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Objective: Quantitative chest computed tomography (qCT) methods are new tools that objectively measure parenchymal abnormalities and vascular features on CT images in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD). We aimed to investigate whether the qCT measures are predictors of 5-year mortality in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc)., Methods: Patients diagnosed with SSc were retrospectively selected from 2011 to 2022. Patients should have had volumetric high-resolution CTs (HRCTs) and pulmonary function tests (PFTs) performed at baseline and at 24 months of follow-up. The following parameters were evaluated in HRCTs using Computer-Aided Lung Informatics for Pathology Evaluation and Rating (CALIPER): ground glass opacities, reticular pattern, honeycombing, and pulmonary vascular volume. Factors associated with death were evaluated by Kaplan‒Meier survival curves and multivariate analysis models. Semiquantitative analysis of the HRCTs images was also performed., Results: Seventy-one patients were included (mean age, 54.2 years). Eleven patients (15.49%) died during the follow-up, and all patients had ILD. As shown by Kaplan‒Meier curves, survival was worse among patients with an ILD extent (ground glass opacities + reticular pattern + honeycombing) ≥ 6.32%, a reticular pattern ≥ 1.41% and a forced vital capacity (FVC) < 70% at baseline. The independent predictors of mortality by multivariate analysis were a higher reticular pattern (Exp 2.70, 95%CI 1.26-5.82) on qCT at baseline, younger age (Exp 0.906, 95%CI 0.826-0.995), and absolute FVC decline ≥ 5% at follow-up (Exp 15.01, 95%CI 1.90-118.5), but not baseline FVC. Patients with extensive disease (>20% extension) by semiquantitative analysis according to Goh's staging system had higher disease extension on qCT at baseline and follow-up., Conclusion: This study showed that the reticular pattern assessed by baseline qCT may be a useful tool in the clinical practice for assessing lung damage and predicting mortality in SSc., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Amorim et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

By the peak of COVID-19 restrictions on April 8, 2020, up to 1.5 billion students across 188 countries were affected by the suspension of physical attendance in schools. Schools were among the first services to reopen as vaccination campaigns advanced. With the emergence of new variants and infection waves, the question now is to find safe protocols for the continuation of school activities. We need to understand how reliable these protocols are under different levels of vaccination coverage, as many countries have a meager fraction of their population vaccinated, including Uganda where the coverage is about 8%. We investigate the impact of face-to-face classes under different protocols and quantify the surplus number of infected individuals in a city. Using the infection transmission when schools were closed as a baseline, we assess the impact of physical school attendance in classrooms with poor air circulation. We find that (i) resuming school activities with people only wearing low-quality masks leads to a near fivefold city-wide increase in the number of cases even if all staff is vaccinated, (ii) resuming activities with students wearing good-quality masks and staff wearing N95s leads to about a threefold increase, (iii) combining high-quality masks and active monitoring, activities may be carried out safely even with low vaccination coverage. These results highlight the effectiveness of good mask-wearing. Compared to ICU costs, high-quality masks are inexpensive and can help curb the spreading. Classes can be carried out safely, provided the correct set of measures are implemented., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction: The Black population in the US is heterogeneous but is often treated as monolithic in research, with skin pigmentation being the primary indicator of racial classification. Objective: This paper examines the differences among Blacks by comparing genetic ancestry, skin color and social attainment of 259 residents across four US cities-Norman, Oklahoma; Cincinnati, Ohio; Harlem, New York; and Washington, District of Columbia., Methods: Participants were recruited between 2004 and 2006 at community-based forums. Cross-sectional data were analyzed using chi-square tests, correlation analyses and logistic regression., Results: There were variations in ancestry, melanin index and social attainment across some cities. Overall, men with darker skin color, and women with lighter skin color were significantly more likely to be married. Darker skin individuals with significantly more West African ancestry reported attainment of graduate degrees, and professional occupations than lighter skin individuals., Conclusions: Our findings suggest differences in skin pigmentation by geography and support regional variations in ancestry of US Blacks. Biomedical research should consider genetic ancestry and local historical/social context rather than relying solely on skin pigmentation as a proxy for race., Competing Interests: Dr. Rick Kittles has financial interests in an ancestry DNA testing company and/or products. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. The other authors have no competing interests.

Polyporus dictyopus, with a large number of heterotypic synonyms, has been traditionally considered a species complex, characterized by wide morphological variation and geographic distribution. Thus, neotropical specimens previously identified as P. dictyopus from Amazonia, Cerrado and Atlantic Forest biomes were studied based on detailed macro- and micromorphological examination and phylogenetic analyses, using distinct ribosomal and protein-coding genomic regions: the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (nrITS), nuclear ribosomal large subunit (nrLSU), and RNA polymerase II second subunit (RPB2). Two unrelated generic lineages, each one represented by different species, are reported: Atroporus is recovered and re-circumscribed to include A. diabolicus and A. rufoatratus comb. nov.; Neodictyopus gen. nov. is proposed to accommodate N. dictyopus comb. nov. and two new species, N. atlanticae and N. gugliottae. Our study showed that at least five distinct species were hidden under the name P. dictyopus. Detailed descriptions, pictures, illustrations, and a key are provided for Atroporus and Neodictyopus species.