Heritability of physical activity traits in Brazilian families: the Baependi Heart Study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It is commonly recognized that physical activity has familial aggregation; however, the genetic influences on physical activity phenotypes are not well characterized. This study aimed to (1) estimate the heritability of physical activity traits in Brazilian families; and (2) investigate whether genetic and environmental variance components contribute differently to the expression of these phenotypes in males and females.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The sample that constitutes the Baependi Heart Study is comprised of 1,693 individuals in 95 Brazilian families. The phenotypes were self-reported in a questionnaire based on the WHO-MONICA instrument. Variance component approaches, implemented in the SOLAR (Sequential Oligogenic Linkage Analysis Routines) computer package, were applied to estimate the heritability and to evaluate the heterogeneity of variance components by gender on the studied phenotypes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The heritability estimates were intermediate (35%) for weekly physical activity among non-sedentary subjects (weekly PA_NS), and low (9-14%) for sedentarism, weekly physical activity (weekly PA), and level of daily physical activity (daily PA). Significant evidence for heterogeneity in variance components by gender was observed for the sedentarism and weekly PA phenotypes. No significant gender differences in genetic or environmental variance components were observed for the weekly PA_NS trait. The daily PA phenotype was predominantly influenced by environmental factors, with larger effects in males than in females.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Heritability estimates for physical activity phenotypes in this sample of the Brazilian population were significant in both males and females, and varied from low to intermediate magnitude. Significant evidence for heterogeneity in variance components by gender was observed. These data add to the knowledge of the physical activity traits in the Brazilian study population, and are concordant with the notion of significant biological determination in active behavior.</p

Strange jet tagging at the FCC-ee using a transformer NN architecture and K short reconstruction

The successful identification of strange quark jets at the FCC-ee would enable the study of a multitude of largely unexplored processes, including the first ever study of Z->ss production, rare Higgs boson decays and the strange Yukawa coupling, CKM matrix elements via W decays, and BSM physics scenarios such as FCNCs. Due to the challenging nature of distinguishing these medium-mass quarks, strange tagging is a topic that has up to now received considerably less attention than its heavy flavour counterparts, or indeed gluon tagging. A multiclassifier neural network using a transformer-based architecture is coupled with secondary vertexing and a novel implementation of K short reconstruction at the FCC-ee to discriminate strange quark initiated jets. This poster presents a state-of-the-art strange quark tagger at the FCC-ee, with a focus on light quark discrimination at the Z pole

Selective hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes and ketones using novel manganese oxide and platinum supported on manganese oxide octahedral molecular sieves as catalysts

The selective hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes and ketones has been studied using ketoisophorone and cinnamaldehyde as model substrates using manganese oxide octahedral molecular sieve (OMS-2) based catalysts. For the first time, OMS-2 has been shown to be an efficient and selective hydrogenation catalyst. High selectivities for either the C=C or C=O double bond at ≈100 % conversion were achieved by using OMS-2 and platinum supported on OMS-2 catalysts. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations showed that the dissociation of H<SUB>2</SUB> on OMS-2 was water assisted and occurred on the surface Mn of OMS-2(0 0 1) that had been modified by an adsorbed H<SUB>2</SUB>O molecule. The theoretically calculated activation barrier was in good agreement with the experimentally determined value for the hydrogenation reactions, indicating that H<SUB>2</SUB> dissociation on OMS-2 is likely to be the rate-determining step. A significant increase in the rate of reaction was observed in the presence of Pt as a result of the enhancement of H<SUB>2</SUB> dissociative adsorption and subsequent reaction on the Pt or spillover of the hydrogen to the OMS-2 support. The relative adsorption strengths of ketoisophorone and cinnamaldehyde on the OMS-2 support compared with the Pt were found to determine the product selectivity

Swiss-wide multicentre evaluation and prediction of core outcomes in arthroscopic rotator cuff repair: protocol for the ARCR_Pred cohort study.

INTRODUCTION In the field of arthroscopic rotator cuff repair (ARCR), reporting standards of published studies differ dramatically, notably concerning adverse events (AEs). In addition, prognostic studies are overall methodologically poor, based on small data sets and explore only limited numbers of influencing factors. We aim to develop prognostic models for individual ARCR patients, primarily for the patient-reported assessment of shoulder function (Oxford Shoulder Score (OSS)) and the occurrence of shoulder stiffness 6 months after surgery. We also aim to evaluate the use of a consensus core event set (CES) for AEs and validate a severity classification for these events, considering the patient's perspective. METHODS AND ANALYSIS A cohort of 970 primary ARCR patients will be prospectively documented from several Swiss and German orthopaedic clinics up to 24 months postoperatively. Patient clinical examinations at 6 and 12 months will include shoulder range of motion and strength (Constant Score). Tendon repair integrity status will be assessed by ultrasound at 12 months. Patient-reported questionnaires at 6, 12 and 24 months will determine functional scores (subjective shoulder value, OSS), anxiety and depression scores, working status, sports activities, and quality of life (European Quality of Life 5 Dimensions 5 Level questionnaire). AEs will be documented according to a CES. Prognostic models will be developed using an internationally supported regression methodology. Multiple prognostic factors, including patient baseline demographics, psychological, socioeconomic and clinical factors, rotator cuff integrity, concomitant local findings, and (post)operative management factors, will be investigated. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION This project contributes to the development of personalised risk predictions for supporting the surgical decision process in ARCR. The consensus CES may become an international reference for the reporting of complications in clinical studies and registries. Ethical approval was obtained on 1 April 2020 from the lead ethics committee (EKNZ, Basel, Switzerland; ID: 2019-02076). All participants will provide informed written consent before enrolment in the study. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER NCT04321005. PROTOCOL VERSION Version 2 (13 December 2019)