka M. Anaphylaxis induced by Anisakis . Intern Med 2019 Jul 15;58(14):2121. doi: 10.2169/internalmedicine.2428-18. PMID: 30918192

Objective: To analyze the current situation of clinical trials of drugs with indications for children in China in order to provide references for research and development of drugs for children and in formulating relevant policies. Methods: Drug clinical trials with indications for children registered before January 9, 2020 were retrieved based on the drug clinical trial registration and information publicity platform. The data were extracted and statistically analyzed by excel 2010 and SPSS 22.0, respectively. Results: There were 256 clinical trials of drugs with indications for children, which accounted for 2.61% of the total registered trials. The overall average annual growth rate of the number of trials from 2007 to 2019 was 43.30% (P=0.0000). The host company and the lead organization were mainly located in the eastern and northern parts of China. There were 67 trials (26.17%) with children as subjects; 102 trials (39.84%) with research drugs only for children; the drug type was mainly the chemical drug, and indications mainly included infections, nervous and mental diseases and respiratory diseases. Conclusion: The prospects associated with pediatric drug development are positive, but it still needs new incentives or technical guidance to further promote.

Lake Dali Nur, located in Inner Mongolia, North China, is alkaline, with Triplophysa dalaica one of the three fish species that not only survive, but thrive, in the lake. To investigate the presence of molecular mutations potentially responsible for this adaptation, the whole genome sequence of the species endemic to the lake was sequenced. A total of 126.5 Gb and 106 Gb data, covering nearly 200X of the estimated genome, were generated using long-read sequencing and Hi-C technology, respectively. De novo assembly generated a genome totalled 607.91 Mb, with a contig N50 of 9.27 Mb. Nearly all whole genome sequences were anchored and oriented onto 25 chromosomes, with telomeres for most chromosomes also being recovered. Repeats comprised approximately 35.01% of the whole genome. A total of 23,925 protein-coding genes were predicted, within which, 98.62% could be functionally annotated. Through comparisons of T. dalaica, T. tibetana, and T. siluroides gene models, a total of 898 genes were identified as likely being subjected to positive selection, with several of them potentially associated with alkaline adaptation, such as sodium bicarbonate cotransporter, SLC4A4. Demographic analyses suggested that the Dali population might have diverged from endemic freshwater Hai River populations, approximately 1 million years ago. The high-quality T. dalaica genome, sequenced in this study, not only aids in the analyses of alkaline adaptation, but may also assist in revealing the mysteries of the highly divergent genus Triplophysa.

Simulation-based methods such as Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) are well adapted to the analysis of complex scenarios of populations and species genetic history. In this context, supervised machine learning (SML) methods provide attractive statistical solutions to conduct efficient inferences about scenario choice and parameter estimation. The Random Forest methodology (RF) is a powerful ensemble of SML algorithms used for classification or regression problems. RF allows conducting inferences at a low computational cost, without preliminary selection of the relevant components of the ABC summary statistics, and bypassing the derivation of ABC tolerance levels. We have implemented a set of RF algorithms to process inferences using simulated datasets generated from an extended version of the population genetic simulator implemented in DIYABC v2.1.0. The resulting computer package, named DIYABC Random Forest v1.0, integrates two functionalities into a user-friendly interface: the simulation under custom evolutionary scenarios of different types of molecular data (microsatellites, DNA sequences or SNPs) and RF treatments including statistical tools to evaluate the power and accuracy of inferences. We illustrate the functionalities of DIYABC Random Forest v1.0 for both scenario choice and parameter estimation through the analysis of two example datasets corresponding to pool-sequencing and individual-sequencing SNP datasets. Because of the properties inherent to the implemented RF methods and the large feature vector (including various summary statistics and their linear combinations) available for SNP data, DIYABC Random Forest v1.0 can efficiently contribute to the analysis of large SNP datasets to make inferences about complex population genetic histories.

Aims: Our study aimed to investigate the relationships between elevated carotid-intima media thickness (CIMT) and serum uric acid (SUA) levels in hypertensive patients attending primary care clinics. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study on 140 hypertensive patients attending out-patient follow-up in two primary care clinics in Sungai Buloh, Malaysia, using a convenient sampling method. Serum uric acid levels were measured and divided into 4-quartile. Two radiologist specialists performed B mode ultrasonography to assess the right and left CIMT in all participants. Results: Participants’ mean SUA level was 355.75 ± 0.13. Their mean age was 53.44 (± 9.90), with a blood pressure control of 137.09 ± 13.22 / 81.89 ± 8.95. Elevated CIMT taken at ≥75th percentile was 0.666 for the left and 0.633 for the right common carotid arteries. Using multiple logistic regression, compared with the first quartile of the SUA level, the odd of elevated CIMT in quartile four in the common carotid artery was (OR=2.00; 95% CI= 0.64-6.27, p=0.576) for the right and (OR=0.62; 95% CI= 0.20-2.00, p=0.594) for the left. Waist circumference (p = 0.001), body mass index (p=0.013), triglycerides (p<0.001) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p=0.001) were significantly associated with the SUA quartiles. Conclusion: Although there was an increasing trend in the odd of elevated right CIMT across the SUA quartiles, this association, however, was not significant. Preventive effort to tackle the clustering effect of metabolic markers within this study population is needed to reduce the future risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Habitat degradation is expected to alter community structure and consequently, ecosystem functions including the maintenance of biodiversity. Understanding the underlying abiotic and biotic assembly mechanisms controlling temporal and spatial community structure and patterns is a central issue in biodiversity conservation. In this study, using monthly time series of benthic fish data collected over a three-year period, we compared the temporal community dynamics in natural and modified habitats in one of the largest river-lake floodplain ecosystems in China, the Dongting Lake. We found a prevailing strong positive species covariance, i.e. species abundance changes in the same way, in all communities that was significantly negatively impacted by water nutrients levels. The positive species covariance, which was consistent for both wet and dry years and among habitat types, had significantly negative effects on community stability, which was measured by the average of aggregated abundance divided by temporal standard deviation. In contrast to species covariance, community stability was significantly higher in modified habitats than in natural habitats. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that the ecological stochasticity (i.e. community assembly processes generating diversity patterns that are indistinguishable from random chance) was significantly higher at natural sites than at the modified sites, suggesting that deterministic processes might control the community composition (richness and abundance) at the modified habitat through reducing species synchrony and positive species covariance observed in the natural habitats. When combined, our results suggest that human habitat modification creates environmental conditions for the development of stable benthic fish community in the highly dynamic floodplains, leading to niche-based community and decrease of temporal β-diversity.

Objective: To investigate that how the effect of rheumatic immune antibodies on clinical manifestation and cerebrospinal fluid characteristics of neuromyelitis optic spectrum disorders (NMOSD). Methods: All 35 patients with NMOSD in the Second Hospital, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University from 2017 to 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients underwent examination of serum ANA, dsDNA, SS-A, SS-B，Ro-52 , AMA M2, Jo-1, PM-Scl, Scl-70, Sm and et al. 6 positive-autoantibody patients are compared with 29 negative-autoantibody patients in gender, onset age, duration, number of attacks, EDSS, initial presentation (on, spinal cord or brain), CSF WBC, protein, Oligoclonal band and MBP. Results: The 6 NMOSD patients with all AQP4-IgG positive had positive autoantibodies (17.1%), with no diagnose as CTD. The frequency of SSA in the positive group was 50%, while Ro-52 was 75%, AMA-M2 was 33%, ANCA-PR3 was 17%, and AHA was 17%. They were significantly higher in NMOSD patients with auto-immune antibodies positive than those without auto antibodies (P<0.05). EDSS scores were positively correlated with two groups (NMOSD with or without auto antibodies). The positive group had much more EDSS scores than the negative group. The number of CSF cells in positive group was basically in normal range, median was 2.5x106. Median of CSF protein was 866mg/L, which was much higher than negative group. Conclusions: NMOSD patients with positive autoantibodies tends to be more frequent in the patients with AQP4-IgG, who have more severe intrathecal autoimmune inflammatory and disability. So they might need more intensive treatment in the future.

Recent studies reported that the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) invades the central or peripheral nervous system by various mechanisms including angiotensin converting enzyme-2 receptors, blood-brain barrier injury, and immune injury. The possibility that COVID-19 can occur due to the mechanism of thromboembolic stroke, as a result central nervous system, was confirmed by brain images and laboratory test. What we need to note is that COVID-19 can also appear as a focal neurological defect. In addition, if the COVID-19 patient has a high D-dimer and an inflammatory maker, clinicians must be aware of multiple thromboembolic strokes as well as the occurrence of ischemic stroke caused by large vessel stroke.

Abstract: The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical characteristics and outcomes in 2019 novel coronavirus patients and to help clinicians perform correct treatment and evaluate prognosis and guide the treatment. Methods: 239 patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 were included in this study. Patients were divided into the improvement group and the death group according to their outcome (improvement or death).Clinical characteristics and laboratory parameters were collected from medical records. Continuous variables were tested by independent sample T test, and categorical variables were analyzed by chi-square test or Fisher exact test. Cox proportional hazard regression model was used for survival analysis in death patients. Results: Efficacy evaluation indicated that 99 patients (41.4%) had deteriorated, and 140 patients (58.6%) had improved. Oxygen saturation, hemoglobin levels, infection-related indicators, lymphocyte and platelets counts, C-reactive protein, serum albumin, liver and kidney function and lactate dehydrogenase in improvement group were statistically significant between the improvement and death groups. Survival analysis revealed that upper respiratory tract symptoms, hypertension, pulmonary basic diseases, high level of white blood cells, lymphocyte counts, C-reactive protein, lower serum albumin, blood urea nitrogen, were associated with mortality risk in COVID-19. Conclusion: Patients with older age, comorbidities, lower lymphocyte counts in hemogram and serum albumin, high c reactive protein level and renal dysfunction may have higher risk to death. It warned us that more attention should be given more attention on risk management in the progression of COVID-19.

Background Sampling of the sentinel lymph node (SLN) in breast cancer provides accurate information about the condition of the axilla in 95% of cases. Technically in detecting SLN; radioactive substance, dyers or both are used. During the COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, delayed images were not taken in lymphoscintigraphy to reduce the risk of transmission by shortening the waiting time in our center. In this study, the effects of early and delayed lymphoscintigraphic images and only early images on our clinical practice were evaluated. Methods We investigated the data of 147 patients in this study who underwent SLNB due to early-stage breast cancer at our institute during the COVID-19 pandemic period (March/April/May 2020) and within 3 months before the pandemic were evaluated. Results Patients were divided into two groups, before pandemic (BP) and pandemic period (PP). BP consisted of patients whose early and delayed images were taken in lymphoscintigraphy whereas PP consisted of those with early images only. There were 74 patients in the BP group and 73 patients in the PP group. Discussion/Conclusions In the present study, we believe that if technically possible, delayed images taken during the lymphoscintigraphy can assist the surgeon in terms of SLN detection and the number of SLNs removed.

Objectives: There is no standardized and up-to-date education model for urology residents in our country. We aimed to describe our National E learning education model for urology residents. Methodology: The ERTP working group; consisting of urologists was established by Society of Urological Surgery to create E-learning model and curriculum at April 2018. Learning objectives were set up in order to determine and standardize the contents of the presentations. In accordance with the Bloom Taxonomy, 834 learning objectives were created for a total of 90 lectures (18 lectures for each PGY year). Totally 90 videos were shoot by specialized instructors and webcasts were prepared. Webcasts were posted at uropedia.com.tr, which is the web library of Society of Urological Surgery. Satisfaction of residents and instructors was evaluated with feedbacks. An assessment of knowledge was measured with multiple-choice exam. Results: A total of 43 centers and 250 urology residents were included in ERTP during the academic year 2018/2019. There were 93/38/43/34/25 urology residents at 1st/2nd/3rd/4th and 5th year of residency, respectively. Majority of the residents (99.1%) completed the ERTP. The overall satisfaction rate of residents and instructors were 4,29 and 4,67(min:1 so bad, max:5 so good). An assessment exam was performed to urology residents at the end of the ERTP and the mean score was calculated as 57.99 points (min:20, max:82). Conclusion: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, most of the educational programs had to move online platforms. We used this reliable and easily accessible e-learning platform for standardization of training in urology on national basis. We aim to share this model with international residency training programs.

As an emergent virus, serological testing for SARS-Cov-2 is crucial. Even though the detection of the virus has been based by using RT-PCR, the serological tests for antibody detection are also need. This study evaluated nine SARS-CoV-2 IgM/IgG commercial rapid tests. Methods: a cross-sectional study of diagnosis test was designed to compare the performance of the evaluated immunochromatographic tests for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2. It was used a total of 293 samples including negatives, asymptomatic and symptomatic serum samples. Results: the sensibility of the evaluated tests were low and moderate in the groups of asymptomatic serum samples and in the group of serums coming from patients with less than 11 days since the symptoms onset. Conclusion: The usefulness of these tests is restricted to symptomatic patients and their sensitivity is greater than 85% after 11 days from the appearance of symptoms.

Background: Pregnant women and young children are at high risk for influenza complications and, therefore, recommended for annual influenza vaccination. However, most studies investigating the safety, immunogenicity and effectiveness of inactivated influenza vaccines (IIV) were conducted in healthy adults. Therefore, the safety, immunogenicity and effectiveness of IIV in pregnant women and young children are underexplored. Objective: In this review, we evaluate the safety profile, immunogenicity, and effectiveness of IIV in healthy pregnant women and children <5 years old. Methods: We searched the electronic databases PubMed, Google Scholar, MEDLINE, Embase, WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP), and UpToDate up until 8th June 2020. Selection criteria included publications assessing safety, immunogenicity and effectiveness of IIV in healthy pregnant women and children <5 years. Results: A total of 60 studies were selected for the review: 9 on IIV safety, 17 and 11 on immunogenicity, and 13 and 10 on effectiveness of IIV in pregnant women and children, respectively. Most randomized controlled trials in pregnant women included in this review were conducted in low- and middle-income countries while observation studies were conducted in high-income countries. Conclusion: IIV were found to be a safe preventive strategy with moderate immunogenicity and effectiveness estimates for pregnant women and children <5 years old. However, the effect sizes depended upon the study design, individual factors, vaccine type and manufacturing practices, and the antigenic match between the influenza vaccine strains and the circulating strains.

The measurement of soil moisture can be a time-consuming task that can be difficult to capture spatially and temporally. The accuracy of soil moisture measurements is essential to improve aspects of hydrology in a range of modelling situations. This paper compares soil moisture measurements from two un-calibrated in-situ measurement devices against gravimetric data. The devices used are a Delta T Theta Probe and a Campbell Scientific CS659 while the gravimetric readings are from soil cores (12 cm and 21 cm). The soil moisture readings were taken over two large semi-arid catchments (562 km2 and 808 km2) located in South East Australia in the Hunter Valley, NSW. Multiple field campaigns were conducted in 2014, 2015 and 2018, resulting in 308 gravimetric samples for analysis in predominately clay soils. The two core depths sampled showed a strong correlation coefficient (R value) of 0.89. The gravimetric and probe measurements returned R values of approximately 0.8 for 2014 and 2015. The 2018 results showed a decrease in correlation (to approximately 0.3 and 0.5) although this coincided with average gravimetric soil moisture values being much lower than previous data collection campaigns (approximately 13% opposed to 20-23%). The extreme dry period potentially the reason for the reduced correlation. The manufacturer calibrated probe measurements did not provide a 1:1 relationship with the lab based gravimetric soil moisture. Results show that either the Theta Probe or CS659 are comparable to the gravimetric results in most conditions. Both the Theta Probe and CS659 regressions produced root mean square errors that were within the quoted accuracy in the device manuals, ±5% and ±3% respectively. The instruments may be used in conditions showing soil moistures of ~5% to ~45%, although the best results will be obtained by using appropriate techniques and knowing the potential limitations of devices. The linear regression equations found in this study may also allow calibration of probes for future measurements.

Long-chain unsaturated fatty acids and medium-chain saturated fatty acids are effective in deactivating enveloped viruses 1. Short-chain (butyric, caproic, and caprylic) and long-chain saturated (palmitic and stearic) fatty acids had no or a very small antiviral effect 1. Monocaprin, the 1‐monoglyceride of capric acid, and lauric acid caused a >1,00,000‐fold reduction in the viral titer of herpes simplex virus in 1 min at a concentration of 20 mM 2. Unsaturated free fatty acids such as oleic acid, arachidonic acid and linoleic acid inactivate enveloped viruses such as herpes, influenza within minutes of contact at micromolar concentrations 3,4. Electronmicrographs of enveloped treated viruses indicate that the inactivation is associated with disintegration of the virus envelope 3,4. As SARS-CoV-2 is an enveloped virus, it may also be vulnerable to deactivation by these fatty acids. These fatty acids were effective especially in their monoglyceride form 1, which acts as emulsifiers. Emulsifiers belong to the chemical class of surfactants. The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry recently confirmed that SARS-Cov-2 was deactivated by several diluted surfactants 5. Emulsifiers and fatty acids are widely used as food additives and are harmless, even if swallowed. Persons affected with SARS-CoV-2 may be able to reduce the infectivity of their saliva or saliva-derived droplets by inclusion of those in their mouth. Saliva is used for PCR based tests to detect COVID-19. However, it can be difficult to collect samples from elderly people with low saliva production 6. Flavored foods and liquids can stimulate salivation. Therefore, if it is confirmed that emulsifiers and/or fatty acids deactivate SARS-CoV-2 in the saliva and do not adversely affect RNA stability; then there may be a benefit in their inclusion in the mouth at the time of specimen collection, both to stimulate salivation and to reduce the risk to the individual collecting samples. Moreover, the presence of emulsifiers and/or fatty acids in the mouth before or during speech, or dental treatment may reduce the infectivity of the saliva and saliva-derived droplets. If we assume that SARS-CoV-2 infects and replicates in the oral mucosa because angiotensin converting enzyme-2, the host receptor for target cell entry, is highly expressed on the epithelial cells of oral mucosa 7, then repeated introduction of emulsifiers and/or fatty acids in the mouth may prevent aggravation of the disease due to entry of the virus into the respiratory tract. In vitro and in vivo research to test this hypothesis are desired. References1.         Thormar H, Isaacs CE, Brown HR, Barshatzky MR, Pessolano T. Inactivation of enveloped viruses and killing of cells by fatty acids and monoglycerides. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1987;31(1):27-31. doi:10.1128/aac.31.1.272.         Kristmundsdóttir T, Arnadóttir SG, Bergsson G, Thormar H. Development and evaluation of microbicidal hydrogels containing monoglyceride as the active ingredient [published correction appears in J Pharm Sci 1999 Dec;88(12):1366]. J Pharm Sci. 1999;88(10):1011-1015. doi:10.1021/js99003963.         Kohn A, Gitelman J, Inbar M. Unsaturated free fatty acids inactivate animal enveloped viruses. Arch Virol. 1980;66(4):301-307. doi:10.1007/BF013206264.         Kohn A, Gitelman J, Inbar M. Interaction of polyunsaturated fatty acids with animal cells and enveloped viruses. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1980;18(6):962-968. doi:10.1128/aac.18.6.9625.         Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Surfactants and Hypochlorous Acid Solution for Removal of Coronavirus from Surfaces (Final Announcement), 26 June 2020, www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2020/0626_004.html.6.         Xu F, Laguna L, Sarkar A. Aging-related changes in quantity and quality of saliva: Where do we stand in our understanding?. J Texture Stud. 2019;50(1):27-35. doi:10.1111/jtxs.123567.         Xu H, Zhong L, Deng J, et al. High expression of ACE2 receptor of 2019-nCoV on the epithelial cells of oral mucosa. Int J Oral Sci. 2020;12(1):8. Published 2020 Feb 24. doi:10.1038/s41368-020-0074-x

Introduction: Respiratory viral infections cause a significant morbidity in children. Significance of isolation of multiple viruses in acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) in children is not well characterized. The aim of this study was to compare demographics, resource utilization, and outcomes of patients with single versus multiple viral co-infections. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted by reviewing electronic records of patients hospitalized with positive respiratory viral panel within 48 hours of admission from 1/1/2015 to 12/31/2019. Outcome assessment included resource utilization, length of stay and costs. Univariate and multivariable analysis were performed. Results: A total of 2192 patients were included in this study. 16.4% of all patients had viral co-infections. Rhino/enterovirus comprised 49.2% of all identified viruses. Rhino/enterovirus and RSV were the most common co-infections (22.4%). Patients with coinfection were younger in age (median11.3 months). Intravenous antibiotics were prescribed in 29.4% with no difference in usage among the two groups. Patients with viral coinfections had a higher rate of high flow nasal cannula utilization, intubation, and length of stay (3 days [1,5] vs 2 days [1,4]). Overall mortality rate of study population was 0.3% with no difference between the two groups. Cost of care was higher for patients with coinfection but not significant after adjusting for confounders. Conclusion: Children with viral coinfection comprise a sizeable proportion of hospitalized children with bronchiolitis and have a higher severity of illness as suggested by increased use of high flow nasal cannula and hospital length of stay.

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