7,446 research outputs found

    Cug2 is essential for normal mitotic control and CNS development in zebrafish.

    Get PDF
    Background: We recently identified a novel oncogene, Cancer-upregulated gene 2 (CUG2), which is essential for kinetochore formation and promotes tumorigenesis in mammalian cells. However, the in vivo function of CUG2 has not been studied in animal models. Results: To study the function of CUG2 in vivo, we isolated a zebrafish homologue that is expressed specifically in the proliferating cells of the central nervous system (CNS). Morpholino-mediated knockdown of cug2 resulted in apoptosis throughout the CNS and the development of neurodegenerative phenotypes. In addition, cug2-deficient embryos contained mitotically arrested cells displaying abnormal spindle formation and chromosome misalignment in the neural plate. Conclusions: Therefore, our findings suggest that Cug2 is required for normal mitosis during early neurogenesis and has functions in neuronal cell maintenance, thus demonstrating that the cug2 deficient embryos may provide a model system for human neurodegenerative disorders

    Sacred Canopies or Religious Markets? The Effect of County-Level Religious Diversity on Later Changes in Religious Involvement

    Get PDF
    Secularization theories, such as Berger's Sacred Canopy argument , hold that religious diversity leads to a decline in religious participation. Religious market models (e.g., Finke and Stark) argue the opposite. Voas, Olson, and Crockett found that nearly all of the vast research exploring this important question prior to 2002 was flawed due to a previously unrecognized noncausal statistical relationship between measures of religious diversity and measures of religious participation. Since 2002, this methodological issue has largely stymied research on this important topic. We first describe how, following Voas et al.’s recommendations, longitudinal models can overcome these problems. We then apply these methods to data measuring the religious composition of all U.S. counties found in the Religious Congregations and Membership Studies from 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010. Using multilevel longitudinal regression models, we find that greater county‐level religious diversity is followed by later declines in county‐level religious participation rates. The negative effect size of religious diversity is large and robust to changes in the control variables and different methods of measuring religious diversity

    Influence of Rb/Cs cation-exchange on inorganic Sn halide perovskites: From chemical structure to physical properties

    Get PDF
    CsSnI3 is a potential lead-free inorganic perovskite for solar energy applications due to its nontoxicity and attractive optoelectronic properties. Despite these advantages, photovoltaic cells using CsSnI3 have not been successful to date, in part due to low stability. We demonstrate how gradual substitution of Rb for Cs influences the structural, thermodynamic, and electronic properties on the basis of first-principles density functional theory calculations. By examining the effect of the Rb:Cs ratio, we reveal a correlation between octahedral distortion and band gap, including spin–orbit coupling. We further highlight the cation-induced variation of the ionization potential (work function) and the importance of surface termination for tin-based halide perovskites for engineering high-performance solar cells

    Systemic inflammation and suicide risk: cohort study of 419 527 Korean men and women

    Get PDF
    BACKGROUND: Data from only one study have been used to examine the relationship between systemic inflammation and later suicide risk, and a strong positive association was apparent. More research is needed, particularly looking at gender, not least because women are seemingly more vulnerable to inflammation-induced mood changes than men. METHODS: The Korean Cancer Prevention Study had a cohort of over 1 million individuals aged 30-95 years at baseline examination between 1992 and 1995, when white blood cell count, our marker of systemic inflammation, was assessed. RESULTS: A mean of 16.6 years of mortality surveillance gave rise to 1010 deaths from suicide in 106 643 men, and 1019 deaths from suicide in 312 884 women. There was little evidence of an association between our inflammation marker and suicide mortality in men after multiple adjustments. In women, however, those in the second inflammation quartile and higher experienced around 30% increase risk of death (HR 1.35; 95% CI: 1.11-1.64). CONCLUSIONS: Higher levels of systemic inflammation were moderately related to an elevated risk of suicide death in women but not in men

    FIH-1, a novel interactor of mindbomb, functions as an essential anti-angiogenic factor during zebrafish vascular development

    Get PDF
    Objective: It has been shown that Mindbomb (Mib), an E3 Ubiquitin ligase, is an essential modulator of Notch signaling during development. However, its effects on vascular development remain largely unknown

    An experimental and numerical study on nonlinear impact responses of steel-plated structures in an Arctic environment

    Get PDF
    Ships and offshore platforms that operate in Arctic regions at low temperatures are likely subjected to impact loads that arise from collisions with icebergs. The aim of this paper was to examine the nonlinear impact response of steel-plated structures in an Arctic environment. In addition to material tensile tests for characterisation of the mechanical properties of polar-class high-tensile steel of grade DH36, an experimental study was undertaken in a dropped-object test facility on steel-plated structure models under impact loads and at low temperatures equivalent to those in Arctic regions. LS-DYNA nonlinear finite element computations were also performed for the corresponding test models. We conclude that nonlinear finite element analyses are useful in the analysis of the nonlinear impact structural responses involving yielding, crushing and brittle fracture at low temperatures as long as the modelling techniques are adequate. The conclusions and insights developed in this paper should be useful in the safety design of ships and offshore platforms intended for operation in Arctic regions

    Integrated analysis of global proteome, phosphoproteome, and glycoproteome enables complementary interpretation of disease-related protein networks

    Get PDF
    Multi-dimensional proteomic analyses provide different layers of protein information, including protein abundance and post-translational modifications. Here, we report an integrated analysis of protein expression, phosphorylation, and N-glycosylation by serial enrichments of phosphorylation and N-glycosylation (SEPG) from the same tissue samples. On average, the SEPG identified 142,106 unmodified peptides of 8,625 protein groups, 18,846 phosphopeptides (15,647 phosphosites), and 4,019 N-glycopeptides (2,634 N-glycosites) in tumor and adjacent normal tissues from three gastric cancer patients. The combined analysis of these data showed that the integrated analysis additively improved the coverages of gastric cancer-related protein networks; phosphoproteome and N-glycoproteome captured predominantly low abundant signal proteins, and membranous or secreted proteins, respectively, while global proteome provided abundances for general population of the proteome. Therefore, our results demonstrate that the SEPG can serve as an effective approach for multi-dimensional proteome analyses, and the holistic profiles of protein expression and PTMs enabled improved interpretation of disease-related networks by providing complementary information.11103Ysciescopu

    Effect of alendronate on bone remodeling around implant in the rat

    Get PDF
    published_or_final_versio
    corecore