Air pollution and the microvasculature: A cross-sectional assessment of in vivo retinal images in the population-based multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis (MESA)

10.1371/journal.pmed.1000372PLoS Medicine711

Geophysical and atmospheric evolution of habitable planets

The evolution of Earth-like habitable planets is a complex process that depends on the geodynamical and geophysical environments. In particular, it is necessary that plate tectonics remain active over billions of years. These geophysically active environments are strongly coupled to a planet's host star parameters, such as mass, luminosity and activity, orbit location of the habitable zone, and the planet's initial water inventory. Depending on the host star's radiation and particle flux evolution, the composition in the thermosphere, and the availability of an active magnetic dynamo, the atmospheres of Earth-like planets within their habitable zones are differently affected due to thermal and nonthermal escape processes. For some planets, strong atmospheric escape could even effect the stability of the atmosphere

Genetic Sharing with Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors and Diabetes Reveals Novel Bone Mineral Density Loci.

Bone Mineral Density (BMD) is a highly heritable trait, but genome-wide association studies have identified few genetic risk factors. Epidemiological studies suggest associations between BMD and several traits and diseases, but the nature of the suggestive comorbidity is still unknown. We used a novel genetic pleiotropy-informed conditional False Discovery Rate (FDR) method to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with BMD by leveraging cardiovascular disease (CVD) associated disorders and metabolic traits. By conditioning on SNPs associated with the CVD-related phenotypes, type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein, triglycerides and waist hip ratio, we identified 65 novel independent BMD loci (26 with femoral neck BMD and 47 with lumbar spine BMD) at conditional FDR < 0.01. Many of the loci were confirmed in genetic expression studies. Genes validated at the mRNA levels were characteristic for the osteoblast/osteocyte lineage, Wnt signaling pathway and bone metabolism. The results provide new insight into genetic mechanisms of variability in BMD, and a better understanding of the genetic underpinnings of clinical comorbidity

Alien Registration- Leblanc, Frances (Sanford, York County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/2988/thumbnail.jp

Alien Registration- Leblanc, Frances (Sanford, York County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/2988/thumbnail.jp

Alien Registration- Leblanc, Frances (Sanford, York County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/2988/thumbnail.jp

Effect of light intensity on the relative dominance of toxigenic and nontoxigenic strains of Microcystis aeruginosa

In aquatic ecosystems, the factors that regulate the dominance of toxin-producing cyanobacteria over non-toxin-producing strains of the same species are largely unknown. One possible hypothesis is that limiting resources lead to the dominance of the latter because of the metabolic costs associated with toxin production. In this study, we tested the effect of light intensity on the performance of a microcystin-producing strain of Microcystis aeruginosa (UTCC 300) when grown in mixed cultures with non-microcystin-producing strains with similar intrinsic growth rates (UTCC 632 and UTCC 633). The endpoints measured included culture growth rates, microcystin concentrations and composition, and mcyD gene copy numbers determined using quantitative PCR (Q-PCR). In contrast to the predicted results, under conditions of low light intensity (20 ?mol\ub7m-2\ub7s-1), the toxigenic strain became dominant in both of the mixed cultures based on gene copy numbers and microcystin concentrations. When grown under conditions of high light intensity (80 ?mol\ub7m-2\ub7s-1), the toxigenic strain still appeared to dominate over nontoxigenic strain UTCC 632 but less so over strain UTCC 633. Microcystins may not be so costly to produce that toxigenic cyanobacteria are at a disadvantage in competition for limiting resources.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

A mission to Europa and the Jupiter System for the Cosmic Vision Programme

International audienc

A mission to Europa and the Jupiter System for the Cosmic Vision Programme

International audienc

A mission to Europa and the Jupiter System for the Cosmic Vision Programme

International audienc