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Population ageing requires society to adjust by ensuring additional types of services and assistance for elderly people. These may be provided by either organized services and sources of informal social support. The latter are especially important since a lack of social support is associated with a lower level of psychological and physical well-being. During the Covid-19 pandemic, social support for the elderly has proven to be even more crucial, also due to physical distancing. Therefore, this study aims to identify and describe the various types of personal social support networks available to the elderly population during the pandemic. To this end, a survey of Slovenians older than 64 years was conducted from April 25 to May 4, 2020 on a probability web-panel-based sample (n = 605). The ego networks were clustered by a hierarchical clustering approach for symbolic data. Clustering was performed for different types of social support (socializing, instrumental support, emotional support) and different characteristics of the social support networks (i.e., type of relationship, number of contacts, geographical distance). The results show that most of the elderly population in Slovenia has a satisfactory social support network, while the share of those without any (accessible) source of social support is significant. The results are particularly valuable for sustainable care policy planning, crisis intervention planning as well as any future waves of the coronavirus.High-speed roads present a considerable level of risk for frontline workers operating in these environments. To optimise safety, prevention activities need to target the key skills required to mitigate risk. The aim of this research was to explore the behavioural (compliance, participation, voice), motivational (safety motivation) and work demand (role clarity) factors that influence safety outcomes for incident responders working on high-speed roads. Safety outcomes included secondary incidents and near misses with passing vehicles. A total of 295 complete survey responses were received from six emergency service and incident response agencies in one Australian state. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling. The results showed that higher levels of safety voice, safety motivation and, role clarity were significantly associated with safer self-reported safety outcomes after controlling for the number of incidents attended. The findings from this study will be used to guide the development of a training program to improve the cognitive, behavioural and perceptual skills of incident responders operating on high-speed roads. Some insight into the structure and format of this program is provided.The vertical vibration compaction method (VVCM), heavy compaction method and static pressure method were used to form phyllite specimens with different degrees of weathering. The influence of cement content, compactness, and compaction method on the mechanical properties of phyllite was studied. selleck compound The mechanical properties of phyllite was evaluated in terms of unconfined compressive strength (Rc) and modulus of resilience (Ec). Further, test roads were paved along an expressway in China to demonstrate the feasibility of the highly weathered phyllite improvement technology. Results show that unweathered phyllite can be used as subgrade filler. In spite of increasing compactness, phyllite with a higher degree of weathering cannot meet the requirements for subgrade filler. With increasing cement content, Rc and Ec of the improved phyllite increases linearly. Rc and Ec increase by at least 15% and 17%, respectively, for every 1% increase in cement content and by at least 10% and 6%, respectively, for every 1% increase in compactness. The higher the degree of weathering of phyllite, the greater the degree of improvement of its mechanical properties.

Only few smaller studies have examined if impaired kidney function increases the risk of acute kidney injury in patients with acute pyelonephritis. Therefore, we estimated 30-day risk of acute kidney injury by preadmission kidney function in patients with acute pyelonephritis. Furthermore, we examined if impaired kidney function was a risk factor for development of acute kidney injury in pyelonephritis patients.

This cohort study included patients with a first-time hospitalization with pyelonephritis from 2000 to 2017. Preadmission kidney function (estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <30, 30-44, 45-59, 60-89, and ≥90 ml/min/1.73 m2) and acute kidney injury within 30 days after admission were assessed using laboratory data on serum creatinine. The absolute 30-days risk of acute kidney injury was assessed treating death as a competing risk. The impact of eGFR on the odds of acute kidney injury was compared by odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals estimated using logistic regression adjuof acute kidney injury in pyelonephritis patients and more attention should be raised in prevention of pyelonephritis in patients with a low kidney function.Ecological niche models (ENMs) aim to recreate the relationships between species and the environments where they occur and allow us to identify unexplored areas in geography where these species might be present. These models have been successfully used in terrestrial organisms but their application in aquatic organisms is still scarce. Recent advances in the availability of species occurrences and environmental information particular to aquatic systems allow the evaluation of these models. This study aims to characterize the niche of the Sabaleta Brycon henni Eigenmann 1913, an endemic fish of the Colombian Andes, using ENMs to predict its geographical distribution across the Magdalena Basin. For this purpose, we used a set of environmental variables specific to freshwater systems in addition to the customary bioclimatic variables, and species' occurrence data to model its potential distribution using the Maximum Entropy algorithm (MaxEnt). We evaluate the relative importance between these two sets of variables, the model's performance, and its geographic overlap with the IUCN map. Both on-site (annual precipitation, minimum temperature of coldest month) and upstream variables (open waters, average minimum temperature of the coldest month and average precipitation seasonality) were included in the models with the highest predictive accuracy. With an area under the curve of 90%, 99% of the species occurrences and 68% of absences correctly predicted, our results support the good performance of ENMs to predict the potential distribution of the Sabaleta and the utility of this tool in conservation and decision-making at the national level.

Healthcare workers (HCW) treating COVID-19 patients are at high risk for infection and may also spread infection through their contact with vulnerable patients. Smell loss has been associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, but it is unknown whether monitoring for smell loss can be used to identify asymptomatic infection among high risk individuals. In this study we sought to determine if tracking smell sensitivity and loss using an at-home assessment could identify SARS-CoV-2 infection in HCW.

We performed a prospective cohort study tracking 473 HCW across three months to determine if smell loss could predict SARS-CoV-2 infection in this high-risk group. HCW subjects completed a longitudinal, behavioral at-home assessment of olfaction with household items, as well as detailed symptom surveys that included a parosmia screening questionnaire, and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction testing to identify SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our main measures were the prevalence of smell loss in SARS-CoV-2-positive Husing two different measures were predictive of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Smell loss frequently preceded a positive test and was associated with neurological symptoms.The rhesus monkey rhadinovirus (RRV), a γ2-herpesvirus of rhesus macaques, shares many biological features with the human pathogenic Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). Both viruses, as well as the more distantly related Epstein-Barr virus, engage cellular receptors from the Eph family of receptor tyrosine kinases (Ephs). However, the importance of the Eph interaction for RRV entry varies between cell types suggesting the existence of Eph-independent entry pathways. We therefore aimed to identify additional cellular receptors for RRV by affinity enrichment and mass spectrometry. We identified an additional receptor family, the Plexin domain containing proteins 1 and 2 (Plxdc1/2) that bind the RRV gH/gL glycoprotein complex. Preincubation of RRV with soluble Plxdc2 decoy receptor reduced infection by ~60%, while overexpression of Plxdc1 and 2 dramatically enhanced RRV susceptibility and cell-cell fusion of otherwise marginally permissive Raji cells. While the Plxdc2 interaction is conserved between two RRV strains, 26-95 and 17577, Plxdc1 specifically interacts with RRV 26-95 gH. The Plxdc interaction is mediated by a short motif at the N-terminus of RRV gH that is partially conserved between isolate 26-95 and isolate 17577, but absent in KSHV gH. Mutation of this motif abrogated the interaction with Plxdc1/2 and reduced RRV infection in a cell type-specific manner. Taken together, our findings characterize Plxdc1/2 as novel interaction partners and entry receptors for RRV and support the concept of the N-terminal domain of the gammaherpesviral gH/gL complex as a multifunctional receptor-binding domain. Further, Plxdc1/2 usage defines an important biological difference between KSHV and RRV.

Increased blood loss remains a major drawback of simultaneous bilateral total hip arthroplasty (SBTHA). We examined the effects of disusing closed suction drainage (CSD) on postoperative blood loss and transfusion requirement in cementless SBTHA.

A retrospective cohort study was conducted with a consecutive series of cementless SBTHAs performed by a single surgeon between January 2014 and March 2017. The surgeon routinely used CSD until May 2015 and refrained from CSD in all primary THAs thereafter. This study included SBTHAs with intravenous administration of tranexamic acid (TXA). Postoperative hemoglobin drop, blood loss, transfusion rate, pain scores, complication rates, and implant survivorships were compared between the groups of SBTHA with and without CSD. The minimum follow-up duration was 1 year.

Among the 110 patients (220 hips), 46 (92 hips) and 64 (128 hips) underwent SBTHA with and without CSD, respectively. Maximum hemoglobin drop (mean, 4.8 vs. 3.9 g/dL; P = 0.001), calculated blood loss (mean, 1530 vs. 1190 mL; P<0.001), transfusion rate (45.7% vs. 21.9%; P = 0.008), and length of hospital stay (mean, 6.6 vs. 5.8 days; P = 0.004) were significantly lower in patients without CSD. There were no significant differences in postoperative pain scales and wound complication rates. The mean Harris Hip scores at final follow-up (92.5 vs. 92.1; P = 0.775) and implant survivorships with an end-point of any revision at 4 years (98.9% vs. 98.4%; log-rank, P = 0.766) were similar between groups.

Disusing CSD significantly reduced postoperative blood loss and transfusion requirement without increasing postoperative pain and surgical wound complications in cementless SBTHA with concurrent administration of intravenous TXA.

Disusing CSD significantly reduced postoperative blood loss and transfusion requirement without increasing postoperative pain and surgical wound complications in cementless SBTHA with concurrent administration of intravenous TXA.