Epigenetic marks as the link between environment and development: examination of the associations between attachment, socioeconomic status, and methylation of the SLC6A4 gene.

BackgroundEpigenetic processes act as a link between environment and individual development. This pilot study examined the association between socioeconomic status (SES), attachment, and methylation of the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4).MethodsAttachment classification and SLC6A4 methylation was determined in 100 late adolescents. We hypothesized that (1) SES would interact with methylation to predict higher unresolved loss (UL) or trauma scores on the Adult Attachment Interview; (2) across SES, participants with unresolved attachment would have lower levels of methylation than organized or secure participants; and (3) within the unresolved classification, SES would predict methylation.ResultsResults showed that lower methylation and low-SES were associated with higher UL, and higher methylation and low-SES were associated with higher unresolved trauma. Across SES, unresolved participants had lower levels of methylation than organized participants. Within the unresolved category, low-SES unresolved participants had higher levels of methylation than mid/upper-SES participants. SES was unrelated to methylation within the secure and organized categories.ConclusionsThese results suggest that the quality of attachment relationships may impact epigenetic processes

The Future of Time: UTC and the Leap Second

Before atomic timekeeping, clocks were set to the skies. But starting in 1972, radio signals began broadcasting atomic seconds and leap seconds have occasionally been added to that stream of atomic seconds to keep the signals synchronized with the actual rotation of Earth. Such adjustments were considered necessary because Earth's rotation is less regular than atomic timekeeping. In January 2012, a United Nations-affiliated organization could permanently break this link by redefining Coordinated Universal Time. To understand the importance of this potential change, it's important to understand the history of human timekeeping

The Advantage of Under Armour for Winter Sports Performance

Under Armour produces apparel designed for winter sports athletes. This apparel aims to keep athletes comfortable by retaining body heat and removing moisture due to perspiration. Special wicking properties are claimed to enable the material to remove moisture quickly and provide insulation. This study will propose a mechanism by which the Under Armour clothing material achieves these effects. We will model moisture transfer and heat transfer through the cloth, considering skin surface temperature and moisture content as measures of comfort. Additionally, we will compare the effects of Under Armour to cotton clothing which has different material properties, considering diffusivity, conductivity, partition coefficient, and porosity. The goal of this study is to use our proposed model to show the advantages of Under Armour for winter sports performance

Creating and Sustaining Effective Partnership Between Government and Industry

Proceedings Paper (for Acquisition Research Program)U.S. history is replete with enterprises that succeeded due to effective partnerships. Today, the nation''s most complex partnership is the joint pursuit of the world''s best combat capabilities by the U.S. Department of Defense and the defense industry. These two complex enterprises, on behalf of the nation and its allies, are actively developing, producing, fielding, and sustaining combat systems for joint warfighters that are second to none. Does this shared interaction form an effective partnership? In this article, the authors analyze private industry''s perception of the challenges/opportunities that exist in the shared relationships with their government counterparts. Their findings pinpoint five focus areas, with corresponding actions, which can improve the partnership between government and the defense industry.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.Acquisition Research Progra

TobEA: an atlas of tobacco gene expression from seed to senescence.

BACKGROUND: Transcriptomics has resulted in the development of large data sets and tools for the progression of functional genomics and systems biology in many model organisms. Currently there is no commercially available microarray to allow such expression studies in Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco). RESULTS: A custom designed Affymetrix tobacco expression microarray was generated from a set of over 40k unigenes and used to measure gene expression in 19 different tobacco samples to produce the Tobacco Expression Atlas (TobEA). TobEA provides a snap shot of the transcriptional activity for thousands of tobacco genes in different tissues throughout the lifecycle of the plant and enables the identification of the biological processes occurring in these different tissues. 772 of 2513 transcription factors previously identified in tobacco were mapped to the array, with 87% of them being expressed in at least one tissue in the atlas. Putative transcriptional networks were identified based on the co-expression of these transcription factors. Several interactions in a floral identity transcription factor network were consistent with previous results from other plant species. To broaden access and maximise the benefit of TobEA a set of tools were developed to provide researchers with expression information on their genes of interest via the Solanaceae Genomics Network (SGN) web site. The array has also been made available for public use via the Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre microarray service. CONCLUSIONS: The generation of a tobacco expression microarray is an important development for research in this model plant. The data provided by TobEA represents a valuable resource for plant functional genomics and systems biology research and can be used to identify gene targets for both fundamental and applied scientific applications in tobacco

Universal light quark mass dependence and heavy-light meson spectroscopy

Clean predictions are presented for all the spin-averaged heavy-light meson spectroscopies. A new symmetry is identified wherein the energy eigenstates have a universal dependence on both the light and heavy quark masses. This universality is used in an efficient analysis of these mesons within the QCD string/flux tube picture. Unique predictions for all the D, D_s, B, and B_s type mesons in terms of just four measured quantities.Comment: REVTeX4, 6 pages, 9 eps figure

Defining molecular initiating events in the adverse outcome pathway framework for risk assessment.

Consumer and environmental safety decisions are based on exposure and hazard data, interpreted using risk assessment approaches. The adverse outcome pathway (AOP) conceptual framework has been presented as a logical sequence of events or processes within biological systems which can be used to understand adverse effects and refine current risk assessment practices in ecotoxicology. This framework can also be applied to human toxicology and is explored on the basis of investigating the molecular initiating events (MIEs) of compounds. The precise definition of the MIE has yet to reach general acceptance. In this work we present a unified MIE definition: an MIE is the initial interaction between a molecule and a biomolecule or biosystem that can be causally linked to an outcome via a pathway. Case studies are presented, and issues with current definitions are addressed. With the development of a unified MIE definition, the field can look toward defining, classifying, and characterizing more MIEs and using knowledge of the chemistry of these processes to aid AOP research and toxicity risk assessment. We also present the role of MIE research in the development of in vitro and in silico toxicology and suggest how, by using a combination of biological and chemical approaches, MIEs can be identified and characterized despite a lack of detailed reports, even for some of the most studied molecules in toxicology.The authors acknowledge the financial support of Unilever.This is the accepted manuscript. The final published version is available from ACS at http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/tx500345

Creep Deformation by Dislocation Movement in Waspaloy

Creep tests of the polycrystalline nickel alloy Waspaloy have been conducted at Swansea University, for varying stress conditions at 700 ◦C. Investigation through use of Transmission Electron Microscopy at Cambridge University has examined the dislocation networks formed under these conditions, with particular attention paid to comparing tests performed above and below the yield stress. This paper highlights how the dislocation structures vary throughout creep and proposes a dislocation mechanism theory for creep in Waspaloy. Activation energies are calculated through approaches developed in the use of the recently formulated Wilshire Equations, and are found to differ above and below the yield stress. Low activation energies are found to be related to dislocation interaction with γ 0 precipitates below the yield stress. However, significantly increased dislocation densities at stresses above yield cause an increase in the activation energy values as forest hardening becomes the primary mechanism controlling dislocation movement. It is proposed that the activation energy change is related to the stress increment provided by work hardening, as can be observed from Ti, Ni and steel results

Detection methods for non-Gaussian gravitational wave stochastic backgrounds

We address the issue of finding an optimal detection method for a discontinuous or intermittent gravitational wave stochastic background. Such a signal might sound something like popcorn popping. We derive an appropriate version of the maximum likelihood detection statistic, and compare its performance to that of the standard cross-correlation statistic both analytically and with Monte Carlo simulations. The maximum likelihood statistic performs better than the cross-correlation statistic when the background is sufficiently non-Gaussian. For both ground and space based detectors, this results in a gain factor, ranging roughly from 1 to 3, in the minimum gravitational-wave energy density necessary for detection, depending on the duty cycle of the background. Our analysis is exploratory, as we assume that the time structure of the events cannot be resolved, and we assume white, Gaussian noise in two collocated, aligned detectors. Before this detection method can be used in practice with real detector data, further work is required to generalize our analysis to accommodate separated, misaligned detectors with realistic, colored, non-Gaussian noise.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, submitted to physical review D, added revisions in response to reviewers comment