Constraints on the interactions between dark matter and baryons from the x-ray quantum calorimetry experiment

Although the rocket-based x-ray quantum calorimetry (XQC) experiment was designed for x-ray spectroscopy, the minimal shielding of its calorimeters, its low atmospheric overburden, and its low-threshold detectors make it among the most sensitive instruments for detecting or constraining strong interactions between dark matter particles and baryons. We use Monte Carlo simulations to obtain the precise limits the XQC experiment places on spin-independent interactions between dark matter and baryons, improving upon earlier analytical estimates. We find that the XQC experiment rules out a wide range of nucleon-scattering cross sections centered around 1 b for dark matter particles with masses between 0.01 and 105GeV. Our analysis also provides new constraints on cases where only a fraction of the dark matter strongly interacts with baryons

Peritonitis in Peritoneal Dialysis patients: the case for rapid diagnosis, targeted treatment and monitoring to improve outcomes

Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a cost-effective, home-based treatment option for patients with end-stage renal disease; however, PD is declining in many countries. A major reason for this is peritonitis, which commonly leads to technique failure and has led to negative perceptions of PD by clinicians and patients. To restore confidence in PD, better diagnostics are required to enable appropriate treatment to be started earlier; this needs to be coupled with improved understanding of the biology of peritonitis. Advances in culture-independent microbiological methods, in particular the use of bacterial flow cytometry and immune fingerprinting techniques, can enable organism detection and antimicrobial susceptibility testing to be performed in as little as 3 hours after samples are received. At the same time, improved understanding of peritoneal mesothelial cell responses to infection is providing insights into pathways that may be targeted to dampen deleterious elementsof the host immune response, promote healing, and preserve membrane function

An horizon scan of biogeography

The opportunity to reflect broadly on the accomplishments, prospects, and reach of a field may present itself relatively infrequently. Each biennial meeting of the International Biogeography Society showcases ideas solicited and developed largely during the preceding year, by individuals or teams from across the breadth of the discipline. Here, we highlight challenges, developments, and opportunities in biogeography from that biennial synthesis. We note the realized and potential impact of rapid data accumulation in several fields, a renaissance for inter-disciplinary research, the importance of recognizing the evolution-ecology continuum across spatial and temporal scales and at different taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional levels, and re-exploration of classical assumptions and hypotheses using new tools. However, advances are taxonomically and geographically biased, and key theoretical frameworks await tools to handle, or strategies to simplify, the biological complexity seen in empirical systems. Current threats to biodiversity require unprecedented integration of knowledge and development of predictive capacity that may enable biogeography to unite its descriptive and hypothetico-deductive branches and establish a greater role within and outside academia

Improved time in range and glycemic variability with sotagliflozin in combination with insulin in adults with type 1 diabetes: A pooled analysis of 24-week continuous glucose monitoring data from the IntanDEM program

OBJECTIVE To evaluate effects of the dual sodium–glucose cotransporter (SGLT) 1 and SGLT2 inhibitor sotagliflozin in combination with insulin on glucose time in range (TIR) and glucose excursions, postprandial glucose (PPG), and other glycemic metrics in adults with type 1 diabetes using masked continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Data sets from the inTandem1 (clinical trial reg. no. NCT02384941) and inTandem2 (clinical trial reg. no. NCT02421510) double-blind randomized trials evaluating sotagliflozin versus placebo in adults with type 1 diabetes treated with optimized insulin were pooled for analyses of masked CGM data from a subset of participants in each trial. The pooled cohort included patients randomized to receive placebo (n = 93), sotagliflozin 200 mg (n = 89), or sotagliflozin 400 mg (n = 96). The primary outcome was change from baseline to week 24 in glucose TIR (3.9–10.0 mmol/L [70–180 mg/dL]). Secondary end points included time below and above the target range and 2-h PPG level assessed after a standardized mixed meal. RESULTS Mean percentage of glucose TIR/percentage time spent at <3.9 mmol/L (<70 mg/dL) during week 24 was 51.6%/5.9%, 57.8%/5.5%, and 64.2%/5.5% with placebo, sotagliflozin 200 mg, and sotagliflozin 400 mg, respectively, which corresponded to a placebo-adjusted change from a baseline of +5.4%/20.3% (P = 0.026; +1.3/20.1 h/day) for sotagliflozin 200 mg and +11.7%/20.1% (P < 0.001; +2.8/20.02 h/day) for sotagliflozin 400 mg. Placebo-adjusted PPG reductions were 1.9 6 0.7 mmol/L (35 6 13 mg/dL; P = 0.004) and 2.8 6 0.7 mmol/L (50 6 13 mg/dL; P < 0.001) with sotagliflozin 200 and 400 mg, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Combined with optimized insulin in type 1 diabetes, sotagliflozin significantly increased glucose TIR without increasing time spent at <3.9 mmol/L and reduced PPG, thereby improving glycemic control

Disruption of PHF21A causes syndromic intellectual disability with craniofacial anomalies, epilepsy, hypotonia, and neurobehavioral problems including autism

BACKGROUND: PHF21A has been associated with intellectual disability and craniofacial anomalies based on its deletion in the Potocki-Shaffer syndrome region at 11p11.2 and its disruption in three patients with balanced translocations. In addition, three patients with de novo truncating mutations in PHF21A were reported recently. Here, we analyze genomic data from seven unrelated individuals with mutations in PHF21A and provide detailed clinical descriptions, further expanding the phenotype associated with PHF21A haploinsufficiency. METHODS: Diagnostic trio whole exome sequencing, Sanger sequencing, use of GeneMatcher, targeted gene panel sequencing, and MiSeq sequencing techniques were used to identify and confirm variants. RT-qPCR was used to measure the normal expression pattern of PHF21A in multiple human tissues including 13 different brain tissues. Protein-DNA modeling was performed to substantiate the pathogenicity of the missense mutation. RESULTS: We have identified seven heterozygous coding mutations, among which six are de novo (not maternal in one). Mutations include four frameshifts, one nonsense mutation in two patients, and one heterozygous missense mutation in the AT Hook domain, predicted to be deleterious and likely to cause loss of PHF21A function. We also found a new C-terminal domain composed of an intrinsically disordered region. This domain is truncated in six patients and thus likely to play an important role in the function of PHF21A, suggesting that haploinsufficiency is the likely underlying mechanism in the phenotype of seven patients. Our results extend the phenotypic spectrum of PHF21A mutations by adding autism spectrum disorder, epilepsy, hypotonia, and neurobehavioral problems. Furthermore, PHF21A is highly expressed in the human fetal brain, which is consistent with the neurodevelopmental phenotype. CONCLUSION: Deleterious nonsense, frameshift, and missense mutations disrupting the AT Hook domain and/or an intrinsically disordered region in PHF21A were found to be associated with autism spectrum disorder, epilepsy, hypotonia, neurobehavioral problems, tapering fingers, clinodactyly, and syndactyly, in addition to intellectual disability and craniofacial anomalies. This suggests that PHF21A is involved in autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability, and its haploinsufficiency causes a diverse neurological phenotype

Sotagliflozin in combination with optimized insulin therapy in adults with type 1 diabetes: The North American in Tandem1 study

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the efficacy and safety of the dual sodium-glucose cotransporter 1 (SGLT1) and SGLT2 inhibitor sotagliflozin in combination with optimized insulin in type 1 diabetes (T1D). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The in Tandem1 trial, a double-blind, 52-week phase 3 trial, randomized North American adults with T1D to placebo (n = 268), sotagliflozin 200 mg (n = 263), or sotagliflozin 400mg(n =262) after6 weeks ofinsulin optimization. The primary end point was HbA1c change from baseline at 24 weeks. HbA1c, weight, and safety were also assessed through 52 weeks. RESULTS: From a mean baseline of 7.57%, placebo-adjusted HbA1c reductions were 0.36% and 0.41% with sotagliflozin 200 and 400 mg, respectively, at 24 weeks and 0.25% and 0.31% at 52 weeks (all P &lt; 0.001). Among patients with a baseline HbA1c ≥7.0%, an HbA1c &lt;7% was achieved by 15.7%, 27.2%, and 40.3% of patients receiving placebo, sotagliflozin 200 mg, and sotagliflozin 400 mg, respectively (P ≤ 0.003 vs. placebo) at 24 weeks. At 52 weeks, mean treatment differences between sotagliflozin 400 mg and placebo were 21.08 mmol/L for fasting plasma glucose, 24.32 kg for weight, and 215.63% for bolus insulin dose and 211.87% for basal insulin dose (all P &lt; 0.001). Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire scores increased significantly by 2.5 points with sotagliflozin versus placebo (P &lt; 0.001) at 24 weeks. Genital mycotic infections and diarrhea occurred more frequently with sotagliflozin. Adjudicated diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) occurred in 9 (3.4%) and 11 (4.2%) patients receiving sotagliflozin 200 and 400 mg, respectively, and in 1 (0.4%) receiving placebo. Severe hypoglycemia occurred in 17 (6.5%) patients from each sotagliflozin group and 26 (9.7%) patients receiving placebo. CONCLUSIONS: In a 1-year T1D study, sotagliflozin combined with optimized insulin therapy was associated with sustained HbA1c reduction, weight loss, lower insulin dose, fewer episodes of severe hypoglycemia, improved patient-reported outcomes, and more DKA relative to placebo (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02384941)

Multiple reaction monitoring assays for large-scale quantitation of proteins from 20 mouse organs and tissues

Mouse is the mammalian model of choice to study human health and disease due to its size, ease of breeding and the natural occurrence of conditions mimicking human pathology. Here we design and validate multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry (MRM-MS) assays for quantitation of 2118 unique proteins in 20 murine tissues and organs. We provide open access to technical aspects of these assays to enable their implementation in other laboratories, and demonstrate their suitability for proteomic profiling in mice by measuring normal protein abundances in tissues from three mouse strains: C57BL/6NCrl, NOD/SCID, and BALB/cAnNCrl. Sex- and strain-specific differences in protein abundances are identified and described, and the measured values are freely accessible via our MouseQuaPro database: http://mousequapro.proteincentre.com. Together, this large library of quantitative MRM-MS assays established in mice and the measured baseline protein abundances represent an important resource for research involving mouse models.Development of MRM-MS assays for 2118 proteins in 20 mouse tissues enables accurate quantitation. Protein concentrations measured from 3 mouse strains using these assays demonstrate proteomic phenotyping and are provided in an online database.Proteomic

A First Search for coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007

We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy, particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of merger and core-collapse events.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, science summary page at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5LV_ANTARES/index.php. Public access area to figures, tables at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120000

Genetic research: the role of citizens, public health and international stakeholders

Background: Genetic research has become an indispensable instrument for medical research, and the subjects involved have both divergent and convergent interests. Objective: The possibility of having more detailed genetic information undoubtedly offers benefits for the health of the subject, but could also pose risks and make the subject vulnerable to discrimination. Methods: The scientific community has viewed very favorably the public health utility of family history, in which data from a family whose members suffer from chronic pathologies is collected and filed, in order to develop a sort of “stratification of family risk.” Even though in the last decade the scientific and juridical literature has contributed greatly to the topic of biobanks, the perplexities that continue to surround this theme give the idea that current ethical protocols on research are inadequate. Results: Researchers, citizens, International stakeholders, mass media, Public Health and Governments play a key role in genetic research. It is obvious that the methods used for genetic research do not present intrinsic risks; they are much less dangerous than other activities of diagnosis and research. Before authorizing a research project, it is important to reflect on the responsibility and transparency of the studies to be conducted, and on the impact they may have on the interests of public health. Conclusion: We believe that the highest priority need is to develop a common language on the theme, as is the case in the sphere of clinical experimentation where rules of good clinical practice, albeit at times conflicting, have led to uniform convergences in the scientific world on the points to be actuated