TERRA-Dunes: natuurherstel in de duinen met bodemtransplantaties

Environmental Biolog

Ondergrondse schimmeloorlog stuurt de ontwikkeling van een plantengemeenschap in de duinen

Plant science

Scaling anomaly in cosmic string background

We show that the classical scale symmetry of a particle moving in cosmic string background is broken upon inequivalent quantization of the classical system, leading to anomaly. The consequence of this anomaly is the formation of single bound state in the coupling interval \gamma\in(-1,1). The inequivalent quantization is characterized by a 1-parameter family of self-adjoint extension parameter \omega. It has been conjectured that the formation of loosely bound state in cosmic string background may lead to the so called anomalous scattering cross section for the particles, which is usually seen in molecular physics.Comment: 4 pages,1 figur

Activin Receptor-like Kinase 1 Ligand Trap Reduces Microvascular Density and Improves Chemotherapy Efficiency to Various Solid Tumors

Therapeutic cell differentiatio

Age at first birth in women is genetically associated with increased risk of schizophrenia

Prof. Paunio on PGC:n jäsenPrevious studies have shown an increased risk for mental health problems in children born to both younger and older parents compared to children of average-aged parents. We previously used a novel design to reveal a latent mechanism of genetic association between schizophrenia and age at first birth in women (AFB). Here, we use independent data from the UK Biobank (N = 38,892) to replicate the finding of an association between predicted genetic risk of schizophrenia and AFB in women, and to estimate the genetic correlation between schizophrenia and AFB in women stratified into younger and older groups. We find evidence for an association between predicted genetic risk of schizophrenia and AFB in women (P-value = 1.12E-05), and we show genetic heterogeneity between younger and older AFB groups (P-value = 3.45E-03). The genetic correlation between schizophrenia and AFB in the younger AFB group is -0.16 (SE = 0.04) while that between schizophrenia and AFB in the older AFB group is 0.14 (SE = 0.08). Our results suggest that early, and perhaps also late, age at first birth in women is associated with increased genetic risk for schizophrenia in the UK Biobank sample. These findings contribute new insights into factors contributing to the complex bio-social risk architecture underpinning the association between parental age and offspring mental health.Peer reviewe

Age-related increase in 4-hydroxynonenal adduction to rat heart alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase does not cause loss of its catalytic activity

4-hydroxynonenal (HNE), a product of omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid peroxidation, impairs mitochondrial respiration in vitro by adducting the alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex (KGDC) and inhibiting its activity. The present study seeks to define whether aging increases HNE adduction to rat heart KGDC, and whether such adduction impacts KGDC activity. We found that hearts from old rats exhibit significantly (p< or =0.01) higher HNE-modified mitochondrial proteins when compared with those from young rats. Among these proteins, dihydrolipoamide succinyltransferase, the E2k component of KGDC, was most markedly modified (p< or =0.01) by HNE with age. As opposed to that seen in vitro, no significant change in electrophoretic mobility or impairment in enzyme activity was observed. On the contrary, KGDC activity increased onefold (p< or =0.01) in old rats, suggesting that the aging myocardium is not affected by HNE adduction or compensates for such damage. Further analysis revealed that heightened KGDC activity was not due to increased protein content or gene expression, but correlates with a lower Km for alpha-ketoglutarate. Thus, contrary to that observed in vitro, the measurement of HNE-KGDC adduct in rat heart is more relevant as a marker of age-related protein oxidation than a factor of mitochondrial dysfunction