Spray Dried, Pasteurised Bovine Colostrum Protects Against Gut Dysfunction and Inflammation in Preterm Pigs

Objective: Feeding bovine colostrum (BC) improves gut maturation and function and protects against necrotizing enterocolitis, relative to formula in newborn preterm pigs. Before BC can be used for preterm infants, it is important to test if the milk processing, required to reduce bacterial load and increase shelf life, may affect bioactivity and efficacy of a BC product. Methods: We investigated if spray dried, pasteurised BC had protective effects on gut function in preterm pigs, relative to formula. After a 2-day total parenteral nutrition period, preterm pigs were fed formula for a few hours (to induce a proinflammatory state) followed by 2 days of formula (FORM, n=14), BC (colostrum [COLOS], n=14), spray-dried BC (POW, n=8), or pasteurised, spray-dried BC (POWPAS, n=9). Results: Spray drying and pasteurisation of BC decreased the concentration of transforming growth factor-β1, -β2 and increased protein aggregation. All of the 3 BC groups had reduced necrotizing enterocolitis severity, small intestinal levels of IL-1β, -8, and colonic lactic acid levels, and increased intestinal villus height, hexose absorption, and digestive enzyme activities, relative to the FORM group (all P&lt;0.05). All of the 3 BC diets stimulated epithelial cell migration in a wound-healing model with IEC-6 cells. Conclusions: Spray drying and pasteurisation affect BC proteins, but do not reduce the trophic and anti-inflammatory effects of BC on the immature intestine. It remains to be studied if BC products will benefit preterm infants just after birth when human milk is often not available.</p

Standard SANC modules for NLO QCD Radiative Corrections to Single-top Production

It this paper we present the results obtained with the newly created Standard SANC modules for calculation of the NLO QCD corrections to single top production processes in s and t channels at the partonic level, as well as top-decays. The main aim of these results is to prove the correct work of modules. A comprehensive comparison with results of the CompHEP system is given, where possible. These modules are intended to be used in Monte Carlo generators for single top production processes at the LHC. As in our recent paper, devoted to the electroweak corrections to these processes, we study the regularization of the top-legs associated infrared divergences with aid of the complex mass of the top quark. A comparison of QCD corrections with those computed by the conventional method is presented both for top production and decays. For s channel production we give an analytic proof of equivalence of the two methods in the limit of low top width.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures, 17 table

Phosphorylation of GFAP is associated with injury in the neonatal pig hypoxic-ischemic brain

Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is an intermediate filament protein expressed in the astrocyte cytoskeleton that plays an important role in the structure and function of the cell. GFAP can be phosphorylated at six serine (Ser) or threonine (Thr) residues but little is known about the role of GFAP phosphorylation in physiological and pathophysiological states. We have generated antibodies against two phosphorylated GFAP (pGFAP) proteins: p8GFAP, where GFAP is phosphorylated at Ser-8 and p13GFAP, where GFAP is phosphorylated at Ser-13. We examined p8GFAP and p13GFAP expression in the control neonatal pig brain and at 24 and 72 h after an hypoxic-ischemic (HI) insult. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated pGFAP expression in astrocytes with an atypical cytoskeletal morphology, even in control brains. Semi-quantitative western blotting revealed that p8GFAP expression was significantly increased at 24 h post-insult in HI animals with seizures in frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital cortices. At 72 h post-insult, p8GFAP and p13GFAP expression were significantly increased in HI animals with seizures in brain regions that are vulnerable to cellular damage (cortex and basal ganglia), but no changes were observed in brain regions that are relatively spared following an HI insult (brain stem and cerebellum). Increased pGFAP expression was associated with poor neurological outcomes such as abnormal encephalography and neurobehaviour, and increased histological brain damage. Phosphorylation of GFAP may play an important role in astrocyte remodelling during development and disease and could potentially contribute to the plasticity of the central nervous system

L-infinity algebra connections and applications to String- and Chern-Simons n-transport

We give a generalization of the notion of a Cartan-Ehresmann connection from Lie algebras to L-infinity algebras and use it to study the obstruction theory of lifts through higher String-like extensions of Lie algebras. We find (generalized) Chern-Simons and BF-theory functionals this way and describe aspects of their parallel transport and quantization. It is known that over a D-brane the Kalb-Ramond background field of the string restricts to a 2-bundle with connection (a gerbe) which can be seen as the obstruction to lifting the PU(H)-bundle on the D-brane to a U(H)-bundle. We discuss how this phenomenon generalizes from the ordinary central extension U(1) -> U(H) -> PU(H) to higher categorical central extensions, like the String-extension BU(1) -> String(G) -> G. Here the obstruction to the lift is a 3-bundle with connection (a 2-gerbe): the Chern-Simons 3-bundle classified by the first Pontrjagin class. For G = Spin(n) this obstructs the existence of a String-structure. We discuss how to describe this obstruction problem in terms of Lie n-algebras and their corresponding categorified Cartan-Ehresmann connections. Generalizations even beyond String-extensions are then straightforward. For G = Spin(n) the next step is "Fivebrane structures" whose existence is obstructed by certain generalized Chern-Simons 7-bundles classified by the second Pontrjagin class.Comment: 100 pages, references and clarifications added; correction to section 5.1 and further example to 9.3.1 adde

LD Hub:a centralized database and web interface to perform LD score regression that maximizes the potential of summary level GWAS data for SNP heritability and genetic correlation analysis

Motivation: LD score regression is a reliable and efficient method of using genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary-level results data to estimate the SNP heritability of complex traits and diseases, partition this heritability into functional categories, and estimate the genetic correlation between different phenotypes. Because the method relies on summary level results data, LD score regression is computationally tractable even for very large sample sizes. However, publicly available GWAS summary-level data are typically stored in different databases and have different formats, making it difficult to apply LD score regression to estimate genetic correlations across many different traits simultaneously. Results: In this manuscript, we describe LD Hub - a centralized database of summary-level GWAS results for 173 diseases/traits from different publicly available resources/consortia and a web interface that automates the LD score regression analysis pipeline. To demonstrate functionality and validate our software, we replicated previously reported LD score regression analyses of 49 traits/diseases using LD Hub; and estimated SNP heritability and the genetic correlation across the different phenotypes. We also present new results obtained by uploading a recent atopic dermatitis GWAS meta-analysis to examine the genetic correlation between the condition and other potentially related traits. In response to the growing availability of publicly accessible GWAS summary-level results data, our database and the accompanying web interface will ensure maximal uptake of the LD score regression methodology, provide a useful database for the public dissemination of GWAS results, and provide a method for easily screening hundreds of traits for overlapping genetic aetiologies

Genetic risk for autism spectrum disorders and neuropsychiatric variation in the general population

Almost all genetic risk factors for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) can be found in the general population, but the effects of that risk are unclear in people not ascertained for neuropsychiatric symptoms. Using several large ASD consortia and population based resources, we find genetic links between ASDs and typical variation in social behavior and adaptive functioning. This finding is evidenced through both inherited and de novo variation, indicating that multiple types of genetic risk for ASDs influence a continuum of behavioral and developmental traits, the severe tail of which can result in an ASD or other neuropsychiatric disorder diagnosis. A continuum model should inform the design and interpretation of studies of neuropsychiatric disease biology

Analyzing The Impact Of The 2012 Ford Focus Target Hunt: Can Student Managed Projects Accomplish Both Academic And Corporate Objectives?

Student-managed business projects offer students the opportunity to garner valuable real world experience while businesses can fulfill corporate responsibilities utilizing relatively inexpensive manpower. This paper describes an event marketing/social media marketing project completed in conjunction with Jackson-Dawson Communications, representing the Ford Motor Company, and a Midwestern University chapter of the American Marketing Association. Through the successful implementation of the AIDA-IMC promotion model, a committed AMA Chapter, and a number of very cooperative business partnerships, a host of corporate and academic objectives were accomplished while participants gained valuable insight into event marketing principles

Measurement of CP-violation asymmetries in D0 to Ks pi+ pi-

We report a measurement of time-integrated CP-violation asymmetries in the resonant substructure of the three-body decay D0 to Ks pi+ pi- using CDF II data corresponding to 6.0 invfb of integrated luminosity from Tevatron ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV. The charm mesons used in this analysis come from D*+(2010) to D0 pi+ and D*-(2010) to D0bar pi-, where the production flavor of the charm meson is determined by the charge of the accompanying pion. We apply a Dalitz-amplitude analysis for the description of the dynamic decay structure and use two complementary approaches, namely a full Dalitz-plot fit employing the isobar model for the contributing resonances and a model-independent bin-by-bin comparison of the D0 and D0bar Dalitz plots. We find no CP-violation effects and measure an asymmetry of ACP = (-0.05 +- 0.57 (stat) +- 0.54 (syst))% for the overall integrated CP-violation asymmetry, consistent with the standard model prediction.Comment: 15 page

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

ASD and schizophrenia show distinct developmental profiles in common genetic overlap with population-based social communication difficulties

Difficulties in social communication are part of the phenotypic overlap between autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and schizophrenia. Both conditions follow, however, distinct developmental patterns. Symptoms of ASD typically occur during early childhood, whereas most symptoms characteristic of schizophrenia do not appear before early adulthood. We investigated whether overlap in common genetic in fluences between these clinical conditions and impairments in social communication depends on the developmental stage of the assessed trait. Social communication difficulties were measured in typically-developing youth (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children,N⩽5553, longitudinal assessments at 8, 11, 14 and 17 years) using the Social Communication Disorder Checklist. Data on clinical ASD (PGC-ASD: 5305 cases, 5305 pseudo-controls; iPSYCH-ASD: 7783 cases, 11 359 controls) and schizophrenia (PGC-SCZ2: 34 241 cases, 45 604 controls, 1235 trios) were either obtained through the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) or the Danish iPSYCH project. Overlap in genetic in fluences between ASD and social communication difficulties during development decreased with age, both in the PGC-ASD and the iPSYCH-ASD sample. Genetic overlap between schizophrenia and social communication difficulties, by contrast, persisted across age, as observed within two independent PGC-SCZ2 subsamples, and showed an increase in magnitude for traits assessed during later adolescence. ASD- and schizophrenia-related polygenic effects were unrelated to each other and changes in trait-disorder links reflect the heterogeneity of genetic factors in fluencing social communication difficulties during childhood versus later adolescence. Thus, both clinical ASD and schizophrenia share some genetic in fluences with impairments in social communication, but reveal distinct developmental profiles in their genetic links, consistent with the onset of clinical symptom