NEUROTOXICAL INJURIES OF WORKERS IN PROFESSIONAL CONTACT WITH HEAVY METALS

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Facial soft tissue thicknesses in Bulgarian adults: relation to sex, body mass index and bilateral asymmetry

Background: The aim of the study is to measure the facial soft tissue thicknesses (STTs) in Bulgarians, to evaluate the relation of the STTs to the nutritional status, sex and bilateral asymmetry, and to examine the correlations between the separate STTs as well as between the STTs and body weight, height, and body mass index (BMI). In the present study, the facial STTs were measured on computed tomography scans of the head of Bulgarian adults. Materials and methods: The STTs were measured at 7 midline and 9 bilateral landmarks. The measurements were performed in the free software InVesalius in the axial and sagittal planes. The mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values, median and coefficient of variation were reported for the STT at each landmark according to the sex and BMI category. The BMI, sex and bilateral differences were assessed for statistical significance. Pearson correlation analysis was applied to assess the strength and direction of the relationships between the STTs and body height, weight and BMI, as well as between separate STTs. Results and Conclusions: The facial soft tissues in Bulgarian adults changed in accordance with the nutritional status of the individual and in both sexes all STTs augmented with the increasing BMI. For both normal and overweight BMI categories, males had more soft tissue at the majority of facial points than females, as the only exceptions were observed in the cheek zone, where STTs were thicker in females. Significant bilateral differences were observed in either sex and BMI category. Stronger correlations were established for the STTs in the jaw region and between the cheek and jaw soft tissues. Besides, the correlations between the homologous bilateral landmarks were among the strongest ones

Integrating sequence and array data to create an improved 1000 Genomes Project haplotype reference panel

A major use of the 1000 Genomes Project (1000GP) data is genotype imputation in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Here we develop a method to estimate haplotypes from low-coverage sequencing data that can take advantage of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) microarray genotypes on the same samples. First the SNP array data are phased to build a backbone (or 'scaffold') of haplotypes across each chromosome. We then phase the sequence data 'onto' this haplotype scaffold. This approach can take advantage of relatedness between sequenced and non-sequenced samples to improve accuracy. We use this method to create a new 1000GP haplotype reference set for use by the human genetic community. Using a set of validation genotypes at SNP and bi-allelic indels we show that these haplotypes have lower genotype discordance and improved imputation performance into downstream GWAS samples, especially at low-frequency variants. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

A global reference for human genetic variation

The 1000 Genomes Project set out to provide a comprehensive description of common human genetic variation by applying whole-genome sequencing to a diverse set of individuals from multiple populations. Here we report completion of the project, having reconstructed the genomes of 2,504 individuals from 26 populations using a combination of low-coverage whole-genome sequencing, deep exome sequencing, and dense microarray genotyping. We characterized a broad spectrum of genetic variation, in total over 88 million variants (84.7 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), 3.6 million short insertions/deletions (indels), and 60,000 structural variants), all phased onto high-quality haplotypes. This resource includes >99% of SNP variants with a frequency of >1% for a variety of ancestries. We describe the distribution of genetic variation across the global sample, and discuss the implications for common disease studies.We thank the many people who were generous with contributing their samples to the project: the African Caribbean in Barbados; Bengali in Bangladesh; British in England and Scotland; Chinese Dai in Xishuangbanna, China; Colombians in Medellin, Colombia; Esan in Nigeria; Finnish in Finland; Gambian in Western Division – Mandinka; Gujarati Indians in Houston, Texas, USA; Han Chinese in Beijing, China; Iberian populations in Spain; Indian Telugu in the UK; Japanese in Tokyo, Japan; Kinh in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Luhya in Webuye, Kenya; Mende in Sierra Leone; people with African ancestry in the southwest USA; people with Mexican ancestry in Los Angeles, California, USA; Peruvians in Lima, Peru; Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico; Punjabi in Lahore, Pakistan; southern Han Chinese; Sri Lankan Tamil in the UK; Toscani in Italia; Utah residents (CEPH) with northern and western European ancestry; and Yoruba in Ibadan, Nigeria. Many thanks to the people who contributed to this project: P. Maul, T. Maul, and C. Foster; Z. Chong, X. Fan, W. Zhou, and T. Chen; N. Sengamalay, S. Ott, L. Sadzewicz, J. Liu, and L. Tallon; L. Merson; O. Folarin, D. Asogun, O. Ikpwonmosa, E. Philomena, G. Akpede, S. Okhobgenin, and O. Omoniwa; the staff of the Institute of Lassa Fever Research and Control (ILFRC), Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Edo State, Nigeria; A. Schlattl and T. Zichner; S. Lewis, E. Appelbaum, and L. Fulton; A. Yurovsky and I. Padioleau; N. Kaelin and F. Laplace; E. Drury and H. Arbery; A. Naranjo, M. Victoria Parra, and C. Duque; S. Däkel, B. Lenz, and S. Schrinner; S. Bumpstead; and C. Fletcher-Hoppe. Funding for this work was from the Wellcome Trust Core Award 090532/Z/09/Z and Senior Investigator Award 095552/Z/11/Z (P.D.), and grants WT098051 (R.D.), WT095908 and WT109497 (P.F.), WT086084/Z/08/Z and WT100956/Z/13/Z (G.M.), WT097307 (W.K.), WT0855322/Z/08/Z (R.L.), WT090770/Z/09/Z (D.K.), the Wellcome Trust Major Overseas program in Vietnam grant 089276/Z.09/Z (S.D.), the Medical Research Council UK grant G0801823 (J.L.M.), the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council grants BB/I02593X/1 (G.M.) and BB/I021213/1 (A.R.L.), the British Heart Foundation (C.A.A.), the Monument Trust (J.H.), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (P.F.), the European Research Council grant 617306 (J.L.M.), the Chinese 863 Program 2012AA02A201, the National Basic Research program of China 973 program no. 2011CB809201, 2011CB809202 and 2011CB809203, Natural Science Foundation of China 31161130357, the Shenzhen Municipal Government of China grant ZYC201105170397A (J.W.), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Operating grant 136855 and Canada Research Chair (S.G.), Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (M.K.D.), a Le Fonds de Recherche duQuébec-Santé (FRQS) research fellowship (A.H.), Genome Quebec (P.A.), the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation – Ontario Institute for Cancer Research Investigator Award (P.A., J.S.), the Quebec Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation, and Exports grant PSR-SIIRI-195 (P.A.), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) grants 0315428A and 01GS08201 (R.H.), the Max Planck Society (H.L., G.M., R.S.), BMBF-EPITREAT grant 0316190A (R.H., M.L.), the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) Emmy Noether Grant KO4037/1-1 (J.O.K.), the Beatriu de Pinos Program grants 2006 BP-A 10144 and 2009 BP-B 00274 (M.V.), the Spanish National Institute for Health Research grant PRB2 IPT13/0001-ISCIII-SGEFI/FEDER (A.O.), Ewha Womans University (C.L.), the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship number PE13075 (N.P.), the Louis Jeantet Foundation (E.T.D.), the Marie Curie Actions Career Integration grant 303772 (C.A.), the Swiss National Science Foundation 31003A_130342 and NCCR “Frontiers in Genetics” (E.T.D.), the University of Geneva (E.T.D., T.L., G.M.), the US National Institutes of Health National Center for Biotechnology Information (S.S.) and grants U54HG3067 (E.S.L.), U54HG3273 and U01HG5211 (R.A.G.), U54HG3079 (R.K.W., E.R.M.), R01HG2898 (S.E.D.), R01HG2385 (E.E.E.), RC2HG5552 and U01HG6513 (G.T.M., G.R.A.), U01HG5214 (A.C.), U01HG5715 (C.D.B.), U01HG5718 (M.G.), U01HG5728 (Y.X.F.), U41HG7635 (R.K.W., E.E.E., P.H.S.), U41HG7497 (C.L., M.A.B., K.C., L.D., E.E.E., M.G., J.O.K., G.T.M., S.A.M., R.E.M., J.L.S., K.Y.), R01HG4960 and R01HG5701 (B.L.B.), R01HG5214 (G.A.), R01HG6855 (S.M.), R01HG7068 (R.E.M.), R01HG7644 (R.D.H.), DP2OD6514 (P.S.), DP5OD9154 (J.K.), R01CA166661 (S.E.D.), R01CA172652 (K.C.), P01GM99568 (S.R.B.), R01GM59290 (L.B.J., M.A.B.), R01GM104390 (L.B.J., M.Y.Y.), T32GM7790 (C.D.B., A.R.M.), P01GM99568 (S.R.B.), R01HL87699 and R01HL104608 (K.C.B.), T32HL94284 (J.L.R.F.), and contracts HHSN268201100040C (A.M.R.) and HHSN272201000025C (P.S.), Harvard Medical School Eleanor and Miles Shore Fellowship (K.L.), Lundbeck Foundation Grant R170-2014-1039 (K.L.), NIJ Grant 2014-DN-BX-K089 (Y.E.), the Mary Beryl Patch Turnbull Scholar Program (K.C.B.), NSF Graduate Research Fellowship DGE-1147470 (G.D.P.), the Simons Foundation SFARI award SF51 (M.W.), and a Sloan Foundation Fellowship (R.D.H.). E.E.E. is an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Modeling the Competitiveness of the Enterprise Моделирование конкурентоспособности предприятия

The paper proposes a modeling enterprise competitiveness using multivariate analysis, namely the hierarchical method and k-means, according to business coke industry.<br>В статье рассмотрено моделирование конкурентоспособности предприятия с использованием многомерного анализа, а именно: иерархического метода и метода k-средних, по данным предприятий коксохимической промышленности

Which Works Better: Worked Examples or Hint Messages?

This Interactive Qualifying Project was designed to determine whether there is overall learning from electronic tutoring and which of the two electronic teaching mechanisms (hint messages and worked examples) yields the better result in terms of students learning. We performed a study using the Assistment system and special problems developed for this system. Our participants were 763 students from 8 middle schools in the Worcester, MA area

Comparative metabolic profiling of Haberlea rhodopensis, Thellungiella halophyla, and Arabidopsis thaliana exposed to low temperature

Haberlea rhodopensis is a resurrection species with extreme resistance to drought stress and desiccation but also with ability to withstand low temperatures and freezing stress. In order to identify biochemical strategies which contribute to Haberlea's remarkable stress tolerance, the metabolic reconfiguration of H. rhodopensis during low temperature (4°C) and subsequent return to optimal temperatures (21°C) was investigated and compared with that of the stress tolerant Thellungiella halophyla and the stress sensitive Arabidopsis thaliana. Metabolic analysis by GC-MS revealed intrinsic differences in the metabolite levels of the three species even at 21°C. H. rhodopensis had significantly more raffinose, melibiose, trehalose, rhamnose, myo-inositol, sorbitol, galactinol, erythronate, threonate, 2-oxoglutarate, citrate, and glycerol than the other two species. A. thaliana had the highest levels of putrescine and fumarate, while T. halophila had much higher levels of several amino acids, including alanine, asparagine, beta-alanine, histidine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, serine, threonine, and valine. In addition, the three species responded differently to the low temperature treatment and the subsequent recovery, especially with regard to the sugar metabolism. Chilling induced accumulation of maltose in H. rhodopensis and raffinose in A. thaliana but the raffinose levels in low temperature exposed Arabidopsis were still much lower than these in unstressed Haberlea. While all species accumulated sucrose during chilling, that accumulation was transient in H. rhodopensis and A. thaliana but sustained in T. halophila after the return to optimal temperature. Thus, Haberlea's metabolome appeared primed for chilling stress but the low temperature acclimation induced additional stress-protective mechanisms. A diverse array of sugars, organic acids, and polyols constitute Haberlea's main metabolic defence mechanisms against chilling, while accumulation of amino acids and amino acid derivatives contribute to the low temperature acclimation in Arabidopsis and Thellungiella. Collectively, these results show inherent differences in the metabolomes under the ambient temperature and the strategies to respond to low temperature in the three species

Application of the deblurring technique and segmentation on medical computed tomography (CT) images for improved visualization of the cranial sutures

Introduction: The investigation of the cranial suture morphology and the changes occurring during the oblit­eration is an important precondition for understanding suture maturation and its relation to ageing. The μCT-imaging of dry skulls with known age-at-death is a powerful tool in this direction, but this technology is still ex­pensive, difficult to access and entirely inapplicable on living individuals. On the other hand, the diagnostic im­aging of patients accumulates large amount of volumetric images, which could be used for scientific researches. In medical imaging, the generated data is typically artificially blurred for denoising purposes. The standard Gauss­ian blur assigns a weighted average value for the gray-scale intensity of each pixel, based on the initial intensities of the pixel and its neighbors. Unfortunately, together with the noise reduction, such a procedure decreases the contrast on image contours and significantly complicates the study of cranial sutures.Aim: This study aims to apply theoretical and experimental scientific techniques for optimal extraction of useful data for the degree of suture obliteration, from medical tomographic images.Materials: Volumetric images obtained from diagnostic imaging of patients with multislice CT system Toshiba Aquillion64 were used.Methods: We developed a deblurring technique, based on the penalized total variation optimization. We also segmented the output image, using an appropriate threshold in order to separate the suture (region of interest) from the background.Results: After processing the images, the contact between the adjacent cranial bones is clearer and the degree of suture closure could be interpreted more accurately.Acknowledgements: This study was supported by the Bulgarian National Science Fund, grant DN01/15- 20.12.2016

Assessment of sex differences in size and shape of foramen magnum on CT scans of Bulgarian adults

The aim of the study is to assess the sex differences in size and shape of the foramen magnum, to develop discrim­inant functions based on the measurements of the foramen magnum and to establish the most reliable variables for sex determination in Bulgarian adults.Computed tomography scans of the heads of 120 Bulgarian adults (52 males and 68 females) were used in the study. The segmentation of the skulls was performed with the software InVesalius. The length, breadth, and cir­cumference of the foramen were measured digitally based on the 3D coordinates of definite landmarks and semi­landmarks. The area of the foramen magnum was calculated using the Radinsky and Teixeria formulae, based on the dimensions of the foramen length and breadth. The shape of foramen magnum was classified as narrow, medium wide or wide on the basis of the breadth/length index values. The significance of the sex differences in the measurements and shape of foramen magnum was assessed by independent sample t-test and chi-square test. Univariate and multivariate discriminate function analyses were conducted. The leave-one-out classification method was used as a cross-validation procedure.The results demonstrated statistically significant sex differences in the size and shape of the foramen magnum. The area of the foramen magnum is the best discriminating parameter. Generally, the results from the univariate and multivariate discriminant function analysis showed that the measurements of the foramen magnum did not provide high predicting rates for sex estimation among the Bulgarian population.Acknowledgements: The study was supported by the Bulgarian National Science Fund, grant DN01/15-20.12.2016

Hydrogen peroxide protects tobacco from oxidative stress by inducing a set of antioxidant enzymes

Tolerance against oxidative stress generated by high light intensities or the catalase inhibitor aminotriazole (AT) was induced in intact tobacco plants by spraying them with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Stress tolerance was concomitant with an enhanced antioxidant status as reflected by higher activity and/or protein levels of catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, guaiacol peroxidases, and glutathione peroxidase, as well as an increased glutathione pool. The induced stress tolerance was dependent on the dose of H2O2 applied. Moderate doses of H2O2 enhanced the antioxidant status and induced stress tolerance, while higher concentrations caused oxidative stress and symptoms resembling a hypersensitive response. In stress-tolerant plants, induction of catalase was 1.5-fold, that of ascorbate peroxidase and glutathione peroxidase was 2-fold, and that of guaiacol peroxidases was approximately 3-fold. Stress resistance was monitored by measuring levels of malondialdehyde, an indicator of lipid peroxidation. The levels of malondialdehyde in all H,O-2-treated plants exposed to subsequent high light or AT stress were similar to those of unstressed plants, whereas lipid peroxidation in H2O2-untreated plants stressed with either high light or AT was 1.5- or 2-fold higher, respectively. Although all stress factors caused increases in the levels of reduced glutathione, its levels were much higher in all H2O2-pretreated plants. Moreover, significant accumulation of oxidized glutathione was observed only in plants that were not pretreated with H2O2. Extending the AT stress period from 1 to 7 days resulted in death of tobacco plants that were not pretreated with H2O2, while all H2O2-pretreated plants remained little affected by the prolonged treatment. Thus, activation of the plant antioxidant system by H2O2 plays an important role in the induced tolerance against oxidative stress