The purpose of this study is to provide an updated systematic review to identify studies describing the prevalence of psychosis in order to explore methodological factors that could account for the ...variation in prevalence estimates.
Studies with original data related to the prevalence of psychosis (published between 1990 and 2015) were identified via searching electronic databases and reviewing manual citations. Prevalence estimates were sorted according to prevalence type (point, 12-months and lifetime). The independent association between key methodological variables and the mean effect of prevalence was examined (prevalence type, case-finding setting, method of confirming diagnosis, international classification of diseases, diagnosis category, and study quality) by meta-analytical techniques and random-effects meta-regression.
Seventy-three primary studies were included, providing a total of 101 estimates of prevalence rates of psychosis. Across these studies, the pooled median point and 12-month prevalence for persons was 3.89 and 4.03 per 1000 respectively; and the median lifetime prevalence was 7.49 per 1000. The result of the random-effects meta-regression analysis revealed a significant effect for the prevalence type, with higher rates of lifetime prevalence than 12-month prevalence (p<0.001). Studies conducted in the general population presented higher prevalence rates than those carried out in populations attended in health/social services (p = 0.006). Compared to the diagnosis of schizophrenia only, prevalence rates were higher in the probable psychotic disorder (p = 0.022) and non-affective psychosis (p = 0.009). Finally, a higher study quality is associated with a lower estimated prevalence of psychotic disorders (p<0.001).
This systematic review provides a comprehensive comparison of methodologies used in studies of the prevalence of psychosis, which can provide insightful information for future epidemiological studies in adopting the most relevant methodological approach.
•By-products of lignocellulose pretreatment inhibit microbial and enzymic biocatalysts.•Groups of inhibitors from components of lignocellulose are reviewed.•The review covers different strategies to ...alleviate inhibition problems.•Industrial implementation increases the relevance of inhibitor management.
Biochemical conversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks to advanced biofuels and other commodities through a sugar-platform process involves a pretreatment step enhancing the susceptibility of the cellulose to enzymatic hydrolysis. A side effect of pretreatment is formation of lignocellulose-derived by-products that inhibit microbial and enzymatic biocatalysts. This review provides an overview of the formation of inhibitory by-products from lignocellulosic feedstocks as a consequence of using different pretreatment methods and feedstocks as well as an overview of different strategies used to alleviate problems with inhibitors. As technologies for biorefining of lignocellulose become mature and are transferred from laboratory environments to industrial contexts, the importance of management of inhibition problems is envisaged to increase as issues that become increasingly relevant will include the possibility to use recalcitrant feedstocks, obtaining high product yields and high productivity, minimizing the charges of enzymes and microorganisms, and using high solids loadings to obtain high product titers.
Many bird populations have recently changed their migratory behavior in response to alterations of the environment. We collected data over 16 years on male Great Bustards (Otis tarda), a species ...showing a partial migratory pattern (sedentary and migratory birds coexisting in the same breeding groups). We conducted population counts and radio tracked 180 individuals to examine differences in survival rates between migratory and sedentary individuals and evaluate possible effects of these differences on the migratory pattern of the population. Overall, 65% of individuals migrated and 35% did not. The average distance between breeding and postbreeding areas of migrant individuals was 89.9 km, and the longest average movement of sedentary males was 38 km. Breeding group and migration distance had no effect on survival. However, mortality of migrants was 2.4 to 3.5 times higher than mortality of sedentary birds. For marked males, collision with power lines was the main cause of death from unnatural causes (37.6% of all deaths), and migratory birds died in collisions with power lines more frequently than sedentary birds (21.3% vs 6.3%). The percentage of sedentary individuals increased from 17% in 1997 to 45% in 2012. These results were consistent with data collected from radio-tracked individuals: The proportion of migratory individuals decreased from 86% in 1997-1999 to 44% in 2006-2010. The observed decrease in the migratory tendency was not related to climatic changes (temperatures did not change over the study period) or improvements in habitat quality (dry cereal farmland area decreased in the main study area). Our findings suggest that human-induced mortality during migration may be an important factor shaping the migration patterns of species inhabiting humanized landscapes. El comportamiento migratorio de muchas poblaciones de aves ha cambiado recientemente como consecuencia de las alteraciones ambientales. Durante 16 años estudiamos la conducta migratoria de machos de Avutarda Común Otis tarda, un ave con un patrón de migración parcial (individuos sedentarios y migradores coexisten en los mismos grupos). Realizamos censos de población y seguimos a 180 individuos marcados con emisores de radio para examinar las diferencias en las tasas de supervivencia entre los machos migradores y los sedentarios; y evaluar los posibles efectos de estas diferencias sobre el patrón migratorio de la población. Globalmente, el 65% de los individuos fueron migradores y el 35% sedentarios. La distancia media entre las áreas de reproducción y las post-reproductivas de los migradores fue de 89.9 km y la de los sedentarios de 3.8 km. Ni el grupo reproductor ni la distancia de migración tuvieron efectos sobre la supervivencia. Sin embargo, los individuos migradores tuvieron entre 2.4 y 3.5 veces mayor riesgo de mortalidad que los sedentarios. La colisión con líneas eléctricas fue la principal causa de mortalidad de los machos marcados (37.6% de todas las muertes), y los migradores murieron por colisión con líneas eléctricas con mayor frecuencia que los sedentarios (21.3% versus 6.3%). El porcentaje de individuos sedentarios aumentó desde el 17% en 1997 al 45% en 2012. Estos resultados fueron confirmados por los datos procedentes de individuos marcados: la proporción de migradores disminuyó desde el 86% en 1997-1999 al 44% en 2006-2010. La disminución de la tendencia migratoria no estuvo relacionada con cambios climáticos (las temperaturas no cambiaron durante el periodo de estudio) o con mejoras de la calidad del habitat (la superficie de cultivos de cereal disminuyó en el área de estudio principal). Nuestros hallazgos sugieren que la mortalidad durante la migración provocada por las actividades humanas puede ser un factor muy importante en el desarrollo de los patrones de migración de las especies que viven en ambientes humanizados.
Abstract Background and Aims Agents that induce an immune response against tumors by altering T-cell regulation have increased survival times of patients with advanced-stage tumors, such as melanoma ...or lung cancer. We aimed to characterize molecular features of immune cells that infiltrate hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) to determine whether these types of agents might be effective against liver tumors. Methods We analyzed HCC samples from 956 patients. We separated gene expression profiles from tumor, stromal, and immune cells using a non-negative matrix factorization algorithm. We then analyzed the gene expression pattern of inflammatory cells in HCC tumors samples. We correlated expression patterns with the presence of immune cell infiltrates and immune regulatory molecules, determined by pathology and immunohistochemical analyses, in a training set of 228 HCC samples. We validated the correlation in a validation set of 728 tumor samples. Using data from 190 tumors in the Cancer Genome Atlas, we correlated immune cell gene expression profiles with numbers of chromosomal aberrations (based on single-nucleotide polymorphism array) and mutations (exome sequence data). Results We found approximately 25% of HCCs to have markers of an inflammatory response, with high expression levels of the CD274 molecule (PD-L1) and programmed cell death 1 (PD-1), markers of cytolytic activity, and fewer chromosomal aberrations. We called this group of tumors the Immune class. It contained 2 subtypes, characterized by markers of an adaptive T-cell response or exhausted immune response. The exhausted immune response subclass expressed many genes regulated by transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFB) that mediate immunosuppression. We did not observe any differences in numbers of mutations or expression of tumor antigens between the immune-specific class and other HCCs. Conclusions In an analysis of HCC samples from 956 patients, we found almost 25% to express markers of an inflammatory response. We identified 2 subclasses, characterized by adaptive or exhausted immune responses. These findings indicate that some HCCs might be susceptible to therapeutic agents designed to block the regulatory pathways in T cells, such as PD-L1, PD-1, or TGFB inhibitors.
As a result of human population growth, the availability of residual lignocellulosic materials from agriculture, forestry, food- and wood-processing industries, and other waste streams is ...continuously increasing ...
•MTBVAC construction and characterization has abided by Pasteur principles, similar to BCG.•BCG has served as gold standard for safety and efficacy in MTBVAC development.•MTBVAC shows superior ...efficacy in mice, guinea pigs, NHP, and similar safety to BCG.•MTBVAC is safe and immunogenic in clinical trials in adults and newborns.•MTBVAC is ready to initiate efficacy trials 100 years after BCG.
At its 100th birthday of its first administration to a newborn, BCG has been (and continues being) an inspiration for the construction and development of hundreds of new TB vaccine candidates in the last two and a half decades. Today, 14 candidates are in clinical development inside the global TB vaccine pipeline. MTBVAC is one of these candidates. Based on a live-attenuated Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolate, MTBVAC’s 25 years of vaccine discovery, construction and characterisation have followed Pasteur principles, and in the process, BCG has served as a reference gold standard for establishing the safety and protective efficacy of new TB vaccine candidates. MTBVAC, which contains the antigen repertoire of M. tuberculosis, is now poised to initiate Phase 3 efficacy trials in newborns in TB-endemic countries. BCG’s efficacy extends beyond that against TB, shown to confer heterologous non-specific immunity to other diseases and reduce all-cause mortality in the first months of life. Today, WHO recognises the importance that any new TB vaccine designed for administration at birth, should show similar non-specific benefits as BCG vía mechanisms of trained immunity and/or cross-reactivity of adaptive immune responses to other pathogens. Key recent studies provide strong support for MTBVAC’s ability of inducing trained immunity and conferring non-specific heterologous protection similar to BCG. Research on alternative delivery routes of MTBVAC, such as a clinically feasible aerosol route, could facilitate vaccine administration for long-term TB eradication programmes in the future.
Decreasing the dependence on fossil resources as raw materials for the production of fuels, platform chemicals, and commodities is an imperative requirement of today’s industry and society in order ...to alleviate the threats related to climate change ...
Water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource due to growing multi-sector demand and the effects of climate change. During droughts, the proportional rule is the most widespread water allocation ...method applied in irrigation systems. However, this method fails to guarantee efficient water allocation or to provide a fair method of water allocation. This paper aims to verify whether by replacing the water allocation methods based on a proportional rule with methods based on a priority rule could improve the allocation of water resources and minimize the negative economic impacts of water shortages. The ultimate objective of this research is to design a water pricing scheme capable of guaranteeing efficient water reallocation during drought conditions. Therefore, an experiment was carried out for the largest irrigated area in southern Italy, covered by the Capitanata Reclamation and Irrigation board (CBC). A positive mathematical programming model was implemented in order to simulate the effects of the proposed mechanism. The findings show that priority mechanisms have the potential to improve overall economic efficiency in the event of water shortages. However, results also point to the need for optimal design of a differentiated water pricing scheme.
We introduce a novel approach for colloidal lithography based on the dry particle assembly into a dense monolayer on an elastomer, followed by mechanical transfer to a substrate of any material and ...curvature. This method can be implemented either manually or automatically and it produces large area patterns with the quality obtained by the state-of-the-art colloidal lithography at a very high throughput. We first demonstrated the fabrication of nanopatterns with a periodicity ranging between 200 nm and 2 μm. We then demonstrated two nanotechnological applications of this approach. The first one is antireflective structures, fabricated on silicon and sapphire, with different geometries including arrays of bumps and holes and adjusted for different spectral ranges. The second one is smart 3D nanostructures for mechanostimulation of T cells that are used for their effective proliferation, with potential application in cancer immunotherapy. This new approach unleashes the potential of bottom-up nanofabrication and paves the way for nanoscale devices and systems in numerous applications.
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