Early-stage [123I]beta-CIT SPECT and long-term clinical follow-up in patients with an initial diagnosis of Parkinson's disease

beta-CIT binding in both caudate nuclei was lower than in the group of patients with IPD. In addition, putamen to caudate binding ratios were higher in the group of APS patients. In spite of these differences, individual binding values showed considerable overlap between the groups. CONCLUSION: [(123)I]beta-CIT SPECT scanning in early-stage, untreated parkinsonian patients revealed a relative sparing of the caudate nucleus in patients with IPD as compared to patients later (re)diagnosed with APS. Nevertheless, the pattern of striatal involvement appears to have little predictive value for a later re-diagnosis of APS in individual case

Incorporating pleiotropic quantitative trait loci in dissection of complex traits: seed yield in rapeseed as an example

© The Author(s) 2017 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, duplication, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.Most agronomic traits of interest for crop improvement (including seed yield) are highly complex quantitative traits controlled by numerous genetic loci, which brings challenges for comprehensively capturing associated markers/ genes. We propose that multiple trait interactions underlie complex traits such as seed yield, and that considering these component traits and their interactions can dissect individual quantitative trait loci (QTL) effects more effectively and improve yield predictions. Using a segregating rapeseed (Brassica napus) population, we analyzed a large set of trait data generated in 19 independent experiments to investigate correlations between seed yield and other complex traits, and further identified QTL in this population with a SNP-based genetic bin map. A total of 1904 consensus QTL accounting for 22 traits, including 80 QTL directly affecting seed yield, were anchored to the B. napus reference sequence. Through trait association analysis and QTL meta-analysis, we identified a total of 525 indivisible QTL that either directly or indirectly contributed to seed yield, of which 295 QTL were detected across multiple environments. A majority (81.5%) of the 525 QTL were pleiotropic. By considering associations between traits, we identified 25 yield-related QTL previously ignored due to contrasting genetic effects, as well as 31 QTL with minor complementary effects. Implementation of the 525 QTL in genomic prediction models improved seed yield prediction accuracy. Dissecting the genetic and phenotypic interrelationships underlying complex quantitative traits using this method will provide valuable insights for genomics-based crop improvement.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Evaluation of the HadGEM3-A simulations in view of detection and attribution of human influence on extreme events in Europe

A detailed analysis is carried out to assess the HadGEM3-A global atmospheric model skill in simulating extreme temperatures, precipitation and storm surges in Europe in the view of their attribution to human influence. The analysis is performed based on an ensemble of 15 atmospheric simulations forced with observed Sea Surface Temperature of the 54 year period 1960-2013. These simulations, together with dual simulations without human influence in the forcing, are intended to be used in weather and climate event attribution. The analysis investigates the main processes leading to extreme events, including atmospheric circulation patterns, their links with temperature extremes, land-atmosphere and troposphere-stratosphere interactions. It also compares observed and simulated variability, trends and generalized extreme value theory parameters for temperature and precipitation. One of the most striking findings is the ability of the model to capture North Atlantic atmospheric weather regimes as obtained from a cluster analysis of sea level pressure fields. The model also reproduces the main observed weather patterns responsible for temperature and precipitation extreme events. However, biases are found in many physical processes. Slightly excessive drying may be the cause of an overestimated summer interannual variability and too intense heat waves, especially in central/northern Europe. However, this does not seem to hinder proper simulation of summer temperature trends. Cold extremes appear well simulated, as well as the underlying blocking frequency and stratosphere-troposphere interactions. Extreme precipitation amounts are overestimated and too variable. The atmospheric conditions leading to storm surges were also examined in the Baltics region. There, simulated weather conditions appear not to be leading to strong enough storm surges, but winds were found in very good agreement with reanalyses. The performance in reproducing atmospheric weather patterns indicates that biases mainly originate from local and regional physical processes. This makes local bias adjustment meaningful for climate change attribution

Investigating aspects of paternalistic leadership within the job demands–resources model

The literature on the job demands–resources (JD-R) theory has flourished for the past decade due to the theory's simplicity and its applications in many areas of work life. However, the literature is lacking on how leaders can utilize this theory to manage employees, especially in the Asian leadership context. Using the JD-R theory, the current study investigated each aspect of paternalistic leadership (i.e., benevolent leadership, authoritarian leadership and moral leadership) and its influence on employees' job resources (i.e., work meaningfulness and influence at work), job demands (i.e., emotional and cognitive demands), work engagement, burnout and the processes involved. Four hundred and thirty-one (431) full-time working employees (mean age: 31.58; female: 57.8%) from various organizations in Malaysia participated in the study. Using structural equation modelling, the study's results showed that the benevolent aspect of paternalistic leadership was related to higher work engagement and lower burnout through work meaningfulness (but not through influence at work). In contrast, the authoritarian aspect of paternalistic leadership was related to higher burnout through emotional demands (but not through cognitive demands), while the moral leadership aspect had no significant relationship to employees' job demands or job resources, with a mediation process not found in either relationship. Overall, the study revealed three contrasting mechanisms for each aspect of paternalistic leadership and suggested how paternalistic leadership may be practised in Asian countries.fals

A historical overview of the classification, evolution, and dispersion of Leishmania parasites and sandflies

Background The aim of this study is to describe the major evolutionary historical events among Leishmania, sandflies, and the associated animal reservoirs in detail, in accordance with the geographical evolution of the Earth, which has not been previously discussed on a large scale. Methodology and Principal Findings Leishmania and sandfly classification has always been a controversial matter, and the increasing number of species currently described further complicates this issue. Despite several hypotheses on the origin, evolution, and distribution of Leishmania and sandflies in the Old and New World, no consistent agreement exists regarding dissemination of the actors that play roles in leishmaniasis. For this purpose, we present here three centuries of research on sandflies and Leishmania descriptions, as well as a complete description of Leishmania and sandfly fossils and the emergence date of each Leishmania and sandfly group during different geographical periods, from 550 million years ago until now. We discuss critically the different approaches that were used for Leishmana and sandfly classification and their synonymies, proposing an updated classification for each species of Leishmania and sandfly. We update information on the current distribution and dispersion of different species of Leishmania (53), sandflies (more than 800 at genus or subgenus level), and animal reservoirs in each of the following geographical ecozones: Palearctic, Nearctic, Neotropic, Afrotropical, Oriental, Malagasy, and Australian. We propose an updated list of the potential and proven sandfly vectors for each Leishmania species in the Old and New World. Finally, we address a classical question about digenetic Leishmania evolution: which was the first host, a vertebrate or an invertebrate? Conclusions and Significance We propose an updated view of events that have played important roles in the geographical dispersion of sandflies, in relation to both the Leishmania species they transmit and the animal reservoirs of the parasites

Deletion of individual Ku subunits in mice causes an NHEJ-independent phenotype potentially by altering apurinic/apyrimidinic site repair

Ku70 and Ku80 form a heterodimer called Ku that forms a holoenzyme with DNA dependent-protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKCS) to repair DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) through the nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) pathway. As expected mutating these genes in mice caused a similar DSB repair-defective phenotype. However, ku70-/- cells and ku80 -/- cells also appeared to have a defect in base excision repair (BER). BER corrects base lesions, apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) sites and single stand breaks (SSBs) utilizing a variety of proteins including glycosylases, AP endonuclease 1 (APE1) and DNA Polymerase β (Pol β). In addition, deleting Ku70 was not equivalent to deleting Ku80 in cells and mice. Therefore, we hypothesized that free Ku70 (not bound to Ku80) and/or free Ku80 (not bound to Ku70) possessed activity that influenced BER. To further test this hypothesis we performed two general sets of experiments. The first set showed that deleting either Ku70 or Ku80 caused an NHEJ-independent defect. We found ku80-/- mice had a shorter life span than dna-pkcs-/- mice demonstrating a phenotype that was greater than deleting the holoenzyme. We also found Ku70-deletion induced a p53 response that reduced the level of small mutations in the brain suggesting defective BER. We further confirmed that Ku80-deletion impaired BER via a mechanism that was not epistatic to Pol β. The second set of experiments showed that free Ku70 and free Ku80 could influence BER. We observed that deletion of either Ku70 or Ku80, but not both, increased sensitivity of cells to CRT0044876 (CRT), an agent that interferes with APE1. In addition, free Ku70 and free Ku80 bound to AP sites and in the case of Ku70 inhibited APE1 activity. These observations support a novel role for free Ku70 and free Ku80 in altering BER. © 2014 Choi et al

Stochastic Blockmodeling for the Analysis of Big Data

The aim of this paper is to consider the stochastic blockmodel to obtain clusters of units as regards patterns of similar relations; moreover we want to analyze the relations between clusters. Blockmodeling is a technique usually applied in social network analysis focusing on the relations between \u201cactors\u201d i.e. units. In our time people and devices constantly generate data. The network is generating location and other data that keeps services running and ready to use in every moment. This rapid development in the availability and access to data has induced the need for better analysis techniques to understand the various phenomena. Blockmodeling techniques and Clustering algorithms, can be used for this aim. In this paper application regards the Web

Morphology and photoluminescence study of titania nanoparticles

Titania nanoparticles are prepared by sol–gel chemistry with a poly(ethylene oxide) methyl ether methacrylate-block-poly(dimethylsiloxane)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) methyl ether methacrylate triblock copolymer acting as the templating agent. The sol–gel components—hydrochloric acid, titanium tetraisopropoxide, and triblock copolymer—are varied to investigate their effect on the resulting titania morphology. An increased titania precursor or polymer content yields smaller primary titania structures. Microbeam grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering measurements, which are analyzed with a unified fit model, reveal information about the titania structure sizes. These small structures could not be observed via the used microscopy techniques. The interplay among the sol–gel components via our triblock copolymer results in different sized titania nanoparticles with higher packing densities. Smaller sized titania particles, (∼13–20 nm in diameter) in the range of exciton diffusion length, are formed by 2% by weight polymer and show good crystallinity with less surface defects and high oxygen vacancies

Integration of Two Diploid Potato Linkage Maps with the Potato Genome Sequence

To facilitate genome-guided breeding in potato, we developed an 8303 Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) marker array using potato genome and transcriptome resources. To validate the Infinium 8303 Potato Array, we developed linkage maps from two diploid populations (DRH and D84) and compared these maps with the assembled potato genome sequence. Both populations used the doubled monoploid reference genotype DM1-3 516 R44 as the female parent but had different heterozygous diploid male parents (RH89-039-16 and 84SD22). Over 4,400 markers were mapped (1,960 in DRH and 2,454 in D84, 787 in common) resulting in map sizes of 965 (DRH) and 792 (D84) cM, covering 87% (DRH) and 88% (D84) of genome sequence length. Of the mapped markers, 33.5% were in candidate genes selected for the array, 4.5% were markers from existing genetic maps, and 61% were selected based on distribution across the genome. Markers with distorted segregation ratios occurred in blocks in both linkage maps, accounting for 4% (DRH) and 9% (D84) of mapped markers. Markers with distorted segregation ratios were unique to each population with blocks on chromosomes 9 and 12 in DRH and 3, 4, 6 and 8 in D84. Chromosome assignment of markers based on linkage mapping differed from sequence alignment with the Potato Genome Sequencing Consortium (PGSC) pseudomolecules for 1% of the mapped markers with some disconcordant markers attributable to paralogs. In total, 126 (DRH) and 226 (D84) mapped markers were not anchored to the pseudomolecules and provide new scaffold anchoring data to improve the potato genome assembly. The high degree of concordance between the linkage maps and the pseudomolecules demonstrates both the quality of the potato genome sequence and the functionality of the Infinium 8303 Potato Array. The broad genome coverage of the Infinium 8303 Potato Array compared to other marker sets will enable numerous downstream applications