Assessing the impact of population stratification on genetic association studies

Population stratification refers to differences in allele frequencies between cases and controls due to systematic differences in ancestry rather than association of genes with disease. It has been proposed that false positive associations due to stratification can be controlled by genotyping a few dozen unlinked genetic markers. To assess stratification empirically, we analyzed data from 11 case-control and case-cohort association studies. We did not detect statistically significant evidence for stratification but did observe that assessments based on a few dozen markers lack power to rule out moderate levels of stratification that could cause false positive associations in studies designed to detect modest genetic risk factors. After increasing the number of markers and samples in a case-cohort study (the design most immune to stratification), we found that stratification was in fact present. Our results suggest that modest amounts of stratification can exist even in well designed studies.     

Northern Bobwhite habitat selection in relation to brush management in the Rolling Plains of Texas

Many rangelands in the southwestern United States provide quality habitat for Northern Bobwhites ( Colinus virginianus ). These same habitats are frequently managed for livestock production and thus are subjected to various brush management practices that are meant to enhance forage production. Bobwhites rely on woody cover for food, thermal and loafing cover, and protection from avian predators. Implementing brush management practices that reflect bobwhite requirements is important for managing usable space and viable populations. We described the structural vegetative characteristics associated with bobwhite locations and random locations on native rangelands in the upper Rolling Plains of Texas that are dominated by honey mesquite ( Prosopis glandulosa ) and managed with aerial herbicide and prescribed fire. We also used binary logistic regression to model habitat selection; the initial model was built using 67% of the data ( n = 179 used-random paired points) and then validated using the remaining 33% of the data ( n = 88 used-random paired points). Locations used by bobwhites had significantly larger mean values of percent brush canopy cover, visual obstruction, and angle of obstruction than did random locations; random locations had a greater mean value of percent bare ground than locations used by bobwhites. The resulting logistic regression model contained only the angle of obstruction; the model had an 80% probability of correctly classifying used and random locations based on the area under the receiver operating curve (ROC). The model maintained a high classification probability when applied to the smaller validation data set, with an area under the ROC of 0.78.     

The implications of viral reservoirs on the elite control of HIV-1 infection

The mechanisms by which a small percentage of HIV-1 infected individuals known as elite suppressors or controllers are able to control viral replication are not fully understood. Early cases of viremic control were attributed to infection with defective virus, but subsequent work has demonstrated that infection with a defective virus is not the exclusive cause of control. Replication-competent virus has been isolated from patients who control viral replication, and studies have demonstrated that evolution occurs in plasma virus but not in virus isolates from the latent reservoir. Additionally, transmission pair studies have demonstrated that patients infected with similar viruses can have dramatically different outcomes of infection. An increased understanding of the viral factors associated with control is important to understand the interplay between viral replication and host control, and has implications for the design of an effective therapeutic vaccine that can lead to a functional cure of HIV-1 infection.     

Evidence for the bilobal nature of diferric rabbit plasma transferrin.

Plasma transferrin is involved in iron transport within the circulatory system of vertebrates, and provides an iron source for haemoglobin synthesis and other metabolic requirements. However, despite extensive studies by spectroscopic, biochemical and physiological techniques, the nature of iron binding and the mechanisms of uptake and release of iron are not fully understood. Plasma transferrins are monomeric glycoproteins with a molecular weight of approximately 80,000 (ref. 2); they have two similar and very strong binding sites for Fe(III), together with two associated anion binding sites. Fragmentation studies on various transferrins have shown that the polypeptide chain is composed of two domains formed from the N-terminal and C-terminal halves of the polypeptide chain. Each domain contains one metal binding site. The marked sequence similarities which exist between the two halves may reflect a doubling of an ancestral structural gene during the phylogenetic development of the protein. Preliminary crystallographic investigations of diferric rabbit plasma transferrin have been reported from this laboratory. We now report initial studies of the X-ray structure determination of dife-ric rabbit plasma transferrin which have led to a 6-A resolution electron density map.     

Influence of diglycyl-glycine on the radiation sensitivity of catalase

Zusammenfassung Die Veränderung der Strahlenempfindlichkeit von Katalase durch Diglycyl-glycin wurde spektralphotometrisch untersucht. Die Bestrahlungsdosen variierten zwischen 0–2,7 × 10⁶ r. Der Schutzeffekt lässt sich durch einen Radikal-abfangenden Mechanismus erklären. Strahlenbiologische Folgerungen werden diskutiert.