Effects of Round Goby Presence on Invertebrate and Microbial Communities in Decaying Leaf Matter of a Lake Erie Tributary Stream

Microbial communities are ubiquitous and carry out valuable functions in the environment. Decomposition of leaf material by microbial communities is important to return nutrients back to both terrestrial and aquatic organisms. Perturbations to the environment like the arrival of invasive species can have an impact on the structure and functions of the microbial community. The round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) is a Ponto-Caspian fish introduced into the Great Lakes which has since secondarily invaded tributary streams and rivers. Studies have shown they alter invertebrate communities, and these alterations have impacted organic matter decomposition. Stream studies suggest leaf litter decomposes less rapidly in the presence of gobies and I sought to determine whether the reduction in decomposition was a function of changes in microbial community richness. Leaf litter packs were used as a substrate for microbial colonization and analyzed for decomposition rates at sites with and without gobies present. Leaf material decayed significantly less rapidly when gobies were present. The invertebrate communities were significantly different between sites. The goby-absent site had a higher abundance of shredders when compared to the goby-present site. There were not significant differences in microbial carbon source consumption richness or average color well development (AWCD) for carbon guilds between goby-present and goby-absent sites. There were significant seasonal differences in ACWD for microbial carbon guild usage for several guilds. These data suggest that the presence of round gobies does not alter carbon usage of microbial communities in stream leaf litter but that microbial communities can vary with season

Privacy, Trust, and Data Sharing in Web-Based and Mobile Research: Participant Perspectives in a Large Nationwide Sample of Men Who Have Sex With Men in the United States

Background: Modern research is heavily reliant on online and mobile technologies, which is particularly true among historically hard-to-reach populations such as gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). Despite this, very little empirical research has been published on participant perspectives about issues such as privacy, trust, and data sharing. Objective: The objective of our study was to analyze data from an online sample of 11,032 GBMSM in the United States to examine their trust in and perspectives on privacy and data sharing within online and mobile research. Methods: Participants were recruited via a social networking site or sexual networking app to complete an anonymous online survey. We conducted a series of repeated measures analyses adjusted for between-person factors to examine within-person differences in the following: (1) trust for guarding personal information across different venues (eg, online research conducted by a university vs. an online search engine); (2) privacy concerns about 12 different types of data for three distinct data activities (ie, collection by app owners, anonymous selling to third parties, and anonymous sharing with researchers); and (3) willingness to share those 12 different types of data with researchers. Due to the large sample size, we primarily reported measures of effect size as evidence of clinical significance. Results: Online research was rated as most trusted and was more trusted than online and mobile technology companies, such as app owners and search engines, by magnitudes of effect that were moderate-to-large (ηpartial2=0.06-0.11). Responding about 12 different types of data, participants expressed more concerns about data being anonymously sold to third-party partners (mean 7.6, median 10.0) and fewer concerns about data being collected by the app owners (mean 5.8, median 5.0) or shared anonymously with researchers (mean 4.6, median 3.0); differences were small-to-moderate in size (ηpartial2=0.01-0.03). Furthermore, participants were most willing to share their public profile information (eg, age) with researchers but least willing to share device usage information (eg, other apps installed); the comparisons were small-to-moderate in size (ηpartial2=0.03). Conclusions: Participants reported high levels of trust in online and mobile research, which is noteworthy given recent high-profile cases of corporate and government data security breaches and privacy violations. Researchers and ethical boards should keep up with technological shifts to maintain the ability to guard privacy and confidentiality and maintain trust. There was substantial variability in privacy concerns about and willingness to share different types of data, suggesting the need to gain consent for data sharing on a specific rather than broad basis. Finally, we saw evidence of a privacy paradox, whereby participants expressed privacy concerns about the very types of data-related activities they have likely already permitted through the terms of the apps and sites they use regularly

Managing Incidental Genomic Findings in Clinical Trials: Fulfillment of the Principle of Justice

<p>Managing Incidental Genomic Findings in Clinical Trials: Fulfillment of the Principle of Justice</p

Impairment experiences, identity and attitudes towards genetic screening : the views of people with Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Developments in genetics are rapidly changing the capacity and scope of screening practices. However, people with genetic conditions have been under-represented in the literature exploring their implications. This mixed methods study explores the attitudes of people with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) towards three different population-level genetic screening programmes for SMA: pre-conception, prenatal and newborn. Drawing on qualitative interviews (n= 15) and a survey (n=82), this study demonstrates that more severely affected individuals with early-onset symptoms (Type II SMA), are less likely to support screening and more likely to view SMA positively than those with milder, later onset and/or fluctuating symptoms (Types III/ IV SMA). Indeed, this clinically milder group were more likely to support all forms of screening and view SMA negatively. This paper highlights that screening is a complex issue for people with genetic conditions, and the nature of impairment experiences plays a critical role in shaping attitudes

A generalized invariant imbedding equation II

Research into fetal development and medicin

Processes and factors involved in decisions regarding return of incidental genomic findings in research

Purpose: Studies have begun exploring whether researchers should return incidental findings in genomic studies, and if so, which findings should be returned; however, how researchers make these decisions—the processes and factors involved—has remained largely unexplored. Methods: We interviewed 28 genomics researchers in-depth about their experiences and views concerning the return of incidental findings. Results: Researchers often struggle with questions concerning which incidental findings to return and how to make those decisions. Multiple factors shape their views, including information about the gene variant (e.g., pathogenicity and disease characteristics), concerns about participants’ well-being and researcher responsibility, and input from external entities. Researchers weigh the evidence, yet they face conflicting pressures, with relevant data frequently being unavailable. Researchers vary in who they believe should decide: participants, principal investigators, institutional review boards, and/or professional organizations. Contextual factors can influence these decisions, including policies governing return of results by institutions and biobanks and the study design. Researchers vary in desires for: guidance from institutions and professional organizations, changes to current institutional processes, and community-wide genetics education. Conclusion: These data, the first to examine the processes by which researchers make decisions regarding the return of genetic incidental findings, highlight several complexities involved and have important implications for future genetics research, policy, and examinations of these issues

The spotted gar genome illuminates vertebrate evolution and facilitates human-teleost comparisons

To connect human biology to fish biomedical models, we sequenced the genome of spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus), whose lineage diverged from teleosts before teleost genome duplication (TGD). The slowly evolving gar genome has conserved in content and size many entire chromosomes from bony vertebrate ancestors. Gar bridges teleosts to tetrapods by illuminating the evolution of immunity, mineralization and development (mediated, for example, by Hox, ParaHox and microRNA genes). Numerous conserved noncoding elements (CNEs; often cis regulatory) undetectable in direct human-teleost comparisons become apparent using gar: functional studies uncovered conserved roles for such cryptic CNEs, facilitating annotation of sequences identified in human genome-wide association studies. Transcriptomic analyses showed that the sums of expression domains and expression levels for duplicated teleost genes often approximate the patterns and levels of expression for gar genes, consistent with subfunctionalization. The gar genome provides a resource for understanding evolution after genome duplication, the origin of vertebrate genomes and the function of human regulatory sequences