Search

Debate has long surrounded whether temperament and personality are distinct sets of individual differences or are rather two sides of the same coin. To the extent that there are differences, it could indicate important developmental insights concerning the mechanisms responsible for linking traits with outcomes. One way to test this is to examine the joint and incremental predictive validity of temperament and personality in the same individuals across time. Using a longitudinal sample spanning 3 decades starting at infancy and followed up to 37 years old (N = 7081), we ran a series of Bayesian generalized linear models with measures of childhood temperament and adult-based personality to predict outcomes in several life domains. Results indicated that while each set of individual differences were often related to the same outcomes, there were instances in which temperament provided incremental validity above adult personality, ranging from 2 to 10% additional variance explained. Personality in childhood explained the most variance for outcomes such as cognitive ability and educational attainment whereas personality performed best for outcomes such as health status, substance use, and most internalizing outcomes. These findings indicate childhood and adulthood assessments of personality are not redundant and that a lifespan approach is needed to understand fully understand life outcomes., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

We report on the electronic and magnetic properties of superconductor-ferromagnet heterostructures fabricated by electron beam evaporation on to unheated thermally oxidised Si substrates. Polycrystalline Nb thin films (5 to 50 nm thick) were shown to possess reliably high superconducting critical temperatures ([Formula: see text]), which correlate well with the residual resistivity ratio (RRR) of the film. These properties improved during ex-situ annealing, resulting in [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]RRR increases of up 2.2 K ([Formula: see text] 40% of the pre-annealed [Formula: see text]) and 0.8 ([Formula: see text] 60% of the pre-annealed RRR) respectively. Nb/Pt/Co/Pt heterostructures showed substantial perpendicular anisotropy in the ultrathin limit (≤ 2.5 nm), even in the extreme limit of Pt(0.8 nm)/Co(1 nm)/Pt(0.6 nm). These results point to the use of electron beam evaporation as route to line-of-sight deposited, low-thickness, high quality Nb-based superspintronic multilayers., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Cuprizone is a copper-chelating agent that induces pathology similar to that within some multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions. The reliability and reproducibility of cuprizone for inducing demyelinating disease pathology depends on the animals ingesting consistent doses of cuprizone. Cuprizone-containing pelleted feed is a convenient way of delivering cuprizone, but the efficacy of these pellets at inducing demyelination has been questioned. This study compared the degree of demyelinating disease pathology between mice fed cuprizone delivered in pellets to mice fed a powdered cuprizone formulation at an early 3 week demyelinating timepoint. Within rostral corpus callosum, cuprizone pellets were more effective than cuprizone powder at increasing astrogliosis, microglial activation, DNA damage, and decreasing the density of mature oligodendrocytes. However, cuprizone powder demonstrated greater protein nitration relative to controls. Furthermore, mice fed control powder had significantly fewer mature oligodendrocytes than those fed control pellets. In caudal corpus callosum, cuprizone pellets performed better than cuprizone powder relative to controls at increasing astrogliosis, microglial activation, protein nitration, DNA damage, tissue swelling, and reducing the density of mature oligodendrocytes. Importantly, only cuprizone pellets induced detectable demyelination compared to controls. The two feeds had similar effects on oligodendrocyte precursor cell (OPC) dynamics. Taken together, these data suggest that demyelinating disease pathology is modelled more effectively with cuprizone pellets than powder at 3 weeks. Combined with the added convenience, cuprizone pellets are a suitable choice for inducing early demyelinating disease pathology., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

We introduce a novel 3D microrheology system that combines for the first time Optical Tweezers with Integrated Multiplane Microscopy (OpTIMuM). The system allows the 3D tracking of an optically trapped bead, with ~ 20 nm accuracy along the optical axis. This is achieved without the need for a high precision z-stage, separate calibration sample, nor a priori knowledge of either the bead size or the optical properties of the suspending medium. Instead, we have developed a simple yet effective in situ spatial calibration method using image sharpness and exploiting the fact we image at multiple planes simultaneously. These features make OpTIMuM an ideal system for microrheology measurements, and we corroborate the effectiveness of this novel microrheology tool by measuring the viscosity of water in three dimensions, simultaneously.

In the past decade, the understanding of folate bioavailability, metabolism and related health issues has increased, but several problems remain, including the difficulty of delivering the available knowledge to the populations at risk. Owing to the low compliance of taking folic acid supplements, for example, among women of child-bearing age who could lower the risk of having a baby with a neural tube defect, food-based strategies aimed at increasing the intake of folate and other B-group vitamins should be a priority for future research. These should include the development of a combined strategy of supplemental folate (possibly with vitamin B(12)), biofortification using engineered plant-derived foods and micro-organisms and food fortification for increasing folate intakes in the general population. Currently, the most effective population-based strategy to reduce NTDs remains folic acid fortification. However, the possible adverse effect of high intakes of folic acid on neurologic functioning among elderly persons with vitamin B(12) deficiency needs urgent investigation. The results of ongoing randomized controlled studies aimed at reducing the prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia and related morbidity must be available before food-based total population approaches for treatment of hyperhomocysteinemia can be recommended. Further research is required on quantitative assessment of folate intake and bioavailability, along with a more thorough understanding of physiological, biochemical and genetic processes involved in folate absorption and metabolism.

Objectives: Application of a HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) method, using cyanide derivatisation, to the determination of plasma pyridoxal-5-phosphate (PLP) concentrations as an indicator of vitamin B6 adequacy., Setting: The study was performed at the Institute of Food Research, Norwich, UK. Blood samples were taken at the Institute, at Health Centres, or in the volunteer's home., Subjects: 51 adolescent, 131 adult, 68 non-institutionalized elderly and 44 aged (>73 y) volunteers were recruited from local authority schools, local Health Centres and General Practitioners., Results: The mean PLP recovery was 92.8%. The intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation were 2.8% and 5.2% respectively. Mean PLP concentrations for males and females, respectively, were: adolescents (13-14 y), 36.4 and 43.5 nM; adults (20-64 y), 39.2 and 40.0 nM; elderly (68-73 y), 34.8 and 35.3 nM; aged (>73 y), 57.8 and 49.0 nM. Percentages of subjects with PLP concentrations <34.4 nM were over 26% in all population groups. Mean vitamin B6 intakes (microg/g protein intake), as assessed by weighed dietary records, were all above reference nutrient intakes (15 microg/g protein)., Conclusions: An HPLC method, using cyanide derivitisation, has been applied to the determination of plasma PLP. Comparisons of results for local population groups with current cut-off values for plasma PLP, show large numbers of volunteers at risk of vitamin B6 deficiency although this is not reflected by vitamin B6 intakes calculated from food tables. The 34.4 nM cut-off value for value for plasma PLP, indicating deficiency, is questioned.

Base-pair substitution rates for the mitochondrial cytochrome beta gene of free-living, native populations of voles collected next to reactor 4 at Chernobyl, Ukraine, were estimated by two independent methods to be in excess of 10(-4) nucleotides per site per generation. These estimates are hundreds of times greater than those typically found in mitochondria of vertebrates, suggesting that the environment resulting from this nuclear power plant disaster is having a measurable genetic impact on the organisms of that region. Despite these DNA changes, vole populations thrive and reproduce in the radioactive regions around the Chernobyl reactor.

The relationship between dietary fat intake and fasting plasma lipid levels was assessed in 35 female and 19 male adolescents recruited from two local education authority schools in Norwich, UK. Dietary intakes were assessed using a 7-day weighed dietary record method, coupled with the collection of duplicate diets. Fat and energy intakes calculated using food composition tables were compared with values obtained by direct analysis of duplicate diets. Fasting plasma lipid levels (total, HDL and LDL cholesterol and triglycerides) were measured and compared with total dietary lipids and fatty acid intakes. The average proportion of energy consumed as fat was higher than is currently considered desirable but lower than previous studies have reported for adults. Mean serum total cholesterol values were 4.2 (SEM 0.1) mmol for females and 4.5 (SEM 0.2) mmol for males; this difference was not statistically significant. In male subjects the dietary fatty acid profiles were significantly correlated with several parameters of plasma lipid status which are thought to be risk factors for coronary heart disease, and in particular with the ratio of total:HDL cholesterol.

Methods of regression analysis of genotype-environment interaction are considered in relation to existing theory dealing with the relative efficiencies of selection for general or specific adaptation to the environment, and the choice of environments for assessment. The two alternative models is involving regression on to environmental effects (model 2) or genotypic effects (model 3) are equivalent when regression lines are concurrent, but are shown to be mutually exclusive when concurrence is absent...

In a study of human milk obtained in the first month of lactation, lipase and esterase activity were assayed. Bile salt-stimulated lipase (BSSL) and bile salt-stimulated esterase (BSSE) activities in colostrum were similar to corresponding enzyme activities in transitional milk and in mature milk. BSSL and BSSE were significantly (P less than 0.001) correlated to one another, which suggests that lipase and esterase activities in milk are due to the same enzyme. When milk was allowed to stand at room temperature, in a refrigerator, or subjected to freezing and thawing, wide fluctuations were observed in lipase and esterase activities, but there was no systematic tendency for enzyme activity to increase or decrease. Heating milk to various temperatures between 40-55 degrees C resulted in progressive loss of enzyme activity. The activation energy for the process which inactivates the enzyme was found by linear regression to the Arrhenius plot to be 2 X 10(5) J X mole-1. Our findings suggest that lipase and esterase activity in human milk which is donated to hospitals and stored frozen can make a valuable contribution to fat digestion in the newborn infant, but pasteurization destroys the enzyme.

Some issues which evidently remain as areas of contention in diallel analysis are reviewed. In the estimation of genetic variance components for an ancestral reference population in equilibrium, analysis should be applied to F1 data only, and proceed as for a random effects model. No meaningful reference population is constituted by the parental sample itself, but an equilibrium reference population which could be derived from these parents can be defined. To give unbiassed estimates of parameters for this population, analysis must include S1 data, and the parents must be homozygous and in linkage equilibrium. Estimation of dominance variance must allow for the fact that the diallel population itself is not in linkage equilibrium by correcting the specific combining ability sum of squares for the mean S1 vs. F1 difference. Some different analyses of variance of the diallel table are discussed in the context of the above reference populations.

A simple demonstration, applicable to any ploidy level, that response to selection measured after one generation of random mating is proportional to the gametic variance, is given. The reduction in the coefficients of variance components during subsequent random mating generations is related to the approach of the population structure to various types of equilibria.

Potential bias in estimates of regression coefficients when the environmental index in joint regressional analysis is the mean of all genotypes is examined in relation to assumptions of random and fixed genotypic effects and the error structure of the experiment. A modification is suggested.