Removing Barriers, Integrating Research, Spreading Excellence: The European Satellite Communications Network of Excellence "SatNEx"

Within the recently launched 6th Research Framework Programme of the European Commission, 21 major players in satellite communications research have joined forces to implement the European Satellite Communications Network of Excellence (SatNEx). The primary goal of SatNEx is to achieve long-lasting integration of the European research in satellite communication and to develop a common base of knowledge, thus contributing to the realization of the European Research Area. This paper discusses the background and motivation for implementation of the network and highlights the SatNEx mission and key objectives. A top-level overview is then provided including a description of the consortium, the Joint Programme of Activities (JPA) and the time schedule with deliverables and milestones. Finally, an update of ongoing work is presented

Characterizing early drug resistance-related events using geometric ensembles from HIV protease dynamics:

The use of antiretrovirals (ARVs) has drastically improved the life quality and expectancy of HIV patients since their introduction in health care. Several millions are still afflicted worldwide by HIV and ARV resistance is a constant concern for both healthcare practitioners and patients, as while treatment options are finite, the virus constantly adapts via complex mutation patterns to select for resistant strains under the pressure of drug treatment. The HIV protease is a crucial enzyme for viral maturation and has been a game changing drug target since the first application. Due to similarities in protease inhibitor designs, drug cross-resistance is not uncommon across ARVs of the same class

Effects of Post-Resuscitation Treatment with N-acetylcysteine on Cardiac Recovery in Hypoxic Newborn Piglets

AIMS: Although N-acetylcysteine (NAC) can decrease reactive oxygen species and improve myocardial recovery after ischemia/hypoxia in various acute animal models, little is known regarding its long-term effect in neonatal subjects. We investigated whether NAC provides prolonged protective effect on hemodynamics and oxidative stress using a surviving swine model of neonatal asphyxia. METHODS AND RESULTS: Newborn piglets were anesthetized and acutely instrumented for measurement of systemic hemodynamics and oxygen transport. Animals were block-randomized into a sham-operated group (without hypoxia-reoxygenation [H-R, n = 6]) and two H-R groups (2 h normocapnic alveolar hypoxia followed by 48 h reoxygenation, n = 8/group). All piglets were acidotic and in cardiogenic shock after hypoxia. At 5 min after reoxygenation, piglets were given either saline or NAC (intravenous 150 mg/kg bolus + 20 mg/kg/h infusion) via for 24 h in a blinded, randomized fashion. Both cardiac index and stroke volume of H-R controls remained lower than the pre-hypoxic values throughout recovery. Treating the piglets with NAC significantly improved cardiac index, stroke volume and systemic oxygen delivery to levels not different from those of sham-operated piglets. Accompanied with the hemodynamic improvement, NAC-treated piglets had significantly lower plasma cardiac troponin-I, myocardial lipid hydroperoxides, activated caspase-3 and lactate levels (vs. H-R controls). The change in cardiac index after H-R correlated with myocardial lipid hydroperoxides, caspase-3 and lactate levels (all p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Post-resuscitation administration of NAC reduces myocardial oxidative stress and caused a prolonged improvement in cardiac function and in newborn piglets with H-R insults

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

Genome-wide association study of lung adenocarcinoma in East Asia and comparison with a European population

Lung adenocarcinoma is the most common type of lung cancer. Known risk variants explain only a small fraction of lung adenocarcinoma heritability. Here, we conducted a two-stage genome-wide association study of lung adenocarcinoma of East Asian ancestry (21,658 cases and 150,676 controls; 54.5% never-smokers) and identified 12 novel susceptibility variants, bringing the total number to 28 at 25 independent loci. Transcriptome-wide association analyses together with colocalization studies using a Taiwanese lung expression quantitative trait loci dataset (n = 115) identified novel candidate genes, including FADS1 at 11q12 and ELF5 at 11p13. In a multi-ancestry meta-analysis of East Asian and European studies, four loci were identified at 2p11, 4q32, 16q23, and 18q12. At the same time, most of our findings in East Asian populations showed no evidence of association in European populations. In our studies drawn from East Asian populations, a polygenic risk score based on the 25 loci had a stronger association in never-smokers vs. individuals with a history of smoking (P interaction  = 0.0058). These findings provide new insights into the etiology of lung adenocarcinoma in individuals from East Asian populations, which could be important in developing translational applications

Genome-wide association study of lung adenocarcinoma in East Asia and comparison with a European population.

Lung adenocarcinoma is the most common type of lung cancer. Known risk variants explain only a small fraction of lung adenocarcinoma heritability. Here, we conducted a two-stage genome-wide association study of lung adenocarcinoma of East Asian ancestry (21,658 cases and 150,676 controls; 54.5% never-smokers) and identified 12 novel susceptibility variants, bringing the total number to 28 at 25 independent loci. Transcriptome-wide association analyses together with colocalization studies using a Taiwanese lung expression quantitative trait loci dataset (n = 115) identified novel candidate genes, including FADS1 at 11q12 and ELF5 at 11p13. In a multi-ancestry meta-analysis of East Asian and European studies, four loci were identified at 2p11, 4q32, 16q23, and 18q12. At the same time, most of our findings in East Asian populations showed no evidence of association in European populations. In our studies drawn from East Asian populations, a polygenic risk score based on the 25 loci had a stronger association in never-smokers vs. individuals with a history of smoking (Pinteraction = 0.0058). These findings provide new insights into the etiology of lung adenocarcinoma in individuals from East Asian populations, which could be important in developing translational applications

Removing Barriers, Integrating Research, Spreading Excellence: The European Satellite Communications Network of Excellence "SatNEx"

Within the broad field of communications, satellites are successfully used for broadcast, mobile, and broadband communication. They play an important role for the competitiveness of the European Union (EU) in the field of communication technologies and support the autonomy of Europe in space matters. Beside the players in the US and Asia, European space industry, satellite operators and space-related organizations constitute a world leading force. Europe has always retained a major presence in both manufacturing satellites (Alcatel, EADS/Astrium, Alenia Aerospazio, . . . ) as well as launching and operating satellites (Arianespace, . . . ) and providing satellite services (SES Global, Eutelsat, Inmarsat, . . . ). Satellite communications has been an area in the satellite field that has been commercially successful so far and this has been helped and pump primed by the research and development (R&D) programs of the European Space Agency (ESA) and by the EU framework programmes. European research carried out a large number of successful activities in satellite communications (ESA and EU projects, European co-operation in the field of scientific and technical research (COST) actions1, the task force on advanced satellite mobile systems (ASMS-TF), etc.). Their efforts have made it possible to create a solid industrial base and to give Europe recognized capabilities and capacities. However, these actions show only limited collaboration and lack of critical mass. Compared to the leading power in space, the United States, where the use of space systems is not only a technological instrument, but a strategic, political and economic instrument guaranteeing the American leadership, Europe in the past has shown only limited interest in developing a common European approach to put its resources together and cooperate intensively even without the support from ESA. In latter years, satellite communications has been viewed as a mature area that is more the responsibility of industry and commerce and less that of the R&D agencies. This has resulted in reduced staff support for R&D in the area in preference to the science and navigation/positioning areas. At the same time we have seen a rationalization of the industrial business due to economic pressures manifested in mergers of the large industrial companies both within Europe and globally. The growth has been in the smaller and medium size companies that have sprung up in abundance in the applications and services area

An objective method to characterize moisture management properties of disposable diapers

This study provides an objective test method to characterize the dynamic moisture management properties of disposable diapers by the Moisture Management Tester (MMT), which is developed to evaluate moisture transport properties of textiles in multi-directions. The MMT device can record the textile liquid transfer process dynamically and quantitatively, and the result is displayed by the figure of the moisture content change with test time elapsing. Six indices are specially extracted from the measurement curves, and five of them are selected finally to describe and predict the liquid moisture transfer properties of diapers more effectively. Moreover, measurement results showed that, except the pump time to the index of wetting time, all of the defined indices have significant correlation with diaper types and the liquid pump time level, and the extracted indices are sensitive enough to the variance of diaper types and pump time level. Therefore, the objective test method with MMT and the extracted indices can be used to characterize the moisture management properties of disposable diapers.Institute of Textiles and Clothin

Removing Barriers, Integrating Research, Spreading Excellence: the European Satellite Communications Network of Excellence "SatNEx"

Within the recently launched 6th research framework programme of the European Commission, 21 major players in satellite communications have joinde forces to implement the European satellite communications network of excellence (SatNEx). The primary goal of SatNEx is to achieve long-lasting integration of the European research in satellite communication. This paper discusses the motivation for implementation of the network and highlights the SatNEx mission and key objectives. A top-level overview is provided including a description the consortium and the joint programme of activities (JPA). Finally, an update of ongoing work is presented