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Nick K. Jones1,2*, Lucy Rivett1,2*, Chris Workman3, Mark Ferris3, Ashley Shaw1, Cambridge COVID-19 Collaboration1,4, Paul J. Lehner1,4, Rob Howes5, Giles Wright3, Nicholas J. Matheson1,4,6¶, Michael P. Weekes1,7¶1 Cambridge University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK2 Clinical Microbiology & Public Health Laboratory, Public Health England, Cambridge, UK3 Occupational Health and Wellbeing, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK4 Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK5 Cambridge COVID-19 Testing Centre and AstraZeneca, Anne Mclaren Building, Cambridge, UK6 NHS Blood and Transplant, Cambridge, UK7 Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK*Joint first authorship¶Joint last authorshipCorrespondence: [email protected] UK has initiated mass COVID-19 immunisation, with healthcare workers (HCWs) given early priority because of the potential for workplace exposure and risk of onward transmission to patients. The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has recommended maximising the number of people vaccinated with first doses at the expense of early booster vaccinations, based on single dose efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 disease.1-3At the time of writing, three COVID-19 vaccines have been granted emergency use authorisation in the UK, including the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech). A vital outstanding question is whether this vaccine prevents or promotes asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, rather than symptomatic COVID-19 disease, because sub-clinical infection following vaccination could continue to drive transmission. This is especially important because many UK HCWs have received this vaccine, and nosocomial COVID-19 infection has been a persistent problem.Through the implementation of a 24 h-turnaround PCR-based comprehensive HCW screening programme at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUHNFT), we previously demonstrated the frequent presence of pauci- and asymptomatic infection amongst HCWs during the UK’s first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.4 Here, we evaluate the effect of first-dose BNT162b2 vaccination on test positivity rates and cycle threshold (Ct) values in the asymptomatic arm of our programme, which now offers weekly screening to all staff.Vaccination of HCWs at CUHNFT began on 8th December 2020, with mass vaccination from 8th January 2021. Here, we analyse data from the two weeks spanning 18thto 31st January 2021, during which: (a) the prevalence of COVID-19 amongst HCWs remained approximately constant; and (b) we screened comparable numbers of vaccinated and unvaccinated HCWs. Over this period, 4,408 (week 1) and 4,411 (week 2) PCR tests were performed from individuals reporting well to work. We stratified HCWs <12 days or > 12 days post-vaccination because this was the point at which protection against symptomatic infection began to appear in phase III clinical trial.226/3,252 (0·80%) tests from unvaccinated HCWs were positive (Ct<36), compared to 13/3,535 (0·37%) from HCWs <12 days post-vaccination and 4/1,989 (0·20%) tests from HCWs ≥12 days post-vaccination (p=0·023 and p=0·004, respectively; Fisher’s exact test, Figure). This suggests a four-fold decrease in the risk of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection amongst HCWs ≥12 days post-vaccination, compared to unvaccinated HCWs, with an intermediate effect amongst HCWs <12 days post-vaccination.A marked reduction in infections was also seen when analyses were repeated with: (a) inclusion of HCWs testing positive through both the symptomatic and asymptomatic arms of the programme (56/3,282 (1·71%) unvaccinated vs 8/1,997 (0·40%) ≥12 days post-vaccination, 4·3-fold reduction, p=0·00001); (b) inclusion of PCR tests which were positive at the limit of detection (Ct>36, 42/3,268 (1·29%) vs 15/2,000 (0·75%), 1·7-fold reduction, p=0·075); and (c) extension of the period of analysis to include six weeks from December 28th to February 7th 2021 (113/14,083 (0·80%) vs 5/4,872 (0·10%), 7·8-fold reduction, p=1x10-9). In addition, the median Ct value of positive tests showed a non-significant trend towards increase between unvaccinated HCWs and HCWs > 12 days post-vaccination (23·3 to 30·3, Figure), suggesting that samples from vaccinated individuals had lower viral loads.We therefore provide real-world evidence for a high level of protection against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection after a single dose of BNT162b2 vaccine, at a time of predominant transmission of the UK COVID-19 variant of concern 202012/01 (lineage B.1.1.7), and amongst a population with a relatively low frequency of prior infection (7.2% antibody positive).5This work was funded by a Wellcome Senior Clinical Research Fellowship to MPW (108070/Z/15/Z), a Wellcome Principal Research Fellowship to PJL (210688/Z/18/Z), and an MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship (MR/P008801/1) and NHSBT workpackage (WPA15-02) to NJM. Funding was also received from Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust and the Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. We also acknowledge contributions from all staff at CUHNFT Occupational Health and Wellbeing and the Cambridge COVID-19 Testing Centre.

Scene flow tracks the three-dimensional (3D) motion of each point in adjacent point clouds. It provides fundamental 3D motion perception for autonomous driving and server robot. Although the Red Green Blue Depth (RGBD) camera or Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) capture discrete 3D points in space, the objects and motions usually are continuous in the macro world. That is, the objects keep themselves consistent as they flow from the current frame to the next frame. Based on this insight, the Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) is utilized to self-learn 3D scene flow with no need for ground truth. The fake point cloud of the second frame is synthesized from the predicted scene flow and the point cloud of the first frame. The adversarial training of the generator and discriminator is realized through synthesizing indistinguishable fake point cloud and discriminating the real point cloud and the synthesized fake point cloud. The experiments on Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Toyota Technological Institute (KITTI) scene flow dataset show that our method realizes promising results without ground truth. Just as human, the proposed method can identify the similar local structures of two adjacent frames even without knowing the ground truth scene flow. Then, the local correspondence can be correctly estimated, and further the scene flow is correctly estimated.   Corresponding author(s) Email: [email protected]

Leukocyte differential test is a widely performed clinical procedure for screening infectious diseases. Existing hematology analyzers require labor-intensive work and a panel of expensive reagents. Here we report an artificial-intelligence enabled reagent-free imaging hematology analyzer (AIRFIHA) modality that can accurately classify subpopulations of leukocytes with minimal sample preparation. AIRFIHA is realized through training a two-step residual neural network using label-free images of isolated leukocytes acquired from a custom-built quantitative phase microscope. By leveraging the rich information contained in quantitative phase images, we not only achieved high accuracy in differentiating B and T lymphocytes, but also classified CD4 and CD8 cells, therefore outperforming the classification accuracy of most current hematology analyzers. We validated the performance of AIRFIHA in a randomly selected test set and cross-validated it across all blood donors. Owing to its easy operation, low cost, and accurate discerning capability of complex leukocyte subpopulations, we envision AIRFIHA is clinically translatable and can also be deployed in resource-limited settings, e.g., during pandemic situations for the rapid screening of infectious diseases.  Corresponding author(s) Email:    [email protected],  [email protected]

Tam Hunt [1], Jonathan SchoolerUniversity of California Santa Barbara Synchronization, harmonization, vibrations, or simply resonance in its most general sense seems to have an integral relationship with consciousness itself. One of the possible “neural correlates of consciousness” in mammalian brains is a combination of gamma, beta and theta synchrony. More broadly, we see similar kinds of resonance patterns in living and non-living structures of many types. What clues can resonance provide about the nature of consciousness more generally? This paper provides an overview of resonating structures in the fields of neuroscience, biology and physics and attempts to coalesce these data into a solution to what we see as the “easy part” of the Hard Problem, which is generally known as the “combination problem” or the “binding problem.” The combination problem asks: how do micro-conscious entities combine into a higher-level macro-consciousness? The proposed solution in the context of mammalian consciousness suggests that a shared resonance is what allows different parts of the brain to achieve a phase transition in the speed and bandwidth of information flows between the constituent parts. This phase transition allows for richer varieties of consciousness to arise, with the character and content of that consciousness in each moment determined by the particular set of constituent neurons. We also offer more general insights into the ontology of consciousness and suggest that consciousness manifests as a relatively smooth continuum of increasing richness in all physical processes, distinguishing our view from emergentist materialism. We refer to this approach as a (general) resonance theory of consciousness and offer some responses to Chalmers’ questions about the different kinds of “combination problem.”  At the heart of the universe is a steady, insistent beat: the sound of cycles in sync…. [T]hese feats of synchrony occur spontaneously, almost as if nature has an eerie yearning for order. Steven Strogatz, Sync: How Order Emerges From Chaos in the Universe, Nature and Daily Life (2003) If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.Nikola Tesla (1942) I.               Introduction Is there an “easy part” and a “hard part” to the Hard Problem of consciousness? In this paper, we suggest that there is. The harder part is arriving at a philosophical position with respect to the relationship of matter and mind. This paper is about the “easy part” of the Hard Problem but we address the “hard part” briefly in this introduction.  We have both arrived, after much deliberation, at the position of panpsychism or panexperientialism (all matter has at least some associated mind/experience and vice versa). This is the view that all things and processes have both mental and physical aspects. Matter and mind are two sides of the same coin.  Panpsychism is one of many possible approaches that addresses the “hard part” of the Hard Problem. We adopt this position for all the reasons various authors have listed (Chalmers 1996, Griffin 1997, Hunt 2011, Goff 2017). This first step is particularly powerful if we adopt the Whiteheadian version of panpsychism (Whitehead 1929).  Reaching a position on this fundamental question of how mind relates to matter must be based on a “weight of plausibility” approach, rather than on definitive evidence, because establishing definitive evidence with respect to the presence of mind/experience is difficult. We must generally rely on examining various “behavioral correlates of consciousness” in judging whether entities other than ourselves are conscious – even with respect to other humans—since the only consciousness we can know with certainty is our own. Positing that matter and mind are two sides of the same coin explains the problem of consciousness insofar as it avoids the problems of emergence because under this approach consciousness doesn’t emerge. Consciousness is, rather, always present, at some level, even in the simplest of processes, but it “complexifies” as matter complexifies, and vice versa. Consciousness starts very simple and becomes more complex and rich under the right conditions, which in our proposed framework rely on resonance mechanisms. Matter and mind are two sides of the coin. Neither is primary; they are coequal.  We acknowledge the challenges of adopting this perspective, but encourage readers to consider the many compelling reasons to consider it that are reviewed elsewhere (Chalmers 1996, Griffin 1998, Hunt 2011, Goff 2017, Schooler, Schooler, & Hunt, 2011; Schooler, 2015).  Taking a position on the overarching ontology is the first step in addressing the Hard Problem. But this leads to the related questions: at what level of organization does consciousness reside in any particular process? Is a rock conscious? A chair? An ant? A bacterium? Or are only the smaller constituents, such as atoms or molecules, of these entities conscious? And if there is some degree of consciousness even in atoms and molecules, as panpsychism suggests (albeit of a very rudimentary nature, an important point to remember), how do these micro-conscious entities combine into the higher-level and obvious consciousness we witness in entities like humans and other mammals?  This set of questions is known as the “combination problem,” another now-classic problem in the philosophy of mind, and is what we describe here as the “easy part” of the Hard Problem. Our characterization of this part of the problem as “easy”[2] is, of course, more than a little tongue in cheek. The authors have discussed frequently with each other what part of the Hard Problem should be labeled the easier part and which the harder part. Regardless of the labels we choose, however, this paper focuses on our suggested solution to the combination problem.  Various solutions to the combination problem have been proposed but none have gained widespread acceptance. This paper further elaborates a proposed solution to the combination problem that we first described in Hunt 2011 and Schooler, Hunt, and Schooler 2011. The proposed solution rests on the idea of resonance, a shared vibratory frequency, which can also be called synchrony or field coherence. We will generally use resonance and “sync,” short for synchrony, interchangeably in this paper. We describe the approach as a general resonance theory of consciousness or just “general resonance theory” (GRT). GRT is a field theory of consciousness wherein the various specific fields associated with matter and energy are the seat of conscious awareness.  A summary of our approach appears in Appendix 1.  All things in our universe are constantly in motion, in process. Even objects that appear to be stationary are in fact vibrating, oscillating, resonating, at specific frequencies. So all things are actually processes. Resonance is a specific type of motion, characterized by synchronized oscillation between two states.  An interesting phenomenon occurs when different vibrating processes come into proximity: they will often start vibrating together at the same frequency. They “sync up,” sometimes in ways that can seem mysterious, and allow for richer and faster information and energy flows (Figure 1 offers a schematic). Examining this phenomenon leads to potentially deep insights about the nature of consciousness in both the human/mammalian context but also at a deeper ontological level.

Cannabis sativa is an extraordinarily versatile species. Hemp and its cousin marijuana, both C. sativa, have been used for millennia as a source of fibre, oil and for medicinal, spiritual and recreational purposes. Because the consumption of Cannabis can have psychoactive effects, the plant has been widely banned throughout the last century. In the past decade, evidence of its medicinal properties did lead to the relaxation of legislation in many countries around the world. Consequently, the genetics and development of Cannabis as well as Cannabis-derived products are the subject of renewed attention.Here, we review the biology of C. sativa, including recent insights from taxonomy, morphology and genomics, with an emphasis on the genetics of cannabinoid synthesis. Because the female Cannabis flower is of special interest as the site of cannabinoid synthesis, we explore flower development, flowering time well as the species’ unique sex determination system in detail. Furthermore, we outline the tremendous medicinal, engineering, and environmental opportunities that Cannabis bears. Together, the picture emerges that our understanding of Cannabis biology currently progresses at an unusual speed. A future challenge will be to preserve the multi-purpose nature of Cannabis, and to harness its medicinal properties and sustainability advantages simultaneously.

Quantum chemistry must evolve if it wants to fully leverage the benefits of the internet age, where the world wide web offers a vast tapestry of tools that enable users to communicate and interact with complex data at the speed and convenience of a button press. The Open Chemistry project has developed an open source framework that offers an end-to-end solution for producing, sharing, and visualizing quantum chemical data interactively on the web using an array of modern tools and approaches. These tools build on some of the best open source community projects such as Jupyter for interactive online notebooks, coupled with 3D accelerated visualization, state-of-the-art computational chemistry codes including NWChem and Psi4 and emerging machine learning and data mining tools such as ChemML and ANI. They offer flexible formats to import and export data, along with approaches to compare computational and experimental data.

This paper responds to one by Graham Martin and colleagues, who offered a critique of my previous publications on masks for the lay public in the Covid-19 pandemic. I address their charges that my co-authors and I had misapplied the precautionary principle; drawn conclusions that were not supported by empirical research; and failed to take account of potential harms. But before that, I remind Martin et al that the evidence on mask wearing goes beyond the contested trials and observational studies they place centre stage. I set out some key findings from basic science, epidemiology, mathematical modelling, case studies and natural experiments, and use this rich and diverse body of evidence as the backdrop for my rebuttal of their narrowly-framed objections. I challenge my critics’ apparent assumption that a particular kind of systematic review should be valorised over narrative and real-world evidence, since stories are crucial to both our scientific understanding and our moral imagination. I conclude by thanking my academic adversaries for the intellectual sparring match, but exhort them to remember our professional accountability to a society in crisis. It is time to lay straw men to rest and engage, scientifically and morally, with the dreadful tragedy that is unfolding across the world.

This Supporting information includes interactive plots, videos, and data captured while performing evaluation and validation experiments for our paper. 

The construct of wellbeing has been criticised as a neoliberal construction of western individualism that ignores wider systemic issues including increasing burden of chronic disease, widening inequality, concerns over environmental degradation and anthropogenic climate change. While these criticisms overlook recent developments, there remains a need for biopsychosocial models that extend theoretical grounding beyond individual wellbeing, incorporating overlapping contextual issues relating to community and environment. Our first GENIAL model \cite{Kemp_2017} provided a more expansive view of pathways to longevity in the context of individual health and wellbeing, emphasising bidirectional links to positive social ties and the impact of sociocultural factors. In this paper, we build on these ideas and propose GENIAL 2.0, focusing on intersecting individual-community-environmental contributions to health and wellbeing, and laying an evidence-based, theoretical framework on which future research and innovative therapeutic innovations could be based. We suggest that our transdisciplinary model of wellbeing - focusing on individual, community and environmental contributions to personal wellbeing - will help to move the research field forward. In reconceptualising wellbeing, GENIAL 2.0 bridges the gap between psychological science and population health health systems, and presents opportunities for enhancing the health and wellbeing of people living with chronic conditions. Implications for future generations including the very survival of our species are discussed.  

Floral plantings are promoted to foster ecological intensification of agriculture through provisioning of ecosystem services. However, a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of different floral plantings, their characteristics and consequences for crop yield across global regions is lacking. Here we quantified the impacts of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control and pollination services in adjacent crops using a global dataset of 529 sites. Flower strips, but not hedgerows, enhanced pest control services in adjacent fields by 16% on average. However, effects on crop pollination and yield were more variable. Our synthesis identifies several important drivers of variability in effectiveness of plantings: pollination services declined exponentially with distance from plantings, and perennial and older flower strips with higher flowering plant diversity enhanced pollination more effectively. These findings provide promising pathways to optimize floral plantings to more effectively contribute to ecosystem service delivery and ecological intensification of agriculture in the future.

Researchers' ability to accurately screen fossil and subfossil specimens for preservation of DNA and protein sequences remains limited. Thermal exposure and geologic age are usable proxies for sequence preservation on a broad scale but are of nominal use for specimens of similar depositional environments. Cell and tissue biomolecular histology is thus proposed as a novel proxy for determining sequence preservation potential of ancient specimens with improved accuracy. Biomolecular histology as a proxy is hypothesized to elucidate why fossils/subfossils of some depositional environments preserve sequences while others do not and to facilitate selection of ancient specimens for use in molecular studies.

IntroductionConsistent with World Health Organization (WHO) advice [1], UK Infection Protection Control guidance recommends that healthcare workers (HCWs) caring for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) should use fluid resistant surgical masks type IIR (FRSMs) as respiratory protective equipment (RPE), unless aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) are being undertaken or are likely, when a filtering face piece 3 (FFP3) respirator should be used [2]. In a recent update, an FFP3 respirator is recommended if “an unacceptable risk of transmission remains following rigorous application of the hierarchy of control” [3]. Conversely, guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that HCWs caring for patients with COVID-19 should use an N95 or higher level respirator [4]. WHO guidance suggests that a respirator, such as FFP3, may be used for HCWs in the absence of AGPs if availability or cost is not an issue [1].A recent systematic review undertaken for PHE concluded that: “patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection who are breathing, talking or coughing generate both respiratory droplets and aerosols, but FRSM (and where required, eye protection) are considered to provide adequate staff protection” [5]. Nevertheless, FFP3 respirators are more effective in preventing aerosol transmission than FRSMs, and observational data suggests that they may improve protection for HCWs [6]. It has therefore been suggested that respirators should be considered as a means of affording the best available protection [7], and some organisations have decided to provide FFP3 (or equivalent) respirators to HCWs caring for COVID-19 patients, despite a lack of mandate from local or national guidelines [8].Data from the HCW testing programme at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUHNFT) during the first wave of the UK severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic indicated a higher incidence of infection amongst HCWs caring for patients with COVID-19, compared with those who did not [9]. Subsequent studies have confirmed this observation [10, 11]. This disparity persisted at CUHNFT in December 2020, despite control measures consistent with PHE guidance and audits indicating good compliance. The CUHNFT infection control committee therefore implemented a change of RPE for staff on “red” (COVID-19) wards from FRSMs to FFP3 respirators. In this study, we analyse the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in HCWs before and after this transition.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the efficacy of (R,S)-ketamine as a treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (1), treatment resistant depression (2, 3), and co-morbid occurrences of these conditions (4). The (R,S), (R), and (S) stereoisomers of ketamine have also demonstrated efficacy in attenuation of stress and depressive symptoms (5), with (R)-ketamine demonstrating reduced abuse potential and side effects (6). Although research on (R,S)-ketamine’s and its metabolites’ efficacy has been promising, less is known about the mechanisms by which these compounds elicit their therapeutic effects. Here, we review the research literature concerning the hypothesized mechanisms of (R,S)-ketamine and its metabolites. The pharmacodynamics of (R,S)-ketamine’s effects on depression involve the dentate gyrus, prefrontal cortex, hippocampal CA3, dorsal raphe nucleus, and the prelimbic to dorsal raphe nucleus (PL-DRN) circuit. The current evidence suggests that, although brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) expression through activation of tropomyosin-related kinase B (TrkB) is likely necessary for (R,S)-ketamine’s therapeutic effects, NMDA receptor antagonism may be unrelated to its antidepressant efficacy.

Formal quantitative surveys of wild animal abundance or activity, and assessments of the integrity of the complex natural ecosystems they live in, are typically quite laborious and meaningful analysis of the data obtained may require considerable time and expertise. This study describes the development and evaluation of a practical procedure for semi-quantitative synthesis of consensus subjective impressions accumulated by a small team of investigators who visited 32 different locations distributed in or around a community-based Wildlife Management Area in southern Tanzania. The subjective natural ecosystem integrity index scores obtained represent a holistic indicator of all aspects of land use, wildlife and human activities, which correlated strongly with objective indicators of wild animal community or whole natural ecosystem integrity that were estimated directly from formally collected quantitative survey data by the same investigators at the same locations. Also, comparative regression analysis indicated that the SNEII was a far more sensitive to variations in observed human activities than any of the objective alternatives, correspondingly yielding far more detailed insights into ongoing conservation challenges. This simple procedure for summarizing the overall, multi-faceted subjective impressions of individuals traversing extensive conservation areas may well be applicable through participatory approaches to routine programmatic monitoring by community-based staff with minimal training, and may therefore be more practically useful to devolved conservation areas like WMAs than conventional objective statistical synthetic indices relying on laborious collection and analysis of quantitative survey data.

Language control in bilingual speakers is thought to be implicated in effectively switching between languages, inhibiting the non-intended language, and continuously monitoring what to say and what has been said. It has been a matter of controversy concerning whether language control operates in a comparable manner to cognitive control processes in non-linguistic domains (domain-general) or if it is exclusive to language processing (domain-specific). As midfrontal theta oscillations have been considered as an index of cognitive control, examining whether a midfrontal theta effect is evident in tasks requiring bilingual control could bring new insights to the ongoing debate. To this end, we reanalysed the EEG data from two previous bilingual production studies where Dutch-English bilinguals named pictures based on colour cues. Specifically, we focused on three fundamental control processes in bilingual production: switching between languages, inhibition of the nontarget language, and monitoring of speech errors. Theta power increase was observed in switch trials compared to repeat trials, with a midfrontal scalp distribution. However, this midfrontal theta effect was absent in switch trials following a short sequence of same-language trials compared to a long sequence, suggesting a missing modulation of inhibitory control. Similarly, increased midfrontal theta power was observed when participants failed to switch to the intended language compared to correct responses. Altogether, these findings tentatively support the involvement of domain-general cognitive control mechanisms in bilingual switching.

Background Viral interference is the concept that different viruses have an effect on the incidence of other viruses– either positive or negative. While this has been demonstrated in vitro and in animal models, it is not well described in large observational studies. Methods We analysed all patients tested for positive respiratory viruses between January 2016– December 2019 just prior to the pandemic in the National University Hospital laboratory, Singapore. Nasal, throat, and/ or nasopharyngeal swabs were collected by treating clinicians and tested by either multiplex PCR or immunofluorescence. Survival plots were created to study the time for a second viral infection following the initial respiratory viral detection. Results RSV (HR: 0.63, 95%CI: 0.43–0.92; p<0.01) and influenza (HR: 0.41, 95%CI: 0.27-0.61; p<0.001) -positive cases showed a greater delay in subsequent respiratory infections compared to other pathogens, suggesting relative protection, while enterovirus/ rhinovirus (HR: 2.05, 95%CI: 1.52-2.77; p<0.001) and Parainfluenza (HR: 1.76, 95%CI: 1.18-2.63; p<0.001) showed heightened susceptibility. No significant associations were found for Adenovirus, seasonal coronaviruses, and other pathogens. Conclusion We found that it is possible that prior infections with Influenza virus or RSV conferred significant cross-protection against subsequent circulating respiratory viral infections for the next 4 years. Larger studies are needed to explore mechanisms behind this possible broad-spectrum antiviral response in human hosts as this may have implications for vaccination strategies.

Objectives: Xerostomia is defined as the subjective feeling of dry mouth. It is a condition that affects millions of patients worldwide. The aim was to study prevalence and severity of self-reported xerostomia by sociodemographic variables and to evaluate self-reported halitosis, burning mouth, and mouth sores. Methods: A questionnaire regarding sociodemographic data and the 11-item Xerostomia Inventory was delivered to patients, 20-65 years of age applied to the XXXX University Faculty of Dentistry for dental treatment before the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistical analyses were performed to determine the relationships between the presence of xerostomia and other variables such as age, gender, the presence of a systemic disease, medication use, smoking, alcohol consumption, and the use of removable prostheses. Results: A total of 300 patients were included in the study; a prevalence of xerostomia of 54.6% was identified. A significant relationship was found between age and xerostomia ( p = 0.023; p = 0.001). The prevalence of xerostomia decreased as age increased. Xerostomia was more common in female patients ( p = 0.028; p = 0.004). The prevalence of xerostomia was found to be high, not only in the elderly, but also in younger adults. Conclusion: Xerostomia was reported in approximately one in two patients in an adult Turkish population. Factors associated with xerostomia were age, female gender and the number of cigarettes smoked per day. In this study, the high prevalence of xerostomia was due to smoking.

Background Older adults in nursing and care homes (NCHs) are vulnerable to severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, hospitalisation, and death. This study aimed to gather data on RSV disease among older adults in NCHs and identify reported risk factors for RSV hospitalisation and case fatality. Methods The study protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42022371908). We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE and Global Health databases to identify articles published between 2000 and 2023. Observational and experimental studies conducted among older adults in NCHs requiring assistive care and reporting RSV illness were included and relevant data were extracted. Results Of 18,690 studies screened, 32 were selected for full-text review and 20 were included. Overall, the number of NCH residents ranged from 42 to 1,459 with a mean age between 67.6 and 85 years. Attack rates ranged from 6.7 – 47.6% and annual incidence ranged from 0.5 – 14%. Case fatality rates ranged from 7.7 – 23.1%. We found similar annual incidence rates of RSV-positive acute respiratory infection (ARI) of 4,582 (95% CI: 3,259 – 6,264) and 4,785 (95% CI: 2,258 – 10,141) per 100,000 reported in two studies. Annual incidence rate of RSV-positive lower respiratory tract infection was 3,040 (95% CI: 1,986 – 4,454) cases per 100,000 adults. Annual RSV-ARI hospital admission rates were between 600 (95% CI: 190 -10,000) and 1,104 (95% CI: 350 – 1,930) per 100,000 person-years. Among all RSV disease cases, commonly reported chronic medical conditions included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart failure, ischemic heart disease, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, kidney dysfunction, cerebrovascular accident, malignancies, dementia, and those with a Charlson comorbidity score > 6.5. Conclusion Data on RSV infection among NCH residents are limited and largely heterogeneous but document a high risk of illness, frequent hospitalisation, and high mortality. Preventive interventions, such as vaccination should be considered for this high-risk population. Nationally representative epidemiologic studies and NCH-based viral pathogen surveillance could more precisely assess the burden on NCH residents.

Acute genitourinary pain and swelling in a child- look out for the rashes!

Summary: This prospective study investigates the impact of local anesthesia on ciliary function in nasal epithelium. The primary objective was to assess whether lidocaine 2% and naphazoline 0.5% nasal spray alter ciliary beat frequency and pattern in subjects undergoing nasal brushing, aiming to enhance primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) diagnosis. Hypothesis: It was hypothesized that local anesthesia administration would not significantly affect ciliary function in nasal epithelium. Study design: A prospective, simple-blind randomized study was conducted between 2020 and 2023. The study employed digital high-speed videomicroscopy to analyze ciliary beat frequency and pattern. Patient/subject selection: A cohort of 38 participants was recruited, consisting of 25 healthy volunteers and 13 referred individuals (including 7 diagnosed with PCD). Selection criteria ensured absence of chronic respiratory diseases, recent respiratory tract infections, or regular use of nasal medications. Methodology: Participants underwent nasal brushing with administration of lidocaine and naphazoline nasal spray in one nostril and saline in the contralateral nostril. Ciliary beat frequency and pattern were measured using digital high-speed videomicroscopy. Results: Nasal spray administration did not significantly alter ciliary beat frequency or pattern compared to saline (p = 0.841 and p = 0.125, respectively). Subgroup analysis revealed consistent results across healthy volunteers, referred patients, and PCD patients. Conclusion: Local anesthesia with lidocaine and naphazoline spray did not affect ciliary function outcomes. These findings support the safe use of these agents in clinical practice for PCD diagnostic procedures. Further research with larger cohorts is warranted for validation.

Genes involved in reproduction often evolve rapidly due to postcopulatory sexual selection (PCSS) driven by male-male competition and male-female sexual conflict, but the impact of PCSS on gene expression has been under-explored. Further, though multiple tissues contribute to male reproductive success, most studies have focused on the testes. To explore the influence of mating system variation on gene expression in the Peromyscus male reproductive tract, we generated RNAseq libraries and quantified gene expression in the testis, seminal vesicle, epididymis, and liver of wild-caught monogamous P. californicus and polygynandrous P. boylii and P. maniculatus males and tested for positive and relaxed selection on Peromyscus-expressed genes using published rodent genomes. We identified 3,627 mating-system associated differentially expressed genes (MS-DEGs), where expression shifted in the same direction in P. maniculatus and P. boylii relative to P. californicus. Gene expression variation was most strongly associated with mating behavior in the seminal vesicles, where 89% of differentially expressed genes were MS-DEGs, including two key seminal fluid proteins, Svs2 and Pate4. Though but most genes showing evidence of positive selection or differential expression did not overlap, 203 MS-DEGs showed evidence of positive selection. Additionally, fourteen reproductive genes were under tree-wide positive selection but showed evidence of convergent relaxed selection in P. californicus and Microtus ochrogaster, a distantly related monogamous species. Changes in transcript abundance and gene sequence evolution in association with mating behavior suggest that male mice may respond to variation in sexual selection by altering aspects of sperm motility, sperm-egg binding, and copulatory plug formation.

Introduction (168 words)Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective minimally invasive therapeutic strategy for patients with severe movement disorders such as essential tremor, Parkinson’s disease, and dystonia. It is also beneficial in patients with refractory psychiatric conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder or Tourette’s syndrome (1). The procedure involves the stereotactic implantation of electrodes into specific deep brain structures, followed by the connection of subcutaneous wires to a stimulation device usually placed underneath the clavicle. While the implantation of electrodes can be completed under monitored anaesthesia care in most cases, tunnelling of wires requires general anaesthesia with tracheal intubation.The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) considers DBS to be a low-risk procedure (2–4). Indeed, while the perioperative mortality rate is below 1%, severe adverse surgical events such as intracranial haemorrhage or intracranial abscess are reported in 1-2% of cases. Cardiopulmonary instability is either very rare or underreported. Here, we present the case of a patient with severe Parkinson’s disease and pulmonary artery hypertension who suffered an intraoperative cardiac arrest.

Objective: The interferon-γ (IFN-γ) release assays still fail to meet the diagnostic needs of etiology negative tuberculosis (TB) patients. The purpose of this paper is to explore the value of the IL-2-enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay in the auxiliary diagnosis of TB. Methods: We recruited 127 TB patients, 49 non-TB patients with other diseases (NTB), and 198 healthy people, whose peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated and stimulated by Mtb-specific antigen CFP-10/ESAT-6 fusion protein to study the changes of T cells secreting IFN-γ and Interleukin-2 (IL-2) by ELISPOT method. Results: The combination of IFN-γ and IL-2 had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.867 (IFN-γ: 0.835, IL-2: 0.866) in the diagnosis of TB and could increase the sensitivity of IFN-γ detection alone from 79.5% to 86.6%. The cut-off value for IL-2 and IFN-γ was 16. IL-2 could increase the positive diagnostic rates of IFN-γ-ELISPOT (-) in the etiologically positive and negative ATB patients by 9.4% and 7.1%. In the ATB group, the positive rates and the numbers of spot-forming cells (SFC) of IFN-γ and IL-2 showed significant differences compared to the normal control subjects and NTB group (P<0.05). And SFCs of IFN-γ-ELISPOT were significantly higher than that of IL-2-ELISPOT in ATB patients. Before the treatment, the SFC values of the etiologically positive TB patients were higher than those of the etiologically negative patients. However, this situation was totally reversed after anti-TB treatment. After effective treatment, the positive rates and SFC values of IFN-γ and IL-2 in TB patients decreased and exhibited a decreasing and increasing trend in etiologically positive and negative TB patients, respectively. Conclusions: The combination of IL-2 and IFN-γ could improve the diagnostic sensitivity of single-factor detection in TB patients and these two cytokines could be used as effective biomarkers for the treatment monitoring in TB patients.

The advances in technology users frequently utilize online platforms and direct applications to access YouTube. The amount of people who make a career from YouTube has also increased dramatically along with the growth in the number of people who use the platform nowadays. They are having trouble selecting a YouTube career since it is extremely hard to determine which of the many categories and channels is most popular and appropriate for a particular country. The user can choose a successful career path and potentially become a successful YouTuber if they are aware of the most popular category or channel. Consequently, it has been suggested that YouTube Trending Analysis can assist those who are struggling to decide on a professional life, especially those who want to use YouTube as a source of income. The most popular careers in the United States (U.S.), Japan, and India right now are determined based on the content criteria of each video in YouTube. Additionally, the proposed machine learning model compares with Naïve Bayes Classifier, a method-based approach, to do sentiment analysis. Linear regression model is used to get the predicted results from trending analysis, then user is given an accurate, robust, and genuine recommendation for the proposed model’s outcome in the visualization.