Background: The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been reported as pandemy and the number of patients continues to rise. Based on recent data, cardiac injury is a prominent feature of the disease, leading to increased morbidity and mortality.In the present study we aimed to evaluate myocardial dysfunction using transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Methods and Results: We recruited 30 patients (56.7 % male, 55.80±14.949 years) who were hospitalized with the diagnosis COVID-19 infection. We analyzed left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) conventional and TDI parameters at the time of hospitalization and during the course of the disease. Patients without any cardiac disease and with preserved LV ejection fraction (EF) were included.TTE examination was performed and all the variables were recorded and analyzed retrospectively. We observed that both LV and RV conventional echocardiographic parameters were similar when the day of admission to the hospital was compared to the 5th day of the disease. Regarding TDI analysis, we demonstrated significant impairment in LV septal and lateral deformation (p˂.001) .In the correlation analysis no marked correlation was observed between impairment in LV deformation and inflammation biomarkers. Conclusion: Cardiac involvement is an important feature of the COVID-19 infection but the exact mechanism is still undefined. Echocardiography is an essential technique to describe myocardial injury and provide new concepts for the possible definitions of cardiac dysfunction.

Background: Ever since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a pandemic, worldwide efforts are being made to “flatten the curve”. Israel was amongst the first countries to impose significant restrictions. As a result, cardiac surgeons have been required to scale down their routine practice, resulting in a significant reduction in the number of cardiac surgeries. The aim of this study is to characterize the impact of COVID-19 on cardiac surgery in Israel. Methods: This is a retrospective observational study performed in two cardiac surgery departments in Israel and includes all patients who underwent cardiac surgery in March and April during the years 2019 and 2020. The patient cohort was divided into two groups based on the year of operation. Analysis of the patients’ baseline characteristics, operative data, and postoperative outcome, was performed. Results: The 2019 group (n=173), and the 2020 group (n=108) were similar regarding their baseline characteristics, previous medical history, and rates of previous revascularization interventions. However, compared to the 2019 group, patients in the 2020 group were found to be more symptomatic (NYHA class IV; 2.4% vs. 6.2%, p=0.007). While all patients underwent similar procedures, patients in the 2020 group had significantly longer procedural time (p<0.001). In-hospital mortality rate was found to be significantly higher in group 2020 (13% vs. 5.2%, p=0.037). Conclusions: While the number of patients undergoing cardiac surgery declined during the outbreak period, the rate of surgical mortality increased. One explanation for this might be delayed hospital arrival.

Persistent left superior vena cava can create technical challenges during implantation of pacing devices; which, in the majority of cases, are implanted on the left side. We present a chest x-ray of a patient with a left-sided biventricular implantable cardioverter defibrillator placement through a persistent left SVC.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a life-threatening complication rarely encountered with the use of combined oral contraceptives (COCs). Obesity is an additional thrombosis risk factor that has been shown to further increase the risk of VTE with the use of COCs. We present five cases of obese adolescents (BMI >30 kg/m2) who encountered thrombosis complications while on COCs. Although the absolute risk of VTE events in the setting of COCs is rare, caution should be observed when choosing hormonal therapy and safer COCs alternatives discussed with adolescents who are obese.

The Gulf of Mannar (GoM), located between India and Sri Lanka, has astonishing faunal richness and diversity1. Two oceanographic data sets are discussed here to show the unique ecological setting in the GoM sustaining a rich and diverse fauna. We tested the hypothesis that a specific stretch of a large marine environment behaves differently from the rest of the region due to its peculiar geographical positioning. Primarily, unlike the adjacent Indian southwestern shelf, coastal upwelling and the associated seasonal oxygen deficiency, potentially imparting physiological stress to marine fauna2-7, does not occur in the GoM. Secondly, the GoM along the Indian coastline receives adequate amount of primary (plankton) food from the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal through the seasonally reversing coastal currents8-12. Thirdly, the GoM water has high transparency, aerated and sandy seafloor conducive for the growth of diverse corals and many sensitive fauna1,4. Our studies show that oxygen deficiency sheltered geography has a significant role in facilitating significantly high faunal diversity and richness in the GoM. We suggest that other similar coastal environments worldwide, protected from the extended oxygen-deficient region, might be functioning as a refuge for marine life and thereby increased faunal diversity6,7.

Spatial patterns of biodiversity are inextricably linked to their collection methods, yet no synthesis of these patterns or their consequences exists. As such, our view of ecosystems may be incorrect, undermining countless ecological and evolutionary studies. Using 742 million records of 374,900 species, we explore the global patterns and impacts of accessibility in terrestrial and marine Systems. Pervasive sampling and observation biases exist across animals, with only 6.74% of the globe sampled, and disproportionately poor tropical sampling. High-elevations and deep-seas are comparably unknown. Over 50% of records in most groups account for under 2% of species. Citizen-science exacerbates biases, and normalizing the practice of valuing data publication is essential to bridge this gap and better represent species distributions from more distant and inaccessible areas, and provide the necessary basis for conservation and management.

A giant granuloma obstructing the upper airway in a 21-year-old male is described. It arose after an extreme psychological stress. The patient underwent microlaryngoscopic removal of the granuloma, with no recurrence. This case confirms the role of psychological stress in the pathogenesis of laryngeal granulomas, that can reach huge dimensions.

Background: Bioinformatics software often lacks graphical user interfaces (GUIs), which can limit its adoption by non-technical members of the scientific community. Web interfaces are a common alternative for building cross-platform GUIs, but their potential is underutilized: web interfaces for command-line tools rarely take advantage of the level of interactivity expected of modern web applications and are rarely usable offline.Results: Here we present Pline: a lightweight framework that uses program descriptions and web standards to generate dynamic GUIs for command-line programs. We introduce a plugin system for creating Pline interfaces and provide an online repository for sharing third-party plugins. We demonstrate Pline’s versatility with example interfaces, a graphical pipeline for sequence analysis and integration to Wasabi web application.Conclusions: Pline is cross-platform, open-source software that can be integrated to web pages or used as a standalone desktop application. Pline provides graphical interfaces that are easy to create and maintain, fostering user-friendly software in science. Documentation, demo website, example plugins and source code is freely available from http://wasabiapp.org/pline. Keywords: Bioinformatics; Software Engineering; User Interfaces; Web Technologies

Dear Editor,We read the article on possible effects of BCG vacaccine in COVID-19 management should be discouraged and restricted to research purpose only.2

Several recent studies have reported that systemic corticosteroids were effective against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (1). Patients with severe COVID-19 present with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), also known as diffuse alveolar damage, presumably caused by an excessive immune response in the alveoli. Similar but milder alveolar inflammation may also exist in early stage patients, and systemic corticosteroids may contribute to the suppression of excessive inflammation in the alveoli, however, adverse effects such as opportunistic infections and delayed viral elimination may outweigh this advantage. This could be why the study by Horby et al. found no benefit in less severe patients who were not receiving oxygen (1). Delivering corticosteroids directly to the alveoli by inhalation should be effective and would have fewer systemic side effects. SARS-CoV-2 infection is suggested to elicit inflammatory cytokine secretion, not only from alveolar macrophages but also from alveolar epithelial type 2 cells (2). Additionally, ICS (inhaled corticosteroids) deposited in the alveoli enter the systemic circulation via the pulmonary vasculature, leading to potential anti-inflammatory effects in this region, which is also considered to be a site of inflammation during COVID-19.Nebulized budesonide improved oxygenation and significantly reduced inflammatory markers (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6) in patients with ARDS (3). There are several reviews of inhaled corticosteroids for COVID-19, and currently, there is no clear evidence on whether pre-morbid use of ICS is a factor in adverse or beneficial outcomes for COVID-19 (4,5).ICS can reach different sites in the lungs, depending on particle size (5). As the alveoli are considered to be the main site for lung inflammation in COVID-19, steroids with smaller particle sizes that can reach the alveoli should be more promising. Among ICS, pressurized metered-dose inhalers (pMDIs) of beclomethasone and ciclesonide have the smallest particle sizes (<2 µm) and, thus, are considered to reach the alveoli more easily (6). The particles in the nebulizer are also small enough to reach the alveoli, but there is a concern that the particles that return on exhalation may contain the virus and could therefore infect medical personnel.Apart from their anti-inflammatory effects, some ICS have been found to have antiviral effects. Ciclesonide and mometasone, which are both marketed as ICS, suppressed the replication of SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV in vitro, whereas dexamethasone, cortisone, prednisolone, and fluticasone did not (7). There is a case report of three COVID-19 patients treated with inhaled ciclesonide (8). Although it might be more difficult for dry powder inhalers (DPI) to reach the alveoli, owing to their larger particle size, than for pMDIs (6), mometasone may be worth considering, as it has antiviral properties and a smaller particle size than budesonide (6). A mutant MERS-CoV that developed resistance to ciclesonide did not show resistance to mometasone (7).ICS should be considered as a promising therapeutic candidate, and should be prioritized for clinical trials in both mildly symptomatic outpatients and severely ill inpatients. As of July 5, 2020, several clinical trials worldwide utilizing ICS for COVID-19 have been registered on ClinicalTrials.gov: four trials (one recruiting, three not yet) for ciclesonide, and four trials (three recruiting, one not yet) for budesonide (one including formoterol).The antiviral effect of ICS as well as their particle size, which is related to the ability to reach the alveoli, should also be noted. The anti-SARS-COV-2 effect of beclomethasone in vitro has yet to be tested. We propose that clinical trials that confirm the clinical effect of beclomethasone, which has a similar particle size to ciclesonide, as well as studies that confirm its antiviral effect, should be conducted. This is because, if either or both drugs are found to be effective it may be possible to speculate whether these effects are due to the antiviral or anti-inflammatory effects. If beclomethasone is found to be clinically effective but not antiviral, the effect of particle size can be estimated by comparing it to budesonide, which also has no antiviral effect. For the same reason and in anticipation of the unique antiviral effect that is different from ciclesonide, we propose that clinical trials of mometasone, which has a smaller but similar particle size to budesonide, should also be conducted. Mometasone is also available in nasal spray form. Clinical trials could be conducted to determine the preventive effects of intranasal mometasone and its effectiveness in treating early stage COVID-19. References 1.         Horby P, Lim WS, Emberson J, et al. Effect of dexamethasone in hospitalized patients with COVID-19: preliminary report. medRxiv 2020 Jun. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.22.201372732.         Huang J, Hume AJ, Abo KM, et al. SARS-CoV-2 Infection of pluripotent stem cell-derived human lung alveolar type 2 cells elicits a rapid epithelial-intrinsic inflammatory response. bioRxiv 2020 Jun. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.30.1756953.         Mohamed HS, Meguid MM. Effect of nebulized budesonide on respiratory mechanics and oxygenation in acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome: Randomized controlled study. Saudi J Anaesth. 2017 Jan-Mar;11(1):9-14. doi:10.4103/1658-354X.1973694.         Maes T, Bracke K, Brusselle GG. COVID-19, Asthma, and Inhaled Corticosteroids: Another Beneficial Effect of Inhaled Corticosteroids?. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2020 Jul;202(1):8-10. doi:10.1164/rccm.202005-1651ED5.        Halpin DMG, Singh D, Hadfield RM. Inhaled corticosteroids and COVID-19: a systematic review and clinical perspective. Eur Respir J. 2020 May;55(5):2001009. doi:10.1183/13993003.01009-20206.         Nave R, Mueller H. From inhaler to lung: clinical implications of the formulations of ciclesonide and other inhaled corticosteroids. Int J Gen Med. 2013;6:99-107. doi:10.2147/IJGM.S391347.         Matsuyama S, Kawase M, Nao N, et al. The inhaled corticosteroid ciclesonide blocks coronavirus RNA replication by targeting viral NSP15. bioRxiv 2020 Mar. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.11.9870168.         Iwabuchi K, Yoshie K, Kurakami Y, et al. Therapeutic potential of ciclesonide inhalation for COVID-19 pneumonia: Report of three cases. J Infect Chemother. 2020 Jun;26(6):625-632. doi:10.1016/j.jiac.2020.04.007  

This systematic review evaluates the efficacy, safety and economic impact of dupilumabcompared to standard of care for uncontrolled moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD). Pubmed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library were searched for RCTs and health economic evaluations. Critical and important AD-related outcomes were considered. The risk of bias and the certainty of the evidence were assessed using GRADE. Seven RCTs including 1845 subjects > 12 years treated with dupilumab16 to 52 weeks were evaluated. For adultsthere is high certainty that dupilumabdecreasesSCORAD (MD -30,72; 95%CI -34,65% to -26,79%) and EASI-75 (RR 3.09; 95%CI 2.45 to 3.89), pruritus (RR 2.96; 95%CI 2.37 to 3.70), rescue medication (RR 3.46; 95%CI 2.79 to 4.30), sleep disturbance (MD -7.29; 95%CI -8.23 to -6.35), anxiety/depression (MD -3.08; 95% CI -4.41 to -1.75) and improves quality of life (MD -4.80; 95% CI -5.55 to -4.06). The efficacy for adolescents is similar. Dupilumab-related adverse events (AEs) slightly increase (low certainty). The evidence for dupilumab-related serious AE is uncertain. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio ranged from 28,500 £ (low certainty) to 124,541 US$ (moderate certainty).More data on long term safety are needed both for children and adults, together with more efficacy data in the paediatric population.

Resumo: Este é um Grupo de Revisores de pré-impressão da Revista Ensino & Pesquisa. O texto avaliado foi  Uma escola atraente é um convite para estudar: Erasmo Pilotto e a educação  paranaense na década de 1950, de Márcia Marlene Stentzler e Cláudia Sena Lioti. O artigo das autoras Marcia Stentzler e Claudia Sena Lioti aborda aspectos da história da Educação do Paraná , configurando a história a partir de Erasmo Pilotto intelectual da educação com expressão no Paraná no início do século XX. O artigo bem estruturado tem excelentes referencias que são base na área de história da educação , como Bourdieu (1998, 2007); Le Goff (2003); Miceli (2007).A pesquisa trabalha com as categorias de analise sobre o intelectual, considerando o capital sociocultural, para destacar a influência da escola nova. O trabalho, resgata a trajetória de Erasmo Pilotto, colocando em foco sua experiência de vida e formação acadêmica em prol da educação no Paraná. A pesquisa destaca a importância da área de história da educação no Brasil e no Paraná, evidencia o quanto é necessário os percursos históricos e biográficos dos intelectuais que estiveram a frente de processos educativos escolarizados, para análise critica sobre a constituição do processo de escolarização no Brasil, e em específico no Paraná! Conforme indicam as autoras em sua pesquisa Erasmo Pilotto fez parte do grupo de intelectuais que trabalhou em prol de uma escola pública unificada, laica e ativa no Estado do Paraná. À luz dos princípios da Escola Nova e experiências exitosas em outros Estados, como por exemplo Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo e Bahia, num momento histórico em que o discurso governamental era pela modernização e democratização, a educação era a ponte para alcançar esses resultados, conforme demonstram pesquisas de Miguel (1994), Vieira e Marach (2007), Silva (2009, 2014) e Monteiro (2015), entre outras.O artigo tem o objetivo de compreender aspectos do pensamento de Pilotto e sua ação pedagógica a partir do capital sociocultural acumulado. Ainda as autoras investigam as origens e vivências que perpassaram a prática do educador, cujo trabalho se entretece ao percurso histórico e educacional do Estado, até meados do século XX. O artigo tem três tópicos, o primeiro discute a conjuntura paranaense da época: As primeiras décadas do Século XX no Paraná e a influência do intelectual, Conforme indica Stentzler (2015) o final da primeira década do século XX marcou o sul do Paraná e norte de Santa Catarina pela conclusão da ferrovia que ligava São Paulo ao Rio Grande do Sul. Os estados do Paraná e Santa Catarina viviam um clima conflituoso, de disputa territorial e, no ano de 1910, o Estado do Paraná perdia, novamente, recurso e embargo judicial para Santa Catarina quanto a posse do território do Contestado. O clima de conflito se acirrava, culminando na Guerra do Contestado, entre 1912 e pelo menos 1916, envolvendo sertanejos, forças governamentais e milicianos, entre outros. Na região sul do Paraná, numa localidade hoje pertencente ao município de Rebouças, nascia Erasmo Pilotto, no ano 1910, (SILVA, 2009). Naquela região, o trem já trafegava há pelo menos 5 anos. A ferrovia simbolizava o progresso e a modernização para as cidades e populações do interior do Estado do Paraná. O segundo tópico elabora a a figura de Pilotto: Erasmo Pilotto: uma trajetória pela educação, Erasmo: um educador de alma romântica, obra escrita por Anita Camargo Pilotto (1987), a autora descreve suas atitudes profissionais por meio de anotações extraídas de seu diário. No entendimento da autora, Erasmo era possuidor de uma alma romântica. (PILOTTO, 1987). A amorosidade de sua esposa também revelava seu capital sociocultural e os seus bens simbólicos, nesta perspectiva, atribuímos à Erasmo Pilotto preocupação com uma verdadeira transformação social por meio da educação. O terceiro tópico apresenta o movimento escola nova na vida e obra desse intelectual. Erasmo Pilotto lutou pela inserção das ideias da Escola Nova no Paraná, assim como em outros estados e em âmbito nacional, Fernando Azevedo (1894–1974), Lourenço Filho (1897-1970), Anísio Teixeira (1900–1971) e outros representam a busca por transformações curriculares na educação, tendo por base os ideais do escolanovismo. Segundo Vieira e Marach (2007, p. 270), estes educadores são “um exemplo sem precedentes na história brasileira do  poder de mobilização da causa educacional na formação de um grupo de intelectuais sofisticados e, sobretudo, influentes na sociedade brasileira”. Consideradas as especificidades da pesquisa, as representações acerca da educação e concepções teóricas podem ser compreendidas a partir de condições sociais favoráveis “à separação e divisão do trabalho simbólico”, uma vez que a “atividade teórica, repousa, portanto, no privilégio” de ser lugar para compreender determinações, fatos simbólicos que correspondam à realidade, (MICELI, 2007, p. XXXVII). O trabalho é significativo para a área de história da Educação e conforme considerações finais da autora a perspectiva bourdieusiana, Erasmo Pilotto superou a expectativa do seu grupo social e alcançou a fração intelectualizada da elite paranaense. Ele foi um agente intelectual e político que, com sensibilidade e espírito científico, logrou importantes renovações e fez parte de uma profunda mudança nos paradigmas da educação do nosso Estado.ReferencesBLOCH, Marc. Apologia da História ou o ofício do historiador. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar Editora, 2001. BOURDIEU, Pierre. Escritos de Educação. Petrópolis: Vozes, 1998. BOURDIEU, Pierre. A economia das trocas simbólicas. Introdução, organização e seleção Sergio Miceli. São Paulo: Perspectiva, 2007. (Coleção estudos). DEWEY, John. Experiência e educação. 3.ed. São Paulo: Ed. Nacional, 1979. GADOTTI, Moacir. História das Ideias Pedagógicas. São Paulo: Ática, 1996. HUSS, Silvana Rodrigues Malheiro. O processo de escolarização no município de Mandaguari-Pr (1949-1988). Dissertação (Mestrado em Educação). Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação da Universidade Estadual de Maringá. 2012.LAZIER, Hermógenes. Paraná: Terra de todas as gentes e de muita história. Francisco Beltrão: Grafit-gráfica e Editora Ltda, 2003. LE GOFF, Jacques. História e Memória. 5. ed. Campinas, SP: UNICAMP, 2003. MEC. INEP. CILEME. A educação do Paraná: síntese sobre o ensino público elementar e médio. No.3. Rio de Janeiro, 1954. (Série de monografias sobre os sistemas estaduais de educação). MICELI, Sergio. Introdução. In: BOURDIEU, Pierre. A economia das trocas simbólicas. Introdução, organização e seleção Sergio Miceli. São Paulo: Perspectiva, 2007. (Coleção estudos).MIGUEL, Maria Elisabeth, Blanco. A formação do professor e a organização social do trabalho. Curitiba: UFPR, 1997. MIGUEL, Maria Elisabeth, Blanco. O significado do trabalho de Erasmo Pilotto no cenário educacional paranaense. In: Educar em Revista. n.10. Curitiba: UFPR, 1994.MONTEIRO, Cicília Rodrigues. Contribuições de Erasmo Pilotto para expansão do ensino primário no Paraná: ensino rural, alfabetização e formação de professores (1940-1970). 91 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Educação). Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação da Universidade Estadual de Maringá. 2015. MONTEIRO, Cicília Rodrigues; SCHELBAUER, Analete Regina. Erasmo Pilotto a idealização da escola perfeita: a criação do Instituto Pestalozzi. In: Seminário do PPE. Universidade Estadual de Maringá. Maringá: UEM, 2015. OLIVEIRA, Maria Cecília Marins. Organização Escolar no início do século XX: o caso do Paraná. In: Educar em Revista. No. I 8. Curitiba: UFPR, 2001. pp. 143-155. PILOTTO, Anita. Erasmo: um educador de alma romântica. Curitiba: Editora Rocha, 1987. PILOTTO, Erasmo. Prática de Escola Serena. Curitiba: [s.l.],1946. PILOTTO, Erasmo. A educação é direito de todos. Curitiba: [s.l.], 195PROSSER, Elizabeth Seraphim. Cem anos de sociedade, arte e educação em Curitiba (1853-1953): da Escola de Belas Artes e Indústrias, de Mariano de Lima, à Universidade do Paraná e à Escola de Música e Belas Artes do Paraná. Curitiba: Ed. Assembleia Legislativa do Paraná, 2004. PUGLIELLI, Helio de Freitas. Erasmo Pilotto. Curitiba: Editora da UFPR, 1996. (Série Paranaenses, n. 7). RELATÓRIO da Instrução Pública do Paraná, 1928. Disponível em https://www.arquivopublico.pr.gov.br/arquivos/File/RelatoriosSecretarios/Ano_1928_MFN_1038.pdf . Acesso em: 21 de maio de 2020.ROMANOVSKI, Natália. Os moços da província: a Revista Joaquim e o campo literário no Paraná. Monografia. Curso de Ciências Sociais, Setor de Filosofia, Ciências Humanas e Letras, Universidade Federal do Paraná. Curitiba, 2008. SANTOS, Denise Grein (org). Autobiografia: Erasmo Pilotto. Curitiba, PR: UFPR, 2004. SILVA, Rossano. A arte como princípio educativo: um estudo sobre o pensamento educacional de Erasmo Pilotto. Dissertação (Mestrado em Educação) – Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, 2009. SILVA, Rossano. Educação, Arte e Política: a trajetória intelectual de Erasmo Pilotto. 2014. Tese (Doutorado em Educação) – Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, 2014. STENTZLER, Márcia Marlene. Entre questões lindeiras e a superação de fronteiras: a escola complementar em Porto União (SC) e União da Vitória (PR)1928-1928. 2015. Tese (Doutorado em Educação). Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação da Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, 2015.VIEIRA, Carlos Eduardo; MARACH, Caroline Baron. Escola de Mestre único e a escola serena: realidade e idealidade no pensamento de Erasmo Pilotto. In: VIEIRA, Carlos Eduardo (org.). Intelectuais, educação e modernidade no Paraná. Curitiba: UFPR, 2007. XAVIER, Luiz Antonio. Relatório Apresentado a Exmo. Sr. Francisco Xavier da Silva, Presidente do Estado do Paraná. Curityba: Typ. Da República, 1910. Disponível em: http://www.arquivopublico.pr.gov.br/arquivos/File/RelatoriosSecretarios/Ano_1910_MFN_743.pdf Acesso em: 17de maio de 2020.XAVIER, Luiz Antonio. Relatório Apresentado a Exmo. Sr. Francisco Xavier da Silva, Presidente do Estado do Paraná. Curityba: Typ. Da República, 1911. Disponível em: https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_nlinks&ref=000111&pid=S0104-4060200100020000800045&lng=en Acesso em: 24 de maio de 2020.

Holistic catalytic reactors with fractal structure have attracted growing attention in heterogeneous reactions because of its advantages of improved mass transfer and easy separation. Herein, a simple and cost-efficient design strategy that combined 3D printing and electroless deposition was presented to construct dynamic, holistic stirred reactors with the fractal structure. The conversion factor α of fractal impeller is 65.01 mmol m-2 h-1 with a large volume of reactant (80 mL), which is 1.7 times that of the normal impeller with the same Ag catalysts. Experimental results and simulation analysis demonstrate that the fractal impeller significantly improves the catalytic performance by enhancing mass transfer and spatial dispersion in the reaction. Moreover, the holistic impeller could be reused for ten times without obvious loss of catalytic performance, and easily separated from the reaction system. The structural design of fractal reactors will open the way for a new efficient dynamic heterogeneous catalytic reactor.

The non-intrusive EDFM (embedded discrete fracture model) in combination with Oda method are employed to characterize natural fracture networks. Initially, full field model, and the pressure and water breakthrough of all the producing wells were matched to evaluate production forecasts. As presented, wellbore connectivity to the fracture network has a considerable effect on characterizing the water intrusion in fractured gas reservoir. Also, dominant water flow paths within the fracture network aid to understand and predict the water intrusion phenomena. Therefore, fracture clustering as shortest paths from the water contacts to the wellbore endorses the results of the numerical simulation. Finally, matching the breakthrough time depends on merging responses from multiple dominant water flow paths within the distributions of fracture network. This study is crucial to field modeling and the decision-making process of wells operation by anticipating water intrusion behavior through probable flow paths within the fracture networks.

Ye (Appl. Math. Model. 38 (2014) 659-666) proposed an expression for evaluating the weighted correlation coefficient between two dual hesitant fuzzy sets (DHFSs). Ye claimed that their proposed expression can be used for finding the solution for several real-life multi-attribute decision making (MADM) problems under dual hesitant fuzzy set (DHFS) environment. To validate the claim, Ye solved one real-life problem (finding the best investment company). In future, other researchers may use Ye’s expression for solving same type of real-life problems or some other type of real-life problems. However, after a deep study, it is observed that Ye has used some mathematical incorrect assumptions to obtain his proposed expression i.e., Ye’s expression is not valid in its present form. Therefore, if one will apply this expression then the obtained results may or may not be exact. Keeping the same in mind, Ye’s expression has been modified. Furthermore, using the modified expression, the exact result of the real-life problem, considered by Ye, has been obtained.

The water agreements between Mexico and the United States have been crucial to restore and preserve the wetlands of the Colorado River Delta. Nowadays, the increase of water demand and climate change in the northwest of Mexico could threaten the conservation of the Cienega de Santa Clara, a coastal wetland composed of 4,709 ha of marsh area in the limits of the Sonoran Desert. This ecosystem was recognized internationally by the international Ramsar convention for playing vital ecological roles, including the habitat service for endemic, endangered and migratory species. Since the inflow reductions by the trial run of the Yuma Desalting Plant during 2010-2011, and earlier events, the hydrology of the wetland has not been completely understanding due to accessibility. Therefore this study was conducted to obtaining the hydrological elements to conserve the wetland, analyzing three scenarios: 1] normal inflow conditions of the Wellton-Mohawk canal; 2] inflow reductions, and; 3] an increase of temperature in consequence of global warming. Water and mass balances were conducted every month during one year; in-situ measurements of inflows were carried out on Wellton-Mohawk, Riíto Drain, groundwater, and precipitation; also were including evapotranspiration outputs estimated using local weather registers and Penman-Monteith formulations. The implications of the increase in temperature considered include the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projections for the one hundred years. Finally, the results showed superficial water disconnections between the hydrological system of the wetland and the Gulf of California. This behavior was observed in the three scenarios, mainly in the summer months. A continuous disconnection reduced the wetland area and the water storage. Therefore, the hydrological functionality of the wetland depends on the water supply thru Wellton-Mohawk canal, which was determinate that at least a continuous discharge of 5.10 m3 s-1 during summer months is needed to maintain its functionality.

Abstract: Heterogeneity is crucial for predication of flow and contaminant transport in subsurface formations. To characterize the heterogeneous architecture, the relationship between multimodal correlation of hydraulic conductivity (K) and plume dispersion is investigated through integration of experimental, theoretical, and numerical simulation approaches. The spatial correlation structure of K in a heterogeneous sedimentary column is investigated by analyzing the covariance components and transition probability structures. The detailed sedimentary facies data of the column ensures the accuracy of heterogeneous sediment characterization. Lagrangian-based transport models were developed to estimate solute dispersion in non-reactive tracer injection experiments. The results show that the model successively predict the solute transport when the spatial correlation structure is well-defined. Dispersivity estimated by the Lagrangian-based model slightly larger than those obtained from the measurements of tracer experiments. Further, the upscaled dispersivity that derived from transition probability is dominated determined by the cross-transition probability structure, while the contribution of auto-transition terms are quite small. The contribution of the cross-transition terms increases with the increasing contrast in mean permeability between different facies. Numerical modeling results confirm that upscaled dispersivity values well capture solute breakthrough behavior along the heterogeneous sediment column. Keywords: Solute transport; Dispersion; Dispersivity; heterogeneity; porous media; Sedimentary structure; Column experiment; Lagrangian-based model.

Simulating streamflow in ungauged catchments is a challenge for the management of surface water resources around the world, especially in dry regions. Here, we transfer parameters of two HBV and IHACRES hydrological models from gauged (donor) to ungauged catchments using three main regionalization approaches including Physical Similarity (PS), Multiple Regression (MR), Spatial Proximity (SP) and an integrated approach, which is basically an extension of PS approach through Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) method (IDW-PS). We use a set of 21 catchments in Hamoun-Jazmourian River Basin in southeast Iran, to compare regionalization approaches. The results indicate that (1) generally, the HBV model performs slightly better than IHACRES model in calibration, verification, and regionalization, (2) the physical similarity method under 2 to 4 donor catchments and multiple regression method provide the best and least satisfactory results respectively. The IDW-PS method improves the performance of IDW method, (3) for the physical similarity, eight Catchment Descriptors (CDs) in four main groups of climate, physiographic, location, and land use perform best in prediction performance, (5) the HBV parameters related to snow and runoff components, are associated with highest and lowest uncertainties respectively. For the IHACRES, the most and least robustness parameters are plant stress threshold factor, f and the proportion of slow flow to total flow, vs respectively. Testing the parameter transferability using main approaches of regionalization at two distinct climate regions located in such an extensive river basin is a novelty. The results suggest that the methodology used in this study is rather suitable to simulate streamflow time series of ungauged catchments in the southeast Iran. However, further research is still needed to use this approach in other river basins of Iran.

Light asymmetry, with a higher light acquisition per unit biomass for larger plants, has been proposed as a major mechanism of species loss after nitrogen addition. However, solid evidence for this has been scarce. We measured the allometric size-height relationships of 25 plant species along a nitrogen addition gradient manipulated annually for eight years in a speciose alpine meadow and found that the rare species advantage of light acquisition (i.e., low height scaling exponent) in natural conditions disappeared after nitrogen addition. Those species failing to lower their height scaling exponents decreased in relative abundance after nitrogen addition, thereby decreasing the community weighted mean and dispersion of the height scaling exponent and ultimately the species richness. Our results provided some unique evidence for light asymmetry induced species loss after nitrogen addition and a new insight from the perspective of allometric growth to explain biodiversity maintenance in the face of global changes.

Functional traits are defined such as traits which affect individual fitness. I argue that the use of the term “functional trait” complicates the progress of the field because all traits are potentially linked to fitness. Obviating the potential link of all traits with fitness is related to dismissing (i) the integration of the phenotype, (ii) the spatio-temporal variation of environmental pressures and (iii) the genotype by environment interaction effect on the phenotype. These conceptual gaps could explain the weak predictive power of many functional ecology studies. I develop here some of the reasons why we should consider that all traits are related to fitness -advocating simultaneously for a change in terminology.

A document by Youssef Jalloul, written on Authorea.

Phosphorus (P) deficiency is a major problem in agriculture, thus identifying factors affecting plant’s ability to reutilize previously assimilated P is a prerequisite for improving the P homeostasis in crops grown with P deficient soil. Here, we report the involvement of a NAC (No apical meristem [NAM], Arabidopsis transcription activation factor [ATAF] and Cup-shaped cotyledon [CUC]) transcription factor in P deficiency resistance in Arabidopsis. Compared to the wild type (WT, Col-0) plants, the anac044 mutant displayed P deficiency resistant phenotype, together with the increasing root length, root and shoot biomass under P deficiency. ANAC044 was frequently expressed, including roots and shoots. Upon P deficient treatment even within 1 d, ANAC044 transcript accumulation was strongly up-regulated. Further analysis revealed that, under P-deficient condition, the cell wall, particularly the pectin of anac044, released more P than that of WT, accompanied by an increment of ethylene production, as a result, more soluble P was available in anac044 root and shoot. Thus, the study here uncovers the role of ANAC044 in maintenance of P homeostasis through ethylene signaling.

Microorganisms can do physical and chemical transformations in the media during their growth in an organic-rich favorable environment. Adequate infiltration of organic-rich water into the porous media such as aquifers may cause intensive microbial activity and clog the pores by microorganisms. A sandbox laboratory experiment has been conducted for understanding impact assessment of bioclogging on the hydraulic properties of the porous media caused by aerobic and anaerobic microbial activities. A tank packed with medium-grained sand was saturated with growth medium prepared by dissolving source of organic matter, nitrate, sulfate, and iron in a tap water. To grow the complex microbial species in the tank, a 10 ml bacterial seed taken from the Winogradsky column was injected in the middle of the tank at a depth of 10 cm. To achieve the preset objective, bacterial population density and hydraulic measurements both in aerobic and anaerobic zones were conducted every 15 days and 30 days, respectively. This study reveals that hydraulic conductivity is initially increased in the aerobic zone and subsequently begins decreasing, whereas, in the anaerobic region, it reduces during the entire period of experimentation. It is also found that the conductivity in the anaerobic zone decreases with an increase in bacterial populations of nitrate, iron, and sulfate reducers. However, in the aerobic zone, hydraulic conductivity increases with an increase in population E.coli due to the dissolution of sand grains induced by aerobic and facultative microorganisms.

Introduction We reviewed the types of monoclonal antibodies being repurposed for COVID-19 therapeutics, the clinical outcomes and adverse effects so as to provide evidence the bedside physicians, the health policy-makers and the general public could employ in the COVID-19 management protocol. Methods This systematic review was conducted following the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The Joanna Briggs Institute’s critical appraisal checklists for evaluation of the quality of studies were employed to assess the quality of the different types of primary studies included in the review. Results Our search strategy identified 396 potentially relevant articles which decreased to 322 after duplicates were removed. 281 articles were screened out due to lack of relevance. The full text of the remaining 41 relevant papers were retrieved for full text evaluation after which only 19 studies from eight countries met our eligibility criteria and were included in the review. Majority (42%) of the studies emanated from Italy. Also, 94.7% of the studies used tocilizumab. A total of 698 patients were included in all the studies with a male/female ratio of 1.94:1. 78.9% of the studies stated patients’ co-morbidities which include hypertension (80%), diabetes mellitus (73.3%), cardiovascular disease (53.3%) and obesity (26.7%). 75.9% of the patients recovered. Adverse effects reported included viral myocarditis, bacteraemia, candidaemia and invasive aspergillosis. Conclusion Monoclonal antibodies, especially tocilizumab and eculizumab hold some promise in the treatment of the disease but controlled clinical trials using them as monotherapy are needed to further evaluate this finding.