A false-negative case of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is defined as a person with suspected infection and an initial negative result by reverse ...transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test, with a positive result on a subsequent test. False-negative cases have important implications for isolation and risk of transmission of infected people and for the management of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We aimed to review and critically appraise evidence about the rate of RT-PCR false-negatives at initial testing for COVID-19.
We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, as well as COVID-19 repositories, including the EPPI-Centre living systematic map of evidence about COVID-19 and the Coronavirus Open Access Project living evidence database. Two authors independently screened and selected studies according to the eligibility criteria and collected data from the included studies. The risk of bias was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS-2) tool. We calculated the proportion of false-negative test results using a multilevel mixed-effect logistic regression model. The certainty of the evidence about false-negative cases was rated using the GRADE approach for tests and strategies. All information in this article is current up to July 17, 2020.
We included 34 studies enrolling 12,057 COVID-19 confirmed cases. All studies were affected by several risks of bias and applicability concerns. The pooled estimate of false-negative proportion was highly affected by unexplained heterogeneity (tau-squared = 1.39; 90% prediction interval from 0.02 to 0.54). The certainty of the evidence was judged as very low due to the risk of bias, indirectness, and inconsistency issues.
There is substantial and largely unexplained heterogeneity in the proportion of false-negative RT-PCR results. The collected evidence has several limitations, including risk of bias issues, high heterogeneity, and concerns about its applicability. Nonetheless, our findings reinforce the need for repeated testing in patients with suspicion of SARS-Cov-2 infection given that up to 54% of COVID-19 patients may have an initial false-negative RT-PCR (very low certainty of evidence).
Protocol available on the OSF website: https://tinyurl.com/vvbgqya.
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SUMMARY
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a dual role in plant biology, acting as important signal transduction molecules and as toxic byproducts of aerobic metabolism that accumulate in cells upon ...exposure to different stressors and lead to cell death. In plants, root architecture is regulated by the distribution and intercellular flow of the phytohormone auxin. In this study, we identified ROS as an important modulator of auxin distribution and response in the root. ROS production is necessary for root growth, proper tissue patterning, cell growth, and lateral root (LR) induction. Alterations in ROS balance led to altered auxin distribution and response in SOD and RHD2 loss‐of‐function mutants. Treatment of Arabidopsis seedlings with additional sources of ROS (hydrogen peroxide) or an ROS production inhibitor (diphenylene iodonium) induced phenocopies of the mutants studied. Simultaneous application of auxin and ROS increased LR primordia induction, and PIN‐FORMED protein immunolocalization further demonstrated the existing link between auxin and ROS in orchestrating cell division and auxin flux during root development. In Arabidopsis roots, genetic alterations in ROS balance led to defective auxin distribution and growth‐related responses in roots. Exogenous hydrogen peroxide alters the establishment of the endogenous auxin gradient in the root meristem through regulation of PIN‐FORMED polarity, while the simultaneous application of hydrogen peroxide and auxin enhanced LR induction in a dose‐ and position‐dependent manner through activation of cell division.
Significance Statement
In Arabidopsis roots, genetic alterations in reactive oxygen species balance led to defective auxin distribution and growth‐related responses in roots. Exogenous hydrogen peroxide altered the establishment of the endogenous auxin gradient in the root meristem through regulation of PIN‐FORMED polarity, while the simultaneous application of hydrogen peroxide and auxin enhanced lateral root induction in a dose‐ and position‐dependent manner through activation of cell division.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Describes the general principles and current research into Model Predictive Control (MPC); the most up-to-date control method for power converters and drivesThe book starts with an introduction to ...the subject before the first chapter on classical control methods for power converters and drives. This covers classical converter control methods and classical electrical drives control methods. The next chapter on Model predictive control first looks at predictive control methods for power converters and drives and presents the basic principles of MPC. It then looks at MPC for power electronics and drives. The third chapter is on predictive control applied to power converters. It discusses: control of a three-phase inverter; control of a neutral point clamped inverter; control of an active front end rectifier, and; control of a matrix converter. In the middle of the book there is Chapter four - Predictive control applied to motor drives. This section analyses predictive torque control of industrial machines and predictive control of permanent magnet synchronous motors. Design and implementation issues of model predictive control is the subject of the final chapter. The following topics are described in detail: cost function selection; weighting factors design; delay compensation; effect of model errors, and prediction of future references. While there are hundreds of books teaching control of electrical energy using pulse width modulation, this will be the very first book published in this new topic.Unique in presenting a completely new theoretic solution to control electric power in a simple wayDiscusses the application of predictive control in motor drives, with several examples and case studiesMatlab is included on a complementary website so the reader can run their own simulations
Chagas disease Pérez-Molina, José A; Molina, Israel
The Lancet (British edition),
01/2018, Volume:
391, Issue:
10115
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Chagas disease is an anthropozoonosis from the American continent that has spread from its original boundaries through migration. It is caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, which was identified ...in the first decade of the 20th century. Once acute infection resolves, patients can develop chronic disease, which in up to 30–40% of cases is characterised by cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias, megaviscera, and, more rarely, polyneuropathy and stroke. Even after more than a century, many challenges remain unresolved, since epidemiological control and diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic methods must be improved. In particular, the efficacy and tolerability profile of therapeutic agents is far from ideal. Furthermore, the population affected is older and more complex (eg, immunosuppressed patients and patients with cancer). Nevertheless, in recent years, our knowledge of Chagas disease has expanded, and the international networking needed to change the course of this deadly disease during the 21st century has begun.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Variable neighbourhood search (VNS) is a metaheuristic, or a framework for building heuristics, based upon systematic changes of neighbourhoods both in descent phase, to find a local minimum, and in ...perturbation phase to emerge from the corresponding valley. It was first proposed in 1997 and has since then rapidly developed both in its methods and its applications. In the present paper, these two aspects are thoroughly reviewed and an extensive bibliography is provided. Moreover, one section is devoted to newcomers. It consists of steps for developing a heuristic for any particular problem. Those steps are common to the implementation of other metaheuristics.
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CEKLJ, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
This paper analyses the impact of the control measures during the COVID-19 lockdown in Europe (15 March–30 April 2020) on 1-h daily maximum nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and maximum daily 8-h running ...average ozone (MDA8 O3) observations obtained from the European Environment Agency's air quality database (AirBase). Daily maximum NO2 decreased consistently over the whole continent, with relative reductions ranging from 5% to 55% with respect to the same period in 2015–2019 for 80% of the sites considered (10th – 90th percentiles). However, MDA8 O3 concentrations showed a different pattern, decreasing over Iberia and increasing elsewhere. In particular, a large region from northwestern to central Europe experienced increases of 10–22% at urban background stations, reaching typical values of the summer season. The analysis of the expected NO2 and O3 concentrations in the absence of the lockdown, using generalised additive models fed by reanalysis meteorological data, shows that the low NO2 concentrations were mostly attributed to the emission reductions while O3 anomalies were dominated by the meteorology. The relevance of each meteorological variable depends on the location. The positive O3 anomalies in northwestern and central Europe were mostly associated with elevated temperatures, low specific humidity and enhanced solar radiation. This pattern could be an analogue to study the limits of pollution control policies under climate change scenarios. On the other hand, the O3 reduction in Iberia is mostly attributable to the low solar radiation and high specific humidity, although the reduced zonal wind also played a role in the proximity of the Iberian Mediterranean coast.
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•Changes in NO2 and O3 have been assessed across Europe during the COVID-19 lockdown.•The lockdown caused a substantial reduction in NO2 concentrations across Europe.•O3 decreased in the Iberian Peninsula and increased in the rest of Europe.•A considerable fraction of the O3 changes can be explained by meteorological effects.•Temperature, specific humidity and solar radiation were the most relevant variables.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
CO2 Activation over Catalytic Surfaces Álvarez, Andrea; Borges, Marta; Corral‐Pérez, Juan José ...
Chemphyschem,
November 17, 2017, Volume:
18, Issue:
22
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
This article describes the main strategies to activate and convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into valuable chemicals over catalytic surfaces. Coherent elements such as common intermediates are identified ...in the different strategies and concisely discussed based on the reactivity of CO2 with the aim to understand the decisive factors for selective and efficient CO2 conversion.
Activation and transformation of CO2 are enabled by catalytic surfaces with various forms of energetic inputs inducing characteristic reactivities. The authors summarize the physicochemical properties of CO2 and its activated forms. They also discuss key elements to be considered for efficient CO2 activation and its selective transformation to targeted products.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
This paper deals with the application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) techniques and high resolution photogrammetry to study the evolution of a landslide affecting olive groves. The last decade has ...seen an extensive use of UAV, a technology in clear progression in many environmental applications like landslide research. The methodology starts with the execution of UAV flights to acquire very high resolution images, which are oriented and georeferenced by means of aerial triangulation, bundle block adjustment and Structure from Motion (SfM) techniques, using ground control points (GCPs) as well as points transferred between flights. After Digital Surface Models (DSMs) and orthophotographs were obtained, both differential models and displacements at DSM check points between campaigns were calculated. Vertical and horizontal displacements in the range of a few decimeters to several meters were respectively measured. Finally, as the landslide occurred in an olive grove which presents a regular pattern, a semi-automatic approach to identifying and determining horizontal displacements between olive tree centroids was also developed. In conclusion, the study shows that landslide monitoring can be carried out with the required accuracy-in the order of 0.10 to 0.15 m-by means of the combination of non-invasive techniques such as UAV, photogrammetry and geographic information system (GIS).
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Immunotherapy has now been clinically validated as an effective treatment for many cancers. There is tremendous potential for synergistic combinations of immunotherapy agents and for combining ...immunotherapy agents with conventional cancer treatments. Clinical trials combining blockade of cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA4) and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) may serve as a paradigm to guide future approaches to immuno-oncology combination therapy. In this Review, we discuss progress in the synergistic design of immune-targeting combination therapies and highlight the challenges involved in tailoring such strategies to provide maximal benefit to patients.
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Conventional urban wastewater treatment plants (UWTPs) are poorly effective in the removal of most contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), including antibiotics, antibiotic resistant bacteria and ...antibiotic resistance genes (ARB&ARGs). These contaminants result in some concern for the environment and human health, in particular if UWTPs effluents are reused for crop irrigation. Recently, stakeholders' interest further increased in Europe, because the European Commission is currently developing a regulation on water reuse. Likely, conventional UWTPs will require additional advanced treatment steps to meet water quality limits yet to be officially established for wastewater reuse. Even though it seems that CECs will not be included in the proposed regulation, the aim of this paper is to provide a technical contribution to this discussion as well as to support stakeholders by recommending possible advanced treatment options, in particular with regard to the removal of CECs and ARB&ARGs. Taking into account the current knowledge and the precautionary principle, any new or revised water-related Directive should address such contaminants. Hence, this review paper gathers the efforts of a group of international experts, members of the NEREUS COST Action ES1403, who for three years have been constructively discussing the efficiency of the best available technologies (BATs) for urban wastewater treatment to abate CECs and ARB&ARGs. In particular, ozonation, activated carbon adsorption, chemical disinfectants, UV radiation, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) and membrane filtration are discussed with regard to their capability to effectively remove CECs and ARB&ARGs, as well as their advantages and drawbacks. Moreover, a comparison among the above-mentioned processes is performed for CECs relevant for crop uptake. Finally, possible treatment trains including the above-discussed BATs are discussed, issuing end-use specific recommendations which will be useful to UWTPs managers to select the most suitable options to be implemented at their own facilities to successfully address wastewater reuse challenges.
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•This work gathers the efforts of international experts from NEREUS COST Action.•Advantages and drawbacks of BATs discussed according to CECs removal and AR control•Possible advanced treatment options to make wastewater reuse safer recommended•Smart combination of BATs and a suitable monitoring program necessary for a safe reuse•Further comparative studies among different advanced treatment methods recommended
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