Motivation: Comparisons of microbiome communities across populations are often based on pairwise distance measures (beta-diversity). Standard analyses (principal coordinate plots, permutation tests, kernel methods) require access to primary data if another investigator wants to add or compare independent data. We propose using standard reference measurements to simplify microbiome beta-diversity a

Background: Plasmodium falciparum malaria is an important cause of morbidity in northern Uganda. This study was undertaken to assess village-, household-, and individual-level risk factors of asymptomatic falciparum malaria in children in 12 villages in northern Uganda. Methods: Between 10/2011 and 02/2014, 1006 apparently healthy children under 16 years old were enrolled in 12 villages using a st

Background: Falciparum malaria is an important risk factor for African Burkitt lymphoma (BL), but few studies have evaluated malaria patterns in healthy BL-age children in populations where both diseases are endemic. To obtain accurate current data, patterns of asymptomatic malaria were investigated in northern Uganda, where BL is endemic. Methods: Between 2011 and 2015, 1150 apparently healthy ch

Long-term follow-up is common in many medical investigations where the interest lies in predicting patients’ risks for a future adverse outcome using repeatedly measured predictors over time. A key quantity is the likelihood of developing an adverse outcome among individuals who survived up to time s given their covariate information up to time s. Simple, yet reliable, methodology for updating the

Background: The capacity of electronic health record (EHR) data to guide targeted surveillance in chronic kidney disease (CKD) is unclear. We sought to leverage EHR data for predicting risk of progressing from CKD to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) to help inform surveillance of CKD among vulnerable patients from the healthcare safety-net. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adult

The capacity of risk prediction to guide management of CKD in underserved health settings is unknown. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 28,779 adults with nondialysis-requiring CKD who received health care in two large safety net health systems during 1996-2009 and were followed for ESRD through September of 2011. We developed and evaluated the performance of ESRD risk prediction models

Plasma-free fatty acids (FFAs) are largely derived from adipose tissue. Elevated levels of FFA and fatty acidebinding protein 4 (FABP4), a key cytoplasmic chaperone of fatty acids, have been associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes, but limited data are available on the relation of these biomarkers with cardiovascular and total mortality. We studied 4,707 participants with a mean age of 75

Background: Although free fatty acids have been positively associated with risk factors for stroke, the role of plasma free fatty acids in the development of stroke has not been elucidated in older adults. Aims: We sought to examine the association between plasma free fatty acids and incident stroke. Methods: Prospective cohort of 4369 men and women ≥65 years of age in the Cardiovascular Health St

Background: Widespread implementation of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers in routine clinical practice requires the establishment of standard operating procedures for pre-analytical handling of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Methods: Here, CSF collection and storage protocols were optimized for measurements of β-amyloid (Aβ). We investigated the effects of (1) storage temperature, (2) storage time, (3)

Modern society is increasingly dependent on a reliable supply of electricity. Depending on where an electricity outage occurs and who is affected the consequences may range from a mere nuisance to major economic losses or actual threats against the health and safety of citizens. The direct costs of power outages have been assessed in numerous studies, however electricity outages normally also enta

Geospatial information is indispensable for various real-world applications and is thus a prominent part of today’s data science landscape. Geospatial data is primarily maintained and disseminated through spatial data infrastructures (SDIs). However, current SDIs are facing challenges in terms of data integration and semantic heterogeneity because of their partially siloed data organization. In th

To identify homeless people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who were at highest risk for end-stage renal disease (ESRD), we studied 982 homeless and 15,674 domiciled people with CKD receiving public health care. We developed four risk prediction models for the primary outcome of ESRD. Overall, 71 homeless and 888 domiciled people progressed to ESRD during follow-up (median: 6.6 years). Homeless

Background Cardiac fibrosis is thought to play a central role in the pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation (AF). Retrospective studies have suggested that circulating fibrosis biomarkers are associated with AF, but prospective studies are limited. Methods We measured circulating levels of 2 fibrosis biomarkers, procollagen type III, N-terminal propeptide (PIIINP) and transforming growth factor β1 am

Although fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) may increase risk of diabetes and exert negative cardiac inotropy, it is unknown whether plasma concentrations of FABP4 are associated with incidence of sudden cardiac death (SCD). We prospectively analyzed data on 4,560 participants of the Cardiovascular Health Study. FABP4 was measured at baseline using ELISA, and SCD events were adjudicated through

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) secretion is classically regulated by ingested nutrients. To identify novel molecular targets controlling incretin secretion, we analyzed enteroendocrine cell pathways important for hormone biosynthesis and secretion. We demonstrate that progesterone increases GLP-1 secretion and extracellular signal-related kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) phosphorylation in enteroendocrine GLU

Overt autoantibodies to the smaller isoform of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD65Ab) are a characteristic in patients with Type 1 diabetes (T1D). Anti-idiotypic antibodies (anti-Id) directed to GAD65Ab effectively prevent the binding of GAD65 to GAD65Ab in healthy individuals. Levels of GAD65Ab-specific anti-Id are significantly lower in patients with T1D, leading to overt GAD65Ab in these patients. T

Objective: To evaluate the effects of vasoactive drugs, specifically low-dose vasopressin and phenylephrine infusions, on blood loss / transfusion requirements during dissection and anhepatic (pre-reperfusion) stages of orthotopic liver transplantations. Methods: A retrospective analysis of 110 orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) cases was performed. The variables studied were: blood loss befor

Background & Aims: Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) is a 33-amino acid peptide hormone secreted by enteroendocrine cells in response to nutrient ingestion. GLP-2 stimulates crypt cell proliferation leading to expansion of the mucosal epithelium; however, the mechanisms transducing the trophic effects of GLP-2 are incompletely understood. Methods: We examined the gene expression profiles and gro

Glucagon receptor (Gcgr) signaling maintains hepatic glucose production during the fasting state; however, the importance of the Gcgr for lipid metabolism is unclear. We show here that fasted Gcgr-/- mice exhibit a significant increase in hepatic triglyceride secretion and fasting increases fatty acid oxidation (FAO) in wild-type (WT) but not in Gcgr-/- mice. Moreover fasting upregulated the expre

Type 1 diabetes is caused by the autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells. Here we show that administration of a human monoclonal antibody (b96.11) specific to the 65-kDa isoform of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD65) to prediabetic non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice significantly delays the onset of autoimmune diabetes. We found this effect to be epitope-specific, as only b96.11 showed this therape