Antibiotic prescribing for respiratory tract infection in patients with suspected and proven COVID-19: results from an antibiotic point prevalence survey in Scottish hospitals.

Background: Bacterial co-infection is infrequently observed with SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 infection outside of critical care, however, antibiotics are commonly prescribed.

Objectives: To examine factors associated with antibiotic prescribing for suspected respiratory tract infection (RTI) and evaluate the nature and dynamics of prescribing in hospitalized patients with suspected and proven COVID-19 infection.

Methods: An antibiotic point prevalence survey in hospitalized adult patients was conducted in designated COVID-19 clinical areas (including critical care) in 15 Scottish hospitals.

Global meta-analysis of tree decline impacts on fauna.

Significant portions of the world's forests have been impacted by severe and large-scale tree declines characterised by gradual but widespread loss of vigour and subsequent death of either single or several tree species. Tree deaths represent a threat for fauna that are dependent on forest habitats for their survival. Although tree declines have received considerable scientific attention, surprisingly, little is known about their impacts on fauna.

Survey of antibiotic and antifungal prescribing in patients with suspected and confirmed COVID-19 in Scottish hospitals.

Background: Concern regarding bacterial co-infection complicating SARS-CoV-2 has created a challenge for antimicrobial stewardship. Following introduction of national antibiotic recommendations for suspected bacterial respiratory tract infection complicating COVID-19, a point prevalence survey of prescribing was conducted across acute hospitals in Scotland.

Methods: Patients in designated COVID-19 units were included and demographic, clinical and antimicrobial data were collected from 15 hospitals on a single day between 20th and 30th April 2020.

Towards applying NMR relaxometry as a diagnostic tool for bone and soft tissue sarcomas: a pilot study.

This work explores what Fast Field-Cycling Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (FFC-NMR) relaxometry brings for the study of sarcoma to guide future in vivo analyses of patients. We present the results of an ex vivo pilot study involving 10 cases of biopsy-proven sarcoma and we propose a quantitative method to analyse H NMR relaxation dispersion profiles based on a model-free approach describing the main dynamical processes in the tissues and assessing the amplitude of the Quadrupole Relaxation Enhancement effects due to N. This approach showed five distinct groups of dispersion profiles indicating five discrete categories of sarcoma, with differences attributable to microstructure and rigidity.

The non-market benefits of early and partial gains in managing threatened salmon.

Threatened species are increasingly dependent on conservation investments for persistence and recovery. Information that resource managers could use to evaluate investments-such as the public benefits arising from alternative conservation designs-is typically scarce because conservation benefits arise outside of conventional markets. Moreover, existing studies that measure the public benefits of conserving threatened species often do not measure the benefits from partial gains in species abundance that fall short of official recovery, or the benefits from achieving gains in species abundance that happen earlier in time.