The following is an address given by the 2022 recipient of the Joseph W. St. Geme, Jr. Leadership Award, presented by the Federation of Pediatric Organizations at the Pediatric Academic Societies ...meeting on April 22, 2022.
As self‐supporting and long‐living symbiotic structures, lichens provide a habitat for many other organisms beside the traditionally considered lichen symbionts—the myco‐ and the photobionts. The ...lichen‐inhabiting fungi either develop diagnostic phenotypes or occur asymptomatically. Because the degree of specificity towards the lichen host is poorly known, we studied the diversity of these fungi among neighbouring lichens on rocks in an alpine habitat. Using a sequencing metabarcoding approach, we show that lichen mycobiomes clearly reflect the overlap of multiple ecological sets of taxa, which differ in their trophic association with lichen thalli. The lack of specificity to the lichen mycobiome is further supported by the lack of community structure observed using clustering and ordination methods. The communities encountered across samples largely result from the subsampling of a shared species pool, in which we identify three major ecological components: (i) a generalist environmental pool, (ii) a lichenicolous/endolichenic pool and (iii) a pool of transient species. These taxa majorly belong to the fungal classes Dothideomycetes, Eurotiomycetes and Tremellomycetes with close relatives in adjacent ecological niches. We found no significant evidence that the phenotypically recognized lichenicolous fungi influence the occurrence of the other asymptomatic fungi in the host thalli. We claim that lichens work as suboptimal habitats or as a complex spore and mycelium bank, which modulate and allow the regeneration of local fungal communities. By performing an approach that minimizes ambiguities in the taxonomic assignments of fungi, we present how lichen mycobiomes are also suitable targets for improving bioinformatic analyses of fungal metabarcoding.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Children in immigrant families now comprise 1 in 5 children in the United States. Eighty percent of them are US citizens, and 53% live in mixed-citizenship families. Their families are among the ...poorest, least educated, least insured, and least able to access health care. Nonetheless, these children demonstrate better-than-expected health status, a finding termed "the immigrant paradox" and one suggesting that cultural health behaviors among immigrant families might be protective in some areas of health. In this article the strength of the immigrant paradox, the effect of acculturation on health, and the relationships of acculturation, enculturation, language, and literacy skills to health disparities are reviewed. The current public policy issues that affect the health disparities of children of immigrant families are presented, and a research agenda for improving our knowledge about children in immigrant families to develop effective interventions and public policies that will reduce their health disparities is set forth.
Many boreal and polar lichens occupy bipolar distributional ranges that frequently extend into high mountains at lower latitudes. Although such disjunctions are more common among lichens than in ...other groups of organisms, the geographic origin of bipolar lichen taxa, and the way and time frame in which they colonized their ranges have not been studied in detail. We used the predominantly vegetative, widespread lichen Cetraria aculeata as a model species. We surveyed the origin and history of its bipolar pattern using population genetics, phylogenetic and genealogical reconstruction methods. Cetraria aculeata originated in the Northern Hemisphere and dispersed southwards during the Pleistocene. The genetic signal suggests a Pleistocene dispersive burst in which a population size expansion concurred with the acquisition of a South‐American range that culminated in the colonization of the Antarctic.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
In this study, arsenic (As) speciation was investigated in the freshwater alga
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
treated with 20 μg/L arsenate using fractionation as well as ICP-MS/ESI-MS analyses and was ...compared with the known As metabolite profile of wild-grown
Saccharina latissima
. While the total As accumulation in
C. reinhardtii
was about 85% lower than in
S. latissima
, the relative percentage of arsenolipids was significantly higher in
C. reinhardtii
(57.0% vs. 5.01%). As-containing hydrocarbons and phospholipids dominated the hydrophobic As profile in
S. latissima
, but no As-containing hydrocarbons were detectable in
C. reinhardtii
. Instead for the first time, an arsenoriboside-containing phytol (AsSugPhytol) was found to dominate the hydrophobic arsenicals of
C. reinhardtii
. Interestingly, this compound and its relatives had so far been only found in green marine microalgae, open sea plankton (mixed assemblage), and sediments but not in brown or red macroalgae. This compound family might therefore relate to differences in the arsenic metabolism between the algae phyla.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
•The human PAG displays a crude somatotopic map with a rostro-caudal organisation of the face and body.•Cutaneous noxious stimulation predominantly activates the lateral column of the contralateral ...PAG.•Deep muscular pain predominantly activates the ventrolateral column of the contralateral PAG.
The midbrain periaqueductal grey (PAG) is a critical region for the mediation of pain-related behavioural responses. Neuronal tract tracing techniques in experimental animal studies have demonstrated that the lateral column of the PAG (lPAG) displays a crude somatotopy, which is thought to be critical for the selection of contextually appropriate behavioural responses, without the need for higher brain input. In addition to the different behavioural responses to cutaneous and muscle pain – active withdrawal versus passive coping – there is evidence that cutaneous pain is processed in the region of the lPAG and muscle pain in the adjacent ventrolateral PAG (vlPAG). Given the fundamental nature of these behavioural responses to cutaneous and muscle pain, these PAG circuits are assumed to have been preserved, though yet to be definitively documented in humans. Using ultra-high field (7-Tesla) functional magnetic resonance imaging we determined the locations of signal intensity changes in the PAG during noxious cutaneous heat stimuli and muscle pain in healthy control participants. Images were processed and blood oxygen level dependant (BOLD) signal changes within the PAG determined. It was observed that noxious cutaneous stimulation of the lip, cheek, and ear evoked maximal increases in BOLD activation in the rostral contralateral PAG, whereas noxious cutaneous stimulation of the thumb and toe evoked increases in the caudal contralateral PAG. Analysis of individual participants demonstrated that these activations were located in the lPAG. Furthermore, we found that deep muscular pain evoked the greatest increases in signal intensity in the vlPAG. These data suggest that the crude somatotopic organization of the PAG may be phyletically preserved between experimental animals and humans, with a body-face delineation capable of producing an appropriate behavioural response based on the location and tissue origin of a noxious stimulus.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
KEY MESSAGE : Fivefold diversity for cooking time found in a panel of 206 Phaseolus vulgaris accessions. Fastest accession cooks nearly 20 min faster than average. SNPs associated with cooking time ...on Pv02, 03, and 06. Dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) are a nutrient dense food and a dietary staple in parts of Africa and Latin America. One of the major factors that limits greater utilization of beans is their long cooking times compared to other foods. Cooking time is an important trait with implications for gender equity, nutritional value of diets, and energy utilization. Very little is known about the genetic diversity and genomic regions involved in determining cooking time. The objective of this research was to assess cooking time on a panel of 206 P. vulgaris accessions, use genome- wide association analysis (GWAS) to identify genomic regions influencing this trait, and to test the ability to predict cooking time by raw seed characteristics. In this study 5.5-fold variation for cooking time was found and five bean accessions were identified which cook in less than 27 min across 2 years, where the average cooking time was 37 min. One accession, ADP0367 cooked nearly 20 min faster than average. Four of these five accessions showed close phylogenetic relationship based on a NJ tree developed with ~5000 SNP markers, suggesting a potentially similar underlying genetic mechanism. GWAS revealed regions on chromosomes Pv02, Pv03, and Pv06 associated with cooking time. Vis/NIR scanning of raw seed explained 68 % of the phenotypic variation for cooking time, suggesting with additional experimentation, it may be possible to use this spectroscopy method to non-destructively identify fast cooking lines as part of a breeding program.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
•Vis/SWNIR spectroscopy and spectral scattering were used for sorting three apple varieties into two quality grades.•A sensitivity analysis was performed using different quality threshold criteria ...for apple sorting.•Good sorting results for firmness and moderate for SSC were obtained using an online scattering technique.•Better sorting results for firmness and SSC were obtained using a stationary Vis/SWNIR technique.•When the classification involves firmness and SSC quality attributes, the sorting error increases.
Sorting of apple fruit based on internal quality can enhance the industry’s competiveness and profitability and assure consumer satisfaction. In this research, visible and shortwave near-infrared (Vis/SWNIR) spectroscopy (460–1100nm) and spectral scattering (450–1050nm) were used for sorting three varieties of apple (i.e., ‘Delicious’, ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Jonagold’) into two quality grades based on firmness, soluble solids content (SSC), or both firmness and SSC. Vis/SWNIR spectra were obtained in interactance mode under stationery condition, whereas spectral scattering images were acquired online at a conveyor speed of 82mm/s. A total of 8491 apples for the three varieties harvested from the same orchard in 2009, 2010 and 2011 were used for analysis. First derivative spectra were obtained from the Vis/SWNIR data, while the scattering images were first preprocessed by computing mean reflectance spectra and then performing continuous wavelet transform decompositions. Sorting algorithms were developed using sequential forward selection and linear discriminant analysis, and the classification models were compared in terms of their overall performance and local confusion matrices. A sensitivity analysis was also performed to assess the effect of using different quality threshold criteria on the sorting performance. Overall, consistent and relatively good sorting results for firmness (ranging between 77.9% and 98.2%) and moderate results for SSC (ranging between 62.0% and 91.7%) were obtained using scattering technique. Vis/SWNIR technique showed slightly better sorting results for firmness (ranging between 87.3% and 97.6%) and SSC (ranging between 77.1% and 92.3%). When the classification was performed based on both firmness and SSC, the sorting accuracies generally decreased to between 75.7% and 90.1% for Vis/SWNIR and between 69.7% and 91.5% for spectral scattering. Vis/SWNIR and spectral scattering techniques have potential for online sorting and grading of apples by firmness and SSC.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Summary Background Pixantrone dimaleate (pixantrone)—a novel aza-anthracenedione—was synthesised to reduce anthracycline-related cardiotoxicity without compromising antitumour efficacy. We aimed to ...assess the efficacy and safety of pixantrone versus an investigator's choice of a single-agent therapy in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Methods In this phase 3, multicentre, open-label, randomised trial at 66 hospitals in Europe, India, Russia, South America, the UK, and the USA, patients with histologically confirmed aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma who had relapsed after two or more previous chemotherapy regimens were randomly assigned (1:1) by an interactive voice response system to treatment with pixantrone dimaleate (85 mg/m2 intravenously on days 1, 8, and 15 of a 28-day cycle, for up to six cycles) or to a comparator (vinorelbine, oxaliplatin, ifosfamide, etoposide, mitoxantrone, or gemcitabine) given at prespecified standard doses and schedules. Patients were stratified by region, International Prognostic Index score, and previous stem-cell transplantation. Patients and investigators were not masked to treatment assignment; however, an independent assessment panel was masked. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients with a complete or unconfirmed complete response in the intention-to-treat (ITT) population at the end of treatment. Primary analyses of efficacy were based on the independent assessment panel's data review. The study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT00088530. Findings The ITT population comprised 70 patients randomly assigned to the pixantrone group and 70 to the comparator. Five patients (two in the pixantrone group and three in the comparator group) dropped out before receiving their study drug. 14 patients (20·0% 95% CI 11·4–31·3) who received pixantrone achieved a complete or unconfirmed complete response at end of treatment compared with four patients (5·7% 1·6–14·0) in the comparator group (p = 0·021). The most common grade 3 or 4 adverse events in patients given pixantrone were uncomplicated, non-cumulative neutropenia (28 41·2% of 68 patients vs 13 19·4% of 67 patients in the comparator group), leucopenia (16 23·5% vs five 7·5%), and thrombocytopenia (eight 11·8% vs seven 10·4%). Interpretation Pixantrone, given as a single-agent salvage therapy in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma, is efficacious and tolerable. It could be a treatment option for patients whose aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma has failed to respond to at least two previous chemotherapy regimens. Funding Cell Therapeutics, Inc.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
