Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Is seed hydration memory dependent on climate? Testing this hypothesis with Mexican and Argentinian cacti species

Seed hydration memory has been observed in some cacti species, but it remains unclear how general thisprocess is. Our hypothesis is that hydration memory of cacti seeds depends on the environmentalconditions where the species occur. To test this we used seven species from the Argentinian Cordoba Mountains (mesic environment): Gymnocalycium capillense, Parodia mammulosa, Echinopsis candicans,Gymnocalycium bruchii, Gymnocalycium mostii, Gymnocalycium quehlianum and Gymnocalycium monvillei,and two species from the Mexican Chihuahuan Desert (dry environment): Echinocactus platyacanthusand Ferocactus pilosus. Four hydration (hours)/dehydration (days) treatments were applied: T1 ¼ 24 h/5days, T2 ¼ 3 consecutive cycles of 24 h/5 days, T3 ¼ 72 h/5 days and T4 ¼ untreated seeds. The responsevariables were final seed germination (%) and mean germination time (t50). The two Mexican speciesresponded to at least one treatment by increasing their germination and decreasing their meangermination time. For the Argentinian species, only G. mostii increased its germination in T1 and T2 whilet50 was reduced in three species after hydration-dehydration treatments. For G. monvillei the shortestgermination time occurred in T2 and T3, and for G. capillense and G. quehlianum t50 was shortest in T3.Hydration memory seems more common in arid environments, but it is also present in more mesic ones.Fil: Contreras Quiroz, Mariana. Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo León; MéxicoFil: Pando Moreno, Marisela. Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo León; MéxicoFil: Jurado, Enrique. Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo León; MéxicoFil: Flores, Joel. Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica; MéxicoFil: Bauk, Karen. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Gurvich, Diego Ezequiel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; Argentin

Psicothema

Resumen tomado de la publicaciónTreinta años de la revista Psicothema: un análisis bibliométrico (1989-2018). Antecedentes: el estudio presenta un análisis bibliométrico de la revista Psicothema, como una forma de conmemorar sus 30 años de labor editorial (1989-2018). Método: partiendo de una muestra de 2.396 publicaciones, se realizó la descripción de sus características según el año, el sexo de los autores y el idioma de publicación; se evaluó la Ley de Lotka; se estimaron los índices (Lawani y Subramanyam) y redes de colaboración; se calculó el índice de Pratt y se describió la concentración de trabajos según áreas temáticas y métodos de investigación; y, considerando los artículos originales indizados en Web of Science (1993-2018), se obtuvieron indicadores de citación e impacto. Resultados: se encontró una mayor participación de autores hombres, el incremento de publicaciones en inglés, el cumplimiento de la Ley de Lotka y una mayor colaboración interinstitucional en las últimas décadas. Además, se encontró un mayor porcentaje de trabajos en Metodología-Psicometría y la mayoría de las publicaciones utilizaron métodos cuantitativos. Asimismo, se halló que el factor de impacto y la cantidad de citaciones obtuvieron sus valores más altos en el 2018. Conclusiones: se discuten las características de una revista que es un referente de la comunicación científica en psicología en el contexto internacional.ES

MOONS: The New Multi-Object Spectrograph for the VLT

International audienceMOONS is the new Multi-Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph currently under construction for the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at ESO. This remarkable instrument combines, for the first time, the collecting power of an 8-m telescope, 1000 fibres with individual robotic positioners, and both low- and high-resolution simultaneous spectral coverage across the 0.64–1.8 μm wavelength range. This facility will provide the astronomical community with a powerful, world-leading instrument able to serve a wide range of Galactic, extragalactic and cosmological studies. Construction is now proceeding full steam ahead and this overview article presents some of the science goals and the technical description of the MOONS instrument. More detailed information on the MOONS surveys is provided in the other dedicated articles in this Messenger issue

NEOTROPICAL ALIEN MAMMALS: a data set of occurrence and abundance of alien mammals in the Neotropics

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In this data set, we make available occurrence and abundance data on mammal species that (1) transposed a geographical barrier and (2) were voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into the Neotropics. Our data set is composed of 73,738 historical and current georeferenced records on alien mammal species of which around 96% correspond to occurrence data on 77 species belonging to eight orders and 26 families. Data cover 26 continental countries in the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico and its frontier regions (southern Florida and coastal-central Florida in the southeast United States) to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay, and the 13 countries of Caribbean islands. Our data set also includes neotropical species (e.g., Callithrix sp., Myocastor coypus, Nasua nasua) considered alien in particular areas of Neotropics. The most numerous species in terms of records are from Bos sp. (n = 37,782), Sus scrofa (n = 6,730), and Canis familiaris (n = 10,084); 17 species were represented by only one record (e.g., Syncerus caffer, Cervus timorensis, Cervus unicolor, Canis latrans). Primates have the highest number of species in the data set (n = 20 species), partly because of uncertainties regarding taxonomic identification of the genera Callithrix, which includes the species Callithrix aurita, Callithrix flaviceps, Callithrix geoffroyi, Callithrix jacchus, Callithrix kuhlii, Callithrix penicillata, and their hybrids. This unique data set will be a valuable source of information on invasion risk assessments, biodiversity redistribution and conservation-related research. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper when using the data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us on how they are using the data