| 1. |
- López-Isac, Elena, et al.
(författare)
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Brief Report : IRF4 Newly Identified as a Common Susceptibility Locus for Systemic Sclerosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis in a Cross-Disease Meta-Analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies
- 2016
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Ingår i: Arthritis & Rheumatology. - : Wiley. - 2326-5191 .- 2326-5205. ; 68:9, s. 2338-2344
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objective: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are autoimmune diseases that have similar clinical and immunologic characteristics. To date, several shared SSc–RA genetic loci have been identified independently. The aim of the current study was to systematically search for new common SSc–RA loci through an interdisease meta–genome-wide association (meta-GWAS) strategy. Methods: The study was designed as a meta-analysis combining GWAS data sets of patients with SSc and patients with RA, using a strategy that allowed identification of loci with both same-direction and opposite-direction allelic effects. The top single-nucleotide polymorphisms were followed up in independent SSc and RA case–control cohorts. This allowed an increase in the sample size to a total of 8,830 patients with SSc, 16,870 patients with RA, and 43,393 healthy controls. Results: This cross-disease meta-analysis of the GWAS data sets identified several loci with nominal association signals (P < 5 × 10−6) that also showed evidence of association in the disease-specific GWAS scans. These loci included several genomic regions not previously reported as shared loci, as well as several risk factors that were previously found to be associated with both diseases. Follow-up analyses of the putatively new SSc–RA loci identified IRF4 as a shared risk factor for these 2 diseases (Pcombined = 3.29 × 10−12). Analysis of the biologic relevance of the known SSc–RA shared loci identified the type I interferon and interleukin-12 signaling pathways as the main common etiologic factors. Conclusion: This study identified a novel shared locus, IRF4, for the risk of SSc and RA, and highlighted the usefulness of a cross-disease GWAS meta-analysis strategy in the identification of common risk loci.
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| 2. |
- Zamora, Juan Carlos, et al.
(författare)
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Considerations and consequences of allowing DNA sequence data as types of fungal taxa
- 2018
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Ingår i: IMA Fungus. - : INT MYCOLOGICAL ASSOC. - 2210-6340 .- 2210-6359. ; 9:1, s. 167-185
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nomenclatural type definitions are one of the most important concepts in biological nomenclature. Being physical objects that can be re-studied by other researchers, types permanently link taxonomy (an artificial agreement to classify biological diversity) with nomenclature (an artificial agreement to name biological diversity). Two proposals to amend the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN), allowing DNA sequences alone (of any region and extent) to serve as types of taxon names for voucherless fungi (mainly putative taxa from environmental DNA sequences), have been submitted to be voted on at the 11th International Mycological Congress (Puerto Rico, July 2018). We consider various genetic processes affecting the distribution of alleles among taxa and find that alleles may not consistently and uniquely represent the species within which they are contained. Should the proposals be accepted, the meaning of nomenclatural types would change in a fundamental way from physical objects as sources of data to the data themselves. Such changes are conducive to irreproducible science, the potential typification on artefactual data, and massive creation of names with low information content, ultimately causing nomenclatural instability and unnecessary work for future researchers that would stall future explorations of fungal diversity. We conclude that the acceptance of DNA sequences alone as types of names of taxa, under the terms used in the current proposals, is unnecessary and would not solve the problem of naming putative taxa known only from DNA sequences in a scientifically defensible way. As an alternative, we highlight the use of formulas for naming putative taxa (candidate taxa) that do not require any modification of the ICN.
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| 3. |
- Commowick, Olivier, et al.
(författare)
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Objective Evaluation of Multiple Sclerosis Lesion Segmentation using a Data Management and Processing Infrastructure
- 2018
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2045-2322. ; 8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a study of multiple sclerosis segmentation algorithms conducted at the international MICCAI 2016 challenge. This challenge was operated using a new open-science computing infrastructure. This allowed for the automatic and independent evaluation of a large range of algorithms in a fair and completely automatic manner. This computing infrastructure was used to evaluate thirteen methods of MS lesions segmentation, exploring a broad range of state-of-theart algorithms, against a high-quality database of 53 MS cases coming from four centers following a common definition of the acquisition protocol. Each case was annotated manually by an unprecedented number of seven different experts. Results of the challenge highlighted that automatic algorithms, including the recent machine learning methods (random forests, deep learning,.), are still trailing human expertise on both detection and delineation criteria. In addition, we demonstrate that computing a statistically robust consensus of the algorithms performs closer to human expertise on one score (segmentation) although still trailing on detection scores.
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| 4. |
- Ding, Pengji, et al.
(författare)
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Nonadiabaticity of cavity-free neutral nitrogen lasing
- 2017
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Ingår i: Physical Review A. - 2469-9926. ; 96:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report on a theoretical study of cavity-free lasing of neutral nitrogen molecules in femtosecond laser filaments with a nonadiabatic Maxwell-Bloch model, compared with recent pump-seed experiments. The nonadiabaticity of the lasing process is revealed and it is found that electron-neutral collisions dominate the dipole dephasing rate. Moreover, we show that the asymmetry between forward and backward lasing not only depends on the different amplification lengths but also on the temporal dynamics of electron-neutral collisions. The comparison of the nonadiabatic model with simulations based on the adiabatic approximation (such as radiative transfer equations) explicitly sets a bound on the validity of the latter model for cavity-free nitrogen lasing phenomenon, which holds a unique potential in optical remote sensing applications.
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| 5. |
- Nováková Zachovalová, Věra, et al.
(författare)
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Introduction and progress in the EMPIR project TracePQM : Traceability Routes for Electric Power Quality Measurements
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Physics. - : Institute of Physics Publishing.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Increasing demands for traceable, accurate measurements of power and power quality (PQ) parameters have resulted in an intensive metrology research effort in this area. This paper describes the objectives and so far achieved results of the EURAMET EMPIR Project TracePQM (15RPT04), jointly founded by the European Union and the participating countries. The overall goal of this project is to develop an open, modular, and well documented metrology grade system for measurement of power and PQ parameters by means of digital sampling techniques available to everyone and to increase research capacity in this area.
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| 6. |
- Vera-Agullo, Jose, et al.
(författare)
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Durability of concrete caissons made in floating docks
- 2015
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Ingår i: Concrete 2015. - : Institute of Australia. - 9781943847709 ; , s. 894-903
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- ACCIONA Infrastructure, a Spanish contractor, uses the caisson method for the construction ofbreakwater structures. One of its floating docks, Kugira, is one of the largest of its kind in the world and itcan produce concrete caissons measuring 70 m long by 36 m wide and 35 m high. Concrete caissonsmade in floating docks are gradually immersed in sea water as they are built; thus, the set concrete isexposed to sea water at a very early stage, within 18 to 48 hours after casting in sliding formwork. In orderto study the durability of slag concrete using this construction method, the properties of concrete exposedto sea water at a very young age have been tested. Specimens were exposed to artificial sea water by theponding method at different ages (16h, 1, 2, 3, 7 and 28 days) for a period of 6, 18 and 36 (analysispending) months. The following properties were measured and compared with unexposed specimens:compressive strength, water and oxygen permeability, pore size distribution, migration coefficient DNT492and chloride profiles. After 6 and 18 months ponding, lower chloride contents were measured for thespecimens exposed to sea water after 28 days curing compared to those exposed at early ages.However, this difference significantly decreases within a small depth from the exposed surface. Also themigration coefficient DNT492 decreases significantly with the increase of the age of the concrete. Withregards to water and oxygen permeability, no significant differences were found. In this paper, a summaryof all these works is presented.Apart from this laboratory analysis, real scale tests were performed at site with the aim to increasedurability by the addition of nanosilica particles. The characterization of these real scale tests are alsodescribed and discussed in this paper.
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