Review: R. Bellamy, D. Castiglione and J. Shaw (eds.), Making European Citizens (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006)

Review of edited collection.

Plasma HDL cholesterol and risk of myocardial infarction: A mendelian randomisation study

Background: High plasma HDL cholesterol is associated with reduced risk of myocardial infarction, but whether this association is causal is unclear. Exploiting the fact that genotypes are randomly assigned at meiosis, are independent of non-genetic confounding, and are unmodified by disease processes, mendelian random isation can be used to test the hypothesis that the association of a plasma biomarker with disease is causal. r/>Methods: We performed two mendelian randomisation analyses. First, we used as an instrument a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the endothelial lipase gene (LIPG Asn396Ser) and tested this SNP in 20 studies (20 913 myocardial infarction cases, 95 407 controls). Second, we used as an instrument a genetic score consisting of 14 common SNPs that exclusively associate with HDL cholesterol and tested this score in up to 12 482 cases of myocardial infarction and 41 331 controls. As a positive control, we also tested a genetic score of 13 common SNPs exclusively associated with LDL cholesterol. r/>Findings: Carriers of the LIPG 396Ser allele (2·6% frequency) had higher HDL cholesterol (0·14 mmol/L higher p=8×10-13) but similar levels of other lipid and non-lipid risk factors for myocardial infarction compared with noncarriers. This difference in HDL cholesterol is expected to decrease risk of myocardial infarction by 13% (odds ratio [OR] 0·87, 95% CI 0·84-0·91). However, we noted that the 396Ser allele was not associated with risk of myocardial infarction (OR 0·99, 95% CI 0·88-1·11, p=0·85). From observational epidemiology, an increase of 1 SD in HDL cholesterol was associated with reduced risk of myocardial infarction (OR 0·62, 95% CI 0·58-0·66). However, a 1 SD increase in HDL cholesterol due to genetic score was not associated with risk of myocardial infarction (OR 0·93 95% CI 0·68-1·26, p=0·63). For LDL cholesterol, the estimate from observational epidemiology (a 1 SD increase in LDL cholesterol associated with OR 1·54, 95% CI 1·45-1·63) was concordant with that from genetic score (OR 2·13 95% CI 1·69-2·69, p=2×10 -10). r/>Interpretation: Some genetic mechanisms that raise plasma HDL cholesterol do not seem to lower risk of myocardial infarction. These data challenge the concept that raising of plasma HDL cholesterol will uniformly translate into reductions in risk of myocardial infarction.

The Biomuse Trio in Conversation

The Biomuse Trio (R. Benjamin Knapp, Eric Lyon, Gascia Ouzounian) was formed in 2008 to perform computer chamber music integrating performance, laptop processing of sound and the transduction of bio-signals for the control of musical gesture. The work of the ensemble encompasses hardware design, audio signal processing, bio-signal processing, composition, improvisation and gesture choreography. The Biomuse Trio has performed and lectured across North America and Europe, including at BEAM Festival, CHI, Diapason Gallery, Green Man Festival, Issue Project Room, NIME, Science Gallery Dublin, STEIM and TheatreLab NYC.

Hypercyclic tuples of operators on $C^n$ and $R^n$

A tuple $(T_1,\dots,T_n)$ of continuous linear operators on a topological vector space $X$ is called hypercyclic if there is $x\in X$ such that the the orbit of $x$ under the action of the semigroup generated by $T_1,\dots,T_n$ is dense in $X$. This concept was introduced by N.~Feldman, who have raised 7 questions on hypercyclic tuples. We answer those 4 of them, which can be dealt with on the level of operators on finite dimensional spaces. Inr/>particular, we prove that the minimal cardinality of a hypercyclic tuple of operators on $\C^n$ (respectively, on $\R^n$) is $n+1$ (respectively, $\frac n2+\frac{5+(-1)^n}{4}$), that there are non-diagonalizable tuples of operators on $\R^2$ which possess an orbit being neither dense nor nowhere dense and construct a hypercyclic 6-tuple of operators on $\C^3$ such that every operator commuting with each member of the tuple is non-cyclic.

Potential hazard to human health from exposure to fragments of lead bullets and shot in the tissues of game animals

Lead is highly toxic to animals. Humans eating game killed using lead ammunition generally avoid swallowing shot or bullets and dietary lead exposure from this source has been considered low. Recent evidence illustrates that lead bullets fragment on impact, leaving small lead particles widely distributed in game tissues. Our paper asks whether lead gunshot pellets also fragment upon impact, and whether lead derived from spent gunshot and bullets in the tissues of game animals could pose a threat to human health.

Atomic harmonic generation in time-dependent R-matrix theory

We have developed the capability to determine accurate harmonic spectra for multielectron atoms within time-dependent R-matrix (TDRM) theory. Harmonic spectra can be calculated using the expectation value of the dipole length, velocity, or acceleration operator. We assess the calculation of the harmonic spectrum from He irradiated by 390-nm laser light with intensities up to 4 x 10(14) W cm(-2) using each form, including the influence of the multielectron basis used in the TDRM code. The spectra are consistent between the different forms, although the dipole acceleration calculation breaks down at lower harmonics. The results obtained from TDRM theory are compared with results from the HELIUM code, finding good quantitative agreement between the methods. We find that bases which include pseudostates give the best comparison with the HELIUM code, but models comprising only physical orbitals also produce accurate results.