Experimentally increased snow depth affects high Arctic microarthropods inconsistently over two consecutive winters

Climate change induced alterations to winter conditions may afect decomposer organisms controlling the vast carbon stores in northern soils. Soil microarthropods are particularly abundant decomposers in Arctic ecosystems. We studied whether increased snow depth afected microarthropods, and if efects were consistent over two consecutive winters. We sampled Collembola and soil mites from a snow accumulation experiment at Svalbard in early summer and used soil microclimatic data to explore to which aspects of winter climate microarthropods are most sensitive. Community densities difered substantially between years and increased snow depth had inconsistent efects. Deeper snow hardly afected microarthropods in 2015, but decreased densities and altered relative abundances of microarthropods and Collembola species after a milder winter in 2016. Although increased snow depth increased soil temperatures by 3.2 °C throughout the snow cover periods, the best microclimatic predictors of microarthropod density changes were spring soil temperature and snowmelt day. Our study shows that extrapolation of observations of decomposer responses to altered winter climate conditions to future scenarios should be avoided when communities are only sampled on a single occasion, since efects of longer-term gradual changes in winter climate may be obscured by interannual weather variability and natural variability in population sizes

Genome-wide association study of eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis reveals genomic loci stratified by ANCA status

Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) is a rare inflammatory disease of unknown cause. 30% of patients have anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) specific for myeloperoxidase (MPO). Here, we describe a genome-wide association study in 676 EGPA cases and 6809 controls, that identifies 4 EGPA-associated loci through conventional case-control analysis, and 4 additional associations through a conditional false discovery rate approach. Many variants are also associated with asthma and six are associated with eosinophil count in the general population. Through Mendelian randomisation, we show that a primary tendency to eosinophilia contributes to EGPA susceptibility. Stratification by ANCA reveals that EGPA comprises two genetically and clinically distinct syndromes. MPO+\u2009ANCA EGPA is an eosinophilic autoimmune disease sharing certain clinical features and an HLA-DQ association with MPO+\u2009ANCA-associated vasculitis, while ANCA-negative EGPA may instead have a mucosal/barrier dysfunction origin. Four candidate genes are targets of therapies in development, supporting their exploration in EGPA

Genome-wide association study of eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis reveals genomic loci stratified by ANCA status.

Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) is a rare inflammatory disease of unknown cause. 30% of patients have anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) specific for myeloperoxidase (MPO). Here, we describe a genome-wide association study in 676 EGPA cases and 6809 controls, that identifies 4 EGPA-associated loci through conventional case-control analysis, and 4 additional associations through a conditional false discovery rate approach. Many variants are also associated with asthma and six are associated with eosinophil count in the general population. Through Mendelian randomisation, we show that a primary tendency to eosinophilia contributes to EGPA susceptibility. Stratification by ANCA reveals that EGPA comprises two genetically and clinically distinct syndromes. MPO+ ANCA EGPA is an eosinophilic autoimmune disease sharing certain clinical features and an HLA-DQ association with MPO+ ANCA-associated vasculitis, while ANCA-negative EGPA may instead have a mucosal/barrier dysfunction origin. Four candidate genes are targets of therapies in development, supporting their exploration in EGPA

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Genome-wide association study of eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis reveals genomic loci stratified by ANCA status

Abstract: Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) is a rare inflammatory disease of unknown cause. 30% of patients have anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) specific for myeloperoxidase (MPO). Here, we describe a genome-wide association study in 676 EGPA cases and 6809 controls, that identifies 4 EGPA-associated loci through conventional case-control analysis, and 4 additional associations through a conditional false discovery rate approach. Many variants are also associated with asthma and six are associated with eosinophil count in the general population. Through Mendelian randomisation, we show that a primary tendency to eosinophilia contributes to EGPA susceptibility. Stratification by ANCA reveals that EGPA comprises two genetically and clinically distinct syndromes. MPO+ ANCA EGPA is an eosinophilic autoimmune disease sharing certain clinical features and an HLA-DQ association with MPO+ ANCA-associated vasculitis, while ANCA-negative EGPA may instead have a mucosal/barrier dysfunction origin. Four candidate genes are targets of therapies in development, supporting their exploration in EGPA

FIGURE 1 in Terrestrial and Freshwater Invertebrate Fauna of the High Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard

FIGURE 1. Map of the principle islands of the Svalbard archipelago showing the locations of the main research sites, 1) Ny-Ålesund, 2) Longyearbyen, and 3) Hornsund.Published as part of <i>Coulson, Stephen James, 2007, Terrestrial and Freshwater Invertebrate Fauna of the High Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard, pp. 41-58 in Zootaxa 1448 (1)</i> on page 44, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.1448.1.2, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/10087953">http://zenodo.org/record/10087953</a&gt

Distribution and population characteristics of the soil mites Diapterobates notatus and Svalbardia paludicola (Acari: Oribatida: Ceratozetidae) in High Arctic Svalbard (Norway)

The Oribatida of High Arctic Svalbard are faunistically relatively well known, but the distribution, density, stage structure and other population parameters of most species are unknown. Here we focus on two ceratozetid species, Diapterobates notatus (Thorell, 1871) and Svalbardia paludicola Thor, 1930, and investigate the summer density, stage and sex structure, proportion of gravid females and the body size of these species in 33 locations and 11 vegetation classes of Svalbard. Diapterobates notatus occurred in all vegetation classes and at 29 locations, whereas S. paludicola occurred in only two vegetation classes and at three locations. The common occurrence of D. notatus in Svalbard may be due to: (1) cosmopolitan nature of this species which inhabits all vegetation classes but with a preference for open Dryas/Carex rupestris communities, (2) high biological potential (females were more abundant than males and carried 6–7 large eggs) resulting in a high proportion of juveniles, and (3) juvenile morphology which possesses long setae that may enhance passive dispersal by the wind. Adult body size was found to be greatest in the floristically diverse Arctic meadows. Svalbardia paludicola was particularly abundant in the Arctic meadow at Reinsdyrflya where juveniles were more plentiful than the adults. The nymphs of this species have shorter gastronotal setae than those of D. notatus which may limit their passive transport by the wind. Scutozetes clavatosensillus Ermilov, Martens & Tolstikov, 2013 was found in Mosselbukta (north Spitsbergen); this is the first observation of this species in Svalbard. Oribatid mites · Ecology · Stage and sex structure · Body siz

Is Deviant Behaviour the Norm on P2P File Sharing Networks?, published in

Major international law-enforcement initiatives are underway to fight the distribution of illegal pornography via the Internet. In this paper we examine the role of peerto-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks in illegal pornography distribution. First, we investigate the contention that these networks are especially implicated in illegal pornography distribution. Our finding is that this conventional wisdom is in fact flawed: while we confirm that P2P networks are indeed used for the distribution of this material, we also find that the vast majority of it is produced and consumed by a tiny minority of P2P users who, furthermore, have little or no interaction with the wider law-abiding P2P community. On the basis of this finding, we outline a sociotechnical approach through which P2P communities (which are in general as opposed to illegal pornography as the rest of the population) might themselves collectively subvert the activities of the disconnected minority that deal in illegal pornography. We believe that such a ‘selfpolicing’ approach is potentially far more realistic and effective than the commonly-proposed “blunt instrument” measures of attempting to close down or centrally police P2P communities. 1

The parasitic tick Ixodes uriae (Acari: Ixodidae) on seabirds from Spitsbergen, Svalbard

The parasitic tick Ixodes uriae was recorded from Brünnich’s guillemots (Uria lomvia) at two colonies on Spitsbergen, the principal island in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. Six Brünnich’s guillemots from 30 studied at the Ossian Sars seabird colony were found to be parasitized. A tick was also collected from below the larger Fuglehuken colony. However, ticks were not seen on Brünnich’s guillemots examined at the smaller Krossfjorden colony, and neither were they observed in two black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) colonies (Blomstrandhalvøya and Krykkjefjellet). It is suggested that either the tick has only recently been established in Svalbard or the population has increased from a low level, and has consequently become visible to small-scale sampling studies. Implications for the seabird population of the northern Barents Sea are discussed