Genetic and Mechanistic Evaluation for the Mixed-Field Agglutination in B3 Blood Type with IVS3+5G>A ABO Gene Mutation

Background: The ABO blood type B3 is the most common B subtype in the Chinese population with a frequency of 1/900. Although IVS3+5G.A (rs55852701) mutation of B gene has been shown to associate with the development of B3 blood type, genetic and mechanistic evaluation for the unique mixed-field agglutination phenotype has not yet been completely addressed. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this study, we analyzed 16 cases of confirmed B3 individuals and found that IVS3+5G.A attributes to all cases of B3. RT-PCR analyses revealed the presence of at least 7 types of aberrant B3 splicing transcripts with most of the transcripts causing early termination and producing non-functional protein during translation. The splicing transcript without exon 3 that was predicted to generate functional B3 glycosyltransferase lacking 19 amino acids at the N-terminal segment constituted only 0.9 % of the splicing transcripts. Expression of the B3 cDNA with exon 3 deletion in the K562 erythroleukemia cells revealed that the B3 glycosyltransferase had only 40 % of B1 activity in converting H antigen to B antigen. Notably, the typical mixed-field agglutination of B3-RBCs can be mimicked by adding anti-B antibody to the K562-B3 cells. Conclusions/Significance: This study thereby demonstrates that both aberrant splicing of B transcripts and the reduced B3 glycosyltransferase activity contribute to weak B expression and the mixed-field agglutination of B3, adding to th

Development of a Model System to Identify Differences in Spring and Winter Oat

Our long-term goal is to develop a Swedish winter oat (Avena sativa). To identify molecular differences that correlate with winter hardiness, a winter oat model comprising of both non-hardy spring lines and winter hardy lines is needed. To achieve this, we selected 294 oat breeding lines, originating from various Russian, German, and American winter oat breeding programs and tested them in the field in south- and western Sweden. By assaying for winter survival and agricultural properties during four consecutive seasons, we identified 14 breeding lines of different origins that not only survived the winter but also were agronomically better than the rest. Laboratory tests including electrolytic leakage, controlled crown freezing assay, expression analysis of the AsVrn1 gene and monitoring of flowering time suggested that the American lines had the highest freezing tolerance, although the German lines performed better in the field. Finally, six lines constituting the two most freezing tolerant lines, two intermediate lines and two spring cultivars were chosen to build a winter oat model system. Metabolic profiling of non-acclimated and cold acclimated leaf tissue samples isolated from the six selected lines revealed differential expression patterns of 245 metabolites including several sugars, amino acids, organic acids and 181 hitherto unknown metabolites. The expression patterns of 107 metabolites showed significant interactions with either a cultivar or a time-point. Further identification, characterisation and validation of these metabolites will lead to an increased understanding of the cold acclimation process in oats. Furthermore, by using the winter oat model system, differential sequencing of crown mRNA populations would lead to identification of various biomarkers to facilitate winter oat breeding

A new species of Stenobiella Tillyard (Neuroptera, Berothidae) from Australia

Stenobiella variola sp. n., a new species of beaded lacewing (Neuroptera: Berothidae), is described and figured from south-eastern Australia. A preliminary key to Stenobiella species is presented

A randomized comparison between three types of irrigating fluids during transurethral resection in benign prostatic hyperplasia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Central nervous system changes, circulatory and electrolyte imbalances are the main complications of endoscopic transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) which is known as transurethral resection (TUR) syndrome, which occurs as result of excessive absorption of irrigating fluid. We compare glycine 1.5% versus glucose 5% and normal saline 0.9% as irrigating solutions during TURP in patients with moderate to severe bladder outlet obstruction due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Three hundred sixty patients with symptomatic BPH were randomized into a prospective, controlled trial comparing the three irrigation modalities. One-hundred twenty patients used glycine 1.5% solution as irrigating fluid (glycine group), 120 patients used glucose 5% solution (glucose group) and 120 patients used normal saline 0.9% solution (saline group). Patient's demographics, operation time, hospital stay, postoperative amino acid glycine assay, postoperative serum cardiac troponin I and perioperative complications were noted.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>No difference was found between the groups in the immediate postoperative levels of hemoglobin and hematocrite. A high glycine level was associated with the TUR syndrome. Seventeen patients had TUR syndrome; all were in glycine group and they had the highest postoperative amino acid glycine levels. Slight increase in serum sodium (142.6 ± 12.6 mmol/l) was detected in saline group. Transient Hyperglycemia (170 ± 35.9 mg/dl) and hypokalemia (3.67 ± 0.92 mmol/l) occurred in the immediate postoperative period in the glucose group.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Endoscopic TURP performed using either glucose 5% or saline 0.9% irrigating solution during and after surgery is associated with lower incidence of TUR syndrome, lower catheterization period, shorter hospital stay and no cardiac toxicity in comparison with glycine 1.5% solution.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>This clinical trail had been approved and registered in PACT Registry; with identification number for the registry is ATMR2010010001793131.</p

Low oxygen saturation and mortality in an adult cohort; the Tromsø Study

Published version, also available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12890-015-0003-5Background: Oxygen saturation has been shown in risk score models to predict mortality in emergency medicine. The aim of this study was to determine whether low oxygen saturation measured by a single-point measurement by pulse oximetry (SpO2) is associated with increased mortality in the general adult population. Methods: Pulse oximetry was performed in 5,152 participants in a cross-sectional survey in Tromsø, Norway, in 2001–2002 (“Tromsø 5”). Ten-year follow-up data for all-cause mortality and cause of death were obtained from the National Population and the Cause of Death Registries, respectively. Cause of death was grouped into four categories: cardiovascular disease, cancer except lung cancer, pulmonary disease, and others. SpO2 categories were assessed as predictors for all-cause mortality and death using Cox proportional-hazards regression models after correcting for age, sex, smoking history, body mass index (BMI), C-reactive protein level, self-reported diseases, respiratory symptoms, and spirometry results. Results: The mean age was 65.8 years, and 56% were women. During the follow-up, 1,046 (20.3%) participants died. The age- and sex-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) (95% confidence intervals) for all-cause mortality were 1.99 (1.33–2.96) for SpO2 ≤ 92% and 1.36 (1.15–1.60) for SpO2 93–95%, compared with SpO2 ≥ 96%. In the multivariable Cox proportional-hazards regression models that included self-reported diseases, respiratory symptoms, smoking history, BMI, and CRP levels as the explanatory variables, SpO2 remained a significant predictor of all-cause mortality. However, after including forced expiratory volume in 1 s percent predicted (FEV1% predicted), this association was no longer significant. Mortality caused by pulmonary diseases was significantly associated with SpO2 even when FEV1% predicted was included in the model. Conclusions: Low oxygen saturation was independently associated with increased all-cause mortality and mortality caused by pulmonary diseases. When FEV1% predicted was included in the analysis, the strength of the association weakened but was still statistically significant for mortality caused by pulmonary diseases

Between-group competition elicits within-group cooperation in children

Aggressive interactions between groups are frequent in human societies and can bear significant fitness costs and benefits (e.g. death or access to resources). During between-group competitive interactions, more cohesive groups (i.e. groups formed by individuals who cooperate in group defence) should out-perform less cohesive groups, other factors being equal (e.g. group size). The cost/benefit of between-group competition are thought to have driven correlated evolution of traits that favour between-group aggression and within-group cooperation (e.g. parochial altruism). Our aim was to analyse whether the proximate relationship between between-group competition and within-group cooperation is found in 3–10 years old children and the developmental trajectory of such a relationship. We used a large cohort of children (n = 120) and tested whether simulated between-group competition increased within-group cooperation (i.e. how much of a resource children were giving to their group companions) in two experiments. We found greater within-group cooperation when groups of four children were competing with other groups then in the control condition (no between-group competition). Within-group cooperation increased with age. Our study suggests that parochial altruism and in-group/out-group biases emerge early during the course of human development

Deep-Inelastic Inclusive ep Scattering at Low x and a Determination of alpha_s

A precise measurement of the inclusive deep-inelastic e^+p scattering cross section is reported in the kinematic range 1.5<= Q^2 <=150 GeV^2 and 3*10^(-5)<= x <=0.2. The data were recorded with the H1 detector at HERA in 1996 and 1997, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20 pb^(-1). The double differential cross section, from which the proton structure function F_2(x,Q^2) and the longitudinal structure function F_L(x,Q^2) are extracted, is measured with typically 1% statistical and 3% systematic uncertainties. The measured partial derivative (dF_2(x,Q^2)/dln Q^2)_x is observed to rise continuously towards small x for fixed Q^2. The cross section data are combined with published H1 measurements at high Q^2 for a next-to-leading order DGLAP QCD analysis.The H1 data determine the gluon momentum distribution in the range 3*10^(-4)<= x <=0.1 to within an experimental accuracy of about 3% for Q^2 =20 GeV^2. A fit of the H1 measurements and the mu p data of the BCDMS collaboration allows the strong coupling constant alpha_s and the gluon distribution to be simultaneously determined. A value of alpha _s(M_Z^2)=0.1150+-0.0017 (exp) +0.0009-0.0005 (model) is obtained in NLO, with an additional theoretical uncertainty of about +-0.005, mainly due to the uncertainty of the renormalisation scale.Comment: 68 pages, 24 figures and 18 table

Evaluation of associations between genetically predicted circulating protein biomarkers and breast cancer risk.

A small number of circulating proteins have been reported to be associated with breast cancer risk, with inconsistent results. Herein, we attempted to identify novel protein biomarkers for breast cancer via the integration of genomics and proteomics data. In the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC), with 122,977 cases and 105,974 controls of European descendants, we evaluated the associations of the genetically predicted concentrations of >1,400 circulating proteins with breast cancer risk. We used data from a large-scale protein quantitative trait loci (pQTL) analysis as our study instrument. Summary statistics for these pQTL variants related to breast cancer risk were obtained from the BCAC and used to estimate odds ratios (OR) for each protein using the inverse-variance weighted method. We identified 56 proteins significantly associated with breast cancer risk by instrumental analysis (false discovery rate <0.05). Of these, the concentrations of 32 were influenced by variants close to a breast cancer susceptibility locus (ABO, 9q34.2). Many of these proteins, such as insulin receptor, insulin-like growth factor receptor 1 and other membrane receptors (OR: 0.82-1.18, p values: 6.96 × 10-4 -3.28 × 10-8 ), are linked to insulin resistance and estrogen receptor signaling pathways. Proteins identified at other loci include those involved in biological processes such as alcohol and lipid metabolism, proteolysis, apoptosis, immune regulation and cell motility and proliferation. Consistent associations were observed for 22 proteins in the UK Biobank data (p < 0.05). The study identifies potential novel biomarkers for breast cancer, but further investigation is needed to replicate our findings.Includes CRUK and FP7

Intergenerational Transmission of Multiple Problem Behaviors: Prospective Relationships between Mothers and Daughters

Much of the research examining intergenerational continuity of problems from mother to offspring has focused on homotypic continuity (e.g., depression), despite the fact that different types of mental health problems tend to cluster in both adults and children. It remains unclear whether mothers with multiple mental health problems compared to mothers with fewer or no problems are more likely to have daughters with multiple mental health problems during middle childhood (ages 7 to 11). Six waves of maternal and child data from the Pittsburgh Girls Study (n = 2,451) were used to examine the specificity of effects of maternal psychopathology on child adjustment. Child multiple mental health problems comprised disruptive behavior, ADHD symptoms, depressed mood, anxiety symptoms and somatic complaints, while maternal multiple mental health problems consisted of depression, prior conduct problems and somatic complaints. Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) was used to examine the prospective relationships between mother’s single and multiple mental health problems and their daughter’s single and multiple mental health problems across the elementary school-aged period (ages 7–11 years). The results show that multiple mental health problems in the mothers predicted multiple mental health problems in the daughters even when earlier mental health problem of the daughters, demographic factors, and childrearing practices were controlled. Maternal low parental warmth and harsh punishment independently contributed to the prediction of multiple mental health problems in their daughter, but mediation analyses showed that the contribution of parenting behaviors to the explanation of girls’ mental health problems was small