Influence of drainpipe spacing on nitrate leaching and maize yield

The objectives of the study were to determine the extent of nitrate leaching and maize yields in four drainpipe spacing variants (15 m, 20 m, 25 m and 30 m). The study was carried out at an experimental reclamation field during a period of five years (growing seasons). Maize was grown as the trial crop and the same agricultural practices were applied in all drainpipe spacing variants in all trial years. Nitrogen fertilization rates varied in different trial years (from 145 kg/ha/year to 175 kg/ha/year). The results indicate that nitrate concentrations in drainage water exceeded the allowable values in a larger part of the year (four to seven months) in all drainpipe spacing variants and maximum values were from 18.15 mg.dm−3 (drainpipe spacing of 15 m in 1999/00) up to 34.71 mg.dm−3 (drainpipe spacing of 25 m in 2002/03). Quantity of nitrogen leached differed from year to year and corresponded to the total nitrogen added with fertilization and annual precipitation. Statistically significant higher maize yields were achieved in most years with the drainpipe spacing of 15 m compared to other drainpipe spacing variants

SPECIFIC BEHAVIOUR OF GUANOSINE IN LIPONUCLEOSIDE THIN FILMS

The development of methodology for the chemical synthesis of oligonucleotides is the first step for producing not only the natural G-quadruplex sequences but also a large number of modified G-quadruplexes and other G-based supramolecular motifs; these methodologies will be summarized in this chapter. Natural or chemically modified G-motifs can be characterized by a variety of techniques. This chapter will not give an exhaustive list of methodologies, but simply shows how it is possible to gain structural information on G-quadruplexes by means relatively uncommon techniques such as: (i) differential pulse voltammetry; (ii) atomic force microscopy; (iii) dynamic light scattering; (iv) solution X-ray scattering; (v) temperature gradient gel-electrophoresis; (vi) Langmuir-Blodgett technique. Many other techniques are more usually adopted in G4 characterization (NMR, Scanning Tunnel Microscopy, Circular Dichroism, X-ray diffraction \u2026) and examples of such applications can be found in the contributions to the other chapters of this book

Multi-omics integration analysis identifies novel genes for alcoholism with potential overlap with neurodegenerative diseases

Alcohol use disorder and drinks per week both have been studied genetically and have different correlations with psychiatric diseases. Here the authors integrate multi-omics data to identify unique and shared variants, genes and pathways for alcohol use disorder and drinks per week

Multivariate analysis of 1.5 million people identifies genetic associations with traits related to self-regulation and addiction.

Behaviors and disorders related to self-regulation, such as substance use, antisocial behavior and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, are collectively referred to as externalizing and have shared genetic liability. We applied a multivariate approach that leverages genetic correlations among externalizing traits for genome-wide association analyses. By pooling data from ~1.5 million people, our approach is statistically more powerful than single-trait analyses and identifies more than 500 genetic loci. The loci were enriched for genes expressed in the brain and related to nervous system development. A polygenic score constructed from our results predicts a range of behavioral and medical outcomes that were not part of genome-wide analyses, including traits that until now lacked well-performing polygenic scores, such as opioid use disorder, suicide, HIV infections, criminal convictions and unemployment. Our findings are consistent with the idea that persistent difficulties in self-regulation can be conceptualized as a neurodevelopmental trait with complex and far-reaching social and health correlates

Uncovering the genetic architecture of broad antisocial behavior through a genome-wide association study meta-analysis

Despite the substantial heritability of antisocial behavior (ASB), specific genetic variants robustly associated with the trait have not been identified. The present study by the Broad Antisocial Behavior Consortium (BroadABC) meta-analyzed data from 28 discovery samples (N = 85,359) and five independent replication samples (N = 8058) with genotypic data and broad measures of ASB. We identified the first significant genetic associations with broad ASB, involving common intronic variants in the forkhead box protein P2 (FOXP2) gene (lead SNP rs12536335, p = 6.32 × 10-10). Furthermore, we observed intronic variation in Foxp2 and one of its targets (Cntnap2) distinguishing a mouse model of pathological aggression (BALB/cJ strain) from controls (BALB/cByJ strain). Polygenic risk score (PRS) analyses in independent samples revealed that the genetic risk for ASB was associated with several antisocial outcomes across the lifespan, including diagnosis of conduct disorder, official criminal convictions, and trajectories of antisocial development. We found substantial genetic correlations of ASB with mental health (depression rg = 0.63, insomnia rg = 0.47), physical health (overweight rg = 0.19, waist-to-hip ratio rg = 0.32), smoking (rg = 0.54), cognitive ability (intelligence rg = -0.40), educational attainment (years of schooling rg = -0.46) and reproductive traits (age at first birth rg = -0.58, father's age at death rg = -0.54). Our findings provide a starting point toward identifying critical biosocial risk mechanisms for the development of ASB

Genome-wide association study identifies 30 obsessive-compulsive disorder associated loci

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) affects ~1% of the population and exhibits a high SNP-heritability, yet previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have provided limited information on the genetic etiology and underlying biological mechanisms of the disorder. We conducted a GWAS meta-analysis combining 53,660 OCD cases and 2,044,417 controls from 28 European-ancestry cohorts revealing 30 independent genome-wide significant SNPs and a SNP-based heritability of 6.7%. Separate GWAS for clinical, biobank, comorbid, and self-report sub-groups found no evidence of sample ascertainment impacting our results. Functional and positional QTL gene-based approaches identified 249 significant candidate risk genes for OCD, of which 25 were identified as putatively causal, highlighting WDR6, DALRD3, CTNND1 and genes in the MHC region. Tissue and single-cell enrichment analyses highlighted hippocampal and cortical excitatory neurons, along with D1- and D2-type dopamine receptor-containing medium spiny neurons, as playing a role in OCD risk. OCD displayed significant genetic correlations with 65 out of 112 examined phenotypes. Notably, it showed positive genetic correlations with all included psychiatric phenotypes, in particular anxiety, depression, anorexia nervosa, and Tourette syndrome, and negative correlations with a subset of the included autoimmune disorders, educational attainment, and body mass index. This study marks a significant step toward unraveling its genetic landscape and advances understanding of OCD genetics, providing a foundation for future interventions to address this debilitating disorder