Earlier flowering of Betula pendula Roth in Augsburg, Germany, due to higher temperature, NO2 and urbanity, and relationship with Betula spp. pollen season

Flowering and pollen seasons are sensitive to environmental variability and are considered climate change indicators. However, it has not been concluded to what extent flowering phenology is indeed reflected in airborne pollen season locally. The aim of this study was to investigate, for the commonly represented in temperate climates and with highly allergenic pollen Betula pendula Roth, the responsiveness of flowering to different environmental regimes and also to check for commensurate changes in the respective pollen seasons. The region of Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany, was initially screened for birch trees, which were geolocated at a radius of 25 km. Random trees across the city were then investigated during three full flowering years, 2015–2017. Flowering observations were made 3–7 times a week, from flower differentiation to flower desiccation, in a total of 43 plant individuals. Data were regressed against meteorological parameters and air pollutant levels in an attempt to identify the driving factors of flowering onset and offset. Flowering dates were compared with dates of the related airborne pollen seasons per taxon; airborne pollen monitoring took place daily using a Hirst-type volumetric sampler. The salient finding was that flowering occurred earlier during warmer years; it also started earlier at locations with higher urbanity, and peaked and ended earlier at sites with higher NO(2) concentrations. Airborne pollen season of Betula spp. frequently did not coincide locally with the flowering period of Betula pendula: while flowering and pollen season were synchronized particularly in their onset, local flowering phenology alone could explain only 57.3% of the pollen season variability. This raises questions about the relationship between flowering times and airborne pollen seasons and on the rather underestimated role of the long-distance transport of pollen

Canagliflozin and renal outcomes in type 2 diabetes and nephropathy

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide, but few effective long-term treatments are available. In cardiovascular trials of inhibitors of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), exploratory results have suggested that such drugs may improve renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized trial, we assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease to receive canagliflozin, an oral SGLT2 inhibitor, at a dose of 100 mg daily or placebo. All the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 30 to <90 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 of body-surface area and albuminuria (ratio of albumin [mg] to creatinine [g], >300 to 5000) and were treated with renin–angiotensin system blockade. The primary outcome was a composite of end-stage kidney disease (dialysis, transplantation, or a sustained estimated GFR of <15 ml per minute per 1.73 m2), a doubling of the serum creatinine level, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes. Prespecified secondary outcomes were tested hierarchically. RESULTS The trial was stopped early after a planned interim analysis on the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee. At that time, 4401 patients had undergone randomization, with a median follow-up of 2.62 years. The relative risk of the primary outcome was 30% lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group, with event rates of 43.2 and 61.2 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.82; P=0.00001). The relative risk of the renal-specific composite of end-stage kidney disease, a doubling of the creatinine level, or death from renal causes was lower by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81; P<0.001), and the relative risk of end-stage kidney disease was lower by 32% (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.86; P=0.002). The canagliflozin group also had a lower risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P=0.01) and hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80; P<0.001). There were no significant differences in rates of amputation or fracture. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular events was lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group at a median follow-up of 2.62 years

How Successful Is Transfer Learning for Detecting Anorexia on Social Media?

Anorexia is a mental disorder that involves serious abnormalities in nutritional intake behavior. This behavior leads to significant weight loss, which can lead to severe malnutrition. Specifically, eating disorders exhibit the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. Early identification of anorexia, along with appropriate treatment, improves the speed of recovery in patients. Presently there is a strong and consistent association between social media use and eating concerns. Natural Language Processing, a branch of artificial intelligence, has the potential to contribute towards early anorexia detection in textual data. Currently, there is still a long way to go in the identification of anorexia on social media due to the low number of texts available and in fact, most of these are focused on the treatment of English texts. The main contribution of this paper is the application of transfer learning techniques using Transformer-based models for detecting anorexia in tweets written in Spanish. In particular, we compare the performance between already available multilingual and monolingual models, and we conduct an error analysis to understand the capabilities of these models for Spanish

How Successful Is Transfer Learning for Detecting Anorexia on Social Media?

Anorexia is a mental disorder that involves serious abnormalities in nutritional intake behavior. This behavior leads to significant weight loss, which can lead to severe malnutrition. Specifically, eating disorders exhibit the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. Early identification of anorexia, along with appropriate treatment, improves the speed of recovery in patients. Presently there is a strong and consistent association between social media use and eating concerns. Natural Language Processing, a branch of artificial intelligence, has the potential to contribute towards early anorexia detection in textual data. Currently, there is still a long way to go in the identification of anorexia on social media due to the low number of texts available and in fact, most of these are focused on the treatment of English texts. The main contribution of this paper is the application of transfer learning techniques using Transformer-based models for detecting anorexia in tweets written in Spanish. In particular, we compare the performance between already available multilingual and monolingual models, and we conduct an error analysis to understand the capabilities of these models for Spanish

Técnica DHS mínimamente invasiva: menor tiempo quirúrgico con similares resultados en el postoperatorio inmediato respecto al DHS convencional. Estudio retrospectivo de cohortes / Minimally invasive dynamic hip screw technique: shorter surgical time with similar post-surgical results compared to conventional DHS technique. A retrospective cohort study

Objetivos: El tratamiento de fracturas pertrocantéreas con DHS mediante técnica mínimamente invasiva (MIDHS) ha mostrado resultados superiores a la técnica convencional (CDHS) en estudios previos. El presente estudio pretende determinar si existen diferencias en requerimientos transfusionales, morbilidad, estancia hospitalaria y en el coste asociado, a partir de un análisis retrospectivo de 2 cohortes. Material y método: Estudio de cohortes en 80 pacientes con fracturas intertrocantéreas de fémur (31-A1 y 31-A2.1) tratados con implante DHS entre julio de 2005 y septiembre de 2007: 40 de ellos con la técnica convencional y 40 de ellos con técnica MIDHS. Resultados: No se observaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas ni en la pérdida sanguínea, ni en requerimientos transfusionales, ni en morbilidad. La estancia hospitalaria en el grupo MIDHS fue 1,3 días menor, con un coste directo de 3,063 por caso, inferior al grupo CDHS, aunque sin significación estadística (p = 0,3). La duración de la intervención fue menor en el grupo MIDHS: 49,3 versus 78,8 min (p = 0,0001). Discusión: Contrariamente a lo publicado en estudios previos, en el presente estudio la técnica MIDHS no ha mostrado ventajas excepto por requerir un menor tiempo para realizar la técnica. Consideramos que la técnica MIDHS podría ayudar en mejorar la productividad y eficiencia en el uso de quirófano

Técnica DHS mínimamente invasiva: menor tiempo quirúrgico con similares resultados en el postoperatorio inmediato respecto al DHS convencional. Estudio retrospectivo de cohortes / Minimally invasive dynamic hip screw technique: shorter surgical time with similar post-surgical results compared to conventional DHS technique. A retrospective cohort study

Objetivos: El tratamiento de fracturas pertrocantéreas con DHS mediante técnica mínimamente invasiva (MIDHS) ha mostrado resultados superiores a la técnica convencional (CDHS) en estudios previos. El presente estudio pretende determinar si existen diferencias en requerimientos transfusionales, morbilidad, estancia hospitalaria y en el coste asociado, a partir de un análisis retrospectivo de 2 cohortes. Material y método: Estudio de cohortes en 80 pacientes con fracturas intertrocantéreas de fémur (31-A1 y 31-A2.1) tratados con implante DHS entre julio de 2005 y septiembre de 2007: 40 de ellos con la técnica convencional y 40 de ellos con técnica MIDHS. Resultados: No se observaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas ni en la pérdida sanguínea, ni en requerimientos transfusionales, ni en morbilidad. La estancia hospitalaria en el grupo MIDHS fue 1,3 días menor, con un coste directo de 3,063 por caso, inferior al grupo CDHS, aunque sin significación estadística (p = 0,3). La duración de la intervención fue menor en el grupo MIDHS: 49,3 versus 78,8 min (p = 0,0001). Discusión: Contrariamente a lo publicado en estudios previos, en el presente estudio la técnica MIDHS no ha mostrado ventajas excepto por requerir un menor tiempo para realizar la técnica. Consideramos que la técnica MIDHS podría ayudar en mejorar la productividad y eficiencia en el uso de quirófano

Monkeypox virus genomic accordion strategies

The 2023 monkeypox (mpox) epidemic was caused by a subclade IIb descendant of a monkeypox virus (MPXV) lineage traced back to Nigeria in 1971. Person-to-person transmission appears higher than for clade I or subclade IIa MPXV, possibly caused by genomic changes in subclade IIb MPXV. Key genomic changes could occur in the genome's low-complexity regions (LCRs), which are challenging to sequence and are often dismissed as uninformative. Here, using a combination of highly sensitive techniques, we determine a high-quality MPXV genome sequence of a representative of the current epidemic with LCRs resolved at unprecedented accuracy. This reveals significant variation in short tandem repeats within LCRs. We demonstrate that LCR entropy in the MPXV genome is significantly higher than that of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and that LCRs are not randomly distributed. In silico analyses indicate that expression, translation, stability, or function of MPXV orthologous poxvirus genes (OPGs), including OPG153, OPG204, and OPG208, could be affected in a manner consistent with the established "genomic accordion" evolutionary strategies of orthopoxviruses. We posit that genomic studies focusing on phenotypic MPXV differences should consider LCR variability.We would like to thank the work of the Rapid Response Unit of the National Center for Microbiology, especially MªJosé Buitrago, and Cristobal Belda, ISCIII General Director. We also thank Anya Crane (Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health) for critically editing the manuscript and Jiro Wada (Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health) for helping with figure preparation. The work for this study performed at Instituto de Salud Carlos III was partially funded by Acción Estratégica “Impacto clínico y microbiológico del brote por el virus de la viruela del mono en pacientes en España (2022): proyecto multicéntrico MONKPOX-ESP22” (CIBERINFEC) (M.P.S.S.). The work for this study done at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Department of Microbiology as part of Global Health Emerging Pathogen Institute activities was funded by institutional funds (G.P.) from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Department of Microbiology in support of Global Health Emerging Pathogen Institute activities. This work was also supported in part through Laulima Govern ment Solutions, LLC, prime contract with the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. J.H.K. performed this work as an employee of Tunnell Government Services (TGS), a subcontractor of Laulima Government Solutions, LLC, under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the U.S. Army. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or of the institutions and companies affiliated with the authors, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.S