University of Exeter

About: University of Exeter is a education organization based out in Exeter, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Climate change. The organization has 15820 authors who have published 50650 publications receiving 1793046 citations. The organization is also known as: Exeter University & University of the South West of England.

The biological impacts of artificial light at night: the research challenge

Abstract: Daily, lunar and seasonal cycles of natural light have been key forms of environmental variation across the Earth's surface since the first emergence of life. They have driven the development of biological phenomena from the molecule to the ecosystem, including metabolic and physiological pathways,

Using SIFT and PolyPhen to Predict Loss-of-Function and Gain-of-Function Mutations

Abstract: Context: The interpretation of novel missense variants is a challenge with increasing numbers of such variants being identified and a responsibility to report the findings in the context of all available scientific evidence. Various in silico bioinformatic tools have been developed that predict the likely pathogenicity of missense variants; however, their utility within the diagnostic setting requires further investigation. Aim: The aim of our study was to test the predictive value of two of these tools, sorting intolerant from tolerant (SIFT) and polymorphism phenotyping (PolyPhen), in a set of 141 missense variants (131 pathogenic, 8 benign) identified in the ABCC8, GCK, and KCNJ11 genes. Methods: Sixty-six of the mutations caused a gain of protein function, while 67 were loss-of-function mutations. The evolutionary conservation at each residue was also investigated using multiple sequence alignments from the UCSC genome browser. Results: The sensitivity of SIFT and PolyPhen was reasonably high (69% and...

Producing ultrastrong magnetic fields in neutron star mergers

Abstract: We report an extremely rapid mechanism for magnetic field amplification during the merger of a binary neutron star system. This has implications for the production of the short class of gamma-ray bursts, which recent observations suggest may originate in such mergers. In detailed magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the merger process, the fields are amplified by Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities beyond magnetar field strength and may therefore represent the strongest magnetic fields in the universe. The amplification occurs in the shear layer that forms between the neutron stars and on a time scale of only 1 millisecond, that is, long before the remnant can collapse into a black hole.

What do you mean, 'resilient'?

Abstract: The authors thank Katrina Brown, Alden Griffith, and four anonymous reviewers for valuable insight into resilience. D.H., J.L.M., and D.J.H. are supported by the Natural Environment Research Council.