The role of maternal obesity in the risk of neuropsychiatric disorders

Recent evidence indicates that perinatal exposure to maternal obesity, metabolic disease, including diabetes and hypertension, and unhealthy maternal diet has a long-term impact on offspring behavior and physiology. During the past three decades, the prevalence of both obesity and neuropsychiatric disorders has rapidly increased. Epidemiologic studies provide evidence that maternal obesity and metabolic complications increase the risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorders, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, eating disorders (food addiction, anorexia nervosa, and bulimia nervosa), and impairments in cognition in offspring. Animal models of maternal high-fat diet (HFD) induced obesity also document persistent changes in offspring behavior and impairments in critical neural circuitry. Animals exposed to maternal obesity and HFD consumption display impairments in hyperactivity, impairments in social behavior, increased anxiety-like and depressive-like behaviors, substance addiction, food addiction, and diminished cognition. During development, these offspring are exposed to elevated levels of nutrients (fatty acids, glucose), hormones (leptin, insulin), and inflammatory factors (C-reactive protein, interleukin, and tumor necrosis factor). Such factors appear to permanently change neuroendocrine regulation and brain development in offspring. In addition, inflammation of the offspring brain during gestation impairs the development of neural pathways critical in the regulation of behavior, such as serotoninergic, dopaminergic, and melanocortinergic systems. Dysregulation of these circuits increases the risk of mental health disorders. Given the high rates of obesity in most developed nations, it is critical that the mechanisms by which maternal obesity programs offspring behavior are thoroughly characterized. Such knowledge will be critical in the development of preventative strategies and therapeutic interventions

Contributor to the November Issue/Notes

Notes by Charles G. Hasson, Robert J. Mahoney, Robert E. Sullivan, John Kelly, John D. O\u27Neill, John M. Anderton, Charles R. Gerard, R. A. Macdonell, William B. Ball, Robert E. Sullivan, and Leonard D. Bodkin

Contributor to the November Issue/Notes

Notes by Charles G. Hasson, Robert J. Mahoney, Robert E. Sullivan, John Kelly, John D. O\u27Neill, John M. Anderton, Charles R. Gerard, R. A. Macdonell, William B. Ball, Robert E. Sullivan, and Leonard D. Bodkin

Transmission Dynamics of COVID-19 in Ghana and the Impact of Public Health Interventions

This study characterized COVID-19 transmission in Ghana in 2020 and 2021 by estimating the time-varying reproduction number (Rt) and exploring its association with various public health interventions at the national and regional levels. Ghana experienced four pandemic waves, with epidemic peaks in July 2020 and January, August, and December 2021. The epidemic peak was the highest nationwide in December 2021 with Rt ≥ 2. Throughout 2020 and 2021, per-capita cumulative case count by region increased with population size. Mobility data suggested a negative correlation between Rt and staying home during the first 90 days of the pandemic. The relaxation of movement restrictions and religious gatherings was not associated with increased Rt in the regions with fewer case burdens. Rt decreased from \u3e 1 when schools reopened in January 2021 to \u3c 1 after vaccination rollout in March 2021. Findings indicated most public health interventions were associated with Rt reduction at the national and regional levels

Interviewer: 'Are women and girls ever responsible for the domestic violence they encounter?' Student: 'No, well, unless they did something really, really bad …'

Research shows the ‘gendered nature’ of domestic violence, with Women’s Aid (a UK-based charity) estimating that 1 in 4 women are affected (2014). This paper reports on a project - funded by Comic Relief, completed by Nottinghamshire Domestic Violence Forum (now known as Equation) and evaluated by Nottingham Trent University. The project adopts a Whole School Approach in seeking to prevent domestic violence. Students at three secondary schools attended between one and five blocks of work, and special events. There is evidence of positive developments - with young people showing understanding of domestic violence as well as the margins between healthy and unhealthy relationships. However, not all students could reply ‘never’ to the question of ‘are women and girls to blame for the domestic violence they experience?’, remarking that if the woman had done something ‘really, really bad’ then violence might be justified. We argue that young people’s uncertainties need to be situated within the gender-unequal socio-contexts of contemporary society, and further call for a WSA to domestic violence prevention to be a compulsory part of the UK national curriculum

Application of advanced technologies to small, short-haul aircraft

The results of a preliminary design study which investigates the use of selected advanced technologies to achieve low cost design for small (50-passenger), short haul (50 to 1000 mile) transports are reported. The largest single item in the cost of manufacturing an airplane of this type is labor. A careful examination of advanced technology to airframe structure was performed since one of the most labor-intensive parts of the airplane is structures. Also, preliminary investigation of advanced aerodynamics flight controls, ride control and gust load alleviation systems, aircraft systems and turbo-prop propulsion systems was performed. The most beneficial advanced technology examined was bonded aluminum primary structure. The use of this structure in large wing panels and body sections resulted in a greatly reduced number of parts and fasteners and therefore, labor hours. The resultant cost of assembled airplane structure was reduced by 40% and the total airplane manufacturing cost by 16% - a major cost reduction. With further development, test verification and optimization appreciable weight saving is also achievable. Other advanced technology items which showed significant gains are as follows: (1) advanced turboprop-reduced block fuel by 15.30% depending on range; (2) configuration revisions (vee-tail)-empennage cost reduction of 25%; (3) leading-edge flap addition-weight reduction of 2500 pounds

The Relation Between Ejecta Velocity, Intrinsic Color, and Host-Galaxy Mass for High-Redshift Type Ia Supernovae

Recently, using a large low-redshift sample of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), we discovered a relation between SN Ia ejecta velocity and intrinsic color that improves the distance precision of SNe Ia and reduces potential systematic biases related to dust reddening. No SN Ia cosmological results have yet made a correction for the "velocity-color" relation. To test the existence of such a relation and constrain its properties at high redshift, we examine a sample of 75 SNe Ia discovered and observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II (SDSS-II) Supernova Survey and Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS). From each spectrum, we measure ejecta velocities at maximum brightness for the Ca H&K and Si II 6355 features, v_Ca^0 and v_Si^0, respectively. Using SN light-curve parameters, we determine the intrinsic B_max - V_max for each SN. Similar to what was found at low-redshift, we find that SNe Ia with higher ejecta velocity tend to be intrinsically redder than SNe Ia with lower ejecta velocity. The distributions of ejecta velocities for SNe Ia at low and high redshift are similar, indicating that current cosmological results should have little bias related to the velocity-color relation. Additionally, we find a slight (2.4-sigma significant) trend between SN Ia ejecta velocity and host-galaxy mass such that SNe Ia in high-mass host galaxies tend to have lower ejecta velocities as probed by v_Ca^0. These results emphasize the importance of spectroscopy for SN Ia cosmology.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, accepted by Ap

Genetic and epigenetic regulation in Lingo-1 : Effects on cognitive function and white matter microstructure in a case-control study for schizophrenia

Leucine-rich repeat and immunoglobulin domain-containing protein (Lingo-1) plays a vital role in a large number of neuronal processes underlying learning and memory, which are known to be disrupted in schizophrenia. However, Lingo-1 has never been examined in the context of schizophrenia. The genetic association of a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP, rs3144) and methylation (CpG sites) in the Lingo-1 3′-UTR region was examined, with the testing of cognitive dysfunction and white matter (WM) integrity in a schizophrenia case-control cohort (n = 268/group). A large subset of subjects (97 control and 161 schizophrenia subjects) underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans to assess WM integrity. Frequency of the rs3144 minor allele was overrepresented in the schizophrenia population (p = 0.03), with an odds ratio of 1.39 (95% CI 1.016–1.901). CpG sites surrounding rs3144 were hypermethylated in the control population (p = 0.032) compared to the schizophrenia group. rs3144 genotype was predictive of membership to a subclass of schizophrenia subjects with generalized cognitive deficits (p < 0.05), in addition to having associations with WM integrity (p = 0.018). This is the first study reporting a potential implication of genetic and epigenetic risk factors in Lingo-1 in schizophrenia. Both of these genetic and epigenetic alterations may also have associations with cognitive dysfunction and WM integrity in the context of the schizophrenia pathophysiology

SNLS3: Constraints on Dark Energy Combining the Supernova Legacy Survey Three Year Data with Other Probes

We present observational constraints on the nature of dark energy using the Supernova Legacy Survey three year sample (SNLS3) of Guy et al. (2010) and Conley et al. (2011). We use the 472 SNe Ia in this sample, accounting for recently discovered correlations between SN Ia luminosity and host galaxy properties, and include the effects of all identified systematic uncertainties directly in the cosmological fits. Combining the SNLS3 data with the full WMAP7 power spectrum, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey luminous red galaxy power spectrum, and a prior on the Hubble constant H0 from SHOES, in a flat universe we find omega_m=0.269+/-0.015 and w=-1.061+0.069-0.068 -- a 6.5% measure of the dark energy equation-of-state parameter w. The statistical and systematic uncertainties are approximately equal, with the systematic uncertainties dominated by the photometric calibration of the SN Ia fluxes -- without these calibration effects, systematics contribute only a ~2% error in w. When relaxing the assumption of flatness, we find omega_m=0.271+/-0.015, omega_k=-0.002+/-0.006, and w=-1.069+0.091-0.092. Parameterizing the time evolution of w as w(a)=w_0+w_a(1-a), gives w_0=-0.905+/-0.196, w_a=-0.984+1.094-1.097 in a flat universe. All of our results are consistent with a flat, w=-1 universe. The size of the SNLS3 sample allows various tests to be performed with the SNe segregated according to their light curve and host galaxy properties. We find that the cosmological constraints derived from these different sub-samples are consistent. There is evidence that the coefficient, beta, relating SN Ia luminosity and color, varies with host parameters at >4sigma significance (in addition to the known SN luminosity--host relation); however this has only a small effect on the cosmological results and is currently a sub-dominant systematic.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. Data available from https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/snl

Genetic algorithms and the analysis of SnIa data

The Genetic Algorithm is a heuristic that can be used to produce model independent solutions to an optimization problem, thus making it ideal for use in cosmology and more specifically in the analysis of type Ia supernovae data. In this work we use the Genetic Algorithms (GA) in order to derive a null test on the spatially flat cosmological constant model $\Lambda$CDM. This is done in two steps: first, we apply the GA to the Constitution SNIa data in order to acquire a model independent reconstruction of the expansion history of the Universe $H(z)$ and second, we use the reconstructed $H(z)$ in conjunction with the Om statistic, which is constant only for the $\Lambda$CDM model, to derive our constraints. We find that while $\Lambda$CDM is consistent with the data at the $2\sigma$ level, some deviations from $\Lambda$CDM model at low redshifts can be accommodated.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, to be published in the proceedings of the 14th Conference on Recent Developments in Gravity (NEB-14), Ioannina, Greece, 8-11 June 201