Health-Related Conditions and Depression in Elderly Mexican American and Non-Hispanic White Residents of a United States-Mexico Border County: Moderating Effects of Educational Attainment

We investigated the prevalence of “high” levels of depressive symptomatology and 13 health-related medical conditions in elderly Mexican American (MA) and non-Hispanic white (NHW) residents of El Paso County, Texas. We analyzed the extent to which depressive symptoms in this population are associated with these conditions. Elderly MA residents possessed a higher prevalence of current depression, a relatively unique health-related condition profile, and were more likely to experience a set of conditions that impede participation in daily life—conditions that we found to be strongly associated with high depressive symptomatology in the elderly. After adjusting for educational attainment, using multiple regression analyses, depression was not associated with ethnicity and only six of the health related conditions showed significant differences between MA and NHW subjects. We believe these results provide an important insight into the mechanism of health-related conditions and depressive symptomatology in a large sample of elderly MAs; and how conditions typically attributed to MA ethnicity may in actuality be an artifact of socioeconomic status variables such as educational-attainment

Primers for Castilleja and their utility across Orobanchaceae: I. Chloroplast primers1

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141726/1/aps31700020.pd

Primers for Castilleja and their Utility Across Orobanchaceae: I. Chloroplast Primers

Premise of the study: Chloroplast primers were developed from genomic data for the taxonomically challenging genus Castilleja. We further tested the broader utility of these primers across Orobanchaceae, identifying a core set of chloroplast primers amplifying across the clade.Methods and Results: Using a combination of three low-coverage Castilleja genomes and sequence data from 12 Castilleja plastomes, 76 primer combinations were specifically designed and tested for Castilleja. The primers targeted the most variable portions of the plastome and were validated for their applicability across the clade. Of these, 38 primer combinations were subsequently evaluated in silico and then validated across other major clades in Orobanchaceae.Conclusions: These results demonstrate the utility of these primers, not only across Castilleja, but for other clades in Orobanchaceae— particularly hemiparasitic lineages—and will contribute to future phylogenetic studies of this important clade of parasitic plants

Chagas Cardiomyopathy Manifestations and Trypanosoma cruzi Genotypes Circulating in Chronic Chagasic Patients

Chagas disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi is a complex disease that is endemic and an important problem in public health in Latin America. The T. cruzi parasite is classified into six discrete taxonomic units (DTUs) based on the recently proposed nomenclature (TcI, TcII, TcIII, TcIV, TcV and TcVI). The discovery of genetic variability within TcI showed the presence of five genotypes (Ia, Ib, Ic, Id and Ie) related to the transmission cycle of Chagas disease. In Colombia, TcI is more prevalent but TcII has also been reported, as has mixed infection by both TcI and TcII in the same Chagasic patient. The objectives of this study were to determine the T. cruzi DTUs that are circulating in Colombian chronic Chagasic patients and to obtain more information about the molecular epidemiology of Chagas disease in Colombia. We also assessed the presence of electrocardiographic, radiologic and echocardiographic abnormalities with the purpose of correlating T. cruzi genetic variability and cardiac disease. Molecular characterization was performed in Colombian adult chronic Chagasic patients based on the intergenic region of the mini-exon gene, the 24Sα and 18S regions of rDNA and the variable region of satellite DNA, whereby the presence of T.cruzi I, II, III and IV was detected. In our population, mixed infections also occurred, with TcI-TcII, TcI-TcIII and TcI-TcIV, as well as the existence of the TcI genotypes showing the presence of genotypes Ia and Id. Patients infected with TcI demonstrated a higher prevalence of cardiac alterations than those infected with TcII. These results corroborate the predominance of TcI in Colombia and show the first report of TcIII and TcIV in Colombian Chagasic patients. Findings also indicate that Chagas cardiomyopathy manifestations are more correlated with TcI than with TcII in Colombia

Linking soil microbial community structure to potential carbon mineralization: A continental scale assessment of reduced tillage

Potential carbon mineralization (Cmin) is a commonly used indicator of soil health, with greater Cmin values interpreted as healthier soil. While Cmin values are typically greater in agricultural soils managed with minimal physical disturbance, the mechanisms driving the increases remain poorly understood. This study assessed bacterial and archaeal community structure and potential microbial drivers of Cmin in soils maintained under various degrees of physical disturbance. Potential carbon mineralization, 16S rRNA sequences, and soil characterization data were collected as part of the North American Project to Evaluate Soil Health Measurements (NAPESHM). Results showed that type of cropping system, intensity of physical disturbance, and soil pH influenced microbial sensitivity to physical disturbance. Furthermore, 28% of amplicon sequence variants (ASVs), which were important in modeling Cmin, were enriched under soils managed with minimal physical disturbance. Sequences identified as enriched under minimal disturbance and important for modeling Cmin, were linked to organisms which could produce extracellular polymeric substances and contained metabolic strategies suited for tolerating environmental stressors. Understanding how physical disturbance shapes microbial communities across climates and inherent soil properties and drives changes in Cmin provides the context necessary to evaluate management impacts on standardized measures of soil microbial activity

Potential macro-detritivore range expansion into the subarctic stimulates litter decomposition: a new positive feedback mechanism to climate change?

As a result of low decomposition rates, high-latitude ecosystems store large amounts of carbon. Litter decomposition in these ecosystems is constrained by harsh abiotic conditions, but also by the absence of macro-detritivores. We have studied the potential effects of their climate change-driven northward range expansion on the decomposition of two contrasting subarctic litter types. Litter of Alnus incana and Betula pubescens was incubated in microcosms together with monocultures and all possible combinations of three functionally different macro-detritivores (the earthworm Lumbricus rubellus, isopod Oniscus asellus, and millipede Julus scandinavius). Our results show that these macro-detritivores stimulated decomposition, especially of the high-quality A. incana litter and that the macro-detritivores tested differed in their decomposition-stimulating effects, with earthworms having the largest influence. Decomposition processes increased with increasing number of macro-detritivore species, and positive net diveristy effects occurred in several macro-detritivore treatments. However, after correction for macro-detritivore biomass, all interspecific differences in macro-detritivore effects, as well as the positive effects of species number on subarctic litter decomposition disappeared. The net diversity effects also appeared to be driven by variation in biomass, with a possible exception of net diversity effects in mass loss. Based on these results, we conclude that the expected climate change-induced range expansion of macro-detritivores into subarctic regions is likely to result in accelerated decomposition rates. Our results also indicate that the magnitude of macro-detritivore effects on subarctic decomposition will mainly depend on macro-detritivore biomass, rather than on macro-detritivore species number or identity

International Society of Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM)-ITS reference DNA barcoding database - the quality controlled standard tool for routine identification of human and animal pathogenic fungi

Human and animal fungal pathogens are a growing threat worldwide leading to emerging infections and creating new risks for established ones. There is a growing need for a rapid and accurate identification of pathogens to enable early diagnosis and targeted antifungal therapy. Morphological and biochemical identification methods are time-consuming and require trained experts. Alternatively, molecular methods, such as DNA barcoding, a powerful and easy tool for rapid monophasic identification, offer a practical approach for species identification and less demanding in terms of taxonomical expertise. However, its wide-spread use is still limited by a lack of quality-controlled reference databases and the evolving recognition and definition of new fungal species/complexes. An international consortium of medical mycology laboratories was formed aiming to establish a quality controlled ITS database under the umbrella of the ISHAM working group on "DNA barcoding of human and animal pathogenic fungi." A new database, containing 2800 ITS sequences representing 421 fungal species, providing the medical community with a freely accessible tool at http://www.isham.org and http://its.mycologylab.org/ to rapidly and reliably identify most agents of mycoses, was established. The generated sequences included in the new database were used to evaluate the variation and overall utility of the ITS region for the identification of pathogenic fungi at intra-and interspecies level. The average intraspecies variation ranged from 0 to 2.25%. This highlighted selected pathogenic fungal species, such as the dermatophytes and emerging yeast, for which additional molecular methods/genetic markers are required for their reliable identification from clinical and veterinary specimens.This study was supported by an National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NH&MRC) grant [#APP1031952] to W Meyer, S Chen, V Robert, and D Ellis; CNPq [350338/2000-0] and FAPERJ [E-26/103.157/2011] grants to RM Zancope-Oliveira; CNPq [308011/2010-4] and FAPESP [2007/08575-1] Fundacao de Amparo Pesquisa do Estado de So Paulo (FAPESP) grants to AL Colombo; PEst-OE/BIA/UI4050/2014 from Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) to C Pais; the Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo) to BCCM/IHEM; the MEXBOL program of CONACyT-Mexico, [ref. number: 1228961 to ML Taylor and [122481] to C Toriello; the Institut Pasteur and Institut de Veil le Sanitaire to F Dromer and D Garcia-Hermoso; and the grants from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) and the Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Goias (FAPEG) to CM de Almeida Soares and JA Parente Rocha. I Arthur would like to thank G Cherian, A Higgins and the staff of the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Path West, QEII Medial Centre. Dromer would like to thank for the technical help of the sequencing facility and specifically that of I, Diancourt, A-S Delannoy-Vieillard, J-M Thiberge (Genotyping of Pathogens and Public Health, Institut Pasteur). RM Zancope-Oliveira would like to thank the Genomic/DNA Sequencing Platform at Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz-PDTIS/FIOCRUZ [RPT01A], Brazil for the sequencing. B Robbertse and CL Schoch acknowledge support from the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Library of Medicine. T Sorrell's work is funded by the NH&MRC of Australia; she is a Sydney Medical School Foundation Fellow.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio