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

Orthogonal processing: A new strategy for organic electronics

The concept of chemical orthogonality has long been practiced in the field of inorganic semiconductorfabrication, where it is necessary to deposit and remove a layer of photoresist without damaging theunderlying layers. However, these processes involving light sensitive polymers often damage organicmaterials, preventing the use of photolithography to pattern organic electronic devices. In this articlewe show that new photoresist materials that are orthogonal to organics allow the fabrication ofcomplex devices, such as hybrid organic/inorganic circuitry and full-colour organic displays. Theexamples demonstrate that properly designed photoresists enable the fabrication of organic electronicdevices using existing infrastructure. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

二南斎智角編『はい諧水いらす』翻刻と解題 : 不角の弟子の撰集

Many trace elements like Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn are essential for marine life, some trace elements are of concern as pollutants, e.g. Pb and Hg, while others, together with a diverse array of isotopes, are used to assess modern-ocean processes and the role of the ocean in past climate change. GEOTRACES is an international program that aims to measure the distribution of trace elements and isotopes throughout the world oceans to improve our understanding of their marine biogeochemical cycles. To contribute to GEOTRACES a new sampler system was developed at NIOZ allowing efficient sampling of large volumes of seawater under ultraclean conditions. The 24 "PRISTINE" samplers each with a volume of 24.4 L are made of a high-purity polymer Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) and are opened and closed using a butterfly-valve closing mechanism. The samplers are mounted on an all-titanium frame and deployed using a poly-aramide hydrowire (Super Aram) with internal power/signal conductors. Upon recovery the complete frame is immediately placed in its own clean-air laboratory unit. Samplers are (i) always closed when onboard, (ii) always mounted on the frame without the need for hand-carrying heavy samplers, and (iii) can be deployed again with minimal (manual) preparation. The PRISTINE ultraclean sampling system was used for the first time during the GA02 GEOTRACES cruises in the West Atlantic Ocean (2010-2012). During 60 full ocean depth stations all 24 samplers closed with a 100% success rate. Sampling proved to be much faster, less labor intensive, and ultraclean. A comparison of salinity, temperature, nutrient and oxygen data collected with the rectangular titanium frame with PRISTINE samplers and a traditional CTD frame with Niskin samplers showed that the CTD systems functioned equally well, that the PRISTINE samplers took discrete seawater samples without any inward leakage of seawater during the up-cast, and that no atmospheric oxygen contaminated the seawater samples in the PRISTINE samplers after return on deck. The excellent agreement between 13 trace elements sampled with PRISTINE and sampled during the cross over occupation of US-GEOTRACES at the Bermuda BATS site (32 degrees N, 64 degrees W) shows its suitability for ultraclean trace element and isotope sampling (see accompanying paper). (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved