Avian Influenza in Wild Birds, Central Coast of Peru

To determine genotypes of avian influenza virus circulating among wild birds in South America, we collected and tested environmental fecal samples from birds along the coast of Peru, June 2006–December 2007. The 9 isolates recovered represented 4 low-pathogenicity avian influenza strains: subtypes H3N8, H4N5, H10N9, and H13N2

Insight into the conformational space of n-benzyl-n-(furan-2-ylmethyl)acetamide by NMR spectroscopy and DFT calculations

In this study, the conformational behavior of N-benzyl-N-(furan-2-ylmethyl) acetamide in chloroform was addressed by using a combined experimental/theoretical strategy using NMR spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations. The 1H and 13C one‑dimensional NMR spectra, as well as the two-dimensional HSQC-DEPT and HMBC-DEPT NMR spectra, evinced the presence of a hindered cis(E)-trans(Z) rotational equilibrium in solution. DFT calculations were performed at different theoretical levels using the polarizable continuum model (PCM) and predicted nine (four Z and five E structures) stable conformations. The interconversion dynamics among the different confirmations were established in terms of four different rotational equilibria in CDCl3. The chemical shifts in the 1H and 13C NMR spectra of the compound are similar to the values calculated for the two most abundant conformational equilibria at room temperature, one caused by two Z rotamers and the other by two E rotamers. The compound was also characterized for the first time by FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, and GC/MS spectrometry. Additionally, several acylation methodologies for synthesizing the title compound from N-benzyl-1-(furan-2-yl)methanamine were tested which resulted in high yields (> 90%) under very convenient conditions (10 min, at room temperature).Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicada

Manejo de heridas por trauma en el servicio de urgencias

Todas las heridas, con independencia de su gravedad, pueden ser la consecuencia de un trastorno subyacente serio o la manifestación de una lesión con amenaza vital o para una extremidad. En dos publicaciones de la organización mundial de la salud se destaca que, a nivel mundial cada año mueren por traumatismos más de cinco millones de personas, lo cual representa una de cada 10 defunciones. El presente estudio es de tipo cuantitativo, descriptivo y de corte longitudinal – prospectivo, que nace de la necesidad de conocer el manejo, cuidado específico y tratamiento que se está llevando en la herida, para protocolizar el manejo de las heridas en urgencias de adultos de la Empresa Social del Estado Hospital Universitario Erasmo Meoz (ESE HUEM), y que sirva como base para crear la clínica de la herida en este servicio. La muestra se obtuvo por un muestreo no probabilístico por conveniencia y la recolección de información fue por observación y registro en lista de chequeo; se analizaron 49 pacientes que ingresaron al servicio de urgencias durante el mes de noviembre de 2007, con heridas por trauma; de esta muestra el 65% eran de sexo masculino; la mayor proporción de pacientes se encontraba en edades de los 15 – 25 años con un 37%. Sus profesiones en su mayoría eran comerciantes y albañiles con un 20% cada una; 25 pacientes consumen alcohol y/o tabaco. En cuanto a la técnica de limpieza de la herida la realiza la auxiliar de enfermería con un 42% y la técnica como tal es inadecuada en el 47% de los casos; en general se realiza una adecuada exploración de la herida y una buena elección de la sutura y la aguja a utilizar. Palabras claves: Valoración de Heridas, Técnica aséptica, Sutura.SUMMARYAll the wounds, independently of their gravity, can be the consequence of a serious underlying upheaval or the manifestation of an injury with vital threat or for an extremity. In two  publications of theWHOone stands out that, at world-wide level every year die by traumatismos more than five million people, which represents one of each 10 deaths. The present study is of type Quantitative, Descriptive and of longitudinal section - Prospective, that it is born of the necessity to know the handling, specific care and treatment that is taking in the wound, to formalize the handling of the wounds in Urgencies of Adults of that University Hospital Erasmo Meoz, that serves as it bases to create the Clinic of the  Wound for this service. The sample it was obtained by Sampling non Probabilístico by Convenience and the information harvesting was by observation and registry in control list,  49 patients who entered to the service of urgencies during the month of November of 2007, with hurt by trauma analyzed themselves; of this sample 65% were of masculine sex; the greater proportion of patients was in ages of the 15 - 25 years with a 37%. Their professions in their majority were retailers and bricklayers with a 20% each one; 25 patients consume Alcohol and/or Tobacco; as far as the technique of cleaning of the wound it makes the Aid of Infirmary with a 42% and the technique as so she is Inadequate in 47% of the cases; in general it is made a suitable exploration of the wound and a good election of the suture. Key Words: Valuation of Wounds, aseptic Technique, and Suture

Crystal structure, spectroscopic characterization and Hirshfeld surface analysis of aquadichlorido{N- [(pyridin-2-yl)methylidene]aniline}copper(II) monohydrate

The reaction of N-phenyl-1-(pyridin-2-yl)methanimine with copper chloride dihydrate produced the title neutral complex, [CuCl2(C12H10N2)(H2O)]·H2O. The CuII ion is five-coordinated in a distorted square-pyramidal geometry, in which the two N atoms of the bidentate Schiff base, as well as one chloro and a water mol­ecule, form the irregular base of the pyramidal structure. Meanwhile, the apical chloride ligand inter­acts through a strong hydrogen bond with a water mol­ecule of crystallization. In the crystal, mol­ecules are arranged in pairs, forming a stacking of symmetrical cyclic dimers that inter­act in turn through strong hydrogen bonds between the chloride ligands and both the coordinated and the crystallization water mol­ecules. The mol­ecular and electronic structures of the complex were also studied in detail using EPR (continuous and pulsed), FT–IR and Raman spectroscopy, as well as magnetization measurements. Likewise, Hirshfeld surface analysis was used to investigate the inter­molecular inter­actions in the crystal packing.Centro de Química InorgánicaInstituto de Física La Plat

Association between convalescent plasma treatment and mortality in COVID-19: a collaborative systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.

Funder: laura and john arnold foundationBACKGROUND: Convalescent plasma has been widely used to treat COVID-19 and is under investigation in numerous randomized clinical trials, but results are publicly available only for a small number of trials. The objective of this study was to assess the benefits of convalescent plasma treatment compared to placebo or no treatment and all-cause mortality in patients with COVID-19, using data from all available randomized clinical trials, including unpublished and ongoing trials (Open Science Framework, https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/GEHFX ). METHODS: In this collaborative systematic review and meta-analysis, clinical trial registries (ClinicalTrials.gov, WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform), the Cochrane COVID-19 register, the LOVE database, and PubMed were searched until April 8, 2021. Investigators of trials registered by March 1, 2021, without published results were contacted via email. Eligible were ongoing, discontinued and completed randomized clinical trials that compared convalescent plasma with placebo or no treatment in COVID-19 patients, regardless of setting or treatment schedule. Aggregated mortality data were extracted from publications or provided by investigators of unpublished trials and combined using the Hartung-Knapp-Sidik-Jonkman random effects model. We investigated the contribution of unpublished trials to the overall evidence. RESULTS: A total of 16,477 patients were included in 33 trials (20 unpublished with 3190 patients, 13 published with 13,287 patients). 32 trials enrolled only hospitalized patients (including 3 with only intensive care unit patients). Risk of bias was low for 29/33 trials. Of 8495 patients who received convalescent plasma, 1997 died (23%), and of 7982 control patients, 1952 died (24%). The combined risk ratio for all-cause mortality was 0.97 (95% confidence interval: 0.92; 1.02) with between-study heterogeneity not beyond chance (I2 = 0%). The RECOVERY trial had 69.8% and the unpublished evidence 25.3% of the weight in the meta-analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Convalescent plasma treatment of patients with COVID-19 did not reduce all-cause mortality. These results provide strong evidence that convalescent plasma treatment for patients with COVID-19 should not be used outside of randomized trials. Evidence synthesis from collaborations among trial investigators can inform both evidence generation and evidence application in patient care

Second GHEP-ISFG exercise for DVI: “DNA-led” victims’ identification in a simulated air crash

The Spanish and Portuguese-Speaking Working Group of the International Society for Forensic Genetics (GHEP-ISFG) has organized a second collaborative exercise on a simulated case of Disaster Victim Identification (DVI), with the participation of eighteen laboratories. The exercise focused on the analysis of a simulated plane crash case of medium-size resulting in 66 victims with varying degrees of fragmentation of the bodies (with commingled remains). As an additional difficulty, this second exercise included 21 related victims belonging to 6 families among the 66 missings to be identified. A total number of 228 post-mortem samples were represented with aSTR and mtDNA profiles, with a proportion of partial aSTR profiles simulating charred remains. To perform the exercise, participants were provided with aSTR and mtDNA data of 51 reference pedigrees —some of which deficient—including 128 donors for identification purposes. The exercise consisted firstly in the comparison of the post-mortem genetic profiles in order to re-associate fragmented remains to the same individual and secondly in the identification of the re-associated remains by comparing aSTR and mtDNA profiles with reference pedigrees using pre-established thresholds to report a positive identification. Regarding the results of the post-mortem samples re-associations, only a small number of discrepancies among participants were detected, all of which were from just a few labs. However, in the identification process by kinship analysis with family references, there were more discrepancies in comparison to the correct results. The identification results of single victims yielded fewer problems than the identification of multiple related victims within the same family groups. Several reasons for the discrepant results were detected: a) the identity/non-identity hypotheses were sometimes wrongly expressed in the likelihood ratio calculations, b) some laboratories failed to use all family references to report the DNA match, c) In families with several related victims, some laboratories firstly identified some victims and then unnecessarily used their genetic information to identify the remaining victims within the family, d) some laboratories did not correctly use “prior odds” values for the Bayesian treatment of the episode for both post-mortem/post-mortem re-associations as well as the ante-mortem/post-mortem comparisons to evaluate the probability of identity. For some of the above reasons, certain laboratories failed to identify some victims. This simulated “DNA-led” identification exercise may help forensic genetic laboratories to gain experience and expertize for DVI or MPI in using genetic data and comparing their own results with the ones in this collaborative exercise.This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.Peer reviewe

Global patterns in monthly activity of influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza virus, and metapneumovirus: a systematic analysis

Background: Influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza virus, and metapneumovirus are the most common viruses associated with acute lower respiratory infections in young children (<5 years) and older people (≥65 years). A global report of the monthly activity of these viruses is needed to inform public health strategies and programmes for their control. Methods: In this systematic analysis, we compiled data from a systematic literature review of studies published between Jan 1, 2000, and Dec 31, 2017; online datasets; and unpublished research data. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they reported laboratory-confirmed incidence data of human infection of influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza virus, or metapneumovirus, or a combination of these, for at least 12 consecutive months (or 52 weeks equivalent); stable testing practice throughout all years reported; virus results among residents in well-defined geographical locations; and aggregated virus results at least on a monthly basis. Data were extracted through a three-stage process, from which we calculated monthly annual average percentage (AAP) as the relative strength of virus activity. We defined duration of epidemics as the minimum number of months to account for 75% of annual positive samples, with each component month defined as an epidemic month. Furthermore, we modelled monthly AAP of influenza virus and respiratory syncytial virus using site-specific temperature and relative humidity for the prediction of local average epidemic months. We also predicted global epidemic months of influenza virus and respiratory syncytial virus on a 5° by 5° grid. The systematic review in this study is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42018091628. Findings: We initally identified 37 335 eligible studies. Of 21 065 studies remaining after exclusion of duplicates, 1081 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility, of which 185 were identified as eligible. We included 246 sites for influenza virus, 183 sites for respiratory syncytial virus, 83 sites for parainfluenza virus, and 65 sites for metapneumovirus. Influenza virus had clear seasonal epidemics in winter months in most temperate sites but timing of epidemics was more variable and less seasonal with decreasing distance from the equator. Unlike influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus had clear seasonal epidemics in both temperate and tropical regions, starting in late summer months in the tropics of each hemisphere, reaching most temperate sites in winter months. In most temperate sites, influenza virus epidemics occurred later than respiratory syncytial virus (by 0·3 months [95% CI −0·3 to 0·9]) while no clear temporal order was observed in the tropics. Parainfluenza virus epidemics were found mostly in spring and early summer months in each hemisphere. Metapneumovirus epidemics occurred in late winter and spring in most temperate sites but the timing of epidemics was more diverse in the tropics. Influenza virus epidemics had shorter duration (3·8 months [3·6 to 4·0]) in temperate sites and longer duration (5·2 months [4·9 to 5·5]) in the tropics. Duration of epidemics was similar across all sites for respiratory syncytial virus (4·6 months [4·3 to 4·8]), as it was for metapneumovirus (4·8 months [4·4 to 5·1]). By comparison, parainfluenza virus had longer duration of epidemics (6·3 months [6·0 to 6·7]). Our model had good predictability in the average epidemic months of influenza virus in temperate regions and respiratory syncytial virus in both temperate and tropical regions. Through leave-one-out cross validation, the overall prediction error in the onset of epidemics was within 1 month (influenza virus −0·2 months [−0·6 to 0·1]; respiratory syncytial virus 0·1 months [−0·2 to 0·4]). Interpretation: This study is the first to provide global representations of month-by-month activity of influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza virus, and metapneumovirus. Our model is helpful in predicting the local onset month of influenza virus and respiratory syncytial virus epidemics. The seasonality information has important implications for health services planning, the timing of respiratory syncytial virus passive prophylaxis, and the strategy of influenza virus and future respiratory syncytial virus vaccination. Funding: European Union Innovative Medicines Initiative Respiratory Syncytial Virus Consortium in Europe (RESCEU)

Sondages archéologiques sur des structures présumées à rouir le chanvre, époque moderne

The discovery of several excavated and masonry structures looking like wells with stairs, in a garden-refuge, motivated the carrying out of archaeological surveys as part of an operation to attempt to determine the function and chronology of these structures. Considering the toponymy of the place “Les Chènevières” ("The Hemp Fields"), the hypothesis was posed of structures used for retting hemp.The 3 accessible structures were topographed, recorded by photogrammetric acquisition and tested by sediment cores. One of the three was manually probed by 2 exterior probes against the masonry and at the top of the staircase, and a sounding in the bottom deposit. The bottom of the three structures is located at the same level altimeter, to within 10 cm, which is an indication of their contemporaneity, and of their identical use.The core drilling showed, at the bottom of each structure, more or less organic deposits of varying thickness, the one chosen to be manually probed presents a deposit of approximately 1.2 m in power, the largest of the three.Manual surveys showed lime-related masonry and a significant subcurrent deposit in the bottom. The bottom is laid out with a sort of foundation made of wooden planks on which the masonry rests. A casing coarse wooden planks appear inserted and go deeper than the foundation. Wood samples were taken from the foundation and were radiocarbon dated, indicating a range between the end of the 17th century and the 1940s, with a higher probability between 1798 and 1942. The structure tested would therefore not be earlier in the nineteenth century.Two sediment samples from the lowest organic layers from the core were used for a palynological analysis. The first result already arrived, concerning the lowest layer of the coring, showed a fairly low concentration of hemp pollen, which does not confirm the thesis of the retting, without however excluding it.La découverte de plusieurs structures excavées et maçonnées ressemblant à des puits dotés d’escaliers, par l’associationADATER dans leur jardin-refuge au Veurdre, a motivé la réalisation de sondages archéologiques dans le cadre d’uneopération programmée pour tenter de déterminer la fonction et la chronologie de ces structures. Compte-tenu de latoponymie du lieu «Les Chènevières», l’hypothèse a été posée de structures servant au rouissage du chanvre : des routoirsou rouissoirs.Les 3 structures accessibles ont été topographiée, relevées par acquisition photogrammétrique et ont fait l’objet decarottages sédimentaires. L’une des trois a été sondée manuellement par 2 sondages à l’extérieur contre la maçonnerieet au départ de l’escalier, et un sondage dans le dépôt du fond. Le fond des trois structure se situe au même miveaualtimétrique, à 10 cm près, ce qui est un indice de leur contempranéïté, et de leur usage identique.Les carottages ont montré, au fond de chaque structure, des des dépôts plus ou moins organiques d’épaisseur variable,celle choisie pour être sondée manuellement présente un dépôt d’environ 1,2 m de puissance, le plus important destrois.Les sondages manuels ont montré une maçonnerie liée à la chaux et un important dépôt subactuel dans le fond. Lefond est aménagé avec une sorte de fondation en madriers de bois sur laquelle repose la maçonnerie. Un cuvelagegrossier en planches de bois semble inséré et descend plus profondément que la fondation. Des échantillons de boisont été prélevés sur la fondation et ont été datés par radiocarbone, indiquant une fourchette entre la fin du XVIIe s.et les années 1940, avec une plus forte probabilité entre 1798 et 1942. La structure testée ne serait donc pas antérieureau XIXe siècle.Deux échantillons de sédiment provenant de couches organiques les plus basses du carottage de la structure testéeont fait l’objet d’une analyse palynologique. Le premier résultat déjà parvenu, concernant la couche la plus basse ducarottage, a montré une concentration assez faible de pollen de chanvre, qui ne permet pas de confirmer la thèse durouissage, sans toutefois l’exclure

La pêcherie des Milandes

International audienceThe study on the Milandes's fish-weir aimed to understand how evolved from the 16th century, the presumed date of its construction, to the beginning of the 18th century, the date of its abandoned, a large fixed fishery in the Dordogne river. We also wanted to place this site in a more general vision, considering its location and the fishing tradition in which it tooks place.Les travaux sur le gord des Milandes ont eu pour objectif de comprendre de quelle manièrea évolué, du XVIe siècle, date présumée de sa construction, au début du XVIIIe siècle, date de sonabandon, une grande pêcherie fixe de Dordogne. Nous avons voulu aussi replacer ce site dansune vision plus générale, en considérant son lieu d’implantation et la tradition de pêche danslaquelle il s’inscrit

Cusset (Allier) "rue du Marché au Blé": rapport final de diagnostic archéologique

Le secteur concerné par le diagnostic se trouve au centre de la ville de Cusset, à l' intérieur de l'enceinte fortifiée à la fin du XVe siècle, et sur l'emplacement d'une partie de l'ancienne abbaye de Cusset, fondée au IXe siècle. En 1992, des vestiges antiques importantset médiévaux ont été mis au jour à moins de 100 m de distance.Deux sondages ont été pratiqués jusqu'au niveau du substrat stérile. Si l'un des sondages n'a révélé qu'une importante épaisseur de remblais, le second a mis au jour deux fondations de murs et ce qui semble être un aménagement hydraulique: une sorte de ru aménagé le long d'un des murs. Il est constitué d'un radier de galets bien disposés, scellés par couche d'argile assez fine. Le remplissage de cette structure a livré une certaine quantité de mobilier céramique d'époque médiévale, allant du XIIe au XVe siècle. Il est possible, sans certitude absolue, d'envisager cette datation pour les fondations d'immeubles également