Estrogen receptor alpha single nucleotide polymorphism as predictor of diabetes type 2 risk in hypogonadal men

Abstract

Estradiol (E2) is, apart from its role as a reproductive hormone, also important for cardiac function and bone maturation in both genders. It has also been shown to play a role in insulin production, energy expenditure and in inducing lipolysis. The aim of the study was to investigate if low circulating testosterone or E2 levels in combination with variants in the estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1) and estrogen receptor beta (ESR2) genes were of importance for the risk of type-2 diabetes. The single nucleotide polymorphisms rs2207396 and rs1256049, in ESR1 and ESR2, respectively, were analysed by allele specific PCR in 172 elderly men from the population-based Tromsø study. The results were adjusted for age. In individuals with low total (≤11?nmol/L) or free testosterone (≤0.18?nmol/L) being carriers of the variant A-allele in ESR1 was associated with 7.3 and 15.9 times, respectively, increased odds ratio of being diagnosed with diabetes mellitus type 2 (p?=?0.025 and p?=?0.018, respectively). Lower concentrations of E2 did not seem to increase the risk of being diagnosed with diabetes. In conclusion, in hypogonadal men, the rs2207396 variant in ESR1 predicts the risk of type 2 diabetes.     

金九与韩国反日独立运动左翼派别的关系

20世纪前半叶,韩国被日寇侵占后,韩国反日独立运动大多是在中国境内进行的。金九先生是韩国反日独立运动最杰出的领导人。本文分析了金九与韩国反日独立运动左翼派别的关系,以对这段鲜为人知的历史有更深刻的认识。     

A male fitness advantage to wing reduction in the oriental chinch bug,Cavelerius saccharivorus okajima (heteroptera: Lygaeidae)

Summary A male fitness advantage to wing reduction was investigated for the oriental chinch bug,Cavelerius saccharivorus, which is wing dimorphic. Field surveys for the frequency of matings between wing morphs showed that the mating probability was much higher in brachypterous males than in macropterous males in the early breeding season. Brachypterous males copulated with not only brachypterous females but also macropterous females in this season. This led to a considerable rate (30%) of insemination of macropterous females just before emigration even in the early breeding season. A rearing experiment for the pre-reproductive period of females revealed that females mated with brachypterous males copulated and oviposited earlier than females mated with macropterous males. These results indicate that there is a fitness advantage to wing reduction in the males ofC. saccharivorus in terms of the earlier sexual maturation.     

Risk Estimation and Value-of-Information Analysis for Three Proposed Genetic Screening Programs for Chronic Beryllium Disease Prevention

Genetic differences (polymorphisms) among members of a population are thought to influence susceptibility to various environmental exposures. In practice, however, this information is rarely incorporated into quantitative risk assessment and risk management. We describe an analytic framework for predicting the risk reduction and value-of-information (VOI) resulting from specific risk management applications of genetic biomarkers, and we apply the framework to the example of occupational chronic beryllium disease (CBD), an immune-mediated pulmonary granulomatous disease. One described Human Leukocyte Antigen gene variant, HLA-DP beta 1*0201, contains a substitution of glutamate for lysine at position 69 that appears to have high sensitivity (approximately 94%) but low specificity (approximately 70%) with respect to CBD among individuals occupationally exposed to respirable beryllium. The expected postintervention CBD prevalence rates for using the genetic variant (1) as a required job placement screen, (2) as a medical screen for semiannual in place of annual lymphocyte proliferation testing, or (3) as a voluntary job placement screen are 0.08%, 0.8%, and 0.6%, respectively, in a hypothetical cohort with 1% baseline CBD prevalence. VOI analysis is used to examine the reduction in total social cost, calculated as the net value of disease reduction and financial expenditures, expected for proposed CBD intervention programs based on the genetic susceptibility test. For the example cohort, the expected net VOI per beryllium worker for genetically based testing and intervention is $13,000, $1,800, and $5,100, respectively, based on a health valuation of $1.45 million per CBD case avoided. VOI results for alternative CBD evaluations are also presented. Despite large parameter uncertainty, probabilistic analysis predicts generally positive utility for each of the three evaluated programs when avoidance of a CBD case is valued at $1 million or higher. Although the utility of a proposed risk management program may be evaluated solely in terms of risk reduction and financial costs, decisions about genetic testing and program implementation must also consider serious social, legal, and ethical factors.     

工业经济的变迁与中国现代文学

工业经济的起伏动荡,对不同时期的文学形态都产生了影响.20世纪30年代,由于沿海城市自由资本主义工商业的繁荣,左翼文学出现了以大工业经济视角观察社会的基本思路,同时,由商业繁荣而产生的大众文化,则构成了海派文学的基础.抗战期间和其后,由于中国经济向国家资本主义转型,又由于战争需要,文学中的民族战争与党派政治视角凸现,经济视角遂被放弃.     

Truth,misinterpretation, or left-wing McCarthyism?

It is “left-wing McCarthyism” to suggest that there was anything morally questionable or idiosyncratic about Talcott Parsons's 1948 effort to recruit displaced Soviet citizens for the Harvard Russian Research Center. There is no definite evidence that any of the people Parsons interviewed were “war criminals” by Nuremberg standards. The suggestion that Parsons aided possible Nazi collaborators stems from an ideologically motivated unwillingness to recognize the totalitarian and expansionist nature of the Soviet Union under Stalin which is unworthy of serious consideration.     

Ant reproductive strategies

In contrast to what is generally believed, the reproductive strategies of ants are remarkably diverse and include such different phenomena, as wingless female and male sexuals, reproduction by mated workers, thelytokous parthenogenesis, and complete workerlessness. We review the various reproductive life histories and investigate them in the light of recent models on the evolution of dispersal strategies and multiple-queening. It appears that most deviations from “normal” colony propagation can be explained by a decreased success of dispersal and solitary founding by solitary queens in certain types of habitats. Consequently, alternative reproductive strategies are found especially in those species, in which environmental conditions or a highly specialized way of life are thought to make solitary founding costly. Among the key factors, which determine the success of reproductive strategies, appear to be spatial and temporal distribution of habitats and the availability of nest sites.     

试论近代日本右翼的“三阶段”发展路径

近代以来,日本右翼一直是活跃在日本历史舞台上一支重要的政治力量。它不仅影响了日本的对外政策,更影响着中日两国关系的走向。本文旨在通过对近代日本右翼的分期、流派及其发展脉络进行梳理和分析,尝试性提出近代日本右翼的"三阶段"发展构想。即:近代日本右翼是经过了"观念右翼"的勃兴"、革新右翼"的发展、直至"法西斯右翼"的蜕变三个阶段,并在这一逻辑前提下认为将近代日本右翼视为法西斯右翼的观点过于简单。     

Identification of quantitative trait loci for canine hip dysplasia by two sequential multipoint linkage analyses

Canine hip dysplasia (CHD) is characterized by hip laxity and subluxation that can lead to hip osteoarthritis. Studies have shown the involvement of multiple genetic regions in the expression of CHD. Although we have associated some variants in the region of fibrillin 2 with CHD in a subset of dogs, no major disease-associated gene has been identified. The focus of this study is to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with CHD. Two sequential multipoint linkage analyses based on a reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo approach were applied on a cross-breed pedigree of 366 dogs. Hip radiographic trait (Norberg Angle, NA) on both hips of each dog was tested for linkage to 21,455 single nucleotide polymorphisms across 39 chromosomes. Putative QTL for the NA was found on 11 chromosomes (1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 14, 19, 21, 32, 36, and 39). Identification of genes in the QTL region(s) can assist in identification of the aberrant genes and biochemical pathways involving hip dysplasia in both dogs and humans.     

展翅梁结构有机玻璃模型试验研究

简要介绍了展翅梁有机玻璃模型试验概况，验证了展翅梁结构剪力滞后、腹板弯矩分配比例的计算理论，检验了展翅梁结构的受力性能．