| 1. |
- Deng, Min, et al.
(författare)
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Genome-wide association analyses in Han Chinese identify two new susceptibility loci for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- 2013
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Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 45:6, s. 697-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To identify susceptibility genes for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 506 individuals with sporadic ALS and 1,859 controls of Han Chinese ancestry. Ninety top SNPs suggested by the current GWAS and 6 SNPs identified by previous GWAS were analyzed in an independent cohort of 706 individuals with ALS and 1,777 controls of Han Chinese ancestry. We discovered two new susceptibility loci for ALS at 1q32 (CAMK1G, rs6703183, P-combined = 2.92 x 10(-8), odds ratio (OR) = 1.31) and 22p11 (CABIN1 and SUSD2, rs8141797, P-combined = 2.35 x 10(-9), OR = 1.52). These two loci explain 12.48% of the overall variance in disease risk in the Han Chinese population. We found no association evidence for the previously reported loci in the Han Chinese population, suggesting genetic heterogeneity of disease susceptibility for ALS between ancestry groups. Our study identifies two new susceptibility loci and suggests new pathogenic mechanisms of ALS.
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| 2. |
- Piao, Shilong, et al.
(författare)
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Evidence for a weakening relationship between interannual temperature variability and northern vegetation activity.
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), a proxy of vegetation productivity, is known to be correlated with temperature in northern ecosystems. This relationship, however, may change over time following alternations in other environmental factors. Here we show that above 30°N, the strength of the relationship between the interannual variability of growing season NDVI and temperature (partial correlation coefficient RNDVI-GT) declined substantially between 1982 and 2011. This decrease in RNDVI-GT is mainly observed in temperate and arctic ecosystems, and is also partly reproduced by process-based ecosystem model results. In the temperate ecosystem, the decrease in RNDVI-GT coincides with an increase in drought. In the arctic ecosystem, it may be related to a nonlinear response of photosynthesis to temperature, increase of hot extreme days and shrub expansion over grass-dominated tundra. Our results caution the use of results from interannual time scales to constrain the decadal response of plants to ongoing warming.
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| 3. |
- Anderson, Cynthia M., et al.
(författare)
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Permanent Genetic Resources added to Molecular Ecology Resources Database 1 December 2009-31 January 2010
- 2010
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology Resources. - : Wiley. - 1755-098X .- 1755-0998. ; 10:3, s. 576-579
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article documents the addition of 220 microsatellite marker loci to the Molecular Ecology Resources Database. Loci were developed for the following species: Allanblackia floribunda, Amblyraja radiata, Bactrocera cucurbitae, Brachycaudus helichrysi, Calopogonium mucunoides, Dissodactylus primitivus, Elodea canadensis, Ephydatia fluviatilis, Galapaganus howdenae howdenae, Hoplostethus atlanticus, Ischnura elegans, Larimichthys polyactis, Opheodrys vernalis, Pelteobagrus fulvidraco, Phragmidium violaceum, Pistacia vera, and Thunnus thynnus. These loci were cross-tested on the following species: Allanblackia gabonensis, Allanblackia stanerana, Neoceratitis cyanescens, Dacus ciliatus, Dacus demmerezi, Bactrocera zonata, Ceratitis capitata, Ceratitis rosa, Ceratits catoirii, Dacus punctatifrons, Ephydatia mulleri, Spongilla lacustris, Geodia cydonium, Axinella sp., Ischnura graellsii, Ischnura ramburii, Ischnura pumilio, Pistacia integerrima and Pistacia terebinthus.
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| 4. |
- Casa, Marcello, et al.
(författare)
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Development and characterization of graphene-enhanced thermal conductive adhesives
- 2014
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Ingår i: 15th International Conference on Electronic Packaging Technology, ICEPT 2014; Wangjiang HotelChengdu; China; 12 August 2014 through 15 August 2014. - 9781479947072 ; :Art. no. 6922700, s. 480-483
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- According to Moore's Laws, complexity and power densities of electronic devices are increased during the last decades, moreover their dimensions are shrinking to nanometers causing hot-spot temperature escalation. Thermal management, therefore, becomes a critical issue for next generation of electronics. This scenario motivates development of novel thermal conductive adhesive (TCA) with enhanced thermal conductivity. Conventional TCAs use polymers as the matrix (base material) and utilize large loading weight fraction of the filler, usually silver particles, to achieve the thermal conductivity of 1-4 W/ m K at room temperature [1]. Lately it was discovered that graphene exhibit superior thermal conductivity [2] even when they are incorporated with matrix materials [3], which offers a potential to develop high thermal conductive graphene-filled compound. In this paper, a new functionalized graphene and its filled TCA have been developed and characterized. Starting from pristine graphite flakes, graphene was prepared through chemical exfoliation and functionalized with a nano silver layer to form a special metal/graphene hybrid material. Moreover, an efficient method to uniformly disperse the nano-scaled graphene hybrid material in silver-epoxy matrix was developed. Cross-section view of SEM has shown a homogeneous component structure, and TGA analysis of hybrid material is given. The developed compound is based on a commercial TCA which is composed with epoxy matrix and micro-sized Ag flakes. Thermal characterization through Laser-flash equipment has indicated that a significant thermal conductivity improvement was achieved through adding functionalized graphene into the material. Different TCA samples with different weight percentages of functionalized graphene ranging from 0 % (reference) to 11.5 % were prepared and tested to study thermal conductivity change. Data show that a thermal conductivity value of 7.6 W/ m K is reached when the graphene/silver percentage is 11.5 % that is almost 4 times higher than our reference.
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| 5. |
- Chen, Hanwei, et al.
(författare)
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Tumor Volumes Measured From Static and Dynamic F-18-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography Scan : Comparison of Different Methods Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging as the Criterion Standard
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of computer assisted tomography. - 0363-8715 .- 1532-3145. ; 38:2, s. 209-215
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the accuracy of calculating the primary tumor volumes using a gradient-based method and fixed threshold methods on the standardized uptake value (SUV) maps and the net influx of FDG (Ki) maps from positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) images. Materials and Methods: Newly diagnosed patients with head and neck cancer were recruited, and dynamic PET-CT scan and T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging were performed. The maps of Ki and SUV were calculated from PET-CT images. The tumor volumes were calculated using a gradient-based method and a fixed threshold method at 40% of maximal SUV or maximal Ki. Four kinds of volumes, VOLKi-Gra (from the Ki maps using the gradient-based method), VOLKi-40% (from the Ki maps using the threshold of 40% maximal Ki), VOLSUV-Gra (from the SUV maps using the gradient-based method), and VOLSUV-40% (from the SUV maps using the threshold of 40% maximal SUV), were acquired and compared with VOLMRI (the volumes acquired on T2-weighted images) using the Pearson correlation, paired t test, and similarity analysis. Results: Eighteen patients were studied, of which 4 had poorly defined tumors (PDT). The positron emission tomography-derived volumes were as follows: VOLSUV-40%, 2.1 to 41.2 cm(3) (mean [SD], 12.3 [10.6]); VOLSUV-Gra, 2.2 to 28.1 cm(3) (mean [SD], 13.2 [8.4]); VOLKi-Gra, 2.4 to 17.0 cm(3) (mean [SD], 9.5 [4.6]); and VOLKi-40%, 2.7 to 20.3 cm(3) (mean [SD], 12.0 [6.0]). The VOLMRI ranged from 2.9 to 18.1 cm(3) (mean [SD], 9.1 [3.9]). The VOLKi-Gra significantly correlated with VOLMRI with the highest correlation coefficient (PDT included, R = 0.673, P = 0.002; PDT excluded, R = 0.841, P < 0.001) and presented no difference from VOLMRI (P = 0.672 or 0.561, respectively, PDT included and excluded). The difference between VOLKi-Gra and VOLMRI was also the smallest. Conclusions: The tumor volumes delineated on the Ki maps using the gradient-based method are more accurate than those on the SUV maps and using the fixed threshold methods.
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| 6. |
- Chen, Mei-Qin, et al.
(författare)
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Arabidopsis NMD3 is required for nuclear export of 60S ribosomal subunits and affects secondary cell wall thickening
- 2012
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Ingår i: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 7:4, s. 35904-35904
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- NMD3 is required for nuclear export of the 60S ribosomal subunit in yeast and vertebrate cells, but no corresponding function of NMD3 has been reported in plants. Here we report that Arabidopsis thaliana NMD3 (AtNMD3) showed a similar function in the nuclear export of the 60S ribosomal subunit. Interference with AtNMD3 function by overexpressing a truncated dominant negative form of the protein lacking the nuclear export signal sequence caused retainment of the 60S ribosomal subunits in the nuclei. More interestingly, the transgenic Arabidopsis with dominant negative interference of AtNMD3 function showed a striking failure of secondary cell wall thickening, consistent with the altered expression of related genes and composition of cell wall components. Observation of a significant decrease of rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) in the differentiating interfascicular fiber cells of the transgenic plant stems suggested a link between the defective nuclear export of 60S ribosomal subunits and the abnormal formation of the secondary cell wall. These findings not only clarified the evolutionary conservation of NMD3 functions in the nuclear export of 60S ribosomal subunits in yeast, animals and plants, but also revealed a new facet of the regulatory mechanism underlying secondary cell wall thickening in Arabidopsis. This new facet is that the nuclear export of 60S ribosomal subunits and the formation of RER may play regulatory roles in coordinating protein synthesis in cytoplasm and transcription in nuclei.
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| 7. |
- Ge, Yue, et al.
(författare)
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Environmental OMICS: Current Status and Future Directions
- 2013
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Ingår i: JOURNAL OF INTEGRATED OMICS. - : Proteomass Scientific Society. - 2182-0287. ; 3:2, s. 75-87
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Applications of OMICS to high throughput studies of changes of genes, RNAs, proteins, metabolites, and their associated functionsin cells or organisms exposed to environmental chemicals has led to the emergence of a very active research field: environmental OMICS.This developing field holds an important key for improving the scientific basis for understanding the potential impacts of environmentalchemicals on both health and the environment. Here we describe the state of environmental OMICS with an emphasis on its recent accomplishmentsand its problems and potential solutions to facilitate the incorporation of OMICS into mainstream environmental and healthresearch.Data sources: We reviewed relevant and recently published studies on the applicability and usefulness of OMICS technologies to the identificationof toxicity pathways, mechanisms, and biomarkers of environmental chemicals for environmental and health risk monitoring andassessment, including recent presentations and discussions on these issues at The First International Conference on Environmental OMICS(ICEO), held in Guangzhou, China during November 8-12, 2011. This paper summarizes our review.Synthesis: Environmental OMICS aims to take advantage of powerful genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics tools toidentify novel toxicity pathways/signatures/biomarkers so as to better understand toxicity mechanisms/modes of action, to identify/categorize/prioritize/screen environmental chemicals, and to monitor and predict the risks associated with exposure to environmental chemicalson human health and the environment. To improve the field, some lessons learned from previous studies need to be summarized, aresearch agenda and guidelines for future studies need to be established, and a focus for the field needs to be developed.Conclusions: OMICS technologies for identification of RNA, protein, and metabolic profiles and endpoints have already significantly improvedour understanding of how environmental chemicals affect our ecosystem and human health. OMICS breakthroughs are empoweringthe fields of environmental toxicology, chemical toxicity characterization, and health risk assessment. However, environmental OMICS is stillin the data generation and collection stage. Important data gaps in linking and/or integrating toxicity data with OMICS endpoints/profilesneed to be filled to enable understanding of the potential impacts of chemicals on human health and the environment. It is expected thatfuture environmental OMICS will focus more on real environmental issues and challenges such as the characterization of chemical mixturetoxicity, the identification of environmental and health biomarkers, and the development of innovative environmental OMICS approachesand assays. These innovative approaches and assays will inform chemical toxicity testing and prediction, ecological and health risk monitoringand assessment, and natural resource utilization in ways that maintain human health and protects the environment in a sustainable manner.
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| 8. |
- Hyde, Kevin D., et al.
(författare)
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One stop shop: backbones trees for important phytopathogenic genera: I (2014)
- 2014
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Ingår i: Fungal diversity. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1560-2745 .- 1878-9129. ; 67:1, s. 21-125
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many fungi are pathogenic on plants and cause significant damage in agriculture and forestry. They are also part of the natural ecosystem and may play a role in regulating plant numbers/density. Morphological identification and analysis of plant pathogenic fungi, while important, is often hampered by the scarcity of discriminatory taxonomic characters and the endophytic or inconspicuous nature of these fungi. Molecular (DNA sequence) data for plant pathogenic fungi have emerged as key information for diagnostic and classification studies, although hampered in part by non-standard laboratory practices and analytical methods. To facilitate current and future research, this study provides phylogenetic synopses for 25 groups of plant pathogenic fungi in the Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Mucormycotina (Fungi), and Oomycota, using recent molecular data, up-to-date names, and the latest taxonomic insights. Lineage-specific laboratory protocols together with advice on their application, as well as general observations, are also provided. We hope to maintain updated backbone trees of these fungal lineages over time and to publish them jointly as new data emerge. Researchers of plant pathogenic fungi not covered by the present study are invited to join this future effort. Bipolaris, Botryosphaeriaceae, Botryosphaeria, Botrytis, Choanephora, Colletotrichum, Curvularia, Diaporthe, Diplodia, Dothiorella, Fusarium, Gilbertella, Lasiodiplodia, Mucor, Neofusicoccum, Pestalotiopsis, Phyllosticta, Phytophthora, Puccinia, Pyrenophora, Pythium, Rhizopus, Stagonosporopsis, Ustilago and Verticillium are dealt with in this paper.
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| 9. |
- Jacobs, Kevin B, et al.
(författare)
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Detectable clonal mosaicism and its relationship to aging and cancer.
- 2012
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Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - New York : Nature Publishing Group. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 44:6, s. 651-658
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In an analysis of 31,717 cancer cases and 26,136 cancer-free controls from 13 genome-wide association studies, we observed large chromosomal abnormalities in a subset of clones in DNA obtained from blood or buccal samples. We observed mosaic abnormalities, either aneuploidy or copy-neutral loss of heterozygosity, of >2 Mb in size in autosomes of 517 individuals (0.89%), with abnormal cell proportions of between 7% and 95%. In cancer-free individuals, frequency increased with age, from 0.23% under 50 years to 1.91% between 75 and 79 years (P = 4.8 × 10(-8)). Mosaic abnormalities were more frequent in individuals with solid tumors (0.97% versus 0.74% in cancer-free individuals; odds ratio (OR) = 1.25; P = 0.016), with stronger association with cases who had DNA collected before diagnosis or treatment (OR = 1.45; P = 0.0005). Detectable mosaicism was also more common in individuals for whom DNA was collected at least 1 year before diagnosis with leukemia compared to cancer-free individuals (OR = 35.4; P = 3.8 × 10(-11)). These findings underscore the time-dependent nature of somatic events in the etiology of cancer and potentially other late-onset diseases.
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| 10. |
- Li, Lanfen, et al.
(författare)
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Structural genomics studies of human caries pathogen Streptococcus mutans
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Structural and Functional Genomics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1345-711X .- 1570-0267. ; 15:3, s. 9-91
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Gram-positive bacterium Streptococcus mutans is the primary causative agent of human dental caries. To better understand this pathogen at the atomic structure level and to establish potential drug and vaccine targets, we have carried out structural genomics research since 2005. To achieve the goal, we have developed various in-house automation systems including novel high-throughput crystallization equipment and methods, based on which a large-scale, high-efficiency and low-cost platform has been establish in our laboratory. From a total of 1,963 annotated open reading frames, 1,391 non-membrane targets were selected prioritized by protein sequence similarities to unknown structures, and clustered by restriction sites to allow for cost-effective high-throughput conventional cloning. Selected proteins were over-expressed in different strains of Escherichia coli. Clones expressed soluble proteins were selected, expanded, and expressed proteins were purified and subjected to crystallization trials. Finally, protein crystals were subjected to X-ray analysis and structures were determined by crystallographic methods. Using the previously established procedures, we have so far obtained more than 200 kinds of protein crystals and 100 kinds of crystal structures involved in different biological pathways. In this paper we demonstrate and review a possibility of performing structural genomics studies at moderate laboratory scale. Furthermore, the techniques and methods developed in our study can be widely applied to conventional structural biology research practice.
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