High Adult Sex Ratios and Risky Sexual Behaviors: A Systematic Review

BackgroundThirty-four countries worldwide have abnormally high sex ratios (>102 men per 100 women), resulting in over 100 million missing women. Widespread sex selective abortion, neglect of young girls leading to premature mortality, and gendered migration have contributed to these persistent and increasing distortions. Abnormally high adult sex ratios in communities may drive sexually transmitted disease (STD) spread where women are missing and men cannot find stable partners. We systematically reviewed evidence on the association between high community sex ratios and individual sexual behaviors.Methods and FindingsSeven databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Sociological Abstracts, and PopLINE) were searched without restrictions on time or location. We followed PRISMA guidelines and evaluated quality according to STROBE criteria. 1093 citations were identified and six studies describing 57,054 individuals were included for review. All six studies showed an association between high community sex ratios and individual sexual risk behaviors. In high sex ratio communities, women were more likely to have multiple sex partners and men were more likely to delay first sexual intercourse and purchase sex. Only two studies included STD outcomes.ConclusionsHigh community sex ratios were associated with increased individual sexual risk behavior among both men and women. However, none of the studies examined unprotected sex or appropriately adjusted for gendered migration. Further studies are needed to understand the effect of community sex ratios on sexual health and to inform comprehensive STD control interventions

The specificity and patterns of staining in human cells and tissues of p16INK4a antibodies demonstrate variant antigen binding

The validity of the identification and classification of human cancer using antibodies to detect biomarker proteins depends upon antibody specificity. Antibodies that bind to the tumour-suppressor protein p16INK4a are widely used for cancer diagnosis and research. In this study we examined the specificity of four commercially available anti-p16INK4a antibodies in four immunological applications. The antibodies H-156 and JC8 detected the same 16 kDa protein in western blot and immunoprecipitation tests, whereas the antibody F-12 did not detect any protein in western blot analysis or capture a protein that could be recognised by the H-156 antibody. In immunocytochemistry tests, the antibodies JC8 and H-156 detected a predominately cytoplasmic localised antigen, whose signal was depleted in p16INK4a siRNA experiments. F-12, in contrast, detected a predominately nuclear located antigen and there was no noticeable reduction in this signal after siRNA knockdown. Furthermore in immunohistochemistry tests, F-12 generated a different pattern of staining compared to the JC8 and E6H4 antibodies. These results demonstrate that three out of four commercially available p16INK4a antibodies are specific to, and indicate a mainly cytoplasmic localisation for, the p16INK4a protein. The F-12 antibody, which has been widely used in previous studies, gave different results to the other antibodies and did not demonstrate specificity to human p16INK4a. This work emphasizes the importance of the validation of commercial antibodies, aside to the previously reported use, for the full verification of immunoreaction specificity

Mycobacterium tuberculosis Responds to Chloride and pH as Synergistic Cues to the Immune Status of its Host Cell

PubMed ID: 23592993This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

SOURCES 4C : a code for calculating ([alpha],n), spontaneous fission, and delayed neutron sources and spectra.

SOURCES 4C is a computer code that determines neutron production rates and spectra from ({alpha},n) reactions, spontaneous fission, and delayed neutron emission due to radionuclide decay. The code is capable of calculating ({alpha},n) source rates and spectra in four types of problems: homogeneous media (i.e., an intimate mixture of a-emitting source material and low-Z target material), two-region interface problems (i.e., a slab of {alpha}-emitting source material in contact with a slab of low-Z target material), three-region interface problems (i.e., a thin slab of low-Z target material sandwiched between {alpha}-emitting source material and low-Z target material), and ({alpha},n) reactions induced by a monoenergetic beam of {alpha}-particles incident on a slab of target material. Spontaneous fission spectra are calculated with evaluated half-life, spontaneous fission branching, and Watt spectrum parameters for 44 actinides. The ({alpha},n) spectra are calculated using an assumed isotropic angular distribution in the center-of-mass system with a library of 107 nuclide decay {alpha}-particle spectra, 24 sets of measured and/or evaluated ({alpha},n) cross sections and product nuclide level branching fractions, and functional {alpha}-particle stopping cross sections for Z < 106. The delayed neutron spectra are taken from an evaluated library of 105 precursors. The code provides the magnitude and spectra, if desired, of the resultant neutron source in addition to an analysis of the'contributions by each nuclide in the problem. LASTCALL, a graphical user interface, is included in the code package

Priming with a Recombinant Pantothenate Auxotroph of Mycobacterium bovis BCG and Boosting with MVA Elicits HIV-1 Gag Specific CD8+ T Cells

A safe and effective HIV vaccine is required to significantly reduce the number of people becoming infected with HIV each year. In this study wild type Mycobacterium bovis BCG Pasteur and an attenuated pantothenate auxotroph strain (BCGΔpanCD) that is safe in SCID mice, have been compared as vaccine vectors for HIV-1 subtype C Gag. Genetically stable vaccines BCG[pHS400] (BCG-Gag) and BCGΔpanCD[pHS400] (BCGpan-Gag) were generated using the Pasteur strain of BCG, and a panothenate auxotroph of Pasteur respectively. Stability was achieved by the use of a codon optimised gag gene and deletion of the hsp60-lysA promoter-gene cassette from the episomal vector pCB119. In this vector expression of gag is driven by the mtrA promoter and the Gag protein is fused to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis 19 kDa signal sequence. Both BCG-Gag and BCGpan-Gag primed the immune system of BALB/c mice for a boost with a recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara expressing Gag (MVA-Gag). After the boost high frequencies of predominantly Gag-specific CD8+ T cells were detected when BCGpan-Gag was the prime in contrast to induction of predominantly Gag-specific CD4+ T cells when priming with BCG-Gag. The differing Gag-specific T-cell phenotype elicited by the prime-boost regimens may be related to the reduced inflammation observed with the pantothenate auxotroph strain compared to the parent strain. These features make BCGpan-Gag a more desirable HIV vaccine candidate than BCG-Gag. Although no Gag-specific cells could be detected after vaccination of BALB/c mice with either recombinant BCG vaccine alone, BCGpan-Gag protected mice against a surrogate vaccinia virus challenge

The Impact of Neighbourhood Planning and Localism on House-building in England

© 2016 IBF, The Institute for Housing and Urban ResearchThe devolution of governance to communities is an integral aspect of the state strategy of localism but may conflict with a spatial restructuring dedicated to the liberalization of economic growth. In England, community opposition to house-building has been cited as one of the key factors in the decline in new housing supply over the last decade. The policy of neighbourhood planning was introduced there in 2011 to overcome this opposition by devolving limited powers to communities to influence development. It was anticipated that giving communities the right to draw up neighbourhood development plans would secure their compliance with a pro-growth agenda and increase the number of sites allocated for housing. This paper explores the impact of neighbourhood planning in England on housing development and analyses its lessons for the state strategy of localism. It argues that neighbourhood planning is emerging as the proponent of sustainability and social purpose in the English housing market, in conflict with the corporate interests of a liberalized housing development market

Denial of long-term issues with agriculture on tropical peatlands will have devastating consequences

Non peer reviewe

Genomic correlates of glatiramer acetate adverse cardiovascular effects lead to a novel locus mediating coronary risk

Glatiramer acetate is used therapeutically in multiple sclerosis but also known for adverse effects including elevated coronary artery disease (CAD) risk. The mechanisms underlying the cardiovascular side effects of the medication are unclear. Here, we made use of the chromosomal variation in the genes that are known to be affected by glatiramer treatment. Focusing on genes and gene products reported by drug-gene interaction database to interact with glatiramer acetate we explored a large meta-analysis on CAD genome-wide association studies aiming firstly, to investigate whether variants in these genes also affect cardiovascular risk and secondly, to identify new CAD risk genes. We traced association signals in a 200-kb region around genomic positions of genes interacting with glatiramer in up to 60 801 CAD cases and 123 504 controls. We validated the identified association in additional 21 934 CAD cases and 76 087 controls. We identified three new CAD risk alleles within the TGFB1 region on chromosome 19 that independently affect CAD risk. The lead SNP rs12459996 was genome-wide significantly associated with CAD in the extended meta-analysis (odds ratio 1.09, p = 1.58×10-12). The other two SNPs at the locus were not in linkage disequilibrium with the lead SNP and by a conditional analysis showed p-values of 4.05 × 10-10 and 2.21 × 10-6. Thus, studying genes reported to interact with glatiramer acetate we identified genetic variants that concordantly with the drug increase the risk of CAD. Of these, TGFB1 displayed signal for association. Indeed, the gene has been associated with CAD previously in both in vivo and in vitro studies. Here we establish genome-wide significant association with CAD in large human samples.This work was supported by grants from the Fondation Leducq (CADgenomics: Understanding CAD Genes, 12CVD02), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the e:Med research and funding concept (e:AtheroSysMed, grant 01ZX1313A-2014 and SysInflame, grant 01ZX1306A), and the European Union Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreement no HEALTH-F2-2013-601456 (CVgenes-at-target). Further grants were received from the DFG as part of the Sonderforschungsbereich CRC 1123 (B2). T.K. was supported by a DZHK Rotation Grant. I.B. was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) cluster of excellence ‘Inflammation at Interfaces’. F.W.A. is supported by a Dekker scholarship-Junior Staff Member 2014T001 - Netherlands Heart Foundation and UCL Hospitals NIHR Biomedical Research Centre

Genome-wide Analyses Identify KIF5A as a Novel ALS Gene

To identify novel genes associated with ALS, we undertook two lines of investigation. We carried out a genome-wide association study comparing 20,806 ALS cases and 59,804 controls. Independently, we performed a rare variant burden analysis comparing 1,138 index familial ALS cases and 19,494 controls. Through both approaches, we identified kinesin family member 5A (KIF5A) as a novel gene associated with ALS. Interestingly, mutations predominantly in the N-terminal motor domain of KIF5A are causative for two neurodegenerative diseases: hereditary spastic paraplegia (SPG10) and Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 2 (CMT2). In contrast, ALS-associated mutations are primarily located at the C-terminal cargo-binding tail domain and patients harboring loss-of-function mutations displayed an extended survival relative to typical ALS cases. Taken together, these results broaden the phenotype spectrum resulting from mutations in KIF5A and strengthen the role of cytoskeletal defects in the pathogenesis of ALS.Peer reviewe

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms