The genus Alphavirus comprises a diverse group of viruses, including some that cause severe disease. Using full-length sequences of all known alphaviruses, we produced a robust and comprehensive ...phylogeny of the Alphavirus genus, presenting a more complete evolutionary history of these viruses compared to previous studies based on partial sequences. Our phylogeny suggests the origin of the alphaviruses occurred in the southern oceans and spread equally through the Old and New World. Since lice appear to be involved in aquatic alphavirus transmission, it is possible that we are missing a louse-borne branch of the alphaviruses. Complete genome sequencing of all members of the genus also revealed conserved residues forming the structural basis of the E1 and E2 protein dimers.
To identify clusters of patients with incident mild cognitive impairment (MCI) based on their neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) and to examine the risk of progression to dementia based on these ...clusters.
In this cohort study with a median of 2 years of follow-up from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center, 540 patients with MCI at least 60 years old with complete data and follow-up were studied. Latent class analysis was used to identify clusters of patients based on their NPS, and Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine risk of progression to dementia based on clusters. Incident MCI was defined as a participant having MCI at a current visit but having been cognitively normal at his or her previous (yearly) visit. The Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire assessed the presence of 12 neuropsychiatric behavioral domains.
Three clusters were identified: a severe cluster (agitation, anxiety, apathy, nighttime behaviors, inhibition), an affective cluster (depression, anxiety, irritability, nighttime behaviors), and an asymptomatic cluster. The prevalence of each class was 56% for the asymptomatic class followed by the affective class (37%) and finally the severe class (7%). Compared with the asymptomatic class, the severe class had more than twice the hazard of progression to dementia (2.69; 95% CI: 1.12-2.70) and the affective class had over 1.5 times the hazard of progression to dementia (1.79; 95% CI: 1.12-2.70).
Among persons with incident MCI, patterns of NPS may increase the likelihood of progression to dementia. Implications for early detection and treatment are discussed.
COVID-19 disproportionately affected minorities, while research barriers to engage underserved communities persist. Serological studies reveal infection and vaccination histories within these ...communities, however lack of consensus on downstream evaluation methods impede meta-analyses and dampen the broader public health impact. To reveal the impact of COVID-19 and vaccine uptake among diverse communities and to develop rigorous serological downstream evaluation methods, we engaged racial and ethnic minorities in Massachusetts in a cross-sectional study (April—July 2022), screened blood and saliva for SARS-CoV-2 and human endemic coronavirus (hCoV) antibodies by bead-based multiplex assay and point-of-care (POC) test and developed across-plate normalization and classification boundary methods for optimal qualitative serological assessments. Among 290 participants, 91.4% reported receiving at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 41.7% reported past SARS-CoV-2 infections, which was confirmed by POC- and multiplex-based saliva and blood IgG seroprevalences. We found significant differences in antigen-specific IgA and IgG antibody outcomes and indication of cross-reactivity with hCoV OC43. Finally, 26.5% of participants reported lingering COVID-19 symptoms, mostly middle-aged Latinas. Hence, prolonged COVID-19 symptoms were common among our underserved population and require public health attention, despite high COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Saliva served as a less-invasive sample-type for IgG-based serosurveys and hCoV cross-reactivity needed to be evaluated for reliable SARS-CoV-2 serosurvey results. The use of the developed rigorous downstream qualitative serological assessment methods will help standardize serosurvey outcomes and meta-analyses for future serosurveys beyond SARS-CoV-2.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Accelerated biological aging is an increasingly popular way to track the acceleration of biology over time that may not be captured by calendar time. Biological aging has been linked to external and ...internal chronic stressors and has the potential to be used clinically to understand a person's personalized functioning and predict future disease. We compared the association of different measures of biological aging and incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) overall and by race.
We used multiple informants models to compare the strength of clinical marker-derived age acceleration, 5 measures of epigenetic age acceleration (intrinsic and extrinsic epigenetic age acceleration, GrimAge acceleration, and PhenoAge acceleration), and 1 established clinical predictor of future CVD, Framingham 10-year risk score, with incident CVD over an 11-year period (2007-2018). Participants were 913 self-identified Black or White (41% and 59%, respectively) female or male (51% and 49%, respectively) individuals enrolled in the US-based CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) cohort study. The analytic baseline for this study was the 20-year follow-up examination (2005-2006; median age 45 years). We also included race-specific analysis. We found that all measures were modestly correlated with one another. However, clinical marker-derived age acceleration and Framingham 10-year risk score were more strongly associated with incident CVD than all the epigenetic measures. Clinical marker-derived age acceleration and Framingham 10-year risk score were not significantly different than one another in their association with incident CVD.
The type of accelerated aging measure should be taken into consideration when comparing their association with clinical outcomes. A multisystem clinical composite shows associations with incident CVD equally to a well-known clinical predictor.
The Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is the third most important freshwater fish for aquaculture. Its success is directly linked to continuous breeding efforts focusing on production traits such ...as growth rate and weight. Among those elite strains, the Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (GIFT) programme initiated by WorldFish is now distributed worldwide. To accelerate the development of the GIFT strain through genomic selection, a high-quality reference genome is necessary.
Using a combination of short (10X Genomics) and long read (PacBio HiFi, PacBio CLR) sequencing and a genetic map for the GIFT strain, we generated a chromosome level genome assembly for the GIFT. Using genomes of two closely related species (O. mossambicus, O. aureus), we characterised the extent of introgression between these species and O. niloticus that has occurred during the breeding process. Over 11 Mb of O. mossambicus genomic material could be identified within the GIFT genome, including genes associated with immunity but also with traits of interest such as growth rate.
Because of the breeding history of elite strains, current reference genomes might not be the most suitable to support further studies into the GIFT strain. We generated a chromosome level assembly of the GIFT strain, characterising its mixed origins, and the potential contributions of introgressed regions to selected traits.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
A number of studies have linked neuropsychiatric symptoms to increase risk of dementia.
To determine if risk of conversion to mild cognitive impairment or dementia among healthy controls varied as a ...function of their pattern of neuropsychiatric symptoms.
We studied individuals in the National Alzheimer Coordinating Center dataset collected from 34 Alzheimer Disease Centers between 2005 and 2013. The analysis included 4,517 volunteers who were ≥60 years old, cognitively normal, and had complete Neuropsychiatric Inventory data at their baseline visit, and had at least one follow-up. We used latent class analysis to identify four classes based on patterns of NPI symptoms. We used a Cox proportional hazards model to determine if time to MCI or dementia varied by baseline latent class membership.
We identified four latent classes of neuropsychiatric symptoms: irritable, depressed, complex (depression, apathy, irritability, and nighttime behaviors) and asymptomatic. 873 participants converted to MCI or dementia. Hazard ratios for conversion by class were 1.76 (95% CI: 1.34, 2.33) for the irritable class, 3.20 (95% CI: 2.24, 4.58) for the complex class, and 1.90 (95% CI: 1.49, 2.43) for the depressed class, with the asymptomatic class as the reference.
Membership in all three symptomatic classes was associated with greater risk of conversion to MCI or dementia; the complex class had the greatest risk. Different patterns of neuropsychiatric symptoms may represent different underlying neuropathological pathways to dementia. Further work imaging and pathology research is necessary to determine if this is the case.
Schematic presentation of NTRK1 protein structure. Variants identified in this study are shown in red and previously reported variants associated with CIPA are shown in black (LRM, leucine rich ...motif; Ig, immunoglobulin‐like domain; TM, transmembrane domain; TK, tyrosine kinase domain).
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
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