Comparison of the Sapien 3 versus the ACURATE neo valve system: A propensity score analysis

Objectives: To compare the outcomes of transfemoral ACURATE neo (NEO) and Sapien 3 (S3) patients in terms of device success and clinical safety outcomes using a propensity score analysis. Background: Differences in clinical outcomes between the latest-generation balloon-expandable S3 and self-expanding NEO in a “real-world transfemoral TAVI population” are still unclear. Methods: We compared up to 6 months clinical outcomes using a propensity s

The role of soil carbon sequestration in enhancing human resilience in tackling global crises including pandemics

International audienc

Local Ultrasound-Facilitated Thrombolysis in High-Risk Pulmonary Embolism: First Dutch Experience

Purpose To provide insight into the current use and results of ultrasound-facilitated catheter-directed thrombolysis (USAT) in patients with high-risk pulmonary embolism (PE). Introduction Systemic thrombolysis is an effective treatment for hemodynamically unstable, high-risk PE, but is associated with bleeding complications. USAT is thought to reduce bleeding and is therefore advocated in patients with high-risk PE and contraindications for systemic thrombolysis. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all patients who underwent USAT for high-risk PE in the Netherlands from 2010 to 2017. Characteristics and outcomes were analyzed. Primary outcomes were major (including intracranial and fatal) bleeding and all-cause mortality after 1 month. Secondary outcomes were allcause mortality and recurrent venous thromboembolism within 3 months. Results 33 patients underwent USAT for high-risk PE. Major bleeding occurred in 12 patients (36%, 95% CI 22–53), including 1 intracranial and 3 fatal bleeding. Allcause mortality after 1 month was 48% (16/33, 95% CI 31–66). All-cause mortality after 3 months was 50% (16/ 32, 95% CI 34–66), recurrent venous thromboembolism occurred in 1 patient (1/32, 3%, 95% CI 1–16). Conclusions This study was the first to describe characteristics and outcomes after USAT in a study population of patients with high-risk PE only, an understudied population. Although USAT is considered a relatively safe treatment option, our results illustrate that at least caution is needed in critically ill patients with high-risk PE. Further research in patients with high-risk PE is warranted to guide patient selection

Gravitational Lensing by Black Holes

We review the theoretical aspects of gravitational lensing by black holes, and discuss the perspectives for realistic observations. We will first treat lensing by spherically symmetric black holes, in which the formation of infinite sequences of higher order images emerges in the clearest way. We will then consider the effects of the spin of the black hole, with the formation of giant higher order caustics and multiple images. Finally, we will consider the perspectives for observations of black hole lensing, from the detection of secondary images of stellar sources and spots on the accretion disk to the interpretation of iron K-lines and direct imaging of the shadow of the black hole.Comment: Invited article for the GRG special issue on lensing (P. Jetzer, Y. Mellier and V. Perlick Eds.). 31 pages, 12 figure

Maintenance of broad neutralizing antibodies and memory B cells 1 year post-infection is predicted by SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ T cell responses

Understanding the long-term maintenance of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) immunity is critical for predicting protection against reinfection. In an age- and gender-matched cohort of 24 participants, the association of disease severity and early immune responses on the maintenance of humoral immunity 12 months post-infection is examined. All severely affected participants maintain a stable subset of SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD)-specific memory B cells (MBCs) and good neutralizing antibody breadth against the majority of the variants of concern, including the Delta variant. Modeling these immune responses against vaccine efficacy data indicate a 45%–76% protection against symptomatic infection (variant dependent). Overall, these findings indicate durable humoral responses in most participants after infection, reasonable protection against reinfection, and implicate baseline antigen-specific CD4+ T cell responses as a predictor of maintenance of antibody neutralization breadth and RBD-specific MBC levels at 12 months post-infection.Harikrishnan Balachandran, Chansavath Phetsouphanh, David Agapiou, Anurag Adhikari, Chaturaka Rodrigo, Mohamed Hammoud, Lok Bahadur Shrestha, Elizabeth Keoshkerian, Money Gupta, Stuart Turville, Daniel Christ, Cecile King, Sarah C. Sasson, Adam Bartlett, Branka Grubor-Bauk, William Rawlinson, Anupriya Aggarwal, Alberto Ospina Stella, Vera Klemm, Michael M. Mina, Jeffrey J. Post, Bernard Hudson, Nicky Gilroy, Pam Konecny, Golo Ahlenstiel, Dominic E. Dwyer, Tania C. Sorrell, Anthony Kelleher, Nicodemus Tedla, Andrew R. Lloyd, Marianne Martinello, Rowena A. Bull, and on behalf of the COSIN Study Grou

State of the climate in 2013

In 2013, the vast majority of the monitored climate variables reported here maintained trends established in recent decades. ENSO was in a neutral state during the entire year, remaining mostly on the cool side of neutral with modest impacts on regional weather patterns around the world. This follows several years dominated by the effects of either La Niña or El Niño events. According to several independent analyses, 2013 was again among the 10 warmest years on record at the global scale, both at the Earths surface and through the troposphere. Some regions in the Southern Hemisphere had record or near-record high temperatures for the year. Australia observed its hottest year on record, while Argentina and New Zealand reported their second and third hottest years, respectively. In Antarctica, Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station reported its highest annual temperature since records began in 1957. At the opposite pole, the Arctic observed its seventh warmest year since records began in the early 20th century. At 20-m depth, record high temperatures were measured at some permafrost stations on the North Slope of Alaska and in the Brooks Range. In the Northern Hemisphere extratropics, anomalous meridional atmospheric circulation occurred throughout much of the year, leading to marked regional extremes of both temperature and precipitation. Cold temperature anomalies during winter across Eurasia were followed by warm spring temperature anomalies, which were linked to a new record low Eurasian snow cover extent in May. Minimum sea ice extent in the Arctic was the sixth lowest since satellite observations began in 1979. Including 2013, all seven lowest extents on record have occurred in the past seven years. Antarctica, on the other hand, had above-average sea ice extent throughout 2013, with 116 days of new daily high extent records, including a new daily maximum sea ice area of 19.57 million km2 reached on 1 October. ENSO-neutral conditions in the eastern central Pacific Ocean and a negative Pacific decadal oscillation pattern in the North Pacific had the largest impacts on the global sea surface temperature in 2013. The North Pacific reached a historic high temperature in 2013 and on balance the globally-averaged sea surface temperature was among the 10 highest on record. Overall, the salt content in nearsurface ocean waters increased while in intermediate waters it decreased. Global mean sea level continued to rise during 2013, on pace with a trend of 3.2 mm yr-1 over the past two decades. A portion of this trend (0.5 mm yr-1) has been attributed to natural variability associated with the Pacific decadal oscillation as well as to ongoing contributions from the melting of glaciers and ice sheets and ocean warming. Global tropical cyclone frequency during 2013 was slightly above average with a total of 94 storms, although the North Atlantic Basin had its quietest hurricane season since 1994. In the Western North Pacific Basin, Super Typhoon Haiyan, the deadliest tropical cyclone of 2013, had 1-minute sustained winds estimated to be 170 kt (87.5 m s-1) on 7 November, the highest wind speed ever assigned to a tropical cyclone. High storm surge was also associated with Haiyan as it made landfall over the central Philippines, an area where sea level is currently at historic highs, increasing by 200 mm since 1970. In the atmosphere, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide all continued to increase in 2013. As in previous years, each of these major greenhouse gases once again reached historic high concentrations. In the Arctic, carbon dioxide and methane increased at the same rate as the global increase. These increases are likely due to export from lower latitudes rather than a consequence of increases in Arctic sources, such as thawing permafrost. At Mauna Loa, Hawaii, for the first time since measurements began in 1958, the daily average mixing ratio of carbon dioxide exceeded 400 ppm on 9 May. The state of these variables, along with dozens of others, and the 2013 climate conditions of regions around the world are discussed in further detail in this 24th edition of the State of the Climate series. © 2014, American Meteorological Society. All rights reserved

One-dimensional Tamm plasmons: Spatial confinement, propagation, and polarization properties

Tamm plasmons are confined optical states at the interface of a metal and a dielectric Bragg mirror. Unlike conventional surface plasmons, Tamm plasmons may be directly excited by an external light source in both TE and TM polarizations. Here we consider the one-dimensional propagation of Tamm plasmons under long and narrow metallic stripes deposited on top of a semiconductor Bragg mirror. The spatial confinement of the field imposed by the stripe and its impact on the structure and energy of Tamm modes are investigated. We show that the Tamm modes are coupled to surface plasmons arising at the stripe edges. These plasmons form an interference pattern close to the bottom surface of the stripe that involves modification of both the energy and loss rate for the Tamm mode. This phenomenon is pronounced only in the case of TE polarization of the Tamm mode. These findings pave the way to application of laterally confined Tamm plasmons in optical integrated circuits as well as to engineering potential traps for both Tamm modes and hybrid modes of Tamm plasmons and exciton polaritons with meV depth

Long-term persistence of RBD-positive memory B cells encoding neutralising antibodies in SARS-CoV-2 infection

Considerable concerns relating to the duration of protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 exist, with evidence of antibody titres declining rapidly after infection and reports of reinfection. Here we monitor the antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) for up to six months after infection. While antibody titres are maintained, about 13% of the cohort's neutralising responses return to background. However, encouragingly in a selected subset of 13 participants, 12 have detectable RBD-specific memory B cells and these generally are increasing out to 6 months. Furthermore, we are able to generate monoclonal antibodies with SARS-CoV-2 neutralising capacity from these memory B cells. Overall our study suggests that the loss of neutralising antibodies in plasma may be countered by the maintenance of neutralising capacity in the memory B cell repertoire.Arunasingam Abayasingam, Harikrishnan Balachandran, David Agapiou, Marianne Martinello, Rowena A. Bull, on Behalf of the COSIN Study Grou

SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies: Longevity, breadth, and evasion by emerging viral variants

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibody neutralization response and its evasion by emerging viral variants and variant of concern (VOC) are unknown, but critical to understand reinfection risk and breakthrough infection following vaccination. Antibody immunoreactivity against SARS-CoV-2 antigens and Spike variants, inhibition of Spike-driven virus–cell fusion, and infectious SARS-CoV-2 neutralization were characterized in 807 serial samples from 233 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)–confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) individuals with detailed demographics and followed up to 7 months. A broad and sustained polyantigenic immunoreactivity against SARS-CoV-2 Spike, Membrane, and Nucleocapsid proteins, along with high viral neutralization, was associated with COVID-19 severity. A subgroup of “high responders” maintained high neutralizing responses over time, representing ideal convalescent plasma donors. Antibodies generated against SARS-CoV-2 during the first COVID-19 wave had reduced immunoreactivity and neutralization potency to emerging Spike variants and VOC. Accurate monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses would be essential for selection of optimal responders and vaccine monitoring and design