Associations between polygenic risk for psychiatric disorders and substance involvement

Despite evidence of substantial comorbidity between psychiatric disorders and substance involvement, the extent to which common genetic factors contribute to their co-occurrence remains understudied. In the current study, we tested for associations between polygenic risk for psychiatric disorders and substance involvement (i.e., ranging from ever-use to severe dependence) among 2573 non-Hispanic European-American participants from the Study of Addiction: Genetics and Environment. Polygenic risk scores (PRS) for cross-disorder psychopathology (CROSS) were generated based on the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium’s Cross-Disorder meta-analysis and then tested for associations with a factor representing general liability to alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, nicotine, and opioid involvement (GENSUB). Follow-up analyses evaluated specific associations between each of the 5 psychiatric disorders which comprised CROSS—attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (AUT), bipolar disorder (BIP), major depressive disorder (MDD), and schizophrenia (SCZ)—and involvement with each component substance included in GENSUB. CROSS PRS explained 1.10% of variance in GENSUB in our sample (p<0.001). After correction for multiple testing in our follow-up analyses of polygenic risk for each individual disorder predicting involvement with each component substance, associations remained between: A) MDD PRS and non-problem cannabis use, B) MDD PRS and severe cocaine dependence, C) SCZ PRS and non-problem cannabis use and severe cannabis dependence, and D) SCZ PRS and severe cocaine dependence. These results suggest that shared covariance from common genetic variation contributes to psychiatric and substance involvement comorbidity

The impact of bark beetle infestations on monoterpene emissions and secondary organic aerosol formation in western North America

Over the last decade, extensive beetle outbreaks in western North America have destroyed over 100 000 km2 of forest throughout British Columbia and the western United States. Beetle infestations impact monoterpene emissions through both decreased emissions as trees are killed (mortality effect) and increased emissions in trees under attack (attack effect). We use 14 yr of beetle-induced tree mortality data together with beetle-induced monoterpene emission data in the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Earth System Model (CESM) to investigate the impact of beetle-induced tree mortality and attack on monoterpene emissions and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation in western North America. Regionally, beetle infestations may have a significant impact on monoterpene emissions and SOA concentrations, with up to a 4-fold increase in monoterpene emissions and up to a 40% increase in SOA concentrations in some years (in a scenario where the attack effect is based on observed lodgepole pine response). Responses to beetle attack depend on the extent of previous mortality and the number of trees under attack in a given year, which can vary greatly over space and time. Simulated enhancements peak in 2004 (British Columbia) and 2008 (US). Responses to beetle attack are shown to be substantially larger (up to a 3-fold localized increase in summertime SOA concentrations) in a scenario based on bark-beetle attack in spruce trees. Placed in the context of observations from the IMPROVE network, the changes in SOA concentrations due to beetle attack are in most cases small compared to the large annual and interannual variability in total organic aerosol which is driven by wildfire activity in western North America. This indicates that most beetle-induced SOA changes are not likely detectable in current observation networks; however, these changes may impede efforts to achieve natural visibility conditions in the national parks and wilderness areas of the western United States.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (ATM- 0929282)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (ATM-0939021)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (ATM-0938940)United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Scienc

Organic Fertilizer Abrasive Grits Increase Soil Available Nitrogen, Plant Height, and Biomass

In organic cropping systems, air‐propelled abrasive grits can be used to control in‐row weeds. If the applied abrasive grit is an approved organic fertilizer, these applications may serve a dual purpose of weed control and crop fertility. Laboratory soil incubations examined the N mineralization rates of several grit types with differing C/N ratios (Agra Grit [crushed walnut shells, 170:1], corncob grit [91:1], Sustane [composted turkey litter, 5.0:1], Phytaboost Plant Food [crushed and pelletized soybean meal, 5.0:1]). A greenhouse study determined plant wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), kale (Brassica napus pabluaria DC), and velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti Medik.) growth response in soils amended with these grits. The N mineralization rates varied by grit type, soil, and application rate. The N mineralized from Phytaboost within 56 d was similar among the amounts of N a whereas the amount of N mineralized from Sustane was inversely related to the amount of N applied. Agra Grit and corncob grit immobilized soil N due to their high C/N ratios. In soils amended with Sustane, plant height and biomass were 15–43% and 34–83% greater than for plants grown in soils with Agra Grit, corncob grit, and the nontreated soil. Applications of organic fertilizer as air‐propelled grit may improve crop growth; however, if weed control is imperfect, these grits may increase weed growth. Grits with high C/N ratios may immobilize soil available N but not affect plant growth

Teleology and Realism in Leibniz's Philosophy of Science

This paper argues for an interpretation of Leibniz’s claim that physics requires both mechanical and teleological principles as a view regarding the interpretation of physical theories. Granting that Leibniz’s fundamental ontology remains non-physical, or mentalistic, it argues that teleological principles nevertheless ground a realist commitment about mechanical descriptions of phenomena. The empirical results of the new sciences, according to Leibniz, have genuine truth conditions: there is a fact of the matter about the regularities observed in experience. Taking this stance, however, requires bringing non-empirical reasons to bear upon mechanical causal claims. This paper first evaluates extant interpretations of Leibniz’s thesis that there are two realms in physics as describing parallel, self-sufficient sets of laws. It then examines Leibniz’s use of teleological principles to interpret scientific results in the context of his interventions in debates in seventeenth-century kinematic theory, and in the teaching of Copernicanism. Leibniz’s use of the principle of continuity and the principle of simplicity, for instance, reveal an underlying commitment to the truth-aptness, or approximate truth-aptness, of the new natural sciences. The paper concludes with a brief remark on the relation between metaphysics, theology, and physics in Leibniz

Operational experience, improvements, and performance of the CDF Run II silicon vertex detector

The Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) pursues a broad physics program at Fermilab's Tevatron collider. Between Run II commissioning in early 2001 and the end of operations in September 2011, the Tevatron delivered 12 fb-1 of integrated luminosity of p-pbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV. Many physics analyses undertaken by CDF require heavy flavor tagging with large charged particle tracking acceptance. To realize these goals, in 2001 CDF installed eight layers of silicon microstrip detectors around its interaction region. These detectors were designed for 2--5 years of operation, radiation doses up to 2 Mrad (0.02 Gy), and were expected to be replaced in 2004. The sensors were not replaced, and the Tevatron run was extended for several years beyond its design, exposing the sensors and electronics to much higher radiation doses than anticipated. In this paper we describe the operational challenges encountered over the past 10 years of running the CDF silicon detectors, the preventive measures undertaken, and the improvements made along the way to ensure their optimal performance for collecting high quality physics data. In addition, we describe the quantities and methods used to monitor radiation damage in the sensors for optimal performance and summarize the detector performance quantities important to CDF's physics program, including vertex resolution, heavy flavor tagging, and silicon vertex trigger performance.Comment: Preprint accepted for publication in Nuclear Instruments and Methods A (07/31/2013

All-sky Galactic radiation at 45 MHz and spectral index between 45 and 408 MHz

Aims: We study the Galactic large-scale synchrotron emission by generating a reliable all-sky spectral index map and temperature map at 45 MHz. Methods: We use our observations, the published all-sky map at 408 MHz, and a bibliographical compilation to produce a map corrected for zero-level offset and extragalactic contribution. Results: We present full sky maps of the Galactic emission at 45 MHz and the Galactic spectral index between 45 and 408 MHz with an angular resolution of 5\degs. The spectral index varies between 2.1 and 2.7, reaching values below 2.5 at low latitude because of thermal free-free absorption and its maximum in the zone next to the Northern Spur.Comment: A&A accepte