Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding ticks, tick-borne pathogens, and tick prevention among beef producers in Oklahoma

Tick-borne diseases are increasing in the United States, with regional need to understand how knowledge of ticks translates into preventative behavior among specific occupational groups. Little is known regarding what livestock producers know about ticks and their perceived personal and herd-based risk despite being one of the largest agro-industries in the United States. Using a nonprobability convenience sampling protocol, 183 beef producers representing 65% of the counties in Oklahoma completed a 15-question survey focused on knowledge of ticks and perceived risks ticks pose to their cattle and themselves, their methods of prevention (personal and their cattle), and sources of information. Most producers thought ticks were not a major problem for their cattle (58%), themselves, their families, and those who worked for them (66%). Most were personally concerned about spotted fever group rickettsiosis (79%) but had never heard of ehrlichiosis (9%). Eighty-five percent used at least one type of personal protective behavior, and 86% used at least one source of information for issues with ticks on their cattle. As the first published tick-focused survey involving livestock producers in the United States, it is apparent that beef producers in the central region are cognizant of ticks on their cattle and perceive ticks to be a risk on some level. However, increasing their knowledge of all areas of ticks and tick-borne pathogens, especially preventative measures for humans and cattle, is needed.Peer reviewedEntomology and Plant PathologyAnimal and Food Science

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

Seventy-five genetic loci influencing the human red blood cell

Stress-related psychiatric disorders across the life spa

Maps of open chromatin highlight cell type-restricted patterns of regulatory sequence variation at hematological trait loci

<p>Nearly three-quarters of the 143 genetic signals associated with platelet and erythrocyte phenotypes identified by meta-analyses of genome-wide association (GWA) studies are located at non-protein-coding regions. Here, we assessed the role of candidate regulatory variants associated with cell type-restricted, closely related hematological quantitative traits in biologically relevant hematopoietic cell types. We used formaldehyde-assisted isolation of regulatory elements followed by next-generation sequencing (FAIRE-seq) to map regions of open chromatin in three primary human blood cells of the myeloid lineage. In the precursors of platelets and erythrocytes, as well as in monocytes, we found that open chromatin signatures reflect the corresponding hematopoietic lineages of the studied cell types and associate with the cell type-specific gene expression patterns. Dependent on their signal strength, open chromatin regions showed correlation with promoter and enhancer histone marks, distance to the transcription start site, and ontology classes of nearby genes. Cell type-restricted regions of open chromatin were enriched in sequence variants associated with hematological indices. The majority (63.6%) of such candidate functional variants at platelet quantitative trait loci (QTLs) coincided with binding sites of five transcription factors key in regulating megakaryopoiesis. We experimentally tested 13 candidate regulatory variants at 10 platelet QTLs and found that 10 (76.9%) affected protein binding, suggesting that this is a frequent mechanism by which regulatory variants influence quantitative trait levels. Our findings demonstrate that combining large-scale GWA data with open chromatin profiles of relevant cell types can be a powerful means of dissecting the genetic architecture of closely related quantitative traits.</p>

Brainhack: Developing a culture of open, inclusive, community-driven neuroscience

Brainhack is an innovative meeting format that promotes scientific collaboration and education in an open, inclusive environment. This NeuroView describes the myriad benefits for participants and the research community and how Brainhacks complement conventional formats to augment scientific progress