Rutgers University

About: Rutgers University is a education organization based out in New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 68736 authors who have published 159418 publications receiving 6713860 citations. The organization is also known as: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey & Rutgers.

Airborne signalling by methyl salicylate in plant pathogen resistance

Abstract: Methyl salicylate, a volatile liquid, also known as oil of winter-green, is made by a number of plants1–9. Here we show that methyl salicylate is a major volatile compound produced by tobacco plants inoculated with tobacco mosaic virus. Methyl salicylate is synthesized from salicylic acid, a non-volatile chemical signal required for the establishment of acquired resistance10 and local and systemic induction of antimicrobial pathogenesis-related proteins11. Methyl salicylate acts by being converted back to salicyclic acid. We conclude that methyl salicylate may function as an airborne signal which acitvates disease resistance and the expression of defence-related genes in neighbouring plants and in the healthy tissues of the infected plant.

Constraining Cosmological Parameters Based on Relative Galaxy Ages

Abstract: We propose to use relative galaxy ages as a means of constraining cosmological parameters. By measuring the age difference between two ensembles of passively evolving galaxies at somewhat different redshifts, one could determine the derivative of redshift with respect to cosmic time, dz/dt. At high redshifts, z ~ 1-2, this measurement would constrain the equation of state of the dark energy, while at low redshifts, z 0.2, it would determine the Hubble constant, H0. Furthermore, we show that d2z/dt2 directly tracks the equation of state of the dark energy; thus, measurements of this quantity at low redshifts can be used to constrain it. The selected galaxies need to be passively evolving on a time much longer than their age difference.

Leukocyte Telomere Length and Cardiovascular Disease in the Cardiovascular Health Study

Abstract: The telomere length of replicating somatic cells is inversely correlated with age and has been reported to be associated cross-sectionally with cardiovascular disease (CVD) Leukocyte telomere length, as expressed by mean terminal restriction fragment (TRF) length, was measured in 419 randomly selected participants from the Cardiovascular Health Study, comprising a community-dwelling cohort recruited in four US communities The authors investigated associations between TRF length and selected measures of subclinical CVD/risk factors for CVD (data were collected at the 1992/1993 clinic visit) and incident CVD (ascertained through June 2002) In these participants (average age = 742 years (standard deviation, 52)), mean TRF length was 63 kilobase pairs (standard deviation, 062) Significant or borderline inverse associations were found between TRF length and diabetes, glucose, insulin, diastolic blood pressure, carotid intima-media thickness, and interleukin-6 Associations with body size and C-reactive protein were modified by gender and age, occurring only in men and in participants aged 73 years or younger In younger (but not older) participants, each shortened kilobase pair of TRF corresponded with a threefold increased risk of myocardial infarction (hazard ratio = 308, 95% confidence interval: 122, 773) and stroke (hazard ratio = 322, 95% confidence interval: 129, 802) These results support the hypotheses that telomere attrition may be related to diseases of aging through mechanisms involving oxidative stress, inflammation, and progression to CVD

The influence of variables on Boolean functions

Abstract: Methods from harmonic analysis are used to prove some general theorems on Boolean functions. These connections with harmonic analysis viewed by the authors are very promising; besides the results on Boolean functions they enable them to prove theorems on the rapid mixing of the random walk on the cube and in the extremal theory of finite sets. >