Hot Stuff for One Year (HSOY) - A 583 million star proper motion catalogue derived from Gaia DR1 and PPMXL

Recently, the first installment of data from ESA's Gaia astrometric satellite mission (Gaia-DR1) was released, containing positions of more than 1 billion stars with unprecedented precision, as well as only proper motions and parallaxes, however only for a subset of 2 million objects. The second release, due in late 2017 or early 2018, will include those quantities for most objects. In order to provide a dataset that bridges the time gap between the Gaia-DR1 and Gaia-DR2 releases and partly remedies the lack of proper motions in the former, HSOY ("Hot Stuff for One Year") was created as a hybrid catalogue between Gaia-DR1 and ground-based astrometry, featuring proper motions (but no parallaxes) for a large fraction of the DR1 objects. While not attempting to compete with future Gaia releases in terms of data quality or number of objects, the aim of HSOY is to provide improved proper motions partly based on Gaia data, allowing some studies to be carried out just now or as pilot studies for later larger projects requiring higher-precision data. The HSOY catalogue was compiled using the positions taken from Gaia-DR1 combined with the input data from the PPMXL catalogue, employing the same weighted least-squares technique that was used to assemble the PPMXL catalogue itself. Results. This effort resulted in a four-parameter astrometric catalogue containing 583,000,000 objects, with Gaia-DR1 quality positions and proper motions with precisions from significantly less than 1 mas/yr to 5 mas/yr, depending on the object's brightness and location on the sky.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&A letter

QTL analysis of early stage heterosis for biomass in Arabidopsis

The main objective of this study was to identify genomic regions involved in biomass heterosis using QTL, generation means, and mode-of-inheritance classification analyses. In a modified North Carolina Design III we backcrossed 429 recombinant inbred line and 140 introgression line populations to the two parental accessions, C24 and Col-0, whose F1 hybrid exhibited 44% heterosis for biomass. Mid-parent heterosis in the RILs ranged from −31 to 99% for dry weight and from −58 to 143% for leaf area. We detected ten genomic positions involved in biomass heterosis at an early developmental stage, individually explaining between 2.4 and 15.7% of the phenotypic variation. While overdominant gene action was prevalent in heterotic QTL, our results suggest that a combination of dominance, overdominance and epistasis is involved in biomass heterosis in this Arabidopsis cross

Prospective International Multicenter Pelvic Floor Study:Short-Term Follow-Up and Clinical Findings for Combined Pectopexy and Native Tissue Repair

Efforts to use traditional native tissue strategies and reduce the use of meshes have been made in several countries. Combining native tissue repair with sufficient mesh applied apical repair might provide a means of effective treatment. The study group did perform and publish a randomized trial focusing on the combination of traditional native tissue repair with pectopexy or sacrocolpopexy and observed no severe or hitherto unknown risks for patients (Noé G.K. J Endourol 2015;29(2):210–215). The short-term follow-up of this international multicenter study carried out now is presented in this article. Material and Methods: Eleven clinics and 13 surgeons in four European counties participated in the trial. In order to ensure a standardized approach and obtain comparable data, all surgeons were obliged to follow a standardized approach for pectopexy, focusing on the area of fixation and the use of a prefabricated mesh (PVDF PRP 3 × 15 Dynamesh). The mesh was solely used for apical repair. All other clinically relevant defects were treated with native tissue repair. Colposuspension or TVT were used for the treatment of incontinence. Data were collected independently for 14 months on a secured server; 501 surgeries were registered and evaluated. Two hundred and sixty-four patients out of 479 (55.1%) returned for the physical examination and interview after 12–18 months. Main Outcome and Results: The mean duration of follow-up was 15 months. The overall success of apical repair was rated positively by 96.9%, and the satisfaction score was rated positively by 95.5%. A positive general recommendation was expressed by 95.1% of patients. Pelvic pressure was reduced in 95.2%, pain in 98.0%, and urgency in 86.0% of patients. No major complications, mesh exposure, or mesh complication occurred during the follow-up period. Conclusion: In clinical routine, pectopexy and concomitant surgery, mainly using native tissue approaches, resulted in high satisfaction rates and favorable clinical findings. The procedure may also be recommended for use by general urogynecological practitioners with experience in laparoscopy

FDG PET/CT to detect bone marrow involvement in the initial staging of patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma: results from the prospective, multicenter PETAL and OPTIMAL>60 trials

Purpose Fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography combined with computed tomography (FDG PET/CT) is the standard for staging aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Limited data from prospective studies is available to determine whether initial staging by FDG PET/CT provides treatment-relevant information of bone marrow (BM) involvement (BMI) and thus could spare BM biopsy (BMB). Methods Patients from PETAL (NCT00554164) and OPTIMAL>60 (NCT01478542) with aggressive B-cell NHL initially staged by FDG PET/CT and BMB were included in this pooled analysis. The reference standard to confirm BMI included a positive BMB and/or FDG PET/CT confirmed by targeted biopsy, complementary imaging (CT or magnetic resonance imaging), or concurrent disappearance of focal FDG-avid BM lesions with other lymphoma manifestations during immunochemotherapy. Results Among 930 patients, BMI was detected by BMB in 85 (prevalence 9%) and by FDG PET/CT in 185 (20%) cases, for a total of 221 cases (24%). All 185 PET-positive cases were true positive, and 709 of 745 PET-negative cases were true negative. For BMB and FDG PET/CT, sensitivity was 38% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 32–45%) and 84% (CI: 78–88%), specificity 100% (CI: 99–100%) and 100% (CI: 99–100%), positive predictive value 100% (CI: 96–100%) and 100% (CI: 98–100%), and negative predictive value 84% (CI: 81–86%) and 95% (CI: 93–97%), respectively. In all of the 36 PET-negative cases with confirmed BMI patients had other adverse factors according to IPI that precluded a change of standard treatment. Thus, the BMB would not have influenced the patient management. Conclusion In patients with aggressive B-cell NHL, routine BMB provides no critical staging information compared to FDG PET/CT and could therefore be omitted. Trial registration NCT00554164 and NCT0147854

USP9X stabilizes XIAP to regulate mitotic cell death and chemoresistance in aggressive B-cell lymphoma

The mitotic spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) maintains genome stability and marks an important target for antineoplastic therapies. However, it has remained unclear how cells execute cell fate decisions under conditions of SAC‐induced mitotic arrest. Here, we identify USP9X as the mitotic deubiquitinase of the X‐linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) and demonstrate that deubiquitylation and stabilization of XIAP by USP9X lead to increased resistance toward mitotic spindle poisons. We find that primary human aggressive B‐cell lymphoma samples exhibit high USP9X expression that correlate with XIAP overexpression. We show that high USP9X/XIAP expression is associated with shorter event‐free survival in patients treated with spindle poison‐containing chemotherapy. Accordingly, aggressive B‐cell lymphoma lines with USP9X and associated XIAP overexpression exhibit increased chemoresistance, reversed by specific inhibition of either USP9X or XIAP. Moreover, knockdown of USP9X or XIAP significantly delays lymphoma development and increases sensitivity to spindle poisons in a murine Eμ‐Myc lymphoma model. Together, we specify the USP9X–XIAP axis as a regulator of the mitotic cell fate decision and propose that USP9X and XIAP are potential prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets in aggressive B‐cell lymphoma

Tracking of Energy Performance Indicators in Residential Building Stocks – Different Approaches and Common Results - EPISCOPE Synthesis Report No. 4

A central task of IEE EPISCOPE project was to carry out energy balance calculations and scenario analysis for national, regional or local residential building stocks against the background of energy saving and climate protection targets. The EPISCOPE Synthesis Report No. 4 documents the individual approaches of collecting information for the investigated residential building stocks as a foundation for building stock models and scenario calculations. Issues related to the availability of data and data quality are discussed, and concepts for a continuous monitoring (a regular data collection) are presented as a basis for a future tracking of energy performance in the observed building stocks

Evaluating expert-based habitat suitability information of terrestrial mammals with GPS-tracking data

Aim Macroecological studies that require habitat suitability data for many species often derive this information from expert opinion. However, expert-based information is inherently subjective and thus prone to errors. The increasing availability of GPS tracking data offers opportunities to evaluate and supplement expert-based information with detailed empirical evidence. Here, we compared expert-based habitat suitability information from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with habitat suitability information derived from GPS-tracking data of 1,498 individuals from 49 mammal species. Location Worldwide. Time period 1998-2021. Major taxa studied Forty-nine terrestrial mammal species. Methods Using GPS data, we estimated two measures of habitat suitability for each individual animal: proportional habitat use (proportion of GPS locations within a habitat type), and selection ratio (habitat use relative to its availability). For each individual we then evaluated whether the GPS-based habitat suitability measures were in agreement with the IUCN data. To that end, we calculated the probability that the ranking of empirical habitat suitability measures was in agreement with IUCN's classification into suitable, marginal and unsuitable habitat types. Results IUCN habitat suitability data were in accordance with the GPS data (> 95% probability of agreement) for 33 out of 49 species based on proportional habitat use estimates and for 25 out of 49 species based on selection ratios. In addition, 37 and 34 species had a > 50% probability of agreement based on proportional habitat use and selection ratios, respectively. Main conclusions We show how GPS-tracking data can be used to evaluate IUCN habitat suitability data. Our findings indicate that for the majority of species included in this study, it is appropriate to use IUCN habitat suitability data in macroecological studies. Furthermore, we show that GPS-tracking data can be used to identify and prioritize species and habitat types for re-evaluation of IUCN habitat suitability data