Three birds with one stone: Tidal wetland restoration, carbon sequestration, and enhancing resilience to rising sea levels in the Snohomish River Estuary, Washington

Recent attention has focused on exploring the carbon storage and sequestration values of tidal wetlands to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Efforts are now underway to develop the tools and refine the science needed to bring carbon markets to bear on tidal wetland restoration activities. Effective restoration not only maximizes carbon storage in former tidal wetlands but also, through the accumulation of organic and mineral matter, enhances these systems’ resilience to rising sea levels. To this end, this project focuses on the Snohomish River estuary of the Puget Sound, Washington, which offers a continuum of diked and un-diked wetlands including seasonal floodplains, open mudflats, mature and tidal forests, and salt marsh habitats. In addition, there is strong restoration potential in a suite of ongoing and proposed projects. We report here on the carbon storage pools, long-term sediment accretion rates (100 years), and estimated rates of carbon storage, derived from sediment cores collected at representative sites within the Snohomish estuary during the spring and summer of 2013. We found that natural wetlands (open to tidal exchange and riverine inputs) were accreting at rates that equaled or exceeded current rates of eustatic sea level rise, while formerly, or currently diked wetlands (closed to such exchanges and inputs) revealed marked evidence of subsidence. Restored sites showed evidence of both high rates of sediment accretion (1.61 cm/year) and carbon storage (352 g C/m2/year)

Moral Injury and Moral Resilience in Health Care Workers during COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic placed unprecedented strains on the U.S. health care system, putting health care workers (HCWs) at increased risk for experiencing moral injury (MI). Moral resilience (MR), the ability to preserve or restore integrity, has been proposed as a resource to mitigate the detrimental effects of MI among HCWs. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to investigate the prevalence of MI among HCWs, to identify the relationship among factors that predict MI, and to determine whether MR can act as buffer against it. DESIGN: Web-based exploratory survey. SETTING/SUBJECTS: HCWs from a research network in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region. MEASUREMENTS: Survey items included: our outcome, Moral Injury Symptoms Scale–Health Professional (MISS-HP), and predictors including demographics, items derived from the Rushton Moral Resilience Scale (RMRS), and ethical concerns index (ECI). RESULTS: Sixty-five percent of 595 respondents provided COVID-19 care. The overall prevalence of clinically significant MI in HCWs was 32.4%; nurses reporting the highest occurrence. Higher scores on each of the ECI items were significantly positively associated with higher MI symptoms (p < 0.05). MI among HCWs was significantly related to the following: MR score, ECI score, religious affiliation, and having ≥20 years in their profession. MR was a moderator of the effect of years of experience on MI. CONCLUSIONS: HCWs are experiencing MI during the pandemic. MR offers a promising individual resource to buffer the detrimental impact of MI. Further research is needed to understand how to cultivate MR, reduce ECI, and understand other systems level factors to prevent MI symptoms in U.S. HCWs

Lactation and neonatal nutrition: defining and refining the critical questions.

This paper resulted from a conference entitled "Lactation and Milk: Defining and refining the critical questions" held at the University of Colorado School of Medicine from January 18-20, 2012. The mission of the conference was to identify unresolved questions and set future goals for research into human milk composition, mammary development and lactation. We first outline the unanswered questions regarding the composition of human milk (Section I) and the mechanisms by which milk components affect neonatal development, growth and health and recommend models for future research. Emerging questions about how milk components affect cognitive development and behavioral phenotype of the offspring are presented in Section II. In Section III we outline the important unanswered questions about regulation of mammary gland development, the heritability of defects, the effects of maternal nutrition, disease, metabolic status, and therapeutic drugs upon the subsequent lactation. Questions surrounding breastfeeding practice are also highlighted. In Section IV we describe the specific nutritional challenges faced by three different populations, namely preterm infants, infants born to obese mothers who may or may not have gestational diabetes, and infants born to undernourished mothers. The recognition that multidisciplinary training is critical to advancing the field led us to formulate specific training recommendations in Section V. Our recommendations for research emphasis are summarized in Section VI. In sum, we present a roadmap for multidisciplinary research into all aspects of human lactation, milk and its role in infant nutrition for the next decade and beyond

Rare Copy Number Variants in \u3cem\u3eNRXN1\u3c/em\u3e and \u3cem\u3eCNTN6\u3c/em\u3e Increase Risk for Tourette Syndrome

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a model neuropsychiatric disorder thought to arise from abnormal development and/or maintenance of cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuits. TS is highly heritable, but its underlying genetic causes are still elusive, and no genome-wide significant loci have been discovered to date. We analyzed a European ancestry sample of 2,434 TS cases and 4,093 ancestry-matched controls for rare (\u3c 1% frequency) copy-number variants (CNVs) using SNP microarray data. We observed an enrichment of global CNV burden that was prominent for large (\u3e 1 Mb), singleton events (OR = 2.28, 95% CI [1.39–3.79], p = 1.2 × 10−3) and known, pathogenic CNVs (OR = 3.03 [1.85–5.07], p = 1.5 × 10−5). We also identified two individual, genome-wide significant loci, each conferring a substantial increase in TS risk (NRXN1 deletions, OR = 20.3, 95% CI [2.6–156.2]; CNTN6 duplications, OR = 10.1, 95% CI [2.3–45.4]). Approximately 1% of TS cases carry one of these CNVs, indicating that rare structural variation contributes significantly to the genetic architecture of TS

High-Throughput GoMiner, an 'industrial-strength' integrative gene ontology tool for interpretation of multiple-microarray experiments, with application to studies of Common Variable Immune Deficiency (CVID)

BACKGROUND: We previously developed GoMiner, an application that organizes lists of 'interesting' genes (for example, under-and overexpressed genes from a microarray experiment) for biological interpretation in the context of the Gene Ontology. The original version of GoMiner was oriented toward visualization and interpretation of the results from a single microarray (or other high-throughput experimental platform), using a graphical user interface. Although that version can be used to examine the results from a number of microarrays one at a time, that is a rather tedious task, and original GoMiner includes no apparatus for obtaining a global picture of results from an experiment that consists of multiple microarrays. We wanted to provide a computational resource that automates the analysis of multiple microarrays and then integrates the results across all of them in useful exportable output files and visualizations. RESULTS: We now introduce a new tool, High-Throughput GoMiner, that has those capabilities and a number of others: It (i) efficiently performs the computationally-intensive task of automated batch processing of an arbitrary number of microarrays, (ii) produces a human-or computer-readable report that rank-orders the multiple microarray results according to the number of significant GO categories, (iii) integrates the multiple microarray results by providing organized, global clustered image map visualizations of the relationships of significant GO categories, (iv) provides a fast form of 'false discovery rate' multiple comparisons calculation, and (v) provides annotations and visualizations for relating transcription factor binding sites to genes and GO categories. CONCLUSION: High-Throughput GoMiner achieves the desired goal of providing a computational resource that automates the analysis of multiple microarrays and integrates results across all of the microarrays. For illustration, we show an application of this new tool to the interpretation of altered gene expression patterns in Common Variable Immune Deficiency (CVID). High-Throughput GoMiner will be useful in a wide range of applications, including the study of time-courses, evaluation of multiple drug treatments, comparison of multiple gene knock-outs or knock-downs, and screening of large numbers of chemical derivatives generated from a promising lead compound

Brief report: a comparison of the preference for viewing social and non-social movies in typical and autistic adolescents

The recently proposed Social Motivation theory (Chevallier et al., Trends in cognitive sciences 16(4):231–239, 2012) suggests that social difficulties in Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) might be caused by a difference in the motivation to engage with other people. Here we compared adolescents with (N = 31) and without (N = 37) ASC on the Choose-a-Movie paradigm that measures the social seeking. The results showed a preference for viewing objects over smiling faces in ASC, which is in line with the theory of low social motivation. However, typical adolescents did not show any stimuli preferences, raising questions about developmental changes in social motivation. Age was found to play a significant role in moderating the choice behaviour of the participants. We discuss the implications of these findings in detail

Additive genetic variation in schizophrenia risk is shared by populations of African and European descent

Previous studies have emphasized ethnically heterogeneous human leukocyte antigen (HLA) classical allele associations to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) risk. We fine-mapped RA risk alleles within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in 2782 seropositive RA cases and 4315 controls of Asian descent. We applied imputation to determine genotypes for eight class I and II HLA genes to Asian populations for the first time using a newly constructed pan-Asian reference panel. First, we empirically measured high imputation accuracy in Asian samples. Then we observed the most significant association in HLA-DRβ1 at amino acid position 13, located outside the classical shared epitope (Pomnibus = 6.9 × 10(-135)). The individual residues at position 13 have relative effects that are consistent with published effects in European populations (His > Phe > Arg > Tyr ≅ Gly > Ser)--but the observed effects in Asians are generally smaller. Applying stepwise conditional analysis, we identified additional independent associations at positions 57 (conditional Pomnibus = 2.2 × 10(-33)) and 74 (conditional Pomnibus = 1.1 × 10(-8)). Outside of HLA-DRβ1, we observed independent effects for amino acid polymorphisms within HLA-B (Asp9, conditional P = 3.8 × 10(-6)) and HLA-DPβ1 (Phe9, conditional P = 3.0 × 10(-5)) concordant with European populations. Our trans-ethnic HLA fine-mapping study reveals that (i) a common set of amino acid residues confer shared effects in European and Asian populations and (ii) these same effects can explain ethnically heterogeneous classical allelic associations (e.g. HLA-DRB1*09:01) due to allele frequency differences between populations. Our study illustrates the value of high-resolution imputation for fine-mapping causal variants in the MHC

Genomics and epidemiology of the P.1 SARS-CoV-2 lineage in Manaus, Brazil

Cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in Manaus, Brazil, resurged in late 2020 despite previously high levels of infection. Genome sequencing of viruses sampled in Manaus between November 2020 and January 2021 revealed the emergence and circulation of a novel SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern. Lineage P.1 acquired 17 mutations, including a trio in the spike protein (K417T, E484K, and N501Y) associated with increased binding to the human ACE2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2) receptor. Molecular clock analysis shows that P.1 emergence occurred around mid-November 2020 and was preceded by a period of faster molecular evolution. Using a two-category dynamical model that integrates genomic and mortality data, we estimate that P.1 may be 1.7- to 2.4-fold more transmissible and that previous (non-P.1) infection provides 54 to 79% of the protection against infection with P.1 that it provides against non-P.1 lineages. Enhanced global genomic surveillance of variants of concern, which may exhibit increased transmissibility and/or immune evasion, is critical to accelerate pandemic responsiveness

A scoping review of supports on college and university campuses for autistic post-secondary students

Given the demand to better address the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in higher education, research into both barriers and promising practices to support autistic students on post-secondary campuses has advanced significantly in the last decade. The objective of this scoping review is to identify, map, and characterize literature that enumerates and describes supports for autistic post-secondary students. This scoping review was limited to peer-reviewed research published between January 2012 and May 2022, in these databases: Web of Science, PsycINFO, Medline, EMBASE, ERIC, Social Work Abstracts, Social Services Abstracts, and EMCARE. The review aligns to Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews and includes consultation with an expert panel made up of the Autistic Community Partners–four autistic individuals with postsecondary experience who acted as co-researchers. Literature on creating accessible campuses were mapped in three ways: (1) through the four domains of the PASS Taxonomy; (2) ten support categories characterizing types of supports, and (3) nine emergent themes, based on autistic experiences on support and campus navigation, were inductively and iteratively coded throughout process. This review summarizes both areas that have been researched and under-studied areas in the literature that act as contributors or challenges for autistic students on postsecondary campuses. It was also the first scoping review, to our knowledge, to integrate lived experience within the methods and results analysis to describe the current state of the evidence on post-secondary campuses. Mapping the literature in known and emerging categories indicated that broad categories of support are experienced variably by autistic students. Findings provide multiple avenues for future research

Collage Vol. II

JUDY COCHRAN: Editorial, 4-5 ROBERTA CHAPMEN: Photo, 6 ANITRA CHUGHTAI (Translations): Haikus, 7 CHARLES O\u27KEEFE: Photo, 8 MARK VANDERLINDE-ABERNATHY, ALYSSA LANDRY (Translator): Memories of a Spider (Les souvenirs d\u27une araignee), 9 MARK VANDERLINE-ABERNATHY, AMY NORSKOG (Translator): Tomato Fields (Champ de tomates), 10 SARAH BISHOP, HEFEDH ZANINA (Translator): Dear John (Cher John), 11 RYAN BUTZ (Translator): Basho\u27s Haiku, Issa\u27s Haiku, 12-13 JENNIFER HUMBERT, FADOUA EL BOUAMRAOUI (Translator): Pressed Lips (Levres Serrees), 15 ADELE REEVES (Translator): Contemporary song by Mr. Children, 16-17 BRODY PAGEL, GRACE DUGAR (Translator): The Lizard King (Le Roi Lezard), 18 JIMMY PIPKIN (Translator): In Love with You, 19 MOLLY ROSCOE: Saturday Night at Rusty\u27s (Samedi Soir a Rusty\u27s), 20 CHARLES O\u27KEEFE: Photo, 21 MATT MESSMER (Translator): Waseda University School Song, 22-23 TIMOTHY COOPER: Wenn du grosh bist… (When you\u27re Tall…), 24 DAVID HARMAN: Der Dunkle Stern (The Dark Star), 25 ANN TOWNSEND, JUDY COCHRAN (Translator): From a Window (D\u27une Fenetre), 26-27 SARA CAHILL: El sauce lloron (The Weeping Willow), 28-32 CHARLES O\u27KEEFE: Photo, 30 JENNIFER HUMBERT, MATT BISHOP: Past, Present (passe, present), 33 CAROL GENEYA KAPLAN, FADOUA EL BOUAMRAOUI (Translator): Une Autre Femme (Another Woman), 34-35 CHARLES O\u27KEEFE: Photo, 36 ANN TOWNSEND, JUDY COCHRAN (Translator): The Mowers (Les Faucheurs), 37 PRISCILLA PATON: Photo, 38 GONZALO TUESTA: La Grande Dame De Paris (The Great Lady of Paris), 39 SARAH PILLERDORF (Translator): Japanese Cartoons by Tezuka Osamu, 41-45 DANIELLE GERKEN: Schuhe der Heimat (Boots of Home), 47 CURTIS PLOWGIAN: Le peste de la langue francaise, 48-52 PRISCILLA PATON: Photo, 50 ZANE HOUSEHOLDER: Vive la Republique! (Film), 54 JENNIFER ZIMMER: EL tenis y las frustraciones (Tennis and Frustrations), La tumba de Ben (Ben\u27s Grave), 56-57 AUTUMN LOTZE: Times Square in the rain, 58-59 CHARLES O\u27KEEFE: Photo, 60 STEPHEN M. JULKA: Colors of the Earth, 61 THOMAS BRESSOUD: Java, 62 ERIC NELSON: World, 63 SARAH CLAPP (Translator): At a long day\u27s end (Natsume Soseki), A friend has come and is now leaving, Eating persimmons (Masaoka Shiki), 64 CHARLES O\u27KEEFE: Photo, 65 JOHN BURZYNSKI, MEGAN FETTER (Translator): Home is where the heart is, 66 RICHARD BANAHAN: Photo, 67 KIM FREEMAN: Baltimore, 68 JACOB RIDRIGUEZ-NOBLE: Home (Heimat), 69 SUZANNE KENNEDY: Oft verberge ich mich (Oft I hide myself), 70 RICHARD BANAHAN: Photo, 7