| 1. |
- Folkersen, Lasse, et al.
(författare)
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Mapping of 79 loci for 83 plasma protein biomarkers in cardiovascular disease
- 2017
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Ingår i: PLOS Genetics. - : PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE. - 1553-7390 .- 1553-7404. ; 13:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent advances in highly multiplexed immunoassays have allowed systematic large-scale measurement of hundreds of plasma proteins in large cohort studies. In combination with genotyping, such studies offer the prospect to 1) identify mechanisms involved with regulation of protein expression in plasma, and 2) determine whether the plasma proteins are likely to be causally implicated in disease. We report here the results of genome-wide association (GWA) studies of 83 proteins considered relevant to cardiovascular disease (CVD), measured in 3,394 individuals with multiple CVD risk factors. We identified 79 genome-wide significant (p<5e-8) association signals, 55 of which replicated at P<0.0007 in separate validation studies (n = 2,639 individuals). Using automated text mining, manual curation, and network-based methods incorporating information on expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL), we propose plausible causal mechanisms for 25 trans-acting loci, including a potential post-translational regulation of stem cell factor by matrix metalloproteinase 9 and receptor-ligand pairs such as RANK-RANK ligand. Using public GWA study data, we further evaluate all 79 loci for their causal effect on coronary artery disease, and highlight several potentially causal associations. Overall, a majority of the plasma proteins studied showed evidence of regulation at the genetic level. Our results enable future studies of the causal architecture of human disease, which in turn should aid discovery of new drug targets.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Locke, Adam E, et al.
(författare)
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Genetic studies of body mass index yield new insights for obesity biology.
- 2015
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 518:7538, s. 197-401
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Obesity is heritable and predisposes to many diseases. To understand the genetic basis of obesity better, here we conduct a genome-wide association study and Metabochip meta-analysis of body mass index (BMI), a measure commonly used to define obesity and assess adiposity, in up to 339,224 individuals. This analysis identifies 97 BMI-associated loci (P < 5 × 10(-8)), 56 of which are novel. Five loci demonstrate clear evidence of several independent association signals, and many loci have significant effects on other metabolic phenotypes. The 97 loci account for ∼2.7% of BMI variation, and genome-wide estimates suggest that common variation accounts for >20% of BMI variation. Pathway analyses provide strong support for a role of the central nervous system in obesity susceptibility and implicate new genes and pathways, including those related to synaptic function, glutamate signalling, insulin secretion/action, energy metabolism, lipid biology and adipogenesis.
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| 4. |
- Movérare-Skrtic, Sofia, et al.
(författare)
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The bone-sparing effects of estrogen and WNT16 are independent of each other
- 2015
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 112:48, s. 14972-14977
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Wingless-type MMTV integration site family (WNT)16 is a key regulator of bone mass with high expression in cortical bone, and Wnt16-/- mice have reduced cortical bone mass. As Wnt16 expression is enhanced by estradiol treatment, we hypothesized that the bone-sparing effect of estrogen in females isWNT16-dependent. This hypothesis was tested in mechanistic studies using two genetically modified mouse models with either constantly high osteoblastic Wnt16 expression or no Wnt16 expression. We developed a mouse model with osteoblast-specific Wnt16 overexpression (Obl-Wnt16). These mice had several-fold elevated Wnt16 expression in both trabecular and cortical bone compared with wild type (WT) mice. Obl- Wnt16 mice displayed increased total body bone mineral density (BMD), surprisingly caused mainly by a substantial increase in trabecular bone mass, resulting in improved bone strength of vertebrae L3. Ovariectomy (ovx) reduced the total body BMD and the trabecular bone mass to the same degree in Obl-Wnt16 mice and WT mice, suggesting that the bone-sparing effect of estrogen is WNT16-independent. However, these bone parameters were similar in ovx Obl- Wnt16 mice and sham operated WT mice. The role of WNT16 for the bone-sparing effect of estrogen was also evaluated in Wnt16-/- mice. Treatment with estradiol increased the trabecular and cortical bone mass to a similar extent in both Wnt16-/- and WT mice. In conclusion, the bone-sparing effects of estrogen and WNT16 are independent of each other. Furthermore, loss of endogenous WNT16 results specifically in cortical bone loss, whereas overexpression of WNT16 surprisingly increases mainly trabecular bone mass. WNT16- targeted therapies might be useful for treatment of postmenopausal trabecular bone loss.
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| 5. |
- Strawbridge, Rona J., et al.
(författare)
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Identification of a novel proinsulin-associated SNP and demonstration that proinsulin is unlikely to be a causal factor in subclinical vascular remodelling using Mendelian randomisation
- 2017
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Ingår i: Atherosclerosis. - : Elsevier BV. - 0021-9150 .- 1879-1484. ; 266, s. 196-204
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background and aims: Increased proinsulin relative to insulin levels have been associated with subclinical atherosclerosis (measured by carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT)) and are predictive of future cardiovascular disease (CVD), independently of established risk factors. The mechanisms linking proinsulin to atherosclerosis and CVD are unclear. A genome-wide meta-analysis has identified nine loci associated with circulating proinsulin levels. Using proinsulin-associated SNPs, we set out to use a Mendelian randomisation approach to test the hypothesis that proinsulin plays a causal role in subclinical vascular remodelling.Methods: We studied the high CVD-risk IMPROVE cohort (n = 3345), which has detailed biochemical phenotyping and repeated, state-of-the-art, high-resolution carotid ultrasound examinations. Genotyping was performed using Illumina Cardio-Metabo and Immuno arrays, which include reported proinsulin-associated loci. Participants with type 2 diabetes (n = 904) were omitted from the analysis. Linear regression was used to identify proinsulin-associated genetic variants.Results: We identified a proinsulin locus on chromosome 15 (rs8029765) and replicated it in data from 20,003 additional individuals. An 11-SNP score, including the previously identified and the chromosome 15 proinsulin-associated loci, was significantly and negatively associated with baseline IMTmean and IMTmax (the primary cIMT phenotypes) but not with progression measures. However, MR-Eggers refuted any significant effect of the proinsulin-associated 11-SNP score, and a non-pleiotropic SNP score of three variants (including rs8029765) demonstrated no effect on baseline or progression cIMT measures.Conclusions: We identified a novel proinsulin-associated locus and demonstrated that whilst proinsulin levels are associated with cIMT measures, proinsulin per se is unlikely to have a causative effect on cIMT.
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| 6. |
- Aftab, Obaid, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Detection of cell aggregation and altered cell viability by automated label-free video microscopy : A promising alternative to endpoint viability assays in high throughput screening
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Biomolecular Screening. - : Elsevier BV. - 1087-0571 .- 1552-454X. ; 20:3, s. 372-381
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Automated phase-contrast video microscopy now makes it feasible to monitor a high-throughput (HT) screening experiment in a 384-well microtiter plate format by collecting one time-lapse video per well. Being a very cost-effective and label-free monitoring method, its potential as an alternative to cell viability assays was evaluated. Three simple morphology feature extraction and comparison algorithms were developed and implemented for analysis of differentially time-evolving morphologies (DTEMs) monitored in phase-contrast microscopy videos. The most promising layout, pixel histogram hierarchy comparison (PHHC), was able to detect several compounds that did not induce any significant change in cell viability, but made the cell population appear as spheroidal cell aggregates. According to recent reports, all these compounds seem to be involved in inhibition of platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) signaling. Thus, automated quantification of DTEM (AQDTEM) holds strong promise as an alternative or complement to viability assays in HT in vitro screening of chemical compounds.
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| 7. |
- Aftab, Obaid, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Label free quantification of time evolving morphologies using time-lapse video microscopy enables identity control of cell lines and discovery of chemically induced differential activity in iso-genic cell line pairs
- 2015
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Ingår i: Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems. - 0169-7439 .- 1873-3239. ; 141, s. 24-32
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Label free time-lapse video microscopy based monitoring of time evolving cell population morphology has potential to offer a simple and cost effective method for identity control of cell lines. Such morphology monitoring also has potential to offer discovery of chemically induced differential changes between pairs of cell lines of interest, for example where one in a pair of cell lines is normal/sensitive and the other malignant/resistant. A new simple algorithm, pixel histogram hierarchy comparison (PHHC), for comparison of time evolving morphologies (TEM) in phase contrast time-lapse microscopy movies was applied to a set of 10 different cell lines and three different iso-genic colon cancer cell line pairs, each pair being genetically identical except for a single mutation. PHHC quantifies differences in morphology by comparing pixel histogram intensities at six different resolutions. Unsupervised clustering and machine learning based classification methods were found to accurately identify cell lines, including their respective iso-genic variants, through time-evolving morphology. Using this experimental setting, drugs with differential activity in iso-genic cell line pairs were likewise identified. Thus, this is a cost effective and expedient alternative to conventional molecular profiling techniques and might be useful as part of the quality control in research incorporating cell line models, e.g. in any cell/tumor biology or toxicology project involving drug/agent differential activity in pairs of cell line models.
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| 8. |
- Benedek, Hunor, et al.
(författare)
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Strategies for quality assurance of intensity modulated radiation therapy
- 2015
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Ingår i: 8TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON 3D RADIATION DOSIMETRY (IC3DDOSE). - : Institute of Physics (IOP). ; 573, s. 012015-012015
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In late 2011 The Swedish Society of Radiation Physics formed a working group to concentrate on the Quality Assurance of modern radiation therapy techniques. The given task was to identify and summarise the different QA strategies in Sweden and also the international recommendations. This was used to formulate recommendations for practical guidelines within Sweden. In this paper a brief summery of the group's work is presented. All the Swedish radiation therapy centres do a pre treatment verification measurement as QA for every new IMRT and VMAT plan. Physicists do it and they believe it to be time consuming. A general standpoint from all the centres was that new guidelines and legislation is needed to allow QA that does not require a measurement. Based on various international publications and recommendations the working group has presented two strategies, one where all new plans are checked through measurement and one where no measurement is needed. The measurement-based strategy is basically the same as the one used today with an extended machine QA part. The other presented strategy is process oriented where all the different parts of the treatment chain are checked separately. The final report can be found in Swedish on http://www.radiofysik.org.
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| 9. |
- Broström, Fredrik, et al.
(författare)
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Scale-Model Articulated Vehicle with Individual Wheel Drives for Traction Control Studies
- 2015
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Ingår i: International Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing. - 1745-6436 .- 1745-6444. ; 10:3, s. 305-319
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Small scale model vehicles have been successfully used in multiple projects for research and for evaluation of models. ArtiTRAX, an experimental platform designed at Luleå University of Technology, is introduced to study the behaviour of articulated vehicles with individually driven wheels. Three case studies are presented: energy efficiency due to load transfer, online tyre parameter estimation and articulation angle control. The platform was shown to be a valuable asset for research in this area. It gives insight into the problem of controlling overactuated systems and the design hazard of using multiple integrators. ArtiTRAX is shown to be controllable through a kinematic model by only using actuation of the wheel drives. The difference of energy consumption as a function of longitudinal torque distribution indicates that the effectiveness of the motors should be considered when controlling the motor currents. The lateral distribution of motor current as a function of the articulation angle has to be considered in order to minimise the energy consumption of an articulated vehicle. Further research is necessary for understanding the mechanisms and relations between the energy consumption and the controlled motor currents
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| 10. |
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