Methylation age acceleration does not predict mortality in schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is associated with high mortality. DNA methylation levels vary over the life course, and pre-selected combinations of methylation array probes can be used to estimate "methylation age" (mAge). mAge correlates highly with chronological age but when it differs, termed mAge acceleration, it has been previously associated with all-cause mortality. We tested the association between mAge acceleration and mortality in SCZ and controls. We selected 190 SCZ cases and 190 controls from the Sweden Schizophrenia Study. Cases were identified from the Swedish Hospital Discharge Register with ≥5 specialist treatment contacts and ≥5 antipsychotic prescriptions. Controls had no psychotic disorder or antipsychotics. Subjects were selected if they had died or survived during follow-up (2:1 oversampling). Extracted DNA was assayed on the Illumina MethylationEPIC array. mAge was regressed on age at sampling to obtain mAge acceleration. Using Cox proportional hazards regression, the association between mAge acceleration and mortality was tested. After quality control, the following were available: n = 126 SCZ died, 63 SCZ alive, 127 controls died, 62 controls alive. In the primary analyses, we did not find a significant association between mAge acceleration and SCZ mortality (adjusted p > 0.005). Sensitivity analyses excluding SCZ cases with pre-existing cancer demonstrated a significant association between the Hannum mAge acceleration and mortality (hazard ratio = 1.13, 95% confidence interval = 1.04-1.22, p = 0.005). Per our pre-specified criteria, we did not confirm our primary hypothesis that mAge acceleration would predict subsequent mortality in people with SCZ, but we cannot rule out smaller effects or effects in patient subsets

Small carnivores contribute to rat control in oil palm plantations

Rapid expansion of oil palm cultivation in Southeast Asia raises concerns about biodiversity conservation. Moreover, rats are invasive pests in oil palm plantations, often causing substantial damages. In Indonesia, rat control is generally based on field treatment using anticoagulant rodenticides and/or on reinforcement of predation by barn owls (Tytoalba), by providing nest boxes within the plantation. Rodenticide use is costly for the producer and can indirectlypoison non-target species such as rat predators. Thus, biological control of rat pests should be promoted, both from conservation and production points of view. Within the assemblage of rat predators, small carnivores may contribute to rat population regulation. However the persistence of small carnivores within oil palm plantations, their habitat use, their diet and their contribution to rat control have been poorly investigated. We conducted a 3-year comparative study (2010-2012) in well-established oil palm plantations in Riau and Bangka provinces, in Indonesia: in both areas barn owl populationsare successfully reinforced, but in Riau rat populations have been maintained at an acceptable level without the use of rodenticide for more than 10 years, whereas in Bangka intensive rodenticide applications did not prevent high levels of rat damages. We compared those two contrasted systems in term of predator communities (barn owls and small carnivores) abundance and/or diet. In the poster, we will only present results related to small carnivores. Using a kilometric abundance index yielded from spotlight and faeces counts, we found that small carnivores were much more abundant in Riau plantations than in Bangka, and that the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) was the dominant species in Riau and absent from Bangka. Other species where found in our study sites, i.e. the common palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), the Malay civet (Vivera tangalunga) and the small-toothed palm civet (Artogalidia trivirgata), but, from literature review, only the leopard cat is known to feed mainly on rats when available. We investigated the diet at community level and we did not detect no significant differences in frequency of occurrence (FO) or volume of small mammal's food items in the faeces of small carnivores between Bangka and Riau; however, we found that the importance of vegetal food items in the diet of small carnivores was greater (p=0.035) in Bangka (FO=51.1%) than in Riau, (FO=30.9%), thereby reflecting differences in predator community composition between both areas. Our results on small carnivore community composition, abundance and diet suggest that rat prey intake from this predator community would be less in Bangka plantations than in Riau. Prey-predators relationship in agricultural landscape is a complex issue. It is a challenge to determine if predation by a peculiar population or community, such as small carnivores, may be contingent to a low level ofprey, or may be a necessary factor to limit prey population. Broadly, our results suggest that barn owls cannot regulate rat population on their own, and that small carnivores probably play an important role, in the framework of a multi-factor hypothesis. Therefore, in a view to improve rat control, the producer should adapt agricultural practices and favor appropriate landuse in order to enhance small carnivores (notably leopard cats) within oil palm plantations. But many questions remain before to be able to give precise recommendations on this issue (Does rodenticide have the opposite effect to the one intended? How much does the leopard cat rely on forest habitat for survival in oil palm landscape? What would be the negative effects of leopard cat introduction on Bangka Island?. For more information on the land-use and habitat preference issue, another poster will investigate spatial distribution of small carnivores within oil palm plantations. (Texte intégral

Search for Nanosecond Near-infrared Transients around 1280 Celestial Objects

Stars and planetary system

Evolutionary relationships between Rhynchosporium lolii sp. nov. and other Rhynchosporium species on grass.

Copyright: 2013 King et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are creditedThe fungal genus Rhynchosporium (causative agent of leaf blotch) contains several host-specialised species, including R. commune (colonising barley and brome-grass), R. agropyri (couch-grass), R. secalis (rye and triticale) and the more distantly related R. orthosporum (cocksfoot). This study used molecular fingerprinting, multilocus DNA sequence data, conidial morphology, host range tests and scanning electron microscopy to investigate the relationship between Rhynchosporium species on ryegrasses, both economically important forage grasses and common wild grasses in many cereal growing areas, and other plant species. Two different types of Rhynchosporium were found on ryegrasses in the UK. Firstly, there were isolates of R. commune that were pathogenic to both barley and Italian ryegrass. Secondly, there were isolates of a new species, here named R. lolii, that were pathogenic only to ryegrass species. R. lolii was most closely related to R. orthosporum, but exhibited clear molecular, morphological and host range differences. The species was estimated to have diverged from R. orthosporum ca. 5735 years before the present. The colonisation strategy of all of the different Rhynchosporium species involved extensive hyphal growth in the sub-cuticular regions of the leaves. Finally, new species-specific PCR diagnostic tests were developed that could distinguish between these five closely related Rhynchosporium species.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Spatial distribution of small carnivores within oil palm plantations

Small carnivores are known to contribute to rat control in oil palm plantations. A better knowledge of their distribution and habitat preferences would provide guidance for promoting their presence within oil palm landscapes. We conducted a 3-year study in well-established oil palm plantations in Riau and Bangka provinces, in Indonesia, and investigated several issues: what species of small carnivores occur within oil palm plantations; are they found deep within the oil palm or are they preferentially found near oil palm edge, i.e. closer to other habitats; are small carnivores attracted by forest fragments around oil palm plantations, and/or are they attracted by extensive areas of lowland forest in the surrounding landscape? Within two plantations in Riau and two plantations in Bangka, we assessed the spatial distribution of small carnivores at the community and species level. Using spotlighting and faeces counts, we used a one-tailed hypothesis test to determine the attractive effect of two focal habitats: oil palm edge and forest fragments. Within the two plantations in Riau, we estimated occupancy using camera trapping; we tested whether two covariates (distance to the edge of the oil palm habitat and distance from extensive area of lowland forest) affected the model parameters for each small carnivore species. We found no attractive effect of forest habitat or oil palm edge for the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) and the common palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), which can be encountered deep within the oil palm habitat, at least during night time. During the day time, 87% of leopard cat detections with camera traps were recorded ≤ 0.2 km from the edge of the oil palm. These results suggests that the oil palm plantation is important for food foraging at night for these two species, and we suspect that non-oil palm habitat is of greater importance during the day. The Malay civet (Viverra tangalunga) was rarely detected and only near the edge of the oil palm habitat; this suggests the great importance of forest habitat for this species. We did not detect any characteristic distribution pattern for the small-toothed palm civet (Artogalidia trivirgata), but the number of observations was very low for this species (n=4). At the community level, our analysis of faeces spatial distribution showed an attractive effect of forest and oil palm edge habitats. These results support the hypothesis that although the oil palm habitat might be suitable for some small carnivore species, such as the leopard cat and the common palm civet (where they supposedly forage at night), most species of small carnivores need forested habitat for their survival in oil palm landscapes. Small carnivores may be encouraged to utilise oil palm by creating suitable rest sites and by increasing habitat heterogeneity (including forest fragments and corridors) throughout the plantation. (Texte intégral

Elimination of Schistosomiasis Transmission in Zanzibar: Baseline Findings before the Onset of a Randomized Intervention Trial.

Gaining and sustaining control of schistosomiasis and, whenever feasible, achieving local elimination are the year 2020 targets set by the World Health Organization. In Zanzibar, various institutions and stakeholders have joined forces to eliminate urogenital schistosomiasis within 5 years. We report baseline findings before the onset of a randomized intervention trial designed to assess the differential impact of community-based praziquantel administration, snail control, and behavior change interventions. In early 2012, a baseline parasitological survey was conducted in ∼20,000 people from 90 communities in Unguja and Pemba. Risk factors for schistosomiasis were assessed by administering a questionnaire to adults. In selected communities, local knowledge about schistosomiasis transmission and prevention was determined in focus group discussions and in-depths interviews. Intermediate host snails were collected and examined for shedding of cercariae. The baseline Schistosoma haematobium prevalence in school children and adults was 4.3% (range: 0-19.7%) and 2.7% (range: 0-26.5%) in Unguja, and 8.9% (range: 0-31.8%) and 5.5% (range: 0-23.4%) in Pemba, respectively. Heavy infections were detected in 15.1% and 35.6% of the positive school children in Unguja and Pemba, respectively. Males were at higher risk than females (odds ratio (OR): 1.45; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.03-2.03). Decreasing adult age (OR: 1.04; CI: 1.02-1.06), being born in Pemba (OR: 1.48; CI: 1.02-2.13) or Tanzania (OR: 2.36; CI: 1.16-4.78), and use of freshwater (OR: 2.15; CI: 1.53-3.03) showed higher odds of infection. Community knowledge about schistosomiasis was low. Only few infected Bulinus snails were found. The relatively low S. haematobium prevalence in Zanzibar is a promising starting point for elimination. However, there is a need to improve community knowledge about disease transmission and prevention. Control measures tailored to the local context, placing particular attention to hot-spot areas, high-risk groups, and individuals, will be necessary if elimination is to be achieved

A Measurement of Rb using a Double Tagging Method

The fraction of Z to bbbar events in hadronic Z decays has been measured by the OPAL experiment using the data collected at LEP between 1992 and 1995. The Z to bbbar decays were tagged using displaced secondary vertices, and high momentum electrons and muons. Systematic uncertainties were reduced by measuring the b-tagging efficiency using a double tagging technique. Efficiency correlations between opposite hemispheres of an event are small, and are well understood through comparisons between real and simulated data samples. A value of Rb = 0.2178 +- 0.0011 +- 0.0013 was obtained, where the first error is statistical and the second systematic. The uncertainty on Rc, the fraction of Z to ccbar events in hadronic Z decays, is not included in the errors. The dependence on Rc is Delta(Rb)/Rb = -0.056*Delta(Rc)/Rc where Delta(Rc) is the deviation of Rc from the value 0.172 predicted by the Standard Model. The result for Rb agrees with the value of 0.2155 +- 0.0003 predicted by the Standard Model.Comment: 42 pages, LaTeX, 14 eps figures included, submitted to European Physical Journal

Measurement of the B+ and B-0 lifetimes and search for CP(T) violation using reconstructed secondary vertices

The lifetimes of the B+ and B-0 mesons, and their ratio, have been measured in the OPAL experiment using 2.4 million hadronic Z(0) decays recorded at LEP. Z(0) --> b (b) over bar decays were tagged using displaced secondary vertices and high momentum electrons and muons. The lifetimes were then measured using well-reconstructed charged and neutral secondary vertices selected in this tagged data sample. The results aretau(B+) = 1.643 +/- 0.037 +/- 0.025 pstau(Bo) = 1.523 +/- 0.057 +/- 0.053 pstau(B+)/tau(Bo) = 1.079 +/- 0.064 +/- 0.041,where in each case the first error is statistical and the second systematic.A larger data sample of 3.1 million hadronic Z(o) decays has been used to search for CP and CPT violating effects by comparison of inclusive b and (b) over bar hadron decays, No evidence fur such effects is seen. The CP violation parameter Re(epsilon(B)) is measured to be Re(epsilon(B)) = 0.001 +/- 0.014 +/- 0.003and the fractional difference between b and (b) over bar hadron lifetimes is measured to(Delta tau/tau)(b) = tau(b hadron) - tau((b) over bar hadron)/tau(average) = -0.001 +/- 0.012 +/- 0.008

Environmental and Parental Influences on Offspring Health and Growth in Great Tits (Parus major)

PMCID: PMC3728352This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Neutrinoless double beta decay via light neutralinos in R-parity violating supersymmetry

We perform a study of neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay mediated by the lightest neutralino of arbitrary mass in the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) under the presence of R-parity violating trilinear interactions. In this scenario, the exchange of the lightest neutralino can result in 0νββ decay of either long-range or short-range behaviour, depending on the neutralino mass. Using nuclear matrix elements calculated in the interacting boson model, we use an interpolation between the long- and short-range behaviours with an approximate formula. The non-observation of 0νββ decay is then used to place constraints on the supersymmetry parameter space, compatible with constraints from collider experiments. We compare these constraints to bounds from pion decays, CKM unitarity and big bang nucleosynthesis