Human impact on long-term organic carbon export to rivers

Anthropogenic landscape alterations have increased global carbon transported by rivers to oceans since preindustrial times. Few suitable observational data sets exist to distinguish different drivers of carbon increase, given that alterations only reveal their impact on fluvial dissolved organic carbon (DOC) over long time periods. We use the world's longest record of DOC concentrations (130 years) to identify key drivers of DOC change in the Thames basin (UK). We show that 90% of the long-term rise in fluvial DOC is explained by increased urbanization, which released to the river 671 kt C over the entire period. This source of carbon is linked to rising population, due to increased sewage effluent. Soil disturbance from land use change explained shorter-term fluvial responses. The largest land use disturbance was during the Second World War, when almost half the grassland area in the catchment was converted into arable land, which released 45 kt C from soils to the river. Carbon that had built up in soils over decades was released to the river in only a few years. Our work suggests that widespread population growth may have a greater influence on fluvial DOC trends than previously thought

Mass commuting and influenza vaccination prevalence in New York City: Protection in a mixing environment

Assess influenza vaccination among commuters using mass transit in New York City (NYC)

The Influence of Recovery and Training Phases on Body Composition, Peripheral Vascular Function and Immune System of Professional Soccer Players

Professional soccer players have a lengthy playing season, throughout which high levels of physical stress are maintained. The following recuperation period, before starting the next pre-season training phase, is generally considered short but sufficient to allow a decrease in these stress levels and therefore a reduction in the propensity for injury or musculoskeletal tissue damage. We hypothesised that these physical extremes influence the body composition, blood flow, and endothelial/immune function, but that the recuperation may be insufficient to allow a reduction of tissue stress damage. Ten professional football players were examined at the end of the playing season, at the end of the season intermission, and after the next pre-season endurance training. Peripheral blood flow and body composition were assessed using venous occlusion plethysmography and DEXA scanning respectively. In addition, selected inflammatory and immune parameters were analysed from blood samples. Following the recuperation period a significant decrease of lean body mass from 74.4±4.2 kg to 72.2±3.9 kg was observed, but an increase of fat mass from 10.3±5.6 kg to 11.1±5.4 kg, almost completely reversed the changes seen in the pre-season training phase. Remarkably, both resting and post-ischemic blood flow (7.3±3.4 and 26.0±6.3 ml/100 ml/min) respectively, were strongly reduced during the playing and training stress phases, but both parameters increased to normal levels (9.0±2.7 and 33.9±7.6 ml/100 ml/min) during the season intermission. Recovery was also characterized by rising levels of serum creatinine, granulocytes count, total IL-8, serum nitrate, ferritin, and bilirubin. These data suggest a compensated hypo-perfusion of muscle during the playing season, followed by an intramuscular ischemia/reperfusion syndrome during the recovery phase that is associated with muscle protein turnover and inflammatory endothelial reaction, as demonstrated by iNOS and HO-1 activation, as well as IL-8 release. The data provided from this study suggest that the immune system is not able to function fully during periods of high physical stress. The implications of this study are that recuperation should be carefully monitored in athletes who undergo intensive training over extended periods, but that these parameters may also prove useful for determining an individual's risk of tissue stress and possibly their susceptibility to progressive tissue damage or injury

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

On writing legibly: Processing fluency systematically biases evaluations of handwritten material

Evaluations of handwritten essays or exams are often suspected of being biased, such as by mood states or individual predilections. Although most of these influences are unsystematic, at least one bias is problematic because it systematically affects evaluations of handwritten materials. Three experiments revealed that essays in legible as compared to less legible handwriting were evaluated more positively. This robust finding was related to a basic judgmental mechanism that builds on the fluency with which handwriting can be processed. The present research further revealed that this evaluative bias is not inevitable but can be controlled for. Given the importance of evaluations based on handwritten work samples for individual success throughout school, college, university, and work life, it is important for individuals to be aware of this bias

Soluble plasma VE-cadherin concentrations are elevated in patients with STEC infection and haemolytic uraemic syndrome: a case-control study

Objectives: To investigate whether the adherens junction protein vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-cadherin) is released during Shiga toxin 2 producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infection with haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) and thus could be used to assist diagnosis. Design: Using data from the large 2011 STEC outbreak in northern Europe, we determined VE-cadherin plasma concentrations in 356 patients distributed over three patient cohorts: patients with STEC infection accompanied by HUS (STEC-HUS), STEC patients without HUS (STEC) and control patients with diarrhoea but without STEC infection. We then looked for associations between VE-cadherin concentrations and disease severity defined by changes in lactate dehydrogenase, haemoglobin, creatinine, platelet count, haptoglobin and neurological symptoms. Setting: This study was conducted at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany. Participants: 79 STEC-HUS patients, 77 STEC patients and 200 control patients were enrolled in the study. Results: We analysed 864 specimens (207 STEC, 449 STEC-HUS and 208 controls) in total. At admission, VE-cadherin concentration tended to be lower in STEC-HUS patients compared to other patients. However, HUS patients later showed an increase in VE-cadherin concentrations with prolonged elevation beyond remission. This pattern clearly differs from that observed in non-HUS patients. Conclusions: VE-cadherin concentrations are elevated in STEC-HUS patients and might be a biomarker reflecting endothelial damage in patients with HUS

Differentially expressed messenger RNA/proteins can distinguish teratoma from necrosis in postchemotherapy retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (pcRPLND) tissue

BackgroundBefore postchemotherapy retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (pcRPLND), in patients with metastasized germ cell tumors (GCTs), those harboring necrosis (NEC) cannot be distinguished from those who have teratoma (TER), resulting in relevant overtreatment, whereas microRNA-371a-3p may be predictive for viable GCT. The purpose of this study was to explore messenger RNA (mRNA) and proteins to distinguish TER from NEC in pcRPLND tissue. MethodsThe discovery cohort consisted in total of 48 patients, including 16 each with TER, viable GCT, and NEC. Representative areas were microdissected. A NanoString panel and proteomics were used to analyze 770 genes and >5000 proteins. The most significantly and differentially expressed combination of both parameters, mRNA and its associated protein, between TER and NEC was validated using immunohistochemistry (IHC) in an independent validation cohort comprising 66 patients who were not part of the discovery cohort. ResultsThe authors observed that anterior gradient protein 2 homolog (AGR2) and keratin, type I cytoskeletal 19 (KRT19) were significantly differentially expressed in TER versus NEC in mRNA and protein analyses (proteomics). The technical validation using IHC was successful in the same patients. These proteins were further validated by IHC in the independent patient cohort and exhibited significantly higher levels in TER versus NEC (p < .0001; area under the curve, 1.0; sensitivity and specificity, 100% each). ConclusionsThe current study demonstrated that KRT19 and AGR2 mRNA and protein are overexpressed in TER versus NEC in pcRPLND tissue and might serve as a future diagnostic target to detect TER, for instance, by functional imaging, to avoid overtreatment. Plain language summary The proteins and the corresponding genes called AGR2 and KRT19 can differentiate between teratoma and necrosis in remaining tumor masses after chemotherapy in patients who have metastasized testicular cancer.This may be a way to improve presurgical diagnostics and to reduce the current overtreatment of patients with necrosis only, who could be treated sufficiently by surveillance