Advances in understanding subglacial meltwater drainage from past ice sheets

Meltwater drainage beneath ice sheets is a fundamental consideration for understanding ice–bed conditions and bed-modulated ice flow, with potential impacts on terminus behavior and iceshelf mass balance. While contemporary observations reveal the presence of basal water movement in the subglacial environment and inferred styles of drainage, the geological record of former ice sheets, including sediments and landforms on land and the seafloor, aids in understanding the spatiotemporal evolution of efficient and inefficient drainage systems and their impact on ice-sheet behavior. We highlight the past decade of advances in geological studies that focus on providing process-based information on subglacial hydrology of ice sheets, how these studies inform theory, numerical models and contemporary observations, and address the needs for future research

Advances in understanding subglacial meltwater drainage from past ice sheets

Meltwater drainage beneath ice sheets is a fundamental consideration for understanding ice–bed conditions and bed-modulated ice flow, with potential impacts on terminus behavior and ice-shelf mass balance. While contemporary observations reveal the presence of basal water movement in the subglacial environment and inferred styles of drainage, the geological record of former ice sheets, including sediments and landforms on land and the seafloor, aids in understanding the spatiotemporal evolution of efficient and inefficient drainage systems and their impact on ice-sheet behavior. We highlight the past decade of advances in geological studies that focus on providing process-based information on subglacial hydrology of ice sheets, how these studies inform theory, numerical models and contemporary observations, and address the needs for future research

Maternal age and risk of cesarean section in women with induced labor at term - a Nordic register-based study

Abstract Introduction Over the last decades, induction of labor has increased in many countries along with increasing maternal age. We assessed the effects of maternal age and labor induction on cesarean section at term among nulliparous and multiparous women without previous cesarean section. Material and methods We performed a retrospective national registry-based study from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden including 3 398 586 deliveries between 2000 and 2011. We investigated the impact of age on cesarean section among 196 220 nulliparous and 188 158 multiparous women whose labor was induced, had single cephalic presentation at term and no previous cesarean section. Confounders comprised country, time-period and gestational age. Results In nulliparous women with induced labor the rate of cesarean section increased from 14.0% in women less than 20 years of age to 39.9% in women 40 years and older. Compared to women aged 25-29 years, the corresponding relative risk were 0.60 (95% confidence interval (CI); 0.57 to 0.64) and 1.72 (95% CI; 1.66 to 1.79). In multiparous induced women the risk of cesarean section was 3.9% in women less than 20 years rising to 9.1% in women 40 years and older. Compared to women aged 25-29 years, the relative risk were 0.86 (95% CI; 0.54 to 1.37) and 1.98 (95% CI; 1.84 to 2.12), respectively. There were minimal confounding effects of country, time-period and gestational age on risk for cesarean section. Conclusions Advanced maternal age is associated with increased risk of cesarean section in women undergoing labor induction with a single cephalic presentation at term without a previous cesarean section. The absolute risk of cesarean section is 3-5 times higher across 5-year age groups in nulliparous relative to multiparous women having induced labor.Peer reviewe

Deep phenotyping of the unselected COPSAC2010 birth cohort study

BACKGROUND: We hypothesize that perinatal exposures, in particular the human microbiome and maternal nutrition during pregnancy, interact with the genetic predisposition to cause an abnormal immune modulation in early life towards a trajectory to chronic inflammatory diseases such as asthma and others. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to explore these interactions by conducting a longitudinal study in an unselected cohort of pregnant women and their offspring with emphasis on deep clinical phenotyping, exposure assessment, and biobanking. Exposure assessments focus on the human microbiome. Nutritional intervention during pregnancy in randomized controlled trials are included in the study to prevent disease and to be able to establish causal relationships. METHODS: Pregnant women from eastern Denmark were invited during 2008–2010 to a novel unselected ‘COPSAC(2010)’ cohort. The women visited the clinic during pregnancy weeks 24 and 36. Their children were followed at the clinic with deep phenotyping and collection of biological samples at nine regular visits until the age of 3 and at acute symptoms. Randomized controlled trials of high‐dose vitamin D and fish oil supplements were conducted during pregnancy, and a trial of azithromycin for acute lung symptoms was conducted in the children with recurrent wheeze. RESULTS: Seven hundred and thirty‐eight mothers were recruited from week 24 of gestation, and 700 of their children were included in the birth cohort. The cohort has an over‐representation of atopic parents. The participant satisfaction was high and the adherence equally high with 685 children (98%) attending the 1 year clinic visit and 667 children (95%) attending the 2 year clinic visit. CONCLUSIONS: The COPSAC(2010) birth cohort study provides longitudinal clinical follow‐up with highly specific end‐points, exposure assessments, and biobanking. The cohort has a high adherence rate promising strong data to elucidate the interaction between genomics and the exposome in perinatal life leading to lifestyle‐related chronic inflammatory disorders such as asthma

Seabed geomorphology: a two-part classification system

The BGS has developed a two- part classification system (‘Morphology’ and ‘Geomorphology’) to facilitate work on a new ‘S eabed Geomorphology’ mapping initia tive, and this classification system is the focus of this report. As stated in the Foreword, the rationale and the basic framework of the classification system were conceived and es tablished within BGS, but recent collaboration within the MAREANO -Norway, INFOMAR -Ireland, and MAREMAP -UK (MIM) partnership has led to significant improvement of the classifi cation system, and this report. To further support this effort, existing BGS GIS tools (SIGMA) ha ve been adapted to apply this two-part classification system for more efficient geom orphological mapping in the marine environment. This report: provides a brief background on seabed mapping and characterisation, as well as how this science has been addressed historically within BGS; describes the current motiva tion to conduct seabed geom orphological mapping, and the requirement for a new set of t ools to facilitate this work; describes the logical framework that underpins the classification system; outlines the attributes of the classification system, how it can be applied, and discusses the advantages and limitations of the approach. It is anticipated that through testing and usage, the classification syst em will be revised and improved over time, with updated versions released through MIM partnershi p. It is also planned that a further ‘user guide’ report will be produced for the classifi cation system and the GIS tools, including thematic details (e.g. background information on ‘coastal’ or ‘glacial’ features) and a feature glossary

Fish Oil-Derived Fatty Acids in Pregnancy and Wheeze and Asthma in Offspring

© 2016 Massachusetts Medical Society. Bisgaard, H., Stokholm, J., Chawes, B. L., Vissing, N. H., Bjarnadóttir, E., Schoos, A.-M. M., … Bønnelykke, K. (2016). Fish Oil–Derived Fatty Acids in Pregnancy and Wheeze and Asthma in Offspring. New England Journal of Medicine, 375(26), 2530–2539. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1503734BACKGROUND Reduced intake of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs) may be a contributing factor to the increasing prevalence of wheezing disorders. We assessed the effect of supplementation with n-3 LCPUFAs in pregnant women on the risk of persistent wheeze and asthma in their offspring. METHODS We randomly assigned 736 pregnant women at 24 weeks of gestation to receive 2.4 g of n-3 LCPUFA (fish oil) or placebo (olive oil) per day. Their children formed the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood 2010 (COPSAC 2010) cohort and were followed prospectively with extensive clinical phenotyping. Neither the investigators nor the participants were aware of group assignments during follow-up for the first 3 years of the children's lives, after which there was a 2-year follow-up period during which only the investigators were unaware of group assignments. The primary end point was persistent wheeze or asthma, and the secondary end points included lower respiratory tract infections, asthma exacerbations, eczema, and allergic sensitization. RESULTS A total of 695 children were included in the trial, and 95.5% completed the 3-year, double-blind follow-up period. The risk of persistent wheeze or asthma in the treatment group was 16.9%, versus 23.7% in the control group (hazard ratio, 0.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.49 to 0.97; P=0.035), corresponding to a relative reduction of 30.7%. Prespecified subgroup analyses suggested that the effect was strongest in the children of women whose blood levels of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid were in the lowest third of the trial population at randomization: 17.5% versus 34.1% (hazard ratio, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.25 to 0.83; P=0.011). Analyses of secondary end points showed that supplementation with n-3 LCPUFA was associated with a reduced risk of infections of the lower respiratory tract (31.7% vs. 39.1%; hazard ratio, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.58 to 0.98; P=0.033), but there was no statistically significant association between supplementation and asthma exacerbations, eczema, or allergic sensitization. CONCLUSIONS Supplementation with n-3 LCPUFA in the third trimester of pregnancy reduced the absolute risk of persistent wheeze or asthma and infections of the lower respiratory tract in offspring by approximately 7 percentage points, or one third. (Funded by the Lund-beck Foundation and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00798226.)Lundbeck Foundatio

A core human primary tumor angiogenesis signature identifies the endothelial orphan receptor ELTD1 as a key regulator of angiogenesis.

Limited clinical benefits derived from anti-VEGF therapy have driven the identification of new targets involved in tumor angiogenesis. Here, we report an integrative meta-analysis to define the transcriptional program underlying angiogenesis in human cancer. This approach identified ELTD1, an orphan G-protein-coupled receptor whose expression is induced by VEGF/bFGF and repressed by DLL4 signaling. Extensive analysis of multiple cancer types demonstrates significant upregulation of ELTD1 in tumor-associated endothelial cells, with a higher expression correlating with favorable prognosis. Importantly, ELTD1 silencing impairs endothelial sprouting and vessel formation in vitro and in vivo, drastically reducing tumor growth and greatly improving survival. Collectively, these results provide insight into the regulation of tumor angiogenesis and highlight ELTD1 as key player in blood vessel formation