137 research outputs found

    Mitral regurgitation as a phenotypic manifestation of nonphotosensitive trichothiodystrophy due to a splice variant in MPLKIP

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    Background: Nonphotosensitive trichothiodystrophy (TTDN) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder of neuroectodermal origin. The condition is marked by hair abnormalities, intellectual impairment, nail dystrophies and susceptibility to infections but with no UV sensitivity. Methods: We identified three consanguineous Pakistani families with varied TTDN features and used homozygosity mapping, linkage analysis, and Sanger and exome sequencing in order to identify pathogenic variants. Haplotype analysis was performed and haplotype age estimated. A splicing assay was used to validate the effect of the MPLKIP splice variant on expression. Results: Affected individuals from all families exhibit several TTDN features along with a heart-specific feature, i.e. mitral regurgitation. Exome sequencing in the probands from families ED168 and ED241 identified a homozygous splice mutation c.339 + 1G > A within MPLKIP. The same splice variant co-segregates with TTDN in a third family ED210. The MPLKIP splice variant was not found in public databases, e.g. the Exome Aggregation Consortium, and in unrelated Pakistani controls. Functional analysis of the splice variant confirmed intron retention, which leads to protein truncation and loss of a phosphorylation site. Haplotype analysis identified a 585.1-kb haplotype which includes the MPLKIP variant, supporting the existence of a founder haplotype that is estimated to be 25,900 years old. Conclusion: This study extends the allelic and phenotypic spectra of MPLKIP-related TTDN, to include a splice variant that causes cardiomyopathy as part of the TTDN phenotype

    Reversibilidade de bens na concessão do serviço telefônico fixo comutado : uma análise crítica na perspectiva da Teoria Responsiva da Regulação

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    Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Direito, Curso de Pós-Graduação em Direito, 2017.A presente dissertação investiga as possíveis consequências de mutações paradigmáticas do direito administrativo no contorno jurídico de um instituto considerado, tradicionalmente, intrínseco às concessões de serviço de telecomunicações: a reversão de bens. O estudo evidencia a relação das alterações doutrinárias dos institutos jurídicos do direito administrativo com a persistência dos bens reversíveis nas concessões de serviços de telecomunicações. Destarte, a linha investigativa do trabalho identifica se o instituto da reversibilidade de bens na concessão de serviço público de telecomunicações é, ainda, a única ou melhor forma de se atingir os fins por ele visados, em especial a continuidade do serviço. Em relação ao marco teórico, adotou-se a teoria responsiva da regulação, tal como concebida por Ian Ayres e John Braithwaite no livro Responsive Regulation: Transcending the Deregulation Debate, de 1992, e desdobramentos de pesquisas posteriores. A pesquisa inicia com investigação sobre o novo papel a ser desempenhado pela Administração Pública em sua atuação em geral e, especificamente, no âmbito regulatório. Em seguida, propõe-se a adoção da teoria responsiva da regulação como modelagem teórica adequada para conciliar uma nova forma de atuação administrativa com a proteção dos interesses públicos. Após um aprofundamento sobre as principais proposições da teoria responsiva, foram analisados a doutrina e o arcabouço normativo sobre o tema dos bens reversíveis no setor de telecomunicações, propondo-se, ao final, uma crítica à regulamentação atual e fornecendo-se uma possível modelagem que seguisse os ditames da teoria responsiva da regulação.This study investigates the possible consequences of paradigmatic changes in Administrative Law in the legal context of an institute considered, at least traditionally, intrinsic to telecommunications service in Brazil: the reversal to the public domain or to a new service provider of assets owned by the current service provider. It is intended to highlight the relationship between the doctrinal changes in the legal institutes of Administrative Law and the persistence of the reversible assets in telecommunications service. Thus, the investigative line of the work will seek to know if the institute of the reversibility of asset in public telecommunications services is still the only or the better way to achieve its goals, especially the continuity of the service, from the perspective of the theory of responsive regulation, as conceived by Ian Ayres and John Braithwaite in the book Responsive Regulation: Transcending the Deregulation Debate, 1992. The research begins with developments on the new role to be played by the Public Administration, not least in the regulatory arena. Next, the study tackles the appropriateness of the theory of responsive regulation to reconcile a new form of administrative action with the protection of public interests. After that the main propositions of the theory of responsive regulation, the doctrine and the normative framework on the subject of reversible assets in the telecommunications sector were analyzed. Finally, a critique of current state of the art of the regulation and proposals providing a possible modeling that follows the dictates of the Responsive Theory of Regulation were made

    Rare variant associations with waist-to-hip ratio in European-American and African-American women from the NHLBI-Exome Sequencing Project

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    Waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), a relative comparison of waist and hip circumferences, is an easily accessible measurement of body fat distribution, in particular central abdominal fat. A high WHR indicates more intra-abdominal fat deposition and is an established risk factor for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Recent genome-wide association studies have identified numerous common genetic loci influencing WHR, but the contributions of rare variants have not been previously reported. We investigated rare variant associations with WHR in 1510 European-American and 1186 African-American women from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-Exome Sequencing Project. Association analysis was performed on the gene level using several rare variant association methods. The strongest association was observed for rare variants in IKBKB (P=4.0 × 10−8) in European-Americans, where rare variants in this gene are predicted to decrease WHRs. The activation of the IKBKB gene is involved in inflammatory processes and insulin resistance, which may affect normal food intake and body weight and shape. Meanwhile, aggregation of rare variants in COBLL1, previously found to harbor common variants associated with WHR and fasting insulin, were nominally associated (P=2.23 × 10−4) with higher WHR in European-Americans. However, these significant results are not shared between African-Americans and European-Americans that may be due to differences in the allelic architecture of the two populations and the small sample sizes. Our study indicates that the combined effect of rare variants contribute to the inter-individual variation in fat distribution through the regulation of insulin response

    Polymorphisms of the HNF1A Gene Encoding Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor-1α are Associated with C-Reactive Protein

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    Data from the Pharmacogenomics and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease (PARC) study and the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) provide independent and confirmatory evidence for association between common polymorphisms of the HNF1A gene encoding hepatocyte nuclear factor-1α and plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration. Analyses with the use of imputation-based methods to combine genotype data from both studies and to test untyped SNPs from the HapMap database identified several SNPs within a 5 kb region of HNF1A intron 1 with the strongest evidence of association with CRP phenotype

    Association of Exome Sequences With Cardiovascular Traits among Blacks in the Jackson Heart Study

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    The correlation of null alleles with human phenotypes can provide insight into gene function in humans. In individuals of African ancestry, we set out to identify null and damaging missense variants, and test these variants for association with a range of cardiovascular phenotypes

    BioSimulators: a central registry of simulation engines and services for recommending specific tools

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    Computational models have great potential to accelerate bioscience, bioengineering, and medicine. However, it remains challenging to reproduce and reuse simulations, in part, because the numerous formats and methods for simulating various subsystems and scales remain siloed by different software tools. For example, each tool must be executed through a distinct interface. To help investigators find and use simulation tools, we developed BioSimulators (https://biosimulators.org), a central registry of the capabilities of simulation tools and consistent Python, command-line and containerized interfaces to each version of each tool. The foundation of BioSimulators is standards, such as CellML, SBML, SED-ML and the COMBINE archive format, and validation tools for simulation projects and simulation tools that ensure these standards are used consistently. To help modelers find tools for particular projects, we have also used the registry to develop recommendation services. We anticipate that BioSimulators will help modelers exchange, reproduce, and combine simulations

    Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of HDL cholesterol response to statins

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    BACKGROUND: In addition to lowering low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), statin therapy also raises high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. Inter-individual variation in HDL-C response to statins may be partially explained by genetic variation.METHODS AND RESULTS: We performed a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify variants with an effect on statin-induced high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) changes. The 123 most promising signals with p&lt;1×10(-4) from the 16 769 statin-treated participants in the first analysis stage were followed up in an independent group of 10 951 statin-treated individuals, providing a total sample size of 27 720 individuals. The only associations of genome-wide significance (p&lt;5×10(-8)) were between minor alleles at the CETP locus and greater HDL-C response to statin treatment.CONCLUSIONS: Based on results from this study that included a relatively large sample size, we suggest that CETP may be the only detectable locus with common genetic variants that influence HDL-C response to statins substantially in individuals of European descent. Although CETP is known to be associated with HDL-C, we provide evidence that this pharmacogenetic effect is independent of its association with baseline HDL-C levels.</p
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