Infection of Kissing Bugs with Trypanosoma cruzi, Tucson, Arizona, USA

A survey of triatomine insects found that 41.5% were infected with the causative agent of Chagas disease

Supplementary material for the article: Wedmann, R.; Onderka, C.; Wei, S.; Szijártó, I. A.; Miljkovic, J. L.; Mitrovic, A.; Lange, M.; Savitsky, S.; Yadav, P. K.; Torregrossa, R.; et al. Improved Tag-Switch Method Reveals That Thioredoxin Acts as Depersulfidase and Controls the Intracellular Levels of Protein Persulfidation. Chemical Science 2016, 7 (5), 3414–3426. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5sc04818d

Supplementary material for: [https://doi.org/10.1039/c5sc04818d]Related to published version: [http://cherry.chem.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/1925

Bayesian model comparison with un-normalised likelihoods

Models for which the likelihood function can be evaluated only up to a parameter-dependent unknown normalizing constant, such as Markov random field models, are used widely in computer science, statistical physics, spatial statistics, and network analysis. However, Bayesian analysis of these models using standard Monte Carlo methods is not possible due to the intractability of their likelihood functions. Several methods that permit exact, or close to exact, simulation from the posterior distribution have recently been developed. However, estimating the evidence and Bayes’ factors for these models remains challenging in general. This paper describes new random weight importance sampling and sequential Monte Carlo methods for estimating BFs that use simulation to circumvent the evaluation of the intractable likelihood, and compares them to existing methods. In some cases we observe an advantage in the use of biased weight estimates. An initial investigation into the theoretical and empirical properties of this class of methods is presented. Some support for the use of biased estimates is presented, but we advocate caution in the use of such estimates

Evidence of a causal relationship between body mass index and psoriasis:A mendelian randomization study

Background: Psoriasis is a common inflammatory skin disease that has been reported to be associated with obesity. We aimed to investigate a possible causal relationship between body mass index (BMI) and psoriasis. Methods and Findings: Following a review of published epidemiological evidence of the association between obesity and psoriasis, mendelian randomization (MR) was used to test for a causal relationship with BMI. We used a genetic instrument comprising 97 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with BMI as a proxy for BMI (expected to be much less confounded than measured BMI). One-sample MR was conducted using individual-level data (396,495 individuals) from the UK Biobank and the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT), Norway. Two-sample MR was performed with summary-level data (356,926 individuals) from published BMI and psoriasis genome-wide association studies (GWASs). The one-sample and two-sample MR estimates were meta-analysed using a fixed-effect model. To test for a potential reverse causal effect, MR analysis with genetic instruments comprising variants from recent genome-wide analyses for psoriasis were used to test whether genetic risk for this skin disease has a causal effect on BMI. Published observational data showed an association of higher BMI with psoriasis. A mean difference in BMI of 1.26 kg/m2 (95% CI 1.02-1.51) between psoriasis cases and controls was observed in adults, while a 1.55 kg/m2 mean difference (95% CI 1.13-1.98) was observed in children. The observational association was confirmed in UK Biobank and HUNT data sets. Overall, a 1 kg/m2 increase in BMI was associated with 4% higher odds of psoriasis (meta-analysis odds ratio [OR] = 1.04; 95% CI 1.03-1.04; P = 1.73 × 10-60). MR analyses provided evidence that higher BMI causally increases the odds of psoriasis (by 9% per 1 unit increase in BMI; OR = 1.09 (1.06-1.12) per 1 kg/m2; P = 4.67 × 10-9). In contrast, MR estimates gave little support to a possible causal effect of psoriasis genetic risk on BMI (0.004 kg/m2 change in BMI per doubling odds of psoriasis (-0.003 to 0.011). Limitations of our study include possible misreporting of psoriasis by patients, as well as potential misdiagnosis by clinicians. In addition, there is also limited ethnic variation in the cohorts studied. Conclusions: Our study, using genetic variants as instrumental variables for BMI, provides evidence that higher BMI leads to a higher risk of psoriasis. This supports the prioritization of therapies and lifestyle interventions aimed at controlling weight for the prevention or treatment of this common skin disease. Mechanistic studies are required to improve understanding of this relationship

Structural characterization of diabolic acid-based tetraester, tetraether and mixed ether/ester, membrane-spanning lipids of bacteria from the order Thermotogales

The distribution of core lipids in the membranes of nine different species of the order Thermotogales, one of the early and deep branching lineages in the Bacteria, were examined by HPLC/MS and demonstrated to consist of membrane-spanning diglycerol lipids comprised of diabolic acid-derived alkyl moieties. In the Thermotoga species the core membrane lipids are characterized by the presence of both ester and ether bonds, whereas in the phylogenetically more distinct Thermosipho and Fervidobacterium spp. only ester bonds occur. A tentative biosynthetic route for the biosynthesis of these membrane-spanning lipids is proposed. Since species of the order Thermotogales are assumed to have occurred early during the evolution of life on Earth, as suggested by its position in the phylogenetic tree of life, these data suggest that the ability to produce both ether and ester glycerol membrane lipids developed relatively early during microbial evolution

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

The Rise and Fall, and the Rise (Again) of Feminist Research in Music: 'What Goes Around Comes Around'

This article reports from a two-phase study that involved an analysis of the extant literature followed by a three-part survey answered by seventy-one women composers. Through these theoretical and empirical data, the authors explore the relationship between gender and music’s symbolic and cultural capital. Bourdieu’s theory of the habitus is employed to understand the gendered experiences of the female composers who participated in the survey. The article suggests that these female composers have different investments in gender but that, overall, they reinforce the male habitus given that the female habitus occupies a subordinate position in relation to that of the male. The findings of the study also suggest a connection between contemporary feminism and the attitudes towards gender held by the participants. The article concludes that female composers classify themselves, and others, according to gendered norms and that these perpetuate the social order in music in which the male norm dominates

Flowering plant communities mediate the effects of habitat composition and configuration on wild pollinator communities

1. There is strong evidence that landscape-scale factors such as habitat diversity, composition and configuration are important drivers of declines in pollinators and pollination services. However, context and species-specific responses make it challenging to draw general conclusions about the most important components of landscapes that support diverse and abundant pollinator communities. 2. In this study, we took a functional-traits approach to community assembly and tested the hypothesis that landscape properties act most strongly on pollinators indirectly, through their influence on flowering plant communities. Using plant and pollinator data from 96 landscapes in Britain, we tested the associations between plant and pollinator communities and local environmental factors, such as habitat cover and configuration, using path analysis based on Mantel and partial Mantel statistics. 3. When all pollinators were considered, we found that the environmental factors had stronger links to the composition of flowering plant communities than to the composition of pollinator communities. Further, the flowering plant community was strongly linked to the pollinator community suggesting a mediating role between land use and pollinators. When separating the pollinator community into taxonomic groups, we found the same result for hoverflies, but wild bees were linked to both environmental factors and flowering plants. 4. We further explored these links with structural equation models using the response-effect trait framework as a guiding principle. We found strong evidence that land-use composition and configuration influence the trait distribution and functional diversity of the pollinator community via plant community composition. 5. These findings suggest that the indirect effect of land use on pollinators via flowering plants should be considered in informing the design of pollinator friendly landscapes and in future research of the effects of land use and management on wild pollinators