The effectiveness of early lens extraction with intraocular lens implantation for the treatment of primary angle-closure glaucoma (EAGLE) : study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Genetic parameters and selection strategies for soybean genotypes resistant to the stink bug-complex

Soybean genotypes resistant to stink bugs are derived from complex breeding processes obtained through indirect selection. The aim of the present work was to estimate genetic parameters for guiding selection strategies towards resistant genotypes, based on those traits associated with responses to pod-attacking stink bugs, such as the grain filling period (GFP), leaf retention (LR), percentage index of pod damage (PIPD) and percentage of spotted seeds (PSS). We assessed the parental lines IAC-100 (resistant) and FT-Estrela (susceptible), the progenies F2 and F 4 , 30 progenies F 2:3 , 30 progenies BC 1 F 2:3 and 30 progenies BC 2 F 2:3 , besides the cultivars BRS Celeste and MGBR-46 (Conquista). Three field experiments, using randomized complete block design with three replications, were installed in Goiânia-GO, in the 2002/03 season. Each experiment consisted of 36 treatments (6 common and 30 regular). Heritability estimates were: 74.6 and 36.1 (GFP); 51.9 and 19.9 (LR); 49.6 and 49.6 (PIPD) and 55.8 and 20.3 (PSS), in both the broad and narrow senses, respectively. Based on these results, we concluded that the best strategy for obtaining stink bug-resistant genotypes consists of selecting the PIPD trait in early generations (F 3 or F 4 ), followed by selection for the GFP, LR and PSS traits in generations with higher endogamy levels

Studying Fake News via Network Analysis: Detection and Mitigation

Social media for news consumption is becoming increasingly popular due to its easy access, fast dissemination, and low cost. However, social media also enable the wide propagation of "fake news", i.e., news with intentionally false information. Fake news on social media poses significant negative societal effects, and also presents unique challenges. To tackle the challenges, many existing works exploit various features, from a network perspective, to detect and mitigate fake news. In essence, news dissemination ecosystem involves three dimensions on social media, i.e., a content dimension, a social dimension, and a temporal dimension. In this chapter, we will review network properties for studying fake news, introduce popular network types and how these networks can be used to detect and mitigation fake news on social media.Comment: Submitted as a invited book chapter in Lecture Notes in Social Networks, Springer Pres

Can a total knee arthroplasty be both rotationally unconstrained and anteroposteriorly stabilised? A pulsed fluoroscopic investigation

Objectives: Throughout the 20th Century, it has been postulated that the knee moves on the basis of a four-bar link mechanism composed of the cruciate ligaments, the femur and the tibia. As a consequence, the femur has been thought to roll back with flexion, and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) prostheses have been designed on this basis. Recent work, however, has proposed that at a position of between 0° and 120° the medial femoral condyle does not move anteroposteriorly whereas the lateral femoral condyle tends, but is not obliged, to roll back - a combination of movements which equates to tibial internal/femoral external rotation with flexion. The aim of this paper was to assess if the articular geometry of the GMK Sphere TKA could recreate the natural knee movements in situ/in vivo. Methods: The pattern of knee movement was studied in 15 patients (six male: nine female; one male with bilateral TKAs) with 16 GMK Sphere implants, at a mean age of 66 years (53 to 76) with a mean BMI of 30 kg/m2 (20 to 35). The motions of all 16 knees were observed using pulsed fluoroscopy during a number of weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing static and dynamic activities. Results: During maximally flexed kneeling and lunging activities, the mean tibial internal rotation was 8° (standard deviation (SD) 6). At a mean 112° flexion (SD 16) during lunging, the medial and lateral condyles were a mean of 2 mm (SD 3) and 8 mm (SD 4) posterior to a transverse line passing through the centre of the medial tibial concavity. With a mean flexion of 117° (SD 14) during kneeling, the medial and lateral condyles were a mean of 1 mm (SD 4) anterior and 6 mm (SD 4) posterior to the same line. During dynamic stair and pivoting activities, there was a mean anteroposterior translation of 0 mm to 2 mm of the medial femoral condyle. Backward lateral condylar translation occurred and was linearly related to tibial rotation. Conclusion: The GMK Sphere TKA in our study group shows movements similar in pattern, although reduced in magnitude, to those in recent reports relating to normal knees during several activities. Specifically, little or no translation of the medial femoral condyle was observed during flexion, but there was posterior roll-back of the lateral femoral condyle, equating to tibiofemoral rotation. We conclude that the GMK Sphere is anteroposteriorly stable medially and permits rotation about the medial compartment

How Digital Are the Digital Humanities? An Analysis of Two Scholarly Blogging Platforms

In this paper we compare two academic networking platforms, HASTAC and Hypotheses, to show the distinct ways in which they serve specific communities in the Digital Humanities (DH) in different national and disciplinary contexts. After providing background information on both platforms, we apply co-word analysis and topic modeling to show thematic similarities and differences between the two sites, focusing particularly on how they frame DH as a new paradigm in humanities research. We encounter a much higher ratio of posts using humanities-related terms compared to their digital counterparts, suggesting a one-way dependency of digital humanities-related terms on the corresponding unprefixed labels. The results also show that the terms digital archive, digital literacy, and digital pedagogy are relatively independent from the respective unprefixed terms, and that digital publishing, digital libraries, and digital media show considerable cross-pollination between the specialization and the general noun. The topic modeling reproduces these findings and reveals further differences between the two platforms. Our findings also indicate local differences in how the emerging field of DH is conceptualized and show dynamic topical shifts inside these respective contexts

Common Variants at 10 Genomic Loci Influence Hemoglobin A(1C) Levels via Glycemic and Nonglycemic Pathways

OBJECTIVE-Glycated hemoglobin (HbA(1c)), used to monitor and diagnose diabetes, is influenced by average glycemia over a 2- to 3-month period. Genetic factors affecting expression, turnover, and abnormal glycation of hemoglobin could also be associated with increased levels of HbA(1c). We aimed to identify such genetic factors and investigate the extent to which they influence diabetes classification based on HbA(1c) levels.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS-We studied associations with HbA(1c) in up to 46,368 nondiabetic adults of European descent from 23 genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and 8 cohorts with de novo genotyped single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We combined studies using inverse-variance meta-analysis and tested mediation by glycemia using conditional analyses. We estimated the global effect of HbA(1c) loci using a multilocus risk score, and used net reclassification to estimate genetic effects on diabetes screening.RESULTS-Ten loci reached genome-wide significant association with HbA(1c), including six new loci near FN3K (lead SNP/P value, rs1046896/P = 1.6 x 10(-26)), HFE (rs1800562/P = 2.6 x 10(-20)), TMPRSS6 (rs855791/P = 2.7 x 10(-14)), ANK1 (rs4737009/P = 6.1 x 10(-12)), SPTA1 (rs2779116/P = 2.8 x 10(-9)) and ATP11A/TUBGCP3 (rs7998202/P = 5.2 x 10(-9)), and four known HbA(1c) loci: HK1 (rs16926246/P = 3.1 x 10(-54)), MTNR1B (rs1387153/P = 4.0 X 10(-11)), GCK (rs1799884/P = 1.5 x 10(-20)) and G6PC2/ABCB11 (rs552976/P = 8.2 x 10(-18)). We show that associations with HbA(1c) are partly a function of hyperglycemia associated with 3 of the 10 loci (GCK, G6PC2 and MTNR1B). The seven nonglycemic loci accounted for a 0.19 (%HbA(1c)) difference between the extreme 10% tails of the risk score, and would reclassify similar to 2% of a general white population screened for diabetes with HbA(1c).CONCLUSIONS-GWAS identified 10 genetic loci reproducibly associated with HbA(1c). Six are novel and seven map to loci where rarer variants cause hereditary anemias and iron storage disorders. Common variants at these loci likely influence HbA(1c) levels via erythrocyte biology, and confer a small but detectable reclassification of diabetes diagnosis by HbA(1c) Diabetes 59: 3229-3239, 201

Autoimmune and autoinflammatory mechanisms in uveitis

The eye, as currently viewed, is neither immunologically ignorant nor sequestered from the systemic environment. The eye utilises distinct immunoregulatory mechanisms to preserve tissue and cellular function in the face of immune-mediated insult; clinically, inflammation following such an insult is termed uveitis. The intra-ocular inflammation in uveitis may be clinically obvious as a result of infection (e.g. toxoplasma, herpes), but in the main infection, if any, remains covert. We now recognise that healthy tissues including the retina have regulatory mechanisms imparted by control of myeloid cells through receptors (e.g. CD200R) and soluble inhibitory factors (e.g. alpha-MSH), regulation of the blood retinal barrier, and active immune surveillance. Once homoeostasis has been disrupted and inflammation ensues, the mechanisms to regulate inflammation, including T cell apoptosis, generation of Treg cells, and myeloid cell suppression in situ, are less successful. Why inflammation becomes persistent remains unknown, but extrapolating from animal models, possibilities include differential trafficking of T cells from the retina, residency of CD8(+) T cells, and alterations of myeloid cell phenotype and function. Translating lessons learned from animal models to humans has been helped by system biology approaches and informatics, which suggest that diseased animals and people share similar changes in T cell phenotypes and monocyte function to date. Together the data infer a possible cryptic infectious drive in uveitis that unlocks and drives persistent autoimmune responses, or promotes further innate immune responses. Thus there may be many mechanisms in common with those observed in autoinflammatory disorders

New genetic loci implicated in fasting glucose homeostasis and their impact on type 2 diabetes risk.

Levels of circulating glucose are tightly regulated. To identify new loci influencing glycemic traits, we performed meta-analyses of 21 genome-wide association studies informative for fasting glucose, fasting insulin and indices of beta-cell function (HOMA-B) and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in up to 46,186 nondiabetic participants. Follow-up of 25 loci in up to 76,558 additional subjects identified 16 loci associated with fasting glucose and HOMA-B and two loci associated with fasting insulin and HOMA-IR. These include nine loci newly associated with fasting glucose (in or near ADCY5, MADD, ADRA2A, CRY2, FADS1, GLIS3, SLC2A2, PROX1 and C2CD4B) and one influencing fasting insulin and HOMA-IR (near IGF1). We also demonstrated association of ADCY5, PROX1, GCK, GCKR and DGKB-TMEM195 with type 2 diabetes. Within these loci, likely biological candidate genes influence signal transduction, cell proliferation, development, glucose-sensing and circadian regulation. Our results demonstrate that genetic studies of glycemic traits can identify type 2 diabetes risk loci, as well as loci containing gene variants that are associated with a modest elevation in glucose levels but are not associated with overt diabetes