Simulated drilling noise affects the space use of a large terrestrial mammal

Wildlife is exposed to increasing anthropogenic disturbances related to shale oil and gas extraction in response to rising worldwide demands. As these disturbances increase in intensity and occurrence across the landscape, understanding their impacts is essential for management. On Anticosti Island (Québec, Canada), we equipped six white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus with GPS collars taking hourly locations. We then designed a playback experiment by simulating constant drilling noise emitted by generators to which half of the collared deer were exposed for a three-week period. Deer tolerated noise levels up to 70 dB(C). However, the number of locations recorded in areas where the noise was above 70 dB(C) was on average 73% (SE¿18%) lower than before the disturbance, which suggests that deer experienced fine scale functional habitat loss. This loss of habitat occurred up to 200 m from the noise source. The size of home ranges and movement rates did not appear to be affected by the noise disturbance. In addition, during the experiment, deer were able to relocate in areas of their home range where food availability was similar to that of sites used before the disturbance. These results show that drilling noise can affect the habitat use of white-tailed deer. However, future research is needed to better understand the cumulative impacts of shale mining on large mammals, as this study isolated only one of the many disturbances present near mining sites and for a limited perio

Population-level impact and herd effects following the introduction of human papillomavirus vaccination programmes: updated systematic review and meta-analysis

Background More than 10 years have elapsed since human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination was implemented. We did a systematic review and meta-analysis of the population-level impact of vaccinating girls and women against human papillomavirus on HPV infections, anogenital wart diagnoses, and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2+ (CIN2+)to summarise the most recent evidence about the effectiveness of HPV vaccines in real-world settings and to quantify the impact of multiple age-cohort vaccination.Methods In this updated systematic review and meta-analysis, we used the same search strategy as in our previous paper. We searched MEDLINE and Embase for studies published between Feb 1, 2014, and Oct 11, 2018. Studies were eligible if they compared the frequency (prevalence or incidence) of at least one HPV-related endpoint (genital HPV infections, anogenital wart diagnoses, or histologically confirmed CIN2+) between pre-vaccination and post-vaccination periods among the general population and if they used the same population sources and recruitment methods before and after vaccination. Our primary assessment was the relative risk (RR) comparing the frequency (prevalence or incidence) of HPV-related endpoints between the pre-vaccination and post-vaccination periods. We stratified all analyses by sex, age, and years since introduction of HPV vaccination. We used random-effects models to estimate pooled relative risks.Findings We identified 1702 potentially eligible articles for this systematic review and meta-analysis, and included 65 articles in 14 high-income countries: 23 for HPV infection, 29 for anogenital warts, and 13 for CIN2+.After 5\u20138 years of vaccination, the prevalence of HPV 16 and 18 decreased significantly by 83% (RR 0\ub717, 95% CI 0\ub711\u20130\ub725) among girls aged 13\u201319 years, and decreased significantly by 66% (RR 0\ub734, 95% CI 0\ub723\u20130\ub749) among women aged 20\u201324 years. The prevalence of HPV 31, 33, and 45 decreased significantly by 54% (RR 0\ub746, 95% CI 0\ub733\u20130\ub766) among girls aged 13\u201319 years. Anogenital wart diagnoses decreased significantly by 67% (RR 0\ub733, 95% CI 0\ub724\u20130\ub746) among girls aged 15\u201319 years, decreased significantly by 54% (RR 0\ub746, 95% CI 0.36\u20130.60) among women aged 20\u201324 years, and decreased significantly by 31% (RR 0\ub769, 95% CI 0\ub753\u20130\ub789) among women aged 25\u201329 years. Among boys aged 15\u201319 years anogenital wart diagnoses decreased significantly by 48% (RR 0\ub752, 95% CI 0\ub737\u20130\ub775) and among men aged 20\u201324 years they decreased significantly by 32% (RR 0\ub768, 95% CI 0\ub747\u20130\ub798). After 5\u20139 years of vaccination, CIN2+ decreased significantly by 51% (RR 0\ub749, 95% CI 0\ub742\u20130\ub758) among screened girls aged 15\u201319 years and decreased significantly by 31% (RR 0\ub769, 95% CI 0\ub757\u20130\ub784) among women aged 20\u201324 years.Interpretation This updated systematic review and meta-analysis includes data from 60 million individuals and up to 8 years of post-vaccination follow-up. Our results show compelling evidence of the substantial impact of HPV vaccination programmes on HPV infections and CIN2+ among girls and women, and on anogenital warts diagnoses among girls, women, boys, and men. Additionally, programmes with multi-cohort vaccination and high vaccination coverage had a greater direct impact and herd effects

DNA cruciform arms nucleate through a correlated but non-synchronous cooperative mechanism

Inverted repeat (IR) sequences in DNA can form non-canonical cruciform structures to relieve torsional stress. We use Monte Carlo simulations of a recently developed coarse-grained model of DNA to demonstrate that the nucleation of a cruciform can proceed through a cooperative mechanism. Firstly, a twist-induced denaturation bubble must diffuse so that its midpoint is near the centre of symmetry of the IR sequence. Secondly, bubble fluctuations must be large enough to allow one of the arms to form a small number of hairpin bonds. Once the first arm is partially formed, the second arm can rapidly grow to a similar size. Because bubbles can twist back on themselves, they need considerably fewer bases to resolve torsional stress than the final cruciform state does. The initially stabilised cruciform therefore continues to grow, which typically proceeds synchronously, reminiscent of the S-type mechanism of cruciform formation. By using umbrella sampling techniques we calculate, for different temperatures and superhelical densities, the free energy as a function of the number of bonds in each cruciform along the correlated but non-synchronous nucleation pathways we observed in direct simulations.Comment: 12 pages main paper + 11 pages supplementary dat

Higher COVID-19 pneumonia risk associated with anti-IFN-α than with anti-IFN-ω auto-Abs in children

We found that 19 (10.4%) of 183 unvaccinated children hospitalized for COVID-19 pneumonia had autoantibodies (auto-Abs) neutralizing type I IFNs (IFN-alpha 2 in 10 patients: IFN-alpha 2 only in three, IFN-alpha 2 plus IFN-omega in five, and IFN-alpha 2, IFN-omega plus IFN-beta in two; IFN-omega only in nine patients). Seven children (3.8%) had Abs neutralizing at least 10 ng/ml of one IFN, whereas the other 12 (6.6%) had Abs neutralizing only 100 pg/ml. The auto-Abs neutralized both unglycosylated and glycosylated IFNs. We also detected auto-Abs neutralizing 100 pg/ml IFN-alpha 2 in 4 of 2,267 uninfected children (0.2%) and auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-omega in 45 children (2%). The odds ratios (ORs) for life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia were, therefore, higher for auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-alpha 2 only (OR [95% CI] = 67.6 [5.7-9,196.6]) than for auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-. only (OR [95% CI] = 2.6 [1.2-5.3]). ORs were also higher for auto-Abs neutralizing high concentrations (OR [95% CI] = 12.9 [4.6-35.9]) than for those neutralizing low concentrations (OR [95% CI] = 5.5 [3.1-9.6]) of IFN-omega and/or IFN-alpha 2

Simulated drilling noise affects the space use of a large terrestrial mammal

Wildlife is exposed to increasing anthropogenic disturbances related to shale oil and gas extraction in response to rising worldwide demands. As these disturbances increase in intensity and occurrence across the landscape, understanding their impacts is essential for management. On Anticosti Island (Québec, Canada), we equipped six white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus with GPS collars taking hourly locations. We then designed a playback experiment by simulating constant drilling noise emitted by generators to which half of the collared deer were exposed for a three-week period. Deer tolerated noise levels up to 70 dB(C). However, the number of locations recorded in areas where the noise was above 70 dB(C) was on average 73% (SE ± 18%) lower than before the disturbance, which suggests that deer experienced fine scale functional habitat loss. This loss of habitat occurred up to 200 m from the noise source. The size of home ranges and movement rates did not appear to be affected by the noise disturbance. In addition, during the experiment, deer were able to relocate in areas of their home range where food availability was similar to that of sites used before the disturbance. These results show that drilling noise can affect the habitat use of white-tailed deer. However, future research is needed to better understand the cumulative impacts of shale mining on large mammals, as this study isolated only one of the many disturbances present near mining sites and for a limited period

Specifications of an Ultrasonic Receiver Based on Two-Wave Mixing in Photorefractive Gallium Arsenide Implemented in a Laser-Ultrasonic System

Optical techniques for ultrasonic measurements present several advantages over conventional piezoelectric methods. First, they are remote sensing techniques and can be, for example, used for the inspection of materials at elevated temperature or products moving on a production line. Secondly, surfaces of complex shape can be easily probed since these techniques work with scattered light. For specific applications, these advantages compensate the usually lower sensitivity of optical techniques.</p

Vicious circle between progressive right ventricular dilatation and pulmonary regurgitation in patients after tetralogy of Fallot repair? Right heart enlargement promotes flow reversal in the left pulmonary artery

Abstract Background The left pulmonary artery (LPA) contributes more than the right (RPA) to total pulmonary regurgitation (PR) in patients after tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) repair, but the mechanism of this difference is not well understood. This study aimed to analyze the interplay between heart and lung size, mediastinal geometry, and differential PR. Methods Forty-eight Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) studies in patients after TOF repair were analyzed. In addition to the routine blood flow and ventricular volume quantification cardiac angle between the thoracic anterior-posterior line and the interventricular septum, right and left lung areas as well as right and left hemithorax areas were measured on an axial image. Statistical analysis was performed to compare flow parameters between RPA and LPA and to assess correlation among right ventricular volume, pulmonary blood flow parameters and lung area. Results There was no difference between LPA and RPA diameters. The LPA showed significantly less total forward flow (2.49 ± 0.87 L/min/m2 vs 2.86 ± 0.89 L/min/m2; p = 0.02), smaller net forward flow (1.40 ± 0.51 vs 1.89 ± 0.60 mL/min/m2; p = <0.001), and greater regurgitant fraction (RF) (34 ± 10 % vs 43 ± 12 %; p = 0.001) than the RPA. There was no difference in regurgitant flow volume between RPA and LPA (p = 0.29). Indexed right ventricular end-diastolic volume (RVEDVi) correlated with LPA RF (R = 0.48, p < 0.001), but not with RPA RF (p = 0.09). Larger RVEDVi correlated with a more leftward cardiac axis (R = 0.46, p < 0.001) and with smaller left lung area (R = −0.58, p < 0.001). LPA RF, but not RPA RF, correlated inversely with left lung area (R = −0.34, p = 0.02). The follow-up CMRs in 20 patients showed a correlation of the rate of RV enlargement with the rates of LPA RF worsening (R = 0.50, p = 0.03), and of increasing left lung compression (R = −0.55, p = 0.012). Conclusion An enlarged and levorotated heart is associated with left lung compression and impaired flow into the left lung