The cerebral cortex underlies our complex cognitive capabilities, yet little is known about the specific genetic loci that influence human cortical structure. To identify genetic variants that affect cortical structure, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of brain magnetic resonance imaging data from 51,665 individuals. We analyzed the surface area and average thickness of the whole cortex and 34 regions with known functional specializations. We identified 199 significant loci and found significant enrichment for loci influencing total surface area within regulatory elements that are active during prenatal cortical development, supporting the radial unit hypothesis. Loci that affect regional surface area cluster near genes in Wnt signaling pathways, which influence progenitor expansion and areal identity. Variation in cortical structure is genetically correlated with cognitive function, Parkinson’s disease, insomnia, depression, neuroticism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

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[1] We quantify the seasonal and spatial variations of cloud radiative impacts in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) by using cloud retrievals from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO), International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) and CloudSat. Over the convective regions including Western Pacific, Africa, South America, and South Asia, we find pronounced solar heating and infrared cooling in the lower part of the TTL (<$16 km). The solar heating weakens above 16 km and nearly diminishes at 18 km, whereas the infrared cooling extends vertically throughout the TTL. The net cloud radiative forcing, which is the summation of cloud solar and infrared radiative forcing, has heating below $16 km and turns to mostly cooling above 17 km. The net cloud radiative heating over the convective regions is mainly contributed from solar radiation, whereas the weak net cloud radiative heating surrounding these regions is due to infrared heating. To further examine the impacts of different cloud types in the TTL, we classified TTL clouds in terms of cloud optical depths (t) as thin cirrus (t < 0.3), thick cirrus (0.3 t < 3), and opaque clouds (t ! 3). In the solar part, thin and thick cirrus play a relatively small role and the impact of cloud-free air above clouds is negligible. The solar heating is dominantly contributed from the solar absorption near the top of opaque clouds. In the infrared part, the thick cirrus heating is mainly confined over the convective regions in the lower part of TTL while the thin cirrus infrared heating is more prevalent both vertically and horizontally in the TTL, which is the dominant infrared heating source. The infrared cooling in cloud-free air above clouds is dominant above 17 km, whereas the infrared cooling near the top of opaque clouds is dominant below. Despite the infrared heating effects of thin and thick cirrus clouds, the infrared cooling from the opaque cloud top and cloud-free air above clouds outweighs the heating effects so that the ensemble mean cloud infrared radiative forcing is mostly cooling except outside the convective regions.

[1] Winter-summer differences in the transport of air from the boundary layer to the lower stratosphere at low latitudes are investigated with ensembles of back trajectory calculations that track parcels from the 380 K isentropic surface to their convective detrainment in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) during the winter of 2006-2007 and summer of 2007. Horizontal displacements for the trajectories are calculated from reanalysis data; potential temperature displacements are calculated from radiative heating rates derived from observed cloud, water vapor, ozone, and temperature variations; and the locations' convective detrainments are determined by satellite observations of convective clouds. Weaker upwelling in the TTL during boreal summer compared with that of winter both slows the ascent through the TTL and raises the height threshold that convective detrainment must surpass in order for ascent to occur, restricting the injection of new air into the stratosphere during summer. In addition, anticyclonic circulations associated with convective activity contribute to vertical transport in the TTL by guiding detrained air parcels through regions with the strongest upwelling. These features combine to make monsoon-related convection over the Indian subcontinent the dominant source of new air during summer. In contrast, winter sources are spread over the southern continents and the western Pacific Ocean. These seasonal differences imply that air entering the tropical stratosphere during summer is older but might nevertheless be more polluted than air entering during winter. While poor data sampling in the TTL makes it difficult to validate our results, they are bolstered by favorable comparisons with previous studies of the TTL, by sensitivity tests that reveal important dynamical influences on surface-to-stratospheric transport, and by the robustness of dynamical interactions that systematically associate deep convection with anticyclonic circulations and strong radiative heating in the TTL. Sensitivity experiments suggest that the aforementioned seasonal differences are sensitive to strong "large-scale" (on global space scales and seasonal time scales) perturbations. In particular, uncertainties in the vertical motion fields constrain our ability to draw definitive conclusions. However, trajectory statistics are not sensitive to small-scale perturbations, with the encouraging implication that our results are primarily associated with those features of the circulation that are the most likely to be robust.Citation: Bergman, J. W., E. J. Jensen, L. Pfister, and Q. Yang (2012), Seasonal differences of vertical-transport efficiency in the tropical tropopause layer: On the interplay between tropical deep convection, large-scale vertical ascent, and horizontal circulations,

The hTEE-guided ECMO weaning protocol accurately predicted the ability to wean ECMO to decision. This protocol can be applied by cardiac intensivists as a part of standard bedside intensive care unit assessment.

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with the wMel strain of Wolbachia are being released into natural mosquito populations in the tropics as a way of reducing dengue transmission. High temperatures adversely affect wMel, reducing Wolbachia density and cytoplasmic incompatibility in some larval habitats that experience large temperature fluctuations. We monitored the impact of a 43.6˚C heatwave on the wMel infection in a natural population in Cairns, Australia, where wMel was first released in 2011 and has persisted at a high frequency. Wolbachia infection frequencies in the month following the heatwave were reduced to 83% in larvae sampled directly from field habitats and 88% in eggs collected from ovitraps, but recovered to be near 100% four months later. Effects of the heatwave on wMel appeared to be stage-specific and delayed, with reduced frequencies and densities in fieldcollected larvae and adults reared from ovitraps but higher frequencies in field-collected adults. Laboratory experiments showed that the effects of heatwaves on cytoplasmic incompatibility and density are life stage-specific, with first instar larvae being the most vulnerable to temperature effects. Our results indicate that heatwaves in wMel-infected populations will have only temporary effects on Wolbachia frequencies and density once the infection has established in the population. Our results are relevant to ongoing releases of wMel-infected Ae. aegypti in several tropical countries.

Our study reveals a significant correlation between MDSC levels with HCV disease progression, and their response to antiviral therapy. The arginase-1-dependent mechanism of MDSCs from CHC patients indicates that arginase-1 may be promising target for HCV immunotherapy.