Observations regarding consumption of Peruvian native grains (quinoa, amaranth and kañiwa), weight status, and perceptions of potential risk factors, warning signs and symptoms of type 2 diabetes among Peruvian adults: A case study

Wheat flour-based foods and rice have replaced native cereals in the diets of many urban-living Peruvians. Urban areas have also seen increases in overweight, obesity, and type 2 diabetes mellitus prevalence in recent years. The focus of this research is to describe observations regarding consumption of quinoa, amaranth and kañiwa cereals; weight status; and self-described experiences of potential risk factors and warning signs for, and symptoms that may represent complications of, type 2 diabetes mellitus in Peruvian adults living in the city of Arequipa. A survey instrument was developed and administered to 110 subjects (22 diabetics, 88 non-diabetics), middle-aged and over. Participants with normal BMIs consumed quinoa, amaranth, and kaniwa more frequently than overweight or obese participants. Diabetics reported more frequent consumption of Andean cereals, particularly amaranth, and less frequent consumption of white flour than non-diabetics. Most participants reported eating a diet high in carbohydrates and leading a sedentary lifestyle

Prescribed moorland burning meets good practice guidelines: A monitoring case study using aerial photography in the Peak District, UK

AbstractUpland moors in the UK have been managed for centuries using rotational prescribed-burning, but in recent years there has been contentious debate over its continuing use due to varying effects on moorland ecosystem services. Prescribed-burning should only be carried out using good-practice codes, which include restrictions on the size, location and frequency of burns. Good burning practice is an indicator of management standards and habitat condition in moorland landscapes. However, there has been little attempt to assess management performance with respect to these restrictions. We investigated prescribed-burning on a case-study estate (Howden Moor) in the Peak District National Park from 1988 to 2009 using management maps and aerial photography. The annual area burned (0.9%) was far below recommendations (10%) and patches were in keeping with the target sizes specified (mean±se: 2370±70 m2). The risk of a large or escaped fire was very low, with less than 1% of fires greater than 15,000m2. However, only 28.9% of the total burnable area was burned, leaving the rest unmanaged and accumulating fuel. Future guidelines might recommend the application of prescribed-burning across the range of Calluna vulgaris growth phases, to reduce fuel load and promote biodiversity at the landscape scale. We show that vegetation mapping and aerial photography are an effective method for monitoring prescribed-burning practice on moorlands. The information derived from such monitoring studies should lead to greater confidence in the standard of prescribed-burning and adherence to good-practice guidelines and requirements imposed by statutory authorities

Expressions 2011

https://openspace.dmacc.edu/expressions/1023/thumbnail.jp

Combinatorial CRISPR-Cas9 screens for de novo mapping of genetic interactions.

We developed a systematic approach to map human genetic networks by combinatorial CRISPR-Cas9 perturbations coupled to robust analysis of growth kinetics. We targeted all pairs of 73 cancer genes with dual guide RNAs in three cell lines, comprising 141,912 tests of interaction. Numerous therapeutically relevant interactions were identified, and these patterns replicated with combinatorial drugs at 75% precision. From these results, we anticipate that cellular context will be critical to synthetic-lethal therapies

A consensus protocol for the recovery of mercury methylation genes from metagenomes

Mercury (Hg) methylation genes (hgcAB) mediate the formation of the toxic methylmercury and have been identified from diverse environments, including freshwater and marine ecosystems, Arctic permafrost, forest and paddy soils, coal-ash amended sediments, chlor-alkali plants discharges and geothermal springs. Here we present the first attempt at a standardized protocol for the detection, identification and quantification of hgc genes from metagenomes. Our Hg-cycling microorganisms in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems (Hg-MATE) database, a catalogue of hgc genes, provides the most accurate information to date on the taxonomic identity and functional/metabolic attributes of microorganisms responsible for Hg methylation in the environment. Furthermore, we introduce "marky-coco", a ready-to-use bioinformatic pipeline based on de novo single-metagenome assembly, for easy and accurate characterization of hgc genes from environmental samples. We compared the recovery of hgc genes from environmental metagenomes using the marky-coco pipeline with an approach based on coassembly of multiple metagenomes. Our data show similar efficiency in both approaches for most environments except those with high diversity (i.e., paddy soils) for which a coassembly approach was preferred. Finally, we discuss the definition of true hgc genes and methods to normalize hgc gene counts from metagenomes

Genomic Profiling of Childhood Tumor Patient-Derived Xenograft Models to Enable Rational Clinical Trial Design.

Accelerating cures for children with cancer remains an immediate challenge as a result of extensive oncogenic heterogeneity between and within histologies, distinct molecular mechanisms evolving between diagnosis and relapsed disease, and limited therapeutic options. To systematically prioritize and rationally test novel agents in preclinical murine models, researchers within the Pediatric Preclinical Testing Consortium are continuously developing patient-derived xenografts (PDXs)-many of which are refractory to current standard-of-care treatments-from high-risk childhood cancers. Here, we genomically characterize 261 PDX models from 37 unique pediatric cancers; demonstrate faithful recapitulation of histologies and subtypes; and refine our understanding of relapsed disease. In addition, we use expression signatures to classify tumors for TP53 and NF1 pathway inactivation. We anticipate that these data will serve as a resource for pediatric oncology drug development and will guide rational clinical trial design for children with cancer

The ice-nucleating ability of quartz immersed in water and its atmospheric importance compared to K-feldspar

Mineral dust particles are thought to be an important type of ice-nucleating particle (INP) in the mixedphase cloud regime around the globe. While K-rich feldspar (K-feldspar) has been identified as being a particularly important component of mineral dust for ice nucleation, it has been shown that quartz is also relatively ice-nucleation active. Given quartz typically makes up a substantial proportion of atmospheric desert dust, it could potentially be important for cloud glaciation. Here, we survey the ice-nucleating ability of 10 α-quartz samples (the most common quartz polymorph) when immersed in microlitre supercooled water droplets. Despite all samples being α-quartz, the temperature at which they induce freezing varies by around 12 ◦C for a constant active site density. We find that some quartz samples are very sensitive to ageing in both aqueous suspension and air, resulting in a loss of ice-nucleating activity, while other samples are insensitive to exposure to air and water over many months. For example, the ice-nucleation temperatures for one quartz sample shift down by ∼ 2 ◦C in 1 h and 12 ◦C after 16 months in water. The sensitivity to water and air is perhaps surprising, as quartz is thought of as a chemically resistant mineral, but this observation suggests that the active sites responsible for nucleation are less stable than the bulk of the mineral. We find that the quartz group of minerals is generally less active than K-feldspars by roughly 7 ◦C, although the most active quartz samples are of a similar activity to some K-feldspars with an active site density, ns(T ), of 1 cm−2 at −9◦C. We also find that the freshly milled quartz samples are generally more active by roughly 5 ◦C than the plagioclase feldspar group of minerals and the albite end member has an intermediate activity. Using both the new and literature data, active site density parameterizations have been proposed for freshly milled quartz, K-feldspar, plagioclase and albite. Combining these parameterizations with the typical atmospheric abundance of each mineral supports previous work that suggests that K-feldspar is the most important ice-nucleating mineral in airborne mineral dust

Clinical, radiologic, pathologic, and molecular characteristics of long-term survivors of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG): a collaborative report from the International and European Society for Pediatric Oncology DIPG registries

Purpose Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a brainstem malignancy with a median survival of < 1 year. The International and European Society for Pediatric Oncology DIPG Registries collaborated to compare clinical, radiologic, and histomolecular characteristics between short-term survivors (STSs) and long-term survivors (LTSs). Materials and Methods Data abstracted from registry databases included patients from North America, Australia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, and Croatia. Results Among 1,130 pediatric and young adults with radiographically confirmed DIPG, 122 (11%) were excluded. Of the 1,008 remaining patients, 101 (10%) were LTSs (survival ≥ 2 years). Median survival time was 11 months (interquartile range, 7.5 to 16 months), and 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year survival rates were 42.3% (95% CI, 38.1% to 44.1%), 9.6% (95% CI, 7.8% to 11.3%), 4.3% (95% CI, 3.2% to 5.8%), 3.2% (95% CI, 2.4% to 4.6%), and 2.2% (95% CI, 1.4% to 3.4%), respectively. LTSs, compared with STSs, more commonly presented at age < 3 or > 10 years (11% v 3% and 33% v 23%, respectively; P < .001) and with longer symptom duration ( P < .001). STSs, compared with LTSs, more commonly presented with cranial nerve palsy (83% v 73%, respectively; P = .008), ring enhancement (38% v 23%, respectively; P = .007), necrosis (42% v 26%, respectively; P = .009), and extrapontine extension (92% v 86%, respectively; P = .04). LTSs more commonly received systemic therapy at diagnosis (88% v 75% for STSs; P = .005). Biopsies and autopsies were performed in 299 patients (30%) and 77 patients (10%), respectively; 181 tumors (48%) were molecularly characterized. LTSs were more likely to harbor a HIST1H3B mutation (odds ratio, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.1 to 1.5; P = .002). Conclusion We report clinical, radiologic, and molecular factors that correlate with survival in children and young adults with DIPG, which are important for risk stratification in future clinical trials

Development and implementation of a prescription opioid registry across diverse health systems

Objective: Develop and implement a prescription opioid registry in 10 diverse health systems across the US and describe trends in prescribed opioids between 2012 and 2018. Materials and Methods: Using electronic health record and claims data, we identified patients who had an outpatient fill for any prescription opioid, and/or an opioid use disorder diagnosis, between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2018. The registry contains distributed files of prescription opioids, benzodiazepines and other select medications, opioid antagonists, clinical diagnoses, procedures, health services utilization, and health plan membership. Rates of outpatient opioid fills over the study period, standardized to health system demographic distributions, are described by age, gender, and race/ethnicity among members without cancer. Results: The registry includes 6 249 710 patients and over 40 million outpatient opioid fills. For the combined registry population, opioid fills declined from a high of 0.718 per member-year in 2013 to 0.478 in 2018, and morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs) per fill declined from 985 MMEs per fill in 2012 to 758 MMEs in 2018. MMEs per member declined from 692 MMEs per member in 2012 to 362 MMEs per member in 2018. Conclusion: This study established a population-based opioid registry across 10 diverse health systems that can be used to address questions related to opioid use. Initial analyses showed large reductions in overall opioid use per member among the combined health systems. The registry will be used in future studies to answer a broad range of other critical public health issues relating to prescription opioid use

Manejo Integral de Agua y Suelo en Centroamérica. Bases científicas para el desarrollo rural comunitario.

Este libro recoge los frutos de la colaboración y trabajo conjunto de un grupo de Universidades Iberoamericanas entre 2007 y 2012 el marco de las actividades del Programa de Cooperación Comunidad, Agua y Bosque en Centroamérica (CAB Centroamérica, http://www2.caminos.upm.es/Departamentos/imt/Topografia/Cab/cab.html ). Las actividades se han realizado con el apoyo del Programa de Cooperación Universitaria PCI-AECID IBEROAMÉRICA, de la Dirección de Cooperación para el Desarrollo de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid y de los fondos propios de las Universidades latinoamericanas, con especial mención a la Universidad de Costa Rica, coordinadora de los trabajos en Centroamérica. El inicio de esta colaboración se produjo en 2007 a partir de la identificación de un objetivo común: profundizar la investigación sobre la dinámica agua-suelo-planta para mejorar la producción y la calidad del agua de los sistemas de abastecimiento comunitarios en Centroamérica