The "heritability" of a phenotype measures the proportion of trait variance due to genetic factors in a population. In the past 50 years, studies with monozygotic and dizygotic twins have estimated heritability for 17 804 traits; thus twin studies are popular for estimating heritability. However, overestimation of heritability in twin studies is one suggested cause of the "missing-heritability phenomena" (estimates from empirical genetic studies are often smaller than twin studies). Developing more accurate methods for estimating heritability may be warranted. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/yo-01027.html Therefore, we propose a robust framework for estimating heritability in twin studies using generalized estimating equations (GEE2). Two popular methods for estimating heritability, the normal ACE model (NACE) and Falconer's method, are derived within this unified GEE2 framework, which additionally provides robust standard errors. Although the traditional Falconer's method cannot adjust for covariates, the corresponding "GEE2-Falconer" can incorporate mean and variance-level covariate effects (eg, let heritability vary by sex or age). Given nonnormal data, the GEE2 models are shown to attain better coverage of the true heritability compared to traditional methods. Finally, a scenario is demonstrated where NACE produces biased estimates of heritability while Falconer remains unbiased. Therefore, we recommend the more robust GEE2-Falconer method for estimating heritability in twin studies.Ovaries and oviducts of the adult African Clawed Toad (Xenopus laevis DAUDIN, 1802) were studied by light microscopy (LM) of paraplast embedded tissue sections and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of vascular corrosion casts (VCCs). Histomorphology revealed that ovarian vessels located in the thecal layers. Ovarian and interlobar arteries displayed a horse-shoe shaped longitudinally running bundle of vascular smooth muscle cells. Follicular blood vessels showed flattened profiles, which were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy in vascular corrosion casts. The flattened profiles obviously led to high intravasal pressures, which locally prevented filling of the follicular capillary bed. Oviduct arteries pierced the fibrous stroma surrounding the oviduct mucosa. In the pars convoluta, the mucosa consisted of a ciliated simple columnar epithelium and tubular oviduct glands that opened between ciliated epithelial cells into the oviduct lumen. Oviduct arteries branched at the basolateral surfaces of tubular glands. After a short tangential course, arterioles branched into capillaries which ran radially between oviduct glands towards the subepithelium. Anastomoses at different heights connected capillaries of neighbouring glands. Subepithelially, capillaries ran longitudinally and undulated. Postcapillary venules radiated centrifugally towards the stroma to finally drain into oviduct veins located in the stroma. Oviduct vascular densities clearly reflected non-ovulatory and ovulatory states.Objective To evaluate the impact of lasmiditan, an oral, centrally-penetrant, selective serotonin 1F (5-HT1F ) receptor agonist developed for the acute treatment of migraine, on simulated driving. Methods Healthy adult volunteers enrolled in two randomized, placebo and active comparator-controlled, crossover studies. Study 1 (N = 90) tested lasmiditan (50-, 100-, 200-mg), alprazolam (1-mg), and placebo at 1.5 hr post-dose. Study 2 (N = 68) tested lasmiditan (100-, 200-mg), diphenhydramine (50-mg, administered 2 hr pre-assessments), and placebo at 8, 12 and 24 hr post-dose. Driving performance was assessed using a validated driving simulator employing a 100 km driving scenario. Standard deviation of lateral position (SDLP), a measure of lane position control, was the primary endpoint. Results Assay sensitivity was confirmed by increased SDLP for active comparators at 1.5- and 8-hr time points. Lasmiditan doses showed significant driving impairment versus placebo at 1.5 hr post-dose. Lasmiditan doses were non-inferior to placebo at 8 hr. Driving impairment was concentration-dependent at 1.5 hr but not at 8 hr. Common adverse events were central nervous system-related and mild-to-moderate in severity. Conclusions Lasmiditan was associated with impaired simulated driving performance at 1.5 hr post-dose, but showed no clinically meaningful impairment at 8 hr post-dose.The pathogenesis of Type 1 diabetes (T1D) arises from the destruction of insulin-producing β-cells by islet-specific autoreactive T cells. Inhibition of islet-specific autoreactive T cells to rescue β-cells is a promising approach to treat new-onset T1D. The immune checkpoint signal axis programmed death-1/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) can effectively regulate the activity of T cells and prevent autoimmune attack. Here, megakaryocyte progenitor cells are genetically engineered to overexpress PD-L1 to produce immunosuppressive platelets. The PD-L1-overexpressing platelets (designated PD-L1 platelets) accumulate in the inflamed pancreas and may suppress the activity of pancreas autoreactive T cells in newly hyperglycemic non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice, protecting the insulin-producing β-cells from destruction. Moreover, PD-L1 platelet treatment also increases the percentage of the regulatory T cells (Tregs) and maintains immune tolerance in the pancreas. It is demonstrated that the rescue of β-cells by PD-L1 platelets can effectively maintain normoglycemia and reverse diabetes in newly hyperglycemic NOD mice.Oxyfunctionalization of fatty acids (FAs) is a key step in the design of novel synthetic pathways for bio-based/bio-degradable polymers, surfactants and fuels. Here, we show the isolation and characterization of a robust FA α-hydroxylase (P450 Jα ) which catalyses the selective conversion of a broad range of FAs (C60-C160) and oleic acid (C181) with H 2 O 2 as oxidant. Under optimized reaction conditions P450 Jα yields α-hydroxy acids all with >95% regioselectivity, high specific activity (up to 15.2 U mg -1 ) and efficient coupling of oxidant to product (up to 85%). Lauric acid (C120) turned out to be an excellent substrate with respect to productivity (TON = 394 min -1 ). On preparative scale, conversion of C120 reached 83% (0.9 g L -1 ) when supplementing H 2 O 2 in fed-batch mode. Under similar conditions P450 Jα allowed further the first biocatalytic α-hydroxylation of oleic acid (88% conversion on 100 mL scale) at high selectivity and in good yields (1.1 g L -1 ; 79% isolated yield). Unexpectedly, P450 Jα displayed also 1-alkene formation from shorter chain FAs (≤ C100) showing that oxidative decarboxylation is more widely distributed across this enzyme family than reported previously.