| 1. |
- Kalman, Janos L, et al.
(author)
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Investigating polygenic burden in age at disease onset in bipolar disorder: Findings from an international multicentric study.
- 2019
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In: Bipolar disorders. - : Wiley. - 1399-5618 .- 1398-5647. ; 21:1, s. 68-75
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Bipolar disorder (BD) with early disease onset is associated with an unfavorable clinical outcome and constitutes a clinically and biologically homogenous subgroup within the heterogeneous BD spectrum. Previous studies have found an accumulation of early age at onset (AAO) in BD families and have therefore hypothesized that there is a larger genetic contribution to the early-onset cases than to late onset BD. To investigate the genetic background of this subphenotype, we evaluated whether an increased polygenic burden of BD- and schizophrenia (SCZ)-associated risk variants is associated with an earlier AAO in BD patients.A total of 1995 BD type 1 patients from the Consortium of Lithium Genetics (ConLiGen), PsyCourse and Bonn-Mannheim samples were genotyped and their BD and SCZ polygenic risk scores (PRSs) were calculated using the summary statistics of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium as a training data set. AAO was either separated into onset groups of clinical interest (childhood and adolescence [≤18 years] vs adulthood [>18 years]) or considered as a continuous measure. The associations between BD- and SCZ-PRSs and AAO were evaluated with regression models.BD- and SCZ-PRSs were not significantly associated with age at disease onset. Results remained the same when analyses were stratified by site of recruitment.The current study is the largest conducted so far to investigate the association between the cumulative BD and SCZ polygenic risk and AAO in BD patients. The reported negative results suggest that such a polygenic influence, if there is any, is not large, and highlight the importance of conducting further, larger scale studies to obtain more information on the genetic architecture of this clinically relevant phenotype.
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| 2. |
- Apweiler, Rolf, et al.
(author)
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Approaching clinical proteomics : current state and future fields of application in cellular proteomics
- 2009
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In: Cytometry. Part A : the journal of the International Society for Analytical Cytology. - : Wiley. - 1552-4922. ; 75A:10, s. 816-832
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recent developments in proteomics technology offer new opportunities for clinical applications in hospital or specialized laboratories including the identification of novel biomarkers, monitoring of disease, detecting adverse effects of drugs, and environmental hazards. Advanced spectrometry technologies and the development of new protein array formats have brought these analyses to a standard, which now has the potential to be used in clinical diagnostics. Besides standardization of methodologies and distribution of proteomic data into public databases, the nature of the human body fluid proteome with its high dynamic range in protein concentrations, its quantitation problems, and its extreme complexity present enormous challenges. Molecular cell biology (cytomics) with its link to proteomics is a new fast moving scientific field, which addresses functional cell analysis and bioinformatic approaches to search for novel cellular proteomic biomarkers or their release products into body fluids that provide better insight into the enormous biocomplexity of disease processes and are suitable for patient stratification, therapeutic monitoring, and prediction of prognosis. Experience from studies of in vitro diagnostics and especially in clinical chemistry showed that the majority of errors occurs in the preanalytical phase and the setup of the diagnostic strategy. This is also true for clinical proteomics where similar preanalytical variables such as inter- and intra-assay variability due to biological variations or proteolytical activities in the sample will most likely also influence the results of proteomics studies. However, before complex proteomic analysis can be introduced at a broader level into the clinic, standardization of the preanalytical phase including patient preparation, sample collection, sample preparation, sample storage, measurement, and data analysis is another issue which has to be improved. In this report, we discuss the recent advances and applications that fulfill the criteria for clinical proteomics with the focus on cellular proteomics (cytoproteomics) as related to preanalytical and analytical standardization and to quality control measures required for effective implementation of these technologies and analytes into routine laboratory testing to generate novel actionable health information. It will then be crucial to design and carry out clinical studies that can eventually identify novel clinical diagnostic strategies based on these techniques and validate their impact on clinical decision making.
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| 3. |
- Apweiler, Rolf, et al.
(author)
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Approaching clinical proteomics : current state and future fields of application in fluid proteomics
- 2009
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In: Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine. - 1434-6621 .- 1437-4331. ; 47:6, s. 724-744
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The field of clinical proteomics offers opportunities to identify new disease biomarkers in body fluids, cells and tissues. These biomarkers can be used in clinical applications for diagnosis, stratification of patients for specific treatment, or therapy monitoring. New protein array formats and improved spectrometry technologies have brought these analyses to a level with potential for use in clinical diagnostics. The nature of the human body fluid proteome with its large dynamic range of protein concentrations presents problems with quantitation. The extreme complexity of the proteome in body fluids presents enormous challenges and requires the establishment of standard operating procedures for handling of specimens, increasing sensitivity for detection and bioinformatical tools for distribution of proteomic data into the public domain. From studies of in vitro diagnostics, especially in clinical chemistry, it is evident that most errors occur in the preanalytical phase and during implementation of the diagnostic strategy. This is also true for clinical proteomics, and especially for fluid proteomics because of the multiple pretreatment processes. These processes include depletion of high-abundance proteins from plasma or enrichment processes for urine where biological variation or differences in proteolytic activities in the sample along with preanalytical variables such as inter- and intra-assay variability will likely influence the results of proteomics studies. However, before proteomic analysis can be introduced at a broader level into the clinical setting, standardization of the preanalytical phase including patient preparation, sample collection, sample preparation, sample storage, measurement and data analysis needs to be improved. In this review, we discuss the recent technological advances and applications that fulfil the criteria for clinical proteomics, with the focus on fluid proteomics. These advances relate to preanalytical factors, analytical standardization and quality-control measures required for effective implementation into routine laboratory testing in order to generate clinically useful information. With new disease biomarker candidates, it will be crucial to design and perform clinical studies that can identify novel diagnostic strategies based on these techniques, and to validate their impact on clinical decision-making.
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| 4. |
- Bernadó, Laura, et al.
(author)
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In-tunnel vehicular radio channel characterization
- 2011
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In: [Host publication title missing]. - 1550-2252. - 9781424483327
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Abstract in UndeterminedInside a tunnel, electromagnetic wave propagation differs strongly from the well understood "open-air" situation. The characterization of the tunnel environment is crucial for deploying vehicular communication systems. In this paper we evaluate vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) radio channel measurements inside a tunnel. We estimate the time-varying root mean square (rms) delay and Doppler spreads, as well as the excess delay and the maximum Doppler dispersion. The fading process in V2V communications is inherently non-stationary. Hence, we characterize the stationarity time, for which we can consider the fading process to be wide sense stationary. We show that the spreads, excess delay, and maximum Doppler dispersion are larger on average when both vehicles are inside the tunnel compared to the "open-air" situation. The temporal evolution of the stationarity time is highly influenced by the strength of time-varying multipath components and the distance between vehicles. Furthermore, we show the good fit of the rms delay and Doppler spreads to a lognormal distribution, as well as for the stationarity time. From our analysis we can conclude that the IEEE 802.11p standard will be robust towards inter-symbol and inter-carrier interference inside a tunnel.
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| 5. |
- Bernadó, Laura, et al.
(author)
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Multi-dimensional K-factor analysis for V2V radio channels in open sub-urban street crossings
- 2010
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In: [Host publication title missing]. - 9781424480173 ; , s. 58-63
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper we analyze the small-scale fading statistics for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications in a typical open sub-urban street crossing. The two cars approach the crossing from two different streets and the channel conditions vary from non line-of sight (NLOS) to line-of-sight (LOS). The small-scale fading of the first delay bin is Ricean distributed with a time-varying K-factor. The later delay bins are mostly Rayleigh distributed. The antenna arrays used for recording the multiple-input multiple-output channels are linear and consist of 4 elements with directional radiation patterns. We investigate the K-factor variation of the first delay bin in time, frequency, and space dimensions, where the measurement has a duration of 20 s, a bandwidth of 240 MHz, and 16 individual single-input single- output channels. We observe that the large/small K-factor values are not necessarily correlated with the received power. We show that the K-factor can not be assumed to be constant in any of the considered domains, not even in the frequency domain, as it has been always done for relative bandwidths up to 10%. The narrow- band K-factor for each frequency bin corroborates the need to consider its frequency variation. The antenna radiation patterns, and the illuminated objects by them at different time instances are the cause of these variations. We conclude that a multi- dimensional varying K-factor models the large-scale statistical behaviour more accurately than a constant K-factor.
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| 6. |
- Thiel, Andreas, et al.
(author)
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In-situ vehicular antenna integration and design aspects for vehicle-to-vehicle communications
- 2010
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In: [Host publication title missing]. - 9781424464319 ; , s. 1-5
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications aim to enhance driver safety and traffic efficiency by using the recently designated frequency bands in the 5.9 GHz range in Europe. Due to the time-frequency selective fading behavior of the vehicular communication channel, multi-antenna techniques can provide enhanced link conditions by means of diversity processing. This paper highlights the integration of a four-element (N =4) linear array antenna into the roof-top compartment of a vehicle to conduct Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) high-resolution mobile-to-mobile channel measurements.
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| 7. |
- Abbas, Taimoor, et al.
(author)
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Measurements Based Channel Characterization for Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications at Merging Lanes on Highway
- 2013
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In: 2013 IEEE 5th International Symposium on Wireless Vehicular Communications, WiVeC 2013 - Proceedings. - : IEEE. - 9781467363396
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper presents results for vehicle-to-vehicle channel characterization based on measurements conducted for the merging lane scenarios on a highway. We present power delay profiles as well as channel gains and analyze important propagation mechanisms to see the impact of line-of-sight (LOS) and the antenna radiation pattern on the total received power. It is found that the absence of LOS and strong scattering objects, close to the point where the ramp merges with a highway, may result in poor received signal strength. The probability of dropping packets also increases where there is LOS between TX and RX but the antenna pattern is not omni-directional. A dip in the antenna pattern affects the received signal strength severely which poses a challenge for vehicle-to-vehicle communication in safety critical situations.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Abbas, Taimoor, et al.
(author)
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Validation of a Non-Line-of-Sight Path-Loss Model for V2V Communications at Street Intersections
- 2013
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In: 13th International Conference on ITS Telecommunications.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper a non-line-of-sight (NLOS) path-loss and fading model developed for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication at 5:9 GHz is validated with independent and realistic measurement data. The reference NLOS model is claimed to be flexible and of low complexity, and incorporates specific geometric aspects in a closed-form expression.We validated the accuracy of the model with the help of realistic channel measurements performed in selected street intersections in the city of Lund and Malm¨o, Sweden. The model fits well, with a few exceptions, to most of the measurements taken at different intersections which have variable geometry and scattering environment. It is found that the model can be made more general if an intersection dependent parameter, that depends on the property and number of available scatterers in that particular intersection, is included in the model.
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| 10. |
- Boraschi, Diana, et al.
(author)
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Immunity against HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis during co-infections with neglected infectious diseases: recommendations for the European Union research priorities.
- 2008
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In: PLoS neglected tropical diseases. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1935-2735. ; 2:6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Infectious diseases remain a major health and socioeconomic problem in many low-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. For many years, the three most devastating diseases, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis (TB) have received most of the world's attention. However, in rural and impoverished urban areas, a number of infectious diseases remain neglected and cause massive suffering. It has been calculated that a group of 13 neglected infectious diseases affects over one billion people, corresponding to a sixth of the world's population. These diseases include infections with different types of worms and parasites, cholera, and sleeping sickness, and can cause significant mortality and severe disabilities in low-income countries. For most of these diseases, vaccines are either not available, poorly effective, or too expensive. Moreover, these neglected diseases often occur in individuals who are also affected by HIV/AIDS, malaria, or TB, making the problem even more serious and indicating that co-infections are the rule rather than the exception in many geographical areas. To address the importance of combating co-infections, scientists from 14 different countries in Africa and Europe met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on September 9-11, 2007. The message coming from these scientists is that the only possibility for winning the fight against infections in low-income countries is by studying, in the most global way possible, the complex interaction between different infections and conditions of malnourishment. The new scientific and technical tools of the post-genomic era can allow us to reach this goal. However, a concomitant effort in improving education and social conditions will be needed to make the scientific findings effective.
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