Tropical cyclone-specific mortality risks and the periods of concern: A multicountry time-series study.

BACKGROUND: More intense tropical cyclones (TCs) are expected in the future under a warming climate scenario, but little is known about their mortality effect pattern across countries and over decades. We aim to evaluate the TC-specific mortality risks, periods of concern (POC) and characterize the spatiotemporal pattern and exposure-response (ER) relationships on a multicountry scale. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Daily all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality among the general population were collected from 494 locations in 18 countries or territories during 1980 to 2019. Daily TC exposures were defined when the maximum sustained windspeed associated with a TC was ≥34 knots using a parametric wind field model at a 0.5° × 0.5° resolution. We first estimated the TC-specific mortality risks and POC using an advanced flexible statistical framework of mixed Poisson model, accounting for the population changes, natural variation, seasonal and day of the week effects. Then, a mixed meta-regression model was used to pool the TC-specific mortality risks to estimate the overall and country-specific ER relationships of TC characteristics (windspeed, rainfall, and year) with mortality. Overall, 47.7 million all-cause, 15.5 million cardiovascular, and 4.9 million respiratory deaths and 382 TCs were included in our analyses. An overall average POC of around 20 days was observed for TC-related all-cause and cardiopulmonary mortality, with relatively longer POC for the United States of America, Brazil, and Taiwan (>30 days). The TC-specific relative risks (RR) varied substantially, ranging from 1.04 to 1.42, 1.07 to 1.77, and 1.12 to 1.92 among the top 100 TCs with highest RRs for all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality, respectively. At country level, relatively higher TC-related mortality risks were observed in Guatemala, Brazil, and New Zealand for all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality, respectively. We found an overall monotonically increasing and approximately linear ER curve of TC-related maximum sustained windspeed and cumulative rainfall with mortality, with heterogeneous patterns across countries and regions. The TC-related mortality risks were generally decreasing from 1980 to 2019, especially for the Philippines, Taiwan, and the USA, whereas potentially increasing trends in TC-related all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risks were observed for Japan. CONCLUSIONS: The TC mortality risks and POC varied greatly across TC events, locations, and countries. To minimize the TC-related health burdens, targeted strategies are particularly needed for different countries and regions, integrating epidemiological evidence on region-specific POC and ER curves that consider across-TC variability.

Global short-term mortality risk and burden associated with tropical cyclones from 1980 to 2019: a multi-country time-series study.

BACKGROUND: The global spatiotemporal pattern of mortality risk and burden attributable to tropical cyclones is unclear. We aimed to evaluate the global short-term mortality risk and burden associated with tropical cyclones from 1980 to 2019. METHODS: The wind speed associated with cyclones from 1980 to 2019 was estimated globally through a parametric wind field model at a grid resolution of 0·5°â€ˆ× 0·5°. A total of 341 locations with daily mortality and temperature data from 14 countries that experienced at least one tropical cyclone day (a day with maximum sustained wind speed associated with cyclones ≥17·5 m/s) during the study period were included. A conditional quasi-Poisson regression with distributed lag non-linear model was applied to assess the tropical cyclone-mortality association. A meta-regression model was fitted to evaluate potential contributing factors and estimate grid cell-specific tropical cyclone effects. FINDINGS: Tropical cyclone exposure was associated with an overall 6% (95% CI 4-8) increase in mortality in the first 2 weeks following exposure. Globally, an estimate of 97 430 excess deaths (95% empirical CI [eCI] 71 651-126 438) per decade were observed over the 2 weeks following exposure to tropical cyclones, accounting for 20·7 (95% eCI 15·2-26·9) excess deaths per 100 000 residents (excess death rate) and 3·3 (95% eCI 2·4-4·3) excess deaths per 1000 deaths (excess death ratio) over 1980-2019. The mortality burden exhibited substantial temporal and spatial variation. East Asia and south Asia had the highest number of excess deaths during 1980-2019: 28 744 (95% eCI 16 863-42 188) and 27 267 (21 157-34 058) excess deaths per decade, respectively. In contrast, the regions with the highest excess death ratios and rates were southeast Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. From 1980-99 to 2000-19, marked increases in tropical cyclone-related excess death numbers were observed globally, especially for Latin America and the Caribbean and south Asia. Grid cell-level and country-level results revealed further heterogeneous spatiotemporal patterns such as the high and increasing tropical cyclone-related mortality burden in Caribbean countries or regions. INTERPRETATION: Globally, short-term exposure to tropical cyclones was associated with a significant mortality burden, with highly heterogeneous spatiotemporal patterns. In-depth exploration of tropical cyclone epidemiology for those countries and regions estimated to have the highest and increasing tropical cyclone-related mortality burdens is urgently needed to help inform the development of targeted actions against the increasing adverse health impacts of tropical cyclones under a changing climate. FUNDING: Australian Research Council and Australian National Health and Medical Research Council.

Meteorological factors and incidence of COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic in Catalonia (Spain): A multi-county study.

The transmission of coronaviruses can be affected by several factors, including the climate. Due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 and the urgent need for rapid responses to contain the pandemic, it is essential to understand the role that weather conditions on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. We evaluate the influence of meteorological factors on the incidence of COVID-19 during the first wave of the epidemic in Catalonia. We conducted a geographical analysis at the county level to evaluate the association between mean temperature, absolute humidity, solar radiation, and the cumulative incidence of COVID-19. Next, we used a time-series design to assess the short-term effects of meteorological factors on the daily incidence of COVID-19. We found a geographical association between meteorological factors and the cumulative incidence of COVID-19, from the end of March to June 2020, and a lesser extent in the short-term on the daily incidence during the first wave of the epidemic in Spain. Our findings suggest that warm and wet climates may reduce the incidence of COVID-19 in Catalonia. However, policy makers must interpret with caution any COVID-19 risk predictions based on climate information alone.

TxBR montage reconstruction for large field electron tomography.

Electron tomography (ET) has been proven an essential technique for imaging the structure of cells beyond the range of the light microscope down to the molecular level. Large-field high-resolution views of biological specimens span more than four orders of magnitude in spatial scale, and, as a consequence, are rather difficult to generate directly. Various techniques have been developed towards generating those views, from increasing the sensor array size to implementing serial sectioning and montaging. Datasets and reconstructions obtained by the latter techniques generate multiple three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions, that need to be combined together to provide all the multiscale information. In this work, we show how to implement montages within TxBR, a tomographic reconstruction software package. This work involves some new application of mathematical concepts related to volume preserving transformations and issues of gauge ambiguity, which are essential problems arising from the nature of the observation in an electron microscope. The purpose of TxBR is to handle those issues as generally as possible in order to correct for most distortions in the 3D reconstructions and allow for a seamless recombination of ET montages.

Effectiveness of using blended learning strategies for teaching and learning human anatomy.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to implement innovative teaching methods--blended learning strategies--that include the use of new information technologies in the teaching of human anatomy and to analyse both the impact of these strategies on academic performance, and the degree of user satisfaction. METHODS: The study was carried out among students in Year 1 of the biology degree curriculum (human biology profile) at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona. Two groups of students were tested on knowledge of the anatomy of the locomotor system and results compared between groups. Blended learning strategies were employed in 1 group (BL group, n = 69); the other (TT group; n = 65) received traditional teaching aided by complementary material that could be accessed on the Internet. Both groups were evaluated using the same types of examination. RESULTS: The average marks presented statistically significant differences (BL 6.3 versus TT 5.0; P < 0.0001). The percentage pass rate for the subject in the first call was higher in the BL group (87.9% versus 71.4%; P = 0.02), reflecting a lower incidence of students who failed to sit the examination (BL 4.3% versus TT 13.8%; P = 0.05). There were no differences regarding overall satisfaction with the teaching received. CONCLUSIONS: Blended learning was more effective than traditional teaching for teaching human anatomy.

Scientific Grid activities and PKI deployment in the Cybermedia Center, Osaka University.

The Cybermedia Center (CMC), Osaka University, is a research institution that offers knowledge and technology resources obtained from advanced researches in the areas of large-scale computation, information and communication, multimedia content and education. Currently, CMC is involved in Japanese national Grid projects such as JGN II (Japan Gigabit Network), NAREGI and BioGrid. Not limited to Japan, CMC also actively takes part in international activities such as PRAGMA. In these projects and international collaborations, CMC has developed a Grid system that allows scientists to perform their analysis by remote-controlling the world's largest ultra-high voltage electron microscope located in Osaka University. In another undertaking, CMC has assumed a leadership role in BioGrid by sharing its experiences and knowledge on the system development for the area of biology. In this paper, we will give an overview of the BioGrid project and introduce the progress of the Telescience unit, which collaborates with the Telescience Project led by the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR). Furthermore, CMC collaborates with seven Computing Centers in Japan, NAREGI and National Institute of Informatics to deploy PKI base authentication infrastructure. The current status of this project and future collaboration with Grid Projects will be delineated in this paper.

Using videoclips to improve theoretical anatomy teaching

The introduction of multimedia technology intoteaching has brought important changes in universityteaching. This study seeks to evaluatewhether the use of videoclips as an aid in theoreticallessons, improves students’ performance.This study compares the results obtained inthe scores of Locomotive System Anatomy fortwo consecutive groups of students that took theFirst Course of Descriptive Anatomy in thedegree in Biology at the Faculty of Health andLife Sciences at the “Universitat Pompeu Fabra”of Barcelona.In the first group (G1 n=72) theoretical teachingwas performed through conventionallectures supported with Power Point slides. Inthe second group (G2 n=70), during the sameperiod of time, teaching was done by a combinationof theoretical explanations, slides andmultimedia anatomy videos, which were usedin order to reinforce the key issues of all lectures.The evaluation of theoretical knowledgewas achieved through a multiple-choice test of30 questions (70% of final mark), completingwith a test of 15 short questions (30% of thefinal mark). Evaluation was performed doneselectively based on the same items in 2 examinationsusing different questions. Comparison of the results revealed that students receiving video input performed significantly better (G1:76 % vs. G2: 93 %). Results ofstudents opinion performed between two groups find out to be similar in each group (G1:5.7 vs. G2: 5.9). The adequacy of the teaching material was (G1: 7.9 vs. G2: 7.5) and general satisfaction with the teaching methods was (G1: 6.8 vs. G2: 6.8). In conclusion, it was found that using videoclips for teaching Human Anatomy significantly improves students’ comprehension of theoretical contents

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