Media coverage and public understanding of sentencing policy in relation to crimes against children

This research examines how the media report on sentences given to those who commit serious crimes against children and how this impacts on public knowledge and attitudes. Three months of press and television coverage were analysed in order to establish the editorial lines that are taken in different sections of the media and how they are promoted by selective reporting of sentencing. Results indicate that a small number of very high profile crimes account for a significant proportion of reporting in this area and often, particularly in the tabloid press, important information regarding sentencing rationale is sidelined in favour of moral condemnation and criticism of the judiciary. Polling data indicate that public attitudes are highly critical of sentencing but also confused about the meaning of tariffs. The article concludes by discussing what can be done to promote a more informed public debate over penal policy in this area

Polarization due to rotational distortion in the bright star Regulus

This is the full published article (retrieved from the 6 months post-publication posting on arXiv) including the Methods and Supplementary Information sections: 33 pages, 10 figures, 8 tablesPolarization in stars was first predicted by Chandrasekhar [1] who calculated a substantial linear polarization at the stellar limb for a pure electron-scattering atmosphere. This polarization will average to zero when integrated over a spherical star but could be detected if the symmetry is broken, for example by the eclipse of a binary companion. Nearly 50 years ago, Harrington and Collins [2] modeled another way of breaking the symmetry and producing net polarization - the distortion of a rapidly rotating hot star. Here we report the first detection of this effect. Observations of the linear polarization of Regulus, with two different high-precision polarimeters, range from +42 parts-per-million (ppm) at a wavelength of 741 nm to -22 ppm at 395 nm. The reversal from red to blue is a distinctive feature of rotation-induced polarization. Using a new set of models for the polarization of rapidly rotating stars we find that Regulus is rotating at 96.5(+0.6/-0.8)% of its critical angular velocity for breakup, and has an inclination greater than 76.5 degrees. The rotation axis of the star is at a position angle of 79.5+/-0.7 degrees. The conclusions are independent of, but in good agreement with, the results of previously published interferometric observations of Regulus [3]. The accurate measurement of rotation in early-type stars is important for understanding their stellar environments [4], and course of their evolution [5].Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Culture Adaptation Alters Transcriptional Hierarchies among Single Human Embryonic Stem Cells Reflecting Altered Patterns of Differentiation

We have used single cell transcriptome analysis to re-examine the substates of early passage, karyotypically Normal, and late passage, karyotypically Abnormal (‘Culture Adapted’) human embryonic stem cells characterized by differential expression of the cell surface marker antigen, SSEA3. The results confirmed that culture adaptation is associated with alterations to the dynamics of the SSEA3(+) and SSEA3(-) substates of these cells, with SSEA3(-) Adapted cells remaining within the stem cell compartment whereas the SSEA3(-) Normal cells appear to have differentiated. However, the single cell data reveal that these substates are characterized by further heterogeneity that changes on culture adaptation. Notably the Adapted population includes cells with a transcriptome substate suggestive of a shift to a more naïve-like phenotype in contrast to the cells of the Normal population. Further, a subset of the Normal SSEA3(+) cells expresses genes typical of endoderm differentiation, despite also expressing the undifferentiated stem cell genes, POU5F1 (OCT4) and NANOG, whereas such apparently lineage-primed cells are absent from the Adapted population. These results suggest that the selective growth advantage gained by genetically variant, culture adapted human embryonic stem cells may derive in part from a changed substate structure that influences their propensity for differentiation

Binary and Millisecond Pulsars at the New Millennium

We review the properties and applications of binary and millisecond pulsars. Our knowledge of these exciting objects has greatly increased in recent years, mainly due to successful surveys which have brought the known pulsar population to over 1300. There are now 56 binary and millisecond pulsars in the Galactic disk and a further 47 in globular clusters. This review is concerned primarily with the results and spin-offs from these surveys which are of particular interest to the relativity community.Comment: 59 pages, 26 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in Living Reviews in Relativity (http://www.livingreviews.org

Genome-wide association of multiple complex traits in outbred mice by ultra-low-coverage sequencing

Two bottlenecks impeding the genetic analysis of complex traits in rodents are access to mapping populations able to deliver gene-level mapping resolution and the need for population-specific genotyping arrays and haplotype reference panels. Here we combine low-coverage (0.15×) sequencing with a new method to impute the ancestral haplotype space in 1,887 commercially available outbred mice. We mapped 156 unique quantitative trait loci for 92 phenotypes at a 5% false discovery rate. Gene-level mapping resolution was achieved at about one-fifth of the loci, implicating Unc13c and Pgc1a at loci for the quality of sleep, Adarb2 for home cage activity, Rtkn2 for intensity of reaction to startle, Bmp2 for wound healing, Il15 and Id2 for several T cell measures and Prkca for bone mineral content. These findings have implications for diverse areas of mammalian biology and demonstrate how genome-wide association studies can be extended via low-coverage sequencing to species with highly recombinant outbred populations

Search for Gravitational Waves from Primordial Black Hole Binary Coalescences in the Galactic Halo

We use data from the second science run of the LIGO gravitational-wave detectors to search for the gravitational waves from primordial black hole (PBH) binary coalescence with component masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$. The analysis requires a signal to be found in the data from both LIGO observatories, according to a set of coincidence criteria. No inspiral signals were found. Assuming a spherical halo with core radius 5 kpc extending to 50 kpc containing non-spinning black holes with masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$, we place an observational upper limit on the rate of PBH coalescence of 63 per year per Milky Way halo (MWH) with 90% confidence.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

Integrative Genomic Data Mining for Discovery of Potential Blood-Borne Biomarkers for Early Diagnosis of Cancer

Background: With the arrival of the postgenomic era, there is increasing interest in the discovery of biomarkers for the accurate diagnosis, prognosis, and early detection of cancer. Blood-borne cancer markers are favored by clinicians, because blood samples can be obtained and analyzed with relative ease. We have used a combined mining strategy based on an integrated cancer microarray platform, Oncomine, and the biomarker module of the Ingenuity Pathways Analysis (IPA) program to identify potential blood-based markers for six common human cancer types. Methodology/Principal Findings: In the Oncomine platform, the genes overexpressed in cancer tissues relative to their corresponding normal tissues were filtered by Gene Ontology keywords, with the extracellular environment stipulated and a corrected Q value (false discovery rate) cut-off implemented. The identified genes were imported to the IPA biomarker module to separate out those genes encoding putative secreted or cell-surface proteins as blood-borne (blood/serum/plasma) cancer markers. The filtered potential indicators were ranked and prioritized according to normalized absolute Student t values. The retrieval of numerous marker genes that are already clinically useful or under active investigation confirmed the effectiveness of our mining strategy. To identify the biomarkers that are unique for each cancer type, the upregulated marker genes that are in common between each two tumor types across the six human tumors were also analyzed by the IPA biomarker comparison function. Conclusion/Significance: The upregulated marker genes shared among the six cancer types may serve as a molecular tool to complement histopathologic examination, and the combination of the commonly upregulated and unique biomarkers may serve as differentiating markers for a specific cancer. This approach will be increasingly useful to discover diagnostic signatures as the mass of microarray data continues to grow in the ‘omics’ era

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

Hormonal response to lipid and carbohydrate meals during the acute postprandial period

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Optimizing the hormonal environment during the postprandial period in favor of increased anabolism is of interest to many active individuals. Data are conflicting regarding the acute hormonal response to high fat and high carbohydrate feedings. Moreover, to our knowledge, no studies have compared the acute hormonal response to ingestion of lipid and carbohydrate meals of different size.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We compared the hormonal response to lipid and carbohydrate meals of different caloric content during the acute postprandial period. Nine healthy men (22 ± 2 years) consumed in a random order, cross-over design one of four meals/beverages during the morning hours in a rested and fasted state: dextrose at 75 g (300 kcals), dextrose at 150 g (600 kcals), lipid at 33 g (300 kcals), lipid at 66 g (600 kcals). Blood samples were collected Pre meal, and at 0.5 hr, 1 hr, 2 hr, and 3 hr post meal. Samples were assayed for testosterone, cortisol, and insulin using ELISA techniques. Area under the curve (AUC) was calculated for each variable, and a 4 × 5 ANOVA was used to further analyze data.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A meal × time effect (p = 0.0003) was noted for insulin, with values highest for the dextrose meals at the 0.5 hr and 1 hr times, and relatively unaffected by the lipid meals. No interaction (p = 0.98) or meal (p = 0.39) effect was noted for testosterone, nor was an interaction (p = 0.99) or meal (p = 0.65) effect noted for cortisol. However, a time effect was noted for both testosterone (p = 0.04) and cortisol (p < 0.0001), with values decreasing during the postprandial period. An AUC effect was noted for insulin (p = 0.001), with values higher for the dextrose meals compared to the lipid meals (p < 0.05). No AUC effect was noted for testosterone (p = 0.85) or cortisol (p = 0.84).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These data indicate that 1) little difference is noted in serum testosterone or cortisol during the acute postprandial period when healthy men consume lipid and dextrose meals of different size; 2) Both testosterone and cortisol experience a drop during the acute postprandial period, which is similar to what is expected based on the normal diurnal variation--feeding with lipid or dextrose meals does not appear to alter this pattern; 3) dextrose meals of either 75 g or 150 g result in a significant increase in serum insulin, in particular at 0.5 hr and 1 hr post-ingestion; 4) lipid meals have little impact on serum insulin.</p