In the setting of active COVID-19 infection, outpatient receipt of G-CSF led to an increased number of hospitalizations (HR 3.54, 95% CI 1.25-10.0, P value 0.017). Furthermore, among inpatients, G-CSF administration was associated with increased need for high levels of oxygen supplementation and death (HR 3.56, 95% CI 1.19-10.2, P value 0.024). This effect was predominantly seen in patients that exhibited a high response to G-CSF based on their ANC increase post-G-CSF administration (HR 7.78, 95% CI 2.05-27.9, P value 0.004).

The potential risks versus benefits of G-CSF administration should be considered in neutropenic cancer patients with COVID-19, since G-CSF administration may lead to worsening clinical and respiratory status.

The potential risks versus benefits of G-CSF administration should be considered in neutropenic cancer patients with COVID-19, since G-CSF administration may lead to worsening clinical and respiratory status.

Terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) have successfully captured various properties of individual trees and have potential to further increase the quality and efficiency of forest surveys. However, TLS are limited to line-of-sight observations, and forests are complex structural environments that can occlude TLS beams and thereby cause incomplete TLS samples. We evaluate the prevalence and sources of occlusion that limit line-of-sight to forest stems for TLS scans, assess the impacts of TLS sample incompleteness, and evaluate sampling strategies and data analysis techniques aimed at improving sample quality and representativeness.

We use a large number of TLS s cans (761), taken across a 255,650 m 2 area of forest with detailed field survey data the Harvard Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) (Massachusetts, USA). Sets of TLS returns are matched to stem positions in the field surveys to derive TLS-observed stem sets, which are compared to two additional stem sets derived solely from the field survey data a set of stems within a fixed range from the TLS and a set of stems based on two-dimensional modelling of line-of-sight. Stem counts and densities are compared between the stem sets, and four alternative derivations of area to correct stem densities for the effects of occlusion are evaluated. Representation of DBH and species, drawn from the field survey data, are also compared between the stem sets.

Occlusion from non-stem sources was the major influence on TLS line-of-sight. Transect and point TLS samples demonstrated better representativeness of some stem properties than did plots. Deriving sampled area from TLS scans improved estimates of stem density.

TLS sampling efforts should consider alternative sampling strategies and move towards in-progress assessment of sample quality, and dynamic adaptation of sampling.

TLS sampling efforts should consider alternative sampling strategies and move towards in-progress assessment of sample quality, and dynamic adaptation of sampling.Length control is a fundamental requirement for molecular architecture. Even small wall-less bacteria have specially developed macro-molecular structures to support their survival. Mycoplasma pneumoniae, a human pathogen, forms a polar extension called an attachment organelle, which mediates cell division, cytadherence, and cell movement at host cell surface. This characteristic ultrastructure has a constant size of 250-300 nm, but its design principle remains unclear. In this study, we constructed several mutants by genetic manipulation to increase or decrease coiled-coil regions of HMW2, a major component protein of 200 kDa aligned in parallel along the cell axis. HMW2-engineered mutants produced both long and short attachment organelles, which we quantified by transmission electron microscopy and fluorescent microscopy with nano-meter precision. This simple design of HMW2 acting as a molecular ruler for the attachment organelle should provide an insight into bacterial cellular organization and its function for their parasitic lifestyles.[This corrects the article DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0239579.].With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging and the vaccination program still rolling out, there continues to be an immediate need for public health officials to better understand the mechanisms behind the deep and perpetual divide over face masks in America. Using a random sample of Americans (N = 615), following a pre-registered experimental design and analysis plan, we first demonstrated that mask wearers were not innately more cooperative as individuals than non-mask wearers in the Prisoners’ Dilemma (PD) game when information about their own and the other person’s mask usage was not salient. However, we found strong evidence of in-group favouritism among both mask and non-mask wearers when information about the other partner’s mask usage was known. Non-mask wearers were 23 percentage points less likely to cooperate than mask wearers when facing a mask-wearing partner, and 26 percentage points more likely to cooperate than mask wearers when facing a non-mask-wearing partner. Our analysis suggests social identity effects as the primary reason behind people’s decision whether to wear face masks during the pandemic.[This corrects the article DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0241578.].[This corrects the article DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0237410.].[This corrects the article DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0233752.].KDM4A is a histone lysine demethylase that has been described as an oncogene in various types of cancer. The importance of KDM4A-mediated epigenetic regulation in tumorigenesis is just emerging. Here, by using Kaposi’s sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV) as a screening model, we identified 6 oncogenic virus-induced long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) with the potential to open chromatin. RNA immunoprecipitation revealed KSHV-induced KDM4A-associated transcript (KIKAT)/LINC01061 as a binding partner of KDM4A. click here Integrated ChIP-seq and RNA-seq analysis showed that the KIKAT/LINC01061 interaction may mediate relocalization of KDM4A from the transcription start site (TSS) of the AMOT promoter region and transactivation of AMOT, an angiostatin binding protein that regulates endothelial cell migration. Knockdown of AMOT diminished the migration ability of uninfected SLK and iSLK-BAC16 cells in response to KIKAT/LINC01061 overexpression. Thus, we conclude that KIKAT/LINC01061 triggered shifting of KDM4A as a potential epigenetic mechanism regulating gene transactivation.