Development of a movable 4πß(LS)-γ coincidence counting system for activity standardization of ß-γ emitters.

A new movable 3PM-γ coincidence system, based on 4πß(LS)-γ coincidence counting, for activity measurement of ß-γ emitters has been designed at the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS). The system incorporates 3 PM tubes on the plane and two detectors placed above and below the center of the plane. The 3 PM tubes for ß-counters in the plane are movable up to 100 mm from a liquid scintillation vial, thus enabling the variation of ß-detection efficiencies by a geometrical technique. A NaI(Tl) γ-counter was set above for the present work. The ß-event is determined by counting the logical sum of three double coincidences. All the necessary electronics, i.e., logical sum, adjusting the duration of dead-time of each counting channel and coincidence resolving times, and analyzing coincidence relation, were specially designed to be fabricated in an integrated circuit. Details of the detectors, the electronics, the overall movable 3PM-γ coincidence system are presented, as well as the results of investigations to assess its operating characteristics. Validation measurements have been performed with 60Co and 57Co sources. The highest ß-detection efficiency achieved with 60Co and 57Co was 97% and 95%, respectively. The activity concentration determined with a new system agreed with calibrated values within the uncertainty range. Further results from validation measurements and the corresponding uncertainty budgets are presented.

Comparative genetic architectures of schizophrenia in East Asian and European populations.

Schizophrenia is a debilitating psychiatric disorder with approximately 1% lifetime risk globally. Large-scale schizophrenia genetic studies have reported primarily on European ancestry samples, potentially missing important biological insights. Here, we report the largest study to date of East Asian participants (22,778 schizophrenia cases and 35,362 controls), identifying 21 genome-wide-significant associations in 19 genetic loci. Common genetic variants that confer risk for schizophrenia have highly similar effects between East Asian and European ancestries (genetic correlation = 0.98 ± 0.03), indicating that the genetic basis of schizophrenia and its biology are broadly shared across populations. A fixed-effect meta-analysis including individuals from East Asian and European ancestries identified 208 significant associations in 176 genetic loci (53 novel). Trans-ancestry fine-mapping reduced the sets of candidate causal variants in 44 loci. Polygenic risk scores had reduced performance when transferred across ancestries, highlighting the importance of including sufficient samples of major ancestral groups to ensure their generalizability across populations.

Decreased expression of MUC2 due to a decrease in the expression of lectins and apoptotic defects in colitis patients.

INTRODUCTION: The involvement of mucin, lectin, and apoptosis in colitis is still unclear. This study aimed to investigate changes in MUC2 expression, inflammation, and changes in lectin expression in colitis patients. METHODS: A total of 17 patients were divided into two groups including 11 hemorrhoid patients as a control group and 6 colitis patients. MUC2 mutation analysis was carried out using immunofluorescent and FISH techniques. Assessment of caspase-3, Ki-67, NF-kB, and lectin expressions was also carried out by immunofluorescent technique then analyzed by confocal laser scanning microscope. RESULTS: The MUC2, caspase-3, and lectin expressions were significantly lower in the colitis group than in the control group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that in colitis there was a change in MUC2 expression due to changes in lectins accompanied by apoptotic defects.conclusion.

Association of rs1344706 in the ZNF804A gene with schizophrenia in a case/control sample from Indonesia.

BACKGROUND: Association of rs1344706 in the ZNF804A gene (2q32.1) with schizophrenia was first reported in a genome wide scan conducted in a sample of 479 cases and replicated in 6666 cases. Subsequently, evidence by replication was obtained in several samples with European- and Asian ancestral background. METHODS: We report ascertainment, clinical characterization, quality control, and determination of ancestral background of a case control sample from Indonesia, comprising 1067 cases and 1111 ancestry matched controls. Genotyping was performed using a fluorescence-based allelic discrimination assay (TaqMan SNP genotyping assay) and a newly designed PCR-RFLP assay for confirmation of rs1344706 genotypes. RESULTS: We confirmed association of the T-allele of rs1344706 with schizophrenia in a newly ascertained sample from Indonesia with Southeast Asian ancestral background (P=0.019, OR=1.155, 95%, CI 1.025-1.301). In addition, we studied several SNPs in the vicinity of rs1344706, for which nominally significant results had been reported. None of the association P values of the additional SNPs exceeded that of rs1344706. CONCLUSION: We provide additional evidence for association of the ZNF804A gene with schizophrenia. We conclude that rs1344706 or a yet unknown polymorphism in linkage disequilibrium is also involved in conferring susceptibility to schizophrenia in samples with different (Asian) ancestral backgrounds.

Dynamics of spin and orbital phase transitions in YVO3.

YVO3 exhibits a well separated sequence of orbital and spin order transitions at 200 and 116 K, followed by a combined spin-orbital reorientation at 77 K. It is shown that the spin order can be destroyed by a sufficiently strong optical pulse within less than 4 ps. In contrast, the orbital reordering transition from C-type to G-type orbital order is slower than 100 ps and goes via an intermediate nonthermal phase. We propose that the dynamics of phase transitions is subjected to symmetry relations between the associated phases.