The identification and characterization of novel antimicrobial peptides from the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) genome

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are short peptides that exhibit broad-spectrum activity against a variety of microbes including bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa. Based on previously generated Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) expressed sequence tags (ESTs), I identified sequences representing four novel AMP-like transcripts [a peptide with sequence similarity to lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP), a transcript with sequence similarity to the potato (Solanum tuberosum) AMP snakin-2, as well as two piscidin-like peptides. The two peptides with similarity to the piscidins, a family of small cationic AMPs from fish, were selected for further study. I obtained full-length cDNA sequences for two paralogous piscidin-like transcripts using bi-directional rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). The Atlantic cod paralogues were termed gaduscidins (GAD-1 and GAD-2), derived from the genus name Gadus. Quantitative reverse transcription - polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) was used in transcript expression studies of GAD-1 and GAD-2. I examined the constitutive expression of these transcripts in several tissues from non-stressed juvenile cod. Transcript expression of GAD-1 and GAD-2 was also examined in immune tissues following intraperitoneal (IP) injection of formalin-killed atypical Aeromonas salmonicidia (ASAL), or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS injection control). Putative GAD-1 and GAD-2 mature peptides were chemically synthesized for structural characterization, first using circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, followed by solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). In addition to structural characterization, functional characterization was also carried out to determine hemolytic and antimicrobial activity of GAD-1 and GAD-2. A hemolytic assay against Atlantic cod red blood cells (RBCs) was performed, as well as a minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay for both GAD-1 and GAD-2 with Staphylococcus intermedius and Escherichia coil

Optimal investment choices post-retirement in a defined contribution pension scheme

In defined contribution pension schemes, the financial risk is borne by the member. Financial risk occurs both during the accumulation phase (investment risk) and at retirement, when the annuity is bought (annuity risk). The annuity risk faced by the member can be reduced through the “income drawdown option”: the retiree is allowed to choose when to convert the final capital into pension within a certain period of time after retirement. In some countries, there is a limiting age when annuitization becomes compulsory (in UK this age is 75). In the interim, the member can withdraw periodic amounts of money to provide for daily life, within certain limits imposed by the scheme’s rules (or by law). In this paper, we investigate the income drawdown option and define a stochastic optimal control problem, looking for optimal investment strategies to be adopted after retirement, when allowing for periodic fixed withdrawals from the fund. The risk attitude of the member is also considered, by changing a parameter in the disutility function chosen. We find that there is a natural target level of the fund, interpretable as a safety level, which can never be exceeded when optimal control is used. Numerical examples are presented in order to analyse various indices — relevant to the pensioner — when the optimal investment allocation is adopted. These indices include, for example, the risk of outliving the assets before annuitization occurs (risk of ruin), the average time of ruin, the probability of reaching a certain pension target (that is greater than or equal to the pension that the member could buy immediately on retirement), the final outcome that can be reached (distribution of annuity that can be bought at limit age), and how the risk attitude of the member affects the key performance measures mentioned above

Improved Cosmological Constraints from Gravitational Lens Statistics

We combine the Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey (CLASS) with new Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data on the local velocity dispersion distribution function of E/S0 galaxies, $\phi(\sigma)$, to derive lens statistics constraints on $\Omega_\Lambda$ and $\Omega_m$. Previous studies of this kind relied on a combination of the E/S0 galaxy luminosity function and the Faber-Jackson relation to characterize the lens galaxy population. However, ignoring dispersion in the Faber-Jackson relation leads to a biased estimate of $\phi(\sigma)$ and therefore biased and overconfident constraints on the cosmological parameters. The measured velocity dispersion function from a large sample of E/S0 galaxies provides a more reliable method for probing cosmology with strong lens statistics. Our new constraints are in good agreement with recent results from the redshift-magnitude relation of Type Ia supernovae. Adopting the traditional assumption that the E/S0 velocity function is constant in comoving units, we find a maximum likelihood estimate of $\Omega_\Lambda = 0.74$--0.78 for a spatially flat unvierse (where the range reflects uncertainty in the number of E/S0 lenses in the CLASS sample), and a 95% confidence upper bound of $\Omega_\Lambda<0.86$. If $\phi(\sigma)$ instead evolves in accord with extended Press-Schechter theory, then the maximum likelihood estimate for $\Omega_\Lambda$ becomes 0.72--0.78, with the 95% confidence upper bound $\Omega_\Lambda<0.89$. Even without assuming flatness, lensing provides independent confirmation of the evidence from Type Ia supernovae for a nonzero dark energy component in the universe.Comment: 35 pages, 15 figures, to be published in Ap

Validity of strong lensing statistics for constraints on the galaxy evolution model

We examine the usefulness of the strong lensing statistics to constrain the evolution of the number density of lensing galaxies by adopting the values of the cosmological parameters determined by recent WMAP observation. For this purpose, we employ the lens-redshift test proposed by Kochanek (1992) and constrain the parameters in two evolution models, simple power-law model characterized by the power law indexes $nu_{n}$ and $\nu_{v}$ and the evolution model by Mitchell et al. (2005) based on CDM structure formation scenario. We use the well-defined lens sample from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and this is similarly sized samples used in the previous studies. Furthermore, we adopt the velocity dispersion function of early-type galaxies based on SDSS DR1 and DR5. It turns out that the indexes of power-law model are consistent with the previous studies, thus our results indicate the mild evolution in the number and velocity dispersion of early-type galaxies out to z = 1. However we found that the values for p and q used by Mitchell et al. are inconsistent with the presently available observational data. More complete sample is necessary to withdraw more realistic determination on these parameters.Comment: Accepted to MNRAS, 7 pages, 3 figure

Effects of terrorist attacks on access to maternal healthcare services : a national longitudinal study in Burkina Faso

Terrorist attacks constitute a new barrier to already fragile access to maternal healthcare in Burkina Faso. Regional insecurity needs to be recognized and investigated by global health research. The study reveals that terrorist attacks started in 2015 and have grown exponentially, reaching a total of 206 in 2018, and 411 in 2019. Problems can be compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which as well, could instigate an upsurge of terrorist activity with increased insecurity across the Sahel region

Leveraging pre-trained representations to improve access to untranscribed speech from endangered languages

Pre-trained speech representations like wav2vec 2.0 are a powerful tool for automatic speech recognition (ASR). Yet many endangered languages lack sufficient data for pre-training such models, or are predominantly oral vernaculars without a standardised writing system, precluding fine-tuning. Query-by-example spoken term detection (QbE-STD) offers an alternative for iteratively indexing untranscribed speech corpora by locating spoken query terms. Using data from 7 Australian Aboriginal languages and a regional variety of Dutch, all of which are endangered or vulnerable, we show that QbE-STD can be improved by leveraging representations developed for ASR (wav2vec 2.0: the English monolingual model and XLSR53 multilingual model). Surprisingly, the English model outperformed the multilingual model on 4 Australian language datasets, raising questions around how to optimally leverage self-supervised speech representations for QbE-STD. Nevertheless, we find that wav2vec 2.0 representations (either English or XLSR53) offer large improvements (56-86% relative) over state-of-the-art approaches on our endangered language datasets

Claims against third-party recipients of trust property

This article argues that claims to recover trust property from third parties arise in response to a trustee's duty to preserve identifiable property, and that unjust enrichment is incompatible with such claims. First, unjust enrichment can only assist with the recovery of abstract wealth and so it does not assist in the recovery of specific property. Second, it is difficult to identify a convincing justification for introducing unjust enrichment. Third, it will work to the detriment of innocent recipients. The article goes on to show how Re Diplock supports this analysis, by demonstrating that no duty of preservation had been breached and that a proprietary claim should not have been available in that case. The simple conclusion is that claims to recover specific property and claims for unjust enrichment should be seen as mutually exclusive

Modifiable and fixed factors predicting quality of life in people with colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND: People with colorectal cancer have impaired quality of life (QoL). We investigated what factors were most highly associated with it. METHODS: Four hundred and ninety-six people with colorectal cancer completed questionnaires about QoL, functioning, symptoms, co-morbidity, cognitions and personal and social factors. Disease, treatment and co-morbidity data were abstracted from case notes. Multiple linear regression identified modifiable and unmodifiable factors independently predictive of global quality of life (EORTC-QLQ-C30). RESULTS: Of unmodifiable factors, female sex (P<0.001), more self-reported co-morbidities (P=0.006) and metastases at diagnosis (P=0.036) significantly predicted poorer QoL, but explained little of the variability in the model (R(2)=0.064). Adding modifiable factors, poorer role (P<0.001) and social functioning (P=0.003), fatigue (P=0.001), dyspnoea (P=0.001), anorexia (P<0.001), depression (P<0.001) and worse perceived consequences (P=0.013) improved the model fit considerably (R(2)=0.574). Omitting functioning subscales resulted in recent diagnosis (P=0.002), lower perceived personal control (P=0.020) and travel difficulties (P<0.001) becoming significant predictors. CONCLUSION: Most factors affecting QoL are modifiable, especially symptoms (fatigue, anorexia, dyspnoea) and depression. Beliefs about illness are also important. Unmodifiable factors, including metastatic (or unstaged) disease at diagnosis, have less impact. There appears to be potential for interventions to improve QoL in patients with colorectal cancer