| 1. |
- Schael, S, et al.
(författare)
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Precision electroweak measurements on the Z resonance
- 2006
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Ingår i: Physics Reports. - : Elsevier BV. - 0370-1573 .- 1873-6270. ; 427:5-6, s. 257-454
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report on the final electroweak measurements performed with data taken at the Z resonance by the experiments operating at the electron-positron colliders SLC and LEP. The data consist of 17 million Z decays accumulated by the ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL experiments at LEP, and 600 thousand Z decays by the SLID experiment using a polarised beam at SLC. The measurements include cross-sections, forward-backward asymmetries and polarised asymmetries. The mass and width of the Z boson, m(Z) and Gamma(Z), and its couplings to fermions, for example the p parameter and the effective electroweak mixing angle for leptons, are precisely measured: m(Z) = 91.1875 +/- 0.0021 GeV, Gamma(Z) = 2.4952 +/- 0.0023 GeV, rho(l) = 1.0050 +/- 0.0010, sin(2)theta(eff)(lept) = 0.23153 +/- 0.00016. The number of light neutrino species is determined to be 2.9840 +/- 0.0082, in agreement with the three observed generations of fundamental fermions. The results are compared to the predictions of the Standard Model (SM). At the Z-pole, electroweak radiative corrections beyond the running of the QED and QCD coupling constants are observed with a significance of five standard deviations, and in agreement with the Standard Model. Of the many Z-pole measurements, the forward-backward asymmetry in b-quark production shows the largest difference with respect to its SM expectation, at the level of 2.8 standard deviations. Through radiative corrections evaluated in the framework of the Standard Model, the Z-pole data are also used to predict the mass of the top quark, m(t) = 173(+10)(+13) GeV, and the mass of the W boson, m(W) = 80.363 +/- 0.032 GeV. These indirect constraints are compared to the direct measurements, providing a stringent test of the SM. Using in addition the direct measurements of m(t) and m(W), the mass of the as yet unobserved SM Higgs boson is predicted with a relative uncertainty of about 50% and found to be less than 285 GeV at 95% confidence level. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 6. |
- van Es, Michael A, et al.
(författare)
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Genome-wide association study identifies 19p13.3 (UNC13A) and 9p21.2 as susceptibility loci for sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- 2009
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Ingår i: Nature genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1546-1718 .- 1061-4036. ; 41:10, s. 1083-1087
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We conducted a genome-wide association study among 2,323 individuals with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and 9,013 control subjects and evaluated all SNPs with P < 1.0 x 10(-4) in a second, independent cohort of 2,532 affected individuals and 5,940 controls. Analysis of the genome-wide data revealed genome-wide significance for one SNP, rs12608932, with P = 1.30 x 10(-9). This SNP showed robust replication in the second cohort (P = 1.86 x 10(-6)), and a combined analysis over the two stages yielded P = 2.53 x 10(-14). The rs12608932 SNP is located at 19p13.3 and maps to a haplotype block within the boundaries of UNC13A, which regulates the release of neurotransmitters such as glutamate at neuromuscular synapses. Follow-up of additional SNPs showed genome-wide significance for two further SNPs (rs2814707, with P = 7.45 x 10(-9), and rs3849942, with P = 1.01 x 10(-8)) in the combined analysis of both stages. These SNPs are located at chromosome 9p21.2, in a linkage region for familial ALS with frontotemporal dementia found previously in several large pedigrees.
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| 8. |
- Heath, Simon C., et al.
(författare)
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Investigation of the fine structure of European populations with applications to disease association studies
- 2008
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Ingår i: European Journal of Human Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1018-4813 .- 1476-5438. ; 16:12, s. 1413-1429
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An investigation into fine-scale European population structure was carried out using high-density genetic variation on nearly 6000 individuals originating from across Europe. The individuals were collected as control samples and were genotyped with more than 300 000 SNPs in genome-wide association studies using the Illumina Infinium platform. A major East-West gradient from Russian (Moscow) samples to Spanish samples was identified as the first principal component (PC) of the genetic diversity. The second PC identified a North-South gradient from Norway and Sweden to Romania and Spain. Variation of frequencies at markers in three separate genomic regions, surrounding LCT, HLA and HERC2, were strongly associated with this gradient. The next 18 PCs also accounted for a significant proportion of genetic diversity observed in the sample. We present a method to predict the ethnic origin of samples by comparing the sample genotypes with those from a reference set of samples of known origin. These predictions can be performed using just summary information on the known samples, and individual genotype data are not required. We discuss issues raised by these data and analyses for association studies including the matching of case-only cohorts to appropriate pre-collected control samples for genome-wide association studies.
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| 10. |
- Lao, O., et al.
(författare)
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Correlation between Genetic and Geographic Structure in Europe
- 2008
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Ingår i: Current Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0960-9822 .- 1879-0445. ; 18:16, s. 1241-1248
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Understanding the genetic structure of the European population is important, not only from a historical perspective, but also for the appropriate design and interpretation of genetic epidemiological studies. Previous population genetic analyses with autosomal markers in Europe either had a wide geographic but narrow genomic coverage [1, 2], or vice versa [3-6]. We therefore investigated Affymetrix GeneChip 500K genotype data from 2,514 individuals belonging to 23 different subpopulations, widely spread over Europe. Although we found only a low level of genetic differentiation between subpopulations, the existing differences were characterized by a strong continent-wide correlation between geographic and genetic distance. Furthermore, mean heterozygosity was larger, and mean linkage disequilibrium smaller, in southern as compared to northern Europe. Both parameters clearly showed a clinal distribution that provided evidence for a spatial continuity of genetic diversity in Europe. Our comprehensive genetic data are thus compatible with expectations based upon European population history, including the hypotheses of a south-north expansion and/or a larger effective population size in southern than in northern Europe. By including the widely used CEPH from Utah (CEU) samples into our analysis, we could show that these individuals represent northern and western Europeans reasonably well, thereby confirming their assumed regional ancestry. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 11. |
- Nuernberg, F., et al.
(författare)
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Radiochromic film imaging spectroscopy of laser-accelerated proton beams
- 2009
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Ingår i: Review of Scientific Instruments. - : AIP Publishing. - 1089-7623 .- 0034-6748. ; 80:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article reports on an experimental method to fully reconstruct laser-accelerated proton beam parameters called radiochromic film imaging spectroscopy (RIS). RIS allows for the characterization of proton beams concerning real and virtual source size, envelope- and microdivergence, normalized transverse emittance, phase space, and proton spectrum. This technique requires particular targets and a high resolution proton detector. Therefore thin gold foils with a microgrooved rear side were manufactured and characterized. Calibrated GafChromic radiochromic film (RCF) types MD-55, HS, and HD-810 in stack configuration were used as spatial and energy resolved film detectors. The principle of the RCF imaging spectroscopy was demonstrated at four different laser systems. This can be a method to characterize a laser system with respect to its proton-acceleration capability. In addition, an algorithm to calculate the spatial and energy resolved proton distribution has been developed and tested to get a better idea of laser-accelerated proton beams and their energy deposition with respect to further applications.
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| 12. |
- Soranzo, Nicole, et al.
(författare)
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A genome-wide meta-analysis identifies 22 loci associated with eight hematological parameters in the HaemGen consortium
- 2009
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Ingår i: Nature Genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1546-1718 .- 1061-4036. ; 41:11, s. 38-1182
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The number and volume of cells in the blood affect a wide range of disorders including cancer and cardiovascular, metabolic, infectious and immune conditions. We consider here the genetic variation in eight clinically relevant hematological parameters, including hemoglobin levels, red and white blood cell counts and platelet counts and volume. We describe common variants within 22 genetic loci reproducibly associated with these hematological parameters in 13,943 samples from six European population-based studies, including 6 associated with red blood cell parameters, 15 associated with platelet parameters and 1 associated with total white blood cell count. We further identified a long-range haplotype at 12q24 associated with coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction in 9,479 cases and 10,527 controls. We show that this haplotype demonstrates extensive disease pleiotropy, as it contains known risk loci for type 1 diabetes, hypertension and celiac disease and has been spread by a selective sweep specific to European and geographically nearby populations.
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| 13. |
- Wheelock, Craig E., et al.
(författare)
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Bioinformatics strategies for the analysis of lipids
- 2009
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Ingår i: Methods in Molecular Biology. - Totowa, NJ : Springer. - 1064-3745 .- 1940-6029. ; 580, s. 339-368
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Owing to their importance in cellular physiology and pathology as well as to recent technological advances, the study of lipids has reemerged as a major research target. However, the structural diversity of lipids presents a number of analytical and informatics challenges. The field of lipidomics is a new postgenome discipline that aims to develop comprehensive methods for lipid analysis, necessitating concomitant developments in bioinformatics. The evolving research paradigm requires that new bioinformatics approaches accommodate genomic as well as high-level perspectives, integrating genome, protein, chemical and network information. The incorporation of lipidomics information into these data structures will provide mechanistic understanding of lipid functions and interactions in the context of cellular and organismal physiology. Accordingly, it is vital that specific bioinformatics methods be developed to analyze the wealth of lipid data being acquired. Herein, we present an overview of the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database and application of its tools to the analysis of lipid data. We also describe a series of software tools and databases (KGML-ED, VANTED, MZmine, and LipidDB) that can be used for the processing of lipidomics data and biochemical pathway reconstruction, an important next step in the development of the lipidomics field.
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| 14. |
- Young, D., et al.
(författare)
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The A2b adenosine receptor protects against inflammation and excessive vascular adhesion
- 2006
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Ingår i: Journal of Clinical Investigation. - 0021-9738 .- 1558-8238. ; 116:7, s. 1913-1923
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Adenosine has been described as playing a role in the control of inflammation, but it has not been certain which of its receptors mediate this effect. Here, we generated an A2B adenosine receptor-knockout/reporter gene-knock-in (A2BAR-knockout/reporter gene-knock-in) mouse model and showed receptor gene expression in the vasculature and macrophages, the ablation of which causes low-grade inflammation compared with age-, sex-, and strain-matched control mice. Augmentation of proinflammatory cytokines, such as TNF-alpha, and a consequent downregulation of IkappaB-alpha are the underlying mechanisms for an observed upregulation of adhesion molecules in the vasculature of these A2BAR-null mice. Intriguingly, leukocyte adhesion to the vasculature is significantly increased in the A2BAR-knockout mice. Exposure to an endotoxin results in augmented proinflammatory cytokine levels in A2BAR-null mice compared with control mice. Bone marrow transplantations indicated that bone marrow (and to a lesser extent vascular) A2BARs regulate these processes. Hence, we identify the A2BAR as a new critical regulator of inflammation and vascular adhesion primarily via signals from hematopoietic cells to the vasculature, focusing attention on the receptor as a therapeutic target
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| 15. |
- Yu, X., et al.
(författare)
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Association of UCP2 - 866 G/A polymorphism with chronic inflammatory diseases
- 2009
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Ingår i: Genes and Immunity. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1466-4879 .- 1476-5470. ; 10:6, s. 601-605
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We reported earlier that two mitochondrial gene polymorphisms, UCP2 -866 G/A (rs659366) and mtDNA nt13708 G/A (rs28359178), are associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). Here we aim to investigate whether these functional polymorphisms contribute to other eight chronic inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Wegener' granulomatosis (WG), Churg-Strauss syndrome (CSS), Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC), primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and psoriasis. Compared with individual control panels, the UCP2 -866 G/A polymorphism was associated with RA and SLE, and the mtDNA nt13708 G/A polymorphism with RA. Compared with combined controls, the UCP2 -866 G/A polymorphism was associated with SLE, WG, CD and UC. When all eight disease panels and the original MS panel were combined in a meta-analysis, the UCP2 was associated with chronic inflammatory diseases in terms of either alleles (odds ratio (OR)=0.91, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.86-0.96), P=0.0003) or genotypes (OR=0.88, (95% CI: 0.82-0.95), P=0.0008), with the -866A allele associated with a decreased risk to diseases. As the -866A allele increases gene expression, our findings suggest a protective role of the UCP2 protein in chronic inflammatory diseases.
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