The correlation between middle schoolchildren allergic symptoms and airborne particle season: A cross-sectional study

Limited studies correlate allergic symptoms and associated outdoor biological particle exposure among schoolchildren globally.This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the seasonality of symptoms of allergic diseases among middle schoolchildren and the annual variation of airborne pollen and fungal spore in a hot and humid geographical region (Qatar).During November 2017 to January 2018, a self-reported study of middle schoolchildren living in the Doha capital city of Qatar was conducted, and data gathered were evaluated in relation to the collected monthly pollen and fungal spores. Participants' data were collected by conducting a survey based on a modified questionnaire adopted from the International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Childhood (ISAAC). The airborne pollen and fungal spore in Doha's atmosphere were extracted from the Doha aerobiology project (2017-2020).Among the 1000 distributed questionnaires, 100 were excluded due to significant missing data and 644 middle schoolchildren living in Doha city responded and were included in the final analysis. The symptoms of allergic rhinitis (AR) pattern among the responders with positive symptoms were strongly linked with the higher airborne fungal spore incidence during the month of November. Out of 331 students with positive symptoms, the prevalence of AR, lifetime wheeze, and eczema was 62.8%, 28.1%, and 26.6%, respectively. Asthma was significantly higher in Qatari (39.8%) compared to non-Qatari (26.7%) middle schoolchildren (P = .02).Outdoor aeroallergen may be a contributing factor in addition to other environmental and genetic predisposing factors for childhood atopic diseases in the prevalence rate of allergic symptoms among middle schoolchildren in the peninsula of Qatar

First volumetric records of airborne Cladosporium and Alternaria spores in the atmosphere of Al Khor (northern Qatar): a preliminary survey

Daily monitoring of airborne fungal spores was carried out for the first time in Al Khor city, Qatar, using a Hirst type 7-day recording volumetric spore trap, from May 2017 to May 2019. During the sampling period, the annual and monthly fluctuations, as well as intradiurnal variations of airborne fungal spore concentrations, were evaluated. Cladosporium, followed by Alternaria, were the spore types most abundant in the atmosphere of the city, with a strong interannual variability in the atmospheric concentrations being observed. The Annual Spore Integrals (ASIns) were 3334 and 1172 spore * day/m3 (2017–2018), and 6796 and 1538 spore * day/m3 (2018–2019) for Cladosporium and Alternaria, respectively. Total daily spore concentrations showed significantly positive correlations with mean, minimum, and maximum temperatures but significantly negative correlations with relative humidity. However, due to the scarce rainfalls’ days, we did not find a statistically significant correlations between Cladosporium and Alternaria spore concentrations and this parameter. Despite this, the spore peaks were strongly related to precipitations that occurred during the previous month. In general, no significant correlations were found with wind speed but, regarding wind direction, the higher percentage of spores were collected when wind blows from the 4th quadrant (NW). According to the intradiurnal pattern, Cladosporium fungal spores displayed their maximum daily concentration during 8:00–10:00 h in the morning, with a second peak in the afternoon, while for Alternaria, the maximum peaks were observed between 08:00 and 14:00 h. Because no consistent previous aerobiological studies exist from Qatar, the aim of this study is to define the seasonality and intradiurnal behaviour of these two airborne fungal spore and the role that, in such arid scene, the meteorological parameters play on the spore concentrations.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBUA. We declare that the research reported in this manuscript received supported grant funding from the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF)-Qatar (Project NPRP 9–241-3–043)

Seasonal and intradaily variations of Parietaria pollen in the atmosphere of Málaga.

Parietaria pollen is one of the main causes of hay fever and asthma in the population, presenting a high allergenicity. That is why, in order to inform the population, it is important to determine whether its behaviour pattern is different in different parts of the city. The objective of this study was to analyze and compare the behaviour pattern of the Parietaria pollen type in two different points within the city of Malaga and to analyze the existing correlation between pollen concentrations and the main meteorological parameters. We used two Hirst-type volumetric pollen traps, one of them installed in the periphery and the other in the city center, between 2017 and 2019. The samples were mounted and counted following the recommendations of the Spanish Aerobiology Network. To calculate the annual pollen integral, the sum of the mean daily concentrations throughout the year was used. To calculate the intradaily variations, the values were accumulated every two hours, expressed as percentages of the daily total. In order to study the relationships between meteorological parameters and pollen concentrations, Spearman correlation tests have been carried out. The values of the annual pollen integral were always much higher in the centre. Daily mean concentrations showed the presence of this pollen type in the atmosphere throughout the year. Regarding the intraday pattern, a more pronounced peak was observed in the city centre, while in the periphery, the distribution is more homogeneous throughout the day. The meteorological parameters play an important role in determining the daily concentrations in the atmosphere. In the light of these results, we can conclude that it is necessary to install several sampling points within the same city, due to its heterogeneity and different land uses, in order to inform the population with a greater precision and, in this way, prevent respiratory allergies.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Effects of climate change on Platanus flowering in Western Mediterranean cities: current trends and future projections

Ornamental trees can reduce some of the negative impacts of urbanization on citizens but some species, such as Platanus spp., produce pollen with high allergenic potential. This can exacerbate the symptomatology in allergic patients, being a public health problem. Therefore, it would be relevant to determine the environmental conditions regulating the flowering onset of the Platanus species. The aims of this study were to use aerobiological records for modelling the thermal requirements of Platanus flowering and to make future projections based on the effects that climate change could have on it under several possible future scenarios. This study was conducted in Badajoz and Malaga, two Western Mediterranean cities with different climate conditions. In the first step, several main pollen season definitions were applied to the aerobiological data and their onset dates were compared with in situ phenological observations. The main pollen season definition that best fitted the Platanus flowering onset was based on the 4th derivative of a logistic function. This definition was used as a proxy to model the thermal requirements of the Platanus flowering onset by applying the PhenoFlex statistical framework. The errors obtained by this model during the external validation were 3.2 days on average, so it was fed with future temperature estimations to determine possible future trends. According to the different models, the flowering onset of Platanus in Badajoz will show heterogeneous responses in the short and medium term due to different balances in the chilling-forcing compensation, while it will clearly delay in Malaga due to a significant delay in the chilling requirement fulfilment. This may increase the chances of cross-reactivity episodes with other pollen types in the future, increasing its impact on public health.Funding for open Access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBUA. This work was partially financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain and FEDER funding inside the Operational Plurirregional Program of Spain 2014-2020 and the Operational Program of Smart Growing (Project Environmental and Biodiversity Climate Change Lab, EnBiC2-Lab), by the Regional Government of Extremadura (IB20081 and GR21027), and by the University of Málaga under its program for projects led by young researchers (I Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia; B1-2021_24). A. Picornell was supported by a postdoctoral grant financed by the Ministry of Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowledge and Universities of the Junta de Andalucía (POSTDOC_21_00056). We acknowledge the E-OBS dataset from the EU-FP6 project UERRA (http://www.uerra.eu) and the Copernicus Climate Change Service, and the data providers in the ECA&D project (https://www.ecad.eu)

The multichord stellar occultation by the centaur Bienor on January 11, 2019

Full list of authors: Fernández-Valenzuela, E.; Morales, N.; Vara-Lubiano, M.; Ortiz, J. L.; Benedetti-Rossi, G.; Sicardy, B.; Kretlow, M.; Santos-Sanz, P.; Morgado, B.; Souami, D.; Organero, F.; Ana, L.; Fonseca, F.; Román, A.; Alonso, S.; Gonçalves, R.; Ferreira, M.; Iglesias-Marzoa, R.; Lamadrid, J. L.; Alvarez-Candal, A.; Assafin, M.; Braga-Ribas, F.; Camargo, J. I. B.; Colas, F.; Desmars, J.; Duffard, R.; Lecacheux, J.; Gomes-Júnior, A. R.; Rommel, F. L.; Vieira-Martins, R.; Pereira, C. L.; Casanova, V.; Selva, A.; Perelló, C.; Mottola, S.; Hellmich, S.; Maestre, J. L.; Castro-Tirado, A. J.; Pal, A.; Trigo-Rodriguez, J. M.; Beisker, W.; Laporta, A.; Garcés, M.; Escaned, L.; Bretton, M.-- This is an Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Within our program of physical characterization of trans-Neptunian objects and centaurs, we predicted a stellar occultation by the centaur (54598) Bienor to occur on January 11, 2019, with good observability potential. We obtained high accuracy astrometric data to refine the prediction, resulting in a shadow path favorable for the Iberian Peninsula. This encouraged us to carry out an occultation observation campaign that resulted in five positive detections from four observing sites. This is the fourth centaur for which a multichord (more than two chords) stellar occultation has been observed so far, the other three being (2060) Chiron, (10199) Chariklo, and (95626) 2002 GZ32. From the analysis of the occultation chords, combined with the rotational light curve obtained shortly after the occultation, we determined that Bienor has an area-equivalent diameter of 150 ± 20 km. This diameter is ~30 km smaller than the one obtained from thermal measurements. The position angle of the short axis of the best fitting ellipse obtained through the analysis of the stellar occultation does not match that of the spin axis derived from long-term photometric models. We also detected a strong irregularity in one of the minima of the rotational light curve that is present no matter the aspect angle at which the observations were done. We present different scenarios to reconcile the results from the different techniques. We did not detect secondary drops related to potential rings or satellites. Nonetheless, similar rings in size to that of Chariklo's cannot be discarded due to low data accuracy. © The Authors 2023.The work leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Community’s H2020 2014-2021 ERC Grant Agreement no. 669416 “Lucky Star”. E.F.-V. acknowledges financial support by the Space Research Initiative from State of Florida. P.S.-S. acknowledges financial support by the Spanish grant AYA-RTI2018-098657-J-I00 “LEO-SBNAF” (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE). A.P. acknowledges financial support of the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH) Grant K-138962. G.B.-R. acknowledges CAPES-PRINT/UNESP Process 88887.310463/2018-00, Project 88887.571156/2020-00. M.A. acknowledges financial support from CNPq grants with numbers 427700/2018-3,310683/2017-3,473002/2013-2, and FAPERJ grant no. E-26/111.488/2013. F.B.-R. acknowledges financial support from CNPq grant n° 314772/2020-0. J.I.B.C. acknowledges financial support from CNPq grants with numbers 308150/2016-3 and 305917/2019-6. R.V.-M. acknowledges financial support from CNPq grants with numbers 304544/2017-5, and 401903/2016-8. B.M. acknowledges financial support from CNPq grant no. 150612/2020-6. A.R.-G.-J. acknowledges financial support from FAPESP grant no. 2018/11239-8. J.M.T.-R. research was supported by the research Grant No. PGC2018-097374-B-I00, which is funded by FEDER/Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Agencia Estatal de Investigación. This study was partly financed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001 and the National Institute of Science and Technology of the e-Universe project (INCT do e-Universo, CNPq grant 465376/2014-2). We acknowledge financial support by the Spanish grant AYA-2017-84637-R, and the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the “Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa” award to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709)”. This research has been partially funded by the Junta de Andalucía PY20_01309 and Agencia Estatal de Investigatión PID2020-112789GB-I00 projects. This research is partially based on observations collected at the Centro Astronómico Hispano-Alemán (CAHA) at Calar Alto, operated jointly by Junta de Andalucía and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IAA-CSIC). This research is partially based on observation carried out at the Observatorio de Sierra Nevada (OSN) operated by Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC) and the Excalibur telescope at the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre in Teruel, a Spanish Infraestructura Cientifico-Técnica Singular (ICTS) owned, managed and operated by the Centro de Estudios de Física del Cosmos de Aragón (CEFCA). Excalibur is funded with the Fondos de Inversiones de Teruel (FITE). This worked was partially carried out with observations from the Joan Oró Telescope (TJO) of the Montsec Observatory (OdM), which is owned by the Catalan Government and operated by the Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC).With funding from the Spanish government through the "Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence" accreditation (CEX2021-001131-S).Peer reviewe

Higher airborne pollen concentrations correlated with increased SARS-CoV-2 infection rates, as evidenced from 31 countries across the globe

Pollen exposure weakens the immunity against certain seasonal respiratory viruses by diminishing the antiviral interferon response. Here we investigate whether the same applies to the pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is sensitive to antiviral interferons, if infection waves coincide with high airborne pollen concentrations. Our original hypothesis was that more airborne pollen would lead to increases in infection rates. To examine this, we performed a cross-sectional and longitudinal data analysis on SARS-CoV-2 infection, airborne pollen, and meteorological factors. Our dataset is the most comprehensive, largest possible worldwide from 130 stations, across 31 countries and five continents. To explicitly investigate the effects of social contact, we additionally considered population density of each study area, as well as lockdown effects, in all possible combinations: without any lockdown, with mixed lockdown−no lockdown regime, and under complete lockdown. We found that airborne pollen, sometimes in synergy with humidity and temperature, explained, on average, 44% of the infection rate variability. Infection rates increased after higher pollen concentrations most frequently during the four previous days. Without lockdown, an increase of pollen abundance by 100 pollen/m3 resulted in a 4% average increase of infection rates. Lockdown halved infection rates under similar pollen concentrations. As there can be no preventive measures against airborne pollen exposure, we suggest wide dissemination of pollen−virus coexposure dire effect information to encourage high-risk individuals to wear particle filter masks during high springtime pollen concentrations

Anti-tumour necrosis factor discontinuation in inflammatory bowel disease patients in remission: study protocol of a prospective, multicentre, randomized clinical trial

Background: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease who achieve remission with anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drugs may have treatment withdrawn due to safety concerns and cost considerations, but there is a lack of prospective, controlled data investigating this strategy. The primary study aim is to compare the rates of clinical remission at 1?year in patients who discontinue anti-TNF treatment versus those who continue treatment. Methods: This is an ongoing, prospective, double-blind, multicentre, randomized, placebo-controlled study in patients with Crohn?s disease or ulcerative colitis who have achieved clinical remission for ?6?months with an anti-TNF treatment and an immunosuppressant. Patients are being randomized 1:1 to discontinue anti-TNF therapy or continue therapy. Randomization stratifies patients by the type of inflammatory bowel disease and drug (infliximab versus adalimumab) at study inclusion. The primary endpoint of the study is sustained clinical remission at 1?year. Other endpoints include endoscopic and radiological activity, patient-reported outcomes (quality of life, work productivity), safety and predictive factors for relapse. The required sample size is 194 patients. In addition to the main analysis (discontinuation versus continuation), subanalyses will include stratification by type of inflammatory bowel disease, phenotype and previous treatment. Biological samples will be obtained to identify factors predictive of relapse after treatment withdrawal. Results: Enrolment began in 2016, and the study is expected to end in 2020. Conclusions: This study will contribute prospective, controlled data on outcomes and predictors of relapse in patients with inflammatory bowel disease after withdrawal of anti-TNF agents following achievement of clinical remission. Clinical trial reference number: EudraCT 2015-001410-1

HTLV-1 infection in solid organ transplant donors and recipients in Spain

HTLV-1 infection is a neglected disease, despite infecting 10-15 million people worldwide and severe illnesses develop in 10% of carriers lifelong. Acknowledging a greater risk for developing HTLV-1 associated illnesses due to immunosuppression, screening is being widely considered in the transplantation setting. Herein, we report the experience with universal HTLV testing of donors and recipients of solid organ transplants in a survey conducted in Spain. All hospitals belonging to the Spanish HTLV network were invited to participate in the study. Briefly, HTLV antibody screening was performed retrospectively in all specimens collected from solid organ donors and recipients attended since the year 2008. A total of 5751 individuals were tested for HTLV antibodies at 8 sites. Donors represented 2312 (42.2%), of whom 17 (0.3%) were living kidney donors. The remaining 3439 (59.8%) were recipients. Spaniards represented nearly 80%. Overall, 9 individuals (0.16%) were initially reactive for HTLV antibodies. Six were donors and 3 were recipients. Using confirmatory tests, HTLV-1 could be confirmed in only two donors, one Spaniard and another from Colombia. Both kidneys of the Spaniard were inadvertently transplanted. Subacute myelopathy developed within 1 year in one recipient. The second recipient seroconverted for HTLV-1 but the kidney had to be removed soon due to rejection. Immunosuppression was stopped and 3 years later the patient remains in dialysis but otherwise asymptomatic. The rate of HTLV-1 is low but not negligible in donors/recipients of solid organ transplants in Spain. Universal HTLV screening should be recommended in all donor and recipients of solid organ transplantation in Spain. Evidence is overwhelming for very high virus transmission and increased risk along with the rapid development of subacute myelopathy

Diverse Large HIV-1 Non-subtype B Clusters Are Spreading Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in Spain

In Western Europe, the HIV-1 epidemic among men who have sex with men (MSM) is dominated by subtype B. However, recently, other genetic forms have been reported to circulate in this population, as evidenced by their grouping in clusters predominantly comprising European individuals. Here we describe four large HIV-1 non-subtype B clusters spreading among MSM in Spain. Samples were collected in 9 regions. A pol fragment was amplified from plasma RNA or blood-extracted DNA. Phylogenetic analyses were performed via maximum likelihood, including database sequences of the same genetic forms as the identified clusters. Times and locations of the most recent common ancestors (MRCA) of clusters were estimated with a Bayesian method. Five large non-subtype B clusters associated with MSM were identified. The largest one, of F1 subtype, was reported previously. The other four were of CRF02_AG (CRF02_1; n = 115) and subtypes A1 (A1_1; n = 66), F1 (F1_3; n = 36), and C (C_7; n = 17). Most individuals belonging to them had been diagnosed of HIV-1 infection in the last 10 years. Each cluster comprised viruses from 3 to 8 Spanish regions and also comprised or was related to viruses from other countries: CRF02_1 comprised a Japanese subcluster and viruses from 8 other countries from Western Europe, Asia, and South America; A1_1 comprised viruses from Portugal, United Kingom, and United States, and was related to the A1 strain circulating in Greece, Albania and Cyprus; F1_3 was related to viruses from Romania; and C_7 comprised viruses from Portugal and was related to a virus from Mozambique. A subcluster within CRF02_1 was associated with heterosexual transmission. Near full-length genomes of each cluster were of uniform genetic form. Times of MRCAs of CRF02_1, A1_1, F1_3, and C_7 were estimated around 1986, 1989, 2013, and 1983, respectively. MRCA locations for CRF02_1 and A1_1 were uncertain (however initial expansions in Spain in Madrid and Vigo, respectively, were estimated) and were most probable in Bilbao, Spain, for F1_3 and Portugal for C_7. These results show that the HIV-1 epidemic among MSM in Spain is becoming increasingly diverse through the expansion of diverse non-subtype B clusters, comprising or related to viruses circulating in other countries