Our study aimed to compare the predictive value of the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) score at baseline and short-term change in CAT for future exacerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. This was a multicentre prospective study. Patients with COPD were recruited into the study and followed up for one year. CAT score and exacerbation in the previous year were collected at baseline. Change in CAT was defined as CAT score changing between baseline...

Supplemental material, sj-xlsx-1-tct-10.1177_15330338231160393 for Real-world Efficacy Data on Anti-Angiogenic Drugs in Recurrent Small Cell Cervical Carcinoma: A Retrospective Study by Haifeng Qiu, Ning Su, Shuping Yan and Jing Li in Technology in Cancer Research & Treatment

Supplemental material, sj-xlsx-2-tct-10.1177_15330338231160393 for Real-world Efficacy Data on Anti-Angiogenic Drugs in Recurrent Small Cell Cervical Carcinoma: A Retrospective Study by Haifeng Qiu, Ning Su, Shuping Yan and Jing Li in Technology in Cancer Research & Treatment

Supplemental material, sj-xlsx-3-tct-10.1177_15330338231160393 for Real-world Efficacy Data on Anti-Angiogenic Drugs in Recurrent Small Cell Cervical Carcinoma: A Retrospective Study by Haifeng Qiu, Ning Su, Shuping Yan and Jing Li in Technology in Cancer Research & Treatment

Supplemental material, sj-xlsx-2-tct-10.1177_15330338231160393 for Real-world Efficacy Data on Anti-Angiogenic Drugs in Recurrent Small Cell Cervical Carcinoma: A Retrospective Study by Haifeng Qiu, Ning Su, Shuping Yan and Jing Li in Technology in Cancer Research & Treatment

Community integration (CI) is often regarded as the foundation of rehabilitation endeavors after stroke; nevertheless, few studies have investigated the relationship between inpatient rehabilitation (clinical and demographic) variables and long-term CI. To identify novel classes of patients having similar temporal patterns in CI and relate them to baseline features. Retrospective observational cohort study analyzing (n = 287) adult patients with stroke admitted to rehabilitation between 2003 and 2018, including baseline Functional Independence Measure (FIM) at...

Identification and quantification of spatial genetic structure (SGS) within populations remains a central element of understanding population structure at the local scale. Understanding such structure can inform on aspects of the species' biology, such as establishment patterns and gene dispersal distance, in addition to sampling design for genetic resource management and conservation. However, recent work has identified that variation in factors such as sampling methodology, population characteristics, and marker system can all lead to significant...

The present study investigates the genetic determinism of flowering and maturity dates, two traits highly affected by global climate change. Flowering and maturity dates were evaluated on five progenies from three Prunus species, peach, apricot and sweet cherry, during three to eight years. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) detection was performed separately for each year and also by integrating data from all years together. High heritability estimates were obtained for flowering and maturity dates. Several QTLs...

The pig, Sus scrofa, is a foreign species to the American continent. Although pigs originally introduced in the Americas should be related to those from the Iberian Peninsula and Canary islands, the phylogeny of current creole pigs that now populate the continent is likely to be very complex. Because of the extreme climates that America harbours, these populations also provide a unique example of a fast evolutionary phenomenon of adaptation. Here, we provide a genome...

Genes with relevant roles in the differentiation of closely-related species are likely to have diverged simultaneously with the species and more accurately reproduce the species tree. The Lusitanian (Microtus lusitanicus) and Mediterranean (M. duodecimcostatus) pine voles are two recently separated sister species with fossorial lifestyles whose different ecological, physiological and morphological phenotypes reflect the better adaptation of M. duodecimcostatus to the underground habitat. Here we asked whether the differentiation of M. lusitanicus and M. duodecimcostatus...

Susceptibility to global warming relies on how thermal tolerances respond to increasing temperatures through plasticity or evolution. Climatic adaptation can be assessed examining the geographic variation in thermal-related traits. We studied latitudinal patterns in heat tolerance in Drosophila subobscura reared at two temperatures. We used four static stressful temperatures to estimate the thermal death time curves (TDT), and two ramping assays with fast and slow heating rates. TDT curves allow estimating the critical thermal maximum...

Climate change, urbanization, and global trade have contributed to the recent spread of dengue viruses. In this study, we investigate the relationship between dengue occurrence in humans, climate factors (temperature and minimum quarterly rainfall), socio-economic factors (such as household income, regional rates of education, regional unemployment, housing overcrowding, life expectancy, and medical resources), and demographic factors (such as migration flows, age structure of the population, and population density). From a geographical perspective, this study focuses...

1. Microbial activity plays a central role in nitrogen (N) cycling, with effects on forest productivity. Though N bio-transformations, such as nitrification, are known to occur in the soil, here we investigate whether nitrifiers are present in tree canopies and actively process atmospheric N. 2. This study was conducted in a Mediterranean holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) forest in Spain during the transition from hot dry summer to cool wet winter. We quantified NH4+—N and...

This note establishes that in 1438 Angelo Monforte, count of Campobasso, sent to Prince Peter of Aragon a copy of Pier Candido Decembrio’s Italian version of Curtius Rufus, thus documenting the transmission of Decembrio’s work from Milan to Naples. This copy could have been the source of Alfonso de Liñán’s translation into Spanish of Decembrio’s translation.

Two new diploid species, Aira minoricensis and Aira hercynica are described and illustrated, along with chromosome counts, risk assessment, distribution and habitat, phenology, and comparisons with morphologically similar species. A comparative table and a key for the species of Aira for the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands are provided to assist in the identification of these overlooked species, and their relationships to other taxa are discussed.

Amplicon metabarcoding is an established technique to analyse the taxonomic composition of communities of organisms using high-throughput DNA sequencing, but there are doubts about its ability to quantify the relative proportions of the species, as opposed to the species list. Here, we bypass the enrichment step and avoid the PCR-bias, by directly sequencing the extracted DNA using shotgun metagenomics. This approach is common practice in prokaryotes, but not in eukaryotes, because of the low number...

Background: During their workday, nurses face a variety of stressors that are dealt with using different coping strategies. One criticism of the contextual models of work stress is that they fail to focus on individual responses like coping with stress. Neverthless, little is know about the momentary determinants of coping in nurses. Objectives: To identify the momentary predictors of problem-focused approaching coping and emotion-focused approaching coping, as well as those for seeking social support and...

In December 2019, Wuhan, China suffered a serious outbreak of a novel coronavirus infectious disease (COVID) caused by novel severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (SARS-CoV 2). To quickly identify the pathogen, we designed and screened primer sets, and established a sensitive and specific qRT-PCR assay for SARS-CoV 2; the lower limit of detection (LOD) was 15 (95% CI: 9.8–21) copies per reaction. We combined this qRT-PCR assay with an automatic integration system for nucleic acid...

The study develops and validates a theoretical model to predict thermal mortality under natural conditions, based on measurements of mortality performed in the laboratory at multiple constant temperatures. The theoretical model first fits a thermal tolerance landscape, which describes how survival probability is affected by both temperature and exposure time, to the empirical measurements of mortality obtained in the laboratory under controlled conditions. Then, employing a numerical approximation to the analytical solution based on differential...

Previous studies have reported effects of abiotic factors on herbivore-induced plant defences based on effects on single plant traits. However, plants commonly express multiple defences simultaneously and these traits are often correlated. Thus, a fuller understanding of abiotic-context dependency in plant defence requires measuring multiple traits and addressing their patterns of correlated expression. We evaluated the effects of soil salinity on the induction of direct (phenolic compounds, gossypol gland density) and indirect (volatile organic compounds,...

1. Facilitation by nurse plants increases understorey diversity and supports ecological communities. In turn, biodiversity shapes ecological networks and enhances ecosystem functioning. However, whether and how facilitation and increased biodiversity jointly influence community structure and ecosystem functioning remains unclear. 2. We performed a field experiment disentangling the relative contribution of nurse plants and increasing understorey plant diversity in driving pollination interactions. Both the presence of nurse shrubs as well as increased understorey plant diversity increased...

Background: As a noninvasive respiratory support mode, high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) is widely used in preterm infants at neonatal care units. HFNC is often used as an alternative to nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP) for initial or post-extubation respiratory support. The purpose of this meta-analysis is to evaluate and compare the efficacy and safety of HFNC and NCPAP for respiratory support in preterm infants. Methods: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library,...

Evolutionary change of thermal traits (i.e. heat tolerance and behavioral thermoregulation) is one of the most important mechanisms exhibited by organisms to respond to global warming. However, the evolutionary potential of heat tolerance, estimated as narrow-sense heritability, depends on the methodology employed. An alternative adaptive mechanism to buffer extreme temperatures is behavioral thermoregulation, although the association between heat tolerance and thermal preference is not clearly understood. We suspect that methodological effects associated with the duration...

Catalonia is situated on the eastern Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It covers a land area of 32,106 km2 (making it slightly bigger than Belgium) and has a population of 7,716,760 (slightly less than Switzerland). Catalonia is currently an Autonomous Community (AC) of Spain that covers 6.3% of the state’s territory and is home to 16.2% of the total population. Catalan political reality is organized through its own party-system and the democratic will of...

Blueberries are rich in anthocyanins, which are plant-specific secondary metabolites that are a good source of plant nutrients. Although anthocyanins have been investigated, there is a lack of comprehensive detailed research that includes large numbers of blueberry cultivars, and the anthocyanin compositions of some cultivars are still unknown. Consequently, we determined the anthocyanin compositions of 62 cultivars using ultra-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS). In total, we identified 30 anthocyanins derived from five kinds of anthocyanidin....