Identification of the pathogenic mutations underlying autosomal recessive nonsyndromic hearing loss (ARNSHL) is difficult, since causative mutations in 39 different genes have so far been reported. After excluding mutations in the most common ARNSHL gene, GJB2, via Sanger sequencing, we performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) in 30 individuals from 20 unrelated multiplex consanguineous families ...

Interpretive analysis of metagenomic data depends on an understanding of the underlying associations among microbes from metagenomic samples. Although several statistical tools have been developed for metagenomic association studies, they suffer from compositional bias or fail to take into account environmental factors that directly affect the composition of a given microbial community. In this...

Sleep is an essential and conserved behavior whose regulation at the molecular and anatomical level remains to be elucidated. Here, we identify TARANIS (TARA), a Drosophila homolog of the Trip-Br (SERTAD) family of transcriptional coregulators, as a molecule that is required for normal sleep patterns. Through a forward-genetic screen, we isolated tara as a novel sleep gene associated with a mar...

BACKGROUND The Tara KLamp (TK) device has been claimed to enable circumcisions to be performed safely and easily in medical and non-medical environments. Published evaluation studies have been conducted among young children only. METHODS Following a randomised controlled trial (RCT) on 3 274 participants on the impact of male circumcision on HIV transmission, 69 control group members particip...

Following the work carried out on guar gum in our first paper of a series, the "pressure cell" solubilization method was applied to two other less highly substituted galactomannans: locust bean gum (LBG) and tara gum. True molecular solution of the polymers was achieved using appropriate temperature, time, and pressure regimes. The technique of capillary viscometry was used to determine the int...

There have been considerable strides made in the characterization of the dispensability of teichoic acid biosynthesis genes in recent years. A notable omission thus far has been an early gene in teichoic acid synthesis encoding the N-acetylmannosamine transferase (tagA in Bacillus subtilis; tarA in Staphylococcus aureus), which adds N-acetylmannosamine to complete the synthesis of undecaprenol ...

Solid state ¹³C-NMR spectra of pure tannin powders from four different sources--mimosa, quebracho, chestnut and tara--are readily distinguishable from each other, both in pure commercial powder form, and in leather which they have been used to tan. Groups of signals indicative of the source, and type (condensed vs. hydrolyzable) of tannin used in the manufacture are well resolved in the spectra...

The vegetal cortex of the Xenopus oocyte is enriched for several mRNAs critical for early embryonic developmental processes, including germ layer specification and dorsoventral axis formation. A microarray screen for other vegetally localized RNAs identified several hundred annotated and novel cortex-enriched transcripts, in addition to previously known mRNAs, which may have undiscovered roles ...