Preconceptional smoking alters spermatozoal miRNAs of murine fathers and affects offspring’s body weight

Background Active smoking has been reported among 7% of teenagers worldwide, with ages ranging from 13 to 15 years. An epidemiological study suggested that preconceptional paternal smoking is associated with adolescent obesity in boys. We developed a murine adolescent smoking model before conception to investigate the paternal molecular causes of changes in offspring’s phenotype. Method Male and female C57BL/6J mice were exposed to increasing doses of mainstream cigarette smoke (CS) from onset of puberty for 6 weeks and mated with room air (RA) controls. Results Thirteen miRNAs were upregulated and 32 downregulated in the spermatozoa of CS-exposed fathers, while there were no significant differences in the count and morphological integrity of spermatozoa, as well as the proliferation of spermatogonia between CS- and RA-exposed fathers. Offspring from preconceptional CS-exposed mothers had lower body weights (p = 0.007). Moreover, data from offspring from CS-exposed fathers suggested a potential increase in body weight (p = 0.062). Conclusion We showed that preconceptional paternal CS exposure regulates spermatozoal miRNAs, and possibly influences the body weight of F1 progeny in early life. The regulated miRNAs may modulate transmittable epigenetic changes to offspring, thus influence the development of respiratory- and metabolic-related diseases such as obesity, a mechanism that warrants further studies for elaborate explanations

Understanding American Power:Conceptual clarity, strategic priorities and the decline debate

What does it mean for the United States to be powerful? The prospect of a decline in American power, especially relative to a rising China, has attracted considerable scholarly and political attention. Despite a wealth of data, disagreements persist regarding both the likely trajectory of the US-China balance and the most effective strategy for preserving America’s advantage into the future. This article locates the source of these enduring disputes in fundamental conceptual differences over the meaning of power itself. We map the distinct tracks of argument within the decline debate, showing that competing positions are often rooted in differences of focus rather than disputes over fact. Most fundamental is a divide between analyses dedicated to national capabilities, and others that emphasise mechanisms of relational power. This divide underpins how strategists think about the goal of preserving or extending American power. We therefore construct a typology of competing understandings of what it means for America to be powerful, to show that a strategy suited to bolstering American power according to one definition of that goal may not support, and may even undermine, American power understood in other ways

A user's guide to the Encyclopedia of DNA elements (ENCODE)

The mission of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) Project is to enable the scientific and medical communities to interpret the human genome sequence and apply it to understand human biology and improve health. The ENCODE Consortium is integrating multiple technologies and approaches in a collective effort to discover and define the functional elements encoded in the human genome, including genes, transcripts, and transcriptional regulatory regions, together with their attendant chromatin states and DNA methylation patterns. In the process, standards to ensure high-quality data have been implemented, and novel algorithms have been developed to facilitate analysis. Data and derived results are made available through a freely accessible database. Here we provide an overview of the project and the resources it is generating and illustrate the application of ENCODE data to interpret the human genome

FOURIER TRANSFORM EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY AT 13μm13 \mu m : SiS

Author Institution: Department of Chemistry, University of ArizonaThe vibration-rotation spectrum of silicon monosulfide, an important astrophysical molecule, has been observed in emission between 640 and $800 cm^{-1}$ using the Fourier transform spectrometer associated with The McMath Solar Telescope at Kitt Peak. Gas phase SiS was produced by the reaction of solid silicon with silicon disulfide. $SiS_{2}$. in an alumina heat pipe oven. The mixture was heated to $1000^{\circ} C$ and the mission was focused on the entrance aperture of the Fourier transform spectrometer. More than two thousand four hundred lines were assigned to four isotopomers $(^{28}Si^{32}S, ^{28}S^{34}Si,^{29}Si^{32}S$ and $^{12}Si ^{32}S$). The data for all the isotopomers series were fitted together using the mass-reduced Dunham expression including Watson's Born-Oppenheimer breakdown coefficients

FOURIER TRANSFORM SPECTROSCOPY OF THE VIBRATION-ROTATION BANDS OF THE IF MOLECULE.

Author Institution: Department of Chemistry, University of ArizonaHigh resolution absorption spectra of the IF molecule in the $X^{1}E$ ground state have been observed with the Kitt Peak Fourier transform spectrometer in the transient products of a $F_{2}/I_{2}$ flame. Analyses of the (1,0) and (2,1) bands around $600 cm^{-1}$. and the (2,0) band around $1200 cm^{-1}$ yielded accurate molecular constants. Estimates of the IF concentration, temperature and linewidths were also made

THE HIGH RESOLUTION EMISSION SPECTRUM OF GASEOUS LiF.

Author Institution: Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Centre of Molecular Beam and Laser Chemistry; Department of Chemistry, University of ArizonaThe high resolution infrared spectrum of LiF has been measured in emission with the McMath Fourier transform interferometer at Kitt Peak. 800 lines with $\nu=1\rightarrow 0$ to $\nu=8\rightarrow 7$ of the main isotopomer $^{7}$LiF and 250 lines with $\nu=1\rightarrow 0$ to $\nu=3\rightarrow 2$ of the minor isotopomer $^{6}$LiF were observed. These ro-vibrational transitions and pure rotational transitions from the $literature^{1}$ were fit to a set of Dunham coefficients $Y_{ij}$ and a set of mass-reduced Dunham coefficients $U_{ij}$. The infrared spectrum of LiF was found ``accidentally"" during an attempt to measure the infrared spectrum of $MgF_{2}$. $^{1}$ F.F. Pearson and W. Gordy, Phys. Rev., 177, 52--58 (1969