Exposure to Traffic Pollution and Increased Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease that affects approximately 1% of the adult population, and to date, genetic factors explain < 50% of the risk. Particulate air pollution, especially of traffic origin, has been linked to systemic inflammation in many studies. Objectives: We examined the association of distance to road, a marker of traffic pollution exposure, and incidence of RA in a prospective cohort study.Methods We studied 90,297 U.S. women in the Nurses’ Health Study. We used a geographic information system to determine distance to road at the residence in 2000 as a measure of traffic exposure. Using Cox proportional hazard models, we examined the association of distance to road and incident RA (1976–2004) with adjustment for a large number of potential confounders. Results: In models adjusted for age, calendar year, race, cigarette smoking, parity, lactation, menopausal status and hormone use, oral contraceptive use, body mass index, physical activity, and census-tract-level median income and house value, we observed an elevated risk of RA [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.31; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.98–1.74] in women living within 50 m of a road, compared with those women living 200 m or farther away. We also observed this association in analyses among nonsmokers (HR = 1.62; 95% CI, 1.04–2.52), nonsmokers with rheumatoid factor (RF)-negative RA (HR = 1.77; 95% CI, 0.93–3.38), and nonsmokers with RF-positive RA (HR = 1.51; 95% CI, 0.82–2.77). We saw no elevations in risk in women living 50–200 m from the road. Conclusions: The observed association between exposure to traffic pollution and RA suggests that pollution from traffic in adulthood may be a newly identified environmental risk factor for RA

Co-administration of vancomycin and piperacillin-tazobactam is associated with increased renal dysfunction in adult and pediatric burn patients

Background: Burn patients are prone to infections which often necessitate broad antibiotic coverage. Vancomycin is a common antibiotic after burn injury and is administered alone (V), or in combination with imipenem-cilastin (V/IC) or piperacillin-tazobactam (V/PT). Sparse reports indicate that the combination V/PT is associated with increased renal dysfunction. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the short-term impact of the three antibiotic administration types on renal dysfunction. Methods: All pediatric and adult patients admitted to our centers between 2004 and 2016 with a burn injury were included in this retrospective review if they met the criteria of exposition to either V, V/IC, or V/PT for at least 48 h, had normal baseline creatinine, and no pre-existing renal dysfunction. Creatinine was monitored for 7 days after initial exposure; the absolute and relative increase was calculated, and patient renal outcomes were classified according to the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) criteria depending on creatinine increases and estimated creatinine clearance. Secondary endpoints (demographic and clinical data, incidences of septicemia, and renal replacement therapy) were analyzed. Antibiotic doses were modeled in logistic and linear multivariable regression models to predict categorical KDIGO events and relative creatinine increase. Results: Out of 1449 patients who were screened, 718 met the inclusion criteria, 246 were adults, and 472 were children. Between the study cohorts V, V/IC, and V/PT, patient characteristics at admission were comparable. V/PT administration was associated with a statistically higher serum creatinine, and lower creatinine clearance compared to patients receiving V alone or V/IC in adults and children after burn injury. The incidence of KDIGO stages 1, 2, and 3 was higher after V/PT treatment. In children, the incidence of KDIGO stage 3 following administration of V/PT was greater than after V/IC. In adults, the incidence of renal replacement therapy was higher after V/PT compared with V or V/IC. Multivariate modeling demonstrated that V/PT is an independent predictor of renal dysfunction. Conclusion: Co-administration of vancomycin and piperacillin-tazobactam is associated with increased renal dysfunction in pediatric and adult burn patients when compared to vancomycin alone or vancomycin plus imipenem-cilastin. The mechanism of this increased nephrotoxicity remains elusive and warrants further scientific evaluation

STAR: predicting recombination sites from amino acid sequence

BACKGROUND: Designing novel proteins with site-directed recombination has enormous prospects. By locating effective recombination sites for swapping sequence parts, the probability that hybrid sequences have the desired properties is increased dramatically. The prohibitive requirements for applying current tools led us to investigate machine learning to assist in finding useful recombination sites from amino acid sequence alone. RESULTS: We present STAR, Site Targeted Amino acid Recombination predictor, which produces a score indicating the structural disruption caused by recombination, for each position in an amino acid sequence. Example predictions contrasted with those of alternative tools, illustrate STAR'S utility to assist in determining useful recombination sites. Overall, the correlation coefficient between the output of the experimentally validated protein design algorithm SCHEMA and the prediction of STAR is very high (0.89). CONCLUSION: STAR allows the user to explore useful recombination sites in amino acid sequences with unknown structure and unknown evolutionary origin. The predictor service is available from

Re‐weighing the 5% tagging recommendation: assessing the potential impacts of tags on the behaviour and body condition of bats

Considerable advances and breakthroughs in wildlife tracking technology have occurred in recent years, allowing researchers to gain insights into the movements and behaviours of a broad range of animals. Considering the accessibility and increase in use of tracking devices in wildlife studies, it is important to better understand the effects on these on animals. Our endeavour revisits a guideline established in 1988, which proposes that bats may encounter body condition or health problems and alter their behaviour when carrying tags weighing more than 5% of their body mass. Through a systematic literature review, we conducted a meta‐analysis to identify the impacts of tags on bats, including 367 papers from 1976 to 2023 that discussed, mentioned, employed, or quantified tagging of bats. We noted that the proportion of studies exceeding the 5% rule has not changed in recent years. However, the impact of tags was quantified in few studies for behaviour (n = 7) and body condition (n = 10) of bats. We were unable to assess whether tags weighing less or more than 5% of the bat's body mass impacted bats, but our meta‐analysis did identify that tags, irrespective of mass, affect the behaviour and body condition of bats. Although the overall magnitude of measured effects of tags on bats was small, progress has been made to advance our understanding of tag mass on bats. Naturally, there is a bias in reporting of significant results, illustrating the need of reporting results when there is no apparent effect of tags on bats. Our findings highlight the need for rigorous reporting of behaviour and body condition data associated with tagging of animals and illustrate the importance for studies comparing how tracking devices of different dimensions and masses may impact bat species to ensure research meets rigorous ethical standards

Multi-campaign Ship and Aircraft Observations of Marine Cloud Condensation Nuclei and Droplet Concentrations

In-situ marine cloud droplet number concentrations (CDNCs), cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), and CCN proxies, based on particle sizes and optical properties, are accumulated from seven field campaigns: ACTIVATE; NAAMES; CAMP2EX; ORACLES; SOCRATES; MARCUS; and CAPRICORN2. Each campaign involves aircraft measurements, ship-based measurements, or both. Measurements collected over the North and Central Atlantic, Indo-Pacific, and Southern Oceans, represent a range of clean to polluted conditions in various climate regimes. With the extensive range of environmental conditions sampled, this data collection is ideal for testing satellite remote detection methods of CDNC and CCN in marine environments. Remote measurement methods are vital to expanding the available data in these difficult-to-reach regions of the Earth and improving our understanding of aerosol-cloud interactions. The data collection includes particle composition and continental tracers to identify potential contributing CCN sources. Several of these campaigns include High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) and polarimetric imaging measurements and retrievals that will be the basis for the next generation of space-based remote sensors and, thus, can be utilized as satellite surrogates

Metabolic, hygric and ventilatory physiology of a hypermetabolic marsupial, the honey possum (Tarsipes rostratus)

The honey possum is the only non-volant mammal to feed exclusively on a diet of nectar and pollen. Like other mammalian and avian nectarivores, previous studies indicated that the honey possum's basal metabolic rate was higher than predicted for a marsupial of equivalent body mass. However, these early measurements have been questioned. We re-examined the basal metabolic rate (2.52 +/- A 0.222 ml O(2) g(-1) h(-1)) of the honey possum and confirm that it is indeed higher (162%) than predicted for other marsupials both before and after accounting for phylogenetic history. This, together with its small body mass (5.4 +/- A 0.14 g; 1.3% of that predicted by phylogeny) may be attributed to its nectarivorous diet and mesic distribution. Its high-basal metabolic rate is associated with a high-standard body temperature (36.6 +/- A 0.48A degrees C) and oxygen extraction (19.4%), but interestingly the honey possum has a high point of relative water economy (17.0A degrees C) and its standard evaporative water loss (4.33 +/- A 0.394 mg H(2)O g(-1) h(-1)) is not elevated above that of other marsupials, despite its mesic habitat and high dietary water intake.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Synergistic ecoclimate teleconnections from forest loss in different regions structure global ecological responses

ABSTRACT: Forest loss in hotspots around the world impacts not only local climate where loss occurs, but also influences climate and vegetation in remote parts of the globe through ecoclimate teleconnections. The magnitude and mechanism of remote impacts likely depends on the location and distribution of forest loss hotspots, but the nature of these dependencies has not been investigated. We use global climate model simulations to estimate the distribution of ecologically-relevant climate changes resulting from forest loss in two hotspot regions: western North America (wNA), which is experiencing accelerated dieoff, and the Amazon basin, which is subject to high rates of deforestation. The remote climatic and ecological net effects of simultaneous forest loss in both regions differed from the combined effects of loss from the two regions simulated separately, as evident in three impacted areas. Eastern South American Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) increased due to changes in seasonal rainfall associated with Amazon forest loss and changes in temperature related to wNA forest loss. Eurasia’s GPP declined with wNA forest loss due to cooling temperatures increasing soil ice volume. Southeastern North American productivity increased with simultaneous forest loss, but declined with only wNA forest loss due to changes in VPD. Our results illustrate the need for a new generation of local-to-global scale analyses to identify potential ecoclimate teleconnections, their underlying mechanisms, and most importantly, their synergistic interactions, to predict the responses to increasing forest loss under future land use change and climate change