Gut microbiota in HIV-pneumonia patients is related to peripheral CD4 counts, lung microbiota, and in vitro macrophage dysfunction.

Pneumonia is common and frequently fatal in HIV-infected patients, due to rampant, systemic inflammation and failure to control microbial infection. While airway microbiota composition is related to local inflammatory response, gut microbiota has been shown to correlate with the degree of peripheral immune activation (IL6 and IP10 expression) in HIV-infected patients. We thus hypothesized that both airway and gut microbiota are perturbed in HIV-infected pneumonia patients, that the gut microbiota is related to peripheral CD4+ cell counts, and that its associated products differentially program immune cell populations necessary for controlling microbial infection in CD4-high and CD4-low patients. To assess these relationships, paired bronchoalveolar lavage and stool microbiota (bacterial and fungal) from a large cohort of Ugandan, HIV-infected patients with pneumonia were examined, and in vitro tests of the effect of gut microbiome products on macrophage effector phenotypes performed. While lower airway microbiota stratified into three compositionally distinct microbiota as previously described, these were not related to peripheral CD4 cell count. In contrast, variation in gut microbiota composition significantly related to CD4 cell count, lung microbiota composition, and patient mortality. Compared with patients with high CD4+ cell counts, those with low counts possessed more compositionally similar airway and gut microbiota, evidence of microbial translocation, and their associated gut microbiome products reduced macrophage activation and IL-10 expression and increased IL-1β expression in vitro. These findings suggest that the gut microbiome is related to CD4 status and plays a key role in modulating macrophage function, critical to microbial control in HIV-infected patients with pneumonia

Westwood Multimodal Transportation Plan

Westwood is experiencing an industrial regeneration that will change the way the area is utilized by the surrounding communities. To be proactive, Henrico County is planning for the future by creating an overlay zoning district and striving for a multimodal environment to ensure the area grows in a sustainable manner. This plan evaluates the study area, retrieves community engagement, and makes recommendations on streetscape design and public transit improvements to create a multimodal Westwood. Study area observations provided evidence that the streets in Westwood need to be redesigned to accommodate more for pedestrians and cyclists. Community outreach in the form of a survey was conducted to gather input on how the streetscape should be designed and what elements of the study area need the most attention. Results of the surveys and observations were analyzed and used to build the recommendations made for Westwood. Various types of funding options are presented to implement this plan. Sustainable, connected, and integrated transportation is essential to success and livability of the fast-growing study area. The plan aims to supply the knowledge needed to create a livable and thriving Westwood

A Landscape Perspective on Bird Beak Deformity: An Epizootic of Unknown Etiology

Although birds with beak deformities have been documented throughout the literature, the recent spike in occurrences in certain regions has caused concern in the scientific community. A major concern relates to the role of contaminants and environmental degradation in causing or exacerbating this epizootic. This study used spatial and statistical analyses to examine the problem from a landscape perspective. The objectives of this study were to 1) locate and compile a database of known bird beak occurrences, 2) conduct a preliminary assessment of the environmental correlates of this epizootic in order to identify patterns, and 3) make recommendations that could guide future research and data collection. Logistic regression models were generated using known occurrences of bird beak deformity as well as randomly generated points compared with spatial data on relevant environmental variables. Generalized linear models predicted high probability (p(deformity)=0.88) of deformity occurring when all environmental variables were present. With more collaboration among researchers and data sharing, this method could provide insight into the currently unknown etiology of bird beak deformity

Assessing the contribution of ecosystem services to human wellbeing: A disaggregated study in western Rwanda

AbstractLack of attention to social complexity has created a gap between current ecosystem service research and the kind of insights needed to inform ecosystem management in the tropics. To contribute to closing this gap, this study applies a methodology for exploring complex linkages between ecosystem services and human wellbeing. This builds on emerging frameworks for studying multiple dimensions of human wellbeing, drawing on Amartya Sen's capabilities approach to human development. The approach is applied to an empirical case study of three sites adjacent to native tropical forest in western Rwanda. The value of exploring social complexity in ecosystem services research is illustrated through its contribution to understanding a) different types of values; b) disaggregation of people; c) power relations and their influence on trade-offs; d) the importance of multiple land use types in the landscape; and e) changes and their drivers at multiple scales. The analysis reveals that the majority of services valued by forest-adjacent Rwandan inhabitants are not provided by tropical forests but by other habitats. We suggest that more integrated landscape governance may offer synergistic opportunities for conservation and development

A Robust Scheme for Multilevel Extendible Hashing

Dynamic hashing, while surpassing other access methods for uniformly distributed data, usually performs badly for non-uniformly distributed data. We propose a robust scheme for multi-level extendible hashing allowing efficient processing of skewed data as well as uniformly distributed data. In order to test our access method we implemented it and compared it to several existing hashing schemes. The results of the experimental evaluation demonstrate the superiority of our approach in both index size and performance

FAM222A encodes a protein which accumulates in plaques in Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by amyloid plaques and progressive cerebral atrophy. Here, we report FAM222A as a putative brain atrophy susceptibility gene. Our cross-phenotype association analysis of imaging genetics indicates a potential link between FAM222A and AD-related regional brain atrophy. The protein encoded by FAM222A is predominantly expressed in the CNS and is increased in brains of patients with AD and in an AD mouse model. It accumulates within amyloid deposits, physically interacts with amyloid-β (Aβ) via its N-terminal Aβ binding domain, and facilitates Aβ aggregation. Intracerebroventricular infusion or forced expression of this protein exacerbates neuroinflammation and cognitive dysfunction in an AD mouse model whereas ablation of this protein suppresses the formation of amyloid deposits, neuroinflammation and cognitive deficits in the AD mouse model. Our data support the pathological relevance of protein encoded by FAM222A in AD