Association between aortic calcification, cardiovascular events, and mortality in kidney and pancreas-kidney transplant recipients

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular (CV) disease is the leading cause of death in kidney and simultaneous pancreas-kidney (SPK) transplant recipients. Assessing abdominal aortic calcification (AAC), using lateral spine x-rays and the Kaupilla 24-point AAC (0-24) score, may identify transplant recipients at higher CV risk. METHODS: Between the years 2000 and 2015, 413 kidney and 213 SPK first transplant recipients were scored for AAC at time of transplant and then followed for CV events (coronary heart, cerebrovascular, or peripheral vascular disease), graft-loss, and all-cause mortality. RESULTS: The mean age was 44 ± 12 years (SD) with 275 (44%) having AAC (26% moderate: 1-7 and 18% high: ≥8). After a median of 65 months (IQR 29-107 months), 46 recipients experienced CV events, 59 died, and 80 suffered graft loss. For each point increase in AAC, the unadjusted hazard ratios (HR) for CV events and mortality were 1.11 (95% CI 1.07-1.15) and 1.11 (1.08-1.15). These were similar after adjusting for age, gender, smoking, transplant type, dialysis vintage, and diabetes: aHR 1.07 (95% CI 1.02-1.12) and 1.09 (1.04-1.13). For recipients with high versus no AAC, the unadjusted and fully-adjusted HRs for CV events were 5.90 (2.90-12.02) and 3.51 (1.54-8.00), for deaths 5.39 (3.00-9.68) and 3.38 (1.71-6.70), and for graft loss 1.30 (0.75-2.28) and 1.94 (1.04-3.27) in age and smoking history-adjusted analyses. CONCLUSION: Kidney and SPK transplant recipients with high AAC have 3-fold higher CV and mortality risk and poorer graft outcomes than recipients without AAC. AAC scoring may be useful in assessing and targeted risk-lowering strategies

Advances in Sample Preparation at the National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility (NOSAMS): Investigation of Carbonate Secondary Standards

The development of robust sample preparation techniques for ocean science research has been a hallmark of NOSAMS since its inception. Improvements to our standard methods include reducing the minimum size of the samples we can analyze, building modular graphite reactors of different sizes that we can swap in and out depending on our sample stream, and modifying our carbonate acidification methods to improve handling of the smaller samples we now receive. A relatively new instrument, the Ramped PyrOx, which allows the separation of organic matter into thermal fractions, has attracted much interest as a research and development tool. We will also discuss our progress on incorporating a Picarro isotope analyzer into our sample preparation options

A high-performance 14C accelerator mass spectrometry system

Author Posting. © Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona, 2010. This article is posted here by permission of Dept. of Geosciences, University of Arizona for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Radiocarbon 52 (2010): 228-235.A new and unique radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facility has been constructed at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The defining characteristic of the new system is its large-gap optical elements that provide a larger-than-standard beam acceptance. Such a system is ideally suited for high-throughput, high-precision measurements of 14C. Details and performance of the new system are presented

Personality trait development in midlife: exploring the impact of psychological turning points

This study examined long-term personality trait development in midlife and explored the impact of psychological turning points on personality change. Selfdefined psychological turning points reflect major changes in the ways people think or feel about an important part of their life, such as work, family, and beliefs about themselves and about the world. This study used longitudinal data from the Midlife in the US survey to examine personality trait development in adults aged 40–60 years. The Big Five traits were assessed in 1995 and 2005 by means of self-descriptive adjectives. Seven types of self-identified psychological turning points were obtained in 1995. Results indicated relatively high stability with respect to rankorders and mean-levels of personality traits, and at the same time reliable individual differences in change. This implies that despite the relative stability of personality traits in the overall sample, some individuals show systematic deviations from the sample mean-levels. Psychological turning points in general showed very little influence on personality trait change, although some effects were found for specific types of turning points that warrant further research, such as discovering that a close friend or relative was a much better person than one thought they were

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Does Proximity to Retailers Influence Alcohol and Tobacco Use Among Latino Adolescents?

Despite decades of research surrounding determinants of alcohol and tobacco (A&T) use among adolescents, built environment influences have only recently been explored. This study used ordinal regression on 205 Latino adolescents to explore the influence of the built environment (proximity to A&T retailers) on A&T use, while controlling for recognized social predictors. The sample was 45% foreign-born. A&T use was associated with distance from respondents’ home to the nearest A&T retailer (−), acculturation (+), parents’ consistent use of contingency management (−), peer use of A&T (+), skipping school (+), attending school in immediate proximity to the US/Mexico border (+), and the interaction between the distance to the nearest retailer and parents’ consistent use of contingency management (+). The association between decreasing distance to the nearest A&T retailer and increased A&T use in Latino adolescents reveals an additional risk behavior determinant in the US–Mexico border region

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

Spatial Organization and Molecular Correlation of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Using Deep Learning on Pathology Images

Beyond sample curation and basic pathologic characterization, the digitized H&E-stained images of TCGA samples remain underutilized. To highlight this resource, we present mappings of tumorinfiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) based on H&E images from 13 TCGA tumor types. These TIL maps are derived through computational staining using a convolutional neural network trained to classify patches of images. Affinity propagation revealed local spatial structure in TIL patterns and correlation with overall survival. TIL map structural patterns were grouped using standard histopathological parameters. These patterns are enriched in particular T cell subpopulations derived from molecular measures. TIL densities and spatial structure were differentially enriched among tumor types, immune subtypes, and tumor molecular subtypes, implying that spatial infiltrate state could reflect particular tumor cell aberration states. Obtaining spatial lymphocytic patterns linked to the rich genomic characterization of TCGA samples demonstrates one use for the TCGA image archives with insights into the tumor-immune microenvironment

Rocks with Extremely Low Thermal Inertia at the OSIRIS-REx Sample Site on Asteroid Bennu

The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission recently returned a sample of rocks and dust collected from asteroid Bennu. We analyzed the highest-resolution thermal data obtained by the OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES) to gain insight into the thermal and physical properties of the sampling site, including rocks that may have been sampled, and the immediately surrounding Hokioi Crater. After correcting the pointing of the OTES data sets, we find that OTES fortuitously observed two dark rocks moments before they were contacted by the spacecraft. We derived thermal inertias of 100–150 (±50) J m−2 K−1 s−1/2 for these two rocks—exceptionally low even compared with other previously analyzed dark rocks on Bennu (180–250 J m−2 K−1 s−1/2). Our simulations indicate that monolayer coatings of sand- to pebble-sized particles, as observed on one of these rocks, could significantly reduce the apparent thermal inertia and largely mask the properties of the substrate. However, the other low-thermal-inertia rock that was contacted is not obviously covered in particles. Moreover, this rock appears to have been partially crushed, and thus potentially sampled, by the spacecraft. We conclude that this rock may be highly fractured and that it should be sought in the returned sample to better understand its origin in Bennu’s parent body and the relationship between its thermal and physical properties