Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio

DIRECT SHEAR TESTS WITH EVALUATION OF VARIABLE SHEARING AREA / TIESIOGINIO KIRPIMO BANDYMAI ĮVERTINANT KINTAMĄ KERPAMĄJĮ PLOTĄ

Investigations of soil shear strength properties for Baltic Sea shore sand along Klaipėda city are presented. Investigated sand angle of internal friction (φ) and cohesion (c) is determined via two different direct shear tests procedures. First procedure is standard and ordinary in geotechnical practice, when direct shear test is provided using constant shearing area A0. Second test procedure is different because shearing area according to horizontal displacement each test second is recalculated. This recalculated shearing area author’s call corrected shearing area A. Obtained normal and tangential stresses’ difference via two different testing procedures was 10%. Santrauka Šiame straipsnyje yra pristatyta idėja, kaip įvertinti grunto kerpamojo stiprumo parametrus, t. y. vidinės trinties kampą (φ) ir sankibą (c). Eksperimentiniams bandymams atlikti buvo naudotas Baltijos jūros pakrantės smėlinis gruntas ties Klaipėda. Grunto tiesioginio kirpimo bandymai atlikti dviem skirtingomis kirpimo metodikomis. Pirmoji metodika yra standartizuota ir įprasta atliekant geotechninius tyrimus, kai kerpamasis plotas yra vertinamas kaip pastovus plotas A. Antroji kirpimo metodika skiriasi nuo pirmosios grunto kirpimo ploto įvertinimu. Antrojoje metodikoje grunto kerpamasis plotas yra perskaičiuojamas tiesiogiai pagal horizontalųjį poslinkį. Horizontaliojo poslinkio indikatoriaus rodmenys yra registruojami kiekvieną sekundę, todėl kas sekundę yra perskaičiuojamas vis naujas grunto kerpamasis plotas. Atliekant bandymus skirtingomis metodikomis, nustatytas vertikalaus normalinio ir tangentinio įtempių skirtumas, kuris apytiksliai lygus 10 %. Reikšminiai žodžiai: kintamas kerpamasis plotas; tiesioginis kirpimas; įtempių kelias; grunto kerpamasis stipris

Monitoring of Dust Devil Tracks Around the InSight Landing Site, Mars, and Comparison With In Situ Atmospheric Data

International audienceThe NASA InSight mission on Mars is a unique opportunity to study atmospheric processes both from orbit and in situ observations. We use post-landing high-resolution satellite images to monitor dust devil activity during the first 8 months of the mission. We perform mapping and semiautomatic detection of newly formed dust devil tracks and analyze their characteristics (sizes, azimuths, distances, and directions of motion). We find a large number of tracks appearing shortly after landing, followed by a significant decrease of activity during late winter, then a progressive increase during early spring. New tracks are characterized by dark linear, to slightly curvilinear, traces ranging from a few to more than 10 m wide. Tracks are oriented in the ambient wind direction, according to measurements made by InSight's meteorological sensors. The systematic analysis of dust devil tracks is useful to have a better understanding of atmospheric and aeolian activity around InSight

Factorization of fragmentation cross-sections in heavy-ion collisions at 1A GeV

Fe-, Kr- and Xe-induced heavy-ion reactions at \sim 1\un{A~GeV} show factorization in the production cross-sections only for light fragments. Both “strong” and “weak” factorization are found for light fragments. The cross-sections of these fragments are described in detail within the prescription of cold breakup of spectator residues