Wind-driven rain and future risk to built heritage in the United Kingdom: Novel metrics for characterising rain spells.

Wind-driven rain (WDR) is rain given a horizontal velocity component by wind and falling obliquely. It is a prominent environmental risk to built heritage, as it contributes to the damage of porous building materials and building element failure. While predicted climate trends are well-established, how they will specifically manifest in future WDR is uncertain.

Parents, peers, and risky sexual behaviors in rural African American adolescents.

In this study, the authors examined the relationships among parenting factors (closeness, communication, support, and monitoring), peer deviance, and adolescent risky sexual behavior in a sample of rural African American youth (N=689). Descriptive analyses revealed that risky sexual activity in this sample was common, with a little over half of the sample endorsing participation in one or more risky sexual behaviors, Despite promising associations between parent variables and risky sexual activity, only peer deviance was predictive of risky sexual behavior in the final model. Thus, findings indicate that peer deviance was a salient predictor of risky sexual behaviors in this rural African American sample.

A test of Jessor's problem behavior theory in a Eurasian and a Western European developmental context.

Purpose: The current study tested the applicability of Jessor's problem behavior theory (PBT) in national probability samples from Georgia and Switzerland. Comparisons focused on (1) the applicability of the problem behavior syndrome (PBS) in both developmental contexts, and (2) on the applicability of employing a set of theory-driven risk and protective factors in the prediction of problem behaviors.

Methods: School-based questionnaire data were collected from n = 18,239 adolescents in Georgia (n = 9499) and Switzerland (n = 8740) following the same protocol.

Neuropathogenic forms of huntingtin and androgen receptor inhibit fast axonal transport.

Huntington's and Kennedy's disease are autosomal dominant neurodegenerative diseases caused by pathogenic expansion of polyglutamine tracts. Expansion of glutamine repeats must in some way confer a gain of pathological function that disrupts an essential cellular process and leads to loss of affected neurons. Association of huntingtin with vesicular structures raised the possibility that axonal transport might be altered.

Sry expression level and protein isoform differences play a role in abnormal testis development in C57BL/6J mice carrying certain Sry alleles.

Transfer of certain Mus domesticus-derived Y chromosomes (Sry(DOM) alleles, e.g., Sry(POS) and Sry(AKR)) onto the C57BL/6J (B6) mouse strain causes abnormal gonad development due to an aberrant interaction between the Sry(DOM) allele and the B6-derived autosomal (tda) genes.

Free amino-acid concentrations in the equine placenta: relationship to maternal and fetal plasma concentrations.

Free amino-acid concentrations were measured in maternal venous and fetal umbilical vein plasma, and in the allantochorion, of Thoroughbred mares at term. Concentrations in maternal and fetal plasma were similar to those reported previously in equids. The concentrations of free amino-acids in the allantochorion were higher than those in the maternal and fetal plasmas and were characterised by high levels of the nonessential amino-acids as observed in other species.

Triiodothyronine decreases the activity of the proximal promoter (PII) of the aromatase gene in the mouse Sertoli cell line, TM4.

Estrogens and thyroid hormones play a significant role in regulating functions and development of the testis. The synthesis of estrogens from androgens is catalyzed by the enzyme complex termed aromatase, which in the testis displays an age-related cellular compartmentalization, primarily in Sertoli cells in immature animals, whereas in adults it is expressed in Leydig and germ cells. T3 induces a precocious terminal differentiation of prepubertal Sertoli cells together with a dramatic decrease of their aromatase activity.