Recommendations concerning the presentation of synonymic and related lists in zootaxonomy: the example of the family Cryptobranchidae Fitzinger, 1826 (Amphibia, Urodela)

Synonymic and related (logonymic) lists play important roles in taxonomy: they give the valid and correct nomina of the taxa of a zoological group, they allow to know whether nomina are available for naming newly recognised taxa, and they provide a condensed history of the taxonomy of the group. To be really useful, such lists should be complete and accurate. This is not always the case, in particular in many taxonomic and nomenclatural online databases, which should be used with great caution. Recommendations are offered concerning the presentation of such lists in order to make them more useful and reliable. They are illustrated by the family-series and genus-series logonymic lists of the amphibian family Cryptobranchidae.

The Perils of Regridding: Examples using a Global Precipitation Dataset

Gridded precipitation datasets are used in many applications such as the analysis of climate variability/change and hydrological modelling. Regridding precipitation datasets is common for model coupling (e.g., coupling atmospheric and hydrological models) or comparing different models and datasets. However, regridding can considerably alter precipitation statistics. In this global analysis, the effects of regridding a precipitation dataset are emphasized using three regridding methods (first order conservative, bilinear, and distance weighted averaging). The differences between the original and regridded dataset are substantial and greatest at high quantiles. Differences of 46 mm and 0.13 mm are noted in high (0.95) and low (0.05) quantiles respectively. The impacts of regridding vary spatially for land and oceanic regions; there are substantial differences at high quantiles in tropical land regions, and at low quantiles in polar regions. These impacts are approximately the same for different regridding methods. The differences increase with the size of the grid at higher quantiles and vice versa for low quantiles. As the grid resolution increases, the difference between original and regridded data declines, yet the shift size dominates for high quantiles for which the differences are higher. Whilst regridding is often necessary to use gridded precipitation datasets, it should be used with great caution for fine resolutions (e.g., daily and sub-daily), as it can severely alter the statistical properties of precipitation, specifically at high and low quantiles.

Over- and under-estimation of COVID-19 deaths

The ratio of COVID-19-attributable deaths versus “true” COVID-19 deaths depends on the synchronicity of the epidemic wave with population mortality; duration of test positivity, diagnostic time window, and testing practices close to and at death; infection prevalence; the extent of diagnosing without testing documentation; and the ratio of overall (all-cause) population mortality rate and infection fatality rate. A nomogram is offered to assess the potential extent of over- and under-counting in different situations. COVID-19 deaths were apparently under-counted early in the pandemic and continue to be under-counted in several countries, especially in Africa, while over-counting probably currently exists for several other countries, especially those with intensive testing and high sensitization and/or incentives for COVID-19 diagnoses. Death attribution in a syndemic like COVID-19 needs great caution. Finally, excess death estimates are subject to substantial annual variability and include also indirect effects of the pandemic and the effects of measures taken.

Merging Genomics Public Datasets with Clinical Cancer Registry Data – Lessons Learned

Publicly available datasets – for example via cBioPortal for Cancer Genomics – could be a valuable source for benchmarks and comparisons with local patient records. However, such an approach is only valid if patient cohorts are comparable to each other and if the documentation is complete and sufficient. In this paper, records from exocrine pancreatic cancer patients documented in a local cancer registry are compared with two public datasets to calculate overall survival. Several data preprocessing steps were necessary to ensure comparability of the different datasets and a common database schema was created. Our assumption that the public datasets could be used to augment the data of the local cancer registry could not be validated, since the analysis on overall survival showed a significant difference. We discuss several reasons and explanations for this finding. So far, comparing different datasets with each other and drawing medical conclusions on such comparisons should be conducted with great caution.

From Institution to Inspiration: Why the Friars Minor Became Franciscans

Medieval religious institutions, such as the papacy or the religious orders, tend to designate a saint as their founding inspiration. For the papacy, this has been St Peter; for the religious orders, saints such as St Benedict, St Dominic or St Francis. While it might appear logical to think of these inspiring founders as preceding the establishment of such institutions, in reality the latter are almost entirely responsible for the making, maintaining and circulating of the image of a founding saint. Hence it is necessary to approach historiographical narratives with great caution in which an institution is thought to be diverging from the founder's path, falling short of the founder's ideals or deliberately distorting the image of a founder to justify their evolution. If such a discrepancy between the initial ideal and later practice is observed, the central point of investigation should focus on why the hagiographical and liturgical records regarding the founding saint included elements in conflict with the institutional practice. This article will investigate the medieval evidence and the historiographical narratives pertaining to the Order of Friars Minor.

A replication of Pindyck’s willingness to pay: on the efforts required to obtain results

We replicate and use more recent data to re-estimate the paper “Uncertain outcomes and climate change policy”, Pindyck, J. Environ. Econ. Manag., 2012. In several cases, verification analysis confirms the results and the associated economic interpretation. However, those results cannot be replicated in one out of five cases. The replication is, therefore, only partially successful: the numerical results for some sets of parameter values turn out to be overly sensitive to a variety of technical computational settings. This suggests that great caution is needed with regard to estimates and policy conclusions based on this model. A re-estimation of the model using more recent climate data, which suggests that temperature increase is now higher on average but less widely dispersed, does not lead to significant economic differences in the results.

A review on the clinical trials of repurposing therapeutic drugs, mechanisms and preventive measures against SARS-CoV-2

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly transmittable pathogenic viral infection that causes a disease known as COVID-19. It is a pandemic and public health challenge ravaging the world today. Unfortunately, with the daily increase of infected individuals, there is no known drug approved for the treatment of COVID-19. However, there are therapeutic drugs with the potentials to inhibit endocytic pathways, suppress ribonucleic acid (RNA) polymerase activities, and reduce the replication of SARS-CoV-2. These drugs modifications are aimed at reducing inflammation, time of recovery, and number of deaths. This review is aimed at providing updated information on the clinical manifestations, diagnosis, preventive measures and therapeutic drugs used against SARS-CoV-2. The finding of this review revealed that some of these drugs are transmembrane protease, serine 2, and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 inhibitors with the capacity to block the entrance/replication of SARS-CoV-2 in a host cell and therefore, may be promising in preventing the spread and mortality of SARS-CoV-2. However, these drugs may cause detrimental health effects such as toxic and non-efficacy issues. Therefore great caution should be employed by health professionals when prescribing these drugs to COVID-19 patients.

To the Question How the “Iron Dogs” of the Batuids Broke down the “Golden Yurt” of Their “Masters”

Research objective: As the ruler of the Golden Horde from 1361 to 1362, Khidr became the first khan to represent the Shibanid dynasty, while all previous represen­tatives of this dynasty remained loyal to the Batuids until he came to power. This situation forms one of the key moments of the initial period of the “Great Troubles”. This article is devoted to the circumstances and consequences of the ascension and the short-term rule of this Khan in the Golden Horde. In addition, the goal here is to highlight the role and inte­rests of the high hereditary metropolitan and regional aristocracy in these events. Research materials: Since, as a result of the latest research, Chinggis-nama is recognized as a source that preserves historical facts, rather than merely folk elements as was previously thought, it is necessary to involve Ötemish Hajji’s work in covering those histo­rical events and processes where it contains a unique information regarding them. At the same time, because it is still difficult to distinguish between the factual and the mythological elements of its content, verification of Chinggis-nama’s information with information from other sources (as well as from archaeology, numismatics, and other auxiliary historical disciplines) is required when possible. So, the main source used in the article is the historical Chinggis-nama of Ötemish Hajji. Additional sources are Russian chronicles, Tawarikh-i guzida-i Nusrat-nama, Muntakhab al-tawarikh-i Muini by Muin al-Din Natanzi, a Venetian source by Benedetto Bianco which was very recently introduced into scholarly circulation, and others. Results and novelty of the research: This article is one of the first studies, using the account of Ötemish Hajji as a main historical source for analysing and reconstructing a real historical event (namely, the seizure of power by the Shibanids in the Golden Horde in 1360) and its consequences. It is proposed to continue to involve this source in the study of historical events, but with great caution. Regarding the stated topic, the author of the present article dares to hope that the results of such work bring new and significant contribution to the research of this rather poorly studied period in the history of the Ulus of Jochi. Especially, the results help to reveal and emphasize the causes and circumstances that led the Golden Horde into a period of great turmoil, i.e., the “Great Troubles”.

Functional imaging by 11C-metomidate PET: a really useless technique for Primary Aldosteronism subtyping?

Soinio et al. recently compared the diagnostic accuracy of 11C-metomidate PET (11C-MTO-PET) and cosyntropin-stimulated adrenal venous sampling (AVS) for the subtyping of patients with primary aldosteronism (PA), who were diagnosed according to the 2008 Endocrine Society guidelines. They concluded that 11C-MTO-PET offered no diagnostic usefulness in subtyping of PA patients. In our view, this conclusion needs to be taken with great caution owing to a number of concerns that can be raised concerning their study

The Equilibrium Concept, or…(Mis)concept in Beaches

Beaches, as deposits of unconsolidated material at the land/water interface, are open systems where input and output items constitute the sediment budget. Beach evolution depends on the difference between the input/output to the system; if positive the beach advances, if negative the beach retreats. Is it possible that this difference is zero and the beach is stable? The various processes responsible for sediment input and output in any beach system are here considered by taking examples from the literature. Results show that this can involve movement of a volume of sediments ranging from few, to over a million cubic meters per year, with figures continuously changing so that the statistical possibility for the budget being equal can be considered zero. This can be attributed to the fact that very few processes are feedback-regulated, which is the only possibility for a natural system to be in equilibrium. Usage of the term “beach equilibrium” must be reconsidered and used with great caution.