| 1. |
- Alvarez, E. M., et al.
(author)
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The global burden of adolescent and young adult cancer in 2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
- 2022
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In: Lancet Oncology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1470-2045. ; 23:1, s. 27-52
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background In estimating the global burden of cancer, adolescents and young adults with cancer are often overlooked, despite being a distinct subgroup with unique epidemiology, clinical care needs, and societal impact. Comprehensive estimates of the global cancer burden in adolescents and young adults (aged 15-39 years) are lacking. To address this gap, we analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019, with a focus on the outcome of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), to inform global cancer control measures in adolescents and young adults. Methods Using the GBD 2019 methodology, international mortality data were collected from vital registration systems, verbal autopsies, and population-based cancer registry inputs modelled with mortality-to-incidence ratios (MIRs). Incidence was computed with mortality estimates and corresponding MIRs. Prevalence estimates were calculated using modelled survival and multiplied by disability weights to obtain years lived with disability (YLDs). Years of life lost (YLLs) were calculated as age-specific cancer deaths multiplied by the standard life expectancy at the age of death. The main outcome was DALYs (the sum of YLLs and YLDs). Estimates were presented globally and by Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintiles (countries ranked and divided into five equal SDI groups), and all estimates were presented with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). For this analysis, we used the age range of 15-39 years to define adolescents and young adults. Findings There were 1.19 million (95% UI 1.11-1.28) incident cancer cases and 396 000 (370 000-425 000) deaths due to cancer among people aged 15-39 years worldwide in 2019. The highest age-standardised incidence rates occurred in high SDI (59.6 [54.5-65.7] per 100 000 person-years) and high-middle SDI countries (53.2 [48.8-57.9] per 100 000 person-years), while the highest age-standardised mortality rates were in low-middle SDI (14.2 [12.9-15.6] per 100 000 person-years) and middle SDI (13.6 [12.6-14.8] per 100 000 person-years) countries. In 2019, adolescent and young adult cancers contributed 23.5 million (21.9-25.2) DALYs to the global burden of disease, of which 2.7% (1.9-3.6) came from YLDs and 97.3% (96.4-98.1) from YLLs. Cancer was the fourth leading cause of death and tenth leading cause of DALYs in adolescents and young adults globally. Interpretation Adolescent and young adult cancers contributed substantially to the overall adolescent and young adult disease burden globally in 2019. These results provide new insights into the distribution and magnitude of the adolescent and young adult cancer burden around the world. With notable differences observed across SDI settings, these estimates can inform global and country-level cancer control efforts. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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| 2. |
- Sheena, B. S., et al.
(author)
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Global, regional, and national burden of hepatitis B, 1990-2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
- 2022
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In: Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology. - : Elsevier BV. - 2468-1253. ; 7:9, s. 796-829
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background Combating viral hepatitis is part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and WHO has put forth hepatitis B elimination targets in its Global Health Sector Strategy on Viral Hepatitis (WHO-GHSS) and Interim Guidance for Country Validation of Viral Hepatitis Elimination (WHO Interim Guidance). We estimated the global, regional, and national prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV), as well as mortality and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to HBV, as part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019. This included estimates for 194 WHO member states, for which we compared our estimates to WHO elimination targets. Methods The primary data sources were population-based serosurveys, claims and hospital discharges, cancer registries, vital registration systems, and published case series. We estimated chronic HBV infection and the burden of HBV-related diseases, defined as an aggregate of cirrhosis due to hepatitis B, liver cancer due to hepatitis B, and acute hepatitis B. We used DisMod-MR 2.1, a Bayesian mixed-effects meta-regression tool, to estimate the prevalence of chronic HBV infection, cirrhosis, and aetiological proportions of cirrhosis. We used mortality-to-incidence ratios modelled with spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression to estimate the incidence of liver cancer. We used the Cause of Death Ensemble modelling (CODEm) model, a tool that selects models and covariates on the basis of out-ofsample performance, to estimate mortality due to cirrhosis, liver cancer, and acute hepatitis B. Findings In 2019, the estimated global, all-age prevalence of chronic HBV infection was 4 center dot 1% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 3 center dot 7 to 4 center dot 5), corresponding to 316 million (284 to 351) infected people. There was a 31 center dot 3% (29 center dot 0 to 33 center dot 9) decline in all-age prevalence between 1990 and 2019, with a more marked decline of 76 center dot 8% (76 center dot 2 to 77 center dot 5) in prevalence in children younger than 5 years. HBV-related diseases resulted in 555 000 global deaths (487 000 to 630 000) in 2019. The number of HBV-related deaths increased between 1990 and 2019 (by 5 center dot 9% [-5 center dot 6 to 19 center dot 2]) and between 2015 and 2019 (by 2 center dot 9% [-5 center dot 9 to 11 center dot 3]). By contrast, all-age and age-standardised death rates due to HBV-related diseases decreased during these periods. We compared estimates for 2019 in 194 WHO locations to WHO-GHSS 2020 targets, and found that four countries achieved a 10% reduction in deaths, 15 countries achieved a 30% reduction in new cases, and 147 countries achieved a 1% prevalence in children younger than 5 years. As of 2019, 68 of 194 countries had already achieved the 2030 target proposed in WHO Interim Guidance of an all-age HBV-related death rate of four per 100 000. Interpretation The prevalence of chronic HBV infection declined over time, particularly in children younger than 5 years, since the introduction of hepatitis B vaccination. HBV-related death rates also decreased, but HBV-related death counts increased as a result of population growth, ageing, and cohort effects. By 2019, many countries had met the interim seroprevalence target for children younger than 5 years, but few countries had met the WHO-GHSS interim targets for deaths and new cases. Progress according to all indicators must be accelerated to meet 2030 targets, and there are marked disparities in burden and progress across the world. HBV interventions, such as vaccination, testing, and treatment, must be strategically supported and scaled up to achieve elimination.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
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| 7. |
- Phillips, Helen R. P., et al.
(author)
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Global distribution of earthworm diversity
- 2019
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In: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 366:6464, s. 480-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Soil organisms, including earthworms, are a key component of terrestrial ecosystems. However, little is known about their diversity, their distribution, and the threats affecting them. We compiled a global dataset of sampled earthworm communities from 6928 sites in 57 countries as a basis for predicting patterns in earthworm diversity, abundance, and biomass. We found that local species richness and abundance typically peaked at higher latitudes, displaying patterns opposite to those observed in aboveground organisms. However, high species dissimilarity across tropical locations may cause diversity across the entirety of the tropics to be higher than elsewhere. Climate variables were found to be more important in shaping earthworm communities than soil properties or habitat cover. These findings suggest that climate change may have serious implications for earthworm communities and for the functions they provide.
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| 8. |
- Wong, B. H. C., et al.
(author)
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Self-Harm in Children and Adolescents Who Presented at Emergency Units During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An International Retrospective Cohort Study
- 2023
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In: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. - : Elsevier BV. - 0890-8567. ; 62:9, s. 998-1009
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: To compare psychiatric emergencies and self-harm at emergency departments (EDs) 1 year into the pandemic, to early pandemic and pre pandemic, and to examine the changes in the characteristics of self-harm presentations.Method: This retrospective cohort study expanded on the Pandemic-Related Emergency Psychiatric Presentations (PREP-kids) study. Routine record data in March to April of 2019, 2020, and 2021 from 62 EDs in 25 countries were included. ED presentations made by children and adolescents for any mental health reasons were analyzed.Results: Altogether, 8,174 psychiatric presentations were recorded (63.5% female; mean [SD] age, 14.3 [2.6] years), 3,742 of which were self-harm presentations. Rate of psychiatric ED presentations in March to April 2021 was twice as high as in March to April 2020 (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.93; 95% CI, 1.60-2.33), and 50% higher than in March to April 2019 (IRR, 1.51; 95% CI, 1.25-1.81). Rate of self-harm presentations doubled between March to April 2020 and March to April 2021 (IRR, 1.98; 95% CI, 1.68-2.34), and was overall 1.7 times higher than in March to April 2019 (IRR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.44-2.00). Comparing self-harm characteristics in March to April 2021 with March to April 2019, self-harm contributed to a higher proportion of all psychiatric presentations (odds ratio [OR], 1.30; 95% CI, 1.05-1.62), whereas female representation in self-harm presentations doubled (OR, 1.98; 95% CI, 1.45-2.72) and follow-up appointments were offered 4 times as often (OR, 4.46; 95% CI, 2.32-8.58).Conclusion: Increased pediatric ED visits for both self-harm and psychiatric reasons were observed, suggesting potential deterioration in child mental health. Self-harm in girls possibly increased and needs to be prioritized. Clinical services should continue using follow-up appointments to support discharge from EDs.Diversity & Inclusion Statement: One or more of the authors of this paper self-identifies as a member of one or more historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science. We actively worked to promote inclusion of historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science in our author group. While citing references scientifically relevant for this work, we also actively worked to promote inclusion of historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science in our reference list. The author list of this paper includes contributors from the location and/or community where the research was conducted who participated in the data collection, design, analysis, and/or interpretation of the work.
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| 9. |
- Gholami, A. H., et al.
(author)
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Establishment of a Virtual Power Plant in Grid for Maximizing Producers' Profits and Minimizing Pollutant Emissions and Investment Costs
- 2022
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In: 2022 30th International Conference on Electrical Engineering, ICEE 2022. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). ; , s. 150-155
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Growing population and increasing air pollution in different countries around the world have incentivized the need to expand the renewable power plant capacities. Small-scale renewable power plants, especially solar and wind power plants, are usually not able to compete in the wholesale electricity markets partly due to their small size. This problem has been resolved by the concept of the Virtual Power Plants (VPP), where a collection of small-scale power plants form a VPP and participates in the wholesale electricity markets. In this paper, the VPP capacity investment problem is formulated and solved. A multi-objective function is considered for VPP investment problem. To test, the formulated optimization problem, three different investment scenarios are considered and optimization problems are solved centrally. The results confirm the utility of our developed optimization model.
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| 10. |
- Gholami, A., et al.
(author)
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Porosity prediction from pre-stack seismic data via committee machine with optimized parameters
- 2022
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In: Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering. - : Elsevier BV. - 0920-4105. ; 210
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Prediction of porosity from the seismic data via geophysical methods when limited number of wells are available is a challenging task that has high uncertainties. This study aims to construct a hybrid data-driven predictive model to establish a quantitative correlation between seismic pre-stack (SPS) data and the porosity. First, three intelligent models that are optimized by bat-inspired algorithm (BA): optimized neural network (ONN), optimized fuzzy inference system (OFIS), and optimized support vector regression (OSVR) are constructed for relating porosity to the SPS data. Then, to benefit from all individual optimized models, a final hybrid model was built via committee machine (CM) where single models are combined with a proper weight to predict porosity in the reservoir space. This approach is examined on the SPS data from an oil field in the Persian Gulf with a single exploratory well where input parameters (Vp, Vs, and rho) to the AI models are derived from a two-parameter inversion method. We found that the coefficient of determination, root mean square error, average absolute relative error, and symmetric mean absolute percentage error for the CM are 0.923615, 0.015793, 0.132280, and 0.061310, respectively. Moreover, based on four statistical indexes that are calculated for each model, CM outperformed its individual elements followed by the OSRV. A comprehensive analysis of the results confirms that CM with the OM elements is a superior approach for computing porosity from the SPS in the well and then throughout the entire reservoir volume. This strategy can aid petroleum engineers to have a better forecast of porosity population in the reservoir static model immediately following the data that is obtained from the first exploratory well. Ultimately, successful implementation of this approach will promptly delineate sweet spots that can replace uncertain and complicated conventional geophysical methods.
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| 11. |
- Hedman, Fredrik, et al.
(author)
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Benchmarking of Integrated OGSA-BES with the Grid Middleware
- 2009
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In: EURO-PAR 2008 WORKSHOPS - PARALLEL PROCESSING. - Berlin : Springer Berlin/Heidelberg. - 9783642009549 ; , s. 113-122
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper evaluates the performance of the emerging OGF standard OGSA - Basic Execution Service (BES) on three fundamentally different Grid middleware platforms: UNICORE 5/6, Globus Toolkit 4 and gLite. The particular focus within this paper is on the OGSA-BES implementation of UNICORE 6. A comparison is made with baseline measurements, for UNICORE 6 and Globus Toolkit 4, using the legacy job submission interfaces. Our results show that the BES components are comparable in performance to existing legacy interfaces. We also have a strong indication that other factors, attributable to the supporting infrastructure, have a bigger impact on performance than BES components.
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| 12. |
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| 13. |
- Bessani, A., et al.
(author)
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BiobankCloud : A platform for the secure storage, sharing, and processing of large biomedical data sets
- 2016
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In: 1st International Workshop on Data Management and Analytics for Medicine and Healthcare, DMAH 2015 and Workshop on Big-Graphs Online Querying, Big-O(Q) 2015 held in conjunction with 41st International Conference on Very Large Data Bases, VLDB 2015. - Cham : Springer. - 9783319415758 - 9783319415765 ; , s. 89-105
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Biobanks store and catalog human biological material that is increasingly being digitized using next-generation sequencing (NGS). There is, however, a computational bottleneck, as existing software systems are not scalable and secure enough to store and process the incoming wave of genomic data from NGS machines. In the BiobankCloud project, we are building a Hadoop-based platform for the secure storage, sharing, and parallel processing of genomic data. We extended Hadoop to include support for multi-tenant studies, reduced storage requirements with erasure coding, and added support for extensible and consistent metadata. On top of Hadoop, we built a scalable scientific workflow engine featuring a proper workflow definition language focusing on simple integration and chaining of existing tools, adaptive scheduling on Apache Yarn, and support for iterative dataflows. Our platform also supports the secure sharing of data across different, distributed Hadoop clusters. The software is easily installed and comes with a user-friendly web interface for running, managing, and accessing data sets behind a secure 2-factor authentication. Initial tests have shown that the engine scales well to dozens of nodes. The entire system is open-source and includes pre-defined workflows for popular tasks in biomedical data analysis, such as variant identification, differential transcriptome analysis using RNA-Seq, and analysis of miRNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq data.
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| 14. |
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| 15. |
- Gholami, Asma, et al.
(author)
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Discovery of novel inhibitors for Pseudomonas aeruginosa lipase enzyme from in silico and in vitro studies
- 2024
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In: Journal of Biomolecular Structure & Dynamics. - 0739-1102. ; 42:5, s. 2197-2210
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen prone to developing drug-resistance and is a major cause of infection for burn patients and patients suffering from cystic fibrosis or are hospitalized in intensive care units. One of the virulence factors of this bacterium is the lipase enzyme that degrades the extracellular matrix of the host tissue and promotes invasion. Bromhexine is a mucolytic drug and has recently been reported to function as a competitive inhibitor of lipase with an IC50 value of 49 mu M. In the present study, an attempt was made to identify stronger inhibitors from the ChEMBL database of bioactive compounds, as compared to the reference compound Bromhexine. Following docking and MD simulations, four hit compounds (N1-N4) were selected that showed promising binding modes and low RMSD values indicative of stable protein-ligand complexes. From subsequent binding pose metadynamics (BPMD) simulations, two of these (N2 and N4) stood out as more potent than Bromhexine, displaying stable interactions with residues in the catalytic site of the enzyme. Biological investigations were performed for all four compounds. Among them, the same two hit compounds were found to be the most effective binders with IC50 values of 22.1 and 27.5 mu M, respectively; i.e. roughly twice as efficient as the reference Bromhexine. Taken together, our results show that these hits can be promising new candidates to use as leads for the development of drugs targeting the P. aeruginosa lipase enzyme.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma
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| 16. |
- Gholami, Asma, et al.
(author)
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In silico and in vitro studies confirm Ondansetron as a novel acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase inhibitor
- 2023
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In: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 13:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that is growing rapidly among the elderly population around the world. Studies show that a lack of acetylcholine and butyrylcholine due to the overexpression of enzymes Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) may lead to reduced communication between neuron cells. As a result, seeking novel inhibitors targeting these enzymes might be vital for the future treatment of AD. Ondansetron is used to prevent nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy or radiation treatments and is herein shown to be a potent inhibitor of cholinesterase. Comparison is made between Ondansetron and FDA-approved cholinesterase inhibitors Rivastigmine and Tacrine. Molecular docking demonstrates that interactions between the studied ligand and aromatic residues in the peripheral region of the active site are important in binding. Molecular dynamics simulations and binding pose metadynamics show that Ondansetron is highly potent against both enzymes and far better than Rivastigmine. Inhibitor activities evaluated by in vitro studies confirm that the drug inhibits AChE and BChE by non-competitive and mixed inhibition, respectively, with IC50 values 33 mu M (AChE) and 2.5 mu M (BChE). Based on the findings, we propose that Ondansetron may have therapeutic applications in inhibiting cholinesterase, especially for BChE.
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| 17. |
- Gholami, Asma, et al.
(author)
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Structural Insights into Pseudomonas aeruginosa Exotoxin A-Elongation Factor 2 Interactions: A Molecular Dynamics Study
- 2023
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In: Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1549-9596 .- 1549-960X. ; 63:5, s. 1578-1591
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Exotoxin A (ETA) is an extracellular secreted toxin and a single-chain polypeptide with A and B fragments that is produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It catalyzes the ADP-ribosylation of a post-translationally modified histidine (diphtha-mide) on eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF2), which results in the inactivation of the latter and the inhibition of protein biosynthesis. Studies show that the imidazole ring of diphthamide plays an important role in the ADP-ribosylation catalyzed by the toxin. In this work, we employ different in silico molecular dynamics (MD) simulation approaches to understand the role of diphthamide versus unmodified histidine in eEF2 on the interaction with ETA. Crystal structures of the eEF2-ETA complexes with three different ligands NAD+, ADP-ribose, and beta TAD were selected and compared in the diphthamide and histidine containing systems. The study shows that NAD+ bound to ETA remains very stable in comparison with other ligands, enabling the transfer of ADP-ribose to the N3 atom of the diphthamide imidazole ring in eEF2 during ribosylation. We also show that unmodified histidine in eEF2 has a negative impact on ETA binding and is not a suitable target for the attachment of ADP-ribose. Analyzing of radius of gyration and COM distances for NAD+, beta TAD, and ADP-ribose complexes revealed that unmodified His affects the structure and destabilizes the complex with all different ligands throughout the MD simulations.
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| 18. |
- Gholami, Omid, 1979-, et al.
(author)
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Heuristic Algorithms to Maximize Revenue and the Number of Jobs Processed on Parallel Machines
- 2019
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In: Automation and remote control. - : MAIK NAUKA/INTERPERIODICA/SPRINGER. - 0005-1179 .- 1608-3032. ; 80:2, s. 297-316
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A set of jobs has to be processed on parallel machines. For each job, there are given a release time and a due date and the job must be processed no later than its due date. If the job will be completed no later than the given due date, a benefit will be earned. Otherwise, this job will be rejected and the benefit will be discarded. The criterion under consideration is to maximize the weighted sum of the benefits and the number of jobs processed in time. Some properties of the objective function are found which allow to construct a optimal schedule. We develop a simulated annealing algorithm, a tabu search algorithm, and a genetic algorithm for solving this problem. The developed algorithms were tested on moderate and large instances with up to 500 jobs and 50 machines. Some recommendations are given showing how to use the obtained results and developed algorithms in production planning.
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| 19. |
- Gholami, S, et al.
(author)
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Standardizing resistive indices in healthy pediatric transplant recipients of adult-sized kidneys
- 2010
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In: Pediatric Transplantation. - Denmark : Wiley-Blackwell Munksgaard. - 1397-3142 .- 1399-3046. ; 14:1, s. 126-131
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Small pediatric recipients of an adult-sized kidney have insufficient renal blood flow early after transplantation, with secondary chronic hypoperfusion and irreversible histological damage of the tubulo-interstitial compartment. It is unknown whether this is reflected by renal resistive indices. We measured renal graft resistive indices and volumes of 47 healthy pediatric kidney transplant recipients of an adult-sized kidney in a prospective study for six months post-transplant. A total of 205 measurements were performed. The smallest recipients (BSA /= 1.5 m(2) (p < 0.0001). Resistive indices increased during the first six months in the smallest recipients (p = 0.02), but not in the two larger recipient groups (BSA 0.75-1.5 m(2) and >/=1.5 m(2)). All three BSA groups showed a reduction in renal volume after transplantation, with the greatest reduction occurring in the smallest recipients. In conclusion, renal transplant resistive indices reflect pediatric recipient BSA dependency. The higher resistance to intra-renal vascular flow and significant decrease in renal volume in the smallest group likely reflect accommodation of the size discrepant transplanted adult-sized kidney to the smaller pediatric recipient vasculature with associated lower renal artery flow.
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| 20. |
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| 21. |
- Kranz, Johann, et al.
(author)
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Practicing What We Preach? Reflections on More Sustainable and Responsible IS Research and Teaching Practices
- 2022
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In: Communications of the Association for Information Systems. - 1529-3181. ; 51:1, s. 557-580
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Research on IS solutions for environmental sustainability have evolved to a modest, but firm body of knowledge. Despite this progressive understanding about the potential of IS in enabling environmental sustainability, our academic practices seem widely unaffected by these insights. The way we do research or conduct teaching is rarely influenced by sustainability considerations. For example, before the pandemic many of us belonged to a hypermobile group that travelled 5-6 times more than the average employee. Our research is also often not aligned with environmental goals. We research digital technologies without sufficiently acknowledging the significant amounts of resources they consume. Similarly, our teaching often focuses on the effective development and use of information systems; however, rebound, second order, or spillover effects are barely covered. Based on these observations we raise the question: Are we practicing enough of what we preach? While recognizing several efforts of IS researchers, we can no longer ignore the ‘environmental elephant in the room’. In our panel report, we discuss the status-quo and ideas to improve the environmental and societal impact of our academic practices and present three ideas to move forward: Leverage virtualization and limit air travel, overhaul teaching curricula, and recalibrate incentives and evaluation regimes.
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