Common variants in mendelian kidney disease genes and their association with renal function.

Many common genetic variants identified by genome-wide association studies for complex traits map to genes previously linked to rare inherited Mendelian disorders. A systematic analysis of common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes responsible for Mendelian diseases with kidney phenotypes has not been performed. We thus developed a comprehensive database of genes for Mendelian kidney conditions and evaluated the association between common genetic variants within these genes and kidney function in the general population. Using the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man database, we identified 731 unique disease entries related to specific renal search terms and confirmed a kidney phenotype in 218 of these entries, corresponding to mutations in 258 genes. We interrogated common SNPs (minor allele frequency >5%) within these genes for association with the estimated GFR in 74,354 European-ancestry participants from the CKDGen Consortium. However, the top four candidate SNPs (rs6433115 at LRP2, rs1050700 at TSC1, rs249942 at PALB2, and rs9827843 at ROBO2) did not achieve significance in a stage 2 meta-analysis performed in 56,246 additional independent individuals, indicating that these common SNPs are not associated with estimated GFR. The effect of less common or rare variants in these genes on kidney function in the general population and disease-specific cohorts requires further research.

Habitat selection in zones of parapatric contact between the Common shrew Sorex araneus and Millet's shrew S. coronatus

(1) The common shrew Sorex araneus and Millet's shrew S. coronatus are sibling species.They are morphologically and genetically very similar but do not hybridize. Their parapatric distribution throughout south-western Europe, with a few narrow zones of distributional overlap, suggests that they are in competitive parapatry. (2) Two of these contact zones were studied; there was evidence of coexistence over periods of 2 years as well as habitat segregation. In both zones, the species segregated on litter thickness and humidity variables. (3) A simple analysis of spatial distribution showed that habitats visible in the field corresponded to the habitats selected by the species. Habitat selection was found throughout the annual life-cycle of the shrews. (4) In one contact zone, a removal experiment was performed to test whether habitat segregation is induced by interspecific interactions. The experiment showed that the species select habitats differentially when both are present and abandon habitat selection when their competitor is removed. (5) These results confirm the role of resource partitioning in promoting narrow rangesof distributional overlap between such parapatric species and qualitatively support the prediction of habitat selection theory that, in a two-species system, coexistence may be achieved by differential habitat selection to avoid competition. The results also support the view that the common shrew and Millet's shrew are in competitive parapatry.

Water infiltration in an ultisol after cultivation of common bean

Water infiltration in the soil is an important hydrological process that occurs at the interface of the soil-atmosphere system; thus, the soil management practice used has a strong influence on this process. The aim of this study was to evaluate water infiltration in the soil and compare equations for estimating the water infiltration rate in an Ultisol after harvesting common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) under simulated rainfall. Field tests with a rainfall simulator were carried out in three soil management systems: minimum tillage (MT), conventional tillage (CT), and no tillage (NT). In NT, four levels of plant residue on the soil surface were evaluated: 0, 3, 6, and 9 t ha-1. The models of Kostiakov-Lewis, Horton, and Philip were used to estimate the infiltration rate. In the MT system, the final infiltration rate was 54 mm h-1, whereas in the CT and NT systems with up to 3 t ha-1 of plant residue on the soil surface, the rate was near 17 mm h-1. In addition, the results indicated that in the NT system the infiltration rate increased with plant residue coverage greater than 6 t ha-1, i.e., there was a positive correlation between plant cover and the water infiltration rate. The Horton model was the most suitable in representing the water infiltration process in the soil. Therefore, this model can be recommended for estimation of this variable regardless of the soil tillage system used.

Oui à la chasse au dopage pour la santé des athlètes et du sport [Sports and athletes deserve doping runting].

Cet article se veut une revue des effets ergogéniques et potentiellement délétères des principaux compléments alimentaires consommés par les sportifs populaires ou d'élite. De nombreux produits sont proposés sur le marché avec des allégations prometteuses, le plus souvent sans preuve scientifique sur leur validité ou leur innocuité. Les antioxydants n'augmentent ni la force ni l'endurance. La créatine améliore la capacité de récupération pour les exercices en intervalle anaérobie mais pas en course à pied ni en natation. L'hormone de croissance et les stéroïdes anabolisants augmentent la synthèse protéique et la masse maigre mais comportent des effets secondaires graves et souvent irréversibles. Les médecins, les diététiciens et les fédérations sportives ont un rôle important à jouer dans l'information et la prévention, afin d'éviter des attitudes néfastes pour la santé, pouvant même créer des addictions. This article reviews the evidence-based ergogenic potential adverse effects of the most common products in use by recreational and elite athletes today. This is an aggressively marketed and controversial area of sports medicine wordwide. It is therefore important for the scientific societies, clinicians, dieticians sports federations to be well versed in the more popular supplements and drugs in order to have an important role in information and prevention attitudes that can lead to health risks or addictions!

Common Musk Turtle Sternotherus odoratus, 2011

Data sheet produced by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is about different times of animals, insects, snakes, birds, fish, butterflies, etc. that can be found in Iowa.

Common Barn Owl Tyto alba, 2011

Data sheet produced by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is about different times of animals, insects, snakes, birds, fish, butterflies, etc. that can be found in Iowa.

Common Ringlet Coenonympha tullia, 2011

Data sheet produced by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is about different times of animals, insects, snakes, birds, fish, butterflies, etc. that can be found in Iowa.

Do riverine barriers, history or introgression shape the genetic structuring of a common shrew (Sorex araneus) population?

The common shrew (Sorex araneus) is subdivided into numerous chromosome races. The Valais and Cordon chromosome races meet and hybridize at a mountain river in Les Houches (French Alps). Significant genetic structuring was recently reported among populations found on the Valais side of this hybrid zone. In this paper, a phylogenetic analysis and partial Mantel tests are used to investigate the patterns and causes of this structuring. A total of 185 shrews were trapped at 12 localities. All individuals were typed for nine microsatellite loci. Although several mountain rivers are found in the study area, riverine barriers do not have a significant influence on gene flow. Partial Mantel tests show that our result is caused by the influence of the hybrid zone with the Cordon race. The geographical patterns of this structuring are discussed in the context of the contact zone, which appears to extend up to a group of two rivers. The glacier they originate from is known to have cut the Arve valley as recently as 1818. The recent history of this glacier, its moraine and possibly rivers, may therefore be linked to the history of this hybrid zone.

Ligamentous and tendinous anatomy of the intermetacarpal and common carpometacarpal joints: evaluation with MR imaging and MR arthrography.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to demonstrate the normal ligamentous and tendinous anatomy of the intermetacarpal (IMC) and common carpometacarpal (CCMC) joints with MRI and MR arthrography. METHOD: MR images of 22 wrists derived from fresh human cadavers were obtained before and after arthrography. The MR imaging features of the ligaments and tendons about the CCMC and IMC joints and the joints themselves were analyzed in a randomized fashion and correlated with those seen on anatomic sections. RESULTS: Six CCMC ligaments were visualized. The dorsal and palmar CCMC ligaments and the pisometacarpal ligament were best visualized in the sagittal plane. The radial and ulnar CCMC collateral ligaments and the capito-third metacarpal ligament were best visualized in the coronal plane. Three main IMC ligaments were observed: a dorsal and a palmar ligament and an interosseous ligament complex. All three ligaments were best visualized in the axial plane. Four tendinous insertions to the metacarpal bases were evident. CONCLUSION: The anatomy of the ligaments and tendinous insertions about the second to fifth IMC and the CCMC joints is well demonstrated by MR imaging and MR arthrography. MR arthrography does not significantly improve the visualization of these complex structures.

Thermal energetics and torpor in the common pipistrelle bat, Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Vespertilionidae: Mammalia).

Rate of metabolism and body temperature were studied between -6°C and 38°C in the common pipistrelle bat Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Vespertilionidae), a European species lying close to the lower end of the mammalian size range (body mass 4.9±0.8g, N=28). Individuals maintained only occasionally a normothermic body temperature averaging 35.4±1.1°C (N=4) and often showed torpor during metabolic runs. The thermoneutral zone was found above 33°C, and basal rate of metabolism averaged 7.6±0.8mL O(2)h(-1) (N=28), which is 69% of the value predicted on the basis of body mass. Minimal wet thermal conductance was 161% of the expected value. During torpor, the rate of metabolism was related exponentially to body temperature with a Q(10) value of 2.57. Torpid bats showed intermittent ventilation, with the frequency of ventilatory cycles increasing exponentially with body temperature. Basal rate of metabolism (BMR) varied significantly with season and body temperature, but not with body mass. It was lower before the hibernation period than during the summer. The patterns observed are generally consistent with those exhibited by other vespertilionids of temperate regions. However, divergences occur with previous measurements on European pipistrelles, and the causes of the seasonal variation in BMR, which has only rarely been searched for among vespertilionids, remain to be examined.

Development of a Traffic Control Devices and Pavement Markings Manual for Iowa's Cities and Counties with a Survery of Common Practices, April 2001

Transportation agencies in Iowa are responsible for a significant public investment with the installation and maintenance of traffic control devices and pavement markings. Included in this investment are thousands of signs and other inventory items, equipment, facilities, and staff. The proper application of traffic control devices and pavement markings is critical to public safety on streets and highways, and local governments have a prescribed responsibility under the Code of Iowa to properly manage these assets. This research report addresses current traffic control and pavement marking application, maintenance, and management in Iowa.

Time consistent Pareto solutions in common access resource gameswith asymmetric players

In the analysis of equilibrium policies in a di erential game, if agents have different time preference rates, the cooperative (Pareto optimum) solution obtained by applying the Pontryagin's Maximum Principle becomes time inconsistent. In this work we derive a set of dynamic programming equations (in discrete and continuous time) whose solutions are time consistent equilibrium rules for N-player cooperative di erential games in which agents di er in their instantaneous utility functions and also in their discount rates of time preference. The results are applied to the study of a cake-eating problem describing the management of a common property exhaustible natural resource. The extension of the results to a simple common property renewable natural resource model in in nite horizon is also discussed.

Secondhand smoke exposure in children is associated with common carotid artery intima-media thickness

Objective: To investigate the association between common carotid artery intima-media thickness (cIMT) and exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) in children. Methods: Data were available at baseline in the Quebec Adiposity and Lifestyle investigation in Youth (QUALITY) study, an ongoing longitudinal investigation of Caucasian children aged 8e10 years at cohort inception, who had at least one obese parent. Data on exposure to parents, siblings and friends smoking were collected in interviewer-administered child, and self-report parent questionnaires. Blood cotinine was measured with a high sensitivity ELISA. cIMTwas measured by ultrasound. The association between blood cotinine and cIMT was investigated in multivariable linear regression analyses controlling for age, body mass index, and child smoking status. Results: Mean (SD) cIMT (0.5803 (0.04602)) did not differ across age or sex. Overall 26%, 6% and 3% of children were exposed to parents, siblings and friends smoking, respectively. Cotinine ranged from 0.13 ng/ml to 7.38 ng/ml (median (IQR)¼0.18 ng/ml)). Multivariately, a 1 ng/ml increase in cotinine was associated with a 0.090 mm increase in cIMT (p¼0.034). Conclusion: In children as young as age 8e10 years, exposure to SHS relates to cIMT, a marker of pre-clinical atherosclerosis. Given the wide range of health effects of SHS, increased public health efforts are needed to reduced exposure among children in homes an private vehicles.

Glucagon-like peptide-1-(7-36) amide, oxyntomodulin, and glucagon interact with a common receptor in a somatostatin-secreting cell line.

Glucagon-like peptide-1(7-36)amide (tGLP-1), oxyntomodulin (OXM), and glucagon are posttranslational end products of the glucagon gene expressed in intestinal L-cells. In vivo, these peptides are potent inhibitors of gastric acid secretion via several pathways, including stimulation of somatostatin release. We have examined the receptors through which these peptides stimulate somatostatin secretion using the somatostatin-secreting cell line RIN T3. tGLP-1, OXM, and glucagon stimulated somatostatin release and cAMP accumulation in RIN T3 cells to similar maximum levels, with ED50 values close to 0.2, 2, and 50 nM and 0.02, 0.3, and 8 nM, respectively. Binding of [125I]tGLP-1, [125I]OXM, and [125I]glucagon to RIN T3 plasma membranes was inhibited by the three peptides, with relative potencies as follows: tGLP-1 > OXM > glucagon. Whatever the tracer used, the IC50 for tGLP-1 was close to 0.15 nM and was shifted rightward for OXM and glucagon by about 1 and 2-3 orders of magnitude, respectively. Scatchard analyses for the three peptides were compatible with a single class of receptor sites displaying a similar maximal binding close to 2 pmol/mg protein. In the hamster lung fibroblast cell line CCL39 transfected with the receptor for tGLP-1, binding of [125I]tGLP-1 was inhibited by tGLP-1, OXM, and glucagon, with relative potencies close to those obtained with RIN T3 membranes. Chemical cross-linking of [125I]tGLP-1, [125I]OXM, and [125I]glucagon revealed a single band at 63,000 mol wt, the intensity of which was dose-dependently reduced by all three peptides. These data suggest that in the somatostatin-secreting cell line RIN T3, OXM and glucagon stimulate somatostatin release through a tGLP-1-preferring receptor. This suggests that some biological effects, previously described for these peptides, might be due to their interaction with this receptor.