Objective: To investigate the effects of aspirin on the distribution of birthweight and its impact on the rates of large-for-gestational age (LGA) neonates. Design: Secondary analysis of the Combined Multimarker Screening and Randomized Patient Treatment with Aspirin for Evidence-based Preeclampsia Prevention (ASPRE) trial. Setting: Thirteen hospitals in England, Spain, Belgium, Greece, Italy, and Israel. Population: Participants of the ASPRE trial at increased risk of preterm pre-eclampsia (PE) who had a live birth. Methods: We compared the birthweight distributions and the rates of LGA neonates between the trial groups. Analyses were stratified according to the presence of pre-existing diabetes mellitus and the development of pre-eclampsia, and logistic regression was used to investigate independent predictors of LGA neonates. Main Outcome Measures: Birthweight distribution and rate of LGA neonates. Results: Among 1,571 singleton, live neonates (777 from the aspirin group and 794 from the placebo group), aspirin was associated with a shift in birthweight from below 2,500 to between 2,500 and 4,000 grams, and birthweight percentile from below the 25 th to between the 25 th and 75 th percentiles, with no significant increase in LGA neonates (5.5% vs. 6.2%, p=0.667). Logistic regression demonstrated a significant interaction between treatment and pre-existing diabetes (p-value 0.034), and a positive association between maternal weight and LGA neonates (adjusted odds ratio 1.040, 95% confidence interval 1.030 – 1.051, p<0.001). Conclusions: Aspirin use is associated with increased birthweight without increasing the rate of LGA neonates. Among women with pre-existing diabetes, however, aspirin may lead to a higher rate of LGA neonates.

When selecting a habitat for breeding and offspring rearing, it is optimal for organisms to select a stable habitat with high amounts of quality resources. However, organisms may inadvertently select a habitat for breeding that would initially appear preferential and healthy but may, in reality, be detrimental to parent and/or offspring fitness. Such ecological traps may even be the result of human habitat modification and conservation efforts. In this study, we tested whether migratory European pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) offspring cavity-nesting in patches of forest affected by outbreaks of the great web-spinning sawfly (Acantholyda posticalis) incurred fitness detriments characteristic of ecological traps when compared to flycatchers that nested in patches of unaffected forest. Outbreaking sawfly larvae overconsume Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) needles and substrate, which decreases resource availability directly and indirectly – through cascading effects – for birds inhabiting the forest. In installing nest boxes to attract breeding pairs and potentially combat the outbreak, we found that flycatchers inhabiting areas of sawfly outbreaks had similar clutch sizes to pairs breeding in healthy forest patches. Contrarily, the fledgling number and body condition were significantly lower for those nesting in the damaged forests. Though larvae serve as the primary food source for nestlings, the forest patches damaged by sawflies also had lower larval biomass from rapid resource decline due to overconsumption. In provisioning nest boxes for migrating flycatcher pairs in forest patches that were subsequently impacted by a pest insect outbreak, an ecological trap arose for those pairs choosing to nest in what appeared to be an unaffected forest at first. Given the inability of breeding pairs to distinguish habitat quality on initial inspection, we suggest that nest boxes be used with caution in areas with unstable habitat conditions when attracting migratory birds given the trends of their declining global numbers.

Avian haemosporidians are a diverse group of parasites that infect birds worldwide and have been a major focus of research for decades. Yet, few studies have identified the drivers of infection at the intraspecific host level. We aimed to study the drivers of prevalence and diversity of haemosporidian parasites infecting a common North American songbird species, the American Robin (Turdus migratorius), which breeds across most of the continent. We found little seasonal variation in haemosporidian prevalence in robins, although prevalence of Leucocytozoon increases with breeding latitude in this host species. We also detected a significantly positive relationship between the robin breeding latitude and coinfection with different haemosporidian parasite lineages. Additionally, robins infected with Plasmodium had a significantly better body condition than those of uninfected robins, which could be due to migratory culling. When matched against known haemosporidian lineages, our results suggest that robins harbor a higher diversity of haemosporidian parasites than previously known. The results of this study suggest that comparisons of common, widespread bird species such as robins across their range could help unveil novel aspects of the haemosporidian–host relationship and how such a relationship may change under current and future rapid environmental change.

Background: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for the majority of all lung cancer cases. Causes of NSCLC are typically identified through molecular testing for EGFR and other mutations. Around half of Asian patients with NSCLC, particularly non-smoking women, have EGFR mutations. Most patients with ipsilateral NSCLC typically have a single common EGFR mutation in exons 18-21. It is extremely rare for patients with bilateral primary NSCLC to harbor two different EGFR mutations. Case summary: We present a 70-year-old non-smoking Vietnamese patient diagnosed with early bilateral primary NSCLC with the presence of EGFR in both exon 18 and exon 19. The complexities of diagnosis and treatment for this case resulted in surgical intervention on the left lung and targeted therapy with afatinib for the right lung. Progression arrest was observered in a period of 12 months. Conclusion: This case highlights a rare instance of synchronous bilateral NSCLC in a non-smoking, 70-year-old Vietnamese woman with complex management, underscoring the challenges of treating synchronous primary tumors with different genetic profiles.

In order to solve the problem of water pollution caused by the accumulation of ammonia nitrogen, the fungus can degrade ammonia nitrogen efficiently and tolerate salt was isolated from the saline land of Shanyin County, Shuozhou, Shanxi Province, China. The fungus was identified as Fusarium sp. and named X-8 by morphological observation and ITS sequence homology analysis, and further analysed the effects of single and multi factors on the degradation of ammonia nitrogen under different environmental conditions (temperature, pH, inoculum amount, initial ammonia nitrogen concentration, salt concentration, C/N), and carried out three-factor, three-level orthogonal tests. The results showed that the degradation rate of ammonia nitrogen by X-8 could reach 93.47% when the temperature was 37.37℃, pH was 8.12, and the inoculum amount was 4.72 g/L.

The release of synaptic vesicles (SVs) at the synaptic junction is a complex process involving various specialized proteins that work in unison. Among these, Bassoon has emerged as a significant protein, particularly noted for its association with various neurological and aging-related diseases. Due to its structural and functional roles, Bassoon has become a focus of recent research, especially in understanding its implications in neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. In this narrative review, we explore Bassoon’s structure, function, and its role across a spectrum of neurological disorders. Neurotransmission is a tightly regulated process that relies on specialized structures within the presynaptic terminal, such as the presynaptic active zone (AZ), to precisely control SV release in response to incoming signals. The AZ comprises a complex network of large, multidomain proteins, with Bassoon playing a crucial role in this arrangement. Bassoon facilitates the tethering and reloading of SVs, ensuring responsiveness to high-frequency signals, while also maintaining proteostasis at the presynapse. This involves orchestrating the localization of proteins essential for neuronal development and plasticity. Bassoon’s large size and unique structural features enable it to interact with and regulate the function of multiple proteins, making it integral to presynaptic functioning. Variants in the Bassoon gene have been linked to a variety of neurodegenerative and psychiatric conditions, including Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, multiple system atrophy (MSA), epilepsy, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and Parkinson’s disease. This review delves into Bassoon’s pivotal role in preserving presynaptic integrity and how disruptions in its functions may contribute to these disorders.

In this paper, we discuss the development and deployment of a robust autonomous system capable of performing various tasks in the maritime domain under unknown dynamic conditions. We investigate a data-driven approach based on modular design for ease of transfer of autonomy across different maritime surface vessel platforms. The data-driven approach alleviates issues related to a priori identification of system models that may become deficient under evolving system behaviors and/or shifting, unanticipated, environmental influences. Our proposed learning-based platform comprises a deep Koopman system model and a change point detector that provides guidance on domain shifts prompting relearning under severe exogenous and endogenous perturbations. Motion control of the autonomous system is achieved via an optimal controller design. The Koopman linearized model naturally lends itself to a linear–quadratic regulator (LQR) control design. We propose the C3D control architecture “Cascade Control with Change Point Detection and Deep Koopman Learning”. The framework is verified in station keeping tasks on an ASV in both simulation and real experiments. The approach demonstrated a consistent improvement in mean distance error across all test cases compared to the methods that do not consider system changes.

Golden jackals (Canis aureus) have rapidly expanded their range across Europe, raising ecological and socioeconomic concerns. As a highly vocal species, jackals can be monitored using acoustic surveys, such as howl surveys or passive acoustic monitoring (PAM), to estimate population sizes and habitat preferences. A recent advancement in PAM is acoustic localisation, which estimates the source of sounds by measuring the time differences of their arrival at multiple synchronised recorders. This technique can improve the accuracy of population and density estimates by more precisely calculating distances between jackals and recorders. However, GPS-synchronised acoustic recorders are costly, which limits their broader use. In this study, we tested the efficacy of a low-cost recorder, the CARACAL, for acoustic localisation of golden jackals. We deployed ten CARACALs over a 10km2 area of the Lunca Mureşului Natural Park, Romania for seven nights. Alongside passively recording jackal howls, we also conducted howl surveys. We recorded jackal howls on every night of the survey and successfully localised 27 jackal and 16 human howl events, with human howls being localised to within an average of 41 m of their actual location. The average distance between the recorders and localised jackal howls was just under 1 km, with howls being detected from as far as 2.5 km away. However, some jackal howls were not detected by active recorders that were as little as 0.9 km away. Based on these results, we recommend a conservative spacing of 0.8-1 km between recorders in future deployments. Overall, this study highlights acoustic localisation as a valuable tool for improving monitoring efforts and gathering more detailed data on jackal ecology. This information could significantly contribute to understanding their expanding range across Europe, while informing the development of effective monitoring and management strategies for golden jackals.

Enclosure is one of the important methods used to restore grassland ecosystems. Locusts and grasshoppers constitute an important component of grassland ecosystems, and their abundance is closely related to changes in their habitat. However, currently, the response in abundance of grassland locusts and grasshoppers within short-term enclosure mode and the underlying ecological mechanisms remains unclear. In this study, a three-year short-term enclosure experiment was conducted on a natural grassland in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjiang, China. According to the results of this study, the diversity of locusts and grasshoppers increased in each grassland type after short-term enclosure. As altitude increased from the temperate desert steppes to the mountain meadows, vegetation cover presented a “decreasing-increasing” trend, and the number of locusts and grasshoppers per unit quadrat showed a “decreasing-increasing-decreasing” trend. As a result of increased vegetation cover and altitude and decreased latitude, the community structure of locusts and grasshoppers shifted from a decrease in terricoles species such as the Sphingonotus species to an increase in phytophilous species like Omocestus petraeus. In contrast to the results of a study performed in the same area 40 years ago, this survey showed that four species of locusts and grasshoppers including Gomphocerus sibiricus shifted toward higher altitudes, causing changes in the community structure of locusts and grasshoppers at higher altitudes; and that Stauroderus scalaris scalaris replaced Gomphocerus sibiricus and evolved into a high-altitude dominant species; and while Pararcyptera microptera microptera shifted toward low altitudes.

The brown bear (Ursus arctos) is the largest terrestrial carnivore in Iran with a rapidly shrinking range. In this study, we assembled the most comprehensive and up-to-date distribution dataset of brown bears in Iran. We applied Species Distribution Models (SDMs)and corridor mapping to identify this charismatic mammal’s suitable habitats and its corridors across the Zagros and Alborz mountains to ensure this Endangered charismatic large carnivore in Iran. We also estimated protected areas coverage for the species’ suitable habitats. Our data confirmed the presence of the species in 22 of 31 provinces of the country. The total suitable area for the species is 347,728 km2. We showed that significant parts of the suitable areas, 77%, of the brown bear’s suitable habitats, are located outside of the protected areas network. Slope and vegetation were the most important variables shaping the species distribution, and dense forests in the absence of mountain areas are not suitable for the species. Alborz ecoregion in north Iran is the main central habitat for brown bears due to its continuity and integration. The data showed that 93.2% of the Alborz mountains in the north are composed of suitable habitats, however, only 6.4% of this area was legally protected. We encourage conservation and regular monitoring of the high-priority habitats and corridors identified in this study to ensure this Endangered and umbrella mammal species’ long-term survival in Iran.

Text-to-speech (TTS) models have expanded the scope of digital inclusivity by becoming a basis for assistive communication technologies for visually impaired people, facilitating language learning, and allowing for digital textual content consumption in audio form across various sectors. Despite these benefits, the full potential of TTS models is often not realized for the majority of low-resourced African languages because they have traditionally required large amounts of high-quality single-speaker recordings, which are financially costly and time-consuming to obtain. In this paper, we demonstrate that crowdsourced recordings can help overcome the lack of single-speaker data by compensating with data from other speakers of similar intonation (how the voice rises and falls in speech). We fine-tuned an English Variational Inference with adversarial learning for an end-to-end Text-to-Speech (VITS) model on over 10 hours of speech from six female Common Voice (CV) speech data speakers for Luganda and Kiswahili. A human mean opinion score evaluation on 100 test sentences shows that the model trained on six speakers sounds more natural than the benchmark models trained on two speakers and a single speaker for both languages. In addition to careful data curation, this approach shows promise for advancing speech synthesis in the context of low-resourced African languages. Our final models for Luganda and Kiswahili are available at https://huggingface.co/marconilab/VITS-commonvoice-females.

Ballistic seed dispersal (ballochory) involves the autonomous explosive release of seeds from adult plants. The unconventional physical mechanism of this strategy has understandably drawn scientific attention. There has been a bias toward researching physiological and physical aspects of ballistic plants, with the evolutionary ecology being comparatively neglected. Although ballochory is represented in 23 plant families, it has never become common. This fact should invite curiosity regarding the selective pressures that encourage its evolution. As a stimulus to this, we collate existing evidence into an initial hypothesis regarding ecological situations in which ballochory would be selected in the context of costs that can explain its rarity. We suggest that ballochory might be selected for in plants experiencing high predation from specialised predators on and/or directly underneath the parental canopy. Moving forward, we suggest experimental manipulations to test this hypothesis and promote a research agenda in the field of ballistic seed dispersal that illuminates its intriguing evolution.

Abstract:

INTESTINAL PERFORATION SECONDARY TO BORTEZOMIB INDUCED AUTONOMIC NEUROPATHY

IntroductionNLP is an inflammatory, relatively rare disorder involving mainly the nail matrix, frequently having its onset in adulthood and generally involving one or more nails or toenails [1]. The management of NLP is not easy due to a high rate of failures after therapy and few therapeutic options, especially when the process reaches the stage of dorsal pterygium [1]. Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors are potential therapeutic targets for inflammatory skin diseases. They have been demonstrated to suppress both type-1 and type-2 cytokines and decrease the immune response, leading to inflammation [2]. This paper reports a case of severe NLP showing a good response to the JAK inhibitor (Tofacitinib).

This case report describes a Thoroughbred broodmare presented for colic and pyrexia. The mare had a history of repeated urinary tract infections, placentitis, abortion and endotoxaemia. A diagnosis of bilateral subcapsular renal haematoma was made by ultrasonography and standing laparoscopy and confirmed on post-mortem. Trauma, clotting disorder, and neoplasia were ruled out as a cause of the bleeding. However, histopathology revealed severe, diffuse, acute fibrinosuppurative tubulointerstitial nephritis with degeneration of vascular walls, suggesting that this has caused renal bleeding and development of subcapsular hematomas.

The study introduces a computational method that combines Legendre polynomials with Gauss-Lobatto points to solve nonlinear coupled differential equations, focusing on the Williamson fluid model with the existence of mixed convection and permeability under mixed boundary conditions. The nonlinear governing equations were transformed to ordinary differential equation (ODE) from partial differential equation (PDE), applying the appropriate similarity conversions. By using Legendre polynomials as trial functions and collocating residual equations with Gauss-Lobatto points, the system is solved with Mathematical software. The technique was validated by comparing the obtained solution with an existing literature and further validation was done with Runge-Kutta of order 4 via shooting method. Validation against the Shooting Runge-Kutta method showed minimal discrepancies, confirming the method’s accuracy. Graphical analysis indicated that an increase in the Grashof number enhances velocity, while higher porosity raises temperature but reduces fluid velocity. This approach offers an efficient and precise solution for complex nonlinear equations, with broader potential applications in fluid dynamics.

Kidney diseases, characterized by renal dysfunction, are among the leading causes of death worldwide. Preventing and treating kidney diseases is important for reducing their associated morbidity and mortality. Moderate physical exercise has been recognized to be advantageous for kidney health. Irisin is an exercise-induced myokine identified in 2012. It plays an important role in energy and bone metabolism, oxidative stress reduction, anti-inflammatory processes, prevention of cell death, and cardiovascular protection. However, the relationship between irisin and kidney disease has not been fully elucidated. This review explores the role of irisin as a biomarker in the diagnosis of kidney diseases and their associated complications, elucidating the mechanisms through which it participates in various cell death pathways, such as apoptosis, autophagy, pyroptosis and ferroptosis. Furthermore, the levles of irisin secretion are discussed to provide a basis for the preventing and treating kidney diseases, as well as therapeutic guidance for developing new and promising intervention strategies.