An Analysis of Diversity in Freshwater Mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae) of the Cuyahoga and Rocky River Watersheds (Ohio, USA) Based on the 16S rRNA Gene

The continued loss of freshwater unionid mussel species in the Great Lakes region, and particularly from Lake Erie, raises the question of how much phylogenetic and genetic variation remain in the watershed. The introduction of molecular markers into population biology offers one reproducible technique for assessing this variation. A fragment of the 16S rRNA gene of mitochondrial DNA has previously been used to infer phylogenetic relationships in the family Unionidae. Therefore, we reanalyzed these published molecular data with the addition of 12 species from the Cuyahoga and Rocky rivers in northeast Ohio. Both rivers drain to Lake Erie. The species assessed were Pyganodon grandis, Lasmigona complanata, Lasmigona compressa, Lampsilis radiata luteola, Fusconaia flava, Potamilus alatus, Strophitus undulatus, and Toxolasma parvus, for which published data were unavailable, and northern specimens of four wide ranging species, Lasmigona costata, Leptodea fragilis, Utterbackia imbecillis, and Quadrula quadrula. The resulting phylogenetic tree remained consistent with the accepted major taxonomic divisions in the Unionidae, and it indicates that these rivers still contain a phylogenetically diverse assemblage. However, the most abundant species all are members of the Anodontinae. Intraspecific variation in these unionid species was low, even where results were compared to published sequences on individuals from distant watersheds. One exception was a unique haplotype of Q. quadrula that differed at more base sites than is generally found for many congeneric species

Changes in the Freshwater Mussel (Bivalvia: Unionidae) Fauna of the Cuyahoga River, Ohio, Since Late Prehistory

We provide new information from archaeological samples on the historical freshwater mussel fauna (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionoidea) of the Cuyahoga River (South Park site: occupied between ca. A.D. 950 and 1650) and Black River (White Fort site, occupation centered at ca. A.D. 1350), northeast Ohio. Data from these prehi storic sites are compared with information on extant mussel populations of the Cuyahoga River published between 1890 and 2000. The high representation at both archaeological sites of the species Actinonaias ligamentina, Elliptio dilatata, and Ptychobranchus fasciolaris suggests that these were· among the important clean water species in northeast Ohio prior to European settlement. By comparison, the modem mussel fauna of the lower Cuyahoga River (between Cleveland and Akron) contains none of these relatively abundant species, or any of the species represented in the archaeological material. The modern fauna of the lower river was established during the 20\u27 century. This fauna is a low diversity assemblage of pollution tolerant species represented by rare live individuals. The modem mussel fauna of the upper Cuyahoga River (between Akron and the source) suggests that the upper and lower reaches are effectively isolated from each other. Published records indicate little change in the fauna during the last three quarters of the 20\u27 century. Nevertheless, overall diversity, although substantially higher than that of the lower river, is considerably lower than that of the Grand River, which is located to the east of the Cuyahoga. Overall, the mussel fauna of the Cuyahoga River has changed greatly over time, most notably in terms of losses in diversity of clean water species and overall abundance

Projected WIMP sensitivity of the LUX-ZEPLIN dark matter experiment

LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) is a next-generation dark matter direct detection experiment that will operate 4850 feet underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota, USA. Using a two-phase xenon detector with an active mass of 7 tonnes, LZ will search primarily for low-energy interactions with weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), which are hypothesized to make up the dark matter in our galactic halo. In this paper, the projected WIMP sensitivity of LZ is presented based on the latest background estimates and simulations of the detector. For a 1000 live day run using a 5.6-tonne fiducial mass, LZ is projected to exclude at 90% confidence level spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross sections above 1.4 × 10-48cm2 for a 40 GeV/c2 mass WIMP. Additionally, a 5σ discovery potential is projected, reaching cross sections below the exclusion limits of recent experiments. For spin-dependent WIMP-neutron(-proton) scattering, a sensitivity of 2.3 × 10−43 cm2 (7.1 × 10−42 cm2) for a 40 GeV/c2 mass WIMP is expected. With underground installation well underway, LZ is on track for commissioning at SURF in 2020

GWAS Meta-Analysis of Suicide Attempt: Identification of 12 Genome-Wide Significant Loci and Implication of Genetic Risks for Specific Health Factors

Objective: Suicidal behavior is heritable and is a major cause of death worldwide. Two large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWASs) recently discovered and crossvalidated genome-wide significant (GWS) loci for suicide attempt (SA). The present study leveraged the genetic cohorts from both studies to conduct the largest GWAS metaanalysis of SA to date. Multi-ancestry and admixture-specific meta-analyses were conducted within groups of significant African, East Asian, and European ancestry admixtures. Methods: This study comprised 22 cohorts, including 43,871 SA cases and 915,025 ancestry-matched controls. Analytical methods across multi-ancestry and individual ancestry admixtures included inverse variance-weighted fixed-effects meta-analyses, followed by gene, gene-set, tissue-set, and drug-target enrichment, as well as summary-data-based Mendelian randomization with brain expression quantitative trait loci data, phenome-wide genetic correlation, and genetic causal proportion analyses. Results: Multi-ancestry and European ancestry admixture GWAS meta-analyses identified 12 risk loci at p values &lt;5×10-8. These loci were mostly intergenic and implicated DRD2, SLC6A9, FURIN, NLGN1, SOX5, PDE4B, and CACNG2. The multi-ancestry SNP-based heritability estimate of SA was 5.7% on the liability scale (SE=0.003, p=5.7×10-80). Significant brain tissue gene expression and drug set enrichment were observed. There was shared genetic variation of SA with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, smoking, and risk tolerance after conditioning SA on both major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. Genetic causal proportion analyses implicated shared genetic risk for specific health factors. Conclusions: This multi-ancestry analysis of suicide attempt identified several loci contributing to risk and establishes significant shared genetic covariation with clinical phenotypes. These findings provide insight into genetic factors associated with suicide attempt across ancestry admixture populations, in veteran and civilian populations, and in attempt versus death.</p

Heterogeneous bone-marrow stromal progenitors drive myelofibrosis via a druggable alarmin axis

Functional contributions of individual cellular components of the bone-marrow microenvironment to myelofibrosis (MF) in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are incompletely understood. We aimed to generate a comprehensive map of the stroma in MPNs/MFs on a single-cell level in murine models and patient samples. Our analysis revealed two distinct mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) subsets as pro-fibrotic cells. MSCs were functionally reprogrammed in a stage-dependent manner with loss of their progenitor status and initiation of differentiation in the pre-fibrotic and acquisition of a pro-fibrotic and inflammatory phenotype in the fibrotic stage. The expression of the alarmin complex S100A8/S100A9 in MSC marked disease progression toward the fibrotic phase in murine models and in patient stroma and plasma. Tasquinimod, a small-molecule inhibiting S100A8/S100A9 signaling, significantly ameliorated the MPN phenotype and fibrosis in JAK2V617F-mutated murine models, highlighting that S100A8/S100A9 is an attractive therapeutic target in MPNs.Leimkühler and colleagues demonstrate that mesenchymal stromal progenitor cells are fibro

Feasibility studies for the measurement of time-like proton electromagnetic form factors from p¯ p→ μ+μ- at P ¯ ANDA at FAIR

This paper reports on Monte Carlo simulation results for future measurements of the moduli of time-like proton electromagnetic form factors, | GE| and | GM| , using the p¯ p→ μ+μ- reaction at P ¯ ANDA (FAIR). The electromagnetic form factors are fundamental quantities parameterizing the electric and magnetic structure of hadrons. This work estimates the statistical and total accuracy with which the form factors can be measured at P ¯ ANDA , using an analysis of simulated data within the PandaRoot software framework. The most crucial background channel is p¯ p→ π+π-, due to the very similar behavior of muons and pions in the detector. The suppression factors are evaluated for this and all other relevant background channels at different values of antiproton beam momentum. The signal/background separation is based on a multivariate analysis, using the Boosted Decision Trees method. An expected background subtraction is included in this study, based on realistic angular distributions of the background contribution. Systematic uncertainties are considered and the relative total uncertainties of the form factor measurements are presented