255 research outputs found
A 22-single nucleotide polymorphism Alzheimer's disease risk score correlates with family history, onset age, and cerebrospinal fluid Aβ42
Introduction: The ability to identify individuals at increased genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) may streamline biomarker and drug trials and aid clinical and personal decision making.
Methods: We evaluated the discriminative ability of a genetic risk score (GRS) covering 22 published genetic risk loci forADin 1162 Flanders-BelgianADpatients and 1019 controls and assessed correlations with family history, onset age, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers (A beta(1-42), T-Tau, P-Tau(181P)).
Results: A GRS including all single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and age-specific APOE epsilon 4 weights reached area under the curve (AUC) 0.70, which increased to AUC 0.78 for patients with familial predisposition. Risk of AD increased with GRS (odds ratio, 2.32 (95% confidence interval 2.08-2.58 per unit; P < 1.0e(-15)). Onset age and CSF Ab1-42 decreased with increasing GRS (P-onset_age 5 9.0e(-11); P-A beta = 8.9e(-7)).
Discussion: The discriminative ability of this 22-SNP GRS is still limited, but these data illustrate that incorporation of age-specific weights improves discriminative ability. GRS-phenotype correlations highlight the feasibility of identifying individuals at highest susceptibility. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the Alzheimer's Association
Role of Excess Bi on the Properties and Performance of BiFeO<sub>3</sub> Thin-Film Photocathodes
BiFeO3 (BFO) has recently been identified as a promising photocathode material for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting due to its light absorption and photoelectrochemical properties. The performance-limiting factors, in particular the impact of stoichiometry on the performance, still need to be understood. The effect of the ratio of Bi/Fe in the precursor solution for sol-gel synthesis on the properties and performance of BFO thin films is investigated in this study. Thin films with a stoichiometric Bi/Fe ratio and with a 10% excess of Bi are prepared on fluorine-doped tin-oxide substrates. While bulk characterization techniques show the formation of phase-pure BFO, surface characterization techniques indicate Bi enrichment on the surface. Light absorption and band gap do not change with excess Bi, whereas the current density is two times higher for Bi excess films compared to stoichiometric films at 0.6 V vs RHE. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy attributes this improved performance of excess Bi thin films to a lower recombination rate and a lower charge transfer resistance. The lower recombination rate is attributed to fewer Bi and O vacancies, which can act as recombination centers. Therefore, adjusting the Bi/Fe ratio is an effective strategy to enhance the PEC performance of BFO photocathodes.</p
Proposed on-line aerosol analysis combining size determination, laser-induced fragmentation and time-of-flight mass spectroscopy
Comparative interactomics analysis of different ALS-associated proteins identifies converging molecular pathways
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating
neurological disease with no effective treatment
available. An increasing number of genetic causes of ALS
are being identified, but how these genetic defects lead to
motor neuron degeneration and to which extent they affect
common cellular pathways remains incompletely understood.
To address these questions, we performed an interactomic
analysis to identify binding partners of wild-type
(WT) and ALS-associated mutant versions of ATXN2,
C9orf72, FUS, OPTN, TDP-43 and UBQLN2 in neuronal
cells. This analysis identified several known but also many
novel binding partners of these proteins
Extraction of Dzyaloshinksii-Moriya interaction from propagating spin waves validated
The interfacial Dzyaloshinksii-Moriya interaction (iDMI) is of great interest
in thin-film magnetism because of its ability to stabilize chiral spin
textures. It can be quantified by investigating the frequency non-reciprocity
of oppositely propagating spin waves. However, as the iDMI is an interface
interaction the relative effect reduces when the films become thicker making
quantification more difficult. Here, we utilize all-electrical Propagating Spin
Wave Spectroscopy (PSWS) to disentangle multiple contributions to spin wave
frequency non-reciprocity to determine the iDMI. This is done by investigating
non-reciprocities across a wide range of magnetic layer thicknesses (from 4 to
26 nm) in Pt/Co/Ir, Pt/Co/Pt, and Ir/Co/Pt stacks. We find the expected sign
change in the iDMI when inverting the stack order, and a negligible iDMI for
the symmetric Pt/Co/Pt. We additionally extract a difference in surface
anisotropies and find a large contribution due to the formation of different
crystalline phases of the Co, which is corroborated using nuclear magnetic
resonance and high-resolution transmission-electron-microscopy measurements.
These insights will open up new avenues to investigate, quantify and
disentangle the fundamental mechanisms governing the iDMI, and pave a way
towards engineered large spin-wave non-reciprocities for magnonic applications.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure
Long-term mesh erosion rate following abdominal robotic reconstructive pelvic floor surgery:a prospective study and overview of the literature
Introduction and hypothesis: The use of synthetic mesh in transvaginal pelvic floor surgery has been subject to debate internationally. Although mesh erosion appears to be less associated with an abdominal approach, the long-term outcome has not been studied intensively. This study was set up to determine the long-term mesh erosion rate following abdominal pelvic reconstructive surgery. Methods: A prospective, observational cohort study was conducted in a tertiary care setting. All consecutive female patients who underwent robot-assisted laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy and sacrocolporectopexy in 2011 and 2012 were included. Primary outcome was mesh erosion. Preoperative and postoperative evaluation (6 weeks, 1 year, 5 years) with a clinical examination and questionnaire regarding pelvic floor symptoms was performed. Mesh-related complications were assessed using a transparent vaginal speculum, proctoscopy, and digital vaginal and rectal examination. Kaplan–Meier estimates were calculated for mesh erosion. A review of the literature on mesh exposure after minimally invasive sacrocolpopexy was performed (≥12 months’ follow-up). Results: Ninety-six of the 130 patients included (73.8%) were clinically examined. Median follow-up time was 48.1 months (range 36.0–62.1). Three mesh erosions were diagnosed (3.1%; Kaplan–Meier 4.9%, 95% confidence interval 0–11.0): one bladder erosion for which mesh resection and an omental patch interposition were performed, and two asymptomatic vaginal erosions (at 42.7 and 42.3 months) treated with estrogen cream in one. Additionally, 22 patients responded solely by questionnaire and/or telephone; none reported mesh-related complaints. The literature, mostly based on retrospective studies, described a median mesh erosion rate of 1.9% (range 0–13.3%). Conclusions: The long-term rate of mesh erosion following an abdominally placed synthetic graft is low
Low Surface Recombination in Hexagonal SiGe Alloy Nanowires:Implications for SiGe-Based Nanolasers
Monolithic integration of silicon-based electronics and photonics could open the door toward many opportunities including on-chip optical data communication and large-scale application of light-based sensing devices in healthcare and automotive; by some, it is considered the Holy Grail of silicon photonics. The monolithic integration is, however, severely hampered by the inability of Si to efficiently emit light. Recently, important progress has been made by the demonstration of efficient light emission from direct-bandgap hexagonal SiGe (hex-SiGe) alloy nanowires. For this promising material, realized by employing a nanowire structure, many challenges and open questions remain before a large-scale application can be realized. Considering that for other direct-bandgap materials like GaAs, surface recombination can be a true bottleneck, one of the open questions is the importance of surface recombination for the photoluminescence efficiency of this new material. In this work, temperature-dependent photoluminescence measurements were performed on both hex-Ge and hex-SiGe nanowires with and without surface passivation schemes that have been well documented and proven effective on cubic silicon and germanium to elucidate whether and to what extent the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of the wires can be improved. Additionally, time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) measurements were performed on unpassivated hex-SiGe nanowires as a function of their diameter. The dependence of the surface recombination on the SiGe composition could, however, not be yet addressed given the sample-to-sample variations of the state-of-the-art hex-SiGe nanowires. With the aforementioned experiments, we demonstrate that at room temperature, under high excitation conditions (a few kW cm–2), the hex-(Si)Ge surface is most likely not a bottleneck for efficient radiative emission under relatively high excitation conditions. This is an important asset for future hex(Si)Ge optoelectronic devices, specifically for nanolasers
A 22-single nucleotide polymorphism Alzheimer's disease risk score correlates with family history, onset age, and cerebrospinal fluid A beta(42)
Introduction: The ability to identify individuals at increased genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) may streamline biomarker and drug trials and aid clinical and personal decision making. Methods: We evaluated the discriminative ability of a genetic risk score (GRS) covering 22 published genetic risk loci forADin 1162 Flanders-BelgianADpatients and 1019 controls and assessed correlations with family history, onset age, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers (A beta(1-42), T-Tau, P-Tau(181P)). Results: A GRS including all single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and age-specific APOE epsilon 4 weights reached area under the curve (AUC) 0.70, which increased to AUC 0.78 for patients with familial predisposition. Risk of AD increased with GRS (odds ratio, 2.32 (95% confidence interval 2.08-2.58 per unit; P <1.0e(-15)). Onset age and CSF Ab1-42 decreased with increasing GRS (P-onset_age 5 9.0e(-11); P-A beta = 8.9e(-7)). Discussion: The discriminative ability of this 22-SNP GRS is still limited, but these data illustrate that incorporation of age-specific weights improves discriminative ability. GRS-phenotype correlations highlight the feasibility of identifying individuals at highest susceptibility. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the Alzheimer's Association. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND licens
Environmental Assessment of Soil for Monitoring Volume I: Indicators & Criteria
The ENVASSO Project (Contract 022713) was funded 2006-8, under the European Commission 6th Framework Programme of Research, with the objective of defining and documenting a soil monitoring system appropriate for soil protection at continental level. The ENVASSO Consortium, comprising 37 partners drawn from 25 EU Member States, reviewed soil indicators, identified existing soil inventories and monitoring programmes in the Member States, designed and programmed a database management system to capture, store and supply soil profile data, and drafted procedures and protocols appropriate for inclusion in a European soil monitoring network of sites that are geo-referenced and at which a qualified sampling process is or could be conducted.
Volume I, one of six describing the results of the ENVASSO Project, identifies 290 potential indicators relating to 188 key issues for the following nine threats to soil: erosion, organic matter decline, contamination, sealing, compaction, loss of biodiversity, salinisation, landslides and desertification. Sixty candidate indicators that address 27 key issues, covering all these threats, were selected on the basis of their thematic relevance, policy relevance and data availability. Baseline and threshold values are presented and detailed Fact Sheets describe three priority indicators for each soil threat.JRC.DDG.H.7-Land management and natural hazard
Muscle injury rates in professional football increase with fixture congestion: an 11-year follow-up of the UEFA Champions League injury study
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