Correlating and predicting the air infiltration through the cracks of suspended timber floors

This paper shows that the visible gap length may be used as a physical parameter when correlating pressure difference to volume flow rate (or air velocity) through the cracks between floorboards and can be termed the Equivalent Crack Length. The crack widths, which previously have been determined separately from the edge effect coefficient and the laminar flow coefficient, were significantly different. When analysed graphically they can be shown to correlate by an empirical relationship. A generalised equation is proposed that, in conjunction with the empirical relationship, allows predictions to be made of the volume flow rate through the cracks between floorboards for a known pressure difference

Natural polymorphisms in C. elegans HECW-1 E3 ligase affect pathogen avoidance behaviour

available in PMC 2012 June 22.Heritable variation in behavioural traits generally has a complex genetic basis1, and thus naturally occurring polymorphisms that influence behaviour have been defined in only rare instances2,3. The isolation of wild strains of Caenorhabditis elegans has facilitated the study of natural genetic variation in this species4 and provided insights into its diverse microbial ecology5. C. elegans responds to bacterial infection with conserved innate immune responses6-8 and, while lacking the immunological memory of vertebrate adaptive immunity, exhibits an aversive learning response to pathogenic bacteria9. Here, we report the molecular characterization of naturally occurring coding polymorphisms in a C. elegans gene encoding a conserved HECT domain-containing E3 ubiquitin ligase, HECW-1. We show that two distinct polymorphisms in neighbouring residues of HECW-1 each affect C. elegans behavioural avoidance of a lawn of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Neuronspecific rescue and ablation experiments, and genetic interaction analysis suggest that HECW-1 functions in a pair of sensory neurons to inhibit P. aeruginosa lawn avoidance behaviour through inhibition of the neuropeptide receptor NPR-110, which we have previously shown promotes P. aeruginosa lawn avoidance behaviour11. Our data establish a molecular basis for natural variation in a C. elegans behaviour that may undergo adaptive changes in response to microbial pathogens.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH Grant GM084477

Increasing the Depth of Current Understanding: Sensitivity Testing of Deep-Sea Larval Dispersal Models for Ecologists

Larval dispersal is an important ecological process of great interest to conservation and the establishment of marine protected areas. Increasing numbers of studies are turning to biophysical models to simulate dispersal patterns, including in the deep-sea, but for many ecologists unassisted by a physical oceanographer, a model can present as a black box. Sensitivity testing offers a means to test the models' abilities and limitations and is a starting point for all modelling efforts. The aim of this study is to illustrate a sensitivity testing process for the unassisted ecologist, through a deep-sea case study example, and demonstrate how sensitivity testing can be used to determine optimal model settings, assess model adequacy, and inform ecological interpretation of model outputs. Five input parameters are tested (timestep of particle simulator (TS), horizontal (HS) and vertical separation (VS) of release points, release frequency (RF), and temporal range (TR) of simulations) using a commonly employed pairing of models. The procedures used are relevant to all marine larval dispersal models. It is shown how the results of these tests can inform the future set up and interpretation of ecological studies in this area. For example, an optimal arrangement of release locations spanning a release area could be deduced; the increased depth range spanned in deep-sea studies may necessitate the stratification of dispersal simulations with different numbers of release locations at different depths; no fewer than 52 releases per year should be used unless biologically informed; three years of simulations chosen based on climatic extremes may provide results with 90% similarity to five years of simulation; and this model setup is not appropriate for simulating rare dispersal events. A step-by-step process, summarising advice on the sensitivity testing procedure, is provided to inform all future unassisted ecologists looking to run a larval dispersal simulation

Feedback as intervention for team learning in virtual teams: the role of team cohesion and personality

Scholars and practitioners agree that virtual teams (VTs) have become commonplace in today's digital workplace. Relevant literature argues that learning constitutes a significant contributor to team member satisfaction and performance, and that, at least in face-to-face teams, team cohesion fosters team learning. Given the additional challenges VTs face, e.g. geographical dispersion, which are likely have a negative influence on cohesion, in this paper we shed light on the relationship between team cohesion and team learning. We adopted a quantitative approach and studied 54 VTs in our quest to understand the role of feedback in mediating this relationship and, more specifically, the role of personality traits in moderating the indirect effect of team feedback and guided reflection intervention on TL through team cohesion within the VT context. Our findings highlight the importance of considering aspects related to the team composition when devising intervention strategies for VTs, and provide empirical support for an interactionist model between personality and emergent states such as cohesion. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed

Genome-Wide Identification of Molecular Pathways and Biomarkers in Response to Arsenic Exposure in Zebrafish Liver

10.1371/journal.pone.0068737PLoS ONE87-POLN

Innovation Practices in Emerging Economies: Do University Partnerships Matter?

Enterprises’ resources and capabilities determine their ability to achieve competitive advantage. In this regard, the key innovation challenges that enterprises face are liabilities associated with their age and size, and the entry barriers imposed on them. In this line, a growing number of enterprises are starting to implement innovation practices in which they employ both internal/external flows of knowledge in order to explore/exploit innovation in collaboration with commercial or scientific agents. Within this context, universities play a significant role providing fertile knowledge-intensive environments to support the exploration and exploitation of innovative and entrepreneurial ideas, especially in emerging economies, where governments have created subsidies to promote enterprise innovation through compulsory university partnerships. Based on these ideas, the purpose of this exploratory research is to provide a better understanding about the role of universities on enterprises’ innovation practices in emerging economies. More concretely, in the context of Mexico, we explored the enterprises’ motivations to collaborate with universities in terms of innovation purposes (exploration and exploitation) or alternatives to access to public funds (compulsory requirement of being involved in a university partnership). Using a sample of 10,167 Mexican enterprises in the 2012 Research and Technological Development Survey collected by the Mexican National Institute of Statistics and Geography, we tested a multinomial regression model. Our results provide insights about the relevant role of universities inside enterprises’ exploratory innovation practices, as well as, in the access of R&D research subsidies

Evidence for Genetic Overlap Between Schizophrenia and Age at First Birth in Women

IMPORTANCE: A recently published study of national data by McGrath et al in 2014 showed increased risk of schizophrenia (SCZ) in offspring associated with both early and delayed parental age, consistent with a U-shaped relationship. However, it remains unclear if the risk to the child is due to psychosocial factors associated with parental age or if those at higher risk for SCZ tend to have children at an earlier or later age. OBJECTIVE: To determine if there is a genetic association between SCZ and age at first birth (AFB) using genetically informative but independently ascertained data sets. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This investigation used multiple independent genome-wide association study data sets. The SCZ sample comprised 18 957 SCZ cases and 22 673 controls in a genome-wide association study from the second phase of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, and the AFB sample comprised 12 247 genotyped women measured for AFB from the following 4 community cohorts: Estonia (Estonian Genome Center Biobank, University of Tartu), the Netherlands (LifeLines Cohort Study), Sweden (Swedish Twin Registry), and the United Kingdom (TwinsUK). Schizophrenia genetic risk for each woman in the AFB community sample was estimated using genetic effects inferred from the SCZ genome-wide association study. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: We tested if SCZ genetic risk was a significant predictor of response variables based on published polynomial functions that described the relationship between maternal age and SCZ risk in offspring in Denmark. We substituted AFB for maternal age in these functions, one of which was corrected for the age of the father, and found that the fit was superior for the model without adjustment for the father's age. RESULTS: We observed a U-shaped relationship between SCZ risk and AFB in the community cohorts, consistent with the previously reported relationship between SCZ risk in offspring and maternal age when not adjusted for the age of the father. We confirmed that SCZ risk profile scores significantly predicted the response variables (coefficient of determination R2 = 1.1E-03, P = 4.1E-04), reflecting the published relationship between maternal age and SCZ risk in offspring by McGrath et al in 2014. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This study provides evidence for a significant overlap between genetic factors associated with risk of SCZ and genetic factors associated with AFB. It has been reported that SCZ risk associated with increased maternal age is explained by the age of the father and that de novo mutations that occur more frequently in the germline of older men are the underlying causal mechanism. This explanation may need to be revised if, as suggested herein and if replicated in future studies, there is also increased genetic risk of SCZ in older mothers

High density lipoproteins improve insulin sensitivity in high-fat diet-fed mice by suppressing hepatic inflammation

Obesity-induced liver inflammation can drive insulin resistance. HDL has anti-inflammatory properties, so we hypothesized that low levels of HDL would perpetuate inflammatory responses in the liver and that HDL treatment would suppress liver inflammation and insulin resistance. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of lipid-free apoAI on hepatic inflammation and insulin resistance in mice. We also investigated apoAI as a component of reconstituted HDLs (rHDLs) in hepatocytes to confirm results we observed in vivo. To test our hypothesis, C57BL/6 mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 16 weeks and administered either saline or lipid-free apoAI. Injections of lipid-free apoAI twice a week for 2 or 4 weeks with lipid-free apoAI resulted in: i) improved insulin sensitivity associated with decreased systemic and hepatic inflammation; ii) suppression of hepatic mRNA expression for key transcriptional regulators of lipogenic gene expression; and iii) suppression of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) activation. Human hepatoma HuH-7 cells exposed to rHDLs showed suppressed TNFα-induced NF-κB activation, correlating with decreased NF-κB target gene expression. We conclude that apoAI suppresses liver inflammation in HFD mice and improves insulin resistance via a mechanism that involves a downregulation of NF-κB activation. Copyright © 2014 by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc

Implication of New WHO Growth Standards on Identification of Risk Factors and Estimated Prevalence of Malnutrition in Rural Malawian Infants

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) released new Child Growth Standards in 2006 to replace the current National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) growth reference. We assessed how switching from the NCHS to the newly released WHO Growth Standards affects the estimated prevalence of wasting, underweight and stunting, and the pattern of risk factors identified.METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Data were drawn from a village-informant driven Demographic Surveillance System in Northern Malawi. Children (n = 1328) were visited twice at 0-4 months and 11-15 months. Data were collected on the demographic and socio-economic environment of the child, health history, maternal and child anthropometry and child feeding practices. Weight-for-length, weight-for-age and length-for-age were derived in z-scores using the two growth references. In early infancy, prevalence estimates were 2.9, 6.1, and 8.5 fold higher for stunting, underweight, and wasting respectively using the WHO standards compared to NCHS reference (p<0.001 for all). At one year, prevalence estimates for wasting and stunting did not differ significantly according to reference used, but the prevalence of underweight was half that with the NCHS reference (p<0.001). Patterns of risk factors were similar with the two growth references for all outcomes at one year although the strength of association was higher with WHO standards.CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Differences in prevalence estimates differed in magnitude but not direction from previous studies. The scale of these differences depends on the population's nutritional status thus it should not be assumed a priori. The increase in estimated prevalence of wasting in early infancy has implications for feeding programs targeting lactating mothers and ante-natal multiple micronutrients supplementation to tackle small birth size. Risk factors identified using WHO standards remain comparable with findings based on the NCHS reference in similar settings. Further research should aim to identify whether the young infants additionally diagnosed as malnourished by this new standard are more appropriate targets for interventions than those identified with the NCHS reference

Psychometric properties and the prevalence, intensity and causes of oral impacts on daily performance (OIDP) in a population of older Tanzanians

BACKGROUND: The objective was to study whether a Kiswahili version of the OIDP (Oral Impacts on Daily Performance) inventory was valid and reliable for use in a population of older adults in urban and rural areas of Tanzania; and to assess the area specific prevalence, intensity and perceived causes of OIDP. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Pwani region and in Dar es Salaam in 2004/2005. A two-stage stratified cluster sample design was utilized. Information became available for 511 urban and 520 rural subjects (mean age 62.9 years) who were interviewed and participated in a full mouth clinical examination in their own homes. RESULTS: The Kiswahili version of the weighted OIDP inventory preserved the overall concept of the original English version. Cronbach's alpha was 0.83 and 0.90 in urban and rural areas, respectively, and the OIDP inventory varied systematically in the expected direction with self-reported oral health measures. The respective prevalence of oral impacts was 51.2% and 62.1% in urban and rural areas. Problems with eating was the performance reported most frequently (42.5% in urban, 55.1% in rural) followed by cleaning teeth (18.2% in urban, 30.6% in rural). More than half of the urban and rural residents with impacts had very little, little and moderate impact intensity. The most frequently reported causes of impacts were toothache and loose teeth. CONCLUSION: The Kiswahili OIDP inventory had acceptable psychometric properties among non-institutionalized adults 50 years and above in Tanzania. The impacts affecting their performances were relatively common but not very severe