Notes

Boron Isotope Investigation Reveals Borate Selectivity in Seaweeds.
There has been an explosion of data published in a short period of time about COVID-19. It can be difficult for learners to stay on top of the latest information while also critically appraising each new piece of information. As a result, there can be a lack of local consensus on how to best manage these patients as new data continually becomes available.Research is needed to understand the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in semen, sexual transmissibility, and impact on sperm quality. Several studies have examined men recovering from COVID-19, but large-scale community-based testing is needed to ascertain the effects on the male reproductive tract, and the potential for prolonged transmission.The SARS-Cov-2 infection disease (COVID-19) pandemic has posed at risk the kidney transplant (KT) population, particularly the elderly recipients. From March-12th until April-4th 2020, we diagnosed COVID-19 in 16 of our 324 KT patients aged ≥65 years old (4.9%). Many of them had had contact with healthcare facilities in the month prior to infection. Median time of symptom onset to admission was 7 days. All presented with fever and all but one with pneumonia. Up to 33% showed renal graft dysfunction. At infection diagnosis, mTOR inhibitors or mycophenolate were withdrawn. Tacrolimus was withdrawn in 70%. The main treatment combination was hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. A subset of patients was treated with anti-retroviral and tocilizumab. Short-term fatality rate was 50% at a median time since admission of 3 days. Those who died were more frequently obese, frail and had underlying heart disease. Although a higher respiratory rate was observed at admission in nonsurvivors, symptoms at presentation were similar between both groups. Patients who died were more anemic, lymphopenic and showed higher D-dimer, C-reactive protein, and IL-6 at their first tests. COVID-19 is frequent among the elderly KT population and associates a very early and high mortality rate.Objective To evaluate the efficacy of folate receptor-mediated tumor detection (FRD) for identifying high-grade intraepithelial squamous lesions (HSIL) in the triage of women who are positive for human papillomavirus (HPV), and those with cytology findings of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS). Method A secondary analysis of prospectively collected data from 1504 women who had abnormal results during primary cervical cancer screening at 13 hospitals in Beijing, China, between November 2014 and August 2015. The detection accuracy of FRD was evaluated among HPV-positive women and women with ASCUS referred for colposcopy examination. Results Among 1338 women with HPV, the percentage coincidence with pathology findings was higher for FRD (66.67%) than for cytology of ASCUS or higher (51.49%). The rate of colposcopy referral for cytology and FRD as a triage tool was 969 (72.4%) and 736 (55.0%), respectively. Thus, 233 (17.4%) fewer women would be referred for colposcopy by FRD. Among 476 women with cytology of ASCUS, the percentage coincidence with pathology findings was higher for FRD (63.45%) than for HPV (35.9%). Conclusion FRD was found to be a promising triage tool for women who are HPV-positive and those with cytology findings of ASCUS.This should help the reader understand the issue in a manner that makes the extent of the problem clear and offers enough context to enable him/her to make a judgment about the applicability of the concerns to their own setting.Habitat destruction and fragmentation are increasing globally, forcing surviving species into small, isolated populations. Isolated populations typically experience heightened inbreeding risk, and associated inbreeding depression and population decline; although individuals in these populations may mitigate these risks through inbreeding avoidance strategies. For koalas, as dietary specialists already under threat in the northern parts of their range, increased habitat fragmentation and associated inbreeding costs are of great conservation concern. Koalas are known to display passive inbreeding avoidance through sex-biased dispersal, although population isolation will reduce dispersal pathways. We tested whether free-ranging koalas display active inbreeding avoidance behaviours. We used VHF tracking data, parentage reconstruction, and veterinary examination results to test whether free-ranging female koalas avoid mating with [1] more closely related males, and [2] males infected with sexually transmitted Chlamydia pecorum. We found no evidence that female koalas avoid mating with relatively more related available mates. In fact, as the relatedness of potential mates increases, so did inbreeding events. We also found no evidence that female koalas can avoid mating with males infected with C. pecorum. The absence of active inbreeding avoidance mechanisms in koalas is concerning from a conservation perspective, as small, isolated populations may be at even higher risk of inbreeding depression than expected. At-risk koala populations may require urgent conservation interventions to augment gene flow and reduce inbreeding risks. Similarly, if koalas are not avoiding mating with individuals with chlamydial disease, populations may be at higher risk from disease than anticipated, further impacting population viability.Sediment samples were taken from sediment adjacent to a suburban river in Sheffield in Northern England that had suffered heavy metal pollution due to previous activity of the steel industry (between the 17th and 19th centuries). P7C3 The most abundant heavy metals found in the samples were lead, chromium, nickel, arsenic and cobalt, with maximum concentrations of 412·80, 25·232, 25·196, 8·123 and 7·66 mg kg-1 , respectively. Enrichment cultures were set up using methane as carbon and energy source, as a result of which a strain of methanotroph was isolated that was shown via 16S rRNA gene sequencing to be a strain Methylomonas koyamae and given the designation SHU1. M. koyamae SHU1 removed hexavalent chromium from an initial concentration of 10 ppm, which was inhibited by the metabolic inhibitor sodium azide or the methane monooxygenase inhibitor phenylacetylene. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first description of a strain of the widely environmentally distributed genus Methylomonas that is capable of remediating hexavalent chromium.
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