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nalysis in mulard and Pekin duck testes. These were important for the normal development of the male duck reproductive system. These data provide a framework for the further exploration of the molecular and genetic mechanisms of sterility in mulard ducks. Highlights. The mulard duck is an intergeneric sterile hybrid offspring resulting from mating between Muscovy and Pekin ducks. learn more The transcriptomes of testis tissue from mulard and Pekin ducks were systematically characterized, and differentially expressed genes were screened, in order to gain insights into potential gonad gene expression mechanisms contributing to genetic sterility in mulard ducks.This report describes a case of unintended importation of tropical baby jumping spiders to a laboratory monkey colony. The spiders were detected in a cocoon attached to a banana for monkey consumption. In identifying the family of spiders as jumping spiders (Salticidae), it turned out that these spiders would not have been venomous to humans and they most likely would not have had the potential to establish a new spider colony in the facility.Comorbidities are common risk factors for rising cardiac troponin in non-acute coronary syndromes conditions. Furthermore, the risk for all-cause mortality appears to be correlated to the troponin levels. Consequently, measurement of cardiac troponin in hospital admission may contribute to predict the mortality risk in elderly patients. Among geriatric patients without acute coronary syndrome, with concomitant diseases, the correct interpretation of elevated cardiac troponin, particularly in emergency conditions poses a diagnostic dilemma. Although in several studies it is suggested that at the presence of comorbidity, there is an increase in cardiac troponin values, the elderly patients have not been included conclusively. In order to assess the diagnostic and prognostic role of cardiac troponin elevation in geriatric patients suffering from chronic diseases, a systematic review was performed. The study included the elderly patients free of acute coronary syndrome admitted to the hospital with concomitant disease, with a report of at least one cardiac troponin measurement. We found that elevated cardiac troponin is an independent prognostic factor, predicting all-cause morbidity and mortality burden in geriatric patients without acute coronary syndromes.Coronavirus Disease 2019 continues to spread and to date, no definitive treatment is available. Overcrowded and under-resourced healthcare centres have had to design different strategies to treat these patients, what includes the control of the electrocardiogram (ECG), as some drugs that have been used to treat this disease may prolong the QT interval as a side effect. During the COVID-19 outbreak, we designed a protocol for monitoring the QT interval using a portable device with Bluetooth connectivity. After a validation study with 50 patients, we found a very good correlation between the QT interval measured both with this device and with the conventional body surface ECG. In this article, we provide a brief overview of the protocol and then analyse the QT changes observed in a group of patients during their hospitalization and treatment for SARS-CoV-2 infection. 81 patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were enrolled in the protocol (age 63.4 SD 17.2 years; 70.3% men), while being treated with lopinavir/ritonavir, azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine, both individually or combined. Ten patients developed long drug-related QT interval, and the QT prolongation was statically significant for all treatment schemes. All patients with drug induced QT prolongation corrected the QT interval following the indications of the protocol, and no patients died of arrhythmic causes after its implementation. In our experience, a protocol for the electrocardiographic monitoring of these patients minimizes the risk of iatrogenic QT interval prolongation and consequently reduces sudden death events, and for that purpose, portable devices like the one used in this protocol may constitute a useful tool to minimize the contact with such patients.Recognizing that health outcomes are influenced by and occur within multiple social and physical contexts, researchers have used multilevel modeling techniques for decades to analyze hierarchical or nested data. Cross-Classified Multilevel Models (CCMM) are a statistical technique proposed in the 1990s that extend standard multilevel modeling and enable the simultaneous analysis of non-nested multilevel data. Though use of CCMM in empirical health studies has become increasingly popular, there has not yet been a review summarizing how CCMM are used in the health literature. To address this gap, we performed a scoping review of empirical health studies using CCMM to (a) evaluate the extent to which this statistical approach has been adopted; (b) assess the rationale and procedures for using CCMM; and (c) provide concrete recommendations for the future use of CCMM. We identified 118 CCMM papers published in English-language literature between 1994 and 2018. Our results reveal a steady growth in empirical health studies using CCMM to address a wide variety of health outcomes in clustered non-hierarchical data. Health researchers use CCMM primarily for five reasons (1) to statistically account for non-independence in clustered data structures; out of substantive interest in the variance explained by (2) concurrent contexts, (3) contexts over time, and (4) age-period-cohort effects; and (5) to apply CCMM alongside other techniques within a joint model. We conclude by proposing a set of recommendations for use of CCMM with the aim of improved clarity and standardization of reporting in future research using this statistical approach.While smoking is widely acknowledged to be a social activity, limited evidence exists on the extent to which friends influence each other during worksite-based tobacco cessation interventions. Drawing on data from adult smokers (N = 1823) in a large, cluster randomized controlled trial in worksites in Thailand, this study examines the presence of social spillovers in the decision to abstain from smoking. We leverage a unique aspect of social network structure in these data-the existence of non-overlapping friendship networks-to address the challenge of isolating the effects of peers on smoking behavior from the confounding effects of endogenous friend selection and bidirectional peer influence. We find that individuals with workplace friends who have abstained from smoking during the trial are significantly more likely to abstain themselves. Instrumental variables estimates suggest that abstinence after 3 and 12 months increases 26 and 32 percentage points, respectively, for each additional workplace friend who abstains.