759 research outputs found
A SQUAMOSA MADS-box gene involved in the regulation of anthocyanin accumulation in bilberry fruits
Anthocyanins are important health promoting phytochemicals that are abundant in many fleshy fruits. Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) is one of the best sources of these compounds. Here we report on the expression pattern and functional analysis of a SQUAMOSA (SQUA) class MADS-box transcription factor, VmTDR4, associated with anthocyanin biosynthesis in bilberry. Levels of VmTDR4 expression were spatially and temporally linked with colour development and anthocyanin-related gene expression. Virus induced gene silencing (VIGS) was used to suppress VmTDR4 expression in bilberry resulting in substantial reduction in anthocyanin levels in fully ripe fruits. Chalcone synthase was used a positive control in the VIGS experiments. Additionally, in sectors of fruit tissue in which the expression of the VmTDR4 gene was silenced, the expression of R2R3 MYB family transcription factors related to the biosynthesis of flavonoids were also altered. We conclude that VmTDR4 plays an important role in the accumulation of anthocyanins during normal ripening in bilberry; probably through direct or indirect control of transcription factors belonging to the R2R3 MYB family
Citizen surveil-labour: Analysing Crime Stoppers and its alliance of police, media, and publics
Complex spin configurations in hybrid magnetic multilayer structures due to mutual spin imprinting
Simulation of superresolution holography for optical tweezers
Optical tweezers manipulate microscopic particles using foci of light beams. Their performance is therefore limited by diffraction. Using computer simulations of a model system, we investigate the application of superresolution holography for two-dimensional (2D) light shaping in optical tweezers, which can beat the diffraction limit. We use the direct-search and Gerchberg algorithms to shape the center of a light beam into one or two bright spots; we do not constrain the remainder of the beam. We demonstrate that superresolution algorithms can significantly improve the normalized stiffness of an optical trap and the minimum separation at which neighboring traps can be resolved. We also test if such algorithms can be used interactively, as is desirable in optical tweezers
Implementation of a risk mitigating COVID-adapted colorectal cancer pathway
No abstract available
Comment on âDiscovery of davemaoite, CaSiOâ-perovskite, as a mineral from the lower mantleâ
Tschauner et al. (Reports, 11 November 2021, p. 891) present evidence that diamond GRR-1507 formed in the lower mantle. Instead, the data support a much shallower origin in cold, subcratonic lithospheric mantle. X-ray diffraction data are well matched to phases common in microinclusion-bearing lithospheric diamonds. The calculated bulk inclusion composition is too imprecise to uniquely confirm CaSiOâ stoichiometry and is equally consistent with inclusions observed in other lithospheric diamonds
Genetic Overlap Profiles of Cognitive Ability in Psychotic and Affective Illnesses: A Multisite Study of Multiplex Pedigrees
Background: Cognitive impairment is a key feature of psychiatric illness, making cognition an important tool for exploring of the genetics of illness risk. It remains unclear which measures should be prioritized in pleiotropy-guided research. Here, we generate profiles of genetic overlap between psychotic and affective disorders and cognitive measures in Caucasian and Hispanic groups.
Methods: Data were from 4 samples of extended pedigrees (N = 3046). Coefficient of relationship analyses were used to estimate genetic overlap between illness risk and cognitive ability. Results were meta-analyzed.
Results: Psychosis was characterized by cognitive impairments on all measures with a generalized profile of genetic overlap. General cognitive ability shared greatest genetic overlap with psychosis risk (average endophenotype ranking value [ERV] across samples from a random-effects meta-analysis = 0.32), followed by verbal memory (ERV = 0.24), executive function (ERV = 0.22), and working memory (ERV = 0.21). For bipolar disorder, there was genetic overlap with processing speed (ERV = 0.05) and verbal memory (ERV = 0.11), but these were confined to select samples. Major depressive disorder was characterized by enhanced working and face memory performance, as reflected in significant genetic overlap in 2 samples.
Conclusions: There is substantial genetic overlap between risk for psychosis and a range of cognitive abilities (including general intelligence). Most of these effects are largely stable across of ascertainment strategy and ethnicity. Genetic overlap between affective disorders and cognition, on the other hand, tends to be specific to ascertainment strategy, ethnicity, and cognitive test battery
Homogeneity and Heterogeneity as Situational Properties: Producing â and Moving Beyond? â Race in Post-Genomic Science
In this article, we explore current thinking and practices around the logics of difference in geneâenvironment interaction research in the post-genomic era. We find that scientists conducting geneâenvironment interaction research continue to invoke well-worn notions of racial difference and diversity, but use them strategically to try to examine other kinds of etiologically significant differences among populations. Scientists do this by seeing populations not as inherently homogeneous or heterogeneous, but rather by actively working to produce homogeneity along some dimensions and heterogeneity along others in their study populations. Thus we argue that homogeneity and heterogeneity are situational properties â properties that scientists seek to achieve in their study populations, the available data, and other aspects of the research situation they are confronting, and then leverage to advance post-genomic science. Pointing to the situatedness of homogeneity and heterogeneity in geneâenvironment interaction research underscores the work that these properties do and the contingencies that shape decisions about research procedures. Through a focus on the situational production of homogeneity and heterogeneity more broadly, we find that geneâenvironment interaction research attempts to shift the logic of difference from solely racial terms as explanatory ends unto themselves, to racial and other dimensions of difference that may be important clues to the causes of complex diseases
Changes in environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure over a 20-year period: cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses
AIMS:â To examine longâterm changes in environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure in British men between 1978 and 2000, using serum cotinine.
DESIGN:â Prospective cohort: British Regional Heart Study.
SETTING:â General practices in 24 towns in England, Wales and Scotland.
PARTICIPANTS:â Nonâsmoking men: 2125 studied at baseline [questionnaire (Q1): 1978â80, aged 40â59 years], 3046 studied 20 years later (Q20: 1998â2000, aged 60â79 years) and 1208 studied at both times. Nonâsmokers were men reporting no current smoking with cotinine <â15âng/ml at Q1 and/or Q20.
MEASUREMENTS:âSerum cotinine to assess ETS exposure.
FINDINGS:â In crossâsectional analysis, geometric mean cotinine level declined from 1.36âng/ml [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.31, 1.42] at Q1 to 0.19âng/ml (95% CI: 0.18, 0.19) at Q20. The prevalence of cotinine levels â€â0.7âng/ml [associated with low coronary heart disease (CHD) risk] rose from 27.1% at Q1 to 83.3% at Q20. Manual social class and northern region of residence were associated with higher mean cotinine levels both at Q1 and Q20; older age was associated with lower cotinine level at Q20 only. Among 1208 persistent nonâsmokers, cotinine fell by 1.47âng/ml (95% CI: 1.37, 1.57), 86% decline. Absolute falls in cotinine were greater in manual occupational groups, in the Midlands and Scotland compared to southern England, although percentage decline was very similar across groups.
CONCLUSIONS:â A marked decline in ETS exposure occurred in Britain between 1978 and 2000, which is likely to have reduced ETSârelated disease risks appreciably before the introduction of legislation banning smoking in public places
âWhat if There's Something Wrong with Her?ââHow Biomedical Technologies Contribute to Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare
While there is a steadily growing literature on epistemic injustice in healthcare, there are few discussions of the role that biomedical technologies play in harming patients in their capacity as knowers. Through an analysis of newborn and pediatric genetic and genomic sequencing technologies (GSTs), I argue that biomedical technologies can lead to epistemic injustice through two primary pathways: epistemic capture and value partitioning. I close by discussing the larger ethical and political context of critical analyses of GSTs and their broader implications for just and equitable healthcare delivery
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