Outcomes from elective colorectal cancer surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Thyrotoxicosis following SARS-COV-2 vaccination: a case series and discussion

Aim To describe a case series of thyrotoxicosis likely triggered by SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and to warn physicians about this potential correlation. To report clinical, laboratory and imaging fndings and provide further information that goes in line with the underlying mechanisms. Methods Single-center case series based on all the information collected in the hospital medical records, as well as the temporal sequence between the onset of symptoms and COVID-19 vaccination. Results We report 8 cases with thyrotoxicosis after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. 4 cases of Graves’ disease (GD), 2 cases of subacute painful thyroiditis (SAT), 1 case of concurrent GD and SAT and 1 case of atypical subacute thyroiditis. Five patients received BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine, 3 patients 1273 mRNA vaccine. The onset of symptoms following vaccination ranged from 10 to 14 days in six of eight patients and from 7 to 8 weeks in two patients. Conclusions Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the potential correlation between SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and thyrotoxicosis, including immune system hyper-stimulation, molecular mimicry and Autoimmune/Autoinfammatory Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants (ASIA). We should pay greater attention to thyroid disorders in patients receiving vaccine against SARS-CoV-2

Trade-offs between seed and leaf size (seed–phytomer–leaf theory) : functional glue linking regenerative with life history strategies … and taxonomy with ecology?

Background and Aims: While the ‘worldwide leaf economics spectrum’ (Wright IJ, Reich PB, Westoby M, et al. 2004. The worldwide leaf economics spectrum. Nature428: 821–827) defines mineral nutrient relationships in plants, no unifying functional consensus links size attributes. Here, the focus is upon leaf size, a much-studied plant trait that scales positively with habitat quality and components of plant size. The objective is to show that this wide range of relationships is explicable in terms of a seed–phytomer–leaf (SPL) theoretical model defining leaf size in terms of trade-offs involving the size, growth rate and number of the building blocks (phytomers) of which the young shoot is constructed. Methods: Functional data for 2400+ species and English and Spanish vegetation surveys were used to explore interrelationships between leaf area, leaf width, canopy height, seed mass and leaf dry matter content (LDMC). Key Results: Leaf area was a consistent function of canopy height, LDMC and seed mass. Additionally, size traits are partially uncoupled. First, broad laminas help confer competitive exclusion while morphologically large leaves can, through dissection, be functionally small. Secondly, leaf size scales positively with plant size but many of the largest-leaved species are of medium height with basally supported leaves. Thirdly, photosynthetic stems may represent a functionally viable alternative to ‘small seeds + large leaves’ in disturbed, fertile habitats and ‘large seeds + small leaves’ in infertile ones. Conclusions: Although key elements defining the juvenile growth phase remain unmeasured, our results broadly support SPL theory in that phytometer and leaf size are a product of the size of the initial shoot meristem (≅ seed mass) and the duration and quality of juvenile growth. These allometrically constrained traits combine to confer ecological specialization on individual species. Equally, they appear conservatively expressed within major taxa. Thus, ‘evolutionary canalization’ sensu Stebbins (Stebbins GL. 1974. Flowering plants: evolution above the species level. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press) is perhaps associated with both seed and leaf development, and major taxa appear routinely specialized with respect to ecologically important size-related traits

Is leaf dry matter content a better predictor of soil fertility than specific leaf area?

Background and Aims: Specific leaf area (SLA), a key element of the ‘worldwide leaf economics spectrum’, is the preferred ‘soft’ plant trait for assessing soil fertility. SLA is a function of leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and leaf thickness (LT). The first, LDMC, defines leaf construction costs and can be used instead of SLA. However, LT identifies shade at its lowest extreme and succulence at its highest, and is not related to soil fertility. Why then is SLA more frequently used as a predictor of soil fertility than LDMC? Methods: SLA, LDMC and LT were measured and leaf density (LD) estimated for almost 2000 species, and the capacity of LD to predict LDMC was examined, as was the relative contribution of LDMC and LT to the expression of SLA. Subsequently, the relationships between SLA, LDMC and LT with respect to soil fertility and shade were described. Key Results: Although LD is strongly related to LDMC, and LDMC and LT each contribute equally to the expression of SLA, the exact relationships differ between ecological groupings. LDMC predicts leaf nitrogen content and soil fertility but, because LT primarily varies with light intensity, SLA increases in response to both increased shade and increased fertility. Conclusions: Gradients of soil fertility are frequently also gradients of biomass accumulation with reduced irradiance lower in the canopy. Therefore, SLA, which includes both fertility and shade components, may often discriminate better between communities or treatments than LDMC. However, LDMC should always be the preferred trait for assessing gradients of soil fertility uncoupled from shade. Nevertheless, because leaves multitask, individual leaf traits do not necessarily exhibit exact functional equivalence between species. In consequence, rather than using a single stand-alone predictor, multivariate analyses using several leaf traits is recommended.A considerable quantity of the data used in this project was collected during projects funded by NERC (UK) and Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (Spain).Peer Reviewe

Bioindicators, Monitoring, and Management Using Mediterranean Seagrasses: What Have We Learned from the Implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive?

Seagrasses are flowering plants that inhabit coastal and transitional waters. They colonize sedimentary seabeds (and to a lesser extent rocky substrates) and present unique adaptations to the marine environment. Seagrasses are especially sensitive to environmental deterioration and live in a world that is particularly threatened by human activity. The response of the plants and their associated communities to disturbances is relatively well known. This has facilitated the development of a large number of seagrass bioindicators based on biochemical, physiological, morphological, structural, demographic, and community measures, especially after the deployment of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) and to a lesser extent the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Bioindicators are at the interface between science and policy. In order for their use by managers for different purposes (monitoring, water quality assessment, long-term changes, etc.) to be robust and consistent, a clear definition of management goals is needed. The development of bioindicators must also be based on careful evaluation together with rigorous and transparent selection processes to ensure their scientific credibility. Here, we present bioindicator indices based on seagrasses that were developed with the context of the implementation of the WFD in Catalonia, NE Spain, to assess the ecological status of coastal and transitional water bodies. Ecological status includes aspects concerning both the quality of the biological community and the hydrological and chemical characteristics of the environment. For this reason, and to develop a WFD-compliant system for ecological status assessment based on Mediterranean seagrasses, we used multivariate techniques to combine different bioindicators, gathered from different levels within the biological organization, into single biotic indices (POMI and CYMOX, based on the species Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa, respectively). We report how this was achieved and how the robustness and reliability of those indices were assessed through correlation with human pressures, uncertainty analysis, and intercalibration. Finally, besides their applicability, we discuss their shortcomings and what we, as seagrass biologists, have learned overall from responding to the challenges posed by the WFD and specifically by the part dealing with seagrasses.Peer reviewe

The REDTOP experiment: Rare η/η′\eta/\eta^{\prime} Decays To Probe New Physics

The $\eta$ and $\eta^{\prime}$ mesons are nearly unique in the particle universe since they are almost Goldstone bosons and the dynamics of their decays are strongly constrained. The integrated $\eta$-meson samples collected in earlier experiments amount to $\sim10^{9}$ events. A new experiment, REDTOP (Rare Eta Decays To Probe New Physics), is being proposed, with the intent of collecting a data sample of order 10$^{14}$ $\eta$ (10$^{12}$ $\eta^{\prime}$) for studying very rare decays. Such statistics are sufficient for investigating several symmetry violations, and for searching for particles and fields beyond the Standard Model. In this work we present several studies evaluating REDTOP sensitivity to processes that couple the Standard Model to New Physics through all four of the so-called \emph{portals}: the Vector, the Scalar, the Axion and the Heavy Lepton portal. The sensitivity of the experiment is also adequate for probing several conservation laws, in particular $CP$, $T$ and Lepton Universality, and for the determination of the $\eta$ form factors, which is crucial for the interpretation of the recent measurement of muon $g-2$

The REDTOP experiment: Rare η/η′\eta/\eta^{\prime} Decays To Probe New Physics

International audienceThe $\eta$ and $\eta^{\prime}$ mesons are nearly unique in the particle universe since they are almost Goldstone bosons and the dynamics of their decays are strongly constrained. The integrated $\eta$-meson samples collected in earlier experiments amount to $\sim10^{9}$ events. A new experiment, REDTOP (Rare Eta Decays To Probe New Physics), is being proposed, with the intent of collecting a data sample of order 10$^{14}$ $\eta$ (10$^{12}$ $\eta^{\prime}$) for studying very rare decays. Such statistics are sufficient for investigating several symmetry violations, and for searching for particles and fields beyond the Standard Model. In this work we present several studies evaluating REDTOP sensitivity to processes that couple the Standard Model to New Physics through all four of the so-called \emph{portals}: the Vector, the Scalar, the Axion and the Heavy Lepton portal. The sensitivity of the experiment is also adequate for probing several conservation laws, in particular $CP$, $T$ and Lepton Universality, and for the determination of the $\eta$ form factors, which is crucial for the interpretation of the recent measurement of muon $g-2$

The REDTOP experiment: Rare η/η′\eta/\eta^{\prime} Decays To Probe New Physics

The $\eta$ and $\eta^{\prime}$ mesons are nearly unique in the particle universe since they are almost Goldstone bosons and the dynamics of their decays are strongly constrained. The integrated $\eta$-meson samples collected in earlier experiments amount to $\sim10^{9}$ events. A new experiment, REDTOP (Rare Eta Decays To Probe New Physics), is being proposed, with the intent of collecting a data sample of order 10$^{14}$ $\eta$ (10$^{12}$ $\eta^{\prime}$) for studying very rare decays. Such statistics are sufficient for investigating several symmetry violations, and for searching for particles and fields beyond the Standard Model. In this work we present several studies evaluating REDTOP sensitivity to processes that couple the Standard Model to New Physics through all four of the so-called \emph{portals}: the Vector, the Scalar, the Axion and the Heavy Lepton portal. The sensitivity of the experiment is also adequate for probing several conservation laws, in particular $CP$, $T$ and Lepton Universality, and for the determination of the $\eta$ form factors, which is crucial for the interpretation of the recent measurement of muon $g-2$