Koder, kapital og kurerer. Nye vinkler på Kominterns hemmelige apparat

Morten Møller & Niels Erik Rosenfeldt: Codes, capital and couriers – new angles on the Comintern’s secret apparatus The article presents and analyses for the first time in a Danish context central parts of Comintern’s secret communications by radio between the headquarters in Moscow and its numerous contact points all over Europe. These radio telegrams were intercepted and decrypted by British Intelligence in the years 1934–37. The result of this effort was a collection of more than 8.000 documents, which for decades were kept secret in London. They were declassified in the years following the collapse of Communism and the Soviet Union and are now available in electronic copies in the Royal Library in Copenhagen. This comprehensive material provides a new and sounder insight into the Comintern’s international networks and communication methods in the 1930s. More than ten percent of the intercepted telegrams consist of correspondence between Moscow and the special contact point in Copenhagen. The article analyses both the political and the more “technical” directives that reached Copenhagen and other European capitals and also uncovers the intensive traffic by communist couriers, agents, etc., between the Soviet Union and Denmark during this period. In a separate section that deals with the wider courier traffic in Europe it is documented that Danish couriers based in Moscow were very active in transporting large amounts of money to Paris, Stockholm, Prague and elsewhere. In just a little more than a year, Danish couriers Ellen Schou and Gottlieb Japsen transported suitcases from Moscow to various European capitals with an amount equivalent to DKK 24 million in 2014. The material also shows that four out of five identified money couriers in 1936 were women and that Swedish citizens in particular played a prominent role among the couriers. Finally, the article outlines the frameworks for future analysis of the entire collection of decrypted radio telegrams

The Western Denmark Cardiac Computed Tomography Registry:a review and validation study

BACKGROUND: As a subregistry to the Western Denmark Heart Registry (WDHR), the Western Denmark Cardiac Computed Tomography Registry (WDHR-CCTR) is a clinical database established in 2008 to monitor and improve the quality of cardiac computed tomography (CT) in Western Denmark. OBJECTIVE: We examined the content, data quality, and research potential of the WDHR-CCTR. METHODS: We retrieved 2008–2012 data to examine the 1) content; 2) completeness of procedure registration using the Danish National Patient Registry as reference; 3) completeness of variable registration comparing observed vs expected numbers; and 4) positive predictive values as well as negative predictive values of 19 main patient and procedure variables. RESULTS: By December 31, 2012, almost 22,000 cardiac CTs with up to 40 variables for each procedure have been registered. Of these, 87% were coronary CT angiography performed in patients with symptoms indicative of coronary artery disease. Compared with the Danish National Patient Registry, the overall procedure completeness was 72%. However, an additional medical record review of 282 patients registered in the Danish National Patient Registry, but not in the WDHR-CCTR, showed that coronary CT angiographies accounted for only 23% of all nonregistered cardiac CTs, indicating >90% completeness of coronary CT angiographies in the WDHR-CCTR. The completeness of individual variables varied substantially (range: 0%–100%), but was >85% for more than 70% of all variables. Using medical record review of 250 randomly selected patients as reference standard, the positive predictive value for the 19 variables ranged from 89% to 100% (overall 97%), whereas the negative predictive value ranged from 97% to 100% (overall 99%). Stratification by center status showed consistently high positive and negative predictive values for both university (96%/99%) and nonuniversity centers (97%/99%). CONCLUSION: WDHR-CCTR provides ongoing prospective registration of all cardiac CTs performed in Western Denmark since 2008. Overall, the registry data have a high degree of completeness and validity, making it a valuable tool for clinical epidemiological research

Epigenetic modulation of<i> AREL1</i> and increased <i>HLA</i> expression in brains of multiple system atrophy patients

International audienceMultiple system atrophy (MSA) is a rare disease with a fatal outcome. To date, little is known about the molecular processes underlying disease development. Its clinical overlap with related neurodegenerative movement disorders underlines the importance for expanding the knowledge of pathological brain processes in MSA patients to improve distinction from similar diseases. In the current study, we investigated DNA methylation changes in brain samples from 41 MSA patients and 37 healthy controls. We focused on the prefrontal cortex, a moderately affected area in MSA. Using Illumina MethylationEPIC arrays, we investigated 5-methylcytosine (5mC) as well as 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) changes throughout the genome. We identified five significantly different 5mC probes (adj. P < 0.05), of which one probe mapping to the AREL1 gene involved in antigen presentation was decreased in MSA patients. This decrease correlated with increased 5hmC levels. Further, we identified functional DNA methylation modules involved in inflammatory processes. As expected, the decreased 5mC levels on AREL1 was concordant with increased gene expression levels of both AREL1 as well as MHC Class I HLA genes in MSA brains. We also investigated whether these changes in antigen-related processes in the brain associated with changes in peripheral mononuclear cells. Using flow cytometry on an independent cohort of MSA patients, we identified a decrease in circulating non-classical CD14+CD16++ blood monocytes, whereas T and NK cell populations were unchanged. Taken together, our results support the view of an active neuroimmune response in brains of MSA patients

Combining population genomics with demographic analyses highlights habitat patchiness and larval dispersal as determinants of connectivity in coastal fish species

Gene flow shapes spatial genetic structure and the potential for local adaptation. Among marine animals with nonmigratory adults, the presence or absence of a pelagic larval stage is thought to be a key determinant in shaping gene flow and the genetic structure of populations. In addition, the spatial distribution of suitable habitats is expected to influence the distribution of biological populations and their connectivity patterns. We used whole genome sequencing to study demographic history and reduced representation (double-digest restriction associated DNA) sequencing data to analyse spatial genetic structure in broadnosed pipefish (Syngnathus typhle). Its main habitat is eelgrass beds, which are patchily distributed along the study area in southern Norway. Demographic connectivity among populations was inferred from long-term (~30-year) population counts that uncovered a rapid decline in spatial correlations in abundance with distance as short as ~2 km. These findings were contrasted with data for two other fish species that have a pelagic larval stage (corkwing wrasse, Symphodus melops; black goby, Gobius niger). For these latter species, we found wider spatial scales of connectivity and weaker genetic isolation-by-distance patterns, except where both species experienced a strong barrier to gene flow, seemingly due to lack of suitable habitat. Our findings verify expectations that a fragmented habitat and absence of a pelagic larval stage promote genetic structure, while presence of a pelagic larvae stage increases demographic connectivity and gene flow, except perhaps over extensive habitat gaps.publishedVersio

Varmepumper og Lavtemperatur-fjernvarme - Rapportering fra to workshops

Denne rapport udgør et delbidrag af rapporteringen fra projektet ” Effektiv fjernvarme i fremtidens energisystem”, som under Energistyrelsens Energiforskningsprogram (EFP) udføres af et konsortium af EA-energianalyse, Systemanalyseafdelingen på Risø DTU, RAM-løse edb samt Fjernvarmens visionsudvalg nedsat under Dansk Fjernvarmeforening.Formålet med projektet er at belyse, hvordan fjernvarmens rolle i energiforsyningen kan udvikles på langt sigt gennem effektiv drift, anvendelse af ny teknologi samt dynamisk samspil med elmarkedet. En fremtidig udvikling mod et bæredygtigt energisystem vil kræve betydelige energibesparelser, herunder i rumopvarmningen. Dette vil alt andet lige mange steder føre til, at grundlaget for fjernvarmen vil ændre sig. Det er således centralt i projektet, at opstille en række scenarier for fjernvarmens fremtidige rolle i energisystemet, herunder at belyse hvad reducerede varmetab i fjernvarmenet og dynamisk anvendelse af kendte og nye energiteknologier kan betyde. Disse teknologier omfatter bl.a. varmepumper, geotermi, fjernkøling og varmelagring. Endvidere er formålet at belyse hvordan samspillet mellem elmarkedet og fjernvarmen kan effektiviseres, samt at pege på hvilke rammebetingelser der især er kritiske for fjernvarmens fortsatte udvikling og effektivisering.Som et led i analyserne i projektet er der afholdt to workshops om henholdsvis anvendelsen af varmepumper og lavtemperatur-fjernvarmenet. Denne rapport er en dokumentation af de to workshops, idet den indeholder program, deltagerliste, præsentationer og korte resumeer. I begge workshops deltog eksterne indledere parallelt med projektgruppens egne deltagere. Vi takker deltagerne for præsentationer og engageret deltagelse i diskussionerne

Structural Basis for Dityrosine-Mediated Inhibition of α-Synuclein Fibrillization

[Image: see text] α-Synuclein (α-Syn) is an intrinsically disordered protein which self-assembles into highly organized β-sheet structures that accumulate in plaques in brains of Parkinson’s disease patients. Oxidative stress influences α-Syn structure and self-assembly; however, the basis for this remains unclear. Here we characterize the chemical and physical effects of mild oxidation on monomeric α-Syn and its aggregation. Using a combination of biophysical methods, small-angle X-ray scattering, and native ion mobility mass spectrometry, we find that oxidation leads to formation of intramolecular dityrosine cross-linkages and a compaction of the α-Syn monomer by a factor of √2. Oxidation-induced compaction is shown to inhibit ordered self-assembly and amyloid formation by steric hindrance, suggesting an important role of mild oxidation in preventing amyloid formation