Evaluation of colony losses in Israel in relation to the incidence of pathogens and pests

To evaluate symptoms, extent, and possible causes of colony decline and losses in Israel, we carried out (1) a survey of honeybee colony losses and potential causes via mail and phone; (2) systematic sampling of healthy and problematic beehives after requeening in the winter; (3) detection of Varroa and pathogens including, viruses and Nosema ceranae, by microbiological means and sensitive RT-PCR. From 58 beekeepers (46000 colonies) interviewed, 40% complained of extensive colony loses during 2008. Examination and sampling for pests and pathogens of 113 hives in the winter of 2009 showed 35% of hives with Nosema and 21% with V. destructor. The most frequent viruses detected were Black Queen Cell Virus, Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, and Deformed Wing Virus. A significant negative correlation was found between worker population in the hive and the presence of viral and Nosema infections

Whole-genome single-cell copy number profiling from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples

A substantial proportion of tumors consist of genotypically distinct subpopulations of cancer cells. This intratumor genetic heterogeneity poses a substantial challenge for the implementation of precision medicine. Single-cell genomics constitutes a powerful approach to resolve complex mixtures of cancer cells by tracing cell lineages and discovering cryptic genetic variations that would otherwise be obscured in tumor bulk analyses. Because of the chemical alterations that result from formalin fixation, single-cell genomic approaches have largely remained limited to fresh or rapidly frozen specimens. Here we describe the development and validation of a robust and accurate methodology to perform whole-genome copy-number profiling of single nuclei obtained from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded clinical tumor samples. We applied the single-cell sequencing approach described here to study the progression from in situ to invasive breast cancer, which revealed that ductal carcinomas in situ show intratumor genetic heterogeneity at diagnosis and that these lesions may progress to invasive breast cancer through a variety of evolutionary processes

Common variation near CDKN1A, POLD3 and SHROOM2 influences colorectal cancer risk

We performed a meta-analysis of five genome-wide association studies to identify common variants influencing colorectal cancer (CRC) risk comprising 8,682 cases and 9,649 controls. Replication analysis was performed in case-control sets totaling 21,096 cases and 19,555 controls. We identified three new CRC risk loci at 6p21 (rs1321311, near CDKN1A; P = 1.14 × 10 -10), 11q13.4 (rs3824999, intronic to POLD3; P = 3.65 × 10 -10) and Xp22.2 (rs5934683, near SHROOM2; P = 7.30 × 10 -10) This brings the number of independent loci associated with CRC risk to 20 and provides further insight into the genetic architecture of inherited susceptibility to CRC.</p

Outcomes in Newly Diagnosed Atrial Fibrillation and History of Acute Coronary Syndromes: Insights from GARFIELD-AF

BACKGROUND: Many patients with atrial fibrillation have concomitant coronary artery disease with or without acute coronary syndromes and are in need of additional antithrombotic therapy. There are few data on the long-term clinical outcome of atrial fibrillation patients with a history of acute coronary syndrome. This is a 2-year study of atrial fibrillation patients with or without a history of acute coronary syndromes