168 research outputs found

    コクリツキョクチケンキュウジョ ノ サイエンス・データマネージメント ニ カンスル ワークショップ ホウコク

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    2004年2月25-27日に国立極地研究所にて,「国立極地研究所のサイエンス・データマネージメントに関するワークショップ」が開催された.南極研究科学委員会と南極観測実施責任者評議会により設立された「合同南極データマネージメント委員会」において主導的な活動をしてきたオーストラリア南極局のデータマネージャー等2名を招待し,南極局におけるおよそ過去10年におけるデータマネージメントの発展をレビューし,国立極地研究所におけるデータマネージメントの今後の方向性について討議した.The Workshop on Science Data Management was held at the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) from February 25-27, 2004. The Manager and Senior Applications developer from the Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AADC) were invited to distil the development and operation of the AADC in the context of Antarctic science data management and the Joint Committee on Antarctic Data Management (JCADM). The current data management situation and future requirements at NIPR were identified

    Which environmental variables should I use in my biodiversity model?

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    Appropriate selection of environmental variables is critical to the performance of biodiversity models, but has received less attention than the choice of modelling method. Online aggregators of biological and environmental data, such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and the Atlas of Living Australia, necessitate a rational approach to variable selection. We outline a set of general principles for systematically identifying, compiling, evaluating and selecting environmental variables for a biodiversity model. Our approach aims to maximise the information obtained from the analysis of biological records linked to a potentially large suite of spatial environmental variables. We demonstrate the utility of this structured framework through case studies with Australian vascular plants: regional modelling of a species distribution, continent-wide modelling of species compositional turnover and environmental classification. The approach is informed by three components of a biodiversity model: (1) an ecological framework or conceptual model, (2) a data model concerning availability, resolution and variable selection and (3) a method for analysing data. We expand the data model in structuring the problem of choosing environmental variables. The case studies demonstrate a structured approach for the: (1) cost-effective compilation of variables in the context of an explicit ecological framework for the study, attribute accuracy and resolution; (2) evaluation of non-linear relationships between variables using knowledge of their derivation, scatter plots and dissimilarity matrices; (3) selection and grouping of variables based on hypotheses of relative ecological importance and perceived predictor effectiveness; (4) systematic testing of variables as predictors through the process of model building and refinement and (5) model critique, inference and synthesis using direct gradient analysis to evaluate the shape of response curves in the context of ecological theory by presenting predictions in both geographic and environmental space

    Research infrastructure challenges in preparing essential biodiversity variables data products for alien invasive species

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    Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV) are information products for assessing biodiversity change. Species populations EBVs are one class of EBVs that can be used to monitor the spread of invasive species. However, systematic, reliable, repeatable procedures to process primary data into EBVs do not yet exist, and environmental research infrastructures still must improve their capabilities to deliver EBV data products. Here, we tested the ability of two mature biodiversity data infrastructures, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and the Atlas of Living Australia to cooperatively produce EBV data products for three alien invasive species. We detailed workflow steps to discover, filter, retrieve and prepare the primary data before evaluating species’ distributional changes. The two data infrastructures were able to execute several workflow steps, but external tools, third-party sources and expert judgement were required, and a repeatable workflow was difficult to establish. Nevertheless, the resulting data products revealed strong range expansions for the invasive species, demonstrating the policy-relevant information about global environmental change that can be provided by EBV data products. Our results show that more coordination between infrastructure providers is needed to efficiently produce EBV-ready data products for invasion monitoring in a repeatable fashion. Addressing these issues will allow improved tracking of invasive species range dynamics and hence monitoring of ongoing global biodiversity change

    Community engagement: The ‘last mile’ challenge for European research e-infrastructures

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    Europe is building its Open Science Cloud; a set of robust and interoperable e-infrastructures with the capacity to provide data and computational solutions through cloud-based services. The development and sustainable operation of such e-infrastructures are at the forefront of European funding priorities. The research community, however, is still reluctant to engage at the scale required to signal a Europe-wide change in the mode of operation of scientific practices. The striking differences in uptake rates between researchers from different scientific domains indicate that communities do not equally share the benefits of the above European investments. We highlight the need to support research communities in organically engaging with the European Open Science Cloud through the development of trustworthy and interoperable Virtual Research Environments. These domain-specific solutions can support communities in gradually bridging technical and socio-cultural gaps between traditional and open digital science practice, better diffusing the benefits of European e-infrastructures

    The Bari Manifesto : An interoperability framework for essential biodiversity variables

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    Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV) are fundamental variables that can be used for assessing biodiversity change over time, for determining adherence to biodiversity policy, for monitoring progress towards sustainable development goals, and for tracking biodiversity responses to disturbances and management interventions. Data from observations or models that provide measured or estimated EBV values, which we refer to as EBV data products, can help to capture the above processes and trends and can serve as a coherent framework for documenting trends in biodiversity. Using primary biodiversity records and other raw data as sources to produce EBV data products depends on cooperation and interoperability among multiple stakeholders, including those collecting and mobilising data for EBVs and those producing, publishing and preserving EBV data products. Here, we encapsulate ten principles for the current best practice in EBV-focused biodiversity informatics as 'The Bari Manifesto', serving as implementation guidelines for data and research infrastructure providers to support the emerging EBV operational framework based on trans-national and cross-infrastructure scientific workflows. The principles provide guidance on how to contribute towards the production of EBV data products that are globally oriented, while remaining appropriate to the producer's own mission, vision and goals. These ten principles cover: data management planning; data structure; metadata; services; data quality; workflows; provenance; ontologies/vocabularies; data preservation; and accessibility. For each principle, desired outcomes and goals have been formulated. Some specific actions related to fulfilling the Bari Manifesto principles are highlighted in the context of each of four groups of organizations contributing to enabling data interoperability - data standards bodies, research data infrastructures, the pertinent research communities, and funders. The Bari Manifesto provides a roadmap enabling support for routine generation of EBV data products, and increases the likelihood of success for a global EBV framework.Peer reviewe

    Identification of DNA hypermethylation of SOX9 in association with bladder cancer progression using CpG microarrays

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    CpG island arrays represent a high-throughput epigenomic discovery platform to identify global disease-specific promoter hypermethylation candidates along bladder cancer progression. DNA obtained from 10 pairs of invasive bladder tumours were profiled vs their respective normal urothelium using differential methylation hybridisation on custom-made CpG arrays (n=12 288 clones). Promoter hypermethylation of 84 clones was simultaneously shown in at least 70% of the tumours. SOX9 was selected for further validation by bisulphite genomic sequencing and methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction in bladder cancer cells (n=11) and primary bladder tumours (n=101). Hypermethylation was observed in bladder cancer cells and associated with lack of gene expression, being restored in vitro by a demethylating agent. In primary bladder tumours, SOX9 hypermethylation was present in 56.4% of the cases. Moreover, SOX9 hypermethylation was significantly associated with tumour grade and overall survival. Thus, this high-throughput epigenomic strategy has served to identify novel hypermethylated candidates in bladder cancer. In vitro analyses supported the role of methylation in silencing SOX9 gene. The association of SOX9 hypermethylation with tumour progression and clinical outcome suggests its relevant clinical implications at stratifying patients affected with bladder cancer

    Tumor Transcriptome Sequencing Reveals Allelic Expression Imbalances Associated with Copy Number Alterations

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    Due to growing throughput and shrinking cost, massively parallel sequencing is rapidly becoming an attractive alternative to microarrays for the genome-wide study of gene expression and copy number alterations in primary tumors. The sequencing of transcripts (RNA-Seq) should offer several advantages over microarray-based methods, including the ability to detect somatic mutations and accurately measure allele-specific expression. To investigate these advantages we have applied a novel, strand-specific RNA-Seq method to tumors and matched normal tissue from three patients with oral squamous cell carcinomas. Additionally, to better understand the genomic determinants of the gene expression changes observed, we have sequenced the tumor and normal genomes of one of these patients. We demonstrate here that our RNA-Seq method accurately measures allelic imbalance and that measurement on the genome-wide scale yields novel insights into cancer etiology. As expected, the set of genes differentially expressed in the tumors is enriched for cell adhesion and differentiation functions, but, unexpectedly, the set of allelically imbalanced genes is also enriched for these same cancer-related functions. By comparing the transcriptomic perturbations observed in one patient to his underlying normal and tumor genomes, we find that allelic imbalance in the tumor is associated with copy number mutations and that copy number mutations are, in turn, strongly associated with changes in transcript abundance. These results support a model in which allele-specific deletions and duplications drive allele-specific changes in gene expression in the developing tumor

    Genome-wide meta-analysis for Alzheimer's disease cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers.

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    Amyloid-beta 42 (Aβ42) and phosphorylated tau (pTau) levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) reflect core features of the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) more directly than clinical diagnosis. Initiated by the European Alzheimer & Dementia Biobank (EADB), the largest collaborative effort on genetics underlying CSF biomarkers was established, including 31 cohorts with a total of 13,116 individuals (discovery n = 8074; replication n = 5042 individuals). Besides the APOE locus, novel associations with two other well-established AD risk loci were observed; CR1 was shown a locus for Aβ42 and BIN1 for pTau. GMNC and C16orf95 were further identified as loci for pTau, of which the latter is novel. Clustering methods exploring the influence of all known AD risk loci on the CSF protein levels, revealed 4 biological categories suggesting multiple Aβ42 and pTau related biological pathways involved in the etiology of AD. In functional follow-up analyses, GMNC and C16orf95 both associated with lateral ventricular volume, implying an overlap in genetic etiology for tau levels and brain ventricular volume

    Genome-wide meta-analysis for Alzheimer's disease cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers

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    Altres ajuts: European Alzheimer DNA BioBank, EADB; EU Joint Programme, Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND); Neurodegeneration research program of Amsterdam Neuroscience; Stichting Alzheimer Nederland; Stichting VUmc fonds; Stichting Dioraphte; JPco-fuND FP-829-029 (ZonMW projectnumber 733051061); Dutch Federation of University Medical Centers; Dutch Government (from 2007-2011); JPND EADB grant (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) grant: 01ED1619A); German Research Foundation (DFG RA 1971/6-1, RA1971/7-1, RA 1971/8-1); Grifols SA; Fundación bancaria 'La Caixa'; Fundació ACE; CIBERNED; Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER-'Una manera de hacer Europa'); NIH (P30AG066444, P01AG003991); Alzheimer Research Foundation (SAO-FRA), The Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), and the University of Antwerp Research Fund. FK is supported by a BOF DOCPRO fellowship of the University of Antwerp Research Fund; Siemens Healthineers; Valdecilla Biobank (PT17/0015/0019); Academy of Finland (338182); German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE); German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF 01G10102, 01GI0420, 01GI0422, 01GI0423, 01GI0429, 01GI0431, 01GI0433, 04GI0434, 01GI0711); ZonMW (#73305095007); Health~Holland, Topsector Life Sciences & Health (PPP-allowance #LSHM20106); Hersenstichting; Edwin Bouw Fonds; Gieskes-Strijbisfonds; NWO Gravitation program BRAINSCAPES: A Roadmap from Neurogenetics to Neurobiology (NWO: 024.004.012); Swedish Alzheimer Foundation (AF-939988, AF-930582, AF-646061, AF-741361); Dementia Foundation (2020-04-13, 2021-04-17); Swedish state under the agreement between the Swedish government and the county councils, the ALF-agreement (ALF 716681); Swedish Research Council (11267, 825-2012-5041, 2013-8717, 2015-02830, 2017-00639, 2019-01096); Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (2001-2646, 2001-2835, 2001-2849, 2003-0234, 2004-0150, 2005-0762, 2006-0020, 2008-1229, 2008-1210, 2012-1138, 2004-0145, 2006-0596, 2008-1111, 2010-0870, 2013-1202, 2013-2300, 2013-2496); Swedish Brain Power, Hjärnfonden, Sweden (FO2016-0214, FO2018-0214, FO2019-0163); Alzheimer's Association Zenith Award (ZEN-01-3151); Alzheimer's Association Stephanie B. Overstreet Scholars (IIRG-00-2159); Alzheimer's Association (IIRG-03-6168, IIRG-09-131338); Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation; Swedish state under the agreement between the Swedish government and the county councils, the ALF-agreement (ALFGBG-81392, ALFGBG-771071); Swedish Alzheimer Foundation (AF-842471, AF-737641, AF-939825); Swedish Research Council (2019-02075); Swedish Research Council (2016-01590); BRAINSCAPES: A Roadmap from Neurogenetics to Neurobiology (024.004.012); Swedish Research Council (2018-02532); Swedish State Support for Clinical Research (ALFGBG-720931); Alzheimer Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF), USA (201809-2016862); UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL; Swedish Research Council (#2017-00915); Alzheimer Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF), USA (#RDAPB-201809-2016615); Swedish Alzheimer Foundation (#AF-742881); Hjärnfonden, Sweden (#FO2017-0243); Swedish state under the agreement between the Swedish government and the County Councils, the ALF-agreement (#ALFGBG-715986); National Institute of Health (NIH), USA, (#1R01AG068398-01); Alzheimer's Association 2021 Zenith Award (ZEN-21-848495); National Institutes of Health (R01AG044546, R01AG064877, RF1AG053303, R01AG058501, U01AG058922, RF1AG058501, R01AG064614); Chuck Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI).Amyloid-beta 42 (Aβ42) and phosphorylated tau (pTau) levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) reflect core features of the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) more directly than clinical diagnosis. Initiated by the European Alzheimer & Dementia Biobank (EADB), the largest collaborative effort on genetics underlying CSF biomarkers was established, including 31 cohorts with a total of 13,116 individuals (discovery n = 8074; replication n = 5042 individuals). Besides the APOE locus, novel associations with two other well-established AD risk loci were observed; CR1 was shown a locus for Aβ42 and BIN1 for pTau. GMNC and C16orf95 were further identified as loci for pTau, of which the latter is novel. Clustering methods exploring the influence of all known AD risk loci on the CSF protein levels, revealed 4 biological categories suggesting multiple Aβ42 and pTau related biological pathways involved in the etiology of AD. In functional follow-up analyses, GMNC and C16orf95 both associated with lateral ventricular volume, implying an overlap in genetic etiology for tau levels and brain ventricular volume
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