Genome-wide association for abdominal subcutaneous and visceral adipose reveals a novel locus for visceral fat in women

Body fat distribution, particularly centralized obesity, is associated with metabolic risk above and beyond total adiposity. We performed genome-wide association of abdominal adipose depots quantified using computed tomography (CT) to uncover novel loci for body fat distribution among participants of European ancestry. Subcutaneous and visceral fat were quantified in 5,560 women and 4,997 men from 4 population-based studies. Genome-wide genotyping was performed using standard arrays and imputed to ~2.5 million Hapmap SNPs. Each study performed a genome-wide association analysis of subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), visceral adipose tissue (VAT), VAT adjusted for body mass index, and VAT/SAT ratio (a metric of the propensity to store fat viscerally as compared to subcutaneously) in the overall sample and in women and men separately. A weighted z-score meta-analysis was conducted. For the VAT/SAT ratio, our most significant p-value was rs11118316 at LYPLAL1 gene (p = 3.1 × 10E-09), previously identified in association with waist-hip ratio. For SAT, the most significant SNP was in the FTO gene (p = 5.9 × 10E-08). Given the known gender differences in body fat distribution, we performed sex-specific analyses. Our most significant finding was for VAT in women, rs1659258 near THNSL2 (p = 1.6 × 10-08), but not men (p = 0.75). Validation of this SNP in the GIANT consortium data demonstrated a similar sex-specific pattern, with observed significance in women (p = 0.006) but not men (p = 0.24) for BMI and waist circumference (p = 0.04 [women], p = 0.49 [men]). Finally, we interrogated our data for the 14 recently published loci for body fat distribution (measured by waist-hip ratio adjusted for BMI); associations were observed at 7 of these loci. In contrast, we observed associations at only 7/32 loci previously identified in association with BMI; the majority of overlap was observed with SAT. Genome-wide association for visceral and subcutaneous fat revealed a SNP for VAT in women. More refined phenotypes for body composition and fat distribution can detect new loci not previously uncovered in large-scale GWAS of anthropometric traits.     

Comparison of chemical dehydration and critical point drying for the stabilization and visualization of aging biofilm present on interior surfaces of PVC distribution pipe

In this study, fixation of attached glycocalyx on the interior surfaces of polyvinyl chloride distribution pipe remnants was compared with and without ruthenium red/osmium tetroxide and, in the final preparatory phase, with chemical dehydration and critical point drying. SEM examination of interior surface of the polyvinyl chloride pipe showed varying concentrations of adherent bacteria, depending on the preparatory technique used. It was concluded that using a combination of ruthenium red/osmium tetroxide and critical point drying is the optimum method for visually demonstrating aging biofilm on the interior surface of contaminated polyvinyl chloride pipe.     

THE STRUCTURE OF THE COLLODION MEMBRANE AND ITS ELECTRICAL BEHAVIOR : X. AN EXPERIMENTAL TEST OF SOME ASPECTS OF THE TEORELL AND MEYER-SIEVERS THEORIES OF ELECTRICAL MEMBRANE BEHAVIOR

1. The Teorell, Meyer-Sievers theory characterizes the electrochemical behavior of membranes by their selectivity constant "A_p" which is derived conventionally from concentration potential measurements at various concentration levels. The selectivity constant may, however, be derived also from entirely independent, different experimental data, namely base exchange studies. The constants arrived at in this second way are designated as "A_b." The selectivity constants derived by these two methods must be in reasonable, at least semiquantitative agreement if the basic assumptions of the theory are correct. 2. The selectivity constants A_p and A_b were determined for eleven different sets of membranes of different electrochemical activity and of different (8.2 to 80 volume per cent) water content. 3. The potentiometric selectivity constants A_p are in most cases several orders of magnitude greater than the corresponding A_b values. With membranes of great porosity and high electrochemical activity the A_b values approach at least in order of magnitude the A_p values. 4. It is concluded that the unexpectedly large discrepancy between the A_p and A_b values is due to some inherent weakness of the Teorell, Meyer-Sievers theory, most likely to its neglect of any structural factors.     

Johnny Depp,Reconsidered: How Category-Relative Processing Fluency Determines the Appeal of Gender Ambiguity

Individuals that combine features of both genders–gender blends–are sometimes appealing and sometimes not. Heretofore, this difference was explained entirely in terms of sexual selection. In contrast, we propose that part of individuals’ preference for gender blends is due to the cognitive effort required to classify them, and that such effort depends on the context in which a blend is judged. In two studies, participants judged the attractiveness of male-female morphs. Participants did so after classifying each face in terms of its gender, which was selectively more effortful for gender blends, or classifying faces on a gender-irrelevant dimension, which was equally effortful for gender blends. In both studies, gender blends were disliked when, and only when, the faces were first classified by gender, despite an overall preference for feminine features in all conditions. Critically, the preferences were mediated by the effort of stimulus classification. The results suggest that the variation in attractiveness of gender-ambiguous faces may derive from context-dependent requirements to determine gender membership. More generally, the results show that the difficulty of resolving social category membership–not just attitudes toward a social category–feed into perceivers’ overall evaluations toward category members.