Detección del virus tristeza de los cítricos mediante anticuerpos contra la proteína recombinante p25 de la cápside bajo un sistema de inmunoimpresión

El virus tristeza de los cítricos Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) es de distribución mundial y ocasiona una de las enfermedades de mayor importancia económica en el cultivo de los cítricos. El análisis masivo de muestras de cítricos para la detección del CTV se lleva a cabo en forma rutinaria mediante la técnica serológica ELISA, o a través de su variante de inmunoimpresión directa en membranas de nitrocelulosa. En el presente trabajo se evaluó el empleo de anticuerpos desarrollados contra la proteína recombinante p25 del CTV para la detección del virus bajo un sistema inmunoimpresión en membranas de nitrocelulosa, empleando plantas de cítricos sanas y plantas con infección natural en el campo. Con la combinación de anticuerpos desarrollados en cabra (CB) anti-CTV y de conjugado comercial anti-IgG de cabra acoplada a fosfatasa alcalina, se obtuvo una reacción positiva con plantas infectadas por el CTV y negativa con plantas sanas. Asimismo, la combinación de anticuerpos CB anti-CTV conjugados con biotina y empleando avidina-AP como conjugado comercial, fue igualmente efectiva para discriminar plantas sanas e infectadas por el CTV. Adicionalmente, los anticuerpos CB anti-CTV desarrollados contra la proteína recombinante p25 de la cápside del CTV mostraron resultados comparables con los kits comerciales de inmunoimpresión de Plant Print y Agdia para la detección del CTV

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

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

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass M&gt;70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0&lt;e≤0.3 at 0.33 Gpc−3 yr−1 at 90\% confidence level

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM

Search for gravitational-lensing signatures in the full third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo network

Gravitational lensing by massive objects along the line of sight to the source causes distortions of gravitational wave-signals; such distortions may reveal information about fundamental physics, cosmology and astrophysics. In this work, we have extended the search for lensing signatures to all binary black hole events from the third observing run of the LIGO--Virgo network. We search for repeated signals from strong lensing by 1) performing targeted searches for subthreshold signals, 2) calculating the degree of overlap amongst the intrinsic parameters and sky location of pairs of signals, 3) comparing the similarities of the spectrograms amongst pairs of signals, and 4) performing dual-signal Bayesian analysis that takes into account selection effects and astrophysical knowledge. We also search for distortions to the gravitational waveform caused by 1) frequency-independent phase shifts in strongly lensed images, and 2) frequency-dependent modulation of the amplitude and phase due to point masses. None of these searches yields significant evidence for lensing. Finally, we use the non-detection of gravitational-wave lensing to constrain the lensing rate based on the latest merger-rate estimates and the fraction of dark matter composed of compact objects

Producción y evaluación de anticuerpos desarrollados contra la proteína recombinante de la cápside del virus tristeza de los cítricos

En el presente trabajo se desarrollaron anticuerpos específicos contra la proteína recombinante del gen p25 de la cápside (rCP) del virus tristeza de los cítricos (Citrus tristeza virus = CTV), y se evaluaron en pruebas ELISA indirecta con tejido sano e infectado con el CTV. La combinación de anticuerpos rCP desarrollados en cabra para el aislamiento MX14, como anticuerpo primario (tapizado), y los desarrollados en conejo para los aislamientos MX08, MX14 y B227, como anticuerpos intermedios, funcionaron eficientemente con valores de densidad óptica (DO405) entre 0.400 y 1.400, para tejido infectado por el CTV, y menores a 0.100, con tejido de plantas sanas. La combinación de anticuerpos rCP T1(cabra anti-CTV MX14) como anticuerpo primario y C3 (conejo anti-CTV MX08) como anticuerpo secundario fue igualmente efectiva como el kit comercial de Agdia, para discriminar muestras positivas y negativas de una colección de 32 aislamientos del CTV de Nuevo León, México. Adicionalmente, las rCP de los aislamientos MX14 y B227, mezcladas con tejido sano, fueron igualmente efectivas que el tejido infectado por el CTV como control positivo en pruebas ELISA, con valores de 0.300 y 0.400 de DO405. Se discute la aportación de los resultados obtenidos en apoyo a la Campaña Nacional de Detección del Virus Tristeza de los Cítricos en México

Desarrollo y uso de un sistema serológico para la detección del virus de la tristeza en el análisis masivo de muestras de cítricos

En el presente trabajo se reporta el desarrollo y uso de un sistema serológico para la detección del virus tristeza de los cítricos (Citrus tristeza virus = CTV), en el análisis masivo de muestras de cítricos, con base en la técnica ELISA, en la modalidad de doble sándwich indirecto (DASI), empleando anticuerpos desarrollados contra la proteína recombinante (prb) del gen p25 de la cubierta proteica del virus. El trabajo consistió en la evaluación de anticuerpos específicos prb anti-CTV desarrollados en cabras y conejos, a manera de un kit completo ELISA-DASI. La evaluación se llevó a cabo con tejido proveniente de plantas sanas de cítricos e infectadas por el CTV. La combinación de los anticuerpos prb de cabra T1 empleados como anticuerpos primarios (atrapantes de antígeno) para el tapizado de las placas y de conejo C3 empleados como anticuerpos intermedios (detección del antígeno), fueron eficientes para la detección del CTV presente en muestras de cítricos de una colección internacional de aislamientos del CTV de orígenes geográficos diversos, y se demostró con ello la capacidad de reconocer aislamientos del CTV que causan un amplio espectro de síntomas en diferentes hospedantes cítricos. Asimismo, la combinación de anticuerpos prb cabra T1/conejo C3 fue igualmente eficiente en la discriminación de plantas sanas y plantas infectadas por el CTV que los anticuerpos empleados por la Agencia de Erradicación de Tristeza de California (Central California Tristeza Eradication Agency = CCTEA) empleados en el análisis masivo de muestras de cítricos, así como con un kit comercial disponible para la detección del CTV. Adicionalmente, se demostró la eficiencia de la combinación de los anticuerpos prb T1/C3 para el análisis masivo de muestras de cítricos colectadas dentro del programa regular anual de monitoreo del CTV llevado a cabo por la CCTEA. La evaluación incluyó el análisis de 41,195 muestras provenientes de 301 plantaciones comerciales de los distritos 1, 2 y 3 de California. Mediante el empleo de los anticuerpos prb T1/C3, se encontraron y eliminaron 26 árboles (0.063 %) infectados por el CTV. Los resultados obtenidos en el presente trabajo demuestran que los anticuerpos desarrollados contra la prb del CTV se pueden utilizar como anticuerpos primarios e intermedios para, respectivamente, capturar y detectar antígenos del CTV en ensayos de ELISA, en la modalidad de doble sándwich indirecto