Legume abundance along successional and rainfall gradients in Neotropical forests

The nutrient demands of regrowing tropical forests are partly satisfied by nitrogen-fixing legume trees, but our understanding of the abundance of those species is biased towards wet tropical regions. Here we show how the abundance of Leguminosae is affected by both recovery from disturbance and large-scale rainfall gradients through a synthesis of forest inventory plots from a network of 42 Neotropical forest chronosequences. During the first three decades of natural forest regeneration, legume basal area is twice as high in dry compared with wet secondary forests. The tremendous ecological success of legumes in recently disturbed, water-limited forests is likely to be related to both their reduced leaflet size and ability to fix N2, which together enhance legume drought tolerance and water-use efficiency. Earth system models should incorporate these large-scale successional and climatic patterns of legume dominance to provide more accurate estimates of the maximum potential for natural nitrogen fixation across tropical forests.Additional co-authors: Rebecca J. Cole, Gabriel Dalla Colletta, Ben de Jong, Julie S. Denslow, Saara J. DeWalt, Juan Manuel Dupuy, Sandra M. Durán, Mário Marcos do Espírito Santo, G. Wilson Fernandes, Yule Roberta Ferreira Nunes, Bryan Finegan, Vanessa Granda Moser, Jefferson S. Hall, José Luis Hernández-Stefanoni, André B. Junqueira, Deborah Kennard, Edwin Lebrija-Trejos, Susan G. Letcher, Madelon Lohbeck, Erika Marín-Spiotta, Miguel Martínez-Ramos, Jorge A. Meave, Duncan N. L. Menge, Francisco Mora, Rodrigo Muñoz, Robert Muscarella, Susana Ochoa-Gaona, Edith Orihuela-Belmonte, Rebecca Ostertag, Marielos Peña-Claros, Eduardo A. Pérez-García, Daniel Piotto, Peter B. Reich, Casandra Reyes-García, Jorge Rodríguez-Velázquez, I. Eunice Romero-Pérez, Lucía Sanaphre-Villanueva, Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa, Naomi B. Schwartz, Arlete Silva de Almeida, Jarcilene S. Almeida-Cortez, Whendee Silver, Vanessa de Souza Moreno, Benjamin W. Sullivan, Nathan G. Swenson, Maria Uriarte, Michiel van Breugel, Hans van der Wal, Maria das Dores Magalhães Veloso, Hans F. M. Vester, Ima Célia Guimarães Vieira, Jess K. Zimmerman & Jennifer S. Power

Dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) MRI estimation of vascular parameters using knowledge-based adaptive models

We introduce and validate four adaptive models (AMs) to perform a physiologically based Nested-Model-Selection (NMS) estimation of such microvascular parameters as forward volumetric transfer constant, K(trans), plasma volume fraction, v(p), and extravascular, extracellular space, v(e), directly from Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced (DCE) MRI raw information without the need for an Arterial-Input Function (AIF). In sixty-six immune-compromised-RNU rats implanted with human U-251 cancer cells, DCE-MRI studies estimated pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters using a group-averaged radiological AIF and an extended Patlak-based NMS paradigm. One-hundred-ninety features extracted from raw DCE-MRI information were used to construct and validate (nested-cross-validation, NCV) four AMs for estimation of model-based regions and their three PK parameters. An NMS-based a priori knowledge was used to fine-tune the AMs to improve their performance. Compared to the conventional analysis, AMs produced stable maps of vascular parameters and nested-model regions less impacted by AIF-dispersion. The performance (Correlation coefficient and Adjusted R-squared for NCV test cohorts) of the AMs were: 0.914/0.834, 0.825/0.720, 0.938/0.880, and 0.890/0.792 for predictions of nested model regions, v(p), K(trans), and v(e), respectively. This study demonstrates an application of AMs that quickens and improves DCE-MRI based quantification of microvasculature properties of tumors and normal tissues relative to conventional approaches

Networks, Hackers, and Nonprotected Consumers

In this paper a network model is developed in which three players sequentially choose their strategies. In the first stage, a profit-maximizing network firm chooses the price and thus the size of the network. In the second stage the consumers decide whether to join in the network or not. In the last stage a hacker has the opportunity to hack the network and cause damage to the consumer. The success of hacking is based on the protection of the customers. Whereas in the first part of the paper this is given exogenously it is endogenized later on. In an extension, the utility of the hacker as well as the consumers includes psychological costs, thus allowing some further insights. Finally, policy implications are given implying better international cooperation of the law enforcement authorities

Cohort profile: the 100 million Brazilian cohort

The creation of The 100 Million Brazilian Cohort was motivated by the availability of high quality but dispersed social and health databases in Brazil and the need to integrate data and evaluate the impact of policies aiming to improve the social determinants of health (e.g. social protection policies) on health outcomes, overall and in subgroups of interest in a dynamic cohort. • The baseline of The 100 Million Brazilian Cohort comprises 131 697 800 low-income individuals in 35 358 415 families from 2011 to 2018. The Cohort population is mostly composed of children and young adults, with a higher proportion of females than the general Brazilian population, who identify themselves as Brown and live in the urban area of the country. • Exposure to social protection and the follow-up of individuals are obtained through: (i) deterministic linkage using the Social Identification Number (NIS) to link the Cohort baseline to social protection programmes and to periodically renewed socioeconomic information in Cadatro U ́ nico datasets; and/or (ii) non-deterministic linkage using the CIDACS-RL non-deterministic linkage tool, to link the Cohort baseline to administrative health care datasets such as mortality (Mortality Information System, SIM), disease notification (Information System for Notifiable Diseases, SINAN), birth information (Live Birth Information System, SINASC) and nutrition status (Food and Nutrition Surveillance System, SISVAN). • So far, studies have used The 100 Million Brazilian Cohort to investigate the socioeconomic and demographic determinants of leprosy, leprosy treatment outcomes and low birthweight and to evaluate the impact of the Bolsa Familia Programme (BFP) on leprosy and child mortality. Other studies are now being conducted that are of utmost relevance to the health inequalities of Brazil and many low- and middle-income countries, and many research opportunities are being opened up with the linkage of a range of health outcomes

Efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis in patients with cancer and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients : A systematic review of randomized trials

PURPOSE: To determine the efficacy and safety of different prophylactic systemic antibiotics in adult and pediatric patients receiving chemotherapy or undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). METHODS: We conducted a systematic review and performed searches of Ovid MEDLINE, MEDLINE in-process and Embase; and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Studies were included if patients had cancer or were HSCT recipients with anticipated neutropenia, and the intervention was systemic antibacterial prophylaxis. Strategies synthesized included fluoroquinolone vs no antibiotic/nonabsorbable antibiotic; fluoroquinolone vs trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole; trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole vs no antibiotic; and cephalosporin vs. no antibiotic. Fluoroquinolone vs cephalosporin and levofloxacin vs ciprofloxacin were compared by network meta-analysis. Primary outcome was bacteremia. RESULTS: Of 20 984 citations screened, 113 studies comparing prophylactic antibiotic to control were included. The following were effective in reducing bacteremia: fluoroquinolone vs no antibiotic/nonabsorbable antibiotic (risk ratio (RR) 0.56, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.41-0.76), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole vs no antibiotic (RR 0.59, 95% CI 0.41-0.85) and cephalosporin vs no antibiotic (RR 0.30, 95% CI 0.16-0.58). Fluoroquinolone was not significantly associated with increased Clostridium difficile infection (RR 0.62, 95% CI 0.31-1.24) or invasive fungal disease (RR 1.28, 95% CI 0.79-2.08) but did increase resistance to fluoroquinolone among bacteremia isolates (RR 3.35, 95% CI 1.12 to 10.03). Heterogeneity in fluoroquinolone effect on bacteremia was not explained by evaluated study, population, or methodological factors. Network meta-analysis revealed no direct comparisons for pre-specified analyses; superior regimens were not identified. CONCLUSIONS: Fluoroquinolone, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and cephalosporin prophylaxis reduced bacteremia. A clinical practice guideline to facilitate prophylactic antibiotic decision-making is required

Supplement: "Localization and broadband follow-up of the gravitational-wave transient GW150914" (2016, ApJL, 826, L13)

This Supplement provides supporting material for Abbott et al. (2016a). We briefly summarize past electromagnetic (EM) follow-up efforts as well as the organization and policy of the current EM follow-up program. We compare the four probability sky maps produced for the gravitational-wave transient GW150914, and provide additional details of the EM follow-up observations that were performed in the different bands

Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700