Animal welfare attitudes: Effects of gender and diet in university samples from 22 countries

Animal Welfare Attitudes (AWA) are defined as human attitudes towards the welfare of animals in different dimensions and settings. Demographic factors, such as age and gender are associated with AWA. The aim of this study was to assess gender differences among university students in a large convenience sample from twenty-two nations in AWA. A total of 7914 people participated in the study (5155 women, 2711 men, 48 diverse). Participants completed a questionnaire that collected demographic data, typical diet and responses to the Composite Respect for Animals Scale Short version (CRAS-S). In addition, we used a measure of gender empowerment from the Human Development Report. The largest variance in AWA was explained by diet, followed by country and gender. In terms of diet, 6385 participants reported to be omnivores, 296 as pescatarian, 637 ate a vegetarian diet and 434 were vegans (n = 162 without answer). Diet was related with CRAS-S scores; people with a vegan diet scored higher in AWA than omnivores. Women scored significantly higher on AWA than men. Furthermore, gender differences in AWA increased as gender inequality decreased

Mucociliary and long-term particle clearance in airways of patients with immotile cilia

Spherical monodisperse ferromagnetic iron oxide particles of 1.9 μm geometric and 4.2 μm aerodynamic diameter were inhaled by seven patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) using the shallow bolus technique, and compared to 13 healthy non-smokers (NS) from a previous study. The bolus penetration front depth was limiting to the phase1 dead space volume. In PCD patients deposition was 58+/-8 % after 8 s breath holding time. Particle retention was measured by the magnetopneumographic method over a period of nine months. Particle clearance from the airways showed a fast and a slow phase. In PCD patients airway clearance was retarded and prolonged, 42+/-12 % followed the fast phase with a mean half time of 16.8+/-8.6 hours. The remaining fraction was cleared slowly with a half time of 121+/-25 days. In healthy NS 49+/-9 % of particles were cleared in the fast phase with a mean half time of 3.0+/-1.6 hours, characteristic of an intact mucociliary clearance. There was no difference in the slow clearance phase between PCD patients and healthy NS. Despite non-functioning cilia the effectiveness of airway clearance in PCD patients is comparable to healthy NS, with a prolonged kinetics of one week, which may primarily reflect the effectiveness of cough clearance. This prolonged airway clearance allows longer residence times of bacteria and viruses in the airways and may be one reason for increased frequency of infections in PCD patients

A functional alternative splicing mutation in human tryptophan hydroxylase-2

The brain serotonergic system has an essential role in the physiological functions of the central nervous system and dysregulation of serotonin (5-HT) homeostasis has been implicated in many neuropsychiatric disorders. The tryptophan hydroxylase-2 (TPH2) gene is the rate-limiting enzyme in brain 5-HT synthesis, and thus is an ideal candidate gene for understanding the role of dysregulation of brain serotonergic homeostasis. Here, we characterized a common, but functional single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP rs1386493) in the TPH2 gene, which decreases efficiency of normal RNA splicing, resulting in a truncated TPH2 protein (TPH2-TR) by alternative splicing. TPH2-TR, which lacks TPH2 enzyme activity, dominant-negatively affects full-length TPH2 function, causing reduced 5-HT production. The predicted mRNA for TPH2-TR is present in postmortem brain of rs1386493 carriers. The rs13864923 variant does not appear to be overrepresented in either global or multiplex depression cohorts. However, in combination with other gene variants linked to 5-HT homeostasis, this variant may exhibit important epistatic influences

Observation of Charge-Dependent Azimuthal Correlations in p-Pb Collisions and Its Implication for the Search for the Chiral Magnetic Effect

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Serotonin synthesis, release and reuptake in terminals: a mathematical model

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that has been linked to a wide variety of behaviors including feeding and body-weight regulation, social hierarchies, aggression and suicidality, obsessive compulsive disorder, alcoholism, anxiety, and affective disorders. Full understanding of serotonergic systems in the central nervous system involves genomics, neurochemistry, electrophysiology, and behavior. Though associations have been found between functions at these different levels, in most cases the causal mechanisms are unknown. The scientific issues are daunting but important for human health because of the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and other pharmacological agents to treat disorders in the serotonergic signaling system.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We construct a mathematical model of serotonin synthesis, release, and reuptake in a single serotonergic neuron terminal. The model includes the effects of autoreceptors, the transport of tryptophan into the terminal, and the metabolism of serotonin, as well as the dependence of release on the firing rate. The model is based on real physiology determined experimentally and is compared to experimental data.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We compare the variations in serotonin and dopamine synthesis due to meals and find that dopamine synthesis is insensitive to the availability of tyrosine but serotonin synthesis is sensitive to the availability of tryptophan. We conduct <it>in silico </it>experiments on the clearance of extracellular serotonin, normally and in the presence of fluoxetine, and compare to experimental data. We study the effects of various polymorphisms in the genes for the serotonin transporter and for tryptophan hydroxylase on synthesis, release, and reuptake. We find that, because of the homeostatic feedback mechanisms of the autoreceptors, the polymorphisms have smaller effects than one expects. We compute the expected steady concentrations of serotonin transporter knockout mice and compare to experimental data. Finally, we study how the properties of the the serotonin transporter and the autoreceptors give rise to the time courses of extracellular serotonin in various projection regions after a dose of fluoxetine.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Serotonergic systems must respond robustly to important biological signals, while at the same time maintaining homeostasis in the face of normal biological fluctuations in inputs, expression levels, and firing rates. This is accomplished through the cooperative effect of many different homeostatic mechanisms including special properties of the serotonin transporters and the serotonin autoreceptors. Many difficult questions remain in order to fully understand how serotonin biochemistry affects serotonin electrophysiology and vice versa, and how both are changed in the presence of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Mathematical models are useful tools for investigating some of these questions.</p

Search for new physics with dijet angular distributions in proton-proton collisions at root S = 13 TeV

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Search for light bosons in decays of the 125 GeV Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV

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Search for top squark pair production in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV using single lepton events

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Search for supersymmetry in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV using identified top quarks

A search for supersymmetry is presented based on proton-proton collision events containing identified hadronically decaying top quarks, no leptons, and an imbalance p(T)(miss) in transverse momentum. The data were collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1). Search regions are defined in terms of the multiplicity of bottom quark jet and top quark candidates, the p(T)(miss) , the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta, and themT2 mass variable. No statistically significant excess of events is observed relative to the expectation from the standard model. Lower limits on the masses of supersymmetric particles are determined at 95% confidence level in the context of simplified models with top quark production. For a model with direct top squark pair production followed by the decay of each top squark to a top quark and a neutralino, top squark masses up to 1020 GeVand neutralino masses up to 430 GeVare excluded. For amodel with pair production of gluinos followed by the decay of each gluino to a top quark-antiquark pair and a neutralino, gluino masses up to 2040 GeVand neutralino masses up to 1150 GeVare excluded. These limits extend previous results.Peer reviewe

Search for dijet resonances in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV and constraints on dark matter and other models

Correction: DOI:10.1016/j.physletb.2017.09.029Peer reviewe