Wine grape fungal community composition is influenced by abiotic factors including geography and vintage. Compositional differences may correlate with different wine metabolite composition and sensory profiles, suggesting a microbial role in the shaping of a wine's terroir, or regional character. While grape and wine-associated fungal community composition has been studied extensively at a regional and sub-regional scale, it has not been explored in detail on fine geographical scales over multiple harvests. Over two years, we examined the fungal communities on Vitis Vinifera cv. Pinot noir grape berry surfaces, in crushed grapes, and in lab spontaneous fermentations from three vineyards within a <1km radius in Canada's Okanagan Valley wine region. We also evaluated the effect of winery environment exposure on fungal community composition by sampling grapes crushed and fermented in the winery at commercial scale. Spatiotemporal community structure was evident among grape berry surface, crushed grape and fermentation samples, with each vineyard exhibiting a distinct fungal community signature. Crushed grape fungal populations were richer in fermentative yeast species compared to grape berry surface fungal populations. Our study suggests that, as on a regional level, fungal populations may contribute to fine-scale -terroir,” with significant implications for single-vineyard wines.

Wine is a product of grape juice fermentation by yeast. Terroir is a term that encompasses all environmental factors and interactions at a specific geographical site, resulting in the development of regional-specific microbial strains and grape metabolites. In this study we determine the distribution of vineyard-associated wine yeast strains and characterize the flavonoid profile of Pinot Noir grapes among 3 sub-regions in the Okanagan Valley (OV), a major wine region in British Columbia, Canada. Pinot Noir grape samples were collected from 13 vineyards among 3 sub-regions of the OV, namely Kelowna (KE), Naramata-Penticton (NP) and Oliver-Osoyoos (OO), within a week prior to the winery harvesting date in 2016 and 2017. A total of 156 spontaneous Pinot Noir fermentations were conducted and vineyard-associated Saccharomyces strains were isolated from fermentations that reached two-thirds sugar depletion. Using microsatellite genotyping, we identified 103 Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains and 9 Saccharomyces uvarum strains. We also identified Saccharomyces paradoxus in one vineyard using ITS sequencing. We developed a microsatellite database of 160 commercial S. cerevisiae strains to determine the identity of the isolated strains and we include the database herein. Commercial strains were widely distributed across the three sub-regions. Fortytwo of our 103 S. cerevisiae strains were equivalent or highly similar to commercial strains whereas the remaining 61 were considered as 'unknown' strains. Two S. uvarum strains were previously isolated in other OV studies and none matched the S. uvarum commercial strain BMV58. S. cerevisiae population structure was driven by sub-region, although S. cerevisiae populations did not differ significantly across vintages. S. uvarum and S. paradoxus were only identified in the 2017 vintage, demonstrating dynamic wine yeast populations between vintages. We found that the flavonoid profile of Pinot Noir grapes from the same 13 vineyards was also affected by sub-regional terroir. The anthocyanin content was lower and the proportion of methoxylated anthocyanins and

In the wake of North America's worsening overdose crisis, the overrepresentation of individuals incarcerated with an opioid use disorder (OUD) constitutes a population at an incredibly high risk for adverse health outcomes, including death. In response, a number of important initiatives such as the provision of opioid agonist therapy to individuals with opioid addiction while incarcerated have been implemented. Although improving access to evidence-based treatment for OUD is an obvious urgent need, equally important is the need to implement novel interventions to help reduce morbidity and mortality among this high-risk group. Peer support specialists (ie, individuals with lived or shared experience) have previously been demonstrated to effectively help clients navigate the healthcare system, reintegrate within their community, and successfully adhere to their individual treatment and recovery goals. Given the known association between individuals with an OUD and exposure to the criminal justice system, routine inclusion of peer support specialists as part of the addiction interdisciplinary care team in these settings may be an effective opportunity to improve health outcomes and prevent death among incarcerated individuals with an OUD.

Background Clinical trial samples may be stored frozen for prolonged periods before analysis, which can reduce the immunoreactivity of numerous analytes, particularly peptides. We sought to determine the effect of 6 years of frozen storage on serum N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). Methods NT-proBNP was measured from serum samples taken from 99 different patients enrolled in the CanPREDDICT study after <1 year of storage at −70 °C using the Roche first-generation NT-proBNP assay on an e411 instrument. Separate aliquots of the same samples were analyzed after an additional 6 years of storage at −70 °C using the Roche second-generation assay on an e601 instrument. Results The median NT-proBNP immunoreactivity for the first measurement was 572 pg/mL (interquartile range [IQR] 205–1606, range 49–12820), while after an additional 6 years of storage at −70 °C, this value decreased to 526 pg/mL (IQR 181–1338, range 18–12880), resulting in a median percent difference of −7% (IQR −10.6% to −3.4%, P < 0.001). Conclusions We report findings consistent with trends seen in previous work but have investigated the effect of a much longer storage period. Larger percent decreases in NT-proBNP reaching statistical significance are seen, although the median difference is still <10%.