Two offshore coral species show greater acclimatization capacity to environmental variation than nearshore counterparts in southern Belize

Coral reefs are enduring decline due to the intensifying impacts of anthropogenic global change. This widespread decline has resulted in increased efforts to identify resilient coral populations and develop novel restoration strategies. Paramount in these efforts is the need to understand how environmental variation and thermal history affect coral physiology and resilience. Here, we assess the acclimatization capacity of Siderastrea siderea and Pseudodiploria strigosa corals via a 17-month reciprocal transplant experiment between nearshore and offshore reefs on the Belize Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System. These nearshore reefs are more turbid, eutrophic, warm, and thermally variable than offshore reefs. All corals exhibited some evidence of acclimatization after transplantation. Corals transplanted from nearshore to offshore calcified slower than in their native habitat, especially S. siderea corals which exhibited 60% mortality and little to no net growth over the duration of the 17-month study. Corals transplanted from offshore to nearshore calcified faster than in their native habitat with 96% survival. Higher host tissue δ15N in nearshore corals indicated that increased heterotrophic opportunity or nitrogen sources between nearshore and offshore reefs likely promoted elevated calcification rates nearshore and may facilitate adaptation in nearshore populations to such conditions over time. These results demonstrate that offshore populations of S. siderea and P. strigosa possess the acclimatization capacity to survive in warmer and more turbid nearshore conditions, but that local adaptation to native nearshore conditions may hinder the plasticity of nearshore populations, thereby limiting their utility in coral restoration activities outside of their native habitat in the short term

Multi-centre and multi-vendor reproducibility of a standardized protocol for quantitative susceptibility Mapping of the human brain at 3T

Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM) is an MRI-based technique allowing the non-invasive quantification of iron content and myelination in the brain. The RIN – Neuroimaging Network established an optimized and harmonized protocol for QSM across ten sites with 3T MRI systems from three different vendors to enable multicentric studies. The assessment of the reproducibility of this protocol is crucial to establish susceptibility as a quantitative biomarker. In this work, we evaluated cross-vendor reproducibility in a group of six traveling brains. Then, we recruited fifty-one volunteers and measured the variability of QSM values in a cohort of healthy subjects scanned at different sites, simulating a multicentric study. Both voxelwise and Region of Interest (ROI)-based analysis on cortical and subcortical gray matter were performed. The traveling brain study yielded high structural similarity (∼0.8) and excellent reproducibility comparing maps acquired on scanners from two different vendors. Depending on the ROI, we reported a quantification error ranging from 0.001 to 0.017 ppm for the traveling brains. In the cohort of fifty-one healthy subjects scanned at nine different sites, the ROI-dependent variability of susceptibility values, of the order of 0.005–0.025 ppm, was comparable to the result of the traveling brain experiment. The harmonized QSM protocol of the RIN – Neuroimaging Network provides a reliable quantification of susceptibility in both cortical and subcortical gray matter regions and it is ready for multicentric and longitudinal clinical studies in neurological and pychiatric diseases

Quality assessment, variability and reproducibility of anatomical measurements derived from T1-weighted brain imaging: The RIN–Neuroimaging Network case study

Initiatives for the collection of harmonized MRI datasets are growing continuously, opening questions on the reliability of results obtained in multi-site contexts. Here we present the assessment of the brain anatomical variability of MRI-derived measurements obtained from T1-weighted images, acquired according to the Standard Operating Procedures, promoted by the RIN-Neuroimaging Network. A multicentric dataset composed of 77 brain T1w acquisitions of young healthy volunteers (mean age = 29.7 ± 5.0 years), collected in 15 sites with MRI scanners of three different vendors, was considered. Parallelly, a dataset of 7 “traveling” subjects, each undergoing three acquisitions with scanners from different vendors, was also used. Intra-site, intra-vendor, and inter-site variabilities were evaluated in terms of the percentage standard deviation of volumetric and cortical thickness measures. Image quality metrics such as contrast-to-noise and signal-to-noise ratio in gray and white matter were also assessed for all sites and vendors. The results showed a measured global variability that ranges from 11% to 19% for subcortical volumes and from 3% to 10% for cortical thicknesses. Univariate distributions of the normalized volumes of subcortical regions, as well as the distributions of the thickness of cortical parcels appeared to be significantly different among sites in 8 subcortical (out of 17) and 21 cortical (out of 68) regions of i nterest in the multicentric study. The Bland-Altman analysis on “traveling” brain measurements did not detect systematic scanner biases even though a multivariate classification approach was able to classify the scanner vendor from brain measures with an accuracy of 0.60 ± 0.14 (chance level 0.33)

MRI data quality assessment for the RIN - Neuroimaging Network using the ACR phantoms

PURPOSE: Generating big-data is becoming imperative with the advent of machine learning. RIN-Neuroimaging Network addresses this need by developing harmonized protocols for multisite studies to identify quantitative MRI (qMRI) biomarkers for neurological diseases. In this context, image quality control (QC) is essential. Here, we present methods and results of how the RIN performs intra- and inter-site reproducibility of geometrical and image contrast parameters, demonstrating the relevance of such QC practice. METHODS: American College of Radiology (ACR) large and small phantoms were selected. Eighteen sites were equipped with a 3T scanner that differed by vendor, hardware/software versions, and receiver coils. The standard ACR protocol was optimized (in-plane voxel, post-processing filters, receiver bandwidth) and repeated monthly. Uniformity, ghosting, geometric accuracy, ellipse’s ratio, slice thickness, and high-contrast detectability tests were performed using an automatic QC script. RESULTS: Measures were mostly within the ACR tolerance ranges for both T1- and T2-weighted acquisitions, for all scanners, regardless of vendor, coil, and signal transmission chain type. All measurements showed good reproducibility over time. Uniformity and slice thickness failed at some sites. Scanners that upgraded the signal transmission chain showed a decrease in geometric distortion along the slice encoding direction. Inter-vendor differences were observed in uniformity and geometric measurements along the slice encoding direction (i.e. ellipse’s ratio). CONCLUSIONS: Use of the ACR phantoms highlighted issues that triggered interventions to correct performance at some sites and to improve the longitudinal stability of the scanners. This is relevant for establishing precision levels for future multisite studies of qMRI biomarkers

Unbounded violation of tripartite Bell inequalities

We prove that there are tripartite quantum states (constructed from random unitaries) that can lead to arbitrarily large violations of Bell inequalities for dichotomic observables. As a consequence these states can withstand an arbitrary amount of white noise before they admit a description within a local hidden variable model. This is in sharp contrast with the bipartite case, where all violations are bounded by Grothendieck's constant. We will discuss the possibility of determining the Hilbert space dimension from the obtained violation and comment on implications for communication complexity theory. Moreover, we show that the violation obtained from generalized GHZ states is always bounded so that, in contrast to many other contexts, GHZ states do in this case not lead to extremal quantum correlations. The results are based on tools from the theories of operator spaces and tensor norms which we exploit to prove the existence of bounded but not completely bounded trilinear forms from commutative C*-algebras.Comment: Substantial changes in the presentation to make the paper more accessible for a non-specialized reade

Normative values of the topological metrics of the structural connectome: A multi-site reproducibility study across the Italian Neuroscience network

Purpose: The use of topological metrics to derive quantitative descriptors from structural connectomes is receiving increasing attention but deserves specific studies to investigate their reproducibility and variability in the clinical context. This work exploits the harmonization of diffusion-weighted acquisition for neuroimaging data performed by the Italian Neuroscience and Neurorehabilitation Network initiative to obtain normative values of topological metrics and to investigate their reproducibility and variability across centers. / Methods: Different topological metrics, at global and local level, were calculated on multishell diffusion-weighted data acquired at high-field (e.g. 3 T) Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanners in 13 different centers, following the harmonization of the acquisition protocol, on young and healthy adults. A “traveling brains” dataset acquired on a subgroup of subjects at 3 different centers was also analyzed as reference data. All data were processed following a common processing pipeline that includes data pre-processing, tractography, generation of structural connectomes and calculation of graph-based metrics. The results were evaluated both with statistical analysis of variability and consistency among sites with the traveling brains range. In addition, inter-site reproducibility was assessed in terms of intra-class correlation variability. / Results: The results show an inter-center and inter-subject variability of <10%, except for “clustering coefficient” (variability of 30%). Statistical analysis identifies significant differences among sites, as expected given the wide range of scanners’ hardware. / Conclusions: The results show low variability of connectivity topological metrics across sites running a harmonised protocol

Widespread extrahippocampal NAA/(Cr+Cho) abnormalities in TLE with and without mesial temporal sclerosis

MR spectroscopy has demonstrated extrahippocampal NAA/(Cr+Cho) reductions in medial temporal lobe epilepsy with (TLE-MTS) and without (TLE-no) mesial temporal sclerosis. Because of the limited brain coverage of those previous studies, it was, however, not possible to assess differences in the distribution and extent of these abnormalities between TLE-MTS and TLE-no. This study used a 3D whole brain echoplanar spectroscopic imaging (EPSI) sequence to address the following questions: (1) Do TLE-MTS and TLE-no differ regarding severity and distribution of extrahippocampal NAA/(Cr+Cho) reductions? (2) Do extrahippocampal NAA/(Cr+Cho) reductions provide additional information for focus lateralization? Forty-three subjects (12 TLE-MTS, 13 TLE-no, 18 controls) were studied with 3D EPSI. Statistical parametric mapping (SPM2) was used to identify regions of significantly decreased NAA/(Cr+Cho) in TLE groups and in individual patients. TLE-MTS and TLE-no had widespread extrahippocampal NAA/(Cr+Cho) reductions. NAA/(Cr+Cho) reductions had a bilateral fronto-temporal distribution in TLE-MTS and a more diffuse, less well defined distribution in TLE-no. Extrahippocampal NAA/(Cr+Cho) decreases in the single subject analysis showed a large inter-individual variability and did not provide additional focus lateralizing information. Extrahippocampal NAA/(Cr+Cho) reductions in TLE-MTS and TLE-no are neither focal nor homogeneous. This reduces their value for focus lateralization and suggests a heterogeneous etiology of extrahippocampal spectroscopic metabolic abnormalities in TLE

Quantitative MRI Harmonization to Maximize Clinical Impact: The RIN–Neuroimaging Network

Neuroimaging studies often lack reproducibility, one of the cardinal features of the scientific method. Multisite collaboration initiatives increase sample size and limit methodological flexibility, therefore providing the foundation for increased statistical power and generalizable results. However, multisite collaborative initiatives are inherently limited by hardware, software, and pulse and sequence design heterogeneities of both clinical and preclinical MRI scanners and the lack of benchmark for acquisition protocols, data analysis, and data sharing. We present the overarching vision that yielded to the constitution of RIN-Neuroimaging Network, a national consortium dedicated to identifying disease and subject-specific in-vivo neuroimaging biomarkers of diverse neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions. This ambitious goal needs efforts toward increasing the diagnostic and prognostic power of advanced MRI data. To this aim, 23 Italian Scientific Institutes of Hospitalization and Care (IRCCS), with technological and clinical specialization in the neurological and neuroimaging field, have gathered together. Each IRCCS is equipped with high- or ultra-high field MRI scanners (i.e., ≥3T) for clinical or preclinical research or has established expertise in MRI data analysis and infrastructure. The actions of this Network were defined across several work packages (WP). A clinical work package (WP1) defined the guidelines for a minimum standard clinical qualitative MRI assessment for the main neurological diseases. Two neuroimaging technical work packages (WP2 and WP3, for clinical and preclinical scanners) established Standard Operative Procedures for quality controls on phantoms as well as advanced harmonized quantitative MRI protocols for studying the brain of healthy human participants and wild type mice. Under FAIR principles, a web-based e-infrastructure to store and share data across sites was also implemented (WP4). Finally, the RIN translated all these efforts into a large-scale multimodal data collection in patients and animal models with dementia (i.e., case study). The RIN-Neuroimaging Network can maximize the impact of public investments in research and clinical practice acquiring data across institutes and pathologies with high-quality and highly-consistent acquisition protocols, optimizing the analysis pipeline and data sharing procedures

Repair of Parastomal Hernias with Biologic Grafts: A Systematic Review

Contains fulltext : 98303.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Biologic grafts are increasingly used instead of synthetic mesh for parastomal hernia repair due to concerns of synthetic mesh-related complications. This systematic review was designed to evaluate the use of these collagen-based scaffolds for the repair of parastomal hernias. METHODS: Studies were retrieved after searching the electronic databases MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane CENTRAL. The search terms 'paracolostomy', 'paraileostomy', 'parastomal', 'colostomy', 'ileostomy', 'hernia', 'defect', 'closure', 'repair' and 'reconstruction' were used. Selection of studies and assessment of methodological quality were performed with a modified MINORS index. All reports on repair of parastomal hernias using a collagen-based biologic scaffold to reinforce or bridge the defect were included. Outcomes were recurrence rate, mortality and morbidity. RESULTS: Four retrospective studies with a combined enrolment of 57 patients were included. Recurrence occurred in 15.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] 7.8-25.9) of patients and wound-related complications in 26.2% (95% CI 14.7-39.5). No mortality or graft infections were reported. CONCLUSIONS: The use of reinforcing or bridging biologic grafts during parastomal hernia repair results in acceptable rates of recurrence and complications. However, given the similar rates of recurrence and complications achieved using synthetic mesh in this scenario, the evidence does not support use of biologic grafts

Interprofessional and interdisciplinary simulation-based training leads to safe sedation procedures in the emergency department

BACKGROUND Sedation is a procedure required for many interventions in the Emergency department (ED) such as reductions, surgical procedures or cardioversions. However, especially under emergency conditions with high risk patients and rapidly changing interdisciplinary and interprofessional teams, the procedure caries important risks. It is thus vital but difficult to implement a standard operating procedure for sedation procedures in any ED. Reports on both, implementation strategies as well as their success are currently lacking. This study describes the development, implementation and clinical evaluation of an interprofessional and interdisciplinary simulation-based sedation training concept. METHODS All physicians and nurses with specialised training in emergency medicine at the Berne University Department of Emergency Medicine participated in a mandatory interdisciplinary and interprofessional simulation-based sedation training. The curriculum consisted of an individual self-learning module, an airway skill training course, three simulation-based team training cases, and a final practical learning course in the operating theatre. Before and after each training session, self-efficacy, awareness of emergency procedures, knowledge of sedation medication and crisis resource management were assessed with a questionnaire. Changes in these measures were compared via paired tests, separately for groups formed based on experience and profession. To assess the clinical effect of training, we collected patient and team satisfaction as well as duration and complications for all sedations in the ED within the year after implementation. We further compared time to beginning of procedure, time for duration of procedure and time until discharge after implementation with the one year period before the implementation. Cohen's d was calculated as effect size for all statistically significant tests. RESULTS Fifty staff members (26 nurses and 24 physicians) participated in the training. In all subgroups, there is a significant increase in self-efficacy and knowledge with high effect size (d z  = 1.8). The learning is independent of profession and experience level. In the clinical evaluation after implementation, we found no major complications among the sedations performed. Time to procedure significantly improved after the introduction of the training (d = 0.88). DISCUSSION Learning is independent of previous working experience and equally effective in raising the self-efficacy and knowledge in all professional groups. Clinical outcome evaluation confirms the concepts safety and feasibility. CONCLUSION An interprofessional and interdisciplinary simulation-based sedation training is an efficient way to implement a conscious sedation concept in an ED