Large-scale phenotyping of patients with long COVID post-hospitalization reveals mechanistic subtypes of disease

One in ten severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections result in prolonged symptoms termed long coronavirus disease (COVID), yet disease phenotypes and mechanisms are poorly understood1. Here we profiled 368 plasma proteins in 657 participants ≥3 months following hospitalization. Of these, 426 had at least one long COVID symptom and 233 had fully recovered. Elevated markers of myeloid inflammation and complement activation were associated with long COVID. IL-1R2, MATN2 and COLEC12 were associated with cardiorespiratory symptoms, fatigue and anxiety/depression; MATN2, CSF3 and C1QA were elevated in gastrointestinal symptoms and C1QA was elevated in cognitive impairment. Additional markers of alterations in nerve tissue repair (SPON-1 and NFASC) were elevated in those with cognitive impairment and SCG3, suggestive of brain–gut axis disturbance, was elevated in gastrointestinal symptoms. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) was persistently elevated in some individuals with long COVID, but virus was not detected in sputum. Analysis of inflammatory markers in nasal fluids showed no association with symptoms. Our study aimed to understand inflammatory processes that underlie long COVID and was not designed for biomarker discovery. Our findings suggest that specific inflammatory pathways related to tissue damage are implicated in subtypes of long COVID, which might be targeted in future therapeutic trials

Impact of postpartum metritis on the regeneration of endometrial glands in dairy cows

The postpartum uterus involutes to its pre-pregnant and fully functional state within approximately 60 d after calving. Uterine glands are essential for fertility but little is known about their regeneration postpartum. Likewise, the effect of uterine disease (metritis) on gland regeneration is unknown. We hypothesized that uterine glands would be regenerated early postpartum and that metritis would be associated with slower gland regeneration to affect their numbers later postpartum during the breeding period. Postpartum dairy cows were diagnosed as healthy (n = 17 and 9 for experiment [Exp.] 1 and 2) or metritis (n = 17 and 10 for Exp. 1 and 2, respectively) at 7 to 10 d postpartum. Cows were slaughtered at approximately 1 mo (Exp. 1) or approximately 80 or 165 d (Exp. 2) postpartum for the collection of the uterus. Uterine tissue was sectioned and the number of glandular cross-sections per unit area was counted and cross-sectional area measured. Cellular proliferation within the luminal epithelium (LE) and glandular epithelium (GE) was quantified by MKI67 (marker of cellular proliferation) immunohistochemistry. In early postpartum cows (Exp. 1), the greatest amount of MKI67 staining was found in the deep endometrium (cells closest to the myometrium). Cows with purulent material in the uterine lumen at d 30 slaughter (Exp. 1) had fewer endometrial glands per unit area in the deep and middle endometrium when compared with nonpurulent cows. The MKI67 staining was less in the deep endometrial GE and LE for purulent compared with nonpurulent cows. Estrus cyclicity was associated with a greater number of gland cross-sections in the deep and middle endometrium. Later postpartum (80 and 165 d; Exp. 2), there was greater glandular development compared with Exp. 1 and a tendency for a lesser number of gland cross-sections per unit area in diseased cows without an effect on MKI67 staining in the GE or LE. We conclude that uterine disease slows the development of uterine glands early postpartum (by 1 mo) through a mechanism that involves cellular proliferation within the GE. The impact of the early postpartum disease on glandular development later postpartum (Exp. 2) appeared to be less. Additional time, therefore, may allow recovery of the GE in later postpartum cows

POWSIM_input_sample_size_frequencies

The Excel file ‘POWSIM_input_sample_size_frequencies.xlsx’ contains the input data used for the power analysis of the genetic markers conducted in POWSIM v4.1 (Ryman & Palm 2006). The file contains two tables, one table entitled ‘Cyprus’ which contains the sample sizes and the CR, HR haplotype and microsatellite allele frequencies pertaining to this study. The second table entitled ‘Roberts (2004)’ contains the sample sizes and approximate allele frequencies used in the global assessment of green turtle genetic structure (Roberts et al. 2004)

Capturing Behaviour for the Use of Avatars in Virtual Environments

Avatars, representations of people in virtual environments, are subject to human control. However, for most applications, it is impractical for a person to directly control each joint in a complex avatar. Rather, people must be allowed to specify complex behaviours with simple instructions and the avatar permitted to select the correct movements in sequence to execute the instruction. This requires a variety of technologies that are currently available. Human behaviour must be captured and stored it so that it can be retrieved at a later time for use by the avatar. This has been done successfully with a variety of haptic interfaces, with visual observation of human head movements, and with verbal behaviour in natural language applications. The behaviour must be broken into atomic actions that can be sequenced with a regular grammar, and an appropriate grammar developed. Finally, a user interface must be developed so that a person can deliver instructions to the avatar

Data from: Defining conservation units with enhanced molecular tools to reveal fine scale structuring among Mediterranean green turtle rookeries

Understanding the connectivity among populations is a key research priority for species of conservation concern. Genetic tools are widely used for this purpose, but the results can be limited by the resolution of the genetic markers in relation to the species and geographic scale. Here, we investigate natal philopatry in green turtles (Chelonia mydas) from four rookeries within close geographic proximity (~ 200km) on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. We genotyped hypervariable mtSTRs, a mtDNA control region sequence (CR) and 13 microsatellite loci to genetically characterise 479 green turtles using markers with different modes of inheritance. We demonstrated matrilineal stock structure for the first time among Mediterranean green turtle rookeries. This result contradicts previous regional assessments and supports a growing body of evidence that green turtles exhibit a more precise level of natal site fidelity than has commonly been recognised. The microsatellites detected weak male philopatry with significant stock structure among three of the six pairwise comparisons. The absence of Atlantic CR haplotypes and mtSTRs among these robust sample sizes reaffirm the reproductive isolation of Mediterranean green turtles and supports their status as a subpopulation. A power analysis effectively demonstrated that the mtDNA genetic markers previously employed to evaluate regional stock identity were confounded by an insufficient resolution considering the recent colonisation of this region. These findings improve the regional understanding of stock connectivity and illustrate the importance of using suitable genetic markers to define appropriate units for management and conservation

Mediterranean green turtle population recovery increasingly depends on Lake Bardawil, Egypt

To assign conservation status to a population, its size, trends, and distribution must be estimated. The Mediterranean green turtle population has shown signs of recovering over the past decade, likely in response to nest protection, but satellite tracking suggests adult foraging remains largely restricted to only a few key sites in the eastern Mediterranean. Previous research suggested that the majority of green turtles nesting at an important rookery in Cyprus, forage in Lake Bardawil, Egypt making an observed population increase dependent on this important site, which is under a high degree of anthropogenic maintenance. Here we provide new data that further demonstrates the importance of Lake Bardawil to green turtles that nest at other major rookeries on Cyprus, in the Karpaz Peninsula, with 74 % of satellite tracked females (n = 19) migrating to this key site. We also report on the first systematic nest counts for this area in over two decades and identify the inter-nesting habitat used by females nesting at these important beaches on the north and south coasts of the Peninsula. Comparing the oldest available 3-year nest count averages (1993–1995), with nest counts undertaken as part of this study (2017–2019), mean annual nest numbers increased from 186 to 554, an increase of 198 %. Our data confirm the continued importance of these beaches for the Mediterranean green turtle population and underscore the reliance of this endangered population on a man-made lagoon for recent increases in clutch counts at monitored beaches. The results highlight the utility of satellite telemetry to inform conservation status assessments and establishing conservation at both nesting and foraging sites across the population

Unfiltered_microsatellite_genotypes_CR_mtSTRs_HR_haplotypes

The Excel file ‘Unfiltered_Microsatellite_genotypes_CR_mtSTRs_HR_haplotypes.xlsx’ contains the CR haplotypes, the mtSTRs, the HR haplotypes and genotypes at 13 microsatellite loci of all individuals used in the COLONY2 (Wang 2004, Jones & Wang 2010) analyses to remove putative relatives before the analysis of genetic structur

Filtered_Microsatellite_genotypes_CR_mtSTRs_HR_haplotypes

The Excel file ‘Filtered_Microsatellite_genotypes_CR_mtSTRs_HR_haplotypes.xlsx’ contains the CR haplotypes, the mtSTRs, the HR haplotypes and genotypes at 13 microsatellite loci of all individuals used in the analyses to detect genetic structure in Arlequin v3.5.2.3 (Excoffier & Lischer 2010, GenAlEX v6.5 (Peakall & Smouse 2006, 2012), STRUCTURE v2.3 (Pritchard et al. 2000) and Geneland (Guillot et al. 2005)