A pan-European epidemiological study reveals honey bee colony survival depends on beekeeper education and disease control

Reports of honey bee population decline has spurred many national efforts to understand the extent of the problem and to identify causative or associated factors. However, our collective understanding of the factors has been hampered by a lack of joined up trans-national effort. Moreover, the impacts of beekeeper knowledge and beekeeping management practices have often been overlooked, despite honey bees being a managed pollinator. Here, we established a standardised active monitoring network for 5 798 apiaries over two consecutive years to quantify honey bee colony mortality across 17 European countries. Our data demonstrate that overwinter losses ranged between 2% and 32%, and that high summer losses were likely to follow high winter losses. Multivariate Poisson regression models revealed that hobbyist beekeepers with small apiaries and little experience in beekeeping had double the winter mortality rate when compared to professional beekeepers. Furthermore, honey bees kept by professional beekeepers never showed signs of disease, unlike apiaries from hobbyist beekeepers that had symptoms of bacterial infection and heavy Varroa infestation. Our data highlight beekeeper background and apicultural practices as major drivers of honey bee colony losses. The benefits of conducting trans-national monitoring schemes and improving beekeeper training are discussed

Natalizumab treatment shows low cumulative probabilities of confirmed disability worsening to EDSS milestones in the long-term setting.

Abstract Background Though the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) is commonly used to assess disability level in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), the criteria defining disability progression are used for patients with a wide range of baseline levels of disability in relatively short-term trials. As a result, not all EDSS changes carry the same weight in terms of future disability, and treatment benefits such as decreased risk of reaching particular disability milestones may not be reliably captured. The objectives of this analysis are to assess the probability of confirmed disability worsening to specific EDSS milestones (i.e., EDSS scores ≥3.0, ≥4.0, or ≥6.0) at 288 weeks in the Tysabri Observational Program (TOP) and to examine the impact of relapses occurring during natalizumab therapy in TOP patients who had received natalizumab for ≥24 months. Methods TOP is an ongoing, open-label, observational, prospective study of patients with RRMS in clinical practice. Enrolled patients were naive to natalizumab at treatment initiation or had received ≤3 doses at the time of enrollment. Intravenous natalizumab (300 mg) infusions were given every 4 weeks, and the EDSS was assessed at baseline and every 24 weeks during treatment. Results Of the 4161 patients enrolled in TOP with follow-up of at least 24 months, 3253 patients with available baseline EDSS scores had continued natalizumab treatment and 908 had discontinued (5.4% due to a reported lack of efficacy and 16.4% for other reasons) at the 24-month time point. Those who discontinued due to lack of efficacy had higher baseline EDSS scores (median 4.5 vs. 3.5), higher on-treatment relapse rates (0.82 vs. 0.23), and higher cumulative probabilities of EDSS worsening (16% vs. 9%) at 24 months than those completing therapy. Among 24-month completers, after approximately 5.5 years of natalizumab treatment, the cumulative probabilities of confirmed EDSS worsening by 1.0 and 2.0 points were 18.5% and 7.9%, respectively (24-week confirmation), and 13.5% and 5.3%, respectively (48-week confirmation). The risks of 24- and 48-week confirmed EDSS worsening were significantly higher in patients with on-treatment relapses than in those without relapses. An analysis of time to specific EDSS milestones showed that the probabilities of 48-week confirmed transition from EDSS scores of 0.0–2.0 to ≥3.0, 2.0–3.0 to ≥4.0, and 4.0–5.0 to ≥6.0 at week 288 in TOP were 11.1%, 11.8%, and 9.5%, respectively, with lower probabilities observed among patients without on-treatment relapses (8.1%, 8.4%, and 5.7%, respectively). Conclusions In TOP patients with a median (range) baseline EDSS score of 3.5 (0.0–9.5) who completed 24 months of natalizumab treatment, the rate of 48-week confirmed disability worsening events was below 15%; after approximately 5.5 years of natalizumab treatment, 86.5% and 94.7% of patients did not have EDSS score increases of ≥1.0 or ≥2.0 points, respectively. The presence of relapses was associated with higher rates of overall disability worsening. These results were confirmed by assessing transition to EDSS milestones. Lower rates of overall 48-week confirmed EDSS worsening and of transitioning from EDSS score 4.0–5.0 to ≥6.0 in the absence of relapses suggest that relapses remain a significant driver of disability worsening and that on-treatment relapses in natalizumab-treated patients are of prognostic importance

Imagerie thermique et changement d'échelle sur la Bassée : développements méthodologiques

International audienceLa caractérisation des propriétés thermiques des plaines alluviales à l'échelle régionale requiert une approche par étape. L'utilisation de données radiométriques infrarouge à l'aide d'un drone a permis d'établir un protocole de changement d'échelle pour l'inférence des propriétés thermiques du sol depuis l'échelle locale à celle de la parcelle. Ce protocole, dont la validation opérationnelle est toujours en cours, consiste d'une part à établir un processus d'interpolation à l'échelle de la parcelle (quelques hectares) de mesures de températures multi-profondeurs contraintes par les données radiométriques par drone, et d'autre part à aborder le problème inverse permettant d'estimer les propriétés thermiques du sol à partir des séries de températures multi-profondeurs. Les premiers résultats permettent d'une part d'illustrer l'intérêt du formalisme géostatistique pour l'interpolation sous contrainte et d'autre part d'évaluer dans quelle mesure la résolution du problème inverse pour les propriétés thermiques du sous-sol sont bien posées. Points clefs ✓ Traitement d'image de données radiométriques ✓ Co-krigeage et spatialisation de l'information thermique ✓ Analyse de sensibilité des propriétés thermique

Imagerie thermique et changement d'échelle sur la Bassée : développements méthodologiques

International audienceLa caractérisation des propriétés thermiques des plaines alluviales à l'échelle régionale requiert une approche par étape. L'utilisation de données radiométriques infrarouge à l'aide d'un drone a permis d'établir un protocole de changement d'échelle pour l'inférence des propriétés thermiques du sol depuis l'échelle locale à celle de la parcelle. Ce protocole, dont la validation opérationnelle est toujours en cours, consiste d'une part à établir un processus d'interpolation à l'échelle de la parcelle (quelques hectares) de mesures de températures multi-profondeurs contraintes par les données radiométriques par drone, et d'autre part à aborder le problème inverse permettant d'estimer les propriétés thermiques du sol à partir des séries de températures multi-profondeurs. Les premiers résultats permettent d'une part d'illustrer l'intérêt du formalisme géostatistique pour l'interpolation sous contrainte et d'autre part d'évaluer dans quelle mesure la résolution du problème inverse pour les propriétés thermiques du sous-sol sont bien posées. Points clefs ✓ Traitement d'image de données radiométriques ✓ Co-krigeage et spatialisation de l'information thermique ✓ Analyse de sensibilité des propriétés thermique

Imagerie thermique et changement d'échelle sur la Bassée : développements méthodologiques

International audienceLa caractérisation des propriétés thermiques des plaines alluviales à l'échelle régionale requiert une approche par étape. L'utilisation de données radiométriques infrarouge à l'aide d'un drone a permis d'établir un protocole de changement d'échelle pour l'inférence des propriétés thermiques du sol depuis l'échelle locale à celle de la parcelle. Ce protocole, dont la validation opérationnelle est toujours en cours, consiste d'une part à établir un processus d'interpolation à l'échelle de la parcelle (quelques hectares) de mesures de températures multi-profondeurs contraintes par les données radiométriques par drone, et d'autre part à aborder le problème inverse permettant d'estimer les propriétés thermiques du sol à partir des séries de températures multi-profondeurs. Les premiers résultats permettent d'une part d'illustrer l'intérêt du formalisme géostatistique pour l'interpolation sous contrainte et d'autre part d'évaluer dans quelle mesure la résolution du problème inverse pour les propriétés thermiques du sous-sol sont bien posées. Points clefs ✓ Traitement d'image de données radiométriques ✓ Co-krigeage et spatialisation de l'information thermique ✓ Analyse de sensibilité des propriétés thermique

More HIV-1 RNA detected and quantified with the Cobas 6800 system in patients on antiretroviral therapy

International audienceAbstract Background Target-detected (TD) results or low-level viraemia (LLV) can be observed in HIV-1 patients on ART, which regularly raises questions. Objectives We describe here the impact on HIV-1 RNA quantification of switching from the COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan (CAP/CTM) to the Cobas 6800 system (C6800), based on analyses of viraemia close to the lower limit of quantification (LLoQ). Patients and methods We retrospectively selected two groups of patients: 200 individuals whose viral loads (VLs) were consistently <50 copies/mL with CAP/CTM for at least 3 years before switching to C6800 (group 1), and 35 other patients with confirmed LLV when C6800 was in use (group 2). In both groups, we compared several consecutive VL results performed before and after the change of quantification assay. Analyses were performed with McNemar’s paired tests or Fisher’s exact tests. Results In group 1, the frequency of TD results (below or above the LLoQ) increased significantly after the switch to C6800 for patients with <25% of results being TD for VLs performed with CAP/CTM (P < 0.0001). Significantly more patients had at least one VL ≥20 or ≥50 copies/mL with C6800, in both group 1 (37.0% versus 18.5%; P < 0.0001 and 6.5% versus 0%; P = 0.0009, respectively) and group 2 (100% versus 66%; P = 0.0015 and 97% versus 40%; P < 0.0001, respectively). Conclusions C6800 revealed residual or low-level HIV-1 RNA that was not detected with CAP/CTM, resulting in twice as many patients being found to have a VL ≥20 copies/mL. Physicians and patients should be aware of possible differences in results between assays, and it is crucial to specify the quantitative assay used in studies

Household Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in the Paris/Ile-de-France Area

This st udy aims to evaluate the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in locked-down family households to determine viral dynamics and immunity acquisition. COVID-19 individuals and their households in lockdown under the same roof during early spring 2020 were interviewed and tested using rapid immunochromatographic lateral flow antibodies assays (LFA) between July and September 2020. Outcomes were secondary infection rate (SIR) among contacts, household infection rate, and predictors of transmission. We enrolled 87 households including 87 COVID-19 index cases (female 78.2%; median age: 47.0 years, IQR: 42.0–51.5) and 255 contacts (males: 52.9%; median age: 19.0 years, IQR: 11.0–43.5) consisting of their children (42%) or spouses/partners (28.2%). A total of 95/255 contacts were SARS-CoV-2 antibody positive leading to a SIR of 37.3% (95% confidence interval (CI): 31.3–43.5%). Viral transmission was observed in 54 households (62%). SARS-CoV-2 infection was asymptomatic in 33/95 (34.7%) of SARS-CoV-2-positive contacts. Independent predictors of virus transmission from index to contacts were housing surface area < 60 m(2) (OR: 5.6 [1.1; 28.2] and a four-member family compared to five (OR: 3.6 [1.2; 10.3]). Households represent a high-risk setting for SARS-CoV-2 transmission through close contact within the family amplified by the number of family members and the housing surface area

Intermittent two-drug antiretroviral therapies maintain long-term viral suppression in real life in highly experienced HIV-infected patients

International audienceObjectives: To assess in real life whether two-drug regimens (2-DRs) given 4-5 days a week in virally suppressed patients can maintain viral suppression over 48 and 96 weeks.Methods: This observational single-centre study enrolled all patients who initiated an intermittent 2-DR between 01/01/2016 and 30/06/2019. The primary outcome was the rate of virological failure (VF), defined as confirmed plasma viral load (pVL) ≥50 copies/mL or single pVL ≥50 copies/mL followed by ART change at week 48 (W48) and W96. Secondary outcomes were the 2-DR intermittent strategy success rate (pVL <50 copies/mL with no ART change), change in CD4 count, CD4/CD8 ratio and rate of residual viraemia.Results: Eighty-five patients were included; 67/85 (79%) were men, median age = 57 years (IQR = 50-63), CD4 nadir = 233 cells/mm3 (110-327), ART duration = 21 years (13-24), duration of virological suppression = 6.5 years (3.7-10.8) and CD4 count = 658 cells/mm3 (519-867). Intermittent 2-DRs consisted of integrase strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI)/NNRTI (58%), INSTI/NRTI (13%), two NRTIs (11%), PI/NRTI (7%) and other combinations (11%). The median follow-up was 90 weeks (IQR = 64-111). Overall, four VFs occurred, leading to a virological success rate of 98.8% (95% CI = 93.6-100) at W48 and 95.3% (95% CI = 88.4-98.7) at W96. Resuming the same 2-DR 7 days a week led to viral resuppression in three patients, whereas the M184V mutation emerged in one patient, leading to ART modification. There was no significant change in the CD4 count or residual viraemia rate, but a small increase in the CD4/CD8 ratio (P = 0.009) occurred over the study period.Conclusions: This observational study shows the potential for intermittent 2-DRs to maintain a high virological success rate, which should be assessed in larger prospective randomized studies