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Honghu Sun,1,2,* Jumei Zeng,3,* Song Li,1 Pengkuan Liang,1 Chao Zheng,1 Yong Liu,4 Tao Luo,5 Nalin Rastogi,6 Qun Sun,1 1Key Laboratory of Bio-Resources and Eco-Environment of the Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, 2Chengdu Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; 4Public Health Clinical Center of Chengdu, 5West China College of Preclinical Medicine and Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China; 6WHO Supranational TB Reference Laboratory, Institut Pasteur de la Guadeloupe, Abymes, Guadeloupe, France *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: The interaction between different drug-resistant mutations is important to the development of drug resistance and its evolution. In this study, we aimed to reveal the potential relationships between mutations conferring resistance to two important antituberculosis drugs streptomycin (STR) and fluoroquinolones (FLQ).Materials and methods: We used an in vitro competitive fitness assay to reveal the interactions between different mutations of rpsL and gyrA in drug-resistant Mycobacterium smegmatis, followed by the analysis of the frequency of rpsL and gyrA mutation combinations in 213 STR–FLQ dual-resistant clinical Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from Sichuan region, which was also investigated by the whole genome data from 3,056 global clinical M. tuberculosis isolates.Results: The strains with K43R and K88R mutation in rpsL showed no difference in relative fitness compared with their susceptible ancestor, while K43N, K43M, K43T, and K88E exhibited a significantly lower relative fitness (P

Stratospheric aerosols are greatly influenced by medium-to-large volcanic eruptions. Over the last few years, extreme wildfires have been identified as new sources of stratospheric particles, in the form of carbonaceous aerosols injected by pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) events in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, associated with significant impacts on climate and ozone chemistry. To assess the impact of wildfires and volcanic eruptions on stratospheric aerosol loadings in the Northern Hemisphere, the Rapid Balloon Experiments for Sudden Aerosol Injection in the Stratosphere (REAS) project has been initiated. REAS is an international initiative that aims to respond to sudden events impacting stratospheric aerosol composition. Seventeen balloons were launched from Reims, eastern France, between November 2021 and January 2022 to quantify the atmospheric content for both aerosols and trace/greenhouse gases from the ground up to stratospheric levels. The main measurements concerned trace gases (CO/CO2 as tracers of smoke) and aerosol together with ozone using instruments such as a gas collector, optical particle counters, backscatter sondes, an aerosol sampler, an aerosol impactor, and ozonesondes. The Groupe de Spectrométrie Moléculaire et Atmosphérique (GSMA) launch facility provided unique possibilities of combining multiple measurements in one flight thanks to medium flights (corresponding to a 6 kg payload). While no major event impacted the stratosphere during the campaign, we particularly discuss the influence of the aged volcanic plume from La Soufrière volcano (Saint Vincent island) and smoke particles from series of pyroCb events that took place in North America. The burden as well as the optical and microphysical properties of the observed aerosols are quantified from these in situ observations in association with various satellite data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Revision surgery (RS) is the standard of care for gallbladder cancer (GBC) after simple cholecystectomy (SC). Often these patients are unsuitable for RS due to late referral or unresectable disease. Do such patients benefit with chemotherapy (CT) alone or dual‑modality (CT followed by consolidation chemoradiotherapy [CTRT])? In the absence of any guidelines, we reviewed our data with CT or CTRT to inform us regarding adequate therapy. Materials and Methods: Patients of GBC post‑SC referred to us (January 2008 to December 2016) were risk‑stratified into three categories based on a diagnostic CT scan: No residual disease (NRD), limited volume residual disease (LR1: Residual/recurrent disease in GB bed with or without N1 nodal station involvement), advanced residual disease (LR2: Residual/recurrent disease involving GB bed with N2 nodal station involvement) and treated with CT or CT followed by CTRT. Response to therapy (RECIST), overall survival (OS), and adverse prognostic factors affecting OS were evaluated. Results:Out of 176 patients, 87were nonmetastatic (NRD = 17, LR1 = 33 and LR 2 = 37). 31 received CT, 49 CTRT and 8 defaulted. At a median follow up of 21months, the median OS with CT versus consolidation CTRT was not reached in NRD (P = 0.57), 19months versus 27 months in LR1 (P = 0.003) and 14 months versus 18 months in LR 2 (P = 0.29), respectively. On univariate analysis, residual disease burden, type of treatment (CT vs. CTRT), N stage, and response to treatment were found statistically significant. Conclusion: Our data suggest that CT followed by CTRT improves outcomes in patients with limited volume disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]