Comparative Phylogeography of a Coevolved Community: Concerted Population Expansions in Joshua Trees and Four Yucca Moths

Comparative phylogeographic studies have had mixed success in identifying common phylogeographic patterns among co-distributed organisms. Whereas some have found broadly similar patterns across a diverse array of taxa, others have found that the histories of different species are more idiosyncratic than congruent. The variation in the results of comparative phylogeographic studies could indicate that the extent to which sympatrically-distributed organisms share common biogeographic histories varies depending on the strength and specificity of ecological interactions between them. To test this hypothesis, we examined demographic and phylogeographic patterns in a highly specialized, coevolved community – Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) and their associated yucca moths. This tightly-integrated, mutually interdependent community is known to have experienced significant range changes at the end of the last glacial period, so there is a strong a priori expectation that these organisms will show common signatures of demographic and distributional changes over time. Using a database of >5000 GPS records for Joshua trees, and multi-locus DNA sequence data from the Joshua tree and four species of yucca moth, we combined paleaodistribution modeling with coalescent-based analyses of demographic and phylgeographic history. We extensively evaluated the power of our methods to infer past population size and distributional changes by evaluating the effect of different inference procedures on our results, comparing our palaeodistribution models to Pleistocene-aged packrat midden records, and simulating DNA sequence data under a variety of alternative demographic histories. Together the results indicate that these organisms have shared a common history of population expansion, and that these expansions were broadly coincident in time. However, contrary to our expectations, none of our analyses indicated significant range or population size reductions at the end of the last glacial period, and the inferred demographic changes substantially predate Holocene climate changes

Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors

Background Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, and nonfatal suicide attempts, which occur far more frequently, are a major source of disability and social and economic burden. Both have substantial genetic etiology, which is partially shared and partially distinct from that of related psychiatric disorders. Methods We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 29,782 suicide attempt (SA) cases and 519,961 controls in the International Suicide Genetics Consortium (ISGC). The GWAS of SA was conditioned on psychiatric disorders using GWAS summary statistics via multitrait-based conditional and joint analysis, to remove genetic effects on SA mediated by psychiatric disorders. We investigated the shared and divergent genetic architectures of SA, psychiatric disorders, and other known risk factors. Results Two loci reached genome-wide significance for SA: the major histocompatibility complex and an intergenic locus on chromosome 7, the latter of which remained associated with SA after conditioning on psychiatric disorders and replicated in an independent cohort from the Million Veteran Program. This locus has been implicated in risk-taking behavior, smoking, and insomnia. SA showed strong genetic correlation with psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression, and also with smoking, pain, risk-taking behavior, sleep disturbances, lower educational attainment, reproductive traits, lower socioeconomic status, and poorer general health. After conditioning on psychiatric disorders, the genetic correlations between SA and psychiatric disorders decreased, whereas those with nonpsychiatric traits remained largely unchanged. Conclusions Our results identify a risk locus that contributes more strongly to SA than other phenotypes and suggest a shared underlying biology between SA and known risk factors that is not mediated by psychiatric disorders.Peer reviewe

Assessment of impact of the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases in Europe: results from the REUMAVID study (phase 1)

Aim To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs).Methods REUMAVID is a cross-sectional study using an online survey developed by an international multidisciplinary patient-led collaboration across seven European countries targeting unselected patients with RMDs. Healthcare access, daily activities, disease activity and function, well-being (WHO Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5)), health status, anxiety/depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)) and access to information were evaluated. Data were collected in April–July 2020 (first phase).Results Data from the first phase included 1800 patients with 15 different RMDs (37.2% axial spondyloarthritis, 29.2% rheumatoid arthritis, 17.2% osteoarthritis and others). Mean age was 53, 80% female and 49% had undertaken university studies. During the beginning of the pandemic, 58.4% had their rheumatology appointment cancelled and 45.6% reported not having received any information relating to the possible impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection in their RMDs, with the main source being patient organisations (27.6%).Regarding habits, 24.6% increased smoking, 18.2% raised their alcohol consumption, and 45.6% were unable to continue exercising. Self-reported disease activity was high (5.3±2.7) and 75.6% reported elevated pain. Half the patients (49.0%) reported poor well-being (WHO-5) and 46.6% that their health had changed for the worse during lockdown. According to HADS, 57.3% were at risk of anxiety and 45.9% of depression.Conclusion Throughout the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, patients with RMDs have experienced disruption in access to healthcare services, poor lifestyle habits and negative effects on their overall health, well-being and mental health. Furthermore, information on COVID-19 has not reached patients appropriately