Debris flows in the North Pacolet River valley, Polk County, North Carolina, USA: case studies and emergency response

The North Pacolet River valley is incised into the Blue Ridge Escarpment (BRE) near Tryon in southwestern North Carolina. The BRE is a mountain front that marks the change from the mountainous Blue Ridge physiographic province to the lower, rolling topography of the foothills zone of the Piedmont provinces. This escarpment is often comprised of steep slopes with exposed bedrock cliffs and shallow colluvial soils. The down slope sides of the escarpment have evidence of past slope movements in the form of large scale deposits, debris fans, talus slopes, and dormant debris slides. Debris flows have been documented along the BRE in multiple past storm events including those in 1916, 1940, 1996, and 2004. On May 18, 2018, debris flows again initiated near the top of the BRE slopes and travelled down to the North Pacolet River valley floor during heavy rains on soils with high antecedent moisture contents. At least 27 debris flows were initiated, travelling up to ~966 meters (~3,170 feet) down drainages below. At least 6 homes were damaged or destroyed and one fatality occurred due to these debris flows. Main highways, interstates, and multiple private roads were covered by the debris. Appalachian Landslide Consultants, PLLC (ALC) and the North Carolina Geological Survey (NCGS) responded to this emergency situation in order to provide Polk County Emergency Management information about the stability of the slopes before the arrival of Tropical Depression Alberto just 9 days after the May 18 rains. During this reconnaissance, ALC and the NCGS identified areas of potential instability in the coming rains. County Emergency Management used this information when deciding to issue a voluntary evacuation recommendation to the people of the North Pacolet River valley. This paper discusses the findings of the reconnaissance mapping, as well as a general overview of the integration of geological information into emergency response and preparation

The prevalence of physical, sexual and mental abuse among adolescents and the association with BMI status

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Studies among adults show an association between abuse and Body Mass Index (BMI) status. When an aberrant BMI status as a consequence of abuse is already prevalent in adolescence, early detection and treatment of abuse might prevent these adolescents from developing serious weight problems and other long-term social, emotional and physical problems in adulthood. Therefore, this study investigated the prevalence of physical, sexual and mental abuse among adolescents and examined the association of these abuse subtypes with BMI status.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In total, data of 51,856 secondary school students aged 13–16 who had completed a questionnaire on health, well-being and lifestyle were used. BMI was classified into four categories, underweight, normal weight, overweight and obesity. Adolescents reported if they had ever been physically, sexually or mentally abused. Crude and adjusted General Estimation Equation (GEE) analyses were performed to investigate the association between abuse subtypes and BMI status. Analyses were adjusted for ethnicity and parental communication, and stratified for gender and educational level.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Eighteen percent of the adolescents reported mental abuse, 7% reported sexual abuse, and 6% reported physical abuse. For underweight, overweight and obese adolescents these percentages were 17%, 25%, and 44%; 7%, 8%, and 16%; and 6%, 8%, 18% respectively. For the entire population, all these subtypes of abuse were associated with being overweight and obese (OR=3.67, 1.79 and 1.50) and all but sexual abuse were associated with underweight (OR=1.21 and 1.12). Stratified analyses showed that physical and sexual abuse were significantly associated with obesity among boys (OR=1.77 and 2.49) and among vocational school students (OR=1.60 and 1.69), and with underweight among girls (OR=1.26 and 0.83).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Mental abuse was reported by almost half of the obese adolescents and associated with underweight, overweight and obesity. Longitudinal analyses are recommended to explore the causality of and the mechanisms explaining this association between abuse and overweight.</p

A Systematic Literature Review with Meta-Analyses of Within- and Between-Day Differences in Objectively Measured Physical Activity in School-Aged Children

Background: Targeting specific time periods of the day or week may enhance physical activity (PA) interventions in youth. The most prudent time segments to target are currently unclear.  Objectives: To systematically review the literature describing differences in young people’s objectively measured PA on weekdays vs. weekends, in school vs. out of school, weekends vs. out of school and lesson time vs. break time.  Methods: Electronic databases were searched for English-language, cross-sectional studies of school-aged children (4–18 years) reporting time-segment-specific accelerometer-measured PA from 01/1990 to 01/2013. We meta-analysed standardised mean differences (SMD) between time segments for mean accelerometer counts per minute (TPA) and minutes in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA). SMD is reported in units of standard deviation; 0.2, 0.5 and 0.8 represent small, moderate and large effects. Heterogeneity was explored using meta-regression (potential effect modifiers: age, sex and study setting).  Results: Of the 54 included studies, 37 were eligible for meta-analyses. Children were more active on weekdays than weekends [pooled SMD (95 % CI) TPA 0.14 (0.08; 0.20), MVPA 0.42 (0.35; 0.49)]. On school days, TPA was lower in school than out of school; however, marginally more MVPA was accumulated in school [TPA −0.24 (−0.40; −0.08), MVPA 0.17 (−0.03; 0.38)]. TPA was slightly lower on weekends than out of school on school days, but a greater absolute volume of MVPA was performed on weekends [TPA −0.10 (−0.19; −0.01), MVPA 1.02 (0.82; 1.23)]. Heterogeneity between studies was high (I2 73.3–96.3 %), with 20.3–53.1 % of variance between studies attributable to potential moderating factors.  Conclusions: School-aged children are more active on weekdays than weekend days. The outcome measure influences the conclusions for other comparisons. Findings support the tailoring of intervention strategies to specific time periods

Passively sensing smartphone use in teens with rates of use by sex and across operating systems

Youth screen media activity is a growing concern, though few studies include objective usage data. Through the longitudinal, U.S.-based Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, youth (mage = 14; n = 1415) self-reported their typical smartphone use and passively recorded three weeks of smartphone use via the ABCD-specific Effortless Assessment Research System (EARS) application. Here we describe and validate passively-sensed smartphone keyboard and app use measures, provide code to harmonize measures across operating systems, and describe trends in adolescent smartphone use. Keyboard and app-use measures were reliable and positively correlated with one another (r = 0.33) and with self-reported use (rs = 0.21-0.35). Participants recorded a mean of 5&nbsp;h of daily smartphone use, which is two more hours than they self-reported. Further, females logged more smartphone use than males. Smartphone use was recorded at all hours, peaking on average from 8 to 10 PM and lowest from 3 to 5 AM. Social media and texting apps comprised nearly half of all use. Data are openly available to approved investigators ( https://nda.nih.gov/abcd/ ). Information herein can inform use of the ABCD dataset to longitudinally study health and neurodevelopmental correlates of adolescent smartphone use

Maternal pre-pregnancy obesity, offspring cord blood DNA methylation, and offspring cardiometabolic health in early childhood: an epigenome-wide association study

Pre-pregnancy obesity is an established risk factor for adverse sex-specific cardiometabolic health in offspring. Epigenetic alterations, such as in DNA methylation (DNAm), are a hypothesized link; however, sex-specific epigenomic targets remain unclear. Leveraging data from the Newborn Epigenetics Study (NEST) cohort, linear regression models were used to identify CpG sites in cord blood leukocytes associated with pre-pregnancy obesity in 187 mother-female and 173 mother-male offsprings. DNAm in cord blood was measured using the Illumina HumanMethylation450k BeadChip. Replication analysis was conducted among the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort. Associations between pre-pregnancy obesity-associated CpG sites and offspring BMI z-score (BMIz) and blood pressure (BP) percentiles at 4–5-years of age were also examined. Maternal pre-pregnacy obesity was associated with 876 CpGs in female and 293 CpGs in male offspring (false discovery rate <5%). Among female offspring, 57 CpG sites, including the top 18, mapped to the TAPBP gene (range of effect estimates: −0.83% decrease to 4.02% increase in methylation). CpG methylation differences in the TAPBP gene were also observed among males (range of effect estimates: −0.30% decrease to 2.59% increase in methylation). While technically validated, none of the TAPBP CpG sites were replicated in ALSPAC. In NEST, methylation differences at CpG sites of the TAPBP gene were associated with BMI z-score (cg23922433 and cg17621507) and systolic BP percentile (cg06230948) in female and systolic (cg06230948) and diastolic (cg03780271) BP percentile in male offspring. Together, these findings suggest sex-specific effects, which, if causal, may explain observed sex-specific effects of maternal obesity

Single nucleotide polymorphisms in obesity-related genes and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a prospective cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of this study was to examine the associations between 16 specific single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 8 obesity-related genes and overall and cause-specific mortality. We also examined the associations between the SNPs and body mass index (BMI) and change in BMI over time.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data were analyzed from 9,919 individuals who participated in two large community-based cohort studies conducted in Washington County, Maryland in 1974 (CLUE I) and 1989 (CLUE II). DNA from blood collected in 1989 was genotyped for 16 SNPs in 8 obesity-related genes: monoamine oxidase A (<it>MAOA</it>), lipoprotein lipase (<it>LPL</it>), paraoxonase 1 and 2 (<it>PON1 </it>and <it>PON2</it>), leptin receptor (<it>LEPR</it>), tumor necrosis factor-α (<it>TNFα</it>), and peroxisome proliferative activated receptor-γ and -δ (<it>PPARG </it>and <it>PPARD</it>). Data on height and weight in 1989 (CLUE II baseline) and at age 21 were collected from participants at the time of blood collection. All participants were followed from 1989 to the date of death or the end of follow-up in 2005. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to obtain the relative risk (RR) estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for each SNP and mortality outcomes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results showed no patterns of association for the selected SNPs and the all-cause and cause-specific mortality outcomes, although statistically significant associations (p < 0.05) were observed between <it>PPARG </it>rs4684847 and all-cause mortality (CC: reference; CT: RR 0.99, 95% CI 0.89, 1.11; TT: RR 0.60, 95% CI 0.39, 0.93) and cancer-related mortality (CC: reference; CT: RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.82, 1.25; TT: RR 0.22, 95% CI 0.06, 0.90) and <it>TNFα </it>rs1799964 and cancer-related mortality (TT: reference; CT: RR 1.23, 95% CI 1.03, 1.47; CC: RR 0.83, 95% CI 0.54, 1.28). Additional analyses showed significant associations between SNPs in <it>LEPR </it>with BMI (rs1137101) and change in BMI over time (rs1045895 and rs1137101).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Findings from this cohort study suggest that the selected SNPs are not associated with overall or cause-specific death, although several <it>LEPR </it>SNPs may be related to BMI and BMI change over time.</p

SLC6A3 and body mass index in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To investigate the contribution of the dopamine transporter to dopaminergic reward-related behaviors and anthropometry, we evaluated associations between polymorphisms at the dopamine transporter gene(<it>SLC6A3</it>) and body mass index (BMI), among participants in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Four polymorphisms (rs6350, rs6413429, rs6347 and the 3' variable number of tandem repeat (3' VNTR) polymorphism) at the <it>SLC6A3 </it>gene were genotyped in 2,364 participants selected from the screening arm of PLCO randomly within strata of sex, age and smoking history. Height and weight at ages 20 and 50 years and baseline were assessed by questionnaire. BMI was calculated and categorized as underweight, normal, overweight and obese (<18.5, 18.5–24.9, 25.0–29.9, or ≥ 30 kg/m², respectively). Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of <it>SLC6A3 </it>genotypes and haplotypes were computed using conditional logistic regression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Compared with individuals having a normal BMI, obese individuals at the time of the baseline study questionnaire were less likely to possess the <it>3' </it>VNTR variant allele with 9 copies of the repeated sequence in a dose-dependent model (** is referent; OR_*9= 0.80, OR₉₉= 0.47, p_trend= 0.005). Compared with individuals having a normal BMI at age 50, overweight individuals (A-C-G-* is referent; OR_A-C-G-9= 0.80, 95% CI 0.65–0.99, p = 0.04) and obese individuals (A-C-G-* is referent; OR_A-C-G-9= 0.70, 95% CI 0.49–0.99, p = 0.04) were less likely to possess the haplotype with the 3'variant allele (A-C-G-9).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results support a role of genetic variation at the dopamine transporter gene, <it>SLC6A3</it>, as a modifier of BMI.</p

Association between DNA methylation and ADHD symptoms from birth to school age: a prospective meta-analysis

Attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood disorder with a substantial genetic component. However, the extent to which epigenetic mechanisms play a role in the etiology of the disorder is unknown. We performed epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) within the Pregnancy And Childhood Epigenetics (PACE) Consortium to identify DNA methylation sites associated with ADHD symptoms at two methylation assessment periods: birth and school age. We examined associations of both DNA methylation in cord blood with repeatedly assessed ADHD symptoms (age 4-15 years) in 2477 children from 5 cohorts and of DNA methylation at school age with concurrent ADHD symptoms (age 7-11 years) in 2374 children from 9 cohorts, with 3 cohorts participating at both timepoints. CpGs identified with nominal significance (p < 0.05) in either of the EWAS were correlated between timepoints (rho = 0.30), suggesting overlap in associations; however, top signals were very different. At birth, we identified nine CpGs that predicted later ADHD symptoms (p < 1 x 10(-7)), including ERC2 and CREB5. Peripheral blood DNA methylation at one of these CpGs (cg01271805 in the promoter region of ERC2, which regulates neurotransmitter release) was previously associated with brain methylation. Another (cg25520701) lies within the gene body of CREB5, which previously was associated with neurite outgrowth and an ADHD diagnosis. In contrast, at school age, no CpGs were associated with ADHD with p < 1 x 10(-7). In conclusion, we found evidence in this study that DNA methylation at birth is associated with ADHD. Future studies are needed to confirm the utility of methylation variation as biomarker and its involvement in causal pathways