Diverse set of Turing nanopatterns coat corneae across insect lineages.

Nipple-like nanostructures covering the corneal surfaces of moths, butterflies, and Drosophila have been studied by electron and atomic force microscopy, and their antireflective properties have been described. In contrast, corneal nanostructures of the majority of other insect orders have either been unexamined or examined by methods that did not allow precise morphological characterization. Here we provide a comprehensive analysis of corneal surfaces in 23 insect orders, revealing a rich diversity of insect corneal nanocoatings. These nanocoatings are categorized into four major morphological patterns and various transitions between them, many, to our knowledge, never described before. Remarkably, this unexpectedly diverse range of the corneal nanostructures replicates the complete set of Turing patterns, thus likely being a result of processes similar to those modeled by Alan Turing in his famous reaction-diffusion system. These findings reveal a beautiful diversity of insect corneal nanostructures and shed light on their molecular origin and evolutionary diversification. They may also be the first-ever biological example of Turing nanopatterns.

9C.09: TREATMENT WITH CANDESARTAN UNMASKS HIGHER URINARY NOREPINEPHRINE EXCRETION IN WHITE COAT HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS COMPARED TO HEALTHY NORMOTENSIVE PARTICIPANTS.

OBJECTIVE: White coat hypertensive is a pre-hypertensive state that has been associated with increased sympathetic drive. The objective of the study was to compare the exposure of the kidney to sympathetic nerve activity using urinary normetanephrine (UNMN) as a marker of renal sympathetic exposure in white coat hypertensive (WCH) and healthy normotensive (HN) participants. DESIGN AND METHOD: This was a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled crossover study. WCH were included if office blood pressure was >140/80 mmHg and ambulatory blood pressure <135/85 mmHg and HN if OBP was <140/90 mmHg and ABP <135/85 mmHg Participants were randomized to receive either 16 mg of candesartan or a matched placebo for one week before study day. On the study day systemic and renal hemodynamics as well as plasma norepinephrine and urinary excretion of normetanephrine (measured by LC/MS-MS were measured after one hour of baseline, one hour of lower body negative pressure and one hour of recovery period. Excretion of UNMN was expressed as the total of UNMN excreted during these three hours (cumUNMN). Paired or unpaired t-test were used for comparison. RESULTS: 25 HN and 12 WCH participants were included in the study. Mean age (±standard deviation), BMI were respectively 31.0±10.5 years and 22.0 ± 2.2 Kg/m2 in HN and 40.7±17.8 years and 26.7 ± 6.3 Kg/m2 in WCH.Table 1 Baseline mean blood pressure, plasma noradrenaline and cumulated UNMN during placebo and candesartan(Figure is included in full-text article.)Mean blood pressure was higher during placebo and candesartan in WCH compared to HN. Cumulated UNMN was higher in both groups after candesartan treatment. Cumulated UNMN was higher in WCH than in HN only after candesartan treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Urinary excretion of normetanephrine is increased in WCH compared to HN when treated with candesartan. The increased excretion of uNMN when the renin angiotensin system is blocked might reflect an increased sensitivity of WCH to stress conditions such as orthostatic stress.

Personality traits and psychopathology predict burnout symptoms after two years in a sample of Catalan police officers

The operational aspects of psychological assessment are well documented (e.g. Murphy and Davidshofer, 1994). Essentially, the process involves the administration of one or more valid psychological tests in order to assess a person’s suitability to a task or situation. The resulting data and report are then used by police psychologists to assist in determining the suitability of the applicant for police duties. In Catalunya, this task is carried out during basic training for police career agent in the evaluation of psychological conditions for the use of the weapon. Police work can be one of the most stressful jobs, and it frequently leads to the development of burnout syndrome. In their day-to-day tasks, police officers are constantly subjected to various stressors (de la Fuente, Aguayo, Vargas and Cañadas, 2013). The most widely accepted definition of the burnout syndrome is one that describes it as a response to chronic work stress made up of three components: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and low personal accomplishment (Maslach & Jackson, 1981). Some studies showed that personality characteristics, and positive and negative affectivity explained significant variance in each of the burnout dimensions (Alarcon, Eschleman and Bowling, 2009).

Meta-analysis of correlated traits via summary statistics from GWASs with an application in hypertension

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified many genetic variants underlying complex traits. Many detected genetic loci harbor variants that associate with multiple-even distinct-traits. Most current analysis approaches focus on single traits, even though the final results from multiple traits are evaluated together. Such approaches miss the opportunity to systemically integrate the phenome-wide data available for genetic association analysis. In this study, we propose a general approach that can integrate association evidence from summary statistics of multiple traits, either correlated, independent, continuous, or binary traits, which might come from the same or different studies. We allow for trait heterogeneity effects. Population structure and cryptic relatedness can also be controlled. Our simulations suggest that the proposed method has improved statistical power over single-trait analysis in most of the cases we studied. We applied our method to the Continental Origins and Genetic Epidemiology Network (COGENT) African ancestry samples for three blood pressure traits and identified four loci (CHIC2, HOXA-EVX1, IGFBP1/IGFBP3, and CDH17; p < 5.0 × 10(-8)) associated with hypertension-related traits that were missed by a single-trait analysis in the original report. Six additional loci with suggestive association evidence (p < 5.0 × 10(-7)) were also observed, including CACNA1D and WNT3. Our study strongly suggests that analyzing multiple phenotypes can improve statistical power and that such analysis can be executed with the summary statistics from GWASs. Our method also provides a way to study a cross phenotype (CP) association by using summary statistics from GWASs of multiple phenotypes.

Decoupled evolution of floral traits and climatic preferences in a clade of Neotropical Gesneriaceae.

BACKGROUND: Major factors influencing the phenotypic diversity of a lineage can be recognized by characterizing the extent and mode of trait evolution between related species. Here, we compared the evolutionary dynamics of traits associated with floral morphology and climatic preferences in a clade composed of the genera Codonanthopsis, Codonanthe and Nematanthus (Gesneriaceae). To test the mode and specific components that lead to phenotypic diversity in this group, we performed a Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of combined nuclear and plastid DNA sequences and modeled the evolution of quantitative traits related to flower shape and size and to climatic preferences. We propose an alternative approach to display graphically the complex dynamics of trait evolution along a phylogenetic tree using a wide range of evolutionary scenarios. RESULTS: Our results demonstrated heterogeneous trait evolution. Floral shapes displaced into separate regimes selected by the different pollinator types (hummingbirds versus insects), while floral size underwent a clade-specific evolution. Rates of evolution were higher for the clade that is hummingbird pollinated and experienced flower resupination, compared with species pollinated by bees, suggesting a relevant role of plant-pollinator interactions in lowland rainforest. The evolution of temperature preferences is best explained by a model with distinct selective regimes between the Brazilian Atlantic Forest and the other biomes, whereas differentiation along the precipitation axis was characterized by higher rates, compared with temperature, and no regime or clade-specific patterns. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows different selective regimes and clade-specific patterns in the evolution of morphological and climatic components during the diversification of Neotropical species. Our new graphical visualization tool allows the representation of trait trajectories under parameter-rich models, thus contributing to a better understanding of complex evolutionary dynamics.