242 research outputs found
Genome-wide autozygosity is associated with lower general cognitive ability
Inbreeding depression refers to lower fitness among offspring of genetic relatives. This reduced fitness is caused by the inheritance of two identical chromosomal segments (autozygosity) across the genome, which may expose the effects of (partially) recessive deleterious mutations. Even among outbred populations, autozygosity can occur to varying degrees due to cryptic relatedness between parents. Using dense genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data, we examined the degree to which autozygosity associated with measured cognitive ability in an unselected sample of 4854 participants of European ancestry. We used runs of homozygosity-multiple homozygous SNPs in a row-to estimate autozygous tracts across the genome. We found that increased levels of autozygosity predicted lower general cognitive ability, and estimate a drop of 0.6 s.d. among the offspring of first cousins (P=0.003-0.02 depending on the model). This effect came predominantly from long and rare autozygous tracts, which theory predicts as more likely to be deleterious than short and common tracts. Association mapping of autozygous tracts did not reveal any specific regions that were predictive beyond chance after correcting for multiple testing genome wide. The observed effect size is consistent with studies of cognitive decline among offspring of known consanguineous relationships. These findings suggest a role for multiple recessive or partially recessive alleles in general cognitive ability, and that alleles decreasing general cognitive ability have been selected against over evolutionary time.Molecular Psychiatry advance online publication, 22 September 2015; doi:10.1038/mp.2015.120
Intractable policy failure: the case of bovine TB and badgers
The failure to eliminate bovine TB from the English and Welsh cattle herd represents a long-term intractable policy failure. Cattle-to-cattle transmission of the disease has been underemphasised in the debate compared with transmission from badgers despite a contested evidence base. Archival evidence shows that mythical constructions of the badger have shaped the policy debate. Relevant evidence was incomplete and contested; alternative framings of the policy problem were polarised and difficult to reconcile; and this rendered normal techniques of stakeholder management through co-option and mediation of little assistance
Measurement of the LT-asymmetry in \pi^0 electroproduction at the energy of the \Delta (1232) resonance
The reaction p(e,e'p)pi^0 has been studied at Q^2=0.2 (GeV/c)^2 in the region
of W=1232 MeV. From measurements left and right of q, cross section asymmetries
\rho_LT have been obtained in forward kinematics \rho_LT(\theta_\pi^0=20deg) =
(-11.68 +/- 2.36_stat +/- 2.36_sys)$ and backward kinematics
\rho_LT(\theta_\pi^0=160deg) =(12.18 +/- 0.27_stat +/- 0.82_sys). Multipole
ratios \Re(S_1+^* M_1+)/|M_1+|^2 and \Re(S_0+^* M_1+)/|M_1+|^2 were determined
in the framework of the MAID2003 model. The results are in agreement with older
data. The unusally strong negative \Re(S_0+^* M_1+)/|M_1+|^2 required to bring
also the result of Kalleicher et al. in accordance with the rest of the data is
almost excluded.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables. Changed content. Accepted for
publication in EPJ
Generalized parton distributions from nucleon form factor data
We present a simple empirical parameterization of the x- and t-dependence of
generalized parton distributions at zero skewness, using forward parton
distributions as input. A fit to experimental data for the Dirac, Pauli and
axial form factors of the nucleon allows us to discuss quantitatively the
interplay between longitudinal and transverse partonic degrees of freedom in
the nucleon ("nucleon tomography"). In particular we obtain the transverse
distribution of valence quarks at given momentum fraction x. We calculate
various moments of the distributions, including the form factors that appear in
the handbag approximation to wide-angle Compton scattering. This allows us to
estimate the minimal momentum transfer required for reliable predictions in
that approach to be around |t|~3 GeV^2. We also evaluate the valence
contributions to the energy-momentum form factors entering Ji's sum rule.Comment: 69 pages, 36 figures. v2: small improvements in text and figures;
references adde
Elliptic flow of charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV
We report the first measurement of charged particle elliptic flow in Pb-Pb
collisions at 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron
Collider. The measurement is performed in the central pseudorapidity region
(||<0.8) and transverse momentum range 0.2< < 5.0 GeV/. The
elliptic flow signal v, measured using the 4-particle correlation method,
averaged over transverse momentum and pseudorapidity is 0.087 0.002
(stat) 0.004 (syst) in the 40-50% centrality class. The differential
elliptic flow v reaches a maximum of 0.2 near = 3
GeV/. Compared to RHIC Au-Au collisions at 200 GeV, the elliptic flow
increases by about 30%. Some hydrodynamic model predictions which include
viscous corrections are in agreement with the observed increase.Comment: 10 pages, 4 captioned figures, published version, figures at
http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/389
Two-pion Bose-Einstein correlations in central Pb-Pb collisions at = 2.76 TeV
The first measurement of two-pion Bose-Einstein correlations in central Pb-Pb
collisions at TeV at the Large Hadron Collider is
presented. We observe a growing trend with energy now not only for the
longitudinal and the outward but also for the sideward pion source radius. The
pion homogeneity volume and the decoupling time are significantly larger than
those measured at RHIC.Comment: 17 pages, 5 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 12,
published version, figures at
http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/388
Measurement of the flavour-specific CP-violating asymmetry as sl in B0s decays
The CP  -violating asymmetry is studied using semileptonic decays of and mesons produced in pp  collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV at the LHC, exploiting a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fbâ1. The reconstructed final states are , with the particle decaying in the Ïϱ mode. The yields are summed over and initial states, and integrated with respect to decay time. Data-driven methods are used to measure efficiency ratios. We obtain , where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic
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