Detection of colorectal polyps in humans using an intravenously administered fluorescent peptide targeted against c-Met

Molecular tumour pathology - and tumour genetic

Global maps of soil temperature.

Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids do not reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions occur and most terrestrial species reside. Here, we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1-km <sup>2</sup> resolution for 0-5 and 5-15 cm soil depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e. offset) between in situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1-km <sup>2</sup> pixels (summarized from 8519 unique temperature sensors) across all the world's major terrestrial biomes, and coarse-grained air temperature estimates from ERA5-Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (+3.6 ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (-0.7 ± 2.3°C). The observed substantial and biome-specific offsets emphasize that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on near-surface biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil-related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining geographic gaps by collecting more in situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological applications

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

Interface-currents integral transport model for treating doubly-heterogeneous, multisystem geometries

An analytical model for calculating neutron spectra in the doubly-heterogeneous fuel-moderator geometries of the pebble bed reactor concept is presented. The model is capable of simultaneously treating more than one type of fuel grain in the fuel matrix and more than one type of pebble in the reactor core. The model was developed to assess the need for treating various levels of material heterogeneity in processing neutron multigroup cross sections in the resolved resonance energy range. The slowing-down calculation is performed over a pointwise energy mesh tailored to the cross section structure for the nuclides present in the problem. Isotropic, elastic scattering theory is applied in an explicit calculation of down-scattered sources due to neutron interaction with all materials in all zones. At each energy point, neutron transport between zones is calculated with the interface-currents integral transport technique. Here, this technique is extended to include the simultaneous treatment of coupled, one-dimensional, multiregion systems. The coupling between the two levels of heterogeneity (grain systems and pebble systems) is accomplished by a sequence of source normalization and cross section averaging treatments. The equations applied in the slowing-down and spatial transport models are presented. Results from the analyses of single pebble and double pebble systems indicate the importance of resonance shielding as a function of fuel kernel diameter, fuel loading in each pebble, and the presence of more than one type of pebble in the system

Preoperative halo-gravity traction for severe spinal deformities at an SRS-GOP site in West Africa: Protocols, complications, and results

Study Design: Retrospective analysis of a prospectively collected single-center database. Objective: We describe a modified halo-gravity traction (HGT) protocol for patients with severe spinal deformities in West Africa, and assess the clinical and radiographic outcomes. Summary of Background Data: Three-column osteotomies are frequently used in the correction of severe spinal deformities; however, these can be associated with high complication rates and significant risk for neurological injury. Preoperative traction is one modality used to obtain a partial correction prior to definitive fusion. Low numbers and variability of traction protocols, however, have limited previous reports of sustained HGT. Methods: All patients who underwent HGT in Ghana from April 2012 to August 2013 were reviewed. HGT was started at 20% body weight and increased by 10% per week until 50% body weight was reached by 4 weeks or thereafter as tolerated. Demographic variables, operative data, radiographic parameters, and healthrelated quality of life scores were collected. A deformity reduction index was calculated at each time point by summing the scoliosis and abnormal kyphosis for each patient and reported as a percentage of the preoperative deformity. Results: Twenty-nine patients underwent HGT for an average 107 days prior to definitive posterior spinal fusion (24 patients) or placement of growing rods (5 patients). The major curve improved from an average 131 ° to 90 ° (31%) after HGT, and to an average 57 ° (56%) postoperatively. Pure kyphotic curves were rigid (flexibility 22% after traction), with a correction index of 3.88, which is similar to historical controls. Deformity correction with HGT plateaued at 63 days. Overall Scoliosis Research Society-22 questionnaire scores improved significantly pretraction versus postoperatively, but there was no change after traction versus before traction. There were 11 pin tract infections, with no neurological complications. Conclusion: HGT is a safe method to partially correct severe spinal deformities prior to a definitive procedure, and may reduce the need for higher risk 3-column osteotomies. Importantly, kyphosis secondary to infection with spontaneous apical ankylosis is relatively resistant to HGT. © 2015, Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved

Market-Driven Management as Entrepreneurial Approach

Entrepreneurship is traditionally considered as an ‘outward-looking’ phenomenon. Entrepreneurs initiate change by identifying and starting new trading opportunities, related to improved versions of existing commodities or new productor service concepts, which have been until then unknown to other agents. Market-driven management is not posited to be an alternative to entrepreneurial management, a surrogate or even a better substitute to entrepreneurship. They are, rather, two different theoretical constructs that can be fully integrated.Value creation and appropriation within the market is the node of the relationship between entrepreneurship and market-driven management

Common variants in Alzheimer’s disease and risk stratification by polygenic risk scores

Genetic discoveries of Alzheimer’s disease are the drivers of our understanding, and together with polygenetic risk stratification can contribute towards planning of feasible and efficient preventive and curative clinical trials. We first perform a large genetic association study by merging all available case-control datasets and by-proxy study results (discovery n = 409,435 and validation size n = 58,190). Here, we add six variants associated with Alzheimer’s disease risk (near APP, CHRNE, PRKD3/NDUFAF7, PLCG2 and two exonic variants in the SHARPIN gene). Assessment of the polygenic risk score and stratifying by APOE reveal a 4 to 5.5 years difference in median age at onset of Alzheimer’s disease patients in APOE ɛ4 carriers. Because of this study, the underlying mechanisms of APP can be studied to refine the amyloid cascade and the polygenic risk score provides a tool to select individuals at high risk of Alzheimer’s disease