Among the first 100 patients who received sotrovimab, a monoclonal antibody directed against SARS-CoV-2, at a center in Australia, 8 had persistently positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase-chain-reaction ...tests. Isolates obtained from 4 patients showed a mutation associated with resistance to sotrovimab in the receptor-binding domain, and cultures were positive at 2 to 3 weeks after treatment.
Anti-Asian discrimination and assaults have increased significantly during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, contributing to a "secondary contagion" of racism. The United States has a ...long and well-documented history of both interpersonal and structural anti-Asian discrimination, and the current pandemic reinforces longstanding negative stereotypes of this rapidly growing minority group as the "Yellow Peril."We provide a general overview of the history of anti-Asian discrimination in the United States, review theoretical and empirical associations between discrimination and health, and describe the associated public health implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, citing relevant evidence from previous disasters in US history that became racialized.Although the literature suggests that COVID-19 will likely have significant negative effects on the health of Asian Americans and other vulnerable groups, there are reasons for optimism as well. These include the emergence of mechanisms for reporting and tracking incidents of racial bias, increased awareness of racism's insidious harms and subsequent civic and political engagement by the Asian American community, and further research into resilience-promoting factors that can reduce the negative health effects of racism.
Louis Pasteur once said that: "Fortune favours the prepared mind." As one of the great scientists who contributed to the fight against infection, he emphasised the importance of being prepared at all ...times to recognise infection and deal with it. Despite the many scientific discoveries and technological advances, such as the advent of antibiotics and the use of sterile techniques, infection continues to be a problem that haunts orthopaedic surgeons and inflicts suffering on patients. The medical community has implemented many practices with the intention of preventing infection and treating it effectively when it occurs. Although high-level evidence may support some of these practices, many are based on little to no scientific foundation. Thus, around the world, there is great variation in practices for the prevention and management of periprosthetic joint infection. This paper summaries the instigation, conduct and findings of a recent International Consensus Meeting on Surgical Site and Periprosthetic Joint Infection.
This study presents a systematic evaluation of the homogeneity of daily surface temperature observations for the Caribbean and neighboring regions on a monthly timescale. The reference series are ...developed using adjacent sea‐surface temperatures (SSTs). This novel approach is undertaken instead of the conventional use of highly correlated nearby stations, given the sparse station network for the Caribbean and adjacent Caribbean. The temperature data are from the regional climate change workshops held for the Caribbean, and Central and Northern South America in 2001 and 2004, respectively, complemented with data from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH), and the Caribbean meteorological stations. Correlations are used to explore the degree of association between the maximum and minimum temperatures and SSTs, and homogeneity tests are performed on their individual and difference series (e.g., maximum temperature minus SSTs). The results suggest SSTs as a viable option for use in evaluating homogeneity in the data sparse region of the Caribbean. Common statistically significant change points identified across at least three stations are investigated using composite analysis to determine links to large‐scale atmospheric circulation patterns. The study identifies two homogeneous periods from the analyses, i.e., 1970–1992 and 1984–1998, with the former used to reanalyze some extreme temperature trends for the Caribbean and adjacent Caribbean. The results are found to be consistent with those obtained from the 2001 Caribbean data workshop.
The Integrated Microbial Genomes (IMG) system serves as a community resource for comparative analysis of publicly available genomes in a comprehensive integrated context. IMG integrates publicly ...available draft and complete genomes from all three domains of life with a large number of plasmids and viruses. IMG provides tools and viewers for analyzing and reviewing the annotations of genes and genomes in a comparative context. IMG's data content and analytical capabilities have been continuously extended through regular updates since its first release in March 2005. IMG is available at http://img.jgi.doe.gov. Companion IMG systems provide support for expert review of genome annotations (IMG/ER: http://img.jgi.doe.gov/er), teaching courses and training in microbial genome analysis (IMG/EDU: http://img.jgi.doe.gov/edu) and analysis of genomes related to the Human Microbiome Project (IMG/HMP: http://www.hmpdacc-resources.org/img_hmp).
A Multi-Facet Survey on Memetic Computation Chen, Xianshun; Ong, Yew-Soon; Lim, Meng-Hiot ...
IEEE transactions on evolutionary computation,
2011-Oct., 2011-10-00, 20111001, Letnik:
15, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Memetic computation is a paradigm that uses the notion of meme(s) as units of information encoded in computational representations for the purpose of problem-solving. It covers a plethora of ...potentially rich meme-inspired computing methodologies, frameworks and operational algorithms including simple hybrids, adaptive hybrids and memetic automaton. In this paper, a comprehensive multi-facet survey of recent research in memetic computation is presented.
Understanding of the taxonomy and phylogeny of Cryptococcus gattii has been advanced by modern molecular techniques. C. gattii probably diverged from Cryptococcus neoformans between 16 million and ...160 million years ago, depending on the dating methods applied, and maintains diversity by recombining in nature. South America is the likely source of the virulent C. gattii VGII molecular types that have emerged in North America. C. gattii shares major virulence determinants with C. neoformans, although genomic and transcriptomic studies revealed that despite similar genomes, the VGIIa and VGIIb subtypes employ very different transcriptional circuits and manifest differences in virulence phenotypes. Preliminary evidence suggests that C. gattii VGII causes severe lung disease and death without dissemination, whereas C. neoformans disseminates readily to the central nervous system (CNS) and causes death from meningoencephalitis. Overall, currently available data indicate that the C. gattii VGI, VGII, and VGIII molecular types more commonly affect nonimmunocompromised hosts, in contrast to VGIV. New, rapid, cheap diagnostic tests and imaging modalities are assisting early diagnosis and enabling better outcomes of cerebral cryptococcosis. Complications of CNS infection include increased intracranial pressure, severe neurological sequelae, and development of immune reconstitution syndrome, although the mortality rate is low. C. gattii VGII isolates may exhibit higher fluconazole MICs than other genotypes. Optimal therapeutic regimens are yet to be determined; in most cases, initial therapy with amphotericin B and 5-flucytosine is recommended.
Resveratrol, a phytochemical found in various plants and Chinese herbs, is associated with multiple tumor-suppressing activities, has been tested in clinical trials. However, the molecular mechanisms ...involved in resveratrol-mediated tumor suppressing activities are not yet completely defined. Here, we showed that treatment with resveratrol inhibited cell mobility through induction of the mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) in lung cancer cells. We also found that downregulation of FOXC2 (forkhead box C2) is critical for resveratrol-mediated suppression of tumor metastasis in an in vitro and in vivo models. We also identified a signal cascade, namely, resveratrol-∣miRNA-520h-∣PP2A/C-∣Akt → NF-κB → FOXC2, in which resveratrol inhibited the expression of FOXC2 through regulation of miRNA-520h-mediated signal cascade. This study identified a new miRNA-520h-related signal cascade involved in resveratrol-mediated tumor suppression activity and provide the clinical significances of miR-520h, PP2A/C and FOXC2 in lung cancer patients. Our results indicated a functional link between resveratrol-mediated miRNA-520h regulation and tumor suppressing ability, and provide a new insight into the role of resveratrol-induced molecular and epigenetic regulations in tumor suppression.
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