A short C-rich PNA fragment capable to form novel G-quadruplex-PNA complexes

in Nucleic Acids Symposium Series (2008), 52

In this work we investigated the interaction between the short ac(4)a C-rich peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probe and two intramolecular G-quadruplex targets having the same G-tetrad core, but different ... [more ▼]

In this work we investigated the interaction between the short ac(4)a C-rich peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probe and two intramolecular G-quadruplex targets having the same G-tetrad core, but different folding topologies. The T(G(4)T)(3)G(4)T and the recently reported tetra-end-linked-(TG(4)T)(4) G-rich oligonucleotides (GROs) were chosen and synthesized for this study. UV, CD, and MS experiments revealed the formation of novel 1:1 G-quadruplex-PNA complexes besides the expected DNA-PNA heteroduplexes [less ▲]

Short communication: correlations of marker-assisted breeding values with progeny-test breeding values for eight hundred ninety-nine French Holstein bulls.

in Journal of Dairy Science (2008), 91(6), 2520-2

French artificial insemination companies have been running a marker-assisted selection program since 2001 to determine which young bulls should be progeny tested. A first batch of 899 Holstein sires ... [more ▼]

French artificial insemination companies have been running a marker-assisted selection program since 2001 to determine which young bulls should be progeny tested. A first batch of 899 Holstein sires receiving their first proofs based on progeny daughters has been studied. Estimated breeding values with or without marker information were computed based on information available in April 2004, and correlated to daughter yield deviations available in 2007 for production traits. Marker-assisted estimated breeding values presented greater correlations with daughter yield deviations than those calculated using only pedigree index. The average improvement in correlation was 0.043 and ranged from +0.001 for protein yield to +0.103 for fat percentage. This gain was based on the initial and suboptimal conditions of the program and is expected to increase in the coming years because of several improvements implemented since the start of the marker-assisted selection program. [less ▲]

Short communication: Genetic evaluation of milking speed for brown Swiss dairy cattle in the United States

in Journal of Dairy Science (2007), 90(2), 1021-1023

Genetic parameters and relative breeding values were estimated for milking speed of US Brown Swiss dairy cattle. Owner-recorded milking-speed scores on a scale of 1 (slow) to 8 (fast) were collected by ... [more ▼]

Genetic parameters and relative breeding values were estimated for milking speed of US Brown Swiss dairy cattle. Owner-recorded milking-speed scores on a scale of 1 (slow) to 8 (fast) were collected by the Brown Swiss Association as part of its linear type appraisal program starting in 2004. Data were 7,366 records for 6,666 cows in 393 herds. The pedigree file included information for 21,458 animals born in 1985 or later. Six unknown-parent groups that each included 4 birth years were defined. The model included fixed effects for herd appraisal date and parity-lactation stage and random effects for permanent environment, animal, and error. Within parity (1, 2, and >= 3), 6 groups were defined: unknown calving date, four 90-d lactation stages, and lactations with > 400 d in milk. Heritability of 0.22 and repeatability of 0.42 were estimated by average-information REML; residual variance was 1.13. Little trend in estimated breeding value was found for cows born from 1999 through 2002. Although solutions increased with lactation stage for first-parity cows by 0.37, no clear trend was found for later parities. Genetic evaluations for milking speed were expressed as relative breeding values with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 5. The 121 bulls with >= 10 daughters had milking speed evaluations that ranged from 83 to 112 and had correlations of 0.56 with productive life evaluations and -0.40 with somatic cell score evaluations. The association of faster milking speed with lower somatic cell score was not expected. The moderate heritability found for milking speed indicates that the evaluations (first released in May 2006) should be useful in detecting bulls with slow-milking daughters. [less ▲]

Short communication: Genetic variation of saturated fatty acids in Holsteins in the Walloon region of Belgium

in Journal of Dairy Science (2010), 93

Random regression test-day models using Legendre polynomials are commonly used for the estimation of genetic parameters and genetic evaluation for test-day milk production traits. However, some ... [more ▼]

Random regression test-day models using Legendre polynomials are commonly used for the estimation of genetic parameters and genetic evaluation for test-day milk production traits. However, some researchers have reported that these models present some undesirable properties such as the overestimation of variances at the edges of lactation. Describing genetic variation of saturated fatty acids expressed in milk fat might require the testing of different models. Therefore, 3 different functions were used and compared to take into account the lactation curve: (1) Legendre polynomials with the same order as currently applied for genetic model for production traits; 2) linear splines with 10 knots; and 3) linear splines with the same 10 knots reduced to 3 parameters. The criteria used were Akaike’s information and Bayesian information criteria, percentage square biases, and log-likelihood function. These criteria indentified Legendre polynomials and linear splines with 10 knots reduced to 3 parameters models as the most useful. Reducing more complex models using eigenvalues seemed appealing because the resulting models are less time demanding and can reduce convergence difficulties, because convergence properties also seemed to be improved. Finally, the results showed that the reduced spline model was very similar to the Legendre polynomials model. [less ▲]

Short communication: Pasteurization of milk abolishes bovine herpesvirus 4 infectivity.

in Journal of Dairy Science (2005), 88(9), 3079-83

Bovine herpesvirus 4 (BoHV-4) is a gammaherpesvirus highly prevalent in the cattle population that has been isolated from the milk and the serum of healthy infected cows. Several studies reported the ... [more ▼]

Bovine herpesvirus 4 (BoHV-4) is a gammaherpesvirus highly prevalent in the cattle population that has been isolated from the milk and the serum of healthy infected cows. Several studies reported the sensitivity and the permissiveness of some human cells to BoHV-4 infection. Moreover, our recent study demonstrated that some human cells sensitive but not permissive to BoHV-4 support a persistent infection protecting them from tumor necrosis factor-alpha-induced apoptosis. Together, these observations suggested that BoHV-4 could represent a danger for public health. To evaluate the risk of human infection by BoHV-4 through milk or serum derivatives, we investigated the resistance of BoHV-4 to the mildest thermal treatments usually applied to these products. The results demonstrated that milk pasteurization and thermal decomplementation of serum abolish BoHV-4 infectivity by inactivation of its property to enter permissive cells. Consequently, our results demonstrate that these treatments drastically reduce the risk of human infection by BoHV-4 through treated milk or serum derivatives. [less ▲]

Short Course on Method Validation

Conference (2008)

Short Course on Methof Validation

Conference (2009)

Short day induced gonadal regression in ring doves (Streptopelia risoria): a case for seasonal variation.

in Chronobiologia (1980), 7(3), 357-70

Changes in follicular size (in diameter) were studied by laparotomy under various photoperiodic regimes in the domesticated ring doves that have been kept under standard laboratory conditions for ... [more ▼]

Changes in follicular size (in diameter) were studied by laparotomy under various photoperiodic regimes in the domesticated ring doves that have been kept under standard laboratory conditions for generations. Follicular response shows two distinct patterns: 1. a shift from standard laboratory photoperiodic regime (LD 14:10) to extra long day (LD 20:4) accelerated the follicular development in the spring as well as in the autumn; 2. a shift from the standard laboratory photoperiodic regime (LD 14:10) to short day (LD 8:16 or LD 1/2:23 1/2) induced follicular regressions in the autumn but not in the spring. We propose that there is a responsive phase (spring) and nonresponsive phase (autumn) of hypothalamo-hypophyseal-ovarian system in the ring doves. Comparison of radioimmunoassay of pituitary and plasma LH value suggests that the responsive and non-responsive phase involves mainly release mechanisms. In the autumn, the release mechanism becomes insensitive to stimuli below certain thresholds. Our ring doves are kept in responsive phase throughout the year under the long photoperiodicity (LD 14:10). However, the effect of long day does not appear to override completely the seasonal effect. [less ▲]

A short introduction into Bayesian evaluation of informative hypotheses as an alternative to exploratory comparisons of multiple group means

in Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology (2012), 8

This paper presents an introduction into Bayesian evaluation of informative hypotheses, that is, hypotheses representing explicit expectations about multiple group means (Hoijtink, 2011; Hoijtink ... [more ▼]

This paper presents an introduction into Bayesian evaluation of informative hypotheses, that is, hypotheses representing explicit expectations about multiple group means (Hoijtink, 2011; Hoijtink, Klugkist & Boelen, 2008). The authors begin by discussing some limits of exploratory methods before presenting a non-technical overview of the Bayesian approach. References are provided for the technical details. A particular effort is made to illustrate the method with an example from psychology. References to software, more elaborate textbooks and tutorials enable researchers to apply this novel method to their own data. [less ▲]

Short loss of consciousness

in Revue Médicale de Liège (1980), 35(8), 281-285