Effects of portion size on chronic energy intake

© 2007 Jeffery et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Resolving a gender and language problem in women’s leadership:consultancy research in workplace discourse

This article considers the contribution that consultancy research might make to resolving communication problems that women have identified in their leadership practices. Within the intersecting fields of gender and language and workplace discourse, consultancy research-that is, practitioner-commissioned research to resolve work-related, communication problems-is still uncommon. This article presents a study of Monika, a senior leader in an engineering company, who commissioned me to find out why she was experiencing communication problems with her teams. By using interactional sociolinguistic analysis, I was able to show Monika how her authority was being resisted on gendered, linguistic grounds. In making the case for more consultancy research, I discuss how we might use insights from discourse analysis to offer guidance to practitioners seeking our help

Outside in-group and out-group identities? Constructing male solidarity and female exclusion in UK builders’ talk

This article examines the spoken interactions of a group of British construction workers to discover whether it is possible to identify a distinctive ‘builders’ discourse’. Given that builders work for a mostly all-male profession (Curjao, 2006), we ask whether the ways in which male builders converse with each other while ‘on the job’ can be held in any way responsible for the under-representation of women within this major occupational sector in the UK. This article reports on a case study of the conversations of three white, working-class, male builders, which took place while travelling in a truck between different building sites. This forms part of a larger ethnographic study of builders’ discourse in different work locations. The analysis shows that male builders are highly collaborative in constructing narratives of in-group and out-group identities (Duszak, 2002; Tajfel, 1978). Various other male groups are demonized in these conversations: Polish immigrant builders, rude clients and rival builders. However, there is almost no reference to women. The article concludes that women are viewed as so unthreatening to male ascendancy in the building industry that they do not even feature within the ‘out-group’

Common and low Frequency variants in MERTK are independently associated with multiple sclerosis susceptibility with discordant association dependent upon HLA-DRB1*15:01 status

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. The risk of developing MS is strongly influenced by genetic predisposition, and over 100 loci have been established as associated with susceptibility. However, the biologically relevant variants underlying disease risk have not been defined for the vast majority of these loci, limiting the power of these genetic studies to define new avenues of research for the development of MS therapeutics. It is therefore crucial that candidate MS susceptibility loci are carefully investigated to identify the biological mechanism linking genetic polymorphism at a given gene to the increased chance of developing MS. MERTK has been established as an MS susceptibility gene and is part of a family of receptor tyrosine kinases known to be involved in the pathogenesis of demyelinating disease. In this study we have refined the association of MERTK with MS risk to independent signals from both common and low frequency variants. One of the associated variants was also found to be linked with increased expression of MERTK in monocytes and higher expression of MERTK was associated with either increased or decreased risk of developing MS, dependent upon HLA-DRB1*15:01 status. This discordant association potentially extended beyond MS susceptibility to alterations in disease course in established MS. This study provides clear evidence that distinct polymorphisms within MERTK are associated with MS susceptibility, one of which has the potential to alter MERTK transcription, which in turn can alter both susceptibility and disease course in MS patients

Multiple Sclerosis risk variants regulate gene expression in innate and adaptive immune cells

At least 200 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) risk. A key function that could mediate SNP-encoded MS risk is their regulatory effects on gene expression. We performed microarrays using RNA extracted from purified immune cell types from 73 untreated MS cases and 97 healthy controls and then performed Cis expression quantitative trait loci mapping studies using additive linear models. We describe MS risk expression quantitative trait loci associations for 129 distinct genes. By extending these models to include an interaction term between genotype and phenotype, we identify MS risk SNPs with opposing effects on gene expression in cases compared with controls, namely, rs2256814 MYT1 in CD4 cells (q = 0.05) and rs12087340 RF00136 in monocyte cells (q = 0.04). The rs703842 SNP was also associated with a differential effect size on the expression of the METTL21B gene in CD8 cells of MS cases relative to controls (q = 0.03). Our study provides a detailed map of MS risk loci that function by regulating gene expression in cell types relevant to MS

Commentary: Obesity and Weight Gain in Pregnancy and Postpartum: an Evidence Review of Lifestyle Interventions to Inform Maternal and Child Health Policies

We read with interest the recent review published in Frontiers in Endocrinology that was focused on obesity and weight gain in pregnancy and postpartum. The review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, investigating the effects of lifestyle interventions on gestational weight gain (GWG) and postpartum weight retention (PPWR), provides evidence showing that lifestyle interventions can reduce excess weight gain and associated risk factors. We agree unconditionally that the burden of maternal and childhood obesity needs to be reduced urgently.Funding for this research has been provided from the Australian Government's Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF)

Co-resident Parents and Young People Aged 15–34: Who Does What Housework?

Young adults are now more likely to co-reside with their parents than previous generations, but domestic work patterns among this family type are largely unexplored. This study addresses this issue using Australian Bureau of Statistics Time Use Surveys (1992, 1997, 2006) and Poisson–Gamma regression analyses. It examines patterns in and correlates of domestic labor in two-generation households in which young people aged 15–34 co-reside with their parents (n = 1,946 households comprised of 2,806 young people and 5,129 parents). It differentiates between routine indoor tasks (cooking, cleaning, laundry), non-routine tasks (outdoor work, household management and maintenance, car care) and grocery shopping. Predictors of more time in some domestic activities by young people include being in neither employment nor education/training (NEET), being older, having a single parent and being in a non-English speaking household (young women). Young people being NEET, or female, are associated with less cooking time for mothers, but in the main when young people do perform domestic activities, they do not relieve their parents of those same activities, suggesting more time is spent by the household in total

Genetic improvement of tomato by targeted control of fruit softening

Controlling the rate of softening to extend shelf life was a key target for researchers engineering genetically modified (GM) tomatoes in the 1990s, but only modest improvements were achieved. Hybrids grown nowadays contain 'non-ripening mutations' that slow ripening and improve shelf life, but adversely affect flavor and color. We report substantial, targeted control of tomato softening, without affecting other aspects of ripening, by silencing a gene encoding a pectate lyase

Amygdala 14-3-3ζ as a Novel Modulator of Escalating Alcohol Intake in Mice

Alcoholism is a devastating brain disorder that affects millions of people worldwide. The development of alcoholism is caused by alcohol-induced maladaptive changes in neural circuits involved in emotions, motivation, and decision-making. Because of its involvement in these processes, the amygdala is thought to be a key neural structure involved in alcohol addiction. However, the molecular mechanisms that govern the development of alcoholism are incompletely understood. We have previously shown that in a limited access choice paradigm, C57BL/6J mice progressively escalate their alcohol intake and display important behavioral characteristic of alcohol addiction, in that they become insensitive to quinine-induced adulteration of alcohol. This study used the limited access choice paradigm to study gene expression changes in the amygdala during the escalation to high alcohol consumption in C57BL/6J mice. Microarray analysis revealed that changes in gene expression occurred predominantly after one week, i.e. during the initial escalation of alcohol intake. One gene that stood out from our analysis was the adapter protein 14-3-3ζ, which was up-regulated during the transition from low to high alcohol intake. Independent qPCR analysis confirmed the up-regulation of amygdala 14-3-3ζ during the escalation of alcohol intake. Subsequently, we found that local knockdown of 14-3-3ζ in the amygdala, using RNA interference, dramatically augmented alcohol intake. In addition, knockdown of amygdala 14-3-3ζ promoted the development of inflexible alcohol drinking, as apparent from insensitivity to quinine adulteration of alcohol. This study identifies amygdala 14-3-3ζ as a novel key modulator that is engaged during escalation of alcohol use