We tested the ability of a type 1 diabetes (T1D) genetic risk score (GRS) to predict progression of islet autoimmunity and T1D in at-risk individuals.
We studied the 1,244 TrialNet Pathway to ...Prevention study participants (T1D patients' relatives without diabetes and with one or more positive autoantibodies) who were genotyped with Illumina ImmunoChip (median range age at initial autoantibody determination 11.1 years 1.2-51.8, 48% male, 80.5% non-Hispanic white, median follow-up 5.4 years). Of 291 participants with a single positive autoantibody at screening, 157 converted to multiple autoantibody positivity and 55 developed diabetes. Of 953 participants with multiple positive autoantibodies at screening, 419 developed diabetes. We calculated the T1D GRS from 30 T1D-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms. We used multivariable Cox regression models, time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curves, and area under the curve (AUC) measures to evaluate prognostic utility of T1D GRS, age, sex, Diabetes Prevention Trial-Type 1 (DPT-1) Risk Score, positive autoantibody number or type, HLA DR3/DR4-DQ8 status, and race/ethnicity. We used recursive partitioning analyses to identify cut points in continuous variables.
Higher T1D GRS significantly increased the rate of progression to T1D adjusting for DPT-1 Risk Score, age, number of positive autoantibodies, sex, and ethnicity (hazard ratio HR 1.29 for a 0.05 increase, 95% CI 1.06-1.6;
= 0.011). Progression to T1D was best predicted by a combined model with GRS, number of positive autoantibodies, DPT-1 Risk Score, and age (7-year time-integrated AUC = 0.79, 5-year AUC = 0.73). Higher GRS was significantly associated with increased progression rate from single to multiple positive autoantibodies after adjusting for age, autoantibody type, ethnicity, and sex (HR 2.27 for GRS >0.295, 95% CI 1.47-3.51;
= 0.0002).
The T1D GRS independently predicts progression to T1D and improves prediction along T1D stages in autoantibody-positive relatives.
Our understanding on the effects of tillage intensity on the soil microbial community structure and composition in crop production systems are limited. This study evaluated the soil microbial ...community composition and diversity under different tillage management systems in an effort to identify management practices that effectively support sustainable agriculture. We report results from a three-year study to determine the effects on changes in soil microbial diversity and composition from four tillage intensity treatments and two residue management treatments in a corn-soybean production system using Illumina high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes. Soil samples were collected from tillage treatments at locations in the Southern Coastal Plain (Verona, MS, USA) and Southern Mississippi River Alluvium (Stoneville, MS, USA) for soil analysis and bacterial community characterization. Our results indicated that different tillage intensity treatments differentially changed the relative abundances of bacterial phyla. The Mantel test of correlations indicated that differences among bacterial community composition were significantly influenced by tillage regime (rM = 0.39, p ≤ 0.0001). Simpson’s reciprocal diversity index indicated greater bacterial diversity with reduction in tillage intensity for each year and study location. For both study sites, differences in tillage intensity had significant influence on the abundance of Proteobacteria. The shift in the soil bacterial community composition under different tillage systems was strongly correlated to changes in labile carbon pool in the system and how it affected the microbial metabolism. This study indicates that soil management through tillage intensity regime had a profound influence on diversity and composition of soil bacterial communities in a corn-soybean production system.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in lower-income countries including Haiti. Environmental lead exposure is associated with high blood pressure and cardiovascular mortality in ...high-income countries but has not been systematically measured and evaluated as a potential modifiable cardiovascular risk factor in lower-income countries where 6.5 billion people reside. We hypothesized lead exposure is high in urban Haiti and associated with higher blood pressure levels. Blood lead levels were measured in 2504 participants ≥18 years enrolled in a longitudinal population-based cohort study in Port-au-Prince. Lead screening was conducted using LeadCare II (detection limit ≥3.3 µg/dL). Levels below detection were imputed by dividing the level of detection by √2. Associations between lead (quartiles) and systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure were assessed, adjusting for age, sex, obesity, smoking, alcohol, physical activity, income, and antihypertensive medication use. The median age of participants was 40 years and 60.1% were female. The geometric mean blood lead level was 4.73µg/dL, 71.1% had a detectable lead level and 42.3% had a blood lead level ≥5 µg/dL. After multivariable adjustment, lead levels in quartile four (≥6.5 µg/dL) compared with quartile 1 (<3.4 µg/dL) were associated with 2.42 mm Hg (95% CI, 0.36-4.49) higher systolic blood pressure and 1.96 mm Hg (95% CI, 0.56-3.37) higher diastolic blood pressure. In conclusion, widespread environmental lead exposure is evident in urban Haiti, with higher lead levels associated with higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Lead is a current and potentially modifiable pollutant in lower-income countries that warrants urgent public health remediation. Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT03892265.
Urban soils are often not ideal planting sites due to removal of native topsoil or the mixing of topsoil and subsoil at the site. Adding pine bark based soil amendments to a clay soil altered soil ...bulk density and soil compaction which resulted in improved plant growth. Addition of nitrogen (N) or cotton gin waste to pine bark resulted in improved plant growth compared to pine bark alone. Growth of pansies (Viola x wittrockiana) during the 1999-2000 winter growing season was enhanced by the addition of pine bark plus nitrogen at 3- and 6-inch (7.6- and 15.2-cm) application rates (PBN3 and PBN6) and pine bark plus cotton gin waste at the 6 inch rate (CGW6). Plant size and flower production of vinca (Catharanthus roseus) were reduced by pine bark amendments applied at 3- or 6-inch rates (PB3 or PB6). Crapemyrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) grown in plots amended with 3 or 6 inches of pine bark plus cotton gin waste (CGW3 or CGW6) and pine bark plus nitrogen at 3- or 6-inch rates (PBN3 or PBN6) produced greater shoot growth than other amendment treatments. In some instances PB3 treatments suppressed growth. High levels of N and soluble salts derived from CGW and PBN soil amendments incorporated into the soil probably contributed to the improved plant growth observed in this experiment.
The metabolic diversity of soil microbiota embodies diverse functional capabilities that support ecosystem resilience, driving essential biogeochemical processes and facilitating the optimization of ...sustainable agricultural systems. Integrating cover crops into agricultural systems cultivates a diverse array of metabolic activities among soil microbes, synergistically enhancing ecosystem services and bolstering soil health for sustainable and productive farming practices. In an effort to gain deeper insights and expand our knowledge, we conducted a study examining the effects of cover crops and fertilizer sources, thereby shedding light on their combined impacts on the metabolic activity dynamics of soil microbial communities. In this investigation, we employed a split-plot design with two factors: (a) cover crop with three solo cover crop species—Cereal rye (Secale cereale), wheat (Triticum aestivum), hairy vetch (Vicia villosa), and one mixture of mustard (Brassica rapa) and cereal rye (Secale cereale) (CC-mix), (b) Fertilizer source includes poultry litter, chemical fertilizer, and no-fertilizer treatments. We assessed the metabolic potential of soil microbiota by using carbon substrates utilizing Biolog EcoPlates. The findings revealed that the plots with CC-mix treatment exhibited greater metabolic diversity compared to the other treatments, while among the fertilizer sources, poultry litter demonstrated higher metabolic activity. Furthermore, both treatment factors predominantly metabolized carbohydrates and polymers compared to other carbon substrate categories. The principal component analysis accounted for 46.4% of the variance, collectively represented by PC1 and PC2, emphasizing the substantial contributions of carbohydrates, amino acids, and carboxylic acids to the observed metabolic diversity. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed that pH had positively correlated with microbial functional diversity, whereas total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN), and water-stable aggregates (WSA) showed a negative correlation. In conclusion, cover cropping and type of fertilizer source had a notable impact on soil microbial functional diversity, with the cover crop mixture exhibiting a more pronounced influence than the individual cover crop treatments.
High resolution-magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (HR-MAS NMR) allows the application of solution-state NMR experiments to samples that are not fully soluble and contain solids. Only ...the species in contact with the solvent system employed become NMR observable. In this study utilizing D2O as the solvent system we show it is possible to examine the structures at the solid−aqueous interface of a whole soil. Combining one- and two-dimensional HR-MAS NMR allowed, for the first time, the identification of fatty acids, aliphatic esters, and ethers/alcohols as prominent species at the solid−aqueous interface of the soil with signals from sugars and amino acids also apparent. Few, if any signals from aromatic protons were observed when the soil was swollen in aqueous media, although these signals are observed in extracts from the same soil and when the soil is swollen with a more penetrating solvent (DMSO-d 6) which is known to disassociate hydrogen bonds. These findings indicate that the soil aromatic moieties are protected in hydrophobic regions which are not water accessible. Furthermore, when the soil was amended with a herbicide (trifluralin), direct observations of interactions between the protons on a xenobiotic and the surrounding soil matrix were possible for the first time. HR-MAS promises to be a method that can be widely applicable to a range of complex environmental samples without the need for extraction, pretreatment, or purification.
A laboratory experiment was conducted to compare the adsorption and desorption of fluometuron between two soils, one collected from an eastern gamagrass filter strip and the other from a cropped ...field. Fluometuron adsorption to soil collected from the filter strip was higher than to soil collected from the cropped field. K
d values for fluometuron ranged from 1.9 to 3.6 for soil from a cropped area, compared with 2.9 to 5.3 for soil from the filter strip, indicating a weak to moderate binding affinity for fluometuron. The total fluometuron desorbed ranged from 48 to 79% of that adsorbed, most of which (50 to 59% of the total amount desorbed) occurred during the first desorption cycle with both soils. Approximately 11% less fluometuron desorbed when a filter strip was present. Results indicate that eastern gamagrass filter strips can influence adsorption–desorption processes between fluometuron and a Brooksville silty clay soil by altering the soil properties, specifically soil organic matter.
An adequate supply of Co in pasture is important to the health of grazing animals. Bio-availability of Co in soils is largely depended upon its distribution among solid-phase fractions. Distribution ...of cobalt in six arid-zone soils and its redistribution among the solid-phase fractions during long-term saturated paste incubation were studied. Cobalt was fractionated by a selective sequential dissolution procedure into six empirically defined fractions. Concentrations of total Co and Mn or Fe, and Co and Mn fractionation pattern were strongly correlated in the soils. During saturated incubation, Co in soils was redistributed mainly from the Mn oxide bound, and to some extent, Fe oxide bound and organic matter bound fractions into the carbonate bound fraction. During saturated incubation, significant correlations were found between concentrations of Co and Mn in the Mn oxide bound, Fe oxide bound and carbonate bound fractions. Also, significant correlations between concentrations of Co and Fe in the Fe oxide bound fraction were present. However, a negative correlation between concentrations of Co and Fe in the Mn oxide bound fraction was observed. The rates of redistribution of Co between these solid-phase components were initially high: major changes occurred in the first 3 days in the sandy soil and the first 18 days in the loessial soil. Afterwards, the rates of change slowed but changes in redistribution continued during the rest of the study period of one year.
The Chelyabinsk superbolide of February 15, 2013, was caused by the atmospheric entry of a ~19 m asteroid with a kinetic energy of 500 kT TNT just south of the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia. It was a ...rare event; impacts of similar energy occur on the Earth only a few times per century. Impacts of this energy near such a large urban area are expected only a few times per 10 000 years. A number of video records obtained by casual eyewitnesses, dashboard cameras in cars, security, and traffic cameras were made publicly available by their authors on the Internet. These represent a rich repository for future scientific studies of this unique event. To aid researchers in the archival study of this airburst, we provide and document a catalog of 960 videos showing various aspects of the event. Among the video records are 400 distinct videos showing the bolide itself and 108 videos showing the illumination caused by the bolide. Other videos show the dust trail left in the atmosphere, the arrival of the blast wave on the ground, or the damage caused by the blast wave. As these video recordings have high scientific, historical, and archival value for future studies of this airburst, a systematic documentation and description of records is desirable. Many have already been used for scientific analyses. We give the exact locations where 715 videos were taken as well as details of the visible/audible phenomena in each video recording. An online version of the published catalog has been developed and will be regularly updated to provide a long–term database for investigators.
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