Myocardial ultrasound tissue characterization in patients with chronic renal failure

The objective of this study was to detect ultrastructural changes in myocardium related to collagen content by ultrasound tissue characterization in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and in uncomplicated hypertensive control subjects. In 25 hemodialysis (HD) patients, in 25 patients with moderate to severe chronic renal failure (CRF), and in 10 patients with essential hypertension (EH) and normal renal function matched for age, BP, and left ventricular mass index, left ventricular anatomy and function were evaluated by conventional echocardiography, and integrated backscatter signal (IBS) was analyzed by acoustic densitometry. IBS mean reflectivity increased from 48% in patients with EH to 56% in patients with CRF to 62% in HD patients (ANOVA P < 0.01). IBS mean cyclic variation was progressively increased from 4.35 1.2 dB in HD patients to 5.27 0.90 in patients with CRF to 6.50 1.6 dB in patients with EH (ANOVA P < 0.01). At multivariate analysis, IBS mean reflectivity was positively related to age and serum creatinine ( 0.351, P 0.036; and 0.408, P 0.016, respectively). IBS mean cyclic variation was inversely related to age and serum creatinine ( 0.274, P 0.025; and 0.262, P 0.025, respectively) and positively related to left ventricular midwall fractional shortening and transmitral E/A ratio ( 0.269, P < 0.05; and 0.314, P < 0.001, respectively). The data support the hypothesis that interstitial collagen deposition may appear early in the course of CKD and suggest that acoustic densitometry may represent a useful tool for the assessment of myocardial tissue changes in patients with CKD

Prognostic factors and predictors of outcome in patients with COVID-19 and related pneumonia: a retrospective cohort study

The aim of the study was to assess simultaneously several potential predictors of outcome (co-morbidity, previous and in-hospital treatment, radiologic Brixia score) in patients with COVID-19. This retrospective cohort study included 258 consecutive patients with confirmed COVID-19 admitted to a medical ward at the Montichiari Hospital, Brescia, Italy from February 28th to April 30th, 2020. Patients had COVID-19 related pneumonia with respiratory failure, and were treated with hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir plus ritonavir. In some patients additional treatment with tocilizumab, dexamethasone and enoxaparin was adopted. Outcomes (death or recovery) were assessed at the end of the discharge period or at the end the follow-up (August 2020).  During hospitalization, 59 patients died, while 6 died after discharge. The following variables were demonstrated to be associated with a worse prognosis: Radiologic Brixia score higher than 8, presence at baseline of hypertension, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, cancer, previous treatment with ACE-inhibitors or anti-platelet drugs. Anticoagulant treatment during hospital admission with enoxaparin at a dose higher than 4000 U per was associated to a better prognosis. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that some co-morbidities and cardiovascular risk factors may affect prognosis. The radiologic Brixia score may be a useful tool for stratifying the risk of death at baseline. Anticoagulant treatment with enoxaparin might be associated to a clinical benefit in terms of survival in patients with COVID-19

NEOTROPICAL ALIEN MAMMALS: a data set of occurrence and abundance of alien mammals in the Neotropics

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In this data set, we make available occurrence and abundance data on mammal species that (1) transposed a geographical barrier and (2) were voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into the Neotropics. Our data set is composed of 73,738 historical and current georeferenced records on alien mammal species of which around 96% correspond to occurrence data on 77 species belonging to eight orders and 26 families. Data cover 26 continental countries in the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico and its frontier regions (southern Florida and coastal-central Florida in the southeast United States) to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay, and the 13 countries of Caribbean islands. Our data set also includes neotropical species (e.g., Callithrix sp., Myocastor coypus, Nasua nasua) considered alien in particular areas of Neotropics. The most numerous species in terms of records are from Bos sp. (n = 37,782), Sus scrofa (n = 6,730), and Canis familiaris (n = 10,084); 17 species were represented by only one record (e.g., Syncerus caffer, Cervus timorensis, Cervus unicolor, Canis latrans). Primates have the highest number of species in the data set (n = 20 species), partly because of uncertainties regarding taxonomic identification of the genera Callithrix, which includes the species Callithrix aurita, Callithrix flaviceps, Callithrix geoffroyi, Callithrix jacchus, Callithrix kuhlii, Callithrix penicillata, and their hybrids. This unique data set will be a valuable source of information on invasion risk assessments, biodiversity redistribution and conservation-related research. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper when using the data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us on how they are using the data

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data