Changes in the vaginal microbiota across a gradient of urbanization.

The vaginal microbiota of healthy women typically has low diversity, which increases after perturbations. Among these, lifestyle associated with certain sexual and antimicrobial practices may be associated with higher diversity. To test this hypothesis, we characterized the vaginal microbiota in the cervicovaginal and introital sites in sexually active Amerindians (N = 82) spanning urbanization, and in urban mestizos (N = 29), in the Venezuelan Amazonas. HPV status was also considered. Sampling was performed in an urban gradient from remote villages to a town, and women were individually classified by the degree of urbanization (low, medium, and high). Amerindian cervicovaginal and introital microbiota diversity were not associated with major changes in urbanization or ethnicity. There was a non-significant trend of increased diversity with urbanization, with a few taxa found overrepresented in urban Amerindians (Brevibacterium linens and Peptoniphilus lacrimalis) or mestizos (Mobiluncus mulieris and Prevotella sp.). Among all women, cervicovaginal and introital samples clustered, respectively, in four and two community state types (CSTs), where most profiles were dominated by Lactobacillus iners, Gardnerella vaginalis or were highly diverse profiles. HPV status did not associate with microbial diversity. In conclusion, no association was found between urban level and the vaginal microbiome in Amerindian women, and little difference was found between ethnicities. L. iners and high diversity profiles, associated with vaginal health outcomes, prevail in these populations.

High Rate of Infection by Only Oncogenic Human Papillomavirus in Amerindians.

Human papillomavirus (HPV), an etiological agent of cervical cancer (CC), has infected humans since ancient times. Amerindians are the furthest migrants out of Africa, and they reached the Americas more than 14,000 years ago. Some groups still remain isolated, and some migrate to towns, forming a gradient spanning urbanization. We hypothesized that, by virtue of their history, lifestyle, and isolation from the global society, remote Amerindian women have lower HPV diversity than do urban women (Amerindian or mestizo). Here we determined the diversity of the 25 most relevant cervical HPV types in 82 Amerindians spanning urbanization (low, medium, and high, consistent with the exposure to urban lifestyles of the town of Puerto Ayacucho in the Venezuelan Amazonas State), and in 29 urban mestizos from the town. Cervical, anal, oral, and introitus samples were taken, and HPVs were typed using reverse DNA hybridization. A total of 23 HPV types were detected, including 11 oncogenic or high-risk types, most associated with CC. Cervical HPV prevalence was 75%, with no differences by group, but Amerindians from low and medium urbanization level had significantly lower HPV diversity than mestizos did. In Amerindians, but not in mestizos, infections by only high-risk HPVs were higher than coinfections or by exclusively low-risk HPVs. Cervical abnormalities only were observed in Amerindians (9/82), consistent with their high HPV infection. The lower cervical HPV diversity in more isolated Amerindians is consistent with their lower exposure to the global pool, and transculturation to urban lifestyles could have implications on HPV ecology, infection, and virulence.IMPORTANCE The role of HPV type distribution on the disparity of cervical cancer (CC) incidence between human populations remains unknown. The incidence of CC in the Amazonas State of Venezuela is higher than the national average. In this study, we determined the diversity of known HPV types (the viral agent of CC) in Amerindian and mestizo women living in the Venezuelan Amazonas State. Understanding the ecological diversity of HPV in populations undergoing lifestyle transformations has important implication on public health measures for CC prevention.

Enhancing Diversity in Biomedical Data Science.

The gap in educational attainment separating underrepresented minorities from Whites and Asians remains wide. Such a gap has significant impact on workforce diversity and inclusion among cross-cutting Biomedical Data Science (BDS) research, which presents great opportunities as well as major challenges for addressing health disparities. This article provides a brief description of the newly established National Institutes of Health Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) diversity initiatives at four universities: California State University, Monterey Bay; Fisk University; University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus; and California State University, Fullerton. We emphasize three main barriers to BDS careers (ie, preparation, exposure, and access to resources) experienced among those pioneer programs and recommendations for possible solutions (ie, early and proactive mentoring, enriched research experience, and data science curriculum development). The diversity disparities in BDS demonstrate the need for educators, researchers, and funding agencies to support evidence-based practices that will lead to the diversification of the BDS workforce.

The role of coral colony health state in the recovery of lesions.

Coral disease literature has focused, for the most part, on the etiology of the more than 35 coral afflictions currently described. Much less understood are the factors that underpin the capacity of corals to regenerate lesions, including the role of colony health. This lack of knowledge with respect to the factors that influence tissue regeneration significantly limits our understanding of the impact of diseases at the colony, population, and community level. In this study, we experimentally compared tissue regeneration capacity of diseased versus healthy fragments of Gorgonia ventalina colonies at 5 m and 12 m of depth. We found that the initial health state of colonies (i.e., diseased or healthy) had a significant effect on tissue regeneration (healing). All healthy fragments exhibited full recovery regardless of depth treatment, while diseased fragments did not. Our results suggest that being diseased or healthy has a significant effect on the capacity of a sea fan colony to repair tissue, but that environmental factors associated with changes in depth, such as temperature and light, do not. We conclude that disease doesn't just compromise vital functions such as growth and reproduction in corals but also compromises their capacity to regenerate tissue and heal lesions.

Optimization of synthesis and peptization steps to obtain iron oxide nanoparticles with high energy dissipation rates.

Magnetic Fluid Hyperthermia (MFH) uses heat generated by magnetic nanoparticles exposed to alternating magnetic fields to cause a temperature increase in tumors to the hyperthermia range (43-47 °C), inducing apoptotic cancer cell death. As with all cancer nanomedicines, one of the most significant challenges with MFH is achieving high nanoparticle accumulation at the tumor site. This motivates development of synthesis strategies that maximize the rate of energy dissipation of iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles, preferable due to their intrinsic biocompatibility. This has led to development of synthesis strategies that, although attractive from the point of view of chemical elegance, may not be suitable for scale-up to quantities necessary for clinical use. On the other hand, to date the aqueous co-precipitation synthesis, which readily yields gram quantities of nanoparticles, has only been reported to yield sufficiently high specific absorption rates after laborious size selective fractionation. This work focuses on improvements to the aqueous co-precipitation of iron oxide nanoparticles to increase the specific absorption rate (SAR), by optimizing synthesis conditions and the subsequent peptization step. Heating efficiencies up to 1,048 W/gFe (36.5 kA/m, 341 kHz; ILP = 2.3 nH·m2·kg-1) were obtained, which represent one of the highest values reported for iron oxide particles synthesized by co-precipitation without size-selective fractionation. Furthermore, particles reached SAR values of up to 719 W/gFe (36.5 kA/m, 341 kHz; ILP = 1.6 nH·m2·kg-1) when in a solid matrix, demonstrating they were capable of significant rates of energy dissipation even when restricted from physical rotation. Reduction in energy dissipation rate due to immobilization has been identified as an obstacle to clinical translation of MFH. Hence, particles obtained with the conditions reported here have great potential for application in nanoscale thermal cancer therapy.

Changing Statistical Significance with the Amount of Information: The Adaptive α Significance Level.

We put forward an adaptive alpha which changes with the amount of sample information. This calibration may be interpreted as a Bayes/non-Bayes compromise, and leads to statistical consistency. The calibration can also be used to produce confidence intervals whose size take in consideration the amount of observed information.

Demographic response by a small epiphytic orchid.

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Biotic changes are an inevitable consequence of climate change. Epiphytes may be more susceptible to changes in climate variation, but data regarding responses to climate variability under field conditions are limited. We evaluated whether the abundance of demographic stages in the epiphytic orchid Lepanthes rupestris at the Luquillo Experimental Forest in Puerto Rico was associated with short-term changes in climate variation over an 8-yr period. METHODS: We used cross-correlation analyses to evaluate associations between the abundance of seedlings, juveniles, adults, and fruits per subpopulation, population growth, colonization and extinction rates in L. rupestris with variables related to precipitation and temperature, with and without lag- responses. KEY RESULTS: We detected significant negative correlations between the average number of seedlings and the number of dry days, between the average number of fruits and minimum average temperature with a 6-mo response lag, and between the average number of adults and the maximum temperature with a 1-yr response lag. Neither population growth rate nor probability of colonization and extinction were directly related to climatic variation between 2000 and 2007. CONCLUSIONS: Associations between climatic variables and demographic stages could have negative implications for this orchid within the context of expected drying trends in the Caribbean. Results argue for the establishment of long-term monitoring studies of orchid populations, because only long-term studies would provide the appropriate temporal scale to detect and predict climate change effects and adaptive management of orchid populations.

Riding across the selection landscape: fitness consequences of annual variation in reproductive characteristics.

Evolutionary models estimating phenotypic selection in character size usually assume that the character is invariant across reproductive bouts. We show that variation in the size of reproductive traits may be large over multiple events and can influence fitness in organisms where these traits are produced anew each season. With data from populations of two orchid species, Caladenia valida and Tolumnia variegata, we used Bayesian statistics to investigate the effect on the distribution in fitness of individuals when the fitness landscape is not flat and when characters vary across reproductive bouts. Inconsistency in character size across reproductive periods within an individual increases the uncertainty of mean fitness and, consequently, the uncertainty in individual fitness. The trajectory of selection is likely to be muddled as a consequence of variation in morphology of individuals across reproductive bouts. The frequency and amplitude of such changes will certainly affect the dynamics between selection and genetic drift.

Intussusception-associated hospitalization among Venezuelan infants during 1998 through 2001: anticipating rotavirus vaccines.

BACKGROUND: The first licensed rotavirus vaccine was withdrawn from use in the United States because of a low risk of intussusception. Consequently tests of new rotavirus vaccines will require some baseline knowledge of the rates and treatment of intussusception in countries where these vaccines will be tested. Therefore the objective of this study was to assess hospitalization rates and describe the epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of intussusception in Carabobo, Venezuela. METHODS: This study reviewed hospital data and clinical records of pediatric patients with intussusception admitted to eight hospitals in Carabobo between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2001. RESULTS: For the 4-year period the average annual hospitalization rate for intussusception among infants (<1 year old) in Carabobo was 35 per 100 000 infants per year (range, 22 to 44), and intussusception was more common among boys (58 per 100 000 infants per year) than girls (29 per 100 000 infants per year) (P = 0.006). One of 67 cases occurred in the first 3 months of life (0 to 2), 55% (37) patients were 3 to 5 months old, 31% (21) were 6 to 11 months old and 12% (8) were > or =12 months old. Surgical reduction was required in 88% (52 of 59) of infants but only 1 required bowel resection. The monthly distribution of intussusception-associated hospitalizations showed no consistent seasonal pattern with the seasonality observed for patients hospitalized with rotavirus disease. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides some data about the incidence of intussusception and its epidemiology in a developing country where current or future field trials with rotavirus vaccine will be conducted.