Prenylated flavonoids as evolutionary indicators in the genus Dahlstedtia.

Abstract: Three chalcones, two beta-hydroxychalcones, four flavanones, six flavones, four flavonols, one rotenoid and one pterocarpan were isolated from the roots of Dahlstedtia pinnata and D. pentaphylla. With the exception of the pterocarpan, all the compounds exhibit prenylation in the A ring, a characteristic of flavonoids produced by species of the Tephrosieae. Of the 21 flavonoids identified, five (2 flavanones and 3 flavones) are new as naturally occurring compounds. A neat distinction in the biosynthetic capability of the two species, leading to the production of flavanones and flavonols in D. pentaphylla, but not in D. pinnata, is observed. In this latter species, biosynthesis is totally oriented toward dehydrogenation, producing flavones. By both criteria-higher oxidation state and suppression of enzyme systems-D. pinnata is the more advanced species

The Depression Network (DeNT) Study: methodology and sociodemographic characteristics of the first 470 affected sibling pairs from a large multi-site linkage genetic study

Glaxo Wellcome Research and Development

Polygenic risk for circulating reproductive hormone levels and their influence on hippocampal volume and depression susceptibility

Altered reproductive hormone levels have been associated with the pathophysiology of depressive disorders and this risk may be imparted by their modulatory effect upon hippocampal structure and function. Currently it is unclear whether altered levels of reproductive hormones are causally associated with hippocampal volume reductions and the risk of depressive disorders. Here, we utilize genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics from a GWAS focusing on reproductive hormones, consisting of 2913 individuals. Using this data, we generated polygenic risk scores (PRS) for estradiol, progesterone, prolactin and testosterone in the European RADIANT cohort consisting of 176 postpartum depression (PPD) cases (100% female, mean age: 41.6 years old), 2772 major depressive disorder (MDD) cases (68.6% female, mean age: 46.9 years old) and 1588 control participants (62.5% female, mean age: 42.4 years old), for which there was also a neuroimaging subset of 111 individuals (60.4% female, mean age: 50.0 years old). Only the best-fit PRS for estradiol showed a significant negative association with hippocampal volume, as well as many of its individual subfields; including the molecular layer and granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus, subiculum, CA1, CA2/3 and CA4 regions. Interestingly, several of these subfields are implicated in adult hippocampal neurogenesis. When we tested the same estradiol PRS for association with case-control status for PPD or MDD there was no significant relationship observed. Here, we provide evidence that genetic risk for higher plasma estradiol is negatively associated with hippocampal volume, but this does not translate into an increased risk of MDD or PPD. This work suggests that the relationship between reproductive hormones, the hippocampus, and depression is complex, and that there may not be a clear-cut pathway for etiology or risk moderation

Veilige toegang en verantwoord delen: psychologische determinanten van veilig wachtwoordgedrag en het veilig online delen van persoonsgegevens. KCPEG onderzoeksrapport in opdracht van WODC

Social decision makin

Verduurzaming loyaliteitsprogramma's: onderzoeksrapport

TESE115007Social decision makin

The association between genetically determined ABO blood types and major depressive disorder

ABO blood types and their corresponding antigens have long been assumed to be related to different human diseases. So far, smaller studies on the relationship between mental disorders and blood types yielded contra-dicting results. In this study we analyzed the association between ABO blood types and lifetime major depressive disorder (MDD). We performed a pooled analysis with data from 26 cohorts that are part of the MDD working group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC). The dataset included 37,208 individuals of largely Eu-ropean ancestry of which 41.6% were diagnosed with lifetime MDD. ABO blood types were identified using three single nucleotide polymorphisms in the ABO gene: rs505922, rs8176746 and rs8176747. Regression analyses were performed to assess associations between the individual ABO blood types and MDD diagnosis as well as putative interaction effects with sex. The models were adjusted for sex, cohort and the first ten genetic principal components. The percentage of blood type A was slightly lower in cases than controls while blood type O was more prominent in cases. However, these differences were not statistically significant. Our analyses found no evidence of an association between ABO blood types and major depressive disorder

All-sky LIGO Search for Periodic Gravitational Waves in the Early S5 Data

We report on an all-sky search with the LIGO detectors for periodic gravitational waves in the frequency range 50--1100 Hz and with the frequency's time derivative in the range -5.0E-9 Hz/s to zero. Data from the first eight months of the fifth LIGO science run (S5) have been used in this search, which is based on a semi-coherent method (PowerFlux) of summing strain power. Observing no evidence of periodic gravitational radiation, we report 95% confidence-level upper limits on radiation emitted by any unknown isolated rotating neutron stars within the search range. Strain limits below 1.E-24 are obtained over a 200-Hz band, and the sensitivity improvement over previous searches increases the spatial volume sampled by an average factor of about 100 over the entire search band. For a neutron star with nominal equatorial ellipticity of 1.0E-6, the search is sensitive to distances as great as 500 pc--a range that could encompass many undiscovered neutron stars, albeit only a tiny fraction of which would likely be rotating fast enough to be accessible to LIGO. This ellipticity is at the upper range thought to be sustainable by conventional neutron stars and well below the maximum sustainable by a strange quark star.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur

First LIGO search for gravitational wave bursts from cosmic (super)strings

We report on a matched-filter search for gravitational wave bursts from cosmic string cusps using LIGO data from the fourth science run (S4) which took place in February and March 2005. No gravitational waves were detected in 14.9 days of data from times when all three LIGO detectors were operating. We interpret the result in terms of a frequentist upper limit on the rate of gravitational wave bursts and use the limits on the rate to constrain the parameter space (string tension, reconnection probability, and loop sizes) of cosmic string models.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Replaced with version submitted to PR

Stacked Search for Gravitational Waves from the 2006 SGR 1900+14 Storm

We present the results of a LIGO search for short-duration gravitational waves (GWs) associated with the 2006 March 29 SGR 1900+14 storm. A new search method is used, "stacking'' the GW data around the times of individual soft-gamma bursts in the storm to enhance sensitivity for models in which multiple bursts are accompanied by GW emission. We assume that variation in the time difference between burst electromagnetic emission and potential burst GW emission is small relative to the GW signal duration, and we time-align GW excess power time-frequency tilings containing individual burst triggers to their corresponding electromagnetic emissions. We use two GW emission models in our search: a fluence-weighted model and a flat (unweighted) model for the most electromagnetically energetic bursts. We find no evidence of GWs associated with either model. Model-dependent GW strain, isotropic GW emission energy E_GW, and \gamma = E_GW / E_EM upper limits are estimated using a variety of assumed waveforms. The stacking method allows us to set the most stringent model-dependent limits on transient GW strain published to date. We find E_GW upper limit estimates (at a nominal distance of 10 kpc) of between 2x10^45 erg and 6x10^50 erg depending on waveform type. These limits are an order of magnitude lower than upper limits published previously for this storm and overlap with the range of electromagnetic energies emitted in SGR giant flares.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure