One hundred and six years of change in a Sonoran Desert plant community: Impact of climate anomalies and trends in species sensitivities.

A major restriction in predicting plant community response to future climate change is a lack of long-term data needed to properly assess species and community response to climate and identify a baseline to detect climate anomalies. Here, we use a 106-year dataset on a Sonoran Desert plant community to test the role of extreme temperature and precipitation anomalies on community dynamics at the decadal scale and over time. Additionally, we tested the climate sensitivity of 39 desert plant species and whether sensitivity was associated with growth form, longevity, geographic range, or local dominance. We found that desert plant communities had shifted directionally over the 106 years, but the climate had little influence on this directional change primarily due to nonlinear shifts in precipitation anomalies. Decadal-scale climate had the largest impact on species richness, species relative density, and total plant cover, explaining up to 26%, 45%, and 55% of the variance in each, respectively. Drought and the interaction between the frequency of freeze events and above-average summer precipitation were among the most influential climate factors. Increased drought frequency and wetter periods with frequent freeze events led to larger reductions in total plant cover, species richness, and the relative densities of dominant subshrubs Ambrosia deltoidea and Encelia farinosa. More than 80% of the tested species were sensitive to climate, but sensitivity was not associated with a species' local dominance, longevity, geographic range, or growth form. Some species appear to exhibit demographic buffering, where when they have a higher sensitivity to drought, they also tend to have a higher sensitivity to favorable (i.e., wetter and hotter) conditions. Overall, our results suggest that, while decadal-scale climate variation substantially impacts these desert plant communities, directional change in temperature over the last century has had little impact due to the relative importance of precipitation and drought. With projections of increased drought in this region, we may see reductions in total vegetation cover and species richness due to the loss of species, possibly through a breakdown in their ability to demographically buffer climatic variation, potentially changing community dynamics through a change in facilitative and competitive processes.

Influence of CUREs on STEM retention depends on demographic identities.

Research has shown that undergraduate research experiences can have substantive effects on retaining students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). However, it is impossible to provide individual research experiences for every undergraduate student, especially at large universities. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have become a common approach to introduce large numbers of students to research. We investigated whether a one-semester CURE that replaced a traditional introductory biology laboratory course could increase retention in STEM as well as intention to remain in STEM, if the results differed according to demography, and investigated the possible motivational factors that might mediate such an effect. Under the umbrella of the Authentic Research Connection (ARC) program, we used institutional and survey data from nine semesters and compared ARC participants to non-participants, who applied to ARC but either were not randomly selected or were selected but chose not to enroll in an ARC section. We found that ARC had significant effects on demographic groups historically less likely to be retained in STEM: ARC participation resulted in narrowing the gaps in graduation rates in STEM (first vs continuing-generation college students) and in intention to major in STEM [females vs males, Persons Excluded because of Ethnicity or Race (PEERs) vs non-PEERs]. These disproportionate boosts in intending STEM majors among ARC students coincide with their reporting a greater sense of student cohesiveness, retaining more interest in biology, and commenting more frequently that the course provided a useful/valuable learning experience. Our results indicate that CUREs can be a valuable tool for eliminating inequities in STEM participation, and we make several recommendations for further research.

Prescription Opioid Misuse and Suicidal Behaviors Among US Veterans: A Cross-Sectional Study from the 2015-2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Suicide continues to be a serious public health issue for the US veteran population as its prevalence has skyrocketed over the last 15 years. This cross-sectional study estimates the prevalence of suicidal behaviors and prescription opioid misuse among veterans and identifies associations between suicidal behaviors and misuse of prescription opioids using data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The findings show that approximately 3.7% of all veterans in this sample experienced suicidal behaviors, while nearly 3.0% reported misusing prescription opioids. Veterans who misused prescription opioids had a much higher prevalence of suicidal behaviors (16.3%) than veterans who used prescription opioids without misuse (4.8%) and those who did not use prescription opioids at all (2.5%). Opioid misuse is strongly associated with suicidal behaviors among veterans. Immediate substance use and mental health screenings, upon first contact with a healthcare system, are imperative in preventing and reducing suicide rates within this vulnerable population.

The role of plant functional groups mediating climate impacts on carbon and biodiversity of alpine grasslands.

Plant removal experiments allow assessment of the role of biotic interactions among species or functional groups in community assembly and ecosystem functioning. When replicated along climate gradients, they can assess changes in interactions among species or functional groups with climate. Across twelve sites in the Vestland Climate Grid (VCG) spanning 4 °C in growing season temperature and 2000 mm in mean annual precipitation across boreal and alpine regions of Western Norway, we conducted a fully factorial plant functional group removal experiment (graminoids, forbs, bryophytes). Over six years, we recorded biomass removed, soil microclimate, plant community composition and structure, seedling recruitment, ecosystem carbon fluxes, and reflectance in 384 experimental and control plots. The dataset consists of 5,412 biomass records, 360 species-level biomass records, 1,084,970 soil temperature records, 4,771 soil moisture records, 17,181 plant records covering 206 taxa, 16,656 seedling records, 3,696 ecosystem carbon flux measurements, and 1,244 reflectance measurements. The data can be combined with longer-term climate data and plant population, community, ecosystem, and functional trait data collected within the VCG.

Plant effects on and response to soil microbes in native and non-native Phragmites australis.

Plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) mediate plant community dynamics and may plausibly facilitate plant invasions. Microbially mediated PSFs are defined by plant effects on soil microbes and subsequent changes in plant performance (responses), both positive and negative. For microbial interactions to benefit invasive plants disproportionately, native and invasive plants must either (1) have different effects on and responses to soil microbial communities or (2) only respond differently to similar microbial communities. In other words, invasive plants do not need to cultivate different microbial communities than natives if they respond differently to them. However, effects and responses are not often explored separately, making it difficult to determine the underlying causes of performance differences. We performed a reciprocal-transplant PSF experiment with multiple microbial inhibition treatments to determine how native and non-native lineages of Phragmites australis affect and respond to soil bacteria, fungi, and oomycetes. Non-native Phragmites is a large, fast-growing, cosmopolitan invasive plant, whereas the North American native variety is comparatively smaller, slower growing, and typically considered a desirable wetland plant. We identified the effects of each plant lineage on soil microbes using DNA meta-barcoding and linked plant responses to microbial communities. Both Phragmites lineages displayed equally weak, insignificant PSFs. We found evidence of slight differential effects on microbial community composition, but no significant differential plant responses. Soils conditioned by each lineage differed only slightly in bacterial community composition, but not in fungal composition. Additionally, native and non-native Phragmites lineages did not significantly differ in their response to similar soil microbial communities. Neither lineage appreciably differed when plant biomass was compared between those grown in sterile and live soils. Targeted microbial inhibitor treatments revealed both lineages were negatively impacted by soil bacteria, but the negative response was stronger in non-native Phragmites. These observations were opposite of expectations from invasion theory and imply that the success of non-native Phragmites, relative to the native lineage, does not result from its interaction with soil microorganisms. More broadly, quantifying plant effects on, and responses to soil microbes separately provides detailed and nuanced insight into plant-microbial interactions and their role in invasions, which could inform management outcomes for invasive plants.

Substance Use Relapse Among Veterans at Termination of Treatment for Substance Use Disorders.

INTRODUCTION: Military veterans continue to struggle with addiction even after receiving treatment for substance use disorders (SUDs). Identifying factors that may influence SUD relapse upon receiving treatment in veteran populations is crucial for intervention and prevention efforts. The purpose of this study was to examine risk factors that contribute to SUD relapse upon treatment completion in a sample of U.S. veterans using logistic regression and classification tree analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data from the 2017 Treatment Episode Data Set-Discharge (TEDS-D) included 40,909 veteran episode observations. Descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression analysis were conducted to determine factors associated with SUD relapse after treatment discharge. Classification trees were constructed to identify high-risk subgroups for substance use after discharge from treatment for SUDs. RESULTS: Approximately 94% of the veterans relapsed upon discharge from outpatient or residential SUD treatment. Veterans aged 18-34 years old were significantly less likely to relapse than the 35-64 age group (odds ratio [OR] 0.73, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.66, 0.82), while males were more likely than females to relapse (OR 1.55, 95% CI: 1.34, 1.79). Unemployed veterans (OR 1.92, 95% CI: 1.67, 2.22) or veterans not in the labor force (OR 1.29, 95% CI: 1.13, 1.47) were more likely to relapse than employed veterans. Homeless vs. independently housed veterans had 3.26 (95% CI: 2.55, 4.17) higher odds of relapse after treatment. Veterans with one arrest vs. none were more likely to relapse (OR 1.52, 95% CI: 1.19, 1.95). Treatment completion was critical to maintain sobriety, as every other type of discharge led to more than double the odds of relapse. Veterans who received care at 24-hour detox facilities were 1.49 (95% CI: 1.23, 1.80) times more likely to relapse than those at rehabilitative/residential treatment facilities. Classification tree analysis indicated that homelessness upon discharge was the most important predictor in SUD relapse among veterans. CONCLUSION: Aside from numerous challenges that veterans face after leaving military service, SUD relapse is intensified by risk factors such as homelessness, unemployment, and insufficient SUD treatment. As treatment and preventive care for SUD relapse is an active field of study, further research on SUD relapse among homeless veterans is necessary to better understand the epidemiology of substance addiction among this vulnerable population. The findings of this study can inform healthcare policy and practices targeting veteran-tailored treatment programs to improve SUD treatment completion and lower substance use after treatment.

Macroecological context predicts species' responses to climate warming.

Context-dependencies in species' responses to the same climate change frustrate attempts to generalize and make predictions based on experimental and observational approaches in biodiversity science. Here, we propose predictability may be enhanced by explicitly incorporating macroecological context into analyses of species' responses to climate manipulations. We combined vascular plant species' responses to an 8-year, 12-site turf transplant climate change experiment set in southwestern Norway with climate niche data from the observed 151 species. We used the difference between a species' mean climate across their range and climate conditions at the transplant site ("climate differences") to predict colonization probability, extinction probability, and change in abundance of a species at a site. In analyses across species that ignore species-specific patterns, colonization success increased as species' distribution optima were increasingly warmer than the experimental target site. Extinction probability increased as species' distribution optima were increasingly colder than the target site. These patterns were reflected in change in abundance analyses. We found weak responses to increased precipitation in these oceanic climates. Climate differences were better predictors of species' responses to climate manipulations than range size. Interestingly, similar patterns were found when analyses focused on variation in species-specific responses across sites. These results provide an experimental underpinning to observational studies that report thermophilization of communities and suggest that space-for-time substitutions may be valid for predicting species' responses to climate warming, given other conditions are accounted for (e.g., soil nutrients). Finally, we suggest that this method of putting climate change experiments into macroecological context has the potential to generalize and predict species' responses to climate manipulations globally.

Differences in rhizosphere microbial communities between native and non-native Phragmites australis may depend on stand density.

Microorganisms surrounding plant roots may benefit invasive species through enhanced mutualism or decreased antagonism, when compared to surrounding native species. We surveyed the rhizosphere soil microbiome of a prominent invasive plant, Phragmites australis, and its co-occurring native subspecies for evidence of microbial drivers of invasiveness. If the rhizosphere microbial community is important in driving plant invasions, we hypothesized that non-native Phragmites would cultivate a different microbiome from native Phragmites, containing fewer pathogens, more mutualists, or both. We surveyed populations of native and non-native Phragmites across Michigan and Ohio USA, and we described rhizosphere microbial communities using culture-independent next-generation sequencing. We found little evidence that native and non-native Phragmites cultivate distinct bacterial, fungal, or oomycete rhizosphere communities. Microbial community differences in our Michigan survey were not associated with plant lineage but were mainly driven by environmental factors, such as soil saturation and nutrient concentrations. Intensive sampling along transects consisting of dense monocultures of each lineage and mixed zones revealed bacterial community differences between lineages in dense monoculture, but not in mixture. We found no evidence of functional differences in the microbial communities surrounding each lineage. We extrapolate that the invasiveness of non-native Phragmites, when compared to its native congener, does not result from the differential cultivation of beneficial or antagonistic rhizosphere microorganisms.

Biotic rescaling reveals importance of species interactions for variation in biodiversity responses to climate change.

Generality in understanding biodiversity responses to climate change has been hampered by substantial variation in the rates and even directions of response to a given change in climate. We propose that such context dependencies can be clarified by rescaling climate gradients in terms of the underlying biological processes, with biotic interactions as a particularly important process. We tested this rescaling approach in a replicated field experiment where entire montane grassland communities were transplanted in the direction of expected temperature and/or precipitation change. In line with earlier work, we found considerable variation across sites in community dynamics in response to climate change. However, these complex context dependencies could be substantially reduced or eliminated by rescaling climate drivers in terms of proxies of plant-plant interactions. Specifically, bryophytes limited colonization by new species into local communities, whereas the cover of those colonists, along with bryophytes, were the primary drivers of local extinctions. These specific interactions are relatively understudied, suggesting important directions for future work in similar systems. More generally, the success of our approach in explaining and simplifying landscape-level variation in climate change responses suggests that developing and testing proxies for relevant underlying processes could be a fruitful direction for building more general models of biodiversity response to climate change.

Quantifying the roles of seed dispersal, filtering, and climate on regional patterns of grassland biodiversity.

Seed dispersal and local filtering interactively govern community membership and scale up to shape regional vegetation patterns, but data revealing how and why particular species are excluded from specific communities in nature are scarce. This lack of data is a missing link between our theoretical understanding of how diversity patterns can form and how they actually form in nature, and it hampers our ability to predict community responses to climate change. Here, we compare seed, seedling, and adult plant communities at 12 grassland sites with different climates in southern Norway to examine how community membership is interactively shaped by seed dispersal and local filtering, and how this process varies with climate across sites. To do this, we divide species at each site into two groups: locally transient species, which occur as seeds but are rare or absent as adults (i.e., they arrive but are filtered out), and locally persistent species, which occur consistently as adults in annual vegetation surveys. We then ask how and why locally transient species are disfavored during community assembly. Our results led to four main conclusions: (1) the total numbers of seeds and species that arrived, but failed to establish locally persistent populations, rose with temperature, indicating an increase in the realized effects of local filtering on community assembly, as well as an increase in the number of species poised to rapidly colonize those warmer sites if local conditions change in their favor, (2) locally transient species were selectively filtered out during seedling emergence, but not during seedling establishment, (3) selective filtering was partly driven by species climate preferences, exemplified by the poor performance of seeds dispersing outside of their realized climate niches into colder and drier foreign climates, and (4) locally transient species had traits that likely made them better dispersers (i.e., smaller seeds) but poorer competitors for light (i.e., shorter statures and less persistent clonal connections) than locally persistent species, potentially explaining why these species arrived to new sites but did not establish locally persistent adult populations. Our study is the first to combine seed, seedling, and adult survey data across sites to rigorously characterize how seed dispersal and local filtering govern community membership and shape climate-associated vegetation patterns.

Plant Size and Competitive Dynamics along Nutrient Gradients.

Resource competition theory in plants has focused largely on resource acquisition traits that are independent of size, such as traits of individual leaves or roots or proportional allocation to different functions. However, plants also differ in maximum potential size, which could outweigh differences in module-level traits. We used a community ecosystem model called mondrian to investigate whether larger size inevitably increases competitive ability and how size interacts with nitrogen supply. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that bigger is better, we found that invader success and competitive ability are unimodal functions of maximum potential size, such that plants that are too large (or too small) are disproportionately suppressed by competition. Optimal size increases with nitrogen supply, even when plants compete for nitrogen only in a size-symmetric manner, although adding size-asymmetric competition for light does substantially increase the advantage of larger size at high nitrogen. These complex interactions of plant size and nitrogen supply lead to strong nonlinearities such that small differences in nitrogen can result in large differences in plant invasion success and the influence of competition along productivity gradients.

Utility of High Throughput Screening Techniques to Predict Stability of Monoclonal Antibody Formulations During Early Stage Development.

Selecting optimal formulation conditions for monoclonal antibodies for first time in human clinical trials is challenging due to short timelines and reliance on predictive assays to ensure product quality and adequate long-term stability. Accelerated stability studies are considered to be the gold standard for excipient screening, but they are relatively low throughput and time consuming. High throughput screening (HTS) techniques allow for large amounts of data to be collected quickly and easily, and can be used to screen solution conditions for early formulation development. The utility of using accelerated stability compared to HTS techniques (differential scanning light scattering and differential scanning fluorescence) for early formulation screening was evaluated along with the impact of excipients of various types on aggregation of monoclonal antibodies from multiple IgG subtypes. The excipient rank order using quantitative HTS measures was found to correlate with accelerated stability aggregation rate ranking for only 33% (by differential scanning fluorescence) to 42% (by differential scanning light scattering) of the antibodies tested, due to the high intrinsic stability and minimal impact of excipients on aggregation rates and HTS data. Also explored was a case study of employing a platform formulation instead of broader formulation screening for early formulation development.

Can trait patterns along gradients predict plant community responses to climate change?

Plant functional traits vary consistently along climate gradients and are therefore potential predictors of plant community response to climate change. We test this space-for-time assumption by combining a spatial gradient study with whole-community turf transplantation along temperature and precipitation gradients in a network of 12 grassland sites in Southern Norway. Using data on eight traits for 169 species and annual vegetation censuses of 235 turfs over 5 yr, we quantify trait-based responses to climate change by comparing observed community dynamics in transplanted turfs to field-parameterized null model simulations. Three traits related to species architecture (maximum height, number of dormant meristems, and ramet-ramet connection persistence) varied consistently along spatial temperature gradients and also correlated to changes in species abundances in turfs transplanted to warmer climates. Two traits associated with resource acquisition strategy (SLA, leaf area) increased along spatial temperature gradients but did not correlate to changes in species abundances following warming. No traits correlated consistently with precipitation. Our study supports the hypothesis that spatial associations between plant traits and broad-scale climate variables can be predictive of community response to climate change, but it also suggests that not all traits with clear patterns along climate gradients will necessarily influence community response to an equal degree.

The effects of family, dentition, and dental caries on the salivary microbiome.

PURPOSE: Family members share genes, environment, and microbial communities. If there is a strong effect of family on the salivary microbiota, controlling for family will enhance identification of microbial communities associated with cariogenesis. The present study was designed to assess the similarity of the salivary microbiome among families and the association between the salivary microbiome and dental decay taking age into account. METHODS: We selected families (n = 49) participating in the cohort study of oral health conducted by the Center for Oral Health Research in Appalachia. All families where at least two children and at least one parent gave a saliva sample (n = 173) were included. Saliva samples were collected at least 1 hour after eating or drinking. After DNA extraction, the V6 region of the 16s rRNA gene was sequenced. Paired ends were joined using fast length adjustment of short reads, sequences were demultiplexed and filtered using Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology 1.9.0, and taxonomy was assigned using the Ribosomal Database Project (RDP; http://rdp.cme.msu.edu/) classifier and sequences aligned with the CORE database using PyNAST. RESULTS: The salivary microbiome changed with age and was more similar within families than between families. There was no difference in the diversity of the salivary microbiome by dental decay. After taking into account age and family, signals of dental decay were weak in the saliva, whether examined at the phyla, genus, or operational taxonomic level. CONCLUSIONS: The salivary microbiome does not appear to be a good indicator of dental caries.

An Initial Study Using Healing Touch for Women Undergoing a Breast Biopsy.

AIM: To determine if a noninvasive complementary therapy, Healing Touch, would benefit women undergoing diagnostic procedures for the determination of breast cancer. Women often experience high levels of fear and anxiety during this diagnostic period. STUDY DESIGN: A randomized controlled pilot study. METHOD: An out-patient clinic specializing in breast care management was used. Seventy-three women age 18 to 85 years old participated, with 31 in the control group of standard care and 42 in the intervention group receiving Healing Touch, a noninvasive energy therapy. A specific technique, magnetic clearing, was provided by a practitioner for 15 minutes prior to the biopsy procedure. Both the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Coping Resources Inventory were used preprocedurally and the following day to assess changes. RESULTS: A mixed analysis of variance indicated that State Anxiety for the Healing Touch group showed a statistically significant reduction of anxiety that was sustained into the following day, F(2, 142) = 10.94, p < .001. For Trait Anxiety, there was a significant change pre-and postintervention to the day after, F(2, 142) = 5.15, p < .007. The Coping Resources Inventory had significant changes in two subcategories, Emotional, F(2, 142) = 6.10, p = .003, and the Spiritual/Philosophical, F(2, 142) = 6.10, p < .001, in the Healing Touch group. CONCLUSION: Healing Touch may have benefit in reducing anxiety from diagnostic breast procedures.

The Importance of Biotic vs. Abiotic Drivers of Local Plant Community Composition Along Regional Bioclimatic Gradients.

We assessed if the relative importance of biotic and abiotic factors for plant community composition differs along environmental gradients and between functional groups, and asked which implications this may have in a warmer and wetter future. The study location is a unique grid of sites spanning regional-scale temperature and precipitation gradients in boreal and alpine grasslands in southern Norway. Within each site we sampled vegetation and associated biotic and abiotic factors, and combined broad- and fine-scale ordination analyses to assess the relative explanatory power of these factors for species composition. Although the community responses to biotic and abiotic factors did not consistently change as predicted along the bioclimatic gradients, abiotic variables tended to explain a larger proportion of the variation in species composition towards colder sites, whereas biotic variables explained more towards warmer sites, supporting the stress gradient hypothesis. Significant interactions with precipitation suggest that biotic variables explained more towards wetter climates in the sub alpine and boreal sites, but more towards drier climates in the colder alpine. Thus, we predict that biotic interactions may become more important in alpine and boreal grasslands in a warmer future, although more winter precipitation may counteract this trend in oceanic alpine climates. Our results show that both local and regional scales analyses are needed to disentangle the local vegetation-environment relationships and their regional-scale drivers, and biotic interactions and precipitation must be included when predicting future species assemblages.

US of gastrointestinal tract disease.

The potential use of ultrasonography (US) in evaluating gut disease has been underappreciated in most diagnostic imaging departments in North America. The impression that US has a questionable role in bowel assessment is related to the operator-dependent nature of the modality, the technical challenges of performing bowel US examinations, and the lack of familiarity of radiologists and technologists with the US appearances of normal and abnormal bowel. However, with development of technical experience by the sonographer and integration of a clinical focus at patient evaluation, US can become a powerful tool for bowel assessment. Unlike computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, it provides a widely available, noninvasive, inexpensive method for evaluating the gut without the use of ionizing radiation. These factors are of particular importance in young patients and those who require recurrent follow-up imaging. Because US is performed with real-time imaging, the modality also allows the sonographer to view and assess the motility properties of the bowel, a feature that has not been previously used to its full potential. Color Doppler US can yield useful information about mural vascularity in bowel disease when used in conjunction with gray-scale findings and clinical symptoms. Radiologists should be familiar with the static and dynamic US appearances of the normal and abnormal bowel, recognize features of various pathologic conditions, and understand potential errors at imaging interpretation. Online supplemental material is available for this article.

Plasmonic measurements of monoclonal antibody self-association using self-interaction nanoparticle spectroscopy.

One of the most significant challenges in developing therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) is their unpredictable solubilities and viscosities at the high concentrations required for subcutaneous delivery. This challenge has motivated the development of screening assays that rapidly identify mAb variants with minimal self-association propensities and/or formulation conditions that suppress mAb self-association. Here we report an improved version of self-interaction nanoparticle spectroscopy (SINS)capable of characterizing both repulsive and attractive self-interactions between diverse mAbs. The basis of SINS is that self-interactions between mAbs immobilized on gold nanoparticles increase (repulsion) or decrease (attraction)interparticle distances, which shift the wavelength of maximum absorbance (plasmon wavelength) in opposite directions.We find that the robustness of SINS is improved by varying the amount of immobilized mAb by co-adsorbing a polyclonal antibody. The slopes of the plasmon wavelength shifts as a function of the amount of immobilized mAb (0.01­0.1 mg/mL) are correlated with diffusion interaction parameters measured at two to three orders of magnitude higher antibody concentrations. The ability of SINS to rapidly screen mAb self-association in a microplate format using dilute mAb solutions makes it well suited for use in diverse settings ranging from antibody discovery to formulation.