Search

The extent to which species ranges reflect intrinsic physiological tolerances is a major, unsolved question in evolutionary ecology. To date, consensus has been hindered by the limited tractability of experimental approaches across most of the tree of life. Here, we apply a macrophysiological approach to understand how hematological traits related to oxygen transport shape elevational ranges in a tropical biodiversity hotspot. Along Andean elevational gradients, we measured traits that affect blood oxygen-carrying capacity—total and cellular hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit—for 2,355 individuals of 136 bird species. We used these data to evaluate the influence of hematological traits on elevational ranges. First, we asked whether hematological plasticity is predictive of elevational range breadth. Second, we asked whether variance in hematological traits changed as a function of distance from the midpoint of the elevational range. We found that the correlation between hematological plasticity and elevational range breadth was slightly positive, consistent with a facilitative role for plasticity in elevational range expansion. We further found reduced local variation in hematological traits near elevational range limits and at high elevations, patterns consistent with intensified natural selection, reduced effective population size, or compensatory changes in other cardiohematological traits with increasing distance from species-specific optima for oxygen availability. Our findings suggest that constraints on hematological plasticity and local genetic adaptation to oxygen availability promote the evolution of the narrow elevational ranges that underpin tropical montane biodiversity.

Stigma is a well-documented barrier to effective individual and community response to mental illness and, in recent years, is a recognized impediment to prevention and treatment of substance use disorders (SUDs). This study uses focus group data to explore stigmatizing views of medication assisted recovery (MAR) among those in recovery and the people, organizations, and communities that surround them, with attention to implications for long-term recovery. Across groups, we find consistent themes that MAR simply trades one drug for another, MAR should be used only as a stepping-stone to full abstinence, and that long-term use of MAR indicates ineffectiveness or treatment failure. Data suggest the prevalence of these perceptions leads those in recovery and providers to see MAR as a last resort treatment, encourages individuals to discontinue MAR before they are ready, and as result increases risk of relapse and overdose.

Purpose: The spatiotemporal index (STI) is a standard metric for quantifying the stability and patterning of speech movements. The STI has often been applied to individual speech articulators, but an STI derived from the acoustic signal offers a composite and easily obtained measure that incorporates multiple components of the speech production complex. In this work, we examine the relationship between kinematic and acoustic STIs in children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD), with the aim of determining whether the acoustic and kinematic STIs reflect similar degrees of production variability. Method: A total of 85 children with DLD and with typical language development (or typically developing [TD] children), aged 4–8 years, were studied. In this methodological article, two experiments were conducted: one deliberately selected because group differences were observed in the kinematic STI (i.e., sentence production) and one in which there were no group differences in the kinematic STI (i.e., nonword production). These two experiments are representative of speech stability studies. The aim was to determine whether the acoustic STI (i.e., amplitude envelope) results aligned with those obtained via the kinematic STI (i.e., lip motion). Results: In sentence production, most group differences aligned across kinematic and acoustic STI measures. The acoustic, but not the kinematic, STI showed higher variability in children with DLD compared with the 6-year-old TD group. In nonword production, neither the kinematic STI nor the acoustic STI differentiated children with DLD from TD children. In each experiment, the kinematic and acoustic STIs showed a moderate-to-strong correlation. Conclusions: The kinematic and acoustic STIs assess different components of speech movement patterning. However, the relationship between acoustic and kinematic spatiotemporal stability is strong in two tasks of varying linguistic complexity in children with and without DLD. These findings are promising for future experimental work in this area.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy is emerging as a powerful strategy for cancer therapy; however, an important safety consideration is the potential for off-tumor recognition of normal tissue. This is particularly important as ligand-based CARs are optimized for clinical translation. Our group has developed and clinically translated an IL13(E12Y) ligand–based CAR targeting the cancer antigen IL13Rα2 for treatment of glioblastoma (GBM). There remains limited understanding of how IL13-ligand CAR design impacts the activity and selectivity for the intended tumor-associated target IL13Rα2 versus the more ubiquitous unintended target IL13Rα1. In this study, we functionally compared IL13(E12Y)-CARs incorporating different intracellular signaling domains, including first-generation CD3ζ-containing CARs (IL13ζ), second-generation 4-1BB (CD137)–containing or CD28-containing CARs (IL13-BBζ or IL13-28ζ), and third-generation CARs containing both 4-1BB and CD28 (IL13-28BBζ). In vitro coculture assays at high tumor burden establish that second-generation IL13-BBζ or IL13-28ζ outperform first-generation IL13ζ and third-generation IL13-28BBζ CAR designs, with IL13-BBζ providing superior CAR proliferation and in vivo antitumor potency in human xenograft mouse models. IL13-28ζ displayed a lower threshold for antigen recognition, resulting in higher off-target IL13Rα1 reactivity both in vitro and in vivo. Syngeneic mouse models of GBM also demonstrate safety and antitumor potency of murine IL13-BBζ CAR T cells delivered systemically after lymphodepletion. These findings support the use of IL13-BBζ CARs for greater selective recognition of IL13Rα2 over IL13Rα1, higher proliferative potential, and superior antitumor responsiveness. This study exemplifies the potential of modulating factors outside the antigen targeting domain of a CAR to improve selective tumor recognition. Significance: This study reveals how modulating CAR design outside the antigen targeting domain improves selective tumor recognition. Specifically, this work shows improved specificity, persistence, and efficacy of 4-1BB–based IL13-ligand CARs. Human clinical trials evaluating IL13-41BB-CAR T cells are ongoing, supporting the clinical significance of these findings.

BACKGROUND: Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattention, hyperactivity and/or impulsivity. Young people with ADHD have poorer educational and social outcomes than their peers. We aimed to better understand educational experiences of young people with ADHD in the UK, and make actionable recommendations for schools. METHODS: In this secondary analysis of qualitative data, we used Thematic Analysis to analyse information relating to experiences of education from 64 young people with ADHD and 28 parents who participated in the Children and adolescents with ADHD in Transition between Children's services and adult Services (CATCh-uS) study. Emerging patterns within and across codes led to organization of the data into themes and subthemes through an iterative process. RESULTS: Two main themes were generated. The first described young people's early experiences of education, often within a mainstream setting; we labelled this the problematic provision loop, as this was a negative cycle that was repeated several times for some participants. The second theme described young people's more positive progression through education once they progressed out of the problematic loop. CONCLUSIONS: Educational experiences for young people with ADHD are often negative and fraught with complication. Young people with ADHD often found themselves on a more positive trajectory after they were placed in an alternative form of education provision (mainstream or otherwise), or where they were able to study topics that interest them and play to their strengths. We make recommendations that commissioners, local authorities and schools could consider in order to better support those with ADHD.

Searches through the plea rolls of the Court of Common Pleas have revealed a number of actions involving, separately, the Tudor composers Christopher Tye and John Taverner, and Taverner’s widow, Rose. These yield the earliest sighting of Taverner so far, the date of his marriage, and two transactions in which he is involved in the transfer of property. Rose is shown defending a claim of debt incurred by John Copley, her previous husband, and attempting to recover debts owed, in one case, to her late son and, in others, to John Taverner. For Tye, no fewer than twenty-seven cases have been discovered, in almost all of which he is the defendant in a claim of debt. They shed light upon his contacts outside music and suggest that his principal places of residence were in Ely from 1547 to at least 1556, and at Doddington after 1561. They also reveal that he was claiming to be a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal much earlier than previously realised. Rose Taverner and Tye also feature in cases brought in the Court of Chancery, one of which reveals the name of Tye’s mother and the town in which she had lived.

ObjectiveMusculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS) is increasingly being used in the evaluation of pediatric musculoskeletal diseases. In order to provide objective assessments of arthritis, reliable MSUS scoring systems are needed. Recently, joint-specific scoring systems for arthritis of the pediatric elbow, wrist, and finger joints were proposed by the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) MSUS workgroup. This study aimed to assess the reliability of these scoring systems when used by sonographers with different levels of expertise.MethodsMembers of the CARRA MSUS workgroup attended training sessions for scoring the elbow, wrist, and finger. Subsequently, scoring exercises of B mode and power Doppler (PD) mode still images for each joint were performed. Interreader reliability was determined using 2-way single-score intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for synovitis and Cohenfor tenosynovitis.ResultsSeventeen pediatric rheumatologists with different levels of MSUS expertise (1-15 yrs) completed a 2-hour training session and calibration exercise for each joint. Excellent reliability (ICC > 0.75) was found after the first scoring exercise for all the finger and elbow views evaluated on B mode and PD mode, and for all of the wrist views on B mode. After a second training session and a scoring exercise, the wrist PD mode views reached excellent reliability as well.ConclusionThe preliminary CARRA MSUS scoring systems for assessing arthritis of the pediatric elbow, wrist, and finger joints demonstrate excellent reliability among pediatric MSUS sonographers with different levels of expertise. With further validation, this reliable joint-specific scoring system could serve as a clinical tool and scientific outcome measure.

The disintegration of the eastern Antarctic Peninsula’s Larsen A and B ice shelves has been attributed to atmosphere and ocean warming, and increased mass losses from the glaciers once restrained by these ice shelves have increased Antarctica’s total contribution to sea-level rise. Abrupt recessions in ice-shelf frontal position presaged the break-up of Larsen A and B, yet, in the ~20 years since these events, documented knowledge of frontal change along the entire ~1,400-km-long eastern Antarctic Peninsula is limited. Here, we show that 85% of the seaward ice-shelf perimeter fringing this coastline underwent uninterrupted advance between the early 2000s and 2019, in contrast to the two previous decades. We attribute this advance to enhanced ocean-wave dampening, ice-shelf buttressing and the absence of sea-surface slope-induced gravitational ice-shelf flow. These phenomena were, in turn, enabled by increased near-shore sea ice driven by a Weddell Sea-wide intensification of cyclonic surface winds around 2002. Collectively, our observations demonstrate that sea-ice change can either safeguard from, or set in motion, the final rifting and calving of even large Antarctic ice shelves.

Wood ash use, to raise pH and replace nutrients lost through forest harvesting, is well regulated in Scandinavia and Canada, but not yet in the UK. This experiment applied granulated wood ash from mixed tree thinnings to a lowland clay mineral soil at ~2.3 t ha−1 dose rate, after clearfell of western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.). With brash (~56 t ha−1 dry weight) as N resource, a 4 × 4 matrix of ash only, ash + brash, brash only and control treatments were planted with oak seedlings (Quercus robur L.). Soil survey was undertaken before ash application and followed over 10 years. By year 2, self-sown grass was dominant in the control and ash plots, and birch (Betula pendula, Roth.) was present across all treatments by year 4. In year 10, oak height was 25–29 per cent greater in brash and ash + brash plots, with DBH increased >20 per cent over the controls. Birch DBH was greater by 30 per cent in brash plots but was over 50 per cent in the ash + brash plots. Foliar concentrations of Ca, K and P significantly increased with ash addition in both oak and birch, as Al, Mn, Fe and Cr decreased. Soil pH (CaCl2) was reduced in all treatments in year 2 likely due to nitrification, during organic matter and needle breakdown, but recovered 8 years later to be significantly highest in ash and ash + brash plots. Mg, K, Ca, Na, Ba and S concentrations were higher in ash plot soils, but soil organic matter, total carbon and total nitrogen declined due to mineralization and uptake by grass and trees. Wood ash addition did not significantly increase heavy metal concentrations in either soil or foliage. In the long term, wood ash aided soil recovery and promoted tree growth in combination with the brash – it could be beneficial for tree growth after thinning/coppicing on heavy mineral soils, with the prerequisite of an existing ground cover. Aim To quantify the effects of wood ash and brash addition over time to soils and tree growth after conifer clearfelling on a lowland clay soil site.

We hypothesized that a precision medicine approach could be a tool for risk-stratification of women to streamline successful GDM management. With the relatively short timeframe available to treat GDM, commencing effective therapy earlier, with more rapid normalization of hyperglycaemia, could have benefits for both mother and fetus. We conducted two systematic reviews, to identify precision markers that may predict effective lifestyle and pharmacological interventions. There were a paucity of studies examining precision lifestyle-based interventions for GDM highlighting the pressing need for further research in this area. We found a number of precision markers identified from routine clinical measures that may enable earlier identification of those requiring escalation of pharmacological therapy. Whether there are other sensitive markers that could be identified using more complex individual-level data, such as ‘omics’, and if these can be implemented in clinical practice remains unknown. These will be important to consider in future studies.

Almost half a million of all new cancers have been attributed to obesity and epidemiologic evidence implicates visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and high-fat diets (HFD) in increasing cancer risk. We demonstrated that VAT-derived fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) from mice fed an HFD or obese individuals stimulates the malignant transformation of epithelial cells. Mechanism-based strategies to prevent this VAT-enhanced tumorigenesis have not been explored. Clinical studies have indicated that bromodomain inhibitors have considerable potential as therapeutic agents for cancer by inhibiting the activity of several oncogenes, including c-Myc; however, their chemopreventive activity is unknown. We show herein that mice with visceral adiposity have elevated nuclear c-Myc expression in their epidermis. We hypothesized that the bromodomain inhibitor I-BET-762 (I-BET) would have efficacy in the prevention of malignant transformation by VAT and FGF2. We tested this hypothesis using our novel models of VAT-stimulated transformation in vitro and FGF2- stimulated tumor formation in vivo. We found that I-BET significantly attenuates VAT and FGF2-stimulated transformation and inhibits VAT-induced c-Myc protein expression in several skin and breast epithelial cell lines. Moreover, I-BET attenuated tumor growth significantly in FGF2-treated nude mice. Work is ongoing to determine the role of visceral adiposity in c-Myc activity in several tissues and determine the inhibitory effect of I-BET on VAT-promoted tumors in vivo. Cancer Prev Res; 11(3); 129–42. ©2017 AACR.See related editorial by Berger and Scacheri, p. 125

Supplemental figure 1. NF-�B p65 staining in JB6 P+ cells following HuFTF treatment. Supplemental figure 2. Western Blot quantitation. Supplemental figure 3. PCNA quantitation.

Supplemental Figures 1-3

MYCN is a major driver of neuroblastoma tumorigenesis and MYCN amplification is the worst prognostic indicator of aggressive NB. To identify potentially therapeutic tumor suppressor microRNAs for aggressive NB, we utilized a conditional MYCN system to simulate MYCN-amplified and nonamplified tumor types and performed a genome-wide search for MYCN target microRNA promoters differentially repressed under high MYCN conditions. We identified 20 gene promoters hosting 30 microRNAs that were directly bound and differentially regulated by MYCN. Eleven of these genes showed significant clinical correlations for neuroblastoma with 4 genes linked with better survival and 7 genes linked with poor survival. Surprisingly, expression analysis of host genes and microRNAs demonstrated that 8 of 11 pairs were repressed by high levels of MYCN regardless of the clinical correlation of the host gene. We therefore predicted these intronic microRNAs would be tumor suppressors. In fact, detailed gain of function studies for two miRs, miR-591 and miR-558, confirmed potent tumor suppressive effects for miR-591 in orthotopic neuroblastoma xenografts. However, miR-558 markedly increased colony formation, proliferation, and tumor growth in vivo. Our data reveal host-gene independent functions of MYCN-target microRNAs and demonstrate that MYCN represses both tumor suppressive and proproliferative microRNAs. Cancer Res; 71(11); 3841–51. ©2011 AACR.

PDF file - 57K, 25 microRNAs upregulated in CD114+ cells from 3 neuroblastoma cell lines (IMR-32, LA-N-5, NGP) for gene pathway prediction using two independent software tools.

PDF file - 67K, Model for CD114+ and CD114- cells in neural crest development.

PDF file - 52K, MicroRNA expression defined by small-RNA sequencing in three neuroblastoma cell lines.

PDF file - 41K, QPCR validation of genes from the CD114+ and CD114- cell populations.

PDF file - 111K, Additional description of materials, methods, and techniques, including binding studies, andibodies used, flow cytometry analysis, and gene sequencing information.

PDF file - 1479K, Flow cytometry demonstrating specificity of CD114 staining and active binding of wild-type G-CSF ligand in both mouse and human neuroblastoma tumors.

PDF file - 90K, Ingenuity curated microRNA target genes. Gene target components of KEGG pathways as determined with Ingenuity miRPATH microRNA Target Filter analysis of experimentally validated microRNA-mRNA target interactions.

PDF file - 54K, Analysis of xenograft tumors derived from CD114+/CD114- mixing studies.

PDF file - 858K, The CD114 subpopulation is distinct from other reported markers of tumor initiating cells in neuroblastoma.

Supplementary Figures 1-4, Tables 1-4 from A Genome-Wide Search for Promoters That Respond to Increased MYCN Reveals Both New Oncogenic and Tumor Suppressor MicroRNAs Associated with Aggressive Neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma is a neural crest-derived embryonal malignancy, which accounts for 13% of all pediatric cancer mortality, primarily due to tumor recurrence. Therapy-resistant cancer stem cells are implicated in tumor relapse, but definitive phenotypic evidence of the existence of these cells has been lacking. In this study, we define a highly tumorigenic subpopulation in neuroblastoma with stem cell characteristics, based on the expression of CSF3R, which encodes the receptor for granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF). G-CSF receptor positive (aka G-CSFr+ or CD114+) cells isolated from a primary tumor and the NGP cell line by flow cytometry were highly tumorigenic and capable of both self-renewal and differentiation to progeny cells. CD114+ cells closely resembled embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells with respect to their profiles of cell cycle, miRNA, and gene expression. In addition, they reflect a primitive undifferentiated neuroectodermal/neural crest phenotype revealing a developmental hierarchy within neuroblastoma tumors. We detected this dedifferentiated neural crest subpopulation in all established neuroblastoma cell lines, xenograft tumors, and primary tumor specimens analyzed. Ligand activation of CD114 by the addition of exogenous G-CSF to CD114+ cells confirmed intact STAT3 upregulation, characteristic of G-CSF receptor signaling. Together, our data describe a novel distinct subpopulation within neuroblastoma with enhanced tumorigenicity and a stem cell–like phenotype, further elucidating the complex heterogeneity of solid tumors such as neuroblastoma. We propose that this subpopulation may represent an additional target for novel therapeutic approaches to this aggressive pediatric malignancy. Cancer Res; 73(13); 4134–46. ©2013 AACR.

Background Trauma patients are resource intensive, requiring a variety of medical and procedural interventions during hospitalization. These expenses often label trauma care as “high cost” based on gross hospital charges. We hypothesized that a financial metric built on actual costs and clinically relevant trauma patient cohorts would demonstrate a lower true cost of trauma care than the standardly reported gross hospital charges. Methods We examined all trauma patients (≥16 yr) treated in 2017 from a single institution and matched them to the institution’s detailed financial accounting data. The organization’s Financial Operations Division is uniquely able to allocate total operating costs across patient encounters to include medications, procedures, and salaries/fees from medical professionals and administrators. Patient subgroups were identified by Trauma Quality Improvement Program (TQIP) criteria for cost comparisons. Results Overall median cost per patient was $6,544 [IQR $4,975-14,532] for 2,548 patients. The median cost per patient increased with Injury Severity Score (ISS) ranging from $5,457(ISS ≤ 7) to $34,898(ISS ≥ 21), each accompanied by an average 548% increase in gross charges. Costs also varied widely from $13,498 [IQR $8,247–26,254] to $45,759 [IQR $22,186-113,993] across TQIP patient cohorts. Of the total cost, 91% was attributed to personnel alone. Discussion Measuring the true cost of trauma care is feasible. As hypothesized, the true cost of trauma care is lower than charges. True cost increased with injury severity with variable cost across subgroups. Non-physician staff and administration are the largest component of the cost of trauma care.

Despite advances in early revascularization, percutaneous hemodynamic support platforms, and systems of care, cardiogenic shock (CS) remains associated with a mortality rate higher than 50%. Several risk stratification models have been derived since the 1990 s to identify patients at high risk of adverse outcomes. Still, limited information is available on the differences between scoring systems and their relative applicability to both acute myocardial infarction and advanced decompensated heart failure CS. Thus, we reviewed the similarities, differences, and limitations of published CS risk prediction models and herein discuss their suitability to the contemporary management of CS care.

Many cellular processes occur out of equilibrium. This includes site-specific unwinding in supercoiled DNA, which may play an important role in gene regulation. Here, we use the Convex Lens-induced Confinement (CLiC) single-molecule microscopy platform to study these processes with high-throughput and without artificial constraints on molecular structures or interactions. We use two model DNA plasmid systems, pFLIP-FUSE and pUC19, to study the dynamics of supercoiling-induced secondary structural transitions after perturbations away from equilibrium. We find that structural transitions can be slow, leading to long-lived structural states whose kinetics depend on the duration and direction of perturbation. Our findings highlight the importance of out-of-equilibrium studies when characterizing the complex structural dynamics of DNA and understanding the mechanisms of gene regulation.

Metabolic dysfunction and inflammation have been associated with endometrial cancer risk; however, their influence on endometrial cancer survival is less understood.A prospective cohort study of 540 endometrial cancer cases diagnosed between 2002 and 2006 in Alberta were followed for survival outcomes to 2019. Baseline blood samples collected either pre- or post-hysterectomy were analyzed for glucose, insulin, adiponectin, leptin, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, and C-reactive protein. Covariates were obtained during in-person interviews and via medical chart abstraction. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to estimate multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the association between each biomarker and disease-free and overall survival.Blood samples were collected from 520 of the 540 participants (presurgical n = 235; postsurgical n = 285). During the median follow-up of 14.3 years (range 0.4-16.5 years), there were 125 recurrences, progressions, and/or deaths with 106 overall deaths. None of the biomarkers were associated with disease-free or overall survival in multivariable-adjusted analyses. In an exploratory stratified analysis, the highest level of presurgical adiponectin, compared to the lowest level, was associated with improved disease-free (HR = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.20-0.85) and overall (HR = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.18-0.92) survival, whereas no statistically significant associations were noted for postsurgical measures of adiponectin.Overall, there was no evidence of an association between biomarkers of insulin resistance and inflammation with mortality outcomes in endometrial cancer survivors. Future cohort studies with serial blood samples are needed to understand the impact of changes in insulin resistance and inflammatory markers on endometrial cancer survival.

The California quail (Callipepla californica) is an iconic native bird of scrub and oak woodlands in California and the Baja Peninsula of Mexico. Here, we report a draft reference assembly for the species generated from PacBio HiFi long read and Omni-C chromatin-proximity sequencing data as part of the California Conservation Genomics Project (CCGP). Sequenced reads were assembled into 321 scaffolds totaling 1.08 Gb in length. Assembly metrics indicate a highly contiguous and complete assembly with a contig N50 of 5.5 Mb, scaffold N50 of 19.4 Mb, and BUSCO completeness score of 96.5%. Transposable elements (TEs) occupy 16.5% of the genome, more than previous Odontophoridae quail assemblies but in line with estimates of TE content for recent long-read assemblies of chicken and Peking duck. Together these metrics indicate that the present assembly is more complete than prior reference assemblies generated for Odontophoridae quail. This reference will serve as an essential resource for studies on local adaptation, phylogeography, and conservation genetics in this species of significant biological and recreational interest.

When a fluid is injected into a porous medium saturated with an ambient fluid of a greater density, the injected fluid forms a plume that rises upwards due to buoyancy. In the near field of the injection point, the plume adjusts its speed to match the buoyancy velocity of the porous medium, either thinning or thickening to conserve mass. These adjustments are the dominant controls on the near-field plume shape, rather than mixing with the ambient fluid, which occurs over larger vertical distances. In this study, we focus on the plume behaviour in the near field, demonstrating that for moderate injection rates, the plume will reach a steady state, whereby it matches the buoyancy velocity over a few plume width scales from the injection point. However, for very small injection rates, an instability occurs in which the steady plume breaks apart due to the insurmountable density contrast with the surrounding fluid. The steady shape of the plume in the near field depends only on a single dimensionless parameter, which is the ratio between the inlet velocity and the buoyancy velocity. A linear stability analysis is performed, indicating that for small velocity ratios, an infinitesimal perturbation can be constructed that becomes unstable, whilst for moderate velocity ratios, the shape is shown to be stable. Finally, we comment on the application of such flows to the context of CO $_2$ sequestration in porous geological reservoirs.

Connectivity among populations helps to maintain genetic diversity, population stability, and resilience. The Gulf Coast tick, Amblyomma maculatum, is a vector of the pathogen Rickettsia parkeri. Persistence of tick populations with high rates of R. parkeri infection poses health risks to humans and animals. Mitochondrial haplotypes were characterized by sequencing a fragment of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. A comparative study of A. maculatum and Amblyomma americanum was conducted to identify similar and unique patterns between the species within the same region. Next, I compared A. maculatum sites across three different regions of the United States. This work examined diversity and connectivity between and among A. maculatum populations to resolve questions about the process of range expansion and population establishment. The first research aim was to characterize the genetic diversity within A. maculatum populations and infer connectivity among populations. These population genetics comparisons revealed that Gulf Coast tick populations showed signs of isolation compared to A. americanum populations, which have higher gene flow. One A. maculatum population was dominated by an otherwise rare haplotype, an unusual pattern that signaled a possible founder effect from a long-distance drop-off. Given the apparent isolation and unusual dominance within one unique population, a landscape analysis was completed by examining remote-sensing data to determine correlations between environmental variables and A. maculatum populations for the purpose of identifying suitable and unsuitable habitat that could influence patterns of movement and barriers to gene flow. None of the environmental variables had clear correlations with A. maculatum population presence, so barriers could not be identified. Finally, an agent-based model was created to simulate recurrent introductions of Gulf Coast ticks in rasterized models of several field study sites. Propagule pressure was positively associated with haplotype richness, whereas edge patches had a negative effect on richness. The simulation results suggested that limited immigration as well as landscape configurations could explain rare patterns of low diversity.

The aim of this scoping review is to explore and summarise published evidence surrounding the physical activity in adults following discharge from inpatient mental health services.

n/a.

To avoid the worst outcomes of the current biodiversity crisis we need a deep understanding of population responses to human-induced ecological change. Rapidly expanding access to genomic resources for nonmodel taxa promises to play a unique role in meeting this goal. In particular, the increasing feasibility of sequencing DNA from historical specimens enables direct measures of population responses to the past century of anthropogenic change that will inform management strategies and refine projections of species responses to future environmental change. In this review, we discuss the methods that can be used to generate genome-scale data from the hundreds of millions of specimens housed in natural history collections around the world. We then highlight recent studies that utilize genomic data from specimens to address questions of fundamental importance to biodiversity conservation. Finally, we emphasize how traditional motivations of museum collectors, such as studies of geographic variation and community-wide inventories, provide unique opportunities for broad scale comparisons of genomic responses to anthropogenic change across time. We conclude that as sequencing technologies become increasingly accessible and more researchers take advantage of this resource, the importance of collections to the conservation of biodiversity will continue to grow.

Amidst the uncertainty of a shifting political landscape, our study examined stress and sleep problems experienced by both Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) undergraduates and non-DACA undocumented immigrants in an undergraduate population, in relation to students who were US citizens. We surveyed 969 students (93% Hispanic; 69% female) in 2017 or 2019 using established measures of stress, sleep quality, and insomnia. Collapsed across years, undocumented students reported significantly greater stress than citizens and DACA students, but DACA students did not differ from citizens. No differences were found in sleep for either quality or insomnia. Additionally, DACA student stress was significantly higher in 2019 than 2017, rising to a level similar to that of undocumented students and that differed significantly from citizens. Undocumented students appear to experience greater stress than students who are U.S. citizens, but these differences do not extend to sleep quality or insomnia.

Controversy exists over whether gestational diabetes increases the risk of stillbirth. The aim of this review was to examine the association between gestational diabetes and stillbirth. We performed searches of the published literature to May 2021. Study selection and data extraction were performed in duplicate by independent reviewers. Meta-analyses of summary measures were conducted using random-effect models for cohort and case–control studies separately. The study protocol was registered in PROSPERO (registration ID CRD42020166939). From 9981 citations, 419 were identified for full-text review and 73 met inclusion criteria (n = 70,292,090). There was no significant association between gestational diabetes and stillbirth in cohort studies (pooled OR 1.04 [95% CI 0.90, 1.21]; I2 86.1%) or in case–control studies (pooled OR 1.57 [95% CI 0.83, 2.98]; I2 94.8%). Gestational diabetes was associated with lower odds of stillbirth among cohort studies presenting with an adjusted OR (pooled OR 0.78 [95% CI 0.68, 0.88]; I2 42.7%). Stratified analyses by stillbirth ≥28 weeks’ gestation, studies published prior to 2013 and studies identified as low quality demonstrated a significantly higher odds of stillbirth in meta-regression (p = 0.016, 0.023 and 0.005, respectively). Egger’s test for all included cohort studies (p = 0.018) suggests publication bias for the main meta-analysis. Given the substantial heterogeneity across studies, there are insufficient data to define the relationship between stillbirth and gestational diabetes adequately. In the main analyes, gestational diabetes was not associated with an increased risk of stillbirth. However, heterogeneity across studies means this finding should be interpreted cautiously.