| 1. |
- Dahl-Jensen, D., et al.
(författare)
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Eemian interglacial reconstructed from a Greenland folded ice core
- 2013
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 493:7433, s. 489-494
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Efforts to extract a Greenland ice core with a complete record of the Eemian interglacial (130,000 to 115,000 years ago) have until now been unsuccessful. The response of the Greenland ice sheet to the warmer-than-present climate of the Eemian has thus remained unclear. Here we present the new North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling ('NEEM') ice core and show only a modest ice-sheet response to the strong warming in the early Eemian. We reconstructed the Eemian record from folded ice using globally homogeneous parameters known from dated Greenland and Antarctic ice-core records. On the basis of water stable isotopes, NEEM surface temperatures after the onset of the Eemian (126,000 years ago) peaked at 8 +/- 4 degrees Celsius above the mean of the past millennium, followed by a gradual cooling that was probably driven by the decreasing summer insolation. Between 128,000 and 122,000 years ago, the thickness of the northwest Greenland ice sheet decreased by 400 +/- 250 metres, reaching surface elevations 122,000 years ago of 130 +/- 300 metres lower than the present. Extensive surface melt occurred at the NEEM site during the Eemian, a phenomenon witnessed when melt layers formed again at NEEM during the exceptional heat of July 2012. With additional warming, surface melt might become more common in the future.
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| 2. |
- Perera, Minoli A., et al.
(författare)
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Genetic variants associated with warfarin dose in African-American individuals : a genome-wide association study
- 2013
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Ingår i: The Lancet. - 0140-6736 .- 1474-547X. ; 382:9894, s. 790-796
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background VKORC1 and CYP2C9 are important contributors to warfarin dose variability, but explain less variability for individuals of African descent than for those of European or Asian descent. We aimed to identify additional variants contributing to warfarin dose requirements in African Americans. Methods We did a genome-wide association study of discovery and replication cohorts. Samples from African-American adults (aged >= 18 years) who were taking a stable maintenance dose of warfarin were obtained at International Warfarin Pharmacogenetics Consortium (IWPC) sites and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (Birmingham, AL, USA). Patients enrolled at IWPC sites but who were not used for discovery made up the independent replication cohort. All participants were genotyped. We did a stepwise conditional analysis, conditioning first for VKORC1 -1639G -> A, followed by the composite genotype of CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3. We prespecified a genome-wide significance threshold of p<5x10(-8) in the discovery cohort and p<0.0038 in the replication cohort. Findings The discovery cohort contained 533 participants and the replication cohort 432 participants. After the prespecified conditioning in the discovery cohort, we identified an association between a novel single nucleotide polymorphism in the CYP2C cluster on chromosome 10 (rs12777823) and warfarin dose requirement that reached genome-wide significance (p=1.51x10(-8)). This association was confirmed in the replication cohort (p=5.04x10(-5)); analysis of the two cohorts together produced a p value of 4.5x10(-12). Individuals heterozygous for the rs12777823 A allele need a dose reduction of 6.92 mg/week and those homozygous 9.34 mg/week. Regression analysis showed that the inclusion of rs12777823 significantly improves warfarin dose variability explained by the IWPC dosing algorithm (21% relative improvement). Interpretation A novel CYP2C single nucleotide polymorphism exerts a clinically relevant effect on warfarin dose in African Americans, independent of CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3. Incorporation of this variant into pharmacogenetic dosing algorithms could improve warfarin dose prediction in this population.
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| 3. |
- Lee, C.K., et al.
(författare)
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Prognostic nomogram to predict progression-free survival in patients with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer
- 2011
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Ingår i: British Journal of Cancer. - : Cancer Research UK. - 0007-0920 .- 1532-1827. ; 105:8, s. 1144-1150
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Patients with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer are a heterogeneous group, and it is not possible to accurately predict the progression-free survival (PFS) in these patients. We developed and validated a nomogram to help improve prediction of PFS in patients treated with platinum-based chemotherapy. METHODS: The nomogram was developed in a training cohort (n = 955) from the CALYPSO trial and validated in the AGO-OVAR 2.5 Study (n = 340). The proportional-hazards model (nomogram) was based on pre-treatment characteristics. RESULTS: The nomogram had a concordance index (C-index) of 0.645. Significant predictors were tumour size platinum-chemotherapy-free interval, CA-125, number of organ metastatic sites and white blood count. When the nomogram was applied without CA-125 (CA-125 was not available in validation cohort), the C-indices were 0.624 (training) and 0.594 (validation). When classification was based only on the platinum-chemotherapy-free interval, the indices were 0.571 (training) and 0.560 (validation). The calibration plot in the validation cohort based on four predictors (without CA-125) suggested good agreement between actual and nomogram-predicted 12-month PFS probabilities. CONCLUSION: This nomogram, using five pre-treatment characteristics, improves prediction of PFS in patients with platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer having platinum-based chemotherapy. It will be useful for the design and stratification of patients in clinical trials and also for counselling patients.
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| 4. |
- Harro, Clayton, et al.
(författare)
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Refinement of a human challenge model for evaluation of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli vaccines.
- 2011
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Ingår i: Clinical and vaccine immunology : CVI. - 1556-679X. ; 18:10, s. 1719-27
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) strain H10407 (serotype O78:H11 producing heat-labile toxin [LT], heat-stable toxin [ST], and colonization factor I [CFA/I]) induces reliably high diarrheal attack rates (ARs) in a human challenge model at doses of ≥10(9) CFU. A descending-dose challenge study was conducted with changes to the standard fasting time and buffer formulation, seeking conditions that permit lower inocula while maintaining reproducibly high ARs. In cohort 1, 20 subjects were fasted overnight and randomized 1:1:1:1 to receive H10407 at doses of 10(8) CFU with bicarbonate, 10(8) CFU with CeraVacx, 10(7) CFU with bicarbonate, or 10(7) CFU with CeraVacx. Subsequent cohorts received H10407 (10(7) CFU with bicarbonate) with similar fasting conditions. Cohort 2 included 15 ETEC-naïve volunteers. Cohort 3 included 10 ETEC-naïve volunteers and 10 rechallenged volunteers. In all, 25/35 (71%) ETEC-naïve recipients of 10(7) CFU of H10407 developed moderate or severe diarrhea (average maximum stool output/24 h = 1,042 g), and most (97%) shed H10407 (maximum geometric mean titer = 7.5 × 10(7) CFU/gram of stool). Only one of 10 rechallenged volunteers developed diarrhea. These rechallenged subjects had reduced intestinal colonization, reflected by quantitative microbiology of fecal samples. Among the 35 ETEC-naïve subjects, anti-lipopolysaccharide (LPS) O78 serum antibody responses were striking, with positive IgA and IgG antibody responses in 33/35 (94%) and 25/35 (71%), respectively. Anti-heat-labile enterotoxin (LTB) serum IgA and IgG responses developed in 19/35 (54%) and 14/35 (40%) subjects, respectively. Anti-CFA/I serum IgA and IgG responses were detected in 15/35 (43%) and 8/35 (23%) subjects. After the second challenge, participants exhibited blunted anti-LPS and -LTB responses but a booster response to CFA/I. This ETEC model should prove useful in the future evaluation of ETEC vaccine candidates.
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| 5. |
- Masse, M., et al.
(författare)
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Wide distribution and glacial origin of polar gypsum on Mars
- 2012
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Ingår i: Earth and Planetary Science Letters. - : Elsevier BV. - 0012-821X .- 1385-013X. ; 317, s. 44-55
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The North Polar Cap of Mars is associated with different kinds of superficial sediments, including the Circumpolar Dune Field, interior dune fields and sedimentary veneers scattered over the ice cap. In order to resolve the mineralogical composition and the regional distribution of these sediments, we processed OMEGA and CRISM hyperspectral data with an original method based on spectral derivation. We find that gypsum is present in all areas where undefined hydrated minerals had been previously detected, including superficial sedimentary veneers covering the North Polar Cap, interior dune fields and the whole Circumpolar Dune Field. Morphological and structural analyses reveal that these gypsum crystals derive directly from the interior of the ice cap. The source of superficial sedimentary veneers is the dust that was previously contained in the upper part of the ice cap, the ice-rich North Polar Layered Deposits (NPLD). This gypsum-bearing dust was released, on south-facing slopes of spiral troughs and arcuate scarps, by ice ablation controlled by katabatic winds. By the analysis of all associations of erosional scarps and dune fields over the North Polar Cap, we also demonstrate that the polar dunes are composed of sand-sized particles that were previously contained in the sediment-rich Basal Unit (BU), corresponding to the lower part of the ice cap. These particles contain gypsum and were released from the BU, by regressive ablation of ice at marginal scarps that border the North Polar Cap and by vertical ablation of ice on Olympia Planum. From a reconstruction of wind streamlines over and around the ice cap, we infer that katabatic winds descending from the polar high and rotating around the North Polar Cap control the release of these gypsum-bearing particles by ice ablation and the redistribution of these particles in the Circumpolar Dune Field.
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