Analysis of wheat SAGE tags reveals evidence for widespread antisense transcription

BACKGROUND: Serial Analysis of Gene Expression (SAGE) is a powerful tool for genome-wide transcription studies. Unlike microarrays, it has the ability to detect novel forms of RNA such as alternatively spliced and antisense transcripts, without the need for prior knowledge of their existence. One limitation of using SAGE on an organism with a complex genome and lacking detailed sequence information, such as the hexaploid bread wheat Triticum aestivum, is accurate annotation of the tags generated. Without accurate annotation it is impossible to fully understand the dynamic processes involved in such complex polyploid organisms. Hence we have developed and utilised novel procedures to characterise, in detail, SAGE tags generated from the whole grain transcriptome of hexaploid wheat. RESULTS: Examination of 71,930 Long SAGE tags generated from six libraries derived from two wheat genotypes grown under two different conditions suggested that SAGE is a reliable and reproducible technique for use in studying the hexaploid wheat transcriptome. However, our results also showed that in poorly annotated and/or poorly sequenced genomes, such as hexaploid wheat, considerably more information can be extracted from SAGE data by carrying out a systematic analysis of both perfect and "fuzzy" (partially matched) tags. This detailed analysis of the SAGE data shows first that while there is evidence of alternative polyadenylation this appears to occur exclusively within the 3' untranslated regions. Secondly, we found no strong evidence for widespread alternative splicing in the developing wheat grain transcriptome. However, analysis of our SAGE data shows that antisense transcripts are probably widespread within the transcriptome and appear to be derived from numerous locations within the genome. Examination of antisense transcripts showing sequence similarity to the Puroindoline a and Puroindoline b genes suggests that such antisense transcripts might have a role in the regulation of gene expression. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that the detailed analysis of transcriptome data, such as SAGE tags, is essential to understand fully the factors that regulate gene expression and that such analysis of the wheat grain transcriptome reveals that antisense transcripts maybe widespread and hence probably play a significant role in the regulation of gene expression during grain development

Strong Roots 2 Climate Change Adaptation Project Report

Climate change is clearly a global issue, but also one that manifests itself locally. The global dimension requires an understanding of the world’s climate (i.e. physical science). Local adaptation requires a knowledge of projected physical impacts (i.e. physical science) but also a deep understanding of how (a) communities behave (i.e. social science) and (b) how to motivate behaviour change (i.e. psychology). Any project in this area must acknowledge this broad depth of factors and assemble an appropriate team of people to deal with them. The Strong Roots 2 project has aimed to achieve this blend. The 736 Community and Town Councils across Wales represent a direct interface between communities and government. Given the stark warnings of climate change for the future, both globally, and within Wales, Strong Roots 2 set out to further explore the potential of Community and Town Councils to engage with their communities and to address climate change adaptation and resilience at this level. As indicated in Strong Roots 1, the potential contribution of Councils has been somewhat overlooked; nonetheless, this tier of local government is closest to the community and, importantly, embodies the kind of locally-relevant knowledge, expertise and community networks that could support such action. Community and Town Councils across Wales are as individual as the communities they represent. Each Council has unique strengths, and it is important to acknowledge contextual factors when considering the contribution that each Council can make. Taking the local context into account and tailoring strategies are central to the Strong Roots research ethos, as is acknowledging and empowering community and town councillors as equal partners in the process. Moreover, the potential contribution of Community and Town Councils across Wales represents a significant step forward in developing innovative ways to tackle climate change impacts, increase resilience and engrain sustainable practices, both as a community and as a nation. This report builds on the findings of the previous Strong Roots 1 research project and details the findings of an investigation into the potential role of Community and Town Councils as local leaders of climate change adaptation, and the behaviours, resources and skills required to fulfil that role. Strong Roots is an initiative that aims to highlight the potential of Community and Town Councils as leaders in addressing climate change issues locally, and as supporting partners to the Welsh Assembly Government in its commitment to the development of sustainable, resilient low-carbon communities. This particular project is an aspect of this wider initiative.<br/

The Statistical Analysis of Roll Call

We develop a Bayesian estimation procedure for spatial models of roll call voting. We show how a Bayesian approach to roll call analysis overcomes shortcomings and idiosyncracies of NOMINATE (some of which are not widely recognized). Our Bayesian approach (a) applies to any legislative setting, irrespective of size, legislative extremism, or the number of roll calls available for analysis; (b) provides a mechanism for directly incorporating auxiliary information as to the dimensionality of the underlying policy space, the identity of extremist legislators, key votes and the evolution of the legislative agenda; (c) lets us integrate measurement of legislative preferences with the analysis of those preferences. Notes to NEMP, May 2002 This paper sets out our ‘‘basic setup’ ’ (a Bayesian statistical operationalization of the Euclidean spatial voting model with roll call data), and constrasts it with the NOMINATE algorithms of Poole and Rosenthal. In the talk I will be considering extensions to our model, so as to accommodate and/or test conjectures in the literature on legislative politics (most prominently, the ‘‘party discipline’ ’ hypothesis, and conjectures about legislative responsiveness to constituency interests)

2011 Report of NSF Workshop Series on Scientific Software Security Innovation Institute

Over the period of 2010-2011, a series of two workshops were held in response to NSF Dear Colleague Letter NSF 10-050 calling for exploratory workshops to consider requirements for Scientific Software Innovation Institutes (S2I2s). The specific topic of the workshop series was the potential benefits of a security-focused software institute that would serve the entire NSF research and development community. The first workshop was held on August 6th, 2010 in Arlington, VA and represented an initial exploration of the topic. The second workshop was held on October 26th, 2011 in Chicago, IL and its goals were to 1) Extend our understanding of relevant needs of MREFC and large NSF Projects, 2) refine outcome from first workshop with broader community input, and 3) vet concepts for a trusted cyberinfrastructure institute. Towards those goals, the participants other 2011workshop included greater representation from MREFC and large NSF projects, and, for the most part, did not overlap with the participants from the 2010 workshop. A highlight of the second workshop was, at the invitation of the organizers, a presentation by Scott Koranda of the LIGO project on the history of LIGO’s identity management activities and how those could have benefited from a security institute. A key analysis he presented is that, by his estimation, LIGO could have saved 2 senior FTE-years of effort by following suitable expert guidance had it existed. The overarching finding from the workshops is that security is a critical crosscutting issue for the NSF software infrastructure and recommended a security focused activity to address this issue broadly, for example a security software institute (S2I2) under the SI2 program. Additionally, the 2010 workshop participants agreed to 15 key additional findings, which the 2011 workshop confirmed, with some refinement as discussed in this report.NSF Grant # 1043843Ope

A feasibility study exploring the role of pre-operative assessment when examining the mechanism of ‘chemo-brain’ in breast cancer patients

Background: Women receiving chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer may experience problems with their memory and attention (cognition), which is distressing and interferes with quality of life. It is unclear what causes or contributes to the problems they report: psychological distress, fatigue, coping style, or specific biological changes for example to pro inflammatory cytokines. Research shows however, that approximately a third of women with breast cancer perform poorly on tests of cognition before commencing chemotherapy. We aimed to examine the acceptability and relevance of pre-surgical assessments (bloods, brain imaging, cognitive tests and self-report questionnaires) when investigating the phenomenon of ‘chemo-brain’ and investigate whether inflammatory markers mediate chemotherapy-induced neuropsychological impairments in women treated for breast cancer. Methods: Women with early stage breast cancer completed neuropsychological and quality of life assessments at T1 (pre-surgery), T2 (post-surgery before chemotherapy) and T3 (6 months later). Blood cytokine levels were measured at the same time points and brain imaging was performed at T1 and T3. Results: In total, 14/58 women participated (8 chemotherapy, 6 non-chemotherapy). Prior to the start of chemotherapy a decline in cognitive performance compared to baseline was observed in one participant. At T3 women who received chemotherapy reported poorer quality of life and greater fatigue. Increases in soluble tumour necrosis factor receptor II (sTNFRII), interleukin-6, interleukin-10 and vascular endothelial growth factor occurred post chemotherapy only. Levels of sTNFRII were inversely correlated with grey matter volume (GMV) of the right posterior insula in both groups. At T3, the chemotherapy group displayed a greater reduction in GMV in the subgenual and dorsal anterior cingulate, and the inferior temporal gyrus. Conclusions: Pre-operative recruitment to the study was challenging; however, the lack of significant changes in blood cytokine levels and neuropsychological tests at T2 implies that post surgery may be a valid baseline assessment, but this needs further investigation in a larger study. The preliminary results support the hypothesis that chemotherapy induced fatigue is mediated by a change in peripheral cytokine levels which could explain some symptoms of ‘chemo brain’ experienced by patients

Genetic improvement of tomato by targeted control of fruit softening

Controlling the rate of softening to extend shelf life was a key target for researchers engineering genetically modified (GM) tomatoes in the 1990s, but only modest improvements were achieved. Hybrids grown nowadays contain 'non-ripening mutations' that slow ripening and improve shelf life, but adversely affect flavor and color. We report substantial, targeted control of tomato softening, without affecting other aspects of ripening, by silencing a gene encoding a pectate lyase