Influences of gonad developmental stage on ovary selenium concentrations in fish-implications for ovary selenium monitoring.

Monitoring selenium (Se) concentrations in fish ovaries is an important tool for evaluating the ecological risk posed by Se in aquatic systems. Most guidance recommends sampling fish ovaries as closely as possible to when fish spawn on the premise that Se is mobilized from the liver to the ovary during vitellogenesis, and therefore, sampling ovaries during the early phases of oocyte maturation may underestimate egg Se concentrations at the time of spawning. In this study, we evaluated ovary Se data from two species with synchronous oocyte development (Ptychocheilus oregonensis and Prosopium williamsoni), one species with asynchronous oocyte development (Richardsonius balteatus), and one where the mode of development is unclear (Mylocheilus caurinus).

Tight Blood-Glucose Control without Early Parenteral Nutrition in the ICU.

Background: Randomized, controlled trials have shown both benefit and harm from tight blood-glucose control in patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). Variation in the use of early parenteral nutrition and in insulin-induced severe hypoglycemia might explain this inconsistency.

Methods: We randomly assigned patients, on ICU admission, to liberal glucose control (insulin initiated only when the blood-glucose level was >215 mg per deciliter [>11.

Maternal Transfer and Effects of Selenium on Early Life Stage Development of Redside Shiner (Richardsonius balteatus).

Maternal transfer of selenium (Se) to developing fish eggs during vitellogenesis can cause larval deformity and mortality. Previous studies have shown wide variation among fish species in both the magnitude of maternal transfer (exposure) and the egg Se concentration causing effects (sensitivity). We studied maternal transfer and effects of Se on early life stage development, survival, and growth of redside shiner (Richardsonius balteatus), a small-bodied cyprinid that has been reported to have relatively high ovary:muscle Se concentration ratios.

The association of hypoglycemia with outcome of critically ill children in relation to nutritional and blood glucose control strategies.

Background: Withholding parenteral nutrition (PN) until one week after PICU admission facilitated recovery from critical illness and protected against emotional and behavioral problems 4 years later. However, the intervention increased the risk of hypoglycemia, which may have counteracted part of the benefit. Previously, hypoglycemia occurring under tight glucose control in critically ill children receiving early PN did not associate with long-term harm.

Analysis of Selenium in Fish Tissue: An Interlaboratory Study on Weight Constraints.

Environmental monitoring programs that target fish tissues for selenium (Se) analysis present unique sampling and analytical challenges. Selenium monitoring programs ideally focus on egg/ovary sampling but frequently sample multiple tissues with varying lipid content, often target small-bodied fish species because of their small home ranges, and require reporting in units of dry weight. In addition, there is a growing impetus for nonlethal tissue sampling in fish monitoring.

Anoctamin-5 related muscle disease: clinical and genetic findings in a large European cohort.

Anoctamin-5 related muscle disease is caused by biallelic pathogenic variants in the anoctamin-5 gene (ANO5) and shows variable clinical phenotypes: limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 12 (LGMD-R12), distal muscular dystrophy type 3 (MMD3), pseudometabolic myopathy or asymptomatic hyperCKaemia. In this retrospective, observational, multicentre study we gathered a large European cohort of patients with ANO5-related muscle disease to study the clinical and genetic spectrum and genotype-phenotype correlations. We included 234 patients from 212 different families, contributed by 15 centres from 11 European countries.

Tissue donations for multiple sclerosis research: current state and suggestions for improvement.

Although major progress in multiple sclerosis research has been made during the last decades, key questions related to the cause and the mechanisms of brain and spinal cord pathology remain unresolved. These cover a broad range of topics, including disease aetiology, antigenic triggers of the immune response inside and/or outside the CNS and mechanisms of inflammation, demyelination neurodegeneration and tissue repair. Most of these questions can be addressed with novel molecular technologies in the injured CNS.

Secondary infection in COVID-19 critically ill patients: a retrospective single-center evaluation.

Background: Patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) can develop severe illness necessitating intensive care admission. Critically ill patients are susceptible for the development of secondary bacterial infections. Due to a combination of virus- and drug-induced immunosuppression, critically ill patients with corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may even have a higher risk of developing a secondary infection.

Did clickbait crack the code on virality?

Unlabelled: Although clickbait is a ubiquitous tactic in digital media, we challenge the popular belief that clickbait systematically leads to enhanced sharing of online content on social media. Using the Persuasion Knowledge Model, we predict that clickbait tactics may be perceived by some readers as a manipulative attempt, leading to source derogation where the publisher may be perceived as less competent and trustworthy. This, in turn, may reduce some readers' intention to share content.

Impact of tight glucose control on circulating 3-hydroxybutyrate in critically ill patients.

Background: Recent evidence suggests a potentially protective effect of increasing ketone body availability via accepting low macronutrient intake early after onset of critical illness. The impact of blood glucose control with insulin on circulating ketones is unclear. Whereas lowering blood glucose may activate ketogenesis, high insulin concentrations may have the opposite effect.

Observational BGOG Study of the Results of Robot-assisted Laparoscopy in 166 Patients with FIGO 2009 Stage IA1-IB1 Cervical Cancer.

Study Objective: Two recent studies (the Laparoscopic Approach to Cervical Cancer [LACC] trial and a cohort study based on the National Cancer Database) raise the question of whether minimally invasive surgery (conventional and robot-assisted laparoscopy) is inferior to open abdominal surgery in early-stage cervical cancer. In the laparotomy group of the LACC trial, the low rates of recurrence and death are notable. The present study wants to elucidate the current situation of patients with early-stage cervical cancer treated with robot-assisted laparoscopy in hospitals of the Belgium and Luxembourg Gynaecological Oncology Group (BGOG).

Effect of withholding early parenteral nutrition in PICU on ketogenesis as potential mediator of its outcome benefit.

Background: In critically ill children, omitting early use of parenteral nutrition (late-PN versus early-PN) reduced infections, accelerated weaning from mechanical ventilation, and shortened PICU stay. We hypothesized that fasting-induced ketogenesis mediates these benefits.

Methods: In a secondary analysis of the PEPaNIC RCT (N = 1440), the impact of late-PN versus early-PN on plasma 3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB), and on blood glucose, plasma insulin, and glucagon as key ketogenesis regulators, was determined for 96 matched patients staying ≥ 5 days in PICU, and the day of maximal 3HB-effect, if any, was identified.

Glucose control in the ICU.

Purpose Of Review: Critically ill patients usually develop hyperglycemia, which is associated with adverse outcome. Controversy exists whether the relationship is causal or not. This review summarizes recent evidence regarding glucose control in the ICU.

Clinical spectrum of the anti-GQ1b antibody syndrome: a case series of eight patients.

Anti-GQ1b antibodies can be detected in the serum of patients with Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS) and its incomplete forms such as acute ophthalmoparesis (AO), acute ptosis, acute mydriasis, acute oropharyngeal palsy and acute ataxic neuropathy (AAN), as well as in pharyngeal-cervical-brachial weakness, Bickerstaff brainstem encephalitis (BBE) and in overlap syndromes with Guillain-Barré syndrome (MFS-GBS, BBE-GBS). We searched the laboratory medicine database at University Hospitals Leuven between 2002 and 2017 for serum samples with anti-GQ1b IgG antibodies. We identified eight patients with anti-GQ1b antibodies: 4 MFS, 2 AO, 1 MFS-GBS and 1 AAN.

Divergent evolutionary and epidemiological dynamics of cassava mosaic geminiviruses in Madagascar.

Background: Cassava mosaic disease (CMD) in Madagascar is caused by a complex of at least six African cassava mosaic geminivirus (CMG) species. This provides a rare opportunity for a comparative study of the evolutionary and epidemiological dynamics of distinct pathogenic crop-infecting viral species that coexist within the same environment. The genetic and spatial structure of CMG populations in Madagascar was studied and Bayesian phylogeographic modelling was applied to infer the origins of Madagascan CMG populations within the epidemiological context of related populations situated on mainland Africa and other south western Indian Ocean (SWIO) islands.

Hemolysis after percutaneous paravalvular leak repair.

Paravalvular leak is a common complication after surgical mitral valve replacement. Surgically implanted prosthetic valves are complicated with paravalvular leaks in 17%. Surgical closure of paravalvular leaks is the most common therapy for these defects.

Tomato chlorotic mottle Guyane virus: a novel tomato-infecting bipartite begomovirus from French Guiana.

This is the first description of the complete genome sequence of a new bipartite begomovirus isolated from tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) in French Guiana, for which we propose the tentative name "tomato chlorotic mottle Guyane virus" (ToCMoGFV). DNA-A and -B nucleotide sequences of ToCMoGFV are only distantly related to known New World begomoviruses. They share the highest nucleotide sequence identity of 80% with the Brazilian isolates of macroptilium yellow spot virus (MacYSV) and 73% with soybean chlorotic spot virus (SBCSV).

Carnitine Deficiency and Pregnancy.

We present two cases of carnitine deficiency in pregnancy. In our first case, systematic screening revealed L-carnitine deficiency in the first born of an asymptomatic mother. In the course of her second pregnancy, maternal carnitine levels showed a deficiency as well.

Asystasia mosaic Madagascar virus: a novel bipartite begomovirus infecting the weed Asystasia gangetica in Madagascar.

Here, we describe for the first time the complete genome sequence of a new bipartite begomovirus in Madagascar isolated from the weed Asystasia gangetica (Acanthaceae), for which we propose the tentative name asystasia mosaic Madagascar virus (AMMGV). DNA-A and -B nucleotide sequences of AMMGV were only distantly related to known begomovirus sequence and shared highest nucleotide sequence identity of 72.9 % (DNA-A) and 66.

Phylogenetic reconstruction methods: an overview.

Initially designed to infer evolutionary relationships based on morphological and physiological characters, phylogenetic reconstruction methods have greatly benefited from recent developments in molecular biology and sequencing technologies with a number of powerful methods having been developed specifically to infer phylogenies from macromolecular data. This chapter, while presenting an overview of basic concepts and methods used in phylogenetic reconstruction, is primarily intended as a simplified step-by-step guide to the construction of phylogenetic trees from nucleotide sequences using fairly up-to-date maximum likelihood methods implemented in freely available computer programs. While the analysis of chloroplast sequences from various Vanilla species is used as an illustrative example, the techniques covered here are relevant to the comparative analysis of homologous sequences datasets sampled from any group of organisms.

The endogenous circadian temperature period length (tau) in delayed sleep phase disorder compared to good sleepers.

The currently assumed aetiology for delayed sleep phase disorder (DSPD) is a delay of the circadian system. Clinicians have sought to use bright light therapy, exogenous melatonin or chronotherapy to correct the disorder. However, these treatments have achieved unreliable outcomes for DSPD patients and, as such, one suggestion has been that the disorder may be caused by a longer than normal circadian rhythm period length (i.

Molecular characterization of a new alphasatellite associated with a cassava mosaic geminivirus in Madagascar.

Two complete nucleotide sequences of an alphasatellite isolated from a cassava plant with mosaic disease symptoms in Madagascar are described and analyzed. While the helper begomovirus was identified as an isolate of East African cassava mosaic Kenya virus (EACMKV), its associated alphasatellite was most closely related (80 % nucleotide sequence identity) to cotton leaf curl Gezira alphasatellite. These satellite molecules have typical features of alphasatellites, with a single gene in the virion sense, an A-rich region and a stem-loop structure.

East African cassava mosaic-like viruses from Africa to Indian ocean islands: molecular diversity, evolutionary history and geographical dissemination of a bipartite begomovirus.

Background: Cassava (Manihot esculenta) is a major food source for over 200 million sub-Saharan Africans. Unfortunately, its cultivation is severely hampered by cassava mosaic disease (CMD). Caused by a complex of bipartite cassava mosaic geminiviruses (CMG) species (Family: Geminivirideae; Genus: Begomovirus) CMD has been widely described throughout Africa and it is apparent that CMG's are expanding their geographical distribution.

A novel cassava-infecting begomovirus from Madagascar: cassava mosaic Madagascar virus.

Cassava mosaic geminiviruses (CMGs) are implicated in cassava mosaic disease (CMD), the main constraint to cassava production in Africa. Here, we report the complete nucleotide sequences of the DNA-A and DNA-B of a newly characterized CMG found infecting cassava in Madagascar, for which we propose the tentative name cassava mosaic Madagascar virus. With the exception of two recombinant regions that resembled a CMG, we determined that the non-recombinant part of the DNA-A component is distantly related to the other CMGs.