Clinical applications of Genome Polymorphism Scans

Applications of Genome Polymorphism Scans range from the relatively simple such as gender determination and confirmation of biological relationships, to the relatively complex such as determination of autozygosity and propagation of genetic information throughout pedigrees. Unlike nearly all other clinical DNA tests, the Scan is a universal test – it covers all people and all genes. In balance, I argue that the Genome Polymorphism Scan is the most powerful, affordable clinical DNA test available today. Reviewers: This article was reviewed by Scott Weiss (nominated by Neil Smalheiser), Roberta Pagon (nominated by Jerzy Jurka) and Val Sheffield (nominated by Neil Smalheiser)

Differential Response of Female Deer Mice to Short Photoperiod

Author Institution: Department of Biological Sciences, Kent State UniversityIndividual male deer mice (Perotnyscus maniculatus} respond to inhibitory (short) photoperiod with gonadal responses that range from azoospermia to normal spermatogenesis. We undertook the present study to determine if female deer mice exhibit similar variation in reproductive response to inhibitory daylength. Following 8 wk exposure to short days, reproductive tract weights of 25% of all individual females did not differ from those displayed by mice housed on stimulatory (long) photoperiod; reproductive tracts of all remaining short day mice weighed significantly less. Short photoperiod also significantly reduced body weight, albeit only in those mice with regressed reproductive tracts. These results demonstrate that female deer mice respond differentially to the inhibitory effects of short photoperiod. Taken together with previous results, the present findings indicate that populations of deer mice are composed of subsets of males and females that differ in reproductive response to short daylength

Market-Oriented Strategies to Improve Household Access to Food: Experience from Sub-Saharan Africa

The objectives of this report are to identify market-oriented strategies to alleviate both chronic and transitory food insecurity, and to examine the interactions between short-run targeting mechanisms and longer-run strategies designed to alleviate the chronic causes of inadequate access to food. The main premise of the report is that sustained improvements in household access to food in Sub-Saharan Africa require the development of more reliable food and input markets that (a) create incentives to adopt cost-reducing investments at various stages in the food system; and (b) offer incentives for rural households to shift from a subsistence-oriented pattern of production and consumption to more productive systems based on specialization and gains from exchange. Sustained productivity growth in most parts of the world has typically entailed some form of structural transformation, which, in the historical development processes of other regions, has been a prerequisite for broad-based and sustained growth in productivity, real incomes and purchasing power throughout society. Structural transformation involves a movement away from subsistence-oriented, household-level production toward an integrated economy based on specialization and exchange. But specialization makes households dependent on the performance of exchange systems. The ability to capture the productivity gains from new technology and specialization thus depends on reducing the risks and uncertainty of market-based exchange, thereby facilitating greater participation in the types of specialized production and consumption patterns involved in the process of structural transformation. Section 3 presents empirical evidence from research conducted in Africa to draw conclusions about how the design of agricultural policies and transfer programs have affected household access to food in both rural and urban areas. Based on the foregoing, section 4 presents the following guidelines for the design of strategies to promote access to food in Africa: (1.) Focus on achieving productivity gains in the food system. (2.) Focus on how food and income transfer programs can be designed to promote the long-run development of the food system- the basis for providing food for most people over the long run in addition to providing food to people in the short run. (3.) Focus on reducing consumer food costs by expanding the range of products available to produce and consume. (4.) Focus on the cost and reliability of food supplies to rural areas as a component of non-farm, livestock, and other income diversification strategies designed to promote access to food over the longer run. (5.) Focus on developing local analytical expertise to help guide food system development.Food Security and Poverty, Downloads July 2008-June 2009: 12,

Enabling Small-Scale Maize Marketing and Processing to Assure Supplies of Low-Cost Staples

Crop Production/Industries, Downloads December 2008 - July 2009: 6,

Surgical Helmets and SARS Infection

Performance testing of two brands of surgical helmets indicated that their efficiency at in vivo filtration of sub–micrometer-sized particles is inadequate for their use as respirators. These helmets are not marketed for respiratory protection and should not be used alone for protection against severe acute respiratory syndrome when performing aerosol-generating procedures

AMP peptide targets tight junctions to protect and heal barrier structure and function in models of IBD.

Background: A peptide derived from Antrum Mucosal Protein (AMP)-18 (gastrokine-1) reduces the extent of mucosal erosions and clinical severity in mice with dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colonic injury. The present study set out to determine if AMP peptide was also therapeutic for immune- and cytokine-mediated mouse models of intestinal injury and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) by enhancing and stabilizing tight junctions (TJs). Methods: Therapeutic effects of AMP peptide were examined in interleukin-10 deficient and a T cell adoptive transfer models of colitis in immunodeficient recombinase activating gene-1 knock-out (RAG-1−/−) mice. Mechanisms by which AMP peptide enhances barrier function and structure were studied ex vivo using intestine and colon from mice given lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and in AMP-18 deficient mice given DSS. Results: In interleukin-10 deficient mice given piroxicam, AMP peptide enhanced recovery after weight loss, protected against colon shortening and segmental dilation, and reduced the colitis activity score. In the T cell transfer model, treatment with the peptide protected against colon shortening. In mice given LPS in vivo to induce gut injury, AMP peptide prevented the onset of, and reversed established intestinal hyperpermeability by targeting TJ proteins and perijunctional actin