University of Illinois at Chicago

About: University of Illinois at Chicago is a education organization based out in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 57071 authors who have published 110536 publications receiving 4264936 citations.

GATA4 transcription factor is required for ventral morphogenesis and heart tube formation.

Abstract: Previous studies have suggested that the GATA4 transcription factor plays an important role in regulating mammalian cardiac development In the studies described in this report we have used gene targeting to produce GATA4-deficient mice Homozygous GATA4-deficient (GATA4 -/-) mice died between 85 and 105 days post coitum (dpc) GATA4 -/- embryos displayed severe defects in both rostral-to-caudal and lateral-to-ventral folding, which were reflected in a generalized disruption of the ventral body pattern This resulted in the defective formation of an organized foregut and anterior intestinal pore, the failure to close both the amniotic cavity and yolk sac, and the uniform lack of a ventral pericardial cavity and heart tube Analysis of cardiac development in the GATA4 -/- mice demonstrated that these embryos developed splanchnic mesoderm, which differentiated into primitive cardiac myocytes that expressed contractile proteins However, consistent with the observed defect in ventral morphogenesis, these GATA4 -/procardiomyocytes failed to migrate to the ventral midline to form a linear heart tube and instead formed aberrant cardiac structures in the anterior and dorsolateral regions of the embryo The defect in ventral migration of the GATA4 -/- procardiomyocytes was not cell intrinsic because GATA4 -/- cardiac myocytes and endocardial cells populated the hearts of GATA4-/--C57BL/6 chimeric mice Taken together, these results demonstrated that GATA4 is not essential for the specification of the cardiac cell lineages However, they define a critical role for GATA4 in regulating the rostral-to-caudal and lateral-to-ventral folding of the embryo that is needed for normal cardiac morphogenesis

Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing perspectives

Abstract: Scholarly research on the topic of leadership has witnessed a dramatic increase over the last decade, resulting in the development of diverse leadership theories. To take stock of established and developing theories since the beginning of the new millennium, we conducted an extensive qualitative review of leadership theory across 10 top-tier academic publishing outlets that included The Leadership Quarterly, Administrative Science Quarterly, American Psychologist, Journal of Management, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Organizational Science, and Personnel Psychology. We then combined two existing frameworks (Gardner, Lowe, Moss, Mahoney, & Cogliser, 2010; Lord & Dinh, 2012) to provide a process-oriented framework that emphasizes both forms of emergence and levels of analysis as a means to integrate diverse leadership theories. We then describe the implications of the findings for future leadership research and theory.

Microbial gene identification using interpolated Markov models

Abstract: This paper describes a new system, GLIMMER, for finding genes in microbial genomes. In a series of tests on Haemophilus influenzae , Helicobacter pylori and other complete microbial genomes, this system has proven to be very accurate at locating virtually all the genes in these sequences, outperforming previous methods. A conservative estimate based on experiments on H.pylori and H. influenzae is that the system finds >97% of all genes. GLIMMER uses interpolated Markov models (IMMs) as a framework for capturing dependencies between nearby nucleotides in a DNA sequence. An IMM-based method makes predictions based on a variable context; i.e., a variable-length oligomer in a DNA sequence. The context used by GLIMMER changes depending on the local composition of the sequence. As a result, GLIMMER is more flexible and more powerful than fixed-order Markov methods, which have previously been the primary content-based technique for finding genes in microbial DNA.

Appetite-suppressant drugs and the risk of primary pulmonary hypertension. International Primary Pulmonary Hypertension Study Group

Abstract: Background Recently in France, primary pulmonary hypertension developed in a cluster of patients exposed to derivatives of fenfluramine in appetite suppressants (anorexic agents), which are used for weight control. We investigated the potential role of anorexic agents and other suspected risk factors for primary pulmonary hypertension. Methods In a case–control study, we assessed 95 patients with primary pulmonary hypertension from 35 centers in France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands and 355 controls recruited from general practices and matched to the patients' sex and age. Results The use of anorexic drugs (mainly derivatives of fenfluramine) was associated with an increased risk of primary pulmonary hypertension (odds ratio with any anorexic-drug use, 6.3; 95 percent confidence interval, 3.0 to 13.2). For the use of anorexic agents in the preceding year, the odds ratio was 10.1 (95 percent confidence interval, 3.4 to 29.9). When anorexic drugs were used for a total of more than three m...