BRYOPHYTES OF MOUNT PATUHA, WEST JAVA, INDONESIA

GRADSTEIN, R. et al. 2010. Bryophytes of Mount Patuha, West Java, Indonesia. Reinwardtia 13(2): 107-123. - This paper presents the results of a two-day survey of the bryophyte flora of Mt. Patuha and its surroundings near Bandung, West Java, carried out in the framework of the 5th regional training course on bryophyte and lichen diversity and conservation organized by SEAMEO BIOTROP, Bogor, in July 2009. A total of 159 bryophyte species were identified, including 98 mosses, 60 liverworts, and 1 hornwort, representing almost 1/6 of the total bryophyte flora of Java. Three moss species, Bryohumbertia subcomosa (Dix.) J.-P. Frahm, Fissidens gymnogynus Besch. and F. polypodioides Hedw., and one liverwort, Lejeunea pectinella Mizut., are new additions to the Javanese flora. The bryophyte diversity of Mt. Patuha is well representative of the Malesian flora and is rich in uncommon species. However, the relatively poor representation of shade epiphytes and commonness of sun epiphytes and generalists reflect disturbance of the forest by anthropogenic activities. Careful attention should be given to conservation of the remaining natural forest in order to prevent further losses of the rich bryophyte diversity of the area

TextANIMAR: Text-based 3D Animal Fine-Grained Retrieval

3D object retrieval is an important yet challenging task, which has drawn more and more attention in recent years. While existing approaches have made strides in addressing this issue, they are often limited to restricted settings such as image and sketch queries, which are often unfriendly interactions for common users. In order to overcome these limitations, this paper presents a novel SHREC challenge track focusing on text-based fine-grained retrieval of 3D animal models. Unlike previous SHREC challenge tracks, the proposed task is considerably more challenging, requiring participants to develop innovative approaches to tackle the problem of text-based retrieval. Despite the increased difficulty, we believe that this task has the potential to drive useful applications in practice and facilitate more intuitive interactions with 3D objects. Five groups participated in our competition, submitting a total of 114 runs. While the results obtained in our competition are satisfactory, we note that the challenges presented by this task are far from being fully solved. As such, we provide insights into potential areas for future research and improvements. We believe that we can help push the boundaries of 3D object retrieval and facilitate more user-friendly interactions via vision-language technologies.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2304.0573

Revision and checklist of the moss families Bartramiaceae and Mniaceae in Vietnam.

The genera Fleischerobryum Loeske and Philonotis Brid. of the Bartramiaceae and the family Mniaceae (excluding Pohlia Hedw.) are revised for Vietnam, based on specimens studied and literature reports. Four species are added to the flora: Orthomnion javense (M.Fleisch.) T.J.Kop., Philonotis asperifolia Mitt., P. laii T.J.Kop., P. speciosa (Griff.) Mitt. syn. nov. (based on P. mercieriParis & Broth.), and Plagiomnium wui (T.J.Kop.) Y.J.Yi & S.He. Eight species are excluded from the flora. Two taxa are considered doubtful. The flora now includes one species of Fleischerobryum, eight species of Philonotis, one species of Mnium Hedw. (doubtful), three species of Orthomnion Wills. and five species of Plagiomnium (one doubtful). The 15 species are divided into phytogeographical elements. Eight belong to the Southeast Asiatic temperate to meridional element, and seven to the Southeast Asiatic meridional to subtropical element. One species is pantropical and one is pansubtropical. The new finds widen the distribution range of several species that were previously known only from North or South Vietnam.Peer reviewe

Revision of the fern genus Orthiopteris (Saccolomataceae) in Malesia and adjacent regions

A taxonomic revision of the Old-World representatives of the fern genus Orthiopteris is presented. We recognize eight species, one of which is newly described (Orthiopteris samoensis), and five varieties, of which two are newly described (O. campylura var. insularis and O. campylura var. laxa). Orthiopteris acuminata, O. caudata, O. minor and O. kingii are all reduced to varieties of O. campylura

Evaluation of the Xpert MTB Host Response assay for the triage of patients with presumed pulmonary tuberculosis: a prospective diagnostic accuracy study in Viet Nam, India, the Philippines, Uganda, and South Africa

BackgroundNon-sputum-based triage tests for tuberculosis are a priority for ending tuberculosis. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the late-prototype Xpert MTB Host Response (Xpert HR) blood-based assay.MethodsWe conducted a prospective diagnostic accuracy study among outpatients with presumed tuberculosis in outpatient clinics in Viet Nam, India, the Philippines, Uganda, and South Africa. Eligible participants were aged 18 years or older and reported cough lasting at least 2 weeks. We excluded those receiving tuberculosis treatment in the preceding 12 months and those who were unwilling to consent. Xpert HR was performed on capillary or venous blood. Reference standard testing included sputum Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra and mycobacterial culture. We performed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to identify the optimal cutoff value for the Xpert HR to achieve the target sensitivity of 90% or more while maximising specificity, then calculated diagnostic accuracy using this cutoff value. This study was prospectively registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04923958.FindingsBetween July 13, 2021, and Aug 15, 2022, 2046 adults with at least 2 weeks of cough were identified, of whom 1499 adults (686 [45·8%] females and 813 [54·2%] males) had valid Xpert HR and reference standard results. 329 (21·9%) had microbiologically confirmed tuberculosis. Xpert HR had an area under the ROC curve of 0·89 (95% CI 0·86-0·91). The optimal cutoff value was less than or equal to -1·25, giving a sensitivity of 90·3% (95% CI 86·5-93·3; 297 of 329) and a specificity of 62·6% (95% CI 59·7-65·3; 732 of 1170). Sensitivity was similar across countries, by sex, and by subgroups, although specificity was lower in people living with HIV (45·1%, 95% CI 37·8-52·6) than in those not living with HIV (65·9%, 62·8-68·8; difference of 20·8%, 95% CI 13·0-28·6; p<0·0001). Xpert HR had high negative predictive value (95·8%, 95% CI 94·1-97·1), but positive predictive value was only 40·1% (95% CI 36·8-44·1). Using the Xpert HR as a triage test would have reduced confirmatory sputum testing by 57·3% (95% CI 54·2-60·4).InterpretationXpert HR did not meet WHO minimum specificity targets for a non-sputum-based triage test for pulmonary tuberculosis. Despite promise as a rule-out test that could reduce confirmatory sputum testing, further cost-effectiveness modelling and data on acceptability and usability are needed to inform policy recommendations.FundingNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the US National Institutes of Health.TranslationsFor the Vietnamese and Tagalog translations of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section