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| 2. |
- Kattge, Jens, et al.
(författare)
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TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access
- 2020
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 26:1, s. 119-188
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Hayes, A., et al.
(författare)
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A European multicentre evaluation of detection and typing methods for human enteroviruses and parechoviruses using RNA transcripts
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Medical Virology. - : Wiley. - 0146-6615 .- 1096-9071. ; 92:8, s. 1065-1074
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection has become the gold standard for diagnosis and typing of enterovirus (EV) and human parechovirus (HPeV) infections. Its effectiveness depends critically on using the appropriate sample types and high assay sensitivity as viral loads in cerebrospinal fluid samples from meningitis and sepsis clinical presentation can be extremely low. This study evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of currently used commercial and in-house diagnostic and typing assays. Accurately quantified RNA transcript controls were distributed to 27 diagnostic and 12 reference laboratories in 17 European countries for blinded testing. Transcripts represented the four human EV species (EV-A71, echovirus 30, coxsackie A virus 21, and EV-D68), HPeV3, and specificity controls. Reported results from 48 in-house and 15 commercial assays showed 98% detection frequencies of high copy (1000 RNA copies/5 µL) transcripts. In-house assays showed significantly greater detection frequencies of the low copy (10 copies/5 µL) EV and HPeV transcripts (81% and 86%, respectively) compared with commercial assays (56%, 50%; P = 7 × 10−5). EV-specific PCRs showed low cross-reactivity with human rhinovirus C (3 of 42 tests) and infrequent positivity in the negative control (2 of 63 tests). Most or all high copy EV and HPeV controls were successfully typed (88%, 100%) by reference laboratories, but showed reduced effectiveness for low copy controls (41%, 67%). Stabilized RNA transcripts provide an effective, logistically simple and inexpensive reagent for evaluation of diagnostic assay performance. The study provides reassurance of the performance of the many in-house assay formats used across Europe. However, it identified often substantially reduced sensitivities of commercial assays often used as point-of-care tests.
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| 5. |
- Chen, Hao Yu, et al.
(författare)
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Association of FADS1/2 Locus Variants and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids With Aortic Stenosis
- 2020
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Ingår i: JAMA cardiology. - : American Medical Association (AMA). - 2380-6583 .- 2380-6591. ; 5:6, s. 694-702
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Importance: Aortic stenosis (AS) has no approved medical treatment. Identifying etiological pathways for AS could identify pharmacological targets.Objective: To identify novel genetic loci and pathways associated with AS.Design, Setting, and Participants: This genome-wide association study used a case-control design to evaluate 44 703 participants (3469 cases of AS) of self-reported European ancestry from the Genetic Epidemiology Research on Adult Health and Aging (GERA) cohort (from January 1, 1996, to December 31, 2015). Replication was performed in 7 other cohorts totaling 256 926 participants (5926 cases of AS), with additional analyses performed in 6942 participants from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium. Follow-up biomarker analyses with aortic valve calcium (AVC) were also performed. Data were analyzed from May 1, 2017, to December 5, 2019.Exposures: Genetic variants (615 643 variants) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-6 and ω-3) measured in blood samples.Main Outcomes and Measures: Aortic stenosis and aortic valve replacement defined by electronic health records, surgical records, or echocardiography and the presence of AVC measured by computed tomography.Results: The mean (SD) age of the 44 703 GERA participants was 69.7 (8.4) years, and 22 019 (49.3%) were men. The rs174547 variant at the FADS1/2 locus was associated with AS (odds ratio [OR] per C allele, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.83-0.93; P = 3.0 × 10-6), with genome-wide significance after meta-analysis with 7 replication cohorts totaling 312 118 individuals (9395 cases of AS) (OR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.88-0.94; P = 2.5 × 10-8). A consistent association with AVC was also observed (OR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.83-0.99; P = .03). A higher ratio of arachidonic acid to linoleic acid was associated with AVC (OR per SD of the natural logarithm, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.09-1.30; P = 6.6 × 10-5). In mendelian randomization, increased FADS1 liver expression and arachidonic acid were associated with AS (OR per unit of normalized expression, 1.31 [95% CI, 1.17-1.48; P = 7.4 × 10-6]; OR per 5-percentage point increase in arachidonic acid for AVC, 1.23 [95% CI, 1.01-1.49; P = .04]; OR per 5-percentage point increase in arachidonic acid for AS, 1.08 [95% CI, 1.04-1.13; P = 4.1 × 10-4]).Conclusions and Relevance: Variation at the FADS1/2 locus was associated with AS and AVC. Findings from biomarker measurements and mendelian randomization appear to link ω-6 fatty acid biosynthesis to AS, which may represent a therapeutic target.
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| 6. |
- Chen, H. Y., et al.
(författare)
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Genome-wide association meta-analysis in 652,134 participants identifies 9 novel susceptibility loci for aortic stenosis
- 2020
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Ingår i: European Heart Journal. - : Oxford University Press. - 0195-668X .- 1522-9645. ; 41:Suppl 2, s. 1862-1862
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Aortic stenosis (AS) is the most common form of incident valvular heart disease. While valve replacement is effective, the absence of an approved medical therapy provides no alternatives to patients with contraindications or mild disease. An improved understanding of the genetics of AS could identify targets for pharmacological intervention.Methods: An inverse variance-weighted, fixed effects meta-analysis of the association of 11,591,806 variants with AS was undertaken using data from 10 European cohorts totalling 652,134 participants (13,758 cases of AS). We queried publicly available datasets to characterize the functional consequences of genome-wide significant variants, conducted a phenome-wide association study to assess their association with other outcomes, and constructed polygenic risk scores to examine their association with AS. We also performed gene- and gene-set enrichment analyses, estimated genetic correlation with cardiovascular traits, and assessed whether five lipid or immunological biomarkers were causally associated with AS using Mendelian randomization.Results: Eighteen independent variants at 16 loci attained genome-wide significance in the meta-analysis, including variants at all seven previously reported loci. Many of the significant variants were intronic or intergenic, and the phenome-wide association study revealed extensive pleiotropy with apolipoprotein B, C-reactive protein, and other cardiovascular and immunological traits. A weighted polygenic risk score composed of the 18 variants was strongly associated with AS (adjusted OR per SD, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.33 to 1.44; p=4.6×10–57), and improved the discriminatory ability for AS when added to a model that contained clinical risk factors (difference in the area under the curve p=2.0×10–11). Gene-based approaches indicated higher IL6R expression in the blood among AS cases compared to controls (p=3.1×10–6), and the association of LDLR with AS (p=2.3×10–10). Gene set analyses revealed that genes bound by the transcription factor TCF7 or micro-RNAs miR-21, miR-219, miR-491, and miR-19 were differentially expressed in the liver depending on AS status (p≤5.7×10–4), suggesting disease development may be mediated by tissue-specific transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation. Mendelian randomization supported a causal association of five lipid and immunological biomarkers with AS, including low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (OR per mmol/L, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.48 to 1.75; p=1.3×10–30).Conclusions: Evidence from large-scale genetic analyses indicate that lipid metabolism, inflammation, and calcification are key contributors to AS.
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| 7. |
- De Piano, Mario, et al.
(författare)
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Lipogenic signalling modulates prostate cancer cell adhesion and migration via modification of Rho GTPases
- 2020
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Ingår i: Oncogene. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 0950-9232 .- 1476-5594. ; 39:18, s. 3666-3679
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Fatty acid synthase (FASN) is commonly overexpressed in prostate cancer and associated with tumour progression. FASN is responsible for de novo synthesis of the fatty acid palmitate; the building block for protein palmitoylation. Recent work has suggested that alongside its established role in promoting cell proliferation FASN may also promote invasion. We now find depletion of FASN expression increases prostate cancer cell adhesiveness, impairs HGF-mediated cell migration and reduces 3D invasion. These changes in motility suggest that FASN can mediate actin cytoskeletal remodelling; a process known to be downstream of Rho family GTPases. Here, we demonstrate that modulation of FASN expression specifically impacts on the palmitoylation of the atypical GTPase RhoU. Impaired RhoU activity in FASN depleted cells leads to reduced adhesion turnover downstream of paxillin serine phosphorylation, which is rescued by addition of exogenous palmitate. Moreover, canonical Cdc42 expression is dependent on the palmitoylation status of RhoU. Thus we uncover a novel relationship between FASN, RhoU and Cdc42 that directly influences cell migration potential. These results provide compelling evidence that FASN activity directly promotes cell migration and supports FASN as a potential therapeutic target in metastatic prostate cancer.
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| 8. |
- Kagan, Jacob, et al.
(författare)
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National Cancer Institute Think-Tank Meeting Report on Proteomic Cartography and Biomarkers at the Single-Cell Level : Interrogation of Premalignant Lesions
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Proteome Research. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1535-3893 .- 1535-3907. ; 19:5, s. 1900-1912
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A Think-Tank Meeting was convened by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to solicit experts' opinion on the development and application of multiomic single-cell analyses, and especially single-cell proteomics, to improve the development of a new generation of biomarkers for cancer risk, early detection, diagnosis, and prognosis as well as to discuss the discovery of new targets for prevention and therapy. It is anticipated that such markers and targets will be based on cellular, subcellular, molecular, and functional aberrations within the lesion and within individual cells. Single-cell proteomic data will be essential for the establishment of new tools with searchable and scalable features that indude spatial and temporal cartographies of premalignant and malignant lesions. Challenges and potential solutions that were discussed included (i) The best way/s to analyze single-cells from fresh and preserved tissue; (ii) Detection and analysis of secreted molecules and from single cells, especially from a tissue slice; (iii) Detection of new, previously undocumented cell type/s in the premalignant and early stage cancer tissue microenvironment; (iv) Multiomic integration of data to support and inform proteomic measurements; (v) Subcellular organelles-identifying abnormal structure, function, distribution, and location within individual premalignant and malignant cells; (vi) How to improve the dynamic range of single-cell proteomic measurements for discovery of differentially expressed proteins and their post-translational modifications (PTM); (vii) The depth of coverage measured concurrently using single-cell techniques; (viii) Quantitation - absolute or semiquantitative? (ix) Single methodology or multiplexed combinations? (x) Application of analytical methods for identification of biologically significant subsets; (xi) Data visualization of N-dimensional data sets; (xii) How to construct intercellular signaling networks in individual cells within premalignant tumor microenvironments (TME); (xiii) Associations between intrinsic cellular processes and extrinsic stimuli; (xiv) How to predict cellular responses to stress-inducing stimuli; (xv) Identification of new markers for prediction of progression from precursor, benign, and localized lesions to invasive cancer, based on spatial and temporal changes within individual cells; (xvi) Identification of new targets for immunoprevention or immunotherapy-identification of neoantigens and surfactome of individual cells within a lesion.
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| 9. |
- Mazzola, Federico, et al.
(författare)
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The sub-band structure of atomically sharp dopant profiles in silicon
- 2020
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Ingår i: npj Quantum Materials. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2397-4648. ; 5:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The downscaling of silicon-based structures and proto-devices has now reached the single-atom scale, representing an important milestone for the development of a silicon-based quantum computer. One especially notable platform for atomic-scale device fabrication is the so-called Si:P δ-layer, consisting of an ultra-dense and sharp layer of dopants within a semiconductor host. Whilst several alternatives exist, it is on the Si:P platform that many quantum proto-devices have been successfully demonstrated. Motivated by this, both calculations and experiments have been dedicated to understanding the electronic structure of the Si:P δ-layer platform. In this work, we use high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to reveal the structure of the electronic states which exist because of the high dopant density of the Si:P δ-layer. In contrast to published theoretical work, we resolve three distinct bands, the most occupied of which shows a large anisotropy and significant deviation from simple parabolic behaviour. We investigate the possible origins of this fine structure, and conclude that it is primarily a consequence of the dielectric constant being large (ca. double that of bulk Si). Incorporating this factor into tight-binding calculations leads to a major revision of band structure; specifically, the existence of a third band, the separation of the bands, and the departure from purely parabolic behaviour. This new understanding of the band structure has important implications for quantum proto-devices which are built on the Si:P δ-layer platform.
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| 10. |
- Schier, P., et al.
(författare)
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European Research on Magnetic Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications : Standardisation Aspects
- 2020
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Ingår i: 21st Polish Conference on Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, PCBBE 2019. - Cham : Springer Verlag. - 9783030298845 ; , s. 316-326
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Magnetic nanoparticles have many applications in biomedicine and other technical areas. Despite their huge economic impact, there are no standardised procedures available to measure their basic magnetic properties. The International Organization for Standardization is working on a series of documents on the definition of characteristics of magnetic nanomaterials. We review previous and ongoing European research projects on characteristics of magnetic nanoparticles and present results of an online survey among European researchers.
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