Correlation of age and birth order of parents with chromosomal anomalies in children

One hundred children with suspected congenital and/or malformation and their parents who reported to SAT hospital, Medical College, Trivandrum, India formed the test group. Fifty children with no obvious anomalies or abnormalities and their parents formed the control group. The criteria for selection of the control was 1) the maternal age at delivery was below 30 years and 2) the parents belong to 1st or 2nd birth order. The chromosomal analysis was carried out in all the subjects using peripheral blood lymphocyte microculture to investigate for any constitutional chromosomal markers and quantitate the mutagen (bleomycin) sensitivity of the chromosomes. All the subjects were evaluated clinically and a complete family history was recorded. Chromosome anomalies were noted in 41 out of the one hundred children and in 4 out of the 200 parents of the test group. No constitutional aberrations were seen either in the parents or in the children of the control group. Bleomycin sensitivity study revealed a high b/c value in 35 children (24 hypersensitive and 11 sensitive) of the test group whereas in the control group the b/c values were low denoting hyposensitivity and very good DNA repair mechanism. This study reveals that the incidence of chromosome aberrations is higher when the age and birth order of parents are higher. A direct correlation was noted with parental order and b/c value. This was also true with the parental age and birth defects.     

Genotyping and segregation analyses indicate the presence of only two functional MIC genes in rhesus macaques

MIC molecules are stress-inducible ligands of the activating receptor NKG2D, which is expressed on natural killer cells and subsets of T lymphocytes. In rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), three different MIC sequences (MIC1, MIC2, MIC3) have been described that are closely related to but, according to phylogenetic analysis, do not represent orthologues of the human MICA and MICB genes. Although a single haplotype of the rhesus macaque Mhc (Mamu) has been completely sequenced, it remained unknown so far whether these three sequences are derived from two or three Mamu-MIC genes. We genotyped a cohort of 115 rhesus macaque individuals for the presence of MIC1, MIC2, and MIC3 sequences and analysed the segregation in families. All individuals were positive for MIC2, whereas only 66.1 and 80.9 % were positive for MIC1 and MIC3, respectively. MIC1 and MIC3 sequences segregated in offspring, indicating that they behave as alleles. Thus, we conclude that two MIC genes are present in the rhesus macaque Mhc, which we propose to designate as Mamu-MICA (MIC1 and MIC3) and Mamu-MICB (MIC2). “MIC1” and “MIC3” are regarded as divergent allelic lineages of the Mamu-MICA gene. Mamu-MIC genotyping of DNA of a cohort of 68 experimentally simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)-infected rhesus macaques revealed no significant association of either of the two Mamu-MICA allelic lineages with differences in progression to AIDS-like symptoms. Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at and is accessible for authorize users. Anne Averdam and Sandra Seelke contributed equally.     

A review on biocide reduced susceptibility due to plasmid-borne antiseptic-resistant genes—special notes on pharmaceutical environmental isolates

Biocides (antiseptics and disinfectants) are widely used in hospitals and pharmaceutical industries for contamination control. The emergence of reduced susceptibility to biocides is the major concern and this is caused by various factors, among which plasmid-mediated resistance is common. Many publications describe the antibiotic resistance and mechanisms in a clinical setting. However, there are only limited studies available worldwide addressing the molecular mechanisms of biocide resistance in the pharmaceutical sector. In addition, there is a considerable lack of scientific reports regarding minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of typical biocides against pharmaceutical cleanroom environmental isolates. This review analyses the plasmid-mediated resistance in typical pharmaceutical micro-organisms and prevalence of biocide-resistant genes among common clinical and pharmaceutical isolates. This review discusses the MIC values of biocides in pharmaceutical environmental isolates, indicating the importance of the correlation between the presence or absence of biocide-resistant genes and reduced susceptibility of MIC values. This review recommends that pharmaceutical organizations adopt policies and test methodologies to examine the MICs of common cleanroom biocides against the most common types of cleanroom environmental isolates.     

Resolution of genetic and uterine environmental effects in a family study of new dermatoglyphic measure: sole pattern ridge counts

The heritability of sole pattern ridge counts was examined in two family studies of endogamous castes from peninsular India. The phenotypes included ridge counts for each of the eight configurational areas separately, all areas combined, and only distal areas combined. Differences in heritability estimates were found between populations as well as among the individual configurational areas. Although some ridge counts do not show familial resemblance, others appear to be moderately heritable. Estimates of h2 range from 0.36 to 0.63 in one family series and from 0.22 to 0.51 in the other. In addition, significant uterine environmental effects were detected in one family series but not in the other.     

Characterization of the Burkholderia mallei tonB Mutant and Its Potential as a Backbone Strain for Vaccine Development

BackgroundIn this study, a Burkholderia mallei tonB mutant (TMM001) deficient in iron acquisition was constructed, characterized, and evaluated for its protective properties in acute inhalational infection models of murine glanders and melioidosis.Conclusions/SignificanceAlthough further work is needed to prevent chronic infection by TMM001 while maintaining immunogenicity, our attenuated strain demonstrates great potential as a backbone strain for future vaccine development against both glanders and melioidosis.     

A computational model of limb impedance control based on principles of internal model uncertainty

Efficient human motor control is characterized by an extensive use of joint impedance modulation, which is achieved by co-contracting antagonistic muscles in a way that is beneficial to the specific task. While there is much experimental evidence available that the nervous system employs such strategies, no generally-valid computational model of impedance control derived from first principles has been proposed so far. Here we develop a new impedance control model for antagonistic limb systems which is based on a minimization of uncertainties in the internal model predictions. In contrast to previously proposed models, our framework predicts a wide range of impedance control patterns, during stationary and adaptive tasks. This indicates that many well-known impedance control phenomena naturally emerge from the first principles of a stochastic optimization process that minimizes for internal model prediction uncertainties, along with energy and accuracy demands. The insights from this computational model could be used to interpret existing experimental impedance control data from the viewpoint of optimality or could even govern the design of future experiments based on principles of internal model uncertainty.