Use of seasonally flooded rice fields by fish and crayfish in a Mediterranean wetland

Rice fields constitute a significant proportion of the existing wetlands in the Mediterranean basin and are important areas for the conservation of different vertebrate species, especially birds. However, little is known on how fish and crayfish use rice fields in Mediterranean areas. In this work we analyze fish communities and crayfish populations occupying rice fields and their associated irrigation network (inflow and outflow channels) in the Ebro Delta (NE Spain). We set fyke nets in 104 sites and captured almost 23,000 fish belonging to 19 species, 9 of which were found to occupy rice fields, as well as over 3000 red swamp crayfish (. Procambarus clarkii). Stone moroko (Pseudorasbora parva), common carp (Cyprinus carpio), dojo loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) and Eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) were the most common fish found in rice fields. More than 95% of the fish individuals captured belonged to non-native species. Dojo loach, a recently introduced species well adapted to rice cultivation cycles in its native range, used rice fields as reproduction ground. Outflow channels seemed to be a more important source of fish colonizing rice fields than inflow channels. Colonization was the main limitation for the establishment of fish populations in rice fields and fish tended to be more abundant in rice fields than in channels for any given frequency of occurrence. The importance of fish as trophic resource for natural predators and the possible interactions between fish occupying rice fields and rice yield, largely unexplored in the Mediterranean areas, could be managed by modulating connectivity between rice fields and irrigation channels. Rice fields, however, are not important areas for the conservation of native fish biodiversity, being largely occupied by non-native fishes. Moreover, the influence of low-conductivity water diverted for rice cultivation on natural wetlands favors the establishment and expansion of different non-native fish species.Peer Reviewe

T2 lesion location really matters: a 10 year follow-up study in primary progressive multiple sclerosis

Objectives: Prediction of long term clinical outcome in patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) using imaging has important clinical implications, but remains challenging. We aimed to determine whether spatial location of T2 and T1 brain lesions predicts clinical progression during a 10-year follow-up in PPMS. Methods: Lesion probability maps of the T2 and T1 brain lesions were generated using the baseline scans of 80 patients with PPMS who were clinically assessed at baseline and then after 1, 2, 5 and 10 years. For each patient, the time (in years) taken before bilateral support was required to walk (time to event (TTE)) was used as a measure of progression rate. The probability of each voxel being ‘lesional’ was correlated with TTE, adjusting for age, gender, disease duration, centre and spinal cord cross sectional area, using a multiple linear regression model. To identify the best, independent predictor of progression, a Cox regression model was used. Results: A significant correlation between a shorter TTE and a higher probability of a voxel being lesional on T2 scans was found in the bilateral corticospinal tract and superior longitudinal fasciculus, and in the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (p<0.05). The best predictor of progression rate was the T2 lesion load measured along the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (p=0.016, hazard ratio 1.00652, 95% CI 1.00121 to 1.01186). Conclusion: Our results suggest that the location of T2 brain lesions in the motor and associative tracts is an important contributor to the progression of disability in PPMS, and is independent of spinal cord involvement

Outcomes of elective head and neck confirmed or suspected cancer surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic.

PURPOSE: To analyse the complication outcomes of COVID-19 negative patients undergoing elective head and neck surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This was a retrospective case review of all patients undergoing elective head and neck surgery for confirmed or suspected head and neck cancer. RESULTS: There were no mortalities recorded in the cohort of patients analysed. At 30 days, pulmonary complications had occurred in 4 patients (9%). None of these were related to COVID infection. CONCLUSION: With careful pre-operative screening of patients for COVID-19 and post-operative care in a COVID-19 clean ward, head and neck surgery can proceed safely during the epidemic. This data could help to minimise delay in treatment by allowing a greater number of elective head and neck cancer operations to proceed

Análise de Transiçao Resistiva e da irreversibilidade magnètica no superconductor YBACUO texturizado

Os supercondutores de alta temperatura crítica, em especial os granulares, apresentam uma transição resistiva que ocorre em duas etapas: a uma temperatura acima da temperatura crítica de transição Tc0, chamada de supercondutividade intragranular e a uma temperatura mais baixa onde ocorre a supercondutividade em toda a amostra, chamada de supercondutividade intergranular. Em Tc0 ocorre à ativação das ligações fracas e uma ordem de longo alcance é obtida, neste momento, a resistência elétrica é nula em toda amostra. Nos supercondutores de alta temperatura crítica, a linha de irreversibilidade magnética divide o estado misto do plano H-T em duas regiões: reversível e irreversível. Na região reversível todo o transporte elétrico sofre dissipação devido aos efeitos da dinâmica de fluxo magnético no supercondutor. Na região irreversível todo transporte de corrente elétrica é permitido. Em supercondutores granulares, as medidas de irreversibilidade magnética e resistividade nula não dependem das mesmas partes da amostra. Enquanto, a resistência elétrica depende de um arranjo de grãos que atravessam toda a amostra a irreversibilidade depende de clusters de grãos bem acoplados. Devido a isso, as medidas de resistência nula devem estar em pontos abaixo da linha de irreversibilidade magnética. O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar as medidas de transporte elétrico e magnetização e correlacionar às linhas de resistência nula e as linhas de irreversibilidade magnética, em diferentes orientações de campo-corrente, para uma amostra com a adição de 30% da fase Y211 (Y2BaCuO5) e comparar os dados obtidos com uma amostra na qual foram adicionados 17% desta mesma fase.Postprint (published version

Embodying self-compassion within virtual reality and its effects on patients with depression

Background: Self-criticism is a ubiquitous feature of psychopathology and can be combatted by increasing levels of self-compassion. However, some patients are resistant to self-compassion. Aims: To investigate whether the effects of self-identification with virtual bodies within immersive virtual reality could be exploited to increase self-compassion in patients with depression. Method: We developed an 8-minute scenario in which 15 patients practised delivering compassion in one virtual body and then experienced receiving it from themselves in another virtual body. Results: In an open trial, three repetitions of this scenario led to significant reductions in depression severity and self-criticism, as well as to a significant increase in self-compassion, from baseline to 4-week follow-up. Four patients showed clinically significant improvement. Conclusions: The results indicate that interventions using immersive virtual reality may have considerable clinical potential and that further development of these methods preparatory to a controlled trial is now warranted

Characterization of a Novel Conformational GII.4 Norovirus Epitope: Implications for Norovirus-Host Interactions

Human noroviruses (NoVs) are the main etiological agents of acute gastroenteritis worldwide. While NoVs are highly diverse (more than 30 genotypes have been detected in humans), during the last 40 years most outbreaks and epidemics have been caused by GII.4 genotype strains, raising questions about their persistence in the population. Among other potential explanations, immune evasion is considered to be a main driver of their success. In order to study antibody recognition and evasion in detail, we analyzed a conformational epitope recognized by a monoclonal antibody (3C3G3) by phage display, site-directed mutagenesis, and surface plasmon resonance. Our results show that the predicted epitope is composed of 11 amino acids within the P domain: P245, E247, I389, Q390, R397, R435, G443, Y444, P445, N446, and D448. Only two of them, R397 and D448, differ from the homologous variant (GII.4 Den-Haag_2006b) and from a previous variant (GII.4 VA387_1996) that is not recognized by the antibody. A double mutant derived from the VA387_1996 variant containing both changes, Q396R and N447D, is recognized by the 3C3G3 monoclonal antibody, confirming the participation of the two sites in the epitope recognized by the antibody. Furthermore, a single change, Q396R, is able to modify the histo-blood group antigen (HBGA) recognition pattern. These results provide evidence that the epitope recognized by the 3C3G3 antibody is involved in the virus-host interactions, both at the immunological and at the receptor levels. IMPORTANCE Human noroviruses are the main cause of viral diarrhea worldwide in people of all ages. Noroviruses can infect individuals who had been previously exposed to the same or different norovirus genotypes. Norovirus genotype GII.4 has been reported to be most prevalent during the last 40 years. In the present study, we describe a novel viral epitope identified by a monoclonal antibody and located within the highly diverse P domain of the capsid protein. The evolution of this epitope along with sequential GII.4 variants has allowed noroviruses to evade previously elicited antibodies, thus explaining how the GII.4 genotype can persist over long periods, reinfecting the population. Our results also show that the epitope participates in the recognition of host receptors that have evolved over time, as well

Multi-Orbital Molecular Compound (TTM-TTP)I_3: Effective Model and Fragment Decomposition

The electronic structure of the molecular compound (TTM-TTP)I_3, which exhibits a peculiar intra-molecular charge ordering, has been studied using multi-configuration ab initio calculations. First we derive an effective Hubbard-type model based on the molecular orbitals (MOs) of TTM-TTP; we set up a two-orbital Hamiltonian for the two MOs near the Fermi energy and determine its full parameters: the transfer integrals, the Coulomb and exchange interactions. The tight-binding band structure obtained from these transfer integrals is consistent with the result of the direct band calculation based on density functional theory. Then, by decomposing the frontier MOs into two parts, i.e., fragments, we find that the stacked TTM-TTP molecules can be described by a two-leg ladder model, while the inter-fragment Coulomb energies are scaled to the inverse of their distances. This result indicates that the fragment picture that we proposed earlier [M.-L. Bonnet et al.: J. Chem. Phys. 132 (2010) 214705] successfully describes the low-energy properties of this compound.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, published versio