Conditional probabilities of identity of genes at a locus linked to a marker

A method is given for determining the probabilities that genes are identical by descent, at a locus linked to a marker where phenotypic data are available. For tight linkage, such conditional probabilities of identity may differ very much from unconditional ones ; they depend on the dominance relationships between alleles at the marker locus, and on the allelic frequencies. Applications discussed refer to the calculation of general two-locus descent measures, to the validation of pedigrees from polymorphism analysis, and to the statistical detection of an association between a quantitative trait and a marked region of the genome.On donne une méthode pour calculer les probabilités d’identité entre des gènes d’un locus, conditionnées par l’observation des phénotypes en un locus marqueur lié. La méthode proposée réunit 2 approches : les probabilités d’identité conditionnelles, au locus marqueur, sont calculées en construisant les évènements possibles du processus de la ségrégation des gènes ; les probabilités conditionnelles d’identité en un locus voisin sont calculées ensuite par la méthode des arbres géniques, modifiée pour tenir compte des conditions réalisées au locus marqueur. Les résultats dépendent des relations de dominance entre allèles et des fréquences alléliques au locus marqueur ; pour une liaison étroite, ils peuvent être très différents des résultats non conditionnés. Les applications discutées concernent une méthode générale de calcul des coefficients d’identité à 2 locus, l’étude de la cohérence entre des données généalogiques et un polymorphisme génétique, et les méthodes de détection statistique d’une association entre un caractère quantitatif et une région marquée du génome

Real-World Treatment Patterns and Outcomes among Elderly Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients in the United States

Over half of patients diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are 65 years or older. Using the linked SEER-Medicare database, we conducted a retrospective cohort analysis to examine patient characteristics, treatment patterns, and survival among the elderly AML patients in routine clinical practice. Out of 29,857 patients with AML in the database, 8336 were eligible for inclusion in the study. The inclusion criteria included a diagnosis with first primary AML between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2009, >66 years of age, and continuous enrollment in Medicare Parts A and B in the year before diagnosis. Forty percent (N = 3327) of the cohort received chemotherapy within 3 months after diagnosis. The multivariable overall survival analyses showed a lower risk of death among those receiving intensive and hypomethylating agent therapies compared with no therapy. Among the younger cohort, a significant lower mortality was also noted with receipt of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Over the past decade, about 60% of the elderly AML patients remain untreated in routine clinical practice. Use of antileukemic therapy was associated with a significant survival benefit and provides further support that age alone should not deter the use of guideline-recommended therapies particularly because of the high disparities in outcomes between treatment receipt and palliative care in this elderly cohort

Monitoring trends in socioeconomic health inequalities: it matters how you measure

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Odds ratio (OR), a relative measure for health inequality, has frequently been used in prior studies for presenting inequality trends in health and health behaviors. Since OR is not a good approximation of prevalence ratio (PR) when the outcome prevalence is quite high, an important problem may arise when OR trends are used in data in which the outcome variable (e.g., smoking or ill-health) is of relatively high prevalence and varies significantly over time. This study is to compare time trends of odds ratio (OR) and prevalence ratio (PR) for examining time trends in socioeconomic inequality in smoking.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 147,805 subjects (71,793 men and 76,017 women) aged 25–64 from three Social Statistics Surveys of Korea from 1999 to 2006 were analyzed. Socioeconomic position indicators were occupational class and education.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>While there were no significant p values for trend in ORs of occupational class among men, trends for PRs were significant. In women, p values for OR trends were similar to those for PR trends. In males, RII by log-binomial regression showed a significant increasing tendency while RII by logistic regression was stable between years. In females, trends of RIIs by logistic regression and log-binomial regression produced a similar level of p values.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Different methods of measuring trends in socioeconomic health inequalities may lead to different conclusions about whether relative inequalities are increasing or decreasing. Trends in ORs may overstate or understate trends in relative inequality in health when the outcome is of relatively high prevalence and that prevalence varies significantly with time.</p

Resistance to experimental infections with Haemonchus contortus in Romanov sheep

International audienc

Anti-Inflammatory properties of injectable Betamethasone-Loaded Tyramine-Modified Gellan Gum/Silk Fibroin Hydrogels

Rheumatoid arthritis is a rheumatic disease for which a healing treatment does not presently exist. Silk fibroin has been extensively studied for use in drug delivery systems due to its uniqueness, versatility and strong clinical track record in medicine. However, in general, natural polymeric materials are not mechanically stable enough, and have high rates of biodegradation. Thus, synthetic materials such as gellan gum can be used to produce composite structures with biological signals to promote tissue-specific interactions while providing the desired mechanical properties. In this work, we aimed to produce hydrogels of tyramine-modified gellan gum with silk fibroin (Tyâ GG/SF) via horseradish peroxidase (HRP), with encapsulated betamethasone, to improve the biocompatibility and mechanical properties, and further increase therapeutic efficacy to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The Tyâ GG/SF hydrogels presented a β-sheet secondary structure, with gelation time around 2â 5 min, good resistance to enzymatic degradation, a suitable injectability profile, viscoelastic capacity with a significant solid component and a betamethasone-controlled release profile over time. In vitro studies showed that Tyâ GG/SF hydrogels did not produce a deleterious effect on cellular metabolic activity, morphology or proliferation. Furthermore, Tyâ GG/SF hydrogels with encapsulated betamethasone revealed greater therapeutic efficacy than the drug applied alone. Therefore, this strategy can provide an improvement in therapeutic efficacy when compared to the traditional use of drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.Norte2020 project (“NORTE-08-5369-FSE000044”), REMIX project (GA 778078—REMIX—H2020-MSCA-RISE-2017) Gilson Lab, Chonbuk National University, Republic of Korea and the Frontiers of technology for theranostics of cancer, metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases (FROnTHERA), Structural Project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000023. The FCT distinction attributed to J.M.O. under the Investigator FCT program (number IF/01285/2015) is also greatly acknowledged. C.G. also wishes to acknowledge FCT for supporting her research (number SFRH/BPD/94277/201

Micro-fabrication of Carbon Structures by Pattern Miniaturization in Resorcinol-Formaldehyde Gel

A simple and novel method to fabricate and miniaturize surface and sub-surface micro-structures and micro-patterns in glassy carbon is proposed and demonstrated. An aqueous resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) sol is employed for micro-molding of the master-pattern to be replicated, followed by controlled drying and pyrolysis of the gel to reproduce an isotropically shrunk replica in carbon. The miniaturized version of the master-pattern thus replicated in carbon is about one order of magnitude smaller than original master by repeating three times the above cycle of molding and drying. The micro-fabrication method proposed will greatly enhance the toolbox for a facile fabrication of a variety of Carbon-MEMS and C-microfluidic devices.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

South Korean Military Service Promotes Smoking: A Quasi-Experimental Design

∙ The authors have no financial conflicts of interest. © Copyright: Yonsei University College of Medicine 2012 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licens

Photocatalytic removal of phenol over mesoporous ZnO/TiO2 composites

A series of mesoporous ZnO/TiO2 composites were successfully synthesized using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide surfactant. The composites of different Zn:Ti molar ratios (0.5:1, 0.75:1, and 1:1) were prepared by impregnating ZnO onto mesoporous TiO2. XRD results verified co-existence of both anatase TiO2 and hexagonal wurtzite ZnO in the ZnO/TiO2 composites. Based on the Tauc plots, all the composites showed almost the same band gap energy of approximately 3.21 eV. The fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results successful covering of ZnO on the surface of the TiO2 as the hydrophilicity property of TiO2 decreased remarkably with the loading of ZnO in the composites. N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms of the samples exhibited type-IV isotherm with a hysteresis loop. The Barrett-Joyner-Halenda pore size distribution revealed that the average pore size of the composites was around 3.6 nm, indicating the formation of mesopores dominantly in the samples. The photocatalytic removal of phenol over the samples under UV light irradiation after 3 h decreased in the order: ZnO/TiO2 composites > anatase TiO2 (with surfactant) > anatase TiO2 (without surfactant) > ZnO. The composite with Zn:Ti molar ratio of 0.75:1 has achieved the highest photocatalytic activity of 36.5% in the removal of phenol under UV light irradiation for 3 h

Human polyomavirus 6 and 7 are associated with pruritic and dyskeratotic dermatoses

ABSTRACT Background: Human Polyomavirus 6 (HPyV6) and Human Polyomavirus 7 (HPyV7) are shed chronically from human skin. HPyV7, but not HPyV6, has been linked to a pruritic skin eruption of immunosuppression. Objective: We determined whether biopsies showing a characteristic pattern of dyskeratosis and parakeratosis might be associated with polyomavirus infection. Methods: We screened biopsies showing "peacock plumage" histology by PCR for human polyomaviruses. Cases positive for HPyV 6 or 7 were then analyzed by immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy (EM), immunofluorescence, quantitative PCR, and complete sequencing, including unbiased, next generation sequencing (NGS). Results: We identified three additional cases of HPyV6 or 7 skin infections. Expression of T antigen and viral capsid was abundant in lesional skin. Dual immunofluorescence staining experiments confirmed that HPyV7 primarily infects keratinocytes. High viral loads in lesional skin compared to normal skin and the identification of intact virions by both EM and NGS support a role for active viral infections in these skin diseases. Limitation: This was a small case-series of archived materials. Conclusion: We have found that HPyV6 and HPyV7 are associated with rare, pruritic skin eruptions with a unique histologic pattern and describe this entity as "HPyV6- and HPyV7-associated pruritic and dyskeratotic dermatosis (H6PD and H7PD).