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The PEACH (Projet en Electricité Atmosphérique pour la Campagne HyMeX - the Atmospheric Electricity Project of HyMeX Program) project is the Atmospheric Electricity component of the HyMeX (Hydrology cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment) experiment and is dedicated to the observation of both lightning activity and electrical state of continental and maritime thunderstorms in the area of the Mediterranean Sea. During the HyMeX SOP1 (Special Observation Period; 5 September-6 November 2012), four European Operational Lightning Locating Systems (OLLSs) (ATDNET, EUCLID, LINET, ZEUS) and the HyMeX Lightning Mapping Array network (HyLMA) were used to locate and characterize the lightning activity over the Southeastern Mediterranean at flash, storm and regional scales. Additional research instruments like slow antennas, video cameras, micro-barometer and microphone arrays were also operated. All these observations in conjunction with operational/research ground-based and airborne radars, rain gauges and in situ microphysical records aimed at characterizing and understanding electrically active and highly precipitating events over Southeastern France that often lead to severe flash floods. Simulations performed with Cloud Resolving Models like Meso-NH and WRF are used to interpret the results and to investigate further the links between dynamics, microphysics, electrification and lightning occurrence. A description of the different instruments deployed during the field campaign as well as the available datasets is given first. Examples of concurrent observations from radio frequency to acoustic for regular and atypical lightning flashes are then presented showing a rather comprehensive description of lightning flashes available from the SOP1 records. Then examples of storms recorded during HyMeX SOP1 over Southeastern France are briefly described to highlight the unique and rich dataset collected. Finally the next steps of the work required for the delivery of reliable lightning-derived products to the HyMeX community are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invasive fungal pathogens pose a substantial threat to widely cultivated crop species, owing to their capacity to adapt to new hosts and new environmental conditions. Gaining insights into the demographic history of these pathogens and unravelling the mechanisms driving coevolutionary processes are crucial for developing durably effective disease management programmes. Pyrenophora teres is a significant fungal pathogen of barley, consisting of two lineages, Ptt and Ptm, with global distributions and demographic histories reflecting barley domestication and spread. However, the factors influencing the population structure of P. teres remain poorly understood, despite the varietal and environmental heterogeneity of barley agrosystems. Here, we report on the population genomic structure of P. teres in France and globally. We used genotyping-by-sequencing to show that Ptt and Ptm can coexist in the same area in France, with Ptt predominating. Furthermore, we showed that differences in the vernalization requirement of barley varieties were associated with population differentiation within Ptt in France and at a global scale, with one population cluster found on spring barley and another population cluster found on winter barley. Our results demonstrate how cultivation conditions, possibly associated with genetic differences between host populations, can be associated with the maintenance of divergent invasive pathogen populations coexisting over large geographic areas. This study not only advances our understanding of the coevolutionary dynamics of the Pt-barley pathosystem but also prompts further research on the relative contributions of adaptation to the host versus adaptation to abiotic conditions in shaping Ptt populations.

Some fungi have been domesticated for food production, with genetic differentiation between populations from food and wild environments, and food populations often acquiring beneficial traits through horizontal gene transfers (HGTs). Studying their adaptation to human-made substrates is of fundamental and applied importance for understanding adaptation processes and for further strain improvement. We studied here the population structures and phenotypes of two distantly related Penicillium species used for dry-cured meat production, P. nalgiovense , the most common species in the dry-cured meat food industry, and P. salamii , used locally by farms. Both species displayed low genetic diversity, lacking differentiation between strains isolated from dry-cured meat and those from other environments. Nevertheless, the strains collected from dry-cured meat within each species displayed slower proteolysis and lipolysis than their wild conspecifics, and those of P. nalgiovense were whiter. Phenotypically, the non-dry-cured meat strains were more similar to their sister species than to their conspecific dry-cured meat strains, indicating an evolution of specific phenotypes in dry-cured meat strains. A comparison of available Penicillium genomes from various environments revealed HGTs, particularly between P. nalgiovense and P. salamii (representing almost 1.5 Mb of cumulative length). HGTs additionally involved P. biforme , also found in dry-cured meat products. We further detected positive selection based on amino acid changes. Our findings suggest that selection by humans has shaped the P. salamii and P. nalgiovense populations used for dry-cured meat production, which constitutes domestication. Several genetic and phenotypic changes were similar in P. salamii , P. nalgiovense and P. biforme , indicating convergent adaptation to the same human-made environment. Our findings have implications for fundamental knowledge on adaptation and for the food industry: the discovery of different phenotypes and of two mating types paves the way for strain improvement by conventional breeding, to elucidate the genomic bases of beneficial phenotypes and to generate diversity., Competing Interests: DR and MLP work in a firm selling Penicillium spores for inoculations in cheese and dry‐cured meat. They had no role in analyzing data and did not know the origin of strains when producing data. Other authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Evolutionary Applications published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Purpose: In-hospital health-related adverse events (HAEs) are a major concern for hospitals worldwide. In high-income countries, approximately 1 in 10 patients experience HAEs associated with their hospital stay. Estimating the risk of an HAE at the individual patient level as accurately as possible is one of the first steps towards improving patient outcomes. Risk assessment can enable healthcare providers to target resources to patients in greatest need through adaptations in processes and procedures. Electronic health data facilitates the application of machine-learning methods for risk analysis. We aim, first to reveal correlations between HAE occurrence and patients' characteristics and/or the procedures they undergo during their hospitalisation, and second, to build models that allow the early identification of patients at an elevated risk of HAE., Participants: 143 865 adult patients hospitalised at Grenoble Alpes University Hospital (France) between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2018., Findings to Date: In this set-up phase of the project, we describe the preconditions for big data analysis using machine-learning methods. We present an overview of the retrospective de-identified multisource data for a 2-year period extracted from the hospital's Clinical Data Warehouse, along with social determinants of health data from the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, to be used in machine learning (artificial intelligence) training and validation. No supplementary information or evaluation on the part of medical staff will be required by the information system for risk assessment., Future Plans: We are using this data set to develop predictive models for several general HAEs including secondary intensive care admission, prolonged hospital stay, 7-day and 30-day re-hospitalisation, nosocomial bacterial infection, hospital-acquired venous thromboembolism, and in-hospital mortality., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Sex chromosomes often carry large nonrecombining regions that can extend progressively over time, generating evolutionary strata of sequence divergence. However, some sex chromosomes display an incomplete suppression of recombination. Large genomic regions without recombination and evolutionary strata have also been documented around fungal mating-type loci, but have been studied in only a few fungal systems. In the model fungus Podospora anserina (Ascomycota, Sordariomycetes), the reference S strain lacks recombination across a 0.8-Mb region around the mating-type locus. The lack of recombination in this region ensures that nuclei of opposite mating types are packaged into a single ascospore (pseudohomothallic lifecycle). We found evidence for a lack of recombination around the mating-type locus in the genomes of ten P. anserina strains and six closely related pseudohomothallic Podospora species. Importantly, the size of the nonrecombining region differed between strains and species, as indicated by the heterozygosity levels around the mating-type locus and experimental selfing. The nonrecombining region is probably labile and polymorphic, differing in size and precise location within and between species, resulting in occasional, but infrequent, recombination at a given base pair. This view is also supported by the low divergence between mating types, and the lack of strong linkage disequilibrium, chromosomal rearrangements, transspecific polymorphism and genomic degeneration. We found a pattern suggestive of evolutionary strata in P. pseudocomata. The observed heterozygosity levels indicate low but nonnull outcrossing rates in nature in these pseudohomothallic fungi. This study adds to our understanding of mating-type chromosome evolution and its relationship to mating systems., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.)

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common condition that is often associated with chronic pain. Pain often leads patients to seek healthcare advice and treatment. In this retrospective cohort analysis of German longitudinal healthcare claims data, we aimed to explore the healthcare resource utilisation (HRU) and related healthcare costs for patients with OA who develop chronic pain., Methods: Patient-level data was extracted from the German Institut für Angewandte Gesundheitsforschung (InGef) database. Insured persons (≥18 years) were indexed between January 2015 and December 2017 with a recent (none in the last 2 years) diagnosis of OA. HRU and costs were compared between patients categorised as with (identified via diagnosis or opioid prescription) and without chronic pain. Unweighted HRU (outpatient physician contacts, hospitalisations, prescriptions for physical therapy or psychotherapy, and incapacity to work) and healthcare costs (medication, medical aid/remedy, psychotherapy, inpatient and outpatient and sick pay in Euros [quartile 1, quartile 3]) were calculated per patient for the year following index. Due to potential demographic and comorbidity differences between the groups, inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) was used to estimate weighted costs and rate ratio (RR; 95% confidence interval) of HRU by negative binomial regression modelling., Results: Of 4,932,543 individuals sampled, 238,306 patients with OA were included in the analysis: 80,055 (34%) categorised as having chronic pain (24,463 via opioid prescription) and 158,251 (66%) categorised as not having chronic pain. The chronic pain cohort was slightly older, more likely to be female, and had more comorbidities. During the year following index, unweighted and IPTW-weighted HRU risk and healthcare costs were higher in patients with chronic pain vs those without for all categories. This led to a substantially higher total annual healthcare cost ─ observed mean; €6801 (1439, 8153) vs €3682 (791, 3787); estimated RR = 1.51 (1.36, 1.66)., Conclusions: German patients with chronic pain and OA have higher healthcare costs and HRU than those with OA alone. Our findings suggest the need for better prevention and treatment of OA in order to reduce the incidence of chronic pain, and the resultant increase in disease burden experienced by patients.

Domestication involves recent adaptation under strong human selection and rapid diversification and therefore constitutes a good model for studies of these processes. We studied the domestication of the emblematic white mold Penicillium camemberti, used for the maturation of soft cheeses, such as Camembert and Brie, about which surprisingly little was known, despite its economic and cultural importance. Whole-genome-based analyses of genetic relationships and diversity revealed that an ancient domestication event led to the emergence of the gray-green P. biforme mold used in cheese making, by divergence from the blue-green wild P. fuscoglaucum fungus. Another much more recent domestication event led to the generation of the P. camemberti clonal lineage as a sister group to P. biforme. Penicillium biforme displayed signs of phenotypic adaptation to cheese making relative to P. fuscoglaucum, in terms of whiter color, faster growth on cheese medium under cave conditions, lower amounts of toxin production, and greater ability to prevent the growth of other fungi. The P. camemberti lineage displayed even stronger signs of domestication for all these phenotypic features. We also identified two differentiated P. camemberti varieties, apparently associated with different kinds of cheeses and with contrasted phenotypic features in terms of color, growth, toxin production, and competitive ability. We have thus identified footprints of domestication in these fungi, with genetic differentiation between cheese and wild populations, bottlenecks, and specific phenotypic traits beneficial for cheese making. This study has not only fundamental implications for our understanding of domestication but can also have important effects on cheese making., Competing Interests: Declaration of Interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Domestication provides an excellent framework for studying adaptive divergence. Using population genomics and phenotypic assays, we reconstructed the domestication history of the blue cheese mould Penicillium roqueforti. We showed that this fungus was domesticated twice independently. The population used in Roquefort originated from an old domestication event associated with weak bottlenecks and exhibited traits beneficial for pre-industrial cheese production (slower growth in cheese and greater spore production on bread, the traditional multiplication medium). The other cheese population originated more recently from the selection of a single clonal lineage, was associated with all types of blue cheese worldwide except Roquefort, and displayed phenotypes more suited for industrial cheese production (high lipolytic activity, efficient cheese cavity colonization ability and salt tolerance). We detected genomic regions affected by recent positive selection and putative horizontal gene transfers. This study sheds light on the processes of rapid adaptation and raises questions about genetic resource conservation., (© 2020 The Authors. Molecular Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Study of the congruence of population genetic structure between hosts and pathogens gives important insights into their shared phylogeographical and coevolutionary histories. We studied the population genetic structure of castrating anther-smut fungi (genus Microbotryum) and of their host plants, the Silene nutans species complex, and the morphologically and genetically closely related Silene italica, which can be found in sympatry. Phylogeographical population genetic structure related to persistence in separate glacial refugia has been recently revealed in the S. nutans plant species complex across Western Europe, identifying several distinct lineages. We genotyped 171 associated plant-pathogen pairs of anther-smut fungi and their host plant individuals using microsatellite markers and plant chloroplastic single nucleotide polymorphisms. We found clear differentiation between fungal populations parasitizing S. nutans and S. italica plants. The population genetic structure of fungal strains parasitizing the S. nutans plant species complex mirrored the host plant genetic structure, suggesting that the pathogen was isolated in glacial refugia together with its host and/or that it has specialized on the plant genetic lineages. Using random forest approximate Bayesian computation (ABC-RF), we found that the divergence history of the fungal lineages on S. nutans was congruent with that previously inferred for the host plant and probably occurred with ancient but no recent gene flow. Genome sequences confirmed the genetic structure and the absence of recent gene flow between fungal genetic lineages. Our analyses of individual host-pathogen pairs contribute to a better understanding of co-evolutionary histories between hosts and pathogens in natural ecosystems, in which such studies remain scarce., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Aim: Quantify hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) costs in German patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and follicular lymphoma (FL)., Methods: The primary outcome was direct and indirect costs in patients with ALL/DLBCL/FL who received HSCT between 2010 and 2014. Costs were evaluated two to four quarters before to eight quarters after HSCT., Results: Among 258 patients with HSCT, direct costs were €290,125/patient (pediatric ALL), €246,266/patient (adult ALL), €230,399/patient (DLBCL/FL allogeneic) and €107,457/patient (DLBCL/FL autologous). Indirect costs with HSCT were €52,939/patient (adult ALL), €20,285/patient (DLBCL/FL allogeneic) and €29,881/patient (DLBCL/FL autologous)., Conclusion: Direct and indirect costs associated with HSCT are substantial for patients with ALL, DLBCL and FL. Novel therapies that reduce HSCT use could reduce medical costs.

Mercury (Hg) is a pervasive contaminant reaching Antarctic environments through atmospheric transport and deposition. Seabirds as meso to top predators can accumulate high quantities of Hg through diet. Reproduction is one of the most sensitive endpoints of Hg toxicity in marine birds. Yet, few studies have explored Hg exposure and effects in Antarctic seabirds, where increasing environmental perturbations challenge animal populations. This study focuses on the Antarctic petrel Thalassoica antarctica from Svarthamaren, Antarctica, where the world's largest breeding population is thought to be in decline. Hg and the stable isotopes of carbon (δ 13 C, proxy of feeding habitat) and nitrogen (δ 15 N, trophic position/diet) were measured in red blood cells from 266 individuals over two breeding years (2012-13, 2013-14). Our aims were to 1) quantify the influence of individual traits (size and sex) and feeding ecology (foraging location, δ 13 C and δ 15 N values) on Hg exposure, and 2) test the relationship between Hg concentrations with body condition and breeding output (hatching success and chick survival). Hg concentrations in Antarctic petrels (mean ± SD, 0.84 ± 0.25, min-max, 0.42-2.71 μg g -1 dw) were relatively low when compared to other Antarctic seabirds. Hg concentrations increased significantly with δ 15 N values, indicating that individuals with a higher trophic level (i.e. feeding more on fish) had higher Hg exposure. By contrast, Hg exposure was not driven by feeding habitat (inferred from both foraging location and δ 13 C values), suggesting that Hg transfer to predators in Antarctic waters is relatively homogeneous over a large geographical scale. Hg concentrations were not related to body condition, hatching date and short-term breeding output. At present, Hg exposure is likely not of concern for this population. Nevertheless, further studies on other fitness parameters and long-term breeding output are warranted because Hg can have long-term population-level effects without consequences on current breeding success., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Convergent adaptation provides unique insights into the predictability of evolution and ultimately into processes of biological diversification. Supergenes (beneficial gene linkage) are striking examples of adaptation, but little is known about their prevalence or evolution. A recent study on anther-smut fungi documented supergene formation by rearrangements linking two key mating-type loci, controlling pre- and post-mating compatibility. Here further high-quality genome assemblies reveal four additional independent cases of chromosomal rearrangements leading to regions of suppressed recombination linking these mating-type loci in closely related species. Such convergent transitions in genomic architecture of mating-type determination indicate strong selection favoring linkage of mating-type loci into cosegregating supergenes. We find independent evolutionary strata (stepwise recombination suppression) in several species, with extensive rearrangements, gene losses, and transposable element accumulation. We thus show remarkable convergence in mating-type chromosome evolution, recurrent supergene formation, and repeated evolution of similar phenotypes through different genomic changes.