Face mask-wear did not affect large-scale patterns in escape and alertness of urban and rural birds during the COVID-19 pandemic

Actions taken against the COVID-19 pandemic have dramatically affected many aspects of human activity, giving us a unique opportunity to study how wildlife responds to the human-induced rapid environmental changes. The wearing of face masks, widely adopted to prevent pathogen transmission, represents a novel element in many parts of the world where wearing a face mask was rare before the COVID-19 outbreak. During September 2020-March 2021, we conducted large-scale multi-species field experiments to evaluate whether face mask-use in public places elicits a behavioural response in birds by comparing their escape and alert responses when approached by a researcher with or without a face mask in four European countries (Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, and Poland) and Israel. We also tested whether these patterns differed between urban and rural sites. We employed Bayesian generalized linear mixed models (with phylogeny and site as random factors) controlling for a suite of covariates and found no association between the face mask-wear and flight initiation distance, alert distance, and fly-away distance, respectively, neither in urban nor in rural birds. However, we found that all three distances were strongly and consistently associated with habitat type and starting distance, with birds showing earlier escape and alert behaviour and longer distances fled when approached in rural than in urban habitats and from longer initial distances. Our results indicate that wearing face masks did not trigger observable changes in antipredator behaviour across the Western Palearctic birds, and our data did not support the role of habituation in explaining this pattern.

Antiprothrombin and antiannexin V antibodies imply risk of thrombosis in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the relationship between antiprothrombin (aPT) and antiannexin V (aANX) autoantibodies of IgG isotype and thrombosis in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases. To compare the clinical relevance of these antibodies to that of anticardiolipin (aCL), anti-beta2-glycoprotein I antibodies (anti-beta2-GPI), and lupus anticoagulant (LAC).

METHODS

Serum IgG aPT, aANX, aCL, and anti-beta2-GPI levels were measured by solid phase enzyme immunoassay in the sera of 70 patients with systemic autoimmune diseases, 35 with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) and 35 without APS. Medical records were analyzed, and associations of the antibodies with clinical features of APS were assessed.

RESULTS

Patients with APS had higher frequency of aPT (p = 0.001) and aANX (p = 0.002) compared to patients without APS. Thrombotic events occurred more frequently in those with aPT or aANX than those without (p = 0.005, p = 0.006, respectively). The presence of aPT and aANX was found to be highly specific for APS.

CONCLUSION

Measurement of aPT and aANX antibodies may be of value in confirming the diagnosis of APS, and in evaluating risk of venous and arterial thrombosis in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases.

Isotype distribution and clinical relevance of anti-beta2-glycoprotein I (beta2-GPI) antibodies: importance of IgA isotype

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of IgG, IgA and IgM anti-beta2-GPI antibodies in anti-phospholipid syndrome (APS), and to establish the clinical significance of IgA type antibodies compared with the other isotypes. Anti-beta2-GPI antibodies were measured in the sera of 70 patients by solid-phase enzyme immunoassay in gamma-irradiated polystyrene plates coated with human purified beta2-GPI. Thirty-three out of the 70 patients were classified as having APS: three of them had primary, and 30 had secondary APS related to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The remaining 37 patients had SLE without APS. Anti-beta2-GPI antibodies of IgG, IgA and IgM isotypes were present in 84.8%, 59.3% and 51.5% of patients with APS. Both the frequency and the level of each isotype were significantly higher in patients with APS. This association was very strong for IgA (P = 0.0004 for the antibody frequency and P < 0.0001 for the antibody level), as well as for IgG type antibodies (P < 0.0001 and P < 0.0001), whereas it was weaker for IgM (P = 0.01 and P = 0.04). A strong relationship was demonstrated between increased IgA anti-beta2-GPI antibody levels and a history of venous thrombosis, thrombocytopenia, heart valve disease, livedo reticularis and epilepsy. IgG anti-beta2-GPI antibodies were associated with the presence of lupus anticoagulant (LA) in addition to the main features of APS. However, antibodies of IgM isotype were related only to thrombocytopenia and heart valve disease. We recommend the evaluation of anti-beta2-GPI antibodies of IgA isotype in addition to IgG in patients with clinical suspicion of APS.