Fire victim identification by post-mortem dental CT: Radiologic evaluation of restorative materials after exposure to high temperatures

The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of high resolution CT to radiologically define teeth filling material properties in terms of Hounsfield units after high temperature exposure.

A randomized trial of effects of health risk appraisal combined with group sessions or home visits on preventive behaviors in older adults

Background. To explore effects of a health risk appraisal for older people (HRA-O) program with reinforcement, we conducted a randomized controlled trial in 21 general practices in Hamburg, Germany. Methods. Overall, 2,580 older patients of 14 general practitioners trained in reinforcing recommendations related to HRA-O-identified risk factors were randomized into intervention (n = 878) and control (n = 1,702) groups. Patients (n = 746) of seven additional matched general practitioners who did not receive this training served as a comparison group. Patients allocated to the intervention group, and their general practitioners, received computer-tailored written recommendations, and patients were offered the choice between interdisciplinary group sessions (geriatrician, physiotherapist, social worker, and nutritionist) and home visits (nurse). Results. Among the intervention group, 580 (66%) persons made use of personal reinforcement (group sessions: 503 [87%], home visits: 77 [13%]). At 1-year follow-up, persons in the intervention group had higher use of preventive services (eg, influenza vaccinations, adjusted odds ratio 1.7; 95% confidence interval 1.4–2.1) and more favorable health behavior (eg, high fruit/fiber intake, odds ratio 2.0; 95% confidence interval 1.6–2.6), as compared with controls. Comparisons between intervention and comparison group data revealed similar effects, suggesting that physician training alone had no effect. Subgroup analyses indicated favorable effects for HRA-O with personal reinforcement, but not for HRA-O without reinforcement. Conclusions. HRA-O combined with physician training and personal reinforcement had favorable effects on preventive care use and health behavior.

Hemizygous deletion of COL3A1, COL5A2, and MSTN causes a complex phenotype with aortic dissection: a lesson for and from true haploinsufficiency

Aortic dilatation/dissection (AD) can occur spontaneously or in association with genetic syndromes, such as Marfan syndrome (MFS; caused by FBN1 mutations), MFS type 2 and Loeys-Dietz syndrome (associated with TGFBR1/TGFBR2 mutations), and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) vascular type (caused by COL3A1 mutations). Although mutations in FBN1 and TGFBR1/TGFBR2 account for the majority of AD cases referred to us for molecular genetic testing, we have obtained negative results for these genes in a large cohort of AD patients, suggesting the involvement of additional genes or acquired factors. In this study we assessed the effect of COL3A1 deletions/duplications in this cohort. Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) analysis of 100 unrelated patients identified one hemizygous deletion of the entire COL3A1 gene. Subsequent microarray analyses and sequencing of breakpoints revealed the deletion size of 3,408,306 bp at 2q32.1q32.3. This deletion affects not only COL3A1 but also 21 other known genes (GULP1, DIRC1, COL5A2, WDR75, SLC40A1, ASNSD1, ANKAR, OSGEPL1, ORMDL1, LOC100129592, PMS1, MSTN, C2orf88, HIBCH, INPP1, MFSD6, TMEM194B, NAB1, GLS, STAT1, and STAT4), mutations in three of which (COL5A2, SLC40A1, and MSTN) have also been associated with an autosomal dominant disorder (EDS classical type, hemochromatosis type 4, and muscle hypertrophy). Physical and laboratory examinations revealed that true haploinsufficiency of COL3A1, COL5A2, and MSTN, but not that of SLC40A1, leads to a clinical phenotype. Our data not only emphasize the impact/role of COL3A1 in AD patients but also extend the molecular etiology of several disorders by providing hitherto unreported evidence for true haploinsufficiency of the underlying gene.

Sperm of colourful males are better protected against oxidative stress

Sperm cells are highly vulnerable to free radicals, and sperm quality and male fertility are critically affected by oxidative stress. Recently, sexual ornaments, particularly carotenoid-based colourful traits, have been proposed to depend on a male's capacity to resist oxidative stress, and thus to signal sperm quality. We conducted an experimental test of this hypothesis on great tits Parus major, in which adults are sexually dichromatic in carotenoid-based breast plumage. We report the first evidence that ornaments and sperm quality may be linked through oxidative stress. When experimentally subjected to oxidative stress resulting from increased workload, less colourful males suffered a greater reduction in sperm motility and swimming ability, and increased levels of sperm lipid peroxidation compared to more colourful males. Moreover, the level of sperm lipid peroxidation was negatively correlated with sperm quality. Finally, carotenoid supplementation increased sperm quality of less colourful males, suggesting that pale males are deficient in carotenoid antioxidants.

Circulation dynamics and its influence on European and Mediterranean January-April climate over the past half millennium: results and insights from instrumental data, documentary evidence and coupled climate models

We use long instrumental temperature series together with available field reconstructions of sea-level pressure (SLP) and three-dimensional climate model simulations to analyze relations between temperature anomalies and atmospheric circulation patterns over much of Europe and the Mediterranean for the late winter/early spring (January–April, JFMA) season. A Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) investigates interannual to interdecadal covariability between a new gridded SLP field reconstruction and seven long instrumental temperature series covering the past 250 years. We then present and discuss prominent atmospheric circulation patterns related to anomalous warm and cold JFMA conditions within different European areas spanning the period 1760–2007. Next, using a data assimilation technique, we link gridded SLP data with a climate model (EC-Bilt-Clio) for a better dynamical understanding of the relationship between large scale circulation and European climate. We thus present an alternative approach to reconstruct climate for the pre-instrumental period based on the assimilated model simulations. Furthermore, we present an independent method to extend the dynamic circulation analysis for anomalously cold European JFMA conditions back to the sixteenth century. To this end, we use documentary records that are spatially representative for the long instrumental records and derive, through modern analogs, large-scale SLP, surface temperature and precipitation fields. The skill of the analog method is tested in the virtual world of two three-dimensional climate simulations (ECHO-G and HadCM3). This endeavor offers new possibilities to both constrain climate model into a reconstruction mode (through the assimilation approach) and to better asses documentary data in a quantitative way.

Depletion of murine intestinal microbiota: effects on gut mucosa and epithelial gene expression

Background Inappropriate cross talk between mammals and their gut microbiota may trigger intestinal inflammation and drive extra-intestinal immune-mediated diseases. Epithelial cells constitute the interface between gut microbiota and host tissue, and may regulate host responses to commensal enteric bacteria. Gnotobiotic animals represent a powerful approach to study bacterial-host interaction but are not readily accessible to the wide scientific community. We aimed at refining a protocol that in a robust manner would deplete the cultivable intestinal microbiota of conventionally raised mice and that would prove to have significant biologic validity. Methodology/Principal Findings Previously published protocols for depleting mice of their intestinal microbiota by administering broad-spectrum antibiotics in drinking water were difficult to reproduce. We show that twice daily delivery of antibiotics by gavage depleted mice of their cultivable fecal microbiota and reduced the fecal bacterial DNA load by 400 fold while ensuring the animals' health. Mice subjected to the protocol for 17 days displayed enlarged ceca, reduced Peyer's patches and small spleens. Antibiotic treatment significantly reduced the expression of antimicrobial factors to a level similar to that of germ-free mice and altered the expression of 517 genes in total in the colonic epithelium. Genes involved in cell cycle were significantly altered concomitant with reduced epithelial proliferative activity in situ assessed by Ki-67 expression, suggesting that commensal microbiota drives cellular proliferation in colonic epithelium. Conclusion We present a robust protocol for depleting conventionally raised mice of their cultivatable intestinal microbiota with antibiotics by gavage and show that the biological effect of this depletion phenocopies physiological characteristics of germ-free mice.

Measurement of the W+ W- cross section in sqrt(s) = 7 TeV pp collisions with ATLAS

This Letter presents a measurement of the W+ W- production cross section in sqrt(s) = 7  TeV pp collisions by the ATLAS experiment, using 34  pb(-1) of integrated luminosity produced by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Selecting events with two isolated leptons, each either an electron or a muon, 8 candidate events are observed with an expected background of 1.7 ± 0.6 events. The measured cross section is 41(-16)(+20)(stat) ± 5(syst)±1(lumi)  pb, which is consistent with the standard model prediction of 44 ± 3  pb calculated at next-to-leading order in QCD.

Search for a heavy particle decaying into an electron and a muon with the ATLAS detector in sqrt[s] = 7 TeV pp collisions at the LHC

This Letter presents the first search for a heavy particle decaying into an e ± μ(-/+) final state in sqrt[s] = 7 TeV pp collisions at the LHC. The data were recorded by the ATLAS detector during 2010 and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 35 pb(-1). No excess above the standard model background expectation is observed. Exclusions at 95% confidence level are placed on two representative models. In an R-parity violating supersymmetric model, tau sneutrinos with a mass below 0.75 TeV are excluded, assuming all R-parity violating couplings are zero except λ(311)' = 0.11 and λ312 = 0.07. In a lepton flavor violating model, a Z'-like vector boson with masses of 0.70-1.00 TeV and corresponding cross sections times branching ratios of 0.175-0.183 pb is excluded. These results extend to higher mass R-parity violating sneutrinos and lepton flavor violating Z's than previous constraints from the Tevatron.

Measurement of dijet azimuthal decorrelations in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

Azimuthal decorrelations between the two central jets with the largest transverse momenta are sensitive to the dynamics of events with multiple jets. We present a measurement of the normalized differential cross section based on the full data set (∫Ldt=36  pb(-1)) acquired by the ATLAS detector during the 2010 sqrt(s)=7  TeV proton-proton run of the LHC. The measured distributions include jets with transverse momenta up to 1.3 TeV, probing perturbative QCD in a high-energy regime.