27 research outputs found

    Analysis of Bcl6 in a genetically tractable human B cell line

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    B cell lymphoma 6 (Bcl6) is a proto-oncogene functioning as a transcriptional repressor at the germinal centre (GC) stage of B cell development, regulating proliferation, differentiation and survival. Bcl6 is commonly dysregulated in GCderived lymphomas and hence a promising therapeutic target. Although a number of agents targeting Bcl6 are being developed, there is currently no good model available for functional analysis and hence drug target validation. To address this issue, I have established a conditional BCL6 knockout cell line for in-depth functional analyses of Bcl6. I have used homologous recombination to disrupt one BCL6 allele in the human Burkitt’s lymphoma cell line DG75 with a zeocin resistance cassette and have shown this line to be capable of supporting tetracycline (tet)-regulated Bcl6 expression from an integrated expression construct. The zeocin cassette used to disrupt the first BCL6 allele was subsequently deleted by Cre recombination. This allowed me to reuse the same targeting construct to disrupt the second BCL6allele. I subsequently set out to characterise the resulting conditional knockout cell line and found that depletion of Bcl6 leads to less proliferation, characterised by a prolonged G0/G1cell cycle phase. I went on to further characterise the effect of Bcl6 depletion in my system by cDNA microarray analysis, which revealed interesting insights into functions of Bcl6 such as the modulation of B cell receptor signalling and calcium signalling. The system I have developed is the first precisely regulated genetic model for studying Bcl6 function and will be of great benefit for research aiming to develop Bcl6 targeted drug therapy

    Effects of Pay for Performance on Performance Outcomes in Pennsylvania’s Medicaid Managed Care Program

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    Background and Purpose: A goal in healthcare is to reduce costs while improving quality of care, and population health. Pay for Performance (P4P) is one intervention being utilized by Medicaid programs to achieve this goal. While P4P has become a favorite among policymakers, its effectiveness in improving health outcomes is still under investigation. We assessed the role of P4P to improve provider performance by evaluating Pennsylvania’s Medicaid Managed Care (MMC) Program. Methods: We conducted a retrospective longitudinal analysis of providers within the HealthChoices MMC Program in Pennsylvania. We examined annual provider performance outcomes for seven providers across six measures collected between 2012 and 2016. Performance outcomes were compared to inflation-adjusted incentive payouts across providers. Results/Outcomes: Between 2012 and 2016 controlling high blood pressure, comprehensive diabetes monitoring, prenatal care in the first trimester and annual dental visits improved between 1.2 to 6.5 percent. Performance on frequency of prenatal care and adolescent well care visits declined by 1.4 and 2.7 percent respectively. While controlling for inflation, benchmark and improvement payouts increased over time except for adolescent well care visit payouts. In 2016, payout as a percent of annual revenue ranged from 0.3 to 1.44 percent. Conclusions: Regardless of pay-outs, the P4P initiative tracks performance measures which may be increasing provider awareness and therefore driving improvements. In addition to individual metrics, opportunities exist to consider bundled measures to see if focus on disease-approach rather than individual procedures is a more effective means to drive quality improvement and cost containment. Clinical and Social Relevance: Pay for Performance may still be a viable solution for improving accessibility, affordability, and quality for vulnerable populations. Knowing definitively should be made a priority to best suit the health needs of Pennsylvania’s Medicaid Population

    The Grizzly, February 26, 1991

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    The Gulf War: How Will It Affect the Economy? ‱ Airband Competition Enters Its Eighth Year ‱ Sears-Roebuck Award, A Boon for Faculty ‱ How Will the War End? ‱ My First College Field Trip ‱ McCabe Wins Contest ‱ John Lionarons Performs ‱ Dan Pasquale ‱ Steel Magnolias ‱ L.A Story ‱ Peter Benchley\u27s Rummies ‱ Flatliners ‱ Former Monsters of Rock ‱ City Art: Pop Art Prints ‱ Angelos Resigns as Head Basketball Coach at Ursinus ‱ Swimmers Place High at MAC Championships ‱ Lady Bears Look to ECAC Play-off ‱ Track Women Improve at Invitational ‱ Wrestlers Place Fourth at MAC\u27s ‱ Letter: Schafer Bashes Harley\u27s Haven ‱ I Cannot Accept it ‱ Most Selective - Bio/Pre-Med at Ursinus ‱ Feeling lazy? -Could be CFS ‱ Science Careershttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1272/thumbnail.jp

    Another Shipment of Six Short-Period Giant Planets from TESS

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    We present the discovery and characterization of six short-period, transiting giant planets from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) -- TOI-1811 (TIC 376524552), TOI-2025 (TIC 394050135), TOI-2145 (TIC 88992642), TOI-2152 (TIC 395393265), TOI-2154 (TIC 428787891), & TOI-2497 (TIC 97568467). All six planets orbit bright host stars (8.9 <G< 11.8, 7.7 <K< 10.1). Using a combination of time-series photometric and spectroscopic follow-up observations from the TESS Follow-up Observing Program (TFOP) Working Group, we have determined that the planets are Jovian-sized (RP_{P} = 1.00-1.45 RJ_{J}), have masses ranging from 0.92 to 5.35 MJ_{J}, and orbit F, G, and K stars (4753 << Teff_{eff} << 7360 K). We detect a significant orbital eccentricity for the three longest-period systems in our sample: TOI-2025 b (P = 8.872 days, ee = 0.220±0.0530.220\pm0.053), TOI-2145 b (P = 10.261 days, ee = 0.182−0.049+0.0390.182^{+0.039}_{-0.049}), and TOI-2497 b (P = 10.656 days, ee = 0.196−0.053+0.0590.196^{+0.059}_{-0.053}). TOI-2145 b and TOI-2497 b both orbit subgiant host stars (3.8 << log⁥\log g <<4.0), but these planets show no sign of inflation despite very high levels of irradiation. The lack of inflation may be explained by the high mass of the planets; 5.35−0.35+0.325.35^{+0.32}_{-0.35} MJ_{\rm J} (TOI-2145 b) and 5.21±0.525.21\pm0.52 MJ_{\rm J} (TOI-2497 b). These six new discoveries contribute to the larger community effort to use {\it TESS} to create a magnitude-complete, self-consistent sample of giant planets with well-determined parameters for future detailed studies.Comment: 20 Pages, 6 Figures, 8 Tables, Accepted by MNRA

    Association of respiratory symptoms and lung function with occupation in the multinational Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) study

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    Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has been associated with exposures in the workplace. We aimed to assess the association of respiratory symptoms and lung function with occupation in the Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease study. Methods We analysed cross-sectional data from 28 823 adults (≄40 years) in 34 countries. We considered 11 occupations and grouped them by likelihood of exposure to organic dusts, inorganic dusts and fumes. The association of chronic cough, chronic phlegm, wheeze, dyspnoea, forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1)/FVC with occupation was assessed, per study site, using multivariable regression. These estimates were then meta-analysed. Sensitivity analyses explored differences between sexes and gross national income. Results Overall, working in settings with potentially high exposure to dusts or fumes was associated with respiratory symptoms but not lung function differences. The most common occupation was farming. Compared to people not working in any of the 11 considered occupations, those who were farmers for ≄20 years were more likely to have chronic cough (OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.19–1.94), wheeze (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.16–1.63) and dyspnoea (OR 1.83, 95% CI 1.53–2.20), but not lower FVC (ÎČ=0.02 L, 95% CI −0.02–0.06 L) or lower FEV1/FVC (ÎČ=0.04%, 95% CI −0.49–0.58%). Some findings differed by sex and gross national income. Conclusion At a population level, the occupational exposures considered in this study do not appear to be major determinants of differences in lung function, although they are associated with more respiratory symptoms. Because not all work settings were included in this study, respiratory surveillance should still be encouraged among high-risk dusty and fume job workers, especially in low- and middle-income countries.publishedVersio

    Human Practice. Digital Ecologies. Our Future. : 14. Internationale Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2019) : Tagungsband

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    Erschienen bei: universi - UniversitĂ€tsverlag Siegen. - ISBN: 978-3-96182-063-4Aus dem Inhalt: Track 1: Produktion & Cyber-Physische Systeme Requirements and a Meta Model for Exchanging Additive Manufacturing Capacities Service Systems, Smart Service Systems and Cyber- Physical Systems—What’s the difference? Towards a Unified Terminology Developing an Industrial IoT Platform – Trade-off between Horizontal and Vertical Approaches Machine Learning und Complex Event Processing: Effiziente Echtzeitauswertung am Beispiel Smart Factory Sensor retrofit for a coffee machine as condition monitoring and predictive maintenance use case Stakeholder-Analyse zum Einsatz IIoT-basierter Frischeinformationen in der Lebensmittelindustrie Towards a Framework for Predictive Maintenance Strategies in Mechanical Engineering - A Method-Oriented Literature Analysis Development of a matching platform for the requirement-oriented selection of cyber physical systems for SMEs Track 2: Logistic Analytics An Empirical Study of Customers’ Behavioral Intention to Use Ridepooling Services – An Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model Modeling Delay Propagation and Transmission in Railway Networks What is the impact of company specific adjustments on the acceptance and diffusion of logistic standards? Robust Route Planning in Intermodal Urban Traffic Track 3: Unternehmensmodellierung & Informationssystemgestaltung (Enterprise Modelling & Information Systems Design) Work System Modeling Method with Different Levels of Specificity and Rigor for Different Stakeholder Purposes Resolving Inconsistencies in Declarative Process Models based on Culpability Measurement Strategic Analysis in the Realm of Enterprise Modeling – On the Example of Blockchain-Based Initiatives for the Electricity Sector Zwischenbetriebliche Integration in der Möbelbranche: Konfigurationen und Einflussfaktoren Novices’ Quality Perceptions and the Acceptance of Process Modeling Grammars Entwicklung einer Definition fĂŒr Social Business Objects (SBO) zur Modellierung von Unternehmensinformationen Designing a Reference Model for Digital Product Configurators Terminology for Evolving Design Artifacts Business Role-Object Specification: A Language for Behavior-aware Structural Modeling of Business Objects Generating Smart Glasses-based Information Systems with BPMN4SGA: A BPMN Extension for Smart Glasses Applications Using Blockchain in Peer-to-Peer Carsharing to Build Trust in the Sharing Economy Testing in Big Data: An Architecture Pattern for a Development Environment for Innovative, Integrated and Robust Applications Track 4: Lern- und Wissensmanagement (e-Learning and Knowledge Management) eGovernment Competences revisited – A Literature Review on necessary Competences in a Digitalized Public Sector Say Hello to Your New Automated Tutor – A Structured Literature Review on Pedagogical Conversational Agents Teaching the Digital Transformation of Business Processes: Design of a Simulation Game for Information Systems Education Conceptualizing Immersion for Individual Learning in Virtual Reality Designing a Flipped Classroom Course – a Process Model The Influence of Risk-Taking on Knowledge Exchange and Combination Gamified Feedback durch Avatare im Mobile Learning Alexa, Can You Help Me Solve That Problem? - Understanding the Value of Smart Personal Assistants as Tutors for Complex Problem Tasks Track 5: Data Science & Business Analytics Matching with Bundle Preferences: Tradeoff between Fairness and Truthfulness Applied image recognition: guidelines for using deep learning models in practice Yield Prognosis for the Agrarian Management of Vineyards using Deep Learning for Object Counting Reading Between the Lines of Qualitative Data – How to Detect Hidden Structure Based on Codes Online Auctions with Dual-Threshold Algorithms: An Experimental Study and Practical Evaluation Design Features of Non-Financial Reward Programs for Online Reviews: Evaluation based on Google Maps Data Topic Embeddings – A New Approach to Classify Very Short Documents Based on Predefined Topics Leveraging Unstructured Image Data for Product Quality Improvement Decision Support for Real Estate Investors: Improving Real Estate Valuation with 3D City Models and Points of Interest Knowledge Discovery from CVs: A Topic Modeling Procedure Online Product Descriptions – Boost for your Sales? EntscheidungsunterstĂŒtzung durch historienbasierte Dienstreihenfolgeplanung mit Pattern A Semi-Automated Approach for Generating Online Review Templates Machine Learning goes Measure Management: Leveraging Anomaly Detection and Parts Search to Improve Product-Cost Optimization Bedeutung von Predictive Analytics fĂŒr den theoretischen Erkenntnisgewinn in der IS-Forschung Track 6: Digitale Transformation und Dienstleistungen Heuristic Theorizing in Software Development: Deriving Design Principles for Smart Glasses-based Systems Mirroring E-service for Brick and Mortar Retail: An Assessment and Survey Taxonomy of Digital Platforms: A Platform Architecture Perspective Value of Star Players in the Digital Age Local Shopping Platforms – Harnessing Locational Advantages for the Digital Transformation of Local Retail Outlets: A Content Analysis A Socio-Technical Approach to Manage Analytics-as-a-Service – Results of an Action Design Research Project Characterizing Approaches to Digital Transformation: Development of a Taxonomy of Digital Units Expectations vs. Reality – Benefits of Smart Services in the Field of Tension between Industry and Science Innovation Networks and Digital Innovation: How Organizations Use Innovation Networks in a Digitized Environment Characterising Social Reading Platforms— A Taxonomy-Based Approach to Structure the Field Less Complex than Expected – What Really Drives IT Consulting Value Modularity Canvas – A Framework for Visualizing Potentials of Service Modularity Towards a Conceptualization of Capabilities for Innovating Business Models in the Industrial Internet of Things A Taxonomy of Barriers to Digital Transformation Ambidexterity in Service Innovation Research: A Systematic Literature Review Design and success factors of an online solution for cross-pillar pension information Track 7: IT-Management und -Strategie A Frugal Support Structure for New Software Implementations in SMEs How to Structure a Company-wide Adoption of Big Data Analytics The Changing Roles of Innovation Actors and Organizational Antecedents in the Digital Age Bewertung des Kundennutzens von Chatbots fĂŒr den Einsatz im Servicedesk Understanding the Benefits of Agile Software Development in Regulated Environments Are Employees Following the Rules? On the Effectiveness of IT Consumerization Policies Agile and Attached: The Impact of Agile Practices on Agile Team Members’ Affective Organisational Commitment The Complexity Trap – Limits of IT Flexibility for Supporting Organizational Agility in Decentralized Organizations Platform Openness: A Systematic Literature Review and Avenues for Future Research Competence, Fashion and the Case of Blockchain The Digital Platform Otto.de: A Case Study of Growth, Complexity, and Generativity Track 8: eHealth & alternde Gesellschaft Security and Privacy of Personal Health Records in Cloud Computing Environments – An Experimental Exploration of the Impact of Storage Solutions and Data Breaches Patientenintegration durch Pfadsysteme Digitalisierung in der StressprĂ€vention – eine qualitative Interviewstudie zu Nutzenpotenzialen User Dynamics in Mental Health Forums – A Sentiment Analysis Perspective Intent and the Use of Wearables in the Workplace – A Model Development Understanding Patient Pathways in the Context of Integrated Health Care Services - Implications from a Scoping Review Understanding the Habitual Use of Wearable Activity Trackers On the Fit in Fitness Apps: Studying the Interaction of Motivational Affordances and Users’ Goal Orientations in Affecting the Benefits Gained Gamification in Health Behavior Change Support Systems - A Synthesis of Unintended Side Effects Investigating the Influence of Information Incongruity on Trust-Relations within Trilateral Healthcare Settings Track 9: Krisen- und KontinuitĂ€tsmanagement Potentiale von IKT beim Ausfall kritischer Infrastrukturen: Erwartungen, Informationsgewinnung und Mediennutzung der Zivilbevölkerung in Deutschland Fake News Perception in Germany: A Representative Study of People’s Attitudes and Approaches to Counteract Disinformation Analyzing the Potential of Graphical Building Information for Fire Emergency Responses: Findings from a Controlled Experiment Track 10: Human-Computer Interaction Towards a Taxonomy of Platforms for Conversational Agent Design Measuring Service Encounter Satisfaction with Customer Service Chatbots using Sentiment Analysis Self-Tracking and Gamification: Analyzing the Interplay of Motivations, Usage and Motivation Fulfillment Erfolgsfaktoren von Augmented-Reality-Applikationen: Analyse von Nutzerrezensionen mit dem Review-Mining-Verfahren Designing Dynamic Decision Support for Electronic Requirements Negotiations Who is Stressed by Using ICTs? A Qualitative Comparison Analysis with the Big Five Personality Traits to Understand Technostress Walking the Middle Path: How Medium Trade-Off Exposure Leads to Higher Consumer Satisfaction in Recommender Agents Theory-Based Affordances of Utilitarian, Hedonic and Dual-Purposed Technologies: A Literature Review Eliciting Customer Preferences for Shopping Companion Apps: A Service Quality Approach The Role of Early User Participation in Discovering Software – A Case Study from the Context of Smart Glasses The Fluidity of the Self-Concept as a Framework to Explain the Motivation to Play Video Games Heart over Heels? An Empirical Analysis of the Relationship between Emotions and Review Helpfulness for Experience and Credence Goods Track 11: Information Security and Information Privacy Unfolding Concerns about Augmented Reality Technologies: A Qualitative Analysis of User Perceptions To (Psychologically) Own Data is to Protect Data: How Psychological Ownership Determines Protective Behavior in a Work and Private Context Understanding Data Protection Regulations from a Data Management Perspective: A Capability-Based Approach to EU-GDPR On the Difficulties of Incentivizing Online Privacy through Transparency: A Qualitative Survey of the German Health Insurance Market What is Your Selfie Worth? A Field Study on Individuals’ Valuation of Personal Data Justification of Mass Surveillance: A Quantitative Study An Exploratory Study of Risk Perception for Data Disclosure to a Network of Firms Track 12: Umweltinformatik und nachhaltiges Wirtschaften KommunikationsfĂ€den im Nadelöhr – Fachliche Prozessmodellierung der Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation am Kapitalmarkt Potentiale und Herausforderungen der Materialflusskostenrechnung Computing Incentives for User-Based Relocation in Carsharing Sustainability’s Coming Home: Preliminary Design Principles for the Sustainable Smart District Substitution of hazardous chemical substances using Deep Learning and t-SNE A Hierarchy of DSMLs in Support of Product Life-Cycle Assessment A Survey of Smart Energy Services for Private Households Door-to-Door Mobility Integrators as Keystone Organizations of Smart Ecosystems: Resources and Value Co-Creation – A Literature Review Ein EntscheidungsunterstĂŒtzungssystem zur ökonomischen Bewertung von Mieterstrom auf Basis der Clusteranalyse Discovering Blockchain for Sustainable Product-Service Systems to enhance the Circular Economy Digitale RĂŒckverfolgbarkeit von Lebensmitteln: Eine verbraucherinformatische Studie Umweltbewusstsein durch audiovisuelles Content Marketing? Eine experimentelle Untersuchung zur Konsumentenbewertung nachhaltiger Smartphones Towards Predictive Energy Management in Information Systems: A Research Proposal A Web Browser-Based Application for Processing and Analyzing Material Flow Models using the MFCA Methodology Track 13: Digital Work - Social, mobile, smart On Conversational Agents in Information Systems Research: Analyzing the Past to Guide Future Work The Potential of Augmented Reality for Improving Occupational First Aid Prevent a Vicious Circle! The Role of Organizational IT-Capability in Attracting IT-affine Applicants Good, Bad, or Both? Conceptualization and Measurement of Ambivalent User Attitudes Towards AI A Case Study on Cross-Hierarchical Communication in Digital Work Environments ‘Show Me Your People Skills’ - Employing CEO Branding for Corporate Reputation Management in Social Media A Multiorganisational Study of the Drivers and Barriers of Enterprise Collaboration Systems-Enabled Change The More the Merrier? The Effect of Size of Core Team Subgroups on Success of Open Source Projects The Impact of Anthropomorphic and Functional Chatbot Design Features in Enterprise Collaboration Systems on User Acceptance Digital Feedback for Digital Work? Affordances and Constraints of a Feedback App at InsurCorp The Effect of Marker-less Augmented Reality on Task and Learning Performance Antecedents for Cyberloafing – A Literature Review Internal Crowd Work as a Source of Empowerment - An Empirical Analysis of the Perception of Employees in a Crowdtesting Project Track 14: GeschĂ€ftsmodelle und digitales Unternehmertum Dividing the ICO Jungle: Extracting and Evaluating Design Archetypes Capturing Value from Data: Exploring Factors Influencing Revenue Model Design for Data-Driven Services Understanding the Role of Data for Innovating Business Models: A System Dynamics Perspective Business Model Innovation and Stakeholder: Exploring Mechanisms and Outcomes of Value Creation and Destruction Business Models for Internet of Things Platforms: Empirical Development of a Taxonomy and Archetypes Revitalizing established Industrial Companies: State of the Art and Success Principles of Digital Corporate Incubators When 1+1 is Greater than 2: Concurrence of Additional Digital and Established Business Models within Companies Special Track 1: Student Track Investigating Personalized Price Discrimination of Textile-, Electronics- and General Stores in German Online Retail From Facets to a Universal Definition – An Analysis of IoT Usage in Retail Is the Technostress Creators Inventory Still an Up-To-Date Measurement Instrument? Results of a Large-Scale Interview Study Application of Media Synchronicity Theory to Creative Tasks in Virtual Teams Using the Example of Design Thinking TrustyTweet: An Indicator-based Browser-Plugin to Assist Users in Dealing with Fake News on Twitter Application of Process Mining Techniques to Support Maintenance-Related Objectives How Voice Can Change Customer Satisfaction: A Comparative Analysis between E-Commerce and Voice Commerce Business Process Compliance and Blockchain: How Does the Ethereum Blockchain Address Challenges of Business Process Compliance? Improving Business Model Configuration through a Question-based Approach The Influence of Situational Factors and Gamification on Intrinsic Motivation and Learning Evaluation von ITSM-Tools fĂŒr Integration und Management von Cloud-Diensten am Beispiel von ServiceNow How Software Promotes the Integration of Sustainability in Business Process Management Criteria Catalog for Industrial IoT Platforms from the Perspective of the Machine Tool Industry Special Track 3: Demos & Prototyping Privacy-friendly User Location Tracking with Smart Devices: The BeaT Prototype Application-oriented robotics in nursing homes Augmented Reality for Set-up Processe Mixed Reality for supporting Remote-Meetings Gamification zur Motivationssteigerung von Werkern bei der Betriebsdatenerfassung Automatically Extracting and Analyzing Customer Needs from Twitter: A “Needmining” Prototype GaNEsHA: Opportunities for Sustainable Transportation in Smart Cities TUCANA: A platform for using local processing power of edge devices for building data-driven services Demonstrator zur Beschreibung und Visualisierung einer kritischen Infrastruktur Entwicklung einer alltagsnahen persuasiven App zur Bewegungsmotivation fĂŒr Ă€ltere Nutzerinnen und Nutzer A browser-based modeling tool for studying the learning of conceptual modeling based on a multi-modal data collection approach Exergames & Dementia: An interactive System for People with Dementia and their Care-Network Workshops Workshop Ethics and Morality in Business Informatics (Workshop Ethik und Moral in der Wirtschaftsinformatik – EMoWI’19) Model-Based Compliance in Information Systems - Foundations, Case Description and Data Set of the MobIS-Challenge for Students and Doctoral Candidates Report of the Workshop on Concepts and Methods of Identifying Digital Potentials in Information Management Control of Systemic Risks in Global Networks - A Grand Challenge to Information Systems Research Die Mitarbeiter von morgen - Kompetenzen kĂŒnftiger Mitarbeiter im Bereich Business Analytics Digitaler Konsum: Herausforderungen und Chancen der Verbraucherinformati

    Cohort Profile: Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) study

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    The Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) study was established to assess the prevalence of chronic airflow obstruction, a key characteristic of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and its risk factors in adults (≄40 years) from general populations across the world. The baseline study was conducted between 2003 and 2016, in 41 sites across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, the Caribbean and Oceania, and collected high-quality pre- and post-bronchodilator spirometry from 28 828 participants. The follow-up study was conducted between 2019 and 2021, in 18 sites across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean. At baseline, there were in these sites 12 502 participants with high-quality spirometry. A total of 6452 were followed up, with 5936 completing the study core questionnaire. Of these, 4044 also provided high-quality pre- and post-bronchodilator spirometry. On both occasions, the core questionnaire covered information on respiratory symptoms, doctor diagnoses, health care use, medication use and ealth status, as well as potential risk factors. Information on occupation, environmental exposures and diet was also collected

    Analysis of Bcl6 in a genetically tractable human B cell line

    No full text
    B cell lymphoma 6 (Bcl6) is a proto-oncogene functioning as a transcriptional repressor at the germinal centre (GC) stage of B cell development, regulating proliferation, differentiation and survival. Bcl6 is commonly dysregulated in GCderived lymphomas and hence a promising therapeutic target. Although a number of agents targeting Bcl6 are being developed, there is currently no good model available for functional analysis and hence drug target validation. To address this issue, I have established a conditional BCL6 knockout cell line for in-depth functional analyses of Bcl6. I have used homologous recombination to disrupt one BCL6 allele in the human Burkitt’s lymphoma cell line DG75 with a zeocin resistance cassette and have shown this line to be capable of supporting tetracycline (tet)-regulated Bcl6 expression from an integrated expression construct. The zeocin cassette used to disrupt the first BCL6 allele was subsequently deleted by Cre recombination. This allowed me to reuse the same targeting construct to disrupt the second BCL6allele. I subsequently set out to characterise the resulting conditional knockout cell line and found that depletion of Bcl6 leads to less proliferation, characterised by a prolonged G0/G1cell cycle phase. I went on to further characterise the effect of Bcl6 depletion in my system by cDNA microarray analysis, which revealed interesting insights into functions of Bcl6 such as the modulation of B cell receptor signalling and calcium signalling. The system I have developed is the first precisely regulated genetic model for studying Bcl6 function and will be of great benefit for research aiming to develop Bcl6 targeted drug therapy.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceLeukaemiaLymphoma Research, Gordon Piller studentship schemeGBUnited Kingdo

    Weather whiplash events in Europe and North Atlantic assessed as continental-scale atmospheric regime shifts

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    Abstract The term “weather whiplash” describes abrupt transitions from one persistent weather regime to another substantially different one, such as from a frigid cold spell to anomalous warmth. Weather whiplash events (WWEs) are often highly disruptive to agriculture, ecosystems, infrastructure, and human activities. While no consistent definition exists, we identify WWEs based on substantial shifts in the continental-scale, upper-atmosphere circulation. As first demonstrated in our earlier study focused on the NE Pacific/North American region, a WWE is detected when one persistent, large-scale pattern in 500 hPa height anomalies shifts to another distinctly different one. Patterns are identified using self-organizing maps (SOMs), which create a matrix of representative patterns in the data. In the present study, we apply this approach to identify WWEs in the North Atlantic/European sector. We analyze the occurrence of WWEs originating with long-duration events (four or more days) in each pattern. A WWE is detected when the pattern two days following a long-duration event is substantially different, measured with distance thresholds internal to the matrix. Changes in WWE frequency, past and future, are assessed objectively based on reanalysis output and climate model simulations. We find that future changes under RCP 8.5 forcing exhibit distinct trends, especially in summer months, while those based on reanalysis are less clear. Patterns featuring positive height anomalies in high latitudes are projected to produce more WWEs in the future, while patterns exhibiting negative anomalies produce fewer. Shifts in temperature and precipitation extremes associated with these WWEs are diagnosed
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