Discovery and Designation of Type Specimens of Chrysomelidae (Coleoptera) From Argentina Described by E. von Harold in 1875

Type specimens of 14 species of Chrysomelidae from Cordova, Argentina. collected by W. M. Davis and described by E. von Harold in 1875, were discovered in the collections of the Museum of Comparative Zoology (Harvard University). A few specimens from some other museums such as the Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität (Berlin), The Natural History Museum (London), Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique (Brussels), Museo Nacional de Hungaria (Budapest) are also apparently from the original series. Lectotypes and paralectotypes are designated for all species

DISCOVERY AND DESIGNATION OF TYPE SPECIMENS OF CHRYSOMELIDAE (COLEOPTERA) FROM ARGENTINA DESCRIBED BY E. VON HAROLD IN 1875

ABSTRAC

Impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on emergency surgery services-a multi-national survey among WSES members

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is a major challenge for health care services worldwide. It's impact on oncologic therapies and elective surgery has been described recently, and the literature provides guidelines regarding appropriate elective patient treatment during the pandemic. However, the impact of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on emergency surgery services has been poorly investigated up to now. Methods: A 17-item web survey had been distributed to emergency surgeons in June 2020 around the world, investigating the impact of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on patients and septic diseases both requiring emergency surgery and the time-to-intervention in emergency surgery routine, as well as experiences with surgery in COVID-19 patients. Results: Ninety-eight collaborators from 31 countries responded to the survey. The majority (65.3%) estimated the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on emergency surgical patient care as being strong or very strong. Due to the pandemic, 87.8% reported a decrease in the total number of patients undergoing emergency surgery and approximately 25% estimated a delay of more than 2 h in the time-to-diagnosis and another 2 h in the time-to-intervention. Fifty percent make structural problems with in-hospital logistics (e.g. transport of patients, closed normal wards etc.) mainly responsible for delayed emergency surgery and the frequent need (56.1%) for a triage of emergency surgical patients. 56.1% of the collaborators observed more severe septic abdominal diseases during the pandemic, especially for perforated appendicitis and severe septic cholecystitis (41.8% and 40.2%, respectively). 62.2% had experiences with surgery in COVID-19-infected patients. Conclusions: The results of The WSES COVID-19 emergency surgery survey are alarming. The combination of an estimated decrease in numbers of emergency surgical patients and an observed increase in more severe septic diseases may be a result of the fear of patients from infection with COVID-19 and a consecutive delayed hospital admission and diagnosis. A critical delay in time-to-diagnosis and time-to-intervention may be a result of changes in in-hospital logistics and operating room as well as intensive care capacities. Both reflect the potentially harmful impact of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on emergency surgery services

Pediatric trauma and emergency surgery: an international cross-sectional survey among WSES members

Background: In contrast to adults, the situation for pediatric trauma care from an international point of view and the global management of severely injured children remain rather unclear. The current study investigates structural management of pediatric trauma in centers of different trauma levels as well as experiences with pediatric trauma management around the world. Methods: A web-survey had been distributed to the global mailing list of the World Society of Emergency Surgery from 10/2021-03/2022, investigating characteristics of respondents and affiliated hospitals, case-load of pediatric trauma patients, capacities and infrastructure for critical care in children, trauma team composition, clinical work-up and individual experiences with pediatric trauma management in response to patients´ age. The collaboration group was subdivided regarding sizes of affiliated hospitals to allow comparisons concerning hospital volumes. Comparable results were conducted to statistical analysis. Results: A total of 133 participants from 34 countries, i.e. 5 continents responded to the survey. They were most commonly affiliated with larger hospitals (> 500 beds in 72.9%) and with level I or II trauma centers (82.0%), respectively. 74.4% of hospitals offer unrestricted pediatric medical care, but only 63.2% and 42.9% of the participants had sufficient experiences with trauma care in children ≤ 10 and ≤ 5 years of age (p = 0.0014). This situation is aggravated in participants from smaller hospitals (p < 0.01). With regard to hospital size (≤ 500 versus > 500 in-hospital beds), larger hospitals were more likely affiliated with advanced trauma centers, more elaborated pediatric intensive care infrastructure (p < 0.0001), treated children at all ages more frequently (p = 0.0938) and have higher case-loads of severely injured children < 12 years of age (p = 0.0009). Therefore, the majority of larger hospitals reserve either pediatric surgery departments or board-certified pediatric surgeons (p < 0.0001) and in-hospital trauma management is conducted more multi-disciplinarily. However, the majority of respondents does not feel prepared for treatment of severe pediatric trauma and call for special educational and practical training courses (overall: 80.2% and 64.3%, respectively). Conclusions: Multi-professional management of pediatric trauma and individual experiences with severely injured children depend on volumes, level of trauma centers and infrastructure of the hospital. However, respondents from hospitals at all levels of trauma care complain about an alarming lack of knowledge on pediatric trauma management

Diversity and ethics in trauma and acute care surgery teams: results from an international survey

Background Investigating the context of trauma and acute care surgery, the article aims at understanding the factors that can enhance some ethical aspects, namely the importance of patient consent, the perceptiveness of the ethical role of the trauma leader, and the perceived importance of ethics as an educational subject. Methods The article employs an international questionnaire promoted by the World Society of Emergency Surgery. Results Through the analysis of 402 fully filled questionnaires by surgeons from 72 different countries, the three main ethical topics are investigated through the lens of gender, membership of an academic or non-academic institution, an official trauma team, and a diverse group. In general terms, results highlight greater attention paid by surgeons belonging to academic institutions, official trauma teams, and diverse groups. Conclusions Our results underline that some organizational factors (e.g., the fact that the team belongs to a university context or is more diverse) might lead to the development of a higher sensibility on ethical matters. Embracing cultural diversity forces trauma teams to deal with different mindsets. Organizations should, therefore, consider those elements in defining their organizational procedures. Level of evidence Trauma and acute care teams work under tremendous pressure and complex circumstances, with their members needing to make ethical decisions quickly. The international survey allowed to shed light on how team assembly decisions might represent an opportunity to coordinate team member actions and increase performance

Correction to: Two years later: Is the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic still having an impact on emergency surgery? An international cross-sectional survey among WSES members

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is still ongoing and a major challenge for health care services worldwide. In the first WSES COVID-19 emergency surgery survey, a strong negative impact on emergency surgery (ES) had been described already early in the pandemic situation. However, the knowledge is limited about current effects of the pandemic on patient flow through emergency rooms, daily routine and decision making in ES as well as their changes over time during the last two pandemic years. This second WSES COVID-19 emergency surgery survey investigates the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on ES during the course of the pandemic. Methods: A web survey had been distributed to medical specialists in ES during a four-week period from January 2022, investigating the impact of the pandemic on patients and septic diseases both requiring ES, structural problems due to the pandemic and time-to-intervention in ES routine. Results: 367 collaborators from 59 countries responded to the survey. The majority indicated that the pandemic still significantly impacts on treatment and outcome of surgical emergency patients (83.1% and 78.5%, respectively). As reasons, the collaborators reported decreased case load in ES (44.7%), but patients presenting with more prolonged and severe diseases, especially concerning perforated appendicitis (62.1%) and diverticulitis (57.5%). Otherwise, approximately 50% of the participants still observe a delay in time-to-intervention in ES compared with the situation before the pandemic. Relevant causes leading to enlarged time-to-intervention in ES during the pandemic are persistent problems with in-hospital logistics, lacks in medical staff as well as operating room and intensive care capacities during the pandemic. This leads not only to the need for triage or transferring of ES patients to other hospitals, reported by 64.0% and 48.8% of the collaborators, respectively, but also to paradigm shifts in treatment modalities to non-operative approaches reported by 67.3% of the participants, especially in uncomplicated appendicitis, cholecystitis and multiple-recurrent diverticulitis. Conclusions: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic still significantly impacts on care and outcome of patients in ES. Well-known problems with in-hospital logistics are not sufficiently resolved by now; however, medical staff shortages and reduced capacities have been dramatically aggravated over last two pandemic years

Systematics and evolution of weevils of the genus Bagoos Germar (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) II. Taxonomic treatment of the species of Japan

The Japanese species of Bagous are treated systematically; 17 species are recognized, of which 15 are newly described. These new species are B. buckinghami O’Brien and Morimoto, B. fractus O’Brien and Morimoto, B. fritodes O’Brien & Morimoto, B. lewisi O’Brien & Morimoto, B. minor O’Brien & Morimoto, B. occultus O’Brien & Morimoto, B. proprius O’Brien & Morimoto, B. pygmaeodes O’Brien & Morimoto, B. rotundatus O’Brien & Morimoto, B. ryukyuensis O’Brien & Morimoto, B. spiculatus O’Brien & Morimoto, B. subcordatus O’Brien & Morimoto, B. subvittutus O’Brien & Morimoto, B. tuberculosus O’Brien & Morimoto, and B. youngi O’Brien & Morimoto; B. bipunctatus (Kono) and B. kagiashi Chujo & Morimoto were previously described. Eight species groups are recognized, the B. pygmaeus group (including B. minor and B. pygmaeodes), the B. bipunctatus group (including B. subcordatus, B. bipunctatus, B. occultus, B. spiculatus, B kagiashi and B. ryukyuensis), the B. proprius group (including B. proprius), the B. buckinghami group (including B. buckinghami), the B. fractus group (including B. fractus), thl: B. rotundatus group (incuding B. rotundatus), the B. transversus group (including B. youngi), and the B. frit group (including B. fritodes). Three species (B. lewisi, B. subvittatus and B. tuberculosus) remain unassigned to species group because they are known only from female specimens and do not possess specific characters that allow them to be assign& with certainly. A key to species, diagnosis of species groups and each species, habitus photographs and line illustrations of male and female genitalia are provided

Systqmatics and evolution of weevils of t,he genus Bagous Germar (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), III. Phylogenetic analysis of the species known from Japan

Phylogenetic analysis of members of Bagous known to occur in Japan was performed to produce an hypothesis about the phylogenetic relationships of the 17 species. Both manual and computer-aided reconstructions were performed. On the basis of this analysis, eight species groups were recognized, the B. pygmaeus group (including B. minor and B. pygmaeodes), the B. bipunctatus group (including B. kagiashi, B. ryukyuensis, B. occultus, B. spiculatus, B. bipunctatus and B. subcordatus), the B. fractus group (including B. fructus), the B. frit group (including B. fritodes), the B. transversus group (including B. youngi), the B. rotundatus group (including B. rotundatus), the B. buckinghami group (including B. buckinghami), and the B. proprius group (including B. proprius). The hypothesis of phylogeny compared well with a previous analysis of Australian species of the genus and integrated well with it. Combining Australian and Japanese species in the analysis did not significantly alter topology of branches. Thus, relationships of species and groups of species as determined independently for species of each of these geographically separated faunas is corroborated. This concordance indicates that phylogenetic analysis based on a subset of members of a taxon, while excluding the majority of its members, can be a valuable tool in development of a classification. Several species are known only from females and therefore cannot be confidently assigned to species groups: B. lewisi, B. subvirtarus, and B. tuberculosus. On the basis ‘of characters used for analysis, placement in relation to known species is equivocal because these species share homoplastic characters with several other species which are not closely related to each other. These species are placed in an uncertain position among Japanese Bagous. Also known only from females, B. subcordatus has genitalia rather similar to certain species in the B. bipunctatus group, and is tentatively assigned to that group as most closely related to B. bipunctatus. Species known only from male specimens (B. occultus and B. rotundatus) can be confidently placed phylogenetically because many of the important, phylogenetically useful characters are found in male genitalia. The Japanese Bagous constitute a diverse assemblage of species whose closest relatives occur in Southeast Asia, North America, or in the Palearctic Region. Several species groups represented in Japan are monobasic, but we fully expect that each is closely related to other, non-Japanese species with which we are unfamiliar at this time. Computer analysis using PAUP agrees closely with manual reconstruction of relationships; differences are due to the more conservative, compromising hypothesis presented. Manual reconstructions tend to be most similar to 50% majority-rule consensus trees

Chronic Lung Allograft Dysfunction Is Associated with Increased Levels of Cell-Free Mitochondrial DNA in Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid of Lung Transplant Recipients

Chronic Lung Allograft Dysfunction (CLAD) is a life-threatening complication that limits the long-term survival of lung transplantation patients. Early diagnosis remains the basis of efficient management of CLAD, making the need for distinctive biomarkers critical. This explorative study aimed to investigate the predictive power of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) derived from bronchoalveolar lavages (BAL) to detect CLAD. The study included 106 lung transplant recipients and analyzed 286 BAL samples for cell count, cell differentiation, and inflammatory and mitochondrial biomarkers, including mtDNA. A receiver operating curve analysis of mtDNA levels was used to assess its ability to detect CLAD. The results revealed a discriminatory pro-inflammatory cytokine profile in the BAL fluid of CLAD patients. The concentration of mtDNA increased in step with each CLAD stage, reaching its highest concentration in stage 4, and correlated significantly with decreasing FEV1. The receiver operating curve analysis of mtDNA in BAL revealed a moderate prediction of CLAD when all stages were grouped together (AUROC 0.75, p-value < 0.0001). This study has found the concentration mtDNA in BAL to be a potential predictor for the early detection of CLAD and the differentiation of different CLAD stages, independent of the underlying pathology