Mutations in ISPD cause Walker-Warburg syndrome and defective glycosylation of α-dystroglycan

Walker-Warburg syndrome (WWS) is an autosomal recessive multisystem disorder characterized by complex eye and brain abnormalities with congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD) and aberrant a-dystroglycan glycosylation. Here we report mutations in the ISPD gene (encoding isoprenoid synthase domain containing) as the second most common cause of WWS. Bacterial IspD is a nucleotidyl transferase belonging to a large glycosyltransferase family, but the role of the orthologous protein in chordates is obscure to date, as this phylum does not have the corresponding non-mevalonate isoprenoid biosynthesis pathway. Knockdown of ispd in zebrafish recapitulates the human WWS phenotype with hydrocephalus, reduced eye size, muscle degeneration and hypoglycosylated a-dystroglycan. These results implicate ISPD in a-dystroglycan glycosylation in maintaining sarcolemma integrity in vertebrates.     

Loss-of-function mutations in TGFB2 cause a syndromic presentation of thoracic aortic aneurysm

Loeys-Dietz syndrome (LDS) associates with a tissue signature for high transforming growth factor (TGF)-β signaling but is often caused by heterozygous mutations in genes encoding positive effectors of TGF-β signaling, including either subunit of the TGF-β receptor or SMAD3, thereby engendering controversy regarding the mechanism of disease. Here, we report heterozygous mutations or deletions in the gene encoding the TGF-β2 ligand for a phenotype within the LDS spectrum and show upregulation of TGF-β signaling in aortic tissue from affected individuals. Furthermore, haploinsufficient Tgfb2(+/-) mice have aortic root aneurysm and biochemical evidence of increased canonical and noncanonical TGF-β signaling. Mice that harbor both a mutant Marfan syndrome (MFS) allele (Fbn1(C1039G/+)) and Tgfb2 haploinsufficiency show increased TGF-β signaling and phenotypic worsening in association with normalization of TGF-β2 expression and high expression of TGF-β1. Taken together, these data support the hypothesis that compensatory autocrine and/or paracrine events contribute to the pathogenesis of TGF-β-mediated vasculopathies.     

CEP152 is a genome maintenance protein disrupted in Seckel syndrome

Functional impairment of DNA damage response pathways leads to increased genomic instability. Here we describe the centrosomal protein CEP152 as a new regulator of genomic integrity and cellular response to DNA damage. Using homozygosity mapping and exome sequencing, we identified CEP152 mutations in Seckel syndrome and showed that impaired CEP152 function leads to accumulation of genomic defects resulting from replicative stress through enhanced activation of ATM signaling and increased H2AX phosphorylation.     

A Flexible Functional Form Approach To Mortality Modeling: Do We Need Additional Cohort Dummies?

The increasing amount of attention paid to longevity risk and funding for old age has created the need for precise mortality models and accurate future mortality forecasts. Orthogonal polynomials have been widely used in technical fields and there have also been applications in mortality modeling. In this paper we adopt a flexible functional form approach using two‐dimensional Legendre orthogonal polynomials to fit and forecast mortality rates. Unlike some of the existing mortality models in the literature, the model we propose does not impose any restrictions on the age, time or cohort structure of the data and thus allows for different model designs for different countries' mortality experience. We conduct an empirical study using male mortality data from a range of developed countries and explore the possibility of using age–time effects to capture cohort effects in the underlying mortality data. It is found that, for some countries, cohort dummies still need to be incorporated into the model. Moreover, when comparing the proposed model with well‐known mortality models in the literature, we find that our model provides comparable fitting but with a much smaller number of parameters. Based on 5‐year‐ahead mortality forecasts, it can be concluded that the proposed model improves the overall accuracy of the future mortality projection. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

PPAR γ partial agonist, KR-62776, inhibits adipocyte differentiation via activation of ERK

Indenone KR-62776 acts as an agonist of PPARγ without inducing obesity in animal models and cells. X-ray crystallography reveals that the indenone occupies the binding pocket in a different manner than rosiglitazone. 2-Dimensional gel-electrophoresis showed that the expression of 42 proteins was altered more than 2.0-fold between KR-62776- or rosiglitazone-treated adipocyte cells and control cells. Rosiglitazone down-regulated the expression of ERK1/2 and suppressed the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 in these cells. However, the expression of ERK1/2 was up-regulated in KR-62776-treated cells. Phosphorylated ERK1/2, activated by indenone, affects the localization of PPARγ, suggesting a mechanism for indenone-inhibition of adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 preadipocyte cells. The preadipocyte cells are treated with ERK1/2 inhibitor PD98059, a large amount of the cells are converted to adipocyte cells. These results support the conclusion that the localization of PPARγ is one of the key factors explaining the biological responses of the ligands. Received 04 March 2009; received after revision 13 March 2009; accepted 17 March 2009     

基于奇异谱分析的我国航空客运量集成预测模型

针对时间序列包含噪声以及单一模型可能存在预测表现不稳定的问题,本文提出了一个基于奇异谱分析(SSA)的集成预测模型,并将其运用于我国年度航空客运量的预测中.首先,采用SSA方法对原始时间序列进行分解和重构,得到一个剔除噪声的时间序列,然后将其作为单整自回归移动平均模型(ARIMA)、支持向量回归模型(SVR)、Holt-Winters方法(HW)等单一模型的输入并进行预测,接着再采用加权平均集成预测方法(WA)将三种单一模型的预测结果进行综合集成.通过与各单一模型、基于经验模态分解方法(EMD)的模型以及简单平均集成预测方法(SA)的预测结果进行对比发现,本文所建模型具有较高的预测精度和较稳定的预测表现.最后,采用本文的模型对我国2014-2016年年度航空客运量进行了预测.     

一类奇摄动初值问题解的渐近展开

用边界函数法研究了一类奇摄动初值问题解的渐近展开问题,证明了解的存在惟一性,并给出该解的渐近分析.