Over the past century, many of the world's major rivers have been modified for the purposes of flood mitigation, power generation and commercial navigation. Engineering modifications to the ...Mississippi River system have altered the river's sediment levels and channel morphology, but the influence of these modifications on flood hazard is debated. Detecting and attributing changes in river discharge is challenging because instrumental streamflow records are often too short to evaluate the range of natural hydrological variability before the establishment of flood mitigation infrastructure. Here we show that multi-decadal trends of flood hazard on the lower Mississippi River are strongly modulated by dynamical modes of climate variability, particularly the El Niño-Southern Oscillation and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, but that the artificial channelization (confinement to a straightened channel) has greatly amplified flood magnitudes over the past century. Our results, based on a multi-proxy reconstruction of flood frequency and magnitude spanning the past 500 years, reveal that the magnitude of the 100-year flood (a flood with a 1 per cent chance of being exceeded in any year) has increased by 20 per cent over those five centuries, with about 75 per cent of this increase attributed to river engineering. We conclude that the interaction of human alterations to the Mississippi River system with dynamical modes of climate variability has elevated the current flood hazard to levels that are unprecedented within the past five centuries.
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LEAFY COTYLEDON1 (LEC1), an atypical subunit of the nuclear transcription factor Y (NF-Y) CCAAT-binding transcription factor, is a central regulator that controls many aspects of seed development ...including the maturation phase during which seeds accumulate storage macromolecules and embryos acquire the ability to withstand desiccation. To define the gene networks and developmental processes controlled by LEC1, genes regulated directly by and downstream of LEC1 were identified. We compared the mRNA profiles of wild-type and lec1-null mutant seeds at several stages of development to define genes that are down-regulated or up-regulated by the lec1 mutation. We used ChIP and differential gene-expression analyses in Arabidopsis seedlings overexpressing LEC1 and in developing Arabidopsis and soybean seeds to identify globally the target genes that are transcriptionally regulated by LEC1 in planta. Collectively, our results show that LEC1 controls distinct gene sets at different developmental stages, including those that mediate the temporal transition between photosynthesis and chloroplast biogenesis early in seed development and seed maturation late in development. Analyses of enriched DNA sequence motifs that may act as cis-regulatory elements in the promoters of LEC1 target genes suggest that LEC1 may interact with other transcription factors to regulate distinct gene sets at different stages of seed development. Moreover, our results demonstrate strong conservation in the developmental processes and gene networks regulated by LEC1 in two dicotyledonous plants that diverged ∼92 Mya.
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BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Significance Seeds are complex structures that are comprised of the embryo, endosperm, and seed coat. Despite their importance for food, fiber, and fuel, the cellular processes that characterize ...different regions of the seed are not known. We profiled gene activity genome-wide in every organ, tissue, and cell type of Arabidopsis seeds from fertilization through maturity. The resulting mRNA datasets provide unique insights into the cellular processes that occur in understudied seed regions, revealing unexpected overlaps in the functional identities of seed regions and enabling predictions of gene regulatory networks. This dataset is an essential resource for studies of seed biology.
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BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
SARS-CoV-2 Variants and Vaccines Krause, Philip R; Fleming, Thomas R; Longini, Ira M ...
The New England journal of medicine,
07/2021, Volume:
385, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Viral variants of concern may emerge with dangerous resistance to the immunity generated by the current vaccines to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Moreover, if some variants of concern ...have increased transmissibility or virulence, the importance of efficient public health measures and vaccination programs will increase. The global response must be both timely and science based.
Emerging SARS-CoV-2 viral variants of concern may have the potential to escape vaccine-elicited immunity. Global strategies involving integration of clinical rollout with systematic investigation are presented.
Long-acting injectable antiretroviral therapy (LAI-ART) is approved for treatment-naive or experienced people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV; PWH) based on trials that only included ...participants with viral suppression. We performed the first LAI-ART demonstration project to include PWH unable to achieve or maintain viral suppression due to challenges adhering to oral ART.
Ward 86 is a large HIV clinic in San Francisco that serves publicly insured and underinsured patients. We started patients on LAI-ART via a structured process of provider referral, multidisciplinary review (MD, RN, pharmacist), and monitoring for on-time injections. Inclusion criteria were willingness to receive monthly injections and a reliable contact method.
Between June 2021 and April 2022, 51 patients initiated LAI-ART, with 39 receiving at least 2 follow-up injections by database closure (median age, 46 years; 90% cisgender men, 61% non-White, 41% marginally housed, 54% currently using stimulants). Of 24 patients who initiated injections with viral suppression (median CD4 cell count, 706 cells/mm3), 100% (95% confidence interval CI, 86%-100%) maintained viral suppression. Of 15 patients who initiated injections with detectable viremia (median CD4 cell count, 99 cells/mm3; mean log10 viral load, 4.67; standard deviation, 1.16), 12 (80%; 95% CI, 55%-93%) achieved viral suppression, and the other 3 had a 2-log viral load decline by a median of 22 days.
This small demonstration project of LAI-ART in a diverse group of patients with high levels of substance use and marginal housing demonstrated promising early treatment outcomes, including in those with detectable viremia due to adherence challenges. More data on LAI-ART in hard-to-reach populations are needed.
Political trust is an important predictor of compliance with government policies, especially in the face of natural disasters or public health emergencies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, ...multiple studies related political trust to increased compliance with mobility restrictions. Yet these findings come mostly from high-income countries where political trust and wealth correlate positively. In Latin America, both variables correlate negatively, allowing for better testing of competing explanations. Using a difference-in-differences design, we find that in Latin America wealth and, counterintuitively, low political trust predict increased compliance. To understand mechanisms, we decompose political trust and wealth into underlying predictors (social protection, corruption, and education) and reinsert them into the model. While education, as a wealth proxy, predicts decreased mobility across all periods, social protection, which was the strongest predictor of political trust, relates significantly to increased mobility, but only at the beginning of the lockdown prior to distribution of emergency support. This suggests the existence of a public health moral hazard early in the pandemic, whereby citizens who benefited previously from government benefits may have been more risk tolerant in the face of the COVID-19 threat. We interpret these findings within the context of the region's recent “inclusionary turn.” Future studies should explore the distinct relationships between political trust, risk perception, and compliance, especially in low- and middle-income countries, and their implications for policy responses to national emergencies.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
In the eastern United States, existing paleo-reconstructions in fluvial environments consist primarily of site-specific investigations of climate and human impacts on riverine processes. This paper ...presents the first meta-analysis of fluvial reconstructions focused on regional watersheds of the eastern United States, including the Lower Mississippi, Tennessee, South Atlantic–Gulf Coast, Ohio, Mid-Atlantic, and New England regional watersheds. Chronologies of fluvial activity (i.e. alluvial deposition) and stability (i.e. landscape stability) were developed by synthesizing data from existing, published, and site-specific fluvial reconstruction studies conducted across the eastern United States. Overall, regional watersheds show variable patterns of synchronicity across watersheds and did not demonstrate cyclic behavior through the Holocene. During the last millennium, only the Lower Mississippi and Ohio regional watersheds exhibit high rates of fluvial activity active during the ‘Medieval Climate Anomaly’ (650–1050 yr BP), while nearly all other regional watersheds in the eastern United States were active during the ‘Little Ice Age’ (100–500 yr BP). These findings imply that fluvial activity may be more spatially restricted during warmer/drier climatic conditions than during cooler/wetter periods. We find an increase in fluvial activity during the era of Euro-American colonization (400 yr BP to present) in the southeastern United States but not the northeastern United States, implying a heterogeneous response of fluvial systems to human activities in the eastern United States related to climatic, cultural, and/or physiographic variability. These new insights gained from fluvial chronologies in the eastern United States demonstrate the utility of regionally synthesized paleo-records to understand large-scale climate variation effect on rivers.
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Early evidence suggests long-acting injectable cabotegravir and rilpivirine (LA-CAB/RPV) may be beneficial for people with HIV (PWH) who are unable to attain viral suppression (VS) on oral therapy. ...Limited guidance exists on implementation strategies for this population.
Ward 86, a clinic serving publicly insured PWH in San Francisco.
We describe multi-level determinants of and strategies for LA-CAB/RPV implementation for PWH without VS, using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. To assess patient and provider-level determinants, we drew on pre-implementation qualitative data. To assess inner and outer context determinants, we undertook a structured mapping process.
Key patient-level determinants included perceived ability to adhere to injections despite oral adherence difficulties and care engagement challenges posed by unmet subsistence needs; strategies to address these determinants included a direct-to-inject approach, small financial incentives, and designated drop-in days. Provider-level determinants included lack of time to obtain LA-CAB/RPV, assess injection response, and follow-up late injections; strategies included centralizing eligibility review with the clinic pharmacist, a pharmacy technician to handle procurement and monitoring, regular multidisciplinary review of patients, and development of a clinic protocol. Ward 86 did not experience many outer context barriers due to rapid and unconstrained inclusion of LA-CAB/RPV on local formularies and ability of its affiliated hospital pharmacy to stock the medication.
Multi-level strategies to support LA-CAB/RPV implementation for PWH without VS are required, which may necessitate additional resources in some settings to implement safely and effectively. Advocacy to eliminate outer-context barriers, including prior authorizations and specialty pharmacy restrictions, is needed.
Winter climate is expected to change under future climate scenarios, yet the majority of winter ecology research is focused in cold-climate ecosystems. In many temperate systems, it is unclear how ...winter climate relates to biotic responses during the growing season. The objective of this study was to examine how winter weather relates to plant and animal communities in a variety of terrestrial ecosystems ranging from warm deserts to alpine tundra. Specifically, we examined the association between winter weather and plant phenology, plant species richness, consumer abundance, and consumer richness in 11 terrestrial ecosystems associated with the U.S. Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network. To varying degrees, winter precipitation and temperature were correlated with all biotic response variables. Bud break was tightly aligned with end of winter temperatures. For half the sites, winter weather was a better predictor of plant species richness than growing season weather. Warmer winters were correlated with lower consumer abundances in both temperate and alpine systems. Our findings suggest winter weather may have a strong influence on biotic activity during the growing season and should be considered in future studies investigating the effects of climate change on both alpine and temperate systems.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, INZLJ, KILJ, NLZOH, NMLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK, ZRSKP
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