Obesity is a highly prevalent complex trait that raises the risk of other chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, sleep apnea, and cardiovascular disease, and shortens lifespan. Clinical intervention studies focused on weight loss and epidemiological studies of obesity indicate that genetic variation may modify the relationship between lifestyle behaviors and weight loss or weig

Mammalian embryogenesis is a dynamic process involving gene expression and mechanical forces between proliferating cells. The exact nature of these interactions, which determine the lineage patterning of the trophectoderm and endoderm tissues occurring in a highly regulated manner at precise periods during the embryonic development, is an area of debate. We have developed a computational modeling

The atrioventricular (AV) node plays a fundamental role in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), acting as a filter to the numerous irregular atrial impulses which bombard the node. A phenomenological approach to better understand AV nodal electrophysiology is to analyze the ventricular response with respect to irregularity. In different cohorts of AF patients, such analysis has been performed w

We have investigated the interactions between cationic poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers of generation 4 (G4), a potential gene transfection vector, with net-anionic model biomembranes composed of different ratios of zwitterionic phosphocholine (PC) and anionic phospho-l-serine (PS) phospholipids. Two types of model membranes were used: solid-supported bilayers, prepared with lipids carrying pal

Adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) usually have reduced aerobic exercise capacity compared with controls. However, their skeletal muscle function is less studied.

Idea generation is an important part of the engineering design process, and therefore significant research efforts have focused on developing methods to support designers in generating ideas. A key factor is the measurement of ideation effectiveness. The effectiveness of idea generation methods can be measured using metrics such as novelty, variety, quantity, and quality. Average novelty (AN) of a

The Anthropocene narrative portrays humanity as a species ascending to power over the rest of the Earth System. In the crucial field of climate change, this entails the attribution of fossil fuel combustion to properties acquired during human evolution, notably the ability to manipulate fire. But the fossil economy was not created nor is it upheld by humankind in general. This intervention questio

Studies assessing the effects of vitamin D or calcium intake on breast cancer risk have been inconclusive. Furthermore, few studies have evaluated them jointly. This study is the largest so far examining the association of dietary vitamin D and calcium intake with breast cancer risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. During a mean follow-up of 8.8yr, 7760 incident

Peptide recognition domains (PRDs) are ubiquitous protein domains which mediate large numbers of protein interactions in the cell. How these PRDs are able to recognize peptide sequences in a rapid and specific manner is incompletely understood. We explore the peptide binding process of PDZ domains, a large PRD family, from an equilibrium perspective using an all-atom Monte Carlo (MC) approach. Our

Abstract in UndeterminedIn Copenhagen climate conference China government promised that China would cut down carbon intensity 40–45% from 2005 by 2020. CET (carbon emissions trading) is an effective tool to reduce emissions. But because CET is not fully implemented in China up to now, how to design it and its potential impact are unknown to us. This paper studies the potential impact of introducti

A precise U-Pb baddeleyite age of 2733 +/- 2 Ma has been obtained for the Ahmeyim Great Dyke of Mauritania that intruded into the Tasiast-Tijirit Terrane of the Reguibat Shield, NW Mauritania. This dyke is approximately 1500 m wide at the sampling area and extends for more than 150 km NNE/SSW. Major and trace element geochemistry of the dyke indicates that the magmas that formed this intrusive bod

Radionuclides from the 1986 Chernobyl accident were released and dispersed during a limited period of time, but under widely varying weather conditions. As a result, there was a high geographical variation in the deposited radioactive fallout per unit area over Europe, depending on the released composition of fission products and the weather during the 10 days of releases. If the plume from Cherno

There is much recent interest in the thermoelectric (TE) characterization of single nanostructures at low temperatures, because such measurements yield information that is complementary to traditional conductance measurements, and because they may lead to novel paradigms for TE energy conversion. However, previously reported techniques for thermal biasing of nanostructures are difficult to use at

This report provides a summary of the third meeting of the Harmonising Outcome Measures for Eczema (HOME) initiative held in San Diego, CA, U.S.A., 6-7 April 2013 (HOME III). The meeting addressed the four domains that had previously been agreed should be measured in every eczema clinical trial: clinical signs, patient-reported symptoms, long-term control and quality of life. Formal presentations

AimsWe recently identified a metabolic signature of three amino acids (tyrosine, phenylalanine, and isoleucine) that strongly predicts diabetes development. As novel modifiable targets for intervention are needed to meet the expected increase of cardiovascular disease (CVD) caused by the diabetes epidemic, we investigated whether this diabetes-predictive amino acid score (DM-AA score) predicts dev

The proliferation of various laser-driven approaches to sub-picosecond hard X-ray and short-wavelength radiation generation in the past few decades has opened many avenues for the laboratory-based development of traditionally facility-based short wavelength ultrafast molecular structure science. Together with the introduction of microcalorimeter detection schemes, this opens the floodgates to wide

To investigate the sex- and age-specific incidence of healthcare-register-recorded anorexia nervosa (AN) and other eating disorders (OED) in a complete birth cohort, and assess whether incidence varies by diagnostic period and (sub-) birth cohort.

The A4GALT locus encodes a glycosyltransferase that synthesizes the terminal Galα1-4Gal of the P(k)(Gb3/CD77) glycosphingolipid, important in transfusion medicine, obstetrics and pathogen susceptibility. Critical nucleotide changes in A4GALT not only abolish P(k) formation but also another Galα1-4Gal-defined antigen, P1, which belongs to the only blood group system for which the responsible locus

Recoverin a member of the neuronal calcium sensor (NCS) branch of the calmodulin superfamily, is expressed in retinal photoreceptor cells and serves as a calcium sensor in vision. Ca2+-induced conformational changes in recoverin cause extrusion of its covalently attached myristate (termed Ca2+-myristoyl switch) that promotes translocation of recoverin to disk membranes during phototransduction in