Management of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients With Lung Cancer: Experience From a Thoracic Oncology Center

Background: Cancer patients appear to be at a higher risk of complications from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Specific data related to lung cancer (LC) patient management, active treatment, and/or recent diagnosis are still very limited. Here, we aimed to investigate the clinical presentation, baseline features, and clinical outcomes of LC patients with COVID-19. Methods: A retrospective case study was performed at Centro Hospitalar Universitário de São Joao, a tertiary hospital in the North of Portugal. Data from LC patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were collected during the first 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020–January 2021). Results: Twenty-eight patients with active LC were diagnosed with COVID-19, being adenocarcinoma the most common histological type present (n = 13, 46.4%). Sixteen patients had metastatic stage IV LC (61.5%). Twenty-five patients (89.3%) had relevant comorbidities including hypertension (39.3%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (32.1%). For patients undergoing antineoplastic treatment, the median time from the last chemotherapy administration to COVID-19 diagnosis was of 16 days (interquartile range = 13–41 days). Half of patients were previously on corticosteroid therapy. Twenty patients (71.4%) needed hospitalization, 18 received oxygen therapy (64.3%), 3 (10.7%) of them received high-flow nasal cannula with good tolerability, and 1 (3.6%) needed non-invasive ventilation. Hydroxychloroquine and antibiotics were given to 4 (14.3%) and 12 (42.9%) patients, respectively. Seven patients (25%) died at a median time of 5 days following COVID-19 diagnosis. Conclusion: This is one of the first studies reporting the adverse outcomes associated with COVID-19 in LC patients at same time that adds evidence regarding the need to create protocols and guidelines to reduce the infection risk in such patients.NC-M acknowledges the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the Horizon 2020 Program (PTDC/PSI-GER/28076/2017)

Climate change and outdoor regional living plant collections: an example from mainland Portugal

Original PaperClimate change threatens not only plant species occurring naturally, but also impacts on regional living plant collections, which play an important role in ex situ conservation strategies. In the last few years, several global circulation models have been used to predict different global climate change scenarios. Due to their coarse resolutions, and while more detailed regional approaches are not available, downscaling techniques have been proposed, as a very simple first approach to increase detail. We analysed seven sites on mainland Portugal with potential for species conservation (four botanic gardens and three universities), in the light of downscaled climate change scenarios, using an environmental envelope approach and a predefined bioclimatic neighbourhood for each site. Thresholds for the bioclimatic neighbourhood were based on Rivas-Martı´nez’s Bioclimatic Classification of the Earth. For each site, the expected geographical shift of its original bioclimatic neighbourhood (1950–2000) was mapped for 2020, 2050 and 2080. Analysing those shifts enabled us to delineate knowledge-transfer paths between sites, according to the analysed scenarios. We concluded that, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change A2 scenario, all considered sites will be outside the predefined bioclimatic neighbourhood by 2080, while according to the B2 scenario all of them will be inside that neighbourhood, although sometimes marginally so. Therefore, the implementation of global sustainability measures as considered in the B2 scenario family can be of great importance in order to delay significantly the impacts of climate change, giving extra time for the adaptation of the outdoor regional living plant collectionsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Um grande surto de Legionella ausente do debate público

The Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that hit Portugal in November 2014 was the third largest worldwide and was declared a “great public health emergency”. Nonetheless, the Portuguese outbreak, despite killing 12 people and infecting 375 others did not promote extensive media coverage, nor did it make it into the political debate. We conducted a quantitative analysis of 83 news pieces on Legionella published in four national newspapers, and interviewed the journalists who covered this outbreak. The communication process was controlled by a small group of official sources and the outbreak was pushed away from news lineups due to two political scandals. The production of another news wave made the outbreak’s news wave to break prematurely.O surto de Legionella que atingiu Portugal em novembro de 2014 foi o terceiro maior em nível mundial, constituindo “uma grande emergência de saúde pública”. Ainda assim, o surto português não promoveu uma longa cobertura mediática, apesar das 12 mortes e 375 pessoas infetadas. Nem entrou no debate político. Fizemos uma análise quantitativa das 83 notícias sobre Legionella publicadas em quatro jornais nacionais, e conduzimos entrevistas com os jornalistas que cobriram este surto. O processo comunicativo foi controlado por um pequeno grupo de fontes oficiais, e o surto foi rapidamente afastado dos alinhamentos noticiosos, sendo substituído por dois escândalos políticos. A produção de outra onda noticiosa fez com que a onda noticiosa do surto de Legionella se quebrasse prematuramente.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Predicting the Impact of Climate Change on Threatened Species in UK Waters

Global climate change is affecting the distribution of marine species and is thought to represent a threat to biodiversity. Previous studies project expansion of species range for some species and local extinction elsewhere under climate change. Such range shifts raise concern for species whose long-term persistence is already threatened by other human disturbances such as fishing. However, few studies have attempted to assess the effects of future climate change on threatened vertebrate marine species using a multi-model approach. There has also been a recent surge of interest in climate change impacts on protected areas. This study applies three species distribution models and two sets of climate model projections to explore the potential impacts of climate change on marine species by 2050. A set of species in the North Sea, including seven threatened and ten major commercial species were used as a case study. Changes in habitat suitability in selected candidate protected areas around the UK under future climatic scenarios were assessed for these species. Moreover, change in the degree of overlap between commercial and threatened species ranges was calculated as a proxy of the potential threat posed by overfishing through bycatch. The ensemble projections suggest northward shifts in species at an average rate of 27 km per decade, resulting in small average changes in range overlap between threatened and commercially exploited species. Furthermore, the adverse consequences of climate change on the habitat suitability of protected areas were projected to be small. Although the models show large variation in the predicted consequences of climate change, the multi-model approach helps identify the potential risk of increased exposure to human stressors of critically endangered species such as common skate (Dipturus batis) and angelshark (Squatina squatina)

Transthoracic echocardiography reference values in juvenile and adult 129/Sv mice

Background In the recent years, the use of Doppler-echocardiography has become a standard non-invasive technique in the analysis of cardiac malformations in genetically modified mice. Therefore, normal values have to be established for the most commonly used inbred strains in whose genetic background those mutations are generated. Here we provide reference values for transthoracic echocardiography measurements in juvenile (3 weeks) and adult (8 weeks) 129/Sv mice. Methods Echocardiographic measurements were performed using B-mode, M-mode and Doppler-mode in 15 juvenile (3 weeks) and 15 adult (8 weeks) mice, during isoflurane anesthesia. M-mode measurements variability of left ventricle (LV) was determined. Results Several echocardiographic measurements significantly differ between juvenile and adult mice. Most of these measurements are related with cardiac dimensions. All B-mode measurements were different between juveniles and adults (higher in the adults), except for fractional area change (FAC). Ejection fraction (EF) and fractional shortening (FS), calculated from M-mode parameters, do not differ between juvenile and adult mice. Stroke volume (SV) and cardiac output (CO) were significantly different between juvenile and adult mice. SV was 31.93 ± 8.67 μl in juveniles vs 70.61 ± 24.66 μl in adults, ρ < 0.001. CO was 12.06 ± 4.05 ml/min in juveniles vs 29.71 ± 10.13 ml/min in adults, ρ < 0.001. No difference was found in mitral valve (MV) and tricuspid valve (TV) related parameters between juvenile and adult mice. It was demonstrated that variability of M-mode measurements of LV is minimal. Conclusions This study suggests that differences in cardiac dimensions, as wells as in pulmonary and aorta outflow parameters, were found between juvenile and adult mice. However, mitral and tricuspid inflow parameters seem to be similar between 3 weeks and 8 weeks mice. The reference values established in this study would contribute as a basis to future studies in post-natal cardiovascular development and diagnosing cardiovascular disorders in genetically modified mouse mutant lines.Peer Reviewe

Do Stacked Species Distribution Models Reflect Altitudinal Diversity Patterns?

The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of stacked species distribution models in predicting the alpha and gamma species diversity patterns of two important plant clades along elevation in the Andes. We modelled the distribution of the species in the Anthurium genus (53 species) and the Bromeliaceae family (89 species) using six modelling techniques. We combined all of the predictions for the same species in ensemble models based on two different criteria: the average of the rescaled predictions by all techniques and the average of the best techniques. The rescaled predictions were then reclassified into binary predictions (presence/absence). By stacking either the original predictions or binary predictions for both ensemble procedures, we obtained four different species richness models per taxa. The gamma and alpha diversity per elevation band (500 m) was also computed. To evaluate the prediction abilities for the four predictions of species richness and gamma diversity, the models were compared with the real data along an elevation gradient that was independently compiled by specialists. Finally, we also tested whether our richness models performed better than a null model of altitudinal changes of diversity based on the literature. Stacking of the ensemble prediction of the individual species models generated richness models that proved to be well correlated with the observed alpha diversity richness patterns along elevation and with the gamma diversity derived from the literature. Overall, these models tend to overpredict species richness. The use of the ensemble predictions from the species models built with different techniques seems very promising for modelling of species assemblages. Stacking of the binary models reduced the over-prediction, although more research is needed. The randomisation test proved to be a promising method for testing the performance of the stacked models, but other implementations may still be developed

Absence of Fas-L aggravates renal injury in acute Trypanosoma cruzi infection

Trypanosoma cruzi infection induces diverse alterations in immunocompetent cells and organs, myocarditis and congestive heart failure. However, the physiological network of disturbances imposed by the infection has not been addressed thoroughly. Regarding myocarditis induced by the infection, we observed in our previous work that Fas-L-/- mice (gld/gld) have very mild inflammatory infiltration when compared to BALB/c mice. However, all mice from both lineages die in the early acute phase. Therefore, in this work we studied the physiological connection relating arterial pressure, renal function/damage and cardiac insufficiency as causes of death. Our results show that a broader set of dysfunctions that could be classified as a cardio/anaemic/renal syndrome is more likely responsible for cardiac failure and death in both lineages. However, gld/gld mice had very early glomerular deposition of IgM and a more intense renal inflammatory response with reduced renal filtration, which is probably responsible for the premature death in the absence of significant myocarditis in gld/gld.Instituto Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz Laboratório de Biologia CelularUniversidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas FilhoUniversidade Federal Fluminense Instituto Biomédico Departamento de Fisiologia e FarmacologiaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de Medicina Disciplina de NefrologiaCentro de Criação de Animais de Laboratório Departamento de Controle de Qualidade AnimalUNIFESP, EPM, Disciplina de NefrologiaSciEL