Rare isotope production in statistical multifragmentation

Producing rare isotopes through statistical multifragmentation is investigated using the Mekjian method for exact solutions of the canonical ensemble. Both the initial fragmentation and the the sequential decay are modeled in such a way as to avoid Monte Carlo and thus provide yields for arbitrarily scarce fragments. The importance of sequential decay, exact particle-number conservation and the sensitivities to parameters such as density and temperature are explored. Recent measurements of isotope ratios from the fragmentation of different Sn isotopes are interpreted within this picture.Comment: 10 eps figure

Cardiovascular disease, cancer and mortality among people with type 2 diabetes and alcoholic or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease hospital admission

OBJECTIVE: To describe associations between alcoholic fatty liver disease (ALD) or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) hospital admission and cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, and mortality in people with T2DM. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study using linked population-based routine data from the diabetes register, hospital, cancer and death records for people aged 40-89 years, diagnosed with T2DM in Scotland 2004-2013 who had one or more hospital admission records. Liver disease and outcomes were identified using International Classification of Diseases codes. We estimated hazard ratios from Cox proportional hazards models, adjusted for key risk factors (aHRs). RESULTS: There were 134,368 people with T2DM (1707 with ALD and 1452 with NAFLD) with mean follow-up of 4.3 years for CVD and 4.7 years for mortality. Among people with ALD, NAFLD or without liver disease hospital records respectively there were: 378, 320 and 21,873 CVD events, 268, 176 and 15,101 cancers and 724, 221 and 16,203 deaths. For ALD and NAFLD respectively, aHRs (95% CIs) compared to the group with no record of liver disease were: 1.59 (1.43, 1.76) and 1.70 (1.52, 1.90), for CVD; 40.3 (28.8, 56.5) and 19.12(11.71 31.2), for hepatocellular cancer (HCC); 1.28 (1.12, 1.47) and 1.10 (0.94, 1.29) for non-HCC cancer; 4.86 (4.50, 5.24) and 1.60 (1.40, 1.83) for all-cause mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Hospital records of ALD or NAFLD are associated, to varying degrees, with increased risk of CVD, cancer and mortality in people with T2DM

Type 2 diabetes and risk of hospital admission or death for chronic liver diseases

Background & aims: the impact of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) on hospital admissions and deaths due to common chronic liver diseases (CLDs) is uncertain. Our aim was to investigate associations between T2DM and CLDs in a national retrospective cohort study and to investigate the role of sex and socio-economic status (SES).Methods: we used International Classification of Disease codes to identify incident alcoholic liver disease (ALD), autoimmune liver disease, haemochromatosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and viral liver disease from linked diabetes, hospital, cancer and death records for people of 40–89 years of age in Scotland 2004–2013. We used quasi Poisson regression to estimate rate ratios (RR).Results: there were 6667 and 33624 first mentions of CLD in hospital, cancer and death records over ?1.8 and 24 million person-years in people with and without T2DM, respectively. The most common liver disease was ALD among people without diabetes and was NAFLD among people with T2DM. Age-adjusted RR for T2DM compared to the non-diabetic population (95% confidence intervals) varied between 1.27 (1.04–1.55) for autoimmune liver disease and 5.36 (4.41–6.51) for NAFLD. RRs were lower for men than women and for more compared to less deprived populations for both ALD and NAFLD.Conclusions: T2DM is associated with increased risk of hospital admission or death for all common CLDs and the strength of the association varies by type of CLD, sex and SES. Increasing prevalence of T2DM is likely to result in increasing burden of all CLD

A global analysis of Y-chromosomal haplotype diversity for 23 STR loci

In a worldwide collaborative effort, 19,630 Y-chromosomes were sampled from 129 different populations in 51 countries. These chromosomes were typed for 23 short-tandem repeat (STR) loci (DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385ab, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, DYS448, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635, GATAH4, DYS481, DYS533, DYS549, DYS570, DYS576, and DYS643) and using the PowerPlex Y23 System (PPY23, Promega Corporation, Madison, WI). Locus-specific allelic spectra of these markers were determined and a consistently high level of allelic diversity was observed. A considerable number of null, duplicate and off-ladder alleles were revealed. Standard single-locus and haplotype-based parameters were calculated and compared between subsets of Y-STR markers established for forensic casework. The PPY23 marker set provides substantially stronger discriminatory power than other available kits but at the same time reveals the same general patterns of population structure as other marker sets. A strong correlation was observed between the number of Y-STRs included in a marker set and some of the forensic parameters under study. Interestingly a weak but consistent trend toward smaller genetic distances resulting from larger numbers of markers became apparent.Peer reviewe

Recommendations of the DNA Commission of the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) on quality control of autosomal Short Tandem Repeat allele frequency databasing (STRidER)

The statistical evaluation of autosomal Short Tandem Repeat (STR) genotypes is based on allele frequencies. These are empirically determined from sets of randomly selected human samples, compiled into STR databases that have been established in the course of population genetic studies. There is currently no agreed procedure of performing quality control of STR allele frequency databases, and the reliability and accuracy of the data are largely based on the responsibility of the individual contributing research groups. It has been demonstrated with databases of haploid markers (EMPOP for mitochondrial mtDNA, and YHRD for Y-chromosomal loci) that centralized quality control and data curation is essential to minimize error. The concepts employed for quality control involve software-aided likelihood-of-genotype, phylogenetic, and population genetic checks that allow the researchers to compare novel data to established datasets and, thus, maintain the high quality required in forensic genetics. Here, we present STRidER (http://strider.online), a publicly available, centrally curated online allele frequency database and quality control platform for autosomal STRs. STRidER expands on the previously established ENFSI DNA WG STRbASE and applies standard concepts established for haploid and autosomal markers as well as novel tools to reduce error and increase the quality of autosomal STR data. The platform constitutes a significant improvement and innovation for the scientific community, offering autosomal STR data quality control and reliable STR genotype estimates. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

Club culture Membership of sports clubs by under sixteens in Wales

English/Weslh text on inverted pagesAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:8419.839565(25) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Towards broadening Forensic DNA Phenotyping beyond pigmentation:Improving the prediction of head hair shape from DNA

Human head hair shape, commonly classified as straight, wavy, curly or frizzy, is an attractive target for Forensic DNA Phenotyping and other applications of human appearance prediction from DNA such as in paleogenetics. The genetic knowledge underlying head hair shape variation was recently improved by the outcome of a series of genome-wide association and replication studies in a total of 26,964 subjects, highlighting 12 loci of which 8 were novel and introducing a prediction model for Europeans based on 14 SNPs. In the present study, we evaluated the capacity of DNA-based head hair shape prediction by investigating an extended set of candidate SNP predictors and by using an independent set of samples for model validation. Prediction model building was carried out in 9674 subjects (6068 from Europe, 2899 from Asia and 707 of admixed European and Asian ancestries), used previously, by considering a novel list of 90 candidate SNPs. For model validation, genotype and phenotype data were newly collected in 2415 independent subjects (2138 Europeans and 277 non-Europeans) by applying two targeted massively parallel sequencing platforms, Ion Torrent PGM and MiSeq, or the MassARRAY platform. A binomial model was developed to predict straight vs. non-straight hair based on 32 SNPs from 26 genetic loci we identified as significantly contributing to the model. This model achieved prediction accuracies, expressed as AUC, of 0.664 in Europeans and 0.789 in non-Europeans; the statistically significant difference was explained mostly by the effect of one EDAR SNP in non-Europeans. Considering sex and age, in addition to the SNPs, slightly and insignificantly increased the prediction accuracies (AUC of 0.680 and 0.800, respectively). Based on the sample size and candidate DNA markers investigated, this study provides the most robust, validated, and accurate statistical prediction models and SNP predictor marker sets currently available for predicting head hair shape from DNA, providing the next step towards broadening Forensic DNA Phenotyping beyond pigmentation traits