A merocyanine-based conductive polymer

We report the first example of a conducting polymer with a merocyanine incorporated into the polymer backbone by electropolymerisation of a spiropyran moiety covalently linked between two alkoxythiophene units. Utilising the known metal coordination capabilities of merocyanines, introduction of cobalt ions into the electropolymerisation led to an enhancement of the conductivity, morphology and optical properties of the polymer films

Two-magnon Raman scattering in insulating cuprates: Modifications of the effective Raman operator

Calculations of Raman scattering intensities in spin 1/2 square-lattice Heisenberg model, using the Fleury-Loudon-Elliott theory, have so far been unable to describe the broad line shape and asymmetry of the two magnon peak found experimentally in the cuprate materials. Even more notably, the polarization selection rules are violated with respect to the Fleury-Loudon-Elliott theory. There is comparable scattering in $B_{1g}$ and $A_{1g}$ geometries, whereas the theory would predict scattering in only $B_{1g}$ geometry. We review various suggestions for this discrepency and suggest that at least part of the problem can be addressed by modifying the effective Raman Hamiltonian, allowing for two-magnon states with arbitrary total momentum. Such an approach based on the Sawatzsky-Lorenzana theory of optical absorption assumes an important role of phonons as momentum sinks. It leaves the low energy physics of the Heisenberg model unchanged but substantially alters the Raman line-shape and selection rules, bringing the results closer to experiments.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, revtex. Contains some minor revisions from previous versio

The Structure of Interpretations in Family Therapy: A Video-Enhanced Exploration *

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73991/1/j.1545-5300.2000.39204.x.pd

Temporal, spatial, and structural patterns of adult trembling aspen and white spruce mortality in Quebec's boreal forest

Temporal, spatial, and structural patterns of adult trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) and white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) mortality were studied in intact 150-year-old stands in the southwestern boreal forest of Quebec. For both species, mortality decreases (number of dead trees/total number of trees) with distance from the lake edge until 100-150 m, from which point it slightly increases. Strong peaks in mortality were found for 40- to 60-year-old aspen mainly between 1974 and 1992. Such mortality in relatively young aspen is likely related to competition for light from the dominant canopy trees. Also, the recruitment of this young aspen cohort is presumably the result of a stand breakup that occurred when the initial aspen-dominated stand was between 90 and 110 years old. For spruce, strong peaks in mortality were found in 110- to 150-year-old trees and they occurred mainly after 1980. No clear explanation could be found for these peaks, but we suggest that they may be related to senescence or weakening of the trees following the last spruce budworm outbreak. Suppressed and codominant aspen had a much higher mortality ratio than spruce in the same height class, while more surprisingly, no difference in mortality rate was found between dominant trees of the two species. Most spruce trees were found as standing dead, which leads us to reject the hypothesis that windthrow is an important cause of mortality for spruce in our forests

Transitions of cardio-metabolic risk factors in the Americas between 1980 and 2014

Describing the prevalence and trends of cardiometabolic risk factors that are associated with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is crucial for monitoring progress, planning prevention, and providing evidence to support policy efforts. We aimed to analyse the transition in body-mass index (BMI), obesity, blood pressure, raised blood pressure, and diabetes in the Americas, between 1980 and 2014

Meta-analysis of type 2 Diabetes in African Americans Consortium

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is more prevalent in African Americans than in Europeans. However, little is known about the genetic risk in African Americans despite the recent identification of more than 70 T2D loci primarily by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in individuals of European ancestry. In order to investigate the genetic architecture of T2D in African Americans, the MEta-analysis of type 2 DIabetes in African Americans (MEDIA) Consortium examined 17 GWAS on T2D comprising 8,284 cases and 15,543 controls in African Americans in stage 1 analysis. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) association analysis was conducted in each study under the additive model after adjustment for age, sex, study site, and principal components. Meta-analysis of approximately 2.6 million genotyped and imputed SNPs in all studies was conducted using an inverse variance-weighted fixed effect model. Replications were performed to follow up 21 loci in up to 6,061 cases and 5,483 controls in African Americans, and 8,130 cases and 38,987 controls of European ancestry. We identified three known loci (TCF7L2, HMGA2 and KCNQ1) and two novel loci (HLA-B and INS-IGF2) at genome-wide significance (4.15 × 10(-94)<P<5 × 10(-8), odds ratio (OR)  = 1.09 to 1.36). Fine-mapping revealed that 88 of 158 previously identified T2D or glucose homeostasis loci demonstrated nominal to highly significant association (2.2 × 10(-23) < locus-wide P<0.05). These novel and previously identified loci yielded a sibling relative risk of 1.19, explaining 17.5% of the phenotypic variance of T2D on the liability scale in African Americans. Overall, this study identified two novel susceptibility loci for T2D in African Americans. A substantial number of previously reported loci are transferable to African Americans after accounting for linkage disequilibrium, enabling fine mapping of causal variants in trans-ethnic meta-analysis studies.Peer reviewe

Associations of autozygosity with a broad range of human phenotypes

In many species, the offspring of related parents suffer reduced reproductive success, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression. In humans, the importance of this effect has remained unclear, partly because reproduction between close relatives is both rare and frequently associated with confounding social factors. Here, using genomic inbreeding coefficients (F-ROH) for >1.4 million individuals, we show that F-ROH is significantly associated (p <0.0005) with apparently deleterious changes in 32 out of 100 traits analysed. These changes are associated with runs of homozygosity (ROH), but not with common variant homozygosity, suggesting that genetic variants associated with inbreeding depression are predominantly rare. The effect on fertility is striking: F-ROH equivalent to the offspring of first cousins is associated with a 55% decrease [95% CI 44-66%] in the odds of having children. Finally, the effects of F-ROH are confirmed within full-sibling pairs, where the variation in F-ROH is independent of all environmental confounding.Peer reviewe

Fine-mapping of prostate cancer susceptibility loci in a large meta-analysis identifies candidate causal variants

Prostate cancer is a polygenic disease with a large heritable component. A number of common, low-penetrance prostate cancer risk loci have been identified through GWAS. Here we apply the Bayesian multivariate variable selection algorithm JAM to fine-map 84 prostate cancer susceptibility loci, using summary data from a large European ancestry meta-analysis. We observe evidence for multiple independent signals at 12 regions and 99 risk signals overall. Only 15 original GWAS tag SNPs remain among the catalogue of candidate variants identified; the remainder are replaced by more likely candidates. Biological annotation of our credible set of variants indicates significant enrichment within promoter and enhancer elements, and transcription factor-binding sites, including AR, ERG and FOXA1. In 40 regions at least one variant is colocalised with an eQTL in prostate cancer tissue. The refined set of candidate variants substantially increase the proportion of familial relative risk explained by these known susceptibility regions, which highlights the importance of fine-mapping studies and has implications for clinical risk profiling. © 2018 The Author(s).Prostate cancer is a polygenic disease with a large heritable component. A number of common, low-penetrance prostate cancer risk loci have been identified through GWAS. Here we apply the Bayesian multivariate variable selection algorithm JAM to fine-map 84 prostate cancer susceptibility loci, using summary data from a large European ancestry meta-analysis. We observe evidence for multiple independent signals at 12 regions and 99 risk signals overall. Only 15 original GWAS tag SNPs remain among the catalogue of candidate variants identified; the remainder are replaced by more likely candidates. Biological annotation of our credible set of variants indicates significant enrichment within promoter and enhancer elements, and transcription factor-binding sites, including AR, ERG and FOXA1. In 40 regions at least one variant is colocalised with an eQTL in prostate cancer tissue. The refined set of candidate variants substantially increase the proportion of familial relative risk explained by these known susceptibility regions, which highlights the importance of fine-mapping studies and has implications for clinical risk profiling. © 2018 The Author(s).Peer reviewe

Measurements of differential production cross sections for a Z boson in association with jets in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe