Environmental drivers of spring primary production in Hudson Bay

Pertinent environmental factors influencing the microalgal bloom during sea-ice breakup in Hudson Bay were investigated in June 2018, producing the first observations of late spring primary production in the offshore waters of this vast inland sea. Phytoplankton production was found to commence at the onset of ice melt, with surface nutrient depletion leading to the formation of a subsurface chlorophyll maximum in the open waters of western Hudson Bay. Concurrently, the melting mobile ice cover in central Hudson Bay created favorable conditions for a diatom-dominated under-ice bloom, with photosynthetic characteristics and relatively high production confirming that phytoplankton cells were able to acclimate to increasing light levels. Lower mean values of phytoplankton production and total chlorophyll a (TChl a) concentration observed under the sea ice (414 mg C m–2 d–1 and 33.7 mg TChl a m–2) than those observed in open waters during the late bloom stage in the western region (460 mg C m–2 d–1 and 53.5 mgTChl a m–2) were attributed to reduced under-ice light levels and low surface concentrations of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (<2 mmol L–1) in central Hudson Bay. However, the highly abundant subice diatom, Melosira arctica, was estimated to contribute an additional 378 mg C m–2 d–1 to under-ice production in this region. Therefore, this subice algal bloom appears to play a similar role in the seasonally ice-covered sub-Arctic as in the central Arctic Ocean where it contributes significantly to local production. By updating historical total production estimates of Hudson Bay ranging between 21.5 and 39 g C m–2 yr–1 with our late spring observations including the novel observation of M. arctica, annual production was recalculated to be 72 g C m–2 yr–1, which equates to mean values for interior Arctic shelves

The measurement of ancestral roots with genealogical data

This study presents a new method to measure the depth of ancestral roots in a population. This method sheds light on the migratory movements which led to present-day population distribution across space. The method was applied to a dataset of 5,100 ascending genealogies from seventeen regions of the province of Quebec (Canada). Dates of marriage of the earliest ancestors married in the same region as their descendants were used to measure the age of individual ancestral roots. The average regional ages vary between 16 and 157 years, while some individual roots reach as far back as 300 years in the same region. The proposed method can be useful for assessing how deeply rooted a contemporary population is at a local, regional or other geographical level

Energy Compensation Following a Supervised Exercise Intervention in Women Living With Overweight/Obesity Is Accompanied by an Early and Sustained Decrease in Non-structured Physical Activity

Background/Objectives: Body composition (BC) does not always vary as a function of exercise induced energy expenditure (exercise EE – resting EE). Energy balance variables were measured to understand energy compensation (EC) in response to an exercise intervention performed at low (LOW) or moderate (MOD) intensity. Subjects/Methods: Twenty-one women with overweight/obesity (33 ± 5 kg/m2; 29 ± 10 yrs; 31 ± 4 ml O2/kg/min) were randomized to a 3-month LOW or MOD (40 or 60% of VȮ2reserve, respectively) matched to expend 1500 kcal/week (compliance = 97 ± 5%). Body energy stores (DXA), energy intake (EI) (food menu and food diaries), resting EE (indirect calorimetry), total EE (doubly-labeled water), time spent in different activities (accelerometers), appetite (visual analog scale), eating behavior traits and food reward (liking and wanting) were assessed at baseline, after weeks 1 and 2 and at the end of the 3-month exercise intervention. Results: EC based on BC changes (fat mass and fat-free mass) was 49 ± 79% and 161 ± 88% in LOW and MOD groups, respectively (p = 0.010). EI did not change significantly during the intervention. However, eating behavior traits and food reward had changed by the end of the 3-month supervised exercise. Non-structured physical activity (NSPA) decreased across the intervention (p < 0.002), independent of the intensity of the exercise training. Conclusion: Women with overweight/obesity training at LOW presented lower EC for a given energy cost of exercise. Our results strongly suggest that NSPA plays a major role in mediating the effects of exercise on energy balance and ultimately on changes in BC

Uncovering the genetic architecture of broad antisocial behavior through a genome-wide association study meta-analysis

Despite the substantial heritability of antisocial behavior (ASB), specific genetic variants robustly associated with the trait have not been identified. The present study by the Broad Antisocial Behavior Consortium (BroadABC) meta-analyzed data from 28 discovery samples (N = 85,359) and five independent replication samples (N = 8058) with genotypic data and broad measures of ASB. We identified the first significant genetic associations with broad ASB, involving common intronic variants in the forkhead box protein P2 (FOXP2) gene (lead SNP rs12536335, p = 6.32 × 10−10). Furthermore, we observed intronic variation in Foxp2 and one of its targets (Cntnap2) distinguishing a mouse model of pathological aggression (BALB/cJ strain) from controls (BALB/cByJ strain). Polygenic risk score (PRS) analyses in independent samples revealed that the genetic risk for ASB was associated with several antisocial outcomes across the lifespan, including diagnosis of conduct disorder, official criminal convictions, and trajectories of antisocial development. We found substantial genetic correlations of ASB with mental health (depression rg = 0.63, insomnia rg = 0.47), physical health (overweight rg = 0.19, waist-to-hip ratio rg = 0.32), smoking (rg = 0.54), cognitive ability (intelligence rg = −0.40), educational attainment (years of schooling rg = −0.46) and reproductive traits (age at first birth rg = −0.58, father’s age at death rg = −0.54). Our findings provide a starting point toward identifying critical biosocial risk mechanisms for the development of ASB

The Astropy Project: Building an inclusive, open-science project and status of the v2.0 core package

The Astropy project supports and fosters the development of open-source and openly-developed Python packages that provide commonly-needed functionality to the astronomical community. A key element of the Astropy project is the core package Astropy, which serves as the foundation for more specialized projects and packages. In this article, we provide an overview of the organization of the Astropy project and summarize key features in the core package as of the recent major release, version 2.0. We then describe the project infrastructure designed to facilitate and support development for a broader ecosystem of inter-operable packages. We conclude with a future outlook of planned new features and directions for the broader Astropy project

Amyloid and tau pathology associations with personality traits, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and cognitive lifestyle in the preclinical phases of sporadic and autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease

Background Major prevention trials for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are now focusing on multidomain lifestyle interventions. However, the exact combination of behavioral factors related to AD pathology remains unclear. In 2 cohorts of cognitively unimpaired individuals at risk of AD, we examined which combinations of personality traits, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and cognitive lifestyle (years of education or lifetime cognitive activity) related to the pathological hallmarks of AD, amyloid-β, and tau deposits. Methods A total of 115 older adults with a parental or multiple-sibling family history of sporadic AD (PREVENT-AD [PRe-symptomatic EValuation of Experimental or Novel Treatments for AD] cohort) underwent amyloid and tau positron emission tomography and answered several questionnaires related to behavioral attributes. Separately, we studied 117 mutation carriers from the DIAN (Dominant Inherited Alzheimer Network) study group cohort with amyloid positron emission tomography and behavioral data. Using partial least squares analysis, we identified latent variables relating amyloid or tau pathology with combinations of personality traits, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and cognitive lifestyle. Results In PREVENT-AD, lower neuroticism, neuropsychiatric burden, and higher education were associated with less amyloid deposition (p = .014). Lower neuroticism and neuropsychiatric features, along with higher measures of openness and extraversion, were related to less tau deposition (p = .006). In DIAN, lower neuropsychiatric burden and higher education were also associated with less amyloid (p = .005). The combination of these factors accounted for up to 14% of AD pathology. Conclusions In the preclinical phase of both sporadic and autosomal dominant AD, multiple behavioral features were associated with AD pathology. These results may suggest potential pathways by which multidomain interventions might help delay AD onset or progression

Towards sustainable agricultural landscapes: Lessons from an interdisciplinary research-based framework applied to the Saint Lawrence floodplain

Abstract Floodplains are unique environments that provide a dynamic link between terrestrial and aquatic systems. Intensification of human activity – particularly agriculture and urbanisation – has resulted in the degradation of floodplains worldwide. Restoration and sustainable management of floodplains requires holistic assessment and compromise between stakeholders to successfully balance environmental, economic, and social benefits. Yet, understanding these complex systems sufficiently to provide evidence-based recommendations is a challenge. We present the lessons learned from establishing an interdisciplinary research-based framework on the agricultural floodplain of Lake Saint Pierre, Québec, Canada, whose mandate was to a) understand and define key environmental, agricultural, and socioeconomic attributes of the landscape, b) quantify the trade-offs and synergies between these attributes across different agricultural practices, regions, and land uses, and c) explore novel agri-environmental management practices to assess their role in sustainable floodplain management. Within this manuscript, we explore the benefits that such an approach offers in evaluating sustainable floodplain land use. We found that an interdisciplinary research-based approach demonstrated important benefits such as knowledge transfer, more efficient use of resources (e.g., personnel, funding), and a flexible yet robust research framework. A framework of individual research projects connected to broader interdisciplinary themes allowed a more holistic synthesis of the floodplain systems and assessment of agri-environmental practices. By implicitly considering spatial and social scales, we conceptualised not just how redistribution of the land use types can meet sustainable management objectives, but also explored how compromises within existing uses can optimise socio-economic, agricultural and environmental dimensions and move towards a sustainable multifunctional landscape

Nunataryuk field campaigns: understanding the origin and fate of terrestrial organic matter in the coastal waters of the Mackenzie Delta region

Climate warming and related drivers of soil thermal change in the Arctic are expected to modify the distribution and dynamics of carbon contained in perennially frozen grounds. Thawing of permafrost in the Mackenzie River watershed of northwestern Canada, coupled with increases in river discharge and coastal erosion, triggers the release of terrestrial organic matter (OMt) from the largest Arctic drainage basin in North America into the Arctic Ocean. While this process is ongoing and its rate is accelerating, the fate of the newly mobilized organic matter as it transits from the watershed through the delta and into the marine system remains poorly understood. In the framework of the European Horizon 2020 Nunataryuk programme, and as part of the Work Package 4 (WP4) Coastal Waters theme, four field expeditions were conducted in the Mackenzie Delta region and southern Beaufort Sea from April to September 2019. The temporal sampling design allowed the survey of ambient conditions in the coastal waters under full ice cover prior to the spring freshet, during ice breakup in summer, and anterior to the freeze-up period in fall. To capture the fluvial–marine transition zone, and with distinct challenges related to shallow waters and changing seasonal and meteorological conditions, the field sampling was conducted in close partnership with members of the communities of Aklavik, Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, using several platforms, namely helicopters, snowmobiles, and small boats. Water column profiles of physical and optical variables were measured in situ, while surface water, groundwater, and sediment samples were collected and preserved for the determination of the composition and sources of OMt, including particulate and dissolved organic carbon (POC and DOC), and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), as well as a suite of physical, chemical, and biological variables. Here we present an overview of the standardized datasets, including hydrographic profiles, remote sensing reflectance, temperature and salinity, particle absorption, nutrients, dissolved organic carbon, particulate organic carbon, particulate organic nitrogen, CDOM absorption, fluorescent dissolved organic matter intensity, suspended particulate matter, total particulate carbon, total particulate nitrogen, stable water isotopes, radon in water, bacterial abundance, and a string of phytoplankton pigments including total chlorophyll. Datasets and related metadata can be found in Juhls et al. (2021) (https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.937587).</p