Chromosome conformation signatures define predictive markers of inadequate response to methotrexate in early rheumatoid arthritis

The authors would like to thank members of OBD Reference Facility Benjamin Foulkes, Chloe Bird, Emily Corfeld and Matthew Salter for expedient processing of clinical samples on the EpiSwitch™ platform and Magdalena Jeznach and Willem Westra for help with preparation of the manuscript. The study employed samples from the SERA Biobank used with permission and approval of the SERA Approval Group. We gratefully acknowledge the invaluable contribution of the clinicians and operating team in SERA. We would also like to thank Prof. Raju Kucherlapati (Harvard Medical School), and Prof. Jane Mellor (Oxford Univ.), Prof. John O’Shea (National Institute of Health) and Prof. John Isaacs (New Castle Univ.) for their independent and critical review of our study. A list of Scottish Early Rheumatoid Arthritis (SERA) inception cohort investigators is provided in Additional fle 1: Additional Note. Funding This work was funded by Oxford BioDynamics.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Sidescan backscatter variations of cold seeps on the Hikurangi Margin (New Zealand): indications for different stages in seep development

Cold seeps on the Hikurangi Margin off New Zealand exhibit various seabed morphologies producing different intensity patterns in backscatter images. Acoustic backscatter characteristics of 25 investigated seep sites do not show a continuous range of patterns between two end members, but fall into four distinct types characterised by variations in backscatter intensity, distribution and inferred structural heights. The types reflect different carbonate morphologies including up to 20 m high structures (type 1), low-relief crusts (type 2), scattered blocks (type 3) and carbonate free sites (type 4). Each seep corresponds to a single type; ntermediates were not observed. Although the observed morphologies and backscatter patterns may have been caused by variations in sediment burial of seep carbonates or differential exhumation by erosion, they probably epresent varying onsets of authigenic carbonate precipitation. Precipitation of carbonate is episodic, which is likely the result of internal forcing. Blocking and subsequent reorganisation of the seep plumbing system lead to abandonment of old seeps and formation of new sites