Antihypertensive drug class and dyslipidemia: risk association among Chinese patients with uncomplicated hypertension

Factors associated with dyslipidemia in Chinese patients with uncomplicated hypertension were investigated in 1,139 patients newly prescribed a single antihypertensive drug in the public primary healthcare setting in Hong Kong, where their fasting lipid profiles were measured 4 to 16 weeks after the first prescription. Multivariate logistic regression showed that thiazide users were more likely (OR 3.67, 95% C.I. 1.13, 11.88, p=0.030) to have adverse (> 6.2mmol/l) total cholesterol (TC) compared with drugs acting on the renin angiotensin system (RAS), but the absolute difference in mean TC between thiazide users and all patients was small ( 0.14 mmol/l), while advanced age and male gender were also associated with some aspects of dyslipidemia. Clinicians should be aware of the increased risk of dyslipidemia in these groups, but the mild dyslipidemic profile associated with thiazides should not in itself deter its use as a possible first-line antihypertensive agent among Chinese patients

Finite temperature phase transition for disordered weakly interacting bosons in one dimension

It is commonly accepted that there are no phase transitions in one-dimensional (1D) systems at a finite temperature, because long-range correlations are destroyed by thermal fluctuations. Here we demonstrate that the 1D gas of short-range interacting bosons in the presence of disorder can undergo a finite temperature phase transition between two distinct states: fluid and insulator. None of these states has long-range spatial correlations, but this is a true albeit non-conventional phase transition because transport properties are singular at the transition point. In the fluid phase the mass transport is possible, whereas in the insulator phase it is completely blocked even at finite temperatures. We thus reveal how the interaction between disordered bosons influences their Anderson localization. This key question, first raised for electrons in solids, is now crucial for the studies of atomic bosons where recent experiments have demonstrated Anderson localization in expanding very dilute quasi-1D clouds.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

SNPpy - Database Management for SNP Data from Genome Wide Association Studies

Background: We describe SNPpy, a hybrid script database system using the Python SQLAlchemy library coupled with the PostgreSQL database to manage genotype data from Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS). This system makes it possible to merge study data with HapMap data and merge across studies for meta-analyses, including data filtering based on the values of phenotype and Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) data. SNPpy and its dependencies are open source software. Results: The current version of SNPpy offers utility functions to import genotype and annotation data from two commercial platforms. We use these to import data from two GWAS studies and the HapMap Project. We then export these individual datasets to standard data format files that can be imported into statistical software for downstream analyses. Conclusions: By leveraging the power of relational databases, SNPpy offers integrated management and manipulation of genotype and phenotype data from GWAS studies. The analysis of these studies requires merging across GWAS datasets as well as patient and marker selection. To this end, SNPpy enables the user to filter the data and output the results as standardized GWAS file formats. It does low level and flexible data validation, including validation of patient data. SNPpy is

Non-Fermi-liquid d-wave metal phase of strongly interacting electrons

Developing a theoretical framework for conducting electronic fluids qualitatively distinct from those described by Landau's Fermi-liquid theory is of central importance to many outstanding problems in condensed matter physics. One such problem is that, above the transition temperature and near optimal doping, high-transition-temperature copper-oxide superconductors exhibit `strange metal' behaviour that is inconsistent with being a traditional Landau Fermi liquid. Indeed, a microscopic theory of a strange-metal quantum phase could shed new light on the interesting low-temperature behaviour in the pseudogap regime and on the d-wave superconductor itself. Here we present a theory for a specific example of a strange metal---the 'd-wave metal'. Using variational wavefunctions, gauge theoretic arguments, and ultimately large-scale density matrix renormalization group calculations, we show that this remarkable quantum phase is the ground state of a reasonable microscopic Hamiltonian---the usual t-J model with electron kinetic energy $t$ and two-spin exchange $J$ supplemented with a frustrated electron `ring-exchange' term, which we here examine extensively on the square lattice two-leg ladder. These findings constitute an explicit theoretical example of a genuine non-Fermi-liquid metal existing as the ground state of a realistic model.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures: 6 pages, 7 figures of main text + 16 pages, 5 figures of Supplementary Information; this is approximately the version published in Nature, minus various subedits in the main tex

Accelerating Haplotype-Based Genome-Wide Association Study Using Perfect Phylogeny and Phase-Known Reference Data

The genome-wide association study (GWAS) has become a routine approach for mapping disease risk loci with the advent of large-scale genotyping technologies. Multi-allelic haplotype markers can provide superior power compared with single-SNP markers in mapping disease loci. However, the application of haplotype-based analysis to GWAS is usually bottlenecked by prohibitive time cost for haplotype inference, also known as phasing. In this study, we developed an efficient approach to haplotype-based analysis in GWAS. By using a reference panel, our method accelerated the phasing process and reduced the potential bias generated by unrealistic assumptions in phasing process. The haplotype-based approach delivers great power and no type I error inflation for association studies. With only a medium-size reference panel, phasing error in our method is comparable to the genotyping error afforded by commercial genotyping solutions

Interleukin-6 gene (IL-6): a possible role in brain morphology in the healthy adult brain

Background: Cytokines such as interleukin 6 (IL-6) have been implicated in dual functions in neuropsychiatric disorders. Little is known about the genetic predisposition to neurodegenerative and neuroproliferative properties of cytokine genes. In this study the potential dual role of several IL-6 polymorphisms in brain morphology is investigated. Methodology: In a large sample of healthy individuals (N = 303), associations between genetic variants of IL-6 (rs1800795; rs1800796, rs2069833, rs2069840) and brain volume (gray matter volume) were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Selection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) followed a tagging SNP approach (e.g., Stampa algorigthm), yielding a capture 97.08% of the variation in the IL-6 gene using four tagging SNPs. Principal findings/results: In a whole-brain analysis, the polymorphism rs1800795 (−174 C/G) showed a strong main effect of genotype (43 CC vs. 150 CG vs. 100 GG; x = 24, y = −10, z = −15; F(2,286) = 8.54, puncorrected = 0.0002; pAlphaSim-corrected = 0.002; cluster size k = 577) within the right hippocampus head. Homozygous carriers of the G-allele had significantly larger hippocampus gray matter volumes compared to heterozygous subjects. None of the other investigated SNPs showed a significant association with grey matter volume in whole-brain analyses. Conclusions/significance: These findings suggest a possible neuroprotective role of the G-allele of the SNP rs1800795 on hippocampal volumes. Studies on the role of this SNP in psychiatric populations and especially in those with an affected hippocampus (e.g., by maltreatment, stress) are warranted.Bernhard T Baune, Carsten Konrad, Dominik Grotegerd, Thomas Suslow, Eva Birosova, Patricia Ohrmann, Jochen Bauer, Volker Arolt, Walter Heindel, Katharina Domschke, Sonja Schöning, Astrid V Rauch, Christina Uhlmann, Harald Kugel and Udo Dannlowsk

A Realistic Radiative Fermion Mass Hierarchy in Non-supersymmetric SO(10)

A non-supersymmetric grand unified theory can exhibit a "radiative fermion mass hierarchy", in which the heavier quarks and leptons get mass at tree level and the lighter ones get mass from loop diagrams. Recently the first predictive model of this type was proposed. Here it is analyzed numerically and it is shown to give an excellent fit to the quark and lepton masses and mixings, including the CP phase violating phase $\delta_{CKM}$. A relation between the neutrino angle $\theta_{13}$ and the atmospheric neutrino angle is obtainedComment: 13 pages, 4 figures, RevTeX

Quantum and Classical Ballistic Transport in Constricted Two-Dimensional Electron Gases

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Introduction to “Binary Binds”: Deconstructing Sex and Gender Dichotomies in Archaeological Practice

YesGender archaeology has made significant strides toward deconstructing the hegemony of binary categorizations. Challenging dichotomies such as man/woman, sex/gender, and biology/culture, approaches informed by poststructuralist, feminist, and queer theories have moved beyond essentialist and universalist identity constructs to more nuanced configurations. Despite the theoretical emphasis on context, multiplicity, and fluidity, binary starting points continue to streamline the spectrum of variability that is recognized, often reproducing normative assumptions in the evidence. The contributors to this special issue confront how sex, gender, and sexuality categories condition analytical visibility, aiming to develop approaches that respond to the complexity of theory in archaeological practice. The papers push the ontological and epistemological boundaries of bodies, personhood, and archaeological possibility, challenging a priori assumptions that contain how sex, gender, and sexuality categories are constituted and related to each other. Foregrounding intersectional approaches that engage with ambiguity, variability, and difference, this special issue seeks to “de-contain” categories, assumptions, and practices from “binding” our analytical gaze toward only certain kinds of persons and knowledges, in interpretations of the past and practices in the present