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

Fluid flow in hydrocyclones optimized through multi-objective genetic algorithms

Transient swirl flow fields that exist in the hydrocyclone separators have been simulated using the CFD software FLUENT™. The outputs are treated in a multi-objective fashion using tailor-made evolutionary computing softwares developed in-house. The recently proposed ‘new multi-objective genetic algorithm’ developed at this research group is utilized for this purpose along with a multi-objective immune system algorithm. Using the simulated flow fields, attempts are made to simultaneously optimize two conflicting criteria: (i) the volume of the LZV (locus of zero vertical velocity) envelope that governs the extent of classification towards the overflow region and (ii) the overall pressure drop that drives the classification process towards the underflow. The resulting Pareto frontiers are computed and analysed

Identification of an ABC transporter gene that exhibits mRNA level overexpression in fluoroquinolone-resistant Mycobacterium smegmatis

AbstractWe describe here the PCR amplification of a DNA fragment (mtp1) from Mycobacterium smegmatis using primers derived from consensus sequences of the ABC family of transporters. The fragment encodes amino acid sequences that exhibited significant homology with different ABC transporters. Amino acid sequence alignment of the full length gene with other transporters identified the ABC protein as the B-subunit of the phosphate specific transporter. Strikingly, a M. smegmatis colony which exhibited a high level of ciprofloxacin resistance showed mRNA level overexpression of mtp1. Thus this is the first report in any prokaryote indicating differential expression of an ABC transporter in a fluoroquinolone resistant colony

Oncogenic HPV among HIV infected female population in West Bengal, India

Abstract Background Prevalence of both cervical cancer and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection are very high in India. Natural history of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infection is known to be altered in HIV positive women and there is an increased possibility of persistence of HPV infections in this population. Therefore, this study was conducted to understand the epidemiology and circulating genotypes of oncogenic HPV among HIV positive and negative female population in West Bengal, India. Methods In this hospital-based cross-sectional study, 93 known HIV positive females attending a pre-ART registration clinic and 1106 HIV negative females attending a Reproductive and Child Health Care Clinic were subjected to study. Cervical cell samples collected from the study population were tested for the presence of HPV 16, 18 using specific primers. Roche PCR assay was used to detect other specific HPV genotypes in the cervical cells specimens of HIV positive cases only. Results Prevalence of HPV 16, 18 among HIV positive females (32.2%; n = 30) was higher than HIV negative females (9.1%; n = 101). About 53% (23/43) of cases with oncogenic HPV were infected with genotypes other than 16, 18 either as single/multiple infections. HPV 18 and HPV 16 were the predominant genotypes among HIV positive and HIV negative subjects respectively. Oncogenic HPV was not found to be associated with age and duration of sexual exposure. But the presence of HIV was found to a statistically significant predictor oncogenic HPV. Conclusion The currently available HPV vaccines offer protection only against HPV 16 and 18 and some cross- protection to few associated genotypes. These vaccines are therefore less likely to offer protection against cervical cancer in HIV positive women a high percentage of who were infected with non-16 and non-18 oncogenic HPV genotypes. Additionally, there is a lack of sufficient evidence of immunogenicity in HIV infected individuals. Therefore, prevention of cervical cancer in HIV positive women must be focused towards early detection of oncogenic HPV & cervical cytological abnormality followed by an appropriate treatment.</p