Soda and Tobacco Industry Corporate Social Responsibility Campaigns: How Do They Compare?

In an article that forms part of the PLoS Medicine series on Big Food, Andrew Cheyne and colleagues compare soda companies' corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns - which are designed to bolster the image and popularity of their products and to prevent regulation - with the tobacco industry's CSR campaigning

Pleiotropy of genetic variants on obesity and smoking phenotypes: Results from the Oncoarray Project of The International Lung Cancer Consortium

Obesity and cigarette smoking are correlated through complex relationships. Common genetic causes may contribute to these correlations. In this study, we selected 241 loci potentially associated with body mass index (BMI) based on the Genetic Investigation of ANthropometric Traits (GIANT) consortium data and calculated a BMI genetic risk score (BMI-GRS) for 17,037 individuals of European descent from the Oncoarray Project of the International Lung Cancer Consortium (ILCCO). Smokers had a significantly higher BMI-GRS than never-smokers (p = 0.016 and 0.010 before and after adjustment for BMI, respectively). The BMI-GRS was also positively correlated with pack-years of smoking (p<0.001) in smokers. Based on causal network inference analyses, seven and five of 241 SNPs were classified to pleiotropic models for BMI/smoking status and BMI/pack-years, respectively. Among them, three and four SNPs associated with smoking status and pack-years (p<0.05), respectively, were followed up in the ever-smoking data of the Tobacco, Alcohol and Genetics (TAG) consortium. Among these seven candidate SNPs, one SNP (rs11030104, BDNF) achieved statistical significance after Bonferroni correction for multiple testing, and three suggestive SNPs (rs13021737, TMEM18; rs11583200, ELAVL4; and rs6990042, SGCZ) achieved a nominal statistical significance. Our results suggest that there is a common genetic component between BMI and smoking, and pleiotropy analysis can be useful to identify novel genetic loci of complex phenotypes

Creation and Characterization of LRB (Light-Response BTB) / PIF (Phytochrome-Interacting Factor) Mutant Lines in Arabidopsis thaliana

Color poster with text and images.Light is vital to plant survival and thus plants have developed sophisticated pathways to respond properly to their light environments. Plants sense specific wavelengths of light via photoreceptors, one family of which are the red (R)/far-red (FR)-absorbing phytochromes (phys). Absorption of red light activates the phys, which causes their translocation from the cytosol to the nucleus where they modulate gene expression. They do so by regulating the activity and levels of a family of transcription factors called Phytochrome-Interacting Factors (PIFs). In response to red light, the active phys cause PIFs to be ubiquitylated and degraded, which activates expression of PIF-repressed genes. There is feedback regulation of this pathway as, in response to red light; the PIFs also induce ubiquitylation and degradation of the phys. Work by our lab and others has implicated two genes (called Light-Response BTB 1 and 2 [LRB1 and LRB2]) as critical regulators of the phy/PIF light-response pathway. LRB1 and LRB2 encode BTB (Bric-a-Brac, Tramtrack, Broad Complex) domain-containing proteins that act as target adapters in E3 ubiquitin-ligase complexes. Plants with disruptions of the LRB genes have reduced light-dependent degradation of phys and, like plants with disruptions of PIF genes, exhibit hypersensitivity to red light. The mechanism by which the LRBs modulate phy levels is not entirely clear, however a report published recently showed the LRBs can bind to a complex of a PIF protein (PIF3) and a phy (phyB), leading to ubiquitylation and degradation of both PIF3 and phyB. In order to better understand how the LRB and PIF genes interact we are taking a genetic approach, creating plants with disruptions of both LRB and PIF genes. Study of the phenotypes of these plants may shed light on how these two families of genes work together to regulate red light responses.National Science Foundation-Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) grants (#0919678 and #1354438); National Science Foundation Arabidopsis 2010 Program Grant (MCB-0115870); National Institutes of Health Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellowship (F32-GM68361); University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Program

The cost-effectiveness and consumer acceptability of taxation strategies to reduce rates of overweight and obesity among children in Australia: Study protocol

Background: Childhood obesity is a recognised public health problem and around 25% of Australian children are overweight or obese. A major contributor is the obesogenic environment which encourages over consumption of energy dense nutrient poor food. Taxation is commonly proposed as a mechanism to reduce consumption of poor food choices and hence reduce rates of obesity and overweight in the community