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Sample records for east european subtype

  1. Experimental infection of pigs with two East European variants of Type 1 PRRSV

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hjulsager, Charlotte Kristiane; Larsen, Lars Erik; Heegaard, Peter M. H.

    Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome viruses (PRRSV) have been divided into Type 1 (European) and Type 2 (North American) viruses. PRRSV are very diverse and Type 1 viruses have even been further divided into subtypes. While Type 1 viruses from Western Europe belong to subtype 1, viruses...... the subtype 1 strains. The aim of this project was to study the infection dynamics and clinical and pathological impact of two east European Type 1 strains. In an experimental trial, infection of pigs with the Russian subtype 2 strain “Ili6” and the Belarusian atypical isolate “Bor59” were compared...... to an early “Lelystad-like” Danish subtype 1 isolate “18794”. Groups of seven pigs of unique high sanitary status were infected with one of the three PRRSV isolates, and a fourth group served as sham-inoculated controls. The pigs were monitored for 24 days, and nasal swabs and blood samples were taken at 0, 3...

  2. Distinct subtype distribution and somatic mutation spectrum of lymphomas in East Asia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, Weicheng; Li, Wei; Ye, Xiaofei; Liu, Hui; Pan-Hammarström, Qiang

    2017-07-01

    Here, we give an updated overview of the subtype distribution of lymphomas in East Asia and also present the genome sequencing data on two major subtypes of these tumors. The distribution of lymphoma types/subtypes among East Asian countries is very similar, with a lower proportion of B-cell malignancies and a higher proportion of T/natural killer (NK)-cell lymphomas as compared to Western populations. Extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma is more frequently observed in East Asia, whereas follicular lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia, are proportionally lower. The incidence rate of lymphoma subtypes in Asians living in the US was generally intermediate to the general rate in US and Asia, suggesting that both genetic and environmental factors may underlie the geographical variations observed.Key cancer driver mutations have been identified in Asian patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma or extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma through genome sequencing. A distinct somatic mutation profile has also been observed in Chinese diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients. The incidence and distribution of lymphoma subtypes differed significantly between patients from East Asia and Western countries, suggesting subtype-specific etiologic mechanisms. Further studies on the mechanism underlying these geographical variations may give new insights into our understanding of lymphomagenesis.

  3. ANALYSIS OF HIV SUBTYPES AND CLINICAL STAGING OF HIV DISEASE/AIDS IN EAST JAVA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yulia Ismail

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1 known to cause Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS disease are divided into several subtypes (A, B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K and Circulating Recombinant Form (CRF. Different characteristics of subtype of the virus and its interaction with the host can affect the severity of the disease. This study was to analyze HIV-1 subtypes circulating in HIV/AIDS patients from the East Java region descriptively and to analyze its relationship with clinical stadiums of HIV/AIDS. Information from this research was expected to complement the data of mocular epidemiology of HIV in Indonesia. This study utilited blood plasma from patients who had been tested to be HIV positive who sected treatment to or were reffered to the Intermediate Care Unit of Infectious Disease (UPIPI Dr. Soetomo Hospital Surabaya from various area representing the East Java regions. Plasma was separated from blood samples by centrifugation for use in the the molecular biology examination including RNA extraction, nested PCR using specific primer for HIV gp120 env gene region, DNA purifying, DNA sequencing, and homology and phylogenetic analysis. Based on the nucleotide sequence of the HIV gp120 env gene, it was found that the most dominant subtypes in East Java were in one group of Circulating Recombinant Form (CRF that is CRF01_AE, CRF33_01B and CRF34_01B which was also found in Southeast Asia. In the phylogenetic tree, most of HIV samples (30 samples are in the same branch with CRF01_AE, CRF33_01B and CRF34_01B, except for one sample (HIV40 which is in the same branch with subtype B. HIV subtypes are associated with clinical stadiums (disease severity since samples from different stages of HIV disease have the same subtype.

  4. The East European Press and Three-Mile Island.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Owen V.

    This report of the investigation into East European newspaper treatment of the accident at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in the spring of 1979 focuses on the Czech and Slovak media, particularly on the Slovak Communist Party's daily newspaper, "Pravda." The response of the media of other East European countries to…

  5. Incidence, recurrence, and long-term survival of ischemic stroke subtypes: A population-based study in the Middle East.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saber, Hamidreza; Thrift, Amanda G; Kapral, Moira K; Shoamanesh, Ashkan; Amiri, Amin; Farzadfard, Mohammad T; Behrouz, Réza; Azarpazhooh, Mahmoud Reza

    2017-10-01

    Background Incidence, risk factors, case fatality and survival rates of ischemic stroke subtypes are unknown in the Middle East due to the lack of community-based incidence stroke studies in this region. Aim To characterize ischemic stroke subtypes in a Middle Eastern population. Methods The Mashad Stroke Incidence Study is a community-based study that prospectively ascertained all cases of stroke among the 450,229 inhabitants of Mashhad, Iran between 2006 and 2007. We identified 512 cases of first-ever ischemic stroke [264 men (mean age 65.5 ± 14.4) and 248 women (mean age 64.14 ± 14.5)]. Subtypes of ischemic stroke were classified according to the TOAST criteria. Incidence rates were age standardized to the WHO and European populations. Results The proportion of stroke subtypes was distributed as follows: 14.1% large artery disease, 15% cardioembolic, 22.5% small artery disease, 43.9% undetermined and 4.5% other. The greatest overall incidence rates were attributed to undetermined infarction (49.97/100,000) followed by small artery disease (25.54/100,000). Prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and atrial fibrillation differed among ischemic stroke subtypes. Overall, there were 268 (52.34%) deaths and 73 (14.25%) recurrent strokes at five years after incident ischemic stroke, with the greatest risk of recurrence seen in the large artery disease (35.6%) and cardioembolic (35.5%) subgroups. Survival was similar in men and women for each stroke subtype. Conclusions We observed markedly greater incidence rates of ischemic stroke subtypes than in other countries within the Mashad Stroke Incidence Study after age standardization. Our findings should be considered when planning prevention and stroke care services in this region.

  6. HIV-1 A1 Subtype Epidemic in Italy Originated from Africa and Eastern Europe and Shows a High Frequency of Transmission Chains Involving Intravenous Drug Users.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alessia Lai

    Full Text Available Subtype A accounts for only 12% of HIV-1 infections worldwide but predominates in Russia and Former Soviet Union countries of Eastern Europe. After an early propagation via heterosexual contacts, this variant spread explosively among intravenous drug users. A distinct A1 variant predominates in Greece and Albania, which penetrated directly from Africa. Clade A1 accounts for 12.5% of non-B subtypes in Italy, being the most frequent after F1 subtype.Aim of this study was to investigate the circulation of A1 subtype in Italy and trace its origin and diffusion through phylogenetic and phylodynamic approaches.The phylogenetic analysis of 113 A1 pol sequences included in the Italian ARCA database, indicated that 71 patients (62.8% clustered within 5 clades. A higher probability to be detected in clusters was found for patients from Eastern Europe and Italy (88.9% and 60.4%, respectively compared to those from Africa (20% (p < .001. Higher proportions of clustering sequences were found in intravenous drug users with respect to heterosexuals (85.7% vs. 59.3%, p = .056 and in women with respect to men (81.4% vs. 53.2%, p < .006. Subtype A1 dated phylogeny indicated an East African origin around 1961. Phylogeographical reconstruction highlighted 3 significant groups. One involved East European and some Italian variants, the second encompassed some Italian and African strains, the latter included the majority of viruses carried by African and Italian subjects and all viral sequences from Albania and Greece.Subtype A1 originated in Central Africa and spread among East European countries in 1982. It entered Italy through three introduction events: directly from East Africa, from Albania and Greece, and from the area encompassing Moldavia and Ukraine. As in previously documented A1 epidemics of East European countries, HIV-1 A1 subtype spread in Italy in part through intravenous drug users. However, Eastern European women contributed to the penetration of

  7. Dietary fat, fat subtypes and hepatocellular carcinoma in a large European cohort

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Duarte-Salles, Talita; Fedirko, Veronika; Stepien, Magdalena; Aleksandrova, Krasimira; Bamia, Christina; Lagiou, Pagona; Laursen, Anne Sofie Dam; Hansen, Louise; Overvad, Kim; Tjønneland, Anne; Boutron-Ruault, Marie Christine; Fagherazzi, Guy; His, Mathilde; Boeing, Heiner; Katzke, Verena; Kühn, Tilman; Trichopoulou, Antonia; Valanou, Elissavet; Kritikou, Maria; Masala, Giovanna; Panico, Salvatore; Sieri, Sabina; Ricceri, Fulvio; Tumino, Rosario; Bueno-De-Mesquita, H. B.; Peeters, Petra H.; Skeie, Guri; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Ardanaz, Eva; Bonet, Catalina; Chirlaque, Maria Dolores; Dorronsoro, Miren; Quirõs, J. Ramõn; Johansson, Ingegerd; Ohlsson, Bodil; Sjöberg, Klas; Wennberg, Maria; Khaw, Kay Tee; Travis, Ruth C.; Wareham, Nick; Ferrari, Pietro; Freisling, Heinz; Romieu, Isabelle; Cross, Amanda J.; Gunter, Marc; Lu, Yunxia; Jenab, Mazda

    2015-01-01

    The role of amount and type of dietary fat consumption in the etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is poorly understood, despite suggestive biological plausibility. The associations of total fat, fat subtypes and fat sources with HCC incidence were investigated in the European Prospective

  8. Pathways to an East Asian Higher Education Area: A Comparative Analysis of East Asian and European Regionalization Processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chao, Roger Y., Jr.

    2014-01-01

    The Author argues that historical regional developments in Europe and East Asia greatly influence the formation of an East Asian Higher Education Area. As such, this article compares European and East Asian regionalization and higher education regionalization processes to show this path dependency in East Asian regionalization of higher education…

  9. Soviet and East European energy databook

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilson, D.C.

    1991-01-01

    For the USSR, energy data is assembled under the following main headings: energy and the economy; production; engineering; exploration; transport of fuel; refining; consumption by sector; employment; finance; trade; electricity. There are 162 tables. Five tables of data on Eastern Europe as a region cover production of energy, consumption, and exports of crude and oil products. Using similar broad headings as these for the USSR, a further 184 tables give data for the following individual countries: Bulgaria; Czechoslovakia; East Germany; Hungary; Poland; Romania; Yugoslavia. The data has been accumulated from Soviet and East European sources, mainly newspapers, journals, annual yearbooks and private contacts and the chief of these are listed. (UK)

  10. The influence of European pollution on ozone in the Near East and northern Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. N. Duncan

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available We present a modeling study of the long-range transport of pollution from Europe, showing that European emissions regularly elevate surface ozone by as much as 20 ppbv in summer in northern Africa and the Near East. European emissions cause 50–150 additional violations per year (i.e. above those that would occur without European pollution of the European health standard for ozone (8-h average >120 μg/m3 or ~60 ppbv in northern Africa and the Near East. We estimate that European ozone pollution is responsible for 50 000 premature mortalities globally each year, of which the majority occurs outside of Europe itself, including 37% (19 000 in northern Africa and the Near East. Much of the pollution from Europe is exported southward at low altitudes in summer to the Mediterranean Sea, northern Africa and the Near East, regions with favorable photochemical environments for ozone production. Our results suggest that assessments of the human health benefits of reducing ozone precursor emissions in Europe should include effects outside of Europe, and that comprehensive planning to improve air quality in northern Africa and the Near East likely needs to address European emissions.

  11. The Influence of European Pollution on Ozone in the Near East and Northern Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duncan, B. N.; West, J. J.; Yoshida, Y.; Fiore, A. M.; Ziemke, J. R.

    2008-01-01

    We present a modeling study of the long-range transport of pollution from Europe, showing that European emissions regularly elevate surface ozone by as much as 20 ppbv in summer in northern Africa and the Near East. European emissions cause 50-150 additional violations per year (i.e. above those that would occur without European pollution) of the European health standard for ozone (8-h average greater than 120 micrograms per cubic meters or approximately 60 ppbv) in northern Africa and the Near East. We estimate that European ozone pollution is responsible for 50 000 premature mortalities globally each year, of which the majority occurs outside of Europe itself, including 37% (19 000) in northern Africa and the Near East. Much of the pollution from Europe is exported southward at low altitudes in summer to the Mediterranean Sea, northern Africa and the Near East, regions with favorable photochemical environments for ozone production. Our results suggest that assessments of the human health benefits of reducing ozone precursor emissions in Europe should include effects outside of Europe, and that comprehensive planning to improve air quality in northern Africa and the Near East likely needs to address European emissions.

  12. European surveillance network for influenza in pigs: surveillance programs, diagnostic tools and Swine influenza virus subtypes identified in 14 European countries from 2010 to 2013.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gaëlle Simon

    Full Text Available Swine influenza causes concern for global veterinary and public health officials. In continuing two previous networks that initiated the surveillance of swine influenza viruses (SIVs circulating in European pigs between 2001 and 2008, a third European Surveillance Network for Influenza in Pigs (ESNIP3, 2010-2013 aimed to expand widely the knowledge of the epidemiology of European SIVs. ESNIP3 stimulated programs of harmonized SIV surveillance in European countries and supported the coordination of appropriate diagnostic tools and subtyping methods. Thus, an extensive virological monitoring, mainly conducted through passive surveillance programs, resulted in the examination of more than 9 000 herds in 17 countries. Influenza A viruses were detected in 31% of herds examined from which 1887 viruses were preliminary characterized. The dominating subtypes were the three European enzootic SIVs: avian-like swine H1N1 (53.6%, human-like reassortant swine H1N2 (13% and human-like reassortant swine H3N2 (9.1%, as well as pandemic A/H1N1 2009 (H1N1pdm virus (10.3%. Viruses from these four lineages co-circulated in several countries but with very different relative levels of incidence. For instance, the H3N2 subtype was not detected at all in some geographic areas whereas it was still prevalent in other parts of Europe. Interestingly, H3N2-free areas were those that exhibited highest frequencies of circulating H1N2 viruses. H1N1pdm viruses were isolated at an increasing incidence in some countries from 2010 to 2013, indicating that this subtype has become established in the European pig population. Finally, 13.9% of the viruses represented reassortants between these four lineages, especially between previous enzootic SIVs and H1N1pdm. These novel viruses were detected at the same time in several countries, with increasing prevalence. Some of them might become established in pig herds, causing implications for zoonotic infections.

  13. INTERGEO - Central/East European Collaboration Network on direct application of geothermal energy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Popovski, K [Central/East European Collaboration Network on Direct Application of Geothermal Energy, Bitola (Yugoslavia); Arpasi, M [International Geothermal Association - European Branch, Budapest (Hungary)

    1997-12-01

    A proposal for organisation of a Network to be known as INTERGEO is presented, which should extend and reinforce the cooperation for the development of the direct application of geothermal energy between the developed EC countries and the ones of the so called Central/East European region. Unter the term `developed countries` for this particular energy source utilisation mainly Italy, France and Germany should be understood. The Central/East European region consists the following countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Belarus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lituania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Roumania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine and Yugoslavia. The idea itself, the need and possibilities for organisation, possible plan of action and expected benefits for the EC and Central/East European countries are elaborated in order to come to the conclusions for the proposal justifiableness and feasibility for realisation. (orig.)

  14. GWAS-identified schizophrenia risk SNPs at TSPAN18 are highly diverged between Europeans and East Asians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Jiewei; Li, Ming; Su, Bing

    2016-12-01

    Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified multiple schizophrenia (SCZ) risk variants for samples of European and East Asian descent, but most of the identified susceptibility variants are population-specific to either Europeans or East Asians. This strong genetic heterogeneity suggests that differential population histories may play a role in SCZ susceptibility. Here, we explored this possibility by examining the allele frequency divergence of 136 previously reported genome-wide SCZ risk SNPs between European and East Asian populations. Our results showed that two SNPs (rs11038167 and rs11038172) at TSPAN18, reported as genome-wide significant SCZ risk variants in Han Chinese, were entirely monomorphic in Europeans, indicating a deep between-population divergence at this gene locus. To explore the evolutionary history of TSPAN18 in East Asians, we conducted population genetic analyses including multiple neutrality tests, the haplotype-based iHS and EHH tests, as well as haplotype bifurcation map and network constructions. We found that the protective allele of rs11038172 (G allele) had a long extended haplotype with much slower decay compared to the A allele. The star-like shape of the G-allele-carrying haplotypes indicates a recent enrichment in East Asians. Together, the evidences suggest that the protective allele of rs11038172 has experienced recent Darwinian positive selection in East Asians. These findings provide new insights that may help explain the strong genetic heterogeneity in SCZ risk and previous inconsistent association results for SCZ among both Europeans and East Asians. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  15. Prevalence of molecular subtypes and prognosis of invasive breast cancer in north-east of Morocco: retrospective study

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    Bennis Sanae

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Breast carcinoma is known as a heterogeneous disease because gene expression analyses identify several subtypes and the molecular profiles are prognostic and predictive for patients. Our aim, in this study, is to estimate the prevalence of breast cancer subtypes and to determine the relationship between clinico-pathological characteristics, overall survival (OS and disease free survival (DFS for patients coming from north-east of Morocco. Methods We reviewed 366 cases of breast cancer diagnosed between January 2007 to June 2010 at the Department of pathology. Age, size tumor, metastatic profile, node involvement profile, OS and DFS were analyzed on 181 patients. These last parameters were estimated by Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank test to estimate outcome differences among subgroups. Results The average age was 45 years, our patients were diagnosed late (57% stage III, 17.5% stage IV with a high average tumor size. Luminal A subtype was more prevalent (53.6% associated with favorable clinic-pathological characteristics, followed by luminal B (16.4%, Her2-overexpressing (12.6%, basal-like (12.6% and unclassified subtype (4.9%. Survival analysis showed a significant difference between subtypes. The triple negative tumors were associated with poor prognosis (49% OS, 39% DFS, whereas the luminal A were associated with a better prognosis (88% OS, 59% DFS. The luminal B and the Her2-overexpressing subtypes were associated with an intermediate prognosis (77% and 75% OS, and 41% and 38% DFS respectively. Conclusion This study showed that molecular classification by immunohistochemistry was necessary for therapeutic decision and prognosis of breast carcinoma. The luminal A subtype was associated with favorable biological characteristics and a better prognosis than triple negative tumors that were associated with a poor prognosis and unfavorable clinic-pathological characteristics.

  16. Sub-Regional Cooperation of the Republic of Moldova on the South-East European Dimension

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    Maria DIACON

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Formation of the country image on the world arena can be analyzed from the perspective of sub-regional cooperation. In this respect, we emphasize that Moldova has joined a number of initiatives, programs and organizations which, by their status and the range of the promoted objectives, became "antechamber" to the European Union. Fixing the borders of the sub-regional cooperation area, we note that in the Central Europe Moldova attends the Central European Initiative, while in the South-East Europe are carried out activities in the South-East European Cooperation Process and the Organization for the Black Sea Economic Cooperation and assists in the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development GUAM.

  17. The Vendian-Early Palaeozoic sedimentary basins of the East European Craton

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sliaupa, S.; Fokin, P.A.; Lazauskiene, J.; Stephenson, R.A.

    2006-01-01

    Vendian-Early Palaeozoic sedimentation on the East European Craton (EEC) was confined to the cratonic margins with limited intracratonic subsidence. Generally, there are two geodynamic stages involved: in stage 1, basins formed in response to continental break-up processes; in stage 2, basins formed

  18. China in light of the performance of Central and East European economies

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Švejnar, Jan

    -, č. 26 (2007), s. 1-39 Keywords : economic transition * China * CEE countries Subject RIV: AH - Economic s http://www.internationalpolicy.umich.edu/workingpapers/ipc-26-svejnar, china -in-light-of-the-performance-of-central- and -east-european-economies.pdf

  19. Rapid detection and subtyping of European swine influenza viruses in porcine clinical samples by haemagglutinin- and neuraminidase-specific tetra- and triplex real-time RT-PCRs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henritzi, Dinah; Zhao, Na; Starick, Elke; Simon, Gaelle; Krog, Jesper S; Larsen, Lars Erik; Reid, Scott M; Brown, Ian H; Chiapponi, Chiara; Foni, Emanuela; Wacheck, Silke; Schmid, Peter; Beer, Martin; Hoffmann, Bernd; Harder, Timm C

    2016-11-01

    A diversifying pool of mammalian-adapted influenza A viruses (IAV) with largely unknown zoonotic potential is maintained in domestic swine populations worldwide. The most recent human influenza pandemic in 2009 was caused by a virus with genes originating from IAV isolated from swine. Swine influenza viruses (SIV) are widespread in European domestic pig populations and evolve dynamically. Knowledge regarding occurrence, spread and evolution of potentially zoonotic SIV in Europe is poorly understood. Efficient SIV surveillance programmes depend on sensitive and specific diagnostic methods which allow for cost-effective large-scale analysis. New SIV haemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) subtype- and lineage-specific multiplex real-time RT-PCRs (RT-qPCR) have been developed and validated with reference virus isolates and clinical samples. A diagnostic algorithm is proposed for the combined detection in clinical samples and subtyping of SIV strains currently circulating in Europe that is based on a generic, M-gene-specific influenza A virus RT-qPCR. In a second step, positive samples are examined by tetraplex HA- and triplex NA-specific RT-qPCRs to differentiate the porcine subtypes H1, H3, N1 and N2. Within the HA subtype H1, lineages "av" (European avian-derived), "hu" (European human-derived) and "pdm" (human pandemic A/H1N1, 2009) are distinguished by RT-qPCRs, and within the NA subtype N1, lineage "pdm" is differentiated. An RT-PCR amplicon Sanger sequencing method of small fragments of the HA and NA genes is also proposed to safeguard against failure of multiplex RT-qPCR subtyping. These new multiplex RT-qPCR assays provide adequate tools for sustained SIV monitoring programmes in Europe. © 2016 The Authors. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  20. 'SANDANSKI-2': European east-west coordination meeting on nuclear science

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oertzen, W. von; Kalpakchieva, R.

    2001-01-01

    'Sandanski-2' is a European East-West Coordination Meeting on Nuclear Science, which took place on the 5-9 May 2001 in the town of Sandanski, Bulgaria. It is the second meeting of this type. Here we present the motivations for holding this meeting, its scientific programme, the list of participants, as well as a short summary of the scientific and executive issues, which were presented by 66 reports. At the meeting 115 scientists from 17 European countries, the USA, Japan and JINR were present. Complete information on the Meeting is available on a CD and can also be found under the address: http://www.sandanski.ru/

  1. Proceedings of the French Senate conference 'Going Nuclear in the Middle East - In search of an European Middle East policy'

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Larcher, G.; De Rohan, J.; Malley, R.; Francois-Poncet, J.; Boroumand, L.; Cordesman, A.H.; Alani, M.; Hourcade, B.; Cerisier-ben Guiga, M.; Shihabi, M.; Singh, M.; Siegman, H.; Aubin De La Messuziere, Y.; Boillon, B.; Yasseen, F.; Barzani, M.; Chouet, A.; Filiu, J.P.; Heisbourg, F.; Giuliani, J.D.; Asseburg, M.; Spencer, C.; Solana Madagaria, J.

    2010-01-01

    The Middle East today is quite clearly one of the global hotspots of the world. It is also a big challenge for the international community. The interests are due to geography, history, economics and also to the fact that what takes place in the Middle East is important for the security of rest of the world. These two days of conference organised by the French Senate took stock of the Middle East question through 6 round tables dealing with: 1 - General overview Nuclear Islam in the Middle East; 2 - How likely is a successful dialogue with Iran? 3 - What Future for the Palestinian People? 4 - 2010, A Renaissance for Iraq? 5 - The Latest on Al Qaeda? 6 - In search of a European Union Policy for the Middle East. This document gathers the talks of the different experts and the questions and answers from the participants. (J.S.)

  2. Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in South East European Countries and New Member States of European Union Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bardhyl Dauti

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper accounts for the main determinants of Foreign Direct Investment flows to 5-SEEC and the 10-New Member States of the EU countries by using an augmented Gravity Model. The study takes into account country specific institutional factors that determine foreign investors’ decisions from 14 core European Union countries to invest into SEE-5 and EU-NMS-10 countries. From the results of the study we find that gravity factors and institutional related determinants like control of corruption, political stability, bilateral FDI agreement, WTO membership and transition progress appear to significantly determine inward FDI flows from core EU countries to host economies of South East European region and new European Union member states.

  3. Promoting investments in combined heat and power production in East-European countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Oostvoom, F.; Van Harmelen, T.

    1992-01-01

    The study concerns the evaluation of the potential of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) locations, both in industry and district heating with a heat demand of at least 20 GJ/h or ca. 1 MWe capacity. In fact 58 Hungarian locations were analyzed on scope and profitability for investment in CHP, using financial accounting models and criteria such as Internal Rate of Return and Pay-back Period. Due to the already existing favourable infrastructure in East European countries the present expectations in Hungary about the CHP capacity to be developed in the future are very optimistic (1300 up till 2000 MWe in the year 2000). Clearly there exist an overoptimism concerning the possibilities of increasing the energy efficiency in former East-European countries by investment in cogeneration. A more financially and economic attractive way for efficiency improvements is promoting energy saving in these countries and thus avoiding investments in supply technologies. 6 refs

  4. SEEWIND - South-East European Wind Energy Exploitation. Wind energy research in South East Europe under the EC FP6 programme; SEEWIND - South-East European Wind Energy Exploitation. Windenergieforschung im 6. Rahmenprogramm der Europaeischen Union in Suedosteuropa

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Winkelmeier, H. [Verein Energiewerkstatt (Austria)

    2008-08-15

    Large areas in South East Europe offer perfect conditions for the Utilisation of Wind Energy. Local wind systems like ''Bora'', which occurs along the Adriatic Sea, or ''Koshava'', which flows between the ridge of the Carpathian Mountains and the Balkan Mountains from Romania over to Serbia, are generated through differences in pressure and temperature between the adjacent regions. Those wind systems therefore can be described as 'home made' and have very individual characteristics. Despite the excellent wind conditions of those locations, the mainly cliffy and complex terrain and the extreme wind conditions with turbulences and strong gusts make great demands on the design and operation of the wind turbines. Exactly those problems the European Commission asked to be investigated and therefore defined 'Complex terrain and local wind systems' as one of the research topics in the last call of the 6th Framework Programme. Under the lead management of Verein Energiewerkstatt, a consortium of ten partners from seven middle- and southeast European countries took part in this call for proposals and received acceptance for the submitted Project ''SEEWIND - South-East European Wind Energy Exploitation''. (orig.)

  5. Radiation processing in some Central-East European countries: an area report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zagorski, Z.P.

    1990-01-01

    The area report presents the state of art and the hard-ware status of radiation processing in some Central-East European countries. Only sources exceeding 1.85 PBq (50 kCi) of the isotope and 0.5 kW beam power electron accelerators have been taken into account, operating in the first half of 1989. Trends of development are discussed. (author)

  6. Quantitative Estimation of the Impact of European Teleconnections on Interannual Variation of East Asian Winter Temperature and Monsoon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Young-Kwon; Kim, Hae-Dong

    2014-01-01

    The impact of European teleconnections including the East AtlanticWest Russia (EA-WR), the Scandinavia (SCA), and the East Atlantic (EA) on East Asian winter temperature variability was quantified and compared with the combined effect of the Arctic Oscillation (AO), the Western Pacific (WP), and the El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which are originated in the Northern Hemispheric high-latitudes or the Pacific. Three European teleconnections explained 22-25 percent of the total monthly upper-tropospheric height variance over Eurasia. Regression analysis revealed warming by EA-WR and EA and cooling by SCA over mid-latitude East Asia during their positive phase and vice versa. Temperature anomalies were largely explained by the advective temperature change process at the lower troposphere. The average spatial correlation over East Asia (90-180E, 10-80N) for the last 34 winters between observed and reconstructed temperature comprised of AO, WP and ENSO effect (AWE) was approximately 0.55, and adding the European teleconnection components (ESE) to the reconstructed temperature improved the correlation up to approximately 0.64. Lower level atmospheric structure demonstrated that approximately five of the last 34 winters were significantly better explained by ESE than AWE to determine East Asian seasonal winter temperatures. We also compared the impact between EA-WR and AO on the 1) East Asian winter monsoon, 2) cold surge, and 3) the Siberian high. These three were strongly coupled, and their spatial features and interannual variation were somewhat better explained by EA-WR than AO. Results suggest that the EA-WR impact must be treated more importantly than previously thought for a better understanding of East Asian winter temperature and monsoon variability.

  7. Portfolio Diversification in the South-East European Equity Markets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zaimovic Azra

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Diversification potential enables investors to manage their risk and decrease risk exposure. Good diversification policy is a safety net that prevents a portfolio from losing its value. A well-diversified portfolio consists of different categories of property with low correlations, while highly correlated markets have the feature of low possibilities for diversification. The biggest riddle in the world of investments is to find the optimal portfolio within a set of available assets with limited capital. There are numerous studies and mathematical models that deal with portfolio investment strategies. These strategies take advantage of diversification by spreading risk over several financial assets. Modern portfolio theory seeks to find the optimal model with the best results. This paper tries to identify relationships between returns of companies traded in South-East European equity markets. A Markowitz mean-variance (MV portfolio optimization method is used to identify possibilities for diversification among these markets and world leading capital markets. This research also offers insight into to the level of integration of South-East European equity markets. Principal component analysis (PCA is used to determine components that describe the strong patterns and co-movements of the dataset. Finally, we combined MV efficient frontier and equity, which represent PCA components, to draw conclusions. Our findings show that PC analysis substantially simplifies asset selection process in portfolio management. The results of the paper have practical applications for portfolio investors.

  8. Five years of partnership programme between German and East European nuclear power plant operators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kraemer, P.

    1995-01-01

    In a jointly adopted communique in August 1992 the regulations governing the partnerships were laid down. The following principles are given priority: bilateral exchange of operating experience on the basis of equal partnership; the knowledge gained from the exchange of experience is used to improve the operation and safety of the respective partner plant; the partnership programme is free from commercial interests and does not include transfer of funds. Since the establishment of the first partnership relations (Biblis) with an east european nuclear power plant (Balakowo) late in April 1990, a total of 126 reciprocal visits was paid, 82 of which to German nuclear power plants. The balance of the efforts made by German nuclear power plant operators to integrate east european nuclear plant operators can be considered positive. (orig./HP) [de

  9. Haplotype frequencies at the DRD2 locus in populations of the East European Plain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mikulich Alexey I

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background It was demonstrated previously that the three-locus RFLP haplotype, TaqI B-TaqI D-TaqI A (B-D-A, at the DRD2 locus constitutes a powerful genetic marker and probably reflects the most ancient dispersal of anatomically modern humans. Results We investigated TaqI B, BclI, MboI, TaqI D, and TaqI A RFLPs in 17 contemporary populations of the East European Plain and Siberia. Most of these populations belong to the Indo-European or Uralic language families. We identified three common haplotypes, which occurred in more than 90% of chromosomes investigated. The frequencies of the haplotypes differed according to linguistic and geographical affiliation. Conclusion Populations in the northwestern (Byelorussians from Mjadel', northern (Russians from Mezen' and Oshevensk, and eastern (Russians from Puchezh parts of the East European Plain had relatively high frequencies of haplotype B2-D2-A2, which may reflect admixture with Uralic-speaking populations that inhabited all of these regions in the Early Middle Ages.

  10. Fruits and vegetables consumption and the risk of histological subtypes of lung cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Buchner, F.L.; Bueno-De-Mesquita, H.B.; Linseisen, J.; Boshuizen, H.C.; Kiemeney, L.A.L.M.; Ros, M.M.; Overvad, K.; Hansen, L.; Tjonneland, A.; Raaschou-Nielsen, O.; Clavel-Chapelon, F.; Boutron-Ruault, M.C.; Touillaud, M.; Kaaks, R.; Rohrmann, S.; Boeing, H.; Nothlings, U.; Trichopoulou, A.; Zylis, D.; Dilis, V.; Palli, D.; Sieri, S.; Vineis, P.; Tumino, R.; Panico, S.; Peeters, P.H.M.; Gils, C.H. van; Lund, E.; Gram, I.T.; Braaten, T.; Martinez, C.; Agudo, A.; Arriola, L.; Ardanaz, E.; Navarro, C; Rodriguez, L.; Manjer, J.; Wirfalt, E.; Hallmans, G.; Rasmuson, T.; Key, T.J.; Roddam, A.W.; Bingham, S.; Khaw, K.T.; Slimani, N.; Bofetta, P.; Byrnes, G.; Norat, T.; Michaud, D.; Riboli, E.

    2010-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between fruit and vegetable consumption and risk of different histological subtypes of lung cancer among participants of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study. METHODS: Multivariable Cox proportional hazard models were used to

  11. Salmonella source attribution based on microbial subtyping

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barco, Lisa; Barrucci, Federica; Olsen, John Elmerdahl

    2013-01-01

    Source attribution of cases of food-borne disease represents a valuable tool for identifying and prioritizing effective food-safety interventions. Microbial subtyping is one of the most common methods to infer potential sources of human food-borne infections. So far, Salmonella microbial subtyping...... source attribution through microbial subtyping approach. It summarizes the available microbial subtyping attribution models and discusses the use of conventional phenotypic typing methods, as well as of the most commonly applied molecular typing methods in the European Union (EU) laboratories...

  12. 25 October 2017 - Meeting on a South-East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies

    CERN Multimedia

    Ordan, Julien Marius

    2017-01-01

    Meeting on a South-East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies at CERN, organised by the Ministry of Science of Montenegro, followed by a lunch hosted by CERN Director-General F. Gianotti and a site visit to CMS counting room and S'Cool LAB.

  13. Cooperation between West and East German gas transmission companies - an example of collaboration with Eastern European gas suppliers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Geweke, J.

    1994-01-01

    In the future, it can be assumed there will be a new quality of co-operation between the East and the West. The tremendous growth in demand for natural gas in Europe necessitates the development of new, increasingly distant gas resources. The investment required can not be raised by a few countries on their own. A strategy is needed for all states integrated in the European natural gas transmission system. Due to their geographic location, Eastern and Southern European countries have a key role to play. Central Europe will become the heart of the international natural gas business. Then the future co-operation between East and Western Europe must be taken into account. An important prerequisite for equal partners in the European gas industry will be coordination, if natural gas is to continue to make a growing contribution to an environmentally compatible and efficient energy supply in all European states and beyond. (orig.)

  14. Study of seismic events in the Central Part of East European Platform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gorbunova, Ella; Sanina, Irina; Ivanchenko, Galina; Nesterkina, Margarita; Konstantinovskaya, Natalya

    2015-04-01

    A measurement system for location seismic events in the Central Part of East European Platform is situated within the Mikhnevo Geophysical Observatory of the RAS Institute of Geospheres Dynamics and consists of 12 seismic stations. One vertical station is located in the center of the group in a shaft tunnel. The other stations are located on the periphery in three concentric circles and are almost equally spaced with regard to the terrain to ensure full azimuth coverage to the maximum extent possible. The unique array identifies events with a magnitude up to 3 at the distances until 1000 km within the Central Part of East European platform. Most of the events recorded by the Mikhnevo array at a distance of 60-500 km are man-made events represented by explosions in quarries during the development of mineral deposits. Long-term seismic records of explosions in quarries have been processed for the period from 2004 to 2014 to generate a database containing standard waveforms for each quarry. Some events of unknown origin appear in the records for this period; these do not correspond to the identified seismic forms for explosions in known quarries. Epicenter coordinates for these events do not match the coordinates of the known quarries. A cosmotectonic map of the Central Part of East European Platform was compiled during the studies using the LESSA software package (Lineament Extraction and Stripe Statistical Analysis) and data on the deep crustal structure, which made it possible to define the morphostructural plan and evaluate the geodynamic conditions in the area. The deep basement structure through the sedimentary cover is expressed in the surface texture of the area under study. The region's neotectonics is closely related to the history of deep structures, in particular, aulacogens extending in different directions, which may show in the contemporary morphostructural plan, mainly as inversion and partially inherited forms. Out of events of unknown nature

  15. East European nuclear power plant review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thomas, Steve

    1993-01-01

    Western public opinion regards East European nuclear power plants as inefficient and dangerous. However the plants achieve consistently good operating performances. The load factors achieved by each type of plant by country in 1991 are tabulated. These are shown to be good, especially the Hungarian plant. Load factors seem to be dependent on the type of plant rather than where they were installed. WWER 213s worked better than the WWER 320s. This was because of long shutdowns to try and bring the safety standards up to acceptable levels. RBMK performances were depressed because of a 30% derating by safety authorities on 8 out of the 15 units operating. Overall the picture in Eastern Europe is encouraging with improvements in safety related indicators such as break-down frequency whilst the plants still achieve respectable load factors. The performance of the WWER 320s is particularly encouraging. Good load factors from this type of plant in Russia, the Ukraine and Bulgaria may allow older unsafe plant to be phased out. (UK)

  16. Geographic distribution of hepatitis C virus genotype 6 subtypes in Thailand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akkarathamrongsin, Srunthron; Praianantathavorn, Kesmanee; Hacharoen, Nisachol; Theamboonlers, Apiradee; Tangkijvanich, Pisit; Tanaka, Yasuhito; Mizokami, Masashi; Poovorawan, Yong

    2010-02-01

    The nucleotide sequence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 6 found mostly in south China and south-east Asia, displays profound genetic diversity. The aim of this study to determine the genetic variability of HCV genotype 6 (HCV-6) in Thailand and locate the subtype distribution of genotype 6 in various geographic areas. Four hundred nineteen anti-HCV positive serum samples were collected from patients residing in - the central part of the country. HCV RNA positive samples based on reverse transcriptase- polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of the 5'UTR were amplified with primers specific for the core and NS5B regions. Nucleotide sequences of both regions were analyzed for the genotype by phylogenetic analysis. To determine geographic distribution of HCV-6 subtypes, a search of the international database on subtype distribution in the respective countries was conducted. Among 375 HCV RNA positive samples, 71 had HCV-6 based on phylogenetic analysis of partial core and NS5B regions. The subtype distribution in order of predominance was 6f (56%), 6n (22%), 6i (11%), 6j (10%), and 6e (1%). Among the 13 countries with different subtypes of HCV-6, most sequences have been reported from Vietnam. Subtype 6f was found exclusively in Thailand where five distinct HCV-6 subtypes are circulating. HCV-6, which is endemic in south China and south-east Asia, displays profound genetic diversity and may have evolved over a considerable period of time. (c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  17. East-West European farm investment behaviour - The role of financial constraints and public support

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fertő, I.; Bakucs, Z.; Bojnec, S.; Latruffe, L.

    2017-09-01

    The article investigated farm investment behaviour among East (Hungarian and Slovenian) and West (French) European Union farms using individual farm accountancy panel data for the 2003-2008 period. Despite differences in farm structures, except for the presence of capital market imperfections evidenced in the East, farms’ investment behaviour was not substantially different. Farm gross investment was positively associated with real sales’ growth. In addition, it was positively associated with public investment subsidies which can mitigate capital market imperfections in the short-term. On the long run, the farm’s ability to successfully compete in the output market by selling produce and securing a sufficient cash flow for investment is crucial.

  18. East-West European farm investment behaviour - The role of financial constraints and public support

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fertő, I.; Bakucs, Z.; Bojnec, S.; Latruffe, L.

    2017-01-01

    The article investigated farm investment behaviour among East (Hungarian and Slovenian) and West (French) European Union farms using individual farm accountancy panel data for the 2003-2008 period. Despite differences in farm structures, except for the presence of capital market imperfections evidenced in the East, farms’ investment behaviour was not substantially different. Farm gross investment was positively associated with real sales’ growth. In addition, it was positively associated with public investment subsidies which can mitigate capital market imperfections in the short-term. On the long run, the farm’s ability to successfully compete in the output market by selling produce and securing a sufficient cash flow for investment is crucial.

  19. The new Permian-Triassic paleomagnetic pole for the East European Platform corrected for inclination shallowing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fetisova, A. M.; Veselovskiy, R. V.; Scholze, F.; Balabanov, Yu. P.

    2018-01-01

    The results of detailed paleomagnetic studies in seven Upper Permian and Lower Triassic reference sections of East Europe (Middle Volga and Orenburg region) and Central Germany are presented. For each section, the coefficient of inclination shallowing f (King, 1955) is estimated by the Elongation-Inclination (E-I) method (Tauxe and Kent, 2004) and is found to vary from 0.4 to 0.9. The paleomagnetic directions, corrected for the inclination shallowing, are used to calculate the new Late Permian-Early Triassic paleomagnetic pole for the East European Platform (N = 7, PLat = 52.1°, PLong = 155.8°, A95 = 6.6°). Based on this pole, the geocentric axial dipole hypothesis close to the Paleozoic/Mesozoic boundary is tested by the single plate method. The absence of the statistically significant distinction between the obtained pole and the average Permian-Triassic (P-Tr) paleomagnetic pole of the Siberian Platform and the coeval pole of the North American Platform corrected for the opening of the Atlantic (Shatsillo et al., 2006) is interpreted by us as evidence that 250 Ma the configuration of the magnetic field of the Earth was predominantly dipolar; i.e., the contribution of nondipole components was at most 10% of the main magnetic field. In our opinion, the hypothesis of the nondipolity of the geomagnetic field at the P-Tr boundary, which has been repeatedly discussed in recent decades (Van der Voo and Torsvik, 2001; Bazhenov and Shatsillo, 2010; Veselovskiy and Pavlov, 2006), resulted from disregarding the effect of inclination shallowing in the paleomagnetic determinations from sedimentary rocks of "stable" Europe (the East European platform and West European plate).

  20. The Migration Crisis from the East-Central European Perspective: Challenges for Regional Security

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Renata Podgórzańska

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, the common denominator of involvement of the EastCentral Europe in the international arena, and above all, the premise determining community of interest expressed in the European Union is the migration crisis. Despite the different circumstances of activity in the context of the migration crisis, states in the region express similar opinions on the consequences of immigration for security in the region. Above all, they emphasise the implications of immigration for the internal security of states. Given the complex nature of migration, this article focuses on the phenomenon of immigration in the EU, determining the causes of the escalation of the influx of immigrants and, above all, identifying the consequences for the security of states of East-Central Europe.

  1. Factors Influencing the Capacity of Anticorruption Law Enforcement Bodies in South East European Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victor ALISTAR

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available The main objective of this paper is to present a regional perspective regarding the independence of judiciary system, based on the magistrates’ perception. Taking into consideration that the independence of judiciary is a concept which has to be not only guaranteed by constitutional and statutory provisions, but mostly perceived as a functional reality, the present article analyses the factors which influence the capacity to act efficiently of the judicial structures in South East European countries. The article is presenting ones of explanation for low capacity to fight corruption in this region of Europe. The analyse is built on a sociological survey conducted in nine countries from the standpoint of the hierarchical relationships and of the guarantees of operational and professional independence, legislative framework, resources as well as the relationship between justice and the society. The data used in this articles provided by the study “Integrity and resistance to corruption of the law enforcement bodies in South East European countries”. The concluding remarks are based on questionnaires sent out to judges and prosecutors and emphasis cultural, managerial and functional aspects of judicial system, exposed by magistrates themself.

  2. Lichens of neglected habitats in Eastern and East-Central European lowlands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jurga Motiejūnaitē

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Situation of lichens of aquatic and transient habitats in Eastern and East-Central European lowlands is discussed basing on example of several selected species: Leptogium biatorinum, Sarcosagium campestre, Steinia geophana, Verrucaria aquatilis, V. hydrela, V. praetermissa, V. xyloxena. Both habitat types are generally very much neglected in the region and all species show large spatial gaps in recording, which makes it difficult to judge both about their true distribution limits and spreading dynamics. On the other hand, targeted search through the suitable habitats and abundance of such indicate that many of these lichens are probably not uncommon in the region.

  3. The global spread of HIV-1 subtype B epidemic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magiorkinis, Gkikas; Angelis, Konstantinos; Mamais, Ioannis; Katzourakis, Aris; Hatzakis, Angelos; Albert, Jan; Lawyer, Glenn; Hamouda, Osamah; Struck, Daniel; Vercauteren, Jurgen; Wensing, Annemarie; Alexiev, Ivailo; Åsjö, Birgitta; Balotta, Claudia; Gomes, Perpétua; Camacho, Ricardo J; Coughlan, Suzie; Griskevicius, Algirdas; Grossman, Zehava; Horban, Anders; Kostrikis, Leondios G; Lepej, Snjezana J; Liitsola, Kirsi; Linka, Marek; Nielsen, Claus; Otelea, Dan; Paredes, Roger; Poljak, Mario; Puchhammer-Stöckl, Elizabeth; Schmit, Jean Claude; Sönnerborg, Anders; Staneková, Danica; Stanojevic, Maja; Stylianou, Dora C; Boucher, Charles A B; Nikolopoulos, Georgios; Vasylyeva, Tetyana; Friedman, Samuel R; van de Vijver, David; Angarano, Gioacchino; Chaix, Marie-Laure; de Luca, Andrea; Korn, Klaus; Loveday, Clive; Soriano, Vincent; Yerly, Sabine; Zazzi, Mauricio; Vandamme, Anne-Mieke; Paraskevis, Dimitrios

    2016-12-01

    Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) was discovered in the early 1980s when the virus had already established a pandemic. For at least three decades the epidemic in the Western World has been dominated by subtype B infections, as part of a sub-epidemic that traveled from Africa through Haiti to United States. However, the pattern of the subsequent spread still remains poorly understood. Here we analyze a large dataset of globally representative HIV-1 subtype B strains to map their spread around the world over the last 50years and describe significant spread patterns. We show that subtype B travelled from North America to Western Europe in different occasions, while Central/Eastern Europe remained isolated for the most part of the early epidemic. Looking with more detail in European countries we see that the United Kingdom, France and Switzerland exchanged viral isolates with non-European countries than with European ones. The observed pattern is likely to mirror geopolitical landmarks in the post-World War II era, namely the rise and the fall of the Iron Curtain and the European colonialism. In conclusion, HIV-1 spread through specific migration routes which are consistent with geopolitical factors that affected human activities during the last 50years, such as migration, tourism and trade. Our findings support the argument that epidemic control policies should be global and incorporate political and socioeconomic factors. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. European Surveillance Network for Influenza in Pigs: Surveillance Programs, Diagnostic Tools and Swine Influenza Virus Subtypes Identified in 14 European Countries from 2010 to 2013

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Simon, Gaelle; Larsen, Lars Erik; Duerrwald, Ralf

    2014-01-01

    : avian-like swine H1N1 (53.6%), human-like reassortant swine H1N2 (13%) and human-like reassortant swine H3N2 (9.1%), as well as pandemic A/H1N1 2009 (H1N1pdm) virus (10.3%). Viruses from these four lineages co-circulated in several countries but with very different relative levels of incidence....... For instance, the H3N2 subtype was not detected at all in some geographic areas whereas it was still prevalent in other parts of Europe. Interestingly, H3N2-free areas were those that exhibited highest frequencies of circulating H1N2 viruses. H1N1pdm viruses were isolated at an increasing incidence in some......Swine influenza causes concern for global veterinary and public health officials. In continuing two previous networks that initiated the surveillance of swine influenza viruses (SIVs) circulating in European pigs between 2001 and 2008, a third European Surveillance Network for Influenza in Pigs...

  5. Complete genome of a European hepatitis C virus subtype 1g isolate: phylogenetic and genetic analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bracho, Maria A; Saludes, Verónica; Martró, Elisa; Bargalló, Ana; González-Candelas, Fernando; Ausina, Vicent

    2008-06-05

    Hepatitis C virus isolates have been classified into six main genotypes and a variable number of subtypes within each genotype, mainly based on phylogenetic analysis. Analyses of the genetic relationship among genotypes and subtypes are more reliable when complete genome sequences (or at least the full coding region) are used; however, so far 31 of 80 confirmed or proposed subtypes have at least one complete genome available. Of these, 20 correspond to confirmed subtypes of epidemic interest. We present and analyse the first complete genome sequence of a HCV subtype 1g isolate. Phylogenetic and genetic distance analyses reveal that HCV-1g is the most divergent subtype among the HCV-1 confirmed subtypes. Potential genomic recombination events between genotypes or subtype 1 genomes were ruled out. We demonstrate phylogenetic congruence of previously deposited partial sequences of HCV-1g with respect to our sequence. In light of this, we propose changing the current status of its subtype-specific designation from provisional to confirmed.

  6. Complete genome of a European hepatitis C virus subtype 1g isolate: phylogenetic and genetic analyses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bargalló Ana

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Hepatitis C virus isolates have been classified into six main genotypes and a variable number of subtypes within each genotype, mainly based on phylogenetic analysis. Analyses of the genetic relationship among genotypes and subtypes are more reliable when complete genome sequences (or at least the full coding region are used; however, so far 31 of 80 confirmed or proposed subtypes have at least one complete genome available. Of these, 20 correspond to confirmed subtypes of epidemic interest. Results We present and analyse the first complete genome sequence of a HCV subtype 1g isolate. Phylogenetic and genetic distance analyses reveal that HCV-1g is the most divergent subtype among the HCV-1 confirmed subtypes. Potential genomic recombination events between genotypes or subtype 1 genomes were ruled out. We demonstrate phylogenetic congruence of previously deposited partial sequences of HCV-1g with respect to our sequence. Conclusion In light of this, we propose changing the current status of its subtype-specific designation from provisional to confirmed.

  7. [Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 subtypes in Djibouti].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abar, A Elmi; Jlizi, A; Darar, H Youssouf; Ben Nasr, M; Abid, S; Kacem, M Ali Ben Hadj; Slim, A

    2012-01-01

    The authors had for aim to study the distribution of HIV-1 subtypes in a cohort of HIV positive patients in the hospital General Peltier of Djibouti. An epidemiological study was made on 40 HIV-1 positive patients followed up in the Infectious Diseases Department over three months. All patients sample were subtyped by genotyping. Thirty-five patients (15 men and 20 women) were found infected by an HIV-1 strain belonging to the M group. Genotyping revealed that - 66% of samples were infected with subtype C, 20% with CRF02_AG, 8.5% with B, 2.9% with CRF02_AG/C and 2.9% with K/C. In fact, Subtype C prevalence has been described in the Horn of Africa and a similar prevalence was previously reported in Djibouti. However our study describes the subtype B in Djibouti for the first time. It is the predominant subtype in the Western world. The detection of CRF02_AG strains indicates that they are still circulating in Djibouti, the only country in East Africa in which this recombinant virus was found. CRF02_AG recombinant isolates were primarily described in West and Central Africa. The presence of this viral heterogeneity, probably coming from the mixing of populations in Djibouti, which is an essential economic and geographical crossroads, incites us to vigilance in the surveillance of this infection.

  8. Reconsidering the classification of tick-borne encephalitis virus within the Siberian subtype gives new insights into its evolutionary history.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kovalev, S Y; Mukhacheva, T A

    2017-11-01

    Tick-borne encephalitis is widespread in Eurasia and transmitted by Ixodes ticks. Classification of its causative agent, tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), includes three subtypes, namely Far-Eastern, European, and Siberian (TBEV-Sib), as well as a group of 886-84-like strains with uncertain taxonomic status. TBEV-Sib is subdivided into three phylogenetic lineages: Baltic, Asian, and South-Siberian. A reason to reconsider TBEV-Sib classification was the analysis of 186 nucleotide sequences of an E gene fragment submitted to GenBank during the last two years. Within the South-Siberian lineage, we have identified a distinct group with prototype strains Aina and Vasilchenko as an individual lineage named East-Siberian. The analysis of reclassified lineages has promoted a new model of the evolutionary history of TBEV-Sib lineages and TBEV-Sib as a whole. Moreover, we present arguments supporting separation of 886-84-like strains into an individual TBEV subtype, which we propose to name Baikalian (TBEV-Bkl). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Dietary fat, fat subtypes and hepatocellular carcinoma in a large European cohort.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duarte-Salles, Talita; Fedirko, Veronika; Stepien, Magdalena; Aleksandrova, Krasimira; Bamia, Christina; Lagiou, Pagona; Laursen, Anne Sofie Dam; Hansen, Louise; Overvad, Kim; Tjønneland, Anne; Boutron-Ruault, Marie-Christine; Fagherazzi, Guy; His, Mathilde; Boeing, Heiner; Katzke, Verena; Kühn, Tilman; Trichopoulou, Antonia; Valanou, Elissavet; Kritikou, Maria; Masala, Giovanna; Panico, Salvatore; Sieri, Sabina; Ricceri, Fulvio; Tumino, Rosario; Bueno-de-Mesquita, H B As; Peeters, Petra H; Hjartåker, Anette; Skeie, Guri; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Ardanaz, Eva; Bonet, Catalina; Chirlaque, Maria-Dolores; Dorronsoro, Miren; Quirós, J Ramón; Johansson, Ingegerd; Ohlsson, Bodil; Sjöberg, Klas; Wennberg, Maria; Khaw, Kay-Tee; Travis, Ruth C; Wareham, Nick; Ferrari, Pietro; Freisling, Heinz; Romieu, Isabelle; Cross, Amanda J; Gunter, Marc; Lu, Yunxia; Jenab, Mazda

    2015-12-01

    The role of amount and type of dietary fat consumption in the etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is poorly understood, despite suggestive biological plausibility. The associations of total fat, fat subtypes and fat sources with HCC incidence were investigated in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort, which includes 191 incident HCC cases diagnosed between 1992 and 2010. Diet was assessed by country-specific, validated dietary questionnaires. A single 24-hr diet recall from a cohort subsample was used for measurement error calibration. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated from Cox proportional hazard models. Hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV/HCV) status and biomarkers of liver function were assessed separately in a nested case-control subset with available blood samples (HCC = 122). In multivariable calibrated models, there was a statistically significant inverse association between total fat intake and risk of HCC (per 10 g/day, HR = 0.80, 95% CI: 0.65-0.99), which was mainly driven by monounsaturated fats (per 5 g/day, HR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.55-0.92) rather than polyunsaturated fats (per 5 g/day, HR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.68-1.25). There was no association between saturated fats (HR = 1.08, 95% CI: 0.88-1.34) and HCC risk. The ratio of polyunsaturated/monounsaturated fats to saturated fats was not significantly associated with HCC risk (per 0.2 point, HR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.73-1.01). Restriction of analyses to HBV/HCV free participants or adjustment for liver function did not substantially alter the findings. In this large prospective European cohort, higher consumption of monounsaturated fats is associated with lower HCC risk. © 2015 UICC.

  10. The political economy of energy use and pollution: the environmental effects of East-European transition to market economy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Midttun, A.; Chander, I. [Norwegian School of Management, Sandvicka (Norway)

    1998-11-01

    The transition of Eastern Europe to Western-type liberal capitalism has been interpreted as an important step towards a more ecologically sustainable Europe. The main argument has been that the energy efficiency of the West-European economy will be imported to Eastern Europe and lead to lower energy consumption and lower pollution. This line of argumentation seems sound as far as the industrial sector is concerned. However, it does not take into consideration the energy and pollution bill of the lavish lifestyle of modern consumer-oriented societies. A shift away from the moderate private consumption of East-European Communism, towards the Western consumerist lifestyle may diminish or even abolish the positive ecological effects of the East-European transition to a competitive market economy. The article explores energy consumption and pollution patterns of Eastern and Western Europe both as far as industrial and domestic end-user consumption is concerned. The article argues that these patterns are related to basic characteristics of the communist and capitalist systems and that pollution and energy use are fundamentally conditioned by the overall political economy. 18 refs., 14 figs., 1 tab., 1 app.

  11. Relations among Ethnic Identity, Parenting Style, and Adolescent Psychosocial Outcomes in European American and East Indian Immigrants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhadha, Bakhtawar

    The challenges of identity formation are particularly difficult for minority youth because of the clash of traditional culture and the host culture. This study examined the effects of parenting style, acculturation, and parent and adolescent ethnic identity on the self-esteem and school performance of East Indian and European American adolescents.…

  12. Iris pigmentation as a quantitative trait: variation in populations of European, East Asian and South Asian ancestry and association with candidate gene polymorphisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwards, Melissa; Cha, David; Krithika, S; Johnson, Monique; Cook, Gillian; Parra, Esteban J

    2016-03-01

    In this study, we present a new quantitative method to measure iris colour based on high-resolution photographs. We applied this method to analyse iris colour variation in a sample of individuals of East Asian, European and South Asian ancestry. We show that measuring iris colour using the coordinates of the CIELAB colour space uncovers a significant amount of variation that is not captured using conventional categorical classifications, such as 'brown', 'blue' or 'green'. We tested the association of a selected panel of polymorphisms with iris colour in each population group. Six markers showed significant associations with iris colour in the European sample, three in the South Asian sample and two in the East Asian sample. We also observed that the marker HERC2 rs12913832, which is the main determinant of 'blue' versus 'brown' iris colour in European populations, is also significantly associated with central heterochromia in the European sample. © 2015 The Authors. Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  13. 11th Congress of South-East European Studies. Sofia 2015

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mirella Korzeniewska-Wiszniewska

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available 11th Congress of South-East European Studies. Sofia 2015 The 11th Congress of South-East European Studies took place in Sofia, Bulgaria, between 31 August and 4 September 2015. It was organised by the International Association for Southeast European Studies (orig. in French: AIESEE – Associacion Internationale d’ Études du Sud-Est Européen. South-Eastern Europe is an area looked upon by world powers with a large amount of ambivalence. As the region’s states are not considered to be key global players, the events that occur in this part of the continent draw interest that is cyclical in nature and that is usually triggered by cyclical issues, too. Though relatively small, the area has been a point of interest for many researchers for over 100 years due to its ethnic diversity and the related inherent multi-nationality the scale of which is not encountered anywhere else in Europe. The cultural, linguistic, and religious pluralism of this region often produces specific social amalgams. With the cyclical interest aside, for a little more than a century the main European (and not only European political powers have been making efforts to exert influence in the region, understanding the significance of its geographic location, where East meets West. Regardless of the changing dynamics of interest in South-Eastern Europe, the region will certainly remain one of the most fascinating focus areas for researchers and academics across the world, who will meet again not in five, but in four years at another congress this time to be held in Romanian Constanţa to discuss issues and topics related to this corner of the world.   11. Kongres AIESEE, Sofia 2015 W dniach od 31 sierpnia do 4 września 2015 r. w Sofii (Bułgaria odbył się 11 Kongres Studiów nad Europą Południowo-Wschodnią, zorganizowany przez Międzynarodowe Stowarzyszenie Studiów nad Europą Południowo-Wschodnią (AIESEE - Associacion Internationale d’ Études du Sud-Est Europ

  14. The Image of the East-Central European in Rose Tremain’s The Road Home

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harasztos Ágnes

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available In Rose Tremain’s The Road Home, the culture clash of the British and the East-Central European is portrayed through a complex symbolism centred on images of food, consumption and waste. This literary representation may shed light on British literary auto-images, as well as hetero-images of the Eastern European immigrant. The novel’s presentation of this culture shock is defined by the cultural historical and economic circumstances of the parties. Food and material provide the symbolic sphere where the relationship between Britain and East-Central Europe is characterized in terms of capitalist worldview as opposed to a post-communist existence. William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is the most important intertext for Tremain’s novel. Hamlet is obsessed with the vulnerability of material in light of the spiritual value attached to it in the form of human soul. Stephen Greenblatt’s ideas on food, waste and the Christian belief in divine existence residing in material objects - ideas that originate in early modern times - shed light on the motif of material and food in The Road Home. Seen through the symbolism of food and the idea of differing values being attached to matter, the narrative identity of Lev, the protagonist of Tremain’s work, experiences drastic change due to his encounter with the capitalist, British ‘other’.

  15. Short communication: East-West European farm investment behaviour - The role of financial constraints and public support

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Imre Fertő

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The article investigated farm investment behaviour among East (Hungarian and Slovenian and West (French European Union farms using individual farm accountancy panel data for the 2003-2008 period. Despite differences in farm structures, except for the presence of capital market imperfections evidenced in the East, farms’ investment behaviour was not substantially different. Farm gross investment was positively associated with real sales’ growth. In addition, it was positively associated with public investment subsidies which can mitigate capital market imperfections in the short-term. On the long run, the farm’s ability to successfully compete in the output market by selling produce and securing a sufficient cash flow for investment is crucial.

  16. European land CO2 sink influenced by NAO and East-Atlantic Pattern coupling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bastos, Ana; Janssens, Ivan A.; Gouveia, Célia M.; Trigo, Ricardo M.; Ciais, Philippe; Chevallier, Frédéric; Peñuelas, Josep; Rödenbeck, Christian; Piao, Shilong; Friedlingstein, Pierre; Running, Steven W.

    2016-01-01

    Large-scale climate patterns control variability in the global carbon sink. In Europe, the North-Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) influences vegetation activity, however the East-Atlantic (EA) pattern is known to modulate NAO strength and location. Using observation-driven and modelled data sets, we show that multi-annual variability patterns of European Net Biome Productivity (NBP) are linked to anomalies in heat and water transport controlled by the NAO–EA interplay. Enhanced NBP occurs when NAO and EA are both in negative phase, associated with cool summers with wet soils which enhance photosynthesis. During anti-phase periods, NBP is reduced through distinct impacts of climate anomalies in photosynthesis and respiration. The predominance of anti-phase years in the early 2000s may explain the European-wide reduction of carbon uptake during this period, reported in previous studies. Results show that improving the capability of simulating atmospheric circulation patterns may better constrain regional carbon sink variability in coupled carbon-climate models. PMID:26777730

  17. Fundamental Flaws in the Architecture of the European Central Bank: The Possible End of the Euro Zone and its Effects to East African Community (EAC Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nothando Moyo

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available European countries embarked on a European integration programme that saw the formation of the Euro, which has emerged as a major currency (Blair, 1999 that was introduced in 1998. With the Euro, came the establishment of the European Central Bank. Thus this study seeks to investigate the flaws in the formation of the European Central Bank that surfaced during the major economic crisis in Europe. The crisis revealing the gaps in the formation and structure of the European central bank have created major challenges for the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU. Through an extant review of literature the study will examine the East African Community Countries, investigating the ties they have to the euro zone to analyse how the crisis has affected them. Furthermore, the study will analyse what would happen to the growth patterns of the East African Countries and the various prospects they may have should the Eurozone come to an end.

  18. Humic substances elemental composition of selected taiga and tundra soils from Russian European North-East

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lodygin Evgeny

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Soils of Russian European North were investigated in terms of stability and quality of organic matter as well as in terms of soils organic matter elemental composi­tion. Therefore, soil humic acids (HAs, extracted from soils of different natural zones of Russian North-East were studied to characterize the degree of soil organic matter stabilization along a zonal gradient. HAs were extracted from soil of different zonal environments of the Komi Republic: south, middle and north taiga as well as south tundra. Data on elemental composition of humic acids and fulvic acids (FAs extracted from different soil types were obtained to assess humus formation mechanisms in the soils of taiga and tundra of the European North-East of Russia. The specificity of HAs elemental composition are discussed in relation to environmental conditions. The higher moisture degree of taiga soils results in the higher H/C ratio in humic substances. This reflects the reduced microbiologic activity in Albeluvisols sods and subsequent conser­vation of carbohydrate and amino acid fragments in HAs. HAs of tundra soils, shows the H/C values decreasing within the depth of the soils, which reflects increasing of aromatic compounds in HA structure of mineral soil horizons. FAs were more oxidized and contains less carbon while compared with the HAs. Humic acids, extracted from soil of different polar and boreal environments differ in terms of elemental composition winch reflects the climatic and hydrological regimes of humification.

  19. Structure of the lithosphere below the southern margin of the East European Craton (Ukraine and Russia) from gravity and seismic data.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Yegorova, T.P.; Stephenson, R.A.; Kostyuchenko, S.L.; Baranova, E.P.; Starostenko, V.I.; Popolitov, K.E.

    2004-01-01

    The present study was undertaken with the objective of deriving constraints from available geological and geophysical data for understanding the tectonic setting and processes controlling the evolution of the southern margin of the East European Craton (EEC). The study area includes the inverted

  20. The relationship between skinfold thickness and body mass index in North European Caucasian and East Asian women with anorexia nervosa: implications for diagnosis and management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soh, Nerissa L; Touyz, Stephen; Dobbins, Timothy A; Clarke, Simon; Kohn, Michael R; Lee, Ee Lian; Leow, Vincent; Ung, Ken E K; Walter, Garry

    2009-01-01

    To investigate the relationship between skinfold thickness and body mass index (BMI) in North European Caucasian and East Asian young women with and without anorexia nervosa (AN) in two countries. Height, weight and skinfold thicknesses were assessed in 137 young women with and without AN, in Australia and Singapore. The relationship between BMI and the sum of triceps, biceps, subscapular and iliac crest skinfolds was analysed with clinical status, ethnicity, age and country of residence as covariates. For the same BMI, women with AN had significantly smaller sums of skinfolds than women without AN. East Asian women both with and without AN had significantly greater skinfold sums than their North European Caucasian counterparts after adjusting for BMI. Lower BMI goals may be appropriate when managing AN patients of East Asian ancestry and the weight for height diagnostic criterion should be reconsidered for this group.

  1. Making them fit to help themselves? Safety engineering partnerships with East European nuclear power plant operators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sobottka, H.

    1997-01-01

    The low technological standard of nuclear power plants in East Europe is a matter of concern. NPP operators are in a bad financial situation as they often are compelled to sell their electricity below cost price, or payment increasingly is delayed, or not coming in at all. Special EU programmes and partnership agreements with West European electricity companies have been instigated in order to lead out of the crisis. Will they remain no more than a pebble dropped into the sea? (orig.) [de

  2. European Union and oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Paillard, Christophe Alexandre

    2004-01-01

    In a context of oil price increase, problems about a Russian oil company (Loukos), and uncertainties in the Middle-East, the possibility of a new oil shock is a threat for Europe, and raises the issue of a true European energy policy which would encompass, not only grid development, environmental issues or market regulation issues, but also strategic issues related to energy supply security. This article proposes an overview of the European policy: first steps for a future European energy and oil policy in the green paper of the European Commission published in November 2000, issues of pollution and safety for hydrocarbon maritime transport. The article then examines the possibility of a third oil shock due to a crisis in the Middle East, and discusses whether European must have strategic stocks to face an outage of oil supplies

  3. Genetic and phylogenetic evolution of HIV-1 in a low subtype heterogeneity epidemic: the Italian example

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tornesello Maria

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1 is classified into genetic groups, subtypes and sub-subtypes which show a specific geographic distribution pattern. The HIV-1 epidemic in Italy, as in most of the Western Countries, has traditionally affected the Intra-venous drug user (IDU and Homosexual (Homo risk groups and has been sustained by the genetic B subtype. In the last years, however, the HIV-1 transmission rate among heterosexuals has dramatically increased, becoming the prevalent transmission route. In fact, while the traditional risk groups have high levels of knowledge and avoid high-risk practices, the heterosexuals do not sufficiently perceive the risk of HIV-1 infection. This misperception, linked to the growing number of immigrants from non-Western Countries, where non-B clades and circulating recombinant forms (CRFs are prevalent, is progressively introducing HIV-1 variants of non-B subtype in the Italian epidemic. This is in agreement with reports from other Western European Countries. In this context, the Italian HIV-1 epidemic is still characterized by low subtype heterogeneity and represents a paradigmatic example of the European situation. The continuous molecular evolution of the B subtype HIV-1 isolates, characteristic of a long-lasting epidemic, together with the introduction of new subtypes as well as recombinant forms may have significant implications for diagnostic, treatment, and vaccine development. The study and monitoring of the genetic evolution of the HIV-1 represent, therefore, an essential strategy for controlling the local as well as global HIV-1 epidemic and for developing efficient preventive and therapeutic strategies.

  4. Breast cancer in Ethiopia: evidence for geographic difference in the distribution of molecular subtypes in Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hadgu, Endale; Seifu, Daniel; Tigneh, Wondemagegnhu; Bokretsion, Yonas; Bekele, Abebe; Abebe, Markos; Sollie, Thomas; Merajver, Sofia D; Karlsson, Christina; Karlsson, Mats G

    2018-02-14

    Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with several morphological and molecular subtypes. Widely accepted molecular classification system uses assessment of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and proliferation marker Ki67. Few studies have been conducted on the incidence and molecular types of breast cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa. Previous studies mainly from Western and Central Africa, showed breast cancer to occur at younger ages and to present with aggressive features, such as high-grade, advanced stage and triple-negative phenotype (negative for ER, PR and HER2). Limited data from East Africa including Ethiopia however shows hormone receptor negative tumors to account for a lower proportion of all breast cancers than has been reported from elsewhere in Africa. In this study from Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, 114 breast cancer patients diagnosed between 2012 and 2015 were enrolled. ER, PR, Ki67 and HER2 receptor status were assessed using immunohistochemistry from tissue microarrays. FISH was used for assessment of gene amplification in all equivocal tumor samples and for confirmation in HER2-enriched cases. The distribution of molecular subtypes was: Luminal A: 40%; Luminal B: 26%; HER2-enriched: 10%; TNBC: 23%. ER were positive in 65% of all tumors and 43% the cases were positive for PR. There was statistically significant difference in median age at diagnosis between the molecular subtypes (P molecular subtypes in different age ranges with Luminal B subtype being more common at younger ages (median = 36) and Luminal A subtype more prevalent at older ages (median = 42). There were no statistically significant differences in tumor grade, histology, and stage between the molecular subtypes of breast cancer. The present study detected Luminal A breast cancer to be the most common subtype and reveals a relatively low rate of hormone receptor negative and TNBC. Our findings and

  5. Electromagnetic study of lithospheric structure in the marginal zone of East European Craton in NW Poland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jóźwiak, Waldemar

    2013-10-01

    The marginal zone of the East European Platform, an area of key importance for our understanding of the geotectonic history of Europe, has been a challenge for geophysicists for many years. The basic research method is seismic survey, but many important data on physical properties and structure of the lithosphere may also be provided by the electromagnetic methods. In this paper, results of deep basement study by electromagnetic methods performed in Poland since the mid-1960s are presented. Over this time, several hundred long-period soundings have been executed providing an assessment of the electric conductivity distribution in the crust and upper mantle. Numerous 1D, 2D, and pseudo-3D electric conductivity models were constructed, and a new interpretation method based on Horizontal Magnetic Tensor analysis has been applied recently. The results show that the contact zone is of lithospheric discontinuity character and there are distinct differences in geoelectric structures between the Precambrian Platform, transitional zone (TESZ), and the Paleozoic Platform. The wide-spread conducting complexes in the crust with integral conductivity values reaching 10 000 S at 20-30 km depths are most spectacular. They are most likely consequences of geological processes related to Caledonian and Variscan orogenesis. The upper mantle conductivity is also variable, the thickness of high-resistive lithospheric plates ranging from 120-140 km under the Paleozoic Platform to 220-240 km under the East European Platform.

  6. Simultaneous determination of seven informative Y chromosome SNPs to differentiate East Asian, European, and African populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muro, Tomonori; Iida, Reiko; Fujihara, Junko; Yasuda, Toshihiro; Watanabe, Yukina; Imamura, Shinji; Nakamura, Hiroaki; Kimura-Kataoka, Kaori; Yuasa, Isao; Toga, Tomoko; Takeshita, Haruo

    2011-05-01

    Identification of the population origin of an individual is very useful for crime investigators who need to narrow down a suspect based on specimens left at a crime scene. Single nucleotide polymorphisms of the Y chromosome (Y-SNPs) are a class of markers of interest to forensic investigators because many of the markers indicate regional specificity, thus providing useful information about the geographic origin of a subject. We selected seven informative Y-SNPs (M168, M130, JST021355, M96, P126, P196, and P234) to differentiate the three major population groups (East Asian, European, and African) and used them to develop forensic application. SNP genotyping was carried out by multiplex PCR reaction and multiplex single base extension (MSBE) reaction followed by capillary electrophoresis of extension products. This method can be used to assign a haplogroup from both degraded male DNA samples and DNA samples containing a mixture of female and male DNA through PCR primers that generate small amplicons (less than about 150 bp) and are highly specific for targets on the Y chromosome. The allelic state of each marker was definitively determined from a total of 791 males from the three major population groups. As expected, samples from the three major population groups showed Y-haplogroups common in the region of provenance: Y haplogroups C, D, and O for East Asians; IJ and R1 for Europeans; and AB and E for Africans. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

  7. Comparative analysis of complete genome sequences of European subtype tick-borne encephalitis virus strains isolated from Ixodes persulcatus ticks, long-tailed ground squirrel (Spermophilus undulatus), and human blood in the Asian part of Russia

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Demina, T. V.; Tkachev, S. E.; Kozlova, I. V.; Doroshchenko, E. K.; Lisak, O. V.; Suntsova, O. V.; Verkhozina, M. M.; Dzhioev, Y. P.; Paramonov, A. I.; Tikunov, A. Y.; Tikunova, N. V.; Zlobin, V. I.; Růžek, Daniel

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 8, č. 4 (2017), s. 547-553 ISSN 1877-959X Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : TBEV * complete genome * European subtype * Western Siberia * Eastern Siberia * nucleotide * Amino acid sequence Subject RIV: FN - Epidemiology, Contagious Diseases ; Clinical Immunology OBOR OECD: Infectious Diseases Impact factor: 3.230, year: 2016

  8. The Origin and Evolutionary History of HIV-1 Subtype C in Senegal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jung, Matthieu; Leye, Nafissatou; Vidal, Nicole; Fargette, Denis; Diop, Halimatou; Toure Kane, Coumba; Gascuel, Olivier; Peeters, Martine

    2012-01-01

    Background The classification of HIV-1 strains in subtypes and Circulating Recombinant Forms (CRFs) has helped in tracking the course of the HIV pandemic. In Senegal, which is located at the tip of West Africa, CRF02_AG predominates in the general population and Female Sex Workers (FSWs). In contrast, 40% of Men having Sex with Men (MSM) in Senegal are infected with subtype C. In this study we analyzed the geographical origins and introduction dates of HIV-1 C in Senegal in order to better understand the evolutionary history of this subtype, which predominates today in the MSM population Methodology/Principal Findings We used a combination of phylogenetic analyses and a Bayesian coalescent-based approach, to study the phylogenetic relationships in pol of 56 subtype C isolates from Senegal with 3,025 subtype C strains that were sampled worldwide. Our analysis shows a significantly well supported cluster which contains all subtype C strains that circulate among MSM in Senegal. The MSM cluster and other strains from Senegal are widely dispersed among the different subclusters of African HIV-1 C strains, suggesting multiple introductions of subtype C in Senegal from many different southern and east African countries. More detailed analyses show that HIV-1 C strains from MSM are more closely related to those from southern Africa. The estimated date of the MRCA of subtype C in the MSM population in Senegal is estimated to be in the early 80's. Conclusions/Significance Our evolutionary reconstructions suggest that multiple subtype C viruses with a common ancestor originating in the early 1970s entered Senegal. There was only one efficient spread in the MSM population, which most likely resulted from a single introduction, underlining the importance of high-risk behavior in spread of viruses. PMID:22470456

  9. Subtype-Specific Differences in Gag-Protease-Driven Replication Capacity Are Consistent with Intersubtype Differences in HIV-1 Disease Progression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiguoya, Marion W; Mann, Jaclyn K; Chopera, Denis; Gounder, Kamini; Lee, Guinevere Q; Hunt, Peter W; Martin, Jeffrey N; Ball, T Blake; Kimani, Joshua; Brumme, Zabrina L; Brockman, Mark A; Ndung'u, Thumbi

    2017-07-01

    There are marked differences in the spread and prevalence of HIV-1 subtypes worldwide, and differences in clinical progression have been reported. However, the biological reasons underlying these differences are unknown. Gag-protease is essential for HIV-1 replication, and Gag-protease-driven replication capacity has previously been correlated with disease progression. We show that Gag-protease replication capacity correlates significantly with that of whole isolates ( r = 0.51; P = 0.04), indicating that Gag-protease is a significant contributor to viral replication capacity. Furthermore, we investigated subtype-specific differences in Gag-protease-driven replication capacity using large well-characterized cohorts in Africa and the Americas. Patient-derived Gag-protease sequences were inserted into an HIV-1 NL4-3 backbone, and the replication capacities of the resulting recombinant viruses were measured in an HIV-1-inducible reporter T cell line by flow cytometry. Recombinant viruses expressing subtype C Gag-proteases exhibited substantially lower replication capacities than those expressing subtype B Gag-proteases ( P identified Gag residues 483 and 484, located within the Alix-binding motif involved in virus budding, as major contributors to subtype-specific replicative differences. In East African cohorts, we observed a hierarchy of Gag-protease-driven replication capacities, i.e., subtypes A/C differences in disease progression. We thus hypothesize that the lower Gag-protease-driven replication capacity of subtypes A and C slows disease progression in individuals infected with these subtypes, which in turn leads to greater opportunity for transmission and thus increased prevalence of these subtypes. IMPORTANCE HIV-1 subtypes are unevenly distributed globally, and there are reported differences in their rates of disease progression and epidemic spread. The biological determinants underlying these differences have not been fully elucidated. Here, we show that

  10. Development of Europe's gas hubs: Implications for East Asia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xunpeng Shi

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Gas trading hubs have been initially developed in the US in 1980s, UK in 1990s, more recently in European in the 2000s and mulled in East Asia now. Due to its freshness and diversification in nationality, governance and culture, the European hub experience can offer valuable lessons for East Asia. This paper seeks to advance understanding of gas hub development in Europe and provide lessons for East Asia. The European experience highlights that market liberalization and transition of gas pricing mechanism are necessary in creating the competitive markets that are needed for functional gas hubs. Political will and regulations further safeguard the competition environment needed for hub development. Natural factors, such as significant domestic production and culture could have a significant impact on the hub development and transition of pricing mechanism. In East Asia, the path to gas trading hubs might be more difficult than in Europe but a growing market creates an opportunity to start new terms with new contracts. Nevertheless, East Asian needs to work hard to development its indigenous gas or LNG trading hubs.

  11. HIV-1 subtype D infections among Caucasians from Northwestern Poland--phylogenetic and clinical analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miłosz Parczewski

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: HIV-1 subtype D infections, which are associated with a faster rate of progression and lymphocyte CD4 decline, cognitive deficit and higher mortality, have rarely been found in native Europeans. In Northwestern Poland, however, infections with this subtype had been identified. This study aimed to analyze the sequence and clinical data for patients with subtype D using molecular phylogeography and identify transmission clusters and ancestry, as well as drug resistance, baseline HIV tropism and antiretroviral treatment efficacy. METHODS: Phylogenetic analyses of local HIV-1 subtype D sequences were performed, with time to the most recent common ancestor inferred using bayesian modeling. Sequence and drug resistance data were linked with the clinical and epidemiological information. RESULTS: Subtype D was found in 24 non-immigrant Caucasian, heterosexually infected patients (75% of females, median age at diagnosis of 49.5 years; IQR: 29-56 years. Partial pol sequences clustered monophyletically with the clades of Ugandan origin and no evidence of transmission from other European countries was found. Time to the most common recent ancestor was 1989.24 (95% HPD: 1968.83-1994.46. Baseline drug resistance to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors was observed in 54.5% of cases (mutations: M41L, K103N, T215S/D with evidence of clustering, no baseline integrase or protease resistance and infrequent non-R5 tropism (13.6%. Virologic failure was observed in 60% of cases and was associated with poor adherence (p<0.001 and subsequent development of drug resistance (p = 0.008, OR: 20 (95%CI: 1.7-290. CONCLUSIONS: Local subtype D represented an independently transmitted network with probably single index case, high frequency of primary drug resistance and evidence of transmission clusters.

  12. Pass-Through of Exchange Rates to Domestic Prices in East European Countries and the Role of Economic Enviroment

    OpenAIRE

    Martins Bitans

    2004-01-01

    The paper examines the exchange rate pass-through in a set of 13 East European countries during the period of 1993–2003. The pass-through estimates are derived from a recursive VAR model in first differences, and the impact of exchange rate changes on both producer and consumer prices is studied. The estimates obtained for two sub-sample periods generally show an incomplete pass-through over a two-year horizon. In addition, the results imply a considerable cross-country variation and suggest ...

  13. Molecular and epidemiological characterization of HIV-1 subtypes among Libyan patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daw, Mohamed A; El-Bouzedi, Abdallah; Ahmed, Mohamed O; Dau, Aghnyia A

    2017-04-28

    The epidemiological and clinical aspects of human immunodeficiency virus subtypes are of great interest worldwide. These subtypes are rarely studied in North African countries. Libya is a large country with the longest coast on the Mediterranean Sea, facing the Southern European countries. Studies on the characterization of HIV-1 subtypes are limited in Libya. This study aimed to determine the magnitude of the HIV problem among the Libyan population and to better understand the genetic diversity and the epidemiologic dynamics of HIV 1, as well as to correlate that with the risk factors involved. A total of 159 HIV-1 strains were collected from 814 HIV positive patients from the four Libyan regions during a 16-year period (1995-2010). To determine the HIV-1 subtypes, genetic analysis and molecular sequencing were carried out using provirus polygene. Epidemiologic and demographic information was obtained from each participant and correlated with HIV-1 subtypes using logistic regression. The overall prevalence of HIV among Libyans ranged from 5 to 10 per 100,000 during the study period. It was higher among intravenous drug users (IVDUs) (53.9%), blood recipients (25.9%) and heterosexuals (17.6%) than by vertical transmission (2.6%). Prevalence was higher among males aged 20-40 years (M:F 1:6, P > 0.001). Among the 159 strains of HIV-1 available for typing, 117 strains (73.6%) were subtype B, 29 (18.2%) were CRF02_AG, and 13 (8.2%) were subtype A. HIV-1 subtype B was the most prevalent all over the country, and it was more prevalent in the Northern region, particularly among IVDUs (P HIV-1 infection is emerging in Libya with a shifting prevalence of subtypes associated with the changing epidemiology of HIV-1 among risk groups. A genetic analysis of HIV-1 strains demonstrated low subtype heterogeneity with the evolution of subtype B, and CRF_20 AG, as well as HIV-1 subtype A. Our study highlights the importance of expanded surveillance programs to control HIV

  14. Interconnections between economic subsystems and the IT innovation in avoiding unpredictable effects of finance reforms in East-European Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teodora ALECU

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available The tax measures are rapidly changing in East-European countries. The permanence is a concept rarely put in practice. The changes of fiscal policy are usually important, affecting the whole finance system and the investors need to adapt to these various changes. Under such circumstances, the management of information of any kind regarding the activity of investors becomes very important, the information gathered represent a statistic proof of the effects of the economic and finance reforms.

  15. Subtype-dependent postnatal development of taste receptor cells in mouse fungiform taste buds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohtubo, Yoshitaka; Iwamoto, Masafumi; Yoshii, Kiyonori

    2012-06-01

    Taste buds contain two types of taste receptor cells, inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptor type 3-immunoreactive cells (type II cells) and synaptosomal-associating protein-25-immunoreactive cells (type III cells). We investigated their postnatal development in mouse fungiform taste buds immunohistochemically and electrophysiologically. The cell density, i.e. the number of cells per taste bud divided by the maximal area of the horizontal cross-section of the taste bud, of type II cells increased by postnatal day (PD)49, where as that of type III cells was unchanged throughout the postnatal observation period and was equal to that of the adult cells at PD1. The immunoreactivity of taste bud cell subtypes was the same as that of their respective subtypes in adult mice throughout the postnatal observation period. Almost all type II cells were immunoreactive to gustducin at PD1, and then the ratio of gustducin-immunoreactive type II cells to all type II cells decreased to a saturation level, ∼60% of all type II cells, by PD15. Type II and III cells generated voltage-gated currents similar to their respective adult cells even at PD3. These results show that infant taste receptor cells are as excitable as those of adults and propagate in a subtype-dependent manner. The relationship between the ratio of each taste receptor cell subtype to all cells and taste nerve responses are discussed. © 2012 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience © 2012 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  16. European bat Lyssavirus transmission among cats, Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dacheux, Laurent; Larrous, Florence; Mailles, Alexandra; Boisseleau, Didier; Delmas, Olivier; Biron, Charlotte; Bouchier, Christiane; Capek, Isabelle; Muller, Michel; Ilari, Frédéric; Lefranc, Tanguy; Raffi, François; Goudal, Maryvonne; Bourhy, Hervé

    2009-02-01

    We identified 2 cases of European bat lyssavirus subtype 1 transmission to domestic carnivores (cats) in France. Bat-to-cat transmission is suspected. Low amounts of virus antigen in cat brain made diagnosis difficult.

  17. Restraint and eating concern in North European and East Asian women with and without eating disorders in Australia and Singapore.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soh, Nerissa Li-Wey; Touyz, Stephen; Dobbins, Timothy A; Surgenor, Lois J; Clarke, Simon; Kohn, Michael R; Lee, Ee Lian; Leow, Vincent; Rieger, Elizabeth; Ung, Ken Eng Khean; Walter, Garry

    2007-06-01

    To investigate eating disorder psychopathology, restraint and eating concern in young women with and without an eating disorder from two different ethnic groups in Australia and Singapore. The relationship of Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire Global, Restraint and Eating Concern scores to cultural orientation and sociocultural factors was analysed in 154 women with and without an eating disorder. Participants were from the following backgrounds: North European Australian, East Asian Australian, Singaporean Chinese and North European expatriates in Singapore. Women with eating disorders had similar psychopathology across the cultural groups. Among controls, Singaporean Chinese reported significantly greater overall eating disorder psychopathology than other cultural groups and greater restraint than North European Australians/expatriates. Eating concern was not associated with cultural group overall or acculturation to Western culture. Dissatisfaction with family functioning, socioeconomic status and education level were not significantly associated with any of the eating disorder measures. In eating disorder psychopathology, the specific symptom of eating concern may transcend cultural influences.

  18. A welcoming policy in post-socialist East Germany

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Steigemann

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Apparently, East European countries are less willing to accept refugees than other European countries. Their experience of ethnic and cultural diversity is weak and a genuine welcome has still to be developed.

  19. A Predominantly Neolithic Origin for European Paternal Lineages

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balaresque, Patricia; Bowden, Georgina R.; Adams, Susan M.; Leung, Ho-Yee; King, Turi E.; Rosser, Zoë H.; Goodwin, Jane; Moisan, Jean-Paul; Richard, Christelle; Millward, Ann; Demaine, Andrew G.; Barbujani, Guido; Previderè, Carlo; Wilson, Ian J.; Tyler-Smith, Chris; Jobling, Mark A.

    2010-01-01

    The relative contributions to modern European populations of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers and Neolithic farmers from the Near East have been intensely debated. Haplogroup R1b1b2 (R-M269) is the commonest European Y-chromosomal lineage, increasing in frequency from east to west, and carried by 110 million European men. Previous studies suggested a Paleolithic origin, but here we show that the geographical distribution of its microsatellite diversity is best explained by spread from a single source in the Near East via Anatolia during the Neolithic. Taken with evidence on the origins of other haplogroups, this indicates that most European Y chromosomes originate in the Neolithic expansion. This reinterpretation makes Europe a prime example of how technological and cultural change is linked with the expansion of a Y-chromosomal lineage, and the contrast of this pattern with that shown by maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA suggests a unique role for males in the transition. PMID:20087410

  20. Depression and emotional reactivity: variation among Asian Americans of East Asian descent and European Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chentsova-Dutton, Yulia E; Chu, Joyce P; Tsai, Jeanne L; Rottenberg, Jonathan; Gross, James J; Gotlib, Ian H

    2007-11-01

    Studies of Western samples (e.g., European Americans [EAs]) suggest that depressed individuals tend to show diminished emotional reactivity (J. G. Gehricke & A. J. Fridlund, 2002; G. E. Schwartz, P. L. Fair, P. Salt, M. R. Mandel, & G. L. Klerman, 1976a, 1976b). Do these findings generalize to individuals oriented to other cultures (e.g., East Asian cultures)? The authors compared the emotional reactions (i.e., reports of emotional experience, facial behavior, and physiological reactivity) of depressed and nondepressed EAs and Asian Americans of East Asian descent (AAs) to sad and amusing films. Their results were consistent with previous findings: Depressed EAs showed a pattern of diminished reactivity to the sad film (less crying, less intense reports of sadness) compared with nondepressed participants. In contrast, depressed AAs showed a pattern of heightened emotional reactivity (greater crying) compared with nondepressed participants. Across cultural groups, depressed and nondepressed participants did not differ in their reports of amusement or facial behavior during the amusing film. Physiological reactivity to the film clips did not differ between depressed and control participants for either cultural group. Thus, although depression may influence particular aspects of emotional reactivity across cultures (e.g., crying), the specific direction of this influence may depend on prevailing cultural norms regarding emotional expression. (c) 2007 APA

  1. AGEING WORKFORCE IN ROMANIA – PERSPECTIVES OF AGEING WORKFORCE POLICIES IN EAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES -

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radu Florea

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper tries to encompass the effects that modern industrialization of East European countries has one the working population over the age of 50. Policies and procedures that multinational corporations have proved to be difficult to follow for the ageing population in Romania; the fact that western companies have introduced specific procedures on performance appraisal and organizational development is proven to be hard to understand and follow by the ageing population of Romania. One of the core topics of the paper discusses the effects that different cultural perspectives-between Western corporations and the human capital from East European countries- may have on the ageing workforce. The fact that Western corporations are becoming an important presence in Romania’s national economy can cause major social problems for workers over the age of 50 because of the aforementioned cultural differences. Western companies generally have specific working methodologies which need to be internalized by their personnel. Considering the fact that Romania is mainly an ageing country, Western corporations depend on workers over the age of 50. In this regard, foreign companies need to adapt their training programs and general working procedures for them to be understood by workers that are accustomed to other organizational systems.As mentioned in the paper, unemployment rate remains constant for workers over the age of 50, but their performance declines compared to other age categories. This aspect shows that, even if workers over the age of 50 manage to keep their current position in a Western company, they do not excel in their tasks, relying heavily on cultural values that companies may enlist, like the promotion of retirement from the company.Adapting Romania’s ageing workforce to the standards of multinational corporations represents a key element in obtaining sustainable growth and encouraging companies to locate an operational branch in the

  2. Assessing the structure and meaningfulness of the dissociative subtype of PTSD.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ross, Jana; Baník, Gabriel; Dědová, Mária; Mikulášková, Gabriela; Armour, Cherie

    2018-01-01

    Studies conducted in the USA, Canada and Denmark have supported the existence of the dissociative PTSD subtype, characterized primarily by symptoms of depersonalization and derealization. The current study aimed to examine the dissociative PTSD subtype in an Eastern European, predominantly female (83.16%) sample, using an extended set of dissociative symptoms. A latent profile analysis was applied to the PTSD and dissociation data from 689 trauma-exposed university students from Slovakia. Four latent profiles of varying PTSD and dissociation symptomatology were uncovered. They were named non-symptomatic, moderate PTSD, high PTSD and dissociative PTSD. The dissociative PTSD profile showed elevations on depersonalization and derealization, but also the alternative dissociative indicators of gaps in awareness and memory, sensory misperceptions and cognitive and behavioural re-experiencing. The core PTSD symptoms of 'memory impairment' and 'reckless or self-destructive behaviour' were also significantly elevated in the dissociative PTSD profile. Moreover, anxiety and anger predicted membership in the dissociative PTSD profile. The results provide support for the proposal that the dissociative PTSD subtype can be characterized by a variety of dissociative symptoms.

  3. Poland’s Trade with East Asia: An Outlier Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tseng Shoiw-Mei

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Poland achieved an excellent reputation for economic transformation during the recent global recession. The European debt crisis, however, quickly forced the reorientation of Poland’s trade outside of the European Union (EU, especially toward the dynamic region of East Asia. This study analyzes time series data from 1999 to 2013 to detect outliers in order to determine the bilateral trade paths between Poland and each East Asian country during the events of Poland’s accession to the EU in 2004, the global financial crisis from 2008 to 2009, and the European debt crisis from 2010 to 2013. From the Polish standpoint, the results showed significantly clustering outliers in the above periods and in the general trade paths from dependence through distancing and improvement to the chance of approaching East Asian partners. This study also shows that not only China but also several other countries present an excellent opportunity for boosting bilateral trade, especially with regard to Poland’s exports.

  4. European Energy Integration in East European Countries: Real Necessity to Assure Fair Market prices for Energy Resources

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Augustin IGNATOV

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available In order to assure energy, and therefore, economic stability of East European States (hereafter EES there should be undertaken visible steps towards deeper energetic integration of the region under the coordination of EU. In such a way there will be considerably strengthened the regional economic security through creating functional mechanisms of solving current and potential energy issues including diversification of supplies and fairer market prices. Moreover, it will be possible to develop and implement more effectively energy infrastructure projects. Deeper and more functional energy integration in EES will create favorable preconditions of fostering the states’ economic development. Also, there will be considerably reduced the macroeconomic risks which could possible occur as a result of the struggle of interests of importing and supplying countries. The current paper is intended to underline the most important weaknesses in terms of energy security of EES and exemplify how efficient these problems could be tackled by cumulating common countries’ efforts in the sector. Also, it highlights the shortcomings of EU energy policy in EES and how these affect the economic prospective of the countries. Finally, it is remarked that EES need a common energy market in order to strengthen their negotiation positions in relation with supplying countries.

  5. 16th East-European Conference on Advances in Databases and Information Systems (ADBIS 2012)

    CERN Document Server

    Härder, Theo; Wrembel, Robert; Advances in Databases and Information Systems

    2013-01-01

    This volume is the second one of the 16th East-European Conference on Advances in Databases and Information Systems (ADBIS 2012), held on September 18-21, 2012, in Poznań, Poland. The first one has been published in the LNCS series.   This volume includes 27 research contributions, selected out of 90. The contributions cover a wide spectrum of topics in the database and information systems field, including: database foundation and theory, data modeling and database design, business process modeling, query optimization in relational and object databases, materialized view selection algorithms, index data structures, distributed systems, system and data integration, semi-structured data and databases, semantic data management, information retrieval, data mining techniques, data stream processing, trust and reputation in the Internet, and social networks. Thus, the content of this volume covers the research areas from fundamentals of databases, through still hot topic research problems (e.g., data mining, XML ...

  6. Changes in prevalence of obesity and high waist circumference over four years across European regions: the European male ageing study (EMAS).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Thang S; Correa, Elon; Lean, Michael E J; Lee, David M; O'Neill, Terrence W; Bartfai, György; Forti, Gianni; Giwercman, Aleksander; Kula, Krzysztof; Pendleton, Neil; Punab, Margus; Rutter, Martin K; Vanderschueren, Dirk; Huhtaniemi, Ilpo T; Wu, Frederick C W; Casanueva, Felipe F

    2017-02-01

    Diversity in lifestyles and socioeconomic status among European populations, and recent socio-political and economic changes in transitional countries, may affect changes in adiposity. We aimed to determine whether change in the prevalence of obesity varies between the socio-politically transitional North-East European (Łódź, Poland; Szeged, Hungary; Tartu, Estonia), and the non-transitional Mediterranean (Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Florence, Italy) and North-West European (Leuven, Belgium; Malmö, Sweden; Manchester, UK) cities. This prospective observational cohort survey was performed between 2003 and 2005 at baseline and followed up between 2008 and 2010 of 3369 community-dwelling men aged 40-79 years. Main outcome measures in the present paper included waist circumference, body mass index and mid-upper arm muscle area. Baseline prevalence of waist circumference ≥ 102 cm and body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m 2 , respectively, were 39.0, 29.5 % in North-East European cities, 32.4, 21.9 % in Mediterranean cities, and 30.0, 20.1 % in North-West European cities. After median 4.3 years, men living in cities from transitional countries had mean gains in waist circumference (1.1 cm) and body mass index (0.2 kg/m 2 ), which were greater than men in cities from non-transitional countries (P = 0.005). North-East European cities had greater gains in waist circumference (1.5 cm) than in Mediterranean cities (P developing waist circumference ≥ 102 cm, compared with men from Mediterranean cities, were 2.3 (1.5-3.5) in North-East European cities and 1.6 (1.1-2.4) in North-West European cities, and 1.6 (1.2-2.1) in men living in cities from transitional, compared with cities from non-transitional countries. These regional differences in increased prevalence of waist circumference ≥ 102 cm were more pronounced in men aged 60-79 years than in those aged 40-59 years. Overall there was an increase in the prevalence of obesity (body

  7. Subtyping adolescents with bulimia nervosa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Eunice Y; Le Grange, Daniel

    2007-12-01

    Cluster analyses of eating disorder patients have yielded a "dietary-depressive" subtype, typified by greater negative affect, and a "dietary" subtype, typified by dietary restraint. This study aimed to replicate these findings in an adolescent sample with bulimia nervosa (BN) from a randomized controlled trial and to examine the validity and reliability of this methodology. In the sample of BN adolescents (N=80), cluster analysis revealed a "dietary-depressive" subtype (37.5%) and a "dietary" subtype (62.5%) using the Beck Depression Inventory, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Eating Disorder Examination Restraint subscale. The "dietary-depressive" subtype compared to the "dietary" subtype was significantly more likely to: (1) report co-occurring disorders, (2) greater eating and weight concerns, and (3) less vomiting abstinence at post-treatment (all p'sreliability of the subtyping scheme, a larger sample of adolescents with mixed eating and weight disorders in an outpatient eating disorder clinic (N=149) was subtyped, yielding similar subtypes. These results support the validity and reliability of the subtyping strategy in two adolescent samples.

  8. Mortality of treated HIV-1 positive individuals according to viral subtype in Europe and Canada

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Obel, Niels

    2016-01-01

    OBJECTIVES: To estimate prognosis by viral subtype in HIV-1-infected individuals from start of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and after viral failure. DESIGN: Collaborative analysis of data from eight European and three Canadian cohorts. METHODS: Adults (N>20 000) who started triple ART between 199...

  9. Genome characterisation of the newly discovered avian influenza A H5N7 virus subtype combination

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bragstad, K.; Jørgensen, Poul Henrik; Handberg, K.J.

    2007-01-01

    In Denmark, in 2003, a previously unknown subtype combination of avian influenza A virus, H5N7 (A/Mallard/Denmark/64650/03), was isolated from a flock of 12,000 mallards. The H5N7 subtype combination might be a reassortant between recent European avian influenza A H5, H7, and a third subtype......) and the human-fatal A/Netherlands/219/03 (H7N7), respectively. The basic polymerase 1 and 2 genes were phylogenetically equidistant to both A/Duck/Denmark/65047/04 (H5N2) and A/Chicken/Netherlands/1/03 (H7N7). The nucleoprotein and matrix gene had highest nucleotide sequence similarity to the H6 subtypes A....../Duck/Hong Kong/3096/99 (H6N2) and A/WDk/ST/1737/2000 (H6N8), respectively. All genes of the H5N7 strain were of avian origin, and no further evidence of pathogenicity to humans has been found....

  10. Incidence and risk factors for breast cancer subtypes in three distinct South-East Asian ethnic groups: Chinese, Malay and natives of Sarawak, Malaysia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devi, C R Beena; Tang, Tieng Swee; Corbex, Marilys

    2012-12-15

    We determined the incidences of the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) subtypes among breast cancer cases in Sarawak, Malaysia and their correlation with various risk factors in the three ethnic groups: Chinese, Malay and native. Subtype status was ascertained for 1,034 cases of female breast cancer (93% of all cases diagnosed since 2003), and the age-standardized incidence rates (ASRs) of each subtype were inferred. Case-case comparisons across subtypes were performed for reproductive risk factors. We found 48% luminal A (ER+/PR+/HER2-), 29% triple-negative (ER-/PR-/HER2-), 12% triple-positive (ER+/PR+/HER2+) and 11% HER2-overexpressing (ER-/PR-/HER2+) subtypes, with ASRs of 10.6, 6.0, 2.8 and 2.8 per 100,000, respectively. The proportions of subtypes and ASRs differed significantly by ethnic groups: HER2-positive cases were more frequent in Malays (29%; 95% CI [23;35]) than Chinese (22%; [19;26] and natives (21%; [16;26]); triple-negative cases were less frequent among Chinese (23%; [20;27]) than Malays (33%; [27;39]) and natives (37%; [31;43]). The results of the case-case comparison were in accordance with those observed in western case series. Some uncommon associations, such as between triple-negative subtype and older age at menopause (OR, 1.59; p < 0.05), were found. The triple-negative and HER2+ subtypes predominate in our region, with significant differences among ethnic groups. Our results support the idea that the risk factors for different subtypes vary markedly. Westernized populations are more likely to have factors that increase the risk for the luminal A type, while risk factors for the triple-negative type are more frequent in local populations. Copyright © 2012 UICC.

  11. FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF THE EASTERN-EUROPEAN AUTO SECTOR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucian-Ovidiu CINADE

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Car-building industry territorial reconfiguration in Europe is the result of several rounds of company delocations from origin countries to emergent countries. Such rounds have been limited by the gradual opening of the national countries, as well as by changes in East European ideology and politics. Hence, about the end of the 90’s, European car-building industry shows considerable disparity, East to West. In the car-building companies’ vision, East-European car-building development potential is basically sustained by both the car low penetration rate, and the low labor cost. On the long term run, gradual valorizing of the East-european trading, with increasing labor costs, may read as a wearing thin of the competitive advantage in car-building industries, as well as problem issues of novel territory attractiveness needing permanent boosting. Country-to-country comparative analysis indicates that competitive advantage of car-building has not gone down in all of the West-European States. Competitive advantage of the West-European car-building industry increases, which can be explained, in part, by adequate strategies, as both labor costs, and cars penetration rate, go up.

  12. Present situation of the development of petroleum substitution energy (East Europe); Sekiyu daitai energy kaihatsu no genjo (Too)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1996-03-01

    In East European countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Czech, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Rumania and former Yugoslavia), energy prices were raised as part of the general price reform in the initial stage of the economic reform. Trade regulations on energy products were relaxed, and prices of tradable energy products were made free. Even in countries such as Rumania and Bulgaria where there still remain controls, the governments aim at perfect liberalization. Thus, this paper first considered the energy situation of East European countries where economy and society are now changing. Described were the overall economy situation and energy supply/demand in East European countries. Next, the paper detailed the energy situation in Hungary and Poland. In conclusion, the paper considered energy and international cooperation, and Pan-european Energy Charter which are important future issues in the energy sector of East European countries. 10 refs., 36 figs., 26 tabs.

  13. Geopolitics of European natural gas demand: Supplies from Russia, Caspian and the Middle East

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bilgin, Mert

    2009-01-01

    This paper addresses issues of natural gas which raise questions about European energy security. It first focuses on the rising gas demand of the EU27 and elaborates alleged risks of dependence on Russia such as Gazprom's disagreement with Ukraine, which became an international gas crisis in January 2006 and also more recently in January 2009. Incentives and barriers of Europe's further cooperation with selected Caspian (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan) and Middle Eastern (Iran, Iraq and Egypt) countries are discussed. Supplies from Caspian are analyzed with a particular focus on Russia's role and the vested interests in the region. Supplies from the Middle East are elaborated with regard to Iran's huge and Iraq's emerging potentials in terms of natural gas reserves and foreign direct investments in the energy sector. The geopolitical analysis leads to a conclusion that the best strategy, and what seems more likely, for the EU is to include at least two countries from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Iraq within its natural gas supply system.

  14. Morphologic Subtypes of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torbenson, Michael S

    2017-06-01

    Hepatocellular carcinomas can be further divided into distinct subtypes that provide important clinical information and biological insights. These subtypes are distinct from growth patterns and are on based on morphologic and molecular findings. There are 12 reasonably well-defined subtypes as well as 6 provisional subtypes, together making up 35% of all hepatocellular carcinomas. These subtypes are discussed, with an emphasis on their definitions and the key morphologic findings. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Uniting the Divided Continent. The Estonian National Committee of the European Movement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pauli Heikkilä

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available The article examines the exiled Estonian politicians in the European Movement in the early Cold War period. The ultimate goal of exiled Estonians was to restore their state’s independence. In order to promote this, Estonian leaders sought connections with Western leaders. The European Movement was the only organisation involving actors from both the East and the West, and this corresponded to the Estonian discourse on Europe as a whole. Therefore, the European Movement was appreciated, although its limited opportunities for decisive actions were also recognised. East and West European interest in the European Movement declined as West European integration rapidly intensified through the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC and particularly after the January 1952 Eastern European Conference in London. By 1957, disappointment in the inability of European unification to help regain Estonian independence became evident.

  16. Rapid detection and subtyping of European swine influenza viruses in porcine clinical samples by haemagglutinin- and neuraminidase-specific tetra- and triplex real-time RT-PCRs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Henritzi, Dinah; Zhao, Na; Starick, Elke

    2016-01-01

    diagnostic methods which allow for cost-effective large-scale analysis. Methods New SIV haemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) subtype- and lineage-specific multiplex real-time RT-PCRs (RT-qPCR) have been developed and validated with reference virus isolates and clinical samples. Results A diagnostic....... Swine influenza viruses (SIV) are widespread in European domestic pig populations and evolve dynamically. Knowledge regarding occurrence, spread and evolution of potentially zoonotic SIV in Europe is poorly understood. Objectives Efficient SIV surveillance programmes depend on sensitive and specific......Background A diversifying pool of mammalian-adapted influenza A viruses (IAV) with largely unknown zoonotic potential is maintained in domestic swine populations worldwide. The most recent human influenza pandemic in 2009 was caused by a virus with genes originating from IAV isolated from swine...

  17. Ancient DNA from South-East Europe Reveals Different Events during Early and Middle Neolithic Influencing the European Genetic Heritage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hervella, Montserrat; Rotea, Mihai; Izagirre, Neskuts; Constantinescu, Mihai; Alonso, Santos; Ioana, Mihai; Lazăr, Cătălin; Ridiche, Florin; Soficaru, Andrei Dorian; Netea, Mihai G; de-la-Rua, Concepcion

    2015-01-01

    The importance of the process of Neolithization for the genetic make-up of European populations has been hotly debated, with shifting hypotheses from a demic diffusion (DD) to a cultural diffusion (CD) model. In this regard, ancient DNA data from the Balkan Peninsula, which is an important source of information to assess the process of Neolithization in Europe, is however missing. In the present study we show genetic information on ancient populations of the South-East of Europe. We assessed mtDNA from ten sites from the current territory of Romania, spanning a time-period from the Early Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age. mtDNA data from Early Neolithic farmers of the Starčevo Criş culture in Romania (Cârcea, Gura Baciului and Negrileşti sites), confirm their genetic relationship with those of the LBK culture (Linienbandkeramik Kultur) in Central Europe, and they show little genetic continuity with modern European populations. On the other hand, populations of the Middle-Late Neolithic (Boian, Zau and Gumelniţa cultures), supposedly a second wave of Neolithic migration from Anatolia, had a much stronger effect on the genetic heritage of the European populations. In contrast, we find a smaller contribution of Late Bronze Age migrations to the genetic composition of Europeans. Based on these findings, we propose that permeation of mtDNA lineages from a second wave of Middle-Late Neolithic migration from North-West Anatolia into the Balkan Peninsula and Central Europe represent an important contribution to the genetic shift between Early and Late Neolithic populations in Europe, and consequently to the genetic make-up of modern European populations.

  18. Genotypes and subtypes of Cryptosporidium spp. in diarrheic lambs and goat kids in northern Greece.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papanikolopoulou, Vasiliki; Baroudi, Djamel; Guo, Yaqiong; Wang, Yuanfei; Papadopoulos, Elias; Lafi, Shwakat Q; Abd El-Tawab, Mohamed M; Diakou, Anastasia; Giadinis, Nektarios D; Feng, Yaoyu; Xiao, Lihua

    2018-08-01

    Inconsistent data exist on the distribution of zoonotic Cryptosporidium species and subtypes in sheep and goats in European countries, and few such data are available from Greece. In this study, 280 fecal specimens were collected from 132 diarrheic lambs and 148 diarrheic goat kids aged 4 to 15 days on 15 farms in northern Greece, and examined for Cryptosporidium spp. using microscopy of Ziehl-Neelsen-stained fecal smears. Cryptosporidium spp. in 80 microscopy-positive fecal specimens (39 from lambs and 41 from goat kids) were genotyped by PCR-RFLP analysis of the small subunit rRNA gene and subtyped by sequence analysis the 60 kDa glycoprotein gene. Among the 33 specimens successfully genotyped, C. parvum was found in 32 and C. xiaoi in one. Seven subtypes belonging to two subtype families (IIa and IId) were identified among the 29 C. parvum specimens successfully subtyped, including IIaA14G2R1 (1/29), IIaA15G2R1 (6/29), IIaA20G1R1 (7/29), IIdA14G2 (1/29), IIdA15G1 (9/29), IIdA16G1 (3/29), and IIdA23G1 (2/29). Lambs were more commonly infected with C. parvum IIa subtypes, whereas goat kids were more with IId subtypes. The results illustrate that C. parvum is prevalent in diarrheic lambs and goat kids in northern Greece and these animals could potentially play a role in epidemiology of human cryptosporidiosis. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Credit risk determinants in Sub-Saharan banking systems: Evidence from five countries and lessons learnt from Central East and South East European countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eftychia Nikolaidou

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Banking systems in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA have grown notably over the past decades due to benign macroeconomic, regulatory and financial trends. Nonetheless, downside risks remain elevated by structural issues, commodity price fluctuations, reversal of capital flows and spill-over effects from external shocks in a manner similar to the Central East and South East European (CESEE countries. In the light of the 2008–2009 Global Financial Crisis, great attention has been given to understanding the causes of banking instability with most of the research focusing on advanced economies and, to a lesser extent, large emerging markets while little attention has been paid to the bank-based financial sectors of Sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, there is scarcity of studies aiming at knowledge-sharing among different emerging economies. This paper aims to identify the determinants of bank credit risk by focusing on five SSA countries: Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Uganda. Using the ARDL approach to cointegration, findings indicate that increased money supply conditions have a decreasing effect on NPLs in all counties, banking industry-specific variables play a significant role in the case of South Africa and Uganda while NPLs are driven by country-specific variables in the case of Kenya, South Africa and Zambia. The effect of the Global Financial Crisis is evidenced indirectly. Drawing on evidence from CESEE countries with long experience in banking crises, reforms and financial deepening process, the paper provides lessons for SSA countries and offers policy recommendations in the direction of strengthening banks’ balance sheets to ensure financial stability.

  20. Subtypes of nonmedical prescription drug misuse

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCabe, Sean Esteban; Boyd, Carol J.; Teter, Christian J.

    2010-01-01

    This study used three characteristics (i.e., motive, route of administration, and co-ingestion with alcohol) of nonmedical prescription drug misuse across four separate classes (i.e., pain, sedative/anxiety, sleeping and stimulant medications) to examine subtypes and drug related problems. A Web survey was self-administered by a randomly selected sample of 3,639 undergraduate students attending a large Midwestern 4-year U.S. university. Self-treatment subtypes were characterized by motives consistent with the prescription drug's pharmaceutical main indication, oral only routes of administration, and no co-ingestion with alcohol. Recreational subtypes were characterized by recreational motives, oral or non-oral routes, and co-ingestion. Mixed subtypes consisted of other combinations of motives, routes, and co-ingestion. Among those who reported nonmedical prescription drug misuse, approximately 13% were classified into the recreational subtype, while 39% were in the self-treatment subtype, and 48% were in the mixed subtype. There were significant differences in the subtypes in terms of gender, race and prescription drug class. Approximately 50% of those in subtypes other than self-treatment screened positive for drug abuse. The odds of substance use and abuse were generally lower among self-treatment subtypes than other subtypes. The findings indicate subtypes should be considered when examining nonmedical prescription drug misuse, especially for pain medication. PMID:19278795

  1. Impact of Molecular Subtypes in Muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer on Predicting Response and Survival after Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seiler, Roland; Ashab, Hussam Al Deen; Erho, Nicholas; van Rhijn, Bas W G; Winters, Brian; Douglas, James; Van Kessel, Kim E; Fransen van de Putte, Elisabeth E; Sommerlad, Matthew; Wang, Natalie Q; Choeurng, Voleak; Gibb, Ewan A; Palmer-Aronsten, Beatrix; Lam, Lucia L; Buerki, Christine; Davicioni, Elai; Sjödahl, Gottfrid; Kardos, Jordan; Hoadley, Katherine A; Lerner, Seth P; McConkey, David J; Choi, Woonyoung; Kim, William Y; Kiss, Bernhard; Thalmann, George N; Todenhöfer, Tilman; Crabb, Simon J; North, Scott; Zwarthoff, Ellen C; Boormans, Joost L; Wright, Jonathan; Dall'Era, Marc; van der Heijden, Michiel S; Black, Peter C

    2017-10-01

    subtypes can be identified in muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Although cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves patient outcomes, we identified that the benefit is highest in patients with basal tumors. Our newly discovered classifier can identify these molecular subtypes in a single patient and could be integrated into routine clinical practice after further validation. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Efforts to promote scientific co-operation in South-East Europe

    CERN Document Server

    2001-01-01

    On 13 and 14 May this year CERN hosted a meeting of a task force entrusted with the task of making recommendations for the reconstruction of scientific collaboration in the countries of South-East Europe (1). This meeting follows a conference attended by delegates from the countries of South-East Europe and international experts which was held in Venice between 24 and 27 March this year. The conference was organised under the aegis of UNESCO's Regional Office for Science and Technology for Europe (ROSTE), attended by representatives of the European Science Foundation (ESF), the European Union and the Academia Europaea as well as by observers from CERN. The aim of the conference was to seek resources and assess the prospects for integration of R&D facilities in the countries of South-East Europe into the networks of European countries. Les membres du groupe de Reconstruction d'une coopération scientifique dans l'Europe du sud-est, réunis au CERN, le 14 mai dernier, dé...

  3. Genetic Alterations in the Molecular Subtypes of Bladder Cancer: Illustration in the Cancer Genome Atlas Dataset.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Woonyoung; Ochoa, Andrea; McConkey, David J; Aine, Mattias; Höglund, Mattias; Kim, William Y; Real, Francisco X; Kiltie, Anne E; Milsom, Ian; Dyrskjøt, Lars; Lerner, Seth P

    2017-09-01

    Recent whole genome mRNA expression profiling studies revealed that bladder cancers can be grouped into molecular subtypes, some of which share clinical properties and gene expression patterns with the intrinsic subtypes of breast cancer and the molecular subtypes found in other solid tumors. The molecular subtypes in other solid tumors are enriched with specific mutations and copy number aberrations that are thought to underlie their distinct progression patterns, and biological and clinical properties. The availability of comprehensive genomic data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and other large projects made it possible to correlate the presence of DNA alterations with tumor molecular subtype membership. Our overall goal was to determine whether specific DNA mutations and/or copy number variations are enriched in specific molecular subtypes. We used the complete TCGA RNA-seq dataset and three different published classifiers developed by our groups to assign TCGA's bladder cancers to molecular subtypes, and examined the prevalence of the most common DNA alterations within them. We interpreted the results against the background of what was known from the published literature about the prevalence of these alterations in nonmuscle-invasive and muscle-invasive bladder cancers. The results confirmed that alterations involving RB1 and NFE2L2 were enriched in basal cancers, whereas alterations involving FGFR3 and KDM6A were enriched in luminal tumors. The results further reinforce the conclusion that the molecular subtypes of bladder cancer are distinct disease entities with specific genetic alterations. Our observation showed that some of subtype-enriched mutations and copy number aberrations are clinically actionable, which has direct implications for the clinical management of patients with bladder cancer. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. The penetration of Middle east gas in Europe will be limited at middle term

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1995-01-01

    The European gas demand has progressed about 4% by year from 1985 to 1994. A growth of 3% is expected for future. So, it seems that Middle East could take a place on gas European market. But with competition of North Africa or ex-USSR, the price of transport or the investment for a gas pipeline, the contribution of Middle East gas to European supply will stay limited in a middle term. Perspectives could be very different if political stability of Algeria or ex-USSR was no more assured

  5. Geopolitics of European natural gas demand: Supplies from Russia, Caspian and the Middle East

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bilgin, Mert, E-mail: mert.bilgin@bahcesehir.edu.t [Bahcesehir University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Political Science and International Relations Department, Ciragan Caddesi Besiktas, 34353 Istanbul (Turkey)

    2009-11-15

    This paper addresses issues of natural gas which raise questions about European energy security. It first focuses on the rising gas demand of the EU27 and elaborates alleged risks of dependence on Russia such as Gazprom's disagreement with Ukraine, which became an international gas crisis in January 2006 and also more recently in January 2009. Incentives and barriers of Europe's further cooperation with selected Caspian (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan) and Middle Eastern (Iran, Iraq and Egypt) countries are discussed. Supplies from Caspian are analyzed with a particular focus on Russia's role and the vested interests in the region. Supplies from the Middle East are elaborated with regard to Iran's huge and Iraq's emerging potentials in terms of natural gas reserves and foreign direct investments in the energy sector. The geopolitical analysis leads to a conclusion that the best strategy, and what seems more likely, for the EU is to include at least two countries from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Iraq within its natural gas supply system.

  6. Geopolitics of European natural gas demand. Supplies from Russia, Caspian and the Middle East

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bilgin, Mert [Bahcesehir University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Political Science and International Relations Department, Ciragan Caddesi Besiktas, 34353 Istanbul (Turkey)

    2009-11-15

    This paper addresses issues of natural gas which raise questions about European energy security. It first focuses on the rising gas demand of the EU27 and elaborates alleged risks of dependence on Russia such as Gazprom's disagreement with Ukraine, which became an international gas crisis in January 2006 and also more recently in January 2009. Incentives and barriers of Europe's further cooperation with selected Caspian (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan) and Middle Eastern (Iran, Iraq and Egypt) countries are discussed. Supplies from Caspian are analyzed with a particular focus on Russia's role and the vested interests in the region. Supplies from the Middle East are elaborated with regard to Iran's huge and Iraq's emerging potentials in terms of natural gas reserves and foreign direct investments in the energy sector. The geopolitical analysis leads to a conclusion that the best strategy, and what seems more likely, for the EU is to include at least two countries from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Iraq within its natural gas supply system. (author)

  7. Intrinsic molecular subtypes of glioma are prognostic and predict benefit from adjuvant procarbazine, lomustine, and vincristine chemotherapy in combination with other prognostic factors in anaplastic oligodendroglial brain tumors: a report from EORTC study 26951

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Erdem-Eraslan, L.; Gravendeel, L.A.; Rooi, J. de; Eilers, P.H.; Idbaih, A.; Spliet, W.G.; Dunnen, W. den; Teepen, J.L.; Wesseling, P.; Sillevis Smitt, P.A.; Kros, J.M.; Gorlia, T.; Bent, M.J. van den; French, P.J.

    2013-01-01

    PURPOSE: Intrinsic glioma subtypes (IGSs) are molecularly similar tumors that can be identified based on unsupervised gene expression analysis. Here, we have evaluated the clinical relevance of these subtypes within European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) 26951, a

  8. Tracing the HIV-1 subtype B mobility in Europe: a phylogeographic approach

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Leitner, Thomas [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Paraskevis, D [KATHOLIEKE UNIV; Pybus, O [UNIV OF OXFORD; Magiorkinis, G [KATHOLIEKE UNIV; Hatzakis, A [KATHOLIEKE UNIV

    2008-01-01

    The prevalence and the origin of HIV-1 subtype B, the most prevalent circulating clade among the long-term residents in Europe, have been studied extensively. However the spatial diffusion of the epidemic from the perspective of the virus has not previously been traced. In the current study we inferred the migration history of HIV-1 subtype B by way of a phylogeography of viral sequences sampled from 16 European countries and Israel. Migration events were inferred from viral phylogenies by character reconstruction using parsimony. With regard to the spatial dispersal of the HIV subtype B sequences across viral phylogenies, in most of the countries in Europe the epidemic was introduced by multiple sources and subsequently spread within local networks. Poland provides an exception where most of the infections were the result of a single point introduction. According to the significant migratory pathways, we show that there are considerable differences across Europe. Specifically, Greece, Portugal, Serbia and Spain, provide sources shedding HIV-1; Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg, on the other hand, are migratory targets, while for Denmark, Germany, Italy, Israel, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK we inferred significant bidirectional migration. For Poland no significant migratory pathways were inferred. Subtype B phylogeographies provide a new insight about the geographical distribution of viral lineages, as well as the significant pathways of virus dispersal across Europe, suggesting that intervention strategies should also address tourists, travellers and migrants.

  9. Tracing the HIV-1 subtype B mobility in Europe: a phylogeographic approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Perrin Luc

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The prevalence and the origin of HIV-1 subtype B, the most prevalent circulating clade among the long-term residents in Europe, have been studied extensively. However the spatial diffusion of the epidemic from the perspective of the virus has not previously been traced. Results In the current study we inferred the migration history of HIV-1 subtype B by way of a phylogeography of viral sequences sampled from 16 European countries and Israel. Migration events were inferred from viral phylogenies by character reconstruction using parsimony. With regard to the spatial dispersal of the HIV subtype B sequences across viral phylogenies, in most of the countries in Europe the epidemic was introduced by multiple sources and subsequently spread within local networks. Poland provides an exception where most of the infections were the result of a single point introduction. According to the significant migratory pathways, we show that there are considerable differences across Europe. Specifically, Greece, Portugal, Serbia and Spain, provide sources shedding HIV-1; Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg, on the other hand, are migratory targets, while for Denmark, Germany, Italy, Israel, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK we inferred significant bidirectional migration. For Poland no significant migratory pathways were inferred. Conclusion Subtype B phylogeographies provide a new insight about the geographical distribution of viral lineages, as well as the significant pathways of virus dispersal across Europe, suggesting that intervention strategies should also address tourists, travellers and migrants.

  10. Rising prevalence of non-B HIV-1 subtypes in North Carolina and evidence for local onward transmission.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dennis, Ann M; Hué, Stephane; Learner, Emily; Sebastian, Joseph; Miller, William C; Eron, Joseph J

    2017-01-01

    HIV-1 diversity is increasing in North American and European cohorts which may have public health implications. However, little is known about non-B subtype diversity in the southern United States, despite the region being the epicenter of the nation's epidemic. We characterized HIV-1 diversity and transmission clusters to identify the extent to which non-B strains are transmitted locally. We conducted cross-sectional analyses of HIV-1 partial pol sequences collected from 1997 to 2014 from adults accessing routine clinical care in North Carolina (NC). Subtypes were evaluated using COMET and phylogenetic analysis. Putative transmission clusters were identified using maximum-likelihood trees. Clusters involving non-B strains were confirmed and their dates of origin were estimated using Bayesian phylogenetics. Data were combined with demographic information collected at the time of sample collection and country of origin for a subset of patients. Among 24,972 sequences from 15,246 persons, the non-B subtype prevalence increased from 0% to 3.46% over the study period. Of 325 persons with non-B subtypes, diversity was high with over 15 pure subtypes and recombinants; subtype C (28.9%) and CRF02_AG (24.0%) were most common. While identification of transmission clusters was lower for persons with non-B versus B subtypes, several local transmission clusters (≥3 persons) involving non-B subtypes were identified and all were presumably due to heterosexual transmission. Prevalence of non-B subtype diversity remains low in NC but a statistically significant rise was identified over time which likely reflects multiple importation. However, the combined phylogenetic clustering analysis reveals evidence for local onward transmission. Detection of these non-B clusters suggests heterosexual transmission and may guide diagnostic and prevention interventions.

  11. Metabolic profiles of triple-negative and luminal A breast cancer subtypes in African-American identify key metabolic differences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tayyari, Fariba; Gowda, G A Nagana; Olopade, Olufunmilayo F; Berg, Richard; Yang, Howard H; Lee, Maxwell P; Ngwa, Wilfred F; Mittal, Suresh K; Raftery, Daniel; Mohammed, Sulma I

    2018-02-20

    Breast cancer, a heterogeneous disease with variable pathophysiology and biology, is classified into four major subtypes. While hormonal- and antibody-targeted therapies are effective in the patients with luminal and HER-2 subtypes, the patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtype do not benefit from these therapies. The incidence rates of TNBC subtype are higher in African-American women, and the evidence indicates that these women have worse prognosis compared to women of European descent. The reasons for this disparity remain unclear but are often attributed to TNBC biology. In this study, we performed metabolic analysis of breast tissues to identify how TNBC differs from luminal A breast cancer (LABC) subtypes within the African-American and Caucasian breast cancer patients, respectively. We used High-Resolution Magic Angle Spinning (HR-MAS) 1H Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to perform the metabolomic analysis of breast cancer and adjacent normal tissues (total n=82 samples). TNBC and LABC subtypes in African American women exhibited different metabolic profiles. Metabolic profiles of these subtypes were also distinct from those revealed in Caucasian women. TNBC in African-American women expressed higher levels of glutathione, choline, and glutamine as well as profound metabolic alterations characterized by decreased mitochondrial respiration and increased glycolysis concomitant with decreased levels of ATP. TNBC in Caucasian women was associated with increased pyrimidine synthesis. These metabolic alterations could potentially be exploited as novel treatment targets for TNBC.

  12. Comparison by restriction fragment pattern analyses and molecular characterization of some European isolates of Suid herpesvirus 1: A contribution to strain differentiation of European isolates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Laurids Siig

    1988-01-01

    Eleven European isolates of Suid herpesvirus type 1 (SHV-1) were compared by restriction fragment pattern analyses and Southern blot hybridization using different genomic probes. The presence of strain discriminative 4 major genome types and several subtypes as well as the molecular distinctions...

  13. Inclination Shallowing in the Permian/Triassic Boundary Sedimentary Sections of the East European Platform: the New Paleomagnetic Pole and its Significance for GAD Hypothesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veselovskiy, R. V.; Fetisova, A. M.; Balabanov, Y.

    2017-12-01

    One of the key challenges which are traditionally encountered in studying the paleomagnetism of terrigenous sedimentary strata is the necessity to allow for the effect of shallowing of paleomagnetic inclinations which takes place under the compaction of the sediment at the early stages of diagenesis and most clearly manifests itself in the case of midlatitude sedimentation. Traditionally, estimating the coefficient of inclination flattening (f) implies routine re-deposition experiments and studying their magnetic anisotropy (Kodama, 2012), which is not possible in every standard paleomagnetic laboratory. The Elongation-Inclination (E/I) statistical method for estimating the coefficient of inclination shallowing, which was recently suggested in (Tauxe and Kent, 2004), does not require the investigation of the rock material in a specially equipped laboratory but toughens the requirements on the paleomagnetic data and, primarily, regarding the volume of the data, which significantly restricts the possibilities of the post factum estimation and correction for inclination shallowing. We present the results of the paleomagnetic reinvestigation of the some key sections of the Upper Permian and Lower Triassic rocks located on the East European Platform. The obtained paleomagnetic data allowed us to estimate the coefficient of inclination shallowing by the E/I method and calculate a new P-Tr paleomagnetic pole for Europe. The absence of a statistically significant difference between the mean Siberian, European and North American Permian-Triassic paleomagnetic poles allow us to conclude that 252 Ma the configuration of the Earth's magnetic field was predominantly dipole. We believe that the assumption of the non-dipolarity of the geomagnetic field at the Permian-Triassic boundary, which has been repeatedly discussed in recent decades (Van der Voo and Torsvik, 2001; Bazhenov and Shatsillo, 2010; Veselovskiy and Pavlov, 2006), arose due to the failure to take into account the

  14. A large multi-centre European study validates high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) as a clinical biomarker for the diagnosis of diabetes subtypes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thanabalasingham, G.; Shah, N.; Vaxillaire, M.

    2011-01-01

    CRP) levels are lower in UK patients with hepatocyte nuclear factor 1 alpha (HNF1A)-MODY than in other diabetes subtypes. In this large multi-centre study we aimed to assess the clinical validity of hsCRP as a diagnostic biomarker, examine the genotype-phenotype relationship and compare different hsCRP assays....... High-sensitivity CRP levels were analysed in individuals with HNF1A-MODY (n = 457), glucokinase (GCK)-MODY (n = 404), hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha (HNF4A)-MODY (n = 54) and type 2 diabetes (n = 582) from seven European centres. Three common assays for hsCRP analysis were evaluated. We excluded 121......) a parts per thousand yenaEuro parts per thousand 0.91, p a parts per thousand currency signaEuro parts per thousand 1 x 10(-5)). Across the seven centres, the C-statistic for distinguishing HNF1A-MODY from young adult-onset type 2 diabetes ranged from 0.79 to 0.97, indicating high discriminative accuracy...

  15. Correlation of clinicopathologic features and lung squamous cell carcinoma subtypes according to the 2015 WHO classification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Rongrong; Ding, Zhengping; Zhu, Lei; Lu, Shun; Yu, Yongfeng

    2017-12-01

    This study aimed to determine the relationship between clinicopathologic features and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) subtypes according to the 2015 WHO classification. We identified 824 operable LSCC patients undergoing a complete surgical resection at Shanghai Chest Hospital between April 2015 and January 2017. Immunohistochemistry was used to investigate the clinicopathologic features. Among them, the percentages of LSCC subtypes were 66.1% (545/824), 28.6% (236/824), and 5.2% (43/824) for keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma (KSCC), nonkeratinizing squamous cell carcinoma (NKSCC), and basaloid squamous cell carcinoma (BSCC), respectively. There were more males, more smokers, and more pneumonectomy surgeries in KSCC patients (p = 0.008, p = 0.000, p = 0.043). There were more N2 lymph node involvement and pathological stage III in NKSCC patients (p = 0.01, p = 0.03). BSCC did not demonstrate specificity to anything, but expressed adenocarcinoma markers more frequently. No significant difference existed between pathological subtypes and other clinicopathologic features, such as age, location type, visceral pleural involvement and lymphovascular invasion. The frequencies of EGFR sensitive mutations and ALK rearrangements were not significantly different among three subtypes. Significant relationships exist between some clinicopathologic features and LSCC subtypes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd, BASO ~ The Association for Cancer Surgery, and the European Society of Surgical Oncology. All rights reserved.

  16. Motor subtype changes in early Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eisinger, Robert S; Hess, Christopher W; Martinez-Ramirez, Daniel; Almeida, Leonardo; Foote, Kelly D; Okun, Michael S; Gunduz, Aysegul

    2017-10-01

    Distinct motor subtypes of Parkinson's disease (PD) have been described through both clinical observation and through data-driven approaches. However, the extent to which motor subtypes change during disease progression remains unknown. Our objective was to determine motor subtypes of PD using an unsupervised clustering methodology and evaluate subtype changes with disease duration. The Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative database of 423 newly diagnosed PD patients was utilized to retrospectively identify unique motor subtypes through a data-driven, hierarchical correlational clustering approach. For each patient, we assigned a subtype to each motor assessment at each follow-up visit (time points) and by using published criteria. We examined changes in PD subtype with disease duration using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Five distinct motor subtypes were identified based on the motor assessment items and these included: Tremor Dominant (TD), Axial Dominant, Appendicular Dominant, Rigidity Dominant, and Postural and Instability Gait Disorder Dominant. About half of the patients had consistent subtypes at all time points. Most patients met criteria for TD subtype soon after diagnosis. For patients with inconsistent subtypes, there was an overall trend to shift away from a TD phenotype with disease duration, as shown by chi-squared test, p motor subtypes in PD can shift with increasing disease duration. Shifting subtypes is a factor that should be accounted for in clinical practice or in clinical trials. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Turkish Vector of German Policy in the Middle East

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A A Dvoryadkina

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The article considers the Middle East policy of modern Germany, taking Turkish vector as an example. The foreign EU policy in the Middle East, as a whole and cooperation of modern Germany with Turkey in attempt to join the European Union are examined. Attention is given to the modern crisis and difficulties that stand on the way of cooperation between the two states.

  18. Middle East natural gas - getting it to markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Skinner, R.

    1996-01-01

    Middle East gas reserves, production, and consumption were presented graphically, along with the demand for 'piped' or liquefied natural gas in the Middle East itself, in Asia and in Europe. The European gas market outlook was examined, taking into account economic growth, EEC restructuring, crude oil prices and their effects on net-backs, deregulation and competitive grid-based energy, upstream and midstream investments under conditions of price uncertainty, and environmental and social influences. Middle East pipeline proposals (17 projects) for a total of 34,943 kilometres of pipeline, were reviewed. The general conclusion was that (1) the Middle East has lots of gas, (2) both Asia and Europe will be substantial markets for Middle East LNG despite the 'tyranny of distance', and (3) pipelines to these markets will be built in the longer-term. tabs., figs

  19. Motoric subtypes of delirium in geriatric patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandeep Grover

    2014-01-01

    Results: On amended DMSS, hyperactive subtype (N = 45; 45.9% was the most common motoric subtype of delirium, followed by hypoactive subtype (N = 23; 23.5%, and mixed subtype (N = 21; 21.4%. On DRS-R-98, all patients fulfilled the criteria of ′acute (temporal onset of symptoms′, ′presence of an underlying physical disorder′ and ′difficulty in attention′. In the total sample, >90% of the patients had disturbances in sleep-wake cycle, orientation and fluctuation of symptoms. The least common symptoms were delusions, visuospatial disturbances and motor retardation. When compared to hypoactive group, significantly higher proportion of patients with hyperactive subtype had delusions, perceptual disturbances, and motor agitation. Whereas, compared to hyperactive subtype, significantly higher proportion of patients with hypoactive subtype had thought process abnormality and motor retardation. When the hyperactive and mixed motoric subtype groups were compared, patients with mixed subtype group had significantly higher prevalence of thought process abnormality and motor retardation. Comparison of hypoactive and mixed subtype revealed significant differences in the frequency of perceptual disturbances, delusions and motor agitation and all these symptoms being found more commonly in patients with the mixed subtype. Severity of symptoms were found to be significantly different across the various motoric subtypes for some of the non-cognitive symptoms, but significant differences were not seen for the cognitive symptoms as assessed on DRS-R-98. Conclusion: In elderly patients, motor subtypes of delirium differ from each other on non-cognitive symptom profile in terms of frequency and severity.

  20. Future European gas supply in the resource triangle of the Former Soviet Union, the Middle East and Northern Africa

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Remme, Uwe; Blesl, Markus; Fahl, Ulrich

    2008-01-01

    A steady increase of natural gas demand can be observed in Europe over the last decades. Due to the European obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the framework of the Kyoto Protocol, the trend toward natural gas is expected to continue in the future. The increased consumption is faced by comparably low indigenous gas resources within Europe, so that the dependency of Europe on gas imports from abroad will rise in the future. In addition to the existing supply sources Russia and Algeria, gas resources from the Middle East and the Caspian and the Central Asian regions may be supply options to cover Europe's gas demand in the future. Against this background, possible natural gas supply options as well as the transport infrastructure to and within Europe are discussed regarding their technical capacity and their costs. With the help of a cost-minimization model of the European gas supply system, the gas flows and the infrastructure capacity development up to the year 2030 are analyzed. In a sensitivity analysis, the impacts of demand variations on the choice of supply sources are studied. (author)

  1. Subtypes of fruit and vegetables, variety in consumption and risk of colon and rectal cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leenders, Max; Siersema, Peter D; Overvad, Kim; Tjønneland, Anne; Olsen, Anja; Boutron-Ruault, Marie-Christine; Bastide, Nadia; Fagherazzi, Guy; Katzke, Verena; Kühn, Tilman; Boeing, Heiner; Aleksandrova, Krasimira; Trichopoulou, Antonia; Lagiou, Pagona; Klinaki, Eleni; Masala, Giovanna; Grioni, Sara; Santucci De Magistris, Maria; Tumino, Rosario; Ricceri, Fulvio; Peeters, Petra H M; Lund, Eiliv; Skeie, Guri; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Quirós, J Ramón; Agudo, Antonio; Sánchez, María-José; Dorronsoro, Miren; Navarro, Carmen; Ardanaz, Eva; Ohlsson, Bodil; Jirström, Karin; Van Guelpen, Bethany; Wennberg, Maria; Khaw, Kay-Tee; Wareham, Nick; Key, Timothy J; Romieu, Isabelle; Huybrechts, Inge; Cross, Amanda J; Murphy, Neil; Riboli, Elio; Bueno-de-Mesquita, H Bas

    2015-12-01

    Previously, a lower risk of colorectal cancer was observed with fruit and vegetable consumption in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition within a follow-up period of 9 years which was not fully supported by a recent meta-analysis. Therefore, we were interested in the relation with extended follow-up, also focusing on single subtypes and a variety of intake of fruit and vegetables. Fruit and vegetable consumption was assessed at baseline. After an average of 13 years of follow-up, 3,370 participants were diagnosed with colon or rectal cancer. Diet diversity scores were constructed to quantify variety in fruit and vegetable consumption. A lower risk of colon cancer was observed with higher self-reported consumption of fruit and vegetable combined (HR Q4 vs. Q1 0.87, 95% CI 0.75-1.01, p for trend 0.02), but no consistent association was observed for separate consumption of fruits and vegetables. No associations with risk of rectal cancer were observed. The few observed associations for some fruit and vegetable subtypes with colon cancer risk may have been due to chance. Variety in consumption of fruits and vegetables was not associated with a lower risk of colon or rectal cancer. Although a lower risk of colon cancer is suggested with high consumption of fruit and vegetables, this study does not support a clear inverse association between fruit and vegetable consumption and colon or rectal cancer beyond a follow-up of more than 10 years. Attenuation of the risk estimates from dietary changes over time cannot be excluded, but appears unlikely. © 2015 UICC.

  2. Socio-economic segregation in European capital cities: East meets West

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tammaru, T.; Marcińczak, S.; van Ham, M.; Musterd, S.

    2016-01-01

    Growing inequalities in Europe are a major challenge threatening the sustainability of urban communities and the competiveness of European cities. While the levels of socio-economic segregation in European cities are still modest compared to some parts of the world, the poor are increasingly

  3. 17th East European Conference on Advances in Databases and Information Systems and Associated Satellite Events

    CERN Document Server

    Cerquitelli, Tania; Chiusano, Silvia; Guerrini, Giovanna; Kämpf, Mirko; Kemper, Alfons; Novikov, Boris; Palpanas, Themis; Pokorný, Jaroslav; Vakali, Athena

    2014-01-01

    This book reports on state-of-art research and applications in the field of databases and information systems. It includes both fourteen selected short contributions, presented at the East-European Conference on Advances in Databases and Information Systems (ADBIS 2013, September 1-4, Genova, Italy), and twenty-six papers from ADBIS 2013 satellite events. The short contributions from the main conference are collected in the first part of the book, which covers a wide range of topics, like data management, similarity searches, spatio-temporal and social network data, data mining, data warehousing, and data management on novel architectures, such as graphics processing units, parallel database management systems, cloud and MapReduce environments. In contrast, the contributions from the satellite events are organized in five different parts, according to their respective ADBIS satellite event: BiDaTA 2013 - Special Session on Big Data: New Trends and Applications); GID 2013 – The Second International Workshop ...

  4. 18th East European Conference on Advances in Databases and Information Systems and Associated Satellite Events

    CERN Document Server

    Ivanovic, Mirjana; Kon-Popovska, Margita; Manolopoulos, Yannis; Palpanas, Themis; Trajcevski, Goce; Vakali, Athena

    2015-01-01

    This volume contains the papers of 3 workshops and the doctoral consortium, which are organized in the framework of the 18th East-European Conference on Advances in Databases and Information Systems (ADBIS’2014). The 3rd International Workshop on GPUs in Databases (GID’2014) is devoted to subjects related to utilization of Graphics Processing Units in database environments. The use of GPUs in databases has not yet received enough attention from the database community. The intention of the GID workshop is to provide a discussion on popularizing the GPUs and providing a forum for discussion with respect to the GID’s research ideas and their potential to achieve high speedups in many database applications. The 3rd International Workshop on Ontologies Meet Advanced Information Systems (OAIS’2014) has a twofold objective to present: new and challenging issues in the contribution of ontologies for designing high quality information systems, and new research and technological developments which use ontologie...

  5. The Tableau Vivant as a “Figure of Return” in Contemporary East European Cinema

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pethő Ágnes

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The paper analyses the re-conceptualization of the intermedial trope of the tableau vivant in recent East European cinema through several examples from Hungarian and Russian films directed by György Pálfi, Kornél Mundruczó, Benedek Fliegauf, Béla Tarr, and Andrei Zvyagintsev. The tableau vivant in these films is not conceived primarily as an embodiment of a painting, the introduction of “the real into the image” (as Brigitte Peucker described, instead it appears more like the objectification of bodies as images, and something that we can associate with what Mario Perniola considers the “sex appeal of the inorganic” or “the Egyptian moment in art.” As such, the tableau becomes a powerful agent in generating metanarratives, offering a blueprint for a “big picture,” a comprehensive vision of the world (reinforced by recurring mythological themes like the genesis or the end of the world, the loss of Paradise, etc.. We may connect this feature of these tableaux vivants, therefore, to what Lyotard termed as the “figure of return,” and to the reconstructive tendencies of contemporary post-postmodern art.

  6. CTL epitope distribution patterns in the Gag and Nef proteins of HIV-1 from subtype A infected subjects in Kenya: Use of multiple peptide sets increases the detectable breadth of the CTL response

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Birx Deborah L

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Subtype A is a major strain in the HIV-1 pandemic in eastern Europe, central Asia and in certain regions of east Africa, notably in rural Kenya. While considerable effort has been focused upon mapping and defining immunodominant CTL epitopes in HIV-1 subtype B and subtype C infections, few epitope mapping studies have focused upon subtype A. Results We have used the IFN-γ ELIspot assay and overlapping peptide pools to show that the pattern of CTL recognition of the Gag and Nef proteins in subtype A infection is similar to that seen in subtypes B and C. The p17 and p24 proteins of Gag and the central conserved region of Nef were targeted by CTL from HIV-1-infected Kenyans. Several epitope/HLA associations commonly seen in subtype B and C infection were also observed in subtype A infections. Notably, an immunodominant HLA-C restricted epitope (Gag 296–304; YL9 was observed, with 8/9 HLA-CW0304 subjects responding to this epitope. Screening the cohort with peptide sets representing subtypes A, C and D (the three most prevalent HIV-1 subtypes in east Africa, revealed that peptide sets based upon an homologous subtype (either isolate or consensus only marginally improved the capacity to detect CTL responses. While the different peptide sets detected a similar number of responses (particularly in the Gag protein, each set was capable of detecting unique responses not identified with the other peptide sets. Conclusion Hence, screening with multiple peptide sets representing different sequences, and by extension different epitope variants, can increase the detectable breadth of the HIV-1-specific CTL response. Interpreting the true extent of cross-reactivity may be hampered by the use of 15-mer peptides at a single concentration and a lack of knowledge of the sequence that primed any given CTL response. Therefore, reagent choice and knowledge of the exact sequences that prime CTL responses will be important factors in

  7. Proceedings of the international symposium on post-Chernobyl environmental radioactivity studies in East European countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2004-01-01

    The Chernobyl accident on 26th April 1986 reminded the world that the threat coming from nuclear power-plants is not fictitious. The societies of the neighbouring countries suffered a real shock caused not only by the accident itself, but also by the fact that information was restricted and hardly available. Even now, our knowledge about the scale and consequences of the accident is limited. After the accident many international organizations and institutions dealing with environment protection and others started to investigate different aspects of this case. As a result of this interest, many symposia and conferences have been organized. The aim has been not only to estimate the consequences of this single case, to investigate the level of environment protection or to elaborate the new, better methods of environment monitoring. Also moral, legal and psychological aspects of the situation are being investigated. The territory of Poland, lying close to the accident place, suffered its direct influence. Thus, not only government and scientific institutions deal with the subject, but there is also a growing interest of the society, which demands more and more reliable information about the Chernobyl accident effects. Many Central- and East-European countries are in similar situation. Following general interest of Chernobyl accident effects, the Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin (Poland) and the Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana (Yugoslavia) organized on 17-19th September 1990 in Kazimierz on the Vistula (Poland) a joint international conference having the character of workshop. The conference was organized on the basis of already existing scientific collaboration of these institutions with the co-operation of the European Community (Brussels, Belgium) and International Atomic Energy Agency (Vienna, Austria)

  8. THE PREVALENCE OF HUMAN IMMUNODEFIENCY VIRUS-1 (HIV-1 SUBTYPES AND TRANSMISSION METHOD AMONG HIV/AIDS INFECTION PATIENT IN TULUNGAGUNG, EAST JAVA INDONESIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Achmad Ardianto

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The rapid epidemic growth of HIV is continuing in Indonesia. There are some factors which have influenced the spreading of this epidemic in Indonesia, such as the poor awareness to avoid unsafe free sex attitude and the sharing of needles and syringes among intravenous drug users (IDUs. The sexual transmission of HIV has also apparently increased in Tulungagung. Commercial sex workers play a significant role in the spread of HIV in Tulungagung. People in Tulungagung have worked at other countries as Indonesian migrants. This condition can cause the increase number of HIV-1 case and the possibility of genetic variation (subtype HIV-1 in Tulungagung. This research is aimed to analyze the subtype and to determine estimation of transmission mode on infected patient of HIV-1 and AIDS who came to Seruni clinic Dr. Iskak hospital in Tulungagung. 40 HIV?AIDSpatients were interviewed to determine the subtype and the transmission mode. The results showed that 14 of 40 plasma samples (35% were successfully to amplified and sequenced. OverallCRF01-AE wereidentified as predominant subtype among HIV/AIDS patients in Tulungagung. Based on individual information, 31 of 40 subjects (77% were heterosexual transmission.

  9. Towards a European contract law

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hondius, E.H.

    2000-01-01

    I. Introduction. II. Subject-matter of this paper. III. Constitutionality. IV. Codification. V. Is it Feasible?VI. Howto proceed. VII. New problems: finding the Law. VIII. The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. IX. Common Law and Civil Law. X. East and west. XI. European Community Law. XII.

  10. Classification of alpha 1-adrenoceptor subtypes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Michel, M. C.; Kenny, B.; Schwinn, D. A.

    1995-01-01

    Two alpha 1-adrenoceptor subtypes (alpha 1A and alpha 1B) have been detected in various tissues by pharmacological techniques, and three distinct cDNAs encoding alpha 1-adrenoceptor subtypes have been cloned. The profile of an increasing number of subtype-selective compounds at cloned and endogenous

  11. Silver Tableware from the Nomad Burials of 13th –14th Centuries on the East European Plain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chkhaidze Victor N.

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The article considers 31 nomad burials of 13th – 14th cc. containing prestigious silverware (waist bowls, ladles and goblets discovered in the territory of nine regions of the East European Plain (Trans-Volga, Volga, Don, Cis-Caucasus, Kuban, Donets, Dnieper, Ob, Bug and Trans-Dniester regions. It is one of the most informative and expressive groups of nomadic burial inventories only available for the the representatives of the ruling elite and included in the attributes of nomadic aristocracy of 13th – 14th cc. The description of each finding is provided together with the aggregate data concerning the dating of the burials, their type and the gender of the deceased. The authors consider the role of tableware in burial rites and its correspondence the representatives of family and tribal nomadic Golden Horde aristocracy.

  12. On the Succession of Sarmatian Population in the East-European Steppes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Balabanova Mariya A.

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available As V.P. Alekseev wrote, the succession of population has been peculiar for individual territories for centuries. Despite the fact that the Eastern European steppe in ancient times and the Middle Ages was characterized by frequent changes of the population due to its high dependence on the environmental conditions, the Sarmatian culture preservation was observed over a period of ceremonial standards and elements of material culture. In this paper an attempt is made to show the presence of a partial succession of the three chronological periods of Sarmatian population. To do this, the author conducted a comparative characteristic of physical types of nomads of Sarmatian steppes of the Eastern Europe. The results of the study of mass craniological material combined in the cultural and chronological groups, showed that on the whole range of time and space over the steppe habitat Sarmatian cultures fixed partial similarity in physical type. In this connection, it is assumed that the partial continuity of anthropological types of different cultural, historical and local groups is linked to: 1 partial preservation of substrate Early Sarmatian population over the 4th- 3rd centuries BC – first half of 2nd-4th centuries AD; 2 the direction and character of penetration of nomadic groups who migrated from the East into steppe space; 3 design of a single system of seasonal migrations which involves the presence of winter and summer camps, and the presence of burial mounds; 4 the inclusion of a horde of nomadic pastoral population groups moved all over the steppes, from between Volga and Ural to the Lower Don; 5 the fact that male migrants married local women.

  13. Characteristics of pathogenic Neisseria meningitidis in Moscow: prevalence of 'non-European' strains

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Koroleva, Irina S.; Platonov, Alexander E.; van der Ende, Arie; Kuijper, Ed; Dankert, Jacob

    1998-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To investigate the distribution of serogroups, serotypes and subtypes, and susceptibility to antibiotics, of 75 strains isolated from patients with systemic meningococcal disease in Moscow in 1993--95. RESULTS: In contrast to the situation in most European countries, 21% of group A

  14. Prevalence of AIV subtype H9 among poultry with respiratory signs in Iraq

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Q. A. Kraidi

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The H9N2 avian influenza A viruses (AIV have been recorded in Eurasia for several years. In this study, the prevalence of the circulated H9 subtype in the poultry population in middle and south of Iraq provinces was studied during a period from September 2014 to June 2015. Samples were col-lected from one hundred broiler flocks with respiratory signs from seven provinces. The detection and identification of virus were carried out by using highly sensitive method, Taqman Real-time Poly-merase Chain Reaction, which has been increasingly used for detecting avian pathogens in recent years. The prevalence of H9 subtype in 16% of the infected flocks was reported, and the results re-vealed that there was a significant difference (P<0.05 in the prevalence rate of H9 subtype among broiler flocks in Al-Basra, Al-Qadisyia and An-Najaf provinces (14.28%, 20% and 23.80%, respec-tively as compared to other provinces, while An-Najaf province had the highest prevalence rate (23.80% among all other provinces. The H9 subtype has been recorded for the first time in broiler flocks of Al-Basra and Wasit with lower prevalence rate in Wasit (10%. The prevalence of the H9 virus infection in the winter (75% was higher than that in summer (25%. Since the provinces are in the vicinity of the Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait with H9 infection records, results of this study indicate circulation of AIV between these countries and in the larger scale, Middle East. This can be very impor-tant due to the presence of migratory birds coming from Russia and China and stay in winter months in the marshes of Al-Basra and consequently, AIV transportation to the other parts of the world.

  15. Effect of HIV type 1 subtype on virological and immunological response to combination antiretroviral therapy: evidence for a more rapid viral suppression for subtype A than subtype B-infected Greek individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paraskevis, Dimirios; Touloumi, Giota; Bakoyannis, Giorgos; Paparizos, Vassilios; Lazanas, Marios; Gargalianos, Panagiotis; Chryssos, Georgios; Antoniadou, Anastasia; Psichogiou, Mina; Panos, Georgios; Katsarou, Olga; Sambatakou, Helen; Kordossis, Theodoros; Hatzakis, Angelos

    2013-03-01

    Whether response to combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) differs between those infected with HIV-1 subtype A or B remains unclear. We compared virological and immunological response to cART in individuals infected with subtype A or B in an ethnically homogeneous population. Data derived from the Athens Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (AMACS) and analysis were restricted to those of Greek origin. Time to virological response (confirmed HIV-RNA 500 copies/ml at any time or no response by month 6) were analyzed using survival models and CD4 changes after cART initiation using piecewise linear mixed effects models. Of the 571 subjects included in the analysis, 412 (72.2%) were infected with subtype B and 159 (27.8%) with subtype A. After adjusting for various prognostic factors, the rate of virological response was higher for those infected with subtype A versus B (adjusted HR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.08-1.68; p=0.009). Subtype A was also marginally associated with a lower hazard of virological failure compared to subtype B (HR=0.73; 95% CI: 0.53-1.02; p=0.062). Further adjustment for treatment adherence did not substantially changed the main results. No significant differences were observed in the rates of CD4 increases by subtype. The overall median (95% CI) CD4 increase at 2 years of cART was 193 (175, 212) cells/μl. Our study, based on one of the largest homogeneous groups of subtype A and B infections in Europe, showed that individuals infected with subtype A had an improved virological but similar immunological response to cART compared to those infected with subtype B.

  16. A fossil subduction zone in the East Greenland Caledonides revealed by a Receiver Function analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schiffer, Christian; Jacobsen, B. H.; Balling, N.

    Subsequent to their formation the East Greenland and Scandinavian Caledonides formed a major coherent mountain range. The understanding of the European Caledonides therefore naturally involves also the East Greenland Caledonides. The present-day topography and crustal and upper mantle structure i...

  17. Avian metapneumovirus subtype A in China and subtypes A and B in Nigeria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Owoade, A A; Ducatez, M F; Hübschen, J M; Sausy, A; Chen, H; Guan, Y; Muller, C P

    2008-09-01

    In order to detect and characterize avian metapneumovirus, organs or swabs were collected from 697 chicken and 110 turkeys from commercial farms in Southwestern Nigeria and from 107 chickens from live bird markets in Southeastern China. In Nigeria, 15% and 6% of the chicken and turkey samples, respectively, and 39% of the chicken samples from China, were positive for aMPV genome by PCR. The sequence of a 400 nt fragment of the attachment protein gene (G gene) revealed the presence of aMPV subtype A in both Nigeria and Southeastern China. Essentially identical subtype A viruses were found in both countries and were also previously reported from Brazil and the United Kingdom, suggesting a link between these countries or a common source of this subtype. In Nigeria, subtype B was also found, which may be a reflection of chicken importations from most major poultry-producing countries in Europe and Asia. In order to justify countermeasures, further studies are warranted to better understand the metapneumoviruses and their impact on poultry production.

  18. Comparing two basic subtypes in OCD across three large community samples: a pure compulsive versus a mixed obsessive-compulsive subtype.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodgers, Stephanie; Ajdacic-Gross, Vladeta; Kawohl, Wolfram; Müller, Mario; Rössler, Wulf; Hengartner, Michael P; Castelao, Enrique; Vandeleur, Caroline; Angst, Jules; Preisig, Martin

    2015-12-01

    Due to its heterogeneous phenomenology, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been subtyped. However, these subtypes are not mutually exclusive. This study presents an alternative subtyping approach by deriving non-overlapping OCD subtypes. A pure compulsive and a mixed obsessive-compulsive subtype (including subjects manifesting obsessions with/without compulsions) were analyzed with respect to a broad pattern of psychosocial risk factors and comorbid syndromes/diagnoses in three representative Swiss community samples: the Zurich Study (n = 591), the ZInEP sample (n = 1500), and the PsyCoLaus sample (n = 3720). A selection of comorbidities was examined in a pooled database. Odds ratios were derived from logistic regressions and, in the analysis of pooled data, multilevel models. The pure compulsive subtype showed a lower age of onset and was characterized by few associations with psychosocial risk factors. The higher social popularity of the pure compulsive subjects and their families was remarkable. Comorbidities within the pure compulsive subtype were mainly restricted to phobias. In contrast, the mixed obsessive-compulsive subtype had a higher prevalence and was associated with various childhood adversities, more familial burden, and numerous comorbid disorders, including disorders characterized by high impulsivity. The current comparison study across three representative community surveys presented two basic, distinct OCD subtypes associated with differing psychosocial impairment. Such highly specific subtypes offer the opportunity to learn about pathophysiological mechanisms specifically involved in OCD.

  19. Theory of Queer Identities: Representation in Contemporary East-European Art and Culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saša Kesić

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Starting from the general theory of identity, gender theory, queer theory and theory of bio/necropolitics, as theoretical platforms, in a few case studies I will analyze the Pride Parade as a form of manifestation of gender body and queer body representations in visual arts, and gender and queer body representations in mass media. My hypothesis is that the key for understanding the chosen case studies is in understanding the relation between their aesthetics, political and social interventions. This will consider political involvement, social injustice, alienation, stereotypes on which ideological manipulations are based etc., as well as the creative strategies used for moving the borders of visual art in searching for authentically-performed creative expressions and engagements. In the time we live it is necessary for the politicization of art to use queer tactics, which work as political strategies of subversion of every stable structure of power. Queer tactics, in my opinion, are weapons in disturbance of the stable social mechanisms, which every power tries to establish and perform over any ‘mass’, in order to transform it to race, gender, tribe, nation or class.   Article received: June 6, 2017; Article accepted: June 20, 2017; Published online: October 15, 2017; Original scholarly paper How to cite this article: Kesić, Saša. "Theory of Queer Identities: Representation in Contemporary East-European Art and Culture." AM Journal of Art and Media Studies 14 (2017: 123-131. doi: 10.25038/am.v0i14.211

  20. 專論/從柏林國立圖書館東亞部看德國國家東亞研究資料資源/考恩 | The East Asia Department of the Berlin State Library: German National Resources for East Asian Materials / Matthias Kaun

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    考恩

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available

    For more than 50 years the East Asia Department of the Berlin State Library has been hosting a special interest collection on East- and Southeast Asia. Integrated into a federal network of German libraries, supervised and in part financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG – Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, this collection has become the largest of its kind in Europe. The East Asia Department supplies German and European libraries with publications in East Asian languages through a special inter-library loan service. Since 2002 the Berlin State Library has offered access to electronic resources like databases and electronic journals from the East Asian region via the virtual library CrossAsia. Furthermore the East Asia Department has become an access point to East Asian databases for European consortia.

    頁次:9-18

  1. Occupational radiation exposure in Central and Eastern European countries - ESOREX EAST -. Proceedings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frasch, G.; Anatschkowa, E.

    1999-02-01

    On behalf of the European Commission, the BfS is currently executing a project entitled 'European Study of Occupational Radiation Exposure - ESOREX'. The project consists of several surveys executed in the Member States of the European Union, furthermore in Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. In each of these countries the - 1. administrative systems used to register individual occupational radiation exposure, - 2. numbers and dose distributions of occupationally radiation exposed persons in 1995 are surveyed. The aim is to describe and compare the administrative structures of the various national registration systems and the distributions of the workers and their doses. It shall identify the differences between the states and analyse the possibilities for a European harmonization. Because of the intention of numerous Central and Eastern European countries to join the European Community, the harmonization theme is also of considerable importance for these countries. The workshop served the preparing works to execute the ESOREX study also in ten Central and Eastern European countries. In order to establish the necessary contacts and to prepare the co-operation with the respective institutions of these states, the BfS organised, together with the State Office for Nuclear Safety of the Czech Republic, an international introductory workshop in Prague in September 1998. The proceedings reflect the presentations of the participants and the results of the discussions. (orig.) [de

  2. Molecular subtypes and imaging phenotypes of breast cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nariya Cho

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available During the last 15 years, traditional breast cancer classifications based on histopathology have been reorganized into the luminal A, luminal B, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2, and basal-like subtypes based on gene expression profiling. Each molecular subtype has shown varying risk for progression, response to treatment, and survival outcomes. Research linking the imaging phenotype with the molecular subtype has revealed that non-calcified, relatively circumscribed masses with posterior acoustic enhancement are common in the basal-like subtype, spiculated masses with a poorly circumscribed margin and posterior acoustic shadowing in the luminal subtype, and pleomorphic calcifications in the HER2-enriched subtype. Understanding the clinical implications of the molecular subtypes and imaging phenotypes could help radiologists guide precision medicine, tailoring medical treatment to patients and their tumor characteristics.

  3. Molecular subtypes and imaging phenotypes of breast cancer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cho, Nariya [Dept. of Radiology, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-08-15

    During the last 15 years, traditional breast cancer classifications based on histopathology have been reorganized into the luminal A, luminal B, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and basal-like subtypes based on gene expression profiling. Each molecular subtype has shown varying risk for progression, response to treatment, and survival outcomes. Research linking the imaging phenotype with the molecular subtype has revealed that non-calcified, relatively circumscribed masses with posterior acoustic enhancement are common in the basal-like subtype, spiculated masses with a poorly circumscribed margin and posterior acoustic shadowing in the luminal subtype, and pleomorphic calcifications in the HER2-enriched subtype. Understanding the clinical implications of the molecular subtypes and imaging phenotypes could help radiologists guide precision medicine, tailoring medical treatment to patients and their tumor characteristics.

  4. Molecular subtypes and imaging phenotypes of breast cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cho, Nariya

    2016-01-01

    During the last 15 years, traditional breast cancer classifications based on histopathology have been reorganized into the luminal A, luminal B, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and basal-like subtypes based on gene expression profiling. Each molecular subtype has shown varying risk for progression, response to treatment, and survival outcomes. Research linking the imaging phenotype with the molecular subtype has revealed that non-calcified, relatively circumscribed masses with posterior acoustic enhancement are common in the basal-like subtype, spiculated masses with a poorly circumscribed margin and posterior acoustic shadowing in the luminal subtype, and pleomorphic calcifications in the HER2-enriched subtype. Understanding the clinical implications of the molecular subtypes and imaging phenotypes could help radiologists guide precision medicine, tailoring medical treatment to patients and their tumor characteristics

  5. Multiplex RT-PCR assay for differentiating European swine influenza virus subtypes H1N1, H1N2 and H3N2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiapponi, Chiara; Moreno, Ana; Barbieri, Ilaria; Merenda, Marianna; Foni, Emanuela

    2012-09-01

    In Europe, three major swine influenza viral (SIV) subtypes (H1N1, H1N2 and H3N2) have been isolated in pigs. Developing a test that is able to detect and identify the subtype of the circulating strain rapidly during an outbreak of respiratory disease in the pig population is of essential importance. This study describes two multiplex RT-PCRs which distinguish the haemagglutinin (HA) gene and the neuraminidase (NA) gene of the three major subtypes of SIV circulating in Europe. The HA PCR was able to identify the lineage (avian or human) of the HA of H1 subtypes. The analytical sensitivity of the test, considered to be unique, was assessed using three reference viruses. The detection limit corresponded to 1×10(-1) TCID(50)/200μl for avian-like H1N1, 1×10(0) TCID(50)/200μl for human-like H1N2 and 1×10(1) TCID(50)/200μl for H3N2 SIV. The multiplex RT-PCR was first carried out on a collection of 70 isolated viruses showing 100% specificity and then on clinical samples, from which viruses had previously been isolated, resulting in an 89% positive specificity of the viral subtype. Finally, the test was able to identify the viral subtype correctly in 56% of influenza A positive samples, from which SIV had not been isolated previously. It was also possible to identify mixed viral infections and the circulation of a reassortant strain before performing genomic studies. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Holocene climate dynamics in the central part of the East European plain (Russia)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Novenko, Elena

    2013-04-01

    The Holocene climate and vegetation dynamics in the broad-leaved forest zone of the central part of the East European plain have been reconstructed on the base of pollen, plant macrofossil, testate amoebae and radiocarbon data from the mire Klukva (N 53.834812, E 36.252488), located in the kast depression in the Upper Oka River basin (Tula region, European Russia). The reconstruction of main parameters of past climate (the mean annual temperature precipitation) was carried out by the "Best Modern Analog" approach. Reconstructions of vegetation show that in the early Holocene the territory was occupied mainly by birch and pine-birch forests. Significant changes in the plant cover of the Upper Oka River basin are attributed to the 7.5 cal kyr BP). The climatic conditions were favorable for development of the broad-leaved forests those persisted in this area up to industrial period. In the 17th century, when the population density greatly increased and watersheds were ploughed, natural vegetation communities were gradually destroyed and transformed into agricultural landscapes. According to obtained climatic reconstructions the period 10-8.5 cal kyr BP was relatively cold and wet, when the mean annual temperature was in 3°C lower and precipitation was in 50-100 mm higher then nowadays. The significant climate warming occurred in about 7.0-5.0 cal kyr BP (The Holocene thermal maximum): the mean annual temperature in 2°C exceeded the modern value and precipitation was close to that. The environment conditions were drier due to decrease of effective moisture. In the second part of the Holocene the sequence of second-, and even third-order climatic oscillations expressed against the background of the overall slight trend towards cooling have been determined. The most pronounced cool and wet intervals were reconstructed in 2.5-2.0 cal kyr BP and 1.5-1.3 cal kyr BP. The mean annual temperature decreased in 1.5-2 °C and precipitation rose in 200 mm in compare to modern

  7. Progression of motor subtypes in Huntington's disease: a 6-year follow-up study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobs, M; Hart, E P; van Zwet, E W; Bentivoglio, A R; Burgunder, J M; Craufurd, D; Reilmann, R; Saft, C; Roos, R A C

    2016-10-01

    The objective of this study is to investigate the progression of predominantly choreatic and hypokinetic-rigid signs in Huntington's disease (HD) and their relationship with cognitive and general functioning over time. The motor signs in HD can be divided into predominantly choreatic and hypokinetic-rigid subtypes. It has been reported in cross-sectional studies that predominantly choreatic HD patients perform better on functional and cognitive assessments compared to predominantly hypokinetic-rigid HD patients. The course of these motor subtypes and their clinical profiles has not been investigated longitudinally. A total of 4135 subjects who participated in the European HD Network REGISTRY study were included and classified at baseline as either predominantly choreatic (n = 891), hypokinetic-rigid (n = 916), or mixed-motor (n = 2328), based on a previously used method. The maximum follow-up period was 6 years. The mixed-motor group was not included in the analyses. Linear mixed models were constructed to investigate changes in motor subtypes over time and their relationship with cognitive and functional decline. Over the 6-year follow-up period, the predominantly choreatic group showed a significant decrease in chorea, while hypokinetic-rigid symptoms slightly increased in the hypokinetic-rigid group. On the Total Functional Capacity, Stroop test, and Verbal fluency task the rate of change over time was significantly faster in the predominantly choreatic group, while on all other clinical assessments the decline was comparable for both groups. Our results suggest that choreatic symptoms decrease over time, whereas hypokinetic-rigid symptoms slightly increase in a large cohort of HD patients. Moreover, different motor subtypes can be related to different clinical profiles.

  8. Influenza A Subtyping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaul, Karen L.; Mangold, Kathy A.; Du, Hongyan; Pesavento, Kristen M.; Nawrocki, John; Nowak, Jan A.

    2010-01-01

    Influenza virus subtyping has emerged as a critical tool in the diagnosis of influenza. Antiviral resistance is present in the majority of seasonal H1N1 influenza A infections, with association of viral strain type and antiviral resistance. Influenza A virus subtypes can be reliably distinguished by examining conserved sequences in the matrix protein gene. We describe our experience with an assay for influenza A subtyping based on matrix gene sequences. Viral RNA was prepared from nasopharyngeal swab samples, and real-time RT-PCR detection of influenza A and B was performed using a laboratory developed analyte-specific reagent-based assay that targets a conserved region of the influenza A matrix protein gene. FluA-positive samples were analyzed using a second RT-PCR assay targeting the matrix protein gene to distinguish seasonal influenza subtypes based on differential melting of fluorescence resonance energy transfer probes. The novel H1N1 influenza strain responsible for the 2009 pandemic showed a melting profile distinct from that of seasonal H1N1 or H3N2 and compatible with the predicted melting temperature based on the published novel H1N1 matrix gene sequence. Validation by comparison with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention real-time RT-PCR for swine influenza A (novel H1N1) test showed this assay to be both rapid and reliable (>99% sensitive and specific) in the identification of the novel H1N1 influenza A virus strain. PMID:20595627

  9. Comparison of symptoms of delirium across various motoric subtypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grover, Sandeep; Sharma, Akhilesh; Aggarwal, Munish; Mattoo, Surendra K; Chakrabarti, Subho; Malhotra, Savita; Avasthi, Ajit; Kulhara, Parmanand; Basu, Debasish

    2014-04-01

    The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between delirium motor subtypes and other symptoms of delirium. Three hundred and twenty-one (n = 321) consecutive patients referred to consultation-liaison psychiatry services were evaluated on Delirium Rating scale-Revised-98 version and amended Delirium Motor Symptom Scale. Half of the patients had hyperactive subtype (n = 161; 50.15%) delirium. One-quarter of the study sample met the criteria for mixed subtype (n = 79; 24.61%), about one-fifth of the study sample met the criteria for hypoactive delirium subtype (n = 64; 19.93%), and only very few patients (n = 17; 5.29%) did not meet the required criteria for any of these three subtypes and were categorized as 'no subtype'. When the hyperactive and hypoactive subtypes were compared, significant differences were seen in the prevalence of perceptual disturbances, delusions, lability of affect, thought process abnormality, motor agitation and motor retardation. All the symptoms were more common in the hyperactive subtype except for thought process abnormality and motor retardation. Compared to hyperactive subtype, the mixed subtype had significantly higher prevalence of thought process abnormality and motor retardation. Significant differences emerged with regard to perceptual disturbances, delusions, lability of affect and motor agitation when comparing the patients with mixed subtype with those with hypoactive subtype. All these symptoms were found to be more common in the mixed subtype. No significant differences emerged for the cognitive symptoms as assessed on Delirium Rating scale-Revised-98 across the different motoric subtypes. Different motoric subtypes of delirium differ on non-cognitive symptoms. © 2013 The Authors. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences © 2013 Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.

  10. Pure type systems with subtyping

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zwanenburg, J.; Girard, J.-Y.

    1999-01-01

    We extend the framework of Pure Type Systems with subtyping, as found in F = ¿ . This leads to a concise description of many existing systems with subtyping, and also to some new interesting systems. We develop the meta-theory for this framework, including Subject Reduction and Minimal Typing. The

  11. Spatial and seasonal patterns of European short-snouted seahorse ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    North-East Atlantic), determining the spatial and seasonal abundance, population structure and physical appearance of European short-snouted seahorse Hippocampus hippocampus. Animals were surveyed off Gran Canaria Island in two ...

  12. GRS current activities in East-European countries overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Teske, H.; Janke, R.

    2001-01-01

    This report presents the following items: agreement between the Federal Government and Utility Companies about the future utilization of the existing nuclear power plants in Germany, June 2001; GRS current activities in the Eastern European countries; science-technical co-operation with Russia; assessment of safety significance of the events for German NPP; Leningrad in-depth safety assessment, co-operation SEC NRS and GRS

  13. Characterization of 1577 primary prostate cancers reveals novel biological and clinicopathologic insights into molecular subtypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomlins, Scott A; Alshalalfa, Mohammed; Davicioni, Elai; Erho, Nicholas; Yousefi, Kasra; Zhao, Shuang; Haddad, Zaid; Den, Robert B; Dicker, Adam P; Trock, Bruce J; DeMarzo, Angelo M; Ross, Ashley E; Schaeffer, Edward M; Klein, Eric A; Magi-Galluzzi, Cristina; Karnes, R Jeffrey; Jenkins, Robert B; Feng, Felix Y

    2015-10-01

    , obviating the need for additional testing. Clinicopathologic differences were found among subtypes based on global expression patterns. Molecular subtyping of prostate cancer can be achieved using extra data generated from a clinical-grade, genome-wide expression-profiling prognostic assay (Decipher). Transcriptomic and clinical analysis support three distinct molecular subtypes: (1) m-ERG(+), (2) m-ETS(+), and (3) m-SPINK1(+)/triple negative (m-ERG(-)/m-ETS(-)/m-SPINK1(-)). Incorporation of subtyping into a clinically available assay may facilitate additional applications beyond routine prognosis. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. European refining: evolution or revolution?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cuthbert, N.

    1999-01-01

    A recent detailed analysis of the refining business in Europe (by Purvin and Gurtz) was used to highlight some key issues facing the industry. The article was written under five sub-sections: (i) economic environment (assessment of the economic prospects for Europe), (ii) energy efficiency and global warming (lists the four points of the EU car makers' voluntary agreement), (iii) fuel quality and refinery investment (iv) refinery capacity and utilisation and (v) industry structure and development. Diagrams show GDP per capita for East and West, European road fuel demand to 2015 and European net trade and European refinery ownership by crude capacity. It was concluded that the future of refining in Europe is 'exciting and challenging' and there are likely to be more large joint venture refineries. (UK)

  15. Factors affecting birthweights in Hindus, Moslems and Europeans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McFadyen, I R; Campbell-Brown, M; Abraham, R; North, W R; Haines, A P

    1984-10-01

    The birthweights of 664 Hindu and 132 Moslem babies were compared with those of 486 European babies born at the same hospital. The mean birthweight of the Europeans was 3362 g, compared with 3146 g for the Moslems and 2960 g for the Hindus. The Asian women were smaller than the European and tended to have a shorter length of gestation. Forty-four per cent of the Asians and 46% of the European mothers were of social classes I and II; 28% of the Europeans and 2% of the Asians smoked. There were no significant differences between Asians and Europeans in the effects of maternal size, parity, gestational age and fetal sex on birthweight. After adjustment for these variables and for cigarette smoking there was no significant difference in birthweight between the Moslems and the Europeans, but the mean birthweight of the Hindus was about 190 g lighter than that of the Europeans. Hindus from East Africa had lighter babies than those from India.

  16. Pipelines to power South East Asia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Scholes, W

    1994-07-01

    European, North American and Australian pipeline companies are busy building pipelines to transport natural gas to power stations throughout South East Asia. Many countries, such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, have economies expanding at more than eight percent a year. Cambodia and Laos are awaiting energy development. Myanmar will not only benefit from the global economic expansion but from the flourishing economies of nearby Thailand and Malaysia which are now investing in neighbouring countries, while their national petroleum companies are starting to operate worldwide. It is the ever expanding rush of industrialisation, urbanisation and the move to raise living standards throughout the region that is accelerating the need for more power stations, both gas and coal-fired, throughout South East Asia. (author)

  17. Pipelines to power South East Asia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scholes, W.

    1994-01-01

    European, North American and Australian pipeline companies are busy building pipelines to transport natural gas to power stations throughout South East Asia. Many countries, such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, have economies expanding at more than eight percent a year. Cambodia and Laos are awaiting energy development. Myanmar will not only benefit from the global economic expansion but from the flourishing economies of nearby Thailand and Malaysia which are now investing in neighbouring countries, while their national petroleum companies are starting to operate worldwide. It is the ever expanding rush of industrialisation, urbanisation and the move to raise living standards throughout the region that is accelerating the need for more power stations, both gas and coal-fired, throughout South East Asia. (author)

  18. Dynamics of brain responses to phobic-related stimulation in specific phobia subtypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caseras, Xavier; Mataix-Cols, David; Trasovares, Maria Victoria; López-Solà, Marina; Ortriz, Hector; Pujol, Jesus; Soriano-Mas, Carles; Giampietro, Vincent; Brammer, Michael J; Torrubia, Rafael

    2010-10-01

    Very few studies have investigated to what extent different subtypes of specific phobia share the same underlying functional neuroanatomy. This study aims to investigate the potential differences in the anatomy and dynamics of the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses associated with spider and blood-injection-injury phobias. We used an event-related paradigm in 14 untreated spider phobics, 15 untreated blood-injection-injury phobics and 17 controls. Phobic images successfully induced distress only in phobic participants. Both phobic groups showed a similar pattern of heart rate increase following the presentation of phobic stimuli, this being different from controls. The presentation of phobic images induced activity within the same brain network in all participants, although the intensity of brain responses was significantly higher in phobics. Only blood-injection-injury phobics showed greater activity in the ventral prefrontal cortex compared with controls. This phobia group also presented a lower activity peak in the left amygdala compared with spider phobics. Importantly, looking at the dynamics of BOLD responses, both phobia groups showed a quicker time-to-peak in the right amygdala than controls, but only spider phobics also differed from controls in this parameter within the left amygdala. Considering these and previous findings, both phobia subtypes show very similar responses regarding their immediate reaction to phobia-related images, but critical differences in their sustained responses to these stimuli. These results highlight the importance of considering complex mental processes potentially associated with coping and emotion regulation processes, rather than exclusively focusing on primary neural responses to threat, when investigating fear and phobias. © 2010 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience © 2010 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  19. Interferon α subtypes in HIV infection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutter, Kathrin; Dickow, Julia; Dittmer, Ulf

    2018-02-13

    Type I interferons (IFN), which are immediately induced after most virus infections, are central for direct antiviral immunity and link innate and adaptive immune responses. However, several viruses have evolved strategies to evade the IFN response by preventing IFN induction or blocking IFN signaling pathways. Thus, therapeutic application of exogenous type I IFN or agonists inducing type I IFN responses are a considerable option for future immunotherapies against chronic viral infections. An important part of the type I IFN family are 12 IFNα subtypes, which all bind the same receptor, but significantly differ in their biological activities. Up to date only one IFNα subtype (IFNα2) is being used in clinical treatment against chronic virus infections, however its therapeutic success rate is rather limited, especially during Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. Recent studies addressed the important question if other IFNα subtypes would be more potent against retroviral infections in in vitro and in vivo experiments. Indeed, very potent IFNα subtypes were defined and their antiviral and immunomodulatory properties were characterized. In this review we summarize the recent findings on the role of individual IFNα subtypes during HIV and Simian Immunodeficiency Virus infection. This includes their induction during HIV/SIV infection, their antiretroviral activity and the regulation of immune response against HIV by different IFNα subtypes. The findings might facilitate novel strategies for HIV cure or functional cure studies. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Geographic Information System and Geoportal «River basins of the European Russia»

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yermolaev, O. P.; Mukharamova, S. S.; Maltsev, K. A.; Ivanov, M. A.; Ermolaeva, P. O.; Gayazov, A. I.; Mozzherin, V. V.; Kharchenko, S. V.; Marinina, O. A.; Lisetskii, F. N.

    2018-01-01

    Geographic Information System (GIS) and Geoportal with open access «River basins of the European Russia» were implemented. GIS and Geoportal are based on the map of basins of small rivers of the European Russia with information about natural and anthropogenic characteristics, namely geomorphometry of basins relief; climatic parameters, representing averages, variation, seasonal variation, extreme values of temperature and precipitation; land cover types; soil characteristics; type and subtype of landscape; population density. The GIS includes results of spatial analysis and modelling, in particular, assessment of anthropogenic impact on river basins; evaluation of water runoff and sediment runoff; climatic, geomorphological and landscape zoning for the European part of Russia.

  1. Age- and Tumor Subtype-Specific Breast Cancer Risk Estimates for CHEK2*1100delC Carriers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schmidt, Marjanka K; Hogervorst, Frans; van Hien, Richard R

    2016-01-01

    PURPOSE: CHEK2*1100delC is a well-established breast cancer risk variant that is most prevalent in European populations; however, there are limited data on risk of breast cancer by age and tumor subtype, which limits its usefulness in breast cancer risk prediction. We aimed to generate tumor...... subtype- and age-specific risk estimates by using data from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium, including 44,777 patients with breast cancer and 42,997 controls from 33 studies genotyped for CHEK2*1100delC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: CHEK2*1100delC genotyping was mostly done by a custom Taqman assay....... Breast cancer odds ratios (ORs) for CHEK2*1100delC carriers versus noncarriers were estimated by using logistic regression and adjusted for study (categorical) and age. Main analyses included patients with invasive breast cancer from population- and hospital-based studies. RESULTS: Proportions...

  2. Breaking the Cycle of Poverty: Challenges for European Early Childhood Education and Care

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leseman, Paul P. M.; Slot, Pauline L.

    2014-01-01

    Poverty rates in European countries have increased during recent decades and are particularly high in East European countries. Young children are especially vulnerable to poverty. Poverty in early childhood can have irreversible negative consequences for cognitive, social and emotional development, academic achievement and behavioural adjustment.…

  3. Hypertension Subtypes among Hypertensive Patients in Ibadan

    OpenAIRE

    Abiodun M. Adeoye; Adewole Adebiyi; Bamidele O. Tayo; Babatunde L. Salako; Adesola Ogunniyi; Richard S. Cooper

    2014-01-01

    Background. Certain hypertension subtypes have been shown to increase the risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and may be related to specific underlying genetic determinants. Inappropriate characterization of subtypes of hypertension makes efforts at elucidating the genetic contributions to the etiology of hypertension largely vapid. We report the hypertension subtypes among patients with hypertension from South-Western Nigeria. Methods. A total of 1858 subjects comprising 76% fema...

  4. High occurrence of Blastocystis sp. subtypes 1-3 and Giardia intestinalis assemblage B among patients in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forsell, Joakim; Granlund, Margareta; Samuelsson, Linn; Koskiniemi, Satu; Edebro, Helén; Evengård, Birgitta

    2016-06-29

    Blastocystis is a common intestinal parasite with worldwide distribution but the distribution of Blastocystis and its subtypes in East Africa is largely unknown. In this study, we investigate the distribution of Blastocystis subtypes in Zanzibar, Tanzania and report the prevalence of intestinal parasites using both molecular methods and microscopy. Stool samples were collected from both diarrhoeic and non-diarrhoeic outpatients in Zanzibar. In addition to microscopy, real-time PCR for Blastocystis, Entamoeba histolytica and E. dispar, Giardia intestinalis, Cryptosporidium spp., and Dientamoeba fragilis was used. Blastocystis subtypes were determined by a conventional PCR followed by partial sequencing of the SSU-rRNA gene. Genetic assemblages of Giardia were determined by PCR with assemblage specific primers. Intestinal parasites were detected in 85 % of the 174 participants, with two or more parasites present in 56 %. Blastocystis sp. and Giardia intestinalis were the most common parasites, identified by PCR in 61 and 53 % of the stool samples respectively, but no correlation between carriage of Blastocystis and Giardia was found. The Blastocystis subtype distribution was ST1 34.0 %, ST2 26.4 %, ST3 25.5 %, ST7 0.9 %, and 13.2 % were positive only by qPCR (non-typable). The Giardia genetic assemblages identified were A 6.5 %, B 85 %, A + B 4.3 %, and non-typable 4.3 %. The detection rate with microscopy was substantially lower than with PCR, 20 % for Blastocystis and 13.8 % for Giardia. The prevalence of Blastocystis increased significantly with age while Giardia was most prevalent in children two to five years old. No correlation between diarrhoea and the identification of Giardia, Blastocystis, or their respective genetic subtypes could be shown and, as a possible indication of parasite load, the mean cycle threshold values in the qPCR for Giardia were equal in diarrhoeic and non-diarrhoeic patients. Carriage of intestinal parasites was very

  5. Tracing the influence of the Trans-European Suture Zone into the mantle transition zone

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Knapmeyer-Endrun, B.; Krüger, F.; Legendre, C. P.; Geissler, W.H.; Plomerová, Jaroslava; Babuška, Vladislav; Gaždová, Renata; Jedlička, Petr; Kolínský, Petr; Málek, Jiří; Novotný, Oldřich; Růžek, Bohuslav

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 363, FEB 1 (2013), s. 73-87 ISSN 0012-821X Institutional support: RVO:67985530 ; RVO:67985891 Keywords : mantle transition zone * Trans-European Suture Zone * East European Craton Subject RIV: DC - Siesmology, Volcanology, Earth Structure Impact factor: 4.724, year: 2013

  6. Middle east gas: supply source of Europe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vivies, P. de

    1995-01-01

    The evolution of gas demand, the decreasing of reserves leads to the question of European future needs satisfaction. The european market can call on the russian production or middle east production. Iran has the most important reserves but the needs of the population can limit the gas supply. Yemen and Oman which have less important reserves but also less important needs to satisfy can be a serious alternative; Abu dhabi reserves are destined to asia market. The qatar has the most important gas offshore field in the world. The LNG (liquefied natural gas) seems to have a better position than gas pipeline to dispatch gas towards Europe

  7. Seismic velocity model of the crust and upper mantle along profile PANCAKE across the Carpathians between the Pannonian Basin and the East European Craton

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Starostenko, V.; Janik, T.; Kolomiyets, K.

    2013-01-01

    the Transcarpathian Depression and the Carpathian Foredeep; and the south-western part of the EEC, including the Trans European Suture Zone (TESZ). Seismic data support a robust model of the Vp velocity structure of the crust. In the PB, the 22-23km thick crust consists of a 2-5km thick sedimentary layer (Vp=2......Results are presented of a seismic wide-angle reflection/refraction survey along a profile between the Pannonian Basin (PB) and the East European Craton (EEC) called PANCAKE. The P- and S-wave velocity model derived can be divided into three sectors: the PB; the Carpathians, including.......4-3.7km/s), 17-20km thick upper crystalline crust (5.9-6.3km/s) and an up to 3km thick lower crustal layer (Vp=6.4km/s). In the central part of the Carpathians, a 10-24km thick uppermost part of the crust with Vp≤6.0km/s may correspond to sedimentary rocks of different ages; several high velocity bodies...

  8. The Border-making Policy of the European Union: Eastern Enlargement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lika Mkrtchyan

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Having no internal borders, what is a border for the European Union (EU? Which criteria does this powerful organization pursue in its decision-making on further expansion: geographical, political, cultural, economic or all of these? What is the profi t of the Union in advancing its external borders to the east? And why to the east and not the south or west across the Atlantic? Does it still mean that there is the reason for enlarging eastward based on the geographical belonging to Europe? This paper discusses the expansion of the European Union to the east with the main focus on its political and economic aspects of integration. The fi rst part includes introduction to the concept of Europe, historic background about the formation of the united Europe in terms of geography, culture, politics and economy, juxtaposing opinions and viewpoints of different experts and political scientists on “what is Europe?” and what are the core issues of its enlargement. The second and third parts are dedicated to the advantages and disadvantages of European Integration for both parties concerned – the EU and the candidate/member state, in the case of the former having its own “demarcation policy” towards certain regions of the continent when it comes to unifi cation. And the fourth part is about the communication and miscommunication of the informative bodies of the European Union that are responsible for public awareness on any process that goes on within the European family. The lack of information results in the ignorance of citizens of European and partner countries, which, of course, refl ects on the further processes of expansion on the political level and cultural perception and mentality on the social level. The conclusion sums up the research, and the bibliography lists the books, articles, monographs and Internet sources used in the course of the study.

  9. Perspectives at the East European engineering companies in the field of power industry in the power-plant construction globalization conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ganchev, R.

    2001-01-01

    A large group of companies, institutes, boiler and power engineering work ect. from East European countries, currently in process of reorganization or already transformed into new-established private companies and corporations possess significant intellectual property in the field of thermal power technologies and equipment and broad experience in the design and the erection of thermal power plants. In many cases this know-how is not only competitive to that of the large companies of the West and of the Far East, but frequently it also proves to have a number of advantages. However, in the years of transition in these countries and simultaneous globalization, the owners of this potentials meet with difficulties and restrictions to realize it fully. Large investment projects - for new or replacement capacities or comprehensive rehabilitation or refurbishment of TPPs - are accessible only for the financially powerful EPC-contractors and key equipment suppliers, for which large bank credits are accessible. The near future perspective, for the scientists and experts that have accumulated this capital, is in the opportunity to employ the extensive experience and know-how of this firms in the forthcoming large-scale rehabilitation projects in these countries, and primarily, in the solution of specific problems, that have not been solved so far, provided that the projects are awarded not on the basis of the financial power of the contractors but on the basis of the efficiency of the proposed original solutions

  10. Transsexual subtypes : Clinical and theoretical significance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smith, YLS; van Goozen, SHM; Kuiper, AJ; Cohen-Kettenis, PT

    2005-01-01

    The present study was designed to investigate whether transsexuals can be validly subdivided into subtypes on the basis of sexual orientation, and whether differences between subtypes of transsexuals are similar for male-to-female (ME) and female-to-male transsexuals (FMs). Within a large

  11. Verified Subtyping with Traits and Mixins

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Asankhaya Sharma

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Traits allow decomposing programs into smaller parts and mixins are a form of composition that resemble multiple inheritance. Unfortunately, in the presence of traits, programming languages like Scala give up on subtyping relation between objects. In this paper, we present a method to check subtyping between objects based on entailment in separation logic. We implement our method as a domain specific language in Scala and apply it on the Scala standard library. We have verified that 67% of mixins used in the Scala standard library do indeed conform to subtyping between the traits that are used to build them.

  12. Ecological and Economic Impacts and Invasion Management Strategies for the European Green Crab (2008)

    Science.gov (United States)

    The goals of this case study were to estimate the European green crab’s current and historical impacts on ecosystem services on the East Coast of the United States and to estimate the European green crab’s current and potential future impacts from invasion

  13. Inequality and rising levels of socio-economic segregation: lessons from a pan-European comparative study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Marcińczak, S.; Musterd, S.; van Ham, M.; Tammaru, T.; Tammaru, T.; Marcińczak, S.; van Ham, M.; Musterd, S.

    2016-01-01

    The Socio-Economic Segregation in European Capital Cities: East Meets West project investigates changing levels of socio-economic segregation in 13 major European cities: Amsterdam, Budapest, Vienna, Stockholm, Oslo, London, Vilnius, Tallinn, Prague, Madrid, Milan, Athens and Riga. The two main

  14. Integrative subtype discovery in glioblastoma using iCluster.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronglai Shen

    Full Text Available Large-scale cancer genome projects, such as the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA project, are comprehensive molecular characterization efforts to accelerate our understanding of cancer biology and the discovery of new therapeutic targets. The accumulating wealth of multidimensional data provides a new paradigm for important research problems including cancer subtype discovery. The current standard approach relies on separate clustering analyses followed by manual integration. Results can be highly data type dependent, restricting the ability to discover new insights from multidimensional data. In this study, we present an integrative subtype analysis of the TCGA glioblastoma (GBM data set. Our analysis revealed new insights through integrated subtype characterization. We found three distinct integrated tumor subtypes. Subtype 1 lacks the classical GBM events of chr 7 gain and chr 10 loss. This subclass is enriched for the G-CIMP phenotype and shows hypermethylation of genes involved in brain development and neuronal differentiation. The tumors in this subclass display a Proneural expression profile. Subtype 2 is characterized by a near complete association with EGFR amplification, overrepresentation of promoter methylation of homeobox and G-protein signaling genes, and a Classical expression profile. Subtype 3 is characterized by NF1 and PTEN alterations and exhibits a Mesenchymal-like expression profile. The data analysis workflow we propose provides a unified and computationally scalable framework to harness the full potential of large-scale integrated cancer genomic data for integrative subtype discovery.

  15. Bulimia nervosa-nonpurging subtype: closer to the bulimia nervosa-purging subtype or to binge eating disorder?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jordan, Jennifer; McIntosh, Virginia V W; Carter, Janet D; Rowe, Sarah; Taylor, Kathryn; Frampton, Christopher M A; McKenzie, Janice M; Latner, Janet; Joyce, Peter R

    2014-04-01

    DSM-5 has dropped subtyping of bulimia nervosa (BN), opting to continue inclusion of the somewhat contentious diagnosis of BN-nonpurging subtype (BN-NP) within a broad BN category. Some contend however that BN-NP is more like binge eating disorder (BED) than BN-P. This study examines clinical characteristics, eating disorder symptomatology, and Axis I comorbidity in BN-NP, BN-P, and BED groups to establish whether BN-NP more closely resembles BN-P or BED. Women with BN-P (n = 29), BN-NP (n = 29), and BED (n = 54) were assessed at baseline in an outpatient psychotherapy trial for those with binge eating. Measures included the Structured Clinical Interviews for DSM-IV, Eating Disorder Examination, and Eating Disorder Inventory-2. The BN-NP subtype had BMIs between those with BN-P and BED. Both BN subtypes had higher Restraint and Drive for Thinness scores than BED. Body Dissatisfaction was highest in BN-NP and predicted BN-NP compared to BN-P. Higher Restraint and lower BMI predicted BN-NP relative to BED. BN-NP resembled BED with higher lifetime BMIs; and weight-loss clinic than eating disorder clinic attendances relative to the BN-P subtype. Psychiatric comorbidity was comparable except for higher lifetime cannabis use disorder in the BN-NP than BN-P subtype These results suggest that BN-NP sits between BN-P and BED however the high distress driving inappropriate compensatory behaviors in BN-P requires specialist eating disorder treatment. These results support retaining the BN-NP group within the BN category. Further research is needed to determine whether there are meaningful differences in outcome over follow-up. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  16. Lower Devonian lithofacies and palaeoenvironments in the southwestern margin of the East European Platform (Ukraine, Moldova and Romania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Natalia Radkovets

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Lower Devonian palaeoshelf deposits extend along the western margin of the East European Platform from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. These deposits have been studied on the territory of Ukraine (Volyn-Podillyan Plate, Dobrogean Foredeep and correlated with coeval deposits in Moldova and Romania (Moldovian Platform. The investigation of the Lower Devonian deposits, their thickness, petrographic and lithological characteristics allowed reconstruction of two types of lithofacies and distinguishing two different depositional environments. The first lithofacies belonging to the Lochkovian stage, consists of clayey-carbonate rocks and represents a continuation of the Upper Silurian marine strata. The other lithofacies encompassing the Pragian–Emsian comprises terrigenous reddish-brown rocks, which are roughly equivalent to the Old Red Sandstone, completes the Lower Devonian section. Establishing the occurrence and thickness distribution of the terrigenous lithofacies across the study area is important, because it forms potential reservoir rocks for both conventional and unconventional (tight gas hydrocarbons. Gas accumulation in these reservoir rocks has been discovered at the Lokachi field.

  17. Appreciating HIV-1 diversity: subtypic differences in ENV

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gnanakaran, S [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Shen, Tongye [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Lynch, Rebecca M [NON LANL; Derdeyn, Cynthia A [NON LANL

    2008-01-01

    Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) group M is responsible for the current AIDS pandemic and exhibits exceedingly high levels of viral genetic diversity around the world, necessitating categorization of viruses into distinct lineages, or subtypes. These subtypes can differ by around 35% in the envelope (Env) glycoproteins of the virus, which are displayed on the surface of the virion and are targets for both neutralizing antibody and cell-mediated immune responses. This diversity reflects the remarkable ability of the virus to adapt to selective pressures, the bulk of which is applied by the host immune response, and represents a serious obstacle for developing an effective vaccine with broad coverage. Thus, it is important to understand the underlying biological consequences of inter-subtype diversity. Recent studies have revealed that the HIV-1 subtypes exhibit phenotypic differences that result from subtle differences in Env structure, particularly within the highly immunogenic V3 domain, which participates directly in viral entry. This review will therefore explore current research that describes subtypic differences in Env at the genetic and phenotypic level, focusing in particular on V3, and highlighting recent discoveries about the unique features of subtype C Env, which is the most prevalent subtype globally.

  18. Age-specific differences in influenza virus type and subtype distribution in the 2012/2013 season in 12 European countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Beauté, J; Zucs, P; Korsun, N

    2015-01-01

    that the overall distribution of circulating (sub)types may mask substantial differences between age groups. Thus, in cases aged 5-14 years, 75% tested positive for influenza B virus whereas all other age groups had an even distribution of influenza A and B viruses. This means that the intepretation of syndromic...

  19. Regional economic integration in Great East Asia: determinants and barriers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Volodymyr Korol

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The article studies both general trends and peculiar characteristics of processes of economic integration in the Great East Asia, which plays the role of one of the major centers of contemporary global development. The basic determinants and barriers for implementation of regional strategies by China, Japan, ASEAN that will influence the geo-economic policy of Ukraine not only in East Asian, but also European and Eurasian areas. Attention is focused on the basic principles of realized and potential future integration models in the "ASEAN+" format with variable composition of member states that correspond to different extents to strategic objectives of both specified key actors in the region and extra-regional states that have global and transnational interests. Extrapolation of dominant trends in the nature and dynamics of transformation processes of East Asian economic regionalization allowed forming a forecast for the longterm conservation of importance of free trade agreements in the absence of preconditions to create customs unions. At the same time it was stressed out that proper assurance of national interests of international economic relations will be based on contractual instruments at the international level, without creating institutional and legal superstructure similar to the European Union or the Eurasian Economic Union as supranational law and supranational bodies.

  20. Hypertension Subtypes among Hypertensive Patients in Ibadan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abiodun M. Adeoye

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. Certain hypertension subtypes have been shown to increase the risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and may be related to specific underlying genetic determinants. Inappropriate characterization of subtypes of hypertension makes efforts at elucidating the genetic contributions to the etiology of hypertension largely vapid. We report the hypertension subtypes among patients with hypertension from South-Western Nigeria. Methods. A total of 1858 subjects comprising 76% female, hypertensive, aged 18 and above were recruited into the study from two centers in Ibadan, Nigeria. Hypertension was identified using JNCVII definition and was further grouped into four subtypes: controlled hypertension (CH, isolated systolic hypertension (ISH, isolated diastolic hypertension (IDH, and systolic-diastolic hypertension (SDH. Results. Systolic-diastolic hypertension was the most prevalent. Whereas SDH (77.6% versus 73.5% and IDH (4.9% versus 4.7% were more prevalent among females, ISH (10.1% versus 6.2% was higher among males (P=0.048. Female subjects were more obese (P<0.0001 and SDH was prevalent among the obese group. Conclusion. Gender and obesity significantly influenced the distribution of the hypertension subtypes. Characterization of hypertension by subtypes in genetic association studies could lead to identification of previously unknown genetic variants involved in the etiology of hypertension. Large-scale studies among various ethnic groups may be needed to confirm these observations.

  1. A product innovation toolkit for green business in South East Asia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Crul, M.R.M.; Hong Long, N.

    2011-01-01

    Most of the available Sustainable Product Innovation (SPI) approaches and tools have been developed in Western Europe, based upon European experiences. However, in South-East Asian economies like Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, needs are different and more immediate. Also the characteristics of the

  2. Incidence of dementia and major subtypes in Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fratiglioni, L; Launer, L J; Andersen, K

    2000-01-01

    The authors examined the association of incident dementia and subtypes with age, sex, and geographic area in Europe. Incidence data from eight population-based studies carried out in seven European countries were compared and pooled. The pooled data included 835 mild to severe dementia cases and 42......,996 person-years of follow-up. In all studies a higher proportion of cases were diagnosed with AD (60 to 70% of all demented cases) than vascular dementia (VaD). The incidence of dementia and AD continued to increase with age up to age 85 years, after which rates increased in women but not men....... There was a large variation in VaD incidence across studies. In the pooled analysis, the incidence rates increased with age without any substantial difference between men and women. Surprisingly, higher incidence rates of dementia and AD were found in the very old in northwest countries than in southern countries...

  3. Muscarinic acetylcholine receptor subtypes: localization and structure/function

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brann, M R; Ellis, J; Jørgensen, H

    1993-01-01

    Based on the sequence of the five cloned muscarinic receptor subtypes (m1-m5), subtype selective antibody and cDNA probes have been prepared. Use of these probes has demonstrated that each of the five subtypes has a markedly distinct distribution within the brain and among peripheral tissues...... are described, as well as the implied structures of these functional domains....

  4. Gas and LNG pricing and trading hub in East Asia: An introduction

    OpenAIRE

    Shi, Xunpeng

    2017-01-01

    This paper summarizes the four papers in the special issues on ‘Gas and LNG pricing and trading hub in East Asia’. The papers examine lessons and experience from European hub development, other commodity, the Japanese history on developing of futures markets and inter-fuel substitution in East Asia. The papers finds that liquid futures market is the key to formulate benchmark prices while a well-developed spot market is the foundation; political will and strong leadership are required to over...

  5. Molecular Subtyping of Tumors from Patients with Familial Glioma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruiz, Vanessa Y; Praska, Corinne E; Armstrong, Georgina; Kollmeyer, Thomas M; Yamada, Seiji; Decker, Paul A; Kosel, Matthew L; Eckel-Passow, Jeanette E; Consortium, The Gliogene; Lachance, Daniel H; Bainbridge, Matthew N; Melin, Beatrice S; Bondy, Melissa L; Jenkins, Robert B

    2017-10-10

    Single-gene mutation syndromes account for some familial glioma (FG); however, they make up only a small fraction of glioma families. Gliomas can be classified into 3 major molecular subtypes based on IDH mutation and 1p/19q co-deletion. We hypothesized that the prevalence of molecular subtypes might differ in familial versus sporadic gliomas, and that tumors in the same family should have the same molecular subtype. Participants in the FG study (Gliogene) provided samples for germline DNA analysis. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumor was obtained for a subset of FG cases, and DNA was extracted. We analyzed tissue from 75 families, including 10 families containing a second affected family member. Copy number variation (CNV) data was obtained using a first-generation Affymetrix molecular inversion probe (MIP) array. Samples from 62 of 75 (83%) FG cases could be classified into the 3 subtypes. The prevalence of the molecular subtypes was: 30 (48%) IDH-wild type, 21 (34%) IDH-mutant non-codeleted, and 11 (19%) IDH-mutant and 1p/19q-codeleted. This distribution of molecular subtypes was not statistically different from that of sporadic gliomas (p=0.54). Of 10 paired FG samples, molecular subtypes were concordant for 7 (κ=0.59): 3 IDH-mutant non-codeleted, 2 IDH-wild type, and 2 IDH-mutant and 1p/19q-codeleted gliomas. Our data suggest that within individual families, patients develop gliomas of the same molecular subtype. However, we did not observe differences in the prevalence of the molecular subtypes in FG compared with sporadic gliomas. These observations provide further insight about the distribution of molecular subtypes in FG. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Neuro-Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

  6. Nuclear power and European Union enlargement challenge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chirica, Teodor; Bilegan, Constantin

    2001-01-01

    From 1991 through 1996 the European Union signed the Association Agreements with ten East European countries (EE10), namely: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. In the period 1994-1996 European Union received membership applications from all ten countries. The paper analyzes the approach of complying the requirements and regulations for European Union accession in the field of the Romanian nuclear power based on the CANDU technology. In this process, the real challenge is represented by the preparation and implementation of new regulations aiming to improve the general business environment by introducing International Accounting Standards simplification of bankruptcy laws, reform of taxation procedures and secureness of financial instruments. A new stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank was set out in late April 1999 for an one-year loan of 475 million dollars. (authors)

  7. Frequent intra-subtype recombination among HIV-1 circulating in Tanzania.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ireen E Kiwelu

    Full Text Available The study estimated the prevalence of HIV-1 intra-subtype recombinant variants among female bar and hotel workers in Tanzania. While intra-subtype recombination occurs in HIV-1, it is generally underestimated. HIV-1 env gp120 V1-C5 quasispecies from 45 subjects were generated by single-genome amplification and sequencing (median (IQR of 38 (28-50 sequences per subject. Recombination analysis was performed using seven methods implemented within the recombination detection program version 3, RDP3. HIV-1 sequences were considered recombinant if recombination signals were detected by at least three methods with p-values of ≤0.05 after Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. HIV-1 in 38 (84% subjects showed evidence for intra-subtype recombination including 22 with HIV-1 subtype A1, 13 with HIV-1 subtype C, and 3 with HIV-1 subtype D. The distribution of intra-patient recombination breakpoints suggested ongoing recombination and showed selective enrichment of recombinant variants in 23 (60% subjects. The number of subjects with evidence of intra-subtype recombination increased from 29 (69% to 36 (82% over one year of follow-up, although the increase did not reach statistical significance. Adjustment for intra-subtype recombination is important for the analysis of multiplicity of HIV infection. This is the first report of high prevalence of intra-subtype recombination in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Tanzania, a region where multiple HIV-1 subtypes co-circulate. HIV-1 intra-subtype recombination increases viral diversity and presents additional challenges for HIV-1 vaccine design.

  8. MIGRATION PROCESSES "EAST-WEST" IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EUROPEAN SYSTEM OF ECONOMIC SECURITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. V. Ryazantsev

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The article refl ects the infl uence of the migration processes to the economic security of European Union. The article underlines most common economical risks in case if there is an increase of the volume of migration and describes the ways how to reduce those risks.The main conclusions obtained from the results of the study, can be structured as follows: trends and consequences of the migration crisis in the European Union are defi ned by the set of reasons that are due on the one hand the policy of transparency being implemented by individual countries, making the whole European Union is the center of attraction of immigrants (primarily from the MENA countries and other hand, the intense and growing fl ow of migrants creates regional threats, including the European Union's economic security; the problem of ensuring the economic security of the European Union in the context of the impact of the migration crisis is most actual issue at the moment and the main reason is that the accumulation of the fl ow of migrants to the strongest European economy – Germany. In this case, not only Germany, but also France (and until recently UK had to improve the economic and social consequences of migration and also to implement measures aimed to recover from fi nancial crisis of the last few years, the consequences of which to date are shown in the many social and economic areas of the European Union; addressing the problem with migration crisis in the European Union seems to use a special system of measures, in which on the one hand realized containment of migration fl ows and on the other hand held solutions aimed at the assimilation of migrants in multicultural environment with full adoption of the latest socio-economic, democratic and moral values specifi c to European societies.

  9. State of development and perspectives of the East German gas industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Holst, K.E.

    1993-01-01

    The East Germany gas industry has been characterised by fundamental changes during the past four years: reorganisation of the structure of the energy supply companies and their privatisation, the enforcement of fair energy prices and tariffs, the preparation and introduction of process of switching from town gas to natural gas and the connection of the East Germany combined network to the West German/West European natural gas system. Until the year 2010, the level of consumption is expected to be three times greater than the amount of natural gas imported in 1989. (orig./BWI) [de

  10. Evolution of pyrochlore composition in a carbonatite complex of the Eastern European platform

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nechelyastnov, G.N.; Pozharitskaya, L.K.

    1986-01-01

    X-ray microanalysis is used to study 29 pyrochlore group mineral samples of the East European platform carbonatite complex. Pyrochlore sequential evolution: frm high in tantalum and uranium, passing uranium poor in tantalum to low in tantalum and uranium and also an increased content of iron, manganese, magnesium and lead, is shown. Calcium, niobium, tantalum non-homogeneous distribution in pyrochlore grains is detected. Peculiarities of pyrochlore group mineral composition reflect the effect of specific geologic-structural position of the East European platform carbonatites high depth of formation and intensive development of deformations) on general evolution for pyrochlore of carbonatite complexes and related to it pyrochlore specific nature, in particular, high uranium and low niobium contents

  11. HIV Infection in Migrant Populations in the European Union and European Economic Area in 2007-2012: An Epidemic on the Move.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernando, Victoria; Alvárez-del Arco, Débora; Alejos, Belén; Monge, Susana; Amato-Gauci, Andrew J; Noori, Teymur; Pharris, Anastasia; del Amo, Julia

    2015-10-01

    Migrants are considered a key group at risk for HIV infection. This study describes the epidemiology of HIV and the distribution of late HIV presentation among migrants within the European Union/European Economic Area during 2007-2012. HIV cases reported to European Surveillance System (TESSy) were analyzed. Migrants were defined as people whose geographical origin was different than the reporting country. Multiple logistic regression was used to model late HIV presentation. Overall, 156,817 HIV cases were reported, of which 60,446 (38%) were migrants. Of these, 53% were from Sub-Saharan Africa, 12% from Latin America, 9% from Western Europe, 7% from Central Europe, 5% from South and Southeast Asia, 4% from East Europe, 4% from Caribbean, and 3% from North Africa and Middle East. Male and female migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America had higher odds of late HIV presentation than native men and women. Migrants accounted for 40% of all HIV notifications in 2007 versus 35% in 2012. HIV cases in women from Sub-Saharan Africa decreased from 3725 in 2007 to 2354 in 2012. The number of HIV cases from Latin America peaked in 2010 to decrease thereafter. HIV diagnoses in migrant men who have sex with men increased from 1927 in 2007 to 2459 in 2012. Migrants represent two-fifths of the HIV cases reported and had higher late HIV presentation. HIV epidemic in migrant populations in European Union/European Economic Area member states is changing, probably reflecting the global changes in the HIV pandemic, the impact of large-scale ART implementation, and migration fluctuations secondary to the economic crisis in Europe.

  12. The DSM-5 dissociative-PTSD subtype: can levels of depression, anxiety, hostility, and sleeping difficulties differentiate between dissociative-PTSD and PTSD in rape and sexual assault victims?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armour, Cherie; Elklit, Ask; Lauterbach, Dean; Elhai, Jon D

    2014-05-01

    The DSM-5 currently includes a dissociative-PTSD subtype within its nomenclature. Several studies have confirmed the dissociative-PTSD subtype in both American Veteran and American civilian samples. Studies have begun to assess specific factors which differentiate between dissociative vs. non-dissociative PTSD. The current study takes a novel approach to investigating the presence of a dissociative-PTSD subtype in its use of European victims of sexual assault and rape (N=351). Utilizing Latent Profile Analyses, we hypothesized that a discrete group of individuals would represent a dissociative-PTSD subtype. We additionally hypothesized that levels of depression, anger, hostility, and sleeping difficulties would differentiate dissociative-PTSD from a similarly severe form of PTSD in the absence of dissociation. Results concluded that there were four discrete groups termed baseline, moderate PTSD, high PTSD, and dissociative-PTSD. The dissociative-PTSD group encompassed 13.1% of the sample and evidenced significantly higher mean scores on measures of depression, anxiety, hostility, and sleeping difficulties. Implications are discussed in relation to both treatment planning and the newly published DSM-5. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Interdecadal variations of East Asian summer monsoon northward propagation and influences on summer precipitation over East China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Z.; Yang, S.; He, J.; Li, J.; Liang, J.

    2008-08-01

    The interdecadal variation of northward propagation of the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) and summer precipitation in East China have been investigated using daily surface rainfall from a dense rain gauge network in China for 1957 2001, National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalysis, European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) reanalysis, and Global Mean Sea Level Pressure Dataset (GMSLP2) from Climatic Research Unit (CRU). Results in general show a consistent agreement on the interdecadal variability of EASM northward propagations. However, it appears that the interdecadal variation is stronger in NCEP than in ECMWF and CRU datasets. A newly defined normalized precipitation index (NPI), a 5-day running mean rainfall normalized with its standard deviation, clearly depicts the characteristics of summer rainbelt activities in East China in terms of jumps and durations during its northward propagations. The EASM northward propagation shows a prominent interdecadal variation. EASM before late 1970s had a rapid northward advance and a northern edge beyond its normal position. As a result, more summer rainfall occurred for the North China rainy season, Huaihe-River Mei-Yu, and South China Mei-Yu. In contrast, EASM after late 1970s had a slow northward movement and a northern edge located south of its normal position. Less summer precipitation occurred in East China except in Yangtze River basin. The EASM northernmost position (ENP), northernmost intensity (ENI), and EASM have a complex and good relationship at interdecadal timescales. They have significant influences on interdecadal variation of the large-scale precipitation anomalies in East China.

  14. Subtypes of Patients Experiencing Exacerbations of COPD and Associations with Outcomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arostegui, Inmaculada; Esteban, Cristobal; García-Gutierrez, Susana; Bare, Marisa; Fernández-de-Larrea, Nerea; Briones, Eduardo; Quintana, José M.

    2014-01-01

    Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a complex and heterogeneous condition characterized by occasional exacerbations. Identifying clinical subtypes among patients experiencing COPD exacerbations (ECOPD) could help better understand the pathophysiologic mechanisms involved in exacerbations, establish different strategies of treatment, and improve the process of care and patient prognosis. The objective of this study was to identify subtypes of ECOPD patients attending emergency departments using clinical variables and to validate the results using several outcomes. We evaluated data collected as part of the IRYSS-COPD prospective cohort study conducted in 16 hospitals in Spain. Variables collected from ECOPD patients attending one of the emergency departments included arterial blood gases, presence of comorbidities, previous COPD treatment, baseline severity of COPD, and previous hospitalizations for ECOPD. Patient subtypes were identified by combining results from multiple correspondence analysis and cluster analysis. Results were validated using key outcomes of ECOPD evolution. Four ECOPD subtypes were identified based on the severity of the current exacerbation and general health status (largely a function of comorbidities): subtype A (n = 934), neither high comorbidity nor severe exacerbation; subtype B (n = 682), moderate comorbidities; subtype C (n = 562), severe comorbidities related to mortality; and subtype D (n = 309), very severe process of exacerbation, significantly related to mortality and admission to an intensive care unit. Subtype D experienced the highest rate of mortality, admission to an intensive care unit and need for noninvasive mechanical ventilation, followed by subtype C. Subtypes A and B were primarily related to other serious complications. Hospitalization rate was more than 50% for all the subtypes, although significantly higher for subtypes C and D than for subtypes A and B. These results could help identify

  15. Structure of the Unbound Form of HIV-1 Subtype A Protease: Comparison with Unbound Forms of Proteases from other HIV Subtypes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Robbins, Arthur H.; Coman, Roxana M.; Bracho-Sanchez, Edith; Fernandez, Marty A.; Gilliland, C.Taylor; Li, Mi; Agbandje-McKenna, Mavis; Wlodawer, Alexander; Dunn, Ben M.; McKenna, Robert (NCI); (Florida)

    2010-03-12

    The crystal structure of the unbound form of HIV-1 subtype A protease (PR) has been determined to 1.7 {angstrom} resolution and refined as a homodimer in the hexagonal space group P6{sub 1} to an R{sub cryst} of 20.5%. The structure is similar in overall shape and fold to the previously determined subtype B, C and F PRs. The major differences lie in the conformation of the flap region. The flaps in the crystal structures of the unbound subtype B and C PRs, which were crystallized in tetragonal space groups, are either semi-open or wide open. In the present structure of subtype A PR the flaps are found in the closed position, a conformation that would be more anticipated in the structure of HIV protease complexed with an inhibitor. The amino-acid differences between the subtypes and their respective crystal space groups are discussed in terms of the differences in the flap conformations.

  16. Science's disparate responsibilities: Patterns across European countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mejlgaard, Niels

    2018-04-01

    It is a distinctive feature of European science policy that science is expected to meet economic and broader societal objectives simultaneously. Science should be governed democratically and take significant responsibilities towards the economy, the political system and civil society, but the coherency of these multiple claims is underexplored. Using metrics that emerge from both quantitative and qualitative studies, we examine the interrelatedness of different responsibilities at the level of countries. A total of 33 European Union member states and associated countries are included in the analysis. We find no trade-off between economic and broader societal contributions. Europe is, however, characterised by major divisions in terms of the location of science in society. There is a significant East-West divide, and Europe appears to be far from accomplishing an integrated European Research Area.

  17. Integrative Analysis of Prognosis Data on Multiple Cancer Subtypes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Jin; Huang, Jian; Zhang, Yawei; Lan, Qing; Rothman, Nathaniel; Zheng, Tongzhang; Ma, Shuangge

    2014-01-01

    Summary In cancer research, profiling studies have been extensively conducted, searching for genes/SNPs associated with prognosis. Cancer is diverse. Examining the similarity and difference in the genetic basis of multiple subtypes of the same cancer can lead to a better understanding of their connections and distinctions. Classic meta-analysis methods analyze each subtype separately and then compare analysis results across subtypes. Integrative analysis methods, in contrast, analyze the raw data on multiple subtypes simultaneously and can outperform meta-analysis methods. In this study, prognosis data on multiple subtypes of the same cancer are analyzed. An AFT (accelerated failure time) model is adopted to describe survival. The genetic basis of multiple subtypes is described using the heterogeneity model, which allows a gene/SNP to be associated with prognosis of some subtypes but not others. A compound penalization method is developed to identify genes that contain important SNPs associated with prognosis. The proposed method has an intuitive formulation and is realized using an iterative algorithm. Asymptotic properties are rigorously established. Simulation shows that the proposed method has satisfactory performance and outperforms a penalization-based meta-analysis method and a regularized thresholding method. An NHL (non-Hodgkin lymphoma) prognosis study with SNP measurements is analyzed. Genes associated with the three major subtypes, namely DLBCL, FL, and CLL/SLL, are identified. The proposed method identifies genes that are different from alternatives and have important implications and satisfactory prediction performance. PMID:24766212

  18. European Economic Community/the European energy conference

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1979-03-30

    European Economic Community/the European energy conference (a meeting of the energy ministers of the nine member countries), held at Brussels on 3/27/79, was a continuation of the EEC Council meeting held at Paris on 3/12-13/79. Proposals for measures to be taken by the member countries included support for exploration, especially geophysical prospecting for oil off the east coast of Greenland, at a cost of 3.5 million units of account (UC); modification of the regulations for crude oil distribution among the EEC member countries in case of a supply crisis; a second series of 36 energy-conservation demonstration projects, to cost 15,626,320 UC and be undertaken in 1979-83; and the UK proposal to call for bids on the first series of 17 projects, costing 5,779,000 UC and adopted in Dec. 1978, before discussing the second series. Six of the 36 projects are French; they involve heat pumps and hybrid nuclear-electric vehicles and space-heating systems. A report on the current status of coal projects was given, and problems with fast-breeder reactors were discussed.

  19. Molecular Subtyping of Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum in Lisbon, Portugal▿

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castro, R.; Prieto, E.; Águas, M. J.; Manata, M. J.; Botas, J.; Martins Pereira, F.

    2009-01-01

    The objectives of this study were to evaluate the reproducibility of a molecular method for the subtyping of Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum and to discriminate strains of this microorganism from strains from patients with syphilis. We studied 212 specimens from a total of 82 patients with different stages of syphilis (14 primary, 7 secondary and 61 latent syphilis). The specimens were distributed as follows: genital ulcers (n = 9), skin and mucosal lesions (n = 7), blood (n = 82), plasma (n = 82), and ear lobe scrapings (n = 32). The samples were assayed by a PCR technique to amplify a segment of the polymerase gene I (polA). Positive samples were typed on the basis of the analysis of two variable genes, tpr and arp. Sixty-two of the 90 samples positive for polA yielded typeable Treponema pallidum DNA. All skin lesions in which T. pallidum was identified (six of six [100%]) were found to contain enough DNA for typing of the organism. It was also possible to type DNA from 7/9 (77.7%) genital ulcer samples, 13/22 (59.1%) blood samples, 20/32 (62.5%) plasma samples, and 16/21 (76.2%) ear lobe scrapings. The same subtype was identified in all samples from the same patient. Five molecular subtypes (subtypes 10a, 14a, 14c, 14f, and 14g) were identified, with the most frequently found subtype being subtype 14a and the least frequently found subtype being subtype 10a. In conclusion, the subtyping technique used in this study seems to have good reproducibility. To our knowledge, subtype 10a was identified for the first time. Further studies are needed to explain the presence of this subtype in Portugal, namely, its relationship to the Treponema pallidum strains circulating in the African countries where Portuguese is spoken. PMID:19494073

  20. Skill Content of Intra-European Trade Flows

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zeddies, Goetz

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available In recent decades, the international division of labor has expanded rapidly in the wake of European integration. In this context, especially Western European high-wage countries should have specialized on (human-capital intensively manufactured goods and should have increasingly sourced labor-intensively manufactured goods, especially parts and components, from Eastern European low wage countries. Since this should be beneficial for the high-skilled and harmful to the lower-qualified workforce in high-wage countries, the opening up of Eastern Europe is often considered as a vital reason for increasing unemployment of the lower-qualified in Western Europe. This paper addresses this issue by analyzing the skill content of Western European countries’ bilateral trade using input-output techniques in order to evaluate possible effects of international trade on labor demand. Thereby, differences in factor inputs and production technologies have been considered, allowing for vertical product differentiation. In this case, skill content of bilateral exports and imports partially differs substantially, especially in bilateral trade between Western and Eastern European countries. According to the results, East-West trade should be harmful particularly to the medium-skilled in Western European countries.

  1. Fishing impact and environmental status in European seas: A diagnosis from stock assessments and ecosystem indicators

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gascuel, Didier; Coll, Marta; Fox, Clive

    2016-01-01

    Stock-based and ecosystem-based indicators are used to provide a new diagnosis of the fishing impact and environmental status of European seas. In the seven European marine ecosystems covering the Baltic and the North-east Atlantic, (i) trends in landings since 1950 were examined; (ii) syntheses...

  2. HIV-1 subtype A gag variability and epitope evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abidi, Syed Hani; Kalish, Marcia L; Abbas, Farhat; Rowland-Jones, Sarah; Ali, Syed

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this study was to examine the course of time-dependent evolution of HIV-1 subtype A on a global level, especially with respect to the dynamics of immunogenic HIV gag epitopes. We used a total of 1,893 HIV-1 subtype A gag sequences representing a timeline from 1985 through 2010, and 19 different countries in Africa, Europe and Asia. The phylogenetic relationship of subtype A gag and its epidemic dynamics was analysed through a Maximum Likelihood tree and Bayesian Skyline plot, genomic variability was measured in terms of G → A substitutions and Shannon entropy, and the time-dependent evolution of HIV subtype A gag epitopes was examined. Finally, to confirm observations on globally reported HIV subtype A sequences, we analysed the gag epitope data from our Kenyan, Pakistani, and Afghan cohorts, where both cohort-specific gene epitope variability and HLA restriction profiles of gag epitopes were examined. The most recent common ancestor of the HIV subtype A epidemic was estimated to be 1956 ± 1. A period of exponential growth began about 1980 and lasted for approximately 7 years, stabilized for 15 years, declined for 2-3 years, then stabilized again from about 2004. During the course of evolution, a gradual increase in genomic variability was observed that peaked in 2005-2010. We observed that the number of point mutations and novel epitopes in gag also peaked concurrently during 2005-2010. It appears that as the HIV subtype A epidemic spread globally, changing population immunogenetic pressures may have played a role in steering immune-evolution of this subtype in new directions. This trend is apparent in the genomic variability and epitope diversity of HIV-1 subtype A gag sequences.

  3. HIV-1 subtype A gag variability and epitope evolution.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Syed Hani Abidi

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the course of time-dependent evolution of HIV-1 subtype A on a global level, especially with respect to the dynamics of immunogenic HIV gag epitopes. METHODS: We used a total of 1,893 HIV-1 subtype A gag sequences representing a timeline from 1985 through 2010, and 19 different countries in Africa, Europe and Asia. The phylogenetic relationship of subtype A gag and its epidemic dynamics was analysed through a Maximum Likelihood tree and Bayesian Skyline plot, genomic variability was measured in terms of G → A substitutions and Shannon entropy, and the time-dependent evolution of HIV subtype A gag epitopes was examined. Finally, to confirm observations on globally reported HIV subtype A sequences, we analysed the gag epitope data from our Kenyan, Pakistani, and Afghan cohorts, where both cohort-specific gene epitope variability and HLA restriction profiles of gag epitopes were examined. RESULTS: The most recent common ancestor of the HIV subtype A epidemic was estimated to be 1956 ± 1. A period of exponential growth began about 1980 and lasted for approximately 7 years, stabilized for 15 years, declined for 2-3 years, then stabilized again from about 2004. During the course of evolution, a gradual increase in genomic variability was observed that peaked in 2005-2010. We observed that the number of point mutations and novel epitopes in gag also peaked concurrently during 2005-2010. CONCLUSION: It appears that as the HIV subtype A epidemic spread globally, changing population immunogenetic pressures may have played a role in steering immune-evolution of this subtype in new directions. This trend is apparent in the genomic variability and epitope diversity of HIV-1 subtype A gag sequences.

  4. Central and East European migrant men who have sex with men in London: a comparison of recruitment methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gerry Christopher J

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Following the expansion of the European Union, there has been a large influx of Central and East European (CEE migrants to the UK. CEE men who have sex with men (MSM represent a small minority within this population that are none-the-less important to capture in sexual health research among the CEE migrant community. This paper examines the feasibility of recruiting CEE MSM for a survey of sexual behaviour in London using respondent driven sampling (RDS, via gay websites and in GUM clinics. Methods We sought CEE MSM to start RDS chain referral among GUM clinic attendees, our personal contacts and at gay events and venues in central London. We recruited CEE MSM (n = 485 via two popular websites for gay men in Britain (March-May 2009 and at two central London GUM clinics (n = 51 (July 2008-March 2009. Results We found seventeen men who knew other CEE MSM in London and agreed to recruit contacts into the study. These men recruited only three men into the study, none of whom recruited any further respondents, and RDS was abandoned after 7 months (July 2008-January 2009. Half of the men that we approached to participate in RDS did not know any other CEE MSM in London. Men who agreed to recruit contacts for RDS were rather more likely to have been in the UK for more than one year (94.1% vs 70.0%, p = 0.052. Men recruited through gay websites and from GUM clinics were similar. Conclusions The Internet was the most successful method for collecting data on sexual risk behaviour among CEE MSM in London. CEE MSM in London were not well networked. RDS may also have failed because they did not fully understand the procedure and/or the financial incentive was not sufficient motivation to take part.

  5. Clothing Matters: Asian-African Businessmen in European Suits 1880-1980

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    G. Oonk (Gijsbert)

    2011-01-01

    textabstractSummary Asian businessmen in East Africa supplied goods, services and capital to African, Arabic, Asian and European customers, traders and other businessmen. In this complex cultural environment, they had to choose what to wear on any given what occasion. Expressing dignity, wealth,

  6. European Capitals of Culture: A “soft power” resource for the European Union?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandros Sianos

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Using English-language newspaper articles retrieved from digital repositories, this paper examines the cultural asymmetrical encounter between Western and Eastern Europe after 1989. It argues that due to the rise of the Iron Curtain after 1948 and the post-war progress of the Western European integration project after 1950, the idea of “Europe” was confined to the West until 1989. After 1989, however, the Eastern European nations were free to “return to Europe”, and in order to do so they followed the “reference model” of the West. The paper takes the institution of the European Capital of Culture (ECOC as a case study and demonstrates how both Western and Eastern European cities used the ECOC title as a gateway to modernity, why it acquired an extra functionality in the East as a stage where they could showcase their “European” credentials, and how it gradually developed into one of the E.U.’s “soft power” resources.

  7. Epidemic dynamics of two coexisting hepatitis C virus subtypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiménez-Hernández, Nuria; Torres-Puente, Manuela; Bracho, Maria Alma; García-Robles, Inmaculada; Ortega, Enrique; del Olmo, Juan; Carnicer, Fernando; González-Candelas, Fernando; Moya, Andrés

    2007-01-01

    Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection affects about 3% of the human population. Phylogenetic analyses have grouped its variants into six major genotypes, which have a star-like distribution and several minor subtypes. The most abundant genotype in Europe is the so-called genotype 1, with two prevalent subtypes, 1a and 1b. In order to explain the higher prevalence of subtype 1b over 1a, a large-scale sequence analysis (100 virus clones) has been carried out over 25 patients of both subtypes in two regions of the HCV genome: one comprising hypervariable region 1 and another including the interferon sensitivity-determining region. Neither polymorphism analysis nor molecular variance analysis (attending to intra- and intersubtype differences, age, sex and previous history of antiviral treatment) was able to show any particular difference between subtypes that might account for their different prevalence. Only the demographic history of the populations carrying both subtypes and analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) for risk practice suggested that the route of transmission may be the most important factor to explain the observed difference.

  8. Heterogeneity of muscarinic receptor subtypes in cerebral blood vessels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garcia-Villalon, A.L.; Krause, D.N.; Ehlert, F.J.; Duckles, S.P.

    1991-01-01

    The identity and distribution of muscarinic cholinergic receptor subtypes and associated signal transduction mechanisms was characterized for the cerebral circulation using correlated functional and biochemical investigations. Subtypes were distinguished by the relative affinities of a panel of muscarinic antagonists, pirenzepine, AF-DX 116 [11-2-[[2-[diethylaminomethyl]- 1-piperidinyl]acetyl]-5,11-dihydro-6H- pyrido[2,3-b][1,4]benzodiazepine-6-one], hexahydrosiladifenidol, methoctramine, 4-diphenylacetoxy-N-methylpiperidine methobromide, dicyclomine, para-fluoro-hexahydrosiladifenidol and atropine. Muscarinic receptors characterized by inhibition of [3H]quinuclidinylbenzilate binding in membranes of bovine pial arteries were of the M2 subtype. In contrast pharmacological analysis of [3H]-quinuclidinylbenzilate binding in bovine intracerebral microvessels suggests the presence of an M4 subtype. Receptors mediating endothelium-dependent vasodilation in rabbit pial arteries were of the M3 subtype, whereas muscarinic receptors stimulating endothelium-independent phosphoinositide hydrolysis in bovine pial arteries were of the M1 subtype. These findings suggest that characteristics of muscarinic receptors in cerebral blood vessels vary depending on the type of vessel, cellular location and function mediated

  9. Marketing approaches at European level – The case of Southern-European countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bianca TESCAŞIU

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The specialization of Marketing refers not only on specific focus on some domains, but, also, to its adaptation on regional issues. During the globalization process, marketers adapted their activity to new trends, such as: standardization, integrated distribution, production transfer, comparative advantage, etc. The common aspects of some regional markets determined the marketers to approach differently some homogeneous regions in the World economy. In this sense, the article intends to establish the main differences and the common aspects of a very important area in the European economy – The South East of Europe.

  10. Retinal Ganglion Cell Diversity and Subtype Specification from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kirstin B. Langer

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Summary: Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs are the projection neurons of the retina and transmit visual information to postsynaptic targets in the brain. While this function is shared among nearly all RGCs, this class of cell is remarkably diverse, comprised of multiple subtypes. Previous efforts have identified numerous RGC subtypes in animal models, but less attention has been paid to human RGCs. Thus, efforts of this study examined the diversity of RGCs differentiated from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs and characterized defined subtypes through the expression of subtype-specific markers. Further investigation of these subtypes was achieved using single-cell transcriptomics, confirming the combinatorial expression of molecular markers associated with these subtypes, and also provided insight into more subtype-specific markers. Thus, the results of this study describe the derivation of RGC subtypes from hPSCs and will support the future exploration of phenotypic and functional diversity within human RGCs. : In this article, Langer and colleagues present extensive characterization of RGC subtypes derived from human pluripotent stem cells, with multiple subtypes identified by subtype-specific molecular markers. Their results present a more detailed analysis of RGC diversity in human cells and yield the use of different markers to identify RGC subtypes. Keywords: iPSC, retina, retinal ganglion cell, RGC subtype, stem cell, ipRGC, alpha RGC, direction selective RGC, RNA-seq

  11. Average level of satisfaction in 10 European countries: explanation of differences

    OpenAIRE

    Veenhoven, Ruut

    1996-01-01

    textabstractABSTRACT Surveys in 10 European nations assessed satisfaction with life-as-a-whole and satisfaction with three life-domains (finances, housing, social contacts). Average satisfaction differs markedly across countries. Both satisfaction with life-as-a-whole and satisfaction with life-domains are highest in North-Western Europe, medium in Southern Europe and lowest in the East-European nations. Cultural measurement bias is unlikely to be involved. The country differences in average ...

  12. Pulmonary Emphysema Subtypes on Computed Tomography in Smokers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Benjamin M.; Austin, John H.M.; Newell, John D.; D’Souza, Belinda M.; Rozenshtein, Anna; Hoffman, Eric A.; Ahmed, Firas; Barr, R. Graham

    2013-01-01

    Background Pulmonary emphysema is divided into three major subtypes at autopsy: centrilobular, paraseptal and panlobular emphysema. These subtypes can be defined by visual assessment on computed tomography (CT); however, clinical characteristics of emphysema subtypes on CT are not well-defined. We developed a reliable approach to visual assessment of emphysema subtypes on CT and examined if emphysema subtypes have distinct characteristics. Methods The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis COPD Study recruited smokers with COPD and controls age 50–79 years with ≥10 pack-years. Participants underwent CT following a standardized protocol. Definitions of centrilobular, paraseptal and panlobular emphysema were obtained by literature review. Six-minute walk distance and pulmonary function were performed following guidelines. Results Twenty-seven percent of 318 smokers had emphysema on CT. Inter-rater reliability of emphysema subtype was substantial (K:0.70). Compared to participants without emphysema, individuals with centrilobular or panlobular emphysema had greater dyspnea, reduced walk distance, greater hyperinflation, and lower diffusing capacity. In contrast, individuals with PSE were similar to controls, except for male predominance. Centrilobular but not panlobular or paraseptal emphysema was associated with greater smoking history (+21 pack-years Pemphysema was associated with reduced body mass index (−5 kg/m2;P=0.01). Other than for dyspnea, these findings were independent of the forced expiratory volume in one second. Seventeen percent of smokers without COPD on spirometry had emphysema, which was independently associated with reduced walk distance. Conclusions Emphysema subtypes on CT are common in smokers with and without COPD. Centrilobular and panlobular emphysema but not paraseptal emphysema have considerable symptomatic and physiological consequences. PMID:24384106

  13. East-West gradient in the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease in Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Burisch, J.; Pedersen, N; Cukovic-Cavka, S

    2014-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is increasing in Eastern Europe. The reasons for these changes remain unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate whether an East-West gradient in the incidence of IBD in Europe exists. DESIGN: A prospective, uniformly diagnosed...... treatment as rescue therapy. Of all European CD patients, 20% received only 5-aminosalicylates as induction therapy. CONCLUSIONS: An East-West gradient in IBD incidence exists in Europe. Among this inception cohort-including indolent and aggressive cases-international guidelines for diagnosis and initial...

  14. Risk group characteristics and viral transmission clusters in South-East Asian patients infected with HIV-1 circulating recombinant form (CRF)01_AE and subtype B

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oyomopito, Rebecca A; Chen, Yen-Ju; Sungkanuparph, Somnuek; Kantor, Rami; Merati, Tuti; Yam, Wing-Cheong; Sirisanthana, Thira; Li, Patrick CK; Kantipong, Pacharee; Phanuphak, Praphan; Lee, Chris KC; Kamarulzaman, Adeeba; Ditangco, Rossana; Huang, Szu-Wei; Sohn, Annette H; Law, Matthew; Chen, Yi Ming A

    2016-01-01

    HIV-1 epidemics in Asian countries are driven by varying exposures. The epidemiology of the regional pandemic has been changing with the spread of HIV-1 to lower-risk populations through sexual transmission. Common HIV-1 genotypes include subtype B and circulating recombinant form (CRF)01_AE. Our objective was to use HIV-1 genotypic data to better quantify local epidemics. TASER-M is a multi-centre prospective cohort of HIV-infected patients. Associations between HIV-exposure, patient gender, country of sample origin and HIV-1 genotype were evaluated by multivariate logistic regression. Phylogenetic methods were used on genotypic data to investigate transmission relationships. A total of 1086 patients from Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Philippines were included in analyses. Proportions of males within countries varied (Thailand: 55.6%, Hong Kong: 86.1%, Malaysia: 81.4%, Philippines: 93.8%; p Malaysia: 47.8%, Philippines: 25.0%; p <0.001). After adjustment, we found increased subtype B infection among men-who-have-sex with-men, relative to heterosexual-reported exposures (OR = 2.4, p <0.001). We further describe four transmission clusters of 8–15 treatment naive, predominantly symptomatic patients (two each for subtype B and CRF01_AE). Risk-group sub-populations differed with respect to the infecting HIV-1 genotype. Homosexual exposure patients had a higher odds of being infected with subtype B. Where HIV-1 genotypes circulate within countries or patient risk-groups, local monitoring of genotype-specific transmissions may play a role in focussing public health prevention strategies. Phylogenetic evaluations provide complementary information for surveillance and monitoring of viruses with high mutation rates such as HIV-1 and Ebola. PMID:26362956

  15. Subtypes of depression in cancer patients : An empirically driven approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhu, Lei; Ranchor, Adelita V; van der Lee, Marije; Garssen, Bert; Sanderman, Robbert; Schroevers, Maya J

    PURPOSE: This study aimed to (1) identify subgroups of cancer patients with distinct subtypes of depression before the start of psychological care, (2) examine whether socio-demographic and medical characteristics distinguished these subtypes, and (3) examine whether people with distinct subtypes

  16. Subtypes of depression in cancer patients: an empirically driven approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhu, Lei; Ranchor, A.V.; van der Lee, Marije; Garssen, Bert; Sanderman, Robbert; Schroevers, Maya J.

    2016-01-01

    Purpose This study aimed to (1) identify subgroups of cancer patients with distinct subtypes of depression before the start of psychological care, (2) examine whether socio-demographic and medical characteristics distinguished these subtypes, and (3) examine whether people with distinct subtypes

  17. European biofuel policies in retrospect

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Thuijl, E.; Deurwaarder, E.P.

    2006-05-01

    Despite the benefits of the production and use of biofuels in the fields of agriculture, security of energy supply and the environment, in India and surrounding countries, the barriers to the use of biofuels are still substantial. The project ProBios (Promotion of Biofuels for Sustainable Development in South and South East Asia) aims at promoting biofuels in the view of sustainable development in the Southern and South eastern Asian countries. The first stage of this project concerns a study, which will provide a thorough review of the complicated and sector-overarching issue of biofuels in India and surrounding countries. This report describes past experiences with the policy context for a selection of EU countries, with the purpose of identifying conclusions from the European experience that may be valuable for Indian and South East Asian policy makers and other biofuels stakeholders

  18. Migrant crisis and strengthening of the right wing in the European Union

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ratković Milijana

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Migrant crisis, slow economic growth and growing disillusionment with the European Union led to strengthening of far-right parties that have achieved electoral success in a number of European countries. The collapse of the national economy has created a huge number of unemployed. New problems such as migrant crisis foster instability in the EU particularly due to the terrorist acts (Paris, Brussels and other forms of violence (Cologne, Vienna that involved migrants from the Middle East. What could represent the biggest problem is the ability of the European radical right parties to constitute it on the joint basis regardless different political backgrounds. The Alliance of European National Movements was formed in Budapest in 2009. Migrant crisis underlined divisions within the European Union, which led to the radicalization of European political scene.

  19. Evidence of multiple introductions of HIV-1 subtype C in Angola.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Afonso, Joana Morais; Morgado, Mariza G; Bello, Gonzalo

    2012-10-01

    HIV-1 subtype C is the most prevalent group M clade in southern Africa and some eastern African countries. Subtype C is also the most frequent subtype in Angola (southwestern Africa), with an estimated prevalence of 10-20%. In order to better understand the origin of the HIV-1 subtype C strains circulating in Angola, 31 subtype C pol sequences of Angolan origin were compared with 1950 subtype C pol sequences sampled in other African countries. Phylogenetic analyses reveal that the Angolan subtype C sequences were distributed in 16 different lineages that were widely dispersed among other African strains. Ten subtype C Angolan lineages were composed by only one sequence, while the remaining six clades contain between two and seven sequences. Bayesian phylogeographic analysis indicates that most Angolan clades probably originated in different southern African countries with the exception of one lineage that most likely originated in Burundi. Evolutionary analysis suggests that those Angolan subtype C clades composed by ≥ 2 sequences were introduced into the country between the late 1970s and the mid 2000s. The median estimated time frame for the origin of those Angolan lineages coincides with periods of positive migration influx in Angola that were preceded by phases of negative migratory outflow. These results demonstrate that the Angolan subtype C epidemic resulted from multiple introductions of subtype C viruses mainly imported from southern African countries over the last 30years, some of which have been locally disseminated establishing several autochthonous transmission networks. This study also suggests that population mobility between Angola and southern African countries during civil war (1974-2002) may have played a key role in the emergence of the Angolan subtype C epidemic. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Oppositional defiant disorder dimensions and subtypes among detained male adolescent offenders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aebi, Marcel; Barra, Steffen; Bessler, Cornelia; Steinhausen, Hans-Christoph; Walitza, Susanne; Plattner, Belinda

    2016-06-01

    In adolescent offenders, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and its dimensions/subtypes have been frequently ignored due to the stronger focus on criminal behaviours. The revised criteria of the DSM-5 now allow diagnosing ODD in older youths independent of conduct disorder (CD). This study aimed at analysing ODD dimensions/subtypes and their relation to suicidality, comorbid psychiatric disorders, and criminal behaviours after release from detention in a sample of detained male adolescents. Suicidality and psychiatric disorders (including ODD symptoms) were assessed in a consecutive sample of 158 male adolescents (Mage  = 16.89 years) from the Zurich Juvenile Detention Centre. Based on previous research findings, an irritable ODD dimension and a defiant/vindictive ODD dimension based on ODD symptoms were defined. Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was used to identify distinct subtypes of adolescent offenders according to their ODD symptom profiles. Logistic regression and Cox regression were used to analyse the relations of ODD dimensions/ODD subtypes to comorbid psychopathology and criminal reoffenses from official data. The ODD-irritable dimension, but not the ODD defiant/vindictive dimension predicted comorbid anxiety, suicidality and violent reoffending. LCA identified four subtypes, namely, a no-ODD subtype, a severe ODD subtype and two moderate ODD subtypes with either defiant or irritable symptoms. The irritable ODD subtype and the severe ODD subtype were related to suicidality and comorbid affective/anxiety disorders. The irritable ODD subtype was the strongest predictor of criminal (violent) reoffending even when controlling for CD. The present findings confirm the presence of ODD dimensions/subtypes in a highly disturbed adolescent offender sample. Irritable youths were at risk of suicide and persistent criminal behaviours. Due to the severe consequences of irritability, a standardized assessment approach and a specific treatment is needed in prison to

  1. Ethnic differences in ischemic stroke subtypes in young-onset stroke: the Stroke Prevention in Young Adults Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trivedi, Megh M; Ryan, Kathleen A; Cole, John W

    2015-10-29

    Prior studies indicate that young African-Americans (AA) have a greater frequency of ischemic stroke than similarly aged European-Americans (EA). We hypothesized that differences in stroke subtype frequency mediated through sex and differing risk factor profiles may play a role in ethnicity-specific stroke. Utilizing our biracial young-onset stroke population, we explored these relationships. Fifty nine hospitals in the Baltimore-Washington area participated in a population-based study of young-onset stroke in men (218-AA, 291-EA) and women (219-AA, 222-EA) aged 16-49. Data on age, sex, ethnicity and stroke risk factors (hypertension (HTN) and smoking) were gathered through standardized interview. A pair of vascular neurologists adjudicated each case to determine TOAST subtype. Logistic regression analyses evaluating for differences in stroke risk factors by TOAST subtype were performed. Analyses controlling for age and sex demonstrated that AA were more likely to have a lacunar stroke than EA (OR = 1.61; 95% CI = 1.12-2.32; p = 0.011) when utilizing the other TOAST subtypes as the reference group. This effect was mediated by HTN, which increases the risk of lacunar stroke (OR = 2.03; 95% CI = 1.38-2.98; p = 0.0003) and large artery stroke (OR = 1.70; 95% CI = 1.01-2.88; p = 0.048) when controlling for sex, ethnicity, and age. Cases below age 40 were more likely to have a cardioembolic stroke than those above age 40 (OR = 1.62; 95% CI = 1.15-2.27; p = 0.006), controlling for sex and ethnicity. Lastly, current smokers were more likely to have a large artery stroke than non-smokers (OR = 1.79; 95% CI = 1.08-2.98; p = 0.024). Our population-based data demonstrate ethnic differences in ischemic stroke subtypes. These findings may help clarify mechanisms of stroke in young adults which may in part be driven by ethnic-specific differences in early-onset traditional risk factors, thereby indicating differing emphasis on workup and prevention.

  2. Strategies for subtyping influenza viruses circulating in the Danish pig population

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Breum, Solvej Østergaard; Hjulsager, Charlotte Kristiane; Trebbien, Ramona

    2010-01-01

    in the Danish pig population functional and rapid subtyping assays are required. The conventional RT-PCR influenza subtyping assays developed by Chiapponi et al. (2003) have been implemented and used for typing of influenza viruses found positive in a pan influenza A real time RT-PCR assay. The H1 and N1 assays......Influenza viruses are endemic in the Danish pig population and the dominant circulating subtypes are H1N1, a Danish H1N2 reassortant, and H3N2. Here we present our current and future strategies for influenza virus subtyping. For diagnostic and surveillance of influenza subtypes circulating...... were specific when applied on Danish influenza positive samples, whereas the N2 assay consistently showed several unspecific PCR products. A subset of positive influenza samples detected by the real time RT-PCR screening assay could not be subtyped using these assays. Therefore, new influenza subtyping...

  3. Genetic and biological characterisation of an avian-like H1N2 swine influenza virus generated by reassortment of circulating avian-like H1N1 and H3N2 subtypes in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Trebbien, Ramona; Bragstad, Karoline; Larsen, Lars Erik

    2013-01-01

    BACKGROUND: The influenza A virus subtypes H1N1, H1N2 and H3N2 are the most prevalent subtypes in swine. In 2003, a reassorted H1N2 swine influenza virus (SIV) subtype appeared and became prevalent in Denmark. In the present study, the reassortant H1N2 subtype was characterised genetically...... and the infection dynamics compared to an “avian-like” H1N1 virus by an experimental infection study. METHODS: Sequence analyses were performed of the H1N2 virus. Two groups of pigs were inoculated with the reassortant H1N2 virus and an “avian-like” H1N1 virus, respectively, followed by inoculation...... with the opposite subtype four weeks later. Measurements of HI antibodies and acute phase proteins were performed. Nasal virus excretion and virus load in lungs were determined by real-time RT-PCR. RESULTS: The phylogenetic analysis revealed that the reassorted H1N2 virus contained a European “avian-like” H1-gene...

  4. Evidence of ancient DNA reveals the first European lineage in Iron Age Central China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, C Z; Li, C X; Cui, Y Q; Zhang, Q C; Fu, Y Q; Zhu, H; Zhou, H

    2007-07-07

    Various studies on ancient DNA have attempted to reconstruct population movement in Asia, with much interest focused on determining the arrival of European lineages in ancient East Asia. Here, we discuss our analysis of the mitochondrial DNA of human remains excavated from the Yu Hong tomb in Taiyuan, China, dated 1400 years ago. The burial style of this tomb is characteristic of Central Asia at that time. Our analysis shows that Yu Hong belonged to the haplogroup U5, one of the oldest western Eurasian-specific haplogroups, while his wife can be classified as haplogroup G, the type prevalent in East Asia. Our findings show that this man with European lineage arrived in Taiyuan approximately 1400 years ago, and most probably married a local woman. Haplogroup U5 was the first west Eurasian-specific lineage to be found in the central part of ancient China, and Taiyuan may be the easternmost location of the discovered remains of European lineage in ancient China.

  5. Neurocognitive Impairments Are More Severe in the Binge-Eating/Purging Anorexia Nervosa Subtype Than in the Restricting Subtype.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamiya, Hiroko; Ouchi, Atushi; Chen, Runshu; Miyazawa, Shiho; Akimoto, Yoritaka; Kaneda, Yasuhiro; Sora, Ichiro

    2018-01-01

    Objective: To evaluate cognitive function impairment in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) of either the restricting (ANR) or binge-eating/purging (ANBP) subtype. Method: We administered the Japanese version of the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery to 22 patients with ANR, 18 patients with ANBP, and 69 healthy control subjects. Our participants were selected from among the patients at the Kobe University Hospital and community residents. Results: Compared to the healthy controls, the ANR group had significantly lower visual learning and social cognition scores, and the ANBP group had significantly lower processing speed, attention/vigilance, visual learning, reasoning/problem-solving, and social cognition scores. Compared to the ANR group, the ANBP group had significantly lower attention/vigilance scores. Discussion: The AN subtypes differed in cognitive function impairments. Participants with ANBP, which is associated with higher mortality rates than ANR, exhibited greater impairment severities, especially in the attention/vigilance domain, confirming the presence of impairments in continuous concentration. This may relate to the impulsivity, an ANBP characteristic reported in the personality research. Future studies can further clarify the cognitive impairments of each subtype by addressing the subtype cognitive functions and personality characteristics.

  6. Superficial basal cell carcinoma: A comparison of superficial only subtype with superficial combined with other subtypes by age, sex and anatomic site in 3150 cases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pyne, John H; Myint, Esther; Barr, Elizabeth M; Clark, Simon P; David, Michael; Na, Renua; Hou, Ruihang

    2017-08-01

    Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) may present as superficial subtype alone (sBCC) or superficial combined with other subtypes. The objective of this study was to compare sBCC without or with other BCC subtypes by age, sex and anatomic site. We retrospectively collected superficial BCC with the above characteristics from an Australian center during 2009 to 2014. We recorded 1528 sBCC and 1622 superficial BCC combined with other BCC subtype cases. Males numbered 2007 and females 1140. On males, head sites (forehead, cheek, nose and ear combined) compared to limb plus trunk sites displayed a higher incidence of superficial BCC combined with either nodular and or aggressive BCC subtypes (OR 13.15 CI 95% 8.9-19.5 P < .0001). On females a similar comparison also found a higher incidence of superficial BCC combined with solid subtype BCC on head sites compared to trunk and limb sites (OR 9.66 CI 95% 5.8-16.1 P < .0001). Superficial BCC alone is more likely on younger females on trunk and limb sites. Small partial biopsies reported as sBCC may miss other BCC subtypes present with higher risk on facial sites for males and females. Males had smaller proportions of superficial only subtype BCC on facial and ear sites compared to females. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  7. The Region of Difference Four is a Robust Genetic Marker for Subtyping Mycobacterium caprae Isolates and is Linked to Spatial Distribution of Three Subtypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rettinger, A; Broeckl, S; Fink, M; Prodinger, W M; Blum, H; Krebs, S; Domogalla, J; Just, F; Gellert, S; Straubinger, R K; Büttner, M

    2017-06-01

    Alpine Mycobacterium caprae isolates found in cattle and red deer display at least three genetic variations in the region of difference four (RD4) that can be used for further differentiation of the isolates into the subtypes 'Allgäu', 'Karwendel' and 'Lechtal'. Each genomic subtype is thereby characterized by a specific nucleotide deletion pattern in the 12.7-kb RD4 region. Even though M. caprae infections are frequently documented in cattle and red deer, little is known about the transmission routes. Hence, robust markers for M. caprae subtyping are needed to gain insight into the molecular epidemiology. For this reason, a rapid and robust multiplex PCR was developed for the simultaneous detection of three M. caprae RD4 subtypes and was used to subtype a total number of 241 M. caprae isolates from animals (145 cattle, 95 red deer and one fox) from Bavaria and Austria. All three subtypes occur spatially distributed and are found in cattle and in red deer suggesting transmission between the two species. As subtypes are genetically stable in both species it is hypothesized that the described genetic variations developed within the host due to 'within-host replication'. The results of this study recommend the genomic RD4 region as a reliable diagnostic marker for M. caprae subtype differentiation. © 2015 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  8. Appearance of reassortant European avian-origin H1 influenza A viruses of swine in Vietnam.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takemae, N; Nguyen, P T; Le, V T; Nguyen, T N; To, T L; Nguyen, T D; Pham, V P; Vo, H V; Le, Q V T; Do, H T; Nguyen, D T; Uchida, Y; Saito, T

    2018-03-06

    Three subtypes-H1N1, H1N2 and H3N2-of influenza A viruses of swine (IAVs-S) are currently endemic in swine worldwide, but there is considerable genotypic diversity among each subtype and limited geographical distribution. Through IAVs-S monitoring in Vietnam, two H1N2 influenza A viruses were isolated from healthy pigs in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, Southern Vietnam, on 2 December 2016. BLAST and phylogenetic analyses revealed that their HA and NA genes were derived from those of European avian-like H1N2 IAVs-S that contained avian-origin H1 and human-like N2 genes, and were particularly closely related to those of IAVs-S circulating in the Netherlands, Germany or Denmark. In addition, the internal genes of these Vietnamese isolates were derived from human A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses, suggesting that the Vietnamese H1N2 IAVs-S are reassortants between European H1N2 IAVs-S and human A(H1N1)pdm09v. The appearance of European avian-like H1N2 IAVs-S in Vietnam marks their first transmission outside Europe. Our results and statistical analyses of the number of live pigs imported into Vietnam suggest that the European avian-like H1N2 IAVs-S may have been introduced into Vietnam with their hosts through international trade. These findings highlight the importance of quarantining imported pigs to impede the introduction of new IAVs-S. © 2018 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  9. HIV subtype, epidemiological and mutational correlations in patients from Paraná, Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, Monica Maria Gomes da; Telles, Flavio Queiroz; da Cunha, Clovis Arns; Rhame, Frank S

    2010-01-01

    Analyze patients with HIV infection from Curitiba, Paraná, their epidemiological characteristics and HIV RAM. Patients regularly followed in an ID Clinic had their medical data evaluated and cases of virological failure were analyzed with genotypic report. Patients with complete medical charts were selected (n = 191). Demographic and clinical characteristics were compared. One hundred thirty two patients presented with subtype B infection (69.1%), 41 subtype C (21.5%), 10 subtype F (5.2%), 7 BF (3.7%) and 1 CF (0.5%). Patients with subtype B infection had been diagnosed earlier than patients with subtype non-B. Also, subtype B infection was more frequent in men who have sex with men, while non-B subtypes occurred more frequently in heterosexuals and women. Patients with previous history of three classes of ARVs (n = 161) intake were selected to evaluate resistance. For RT inhibitors, 41L and 210W were more frequently observed in subtype B than in non-B strains. No differences between subtypes and mutations were observed to NNTRIs. Mutations at 10, 32 and 63 position of protease were more observed in subtype B viruses than non-B, while positions 20 and 36 of showed more amino acid substitutions in subtype non-B viruses. Patients with history of NFV intake were evaluated to resistance pathway. The 90M pathway was more frequent in subtypes B and non-B. Mutations previously reported as common in non-B viruses, such as 65R and 106M, were uncommon in our study. Mutations 63P and 36I, previously reported as common in HIV-1 subtypes B and C from Brazil, respectively, were common. There is a significant frequency of HIV-1 non-B infections in Paraná state, with isolates classified as subtypes C, F, BF and BC. Patients with subtype C infection were more frequently female, heterosexual and had a longer average time of HIV diagnosis.

  10. HIV subtype, epidemiological and mutational correlations in patients from Paraná, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Monica Maria Gomes da Silva

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: Analyze patients with HIV infection from Curitiba, Paraná, their epidemiological characteristics and HIV RAM. METHODS: Patients regularly followed in an ID Clinic had their medical data evaluated and cases of virological failure were analyzed with genotypic report. RESULTS: Patients with complete medical charts were selected (n = 191. Demographic and clinical characteristics were compared. One hundred thirty two patients presented with subtype B infection (69.1%, 41 subtype C (21.5%, 10 subtype F (5.2%, 7 BF (3.7% and 1 CF (0.5%. Patients with subtype B infection had been diagnosed earlier than patients with subtype non-B. Also, subtype B infection was more frequent in men who have sex with men, while non-B subtypes occurred more frequently in heterosexuals and women. Patients with previous history of three classes of ARVs (n = 161 intake were selected to evaluate resistance. For RT inhibitors, 41L and 210W were more frequently observed in subtype B than in non-B strains. No differences between subtypes and mutations were observed to NNTRIs. Mutations at 10, 32 and 63 position of protease were more observed in subtype B viruses than non-B, while positions 20 and 36 of showed more amino acid substitutions in subtype non-B viruses. Patients with history of NFV intake were evaluated to resistance pathway. The 90M pathway was more frequent in subtypes B and non-B. Mutations previously reported as common in non-B viruses, such as 65R and 106M, were uncommon in our study. Mutations 63P and 36I, previously reported as common in HIV-1 subtypes B and C from Brazil, respectively, were common. CONCLUSION: There is a significant frequency of HIV-1 non-B infections in Paraná state, with isolates classified as subtypes C, F, BF and BC. Patients with subtype C infection were more frequently female, heterosexual and had a longer average time of HIV diagnosis

  11. Assessing the genetic architecture of epithelial ovarian cancer histological subtypes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cuellar-Partida, Gabriel; Lu, Yi; Dixon, Suzanne C

    2016-01-01

    studies show that certain genetic variants confer susceptibility to all subtypes while other variants are subtype-specific. Here, we perform an extensive analysis of the genetic architecture of EOC subtypes. To this end, we used data of 10,014 invasive EOC patients and 21,233 controls from the Ovarian...

  12. Sensory Subtypes in Preschool Aged Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomchek, Scott D; Little, Lauren M; Myers, John; Dunn, Winnie

    2018-06-01

    Given the heterogeneity of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), research has investigated how sensory features elucidate subtypes that enhance our understanding of etiology and tailored treatment approaches. Previous studies, however, have not integrated core developmental behaviors with sensory features in investigations of subtypes in ASD. Therefore, we used latent profile analysis to examine subtypes in a preschool aged sample considering sensory processing patterns in combination with social-communication skill, motor performance, and adaptive behavior. Results showed four subtypes that differed by degree and quality of sensory features, age and differential presentation of developmental skills. Findings partially align with previous literature on sensory subtypes and extends our understanding of how sensory processing aligns with other developmental domains in young children with ASD.

  13. Pathological Gambling Subtypes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vachon, David D.; Bagby, R. Michael

    2009-01-01

    Although pathological gambling (PG) is regarded in the 4th edition of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) as a unitary diagnostic construct, it is likely composed of distinct subtypes. In the current report, the authors used cluster analyses of personality traits with a…

  14. Distinct molecular subtypes of uterine leiomyosarcoma respond differently to chemotherapy treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    An, Yang; Wang, Shuzhen; Li, Songlin; Zhang, Lulu; Wang, Dayong; Wang, Haojie; Zhu, Shibai; Zhu, Wan; Li, Yongqiang; Chen, Wenwu; Ji, Shaoping; Guo, Xiangqian

    2017-09-11

    Uterine leiomyosarcoma (ULMS) is an aggressive form of soft tissue tumors. The molecular heterogeneity and pathogenesis of ULMS are not well understood. Expression profiling data were used to determine the possibility and optimal number of ULMS molecular subtypes. Next, clinicopathological characters and molecular pathways were analyzed in each subtype to prospect the clinical applications and progression mechanisms of ULMS. Two distinct molecular subtypes of ULMS were defined based on different gene expression signatures. Subtype I ULMS recapitulated low-grade ULMS, the gene expression pattern of which resembled normal smooth muscle cells, characterized by overexpression of smooth muscle function genes such as LMOD1, SLMAP, MYLK, MYH11. In contrast, subtype II ULMS recapitulated high-grade ULMS with higher tumor weight and invasion rate, and was characterized by overexpression of genes involved in the pathway of epithelial to mesenchymal transition and tumorigenesis, such as CDK6, MAPK13 and HOXA1. We identified two distinct molecular subtypes of ULMS responding differently to chemotherapy treatment. Our findings provide a better understanding of ULMS intrinsic molecular subtypes, and will potentially facilitate the development of subtype-specific diagnosis biomarkers and therapy strategies for these tumors.

  15. Difference of achalasia subtypes based on clinical symptoms, radiographic findings, and stasis scores

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Meillier

    2018-01-01

    Conclusions: Achalasia subtypes had similar clinical symptoms, except for increased vomiting severity in subtype i. The maximum esophageal diameter in subtype ii was significantly greater than in subtype iii. Esophageal stasis scores were similar. Thus, high-resolution esophageal manometry remains essential in assessing achalasia subtypes.

  16. Is the east-west power bridge economic?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1996-01-01

    At the latest conference of the East-West Energy Bridge project in Warsaw on October 24-25, 1995, the majority opinion concluded that the vast trans-European hvdc network proposed for operation in 2010 could be economically financed and operated in spite of reservations by some German utilities. Anatoliy Dyakov, president of the Russian UPS (Unified Power System), recently said that Russia would shortly start building the line from Smolensk to Kaliningrad as the first stage of this project. (author)

  17. Tubal ligation and risk of ovarian cancer subtypes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sieh, Weiva; Salvador, Shannon; McGuire, Valerie

    2013-01-01

    Tubal ligation is a protective factor for ovarian cancer, but it is unknown whether this protection extends to all invasive histological subtypes or borderline tumors. We undertook an international collaborative study to examine the association between tubal ligation and ovarian cancer subtypes....

  18. Subtyping pathological gamblers based on impulsivity, depression, and anxiety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ledgerwood, David M; Petry, Nancy M

    2010-12-01

    This study examined putative subtypes of pathological gamblers (PGs) based on the Pathways model, and it also evaluated whether the subtypes would benefit differentially from treatment. Treatment-seeking PGs (N = 229) were categorized into Pathways subtypes based on scores from questionnaires assessing anxiety, depression, and impulsivity. The Addiction Severity Index-Gambling assessed severity of gambling problems at baseline, posttreatment, and 12-month follow-up. Compared with behaviorally conditioned (BC) gamblers, emotionally vulnerable (EV) gamblers had higher psychiatric and gambling severity, and were more likely to have a parent with a psychiatric history. Antisocial impulsive (AI) gamblers also had elevated gambling and psychiatric severity relative to BC gamblers. They were more likely to have antisocial personality disorder and had the highest legal and family/social severity scores. They were also most likely to have a history of substance abuse treatment, history of inpatient psychiatric treatment, and a parent with a substance use or gambling problem. AI and EV gamblers experienced greater gambling severity throughout treatment than BC gamblers, but all three subtypes demonstrated similar patterns of treatment response. Thus, the three Pathways subtypes differ on some baseline characteristics, but subtyping did not predict treatment outcomes beyond a simple association with problem gambling severity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

  19. East-African Social Sciences and Humanities Publishing: A Handmade Bibliometrics Approach

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schmidt, N

    2016-07-01

    For Eastern Africa, very little information about the SSH knowledge production can be found from a European perspective. Adequate indicators like information-rich bibliographic databases that cover East-Africa-based journals and book publishers are lacking. This research in progress explores their indexing situation in detail, their development, which is closely connected to political history, their (non-)usage, and affiliations as well as careerstages of their authors. Furthermore, it also pays attention to East-Africa-based SSH researchers who use other publication venues. Any bibliometric analysis in this field needs to rely on manual data collection, otherwise it would be heavily biased. This study lays out the foundation for citation analyses, qualitative research on the publications' content and the self-description of East-African scholars against the background of an academic environment that is often described as “international”. (Author)

  20. Diabetes and Breast Cancer Subtypes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heleen K Bronsveld

    Full Text Available Women with diabetes have a worse survival after breast cancer diagnosis compared to women without diabetes. This may be due to a different etiological profile, leading to the development of more aggressive breast cancer subtypes. Our aim was to investigate whether insulin and non-insulin treated women with diabetes develop specific clinicopathological breast cancer subtypes compared to women without diabetes.This cross-sectional study included randomly selected patients with invasive breast cancer diagnosed in 2000-2010. Stratified by age at breast cancer diagnosis (≤50 and >50 years, women with diabetes were 2:1 frequency-matched on year of birth and age at breast cancer diagnosis (both in 10-year categories to women without diabetes, to select ~300 patients with tumor tissue available. Tumor MicroArrays were stained by immunohistochemistry for estrogen and progesterone receptor (ER, PR, HER2, Ki67, CK5/6, CK14, and p63. A pathologist scored all stains and revised morphology and grade. Associations between diabetes/insulin treatment and clinicopathological subtypes were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression. Morphology and grade were not significantly different between women with diabetes (n = 211 and women without diabetes (n = 101, irrespective of menopausal status. Premenopausal women with diabetes tended to have more often PR-negative (OR = 2.44(95%CI:1.07-5.55, HER2-negative (OR = 2.84(95%CI:1.11-7.22, and basal-like (OR = 3.14(95%CI:1.03-9.60 tumors than the women without diabetes, with non-significantly increased frequencies of ER-negative (OR = 2.48(95%CI:0.95-6.45 and triple negative (OR = 2.60(95%CI:0.88-7.67 tumors. After adjustment for age and BMI, the associations remained similar in size but less significant. We observed no evidence for associations of clinicopathological subtypes with diabetes in postmenopausal women, or with insulin treatment in general.We found no compelling evidence that women with diabetes

  1. Diabetes and Breast Cancer Subtypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bronsveld, Heleen K; Jensen, Vibeke; Vahl, Pernille; De Bruin, Marie L; Cornelissen, Sten; Sanders, Joyce; Auvinen, Anssi; Haukka, Jari; Andersen, Morten; Vestergaard, Peter; Schmidt, Marjanka K

    2017-01-01

    Women with diabetes have a worse survival after breast cancer diagnosis compared to women without diabetes. This may be due to a different etiological profile, leading to the development of more aggressive breast cancer subtypes. Our aim was to investigate whether insulin and non-insulin treated women with diabetes develop specific clinicopathological breast cancer subtypes compared to women without diabetes. This cross-sectional study included randomly selected patients with invasive breast cancer diagnosed in 2000-2010. Stratified by age at breast cancer diagnosis (≤50 and >50 years), women with diabetes were 2:1 frequency-matched on year of birth and age at breast cancer diagnosis (both in 10-year categories) to women without diabetes, to select ~300 patients with tumor tissue available. Tumor MicroArrays were stained by immunohistochemistry for estrogen and progesterone receptor (ER, PR), HER2, Ki67, CK5/6, CK14, and p63. A pathologist scored all stains and revised morphology and grade. Associations between diabetes/insulin treatment and clinicopathological subtypes were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression. Morphology and grade were not significantly different between women with diabetes (n = 211) and women without diabetes (n = 101), irrespective of menopausal status. Premenopausal women with diabetes tended to have more often PR-negative (OR = 2.44(95%CI:1.07-5.55)), HER2-negative (OR = 2.84(95%CI:1.11-7.22)), and basal-like (OR = 3.14(95%CI:1.03-9.60) tumors than the women without diabetes, with non-significantly increased frequencies of ER-negative (OR = 2.48(95%CI:0.95-6.45)) and triple negative (OR = 2.60(95%CI:0.88-7.67) tumors. After adjustment for age and BMI, the associations remained similar in size but less significant. We observed no evidence for associations of clinicopathological subtypes with diabetes in postmenopausal women, or with insulin treatment in general. We found no compelling evidence that women with diabetes, treated

  2. Trauma pattern in a level I east-European trauma center

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bogdan Stoica

    2015-10-01

    Conclusions: Our trauma pattern profile is similar to the one found in west-European countries, with a predominance of traffic-related injuries and falls. The severity and anatomical puzzle for trauma lesions were more complex secondary to motorcycle or bicycle-to-auto vehicles collisions. A trauma registry, with prospective enrollment of patients, is a very effective tool for constant improvements in trauma care.

  3. CSR Strategies in Greater China: Global, East Asian, American, European Style?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heiduk Guenter

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility emerged in the United States and spread to Europe and Asia while being adapted to national/local characteristics. Since borders between markets and societies are blurring and globalization is promoting MNCs which find themselves acting in hybrid societies, international institutions put efforts into the development and moral acceptance of global CSR standards. The scientific interest in CSR focused on the conflicts between company returns and benefits for society. The resulting concepts of performance-oriented, awareness-oriented and welfare-oriented CSR should facilitate the evaluation of CSR strategies implemented by MNCs. In research on the cultural dimensions of economies, it might be possible to allocate geographically the three concepts. Regarding the newly emerging Chinese MNCs, the paper aims to shed light on which concept they follow. On the one hand, CSR concepts of American and/or European MNCs that are present in China might serve as a role model; on the other hand, by learning from Taiwanese/ Hong Kong MNCs, a “greater China CSR approach” might emerge. Empirical studies and own field research suggest that compared to American and European companies, CSR is less deeply rooted in Chinese companies. Furthermore, significant differences between Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwanese companies indicate that a Greater Chinese CSR approach does not yet exist. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that American and European CSR concepts will experience a Chinese influence in the near future.

  4. The Europeanization of Politics: Building a Terminology for European Studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Damir Grubiša

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available The article discusses the problem of Europeanisation, one of the key concepts developed within the European Studies in the last ten years or so, since the adoption and entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty. The fi rst part of the article deals with various models of Europeanisation in a context extending beyond the conceptual framework of the European Union, within which the phenomenon of Europeanisation arises. Therefore, the author attempts to develop a typology of broader approaches to the identifi cation of the phenomenon and process of Europeanisation, which includes six conceptions thereof: the fi rst approach is a geographical-political one, where Europeanisation is seen as a change in outer borders of Europe, from the reduction of Europe to the countries of Western Europe and Central Europe, to the extension of the concept of Europe to marginal countries; the second approach links the concept of Europeanisation with the development of political institutions on the European level. The third defi nition identifi es Europeanisation as an export of various forms of political organisation, a process which proceeds from the experience of European colonisation to the diff usion of European values as a role model for other continents; the fourth model of Europeanisation is the identifi cation with the project of European unifi cation, i. e. the process of integration which ends up in a federal, unifi ed Europe; the fi fth subtype is the penetration of national systems of governance by the European model of multilevel governance, which becomes manifest in the adaptation, convergence and harmonisation of the political and legal systems of member nations. The author elaborates on this classic typology by adding the sixth approach, which he calls “retrospective Europeanisation”. It involves Europeanisation as identifi cation with traditional European values that existed before EC and EU, primarily with the preintegration traditional

  5. Subtype distribution of Blastocystis isolates from synanthropic and zoo animals and identification of a new subtype

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stensvold, C. R.; Alfellani, M. A.; Nørskov-Lauritsen, S.

    2009-01-01

    Blastocystis isolates from 56 Danish synanthropic and zoo animals, 62 primates primarily from United Kingdom (UK) collections and 16 UK primate handlers were subtyped by PCR, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. A new subtype (ST) from primates and artiodactyls was identified and designated...... infections from primates by their handlers had occurred in these cases. Data from published studies of non-human primates, other mammals and birds were collected and interpreted to generate a comprehensive overview on the ST distribution in such animals. On the basis of information on 438 samples...

  6. The development of the European public service: from modernisation to post-modernisation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. V. Onufriienko

    2016-08-01

    2. Further convergence with the civil society seems to be the major perspective of the public service development in the European Union countries (it is also typical for relatively new East-European Member States but with established restrictions. It is not a contingency that not only the variety of social studies (first of all, political and social ones develop the idea of the very necessity to bring private and public sectors together, mainly, independently of each other, but it also involve the state-building practice and public service reformation in the developed European countries, particularly in the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

  7. Is PIGD a legitimate motor subtype in Parkinson disease?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kotagal, Vikas

    2016-06-01

    Parkinson disease is a chronic progressive syndrome with a broad array of clinical features. Different investigators have suggested the heterogeneous motor manifestations of early Parkinson disease can be conceptualized through a taxonomy of clinical subtypes including tremor-predominant and postural instability and gait difficulty-predominant subtypes. Although it is theoretically valuable to distinguish subtypes of Parkinson disease, the reality is that few patients fit these discrete categories well and many transition from exhibiting elements of one subtype to elements of another. In the time since the initial description of the postural instability and gait difficulty-predominant subtype, Parkinson disease clinical research has blossomed in many ways - including an increased emphasis on the role of medical comorbidities and extranigral pathologies in Parkinson disease as markers of prognostic significance. By conceptualizing the pathogenesis of an expansive disease process in the limited terms of categorical motor subtypes, we run the risk of overlooking or misclassifying clinically significant pathogenic risk factors that lead to the development of motor milestones such as falls and related axial motor disability. Given its critical influence on quality of life and overall prognosis, we are in need of a model of postural instability and gait difficulty-predominant features in Parkinson disease that emphasizes the overlooked pathological influence of aging and medical comorbidities on the development of axial motor burden and postural instability and gait difficulty-predominant features. This Point of View proposes thinking of postural instability and gait difficulties in Parkinson disease not as a discrete subtype, but rather as multidimensional continuum influenced by several overlapping age-related pathologies.

  8. Racial difference in histologic subtype of renal cell carcinoma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olshan, Andrew F; Kuo, Tzy-Mey; Meyer, Anne-Marie; Nielsen, Matthew E; Purdue, Mark P; Rathmell, W Kimryn

    2013-01-01

    In the United States, renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has rapidly increased in incidence for over two decades. The most common histologic subtypes of RCC, clear cell, papillary, and chromophobe have distinct genetic and clinical characteristics; however, epidemiologic features of these subtypes have not been well characterized, particularly regarding any associations between race, disease subtypes, and recent incidence trends. Using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program, we examined differences in the age-adjusted incidence rates and trends of RCC subtypes, including analysis focusing on racial differences. Incidence rates increased over time (2001–2009) for all three subtypes. However, the proportion of white cases with clear cell histology was higher than among blacks (50% vs. 31%, respectively), whereas black cases were more likely than white cases to have papillary RCC (23% vs. 9%, respectively). Moreover, papillary RCC incidence increased more rapidly for blacks than whites (P < 0.01) over this period. We also observed that increased incidence of papillary histology among blacks is not limited to the smallest size strata. We observed racial differences in proportionate incidence of RCC subtypes, which appear to be increasing over time; this novel finding motivates further etiologic, clinical, molecular, and genetic studies. Using national data, we observed a higher proportion of black renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cases with papillary histology compared to Caucasian cases. We also observed time trends in black-white incidence differences in histologic RCC subtypes, with rapid increases in the disproportionate share of black cases with papillary histology

  9. The relationship between fermented food intake and mortality risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Netherlands cohort

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Praagman, J.; Dalmeijer, G.W.; Schouw, van der Y.T.; Soedamah-Muthu, S.S.; Verschuren, W.M.M.; Bueno-de Mesquita, H.B.; Geleijnse, J.M.; Beulens, J.W.J.

    2015-01-01

    The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between total and subtypes of bacterial fermented food intake (dairy products, cheese, vegetables and meat) and mortality due to all causes, total cancer and CVD. From the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and

  10. Genetic recombination and Cryptosporidium hominis virulent subtype IbA10G2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Na; Xiao, Lihua; Cama, Vitaliano A; Ortega, Ynes; Gilman, Robert H; Guo, Meijin; Feng, Yaoyu

    2013-10-01

    Little is known about the emergence and spread of virulent subtypes of Cryptosporidium hominis, the predominant species responsible for human cryptosporidiosis. We conducted sequence analyses of 32 genetic loci of 53 C. hominis specimens isolated from a longitudinally followed cohort of children living in a small community. We identified by linkage disequilibrium and recombination analyses only limited genetic recombination, which occurred exclusively within the 60-kDa glycoprotein gene subtype IbA10G2, a predominant subtype for outbreaks in industrialized nations and a virulent subtype in the study community. Intensive transmission of virulent subtype IbA10G2 in the study area might have resulted in genetic recombination with other subtypes. Moreover, we identified selection for IbA10G2 at a 129-kb region around the 60-kDa glycoprotein gene in chromosome 6. These findings improve our understanding of the origin and evolution of C. hominis subtypes and the spread of virulent subtypes.

  11. Diagnosis and subtypes of adolescent antisocial personality disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Meredith; Westen, Drew

    2010-04-01

    The present study examined the application of the Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) diagnosis to adolescents and investigated the possibility of subtypes of APD adolescents. As part of a broader study of adolescent personality in clinically-referred patients, experienced clinicians provided personality data on a randomly selected patient in their care using the SWAP-II-A personality pathology instrument. Three hundred thirteen adolescents met adult DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for APD. To characterize adolescents with the disorder, we aggregated the data to identify the items most descriptive and distinctive of APD adolescents relative to other teenagers in the sample (N = 950). Q-factor analysis identified five personality subtypes: psychopathic-like, socially withdrawn, impulsive-histrionic, emotionally dysregulated, and attentionally dysregulated. The five subtypes differed in predictable ways on a set of external criteria related to global adaptive functioning, childhood family environment, and family history of psychiatric illness. Both the APD diagnosis and the empirically derived APD subtypes provided incremental validity over and above the DSM-IV disruptive behavior disorders in predicting global adaptive functioning, number of arrests, early-onset severe externalizing pathology, and quality of peer relationships. Although preliminary, these results provide support for the use of both APD and personality-based subtyping systems in adolescents.

  12. Precise subtyping for synchronous multiparty sessions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariangiola Dezani-Ciancaglini

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available The notion of subtyping has gained an important role both in theoretical and applicative domains: in lambda and concurrent calculi as well as in programming languages. The soundness and the completeness, together referred to as the preciseness of subtyping, can be considered from two different points of view: operational and denotational. The former preciseness has been recently developed with respect to type safety, i.e. the safe replacement of a term of a smaller type when a term of a bigger type is expected. The latter preciseness is based on the denotation of a type which is a mathematical object that describes the meaning of the type in accordance with the denotations of other expressions from the language. The result of this paper is the operational and denotational preciseness of the subtyping for a synchronous multiparty session calculus. The novelty of this paper is the introduction of characteristic global types to prove the operational completeness.

  13. Fishing for opinions: Stakeholder views on MSFD implementation in European Seas

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hendriksen, A.; Jouanneau, C.; Koss, R.; Raakjaer, J.

    2014-01-01

    Stakeholder participation is vital when introducing and implementing ecosystem-based management (EBM) at any scale. This paper presents the results of a survey covering four European Regional Seas (Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and North-East Atlantic Ocean) aimed to collect stakeholders¿

  14. Confidence- and security-building in North-East Asia. Working group I

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cotton, J.

    1991-01-01

    In the discussions in Working Group I there were two general preoccupations which prevailed throughout the consideration of questions relating to North-East Asian confidence and security building: how much could North-East Asia learn from the European experience in Confidence Building measures, and could any of the underlying factors- economic, political and social which has moved Europe towards military and security accommodation be seen to work also in the Asia-Pacific region. The problem of North Korea is underlined in view of non acceptance of the IAEA safeguards regime although it had entered into multilateral set of obligations with other signatories by assenting the Non-proliferation Treaty

  15. Incidence of acute otitis media in children below 6 years of age seen in medical practices in five East European countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Usonis, Vytautas; Jackowska, Teresa; Petraitiene, Sigita; Sapala, Alicja; Neculau, Andrea; Stryjewska, Izabella; Devadiga, Raghavendra; Tafalla, Monica; Holl, Katsiaryna

    2016-07-26

    Although acute otitis media (AOM) remains a major public health problem worldwide and brings economic burden on health care system and caregivers, little information is available about its epidemiology in Eastern Europe. We conducted an epidemiological, prospective, observational, multi-centre cohort study (NCT01365390) in five East European countries (Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovenia) between June 2011 and January 2013 to determine the incidence and clinical characteristics of AOM among children aged children and a higher risk in those attending school/childcare or with allergies. AOM required 521 visits to the doctor. Antibiotics were prescribed for 276 (74.8 %) episodes with the lowest prescription rate in Estonia (51.4 %) and the highest in Romania (83.7 %). Complications were rare and hospitalisations occurred in 2 % of the cases. The disease burden of AOM in Eastern Europe is relevant and public health initiatives to reduce it should be considered. ClinicalTrial.gov NCT01365390 .

  16. Distribution And Clinicopathological Features Of Breast Cancer Histological Subtypes In Latvia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Srebnijs Andrejs

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Breast cancer is a heterogenous disease. It consists of several histological subtypes that can be separated by morphology and immunohistochemistry. The aim of our study was to determine the distribution of breast cancer histological and molecular subtypes, and their relationship with clinical and pathological characteristics. A total of 561 patients who underwent breast carcinoma surgical treatment from January 2003 till December 2012 were enrolled in the study. In total, invasive ductal carcinomas not otherwise specified (IDC-NOS plus invasive ductal carcinomas no special type (IDC-NST were observed in 430 patients (76.65% of cases, medullar carcinoma in 14 patients (2.45%, other rare ductal carcinoma subtypes in 13 patients (2.31%, lobular carcinoma in 81 patients (14.4% and tubulolobular carcinoma in 23 patients (4.19%. Ductal carcinoma, lobular and tubulolobular carcinoma had predominantly luminal A and B subtype, whereas medullar carcinoma had HER2-positive and triple-negative (TN subtype. Tubular, cribriform, mucinous, papillary, and apocrine carcinomas had predominantly luminal A subtype. Significant differences between breast cancer histological subtypes and clinicopathological characteristics were observed. Our study for the first time reported the distribution and characteristics of breast cancer histological subtypes in Latvian women and relationship to clinical and tumour histopathological characteristics.

  17. Electromagnetic study of lithospheric structure in Trans-European Suture Zone in Poland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jóźwiak, Waldemar; Ślęzak, Katarzyna; Nowożyński, Krzysztof; Neska, Anne

    2016-04-01

    The area covered by magnetotelluric surveys in Poland is mostly related to the Trans-European Suture Zone (TESZ), the largest tectonic boundary in Europe. Numerous 1D, 2D, and pseudo-3D and 3D models of the electrical resistivity distribution were constructed, and a new interpretation method based on Horizontal Magnetic Tensor analysis has been applied recently. The results indicate that the TESZ is a lithospheric discontinuity and there are noticeable differences in geoelectric structures between the East European Craton (EEC), the transitional zone (TESZ), and the Paleozoic Platform (PP). The electromagnetic sounding is a very efficient tool for recognizing the lithospheric structure especially it helps in identification of important horizontal (or lateral) inhomogeneities in the crust. Due to our study we can clearly determine the areas of the East European Craton of high resistivity, Paleozoic Platform of somewhat lower resistivity value, and transitional TESZ of complicated structure. At the East European Craton, we observe very highly resistive lithosphere, reaching 220-240 km depth. Underneath, there is distinctly greater conductivity values, most probably resulting from partial melting of rocks; this layer may represent the asthenosphere. The resistivity of the lithosphere under the Paleozoic Platform is somewhat lower, and its thickness does not exceed 150 km. The properties of the lithosphere in the transition zone, under the TESZ, differ significantly. The presented models include prominent, NW-SE striking conductive lineaments. These structures, that related with the TESZ, lie at a depth of 10-30 km. They are located in a mid-crustal level and they reach the boundary of the EEC. The structures we initially connect to the Variscan Deformation Front (VDF) and the Caledonian Deformation Front (CDF). The differentiation of conductivity visible in the crust continues in the upper mantle.

  18. The validity and utility of subtyping bulimia nervosa

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Hoeken, Daphne; Veling, Wim; Sinke, Sjoukje; Mitchell, James E.; Hoek, Hans W.

    Objective: To review the evidence for the validity and utility of subtyping bulimia nervosa (BN) into a purging (BN-P) and a nonpurging subtype (BN-NP), and of distinguishing BN-NP from binge eating disorder (BED), by comparing course, complications, and treatment. Method: A literature search of

  19. The validity and utility of subtyping bulimia nervosa

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Hoeken, Daphne; Veling, Wim; Sinke, Sjoukje; Mitchell, James E.; Hoek, Hans W.

    2009-01-01

    Objective: To review the evidence for the validity and utility of subtyping bulimia nervosa (BN) into a purging (BN-P) and a nonpurging subtype (BN-NP), and of distinguishing BN-NP from binge eating disorder (BED), by comparing course, complications, and treatment. Method: A literature search of

  20. Social Participation and Health among Ageing People in East-Central Europe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Makai, Alexandra; Prémusz, Viktória; Füge, Kata; Figler, Mária; Lampek, Kinga

    2015-01-01

    In this study we examined the health of the ageing population of East-Central Europe. Data derived from the 6th round of the European Social Survey. The aim of our research was to examine the most important factors that determine ageing people's health status. We paid particular attention to the social ties of our target group.

  1. The big shedding of the European refining

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lepetit, V.

    2007-01-01

    Everywhere in Europe the oil companies are selling their refineries. Even if they work at full capacity, the interest of the European market is far below the one of Asia where demand is in full expansion and Middle-East where the raw matter is abundant. The world refining capacity is of 86 million barrel per day and should reach 106 million barrel per day in 2020. (J.S.)

  2. Entrepreneurial Intentions in Selected Southeast European Countries

    OpenAIRE

    Rajh, Edo; Marjanova Jovanov, Tamara; Budak, Jelena; Davcev, Ljupco; Ateljevic, Jovo; Ognjenovic, Kosovka

    2018-01-01

    What (did we do)? A comparative study on the antecedents of EI among young people (students of economics and business) in four selected South East European countries (Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and BiH). Why? Entrepreneurship is positively associated with higher economic development. Analysis of the determinants of entrepreneurship is an obligation...(Grilo and Irigoyen, 2006), because: knowledge of the determinants is crucial for development of better education systems and se...

  3. The terminal Permian in European Russia: Vyaznikovian Horizon, Nedubrovo Member, and Permian-Triassic boundary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lozovsky, V. R.; Balabanov, Yu. P.; Karasev, E. V.; Novikov, I. V.; Ponomarenko, A. G.; Yaroshenko, O. P.

    2016-07-01

    The comprehensive analysis of the data obtained on terrestrial vertebrata, ostracods, entomologic fauna, megaflora, and microflora in deposits of the Vyaznikovian Horizon and Nedubrovo Member, as well as the paleomagnetic data measured in enclosing rocks, confirms heterogeneity of these deposits. Accordingly, it is necessary to distinguish these two stratons in the terminal Permian of the East European Platform. The combined sequence of Triassic-Permian boundary deposits in the Moscow Syneclise, which is considered to be the most complete sequence in the East European Platform, is as follows (from bottom upward): Vyatkian deposits; Vyaznikovian Horizon, including Sokovka and Zhukovo members; Nedubrovo Member (Upper Permian); Astashikha and Ryabi members of the Vokhmian Horizon (Lower Triassic). None of the sequences of Permian-Triassic boundary deposits known in the area of study characterizes this sequence in full volume. In the north, the Triassic deposits are underlain by the Nedubrovo Member; in the south (the Klyazma River basin), the sections are underlain by the Vyaznikovian Horizon. The Permian-Triassic boundary adopted in the General Stratigraphic Scale of Russia for continental deposits of the East European platform (the lower boundary of the Astashikha Member) is more ancient than the one adopted in the International Stratigraphic Chart. The same geological situation is observed in the German Basin and other localities where Triassic continental deposits are developed. The ways of solving this problem are discussed in this article.

  4. Differences in sexual guilt and desire in east Asian and Euro-Canadian men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brotto, Lori A; Woo, Jane S T; Gorzalka, Boris B

    2012-01-01

    Differences in sexual desire between individuals of East Asian and European descent are well-documented, with East Asian individuals reporting lower sexual desire. The mechanisms that underlie this disparity have received little empirical attention. Recent research has found that sex guilt, "a generalized expectancy for self-mediated punishment for violating or for anticipating violating standards of proper sexual conduct" (Mosher & Cross, 1971 , p. 27), mediates the relationship between culture and sexual desire in East Asian and Euro-Canadian women. The goal of this study was to explore this role of sex guilt in men. Male Euro-Canadian (n = 38) and East Asian (n = 45) university students completed online questionnaires. The East Asian men reported significantly lower sexual desire and significantly higher sex guilt. Sex guilt was a significant mediator of the relationship between ethnicity and sexual desire, as well as a significant mediator between mainstream acculturation and sexual desire. Among the East Asian men, mainstream acculturation was significantly and negatively correlated with sex guilt such that increasing mainstream acculturation was associated with less sex guilt. The diagnostic and clinical implications of the findings are discussed.

  5. Cardiac potassium channel subtypes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schmitt, Nicole; Grunnet, Morten; Olesen, Søren-Peter

    2014-01-01

    About 10 distinct potassium channels in the heart are involved in shaping the action potential. Some of the K(+) channels are primarily responsible for early repolarization, whereas others drive late repolarization and still others are open throughout the cardiac cycle. Three main K(+) channels...... drive the late repolarization of the ventricle with some redundancy, and in atria this repolarization reserve is supplemented by the fairly atrial-specific KV1.5, Kir3, KCa, and K2P channels. The role of the latter two subtypes in atria is currently being clarified, and several findings indicate...... that they could constitute targets for new pharmacological treatment of atrial fibrillation. The interplay between the different K(+) channel subtypes in both atria and ventricle is dynamic, and a significant up- and downregulation occurs in disease states such as atrial fibrillation or heart failure...

  6. Salmonella Source Attribution in Japan by a Microbiological Subtyping Approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Toyofuku, Hajime; Pires, Sara Monteiro; Hald, Tine

    2011-01-01

    In order to estimate the number of human Salmonella infections attributable to each of major animal-food source, and help identifying the best Salmonella intervention strategies, a microbial subtyping approach for source attribution was applied. We adapted a Bayesian model that attributes illnesses......-food sources, subtype-related factors, and source-related factors. National-surveillance serotyping data from 1998 to 2007 were applied to the model. Results suggested that the relative contribution of the sources to salmonellosis varied during the 10 year period, and that eggs are the most important source...... to specific sources and allows for the estimation of the differences in the ability of Salmonella subtypes and food types to result in reported salmonellosis. The number of human cases caused by different Salmonella subtypes is estimated as a function of the prevalence of these subtypes in the animal...

  7. Therapeutic response to benzodiazepine in panic disorder subtypes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandre Martins Valença

    Full Text Available CONTEXT: This study makes a comparison between two subtypes of panic disorder regarding the clinical efficacy of clonazepam, a benzodiazepine. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of clonazepam in a fixed dosage (2 mg/day, compared to placebo, in the treatment of panic disorder patients and to verify whether there are any differences in the responses to clonazepam between panic disorder patients with the respiratory and non-respiratory subtypes. TYPE OF STUDY: Randomized study with clonazepam and placebo. SETTING: Outpatient Anxiety and Depression Unit of the Institute of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. PARTICIPANTS: 34 patients with a diagnosis of panic disorder with agoraphobia, between 18 and 55 years old. PROCEDURES: Administration of clonazepam or placebo for 6 weeks, in panic disorder patients, after they were classified within two subtypes of panic disorder: respiratory and non-respiratory. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: Changes in the number of panic attacks in comparison with the period before the beginning of the study; Hamilton Anxiety Scale; Global Clinical Impression Scale; and Patient's Global Impression scale. RESULTS: In the group that received clonazepam, by the end of the 6th week there was a statistically significant clinical improvement, shown by the remission of panic attacks (p < 0.001 and decrease in anxiety (p = 0.024. In the group that received clonazepam there was no significant difference between the respiratory and non-respiratory subtypes of panic disorder, regarding the therapeutic response to clonazepam. CONCLUSION: Clonazepam was equally effective in the treatment of the respiratory and non-respiratory subtypes of panic disorder, suggesting there is no difference in the therapeutic response between the two subtypes.

  8. Progranulin expression in breast cancer with different intrinsic subtypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Li Qin; Min, Li Shan; Jiang, Qun; Ping, Jin Liang; Li, Jing; Dai, Li Cheng

    2012-04-15

    Progranulin is a newly discovered 88-kDa glycoprotein originally purified from the highly tumorigenic mouse teratoma-derived cell line PC. We found that high progranulin expression was associated with higher breast carcinoma angiogenesis, reflected by increased vascular endothelial growth factor expression and higher microvessel density. However, no immunohistochemical evidence currently exists to correlate progranulin expression with clinicopathological features in different intrinsic subtypes of breast carcinoma biopsies. The aim of this study was to investigate the progranulin expression profiles in the intrinsic subtypes of breast carcinomas and their relevance to histopathological and clinicopathological features. Tissue blocks containing 264 cases of breast carcinomas from 2006 to 2009 were classified as different intrinsic subtypes. Tissues of four intrinsic subtypes were immunostained for progranulin, vascular endothelial growth factor and CD105. Their relevance to histopathological and clinicopathological features was also analyzed. Twenty tissue samples from breast fibroadenomas were included in this study. Progranulin expression showed no significant differences in different intrinsic subtypes, although an increasing tendency could be found in the triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subgroup (χ(2)=5.00, df=3, p=0.17). However, differences were significant when pathologically node metastasis-positive (pN(+)) TNBC were excluded (χ(2)=17.84, df=3, pprogranulin in pathologically node metastasis-negative (pN(-)) TNBC. It was noted that the EGFR expression level of the pN(-) TNBC subtype was significantly higher in cases with strong progranulin expression than in cases with weak progranulin expression (χ(2)=11.26, df=1, pprogranulin in pN(-) TNBC suggests that progranulin is a promising new target for pN(-) TNBC treatment. Strong expression of progranulin correlates with positive EGFR expression in the pN(-) TNBC subtype. The close relationship between

  9. Relationship of epidermal growth factor receptor activating mutations with histologic subtyping according to International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer/American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society 2011 adenocarcinoma classification and their impact on overall survival

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Venkata Nagarjuna Maturu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: There is limited Indian data on epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR gene activating mutations (AMs prevalence and their clinicopathologic associations. The current study aimed to assess the relationship between EGFR AM and histologic subtypes and their impact on overall survival (OS in a North Indian cohort. Patients and Methods: Retrospective analysis of nonsmall cell lung cancer patients who underwent EGFR mutation testing (n = 186 over 3 years period (2012-2014. EGFR mutations were tested using polymerase chain reaction amplification and direct sequencing. Patients were classified as EGFR AM, EGFR wild type (WT or EGFR unknown (UKN. Histologically adenocarcinomas (ADC were further categorized as per the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer/American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society-2011 classification. Results: Overall EGFR AM prevalence was 16.6%. The ratio of exon 19 deletions to exon 21 L858R mutations was 3.17:1. Female sex (P = 0.002, never smoking status (P = 0.002, metastatic disease (P = 0.032, and nonsolid subtype of ADC (P = 0.001 were associated with EGFR AM on univariate logistic regression analysis (LRA. On multivariate LRA, solid ADC was negatively associated with EGFR AM. Median OS was higher in patients with EGFR AM (750 days as compared to EGFR-WT (459 days or EGFR-UKN (291 days for the overall population and in patients with Stage IV disease (750 days vs. 278 days for EGFR-WT, P = 0.024. On univariate Cox proportional hazard (CPH analysis, smoking, poor performance status (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group ≥ 2, EGFR-UKN status, and solid ADC were associated with worse OS while female sex and lepidic ADC had better OS. On multivariate CPH analysis, lepidic ADC (hazard ratio [HR] =0.12 and EGFR-WT/EGFR-UKN (HR = 2.39 and HR = 3.30 respectively were independently associated with OS in separate analyses. Conclusions: Histologic subtyping of ADC performed on small biopsies is

  10. Origin and dynamics of HIV-1 subtype C infection in India.

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    Chengli Shen

    Full Text Available To investigate the geographical origin and evolution dynamics of HIV-1 subtype C infection in India.Ninety HIV-1 subtype C env gp120 subtype C sequences from India were compared with 312 env gp120 reference subtype C sequences from 27 different countries obtained from Los Alamos HIV database. All the HIV-1 subtype C env gp120 sequences from India were used for the geographical origin analysis and 61 subtype C env gp120 sequences with known sampling year (from 1991 to 2008 were employed to determine the origin of HIV infection in India.Phylogenetic analysis of HIV-1 env sequences was used to investigate the geographical origin and tMRCA of Indian HIV-1 subtype C. Evolutionary parameters including origin date and demographic growth patterns of Indian subtype C were estimated using a Bayesian coalescent-based approach under relaxed molecular clock models.The majority of the analyzed Indian and South African HIV-1 subtype C sequences formed a single monophyletic cluster. The most recent common ancestor date was calculated to be 1975.56 (95% HPD, 1968.78-1981.52. Reconstruction of the effective population size revealed three phases of epidemic growth: an initial slow growth, followed by exponential growth, and then a plateau phase approaching present time. Stabilization of the epidemic growth phase correlated with the foundation of National AIDS Control Organization in India.Indian subtype C originated from a single South African lineage in the middle of 1970s. The current study emphasizes not only the utility of HIV-1 sequence data for epidemiological studies but more notably highlights the effectiveness of community or government intervention strategies in controlling the trend of the epidemic.

  11. Competing endogenous RNA network analysis identifies critical genes among the different breast cancer subtypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Juan; Xu, Juan; Li, Yongsheng; Zhang, Jinwen; Chen, Hong; Lu, Jianping; Wang, Zishan; Zhao, Xueying; Xu, Kang; Li, Yixue; Li, Xia; Zhang, Yan

    2017-02-07

    Although competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) have been implicated in many solid tumors, their roles in breast cancer subtypes are not well understood. We therefore generated a ceRNA network for each subtype based on the significance of both, positive co-expression and the shared miRNAs, in the corresponding subtype miRNA dys-regulatory network, which was constructed based on negative regulations between differentially expressed miRNAs and targets. All four subtype ceRNA networks exhibited scale-free architecture and showed that the common ceRNAs were at the core of the networks. Furthermore, the common ceRNA hubs had greater connectivity than the subtype-specific hubs. Functional analysis of the common subtype ceRNA hubs highlighted factors involved in proliferation, MAPK signaling pathways and tube morphogenesis. Subtype-specific ceRNA hubs highlighted unique subtype-specific pathways, like the estrogen response and inflammatory pathways in the luminal subtypes or the factors involved in the coagulation process that participates in the basal-like subtype. Ultimately, we identified 29 critical subtype-specific ceRNA hubs that characterized the different breast cancer subtypes. Our study thus provides new insight into the common and specific subtype ceRNA interactions that define the different categories of breast cancer and enhances our understanding of the pathology underlying the different breast cancer subtypes, which can have prognostic and therapeutic implications in the future.

  12. Assessing the Differences in Public Health Impact of Salmonella Subtypes Using a Bayesian Microbial Subtyping Approach for Source Attribution

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pires, Sara Monteiro; Hald, Tine

    2010-01-01

    Salmonella is a major cause of human gastroenteritis worldwide. To prioritize interventions and assess the effectiveness of efforts to reduce illness, it is important to attribute salmonellosis to the responsible sources. Studies have suggested that some Salmonella subtypes have a higher health...... impact than others. Likewise, some food sources appear to have a higher impact than others. Knowledge of variability in the impact of subtypes and sources may provide valuable added information for research, risk management, and public health strategies. We developed a Bayesian model that attributes...... illness to specific sources and allows for a better estimation of the differences in the ability of Salmonella subtypes and food types to result in reported salmonellosis. The model accommodates data for multiple years and is based on the Danish Salmonella surveillance. The number of sporadic cases caused...

  13. Incidence of sarcoma histotypes and molecular subtypes in a prospective epidemiological study with central pathology review and molecular testing.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Françoise Ducimetière

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The exact overall incidence of sarcoma and sarcoma subtypes is not known. The objective of the present population-based study was to determine this incidence in a European region (Rhone-Alpes of six million inhabitants, based on a central pathological review of the cases. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: From March 2005 to February 2007, pathology reports and tumor blocks were prospectively collected from the 158 pathologists of the Rhone-Alpes region. All diagnosed or suspected cases of sarcoma were collected, reviewed centrally, examined for molecular alterations and classified according to the 2002 World Health Organization classification. Of the 1287 patients screened during the study period, 748 met the criteria for inclusion in the study. The overall crude and world age-standardized incidence rates were respectively 6.2 and 4.8 per 100,000/year. Incidence rates for soft tissue, visceral and bone sarcomas were respectively 3.6, 2.0 and 0.6 per 100,000. The most frequent histological subtypes were gastrointestinal stromal tumor (18%; 1.1/100,000, unclassified sarcoma (16%; 1/100,000, liposarcoma (15%; 0.9/100,000 and leiomyosarcoma (11%; 0.7/100,000. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The observed incidence of sarcomas was higher than expected. This study is the first detailed investigation of the crude incidence of histological and molecular subtypes of sarcomas.

  14. Pre-infection of pigs with Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae modifies outcomes of infection with European swine influenza virus of H1N1, but not H1N2, subtype.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deblanc, C; Gorin, S; Quéguiner, S; Gautier-Bouchardon, A V; Ferré, S; Amenna, N; Cariolet, R; Simon, G

    2012-05-25

    Swine influenza virus (SIV) and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (Mhp) are widespread in farms and are major pathogens involved in the porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC). The aim of this experiment was to compare the pathogenicity of European avian-like swine H1N1 and European human-like reassortant swine H1N2 viruses in naïve pigs and in pigs previously infected with Mhp. Six groups of SPF pigs were inoculated intra-tracheally with either Mhp, or H1N1, or H1N2 or Mhp+H1N1 or Mhp+H1N2, both pathogens being inoculated at 21 days intervals in these two last groups. A mock-infected group was included. Although both SIV strains induced clinical signs when singly inoculated, results indicated that the H1N2 SIV was more pathogenic than the H1N1 virus, with an earlier shedding and a greater spread in lungs. Initial infection with Mhp before SIV inoculation increased flu clinical signs and pathogenesis (hyperthermia, loss of appetite, pneumonia lesions) due to the H1N1 virus but did not modify significantly outcomes of H1N2 infection. Thus, Mhp and SIV H1N1 appeared to act synergistically, whereas Mhp and SIV H1N2 would compete, as H1N2 infection led to the elimination of Mhp in lung diaphragmatic lobes. In conclusion, SIV would be a risk factor for the severity of respiratory disorders when associated with Mhp, depending on the viral subtype involved. This experimental model of coinfection with Mhp and avian-like swine H1N1 is a relevant tool for studying the pathogenesis of SIV-associated PRDC and testing intervention strategies for the control of the disease. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Energy technology and opportunities for East-West co-operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garribba, S.

    1991-01-01

    The private sector is probably the principal Western actor in Central and Eastern Europe. The accelerated political reforms in the East have improved the prospects for Western partners to invest in the energy sector and collaborate on energy technology development and transfer while taking advantage of the specific local benefits offered. These benefits are primarily found on the energy production side where the specific knowledge of the Western partner may be employed for the development of energy markets in the East. Conversely, the Central and Eastern European countries appear to be looking to co-operation with Western partners to provide them with access to capital, technology and organizational know-how, as well as, to Western markets. The primary long-term economic aim of Central and Eastern European governments must be to promote a market based economy. This requires not merely the definition of an official energy price system, but also the presence of legal and other institutions to establish property rights, civil contractual laws, trade policy and framework conditions for the free development of market forces and private enterprise. The IEA, International Energy Agency, as an example of the effectiveness of international co-operation, may be in the position to provide some assistance on technical and policy matters

  16. Functional characteristics of HIV-1 subtype C compatible with increased heterosexual transmissibility

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Walter, Brandon L; Armitage, Andrew E; Graham, Stephen C

    2009-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Despite the existence of over 50 subtypes and circulating recombinant forms of HIV-1, subtype C dominates the heterosexual pandemic causing approximately 56% of all infections. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether viral genetic factors may contribute to the observed subtype-C predominance. ....... CONCLUSION: As CD4-CCR5-T cells are key targets for genital HIV infection and cervical selection can favor compact V1-V2 loops and 316T, which increase viral infectivity, we propose that these conserved subtype-C motifs may contribute to transmission and spread of this subtype....

  17. East Europe's energy trade takes new shape

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Movit, C.

    1991-01-01

    Often in the past, Western analysts of global energy demand have treated Eastern Europe as just part of a black box labeled Communist. Only the net flow of energy to the non-Communist world was of any consequence. The region, although primarily a major net importer of energy from the Soviet Union, was a very small net exporter of energy to non-Communist countries based Polish coal exports. Romanian refined petroleum product exports, and some minor exports of refined products by other East European countries. The political and economic configurations of Eastern Europe has changed dramatically over the past 2 years, however, and the way in which East European energy relationships are considered will have to change accordingly. With the sweeping transformation of these economies (for the most part, radically in the direction of a market orientation) and the breakup of their unique system of mutual trade, the patterns of energy production, consumption, and trade which have prevailed in the region during the post-war period will also change significantly. Forecasting the net-impact on energy demand in this region of offsetting trends due to economic reform (i.e., renewed economic dynamism vs. decreased energy intensity of aggregate economic output) is a very difficult task. Moreover, there are additional complications introduced by changes in the political system, such as the increased importance of environmental quality in the choice of fuel and production technology due to clearly enunciated concern of the popular political movements with these issues

  18. East-West European economic integration: Difficult to reach target

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    D'Ermo, V.; Manca, S.

    1993-01-01

    The energy sector of Western Europe is now undergoing a slow growth period due largely to the socio-economic upheavals of East and West German unification and the political-economic restructuring of the countries making up Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. This paper evidences this fact by tabling and commenting on 1991-1992 coal, petroleum, natural gas and electric power production/consumption/export statistical data representing energy sector activities in the former COMECON member countries. The poor performance of these countries can be attributed to the effects of energy market liberalization, the restructuring of utility assets, limited production capacities and inflation. It is estimated that the adjustment time to reach economic parity with Western nations will be long but that the waiting period could be shortened through the implementation of technology transfer and financial cooperation programs with the more prosperous countries capable of providing the investment capital and know-how needed for the restructuring of production systems and resource development

  19. Genetic characterization of influenza A viruses circulating in pigs and isolated in north-east Spain during the period 2006-2007.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baratelli, Massimiliano; Córdoba, Lorena; Pérez, Lester J; Maldonado, Jaime; Fraile, Lorenzo; Núñez, José I; Montoya, Maria

    2014-04-01

    Swine influenza virus is one of the most important pathogens involved in the swine respiratory disease complex. Recent serological surveys showed a high prevalence of swine influenza strains belonging to the H1N1, H1N2 and H3N2 subtypes circulating in pigs in Spain. However, little is known about their genome sequence. Five swine influenza strains were isolated from some unrelated outbreaks occurred during 2006-2007, and their complete genome sequences were determined. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that they belonged to the lineages "Avian-Like" H1N1, "Human-Like" H3N2, and "Human-Like" H1N2, showing tight relationships with early or contemporary strains described in Europe. Notably, one virus of the H1N2 subtype showed genetic and antigenic divergence with the European contemporary strains or vaccinal strains of the same subtype, suggesting that some local and divergent clusters of the virus may pass unnoticed in routinary subtyping. Finally, analysis on the entire pattern of genome segments suggested that a second reassortment event could have influenced the evolution of that divergent H1N2 strain. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. The spectrum of aphasia subtypes and etiology in subacute stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffmann, Michael; Chen, Ren

    2013-11-01

    Aphasia is one of the most common stroke syndrome presentations, yet little is known about the spectrum of different subtypes or their stroke mechanisms. Yet, subtypes and etiology are known to influence the prognosis and recovery. Our aim is to analyze aphasia subtypes and etiology in a large subacute stroke population. Consecutive patients from a dedicated cognitive stroke registry were accrued. A validated cognitive screening examination was administered during the first month of stroke presentation, which enabled a diagnosis of 14 different aphasic subtypes. The evolution from one subtype to another in the acute and subacute period, at times, resulted in more than 1 subtype being diagnosed. Etiology of stroke was determined by the modified Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment criteria that included intracerebral hemorrhage. Exclusions included dementia, chronic medical illness, substance abuse, and severe depression. Of 2389 stroke patients, after exclusions (n=593), aphasias numbered 625 (625 of 1796; 34.8%), and the subtype frequencies included Broca aphasia (n=170; 27.2%), anomic aphasia (n=165; 26.4%), global aphasia (n=119; 19.04%), and subcortical aphasia (n=57; 9.12%). Less frequent subtypes (total n=40; 6.7%) included transcortical aphasia (n=11), Wernicke aphasia (n=10), conduction aphasia (n=7), aphemia (n=3), semantic aphasia (n=3), crossed aphasia (n=3), pure word deafness (n=2), and foreign accent syndrome (n=1). Aphasia subtypes and etiologies had some significant associations (chi-square: 855.8, P valueaphasia had a significant association with small-vessel disease (SVD) (odds ratio [OR]=2.0254, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.3820-2.9681), and global aphasia patients mostly had cardioembolic (CE) causes (OR=2.3589, 95% CI: 1.5506-3.5885) and less likely SVD (OR=.2583, 95% CI: .1444-.4654). Other notable inferences were included. Wernicke aphasia was caused by either CE (6 of 12; 50%) or hemorrhage (4 of 12; 33.3%) in a combined 83% of

  1. Novel engineered HIV-1 East African Clade-A gp160 plasmid construct induces strong humoral and cell-mediated immune responses in vivo

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muthumani, Karuppiah; Zhang Donghui; Dayes, Nathanael S.; Hwang, Daniel S.; Calarota, Sandra A.; Choo, Andrew Y.; Boyer, Jean D.; Weiner, David B.

    2003-01-01

    HIV-1 sequences are highly diverse due to the inaccuracy of the viral reverse transcriptase. This diversity has been studied and used to categorize HIV isolates into subtypes or clades, which are geographically distinct. To develop effective vaccines against HIV-1, immunogens representing different subtypes may be important for induction of cross-protective immunity, but little data exist describing and comparing the immunogenicity induced by different subtype-based vaccines. This issue is further complicated by poor expression of HIV structural antigens due to rev dependence. One costly approach is to codon optimize each subtype construct to be examined. Interestingly, cis-acting transcriptional elements (CTE) can also by pass rev restriction by a rev independent export pathway. We reasoned that rev+CTE constructs might have advantages for such expression studies. A subtype A envelope sequence from a viral isolate from east Africa was cloned into a eukaryotic expression vector under the control of the CMV-IE promoter. The utility of inclusion of the Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (MPV)-CTE with/without rev for driving envelope expression and immunogenicity was examined. Expression of envelope (gp120) was confirmed by immunoblot analysis and by pseudotype virus infectivity assays. The presence of rev and the CTE together increased envelope expression and viral infection. Furthermore the CTE+rev construct was significantly more immunogenic then CTE alone vector. Isotype analysis and cytokine profiles showed strong Th1 response in plasmid-immunized mice, which also demonstrated the superior nature of the rev+CTE construct. These responses were of similar or greater magnitude to a codon-optimized construct. The resulting cellular immune responses were highly cross-reactive with a HIV-1 envelope subtype B antigen. This study suggests a simple strategy for improving the expression and immunogenicity of HIV subtype-specific envelope antigens as plasmid or vector

  2. NATO’s Out-of-Area Disputes: Prospects for Common Western Strategies in the Middle East

    Science.gov (United States)

    1992-12-01

    behalf for inclusion in the alliance. In a telegram to Secretary of State Acheson, Italian Ambassador Alberto Tarchiani candidly requested Italy’s...West European Defence Identity," p. 335. lu’For an excellent essay on establishing institutional links between the WEU and NATO see, Joao de Deus...Returns to the Middle East." American-Arab Affairs No. 24 (Fall 1990): 46-52. Pmheiro, Joao de Deus . "The European Security Architecture Translantic

  3. Molecular subtypes of glioblastoma are relevant to lower grade glioma.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaowei Guan

    Full Text Available Gliomas are the most common primary malignant brain tumors in adults with great heterogeneity in histopathology and clinical course. The intent was to evaluate the relevance of known glioblastoma (GBM expression and methylation based subtypes to grade II and III gliomas (ie. lower grade gliomas.Gene expression array, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP array and clinical data were obtained for 228 GBMs and 176 grade II/II gliomas (GII/III from the publically available Rembrandt dataset. Two additional datasets with IDH1 mutation status were utilized as validation datasets (one publicly available dataset and one newly generated dataset from MD Anderson. Unsupervised clustering was performed and compared to gene expression subtypes assigned using the Verhaak et al 840-gene classifier. The glioma-CpG Island Methylator Phenotype (G-CIMP was assigned using prediction models by Fine et al.Unsupervised clustering by gene expression aligned with the Verhaak 840-gene subtype group assignments. GII/IIIs were preferentially assigned to the proneural subtype with IDH1 mutation and G-CIMP. GBMs were evenly distributed among the four subtypes. Proneural, IDH1 mutant, G-CIMP GII/III s had significantly better survival than other molecular subtypes. Only 6% of GBMs were proneural and had either IDH1 mutation or G-CIMP but these tumors had significantly better survival than other GBMs. Copy number changes in chromosomes 1p and 19q were associated with GII/IIIs, while these changes in CDKN2A, PTEN and EGFR were more commonly associated with GBMs.GBM gene-expression and methylation based subtypes are relevant for GII/III s and associate with overall survival differences. A better understanding of the association between these subtypes and GII/IIIs could further knowledge regarding prognosis and mechanisms of glioma progression.

  4. Achalasia symptom response after Heller myotomy segregated by high-resolution manometry subtypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patel, Amit; Patel, Ami; Mirza, Faiz A; Soudagar, Samad; Sayuk, Gregory S; Gyawali, C Prakash

    2016-02-01

    Achalasia is classified into three HRM subtypes that predict outcomes from diverse management strategies. We assessed if symptomatic response varied when a single management strategy-Heller myotomy (HM)-is employed. Treatment-naive subjects with achalasia referred for HM were followed in this observational cohort study. Chicago criteria designated achalasia subtypes (subtype I: no esophageal pressurization; subtype II: panesophageal pressurization in ≥20 % swallows; subtype III: premature contractions in ≥20 % swallows). Symptom questionnaires assessed symptom burden before and after HM on five-point Likert scales (0 = no symptoms, 4 = severe symptoms) and on 10-cm visual analog scales (global symptom severity, GSS); satisfaction with HM was recorded similarly. Data were analyzed to determine predictors of GSS change across subtypes. Sixty achalasia subjects (56.1 ± 2.4 years, 55 % female) fulfilled inclusion criteria, 15 % with subtype I, 58 % with subtype II, and 27 % with subtype III achalasia. Baseline symptoms included dysphagia (solids: 85 %, liquids: 73 %), regurgitation (84 %), and chest pain (35 %); mean GSS was 7.1 ± 0.3. Upon follow-up 2.1 ± 0.2 years after HM, GSS declined to 1.9 ± 0.4 (p < 0.001), with surgical satisfaction score of 8.7 ± 0.3 out of 10; these were similar across achalasia subtypes. On univariate analysis, female gender, Eckardt score, severity of transit symptoms, and maximal IRP predicted linear GSS improvement; female gender (p = 0.003) and dysphagia for liquids (p = 0.043) remained predictive on multivariate analysis. When a uniform surgical approach is utilized, symptomatic outcome and satisfaction with therapy are similar across achalasia subtypes. Female gender and severity of dysphagia for solids may predict better HM outcome.

  5. Cross-Cultural Training of European and American Managers in Morocco

    Science.gov (United States)

    El Mansour, Bassou; Wood, Evan

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the training provided to US and European expatriates in Morocco, and subsequently build the body of knowledge for international HRD in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Design/methodology/approach: The study used the models of Black and Mendenhall and Mendenhall and Oddou, subdividing the…

  6. Robust stratification of breast cancer subtypes using differential patterns of transcript isoform expression.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas P Stricker

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Breast cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death of women worldwide, is a heterogenous disease with multiple different subtypes. These subtypes carry important implications for prognosis and therapy. Interestingly, it is known that these different subtypes not only have different biological behaviors, but also have distinct gene expression profiles. However, it has not been rigorously explored whether particular transcriptional isoforms are also differentially expressed among breast cancer subtypes, or whether transcript isoforms from the same sets of genes can be used to differentiate subtypes. To address these questions, we analyzed the patterns of transcript isoform expression using a small set of RNA-sequencing data for eleven Estrogen Receptor positive (ER+ subtype and fourteen triple negative (TN subtype tumors. We identified specific sets of isoforms that distinguish these tumor subtypes with higher fidelity than standard mRNA expression profiles. We found that alternate promoter usage, alternative splicing, and alternate 3'UTR usage are differentially regulated in breast cancer subtypes. Profiling of isoform expression in a second, independent cohort of 68 tumors confirmed that expression of splice isoforms differentiates breast cancer subtypes. Furthermore, analysis of RNAseq data from 594 cases from the TCGA cohort confirmed the ability of isoform usage to distinguish breast cancer subtypes. Also using our expression data, we identified several RNA processing factors that were differentially expressed between tumor subtypes and/or regulated by estrogen receptor, including YBX1, YBX2, MAGOH, MAGOHB, and PCBP2. RNAi knock-down of these RNA processing factors in MCF7 cells altered isoform expression. These results indicate that global dysregulation of splicing in breast cancer occurs in a subtype-specific and reproducible manner and is driven by specific differentially expressed RNA processing factors.

  7. The proclamation of the Third Pan-European conference 'The environment for Europe'

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1998-01-01

    In this chapter the text of the proclamation of the Third Pan-European conference 'The environment for Europe' is included. This proclamation contains next chapters: The preamble; The implementation of the environmental action program for Middle and East Europe; The environmental financing in the states of Middle and East Europe; The undertaking, industry and environment; The biological and landscape diversity; The environment questions of nuclear safety; The environmental program for Europe; The participation of the public; The regional environmental centres; The environmental agreements; The future; Appendix; The main recommendations of the Environmental program for Europe

  8. Analysis and application of European genetic substructure using 300 K SNP information.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chao Tian

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available European population genetic substructure was examined in a diverse set of >1,000 individuals of European descent, each genotyped with >300 K SNPs. Both STRUCTURE and principal component analyses (PCA showed the largest division/principal component (PC differentiated northern from southern European ancestry. A second PC further separated Italian, Spanish, and Greek individuals from those of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry as well as distinguishing among northern European populations. In separate analyses of northern European participants other substructure relationships were discerned showing a west to east gradient. Application of this substructure information was critical in examining a real dataset in whole genome association (WGA analyses for rheumatoid arthritis in European Americans to reduce false positive signals. In addition, two sets of European substructure ancestry informative markers (ESAIMs were identified that provide substantial substructure information. The results provide further insight into European population genetic substructure and show that this information can be used for improving error rates in association testing of candidate genes and in replication studies of WGA scans.

  9. Parkinson's disease motor subtypes and mood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burn, David J; Landau, Sabine; Hindle, John V; Samuel, Michael; Wilson, Kenneth C; Hurt, Catherine S; Brown, Richard G

    2012-03-01

    Parkinson's disease is heterogeneous, both in terms of motor symptoms and mood. Identifying associations between phenotypic variants of motor and mood subtypes may provide clues to understand mechanisms underlying mood disorder and symptoms in Parkinson's disease. A total of 513 patients were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and separately classified into anxious, depressed, and anxious-depressed mood classes based on latent class analysis of a semistructured interview. Motor subtypes assessed related to age-of-onset, rate of progression, presence of motor fluctuations, lateralization of motor symptoms, tremor dominance, and the presence of postural instability and gait symptoms and falls. The directions of observed associations tended to support previous findings with the exception of lateralization of symptoms, for which there were no consistent or significant results. Regression models examining a range of motor subtypes together indicated increased risk of anxiety in patients with younger age-of-onset and motor fluctuations. In contrast, depression was most strongly related to axial motor symptoms. Different risk factors were observed for depressed patients with and without anxiety, suggesting heterogeneity within Parkinson's disease depression. Such association data may suggest possible underlying common risk factors for motor subtype and mood. Combined with convergent evidence from other sources, possible mechanisms may include cholinergic system damage and white matter changes contributing to non-anxious depression in Parkinson's disease, while situational factors related to threat and unpredictability may contribute to the exacerbation and maintenance of anxiety in susceptible individuals. Copyright © 2011 Movement Disorder Society.

  10. Comparing Chinese and European American mental health decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Shanshan; Corrigan, Patrick W; Qin, Sang; Nieweglowski, Katherine

    2017-12-20

    Shared decision making (SDM) tends to reflect more Western values of individualism and empowerment, values that may be foreign to East Asian healthcare preferences for collectivism and family involvement: family centered decision making (FCDM). To show that Chinese will be more likely to believe FCDM would be more pleasing for them if they were the patient. Conversely, European Americans will respond more favorably to SDM. To examine effects of Western acculturation on FCDM compared to SDM. In this study, preferences for FCDM versus SDM and doctor-led decision making (DrDM) were examined in a vignette study completed online by European Americans (n = 298) and Chinese (n = 327). Research participants read a vignette about Lily (a depression patient) presenting with symptoms of depression. After reading the vignette, participants completed items representing two sets of outcomes: three perceptions of impact on Lily and how participants might respond for themselves in a similar decision making situation. Chinese rated FCDM greater than European and Chinese Americans. Chinese Americans mostly responded similar to European Americans and not Chinese. European Americans prefer SDM more for mental health services. Chinese value FCDM more than European Americans. Preferences of Chinese living in America seem to parallel European Americans.

  11. European Workshop on Renewable Rural Energy Applications in North-East Europe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1997-12-31

    This workshop is a part of the E.C. Thermie B project `Dissemination of Promising Renewable Rural Energy Applications in North-Eastern Europe`. The presentations held in the workshop are collected in this publication. The subjects are: TEKES (Technology Development Centre) Boost Technology; Renewable Energy in Latvia; Rural Renewable energy (Prospects) in Estonia; Renewable energy from Rural Electrification; Techno-Economic Analysis published as a summary; Practical Experiences of Small-Scale Heat Generation from Fuelwood in Finland; Solar systems for Domestic Hot Water and Space Heating; Biomass for Energy: Small-Scale Technologies; Photovoltaic Applications for Rural Areas in the North-East Europe

  12. European Workshop on Renewable Rural Energy Applications in North-East Europe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1998-12-31

    This workshop is a part of the E.C. Thermie B project `Dissemination of Promising Renewable Rural Energy Applications in North-Eastern Europe`. The presentations held in the workshop are collected in this publication. The subjects are: TEKES (Technology Development Centre) Boost Technology; Renewable Energy in Latvia; Rural Renewable energy (Prospects) in Estonia; Renewable energy from Rural Electrification; Techno-Economic Analysis published as a summary; Practical Experiences of Small-Scale Heat Generation from Fuelwood in Finland; Solar systems for Domestic Hot Water and Space Heating; Biomass for Energy: Small-Scale Technologies; Photovoltaic Applications for Rural Areas in the North-East Europe

  13. Clinically-inspired automatic classification of ovarian carcinoma subtypes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aicha BenTaieb

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Context: It has been shown that ovarian carcinoma subtypes are distinct pathologic entities with differing prognostic and therapeutic implications. Histotyping by pathologists has good reproducibility, but occasional cases are challenging and require immunohistochemistry and subspecialty consultation. Motivated by the need for more accurate and reproducible diagnoses and to facilitate pathologists′ workflow, we propose an automatic framework for ovarian carcinoma classification. Materials and Methods: Our method is inspired by pathologists′ workflow. We analyse imaged tissues at two magnification levels and extract clinically-inspired color, texture, and segmentation-based shape descriptors using image-processing methods. We propose a carefully designed machine learning technique composed of four modules: A dissimilarity matrix, dimensionality reduction, feature selection and a support vector machine classifier to separate the five ovarian carcinoma subtypes using the extracted features. Results: This paper presents the details of our implementation and its validation on a clinically derived dataset of eighty high-resolution histopathology images. The proposed system achieved a multiclass classification accuracy of 95.0% when classifying unseen tissues. Assessment of the classifier′s confusion (confusion matrix between the five different ovarian carcinoma subtypes agrees with clinician′s confusion and reflects the difficulty in diagnosing endometrioid and serous carcinomas. Conclusions: Our results from this first study highlight the difficulty of ovarian carcinoma diagnosis which originate from the intrinsic class-imbalance observed among subtypes and suggest that the automatic analysis of ovarian carcinoma subtypes could be valuable to clinician′s diagnostic procedure by providing a second opinion.

  14. Whole-genome sequence of a novel Chinese cyprinid herpesvirus 3 isolate reveals the existence of a distinct European genotype in East Asia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Wei; Lee, Xuezhu; Weng, Shaoping; He, Jianguo; Dong, Chuanfu

    2015-02-25

    Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV3), also known as koi herpesvirus (KHV), can be subdivided primarily into European and Asian genotypes, which are represented by CyHV3-U or CyHV3-I and CyHV3-J, respectively. In this study, the whole genome sequence of a novel Chinese CyHV3 isolate (GZ11) was determined and annotated. CyHV3-GZ11 genome was found to contain 295,119 nucleotides with 52.9% G/C content, which is highly similar to those of published CyHV3-U, CyHV3-I, and CyHV3-J strains. With reference to CyHV3-U, CyHV3-I, and CyHV3-J, CyHV3-GZ11 was also classified into 164 open reading frames (ORF), which include eight repeated ORFs. On the basis of the 12 alloherpeviruses core genes, results from phylogenetic analysis showed that CyHV3-GZ11 had closer evolutionary relationships with CyHV3-U and CyHV3-I than with CyHV3/KHV-J, which were also supported by genome wide-based single nucleotide substitution analysis and the use of a series of developed molecular markers. This study was the first to reveal the presence of a distinct European CyHV3 genotype in East and Southeast Asia at a whole genome level, which will evoke new insights on exploring the origin, evolution, and epidemiology of the virus. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. East-west collaboration in nuclear science

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wolfram von, Oertzen

    2002-01-01

    The Sandarski-2 meeting on east-west collaborations in nuclear sciences was held in May 2001 in Bulgaria with 115 participants from 17 European countries, Usa, Japan and Russia (Dubna). The scientific included 66 oral contributions. During the last decade Eastern Europe has undergone substantial political and economic changes. These changes have had a decisive impact on the scientific community in these countries, because the support for basic and applied science has decreased dramatically due to the collapse of economic systems. It should noted that there are still good resources: experimental installations, technical and scientific manpower and a well trained human intellectual reserve but conditions differ strongly from one institute to another. Many national and European institutions have set up support programs for the funding of local activities for scientists in their eastern institutions or by funding collaborations between eastern and western scientists. Many highly specialized eastern scientists work now in Europe, the Usa and Japan but the brain drain from the poorest eastern countries is a real problem. One recommendation put forward at this meeting is the creation of European structures for the support of scientists in their eastern home institutions in such a way that they can return and continue to work at home. (A.C.)

  16. Ultrasonographic Features of Papillary Thyroid Carcinomas According to Their Subtypes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hye Jin Baek

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available BackgroundThe ultrasonographic characteristics and difference for various subtypes of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC are still unclear. The aim of this study was to compare the ultrasonographic features of PTC according to its subtype in patients undergoing thyroid surgery.MethodsIn total, 140 patients who underwent preoperative thyroid ultrasonography (US and thyroid surgery between January 2016 and December 2016 were included. The ultrasonographic features and the Korean Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (K-TIRADS category of each thyroid nodule were retrospectively evaluated by a single radiologist, and differences in ultrasonographic features according to the PTC subtype were assessed.ResultsAccording to histopathological analyses, there were 97 classic PTCs (62.2%, 34 follicular variants (21.8%, 5 tall cell variants (3.2%, 2 oncocytic variants (1.3%, 1 Warthin-like variant (0.6%, and 1 diffuse sclerosing variant (0.6%. Most PTCs were classified under K-TIRADS category 5. Among the ultrasonographic features, the nodule margin and the presence of calcification were significantly different among the PTC subtypes. A spiculated/microlobulated margin was the most common type of margin, regardless of the PTC subtype. In particular, all tall cell variants exhibited a spiculated/microlobulated margin. The classic PTC group exhibited the highest prevalence of intranodular calcification, with microcalcification being the most common. The prevalence of multiplicity and nodal metastasis was high in the tall cell variant group.ConclusionThe majority of PTCs in the present study belonged to K-TIRADS category 5, regardless of the subtype. Our findings suggest that ultrasonographic features are not useful for distinguishing PTC subtypes.

  17. FINANCING CULTURE INSTITUTIONS IN EUROPEAN CONTEXT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cezar Corneliu MANDA

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The paper, on the coordinates of the analysis of the problematic of financing culture institutions within the European Union member states, performs a comparative analysis focused on the financing mechanism available to the cultural sector, created both at the level of the public, and of the private sector. For the comparative analysis, the paper selected several EU member states, grouped on four geographical areas (North, South, East and Center. The analysis performed in the paper emphasized that most EU member states make significant efforts to finance the cultural sector, but the effects of the economic crisis have had a negative impact on this financing, causing, from this perspective, a gap between the states in the north and center of the EU, on the one hand, and the states in the south and east of the EU, on the other hand and outlining a cultural Europe with two peripheries.

  18. Molecular Characterization and Clinical Relevance of Metabolic Expression Subtypes in Human Cancers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xinxin Peng

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Summary: Metabolic reprogramming provides critical information for clinical oncology. Using molecular data of 9,125 patient samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas, we identified tumor subtypes in 33 cancer types based on mRNA expression patterns of seven major metabolic processes and assessed their clinical relevance. Our metabolic expression subtypes correlated extensively with clinical outcome: subtypes with upregulated carbohydrate, nucleotide, and vitamin/cofactor metabolism most consistently correlated with worse prognosis, whereas subtypes with upregulated lipid metabolism showed the opposite. Metabolic subtypes correlated with diverse somatic drivers but exhibited effects convergent on cancer hallmark pathways and were modulated by highly recurrent master regulators across cancer types. As a proof-of-concept example, we demonstrated that knockdown of SNAI1 or RUNX1—master regulators of carbohydrate metabolic subtypes—modulates metabolic activity and drug sensitivity. Our study provides a system-level view of metabolic heterogeneity within and across cancer types and identifies pathway cross-talk, suggesting related prognostic, therapeutic, and predictive utility. : Peng et al. analyze a cohort of 9,125 TCGA samples across 33 cancer types to characterize tumor subtypes based on the expression of seven metabolic pathways. They find metabolic expression subtypes are associated with patient survivals and suggest the therapeutic and predictive relevance of subtype-related master regulators. Keywords: The Cancer Genome Atlas, tumor subtypes, prognostic markers, somatic drivers, master regulator, therapeutic targets, drug sensitivity, carbohydrate metabolism

  19. A new social-family model for eating disorders: A European multicentre project using a case-control design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krug, Isabel; Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, Matthew; Anderluh, Marija; Bellodi, Laura; Bagnoli, Silvia; Collier, David; Fernandez-Aranda, Fernando; Karwautz, Andreas; Mitchell, Sarah; Nacmias, Benedetta; Ricca, Valdo; Sorbi, Sandro; Tchanuria, Kate; Wagner, Gudrun; Treasure, Janet; Micali, Nadia

    2015-12-01

    To examine a new socio-family risk model of Eating Disorders (EDs) using path-analyses. The sample comprised 1264 (ED patients = 653; Healthy Controls = 611) participants, recruited into a multicentre European project. Socio-family factors assessed included: perceived maternal and parental parenting styles, family, peer and media influences, and body dissatisfaction. Two types of path-analyses were run to assess the socio-family model: 1.) a multinomial logistic path-model including ED sub-types [Anorexia Nervosa-Restrictive (AN-R), AN-Binge-Purging (AN-BP), Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and EDNOS)] as the key polychotomous categorical outcome and 2.) a path-model assessing whether the socio-family model differed across ED sub-types and healthy controls using body dissatisfaction as the outcome variable. The first path-analyses suggested that family and media (but not peers) were directly and indirectly associated (through body dissatisfaction) with all ED sub-types. There was a weak effect of perceived parenting directly on ED sub-types and indirectly through family influences and body dissatisfaction. For the second path-analyses, the socio-family model varied substantially across ED sub-types. Family and media influences were related to body dissatisfaction in the EDNOS and control sample, whereas perceived abusive parenting was related to AN-BP and BN. This is the first study providing support for this new socio-family model, which differed across ED sub-types. This suggests that prevention and early intervention might need to be tailored to diagnosis-specific ED profiles. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. European Research and Development in Hybrid Flexible Electronics

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    meetings in late 2008. WTEC then recruited a panel of U.S. experts, chaired by Ananth Dodabalapur, the Ashley H. Priddy Centennial Professor in...Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin Ananth Dodabalapur is the Ashley H. Priddy Centennial Professor in Engineering at the University of Texas...output from the East Asian countries has inevitably depressed the world share of U.S. and European papers (except for Spain); India, however, has

  1. NO{sub x} controls for coal-fired utility boilers in East Central Europe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Eskinazi, D. [Electric Power Research Inst., Washington, DC (United States); Tavoulareas, E.S. [Energy Technologies Enterprises Corp., McLean, VA (United States)

    1995-12-01

    Increasing environmental pressures worldwide, including East Central Europe are placing greater emphasis on NO{sub x} emission controls in utility power plants. Western Europe, Japan and the U.S. have significant experience in applying NO{sub x} controls, especially in boilers firing hard coal. Some countries in Europe (i.e., Germany and Austria), have gained experience in applying NO{sub x} controls in boilers firing low-rank coal. This experience can be applied to East Central European countries in providing the basis for planning NO{sub x} control projects, suggesting cost-effective solutions, and providing lessons learned. However, while the experience is generally applicable to East Central European countries, differences in boiler design, operation and coal characteristics also need to be considered. This paper begins with a comparison of the NO{sub x} regulations, identifies the key NO{sub x} control technologies and the worldwide experience with them, and discusses the achievable NO{sub x} reduction, O&M impacts, and retrofit costs for each technology. Emphasis is placed on retrofit applications for existing boilers, because new coal-fired power plants are not expected to be built for the next 5-10 years. This paper also focuses on technologies with relatively low cost and operational simplicity: combustion system tuning/optimization. low-NO{sub x} burners (LNB), overfire air (OFA), selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR), and reburning.

  2. Novel molecular subtypes of serous and endometrioid ovarian cancer linked to clinical outcome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tothill, Richard W; Tinker, Anna V; George, Joshy; Brown, Robert; Fox, Stephen B; Lade, Stephen; Johnson, Daryl S; Trivett, Melanie K; Etemadmoghadam, Dariush; Locandro, Bianca; Traficante, Nadia; Fereday, Sian; Hung, Jillian A; Chiew, Yoke-Eng; Haviv, Izhak; Gertig, Dorota; DeFazio, Anna; Bowtell, David D L

    2008-08-15

    The study aim to identify novel molecular subtypes of ovarian cancer by gene expression profiling with linkage to clinical and pathologic features. Microarray gene expression profiling was done on 285 serous and endometrioid tumors of the ovary, peritoneum, and fallopian tube. K-means clustering was applied to identify robust molecular subtypes. Statistical analysis identified differentially expressed genes, pathways, and gene ontologies. Laser capture microdissection, pathology review, and immunohistochemistry validated the array-based findings. Patient survival within k-means groups was evaluated using Cox proportional hazards models. Class prediction validated k-means groups in an independent dataset. A semisupervised survival analysis of the array data was used to compare against unsupervised clustering results. Optimal clustering of array data identified six molecular subtypes. Two subtypes represented predominantly serous low malignant potential and low-grade endometrioid subtypes, respectively. The remaining four subtypes represented higher grade and advanced stage cancers of serous and endometrioid morphology. A novel subtype of high-grade serous cancers reflected a mesenchymal cell type, characterized by overexpression of N-cadherin and P-cadherin and low expression of differentiation markers, including CA125 and MUC1. A poor prognosis subtype was defined by a reactive stroma gene expression signature, correlating with extensive desmoplasia in such samples. A similar poor prognosis signature could be found using a semisupervised analysis. Each subtype displayed distinct levels and patterns of immune cell infiltration. Class prediction identified similar subtypes in an independent ovarian dataset with similar prognostic trends. Gene expression profiling identified molecular subtypes of ovarian cancer of biological and clinical importance.

  3. CRISPR typing and subtyping for improved laboratory surveillance of Salmonella infections.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laëtitia Fabre

    Full Text Available Laboratory surveillance systems for salmonellosis should ideally be based on the rapid serotyping and subtyping of isolates. However, current typing methods are limited in both speed and precision. Using 783 strains and isolates belonging to 130 serotypes, we show here that a new family of DNA repeats named CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats is highly polymorphic in Salmonella. We found that CRISPR polymorphism was strongly correlated with both serotype and multilocus sequence type. Furthermore, spacer microevolution discriminated between subtypes within prevalent serotypes, making it possible to carry out typing and subtyping in a single step. We developed a high-throughput subtyping assay for the most prevalent serotype, Typhimurium. An open web-accessible database was set up, providing a serotype/spacer dictionary and an international tool for strain tracking based on this innovative, powerful typing and subtyping tool.

  4. Stroke subtypes and factors associated with ischemic stroke in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Stroke subtypes assessed four OCSP (Oxfordshire Communi-. African Health Sciences Vol 15 Issue 1, March 2015. 68. 69 ty Stroke Project Classification) subtypes classification. 13 was used with lacunar circulation infarct (LACI) and total anterior (TACI), partial anterior (PACI), posterior. (POCI) circulation infarcts as non ...

  5. Interpersonal subtypes in social phobia: diagnostic and treatment implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cain, Nicole M; Pincus, Aaron L; Grosse Holtforth, Martin

    2010-11-01

    Interpersonal assessment may provide a clinically useful way to identify subtypes of social phobia. In this study, we examined evidence for interpersonal subtypes in a sample of 77 socially phobic outpatients. A cluster analysis based on the dimensions of dominance and love on the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-Circumplex Scales (Alden, Wiggins, & Pincus, 1990) found 2 interpersonal subtypes of socially phobic patients. These subtypes did not differ on pretreatment global symptom severity as measured by the Brief Symptom Inventory (Derogatis, 1993) or diagnostic comorbidity but did exhibit differential responses to outpatient psychotherapy. Overall, friendly-submissive social phobia patients had significantly lower scores on measures of social anxiety and significantly higher scores on measures of well-being and satisfaction at posttreatment than cold-submissive social phobia patients. We discuss the results in terms of interpersonal theory and the clinical relevance of assessment of interpersonal functioning prior to beginning psychotherapy with socially phobic patients.

  6. The Prion Protein Preference of Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Subtypes*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klemm, Helen M. J.; Welton, Jeremy M.; Masters, Colin L.; Klug, Genevieve M.; Boyd, Alison; Hill, Andrew F.; Collins, Steven J.; Lawson, Victoria A.

    2012-01-01

    Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is the most prevalent manifestation of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies or prion diseases affecting humans. The disease encompasses a spectrum of clinical phenotypes that have been correlated with molecular subtypes that are characterized by the molecular mass of the protease-resistant fragment of the disease-related conformation of the prion protein and a polymorphism at codon 129 of the gene encoding the prion protein. A cell-free assay of prion protein misfolding was used to investigate the ability of these sporadic CJD molecular subtypes to propagate using brain-derived sources of the cellular prion protein (PrPC). This study confirmed the presence of three distinct sporadic CJD molecular subtypes with PrPC substrate requirements that reflected their codon 129 associations in vivo. However, the ability of a sporadic CJD molecular subtype to use a specific PrPC substrate was not determined solely by codon 129 as the efficiency of prion propagation was also influenced by the composition of the brain tissue from which the PrPC substrate was sourced, thus indicating that nuances in PrPC or additional factors may determine sporadic CJD subtype. The results of this study will aid in the design of diagnostic assays that can detect prion disease across the diversity of sporadic CJD subtypes. PMID:22930754

  7. Pulmonary emphysema subtypes on computed tomography: the MESA COPD study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Benjamin M; Austin, John H M; Newell, John D; D'Souza, Belinda M; Rozenshtein, Anna; Hoffman, Eric A; Ahmed, Firas; Barr, R Graham

    2014-01-01

    Pulmonary emphysema is divided into 3 major subtypes at autopsy: centrilobular, paraseptal, and panlobular emphysema. These subtypes can be defined by visual assessment on computed tomography (CT); however, clinical characteristics of emphysema subtypes on CT are not well defined. We developed a reliable approach to visual assessment of emphysema subtypes on CT and examined if emphysema subtypes have distinct characteristics. The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis COPD Study recruited smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and controls ages 50-79 years with ≥ 10 pack-years. Participants underwent CT following a standardized protocol. Definitions of centrilobular, paraseptal, and panlobular emphysema were obtained by literature review. Six-minute walk distance and pulmonary function were performed following guidelines. Twenty-seven percent of 318 smokers had emphysema on CT. Interrater reliability of emphysema subtype was substantial (K: 0.70). Compared with participants without emphysema, individuals with centrilobular or panlobular emphysema had greater dyspnea, reduced walk distance, greater hyperinflation, and lower diffusing capacity. In contrast, individuals with paraseptal emphysema were similar to controls, except for male predominance. Centrilobular, but not panlobular or paraseptal, emphysema was associated with greater smoking history (+21 pack-years P emphysema, was associated with reduced body mass index (-5 kg/m(2); P = .01). Other than for dyspnea, these findings were independent of the forced expiratory volume in 1 second. Seventeen percent of smokers without COPD on spirometry had emphysema, which was independently associated with reduced walk distance. Emphysema subtypes on CT are common in smokers with and without COPD. Centrilobular and panlobular emphysema, but not paraseptal emphysema, have considerable symptomatic and physiological consequences. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Gene specific actions of thyroid hormone receptor subtypes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jean Z Lin

    Full Text Available There are two homologous thyroid hormone (TH receptors (TRs α and β, which are members of the nuclear hormone receptor (NR family. While TRs regulate different processes in vivo and other highly related NRs regulate distinct gene sets, initial studies of TR action revealed near complete overlaps in their actions at the level of individual genes. Here, we assessed the extent that TRα and TRβ differ in target gene regulation by comparing effects of equal levels of stably expressed exogenous TRs +/- T(3 in two cell backgrounds (HepG2 and HeLa. We find that hundreds of genes respond to T(3 or to unliganded TRs in both cell types, but were not able to detect verifiable examples of completely TR subtype-specific gene regulation. TR actions are, however, far from identical and we detect TR subtype-specific effects on global T(3 response kinetics in HepG2 cells and many examples of TR subtype specificity at the level of individual genes, including effects on magnitude of response to TR +/- T(3, TR regulation patterns and T(3 dose response. Cycloheximide (CHX treatment confirms that at least some differential effects involve verifiable direct TR target genes. TR subtype/gene-specific effects emerge in the context of widespread variation in target gene response and we suggest that gene-selective effects on mechanism of TR action highlight differences in TR subtype function that emerge in the environment of specific genes. We propose that differential TR actions could influence physiologic and pharmacologic responses to THs and selective TR modulators (STRMs.

  9. 1 original article diverse genetic subtypes of hiv-1 among female sex

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    boaz

    Keywords: Diverse, HIV, subtypes, Female Sex workers and Vaccine ... significant probability that infection with this subtype occurred with a short incubation period (p< 0.05). Conclusion: This study .... regression was used to adjust for potential cofounders. .... TABLE 2: DISTRIBUTION OF HIV-1 SUBTYPES AMONG FSWS.

  10. Ischemic stroke subtype is associated with outcome in thrombolyzed patients

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schmitz, Marie Louise; Simonsen, Claus Ziegler; Svendsen, M L

    2017-01-01

    OBJECTIVES: The impact of ischemic stroke subtype on clinical outcome in patients treated with intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator (IV-tPA) is sparsely examined. We studied the association between stroke subtype and clinical outcome in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-evaluated patients...... patients were more likely to achieve early neurological improvement and favorable outcome compared with LVD stroke following MRI-based IV-tPA treatment. This finding may reflect a difference in the effect of IV-tPA among stroke subtypes....

  11. Parent stress across molecular subtypes of children with Angelman syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miodrag, N; Peters, S

    2015-09-01

    Parenting stress has been consistently reported among parents of children with developmental disabilities. However, to date, no studies have investigated the impact of a molecular subtype of Angelman syndrome (AS) on parent stress, despite distinct phenotypic differences among subtypes. Data for 124 families of children with three subtypes of AS: class I and II deletions (n = 99), imprinting centre defects (IC defects; n = 11) and paternal uniparental disomy (UPD; n = 14) were drawn from the AS Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN) database and collected from five research sites across the Unites States. The AS study at the RDCRN gathered health information to understand how the syndrome develops and how to treat it. Parents completed questionnaires on their perceived psychological stress, the severity of children's aberrant behaviour and children's sleep patterns. Children's adaptive functioning and developmental levels were clinically evaluated. Child-related stress reached clinical levels for 40% of parents of children with deletions, 100% for IC defects and 64.3% for UPD. Sleep difficulties were similar and elevated across subtypes. There were no differences between molecular subtypes for overall child and parent-related stress. However, results showed greater isolation and lack of perceived parenting skills for parents of children with UPD compared with deletions. Better overall cognition for children with deletions was significantly related to more child-related stress while their poorer adaptive functioning was associated with more child-related stress. For all three groups, the severity of children's inappropriate behaviour was positively related to different aspects of stress. How parents react to stress depends, in part, on children's AS molecular subtype. Despite falling under the larger umbrella term of AS, it is important to acknowledge the unique aspects associated with children's molecular subtype. Identifying these factors can

  12. Osteoclastic finger arthrosis - a subtype of polyarthrosis of the hand; Osteoklastische Fingerarthrose - Subtyp der Handpolyarthrose

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dihlmann, W. [Radiologische Praxis, Hamburg-Barmbek (Germany); Dihlmann, A. [Berufsgenossenschaftliches Unfallkrankenhaus Hamburg (Germany)

    1998-02-01

    Aim: Description of a subtype of arthrosis deformans of the hand which is characterised as osteoclastic arthrosis. Patients and methods: Retrospective analysis of radiographs of the hands of 150 women and 100 men with radiological findings of arthrosis deformans. Results: 5% of women and 2% of men showed at least one digital joint with subchondral osteolysis of one or both articulating bones involving at least a third of the phalanx. This subchondral osteolysis far exceeds the cysts which are situated in the epiphyseal part of the articular region. It may develop within a year. Conclusion: Osteoclastic arthrosis of the finger is a subtype of polyarthrosis of the hand. Serial observations suggest that an osteoclast stimulating substance is produced by the cysts or arises directly from the synovial fluid; this enters the subchondral part of the bone through clefts which may or may not be visible radiologically and that this produces osteoclastic activity. The most important differential diagnoses are chronic tophacious gout and a benign tumor. (orig.) [Deutsch] Ziel: Beschreibung eines Subtyps der Arthrosis deformans an der Hand, der als osteoklastische Arthrose bezeichnet wird. Patienten und Methode: Retrospektive Analyse der Handroentgenaufnahmen von 150 Frauen und 100 Maennern mit Roentgenbefunden der Arthrosis deformans. Ergebnisse: 5% der Frauen und 2% der maennlichen Patienten des durchgesehenen Krankenguts zeigten an mindestens einem Fingergelenk eine Arthrose mit subchondralen Osteolysen an einem oder beiden artikulierenden Knochen, die mindestens ein Drittel der Phalanxlaenge erfasst hatten. Diese subchondralen Osteolysen gehen ueber die Groesse und Form der arthrotischen Geroellzysten, die lediglich im knoechernen (epiphysaeren) Gelenksockel sitzen, weit hinaus. Sie koennen innerhalb eines Jahres entstehen. Schlussfolgerung: Die osteoklastische Arthrose der Finger ist ein Subtyp der Handpolyarthrose. Nach Verlaufsbeobachtungen wird vermutet, dass eine

  13. Provenance of zircon of the lowermost sedimentary cover, Estonia, East-European Craton

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Konsa, M.

    1999-12-01

    Cambrian sequence, zircons resembling those of local basement sources are very rare or absent. Obviously, basal Vendian/Cambrian sedimentary rocks sealed off the basement as a source of zircon. Therefore a distant source, probably outside the Svecofennian Domain, could be supposed for the bulk clastic minerals and zircons of the upperpart of the Vendian and the lower part of the Cambrian. Probably, studies of isotopic ages of different typological varieties of zircons, both of obviously local and distant origin, could provide new information on respective source rock ages and areas, and on the general palaeogeographic pattern of the Vendian and Cambrian epicratonic sedimentary basins of the East-European Craton.

  14. The subtype of VSD and the angiographic differentiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choe, Kyu Ok; Sul, Jun Hee; Lee, Sung Kyu; Cho, Bum Koo; Hong, Sung Nok

    1985-01-01

    VSD is the most common congenital cardiac malformation and the natural history depends not only on the age of patients and the size of defect but the subtype of VSD as well, important factor in clinical management of those patients. In 110 patients, with surgically repaired VSD in Yonsei Medical Center in 1984, the subtype of VSDs evaluated by surgical observation were correlated with LV angiogram findings to verify the incidence of subtype in Korean and the diagnostic accuracy to predict the subtype by angiogram. 1. 110 patients included 64 boys and 46 girls, the age ranged from 3 months to 14 years (average 4.6 years old). 2. Angiographic findings were interpreted as follows; a. Perimembranous defects were profiled in LAO 60 .deg. LV angiogram and located below the aortic valve. In inlet excavation the shunted blood opacified the recess between septal leaflet of tricuspid valve and interventricular septum in early phase, in infundibular excavation opacified the recess between anterior leaflet of TV and anterior free wall of RV and in trabecular excavation the shunted blood traversed anterior portion of TV ring, opacified trabecular portion of RV cavity. b. Subarterial types were profiled in RAO 30 .deg. LV angiogram, just below aortic valve as well as pulmonic valve. Total infundibular defects were profiled in RAO 30 .deg. and LAO 60 .deg. LV angiogram subaortic in location in both views. c. In muscular VSD the profiled angle was varied according to the subtype but the defects were separated from the aortic valve as muscular septum interposed between the aortic valve and the defect. 3. The incidence of subtype of VSDs evaluated by surgical observation were as follows. Subarterial type : 32 cases (29.1%) Total infundibular defect : 5 cases (4.5%) Perimembranous type : 73 cases (66.3%) Infundibular excavation : 32 cases (29.2%) Trabecular excavation : 28 cases (25.5%) Inlet excavation : 10 cases (9.1%) Mixed : 3 cases (2.7%) Muscular type : 1 cases (0.9%) Total 63

  15. The whole-genome landscape of medulloblastoma subtypes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Northcott, Paul A.; Buchhalter, Ivo; Morrissy, A. Sorana

    2017-01-01

    actionable targets. Driver mutations were confidently assigned to most patients belonging to Group 3 and Group 4 medulloblastoma subgroups, greatly enhancing previous knowledge. New molecular subtypes were differentially enriched for specific driver events, including hotspot in-frame insertions that target...... KBTBD4 and 'enhancer hijacking' events that activate PRDM6. Thus, the application of integrative genomics to an extensive cohort of clinical samples derived from a single childhood cancer entity revealed a series of cancer genes and biologically relevant subtype diversity that represent attractive...

  16. Deeply concealed half-graben at the SW margin of the East European Craton (SE Poland — Evidence for Neoproterozoic rifting prior to the break-up of Rodinia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Krzywiec

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Baltica was one of continents formed as a result of Rodinia break-up 850–550 Ma. It was separated from Amazonia(? by the Tornquist Ocean, the opening of which was preceded by Neoproterozoic extension in a network of continental rifts. Some of these rifts were subsequently aborted whereas the Tornquist Rift gave rise to splitting of Rodinia and formation of the Tornquist Ocean. The results of 1-D subsidence analysis at the fossil passive margin of Baltica provided insight in the timing and kinematics of continental rifting that led to break-up of Rodinia. Rifting was associated with Neoproterozoic syn-rift subsidence accompanied by deposition of continental coarse-grained sediments and emplacement of continental basalts. Transition from a syn-rift to post-rift phase in the latest Ediacaran to earliest early Cambrian was concomitant with deposition of continental conglomerates and arkoses, laterally passing into mudstones. An extensional scenario of the break-up of Rodinia along the Tornquist Rift is based on the character of tectonic subsidence curves, evolution of syn-rift and post-rift depocenters in time, as well as geochemistry and geochronology of the syn-rift volcanics. It is additionally reinforced by the high-quality deep seismic reflection data from SE Poland, located above the SW edge of the East European Craton. The seismic data allowed for identification of a deeply buried (11–18 km, well-preserved extensional half-graben, developed in the Palaeoproterozoic crystalline basement and filled with a Neoproterozoic syn-rift volcano-sedimentary succession. The results of depth-to-basement study based on integration of seismic and gravity data show the distribution of local NE–SW elongated Neoproterozoic depocenters within the SW slope of the East European Craton. Furthermore, they document the rapid south-eastwards thickness increase of the Neoproterozoic succession towards the NW–SE oriented craton margin. This provides evidence

  17. Subtype and pathway specific responses to anticancer compounds in breast cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heiser, Laura M; Sadanandam, Anguraj; Kuo, Wen-Lin; Benz, Stephen C; Goldstein, Theodore C; Ng, Sam; Gibb, William J; Wang, Nicholas J; Ziyad, Safiyyah; Tong, Frances; Bayani, Nora; Hu, Zhi; Billig, Jessica I; Dueregger, Andrea; Lewis, Sophia; Jakkula, Lakshmi; Korkola, James E; Durinck, Steffen; Pepin, François; Guan, Yinghui; Purdom, Elizabeth; Neuvial, Pierre; Bengtsson, Henrik; Wood, Kenneth W; Smith, Peter G; Vassilev, Lyubomir T; Hennessy, Bryan T; Greshock, Joel; Bachman, Kurtis E; Hardwicke, Mary Ann; Park, John W; Marton, Laurence J; Wolf, Denise M; Collisson, Eric A; Neve, Richard M; Mills, Gordon B; Speed, Terence P; Feiler, Heidi S; Wooster, Richard F; Haussler, David; Stuart, Joshua M; Gray, Joe W; Spellman, Paul T

    2012-02-21

    Breast cancers are comprised of molecularly distinct subtypes that may respond differently to pathway-targeted therapies now under development. Collections of breast cancer cell lines mirror many of the molecular subtypes and pathways found in tumors, suggesting that treatment of cell lines with candidate therapeutic compounds can guide identification of associations between molecular subtypes, pathways, and drug response. In a test of 77 therapeutic compounds, nearly all drugs showed differential responses across these cell lines, and approximately one third showed subtype-, pathway-, and/or genomic aberration-specific responses. These observations suggest mechanisms of response and resistance and may inform efforts to develop molecular assays that predict clinical response.

  18. Single nucleotide polymorphisms typing of Mycobacterium leprae reveals focal transmission of leprosy in high endemic regions of India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lavania, M; Jadhav, R S; Turankar, R P; Chaitanya, V S; Singh, M; Sengupta, U

    2013-11-01

    Earlier studies indicate that genotyping of Mycobaterium leprae based on single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is useful for analysis of the global spread of leprosy. In the present study, we investigated the diversity of M. leprae at eight SNP loci using 180 clinical isolates obtained from patients with leprosy residing mainly in Delhi and Purulia (West Bengal) regions. It was observed that the frequency of SNP type 1 and subtype D was most predominant in the Indian population. Further, the SNP type 2 subtype E was noted only from East Delhi region and SNP type 2 subtype G was noted only from the nearby areas of Hoogly district of West Bengal. These results indicate the occurrence of focal transmission of M. leprae infection and demonstrate that analysis by SNP typing has great potential to help researchers in understanding the transmission of M. leprae infection in the community. © 2013 The Authors Clinical Microbiology and Infection © 2013 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

  19. Breast cancer subtypes: two decades of journey from cell culture to patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Xiangshan; Gurumurthy, Channabasavaiah Basavaraju; Malhotra, Gautam; Mirza, Sameer; Mohibi, Shakur; Bele, Aditya; Quinn, Meghan G; Band, Hamid; Band, Vimla

    2011-01-01

    Recent molecular profiling has identified six major subtypes of breast cancers that exhibit different survival outcomes for patients. To address the origin of different subtypes of breast cancers, we have now identified, isolated, and immortalized (using hTERT) mammary stem/progenitor cells which maintain their stem/progenitor properties even after immortalization. Our decade long research has shown that these stem/progenitor cells are highly susceptible to oncogenesis. Given the emerging evidence that stem/progenitor cells are precursors of cancers and that distinct subtypes of breast cancer have different survival outcome, these cellular models provide novel tools to understand the oncogenic process leading to various subtypes of breast cancers and for future development of novel therapeutic strategies to treat different subtypes of breast cancers.

  20. Comparison of two motor subtype classifications in de novo Parkinson's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Seong-Min; Kim, Byeong C; Cho, Bang-Hoon; Kang, Kyung Wook; Choi, Kang-Ho; Kim, Joon-Tae; Lee, Seung-Han; Park, Man-Seok; Kim, Myeong-Kyu; Cho, Ki-Hyun

    2018-04-18

    Clinical subtypes of Parkinson's disease (PD) have been empirically defined based on the prominent motor symptoms. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of non-motor symptoms across PD motor subtypes in patients with PD. A total of 192 patients with de novo PD were included. The patients were classified into the tremor-dominant/mixed/akinetic-rigid (TD/mixed/AR) and tremor-dominant/mixed/postural instability and gait disturbance (TD/mixed/PIGD) subtypes, according to previous reports. In the TD/mixed/AR classification, scores for scales related to motor symptoms and activities of daily living (ADL) were significantly different among the groups, and patients with the AR subtype demonstrated more severe scores than patients with the TD subtype. In the TD/mixed/PIGD classification, age, age at symptom onset, scores on motor-related scales, ADL, and non-motor symptoms were significantly different among the groups. Scores including the modified Hoehn and Yahr stages, the motor and ADL subscores of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Non-Motor Symptom Assessment Scale were significantly different after adjustments for age and age at symptom onset, and patients with the PIGD subtype obtained more severe scores than patients with the TD subtype. The TD/mixed/PIGD classification seems to be more suitable for identifying non-motor abnormalities than the TD/mixed/AR classification. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. HIV-1 subtypes D and F are prevalent in Guinea Conakry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freimanis, G L; Loua, A; Allain, J P

    2012-04-01

    Limited data is available upon the distribution of different HIV-1/2 genotypes in the blood donor population from Guinea Conakry. To investigate the prevalence of HIV-1/2 subtypes in asymptomatic blood donors in Guinea Conakry, in order to update knowledge of HIV-1/2 epidemiology within this country. Samples from 104 blood donors seropositive for HIV-1/2 were tested for HIV-1 by real-time RT-PCR. Those negative for HIV-1 were tested with HIV-2 nested RT-PCR. Positive samples were further amplified in the HIV-1 gag and pol regions and sequenced. Subtypes were determined by phylogenetic analysis on amplicon sequences. 61 samples were positive by HIV-1 real-time RT-PCR. Of the 43 negative, 2 (4.6%) were positive for HIV-2. 52/61 (85.3%) samples were positive by nested RT-PCR. Of the 52, 43 (70.5%) and 31(59.6%) sequences were obtained in the gag and pol regions, respectively; 23 for both regions. HIV-1 subtype distribution was 1 B (2.1%), 8 F (17%), 8 D (17%) and 28 CRF02_AG (59.6%) with 2 unclassified recombinants (4.3%). Unique clusters for subtype D and F distinguished Guinea from HIV-1 subtype distribution in neighboring countries. Subtype F and subtype D strains, uncommon in West Africa, are a substantial part of HIV-1 epidemiology in Guinea. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Identification of Multiple Subtypes of Campylobacter jejuni in Chicken Meat and the Impact on Source Attribution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John A. Hudson

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Most source attribution studies for Campylobacter use subtyping data based on single isolates from foods and environmental sources in an attempt to draw epidemiological inferences. It has been suggested that subtyping only one Campylobacter isolate per chicken carcass incurs a risk of failing to recognise the presence of clinically relevant, but numerically infrequent, subtypes. To investigate this, between 21 and 25 Campylobacter jejuni isolates from each of ten retail chicken carcasses were subtyped by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE using the two restriction enzymes SmaI and KpnI. Among the 227 isolates, thirteen subtypes were identified, the most frequently occurring subtype being isolated from three carcasses. Six carcasses carried a single subtype, three carcasses carried two subtypes each and one carcass carried three subtypes. Some subtypes carried by an individual carcass were shown to be potentially clonally related. Comparison of C. jejuni subtypes from chickens with isolate subtypes from human clinical cases (n = 1248 revealed seven of the thirteen chicken subtypes were indistinguishable from human cases. None of the numerically minor chicken subtypes were identified in the human data. Therefore, typing only one Campylobacter isolate from individual chicken carcasses may be adequate to inform Campylobacter source attribution.

  3. Respiratory panic disorder subtype and sensitivity to the carbon dioxide challenge test

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A.M. Valença

    2002-07-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the present study was to verify the sensitivity to the carbon dioxide (CO2 challenge test of panic disorder (PD patients with respiratory and nonrespiratory subtypes of the disorder. Our hypothesis is that the respiratory subtype is more sensitive to 35% CO2. Twenty-seven PD subjects with or without agoraphobia were classified into respiratory and nonrespiratory subtypes on the basis of the presence of respiratory symptoms during their panic attacks. The tests were carried out in a double-blind manner using two mixtures: 1 35% CO2 and 65% O2, and 2 100% atmospheric compressed air, 20 min apart. The tests were repeated after 2 weeks during which the participants in the study did not receive any psychotropic drugs. At least 15 of 16 (93.7% respiratory PD subtype patients and 5 of 11 (43.4% nonrespiratory PD patients had a panic attack during one of two CO2 challenges (P = 0.009, Fisher exact test. Respiratory PD subtype patients were more sensitive to the CO2 challenge test. There was agreement between the severity of PD measured by the Clinical Global Impression (CGI Scale and the subtype of PD. Higher CGI scores in the respiratory PD subtype could reflect a greater sensitivity to the CO2 challenge due to a greater severity of PD. Carbon dioxide challenges in PD may define PD subtypes and their underlying mechanisms.

  4. Correlation of microarray-based breast cancer molecular subtypes and clinical outcomes: implications for treatment optimization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hsu Hui-Chi

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Optimizing treatment through microarray-based molecular subtyping is a promising method to address the problem of heterogeneity in breast cancer; however, current application is restricted to prediction of distant recurrence risk. This study investigated whether breast cancer molecular subtyping according to its global intrinsic biology could be used for treatment customization. Methods Gene expression profiling was conducted on fresh frozen breast cancer tissue collected from 327 patients in conjunction with thoroughly documented clinical data. A method of molecular subtyping based on 783 probe-sets was established and validated. Statistical analysis was performed to correlate molecular subtypes with survival outcome and adjuvant chemotherapy regimens. Heterogeneity of molecular subtypes within groups sharing the same distant recurrence risk predicted by genes of the Oncotype and MammaPrint predictors was studied. Results We identified six molecular subtypes of breast cancer demonstrating distinctive molecular and clinical characteristics. These six subtypes showed similarities and significant differences from the Perou-Sørlie intrinsic types. Subtype I breast cancer was in concordance with chemosensitive basal-like intrinsic type. Adjuvant chemotherapy of lower intensity with CMF yielded survival outcome similar to those of CAF in this subtype. Subtype IV breast cancer was positive for ER with a full-range expression of HER2, responding poorly to CMF; however, this subtype showed excellent survival when treated with CAF. Reduced expression of a gene associated with methotrexate sensitivity in subtype IV was the likely reason for poor response to methotrexate. All subtype V breast cancer was positive for ER and had excellent long-term survival with hormonal therapy alone following surgery and/or radiation therapy. Adjuvant chemotherapy did not provide any survival benefit in early stages of subtype V patients. Subtype V was

  5. Correlation of microarray-based breast cancer molecular subtypes and clinical outcomes: implications for treatment optimization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kao, Kuo-Jang; Chang, Kai-Ming; Hsu, Hui-Chi; Huang, Andrew T

    2011-01-01

    Optimizing treatment through microarray-based molecular subtyping is a promising method to address the problem of heterogeneity in breast cancer; however, current application is restricted to prediction of distant recurrence risk. This study investigated whether breast cancer molecular subtyping according to its global intrinsic biology could be used for treatment customization. Gene expression profiling was conducted on fresh frozen breast cancer tissue collected from 327 patients in conjunction with thoroughly documented clinical data. A method of molecular subtyping based on 783 probe-sets was established and validated. Statistical analysis was performed to correlate molecular subtypes with survival outcome and adjuvant chemotherapy regimens. Heterogeneity of molecular subtypes within groups sharing the same distant recurrence risk predicted by genes of the Oncotype and MammaPrint predictors was studied. We identified six molecular subtypes of breast cancer demonstrating distinctive molecular and clinical characteristics. These six subtypes showed similarities and significant differences from the Perou-Sørlie intrinsic types. Subtype I breast cancer was in concordance with chemosensitive basal-like intrinsic type. Adjuvant chemotherapy of lower intensity with CMF yielded survival outcome similar to those of CAF in this subtype. Subtype IV breast cancer was positive for ER with a full-range expression of HER2, responding poorly to CMF; however, this subtype showed excellent survival when treated with CAF. Reduced expression of a gene associated with methotrexate sensitivity in subtype IV was the likely reason for poor response to methotrexate. All subtype V breast cancer was positive for ER and had excellent long-term survival with hormonal therapy alone following surgery and/or radiation therapy. Adjuvant chemotherapy did not provide any survival benefit in early stages of subtype V patients. Subtype V was consistent with a unique subset of luminal A intrinsic

  6. Subtypes of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and cannabis use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loflin, Mallory; Earleywine, Mitch; De Leo, Joseph; Hobkirk, Andrea

    2014-03-01

    The current study examined the association between subtypes of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and cannabis use within a sample of 2811 current users. Data were collected in 2012 from a national U.S. survey of cannabis users. A series of logistic regression equations and chi-squares were assessed for proportional differences between users. When asked about the ADHD symptoms they have experienced when not using cannabis, a higher proportion of daily users met symptom criteria for an ADHD diagnoses of the subtypes that include hyperactive-impulsive symptoms than the inattentive subtype. For nondaily users, the proportions of users meeting symptom criteria did not differ by subtype. These results have implications for identifying which individuals with ADHD might be more likely to self-medicate using cannabis. Furthermore, these findings indirectly support research linking relevant cannabinoid receptors to regulatory control.

  7. [Eating disorders after the political changes in the formerly communist Eastern-European countries].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rathner, G; Túry, F; Szabó, P

    2001-06-24

    The authors summarize the Central and East European epidemiological data of eating disorders. These demonstrate that eating disorders are not exclusively characteristic to Western societies. In this respect the comparison of newer data to those which were performed before the political changes in 1989-1990 is especially valuable. Formerly in a Hungarian university sample the prevalence of bulimia was 1-1.3% among females, 0-0.8% among males, and this was higher than the prevalence of 0.6% in Austrian females, or 0% in German Democratic Republic. After the social changes similar data were found in several East European countries. This corroborates the culture-change idea of eating disorders. The transition to a Western market economy and the process of globalization is an experiment to evaluate the effect of sociocultural factors. The values and norms (e.g. thinness ideal) come closer to the Western culture, and mass media have a significant impact in this process.

  8. Gas and LNG pricing and trading hub in East Asia: An introduction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xunpeng Shi

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper summarizes the four papers in the special issues on ‘Gas and LNG pricing and trading hub in East Asia’. The papers examine lessons and experience from European hub development, other commodity, the Japanese history on developing of futures markets and inter-fuel substitution in East Asia. The papers finds that liquid futures market is the key to formulate benchmark prices while a well-developed spot market is the foundation; political will and strong leadership are required to overcome the power of incumbents and to restructure the gas market that impede the the development of competitive markets; and East Asia needs to develop its indigenous gas or LNG trading hubs even in low oil prices period and its developing market allows easier changes in new contracts than in existing ones. This hub development requires governments to go through tough domestic market reforms, including liberalization and cooperation with each other and with gas exporters.

  9. European bank for reconstruction and development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kastratović Radovan

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available European Bank for Reconstruction and Development - EBRD was established in the year 1991 and commenced operations in 1991. The objective of the Bank was to instigate market oriented approach to business in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. This comprises support offered to structural reforms, privatisation, and development of entrepreneurship and legal system through financing of project conducive to the achievement of the aimed targets. The Bank approves loans both to the nation states and to the private sector. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development often appears in the role of investor. In addition, the Bank has also its consultative function. Owners of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development are the developed countries and those that participate in the distribution of the Bank's profit. The Bank invests in the countries of Central, Eastern and South-East Europe, but also in those of Central Asia and Southern Mediterranean. The importance that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has for our country is best illustrated by the fact that this Bank is our largest institutional investor, with investments exceeding 3.5 billion EUR. This work begins with presentation of general information on the work of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, its objectives, activities, background history, ownership and organisational structure. It proceeds by giving relevant data on the Bank's business operations - the manner of project financing, the Bank's funds distribution per geographic criteria and activities, and the operative and financial results of the Bank's business activities. Brief description is also offered of the cooperation that the European Bank has with other international financial institutions. Finally, data is given bearing witness on the importance that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has for Serbia.

  10. Geographic Distribution and Temporal Trends of HIV-1 Subtypes through Heterosexual Transmission in China: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Peipei; Li, Jianjun; Fu, Gengfeng; Zhou, Ying; Huan, Xiping; Yang, Haitao

    2017-01-01

    Background: Heterosexual transmission (HST) has become the current predominant transmission pathways of the HIV-1 epidemic in China. The aim of this study was to explore the geographic and dynamic change of HIV-1 subtypes through HST in China from published studies. Methods: Several electronic databases were searched to identify the studies, and the overall prevalence of HIV-1 subtypes was estimated by a meta-analysis method. Subgroup analysis was conducted by study region and time period. Publication bias was evaluated using Egger’s test. The χ2 test was used to evaluate the proportion differences among subgroups. Sensitivity analysis was carried out to assess the stability of the overall prevalence estimates. Results: 42 studies were included in our final analysis. The overall prevalence of CRF01_AE was 46.34% (95% CI: 40.56–52.17%), CRF07_BC was 19.16% (95% CI: 15.02–23.66%), B/B’ was 13.25% (95% CI: 9.68–17.25%), CRF08_BC was 10.61% (95% CI: 7.08–14.70%), and C was 4.29% (95% CI: 1.85–7.48%). In subgroup analysis, the prevalence of CRF01_AE and CRF07_BC increased, while the prevalence of B/B’ decreased over time, whereby the prevalence of CRF07_BC and CRF08_BC have exceeded that of B/B’ since 2010. A significant higher prevalence of CRF01_AE was found in the South provinces, CRF07_BC in East provinces, CRF08_BC and C in Southwest provinces, and B/B’ in North provinces. Conclusions: The HIV-1 prevalent strains have evolved into complicated and diverse subtypes, and the proportion of HIV-1 subtypes through HST has changed constantly in different regions and periods in China. This highlights the urgent need to vigorously strengthen the prevention and control of the HIV-1 epidemic. PMID:28737729

  11. Detection and subtyping avian metapneumovirus from turkeys in Iran.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayahi, Mansour; Momtaz, Hassan; Jafari, Ramezan Ali; Zamani, Pejman

    2017-01-01

    Avian metapneumovirus (aMPV) causes diseases like rhinotracheitis in turkeys, swollen head syndrome in chickens and avian rhinotracheitis in other birds. Causing respiratory problems, aMPV adversely affects production and inflicts immense economic losses and mortalities, especially in turkey flocks. In recent years, several serological and molecular studies have been conducted on this virus, especially in poultry in Asia and Iran. The purpose of the present study was detecting and subtyping aMPV by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from non-vaccinated, commercial turkey flocks in Iran for the first time. Sixty three meat-type unvaccinated turkey flocks from several provinces of Iran were sampled in major turkey abattoirs. Samples were tested by RT-PCR for detecting and subtyping aMPV. The results showed that 26 samples from three flocks (4.10%) were positive for viral RNA and all of the viruses were found to be subtype B of aMPV. As a result, vaccination especially against subtype B of aMPV should be considered in turkey flocks in Iran to control aMPV infections.

  12. The Genetic Diversity and Evolution of HIV-1 Subtype B Epidemic in Puerto Rico.

    Science.gov (United States)

    López, Pablo; Rivera-Amill, Vanessa; Rodríguez, Nayra; Vargas, Freddie; Yamamura, Yasuhiro

    2015-12-23

    HIV-1 epidemics in Caribbean countries, including Puerto Rico, have been reported to be almost exclusively associated with the subtype B virus (HIV-1B). However, while HIV infections associated with other clades have been only sporadically reported, no organized data exist to accurately assess the prevalence of non-subtype B HIV-1 infection. We analyzed the nucleotide sequence data of the HIV pol gene associated with HIV isolates from Puerto Rican patients. The sequences (n = 945) were obtained from our "HIV Genotyping" test file, which has been generated over a period of 14 years (2001-2014). REGA subtyping tool found the following subtypes: B (90%), B-like (3%), B/D recombinant (6%), and D/B recombinant (0.6%). Though there were fewer cases, the following subtypes were also found (in the given proportions): A1B (0.3%), BF1 (0.2%), subtype A (01-AE) (0.1%), subtype A (A2) (0.1%), subtype F (12BF) (0.1%), CRF-39 BF-like (0.1%), and others (0.1%). Some of the recombinants were identified as early as 2001. Although the HIV epidemic in Puerto Rico is primarily associated with HIV-1B virus, our analysis uncovered the presence of other subtypes. There was no indication of subtype C, which has been predominantly associated with heterosexual transmission in other parts of the world.

  13. The Genetic Diversity and Evolution of HIV-1 Subtype B Epidemic in Puerto Rico

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pablo López

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available HIV-1 epidemics in Caribbean countries, including Puerto Rico, have been reported to be almost exclusively associated with the subtype B virus (HIV-1B. However, while HIV infections associated with other clades have been only sporadically reported, no organized data exist to accurately assess the prevalence of non-subtype B HIV-1 infection. We analyzed the nucleotide sequence data of the HIV pol gene associated with HIV isolates from Puerto Rican patients. The sequences (n = 945 were obtained from our “HIV Genotyping” test file, which has been generated over a period of 14 years (2001–2014. REGA subtyping tool found the following subtypes: B (90%, B-like (3%, B/D recombinant (6%, and D/B recombinant (0.6%. Though there were fewer cases, the following subtypes were also found (in the given proportions: A1B (0.3%, BF1 (0.2%, subtype A (01-AE (0.1%, subtype A (A2 (0.1%, subtype F (12BF (0.1%, CRF-39 BF-like (0.1%, and others (0.1%. Some of the recombinants were identified as early as 2001. Although the HIV epidemic in Puerto Rico is primarily associated with HIV-1B virus, our analysis uncovered the presence of other subtypes. There was no indication of subtype C, which has been predominantly associated with heterosexual transmission in other parts of the world.

  14. Association Between Imaging Characteristics and Different Molecular Subtypes of Breast Cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Mingxiang; Ma, Jie

    2017-04-01

    Breast cancer can be divided into four major molecular subtypes based on the expression of hormone receptor (estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, HER2 status, and molecular proliferation rate (Ki67). In this study, we sought to investigate the association between breast cancer subtype and radiological findings in the Chinese population. Medical records of 300 consecutive invasive breast cancer patients were reviewed from the database: the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System. The imaging characteristics of the lesions were evaluated. The molecular subtypes of breast cancer were classified into four types: luminal A, luminal B, HER2 overexpressed (HER2), and basal-like breast cancer (BLBC). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the association between the subtype (dependent variable) and mammography or 15 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) indicators (independent variables). Luminal A and B subtypes were commonly associated with "clustered calcification distribution," "nipple invasion," or "skin invasion" (P cancers showed association with persistent enhancement in the delayed phase on MRI and "clustered calcification distribution" on mammography (P breast tumor, which are potentially useful tools in the diagnosis and subtyping of breast cancer. Copyright © 2017 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Sleep and daytime function in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: subtype differences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoon, Sun Young Rosalia; Jain, Umesh Ravi; Shapiro, Colin Michael

    2013-07-01

    Although sleep disorders have been reported to affect more than half of adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the association between sleep and ADHD is poorly understood. The aims of our study were to investigate sleep-related variables in adults with ADHD and to assess if any differences exist between ADHD of the predominantly inattentive (ADHD-I) and combined (ADHD-C) subtypes. We used the Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the fatigue severity scale (FSS) to collect data on daytime sleepiness, sleep quality, and fatigue in 126 subjects (45 ADHD-I and 81 ADHD-C subjects). Approximately 85% of subjects reported excessive daytime sleepiness or poor sleep quality. The most common sleep concerns were initial insomnia, interrupted sleep, and feeling too hot. When examining ADHD subtype differences, ADHD-I subtypes reported poorer sleep quality and more fatigue than ADHD-C subtypes. Partial correlation analyses revealed that interrelationships between sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and fatigue differ between ADHD subtypes; in ADHD-I subtypes fatigue was associated with sleep quality, while in the ADHD-C subtypes fatigue was associated with both sleep quality and daytime sleepiness. There also appears to be a subtype×gender interaction that affects the perception of fatigue, as subjective fatigue was markedly higher in ADHD-I women than in ADHD-C women. Altogether our data indicate that the interplay of variables associated with daytime function and sleep varies between ADHD subtypes. This finding may have considerable relevance in the management and pathophysiologic understanding of ADHD, and thus lead to tailored treatments for ADHD subtypes. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Distinguishing subtypes of extrinsic motivation among people with mild to borderline intellectual disability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frielink, N; Schuengel, C; Embregts, P

    2017-07-01

    According to self-determination theory, motivation is ordered in types, including amotivation, extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Self-determination theory defines four subtypes of extrinsic motivation: external motivation, introjected motivation, identified motivation and integrated motivation. Although it has been argued theoretically that the different types of motivation are universally applicable, Reid et al. () proposed a dichotomy of broad subtypes of extrinsic motivation for people with intellectual disability (ID) due to their cognitive limitations. The current study challenges this proposal by testing whether the four subtypes of extrinsic motivation can be differentiated among people with ID as well. The subtypes of extrinsic motivation were measured using two adapted versions of the Self-Regulation Questionnaire, one regarding exercise and one regarding support. In total, 186 adults with mild to borderline ID participated in the study. Results supported the distinction between the four subtypes of extrinsic motivation regarding both exercise and support. In addition, the correlation coefficients supported a quasi-simplex pattern of correlations among the subtypes, indicating that adjacent subtypes were more closely related than non-adjacent subtypes. Moreover, the study showed sufficient Cronbach's alphas and test-retest reliabilities for early stage research. Overall, the results of the current study provide initial evidence for the universality of the four subtypes of extrinsic motivation across populations with and without ID. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research published by MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disibilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  17. The Complex Subtype-Dependent Role of Connexin 43 (GJA1 in Breast Cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mélanie Busby

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Gap junction transmembrane channels allow the transfer of small molecules between the cytoplasm of adjacent cells. They are formed by proteins named connexins (Cxs that have long been considered as a tumor suppressor. This widespread view has been challenged by recent studies suggesting that the role of Connexin 43 (Cx43 in cancer is tissue- and stage-specific and can even promote tumor progression. High throughput profiling of invasive breast cancer has allowed for the construction of subtyping schemes that partition patients into at least four distinct intrinsic subtypes. This study characterizes Cx43 expression during cancer progression with each of the tumor subtypes using a compendium of publicly available gene expression data. In particular, we show that Cx43 expression depends greatly on intrinsic subtype. Tumor grade also co-varies with patient subtype, resulting in Cx43 co-expression with grade in a subtype-dependent manner. Better survival was associated with a high expression of Cx43 in unstratified and luminal tumors but with a low expression in Her2e subtype. A better understanding of Cx43 regulation in a subtype-dependent manner is needed to clarify the context in which Cx43 is associated with tumor suppression or cancer progression.

  18. The Complex Subtype-Dependent Role of Connexin 43 (GJA1) in Breast Cancer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Busby, Mélanie; Hallett, Michael T.; Plante, Isabelle

    2018-01-01

    Gap junction transmembrane channels allow the transfer of small molecules between the cytoplasm of adjacent cells. They are formed by proteins named connexins (Cxs) that have long been considered as a tumor suppressor. This widespread view has been challenged by recent studies suggesting that the role of Connexin 43 (Cx43) in cancer is tissue- and stage-specific and can even promote tumor progression. High throughput profiling of invasive breast cancer has allowed for the construction of subtyping schemes that partition patients into at least four distinct intrinsic subtypes. This study characterizes Cx43 expression during cancer progression with each of the tumor subtypes using a compendium of publicly available gene expression data. In particular, we show that Cx43 expression depends greatly on intrinsic subtype. Tumor grade also co-varies with patient subtype, resulting in Cx43 co-expression with grade in a subtype-dependent manner. Better survival was associated with a high expression of Cx43 in unstratified and luminal tumors but with a low expression in Her2e subtype. A better understanding of Cx43 regulation in a subtype-dependent manner is needed to clarify the context in which Cx43 is associated with tumor suppression or cancer progression. PMID:29495625

  19. Common genetic determinants of breast-cancer risk in East Asian women: a collaborative study of 23 637 breast cancer cases and 25 579 controls

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Wei; Zhang, Ben; Cai, Qiuyin; Sung, Hyuna; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Shi, Jiajun; Choi, Ji-Yeob; Long, Jirong; Dennis, Joe; Humphreys, Manjeet K.; Wang, Qin; Lu, Wei; Gao, Yu-Tang; Li, Chun; Cai, Hui; Park, Sue K.; Yoo, Keun-Young; Noh, Dong-Young; Han, Wonshik; Dunning, Alison M.; Benitez, Javier; Vincent, Daniel; Bacot, Francois; Tessier, Daniel; Kim, Sung-Won; Lee, Min Hyuk; Lee, Jong Won; Lee, Jong-Young; Xiang, Yong-Bing; Zheng, Ying; Wang, Wenjin; Ji, Bu-Tian; Matsuo, Keitaro; Ito, Hidemi; Iwata, Hiroji; Tanaka, Hideo; Wu, Anna H.; Tseng, Chiu-chen; Van Den Berg, David; Stram, Daniel O.; Teo, Soo Hwang; Yip, Cheng Har; Kang, In Nee; Wong, Tien Y.; Shen, Chen-Yang; Yu, Jyh-Cherng; Huang, Chiun-Sheng; Hou, Ming-Feng; Hartman, Mikael; Miao, Hui; Lee, Soo Chin; Putti, Thomas Choudary; Muir, Kenneth; Lophatananon, Artitaya; Stewart-Brown, Sarah; Siriwanarangsan, Pornthep; Sangrajrang, Suleeporn; Shen, Hongbing; Chen, Kexin; Wu, Pei-Ei; Ren, Zefang; Haiman, Christopher A.; Sueta, Aiko; Kim, Mi Kyung; Khoo, Ui Soon; Iwasaki, Motoki; Pharoah, Paul D.P.; Wen, Wanqing; Hall, Per; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Easton, Douglas F.; Kang, Daehee

    2013-01-01

    In a consortium including 23 637 breast cancer patients and 25 579 controls of East Asian ancestry, we investigated 70 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 67 independent breast cancer susceptibility loci recently identified by genome-wide association studies (GWASs) conducted primarily in European-ancestry populations. SNPs in 31 loci showed an association with breast cancer risk at P Asians and provided evidence for associations of breast cancer risk in the East Asian population with nearly half of the genetic risk variants initially reported in GWASs conducted in European descendants. Taken together, these common genetic risk variants explain ∼10% of excess familial risk of breast cancer in Asian populations. PMID:23535825

  20. A DNA methylation-based definition of biologically distinct breast cancer subtypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stefansson, Olafur A; Moran, Sebastian; Gomez, Antonio; Sayols, Sergi; Arribas-Jorba, Carlos; Sandoval, Juan; Hilmarsdottir, Holmfridur; Olafsdottir, Elinborg; Tryggvadottir, Laufey; Jonasson, Jon G; Eyfjord, Jorunn; Esteller, Manel

    2015-03-01

    In cancer, epigenetic states are deregulated and thought to be of significance in cancer development and progression. We explored DNA methylation-based signatures in association with breast cancer subtypes to assess their impact on clinical presentation and patient prognosis. DNA methylation was analyzed using Infinium 450K arrays in 40 tumors and 17 normal breast samples, together with DNA copy number changes and subtype-specific markers by tissue microarrays. The identified methylation signatures were validated against a cohort of 212 tumors annotated for breast cancer subtypes by the PAM50 method (The Cancer Genome Atlas). Selected markers were pyrosequenced in an independent validation cohort of 310 tumors and analyzed with respect to survival, clinical stage and grade. The results demonstrate that DNA methylation patterns linked to the luminal-B subtype are characterized by CpG island promoter methylation events. In contrast, a large fraction of basal-like tumors are characterized by hypomethylation events occurring within the gene body. Based on these hallmark signatures, we defined two DNA methylation-based subtypes, Epi-LumB and Epi-Basal, and show that they are associated with unfavorable clinical parameters and reduced survival. Our data show that distinct mechanisms leading to changes in CpG methylation states are operative in different breast cancer subtypes. Importantly, we show that a few selected proxy markers can be used to detect the distinct DNA methylation-based subtypes thereby providing valuable information on disease prognosis. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. The Association between Physical Morbidity and Subtypes of Severe Depression

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Østergaard, Søren Dinesen; Petrides, Georgio; Dinesen, Peter Thisted

    2013-01-01

    Physical illness and depression are related, but the association between specific physical diseases and diagnostic subtypes of depression remains poorly understood. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between a number of physical diseases and the nonpsychotic and psychotic subtype...... of severe depression....

  2. Ethnic variation of the histological subtypes of renal cell carcinoma ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    E.V. Ezenwa

    The content of the data obtained included the ethnicity categorized as Chinese, Malays, Indians and others (Indonesians, Vietnamese and other minor groups). Other data collected included age, gender and the histological subtype categorized as clear cell, papillary, chromophobe, collecting duct and unclassified subtypes.

  3. Choice and dissonance in a European cultural context: the case of Western and Eastern Europeans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kokkoris, Michail D; Kühnen, Ulrich

    2013-01-01

    Prior research demonstrates that members of collectivistic cultures are less likely to reduce cognitive dissonance after making a choice, compared to members of individualistic cultures. This difference has been attributed to different conceptualizations of choice that derive from different self-construals across cultures. In individualistic cultures, choice leads to stronger commitment to the chosen option compared to collectivistic cultures, because it implicates core aspects of the independent self, such as personal preferences. However, this cultural variation in postchoice dissonance has thus far been studied exclusively by comparing East Asians and North Americans. Building on the assumption that this difference is due to different construals of the self, we conducted an experiment with movie choices using the classic free-choice paradigm to examine differences in dissonance reduction between Western and Eastern Europeans, two populations known to differ with respect to interdependence. The results show that Eastern Europeans are less likely than Western Europeans to reduce postchoice dissonance by spreading their alternatives. Our findings speak to the generalizability of the hypothesis that in cultures differing in independence or interdependence people also differ in the way they construe choice, as well as in the way the act of choosing affects their self-concept.

  4. Differential affinity of mammalian histone H1 somatic subtypes for DNA and chromatin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mora Xavier

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Histone H1 is involved in the formation and maintenance of chromatin higher order structure. H1 has multiple isoforms; the subtypes differ in timing of expression, extent of phosphorylation and turnover rate. In vertebrates, the amino acid substitution rates differ among subtypes by almost one order of magnitude, suggesting that each subtype might have acquired a unique function. We have devised a competitive assay to estimate the relative binding affinities of histone H1 mammalian somatic subtypes H1a-e and H1° for long chromatin fragments (30–35 nucleosomes in physiological salt (0.14 M NaCl at constant stoichiometry. Results The H1 complement of native chromatin was perturbed by adding an additional amount of one of the subtypes. A certain amount of SAR (scaffold-associated region DNA was present in the mixture to avoid precipitation of chromatin by excess H1. SAR DNA also provided a set of reference relative affinities, which were needed to estimate the relative affinities of the subtypes for chromatin from the distribution of the subtypes between the SAR and the chromatin. The amounts of chromatin, SAR and additional H1 were adjusted so as to keep the stoichiometry of perturbed chromatin similar to that of native chromatin. H1 molecules freely exchanged between the chromatin and SAR binding sites. In conditions of free exchange, H1a was the subtype of lowest affinity, H1b and H1c had intermediate affinities and H1d, H1e and H1° the highest affinities. Subtype affinities for chromatin differed by up to 19-fold. The relative affinities of the subtypes for chromatin were equivalent to those estimated for a SAR DNA fragment and a pUC19 fragment of similar length. Avian H5 had an affinity ~12-fold higher than H1e for both DNA and chromatin. Conclusion H1 subtypes freely exchange in vitro between chromatin binding sites in physiological salt (0.14 M NaCl. The large differences in relative affinity of the H1 subtypes for

  5. European energy security: An analysis of future Russian natural gas production and exports

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Soederbergh, Bengt, E-mail: bengt.soderbergh@fysast.uu.s [Global Energy Systems, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Laegerhyddsvaegen 1, Box 535, SE-751 21, Uppsala (Sweden); Jakobsson, Kristofer; Aleklett, Kjell [Global Energy Systems, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Laegerhyddsvaegen 1, Box 535, SE-751 21, Uppsala (Sweden)

    2010-12-15

    The widening gap between EU gas production and consumption may require an 87% increase of import volumes between 2006 and 2030, and there are great uncertainties regarding the amounts of gas that can be expected from new suppliers. The potential of increased production from Norway and Algeria is limited; hence, Russia is likely to play a crucial part of meeting the anticipated growing gas demand of the EU. A field-by-field study of 83 giant gas fields shows that the major producing Russian gas fields are in decline, and by 2013 much larger supplies from the Yamal Peninsula and the Shtokman field will be needed in order to avoid a decline in production. Gas from fields in Eastern Siberia and the Far East will mainly be directed to the Asian and Pacific Rim markets, thereby limiting its relevance to the European and CIS markets. As a result, the maximum export increase to the European and CIS markets amounts only to about 45% for the period 2015-2030. The discourse surrounding the EU's dependence on Russian gas should thus not only be concerned with geopolitics, but also with the issue of resource limitations. - Research highlights: {yields}Natural gas production in the Nadym Pur Taz region (Western Siberia) will start to decline within a few years. {yields}New production from the Yamal peninsula is critical to ensure gas exports to Europe. {yields}Additional production in East Siberia and the Far East will not be available for the European market. {yields}Rapid gas demand growth in China might also lead to competition for gas from Western Siberia.

  6. R&D activities in East Asia by Japanese, European, and US Multinationals

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Belderbos, R.A.

    2006-01-01

    We contribute to the expanding literature on the internationalization of R&D by providing evidence on the extent and pattern of R&D activities by European, Japanese, and US multinational firms in 10 Asian countries and regions: PR China, India, the Asian NIEs (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and

  7. Global DNA methylation of ischemic stroke subtypes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carolina Soriano-Tárraga

    Full Text Available Ischemic stroke (IS, a heterogeneous multifactorial disorder, is among the leading causes of mortality and long-term disability in the western world. Epidemiological data provides evidence for a genetic component to the disease, but its epigenetic involvement is still largely unknown. Epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, change over time and may be associated with aging processes and with modulation of the risk of various pathologies, such as cardiovascular disease and stroke. We analyzed 2 independent cohorts of IS patients. Global DNA methylation was measured by luminometric methylation assay (LUMA of DNA blood samples. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were used to assess the methylation differences between the 3 most common IS subtypes, large-artery atherosclerosis (LAA, small-artery disease (SAD, and cardio-aortic embolism (CE. A total of 485 IS patients from 2 independent hospital cohorts (n = 281 and n = 204 were included, distributed across 3 IS subtypes: LAA (78/281, 59/204, SAD (97/281, 53/204, and CE (106/281, 89/204. In univariate analyses, no statistical differences in LUMA levels were observed between the 3 etiologies in either cohort. Multivariate analysis, adjusted by age, sex, hyperlipidemia, and smoking habit, confirmed the lack of differences in methylation levels between the analyzed IS subtypes in both cohorts. Despite differences in pathogenesis, our results showed no global methylation differences between LAA, SAD, and CE subtypes of IS. Further work is required to establish whether the epigenetic mechanism of methylation might play a role in this complex disease.

  8. Imaging features of automated breast volume scanner: Correlation with molecular subtypes of breast cancer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zheng, Feng-Yang, E-mail: fyzheng16@fudan.edu.cn [Department of Ultrasound, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032 (China); Shanghai Institute of Medical Imaging, Shanghai 200032 (China); Lu, Qing, E-mail: lu.qing@zs-hospital.sh.cn [Department of Ultrasound, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032 (China); Huang, Bei-Jian, E-mail: huang.beijian@zs-hospital.sh.cn [Department of Ultrasound, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032 (China); Shanghai Institute of Medical Imaging, Shanghai 200032 (China); Xia, Han-Sheng, E-mail: zs12036@126.com [Department of Ultrasound, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032 (China); Yan, Li-Xia, E-mail: dndyanlixia@163.com [Department of Ultrasound, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032 (China); Wang, Xi, E-mail: wang.xi@zs-hospital.sh.cn [Department of Ultrasound, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032 (China); Shanghai Institute of Medical Imaging, Shanghai 200032 (China); Yuan, Wei, E-mail: yuan.wei@zs-hospital.sh.cn [Department of Pathology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032 (China); Wang, Wen-Ping, E-mail: wang.wenping@zs-hospital.sh.cn [Department of Ultrasound, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032 (China); Shanghai Institute of Medical Imaging, Shanghai 200032 (China)

    2017-01-15

    Highlights: • ABVS imaging features have a strong correlation with breast cancer molecular subtypes. • Retraction phenomenon on the coronal planes was the most important predictor for Luminal A and Triple Negative subtypes. • ABVS expand the scope of ultrasound in identifying breast cancer molecular subtypes. - Abstract: Objectives: To investigate the correlation between the imaging features obtained by an automated breast volume scanner (ABVS) and molecular subtypes of breast cancer. Methods: We examined 303 malignant breast tumours by ABVS for specific imaging features and by immunohistochemical analysis to determine the molecular subtype. ABVS imaging features, including retraction phenomenon, shape, margins, echogenicity, post-acoustic features, echogenic halo, and calcifications were analysed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses to determine the significant predictive factors of the molecular subtypes. Results: By univariate logistic regression analysis, the predictive factors of the Luminal-A subtype (n = 128) were retraction phenomenon (odds ratio [OR] = 10.188), post-acoustic shadowing (OR = 5.112), and echogenic halo (OR = 3.263, P < 0.001). The predictive factors of the Human-epidermal-growth-factor-receptor-2-amplified subtype (n = 39) were calcifications (OR = 6.210), absence of retraction phenomenon (OR = 4.375), non-mass lesions (OR = 4.286, P < 0.001), absence of echogenic halo (OR = 3.851, P = 0.035), and post-acoustic enhancement (OR = 3.641, P = 0.008). The predictors for the Triple-Negative subtype (n = 47) were absence of retraction phenomenon (OR = 5.884), post-acoustic enhancement (OR = 5.255, P < 0.001), absence of echogenic halo (OR = 4.138, P = 0.002), and absence of calcifications (OR = 3.363, P = 0.001). Predictors for the Luminal-B subtype (n = 89) had a relatively lower association (OR ≤ 2.328). By multivariate logistic regression analysis, retraction phenomenon was the strongest independent predictor for

  9. Imaging features of automated breast volume scanner: Correlation with molecular subtypes of breast cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zheng, Feng-Yang; Lu, Qing; Huang, Bei-Jian; Xia, Han-Sheng; Yan, Li-Xia; Wang, Xi; Yuan, Wei; Wang, Wen-Ping

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • ABVS imaging features have a strong correlation with breast cancer molecular subtypes. • Retraction phenomenon on the coronal planes was the most important predictor for Luminal A and Triple Negative subtypes. • ABVS expand the scope of ultrasound in identifying breast cancer molecular subtypes. - Abstract: Objectives: To investigate the correlation between the imaging features obtained by an automated breast volume scanner (ABVS) and molecular subtypes of breast cancer. Methods: We examined 303 malignant breast tumours by ABVS for specific imaging features and by immunohistochemical analysis to determine the molecular subtype. ABVS imaging features, including retraction phenomenon, shape, margins, echogenicity, post-acoustic features, echogenic halo, and calcifications were analysed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses to determine the significant predictive factors of the molecular subtypes. Results: By univariate logistic regression analysis, the predictive factors of the Luminal-A subtype (n = 128) were retraction phenomenon (odds ratio [OR] = 10.188), post-acoustic shadowing (OR = 5.112), and echogenic halo (OR = 3.263, P < 0.001). The predictive factors of the Human-epidermal-growth-factor-receptor-2-amplified subtype (n = 39) were calcifications (OR = 6.210), absence of retraction phenomenon (OR = 4.375), non-mass lesions (OR = 4.286, P < 0.001), absence of echogenic halo (OR = 3.851, P = 0.035), and post-acoustic enhancement (OR = 3.641, P = 0.008). The predictors for the Triple-Negative subtype (n = 47) were absence of retraction phenomenon (OR = 5.884), post-acoustic enhancement (OR = 5.255, P < 0.001), absence of echogenic halo (OR = 4.138, P = 0.002), and absence of calcifications (OR = 3.363, P = 0.001). Predictors for the Luminal-B subtype (n = 89) had a relatively lower association (OR ≤ 2.328). By multivariate logistic regression analysis, retraction phenomenon was the strongest independent predictor for

  10. Distribution of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 subtypes in the State of Amazonas, Brazil, and subtype C identification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cunha, L.K.H.; Kashima, S.; Amarante, M.F.C.; Haddad, R.; Rodrigues, E.S.; Silva, K.L.T.; Lima, T.A.; Castro, D.B.; Brito, F.C.; Almeida, E.G.; Covas, D.T.; Malheiro, A.

    2012-01-01

    Few studies have reported the molecular epidemiological characterization of HIV-1 in the Northern region of Brazil. The present study reports the molecular and epidemiological characterization of 31 HIV-1 isolates from blood donors from the State of Amazonas who donated blood between April 2006 and March 2007. Serum/plasma samples from all donors were screened for HIV antibodies by ELISA and the results confirmed by Western blot analysis. Genomic DNA was extracted from the buffy coat using the Super Quik-Gene-DNA Isolation kit. Nested PCR was performed on the env, gag, and pol regions of HIV-1 using the Gene Amp PCR System 9700. Sequencing reactions were performed using the inner PCR primers and the DYEnamic™ ET Dye Terminator Kit, and phylogenetic analysis was performed using the gag, pol, and env gene sequences. We collected samples from 31 blood donors who tested positive for HIV-1 in confirmatory experiments. The male:female ratio of blood donors was 3.4:1, and the mean age was 32.4 years (range: 19 to 61 years). Phylogenetic analysis showed that subtype B is the most prevalent among Northern Brazilian HIV-1-seropositive blood donors. One HIV-1 subtype C and one circulating recombinant form (CRF-BF) of HIV-1 were identified in the State of Amazonas. This is the first study showing the occurrence of a possible “homogenous” subtype C in this region of Brazil. This finding could contribute to a better characterization of the HIV-1 strains that circulate in the country. Key words: HIV-1; Subtypes; Phylogenetic analysis; Blood donors; Molecular and epidemiological characterization

  11. Distribution of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 subtypes in the State of Amazonas, Brazil, and subtype C identification

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cunha, L.K.H. [Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, AM (Brazil); Kashima, S.; Amarante, M.F.C.; Haddad, R.; Rodrigues, E.S. [Laboratório de Biologia Molecular, Hemocentro de Ribeirão Preto, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP (Brazil); Silva, K.L.T.; Lima, T.A.; Castro, D.B.; Brito, F.C.; Almeida, E.G. [Diretoria de Ensino e Pesquisa,Fundação de Hematologia e Hemoterapia do Amazonas, Manaus, AM (Brazil); Covas, D.T. [Laboratório de Biologia Molecular, Hemocentro de Ribeirão Preto, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP (Brazil); Malheiro, A. [Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, AM (Brazil); Diretoria de Ensino e Pesquisa,Fundação de Hematologia e Hemoterapia do Amazonas, Manaus, AM (Brazil)

    2012-01-20

    Few studies have reported the molecular epidemiological characterization of HIV-1 in the Northern region of Brazil. The present study reports the molecular and epidemiological characterization of 31 HIV-1 isolates from blood donors from the State of Amazonas who donated blood between April 2006 and March 2007. Serum/plasma samples from all donors were screened for HIV antibodies by ELISA and the results confirmed by Western blot analysis. Genomic DNA was extracted from the buffy coat using the Super Quik-Gene-DNA Isolation kit. Nested PCR was performed on the env, gag, and pol regions of HIV-1 using the Gene Amp PCR System 9700. Sequencing reactions were performed using the inner PCR primers and the DYEnamic™ ET Dye Terminator Kit, and phylogenetic analysis was performed using the gag, pol, and env gene sequences. We collected samples from 31 blood donors who tested positive for HIV-1 in confirmatory experiments. The male:female ratio of blood donors was 3.4:1, and the mean age was 32.4 years (range: 19 to 61 years). Phylogenetic analysis showed that subtype B is the most prevalent among Northern Brazilian HIV-1-seropositive blood donors. One HIV-1 subtype C and one circulating recombinant form (CRF-BF) of HIV-1 were identified in the State of Amazonas. This is the first study showing the occurrence of a possible “homogenous” subtype C in this region of Brazil. This finding could contribute to a better characterization of the HIV-1 strains that circulate in the country. Key words: HIV-1; Subtypes; Phylogenetic analysis; Blood donors; Molecular and epidemiological characterization.

  12. Hepatitis C virus sequences from different patients confirm the existence and transmissibility of subtype 2q, a rare subtype circulating in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, Spain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martró, Elisa; Valero, Ana; Jordana-Lluch, Elena; Saludes, Verónica; Planas, Ramón; González-Candelas, Fernando; Ausina, Vicente; Bracho, Maria Alma

    2011-05-01

    The hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been classified into six genotypes and more than 70 subtypes with distinct geographical and epidemiological distributions. While 18 genotype 2 subtypes have been proposed, only 5 have had their complete sequence determined. The aim of this study was to characterize HCV isolates from three patients from the Barcelona metropolitan area of Spain for whom commercial genotyping methods provided discordant results. Full-length genome sequencing was carried out for 2 of the 3 patients; for the third patient only partial NS5B sequences could be obtained. The generated sequences were subjected to phylogenetic, recombination, and identity analyses. Sequences covering most of the HCV genome (9398 and 9566  nt in length) were obtained and showed a 90.3% identity to each other at the nucleotide level, while both sequences differed by 17.5-22.6% from the other fully sequenced genotype 2 subtypes. No evidence of recombination was found. The NS5B phylogenetic tree showed that sequences from the three patients cluster together with the only representative sequence of the provisionally designed 2q subtype, which also corresponds to a patient from Barcelona. Phylogenetic analysis of the full coding sequence showed that subtype 2q was more closely related to subtype 2k. The results obtained in this study suggest that subtype 2q now meets the requirements for confirmed designation status according to consensus criteria for HCV classification and nomenclature, and its epidemiological value is ensured as it has spread among several patients in the Barcelona metropolitan area. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  13. Classification and Validation of Behavioral Subtypes of Learning-Disabled Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Speece, Deborah L.; And Others

    1985-01-01

    Using the Classroom Behavior Inventory, teachers rated the behaviors of 63 school-identified, learning-disabled first and second graders. Hierarchical cluster analysis techniques identified seven distinct behavioral subtypes. Internal validation techniques indicated that the subtypes were replicable and had profile patterns different from a sample…

  14. Characteristic MRI findings in multiple system atrophy: comparison of the three subtypes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Naka, H.; Ohshita, T.; Murata, Y.; Imon, Y.; Mimori, Y.; Nakamura, S. [Department of Internal Medicine, Hiroshima University School of Medicine, Hiroshima (Japan)

    2002-03-01

    We reviewed MRI findings in 29 patients with probable multiple system atrophy (MSA) to see whether there were common and or less common neuroradiological findings in the various clinical subtypes. We divided the patients into three clinical subtypes according to initial and predominant symptoms: 14 with olivopontocerebellar atrophy (OPCA), eight with the Shy-Drager syndrome (SDS) and seven with striatonigral degeneration (SND). The patients showed atrophy of the brain stem and cerebellum, high signal on T2-weighted images of the base of the pons and middle cerebellar peduncles, high and low signal on T2-weighted images of the putamen and atrophy of frontal and parietal lobes. The degree of atrophy of the middle cerebellar peduncle and cerebellum was greater in OPCA patients and a high-signal lateral rim to the putamen more frequent in SND. However, all findings were observed in all subtypes, and the degrees of atrophy of the putamen and pons and the frequency of high signal in the base of the pons were similar in the subtypes. We also found atrophy of the cerebral hemispheres, especially the frontal and parietal lobes, but its degree was not significantly different in the various subtypes. Our findings suggest that, although MSA can be divided clinically into three subtypes, most of the features on MRI are common and overlap in the subtypes, independently of the clinical presentation. (orig.)

  15. High prevalence of luminal B breast cancer intrinsic subtype in Colombian women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Serrano-Gomez, Silvia Juliana; Sanabria-Salas, Maria Carolina; Hernández-Suarez, Gustavo; García, Oscar; Silva, Camilo; Romero, Alejandro; Mejía, Juan Carlos; Miele, Lucio; Fejerman, Laura; Zabaleta, Jovanny

    2016-07-01

    Breast cancer is the most frequent malignancy in women worldwide. Distinct intrinsic subtypes of breast cancer have different prognoses, and their relative prevalence varies significantly among ethnic groups. Little is known about the prevalence of breast cancer intrinsic subtypes and their association with clinicopathological data and genetic ancestry in Latin Americans. Immunohistochemistry surrogates from the 2013 St. Gallen International Expert Consensus were used to classify breast cancers in 301 patients from Colombia into intrinsic subtypes. We analyzed the distribution of subtypes by clinicopathological variables. Genetic ancestry was estimated from a panel of 80 ancestry informative markers. Luminal B breast cancer subtype was the most prevalent in our population (37.2%) followed by luminal A (26.3%), non-basal triple negative (NBTN) (11.6%), basal like (9%), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) enriched (8.6%) and unknown (7.3%). We found statistical significant differences in distribution between Colombian region (P = 0.007), age at diagnosis (P = 0.0139), grade (P studies analyzing the molecular profiles of breast cancer in Colombian women will help us understand the molecular basis of this subtype distribution and compare the molecular characteristics of the different intrinsic subtypes in Colombian patients. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  16. Detection of avian metapneumovirus subtypes in turkeys using RT-PCR.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ongor, H; Karahan, M; Kalin, R; Bulut, H; Cetinkaya, B

    2010-03-20

    This study investigated the prevalence of avian metapneumovirus (aMPV) and the detection of molecular subtypes of field strains of the virus using RT-PCR in clinically healthy turkeys and those showing signs of respiratory disease. In the RT-PCR examination of 624 tracheal tissue samples collected from a local turkey abattoir, 2.9 per cent (18/624) of samples tested positive. In the examination of tracheal swab samples collected from flocks with respiratory problems, 18 of 20 samples tested positive. When the results were assessed at flock level, aMPV infection was detected in only one of the 23 clinically healthy turkey flocks, whereas all four flocks with respiratory problems were infected. Molecular typing using primers specific to the attachment glycoprotein (G) gene showed that all 36 positive samples belonged to subtype B. Partial sequence analysis of DNA samples showed 95 per cent homology between the field types and the reference strain aMPV subtype B. Whereas clinically healthy turkeys had been vaccinated with a subtype A virus vaccine, the flocks with respiratory problems had been vaccinated with a subtype B virus vaccine. Despite four blind passages of RT-PCR-positive samples on Vero and chicken embryo fibroblast cells, no cytopathic effect was detected by microscopic examination.

  17. Preparation of quadri-subtype influenza virus-like particles using bovine immunodeficiency virus gag protein

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tretyakova, Irina; Hidajat, Rachmat; Hamilton, Garrett; Horn, Noah; Nickols, Brian; Prather, Raphael O. [Medigen, Inc., 8420 Gas House Pike, Suite S, Frederick, MD (United States); Tumpey, Terrence M. [Influenza Division, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road N.E., Atlanta, GA (United States); Pushko, Peter, E-mail: ppushko@medigen-usa.com [Medigen, Inc., 8420 Gas House Pike, Suite S, Frederick, MD (United States)

    2016-01-15

    Influenza VLPs comprised of hemagglutinin (HA), neuraminidase (NA), and matrix (M1) proteins have been previously used for immunological and virological studies. Here we demonstrated that influenza VLPs can be made in Sf9 cells by using the bovine immunodeficiency virus gag (Bgag) protein in place of M1. We showed that Bgag can be used to prepare VLPs for several influenza subtypes including H1N1 and H10N8. Furthermore, by using Bgag, we prepared quadri-subtype VLPs, which co-expressed within the VLP the four HA subtypes derived from avian-origin H5N1, H7N9, H9N2 and H10N8 viruses. VLPs showed hemagglutination and neuraminidase activities and reacted with specific antisera. The content and co-localization of each HA subtype within the quadri-subtype VLP were evaluated. Electron microscopy showed that Bgag-based VLPs resembled influenza virions with the diameter of 150–200 nm. This is the first report of quadri-subtype design for influenza VLP and the use of Bgag for influenza VLP preparation. - Highlights: • BIV gag protein was configured as influenza VLP core component. • Recombinant influenza VLPs were prepared in Sf9 cells using baculovirus expression system. • Single- and quadri-subtype VLPs were prepared by using BIV gag as a VLP core. • Co-localization of H5, H7, H9, and H10 HA was confirmed within quadri-subtype VLP. • Content of HA subtypes within quadri-subtype VLP was determined. • Potential advantages of quadri-subtype VLPs as influenza vaccine are discussed.

  18. Preparation of quadri-subtype influenza virus-like particles using bovine immunodeficiency virus gag protein

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tretyakova, Irina; Hidajat, Rachmat; Hamilton, Garrett; Horn, Noah; Nickols, Brian; Prather, Raphael O.; Tumpey, Terrence M.; Pushko, Peter

    2016-01-01

    Influenza VLPs comprised of hemagglutinin (HA), neuraminidase (NA), and matrix (M1) proteins have been previously used for immunological and virological studies. Here we demonstrated that influenza VLPs can be made in Sf9 cells by using the bovine immunodeficiency virus gag (Bgag) protein in place of M1. We showed that Bgag can be used to prepare VLPs for several influenza subtypes including H1N1 and H10N8. Furthermore, by using Bgag, we prepared quadri-subtype VLPs, which co-expressed within the VLP the four HA subtypes derived from avian-origin H5N1, H7N9, H9N2 and H10N8 viruses. VLPs showed hemagglutination and neuraminidase activities and reacted with specific antisera. The content and co-localization of each HA subtype within the quadri-subtype VLP were evaluated. Electron microscopy showed that Bgag-based VLPs resembled influenza virions with the diameter of 150–200 nm. This is the first report of quadri-subtype design for influenza VLP and the use of Bgag for influenza VLP preparation. - Highlights: • BIV gag protein was configured as influenza VLP core component. • Recombinant influenza VLPs were prepared in Sf9 cells using baculovirus expression system. • Single- and quadri-subtype VLPs were prepared by using BIV gag as a VLP core. • Co-localization of H5, H7, H9, and H10 HA was confirmed within quadri-subtype VLP. • Content of HA subtypes within quadri-subtype VLP was determined. • Potential advantages of quadri-subtype VLPs as influenza vaccine are discussed.

  19. Avian metapneumovirus subtypes circulating in Brazilian vaccinated and nonvaccinated chicken and turkey farms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chacón, Jorge Luis; Mizuma, Matheus; Vejarano, Maria P; Toquín, Didier; Eterradossi, Nicolas; Patnayak, Devi P; Goyal, Sagar M; Ferreira, Antonio J Piantino

    2011-03-01

    Avian metapneumovirus (AMPV) causes turkey rhinotracheitis and is associated with swollen head syndrome in chickens, which is usually accompanied by secondary infections that increase mortality. AMPVs circulating in Brazilian vaccinated and nonvaccinated commercial chicken and turkey farms were detected using a universal reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR assay that can detect the four recognized subtypes of AMPV. The AMPV status of 228 farms with respiratory and reproductive disturbances was investigated. AMPV was detected in broiler, hen, breeder, and turkey farms from six different geographic regions of Brazil. The detected viruses were subtyped using a nested RT-PCR assay and sequence analysis of the G gene. Only subtypes A and B were detected in both vaccinated and nonvaccinated farms. AMPV-A and AMPV-B were detected in 15 and 23 farms, respectively, while both subtypes were simultaneously found in one hen farm. Both vaccine and field viruses were detected in nonvaccinated farms. In five cases, the detected subtype was different than the vaccine subtype. Field subtype B virus was detected mainly during the final years of the survey period. These viruses showed high molecular similarity (more than 96% nucleotide similarity) among themselves and formed a unique phylogenetic group, suggesting that they may have originated from a common strain. These results demonstrate the cocirculation of subtypes A and B in Brazilian commercial farms.

  20. East European energy. Romania's energy needs persist

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, Elliott C.; Denman, Sara B.; Kutnick, Bruce; Schultz, John R.; Foley Hinnen, Patricia; Bylsma, Peter J.

    1992-08-01

    Romania's economic growth and development have been hampered by declining domestic energy production and disrupted fuel imports, creating an energy shortage. Consequently, homes and businesses lack sufficient light and heat, and industrial output has fallen. In order to ensure sufficient energy supplies in the future, Romania is taking steps to decentralize its state-owned energy industries, modernize its outdated facilities and equipment, diversify its fuel sources, and eliminate its inefficient production practices. To accomplish these objectives, Romania needs substantial foreign trade and investment, according to Romanian officials. However, despite government efforts to reform the energy sector and improve the business climate, impediments to U.S. trade with and investment in Romania persist. These barriers include lack of a comprehensive energy strategy, underdeveloped legal and business infrastructures, uncertain economic and political conditions, and the absence of U.S. most-favored-nation trade status. Recent efforts by the Romanian and U.S. governments to overcome the barriers to most-favored-nation status have led to progress in this area. U.S. government and international agencies have initiated a variety of efforts to assist Romania's energy sector. For example, the Agency for International Development (AID) funded an Emergency Energy Program; the U.S. Trade and Development Program is evaluating requests to fund several feasibility studies in the power generation sector; and the Department of Commerce offers energy-related information exchanges and trade missions to Romania. International organizations such as the World Bank and the European Investment Bank have also granted loans for energy sector development projects in Romania

  1. Proteomic maps of breast cancer subtypes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tyanova, Stefka; Albrechtsen, Reidar; Kronqvist, Pauliina

    2016-01-01

    Systems-wide profiling of breast cancer has almost always entailed RNA and DNA analysis by microarray and sequencing techniques. Marked developments in proteomic technologies now enable very deep profiling of clinical samples, with high identification and quantification accuracy. We analysed 40...... oestrogen receptor positive (luminal), Her2 positive and triple negative breast tumours and reached a quantitative depth of >10,000 proteins. These proteomic profiles identified functional differences between breast cancer subtypes, related to energy metabolism, cell growth, mRNA translation and cell......-cell communication. Furthermore, we derived a signature of 19 proteins, which differ between the breast cancer subtypes, through support vector machine (SVM)-based classification and feature selection. Remarkably, only three proteins of the signature were associated with gene copy number variations and eleven were...

  2. ADHD subtype differences in reinforcement sensitivity and visuospatial working memory

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dovis, S.; van der Oord, S.; Wiers, R.W.; Prins, P.J.M.

    2015-01-01

    Both cognitive and motivational deficits are thought to give rise to the problems in the combined (ADHD-C) and inattentive subtype (ADHD-I) of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In both subtypes one of the most prominent cognitive weaknesses appears to be in visuospatial working memory

  3. Do community-dwelling Māori and Pacific peoples present with dementia at a younger age and at a later stage compared with NZ Europeans?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cullum, Sarah; Mullin, Katherine; Zeng, Irene; Yates, Susan; Payman, Vahid; Fisher, Mark; Cheung, Gary

    2018-05-15

    Ethnicity may affect presentation to clinical services in people with dementia; however, no studies have examined this in Māori or Pacific peoples in New Zealand (NZ). Our objective was to examine the routinely collected clinical data from a memory assessment service in South Auckland to examine the presentation of dementia in the major NZ ethnic groups. A total of 360 patients presenting to a memory service with a new diagnosis of dementia were included in this study. Demographic data (age, sex, and ethnicity) and dementia sub-type and severity were analyzed. There were 142 NZ European (mean age: 79.2, SD 7.4), 43 Māori (mean age: 70.2, SD 7.6), 126 Pacific (mean age: 74.3, SD 7.6), and 49 other ethnicities (mean age: 78.0, SD 8.5) presenting with a new diagnosis of dementia. After adjustment for gender and dementia subtype, Māori and Pacific patients were 8.5 and 5.3 years younger than NZ European patients (P < 0.0001). Pacific peoples tended to present with more advanced dementia (OR = 1.63, 95% CI: 0.98-2.70, P = 0.06) after adjustment for age and gender. There was little difference in the subtypes of dementia between ethnic groups. Māori and Pacific peoples with dementia presented to an NZ memory service at a younger age than NZ Europeans, and Pacific peoples presented with more advanced dementia. A population-based epidemiological study is critical to determine whether Māori and Pacific peoples have indeed a higher risk of developing dementia at a younger age. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  4. Preoperative subtyping of meningiomas by perfusion MR imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Hao [University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen (Netherlands); Shanghai Jiaotong University affiliated First People' s Hospital, Department of Radiology, Shanghai (China); Department of Radiology, University of Groningen (Netherlands); Roediger, Lars A.; Oudkerk, Matthijs [University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen (Netherlands); Department of Radiology, University of Groningen (Netherlands); Shen, Tianzhen [Fudan University Huashan Hospital, Department of Radiology, Shanghai (China); Miao, Jingtao [Shanghai Jiaotong University affiliated First People' s Hospital, Department of Radiology, Shanghai (China)

    2008-10-15

    This paper aims to evaluate the value of perfusion magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in the preoperative subtyping of meningiomas by analyzing the relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) of three benign subtypes and anaplastic meningiomas separately. Thirty-seven meningiomas with peritumoral edema (15 meningothelial, ten fibrous, four angiomatous, and eight anaplastic) underwent perfusion MR imaging by using a gradient echo echo-planar sequence. The maximal rCBV (compared with contralateral normal white matter) in both tumoral parenchyma and peritumoral edema of each tumor was measured. The mean rCBVs of each two histological subtypes were compared using one-way analysis of variance and least significant difference tests. A p value less than 0.05 indicated a statistically significant difference. The mean rCBV of meningothelial, fibrous, angiomatous, and anaplastic meningiomas in tumoral parenchyma were 6.93{+-}3.75, 5.61{+-}4.03, 11.86{+-}1.93, and 5.89{+-}3.85, respectively, and in the peritumoral edema 0.87{+-}0.62, 1.38{+-}1.44, 0.87{+-}0.30, and 3.28{+-}1.39, respectively. The mean rCBV in tumoral parenchyma of angiomatous meningiomas and in the peritumoral edema of anaplastic meningiomas were statistically different (p<0.05) from the other types of meningiomas. Perfusion MR imaging can provide useful functional information on meningiomas and help in the preoperative diagnosis of some subtypes of meningiomas. (orig.)

  5. Dissociative subtype of DSM-5 posttraumatic stress disorder in U.S. veterans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsai, Jack; Armour, Cherie; Southwick, Steven M; Pietrzak, Robert H

    2015-01-01

    The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5) formally introduced a dissociative subtype of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study examined the proportion of U.S. veterans with DSM-5 PTSD that report dissociative symptoms; and compared veterans with PTSD with and without the dissociative subtype and trauma-exposed controls on sociodemographics, clinical characteristics, and quality of life. Multivariable analyses were conducted on a nationally representative sample of 1484 veterans from the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study (second baseline survey conducted September-October, 2013). Of the 12.0% and 5.2% of veterans who screened positive for lifetime and past-month DSM-5 PTSD, 19.2% and 16.1% screened positive for the dissociative subtype, respectively. Among veterans with PTSD, those with the dissociative subtype reported more severe PTSD symptoms, comorbid depressive and anxiety symptoms, alcohol use problems, and hostility than those without the dissociative subtype. Adjusting for PTSD symptom severity, those with the dissociative subtype continued to report more depression and alcohol use problems. These results underscore the importance of assessing, monitoring, and treating the considerable proportion of veterans with PTSD and dissociative symptoms. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  6. Clinical Features Associated with Delirium Motor Subtypes in Older Inpatients: Results of a Multicenter Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morandi, Alessandro; Di Santo, Simona G; Cherubini, Antonio; Mossello, Enrico; Meagher, David; Mazzone, Andrea; Bianchetti, Angelo; Ferrara, Nicola; Ferrari, Alberto; Musicco, Massimo; Trabucchi, Marco; Bellelli, Giuseppe

    2017-10-01

    To date motor subtypes of delirium have been evaluated in single-center studies with a limited examination of the relationship between predisposing factors and motor profile of delirium. We sought to report the prevalence and clinical profile of subtypes of delirium in a multicenter study. This is a point prevalence study nested in the "Delirium Day 2015", which included 108 acute and 12 rehabilitation wards in Italy. Delirium was detected using the 4-AT and motor subtypes were measured with the Delirium Motor Subtype Scale (DMSS). A multinomial logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with delirium subtypes. Of 429 patients with delirium, the DMSS was completed in 275 (64%), classifying 21.5% of the patients with hyperactive delirium, 38.5% with hypoactive, 27.3% with mixed and 12.7% with the non-motor subtype. The 4-AT score was higher in the hyperactive subtype, similar in the hypoactive, mixed subtypes, while it was lowest in the non-motor subtype. Dementia was associated with all three delirium motor subtypes (hyperactive, OR 3.3, 95% CI: 1.2-8.7; hypoactive, OR 2.8, 95% CI: 1.2-6.5; mixed OR 2.6, 95% CI: 1.1-6.2). Atypical antipsychotics were associated with hypoactive delirium (OR 0.23, 95% CI: 0.1-0.7), while intravenous lines were associated with mixed delirium (OR 2.9, 95% CI: 1.2-6.9). The study shows that hypoactive delirium is the most common subtype among hospitalized older patients. Specific clinical features were associated with different delirium subtypes. The use of standardized instruments can help to characterize the phenomenology of different motor subtypes of delirium. Copyright © 2017 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. The dissociative subtype of posttraumatic stress disorder: rationale, clinical and neurobiological evidence, and implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lanius, Ruth A; Brand, Bethany; Vermetten, Eric; Frewen, Paul A; Spiegel, David

    2012-08-01

    Clinical and neurobiological evidence for a dissociative subtype of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has recently been documented. A dissociative subtype of PTSD is being considered for inclusion in the forthcoming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition (DSM-5) to address the symptoms of depersonalization and derealization found among a subset of patients with PTSD. This article reviews research related to the dissociative subtype including antecedent, concurrent, and predictive validators as well as the rationale for recommending the dissociative subtype. The relevant literature pertaining to the dissociative subtype of PTSD was reviewed. Latent class analyses point toward a specific subtype of PTSD consisting of symptoms of depersonalization and derealization in both veteran and civilian samples of PTSD. Compared to individuals with PTSD, those with the dissociative subtype of PTSD also exhibit a different pattern of neurobiological response to symptom provocation as well as a differential response to current cognitive behavioral treatment designed for PTSD. We recommend that consideration be given to adding a dissociative subtype of PTSD in the revision of the DSM. This facilitates more accurate analysis of different phenotypes of PTSD, assist in treatment planning that is informed by considering the degree of patients' dissociativity, will improve treatment outcome, and will lead to much-needed research about the prevalence, symptomatology, neurobiology, and treatment of individuals with the dissociative subtype of PTSD. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  8. MRI and pathological features of different molecular subtypes of breast cancers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu Yang; Huo Tianlong; Lai Yunyao; Hong Nan

    2014-01-01

    Objective: To investigate the MRI and pathological features of different molecular subtypes of breast cancer. Methods: The data of 202 patients who underwent primary breast cancer resection were retrospectively reviewed. All of the patients had MRI preoperatively. The molecular subtypes of breast cancer defined by immunohistochemistry were classified as basal-like, luminal and HER-2 overexpression. Morphology (including mass or non-mass like enhancement, shape and margin of masses, unifocal or multifocal masses) and enhancement characteristics on MRI, histologic types and grades of tumors were analyzed with Chi-square test, exact test, Fisher exact test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, and Wilcoxon test. Results: Among the 202 patients, 34 were basal-like, 144 were luminal and 24 were HER-2 overexpression. The number of mass cases in each subtype was 29, 133 and 19 respectively,making no significant difference (χ 2 =4.136, P=0.126). As for the shape of basal-like lesions,8 were round,19 were lobular and 2 were irregular, while this distribution was 23, 58, 52 in luminal subtype and 1, 11, 7 in HER-2 overexpression subtype (χ 2 =13.391, P<0.05). The margin was also strikingly different among three groups (smooth, spiculate, irregular): 20, 5, 4 respectively in basal-like, 27, 53, 53 respectively in luminal, and 4, 7, 8 respectively in HER-2 overexpression (χ 2 =28.515, P<0.01). 52.6% (10/19) of HER-2 overexpression cases were multifocal, while only 6.9% (2/29) of luminal and 8.0% (24/133) of basal-like ones were multifocal (χ 2 =16.140, P<0.01). Characteristics in dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI were statistically different, with homogeneous, heterogeneous, and rim enhancement 0, 13, 16 respectively in basal-like cases, 28, 93, 11 respectively in luminal cases and 2, 11, 6 respectively in HER-2 overexpression cases (P<0.01). However, the difference for enhancement curve did not reach significance (P =0.457). Histologic types were significantly different among molecular

  9. Phylodynamics of HIV-1 subtype F1 in Angola, Brazil and Romania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bello, Gonzalo; Afonso, Joana Morais; Morgado, Mariza G

    2012-07-01

    The HIV-1 subtype F1 is exceptionally prevalent in Angola, Brazil and Romania. The epidemiological context in which the spread of HIV occurred was highly variable from one country to another, mainly due to the existence of a long-term civil war in Angola and the contamination of a large number of children in Romania. Here we apply phylogenetic and Bayesian coalescent-based methods to reconstruct the phylodynamic patterns of HIV-1 subtype F1 in such different epidemiological settings. The phylogenetic analyses of HIV-1 subtype F1 pol sequences sampled worldwide confirmed that most sequences from Angola, Brazil and Romania segregated in country-specific monophyletic groups, while most subtype F1 sequences from Romanian children branched as a monophyletic sub-cluster (Romania-CH) nested within sequences from adults. The inferred time of the most recent common ancestor of the different subtype F1 clades were as follow: Angola=1983 (1978-1989), Brazil=1977 (1972-1981), Romania adults=1980 (1973-1987), and Romania-CH=1985 (1978-1989). All subtype F1 clades showed a demographic history best explained by a model of logistic population growth. Although the expansion phase of subtype F1 epidemic in Angola (mid 1980s to early 2000s) overlaps with the civil war period (1975-2002), the mean estimated growth rate of the Angolan F1 clade (0.49 year(-1)) was not exceptionally high, but quite similar to that estimated for the Brazilian (0.69 year(-1)) and Romanian adult (0.36 year(-1)) subtype F1 clades. The Romania-CH subtype F1 lineage, by contrast, displayed a short and explosive dissemination phase, with a median growth rate (2.47 year(-1)) much higher than that estimated for adult populations. This result supports the idea that the AIDS epidemic that affected the Romanian children was mainly caused by the spread of the HIV through highly efficient parenteral transmission networks, unlike adult populations where HIV is predominantly transmitted through sexual route. Copyright

  10. Low-cost airlines in Europe: Network structures after the enlargement of the European Union

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dudas Gabor

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The liberalization of the European air opened the strictly regulated European market, and contributed to the appearance and quick spread of the Low-Cost Carriers (LCCs. At the beginning of the 21st century the low cost traffic absolutely concentrated on the Western European market but after the enlargement of the European Union (EU LCCs started their operations in Eastern Europe enlarging and enriching the former evolved network structures. The aim of this paper is to trace the evolution of the route network as a result of EU expansion. During the study we came to the conclusion that in the time period after the EU enlargement the European LCC traffic showed dynamic development, route networks widened and the number of accessible destinations doubled. Comparing the LCCs network structures we defined three main characteristics, which represents the North-South flows, the West-East routes and the mixed network structure.

  11. Perspectives of Sustainable Development of Tourism in the North-East Region of Romania

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrian-Liviu Scutariu

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we propose to highlight the tourism evolution and its intensity in the North-East region of Romania, compared to two regions with similar touristic potential from the Eastern European Union: Subcarpathia from Poland and Central Slovakia. We analysed if the EU attachment of Romania, Poland, and Slovakia had some effects on tourism development in the three regions mentioned. Issues arising from the analysis of the current situation of tourism will allow us to draw some sustainable development directions of tourism in the North-East region based on conserving and capitalizing the uniqueness of the area. We will consider the experience of the other two regions, trying to adapt them to the situation of the North-East region. Based on the analysis we have made, we consider that other countries can inspire us by authorities’ initiatives in supporting tourism, good human resources training, entrepreneurship stimulation, and assistance in accessing financial resources, including EU ones.

  12. HIV-1 epidemiology and circulating subtypes in the countryside of South Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carina Sperotto Librelotto

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1 has spread worldwide, with several subtypes and circulating recombinant forms. Brazil has an incidence of 20.5 HIV-1/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS patients per 100,000 inhabitants; however, the Southernmost State of Rio Grande do Sul (RS has more than twice the number of HIV-1-infected people (41.3/100,000 inhabitants and a different pattern of subtype frequencies, as previously reported in studies conducted in the capital (Porto Alegre and its metropolitan region. This study examined HIV-1/AIDS epidemiological and molecular aspects in the countryside of Rio Grande do Sul. METHODS: Socio-demographic, clinical and risk behavioral characteristics were obtained from HIV-1-positive adult patients using a structured questionnaire. HIV-1 subtypes were determined by nested-polymerase chain reaction (PCR and sequencing of the pol and env genes. RESULTS: The study sample included 149 (55% women patients with a mean age of 41.8 ± 11.9 years. Most (73.8% patients had a low education level and reported heterosexual practices as the most (91.9% probable transmission route. HIV-1 subtypes were detected in 26 patients: 18 (69.2% infected with subtype C, six (23.1% infected with subtype B and two (7.7% infected with BC recombinant forms. CONCLUSIONS: These data highlight the increasing number of HIV-1 subtype C infections in the countryside of South Brazil.

  13. Seroprevalence of H1N1, H3N2 and H1N2 influenza viruses in pigs in seven European countries in 2002-2003.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Reeth, Kristien; Brown, Ian H; Dürrwald, Ralf; Foni, Emanuela; Labarque, Geoffrey; Lenihan, Patrick; Maldonado, Jaime; Markowska-Daniel, Iwona; Pensaert, Maurice; Pospisil, Zdenek; Koch, Guus

    2008-05-01

    Avian-like H1N1 and human-like H3N2 swine influenza viruses (SIV) have been considered widespread among pigs in Western Europe since the 1980s, and a novel H1N2 reassortant with a human-like H1 emerged in the mid 1990s. This study, which was part of the EC-funded 'European Surveillance Network for Influenza in Pigs 1', aimed to determine the seroprevalence of the H1N2 virus in different European regions and to compare the relative prevalences of each SIV between regions. Laboratories from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Poland and Spain participated in an international serosurvey. A total of 4190 sow sera from 651 farms were collected in 2002-2003 and examined in haemagglutination inhibition tests against H1N1, H3N2 and H1N2. In Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain seroprevalence rates to each of the three SIV subtypes were high (> or =30% of the sows seropositive) to very high (> or =50%), except for a lower H1N2 seroprevalence rate in Italy (13.8%). Most sows in these countries with high pig populations had antibodies to two or three subtypes. In Ireland, the Czech Republic and Poland, where swine farming is less intensive, H1N1 was the dominant subtype (8.0-11.7% seropositives) and H1N2 and H3N2 antibodies were rare (0-4.2% seropositives). Thus, SIV of H1N1, H3N2 and H1N2 subtype are enzootic in swine producing regions of Western Europe. In Central Europe, SIV activity is low and the circulation of H3N2 and H1N2 remains to be confirmed. The evolution and epidemiology of SIV throughout Europe is being further monitored through a second 'European Surveillance Network for Influenza in Pigs'.

  14. East, West German gas pipeline grids linked

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports that Ruhrgas AG, Essen, has started up the first large diameter gas pipeline linking the gas grids of former East and West Germany. Ruhrgas last month placed in service a 40 in., 70 km line at Vitzeroda, near Eisenach, linking a new Ruhrgas pipeline in Hesse state with a 330 km gas pipeline built last year in Thuringia and Saxony states by Erdgasversorgungs GmbH (EVG), Leipzig. The new link enables pipeline operator EVG to receive 70 bcf/year of western European gas via Ruhrgas, complementing the 35 bcf/year of gas coming from the Commonwealth of Independent States via Verbundnetz Gas AG (VNG), Leipzig

  15. The Shifting Subtypes of ADHD: Classification Depends on How Symptom Reports Are Combined

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rowland, Andrew S.; Skipper, Betty; Rabiner, David L.; Umbach, David M.; Stallone, Lil; Campbell, Richard A.; Hough, Richard L.; Naftel, A. J.; Sandler, Dale P.

    2008-01-01

    Research on the correlates of ADHD subtypes has yielded inconsistent findings, perhaps because the procedures used to define subtypes vary across studies. We examined this possibility by investigating whether the ADHD subtype distribution in a community sample was sensitive to different methods for combining informant data. We conducted a study to…

  16. Relationship between Self-Typicality and the In-Group Subtypes Effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallace, David S.; And Others

    1995-01-01

    Examined whether group members differ in the number of in-group subtype distinctions that they draw. Drawing on results of two studies, found that members of groups whose primary function is intragroup interaction (fraternities, sororities, athletic teams) draw more subtype distinctions within their own group than within other groups. (RJM)

  17. Subtyping borderline personality disorder by suicidal behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soloff, Paul H; Chiappetta, Laurel

    2012-06-01

    Course and outcome of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) are favorable for the vast majority of patients; however, up to 10% die by suicide. This discrepancy begs the question of whether there is a high lethality subtype in BPD, defined by recurrent suicidal behavior and increasing attempt lethality over time. In a prospective, longitudinal study, we sought predictors of high lethality among repeat attempters, and defined clinical subtypes by applying trajectory analysis to consecutive lethality scores. Criteria-defined subjects with BPD were assessed using standardized instruments and followed longitudinally. Suicidal behavior was assessed on the Columbia Suicide History, Lethality Rating Scale, and Suicide Intent Scale. Variables discriminating single and repeat attempters were entered into logistic regression models to define predictors of high and low lethality attempts. Trajectory analysis using three attempt and five attempt models identified discrete patterns of Lethality Rating Scale scores. A high lethality trajectory was associated with inpatient recruitment, and poor psychosocial function, a low lethality trajectory with greater Negativism, Substance Use Disorders, Histrionic and/or Narcissistic PD co-morbidity. Illness severity, older age, and poor psychosocial function are characteristics of a poor prognosis subtype related to suicidal behavior.

  18. Biofuel implementation in East Europe: Current status and future prospects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kondili, E.M.; Kaldellis, J.K.

    2007-01-01

    There is a continuously increasing interest concerning the biofuel implementation in Europe, mainly because of environmental protection and energy supply security reasons. In this context, the European Union (EU) strongly encourages the use of biofuels through a number of Directives. To that effect, EU members follow the Directives implementing various political, fiscal and technical measures and incentives. In the light of the potential created by the recently joined Eastern European countries, an increasing interest is shown in the whole biofuel supply chain within the EU. In parallel, the status of the Eastern European countries domestic market, as far as biofuels are concerned, is an interesting issue, since most of these countries present a significant potential, however still lagging in biofuel implementation. In the above context, the objective of the present work is to give a concise and up-to-date picture of the present status of biofuel implementation in East Europe. The work also aims at identifying the prospects of these countries as far as biofuels are concerned and their role in the EU framework as potential suppliers of a wider market. (author)

  19. Assessment of zoonotic potential of four European swine influenza viruses in the ferret model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fobian, Kristina; P. Fabrizio, Thomas; Yoon, Sun-Woo

    herds and enhanced focus on risk assessment of these new viruses. In this study, four European swine influenza viruses were assessed for their zoonotic potential. Of the four viruses, two were enzootic viruses of subtype H1N2 (with avian-like H1) and H3N2 and two were new reassortants, one with avian......The reverse zoonotic events that introduced the 2009 pandemic influenza virus into swine herds have drastically increased the diversity of reassortants throughout Europe. The pandemic potential of these novel reassortments is unknown, hence necessitating enhanced surveillance of European swine...... to neuraminidase inhibitors. These findings suggest that the investigated viruses have the potential to infect humans and further underline the need for continued surveillance as well as pandemic and zoonotic assessment of new influenza reassortants....

  20. CRISPR-cas subtype I-Fb in Acinetobacter baumannii: evolution and utilization for strain subtyping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karah, Nabil; Samuelsen, Ørjan; Zarrilli, Raffaele; Sahl, Jason W; Wai, Sun Nyunt; Uhlin, Bernt Eric

    2015-01-01

    Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) are polymorphic elements found in the genome of some or all strains of particular bacterial species, providing them with a system of acquired immunity against invading bacteriophages and plasmids. Two CRISPR-Cas systems have been identified in Acinetobacter baumannii, an opportunistic pathogen with a remarkable capacity for clonal dissemination. In this study, we investigated the mode of evolution and diversity of spacers of the CRISPR-cas subtype I-Fb locus in a global collection of 76 isolates of A. baumannii obtained from 14 countries and 4 continents. The locus has basically evolved from a common ancestor following two main lineages and several pathways of vertical descent. However, this vertical passage has been interrupted by occasional events of horizontal transfer of the whole locus between distinct isolates. The isolates were assigned into 40 CRISPR-based sequence types (CST). CST1 and CST23-24 comprised 18 and 9 isolates, representing two main sub-clones of international clones CC1 and CC25, respectively. Epidemiological data showed that some of the CST1 isolates were acquired or imported from Iraq, where it has probably been endemic for more than one decade and occasionally been able to spread to USA, Canada, and Europe. CST23-24 has shown a remarkable ability to cause national outbreaks of infections in Sweden, Argentina, UAE, and USA. The three isolates of CST19 were independently imported from Thailand to Sweden and Norway, raising a concern about the prevalence of CST19 in Thailand. Our study highlights the dynamic nature of the CRISPR-cas subtype I-Fb locus in A. baumannii, and demonstrates the possibility of using a CRISPR-based approach for subtyping a significant part of the global population of A. baumannii.

  1. CRISPR-cas Subtype I-Fb in Acinetobacter baumannii: Evolution and Utilization for Strain Subtyping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karah, Nabil; Samuelsen, Ørjan; Zarrilli, Raffaele; Sahl, Jason W.; Wai, Sun Nyunt; Uhlin, Bernt Eric

    2015-01-01

    Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) are polymorphic elements found in the genome of some or all strains of particular bacterial species, providing them with a system of acquired immunity against invading bacteriophages and plasmids. Two CRISPR-Cas systems have been identified in Acinetobacter baumannii, an opportunistic pathogen with a remarkable capacity for clonal dissemination. In this study, we investigated the mode of evolution and diversity of spacers of the CRISPR-cas subtype I-Fb locus in a global collection of 76 isolates of A. baumannii obtained from 14 countries and 4 continents. The locus has basically evolved from a common ancestor following two main lineages and several pathways of vertical descent. However, this vertical passage has been interrupted by occasional events of horizontal transfer of the whole locus between distinct isolates. The isolates were assigned into 40 CRISPR-based sequence types (CST). CST1 and CST23-24 comprised 18 and 9 isolates, representing two main sub-clones of international clones CC1 and CC25, respectively. Epidemiological data showed that some of the CST1 isolates were acquired or imported from Iraq, where it has probably been endemic for more than one decade and occasionally been able to spread to USA, Canada, and Europe. CST23-24 has shown a remarkable ability to cause national outbreaks of infections in Sweden, Argentina, UAE, and USA. The three isolates of CST19 were independently imported from Thailand to Sweden and Norway, raising a concern about the prevalence of CST19 in Thailand. Our study highlights the dynamic nature of the CRISPR-cas subtype I-Fb locus in A. baumannii, and demonstrates the possibility of using a CRISPR-based approach for subtyping a significant part of the global population of A. baumannii. PMID:25706932

  2. Genetic structure of Europeans: a view from the North-East.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mari Nelis

    Full Text Available Using principal component (PC analysis, we studied the genetic constitution of 3,112 individuals from Europe as portrayed by more than 270,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs genotyped with the Illumina Infinium platform. In cohorts where the sample size was >100, one hundred randomly chosen samples were used for analysis to minimize the sample size effect, resulting in a total of 1,564 samples. This analysis revealed that the genetic structure of the European population correlates closely with geography. The first two PCs highlight the genetic diversity corresponding to the northwest to southeast gradient and position the populations according to their approximate geographic origin. The resulting genetic map forms a triangular structure with a Finland, b the Baltic region, Poland and Western Russia, and c Italy as its vertexes, and with d Central- and Western Europe in its centre. Inter- and intra- population genetic differences were quantified by the inflation factor lambda (lambda (ranging from 1.00 to 4.21, fixation index (F(st (ranging from 0.000 to 0.023, and by the number of markers exhibiting significant allele frequency differences in pair-wise population comparisons. The estimated lambda was used to assess the real diminishing impact to association statistics when two distinct populations are merged directly in an analysis. When the PC analysis was confined to the 1,019 Estonian individuals (0.1% of the Estonian population, a fine structure emerged that correlated with the geography of individual counties. With at least two cohorts available from several countries, genetic substructures were investigated in Czech, Finnish, German, Estonian and Italian populations. Together with previously published data, our results allow the creation of a comprehensive European genetic map that will greatly facilitate inter-population genetic studies including genome wide association studies (GWAS.

  3. Variation of types of alcoholism: review and subtypes identified in Han Chinese.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Sheng-Yu; Chen, Shiou-Lan; Chang, Yun-Hsuan; Lu, Ru-Band

    2014-01-03

    Alcoholism, as it has been hypothesized, is caused by a highly heterogeneous genetic load. Since 1960, many reports have used the bio-psycho-social approach to subtype alcoholism; however, no subtypes have been genetically validated. We reviewed and compared the major single-gene, multiple-gene, and gene-to-gene interaction studies on alcoholism published during the past quarter-century, including many recent studies that have made contributions to the subtyping of alcoholism. Four subtypes of alcoholism have been reported: [1] pure alcoholism, [2] anxiety/depression alcoholism, [3] antisocial alcoholism, and [4] mixed alcoholism. Most of the important studies focused on three genes: DRD2, MAOA, and ALDH2. Therefore, our review focuses on these three genes. © 2013.

  4. Analysis of HIV subtypes and the phylogenetic tree in HIV-positive samples from Saudi Arabia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Al-Zahrani, Alhusain J.

    2008-01-01

    Objective was to assess the prevalence of HIV-1 genetic subtypes in Saudi Arabia in samples that are serologically positive for HIV-1 and compare the HIV-1 genetic subtypes prevalent in Saudi Arabia with the subtypes prevalent in other countries. Thirty-nine HIV-1 positive samples were analyzed for HIV-1 subtypes using molecular techniques. The study is retrospective study that was conducted in Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and in Abbott laboratories (United States of America) from2004 to 2007. All samples were seropositive for HIV-1 group M. Of the 39 seropositive samples, only 12 were polymerase chain reaction positive. Subtype C is the most common virus strain as it occurred in 58% of these samples; subtype B occurred in 17%; subtypes A, D and G were found in 8% each. The phylogenetic tree was also identified for the isolates. Detection of HIV subtypes is important for epidemiological purposes and may help in tracing the source of HIV infections in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. (author)

  5. [Attention characteristics of children with different clinical subtypes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Wen-Long; Zhao, Xu; Tan, Jian-Hui; Wang, Juan

    2014-09-01

    To explore the attention characteristics of children with different clinical subtypes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and to provide a basis for clinical intervention. A total of 345 children diagnosed with ADHD were selected and the subtypes were identified. Attention assessment was performed by the intermediate visual and auditory continuous performance test at diagnosis, and the visual and auditory attention characteristics were compared between children with different subtypes. A total of 122 normal children were recruited in the control group and their attention characteristics were compared with those of children with ADHD. The scores of full scale attention quotient (AQ) and full scale response control quotient (RCQ) of children with all three subtypes of ADHD were significantly lower than those of normal children (Phyperactive/impulsive subtype (Pattention function of children with ADHD is worse than that of normal children, and the impairment of visual attention function is severer than that of auditory attention function. The degree of functional impairment of visual or auditory attention shows no significant differences between three subtypes of ADHD.

  6. Association between endometriosis and risk of histological subtypes of ovarian cancer

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pearce, Celeste Leigh; Templeman, Claire; Rossing, Mary Anne

    2012-01-01

    Endometriosis is a risk factor for epithelial ovarian cancer; however, whether this risk extends to all invasive histological subtypes or borderline tumours is not clear. We undertook an international collaborative study to assess the association between endometriosis and histological subtypes...

  7. Gene expression profiling, pathway analysis and subtype classification reveal molecular heterogeneity in hepatocellular carcinoma and suggest subtype specific therapeutic targets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agarwal, Rahul; Narayan, Jitendra; Bhattacharyya, Amitava; Saraswat, Mayank; Tomar, Anil Kumar

    2017-10-01

    A very low 5-year survival rate among hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients is mainly due to lack of early stage diagnosis, distant metastasis and high risk of postoperative recurrence. Hence ascertaining novel biomarkers for early diagnosis and patient specific therapeutics is crucial and urgent. Here, we have performed a comprehensive analysis of the expression data of 423 HCC patients (373 tumors and 50 controls) downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) followed by pathway enrichment by gene ontology annotations, subtype classification and overall survival analysis. The differential gene expression analysis using non-parametric Wilcoxon test revealed a total of 479 up-regulated and 91 down-regulated genes in HCC compared to controls. The list of top differentially expressed genes mainly consists of tumor/cancer associated genes, such as AFP, THBS4, LCN2, GPC3, NUF2, etc. The genes over-expressed in HCC were mainly associated with cell cycle pathways. In total, 59 kinases associated genes were found over-expressed in HCC, including TTK, MELK, BUB1, NEK2, BUB1B, AURKB, PLK1, CDK1, PKMYT1, PBK, etc. Overall four distinct HCC subtypes were predicted using consensus clustering method. Each subtype was unique in terms of gene expression, pathway enrichment and median survival. Conclusively, this study has exposed a number of interesting genes which can be exploited in future as potential markers of HCC, diagnostic as well as prognostic and subtype classification may guide for improved and specific therapy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. New hepatitis C virus genotype 1 subtype naturally harbouring resistance-associated mutations to NS5A inhibitors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ordeig, Laura; Garcia-Cehic, Damir; Gregori, Josep; Soria, Maria Eugenia; Nieto-Aponte, Leonardo; Perales, Celia; Llorens, Meritxell; Chen, Qian; Riveiro-Barciela, Mar; Buti, Maria; Esteban, Rafael; Esteban, Juan Ignacio; Rodriguez-Frias, Francisco; Quer, Josep

    2018-01-01

    Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a highly divergent virus currently classified into seven major genotypes and 86 subtypes (ICTV, June 2017), which can have differing responses to therapy. Accurate genotyping/subtyping using high-resolution HCV subtyping enables confident subtype identification, identifies mixed infections and allows detection of new subtypes. During routine genotyping/subtyping, one sample from an Equatorial Guinea patient could not be classified into any of the subtypes. The complete genomic sequence was compared to reference sequences by phylogenetic and sliding window analysis. Resistance-associated substitutions (RASs) were assessed by deep sequencing. The unclassified HCV genome did not belong to any of the existing genotype 1 (G1) subtypes. Sliding window analysis along the complete genome ruled out recombination phenomena suggesting that it belongs to a new HCV G1 subtype. Two NS5A RASs (L31V+Y93H) were found to be naturally combined in the genome which could limit treatment possibilities in patients infected with this subtype.

  9. [Distorted cognition of bodily sensations in subtypes of social anxiety].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanai, Yoshihiro; Sasaki, Shoko; Iwanaga, Makoto; Seiwa, Hidetoshi

    2010-02-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between subtypes of social anxiety and distorted cognition of bodily sensations. The package of questionnaires including the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) was administered to 582 undergraduate students. To identify subtypes of social anxiety, cluster analysis was conducted using scores of the SPS and SIAS. Five clusters were identified and labeled as follows: Generalized type characterized by intense anxiety in most social situations, Non-anxious type characterized by low anxiety levels in social situations, Averaged type whose anxiety levels are averaged, Interaction anxiety type who feels anxiety mainly in social interaction situations, and Performance anxiety type who feels anxiety mainly in performance situations. Results of an ANOVA indicated that individuals with interaction type fear the negative evaluation from others regarding their bodily sensations whereas individuals with performance type overestimate the visibility of their bodily sensations to others. Differences in salient aspects of cognitive distortion among social anxiety subtypes may show necessity to select intervention techniques in consideration of subtypes.

  10. Multiple estrogen receptor subtypes influence ingestive behavior in female rodents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santollo, Jessica; Daniels, Derek

    2015-12-01

    Postmenopausal women are at an increased risk of obesity and cardiovascular-related diseases. This is attributable, at least in part, to loss of the ovarian hormone estradiol, which inhibits food and fluid intake in humans and laboratory animal models. Although the hypophagic and anti-dipsogenic effects of estradiol have been well documented for decades, the precise mechanisms underlying these effects are not fully understood. An obvious step toward addressing this open question is identifying which estrogen receptor subtypes are involved and what intracellular processes are involved. This question, however, is complicated not only by the variety of estrogen receptor subtypes that exist, but also because many subtypes have multiple locations of action (i.e. in the nucleus or in the plasma membrane). This review will highlight our current understanding of the roles that specific estrogen receptor subtypes play in mediating estradiol's anorexigenic and anti-dipsogenic effects along with highlighting the many open questions that remain. This review will also describe recent work being performed by our laboratory aimed at answering these open questions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Combining miRNA and mRNA Expression Profiles in Wilms Tumor Subtypes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicole Ludwig

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Wilms tumor (WT is the most common childhood renal cancer. Recent findings of mutations in microRNA (miRNA processing proteins suggest a pivotal role of miRNAs in WT genesis. We performed miRNA expression profiling of 36 WTs of different subtypes and four normal kidney tissues using microarrays. Additionally, we determined the gene expression profile of 28 of these tumors to identify potentially correlated target genes and affected pathways. We identified 85 miRNAs and 2107 messenger RNAs (mRNA differentially expressed in blastemal WT, and 266 miRNAs and 1267 mRNAs differentially expressed in regressive subtype. The hierarchical clustering of the samples, using either the miRNA or mRNA profile, showed the clear separation of WT from normal kidney samples, but the miRNA pattern yielded better separation of WT subtypes. A correlation analysis of the deregulated miRNA and mRNAs identified 13,026 miRNA/mRNA pairs with inversely correlated expression, of which 2844 are potential interactions of miRNA and their predicted mRNA targets. We found significant upregulation of miRNAs-183, -301a/b and -335 for the blastemal subtype, and miRNAs-181b, -223 and -630 for the regressive subtype. We found marked deregulation of miRNAs regulating epithelial to mesenchymal transition, especially in the blastemal subtype, and miRNAs influencing chemosensitivity, especially in regressive subtypes. Further research is needed to assess the influence of preoperative chemotherapy and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes on the miRNA and mRNA patterns in WT.

  12. A human monoclonal antibody with neutralizing activity against highly divergent influenza subtypes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicola Clementi

    Full Text Available The interest in broad-range anti-influenza A monoclonal antibodies (mAbs has recently been strengthened by the identification of anti-hemagglutinin (HA mAbs endowed with heterosubtypic neutralizing activity to be used in the design of "universal" prophylactic or therapeutic tools. However, the majority of the single mAbs described to date do not bind and neutralize viral isolates belonging to highly divergent subtypes clustering into the two different HA-based influenza phylogenetic groups: the group 1 including, among others, subtypes H1, H2, H5 and H9 and the group 2 including, among others, H3 subtype. Here, we describe a human mAb, named PN-SIA28, capable of binding and neutralizing all tested isolates belonging to phylogenetic group 1, including H1N1, H2N2, H5N1 and H9N2 subtypes and several isolates belonging to group 2, including H3N2 isolates from the first period of the 1968 pandemic. Therefore, PN-SIA28 is capable of neutralizing isolates belonging to subtypes responsible of all the reported pandemics, as well as other subtypes with pandemic potential. The region recognized by PN-SIA28 has been identified on the stem region of HA and includes residues highly conserved among the different influenza subtypes. A deep characterization of PN-SIA28 features may represent a useful help in the improvement of available anti-influenza therapeutic strategies and can provide new tools for the development of universal vaccinal strategies.

  13. Molecular subtype classification of urothelial carcinoma in Lynch syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Therkildsen, Christina; Eriksson, Pontus; Höglund, Mattias; Jönsson, Mats; Sjödahl, Gottfrid; Nilbert, Mef; Liedberg, Fredrik

    2018-05-23

    Lynch syndrome confers an increased risk for urothelial carcinoma (UC). Molecular subtypes may be relevant to prognosis and therapeutic possibilities, but have to date not been defined in Lynch syndrome-associated urothelial cancer. We aimed to provide a molecular description of Lynch syndrome-associated UC. Thus, Lynch syndrome-associated UC of the upper urinary tract and the urinary bladder were identified in the Danish hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) register and were transcriptionally and immunohistochemically profiled and further related to data from 307 sporadic urothelial carcinomas. Whole genome mRNA expression profiles of 41 tumors and immunohistochemical stainings against FGFR3, KRT5, CCNB1, RB1, and CDKN2A (p16) of 37 tumors from Lynch syndrome patients were generated. Pathological data, microsatellite instability, anatomic location, and overall survival data was analyzed and compared with sporadic bladder cancer. The 41 Lynch syndrome-associated UC developed at a mean age of 61 years with 59% women. mRNA expression profiling and immunostaining classified the majority of the Lynch syndrome-associated UC as Urothelial-like tumors with only 20% being Genomically Unstable, Basal/SCC-like or other subtypes. The subtypes were associated with stage, grade, and microsatellite instability. Comparison to larger data sets revealed that Lynch syndrome-associated UC share molecular similarities with sporadic UC. In conclusion, transcriptomic and immunohistochemical profiling identifies a predominance of the Urothelial-like molecular subtype in Lynch syndrome and reveals that the molecular subtypes of sporadic bladder cancer are relevant also within this hereditary, mismatch-repair defective subset. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Molecular Oncology (2018) © 2018 The Authors. Published by FEBS Press and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  14. Demographic history of european populations of Arabidopsis thaliana.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olivier François

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available The model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana is successful at colonizing land that has recently undergone human-mediated disturbance. To investigate the prehistoric spread of A. thaliana, we applied approximate Bayesian computation and explicit spatial modeling to 76 European accessions sequenced at 876 nuclear loci. We find evidence that a major migration wave occurred from east to west, affecting most of the sampled individuals. The longitudinal gradient appears to result from the plant having spread in Europe from the east approximately 10,000 years ago, with a rate of westward spread of approximately 0.9 km/year. This wave-of-advance model is consistent with a natural colonization from an eastern glacial refugium that overwhelmed ancient western lineages. However, the speed and time frame of the model also suggest that the migration of A. thaliana into Europe may have accompanied the spread of agriculture during the Neolithic transition.

  15. Identifying Cancer Subtypes from miRNA-TF-mRNA Regulatory Networks and Expression Data.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taosheng Xu

    Full Text Available Identifying cancer subtypes is an important component of the personalised medicine framework. An increasing number of computational methods have been developed to identify cancer subtypes. However, existing methods rarely use information from gene regulatory networks to facilitate the subtype identification. It is widely accepted that gene regulatory networks play crucial roles in understanding the mechanisms of diseases. Different cancer subtypes are likely caused by different regulatory mechanisms. Therefore, there are great opportunities for developing methods that can utilise network information in identifying cancer subtypes.In this paper, we propose a method, weighted similarity network fusion (WSNF, to utilise the information in the complex miRNA-TF-mRNA regulatory network in identifying cancer subtypes. We firstly build the regulatory network where the nodes represent the features, i.e. the microRNAs (miRNAs, transcription factors (TFs and messenger RNAs (mRNAs and the edges indicate the interactions between the features. The interactions are retrieved from various interatomic databases. We then use the network information and the expression data of the miRNAs, TFs and mRNAs to calculate the weight of the features, representing the level of importance of the features. The feature weight is then integrated into a network fusion approach to cluster the samples (patients and thus to identify cancer subtypes. We applied our method to the TCGA breast invasive carcinoma (BRCA and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM datasets. The experimental results show that WSNF performs better than the other commonly used computational methods, and the information from miRNA-TF-mRNA regulatory network contributes to the performance improvement. The WSNF method successfully identified five breast cancer subtypes and three GBM subtypes which show significantly different survival patterns. We observed that the expression patterns of the features in some mi

  16. EBRD accelerates funding of energy projects in former USSR and East European countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1997-01-01

    In the period mid November 1996 to mid January 1997, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced involvement in seven projects. The largest was a 220 million loan to Gazprom. The financial arrangements for each of the seven projects are detailed. (author)

  17. Risk of lymphoma subtypes and dietary habits in a Mediterranean area.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campagna, Marcello; Cocco, Pierluigi; Zucca, Mariagrazia; Angelucci, Emanuele; Gabbas, Attilio; Latte, Gian Carlo; Uras, Antonella; Rais, Marco; Sanna, Sonia; Ennas, Maria Grazia

    2015-12-01

    Previous studies have suggested that diet might affect risk of lymphoma subtypes. We investigated risk of lymphoma and its major subtypes associated with diet in the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, Italy. In 1998-2004, 322 incident lymphoma cases and 446 randomly selected population controls participated in a case-control study on lymphoma etiology in central-southern Sardinia. Questionnaire interviews included frequency of intake of 112 food items. Risk associated with individual dietary items and groups thereof was explored by unconditional and polytomous logistic regression analysis, adjusting by age, gender and education. We observed an upward trend in risk of lymphoma (all subtypes combined) and B-cell lymphoma with frequency of intake of well done grilled/roasted chicken (p for trend=0.01), and pizza (p for trend=0.047), Neither adherence to Mediterranean diet nor a frequent intake of its individual components conveyed protection. We detected heterogeneity in risk associated with several food items and groups thereof by lymphoma subtypes although we could not rule out chance as responsible for the observed direct or inverse associations. Adherence to a Mediterranean diet does not seem to convey protection against the development of lymphoma. The association with specific food items might vary by lymphoma subtype. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Interpersonal Subtypes Within Social Anxiety: The Identification of Distinct Social Features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooper, Danielle; Anderson, Timothy

    2017-10-05

    Although social anxiety disorder is defined by anxiety-related symptoms, little research has focused on the interpersonal features of social anxiety. Prior studies (Cain, Pincus, & Grosse Holtforth, 2010; Kachin, Newman, & Pincus, 2001) identified distinct subgroups of socially anxious individuals' interpersonal circumplex problems that were blends of agency and communion, and yet inconsistencies remain. We predicted 2 distinct interpersonal subtypes would exist for individuals with high social anxiety, and that these social anxiety subtypes would differ on empathetic concern, paranoia, received peer victimization, perspective taking, and emotional suppression. From a sample of 175 undergraduate participants, 51 participants with high social anxiety were selected as above a clinical cutoff on the social phobia scale. Cluster analyses identified 2 interpersonal subtypes of socially anxious individuals: low hostility-high submissiveness (Cluster 1) and high hostility-high submissiveness (Cluster 2). Cluster 1 reported higher levels of empathetic concern, lower paranoia, less peer victimization, and lower emotional suppression compared to Cluster 2. There were no differences between subtypes on perspective taking or cognitive reappraisal. Findings are consistent with an interpersonal conceptualization of social anxiety, and provide evidence of distinct social features between these subtypes. Findings have implications for the etiology, classification, and treatment of social anxiety.

  19. Molecular subtyping of cancer: current status and moving toward clinical applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Lan; Lee, Victor H F; Ng, Michael K; Yan, Hong; Bijlsma, Maarten F

    2018-04-12

    Cancer is a collection of genetic diseases, with large phenotypic differences and genetic heterogeneity between different types of cancers and even within the same cancer type. Recent advances in genome-wide profiling provide an opportunity to investigate global molecular changes during the development and progression of cancer. Meanwhile, numerous statistical and machine learning algorithms have been designed for the processing and interpretation of high-throughput molecular data. Molecular subtyping studies have allowed the allocation of cancer into homogeneous groups that are considered to harbor similar molecular and clinical characteristics. Furthermore, this has helped researchers to identify both actionable targets for drug design as well as biomarkers for response prediction. In this review, we introduce five frequently applied techniques for generating molecular data, which are microarray, RNA sequencing, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, NanoString and tissue microarray. Commonly used molecular data for cancer subtyping and clinical applications are discussed. Next, we summarize a workflow for molecular subtyping of cancer, including data preprocessing, cluster analysis, supervised classification and subtype characterizations. Finally, we identify and describe four major challenges in the molecular subtyping of cancer that may preclude clinical implementation. We suggest that standardized methods should be established to help identify intrinsic subgroup signatures and build robust classifiers that pave the way toward stratified treatment of cancer patients.

  20. Identifying molecular subtypes in human colon cancer using gene expression and DNA methylation microarray data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, Zhonglu; Wang, Wenhui; Li, Jinming

    2016-02-01

    Identifying colon cancer subtypes based on molecular signatures may allow for a more rational, patient-specific approach to therapy in the future. Classifications using gene expression data have been attempted before with little concordance between the different studies carried out. In this study we aimed to uncover subtypes of colon cancer that have distinct biological characteristics and identify a set of novel biomarkers which could best reflect the clinical and/or biological characteristics of each subtype. Clustering analysis and discriminant analysis were utilized to discover the subtypes in two different molecular levels on 153 colon cancer samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Data Portal. At gene expression level, we identified two major subtypes, ECL1 (expression cluster 1) and ECL2 (expression cluster 2) and a list of signature genes. Due to the heterogeneity of colon cancer, the subtype ECL1 can be further subdivided into three nested subclasses, and HOTAIR were found upregulated in subclass 2. At DNA methylation level, we uncovered three major subtypes, MCL1 (methylation cluster 1), MCL2 (methylation cluster 2) and MCL3 (methylation cluster 3). We found only three subtypes of CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) in colon cancer instead of the four subtypes in the previous reports, and we found no sufficient evidence to subdivide MCL3 into two distinct subgroups.

  1. Cerebral artery alpha-1 AR subtypes: high altitude long-term acclimatization responses.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ravi Goyal

    Full Text Available In response to hypoxia and other stress, the sympathetic (adrenergic nervous system regulates arterial contractility and blood flow, partly through differential activities of the alpha1 (α1 - adrenergic receptor (AR subtypes (α1A-, α1B-, and α1D-AR. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that with acclimatization to long-term hypoxia (LTH, contractility of middle cerebral arteries (MCA is regulated by changes in expression and activation of the specific α1-AR subtypes. We conducted experiments in MCA from adult normoxic sheep maintained near sea level (300 m and those exposed to LTH (110 days at 3801 m. Following acclimatization to LTH, ovine MCA showed a 20% reduction (n = 5; P<0.05 in the maximum tension achieved by 10-5 M phenylephrine (PHE. LTH-acclimatized cerebral arteries also demonstrated a statistically significant (P<0.05 inhibition of PHE-induced contractility in the presence of specific α1-AR subtype antagonists. Importantly, compared to normoxic vessels, there was significantly greater (P<0.05 α1B-AR subtype mRNA and protein levels in LTH acclimatized MCA. Also, our results demonstrate that extracellular regulated kinase 1 and 2 (ERK1/2-mediated negative feedback regulation of PHE-induced contractility is modulated by α1B-AR subtype. Overall, in ovine MCA, LTH produces profound effects on α1-AR subtype expression and function.

  2. Latent constructs underlying sensory subtypes in children with autism: A preliminary study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hand, Brittany N; Dennis, Simon; Lane, Alison E

    2017-08-01

    Recent reports identify sensory subtypes in ASD based on shared patterns of responses to daily sensory stimuli [Ausderau et al., 2014; Lane, Molloy, & Bishop, 2014]. Lane et al. propose that two broad sensory dimensions, sensory reactivity and multisensory integration, best explain the differences between subtypes, however this has yet to be tested. The present study tests this hypothesis by examining the latent constructs underlying Lane's sensory subtypes. Participants for this study were caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) aged 2-12 years. Caregiver responses on the Short Sensory Profile (SSP), used to establish Lane's sensory subtypes, were extracted from two existing datasets (total n = 287). Independent component analyses were conducted to test the fit and interpretability of a two-construct structure underlying the SSP, and therefore, the sensory subtypes. The first construct was largely comprised of the taste/smell sensitivity domain, which describes hyper-reactivity to taste and smell stimuli. The second construct had a significant contribution from the low energy/weak domain, which describes behaviors that may be indicative of difficulties with multisensory integration. Findings provide initial support for our hypothesis that sensory reactivity and multisensory integration underlie Lane's sensory subtypes in ASD. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1364-1371. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  3. Problems And Prospects Of The European Regional Order

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. A. Dymova

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available For the last few decades, the system of international relations continues to change. One of the key components of the emerging international order is the European regional order, which currently goes through deep transformations associated with changes of the international system and structural reconstruction of the European communities. The formation of the European regional system is a complex international political process, which is based on various political, social, economic, cultural, historical and other factors. Since the end of the World war II the European Union constitutes a political and institutional basis of relations both between member states and with the rest of the world. However, today the European Union runs through a systemic crisis embodied by ongoing economic and financial downturn as well as a crisis of socio-political structures and models of governance that now threaten the existence of the Union itself. Institutional problems are aggravated against the background of crises in highly sensitive areas such as economy and security, as well as uncertainties in the external international environment. All these factors undermine the ability of the EU to play a decisive role in building a European regional order. The emphasis is shifting towards particular countries, with the greater potential in shaping the international agenda and giving an effective response to modern challenges and threats. Building a stable architecture of the European security system is one of the essential conditions of the European regional order, however contradicting approaches of the parties acknowledge that political and ideological barriers between the East and the West continue to exist. In the context of increasing security threats transatlantic partnership does not lose the relevance though the tough course of the US and its desire to reinforce its leadership in Europe often meets the extreme disapproval on the part of the Europeans. Russian

  4. Host Genetic Variation Does Not Determine Spatio-Temporal Patterns of European Bat 1 Lyssavirus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Troupin, Cécile; Picard-Meyer, Evelyne; Dellicour, Simon; Casademont, Isabelle; Kergoat, Lauriane; Lepelletier, Anthony; Dacheux, Laurent; Baele, Guy; Monchâtre-Leroy, Elodie; Cliquet, Florence; Lemey, Philippe; Bourhy, Hervé

    2017-11-01

    The majority of bat rabies cases in Europe are attributed to European bat 1 lyssavirus (EBLV-1), circulating mainly in serotine bats (Eptesicus serotinus). Two subtypes have been defined (EBLV-1a and EBLV-1b), each associated with a different geographical distribution. In this study, we undertake a comprehensive sequence analysis based on 80 newly obtained EBLV-1 nearly complete genome sequences from nine European countries over a 45-year period to infer selection pressures, rates of nucleotide substitution, and evolutionary time scale of these two subtypes in Europe. Our results suggest that the current lineage of EBLV-1 arose in Europe ∼600 years ago and the virus has evolved at an estimated average substitution rate of ∼4.19×10-5 subs/site/year, which is among the lowest recorded for RNA viruses. In parallel, we investigate the genetic structure of French serotine bats at both the nuclear and mitochondrial level and find that they constitute a single genetic cluster. Furthermore, Mantel tests based on interindividual distances reveal the absence of correlation between genetic distances estimated between viruses and between host individuals. Taken together, this indicates that the genetic diversity observed in our E. serotinus samples does not account for EBLV-1a and -1b segregation and dispersal in Europe. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

  5. Uniparental genetic heritage of belarusians: encounter of rare middle eastern matrilineages with a central European mitochondrial DNA pool.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kushniarevich, Alena; Sivitskaya, Larysa; Danilenko, Nina; Novogrodskii, Tadeush; Tsybovsky, Iosif; Kiseleva, Anna; Kotova, Svetlana; Chaubey, Gyaneshwer; Metspalu, Ene; Sahakyan, Hovhannes; Bahmanimehr, Ardeshir; Reidla, Maere; Rootsi, Siiri; Parik, Jüri; Reisberg, Tuuli; Achilli, Alessandro; Hooshiar Kashani, Baharak; Gandini, Francesca; Olivieri, Anna; Behar, Doron M; Torroni, Antonio; Davydenko, Oleg; Villems, Richard

    2013-01-01

    Ethnic Belarusians make up more than 80% of the nine and half million people inhabiting the Republic of Belarus. Belarusians together with Ukrainians and Russians represent the East Slavic linguistic group, largest both in numbers and territory, inhabiting East Europe alongside Baltic-, Finno-Permic- and Turkic-speaking people. Till date, only a limited number of low resolution genetic studies have been performed on this population. Therefore, with the phylogeographic analysis of 565 Y-chromosomes and 267 mitochondrial DNAs from six well covered geographic sub-regions of Belarus we strove to complement the existing genetic profile of eastern Europeans. Our results reveal that around 80% of the paternal Belarusian gene pool is composed of R1a, I2a and N1c Y-chromosome haplogroups - a profile which is very similar to the two other eastern European populations - Ukrainians and Russians. The maternal Belarusian gene pool encompasses a full range of West Eurasian haplogroups and agrees well with the genetic structure of central-east European populations. Our data attest that latitudinal gradients characterize the variation of the uniparentally transmitted gene pools of modern Belarusians. In particular, the Y-chromosome reflects movements of people in central-east Europe, starting probably as early as the beginning of the Holocene. Furthermore, the matrilineal legacy of Belarusians retains two rare mitochondrial DNA haplogroups, N1a3 and N3, whose phylogeographies were explored in detail after de novo sequencing of 20 and 13 complete mitogenomes, respectively, from all over Eurasia. Our phylogeographic analyses reveal that two mitochondrial DNA lineages, N3 and N1a3, both of Middle Eastern origin, might mark distinct events of matrilineal gene flow to Europe: during the mid-Holocene period and around the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, respectively.

  6. Different trends in euthanasia acceptance across Europe. A study of 13 western and 10 central and eastern European countries, 1981-2008.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Joachim; Van Landeghem, Paul; Carpentier, Nico; Deliens, Luc

    2013-06-01

    We examined how acceptance of euthanasia among the general public has changed between 1981 and 2008 in western and central and eastern European (CEE) countries using data of the European Values Surveys. Data were collected in 1981, 1990, 1999 and 2008 for 13 western European countries and in 1990, 1999 and 2008 for 10 CEE countries. Euthanasia acceptance increased each decade up until 2008 in 11 of 13 western European countries; in CEE countries, it decreased or did not increase between 1999-2008 in 8 of 10 countries. A number of explanations for and implications of this apparent east-west polarization are suggested.

  7. Subtypes of children with attention disabilities.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brand, E.F.J.M.; Das-Smaal, E.A.; Jong, de P.F.

    1996-01-01

    Subtypes of children with attentional problems were investigated using cluster analysis. Subjects were 9-year-old-elementary school children (N = 443). The test battery administered to these children comprised a comprehensive set of common attention tests, covering different aspects of attentional

  8. Multiple Receptor Subtypes for the CGRP Super-Family

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Quirion

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available Molecular evidence for the existence of multiple receptors for CGRP has been rather difficult to obtain. Over 10 years after suggesting the existence of at least two classes (CGRP1 and CGRP2 of CGRP receptors on the basis of pharmacological data[1], molecular data on the CGRP2 receptor subtype are still lacking as well as potent and selective antagonists. The situation is somewhat different for the functional CGRP1 subtype which is likely composed of diverse subunits CRLR, RAMP1 and possibly RCP[2]. Moreover, BIBN 4096BS was recently reported as the first nonpeptide highly potent CGRP1 receptor antagonist[3]. However, in situ hybridization and receptor autoradiographic data have clearly shown the existence of major mismatches (e.g., cerebellum between the discrete localization of CRLR, RAMP1, and specific CGRP binding sites supporting the existence of CGRP receptor subtypes. Functional studies have also provided evidence in that regard (for a recent review: [4]. Accordingly, additional studies aiming at cloning additional CGRP receptors are certainly warranted. Similarly, recent evidence from various laboratories including ours suggests the existence of more than one class (CRLR and RAMP2 of adrenomedullin receptors at least in the rat brain. In contrast, most evidence suggests the existence of a single class of amylin receptors. In brief, it appears that multiple receptors or receptor complexes do exist for CGRP and related peptides but their composition is apparently unique among the GPCR super-family and additional data are needed to fully establish the molecular organization of each subtype. Supported by CIHR of Canada.

  9. HLA-B27 subtypes among the Chukotka native groups

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Krylov, M.Y.; Alexeeva, L.I.; Erdesz, S.; Benevolenskaya, L.I. [Akademiya Meditsinskikh Nauk SSSR, Moscow (Russian Federation). Inst. Revmatizma; Reveille, J.D.; Arnett, F.C. [Texas Univ., Houston, TX (United States). Health Science Center

    1995-12-31

    The purpose of this study was to assess the relative frequency of the known HLA-B27 subtypes in HLA-B27 positive Chukotka natives, which have higher frequencies of HLA-B27 (to 40%) and spondylarthropathies (to 2%) than the Russian Caucasian population. Using oligotyping of the polymerase-chain reaction amplified second and third exons of the HLA-B27 gene in 86 DNA samples from HLA-B27 positive individuals were successfully typed. All had HLA-B*2705, including 4 patients with Reiter`s syndrome and 5 with ankylosing spondyloarthritis, except one Eskimo who had HLA-B*2702. None had HLA-B*2704, a frequent subtype in Orientals. With respect to HLA-B27 subtypes the indigenous populations from the eastern part of the Chukotka Peninsula are genetically more closely related to Caucasians than to Orientals. (author). 18 refs, 1 fig., 2 tabs.

  10. HLA-B27 subtypes among the Chukotka native groups

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krylov, M.Y.; Alexeeva, L.I.; Erdesz, S.; Benevolenskaya, L.I.; Reveille, J.D.; Arnett, F.C.

    1995-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to assess the relative frequency of the known HLA-B27 subtypes in HLA-B27 positive Chukotka natives, which have higher frequencies of HLA-B27 (to 40%) and spondylarthropathies (to 2%) than the Russian Caucasian population. Using oligotyping of the polymerase-chain reaction amplified second and third exons of the HLA-B27 gene in 86 DNA samples from HLA-B27 positive individuals were successfully typed. All had HLA-B*2705, including 4 patients with Reiter's syndrome and 5 with ankylosing spondyloarthritis, except one Eskimo who had HLA-B*2702. None had HLA-B*2704, a frequent subtype in Orientals. With respect to HLA-B27 subtypes the indigenous populations from the eastern part of the Chukotka Peninsula are genetically more closely related to Caucasians than to Orientals. (author). 18 refs, 1 fig., 2 tabs

  11. [The velocity of HCV subtype 6a transmission in southwest China].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong, Guo-hu; Tan, Zhao-xia; Guo, Yan; Mao, Qing

    2011-07-01

    To estimate the velocity of HCV subtype 6a transmission in Southwest China. The HCV CE1 region from 61 patients infected with HCV genotype 6 were amplificated by RT-PCR and sequenced. The subtypes were identified, and the period of HCV 6a strains originated in southwest china was estimated by using molecular clock phylogenetic analysis. The velocity of HCV subtype 6a transmission in southwest China was estimated by BEAST v1.6.1 and Tracer v1.5 software theoretically. Most of HCV 6a strains distributed in Southwest China origine around the year 1968 and at last 4 epidemic strains existed. The earlier origine strains could be isolated both in intravenous drug users (IDU) and non-IDU patients. After 1997, the HCV 6a strains transmission in southwest China accelerated and the trend intensified in 2007. HCV 6a strains spread fastly both in IDU and non-IDU patients, which might be the main HCV subtype distributed in Southwest China in the future.

  12. HIV-1 subtypes and response to combination antiretroviral therapy in Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bannister, WP; Ruiz, L; Loveday, C

    2006-01-01

    Europe/North America on the basis of the most prevalent subtype, B. However, non-B subtypes are increasingly spreading worldwide. OBJECTIVE: To compare virological and immunological response to cART between patients infected with B and non-B subtypes across Europe. DESIGN: EuroSIDA prospective....../ml and immunological response as a CD4+ T-cell count increase of ³100 cells/mm^3. RESULTS: Forty-five percent of patients were antiretroviral naive at initiation of cART. Virological suppression was achieved by 58% of 689 subtype-B-infected patients and 66% of 102 non-B-infected patients (P=0.159). After adjustment...... for potential confounders, there was no significant difference in odds of achieving virological suppression (non-B compared with B; odds ratio [OR]: 1.05, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.58-1.93, P=0.866). An immunological response was achieved by 43% of 753 B-infected patients and 48% of 114 non...

  13. Expert consensus on the classification of subtype in Budd-Chiari syndrome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Expert committee on Vane Cava Obstruction,Specialized CommitteeofEndovascology,ChineseMedicalDoctorAssociation

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available From 2012 to 2015 the Department of Interventional Radiology of the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University undertook the clinical special research subject ”Study on the standardization of interventional diagnosis and treatment of Budd- Chiari syndrome”(No. BL2012021), a program supported by the Department of Science and Technology of Jiangsu Province. Based on the clinical results of three years research and the scientific summary of the experience from more than 2150 cases accumulated in more than 20 years, the Department of Interventional Radiology of the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University presided over a demonstration meeting about “the standardization of interventional diagnosis and treatment of Budd- Chiari syndrome” on January 14, 2016 in Xuzhou City of Jiangsu Province, China. The scholars from the Expert Committee on Vena Cava Obstruction of Specialized Committee of Endovascology, Chinese Medical Doctor Association, as well as the experts from the related medical fields, including interventional radiology, vascular surgery, pathology and diagnostic imaging, who have been engaged in the study of Budd- Chiari syndrome, attended the meeting, and in the meeting the participants made a full and thorough discussion on the classification and subtypes of Budd - Chiari syndrome. The scholars and experts have unanimously reached a consensus on the subtype definition of Budd- Chiari syndrome: the Budd Chiari syndrome is suggested to be classified into the hepatic vein occlusion subtype, the inferior vena cava occlusion subtype and mixed occlusion subtype, including 10 subtype entities in total. The hepatic vein occlusion subtype includes membranous occlusion of hepatic vein/accessory hepatic vein, segmental occlusion of hepatic vein, extensive occlusion of hepatic vein, and hepatic vein occlusion associated with thrombus formation. The inferior vena cava occlusion subtype

  14. Frontotemporal dementia and its subtypes: a genome-wide association study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferrari, Raffaele; Hernandez, Dena G; Nalls, Michael A; Rohrer, Jonathan D; Ramasamy, Adaikalavan; Kwok, John B J; Dobson-Stone, Carol; Brooks, William S; Schofield, Peter R; Halliday, Glenda M; Hodges, John R; Piguet, Olivier; Bartley, Lauren; Thompson, Elizabeth; Haan, Eric; Hernández, Isabel; Ruiz, Agustín; Boada, Mercè; Borroni, Barbara; Padovani, Alessandro; Cruchaga, Carlos; Cairns, Nigel J; Benussi, Luisa; Binetti, Giuliano; Ghidoni, Roberta; Forloni, Gianluigi; Galimberti, Daniela; Fenoglio, Chiara; Serpente, Maria; Scarpini, Elio; Clarimón, Jordi; Lleó, Alberto; Blesa, Rafael; Waldö, Maria Landqvist; Nilsson, Karin; Nilsson, Christer; Mackenzie, Ian R A; Hsiung, Ging-Yuek R; Mann, David M A; Grafman, Jordan; Morris, Christopher M; Attems, Johannes; Griffiths, Timothy D; McKeith, Ian G; Thomas, Alan J; Pietrini, P; Huey, Edward D; Wassermann, Eric M; Baborie, Atik; Jaros, Evelyn; Tierney, Michael C; Pastor, Pau; Razquin, Cristina; Ortega-Cubero, Sara; Alonso, Elena; Perneczky, Robert; Diehl-Schmid, Janine; Alexopoulos, Panagiotis; Kurz, Alexander; Rainero, Innocenzo; Rubino, Elisa; Pinessi, Lorenzo; Rogaeva, Ekaterina; George-Hyslop, Peter St; Rossi, Giacomina; Tagliavini, Fabrizio; Giaccone, Giorgio; Rowe, James B; Schlachetzki, J C M; Uphill, James; Collinge, John; Mead, S; Danek, Adrian; Van Deerlin, Vivianna M; Grossman, Murray; Trojanowsk, John Q; van der Zee, Julie; Deschamps, William; Van Langenhove, Tim; Cruts, Marc; Van Broeckhoven, Christine; Cappa, Stefano F; Le Ber, Isabelle; Hannequin, Didier; Golfier, Véronique; Vercelletto, Martine; Brice, Alexis; Nacmias, Benedetta; Sorbi, Sandro; Bagnoli, Silvia; Piaceri, Irene; Nielsen, Jørgen E; Hjermind, Lena E; Riemenschneider, Matthias; Mayhaus, Manuel; Ibach, Bernd; Gasparoni, Gilles; Pichler, Sabrina; Gu, Wei; Rossor, Martin N; Fox, Nick C; Warren, Jason D; Spillantini, Maria Grazia; Morris, Huw R; Rizzu, Patrizia; Heutink, Peter; Snowden, Julie S; Rollinson, Sara; Richardson, Anna; Gerhard, Alexander; Bruni, Amalia C; Maletta, Raffaele; Frangipane, Francesca; Cupidi, Chiara; Bernardi, Livia; Anfossi, Maria; Gallo, Maura; Conidi, Maria Elena; Smirne, Nicoletta; Rademakers, Rosa; Baker, Matt; Dickson, Dennis W; Graff-Radford, Neill R; Petersen, Ronald C; Knopman, David; Josephs, Keith A; Boeve, Bradley F; Parisi, Joseph E; Seeley, William W; Miller, Bruce L; Karydas, Anna M; Rosen, Howard; van Swieten, John C; Dopper, Elise G P; Seelaar, Harro; Pijnenburg, Yolande AL; Scheltens, Philip; Logroscino, Giancarlo; Capozzo, Rosa; Novelli, Valeria; Puca, Annibale A; Franceschi, M; Postiglione, Alfredo; Milan, Graziella; Sorrentino, Paolo; Kristiansen, Mark; Chiang, Huei-Hsin; Graff, Caroline; Pasquier, Florence; Rollin, Adeline; Deramecourt, Vincent; Lebert, Florence; Kapogiannis, Dimitrios; Ferrucci, Luigi; Pickering-Brown, Stuart; Singleton, Andrew B; Hardy, John; Momeni, Parastoo

    2014-01-01

    Summary Background Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a complex disorder characterised by a broad range of clinical manifestations, differential pathological signatures, and genetic variability. Mutations in three genes—MAPT, GRN, and C9orf72—have been associated with FTD. We sought to identify novel genetic risk loci associated with the disorder. Methods We did a two-stage genome-wide association study on clinical FTD, analysing samples from 3526 patients with FTD and 9402 healthy controls. All participants had European ancestry. In the discovery phase (samples from 2154 patients with FTD and 4308 controls), we did separate association analyses for each FTD subtype (behavioural variant FTD, semantic dementia, progressive non-fluent aphasia, and FTD overlapping with motor neuron disease [FTD-MND]), followed by a meta-analysis of the entire dataset. We carried forward replication of the novel suggestive loci in an independent sample series (samples from 1372 patients and 5094 controls) and then did joint phase and brain expression and methylation quantitative trait loci analyses for the associated (p<5 × 10−8) and suggestive single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Findings We identified novel associations exceeding the genome-wide significance threshold (p<5 × 10−8) that encompassed the HLA locus at 6p21.3 in the entire cohort. We also identified a potential novel locus at 11q14, encompassing RAB38/CTSC, for the behavioural FTD subtype. Analysis of expression and methylation quantitative trait loci data suggested that these loci might affect expression and methylation incis. Interpretation Our findings suggest that immune system processes (link to 6p21.3) and possibly lysosomal and autophagy pathways (link to 11q14) are potentially involved in FTD. Our findings need to be replicated to better define the association of the newly identified loci with disease and possibly to shed light on the pathomechanisms contributing to FTD. Funding The National Institute of

  15. Is tuberculosis crossing borders at the Eastern boundary of the European Union?

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Werf, Marieke J.; Hollo, Vahur; Noori, Teymur

    2013-01-01

    Background: The Eastern border of the European Union (EU) consists of 10 countries after the expansion of the EU in 2004 and 2007. These 10 countries border to the East to countries with high tuberculosis (TB) notification rates. We analyzed the notification data of Europe to quantify the impact of cross-border TB at the Eastern border of the EU. Methods: We used TB surveillance data of 2010 submitted by 53 European Region countries to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. Notified TB cases were stratified by origin of the case (national/foreign). We calculated the contribution of foreign to overall TB notification. Results: In the 10 EU countries located at the EU Eastern border, 618 notified TB cases (1.7% of all notified TB cases) were of foreign origin. Of those 618 TB cases, 173 (28.0%) were from countries bordering the EU to the East. More specifically, 90 (52.0%) were from Russia, 33 (19.1%) from Belarus, 33 (19.1%) from Ukraine, 13 (7.5%) from Moldova and 4 (2.3%) from Turkey. Conclusions: Currently, migrants contribute little to TB notifications in the 10 EU countries at the Eastern border of the EU, but changes in migration patterns may result in an increasing contribution. Therefore, EU countries at the Eastern border of the EU should strive to provide prompt diagnostic services and adequate treatment of migrants. PMID:23813718

  16. Refinement of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Molecular Subtypes: Implications for Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Selection.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brian D Lehmann

    Full Text Available Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC is a heterogeneous disease that can be classified into distinct molecular subtypes by gene expression profiling. Considered a difficult-to-treat cancer, a fraction of TNBC patients benefit significantly from neoadjuvant chemotherapy and have far better overall survival. Outside of BRCA1/2 mutation status, biomarkers do not exist to identify patients most likely to respond to current chemotherapy; and, to date, no FDA-approved targeted therapies are available for TNBC patients. Previously, we developed an approach to identify six molecular subtypes TNBC (TNBCtype, with each subtype displaying unique ontologies and differential response to standard-of-care chemotherapy. Given the complexity of the varying histological landscape of tumor specimens, we used histopathological quantification and laser-capture microdissection to determine that transcripts in the previously described immunomodulatory (IM and mesenchymal stem-like (MSL subtypes were contributed from infiltrating lymphocytes and tumor-associated stromal cells, respectively. Therefore, we refined TNBC molecular subtypes from six (TNBCtype into four (TNBCtype-4 tumor-specific subtypes (BL1, BL2, M and LAR and demonstrate differences in diagnosis age, grade, local and distant disease progression and histopathology. Using five publicly available, neoadjuvant chemotherapy breast cancer gene expression datasets, we retrospectively evaluated chemotherapy response of over 300 TNBC patients from pretreatment biopsies subtyped using either the intrinsic (PAM50 or TNBCtype approaches. Combined analysis of TNBC patients demonstrated that TNBC subtypes significantly differ in response to similar neoadjuvant chemotherapy with 41% of BL1 patients achieving a pathological complete response compared to 18% for BL2 and 29% for LAR with 95% confidence intervals (CIs; [33, 51], [9, 28], [17, 41], respectively. Collectively, we provide pre-clinical data that could inform

  17. Empirically Derived Learning Disability Subtypes: A Replication Attempt and Longitudinal Patterns over 15 Years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spreen, Otfried; Haaf, Robert G.

    1986-01-01

    Test scores of two groups of learning disabled children (N=63 and N=96) were submitted to cluster analysis in an attempt to replicate previously described subtypes. All three subtypes (visuo-perceptual, linguistic, and articulo-graphomotor types) were identified along with minimally and severely impaired subtypes. Similar clusters in the same…

  18. Peculiarities of diagnostics and clinical course of different immunohistochemical subtypes of breast cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    El Khazhzh M.Kh.

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Modern global guidelines in oncology consider treatment of various forms of breast cancer according to molecular tumor subtype. Steroid receptors, epidermal growth factor receptors, p53, Ki67 proliferative activity index and others are the key indicators of aggressiveness of malignant breast tumors. The material for this study was the retrospective study of the standard set of breast cancer immuno¬histochemical markers (estrogen receptors, progesterone, epidermal growth factor type 2 in 8171 patients. 4 groups of patients - luminal A, luminal B, triple negative and HER2-neu positive subtypes of tumors were identified according to immunohistochemical status. We analyzed overall survival without relapse in 491 patients with breast cancer, clinical data and data of immunohistochemical studies were matched. Based on the investigation it was determined that in the early stages of the disease (1-2 luminal A subtype of cancer is often diagnosed. In the late stages the most common subtype is HER2-neu positive breast cancer. Herewith, patients with luminal A subtype of cancer have the best performance of the overall survival (OS (32,91±2,33 months, and the worst results were found in patients with HER2 - neu positive breast cancer (22,58±1,28 months. The data obtained determine HER2 - neu positive subtype as the most aggressive type of breast cancer, and the luminal A subtype – as the least aggressive one.

  19. Breast cancer molecular subtype classifier that incorporates MRI features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutton, Elizabeth J; Dashevsky, Brittany Z; Oh, Jung Hun; Veeraraghavan, Harini; Apte, Aditya P; Thakur, Sunitha B; Morris, Elizabeth A; Deasy, Joseph O

    2016-07-01

    To use features extracted from magnetic resonance (MR) images and a machine-learning method to assist in differentiating breast cancer molecular subtypes. This retrospective Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant study received Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. We identified 178 breast cancer patients between 2006-2011 with: 1) ERPR + (n = 95, 53.4%), ERPR-/HER2 + (n = 35, 19.6%), or triple negative (TN, n = 48, 27.0%) invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), and 2) preoperative breast MRI at 1.5T or 3.0T. Shape, texture, and histogram-based features were extracted from each tumor contoured on pre- and three postcontrast MR images using in-house software. Clinical and pathologic features were also collected. Machine-learning-based (support vector machines) models were used to identify significant imaging features and to build models that predict IDC subtype. Leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) was used to avoid model overfitting. Statistical significance was determined using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Each support vector machine fit in the LOOCV process generated a model with varying features. Eleven out of the top 20 ranked features were significantly different between IDC subtypes with P machine-learning-based predictive model using features extracted from MRI that can distinguish IDC subtypes with significant predictive power. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2016;44:122-129. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. Susceptibility of Ae. aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) to infection with epidemic (subtype IC) and enzootic (subtypes ID, IIIC, IIID) Venezuelan equine encephalitis complex alphaviruses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortiz, Diana I; Kang, Wenli; Weaver, Scoti C

    2008-11-01

    To test the hypothesis that enzootic and epidemic Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) complex alphaviruses can infect and be transmitted by Ae. aegypti, we conducted a series of experimental infection studies. One set of experiments tested the susceptibility of geographic strains of Ae. aegypti from Peru and Texas (U.S.A.) for epidemic (subtype IC) and enzootic (subtype ID) strains from Colombia/Venezuela, whereas the second set of experiments tested the susceptibility of Ae. aegypti from Iquitos, Peru, to enzootic VEE complex strains (subtypes ID, IIIC, and IIID) isolated in the same region, at different infectious doses. Experimental infections using artificial bloodmeals suggested that Ae. aegypti mosquitoes, particularly the strain from Iquitos, Peru, is moderately to highly susceptible to all of these VEE complex alphaviruses. The occurrence of enzootic VEE complex viruses circulating endemically in Iquitos suggests the possibility of a dengue-like transmission cycle among humans in tropical cities.

  1. Prediction consistency and clinical presentations of breast cancer molecular subtypes for Han Chinese population

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huang Chi-Cheng

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease in terms of transcriptional aberrations; moreover, microarray gene expression profiles had defined 5 molecular subtypes based on certain intrinsic genes. This study aimed to evaluate the prediction consistency of breast cancer molecular subtypes from 3 distinct intrinsic gene sets (Sørlie 500, Hu 306 and PAM50 as well as clinical presentations of each molecualr subtype in Han Chinese population. Methods In all, 169 breast cancer samples (44 from Taiwan and 125 from China of Han Chinese population were gathered, and the gene expression features corresponding to 3 distinct intrinsic gene sets (Sørlie 500, Hu 306 and PAM50 were retrieved for molecular subtype prediction. Results For Sørlie 500 and Hu 306 intrinsic gene set, mean-centring of genes and distance-weighted discrimination (DWD remarkably reduced the number of unclassified cases. Regarding pairwise agreement, the highest predictive consistency was found between Hu 306 and PAM50. In all, 150 and 126 samples were assigned into identical subtypes by both Hu 306 and PAM50 genes, under mean-centring and DWD. Luminal B tended to show a higher nuclear grade and have more HER2 over-expression status than luminal A did. No basal-like breast tumours were ER positive, and most HER2-enriched breast tumours showed HER2 over-expression, whereas, only two-thirds of ER negativity/HER2 over-expression tumros were predicted as HER2-enriched molecular subtype. For 44 Taiwanese breast cancers with survival data, a better prognosis of luminal A than luminal B subtype in ER-postive breast cancers and a better prognosis of basal-like than HER2-enriched subtype in ER-negative breast cancers was observed. Conclusions We suggest that the intrinsic signature Hu 306 or PAM50 be used for breast cancers in the Han Chinese population during molecular subtyping. For the prognostic value and decision making based on intrinsic subtypes, further prospective

  2. Low penetrance breast cancer susceptibility loci are associated with specific breast tumor subtypes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Broeks, Annegien; Schmidt, Marjanka K; Sherman, Mark E

    2011-01-01

    Breast cancers demonstrate substantial biological, clinical and etiological heterogeneity. We investigated breast cancer risk associations of eight susceptibility loci identified in GWAS and two putative susceptibility loci in candidate genes in relation to specific breast tumor subtypes. Subtype...... stratification might help in the identification and characterization of novel risk factors for breast cancer subtypes. This may eventually result in further improvements in prevention, early detection and treatment.......Breast cancers demonstrate substantial biological, clinical and etiological heterogeneity. We investigated breast cancer risk associations of eight susceptibility loci identified in GWAS and two putative susceptibility loci in candidate genes in relation to specific breast tumor subtypes. Subtypes...... were defined by five markers (ER, PR, HER2, CK5/6, EGFR) and other pathological and clinical features. Analyses included up to 30 040 invasive breast cancer cases and 53 692 controls from 31 studies within the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. We confirmed previous reports of stronger associations...

  3. Breast cancer molecular subtype classification using deep features: preliminary results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Zhe; Albadawy, Ehab; Saha, Ashirbani; Zhang, Jun; Harowicz, Michael R.; Mazurowski, Maciej A.

    2018-02-01

    Radiogenomics is a field of investigation that attempts to examine the relationship between imaging characteris- tics of cancerous lesions and their genomic composition. This could offer a noninvasive alternative to establishing genomic characteristics of tumors and aid cancer treatment planning. While deep learning has shown its supe- riority in many detection and classification tasks, breast cancer radiogenomic data suffers from a very limited number of training examples, which renders the training of the neural network for this problem directly and with no pretraining a very difficult task. In this study, we investigated an alternative deep learning approach referred to as deep features or off-the-shelf network approach to classify breast cancer molecular subtypes using breast dynamic contrast enhanced MRIs. We used the feature maps of different convolution layers and fully connected layers as features and trained support vector machines using these features for prediction. For the feature maps that have multiple layers, max-pooling was performed along each channel. We focused on distinguishing the Luminal A subtype from other subtypes. To evaluate the models, 10 fold cross-validation was performed and the final AUC was obtained by averaging the performance of all the folds. The highest average AUC obtained was 0.64 (0.95 CI: 0.57-0.71), using the feature maps of the last fully connected layer. This indicates the promise of using this approach to predict the breast cancer molecular subtypes. Since the best performance appears in the last fully connected layer, it also implies that breast cancer molecular subtypes may relate to high level image features

  4. Zebrafish Mnx proteins specify one motoneuron subtype and suppress acquisition of interneuron characteristics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seredick Steve D

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Precise matching between motoneuron subtypes and the muscles they innervate is a prerequisite for normal behavior. Motoneuron subtype identity is specified by the combination of transcription factors expressed by the cell during its differentiation. Here we investigate the roles of Mnx family transcription factors in specifying the subtypes of individually identified zebrafish primary motoneurons. Results Zebrafish has three Mnx family members. We show that each of them has a distinct and temporally dynamic expression pattern in each primary motoneuron subtype. We also show that two Mnx family members are expressed in identified VeLD interneurons derived from the same progenitor domain that generates primary motoneurons. Surprisingly, we found that Mnx proteins appear unnecessary for differentiation of VeLD interneurons or the CaP motoneuron subtype. Mnx proteins are, however, required for differentiation of the MiP motoneuron subtype. We previously showed that MiPs require two temporally-distinct phases of Islet1 expression for normal development. Here we show that in the absence of Mnx proteins, the later phase of Islet1 expression is initiated but not sustained, and MiPs become hybrids that co-express morphological and molecular features of motoneurons and V2a interneurons. Unexpectedly, these hybrid MiPs often extend CaP-like axons, and some MiPs appear to be entirely transformed to a CaP morphology. Conclusions Our results suggest that Mnx proteins promote MiP subtype identity by suppressing both interneuron development and CaP axon pathfinding. This is, to our knowledge, the first report of transcription factors that act to distinguish CaP and MiP subtype identities. Our results also suggest that MiP motoneurons are more similar to V2 interneurons than are CaP motoneurons.

  5. Controlling the Regional Identity of hPSC-Derived Neurons to Uncover Neuronal Subtype Specificity of Neurological Disease Phenotypes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kent Imaizumi

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The CNS contains many diverse neuronal subtypes, and most neurological diseases target specific subtypes. However, the mechanism of neuronal subtype specificity of disease phenotypes remains elusive. Although in vitro disease models employing human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs have great potential to clarify the association of neuronal subtypes with disease, it is currently difficult to compare various PSC-derived subtypes. This is due to the limited number of subtypes whose induction is established, and different cultivation protocols for each subtype. Here, we report a culture system to control the regional identity of PSC-derived neurons along the anteroposterior (A-P and dorsoventral (D-V axes. This system was successfully used to obtain various neuronal subtypes based on the same protocol. Furthermore, we reproduced subtype-specific phenotypes of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS and Alzheimer’s disease (AD by comparing the obtained subtypes. Therefore, our culture system provides new opportunities for modeling neurological diseases with PSCs.

  6. Pathology findings and validation of gastric and esophageal cancer cases in a European cohort (EPIC/EUR-GAST)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Carneiro, F; Moutinho, C; Pera, G

    2007-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: Cardia, non-cardia and intestinal and diffuse subtypes of gastric cancer may have different trends and etiological factors. However, the available information is not always collected in population cancer registries, and heterogeneous criteria have been applied for the histopathological...... classification of tumors. We describe the pathological features of incident gastric and esophageal cancers identified within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). MATERIAL AND METHODS: In an investigation on gastric and esophageal cancer (EUR-GAST) in the EPIC project......, a validation study of diagnoses reported by EPIC centers was conducted by a European panel of pathologists. Original pathology reports, stained slides of tumors and the respective paraffin blocks were requested from the centers. RESULTS: The whole series encompassed 467 cancer cases (gastric and esophageal...

  7. European Union regional policy in Asia-Europe’s meeting

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manuel de Jesús Rocha Pino

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available During 1996 the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM was created with the purpose of constituting a mechanism of nonexistent interregional dialogue until that moment and that united the both extremes of the eurasian territorial mass: East Asia (represented by group ANSEA 3 and Europe (represented by the European Union. The expectations erected at the moment of ASEM's creation were many, but with the years it has demonstrated a set of limits that has diminished its effectiveness, at least in the area of the political dialogue. In this paper is described the particular experience of the diplomacy of the European Union in the mechanism of the ASEM, the kind of interregional policy that this one has implemented and the contradictions that it has had to tolerate with respect to his own legal and institutional exigencies. In the paper it is argued that, despite its limits, the ASEM can be a referential case on the reaction of the European Union forehead to the transformation that in historical terms means the political and economic emergency of Asia in the international system.

  8. Population aging and migration - history and UN forecasts in the EU-28 and its east and south near neighborhood - one century perspective 1950-2050.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jakovljevic, Mihajlo Michael; Netz, Yael; Buttigieg, Sandra C; Adany, Roza; Laaser, Ulrich; Varjacic, Mirjana

    2018-03-16

    There is a gap in knowledge on long term pace of population aging acceleration and related net-migration rate changes in WHO European Region and its adjacent MENA countries. We decided to compare European Union (EU-28) region with the EU Near Neighborhood Policy Region East and EU Near Neighborhood Policy Region South in terms of these two essential features of third demographic transition. One century long perspective dating back to both historical data and towards reliable future forecasts was observed. United Nation's Department of Economic and Social Affairs estimates on indicators of population aging and migration were observed. Time horizon adopted was 1950-2050. Targeted 44 countries belong to either one of three regions named by EU diplomacy as: European Union or EU-28, EU Near Neighborhood Policy Region East (ENP East) and EU Near Neighborhood Policy Region South (ENP South). European Union region currently experiences most advanced stage of demographic aging. The latter one is the ENP East region dominated by Slavic nations whose fertility decline continues since the USSR Era back in late 1980s. ENP South region dominated by Arab League nations remains rather young compared to their northern counterparts. However, as the Third Demographic Transition is inevitably coming to these societies they remain the spring of youth and positive net emigration rate. Probably the most prominent change will be the extreme fall of total fertility rate (children per woman) in ENP South countries (dominantly Arab League) from 6.72 back in 1950 to medium-scenario forecasted 2.10 in 2050. In the same time net number of migrants in the EU28 (both sexes combined) will grow from - 91,000 in 1950 to + 394,000 in 2050. Long term migration from Eastern Europe westwards and from MENA region northwards is historically present for many decades dating back deep into the Cold War Era. Contemporary large-scale migrations outsourcing from Arab League nations towards rich European

  9. Validity of DSM-IV attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptom dimensions and subtypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willcutt, Erik G; Nigg, Joel T; Pennington, Bruce F; Solanto, Mary V; Rohde, Luis A; Tannock, Rosemary; Loo, Sandra K; Carlson, Caryn L; McBurnett, Keith; Lahey, Benjamin B

    2012-11-01

    Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) criteria for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) specify two dimensions of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms that are used to define three nominal subtypes: predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type (ADHD-H), predominantly inattentive type (ADHD-I), and combined type (ADHD-C). To aid decision making for DSM-5 and other future diagnostic systems, a comprehensive literature review and meta-analysis of 546 studies was completed to evaluate the validity of the DSM-IV model of ADHD. Results indicated that DSM-IV criteria identify individuals with significant and persistent impairment in social, academic, occupational, and adaptive functioning when intelligence, demographic factors, and concurrent psychopathology are controlled. Available data overwhelmingly support the concurrent, predictive, and discriminant validity of the distinction between inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms, and indicate that nearly all differences among the nominal subtypes are consistent with the relative levels of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms that define the subtypes. In contrast, the DSM-IV subtype model is compromised by weak evidence for the validity of ADHD-H after first grade, minimal support for the distinction between ADHD-I and ADHD-C in studies of etiological influences, academic and cognitive functioning, and treatment response, and the marked longitudinal instability of all three subtypes. Overall, we conclude that the DSM-IV ADHD subtypes provide a convenient clinical shorthand to describe the functional and behavioral correlates of current levels of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms, but do not identify discrete subgroups with sufficient long-term stability to justify the classification of distinct forms of the disorder. Empirical support is stronger for an alternative model that would replace the subtypes with dimensional

  10. Autoradiographic visualization of muscarinic receptor subtypes in human and guinea pig lung

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mak, J.C.; Barnes, P.J.

    1990-01-01

    Muscarinic receptor subtypes have been localized in human and guinea pig lung sections by an autoradiographic technique, using [3H](-)quinuclidinyl benzilate [( 3H]QNB) and selective muscarinic antagonists. [3H]QNB was incubated with tissue sections for 90 min at 25 degrees C, and nonspecific binding was determined by incubating adjacent serial sections in the presence of 1 microM atropine. Binding to lung sections had the characterization expected for muscarinic receptors. Autoradiography revealed that muscarinic receptors were widely distributed in human lung, with dense labeling over submucosal glands and airway ganglia, and moderate labeling over nerves in intrapulmonary bronchi and of airway smooth muscle of large and small airways. In addition, alveolar walls were uniformly labeled. In guinea pig lung, labeling of airway smooth muscle was similar, but in contrast to human airways, epithelium was labeled but alveolar walls were not. The muscarinic receptors of human airway smooth muscle from large to small airways were entirely of the M3-subtype, whereas in guinea pig airway smooth muscle, the majority were the M3-subtype with a very small population of the M2-subtype present. In human bronchial submucosal glands, M1- and M3-subtypes appeared to coexist in the proportions of 36 and 64%, respectively. In human alveolar walls the muscarinic receptors were entirely of the M1-subtype, which is absent from the guinea pig lung. No M2-receptors were demonstrated in human lung. The localization of M1-receptors was confirmed by direct labeling with [3H]pirenzepine. With the exception of the alveolar walls in human lung, the localization of muscarinic receptor subtypes on structures in the lung is consistent with known functional studies

  11. Validity of DSM-IV attention–deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptom dimensions and subtypes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willcutt, Erik G.; Nigg, Joel T.; Pennington, Bruce F.; Solanto, Mary V.; Rohde, Luis A.; Tannock, Rosemary; Loo, Sandra K.; Carlson, Caryn L.; McBurnett, Keith; Lahey, Benjamin B.

    2013-01-01

    DSM-IV criteria for ADHD specify two dimensions of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms that are used to define three nominal subtypes: predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type (ADHD-H), predominantly inattentive type (ADHD-I), and combined type (ADHD-C). To aid decision-making for DSM-5 and other future diagnostic systems, a comprehensive literature review and meta-analysis of 546 studies was completed to evaluate the validity of the DSM-IV model of ADHD. Results indicated that DSM-IV criteria identify individuals with significant and persistent impairment in social, academic, occupational, and adaptive functioning when intelligence, demographic factors, and concurrent psychopathology are controlled. Available data overwhelmingly support the concurrent, predictive, and discriminant validity of the distinction between inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms, and indicate that nearly all differences among the nominal subtypes are consistent with the relative levels of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms that define the subtypes. In contrast, the validity of the DSM-IV subtype model is compromised by weak evidence for the validity of ADHD-H after first grade, minimal support for the distinction between ADHD-I and ADHD-C in studies of etiological influences, academic and cognitive functioning, and treatment response, and the marked longitudinal instability of all three subtypes. Overall, it is concluded that the DSM-IV ADHD subtypes provide a convenient clinical shorthand to describe the functional and behavioral correlates of current levels of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms, but do not identify discrete subgroups with sufficient long-term stability to justify the classification of distinct forms of the disorder. Empirical support is stronger for an alternative model that would replace the subtypes with dimensional modifiers that reflect the number of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms at the

  12. Racial Differences in PAM50 Subtypes in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Troester, Melissa A; Sun, Xuezheng; Allott, Emma H; Geradts, Joseph; Cohen, Stephanie M; Tse, Chiu-Kit; Kirk, Erin L; Thorne, Leigh B; Mathews, Michelle; Li, Yan; Hu, Zhiyuan; Robinson, Whitney R; Hoadley, Katherine A; Olopade, Olufunmilayo I; Reeder-Hayes, Katherine E; Earp, H Shelton; Olshan, Andrew F; Carey, Lisa A; Perou, Charles M

    2018-02-01

    African American breast cancer patients have lower frequency of hormone receptor-positive (HR+)/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative disease and higher subtype-specific mortality. Racial differences in molecular subtype within clinically defined subgroups are not well understood. Using data and biospecimens from the population-based Carolina Breast Cancer Study (CBCS) Phase 3 (2008-2013), we classified 980 invasive breast cancers using RNA expression-based PAM50 subtype and recurrence (ROR) score that reflects proliferation and tumor size. Molecular subtypes (Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2-enriched, and Basal-like) and ROR scores (high vs low/medium) were compared by race (blacks vs whites) and age (≤50 years vs > 50 years) using chi-square tests and analysis of variance tests. Black women of all ages had a statistically significantly lower frequency of Luminal A breast cancer (25.4% and 33.6% in blacks vs 42.8% and 52.1% in whites; younger and older, respectively). All other subtype frequencies were higher in black women (case-only odds ratio [OR] = 3.11, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.22 to 4.37, for Basal-like; OR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.02 to 2.06, for Luminal B; OR = 2.04, 95% CI = 1.33 to 3.13, for HER2-enriched). Among clinically HR+/HER2- cases, Luminal A subtype was less common and ROR scores were statistically significantly higher among black women. Multigene assays highlight racial disparities in tumor subtype distribution that persist even in clinically defined subgroups. Differences in tumor biology (eg, HER2-enriched status) may be targetable to reduce disparities among clinically ER+/HER2- cases. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

  13. PhenoLines: Phenotype Comparison Visualizations for Disease Subtyping via Topic Models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glueck, Michael; Naeini, Mahdi Pakdaman; Doshi-Velez, Finale; Chevalier, Fanny; Khan, Azam; Wigdor, Daniel; Brudno, Michael

    2018-01-01

    PhenoLines is a visual analysis tool for the interpretation of disease subtypes, derived from the application of topic models to clinical data. Topic models enable one to mine cross-sectional patient comorbidity data (e.g., electronic health records) and construct disease subtypes-each with its own temporally evolving prevalence and co-occurrence of phenotypes-without requiring aligned longitudinal phenotype data for all patients. However, the dimensionality of topic models makes interpretation challenging, and de facto analyses provide little intuition regarding phenotype relevance or phenotype interrelationships. PhenoLines enables one to compare phenotype prevalence within and across disease subtype topics, thus supporting subtype characterization, a task that involves identifying a proposed subtype's dominant phenotypes, ages of effect, and clinical validity. We contribute a data transformation workflow that employs the Human Phenotype Ontology to hierarchically organize phenotypes and aggregate the evolving probabilities produced by topic models. We introduce a novel measure of phenotype relevance that can be used to simplify the resulting topology. The design of PhenoLines was motivated by formative interviews with machine learning and clinical experts. We describe the collaborative design process, distill high-level tasks, and report on initial evaluations with machine learning experts and a medical domain expert. These results suggest that PhenoLines demonstrates promising approaches to support the characterization and optimization of topic models.

  14. Aid Donor Meets Strategic Partner? The European Union’s and China’s Relations with Ethiopia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christine Hackenesch

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The motives, instruments and effects of China’s Africa policy have spurred a lively debate in European development policy circles. This paper assesses the “competitive pressure” that China’s growing presence in Africa exerts on the European development policy regime. Drawing on a large number of interviews conducted in China, Ethiopia and Europe between 2008 and 2011, the paper analyses Ethiopia as a case study. Ethiopia has emerged as one of the most important countries in Chinese as well as European cooperation with Africa. Yet, Chinese and European policies toward Ethiopia differ greatly. The EU mainly engages Ethiopia as an aid recipient, whereas China has developed a comprehensive political and economic partnership with the East African state. China has thereby become an alternative partner to the Ethiopian government, a development that both sheds light on the gap between European rhetoric and policy practice and puts pressure on the EU to make more efforts to reform its development policy system.

  15. Functional Impairment and Changes in Depression Subtypes for Women in STAR*D: A Latent Transition Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rothschild, Anthony J.; Lapane, Kate L.

    2016-01-01

    Abstract Objective: To characterize the association between functional impairment and major depression subtypes at baseline and to characterize changes in subtypes by functional impairment level in women receiving citalopram in level 1 of the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression trial. Method: Women who completed baseline and week 12 study visits were included. Items from the self-reported Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology were used to define the latent depression subtypes. The Work and Social Adjustment Scale was used to classify baseline functional impairment. A latent transition analysis model provided estimates of the prevalence of subtype membership and transition probabilities by functional impairment level. Results: Of the 755 women included, 69% had major functional impairment at baseline. Regardless of functional impairment level, the subtypes were differentiated by depression severity, appetite changes, psychomotor disturbances, and insomnia. Sixty-seven percent of women with normal/significant functional impairment and 60% of women with major impairment were likely to transition to a symptom resolution subtype at week 12. Women with baseline major impairment who were in the severe with psychomotor agitation subtype at the beginning of the study were least likely to transition to the symptom resolution subtype (4% chance). Conclusions: Functional impairment level was related to both the baseline depression subtype and the likelihood of moving to a different subtype. These results underscore the need to incorporate not only depression symptoms but also functioning in the assessment and treatment of depression. PMID:26488110

  16. SYBR green-based real-time reverse transcription-PCR for typing and subtyping of all hemagglutinin and neuraminidase genes of avian influenza viruses and comparison to standard serological subtyping tests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsukamoto, K.; Javier, P.C.; Shishido, M.; Noguchi, D.; Pearce, J.; Kang, H.-M.; Jeong, O.M.; Lee, Y.-J.; Nakanishi, K.; Ashizawa, T.

    2012-01-01

    Continuing outbreaks of H5N1 highly pathogenic (HP) avian influenza virus (AIV) infections of wild birds and poultry worldwide emphasize the need for global surveillance of wild birds. To support the future surveillance activities, we developed a SYBR green-based, real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (rRT-PCR) for detecting nucleoprotein (NP) genes and subtyping 16 hemagglutinin (HA) and 9 neuraminidase (NA) genes simultaneously. Primers were improved by focusing on Eurasian or North American lineage genes; the number of mixed-base positions per primer was set to five or fewer, and the concentration of each primer set was optimized empirically. Also, 30 cycles of amplification of 1:10 dilutions of cDNAs from cultured viruses effectively reduced minor cross- or nonspecific reactions. Under these conditions, 346 HA and 345 NA genes of 349 AIVs were detected, with average sensitivities of NP, HA, and NA genes of 10 1.5, 10 2.3, and 10 3.1 50% egg infective doses, respectively. Utility of rRT-PCR for subtyping AIVs was compared with that of current standard serological tests by using 104 recent migratory duck virus isolates. As a result, all HA genes and 99% of the NA genes were genetically subtyped, while only 45% of HA genes and 74% of NA genes were serologically subtyped. Additionally, direct subtyping of AIVs in fecal samples was possible by 40 cycles of amplification: approximately 70% of HA and NA genes of NP gene-positive samples were successfully subtyped. This validation study indicates that rRT-PCR with optimized primers and reaction conditions is a powerful tool for subtyping varied AIVs in clinical and cultured samples. Copyright ?? 2012, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

  17. Somatostatin receptor subtype expression in human thyroid tumours.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klagge, A; Krause, K; Schierle, K; Steinert, F; Dralle, H; Fuhrer, D

    2010-04-01

    Somatostatin receptors (SSTR) are expressed in various endocrine tumours. The expression of SSTR at the tumour cell surface confers the possibility for diagnostic imaging and therapy of tumours using radiolabeled somatostatin analogues. The majority of currently available somatostatin analogues show a higher binding affinity for the SSTR2 subtype. To date, the precise expression pattern of the SSTR subtypes 1-5 in thyroid epithelial tumours remains to be determined. We investigated the mRNA expression of SSTR1-5 in benign and malignant epithelial thyroid tumours [20 cold thyroid nodules (CTNs), 20 toxic thyroid nodules (TTNs), 20 papillary, 20 follicular, and 5 anaplastic carcinomas (PTCs, FTCs, ATCs, respectively)] and compared them to normal surrounding thyroid tissues. Four out of five SSTR subtypes were detected in malignant thyroid tumours, benign neoplasia, and normal surrounding tissue with a predominant expression of SSTR2 and SSTR5, and a weak expression of SSTR1 and SSTR3. Weak SSTR4 mRNA expression was detected in some PTCs. Compared to normal thyroid tissue, SSTR2 was significantly upregulated in PTC and ATC. In addition significant upregulation of SSTR3 was found in PTC. SSTR5 mRNA expression was increased in PTC and FTC and significantly decreased in CTN and TTN compared to normal thyroid tissue. SSTR2 is the predominant subtype in thyroid epithelial tumours with a high expression pattern, in particular, in PTC . Perspectively, the expression of distinct SSTR in thyroid epithelial tumours might represent a promising avenue for diagnostics and therapy of advanced thyroid cancer with somatostatin analogues. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart New York.

  18. Anatomic mapping of molecular subtypes in diffuse glioma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Qisheng; Lian, Yuxi; Yu, Jinhua; Wang, Yuanyuan; Shi, Zhifeng; Chen, Liang

    2017-09-15

    Tumor location served as an important prognostic factor in glioma patients was considered to postulate molecular features according to cell origin theory. However, anatomic distribution of unique molecular subtypes was not widely investigated. The relationship between molecular phenotype and histological subgroup were also vague based on tumor location. Our group focuses on the study of glioma anatomic location of distinctive molecular subgroups and histology subtypes, and explores the possibility of their consistency based on clinical background. We retrospectively reviewed 143 cases with both molecular information (IDH1/TERT/1p19q) and MRI images diagnosed as cerebral diffuse gliomas. The anatomic distribution was analyzed between distinctive molecular subgroups and its relationship with histological subtypes. The influence of tumor location, molecular stratification and histology diagnosis on survival outcome was investigated as well. Anatomic locations of cerebral diffuse glioma indicate varied clinical outcome. Based on that, it can be stratified into five principal molecular subgroups according to IDH1/TERT/1p19q status. Triple-positive (IDH1 and TERT mutation with 1p19q codeletion) glioma tended to be oligodendroglioma present with much better clinical outcome compared to TERT mutation only group who is glioblastoma inclined (median overall survival 39 months VS 18 months). Five molecular subgroups were demonstrated with distinctive locational distribution. This kind of anatomic feature is consistent with its corresponding histological subtypes. Each molecular subgroup in glioma has unique anatomic location which indicates distinctive clinical outcome. Molecular diagnosis can be served as perfect complementary tool for the precise diagnosis. Integration of histomolecular diagnosis will be much more helpful in routine clinical practice in the future.

  19. Genetic susceptibility to infectious disease in East African Shorthorn Zebu: a genome-wide analysis of the effect of heterozygosity and exotic introgression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murray, Gemma G R; Woolhouse, Mark E J; Tapio, Miika; Mbole-Kariuki, Mary N; Sonstegard, Tad S; Thumbi, Samuel M; Jennings, Amy E; van Wyk, Ilana Conradie; Chase-Topping, Margo; Kiara, Henry; Toye, Phil; Coetzer, Koos; deC Bronsvoort, Barend M; Hanotte, Olivier

    2013-11-09

    Positive multi-locus heterozygosity-fitness correlations have been observed in a number of natural populations. They have been explained by the correlation between heterozygosity and inbreeding, and the negative effect of inbreeding on fitness (inbreeding depression). Exotic introgression in a locally adapted population has also been found to reduce fitness (outbreeding depression) through the breaking-up of co-adapted genes, or the introduction of non-locally adapted gene variants. In this study we examined the inter-relationships between genome-wide heterozygosity, introgression, and death or illness as a result of infectious disease in a sample of calves from an indigenous population of East African Shorthorn Zebu (crossbred Bos taurus x Bos indicus) in western Kenya. These calves were observed from birth to one year of age as part of the Infectious Disease in East African Livestock (IDEAL) project. Some of the calves were found to be genetic hybrids, resulting from the recent introgression of European cattle breed(s) into the indigenous population. European cattle are known to be less well adapted to the infectious diseases present in East Africa. If death and illness as a result of infectious disease have a genetic basis within the population, we would expect both a negative association of these outcomes with introgression and a positive association with heterozygosity. In this indigenous livestock population we observed negative associations between heterozygosity and both death and illness as a result of infectious disease and a positive association between European taurine introgression and episodes of clinical illness. We observe the effects of both inbreeding and outbreeding depression in the East African Shorthorn Zebu, and therefore find evidence of a genetic component to vulnerability to infectious disease. These results indicate that the significant burden of infectious disease in this population could, in principle, be reduced by altered breeding

  20. Melanopsin expressing human retinal ganglion cells: Subtypes, distribution, and intraretinal connectivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hannibal, Jens; Christiansen, Anders Tolstrup; Heegaard, Steffen; Fahrenkrug, Jan; Kiilgaard, Jens Folke

    2017-06-01

    Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) expressing the photopigment melanopsin belong to a heterogenic population of RGCs which regulate the circadian clock, masking behavior, melatonin suppression, the pupillary light reflex, and sleep/wake cycles. The different functions seem to be associated to different subtypes of melanopsin cells. In rodents, subtype classification has associated subtypes to function. In primate and human retina such classification has so far, not been applied. In the present study using antibodies against N- and C-terminal parts of human melanopsin, confocal microscopy and 3D reconstruction of melanopsin immunoreactive (-ir) RGCs, we applied the criteria used in mouse on human melanopsin-ir RGCs. We identified M1, displaced M1, M2, and M4 cells. We found two other subtypes of melanopsin-ir RGCs, which were named "gigantic M1 (GM1)" and "gigantic displaced M1 (GDM1)." Few M3 cells and no M5 subtypes were labeled. Total cell counts from one male and one female retina revealed that the human retina contains 7283 ± 237 melanopsin-ir (0.63-0.75% of the total number of RGCs). The melanopsin subtypes were unevenly distributed. Most significant was the highest density of M4 cells in the nasal retina. We identified input to the melanopsin-ir RGCs from AII amacrine cells and directly from rod bipolar cells via ribbon synapses in the innermost ON layer of the inner plexiform layer (IPL) and from dopaminergic amacrine cells and GABAergic processes in the outermost OFF layer of the IPL. The study characterizes a heterogenic population of human melanopsin-ir RGCs, which most likely are involved in different functions. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. Genetic and biological characterisation of an avian-like H1N2 swine influenza virus generated by reassortment of circulating avian-like H1N1 and H3N2 subtypes in Denmark.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trebbien, Ramona; Bragstad, Karoline; Larsen, Lars Erik; Nielsen, Jens; Bøtner, Anette; Heegaard, Peter M H; Fomsgaard, Anders; Viuff, Birgitte; Hjulsager, Charlotte Kristiane

    2013-09-18

    The influenza A virus subtypes H1N1, H1N2 and H3N2 are the most prevalent subtypes in swine. In 2003, a reassorted H1N2 swine influenza virus (SIV) subtype appeared and became prevalent in Denmark. In the present study, the reassortant H1N2 subtype was characterised genetically and the infection dynamics compared to an "avian-like" H1N1 virus by an experimental infection study. Sequence analyses were performed of the H1N2 virus. Two groups of pigs were inoculated with the reassortant H1N2 virus and an "avian-like" H1N1 virus, respectively, followed by inoculation with the opposite subtype four weeks later. Measurements of HI antibodies and acute phase proteins were performed. Nasal virus excretion and virus load in lungs were determined by real-time RT-PCR. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that the reassorted H1N2 virus contained a European "avian-like" H1-gene and a European "swine-like" N2-gene, thus being genetically distinct from most H1N2 viruses circulating in Europe, but similar to viruses reported in 2009/2010 in Sweden and Italy. Sequence analyses of the internal genes revealed that the reassortment probably arose between circulating Danish "avian-like" H1N1 and H3N2 SIVs. Infected pigs developed cross-reactive antibodies, and increased levels of acute phase proteins after inoculations. Pigs inoculated with H1N2 exhibited nasal virus excretion for seven days, peaking day 1 after inoculation two days earlier than H1N1 infected pigs and at a six times higher level. The difference, however, was not statistically significant. Pigs euthanized on day 4 after inoculation, had a high virus load in all lung lobes. After the second inoculation, the nasal virus excretion was minimal. There were no clinical sign except elevated body temperature under the experimental conditions. The "avian-like" H1N2 subtype, which has been established in the Danish pig population at least since 2003, is a reassortant between circulating swine "avian-like" H1N1 and H3N2. The Danish

  2. Genetic contributions to subtypes of aggression

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ligthart, R.S.L.; Bartels, M.; Hoekstra, R.A.; Hudziak, J.; Boomsma, D.I.

    2005-01-01

    Boys and girls may display different styles of aggression. The aim of this study was to identify subtypes of aggression within the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) aggression scale, and determine their characteristics for both sexes. Maternal CBCL ratings of 7449 7-year-old twin pairs were analyzed

  3. Impact of HIV-1 subtype and antiretroviral therapy on protease and reverse transcriptase genotype: results of a global collaboration.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rami Kantor

    2005-04-01

    Full Text Available The genetic differences among HIV-1 subtypes may be critical to clinical management and drug resistance surveillance as antiretroviral treatment is expanded to regions of the world where diverse non-subtype-B viruses predominate.To assess the impact of HIV-1 subtype and antiretroviral treatment on the distribution of mutations in protease and reverse transcriptase, a binomial response model using subtype and treatment as explanatory variables was used to analyze a large compiled dataset of non-subtype-B HIV-1 sequences. Non-subtype-B sequences from 3,686 persons with well characterized antiretroviral treatment histories were analyzed in comparison to subtype B sequences from 4,769 persons. The non-subtype-B sequences included 461 with subtype A, 1,185 with C, 331 with D, 245 with F, 293 with G, 513 with CRF01_AE, and 618 with CRF02_AG. Each of the 55 known subtype B drug-resistance mutations occurred in at least one non-B isolate, and 44 (80% of these mutations were significantly associated with antiretroviral treatment in at least one non-B subtype. Conversely, of 67 mutations found to be associated with antiretroviral therapy in at least one non-B subtype, 61 were also associated with antiretroviral therapy in subtype B isolates.Global surveillance and genotypic assessment of drug resistance should focus primarily on the known subtype B drug-resistance mutations.

  4. The European nuclear industry - an overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berke, Claus

    1994-01-01

    In his talk, the President of Foratom, Dr. Claus Berke, reviews the present state of the nuclear industry in Europe. The European nuclear park is still the largest of any region in the world. In some countries, there has been a moratorium on new construction in recent years. This has made life for the supplying industry very difficult. One positive side-effect o at has been a significant rationalisation of the industry. In the course of this the previous vertical integration within European states has given place to the creation of important new transnational structures. In his talk, Dr. Berke describes some of the most important facets of the 'Europeanisation' of the industry, both in the area of power-plants and of the nuclear fuel-cycle. He also describes the increasing cooperation between utilities and suppliers in Western Europe and the operators of nuclear power plant in Eastern Europe, which is aimed at introducing a safety culture and an institutional framework in the East as close as possible to that which exists in Western Europe. Dr. Berke concludes that, over the coming years, both economic and environmental arguments will start to reverse the present political opposition, in many European countries, to new building programmes, and that the industry is likely be in a healthier state by the end of the decade

  5. Distress disclosure and psychological functioning among Taiwanese nationals and European Americans: The moderating roles of mindfulness and nationality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kahn, Jeffrey H; Wei, Meifen; Su, Jenny C; Han, Suejung; Strojewska, Agnes

    2017-04-01

    Research using Western samples shows that talking about unpleasant emotions-distress disclosure-is associated with fewer psychological symptoms and higher well-being. These benefits of distress disclosure may or may not be observed in East Asia where emotional control is valued. Instead, mindfulness may be more relevant to emotion regulation in East Asia (e.g., Taiwan). In the present study, cultural context (Taiwanese nationals vs. European Americans) and mindfulness were examined as moderators of the relation between distress disclosure and both depression symptoms and life satisfaction. A sample of 256 Taiwanese college students and a sample of 209 European American college students completed self-report measures in their native language. Moderated multiple regression analyses revealed significant interaction effects of mindfulness and distress disclosure on both depression symptoms and life satisfaction for Taiwanese participants but not for European Americans. Specifically, distress disclosure was negatively associated with depression symptoms and positively associated with life satisfaction for Taiwanese low in mindfulness but not for Taiwanese high in mindfulness. For European Americans, distress disclosure was not associated with depression symptoms but was associated with higher life satisfaction, regardless of one's level of mindfulness. These findings suggest that the potential benefits of disclosing distress are a function of one's cultural context as well as, for those from Taiwan, one's mindfulness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  6. An evolutionary model-based algorithm for accurate phylogenetic breakpoint mapping and subtype prediction in HIV-1.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergei L Kosakovsky Pond

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available Genetically diverse pathogens (such as Human Immunodeficiency virus type 1, HIV-1 are frequently stratified into phylogenetically or immunologically defined subtypes for classification purposes. Computational identification of such subtypes is helpful in surveillance, epidemiological analysis and detection of novel variants, e.g., circulating recombinant forms in HIV-1. A number of conceptually and technically different techniques have been proposed for determining the subtype of a query sequence, but there is not a universally optimal approach. We present a model-based phylogenetic method for automatically subtyping an HIV-1 (or other viral or bacterial sequence, mapping the location of breakpoints and assigning parental sequences in recombinant strains as well as computing confidence levels for the inferred quantities. Our Subtype Classification Using Evolutionary ALgorithms (SCUEAL procedure is shown to perform very well in a variety of simulation scenarios, runs in parallel when multiple sequences are being screened, and matches or exceeds the performance of existing approaches on typical empirical cases. We applied SCUEAL to all available polymerase (pol sequences from two large databases, the Stanford Drug Resistance database and the UK HIV Drug Resistance Database. Comparing with subtypes which had previously been assigned revealed that a minor but substantial (approximately 5% fraction of pure subtype sequences may in fact be within- or inter-subtype recombinants. A free implementation of SCUEAL is provided as a module for the HyPhy package and the Datamonkey web server. Our method is especially useful when an accurate automatic classification of an unknown strain is desired, and is positioned to complement and extend faster but less accurate methods. Given the increasingly frequent use of HIV subtype information in studies focusing on the effect of subtype on treatment, clinical outcome, pathogenicity and vaccine design, the importance

  7. Different frequencies of drug resistance mutations among HIV-1 subtypes circulating in China: a comprehensive study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hongshuai Sui

    Full Text Available The rapid spreading of HIV drug resistance is threatening the overall success of free HAART in China. Much work has been done on drug-resistant mutations, however, most of which were based on subtype B. Due to different genetic background, subtypes difference would have an effect on the development of drug-resistant mutations, which has already been proved by more and more studies. In China, the main epidemic subtypes are CRF07_BC, CRF08_BC, Thai B and CRF01_AE. The depiction of drug resistance mutations in those subtypes will be helpful for the selection of regimens for Chinese. In this study, the distributions difference of amino acids at sites related to HIV drug resistance were compared among subtype B, CRF01_AE, CRF07_BC and CRF08_BC strains prevalent in China. The amino acid composition of sequences belonging to different subtypes, which were obtained from untreated and treated individuals separately, were also compared. The amino acids proportions of 19 sites in RT among subtype B, CRF01_AE and CRF08_BC have significant difference in drug resistance groups (chi-square test, p<0.05. Genetic barriers analysis revealed that sites 69, 138, 181, 215 and 238 were significantly different among subtypes (Kruskal Wallis test, p<0.05. All subtypes shared three highest prevalent drug resistance sites 103, 181 and 184 in common. Many drug resistant sites in protease show surprising high proportions in almost all subtypes in drug-naïve patients. This is the first comprehensive study in China on different development of drug resistance among different subtypes. The detailed data will lay a foundation for HIV treatment regimens design and improve HIV therapy in China.

  8. Meta-analytic framework for sparse K-means to identify disease subtypes in multiple transcriptomic studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huo, Zhiguang; Ding, Ying; Liu, Silvia; Oesterreich, Steffi; Tseng, George

    Disease phenotyping by omics data has become a popular approach that potentially can lead to better personalized treatment. Identifying disease subtypes via unsupervised machine learning is the first step towards this goal. In this paper, we extend a sparse K -means method towards a meta-analytic framework to identify novel disease subtypes when expression profiles of multiple cohorts are available. The lasso regularization and meta-analysis identify a unique set of gene features for subtype characterization. An additional pattern matching reward function guarantees consistent subtype signatures across studies. The method was evaluated by simulations and leukemia and breast cancer data sets. The identified disease subtypes from meta-analysis were characterized with improved accuracy and stability compared to single study analysis. The breast cancer model was applied to an independent METABRIC dataset and generated improved survival difference between subtypes. These results provide a basis for diagnosis and development of targeted treatments for disease subgroups.

  9. Brain neurodevelopmental markers related to the deficit subtype of schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takahashi, Tsutomu; Takayanagi, Yoichiro; Nishikawa, Yumiko; Nakamura, Mihoko; Komori, Yuko; Furuichi, Atsushi; Kido, Mikio; Sasabayashi, Daiki; Noguchi, Kyo; Suzuki, Michio

    2017-08-30

    Deficit schizophrenia is a homogeneous subtype characterized by a trait-like feature of primary and prominent negative symptoms, but the etiologic factors related to this specific subtype remain largely unknown. This magnetic resonance imaging study aimed to examine gross brain morphology that probably reflects early neurodevelopment in 38 patients with deficit schizophrenia, 37 patients with non-deficit schizophrenia, and 59 healthy controls. Potential brain neurodevelopmental markers investigated in this study were the adhesio interthalamica (AI), cavum septi pellucidi (CSP), and surface morphology (i.e., olfactory sulcus depth, sulcogyral pattern, and number of orbital sulci) of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). The subtype classification of schizophrenia patients was based on the score of Proxy for the Deficit Syndrome. The deficit schizophrenia group had a significantly shorter AI compared with the non-deficit group and controls. The deficit group, but not the non-deficit group, was also characterized by an altered distribution of the OFC sulcogyral pattern, as well as fewer posterior orbital sulcus compared with controls. Other neurodevelopmental markers did not differentiate the deficit and non-deficit subgroups. These results suggest that the deficit subtype of schizophrenia and its clinical manifestation may be at least partly related to prominent neurodevelopmental pathology. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Racial Differences by Ischemic Stroke Subtype: A Comprehensive Diagnostic Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah Song

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. Previous studies have suggested that black populations have more small-vessel and fewer cardioembolic strokes. We sought to analyze racial differences in ischemic stroke subtype employing a comprehensive diagnostic workup with magnetic resonance-imaging-(MRI- based evaluation including diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI. Methods. 350 acute ischemic stroke patients admitted to an urban hospital with standardized comprehensive diagnostic evaluations were retrospectively analyzed. Ischemic stroke subtype was determined by three Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST classification systems. Results. We found similar proportions of cardioembolic and lacunar strokes in the black and white cohort. The only subtype category with a significant difference by race was “stroke of other etiology,” more common in whites. Black stroke patients were more likely to have an incomplete evaluation, but this did not reach significance. Conclusions. We found similar proportions by race of cardioembolic and lacunar strokes when employing a full diagnostic evaluation including DWI MRI. The relatively high rate of cardioembolism may have been underappreciated in black stroke patients when employing a CT approach to stroke subtype diagnosis. Further research is required to better understand the racial differences in frequency of “stroke of other etiology” and explore disparities in the extent of diagnostic evaluations.

  11. A taxometric investigation of developmental dyslexia subtypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Brien, Beth A; Wolf, Maryanne; Lovett, Maureen W

    2012-02-01

    Long-standing issues with the conceptualization, identification and subtyping of developmental dyslexia persist. This study takes an alternative approach to examine the heterogeneity of developmental dyslexia using taxometric classification techniques. These methods were used with a large sample of 671 children ages 6-8 who were diagnosed with severe reading disorders. Latent characteristics of the sample are assessed in regard to posited subtypes with phonological deficits and naming speed deficits, thus extending prior work by addressing whether these deficits embody separate classes of individuals. Findings support separate taxa of dyslexia with and without phonological deficits. Different latent structure for naming speed deficits was found depending on the definitional criterion used to define dyslexia. Non-phonologically based forms of dyslexia showed particular difficulty with naming speed and reading fluency. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  12. Emergence of canine parvovirus subtype 2b (CPV-2b) infections in Australian dogs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Nicholas J; Seddon, Jennifer M; Kyaw-Tanner, Myat; Al-Alawneh, John; Harper, Gavin; McDonagh, Phillip; Meers, Joanne

    2018-03-01

    Tracing the temporal dynamics of pathogens is crucial for developing strategies to detect and limit disease emergence. Canine parvovirus (CPV-2) is an enteric virus causing morbidity and mortality in dogs around the globe. Previous work in Australia reported that the majority of cases were associated with the CPV-2a subtype, an unexpected finding since CPV-2a was rapidly replaced by another subtype (CPV-2b) in many countries. Using a nine-year dataset of CPV-2 infections from 396 dogs sampled across Australia, we assessed the population dynamics and molecular epidemiology of circulating CPV-2 subtypes. Bayesian phylogenetic Skygrid models and logistic regressions were used to trace the temporal dynamics of CPV-2 infections in dogs sampled from 2007 to 2016. Phylogenetic models indicated that CPV-2a likely emerged in Australia between 1973 and 1988, while CPV-2b likely emerged between 1985 and 1998. Sequences from both subtypes were found in dogs across continental Australia and Tasmania, with no apparent effect of climate variability on subtype occurrence. Both variant subtypes exhibited a classical disease emergence pattern of relatively high rates of evolution during early emergence followed by subsequent decreases in evolutionary rates over time. However, the CPV-2b subtype maintained higher mutation rates than CPV-2a and continued to expand, resulting in an increase in the probability that dogs will carry this subtype over time. Ongoing monitoring programs that provide molecular epidemiology surveillance will be necessary to detect emergence of new variants and make informed recommendations to develop reliable detection and vaccine methods. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. MONETARY POLICIES AND INDUSTRIAL FLUCTUATIONS IN EAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihaela IFRIM

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Industrial fluctuations are closely related to the evolution of relative prices of produced goods and resources involved in production activity. Industrial fluctuations, as an expression of forces manifested in the real economy, are caused by changes in individuals’ consumption and investment decisions, produced within expansionary monetary policies. The ease of obtaining a bank loan in the context of decreasing interest rates and of larger amounts of money caused an increase in individuals’ demand for goods resulted from longer, capital intensive production processes. The rise in prices of intermediate and capital goods in a faster pace compared to the increase in prices of consumer goods is doubled by the increase of the share of higher order industries in the structure of production. The objective of this paper is to analyze changes in industrial structure of Eastern Europe countries within the policies of quick access to monetary resources. The analyzed states (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania are part of the European Union and have autonomous monetary policies, meaning that they have not yet adopted the common currency. In all economies analyzed, we find approximately the same patterns of monetary expansion and industrial fluctuations.

  14. Cerebrospinal fluid tau levels are a marker for molecular subtype in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karch, André; Hermann, Peter; Ponto, Claudia; Schmitz, Matthias; Arora, Amandeep; Zafar, Saima; Llorens, Franc; Müller-Heine, Annika; Zerr, Inga

    2015-05-01

    The molecular subtype of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) is an important prognostic marker for patient survival. However, subtype determination is not possible during lifetime. Because the rate of disease progression is associated with the molecular subtype, this study aimed at investigating if total tau, a marker of neuronal death, allows premortem diagnosis of molecular subtype when codon 129 genotype is known. Two hundred ninety-six sCJD patients were tested for their cerebrospinal fluid total tau level at the time of diagnosis and were investigated for their sCJD subtype postmortem. There was a significant association between tau levels and the prion protein type in patients with codon 129 MM (p disease. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. lncRNA Gene Signatures for Prediction of Breast Cancer Intrinsic Subtypes and Prognosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silu Zhang

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Breast cancer is intrinsically heterogeneous and is commonly classified into four main subtypes associated with distinct biological features and clinical outcomes. However, currently available data resources and methods are limited in identifying molecular subtyping on protein-coding genes, and little is known about the roles of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs, which occupies 98% of the whole genome. lncRNAs may also play important roles in subgrouping cancer patients and are associated with clinical phenotypes. Methods: The purpose of this project was to identify lncRNA gene signatures that are associated with breast cancer subtypes and clinical outcomes. We identified lncRNA gene signatures from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA RNAseq data that are associated with breast cancer subtypes by an optimized 1-Norm SVM feature selection algorithm. We evaluated the prognostic performance of these gene signatures with a semi-supervised principal component (superPC method. Results: Although lncRNAs can independently predict breast cancer subtypes with satisfactory accuracy, a combined gene signature including both coding and non-coding genes will give the best clinically relevant prediction performance. We highlighted eight potential biomarkers (three from coding genes and five from non-coding genes that are significantly associated with survival outcomes. Conclusion: Our proposed methods are a novel means of identifying subtype-specific coding and non-coding potential biomarkers that are both clinically relevant and biologically significant.

  16. Microstructural Changes within the Basal Ganglia Differ between Parkinson Disease Subtypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagae, Lidia M; Honce, Justin M; Tanabe, Jody; Shelton, Erika; Sillau, Stefan H; Berman, Brian D

    2016-01-01

    Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of the substantia nigra has shown promise in detecting and quantifying neurodegeneration in Parkinson disease (PD). It remains unknown, however, whether differences in microstructural changes within the basal ganglia underlie PD motor subtypes. We investigated microstructural changes within the basal ganglia of mild to moderately affected PD patients using DTI and sought to determine if microstructural changes differ between the tremor dominant (TD) and postural instability/gait difficulty (PIGD) subtypes. Fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, radial, and axial diffusivity were obtained from bilateral caudate, putamen, globus pallidus, and substantia nigra of 21 PD patients (12 TD and 9 PIGD) and 20 age-matched healthy controls. T-tests and ANOVA methods were used to compare PD patients, subtypes, and controls, and Spearman correlations tested for relationships between DTI and clinical measures. We found our cohort of PD patients had reduced fractional anisotropy within the substantia nigra and increased mean and radial diffusivity within the substantia nigra and globus pallidus compared to controls, and that changes within those structures were largely driven by the PIGD subtype. Across all PD patients fractional anisotropy within the substantia nigra correlated with disease stage, while in PIGD patients increased diffusivity within the globus pallidus correlated with disease stage and motor severity. We conclude that PIGD patients have more severely affected microstructural changes within the substantia nigra compared to TD, and that microstructural changes within the globus pallidus may be particularly relevant for the manifestation of the PIGD subtype.

  17. The Challenge to Soviet Interests in Eastern Europe, Romania, Hungary, East Germany.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1984-12-01

    Beginning in the mid 1970s, the glue that held the East European sys- tem together began to come unstuck. By the end of the decade, cohe- sion had...and flour , and the second announced prison sentences of up to five years for hoarding of certain items. At the beginning of 1982, prices increased by...has even attacked Ceausescu personally for being anti- Hungarian. 3’ Moreover, some of the figures associated with the journal appear to have links to

  18. NEW PALEOMAGNETIC DATA ON THE SILURIAN AND DEVONIAN SEDIMENTARY ROCKS FROM PODOLIA, SW UKRAINE, AND KINEMATICS OF THE EAST EUROPEAN PLATFORM IN THE MIDDLE PALEOZOIC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. G. Bakhmutov

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Paleomagnetic data are the priority source of information for global paleotectonic reconstructions representing horizontal movements of the crustal blocks. Upon receipt of new paleomagnetic data, kinematic models of the East European platform in the Paleozoic are regularly revised and improved. The article presents results of the paleomagnetic study of sedimentary gray-colored and red beds of the Silurian and Lower Devonian sequences located in the Dniester river basin, Podolia region, SW Ukraine. The study covered 17 outcrops that are stratigraphically correlated with the Wenlock, Ludlow, Pridoli states of the Sillurian and the Lochkovian stage of the Devon. Over 400 samples of grey limestone, argillite, dolomite, red limestone and sandstone were analyzed, and two components of natural remnant magnetization (NRM were revealed. The first component with SSW declination and negative inclination is revealed in the majority of the samples during AF- and T-magnetic cleaning. Its pole positions, that are calculated separately for each series, are trending to the Permian segment of the apparent polar wander path (APWP published by Torsvik et al. [2012] for Baltica / Stable Europe. Considering its chemical origin, this NRM component is related to formation of authigenic minerals due to rock remagnetization. The second component is revealed only in some samples taken from the red beds (during thermal demagnetization in the range of unblocking temperatures from 590 to 690 °С and in few samples of grey limestone (in AF fields from 30 to 70 mT or in the range of unblocking temperatures from 300 to 460 °С. This component has SW declination and positive inclination, goes to the origin of coordinates of the diagrams, and has all the indicators of primary magnetization of sediments. Calculated positions of the poles (0 ºS and 329 ºE for grey limestone of the Tiverskaya series, 2.3 °S and 338.4 °E for red beds of the Dniestrovskaya series, etc. are well

  19. Highly sensitive radioimmunoassay technique for subtyping the antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fang, C T; Nath, N; Berberian, H; Dodd, R Y [American Red Cross, Blood Research Laboratory, Bethesda, MD, USA

    1978-12-01

    A highly sensitive technique for determining the subtype specificity of antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) is described. Immunoadsorbent consisting of controlled pore glass coated with subtype specific HBsAg was used to remove homologous antibody from the test samples before testing them for residual antibody by a commercially available radioimmunoassay (RIA). A total of 73 anti-HBs-positive samples from asymptomatic blood donors were tested. In nearly 80% of these samples the subtype reactivity could be determined by this technique. Only 67% could be typed by conventional liquid phase absorption RIA and 22% by passive hemagglutination inhibition techniques. Among the samples with low anti-HBs titer, ad and ay subtypes were found with equal frequency; however, with the increase in anti-HBs titer, considerably higher proportion of ad specificity was detected.

  20. Memory Effects of Benzodiazepines: Memory Stages and Types Versus Binding-Site Subtypes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miroslav M. Savic

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available Benzodiazepines are well established as inhibitory modulators of memory processing. This effect is especially prominent when applied before the acquisition phase of a memory task. This minireview concentrates on the putative subtype selectivity of the acquisition-impairing action of benzodiazepines. Namely, recent genetic studies and standard behavioral tests employing subtype-selective ligands pointed to the predominant involvement of two subtypes of benzodiazepine binding sites in memory modulation. Explicit memory learning seems to be affected through the GABAA receptors containing the α1 and α5 subunits, whereas the effects on procedural memory can be mainly mediated by the α1 subunit. The pervading involvement of the α1 subunit in memory modulation is not at all unexpected because this subunit is the major subtype, present in 60% of all GABAA receptors. On the other hand, the role of α5 subunits, mainly expressed in the hippocampus, in modulating distinct forms of memory gives promise of selective pharmacological coping with certain memory deficit states.

  1. Identification of molecular subtypes of gastric cancer with different responses to PI3-kinase inhibitors and 5-fluorouracil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lei, Zhengdeng; Tan, Iain Beehuat; Das, Kakoli; Deng, Niantao; Zouridis, Hermioni; Pattison, Sharon; Chua, Clarinda; Feng, Zhu; Guan, Yeoh Khay; Ooi, Chia Huey; Ivanova, Tatiana; Zhang, Shenli; Lee, Minghui; Wu, Jeanie; Ngo, Anna; Manesh, Sravanthy; Tan, Elisabeth; Teh, Bin Tean; So, Jimmy Bok Yan; Goh, Liang Kee; Boussioutas, Alex; Lim, Tony Kiat Hon; Flotow, Horst; Tan, Patrick; Rozen, Steven G

    2013-09-01

    Almost all gastric cancers are adenocarcinomas, which have considerable heterogeneity among patients. We sought to identify subtypes of gastric adenocarcinomas with particular biological properties and responses to chemotherapy and targeted agents. We compared gene expression patterns among 248 gastric tumors; using a robust method of unsupervised clustering, consensus hierarchical clustering with iterative feature selection, we identified 3 major subtypes. We developed a classifier for these subtypes and validated it in 70 tumors from a different population. We identified distinct genomic and epigenomic properties of the subtypes. We determined drug sensitivities of the subtypes in primary tumors using clinical survival data, and in cell lines through high-throughput drug screening. We identified 3 subtypes of gastric adenocarcinoma: proliferative, metabolic, and mesenchymal. Tumors of the proliferative subtype had high levels of genomic instability, TP53 mutations, and DNA hypomethylation. Cancer cells of the metabolic subtype were more sensitive to 5-fluorouracil than the other subtypes. Furthermore, in 2 independent groups of patients, those with tumors of the metabolic subtype appeared to have greater benefits with 5-fluorouracil treatment. Tumors of the mesenchymal subtype contain cells with features of cancer stem cells, and cell lines of this subtype are particularly sensitive to phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-AKT-mTOR inhibitors in vitro. Based on gene expression patterns, we classified gastric cancers into 3 subtypes, and validated these in an independent set of tumors. The subgroups have differences in molecular and genetic features and response to therapy; this information might be used to select specific treatment approaches for patients with gastric cancer. Copyright © 2013 AGA Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. The Dissociative Subtype of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: Research Update on Clinical and Neurobiological Features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Huijstee, Jytte; Vermetten, Eric

    2017-10-21

    Recently, a dissociative subtype of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been included in the DSM-5. This review focuses on the clinical and neurobiological features that distinguish the dissociative subtype of PTSD from non-dissociative PTSD. Clinically, the dissociative subtype of PTSD is associated with high PTSD severity, predominance of derealization and depersonalization symptoms, a more significant history of early life trauma, and higher levels of comorbid psychiatric disorders. Furthermore, PTSD patients with dissociative symptoms exhibit different psychophysiological and neural responses to the recall of traumatic memories. While individuals with non-dissociative PTSD exhibit an increased heart rate, decreased activation of prefrontal regions, and increased activation of the amygdala in response to traumatic reminders, individuals with the dissociative subtype of PTSD show an opposite pattern. It has been proposed that dissociation is a regulatory strategy to restrain extreme arousal in PTSD through hyperinhibition of limbic regions. In this research update, promises and pitfalls in current research studies on the dissociative subtype of PTSD are listed. Inclusion of the dissociative subtype of PTSD in the DSM-5 stimulates research on the prevalence, symptomatology, and neurobiology of the dissociative subtype of PTSD and poses a challenge to improve treatment outcome in PTSD patients with dissociative symptoms.

  3. Pattern of distant recurrence according to the molecular subtypes in Korean women with breast cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Park Hyung Seok

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Distant recurrence is one of the most important risk factors in overall survival, and distant recurrence is related to a complex biologic interaction of seed and soil factors. The aim of the study was to investigate the association between the molecular subtypes and patterns of distant recurrence in patients with breast cancer. Methods In an investigation of 313 women with breast cancer who underwent surgery from 1994 and 2000, the expressions of estrogen and progestrone receptor (ER/PR, and human epithelial receptor-2 (HER2 were evaluated. The subtypes were defined as luminal-A, luminal-HER2, HER2-enriched, and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC according to ER, PR, and HER2 status. Results Bone was the most common site of distant recurrence. The incidence of first distant recurrence site was significantly different among the subtypes. Brain metastasis was more frequent in the luminal-HER2 and TNBC subtypes. In subgroup analysis, overall survival in patients with distant recurrence after 24 months after surgery was significantly different among the subtypes. Conclusions Organ-specific metastasis may depend on the molecular subtype of breast cancer. Tailored strategies against distant metastasis concerning the molecular subtypes in breast cancer may be considered.

  4. Low cost carriers in the Middle East and North Africa: Prospects and strategies

    OpenAIRE

    Morrison, W.G.; Mason, Keith J.

    2016-01-01

    We examine socio-economic indicators relevant to ‘low cost carriers’ (LCCs) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and review the evolution of air transport liberalization and air service agreements in the region. We analyse the business strategies of MENA-based LCCs and using a benchmarking methodology, we compare the business strategy of Air Arabia Group with those of dominant European LCCs EasyJet and Ryanair. Our economic development indicators suggest future potential for...

  5. Structural features of subtype-selective EP receptor modulators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Markovič, Tijana; Jakopin, Žiga; Dolenc, Marija Sollner; Mlinarič-Raščan, Irena

    2017-01-01

    Prostaglandin E2 is a potent endogenous molecule that binds to four different G-protein-coupled receptors: EP1-4. Each of these receptors is a valuable drug target, with distinct tissue localisation and signalling pathways. We review the structural features of EP modulators required for subtype-selective activity, as well as the structural requirements for improved pharmacokinetic parameters. Novel EP receptor subtype selective agonists and antagonists appear to be valuable drug candidates in the therapy of many pathophysiological states, including ulcerative colitis, glaucoma, bone healing, B cell lymphoma, neurological diseases, among others, which have been studied in vitro, in vivo and in early phase clinical trials. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  6. A multicentre prospective study of Guillain-Barré syndrome in Japan: a focus on the incidence of subtypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitsui, Yoshiyuki; Kusunoki, Susumu; Arimura, Kimiyoshi; Kaji, Ryuji; Kanda, Takashi; Kuwabara, Satoshi; Sonoo, Masahiro; Takada, Kazuo

    2015-01-01

    Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) is classified into the two major subtypes; acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (AIDP) and acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN). Previous studies have suggested that AIDP is predominant and AMAN is rare in Western countries, whereas AMAN is not always uncommon in East Asia. We aimed to clarify the incidence of the subtypes of GBS in Japan. We performed a prospective multicentre survey over 3 years (2007-2010). Clinical and electrophysiological findings were collected from 184 patients with GBS in 23 tertiary neurology institutes. Anti-ganglioside antibodies were measured by ELISA. We also surveyed the incidence of Fisher syndrome (FS). By electrodiagnostic criteria of Ho et al, patients were classified as having AIDP (40%), or AMAN (22%), or unclassified (38%). Anti-GM1 IgG antibodies were found for 47% of AMAN patients, and 18% of AIDP patients (p<0.001). There were no specific regional trends of the electrodiagnosis and anti-GM1 positivity. During the same study period, 79 patients with FS were identified; the percentage of FS cases out of all cases (FS/(GBS+FS)) was 26%. The frequency of GBS patients with the electrodiagnosis of AMAN by single nerve conduction studies is approximately 20% in Japan, and the AMAN pattern is closely associated with anti-GM1 antibodies. The incidence of FS appears to be much higher in Japan than in Western countries. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  7. Parkinson's disease severity and motor subtype influence physical capacity components

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcelo Pinto Pereira

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available The severity of Parkinson's disease (PD and PD's motor subtypes influence the components of physical capacity. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of both PD severity and motor subtype in the performance of these components. Thirty-six PD patients were assigned into four groups: Tremor (TD initial and TD mild, akinetic-rigid (AR initial, and AR mild. Patients' strength, balance, coordination, mobility and aerobic capacity were evaluated and groups were compared using a two-way ANOVA (severity and subtype as factors. AR presents a poorer performance than TD in almost all tests. Also this performance was worsened with the advance of the disease in AR, contrary to TD. We conclude that AR and TD subgroups are different about their performance on physical capacity components, moreover, this performance worsens with the advance of the disease of the AR group, but not for TD.

  8. Fixation Characteristics of Severe Amblyopia Subtypes: Which One is Worse?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koylu, Mehmet Talay; Ozge, Gokhan; Kucukevcilioglu, Murat; Mutlu, Fatih Mehmet; Ceylan, Osman Melih; Akıncıoglu, Dorukcan; Ayyıldız, Onder

    2017-01-01

    To determine differences in macular sensitivity and fixation patterns in different subtypes of severe amblyopia. This case-control study enrolled a total of 73 male adults, including 18 with pure strabismic severe amblyopia, 19 with pure anisometropic severe amblyopia, 18 with mixed (strabismic plus anizometropic) severe amblyopia, and 18 healthy controls. MP-1 microperimetry was used to evaluate macular sensitivity, location of fixation, and stability of fixation. Mean macular sensitivity, stability of fixation, and location of fixation were significantly worse in all amblyopia subtypes when compared with healthy controls. Intergroup comparisons between amblyopia subtypes revealed that mean macular sensitivity, stability of fixation, and location of fixation were significantly worse in pure strabismic and mixed amblyopic eyes when compared with pure anisometropic amblyopic eyes. Strabismus seems to be a worse prognostic factor in severe amblyopia than anisometropia in terms of fixation characteristics and retinal sensitivity.

  9. From Caspian to Turkey: The Southern European Gas Corridor's Issues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rebiere, Noemie

    2014-01-01

    With the growth of global energy demand and the raise of conflicts for the control of energy resources and supply routes, energy security is becoming a major issue for the European Union, but also for suppliers and transit countries. The recent crisis in Ukraine highlights the role of gas as a strategic weapon in the Russian external policy and reinforces the need of the European countries to diversify energy sources and supply routes. The southern European gas corridor, which carries hydrocarbons of the Caspian region to Europe through Turkey, is as a key project of E.U. and U.S. strategy to ensure the energy security of Europe. However, with the current instability in the Middle East and the difficulty to set-up an agreement in the Iranian nuclear negotiations, the issue of the ability of the southern gas corridor to be supplied with enough amount of resources remains hypothetical. In this respect, this approach analyses the deep interactions between energy issues, territorial security, political aims and economic interests

  10. Empirically derived personality subtyping for predicting clinical symptoms and treatment response in bulimia nervosa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haynos, Ann F; Pearson, Carolyn M; Utzinger, Linsey M; Wonderlich, Stephen A; Crosby, Ross D; Mitchell, James E; Crow, Scott J; Peterson, Carol B

    2017-05-01

    Evidence suggests that eating disorder subtypes reflecting under-controlled, over-controlled, and low psychopathology personality traits constitute reliable phenotypes that differentiate treatment response. This study is the first to use statistical analyses to identify these subtypes within treatment-seeking individuals with bulimia nervosa (BN) and to use these statistically derived clusters to predict clinical outcomes. Using variables from the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Basic Questionnaire, K-means cluster analyses identified under-controlled, over-controlled, and low psychopathology subtypes within BN patients (n = 80) enrolled in a treatment trial. Generalized linear models examined the impact of personality subtypes on Eating Disorder Examination global score, binge eating frequency, and purging frequency cross-sectionally at baseline and longitudinally at end of treatment (EOT) and follow-up. In the longitudinal models, secondary analyses were conducted to examine personality subtype as a potential moderator of response to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Enhanced (CBT-E) or Integrative Cognitive-Affective Therapy for BN (ICAT-BN). There were no baseline clinical differences between groups. In the longitudinal models, personality subtype predicted binge eating (p = 0.03) and purging (p = 0.01) frequency at EOT and binge eating frequency at follow-up (p = 0.045). The over-controlled group demonstrated the best outcomes on these variables. In secondary analyses, there was a treatment by subtype interaction for purging at follow-up (p = 0.04), which indicated a superiority of CBT-E over ICAT-BN for reducing purging among the over-controlled group. Empirically derived personality subtyping appears to be a valid classification system with potential to guide eating disorder treatment decisions. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.(Int J Eat Disord 2017; 50:506-514). © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  11. Transcriptome classification reveals molecular subtypes in psoriasis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ainali Chrysanthi

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Psoriasis is an immune-mediated disease characterised by chronically elevated pro-inflammatory cytokine levels, leading to aberrant keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation. Although certain clinical phenotypes, such as plaque psoriasis, are well defined, it is currently unclear whether there are molecular subtypes that might impact on prognosis or treatment outcomes. Results We present a pipeline for patient stratification through a comprehensive analysis of gene expression in paired lesional and non-lesional psoriatic tissue samples, compared with controls, to establish differences in RNA expression patterns across all tissue types. Ensembles of decision tree predictors were employed to cluster psoriatic samples on the basis of gene expression patterns and reveal gene expression signatures that best discriminate molecular disease subtypes. This multi-stage procedure was applied to several published psoriasis studies and a comparison of gene expression patterns across datasets was performed. Conclusion Overall, classification of psoriasis gene expression patterns revealed distinct molecular sub-groups within the clinical phenotype of plaque psoriasis. Enrichment for TGFb and ErbB signaling pathways, noted in one of the two psoriasis subgroups, suggested that this group may be more amenable to therapies targeting these pathways. Our study highlights the potential biological relevance of using ensemble decision tree predictors to determine molecular disease subtypes, in what may initially appear to be a homogenous clinical group. The R code used in this paper is available upon request.

  12. Characteristics and phenomenology of hair-pulling: an exploration of subtypes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    du Toit, P L; van Kradenburg, J; Niehaus, D J; Stein, D J

    2001-01-01

    This study was designed to detail the demographic and phenomenological features of adult chronic hair-pullers. Key possible subtypes were identified a priori. On the basis of the phenomenological data, differences between the following possible subtypes were investigated: hair-pullers with and without DSM-IV trichotillomania (TTM), oral habits, automatic versus focused hair-pulling, positive versus negative affective cues prior to hair-pulling, comorbid self-injurious habits, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and tics. Forty-seven participants were drawn from an outpatient population of chronic adult hair-pullers. A structured interview that focused on hair-pulling and associated behaviors was administered to participants. Six of the participants (12.8%) were male, and 41 (87.7%) were female. A large number of hair-pullers (63.8%) had comorbid self-injurious habits. A greater proportion of male hair-pullers had comorbid tics when compared with females. Certain subgroups of chronic hair-pullers (e.g., hairpullers with or without automatic/focused hair-pulling, comorbid self-injurious habits, and oral habits) were found to differ on a number of phenomenological and hair-pulling characteristics. However, differences between other possible subgroups (e.g., hair-pullers with or without DSM-IV TTM, comorbid OCD, and negative versus positive affective cues) may reflect greater severity in hair-pulling symptomatology rather than distinct subtypes of chronic hair-pulling. The findings of the present study also indicated that chronic hair-pulling (even in cases where DSM-IV criteria for TTM were not met) has a significant impact on quality of life. The present study provided limited support for the existence of possible subtypes of chronic hair-pulling. Recommendations are made for further investigations into such subtypes. Copyright 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company

  13. What to do with the European shale gas?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Geoffron, Patrice

    2013-01-01

    After having briefly recalled the European objectives in terms of reduction of greenhouse emissions, this article discusses the trends and perspectives for energy supply with the emergence of the possibility of exploitation of shale gases. It notices and comments the different answers given by European countries regarding the compatibility of shale gas with energy transition, and the possible counterbalancing of imports from South Mediterranean countries, from the Middle East and from Russia. It evokes studies performed in the USA on the impact of the exploitation and production of shale gas and oil on prices, on job creation, and on the oil and chemical industry. It notices that, despite the here-above mentioned objectives, coal is still a leading energy source in Europe, notably in Germany. The article comments the possible impact of non conventional hydrocarbons on supply security for Europe, on the attitude of the USA, and on the competition with Asia for the access to energy sources

  14. "Eurotrain for Training." Proceedings of a European Congress on Continuing Education and Training (4th, Berlin, Germany; Warsaw, Poland; Prague, Czechoslovakia; Budapest, Hungary; Vienna, Austria, October 5-9, 1992).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wisser, Ulrike, Ed.; Grootings, Peter, Ed.

    1992-01-01

    A "travelling" congress was conducted in five European cities (Berlin, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, and Vienna) to promote a mutual exchange of views between east and west. The participants stressed the growing European Community interest in current examples of cooperation with neighbors in central and eastern Europe. In addition to…

  15. Subtype-Specific Tumor-Associated Fibroblasts Contribute to the Pathogenesis of Uterine Leiomyoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Xin; Serna, Vanida A; Thomas, Justin; Qiang, Wenan; Blumenfeld, Michael L; Kurita, Takeshi

    2017-12-15

    Recent genomic studies have identified subtypes of uterine leiomyoma (LM) with distinctive genetic alterations. Here, we report the elucidation of the biological characteristics of the two most prevalent uterine leiomyoma subtypes, MED12-mutant (MED12-LM) and HMGA2-overexpressing (HMGA2-LM) uterine leiomyomas. Because each tumor carries only one genetic alteration, both subtypes are considered to be monoclonal. Approximately 90% of cells in HMGA2-uterine leiomyoma were smooth muscle cells (SMC) with HMGA2 overexpression. In contrast, MED12-LM consisted of similar numbers of SMC and non-SMC, which were mostly tumor-associated fibroblasts (TAF). Paradoxically, TAF carried no mutations in MED12, suggesting an interaction between SMC and TAF to coordinate their growth. The higher amount of extracellular matrix in MED12-LM than HMGA2-LM was partially due to the high concentration of collagen-producing TAF. SMC growth in a xenograft assay was driven by progesterone in both uterine leiomyoma subtypes. In contrast, TAF in MED12-LM proliferated in response to estradiol, whereas progesterone had no effect. The high concentration of estrogen-responsive TAF in MED12-LM explains the inconsistent discoveries between in vivo and in vitro studies on the mitogenic effect of estrogen and raises questions regarding the accuracy of previous studies utilizing MED12-LM cell culture. In addition, the differential effects of estradiol and progesterone on these uterine leiomyoma subtypes emphasize the importance of subtypes and genotypes in designing nonsurgical therapeutic strategies for uterine leiomyoma. Cancer Res; 77(24); 6891-901. ©2017 AACR . ©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.

  16. Genetic Analysis of East Asian Grape Cultivars Suggests Hybridization with Wild Vitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goto-Yamamoto, Nami; Sawler, Jason; Myles, Sean

    2015-01-01

    Koshu is a grape cultivar native to Japan and is one of the country's most important cultivars for wine making. Koshu and other oriental grape cultivars are widely believed to belong to the European domesticated grape species Vitis vinifera. To verify the domesticated origin of Koshu and four other cultivars widely grown in China and Japan, we genotyped 48 ancestry informative single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and estimated wild and domesticated ancestry proportions. Our principal components analysis (PCA) based ancestry estimation revealed that Koshu is 70% V. vinifera, and that the remaining 30% of its ancestry is most likely derived from wild East Asian Vitis species. Partial sequencing of chloroplast DNA suggests that Koshu's maternal line is derived from the Chinese wild species V. davidii or a closely related species. Our results suggest that many traditional East Asian grape cultivars such as Koshu were generated from hybridization events with wild grape species.

  17. Automatic morphological subtyping reveals new roles of caspases in mitochondrial dynamics.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jyh-Ying Peng

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Morphological dynamics of mitochondria is associated with key cellular processes related to aging and neuronal degenerative diseases, but the lack of standard quantification of mitochondrial morphology impedes systematic investigation. This paper presents an automated system for the quantification and classification of mitochondrial morphology. We discovered six morphological subtypes of mitochondria for objective quantification of mitochondrial morphology. These six subtypes are small globules, swollen globules, straight tubules, twisted tubules, branched tubules and loops. The subtyping was derived by applying consensus clustering to a huge collection of more than 200 thousand mitochondrial images extracted from 1422 micrographs of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO cells treated with different drugs, and was validated by evidence of functional similarity reported in the literature. Quantitative statistics of subtype compositions in cells is useful for correlating drug response and mitochondrial dynamics. Combining the quantitative results with our biochemical studies about the effects of squamocin on CHO cells reveals new roles of Caspases in the regulatory mechanisms of mitochondrial dynamics. This system is not only of value to the mitochondrial field, but also applicable to the investigation of other subcellular organelle morphology.

  18. Major depressive disorder subtypes to predict long-term course

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Loo, Hanna M.; Cai, Tianxi; Gruber, Michael J.; Li, Junlong; de Jonge, Peter; Petukhova, Maria; Rose, Sherri; Sampson, Nancy A.; Schoevers, Robert A.; Wardenaar, Klaas J.; Wilcox, Marsha A.; Al-Hamzawi, Ali Obaid; Andrade, Laura Helena; Bromet, Evelyn J.; Bunting, Brendan; Fayyad, John; Florescu, Silvia E.; Gureje, Oye; Hu, Chiyi; Huang, Yueqin; Levinson, Daphna; Medina-Mora, Maria Elena; Nakane, Yoshibumi; Posada-Villa, Jose; Scott, Kate M.; Xavier, Miguel; Zarkov, Zahari; Kessler, Ronald C.

    2016-01-01

    Background Variation in course of major depressive disorder (MDD) is not strongly predicted by existing subtype distinctions. A new subtyping approach is considered here. Methods Two data mining techniques, ensemble recursive partitioning and Lasso generalized linear models (GLMs) followed by k-means cluster analysis, are used to search for subtypes based on index episode symptoms predicting subsequent MDD course in the World Mental Health (WMH) Surveys. The WMH surveys are community surveys in 16 countries. Lifetime DSM-IV MDD was reported by 8,261 respondents. Retrospectively reported outcomes included measures of persistence (number of years with an episode; number of with an episode lasting most of the year) and severity (hospitalization for MDD; disability due to MDD). Results Recursive partitioning found significant clusters defined by the conjunctions of early onset, suicidality, and anxiety (irritability, panic, nervousness-worry-anxiety) during the index episode. GLMs found additional associations involving a number of individual symptoms. Predicted values of the four outcomes were strongly correlated. Cluster analysis of these predicted values found three clusters having consistently high, intermediate, or low predicted scores across all outcomes. The high-risk cluster (30.0% of respondents) accounted for 52.9-69.7% of high persistence and severity and was most strongly predicted by index episode severe dysphoria, suicidality, anxiety, and early onset. A total symptom count, in comparison, was not a significant predictor. Conclusions Despite being based on retrospective reports, results suggest that useful MDD subtyping distinctions can be made using data mining methods. Further studies are needed to test and expand these results with prospective data. PMID:24425049

  19. Go East: Differences between Poland and Western European countries in the motivational structures underlying seafood consumption

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Scholderer, Joachim; Brunsø, Karen; Olsen, Svein Ottar

    in the Netherlands. Despite the variation between Western European countries, a common finding was a much higher consistency between intentions and actual consumption behavior as compared to Poland. The differences are discussed in terms of their implications for supply chain management, product supply...... a deeper understanding of the preferences, motives and usage patterns of Polish seafood consumers. The aim of the study was to fill this gap. Representative consumer samples from Poland (N = 1000) and four Western European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain; total N = 3800) were surveyed...

  20. High-resolution molecular epidemiology and evolutionary history of HIV-1 subtypes in Albania.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marco Salemi

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available HIV-1 epidemic in Western Europe is largely due to subtype B. Little is known about the HIV-1 in Eastern Europe, but a few studies have shown that non-B subtypes are quite common. In Albania, where a recent study estimated a ten-fold increase of AIDS incidence during the last six years, subtype A and B account for 90% of the know infections.We investigated the demographic history of HIV-1 subtype A and B in Albania by using a statistical framework based on coalescent theory and phylogeography. High-resolution phylogenetic and molecular clock analysis showed a limited introduction to the Balkan country of subtype A during the late 1980s followed by an epidemic outburst in the early 1990 s. In contrast, subtype B was apparently introduced multiple times between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s. Both subtypes are growing exponentially, although the HIV-1A epidemic displays a faster growth rate, and a significantly higher basic reproductive number R(0. HIV-1A gene flow occurs primarily from the capital Tirane, in the center of the country, to the periphery, while HIV-1B flow is characterized by a balanced exchange between center and periphery. Finally, we calculated that the actual number of infections in Albania is at least two orders of magnitude higher than previously thought.Our analysis demonstrates the power of recently developed computational tools to investigate molecular epidemiology of pathogens, and emphasize the complex factors involved in the establishment of HIV-1 epidemics. We suggest that a significant correlation exists between HIV-1 exponential spread and the socio-political changes occurred during the Balkan wars. The fast growth of a relatively new non-B epidemic in the Balkans may have significant consequences for the evolution of HIV-1 epidemiology in neighboring countries in Eastern and Western Europe.

  1. West and East

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander Rappaport

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The topic “West-East” has a clear cultural and historical meaning. Orthodox temples face East. The way from West to East and from East to West is tens of thousands of kilometers long and has a special meaning. It differs from the way from North to South: the horizontal axes connect regions, while the vertical axis (Earth-Sky connects the worlds. The expansion of Eurasian tribes occurred along the East-West axis – the world horizontal way. Today the cultural memory of people in the East and West finds itself in the theatre of new dramas of existence and new forces. With the advances in electronic technologies, the world movements seem to have sunk in the depth of the chthonian past to come up anew to the surface of fantastic speeds and momentary connections. A new type of planetary landscape-space relation appears, giving no place for West and East.

  2. Disease dynamics and bird migration--linking mallards Anas platyrhynchos and subtype diversity of the influenza A virus in time and space.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gunnar Gunnarsson

    Full Text Available The mallard Anas platyrhynchos is a reservoir species for influenza A virus in the northern hemisphere, with particularly high prevalence rates prior to as well as during its prolonged autumn migration. It has been proposed that the virus is brought from the breeding grounds and transmitted to conspecifics during subsequent staging during migration, and so a better understanding of the natal origin of staging ducks is vital to deciphering the dynamics of viral movement pathways. Ottenby is an important stopover site in southeast Sweden almost halfway downstream in the major Northwest European flyway, and is used by millions of waterfowl each year. Here, mallards were captured and sampled for influenza A virus infection, and positive samples were subtyped in order to study possible links to the natal area, which were determined by a novel approach combining banding recovery data and isotopic measurements (δ(2H of feathers grown on breeding grounds. Geographic assignments showed that the core natal areas of studied mallards were in Estonia, southern and central Finland, and northwestern Russia. This study demonstrates a clear temporal succession of latitudes of natal origin during the course of autumn migration. We also demonstrate a corresponding and concomitant shift in virus subtypes. Acknowledging that these two different patterns were based in part upon different data, a likely interpretation worth further testing is that the early arriving birds with more proximate origins have different influenza A subtypes than the more distantly originating late autumn birds. If true, this knowledge would allow novel insight into the origins and transmission of the influenza A virus among migratory hosts previously unavailable through conventional approaches.

  3. Phenotype, Genotype, and Drug Resistance in Subtype C HIV-1 Infection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Derache, Anne; Wallis, Carole L; Vardhanabhuti, Saran; Bartlett, John; Kumarasamy, Nagalingeswaran; Katzenstein, David

    2016-01-15

    Virologic failure in subtype C is characterized by high resistance to first-line antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, including efavirenz, nevirapine, and lamivudine, with nucleoside resistance including type 2 thymidine analog mutations, K65R, a T69del, and M184V. However, genotypic algorithms predicting resistance are mainly based on subtype B viruses and may under- or overestimate drug resistance in non-B subtypes. To explore potential treatment strategies after first-line failure, we compared genotypic and phenotypic susceptibility of subtype C human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) following first-line ARV failure. AIDS Clinical Trials Group 5230 evaluated patients failing an initial nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) regimen in Africa and Asia, comparing the genotypic drug resistance and phenotypic profile from the PhenoSense (Monogram). Site-directed mutagenesis studies of K65R and T69del assessed the phenotypic impact of these mutations. Genotypic algorithms overestimated resistance to etravirine and rilpivirine, misclassifying 28% and 32%, respectively. Despite K65R with the T69del in 9 samples, tenofovir retained activity in >60%. Reversion of the K65R increased susceptibility to tenofovir and other nucleosides, while reversion of the T69del showed increased resistance to zidovudine, with little impact on other NRTI. Although genotype and phenotype were largely concordant for first-line drugs, estimates of genotypic resistance to etravirine and rilpivirine may misclassify subtype C isolates compared to phenotype. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

  4. A comparison of the vending environment among three rural subtypes of secondary schools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kehm, Rebecca; Davey, Cynthia S; Kubik, Martha Y; Nanney, Marilyn S

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to further explore the rural school food environment. This study assessed trends in prevalence of vending machines and vending items within and between Minnesota schools located in 3 rural subtypes: town/rural fringe, town/rural distant, and remote rural. Generalized estimating equation models were employed to analyze data from the 2006 through 2012 School Health Profiles Principal's Surveys (Profiles). All 3 rural subtypes had a statistically significant decrease in the prevalence of low nutrient energy dense (LNED) vending items between 2006 and 2012, with the exception of sports drinks. However, different vending practices were observed between rural subtypes, with town/rural fringe schools providing more LNED vending options and experiencing less positive change over time compared to town/rural distant and remote rural schools. Differences in vending machine practices emerge when rural schools are subtyped.

  5. Assessing DSM-5 latent subtypes of acute stress disorder dissociative or intrusive?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armour, Cherie; Hansen, Maj

    2015-02-28

    Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) was first included in the DSM-IV in 1994. It was proposed to account for traumatic responding in the early post trauma phase and to act as an identifier for later Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Unlike PTSD it included a number of dissociative indicators. The revised DSM-5 PTSD criterion included a dissociative-PTSD subtype. The current study assessed if a dissociative-ASD subtype may be present for DSM-5 ASD. Moreover, we assessed if a number of risk factors resulted in an increased probability of membership in symptomatic compared to a baseline ASD profile. We used data from 450 bank robbery victims. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to uncover latent profiles of ASD. Multinomial logistic regression was used to determine if female gender, age, social support, peritraumatic panic, somatization, and number of trauma exposures increased or decreased the probability of profile membership. Four latent profiles were uncovered and included an intrusion rather than dissociative subtype. Increased age and social support decreased the probability of individuals being grouped into the intrusion subtype whereas increased peritraumatic panic and somatization increased the probability of individuals being grouped into the intrusion subtype. Findings are discussed in regard to the ICD-11 and the DSM-5. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Characterization of a novel influenza A virus hemagglutinin subtype (H16) obtained from black-headed gulls.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    R.A.M. Fouchier (Ron); V.J. Munster (Vincent); A. Wallensten (Anders); T.M. Bestebroer (Theo); S. Herfst (Sander); D.J. Smith (Derek James); G.F. Rimmelzwaan (Guus); B. Olsen (Björn); A.D.M.E. Osterhaus (Albert)

    2005-01-01

    textabstractIn wild aquatic birds and poultry around the world, influenza A viruses carrying 15 antigenic subtypes of hemagglutinin (HA) and 9 antigenic subtypes of neuraminidase (NA) have been described. Here we describe a previously unidentified antigenic subtype of HA (H16), detected in viruses

  7. Organizational choices for international cooperation: East-West European cooperation on regional environmental problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Connolly, Barbara Mary

    This dissertation applies theoretical insights from transaction cost economics to explain and predict the organizational form of cooperative agreements between Eastern and Western Europe in areas of regional environmental and political concern. It examines five contracting problems related to nuclear power safety and acid rain, and describes the history of international negotiations to manage these problems. It argues that the level of interdependence in a given issue area, or costly effects experienced in one state due to activities and decisions of other states, along with the level of transactional vulnerability, or sunk costs invested in support of a particular contractual relationship among these states, are key determinants of the governance structures states choose to facilitate cooperation in that issue area. Empirically, the dissertation traces the evolution of three sets of institutional arrangements related to nuclear safety: governance for western nuclear safety assistance to Eastern Europe, negotiations of a global convention on safety standards for nuclear power plants, and contracts among utilities and multilateral banks to build new nuclear power plants in Eastern Europe. Next it studies European acid rain, chronicling the history of international acid rain controls within the UNECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP) and the European Union, and finally examining institutional arrangements for burden-sharing to promote European bargains on emissions reduction, including bilateral aid transfers and proposals for multilateral burden sharing. Political actors have a wide range of choice among institutional arrangements to facilitate international cooperation, from simple market-type exchanges, to arbitration-type regimes that provide information and enhance reputation effects, to self-enforcing agreements such as issue-linkage, to supranational governance. The governance structures states devise to manage their cooperative

  8. Impact of breast cancer subtypes and patterns of metastasis on outcome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kast, Karin; Link, Theresa; Friedrich, Katrin; Petzold, Andrea; Niedostatek, Antje; Schoffer, Olaf; Werner, Carmen; Klug, Stefanie J; Werner, Andreas; Gatzweiler, Axel; Richter, Barbara; Baretton, Gustavo; Wimberger, Pauline

    2015-04-01

    Clinical outcome of patients with stage IV breast cancer is dependent on tumor biology, extent, and localization of metastases. Routine imaging diagnostics for distant metastasis is not recommended by the national guidelines for breast cancer follow-up. In this study, we evaluated different patterns of metastases of cancer subtypes in order to generate hypotheses on individualization of follow-up after breast cancer in the adjuvant setting. Patients of the Regional Breast Cancer Center Dresden diagnosed within the years 2006-2011 were classified into the five intrinsic subtypes luminal A (ER+, Her2-, G1/2), luminal B/Her2 negative (ER+, Her2-, G3), triple positive (ER+, PR+, Her2+), Her2-enriched (ER-, Her2+), and triple negative (ER-, PR-, Her2-) and with a median follow-up of 45 months. Tumor stage at time of first diagnosis of breast cancer as well as time and site of metastasis at first diagnosis of distant metastatic disease was analyzed. Tumor specimen of 2284 female patients with primary breast cancer was classified into five subtypes. Distant recurrence-free survival at 3 years was most unfavorable in Her2-enriched (66.8 %), triple negative (75.9 %), and triple-positive breast cancer (81.7 %). The same subtypes most frequently presented with visceral metastases only at first presentation: Her2-enriched 46.9 %, triple negative 45.5 %, and triple-positive breast cancer 37.5 %. Longest median survival of 2.3 years was seen in luminal A and in Her2-enriched metastatic disease, respectively. Median survival was significantly better in the luminal A, Her2-enriched, and triple-positive subtype compared to triple-negative breast cancer (p < 0.005). Differences in time to metastatic disease, first localization of metastases, and overall survival after diagnosis of metastatic disease were shown. Considering new targeted therapies and the option of surgery of oligometastases, screening for visceral metastases might be reasonable after diagnosis of Her2-positive

  9. Sports participation, physical activity, and health in the European regions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lera-López, Fernando; Marco, Rocio

    2018-08-01

    In a context of stagnation of the level of health-enhancing physical activity in Europe, this study examines the geographical stratification of sports participation and physical activity (PA) at the regional level in 28 European countries. While previous research has focused on the national approach, this study considers the regional level across 208 European regions. Individual survey data from the Eurobarometer 80.2 is combined with a regional-level approach to the 208 regions to quantify sports participation and PA at the regional level. The results show important differences and a geographical stratification of sports participation and PA among the European regions, albeit following different patterns. In particular, a north-south gap is identified in terms of PA rates and an east-west gap is detected in terms of sports participation levels. Applying the cluster technique, a taxonomy of four different European regions is developed considering both types of indicators. Finally, the existence of sports spatial spillovers among regions is verified, obtaining a positive autocorrelation among neighbouring regions for being involved in PA and sporting activities. The results may have significant implications in terms of policy measures to improve health through PA and sports participation at the regional level in Europe.

  10. Does Institutional Trust in East Central Europe Differ from Western Europe?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zsolt Boda

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Compared to Western European countries, the new democracies of East Central Europe (ECE demonstrate substantially lower levels of institutional trust. Some authors consider this phenomenon as a consequence of the transition process and raise concerns about the public approval and legitimacy of ECE political systems and institutions. Based on the datasets of the European Social Survey (ESS, in this paper we aim to address this issue by shedding light on the possible differences between old and new European democracies regarding the origins and patterns of institutional trust. We especially focus on the micro-level foundations of institutional trust and through a quantitative analysis of the 2010 ESS dataset we find that, overall, similarly to Western Europe, institutional trust in ECE is positively associated with success in social and economic life. We also find that relative to westerners, ECE citizens demonstrate comparable degrees of “materialistic trust” as income levels and trust in institutions are similarly associated with each other across these countries even after controlling for several socio-economic characteristics. In addition, the citizens of new European democracies seem to be equally ready to formulate separate evaluative attitudes towards specific institutions. Our findings suggest that in order to explain the persistently low levels of trust in ECE a greater emphasis should be devoted to how people perceive institutional performance when they formulate their trust judgements towards specific institutions.

  11. Objectives and methodology of Romanian SEPHAR II Survey. Project for comparing the prevalence and control of cardiovascular risk factors in two East-European countries: Romania and Poland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dorobantu, Maria; Tautu, Oana-Florentina; Darabont, Roxana; Ghiorghe, Silviu; Badila, Elisabeta; Dana, Minca; Dobreanu, Minodora; Baila, Ilarie; Rutkowski, Marcin; Zdrojewski, Tomasz

    2015-08-12

    Comparing results of representative surveys conducted in different East-European countries could contribute to a better understanding and management of cardiovascular risk factors, offering grounds for the development of health policies addressing the special needs of this high cardiovascular risk region of Europe. The aim of this paper was to describe the methodology on which the comparison between the Romanian survey SEPHAR II and the Polish survey NATPOL 2011 results is based. SEPHAR II, like NATPOL 2011, is a cross-sectional survey conducted on a representative sample of the adult Romanian population (18 to 80 years) and encompasses two visits with the following components: completing the study questionnaire, blood pressure and anthropometric measurements, and collection of blood and urine samples. From a total of 2223 subjects found at 2860 visited addresses, 2044 subjects gave written consent but only 1975 subjects had eligible data for the analysis, accounting for a response rate of 69.06%. Additionally we excluded 11 subjects who were 80 years of age (NATPOL 2011 included adult subjects up to 79 years). Therefore, the sample size included in the statistical analysis is 1964. It has similar age groups and gender structure as the Romanian population aged 18-79 years from the last census available at the moment of conducting the survey (weight adjustments for epidemiological analyses range from 0.48 to 8.7). Sharing many similarities, the results of SEPHAR II and NATPOL 2011 surveys can be compared by a proper statistical method offering crucial information regarding cardiovascular risk factors in a high-cardiovascular risk European region.

  12. History of the idea of a European electric power system. project, advancement, continuation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lagendijk, Vincent

    2008-01-01

    Creating a European electrical network is an idea originating from the inter-war years and that was to be realized only in 1995. By replacing the history of this idea within its historic dimension, this article breaks with the determinist visions. The actor's play and more particularly the international institutions, can explain that the European dimension, even though continually asserted, has only been designed as the growth of the regional networks. Additionally, in the context of cold war, the projects that associate the East to the West had to overcome several obstacles. Parties were brought together many times, but only the fall of the Iron Curtain has enabled a true interconnection between the two halves of Europe

  13. Do COPD subtypes really exist? COPD heterogeneity and clustering in 10 independent cohorts

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Castaldi, Peter J; Benet, Marta; Petersen, Hans; Rafaels, Nicholas; Finigan, James; Paoletti, Matteo; Marike Boezen, H; Vonk, Judith M; Bowler, Russell; Pistolesi, Massimo; Puhan, Milo A; Anto, Josep; Wauters, Els; Lambrechts, Diether; Janssens, Wim; Bigazzi, Francesca; Camiciottoli, Gianna; Cho, Michael H; Hersh, Craig P; Barnes, Kathleen; Rennard, Stephen; Boorgula, Meher Preethi; Dy, Jennifer; Hansel, Nadia N; Crapo, James D; Tesfaigzi, Yohannes; Agusti, Alvar; Silverman, Edwin K; Garcia-Aymerich, Judith

    Background COPD is a heterogeneous disease, but there is little consensus on specific definitions for COPD subtypes. Unsupervised clustering offers the promise of 'unbiased' data-driven assessment of COPD heterogeneity. Multiple groups have identified COPD subtypes using cluster analysis, but there

  14. Magnetic resonance imaging study of corpus callosum abnormalities in patients with different subtypes of schizophrenia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ebru Unlu

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Background. Reductions in the size of the corpus callosum (CC have been described for schizophrenia patients, but little is known about the possible regional differences in schizophrenia subtypes (paranoid, disorganised, undifferentiated, residual.  Methods. We recruited 58 chronically schizophrenic patients with different subtypes, and 31 age-and-gender matched healthy controls. The callosum was extracted from a midsagittal slice from T1 weighted magnetic resonance images, and areas of the total CC, its five subregions, CC length and total brain volume were compared between schizophrenia subtypes and controls. Five subregions were approximately matched to fibre pathways from cortical regions.  Results. Schizophrenia patients had reduced CC total area and length when compared with controls. Disorganised and undifferentiated schizophrenics had a smaller prefrontal area, while there was no significant difference for the paranoid and residual groups. The premotor/supplementary motor area was smaller in all schizophrenia subtypes. The motor area was smaller only in the disorganised group. A smaller sensory area was found in all subtypes except the residual group. Parietal, temporal and occipital areas were smaller in the paranoid and undifferentiated groups. Total brain volume was smaller in all schizophrenia subtypes compared with controls, but did not reach statistical significance.  Conclusion. These findings suggest that the heterogeneity of symptoms may lead to the different CC morphological characteristics in schizophrenia subtypes.

  15. Hepatitis C virus (HCV genotype 1 subtype identification in new HCV drug development and future clinical practice.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stéphane Chevaliez

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: With the development of new specific inhibitors of hepatitis C virus (HCV enzymes and functions that may yield different antiviral responses and resistance profiles according to the HCV subtype, correct HCV genotype 1 subtype identification is mandatory in clinical trials for stratification and interpretation purposes and will likely become necessary in future clinical practice. The goal of this study was to identify the appropriate molecular tool(s for accurate HCV genotype 1 subtype determination. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A large cohort of 500 treatment-naïve patients eligible for HCV drug trials and infected with either subtype 1a or 1b was studied. Methods based on the sole analysis of the 5' non-coding region (5'NCR by sequence analysis or reverse hybridization failed to correctly identify HCV subtype 1a in 22.8%-29.5% of cases, and HCV subtype 1b in 9.5%-8.7% of cases. Natural polymorphisms at positions 107, 204 and/or 243 were responsible for mis-subtyping with these methods. A real-time PCR method using genotype- and subtype-specific primers and probes located in both the 5'NCR and the NS5B-coding region failed to correctly identify HCV genotype 1 subtype in approximately 10% of cases. The second-generation line probe assay, a reverse hybridization assay that uses probes targeting both the 5'NCR and core-coding region, correctly identified HCV subtypes 1a and 1b in more than 99% of cases. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In the context of new HCV drug development, HCV genotyping methods based on the exclusive analysis of the 5'NCR should be avoided. The second-generation line probe assay is currently the best commercial assay for determination of HCV genotype 1 subtypes 1a and 1b in clinical trials and practice.

  16. Subtyping can have a simple semantics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Balsters, H.; Fokkinga, M.M.

    1991-01-01

    Consider a first order typed language, with semantics $S$ for expressions and types. Adding subtyping means that a partial order $<$; on types is defined and that the typing rules are extended to the effect that expression $e$ has type $t$ whenever $e$ has type $s$ and $s

  17. Male Lineages in Brazil: Intercontinental Admixture and Stratification of the European Background

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geppert, Maria; Roewer, Lutz; Palha, Teresinha; Alvarez, Luis; Ribeiro-dos-Santos, Ândrea; Santos, Sidney

    2016-01-01

    The non-recombining nature of the Y chromosome and the well-established phylogeny of Y-specific Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (Y-SNPs) make them useful for defining haplogroups with high geographical specificity; therefore, they are more apt than the Y-STRs to detect population stratification in admixed populations from diverse continental origins. Different Y-SNP typing strategies have been described to address issues of population history and movements within geographic territories of interest. In this study, we investigated a set of 41 Y-SNPs in 1217 unrelated males from the five Brazilian geopolitical regions, aiming to disclose the genetic structure of male lineages in the country. A population comparison based on pairwise FST genetic distances did not reveal statistically significant differences in haplogroup frequency distributions among populations from the different regions. The genetic differences observed among regions were, however, consistent with the colonization history of the country. The sample from the Northern region presented the highest Native American ancestry (8.4%), whereas the more pronounced African contribution could be observed in the Northeastern population (15.1%). The Central-Western and Southern samples showed the higher European contributions (95.7% and 93.6%, respectively). The Southeastern region presented significant European (86.1%) and African (12.0%) contributions. The subtyping of the most frequent European lineage in Brazil (R1b1a-M269) allowed differences in the genetic European background of the five Brazilian regions to be investigated for the first time. PMID:27046235

  18. Class-related health inequalities are not larger in the East : A comparison of four European regions using the new European socioeconomic classification

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    T.A. Eikemo (Terje); A.E. Kunst (Anton); K. Judge; J.P. Mackenbach (Johan)

    2008-01-01

    textabstractBackground: The article investigates whether people in Eastern Europe have larger health inequalities than their counterparts in three West European regions (North, Central and the South). Methods: Data were obtained for 63 754 individuals in 23 countries from the first (2002) and

  19. Association of human herpesvirus 6 subtypes with symptomatic apical periodontitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernádi, Katinka; Csoma, Eszter; Adám, Balázs; Szalmás, Anita; Gyöngyösi, Eszter; Veress, György; Ildikó-Márton; Kónya, József

    2011-09-01

    The occurrence of human herpesvirus (HHV) 6 subtypes A and B in apical periodontitis was determined. The relationship of HHV-6 subtypes to other disease associated herpesviruses, i.e., Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human cytomegalovirus, was also investigated. Forty apical periodontitis samples (17 symptomatic and 23 asymptomatic) and 40 healthy pulp control samples were collected. Nested polymerase chain reaction was used to detect HHV-6 DNA. HHV-6 DNA was observed in significantly higher frequencies in apical periodontitis samples than in control samples (20% vs. 2.5%; P = .03). Further classification of apical lesions revealed that subtype B of HHV-6 was significantly associated with large-sized and symptomatic lesions (P apical lesions (77%) harbored ≥1 of the tested herpesviruses: EBV was the most frequent herpesvirus (72.5%) in apical periodontitis, followed by HHV-6 (20%). Our findings suggest that EBV and HHV-6B infections can be associated with symptomatic apical periodontitis. Copyright © 2011 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. GOVERNANCE OF SMART SPECIALISATION: EXPERIENCES OF FOUR EUROPEAN REGIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raluca SĂFTESCU

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available In the present article we compare four European regional development models in order to conclude on good practices on smart specialisation. The concept of smart specialisation (European Commission, 2008, Foray et al., 2009, S3 Platform, 2016 has been placed at the core of the European regional development strategies and it brought the focus on local endowments, international network orientation of the regions and their potential for excellence globally. That encouraged the regions’ governments to align their actions to the general consent and to adopt place-based policies which foster innovation. The analysis draws from four European regions, each with a different innovation performance, according to the Regional Innovation Scoreboard: South-East Ireland is an Innovation Follower, Castilla de la Mancha, Spain and Central Hungary, are moderate innovators, while Bucharest-Ilfov in Romania is a modest innovator. Their different level of development gives a broader perspective on the regional development policies and, therefore, it allows us to identify good practices of smart specialisation approach and their current position in the global value chain. The present article is not limited to the description of various models for smart specialisation governance, but it also proposes a series of recommendations to better capitalise regional strengths and to create regional governance environments that generates smarter public services supportive for entrepreneurship, wealth creation and growth.