Mind the partisan trust gap: why the 2016 elections are making some Americans worse off

How do we determine whether or not we should trust someone we don’t know? Often we use shortcuts, and party affiliation is one of them. People are less likely to trust someone who is part of a political party they oppose than they are to trust someone who is part of a political party they support – something known as the “partisan trust gap”. Using a multi-country study of partisan trust, Ryan Carlin and Gregory Love find that the more polarized people think their country’s politics are, the wider their partisan trust gap. Such trust gaps are important, as they reduce the ability of elites to reach a compromise and to tackle policy challenges

Clinicopathologic Implications of Complement Genetic Variants in Kidney Transplantation

Genetic testing has uncovered rare variants in complement proteins associated with thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) and C3 glomerulopathy (C3G). Approximately 50% are classified as variants of uncertain significance (VUS). Clinical risk assessment of patients carrying a VUS remains challenging primarily due to a lack of functional information, especially in the context of multiple confounding factors in the setting of kidney transplantation. Our objective was to evaluate the clinicopathologic significance of genetic variants in TMA and C3G in a kidney transplant cohort. We used whole exome next-generation sequencing to analyze complement genes in 76 patients, comprising 60 patients with a TMA and 16 with C3G. Ten variants in complement factor H (CFH) were identified; of these, four were known to be pathogenic, one was likely benign and five were classified as a VUS (I372V, I453L, G918E, T956M, L1207I). Each VUS was subjected to a structural analysis and was recombinantly produced; if expressed, its function was then characterized relative to the wild-type (WT) protein. Our data indicate that I372V, I453L, and G918E were deleterious while T956M and L1207I demonstrated normal functional activity. Four common polymorphisms in CFH (E936D, N1050Y, I1059T, Q1143E) were also characterized. We also assessed a family with a pathogenic variant in membrane cofactor protein (MCP) in addition to CFH with a unique clinical presentation featuring valvular dysfunction. Our analyses helped to determine disease etiology and defined the recurrence risk after kidney transplant, thereby facilitating clinical decision making for our patients. This work further illustrates the limitations of the prediction models and highlights the importance of conducting functional analysis of genetic variants particularly in a complex clinicopathologic scenario such as kidney transplantation

Elucidating the impact of microbial community biodiversity on pharmaceutical biotransformation during wastewater treatment

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146445/1/mbt212870.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146445/2/mbt212870_am.pd

Aminopyralid + Metsulfuron-Methyl for Cost-Effective Control of Hard to Kill Pasture Weeds

This paper summarises research trials conducted from 2010 to 2013 to determine speed of brownout and efficacy of an aminopyralid + metsulfuron-methyl herbicide product in pastures compared to metsulfuron alone and current commercial standards

Stochastic Particle Barcoding for Single-Cell Tracking and Multiparametric Analysis

This study presents stochastic particle barcoding (SPB), a method for tracking cell identity across bioanalytical platforms. In this approach, single cells or small collections of cells are co-encapsulated within an enzymatically-degradable hydrogel block along with a random collection of fluorescent beads, whose number, color, and position encode the identity of the cell, enabling samples to be transferred in bulk between single-cell assay platforms without losing the identity of individual cells. The application of SPB is demonstrated for transferring cells from a subnanoliter protein secretion/phenotyping array platform into a microtiter plate, with re-identification accuracies in the plate assay of 96±2%. Encapsulated cells are recovered by digesting the hydrogel, allowing subsequent genotyping and phenotyping of cell lysates. Finally, a model scaling is developed to illustrate how different parameters affect the accuracy of SPB and to motivate scaling of the method to thousands of unique blocks.Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and HarvardNational Cancer Institute (U.S.) (Koch Institute Support (Core) Grant P30-CA14051)National Institutes of Health (U.S.). Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (1F32CA180586

Absence of neutralizing antibodies against influenza A/H5N1 virus among children in Kamphaeng Phet, Thailand

Background: Influenza A/H5N1 actively circulated in Kamphaeng Phet (KPP), Thailand from 2004 to 2006. A prospective longitudinal cohort study of influenza virus infection in 800 adults conducted during 2008–2010 in KPP suggested that subclinical or mild H5N1 infections had occurred among this adult cohort. However, this study was conducted after the peak of H5N1 activity in KPP. Coincidentally, banked serum samples were available from a prospective longitudinal cohort study of primary school children who had undergone active surveillance for febrile illnesses from 2004 to 2007 and lived in the same district of KPP as the adult cohort. Objectives: We sought to investigate whether subclinical or mild H5N1 infections had occurred among KPP residents during the peak of H5N1 activity from 2004 to 2006. Study design: H5N1 microneutralization (MN) assay was performed on banked serum samples from a prospective longitudinal cohort study of primary school children who had undergone active surveillance for febrile illnesses in KPP. Annual blood samples collected from 2004 to 2006 from 251 children were selected based on the criteria that they lived in villages with documented H5N1 infection. Result: No H5N1 neutralizing antibodies were detected in 753 annual blood samples from 251 children. Conclusion: During 2004–2006, very few subclinical or mild H5N1 infections occurred in KPP. Elevated H5N1 MN titers found in the adult cohort in 2008 were likely due to cross-reactivity from other influenza virus subtypes highlighting the complexities in interpreting influenza serological data