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- Schael, S, et al.
(author)
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Precision electroweak measurements on the Z resonance
- 2006
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In: Physics Reports. - : Elsevier BV. - 0370-1573 .- 1873-6270. ; 427:5-6, s. 257-454
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Research review (peer-reviewed)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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| 4. |
- Chen, Xiaoping, et al.
(author)
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Risk factors for the delayed viral clearance in COVID‐19 patients
- 2021
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In: The Journal of Clinical Hypertension. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1524-6175 .- 1751-7176. ; 23:8, s. 1483-1489
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Comorbidities are important for the disease outcome of COVID-19, however, which underlying diseases that contribute the most to aggravate the conditions of COVID-19 patients are still unclear. Viral clearance is the most important laboratory test for defining the recovery of COVID-19 infections. To better understand which underlying diseases that are risk factors for delaying the viral clearance, we retrospectively analyzed 161 COVID-19 clinical cases in the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China between January 5 and March 13, 2020. The demographic, clinical and laboratory data, as well as patient treatment records were collected. Univariable and multivariable analysis were performed to explore the association between delayed viral clearance and other factors by using logistic regression. Survival analyses by Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression modeling were employed to identify factors negatively influencing the viral clearance negatively. We found that hypertension and intravenous immunoglobulin adversely affected the time of viral RNA shedding. Hypertension was the most important risk factor to delay the SARS-CoV-2 virus clearance, however, the use of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors(ACEI)/Angiotensin Receptor Blockers(ARB) did not shorten the time for virus clearance in these hypertensive patients’ virus clearance. We conclude that patients having hypertension and intravenous immunoglobulin may delay the viral clearance in COVID-19 patients.
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| 5. |
- Deng, WJ, et al.
(author)
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Fusion Gene Detection Using Whole-Exome Sequencing Data in Cancer Patients
- 2022
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In: Frontiers in genetics. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-8021. ; 13, s. 820493-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Several fusion genes are directly involved in the initiation and progression of cancers. Numerous bioinformatics tools have been developed to detect fusion events, but they are mainly based on RNA-seq data. The whole-exome sequencing (WES) represents a powerful technology that is widely used for disease-related DNA variant detection. In this study, we build a novel analysis pipeline called Fuseq-WES to detect fusion genes at DNA level based on the WES data. The same method applies also for targeted panel sequencing data. We assess the method to real datasets of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and prostate cancer patients. The result shows that two of the main AML fusion genes discovered in RNA-seq data, PML-RARA and CBFB-MYH11, are detected in the WES data in 36 and 63% of the available samples, respectively. For the targeted deep-sequencing of prostate cancer patients, detection of the TMPRSS2-ERG fusion, which is the most frequent chimeric alteration in prostate cancer, is 91% concordant with a manually curated procedure based on four other methods. In summary, the overall results indicate that it is challenging to detect fusion genes in WES data with a standard coverage of ∼ 15–30x, where fusion candidates discovered in the RNA-seq data are often not detected in the WES data and vice versa. A subsampling study of the prostate data suggests that a coverage of at least 75x is necessary to achieve high accuracy.
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| 6. |
- Lv, WJ, et al.
(author)
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A High Serum Phosphate and Calcium-Phosphate Product Is Associated With Cerebral Small Vascular Disease in Patients With Stroke: A Real-World Study
- 2022
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In: Frontiers in nutrition. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2296-861X. ; 9, s. 801667-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is a slowly progressive disease, often accompanied by stroke, and results in dementia, depression, and cognitive impairment. It was already known that calcium and phosphorus metabolism (CPM) disorders were associated with vascular-related adverse events. The risk factors of CSVD and the relationship between serum calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), calcium-phosphate product (Ca × P), and CSVD in patients with stroke without CPM disorders are still obscure. In our study, 528 patients with stroke without CPM disorders were enrolled in a cohort from a consecutive hospital-based stroke registry, with 488 patients with CSVD as cases and 140 without CSVD as controls. The patients with CSVD were further sub-grouped into lacunes, white matter hyperintensities (WMHs), and cerebral microbleeds (CMBs). By applying univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis, the following novel findings were obtained: (i) up to 76.19% of patients with stroke had signs of CSVD, and lacunes are the most common subtype. Notably, 22.96% of patients with CSVD had multiple subtypes coexisted. (ii) Compared with patients without CSVD, patients with CSVD had higher levels of age, rate of hypertension or diabetes, serum Ca, P, Ca × P, and lower levels of white blood cell (WBC) and hemoglobin (HB). (iii) We developed 2 predictive models and nomograms for predicting CSVD, in addition to the known factors (age and hypertension). The levels of P and Ca × P were positively correlated with the risk of CSVD (P: OR = 3,720.401, 95% CI (646.665–21,404.249); Ca × P: OR = 1.294, 95% CI (1.222–1.370)). (iv) The models were further validated in subtypes of CSVD, including lacunes, WMHs, and CMBs, and the results were still valid among the subtypes. In summary, CSVD was highly prevalent in patients with stroke, and high serum P and Ca × P are potential risk factors of CSVD and all subtypes including lacunes, WMHs, and CMBs.
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| 7. |
- Ma, Q, et al.
(author)
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ZnT8 loss-of-function accelerates functional maturation of hESC-derived β cells and resists metabolic stress in diabetes
- 2022
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In: Nature communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 13:1, s. 4142-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Human embryonic stem cell-derived β cells (SC-β cells) hold great promise for treatment of diabetes, yet how to achieve functional maturation and protect them against metabolic stresses such as glucotoxicity and lipotoxicity remains elusive. Our single-cell RNA-seq analysis reveals that ZnT8 loss of function (LOF) accelerates the functional maturation of SC-β cells. As a result, ZnT8 LOF improves glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) by releasing the negative feedback of zinc inhibition on insulin secretion. Furthermore, we demonstrate that ZnT8 LOF mutations endow SC-β cells with resistance to lipotoxicity/glucotoxicity-triggered cell death by alleviating endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress through modulation of zinc levels. Importantly, transplantation of SC-β cells with ZnT8 LOF into mice with preexisting diabetes significantly improves glycemia restoration and glucose tolerance. These findings highlight the beneficial effect of ZnT8 LOF on the functional maturation and survival of SC-β cells that are useful as a potential source for cell replacement therapies.
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