Lifetime physical activity influences Parkinson's disease progression.

Introduction: Past studies suggested that Parkinson's disease (PD) patients who engage in physical activity (PA) after diagnosis have slower motor progression. Here, we examine the influence of lifetime PA prior to PD onset on motor, cognitive, and overall functional decline among PD patients.

Methods: For 495 participants in the Parkinson's Environment and Gene (PEG) studies, we collected PA-related measures through interviews and quantified these using metabolic equivalents (MET) scores.

Connecting and integrating cooperation within and between species.

There has long been a fundamental divide in the study of cooperation: researchers focus either on cooperation within species, including but not limited to sociality, or else on cooperation between species, commonly termed mutualism. Here, we explore the ecologically and evolutionarily significant ways in which within- and between-species cooperation interact. We highlight two primary cross-linkages.

Genome-wide meta-analysis of short-tandem repeats for Parkinson's disease risk using genotype imputation.

Idiopathic Parkinson's disease is determined by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Recently, the first genome-wide association study on short-tandem repeats in Parkinson's disease reported on eight suggestive short-tandem repeat-based risk loci ( = 5.3 × 10), of which four were novel, i.

Untargeted serum metabolic profiling of diabetes mellitus among Parkinson's disease patients.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a common comorbidity among Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Yet, little is known about dysregulated pathways that are unique in PD patients with T2DM. We applied high-resolution metabolomic profiling in serum samples of 636 PD and 253 non-PD participants recruited from Central California.

Lysosomal genes contribute to Parkinson's disease near agriculture with high intensity pesticide use.

Parkinson's disease (PD), the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, develops sporadically, likely through a combination of polygenic and environmental factors. Previous studies associate pesticide exposure and genes involved in lysosomal function with PD risk. We evaluated the frequency of variants in lysosomal function genes among patients from the Parkinson's, Environment, and Genes (PEG) study with ambient pesticide exposure from agricultural sources.

Diet and the gut microbiome in patients with Parkinson's disease.

It has been suggested that gut microbiota influence Parkinson's disease (PD) via the gut-brain axis. Here, we examine associations between diet and gut microbiome composition and its predicted functional pathways in patients with PD. We assessed gut microbiota in fecal samples from 85 PD patients in central California using 16S rRNA gene sequencing.

Ambient long-term exposure to organophosphorus pesticides and the human gut microbiome: an observational study.

Background: Organophosphorus pesticides (OP) have been associated with various human health conditions. Animal experiments and in-vitro models suggested that OP may also affect the gut microbiota. We examined associations between ambient chronic exposure to OP and gut microbial changes in humans.

A pooled-sample draft genome assembly provides insights into host plant-specific transcriptional responses of a Solanaceae-specializing pest, (Hemiptera: Miridae).

The assembly of genomes from pooled samples of genetically heterogenous samples of conspecifics remains challenging. In this study, we show that high-quality genome assemblies can be produced from samples of multiple wild-caught individuals. We sequenced DNA extracted from a pooled sample of conspecific herbivorous insects (Hemiptera: Miridae: ) acquired from a greenhouse infestation in Tucson, Arizona (in the range of 30-100 individuals; 0.

Agricultural paraquat dichloride use and Parkinson's disease in California's Central Valley.

Background: Paraquat dichloride is currently among the most widely used commercial herbicides in the USA. In the present study, we provide epidemiological assessment of ambient paraquat exposure and Parkinson's disease (PD) risk in a population-based study of PD in agricultural regions of Central California.

Methods: Based on 829 PD patients and 824 community controls, we assessed associations between ambient paraquat dichloride exposure and PD.

A de novo long-read genome assembly of the sacred datura plant (Datura wrightii) reveals a role of tandem gene duplications in the evolution of herbivore-defense response.

The sacred datura plant (Solanales: Solanaceae: Datura wrightii) has been used to study plant-herbivore interactions for decades. The wealth of information that has resulted leads it to have potential as a model system for studying the ecological and evolutionary genomics of these interactions. We present a de novo Datura wrightii genome assembled using PacBio HiFi long-reads.

Untargeted serum metabolomics reveals novel metabolite associations and disruptions in amino acid and lipid metabolism in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Untargeted high-resolution metabolomic profiling provides simultaneous measurement of thousands of metabolites. Metabolic networks based on these data can help uncover disease-related perturbations across interconnected pathways.

Objective: Identify metabolic disturbances associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) in two population-based studies using untargeted metabolomics.

Traffic-related air pollution and Parkinson's disease in central California.

Background: Prior studies suggested that air pollution exposure may increase the risk of Parkinson's Disease (PD). We investigated the long-term impacts of traffic-related and multiple sources of particulate air pollution on PD in central California.

Methods: Our case-control analysis included 761 PD patients and 910 population controls.

Diet quality and Parkinson's disease: Potential strategies for non-motor symptom management.

Introduction: Parkinson's disease (PD) is now considered a systemic disease, and some phenotypes may be modifiable by diet. We will compare the diet quality and intake of specific nutrients and food groups of PD patients with household and community controls to examine how diet may influence PD clinical features.

Methods: We conducted a case-control study of 98 PD patients and 83 controls (household = 53; community = 30) in central California, assessing dietary habits over the past month and calculating the Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2015.

Mutualisms in a warming world.

Predicting the impacts of global warming on mutualisms poses a significant challenge given the functional and life history differences that usually exist among interacting species. However, this is a critical endeavour since virtually all species on Earth depend on other species for survival and/or reproduction. The field of thermal ecology can provide physiological and mechanistic insights, as well as quantitative tools, for addressing this challenge.

A pesticide and iPSC dopaminergic neuron screen identifies and classifies Parkinson-relevant pesticides.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a complex neurodegenerative disease with etiology rooted in genetic vulnerability and environmental factors. Here we combine quantitative epidemiologic study of pesticide exposures and PD with toxicity screening in dopaminergic neurons derived from PD patient induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to identify Parkinson's-relevant pesticides. Agricultural records enable investigation of 288 specific pesticides and PD risk in a comprehensive, pesticide-wide association study.

Time course of inducibility of indirect responses in an ant-defended plant.

Plants have evolved inducible defenses that allow them to minimize costs associated with the production of constitutive defenses when herbivores are not present. However, as a consequence, some plants might experience a period of vulnerability between damage and the onset of defense and/or between the cessation of damage and relaxation of defense. Few studies have examined the time course in the inducible protective mutualism between ants and extrafloral nectary (EFN)-bearing plants.

Ethnicity and Parkinson's Disease: Motor and Nonmotor Features and Disease Progression in Latino Patients Living in Rural California.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder among older adults worldwide. Currently, studies of PD progression rely primarily on White non-Latino (WNL) patients. Here, we compare clinical profiles and PD progression in Latino and WNL patients enrolled in a community-based study in rural Central California.

Proximity to residential and workplace pesticides application and the risk of progression of Parkinson's diseases in Central California.

Background: Pesticide exposure has consistently been associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) onset. Yet, fewer epidemiologic studies have examined whether pesticides influence PD motor and non-motor symptom progression.

Objectives: Using a geographic information system tool that integrates agricultural pesticide use reports and land use records to derive ambient exposures at residences and workplaces, we assessed associations between specific pesticides previously related to PD onset with PD symptom progression in two PD patient cohorts living in agricultural regions of California.