European Actors and Disinformation: the dispute between fact-checking, alternative agendas and geopolitics

El referéndum del Brexit es un buen ejemplo de la especial vulnerabilidad del proyecto europeo ante la desinformación. Por ello las instituciones han desarrollado una serie de iniciativas durante 2018 para definir una estrategia europea contra la desinformación que enfatiza la responsabilidad de las redes sociales en la denuncia de los contenidos falsos. Además, ante la debilidad de la esfera pública europea, las instituciones europeas apoyan la creación de redes europeas de fact checkers. Esta estrategia implica la denuncia de las mentiras en lugar de una de creación de marcos alternativos, lo que autores como Lakoff (2004) consideran un error desde la perspectiva del framing. Empíricamente demostramos mediante un análisis de las principales redes de actores en este asunto (académicos, fundaciones, think tanks, medios, plataformas de redes sociales y fact checkers) que existe una disputa para definir la mejor forma de combatir la desinformación a escala europeaThe Brexit referendum is a good example of the particular vulnerability of the European project when fighting disinformation. Therefore, EU institutions have developed a series of initiatives throughout 2018 to define a European strategy to counter disinformation that emphasizes the responsibility of social networks in reporting false content. In addition, given the weakness of the European public sphere, the European institutions support the creation of European networks of fact checkers. This strategy implies the denunciation of lies, rather than the promotion of alternative interpretive frames, which authors like Lakoff (2004) consider an error from a framing point of view. Empirically, we demonstrate through an analysis of the main networks of actors on this matter (academics, foundations, think tanks, media, social network platforms and fact checkers) that there is a dispute to define the best way to combat disinformation at the European leve

Revealing hidden clonal complexity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection by qualitative and quantitative improvement of sampling

AbstractThe analysis of microevolution events, its functional relevance and impact on molecular epidemiology strategies, constitutes one of the most challenging aspects of the study of clonal complexity in infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In this study, we retrospectively evaluated whether two improved sampling schemes could provide access to the clonal complexity that is undetected by the current standards (analysis of one isolate from one sputum). We evaluated in 48 patients the analysis by mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit–variable number tandem repeat of M. tuberculosis isolates cultured from bronchial aspirate (BAS) or bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and, in another 16 cases, the analysis of a higher number of isolates from independent sputum samples. Analysis of the isolates from BAS/BAL specimens revealed clonal complexity in a very high proportion of cases (5/48); in most of these cases, complexity was not detected when the isolates from sputum samples were analysed. Systematic analysis of isolates from multiple sputum samples also improved the detection of clonal complexity. We found coexisting clonal variants in two of 16 cases that would have gone undetected in the analysis of the isolate from a single sputum specimen. Our results suggest that analysis of isolates from BAS/BAL specimens is highly efficient for recording the true clonal composition of M. tuberculosis in the lungs. When these samples are not available, we recommend increasing the number of isolates from independent sputum specimens, because they might not harbour the same pool of bacteria. Our data suggest that the degree of clonal complexity in tuberculosis has been underestimated because of the deficiencies inherent in a simplified procedure

Linezolid for infective endocarditis. A structured approach based on a national database experience

Current data on the frequency and efficacy of linezolid (LNZ) in infective endocarditis (IE) are based on small retrospective series. We used a national database to evaluate the effectiveness of LNZ in IE. This is a retrospective study of IE patients in the Spanish GAMES database who received LNZ. We defined 3 levels of therapeutic impact: LNZ 50% of the total treatment, and > 50% of the LNZ doses prescribed in the first weeks of treatment), and LNZ ? 7 days not fulfilling the high-impact criteria (LNZ-NHI). Effectiveness of LNZ was assessed using propensity score matching and multivariate analysis of high-impact cases in comparison to patients not treated with LNZ from the GAMES database matched for age-adjusted comorbidity Charlson index, heart failure, renal failure, prosthetic and intracardiac IE device, left-sided IE, and Staphylococcus aureus. Primary outcomes were in-hospital mortality and one-year mortality. Secondary outcomes included IE complications and relapses

Prediction of poor outcome in clostridioides difficile infection: A multicentre external validation of the toxin B amplification cycle

Producción CientíficaClassification of patients according to their risk of poor outcomes in Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) would enable implementation of costly new treatment options in a subset of patients at higher risk of poor outcome. In a previous study, we found that low toxin B amplification cycle thresholds (Ct) were independently associated with poor outcome CDI. Our objective was to perform a multicentre external validation of a PCR-toxin B Ct as a marker of poor outcome CDI. We carried out a multicentre study (14 hospitals) in which the characteristics and outcome of patients with CDI were evaluated. A subanalysis of the results of the amplification curve of real-time PCR gene toxin B (XpertTM C. difficile) was performed. A total of 223 patients were included. The median age was 73.0 years, 50.2% were female, and the median Charlson index was 3.0. The comparison of poor outcome and non–poor outcome CDI episodes revealed, respectively, the following results: median age (years), 77.0 vs 72.0 (p = 0.009); patients from nursing homes, 24.4% vs 10.8% (p = 0.039); median leukocytes (cells/μl), 10,740.0 vs 8795.0 (p = 0.026); and median PCR-toxin B Ct, 23.3 vs 25.4 (p = 0.004). Multivariate analysis showed that a PCR-toxin B Ct cut-off <23.5 was significantly and independently associated with poor outcome CDI (p = 0.002; OR, 3.371; 95%CI, 1.565–7.264). This variable correctly classified 68.5% of patients. The use of this microbiological marker could facilitate early selection of patients who are at higher risk of poor outcome and are more likely to benefit from newer and more costly therapeutic options

Constraints on the χ_(c1) versus χ_(c2) polarizations in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV

The polarizations of promptly produced χ_(c1) and χ_(c2) mesons are studied using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at √s=8  TeV. The χ_c states are reconstructed via their radiative decays χ_c → J/ψγ, with the photons being measured through conversions to e⁺e⁻, which allows the two states to be well resolved. The polarizations are measured in the helicity frame, through the analysis of the χ_(c2) to χ_(c1) yield ratio as a function of the polar or azimuthal angle of the positive muon emitted in the J/ψ → μ⁺μ⁻ decay, in three bins of J/ψ transverse momentum. While no differences are seen between the two states in terms of azimuthal decay angle distributions, they are observed to have significantly different polar anisotropies. The measurement favors a scenario where at least one of the two states is strongly polarized along the helicity quantization axis, in agreement with nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics predictions. This is the first measurement of significantly polarized quarkonia produced at high transverse momentum