Non-native species have the potential to detrimentally affect native species through resource competition, disease transmission, and other forms of antagonism. The western honey bee (Apis mellifera) ...is one such species that has been widely introduced beyond its native range for hundreds of years. There are strong concerns in the United States, and other countries, about the strain that high-density, managed honey bee populations could pose to already imperiled wild bee communities. While there is some experimental evidence of honey bees competing with wild bees for resources, few studies have connected landscape-scale honey bee apiary density with down-stream consequences for wild bee communities. Here, using a dataset from Maryland, US and joint species distribution models, we provide the largest scale, most phylogenetically resolved assessment of non-native honey bee density effects on wild bee abundance to date. As beekeeping in Maryland primarily consists of urban beekeeping, we also assessed the relative impact of developed land on wild bee communities. Six of the 33 wild bee genera we assessed showed a high probability (> 90 %) of a negative association with apiary density and/or developed land. These bees were primarily late-season, specialist genera (several long-horned genera represented) or small, ground nesting, season-long foragers (including several sweat bee genera). Conversely, developed land was associated with an increase in relative abundance for some genera including invasive Anthidium and other urban garden-associated genera. We discuss several avenues to ameliorate potentially detrimental effects of beekeeping and urbanization on the most imperiled wild bee groups. We additionally offer methodological insights based on sampling efficiency of different methods (hand netting, pan trapping, vane trapping), highlighting large variation in effect sizes across genera. The magnitude of sampling effect was very high, relative to the observed ecological effects, demonstrating the importance of integrated sampling, particularly for multi-species or community level assessments.
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•Honey bees, a broadly-distributed, managed species, may negatively affect wild bees.•Joint species distribution models assess apiary density effects on wild bee genera.•Six of 33 genera show >90 % probability of negative effect of urban land/beekeeping.•Bees imperiled by urban beekeeping are mostly late season, ground nesting, specialist.•Genera detection differed by sampling method (hand net, pan trap, vane trap).
Until recently there has been no standard for an interoperable and manufacturer-independent protocol for secure teleradiology connections. This was one of the main reasons for the limited use of ...teleradiology in Germany. Various teleradiology solutions have been developed in the past, but the vast majority have not been interoperable. Therefore an ad hoc teleradiology connection was impossible even between partners who were already equipped with teleradiology workstations. Based on the evaluation of vendor-independent protocols in recent years the IT Working Group (AGIT) of the German Radiology Society set up an initiative to standardize basic teleradiology. An e-mail based solution using the Dicom standard for e-mail attachments with additional encryption according to the OpenPGP standard was found to be the common denominator. This protocol is easy to implement and safe for personalized patient data and fulfills the legal requirements for teleradiology in Germany and other countries. The first version of the recommendation was presented at the 85th German Radiology Convention in 2004. Eight commercial and three open-source implementations of the protocol are currently available; the protocol is in daily use in over 50 hospitals and institutions.
Relationship Between Serum IGF-1 and BMI Differs by Age Sherlala, Rehab A; Kammerer, Candace M; Kuipers, Allison L ...
The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences,
06/2021, Volume:
76, Issue:
7
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Abstract
Background
Serum levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and body mass index (BMI) are both associated with susceptibility to age-related diseases. Reports on the correlation between ...them have been conflicting, with both positive to negative correlations reported. However, the age ranges of the participants varied widely among these studies.
Methods
Using data on 4241 participants (aged 24–110) from the Long Life Family Study, we investigated the relationship between IGF-1 and BMI by age groups using regression analysis.
Results
When stratified by age quartile, the relationship between IGF-1 and BMI varied: in the first quartile (Q1, 20–58 years) the relationship was negative (β = −0.2, p = .002); in Q2 (58–66 years) and Q3 (67–86 years) the relationship was negative (β = −0.07, β = −0.01, respectively) but nonsignificant; and in Q4 (87–110 years) the relationship was positive (β = 0.31, p = .0002). This pattern did not differ by sex. We observed a similar age-related pattern between IGF-1 and BMI among participants in the third National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey.
Conclusions
Our results that the relationship between IGF-1 and BMI differs by age may explain some of the inconsistency in reports about their relationship and encourage additional studies to understand the mechanisms underlying it.
Zusammenfassung
Mit Wirksamwerden des Strahlenschutzgesetzes (StrlSchG) und der Strahlenschutzverordnung (StrlSchV), welche die Röntgenverordnung (RöV) zum 31.12.2018 „ablöste“, änderte sich wenig an ...den teleradiologiespezifischen Anforderungen. Allerdings gelten auch für die Teleradiologie die datenschutzrechtlichen Anforderungen der Datenschutz-Grundverordnung (DS-GVO). Zunächst ist jede Verarbeitung von Gesundheitsdaten verboten, wenn kein Erlaubnistatbestand vorhanden ist. Sodann müssen die in Art. 5 DS-GVO festgelegten Grundsätze nachweislich eingehalten werden, Patienten müssen informiert werden, die Sicherheit der Daten gewährleistet werden usw. Grundlegend muss geklärt werden, auf welcher Rechtsgrundlage die Zusammenarbeit zwischen dem versorgenden Krankenhaus und dem Teleradiologen erfolgt: Ist es eine eigenständige Behandlung durch den Teleradiologen selbst? Oder ist es eher eine gemeinsame Verarbeitung im Sinne der DS-GVO? Werden neue Technologien z. B. zur Datenübertragung über eine Cloud-Anwendung genutzt, muss ggf. eine Datenschutz-Folgenabschätzung erfolgen. Wenngleich viele Anforderungen der DS-GVO allein schon durch die teleradiologischen Anforderungen adressiert werden, d. h. bei einer genehmigten Teleradiologie viele Anforderungen der DS-GVO schon umgesetzt sind, bleiben noch einige Punkte, die man sich genauer ansehen sollte.
Intimate integration of photonics with electronics is regarded as the key to further improvement in bandwidth, speed and energy efficiency of information transport systems. Here, a method based on ...wafer-scale polymer bonding is reviewed which is compatible with foundry-sourced high-performance InP photonics and BiCMOS electronics. We address challenges with respect to circuit architecture, co-simulation framework and interconnect technology and introduce our approach that can lead to broadband high-density interconnects between photonics and electronics. Recent proof-of-concept work utilizing DC-coupled driver connections to modulators, which significantly reduces the interconnect complexity, is summarized. Furthermore, co-simulation concepts based on equivalent circuit models are discussed with emphasis on the importance of impedance matching between driver and modulator. Finally, realizations of broadband interconnects and functional photonic building blocks after wafer bonding are highlighted to demonstrate the potential of this wafer-scale co-integration method.
A novel and compact millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) spatial power combiner is developed integrating a silicon-based integrated circuit (IC) in a metal waveguide (WG). As an initial step toward integrating ...a silicon-based active IC in a WG, a passive back-to-back (B2B) transition incorporating a four-way spatial power splitter and combiner is realized at <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">E </tex-math></inline-formula>-band (71-86 GHz). In contrast to existing solutions, the proposed design considers power splitting and combining using a low-loss wireless transition between the IC and the WG. The proposed B2B structure comprises an IC implemented using the Institute for High Performance Microelectronics (IHP's) 0.13-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mu \text{m} </tex-math></inline-formula> SiGe BiCMOS technology integrated into the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">H </tex-math></inline-formula>-plane of a WG. The IC is postprocessed and assembled in the WG prototype. The measured prototype shows a return loss better than 13 dB, an average insertion loss of 1.7 dB for a single transition, and a fractional bandwidth of 26.4% (69-90 GHz).
A 5-bit digital controlled switch-type passive phase shifter realised in a 40 nm digital CMOS technology without ultra-thick metals for the 60 GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band is ...presented. A patterned shielding with electromagnetic bandgap structure and a stacked metals method to increase the on-chip inductor quality factor are proposed. To reduce the insertion loss from the transistors, the transistor switches are implemented with a body–source connection. For all 32 states, the minimum phase error is 1.5°, and the maximum phase error is 6.8°. The measured insertion loss is −20.9 ± 1 dB including pad loss at 60 GHz and the return loss is >10 dB over 57–64 GHz. The total chip size is 0.24 mm2 with 0 mW DC power consumption.
Background.
Identification of gene variants that contribute to exceptional survival may provide critical biologic information that informs optimal health across the life span.
Methods.
As part of ...phenotype development efforts for the Long Life Family Study, endophenotypes that represent exceptional survival were identified and heritability estimates were calculated. Principal components (PCs) analysis was carried out using 28 physiologic measurements from five trait domains (cardiovascular, cognition, physical function, pulmonary, and metabolic).
Results.
The five most dominant PCs accounted for 50% of underlying trait variance. The first PC (PC1), which consisted primarily of poor pulmonary and physical function, represented 14.3% of the total variance and had an estimated heritability of 39%. PC2 consisted of measures of good metabolic and cardiovascular function with an estimated heritability of 27%. PC3 was made up of cognitive measures (h
2 = 36%). PC4 and PC5 contained measures of blood pressure and cholesterol, respectively (h
2 = 25% and 16%).
Conclusions.
These PCs analysis-derived endophenotypes may be used in genetic association studies to help identify underlying genetic mechanisms that drive exceptional survival in this and other populations.
Summary
We determined factors associated with serum sclerostin in 446 Afro-Caribbean family members. Age, weight, sex, diabetes and kidney function were associated with sclerostin. Sclerostin was ...heritable, and nine SNPs in the
SOST
gene region were associated with sclerostin. Variation in serum sclerostin is a heritable factor that is determined by both genetic and environmental factors.
Introduction
Sclerostin, encoded by the
SOST
gene, is a Wnt inhibitor that regulates bone mineralization and is a candidate gene locus for osteoporosis. However, little is known about the genetic and non-genetic sources of inter-individual variation in serum sclerostin levels.
Methods
Serum sclerostin was measured in 446 Afro-Caribbean men and women aged 18+ from seven large, multigenerational families (mean family size, 64; 3,840 relative pairs). Thirty-six common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) were genotyped within a 100 kb region encompassing the gene encoding sclerostin (
SOST
). Genetic and non-genetic factors were tested for association with serum sclerostin.
Results
Mean serum sclerostin was 41.3 pmol/l and was greater in men than in women (
P
< 0.05). Factors associated with higher serum sclerostin were increased age and body weight, male sex, diabetes and decreased glomerular filtration rate, which collectively accounted for 25.4 % of its variation. Residual genetic heritability of serum sclerostin was 0.393 (
P
< 0.0001). Nine SNPs reached nominal significance with sclerostin. Three of those nine SNPs represented independent association signals (rs851056, rs41455049 and rs9909172), which accounted for 7.8 % of the phenotypic variation in sclerostin, although none of these SNPs surpassed a Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons.
Conclusions
Serum sclerostin is a heritable trait that is also determined by environmental factors including age, sex, adiposity, diabetes and kidney function. Three independent common SNPs within the
SOST
region may collectively account for a significant proportion of the variation in serum sclerostin.
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