Origins of the Domestic Dog and the Rich Potential for Gene Mapping

The unique breeding structure of the domestic dog makes canine genetics a useful tool to further the understanding of inherited diseases and gene function. Answers to the questions of when and where the dog was domesticated from the wolf are uncertain, but how the modern diversity of dog breeds was developed is documented. Breed development has resulted in many genetically isolated populations which are segregating for different alleles for disease and morphological and behavioral traits. Many genetic tools are available for dog research allowing investigation into the genetic basis of these phenotypes. Research into causes of diseases in dogs is relevant to humans and other species; comparative genomics is being used to transfer genetic information to them, including some studies on morphological and behavioral phenotypes. Because of the unique breed structure and well-maintained pedigrees, dogs represent a model organism containing a wealth of genetic information

Phase Change Material (PCM) thermal stores

The application of inorganic Phase Change Material thermal stores in sustainable building design in Europe – an on-going research project

Genetic variation analysis of the Bali street dog using microsatellites

BACKGROUND: Approximately 800,000 primarily feral dogs live on the small island of Bali. To analyze the genetic diversity in this population, forty samples were collected at random from dogs in the Denpasar, Bali region and tested using 31 polymorphic microsatellites. Australian dingoes and 28 American Kennel Club breeds were compared to the Bali Street Dog (BSD) for allelic diversity, heterozygosities, F-statistics, G(ST )estimates, Nei's DA distance and phylogenetic relationships. RESULTS: The BSD proved to be the most heterogeneous, exhibiting 239 of the 366 total alleles observed across all groups and breeds and had an observed heterozygosity of 0.692. Thirteen private alleles were observed in the BSD with an additional three alleles observed only in the BSD and the Australian dingo. The BSD was related most closely to the Chow Chow with a F(ST )of 0.088 and also with high bootstrap support to the Australian dingo and Akita in the phylogenetic analysis. CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary study into the diversity and relationship of the BSD to other domestic and feral dog populations shows the BSD to be highly heterogeneous and related to populations of East Asian origin. These results indicate that a viable and diverse population of dogs existed on the island of Bali prior to its geographic isolation approximately 12,000 years ago and has been little influenced by domesticated European dogs since that time

Narrow genetic basis for the Australian dingo confirmed through analysis of paternal ancestry

The dingo (Canis lupus dingo) is an iconic animal in the native culture of Australia, but archaeological and molecular records indicate a relatively recent history on the continent. Studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) imply that the current dingo population was founded by a small population of already tamed dogs from Southeast Asia. However, the maternal genetic data might give a unilateral picture, and the gene pool has yet to be screened for paternal ancestry. We sequenced 14,437 bp of the Y-chromosome (Y-chr) from two dingoes and one New Guinea Singing Dog (NGSD). This positioned dingo and NGSD within the domestic dog Y-chr phylogeny, and produced one haplotype not detected before. With this data, we characterized 47 male dingoes in 30 Y-chr single-nucleotide polymorphism sites using protease-mediated allele-specific extension technology. Only two haplotypes, H3 and H60, were found among the dingoes, at frequencies of 68.1 and 31.9 %, respectively, compared to 27 haplotypes previously established in the domestic dog. While H3 is common among Southeast Asian dogs, H60 was specifically found in dingoes and the NGSD, but was related to Southeast Asian dog Y-chr haplotypes. H3 and H60 were observed exclusively in the western and eastern parts of Australia, respectively, but had a common range in Southeast. Thus, the Y-chr diversity was very low, similar to previous observations for d-loop mtDNA. Overall genetic evidence suggests a very restricted introduction of the first dingoes into Australia, possibly from New Guinea. This study further confirms the dingo as an isolated feral dog. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10709-012-9658-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Rhabdomyolysis reported for children and adolescents treated with antipsychotic medicines: a case series analysis

published_or_final_versio

Rhabdomyolysis reported for children and adolescents treated with antipsychotic medicines: a case series analysis

published_or_final_versio

The Analysis of Thin Wires Using Higher-Order Elements and Basis Functions

Thin wire analysis was applied to curved wire segments in [1], but a special procedure was needed to evaluate the self and near-self terms. The procedure involved associating the singular behavior with a straight segment tangent to the curved source segment, permitting use of algorithms for straight wires. Recently, a procedure that avoids the singularity extraction for straight wires was presented in [2-4]. In this paper, the approach in [4] is applied to curved (or higher-order) wires using a procedure similar to that used in [1] for singularity extraction. Here, the straight tangent segment is used to determine the quadrature rules to be used on the curved segment. The result is a formulation that allows for a general mixture of higher-order basis functions [5] and higher-order wire segments

Efficient computation of periodic and nonperiodic Green`s functions in layered media using the MPIE

The mixed potential integral equation (MPIE) formulation is convenient for problems involving layered media because potential quantities involve low order singularities, in comparison to field quantities. For nonperiodic problems, the associated Green`s potentials involve spectral integrals of the Sommerfeld type, in the periodic case, discrete sums over sampled values of the same spectra are required. When source and observation points are in the same or in adjacent layers, the convergence of both representations is enhanced by isolating the direct and quasi-static image contributions associated with the nearby layers. In the periodic case, the convergence of direct and image contributions may be rapidly accelerated by means of the Ewadd method

Efficient plant regeneration protocol for finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.] via somatic embryogenesis

In the present study, an efficient protocol for somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration was established in six finger millet varieties (GBK-043137, GBK-043128, GBK-043124, GBK-043122, GBK- 043094 and GBK-043050). Shoot tips from 3 days in vitro grown plants were inoculated on MS supplemented with various concentrations and combinations of α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), 2,4- Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), benzylaminopurine (BAP) and kinetin for callus induction and somatic embryogenesis. For shoot regeneration, somatic embryos were cultured on various concentrations of BAP, while root induction was done using different concentrations and combinations of NAA, kinetin, BAP and 2,4-D. Acclimatization of regenerated plants was tested using forest soil, cocopeat, manure, sand and fertilizer either singly or in combination. Best callus formation was achieved on 2.5 mg/l of 2,4-D and 1.5 mg/l BAP with a mean of 12.33±0.33 on variety GBK-043128 while shooting and rooting were best on 1.75 mg/l BAP with a mean of 25.07±0.64 and 1.0 BAP+0.25 NAA with a mean of 15.00±2.2, respectively. Best acclimatization was attained using soil, sand and fertilizer on GBK-043094. Plants regenerated were morphologically similar to in vivo plants with 97% survival rate. Moreover, they were fertile and able to set viable seeds. This efficient protocol has the potential for crop improvement and genomic studies