NCAM1, TACR1 and NOS Genes and Temperament: A Study on Suicide Attempters and Controls

Suicide, one of the leading causes of death among young adults, seems to be plausibly modulated by both genetic and personality factors. The aim of this study was to dissect the potential association between genetics and temperament in a sample of 111 suicide attempters and 289 healthy controls. We focused on 4 genes previously investigated in association with suicide on the same sample: the nitric oxide synthase 1 and 3 (NOS1 and NOS3), the neuronal cell adhesion molecule 1 (NCAM1), and the tachykinin receptor 1 (TACR1) genes. In particular, we investigated whether a set of genetic variants in these genes (NOS1 : rs2682826, rs1353939, rs693534; NOS3 : rs2070744, rs1799983, rs891512; NCAM1 : rs2301228, rs1884, rs1245113, rs1369816, rs2196456, rs584427; TACR1 : rs3771810, rs3771825, rs726506, rs1477157) were associated with temperamental traits at the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). No strong evidence was found for the association between TCI personality traits and the polymorphisms considered in the 4 genes, with the exception of an association between reward dependence trait and the rs2682826 SNP in NOS1 in the healthy sample. However, this result could be plausibly interpreted as a false-positive finding. In conclusion, our study did not support the thesis of a direct modulation of these genes on temperament; however, further studies on larger samples are clearly required in order to confirm our preliminary findings and to exclude any possible minor influence. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base

An analytic approach to estimating the solutions of B\'ezout's polynomial identity

This paper contains sharp bounds on the coefficients of the polynomials $R$ and $S$ which solve the classical one variable B\'{e}zout identity $A R + B S = 1$, where $A$ and $B$ are polynomials with no common zeros. The bounds are expressed in terms of the separation of the zeros of $A$ and $B$. Our proof involves contour integral representations of these coefficients. We also obtain an estimate on the norm of the inverse of the Sylvester matrix.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures, updated reference

Tyrosine Hydroxylase and DOPA Decarboxylase Gene Variants in Personality Traits

Personality influences several characteristics of normal and pathologic behaviors and it is associated with neurotransmitter systems that are under genetic control. The dopaminergic system has been proposed to play a role in the modulation of personality traits. In the present study, variants of the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and DOPA decarboxylase (DDC) genes (for TH: rs3842727, rs6356; for DDC: rs1451371, rs1470750, rs998850) were investigated in 111 suicide attempters and 289 healthy subjects to assess the involvement of the dopaminergic synthesis pathway in personality traits. No strong evidence was found for the associations between personality and TH or DDC in overall tests. An interaction effect of genotype and diagnosis was present, with TH and DDC SNPs having a greater effect on the respective personality dimensions in the group of suicide attempters. Because of the risk of false positives, these findings should be interpreted with highest caution. Direct replication attempts within independent groups of suicide attempters will help to resolve this question. Copyright (C) 2009 S. Karger AG, Base

No association of a set of candidate genes on haloperidol side effects.

We previously investigated a sample of patients during an active phase of psychosis in the search for genetic predictors of haloperidol induced side effects. In the present work we extend the genetic association analysis to a wider panel of genetic variations, including 508 variations located in 96 genes. The original sample included 96 patients. An independent group of 357 patients from the CATIE study served as a replication sample. Outcomes in the investigation sample were the variation through time of: 1) the ESRS and UKU total scores 2) ESRS and UKU subscales (neurologic and psychic were included) related to tremors and 3) ESRS and UKU subscales that do not relate to tremors. Outcome in the replication sample was the presence vs absence of motoric side effects from baseline to visit 1 (~ one month of treatment) as assessed by the AIMS scale test. Rs2242480 located in the CYP3A4 was associated with a different distribution of the UKU neurologic scores through time (permutated p = 0.047) along with a trend for a different haloperidol plasma levels (lower in CC subjects). This finding was not replicated in the CATIE sample. In conclusion, we did not find conclusive evidence for a major association between the investigated variations and haloperidol induced motoric side effects

Superconducting quantum simulator for topological order and the toric code

Topological order is now being established as a central criterion for characterizing and classifying ground states of condensed matter systems and complements categorizations based on symmetries. Fractional quantum Hall systems and quantum spin liquids are receiving substantial interest because of their intriguing quantum correlations, their exotic excitations and prospects for protecting stored quantum information against errors. Here we show that the Hamiltonian of the central model of this class of systems, the Toric Code, can be directly implemented as an analog quantum simulator in lattices of superconducting circuits. The four-body interactions, which lie at its heart, are in our concept realized via Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs) that are driven by a suitably oscillating flux bias. All physical qubits and coupling SQUIDs can be individually controlled with high precision. Topologically ordered states can be prepared via an adiabatic ramp of the stabilizer interactions. Strings of qubit operators, including the stabilizers and correlations along non-contractible loops, can be read out via a capacitive coupling to read-out resonators. Moreover, the available single qubit operations allow to create and propagate elementary excitations of the Toric Code and to verify their fractional statistics. The architecture we propose allows to implement a large variety of many-body interactions and thus provides a versatile analog quantum simulator for topological order and lattice gauge theories

Microbial and metabolic succession on common building materials under high humidity conditions.

Despite considerable efforts to characterize the microbial ecology of the built environment, the metabolic mechanisms underpinning microbial colonization and successional dynamics remain unclear, particularly at high moisture conditions. Here, we applied bacterial/viral particle counting, qPCR, amplicon sequencing of the genes encoding 16S and ITS rRNA, and metabolomics to longitudinally characterize the ecological dynamics of four common building materials maintained at high humidity. We varied the natural inoculum provided to each material and wet half of the samples to simulate a potable water leak. Wetted materials had higher growth rates and lower alpha diversity compared to non-wetted materials, and wetting described the majority of the variance in bacterial, fungal, and metabolite structure. Inoculation location was weakly associated with bacterial and fungal beta diversity. Material type influenced bacterial and viral particle abundance and bacterial and metabolic (but not fungal) diversity. Metabolites indicative of microbial activity were identified, and they too differed by material

High-risk Allele for Herpes Labialis Severity at the IFNL3/4 Locus is Associated With Vestibular Neuritis

Objective: Vestibular neuritis (VN) is a peripheral vestibular disorder leading to a sudden loss of unilateral vestibular function. Although the underlying etiological mechanisms for disease development are not yet known, there is evidence that a latent infection with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) might be involved. The polymorphism rs12979860 has been associated with the severity of recurrent herpes labialis and hepatitis C virus (HCV) clearance and treatment outcome and is located within the first intron of the IFNL4 gene on chromosome 19.q13.2. This case control study was conducted to evaluate the association of rs12979860 with VN occurrence. Methods: DNA was extracted from EDTA blood of 151 VN patients and 1,775 healthy controls. Genotyping of rs12979860 was performed using iPLEX and MassARRAY Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization—Time of Flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. For association analyses, an additive, dominant and recessive logistic regression model was calculated, using age and sex as covariates. Results: A significant association of rs12979860 with VN was obtained for the additive [OR = 1.51 (1.18–1.92); p = 9.23 × 10−4] and dominant models [OR = 2.15 (1.48–3.13); p = 5.86 × 10−5], with the T allele being more frequent in the VN group. Conclusion: By detecting a significant association of the rs12979860-T risk allele for herpes labialis severity with susceptibility to VN, this study gives further indirect evidence for an involvement of HSV-1 in VN pathology, thereby strengthening the virus hypothesis

Hubble and Spitzer Observations of an Edge-on Circumstellar Disk around a Brown Dwarf

We present observations of a circumstellar disk that is inclined close to edge-on around a young brown dwarf in the Taurus star-forming region. Using data obtained with SpeX at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, we find that the slope of the 0.8-2.5 um spectrum of the brown dwarf 2MASS J04381486+2611399 cannot be reproduced with a photosphere reddened by normal extinction. Instead, the slope is consistent with scattered light, indicating that circumstellar material is occulting the brown dwarf. By combining the SpeX data with mid-IR photometry and spectroscopy from the Spitzer Space Telescope and previously published millimeter data from Scholz and coworkers, we construct the spectral energy distribution for 2MASS J04381486+2611399 and model it in terms of a young brown dwarf surrounded by an irradiated accretion disk. The presence of both silicate absorption at 10 um and silicate emission at 11 um constrains the inclination of the disk to be ~70 deg, i.e. ~20 deg from edge-on. Additional evidence of the high inclination of this disk is provided by our detection of asymmetric bipolar extended emission surrounding 2MASS J04381486+2611399 in high-resolution optical images obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. According to our modeling for the SED and images of this system, the disk contains a large inner hole that is indicative of a transition disk (R_in~58 R_star~0.275 AU) and is somewhat larger than expected from embryo ejection models (R_out=20-40 AU vs. R_out<10-20 AU).Comment: The Astrophysical Journal, in pres

An information fusion approach for filtering GNSS data sets collected during construction operations

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are widely used to document the on- and off-site trajectories of construction equipment. Before analyzing the collected data for better understanding and improving construction operations, the data need to be freed from outliers. Eliminating outliers is challenging. While manually identifying outliers is a time-consuming and error-prone process, automatic filtering is exposed to false positives errors, which can lead to eliminating accurate trajectory segments. This paper addresses this issue by proposing a hybrid filtering method, which integrates experts’ decisions. The decisions are operationalized as parameters to search for next outliers and are based on visualization of sensor readings and the human-generated notes that describe specifics of the construction project. A specialized open-source software prototype was developed and applied by the authors to illustrate the proposed approach. The software was utilized to filter outliers in sensor readings collected during earthmoving and asphalt paving projects that involved five different types of common construction equipmen

Developing a Dynamic Smart Grid Model

Abstract. The aim of the research was to create a computer simulation model of the future smart grid systems, suitable to examine their operation and optimal control. The model is able to simulate events in arbitrary system cases and the answers of the system. The flexibility of the simulation is foreseen by the modular structure of the software. The generation and consumption data are based on real measured values. Different size and number of smart grids were examined by using this model. The actual result of the research was that the system&apos;s behavior, as simulated by the model, was similar to the everyday operation of a real grid. Furthermore, the model is a tool to investigate the trends of future network development (regarding the change of smart grid criteria). There is a need to work out new application behaviors, procedures, and operational routines regarding the research areas represented by certain modules. The computer simulation model is already ready to use in the education, and as it is extensible, it is suitable to follow the changes of smart systems in the future