Synchronized age-related gene expression changes across multiple tissues in human and the link to complex diseases

Aging is one of the most important biological processes and is a known risk factor for many age-related diseases in human. Studying age-related transcriptomic changes in tissues across the whole body can provide valuable information for a holistic understanding of this fundamental process. In this work, we catalogue age-related gene expression changes in nine tissues from nearly two hundred individuals collected by the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project. In general, we find the aging gene expression signatures are very tissue specific. However, enrichment for some well-known aging components such as mitochondria biology is observed in many tissues. Different levels of cross-tissue synchronization of age-related gene expression changes are observed, and some essential tissues (e.g., heart and lung) show much stronger "co-aging" than other tissues based on a principal component analysis. The aging gene signatures and complex disease genes show a complex overlapping pattern and only in some cases, we see that they are significantly overlapped in the tissues affected by the corresponding diseases. In summary, our analyses provide novel insights to the co-regulation of age-related gene expression in multiple tissues; it also presents a tissue-specific view of the link between aging and age-related diseases

Tris(ortho-carboranyl)borane: An Isolable, Halogen-Free, Lewis Superacid

The synthesis of tris(ortho-carboranyl)borane (BoCb3), a single site neutral Lewis superacid, in one pot from commercially available materials is achieved. The high fluoride ion affinity (FIA) confirms its classification as a Lewis superacid and the Gutmann-Beckett method as well as adducts with Lewis bases indicate stronger Lewis acidity over the widely used fluorinated aryl boranes. The electron withdrawing effect of ortho-carborane and lack of pi-delocalization of the LUMO rationalize the unusually high Lewis acidity. Catalytic studies indicate that BoCb3 is a superior catalyst for promoting C−F bond functionalization reactions than tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane [B(C6F5)3]

A Method for Optimizing Complex Graphical Interfaces for Fast and Correct Perception of System States

Part 2: Model-Based and Model-Driven ApproachesInternational audienceThe amount of information a human has to process continuously increases. In this regard, successful human performance depends on the ability of a human to perceive a system state as quickly and accurately as possible - ideally with a single glance. This becomes even more important in case several tasks have to be performed in parallel. It was shown earlier that monitoring user interfaces with a limited amount of information can be optimized for fast and accurate perception by combining all information into one integrated visual form. But systems that consist of several parallel tasks, each involving a whole bunch of parameters cannot be condensed into one single visual form. We propose an improved method that supports optimizing entire user interfaces consisting of several parallel tasks for fast and accurate perception (Konect). We evaluated the method in 6 workshops for that a total of 12 designers applied the method, which they learned by written instruction cards. Working in teams of two they were all able to design and optimize their designs first on a single task level (i.e. the original method) and thereafter on the global level (i.e. applying the new version). We evaluated their design outcomes thereafter in a laboratory experiment with 18 participants that were asked to distinguish critical and non-critical situations as fast and accurate as possible. Subjects were significantly faster ($$p<0.001$$) and also significantly more accurate ($$p<0.001$$) for those designs that were gained by the new version of Konect than those for the old one