Ultralow Thermal Conductivity, Multiband Electronic Structure and High Thermoelectric Figure of Merit in TlCuSe

The entanglement of lattice thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, and Seebeck coefficient complicates the process of optimizing thermoelectric performance in most thermoelectric materials. Semiconductors with ultralow lattice thermal conductivities and high power factors at the same time are scarce but fundamentally interesting and practically important for energy conversion. Herein, an intrinsic p-type semiconductor TlCuSe that has an intrinsically ultralow thermal conductivity (0.25 W m−1 K−1), a high power factor (11.6 µW cm−1 K−2), and a high figure of merit, ZT (1.9) at 643 K is described. The weak chemical bonds, originating from the filled antibonding orbitals p-d* within the edge-sharing CuSe4 tetrahedra and long TlSe bonds in the PbClF-type structure, in conjunction with the large atomic mass of Tl lead to an ultralow sound velocity. Strong anharmonicity, coming from Tl+ lone-pair electrons, boosts phonon–phonon scattering rates and further suppresses lattice thermal conductivity. The multiband character of the valence band structure contributing to power factor enhancement benefits from the lone-pair electrons of Tl+ as well, which modify the orbital character of the valence bands, and pushes the valence band maximum off the Γ-point, increasing the band degeneracy. The results provide new insight on the rational design of thermoelectric materials

Genome-wide association study of male sexual orientation

Family and twin studies suggest that genes play a role in male sexual orientation. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of male sexual orientation on a primarily European ancestry sample of 1,077 homosexual men and 1,231 heterosexual men using Affymetrix single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays. We identified several SNPs with p < 10 -5 , including regions of multiple supporting SNPs on chromosomes 13 (minimum p = 7.5 × 10 -7 ) and 14 (p = 4.7 × 10 -7 ). The genes nearest to these peaks have functions plausibly relevant to the development of sexual orientation. On chromosome 13, SLITRK6 is a neurodevelopmental gene mostly expressed in the diencephalon, which contains a region previously reported as differing in size in men by sexual orientation. On chromosome 14, TSHR genetic variants in intron 1 could conceivably help explain past findings relating familial atypical thyroid function and male homosexuality. Furthermore, skewed X chromosome inactivation has been found in the thyroid condition, Graves' disease, as well as in mothers of homosexual men. On pericentromeric chromosome 8 within our previously reported linkage peak, we found support (p = 4.1 × 10 -3 ) for a SNP association previously reported (rs77013977, p = 7.1 × 10 -8 ), with the combined analysis yielding p = 6.7 × 10 -9 , i.e., a genome-wide significant association

Actin and myosin contribute to mammalian mitochondrial DNA maintenance.

Mitochondrial DNA maintenance and segregation are dependent on the actin cytoskeleton in budding yeast. We found two cytoskeletal proteins among six proteins tightly associated with rat liver mitochondrial DNA: non-muscle myosin heavy chain IIA and β-actin. In human cells, transient gene silencing of MYH9 (encoding non-muscle myosin heavy chain IIA), or the closely related MYH10 gene (encoding non-muscle myosin heavy chain IIB), altered the topology and increased the copy number of mitochondrial DNA; and the latter effect was enhanced when both genes were targeted simultaneously. In contrast, genetic ablation of non-muscle myosin IIB was associated with a 60% decrease in mitochondrial DNA copy number in mouse embryonic fibroblasts, compared to control cells. Gene silencing of β-actin also affected mitochondrial DNA copy number and organization. Protease-protection experiments and iodixanol gradient analysis suggest some β-actin and non-muscle myosin heavy chain IIA reside within human mitochondria and confirm that they are associated with mitochondrial DNA. Collectively, these results strongly implicate the actomyosin cytoskeleton in mammalian mitochondrial DNA maintenance.Medical Research Council; the European Union; the Intramural Research Program of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and National Heart; Lung and Blood Institute; National Institutes of Health and grants [CMRPG360491-2, 380651, NSC 97-2321-B-182A-002-MY2] from the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Lin-Kou, Taiwan (to C.C.M.). Funding for open access charge: Medical Research Council

Vascular responses of the extremities to transdermal application of vasoactive agents in Caucasian and African descent individuals

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Springer in European Journal of Applied Physiology on 04/04/2015, available online: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-015-3164-2 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Purpose: Individuals of African descent (AFD) are more susceptible to non-freezing cold injury than Caucasians (CAU) which may be due, in part, to differences in the control of skin blood flow. We investigated the skin blood flow responses to transdermal application of vasoactive agents. Methods: Twenty-four young males (12 CAU and 12 AFD) undertook three tests in which iontophoresis was used to apply acetylcholine (ACh 1 w/v %), sodium nitroprusside (SNP 0.01 w/v %) and noradrenaline (NA 0.5 mM) to the skin. The skin sites tested were: volar forearm, non-glabrous finger and toe, and glabrous finger (pad) and toe (pad). Results: In response to SNP on the forearm, AFD had less vasodilatation for a given current application than CAU (P = 0.027–0.004). ACh evoked less vasodilatation in AFD for a given application current in the non-glabrous finger and toe compared with CAU (P = 0.043–0.014) with a lower maximum vasodilatation in the non-glabrous finger (median [interquartile], AFD n = 11, 41[234] %, CAU n = 12, 351[451] %, P = 0.011) and non-glabrous toe (median [interquartile], AFD n = 9, 116[318] %, CAU n = 12, 484[720] %, P = 0.018). ACh and SNP did not elicit vasodilatation in the glabrous skin sites of either group. There were no ethnic differences in response to NA. Conclusion: AFD have an attenuated endothelium-dependent vasodilatation in non-glabrous sites of the fingers and toes compared with CAU. This may contribute to lower skin temperature following cold exposure and the increased risk of cold injuries experienced by AFD.Published versio

Image Feature Extraction Acceleration

Image feature extraction is instrumental for most of the best-performing algorithms in computer vision. However, it is also expensive in terms of computational and memory resources for embedded systems due to the need of dealing with individual pixels at the earliest processing levels. In this regard, conventional system architectures do not take advantage of potential exploitation of parallelism and distributed memory from the very beginning of the processing chain. Raw pixel values provided by the front-end image sensor are squeezed into a high-speed interface with the rest of system components. Only then, after deserializing this massive dataflow, parallelism, if any, is exploited. This chapter introduces a rather different approach from an architectural point of view. We present two Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) where the 2-D array of photo-sensitive devices featured by regular imagers is combined with distributed memory supporting concurrent processing. Custom circuitry is added per pixel in order to accelerate image feature extraction right at the focal plane. Specifically, the proposed sensing-processing chips aim at the acceleration of two flagships algorithms within the computer vision community: the Viola-Jones face detection algorithm and the Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT). Experimental results prove the feasibility and benefits of this architectural solution.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2012-38921-C02, IPT-2011- 1625-430000, IPC-20111009Junta de Andalucía TIC 2338-2013Xunta de Galicia EM2013/038Office of NavalResearch (USA) N00014141035

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Female Sexual Orientation, Childhood Gender Typicality and Adult Gender Identity

Background: Human sexual orientation is influenced by genetic and non-shared environmental factors as are two important psychological correlates – childhood gender typicality (CGT) and adult gender identity (AGI). However, researchers have been unable to resolve the genetic and non-genetic components that contribute to the covariation between these traits, particularly in women. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we performed a multivariate genetic analysis in a large sample of British female twins (N = 4,426) who completed a questionnaire assessing sexual attraction, CGT and AGI. Univariate genetic models indicated modest genetic influences on sexual attraction (25%), AGI (11%) and CGT (31%). For the multivariate analyses, a common pathway model best fitted the data. Conclusions/Significance: This indicated that a single latent variable influenced by a genetic component and common nonshared environmental component explained the association between the three traits but there was substantial measurement error. These findings highlight common developmental factors affecting differences in sexual orientation

Average distances on self-similar sets and higher order average distances of self-similar measures

The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) we study different notions of the average distance between two points of a self-similar subset of ℝ, and (2) we investigate the asymptotic behaviour of higher order average moments of self-similar measures on self-similar subsets of ℝ

Family-based Genome-wide Association Study of South Indian Pedigrees Supports WNT7B as a Central Corneal Thickness Locus

Purpose To identify genetic risk factors contributing to central corneal thickness (CCT) in individuals from South India, a population with a high prevalence of ocular disorders. Methods: One hundred ninety-five individuals from 15 large South Indian pedigrees were genotyped using the Omni2.5 bead array. Family-based association for CCT was conducted using the score test in MERLIN. Results: Genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified strongest association for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the first intron of WNT7B and CCT (top SNP rs9330813; β = −0.57, 95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.78 to −0.36; P = 1.7 × 10−7). We further investigated rs9330813 in a Latino cohort and four independent European cohorts. A meta-analysis of these data sets demonstrated statistically significant association between rs9330813 and CCT (β = −3.94, 95% CI: −5.23 to −2.66; P = 1.7 × 10−9). WNT7B SNPs located in the same genomic region that includes rs9330813 have previously been associated with CCT in Latinos but with other ocular quantitative traits related to myopia (corneal curvature and axial length) in a Japanese population (rs10453441 and rs200329677). To evaluate the specificity of the observed WNT7B association with CCT in the South Indian families, we completed an ocular phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) for the top WNT7B SNPs using 45 ocular traits measured in these same families including corneal curvature and axial length. The ocular PheWAS results indicate that in the South Indian families WNT7B SNPs are primarily associated with CCT. Conclusions: The results indicate robust evidence for association between WNT7B SNPs and CCT in South Indian pedigrees, and suggest that WNT7B SNPs can have population-specific effects on ocular quantitative traits

Medicinal importance of grapefruit juice and its interaction with various drugs

Grapefruit juice is consumed widely in today's health conscious world as a protector against cardiovascular diseases and cancers. It has however, been found to be an inhibitor of the intestinal cytochrome P – 450 3A4 system, which is responsible for the first pass metabolism of many drugs. The P – glycoprotein pump, found in the brush border of the intestinal wall which transports many of these cytochrome P – 450 3A4 substrates, has also been implicated to be inhibited by grapefruit juice. By inhibiting these enzyme systems, grapefruit juice alters the pharmacokinetics of a variety of medications, leading to elevation of their serum concentrations. Most notable are its effects on the calcium channel antagonist and the statin group of drugs. In the case of many drugs, the increased serum concentration has been found to be associated with increased frequency of dose dependent adverse effects. In this review, we have discussed the phytochemistry of grapefruit juice, the various drugs involved in the drug – grapefruit juice eraction with their mechanisms of action and have presented the clinical implications of these interactions