Adaptive migratory orientation of an invasive pest on a new continent

Many species of insects undertake long-range, seasonally reversed migrations, displaying sophisticated orientation behaviors to optimize their migratory trajectories. However, when invasive insects arrive in new biogeographical regions, it is unclear if migrants retain (or how quickly they regain) ancestral migratory traits, such as seasonally preferred flight headings. Here we present behavioral evidence that an invasive migratory pest, the fall armyworm moth (Spodoptera frugiperda), a native of the Americas, exhibited locally adaptive migratory orientation less than three years after arriving on a new continent. Specimens collected from China showed flight orientations directed north-northwest in spring and southwest in autumn, and this would promote seasonal forward and return migrations in East Asia. We also show that the driver of the seasonal switch in orientation direction is photoperiod. Our results thus provide a clear example of an invasive insect that has rapidly exhibited adaptive migratory behaviors, either inherited or newly evolved, in a completely alien environment

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Thresholded smoothed ℓ0 norm for accelerated sparse recovery

Smoothed ℓ<inf>0</inf> norm (SL0) is a fast and complex domain extendible sparse recovery algorithm which is suitable for many practical real-time applications. In this letter, we propose an improved algorithm termed 'Thresholded Smoothed ℓ<inf>0</inf> Norm (T-SL0) ' for accelerating the iterative process of SL0. T-SL0 introduces an iterative efficiency indicator and compares it with a preset threshold in real time to determine whether or not the current iteration should be executed. Through identifying and bypassing low efficient iterations, our approach converges much faster than the original SL0 algorithm. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate that our approach can accelerate SL0 significantly without loss of accuracy. © 2015 IEEE

Comparison Between Wavelet Spectral Features and Conventional Spectral Features in Detecting Yellow Rust for Winter Wheat

Detection of yellow rust is of great importance in disease control and reducing the use of fungicide. Spectral analysis is an important method for disease detection in terms of remote sensing. In this study, an emerging spectral analysis method known as continuous wavelet analysis (CWA) was examined and compared with several conventional spectral features for the detection of yellow rust disease at a leaf level. The leaf spectral measurements were made by a spectroradiometer at both Zodaks 37 and 70 stages with a large sample size. The results showed that the wavelet features were able to capture the major spectral signatures of yellow rust, and exhibited considerable potential for disease detection at both growth stages. Both the accuracies of the univariate and multivariate models suggested that wavelet features outperformed conventional spectral features in quantifying disease severity at leaf level. Optimal accuracies returned a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.81 and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.110 for pooled data at both stages. Furthermore, wavelet features showed a stronger response to the yellow rust at Zodaks 70 stage than at Zodaks 37 stage, indicating reliable estimation of disease severity can be made until the Zodaks 70 stage

Lateral organization of complex lipid mixtures from multiscale modeling

The organizational properties of complex lipid mixtures can give rise to functionally important structures in cell membranes. In model membranes, ternary lipid-cholesterol (CHOL) mixtures are often used as representative systems to investigate the formation and stabilization of localized structural domains (“rafts”). In this work, we describe a self-consistent mean-field model that builds on molecular dynamics simulations to incorporate multiple lipid components and to investigate the lateral organization of such mixtures. The model predictions reveal regions of bimodal order on ternary plots that are in good agreement with experiment. Specifically, we have applied the model to ternary mixtures composed of dioleoylphosphatidylcholine:18:0 sphingomyelin:CHOL. This work provides insight into the specific intermolecular interactions that drive the formation of localized domains in these mixtures. The model makes use of molecular dynamics simulations to extract interaction parameters and to provide chain configuration order parameter libraries