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| 3. |
- Guerreiro, R., et al.
(author)
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Heritability and genetic variance of dementia with Lewy bodies
- 2019
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In: Neurobiology of Disease. - : Elsevier BV. - 0969-9961. ; 127, s. 492-501
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recent large-scale genetic studies have allowed for the first glimpse of the effects of common genetic variability in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), identifying risk variants with appreciable effect sizes. However, it is currently well established that a substantial portion of the genetic heritable component of complex traits is not captured by genome-wide significant SNPs. To overcome this issue, we have estimated the proportion of phenotypic variance explained by genetic variability (SNP heritability) in DLB using a method that is unbiased by allele frequency or linkage disequilibrium properties of the underlying variants. This shows that the heritability of DLB is nearly twice as high as previous estimates based on common variants only (31% vs 59.9%). We also determine the amount of phenotypic variance in DLB that can be explained by recent polygenic risk scores from either Parkinson's disease (PD) or Alzheimer's disease (AD), and show that, despite being highly significant, they explain a low amount of variance. Additionally, to identify pleiotropic events that might improve our understanding of the disease, we performed genetic correlation analyses of DLB with over 200 diseases and biomedically relevant traits. Our data shows that DLB has a positive correlation with education phenotypes, which is opposite to what occurs in AD. Overall, our data suggests that novel genetic risk factors for DLB should be identified by larger GWAS and these are likely to be independent from known AD and PD risk variants. © 2019 Elsevier Inc.
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| 4. |
- van Dissel, A. C., et al.
(author)
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End-stage heart failure in congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries: a multicentre study
- 2023
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In: European Heart Journal. - 0195-668X. ; 44:34, s. 3278-3291
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background and Aims For patients with congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (ccTGA), factors associated with progression to end-stage congestive heart failure (CHF) remain largely unclear. Methods This multicentre, retrospective cohort study included adults with ccTGA seen at a congenital heart disease centre. Clinical data from initial and most recent visits were obtained. The composite primary outcome was mechanical circulatory support, heart transplantation, or death. Results From 558 patients (48% female, age at first visit 36 & PLUSMN; 14.2 years, median follow-up 8.7 years), the event rate of the primary outcome was 15.4 per 1000 person-years (11 mechanical circulatory support implantations, 12 transplantations, and 52 deaths). Patients experiencing the primary outcome were older and more likely to have a history of atrial arrhythmia. The primary outcome was highest in those with both moderate/severe right ventricular (RV) dysfunction and tricuspid regurgitation (n = 110, 31 events) and uncommon in those with mild/less RV dysfunction and tricuspid regurgitation (n = 181, 13 events, P < .001). Outcomes were not different based on anatomic complexity and history of tricuspid valve surgery or of subpulmonic obstruction. New CHF admission or ventricular arrhythmia was associated with the primary outcome. Individuals who underwent childhood surgery had more adverse outcomes than age- and sex-matched controls. Multivariable Cox regression analysis identified older age, prior CHF admission, and severe RV dysfunction as independent predictors for the primary outcome. Conclusions Patients with ccTGA have variable deterioration to end-stage heart failure or death over time, commonly between their fifth and sixth decades. Predictors include arrhythmic and CHF events and severe RV dysfunction but not anatomy or need for tricuspid valve surgery.
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| 5. |
- Beyramijam, M, et al.
(author)
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Work-Family Conflict among Iranian Emergency Medical Technicians and Its Relationship with Time Management Skills: A Descriptive Study
- 2020
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In: Emergency medicine international. - : Hindawi Limited. - 2090-2840 .- 2090-2859. ; 2020, s. 7452697-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background. Work-Family Conflict (WFC) is a form of interrole conflict in which an active participation in occupational activities causes strain and interferes with family roles of workers and vice versa. It is a major source of occupational stress among workers and personnel. Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) are an important part of the healthcare system that respond to emergencies. The EMTs experience high level of job stress, which may affect their ability to perform their family roles, and, on the other hand, actively performing their family responsibilities may interfere with the effective delivery of the already stressful activities at workplace. Objective. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of WFC among Emergency Medical Technicians in Iran and its relationship with time management skills. Methods. This was a descriptive study. In this study, 271 EMTs from the western part of Iran completed the questionnaire for the assessment of WFC. The Carlson Family-Conflict Questionnaire and the “Time Management Behaviors Scale” developed by Macan were used as evaluation instruments. The data were analyzed by SPSS software version 16. Appropriate statistical analysis such as mean and standard deviation, Pearson correlation, and Spearman rank correlation was applied for analyzing the data in SPSS. Results. The majority of the participants reported some degrees of WFC. Statistical analysis showed a significant inverse correlation between total WFC score and total “Time Management Behaviors scale” score (r = −0/381، p<0/0001). In the present study, there was no significant correlation between total WFC score and demographic factors such as educational level, age, sex, marital status, number of family members, need for family member care, and work experience (p>0.05). Conclusions. The findings of this study indicate that time management behaviors and skills can reduce WFC among Emergency Medical Technicians. Therefore, it is recommended that prehospital emergency authorities and policymakers plan and implement measures such as reducing the duration of shift-work schedules, decreasing shift-change restrictions, and organizing regular time management courses. Also, employment of local inhabitants is preferred to geographically distant individuals with similar qualification as this will reduce the distance between home and workplace.
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| 6. |
- Javanmardi, H., et al.
(author)
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BMI-Based Load Frequency Control in Microgrids Under False Data Injection Attacks
- 2021
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In: IEEE Systems Journal. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 1932-8184 .- 1937-9234. ; , s. 1-11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this article, the power fluctuation problem caused by adding renewable energy sources to microgrids (MGs) is addressed. These power fluctuations which can cause several adverse effects, including system instability, load shedding, and eventually blackouts are attenuated by designing a load frequency controller (LFC) to provide a constant and uniform frequency in different operation cases of MGs. This article designs a dynamic output feedback controller (DOFC) for LFC in MGs while considering the contraction observer for attack mitigation. We suggest a new formulation of the sufficient conditions for the DOFC design problem in the form of bilinear matrix inequalities (BMIs) and try to minimize the frequency deviation subject to load, solar, and wind energy changes. The proposed formulation effectively changes the problem to a new BMI model which can easily be divided into two problems, one is a convex optimization problem and the remained part is a quadratic matrix inequality problem which is linearized around the feasible solution of the linear matrix inequality part by a Taylor-like expansion. This leads to a more exact and less conservative solution as compared to the previous methods suggested in the literature. To illustrate the merits of the developed approach, numerical simulations on a sample ac–MG are carried out. Comparing norms of the frequency variations in the closed-loop system with multiple prominent methods in previous works, including ${{\bm{H}}_\infty },{\bm{\ \mu }}$, fuzzy type-1, and intelligent-PI, shows that our proposed method reduces the two and infinity norms of frequency fluctuations by 84% and 80%, respectively compared to the traditional ${{\bm{H}}_\infty }$ method which is the best among the analyzed approaches. This further verifies the efficacy of the designed DOFC in our article.
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| 7. |
- Zeinali, S., et al.
(author)
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Detecting shoreline changes in Chabahar Bay by processing satellite images
- 2017
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In: Scientia Iranica. International Journal of Science and Technology. - : ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV. - 1026-3098 .- 2345-3605. ; 24:4, s. 1802-1809
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Monitoring coastal areas is an important parameter in the sustainable development and protection of the environment. The expansion of constructions in Iran's southern coasts has not only led to the destruction of geomorphological landforms, but has also changed the process of erosion and sedimentation in coastal areas. Nowadays, remote sensing data are considered as the most efficient source of information for the study and interpretation of coastal landforms, tidal levels, changes in coastline, depth of water, and so forth. The purpose of this study is to investigate the changes in the coastline of Chabahar Gulf, located on the coasts of the Oman Sea by using remote sensing techniques. This study examined and interpreted qualitative and quantitative changes of the coastlines in a forty-two-year period. Different supervised classification methods were used from which the most accurate one was ultimately chosen. The classified images were divided into two classes of land and water, and the changes of these two classes between 1972 and 2014 were extracted. The net change results indicate that in the forty-two-year period, 1,832,436 m(2) of the land has been added to water class, and 7,004,844 m(2) of water has been added to land.
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| 8. |
- Bodlos, R., et al.
(author)
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Ab initio investigation of the atomic volume, thermal expansion, and formation energy of WTi solid solutions
- 2021
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In: Physical Review Materials. - : American Physical Society (APS). - 2475-9953. ; 5:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- WTi is used as an adhesive layer in integrated circuit devices. The temperature dependent mechanical properties of WTi are still largely unexplored. In this paper we investigate WTi solid solutions with density functional theory calculations to determine the temperature and concentration dependent behavior of volume and coefficient of thermal expansion. The coefficient of thermal expansion is analyzed in terms of the bulk modulus, heat capacity, and Gruneisen parameter. Furthermore, we gain insight into the bonding of the system via investigation of the electronic structure, phonon density of states, and analysis of the formation energy. Low Ti concentrations lead to strong W-Ti bonding, as manifested in additional high frequency peaks in the phonon density of states. As a consequence, deviations from Vegard's law are found at low Ti concentrations, with a minimum of the lattice constant at about 15 at.% Ti. The CTE as a function of Ti concentration shows a negative trend at low temperatures and Ti concentrations, which is related to a strong decrease of heat capacity. Finally we show that the Debye-Gruneisen model yields results for WTi comparable to the quasiharmonic approach at a fraction of the computational cost.
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| 9. |
- Cederbladh, Johan, et al.
(author)
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Towards Automating Model-Based Systems Engineering in Industry - An Experience Report
- 2024
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In: SysCon 2024 - 18th Annual IEEE International Systems Conference, Proceedings. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 9798350358803
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Designing modern Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) is posing new challenges to both industrial practitioners and academics. In this context, adopting cutting-edge paradigms, such as Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), DevOps, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), can offer new opportunities for improving CPS design automation. While such paradigms are already jointly used in the research community to support system design activities, there is a need to fill the gap between academia and industrial practitioners. Indeed, system specification is still mainly performed manually in many industrial projects. In this paper, we present a collaboration between industrial and academic partners of the AIDOaRt European project towards a model-based approach for CPS engineering applied in one of the project use cases. We identify key challenges and corresponding solutions to enhance the automation of CPS design processes. Notably, we consider a combination of prescriptive modeling, model transformations, model views, modeling process mining, and AI-based modeling recommendations. As an initial evaluation, the proposed approach is applied to a practical industrial case study.
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| 10. |
- Dehghani, F., et al.
(author)
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Inhibition of microglial and astrocytic inflammatory responses by the immunosuppressant mycophenolate mofetil
- 2010
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In: Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology. - : Wiley. - 0305-1846 .- 1365-2990. ; 36:7, s. 598-611
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aims: Nucleotide depletion induced by the immunosuppressant mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) has been shown to exert neuroprotective effects. It remains unclear whether nucleotide depletion directly counteracts neuronal demise or whether it inhibits microglial or astrocytic activation, thereby resulting in indirect neuroprotection. Methods: Effects of MMF on isolated microglial cells, astrocyte/microglial cell co-cultures and isolated hippocampal neurones were analysed by immunocytochemistry, quantitative morphometry, and elisa. Results: We found that: (i) MMF suppressed lipopolysaccharide-induced microglial secretion of interleukin-1 beta, tumour necrosis factor-alpha and nitric oxide; (ii) MMF suppressed lipopolysaccharide-induced astrocytic production of tumour necrosis factor-alpha but not of nitric oxide; (iii) MMF strongly inhibited proliferation of both microglial cells and astrocytes; (iv) MMF did not protect isolated hippocampal neurones from excitotoxic injury; and (v) effects of MMF on glial cells were reversed after treatment with guanosine. Conclusions: Nucleotide depletion induced by MMF inhibits microglial and astrocytic activation. Microglial and astrocytic proliferation is suppressed by MMF-induced inhibition of the salvage pathway enzyme inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase. The previously observed neuroprotection after MMF treatment seems to be indirectly mediated, making this compound an interesting immunosuppressant in the treatment of acute central nervous system lesions.
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| 11. |
- Dehghani, Reihaneh, et al.
(author)
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Phylogeography of the white-tailed mongoose (Herpestidae, Carnivora, Mammalia) based on partial sequences of the mtDNA control region (p 385-393)
- 2008
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In: Journal of Zoology. ; :276, s. 385-393
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The phylogeography of the white-tailed mongoose Ichneumia albicauda is examined using phylogenetic analyses based on partial sequences of the mitochondrial control region. The phylogeny is used to: (1) Analyse the phylogeographic pattern of I. albicauda; (2) discuss the existing delimitation of subspecies; (3) test if the coloration of the tail tip, generally white but occasionally black in West African specimens, is a species polymorphism or if it has phylogenetic significance. Our results suggest a north–south division within white-tailed mongoose populations, and within the northern clade, we observe an east–west subdivision. This phylogenetic pattern is partly in concordance with the traditional division into six subspecies. The white-tailed mongoose probably originated in southern Africa, from where it dispersed northwards and colonized eastern and western parts of Africa, as well as the Arabian Peninsula. Colour polymorphism observed in Western populations reflects variation at the individual level.
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| 12. |
- King, Siobhan M., et al.
(author)
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Iridium Nanoparticles for Multichannel Luminescence Lifetime Imaging, Mapping Localization in Live Cancer Cells
- 2018
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In: Journal of the American Chemical Society. - 0002-7863 .- 1520-5126. ; 140, s. 10242-10249
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The development of long-lived luminescent nanoparticles for lifetime imaging is of wide interest as luminescence lifetime is environmentally sensitive detection independent of probe concentration. We report novel iridium-coated gold nanoparticles as probes for multiphoton lifetime imaging with characteristic long luminescent lifetimes based on iridium luminescence in the range of hundreds of nanoseconds and a short signal on the scale of picoseconds based on gold allowing multichannel detection. The tailor-made IrC6 complex forms stable, water-soluble gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) of 13, 25, and 100 nm, bearing 1400, 3200, and 22 000 IrC6 complexes per AuNP, respectively. The sensitivity of the iridium signal on the environment of the cell is evidenced with an observed variation of lifetimes. Clusters of iridium nanoparticles show lifetimes from 450 to 590 ns while lifetimes of 660 and 740 ns are an average of different points in the cytoplasm and nucleus. Independent luminescence lifetime studies of the nanoparticles in different media and under aggregation conditions postulate that the unusual long lifetimes observed can be attributed to interaction with proteins rather than nanoparticle aggregation. Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRF), confocal microscopy studies and 3D luminescence lifetime stacks confirm the presence of bright, nonaggregated nanoparticles inside the cell. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) analysis further supports the presence of the nanoparticles in cells. The iridium-coated nanoparticles provide new nanoprobes for lifetime detection with dual channel monitoring. The combination of the sensitivity of the iridium signal to the cell environment together with the nanoscaffold to guide delivery offer opportunities for iridium nanoparticles for targeting and tracking in in vivo models.
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| 14. |
- Ruban, Andrei V., et al.
(author)
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Atomic configuration and properties of austenitic steels at finite temperature : Effect of longitudinal spin fluctuations
- 2016
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In: Physical Review B. - : American Physical Society. - 2469-9950 .- 2469-9969. ; 94:10
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- High-temperature atomic configurations of fcc Fe-Cr-Ni alloys with alloy composition close to austenitic steel are studied in statistical thermodynamic simulations with effective interactions obtained in ab initio calculations. The latter are done taking longitudinal spin fluctuations (LSF) into consideration within a quasiclassical phenomenological model. It is demonstrated that the magnetic state affects greatly the alloy properties, and in particular, it is shown that the LSF substantially modify the bonding and interatomic interactions of fcc Fe-Cr-Ni alloys even at ambient conditions. The calculated atomic short-range order is in reasonable agreement with existing experimental data for Fe0.56Cr0.21Ni0.23, which has strong preference for the (001)-type ordering between Ni and Cr atoms. A similar ordering tendency is found for the Fe0.75Cr0.17Ni0.08 alloy composition, which approximately corresponds to the widely used 304 and 316 austenitic steel grades.
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