Wolf Management In The Northwestern United States

Gray wolves (Canis lupus) were deliberately eliminated from the northern Rocky Mountains (NRM) by 1930. Restoration began in 1986. There are currently nearly 120 breeding pair and 1800 wolves. Wolf restoration initially proceeded with more benefits and fewer problems than predicted. However, conflicts have steadily increased since 2002 when the population first met its minimum recovery goal. About 40 million has been spent since 1974 and the management program currently costs >4 million/yr. Wolves were delisted in 2008 and 2009 but relisted by federal court order in 2009 and 2010. While the NRM wolf population is biologically recovered, public opinion remains divisive and the legal, political, and policy decisions will continue to be litigated by a diversity of interests. Science is a poor tool to resolve the differing human values that continue to be debated with great passion through wolf symbolism

Rapid Microwave Preparation of Thermoelectric TiNiSn and TiCoSb Half-Heusler Compounds

The 18-electron ternary intermetallic systems TiNiSn and TiCoSb are promising for applications as high-temperature thermoelectrics and comprise earth-abundant, and relatively nontoxic elements. Heusler and half-Heusler compounds are usually prepared by conventional solid state methods involving arc-melting and annealing at high temperatures for an extended period of time. Here, we report an energy-saving preparation route using a domestic microwave oven, reducing the reaction time significantly from more than a week to one minute. A microwave susceptor material rapidly heats the elemental starting materials inside an evacuated quartz tube resulting in near single phase compounds. The initial preparation is followed by a densification step involving hot-pressing, which reduces the amount of secondary phases, as verified by synchrotron X-ray diffraction, leading to the desired half-Heusler compounds, demonstrating that hot-pressing should be treated as part of the preparative process. For TiNiSn, high thermoelectric power factors of 2 mW/mK^2 at temperatures in the 700 to 800 K range, and zT values of around 0.4 are found, with the microwave-prepared sample displaying somewhat superior properties to conventionally prepared half-Heuslers due to lower thermal conductivity. The TiCoSb sample shows a lower thermoelectric figure of merit when prepared using microwave methods because of a metallic second phase

Silicon-Based Thermoelectrics Made from a Boron-Doped Silicon Dioxide Nanocomposite

We report a method for preparing p-type silicon germanium bulk alloys directly from a boron-doped silica germania nanocomposite. This is the first successful attempt to produce and characterize the thermoelectric properties of SiGe-based thermoelectric materials prepared at temperatures below the alloy’s melting point through a magnesiothermic reduction of the silica-germania nanocomposite. We observe a thermoelectric power factor that is competitive with the literature record obtained for high energy ball milled nanocomposites. The large grain size in our hot pressed samples limits the thermoelectric figure of merit to 0.5 at 800 °C for an optimally doped Si_(80)Ge_(20) alloy

Collaboration for conservation: assessing countrywide carnivore occupancy dynamics from sparse data

Aim: Assessing the distribution and persistence of species across their range is a crucial component of wildlife conservation. It demands data at adequate spatial scales and over extended periods of time, which may only be obtained through collaborative efforts, and the development of methods that integrate heterogeneous datasets. We aimed to combine existing data on large carnivores to evaluate population dynamics and improve knowledge on their distribution nationwide. Location: Botswana. Methods: Between 2010 and 2016, we collated data on African wild dog, cheetah, leopard, brown and spotted hyaena and lion gathered with different survey methods by independent researchers across Botswana. We used a multi-species, multi-method dynamic occupancy model to analyse factors influencing occupancy, persistence and colonization, while accounting for imperfect detection. Lastly, we used the gained knowledge to predict the probability of occurrence of each species countrywide. Results: Wildlife areas and communal rangelands had similar occupancy probabilities for most species. Large carnivore occupancy was low in commercial farming areas and where livestock density was high, except for brown hyaena. Lion occupancy was negatively associated with human density; lion and spotted hyaena occupancy was high where rainfall was high, while the opposite applied to brown hyaena. Lion and leopard occupancy remained constant countrywide over the study period. African wild dog and cheetah occupancy declined over time in the south and north, respectively, whereas both hyaena species expanded their ranges. Countrywide predictions identified the highest occupancy for leopards and lowest for the two hyaena species. Main Conclusions: We highlight the necessity of data sharing and propose a generalizable analytical method that addresses the challenges of heterogeneous data common in ecology. Our approach, which enables a comprehensive multi-species assessment at large spatial and temporal scales, supports the development of data-driven conservation guidelines and the implementation of evidence-based management strategies nationally and internationally

The Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network (SPIN) Cohort : protocol for a cohort multiple randomised controlled trial (cmRCT) design to support trials of psychosocial and rehabilitation interventions in a rare disease context

Introduction: Psychosocial and rehabilitation interventions are increasingly used to attenuate disability and improve health-related quality of life (HRQL) in chronic diseases, but are typically not available for patients with rare diseases. Conducting rigorous, adequately powered trials of these interventions for patients with rare diseases is difficult. The Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network (SPIN) is an international collaboration of patient organisations, clinicians and researchers. The aim of SPIN is to develop a research infrastructure to test accessible, low-cost self-guided online interventions to reduce disability and improve HRQL for people living with the rare disease systemic sclerosis (SSc or scleroderma). Once tested, effective interventions will be made accessible through patient organisations partnering with SPIN. Methods and analysis: SPIN will employ the cohort multiple randomised controlled trial (cmRCT) design, in which patients consent to participate in a cohort for ongoing data collection. The aim is to recruit 1500– 2000 patients from centres across the world within a period of 5 years (2013–2018). Eligible participants are persons ≥18 years of age with a diagnosis of SSc. In addition to baseline medical data, participants will complete patient-reported outcome measures every 3 months. Upon enrolment in the cohort, patients will consent to be contacted in the future to participate in intervention research and to allow their data to be used for comparison purposes for interventions tested with other cohort participants. Once nterventions are developed, patients from the cohort will be randomly selected and offered interventions as part of pragmatic RCTs. Outcomes from patients offered interventions will be compared with outcomes from trial-eligible patients who are not offered the interventions. Ethics and dissemination: The use of the cmRCT design, the development of self-guided online interventions and partnerships with patient organisations will allow SPIN to develop, rigourously test and effectively disseminate psychosocial and rehabilitation interventions for people with SSc.(undefined

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

Spatial Organization and Molecular Correlation of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Using Deep Learning on Pathology Images

Beyond sample curation and basic pathologic characterization, the digitized H&E-stained images of TCGA samples remain underutilized. To highlight this resource, we present mappings of tumorinfiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) based on H&E images from 13 TCGA tumor types. These TIL maps are derived through computational staining using a convolutional neural network trained to classify patches of images. Affinity propagation revealed local spatial structure in TIL patterns and correlation with overall survival. TIL map structural patterns were grouped using standard histopathological parameters. These patterns are enriched in particular T cell subpopulations derived from molecular measures. TIL densities and spatial structure were differentially enriched among tumor types, immune subtypes, and tumor molecular subtypes, implying that spatial infiltrate state could reflect particular tumor cell aberration states. Obtaining spatial lymphocytic patterns linked to the rich genomic characterization of TCGA samples demonstrates one use for the TCGA image archives with insights into the tumor-immune microenvironment