Publications by authors named "Landis J"

Objective: To assess differences in clinical presentation and illness impact in men and women presenting with urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome (UCPPS) and between men diagnosed with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) or chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS).

Methods: 356 men and 605 women from six sites across the United States were assessed using a comprehensive set of demographic, symptom, and illness impact measures. Multivariable regression analyses examined differences between men and women and between men previously diagnosed with CP/CPPS or IC/BPS.

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"When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it." is a famous quote attributed to Lord Kelvin. This sentiment puts viral load measurements at the center of virology.

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Premise: There is a general lack of consensus on the best practices for filtering of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and whether it is better to use SNPs or include flanking regions (full "locus") in phylogenomic analyses and subsequent comparative methods.

Methods: Using genotyping-by-sequencing data from 22 species, we assessed the effects of SNP vs. locus usage and SNP retention stringency.

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Eperua is a genus of Neotropical trees that forms a major component of tropical lowland forests in Amazonia, especially in the Guiana Shield and on white-sand forests. One species occurs in the Cerrado-Caatinga ecotone, and the genus also inhabits riverine and terra firme forests. Species in Eperua exhibit one of two drastically different floral architectures and inflorescence types, each associated with distinct pollinators.

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Pain clinical trials are notoriously complex and often inefficient in demonstrating efficacy, even for known efficacious treatments. A major issue is the difficulty in the a priori identification of specific phenotypes to include in the study population. Recent work has identified the extent of widespread pain as an important determinant of the likelihood of response to therapy, but it has not been tested in clinical trials for the treatment of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS).

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Soils accumulate anthropogenic mercury (Hg) from atmospheric deposition to terrestrial ecosystems. However, possible reemission of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) back to the atmosphere as well as downward migration of Hg with soil leachate influence soil sequestration of Hg in ways not sufficiently understood in global biogeochemical models. Here, we apply fallout radionuclide (FRN) chronometry to understand soil Hg dynamics by revisiting the METAALICUS experiments 20 years after enriched isotope tracers (Hg, Hg, Hg, and Hg) were applied to two boreal watersheds in northwestern Ontario, Canada.

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Understanding the maintenance and shift in reproductive strategies is a fundamental question in evolutionary research. Although many efforts have been made to compare different reproductive strategies, the association between reproductive strategies and lineage divergence is largely unknown. To explore the impact of different reproductive strategies on lineage divergence, we investigated the evolution of clonality in Saxifraga sect.

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Article Synopsis
  • Traditional methods for estimating ploidy levels are complex, making DNA sequence data an ideal alternative, but existing statistical approaches have limitations.
  • nQuack is introduced as an open-source R package that enhances ploidy prediction by using better model selection and appropriate statistical methods.
  • While nQuack demonstrates improved accuracy over other methods, caution is advised when using site-based heterozygosity alone for inferring ploidy.
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Unlabelled: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic caused the biggest public health crises in recent history. Many expect future coronavirus introductions into the human population. Hence, it is essential to understand the basic biology of these viruses.

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Beaver dams trap sediment, promote channel-floodplain connectivity, modify biogeochemical cycling and organic carbon (OC) storage, and influence geomorphic form. Beaver-related sediment accumulation has been investigated at longer timescales (e.g.

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Biogeochemical processes of atmospherically deposited cadmium (Cd) in soils and accumulation in rice were investigated through a three-year fully factorial atmospheric exposure experiment using Cd stable isotopes and diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT). Our results showed that approximately 37-79% of Cd in rice grains was contributed by atmospheric deposition through root and foliar uptake during the rice growing season, while the deposited Cd accounted for a small proportion of the soil pools. The highly bioavailable metals in atmospheric deposition significantly increased the soil DGT-measured bioavailable fraction; yet, this fraction rapidly aged following a first-order exponential decay model, leading to similar percentages of the bioavailable fraction in soils exposed for 1-3 years.

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Direct observation is central to our understanding of adaptation, but evolution is rarely documented in a large, multicellular organism for more than a few generations. In this study, we observed evolution across a century-scale competition experiment, barley composite cross II (CCII). CCII was founded in 1929 in Davis, California, with thousands of genotypes, but we found that natural selection has massively reduced genetic diversity, leading to a single lineage constituting most of the population by generation 50.

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Article Synopsis
  • Soils act as major storage for mercury, a harmful pollutant accumulating from human activities and eventually deposited on land.
  • Using fallout radionuclide chronometry, researchers measured how quickly mercury builds up in various soil types and found that most soils effectively retain it.
  • The study suggests that only certain coniferous soils may release significant amounts of mercury back into the atmosphere, challenging existing models that predict high re-emission rates from soil.
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The mountains of Southwest China comprise a significant large mountain range and biodiversity hotspot imperiled by global climate change. The high species diversity in this mountain system has long been attributed to a complex set of factors, and recent large-scale macroevolutionary investigations have placed a broad timeline on plant diversification that stretches from 10 million years ago (Mya) to the present. Despite our increasing understanding of the temporal mode of speciation, finer-scale population-level investigations are lacking to better refine these temporal trends and illuminate the abiotic and biotic influences of cryptic speciation.

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We used nuclear genomic data and statistical models to evaluate the ecological and evolutionary processes shaping spatial variation in species richness in (Liliaceae, 74 spp.). occupies diverse habitats in the western United States and Mexico and has a center of diversity in the California Floristic Province, marked by multiple orogenies, winter rainfall, and highly divergent climates and substrates (including serpentine).

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Nanoparticle-enhanced laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and Tag-LIBS are two approaches that have been shown to significantly enhance LIBS sensitivity and specificity. In an effort to combine both of these approaches, we have initiated a study on the effect of the presence of Silver nanoparticle concentrations on Europium (Eu) and Ytterbium (Yb) LIBS signals. These elements are part of metal-loaded polymers conjugated to antibodies.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers utilized a body map assessment with 568 participants over four weeks, discovering that a single assessment can effectively indicate widespread pain levels across multiple body regions.
  • * The findings suggest that a simple 13-region body map can reliably assess the presence of widespread pain in UCPPS patients without needing to measure pain severity, making it practical for clinical use.
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Background: Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) is a promising biological target for rheumatoid arthritis treatment. This study examined safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics of BMS-986142, an oral, reversible BTK inhibitor. The aim was to compare the efficacy of BMS-986142 with placebo on a background of methotrexate in patients with moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis and inadequate response to methotrexate.

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Research on the correlation between metal levels in blood and Covid-19 infection has been conducted primarily by assessing how each individual blood metal is linked to different aspects of the disease using samples from donors with various levels of severity to Covid-19 infection. Using logistics regression on LIBS spectra of plasma samples collected pre- and post- Covid-19 pandemic from donors known to have developed various levels of antibodies to the SARS-Cov-2 virus, we show that relying on the levels of Na, K, and Mg together is more efficient at differentiating the two types of plasma samples than any single blood alone.

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Background And Aims: Allopolyploidy is an important driver of diversification and a key contributor to genetic novelty across the tree of life. However, many studies have questioned the importance of extant polyploid lineages, suggesting that the vast majority may constitute evolutionary 'dead ends'. This has important implications for conservation efforts where polyploids and diploid progenitors often compete for wildlife management resources.

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We pay tribute to Marshall Joffe, PhD, and his substantial contributions to the field of causal inference with focus in biostatistics and epidemiology. By compiling narratives written by us, his colleagues, we not only present highlights of Marshall's research and their significance for causal inference but also offer a portrayal of Marshall's personal accomplishments and character. Our discussion of Marshall's research notably includes (but is not limited to) handling of posttreatment variables such as noncompliance, employing G-estimation for treatment effects on failure-time outcomes, estimating effects of time-varying exposures subject to time-dependent confounding, and developing a causal framework for case-control studies.

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A full understanding of adaptive genetic variation at the genomic level will help address questions of how organisms adapt to diverse climates. is a shade-tolerant species, widely distributed in the southern tropical region of China, occurring in spatially heterogeneous environments. In the present study we combined population genomic, epigenomic, and environmental association analyses to infer population genetic structure and positive selection across a climatic gradient, and to assess genomic offset to climatic change for .

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The Th:Ra ratios of foliage and organic soil horizons evolve with time following a predictable radioactive decay law and thus provide a new chronometer for absolute age-dating of plant and soil organic matter. Preferential uptake of Th ( = 1.9 years) and Ra ( = 5.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates methods for generating long-read Nanopore sequencing in Liliales, revealing how changes to standard protocols affect read length and overall output.
  • Four Liliaceae species were sequenced using various modifications in DNA extraction and cleanup processes, such as different grinding techniques and cleanup methods.
  • Results indicate a trade-off between maximizing read length and overall output, highlighting that while certain modifications can enhance read size, they may reduce the total number of reads produced, impacting genome assembly success.
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