404 research outputs found
Enabling Open Science in Medicine Through Data Sharing: An Overview and Assessment of Common Approaches from the European Perspective
Open Science involves the sharing of knowledge and data as well as the exchange of research results. This is particularly important in the biomedical field, as it can foster validation studies in response to the replication crisis and improve resource utilisation. Since medical data is particularly privacy sensitive, its processing is subject to strong data protection requirements. Agencies, institutions, and projects in the European Union are still struggling with the establishment of widely accepted mechanisms supporting the sharing of data for Open Science practices. The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of different methods that have been used for this purpose and to discuss their technical properties and legal challenges. Our assessment is based on well-known conceptualizations, such as the Five Safes Framework. The result shows that different approaches provide different trade-offs between the functionalities and the degree of data protection provided, and that there are open legal issues. Current legislative initiatives in the EU, including regulations for the European Health Data Space and the Data Governance Act, have the potential to address some of the resulting uncertainties
Safety of intermittent Pringle maneuver during minimally invasive liver resection in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma with and without cirrhosis
Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of minimally invasive intermittent Pringle maneuver (IPM) on postoperative outcomes in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver cirrhosis.
Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we evaluated the safety of IPM in patients with HCC who underwent minimally invasive liver resection during five years at our center. Factors influencing the use of IPM were examined in univariate and multivariate regression analysis. Cases with use of IPM (IPM) and those without use of IPM (no IPM) were then compared regarding intraoperative and postoperative outcomes after propensity score matching (PSM) for surgical difficulty.
Results: One hundred fifty-one patients underwent liver resection for HCC at our center and met inclusion criteria. Of these, 73 patients (48%) received IPM with a median duration of 18 min (5-78). One hundred patients (66%) had confirmed liver cirrhosis. In multivariate analysis, patients with large tumors (>= 3 cm) and difficult tumor locations (segments VII or VIII) were more likely to undergo IPM (OR 1.176, p = 0.043, and OR 3.243, p = 0.001, respectively). After PSM, there were no differences in intraoperative blood transfusion or postoperative complication rates between the IPM and no IPM groups. Neither did we observe any differences in the subgroup analysis for cirrhotic patients. Postoperative serum liver function tests were not affected by the use of IPM.
Conclusions: Based on our findings, we conclude that the use of IPM in minimally invasive liver resection is safe and feasible for patients with HCC, including those with compensated liver cirrhosis
Higgs as a pseudo-Goldstone boson, the mu problem and gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking
We study the interplay between the spontaneous breaking of a global symmetry
of the Higgs sector and gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking, in the framework
of a supersymmetric model with global SU(3) symmetry. In addition to solving
the supersymmetric flavour problem and alleviating the little hierarchy
problem, this scenario automatically triggers the breaking of the global
symmetry and provides an elegant solution to the mu/Bmu problem of gauge
mediation. We study in detail the processes of global symmetry and electroweak
symmetry breaking, including the contributions of the top/stop and gauge-Higgs
sectors to the one-loop effective potential of the pseudo-Goldstone Higgs
boson. While the joint effect of supersymmetry and of the global symmetry
allows in principle the electroweak symmetry to be broken with little
fine-tuning, the simplest version of the model fails to bring the Higgs mass
above the LEP bound due to a suppressed tree-level quartic coupling. To cure
this problem, we consider the possibility of additional SU(3)-breaking
contributions to the Higgs potential, which results in a moderate fine-tuning.
The model predicts a rather low messenger scale, a small tan beta value, a
light Higgs boson with Standard Model-like properties, and heavy higgsinos.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures. New section 3.3 on the mu/Bmu problem, more
detailed analytic computation in section 4.1, error in Fig. 5 corrected,
significant redactional changes (including abstract, introduction and
conclusion) in order to better emphasize the main results of the paper. Title
changed in journal. Final version to appear in Eur. Phys. J.
Special topic: The association between pulse ingredients and canine dilated cardiomyopathy: addressing the knowledge gaps before establishing causation.
In July 2018, the Food and Drug Administration warned about a possible relationship between dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs and the consumption of dog food formulated with potatoes and pulse ingredients. This issue may impede utilization of pulse ingredients in dog food or consideration of alternative proteins. Pulse ingredients have been used in the pet food industry for over 2 decades and represent a valuable source of protein to compliment animal-based ingredients. Moreover, individual ingredients used in commercial foods do not represent the final nutrient concentration of the complete diet. Thus, nutritionists formulating dog food must balance complementary ingredients to fulfill the animal's nutrient needs in the final diet. There are multiple factors that should be considered, including differences in nutrient digestibility and overall bioavailability, the fermentability and quantity of fiber, and interactions among food constituents that can increase the risk of DCM development. Taurine is a dispensable amino acid that has been linked to DCM in dogs. As such, adequate supply of taurine and/or precursors for taurine synthesis plays an important role in preventing DCM. However, requirements of amino acids in dogs are not well investigated and are presented in total dietary content basis which does not account for bioavailability or digestibility. Similarly, any nutrient (e.g., soluble and fermentable fiber) or physiological condition (e.g., size of the dog, sex, and age) that increases the requirement for taurine will also augment the possibility for DCM development. Dog food formulators should have a deep knowledge of processing methodologies and nutrient interactions beyond meeting the Association of American Feed Control Officials nutrient profiles and should not carelessly follow unsubstantiated market trends. Vegetable ingredients, including pulses, are nutritious and can be used in combination with complementary ingredients to meet the nutritional needs of the dog
Supersymmetric top and bottom squark production at hadron colliders
The scalar partners of top and bottom quarks are expected to be the lightest
squarks in supersymmetric theories, with potentially large cross sections at
hadron colliders. We present predictions for the production of top and bottom
squarks at the Tevatron and the LHC, including next-to-leading order
corrections in supersymmetric QCD and the resummation of soft gluon emission at
next-to-leading-logarithmic accuracy. We discuss the impact of the higher-order
corrections on total cross sections and transverse-momentum distributions, and
provide an estimate of the theoretical uncertainty due to scale variation and
the parton distribution functions.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figure
Das Modell der Datentreuhand in der medizinischen Forschung
Der Konflikt zwischen Datenschutz und Forschungsfreiheit ist so alt wie das Datenschutzrecht selbst. In vielen FĂ€llen wird Datenschutz als ein Hemmschuh fĂŒr die Forschung wahrgenommen, gerade auch im Bereich der medizinischen Forschung. Ein aktuell viel diskutierter Lösungsansatz, diesen Konflikt zu entschĂ€rfen, ist das Modell der Datentreuhand. Ob und wie ein solches Modell nutzbar gemacht werden kann, um fĂŒr die medizinische Forschung einen leichteren und groĂzĂŒgigeren Zugang zu personenbezogenen Daten zu eröffnen, soll im Folgenden erörtert werden
Sensor Artificial Intelligence and its Application to Space Systems - A White Paper
A white paper resulting from the 1st Workshop on Sensor AI, April 2020; organized by DLR and the ECDF.Information and communication technologies have accompanied our everyday life for years. A steadily increasing number of computers, cameras, mobile devices, etc. generate more and more data, but at the same time we realize that the data can only partially be analyzed with classical approaches. The research and development of methods based on artificial intelligence (AI) made enormous progress in the area of interpretability of data in recent years. With growing experience, both, the potential and limitations of these new technologies are increasingly better understood. Typically, AI approaches start with the data from which information and directions for action are derived. However, the circumstances under which such data are collected and how they change over time are rarely considered. A closer look at the sensors and their physical properties within AI approaches will lead to more robust and widely applicable algorithms. This holistic approach which considers entire signal chains from the origin to a data product, "Sensor AI", is a highly relevant topic with great potential. It will play a decisive role in autonomous driving as well as in areas of automated production, predictive maintenance or space research. The goal of this white paper is to establish "Sensor AI" as a dedicated research topic. We want to exchange knowledge on the current state-of-the-art on Sensor AI, to identify synergies among research groups and thus boost the collaboration in this key technology for science and industry
ABCB1 (MDR1) polymorphisms and ovarian cancer progression and survival: A comprehensive analysis from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium and The Cancer Genome Atlas
<b>Objective</b>
<i>ABCB1</i> encodes the multi-drug efflux pump P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and has been implicated in multi-drug resistance. We comprehensively evaluated this gene and flanking regions for an association with clinical outcome in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC).<p></p>
<b>Methods</b>
The best candidates from fine-mapping analysis of 21 <i>ABCB1</i> SNPs tagging C1236T (rs1128503), G2677T/A (rs2032582), and C3435T (rs1045642) were analysed in 4616 European invasive EOC patients from thirteen Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC) studies and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Additionally we analysed 1,562 imputed SNPs around ABCB1 in patients receiving cytoreductive surgery and either âstandardâ first-line paclitaxelâcarboplatin chemotherapy (n = 1158) or any first-line chemotherapy regimen (n = 2867). We also evaluated ABCB1 expression in primary tumours from 143 EOC patients.<p></p>
<b>Result</b>
Fine-mapping revealed that rs1128503, rs2032582, and rs1045642 were the best candidates in optimally debulked patients. However, we observed no significant association between any SNP and either progression-free survival or overall survival in analysis of data from 14 studies. There was a marginal association between rs1128503 and overall survival in patients with nil residual disease (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.77â1.01; p = 0.07). In contrast, <i>ABCB1</i> expression in the primary tumour may confer worse prognosis in patients with sub-optimally debulked tumours.<p></p>
<b>Conclusion</b>
Our study represents the largest analysis of <i>ABCB1</i> SNPs and EOC progression and survival to date, but has not identified additional signals, or validated reported associations with progression-free survival for rs1128503, rs2032582, and rs1045642. However, we cannot rule out the possibility of a subtle effect of rs1128503, or other SNPs linked to it, on overall survival.<p></p>
Bridging the rodent to human translational gap: Marmosets as model systems for the study of Alzheimer\u27s disease.
INTRODUCTION: Our limited understanding of the mechanisms that trigger the emergence of Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) has contributed to the lack of interventions that stop, prevent, or fully treat this disease. We believe that the development of a non-human primate model of AD will be an essential step toward overcoming limitations of other model systems and is crucial for investigating primate-specific mechanisms underlying the cellular and molecular root causes of the pathogenesis and progression of AD.
METHODS: A new consortium has been established with funding support from the National Institute on Aging aimed at the generation, characterization, and validation of Marmosets As Research Models of AD (MARMO-AD). This consortium will study gene-edited marmoset models carrying genetic risk for AD and wild-type genetically diverse aging marmosets from birth throughout their lifespan, using non-invasive longitudinal assessments. These include characterizing the genetic, molecular, functional, behavioral, cognitive, and pathological features of aging and AD.
RESULTS: The consortium successfully generated viable founders carrying
DISCUSSION: By establishing marmoset models of AD, we will be able to investigate primate-specific cellular and molecular root causes that underlie the pathogenesis and progression of AD, overcome limitations of other model organisms, and support future translational studies to accelerate the pace of bringing therapies to patients
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