Use of nitrifying culture to shorten the activation time of biofilters for the removal of ammonium and nitrite in freshwater aquaria

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Elevated salinity selects for a less diverse ammonia-oxidizing population in aquarium biofilters

The activity and changes in the structure of the community of the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria belonging to the Betaproteobacteria were monitored in freshwater and artificial seawater biofilters for two months after inoculation with a commercial nitrifying consortium. Both in freshwater and artificial seawater, ammonium oxidation proceeded immediately after addition of the inoculum, although initial activity in artificial seawater was lower than in freshwater. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of the ammonia-oxidizing bacterial community of the inoculum and the freshwater and the artificial seawater aquaria as a function of time showed that initially only one dominant ammonia-oxidizer, closely related to Nitrosomonas marina, was detectable in all the systems. The fingerprint of the ammonia-oxidizing bacterial community in the artificial seawater biofilters continued to be dominated by this single band. In the freshwater aquaria, in contrast, the composition of the ammonia-oxidizer community became more diverse after one month, with 4–7 new bands appearing in the denaturing gradient gel fingerprint. Since the inoculum is cultivated at an average salinity of 11 g l−1, it is argued that the elevated salinity selects for a less diverse ammonia-oxidizer community in the inoculum and the artificial seawater aquaria

Low-dose hydroxychloroquine therapy and mortality in hospitalised patients with COVID-19: a nationwide observational study of 8075 participants

Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has been largely used and investigated as therapy for COVID-19 across&nbsp;various settings at a total dose usually ranging from 2400 mg to 9600 mg. In Belgium, off-label use&nbsp;of low-dose HCQ (total 2400 mg over 5 days) was recommended for hospitalised patients with COVID-19. We conducted a retrospective analysis of in-hospital mortality in the Belgian national COVID-19&nbsp;hospital surveillance data. Patients treated either with HCQ monotherapy and supportive care (HCQ group)&nbsp;were compared with patients treated with supportive care only (no-HCQ group) using a competing risks&nbsp;proportional hazards regression with discharge alive as competing risk, adjusted for demographic and&nbsp;clinical features with robust standard errors. Of 8075 patients with complete discharge data on 24 May&nbsp;2020 and diagnosed before 1 May 2020, 4542 received HCQ in monotherapy and 3533 were in the no-HCQ group. Death was reported in 804/4542 (17.7%) and 957/3533 (27.1%), respectively. In the&nbsp;multivariable analysis, mortality was lower in the HCQ group compared with the no-HCQ group [adjusted hazard&nbsp;ratio (aHR) = 0.684, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.617–0.758]. Compared with the no-HCQ group,&nbsp;mortality in the HCQ group was reduced both in patients diagnosed ≤5 days ( n = 3975) and &gt; 5 days ( n =&nbsp;3487) after symptom onset [aHR = 0.701 (95% CI 0.617–0.796) and aHR = 0.647 (95% CI 0.525–0.797),&nbsp;respectively]. Compared with supportive care only, low-dose HCQ monotherapy was independently&nbsp;associated with lower mortality in hospitalised patients with COVID-19 diagnosed and treated early or later&nbsp;after symptom&nbsp;onset.</p

Low-dose hydroxychloroquine therapy and mortality in hospitalised patients with COVID-19: a nationwide observational study of 8075 participants

Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) has been largely used and investigated as therapy for COVID-19 across various settings at a total dose usually ranging from 2400 mg to 9600 mg. In Belgium, off-label use of low-dose HCQ (total 2400 mg over 5 days) was recommended for hospitalised patients with COVID-19. We conducted a retrospective analysis of in-hospital mortality in the Belgian national COVID-19 hospital surveillance data. Patients treated either with HCQ monotherapy and supportive care (HCQ group) were compared with patients treated with supportive care only (no-HCQ group) using a competing risks proportional hazards regression with discharge alive as competing risk, adjusted for demographic and clinical features with robust standard errors. Of 8075 patients with complete discharge data on 24 May 2020 and diagnosed before 1 May 2020, 4542 received HCQ in monotherapy and 3533 were in the no-HCQ group. Death was reported in 804/4542 (17.7%) and 957/3533 (27.1%), respectively. In the multivariable analysis, mortality was lower in the HCQ group compared with the no-HCQ group [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 0.684, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.617-0.758]. Compared with the no-HCQ group, mortality in the HCQ group was reduced both in patients diagnosed ≤5 days (n = 3975) and >5 days (n = 3487) after symptom onset [aHR = 0.701 (95% CI 0.617-0.796) and aHR = 0.647 (95% CI 0.525-0.797), respectively]. Compared with supportive care only, low-dose HCQ monotherapy was independently associated with lower mortality in hospitalised patients with COVID-19 diagnosed and treated early or later after symptom onset.status: publishe

Impact of solid cancer on in-hospital mortality overall and among different subgroups of patients with COVID-19: a nationwide, population-based analysis

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe