Topic choice, gendered language, and the under-funding of female scholars in mission-oriented research

We investigate the participation of male and female applicants to a competition for research funding, using an original dataset with detailed information on both successful and unsuccessful applicants to 21 calls by a mission-oriented funding agency. We use this information to construct a fictitious pool of 277,464 potential applicants and to model their probability to submit an application. We find that, even after controlling for productivity, quality of research, seniority, years of career discontinuity, number of prior applications, affiliation, and ethnicity, women were still less likely to apply than men. The lower likelihood of females to apply was not explained by the use of masculine language in the text of the calls. Instead, women's research interests were more distant from the topics of the calls than men's. Topic proximity fully mediated female penalization in the likelihood to apply for research funding. These results are an important heads-up, in view of the increasing focus of governments in mission-oriented programs

Microcephaly and macrocephaly. A study on anthropometric and clinical data from 308 subjects

Head circumference is the auxological parameter that most correlates with developmental anomalies in childhood. Head circumference (HC) two standard deviations (SD) below or above the mean defines microcephaly and macrocephaly, respectively. The aim of this retrospective study was to explore anthropometric parameters and clinical characteristics among subjects with abnormalities in HC who had been referred for developmental assessment. One hundred and sixty four subjects with microcephaly and 144 subjects with macrocephaly were enrolled from birth to 18 months of age. Head circumference at birth and the association with variables related to maternal health status, gestational age, growth pattern, brain imaging and clinical characteristics were analyzed. In some cases, an etiological diagnosis was made. In the two considered conditions, we found different anthropometric and clinical associations, some of which were statistically significant, with implications for ongoing neurodevelopmental surveillance

Studies of vertical wind profiles at Cape Kennedy, Florida Final report

Vertical wind profiles spectral analysis and numerical wind forecasts at Cape Kenned

Insulin-like growth factor-1 is a negative modulator of glucagon secretion

Glucagon secretion involves a combination of paracrine, autocrine, hormonal, and autonomic neural mechanisms. Type 2 diabetes often presents impaired glucagon suppression by insulin and glucose. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-1) has elevated homology with insulin, and regulates pancreatic β-cells insulin secretion. Insulin and IGF-1 receptors share considerable structure homology and function. We hypothesized the existence of a mechanism linking the inhibition of α-cells glucagon secretion to IGF-1. Herein, we evaluated the association between plasma IGF-1 and glucagon levels in 116 nondiabetic adults. After adjusting for age gender and BMI, fasting glucagon levels were positively correlated with 2-h post-load glycaemia, HOMA index and fasting insulin, and were negatively correlated with IGF-1 levels. In a multivariable regression, the variables independently associated to fasting glucagon were circulating IGF-1 levels, HOMA index and BMI, explaining 20.7% variation. To unravel the molecular mechanisms beneath IGF-1 and glucagon association, we investigated whether IGF-1 directly modulates glucagon expression and secretion in an in vitro model of α-cells. Our data showed that IGF-1 inhibits the ability of low glucose concentration to stimulate glucagon expression and secretion via activation of the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/Akt/FoxO1 pathway. Collectively, our results suggest a new regulatory role of IGF-1 on α-cells biological function

Study of the growth parameters involved in synthesizing boron carbide filaments second quarterly report

Growth parameters in boron carbide whisker synthesis - molybdenum catalyst, growth chamber geometry, tensile testing assembly, and whisker reinforced composite

Transposon Tn7 Preferentially Inserts into GAA•TTC Triplet Repeats under Conditions Conducive to Y•R•Y Triplex Formation

BACKGROUND: Expansion of an unstable GAA*TTC repeat in the first intron of the FXN gene causes Friedreich ataxia by reducing frataxin expression. Structure formation by the repeat has been implicated in both frataxin repression and GAA*TTC instability. The GAA*TTC sequence is capable of adopting multiple non-B DNA structures including Y*R*Y and R*R*Y triplexes. Lower pH promotes the formation of Y*R*Y triplexes by GAA*TTC. Here we used the bacterial transposon Tn7 as an in vitro tool to probe whether GAA*TTC repeats can attract a well-characterized recombinase. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Tn7 showed a pH-dependent preference for insertion into uninterrupted regions of a Friedreich ataxia patient-derived repeat, inserting 48, 39 and 14 percent of the time at pH 7, pH 8 and pH 9, respectively. Moreover, Tn7 also showed orientation and region specific insertion within the repeat at pH 7 and pH 8, but not at pH 9. In contrast, transposon Tn5 showed no strong preference for or against the repeat during in vitro transposition at any pH tested. Y*R*Y triplex formation was reduced in predictable ways by transposon interruption of the GAA*TTC repeat. However, transposon interruptions in the GAA*TTC repeats did not increase the in vitro transcription efficiency of the templates. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We have demonstrated that transposon Tn7 will recognize structures that form spontaneously in GAA*TTC repeats and insert in a specific orientation within the repeat. The conditions used for in vitro transposition span the physiologically relevant range suggesting that long GAA*TTC repeats can form triplex structures in vivo, attracting enzymes involved in DNA repair, recombination and chromatin modification