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OBJECTIVE Postprocedural infection is a consequential complication of neurosurgical intervention. Periprocedural antimicrobial prophylaxis is routinely administered to prevent infection, and in some cases, continued for extended periods while surgical drains remain in place. However, there is little evidence that extended antimicrobial administration is necessary to reduce postprocedural infection, and extended antimicrobials can be associated with harm, such as Clostridioides difficile infection. The authors sought to evaluate whether shortening the duration of postprocedural antimicrobial prophylaxis would decrease the incidence of C. difficile infection without increasing the incidence of postprocedural infection. METHODS In this retrospective study, two general neurosurgical cohorts were examined. In one cohort, postoperative antimicrobial prophylaxis was limited to 24 hours; in the other, some patients received extended postoperative antimicrobial prophylaxis while surgical drains or external ventricular drains (EVDs) remained in place. Rates of infection with C. difficile as well as postprocedural infection after surgery and EVD placement were compared. RESULTS Seven thousand two hundred four patients undergoing 8586 surgical procedures and 413 EVD placements were reviewed. The incidence of C. difficile infection decreased significantly from 0.5% per procedural encounter to 0.07% with the discontinuation of extended postprocedural antibiotics within 90 days of a procedure. Rates of postprocedural infection and EVD infection did not significantly change. Results were similar in subgroups of patients with closed suction drains as well as cranial and spine subgroups. CONCLUSIONS Discontinuation of extended antimicrobial prophylaxis was associated with a significant decrease in the incidence of C. difficile infection without a concomitant change in postprocedural infections or EVD-associated infection. This study provides evidence in support of specialtfy-wide discontinuation of extended postoperative antimicrobial prophylaxis, even in the presence of closed suction drains.

Prolonged coronavirus disease 2019 may generate new viral variants. We report an immunocompromised patient treated with monoclonal antibodies who experienced rebound of viral RNA and emergence of an antibody-resistant (>1000-fold) variant containing 5 mutations in the spike gene. The mutant virus was isolated from respiratory secretions, suggesting the potential for secondary transmission.

International audience; It has been argued that the mechanisms structuring ecological communities may be more generalizable when based on traits than on species identities. If so, patterns in the assembly of community-level traits along environmental gradients should be similar in different places in the world. Alternatively, geographical change in the species pool and regional variation in climate might result in site-specific relationships between community traits and local environments. These competing hypotheses are particularly untested for animal communities. Here we test the geographical constancy of trait-based assembly patterns using a widespread multi-trophic community: aquatic macroinvertebrates within bromeliads. We used data on 615 invertebrate taxa from 1,656 bromeliads in 26 field sites from Mexico to Argentina. We summarized invertebrate traits with four orthogonal axes, and used these trait axes to examine trait convergence and divergence assembly patterns along three environmental gradients: detrital biomass and water volume in bromeliads, and canopy cover over bromeliads. We found no overall signal of trait-based assembly patterns along any of the environmental gradients. However, individual sites did show trait convergence along detrital and water gradients, and we built predictive models to explore these site differences. Sites that showed trait convergence along detrital gradients were all north of the Northern Andes. This geographical pattern may be related to phylogeographical differences in bromeliad morphology. Bromeliads with low detritus were dominated by detritivorous collectors and filter feeders, where those with high detritus had more sclerotized and predatory invertebrates. Sites that showed the strongest trait convergence along gradients in bromeliad water were in regions with seasonal precipitation. In such sites, bromeliads with low water were dominated by soft-bodied, benthic invertebrates with simple life cycles. In less seasonal sites, traits associated with short-term desiccation resistance, such as hard exoskeletons, were more important. In summary, we show that there are strong geographical effects on the trait-based assembly patterns of this invertebrate community, driven by the biogeography of their foundational plant species as well as by regional climate. We suggest that inclusion of biogeography and climate in trait-based community ecology could help make it a truly general theory.

We administered severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 viral-specific T cells (VSTs) under emergency investigational new drug applications to 6 immunocompromised patients with persistent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and characterized clinical and virologic responses. Three patients had partial responses after failing other therapies but then died. Two patients completely recovered, but the role of VSTs in recovery was unclear due to concomitant use of other antivirals. One patient had not responded to 2 courses of remdesivir and experienced sustained recovery after VST administration. The use of VSTs in immunocompromised patients with persistent COVID-19 requires further study.

Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is a frequent symptomatic feature of pediatric Chiari I, reported in at least 24% of patients presenting to neurosurgeons. Here the epidemiology, natural history, pathophysiology, and diagnosis of SDB in Chiari I is reviewed. Diagnosis requires polysomnography, which should be pursued in young or symptomatic patients or those with prominent imaging findings. Review of case series of surgical decompression suggest that surgical decompression can improve SDB in selected patients.

Background The reduction of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLc) levels is Key for improving the prognosis of patiens with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Purpose To estimate the clinical characteristics and treatments of patients with a first episode of ACS in real world in a large database in Spain. Methods An observational and retrospective study was carried out based on electronic medical records of primary care centers and hospitals including 969.587 spanish patients aged >18 years.From these, we selected the ones with a first episode of ACS between 01/07/2016 and 30/06/2018, with a follow-up period of 18 months. Patients were divided according to the intensity of their lipid-lowering treatments: low, moderate, high (high intensity statin/moderate plus ezetimibe), very high (high intensity statin plus ezetimibe) and extreme (IPCSK added) and those on treatment with lipid-lowering drugs other than statins. The incidence of new cardiovascular events, the reduction of LDLc levels, the persistence rates at 9 and 18 months, and the mortality rates were estimated. The concomitant treatments prescribed at the start of the study were registered. Results A first episode of ACS was detected in 7,150 patients (mean age: 70 years [SD: 9.6]; males: 62.2%). The intensity of their lipid-lowering treatments: low [n=172 (2.4%)], moderate [n=370 (5.2%)], high [n=3,751 (52.5%)], very high [n=2,457 (34.4%)], extreme [n=67 (0.9%)])and non-statins lipid-lowering treatments (n=333 [4.7%]). Patients with lipid-lowering treatments other than statins had the highest incidence rate of cardiovascular events (33.0%), followed by those on treatment with low intensity treatments (32.0%): acute myocardial infarction and angina were the most frequent cardiovascular events. The deepest reductions of LDLc levels at 18 months were reported in patients with extreme intensity and very-high intensity treatments (−60.5 mg/dL [42.9%] and −31.6 mg/dL [24.3%], respectively). The persistence rates at 9 and 18 months were higher in patients with extreme intensity and very high intensity lipid-lowering treatments. The highest mortality rate was observed in patients with lipid-lowering treatments other than statins (12.6%), with the median time to death being 221 days (P25–P75: 116–327). The lowest mortality rate was registered in patients with extreme intensity lipid-lowering treatments, who showed a median time to death of 405 days (P25–P75: 396–0).Overall, referral to Cardiac Rehabilitation in ACS is less than 20% in Spain. Conclusion Patients with ACS who received lipid-lowering treatments other than statins and low intensity treatments had the highest incidence of cardiovascular events and mortality rates.The reduction of LDLc levels increased with the intensity of the lipid-lowering treatments, which may lead to a reduced risk of cardiovascular events and death. More referral to Cardiac Rehabilitation could also improve these results Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Private company. Main funding source(s): SANOFI

For the past few decades, educators and evangelists have been trying to bring the art and craft of programming to broader communities. Publishers have offered a proliferation of titles, such as Exp...

International audience; While future climate scenarios predict declines in precipitations in many regions of the world, little is known of the mechanisms underlying community resilience to prolonged dry seasons, especially in ‘naïve’ Neotropical rainforests. Predictions of community resilience to intensifying drought are complicated by the fact that the underlying mechanisms are mediated by species' tolerance and resistance traits, as well as rescue through dispersal from source patches.We examined the contribution of in situ tolerance‐resistance and immigration to community resilience, following drought events that ranged from the ambient norm to IPCC scenarios and extreme events. We used rainshelters above rainwater‐filled bromeliads of French Guiana to emulate a gradient of drought intensity (from 1 to 3.6 times the current number of consecutive days without rainfall), and we analysed the post‐drought dynamics of the taxonomic and functional community structure of aquatic invertebrates to these treatments when immigration is excluded (by netting bromeliads) or permitted (no nets). Drought intensity negatively affected invertebrate community resistance, but had a positive influence on community recovery during the post‐drought phase. After droughts of 1 to 1.4 times the current intensities, the overall invertebrate abundance recovered within invertebrate life cycle durations (up to 2 months). Shifts in taxonomic composition were more important after longer droughts, but overall, community composition showed recovery towards baseline states. The non‐random patterns of changes in functional community structure indicated that deterministic processes like environmental filtering of traits drive community re‐assembly patterns after a drought event. Community resilience mostly relied on in situ tolerance‐resistance traits. A rescue effect of immigration after a drought event was weak and mostly apparent under extreme droughts.Under climate change scenarios of drought intensification in Neotropical regions, community and ecosystem resilience could primarily depend on the persistence of suitable habitats and on the resistance traits of species, while metacommunity dynamics could make a minor contribution to ecosystem recovery. Climate change adaptation should thus aim at identifying and preserving local conditions that foster in situ resistance and the buffering effects of habitat features.

Made available in DSpace on 2022-04-28T19:29:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2021-03-01 Functional traits determine an organism's performance in a given environment and as such determine which organisms will be found where. Species respond to local conditions, but also to larger scale gradients, such as climate. Trait ecology links these responses of species to community composition and species distributions. Yet, we often do not know which environmental gradients are most important in determining community trait composition at either local or biogeographical scales, or their interaction. Here we quantify the relative contribution of local and climatic conditions to the structure and composition of functional traits found within bromeliad invertebrate communities. We conclude that climate explains more variation in invertebrate trait composition within bromeliads than does local conditions. Importantly, climate mediated the response of traits to local conditions; for example, invertebrates with benthic life-history traits increased with bromeliad water volume only under certain precipitation regimes. Our ability to detect this and other patterns hinged on the compilation of multiple fine-grained datasets, allowing us to contrast the effect of climate versus local conditions. We suggest that, in addition to sampling communities at local scales, we need to aggregate studies that span large ranges in climate variation in order to fully understand trait filtering at local, regional and global scales. Dept of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre Univ. of British Columbia Dept of Biology Simon Fraser Univ. Dept of Forest and Conservation Sciences Univ. of British Columbia Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias Inst. de Investigaciones en Ciencias Agrarias de Rosario Univ. Nacional de Rosario Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas Laboratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement Univ. de Toulouse CNRS Univ. Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier Centre for the Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiversity (CESAB-FRB) Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Univ. of Toronto Dept of Ecology and Graduate Program in Ecology Univ. Federal do Rio Grande do Sul Laboratory of Multitrophic Interactions and Biodiversity Dept of Animal Biology Inst. of Biology Univ. of Campinas Inst. of Biological Sciences Univ. Federal do Pará Laboratoire Microorganismes Génome et Environnement Univ. Clermont Auvergne AMAP Univ. Montpellier CIRAD CNRS INRA IRD ECOFOG Campus Agronomique Depto de Ciencias Biológicas Univ. de los Andes Depto de Ciencias Biológicas Univ. de Caldas School of Biological and Chemical Sciences Queen Mary Univ. of London Dept of Botany Biosciences Inst. Univ. of São Paulo Depto de Ecologia Inst. de Biologia Univ. Federal do Rio de Janeiro Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia Univ. Federal do Rio de Janeiro Luquillo LTER Inst. for Tropical Ecosystem Studies Univ. of Puerto Rico UMR ESE Ecology and Ecosystem Health INRA Agrocampus Oues Dept of Zoology and Botany Univ. of São Paulo State Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecology Royal Belgian Inst. of Natural Sciences

This paper explored the chemical, mechanical, and morphological characteristics ofpolycaprolactone and starch composite membranes by utilizing SEM, FTIR, W-CA, UTM, and biodegradability tests. Native Philippine arrowroot (Marantaarundinacea L.) starch was extracted for the study. Varying polymer concentrations along with 85% solvent NMP, the films were plasticized with PEG 4000 and prepared through solvent casting and NIPS. The films were found to be hydrophilic. Increased starch contentimproved porousnessand biodegradation rate, with 4.12%/day in 5 days for the highest starch-containing film, with the highest weight loss of 38.02% in 15 days for 20% starch-containing films. However, degradation decreased as time went by. Increasing amounts of starch also increased elongation at break, albeit reducing Young’s modulus and tensile strength of the films. Coupled with notable morphological and chemical interaction, arrowroot starch and PCL composite films can indeed be successfully fabricated, proving the potential of Marantaarundinacea L. in the field of bioplastic research.

OBJECTIVE While surgical decompression is an important treatment modality for cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM), it remains unclear if the severity of preoperative myelopathy status affects potential benefit from surgical intervention and when maximum postoperative improvement is expected. This investigation sought to determine if retrospective analysis of prospectively collected patient-reported outcomes (PROs) following surgery for CSM differed when stratified by preoperative myelopathy status. Secondary objectives included assessment of the minimal clinically important difference (MCID). METHODS A total of 1151 patients with CSM were prospectively enrolled from the Quality Outcomes Database at 14 US hospitals. Baseline demographics and PROs at baseline and 3 and 12 months were measured. These included the modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association (mJOA) score, Neck Disability Index (NDI), quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) from the EQ-5D, and visual analog scale from the EQ-5D (EQ-VAS). Patients were stratified by preoperative myelopathy severity using criteria established by the AO Spine study group: mild (mJOA score 15–17), moderate (mJOA score 12–14), or severe (mJOA score < 12). Univariate analysis was used to identify demographic variables that significantly varied between myelopathy groups. Then, multivariate linear regression and linear mixed regression were used to model the effect of severity and time on PROs, respectively. RESULTS For NDI, EQ-VAS, and QALY, patients in all myelopathy cohorts achieved significant, maximal improvement at 3 months without further improvement at 12 months. For mJOA, moderate and severe myelopathy groups demonstrated significant, maximal improvement at 3 months, without further improvement at 12 months. The mild myelopathy group did not demonstrate significant change in mJOA score but did maintain and achieve higher PRO scores overall when compared with more advanced myelopathy cohorts. The MCID threshold was reached in all myelopathy cohorts at 3 months for mJOA, NDI, EQ-VAS, and QALY, with the only exception being mild myelopathy QALY at 3 months. CONCLUSIONS As assessed by statistical regression and MCID analysis, patients with cervical myelopathy experience maximal improvement in their quality of life, neck disability, myelopathy score, and overall health by 3 months after surgical decompression, regardless of their baseline myelopathy severity. An exception was seen for the mJOA score in the mild myelopathy cohort, improvement of which may have been limited by ceiling effect. The data presented here will aid surgeons in patient selection, preoperative counseling, and expected postoperative time courses.

Background: Metastatic lesions to the brain are common in patients with melanoma. Imaging characteristics can support the diagnosis of metastatic melanoma, but alternative diagnoses should be considered. Case Description: Here, we present a case of a 57-year-old man in whom a metastatic melanoma initially mimicked the imaging characteristics of cortical laminar necrosis. Conclusion: This comprises the first report of melanoma brain metastasis presenting with these imaging characteristics and emphasizes the importance of maintaining a high index of suspicion for metastatic lesions in patients with known cancer.

Staphylococcus aureus is a pathogenic bacterium but also a commensal of skin and anterior nares in humans. As S. aureus transits from skins/nares to inside the human body, it experiences changes in temperature. The production and content of S. aureus extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been increasingly studied over the past few years, and EVs are increasingly being recognized as important to the infectious process. Nonetheless, the impact of temperature variation on S. aureus EVs has not been studied in detail, as most reports that investigate EV cargoes and host cell interactions are performed using vesicles produced at 37°C. Here, we report that EVs in S. aureus differ in size and protein/RNA cargo depending on the growth temperature used. We demonstrate that the temperature-dependent regulation of vesicle production in S. aureus is mediated by the alpha phenol-soluble modulin peptides (αPSMs). Through proteomic analysis, we observed increased packaging of virulence factors at 40°C, whereas the EV proteome has greater diversity at 34°C. Similar to the protein content, we perform transcriptomic analysis and demonstrate that the RNA cargo also is impacted by temperature. Finally, we demonstrate greater αPSM- and alpha-toxin-mediated erythrocyte lysis with 40°C EVs, but 34°C EVs are more cytotoxic toward THP-1 cells. Together, our study demonstrates that small temperature variations have great impact on EV biogenesis and shape the interaction with host cells. IMPORTANCE Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are lipid bilayer spheres that contain proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids secreted by bacteria. They are involved in Staphylococcus aureus infections, as they package virulence factors and deliver their contents inside host cells. The impact of temperature variations experienced by S. aureus during the infectious process on EVs is unknown. Here, we demonstrate the importance of temperature in vesicle production and packaging. High temperatures promote packaging of virulence factors and increase the protein and lipid concentration but reduce the overall RNA abundance and protein diversity in EVs. The importance of temperature changes is highlighted by the fact that EVs produced at low temperature are more toxic toward macrophages, whereas EVs produced at high temperature display more hemolysis toward erythrocytes. Our research brings new insights into temperature-dependent vesiculation and interaction with the host during S. aureus transition from colonization to virulence.

International audience; • A meta-analysis was performed to test whether organic matter "priming" occurs in aquatic ecosystems • We show that despite large variability between observations, priming is a generalizable feature of aquatic ecosystems • This variability can be explained by two main factors: How priming is measured and field/laboratory differences

Low back disorders (LBDs) are a leading injury in the workplace. Back exoskeletons (exos) are wearable assist devices that complement traditional ergonomic controls and reduce LBD risks by alleviating musculoskeletal overexertion. However, there are currently no ergonomic assessment tools to evaluate risk for workers wearing back exos. Exo-LiFFT, an extension of the Lifting Fatigue Failure Tool, is introduced as a means to unify the etiology of LBDs with the biomechanical function of exos. We present multiple examples demonstrating how Exo-LiFFT can assess or predict the effect of exos on LBD risk without costly, time-consuming electromyography studies. For instance, using simulated and real-world material handling data we show an exo providing a 30 Nm lumbar moment is projected to reduce cumulative back damage by ∼70% and LBD risk by ∼20%. Exo-LiFFT provides a practical, efficient ergonomic assessment tool to assist safety professionals exploring back exos as part of a comprehensive occupational health program.HIGHLIGHTSBack exos are wearable assist devices that complement ergonomic controls for reducing low back disorder (LBD) risksHowever, no ergonomic assessment tools exist to evaluate LBD risks for workers wearing back exosWe introduce Exo-LiFFT, an ergonomic assessment tool adapted from the Lifting Fatigue Failure ToolExo-LiFFT is a practical tool that unifies the etiology of LBDs and biomechanical function of exosExo-LiFFT can be used to assess or predict the effect of exos on LBD risk without EMG testing

A workplace study was conducted to evaluate user perceptions, acceptance, and muscle activity amongst logistics workers wearing an unmotorized, dual-mode, back-assist exosuit prototype. Eleven workers performed a lifting/lowering task with versus without the exosuit, while back muscle activity was recorded. They then used the exosuit while performing their actual work tasks in a distribution center before completing a questionnaire about their user experience. Worker perceptions of the exosuit were overwhelmingly positive: 100% felt the exosuit could be useful and fit into their daily job without interfering, >90% felt assisted and that the exosuit made lifting easier, and >80% felt it was comfortable and that they were free to move naturally while wearing the exosuit. Finally, the majority of workers showed reduced back muscle activity while wearing the exosuit during lifting/lowering, consistent with results from prior lab studies. Worker feedback on this prototype was then used to inform design of the HeroWear Apex exosuit.

Objective Localization related epilepsy (LRE) is increasingly accepted as a network disorder. To better understand the network specific characteristics of LRE, we defined individual epilepsy networks and compared them across patients. Methods The epilepsy network was defined in the slow cortical potential frequency band in 10 patients using intracranial EEG data obtained during interictal periods. Cortical regions were included in the epilepsy network if their connectivity pattern was similar to the connectivity pattern of the seizure onset electrode contact. Patients were subdivided into frontal, temporal, and posterior quadrant cohorts according to the anatomic location of seizure onset. Jaccard similarity was calculated within each cohort to assess for similarity of the epilepsy network between patients within each cohort. Results All patients exhibited an epilepsy network in the slow cortical potential frequency band. The topographic distribution of this correlated network activity was found to be unique at the single subject level. Conclusions The epilepsy network was unique at the single patient level, even between patients with similar seizure onset locations. Significance We demonstrated that the epilepsy network is patient-specific. This is in keeping with our current understanding of brain networks and identifies the patient-specific epilepsy network as a possible biomarker in LRE.

we report the case of a 44-year-old male affected by life-long, severe and recalcitrant form of atopic dermatitis (AD), with various atopic comorbidities. Multiple systemic therapies had been performed before our first observation, all interrupted for ineffectiveness. On May 2018, the patient recorded an Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) of 52, Peak Pruritus Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) of 8, and Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) of 20. Blood exams showed a significant increased of total immunoglobulin E (IgE) plasma levels (5321 kUa/L; 0,00-100,00 kUa/L reference range).

We investigate three fundamental issues in the physics of high-Tc cuprates, from the perspective of a recently proposed comprehensive theory for these materials. (a) Orbital ordering × superconductivity. The first issue is the detailed microscopic mechanism that produces an attractive interaction between holes in high-Tc cuprates. (b) Dispersion relation × pseudogap order parameter. The second issue refers to the existence of a pseudogap order parameter, which would be different from zero all over the pseudogap phase and would vanish elsewhere. (c) Chemical potential × quantum critical point location. The third issue concerns the debate as to whether the quantum critical point, located where the pseudogap transition line T*(x) meets the T = 0 axis is inside the superconducting dome or at its boundary. We obtain clearcut solutions for the three issues.

Fantasy Spoils: After the Quest is a netprov, a collaborative writing game, inspired by the tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) Dungeons and Dragons, that uses storytelling to travel a quest of emotional recovery. Fantasy Spoils can be played online or in-person and was featured as an ICIDS experience during the 2020 conference. In this paper, we present Fantasy Spoils as a means of imaginative relief from the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic through shared improvisational play. In playthroughs that stress collective, creative problem solving, we offer players an opportunity to face and overcome internal, psychological monsters. Keywords: role-playing games, trauma, netprov, storytelling, Dungeons and Dragons, collaborative writing

Peptidyl-prolyl cis/trans isomerases (PPIases) are enzymes that assist in protein folding around proline-peptide bonds, and they often possess chaperone activity. Staphylococcus aureus encodes three PPIases, i.e., PrsA, PpiB, and trigger factor (TF). Previous work by our group demonstrated a role for both PrsA and PpiB in S. aureus; however, TF remains largely unstudied. Here, we identify a role for TF in S. aureus biofilm formation and demonstrate cooperation between TF and the cytoplasmic PPIase PpiB. Mutation of the tig gene (encoding TF) led to reduced biofilm development in vitro but no significant attenuation of virulence in a mouse model of infection. To investigate whether TF possesses chaperone activity, we analyzed the ability of a tig mutant to survive acid and base stress. While there was no significant decrease for a tig mutant, a ppiBtig double mutant exhibited significant decreases in cell viability after acid and base challenges. We then demonstrated that a ppiB tig double mutant had exacerbated phenotypes in vitro and in vivo, compared to either single mutant. Finally, in vivo immunoprecipitation of epitope-tagged PpiB revealed that PpiB interacted with 4 times the number of proteins when TF was absent from the cell, suggesting that it may be compensating for the loss of TF. Interestingly, the only proteins found to interact with TF were TF itself, fibronectin-binding protein B (FnBPB), and the chaperone protein ClpB. Collectively, these results support the first phenotype for S. aureus TF and demonstrate a greater network of cooperation between chaperone proteins in Staphylococcus aureus. IMPORTANCES. aureus encodes a large number of virulence factors that aid the bacterium in survival and pathogenesis. These virulence factors have a wide variety of functions; however, they must all be properly secreted in order to be functional. Bacterial chaperone proteins often assist in secretion by trafficking proteins to secretion machinery or assisting in proper protein folding. Here, we report that the S. aureus chaperone TF contributes to biofilm formation and cooperates with the chaperone PpiB to regulate S. aureus virulence processes. These data highlight the first known role for TF in S. aureus and suggest that S. aureus chaperone proteins may be involved in a greater regulatory network in the cell.

Functional traits determine an organism’s performance in a given environment and as such determine which organisms will be found where. Species respond to local conditions, but also to larger scale gradients, such as climate. Trait ecology links these responses of species to community composition and species distributions. Yet, we often do not know which environmental gradients are most important in determining community trait composition at either local or biogeographical scales, or their interaction. Here we quantify the relative contribution of local and climatic conditions to the structure and composition of functional traits found within bromeliad invertebrate communities. We conclude that climate explains more variation in invertebrate trait composition within bromeliads than does local conditions. Importantly, climate mediated the response of traits to local conditions; for example, invertebrates with benthic life-history traits increased with bromeliad water volume only under certain precipitation regimes. Our ability to detect this and other patterns hinged on the compilation of multiple fine-grained datasets, allowing us to contrast the effect of climate vs. local conditions. We suggest that, in addition to sampling communities at local scales, we need to aggregate studies that span large ranges in climate variation in order to fully understand trait filtering at local, regional and global scales.

Background Most dementia patients experience one or more behavioral and psychological symptoms (BPSD) at some time during their illness, in particular in the middle and later stages. Antipsychotic drugs (AP) are often prescribed off-label for treating BPSD, despite concerns about safety and limited efficacy. The impact of AP on short- and long-term mortality has not been fully assessed. Objective To assess the association between the use of APs and short- and long-term mortality in a cohort of dementia patients aged ≥ 65 years residing in the Lazio region. Methods We use data from regional health information systems to conduct a retrospective age, gender and comorbidity matched cohort study with a 1:3 matching ratio to pair dementia patients new AP users with non-users. For the exposed participants, the index date was defined as the date of the first drug prescription; the same date was used for non-users matched subjects. Patients were enrolled on 31/12/2016 and followed-up from the index date through 2018. Four cohorts were enrolled to analyze mortality at 30, 60, 180 and 65 days from the index date. Adjusted estimates were obtained with propensity score matching using the Greedy Nearest Neighbor Matching algorithm. Results We enrolled 34,625 individuals (67% females, mean age 82 years) distributed as follows: 30 days cohort, 4321 users vs 12,960 non-users; 60 days cohort, 4202 users vs 12,606 non-users; 180 days cohort, 3641 users vs 19,923 non-users; 365 days cohort, 2618 users vs 7854 non-users. Multivariate analyses showed a statistically significant excess mortality at 60, 180, and 365 days since the first prescription (HR: 1.83, HR: 1.63, and HR: 1.62, respectively). Conclusions This study showed that antipsychotics increase short- and long-term mortality risk in older adults with dementia. The prescription of AP should be carefully evaluated and, if it is the best option for patient and caregiver, stringently monitored. Key messages Antipsychotic medication use is associated with an increased all-cause mortality in elderly with dementia. The mortality risk increases in 60 days after starting their use and remains elevated at 1 year.

Recently the renormalization of the band gap m, in both tungsten diselenide (WSe2) and molybdenumm disulfide (MoS2), has been experimentally measured as a function of the carrier concentration n. The main result establishes a decreasing of hundreds of meV, in comparison with the bare band gap, as the carrier concentration increases. These materials are known as transition metal dichalcogenides and their low-energy excitations are, approximately, described by the massive Dirac equation. Using pseudo–quantum electrodynamics (PQED) to describe the electromagnetic interaction between these quasiparticles and from renormalization group analysis at the large-N limit, we obtain that the renormalized mass describes the band gap renormalization with a function given by m(n)/m0=(n/n0)Cλ/2, where m0=m(n0) and Cλ is a function of the coupling constant λ=πα/4, where α is the fine-structure constant. We compare our theoretical results with the experimental findings for WSe2 and MoS2, and we conclude that our approach is in agreement with these experimental results for reasonable values of λ. Thereafter, we consider the coupling of massless Dirac particles with the Gross-Neveu interaction, which generates a mass for the Dirac field through the gap equation, and PQED. In this case, we show that there exists a critical coupling constant, namely, λc≈0, 66 in which the beta function of the mass vanishes, providing a stable fixed point in the ultraviolet limit. For λ>λc, the renormalized mass decreases while for λ<λc it increases with the carrier concentration.

entitled "Investigating the role of pulsed electric fields as radiosensitizers of medulloblastoma cancer stem cells" for the 65th Annual Meeting of the Radiation Research Society held in Sand Diego, CA, USA on November 3-6, 2019.

We study the effects of an external magnetic field on thensuperconducting phase diagram of a quasi-two-dimensional system of Dirac electrons at an arbitrary temperature. At zero temperature, there is a quantum phase transition connecting a normal and a superconducting phase, occurring at a critical line that corresponds to a magnetic field dependent critical coupling parameter, which should be observed in planar materials containing Dirac electrons, such as $Cu_xTiSe_2$. Moreover, the superconducting gap is obtained as a function of temperature, magnetic field and coupling parameter ($\lambda_{\rm R}$). From this, we extract the critical magnetic field $ B_{ c } $ as a function of the temperature. For small values of $ B_{ c } $, we obtain a linear decay of the critical field, which is similar to the behavior observed experimentally in the copper doped dichalcogenide $Cu_xTiSe_2$ and also in intercalated graphite., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:cond-mat/0703184

Taking the spin-fermion model as the starting point for describing the cuprate superconductors, we obtain an effective nonlinear sigma-field hamiltonian, which takes into account the effect of doping in the system. We obtain an expression for the spin-wave velocity as a function of the chemical potential. For appropriate values of the parameters we determine the antiferromagnetic phase diagram for the YBa 2 Cu 3 O 6+ x compound as a function of the dopant concentration in good agreement with the experimental data. Furthermore, our approach provides a unified description for the phase diagrams of the hole-doped and the electron doped compounds, which is consistent with the remarkable similarity between the phase diagrams of these compounds, since we have obtained the suppression of the antiferromagnetic phase as the modulus of the chemical potential increases. The aforementioned result then follows by considering positive values of the chemical potential related to the addition of holes to the system, while negative values correspond to the addition of electrons.

We use the spin-fermion model to describe the CuO 2 planes of the high- T c superconductors. Using a large wavelength approach, we show that the ferromagnetic component of the Cu spin fluctuations couple to the oxygen holes producing a pairing interaction that leads to a superconducting gap whose symmetry is determined by the anisotropy of the Kondo interaction. We calculate T c as a function of the hole concentration in a mean-field approximation and our numerical results are in good agreement with the experiments.

We present a theory describing the superconducting (SC) interaction of Dirac electrons in a quasi-two-dimensional system consisting of a stack of N planes. The occurrence of a SC phase is investigated both at T = 0 and T 5 0. At T = 0, we find a quantum phase transition connecting the normal and SC phases. Our theory qualitatively reproduces the SC phase transition occurring in the underdoped regime of the high-Tc cuprates. This fact points to the possible relevance of Dirac electrons in the mechanism of high-Tc superconductivity., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:cond-mat/0603165

Dirac fermions were originally proposed by Dirac as the solutions of his relativistic wave-function equation. From then on they played a crucial role in the relativistic description of quarks and leptons. In the recent years it has been realized that several condensed matter systems contain electrons that, due to the presence of the lattice, behave precisely like Dirac electrons. We explore here the consequences of this fact in materials such as Graphene, Transition Metal Dichalcogenides and in Topological Quantum Computation.

Ecologists have extensively investigated the effect of warming on consumer-resource interactions, with experiments revealing that warming can strengthen, weaken or have no net effect on top-down control of resources. These experiments have inspired a body of theoretical work to explain the variation in the effect of warming on top-down control. However, there has been no quantitative attempt to reconcile theory with outcomes from empirical studies. To address the gap between theory and experiment, we performed a meta-analysis to examine the combined effect of experimental warming and top-down control on resource biomass and determined potential sources of variation across experiments. We show that differences in experimental outcomes are related to systematic variation in the geographical distribution of studies. Specifically, warming strengthened top-down control when experiments were conducted in colder regions, but had the opposite effect in warmer regions. Furthermore, we found that differences in the thermoregulation strategy of the consumer and openness of experimental arenas to dispersal can contribute to some deviation from the overall geographical pattern. These results reconcile empirical findings and support the expectation of geographical variation in the response of consumer-resource interactions to warming.

We previously showed that zinc (Zn) deficiency affects the STAT3 signaling pathway in part through redox-regulated mechanisms. Given that STAT3 is central to the process of astrogliogenesis, this study investigated the consequences of maternal marginal Zn deficiency on the developmental timing and key mechanisms of STAT3 activation, and its consequences on astrogliogenesis in the offspring. This work characterized the temporal profile of cortical STAT3 activation from the mid embryonic stage up to young adulthood in the offspring from dams fed a marginal Zn deficient diet (MZD) throughout gestation and until postnatal day (P) 2. All rats were fed a Zn sufficient diet (control) from P2 until P56. Maternal zinc deficiency disrupted cortical STAT3 activation at E19 and P2. This was accompanied by altered activation of JAK2 kinase due to changes in PTP1B phosphatase activity. The underlying mechanisms mediating the adverse impact of a decreased Zn availability on STAT3 activation in the offspring brain include: (i) impaired PTP1B degradation via the ubiquitin/proteasome pathway; (ii) tubulin oxidation, associated decreased interactions with STAT3 and consequent impaired nuclear translocation; and (iii) decreased nuclear STAT3 acetylation. Zn deficiency-associated decreased STAT3 activation adversely impacted astrogliogenesis, leading to a lower astrocyte number in the early postnatal and adult brain cortex. Thus, a decreased availability of Zn during early development can have a major and irreversible adverse effect on astrogliogenesis, in part via multistep alterations in the STAT3 pathway., Graphical abstract Image 1, Highlights • Maternal zinc deficiency disrupts offspring's brain cortical STAT3 activation. • Impaired PTP1B proteasomal degradation inhibits JAK/STAT3 activation. • Tubulin oxidation and decreased interactions with STAT3 can affect STAT3's nuclear localization. • Zinc deficiency impairs STAT3 acetylation. • Altered STAT3 activation leads to astrogliogenesis disruption which extends into adulthood.

Objective The goal of this study was to examine the associations of maternal weight status before, during, and after pregnancy with breast milk C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin 6 (IL-6), two bioactive markers of inflammation, measured at 1 and 3 months post partum. Methods Participants were 134 exclusively breastfeeding mother-infant dyads taking part in the Mothers and Infants Linked for Health (MILK) study, who provided breast milk samples. Pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG) were assessed by chart abstraction; postpartum weight loss was measured at the 1- and 3-month study visits. Linear regression was used to examine the associations of maternal weight status with repeated measures of breast milk CRP and IL-6 at 1 and 3 months, after adjustment for potential confounders. Results Pre-pregnancy BMI and excessive GWG, but not total GWG or postpartum weight loss, were independently associated with breast milk CRP after adjustment (β = 0.49, P

Ecological communities hosted within phytotelmata (plant compartments filled with water) provide an excellent opportunity to test ecological theory and to advance our understanding of how local and global environmental changes affect ecosystems. However, insights from bromeliad phytotelmata communities are currently limited by scarce accounts of microfauna assemblages, even though these assemblages are critical in transferring, recycling, and releasing nutrients in these model ecosystems. Here, we analyzed natural microfaunal communities in leaf compartments of 43 bromeliads to identify the key environmental filters underlying their community structures. We found that microfaunal community richness and abundance were negatively related to canopy openness and vertical height above the ground. These associations were primarily driven by the composition of amoebae and flagellate assemblages and indicate the importance of bottom‐up control of microfauna in bromeliads. Taxonomic richness of all functional groups followed a unimodal relationship with water temperature, peaking at 23–25°C and declining below and above this relatively narrow thermal range. This suggests that relatively small changes in water temperature under expected future climate warming may alter taxonomic richness and ecological structure of these communities. Our findings improve the understanding of this unstudied but crucial component of bromeliad ecosystems and reveal important environmental filters that likely contribute to overall bromeliad community structure and function.