Fuentesgonzales8214

Nonetheless, these findings illustrated that the quantitative correlation between the fraction of exogenous Sr and the soaking time, if established, could be used to estimate the length of water contact time for hair in forensic studies. Even if such time since initial contact cannot be established, the combination of acid leaching and 87Sr/86Sr analysis of hair samples may still be valuable in provenance studies to identify recent changes in the exogenous Sr pool, including movements or changes in water source.Introduction Crowdsourcing, a participatory approach to solicit ideas from a large group of diverse individuals, provides an opportunity to nurture youth participation in HIV self-testing service design. The objective of this study was to describe the responses to a crowdsourcing contest aimed at soliciting ideas on how to promote HIV self-testing (HIVST) among young people in Nigeria. Methods The "4 Youth by Youth" HIV Self-Testing Crowdsourcing contest was an online and off-line contest that asked Nigerian youth (10-24 years old) for ideas in response to the following How might we promote HIVST among young people in Nigeria? All data were collected and analyzed between October 2018, and June 2019. Ideas and perceptions generated from the crowdsourcing contest were qualitatively analyzed using thematic content analysis. Specifically, four reviewers analyzed whether the ideas generated were desirable (appealing to young people), feasible (easy to implement) and impactful (will significantly influence HIVST upted implementation strategies to increase uptake of HIVST among adolescents and youth at risk for HIV.Building a density map over large areas could provide essential information of land development intensity and settlement condition. It is crucial for supporting studies and planning of human settlement environment. The Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) is a comprehensive data set of mapping human settlement at a global scale, which was produced by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission. The built-up density is an important layer of GHSL data set. Currently, the validation of the GHSL built-up area products was preliminarily conducted over the United States and European countries. However, as a typical East Asian region, China is quite different from the United States, Europe, and other regions in terms of building forms and urban layouts. Therefore, it is necessary to perform an accuracy assessment of GHSL data set in Asian countries like China. With individual building footprint data of 20 typical cities in China, this paper presents our effort to validate the GHSL built-up area products. Thh accuracy built-up density of China with the training data set acquired by the study.Background Carotid artery plaque is an established marker of subclinical atherosclerosis with pronounced sex-dimorphism. Here, we aimed to identify genetic variants associated with carotid plaque burden (CPB) and to examine potential sex-specific genetic effects on plaque sizes. Methods and results We defined six operationalizations of CPB considering plaques in common carotid arteries, carotid bulb, and internal carotid arteries. We performed sex-specific genome-wide association analyses for all traits in the LIFE-Adult cohort (n = 727 men and n = 550 women) and tested significantly associated loci for sex-specific effects. In order to identify causal genes, we analyzed candidate gene expression data for correlation with CPB traits and corresponding sex-specific effects. Further, we tested if previously reported SNP associations with CAD and plaque prevalence are also associated with CBP. We found seven loci with suggestive significance for CPB (p less then 3.33x10-7), explaining together between 6 and 13% of the CPB variance. Sex-specific analysis showed a genome-wide significant hit for men at 5q31.1 (rs201629990, β = -0.401, p = 5.22x10-9), which was not associated in women (β = -0.127, p = 0.093) with a significant difference in effect size (p = 0.008). Analyses of gene expression data suggested IL5 as the most plausible candidate, as it reflected the same sex-specific association with CPBs (p = 0.037). Known plaque prevalence or CAD loci showed no enrichment in the association with CPB. Conclusions We showed that CPB is a complementary trait in analyzing genetics of subclinical atherosclerosis. We detected a novel locus for plaque size in men only suggesting a role of IL5. Several estrogen response elements in this locus point towards a functional explanation of the observed sex-specific effect.Toll-like receptor (TLR) genes have recently been employed to assess genetic diversity, as they can be used to infer both demographic history and adaptation to environments with different pathogen pressure. Here, we sampled 120 individuals of the Chinese egret (Egretta eulophotes), a globally vulnerable species, from four breeding populations across China. We assessed the levels of genetic diversity, selection pressure, and population differentiation at seven TLR loci (TLR1LB, TLR2A, TLR3, TLR4, TLR5, TLR7, and TLR15). Using a variety of metrics (SNPs, heterozygosity, nucleotides, haplotypes), our analyses showed that genetic diversity was lower at 4 of the 7 TLR loci in the vulnerable Chinese egret compared to the more common little egret (Egretta garzetta). The selection test indicated TLRs, except for TLR5, were under purifying selection in TLR evolution, suggesting that low TLR genetic diversity in the Chinese egret may be caused by purifying selection. A922500 in vitro Moreover, analysis of molecular variance indicated low but significant population differentiation among four populations at all of the TLR loci in this egret. However, some comparisons based on fixation index analyses did not show significant population differentiation, and Bayesian clustering showed admixture. Our finding suggested that these four populations of the Chinese egret in China may be considered a single unit for conservation planning. These results, the new report of TLR genetic diversity in a long-distance migratory vulnerable Ardeid species, will provide fundamental TLR information for further studies on the conservation genetics of the Chinese egret and other Ardeids.Background Several studies have suggested that record high unemployment during the Great Recession was associated with deleterious changes in diet and weight-related health. However, studies have yet to explore whether the Great Recession was also associated with obesity-related health in utero. Methods We investigated whether increasing county-level unemployment was associated with large-for-gestational age (LGA) births, using repeated cross-sectional data from California birth records between 2008 and 2011 (n = 1,715,052). LGA was defined as >90th percentile, using the Oken reference. We use the annual 1-year lagged value for county-level unemployment (2007-2010) and limit our analyses to singleton, term births. Linear probability models, with county and year fixed-effects were used to examine the unemployment-LGA association. All models control for county-level foreclosure rates, child gender, and maternal age, parity, education, and race/ethnicity. Results An increase in county-level unemployment was not statistically significantly associated with the prevalence of LGA (percentage point [PP] 0.12; 95% CI -0.02, 0.25). But, over the period of observation, for every one standard deviation increase in unemployment, LGA prevalence increased by 5% and p = 0.08. Conclusions These results cautiously suggest some deleterious effects of the Great Recession on obesity-related health in utero.Introduction Effective tacrolimus (TAC) dosing is hampered by complex pharmacokinetics and significant patient variability. The gut microbiome, a key mediator of endotoxemia, inflammation and oxidative stress in advanced heart failure (HF) patients, is a possible contributor to interindividual variations in drug efficacy. The effect of alterations in the gut microbiome on TAC dosing requirements after heart transplant (HT) has not been explored. Methods We enrolled 24 patients (mean age = 55.8 ±2.3 years) within 3 months post-HT. Biomarkers of endotoxemia ((lipopolysaccharide (LPS)), inflammation (tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)) and oxidative stress (8,12-iso-Isoprostane F-2alpha-VI) were measured in 16 blood samples. 22 stool samples were analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing. TAC dose and serum trough level were measured at the time of stool and blood collection. TAC doses were reported in mg/kg/day and as level-to-dose (L/D) ratio, and categorized as ≤ vs. > median. Results The median TAC dose was 0.1 mg/kg/day and L/D ratio was 100.01. Above the median daily weight-based TAC dose was associated with higher gut microbial alpha diversity (p = 0.03); similarly, TNF-α and 8,12-iso-Isoprostane F-2alpha-VI levels were lower and LPS levels were higher in the above median TAC group, although these findings were only marginally statistically significant and dependent on BMI adjustment. We observed n = 37 taxa to be significantly enriched among patients with > median TAC dose (all FDR less then 0.05), several of which are potential short-chain fatty acid producers with anti-inflammatory properties, including taxa from the family Subdoligranulum. Conclusions Our pilot study observed gut microbial alpha diversity to be increased while inflammation and oxidative stress were reduced among patients requiring higher TAC doses early after HT.Extreme arid conditions in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile have created a unique vegetation almost entirely restricted to the desert margins along the coast of the Pacific Ocean and the Andean range. In this study we provide data on the desert vegetation along elevational gradients at four localities from the western Andean slopes, between 19° and 21° S. Additionally, zonation of floristic data was explored. Three altitudinal zones could be classified and described in detail for each locality. Conspicuously divergent floras in the Atacama Desert have been recorded in the coastal 'lomas formations' and in the Andean desert vegetation, separated by a narrow band of absolute desert. In this study, we investigate the floristic relationships between both regions by implementing similarity analyses for 21 localities from the coastal and Andean deserts in northern Chile. Our results show a drastic east-west divergence in pairwise floristic similarity, which is in stark contrast to a weaker north-south divergence. A biotic barrier, preventing plant exchange from east to west and vice versa, imposed by the hyperarid conditions of the absolute desert, is one possible explanation for this finding. Moreover, the coastal and Andean deserts likely represent ecologically divergent habitats, e.g., in rainfall seasonality. Essential differences in factors determining plant life between both regions have probably contributed to a divergent evolution of the floras. Both explanations-ecological divergence and ecogeographical isolation-are not mutually exclusive, but likely complementary. We also combined floristic data from northern Chile and southern Peru. Similarity analyses of this combined dataset provide first floristic evidence for the existence of a biotic north-south corridor along the western slope of the Andes. Sub-Andean distributions of several species are discussed in the light of floristic connectivity between the Peruvian and Chilean Andean floristic clusters.