Linoleic acid intake, plasma cholesterol and 10-year incidence of CHD in 20.000 middle-aged men and women in the Netherlands

We studied the associations of a difference in linoleic acid or carbohydrate intake with plasma cholesterol levels and risk of CHD in a prospective cohort study in the Netherlands. Data on diet (FFQ) and plasma total and HDL-cholesterol were available at baseline (1993–7) of 20 069 men and women, aged 20–65 years, who were initially free of CVD. Incidence of CHD was assessed through linkage with mortality and morbidity registers. During an average of 10 years of follow-up, 280 CHD events occurred. The intake of linoleic acid ranged from 3·6 to 8·0 % of energy (en%), whereas carbohydrate intake ranged from 47·6 to 42·5 en% across quintiles of linoleic acid intake. Linoleic acid intake was inversely associated with total cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol in women but not in men. Linoleic acid intake was not associated with the ratio of total to HDL-cholesterol. No association was observed between linoleic acid intake and CHD incidence, with hazard ratios varying between 0·83 and 1·00 (all P>0·05) compared to the bottom quintile. We conclude that a 4–5 en% difference in linoleic acid or carbohydrate intake did not translate into either a different ratio of total to HDL-cholesterol or a different CHD incidenc

How robust is the language architecture? The case of mood

In neurocognitive research on language, the processing principles of the system at hand are usually assumed to be relatively invariant. However, research on attention, memory, decision-making, and social judgment has shown that mood can substantially modulate how the brain processes information. For example, in a bad mood, people typically have a narrower focus of attention and rely less on heuristics. In the face of such pervasive mood effects elsewhere in the brain, it seems unlikely that language processing would remain untouched. In an EEG experiment, we manipulated the mood of participants just before they read texts that confirmed or disconfirmed verb-based expectations about who would be talked about next (e.g., that “David praised Linda because … ” would continue about Linda, not David), or that respected or violated a syntactic agreement rule (e.g., “The boys turns”). ERPs showed that mood had little effect on syntactic parsing, but did substantially affect referential anticipation: whereas readers anticipated information about a specific person when they were in a good mood, a bad mood completely abolished such anticipation. A behavioral follow-up experiment suggested that a bad mood did not interfere with verb-based expectations per se, but prevented readers from using that information rapidly enough to predict upcoming reference on the fly, as the sentence unfolds. In all, our results reveal that background mood, a rather unobtrusive affective state, selectively changes a crucial aspect of real-time language processing. This observation fits well with other observed interactions between language processing and affect (emotions, preferences, attitudes, mood), and more generally testifies to the importance of studying “cold” cognitive functions in relation to “hot” aspects of the brain

Mutation of TBCK causes a rare recessive developmental disorder

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the underlying genetic defect in a family with 3 siblings affected by a severe, yet viable, congenital disorder. METHODS: Extensive genetic and metabolic investigations were performed, and the affected children were imaged at different ages. Whole-genome genotyping and whole-exome sequencing were undertaken. A single large region (>8 Mb) of homozygosity in chromosome 4 (chr4:100,268,553-108,609,628) was identified that was shared only in affected siblings. Inspection of genetic variability within this region led to the identification of a novel mutation. Sanger sequencing confirmed segregation of the mutation with disease. RESULTS: All affected siblings share homozygosity for a novel 4-bp deletion in the gene TBCK (NM_033115:c.614_617del:p.205_206del). CONCLUSIONS: This finding provides the genetic cause of a severe inherited disease in a family and extends the number of mutations and phenotypes associated with this recently identified disease gene

Reduced tillage, but not organic matter input, increased nematode diversity and food web stability in European long‐term field experiments

Soil nematode communities and food web indices can inform about the complexity, nutrient flows and decomposition pathways of soil food webs, reflecting soil quality. Relative abundance of nematode feeding and life‐history groups are used for calculating food web indices, i.e., maturity index (MI), enrichment index (EI), structure index (SI) and channel index (CI). Molecular methods to study nematode communities potentially offer advantages compared to traditional methods in terms of resolution, throughput, cost and time. In spite of such advantages, molecular data have not often been adopted so far to assess the effects of soil management on nematode communities and to calculate these food web indices. Here, we used high‐throughput amplicon sequencing to investigate the effects of tillage (conventional vs. reduced) and organic matter addition (low vs. high) on nematode communities and food web indices in 10 European long‐term field experiments and we assessed the relationship between nematode communities and soil parameters. We found that nematode communities were more strongly affected by tillage than by organic matter addition. Compared to conventional tillage, reduced tillage increased nematode diversity (23% higher Shannon diversity index), nematode community stability (12% higher MI), structure (24% higher SI), and the fungal decomposition channel (59% higher CI), and also the number of herbivorous nematodes (70% higher). Total and labile organic carbon, available K and microbial parameters explained nematode community structure. Our findings show that nematode communities are sensitive indicators of soil quality and that molecular profiling of nematode communities has the potential to reveal the effects of soil management on soil quality

Rethinking globalised resistance : feminist activism and critical theorising in international relations

This article argues that a feminist approach to the 'politics of resistance' offers a number of important empirical insights which, in turn, open up lines of theoretical inquiry which critical theorists in IR would do well to explore. Concretely, we draw on our ongoing research into feminist 'anti-globalisation' activism to rethink the nature of the subject of the politics of resistance, the conditions under which resistance emerges and how resistance is enacted and expressed. We begin by discussing the relationship of feminism to critical IR theory as a way of situating and explaining the focus and approach of our research project. We then summarise our key empirical arguments regarding the emergence, structure, beliefs, identities and practices of feminist 'anti-globalisation' activism before exploring the implications of these for a renewed critical theoretical agenda in IR

Conformational Mechanics of Polymer Adsorption Transitions at Attractive Substrates

Conformational phases of a semiflexible off-lattice homopolymer model near an attractive substrate are investigated by means of multicanonical computer simulations. In our polymer-substrate model, nonbonded pairs of monomers as well as monomers and the substrate interact via attractive van der Waals forces. To characterize conformational phases of this hybrid system, we analyze thermal fluctuations of energetic and structural quantities, as well as adequate docking parameters. Introducing a solvent parameter related to the strength of the surface attraction, we construct and discuss the solubility-temperature phase diagram. Apart from the main phases of adsorbed and desorbed conformations, we identify several other phase transitions such as the freezing transition between energy-dominated crystalline low-temperature structures and globular entropy-dominated conformations.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figure

Utilization of a population health survey in policy and practice: a case study

BackgroundThere is growing interest by funding bodies and researchers in assessing the impact of research on real world policy and practice. Population health monitoring surveys provide an important source of data on the prevalence and patterns of health problems, but few empirical studies have explored if and how such data is used to influence policy or practice decisions. Here we provide a case study analysis of how the findings from an Australian population monitoring survey series of children&rsquo;s weight and weight-related behaviors (Schools Physical Activity and Nutrition Survey (SPANS)) have been used, and the key facilitators and barriers to their utilization.MethodsData collection included semi-structured interviews with the chief investigators (n = 3) and end-users (n = 9) of SPANS data to explore if, how and under what circumstances the survey findings had been used, bibliometric analysis and verification using documentary evidence. Data analysis involved thematic coding of interview data and triangulation with other data sources to produce case summaries of policy and practice impacts for each of the three survey years (1997, 2004, 2010). Case summaries were then reviewed and discussed by the authors to distil key themes on if, how and why the SPANS findings had been used to guide policy and practice.ResultsWe found that the survey findings were used for agenda setting (raising awareness of issues), identifying areas and target groups for interventions, informing new policies, and supporting and justifying existing policies and programs across a range of sectors. Reported factors influencing use of the findings were: i) the perceived credibility of survey findings; ii) dissemination strategies used; and, iii) a range of contextual factors.ConclusionsUsing a novel approach, our case study provides important new insights into how and under what circumstances population health monitoring data can be used to influence real world policy and practice. The findings highlight the importance of population monitoring programs being conducted by independent credible agencies, researchers engaging end-users from the inception of survey programs and utilizing existing policy networks and structures, and using a range of strategies to disseminate the findings that go beyond traditional peer review publications.<br /

Comparison of Zn_{1-x}Mn_xTe/ZnTe multiple-quantum wells and quantum dots by below-bandgap photomodulated reflectivity

Large-area high density patterns of quantum dots with a diameter of 200 nm have been prepared from a series of four Zn_{0.93}Mn_{0.07}Te/ZnTe multiple quantum well structures of different well width (4 nm, 6 nm, 8 nm and 10 nm) by electron beam lithography followed by Ar+ ion beam etching. Below-bandgap photomodulated reflectivity spectra of the quantum dot samples and the parent heterostructures were then recorded at 10 K and the spectra were fitted to extract the linewidths and the energy positions of the excitonic transitions in each sample. The fitted results are compared to calculations of the transition energies in which the different strain states in the samples are taken into account. We show that the main effect of the nanofabrication process is a change in the strain state of the quantum dot samples compared to the parent heterostructures. The quantum dot pillars turn out to be freestanding, whereas the heterostructures are in a good approximation strained to the ZnTe lattice constant. The lateral size of the dots is such that extra confinement effects are not expected or observed.Comment: 23 pages, LaTeX2e (amsmath, epsfig), 7 EPS figure