Automatic interlinear glossing as two-level sequence classification

We discuss the aspect of synchronisation in the language design and implementation of the asynchronous data flow language S-Net. Synchronisation is a crucial aspect of any coordination approach. S-Net provides a particularly simple construct, the synchrocell. As a primitive S-Net language construct synchrocell implements a one-off synchronisation of two data items of different type on a stream of such data items. We believe this semantics captures the essence of synchronisation, and no simpler design is possible. While the exact built-in behaviour as such is typically not what is required by S-Net application programmers, we show that in conjunction with other language features S-Net synchrocells meet typical demands for synchronisation in streaming networks quite well. Moreover, we argue that their simplistic design, in fact, is a necessary prerequisite to implement an even more interesting scenario: modelling state in streaming networks of stateless components. We finish with the outline of an efficient implementation by the S-Net runtime system

PrEP-Evaluation EvE-PrEP – Ergebnisse einer Befragung zum PrEP-Versorgungsgeschehen in HIV-Schwerpunktzentren des dagnä-Netzwerks

Seit September 2019 ist die Präexpositionsprophylaxe (PrEP) bei HIV-Infektion Teil des Leistungskatalo-ges der gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung (GKV). Mit der Einführung wurde auch eine Evaluation der neuen Leistung vorgesehen und ge¬setzlich festgeschrieben. In einer ersten umfassenden Auswertung einer Befragung zum Versorgungsgeschehen mit der GKV-PrEP in deutschen HIV-Schwerpunktzentren wurden u. a. allgemeine Daten zur PrEP-Versorgung und PrEP-Nutzung sowie spezifische Daten zu Versorgungsprozessen, etwa Testung und Behandlung asymptomatischer STI sowie STI-Prophylaxe, Beratung und Einleitung der HIV-PrEP betrachtet. Ergänzt wurde die Untersuchung durch vorangegangene Umfragen zum Einfluss der COVID-19-Pandemie auf die PrEP-Versorgung.Peer Reviewe

Framework and baseline examination of the German National Cohort (NAKO)

The German National Cohort (NAKO) is a multidisciplinary, population-based prospective cohort study that aims to investigate the causes of widespread diseases, identify risk factors and improve early detection and prevention of disease. Specifically, NAKO is designed to identify novel and better characterize established risk and protection factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, respiratory and infectious diseases in a random sample of the general population. Between 2014 and 2019, a total of 205,415 men and women aged 19–74 years were recruited and examined in 18 study centres in Germany. The baseline assessment included a face-to-face interview, self-administered questionnaires and a wide range of biomedical examinations. Biomaterials were collected from all participants including serum, EDTA plasma, buffy coats, RNA and erythrocytes, urine, saliva, nasal swabs and stool. In 56,971 participants, an intensified examination programme was implemented. Whole-body 3T magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 30,861 participants on dedicated scanners. NAKO collects follow-up information on incident diseases through a combination of active follow-up using self-report via written questionnaires at 2–3 year intervals and passive follow-up via record linkages. All study participants are invited for re-examinations at the study centres in 4–5 year intervals. Thereby, longitudinal information on changes in risk factor profiles and in vascular, cardiac, metabolic, neurocognitive, pulmonary and sensory function is collected. NAKO is a major resource for population-based epidemiology to identify new and tailored strategies for early detection, prediction, prevention and treatment of major diseases for the next 30 years. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10654-022-00890-5

European and multi-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of atopic dermatitis highlights importance of systemic immune regulation

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin condition and prior genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 71 associated loci. In the current study we conducted the largest AD GWAS to date (discovery N = 1,086,394, replication N = 3,604,027), combining previously reported cohorts with additional available data. We identified 81 loci (29 novel) in the European-only analysis (which all replicated in a separate European analysis) and 10 additional loci in the multi-ancestry analysis (3 novel). Eight variants from the multi-ancestry analysis replicated in at least one of the populations tested (European, Latino or African), while two may be specific to individuals of Japanese ancestry. AD loci showed enrichment for DNAse I hypersensitivity and eQTL associations in blood. At each locus we prioritised candidate genes by integrating multi-omic data. The implicated genes are predominantly in immune pathways of relevance to atopic inflammation and some offer drug repurposing opportunities.</p

Object-conditioned differential marking in Chintang and Nepali

This study deals with two syntactic alternation patterns found in two languages of Nepal: differential object marking (DOM) in Nepali (Indo-European > Indo-Aryan) and differential object indexing (DOI) linked to differential agent marking in Chintang (Tibeto-Burman > Kiranti). The aim of the study is to conduct in-depth analyses of these two phenomena based on corpus annotations and including necessary methodological innovations, as well as to compare them in order to reach conclusions about alternations conditioned by properties of objects in general. The investigation of Nepali DOM showed that while this phenomenon is formally simple, it is functionally highly complex. It is conditioned by a plethora of properties of the object, many of which had not been noticed before, such as animacy, specificity, quantifiability, topicality, part of speech, focus, affectedness, and role ambiguity. A rule-based approach can neither cover the full range of variation found in this area in natural language nor can it model DOM in a conceptually sound way. For these reasons, a probabilistic analysis was conducted in the form of logistic regression and shown to be superior to the rule-based analysis. By contrast, Chintang DOI turned out to be functionally simple in being basically conditioned by a single factor (specificity) but to be formally intertwined in complex ways with many other areas of morphosyntax such as valency classes, non-finite clauses, raising, and marking of aspect. In addition, it could be shown that quantifiability is a pre-condition for specificity and that these two properties interact in various ways in Chintang. Most of the differences between Nepali DOM and Chintang DOI can be traced back to fundamental differences between case marking and agreement. The general picture emerging is that the main function of DOM is to mark objects with unusual properties, whereas DOI marks objects that are easy to track in discourse