Pulse wave velocity and carotid atherosclerosis in White and Latino patients with hypertension

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Preventive cardiology has expanded beyond coronary heart disease towards prevention of a broader spectrum of cardiovascular diseases. Ethnic minorities are at proportionately greater risk for developing extracoronary vascular disease including heart failure and cerebrovascular disease.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed a cross sectional study of Latino and White hypertension patients in a safety-net healthcare system. Framingham risk factors, markers of inflammation (hsCRP, LPpLA2), arterial stiffness (Pulse wave velocity, augmentation index, and central aortic pressure), and endothelial function (brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation) were measured. Univariate and multivariable associations between these parameters and an index of extracoronary atherosclerosis (carotid intima media thickness) was performed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among 177 subjects, mean age was 62 years, 67% were female, and 67% were Latino. In univariate analysis, markers associated with carotid intima media thickness (IMT) at p < 0.25 included pulse wave velocity (PWV), augmentation index (AIx), central aortic pressure (cAP), and LpPLA₂activity rank. However, AIx, cAP, and LpPLA2 activity were not significantly associated with carotid IMT after adjusting for Framingham risk factors (all p > .10). Only PWV retained a significant association with carotid IMT independent of the Framingham general risk profile parameters (p = .016). No statistically significant interactions between Framingham and other independent variables with ethnicity (all p > .05) were observed.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this safety net cohort, PWV is a potentially useful adjunctive atherosclerotic risk marker independent of traditional risk factors and irrespective of ethnicity.</p

Antigenic Characterization of H3 Subtypes of Avian Influenza A Viruses from North America

Besides humans, H3 subtypes of influenza A viruses (IAVs) can infect various animal hosts, including avian, swine, equine, canine, and sea mammal species. These H3 viruses are both antigenically and genetically diverse. Here, we characterized the antigenic diversity of contemporary H3 avian IAVs recovered from migratory birds in North America. Hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assays were performed on 37 H3 isolates of avian IAVs recovered from 2007 to 2011 using generated reference chicken sera. These isolates were recovered from samples taken in the Atlantic, Mississippi, Central, and Pacific waterfowl migration flyways. Antisera to all the tested H3 isolates cross-reacted with each other and, to a lesser extent, with those to H3 canine and H3 equine IAVs. Antigenic cartography showed that the largest antigenic distance among the 37 avian IAVs is about four units, and each unit corresponds to a 2 log 2 difference in the HI titer. However, none of the tested H3 IAVs cross-reacted with ferret sera derived from contemporary swine and human IAVs. Our results showed that the H3 avian IAVs we tested lacked significant antigenic diversity, and these viruses were antigenically different from those circulating in swine and human populations. This suggests that H3 avian IAVs in North American waterfowl are antigenically relatively stable. Además de infectar a los seres humanos, los subtipos H3 del virus de la influenza A (IAVs) pueden infectar a varios huéspedes animales, incluyendo aves, porcinos, equinos, caninos, y especies de mamíferos marinos. Estos virus H3 son tanto antigénica y genéticamente diversos. En este estudio, se caracterizó la diversidad antigénica de virus H3 contemporáneos recuperados de aves migratorias en América del Norte. Se realizaron pruebas de inhibición de la hemaglutinación (HI) en 37 H3 aislamientos de origen aviar recuperados de 2007 a 2011 usando sueros de pollo de referencia. Estos aislamientos fueron recuperados de las muestras tomadas de las rutas migratorias de aves acuáticas del Atlántico, Mississippi, Centro y del Pacífico. Los antisueros de todos los aislamientos H3 analizados mostraron reacciones cruzadas entre sí y en menor medida, con aquellos virus H3 de origen canino y equino. La cartografía antigénica demostró que la mayor distancia antigénica entre los 37 virus de este tipo de aves es de aproximadamente cuatro unidades, y cada unidad corresponde a una diferencia de dos logaritmos en el título de inhibición de la hemaglutinación. Sin embargo, ninguno de los virus H3 de este tipo mostró reacción cruzada con sueros de hurón específicos para virus de cerdos y humanos contemporáneos. Estos resultados mostraron que los virus H3 de origen aviar que se analizaron carecían de diversidad antigénica significativa y estos virus fueron antigénicamente diferentes de las que circulan en poblaciones de cerdos y de humanos. Esto sugiere que los virus H3 de aves acuáticas de América del Norte son relativamente estables antigénicamente

Host-pathogen genetic interactions underlie tuberculosis susceptibility in genetically diverse mice [preprint]

The outcome of an encounter with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) depends on the pathogen’s ability to adapt to the heterogeneous immune response of the host. Understanding this interplay has proven difficult, largely because experimentally tractable small animal models do not recapitulate the heterogenous disease observed in natural infections. We leveraged the genetically diverse Collaborative Cross (CC) mouse panel in conjunction with a library of Mtb mutants to associate bacterial genetic requirements with host genetics and immunity. We report that CC strains vary dramatically in their susceptibility to infection and represent reproducible models of qualitatively distinct immune states. Global analysis of Mtb mutant fitness across the CC panel revealed that a large fraction of the pathogen’s genome is necessary for adaptation to specific host microenvironments. Both immunological and bacterial traits were associated with genetic variants distributed across the mouse genome, elucidating the complex genetic landscape that underlies host-pathogen interactions in a diverse population

Sustainable bio-economy that delivers the environment-food-energy-water nexus objectives: the current status in Malaysia

Biomass is a promising resource in Malaysia for energy, fuels, and high value-added products. However, regards to biomass value chains, the numerous restrictions and challenges related to the economic and environmental features must be considered. The major concerns regarding the enlargement of biomass plantation is that it requires large amounts of land and environmental resources such as water and soil that arises the danger of creating severe damages to the ecosystem (e.g. deforestation, water pollution, soil depletion etc.). Regarded concerns can be diminished when all aspects associated with palm biomass conversion and utilization linked with environment, food, energy and water (EFEW) nexus to meet the standard requirement and to consider the potential impact on the nexus as a whole. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the detail interactions between all the components in the nexus once intended to look for the best solution to exploit the great potential of biomass. This paper offers an overview regarding the present potential biomass availability for energy production, technology readiness, feasibility study on the techno-economic analyses of the biomass utilization and the impact of this nexus on value chains. The agro-biomass resources potential and land suitability for different crops has been overviewed using satellite imageries and the outcomes of the nexus interactions should be incorporated in developmental policies on biomass. The paper finally discussed an insight of digitization of the agriculture industry as future strategy to modernize agriculture in Malaysia. Hence, this paper provides holistic overview of biomass competitiveness for sustainable bio-economy in Malaysia

Sloan Digital Sky Survey Imaging of Low Galactic Latitude Fields: Technical Summary and Data Release

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) mosaic camera and telescope have obtained five-band optical-wavelength imaging near the Galactic plane outside of the nominal survey boundaries. These additional data were obtained during commissioning and subsequent testing of the SDSS observing system, and they provide unique wide-area imaging data in regions of high obscuration and star formation, including numerous young stellar objects, Herbig-Haro objects and young star clusters. Because these data are outside the Survey regions in the Galactic caps, they are not part of the standard SDSS data releases. This paper presents imaging data for 832 square degrees of sky (including repeats), in the star-forming regions of Orion, Taurus, and Cygnus. About 470 square degrees are now released to the public, with the remainder to follow at the time of SDSS Data Release 4. The public data in Orion include the star-forming region NGC 2068/NGC 2071/HH24 and a large part of Barnard's loop.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures (3 missing to save space), accepted by AJ, in press, see http://photo.astro.princeton.edu/oriondatarelease for data and paper with all figure

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase &#948; blockade increases genomic instability in B cells

Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) is a B-cell specific enzyme that targets immunoglobulin (Ig) genes to initiate class switch recombination (CSR) and somatic hypermutation (SHM)(1). Through off-target activity, however, AID has a much broader impact on genomic instability by initiating oncogenic chromosomal translocations and mutations involved in lymphoma development and progression(2). AID expression is tightly regulated in B cells and its overexpression leads to enhanced genomic instability and lymphoma formation(3). The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) δ pathway plays a key role in AID regulation by suppressing its expression in B cells(4). Novel drugs for leukemia or lymphoma therapy such as idelalisib, duvelisib or ibrutinib block PI3Kδ activity directly or indirectly(5–8), potentially affecting AID expression and, consequently, genomic stability in B cells. Here we show that treatment of primary mouse B cells with idelalisib or duvelisib, and to a lesser extent ibrutinib, enhanced the expression of AID and increased somatic hypermutation (SHM) and chromosomal translocation frequency to the Igh locus and to several AID off-target sites. Both these effects were completely abrogated in AID deficient B cells. PI3Kδ inhibitors or ibrutinib increased the formation of AID-dependent tumors in pristane-treated mice. Consistently, PI3Kδ inhibitors enhanced AID expression and translocation frequency to IgH and AID off-target sites in human chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) cell lines, and patients treated with idelalisib, but not ibrutinib, showed increased SHM in AID off-targets. In summary, we show that PI3Kδ or BTK inhibitors increase genomic instability in normal and neoplastic B cells by an AID-dependent mechanism, an effect that should be carefully considered as such inhibitors are administered for years to patients

The Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

This paper describes the Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), marking the completion of the original goals of the SDSS and the end of the phase known as SDSS-II. It includes 11663 deg^2 of imaging data, with most of the roughly 2000 deg^2 increment over the previous data release lying in regions of low Galactic latitude. The catalog contains five-band photometry for 357 million distinct objects. The survey also includes repeat photometry over 250 deg^2 along the Celestial Equator in the Southern Galactic Cap. A coaddition of these data goes roughly two magnitudes fainter than the main survey. The spectroscopy is now complete over a contiguous area of 7500 deg^2 in the Northern Galactic Cap, closing the gap that was present in previous data releases. There are over 1.6 million spectra in total, including 930,000 galaxies, 120,000 quasars, and 460,000 stars. The data release includes improved stellar photometry at low Galactic latitude. The astrometry has all been recalibrated with the second version of the USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC-2), reducing the rms statistical errors at the bright end to 45 milli-arcseconds per coordinate. A systematic error in bright galaxy photometr is less severe than previously reported for the majority of galaxies. Finally, we describe a series of improvements to the spectroscopic reductions, including better flat-fielding and improved wavelength calibration at the blue end, better processing of objects with extremely strong narrow emission lines, and an improved determination of stellar metallicities. (Abridged)Comment: 20 pages, 10 embedded figures. Accepted to ApJS after minor correction

The Eighth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Data from SDSS-III

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) started a new phase in August 2008, with new instrumentation and new surveys focused on Galactic structure and chemical evolution, measurements of the baryon oscillation feature in the clustering of galaxies and the quasar Ly alpha forest, and a radial velocity search for planets around ~8000 stars. This paper describes the first data release of SDSS-III (and the eighth counting from the beginning of the SDSS). The release includes five-band imaging of roughly 5200 deg^2 in the Southern Galactic Cap, bringing the total footprint of the SDSS imaging to 14,555 deg^2, or over a third of the Celestial Sphere. All the imaging data have been reprocessed with an improved sky-subtraction algorithm and a final, self-consistent photometric recalibration and flat-field determination. This release also includes all data from the second phase of the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Evolution (SEGUE-2), consisting of spectroscopy of approximately 118,000 stars at both high and low Galactic latitudes. All the more than half a million stellar spectra obtained with the SDSS spectrograph have been reprocessed through an improved stellar parameters pipeline, which has better determination of metallicity for high metallicity stars.Comment: Astrophysical Journal Supplements, in press (minor updates from submitted version

The Ninth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) presents the first spectroscopic data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). This ninth data release (DR9) of the SDSS project includes 535,995 new galaxy spectra (median z=0.52), 102,100 new quasar spectra (median z=2.32), and 90,897 new stellar spectra, along with the data presented in previous data releases. These spectra were obtained with the new BOSS spectrograph and were taken between 2009 December and 2011 July. In addition, the stellar parameters pipeline, which determines radial velocities, surface temperatures, surface gravities, and metallicities of stars, has been updated and refined with improvements in temperature estimates for stars with T_eff<5000 K and in metallicity estimates for stars with [Fe/H]>-0.5. DR9 includes new stellar parameters for all stars presented in DR8, including stars from SDSS-I and II, as well as those observed as part of the SDSS-III Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration-2 (SEGUE-2). The astrometry error introduced in the DR8 imaging catalogs has been corrected in the DR9 data products. The next data release for SDSS-III will be in Summer 2013, which will present the first data from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) along with another year of data from BOSS, followed by the final SDSS-III data release in December 2014.Comment: 9 figures; 2 tables. Submitted to ApJS. DR9 is available at http://www.sdss3.org/dr