Evo-devo of human adolescence: beyond disease models of early puberty

Despite substantial heritability in pubertal development, much variation remains to be explained, leaving room for the influence of environmental factors to adjust its phenotypic trajectory in the service of fitness goals. Utilizing evolutionary development biology (evo-devo), we examine adolescence as an evolutionary life-history stage in its developmental context. We show that the transition from the preceding stage of juvenility entails adaptive plasticity in response to energy resources, other environmental cues, social needs of adolescence and maturation toward youth and adulthood. Using the evolutionary theory of socialization, we show that familial psychosocial stress fosters a fast life history and reproductive strategy rather than early maturation being just a risk factor for aggression and delinquency. Here we explore implications of an evolutionary-developmental-endocrinological-anthropological framework for theory building, while illuminating new directions for research

METANNOGEN: compiling features of biochemical reactions needed for the reconstruction of metabolic networks

BACKGROUND: One central goal of computational systems biology is the mathematical modelling of complex metabolic reaction networks. The first and most time-consuming step in the development of such models consists in the stoichiometric reconstruction of the network, i. e. compilation of all metabolites, reactions and transport processes relevant to the considered network and their assignment to the various cellular compartments. Therefore an information system is required to collect and manage data from different databases and scientific literature in order to generate a metabolic network of biochemical reactions that can be subjected to further computational analyses. RESULTS: The computer program METANNOGEN facilitates the reconstruction of metabolic networks. It uses the well-known database of biochemical reactions KEGG of biochemical reactions as primary information source from which biochemical reactions relevant to the considered network can be selected, edited and stored in a separate, user-defined database. Reactions not contained in KEGG can be entered manually into the system. To aid the decision whether or not a reaction selected from KEGG belongs to the considered network METANNOGEN contains information of SWISSPROT and ENSEMBL and provides Web links to a number of important information sources like METACYC, BRENDA, NIST, and REACTOME. If a reaction is reported to occur in more than one cellular compartment, a corresponding number of reactions is generated each referring to one specific compartment. Transport processes of metabolites are entered like chemical reactions where reactants and products have different compartment attributes. The list of compartmentalized biochemical reactions and membrane transport processes compiled by means of METANNOGEN can be exported as an SBML file for further computational analysis. METANNOGEN is highly customizable with respect to the content of the SBML output file, additional data-fields, the graphical input form, highlighting of project specific search terms and dynamically generated Web-links. CONCLUSION: METANNOGEN is a flexible tool to manage information for the design of metabolic networks. The program requires Java Runtime Environment 1.4 or higher and about 100 MB of free RAM and about 200 MB of free HD space. It does not require installation and can be directly Java-webstarted from

Variation in prescribing for anxiety and depression: a reflection of health inequalities, cultural differences or variations in access to care?

BACKGROUND: There are large variations in mental health prescribing in UK populations. However the underlying reasons for these differences, which may be related to differences in prevalence, cultural expectations or practical difficulties in access to treatment, remain uncertain. METHODS: Linear modelling was used to investigate whether population characteristics or access to primary care account for variations in mental health prescribing across 39 deprived neighbourhoods. RESULTS: The proportion of sampled respondents whose first language was not English and the ratio of general practitioners to population explained 61% of variation. Deprivation and mental health status were not significant predictors of prescribing in these relatively deprived communities. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that mental health prescribing, within deprived areas, as well as reflecting cultural and social differences in prescribing, may also be a proxy measure of access to care

The politics of the teaching of reading

Historically, political debates have broken out over how to teach reading in primary schools and infant classrooms. These debates and “reading wars” have often resulted from public concerns and media reportage of a fall in reading standards. They also reflect the importance placed on learning to read by parents, teachers, employers, and politicians. Public and media-driven controversies over the teaching of reading have resulted in intense public and professional debates over which specific methods and materials to use with beginning readers and with children who have reading difficulties. Recently, such debates have led to a renewed emphasis on reading proficiency and “standardized” approaches to teaching reading and engaging with literacy. The universal acceptance of the importance of learning to read has also led to vested interests in specific methods, reading programmes, and early literacy assessments amongst professional, business, commercial, and parental lobbying groups. This article traces these debates and the resulting growing support for a quantitative reductionist approach to early-reading programmes

Gas-cushioned droplet impacts with a thin layer of porous media

The authors are grateful to Dr. Manish Tiwari for introducing them to experiments involving droplet impacts with textured substrates. PDH is grateful for the use of the Maxwell High-Performance Computing Cluster of the University of Aberdeen IT Service. RP is grateful for the use of the High-Performance Computing Cluster supported by the Research and Specialist Computing Support service at the University of East Anglia.Peer reviewedPostprin

Rhomboid family member 2 regulates cytoskeletal stress-associated Keratin 16.

Keratin 16 (K16) is a cytoskeletal scaffolding protein highly expressed at pressure-bearing sites of the mammalian footpad. It can be induced in hyperproliferative states such as wound healing, inflammation and cancer. Here we show that the inactive rhomboid protease RHBDF2 (iRHOM2) regulates thickening of the footpad epidermis through its interaction with K16. K16 expression is absent in the thinned footpads of irhom2-/- mice compared with irhom2+/+mice, due to reduced keratinocyte proliferation. Gain-of-function mutations in iRHOM2 underlie Tylosis with oesophageal cancer (TOC), characterized by palmoplantar thickening, upregulate K16 with robust downregulation of its type II keratin binding partner, K6. By orchestrating the remodelling and turnover of K16, and uncoupling it from K6, iRHOM2 regulates the epithelial response to physical stress. These findings contribute to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying hyperproliferation of the palmoplantar epidermis in both physiological and disease states, and how this 'stress' keratin is regulated

Carbon ion radiotherapy for basal cell adenocarcinoma of the head and neck: preliminary report of six cases and review of the literature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Basal cell adenocarcinoma accounts for approximately 1.6% of all salivary gland neoplasms. In this report, we describe our experiences of treatment for BCAC with carbon ion radiotherapy in our institution.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Case records of 6 patients with diagnosis of basal cell adenocarcinoma of the head and neck, who were treated by carbon ion radiotherapy with 64.0 GyE/16 fractions in our institution, were retrospectively reviewed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In a mean follow-up period of 32.1 months (14.0-51.3 months), overall survival and local control rates of 100% were achieved. Only one grade 4 (CTCAE v3.0) late complication occurred. There was no other grade 3 or higher toxicity.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Carbon ion radiotherapy should be considered as an appropriate curative approach for treatment of basal cell adenocarcinoma in certain cases, particularly in cases of unresectable disease and postoperative gross residual or recurrent disease.</p

Two-Loop Soft Corrections and Resummation of the Thrust Distribution in the Dijet Region

The thrust distribution in electron-positron annihilation is a classical precision QCD observable. Using renormalization group (RG) evolution in Laplace space, we perform the resummation of logarithmically enhanced corrections in the dijet limit, $T\to 1$ to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (NNLL) accuracy. We independently derive the two-loop soft function for the thrust distribution and extract an analytical expression for the NNLL resummation coefficient $g_3$. To combine the resummed expressions with the fixed-order results, we derive the $\log(R)$-matching and $R$-matching of the NNLL approximation to the fixed-order NNLO distribution.Comment: 50 pages, 12 figures, 1 table. Few minor changes. Version accepted for publication in JHE