Host-plant acceptance on mineral soil and humus by the pine weevil Hylobius abietis (L.)

1 The pine weevil Hylobius abietis (L.) (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) is an economically important pest of conifer forest regeneration in Europe and Asia. 2 Soil scarification, which usually exposes mineral soil, is widely used to protect seedlings from weevil attack. However, the mechanism behind this protective effect is not yet fully understood. 3 Field experiments were conducted to determine the pine weevil's responses to visual and odour stimuli from seedlings when moving on mineral soil and on undisturbed humus surface. 4 One experiment measured the number of pine weevils approaching seedlings, with and without added host odour, on mineral soil and undisturbed humus. Seedlings with added host odour attracted more weevils on both soil types. Unexpectedly, somewhat more weevils approached seedlings surrounded by mineral soil. 5 In a similar experiment, feeding attacks on seedlings planted directly in the soil were recorded. Only half as many seedlings were attacked on mineral soil as on undisturbed humus. 6 In the first experiment, the weevils were trapped 2.5 cm from the bases of the seedlings' stems, whereas they could reach the seedlings in the experiment where seedlings were planted directly in the soil. We conclude that the pine weevils' decision on whether or not to feed on a seedling is strongly influenced by the surrounding soil type and that this decision is taken in the close vicinity of the seedling. The presence of pure mineral soil around the seedling strongly reduces the likelihood that an approaching pine weevil will feed on it

SES-of-Origin and BMI in youth:Comparing Germany and Minnesota

peer reviewe

Applying polygenic risk scoring for psychiatric disorders to a large family with bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder

Psychiatric disorders are thought to have a complex genetic pathology consisting of interplay of common and rare variation. Traditionally, pedigrees are used to shed light on the latter only, while here we discuss the application of polygenic risk scores to also highlight patterns of common genetic risk. We analyze polygenic risk scores for psychiatric disorders in a large pedigree (n similar to 260) in which 30% of family members suffer from major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder. Studying patterns of assortative mating and anticipation, it appears increased polygenic risk is contributed by affected individuals who married into the family, resulting in an increasing genetic risk over generations. This may explain the observation of anticipation in mood disorders, whereby onset is earlier and the severity increases over the generations of a family. Joint analyses of rare and common variation may be a powerful way to understand the familial genetics of psychiatric disorders

All SNPs are not created equal: genome-wide association studies reveal a consistent pattern of enrichment among functionally annotated SNPs

Recent results indicate that genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have the potential to explain much of the heritability of common complex phenotypes, but methods are lacking to reliably identify the remaining associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We applied stratified False Discovery Rate (sFDR) methods to leverage genic enrichment in GWAS summary statistics data to uncover new loci likely to replicate in independent samples. Specifically, we use linkage disequilibrium-weighted annotations for each SNP in combination with nominal p-values to estimate the True Discovery Rate (TDR = 1−FDR) for strata determined by different genic categories. We show a consistent pattern of enrichment of polygenic effects in specific annotation categories across diverse phenotypes, with the greatest enrichment for SNPs tagging regulatory and coding genic elements, little enrichment in introns, and negative enrichment for intergenic SNPs. Stratified enrichment directly leads to increased TDR for a given p-value, mirrored by increased replication rates in independent samples. We show this in independent Crohn's disease GWAS, where we find a hundredfold variation in replication rate across genic categories. Applying a well-established sFDR methodology we demonstrate the utility of stratification for improving power of GWAS in complex phenotypes, with increased rejection rates from 20% in height to 300% in schizophrenia with traditional FDR and sFDR both fixed at 0.05. Our analyses demonstrate an inherent stratification among GWAS SNPs with important conceptual implications that can be leveraged by statistical methods to improve the discovery of loci

Adolescents of the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study: Sexual Orientation, Sexual Behavior, and Sexual Risk Exposure

This study assessed Kinsey self-ratings and lifetime sexual experiences of 17-year-olds whose lesbian mothers enrolled before these offspring were born in the longest-running, prospective study of same-sex parented families, with a 93% retention rate to date. Data for the current report were gathered through online questionnaires completed by 78 adolescent offspring (39 girls and 39 boys). The adolescents were asked if they had ever been abused and, if so, to specify by whom and the type of abuse (verbal, emotional, physical, or sexual). They were also asked to specify their sexual identity on the Kinsey scale, between exclusively heterosexual and exclusively homosexual. Lifetime sexual behavior was assessed through questions about heterosexual and same-sex contact, age of first sexual experience, contraception use, and pregnancy. The results revealed that there were no reports of physical or sexual victimization by a parent or other caregiver. Regarding sexual orientation, 18.9% of the adolescent girls and 2.7% of the adolescent boys self-rated in the bisexual spectrum, and 0% of girls and 5.4% of boys self-rated as predominantly-to-exclusively homosexual. When compared with age- and gender-matched adolescents of the National Survey of Family Growth, the study offspring were significantly older at the time of their first heterosexual contact, and the daughters of lesbian mothers were significantly more likely to have had same-sex contact. These findings suggest that adolescents reared in lesbian families are less likely than their peers to be victimized by a parent or other caregiver, and that daughters of lesbian mothers are more likely to engage in same-sex behavior and to identify as bisexual

Large-scale genome-wide association analysis of bipolar disorder identifies a new susceptibility locus near ODZ4.

International audienceWe conducted a combined genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 7,481 individuals with bipolar disorder (cases) and 9,250 controls as part of the Psychiatric GWAS Consortium. Our replication study tested 34 SNPs in 4,496 independent cases with bipolar disorder and 42,422 independent controls and found that 18 of 34 SNPs had P < 0.05, with 31 of 34 SNPs having signals with the same direction of effect (P = 3.8 × 10(-7)). An analysis of all 11,974 bipolar disorder cases and 51,792 controls confirmed genome-wide significant evidence of association for CACNA1C and identified a new intronic variant in ODZ4. We identified a pathway comprised of subunits of calcium channels enriched in bipolar disorder association intervals. Finally, a combined GWAS analysis of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder yielded strong association evidence for SNPs in CACNA1C and in the region of NEK4-ITIH1-ITIH3-ITIH4. Our replication results imply that increasing sample sizes in bipolar disorder will confirm many additional loci

Convenient preparation of 68Ga-based PET-radiopharmaceuticals at room temperature

A straightforward labeling using generator produced positron emitting (68)Ga, which provides high quality images, may result in kit type production of PET radiopharmaceuticals and make PET examinations possible also at centers lacking accelerators. The introduction of macrocyclic bifunctional chelators that would provide fast (68)Ga-complexation at room temperature would simplify even further tracer preparation and open wide possibilities for (68)Ga-labeling of fragile and potent macromolecules. Gallium-68 has the potential to facilitate development of clinically practical PET and to promote PET technique for individualized medicine. The macrocyclic chelator, 1,4,7-triazacyclononanetriacetic acid (NOTA), and its derivative coupled to an eight amino acid residue peptide (NODAGA-TATE, [NODAGA (0), Tyr(3)]Octreotate) were labeled with (68)Ge/(68)Ga-generator produced positron emitting (68)Ga. Formation kinetics of (68)Ga-NOTA was studied as a function of pH and formation kinetics of (68)Ga-NODAGA-TATE was studied as a function of the bioconjugate concentration. The nearly quantitative radioactivity incorporation (RAI<95%) for (68)Ga-NOTA was achieved within less than 10 min at room temperature and pH 3.5. The concentrations of NODAGA-TATE required for RAI of <90% and <95% were, respectively, 2-5 and 10 microM. In both cases the purification of the (68)Ga-labeled products was not necessary since the radiochemical purity was <95% and the preparation buffer, 4-(2-hydroxyethyl) piperazine-1-ethanesulfonic acid (HEPES) is suitable for human use. In order to confirm the identity of the products, complexes comprising (nat)Ga were synthesized and analyzed by mass spectrometry. The complex was found to be stable in the reaction mixture, phosphate buffer, and human plasma during 4.5 h incubation. Free and peptide conjugated NOTA formed stable complexes with (68)Ga at room temperature within 10 min. This might be of special interest for the labeling of fragile and potent macromolecules and allow for kit type preparation of (68)Ga-based radiopharmaceuticals