Early Cretaceous absolute geomagnetic paleointensities from Córdoba province (Argentina)

We present here new paleointensity and geochronology results from Early Cretaceous volcanic rocks of Sierra Chica de Cordoba (Argentina). The new K-Ar isotopic ages of 5 samples range from 136 to 122 Ma. Twenty five samples from 7 individual flows yielded acceptable paleointensity estimates. The mean paleointensity values per flow are ranging from 53.0±1.9 to 25.4±2.6 μT and the corresponding Virtual Dipole Moments (VDMs) are ranging from 9.3±1.3 to 4.6±0.5 (1022 Am2). This corresponds to the mean value of 7.3±1.7x1022 Am2, which is compatible to the present geomagnetic axial dipole. Currently available selected paleointensity data from 80 to 130 Ma suggest that geomagnetic field strength frequently fluctuated before and during the Cretaceous Normal Superchron while the magnetic polarity maintained stable. The mean paleointensities derived from Cordoba lavas agree remarkably well with those obtained from the Parana Magmatic Province (133-132 Ma). This reinforces the hypothesis about the unreliability of ‘Mesozoic Dipole Low'.Fil: Cejudo Ruiz, Ruben. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Goguitchaichvili, Avto. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Geuna, Silvana Evangelina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Alva-Valdivia, Luis M.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Solé, Jesus. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Morales, Juan. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; Méxic

Incremental prognostic value of lung ultrasound on contemporary heart failure risk scores

Introduction: Over the last decades, several scores have been developed to aid clinicians in assessing prognosis in patients with heart failure (HF) based on clinical data, medications and, ultimately, biomarkers. Lung ultrasound (LUS) has emerged as a promising prognostic tool for patients when assessed at discharge after a HF hospitalization. We hypothesized that contemporary HF risk scores can be improved upon by the inclusion of the number of B-lines detected by LUS at discharge to predict death, urgent visit, or HF readmission at 6- month follow-up. Methods: We evaluated the discrimination improvement of adding the number of B-lines to 4 contemporary HF risk scores (Get with the Guidelines -GWTG-, MAGGIC, Redin-SCORE, and BCN Bio-HF) by comparing the change in the area under the receiver operating curve (AUC), the net reclassification index (NRI), and the integrated discrimination improvement (IDI). The population of the study was constituted by the 123 patients enrolled in the LUS-HF trial, adjusting the analyses by the intervention. Results: The AUC of the GWTG score increased from 0.682 to 0.789 (p = 0.02), resulting in a NRI of 0.608 and an IDI of 0.136 (p < 0.05). Similar results were observed when adding the number of B-lines to the MAGGIC score, with an AUC that increased from 0.705 to 0.787 (p < 0.05). This increase translated into a NRI of 0.608 and an IDI of 0.038 (p < 0.05). Regarding Redin-SCORE at 1-month and 1-year, the AUC increased from 0.714 to 0.773 and from 0.681 to 0.757, although it did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.08 and p = 0.06 respectively). Both IDI and NRI were significantly improved (0.093 and 0.509 in the 1-month score, p < 0.05; 0.056 and 0.111 in the 1-year score, p < 0.05). Lastly, the AUC for the BCN Bio-HF score increased from 0.733 to 0.772, which was statistically non-significant, with a NRI value of 0.363 (p = 0.06) and an IDI of 0.092 (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Adding the results of LUS evaluated at discharge improved the predictive value of most of the contemporary HF risk scores. As it is a simple, fast, and non-invasive test it may be recommended to assess prognosis at discharge in HF patients

Distinct mutational pattern of myelodysplastic syndromes with and without 5q– treated with lenalidomide

Financial support: This work was supported in part by a grant from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Economia y Competividad, Spain (PI/14/00013; PI/17/0575); 2017 SGR288 (GRC) Generalitat de Catalunya, economical support from CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya, Fundació Internacional Josep Carreras and from Celgene Spain. The research leading to this invention has received funding from ‘la Caixa’ Foundation. Laura Palomo and Jesus Maria Hernandez‐Sanchez are supported with a research grant by FEHH (Fundación Española de Hematología y Hemoterapia).Peer reviewe

Autoantibodies neutralizing type I IFNs are present in ~4% of uninfected individuals over 70 years old and account for ~20% of COVID-19 deaths

Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved.Circulating autoantibodies (auto-Abs) neutralizing high concentrations (10 ng/ml; in plasma diluted 1:10) of IFN-alpha and/or IFN-omega are found in about 10% of patients with critical COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pneumonia but not in individuals with asymptomatic infections. We detect auto-Abs neutralizing 100-fold lower, more physiological, concentrations of IFN-alpha and/or IFN-omega (100 pg/ml; in 1:10 dilutions of plasma) in 13.6% of 3595 patients with critical COVID-19, including 21% of 374 patients >80 years, and 6.5% of 522 patients with severe COVID-19. These antibodies are also detected in 18% of the 1124 deceased patients (aged 20 days to 99 years; mean: 70 years). Moreover, another 1.3% of patients with critical COVID-19 and 0.9% of the deceased patients have auto-Abs neutralizing high concentrations of IFN-beta. We also show, in a sample of 34,159 uninfected individuals from the general population, that auto-Abs neutralizing high concentrations of IFN-alpha and/or IFN-omega are present in 0.18% of individuals between 18 and 69 years, 1.1% between 70 and 79 years, and 3.4% >80 years. Moreover, the proportion of individuals carrying auto-Abs neutralizing lower concentrations is greater in a subsample of 10,778 uninfected individuals: 1% of individuals 80 years. By contrast, auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-beta do not become more frequent with age. Auto-Abs neutralizing type I IFNs predate SARS-CoV-2 infection and sharply increase in prevalence after the age of 70 years. They account for about 20% of both critical COVID-19 cases in the over 80s and total fatal COVID-19 cases.Peer reviewe

Autoantibodies against type I IFNs in patients with life-threatening COVID-19

Interindividual clinical variability in the course of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is vast. We report that at least 101 of 987 patients with life-threatening coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia had neutralizing immunoglobulin G (IgG) autoantibodies (auto-Abs) against interferon-w (IFN-w) (13 patients), against the 13 types of IFN-a (36), or against both (52) at the onset of critical disease; a few also had auto-Abs against the other three type I IFNs. The auto-Abs neutralize the ability of the corresponding type I IFNs to block SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro. These auto-Abs were not found in 663 individuals with asymptomatic or mild SARS-CoV-2 infection and were present in only 4 of 1227 healthy individuals. Patients with auto-Abs were aged 25 to 87 years and 95 of the 101 were men. A B cell autoimmune phenocopy of inborn errors of type I IFN immunity accounts for life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia in at least 2.6% of women and 12.5% of men