A Microbiology Application of the Skew-Laplace Distribution

Flow cytometry scatter are ofen used in microbiology, and their measures are related to bacteria size and granularity. We present an application of the skew-Laplace distribution to flow cytometry data. The goodness of fit is evaluated both graphically and numerically. We also study skewness and kurtosis values to assess usefulness of the skew-Laplace distribution

Vida en excés i amor sense casa: un diàleg poètic entre Marina Tsvetàieva i Maria-Mercè Marçal

L’article presenta una aproximació a l’estudi comparatiu de l’obra de Marina Tsvetàieva, una poeta russa, i de Maria-Mercè Marçal, una poeta catalana. En relació a les seves obres literàries, especialment poètiques, es pot emprar el concepte de convergència tipològica, que marca fenòmens similars en diferents literatures que són el resultat de diferents etapes del desenvolupament sociohistòric i cultural dels pobles o –més aviat, en el cas estudiat– de lleis universals de consciència humana. Les obres de ambdues tracen un diàleg constant sobre el "camp" dels textos pertanyents a diferents literatures nacionals però units per les nocions bàsiques i comuns a una dona que se submergeix en la poesia. Una i altra poeta viuen al límit, amb intensitat, temeroses de deixar camins per fresar; poetes de l'amor i la desmesura, del risc més enllà dels límits imposats, exigint-se al màxim.The article presents an approach to the comparative study of works by Russian poet Marina Tsvetayeva and Catalan poet Maria-Mercè Marçal. Their literary works, especially poetic, can be studied in terms of the typological convergence; it denominates similar phenomena in different literatures, which are the result of different stages of the socio-historical and cultural development of the peoples or –as in the case studied– of universal human conscience laws. The works of both poets exercise a constant dialogue on the field of texts, which belong to different national literatures but are united by the basic and common notions of a woman who immerses herself in poetry. Both poets live on the edge, with intensity, in excess, fearful of leaving paths to mill; they are poets of love and excess, of risk beyond the imposed limits.L’article presenta una aproximació a l’estudi comparatiu de l’obra de Marina Tsvetàieva, una poeta russa, i de Maria-Mercè Marçal, una poeta catalana. En relació a les seves obres literàries, especialment poètiques, es pot emprar el concepte de convergència tipològica, que marca fenòmens similars en diferents literatures que són el resultat de diferents etapes del desenvolupament sociohistòric i cultural dels pobles o –més aviat, en el cas estudiat– de lleis universals de consciència humana. Les obres de ambdues tracen un diàleg constant sobre el "camp" dels textos pertanyents a diferents literatures nacionals però units per les nocions bàsiques i comuns a una dona que se submergeix en la poesia. Una i altra poeta viuen al límit, amb intensitat, temeroses de deixar camins per fresar; poetes de l'amor i la desmesura, del risc més enllà dels límits imposats, exigint-se al màxim

A microbiology application of the skew-Laplace distribution

Flow cytometry scatter are ofen used in microbiology, and their measures are related to bacteria size and granularity. We present an application of the skew-Laplace distribution to flow cytometry data. The goodness of fit is evaluated both graphically and numerically. We also study skewness and kurtosis values to assess usefulness of the skew-Laplace distribution

Skew-Laplace and Cell-Size Distribution in Microbial Axenic Cultures: Statistical Assessment and Biological Interpretation

We report a skew-Laplace statistical analysis of both flow cytometry scatters and cell size from microbial strains primarily grown in batch cultures, others in chemostat cultures and bacterial aquatic populations. Cytometry scatters best fit the skew-Laplace distribution while cell size as assessed by an electronic particle analyzer exhibited a moderate fitting. Unlike the cultures, the aquatic bacterial communities clearly do not fit to a skew-Laplace distribution. Due to its versatile nature, the skew-Laplace distribution approach offers an easy, efficient, and powerful tool for distribution of frequency analysis in tandem with the flow cytometric cell sorting

Impact of Extracellular Vesicle Isolation Methods on Downstream miRNA Analysis in Semen: A Comparative Study

Seminal plasma (SP) contains a unique concentration of miRNA, mostly contained in small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) such as exosomes, some of which could be clinically useful for diagnosis and/or prognosis of urogenital diseases such as prostate cancer (PCa). We optimized several exosome-EV isolation technologies for their use in semen, evaluating EV purifying effectiveness and impact on the downstream analysis of miRNAs against results from the standard ultracentrifugation (UC) method to implement the use of SP sEV_miRNAs as noninvasive biomarkers for PCa. Our results evidenced that commercial kits designed to isolate exosomes/EVs from blood or urine are mostly applicable to SP, but showed quantitative and qualitative variability between them. ExoGAG 3500× g and the miRCURY Cell/Urine/CSF 1500× g methods resulted as equivalent alternative procedures to UC for isolating exosomes/sEVs from semen for nanoparticle characteristics and quality of RNA contained in vesicles. Additionally, the expression profile of the altered semen sEV-miRNAs in PCa varies depending on the EV isolation method applied. This is possibly due to different extraction techniques yielding different proportions of sEV subtypes. This is evidence that the exosome-EV isolation method has a significant impact on the analysis of the miRNAs contained within, with important consequences for their use as clinical biomarkers. Therefore, miRNA analysis results for EVs cannot be directly extrapolated between different EV isolation methods until clear markers for delineation between microvesicles and exosomes are established. However, EV extraction methodology affects combined models (semen exosome miRNA signatures plus blood Prostate specific antigen (PSA) concentration for PCa diagnosis) less; specifically our previously described (miR-142-3p + miR-142-5p + miR-223-3p + PSA) model functions as molecular marker from EVs from any of the three isolation methods, potentially improving the efficiency of PSA PCa diagnosis

Empirical study of correlated survival times for recurrent events with proportional hazards margins and the effect of correlation and censoring.

Background: In longitudinal studies where subjects experience recurrent incidents over a period of time, such as respiratory infections, fever or diarrhea, statistical methods are required to take into account the within-subject correlation. Methods: For repeated events data with censored failure, the independent increment (AG), marginal (WLW) and conditional (PWP) models are three multiple failure models that generalize Cox"s proportional hazard model. In this paper, we revise the efficiency, accuracy and robustness of all three models under simulated scenarios with varying degrees of within-subject correlation, censoring levels, maximum number of possible recurrences and sample size. We also study the methods performance on a real dataset from a cohort study with bronchial obstruction. Results: We find substantial differences between methods and there is not an optimal method. AG and PWP seem to be preferable to WLW for low correlation levels but the situation reverts for high correlations. Conclusions: All methods are stable in front of censoring, worsen with increasing recurrence levels and share a bias problem which, among other consequences, makes asymptotic normal confidence intervals not fully reliable, although they are well developed theoretically

COVID-19 Immunisation Strategy: Priority Populations

Additional support from ISGlobal’s Antoni Plasència and Josep M. AntóWith a limited initial supply of COVID-19 vaccines doses and an expected delay for the universal vaccination of those eligible to receive it, it is relevant to analyse how best to prioritise the first available doses to achieve the greatest impact, both in terms of protecting individuals and minimising community transmission. Ethical issues are key in guiding a fair distribution. Different scenarios on vaccine implementation are summarised in this report. After a critical review of the documents and considering that these criteria are applied to Spanish citizens, the members of theGCMSC establish a priority vaccination list based on ethical principles and adapted to our count

Analysis of shared heritability in common disorders of the brain

ience, this issue p. eaap8757 Structured Abstract INTRODUCTION Brain disorders may exhibit shared symptoms and substantial epidemiological comorbidity, inciting debate about their etiologic overlap. However, detailed study of phenotypes with different ages of onset, severity, and presentation poses a considerable challenge. Recently developed heritability methods allow us to accurately measure correlation of genome-wide common variant risk between two phenotypes from pools of different individuals and assess how connected they, or at least their genetic risks, are on the genomic level. We used genome-wide association data for 265,218 patients and 784,643 control participants, as well as 17 phenotypes from a total of 1,191,588 individuals, to quantify the degree of overlap for genetic risk factors of 25 common brain disorders. RATIONALE Over the past century, the classification of brain disorders has evolved to reflect the medical and scientific communities' assessments of the presumed root causes of clinical phenomena such as behavioral change, loss of motor function, or alterations of consciousness. Directly observable phenomena (such as the presence of emboli, protein tangles, or unusual electrical activity patterns) generally define and separate neurological disorders from psychiatric disorders. Understanding the genetic underpinnings and categorical distinctions for brain disorders and related phenotypes may inform the search for their biological mechanisms. RESULTS Common variant risk for psychiatric disorders was shown to correlate significantly, especially among attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), and schizophrenia. By contrast, neurological disorders appear more distinct from one another and from the psychiatric disorders, except for migraine, which was significantly correlated to ADHD, MDD, and Tourette syndrome. We demonstrate that, in the general population, the personality trait neuroticism is significantly correlated with almost every psychiatric disorder and migraine. We also identify significant genetic sharing between disorders and early life cognitive measures (e.g., years of education and college attainment) in the general population, demonstrating positive correlation with several psychiatric disorders (e.g., anorexia nervosa and bipolar disorder) and negative correlation with several neurological phenotypes (e.g., Alzheimer's disease and ischemic stroke), even though the latter are considered to result from specific processes that occur later in life. Extensive simulations were also performed to inform how statistical power, diagnostic misclassification, and phenotypic heterogeneity influence genetic correlations. CONCLUSION The high degree of genetic correlation among many of the psychiatric disorders adds further evidence that their current clinical boundaries do not reflect distinct underlying pathogenic processes, at least on the genetic level. This suggests a deeply interconnected nature for psychiatric disorders, in contrast to neurological disorders, and underscores the need to refine psychiatric diagnostics. Genetically informed analyses may provide important "scaffolding" to support such restructuring of psychiatric nosology, which likely requires incorporating many levels of information. By contrast, we find limited evidence for widespread common genetic risk sharing among neurological disorders or across neurological and psychiatric disorders. We show that both psychiatric and neurological disorders have robust correlations with cognitive and personality measures. Further study is needed to evaluate whether overlapping genetic contributions to psychiatric pathology may influence treatment choices. Ultimately, such developments may pave the way toward reduced heterogeneity and improved diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Life in Excess and Love without Home: a Poetic Dialogue between Marina Tsvetayeva and Maria-Mercè Marçal

L’article presenta una aproximació a l’estudi comparatiu de l’obra de Marina Tsvetàieva, una poeta russa, i de Maria-Mercè Marçal, una poeta catalana. En relació a les seves obres literàries, especialment poètiques, es pot emprar el concepte de convergència tipològica, que marca fenòmens similars en diferents literatures que són el resultat de diferents etapes del desenvolupament sociohistòric i cultural dels pobles o –més aviat, en el cas estudiat– de lleis universals de consciència humana. Les obres de ambdues tracen un diàleg constant sobre el "camp" dels textos pertanyents a diferents literatures nacionals però units per les nocions bàsiques i comuns a una dona que se submergeix en la poesia. Una i altra poeta viuen al límit, amb intensitat, temeroses de deixar camins per fresar; poetes de l'amor i la desmesura, del risc més enllà dels límits imposats, exigint-se al màxim.The article presents an approach to the comparative study of works by Russian poet Marina Tsvetayeva and Catalan poet Maria-Mercè Marçal. Their literary works, especially poetic, can be studied in terms of the typological convergence; it denominates similar phenomena in different literatures, which are the result of different stages of the socio-historical and cultural development of the peoples or –as in the case studied– of universal human conscience laws. The works of both poets exercise a constant dialogue on the field of texts, which belong to different national literatures but are united by the basic and common notions of a woman who immerses herself in poetry. Both poets live on the edge, with intensity, in excess, fearful of leaving paths to mill; they are poets of love and excess, of risk beyond the imposed limits