proach framework. The decoupled response between leaf and tree traits suggests that these sets of traits respond differently to processes occurring at different times. The geographical and historical approaches showed centres with extreme environments in relation to their respective peripheries, but the historical centre has also been a climatically stable area since the Last Glacial Maximum. The historical approach allowed for the recovery of historical processes underlying tree traits variation, highlighting that centre-periphery delimitations should be based on a multi-approach framework. Arteriovenous fistula (AVF) maturation failure remains a clinical dilemma, and its pathobiology is largely unclear. Secondary hyperparathyroidism is a complication of chronic renal failure that is associated with cardiovascular disease. While parathyroid hormone (PTH) has a prosclerotic effect on vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), its role in AVF maturation failure remained unknown. This work aimed to investigate the association between plasma PTH and AVF maturation. Patients receiving AVF creation were enrolled retrospectively. A mouse model of secondary hyperparathyroidism and aortocaval AVF was used to investigate the effect of PTH on an AVF lesion. A cell model of VSMCs treated with PTH in a pressurized culture system was used to disclose the signaling pathway underlying the effect of PTH on an AVF lesion. In patients receiving AVF creation, higher PTH was associated with an increased risk for maturation failure. In a mouse model, vascular wall thickness and myofibroblasts of AVF significantly increased with higher PTH. When the same mice were treated with cinacalcet, AVF lesions were attenuated by suppression of PTH. A cell model showed that PTH increased the marker of myofibroblasts, integrin β6 subunit (ITGB6), via the phosphorylated protein kinase B pathway. Finally, in the same model of mice AVF, higher PTH also increased the expression of ITGB6 in the smooth muscle layer of AVF, suggesting the transition to myofibroblast. Overall, our results suggest that higher PTH increased the risk of AVF maturation failure through increasing the transition of VSMCs to myofibroblasts. Lowering PTH may be a strategy to enhance AVF maturation. Overall, our results suggest that higher PTH increased the risk of AVF maturation failure through increasing the transition of VSMCs to myofibroblasts. Lowering PTH may be a strategy to enhance AVF maturation. Delta like noncanonical notch ligand 1 (DLK1) is a paternally expressed imprinted gene that encodes an epidermal growth factor repeat-containing transmembrane protein. A bioactive, truncated DLK1 protein is present in the circulation and has roles in development and metabolism. We sought to investigate links between maternal pregnancy circulating DLK1 concentrations and (1) maternal and fetal DLK1 genotypes, (2) maternal insulin resistance and secretion, and (3) offspring size at birth. We measured third-trimester maternal serum DLK1 concentrations and examined their associations with parentally transmitted fetal and maternal DLK1 genotypes, indices of maternal insulin resistance and secretion derived from 75-g oral glucose tolerance tests performed around week 28 of pregnancy, and offspring size at birth in 613 pregnancies from the Cambridge Baby Growth Study. Maternal DLK1 concentrations were associated with the paternally transmitted fetal DLK1 rs12147008 allele (P = 7.8 × 10-3) but not with maternnal circulating DLK1 concentrations, stimulation of maternal insulin resistance and compensatory hyperinsulinemia during pregnancy, and the promotion of fetal growth.Pathogenic missense variants in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) gene have been identified through linkage analysis in familial Parkinson disease (PD). Subsequently, other missense variants with lower effect sizes on PD risk have emerged, as well as non-coding polymorphisms (e.g. rs76904798) enriched in PD cases in genome-wide association studies. Here we leverage recent whole-genome sequences from the Accelerating Medicines Partnership-Parkinson's Disease (AMP-PD) and the Genome Aggregation (gnomAD) databases to characterize novel missense variants in LRRK2 and explore their relationships with known pathogenic and PD-linked missense variants. Using a computational prediction tool that successfully classifies known pathogenic LRRK2 missense variants, we describe an online web-based resource that catalogs characteristics of over 1200 LRRK2 missense variants of unknown significance. Novel high-pathogenicity scoring variants, some identified exclusively in PD cases, tightly cluster within the ROC-COR-Kinase domains. Structure-function predictions support that some of these variants exert gain-of-function effects with respect to LRRK2 kinase activity. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/nx-1607.html In AMP-PD participants, all p.R1441G carriers (N = 89) are also carriers of the more common PD-linked variant p.M1646T. In addition, nearly all carriers of the PD-linked p.N2081D missense variant are also carriers of the LRRK2 PD-risk variant rs76904798. These results provide a compendium of LRRK2 missense variants and how they associate with one another. While the pathogenic p.G2019S variant is by far the most frequent high-pathogenicity scoring variant, our results suggest that ultra-rare missense variants may have an important cumulative impact in increasing the number of individuals with LRRK2-linked PD. To investigate the association between religious involvement and cognitive functioning at the intersections of race-ethnicity and gender among mid-life and older adults, and to determine if psychosocial factors help explain this relationship. The sample included 14,037 adults aged 50+ from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). We utilized measures from the HRS 2010 and 2012 Core interviews and Leave Behind questionnaires and estimated our models using linear regression. Compared to individuals who frequently attended religious services, infrequent religious service attendance was related to poorer cognitive functioning. Religiosity was inversely associated with cognitive functioning at baseline, but the relationship varied by race/gender subgroup. Greater religiosity was associated with better cognitive functioning among Black women, but lower cognitive functioning among White men and women. Psychosocial factors did little to explain the inverse association between religiosity and cognitive functioning.