Earthlings : humanity's essential relationship with gravity

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2009."September 2009." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 43-48).A realm of serious scientific questions about gravity's role in biology is being researched in labs around the world, from NASA's Dryden Research Laboratories in the Mohave Desert, to Japan's Radioisotope Center at the University of Tokyo. Space biology research, as the field is often called, involves subjects as seemingly disparate but intrinsically related as hermaphroditic snails, brine shrimp, space chickens developing normally and space frogs growing enormous heads. Not to mention astronauts re-learning to walk on depleted leg bones and individual human cells attempting division with damaged internal structures. The questions asked of all of the subjects overlap: What is the most fundamental level at which life perceives gravity? Which biological processes on Earth have evolved as a result of and depend upon the presence of gravity? What is the smallest organization of life at which the presence and direction of gravity can be detected? For the purpose of space exploration, we might have to take gravity with us wherever we go outside of Earth. Yet after 52 years of space flight, and 47 years of manned missions, we still don't know what the prescription for gravity would be. Will human beings ever be able to completely escape its pull? Or are we unavoidably Earthlings?by Iris Mónica Vargas.S.M.in Science Writin

Plan de mejoramiento RSE para la compañía Acabados y Arquitectura ECA S.A.S.

Este informe presenta de manera detallada la investigación que se realiza a la empresa Acabados y Arquitectura ECA S.A.S., cuya finalidad es identificar el nivel de cumplimiento de la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (RSE) logrando en cada una de las fases realizar un análisis enfocado en la norma ISO 26000 y dentro del contexto de aplicabilidad hacia una empresa, la importancia de poder adaptarla y normalizarla de la forma más eficiente, eficaz y efectiva en pro de la organización. Dicha investigación se lleva a cabo mediante una herramienta de recopilación para obtener datos de acuerdo a los principales pilares o materias fundamentales de la norma, siendo la comunidad, el medio ambiente y la ética empresarial parte importante de un pensamiento y gerencia estratégica moderna, segura y perdurable que busca el beneficio de los diferentes componentes que envuelven el entorno de la RSE y la transformación positiva que podría generar a todos los involucrados tanto de forma directa como indirecta. Esta transformación se propone realizar determinando los factores que intervienen y generan el incumplimiento de los aspectos principales que plantea la norma para una vez identificados poder generar objetivos alcanzables y medibles mediante los cuales incrementar el nivel de cumplimiento de la organización respecto a la norma. Finalmente, se elabora un plan de mejora que se sugiere implementar y medir de acuerdo a los indicadores establecidos verificando el nivel de cumplimiento de los objetivos propuestos de tal forma que se puedan plantear acciones de mejora continua para beneficio de la organización y todos aquellos grupos de interés que la rodean.This report presents in detail the research carried out at the company Acabados y Arquitectura ECA SAS, the purpose of which is to identify the level of compliance with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), achieving in each of the phases an analysis focused on the standard ISO 26000 and within the context of applicability to a company, the importance of being able to adapt and standardize it in the most efficient, effective and effective way for the organization. This research is carried out through a data collection instrument that allows obtaining classified information according to the main pillars or fundamental matters of the standard, with the community, the environment and business ethics being an important part of strategic thinking and management. modern, safe and durable that seeks the benefit of the different components that surround the CSR environment and the positive transformation that could generate all those involved both directly and indirectly. This transformation is proposed to be carried out by determining the factors that intervene and generate non-compliance with the fundamental matters that the ISO 26000 standard raises, so that once identified, it can generate achievable and measurable objectives through which to increase the level of compliance of the organization with respect to the standard. Finally, an improvement plan is developed that is suggested to be implemented and measured according to the established indicators, verifying the level of compliance with the proposed objectives in such a way that continuous improvement actions can be proposed for the benefit of the organization and all those groups of interest surrounding her

A communal catalogue reveals Earth's multiscale microbial diversity

Our growing awareness of the microbial world's importance and diversity contrasts starkly with our limited understanding of its fundamental structure. Despite recent advances in DNA sequencing, a lack of standardized protocols and common analytical frameworks impedes comparisons among studies, hindering the development of global inferences about microbial life on Earth. Here we present a meta-analysis of microbial community samples collected by hundreds of researchers for the Earth Microbiome Project. Coordinated protocols and new analytical methods, particularly the use of exact sequences instead of clustered operational taxonomic units, enable bacterial and archaeal ribosomal RNA gene sequences to be followed across multiple studies and allow us to explore patterns of diversity at an unprecedented scale. The result is both a reference database giving global context to DNA sequence data and a framework for incorporating data from future studies, fostering increasingly complete characterization of Earth's microbial diversity.Peer reviewe

A communal catalogue reveals Earth’s multiscale microbial diversity

Our growing awareness of the microbial world’s importance and diversity contrasts starkly with our limited understanding of its fundamental structure. Despite recent advances in DNA sequencing, a lack of standardized protocols and common analytical frameworks impedes comparisons among studies, hindering the development of global inferences about microbial life on Earth. Here we present a meta-analysis of microbial community samples collected by hundreds of researchers for the Earth Microbiome Project. Coordinated protocols and new analytical methods, particularly the use of exact sequences instead of clustered operational taxonomic units, enable bacterial and archaeal ribosomal RNA gene sequences to be followed across multiple studies and allow us to explore patterns of diversity at an unprecedented scale. The result is both a reference database giving global context to DNA sequence data and a framework for incorporating data from future studies, fostering increasingly complete characterization of Earth’s microbial diversity

Multiancestry analysis of the HLA locus in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases uncovers a shared adaptive immune response mediated by HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes

Across multiancestry groups, we analyzed Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) associations in over 176,000 individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) versus controls. We demonstrate that the two diseases share the same protective association at the HLA locus. HLA-specific fine-mapping showed that hierarchical protective effects of HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes best accounted for the association, strongest with HLA-DRB1*04:04 and HLA-DRB1*04:07, and intermediary with HLA-DRB1*04:01 and HLA-DRB1*04:03. The same signal was associated with decreased neurofibrillary tangles in postmortem brains and was associated with reduced tau levels in cerebrospinal fluid and to a lower extent with increased Aβ42. Protective HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes strongly bound the aggregation-prone tau PHF6 sequence, however only when acetylated at a lysine (K311), a common posttranslational modification central to tau aggregation. An HLA-DRB1*04-mediated adaptive immune response decreases PD and AD risks, potentially by acting against tau, offering the possibility of therapeutic avenues

Common variants in Alzheimer’s disease and risk stratification by polygenic risk scores

Genetic discoveries of Alzheimer’s disease are the drivers of our understanding, and together with polygenetic risk stratification can contribute towards planning of feasible and efficient preventive and curative clinical trials. We first perform a large genetic association study by merging all available case-control datasets and by-proxy study results (discovery n = 409,435 and validation size n = 58,190). Here, we add six variants associated with Alzheimer’s disease risk (near APP, CHRNE, PRKD3/NDUFAF7, PLCG2 and two exonic variants in the SHARPIN gene). Assessment of the polygenic risk score and stratifying by APOE reveal a 4 to 5.5 years difference in median age at onset of Alzheimer’s disease patients in APOE ɛ4 carriers. Because of this study, the underlying mechanisms of APP can be studied to refine the amyloid cascade and the polygenic risk score provides a tool to select individuals at high risk of Alzheimer’s disease

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/‘proxy’ AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele