Growth Based Morphogenesis of Vertebrate Limb Bud

Many genes and their regulatory relationships are involved in developmental phenomena. However, by chemical information alone, we cannot fully understand changing organ morphologies through tissue growth because deformation and growth of the organ are essentially mechanical processes. Here, we develop a mathematical model to describe the change of organ morphologies through cell proliferation. Our basic idea is that the proper specification of localized volume source (e.g., cell proliferation) is able to guide organ morphogenesis, and that the specification is given by chemical gradients. We call this idea “growth-based morphogenesis.” We find that this morphogenetic mechanism works if the tissue is elastic for small deformation and plastic for large deformation. To illustrate our concept, we study the development of vertebrate limb buds, in which a limb bud protrudes from a flat lateral plate and extends distally in a self-organized manner. We show how the proportion of limb bud shape depends on different parameters and also show the conditions needed for normal morphogenesis, which can explain abnormal morphology of some mutants. We believe that the ideas shown in the present paper are useful for the morphogenesis of other organs

Genome-wide association and Mendelian randomisation analysis provide insights into the pathogenesis of heart failure

Heart failure (HF) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. A small proportion of HF cases are attributable to monogenic cardiomyopathies and existing genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have yielded only limited insights, leaving the observed heritability of HF largely unexplained. We report results from a GWAS meta-analysis of HF comprising 47,309 cases and 930,014 controls. Twelve independent variants at 11 genomic loci are associated with HF, all of which demonstrate one or more associations with coronary artery disease (CAD), atrial fibrillation, or reduced left ventricular function, suggesting shared genetic aetiology. Functional analysis of non-CAD-associated loci implicate genes involved in cardiac development (MYOZ1, SYNPO2L), protein homoeostasis (BAG3), and cellular senescence (CDKN1A). Mendelian randomisation analysis supports causal roles for several HF risk factors, and demonstrates CAD-independent effects for atrial fibrillation, body mass index, and hypertension. These findings extend our knowledge of the pathways underlying HF and may inform new therapeutic strategies

An Economic Evaluation of Cotton and Alternative Farm Enterprises Under Irrigation in the Namoi Region

Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management,

A methodological perspective on valuing water: a comparison between linear programming and stochastic dynamic programming

Information on the value of water in use is a prerequisite for the efficient allocation, utilization, trading and transfer thereof. These issues are becoming very important for South Africa. Linear programming (LP) and stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) are two techniques that can be applied to value water. Based on a simulated irrigation farming situation downstream of the Vanderkloof Dam wherein farmers hold a capacity share (CS) this paper draws a comparison between the marginal value products (MVP’s) obtained from applying LP and SDP simultaneously. Linear programming is used to optimize water use on the farm during the immediate season while SDP is used to optimize the use of water in storage in the farmers capacity share (CS) in the Vanderkloof Dam through time. Emphasis is placed on the interpretation of the results which are presented graphically

Guideline for Technical Quality Assurance (TQA) of Ultrasound devices (B-Mode) - Version 1.0 (July 2012)

Item does not contain fulltextThe Technical Quality Assurance group was initiated by the EFSUMB Board in 2007 and met firstly in 2008 to discuss and evaluate methods and procedures published for performing technical quality assurance for diagnostic ultrasound devices. It is the aim of this group of experts to advise the EFSUMB Board of effective and efficacious methods for routine use and to make recommendations regarding the technical aspects of EFSUMB by-law 9, parts 11.6. & 11.7. The group´s work focused on new developments and related European projects to establish a common guideline. There is a great need of a well established protocol and dedicated processing software for the performance testing of medical ultrasound equipment. The measurements should be user independent as much as physically possible. Only if these goals are achieved in an international (firstly European) context, the optimal quality of ultrasound imaging can be offered and maintained to the medical community. This guideline aims to offer and summarize suitable procedures and evaluation processes to lend support for an optimal Technical Quality Assurance (TQA) scheme. The content of this guideline was presented to the EFSUMB Board of Directors (delegates) and approved by the EFSUMB Executive Board (ExB) at the regular meeting during EUROSON 2012 in Madrid April 2012