Meta-analysis of type 2 Diabetes in African Americans Consortium

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is more prevalent in African Americans than in Europeans. However, little is known about the genetic risk in African Americans despite the recent identification of more than 70 T2D loci primarily by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in individuals of European ancestry. In order to investigate the genetic architecture of T2D in African Americans, the MEta-analysis of type 2 DIabetes in African Americans (MEDIA) Consortium examined 17 GWAS on T2D comprising 8,284 cases and 15,543 controls in African Americans in stage 1 analysis. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) association analysis was conducted in each study under the additive model after adjustment for age, sex, study site, and principal components. Meta-analysis of approximately 2.6 million genotyped and imputed SNPs in all studies was conducted using an inverse variance-weighted fixed effect model. Replications were performed to follow up 21 loci in up to 6,061 cases and 5,483 controls in African Americans, and 8,130 cases and 38,987 controls of European ancestry. We identified three known loci (TCF7L2, HMGA2 and KCNQ1) and two novel loci (HLA-B and INS-IGF2) at genome-wide significance (4.15 × 10(-94)<P<5 × 10(-8), odds ratio (OR)  = 1.09 to 1.36). Fine-mapping revealed that 88 of 158 previously identified T2D or glucose homeostasis loci demonstrated nominal to highly significant association (2.2 × 10(-23) < locus-wide P<0.05). These novel and previously identified loci yielded a sibling relative risk of 1.19, explaining 17.5% of the phenotypic variance of T2D on the liability scale in African Americans. Overall, this study identified two novel susceptibility loci for T2D in African Americans. A substantial number of previously reported loci are transferable to African Americans after accounting for linkage disequilibrium, enabling fine mapping of causal variants in trans-ethnic meta-analysis studies.Peer reviewe

EuReCa ONE—27 Nations, ONE Europe, ONE Registry A prospective one month analysis of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest outcomes in 27 countries in Europe

AbstractIntroductionThe aim of the EuReCa ONE study was to determine the incidence, process, and outcome for out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) throughout Europe.MethodsThis was an international, prospective, multi-centre one-month study. Patients who suffered an OHCA during October 2014 who were attended and/or treated by an Emergency Medical Service (EMS) were eligible for inclusion in the study. Data were extracted from national, regional or local registries.ResultsData on 10,682 confirmed OHCAs from 248 regions in 27 countries, covering an estimated population of 174 million. In 7146 (66%) cases, CPR was started by a bystander or by the EMS. The incidence of CPR attempts ranged from 19.0 to 104.0 per 100,000 population per year. 1735 had ROSC on arrival at hospital (25.2%), Overall, 662/6414 (10.3%) in all cases with CPR attempted survived for at least 30 days or to hospital discharge.ConclusionThe results of EuReCa ONE highlight that OHCA is still a major public health problem accounting for a substantial number of deaths in Europe.EuReCa ONE very clearly demonstrates marked differences in the processes for data collection and reported outcomes following OHCA all over Europe. Using these data and analyses, different countries, regions, systems, and concepts can benchmark themselves and may learn from each other to further improve survival following one of our major health care events

Ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) and tert-amyl methyl ether (TAME) can affect distribution pattern of inorganic N in soil.

Ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) and tert-amyl methyl ether (TAME) are synthetic compounds that are used as gasoline additives in order to reduce emissions from vehicles. In the present study, effects of these compounds were investigated on the dynamics of inorganic N in soil. Therefore, soil samples with different water contents were contaminated with ETBE and TAME, respectively. It could be shown that in the presence of TAME and ETBE, NH (4) (+) -N accumulated; moreover, ETBE addition to soil resulted in increased NO (2) (-) -N concentrations. These results indicated for the first time that ETBE and TAME can affect nitrification in soil. Thus, their impact on soil ecology should be investigated more intensively

ETBE (ethyl tert butyl ether) and TAME (tert amyl methyl ether) affect microbial community structure and function in soils.

Ethyl tert butyl ether (ETBE) and tert amyl methyl ether (TAME) are oxygenates used in gasoline in order to reduce emissions from vehicles. The present study investigated their impact on a soil microflora that never was exposed to any contamination before. Therefore, soil was artificially contaminated and incubated over 6 weeks. Substrate induced respiration (SIR) measurements and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis indicated shifts in both, microbial function and structure during incubation. The results showed an activation of microbial respiration in the presence of ETBE and TAME, suggesting biodegradation by the microflora. Furthermore, PLFA concentrations decreased in the presence of ETBE and TAME and Gram-positive bacteria became more dominant in the microbial community

Oekotoxikologische Testbatterien. Teilvorhaben 4.1: Praxiserprobung biologischer Testverfahren und Koordination. T. b: Praxiserprobung biologischer Testverfahren Abschlussbericht

The habitat function for plant ws tested through the plant growth inhibition test (ISO 11269-2) with oat, cress, turnip and millet in some case. The potential ammoniumoxidation test (TORSTENSSON) and respiration curves (PALMBORG and NORDGREEN) were used to examine the influence of the soil to the microorganism. As a rapid method for the determination of ecotoxic effects in soils the ToxiChromoPad-Tests (KWAN) was tested. To determine the ecotoxicity of a soil it seemed to be necessary to use a control soil which has got the same chemic and physic conditions as the contaminated soil. Very often such a soil is not available. So the problem had to be solved in a different way. We found out that at least for the plant growth inhibition test and the test of potential ammoniumoxidation mixtures of the contaminated soil with an uncontaminated soil of known good quality can take the place of a control soil from the site. This mixture procedures made it possible to determine the ecotoxicity of all soils from contaminated soils which were examined during the project. The structure of soil respiration curves provides a lot of informations which have to be interpreted carefully. The respiratory activation quotient (basal respiration devided through potential respiration), the lag-phase, the time till the peakmaximum appears and the form of the curve to determine the ecotoxicity of the soils. The ToxiChromoPad-Test seemed to be able to give a statement about the quality of the soil. (orig.)Die Lebensraumfunktion Pflanzenstandort wurde mitHilfe des Pflanzenwachstumshemmtests nach ISO 11269-2 fuer die Pflanzen Hafer, Kresse, Ruebe und zum Teil auch Hirse erfasst. Zur Ueberpruefung der Wirkung des Bodens auf die Bodenmikroorganismen wurden die potentielle Ammoniumoxidation nach TORSTENSSON und der kombinierte Atmungstest nach PALMBORG und NORDGREEN durchgefuehrt. Als Schnelltest wurde zusaetzlich der ToxiChromoPad-Tests nach KWAN (1991) eingesetzt. Zur Bewertung der Oekotoxizitaet eines Bodens schien der Einsatz eines Kontrollbodens mit den gleichen chemischphysikalischen Eigenschaften wie der kontaminierte Boden unerlaesslich zu sein. Da eine solche Kontrolle oft nicht vorhanden ist, wurde nach Alternativen gesucht. Es stellte sich heraus, dass beim Pflanzentest und dem Test auf potentielle Ammoniumoxidation das Untermischen eines Bodens bekannt guter Qualitaet den Kontrollboden vom Standort ersetzen kann. Mit Hilfe dieser Mischungsversuche, liess sich die Oekotoxizitaet aller im Rahmen des Projekts eingesetzter Boeden aus Altlasten erfassen. Die Bewertung der Oekotoxizitaet der Boeden mit Hilfe der Atmungskurven erfolgte durch den respiratorischen Aktivierungsquotienten (Basalatmung / substratinduzierte Atmung), die Lag-phase, den Zeitabschnitt bis zum Auftreten des Peakmaximums und die Form der Kurve. Der ToxiChromoPad-Test erschien als Schnelltest fuer eine qualitative Aussage ueber einen kontaminierten Boden sinnvoll. Es treten allerdings zum Teil grosse Schwankungen in den Parallelen auf. (orig.)Available from TIB Hannover: F02B1045 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEBundesministerium fuer Bildung und Forschung, Berlin (Germany); Umweltbundesamt, Berlin (Germany). Projekttraeger Abfallwirtschaft und Altlastensanierung (PT AWAS)DEGerman

Wirkung anorganischer Schadstoffe auf mikrobielle Prozesse im Boden

With 51 refs., 16 tabs., 4 figs.SIGLETIB Hannover: RN 8908(87-003) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Drying and rewetting events change the response pattern of nitrifiers but not of denitrifiers to the application of manure containing antibiotic in soil.

Application of manure for soil fertilization is a common practice in arable and pasture soils. As antibiotics are regularly used in animal husbandry, these compounds often enter the soil via manure application. The effects of antibiotics on microbial communities, however, might depend on soil moisture, as water availability may influence both the fate of the compound and the activity of the microbes. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the effects of the application of manure containing the antibiotic sulfadiazine (SDZ) on the abundance and activity of nitrifies and denitrifies in soil, based on the copy number of marker genes and their related potential activities, as affected by different moisture regimes. We observed significant effects of SDZ on potential denitrification activity, but those were not influenced by the soil moisture regime. Nevertheless, neither SDZ nor changes on moisture significantly affected the abundance of denitrifies. In contrast, both potential nitrification activity and abundance of ammonia oxidizing bacteria were significantly affected by the application of manure containing SDZ and moisture regime. Interestingly, no effects were observed for ammonia oxidizing archaea. Overall, our data show that soil moisture modulates the effects of antibiotics in soil microbial communities, and we recommend to include this parameter in the risk assessment of new chemicals