State Record for Stenamma foveolocephalum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Missouri

We report the first known collection of Stenamma foveolocephalum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Missouri. Two specimens were collected in pitfall traps during a field study at Sand Prairie Conservation Area, Scott County, Missouri

The estimation and use of predictions for the assessment of model performance using large samples with multiply imputed data.

Multiple imputation can be used as a tool in the process of constructing prediction models in medical and epidemiological studies with missing covariate values. Such models can be used to make predictions for model performance assessment, but the task is made more complicated by the multiple imputation structure. We summarize various predictions constructed from covariates, including multiply imputed covariates, and either the set of imputation-specific prediction model coefficients or the pooled prediction model coefficients. We further describe approaches for using the predictions to assess model performance. We distinguish between ideal model performance and pragmatic model performance, where the former refers to the model's performance in an ideal clinical setting where all individuals have fully observed predictors and the latter refers to the model's performance in a real-world clinical setting where some individuals have missing predictors. The approaches are compared through an extensive simulation study based on the UK700 trial. We determine that measures of ideal model performance can be estimated within imputed datasets and subsequently pooled to give an overall measure of model performance. Alternative methods to evaluate pragmatic model performance are required and we propose constructing predictions either from a second set of covariate imputations which make no use of observed outcomes, or from a set of partial prediction models constructed for each potential observed pattern of covariate. Pragmatic model performance is generally lower than ideal model performance. We focus on model performance within the derivation data, but describe how to extend all the methods to a validation dataset.Angela Wood part supported by MRC grant G0701619. Ian White from MRC _Biostatistics Unit with unit programme number U105260558This is the final version. It was first published by Wiley at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bimj.201400004/abstract;jsessionid=144424FA52D50041821329D8A7741BFD.f02t0

The stability of food intake between adolescence and adulthood: a 21-year follow-up

Studies of the diet of adolescents in the UK demonstrate that dietary habits known to be detrimental to health in adulthood are evident at an early age. For example, Gregory et al (2000) found 4-18 year olds in the UK to have a frequent consumption of fatty and sugary foods and low consumption of fruit and vegetables. Concerns have therefore been expressed regarding the diet of children and adolescents and the continuation of these dietary habits into adulthood (HEA, 1995; Gaziano, 1998). This study aimed to investigate the extent to which these concerns may be justified by determining the stability of food intake of a group of adolescents followed up 21 years later in adulthood. The investigation involved 202 individuals from whom dietary data were collected in 1979-80 (mean age 11.6 years) (Hackett et al. 1984) and again in 2000-1 (mean age 32.5 years). Dietary data were collected at both time-points using two 3 d estimated food diaries followed by an interview to determine portion sizes using the method considered most appropriate at the time, i.e. calibrated food models in 1979-80 and a photographic food atlas (Nelson et al. 1997) in 2000-1. Foods consumed were allocated to one, or a combination of, the five food groups of the ‘Balance of Good Health’ food selection guide (HEA, 1994) according to Gatenby et al. (1995). The weight of food eaten from each of the five food groups was calculated (percentage of total weight of food consumed) and Pearson correlation coefficients generated to provide an estimate of the stability of food intake. The HEA guide advises that a balanced diet should consist of around 33% fruit and vegetables, 33% bread, other cereals and potatoes, 8% foods containing fat and/or sugar, 12% meat, fish and alternatives and 15% milk and dairy products (Gatenby et al. 1995). A shift in the group’s food intake towards the recommendations had occurred with age, most notably with a decrease in foods containing fat and/or sugar and an increase in fruit and vegetables. Nevertheless, at both ages, intakes of foods containing fat and/or sugar, meat, fish and alternatives were higher, and fruit, vegetables, bread, other cereals and potatoes lower than currently recommended. In addition, although there was significant evidence of tracking of relative intake of bread, cereals and potatoes (P<0.01), fruit and vegetables (P<0.01), and meat, fish and alternatives (P=0.02) between 11.6 and 32.5 years, the correlations were not strong. In conclusion, food intake patterns had changed considerably from early adolescence through to adulthood in a direction more in line with the current recommendations. The predictive value of an adolescent’s food intake of their intake in adulthood was found to be significant, but not strong. Further investigations will consider the extent to which this is influenced by factors such as social class, gender and educational level, as well as assessing tracking in terms of relative nutrient intakes

Anthocyanins inhibit tumor necrosis alpha-induced loss of Caco-2 cell barrier integrity

An increased permeability of the intestinal barrier is proposed as a major event in the pathophysiology of conditions characterized by chronic gut inflammation. This study investigated the capacity of pure anthocyanins (AC), and berry and rice extracts containing different types and amounts of AC, to inhibit tumor necrosis alpha (TNFα)-induced permeabilization of Caco-2 cell monolayers. Caco-2 cells differentiated into intestinal epithelial cell monolayers were incubated in the absence/presence of TNFα, with or without the addition of AC or AC-rich plant extracts (ACRE). AC and ACRE inhibited TNFα-induced loss of monolayer permeability as assessed by changes in transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) and paracellular transport of FITC-dextran. In the range of concentrations tested (0.25–1 μM), O-glucosides of cyanidin, and delphinidin, but not those of malvidin, peonidin and petunidin protected the monolayer from TNFα-induced decrease of TEER and increase of FITC-dextran permeability. Cyanidin and delphinidin acted by mitigating TNFα-triggered activation of transcription factor NF-κB, and downstream phosphorylation of myosin light chain (MLC). The protective actions of the ACRE on TNFα-induced TEER increase was positively correlated with the sum of cyanidins and delphinidins (r2 = 0.83) content in the ACRE. However, no correlation was observed between TEER and ACRE total AC, malvidin, or peonidin content. Results support a particular capacity of cyanidins and delphinidins in the protection of the intestinal barrier against inflammation-induced permeabilization, in part through the inhibition of the NF-κB pathway.Fil: Cremonini, Eleonora. University of California at Davis; Estados UnidosFil: Mastaloudis, Angela. Nu Skin Enterprises; Estados UnidosFil: Hester, Shelly N.. Nu Skin Enterprises; Estados UnidosFil: Verstraeten, Sandra Viviana. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Biológica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Química y Físico-Química Biológicas "Prof. Alejandro C. Paladini". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Química y Físico-Química Biológicas; ArgentinaFil: Anderson, Maureen. University of California at Davis; Estados UnidosFil: Wood, Steven M.. Nu Skin Enterprises; Estados UnidosFil: Waterhouse, Andrew L.. University of California at Davis; Estados UnidosFil: Fraga, César Guillermo. University of California at Davis; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Bioquímica y Medicina Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Oteiza, Patricia Isabel. University of California at Davis; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Birth weight percentile and the risk of term perinatal death.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the association between birth weight percentile and the risk of perinatal death at term in relation to the cause of death. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study of all term singleton births in delivery units in Scotland between 1992 and 2008 (n=784,576), excluding perinatal deaths ascribed to congenital anomaly. RESULTS: There were 1,700 perinatal deaths in the cohort, which were not the result of congenital anomaly (21.7/10,000 women at term). We observed a reversed J-shaped association between birth weight percentile and the risk of antepartum stillbirth in all women, but the associations significantly differed (P<.001) according to smoking status. The highest risk (adjusted odds ratio referent to 21st-80th percentile, 95% confidence interval) among nonsmokers was for birth weight third or less percentile (10.5, 8.2-13.3), but there were also positive associations for birth weight percentiles 4th-10th (3.8, 3.0-4.8), 11th-20th (1.9, 1.5-2.4), and 98th-100th (1.8, 1.3-2.4). Among smokers, the associations with being small were weaker and the associations with being large were stronger. We also observed a reversed J-shaped association between birth weight percentile and the risk of delivery-related perinatal death (ie, intrapartum stillbirth or neonatal death), but there was no interaction with smoking. The highest risk was for birth weight greater than the 97th percentile (2.3, 1.6-3.3), but there were also associations with third or less percentile (2.1, 1.4-3.1), 4th-10th (1.8, 1.4-2.4), and 11th-20th (1.5, 1.2-2.0). Analysis of the attributable fraction indicated that approximately one in three antepartum stillbirths and one in six delivery-related deaths at term could be related to birth weight percentile outside the range 21st-97th percentile. CONCLUSION: Effective detection of variation in fetal size at term has potential as a screening test for the risk of perinatal death. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II.Supported by the NIHR Cambridge Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre.This version is the author accepted manuscript. This article can also be viewed in advanced access form on the publisher's website at: http://journals.lww.com/greenjournal/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=9000&issue=00000&article=99411&type=abstract © 2014 by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

A review of published analyses of case-cohort studies and recommendations for future reporting.

The case-cohort study design combines the advantages of a cohort study with the efficiency of a nested case-control study. However, unlike more standard observational study designs, there are currently no guidelines for reporting results from case-cohort studies. Our aim was to review recent practice in reporting these studies, and develop recommendations for the future. By searching papers published in 24 major medical and epidemiological journals between January 2010 and March 2013 using PubMed, Scopus and Web of Knowledge, we identified 32 papers reporting case-cohort studies. The median subcohort sampling fraction was 4.1% (interquartile range 3.7% to 9.1%). The papers varied in their approaches to describing the numbers of individuals in the original cohort and the subcohort, presenting descriptive data, and in the level of detail provided about the statistical methods used, so it was not always possible to be sure that appropriate analyses had been conducted. Based on the findings of our review, we make recommendations about reporting of the study design, subcohort definition, numbers of participants, descriptive information and statistical methods, which could be used alongside existing STROBE guidelines for reporting observational studies.SJS was supported by the Medical Research Council www.mrc.ac.uk [Unit Programme number MC_UU_12015/1]. IRW was supported by the Medical Research Council www.mrc.ac.uk [Unit Programme number U105260558]. MP, SGT and AMW were supported by the British Heart Foundation www.bhf.org.uk [grant number CH/12/2/29428].This is the final published version distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0, which can also be viewed on the publisher's website at: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.010117

The effect of rare variants on inflation of the test statistics in case-control analyses.

BACKGROUND: The detection of bias due to cryptic population structure is an important step in the evaluation of findings of genetic association studies. The standard method of measuring this bias in a genetic association study is to compare the observed median association test statistic to the expected median test statistic. This ratio is inflated in the presence of cryptic population structure. However, inflation may also be caused by the properties of the association test itself particularly in the analysis of rare variants. We compared the properties of the three most commonly used association tests: the likelihood ratio test, the Wald test and the score test when testing rare variants for association using simulated data. RESULTS: We found evidence of inflation in the median test statistics of the likelihood ratio and score tests for tests of variants with less than 20 heterozygotes across the sample, regardless of the total sample size. The test statistics for the Wald test were under-inflated at the median for variants below the same minor allele frequency. CONCLUSIONS: In a genetic association study, if a substantial proportion of the genetic variants tested have rare minor allele frequencies, the properties of the association test may mask the presence or absence of bias due to population structure. The use of either the likelihood ratio test or the score test is likely to lead to inflation in the median test statistic in the absence of population structure. In contrast, the use of the Wald test is likely to result in under-inflation of the median test statistic which may mask the presence of population structure.This work was supported by a grant from Cancer Research UK (C490/A16561). AP is funded by a Medical Research Council studentship.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://dx.doi.org/10.1186%2Fs12859-015-0496-1

Anthocyanins protect the gastrointestinal tract from high fat diet-induced alterations in redox signaling, barrier integrity and dysbiosis.

The gastrointestinal (GI) tract can play a critical role in the development of pathologies associated with overeating, overweight and obesity. We previously observed that supplementation with anthocyanins (AC) (particularly glycosides of cyanidin and delphinidin) mitigated high fat diet (HFD)-induced development of obesity, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance and steatosis in C57BL/6J mice. This paper investigated whether these beneficial effects could be related to AC capacity to sustain intestinal monolayer integrity, prevent endotoxemia, and HFD-associated dysbiosis. The involvement of redox-related mechanisms were further investigated in Caco-2 cell monolayers. Consumption of a HFD for 14 weeks caused intestinal permeabilization and endotoxemia, which were associated with a decreased ileum expression of tight junction (TJ) proteins (occludin, ZO-1 and claudin-1), increased expression of NADPH oxidase (NOX1 and NOX4) and NOS2 and oxidative stress, and activation of redox sensitive signals (NF-κB and ERK1/2) that regulate TJ dynamics. AC supplementation mitigated all these events and increased GLP-2 levels, the intestinal hormone that upregulates TJ protein expression. AC also prevented, in vitro, tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced Caco-2 monolayer permeabilization, NOX1/4 upregulation, oxidative stress, and NF-κB and ERK activation. HFD-induced obesity in mice caused dysbiosis and affected the levels and secretion of MUC2, a mucin that participates in intestinal cell barrier protection and immune response. AC supplementation restored microbiota composition and MUC2 levels and distribution in HFD-fed mice. Thus, AC, particularly delphinidin and cyanidin, can preserve GI physiology in HFD-induced obesity in part through redox-regulated mechanisms. This can in part explain AC capacity to mitigate pathologies, i.e. insulin resistance and steatosis, associated with HFD-associated obesity

The use of repeated blood pressure measures for cardiovascular risk prediction: a comparison of statistical models in the ARIC study.

Many prediction models have been developed for the risk assessment and the prevention of cardiovascular disease in primary care. Recent efforts have focused on improving the accuracy of these prediction models by adding novel biomarkers to a common set of baseline risk predictors. Few have considered incorporating repeated measures of the common risk predictors. Through application to the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study and simulations, we compare models that use simple summary measures of the repeat information on systolic blood pressure, such as (i) baseline only; (ii) last observation carried forward; and (iii) cumulative mean, against more complex methods that model the repeat information using (iv) ordinary regression calibration; (v) risk-set regression calibration; and (vi) joint longitudinal and survival models. In comparison with the baseline-only model, we observed modest improvements in discrimination and calibration using the cumulative mean of systolic blood pressure, but little further improvement from any of the complex methods. © 2016 The Authors. Statistics in Medicine Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.J.K.B. was supported by the Medical Research Council grant numbers G0902100 and MR/K014811/1. This work was funded by the UK Medical Research Council (G0800270), British Heart Foundation (SP/09/002), UK National Institute for Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, European Research Council (268834) and European Commission Framework Programme 7 (HEALTH-F2-2012-279233). The ARIC study is carried out as a collaborative study supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute contracts (HHSN268201100005C, HHSN268201100006C, HHSN268201100007C, HHSN268201100008C, HHSN268201100009C, HHSN268201100010C, HHSN268201100011C and HHSN268201100012C).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via https://doi.org/10.1002/sim.714

High-resolution Near-Infrared Images and Models of the Circumstellar Disk in HH 30

We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-object Spectrometer (NICMOS) observations of the reflection nebulosity associated with the T Tauri star HH 30. The images show the scattered light pattern characteristic of a highly inclined, optically thick disk with a prominent dustlane whose width decreases with increasing wavelength. The reflected nebulosity exhibits a lateral asymmetry in the upper lobe on the opposite side to that reported in previously published Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) images. The radiation transfer model which most closely reproduces the data has a flared accretion disk with dust grains larger than standard interstellar medium grains by a factor of approximately 2.1. A single hotspot on the stellar surface provides the necessary asymmetry to fit the images and is consistent with previous modeling of the light curve and images. Photometric analysis results in an estimated extinction of Av>~80; however, since the photometry measures only scattered light rather than direct stellar flux, this a lower limit. The radiative transfer models require an extinction of Av = 7,900.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap.