Risk of cardiovascular disease and total mortality in adults with type 1 diabetes: Scottish registry linkage study

<p>Background: Randomized controlled trials have shown the importance of tight glucose control in type 1 diabetes (T1DM), but few recent studies have evaluated the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality among adults with T1DM. We evaluated these risks in adults with T1DM compared with the non-diabetic population in a nationwide study from Scotland and examined control of CVD risk factors in those with T1DM.</p> <p>Methods and Findings: The Scottish Care Information-Diabetes Collaboration database was used to identify all people registered with T1DM and aged ≥20 years in 2005–2007 and to provide risk factor data. Major CVD events and deaths were obtained from the national hospital admissions database and death register. The age-adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) for CVD and mortality in T1DM (n = 21,789) versus the non-diabetic population (3.96 million) was estimated using Poisson regression. The age-adjusted IRR for first CVD event associated with T1DM versus the non-diabetic population was higher in women (3.0: 95% CI 2.4–3.8, p<0.001) than men (2.3: 2.0–2.7, p<0.001) while the IRR for all-cause mortality associated with T1DM was comparable at 2.6 (2.2–3.0, p<0.001) in men and 2.7 (2.2–3.4, p<0.001) in women. Between 2005–2007, among individuals with T1DM, 34 of 123 deaths among 10,173 who were <40 years and 37 of 907 deaths among 12,739 who were ≥40 years had an underlying cause of death of coma or diabetic ketoacidosis. Among individuals 60–69 years, approximately three extra deaths per 100 per year occurred among men with T1DM (28.51/1,000 person years at risk), and two per 100 per year for women (17.99/1,000 person years at risk). 28% of those with T1DM were current smokers, 13% achieved target HbA1c of <7% and 37% had very poor (≥9%) glycaemic control. Among those aged ≥40, 37% had blood pressures above even conservative targets (≥140/90 mmHg) and 39% of those ≥40 years were not on a statin. Although many of these risk factors were comparable to those previously reported in other developed countries, CVD and mortality rates may not be generalizable to other countries. Limitations included lack of information on the specific insulin therapy used.</p> <p>Conclusions: Although the relative risks for CVD and total mortality associated with T1DM in this population have declined relative to earlier studies, T1DM continues to be associated with higher CVD and death rates than the non-diabetic population. Risk factor management should be improved to further reduce risk but better treatment approaches for achieving good glycaemic control are badly needed.</p&gt

Application of genomic tools to avocado (Persea americana) breeding : SNP discovery for genotyping and germplasm characterization

Avocado (Persea americana) is an important tropical and subtropical fruit tree crop. Traditional tree breeding programs face the challenges of long generation time and significant expense in land and personnel resources. Avocado selection and breeding can be more efficient and less expensive through the development of molecular markers for the estimation of germplasm genetic diversity, marker-assisted selection (MAS), and creation of linkage maps. Two important breeding resources, the world's two largest avocado mapping populations and an extensive germplasm collection, are housed at the USDA-ARS Subtropical Horticulture Research Station (SHRS) in Miami, Florida. However, to use these resources to their greatest advantage, many thousands of genetic markers are necessary. Here, we describe the development of the first set of avocado genetic markers based on single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) variation in expressed genes. RNA sequencing was used both to build a reference transcriptome from 'Hass', the most widely grown avocado cultivar worldwide, and to identify SNPs by alignment of RNA sequences from the mapping population parents to the ˈHassˈ transcriptome. This study provides a new genomic tool for the avocado community that can be used to assess the genetic diversity of avocado germplasm worldwide and to optimize avocado breeding and selection programs by complementing traditional breeding methods with molecular approaches, thus increasing the efficiency of avocado genetic improvement.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/scihortiam2019BiochemistryForestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI)GeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Cohort Profile:Scottish Diabetes Research Network Type 1 Bioresource Study (SDRNT1BIO)

No abstract available

Landscape science: a Russian geographical tradition

The Russian geographical tradition of landscape science (landshaftovedenie) is analyzed with particular reference to its initiator, Lev Semenovich Berg (1876-1950). The differences between prevailing Russian and Western concepts of landscape in geography are discussed, and their common origins in German geographical thought in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are delineated. It is argued that the principal differences are accounted for by a number of factors, of which Russia's own distinctive tradition in environmental science deriving from the work of V. V. Dokuchaev (1846-1903), the activities of certain key individuals (such as Berg and C. O. Sauer), and the very different social and political circumstances in different parts of the world appear to be the most significant. At the same time it is noted that neither in Russia nor in the West have geographers succeeded in specifying an agreed and unproblematic understanding of landscape, or more broadly in promoting a common geographical conception of human-environment relationships. In light of such uncertainties, the latter part of the article argues for closer international links between the variant landscape traditions in geography as an important contribution to the quest for sustainability

Contemporary Risk of Hip Fracture in Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes:A National Registry Study From Scotland

The purpose of this study was to compare contemporary risk of hip fracture in type 1 and type 2 diabetes with the nondiabetic population. Using a national diabetes database, we identified those with type 1 and type 2 diabetes who were aged 20 to 84 years and alive anytime from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2007. All hospitalized events for hip fracture in 2005 to 2007 for diabetes patients were linked and compared with general population counts. Age- and calendar-year-adjusted incidence rate ratios were calculated by diabetes type and sex. One hundred five hip fractures occurred in 21,033 people (59,585 person-years) with type 1 diabetes; 1421 in 180,841 people (462,120 person-years) with type 2 diabetes; and 11,733 hip fractures over 10,980,599 person-years in the nondiabetic population (3.66 million people). Those with type 1 diabetes had substantially elevated risks of hip fracture compared with the general population incidence risk ratio (IRR) of 3.28 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.52–4.26) in men and 3.54 (CI 2.75–4.57) in women. The IRR was greater at younger ages, but absolute risk difference was greatest at older ages. In type 2 diabetes, there was no elevation in risk among men (IRR 0.97 [CI 0.92–1.02]) and the increase in risk in women was small (IRR 1.05 [CI 1.01–1.10]). There remains a substantial elevation relative risk of hip fracture in people with type 1 diabetes, but the relative risk is much lower than in earlier studies. In contrast, there is currently little elevation in overall hip fracture risk with type 2 diabetes, but this may mask elevations in risk in particular subgroups of type 2 diabetes patients with different body mass indexes, diabetes duration, or drug exposure

Diel surface temperature range scales with lake size

Ecological and biogeochemical processes in lakes are strongly dependent upon water temperature. Long-term surface warming of many lakes is unequivocal, but little is known about the comparative magnitude of temperature variation at diel timescales, due to a lack of appropriately resolved data. Here we quantify the pattern and magnitude of diel temperature variability of surface waters using high-frequency data from 100 lakes. We show that the near-surface diel temperature range can be substantial in summer relative to long-term change and, for lakes smaller than 3 km2, increases sharply and predictably with decreasing lake area. Most small lakes included in this study experience average summer diel ranges in their near-surface temperatures of between 4 and 7°C. Large diel temperature fluctuations in the majority of lakes undoubtedly influence their structure, function and role in biogeochemical cycles, but the full implications remain largely unexplored

Identification, characterization, and modification of differentially expressed genes from soybean

As a major agronomic crop, soybean is the focus of considerable scientific research. Current experiments in genomics promise to provide invaluable resources for future research and crop improvement. However, a true understanding of the developmental processes that take place will be achieved not from knowing what genes are present in soybeans, but rather from knowing when and where these genes are expressed, and understanding how the gene products interact. This thesis examines differentially expressed genes from developing soybean seeds in a variety of ways. First, a seed coat specific subtilisin-like protease is characterized. Not only is the expression of this serine protease limited to the seed coat, but it also accumulates in the intercellular space between a particular layer of parenchymal cells. Also described is the creation of cotyledon-subtracted seed coat suppressive subtractive hybridization libraries, which are used to identify genes expressed specifically in the seed coat of soybean seeds at two developmentally important time points. One time point is immediately prior to the onset of endoreduplication in cotyledons and the other is during seed midmaturation. Finally, experiments are described in which the consequence of expressing a mutant Bowman-Birk trypsin/chymotrypsin inhibitor in soybean is evaluated. The Bowman-Birk inhibitor is an important anti-nutritional factor in soybean seeds, and a factor that prevents the use of raw soybean meal in animal feed. This inhibitor, by virture of site-directed mutations that inactivated it, was expressed in soybean cotyledons. Transgenic soybeans expressing this mutant Bowman-Birk caused a reduction in trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibition by seed extracts despite the continued presence of seed Kunitz trypsin inhibitor

Evaluating Theobroma grandiflorum for comparative genomic studies with Theobroma cacao

The seeds of Theobroma cacao (cacao) are the source of cocoa, the raw material for the multi-billion dollar chocolate industry. Cacao`s two most important traits are its unique seed storage triglyceride (cocoa butter) and the flavor of its fermented beans (chocolate). The genome of T. cacao is being sequenced, and to expand the utility of the genome sequence to the improvement of cacao, we are evaluating Theobroma grandiflorum, the closest economically important species of Theobroma for its potential use in a comparative genomic study. T. grandiflorum differs from cacao in important agronomic traits such as flavor of the fermented beans, disease resistance to witches` broom and abscission of mature fruits. By comparing genomic sequences and analyzing viable inter-specific hybrids, we hope to identify the key genes that regulate cacao`s most important traits. We have investigated the utility in T. grandiflorum of three types of markers (microsatellite markers, single-strand conformational polymorphism markers and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers) developed in cacao. Through sequencing of amplicons of 12 diverse individuals of both cacao and T. grandiflorum, we have identified new intra- and inter-specific SNPs. Two markers which had no overlap of alleles between the species were used to genotype putative inter-specific hybrid seedlings. Sequence conservation was significant and species-specific differences numerous enough to suggest that comparative genomics of T. grandiflorum and T. cacao will be useful in elucidating the genetic differences that lead to a variety of important agronomic trait differences.USDA-ARSMars, Inc