| 1. |
- Forouzanfar, Mohammad H, et al.
(author)
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Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks in 188 countries, 1990-2013 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013.
- 2015
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In: The Lancet. - 0140-6736 .- 1474-547X. ; 386:10010, s. 2287-2323
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: The Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor study 2013 (GBD 2013) is the first of a series of annual updates of the GBD. Risk factor quantification, particularly of modifiable risk factors, can help to identify emerging threats to population health and opportunities for prevention. The GBD 2013 provides a timely opportunity to update the comparative risk assessment with new data for exposure, relative risks, and evidence on the appropriate counterfactual risk distribution.METHODS: Attributable deaths, years of life lost, years lived with disability, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) have been estimated for 79 risks or clusters of risks using the GBD 2010 methods. Risk-outcome pairs meeting explicit evidence criteria were assessed for 188 countries for the period 1990-2013 by age and sex using three inputs: risk exposure, relative risks, and the theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL). Risks are organised into a hierarchy with blocks of behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks at the first level of the hierarchy. The next level in the hierarchy includes nine clusters of related risks and two individual risks, with more detail provided at levels 3 and 4 of the hierarchy. Compared with GBD 2010, six new risk factors have been added: handwashing practices, occupational exposure to trichloroethylene, childhood wasting, childhood stunting, unsafe sex, and low glomerular filtration rate. For most risks, data for exposure were synthesised with a Bayesian meta-regression method, DisMod-MR 2.0, or spatial-temporal Gaussian process regression. Relative risks were based on meta-regressions of published cohort and intervention studies. Attributable burden for clusters of risks and all risks combined took into account evidence on the mediation of some risks such as high body-mass index (BMI) through other risks such as high systolic blood pressure and high cholesterol.FINDINGS: All risks combined account for 57·2% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 55·8-58·5) of deaths and 41·6% (40·1-43·0) of DALYs. Risks quantified account for 87·9% (86·5-89·3) of cardiovascular disease DALYs, ranging to a low of 0% for neonatal disorders and neglected tropical diseases and malaria. In terms of global DALYs in 2013, six risks or clusters of risks each caused more than 5% of DALYs: dietary risks accounting for 11·3 million deaths and 241·4 million DALYs, high systolic blood pressure for 10·4 million deaths and 208·1 million DALYs, child and maternal malnutrition for 1·7 million deaths and 176·9 million DALYs, tobacco smoke for 6·1 million deaths and 143·5 million DALYs, air pollution for 5·5 million deaths and 141·5 million DALYs, and high BMI for 4·4 million deaths and 134·0 million DALYs. Risk factor patterns vary across regions and countries and with time. In sub-Saharan Africa, the leading risk factors are child and maternal malnutrition, unsafe sex, and unsafe water, sanitation, and handwashing. In women, in nearly all countries in the Americas, north Africa, and the Middle East, and in many other high-income countries, high BMI is the leading risk factor, with high systolic blood pressure as the leading risk in most of Central and Eastern Europe and south and east Asia. For men, high systolic blood pressure or tobacco use are the leading risks in nearly all high-income countries, in north Africa and the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. For men and women, unsafe sex is the leading risk in a corridor from Kenya to South Africa.INTERPRETATION: Behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks can explain half of global mortality and more than one-third of global DALYs providing many opportunities for prevention. Of the larger risks, the attributable burden of high BMI has increased in the past 23 years. In view of the prominence of behavioural risk factors, behavioural and social science research on interventions for these risks should be strengthened. Many prevention and primary care policy options are available now to act on key risks.FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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| 2. |
- Zerbinato de Andrade Silva, Duilio Mazzoni, et al.
(author)
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Long-term persistence of supernumerary B chromosomes in multiple species of Astyanax fish
- 2021
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In: BMC Biology. - : BioMed Central (BMC). - 1741-7007. ; 19
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Eukaryote genomes frequently harbor supernumerary B chromosomes in addition to the "standard" A chromosome set. B chromosomes are thought to arise as byproducts of genome rearrangements and have mostly been considered intraspecific oddities. However, their evolutionary transcendence beyond species level has remained untested.Results: Here we reveal that the large metacentric B chromosomes reported in several fish species of the genus Astyanax arose in a common ancestor at least 4 million years ago. We generated transcriptomes of A. scabripinnis and A. paranae 0B and 1B individuals and used these assemblies as a reference for mapping all gDNA and RNA libraries to quantify coverage differences between B-lacking and B-carrying genomes. We show that the B chromosomes of A. scabripinnis and A. paranae share 19 protein-coding genes, of which 14 and 11 were also present in the B chromosomes of A. bockmanni and A. fasciatus, respectively. Our search for B-specific single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) identified the presence of B-derived transcripts in B-carrying ovaries, 80% of which belonged to nobox, a gene involved in oogenesis regulation. Importantly, the B chromosome nobox paralog is expressed >30x more than the A chromosome paralog. This indicates that the normal regulation of this gene is altered in B-carrying females, which could potentially facilitate B inheritance at higher rates than Mendelian law prediction.Conclusions: Taken together, our results demonstrate the long-term survival of B chromosomes despite their lack of regular pairing and segregation during meiosis and that they can endure episodes of population divergence leading to species formation.
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| 3. |
- Castro, Jonathan Pena, et al.
(author)
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Differential Expression of Genes Related to Sexual Determination Can Modify the Reproductive Cycle of Astyanax scabripinnis (Characiformes: Characidae) in B Chromosome Carrier Individuals
- 2019
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In: Genes. - : MDPI. - 2073-4425. ; 10:11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The species complex Astyanax scabripinnis is one of the most studied with respect to origin, distribution, and frequency of B chromosomes, and is considered a model organism for evolutionary studies. Research using population inferences about the occurrence and frequency of the B chromosome shows seasonal variation between sexes, which is associated with the presence of this supernumerary element. We hypothesized that the B chromosome could influence the sex ratio of these animals. Based on this assumption, the present work aimed to investigate if differences exist among levels of gene expression with qRT-PCR of the amh (associated with testicular differentiation) and foxl2a (associated with ovarian differentiation) genes between B-carrier and non-B-carrier individuals. The results showed that for the amh gene, the difference in expression between animals with B chromosomes was not accentuated compared to that in animals without this chromosome. Expression of foxl2a in B-carrier females, however, was reduced by 73.56% compared to females that lacked the B chromosome. Males had no difference in expression of the amh and foxl2a genes between carriers and non-carriers of the B chromosome. Results indicate that the presence of B chromosomes is correlated with the differential expression of sex-associated genes. An analysis of these results integrated with data from other studies on the reproductive cycle in the same species reveals that this difference in expression may be expanding the reproductive cycle of the species.
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| 4. |
- Naghavi, Mohsen, et al.
(author)
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Global, regional, and national age-sex specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013
- 2015
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In: The Lancet. - 1474-547X .- 0140-6736. ; 385:9963, s. 117-171
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background Up-to-date evidence on levels and trends for age-sex-specifi c all-cause and cause-specifi c mortality is essential for the formation of global, regional, and national health policies. In the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013) we estimated yearly deaths for 188 countries between 1990, and 2013. We used the results to assess whether there is epidemiological convergence across countries. Methods We estimated age-sex-specifi c all-cause mortality using the GBD 2010 methods with some refinements to improve accuracy applied to an updated database of vital registration, survey, and census data. We generally estimated cause of death as in the GBD 2010. Key improvements included the addition of more recent vital registration data for 72 countries, an updated verbal autopsy literature review, two new and detailed data systems for China, and more detail for Mexico, UK, Turkey, and Russia. We improved statistical models for garbage code redistribution. We used six different modelling strategies across the 240 causes; cause of death ensemble modelling (CODEm) was the dominant strategy for causes with sufficient information. Trends for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias were informed by meta-regression of prevalence studies. For pathogen-specifi c causes of diarrhoea and lower respiratory infections we used a counterfactual approach. We computed two measures of convergence (inequality) across countries: the average relative difference across all pairs of countries (Gini coefficient) and the average absolute difference across countries. To summarise broad findings, we used multiple decrement life-tables to decompose probabilities of death from birth to exact age 15 years, from exact age 15 years to exact age 50 years, and from exact age 50 years to exact age 75 years, and life expectancy at birth into major causes. For all quantities reported, we computed 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). We constrained cause-specific fractions within each age-sex-country-year group to sum to all-cause mortality based on draws from the uncertainty distributions. Findings Global life expectancy for both sexes increased from 65.3 years (UI 65.0-65.6) in 1990, to 71.5 years (UI 71.0-71.9) in 2013, while the number of deaths increased from 47.5 million (UI 46.8-48.2) to 54.9 million (UI 53.6-56.3) over the same interval. Global progress masked variation by age and sex: for children, average absolute diff erences between countries decreased but relative diff erences increased. For women aged 25-39 years and older than 75 years and for men aged 20-49 years and 65 years and older, both absolute and relative diff erences increased. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the prominent role of reductions in age-standardised death rates for cardiovascular diseases and cancers in high-income regions, and reductions in child deaths from diarrhoea, lower respiratory infections, and neonatal causes in low-income regions. HIV/AIDS reduced life expectancy in southern sub-Saharan Africa. For most communicable causes of death both numbers of deaths and age-standardised death rates fell whereas for most non-communicable causes, demographic shifts have increased numbers of deaths but decreased age-standardised death rates. Global deaths from injury increased by 10.7%, from 4.3 million deaths in 1990 to 4.8 million in 2013; but age-standardised rates declined over the same period by 21%. For some causes of more than 100 000 deaths per year in 2013, age-standardised death rates increased between 1990 and 2013, including HIV/AIDS, pancreatic cancer, atrial fibrillation and flutter, drug use disorders, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and sickle-cell anaemias. Diarrhoeal diseases, lower respiratory infections, neonatal causes, and malaria are still in the top five causes of death in children younger than 5 years. The most important pathogens are rotavirus for diarrhoea and pneumococcus for lower respiratory infections. Country-specific probabilities of death over three phases of life were substantially varied between and within regions. Interpretation For most countries, the general pattern of reductions in age-sex specifi c mortality has been associated with a progressive shift towards a larger share of the remaining deaths caused by non-communicable disease and injuries. Assessing epidemiological convergence across countries depends on whether an absolute or relative measure of inequality is used. Nevertheless, age-standardised death rates for seven substantial causes are increasing, suggesting the potential for reversals in some countries. Important gaps exist in the empirical data for cause of death estimates for some countries; for example, no national data for India are available for the past decade.
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| 5. |
- Parra-Santos, Teresa, et al.
(author)
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Acoustic Instabilities on Swirling Flames
- 2013
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In: International Journal of Mechanical, Industrial Science and Engineering. ; 7:9, s. 61-64
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Parra-Santos, Teresa, et al.
(author)
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Implicit les applied to isothermal swirling coaxial jets
- 2016
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In: Symposia: Turbomachinery Flow Simulation and Optimization; Applications in CFD; Bio-Inspired and Bio-Medical Fluid Mechanics; CFD Verification and Validation; Development and Applications of Immersed Boundary Methods; DNS, LES and Hybrid RANS/LES Methods; Fluid Machinery; Fluid-Structure Interaction and Flow-Induced Noise in Industrial Applications; Flow Applications in Aerospace; Active Fluid Dynamics and Flow Control - Theory, Experiments and Implementation. - 9780791850282 ; 1A-2016
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This work is devoted to the analysis of the interaction of two coaxial jet with swirling flow using Large Eddy Simulation methodology to reproduce the case of Roback and Johnson. The eight - flat - vanes in the annular nozzle are the precursor of the swirling annular jet with high swirl number. An implicit LES model was used, this model uses mesh size as filter width so no sub-grid model is required. It is the numerical error who plays the role of dissipative part of the stress tensor in the sub-mesh. Mesh prerequisites are Ay+ = 1 and uniform hexahedral mesh. The resolution scheme used is a Total Variation Diminishing (TVD) with coefficients looking for good precision. PISO is the pressure-velocity coupling used. Besides, multigrid resolution improves the performance towards the full convergence. Influence of the swirl number on the flow pattern is analyzed. Also the impact of conical diffuser on the mixing is presented.
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| 8. |
- Parra-Santos, Teresa, et al.
(author)
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Numerical modelling of swirling diffusive flames
- 2016
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In: EPJ Web of Conferences. - : EDP Sciences. - 2101-6275 .- 2100-014X. ; 114
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Computational Fluid Dynamics has been used to study the mixing and combustion of two confined jets whose setup and operating conditions are those of the benchmark of Roback and Johnson. Numerical model solves 3D transient Navier Stokes for turbulent and reactive flows. Averaged velocity profiles using RNG swirl dominated k-epsilon model have been validated with experimental measurements from other sources for the non reactive case. The combustion model is Probability Density Function. Bearing in mind the annular jet has swirl number over 0.5, a vortex breakdown appears in the axis of the burner. Besides, the sudden expansion with a ratio of 2 in diameter between nozzle exits and the test chamber produces the boundary layer separation with the corresponding torus shape recirculation. Contrasting the mixing and combustion models, the last one produces the reduction of the vortex breakdown.
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| 9. |
- Parra-Santos, Teresa, et al.
(author)
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Swirl influence on mixing and reactive flows
- 2016
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In: Symposia: Fluid Mechanics (Fundamental Issues and Perspectives; Industrial and Environmental Applications); Multiphase Flow and Systems (Multiscale Methods; Noninvasive Measurements; Numerical Methods; Heat Transfer; Performance); Transport Phenomena (Clean Energy; Mixing; Manufacturing and Materials Processing); Turbulent Flows - Issues and Perspectives; Algorithms and Applications for High Performance CFD Computation; Fluid Power; Fluid Dynamics of Wind Energy; Marine Hydrodynamics. - 9780791850299 ; 1B-2016
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The interaction of two confined coaxial jets has been studied using Computational Fluid Dynamics. Annular jet flows over 8 flat blade swirl generator. Numerical simulation uses RNG k- ϵ turbulence model. These models are suitable for turbulent swirl dominated flows. Intermediate swirl injector has been simulated and the flow patterns for non-reactive and reactive cases are contrasted. Low swirling injectors do not promote the fluid to turn over near the center of the chamber, resulting larger mixing zones with weak gradients. Whereas large swirling flows promote the formation of an Inner Recirculation Zone that is a precursor of higher gradients. Probability Density Function is selected as combustion model. High swirl numbers let fix the location of the reactive zone.
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