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Characteristics and incidence trends of adults hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia in Portugal, pre-pandemic
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a major cause of hospitalization that leads to substantial morbidity, mortality, and costs. Evaluating CAP trends over time is important to understand patterns and the impact of public health interventions. This study aims to describe the characteristics and trends in the incidence of adults hospitalized with CAP in Portugal between 2010 and 2018. In this study, we included hospitalization data, prevalence of comorbidities, and population data. CAP hospitalizations of adults (≥18y) living in mainland Portugal discharged from public hospitals were identified using ICD-9-CM or ICD-10-CM codes. Based on previous CAP studies, we selected nine relevant comorbidities. We described the frequency and incidence of CAP hospitalizations per sex, age group, comorbidity, and year of discharge. Trends were explored using Joinpoint regression. We observed 470,545 CAP hospitalizations falling into the 2010–18 period. The majority were males (54.8%) and aged ≥75 years (65.3%). Most often recorded comorbidities were congestive heart failure (26.4%), diabetes (25.5%), and chronic pulmonary disease (19.2%). The Joinpoint regression identified a gradual decline in the incidence rates of CAP hospitalizations for both sexes and all age groups. Of the nine comorbidities selected, seven showed a progressive increase in incidence rates followed by a subsequent decline (all except HIV/AIDS and chronic renal disease). Our findings offer valuable insights for selecting priority groups for public health interventions and design strategies to mitigate the burden of CAP.
Satellite-based vertical land motion for infrastructure monitoring: a prototype roadmap in Greater Houston, Texas
Abstract Coastal regions are critical hubs for industries reliant on transport and storage. However, vital infrastructure including above-ground storage tanks (ASTs), which store hazardous materials, is vulnerable to flooding and often exacerbated by subsidence (negative vertical land motion; VLM). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plays a key role in mitigating risks from ASTs. Satellite remote sensing provides a powerful tool to assess hazards and inform decision-making. Here, we present a roadmap for integrating remotely-sensed observations into decision-making frameworks. Using NASA observational products for end-users from remote sensing analysis (OPERA) VLM products derived from Sentinel-1, we map VLM at ~ 30 m resolution across Greater Houston–Galveston. Our analysis reveals widespread, spatially varying subsidence. We determine where VLM trends were linear from 2016 to 2023 and extrapolate them to estimate future VLM. Combining sea-level rise (SLR) scenarios with VLM data, we estimate that by 2050 ASTs in the region will experience at least 26.1 cm of relative SLR, with 10 (14.9%) exposed to more than 60 cm. Integrating a hydrodynamic model with spatially varying relative SLR shows that flooding hazards are amplified during a Hurricane Harvey-like event under future conditions. Overall, we demonstrate the importance of incorporating high-resolution VLM into hazard assessments to support decision-making.
Revealed: the unusual mathematics that gives rose petals their shape
Clonal dynamics and somatic evolution of haematopoiesis in mouse
Abstract Haematopoietic stem cells maintain blood production throughout life 1 . Although extensively characterized using the laboratory mouse, little is known about clonal selection and population dynamics of the haematopoietic stem cell pool during murine ageing. We isolated stem cells and progenitors from young and old mice, identifying 221,890 somatic mutations genome-wide in 1,845 single-cell-derived colonies. Mouse stem cells and progenitors accrue approximately 45 somatic mutations per year, a rate only approximately threefold greater than human progenitors despite the vastly different organismal sizes and lifespans. Phylogenetic patterns show that stem and multipotent progenitor cell pools are established during embryogenesis, after which they independently self-renew in parallel over life, evenly contributing to differentiated progenitors and peripheral blood. The stem cell pool grows steadily over the mouse lifespan to about 70,000 cells, self-renewing about every 6 weeks. Aged mice did not display the profound loss of clonal diversity characteristic of human haematopoietic ageing. However, targeted sequencing showed small, expanded clones in the context of murine ageing, which were larger and more numerous following haematological perturbations, exhibiting a selection landscape similar to humans. Our data illustrate both conserved features of population dynamics of blood and distinct patterns of age-associated somatic evolution in the short-lived mouse.