Characteristics and 6-Month Outcomes in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis Initiating Infliximab Biosimilar IFX-dyyb in a Real-World Setting.

INTRODUCTION: Real-world studies describing biosimilar initiation or switching in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are limited. The aim of this study was to assess treatment patterns and effectiveness of real-world patients with RA initiating infliximab biosimilar IFX-dyyb (CT-P13; Inflectra®) in the USA. METHODS: This observational study evaluated patients with RA from the CorEvitas RA Registry who initiated IFX-dyyb and had Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) recorded at baseline and 6 months. The primary outcome was reaching low disease activity (LDA; CDAI ≤ 10) at 6 months in patients with moderate or high disease activity (CDAI > 10) at baseline. Secondary outcomes were change at 6 months in CDAI and certain patient-reported outcomes (PROs). Patient data were stratified by prior treatment: biologic/targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (tsDMARD)-naïve, reference infliximab (IFX-REF) or IFX biosimilar, or a non-IFX biologic or tsDMARD. RESULTS: Of 318 patients initiating IFX-dyyb, 176 had baseline and 6-month CDAI scores; 73 (41%) switched from IFX, 61 (35%) switched from another non-IFX/biologic/tsDMARD, 32 (18%) were naïve to biologics/tsDMARDs, and 10 (6%) switched from an IFX biosimilar. Among patients with moderate or high disease activity at baseline, 32.9% (95% CI 22.9, 42.9) achieved LDA at 6 months. Mean 6-month change from baseline in CDAI was - 1.8 (95% CI - 3.3, - 0.3) overall; - 4.7 (- 7.6, - 1.7) in patients who switched from a non-IFX biologic/tsDMARD, - 4.1 (- 7.8, - 0.3) in biologic/tsDMARD-naïve patients, and 1.1 (- 0.4, 2.6) in patients who switched from IFX-REF/IFX biosimilar. Other clinical outcomes/PROs improved at 6 months. Of the IFX-dyyb initiators, 68% remained on IFX-dyyb at 6 months. CONCLUSION: In this real-world population of patients with RA initiating IFX-dyyb, the majority switched from IFX-REF or a non-IFX biologic/tsDMARD. CDAI remained stable in patients switching from IFX-REF/IFX biosimilar and improved in patients switching from a non-IFX biologic/tsDMARD and in biologic/tsDMARD-naïve patients.

Infliximab is an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Biosimilars­biologic drugs designed to be very similar to the originator products­are now available that may be more affordable with matching efficacy and safety. IFX-dyyb is a US Food and Drug Administration-approved infliximab biosimilar but little is known about its use in real-world clinical practice in patients with RA in the USA. This study used data from a large observational registry to look at treatment patterns and effectiveness of IFX-dyyb in adults with RA. One hundred and seventy-six patients were included who had data available at both baseline and at 6 months. Most patients (47%) switched to IFX-dyyb from the originator infliximab or another infliximab biosimilar; 35% switched from another RA treatment, and 18% were new to treatment. Six months after starting IFX-dyyb, 68% of patients were still receiving treatment. A measure of clinical disease activity remained stable in patients who switched from originator infliximab or another biosimilar, while this measure improved in patients switching to IFX-dyyb from other treatments or starting treatment for the first time. Other clinical measures and patient-reported outcomes such as pain and fatigue also improved over 6 months with IFX-dyyb. This real-world study of patients with RA initiating IFX-dyyb in the USA adds to our knowledge of the use of biosimilars in this patient population.

Activities of pumpkin seed oil against Biomphalaria alexandrina snails and the infective stages of Schistosoma mansoni with special emphasis on genotoxic and histopathological alterations.

Schistosomiasis is a serious health issue in tropical regions, and natural compounds have gained popularity in medical science. This study investigated the potential effects of pumpkin seed oil (PSO) on Biomphalaria [B.] alexandrina snails (Ehrenberg, 1831), Schistosoma [S.] mansoni (Sambon, 1907) miracidium, and cercariae. The chemical composition of PSO was determined using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. A bioassay was performed to evaluate the effects of PSO on snails, miracidia, and cercariae. The results showed no significant mortality of B. alexandrina snails after exposure to PSO, but it caused morphological changes in their hemocytes at 1.0 mg/ml for 24 hours. PSO exhibited larvicidal activity against miracidia after 2 hours of exposure at a LC50 of 618.4 ppm. A significant increase in the mortality rate of miracidia was observed in a dose- and time-dependent manner, reaching a 100% death rate after 10 minutes at LC90 and 15 minutes at LC50 concentration. PSO also showed effective cercaricidal activity after 2 hours of exposure at a LC50 of 290.5 ppm. Histological examination revealed multiple pathological changes in the digestive and hermaphrodite glands. The PSO had genotoxic effects on snails, which exhibited a significant increase [p≤0.05] in comet parameters compared to the control. The findings suggest that PSO has potential as a molluscicide, miracidicide, and cercaricide, making it a possible alternative to traditional molluscicides in controlling schistosomiasis.

Treatment Patterns and Effectiveness of Tofacitinib in Patients Initiating Therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis: Results from the CorEvitas Rheumatoid Arthritis Registry.

OBJECTIVE: This real-world analysis assessed baseline demographics/characteristics and treatment patterns/effectiveness in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) initiating tofacitinib in the United States (US) CorEvitas RA Registry. METHODS: The primary analysis of this study (NCT04721808) included patients with RA initiating tofacitinib with a 12-month follow-up visit from November 2012-January 2021. Outcomes included baseline demographics/characteristics and tofacitinib initiation/discontinuation reasons, treatment patterns, and effectiveness (disease activity and patient-reported outcomes at 12 months); primary effectiveness outcome: Clinical Disease Activity Index low disease activity (CDAI LDA). All data, analyzed descriptively, were stratified by tofacitinib regimen (monotherapy vs combination therapy), line of therapy (2nd-4th line), time of initiation (2012-2014/2015-2017/2018-2020), and dose (5 mg twice daily vs 11 mg once daily). RESULTS: Of 2,874 patients with RA who initiated tofacitinib, 1,298 had a qualifying 12-month follow-up visit: of these, 43.1% as monotherapy; 66.5% as 4th-line therapy. Overall, tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (40.8%) were the most common treatment immediately prior to tofacitinib initiation; the most common reason for tofacitinib initiation (among those with a reason) was lack/loss of efficacy of prior treatment (67.7%). Overall, at 12 months, 31.9%/10.1% achieved CDAI LDA/remission, 22.4%/10.4%/5.0% achieved ≥ 20%/ ≥ 50%/ ≥ 70% improvement in modified American College of Rheumatology core set measures, and improvements in patient-reported outcomes were observed. Effectiveness was generally similar across tofacitinib stratifications. CONCLUSION: Tofacitinib effectiveness (CDAI LDA) was observed in a US real-world setting of patients with RA regardless of tofacitinib regimen, line of therapy, time of initiation, and dose. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04721808).

Association of Serum Magnesium Level with Severity of Neurological Disability in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke.

Magnesium (Mg) has important effects on vascular system and deficiency of this cation is thought to be a risk factor for cerebrovascular atherosclerosis and complications. The study was planned to find out the association of serum magnesium level with severity of neurological disability in patient with acute ischemic stroke. This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in the department of Neurology and Medicine at Mymensingh Medical College & Hospital, Mymensingh from June, 2018 to October, 2019. Patients with acute ischemic stroke were evaluated following informed written consent. Diagnosis was confirmed by neuroimaging of brain. Moreover, serum magnesium assay was done for each patient. Data were collected by interview, clinical examination and laboratory investigations of patients using a case record form and analysis was carried out by using the SPSS 22.0 (IBM Inc., Armonk, NY, USA). Mean age of acute ischemic stroke patients was 63.94±13.93 years with male predominance (58.30%). Majority of the respondents (70.2%) had NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score 5-15 (moderate stroke), 13.1% had score 1-5 (minor stroke), 13.1% had score15-20 (Moderate to severe stroke) and 3.6% had score 21-42 (severe stroke). Mean serum magnesium level was 1.83±0.283mg/dl. Hypomagnesaemia was present in 28(33.3%) patients and it was related with higher NIHSS scoring (p<0.05). Multiple regression showed that among the risk factors, serum magnesium level was independently associated with severity of neurological disability of the acute ischemic stroke (p<0.001). In this study, the correlation coefficient between serum magnesium level and NIHSS score was found as r= - 0.667 which showed negative relationship between serum magnesium and NIHSS score. Lower serum magnesium level is associated with the severity of neurological disability of acute ischemic stroke patient. Further case-control studies are required to validate this finding.

Genetic variations among the isolates of Bipolaris Maydis based on phenotypic and molecular markers

Abstract Maydis leaf blight, caused by Bipolaris maydis, is an important disease of maize crop in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Pakistan. Fifteen isolates of the pathogen, collected across KP, were studied for variability based on phenotypic and molecular markers. Significant variability among the isolates was observed when assessed using phenotypic traits such as radial growth, spore concentration, fungicide sensitivity and virulence. The isolates were classified into six culture groups based on colour, texture and margins of the colony. Conidial morphology was also variable. These were either straight or slightly curved and light to dark brown in colour. Fungicide test showed significant variation in the degree of sensitivity against Carbendazim. Isolate Bm8 exhibited maximum radial growth on carbendazim spiked plates. Conversely, isolate Bm15 showed the lowest radial growth. Variations in virulence pattern of the isolates were evident when a susceptible maize variety Azam was inoculated with spores of B. maydis. Genetic variability amongst the isolates was also estimated by RAPD as well as sequencing of ITS region. The RAPD dendrogram grouped all the isolates into two major clusters. Average genetic distance ranged from 0.6% to 100%, indicating a diverse genetic gap among the isolates. Maximum genetic distance was found between isolates Bm9 and Bm10 as well as Bm2 and Bm8. Conversely, isolates Bm13 and Bm15 were at minimum genetic distance. Phylogenetic dendrogram based on sequencing of ITS region grouped all the isolates into a single major cluster. The clusters in both the dendrogram neither correlate to the geographical distribution nor to the morphological characteristics.

Resumo A ferrugem das folhas de maydis, causada por Bipolaris maydis, é uma doença importante da cultura do milho em Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Paquistão. Quinze isolados do patógeno, coletados em KP, foram estudados quanto à variabilidade com base em marcadores fenotípicos e moleculares. Variabilidade significativa entre os isolados foi observada quando avaliada por meio de características fenotípicas, como crescimento radial, concentração de esporos, sensibilidade a fungicida e virulência. Os isolados foram classificados em seis grupos de cultura com base na cor, textura e margens da colônia. A morfologia dos conídios também foi variável. Estes eram retos ou ligeiramente curvos e de cor marrom-claro a escuro. O teste de fungicida mostrou variação significativa no grau de sensibilidade ao carbendazim. O isolado Bm8 exibiu crescimento radial máximo em placas com adição de carbendazim. Por outro lado, o isolado Bm15 apresentou o menor crescimento radial. As variações no padrão de virulência dos isolados foram evidentes quando uma variedade de milho suscetível Azam foi inoculada com esporos de B. maydis. A variabilidade genética entre os isolados também foi estimada por RAPD, bem como sequenciamento da região ITS. O dendrograma RAPD agrupou todos os isolados em dois grupos principais. A distância genética média variou de 0,6% a 100%, indicando uma lacuna genética diversa entre os isolados. A distância genética máxima foi encontrada entre os isolados Bm9 e Bm10 e também entre Bm2 e Bm8. Por outro lado, os isolados Bm13 e Bm15 estavam a uma distância genética mínima. O dendrograma filogenético baseado no sequenciamento da região ITS agrupou todos os isolados em um único aglomerado principal. Os agrupamentos em ambos os dendrogramas não se correlacionam com a distribuição geográfica nem com as características morfológicas.

Microporous Block Copolymers Modified with Cu(II)-Coordinated Polyethylene Oxide-Substituted Silicas for Analytical Sensors.

The influence of stable-to-self-condensation Cu(II)-coordinated polyoxyethylene-substituted silicas (ASiP-Cu-0.5) on the synthesis of microporous block copolymers (OBCs) whose structural feature is the existence of coplanar polyisocyanate blocks of acetal nature (O-polyisocyanates) and a flexible-chain component of amphiphilic nature was studied. The use of ASiP-Cu-0.5 increased the yield of O-polyisocyanate blocks and the microphase separation of OBC. The resulting OBCs turned out to be effective sorbents for the analytical reagents PAN and PHENAZO, which, being in the micropore cavity, interacted with copper(II) and magnesium ions. To reduce the thickness of the selective OBC layer ten-fold and simplify the technology for obtaining analytical test systems, polyethylene terephthalate was used as a substrate for applying OBC. It was found that the increased sensitivity of the resulting test systems was due to the fact that in thin reaction layers, the efficiency of the formation of O-polyisocyanate blocks noticeably increased.

Impact of preoperative spinal injections within 30 days of lumbar decompression on surgical outcomes: a matched institutional study.

OBJECTIVE: The authors sought to determine how the temporal proximity of lumbar epidural spinal injection prior to surgery impacts clinical outcomes (e.g., 30-day readmission, postoperative complications, CSF leak) in patients undergoing lumbar decompression without fusion. METHODS: The authors queried their institutional registry to identify patients who underwent elective lumbar decompression for spondylotic pathology between January 2019 and March 2022 at multiple centers within the same hospital network. Patients were divided into groups based on the time between their surgical date and the most recent preoperative spinal injection: group 1, patients with duration < 1 month; group 2, 1-3 months; and group 3, no spinal injection within 3 months. Primary outcomes of interest were the length of hospital stay, postoperative complications, rate of intraoperative CSF leak, and rates of reoperation and hospital readmission. For patients in groups 1 and 2, the authors also recorded the number of injections within 12 months prior to surgery to better understand the effect of multiple recent injections. The independent Student t-test and Pearson's chi-square test were mainly performed for univariate analyses of the continuous and categorical variables, respectively. RESULTS: A total of 121 and 283 patients received a spinal injection at < 1 month and 1-3 months prior to surgery, respectively, and were separately matched in a 3:1 ratio with 2562 patients with no history of preoperative spinal injection within 3 months before surgery. Among the matched cohorts, patients who received spinal injections < 1 month before lumbar decompression had significantly higher risks of 30-day complication (7.4% vs 0.8%, OR 9.6, p < 0.001), 30-day readmission (5.8% vs 2.2%, OR 3.5, p = 0.049), and 90-day readmission (9.1% vs 2.8%, OR 3.5, p = 0.003) than patients with no history of spinal injection. However, compared with patients with no history of spinal injection, the patients who received spinal injections 1-3 months before surgery were not at higher risk for postoperative complications or readmission. The CSF leak rates were significantly different between the three patient cohorts (10.7% vs 6.7% vs 4.9% for the < 1 month, 1-3 months, and no injection cohorts, respectively; p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Lumbar decompression within 1 month of preoperative spinal injection was associated with higher risks of readmission and postoperative complications, including CSF leak. However, with the exception of CSF leak, these risks were no longer observed when spinal injection occurred 1-3 months prior to lumbar decompression.

Dynamic Radiographs Are Unreliable to Assess Arthrodesis Following Cervical Fusion: A Modeled Radiostereometric Analysis of Cervical Motion.

STUDY DESIGN: In vitro study. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to utilize an idealized cervical spine model to determine whether the parallax effect or changes in the position of the spine relative to the x-ray generator influence intervertebral motion parameters on dynamic cervical spine radiographs. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: The utility of flexion-extension radiographs in clinical practice remains in question due to poor reliability of the parameters utilized to measure motion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cervical spine model with tantalum beads inserted into the tip of each spinous process was utilized to measure interspinous process distance (IPD) on plain radiographs. The model was then manipulated to alter the generator angle and generator distance, and the IPD was measured. The impact of individual and combined changes in these parameters on IPD was assessed. Multivariate analysis was performed to identify independent drivers of variability in IPD measurements. RESULTS: Isolated changes in the generator distance and generator angle and combined changes in these parameters led to significant changes in the measured IPD at each intervertebral level in neutral, flexion, and extension, which, in many instances, exceeded an absolute change of >1 mm or >2 mm. Multivariate analysis revealed that generator distance and generator angle are both independent factors impacting IPD measurements that have an additive effect. CONCLUSIONS: In an idealized cervical spine model, small clinically feasible changes in spine position relative to the x-ray generator produced substantial variability in IPD measurements, with absolute changes that often exceeded established cutoffs for determining the presence of pathologic motion across a fused segment. This study further reinforces that motion assessment on dynamic radiographs is not a reliable method for determining the presence of an arthrodesis unless these sources of variability can be consistently eliminated. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3.

The occurrence and density of some molluscs species in different areas of Basrah province, southern of Iraq and first record of The invasive golden mussel Limnoperna fortunei (Dunker, 1857).

The study was conducted to compare the distribution and composition of the Molluscs community in 4 ecosystems (4 sites) in southern of Iraq, namely: (Site 1)- in Euphrates River at Al-Madinah city, (Site 2)- in Shatt Al-Arab at Al-Sharsh area, (Site 3)- in the Garmat Ali River at Al-Mashib area and Site 4- in the Al-seba area. Samples were collected from study sites during a period of January to August 2019. (11) species from the class Gastropoda and (4) species from the class Bivalves, species were predominated in most of the study months which are species: Melenodies nodosa, Bellamya bengalensis and Melanopsis turbculata from Gastropoda and two of the species are bivalve: Corbicula fluminalis and Limnoperna fortunei (Dunker, 1857), and the last species, L. fortunei, was recorded in the current study for the first time in freshwater of Iraq. The total biodiversity values of Molluscs at the Euphrates River at Al-Madinah area (Site. 1), Al-Sharsh area (Site 2), Al-Mashib area (Site 3) and Al-seba area (Site 4) were 3.1, 2.9, 2.4, 1.8, respectively, and It was noted that the highest seasonal densities of the species in the current study were recorded in the winter season, reaching 1013, 905, 762 and 639 individuals / m2 in four sites, respectively.

Is novel research worth doing? Evidence from peer review at 49 journals.

There are long-standing concerns that peer review, which is foundational to scientific institutions like journals and funding agencies, favors conservative ideas over novel ones. We investigate the association between novelty and the acceptance of manuscripts submitted to a large sample of scientific journals. The data cover 20,538 manuscripts submitted between 2013 and 2018 to the journals Cell and Cell Reports and 6,785 manuscripts submitted in 2018 to 47 journals published by the Institute of Physics Publishing. Following previous work that found that a balance of novel and conventional ideas predicts citation impact, we measure the novelty and conventionality of manuscripts by the atypicality of combinations of journals in their reference lists, taking the 90th percentile most atypical combination as "novelty" and the 50th percentile as "conventionality." We find that higher novelty is consistently associated with higher acceptance; submissions in the top novelty quintile are 6.5 percentage points more likely than bottom quintile ones to get accepted. Higher conventionality is also associated with acceptance (+16.3% top-bottom quintile difference). Disagreement among peer reviewers was not systematically related to submission novelty or conventionality, and editors select strongly for novelty even conditional on reviewers' recommendations (+7.0% top-bottom quintile difference). Manuscripts exhibiting higher novelty were more highly cited. Overall, the findings suggest that journal peer review favors novel research that is well situated in the existing literature, incentivizing exploration in science and challenging the view that peer review is inherently antinovelty.

Conservatism Gets Funded? A Field Experiment on the Role of Negative Information in Novel Project Evaluation.

The evaluation and selection of novel projects lies at the heart of scientific and technological innovation, and yet there are persistent concerns about bias, such as conservatism. This paper investigates the role that the format of evaluation, specifically information sharing among expert evaluators, plays in generating conservative decisions. We executed two field experiments in two separate grant-funding opportunities at a leading research university, mobilizing 369 evaluators from seven universities to evaluate 97 projects, resulting in 761 proposal-evaluation pairs and more than $250,000 in awards. We exogenously varied the relative valence (positive and negative) of others' scores and measured how exposures to higher and lower scores affect the focal evaluator's propensity to change their initial score. We found causal evidence of a negativity bias, where evaluators lower their scores by more points after seeing scores more critical than their own rather than raise them after seeing more favorable scores. Qualitative coding of the evaluators' justifications for score changes reveals that exposures to lower scores were associated with greater attention to uncovering weaknesses, whereas exposures to neutral or higher scores were associated with increased emphasis on nonevaluation criteria, such as confidence in one's judgment. The greater power of negative information suggests that information sharing among expert evaluators can lead to more conservative allocation decisions that favor protecting against failure rather than maximizing success.

Malignant Neuroendocrine Tumor of Gall Bladder: An Incidental Finding.

Neuroendocrine tumor of the gallbladder is a rare gallbladder tumor with aggressive behavior and poor prognosis. Cholelithiasis is the most important risk factor for it. The clinical presentations of most patients are non-specific and vague abdominal pain is the most common initial symptom followed by cholecystitis, with obstructive jaundice, weight loss, ascites, pruritus or palpable mass and occasional associated endocrine manifestations. Surgery remains the main cornerstone for it. In January 2019, in the department of Hepatobiliary, Pancreatic and Liver transplant surgery in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, a 30-year-old female presented with incidental finding of gallbladder mass. Extended cholecystectomy was performed. Histopathology examination revealed small cell neuroectodermal tumor of the gallbladder.

Hemosuccus Pancreaticus: A Rare Cause of Gastrointestinal Bleeding.

Hemosuccus pancreaticus or bleeding from the pancreatic duct into the gastrointestinal tract via the ampulla of Vater is caused by rupture of the pseudoaneurysm of a peripancreatic vessel into pancreatic duct or pancreatic pseudocyst in the context of pancreatitis or pancreatic tumour or trauma. It produces diagnostic and therapeutic dilemma due to its anatomical location and that bleeding into the duodenum is intermittent and cannot be easily diagnosed by endoscopy, often needs CE-CT and angiography. In August 2019, a 60-year-old male presented with intermittent abdominal pain, gastrointestinal bleeding and high serum lipase. Upper GIT endoscopy showed blood mixed bile coming out through ampulla, suspecting Hemosuccus pancreaticus. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scan demonstrated pancreatic pseudo cyst with partially thrombosed splenic artery pseudoaneurysm. At laparotomy, splenic artery pseudoaneurysm was ligated along with splenectomy. Later on, the patient had no further occurrence of gastrointestinal bleeding.

Expert Opinion on Pegloticase with Concomitant Immunomodulatory Therapy in the Treatment of Uncontrolled Gout to Improve Efficacy, Safety, and Durability of Response.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Gout is a systemic disease from which some patients develop numerous painful tophi that adversely affect quality of life and functionality. Some patients treated with oral urate-lowering therapy are unable to maintain serum urate levels below 6 mg/dL, and these patients, thus classified as having refractory or uncontrolled gout, often require therapy with pegloticase to reduce symptoms and tophaceous burden. The objective of this expert opinion review is to summarize the available evidence supporting the use of concomitant immunomodulators with pegloticase to prevent development of anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) when treating patients with uncontrolled gout. RECENT FINDINGS: Emerging evidence suggests that adding an immunomodulator to pegloticase therapy can substantially increase response rates to double those observed in phase 3 randomized controlled trials. The combination of immunomodulation with pegloticase should be considered in routine clinical practice to improve durability of response, efficacy, and safety among patients with uncontrolled gout who otherwise have limited therapeutic options.

Environmental surface sampling of SARS-CoV-2 in selected hospitals in Malaysia.

COVID-19 has spread rapidly worldwide. The role of fomites in facilitating onward transmission is plausible. This study aimed to determine the presence of viable virus and its persistence on the surfaces of fomites in wards treating COVID-19 patients in Malaysia. This study was conducted in two stages. First, environmental sampling was performed on random days in the intensive care unit (ICU) and general wards. Then, in the second stage, samples were collected serially on alternate days for 7 days in two selected general wards. In Stage 1, a total of 104 samples were collected from the surfaces of highly touched and used areas by patients and healthcare workers. Only three samples were tested positive for SARS-COV-2. In Stage 2, three surface samples were detected positive, but no persistence of the virus was observed. However, none of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA was viable through tissue culture. Overall, the environmental contamination of SARS-CoV-2 was low in this hospital setting. Hospitals' strict infection control and the compliance of patients with wearing masks may have played a role in these findings, suggesting adherence to those measures to reduce occupational exposure of COVID-19 in hospital settings.

Engineering serendipity: When does knowledge sharing lead to knowledge production?

RESEARCH SUMMARY: We investigate how knowledge similarity between two individuals is systematically related to the likelihood that a serendipitous encounter results in knowledge production. We conduct a field experiment at a medical research symposium, where we exogenously varied opportunities for face-to-face encounters among 15,817 scientist-pairs. Our data include direct observations of interaction patterns collected using sociometric badges, and detailed, longitudinal data of the scientists' postsymposium publication records over 6 years. We find that interacting scientists acquire more knowledge and coauthor 1.2 more papers when they share some overlapping interests, but cite each other's work between three and seven times less when they are from the same field. Our findings reveal both collaborative and competitive effects of knowledge similarity on knowledge production outcomes. MANAGERIAL SUMMARY: Managers often try to stimulate innovation by encouraging serendipitous interactions between employees, for example by using office space redesigns, conferences and similar events. Are such interventions effective? This article proposes that an effective encounter depends on the degree of common knowledge shared by the individuals. We find that scientists who attend the same conference are more likely to learn from each other and collaborate effectively when they have some common interests, but may view each other competitively when they work in the same field. Hence, when designing opportunities for face-to-face interactions, managers should consider knowledge similarity as a criteria for fostering more productive exchanges.

Improving deconvolution methods in biology through open innovation competitions: an application to the connectivity map.

MOTIVATION: Do machine learning methods improve standard deconvolution techniques for gene expression data? This article uses a unique new dataset combined with an open innovation competition to evaluate a wide range of approaches developed by 294 competitors from 20 countries. The competition's objective was to address a deconvolution problem critical to analyzing genetic perturbations from the Connectivity Map. The issue consists of separating gene expression of individual genes from raw measurements obtained from gene pairs. We evaluated the outcomes using ground-truth data (direct measurements for single genes) obtained from the same samples. RESULTS: We find that the top-ranked algorithm, based on random forest regression, beat the other methods in accuracy and reproducibility; more traditional gaussian-mixture methods performed well and tended to be faster, and the best deep learning approach yielded outcomes slightly inferior to the above methods. We anticipate researchers in the field will find the dataset and algorithms developed in this study to be a powerful research tool for benchmarking their deconvolution methods and a resource useful for multiple applications. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The data is freely available at clue.io/data (section Contests) and the software is on GitHub at https://github.com/cmap/gene_deconvolution_challenge. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

The effect of immunomodulators on the efficacy and tolerability of pegloticase: a systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: Pegloticase is a recombinant PEGylated uricase that converts relatively insoluble urate to highly water-soluble allantoin, which is readily excreted by the kidneys. It is the first and only biologic treatment indicated for refractory or uncontrolled gout. Clinical trials showed a 6-month pegloticase responder rate of 42%, with the non-responder rate largely being attributed to the development of high-titer anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) against pegloticase. Immunomodulation attenuates ADA formation to biologics in a number of autoimmune conditions, but their use with pegloticase for uncontrolled gout is less established. This systematic review examined published cases of refractory gout patients treated with immunomodulation in combination with pegloticase. METHODS: Published cases of immunomodulation with pegloticase were identified in a PubMed search and in abstract databases of major rheumatology society meetings (2012-2020). Duplicate and review articles were excluded, as were those that did not include cases of pegloticase use with immunomodulation. Cases with off-label pegloticase administration schedules were also excluded. Pegloticase response was defined according to each study's specified standard. RESULTS: Ten publications describing 82 cases of pegloticase use in the setting of immunomodulation were identified. Overall pegloticase response rate was 82.9%. Patients co-treated with an individual immunomodulator had the following response rates: methotrexate: 87.5% (35 of 40 patients), mycophenolate mofetil: 86.4% (19 of 22 patients vs. pegloticase monotherapy [placebo]: 40% [4 of 10 patients]), azathioprine: 63.6% (7 of 11 patients), and leflunomide: 66.7% (4 of 6 patients). A single patient was co-treated with cyclosporin and was a responder. The two patients treated with more than one immunomodulator were both responders. CONCLUSION: Published reports suggest that immunomodulation co-therapy has the potential to markedly improve pegloticase responder rates in patients with uncontrolled gout.

Environmental surface sampling of SARS-CoV-2 in selected hospitals in Malaysia

@#COVID-19 has spread rapidly worldwide. The role of fomites in facilitating onward transmission is plausible. This study aimed to determine the presence of viable virus and its persistence on the surfaces of fomites in wards treating COVID-19 patients in Malaysia. This study was conducted in two stages. First, environmental sampling was performed on random days in the intensive care unit (ICU) and general wards. Then, in the second stage, samples were collected serially on alternate days for 7 days in two selected general wards. In Stage 1, a total of 104 samples were collected from the surfaces of highly touched and used areas by patients and healthcare workers. Only three samples were tested positive for SARS-COV-2. In Stage 2, three surface samples were detected positive, but no persistence of the virus was observed. However, none of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA was viable through tissue culture. Overall, the environmental contamination of SARS-CoV-2 was low in this hospital setting. Hospitals’ strict infection control and the compliance of patients with wearing masks may have played a role in these findings, suggesting adherence to those measures to reduce occupational exposure of COVID-19 in hospital settings.