Poa annua L. is the only non−native vascular plant that was successfully estab− lished in the maritime Antarctic. This project aimed to determine the amount of genetic and epigenetic variation within and between two populations of P. annua, one from South Shet− land Is. (Antarctic) and the other one from Central Europe. We applied two AFLP marker systems, using endonucleases that recognised the...

Genetic association studies have identified 2 loci associated with atopic dermatitis risk predominantly in populations of European ancestry. To identify further susceptibility loci for this common, complex skin disease, we performed a meta-analysis of > 5 million genetic variants in 2 ,399 cases and 95,464 controls from populations of European, African, Japanese and Latino ancestry, followed by...

SUMMARY Mixed model-based approaches to genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of binary traits in related individuals can account for non-genetic risk factors in an integrated manner. However, they are technically challenging. GLOGS (Genome-wide LOGistic mixed model/Score test) addresses such challenges with efficient statistical procedures and a parallel implementation. GLOGS has high power r...

Statistical analysis of the unresolved light in the Hubble Deep Field (HDF) strongly constrains possible sources of the optical Extragalactic Background Light (EBL). This constraint is crucial for determining the spectrum of the EBL because reported upper limits on the optical EBL are several times larger than the surface brightness from detected galaxies, suggesting the possibility of addition...

Since 2007, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have contributed to a major leap forward in understanding the genetic basis of obesity and diabetes [1–4]. To date, 37 genetic loci associated with obesity or body mass index (BMI) have been identified through these GWAS which were predominantly in populations of European ancestry. We conducted a meta-analysis of associations between BMI and ap...

To explore the potential evolutionary relevance of heritable epigenetic variation, the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center recently hosted a catalysis meeting that brought together molecular epigeneticists, experimental evolutionary ecologists, and theoretical population and quantitative geneticists working across a wide variety of systems. The group discussed the methods available to invest...

Random amplified polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs) data were analyzed from all the taxa of Cupressus from the western hemisphere. Populations of Cupressus from Arizona and Texas, USA, were found to cluster in the two groups delimited by Wolf (1948): C. arizonica and C. glabra. These data suggest that these taxa might be better recognized at the specific level as per Wolf (1948), rather than at the varie...

BACKGROUND Despite the advances in the diagnosis and treatment of leishmaniasis, it is still considered as a severe public health problem particularly in developing countries and a great economic burden on the health resources. The present study was designed and conducted to determine the eco-environmental characteristics of the leishmaniasis disease by spatial analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS...

BACKGROUND Coronary heart disease has been reported to be the major cause of death of postmenopausal women in industrialized countries. The risk for women of dying from myocardial infarction is significantly greater than the risk of dying from cancer. The aim of this study was to compare previous observations regarding causes of death with the results from the Population Study of Women in Gothe...

17 Methylation of DNA cytosines affects whether transposons are silenced and genes are 18 expressed, and is a major epigenetic mechanism whereby plants respond to 19 environmental change. Analyses of Methylation-Sensitive Amplification Polymorphism 20 (MS-AFLP or MSAP) have been often used to assess methyl-cytosine changes in 21 response to stress treatments and, more recently, in ecological st...