| 1. |
- van Haarlem, M. P., et al.
(författare)
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LOFAR : The LOw-Frequency ARray
- 2013
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 556, s. 1-53
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- LOFAR, the LOw-Frequency ARray, is a new-generation radio interferometer constructed in the north of the Netherlands and across europe. Utilizing a novel phased-array design, LOFAR covers the largely unexplored low-frequency range from 10–240 MHz and provides a number of unique observing capabilities. Spreading out from a core located near the village of Exloo in the northeast of the Netherlands, a total of 40 LOFAR stations are nearing completion. A further five stations have been deployed throughout Germany, and one station has been built in each of France, Sweden, and the UK. Digital beam-forming techniques make the LOFAR system agile and allow for rapid repointing of the telescope as well as the potential for multiple simultaneous observations. With its dense core array and long interferometric baselines, LOFAR achieves unparalleled sensitivity and angular resolution in the low-frequency radio regime. The LOFAR facilities are jointly operated by the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT) foundation, as an observatory open to the global astronomical community. LOFAR is one of the first radio observatories to feature automated processing pipelines to deliver fully calibrated science products to its user community. LOFAR’s new capabilities, techniques and modus operandi make it an important pathfinder for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). We give an overview of the LOFAR instrument, its major hardware and software components, and the core science objectives that have driven its design. In addition, we present a selection of new results from the commissioning phase of this new radio observatory.
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| 2. |
- Griffin, M. J., et al.
(författare)
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The Herschel-SPIRE instrument and its in-flight performance
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 518, s. L3-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver (SPIRE), is the Herschel Space Observatory`s submillimetre camera and spectrometer. It contains a three-band imaging photometer operating at 250, 350 and 500 mu m, and an imaging Fourier-transform spectrometer (FTS) which covers simultaneously its whole operating range of 194-671 mu m (447-1550 GHz). The SPIRE detectors are arrays of feedhorn-coupled bolometers cooled to 0.3 K. The photometer has a field of view of 4' x 8', observed simultaneously in the three spectral bands. Its main operating mode is scan-mapping, whereby the field of view is scanned across the sky to achieve full spatial sampling and to cover large areas if desired. The spectrometer has an approximately circular field of view with a diameter of 2.6'. The spectral resolution can be adjusted between 1.2 and 25 GHz by changing the stroke length of the FTS scan mirror. Its main operating mode involves a fixed telescope pointing with multiple scans of the FTS mirror to acquire spectral data. For extended source measurements, multiple position offsets are implemented by means of an internal beam steering mirror to achieve the desired spatial sampling and by rastering of the telescope pointing to map areas larger than the field of view. The SPIRE instrument consists of a cold focal plane unit located inside the Herschel cryostat and warm electronics units, located on the spacecraft Service Module, for instrument control and data handling. Science data are transmitted to Earth with no on-board data compression, and processed by automatic pipelines to produce calibrated science products. The in-flight performance of the instrument matches or exceeds predictions based on pre-launch testing and modelling: the photometer sensitivity is comparable to or slightly better than estimated pre-launch, and the spectrometer sensitivity is also better by a factor of 1.5-2.
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| 3. |
- Moles, A. T., et al.
(författare)
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Putting plant resistance traits on the map : A test of the idea that plants are better defended at lower latitudes
- 2011
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Ingår i: New Phytologist. - : Wiley. - 0028-646X .- 1469-8137. ; 191:3, s. 777-788
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It has long been believed that plant species from the tropics have higher levels of traits associated with resistance to herbivores than do species from higher latitudes. A meta-analysis recently showed that the published literature does not support this theory. However, the idea has never been tested using data gathered with consistent methods from a wide range of latitudes. • We quantified the relationship between latitude and a broad range of chemical and physical traits across 301 species from 75 sites world-wide. • Six putative resistance traits, including tannins, the concentration of lipids (an indicator of oils, waxes and resins), and leaf toughness were greater in high-latitude species. Six traits, including cyanide production and the presence of spines, were unrelated to latitude. Only ash content (an indicator of inorganic substances such as calcium oxalates and phytoliths) and the properties of species with delayed greening were higher in the tropics. • Our results do not support the hypothesis that tropical plants have higher levels of resistance traits than do plants from higher latitudes. If anything, plants have higher resistance toward the poles. The greater resistance traits of high-latitude species might be explained by the greater cost of losing a given amount of leaf tissue in low-productivity environments. © 2011 New Phytologist Trust.
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| 4. |
- Moles, Angela T, et al.
(författare)
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Correlations between physical and chemical defences in plants : tradeoffs, syndromes, or just many different ways to skin a herbivorous cat?
- 2013
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Ingår i: New Phytologist. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0028-646X .- 1469-8137. ; 198:1, s. 252-263
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Most plant species have a range of traits that deter herbivores. However, understanding of how different defences are related to one another is surprisingly weak. Many authors argue that defence traits trade off against one another, while others argue that they form coordinated defence syndromes. We collected a dataset of unprecedented taxonomic and geographic scope (261 species spanning 80 families, from 75 sites across the globe) to investigate relationships among four chemical and six physical defences. Five of the 45 pairwise correlations between defence traits were significant and three of these were tradeoffs. The relationship between species' overall chemical and physical defence levels was marginally nonsignificant (P=0.08), and remained nonsignificant after accounting for phylogeny, growth form and abundance. Neither categorical principal component analysis (PCA) nor hierarchical cluster analysis supported the idea that species displayed defence syndromes. Our results do not support arguments for tradeoffs or for coordinated defence syndromes. Rather, plants display a range of combinations of defence traits. We suggest this lack of consistent defence syndromes may be adaptive, resulting from selective pressure to deploy a different combination of defences to coexisting species.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Sun, Weilun, et al.
(författare)
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Improving the Cell Distribution in Collagen-Coated Poly-Caprolactone Knittings
- 2012
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Ingår i: TISSUE ENG PART C-ME. - : Mary Ann Liebert Inc. - 1937-3384. ; 18:10, s. 731-739
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Adequate cellular in-growth into biomaterials is one of the fundamental requirements of scaffolds used in regenerative medicine. Type I collagen is the most commonly used material for soft tissue engineering, because it is nonimmunogenic and a highly porous network for cellular support can be produced. However, in general, adequate cell in-growth and cell seeding has been suboptimal. In this study we prepared collagen scaffolds of different collagen densities and investigated the cellular distribution. We also prepared a hybrid polymer-collagen scaffold to achieve an optimal cellular distribution as well as sufficient mechanical strength. Collagen scaffolds [ranging from 0.3% to 0.8% (w/v)] with and without a mechanically stable polymer knitting [polycaprolactone (PCL)] were prepared. The porous structure of collagen scaffolds was characterized using scanning electron microscopy and hematoxylin-eosin staining. The mechanical strength of hybrid scaffolds (collagen with or without PCL) was determined using tensile strength analysis. Cellular in-growth and interconnectivity were evaluated using fluorescent bead distribution and human bladder smooth muscle cells and human urothelium seeding. The lower density collagen scaffolds showed remarkably deeper cellular penetration and by combining it with PCL knitting the tensile strength was enhanced. This study indicated that a hybrid scaffold prepared from 0.4% collagen strengthened with knitting achieved the best cellular distribution.
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| 11. |
- Mulder, M. D., et al.
(författare)
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Air-sea exchange and gas-particle partitioning of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the Mediterranean
- 2014
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus Publications. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 14:17, s. 8905-8915
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentration in air of the central and eastern Mediterranean in summer 2010 was 1.45 (0.30-3.25) ng m(-3) (sum of 25 PAHs), with 8 (1-17) % in the particulate phase, almost exclusively associated with particles <0.25 mu m. The total deposition flux of particulate PAHs was 0.3-0.5 mu g m(-2) yr(-1). The diffusive air-sea exchange fluxes of fluoranthene and pyrene were mostly found net-depositional or close to phase equilibrium, while retene was net-volatilisational in a large sea region. Regional fire activity records in combination with box model simulations suggest that seasonal depositional input of retene from biomass burning into the surface waters during summer is followed by an annual reversal of air-sea exchange, while interannual variability is dominated by the variability of the fire season. One-third of primary retene sources to the sea region in the period 2005-2010 returned to the atmosphere as secondary emissions from surface seawaters. It is concluded that future negative emission trends or interannual variability of regional sources may trigger the sea to become a secondary PAH source through reversal of diffusive air-sea exchange.Capsule: In late summer the seawater surface in the Mediterranean has turned into a temporary secondary source of PAH, obviously related to biomass burning in the region.
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| 12. |
- Strandberg, Erling, et al.
(författare)
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Statistical tools to select for robustness and milk quality
- 2013
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Ingår i: Advances in Animal Biosciences. - : Cambridge University Press. - 2040-4700 .- 2040-4719. ; 4:3, s. 606-611
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This work was part of the EU RobustMilk project. In this work package, we have focused on two aspects of robustness, micro- and macro-environmental sensitivity and applied these to somatic cell count (SCC), one aspect of milk quality. We showed that it is possible to combine both categorical and continuous descriptions of the environment in one analysis of genotype by environment interaction. We also developed a method to estimate genetic variation in residual variance and applied it to both simulated and a large field data set of dairy cattle. We showed that it is possible to estimate genetic variation in both micro- and macro-environmental sensitivity in the same data, but that there is a need for good data structure. In a dairy cattle example, this would mean at least 100 bulls with at least 100 daughters each. We also developed methods for improved genetic evaluation of SCC. We estimated genetic variance for some alternative SCC traits, both in an experimental herd data and in field data. Most of them were highly correlated with subclinical mastitis (>0.9) and clinical mastitis (0.7 to 0.8), and were also highly correlated with each other. We studied whether the fact that animals in different herds are differentially exposed to mastitis pathogens could be a reason for the low heritabilities for mastitis, but did not find strong evidence for that. We also created a new model to estimate breeding values not only for the probability of getting mastitis but also for recovering from it. In a progeny-testing situation, this approach resulted in accuracies of 0.75 and 0.4 for these two traits, respectively, which means that it is possible to also select for cows that recover more quickly if they get mastitis.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
- van Asseldonk, Dirk P, et al.
(författare)
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Difficulties and possibilities with thiopurine therapy in inflammatory bowel disease-Proceedings of the first Thiopurine Task Force meeting
- 2011
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Ingår i: DIGESTIVE AND LIVER DISEASE. - : Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. - 1590-8658. ; 43:4, s. 270-276
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Thiopurines, such as azathioprine and mercaptopurine, are of pivotal importance in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. Although these drugs have been used for several decades, still many questions remain unanswered. Aim: To provide an overview of clinically and scientifically challenging topics concerning thiopurine therapy in inflammatory bowel disease treatment. Methods: The first meeting of the Thiopurine Task Force Interest Group was held during the 2009 United European Gastroenterology Week in London (GASTRO2009). The topics of this meeting were of particular clinical and scientific interest. Additional literature was identified by performing a Pubmed search using the search terms inflammatory bowel disease, azathioprine, 6-mercaptopurine and thioguanine. Results: The following topics were discussed: therapeutic drug monitoring; the synergy of thiopurines with aminosalicylates and allopurinol; serious adverse events such as opportunistic infections, hepatotoxicity, carcinogenicity and pancreatitis; prolongation of thiopurines during clinical remission; indications for thiopurines in the postoperative setting; and the potential use of thioguanine. Specific interesting and clinically relevant topics for potential future research are provided. Conclusions: Thiopurines remain central to inflammatory bowel disease treatment, although future studies are required to substantiate a more personalised medicine approach to their use.
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| 15. |
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| 16. |
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| 17. |
- Edsparr, Karin, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of IL-2 on MMP expression in freshly isolated human NK cells and the IL-2-independent NK cell line YT.
- 2010
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Ingår i: Journal of immunotherapy (Hagerstown, Md. : 1997). - 1537-4513. ; 33:5, s. 475-81
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Interleukin-2 is an important activation factor for natural killer (NK) cells but its effect on NK cell matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) production and matrix degradation is less well investigated. We have used freshly isolated human NK cells and the IL-2-independent NK cell line, YT, to investigate the effects of IL-2 stimulation on NK cell invasion of Matrigel and on MMP expression and production. In YT cells, we found opposing early and late effects of IL-2 stimulation with an early (2 h) increase in MMP-9 protein level and enhanced migration in the Matrigel invasion assay and by 30 hours a decreased mRNA expression of MMP-2, MMP-9, MMP-13, MT3-MMP, and MT6-MMP. We also found a preculture period of 48 hours with IL-2 to negatively affect YT cell migration. We furthermore found that freshly isolated human NK cells Matrigel invasion was MMP-dependent and it increased in response to IL-2. Importantly, in freshly isolated human NK cells we did not see a downregulation of MMPs after 24 hours IL-2 stimulation, but instead a significant upregulation of MT6-MMP mRNA. Because of the cellular localisation of MT6-MMP, which ensures a focalized proteolytic activity, and its high expression compared with the other MMPs in freshly isolated human NK cells makes it of interest to study further.
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| 18. |
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| 19. |
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| 20. |
- Hale, S. E., et al.
(författare)
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The sorption and desorption of phosphate-P, ammonium-N and nitrate-N in cacao shell and corn cob biochars
- 2013
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Ingår i: Chemosphere. - : Elsevier BV. - 0045-6535 .- 1879-1298. ; 91:11, s. 1612-1619
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The sorption of PO4-P, NH4-N and NO3-N to cacao shell and corn cob biochars produced at 300-350 degrees C was quantified. The biochars were used; (i) as received (unwashed), (ii) after rinsing with Millipore water and (iii) following leaching with Millipore water. In addition to sorption, desorption of PO4-P from the unwashed biochars was quantified. There was no sorption of PO4-P to either washed or rinsed biochars, but following leaching, both biochars adsorbed PO4-P and distribution coefficients (K-d L kg(-1)) were very similar for both materials (10(1.1 +/- 0.5) for cacao shell biochar and 10(1.0 +/- 0.2) for corn cob biochar). The BET surface area and micropore volume increased 80% and 60% for the cacao shell and corn cob biochars following leaching. After 60 d, 1483 +/- 45 mg kg(-1) and 172 +/- 1 mg kg PO4-P was released from the cacao shell and corn cob biochars. NH4-N was sorbed by both unwashed biochars, albeit weakly with K-d values around 10(2) L kg(-1). We speculate that NH4-N could bind via an electrostatic exchange with other cationic species on the surface of the biochar. There was no significant release or sorption of NO3-N from or to either of the biochars.
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| 21. |
- Iles, Mark M., et al.
(författare)
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A variant in FTO shows association with melanoma risk not due to BMI
- 2013
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Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1546-1718 .- 1061-4036. ; 45:4, s. 428-432
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report the results of an association study of melanoma that is based on the genome-wide imputation of the genotypes of 1,353 cases and 3,566 controls of European origin conducted by the GenoMEL consortium. This revealed an association between several SNPs in intron 8 of the FTO gene, including rs16953002, which replicated using 12,313 cases and 55,667 controls of European ancestry from Europe, the USA and Australia (combined P = 3.6 x 10(-12), per-allele odds ratio for allele A = 1.16). In addition to identifying a new melanomasusceptibility locus, this is to our knowledge the first study to identify and replicate an association with SNPs in FTO not related to body mass index (BMI). These SNPs are not in intron 1 (the BMI-related region) and exhibit no association with BMI. This suggests FTO's function may be broader than the existing paradigm that FTO variants influence multiple traits only through their associations with BMI and obesity.
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
- Kessler, Jan H., et al.
(författare)
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Antigen processing by nardilysin and thimet oligopeptidase generates cytotoxic T cell epitopes
- 2010
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Ingår i: Nature Immunology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1529-2908 .- 1529-2916. ; 12:1, s. 45-53
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) recognize peptides presented by HLA class I molecules on the cell surface. The C terminus of these CTL epitopes is considered to be produced by the proteasome. Here we demonstrate that the cytosolic endopeptidases nardilysin and thimet oligopeptidase (TOP) complemented proteasome activity. Nardilysin and TOP were required, either together or alone, for the generation of a tumor-specific CTL epitope from PRAME, an immunodominant CTL epitope from Epstein-Barr virus protein EBNA3C, and a clinically important epitope from the melanoma protein MART-1. TOP functioned as C-terminal trimming peptidase in antigen processing, and nardilysin contributed to both the C-terminal and N-terminal generation of CTL epitopes. By broadening the antigenic peptide repertoire, nardilysin and TOP strengthen the immune defense against intracellular pathogens and cancer.
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| 24. |
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| 25. |
- Lindfors, Charlotte, et al.
(författare)
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Hypothalamic mitochondrial dysfunction associated with anorexia in the anx/anx mouse
- 2011
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 108:44, s. 18108-18113
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The anorectic anx/anx mouse exhibits disturbed feeding behavior and aberrances, including neurodegeneration, in peptidergic neurons in the appetite regulating hypothalamic arcuate nucleus. Poor feeding in infants, as well as neurodegeneration, are common phenotypes in human disorders caused by dysfunction of the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation system (OXPHOS). We therefore hypothesized that the anorexia and degenerative phenotypes in the anx/anx mouse could be related to defects in the OXPHOS. In this study, we found reduced efficiency of hypothalamic OXPHOS complex I assembly and activity in the anx/anx mouse. We also recorded signs of increased oxidative stress in anx/anx hypothalamus, possibly as an effect of the decreased hypothalamic levels of fully assembled complex I, that were demonstrated by native Western blots. Furthermore, the Ndufaf1 gene, encoding a complex I assembly factor, was genetically mapped to the anx interval and found to be down-regulated in anx/anx mice. These results suggest that the anorexia and hypothalamic neurodegeneration of the anx/anx mouse are associated with dysfunction of mitochondrial complex I.
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