Factors Affecting Capture Rates of Insect Taxa by Retail Electrocutors and Eliminators in Northern Lower Michigan

We compare the abundance and types of insects captured at several locations, with and without a chemical attractant and in varying weather conditions using two different devices advertised to kill biting insects. Using both an insect electrocutor that uses ultraviolet light as an attractant, with and without octenol as an added attractant, and an insect eliminator that uses carbon dioxide, heat and octenol as attractants, more non-biting than biting insects were captured. Numerous harmless and beneficial insects were killed with electrocutors. Although eliminators were more target-specific, they captured fewer insects overall compared to electrocutors. The numbers and types of insects captured also varied by location and temperature conditions. More insects were killed by electrocutors located next to a lake compared to those located in an inland forested area and more were killed at lower compared to higher heights above the ground. More insects were also killed by electrocutors on warmer than on cooler nights. More non-biting insects were killed with electrocutors baited with octenol than without octenol

Factors Affecting Capture Rates of Insect Taxa by Retail Electrocutors and Eliminators in Northern Lower Michigan

We compare the abundance and types of insects captured at several locations, with and without a chemical attractant and in varying weather conditions using two different devices advertised to kill biting insects. Using both an insect electrocutor that uses ultraviolet light as an attractant, with and without octenol as an added attractant, and an insect eliminator that uses carbon dioxide, heat and octenol as attractants, more non-biting than biting insects were captured. Numerous harmless and beneficial insects were killed with electrocutors. Although eliminators were more target-specific, they captured fewer insects overall compared to electrocutors. The numbers and types of insects captured also varied by location and temperature conditions. More insects were killed by electrocutors located next to a lake compared to those located in an inland forested area and more were killed at lower compared to higher heights above the ground. More insects were also killed by electrocutors on warmer than on cooler nights. More non-biting insects were killed with electrocutors baited with octenol than without octenol

Atrial fibrillation, anticoagulation management and risk of stroke in the Cardiomyopathy/Myocarditis registry of the EURObservational Research Programme of the European Society of Cardiology

Aims: Cardiomyopathies are a heterogeneous group of disorders that increase the risk for atrial fibrillation (AF). The aim of the study is to assess the prevalence of AF, anticoagulation management, and risk of stroke/transient ischaemic attack (TIA) in patients with cardiomyopathy. / Methods and results: Three thousand two hundred eight consecutive adult patients with cardiomyopathy (34.9% female; median age: 55.0 years) were prospectively enrolled as part of the EURObservational Research Programme Cardiomyopathy/Myocarditis Registry. At baseline, 903 (28.2%) patients had AF (29.4% dilated, 27.5% hypertrophic, 51.5% restrictive, and 14.7% arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, P < 0.001). AF was associated with more advanced New York Heart Association class (P < 0.001), increased prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and co‐morbidities, and a history of stroke/TIA (P < 0.001). Oral anticoagulation was administered in 71.7% of patients with AF (vitamin K antagonist: 51.6%; direct oral anticoagulant: 20.1%). At 1 year follow‐up, the incidence of cardiovascular endpoints was as follows: stroke/TIA 1.85% (AF vs. non‐AF: 3.17% vs. 1.19%, P < 0.001), death from any cause 3.43% (AF vs. non‐AF: 5.39% vs. 2.50%, P < 0.001), and death from heart failure 1.67% (AF vs. non‐AF: 2.44% vs. 1.31%, P = 0.033). The independent predictors for stroke/TIA were as follows: AF [odds ratio (OR) 2.812, P = 0.005], history of stroke (OR 7.311, P = 0.010), and anaemia (OR 3.119, P = 0.006). / Conclusions: The study reveals a high prevalence and diverse distribution of AF in patients with cardiomyopathies, inadequate anticoagulation regimen, and high risk of stroke/TIA in this population

Oral microbiome in HIV-associated periodontitis

M.N-J, J.R, Y.G. and R.P acknowledge funds from the Gala contra la SIDA 2013 and 2014 editions, the Nit per la Recerca a la Catalunya Central 2015 edition and the Red de investigación en SIDA.Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text HIV-associated periodontal diseases (PD) could serve as a source of chronic inflammation. Here, we sought to characterize the oral microbial signatures of HIV+ and HIV- individuals at different levels of PD severity. This cross-sectional study included both HIV+ and HIV- patients with varying degrees of PD. Two tooth, 2 cheek, and 1 saliva samples were obtained for microbiome analysis. Mothur/SILVADB were used to classify sequences. R/Bioconductor (Vegan, PhyloSeq, and DESeq2) was employed to assess overall microbiome structure differences and differential abundance of bacterial genera between groups. Polychromatic flow cytometry was used to assess immune activation in CD4 and CD8 cell populations. Around 250 cheek, tooth, and saliva samples from 50 participants (40 HIV+ and 10 HIV-) were included. Severity of PD was classified clinically as None/Mild (N), Moderate (M), and Severe (S) with 18 (36%), 16 (32%), and 16 (32%) participants in each category, respectively. Globally, ordination analysis demonstrated clustering by anatomic site (R 2 = 0.25, P < 0.001). HIV status and PD severity showed a statistically significant impact on microbiome composition but only accounted for a combined 2% of variation. HIV+ samples were enriched in genera Abiotrophia, Neisseria, Kingella, and unclassified Neisseriaceae and depleted in Leptotrichia and Selenomonas. The Neisseria genus was consistently enriched in HIV+ participants regardless of sampling site and PD level. Immune markers were altered in HIV+ participants but did not show association with the oral microbiome. HIV-associated changes in oral microbiome result in subtle microbial signatures along different stages of PD that are common in independent oral anatomic sites

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

Spatial Organization and Molecular Correlation of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Using Deep Learning on Pathology Images

Beyond sample curation and basic pathologic characterization, the digitized H&E-stained images of TCGA samples remain underutilized. To highlight this resource, we present mappings of tumorinfiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) based on H&E images from 13 TCGA tumor types. These TIL maps are derived through computational staining using a convolutional neural network trained to classify patches of images. Affinity propagation revealed local spatial structure in TIL patterns and correlation with overall survival. TIL map structural patterns were grouped using standard histopathological parameters. These patterns are enriched in particular T cell subpopulations derived from molecular measures. TIL densities and spatial structure were differentially enriched among tumor types, immune subtypes, and tumor molecular subtypes, implying that spatial infiltrate state could reflect particular tumor cell aberration states. Obtaining spatial lymphocytic patterns linked to the rich genomic characterization of TCGA samples demonstrates one use for the TCGA image archives with insights into the tumor-immune microenvironment

Integrative Genomic Analysis of Cholangiocarcinoma Identifies Distinct IDH -Mutant Molecular Profiles

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is an aggressive malignancy of the bile ducts, with poor prognosis and limited treatment options. Here, we describe the integrated analysis of somatic mutations, RNA expression, copy number, and DNA methylation by The Cancer Genome Atlas of a set of predominantly intrahepatic CCA cases and propose a molecular classification scheme. We identified an IDH mutant-enriched subtype with distinct molecular features including low expression of chromatin modifiers, elevated expression of mitochondrial genes, and increased mitochondrial DNA copy number. Leveraging the multi-platform data, we observed that ARID1A exhibited DNA hypermethylation and decreased expression in the IDH mutant subtype. More broadly, we found that IDH mutations are associated with an expanded histological spectrum of liver tumors with molecular features that stratify with CCA. Our studies reveal insights into the molecular pathogenesis and heterogeneity of cholangiocarcinoma and provide classification information of potential therapeutic significance