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The conservation of animal genetic resources refers to measures taken to prevent the loss of genetic diversity in livestock populations, including the protection of breeds from extinction. Creole cattle populations have suffered a drastic reduction in recent decades owing to absorbent crosses or replacement with commercial breeds of European or Indian origin. Genetic characterization can serve as a source of information for conservation strategies to maintain genetic variation. The objective of this work was to evaluate the levels of inbreeding and kinship through the use of genomic information. A total of 903 DNAs from 13 cattle populations from Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay were genotyped using an SNP panel of 48 K. Also, a dataset of 76 K SNPs from Peruvian Creole was included. Two inbreeding indices (FROH and Fhat2) and kinship relationships were calculated. In addition, effective population size (Ne), linkage disequilibrium, population composition and phylogenetic relationships were estimated. In Creole cattle, FROH ranged from 0.14 to 0.03, and Fhat2 was close to zero. The inferred Ne trends exhibited a decline toward the present for all populations, whereas Creole cattle presented a lower magnitude of Ne than foreign breeds. Cluster analysis clearly differentiated the taurine and Zebu components (K2) and showed that Bolivian Creole cattle presented Zebu gene introgression. Despite the population reduction, Creole populations did not present extreme values of consanguinity and kinship and maintain high levels of genetic diversity. The information obtained in this work may be useful for planning conservation programmes for these valuable local animal genetic resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Correspondence, G. Siuzdak and colleagues present XCMS-METLIN, an extensive resource for metabolomics, lipidomics, and chemical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dendritic cells (DCs) bridge the connection between innate and adaptive immunity. DCs present antigens to T cells and stimulate potent cytotoxic T‐cell responses. Metabolic reprogramming is critical for DC development and activation; however, metabolic adaptations and regulation in DC subsets remains largely uncharacterized. Here, we mapped metabolomic and lipidomic signatures associated with the activation phenotype of human conventional DC type 1, a DC subset specialized in cross‐presentation and therefore of major importance for the stimulation of CD8+ T cells. Our metabolomics and lipidomic analyses showed that Toll‐like receptor (TLR) stimulation altered glycerolipids and amino acids in cDC1. Poly I:C or pRNA stimulation reduced triglycerides and cholesterol esters, as well as various amino acids. Moreover, TLR stimulation reduced expression of glycolysis‐regulating genes and did not induce glycolysis. Conversely, cDC1 exhibited increased mitochondrial content and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) upon TLR3 or TLR7/8 stimulation. Our findings highlight the metabolic adaptations required for cDC1 maturation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of flaxseed (FLAX) oil or 16‐carbon n‐7 fatty acid ‐enhanced fish oil (Provinal; POA) supplementation on serum, liver and skeletal muscle fatty acid concentrations, serum ceramide and plasma insulin concentrations, and gene expression. Lambs [n = 18; 42 ± 5.6 kg body weight (BW); 7 months] were individually fed one of the three treatments: (1) control (CON), no oil supplement, (2) FLAX; at 0.1% of BW, or (3) POA at 0.1% of BW for 60 days. Daily feed intake and weight gain were decreased by 21% and 34%, respectively, for POA than FLAX. Liver and skeletal muscle concentrations of palmitoleic acid were greater by 396% and 87%, respectively, for POA than FLAX; whereas, liver and skeletal muscle α‐linolenic acid concentrations were greater by 199% and 118%, respectively, for FLAX. Supplementation with POA also had greater serum and tissue concentrations of eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids. Serum glucose and plasma insulin concentrations were elevated with FLAX supplementation at the end of the study. Supplementation with POA altered serum ceramide concentrations compared to CON or FLAX. Oil supplementation, both FLAX and POA, downregulated expression of unesterified fatty acid receptors (FFAR) 1 and FFAR4 in the liver; however, oil supplementation upregulated expression of FFAR1 in muscle. Interleukin‐6 (IL6) and tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNFA) expression were downregulated with oil supplementation in the liver; however, FLAX upregulated TNFA in muscle. These results show that oil supplementation can enhance uptake and deposition of unique fatty acids that alter ceramide concentrations and gene expression in tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper pressents an infinite-horizon optimal controller, based on a state-dependent Riccati equation approach to solve the tracking for nonlinear systems. The synthesized control law comes from solving the Hamilton- Jacobi- Bellman equation for state-dependent coefficient factorized nonlinear systems. The proposed controller results in a state feedback optimal control law plus a time varying term, which minimizes a quadratic performance index. In order to illustrate the tracking to a desired reference, the proposed optimal control law is applied to two systems with practical applications: the Van der Pol oscillator and a doubly fed induction generator. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a transient fall in hypothalamic serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) activity in the second week post partum in male but not female rats. When this fall is masked by administration of the 5-HT2 agonist (–) 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl]-2-aminopropane hydrochloride [(–)DOI], over days 8–16 post partum, males are feminised in adulthood. To investigate whether the effect of 5-HT is mediated by dopamine and whether testosterone exerts its masculinising effect by reducing 5-HT and dopamine activity, male pups were treated with (–)DOI alone or together with the dopamine antagonist, haloperidol, over days 8–16 post partum, whereas females were treated with testosterone propionate on day 2 post partum. In adulthood, the volumes of the anteroventral periventricular nucleus (AVPV), sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area (SDN-POA) and arcuate nucleus (ARC) were determined, together with the number of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive (TH-ir) cells and fibres within them. The concentrations of 5-HT, dopamine and their metabolites were also measured. (–)DOI treatment increased the volume of the AVPV, decreased that of the SDN-POA and increased the number of TH-ir cells in the AVPV. These feminising effects were antagonised by concurrent haloperidol treatment. Neonatal testosterone propionate masculinised the volumes of the female AVPV and SDN-POA and reduced the number of TH-ir cells in the AVPV. Dopamine and 5-HT turnover in the AVPV was greater in female compared to male rats and neonatal testosterone propionate reduced dopamine concentration in the female AVPV. Neonatal (–)DOI had no effect on dopamine and 5-HT activity in the AVPV but increased both in the ARC. The findings that TH-ir neurone number and dopamine activity are greater in the female AVPV; the feminising effect of 5-HT is prevented by a haloperidol; and the masculinising effect of testosterone propionate is accompanied by a decrease in TH-ir neurone number and dopamine concentration in the female AVPV, suggest that dopamine is involved in hypothalamic sexual differentiation and may mediate the effect of 5-HT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The translation method for products of two Slater functions is improved and combined with the short–long range separation in order to develop a robust and efficient algorithm for the evaluation of three-center Coulomb integrals with Slater functions. Several tests are carried out showing that the algorithm reported here yields integrals with an absolute error below 10-12 hartree and a computational cost of a few microseconds per integral. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2008 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gauss transform of Slater-type orbitals is used to express several types of molecular integrals involving these functions in terms of simple auxiliary functions. After reviewing this transform and the way it can be combined with the shift operator technique, a master formula for overlap integrals is derived and used to obtain multipolar moments associated to fragments of two-center distributions and overlaps of derivatives of Slater functions. Moreover, it is proved that integrals involving two-center distributions and irregular harmonics placed at arbitrary points (which determine the electrostatic potential, field and field gradient, as well as higher order derivatives of the potential) can be expressed in terms of auxiliary functions of the same type as those appearing in the overlap. The recurrence relations and series expansions of these functions are thoroughly studied, and algorithms for their calculation are presented. The usefulness and efficiency of this procedure are tested by developing two independent codes: one for the derivatives of the overlap integrals with respect to the centers of the functions, and another for derivatives of the potential (electrostatic field, field gradient, and so forth) at arbitrary points. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2008 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A direct relationship is established between the degree of fulfillment of the Hellman-Feynman (electrostatic) theorem, measured as the difference between energy derivatives and electrostatic forces, and the stability of the basis set, measured from the indices that characterize the distance of the space generated by the basis functions to the space of their derivatives with respect to the nuclear coordinates. On the basis of this relationship, a criterion for obtaining basis sets of moderate size with a high degree of fulfillment of the theorem is proposed. As an illustrative application, previously reported Slater basis sets are extended by using this criterion. The resulting augmented basis sets are tested on several molecules finding that the differences between energy gradient and electrostatic forces are reduced by at least one order of magnitude. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 28: 748–758, 2007 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many types of molecular integrals involving Slater functions can be expressed, with the ζ‐function method in terms of sets of one‐dimensional auxiliary integrals whose integrands contain two‐range functions. After reviewing the properties of these functions (including recurrence relations, derivatives, integral representations, and series expansions), we carry out a detailed study of the auxiliary integrals aimed to facilitate both the formal and computational applications of the ζ‐function method. The usefulness of this study in formal applications is illustrated with an example. The high performance in numerical applications is proved by the development of a very efficient program for the calculation of two‐center integrals with Slater functions corresponding to electrostatic potential, electric field, and electric field gradient. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barnett and Coulson's ζ-function method (M. P. Barnett and C. A. Coulson, Philos. Trans. R. Soc., Lond. A 1951, 243, 221) is one of the main sources of algorithms for the solution of multicenter integrals with Slater-type orbitals. This method is extended here from single functions to two-center charge distributions, which are expanded at a third center in terms of spherical harmonics times analytical radial factors. For s–s distributions, the radial factors are given by a series of factors corresponding to the translation of s-type orbitals. For distributions with higher quantum numbers, they are obtained from those of the s–s distributions by recurrence. After analyzing the convergence of the series, a computational algorithm is proposed and its practical efficiency is tested in three-center (AB|CC) repulsion integrals. In cases of large basis sets, the procedure yields about 12 correct significant figures with a computational cost of a few microseconds per integral. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 26: 846–855, 2005 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

General algorithms for electric field integrals with Slater‐type orbitals (STO) are reported, and the efficiency of the computational procedure based in these algorithms is analyzed. An accuracy of nine decimal places, at least, is estimated for the molecular electric field computed on any point. Timing was examined for calculations with STO basis sets ranging from 30 to 300 basis functions. Computational cost was moderate, even for the largest basis set. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2004 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fulfillment of the Hellmann–Feynman electrostatic theorem is examined for the sequences of cc‐pVxZ and cc‐pCVxZ Gaussian basis sets as well as for the VBx and CVBx basis sets of Slater‐type orbitals. The difference between the energy gradient and electrostatic forces is large in small Gaussian basis sets of the two types, but decreases quickly as the basis sets improve. In VBx Slater basis sets these differences are small but the improvement is irregular, whereas in CVBx basis sets the fulfillment of the electrostatic theorem is very satisfactory. For the high‐quality basis sets (cc‐pV5Z, cc‐pCVQZ, cc‐pCV5Z, CVB2, and CVB3) the energy gradient can be replaced by the electrostatic force in most practical applications. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2004 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the application of Lie Algebra to the mobility analysis of kinematic chains. It develops an algebraic formulation of a group-theoretic mobility criterion developed recently by two of the authors of this publication. The instantaneous form of the mobility criterion presented here is based on the theory of subspaces and subalgebras of the Lie Algebra of the Euclidean group and their possible intersections. It is shown using this theory that certain results on mobility of over-constraint linkages derived previously using screw theory are not complete and accurate. The theory presented provides for a computational approach that would allow efficient automation of the new group-theoretic mobility criterion. The theory is illustrated using several examples. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eye color prediction based on an individual's genetic information is of interest in the field of forensic genetics. In recent years, researchers have studied different genes and markers associated with this externally visible characteristic and have developed methods for its prediction. The IrisPlex represents a validated tool for homogeneous populations, though its applicability in populations of mixed ancestry is limited, mainly regarding the prediction of intermediate eye colors. With the aim of validating the applicability of this system in an admixed population from Argentina (n = 302), we analyzed the six single nucleotide variants used in that multiplex for eye color and four additional SNPs, and evaluated its prediction ability. We also performed a genotype-phenotype association analysis. This system proved to be useful when dealing with the extreme ends of the eye color spectrum (blue and brown) but presented difficulties in determining the intermediate phenotypes (green), which were found in a large proportion of our population. We concluded that these genetic tools should be used with caution in admixed populations and that more studies are required in order to improve the prediction of intermediate phenotypes., (© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/University College London.)