Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

Educación Superior y Pandemia. Aprendizajes y buenas prácticas en Iberoamérica

La aportación actual no entra en analizar aspectos generales de la pandemia (naturaleza, origen, extensión general y en el país, etc.) o de otras situaciones que se derivan del confinamiento, por considerar que son suficientemente conocidos. Tampoco pretende realizar una recensión de informes sobre la temática elaborados por organismos como la UNESCO-IESALC, el Banco Mundial, el BID o la CRUE y revisar las aportaciones de investigadores de la temática. Más bien trata de aportar concreciones y dimensiones prácticas de la Educación Superior de cada país que puedan ayudar en los aspectos de organización y gestión de estas instituciones. En este sentido considera aspectos referidos a: (1) Desarrollo de las enseñanzas: alteraciones en la duración y estructura de los títulos; modificaciones de objetivos, metodologías y sistemas de evaluación; atención a colectivos vulnerables; etc.(2) Organización institucional: atención a las personas (gestión del alumnado, profesorado y personal de administración y servicios, rol de los directivos, etc.); infraestructuras; desarrollo de procesos (matriculación, gestión administrativa y económica, etc.); y resultados (académicos como tasa de aprobados, nivel de abandono u otros; y no académicos). (3) Vinculación con el entorno: actuaciones de y con la comunidad o colaboraciones significativas. Incluye el escrito de cada país con referencias y reflexiones sobre los anteriores aspectos, así como algunas experiencias de interés y, por último, reflexiones, valoraciones y retos sobre la gestión en los momentos de confinamiento y reapertura, con la idea de identificar aprendizajes significativos y orientaciones de cara a la actuación en la situación actual y similares que se puedan producir en el futuro. Las diferentes aportaciones se centran en la enseñanza universitaria, incluyendo los estudios superiores, que en muchos países tienen gran importancia y desarrollo, y tratan de proporcionar una visión general de los diferentes países sin obviar descender a las particularidades concretas que exigen el identificar buenas prácticas o medidas específicas de organización y desarrollo de la formación. Hablamos del trabajo de 41 especialistas de 13países iberoamericanos que permiten conocer y analizar las actuaciones por países, pero también realizar un estudio de las iniciativas que se han tomado en todos los países considerando algunos de los tópicos que considera el Informe. En todo caso, cabe destacar la actualidad y trascendencia del tema y la rapidez por trasladar a la sociedad un Informe detallado sobre las actuaciones universitarias existentes y sus resultados

The SL(2,R) Wzwn String Model as a Deformed Oscillator and its Classical-Quantum String Regimes

International audienceWe study the SL(2,R) WZWN string model describing bosonic string theory in AdS3 spacetime as a deformed oscillator together with its mass spectrum and the string modified SL(2,R) uncertainty relation. The SL(2,R) string oscillator is far more quantum (with higher quantum uncertainty) and more excited than the non-deformed one. This is accompassed by the highly excited string mass spectrum which is drastically changed with respect to the low excited one. The highly excited quantum string regime and the low excited semiclassical regime of the SL(2,R) string model are described and shown to be the quantum-classical dual of each other in the precise sense of the usual classical-quantum duality. This classical-quantum realization is not assumed nor conjectured. The quantum regime (high curvature) displays a modified Heisenberg's uncertainty relation, while the classical (low curvature) regime has the usual quantum mechanics uncertainty principle

Semiclassical (qft) and Quantum (string) Rotating Black Holes and Their Evaporation:. New Results

International audienceCombination of both quantum field theory (QFT) and string theory in curved backgrounds in a consistent framework, the string analogue model, allows us to provide a full picture of the Kerr-Newman black hole and its evaporation going beyond the current picture. We compute the quantum emission cross-section of strings by a Kerr-Newman black hole (KNbh). It shows the black hole emission at the Hawking temperature Tsem in the early stage of evaporation and the new string emission featuring a Hagedorn transition into a string state of temperature Ts at the last stages. New bounds on J and Q emerge in the quantum string regime (besides the known ones of the classical/semiclassical QFT regime). The last state of evaporation of a semiclassical Kerr-Newman black hole with mass M > mPl, angular momentum J and charge Q is a string state of temperature Ts, string mass Ms, J = 0 and Q = 0, decaying as usual quantum strings do into all kinds of particles. (Naturally, in this framework, there is no loss of information, (there is no paradox at all).) We compute the string entropy Ss(m, j) from the microscopic string density of states of mass m and spin mode j, rho(m, j). (Besides the Hagedorn transition at Ts) we find for high j (extremal string states j --> m2alpha'c), a new phase transition at a temperature Tsj = &surd; {j/hbar }Ts, higher than Ts. By precisely identifying the semiclassical and quantum (string) gravity regimes, we find a new formula for the Kerr black hole entropy Ssem(M, J), as a function of the usual Bekenstein-Hawking entropy S sem(0). For M ≫ mPl and J 2/c, S sem(0) is the leading term, but for high angular momentum, (nearly extremal case J = GM2/c), a gravitational phase transition operates and the whole entropy Ssem is drastically different from the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy S sem(0). This new extremal black hole transition occurs at a temperature Tsem J = (J/ℏ)Tsem, higher than the Hawking temperature Tsem

Semiclassical (quantum Field Theory) and Quantum (string) de Sitter Regimes:. New Results

International audienceWe compute the quantum string entropy Ss(m, H) from the microscopic string density of states rhos(m, H) of mass m in de Sitter space-time. We find for high m (high Hm --> c/alpha') a new phase transition at the critical string temperature Ts = (1/2pikB)Lcl c2/alpha', higher than the flat space (Hagedorn) temperature ts (Lcl = c/H, the Hubble constant H acts at the transition, producing a smaller string constant alpha' and thus, a higher tension). Ts is the precise quantum dual of the semiclassical (QFT Hawking-Gibbons) de Sitter temperature Tsem = h c/(2pikBLcl). By precisely identifying the semiclassical and quantum (string) de Sitter regimes, we find a new formula for the full de Sitter entropy Ssem(H), as a function of the usual Bekenstein-Hawking entropy S sem(0)(H). For Lcl ≫ lPlanck, i.e. for low H Ts, sigmastring exhibits a phase transition into a string de Sitter state of size L s = l s2/L cl, (l s= &surd; hbar alpha '/c}), and string de Sitter temperature Ts. Instead of featuring a single pole singularity in the temperature (Carlitz transition), it features a square root branch point (de Vega-Sanchez transition). New bounds on the black hole radius rg emerge in the bhdS string regime: it can become rg = Ls/2, or it can reach a more quantum value, rg = 0.365 ls