Fine-mapping of the HNF1B multicancer locus identifies candidate variants that mediate endometrial cancer risk.

Common variants in the hepatocyte nuclear factor 1 homeobox B (HNF1B) gene are associated with the risk of Type II diabetes and multiple cancers. Evidence to date indicates that cancer risk may be mediated via genetic or epigenetic effects on HNF1B gene expression. We previously found single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at the HNF1B locus to be associated with endometrial cancer, and now report extensive fine-mapping and in silico and laboratory analyses of this locus. Analysis of 1184 genotyped and imputed SNPs in 6608 Caucasian cases and 37 925 controls, and 895 Asian cases and 1968 controls, revealed the best signal of association for SNP rs11263763 (P = 8.4 × 10(-14), odds ratio = 0.86, 95% confidence interval = 0.82-0.89), located within HNF1B intron 1. Haplotype analysis and conditional analyses provide no evidence of further independent endometrial cancer risk variants at this locus. SNP rs11263763 genotype was associated with HNF1B mRNA expression but not with HNF1B methylation in endometrial tumor samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Genetic analyses prioritized rs11263763 and four other SNPs in high-to-moderate linkage disequilibrium as the most likely causal SNPs. Three of these SNPs map to the extended HNF1B promoter based on chromatin marks extending from the minimal promoter region. Reporter assays demonstrated that this extended region reduces activity in combination with the minimal HNF1B promoter, and that the minor alleles of rs11263763 or rs8064454 are associated with decreased HNF1B promoter activity. Our findings provide evidence for a single signal associated with endometrial cancer risk at the HNF1B locus, and that risk is likely mediated via altered HNF1B gene expression

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

Shaping Ethical Perceptions: An Empirical Assessment of the Influence of Business Education, Culture, and Demographic Factors

ABSTRACT. Recent events at Enron, K-Mart, Adelphia, and Tyson would seem to suggest that nianagers are still experiencing ethical lapses. These lapses are somewhat surprising and disappointing given the height-ened focus on ethical considerations within business contexts during the past decade. This study is designed, therefore, to increase our understanding ofthe forces that shape ethical perceptions by considering the effects of business school education as well as a number of other individual-level factors (such as intra-national culture, area of specialization within business, and gender) that may exert an influence on ethical perceptions. We found sig-nificant effects for business education, self-reported intra-national culture, area of specialization within business, and gender for some and/or all areas of ethics examined (i.e., deceit, fi'aud, self-interest, influence dealing, and coer-cion). One of our most encouraging findings is that tol-erance for unethical behavior appears to decrease with formal business education. Despite the prevalent stereo-type that business students are only interested in the bot-tom line or that business schools transform idealistic fireshman into self-serving business graduates, our results suggest otherwise. Given the heightened criticism of the ethicality of contemporary managerial behavior, it is heartening to note that, even as adults, individuals can be positively affected by integration of ethics training. KEY WORDS: culture, ethics education, ethical perceptions Previous ethics research suggested that many man-agers fail to recognize the ethical issues inherent in their workplace situations (Carroll, 1993). Recent events at Enron, K-Mart, World Com and Tyso

Shaping Ethical Perceptions: An Empirical Assessment of the Influence of Business Education, Culture, and Demographic Factors

ABSTRACT. Recent events at Enron, K-Mart, Adelphia, and Tyson would seem to suggest that nianagers are still experiencing ethical lapses. These lapses are somewhat surprising and disappointing given the height-ened focus on ethical considerations within business contexts during the past decade. This study is designed, therefore, to increase our understanding ofthe forces that shape ethical perceptions by considering the effects of business school education as well as a number of other individual-level factors (such as intra-national culture, area of specialization within business, and gender) that may exert an influence on ethical perceptions. We found sig-nificant effects for business education, self-reported intra-national culture, area of specialization within business, and gender for some and/or all areas of ethics examined (i.e., deceit, fi'aud, self-interest, influence dealing, and coer-cion). One of our most encouraging findings is that tol-erance for unethical behavior appears to decrease with formal business education. Despite the prevalent stereo-type that business students are only interested in the bot-tom line or that business schools transform idealistic fireshman into self-serving business graduates, our results suggest otherwise. Given the heightened criticism of the ethicality of contemporary managerial behavior, it is heartening to note that, even as adults, individuals can be positively affected by integration of ethics training. KEY WORDS: culture, ethics education, ethical perceptions Previous ethics research suggested that many man-agers fail to recognize the ethical issues inherent in their workplace situations (Carroll, 1993). Recent events at Enron, K-Mart, World Com and Tyso