Search Results (1,655)

The aim of this study was to optimize a basophil activation test in the detection of allergy to the house dust mite Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus in children with allergic respiratory diseases. This study involved 32 cases, 13 girls and 19 boys aged 4–17 years, with perennial asthma or allergic rhinitis caused by D. pteronyssinus. The control group consisted of 13 girls and 19 boys aged 4–17 years with seasonal allergic asthma or rhinitis provoked by Timothy or birch pollen. House dust mite (HDM) allergy was excluded in the controls based on their medical history, skin prick test (SPT) results and sIgE determination. In all patients, a basophil activation test (BAT) was performed with five dilutions of D. pteronyssinus allergen (the dilution series ranged from 22.5 to 0.00225 ng/mL). The results were analyzed by using the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) to determine the optimal allergen concentrations, outcome measures and cut-off points that would differentiate most accurately between HDM-allergic and non-allergic patients. As a “gold standard”, criteria for allergen-specific immunotherapy with D. pteronyssinus or respective pollens were applied by an experienced pediatric allergist following the guidelines of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. The highest diagnostic efficiency was yielded by the protocol assuming a cut-off value of 9.76% activated basophils after activation with a single allergen concentration of 2.25 ng/mL (sensitivity 90.6%, specificity 100%). This protocol yielded 3 (4.7%) misclassifications, all false negative, when compared with the “gold standard”. There was a strong correlation with the BAT results at 22.5, 2.25 and 0.225 ng/mL (respectively r = 0.90 and r = 0.78, p < 0.001), as well as between the BAT at 2.25 ng/mL and SPT (r = 0.82, p < 0.001) and between the SPT and sIgE levels (r = 0.78, p < 0.001). High cross-reactivity between D. pteronyssinus and D. farinae was confirmed based on the BAT at 22.5 ng/mL (r = 0.82, p < 0.001). In conclusion, the BAT showed very good concordance with the result of a meticulous process of decision-making that combined validated allergy tests (SPT, sIgE) with expert guidelines, specialist knowledge and experience. Facing the risk of the incorrect qualification of patients for costly, long-lasting and potentially risky allergen-specific immunotherapy, the inclusion of a basophil activation test into diagnostic process seems fully justified. Full article

The diagnosis of drug-induced anaphylaxis (DIA) is a serious health problem. The Basophil activation test (BAT) is considered a specific in vitro provocation, and compared to in vivo provocation, it is more convenient, cheaper, and safer for the patient. This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of the BAT in the diagnosis of DIA. This study included 150 patients referred to a reference allergy clinic with suspected drug allergies. All patients underwent a detailed clinical evaluation supplemented with the BAT. Positive BAT results were obtained in two out of 21 patients who were to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The sensitivity and specificity of the BAT were 40% and 75% for the COVID-19 vaccine, 67% and 58% for DMG PEG 2000, and 100% and 75% for PEG 4000, respectively. Nine out of 34 patients with suspected antibiotic allergies had positive BAT results with 14 different antibiotics. Positive BAT results were also obtained with NSAIDs in two patients and with local anesthetics in three patients. The confirmation of allergy by the BAT improves the safety profile of the diagnostic work-up as it may defer the need for drug provocation, preventing potential anaphylactic reactions. Full article

Modern power systems are growing in complexity due to the installation of large generators, long transmission lines, the addition of inertialess renewable energy resources (RESs) with zero inertia, etc., which can all severely degrade the system frequency stability. This can lead to under-/over-frequency load shedding, damage to turbine blades, and affect frequency-sensitive loads. In this study, we propose a methodology to improve the two critical frequency stability indices, i.e., the frequency nadir and the rate of change of frequency (RoCoF), by formulating an optimization problem. The size and placement location of battery energy storage systems (BESSs) are considered to be the constraints for the proposed optimization problem. Thereafter, the optimization problem is solved using the three metaheuristic optimization algorithms: the particle swarm optimization, firefly, and bat algorithm. The best performing algorithm is then selected to find the optimal sizing and placement location of the BESSs. The analyses are all performed on the IEEE 9-bus and IEEE 39-bus test systems. Several scenarios which consider multiple generator outages, increased/decreased loading conditions, and the addition of RESs are also considered for both test systems in this study. The obtained results show that under all scenarios, the proposed method can enhance system frequency compared to the existing method and without BESSs. The proposed method can be easily upscaled for a larger electrical network for obtaining the optimized BESS size and location for the improvement of the system frequency stability. Full article

Circadian rhythms are found in a wide range of organisms and have garnered significant research interest in the field of chronobiology. Under normal circadian function, metabolic regulation is temporally coordinated across tissues and behaviors within a 24 h period. Metabolites, as the closest molecular regulation to physiological phenotype, have dynamic patterns and their relationship with circadian regulation remains to be fully elucidated. In this study, untargeted brain metabolomics was employed to investigate the daily rhythms of metabolites at four time points corresponding to four typical physiological states in Vespertilio sinensis. Key brain metabolites and associated physiological processes active at different time points were detected, with 154 metabolites identified as rhythmic. Analyses of both metabolomics and transcriptomics revealed that several important physiological processes, including the pentose phosphate pathway and oxidative phosphorylation, play key roles in regulating rhythmic physiology, particularly in hunting and flying behaviors. This study represents the first exploration of daily metabolic dynamics in the bat brain, providing insights into the complex regulatory network of circadian rhythms in mammals at a metabolic level. These findings serve as a valuable reference for future studies on circadian rhythms in nocturnal mammals. Full article

RaTG13 is phylogenomically the closest related coronavirus to SARS-CoV-2; consequently, understanding the provenance of this high-value genome sequence is important in understanding the origin of SARS-CoV-2. While RaTG13 was described as being generated from a Rhinolophus affinis fecal swab obtained from a mine in Mojiang, Yunnan, numerous investigators have pointed out that this is inconsistent with the low proportion of bacterial reads in the sequencing dataset. Metagenomic analysis confirms that only 10.3% of small-subunit (SSU) rRNA sequences in the dataset are bacterial, which is inconsistent with a fecal sample. In addition, the bacterial taxa present in the sample are shown to be inconsistent with fecal material. The assembly of mitochondrial SSU rRNA sequences in the dataset produces a sequence 98.7% identical to R. affinis mitochondrial SSU rRNA, indicating that the sample was generated from R. affinis or a closely related species. In addition, 87.5% of the reads in the dataset map to the Rhinolophus ferrumequinum genome, and 62.2% of these map to protein-coding genes, indicating that the dataset represents a Rhinolophus sp. transcriptome rather than a fecal swab sample. Differential gene expression analysis reveals that the pattern of expressed genes in the RaTG13 dataset is similar to that of RaTG15, which was also collected from the Mojiang mine. GO enrichment analysis reveals the overexpression of spermatogenesis- and olfaction-related genes in both datasets. This observation is consistent with a mating plug found in female Rhinolophid bats and suggests that RaTG13 was mis-sampled from such a plug. A validated natural provenance of the RaTG13 dataset throws into relief the unusual features of the SARS-CoV-2 genome. Full article

Dietary changes expose consumers to risks from Anisakis larvae in seafood, leading to parasitic diseases and allergies. Anisakis is recognized by EFSA as a significant hazard, with potential oncogenic implications. Diagnostic advancements, like the Basophil Activation Test (BAT), enhance sensitivity and accuracy in identifying Anisakis sensitization, complementing traditional IgE tests. We conducted a cross-sectional study on patients with allergic symptoms from April 2021 to April 2023 at two outpatient clinics in western Sicily. Our goal was to assess the prevalence of Anisakis-related allergies and to identify risk profiles using specific Anisakis IgE and the BAT, especially in regions with high raw fish consumption. The study evaluated specific Anisakis IgE as a screening tool for Anisakis sensitization, using questionnaires, blood samples, and immuno-allergology analyses. Anisakis-specific IgE values were compared with the BAT results, with statistical analyses including Fisher’s exact test and logistic regression. The results showed an 18.5% seroprevalence of Anisakis IgE, while the BAT as a second-level test showed 4.63%, indicating the BAT’s superior specificity and accuracy. The study highlighted the importance of the BAT in diagnosing Anisakis sensitization, especially in cases of cross-reactivity with Ascaris and tropomyosin. The findings confirm the BAT’s exceptional specificity in identifying Anisakis sensitization and support using Anisakis-specific IgE for population-based risk profiling. The BAT can effectively serve as a confirmatory test. Full article

Mites from the Demodecidae and Psorergatidae can optimally use mammalian hosts by inhabiting a number of different microhabitats in their skin. Hence, in individual hosts, several species of parasites from these groups have been described in different microhabitats. There are few data on their co-occurrence either at the host species level or at the host individual level. Most research has addressed the co-occurrence of Demodecidae in carnivorans, ungulates, soricomorphs, and rodents, while the co-occurrence of both families was found in bats. The present study examines the possibility of their co-occurrence in a Eurasian rodent—Apodemus flavicollis. It is a suitable model for such analyses, because representatives of both families have been demonstrated here so far, and our findings extend the list of specific Demodecidae in A. flavicollis with two new species: Demodex tenuis sp. nov. from the lip region and D. mediocris sp. nov. from the chin region. The study also includes the first record of Psorergates muricola in this host, which occurred in the genital–anal region. Therefore, the findings confirm the possibility that different Demodecidae and Psorergatidae species can co-occur in the same host in different body regions. This paper also includes a checklist of Demodecidae and Psorergatidae in rodents around the world. Full article

(1) Background: The basophil activation test (BAT) is a functional whole blood-based ex vivo assay to quantify basophil activation after allergen exposure by flow cytometry. One of the most important prerequisites for the use of the BAT in the routine clinical diagnosis of allergies is a reliable, standardized and reproducible data analysis workflow. (2) Methods: We re-analyzed a public mass cytometry dataset from peanut (PN) allergic patients (n = 6) and healthy controls (n = 3) with our binning approach “pattern recognition of immune cells” (PRI). Our approach enabled a comprehensive analysis of the dataset, evaluating 30 markers to achieve optimal basophil identification and activation through multi-parametric analysis and visualization. (3) Results: We found FcεRIα/CD32 (FcγRII) as a new marker couple to identify basophils and kept CD63 as an activation marker to establish a modified BAT in combination with our PRI analysis approach. Based on this, we developed an algorithm for automated raw data processing, which enables direct data analysis and the intuitive visualization of the test results including controls and allergen stimulations. Furthermore, we discovered that the expression pattern of CD32 correlated with FcεRIα, anticorrelated with CD63 and was detectable in both the re-analyzed public dataset and our own flow cytometric results. (4) Conclusions: Our improved BAT, combined with our PRI procedure (bin-BAT), provides a reliable test with a fully reproducible analysis. The advanced bin-BAT enabled the development of an automated workflow with an intuitive visualization to discriminate allergic patients from non-allergic individuals. Full article

Antimicrobial resistance is increasingly concerning, causing millions of deaths and a high cost burden. Given that carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales are particularly concerning due to their ability to develop structural modifications and produce antibiotic-degrading enzymes, leading to high resistance levels, we sought to summarize the available data on the efficacy and safety regarding the combination of meropenem-vaborbactam (MV) versus the best available therapy (BAT). Articles related to our objective were searched in the PubMed and Scopus databases inception to July 2024. To assess the quality of the studies, we used the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool, RoB2. The outcomes were pooled as a risk ratio (RR) and a 95% confidence interval (95%CI). A total of four published studies were involved: one retrospective cohort study and three phase 3 trials, including 432 patients treated with MV and 426 patients treated with BAT (mono/combination therapy with polymyxins, carbapenems, aminoglycosides, colistin, and tigecycline; or ceftazidime-avibactam; or piperacillin-tazobactam). No significant difference in the clinical response rate was observed between MV and the comparators at the TOC (RR = 1.29, 95%CI [0.92, 1.80], p = 0.14) and EOT (RR = 1.66, 95%CI [0.58, 4.76], p = 0.34) visits. MV was associated with a similar microbiological response as the comparators at TOC (RR = 1.63, 95%CI [0.85, 3.11], p = 0.14) and EOT assessment (RR = 1.16, 95%CI [0.88, 1.54], p = 0.14). In the pooled analysis of the four studies, 28-day all-cause mortality was lower for MV than the control groups (RR = 0.47, 95%CI [0.24, 0.92], p = 0.03). MV was associated with a similar risk of adverse events (AEs) as comparators (RR = 0.79, 95%CI [0.53, 1.17], p = 0.23). Additionally, MV was associated with fewer renal-related AEs than the comparators (RR = 0.32, 95%CI [0.15, 0.66], p = 0.002). MV was associated with a similar risk of treatment discontinuation due to AEs (RR = 0.76, 95%CI [0.38, 1.49], p = 0.42) or drug-related AEs (RR = 0.56, 95%CI [0.28, 1.10], p = 0.09) as the comparators. In conclusion, MV presents a promising therapeutic option for treating CRE infections, demonstrating similar clinical and microbiological responses as other comparators, with potential advantages in mortality outcomes and renal-related AEs. Full article

This paper presents a novel approach to identify an optimal coefficient for evaluating a player’s batting average, strike rate, and bowling average, aimed at achieving an optimal team score through dynamic modeling using a path integral method. Additionally, it introduces a new model for run dynamics, represented as a stochastic differential equation, which factors in the average weather conditions at the cricket ground, the specific weather conditions on the match day (including abrupt changes that may halt the game), total attendance, and home field advantage. An analysis of real data is been performed to validate the theoretical results. Full article

Urbanization is one of the leading causes of habitat loss, which has increased significantly in tropical regions in recent years, leading to the loss of species, their ecological functions, and evolutionary history. To determine the effect of urbanization on the diversity of bat communities in urban and suburban environments, we analyzed the α and β taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversities at four sites along urbanization gradients surrounding a rapidly expanding city (Oaxaca City) in southern Mexico. We recorded bats using conventional techniques such as mist nets and acoustic monitoring. We calculated the diversity of bats in four sites with different urbanization conditions: urban (1), suburban (1), and rural (2). To assess the degree of total differentiation and components of bat turnover and nestedness between sites, we calculated the β taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversities. A total of 33 bat species were recorded. The highest taxonomic and functional diversity was observed in the Center of Oaxaca (the site with the highest level of urbanization). In contrast, the highest phylogenetic diversity was found in the West (the site with the lowest level of urbanization). The total β taxonomic diversity was higher than the functional and phylogenetic diversity. Regarding the contributions of turnover and nestedness, turnover made a more significant contribution than nestedness to the taxonomic and phylogenetic β diversity. In contrast, functional nestedness contributed more to the functional β diversity than turnover. Tadarida brasiliensis, Desmodus rotundus, Sturnira hondurensis, and S. parvidens were recorded in all three urbanization conditions. In the most urbanized site, four Myotis species were recorded: M. fortidens, M. keaysi, M. thysanodes, and M. velifer. We suggest that the analysis of different dimensions of diversity is essential and should be considered to strengthen conservation strategies; moreover, we suggest the preservation of native vegetation mosaics and water bodies within the city to maintain bat diversity. Full article

Identifying spatial clusters of rabies in animals aids policymakers in allocating resources for rabies prevention and control. This study aimed to investigate spatial patterns and hotspots of rabies in different animal species at the county level in New Jersey. Data on animal rabies cases from January 1989 to December 2023 were obtained from the New Jersey Department of Health and aggregated by county. Global Moran’s index (I) statistics were computed for each species to detect global spatial clustering (GeoDa version 1.22). Local Moran’s indicators of spatial association (LISA) were computed to identify local clusters of rabies. The results from the LISA analysis were mapped using ArcGIS Pro to pinpoint cluster locations. A total of 9637 rabies cases were analyzed among raccoons (n = 6308), skunks (n = 1225), bats (n = 1072), cats (n = 597), foxes (n = 225), and groundhogs (n = 210). A global Moran’s test indicated significant global spatial clustering in raccoons (I = 0.32, p = 0.012), foxes (I = 0.29, p = 0.011), and groundhogs (I = 0.37, p = 0.005). The LISA results revealed significant spatial clustering of rabies in raccoons and foxes in southeastern New Jersey and in groundhogs in northern New Jersey. These findings could guide the development of targeted oral rabies vaccination programs in high-risk New Jersey counties, reducing rabies exposure among domestic animals and humans. Full article

This study outlines the procedures used for collecting, processing, and categorizing data on 16 new mammal species for mainland Portugal, belonging to four taxonomic groups: Eulipotyphla (1), Chiroptera (4), Rodentia (2), and Cetacea (9). Data collection and processing encompassed field and lab work and bibliographic compilation. Data categorization involves, whenever possible, the assessment of the approximate number of mature individuals in populations, the extent of occurrence, and the area of occupancy. The approach employed led to the classification of eight out of the 16 species into an IUCN category: two non-volant small mammals and one bat species were designated as Vulnerable, requiring ongoing monitoring; one rodent and three cetaceans were assigned to Data Deficient due to insufficient available information; and a single bat species was classified as Least Concern due to the high abundance of local populations. For small mammals and bats, alterations to natural systems and climate change emerged as the most relevant threatening factors, while for cetaceans, human activities such as fishing, commercial shipping, and tourism were identified as the primary survival risks. It is recommended to maintain action programs that assist in defining strategic orientations for the implementation of conservation measures on a case-by-case basis. Full article

This research explores the guided experimental implementation of ChatGPT as a tool for developing teachers’ skills in teaching English. The intervention involved 24 in-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers who engaged in crafting activities and assessments using researcher-designed prompts. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the researchers assessed the participants’ ChatGPT integration proficiency through a custom-designed assessment tool aligned with the technological pedagogical content knowledge framework. The eight-week intervention introduced educators to various applications of ChatGPT in EFL teaching, including lesson planning. A quantitative analysis revealed statistically significant improvements in the teachers’ ChatGPT integration proficiency across all measured dimensions. The qualitative findings highlight the perceived benefits, challenges, and future prospects of ChatGPT in EFL education. While the practical significance of the improvement was modest, the results suggest that the guided integration of generative chatbots can bolster teachers’ ability to leverage this technology appropriately. This study contributes to the limited body of empirical research on integrating large language models into teaching and offers insights into the practical applications and challenges of using ChatGPT in EFL contexts. Full article

Fungal infections often disproportionately affect males over females. Since the NIH mandated in 2016 that researchers test their hypotheses in both biological sexes, numerous other fungal infections/colonizations have been found to exhibit sex-specific patterns. These patterns have been observed in various species, including mice, drosophila, cats, and bats, suggesting significant implications for understanding these diseases and developing treatments. Despite the recognition of this sex bias, primary research explaining its underlying causes or mechanisms remains limited. Current evidence suggests that potential causes might be linked to sex hormones, genetic expression, and evolutionary behaviors. This review consolidates recent data on sex bias in fungal infections or colonizations among different species and proposes future research directions to address existing gaps. Thus, this review advances the comprehension of the intricate relationships between biological sex, fungal infections, and broader health implications. Full article