| 171. |
- Ju, Young Seok, et al.
(författare)
-
Somatic mutations reveal asymmetric cellular dynamics in the early human embryo
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 543:7647, s. 714-718
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Somatic cells acquire mutations throughout the course of an individual's life. Mutations occurring early in embryogenesis are often present in a substantial proportion of, but not all, cells in postnatal humans and thus have particular characteristics and effects. Depending on their location in the genome and the proportion of cells they are present in, these mosaic mutations can cause a wide range of genetic disease syndromes and predispose carriers to cancer. They have a high chance of being transmitted to offspring as de novo germline mutations and, in principle, can provide insights into early human embryonic cell lineages and their contributions to adult tissues. Although it is known that gross chromosomal abnormalities are remarkably common in early human embryos, our understanding of early embryonic somatic mutations is very limited. Here we use whole-genome sequences of normal blood from 241 adults to identify 163 early embryonic mutations. We estimate that approximately three base substitution mutations occur per cell per cell-doubling event in early human embryogenesis and these are mainly attributable to two known mutational signatures. We used the mutations to reconstruct developmental lineages of adult cells and demonstrate that the two daughter cells of many early embryonic cell-doubling events contribute asymmetrically to adult blood at an approximately 2:1 ratio. This study therefore provides insights into the mutation rates, mutational processes and developmental outcomes of cell dynamics that operate during early human embryogenesis.
|
|
| 172. |
- Mach, François, et al.
(författare)
-
Adverse effects of statin therapy: perception vs. the evidence - focus on glucose homeostasis, cognitive, renal and hepatic function, haemorrhagic stroke and cataract
- 2018
-
Ingår i: European heart journal. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1522-9645 .- 0195-668X. ; 39:27, s. 2526-
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- To objectively appraise evidence for possible adverse effects of long-term statin therapy on glucose homeostasis, cognitive, renal and hepatic function, and risk for haemorrhagic stroke or cataract.A literature search covering 2000-2017 was performed. The Panel critically appraised the data and agreed by consensus on the categorization of reported adverse effects. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and genetic studies show that statin therapy is associated with a modest increase in the risk of new-onset diabetes mellitus (about one per thousand patient-years), generally defined by laboratory findings (glycated haemoglobin ≥6.5); this risk is significantly higher in the metabolic syndrome or prediabetes. Statin treatment does not adversely affect cognitive function, even at very low levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and is not associated with clinically significant deterioration of renal function, or development of cataract. Transient increases in liver enzymes occur in 0.5-2% of patients taking statins but are not clinically relevant; idiosyncratic liver injury due to statins is very rare and causality difficult to prove. The evidence base does not support an increased risk of haemorrhagic stroke in individuals without cerebrovascular disease; a small increase in risk was suggested by the Stroke Prevention by Aggressive Reduction of Cholesterol Levels study in subjects with prior stroke but has not been confirmed in the substantive evidence base of RCTs, cohort studies and case-control studies.Long-term statin treatment is remarkably safe with a low risk of clinically relevant adverse effects as defined above; statin-associated muscle symptoms were discussed in a previous Consensus Statement. Importantly, the established cardiovascular benefits of statin therapy far outweigh the risk of adverse effects.
|
|
| 173. |
- McCall, Martin, et al.
(författare)
-
Roadmap on transformation optics
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Journal of Optics. - : IOP Publishing. - 2040-8978 .- 2040-8986. ; 20:6
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Transformation optics asks, using Maxwell's equations, what kind of electromagnetic medium recreates some smooth deformation of space? The guiding principle is Einstein's principle of covariance: that any physical theory must take the same form in any coordinate system. This requirement fixes very precisely the required electromagnetic medium. The impact of this insight cannot be overestimated. Many practitioners were used to thinking that only a few analytic solutions to Maxwell's equations existed, such as the monochromatic plane wave in a homogeneous, isotropic medium. At a stroke, transformation optics increases that landscape from 'few' to 'infinity', and to each of the infinitude of analytic solutions dreamt up by the researcher, there corresponds an electromagnetic medium capable of reproducing that solution precisely. The most striking example is the electromagnetic cloak, thought to be an unreachable dream of science fiction writers, but realised in the laboratory a few months after the papers proposing the possibility were published. But the practical challenges are considerable, requiring meta-media that are at once electrically and magnetically inhomogeneous and anisotropic. How far have we come since the first demonstrations over a decade ago? And what does the future hold? If the wizardry of perfect macroscopic optical invisibility still eludes us in practice, then what compromises still enable us to create interesting, useful, devices? While three-dimensional (3D) cloaking remains a significant technical challenge, much progress has been made in two dimensions. Carpet cloaking, wherein an object is hidden under a surface that appears optically flat, relaxes the constraints of extreme electromagnetic parameters. Surface wave cloaking guides sub-wavelength surface waves, making uneven surfaces appear flat. Two dimensions is also the setting in which conformal and complex coordinate transformations are realisable, and the possibilities in this restricted domain do not appear to have been exhausted yet. Beyond cloaking, the enhanced electromagnetic landscape provided by transformation optics has shown how fully analytic solutions can be found to a number of physical scenarios such as plasmonic systems used in electron energy loss spectroscopy and cathodoluminescence. Are there further fields to be enriched? A new twist to transformation optics was the extension to the spacetime domain. By applying transformations to spacetime, rather than just space, it was shown that events rather than objects could be hidden from view; transformation optics had provided a means of effectively redacting events from history. The hype quickly settled into serious nonlinear optical experiments that demonstrated the soundness of the idea, and it is now possible to consider the practical implications, particularly in optical signal processing, of having an 'interrupt-without-interrupt' facility that the so-called temporal cloak provides. Inevitable issues of dispersion in actual systems have only begun to be addressed. Now that time is included in the programme of transformation optics, it is natural to ask what role ideas from general relativity can play in shaping the future of transformation optics. Indeed, one of the earliest papers on transformation optics was provocatively titled 'General Relativity in Electrical Engineering'. The answer that curvature does not enter directly into transformation optics merely encourages us to speculate on the role of transformation optics in defining laboratory analogues. Quite why Maxwell's theory defines a 'perfect' transformation theory, while other areas of physics such as acoustics are not apparently quite so amenable, is a deep question whose precise, mathematical answer will help inform us of the extent to which similar ideas can be extended to other fields. The contributors to this Roadmap, who are all renowned practitioners or inventors of transformation optics, will give their perspectives into the field's status and future development.
|
|
| 174. |
- McElvaney, Noel G., et al.
(författare)
-
Long-term efficacy and safety of α1 proteinase inhibitor treatment for emphysema caused by severe α1 antitrypsin deficiency : an open-label extension trial (RAPID-OLE)
- 2017
-
Ingår i: The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. - 2213-2600. ; 5:1, s. 51-60
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Purified α1 proteinase inhibitor (A1PI) slowed emphysema progression in patients with severe α1 antitrypsin deficiency in a randomised controlled trial (RAPID-RCT), which was followed by an open-label extension trial (RAPID-OLE). The aim was to investigate the prolonged treatment effect of A1PI on the progression of emphysema as assessed by the loss of lung density in relation to RAPID-RCT. Methods Patients who had received either A1PI treatment (Zemaira or Respreeza; early-start group) or placebo (delayed-start group) in the RAPID-RCT trial were included in this 2-year open-label extension trial (RAPID-OLE). Patients from 22 hospitals in 11 countries outside of the USA received 60 mg/kg per week A1PI. The primary endpoint was annual rate of adjusted 15th percentile lung density loss measured using CT in the intention-to-treat population with a mixed-effects regression model. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00670007. Findings Between March 1, 2006, and Oct 13, 2010, 140 patients from RAPID-RCT entered RAPID-OLE: 76 from the early-start group and 64 from the delayed-start group. Between day 1 and month 24 (RAPID-RCT), the rate of lung density loss in RAPID-OLE patients was lower in the early-start group (−1·51 g/L per year [SE 0·25] at total lung capacity [TLC]; −1·55 g/L per year [0·24] at TLC plus functional residual capacity [FRC]; and −1·60 g/L per year [0·26] at FRC) than in the delayed-start group (−2·26 g/L per year [0·27] at TLC; −2·16 g/L per year [0·26] at TLC plus FRC, and −2·05 g/L per year [0·28] at FRC). Between months 24 and 48, the rate of lung density loss was reduced in delayed-start patients (from −2·26 g/L per year to −1·26 g/L per year), but no significant difference was seen in the rate in early-start patients during this time period (−1·51 g/L per year to −1·63 g/L per year), thus in early-start patients the efficacy was sustained to month 48. Interpretation RAPID-OLE supports the continued efficacy of A1PI in slowing disease progression during 4 years of treatment. Lost lung density was never recovered, highlighting the importance of early intervention with A1PI treatment. Funding CSL Behring.
|
|
| 175. |
- Oskarsdotter, Kristin, 1995, et al.
(författare)
-
Injectable In Situ Crosslinking Hydrogel for Autologous Fat Grafting
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Gels. - 2310-2861. ; 9:10
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Autologous fat grafting is hampered by unpredictable outcomes due to high tissue resorption. Hydrogels based on enzymatically pretreated tunicate nanocellulose (ETC) and alginate (ALG) are biocompatible, safe, and present physiochemical properties capable of promoting cell survival. Here, we compared in situ and ex situ crosslinking of ETC/ALG hydrogels combined with lipoaspirate human adipose tissue (LAT) to generate an injectable formulation capable of retaining dimensional stability in vivo. We performed in situ crosslinking using two different approaches; inducing Ca2+ release from CaCO3 microparticles (CMPs) and physiologically available Ca2+ in vivo. Additionally, we generated ex situ-crosslinked, 3D-bioprinted hydrogel-fat grafts. We found that in vitro optimization generated a CMP-crosslinking system with comparable stiffness to ex situ-crosslinked gels. Comparison of outcomes following in vivo injection of each respective crosslinked hydrogel revealed that after 30 days, in situ crosslinking generated fat grafts with less shape retention than 3D-bioprinted constructs that had undergone ex situ crosslinking. However, CMP addition improved fat-cell distribution and cell survival relative to grafts dependent on physiological Ca2+ alone. These findings suggested that in situ crosslinking using CMP might promote the dimensional stability of injectable fat-hydrogel grafts, although 3D bioprinting with ex situ crosslinking more effectively ensured proper shape stability in vivo.
|
|
| 176. |
- Paige, Ellie, et al.
(författare)
-
Use of Repeated Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Measurements to Improve Cardiovascular Disease Risk Prediction : An Individual-Participant-Data Meta-Analysis
- 2017
-
Ingår i: American Journal of Epidemiology. - : Oxford University Press. - 0002-9262 .- 1476-6256. ; 186:8, s. 899-907
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The added value of incorporating information from repeated blood pressure and cholesterol measurements to predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk has not been rigorously assessed. We used data on 191,445 adults from the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration (38 cohorts from 17 countries with data encompassing 1962-2014) with more than 1 million measurements of systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Over a median 12 years of follow-up, 21,170 CVD events occurred. Risk prediction models using cumulative mean values of repeated measurements and summary measures from longitudinal modeling of the repeated measurements were compared with models using measurements from a single time point. Risk discrimination (C-index) and net reclassification were calculated, and changes in C-indices were meta-analyzed across studies. Compared with the single-time-point model, the cumulative means and longitudinal models increased the C-index by 0.0040 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.0023, 0.0057) and 0.0023 (95% CI: 0.0005, 0.0042), respectively. Reclassification was also improved in both models; compared with the single-time-point model, overall net reclassification improvements were 0.0369 (95% CI: 0.0303, 0.0436) for the cumulative-means model and 0.0177 (95% CI: 0.0110, 0.0243) for the longitudinal model. In conclusion, incorporating repeated measurements of blood pressure and cholesterol into CVD risk prediction models slightly improves risk prediction.
|
|
| 177. |
- Sim, Thomas G., et al.
(författare)
-
Regional variability in peatland burning at mid-to high-latitudes during the Holocene
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 305
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Northern peatlands store globally-important amounts of carbon in the form of partly decomposed plant detritus. Drying associated with climate and land-use change may lead to increased fire frequency and severity in peatlands and the rapid loss of carbon to the atmosphere. However, our understanding of the patterns and drivers of peatland burning on an appropriate decadal to millennial timescale relies heavily on individual site-based reconstructions. For the first time, we synthesise peatland macrocharcoal re-cords from across North America, Europe, and Patagonia to reveal regional variation in peatland burning during the Holocene. We used an existing database of proximal sedimentary charcoal to represent regional burning trends in the wider landscape for each region. Long-term trends in peatland burning appear to be largely climate driven, with human activities likely having an increasing influence in the late Holocene. Warmer conditions during the Holocene Thermal Maximum (similar to 9e6 cal. ka BP) were associated with greater peatland burning in North America's Atlantic coast, southern Scandinavia and the Baltics, and Patagonia. Since the Little Ice Age, peatland burning has declined across North America and in some areas of Europe. This decline is mirrored by a decrease in wider landscape burning in some, but not all sub-regions, linked to fire-suppression policies, and landscape fragmentation caused by agricultural expansion. Peatlands demonstrate lower susceptibility to burning than the wider landscape in several instances, probably because of autogenic processes that maintain high levels of near-surface wetness even during drought. Nonetheless, widespread drying and degradation of peatlands, particularly in Europe, has likely increased their vulnerability to burning in recent centuries. Consequently, peatland restoration efforts are important to mitigate the risk of peatland fire under a changing climate. Finally, we make recommendations for future research to improve our understanding of the controls on peatland fires.(c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
|
|
| 178. |
- Thompson, J. J.P., et al.
(författare)
-
Phonon-Bottleneck Enhanced Exciton Emission in 2D Perovskites
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Advanced Energy Materials. - 1614-6840 .- 1614-6832. ; In Press
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Layered halide perovskites exhibit remarkable optoelectronic properties and technological promise, driven by strongly bound excitons. The interplay of spin-orbit and exchange coupling creates a rich excitonic landscape, determining their optical signatures and exciton dynamics. Despite the dark excitonic ground state, surprisingly efficient emission from higher-energy bright states has puzzled the scientific community, sparking debates on relaxation mechanisms. Combining low-temperature magneto-optical measurements with sophisticated many-particle theory, the origin of the bright exciton emission in perovskites is elucidated by tracking the thermalization of dark and bright excitons under a magnetic field. The unexpectedly high emission is clearly attributed to a pronounced phonon-bottleneck effect, considerably slowing down the relaxation toward the energetically lowest dark states. It is demonstrated that this bottleneck can be tuned by manipulating the bright-dark energy splitting and optical phonon energies, offering valuable insights and strategies for controlling exciton emission in layered perovskite materials that is crucial for optoelectronics applications.
|
|
| 179. |
- Thompson, Robin N., et al.
(författare)
-
Key questions for modelling COVID-19 exit strategies
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. - : The Royal Society. - 0962-8452 .- 1471-2954. ; 287:1932
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Combinations of intense non-pharmaceutical interventions (lockdowns) were introduced worldwide to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Many governments have begun to implement exit strategies that relax restrictions while attempting to control the risk of a surge in cases. Mathematical modelling has played a central role in guiding interventions, but the challenge of designing optimal exit strategies in the face of ongoing transmission is unprecedented. Here, we report discussions from the Isaac Newton Institute 'Models for an exit strategy' workshop (11-15 May 2020). A diverse community of modellers who are providing evidence to governments worldwide were asked to identify the main questions that, if answered, would allow for more accurate predictions of the effects of different exit strategies. Based on these questions, we propose a roadmap to facilitate the development of reliable models to guide exit strategies. This roadmap requires a global collaborative effort from the scientific community and policymakers, and has three parts: (i) improve estimation of key epidemiological parameters; (ii) understand sources of heterogeneity in populations; and (iii) focus on requirements for data collection, particularly in low-to-middle-income countries. This will provide important information for planning exit strategies that balance socio-economic benefits with public health.
|
|
| 180. |
|
|
