No abstract

1 Thanasimus formicarius and Temnochila caerulea, two of the main predators of Ips sexdentatus, a well-known forest pest in Southern Europe, are captured in high numbers when trapping I. sexdentatus as a result of the kairomonal effect of the lures used. 2 A preliminary field trial showed that predators could survive for at least 1 week within trapping containers, although predator mutilation and high predator death rates were observed. 3 Different modifications of conventional multiple funnel and slot traps with the objective of reducing natural enemy entrance into trap containers were bioassayed in field experiments conducted over four seasons. Based on the larger sizes of predators, different designs using welded wire-mesh screens improved performance to different extents. Providing escape windows just above the screen on multiple funnel traps gave the most promising results, including when effect sizes among all tested designs were compared. 4 Thus, a simple modification of the lowest funnel of the multiple funnel traps would reduce the bycatch of T. formicarius and T. caerulea, hence improving the efficiency of trapping programmes by lowering the likely impact on natural populations of these predators.

Pneumonia is the leading cause of hospital admission and mortality in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We aimed to identify the cytokines responsible for lung damage and mortality. We prospectively recruited 108 COVID-19 patients between March and April 2020 and divided them into four groups according to the severity of respiratory symptoms. Twenty-eight healthy volunteers were used for normalization of the results. Multiple cytokines showed statistically significant differences between mild and critical patients. High HGF levels were associated with the critical group (OR = 3.51; p < 0.001; 95%CI = 1.95–6.33). Moreover, high IL-1α (OR = 1.36; p = 0.01; 95%CI = 1.07–1.73) and low IL-27 (OR = 0.58; p < 0.005; 95%CI = 0.39–0.85) greatly increased the risk of ending up in the severe group. This model was especially sensitive in order to predict critical status (AUC = 0.794; specificity = 69.74%; sensitivity = 81.25%). Furthermore, high levels of HGF and IL-1α showed significant results in the survival analysis (p = 0.033 and p = 0.011, respectively). HGF, IL-1α, and IL 27 at hospital admission were strongly associated with severe/critical COVID-19 patients and therefore are excellent predictors of bad prognosis. HGF and IL-1α were also mortality biomarkers.

Antigen tests or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification are currently COVID-19 diagnostic tools. However, developing complementary diagnosis tools is mandatory. Thus, we performed a plasma cytokine array in COVID-19 patients to identify novel diagnostic biomarkers. A discovery–validation study in two independent prospective cohorts was performed. The discovery cohort included 136 COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients recruited consecutively from 24 March to 11 April 2020. Forty-five cytokines’ quantification by the MAGPIX system (Luminex Corp., Austin, TX, USA) was performed in plasma samples. The validation cohort included 117 patients recruited consecutively from 15 to 25 April 2020 for validating results by ELISA. COVID-19 patients showed different levels of multiple cytokines compared to non-COVID-19 patients. A single chemokine, IP-10, accurately identified COVID-19 patients who required hospital admission (AUC: 0.962; 95%CI (0.933–0.992); p < 0.001)). The results were validated in an independent cohort by multivariable analysis (OR: 25.573; 95%CI (8.127–80.469); p < 0.001) and AUROC (AUC: 0.900; 95%CI (0.846–0.954); p < 0.001). Moreover, showing IP-10 plasma levels over 173.35 pg/mL identified COVID-19 with higher sensitivity (86.20%) than the first SARS-CoV-2 PCR. Our discover–validation study identified IP-10 as a robust biomarker in clinical practice for COVID-19 diagnosis at hospital. Therefore, IP-10 could be used as a complementary tool in clinical practice, especially in emergency departments.