Tropical tree mortality has increased with rising atmospheric water stress.

Evidence exists that tree mortality is accelerating in some regions of the tropics1,2, with profound consequences for the future of the tropical carbon sink and the global anthropogenic carbon budget left to limit peak global warming below 2 °C. However, the mechanisms that may be driving such mortality changes and whether particular species are especially vulnerable remain unclear3-8. Here we analyse a 49-year record of tree dynamics from 24 old-growth forest plots encompassing a broad climatic gradient across the Australian moist tropics and find that annual tree mortality risk has, on average, doubled across all plots and species over the last 35 years, indicating a potential halving in life expectancy and carbon residence time. Associated losses in biomass were not offset by gains from growth and recruitment. Plots in less moist local climates presented higher average mortality risk, but local mean climate did not predict the pace of temporal increase in mortality risk. Species varied in the trajectories of their mortality risk, with the highest average risk found nearer to the upper end of the atmospheric vapour pressure deficit niches of species. A long-term increase in vapour pressure deficit was evident across the region, suggesting that thresholds involving atmospheric water stress, driven by global warming, may be a primary cause of increasing tree mortality in moist tropical forests.

Ovarian angiosarcoma: A systematic review of literature and survival analysis.

Ovarian angiosarcoma (OA) is rare, with only sporadic cases reported in English literature. We performed a systematic review of cases published in the PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases with the aim of describing the reported clinicopathological features of OA. Fifty-three articles that reported 60 patients were reviewed. Of the 60 patients, 7 (11.6 %) were diagnosed with secondary (metastatic) ovarian angiosarcoma and 53 (88.3 %) were diagnosed with primary ovarian angiosarcoma. The mean age at presentation for ovarian angiosarcoma was 38.3±17.8 years. The average tumor size for ovarian angiosarcoma was 11.9±6.1 cm. Abdominal distention was reported in 45/60 (75 %). Microscopic examination revealed necrosis in 28/60 (46.7 %), pleomorphism in 32/59 (54.2 %), mitotic figures in 44/60 (73.3 %), spindle-shaped cells in 27/36 (75 %), epithelioid-shaped cells in 20/36 (55.5 %), and mixed epithelioid and spindle-shaped cells in 12/36 (33.3 %) patients. On immunohistochemistry CD 31 was positive in 41/41 (100 %), CD 34 in 38/39 (97.4 %), and Factor VIII related antigen in 18/21 (85.7 %) patients. Metastasis was present in 43/60 (71.6 %) patients. Chemotherapy and surgery was performed in 36/52 (69.2 %). The median follow-up time for ovarian angiosarcoma was 7 months (IQR1-IQR3:2-13.5 months). 24 (48 %) of the 50 patients with available survival data were alive and 26/50 (52 %) were dead of disease. Survival analyses (KM curves) revealed that the presence of necrosis (log-rank test; p = 0.05) and absence of spindle-shaped cells (log rank test; p = 0.04) on histopathology were associated with worse outcomes, while treatment with combined chemotherapy and surgical excision was associated with better survival (P < 0.001) therefore, prompt diagnosis and early treatment with combined chemotherapy and surgical excision can prolong survival in OA.

American Heart Association's life simple 7 and the risk of atrial fibrillation in the PREDIMED study cohort.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The American Heart Association proposed 7 ideal cardiovascular health metrics (Life's Simple 7 [LS7]) namely, not smoking, body mass index <25 kg/m2, healthy diet, moderate physical activity ≥150 min/week, total blood cholesterol <200 mg/dL, blood pressure <120/80 mmHg and fasting blood glucose <100 mg/dL. Our objective was to assess the association between these LS7 metrics and the incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 6,479 participants of the PREDIMED study were included. We calculated the participants' baseline LS7 index ranging 0-7 points to categorize them according to their adherence to these LS7 health metrics. Multivariable Cox regression models were used to estimate Hazard Ratios (HR) and their 95% Confidence Intervals (95% CI). After a median follow-up of 4.8 years, we identified 250 incident cases of AF. After adjusting for potential confounders, adherence to LS7 index was not associated with the incidence of AF (adjusted HR 0.90 [95% CI: 0.56-1.45] for highest vs. lowest LS7 categories). Body mass index <25 kg/m2 was the only health metric individually associated with a lower risk of AF (HR 0.36 [95% CI: 0.16-0.78]). CONCLUSIONS: In a high cardiovascular risk Spanish population, adherence to American Heart Association's LS7 metrics was not associated with the risk of incident AF. CLINICAL TRIALS NUMBER: ISRCTN35739639.

Audience retention on educational dermatological videos: an exploratory study using a dermatologist-led experimental YouTube channel.

BACKGROUND: Patients increasingly search for dermatological information on YouTube; however, the successful presence of dermatologists on this platform is limited. Audience retention is essential to ensure success, as the YouTube algorithm considers it to rank videos. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in dermatology that focuses on audience retention on YouTube. It is based on a real-life dermatologist-led channel. AIM: To determine factors that influence audience retention on a dermatologist-led YouTube channel and provide insights that can help dermatologists create engaging content that becomes successful. METHODS: This research studied 137 videos. First, multiple linear regression was performed to test whether the specific video characteristics significantly predicted audience retention. Second, moments of peak retention (spikes) were identified, and their content was analysed to determine what was particularly interesting for viewers. As the videos were educational, spikes were classified into conceptual or procedural knowledge. RESULTS: The average audience retention was 41.7%. Longer video length and increasing number of days from release had a negative and significant effect on audience retention, with the effect of video length (ß = -0.6979; P < 0.001) being strong and that of days from release being weak (ß = -0.1948; P = 0.02). Spikes were observed in 76 videos (55.5%), 68.2% of which were classified as procedural knowledge. CONCLUSION: These data indicate that audience retention increases as video length decreases, and that viewers are essentially interested in practical information. Consequently, to increase audience retention, dermatologists should design succinct videos and deliver procedural knowledge that creates value for the public.

Pyrolysis Kinetics of Byrsonima crassifolia Stone as Agro-Industrial Waste through Isoconversional Models.

This study is aimed at the analysis of the pyrolysis kinetics of Nanche stone BSC (Byrsonima crassifolia) as an agro-industrial waste using non-isothermal thermogravimetric experiments by determination of triplet kinetics; apparent activation energy, pre-exponential factor, and reaction model, as well as thermodynamic parameters to gather the required fundamental information for the design, construction, and operation of a pilot-scale reactor for the pyrolysis this lignocellulosic residue. Results indicate a biomass of low moisture and ash content and a high volatile matter content (≥70%), making BCS a potential candidate for obtaining various bioenergy products. Average apparent activation energies obtained from different methods (KAS, FWO and SK) were consistent in value (~123.8 kJ/mol). The pre-exponential factor from the Kissinger method ranged from 105 to 1014 min-1 for the highest pyrolytic activity stage, indicating a high-temperature reactive system. The thermodynamic parameters revealed a small difference between EA and ∆H (5.2 kJ/mol), which favors the pyrolysis reaction and indicates the feasibility of the energetic process. According to the analysis of the reaction models (master plot method), the pyrolytic degradation was dominated by a decreasing reaction order as a function of the degree of conversion. Moreover, BCS has a relatively high calorific value (14.9 MJ/kg) and a relatively low average apparent activation energy (122.7 kJ/mol) from the Starink method, which makes this biomass very suitable to be exploited for value-added energy production.

Cylindrical-lens-embedded photonic crystal based on self-collimation.

Photonic crystals can be engineered so that the flow of optical power and the phase of the field are independently controlled. The concept is demonstrated by creating a self-collimating lattice with an embedded cylindrical lens. The device is fabricated in a photopolymer by multi-photon lithography with the lattice spacing chosen for operation around the telecom wavelength of 1550 nm. The lattice is based on a low-symmetry rod-in-wall unit cell that strongly self-collimates light. The walls are varied in thickness to modulate the effective refractive index so light acquires a spatially quadratic phase profile as it propagates through the device. Although the phase of the field is altered, the light does not focus within the device because self-collimation forces power to flow parallel to the principal axes of the lattice. Upon exiting the device, ordinary propagation resumes in free space and the curved phase profile causes the light to focus. An analysis of the experimentally observed optical behavior shows that the device behaves like a thin lens, even though the device is considerably thick.

Tropical tree growth sensitivity to climate is driven by species intrinsic growth rate and leaf traits.

A better understanding of how climate affects growth in tree species is essential for improved predictions of forest dynamics under climate change. Long-term climate averages (mean climate) drive spatial variations in species' baseline growth rates, whereas deviations from these averages over time (anomalies) can create growth variation around the local baseline. However, the rarity of long-term tree census data spanning climatic gradients has so far limited our understanding of their respective role, especially in tropical systems. Furthermore, tree growth sensitivity to climate is likely to vary widely among species, and the ecological strategies underlying these differences remain poorly understood. Here, we utilize an exceptional dataset of 49 years of growth data for 509 tree species across 23 tropical rainforest plots along a climatic gradient to examine how multiannual tree growth responds to both climate means and anomalies, and how species' functional traits mediate these growth responses to climate. We show that anomalous increases in atmospheric evaporative demand and solar radiation consistently reduced tree growth. Drier forests and fast-growing species were more sensitive to water stress anomalies. In addition, species traits related to water use and photosynthesis partly explained differences in growth sensitivity to both climate means and anomalies. Our study demonstrates that both climate means and anomalies shape tree growth in tropical forests and that species traits can provide insights into understanding these demographic responses to climate change, offering a promising way forward to forecast tropical forest dynamics under different climate trajectories.

Cardiovascular Outcomes in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW: To review cardiovascular outcomes (CVE) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) that evolves over time. RECENT FINDINGS: Inception cohorts now report long-term data, and large population registries add to our knowledge. Mortality and cardiovascular morbidity remain high with a risk ratio of 2-3. SLE disease activity-related inflammation accounts for higher CVE incidence ratio in the first year following diagnosis with accelerated atherosclerosis contributing to CVE in about a quarter to a third of the patients later in the disease course. Immunomodulation and disease control are associated with improved cardiovascular outcomes. Validation of modified risk stratification tools and studies evaluating primary prevention with aspirin and hydroxychloroquine are reported. Increased awareness of high mortality associated with cardiac inflammation, improved outcomes with early disease control, aggressive management of risk factors, hypertension, obesity, and high cholesterol with modifying risk stratification will result in more favorable outcomes in SLE patients.

Low-Complexity Alternatives to the Optimal Linear Coding Scheme for Transmitting ARMA Sources.

In the era of the Internet of Things, there are many applications where numerous devices are deployed to acquire information and send it to analyse the data and make informed decisions. In these applications, the power consumption and price of the devices are often an issue. In this work, analog coding schemes are considered, so that an ADC is not needed, allowing the size and power consumption of the devices to be reduced. In addition, linear and DFT-based transmission schemes are proposed, so that the complexity of the operations involved is lowered, thus reducing the requirements in terms of processing capacity and the price of the hardware. The proposed schemes are proved to be asymptotically optimal among the linear ones for WSS, MA, AR and ARMA sources.

Vulnerability of bat-plant pollination interactions due to environmental change.

Plant-pollinator interactions are highly relevant to society as many crops important for humans are animal pollinated. However, changes in climate and land use may put such interacting patterns at risk by disrupting the occurrences between pollinators and the plants they pollinate. Here, we analyse how the co-occurrence patterns between bat pollinators and 126 plant species they pollinate may be disrupted given changes in climate and land use, and we forecast relevant changes of the current bat-plant co-occurrence distribution patterns for the near future. We predict under RCP8.5 21% of the territory will experience a loss of bat species richness, plants with C3 metabolism are predicted to reduce their area of distribution by 6.5%, CAM species are predicted to increase their potential area of distribution up to 1% and phanerophytes are predicted to have a 14% reduction in their distribution. The potential bat-plant interactions are predicted to decrease from an average of 47.1 co-occurring bat-plant pairs in the present to 34.1 in the pessimistic scenario. The overall changes in suitable environmental conditions for bats and the plant species they pollinate may disrupt the current bat-plant co-occurrence network and will likely put at risk the pollination services bat species provide.

Comprehensive Review of Vision-Based Fall Detection Systems.

Vision-based fall detection systems have experienced fast development over the last years. To determine the course of its evolution and help new researchers, the main audience of this paper, a comprehensive revision of all published articles in the main scientific databases regarding this area during the last five years has been made. After a selection process, detailed in the Materials and Methods Section, eighty-one systems were thoroughly reviewed. Their characterization and classification techniques were analyzed and categorized. Their performance data were also studied, and comparisons were made to determine which classifying methods best work in this field. The evolution of artificial vision technology, very positively influenced by the incorporation of artificial neural networks, has allowed fall characterization to become more resistant to noise resultant from illumination phenomena or occlusion. The classification has also taken advantage of these networks, and the field starts using robots to make these systems mobile. However, datasets used to train them lack real-world data, raising doubts about their performances facing real elderly falls. In addition, there is no evidence of strong connections between the elderly and the communities of researchers.

Lifestyle behavior and the risk of type 2 diabetes in the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) cohort.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: We prospectively assessed the association between a healthy lifestyle score (HLS) and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in a Mediterranean cohort. METHODS AND RESULTS: We followed up 11,005 participants initially free of diabetes diagnosis in the "Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra" (SUN) cohort. We evaluated the influence of lifestyle-related factors based on a score previously related to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Only one incident case of T2DM was found among those with a baseline BMI ≤22 kg/m2. Therefore, we excluded the BMI item and restricted the analysis to participants with a baseline BMI >22 kg/m2. We measured the baseline adherence of a HLS that included: never smoking, physical activity, Mediterranean diet adherence, moderate alcohol consumption, avoidance of binge drinking, low television exposure, taking a short nap, spending time with friends and working hours. Incident cases of T2DM were self-reported by participants and confirmed by a physician. Cox proportional-hazards regression models were fitted to assess the association between HLS and the incidence of T2DM. After a median follow-up of 12 years, 145 incident cases of T2DM were observed. Among participants with a BMI >22 kg/m2, the highest category of HLS adherence (7-9 points) showed a significant 46% relatively decreased hazard of T2DM compared with the lowest category (0-4 points) (multivariable adjusted HR: 0.54; 95% CI: 0.30-0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Higher adherence to a HLS, including some factors not typically studied, may reduce T2DM risk. Preventive efforts should preferentially focus on weight control. However, this score may promote a comprehensive approach to diabetes prevention beyond weight reduction.

On the Asymptotic Optimality of a Low-Complexity Coding Strategy for WSS, MA, and AR Vector Sources.

In this paper, we study the asymptotic optimality of a low-complexity coding strategy for Gaussian vector sources. Specifically, we study the convergence speed of the rate of such a coding strategy when it is used to encode the most relevant vector sources, namely wide sense stationary (WSS), moving average (MA), and autoregressive (AR) vector sources. We also study how the coding strategy considered performs when it is used to encode perturbed versions of those relevant sources. More precisely, we give a sufficient condition for such perturbed versions so that the convergence speed of the rate remains unaltered.

Drier tropical forests are susceptible to functional changes in response to a long-term drought.

Climatic changes have profound effects on the distribution of biodiversity, but untangling the links between climatic change and ecosystem functioning is challenging, particularly in high diversity systems such as tropical forests. Tropical forests may also show different responses to a changing climate, with baseline climatic conditions potentially inducing differences in the strength and timing of responses to droughts. Trait-based approaches provide an opportunity to link functional composition, ecosystem function and environmental changes. We demonstrate the power of such approaches by presenting a novel analysis of long-term responses of different tropical forest to climatic changes along a rainfall gradient. We explore how key ecosystem's biogeochemical properties have shifted over time as a consequence of multi-decadal drying. Notably, we find that drier tropical forests have increased their deciduous species abundance and generally changed more functionally than forests growing in wetter conditions, suggesting an enhanced ability to adapt ecologically to a drying environment.

The role of lifestyle behaviour on the risk of hypertension in the SUN cohort: The hypertension preventive score.

Lifestyles may influence the risk of hypertension. Our objective was to assess the association between a healthy-lifestyle score and the incidence of hypertension. The SUN Project is a dynamic, prospective cohort of Spanish university graduates (1999-2014). Among 14,057 participants initially free of hypertension, we assessed the influence of lifestyle-related factors based on a 10-item score that we previously reported to be associated with lower risk of major cardiovascular events. However, we focused on factors related to hypertension risk according to previous scientific evidence and international clinical guidelines and constructed a 6-item score including: no smoking, moderate-to-high physical activity, Mediterranean diet adherence, healthy body mass index, moderate alcohol intake and no binge drinking. We fitted Cox regression models to adjust for potential confounders. During a median follow-up of 10.2 years, we identified 1406 incident cases of medically diagnosed hypertension. The risk of developing hypertension was linearly reduced as participants better adhered to a healthy lifestyle pattern built by summing up these 6 factors (p for trend<0.001). The highest category (5-6 factors) exhibited a significant 46% relative reduction in the risk of developing hypertension compared to the lowest category (0-1 factors) (multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio = 0.54; 95% CI: 0.42-0.68). Among the components of the score, BMI was apparently the main factor driving the association between the HLS and lower risk of hypertension. A healthy-lifestyle score including six simple healthy habits was longitudinally and linearly associated with a substantially reduced risk of hypertension. This index may be a useful tool for hypertension prevention.

Independent control of phase and power in spatially variant self-collimating photonic crystals.

Self-collimating photonic crystals are a promising technology to control waves in optical devices. A technique was recently developed that can bend, twist, and otherwise spatially vary a photonic crystal without deforming the unit cells, as this would weaken or destroy the optical properties. Applying this to self-collimating photonic crystals allows us to control multiple properties of light at the same time. A spatially variant self-collimating photonic crystal is shown that decouples the phase and power of the wave and controls them independently and at the same time within the same volume. This creates new physical mechanisms from which to design optical systems. Some possible applications include miniaturization of optical systems, integrated optics, beam steering, and imaging, among others.

Requirements and applications of accurate modeling of the optical transmission of transparent conducting coatings.

A comprehensive model for the optical transmission is constructed and used to investigate the requirements for fitting accurately the experimental data of the optical transmittance at normal incidence of transparent conducting coatings of ZnO:Al deposited on glass substrates by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis. The model takes into account the Urbach tail absorption edge at the low wavelength region, the contribution of free carrier concentration to the weak absorption in the visible and near-infrared ranges, and the effect of scattering of light originated by the surface roughness of the films. The carrier concentration of the ZnO:Al films was measured experimentally by the Hall effect and dc-electrical conductivity measurements in the Van der Paw configuration. It is shown that all mentioned physical effects must be included in order to fit accurately the transmittance spectrum in the VIS-NIR spectral window. The full expression for the optical transmittance was used for choosing the optimal thickness of these films as transparent conductive contacts and the calculation of the figure of merit.

Modulated volumetric arc therapy for total marrow irradiation: A feasibility study in the oncology hospital of CMN SXXI from a medical physics approach.

AIM: The objective of this study is to explore the use of volumetric arc therapy (VMAT) to perform total marrow irradiation (TMI) and compare its results to the standard TBI technique in the Mexican public health system. BACKGROUND: The standard total body irradiation (TBI) technique is used with chemotherapy as a method of a pre-transplant conditioning of the bone marrow. In this technique, the whole body of the patient is considered to be PTV and irradiated generating toxicities and raising concerns about possible development of radio-induced tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Through the use of simulation tomography of 12 patients previously treated with TBI, twelve different treatment plans were created with the proposed TMI technique and compared with the conventional protocol, the treatment plans were evaluated with a dose volume histogram analysis and quality assurance was evaluated with a portal dosimetry system using the gamma index criteria 3%/3 mm. RESULTS: Experimental results show an increasing dose to 99% of PTV of up to 41.1% by using TMI with the VMAT technique. The mean average dose to PTV was increased up to 19.3%. The use of the new TMI technique caused an improvement in the mean average dose to 99% of the PTV as well the homogeneity of the dose distribution prescribed at the PTV while leading to a better reproducibility of the treatment. The Qa of all the plans met the criterion of gamma index 3 mm-3%. CONCLUSION: The results analysis shows that the proposed TMI technique is feasible and applicable in the Mexican public health system.

Heterotopic Purkinje Cells: a Comparative Postmortem Study of Essential Tremor and Spinocerebellar Ataxias 1, 2, 3, and 6.

Essential tremor (ET) is among the most common neurological diseases. Postmortem studies have noted a series of pathological changes in the ET cerebellum. Heterotopic Purkinje cells (PCs) are those whose cell body is mis-localized in the molecular layer. In neurodegenerative settings, these are viewed as a marker of the progression of neuronal degeneration. We (1) quantify heterotopias in ET cases vs. controls, (2) compare ET cases to other cerebellar degenerative conditions (spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) 1, 2, 3, and 6), (3) compare these SCAs to one another, and (4) assess heterotopia within the context of associated PC loss in each disease. Heterotopic PCs were quantified using a standard LH&E-stained section of the neocerebellum. Counts were normalized to PC layer length (n-heterotopia count). It is also valuable to consider PC counts when assessing heterotopia, as loss of PCs extends both to normally located as well as heterotopic PCs. Therefore, we divided n-heterotopias by PC counts. There were 96 brains (43 ET, 31 SCA [12 SCA1, 7 SCA2, 7 SCA3, 5 SCA6], and 22 controls). The median number of n-heterotopias in ET cases was two times higher than that of the controls (2.6 vs. 1.2, p < 0.05). The median number of n-heterotopias in the various SCAs formed a spectrum, with counts being highest in SCA3 and SCA1. In analyses that factored in PC counts, ET had a median n-heterotopia/Purkinje cell count that was three times higher than the controls (0.35 vs. 0.13, p < 0.01), and SCA1 and SCA2 had counts that were 5.5 and 11 times higher than the controls (respective p < 0.001). The median n-heterotopia/PC count in ET was between that of the controls and the SCAs. Similarly, the median PC count in ET was between that of the controls and the SCAs; the one exception was SCA3, in which the PC population is well known to be preserved. Heterotopia is a disease-associated feature of ET. In comparison, several of the SCAs evidenced even more marked heterotopia, although a spectrum existed across the SCAs. The median n-heterotopia/PC count and median PC in ET was between that of the controls and the SCAs; hence, in this regard, ET could represent an intermediate state or a less advanced state of spinocerebellar atrophy.

Analysis of Known Linear Distributed Average Consensus Algorithms on Cycles and Paths.

In this paper, we compare six known linear distributed average consensus algorithms on a sensor network in terms of convergence time (and therefore, in terms of the number of transmissions required). The selected network topologies for the analysis (comparison) are the cycle and the path. Specifically, in the present paper, we compute closed-form expressions for the convergence time of four known deterministic algorithms and closed-form bounds for the convergence time of two known randomized algorithms on cycles and paths. Moreover, we also compute a closed-form expression for the convergence time of the fastest deterministic algorithm considered on grids.