Variants in KCNQ1 are associated with susceptibility to type 2 diabetes mellitus

We carried out a multistage genome-wide association study of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Japanese individuals, with a total of 1,612 cases and 1,424 controls and 100,000 SNPs. The most significant association was obtained with SNPs in KCNQ1, and dense mapping within the gene revealed that rs2237892 in intron 15 showed the lowest Pvalue (6.7 x 10(-13), odds ratio (OR) = 1.49). The association of KCNQ1 with type 2 diabetes was replicated in populations of Korean, Chinese and European ancestry as well as in two independent Japanese populations, and meta-analysis with a total of 19,930 individuals (9,569 cases and 10,361 controls) yielded a P value of 1.7 x 10(-42) (OR = 1.40; 95% CI = 1.34-1.47) for rs2237892. Among control subjects, the risk allele of this polymorphism was associated with impairment of insulin secretion according to the homeostasis model assessment of beta-cell function or the corrected insulin response. Our data thus implicate KCNQ1 as a diabetes susceptibility gene in groups of different ancestries.     

Action des amides N-halogénés sur les aldéhydes et cétones éthyléniques

Zusammenfassung Die Einwirkung von N-bromierten Amiden auf Äthylenketone wurde erforscht. Im Fall von-Äthylenketonen wurden Substitutionsprodukte erhalten, die zu einem bisher kaum beachteten Substanzenbereich gehören. Der Mechanismus der Bromierung von Äthylenaldehyden wurde diskutiert.     

Mincer–Zarnowitz quantile and expectile regressions for forecast evaluations under aysmmetric loss functions

Forecasts are pervasive in all areas of applications in business and daily life. Hence evaluating the accuracy of a forecast is important for both the generators and consumers of forecasts. There are two aspects in forecast evaluation: (a) measuring the accuracy of past forecasts using some summary statistics, and (b) testing the optimality properties of the forecasts through some diagnostic tests. On measuring the accuracy of a past forecast, this paper illustrates that the summary statistics used should match the loss function that was used to generate the forecast. If there is strong evidence that an asymmetric loss function has been used in the generation of a forecast, then a summary statistic that corresponds to that asymmetric loss function should be used in assessing the accuracy of the forecast instead of the popular root mean square error or mean absolute error. On testing the optimality of the forecasts, it is demonstrated how the quantile regressions set in the prediction–realization framework of Mincer and Zarnowitz (in J. Mincer (Ed.), Economic Forecasts and Expectations: Analysis of Forecasting Behavior and Performance (pp. 14–20), 1969) can be used to recover the unknown parameter that controls the potentially asymmetric loss function used in generating the past forecasts. Finally, the prediction–realization framework is applied to the Federal Reserve's economic growth forecast and forecast sharing in a PC manufacturing supply chain. It is found that the Federal Reserve values overprediction approximately 1.5 times more costly than underprediction. It is also found that the PC manufacturer weighs positive forecast errors (under forecasts) about four times as costly as negative forecast errors (over forecasts).     

Meta-analysis identifies common variants associated with body mass index in east Asians

Multiple genetic loci associated with obesity or body mass index (BMI) have been identified through genome-wide association studies conducted predominantly in populations of European ancestry. We performed a meta-analysis of associations between BMI and approximately 2.4 million SNPs in 27,715 east Asians, which was followed by in silico and de novo replication studies in 37,691 and 17,642 additional east Asians, respectively. We identified ten BMI-associated loci at genome-wide significance (P < 5.0 × 10(-8)), including seven previously identified loci (FTO, SEC16B, MC4R, GIPR-QPCTL, ADCY3-DNAJC27, BDNF and MAP2K5) and three novel loci in or near the CDKAL1, PCSK1 and GP2 genes. Three additional loci nearly reached the genome-wide significance threshold, including two previously identified loci in the GNPDA2 and TFAP2B genes and a newly identified signal near PAX6, all of which were associated with BMI with P < 5.0 × 10(-7). Findings from this study may shed light on new pathways involved in obesity and demonstrate the value of conducting genetic studies in non-European populations.     

我国物流企业全要素生产效率分析

为分析我国物流企业生产效率的发展情况,本文以我国8家上市物流企业为例,利用DEA Malmquist生产效率变化指数对它们在2001～2006年的全要素生产效率进行分析.通过分析发现,我国物流企业的生产效率发展趋势较好,呈上升状态,但上升程度并不明显,其中技术效率和技术有所下滑,而规模效率则有所上升.同时结合了企业组织形式、资源配置及发展战略等内部因素和国内外经济发展环境、国家产业发展政策与法规等外部因素对各个企业和它们的整体生产效率发展过程进行了分析和说明,提出了解决我国物流企业生产效率偏低的途径,为政府决策者和物流企业管理者提供了科学决策的依据.     

Kinanthropometry Study of the Physique of Hong Kong and the Interior of China Correctional Services Recruits

In this paper,the physique of the Hong Kong Correc-tional Services recruits were identified and reported.Kinanthropometry has been applied in the study of Olympic athletes and researchers concluded that specificsports were correlated with a specific type of physique.Athletes involved in the same sports have a similar phys-ique as well as body shape.Gold medal winners could beidentified by their specific type of body shape.And ath-letes in different sport have different and specific bodyshape.Hence,by applying kinanthropometry study,people in different occupations could be identified by their specific body shape and physique.The finalisedbody shape can be used as reference in the vetting stan-dards.The somatotyping and anthropometric input canbe used to improve the uniform sizing system.     

Implementing Higher－Order Gamma on a Massively Parallel computer－A Case study

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A test for intron function in the yeast actin gene

Many eukaryotic genes contain intervening sequences (IVS), but the rationale for their existence remains a mystery. Previous studies done in our laboratory demonstrated that the intron in a yeast tRNATyr gene, SUP6, does have a function. We used the same approach to determine the role of introns in nuclear genes encoding messenger RNAs. A single actin gene with one intron exists in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The level of actin in yeast appears to be crucial to viability: either too much or too little actin inhibits growth. Therefore, small effects on synthesis of actin protein resulting from the removal of the actin gene intron would be expected to cause measurable changes in cell growth. In the present study, an intron-deleted actin gene was constructed in vitro and was used to replace the single resident actin gene in a haploid strain. Analysis of the cells carrying the intron-deleted actin gene shows that the intervening sequence is not essential for actin gene expression.