Re-imagining Navan Fort : new light on the evolution of a major ceremonial centre in Northern Europe

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Chimerism in Wild Adult Populations of the Broadcast Spawning Coral Acropora millepora on the Great Barrier Reef

Chimeras are organisms containing tissues or cells of two or more genetically distinct individuals, and are known to exist in at least nine phyla of protists, plants, and animals. Although widespread and common in marine invertebrates, the extent of chimerism in wild populations of reef corals is unknown.The extent of chimerism was explored within two populations of a common coral, Acropora millepora, on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, by using up to 12 polymorphic DNA microsatellite loci. At least 2% and 5% of Magnetic Island and Pelorus Island populations of A. millepora, respectively, were found to be chimeras (3% overall), based on conservative estimates. A slightly less conservative estimate indicated that 5% of colonies in each population were chimeras. These values are likely to be vast underestimates of the true extent of chimerism, as our sampling protocol was restricted to a maximum of eight branches per colony, while most colonies consist of hundreds of branches. Genotypes within chimeric corals showed high relatedness, indicating that genetic similarity is a prerequisite for long-term acceptance of non-self genotypes within coral colonies.While some brooding corals have been shown to form genetic chimeras in their early life history stages under experimental conditions, this study provides the first genetic evidence of the occurrence of coral chimeras in the wild and of chimerism in a broadcast spawning species. We hypothesize that chimerism is more widespread in corals than previously thought, and suggest that this has important implications for their resilience, potentially enhancing their capacity to compete for space and respond to stressors such as pathogen infection

Tuberculosis and HIV co-infection: its impact on quality of life

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A shift from distal to proximal neoplasia in the colon: a decade of polyps and CRC in Italy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In the last years a trend towards proximalization of colorectal carcinomas (CRC) has been reported. This study aims to evaluate the distribution of CRC and adenomatous polyps (ADP) to establish the presence of proximalization and to assess the potential predictors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We retrieved histology reports of colonic specimens excised during colonoscopy, considering the exams performed between 1997 and 2006 at Cuneo Hospital, Italy. We compared the proportion of proximal lesions in the period 1997-2001 and in the period 2002-2006.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Neoplastic lesions were detected in 3087 people. Proximal CRC moved from 25.9% (1997-2001) to 30.0% (2002-2006). Adjusting for sex and age, the difference was not significant (OR 1.23; 95% CI: 0,95-1,58). The proximal ADP proportion increased from 19.2% (1997-2001) to 26.0% (2002-2006) (OR: 1.43; 95% CI: 1.17-1.89). The corresponding figures for advanced proximal ADP were 6.6% and 9.5% (OR: 1.48; 95% CI: 1.02-2.17). Adjusting for gender, age, diagnostic period, symptoms and number of polyps the prevalence of proximal advanced ADP was increased among people ≥ 70 years compared to those aged 55-69 years (OR 1.49; 95% CI: 1.032.16). The main predictor of proximal advanced neoplasia was the number of polyps detected per exam (> 1 polyp versus 1 polyp: considering all ADP: OR 2.16; 95% CI: 1.59-2.93; considering advanced ADP OR 1.63; 95% CI: 1.08-2.46). Adjusting for these factors, the difference between the two periods was no longer significant.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>CRC do not proximalize while a trend towards a proximal shift in adenomas was observed among people ≥ 70 years.</p

Rare and low-frequency coding variants alter human adult height

Height is a highly heritable, classic polygenic trait with ~700 common associated variants identified so far through genome - wide association studies . Here , we report 83 height - associated coding variants with lower minor allele frequenc ies ( range of 0.1 - 4.8% ) and effects of up to 2 16 cm /allele ( e.g. in IHH , STC2 , AR and CRISPLD2 ) , >10 times the average effect of common variants . In functional follow - up studies, rare height - increasing alleles of STC2 (+1 - 2 cm/allele) compromise d proteolytic inhibition of PAPP - A and increased cleavage of IGFBP - 4 in vitro , resulting in higher bioavailability of insulin - like growth factors . The se 83 height - associated variants overlap genes mutated in monogenic growth disorders and highlight new biological candidates ( e.g. ADAMTS3, IL11RA, NOX4 ) and pathways ( e.g . proteoglycan/ glycosaminoglycan synthesis ) involved in growth . Our results demonstrate that sufficiently large sample sizes can uncover rare and low - frequency variants of moderate to large effect associated with polygenic human phenotypes , and that these variants implicate relevant genes and pathways

Формирование эмоциональной культуры как компонента инновационной культуры студентов

Homozygosity has long been associated with rare, often devastating, Mendelian disorders1 and Darwin was one of the first to recognise that inbreeding reduces evolutionary fitness2. However, the effect of the more distant parental relatedness common in modern human populations is less well understood. Genomic data now allow us to investigate the effects of homozygosity on traits of public health importance by observing contiguous homozygous segments (runs of homozygosity, ROH), which are inferred to be homozygous along their complete length. Given the low levels of genome-wide homozygosity prevalent in most human populations, information is required on very large numbers of people to provide sufficient power3,4. Here we use ROH to study 16 health-related quantitative traits in 354,224 individuals from 102 cohorts and find statistically significant associations between summed runs of homozygosity (SROH) and four complex traits: height, forced expiratory lung volume in 1 second (FEV1), general cognitive ability (g) and educational attainment (nominal p<1 × 10−300, 2.1 × 10−6, 2.5 × 10−10, 1.8 × 10−10). In each case increased homozygosity was associated with decreased trait value, equivalent to the offspring of first cousins being 1.2 cm shorter and having 10 months less education. Similar effect sizes were found across four continental groups and populations with different degrees of genome-wide homozygosity, providing convincing evidence for the first time that homozygosity, rather than confounding, directly contributes to phenotypic variance. Contrary to earlier reports in substantially smaller samples5,6, no evidence was seen of an influence of genome-wide homozygosity on blood pressure and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, or ten other cardio-metabolic traits. Since directional dominance is predicted for traits under directional evolutionary selection7, this study provides evidence that increased stature and cognitive function have been positively selected in human evolution, whereas many important risk factors for late-onset complex diseases may not have been