| 1. |
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
|
|
| 4. |
- Fakas, Georgios John, et al.
(author)
-
The evaluation of the Cultural Journeys in the Information Society environment as an educational aid
- 2005
-
In: Computers and education. - : Pergamon. - 0360-1315 .- 1873-782X. ; 45:1, s. 123-139
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Cultural Journeys in the Information Society is a dynamic hypermedia environment, which proposes the Electronic Roads as a meta-form for exploring cultural information that can form Cultural Journeys. The Electronic Roads meta-form facilitates travelers to explore the information space in a natural and continuous way similar to the exploration of physical roads. This meta-form is advantageous over existing cultural exploration approaches, which usually apply only to discrete information spaces, failing to provide users with continuous explorations and as a result users may lose their intended destinations. The proposed environment provides extendable cultural and historical content for three Mediterranean countries, i.e. Cyprus, Jordan and Egypt. Such a system could be ideal for teaching history and culture; therefore several Learning Activities have been developed in this context. The learning effectiveness of the environment was evaluated in primary schools in Cyprus, where pupils were asked to complete specific Learning Activities by either using the Cultural Journeys in the Information Society environment or a static hypermedia system. The results showed that the pupils found our environment to be easier to use, compared to the static system and that the performance of the pupils that used it was significantly higher.
|
|
| 5. |
- Filipowicz, Natalia, et al.
(author)
-
Comprehensive cancer-oriented biobanking resource of human samples for studies of post-zygotic genetic variation involved in cancer predisposition
- 2022
-
In: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 17:4
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The progress in translational cancer research relies on access to well-characterized samples from a representative number of patients and controls. The rationale behind our biobanking are explorations of post-zygotic pathogenic gene variants, especially in non-tumoral tissue, which might predispose to cancers. The targeted diagnoses are carcinomas of the breast (via mastectomy or breast conserving surgery), colon and rectum, prostate, and urinary bladder (via cystectomy or transurethral resection), exocrine pancreatic carcinoma as well as metastases of colorectal cancer to the liver. The choice was based on the high incidence of these cancers and/or frequent fatal outcome. We also collect age-matched normal controls. Our still ongoing collection originates from five clinical centers and after nearly 2-year cooperation reached 1711 patients and controls, yielding a total of 23226 independent samples, with an average of 74 donors and 1010 samples collected per month. The predominant diagnosis is breast carcinoma, with 933 donors, followed by colorectal carcinoma (383 donors), prostate carcinoma (221 donors), bladder carcinoma (81 donors), exocrine pancreatic carcinoma (15 donors) and metachronous colorectal cancer metastases to liver (14 donors). Forty percent of the total sample count originates from macroscopically healthy cancer-neighboring tissue, while contribution from tumors is 12%, which adds to the uniqueness of our collection for cancer predisposition studies. Moreover, we developed two program packages, enabling registration of patients, clinical data and samples at the participating hospitals as well as the central system of sample/data management at coordinating center. The approach used by us may serve as a model for dispersed biobanking from multiple satellite hospitals. Our biobanking resource ought to stimulate research into genetic mechanisms underlying the development of common cancers. It will allow all available "-omics" approaches on DNA-, RNA-, protein- and tissue levels to be applied. The collected samples can be made available to other research groups.
|
|
| 6. |
- Jonsson, Erik G., et al.
(author)
-
DTNBP1, NRG1, DAOA, DAO and GRM3 Polymorphisms and Schizophrenia : An Association Study
- 2009
-
In: Neuropsychobiology. - : S. Karger AG. - 0302-282X .- 1423-0224. ; 59:3, s. 142-150
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Several studies of the dystrobrevin-binding protein 1 gene (DTNBP1), neuregulin 1 (NRG1), D-amino-acid oxidase (DAO), DAO activator (DAOA, G72), and metabotropic glutamate receptor 3 (GRM3) genes have suggested an association between variants of these genes and schizophrenia. Methods: In a replication attempt, single-nucleotide polymorphisms of the DTNBP1, NRG1, DAO, DAOA, and GRM3 genes were analyzed in three independent Scandinavian schizophrenia case-control samples. Results: One DTNBP1 and three GRM3 single-nucleotide polymorphisms showed nominal significant associations to the disease. However, after correction for multiple testing, there were no statistically significant allele, genotype or haplotype case-control differences. Conclusions: The present Scandinavian results do not verify previous associations between the analyzed DTNBP1, NRG1, DAO, DAOA, and GRM3 gene polymorphisms and schizophrenia. Additional studies and meta-analyses are warranted to shed further light on these relationships. Copyright (C) 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel
|
|
| 7. |
- Schijven, Dick, et al.
(author)
-
Large-scale analysis of structural brain asymmetries in schizophrenia via the ENIGMA consortium
- 2023
-
In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 120:14
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Left-right asymmetry is an important organizing feature of the healthy brain that may be altered in schizophrenia, but most studies have used relatively small samples and heterogeneous approaches, resulting in equivocal findings. We carried out the largest case-control study of structural brain asymmetries in schizophrenia, with MRI data from 5,080 affected individuals and 6,015 controls across 46 datasets, using a single image analysis protocol. Asymmetry indexes were calculated for global and regional cortical thickness, surface area, and subcortical volume measures. Differences of asymmetry were calculated between affected individuals and controls per dataset, and effect sizes were meta-analyzed across datasets. Small average case-control differences were observed for thickness asymmetries of the rostral anterior cingulate and the middle temporal gyrus, both driven by thinner left-hemispheric cortices in schizophrenia. Analyses of these asymmetries with respect to the use of antipsychotic medication and other clinical variables did not show any significant associations. Assessment of age- and sex-specific effects revealed a stronger average leftward asymmetry of pallidum volume between older cases and controls. Case-control differences in a multivariate context were assessed in a subset of the data (N = 2,029), which revealed that 7% of the variance across all structural asymmetries was explained by case-control status. Subtle case-control differences of brain macrostructural asymmetry may reflect differences at the molecular, cytoarchitectonic, or circuit levels that have functional relevance for the disorder. Reduced left middle temporal cortical thickness is consistent with altered left-hemisphere language network organization in schizophrenia.
|
|
