Prenatal growth markers in schizophrenia: a monozygotic co-twin control study.

OBJECTIVE: This co-twin study investigated monozygotic twins who were discordant for schizophrenia for evidence of prenatal growth differences between the affected and well co-twins. METHOD: Four dermatoglyphic markers of prenatal growth were obtained by established procedures from 26 monozygotic twin pairs discordant for schizophrenia, 13 monozygotic twin pairs concordant for schizophrenia, and several normal monozygotic twin samples. RESULTS: The a-b ridge count differences between the affected and well co-twins were greater than those found for concordant and normal monozygotic pairs. In comparison with their well co-twins, the affected twins, in discordant pairs, had developed fewer epidermal ridges in the a-b interdigital area of their right palms. In contrast, no significant differences were found between the affected twins and their well co-twins on markers associated with fetal development before 13 or after 15 weeks estimated gestational age. CONCLUSIONS: Because the a-b ridges are known to complete development between 13 and 15 weeks estimated gestational age, the results provide physical evidence suggesting that the schizophrenia-affected monozygotic twins alone experienced a time-specific and time-limited dysgenesis during this time. Commonalities in the ontogeny of epidermal and neurological structures are discussed

Complete gate control of supercurrent in graphene p-n junctions

In a conventional Josephson junction of graphene, the supercurrent is not turned off even at the charge neutrality point, impeding further development of superconducting quantum information devices based on graphene. Here we fabricate bipolar Josephson junctions of graphene, in which a p-n potential barrier is formed in graphene with two closely spaced superconducting contacts, and realize supercurrent ON/OFF states using electrostatic gating only. The bipolar Josephson junctions of graphene also show fully gate-driven macroscopic quantum tunnelling behaviour of Josephson phase particles in a potential well, where the confinement energy is gate tuneable. We suggest that the supercurrent OFF state is mainly caused by a supercurrent dephasing mechanism due to a random pseudomagnetic field generated by ripples in graphene, in sharp contrast to other nanohybrid Josephson junctions. Our study may pave the way for the development of new gate-tuneable superconducting quantum information devices.open114344sciescopu

PGC-Enriched miRNAs Control Germ Cell Development

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Emergent order in the kagome Ising magnet Dy3_3Mg2_2Sb3_3O14_{14}

The Ising model-in which degrees of freedom (spins) are binary valued (up/down)-is a cornerstone of statistical physics that shows rich behaviour when spins occupy a highly frustrated lattice such as kagome. Here we show that the layered Ising magnet Dy$_3$Mg$_2$Sb$_3$O$_{14}$ hosts an emergent order predicted theoretically for individual kagome layers of in-plane Ising spins. Neutron-scattering and bulk thermomagnetic measurements reveal a phase transition at ~0.3 K from a disordered spin-ice-like regime to an emergent charge ordered state, in which emergent magnetic charge degrees of freedom exhibit three-dimensional order while spins remain partially disordered. Monte Carlo simulations show that an interplay of inter-layer interactions, spin canting and chemical disorder stabilizes this state. Our results establish Dy$_3$Mg$_2$Sb$_3$O$_{14}$ as a tuneable system to study interacting emergent charges arising from kagome Ising frustration.Work at Cambridge was supported through the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability. The work of J.A.M.P., X.B. and M.M. and facilities at Georgia Tech were supported by the College of Sciences through M.M. start-up funds. J.A.M.P. gratefully acknowledges Churchill College, Cambridge for the provision of a Junior Research Fellowship. H.S.O. acknowledges a Teaching Scholarship (Overseas) from the Ministry of Education, Singapore. J.O.H. is grateful to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for funding. C.C. was supported by EPSRC Grant No. EP/G049394/1, and the EPSRC NetworkPlus on ‘Emergence and Physics far from Equilibrium’. Experiments at the ISIS Pulsed Neutron and Muon Source were supported by a beamtime allocation from the Science and Technology Facilities Council. This work utilized facilities at the NIST Center for Neutron Research. Monte Carlo simulations were performed using the Darwin Supercomputer of the University of Cambridge High Performance Computing Service (http://www.hpc.cam.ac.uk/) and the ARCHER UK National Supercomputing Service (http://www.archer.ac.uk/, for which access was provided by an ARCHER Instant Access scheme)

Treatment compliance and effectiveness of a cognitive behavioural intervention for low back pain : a complier average causal effect approach to the BeST data set

Background: Group cognitive behavioural intervention (CBI) is effective in reducing low-back pain and disability in comparison to advice in primary care. The aim of this analysis was to investigate the impact of compliance on estimates of treatment effect and to identify factors associated with compliance. Methods: In this multicentre trial, 701 adults with troublesome sub-acute or chronic low-back pain were recruited from 56 general practices. Participants were randomised to advice (control n = 233) or advice plus CBI (n = 468). Compliance was specified a priori as attending a minimum of three group sessions and the individual assessment. We estimated the complier average causal effect (CACE) of treatment. Results: Comparison of the CACE estimate of the mean treatment difference to the intention-to-treat (ITT) estimate at 12 months showed a greater benefit of CBI amongst participants compliant with treatment on the Roland Morris Questionnaire (CACE: 1.6 points, 95% CI 0.51 to 2.74; ITT: 1.3 points, 95% CI 0.55 to 2.07), the Modified Von Korff disability score (CACE: 12.1 points, 95% CI 6.07 to 18.17; ITT: 8.6 points, 95% CI 4.58 to 12.64) and the Modified von Korff pain score (CACE: 10.4 points, 95% CI 4.64 to 16.10; ITT: 7.0 points, 95% CI 3.26 to 10.74). People who were non-compliant were younger and had higher pain scores at randomisation. Conclusions: Treatment compliance is important in the effectiveness of group CBI. Younger people and those with more pain are at greater risk of non-compliance

Context acquisition in auditory emotional recognition studies

This paper describes an environment to assess auditory emotional recognition based on a mobile application. The primary aim of this work is to provide a valuable instrument that can be used both in research and clinical settings, responding to the strong need of validated measures of emotional processing, especially in Portugal. The secondary aim is to acquire and study the participants' interaction behavior with the technological device (e.g. touch patterns, touch intensity), in search for a relationship with medical conditions, cognitive impairments, auditory emotional recognition capacities or socio-demographic indicators. This will establish the basis for the prediction of such aspects as a function of an individual's interaction with technological devices, potentially providing new diagnostic tools.This work has been supported by FCT-Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia within the Project Scope UID/ CEC/00319/2013 and Grant PTDC/MHN-PCN/3606/2012. The work of Davide Carneiro is supported by a post-doctoral Grant by FCT (SFRH/BPD/109070/2015). The work of Ana P. Pinheiro is supported by FCT Investigator Grant IF/00334/2012 funded by Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

HER2-positive tumors imaged within 1 hour using a site-specifically 11C-labeled sel-tagged affibody molecule

A rapid, reliable method for distinguishing tumors or metastases that overexpress human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) from those that do not is highly desired for individualizing therapy and predicting prognoses. In vivo imaging methods are available but not yet in clinical practice; new methodologies improving speed, sensitivity, and specificity are required. METHODS: A HER2-binding Affibody molecule, Z(HER2:342), was recombinantly fused with a C-terminal selenocysteine-containing tetrapeptide Sel-tag, allowing site-specific labeling with either (11)C or (68)Ga, followed by biodistribution studies with small-animal PET. Dosimetry data for the 2 radiotracers were compared. Imaging of HER2-expressing human tumor xenografts was performed using the (11)C-labeled Affibody molecule. RESULTS: Both the (11)C- and (68)Ga-labeled tracers initially cleared rapidly from the blood, followed by a slower decrease to 4-5 percentage injected dose per gram of tissue at 1 h. Final retention in the kidneys was much lower (>5-fold) for the (11)C-labeled protein, and its overall absorbed dose was considerably lower. (11)C-Z(HER2:342) showed excellent tumor-targeting capability, with almost 10 percentage injected dose per gram of tissue in HER2-expressing tumors within 1 h. Specificity was demonstrated by preblocking binding sites with excess ligand, yielding significantly reduced radiotracer uptake (P = 0.002), comparable to uptake in tumors with low HER2 expression. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, the Sel-tagging technique is the first that enables site-specific (11)C-radiolabeling of proteins. Here we present the finding that, in a favorable combination between radionuclide half-life and in vivo pharmacokinetics of the Affibody molecules, (11)C-labeled Sel-tagged Z(HER2:342) can successfully be used for rapid and repeated PET studies of HER2 expression in tumors.VetenskapsrådetPublishe