A RANGE-WIDE ECTOPARASITE SURVEY FOR ALLEGHENY WOODRATS (NEOTOMA MAGISTER).

Allegheny woodrats (Neotoma magister) are karst-specializing rodents that are rare or in conservation need in many states within their current range. Parasitism and habitat fragmentation have been suggested as primary reasons for declining populations. The presence, prevalence, and impact of ectoparasites, including fleas, ticks, and bots, is not fully understood rangewide.

Long-term spring through fall capture data of in the eastern USA before and after white-nose syndrome.

Emerging infectious diseases threaten wildlife populations. Without well monitored wildlife systems, it is challenging to determine accurate population and ecosystem losses following disease emergence. North American temperate bats present a unique opportunity for studying the broad impacts of wildlife disease emergence, as their federal monitoring programs were prioritized in the USA throughout the 20 century and they are currently threatened by the invasive fungal pathogen, (), which causes white-nose syndrome.

Fall migration, oceanic movement, and site residency patterns of eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis) on the mid-Atlantic Coast.

Along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States, eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis) are present during fall mating and migration, though little is currently known about most aspects of bat migration. To reveal migration patterns, and understand drivers of over-water flight, we captured and radio-tagged 115 eastern red bats using novel technology, and subsequently tracked and described their movements throughout the region. We compared over-water flight movements to randomly generated patterns using a use-availability framework, and subsequently used a generalized linear mixed effects model to assess the relationship of over-water flight to atmospheric variables.

Hypertension severity, apparent treatment resistant hypertension and hyperuricemia in the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study.

Background: Prior studies have identified an association between hypertension and hyperuricemia; however, there has been limited research on the association between hypertension severity and hyperuricemia.

Method: We studied 997 Black and white adults with serum urate data from the reasons for geographic and racial differences in stroke (REGARDS) study. Hypertension was defined as SBP ≥ 140 mmHg or DBP ≥ 90 mmHg or self-reported use of antihypertensive medication.

Association of Gout Polygenic Risk Score With Age at Disease Onset and Tophaceous Disease in European and Polynesian Men With Gout.

Objective: To determine whether a gout polygenic risk score (PRS) is associated with age at gout onset and tophaceous disease in European, East Polynesian, and West Polynesian men and women with gout.

Methods: A 19-variant gout PRS was produced in 7 European gout cohorts (N = 4,016), 2 East Polynesian gout cohorts (N = 682), and 1 West Polynesian gout cohort (N = 490). Sex-stratified regression models were used to estimate the relationship between the PRS and age at gout onset and tophaceous disease.

gene interacts with in the development of end-stage kidney disease: A genome-wide association study.

Background: Some but not all African-Americans (AA) who carry nephropathy risk variants () develop kidney failure (end-stage kidney disease, ESKD). To identify genetic modifiers, we assessed gene-gene interactions in a large prospective cohort of the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study.

Methods: Genotypes from 8,074 AA participants were obtained from Illumina Infinium Multi-Ethnic AMR/AFR Extended BeadChip.

Local genetic covariance between serum urate and kidney function estimated with Bayesian multitrait models.

Hyperuricemia (serum urate >6.8 mg/dl) is associated with several cardiometabolic and renal diseases, such as gout and chronic kidney disease. Previous studies have examined the shared genetic basis of chronic kidney disease and hyperuricemia in humans either using single-variant tests or estimating whole-genome genetic correlations between the traits.

APOL1 Risk Variants Associated with Serum Albumin in a Population-Based Cohort Study.

Introduction: The association of apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1) nephropathy risk variants (APOL1), unique to African-ancestry (African-American [AA]) populations, with systemic inflammation, a contributor to chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is ill-defined. This study aimed to describe the role of inflammatory markers in the relationship between APOL1 and incident kidney outcomes using a prospective cohort study.

Methods: APOL1 high-risk status under a recessive genetic model was studied in 10,605 AA adults aged ≥45 years from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study.

Monitoring and Modeling Tree Bat (Genera: , ) Occurrence Using Acoustics on Structures off the Mid-Atlantic Coast-Implications for Offshore Wind Development.

In eastern North America, "tree bats" (Genera: and ) are highly susceptible to collisions with wind energy turbines and are known to fly offshore during migration. This raises concern about ongoing expansion of offshore wind-energy development off the Atlantic Coast. Season, atmospheric conditions, and site-level characteristics such as local habitat (e.

Higher Serum Urate Levels Are Associated With an Increased Risk for Sudden Cardiac Death.

Objective: To determine the association of serum urate (SU) levels with sudden cardiac death and incident coronary heart disease (CHD), separately, among adults without a history of CHD.

Methods: We conducted a case-cohort analysis of Black and White participants aged ≥ 45 years enrolled in the REason for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study without a history of CHD at baseline between 2003 and 2007. Participants were followed for sudden cardiac death or incident CHD (i.

The scope and severity of white-nose syndrome on hibernating bats in North America.

Assessing the scope and severity of threats is necessary for evaluating impacts on populations to inform conservation planning. Quantitative threat assessment often requires monitoring programs that provide reliable data over relevant spatial and temporal scales, yet such programs can be difficult to justify until there is an apparent stressor. Leveraging efforts of wildlife management agencies to record winter counts of hibernating bats, we collated data for 5 species from over 200 sites across 27 U.

Decreased Levels of STAT1 and Interferon-γ-Induced STAT1 Phosphorylation in Rheumatoid Arthritis CD4 and CD8 T Cells.

Objective: We investigated whether a previously reported association of IFNGR expression with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its radiographic severity reflects differences in proximal interferon-γ (IFN-γ) signaling in T cells from patients with RA compared with healthy controls (HC).

Methods: Using phosphoflow cytometry, we compared IFN-γ-stimulated signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) activation in CD4 and CD8 T-cell populations from patients with RA and HC.

Results: Compared with controls, patients with RA had a higher proportion of CD4 T cells, associated with expansion of the CD4 effector memory subset.

The Shared Genetic Basis of Hyperuricemia, Gout, and Kidney Function.

Increased urate levels and gout correlate with chronic kidney disease with consensus that the primary driver of this relationship is reduced kidney function. However, a comparison of results of genome-wide association studies in serum urate levels and kidney function indicate a more complex situation. Approximately 20% of loci are shared-comprised of those in which the urate-raising allele associates with reduced kidney function, the vice versa situation, and those in which the signals/alleles are different.

The comparative effect of exposure to various risk factors on the risk of hyperuricaemia: diet has a weak causal effect.

Background: Prevention of hyperuricaemia (HU) is critical to the prevention of gout. Understanding causal relationships and relative contributions of various risk factors to hyperuricemia is therefore important in the prevention of gout. Here, we use attributable fraction to compare the relative contribution of genetic, dietary, urate-lowering therapy (ULT) and other exposures to HU.

Gout is associated with an increased risk for incident heart failure among older adults: the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) cohort study.

Background: Gout has been associated with a higher risk for coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke in some prior studies. Few studies have assessed the association of gout with incident heart failure (HF).

Methods: We analyzed data from 5713 black and white men and women ≥ 65.

Variable and sexually conflicting selection on Silene stellata floral traits by a putative moth pollinator selective agent.

Conflicting selection is an important evolutionary mechanism because it impedes directional evolution and helps to maintain phenotypic variation. It can arise when mutualistic and antagonistic selective agents exert opposing selection on the same trait and when distinct phenotypic optima are favored by different fitness components. In this study, we test for conflicting selection through different sexual functions of the hermaphroditic plant, Silene stellata during its early and late flowering season.

Comorbidities in gout and hyperuricemia: causality or epiphenomena?

Purpose Of Review: To review advances in the understanding of potentially causal relationships between gout, hyperuricemia and comorbidities.

Recent Findings: Observational studies reveal 4-5 comorbidity clusters in gout patients. There tend to be gout alone, gout with chronic kidney disease and gout with other metabolic comorbidities.

Severity of Hypertension Mediates the Association of Hyperuricemia With Stroke in the REGARDS Case Cohort Study.

Previous studies do not widely support hyperuricemia as a risk factor for stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. We assessed the relationship between hyperuricemia and ischemic stroke (≈900 cases) using a large data set from the REGARDS study (Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke). We employed a case-cohort design (incident stroke cases and randomly selected cohort participants) and weighted Cox-proportional hazard models to estimate the association of serum urate level ≥6.

Genetic influences on susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis in African-Americans.

Large meta-analyses of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) susceptibility in European (EUR) and East Asian (EAS) populations have identified >100 RA risk loci, but genome-wide studies of RA in African-Americans (AAs) are absent. To address this disparity, we performed an analysis of 916 AA RA patients and 1392 controls and aggregated our data with genotyping data from >100 000 EUR and Asian RA patients and controls. We identified two novel risk loci that appear to be specific to AAs: GPC5 and RBFOX1 (PAA < 5 × 10-9).

HLA-DRB1 Amino Acid Positions and Residues Associated with Antibody-positive Rheumatoid Arthritis in Black South Africans.

Objective: To investigate the association of specific amino acid positions, residues, and haplotypes of HLA-DRB1 in black South Africans with autoantibody-positive rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: High-resolution genotyping was performed in 266 black South Africans with autoantibody-positive RA and 362 ethnically and geographically matched controls. The alleles were converted to specific amino acid residues at polymorphic sites for downstream analyses.