Impact of leptin deficiency on male tibia and vertebral body 3D bone architecture independent of changes in body weight.

Leptin an adipokine with potent effects on energy balance and body weight plays an important role in defining bone architecture in growing mammals. However, major changes in body weight can also influence morphology of trabecular and cortical bone. Therefore, we examined the impact of leptin deficiency on tibia and vertebral body 3D bone architecture independent of changes in body weight.

Controlled Release of Antimicrobial ClO Gas from a Two-Layer Polymeric Film System.

We report a two-component label system comprising a chlorite-containing polymer film and an acid-containing polymer film that can release antimicrobial ClO gas upon adhering the two films together to enable a reaction of the chlorite and acid under moisture exposure. The chlorite-containing film comprises a commercial acrylate-based pressure-sensitive adhesive polymer impregnated with sodium chlorite. The acid-containing film comprises a commercial poly(vinyl alcohol) polymer loaded with tartaric acid.

Concealed effects of gene-environment interactions in genome-wide association.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been conducted on many complex diseases with the aim of identifying common genetic variants important in disease susceptibility. It is rare for these to consider environmental factors when calculating the odds ratios for variants associated with disease. We modelled the effect of an environmentally-dependent genetic risk locus and showed that, despite a relatively low overall odds ratio, environmental exposure was able to conceal a large true effect size on disease susceptibility in exposed individuals.

Re-entrant phase behavior for systems with competition between phase separation and self-assembly.

In patchy particle systems where there is a competition between the self-assembly of finite clusters and liquid-vapor phase separation, re-entrant phase behavior can be observed, with the system passing from a monomeric vapor phase to a region of liquid-vapor phase coexistence and then to a vapor phase of clusters as the temperature is decreased at constant density. Here, we present a classical statistical mechanical approach to the determination of the complete phase diagram of such a system. We model the system as a van der Waals fluid, but one where the monomers can assemble into monodisperse clusters that have no attractive interactions with any of the other species.

Smoking and multiple sclerosis: an updated meta-analysis.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a leading cause of disability in young adults. Susceptibility to MS is determined by environmental exposure on the background of genetic risk factors. A previous meta-analysis suggested that smoking was an important risk factor for MS but many other studies have been published since then.

An updated meta-analysis of risk of multiple sclerosis following infectious mononucleosis.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) appears to develop in genetically susceptible individuals as a result of environmental exposures. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is an almost universal finding among individuals with MS. Symptomatic EBV infection as manifested by infectious mononucleosis (IM) has been shown in a previous meta-analysis to be associated with the risk of MS, however a number of much larger studies have since been published.