MAPPING OF BLUE CARBON ECOSYSTEMS: EFFECT OF PROXIMITY, ACTIVITY TYPES AND FREQUENCY OF VISITS IN THE ACCURACY OF PARTICIPATORY MAPS

Interest in blue carbon has drastically increased in recent years, particularly in improving the coastal resource carbon storage estimates and the development of methodology for identifying and monitoring such resources. In coastal resource mapping, participatory mapping techniques have the potential to provide a level of granularity and detail by taking advantage of local knowledge. In this work, we aim to evaluate the agreement between blue carbon ecosystem status obtained from participatory mapping versus the ones discriminated from satellite images, as well as assess how “relative proximity” to landmarks affects the accuracy. Results showed that the accuracy of mapped mangrove extents, evaluated as intersection-over-union, is positively correlated with frequency of visits. It is also found that maps generated by participants who have jobs or activities that nurture awareness about mangroves and seagrasses tend to agree better with remotely-sensed maps. The participants were even able to identify small patches of mangroves and seagrasses that are not present in the classified satellite images. While our initial work explores factors that impact the consistency between these sources, there is a need to establish a baseline for which both sources of information are evaluated against; and define relevant accuracy metrics. Our final goal is to systematically combine these two sources of information for an accurate holistic coastal resource map

High-Resolution Genotyping of Campylobacter Species by Use of PCR and High-Throughput Mass Spectrometry▿

In this work we report on a high-throughput mass spectrometry-based technique for the rapid high-resolution identification of Campylobacter jejuni strain types. This method readily distinguishes C. jejuni from C. coli, has a resolving power comparable to that of multilocus sequence typing (MLST), is applicable to mixtures, and is highly automated. The strain typing approach is based on high-performance mass spectrometry, which “weighs” PCR amplicons with enough mass accuracy to unambiguously determine the base composition of each amplicon (i.e., the numbers of A's, G's, C's, and T's). Amplicons are derived from PCR primers which amplify short (<140-bp) regions of the housekeeping genes used by conventional MLST strategies. The results obtained with a challenge panel that comprised 25 strain types of C. jejuni and 25 strain types of C. coli are presented. These samples were parsed and resolved with demonstrated sensitivity down to 10 genomes/PCR from pure isolates

Global uncertainty in the diagnosis of neurological complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection by both neurologists and non-neurologists: An international inter-observer variability study

Introduction: Uniform case definitions are required to ensure harmonised reporting of neurological syndromes associated with SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, it is unclear how clinicians perceive the relative importance of SARSCoV-2 in neurological syndromes, which risks under- or over-reporting. Methods: We invited clinicians through global networks, including the World Federation of Neurology, to assess ten anonymised vignettes of SARS-CoV-2 neurological syndromes. Using standardised case definitions, clinicians assigned a diagnosis and ranked association with SARS-CoV-2. We compared diagnostic accuracy and assigned association ranks between different settings and specialties and calculated inter-rater agreement for case definitions as "poor" (kappa &lt;= 0.4), "moderate" or "good" (kappa &gt; 0.6). Results: 1265 diagnoses were assigned by 146 participants from 45 countries on six continents. The highest correct proportion were cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST, 95.8%), Guillain-Barre ' syndrome (GBS, 92.4%) and headache (91.6%) and the lowest encephalitis (72.8%), psychosis (53.8%) and encephalopathy (43.2%). Diagnostic accuracy was similar between neurologists and non-neurologists (median score 8 vs. 7/10, p = 0.1). settings with few neurologists. However, encephalopathy, encephalitis, and psychosis were often misdiagnosed