| 1. |
- Sawcer, Stephen, et al.
(författare)
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Genetic risk and a primary role for cell-mediated immune mechanisms in multiple sclerosis
- 2011
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 476:7359, s. 214-219
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Multiple sclerosis is a common disease of the central nervous system in which the interplay between inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes typically results in intermittent neurological disturbance followed by progressive accumulation of disability. Epidemiological studies have shown that genetic factors are primarily responsible for the substantially increased frequency of the disease seen in the relatives of affected individuals, and systematic attempts to identify linkage in multiplex families have confirmed that variation within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) exerts the greatest individual effect on risk. Modestly powered genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled more than 20 additional risk loci to be identified and have shown that multiple variants exerting modest individual effects have a key role in disease susceptibility. Most of the genetic architecture underlying susceptibility to the disease remains to be defined and is anticipated to require the analysis of sample sizes that are beyond the numbers currently available to individual research groups. In a collaborative GWAS involving 9,772 cases of European descent collected by 23 research groups working in 15 different countries, we have replicated almost all of the previously suggested associations and identified at least a further 29 novel susceptibility loci. Within the MHC we have refined the identity of the HLA-DRB1 risk alleles and confirmed that variation in the HLA-A gene underlies the independent protective effect attributable to the class I region. Immunologically relevant genes are significantly overrepresented among those mapping close to the identified loci and particularly implicate T-helper-cell differentiation in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis.
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| 2. |
- McCarthy, Bridget J, et al.
(författare)
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Risk factors for oligodendroglial tumors : A pooled international study
- 2011
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Ingår i: Neuro-Oncology. - Charlottesville, VA : Carden Jennings Pub.. - 1522-8517 .- 1523-5866. ; 13:2, s. 242-250
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Oligodendroglial tumors are rare subtypes of brain tumors and are often combined with other glial tumors in epidemiological analyses. However, different demographic associations and clinical characteristics suggest potentially different risk factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate possible risk factors for oligodendroglial tumors (including oligodendroglioma, anaplastic oligodendroglioma, and mixed glioma). Data from 7 case-control studies (5 US and 2 Scandinavian) were pooled. Unconditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), adjusted for age group, gender, and study site. Data on 617 cases and 1260 controls were available for analyses. Using data from all 7 studies, history of allergies and/or asthma was associated with a decreased risk of anaplastic oligodendroglioma (OR = 0.6; 95% CI: 0.4-0.9), and history of asthma only was associated with a decreased risk of oligodendroglioma (OR = 0.5; 95% CI: 0.3-0.9) and anaplastic oligodendroglioma (OR = 0.3; 95% CI: 0.1-0.9). A family history of brain tumors was associated with an increased risk of anaplastic oligodendroglioma (OR = 2.2; 95% CI: 1.1-4.5). Having had chicken pox was associated with a decreased risk of oligodendroglioma (OR = 0.6; 95% CI: 0.4-0.9) and anaplastic oligodendroglioma (OR = 0.5; 95% CI: 0.3-0.9) in the US studies. Although there is some overlap in risk factors between oligodendroglial tumors and gliomas as a group, it is likely that additional factors specific to oligodendroglial tumors have yet to be identified. Large, multi-institution international studies will be necessary to better characterize these etiological risk factors.
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| 3. |
- Thomas, Wieloch, et al.
(författare)
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A novel device for batch-wise isolation of a-cellulose from small-amount wholewood samples
- 2011
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Ingår i: Dendrochronologia. - : Elsevier BV. - 1125-7865 .- 1612-0051. ; 29:2, s. 115-117
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A novel device for the chemical isolation of α-cellulose from wholewood material of tree rings was designed by the Potsdam Dendro Laboratory. It allows the simultaneous treatment of up to several hundred micro samples. Key features are the batch-wise exchange of the chemical solutions, the reusability of all major parts and the easy and unambiguous labelling of each individual sample. Compared to classical methods labour intensity and running costs are significantly reduced.
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