As a high-prevalence health condition, hypertension is clinically costly, difficult to manage, and often leads to severe and life-threatening diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke.
...The aim of this study was to develop and validate prospectively a risk prediction model of incident essential hypertension within the following year.
Data from individual patient electronic health records (EHRs) were extracted from the Maine Health Information Exchange network. Retrospective (N=823,627, calendar year 2013) and prospective (N=680,810, calendar year 2014) cohorts were formed. A machine learning algorithm, XGBoost, was adopted in the process of feature selection and model building. It generated an ensemble of classification trees and assigned a final predictive risk score to each individual.
The 1-year incident hypertension risk model attained areas under the curve (AUCs) of 0.917 and 0.870 in the retrospective and prospective cohorts, respectively. Risk scores were calculated and stratified into five risk categories, with 4526 out of 381,544 patients (1.19%) in the lowest risk category (score 0-0.05) and 21,050 out of 41,329 patients (50.93%) in the highest risk category (score 0.4-1) receiving a diagnosis of incident hypertension in the following 1 year. Type 2 diabetes, lipid disorders, CVDs, mental illness, clinical utilization indicators, and socioeconomic determinants were recognized as driving or associated features of incident essential hypertension. The very high risk population mainly comprised elderly (age>50 years) individuals with multiple chronic conditions, especially those receiving medications for mental disorders. Disparities were also found in social determinants, including some community-level factors associated with higher risk and others that were protective against hypertension.
With statewide EHR datasets, our study prospectively validated an accurate 1-year risk prediction model for incident essential hypertension. Our real-time predictive analytic model has been deployed in the state of Maine, providing implications in interventions for hypertension and related diseases and hopefully enhancing hypertension care.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We report the presence of 3 exotic invertebrate species inhabiting offshore oil and gas platforms on the Pacific offshore continental shelf (POCS) of central and southern California, USA. These ...exotic species occur in high cover or density and may negatively affect populations of native species on the platforms. Conspicuous exotic species (the bryozoanWatersipora ?subtorquataand the anemoneDiadumenesp.) were detected on 2 of 7 platforms surveyed. An inconspicuous exotic species (the amphipodCaprella mutica) was detected on 2 of 2 platforms surveyed for such smaller species. In addition to serving as a potential source of exotic species to natural reef habitats, the presence of exotic species on oil platforms may influence the degree to which these structures provide the ecological services of natural reefs. The presence of exotic species on platforms also has consequences for various platform decommissioning options in California and elsewhere (there are an estimated 7000 offshore platforms/installations worldwide), including the removal and transport of platforms for use as artificial reefs, if removals are conducted without regard for the potential transport/dispersal of these species. Further knowledge of the identity of exotic species on oil platforms, their potential for dispersal and interaction with native species, and whether these species can also occur on artificial reefs, will improve our understanding of the effects that artificial structures in general have on the ecological functioning of coastal ecosystems.
Since its discovery in Lake Mead, Nevada in 2007, the invasive quagga mussel (
Dreissena rostriformis bugensis
) spread throughout the lower Colorado River drainage and into connected Southern ...California water systems. In December 2013, quagga mussels were found in Lake Piru, California, a reservoir with no connection to the Colorado River drainage. An initial “boom” period occurred in the first year after colonization. High densities and settlement rates continued for three years while lake water levels were low and relatively stable, despite periodic removals of mussels from lake infrastructure. Mussels were initially restricted to hard substrates but were regularly found on soft sediments within two years of colonization. Storms in 2017 dramatically increased the lake level and deposited substantial sediment, which eliminated mussels on soft sediments and reduced the overall mussel population. Reproduction and juvenile settlement rebounded within 6 months, despite the low population of adult mussels in the lake. Environmental conditions, particularly fill status and water temperature, rather than adult density, appear to be the primary driver of veliger abundance in this system, while recruitment was primarily explained by veliger abundance. Elevated water releases from the reservoir increased the flux of veligers downstream and led to mussel recruitment > 15 km downstream. Sustained establishment of quagga mussels downstream has not occurred in the Santa Clara River and seems unlikely due to the unstable habitat conditions. However, periodic downstream colonization increases the likelihood for the infestation to spread and impact agricultural and municipal water systems that receive water from the river.
Objective
The brown box crab Lopholithodes foraminatus is a member of the king and stone crab family (Lithodidae) that occurs in deepwater along the eastern Pacific coast. Historically, landings in ...California have been low for this species, but an increase in fishing pressure prompted the state to designate it as an emerging fishery and implement an experimental fishery program. With no known biological studies of California brown box crab, essential fisheries information is needed to evaluate the feasibility of a new targeted fishery.
Methods
Using field sampling and observations, along with laboratory studies, we investigated elements of reproductive capacity of the brown box crab in southern California.
Result
We found that females reach physiological maturity at a carapace width (CW) between 50.8 and 71.7 mm, and males do so at a CW between 43.3 and 66.3 mm. Morphometric maturity analysis showed a clear inflection point of abdomen width between immature and mature females. Females were 50% functionally mature at 75 mm CW. Morphometric and functional maturity was not detected for males, albeit samples of small male crabs were extremely limited, thus warranting further study. Females followed a biennial reproduction pattern: mating occurred in the fall, followed by an approximately 18‐month brooding period, with hatching in the second spring after mating. Fecundity was positively related to size and ranged from 8352 eggs/brood for a 67.8‐mm‐CW female to 62,181 eggs/brood for a 130.5‐mm‐CW female.
Conclusion
These findings can inform the evaluation of a fishery for the brown box crab, including potential management strategies and models for assessing stock condition.
Impact statement
New information was generated about the reproduction of the deepwater brown box crab to help evaluate the potential for a new California commercial fishery. The results are informing discussions about ways to manage such a fishery, including limits on the size, number, and/or time of year crabs may be fished.
Gold nanostars functionalized with Gd(III) have shown significant promise as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) because of their anisotropic, branched shape. However, the size and ...shape polydispersity of as-synthesized gold nanostars have precluded efforts to develop a rigorous relationship between the gold nanostar structure (e.g., number of branches) and relaxivity of surface-bound Gd(III). This paper describes the use of a centrifugal separation method that can produce structurally refined populations of gold nanostars and is compatible with Gd(III) functionalization. Combined transmission electron microscopy and relaxivity analyses revealed that the increased number of nanostar branches was correlated with enhanced relaxivity. By identifying the underlying relaxivity mechanisms for Gd(III)-functionalized gold nanostars, we can inform the design of high-performance MRI contrast agents.
Abstract This paper reports an in vivo evaluation of toxicology and biodistribution of a highly anisotropic Au nanoconstruct composed of a gold nanostar (AuNS) core and a ligand shell of a ...G-quadruplex DNA aptamer AS1411 (Apt) supporting both targeting and therapy capabilities. We examined the toxicity of the nanoconstructs (Apt-AuNS) at four different injected concentrations. At the highest dose tested (48 mg/kg), maximal tolerated dose was not reached. Clinical pathology showed no apparent signs of acute toxicity. Interestingly, the nanoconstructs circulated longer in female rats compared to male rats. In two different tumor models, the biodistribution of Apt-AuNS, especially tumor accumulation, was different. Accumulation of Apt-AuNS was 5 times higher in invasive breast cancer tumors compared to fibrosarcoma tumors. These results provide insight on identifying a tumor model and nanoconstruct for in vivo studies, especially when an in vitro therapeutic response is observed in multiple cancer cell lines. From the Clinical Editor This study investigated the toxicity and distribution of aptamer loaded gold nanostars in a rodent model of invasive breast cancer and fibrosarcoma. Acute toxicity was not identified even in the highest studied doses. Fivefold accumulation was demonstrated in the breast cancer model compared to the fibrosarcoma model. Studies like this are critically important in further clarifying the potential therapeutic use of these nanoconstructs, especially when ex vivo effects are clearly demonstrated.
The response of the Earth’s biota to global change is of fundamental interest to paleontologists, but patterns of change in paleontologic data are also of interest to a wider spectrum of Earth ...scientists in that those patterns are of great significance in constraining hypotheses that attempt to explain physical changes in the Earth’s environment. The Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T) boundary is a case in point. Some paleontologists have criticized the bolide impact hypothesis, not because they deny the impact but because the proposed effects of that impact do not always conform to the available paleontological data. Benthic foraminifera are of particular interest in this context because it has been suggested for over 20 years that shallow-water benthic foraminifera were affected more severely than deep-water benthic foraminifera by events at the K–T boundary. This observation adds to the fact of planktonic foraminiferal extinction and indicates that K–T boundary environmental effects were largely restricted to shallow waters. In this paper I review all published works on smaller benthic foraminifera at the K–T boundary and conclude the following. (1) Shallow-water benthic foraminifera were not more severely affected than deeper dwelling species. True extinction, as opposed to local extinction and/or mass mortality, is generally quite low no matter what the water depth. (2) The data are not sufficient in quality, quantity and geographic range to conclude that there is a latitudinal pattern of extinction. (3) In general, biotic changes (such as they are) begin before the boundary in shallow and intermediate depth waters and at the boundary in deep water. Disagreements about the placement of the boundary and the presence, absence and duration of hiatuses hinder more precise conclusions. (4) There appears to be preferential survivorship of epifaunal species into the early Danian with a short interval dominated by infaunal taxa in the earliest Danian. This pattern can best be explained by short-lived input of increased amounts of organic matter at the boundary followed by a sudden collapse of primary productivity and, hence, major reduction or cessation of organic flux to the seafloor. In summary, based on the current dataset, smaller benthic foraminifera, no matter whether they lived in shallow or deep waters, high or low latitudes, or infaunal or epifaunal microhabitats, survived the environmental events across the K–T boundary quite well. Mass extinction does not characterize this group of organisms at this time.
Global scale patterns of species diversity for modern deep-sea benthic foraminifera, an important component of the bathyal and abyssal meiofauna, are examined using comparable data from five studies ...in the Atlantic, ranging over 138° of latitude from the Norwegian Sea to the Weddell Sea. We show that a pattern of decreasing diversity with increasing latitude characterises both the North and South Atlantic. This pattern is confirmed for the northern hemisphere by independent data from the west-central North Atlantic and the Arctic basin. Species diversity in the North Atlantic northwards from the equator is variable until a sharp fall in the Norwegian Sea (ca. 65°N). In the South Atlantic species diversity drops from a maximum in latitudes less than 30°S and then decreases slightly from 40 to 70°S. For any given latitude, North Atlantic diversity is generally lower than in the South Atlantic. Both ecological and historical factors related to food supply are invoked to explain the formation and maintenance of the latitudinal gradient of deep-sea benthic foraminiferal species diversity. The gradient formed some 36 million years ago when global climatic cooling led to seasonally fluctuating food supply in higher latitudes.
Page, H. M., Culver, C. S., Dugan, J. E., and Mardian, B. 2008. Oceanographic gradients and patterns in invertebrate assemblages on offshore oil platforms. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 65: ...851–861. We explored variability in the composition and cover of subtidal macroinvertebrate assemblages, and the recruitment and growth rates of selected invertebrate species, on seven offshore oil and gas platforms arrayed across a gradient in oceanographic conditions in the Santa Barbara Channel, CA, USA. The major macroinvertebrate taxa (sea anemones, mussels, barnacles, tubiculous amphipods, hydroids, and sponges) were common to all platforms. However, discriminant function analysis (DFA) revealed that the assemblages of two platforms (Gilda and Gail) clearly differed from the other platforms, a pattern attributable, in part, to the presence of conspicuous exotic species (the anemone, Diadumene sp., and encrusting bryozoan, Watersipora subtorquata) on these platforms. If these exotic species were excluded from the analysis, platforms in proximity to each other generally tended to have invertebrate assemblages more similar to each other than to platforms located farther away. Spatial variation in barnacle recruitment onto ceramic plates and mussel growth rate reflected prevailing oceanographic gradients. The existence of along-channel patterns in the composition of platform invertebrate assemblages, and in invertebrate recruitment and growth associated with oceanographic gradients, suggests that assemblages attached to platforms or other artificial structures may be useful barometers of short and perhaps longer term change in ocean climate.
Once a marine invader has become established, its subsequent control has rarely been attempted. We report the first apparently successful eradication of a locally well-established introduced marine ...pest. A previously unknown species of sabellid polychaete (now described as Terebrasabella heterouncinata arrived as an epizoic contaminant on South African abalone imported to California for commercial aquaculture research. In 1996, we detected an established sabellid population at an intertidal site near Cayucos, California (35 °45'N, 120 °95'W). To mitigate the impact of this introduced marine pest at this site, and prevent or slow its geographic spread, we proposed an eradication program based on the epidemiological theory of the threshold of transmission. Specifically, we removed 1.6 million of the most highly susceptible and preferred host in the intertidal area; the black turban snail, Tegula funebralis. A screen was also installed at the associated abalone mariculture facility to eliminate release of additional infested material (the source of the established sabellid population) and all such material was removed from the intertidal area. Using transect surveys and mark and recapture studies, we monitored the success of the eradication effort. Transmission of the pest can no longer be detected. Hence, the established sabellid population has apparently been eradicated. This discovery demonstrates that some alien marine pests can be eradicated and supports development of new proactive approaches to the management of other exotic marine pests.PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
PDF
