Denial of long-term issues with agriculture on tropical peatlands will have devastating consequences

Non peer reviewe

A cluster of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis among patients arriving in Europe from the Horn of Africa: a molecular epidemiological study

SummaryBackground The risk of tuberculosis outbreaks among people fleeing hardship for refuge in Europe is heightened. We describe the cross-border European response to an outbreak of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis among patients from the Horn of Africa and Sudan. Methods On April 29 and May 30, 2016, the Swiss and German National Mycobacterial Reference Laboratories independently triggered an outbreak investigation after four patients were diagnosed with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. In this molecular epidemiological study, we prospectively defined outbreak cases with 24-locus mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable number tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR) profiles; phenotypic resistance to isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, pyrazinamide, and capreomycin; and corresponding drug resistance mutations. We whole-genome sequenced all Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates and clustered them using a threshold of five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We collated epidemiological data from host countries from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Findings Between Feb 12, 2016, and April 19, 2017, 29 patients were diagnosed with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in seven European countries. All originated from the Horn of Africa or Sudan, with all isolates two SNPs or fewer apart. 22 (76%) patients reported their travel routes, with clear spatiotemporal overlap between routes. We identified a further 29 MIRU-VNTR-linked cases from the Horn of Africa that predated the outbreak, but all were more than five SNPs from the outbreak. However all 58 isolates shared a capreomycin resistance-associated tlyA mutation. Interpretation Our data suggest that source cases are linked to an M tuberculosis clone circulating in northern Somalia or Djibouti and that transmission probably occurred en route before arrival in Europe. We hypothesise that the shared mutation of tlyA is a drug resistance mutation and phylogenetic marker, the first of its kind in M tuberculosis sensu stricto. Funding The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, the University of Zurich, the Wellcome Trust, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), the Medical Research Council, BELTA-TBnet, the European Union, the German Center for Infection Research, and Leibniz Science Campus Evolutionary Medicine of the Lung (EvoLUNG)

A comprehensive quantification of global nitrous oxide sources and sinks

Nitrous oxide (N2O), like carbon dioxide, is a long-lived greenhouse gas that accumulates in the atmosphere. Over the past 150 years, increasing atmospheric N2O concentrations have contributed to stratospheric ozone depletion1 and climate change2, with the current rate of increase estimated at 2 per cent per decade. Existing national inventories do not provide a full picture of N2O emissions, owing to their omission of natural sources and limitations in methodology for attributing anthropogenic sources. Here we present a global N2O inventory that incorporates both natural and anthropogenic sources and accounts for the interaction between nitrogen additions and the biochemical processes that control N2O emissions. We use bottom-up (inventory, statistical extrapolation of flux measurements, process-based land and ocean modelling) and top-down (atmospheric inversion) approaches to provide a comprehensive quantification of global N2O sources and sinks resulting from 21 natural and human sectors between 1980 and 2016. Global N2O emissions were 17.0 (minimum–maximum estimates: 12.2–23.5) teragrams of nitrogen per year (bottom-up) and 16.9 (15.9–17.7) teragrams of nitrogen per year (top-down) between 2007 and 2016. Global human-induced emissions, which are dominated by nitrogen additions to croplands, increased by 30% over the past four decades to 7.3 (4.2–11.4) teragrams of nitrogen per year. This increase was mainly responsible for the growth in the atmospheric burden. Our findings point to growing N2O emissions in emerging economies—particularly Brazil, China and India. Analysis of process-based model estimates reveals an emerging N2O–climate feedback resulting from interactions between nitrogen additions and climate change. The recent growth in N2O emissions exceeds some of the highest projected emission scenarios3,4, underscoring the urgency to mitigate N2O emissions

Geographical and temporal distribution of SARS-CoV-2 clades in the WHO European Region, January to June 2020

We show the distribution of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) genetic clades over time and between countries and outline potential genomic surveillance objectives. We applied three genomic nomenclature systems to all sequence data from the World Health Organization European Region available until 10 July 2020. We highlight the importance of real-time sequencing and data dissemination in a pandemic situation, compare the nomenclatures and lay a foundation for future European genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2

Solving Go for Rectangular Boards

In 2003, the solution for the 5×5 Go board was published in this journal. The current article presents the game-theoretic values for rectangular boards up to a surface of 30 intersections under Chinese rules. The result was achieved by improving the αβ-based solver MIGOS. Moreover, the article identifies errors in published human solutions by comparing them with our computer solutions

Solving Go On Small Boards

This article presents a search-based approach of solving Go on small boards. A dedicated heuristic evaluation function combined with the static recognition of unconditional territory is used in an alpha-beta framework with several domain-dependent and domain-independent search enhancements. We present two variants of the GHI problem (caused by super-ko rules) with some possible solutions. Our program, MIGOS, solves all small empty square boards up to 55 and can be applied to any enclosed problem of similar size

Metformin in non-Diabetic Patients Presenting with ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction: Rationale and Design of the Glycometabolic Intervention as Adjunct to Primary Percutaneous Intervention in ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (GIPS)-III Trial

Left ventricular dysfunction and the development of heart failure is a frequent and serious complication of myocardial infarction. Recent animal experimental studies suggested that metformin treatment reduces myocardial injury and preserves cardiac function in non-diabetic rats after experimental myocardial infarction. We will study the efficacy of metformin with the aim to preserve left ventricular ejection fraction in non-diabetic patients presenting with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The Glycometabolic Intervention as adjunct to Primary percutaneous intervention in ST elevation myocardial infarction (GIPS)-III trial is a prospective, single center, double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Three-hundred-and-fifty patients, without diabetes, requiring primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for STEMI will be randomized to metformin 500 mg twice daily or placebo treatment and will undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after 4 months. Major exclusion criteria were prior myocardial infarction and severe renal dysfunction. The primary efficacy parameter is left ventricular ejection fraction 4 months after randomization. Secondary and tertiary efficacy parameters include major adverse cardiac events, new onset diabetes and glycometabolic parameters, and echocardiographic diastolic function. Safety parameters include renal function deterioration and lactic acidosis. The GIPS-III trial will evaluate the efficacy of metformin treatment to preserve left ventricular ejection fraction in STEMI patients without diabetes