Identification of transcripts with enriched expression in the developing and adult pancreas

The expression profile of different developmental stages of the murine pancreas and predictions of transcription factor interactions, provides a framework for pancreas regulatory networks and development

Blueberry Advisory Committee Research Report

The 1988 edition of the Blueberry Advisory Committee Research Reports was prepared for the Maine Wild Blueberry Commission and the University of Maine Wild Blueberry Advisory Committee by researchers with the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station and Maine Cooperative Extension Service at the University of Maine, Orono. Projects in this report include: 1. Monitoring methods, economic injury levels, and action thresholds for blueberry spanworm larvae in vegetative year fields. 2. Control of secondary blueberry pests 3. Control of blueberry maggot 4. Effect of pruning practices on blueberry insect abundance 5. Survey of Fungi Contaminating Lowbush Blueberries 6. Nutrition Survey 1988 7. Phosphorus Dose/Response Curve 8. Effect of Several Mulches on Frost Heaving, Soil Moisture, Soil Temperature and Rhizome Development 9. Influence of Mulch Sources on Clonal Spread-SCS Study, Deblois 10. Effect of Surface Mulches on Stabilizing Lowbush Blueberry Soil in Barren Areas 11. Nitrogen-Phosphorus Study 12. Changes in Sugar and Organic Acids of Blueberries During Development, Preprocess Lag Time and Storage 13. Characterization of Pectin in Blueberries 14. Effect of Hexazinone (VELPAR) on Species Distribution in Lowbush Blueberry Fields 15. Evaluation of Setyhoxydim (POAST) for Bunchgrass Control 16. Evaluation and modification of commercial wipers 17. Evaluation of Five Preemergence Herbicides for Control of Oatgrass and Bunchgrass 18. Effect of rate and formulation of hexazinone (VELPAR) on bunchberry 19. Bracken fern control alternatives 20. Hexazinone (VELPAR) and terbacil (SINBAR) combinations for weed control 21. Evaluation of hexazinone (VELPAR) with spot treatments of glyphosate (ROUNDUP) or sethoxydin (POAST) for bunchgrass control 22. Directed sprays of glyphosate (ROUNDUP) for bunchberry control. 23. Evaluation of Postemergence Applications of Chlorimuron for Bunchberry Control 24. Seedling Pruning Study 25. Blueberry Harvester Trials 26. Blueberry Extension Progra

White Shark Genome Reveals Ancient Elasmobranch Adaptations Associated with Wound Healing and the Maintenance of Genome Stability

The white shark (Carcharodon carcharias; Chondrichthyes, Elasmobranchii) is one of the most publicly recognized marine animals. Here we report the genome sequence of the white shark and comparative evolutionary genomic analyses to the chondrichthyans, whale shark (Elasmobranchii) and elephant shark (Holocephali), as well as various vertebrates. The 4.63-Gbp white shark genome contains 24,520 predicted genes, and has a repeat content of 58.5%. We provide evidence for a history of positive selection and gene-content enrichments regarding important genome stability-related genes and functional categories, particularly so for the two elasmobranchs. We hypothesize that the molecular adaptive emphasis on genome stability in white and whale sharks may reflect the combined selective pressure of large genome sizes, high repeat content, high long-interspersed element retrotransposon representation, large body size, and long lifespans, represented across these two species. Molecular adaptation for wound healing was also evident, with positive selection in key genes involved in the wound-healing process, as well as Gene Ontology enrichments in fundamental wound-healing pathways. Sharks, particularly apex predators such as the white shark, are believed to have an acute sense of smell. However, we found very few olfactory receptor genes, very few trace amine-associated receptors, and extremely low numbers of G protein-coupled receptors. We did however, identify 13 copies of vomeronasal type 2 (V2R) genes in white shark and 10 in whale shark; this, combined with the over 30 V2Rs reported previously for elephant shark, suggests this gene family may underlie the keen odorant reception of chondrichthyans

Tooth micro-hardness changes after applying bioactive glass-containing, anti-microbial sealants

The AAPD recommends placement of dental pit and fissure sealants on surfaces that are high risk or that already exhibit incipient carious lesions. Protection provided by sealants may be enhanced by the addition of ion-releasing, anti-microbial filler particles of bioactive glass. Objective: We prepared novel dental pit and fissure sealant materials containing bioactive glass (BAG) fillers and tested their ability to prevent tooth demineralization in a bacterial broth. Methods: Two types of BAG were synthesized in our lab: BAG1 (61 wt% silica - 31 wt% calcia - 4 wt% phosphate - 4 wt% flouride); and BAG2 (81 wt% silica - 11 wt% calcia - 4 wt% phosphate - 4 wt% flouride). Ultraseal XT (USXT) resin without filler was supplied by the manufacturer (Ultradent Products, Inc. South Jordan, UT). BAGs were individually incorporated into the resin (25 wt%) and provided handling properties similar to USXT. Caries-free teeth (n=5 each) were randomly assigned to three groups (BAG1-sealant, BAG2-sealant,or USXT) and sealants were placed by the same practitioner. Acid-resistant nail polish was used to cover half of the tooth surface. Teeth were immersed in a bacterial culture system of sucrose-rich brain-heart infusion (BHI) media containing Streptococcus mutans strain #25175, an acid-producing microbe and incubated at 37˚C, 5%CO2; media was changed every other day. Bacterial growth was confirmed throughout the test period. At two weeks, teeth were sectioned sagitally and microhardness testing compared changes in hardness as a function of location on the tooth. Results : Overall, the BAG2-sealant samples were significantly harder than the BAG1-sealant or USXT samples. Areas adjacent to the BAG2-sealant were harder than the original tooth surface. (ANOVA/Tukey’s; α=0.05). Conclusion: The inclusion of anti-bacterial, ion-releasing BAG as a filler component results in a harder tooth that may be better able to resist demineralization.This presentation was presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Pacific Division 93rd Annual Meeting in Boise, Idaho. It was also presented at the American Association for Dental Research Annual Conference in 2012 (AADR)

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Pilot study evaluating a brief mindfulness intervention for those with chronic pain: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The burden of chronic pain is a major challenge, impacting the quality of life of patients. Intensive programmes of mindfulness-based therapy can help patients to cope with chronic pain but can be time consuming and require a trained specialist to implement. The self-management model of care is now integral to the care of patients with chronic pain; home-based interventions can be very acceptable, making a compelling argument for investigating brief, self-management interventions. The aim of this study is two-fold: to assess the immediate effects of a brief self-help mindfulness intervention for coping with chronic pain and to assess the feasibility of conducting a definitive randomized controlled trial to determine the effectiveness of such an intervention. METHODS/DESIGN: A randomized controlled pilot study will be conducted to evaluate a brief mindfulness intervention for those with chronic pain. Ninety chronic pain patients who attend hospital outpatient clinics will be recruited and allocated randomly to either the control or treatment group on a 1:1 basis using the computer-generated list of random numbers. The treatment group receives mindfulness audios and the control group receives audios of readings from a non-fiction book, all of which are 15 minutes in length. Immediate effects of the intervention are assessed with brief psychological measures immediately before and after audio use. Mindfulness, mood, health-related quality of life, pain catastrophizing and experience of the intervention are assessed with standardized measures, brief ratings and brief telephone follow-ups, at baseline and after one week and one month. Feasibility is assessed by estimation of effect sizes for outcomes, patient adherence and experience, and appraisal of resource allocation in provision of the intervention. DISCUSSION: This trial will assess whether a brief mindfulness-based intervention is effective for immediately reducing perceived distress and pain with the side effect of increasing relaxation in chronic pain patients and will determine the feasibility of conducting a definitive randomized controlled trial. Patient recruitment began in January 2015 and is due to be completed in June 2016. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN61538090 Registered 20 April 2015

The ABC130 barrel module prototyping programme for the ATLAS strip tracker

For the Phase-II Upgrade of the ATLAS Detector, its Inner Detector, consisting of silicon pixel, silicon strip and transition radiation sub-detectors, will be replaced with an all new 100 % silicon tracker, composed of a pixel tracker at inner radii and a strip tracker at outer radii. The future ATLAS strip tracker will include 11,000 silicon sensor modules in the central region (barrel) and 7,000 modules in the forward region (end-caps), which are foreseen to be constructed over a period of 3.5 years. The construction of each module consists of a series of assembly and quality control steps, which were engineered to be identical for all production sites. In order to develop the tooling and procedures for assembly and testing of these modules, two series of major prototyping programs were conducted: an early program using readout chips designed using a 250 nm fabrication process (ABCN-25) and a subsequent program using a follow-up chip set made using 130 nm processing (ABC130 and HCC130 chips). This second generation of readout chips was used for an extensive prototyping program that produced around 100 barrel-type modules and contributed significantly to the development of the final module layout. This paper gives an overview of the components used in ABC130 barrel modules, their assembly procedure and findings resulting from their tests.Comment: 82 pages, 66 figure

International genome-wide meta-analysis identifies new primary biliary cirrhosis risk loci and targetable pathogenic pathways.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a classical autoimmune liver disease for which effective immunomodulatory therapy is lacking. Here we perform meta-analyses of discovery data sets from genome-wide association studies of European subjects (n=2,764 cases and 10,475 controls) followed by validation genotyping in an independent cohort (n=3,716 cases and 4,261 controls). We discover and validate six previously unknown risk loci for PBC (Pcombined<5 × 10(-8)) and used pathway analysis to identify JAK-STAT/IL12/IL27 signalling and cytokine-cytokine pathways, for which relevant therapies exist