New variable stars discovered in the fields of three Galactic open clusters using the VVV Survey

This project is a massive near-infrared (NIR) search for variable stars in highly reddened and obscured open cluster (OC) fields projected on regions of the Galactic bulge and disk. The search is performed using photometric NIR data in the $J$-, $H$- and $K_s$- bands obtained from the Vista Variables in the V\'ia L\'actea (VVV) Survey. We performed in each cluster field a variability search using Stetson's variability statistics to select the variable candidates. Later, those candidates were subjected to a frequency analysis using the Generalized Lomb-Scargle and the Phase Dispersion Minimization algorithms. The number of independent observations range between 63 and 73. The newly discovered variables in this study, 157 in total in three different known OCs, are classified based on their light curve shapes, periods, amplitudes and their location in the corresponding color-magnitude $(J-K_s,K_s)$ and color-color $(H-K_s,J-H)$ diagrams. We found 5 possible Cepheid stars which, based on the period-luminosity relation, are very likely type II Cepheids located behind the bulge. Among the newly discovered variables, there are eclipsing binaries, $\delta$ Scuti, as well as background RR Lyrae stars. Using the new version of the Wilson & Devinney code as well as the "Physics Of Eclipsing Binaries" (PHOEBE) code, we analyzed some of the best eclipsing binaries we discovered. Our results show that these studied systems turn out to be ranging from detached to double-contact binaries, with low eccentricities and high inclinations of approximately $80^{\circ}$. Their surface temperatures range between $3500$K and $8000$K.Comment: 34 pages, 10 figures, 7 tables. Accepted for publication in New Astronom

Role of telemedicine in the management of oral anticoagulation in atrial fibrillation: a practical clinical approach

COVID-19; Direct oral anticoagulant; TelemedicineCOVID-19; Anticoagulante oral directo; TelemedicinaCOVID-19; Anticoagulant oral directe; TelemedicinaCompared with face-to-face consultations, telemedicine has many advantages, including more efficient use of healthcare resources, partial relief of the burden of care, reduced exposure to COVID-19, treatment adjustment, organization of more efficient healthcare circuits and patient empowerment. Ensuring optimal anticoagulation in atrial fibrillation patients is mandatory if we want to reduce the thromboembolic risk. Of note, telemedicine is an excellent option for the long-term management of atrial fibrillation patients. Moreover, direct oral anticoagulants may provide an added value in telemedicine (versus vitamin K antagonists), as it is not necessary to monitor anticoagulant effect or make continuous dosage adjustments. In this multidisciplinary consensus document, the role of telemedicine in anticoagulation of this population is discussed and practical recommendations are provided.V Barrios has received consultancy/lecture fees from Bayer, BMS/Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim and Daiichi Sankyo. S Cinza-Sanjurjo has received honoraria for presentations from Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Daiichi Sankyo and Pfizer-BMS; advisory board fees from Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Daiichi Sankyo and Pfizer-BMS; and funding for studies from Bayer. J García-Alegría reports consulting fees and/or lectures honoraria from Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Daiichi Sankyo. R Freixa-Pamias has received honoraria for presentations from Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Daiichi Sankyo and Pfizer-BMS. F Llordachs-Marques. No potential conflicts of interest were declared by the author. CA Molina reports consulting fees and/or honoraria from Novo Nordisk, Bayer, Pfizer, BMS, Daiichi Sankyo and Boehringer Ingelheim. A Santamaría has received honoraria per conferences from Octapharma, Novo Nordisk, Bayer, Pfizer, BMS, Sobi, Shire, Sanofi, LEO Pharma, Rovi, Daiichi Sankyo, Werfen and Ferrer. D Vivas reports no potential conflicts of interest were declared by the author. C Suárez has received speaker and/or advisory fees from Bayer, Pfizer/BMS, Daiichi Sankyo. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed

New VVV Survey Globular Cluster Candidates in the Milky Way Bulge

© 2017 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.It is likely that a number of Galactic globular clusters remain to be discovered, especially toward the Galactic bulge. High stellar density combined with high and differential interstellar reddening are the two major problems for finding globular clusters located toward the bulge. We use the deep near-IR photometry of the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) Survey to search for globular clusters projected toward the Galactic bulge, and hereby report the discovery of 22 new candidate globular clusters. These objects, detected as high density regions in our maps of bulge red giants, are confirmed as globular cluster candidates by their color-magnitude diagrams. We provide their coordinates as well as their near-IR color-magnitude diagrams, from which some basic parameters are derived, such as reddenings and heliocentric distances. The color-magnitude diagrams reveal well defined red giant branches in all cases, often including a prominent red clump. The new globular cluster candidates exhibit a variety of extinctions (0.06 < A Ks < 2.77) and distances (5.3 < D < 9.5 kpc). We also classify the globular cluster candidates into 10 metal-poor and 12 metal-rich clusters, based on the comparison of their color-magnitude diagrams with those of known globular clusters also observed by the VVV Survey. Finally, we argue that the census for Galactic globular clusters still remains incomplete, and that many more candidate globular clusters (particularly the low luminosity ones) await to be found and studied in detail in the central regions of the Milky Way.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of Streptococcus tigurinus endocarditis

Background: Streptococcus tigurinus was recently described as a new streptococcal species within the viridans group streptococci (VGS). The objectives of the present work were to analyse the clinical and microbiological characteristics of S. tigurinus isolated from patients with bacteraemias, to determine the prevalence of S. tigurinus among VGS endocarditis in Spain, and to compare the clinical characteristics and outcomes of endocarditis caused by S. tigurinus and other VGS. Methods: Retrospective nationwide study, performed between 2008 and 2016 in 9 Spanish hospitals from 7 different provinces comprising 237 cases of infective endocarditis. Streptococcal isolates were identified by sequencing fragments of their 16S rRNA, sodA and groEL genes. Clinical data of patients with streptococcal endocarditis were prospectively collected according to a pre-established protocol. Results: Patients with endocarditis represented 7/9 (77.8%) and 26/86 (30.2%) of the bacteraemias caused by S. tigurinus and other VGS, respectively (p < 0.001), in two of the hospital participants. Among patients with streptococcal endocarditis, 12 different Streptococcus species were recognized being S. oralis, S. tigurinus and S. mitis the three more common. No relevant statistical differences were observed in the clinical characteristics and outcomes of endocarditis caused by the different VGS species. Conclusions: In this multicenter study performed in Spain, S. tigurinus showed a higher predilection for the endocardial endothelium as compared to other VGS. However, clinical characteristics and outcomes of endocarditis caused by S. tigurinus did not significantly differ from endocarditis caused by other oral streptococci.JMM received a personal 80:20 research grant from the Institut d’InvestigacionsBiomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain during 2017–19. Nofunding entity played any role in the design of the study and data collection,analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript

The management of an inaccessible plant in extinction risk

Borderea chouardii fue la primera planta para la que se estableció un plan de recuperación oficial en España. En este artículo resumimos la información demográfica y reproductiva recopilada de esta pequeña rupícola, así como algunas de las acciones de gestión realizadas durante una década, en vísperas de la revisión de dicho plan. A pesar de la inaccesibilidad de la mayor parte de la única población conocida en el mundo, se ha podido establecer que se trata de una herbácea excepcionalmente longeva, que su dinámica poblacional es extraordinariamente estable, y que lejos de presentar evidencias de problemas reproductivos muestra niveles muy elevados en la producción y viabilidad de semillas. Sin embargo, este éxito demográfico y reproductivo se ve limitado por el escaso éxito de un peculiar sistema que favorece la dispersión dentro de la población al tiempo que impide su expansión a otros ambientes favorables. Así las cosas, el programa de manejo se centró básicamente en intentar acceder a distintas zonas, donde monitorizar plantas de distintos sexos, tamaños y edades, recuperar el 90% de las semillas que se pierden de forma natural, y "reciclarlas" para muy distintas funciones: reforzamiento poblacional, fundación de nuevas poblaciones, almacén en bancos de germoplasma (semillas y cultivo in vitro), análisis genéticos, y producción de plantas ex situ. Diversas acciones de divulgación entre estudiantes y escaladores complementaron el plan de recuperación.Borderea chouardii was the first plant species with an official recovery plan in Spain. In this paper we present the demographic and reproductive information gathered for this small rupicolous plant, and the main management actions carried out over the last decade. Despite the inaccessibility of most plants in the only known population in the world, we could establish the unusual longevity of this species, that population dynamics is extremely stable, and that there is no evidence of reproductive problems (high levels of seed production and viability). Its dispersal system, however, adapted to seed release near the mother plant, prevents it from expansion to new favourable habitats. Our goal was to increase our access to different areas in order monitor the performance of plants of different sexes, sizes and ages, to recover 90% of seeds naturally lost during seed release, and to use them for many different purposes: reinforcement of the populations, founding of new populations, seed storing in a seed bank, development of an in vitro bank, genetic analysis, and the production of ex situ adult plants. Several awareness actions have also been carried out among students and climbers

Peritonitis bacteriana espontánea por Listeria monocytogenes: presentación de ocho casos (1992- 2017) y revisión de la literatura

Objective: Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is a frequent and severe entity in patients with cirrhosis or ascites due to other causes. However, Listeria monocytogenes is a microorganism that has been scarcely identified as a causative agent of SBP. Methods: In this study, a descriptive analysis of cases of L. monocytogenes SBP was carried out in our center for 26 years (1992-2017). Results: A total of eight patients were diagnosed, with an average age of 58 years, with no differences in sex distribution and all of them were community acquired cases. Half of the patients had underlying liver disease, two of them active malignancies; one was undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis and the last one with hypertensive heart disease. Six (75%) of the patients received a third-generation cephalosporin as empirical treatment. The clinical course was favorable after receiving directed antibiotic treatment in five (62.5%) of the patients. However, three of them, under the age of 59, died. Serotyping of L. monocytogenes isolates revealed that half of them were serovar 4, two 1 / 2a and the remaining one 1 / 2c. All strains were susceptible to ampicillin, meropenem, erythromycin and cotrimoxazole. Conclusions: We conclude by emphasizing the importance of taking this etiology into account in patients with underlying liver disease and with clinical or laboratory data suggesting SBP, mainly due to the need for specific antibiotic treatment different from conventionally empirically used

Estimation of Admission D-dimer Cut-off Value to Predict Venous Thrombotic Events in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients: Analysis of the SEMI-COVID-19 Registry.

Venous thrombotic events (VTE) are frequent in COVID-19, and elevated plasma D-dimer (pDd) and dyspnea are common in both entities. To determine the admission pDd cut-off value associated with in-hospital VTE in patients with COVID-19. Multicenter, retrospective study analyzing the at-admission pDd cut-off value to predict VTE and anticoagulation intensity along hospitalization due to COVID-19. Among 9386 patients, 2.2% had VTE: 1.6% pulmonary embolism (PE), 0.4% deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and 0.2% both. Those with VTE had a higher prevalence of tachypnea (42.9% vs. 31.1%; p = 0.0005), basal O2 saturation 1.0 μg/ml treated with prophylactic dose (p 2.0 μg/ml treated with intermediate dose (p = 0.0001), and 31.3% for those with pDd >3.0 μg/ml and full anticoagulation (p = 0.0183). In hospitalized patients with COVID-19, a pDd value greater than 3.0 μg/ml can be considered to screen VTE and to consider full-dose anticoagulation