Advancements in mapping areas suitable for wetland habitats across the conterminous United States.

Wetland habitats provide critical ecosystem services to the surrounding landscape, including nutrient and pollutant retention, flood mitigation, and carbon storage. Wetland connectivity to water bodies and related ecosystems is critical in habitat sustainability, but there are limited resources for landscape-level wetland planning. Considering the network connectivity of an ecosystem type can derive different benefits to the natural and built environment, as well as human health.

The community capacity curve applied to reforestation: a framework to support success.

Community involvement is critical for the success of many interventions designed to promote reforestation. To secure this involvement, it helps to recognize that communities are heterogenous both within and among themselves and possess diverse mixes of livelihood assets required to implement reforestation. We explore the relationship between livelihood assets and reforestation success and outline a conceptual model that we call the community capacity curve (CCC) applied to reforestation.

Improving intelligent dasymetric mapping population density estimates at 30 m resolution for the conterminous United States by excluding uninhabited areas.

Population change impacts almost every aspect of global change from land use, to greenhouse gas emissions, to biodiversity conservation, to the spread of disease. Data on spatial patterns of population density help us understand patterns and drivers of human settlement and can help us quantify the exposure we face to natural disasters, pollution, and infectious disease. Human populations are typically recorded by national or regional units that can vary in shape and size.

Development of the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Facilities Status Dashboard for the COVID-19 Pandemic: Approach and Challenges.

Develop a tool for applying various COVID-19 re-opening guidelines to the more than 120 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) facilities.

Sediment retention by natural landscapes in the conterminous United States.

Soils provide vital ecosystem services, from sequestering carbon to providing food and moderating floods. Soil erosion threatens the provisioning of these services and degrades downstream water quality. Vegetation plays an important role in soil retention: by holding it in place, soil can continue to provide ecosystem goods and services and protect water resources.

Above-ground biomass recovery following logging and thinning over 46 years in an Australian tropical forest.

Managed tropical forests are a globally important carbon pool, but the effects of logging and thinning intensities on long-term biomass dynamics are poorly known. We investigated the demographic mechanisms of above-ground biomass recovery over 48 years in an Australian tropical forest following four silvicultural treatments: selective logging only as a control and selective logging followed by low-, medium- and high-intensity thinning. Initial biomass recovery rates following thinning were poor predictors of the long-term changes.

A Comparison between Kidney Allograft Biopsies Performed by Nephrologists and Surgeons Versus Interventional Radiologists.

Introduction: Renal biopsy is an integral part of clinical nephrology practice that helps in the diagnosis of various renal diseases. Across the globe, it is performed by nephrologists and/or surgeons under ultrasound guidance. Lately, this novel procedure has been performed more frequently by the interventional radiologist (IR) as compared to nephrologists and surgeons.

Development of a spatially complete floodplain map of the conterminous United States using random forest.

Floodplains perform several important ecosystem services, including storing water during precipitation events and reducing peak flows, thus reducing flooding of downstream communities. Understanding the relationship between flood inundation and floodplains is critical for ecosystem and community health and well-being, as well as targeting floodplain and riparian restoration. Many communities in the United States, particularly those in rural areas, lack inundation maps due to the high cost of flood modeling.

Tree leaf trade-offs are stronger for sub-canopy trees: leaf traits reveal little about growth rates in canopy trees.

Can morphological plant functional traits predict demographic rates (e.g., growth) within plant communities as diverse as tropical forests? This is one of the most important next-step questions in trait-based ecology and particularly for global reforestation efforts.

Planning for community resilience to future United States domestic water demand.

Costs of repairing and expanding aging infrastructure and competing demands for water from other sectors such as industry and agriculture are stretching water managers' abilities to meet essential domestic drinking water needs for future generations. Using Bayesian statistical modeling on past and present water use, we project domestic water demand in the context of four climate scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as part of the their Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES). We compare 2010 demand to projections of domestic water demand for the years 2030, 2060 and 2090 for the four SRES scenarios.

The succinated proteome.

The post-translational modifications (PTMs) of cysteine residues include oxidation, S-glutathionylation, S-nitrosylation, and succination, all of which modify protein function or turnover in response to a changing intracellular redox environment. Succination is a chemical modification of cysteine in proteins by the Krebs cycle intermediate, fumarate, yielding S-(2-succino)cysteine (2SC). Intracellular fumarate concentration and succination of proteins are increased by hyperpolarization of the inner mitochondrial membrane, in concert with mitochondrial, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and oxidative stress in 3T3 adipocytes grown in high glucose medium and in adipose tissue in obesity and diabetes in mice.

Chelation therapy for the management of diabetic complications: a hypothesis and a proposal for clinical laboratory assessment of metal ion homeostasis in plasma.

In a recent article, we presented the hypothesis that decompartmentalized metal ions are a major contributor to the development of diabetic complications and supported the use of chelation therapy for the treatment of diabetic complications [Nagai R, Murray DB, Metz TO, Baynes JW. Chelation: a fundamental mechanism of action of AGE inhibitors, AGE breakers, and other inhibitors of diabetes complications. Diabetes 2012;61:549-59].

Development of an UPLC mass spectrometry method for measurement of myofibrillar protein synthesis: application to analysis of murine muscles during cancer cachexia.

Cachexia, characterized by skeletal muscle mass loss, is a major contributory factor to patient morbidity and mortality during cancer. However, there are no reports on the rate of myofibrillar protein synthesis (MPS) in skeletal muscles that vary in primary metabolic phenotype during cachexia, in large part because of the small-size muscles and regional differences in larger muscles in the mouse. Here, we describe a sensitive method for measurement of MPS and its application to analysis of MPS in specific muscles of mice with (Apc(Min/+)) and without (C57BL/6) cancer cachexia.

IL-6 regulation on skeletal muscle mitochondrial remodeling during cancer cachexia in the ApcMin/+ mouse.

Background: Muscle protein turnover regulation during cancer cachexia is being rapidly defined, and skeletal muscle mitochondria function appears coupled to processes regulating muscle wasting. Skeletal muscle oxidative capacity and the expression of proteins regulating mitochondrial biogenesis and dynamics are disrupted in severely cachectic ApcMin/+ mice. It has not been determined if these changes occur at the onset of cachexia and are necessary for the progression of muscle wasting.

Mitochondrial stress causes increased succination of proteins in adipocytes in response to glucotoxicity.

2SC [S-(2-succino)-cysteine] is a chemical modification formed by a Michael addition reaction of fumarate with cysteine residues in proteins. Formation of 2SC, termed 'succination' of proteins, increases in adipocytes grown in high-glucose medium and in adipose tissues of Type 2 diabetic mice. However, the metabolic mechanisms leading to increased fumarate and succination of protein in the adipocyte are unknown.

The effect of exercise on IL-6-induced cachexia in the Apc ( Min/+) mouse.

Background: Cachexia involves unintentional body weight loss including diminished muscle and adipose tissue mass and is associated with an underlying disease. Systemic overexpression of IL-6 accelerates cachexia in the Apc(Min/+) mouse, but does not induce wasting in control C57BL/6 mice. With many chronic diseases, chronic inflammation and metabolic dysfunction can be improved with moderate exercise.

Chelation: a fundamental mechanism of action of AGE inhibitors, AGE breakers, and other inhibitors of diabetes complications.

This article outlines evidence that advanced glycation end product (AGE) inhibitors and breakers act primarily as chelators, inhibiting metal-catalyzed oxidation reactions that catalyze AGE formation. We then present evidence that chelation is the most likely mechanism by which ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, and aldose reductase inhibitors inhibit AGE formation in diabetes. Finally, we note several recent studies demonstrating therapeutic benefits of chelators for diabetic cardiovascular and renal disease.

Tissue distribution of S-(2-succino)cysteine (2SC), a biomarker of mitochondrial stress in obesity and diabetes.

S-(2-succino)cysteine (2SC) is a chemical modification of proteins produced by reaction of fumarate with thiol groups in protein, a process known as succination. We propose to use the name S-(2-succino)cysteine (instead of S-(2-succinyl)cysteine) from this point on. This is to distinguish protein succination (in which fumarate forms a thioether linkage with cysteine residues) from succinylation (in which an ester, thioester or amide bond would be formed).

The regulation of skeletal muscle protein turnover during the progression of cancer cachexia in the Apc(Min/+) mouse.

Muscle wasting that occurs with cancer cachexia is caused by an imbalance in the rates of muscle protein synthesis and degradation. The Apc(Min/+) mouse is a model of colorectal cancer that develops cachexia that is dependent on circulating IL-6. However, the IL-6 regulation of muscle protein turnover during the initiation and progression of cachexia in the Apc(Min/+) mouse is not known.

Gut barrier dysfunction in the Apc(Min/+) mouse model of colon cancer cachexia.

Background: The Apc(Min/+) mouse, an animal model of colorectal cancer and cachexia, has a heterologous mutation in the Apc tumor suppressor gene, predisposing the mouse to intestinal and colon tumor development. This mouse develops intestinal polyps by ~4 weeks of age, and loses body weight gradually between ~14 and ~20 weeks of age. The strengths of this cachexia model derive from several features that mimic human cancer, including a gradual increase in tumor burden, chronic inflammation, and anemia.

Aberrant succination of proteins in fumarate hydratase-deficient mice and HLRCC patients is a robust biomarker of mutation status.

Germline mutations in the FH gene encoding the Krebs cycle enzyme fumarate hydratase predispose to hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal cell cancer (HLRCC) syndrome. FH-deficient cells and tissues accumulate high levels of fumarate, which may act as an oncometabolite and contribute to tumourigenesis. A recently proposed role for fumarate in the covalent modification of cysteine residues to S-(2-succinyl) cysteine (2SC) (termed protein succination) prompted us to assess 2SC levels in our existing models of HLRCC.

Muscle oxidative capacity during IL-6-dependent cancer cachexia.

Many diseases are associated with catabolic conditions that induce skeletal muscle wasting. These various catabolic states may have similar and distinct mechanisms for inducing muscle protein loss. Mechanisms related to muscle wasting may also be related to muscle metabolism since glycolytic muscle fibers have greater wasting susceptibility with several diseases.

Greater strength increase with cyst decompression and SLAP repair than SLAP repair alone.

Background: Treatment of symptomatic spinoglenoid cysts has been controversial with options ranging from observation, to open excision, to arthroscopic decompression with or without labral repair. It has recently been suggested that isolated repair of SLAP lesions without cyst decompression can restore function in patients with spinoglenoid cysts and SLAP lesions.

Questions/purposes: We examined gains in external rotation strength after isolated SLAP repair versus SLAP repair and cyst decompression to ascertain if gains in external rotation strength are attributable to SLAP repair or cyst decompression.