The ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission will provide simultaneous measurements from two spacecraft, offering an unprecedented opportunity to investigate magnetospheric and exospheric dynamics at Mercury as ...well as their interactions with the solar wind, radiation, and interplanetary dust. Many scientific instruments onboard the two spacecraft will be completely, or partially devoted to study the near-space environment of Mercury as well as the complex processes that govern it. Many issues remain unsolved even after the MES-SENGER mission that ended in 2015. The specific orbits of the two spacecraft, MPO and Mio, and the comprehensive scientific payload allow a wider range of scientific questions to be addressed than those that could be achieved by the individual instruments acting alone, or by previous missions. These joint observations are of key importance because many phenomena in Mercury’s environment are highly temporally and spatially variable. Examples of possible coordinated observations are described in this article, analysing the required geometrical conditions, pointing, resolutions and operation timing of different BepiColombo instruments sensors.
The new turtle remains were found in the Anacleto Formation (Campanian) exposed in the Aguada Grande site. This area is located 10 km from the south of the city of Rincón de Los Sauces, in the north ...of the province of Neuquén, Patagonia, Argentina. The specimen (MAU‐Pv‐AG‐452) consists of a partially preserved skull, carapace remains, an almost complete plastron, and a left ilium. The skull shows some features (a developed retropterygoid foramen, and a big muscle attachment area over the basisphenoid) that allow us to refer this specimen to the genus Prochelidella. The visceral view of the first costal bone exhibits deeper axillary buttresses that extend 2/3 of the costal width. This condition is also observed in the costal bone of Prochelidella buitreraensis from the Candeleros Formation (Cenomanian). The scute pattern observed in the anterior lobe of the plastron shows a large gular that extends along the entoplastra length, and small extragulars over the epiplastra. In contrast with the scute scheme observed in Prochelidella cerrobarcinae and Prochelidella portezuelae where the gular does not extend beyond the first 1/3 of the entoplastron. The phylogenetic analyses performed recovered this new species as a member of Prochelidella. The material recovered from the Anacleto Formation represents the first undoubtedly finding of Prochelidella in the late Cretaceous (Campanian) and the second skull recognized for the genus.
Previously, only one small‐sized species of Testudinidae (Chelonoidis gringorum) was named from Lower‐Middle Miocene of Central Patagonia. In this short article, we describe a new large Testudinidae, ...here named Chelonoidis meridiana sp. nov. This large new species (carapace up to 80 cm) differs from other large species of the southern South American fossil record by the absence of gibbosities on neural and costal carapacial bones, a short and wide entoplastron with a humeropectoral sulcus that was placed well behind its posterior end, and pectoral scutes that are medially longer, approximately one‐third of the medial length of the hyoplastra. The discovery of this new species in the Middle Miocene increases the raw turtle diversity in Chubut, permitting to reduce the gap between the raw and phylogenetic diversity previously proposed. This occurrence is also important from both a temporal and geographic point of view. It permits fixing the presence of large‐sized tortoises in the continent since ~15 million years ago (Middle Miocene). This occurrence predates all other large and giant tortoises from Argentina and South America and it is older than the giant Chelonoidis from the Langhian–Tortonian of Colombia. This is also the southernmost occurrence of a large‐sized testudinid in the world.
Since July 2009, there has been a community outbreak of leishmaniasis in the south-west area of the Madrid autonomous community, Spain, affecting residents from four towns that are geographically ...close together and share extensive park areas. As of December 2012, 446 cases were reported (6 in 2009, 97 in 2010, 196 in 2011 and 147 in 2012), a mean incidence rate of 22.2 per 100,000 inhabitants during July 2009 and December 2012. The mean age was 44 years (range: 2 months to 95 years); 61.0% were male. A total of 68 (15.2%) had immunosuppressive conditions; 160 (35.9%) had visceral leishmaniasis and 286 (64.1%) cutaneous. A total of 421 (94.4%) cases were confirmed. Leishmania infantum was identified as the agent. Monitoring revealed high densities of the vector Phlebotomus perniciosus. The surveillance system for canine leishmaniasis did not detect any increase in prevalence during the period. Environmental control measures have been taken, such as improvements in sanitation and disinsection in the risk areas and control of the overpopulation of Leporidae, as xenodiagnosis studies have shown that hares play a role as active reservoirs. This is the largest reported community outbreak of leishmaniasis in Europe. The discovery of the new reservoir stands out in the multifactorial aetiology of the outbreak. Epidemiological research and environmental intervention measures are continuing.
The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury was launched in October 2018. It includes two scientific Mercury orbiters, flying as a single stack during the seven years interplanetary transfer, and as ...individual spacecraft operated by their respective space Agencies ESA and JAXA once deployed in their respective scientific orbit around Mercury. Three ground segments are closely collaborating on this mission. The European Space Operations Center of the European Space Agency, in Darmstadt, Germany, responsible for mission operations of the composite stack during the interplanetary transfer and of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) once at Mercury, the JAXA Sagamihara Space Operation Center (SSOC) in Sagamihara, Japan, responsible for Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) operations throughout the mission, and the European Space Astronomy Center of the European Space Agency, in Villanueva de la Canada, Spain, responsible for MPO scientific archiving and Mercury science operations. The mission benefits from infrastructure and concepts developed on previous interplanetary missions of ESA and JAXA. However, it also includes specific operational challenges, such as electric propulsion, and a complex Mercury Orbit Insertion sequence, exploiting weak stability boundaries, and interleaving three module separations with 15 chemical propulsion manoeuvers to deliver MPO and MMO in their respective science orbits, requiring specific developments and operational approaches. In view of the nominal mission duration of 8.5 years, the mission also requires the adoption of specific measures for knowledge preservation and long-term maintenance.
Underlying immunodeficiency is associated with severe COVID-19, but the prognosis of persons with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (PWH) with COVID-19 is under debate. Aim: assessment of the ...mortality rate and major determinants of death in HIV-infected patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Spain before vaccine availability. Design: Retrospective nationwide public database analysis.
Nationwide, retrospective, observational analysis of all hospitalizations with COVID-19 during year 2020 in Spain. Stratification was made according to HIV status. The National Registry of Hospital Discharges was used with the ICD-10 coding list.
A total of 117 694 adults were hospitalized with COVID-19 during 2020. Only 234 (0.2%) were HIV-positives. More than 95% were on antiretroviral therapy. Compared to HIV-negatives, PWH were younger (mean age 53.2 vs. 66.5 years old; P<0.001) and more frequently male (74.8% vs. 56.6%; P<0.001). Most co-morbidities predisposing to severe COVID-19 (diabetes, hypertension, dementia and cardiovascular disease) were more frequent in HIV-negatives. In contrast, the rate of baseline liver disease was over 6-fold higher in PWH (27.4% vs. 4.4%; P<0.001). In-hospital mortality was lower in PWH (9.4% vs. 16%; P=0.004). In multivariate analysis, older age, dementia and especially advanced liver disease (relative risk (RR): 7.6) were the major determinants of death in PWH hospitalized with COVID-19.
HIV-infected patients hospitalized in Spain with COVID-19 during 2020 had better survival than HIV-negatives, most likely explained by younger age and lower rate of co-morbidities. However, advanced liver disease was a major predictor of death in PWH hospitalized with COVID-19.
NGS long-reads sequencing technologies (or third generation) such as Pacific BioSciences (PacBio) have revolutionized the sequencing field over the last decade improving multiple genomic applications ...like de novo genome assemblies. However, their error rate, mostly involving insertions and deletions (indels), is currently an important concern that requires special attention to be solved. Multiple algorithms are available to fix these sequencing errors using short reads (such as Illumina), although they require long processing times and some errors may persist. Here, we present Accurate long-Reads Assembly correction Method for Indel errorS (ARAMIS), the first NGS long-reads indels correction pipeline that combines several correction software in just one step using accurate short reads. As a proof OF concept, six organisms were selected based on their different GC content, size and genome complexity, and their PacBio-assembled genomes were corrected thoroughly by this pipeline. We found that the presence of systematic sequencing errors in long-reads PacBio sequences affecting homopolymeric regions, and that the type of indel error introduced during PacBio sequencing are related to the GC content of the organism. The lack of knowledge of this fact leads to the existence of numerous published studies where such errors have been found and should be resolved since they may contain incorrect biological information. ARAMIS yields better results with less computational resources needed than other correction tools and gives the possibility of detecting the nature of the found indel errors found and its distribution along the genome. The source code of ARAMIS is available at https://github.com/genomics-ngsCBMSO/ARAMIS.git.
Background and aims: The role of sensory neurones in colitis was studied by chemical denervation of primary sensory neurones as well as antagonism of the vanilloid receptor-1 (VR-1) in rats prior to ...administration of dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) to induce colitis. Methods: Neonatal rats were chemically denervated by subcutaneous administration of capsaicin; controls received capsaicin vehicle only. When animals reached maturity, colitis was induced by administration of 5% DSS in drinking water for seven days. Additionally, normal adult rats were treated with a VR-1 antagonist capsazepine (CPZ) or vehicle twice daily via an enema from day 0 to day 6 of the DSS regimen. Control rats were treated with an enema infusion of vehicle and 5% DSS, or without either an enema infusion or DSS in drinking water. For both groups of rats, severity of inflammation was quantitated by disease activity index (DAI), myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, and histological examination. Results: DSS induced active colitis in all control rats with resultant epithelial ulceration, crypt shortening, and neutrophil infiltration. Both neonatal capsaicinised rats and normal adult rats treated with CPZ enemas exhibited significantly lower levels of DAI, MPO, and histological damage compared with vehicle treated rats (p< 0.05). Conclusions: Neonatal capsaicinisation and local administration of CPZ prevents intestinal inflammation in a well established model of colitis indicating that primary sensory neurones possessing VR-1 receptors are required in the propagation of colonic inflammation.
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