STC synthesis of research results for water quality management at construction sites : research project capsule.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-07-01

The RAC Region II has initiated a collaborative research program consortium through the : Transportation Pooled Fund (TPF) Program. The research program is called the Southeast : Transportation Consortium (STC) and is intended to encourage coordinati...

Report of the 4th Workshop for Technology Transfer for Intelligent Compaction Consortium.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-03-01

On October 2728, 2015, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) hosted the 4th workshop for : the Technology Transfer for Intelligent Compaction Consortium (TTICC), a Transportation Pooled Fund : (TPF5(233)) initiative designed to identify, s...

Use of common analgesic medications and ovarian cancer survival: results from a pooled analysis in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium

PubMed Central

Dixon, Suzanne C; Nagle, Christina M; Wentzensen, Nicolas; Trabert, Britton; Beeghly-Fadiel, Alicia; Schildkraut, Joellen M; Moysich, Kirsten B; deFazio, Anna; Risch, Harvey A; Rossing, Mary Anne; Doherty, Jennifer A; Wicklund, Kristine G; Goodman, Marc T; Modugno, Francesmary; Ness, Roberta B; Edwards, Robert P; Jensen, Allan; Kjær, Susanne K; Høgdall, Estrid; Berchuck, Andrew; Cramer, Daniel W; Terry, Kathryn L; Poole, Elizabeth M; Bandera, Elisa V; Paddock, Lisa E; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Ziogas, Argyrios; Menon, Usha; Gayther, Simon A; Ramus, Susan J; Gentry-Maharaj, Aleksandra; Pearce, Celeste Leigh; Wu, Anna H; Pike, Malcolm C; Webb, Penelope M

2017-01-01

Background: Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been associated with improved survival in some cancers, but evidence for ovarian cancer is limited. Methods: Pooling individual-level data from 12 Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium studies, we evaluated the association between self-reported, pre-diagnosis use of common analgesics and overall/progression-free/disease-specific survival among 7694 women with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer (4273 deaths). Results: Regular analgesic use (at least once per week) was not associated with overall survival (pooled hazard ratios, pHRs (95% confidence intervals): aspirin 0.96 (0.88–1.04); non-aspirin NSAIDs 0.97 (0.89–1.05); acetaminophen 1.01 (0.93–1.10)), nor with progression-free/disease-specific survival. There was however a survival advantage for users of any NSAIDs in studies clearly defining non-use as less than once per week (pHR=0.89 (0.82–0.98)). Conclusions: Although this study did not show a clear association between analgesic use and ovarian cancer survival, further investigation with clearer definitions of use and information about post-diagnosis use is warranted. PMID:28350790

Best practices for achieving and measuring pavement smoothness, a synthesis of state-of-practice : [tech summary].

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-04-01

The RAC Region II has initiated a collaborative research program consortium : through the Transportation Pooled Fund (TPF) Program. The research program is : called the Southeast Transportation Consortium (STC) and is intended to encourage : coordina...

OVERVIEW OF US NATIONAL LAND-COVER MAPPING PROGRAM

EPA Science Inventory

Because of escalating costs amid growing needs for large-scale, satellite-based landscape information, a group of US federal agencies agreed to pool resources and operate as a consortium to acquire the necessary data land-cover mapping of the nation . The consortium was initiated...

Cohort Profile: The International Childhood Cardiovascular Cohort (i3C) Consortium

PubMed Central

Dwyer, Terence; Sun, Cong; Magnussen, Costan G; Raitakari, Olli T; Schork, Nicholas J; Venn, Alison; Burns, Trudy L; Juonala, Markus; Steinberger, Julia; Sinaiko, Alan R; Prineas, Ronald J; Davis, Patricia H; Woo, Jessica G; Morrison, John A; Daniels, Stephen R; Chen, Wei; Srinivasan, Sathanur R; Viikari, Jorma SA; Berenson, Gerald S

2013-01-01

This is a consortium of large children's cohorts that contain measurements of major cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in childhood and had the ability to follow those cohorts into adulthood. The purpose of this consortium is to enable the pooling of data to increase power, most importantly for the follow-up of CVD events in adulthood. Within the consortium, we hope to be able to obtain data on the independent effects of childhood and early adult levels of CVD risk factors on subsequent CVD occurrence. PMID:22434861

The INHANCE consortium: toward a better understanding of the causes and mechanisms of head and neck cancer.

PubMed

Winn, D M; Lee, Y-C A; Hashibe, M; Boffetta, P

2015-09-01

The International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium is a collaboration of research groups leading large epidemiology studies to improve the understanding of the causes and mechanisms of head and neck cancer. The consortium includes investigators of 35 studies who have pooled their data on 25 500 patients with head and neck cancer (i.e., cancers of the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, and larynx) and 37 100 controls. The INHANCE analyses have confirmed that tobacco use and alcohol intake are key risk factors of these diseases and have provided precise estimates of risk and dose response, the benefit of quitting, and the hazard of smoking even a few cigarettes per day. Other risk factors include short height, lean body mass, low education and income, and a family history of head and neck cancer. Risk factors are generally similar for oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx, although the magnitude of risk may vary. Some major strengths of pooling data across studies include more precise estimates of risk and the ability to control for potentially confounding factors and to examine factors that may interact with each other. The INHANCE consortium provides evidence of the scientific productivity and discoveries that can be obtained from data pooling projects. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Dietary fiber intake and head and neck cancer risk: A pooled analysis in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology consortium.

PubMed

Kawakita, Daisuke; Lee, Yuan-Chin Amy; Turati, Federica; Parpinel, Maria; Decarli, Adriano; Serraino, Diego; Matsuo, Keitaro; Olshan, Andrew F; Zevallos, Jose P; Winn, Deborah M; Moysich, Kirsten; Zhang, Zuo-Feng; Morgenstern, Hal; Levi, Fabio; Kelsey, Karl; McClean, Michael; Bosetti, Cristina; Garavello, Werner; Schantz, Stimson; Yu, Guo-Pei; Boffetta, Paolo; Chuang, Shu-Chun; Hashibe, Mia; Ferraroni, Monica; La Vecchia, Carlo; Edefonti, Valeria

2017-11-01

The possible role of dietary fiber in the etiology of head neck cancers (HNCs) is unclear. We used individual-level pooled data from ten case-control studies (5959 cases and 12,248 controls) participating in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium, to examine the association between fiber intake and cancer of the oral cavity/pharynx and larynx. Odds Ratios (ORs) and their 95% Confidence Intervals (CIs) were estimated using unconditional multiple logistic regression applied to quintile categories of non-alcohol energy-adjusted fiber intake and adjusted for tobacco and alcohol use and other known or putative confounders. Fiber intake was inversely associated with oral and pharyngeal cancer combined (OR for 5th vs. 1st quintile category = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.40-0.59; p for trend <0.001) and with laryngeal cancer (OR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.54-0.82, p for trend <0.001). There was, however, appreciable heterogeneity of the estimated effect across studies for oral and pharyngeal cancer combined. Nonetheless, inverse associations were consistently observed for the subsites of oral and pharyngeal cancers and within most strata of the considered covariates, for both cancer sites. Our findings from a multicenter large-scale pooled analysis suggest that, although in the presence of between-study heterogeneity, a greater intake of fiber may lower HNC risk. © 2017 UICC.

Folate intake and the risk of oral cavity and pharyngeal cancer: a pooled analysis within the INHANCE Consortium

PubMed Central

Galeone, Carlotta; Edefonti, Valeria; Parpinel, Maria; Leoncini, Emanuele; Matsuo, Keitaro; Talamini, Renato; Olshan, Andrew F.; Zevallos, Jose P.; Winn, Deborah M.; Jayaprakash, Vijayvel; Moysich, Kirsten; Zhang, Zuo-Feng; Morgenstern, Hal; Levi, Fabio; Bosetti, Cristina; Kelsey, Karl; McClean, Michael; Schantz, Stimson; Yu, Guo-Pei; Boffetta, Paolo; Lee, Yuan-Chin Amy; Hashibe, Mia; La Vecchia, Carlo; Boccia, Stefania

2014-01-01

There are suggestions of an inverse association between folate intake and serum folate levels and the risk of oral cavity and pharyngeal cancers (OPC), but most studies are limited in sample size, with only few reporting information on the source of dietary folate. This study aims to investigate the association between folate intake and the risk of OPC within the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) Consortium. We analyzed pooled individual-level data from 10 case-control studies participating in the INHANCE consortium, including 5,127 cases and 13,249 controls. Odds ratios (ORs) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated for the associations between total folate intake (natural, fortification and supplementation) and natural folate only, and OPC risk. We found an inverse association between total folate intake and overall OPC risk (the adjusted OR for the highest versus the lowest quintile was 0.65, 95% CI: 0.43–0.99), with a stronger association for oral cavity (OR=0.57, 95% CI: 0.43–0.75). A similar inverse association, though somewhat weaker, was observed for folate intake from natural sources only (OR=0.64, 95% CI: 0.45–0.91). The highest OPC risk was observed in heavy alcohol drinkers with low folate intake as compared to never/light drinkers with high folate (OR=4.05, 95% CI: 3.43–4.79); the attributable proportion due to interaction was 11.1%(95% CI: 1.4–20.8%). The present project of a large pool of case-control studies supports a protective effect total folate intake on OPC risk. PMID:24974959

Development of the Ovarian Cancer Cohort Consortium: Risk Factor Associations by Heterogeneity of Disease

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-01

K05CA154337 from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Office of Dietary Supplements (VITAL). R01 CA39742 (Iowa Women’s Health Study). NIH/NCI UM1...did not collect information on a specific risk factor were excluded from the analysis of that factor ( Supplemental Table 1), leading to different... Supplemental Table 3. Associationsa of risk factors with ovarian cancer subtypes based on meta-analysis pooling the results of individual studies

Occupation and Risk of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Its Subtypes: A Pooled Analysis from the InterLymph Consortium

PubMed Central

‘t Mannetje, Andrea; De Roos, Anneclaire J.; Boffetta, Paolo; Vermeulen, Roel; Benke, Geza; Fritschi, Lin; Brennan, Paul; Foretova, Lenka; Maynadié, Marc; Becker, Nikolaus; Nieters, Alexandra; Staines, Anthony; Campagna, Marcello; Chiu, Brian; Clavel, Jacqueline; de Sanjose, Silvia; Hartge, Patricia; Holly, Elizabeth A.; Bracci, Paige; Linet, Martha S.; Monnereau, Alain; Orsi, Laurent; Purdue, Mark P.; Rothman, Nathaniel; Lan, Qing; Kane, Eleanor; Costantini, Adele Seniori; Miligi, Lucia; Spinelli, John J.; Zheng, Tongzhang; Cocco, Pierluigi; Kricker, Anne

2015-01-01

Background: Various occupations have been associated with an elevated risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), but results have been inconsistent across studies. Objectives: We investigated occupational risk of NHL and of four common NHL subtypes with particular focus on occupations of a priori interest. Methods: We conducted a pooled analysis of 10,046 cases and 12,025 controls from 10 NHL studies participating in the InterLymph Consortium. We harmonized the occupational coding using the 1968 International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-1968) and grouped occupations previously associated with NHL into 25 a priori groups. Odds ratios (ORs) adjusted for center, age, and sex were determined for NHL overall and for the following four subtypes: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), follicular lymphoma (FL), chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL), and peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL). Results: We confirmed previously reported positive associations between NHL and farming occupations [field crop/vegetable farm workers OR = 1.26; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05, 1.51; general farm workers OR = 1.19; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.37]; we also confirmed associations of NHL with specific occupations such as women’s hairdressers (OR = 1.34; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.74), charworkers/cleaners (OR = 1.17; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.36), spray-painters (OR = 2.07; 95% CI: 1.30, 3.29), electrical wiremen (OR = 1.24; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.54), and carpenters (OR = 1.42; 95% CI: 1.04, 1.93). We observed subtype-specific associations for DLBCL and CLL/SLL in women’s hairdressers and for DLBCL and PTCL in textile workers. Conclusions: Our pooled analysis of 10 international studies adds to evidence suggesting that farming, hairdressing, and textile industry–related exposures may contribute to NHL risk. Associations with women’s hairdresser and textile occupations may be specific for certain NHL subtypes. Citation: ‘t Mannetje A, De Roos AJ, Boffetta P, Vermeulen R, Benke G, Fritschi L, Brennan P, Foretova L, Maynadié M, Becker N, Nieters A, Staines A, Campagna M, Chiu B, Clavel J, de Sanjose S, Hartge P, Holly EA, Bracci P, Linet MS, Monnereau A, Orsi L, Purdue MP, Rothman N, Lan Q, Kane E, Seniori Costantini A, Miligi L, Spinelli JJ, Zheng T, Cocco P, Kricker A. 2016. Occupation and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and its subtypes: a pooled analysis from the InterLymph Consortium. Environ Health Perspect 124:396–405; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1409294 PMID:26340796

Pooling job physical exposure data from multiple independent studies in a consortium study of carpal tunnel syndrome

PubMed Central

Kapellusch, Jay M.; Garg, Arun; Bao, Stephen S.; Silverstein, Barbara A.; Burt, Susan E.; Dale, Ann Marie; Evanoff, Bradley A.; Gerr, Frederic E.; Harris-Adamson, Carisa; Hegmann, Kurt T.; Merlino, Linda A.; Rempel, David M.

2015-01-01

Pooling data from different epidemiological studies of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) is necessary to improve statistical power and to more precisely quantify exposure–response relationships for MSDs. The pooling process is difficult and time-consuming, and small methodological differences could lead to different exposure–response relationships. A subcommittee of a six-study research consortium studying carpal tunnel syndrome: (i) visited each study site, (ii) documented methods used to collect physical exposure data and (iii) determined compatibility of exposure variables across studies. Certain measures of force, frequency of exertion and duty cycle were collected by all studies and were largely compatible. A portion of studies had detailed data to investigate simultaneous combinations of force, frequency and duration of exertions. Limited compatibility was found for hand/wrist posture. Only two studies could calculate compatible Strain Index scores, but Threshold Limit Value for Hand Activity Level could be determined for all studies. Challenges of pooling data, resources required and recommendations for future researchers are discussed. PMID:23697792

Overview of the Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers.

PubMed

Helzlsouer, Kathy J

2010-07-01

The Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers (VDPP) brought together 10 cohorts to conduct a prospective study of the association between vitamin D status, measured as serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), and the development of 7 rarer cancer sites: endometrial, esophageal, gastric, kidney, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers. The cohorts come from 3 continents, with participants from a wide range of latitude who are racially diverse. Across each cancer site, there was no evidence of a protective association between higher concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (>75 nmol/L) and cancer outcome. An increased risk at very high levels (> or =100 nmol/L) was noted for pancreatic cancer, confirming previous reports. The articles included in this issue detail the overall design and governance of the project, correlates of vitamin D status, and results from the cancer site-specific investigations. The Vitamin D Pooling Project realizes a major goal of consortium efforts, namely, to rigorously test hypotheses for rarer cancer outcomes that may not be adequately addressed in any one prospective cohort study. The results of this study have application for the planning and conduct of intervention trials, especially in determining potential risks.

Cannabis smoking and lung cancer risk: Pooled analysis in the International Lung Cancer Consortium

PubMed Central

Zhang, Li Rita; Morgenstern, Hal; Greenland, Sander; Chang, Shen-Chih; Lazarus, Philip; Teare, M. Dawn; Woll, Penella J.; Orlow, Irene; Cox, Brian; Brhane, Yonathan; Liu, Geoffrey; Hung, Rayjean J.

2014-01-01

To investigate the association between cannabis smoking and lung cancer risk, data on 2,159 lung cancer cases and 2,985 controls were pooled from 6 case-control studies in the US, Canada, UK, and New Zealand within the International Lung Cancer Consortium. Study-specific associations between cannabis smoking and lung cancer were estimated using unconditional logistic regression adjusting for sociodemographic factors, tobacco smoking status and pack-years; odds-ratio estimates were pooled using random effects models. Subgroup analyses were done for sex, histology and tobacco smoking status. The shapes of dose-response associations were examined using restricted cubic spline regression. The overall pooled OR for habitual versus nonhabitual or never users was 0.96 (95% CI: 0.66–1.38). Compared to nonhabitual or never users, the summary OR was 0.88 (95%CI: 0.63–1.24) for individuals who smoked 1 or more joint-equivalents of cannabis per day and 0.94 (95%CI: 0.67–1.32) for those consumed at least 10 joint-years. For adenocarcinoma cases the ORs were 1.73 (95%CI: 0.75–4.00) and 1.74 (95%CI: 0.85–3.55), respectively. However, no association was found for the squamous cell carcinoma based on small numbers. Weak associations between cannabis smoking and lung cancer were observed in never tobacco smokers. Spline modeling indicated a weak positive monotonic association between cumulative cannabis use and lung cancer, but precision was low at high exposure levels. Results from our pooled analyses provide little evidence for an increased risk of lung cancer among habitual or long-term cannabis smokers, although the possibility of potential adverse effect for heavy consumption cannot be excluded. PMID:24947688

25 CFR 1001.9 - Selection criteria for tribes/consortia seeking advance planning grant funding.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Selection criteria for tribes/consortia seeking advance..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR SELF-GOVERNANCE PROGRAM § 1001.9 Selection criteria for tribes/consortia seeking... before a tribe/consortium is admitted into the applicant pool? Any tribe/consortium that is not a self...

25 CFR 1000.17 - What documents must a Tribe/Consortium submit to OSG to apply for admission to the applicant pool?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... following: (a) Successful completion of a planning phase and a planning report. The requirements for both of these are described in § 1000.19 and § 1000.20. A Consortium's planning activities satisfy this... financial stability and financial management capability for the previous 3 fiscal years. This will be done...

Houston-Area Community Colleges Reap Rewards of Cooperative Television Campaign. Presentation to the National Council of Community Relations National Conference.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boatright, Joyce; Lestarjette, Steve

In response to a statewide economic crisis resulting in a 9% funding cut for Texas community colleges, the presidents of nine Houston area community colleges formed a consortium to pool their resources and aggressively market the colleges. Since 1986, the Gulf Coast Consortium has mounted late-summer television and radio advertising campaigns to…

Effect of thermal cycling ramp rate on CSP assembly reliability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ghaffarian, R.

2001-01-01

A JPL-led chip scale package consortium of enterprises recently joined together to pool in-kind resources for developing the quality and reliability of chip scale packages for a variety of projects. The experience of the consortium in building more than 150 test vehicle assemblies, single and double sided multilayer PWBs, and the environmental test results has now been published as a chip scale package guidelines document.

Parental occupational paint exposure and risk of childhood leukemia in the offspring: Findings from the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium

PubMed Central

Bailey, Helen D; Fritschi, Lin; Metayer, Catherine; Infante-Rivard, Claire; Magnani, Corrado; Petridou, Eleni; Roman, Eve; Spector, Logan G; Kaatsch, Peter; Clavel, Jacqueline; Milne, Elizabeth; Dockerty, John D; Glass, Deborah C; Lightfoot, Tracy; Miligi, Lucia; Rudant, Jérémie; Baka, Margarita; Rondelli, Roberto; Amigou, Alicia; Simpson, Jill; Kang, Alice; Moschovi, Maria; Schüz, Joachim

2014-01-01

Purpose It has been suggested that parental occupational paint exposure around the time of conception or pregnancy increases the risk of childhood leukemia in the offspring. Methods We obtained individual level data from 13 case-control studies participating in the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium (CLIC). Occupational data were harmonized to a compatible format. Meta-analyses of study-specific odds ratios (ORs) were undertaken, as well as pooled analyses of individual data using unconditional logistic regression. Results Using individual data from fathers of 8,185 cases and 14,210 controls, the pooled OR for paternal exposure around conception and risk of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) was 0.93 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.76, 1.14). Analysis of data from 8,156 ALL case mothers and 14,568 control mothers produced a pooled OR of 0.81 (95% CI 0.39, 1.68) for exposure during pregnancy. For acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), the pooled ORs for paternal and maternal exposure were 0.96 (95% CI 0.65, 1.41) and 1.31 (95% CI 0.38, 4.47) respectively, based on data from 1,231 case and 11,392 control fathers and 1,329 case and 12,141 control mothers. Heterogeneity among the individual studies ranged from low to modest. Conclusions Null findings for paternal exposure for both ALL and AML are consistent with previous reports. Despite the large sample size, results for maternal exposure to paints in pregnancy were based on small numbers of exposed. Overall, we found no evidence that parental occupational exposure to paints increases the risk of leukemia in the offspring, but further data on home exposure are needed. PMID:25088805

Maternal consumption of coffee and tea during pregnancy and risk of childhood ALL: a pooled analysis from the childhood Leukemia International Consortium.

PubMed

Milne, Elizabeth; Greenop, Kathryn R; Petridou, Eleni; Bailey, Helen D; Orsi, Laurent; Kang, Alice Y; Baka, Margarita; Bonaventure, Audrey; Kourti, Maria; Metayer, Catherine; Clavel, Jacqueline

2018-06-01

The early onset of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) suggests that critical exposures occurring during pregnancy may increase risk. We investigated the effects of maternal coffee and tea consumption during pregnancy on ALL risk by pooling data from eight case-control studies participating in the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium. Data on maternal coffee intake were available for 2,552 cases and 4,876 controls, and data on tea intake were available for 2,982 cases and 5,367 controls. Coffee and tea intake was categorized into 0, > 0-1, > 1-2, and > 2 cups/day, and covariates were combined and harmonized. Data on genetic variants in NAT2, CYP1A1, and NQO1 were also available in a subset. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using unconditional logistic regression, and linear trends across categories were assessed. No association was seen with 'any' maternal coffee consumption during pregnancy, but there was evidence of a positive exposure-response; the pooled OR for > 2 cups/day versus none was 1.27 (95% CI 1.09-1.43), p trend = 0.005. No associations were observed with tea consumption. No interactions were seen between coffee or tea intake and age, maternal smoking or genotype, and there was little or no evidence that associations with coffee or tea differed among cases with and without chromosomal translocations. Despite some limitations, our findings suggest that high coffee intake during pregnancy may increase risk of childhood ALL. Thus, current advice to limit caffeine intake during pregnancy to reduce risk of preterm birth may have additional benefits.

Fetal Growth and Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Findings from the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium (CLIC)

PubMed Central

Milne, Elizabeth; Greenop, Kathryn R.; Metayer, Catherine; Schüz, Joachim; Petridou, Eleni; Pombo-de-Oliveira, Maria S.; Infante-Rivard, Claire; Roman, Eve; Dockerty, John D.; Spector, Logan G.; Koifman, Sérgio; Orsi, Laurent; Rudant, Jérémie; Dessypris, Nick; Simpson, Jill; Lightfoot, Tracy; Kaatsch, Peter; Baka, Margarita; Faro, Alessandra; Armstrong, Bruce K.; Clavel, Jacqueline; Buffler, Patricia A.

2013-01-01

Positive associations have been reported between measures of accelerated fetal growth and risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). We investigated this association by pooling individual-level data from 12 case-control studies participating in the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium. Two measures of fetal growth – weight-for-gestational-age and proportion of optimal birth weight (POBW) – were analysed. Study-specific odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using multivariable logistic regression, and combined in fixed effects meta-analyses. Pooled analyses of all data were also undertaken using multivariable logistic regression. Subgroup analyses were undertaken when possible. Data on weight for gestational age were available for 7,348 cases and 12,489 controls from all 12 studies and POBW data were available for 1,680 cases and 3,139 controls from three studies. The summary ORs from the meta-analyses were 1.24 (95% CI 1.13, 1.36) for children who were large for gestational age relative to appropriate for gestational age, and 1.16 (95% CI: 1.09, 1.24) for a one standard deviation increase in POBW. The pooled analyses produced similar results. The summary and pooled ORs for small-for-gestational-age children were 0.83 (95% CI: 0.75, 0.92) and 0.86 (95% CI 0.77, 0.95) respectively. Results were consistent across subgroups defined by sex, ethnicity and immunophenotype, and when the analysis was restricted to children who did not have high birth weight. The evidence that accelerated fetal growth is associated with a modest increased risk of childhood ALL is strong and consistent with known biological mechanisms involving insulin like growth factors. PMID:23754574

Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D and risk of pancreatic cancer: Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers.

PubMed

Stolzenberg-Solomon, Rachael Z; Jacobs, Eric J; Arslan, Alan A; Qi, Dai; Patel, Alpa V; Helzlsouer, Kathy J; Weinstein, Stephanie J; McCullough, Marjorie L; Purdue, Mark P; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Snyder, Kirk; Virtamo, Jarmo; Wilkins, Lynn R; Yu, Kai; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Anne; Zheng, Wei; Albanes, Demetrius; Cai, Qiuyin; Harvey, Chinonye; Hayes, Richard; Clipp, Sandra; Horst, Ronald L; Irish, Lonn; Koenig, Karen; Le Marchand, Loic; Kolonel, Laurence N

2010-07-01

Results from epidemiologic studies examining pancreatic cancer risk and vitamin D intake or 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations (the best indicator of vitamin D derived from diet and sun) have been inconsistent. Therefore, the authors conducted a pooled nested case-control study of participants from 8 cohorts within the Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers (VDPP) (1974-2006) to evaluate whether prediagnostic circulating 25(OH)D concentrations were associated with the development of pancreatic cancer. In total, 952 incident pancreatic adenocarcinoma cases occurred among participants (median follow-up, 6.5 years). Controls (n = 1,333) were matched to each case by cohort, age, sex, race/ethnicity, date of blood draw, and follow-up time. Conditional logistic regression analysis was used to calculate smoking-, body mass index-, and diabetes-adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for pancreatic cancer. Clinically relevant 25(OH)D cutpoints were compared with a referent category of 50-<75 nmol/L. No significant associations were observed for participants with lower 25(OH)D status. However, a high 25(OH)D concentration (> or =100 nmol/L) was associated with a statistically significant 2-fold increase in pancreatic cancer risk overall (odds ratio = 2.12, 95% confidence interval: 1.23, 3.64). Given this result, recommendations to increase vitamin D concentrations in healthy persons for the prevention of cancer should be carefully considered.

Height and Breast Cancer Risk: Evidence From Prospective Studies and Mendelian Randomization

PubMed Central

Zhang, Ben; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Delahanty, Ryan J.; Zeng, Chenjie; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Bolla, Manjeet K.; Wang, Qin; Dennis, Joe; Wen, Wanqing; Long, Jirong; Li, Chun; Dunning, Alison M.; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Shah, Mitul; Perkins, Barbara J.; Czene, Kamila; Darabi, Hatef; Eriksson, Mikael; Bojesen, Stig E.; Nordestgaard, Børge G.; Nielsen, Sune F.; Flyger, Henrik; Lambrechts, Diether; Neven, Patrick; Wildiers, Hans; Floris, Giuseppe; Schmidt, Marjanka K.; Rookus, Matti A.; van den Hurk, Katja; de Kort, Wim L. A. M.; Couch, Fergus J.; Olson, Janet E.; Hallberg, Emily; Vachon, Celine; Rudolph, Anja; Seibold, Petra; Flesch-Janys, Dieter; Peto, Julian; dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel; Fletcher, Olivia; Johnson, Nichola; Nevanlinna, Heli; Muranen, Taru A.; Aittomäki, Kristiina; Blomqvist, Carl; Li, Jingmei; Humphreys, Keith; Brand, Judith; Guénel, Pascal; Truong, Thérèse; Cordina-Duverger, Emilie; Menegaux, Florence; Burwinkel, Barbara; Marme, Frederik; Yang, Rongxi; Surowy, Harald; Benitez, Javier; Zamora, M. Pilar; Perez, Jose I. A.; Cox, Angela; Cross, Simon S.; Reed, Malcolm W. R.; Andrulis, Irene L.; Knight, Julia A.; Glendon, Gord; Tchatchou, Sandrine; Sawyer, Elinor J.; Tomlinson, Ian; Kerin, Michael J.; Miller, Nicola; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Haiman, Christopher A.; Henderson, Brian E.; Schumacher, Fredrick; Marchand, Loic Le; Lindblom, Annika; Margolin, Sara; Hooning, Maartje J.; Martens, John W. M.; Tilanus-Linthorst, Madeleine M. A.; Collée, J. Margriet; Hopper, John L.; Southey, Melissa C.; Tsimiklis, Helen; Apicella, Carmel; Slager, Susan; Toland, Amanda E.; Ambrosone, Christine B.; Yannoukakos, Drakoulis; Giles, Graham G.; Milne, Roger L.; McLean, Catriona; Fasching, Peter A.; Haeberle, Lothar; Ekici, Arif B.; Beckmann, Matthias W.; Brenner, Hermann; Dieffenbach, Aida Karina; Arndt, Volker; Stegmaier, Christa; Swerdlow, Anthony J.; Ashworth, Alan; Orr, Nick; Jones, Michael; Figueroa, Jonine; Garcia-Closas, Montserrat; Brinton, Louise; Lissowska, Jolanta; Dumont, Martine; Winqvist, Robert; Pylkäs, Katri; Jukkola-Vuorinen, Arja; Grip, Mervi; Brauch, Hiltrud; Brüning, Thomas; Ko, Yon-Dschun; Peterlongo, Paolo; Manoukian, Siranoush; Bonanni, Bernardo; Radice, Paolo; Bogdanova, Natalia; Antonenkova, Natalia; Dörk, Thilo; Mannermaa, Arto; Kataja, Vesa; Kosma, Veli-Matti; Hartikainen, Jaana M.; Devilee, Peter; Seynaeve, Caroline; Van Asperen, Christi J.; Jakubowska, Anna; Lubiński, Jan; Jaworska-Bieniek, Katarzyna; Durda, Katarzyna; Hamann, Ute; Torres, Diana; Schmutzler, Rita K.; Neuhausen, Susan L.; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Kristensen, Vessela N.; Grenaker Alnæs, Grethe I.; Pierce, Brandon L.; Kraft, Peter; Peters, Ulrike; Lindstrom, Sara; Seminara, Daniela; Burgess, Stephen; Ahsan, Habibul; Whittemore, Alice S.; John, Esther M.; Gammon, Marilie D.; Malone, Kathleen E.; Tessier, Daniel C.; Vincent, Daniel; Bacot, Francois; Luccarini, Craig; Baynes, Caroline; Ahmed, Shahana; Maranian, Mel; Healey, Catherine S.; González-Neira, Anna; Pita, Guillermo; Alonso, M. Rosario; Álvarez, Nuria; Herrero, Daniel; Pharoah, Paul D. P.; Simard, Jacques; Hall, Per; Hunter, David J.; Easton, Douglas F.

2015-01-01

Background: Epidemiological studies have linked adult height with breast cancer risk in women. However, the magnitude of the association, particularly by subtypes of breast cancer, has not been established. Furthermore, the mechanisms of the association remain unclear. Methods: We performed a meta-analysis to investigate associations between height and breast cancer risk using data from 159 prospective cohorts totaling 5216302 women, including 113178 events. In a consortium with individual-level data from 46325 case patients and 42482 control subjects, we conducted a Mendelian randomization analysis using a genetic score that comprised 168 height-associated variants as an instrument. This association was further evaluated in a second consortium using summary statistics data from 16003 case patients and 41335 control subjects. Results: The pooled relative risk of breast cancer was 1.17 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.15 to 1.19) per 10cm increase in height in the meta-analysis of prospective studies. In Mendelian randomization analysis, the odds ratio of breast cancer per 10cm increase in genetically predicted height was 1.22 (95% CI = 1.13 to 1.32) in the first consortium and 1.21 (95% CI = 1.05 to 1.39) in the second consortium. The association was found in both premenopausal and postmenopausal women but restricted to hormone receptor–positive breast cancer. Analyses of height-associated variants identified eight new loci associated with breast cancer risk after adjusting for multiple comparisons, including three loci at 1q21.2, DNAJC27, and CCDC91 at genome-wide significance level P < 5×10–8. Conclusions: Our study provides strong evidence that adult height is a risk factor for breast cancer in women and certain genetic factors and biological pathways affecting adult height have an important role in the etiology of breast cancer. PMID:26296642

International Childhood Cancer Cohort Consortium

Cancer.gov

An alliance of several large-scale prospective cohort studies of children to pool data and biospecimens from individual cohorts to study various modifiable and genetic factors in relation to cancer risk

Chronic Recreational Physical Inactivity and Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Risk: Evidence from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium

PubMed Central

Cannioto, Rikki; LaMonte, Michael J.; Risch, Harvey A.; Hong, Chi-Chen; Sucheston-Campbell, Lara E.; Eng, Kevin H.; Szender, J. Brian; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Schmalfeldt, Barbara; Klapdor, Ruediger; Gower, Emily; Minlikeeva, Albina N.; Zirpoli, Gary; Bandera, Elisa V.; Berchuck, Andrew; Cramer, Daniel; Doherty, Jennifer A.; Edwards, Robert P.; Fridley, Brooke L.; Goode, Ellen L.; Goodman, Marc T.; Hogdall, Estrid; Hosono, Satoyo; Jensen, Allan; Jordan, Susan; Kjaer, Susanne K.; Matsuo, Keitaro; Ness, Roberta B.; Olsen, Catherine M.; Olson, Sara H.; Pearce, Celeste Leigh; Pike, Malcolm C.; Rossing, Mary Anne; Szamreta, Elizabeth A.; Thompson, Pamela J.; Tseng, Chiu-Chen; Vierkant, Robert A.; Webb, Penelope M.; Wentzensen, Nicolas; Wicklund, Kristine G.; Winham, Stacey J.; Wu, Anna H.; Modugno, Francesmary; Schildkraut, Joellen M.; Terry, Kathryn L.; Kelemen, Linda E.; Moysich, Kirsten B.

2016-01-01

Background Despite a large body of literature evaluating the association between recreational physical activity and epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) risk, the extant evidence is inconclusive and little is known about the independent association between recreational physical inactivity and EOC risk. We conducted a pooled analysis of nine studies from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC) to investigate the association between chronic recreational physical inactivity and EOC risk. Methods In accordance with the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, women reporting no regular, weekly recreational physical activity were classified as inactive. Multivariable logistic regression was utilized to estimate the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between inactivity and EOC risk overall and by subgroups based upon histotype, menopausal status, race and body mass index (BMI). Results The current analysis included data from 8,309 EOC patients and 12,612 controls. We observed a significant positive association between inactivity and EOC risk (OR=1.34, 95% CI: 1.14-1.57) and similar associations were observed for each histotype. Conclusions In this large pooled analysis examining the association between recreational physical inactivity and EOC risk, we observed consistent evidence of an association between chronic inactivity and all EOC histotypes. Impact These data add to the growing body of evidence suggesting that inactivity is an independent risk factor for cancer. If the apparent association between inactivity and EOC risk is substantiated, additional work via targeted interventions should be pursued to characterize the dose of activity required to mitigate the risk of this highly fatal disease. PMID:27197285

Association of marijuana smoking with oropharyngeal and oral tongue cancers: pooled analysis from the INHANCE consortium.

PubMed

Marks, Morgan A; Chaturvedi, Anil K; Kelsey, Karl; Straif, Kurt; Berthiller, Julien; Schwartz, Stephen M; Smith, Elaine; Wyss, Annah; Brennan, Paul; Olshan, Andrew F; Wei, Qingyi; Sturgis, Erich M; Zhang, Zuo-Feng; Morgenstern, Hal; Muscat, Joshua; Lazarus, Philip; McClean, Michael; Chen, Chu; Vaughan, Thomas L; Wunsch-Filho, Victor; Curado, Maria Paula; Koifman, Sergio; Matos, Elena; Menezes, Ana; Daudt, Alexander W; Fernandez, Leticia; Posner, Marshall; Boffetta, Paolo; Lee, Yuan-Chin Amy; Hashibe, Mia; D'Souza, Gypsyamber

2014-01-01

The incidence of oropharyngeal and oral tongue cancers has increased over the last 20 years which parallels increased use of marijuana among individuals born after 1950. A pooled analysis was conducted comprising individual-level data from nine case-control studies from the United States and Latin America in the INHANCE consortium. Self-reported information on marijuana smoking, demographic, and behavioral factors was obtained from 1,921 oropharyngeal cases, 356 oral tongue cases, and 7,639 controls. Compared with never marijuana smokers, ever marijuana smokers had an elevated risk of oropharyngeal [adjusted OR (aOR), 1.24; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06-1.47] and a reduced risk of oral tongue cancer (aOR, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.29, 0.75). The risk of oropharyngeal cancer remained elevated among never tobacco and alcohol users. The risk of oral tongue cancer was reduced among never users of tobacco and alcohol. Sensitivity analysis adjusting for potential confounding by HPV exposure attenuated the association of marijuana use with oropharyngeal cancer (aOR, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.71-1.25), but had no effect on the oral tongue cancer association. These results suggest that the association of marijuana use with head and neck carcinoma may differ by tumor site. The associations of marijuana use with oropharyngeal and oral tongue cancer are consistent with both possible pro- and anticarcinogenic effects of cannabinoids. Additional work is needed to rule out various sources of bias, including residual confounding by HPV infection and misclassification of marijuana exposure.

External RNA Controls Consortium Beta Version Update.

PubMed

Lee, Hangnoh; Pine, P Scott; McDaniel, Jennifer; Salit, Marc; Oliver, Brian

2016-01-01

Spike-in RNAs are valuable controls for a variety of gene expression measurements. The External RNA Controls Consortium developed test sets that were used in a number of published reports. Here we provide an authoritative table that summarizes, updates, and corrects errors in the test version that ultimately resulted in the certified Standard Reference Material 2374. We have noted existence of anti-sense RNA controls in the material, corrected sub-pool memberships, and commented on control RNAs that displayed inconsistent behavior.

Consortium of accelerated pavement testers (CAPT).

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-05-01

FHWA and a group of state Departments of Transportation from nine of the 14 US Accelerated : Pavement Testing (APT) facilities have proposed the creation of a joint or pooled funded program to : encourage coordination among the various facilities and...

Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D and the risk of rarer cancers: Design and methods of the Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers.

PubMed

Gallicchio, Lisa; Helzlsouer, Kathy J; Chow, Wong-Ho; Freedman, D Michal; Hankinson, Susan E; Hartge, Patricia; Hartmuller, Virginia; Harvey, Chinonye; Hayes, Richard B; Horst, Ronald L; Koenig, Karen L; Kolonel, Laurence N; Laden, Francine; McCullough, Marjorie L; Parisi, Dominick; Purdue, Mark P; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Snyder, Kirk; Stolzenberg-Solomon, Rachael Z; Tworoger, Shelley S; Varanasi, Arti; Virtamo, Jarmo; Wilkens, Lynne R; Xiang, Yong-Bing; Yu, Kai; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Anne; Zheng, Wei; Abnet, Christian C; Albanes, Demetrius; Bertrand, Kimberly; Weinstein, Stephanie J

2010-07-01

The Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers (VDPP), a consortium of 10 prospective cohort studies from the United States, Finland, and China, was formed to examine the associations between circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations and the risk of rarer cancers. Cases (total n = 5,491) included incident primary endometrial (n = 830), kidney (n = 775), ovarian (n = 516), pancreatic (n = 952), and upper gastrointestinal tract (n = 1,065) cancers and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (n = 1,353) diagnosed in the participating cohorts. At least 1 control was matched to each case on age, date of blood collection (1974-2006), sex, and race/ethnicity (n = 6,714). Covariate data were obtained from each cohort in a standardized manner. The majority of the serum or plasma samples were assayed in a central laboratory using a direct, competitive chemiluminescence immunoassay on the DiaSorin LIAISON platform (DiaSorin, Inc., Stillwater, Minnesota). Masked quality control samples included serum standards from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology. Conditional logistic regression analyses were conducted using clinically defined cutpoints, with 50-<75 nmol/L as the reference category. Meta-analyses were also conducted using inverse-variance weights in random-effects models. This consortium approach permits estimation of the association between 25(OH)D and several rarer cancers with high accuracy and precision across a wide range of 25(OH)D concentrations.

Circulating 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and the Risk of Rarer Cancers: Design and Methods of the Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers

PubMed Central

Gallicchio, Lisa; Helzlsouer, Kathy J.; Chow, Wong-Ho; Freedman, D. Michal; Hankinson, Susan E.; Hartge, Patricia; Hartmuller, Virginia; Harvey, Chinonye; Hayes, Richard B.; Horst, Ronald L.; Koenig, Karen L.; Kolonel, Laurence N.; Laden, Francine; McCullough, Marjorie L.; Parisi, Dominick; Purdue, Mark P.; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Snyder, Kirk; Stolzenberg-Solomon, Rachael Z.; Tworoger, Shelley S.; Varanasi, Arti; Virtamo, Jarmo; Wilkens, Lynne R.; Xiang, Yong-Bing; Yu, Kai; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Anne; Zheng, Wei; Abnet, Christian C.; Albanes, Demetrius; Bertrand, Kimberly; Weinstein, Stephanie J.

2010-01-01

The Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers (VDPP), a consortium of 10 prospective cohort studies from the United States, Finland, and China, was formed to examine the associations between circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations and the risk of rarer cancers. Cases (total n = 5,491) included incident primary endometrial (n = 830), kidney (n = 775), ovarian (n = 516), pancreatic (n = 952), and upper gastrointestinal tract (n = 1,065) cancers and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (n = 1,353) diagnosed in the participating cohorts. At least 1 control was matched to each case on age, date of blood collection (1974–2006), sex, and race/ethnicity (n = 6,714). Covariate data were obtained from each cohort in a standardized manner. The majority of the serum or plasma samples were assayed in a central laboratory using a direct, competitive chemiluminescence immunoassay on the DiaSorin LIAISON platform (DiaSorin, Inc., Stillwater, Minnesota). Masked quality control samples included serum standards from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology. Conditional logistic regression analyses were conducted using clinically defined cutpoints, with 50–<75 nmol/L as the reference category. Meta-analyses were also conducted using inverse-variance weights in random-effects models. This consortium approach permits estimation of the association between 25(OH)D and several rarer cancers with high accuracy and precision across a wide range of 25(OH)D concentrations. PMID:20562188

Height and Breast Cancer Risk: Evidence From Prospective Studies and Mendelian Randomization.

PubMed

Zhang, Ben; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Delahanty, Ryan J; Zeng, Chenjie; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Bolla, Manjeet K; Wang, Qin; Dennis, Joe; Wen, Wanqing; Long, Jirong; Li, Chun; Dunning, Alison M; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Shah, Mitul; Perkins, Barbara J; Czene, Kamila; Darabi, Hatef; Eriksson, Mikael; Bojesen, Stig E; Nordestgaard, Børge G; Nielsen, Sune F; Flyger, Henrik; Lambrechts, Diether; Neven, Patrick; Wildiers, Hans; Floris, Giuseppe; Schmidt, Marjanka K; Rookus, Matti A; van den Hurk, Katja; de Kort, Wim L A M; Couch, Fergus J; Olson, Janet E; Hallberg, Emily; Vachon, Celine; Rudolph, Anja; Seibold, Petra; Flesch-Janys, Dieter; Peto, Julian; Dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel; Fletcher, Olivia; Johnson, Nichola; Nevanlinna, Heli; Muranen, Taru A; Aittomäki, Kristiina; Blomqvist, Carl; Li, Jingmei; Humphreys, Keith; Brand, Judith; Guénel, Pascal; Truong, Thérèse; Cordina-Duverger, Emilie; Menegaux, Florence; Burwinkel, Barbara; Marme, Frederik; Yang, Rongxi; Surowy, Harald; Benitez, Javier; Zamora, M Pilar; Perez, Jose I A; Cox, Angela; Cross, Simon S; Reed, Malcolm W R; Andrulis, Irene L; Knight, Julia A; Glendon, Gord; Tchatchou, Sandrine; Sawyer, Elinor J; Tomlinson, Ian; Kerin, Michael J; Miller, Nicola; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Haiman, Christopher A; Henderson, Brian E; Schumacher, Fredrick; Marchand, Loic Le; Lindblom, Annika; Margolin, Sara; Hooning, Maartje J; Martens, John W M; Tilanus-Linthorst, Madeleine M A; Collée, J Margriet; Hopper, John L; Southey, Melissa C; Tsimiklis, Helen; Apicella, Carmel; Slager, Susan; Toland, Amanda E; Ambrosone, Christine B; Yannoukakos, Drakoulis; Giles, Graham G; Milne, Roger L; McLean, Catriona; Fasching, Peter A; Haeberle, Lothar; Ekici, Arif B; Beckmann, Matthias W; Brenner, Hermann; Dieffenbach, Aida Karina; Arndt, Volker; Stegmaier, Christa; Swerdlow, Anthony J; Ashworth, Alan; Orr, Nick; Jones, Michael; Figueroa, Jonine; Garcia-Closas, Montserrat; Brinton, Louise; Lissowska, Jolanta; Dumont, Martine; Winqvist, Robert; Pylkäs, Katri; Jukkola-Vuorinen, Arja; Grip, Mervi; Brauch, Hiltrud; Brüning, Thomas; Ko, Yon-Dschun; Peterlongo, Paolo; Manoukian, Siranoush; Bonanni, Bernardo; Radice, Paolo; Bogdanova, Natalia; Antonenkova, Natalia; Dörk, Thilo; Mannermaa, Arto; Kataja, Vesa; Kosma, Veli-Matti; Hartikainen, Jaana M; Devilee, Peter; Seynaeve, Caroline; Van Asperen, Christi J; Jakubowska, Anna; Lubiński, Jan; Jaworska-Bieniek, Katarzyna; Durda, Katarzyna; Hamann, Ute; Torres, Diana; Schmutzler, Rita K; Neuhausen, Susan L; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Kristensen, Vessela N; Grenaker Alnæs, Grethe I; Pierce, Brandon L; Kraft, Peter; Peters, Ulrike; Lindstrom, Sara; Seminara, Daniela; Burgess, Stephen; Ahsan, Habibul; Whittemore, Alice S; John, Esther M; Gammon, Marilie D; Malone, Kathleen E; Tessier, Daniel C; Vincent, Daniel; Bacot, Francois; Luccarini, Craig; Baynes, Caroline; Ahmed, Shahana; Maranian, Mel; Healey, Catherine S; González-Neira, Anna; Pita, Guillermo; Alonso, M Rosario; Álvarez, Nuria; Herrero, Daniel; Pharoah, Paul D P; Simard, Jacques; Hall, Per; Hunter, David J; Easton, Douglas F; Zheng, Wei

2015-11-01

Epidemiological studies have linked adult height with breast cancer risk in women. However, the magnitude of the association, particularly by subtypes of breast cancer, has not been established. Furthermore, the mechanisms of the association remain unclear. We performed a meta-analysis to investigate associations between height and breast cancer risk using data from 159 prospective cohorts totaling 5216302 women, including 113178 events. In a consortium with individual-level data from 46325 case patients and 42482 control patients, we conducted a Mendelian randomization analysis using a genetic score that comprised 168 height-associated variants as an instrument. This association was further evaluated in a second consortium using summary statistics data from 16003 case patients and 41335 control patients. The pooled relative risk of breast cancer was 1.17 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.15 to 1.19) per 10cm increase in height in the meta-analysis of prospective studies. In Mendelian randomization analysis, the odds ratio of breast cancer per 10cm increase in genetically predicted height was 1.22 (95% CI = 1.13 to 1.32) in the first consortium and 1.21 (95% CI = 1.05 to 1.39) in the second consortium. The association was found in both premenopausal and postmenopausal women but restricted to hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. Analyses of height-associated variants identified eight new loci associated with breast cancer risk after adjusting for multiple comparisons, including three loci at 1q21.2, DNAJC27, and CCDC91 at genome-wide significance level P < 5×10(-8). Our study provides strong evidence that adult height is a risk factor for breast cancer in women and certain genetic factors and biological pathways affecting adult height have an important role in the etiology of breast cancer. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Chronic Recreational Physical Inactivity and Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Risk: Evidence from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium.

PubMed

Cannioto, Rikki; LaMonte, Michael J; Risch, Harvey A; Hong, Chi-Chen; Sucheston-Campbell, Lara E; Eng, Kevin H; Brian Szender, J; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Schmalfeldt, Barbara; Klapdor, Ruediger; Gower, Emily; Minlikeeva, Albina N; Zirpoli, Gary R; Bandera, Elisa V; Berchuck, Andrew; Cramer, Daniel; Doherty, Jennifer A; Edwards, Robert P; Fridley, Brooke L; Goode, Ellen L; Goodman, Marc T; Hogdall, Estrid; Hosono, Satoyo; Jensen, Allan; Jordan, Susan; Kjaer, Susanne K; Matsuo, Keitaro; Ness, Roberta B; Olsen, Catherine M; Olson, Sara H; Leigh Pearce, Celeste; Pike, Malcolm C; Anne Rossing, Mary; Szamreta, Elizabeth A; Thompson, Pamela J; Tseng, Chiu-Chen; Vierkant, Robert A; Webb, Penelope M; Wentzensen, Nicolas; Wicklund, Kristine G; Winham, Stacey J; Wu, Anna H; Modugno, Francesmary; Schildkraut, Joellen M; Terry, Kathryn L; Kelemen, Linda E; Moysich, Kirsten B

2016-07-01

Despite a large body of literature evaluating the association between recreational physical activity and epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) risk, the extant evidence is inconclusive, and little is known about the independent association between recreational physical inactivity and EOC risk. We conducted a pooled analysis of nine studies from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium to investigate the association between chronic recreational physical inactivity and EOC risk. In accordance with the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, women reporting no regular, weekly recreational physical activity were classified as inactive. Multivariable logistic regression was utilized to estimate the ORs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between inactivity and EOC risk overall and by subgroups based upon histotype, menopausal status, race, and body mass index. The current analysis included data from 8,309 EOC patients and 12,612 controls. We observed a significant positive association between inactivity and EOC risk (OR = 1.34; 95% CI, 1.14-1.57), and similar associations were observed for each histotype. In this large pooled analysis examining the association between recreational physical inactivity and EOC risk, we observed consistent evidence of an association between chronic inactivity and all EOC histotypes. These data add to the growing body of evidence suggesting that inactivity is an independent risk factor for cancer. If the apparent association between inactivity and EOC risk is substantiated, additional work via targeted interventions should be pursued to characterize the dose of activity required to mitigate the risk of this highly fatal disease. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 25(7); 1114-24. ©2016 AACR. ©2016 American Association for Cancer Research.

Association of body mass index and risk of death from pancreas cancer in Asians: findings from the Asia Cohort Consortium.

PubMed

Lin, Yingsong; Fu, Rong; Grant, Eric; Chen, Yu; Lee, Jung Eun; Gupta, Prakash C; Ramadas, Kunnambath; Inoue, Manami; Tsugane, Shoichiro; Gao, Yu-Tang; Tamakoshi, Akiko; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Ozasa, Kotaro; Tsuji, Ichiro; Kakizaki, Masako; Tanaka, Hideo; Chen, Chien-Jen; Yoo, Keun-Young; Ahn, Yoon-Ok; Ahsan, Habibul; Pednekar, Mangesh S; Sauvaget, Catherine; Sasazuki, Shizuka; Yang, Gong; Xiang, Yong-Bing; Ohishi, Waka; Watanabe, Takashi; Nishino, Yoshikazu; Matsuo, Keitaro; You, San-Lin; Park, Sue K; Kim, Dong-Hyun; Parvez, Faruque; Rolland, Betsy; McLerran, Dale; Sinha, Rashmi; Boffetta, Paolo; Zheng, Wei; Thornquist, Mark; Feng, Ziding; Kang, Daehee; Potter, John D

2013-05-01

We aimed to examine the association between BMI and the risk of death from pancreas cancer in a pooled analysis of data from the Asia Cohort Consortium. The data for this pooled analysis included 883 529 men and women from 16 cohort studies in Asian countries. Cox proportional-hazards models were used to estimate the hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals for pancreas cancer mortality in relation to BMI. Seven predefined BMI categories (<18.5, 18.5-19.9, 20.0-22.4, 22.5-24.9, 25.0-27.4, 27.5-29.9, ≥ 30) were used in the analysis, with BMI of 22.5-24.9 serving as the reference group. The multivariable analyses were adjusted for known risk factors, including age, smoking, and a history of diabetes. We found no statistically significant overall association between each BMI category and the risk of death from pancreas cancer in all Asians, and obesity was unrelated to the risk of mortality in both East Asians and South Asians. Age, smoking, and a history of diabetes did not modify the association between BMI and the risk of death from pancreas cancer. In planned subgroup analyses among East Asians, an increased risk of death from pancreas cancer among those with a BMI less than 18.5 was observed for individuals with a history of diabetes; hazard ratio=2.01 (95% confidence interval: 1.01-4.00) (P for interaction=0.07). The data do not support an association between BMI and the risk of death from pancreas cancer in these Asian populations.

The Internet: Trends and Directions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Byron

1996-01-01

Examines current trends and directions in information technology and telecommunications. Discusses legislation; mergers and acquisitions; Internet service providers; fiscal control in libraries and the pooling of electronic information access through consortiums; demand for more bandwidth; technology selection; Internet usage patterns; the…

RELATION OF ALLIUM VEGETABLES INTAKE WITH HEAD AND NECK CANCERS: EVIDENCE FROM THE INHANCE CONSORTIUM

PubMed Central

Galeone, Carlotta; Turati, Federica; Zhang, Zuo-Feng; Guercio, Valentina; Tavani, Alessandra; Serraino, Diego; Brennan, Paul; Fabianova, Eleonora; Lissowska, Jola; Mates, Dana; Rudnai, Peter; Shangina, Oxana; Szeszenia-Dabrowska, Neonila; Vaughan, Thomas L.; Kelsey, Karl; McClean, Michael; Levi, Fabio; Hayes, Richard B.; Purdue, Mark P.; Bosetti, Cristina; Brenner, Hermann; Pelucchi, Claudio; Lee, Yuan-Chin Amy; Hashibe, Mia; Boffetta, Paolo; La Vecchia, Carlo

2015-01-01

Scope Only a few studies analyzed the role of allium vegetables with reference to head and neck cancers (HNC), with mixed results. We investigated the potential favorable role of garlic and onion within the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) Consortium. Methods and results We analyzed pooled individual-level data from eight case-control studies, including 4590 cases and 7082 controls. We estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations between garlic and onion intakes and HNC risk. Compared with no or low garlic use, the ORs of HNC were 0.95 (95% CI 0.71–1.27) for intermediate and 0.74 (95% CI 0.55–0.99) for high garlic use (p for trend= 0.02). The ORs of HNC for increasing categories of onion intake were 0.91 (95% CI 0.68–1.21) for >1 to ≤3 portions per week, and 0.83 (95% CI 0.60–1.13) for >3 portions per week (p for trend= 0.02), as compared to <1 portion per week. We found an inverse association between high onion intake and laryngeal cancer risk (OR=0.69; 95% CI 0.54–0.88), but no significant association for other subsites. Conclusions The results of this pooled-analysis support a possible moderate inverse association between garlic and onion intake and HNC risk. PMID:26018663

Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Indicators of Early Immune Stimulation: A Childhood Leukemia International Consortium Study

PubMed Central

Rudant, Jérémie; Lightfoot, Tracy; Urayama, Kevin Y.; Petridou, Eleni; Dockerty, John D.; Magnani, Corrado; Milne, Elizabeth; Spector, Logan G.; Ashton, Lesley J.; Dessypris, Nikolaos; Kang, Alice Y.; Miller, Margaret; Rondelli, Roberto; Simpson, Jill; Stiakaki, Eftichia; Orsi, Laurent; Roman, Eve; Metayer, Catherine; Infante-Rivard, Claire; Clavel, Jacqueline

2015-01-01

The associations between childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and several proxies of early stimulation of the immune system, that is, day-care center attendance, birth order, maternally reported common infections in infancy, and breastfeeding, were investigated by using data from 11 case-control studies participating in the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium (enrollment period: 1980–2010). The sample included 7,399 ALL cases and 11,181 controls aged 2–14 years. The data were collected by questionnaires administered to the parents. Pooled odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were estimated by unconditional logistic regression adjusted for age, sex, study, maternal education, and maternal age. Day-care center attendance in the first year of life was associated with a reduced risk of ALL (odds ratio = 0.77, 95% confidence interval: 0.71, 0.84), with a marked inverse trend with earlier age at start (P < 0.0001). An inverse association was also observed with breastfeeding duration of 6 months or more (odds ratio = 0.86, 95% confidence interval: 0.79, 0.94). No significant relationship with a history of common infections in infancy was observed even though the odds ratio was less than 1 for more than 3 infections. The findings of this large pooled analysis reinforce the hypothesis that day-care center attendance in infancy and prolonged breastfeeding are associated with a decreased risk of ALL. PMID:25731888

Racial differences in the relationship between tobacco, alcohol, and the risk of head and neck cancer: pooled analysis of US studies in the INHANCE Consortium.

PubMed

Voltzke, Kristin J; Lee, Yuan-Chin Amy; Zhang, Zuo-Feng; Zevallos, Jose P; Yu, Guo-Pei; Winn, Deborah M; Vaughan, Thomas L; Sturgis, Erich M; Smith, Elaine; Schwartz, Stephen M; Schantz, Stimson; Muscat, Joshua; Morgenstern, Hal; McClean, Michael; Li, Guojun; Lazarus, Philip; Kelsey, Karl; Gillison, Maura; Chen, Chu; Boffetta, Paolo; Hashibe, Mia; Olshan, Andrew F

2018-05-14

There have been few published studies on differences between Blacks and Whites in the estimated effects of alcohol and tobacco use on the incidence of head and neck cancer (HNC) in the United States. Previous studies have been limited by small numbers of Blacks. Using pooled data from 13 US case-control studies of oral, pharyngeal, and laryngeal cancers in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium, this study comprised a large number of Black HNC cases (n = 975). Logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for several tobacco and alcohol consumption characteristics. Blacks were found to have consistently stronger associations than Whites for the majority of tobacco consumption variables. For example, compared to never smokers, Blacks who smoked cigarettes for > 30 years had an OR 4.53 (95% CI 3.22-6.39), which was larger than that observed in Whites (OR 3.01, 95% CI 2.73-3.33; p interaction  < 0.0001). The ORs for alcohol use were also larger among Blacks compared to Whites. Exclusion of oropharyngeal cases attenuated the racial differences in tobacco use associations but not alcohol use associations. These findings suggest modest racial differences exist in the association of HNC risk with tobacco and alcohol consumption.

Adult height is associated with increased risk of ovarian cancer: a Mendelian randomisation study.

PubMed

Dixon-Suen, Suzanne C; Nagle, Christina M; Thrift, Aaron P; Pharoah, Paul D P; Ewing, Ailith; Pearce, Celeste Leigh; Zheng, Wei; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Fasching, Peter A; Beckmann, Matthias W; Lambrechts, Diether; Vergote, Ignace; Lambrechts, Sandrina; Van Nieuwenhuysen, Els; Rossing, Mary Anne; Doherty, Jennifer A; Wicklund, Kristine G; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Jung, Audrey Y; Moysich, Kirsten B; Odunsi, Kunle; Goodman, Marc T; Wilkens, Lynne R; Thompson, Pamela J; Shvetsov, Yurii B; Dörk, Thilo; Park-Simon, Tjoung-Won; Hillemanns, Peter; Bogdanova, Natalia; Butzow, Ralf; Nevanlinna, Heli; Pelttari, Liisa M; Leminen, Arto; Modugno, Francesmary; Ness, Roberta B; Edwards, Robert P; Kelley, Joseph L; Heitz, Florian; du Bois, Andreas; Harter, Philipp; Schwaab, Ira; Karlan, Beth Y; Lester, Jenny; Orsulic, Sandra; Rimel, Bobbie J; Kjær, Susanne K; Høgdall, Estrid; Jensen, Allan; Goode, Ellen L; Fridley, Brooke L; Cunningham, Julie M; Winham, Stacey J; Giles, Graham G; Bruinsma, Fiona; Milne, Roger L; Southey, Melissa C; Hildebrandt, Michelle A T; Wu, Xifeng; Lu, Karen H; Liang, Dong; Levine, Douglas A; Bisogna, Maria; Schildkraut, Joellen M; Berchuck, Andrew; Cramer, Daniel W; Terry, Kathryn L; Bandera, Elisa V; Olson, Sara H; Salvesen, Helga B; Thomsen, Liv Cecilie Vestrheim; Kopperud, Reidun K; Bjorge, Line; Kiemeney, Lambertus A; Massuger, Leon F A G; Pejovic, Tanja; Bruegl, Amanda; Cook, Linda S; Le, Nhu D; Swenerton, Kenneth D; Brooks-Wilson, Angela; Kelemen, Linda E; Lubiński, Jan; Huzarski, Tomasz; Gronwald, Jacek; Menkiszak, Janusz; Wentzensen, Nicolas; Brinton, Louise; Yang, Hannah; Lissowska, Jolanta; Høgdall, Claus K; Lundvall, Lene; Song, Honglin; Tyrer, Jonathan P; Campbell, Ian; Eccles, Diana; Paul, James; Glasspool, Rosalind; Siddiqui, Nadeem; Whittemore, Alice S; Sieh, Weiva; McGuire, Valerie; Rothstein, Joseph H; Narod, Steven A; Phelan, Catherine; Risch, Harvey A; McLaughlin, John R; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Ziogas, Argyrios; Menon, Usha; Gayther, Simon A; Ramus, Susan J; Gentry-Maharaj, Aleksandra; Wu, Anna H; Pike, Malcolm C; Tseng, Chiu-Chen; Kupryjanczyk, Jolanta; Dansonka-Mieszkowska, Agnieszka; Budzilowska, Agnieszka; Rzepecka, Iwona K; Webb, Penelope M

2018-04-01

Observational studies suggest greater height is associated with increased ovarian cancer risk, but cannot exclude bias and/or confounding as explanations for this. Mendelian randomisation (MR) can provide evidence which may be less prone to bias. We pooled data from 39 Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium studies (16,395 cases; 23,003 controls). We applied two-stage predictor-substitution MR, using a weighted genetic risk score combining 609 single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Study-specific odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between genetically predicted height and risk were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. Greater genetically predicted height was associated with increased ovarian cancer risk overall (pooled-OR (pOR) = 1.06; 95% CI: 1.01-1.11 per 5 cm increase in height), and separately for invasive (pOR = 1.06; 95% CI: 1.01-1.11) and borderline (pOR = 1.15; 95% CI: 1.02-1.29) tumours. Women with a genetic propensity to being taller have increased risk of ovarian cancer. This suggests genes influencing height are involved in pathways promoting ovarian carcinogenesis.

Thermal cycling test results of CSP and RF assemblies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ghaffarian, R.; Nelson, G.; Cooper, M.; Lam, D.; Strudler, S.; Umdekar, A.; Selk, K.; Bjorndahl, B.; Duprey, R.

2000-01-01

A JPL-led chip scale package (CSP) Consortium of enterprises, composed of representing agencies and private companies, recently joined together to pool in-kind resources for developing the quality and reliability of chip scale packages (CSPs) for a variety of projects.

Strategies toward Cooperation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Donald A.

1979-01-01

The Quad-Cities Graduate Study Center in Rock Island, Illinois, a voluntary, publicly funded, academic consortium, is described. It was incorporated as an experimental project to determine if pooling institutional resources were academically, financially, and administratively possible. It is now a model of inter-institutional cooperation providing…

Diagnosis and misdiagnosis of adult neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (Kufs disease)

PubMed Central

Staropoli, John F.; Carpenter, Stirling; Oliver, Karen L.; Kmoch, Stanislav; Anderson, Glenn W.; Damiano, John A.; Hildebrand, Michael S.; Sims, Katherine B.; Cotman, Susan L.; Bahlo, Melanie; Smith, Katherine R.; Cadieux-Dion, Maxime; Cossette, Patrick; Jedličková, Ivana; Přistoupilová, Anna; Mole, Sara E.

2016-01-01

Objective: To critically re-evaluate cases diagnosed as adult neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (ANCL) in order to aid clinicopathologic diagnosis as a route to further gene discovery. Methods: Through establishment of an international consortium we pooled 47 unsolved cases regarded by referring centers as ANCL. Clinical and neuropathologic experts within the Consortium established diagnostic criteria for ANCL based on the literature to assess each case. A panel of 3 neuropathologists independently reviewed source pathologic data. Cases were given a final clinicopathologic classification of definite ANCL, probable ANCL, possible ANCL, or not ANCL. Results: Of the 47 cases, only 16 fulfilled the Consortium's criteria of ANCL (5 definite, 2 probable, 9 possible). Definitive alternate diagnoses were made in 10, including Huntington disease, early-onset Alzheimer disease, Niemann-Pick disease, neuroserpinopathy, prion disease, and neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation. Six cases had features suggesting an alternate diagnosis, but no specific condition was identified; in 15, the data were inadequate for classification. Misinterpretation of normal lipofuscin as abnormal storage material was the commonest cause of misdiagnosis. Conclusions: Diagnosis of ANCL remains challenging; expert pathologic analysis and recent molecular genetic advances revealed misdiagnoses in >1/3 of cases. We now have a refined group of cases that will facilitate identification of new causative genes. PMID:27412140

The Premenopausal Breast Cancer Collaboration: A pooling project of studies participating in the National Cancer Institute Cohort Consortium

PubMed Central

Nichols, Hazel B.; Schoemaker, Minouk J.; Wright, Lauren B.; McGowan, Craig; Brook, Mark N.; McClain, Kathleen M.; Jones, Michael E.; Adami, Hans-Olov; Agnoli, Claudia; Baglietto, Laura; Bernstein, Leslie; Bertrand, Kimberly A.; Blot, William J.; Boutron-Ruault, Marie-Christine; Butler, Lesley; Chen, Yu; Doody, Michele M.; Dossus, Laure; Eliassen, A. Heather; Giles, Graham G.; Gram, Inger T.; Hankinson, Susan E.; Hoffman-Bolton, Judy; Kaaks, Rudolf; Key, Timothy J.; Kirsh, Victoria A.; Kitahara, Cari M.; Koh, Woon-Puay; Larsson, Susanna C.; Lund, Eiliv; Ma, Huiyan; Merritt, Melissa A.; Milne, Roger L.; Navarro, Carmen; Overvad, Kim; Ozasa, Kotaro; Palmer, Julie R.; Peeters, Petra H.; Riboli, Elio; Rohan, Thomas E.; Sadakane, Atsuko; Sund, Malin; Tamimi, Rulla M.; Trichopoulou, Antonia; Vatten, Lars; Visvanathan, Kala; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Willett, Walter C.; Wolk, Alicja; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Anne; Zheng, Wei; Sandler, Dale P.; Swerdlow, Anthony J.

2017-01-01

Breast cancer is a leading cancer diagnosis among premenopausal women around the world. Unlike rates in postmenopausal women, incidence rates of advanced breast cancer have increased in recent decades for premenopausal women. Progress in identifying contributors to breast cancer risk among premenopausal women has been constrained by the limited numbers of premenopausal breast cancer cases in individual studies and resulting low statistical power to subcategorize exposures or to study specific subtypes. The Premenopausal Breast Cancer Collaborative Group was established to facilitate cohort-based analyses of risk factors for premenopausal breast cancer by pooling individual-level data from studies participating in the United States National Cancer Institute Cohort Consortium. This paper describes the Group, including the rationale for its initial aims related to pregnancy, obesity, and physical activity. We also describe the 20 cohort studies with data submitted to the Group by June 2016. The infrastructure developed for this work can be leveraged to support additional investigations. PMID:28600297

Pooled solifenacin overactive bladder trial data: Creation, validation and analysis of an integrated database.

PubMed

Chapple, Christopher R; Cardozo, Linda; Snijder, Robert; Siddiqui, Emad; Herschorn, Sender

2016-12-15

Patient-level data are available for 11 randomized, controlled, Phase III/Phase IV solifenacin clinical trials. Meta-analyses were conducted to interrogate the data, to broaden knowledge about solifenacin and overactive bladder (OAB) in general. Before integrating data, datasets from individual studies were mapped to a single format using methodology developed by the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC). Initially, the data structure was harmonized, to ensure identical categorization, using the CDISC Study Data Tabulation Model (SDTM). To allow for patient level meta-analysis, data were integrated and mapped to analysis datasets. Mapping included adding derived and categorical variables and followed standards described as the Analysis Data Model (ADaM). Mapping to both SDTM and ADaM was performed twice by two independent programming teams, results compared, and inconsistencies corrected in the final output. ADaM analysis sets included assignments of patients to the Safety Analysis Set and the Full Analysis Set. There were three analysis groupings: Analysis group 1 (placebo-controlled, monotherapy, fixed-dose studies, n = 3011); Analysis group 2 (placebo-controlled, monotherapy, pooled, fixed- and flexible-dose, n = 5379); Analysis group 3 (all solifenacin monotherapy-treated patients, n = 6539). Treatment groups were: solifenacin 5 mg fixed dose, solifenacin 5/10 mg flexible dose, solifenacin 10 mg fixed dose and overall solifenacin. Patient were similar enough for data pooling to be acceptable. Creating ADaM datasets provided significant information about individual studies and the derivation decisions made in each study; validated ADaM datasets now exist for medical history, efficacy and AEs. Results from these meta-analyses were similar over time.

Increased risk of lung cancer in individuals with a family history of the disease: A pooled analysis from the International Lung Cancer Consortium

PubMed Central

Coté, Michele L.; Liu, Mei; Bonassi, Stefano; Neri, Monica; Schwartz, Ann G.; Christiani, David C.; Spitz, Margaret R.; Muscat, Joshua E.; Rennert, Gad; Aben, Katja K.; Andrew, Angeline S.; Bencko, Vladimir; Bickeböller, Heike; Boffetta, Paolo; Brennan, Paul; Brenner, Hermann; Duell, Eric J.; Fabianova, Eleonora; Field, John K.; Foretova, Lenka; Friis, Søren; Harris, Curtis C.; Holcatova, Ivana; Hong, Yun-Chul; Isla, Dolores; Janout, Vladimir; Kiemeney, Lambertus A.; Kiyohara, Chikako; Lan, Qing; Lazarus, Philip; Lissowska, Jolanta; Marchand, Loic Le; Mates, Dana; Matsuo, Keitaro; Mayordomo, Jose I.; McLaughlin, John R.; Morgenstern, Hal; Müeller, Heiko; Orlow, Irene; Park, Bernard J.; Pinchev, Mila; Raji, Olaide Y.; Rennert, Hedy S.; Rudnai, Peter; Seow, Adeline; Stucker, Isabelle; Szeszenia-Dabrowska, Neonila; Teare, M. Dawn; Tjønnelan, Anne; Ugolini, Donatella; van der Heijden, Henricus F.M.; Wichmann, Erich; Wiencke, John K.; Woll, Penella J.; Yang, Ping; Zaridze, David; Zhang, Zuo-Feng; Etzel, Carol J.; Hung, Rayjean J.

2012-01-01

Background and Methods Familial aggregation of lung cancer exists after accounting for cigarette smoking. However, the extent to which family history affects risk by smoking status, histology, relative type and ethnicity is not well described. This pooled analysis included 24 case-control studies in the International Lung Cancer Consortium. Each study collected age of onset/interview, gender, race/ethnicity, cigarette smoking, histology and first-degree family history of lung cancer. Data from 24,380 lung cancer cases and 23,305 healthy controls were analyzed. Unconditional logistic regression models and generalized estimating equations were used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Results Individuals with a first-degree relative with lung cancer had a 1.51-fold increase in risk of lung cancer, after adjustment for smoking and other potential confounders(95% CI: 1.39, 1.63). The association was strongest for those with a family history in a sibling, after adjustment (OR=1.82, 95% CI: 1.62, 2.05). No modifying effect by histologic type was found. Never smokers showed a lower association with positive familial history of lung cancer (OR=1.25, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.52), slightly stronger for those with an affected sibling (OR=1.44, 95% CI: 1.07, 1.93), after adjustment. Conclusions The increased risk among never smokers and similar magnitudes of the effect of family history on lung cancer risk across histological types suggests familial aggregation of lung cancer is independent of those associated with cigarette smoking. While the role of genetic variation in the etiology of lung cancer remains to be fully characterized, family history assessment is immediately available and those with a positive history represent a higher risk group. PMID:22436981

Family history of hematopoietic malignancies and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL): a pooled analysis of 10 211 cases and 11 905 controls from the International Lymphoma Epidemiology Consortium (InterLymph)

PubMed Central

Slager, Susan L.; Brennan, Paul; Holly, Elizabeth A.; De Sanjose, Silvia; Bernstein, Leslie; Boffetta, Paolo; Cerhan, James R.; Maynadie, Marc; Spinelli, John J.; Chiu, Brian C. H.; Cocco, Pier Luigi; Mensah, Fiona; Zhang, Yawei; Nieters, Alexandra; Dal Maso, Luigino; Bracci, Paige M.; Costantini, Adele Seniori; Vineis, Paolo; Severson, Richard K.; Roman, Eve; Cozen, Wendy; Weisenburger, Dennis; Davis, Scott; Franceschi, Silvia; La Vecchia, Carlo; Foretova, Lenka; Becker, Nikolaus; Staines, Anthony; Vornanen, Martine; Zheng, Tongzhang; Hartge, Patricia

2007-01-01

A role for genetic susceptibility in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is supported by the accumulating evidence of common genetic variations altering NHL risk. However, the pattern of NHL heritability remains poorly understood. We conducted a pooled analysis of 10 211 NHL cases and 11 905 controls from the International Lymphoma Epidemiology Consortium (InterLymph) to evaluate NHL risk among those with hematopoietic malignancies in first-degree relatives. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of NHL and its subtypes were estimated from unconditional logistic regression models with adjustment for confounders. NHL risk was elevated for individuals who reported first-degree relatives with NHL (OR = 1.5; 95% CI = 1.2-1.9), Hodgkin lymphoma (OR = 1.6; 95% CI = 1.1-2.3), and leukemia (OR = 1.4; 95% CI = 1.2-2.7). Risk was highest among individuals who reported a brother with NHL (OR = 2.8; 95% CI = 1.6-4.8) and was consistent for all NHL subtypes evaluated. If a first-degree relative had Hodgkin lymphoma, NHL risk was highest if the relative was a parent (OR = 1.7; 95% CI = 1.0-2.9). If a first-degree relative had leukemia, NHL risk was highest among women who reported a sister with leukemia (OR = 3.0; 95% CI = 1.6-5.6). The pattern of NHL heritability appeared to be uniform across NHL subtypes, but risk patterns differed by specific hematopoietic malignancies and the sex of the relative, revealing critical clues to disease etiology. PMID:17185468

Cigarette Smoking and Pancreatic Cancer: A Pooled Analysis From the Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium

PubMed Central

Vrieling, Alina; Lubin, Jay H.; Kraft, Peter; Mendelsohn, Julie B.; Hartge, Patricia; Canzian, Federico; Steplowski, Emily; Arslan, Alan A.; Gross, Myron; Helzlsouer, Kathy; Jacobs, Eric J.; LaCroix, Andrea; Petersen, Gloria; Zheng, Wei; Albanes, Demetrius; Amundadottir, Laufey; Bingham, Sheila A.; Boffetta, Paolo; Boutron-Ruault, Marie-Christine; Chanock, Stephen J.; Clipp, Sandra; Hoover, Robert N.; Jacobs, Kevin; Johnson, Karen C.; Kooperberg, Charles; Luo, Juhua; Messina, Catherine; Palli, Domenico; Patel, Alpa V.; Riboli, Elio; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Rodriguez Suarez, Laudina; Thomas, Gilles; Tjønneland, Anne; Tobias, Geoffrey S.; Tong, Elissa; Trichopoulos, Dimitrios; Virtamo, Jarmo; Ye, Weimin; Yu, Kai; Zeleniuch-Jacquette, Anne; Bueno-de-Mesquita, H. Bas; Stolzenberg-Solomon, Rachael Z.

2009-01-01

Smoking is an established risk factor for pancreatic cancer; however, detailed examination of the association of smoking intensity, smoking duration, and cumulative smoking dose with pancreatic cancer is limited. The authors analyzed pooled data from the international Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium nested case-control study (1,481 cases, 1,539 controls). Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated by using unconditional logistic regression. Smoking intensity effects were examined with an excess odds ratio model that was linear in pack-years and exponential in cigarettes smoked per day and its square. When compared with never smokers, current smokers had a significantly elevated risk (odds ratio (OR) = 1.77, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.38, 2.26). Risk increased significantly with greater intensity (≥30 cigarettes/day: OR = 1.75, 95% CI: 1.27, 2.42), duration (≥50 years: OR = 2.13, 95% CI: 1.25, 3.62), and cumulative smoking dose (≥40 pack-years: OR = 1.78, 95% CI: 1.35, 2.34). Risk more than 15 years after smoking cessation was similar to that for never smokers. Estimates of excess odds ratio per pack-year declined with increasing intensity, suggesting greater risk for total exposure delivered at lower intensity for longer duration than for higher intensity for shorter duration. This finding and the decline in risk after smoking cessation suggest that smoking has a late-stage effect on pancreatic carcinogenesis. PMID:19561064

Assembly reliability of CSPs with various chiip sizes by accelerated thermal and mechanical cycling test

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ghaffarian, R.

2000-01-01

A JPL-led chip scale package (CSP) Consortium, composed of team members representing government agencies and private companies, recently joined together to pool in-kind resources for developing the quality and reliability of chip scale packages (CSPs) for a variety of projects.

CattleTickBase: An integrated Internet-based bioinformatics resource for Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Rhipicephalus microplus genome is large and complex in structure, making a genome sequence difficult to assemble and costly to resource the required bioinformatics. In light of this, a consortium of international collaborators was formed to pool resources to begin sequencing this genome. We have...

Metabolomics as a Hypothesis-Generating Functional Genomics Tool for the Annotation of Arabidopsis thaliana Genes of “Unknown Function”

PubMed Central

Quanbeck, Stephanie M.; Brachova, Libuse; Campbell, Alexis A.; Guan, Xin; Perera, Ann; He, Kun; Rhee, Seung Y.; Bais, Preeti; Dickerson, Julie A.; Dixon, Philip; Wohlgemuth, Gert; Fiehn, Oliver; Barkan, Lenore; Lange, Iris; Lange, B. Markus; Lee, Insuk; Cortes, Diego; Salazar, Carolina; Shuman, Joel; Shulaev, Vladimir; Huhman, David V.; Sumner, Lloyd W.; Roth, Mary R.; Welti, Ruth; Ilarslan, Hilal; Wurtele, Eve S.; Nikolau, Basil J.

2012-01-01

Metabolomics is the methodology that identifies and measures global pools of small molecules (of less than about 1,000 Da) of a biological sample, which are collectively called the metabolome. Metabolomics can therefore reveal the metabolic outcome of a genetic or environmental perturbation of a metabolic regulatory network, and thus provide insights into the structure and regulation of that network. Because of the chemical complexity of the metabolome and limitations associated with individual analytical platforms for determining the metabolome, it is currently difficult to capture the complete metabolome of an organism or tissue, which is in contrast to genomics and transcriptomics. This paper describes the analysis of Arabidopsis metabolomics data sets acquired by a consortium that includes five analytical laboratories, bioinformaticists, and biostatisticians, which aims to develop and validate metabolomics as a hypothesis-generating functional genomics tool. The consortium is determining the metabolomes of Arabidopsis T-DNA mutant stocks, grown in standardized controlled environment optimized to minimize environmental impacts on the metabolomes. Metabolomics data were generated with seven analytical platforms, and the combined data is being provided to the research community to formulate initial hypotheses about genes of unknown function (GUFs). A public database (www.PlantMetabolomics.org) has been developed to provide the scientific community with access to the data along with tools to allow for its interactive analysis. Exemplary datasets are discussed to validate the approach, which illustrate how initial hypotheses can be generated from the consortium-produced metabolomics data, integrated with prior knowledge to provide a testable hypothesis concerning the functionality of GUFs. PMID:22645570

Compelling Evidence for a Prostate Cancer Gene at 22q12.3 by the International Consortium for Prostate Cancer Genetics

PubMed Central

Camp, Nicola J.; Cannon-Albright, Lisa A.; Farnham, James M.; Baffoe-Bonnie, Agnes B.; George, Asha; Powell, Isaac; Bailey-Wilson, Joan E.; Carpten, John D.; Giles, Graham G.; Hopper, John L.; Severi, Gianluca; English, Dallas R.; Foulkes, William D.; Maehle, Lovise; Moller, Pal; Eeles, Ros; Easton, Douglas; Badzioch, Michael D.; Whittemore, Alice S.; Oakley-Girvan, Ingrid; Hsieh, Chih-Lin; Dimitrov, Latchezar; Xu, Jianfeng; Stanford, Janet L.; Johanneson, Bo; Deutsch, Kerry; McIntosh, Laura; Ostrander, Elaine A.; Wiley, Kathleen E.; Isaacs, Sarah D.; Walsh, Patrick C.; Thibodeau, Stephen N.; McDonnell, Shannon K.; Hebbring, Scott; Schaid, Daniel J.; Lange, Ethan M.; Cooney, Kathleen A.; Tammela, Teuvo L.J.; Schleutker, Johanna; Paiss, Thomas; Maier, Christiane; Grönberg, Henrik; Wiklund, Fredrik; Emanuelsson, Monica; Isaacs, William B.

2009-01-01

Previously, an analysis of 14 extended, high-risk Utah pedigrees localized the chromosome 22q linkage region to 3.2 Mb at 22q12.3-13.1 (flanked on each side by three recombinants), which contained 31 annotated genes. In this large, multi-centered, collaborative study, we performed statistical recombinant mapping in fifty-four pedigrees selected to be informative for recombinant mapping from nine member groups of the International Consortium for Prostate Cancer Genetics (ICPCG). These 54 pedigrees included the 14 extended pedigrees from Utah and 40 pedigrees from eight other ICPCG member groups. The additional 40 pedigrees were selected from a total pool of 1,213 such that each pedigree was required to both contain at least four prostate cancer (PRCA) cases and exhibit evidence for linkage to the chromosome 22q region. The recombinant events in these 40 independent pedigrees confirmed the previously proposed region. Further, when all 54 pedigrees were considered, the three-recombinant consensus region was narrowed by more than a megabase to 2.2 Mb at chromosome 22q12.3 flanked by D22S281 and D22S683. This narrower region eliminated 20 annotated genes from that previously proposed, leaving only eleven genes. This region at 22q12.3 is the most consistently identified and smallest linkage region for PRCA. This collaborative study by the ICPCG illustrates the value of consortium efforts and the continued utility of linkage analysis using informative pedigrees to localize genes for complex diseases. PMID:17478474

Androgens are differentially associated with ovarian cancer subtypes in the Ovarian Cancer Cohort Consortium

PubMed Central

Ose, Jennifer; Poole, Elizabeth M.; Schock, Helena; Lehtinen, Matti; Arslan, Alan A.; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Anne; Visvanathan, Kala; Helzlsouer, Kathy; Buring, Julie E.; Lee, I-Min; Tjønneland, Anne; Dossus, Laure; Trichopoulou, Antonia; Masala, Giovanna; Onland-Moret, N. Charlotte; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Duell, Eric J.; Idahl, Annika; Travis, Ruth C.; Rinaldi, Sabina; Merritt, Melissa A.; Trabert, Britton; Wentzensen, Nicolas; Tworoger, Shelley S.; Kaaks, Rudolf; Fortner, Renée T.

2017-01-01

Invasive epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most lethal gynecologic malignancy. The etiology of EOC remains elusive; however, experimental and epidemiologic data suggest a role for hormone-related exposures in ovarian carcinogenesis and risk factor differences by histologic phenotypes and developmental pathways. Research on pre-diagnosis androgen concentrations and EOC risk has yielded inconclusive results, and analyses incorporating EOC subtypes are sparse. We conducted a pooled analysis of 7 nested case-control studies in the Ovarian Cancer Cohort Consortium to investigate the association between pre-diagnosis circulating androgens (testosterone, free testosterone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS)), sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), and EOC risk by tumor characteristics (i.e. histology, grade, and stage). The final study population included 1,331 EOC cases and 3,017 matched controls. Multivariable conditional logistic regression was used to assess risk associations in pooled individual data. Testosterone was positively associated with EOC risk (all subtypes combined, Odds Ratio (OR)log2=1.12 [95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.02–1.24]); other endogenous androgens and SHBG were not associated with overall risk. Higher concentrations of testosterone and androstenedione associated with an increased risk in endometrioid and mucinous tumors (e.g., testosterone, endometrioid tumors, ORlog2=1.40 [1.03–1.91]), but not serous or clear cell. An inverse association was observed between androstenedione and high grade serous tumors (ORlog2=0.76 [0.60–0.96]). Our analyses provide further evidence for a role of hormone-related pathways in EOC risk, with differences in associations between androgens and histologic subtypes of EOC. PMID:28381542

Marijuana smoking and the risk of head and neck cancer: pooled analysis in the INHANCE consortium.

PubMed

Berthiller, Julien; Lee, Yuan-Chin Amy; Boffetta, Paolo; Wei, Qingyi; Sturgis, Erich M; Greenland, Sander; Morgenstern, Hal; Zhang, Zuo-Feng; Lazarus, Philip; Muscat, Joshua; Chen, Chu; Schwartz, Stephen M; Eluf Neto, José; Wünsch Filho, Victor; Koifman, Sergio; Curado, Maria Paula; Matos, Elena; Fernandez, Leticia; Menezes, Ana; Daudt, Alexander W; Ferro, Gilles; Brennan, Paul; Hashibe, Mia

2009-05-01

Marijuana contains carcinogens similar to tobacco smoke and has been suggested by relatively small studies to increase the risk of head and neck cancer (HNC). Because tobacco is a major risk factor for HNC, large studies with substantial numbers of never tobacco users could help to clarify whether marijuana smoking is independently associated with HNC risk. We pooled self-reported interview data on marijuana smoking and known HNC risk factors on 4,029 HNC cases and 5,015 controls from five case-control studies within the INHANCE Consortium. Subanalyses were conducted among never tobacco users (493 cases and 1,813 controls) and among individuals who did not consume alcohol or smoke tobacco (237 cases and 887 controls). The risk of HNC was not elevated by ever marijuana smoking [odds ratio (OR), 0.88; 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), 0.67-1.16], and there was no increasing risk associated with increasing frequency, duration, or cumulative consumption of marijuana smoking. An increased risk of HNC associated with marijuana use was not detected among never tobacco users (OR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.63-1.37; three studies) nor among individuals who did not drink alcohol and smoke tobacco (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.47-2.38; two studies). Our results are consistent with the notion that infrequent marijuana smoking does not confer a risk of these malignancies. Nonetheless, because the prevalence of frequent marijuana smoking was low in most of the contributing studies, we could not rule out a moderately increased risk, particularly among subgroups without exposure to tobacco and alcohol.

Cigarette smoking and risk of Hodgkin lymphoma and its subtypes: a pooled analysis from the International Lymphoma Epidemiology Consortium (InterLymph)

PubMed Central

Kamper-Jørgensen, M.; Rostgaard, K.; Glaser, S. L.; Zahm, S. H.; Cozen, W.; Smedby, K. E.; Sanjosé, S.; Chang, E. T.; Zheng, T.; La Vecchia, C.; Serraino, D.; Monnereau, A.; Kane, E. V.; Miligi, L.; Vineis, P.; Spinelli, J. J.; McLaughlin, J. R.; Pahwa, P.; Dosman, J. A.; Vornanen, M.; Foretova, L.; Maynadie, M.; Staines, A.; Becker, N.; Nieters, A.; Brennan, P.; Boffetta, P.; Cocco, P.; Hjalgrim, H.

2013-01-01

Summary Background The etiology of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) remains incompletely characterized. Studies of the association between smoking and HL have yielded ambiguous results, possibly due to differences between HL subtypes. Patients and methods Through the InterLymph Consortium, 12 case–control studies regarding cigarette smoking and HL were identified. Pooled analyses on the association between smoking and HL stratified by tumor histology and Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) status were conducted using random effects models adjusted for confounders. Analyses included 3335 HL cases and 14 278 controls. Results Overall, 54.5% of cases and 57.4% of controls were ever cigarette smokers. Compared with never smokers, ever smokers had an odds ratio (OR) of HL of 1.10 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01–1.21]. This increased risk reflected associations with mixed cellularity cHL (OR = 1.60, 95% CI 1.29–1.99) and EBV-positive cHL (OR = 1.81, 95% CI 1.27–2.56) among current smokers, whereas risk of nodular sclerosis (OR = 1.09, 95% CI 0.90–1.32) and EBV-negative HL (OR = 1.02, 95% CI 0.72–1.44) was not increased. Conclusion These results support the notion of etiologic heterogeneity between HL subtypes, highlighting the need for HL stratification in future studies. Even if not relevant to all subtypes, our study emphasizes that cigarette smoking should be added to the few modifiable HL risk factors identified. PMID:23788758

Evaluation of the External RNA Controls Consortium (ERCC) reference material using a modified Latin square design.

PubMed

Pine, P Scott; Munro, Sarah A; Parsons, Jerod R; McDaniel, Jennifer; Lucas, Anne Bergstrom; Lozach, Jean; Myers, Timothy G; Su, Qin; Jacobs-Helber, Sarah M; Salit, Marc

2016-06-24

Highly multiplexed assays for quantitation of RNA transcripts are being used in many areas of biology and medicine. Using data generated by these transcriptomic assays requires measurement assurance with appropriate controls. Methods to prototype and evaluate multiple RNA controls were developed as part of the External RNA Controls Consortium (ERCC) assessment process. These approaches included a modified Latin square design to provide a broad dynamic range of relative abundance with known differences between four complex pools of ERCC RNA transcripts spiked into a human liver total RNA background. ERCC pools were analyzed on four different microarray platforms: Agilent 1- and 2-color, Illumina bead, and NIAID lab-made spotted microarrays; and two different second-generation sequencing platforms: the Life Technologies 5500xl and the Illumina HiSeq 2500. Individual ERCC controls were assessed for reproducible performance in signal response to concentration among the platforms. Most demonstrated linear behavior if they were not located near one of the extremes of the dynamic range. Performance issues with any individual ERCC transcript could be attributed to detection limitations, platform-specific target probe issues, or potential mixing errors. Collectively, these pools of spike-in RNA controls were evaluated for suitability as surrogates for endogenous transcripts to interrogate the performance of the RNA measurement process of each platform. The controls were useful for establishing the dynamic range of the assay, as well as delineating the useable region of that range where differential expression measurements, expressed as ratios, would be expected to be accurate. The modified Latin square design presented here uses a composite testing scheme for the evaluation of multiple performance characteristics: linear performance of individual controls, signal response within dynamic range pools of controls, and ratio detection between pairs of dynamic range pools. This compact design provides an economical sample format for the evaluation of multiple external RNA controls within a single experiment per platform. These results indicate that well-designed pools of RNA controls, spiked into samples, provide measurement assurance for endogenous gene expression studies.

Living on a farm, contact with farm animals and pets, and childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: pooled and meta-analyses from the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium.

PubMed

Orsi, Laurent; Magnani, Corrado; Petridou, Eleni T; Dockerty, John D; Metayer, Catherine; Milne, Elizabeth; Bailey, Helen D; Dessypris, Nick; Kang, Alice Y; Wesseling, Catharina; Infante-Rivard, Claire; Wünsch-Filho, Victor; Mora, Ana M; Spector, Logan G; Clavel, Jacqueline

2018-06-01

The associations between childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and several factors related to early stimulation of the immune system, that is, farm residence and regular contacts with farm animals (livestock, poultry) or pets in early childhood, were investigated using data from 13 case-control studies participating in the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium. The sample included 7847 ALL cases and 11,667 controls aged 1-14 years. In all studies, the data were obtained from case and control parents using standardized questionnaires. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by unconditional logistic regression adjusted for age, sex, study, maternal education, and maternal age. Contact with livestock in the first year of life was inversely associated with ALL (OR = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.50, 0.85). Inverse associations were also observed for contact with dogs (OR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.86, 0.99) and cats (OR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.80, 0.94) in the first year of life. There was no evidence of a significant association with farm residence in the first year of life. The findings of these large pooled and meta-analyses add additional evidence to the hypothesis that regular contact with animals in early childhood is inversely associated with childhood ALL occurrence which is consistent with Greaves' delayed infection hypothesis. © 2018 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Re-irradiation of recurrent gliomas: pooled analysis and validation of an established prognostic score-report of the Radiation Oncology Group (ROG) of the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK).

PubMed

Combs, Stephanie E; Niyazi, Maximilian; Adeberg, Sebastian; Bougatf, Nina; Kaul, David; Fleischmann, Daniel F; Gruen, Arne; Fokas, Emmanouil; Rödel, Claus M; Eckert, Franziska; Paulsen, Frank; Oehlke, Oliver; Grosu, Anca-Ligia; Seidlitz, Annekatrin; Lattermann, Annika; Krause, Mechthild; Baumann, Michael; Guberina, Maja; Stuschke, Martin; Budach, Volker; Belka, Claus; Debus, Jürgen; Kessel, Kerstin A

2018-05-01

The heterogeneity of high-grade glioma recurrences remains an ongoing challenge for the interdisciplinary neurooncology team. Response to re-irradiation (re-RT) is heterogeneous, and survival data depend on prognostic factors such as tumor volume, primary histology, age, the possibility of reresection, or time between primary diagnosis and initial RT and re-RT. In the present pooled analysis, we gathered data from radiooncology centers of the DKTK Consortium and used it to validate the established prognostic score by Combs et al. and its modification by Kessel et al. Data consisted of a large independent, multicenter cohort of 565 high-grade glioma patients treated with re-RT from 1997 to 2016 and a median dose of 36 Gy. Primary RT was between 1986 and 2015 with a median dose of 60 Gy. Median age was 54 years; median follow-up was 7.1 months. Median OS after re-RT was 7.5, 9.5, and 13.8 months for WHO IV, III, and I/II gliomas, respectively. All six prognostic factors were tested for their significance on OS. Aside from the time from primary RT to re-RT (P = 0.074) and the reresection status (P = 0.101), all factors (primary histology, age, KPS, and tumor volume) were significant. Both the original and new score showed a highly significant influence on survival with P < 0.001. Both prognostic scores successfully predict survival after re-RT and can easily be applied in the routine clinical workflow. Now, further prognostic features need to be found to even improve treatment decisions regarding neurooncological interventions for recurrent glioma patients. © 2018 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The role of sleep difficulties in the vasomotor menopausal symptoms and depressed mood relationships: an international pooled analysis of eight studies in the InterLACE consortium.

PubMed

Chung, Hsin-Fang; Pandeya, Nirmala; Dobson, Annette J; Kuh, Diana; Brunner, Eric J; Crawford, Sybil L; Avis, Nancy E; Gold, Ellen B; Mitchell, Ellen S; Woods, Nancy F; Bromberger, Joyce T; Thurston, Rebecca C; Joffe, Hadine; Yoshizawa, Toyoko; Anderson, Debra; Mishra, Gita D

2018-02-12

Many women experience both vasomotor menopausal symptoms (VMS) and depressed mood at midlife, but little is known regarding the prospective bi-directional relationships between VMS and depressed mood and the role of sleep difficulties in both directions. A pooled analysis was conducted using data from 21 312 women (median: 50 years, interquartile range 49-51) in eight studies from the InterLACE consortium. The degree of VMS, sleep difficulties, and depressed mood was self-reported and categorised as never, rarely, sometimes, and often (if reporting frequency) or never, mild, moderate, and severe (if reporting severity). Multivariable logistic regression models were used to examine the bi-directional associations adjusted for within-study correlation. At baseline, the prevalence of VMS (40%, range 13-62%) and depressed mood (26%, 8-41%) varied substantially across studies, and a strong dose-dependent association between VMS and likelihood of depressed mood was found. Over 3 years of follow-up, women with often/severe VMS at baseline were more likely to have subsequent depressed mood compared with those without VMS (odds ratios (OR) 1.56, 1.27-1.92). Women with often/severe depressed mood at baseline were also more likely to have subsequent VMS than those without depressed mood (OR 1.89, 1.47-2.44). With further adjustment for the degree of sleep difficulties at baseline, the OR of having a subsequent depressed mood associated with often/severe VMS was attenuated and no longer significant (OR 1.13, 0.90-1.40). Conversely, often/severe depressed mood remained significantly associated with subsequent VMS (OR 1.80, 1.38-2.34). Difficulty in sleeping largely explained the relationship between VMS and subsequent depressed mood, but it had little impact on the relationship between depressed mood and subsequent VMS.

Increased risk of lung cancer in individuals with a family history of the disease: a pooled analysis from the International Lung Cancer Consortium.

PubMed

Coté, Michele L; Liu, Mei; Bonassi, Stefano; Neri, Monica; Schwartz, Ann G; Christiani, David C; Spitz, Margaret R; Muscat, Joshua E; Rennert, Gad; Aben, Katja K; Andrew, Angeline S; Bencko, Vladimir; Bickeböller, Heike; Boffetta, Paolo; Brennan, Paul; Brenner, Hermann; Duell, Eric J; Fabianova, Eleonora; Field, John K; Foretova, Lenka; Friis, Søren; Harris, Curtis C; Holcatova, Ivana; Hong, Yun-Chul; Isla, Dolores; Janout, Vladimir; Kiemeney, Lambertus A; Kiyohara, Chikako; Lan, Qing; Lazarus, Philip; Lissowska, Jolanta; Le Marchand, Loic; Mates, Dana; Matsuo, Keitaro; Mayordomo, Jose I; McLaughlin, John R; Morgenstern, Hal; Müeller, Heiko; Orlow, Irene; Park, Bernard J; Pinchev, Mila; Raji, Olaide Y; Rennert, Hedy S; Rudnai, Peter; Seow, Adeline; Stucker, Isabelle; Szeszenia-Dabrowska, Neonila; Dawn Teare, M; Tjønnelan, Anne; Ugolini, Donatella; van der Heijden, Henricus F M; Wichmann, Erich; Wiencke, John K; Woll, Penella J; Yang, Ping; Zaridze, David; Zhang, Zuo-Feng; Etzel, Carol J; Hung, Rayjean J

2012-09-01

Familial aggregation of lung cancer exists after accounting for cigarette smoking. However, the extent to which family history affects risk by smoking status, histology, relative type and ethnicity is not well described. This pooled analysis included 24 case-control studies in the International Lung Cancer Consortium. Each study collected age of onset/interview, gender, race/ethnicity, cigarette smoking, histology and first-degree family history of lung cancer. Data from 24,380 lung cancer cases and 23,305 healthy controls were analysed. Unconditional logistic regression models and generalised estimating equations were used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Individuals with a first-degree relative with lung cancer had a 1.51-fold increase in the risk of lung cancer, after adjustment for smoking and other potential confounders (95% CI: 1.39, 1.63). The association was strongest for those with a family history in a sibling, after adjustment (odds ratios (OR) = 1.82, 95% CI: 1.62, 2.05). No modifying effect by histologic type was found. Never smokers showed a lower association with positive familial history of lung cancer (OR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.52), slightly stronger for those with an affected sibling (OR = 1.44, 95% CI: 1.07, 1.93), after adjustment. The occurrence of lung cancer among never smokers and similar magnitudes of the effect of family history on lung cancer risk across histological types suggests familial aggregation of lung cancer is independent of those risks associated with cigarette smoking. While the role of genetic variation in the aetiology of lung cancer remains to be fully characterised, family history assessment is immediately available and those with a positive history represent a higher risk group. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sexual behaviours and the risk of head and neck cancers: a pooled analysis in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium

PubMed Central

Heck, Julia E; Berthiller, Julien; Vaccarella, Salvatore; Winn, Deborah M; Smith, Elaine M; Shan'gina, Oxana; Schwartz, Stephen M; Purdue, Mark P; Pilarska, Agnieszka; Eluf-Neto, Jose; Menezes, Ana; McClean, Michael D; Matos, Elena; Koifman, Sergio; Kelsey, Karl T; Herrero, Rolando; Hayes, Richard B; Franceschi, Silvia; Wünsch-Filho, Victor; Fernández, Leticia; Daudt, Alexander W; Curado, Maria Paula; Chen, Chu; Castellsagué, Xavier; Ferro, Gilles; Brennan, Paul; Boffetta, Paolo; Hashibe, Mia

2010-01-01

Background Sexual contact may be the means by which head and neck cancer patients are exposed to human papillomavirus (HPV). Methods We undertook a pooled analysis of four population-based and four hospital-based case–control studies from the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium, with participants from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, India, Italy, Spain, Poland, Puerto Rico, Russia and the USA. The study included 5642 head and neck cancer cases and 6069 controls. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) of associations between cancer and specific sexual behaviours, including practice of oral sex, number of lifetime sexual partners and oral sex partners, age at sexual debut, a history of same-sex contact and a history of oral–anal contact. Findings were stratified by sex and disease subsite. Results Cancer of the oropharynx was associated with having a history of six or more lifetime sexual partners [OR = 1.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01, 1.54] and four or more lifetime oral sex partners (OR = 2.25, 95% CI 1.42, 3.58). Cancer of the tonsil was associated with four or more lifetime oral sex partners (OR = 3.36, 95 % CI 1.32, 8.53), and, among men, with ever having oral sex (OR = 1.59, 95% CI 1.09, 2.33) and with an earlier age at sexual debut (OR = 2.36, 95% CI 1.37, 5.05). Cancer of the base of the tongue was associated with ever having oral sex among women (OR = 4.32, 95% CI 1.06, 17.6), having two sexual partners in comparison with only one (OR = 2.02, 95% CI 1.19, 3.46) and, among men, with a history of same-sex sexual contact (OR = 8.89, 95% CI 2.14, 36.8). Conclusions Sexual behaviours are associated with cancer risk at the head and neck cancer subsites that have previously been associated with HPV infection. PMID:20022926

Exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke and lung cancer by histological type: a pooled analysis of the International Lung Cancer Consortium (ILCCO)

PubMed Central

Kim, Claire H; Lee, Yuan-Chin Amy; Hung, Rayjean J; McNallan, Sheila R; Cote, Michele L; Lim, Wei-Yen; Chang, Shen-Chih; Kim, Jin Hee; Ugolini, Donatella; Chen, Ying; Liloglou, Triantafillos; Andrew, Angeline S; Onega, Tracy; Duell, Eric J; Field, John K; Lazarus, Philip; Le Marchand, Loic; Neri, Monica; Vineis, Paolo; Kiyohara, Chikako; Hong, Yun-Chul; Morgenstern, Hal; Matsuo, Keitaro; Tajima, Kazuo; Christiani, David C; McLaughlin, John R; Bencko, Vladimir; Holcatova, Ivana; Boffetta, Paolo; Brennan, Paul; Fabianova, Eleonora; Foretova, Lenka; Janout, Vladimir; Lissowska, Jolanta; Mates, Dana; Rudnai, Peter; Szeszenia-Dabrowska, Neonila; Mukeria, Anush; Zaridze, David; Seow, Adeline; Schwartz, Ann G; Yang, Ping; Zhang, Zuo-Feng

2014-01-01

While the association between exposure to secondhand smoke and lung cancer risk is well established, few studies with sufficient power have examined the association by histological type. In this study, we evaluated the secondhand smoke-lung cancer relationship by histological type based on pooled data from 18 case-control studies in the International Lung Cancer Consortium (ILCCO), including 2,504 cases and 7,276 controls who were never smokers and 10,184 cases and 7,176 controls who were ever smokers. We used multivariable logistic regression, adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, smoking status, pack-years of smoking, and study. Among never smokers, the odds ratios (OR) comparing those ever exposed to secondhand smoke with those never exposed were 1.31 (95% CI: 1.17–1.45) for all histological types combined, 1.26 (95% CI: 1.10–1.44) for adenocarcinoma, 1.41 (95% CI: 0.99–1.99) for squamous cell carcinoma, 1.48 (95% CI: 0.89–2.45) for large cell lung cancer, and 3.09 (95% CI: 1.62–5.89) for small cell lung cancer. The estimated association with secondhand smoke exposure was greater for small cell lung cancer than for non-small cell lung cancers (OR=2.11, 95% CI: 1.11–4.04). This analysis is the largest to date investigating the relation between exposure to secondhand smoke and lung cancer. Our study provides more precise estimates of the impact of secondhand smoke on the major histological types of lung cancer, indicates the association with secondhand smoke is stronger for small cell lung cancer than for the other histological types, and suggests the importance of intervention against exposure to secondhand smoke in lung cancer prevention. PMID:24615328

25 CFR 1000.29 - What happens if a Tribe/Consortium is selected from the applicant pool but does not execute a...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR ANNUAL FUNDING... compact and annual funding agreement at any time unless: (1) It notifies the Director in writing that it... an agreement has no effect on the selection of up to 50 additional Tribes/Consortia in a subsequent...

25 CFR 1000.29 - What happens if a Tribe/Consortium is selected from the applicant pool but does not execute a...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR ANNUAL FUNDING... compact and annual funding agreement at any time unless: (1) It notifies the Director in writing that it... an agreement has no effect on the selection of up to 50 additional Tribes/Consortia in a subsequent...

25 CFR 1000.29 - What happens if a Tribe/Consortium is selected from the applicant pool but does not execute a...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR ANNUAL FUNDING... compact and annual funding agreement at any time unless: (1) It notifies the Director in writing that it... an agreement has no effect on the selection of up to 50 additional Tribes/Consortia in a subsequent...

25 CFR 1000.29 - What happens if a Tribe/Consortium is selected from the applicant pool but does not execute a...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR ANNUAL FUNDING... compact and annual funding agreement at any time unless: (1) It notifies the Director in writing that it... an agreement has no effect on the selection of up to 50 additional Tribes/Consortia in a subsequent...

Caesarean delivery and risk of childhood leukaemia: a pooled analysis from the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium (CLIC)

PubMed Central

Marcotte, Erin L; Thomopoulos, Thomas P; Infante-Rivard, Claire; Clavel, Jacqueline; Petridou, Eleni Th; Schüz, Joachim; Ezzat, Sameera; Dockerty, John D; Metayer, Catherine; Magnani, Corrado; Scheurer, Michael E; Mueller, Beth A; Mora, Ana M; Wesseling, Catharina; Skalkidou, Alkistis; Rashed, Wafaa M; Francis, Stephen S; Ajrouche, Roula; Erdmann, Friederike; Orsi, Laurent; Spector, Logan G

2017-01-01

Summary Background Results from case-control studies have shown an increased risk of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in young children born by caesarean delivery, and prelabour caesarean delivery in particular; however, an association of method of delivery with childhood leukaemia subtypes has yet to be established. We therefore did a pooled analysis of data to investigate the association between childhood leukaemia and caesarean delivery. Methods We pooled data from 13 case-control studies from the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium done in nine countries (Canada, Costa Rica, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, and the USA) for births from 1970-2013. We analysed caesarean delivery overall and by indications that probably resulted in prelabour caesarean delivery or emergency caesarean delivery. We used multivariable logistic regression models, adjusted for child's birthweight, sex, age, ethnic origin, parental education, maternal age, and study, to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs for the risk of ALL and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in children aged 0-14 years at diagnosis. Findings The studies provided data for 8780 ALL cases, 1332 AML cases, and 23 459 controls, of which the birth delivery method was known for 8655 (99%) ALL cases, 1292 (97%) AML cases, and 23 351 (>99%) controls. Indications for caesarean delivery were available in four studies (there were caesarean deliveries for 1061 of 4313 ALL cases, 138 of 664 AML cases, and 1401 of 5884 controls). The OR for all indications of caesarean delivery and ALL was 1.06 (95% CI 0.99–1.13), and was significant for prelabour caesarean delivery and ALL (1.23 [1.04-1.47]; p=0.018). Emergency caesarean delivery was not associated with ALL (OR 1.02 [95% CI 0.81-1.30]). AML was not associated with caesarean delivery (all indications OR 0.99 [95% CI 0.84-1.17]; prelabour caesarean delivery 0.83 [0.54-1.26]; and emergency caesarean delivery 1.05 [0.63-1.77]). Interpretation Our results suggest an increased risk of childhood ALL after prelabour caesarean delivery. If this association is causal, maladaptive immune activation due to an absence of stress response before birth in children born by prelabour caesarean delivery could be considered as a potential mechanism. PMID:27063976

Allergies and risk of pancreatic cancer: a pooled analysis from the Pancreatic Cancer Case-Control Consortium.

PubMed

Olson, Sara H; Hsu, Meier; Satagopan, Jaya M; Maisonneuve, Patrick; Silverman, Debra T; Lucenteforte, Ersilia; Anderson, Kristin E; Borgida, Ayelet; Bracci, Paige M; Bueno-de-Mesquita, H Bas; Cotterchio, Michelle; Dai, Qi; Duell, Eric J; Fontham, Elizabeth H; Gallinger, Steven; Holly, Elizabeth A; Ji, Bu-Tian; Kurtz, Robert C; La Vecchia, Carlo; Lowenfels, Albert B; Luckett, Brian; Ludwig, Emmy; Petersen, Gloria M; Polesel, Jerry; Seminara, Daniela; Strayer, Lori; Talamini, Renato

2013-09-01

In order to quantify the risk of pancreatic cancer associated with history of any allergy and specific allergies, to investigate differences in the association with risk according to age, gender, smoking status, or body mass index, and to study the influence of age at onset, we pooled data from 10 case-control studies. In total, there were 3,567 cases and 9,145 controls. Study-specific odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated by using unconditional logistic regression adjusted for age, gender, smoking status, and body mass index. Between-study heterogeneity was assessed by using the Cochran Q statistic. Study-specific odds ratios were pooled by using a random-effects model. The odds ratio for any allergy was 0.79 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.62, 1.00) with heterogeneity among studies (P < 0.001). Heterogeneity was attributable to one study; with that study excluded, the pooled odds ratio was 0.73 (95% CI: 0.64, 0.84) (Pheterogeneity = 0.23). Hay fever (odds ratio = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.56, 0.96) and allergy to animals (odds ratio = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.41, 0.94) were related to lower risk, while there was no statistically significant association with other allergies or asthma. There were no major differences among subgroups defined by age, gender, smoking status, or body mass index. Older age at onset of allergies was slightly more protective than earlier age.

Allergies and Risk of Pancreatic Cancer: A Pooled Analysis From the Pancreatic Cancer Case-Control Consortium

PubMed Central

Olson, Sara H.; Hsu, Meier; Satagopan, Jaya M.; Maisonneuve, Patrick; Silverman, Debra T.; Lucenteforte, Ersilia; Anderson, Kristin E.; Borgida, Ayelet; Bracci, Paige M.; Bueno-de-Mesquita, H. Bas; Cotterchio, Michelle; Dai, Qi; Duell, Eric J.; Fontham, Elizabeth H.; Gallinger, Steven; Holly, Elizabeth A.; Ji, Bu-Tian; Kurtz, Robert C.; La Vecchia, Carlo; Lowenfels, Albert B.; Luckett, Brian; Ludwig, Emmy; Petersen, Gloria M.; Polesel, Jerry; Seminara, Daniela; Strayer, Lori; Talamini, Renato

2013-01-01

In order to quantify the risk of pancreatic cancer associated with history of any allergy and specific allergies, to investigate differences in the association with risk according to age, gender, smoking status, or body mass index, and to study the influence of age at onset, we pooled data from 10 case-control studies. In total, there were 3,567 cases and 9,145 controls. Study-specific odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated by using unconditional logistic regression adjusted for age, gender, smoking status, and body mass index. Between-study heterogeneity was assessed by using the Cochran Q statistic. Study-specific odds ratios were pooled by using a random-effects model. The odds ratio for any allergy was 0.79 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.62, 1.00) with heterogeneity among studies (P < 0.001). Heterogeneity was attributable to one study; with that study excluded, the pooled odds ratio was 0.73 (95% CI: 0.64, 0.84) (Pheterogeneity = 0.23). Hay fever (odds ratio = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.56, 0.96) and allergy to animals (odds ratio = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.41, 0.94) were related to lower risk, while there was no statistically significant association with other allergies or asthma. There were no major differences among subgroups defined by age, gender, smoking status, or body mass index. Older age at onset of allergies was slightly more protective than earlier age. PMID:23820785

Vitamin or mineral supplement intake and the risk of head and neck cancer: pooled analysis in the INHANCE consortium.

PubMed

Li, Qian; Chuang, Shu-Chun; Eluf-Neto, Jose; Menezes, Ana; Matos, Elena; Koifman, Sergio; Wünsch-Filho, Victor; Fernandez, Leticia; Daudt, Alexander W; Curado, Maria Paula; Winn, Deborah M; Franceschi, Silvia; Herrero, Rolando; Castellsague, Xavier; Morgenstern, Hal; Zhang, Zuo-Feng; Lazarus, Philip; Muscat, Joshua; McClean, Michael; Kelsey, Karl T; Hayes, Richard B; Purdue, Mark P; Schwartz, Stephen M; Chen, Chu; Benhamou, Simone; Olshan, Andrew F; Yu, Guopei; Schantz, Stimson; Ferro, Gilles; Brennan, Paul; Boffetta, Paolo; Hashibe, Mia

2012-10-01

To investigate the potential role of vitamin or mineral supplementation on the risk of head and neck cancer (HNC), we analyzed individual-level pooled data from 12 case-control studies (7,002 HNC cases and 8,383 controls) participating in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology consortium. There were a total of 2,028 oral cavity cancer, 2,465 pharyngeal cancer, 874 unspecified oral/pharynx cancer, 1,329 laryngeal cancer and 306 overlapping HNC cases. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for self reported ever use of any vitamins, multivitamins, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and calcium, beta-carotene, iron, selenium and zinc supplements were assessed. We further examined frequency, duration and cumulative exposure of each vitamin or mineral when possible and stratified by smoking and drinking status. All ORs were adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, study center, education level, pack-years of smoking, frequency of alcohol drinking and fruit/vegetable intake. A decreased risk of HNC was observed with ever use of vitamin C (OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.59-0.96) and with ever use of calcium supplement (OR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.42-0.97). The inverse association with HNC risk was also observed for 10 or more years of vitamin C use (OR = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.54-0.97) and more than 365 tablets of cumulative calcium intake (OR = 0.36, 95% CI = 0.16-0.83), but linear trends were not observed for the frequency or duration of any supplement intake. We did not observe any strong associations between vitamin or mineral supplement intake and the risk of HNC. Copyright © 2011 UICC.

Obesity and risk of ovarian cancer subtypes: evidence from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium.

PubMed

Olsen, Catherine M; Nagle, Christina M; Whiteman, David C; Ness, Roberta; Pearce, Celeste Leigh; Pike, Malcolm C; Rossing, Mary Anne; Terry, Kathryn L; Wu, Anna H; Risch, Harvey A; Yu, Herbert; Doherty, Jennifer A; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Hein, Rebecca; Nickels, Stefan; Wang-Gohrke, Shan; Goodman, Marc T; Carney, Michael E; Matsuno, Rayna K; Lurie, Galina; Moysich, Kirsten; Kjaer, Susanne K; Jensen, Allan; Hogdall, Estrid; Goode, Ellen L; Fridley, Brooke L; Vierkant, Robert A; Larson, Melissa C; Schildkraut, Joellen; Hoyo, Cathrine; Moorman, Patricia; Weber, Rachel P; Cramer, Daniel W; Vitonis, Allison F; Bandera, Elisa V; Olson, Sara H; Rodriguez-Rodriguez, Lorna; King, Melony; Brinton, Louise A; Yang, Hannah; Garcia-Closas, Montserrat; Lissowska, Jolanta; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Ziogas, Argyrios; Gayther, Simon A; Ramus, Susan J; Menon, Usha; Gentry-Maharaj, Aleksandra; Webb, Penelope M

2013-04-01

Whilst previous studies have reported that higher BMI increases a woman's risk of developing ovarian cancer, associations for the different histological subtypes have not been well defined. As the prevalence of obesity has increased dramatically, and classification of ovarian histology has improved in the last decade, we sought to examine the association in a pooled analysis of recent studies participating in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. We evaluated the association between BMI (recent, maximum and in young adulthood) and ovarian cancer risk using original data from 15 case-control studies (13 548 cases and 17 913 controls). We combined study-specific adjusted odds ratios (ORs) using a random-effects model. We further examined the associations by histological subtype, menopausal status and post-menopausal hormone use. High BMI (all time-points) was associated with increased risk. This was most pronounced for borderline serous (recent BMI: pooled OR=1.24 per 5 kg/m(2); 95% CI 1.18-1.30), invasive endometrioid (1.17; 1.11-1.23) and invasive mucinous (1.19; 1.06-1.32) tumours. There was no association with serous invasive cancer overall (0.98; 0.94-1.02), but increased risks for low-grade serous invasive tumours (1.13, 1.03-1.25) and in pre-menopausal women (1.11; 1.04-1.18). Among post-menopausal women, the associations did not differ between hormone replacement therapy users and non-users. Whilst obesity appears to increase risk of the less common histological subtypes of ovarian cancer, it does not increase risk of high-grade invasive serous cancers, and reducing BMI is therefore unlikely to prevent the majority of ovarian cancer deaths. Other modifiable factors must be identified to control this disease.

Vitamin or mineral supplement intake and the risk of head and neck cancer: pooled analysis in the INHANCE consortium

PubMed Central

Li, Qian; Chuang, Shu-chun; Neto, Jose Eluf; Menezes, Ana; Matos, Elena; Koifman, Sergio; Wünsch-Filho, Victor; Fernandez, Leticia; Daudt, Alexander W.; Curado, Maria Paula; Winn, Deborah M.; Franceschi, Silvia; Herrero, Rolando; Castellsague, Xavier; Morgenstern, Hal; Zhang, Zuo-Feng; Lazarus, Philip; Muscat, Joshua; McClean, Michael; Kelsey, Karl T.; Hayes, Richard B.; Purdue, Mark P.; Schwartz, Stephen M.; Chen, Chu; Benhamou, Simone; Olshan, Andrew F.; Yu, Guopei; Schantz, Stimson; Ferro, Gilles; Brennan, Paul; Boffetta, Paolo; Hashibe, Mia

2012-01-01

To investigate the potential role of vitamin or mineral supplementation on the risk of head and neck cancer (HNC), we analyzed individual-level pooled data from 12 case-control studies (7,002 HNC cases and 8,383 controls) participating in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology consortium. There were a total of 2,028 oral cavity cancer, 2,465 pharyngeal cancer, and 874 unspecified oral/pharynx cancer, 1,329 laryngeal cancer and 306 overlapping HNC cases. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for self reported ever use of any vitamins, multivitamins, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and calcium, beta-carotene, iron, selenium, and zinc supplements were assessed. We further examined frequency, duration and cumulative exposure of each vitamin or mineral when possible and stratified by smoking and drinking status. All ORs were adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, study center, education level, and pack-years of smoking, frequency of alcohol drinking and fruit/vegetable intake. A decreased risk of HNC was observed with ever use of vitamin C (OR=0.76, 95% CI=0.59-0.96) and with ever use of calcium supplement (OR=0.64, 95% CI=0.42-0.97). The inverse association with HNC risk was also observed for 10 or more years of vitamin C use (OR=0.72, 95% CI=0.54-0.97) and more than 365 tablets of cumulative calcium intake (OR=0.36, 95% CI=0.16-0.83), but linear trends were not observed for the frequency or duration of any supplement intake. We did not observe any strong associations between vitamin or mineral supplement intake and the risk of head and neck cancer. PMID:22173631

Gender Differences in HIV Risk Behaviors Among Persons Involved in the U.S. Criminal Justice System and Living with HIV or at Risk for HIV: A "Seek, Test, Treat, and Retain" Harmonization Consortium.

PubMed

Loeliger, Kelsey B; Biggs, Mary L; Young, Rebekah; Seal, David W; Beckwith, Curt G; Kuo, Irene; Gordon, Michael S; Altice, Frederick L; Ouellet, Lawrence J; Cunningham, William E; Young, Jeremy D; Springer, Sandra A

2017-10-01

The U.S. female criminal justice (CJ) population is rapidly growing, yet large-scale studies exploring gender-specific HIV risk behaviors in the CJ population are lacking. This analysis uses baseline data on adults with a CJ history from eight U.S. studies in an NIH-funded "Seek, Test, Treat, Retain" harmonization consortium. Data were collected using a standardized HIV risk behavior assessment tool and pooled across studies to describe participants' characteristics and risk behaviors. Multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression models were used to test for gender-based behavior differences. Among 784 HIV-positive (21.4% female) and 5521 HIV-negative (8.5% female) participants, HIV-positive women had higher odds than HIV-positive men of engaging in condomless sexual intercourse (AOR 1.84 [1.16-2.95]) with potentially sero-discordant partners (AOR 2.40 [1.41-4.09]) and of sharing injection equipment (AOR 3.36 [1.31-8.63]). HIV risk reduction interventions targeting CJ-involved women with HIV are urgently needed as this population may represent an under-recognized potential source of HIV transmission.

Data from quantitative label free proteomics analysis of rat spleen.

PubMed

Dudekula, Khadar; Le Bihan, Thierry

2016-09-01

The dataset presented in this work has been obtained using a label-free quantitative proteomic analysis of rat spleen. A robust method for extraction of proteins from rat spleen tissue and LC-MS-MS analysis was developed using a urea and SDS-based buffer. Different fractionation methods were compared. A total of 3484 different proteins were identified from the pool of all experiments run in this study (a total of 2460 proteins with at least two peptides). A total of 1822 proteins were identified from nine non-fractionated pulse gels, 2288 proteins and 2864 proteins were identified by SDS-PAGE fractionation into three and five fractions respectively. The proteomics data are deposited in ProteomeXchange Consortium via PRIDE PXD003520, Progenesis and Maxquant output are presented in the supported information. The generated list of proteins under different regimes of fractionation allow assessing the nature of the identified proteins; variability in the quantitative analysis associated with the different sampling strategy and allow defining a proper number of replicates for future quantitative analysis.

Hypothesis exploration with visualization of variance

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The Consortium for Neuropsychiatric Phenomics (CNP) at UCLA was an investigation into the biological bases of traits such as memory and response inhibition phenotypes—to explore whether they are linked to syndromes including ADHD, Bipolar disorder, and Schizophrenia. An aim of the consortium was in moving from traditional categorical approaches for psychiatric syndromes towards more quantitative approaches based on large-scale analysis of the space of human variation. It represented an application of phenomics—wide-scale, systematic study of phenotypes—to neuropsychiatry research. Results This paper reports on a system for exploration of hypotheses in data obtained from the LA2K, LA3C, and LA5C studies in CNP. ViVA is a system for exploratory data analysis using novel mathematical models and methods for visualization of variance. An example of these methods is called VISOVA, a combination of visualization and analysis of variance, with the flavor of exploration associated with ANOVA in biomedical hypothesis generation. It permits visual identification of phenotype profiles—patterns of values across phenotypes—that characterize groups. Visualization enables screening and refinement of hypotheses about variance structure of sets of phenotypes. Conclusions The ViVA system was designed for exploration of neuropsychiatric hypotheses by interdisciplinary teams. Automated visualization in ViVA supports ‘natural selection’ on a pool of hypotheses, and permits deeper understanding of the statistical architecture of the data. Large-scale perspective of this kind could lead to better neuropsychiatric diagnostics. PMID:25097666

Infertility and incident endometrial cancer risk: a pooled analysis from the epidemiology of endometrial cancer consortium (E2C2).

PubMed

Yang, H P; Cook, L S; Weiderpass, E; Adami, H-O; Anderson, K E; Cai, H; Cerhan, J R; Clendenen, T V; Felix, A S; Friedenreich, C M; Garcia-Closas, M; Goodman, M T; Liang, X; Lissowska, J; Lu, L; Magliocco, A M; McCann, S E; Moysich, K B; Olson, S H; Petruzella, S; Pike, M C; Polidoro, S; Ricceri, F; Risch, H A; Sacerdote, C; Setiawan, V W; Shu, X O; Spurdle, A B; Trabert, B; Webb, P M; Wentzensen, N; Xiang, Y-B; Xu, Y; Yu, H; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, A; Brinton, L A

2015-03-03

Nulliparity is an endometrial cancer risk factor, but whether or not this association is due to infertility is unclear. Although there are many underlying infertility causes, few studies have assessed risk relations by specific causes. We conducted a pooled analysis of 8153 cases and 11 713 controls from 2 cohort and 12 case-control studies. All studies provided self-reported infertility and its causes, except for one study that relied on data from national registries. Logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Nulliparous women had an elevated endometrial cancer risk compared with parous women, even after adjusting for infertility (OR=1.76; 95% CI: 1.59-1.94). Women who reported infertility had an increased risk compared with those without infertility concerns, even after adjusting for nulliparity (OR=1.22; 95% CI: 1.13-1.33). Among women who reported infertility, none of the individual infertility causes were substantially related to endometrial cancer. Based on mainly self-reported infertility data that used study-specific definitions of infertility, nulliparity and infertility appeared to independently contribute to endometrial cancer risk. Understanding residual endometrial cancer risk related to infertility, its causes and its treatments may benefit from large studies involving detailed data on various infertility parameters.

Pelvic Inflammatory Disease and the Risk of Ovarian Cancer and Borderline Ovarian Tumors: A Pooled Analysis of 13 Case-Control Studies

PubMed Central

Rasmussen, Christina B.; Kjaer, Susanne K.; Albieri, Vanna; Bandera, Elisa V.; Doherty, Jennifer A.; Høgdall, Estrid; Webb, Penelope M.; Jordan, Susan J.; Rossing, Mary Anne; Wicklund, Kristine G.; Goodman, Marc T.; Modugno, Francesmary; Moysich, Kirsten B.; Ness, Roberta B.; Edwards, Robert P.; Schildkraut, Joellen M.; Berchuck, Andrew; Olson, Sara H.; Kiemeney, Lambertus A.; Massuger, Leon F. A. G.; Narod, Steven A.; Phelan, Catherine M.; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Ziogas, Argyrios; Wu, Anna H.; Pearce, Celeste L.; Risch, Harvey A.; Jensen, Allan

2017-01-01

Inflammation has been implicated in ovarian carcinogenesis. However, studies investigating the association between pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and ovarian cancer risk are few and inconsistent. We investigated the association between PID and the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer according to tumor behavior and histotype. We pooled data from 13 case-control studies, conducted between 1989 and 2009, from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC), including 9,162 women with ovarian cancers, 2,354 women with borderline tumors, and 14,736 control participants. Study-specific odds ratios were estimated and subsequently combined into a pooled odds ratio using a random-effects model. A history of PID was associated with an increased risk of borderline tumors (pooled odds ratio (pOR) = 1.32, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.10, 1.58). Women with at least 2 episodes of PID had a 2-fold increased risk of borderline tumors (pOR = 2.14, 95% CI: 1.08, 4.24). No association was observed between PID and ovarian cancer risk overall (pOR = 0.99, 95% CI: 0.83, 1.19); however, a statistically nonsignificantly increased risk of low-grade serous tumors (pOR = 1.48, 95% CI: 0.92, 2.38) was noted. In conclusion, PID was associated with an increased risk of borderline ovarian tumors, particularly among women who had had multiple episodes of PID. Although our results indicated a histotype-specific association with PID, the association of PID with ovarian cancer risk is still somewhat uncertain and requires further investigation. PMID:27941069

The Chicago Thoracic Oncology Database Consortium: A Multisite Database Initiative

PubMed Central

Carey, George B; Tan, Yi-Hung Carol; Bokhary, Ujala; Itkonen, Michelle; Szeto, Kyle; Wallace, James; Campbell, Nicholas; Hensing, Thomas; Salgia, Ravi

2016-01-01

Objective: An increasing amount of clinical data is available to biomedical researchers, but specifically designed database and informatics infrastructures are needed to handle this data effectively. Multiple research groups should be able to pool and share this data in an efficient manner. The Chicago Thoracic Oncology Database Consortium (CTODC) was created to standardize data collection and facilitate the pooling and sharing of data at institutions throughout Chicago and across the world. We assessed the CTODC by conducting a proof of principle investigation on lung cancer patients who took erlotinib. This study does not look into epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations and tyrosine kinase inhibitors, but rather it discusses the development and utilization of the database involved. Methods:  We have implemented the Thoracic Oncology Program Database Project (TOPDP) Microsoft Access, the Thoracic Oncology Research Program (TORP) Velos, and the TORP REDCap databases for translational research efforts. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) were created to document the construction and proper utilization of these databases. These SOPs have been made available freely to other institutions that have implemented their own databases patterned on these SOPs. Results: A cohort of 373 lung cancer patients who took erlotinib was identified. The EGFR mutation statuses of patients were analyzed. Out of the 70 patients that were tested, 55 had mutations while 15 did not. In terms of overall survival and duration of treatment, the cohort demonstrated that EGFR-mutated patients had a longer duration of erlotinib treatment and longer overall survival compared to their EGFR wild-type counterparts who received erlotinib. Discussion: The investigation successfully yielded data from all institutions of the CTODC. While the investigation identified challenges, such as the difficulty of data transfer and potential duplication of patient data, these issues can be resolved with greater cross-communication between institutions of the consortium. Conclusion: The investigation described herein demonstrates the successful data collection from multiple institutions in the context of a collaborative effort. The data presented here can be utilized as the basis for further collaborative efforts and/or development of larger and more streamlined databases within the consortium. PMID:27092293

The Chicago Thoracic Oncology Database Consortium: A Multisite Database Initiative.

PubMed

Won, Brian; Carey, George B; Tan, Yi-Hung Carol; Bokhary, Ujala; Itkonen, Michelle; Szeto, Kyle; Wallace, James; Campbell, Nicholas; Hensing, Thomas; Salgia, Ravi

2016-03-16

An increasing amount of clinical data is available to biomedical researchers, but specifically designed database and informatics infrastructures are needed to handle this data effectively. Multiple research groups should be able to pool and share this data in an efficient manner. The Chicago Thoracic Oncology Database Consortium (CTODC) was created to standardize data collection and facilitate the pooling and sharing of data at institutions throughout Chicago and across the world. We assessed the CTODC by conducting a proof of principle investigation on lung cancer patients who took erlotinib. This study does not look into epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations and tyrosine kinase inhibitors, but rather it discusses the development and utilization of the database involved.  We have implemented the Thoracic Oncology Program Database Project (TOPDP) Microsoft Access, the Thoracic Oncology Research Program (TORP) Velos, and the TORP REDCap databases for translational research efforts. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) were created to document the construction and proper utilization of these databases. These SOPs have been made available freely to other institutions that have implemented their own databases patterned on these SOPs. A cohort of 373 lung cancer patients who took erlotinib was identified. The EGFR mutation statuses of patients were analyzed. Out of the 70 patients that were tested, 55 had mutations while 15 did not. In terms of overall survival and duration of treatment, the cohort demonstrated that EGFR-mutated patients had a longer duration of erlotinib treatment and longer overall survival compared to their EGFR wild-type counterparts who received erlotinib. The investigation successfully yielded data from all institutions of the CTODC. While the investigation identified challenges, such as the difficulty of data transfer and potential duplication of patient data, these issues can be resolved with greater cross-communication between institutions of the consortium. The investigation described herein demonstrates the successful data collection from multiple institutions in the context of a collaborative effort. The data presented here can be utilized as the basis for further collaborative efforts and/or development of larger and more streamlined databases within the consortium.

Metagenomics, paratransgenesis and the Anopheles microbiome: a portrait of the geographical distribution of the anopheline microbiota based on a meta-analysis of reported taxa.

PubMed

Villegas, Luis Martínez; Pimenta, Paulo Filemon Paolucci

2014-08-01

Anophelines harbour a diverse microbial consortium that may represent an extended gene pool for the host. The proposed effects of the insect microbiota span physiological, metabolic and immune processes. Here we synthesise how current metagenomic tools combined with classical culture-dependent techniques provide new insights in the elucidation of the role of the Anopheles-associated microbiota. Many proposed malaria control strategies have been based upon the immunomodulating effects that the bacterial components of the microbiota appear to exert and their ability to express anti-Plasmodium peptides. The number of identified bacterial taxa has increased in the current "omics" era and the available data are mostly scattered or in "tables" that are difficult to exploit. Published microbiota reports for multiple anopheline species were compiled in an Excel® spreadsheet. We then filtered the microbiota data using a continent-oriented criterion and generated a visual correlation showing the exclusive and shared bacterial genera among four continents. The data suggested the existence of a core group of bacteria associated in a stable manner with their anopheline hosts. However, the lack of data from Neotropical vectors may reduce the possibility of defining the core microbiota and understanding the mosquito-bacteria interactive consortium.

Multimodal neuroimaging of male and female brain structure in health and disease across the life span

PubMed Central

Thompson, Paul M.

2016-01-01

Sex differences in brain development and aging are important to identify, as they may help to understand risk factors and outcomes in brain disorders that are more prevalent in one sex compared with the other. Brain imaging techniques have advanced rapidly in recent years, yielding detailed structural and functional maps of the living brain. Even so, studies are often limited in sample size, and inconsistent findings emerge, one example being varying findings regarding sex differences in the size of the corpus callosum. More recently, large‐scale neuroimaging consortia such as the Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta Analysis Consortium have formed, pooling together expertise, data, and resources from hundreds of institutions around the world to ensure adequate power and reproducibility. These initiatives are helping us to better understand how brain structure is affected by development, disease, and potential modulators of these effects, including sex. This review highlights some established and disputed sex differences in brain structure across the life span, as well as pitfalls related to interpreting sex differences in health and disease. We also describe sex‐related findings from the ENIGMA consortium, and ongoing efforts to better understand sex differences in brain circuitry. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Neuroscience Research Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. PMID:27870421

Sex-specific associations between body mass index, waist circumference and the risk of Barrett's oesophagus: a pooled analysis from the international BEACON consortium.

PubMed

Kubo, Ai; Cook, Michael Blaise; Shaheen, Nicholas J; Vaughan, Thomas L; Whiteman, David C; Murray, Liam; Corley, Douglas A

2013-12-01

Barrett's oesophagus is a precursor lesion of oesophageal adenocarcinoma, a cancer that, in the USA, has increased in incidence over 600% during the past 40 years. Barrett's oesophagus and oesophageal adenocarcinoma are much more common among men than among women; this finding is unexplained and most earlier studies lacked sufficient numbers of women to evaluate sex-specific risk factors. We leveraged the power of an international consortium to assess sex-specific relationships between body mass index (BMI), abdominal circumference and Barrett's oesophagus. Four case-control studies provided a total of 1102 cases (316 women, 786 men) and 1400 population controls (436 women, 964 men) for analysis. Study-specific estimates, generated using individual participant data, were combined using random effects meta-analysis. Waist circumference was significantly associated with Barrett's oesophagus, even after adjustment for BMI; persons in the highest versus the lowest quartiles of waist circumference had approximately 125% and 275% increases in the odds of Barrett's oesophagus among men and women, respectively (OR 2.24, 95% CI 1.08 to 4.65, I(2)=57; OR 3.75, 95% CI 1.47 to 9.56, I(2)=0). In contrast, there was no evidence of a significant association between BMI and the risk of Barrett's oesophagus, with or without adjustment for waist circumference. Waist circumference, independent of BMI, was found to be a risk factor for Barrett's oesophagus among both men and women. Future studies examining the biological mechanisms of this association will extend our knowledge regarding the pathogenesis of Barrett's oesophagus.

Caesarean delivery and risk of childhood leukaemia: a pooled analysis from the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium (CLIC).

PubMed

Marcotte, Erin L; Thomopoulos, Thomas P; Infante-Rivard, Claire; Clavel, Jacqueline; Petridou, Eleni Th; Schüz, Joachim; Ezzat, Sameera; Dockerty, John D; Metayer, Catherine; Magnani, Corrado; Scheurer, Michael E; Mueller, Beth A; Mora, Ana M; Wesseling, Catharina; Skalkidou, Alkistis; Rashed, Wafaa M; Francis, Stephen S; Ajrouche, Roula; Erdmann, Friederike; Orsi, Laurent; Spector, Logan G

2016-04-01

Results from case-control studies have shown an increased risk of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in young children born by caesarean delivery, and prelabour caesarean delivery in particular; however, an association of method of delivery with childhood leukaemia subtypes has yet to be established. We therefore did a pooled analysis of data to investigate the association between childhood leukaemia and caesarean delivery. We pooled data from 13 case-control studies from the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium done in nine countries (Canada, Costa Rica, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, and the USA) for births from 1970-2013. We analysed caesarean delivery overall and by indications that probably resulted in prelabour caesarean delivery or emergency caesarean delivery. We used multivariable logistic regression models, adjusted for child's birthweight, sex, age, ethnic origin, parental education, maternal age, and study, to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs for the risk of ALL and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in children aged 0-14 years at diagnosis. The studies provided data for 8780 ALL cases, 1332 AML cases, and 23 459 controls, of which the birth delivery method was known for 8655 (99%) ALL cases, 1292 (97%) AML cases, and 23 351 (>99%) controls. Indications for caesarean delivery were available in four studies (there were caesarean deliveries for 1061 of 4313 ALL cases, 138 of 664 AML cases, and 1401 of 5884 controls). The OR for all indications of caesarean delivery and ALL was 1·06 (95% CI 0·99-1·13), and was significant for prelabour caesarean delivery and ALL (1·23 [1·04-1·47]; p=0·018). Emergency caesarean delivery was not associated with ALL (OR 1·02 [95% CI 0·81-1·30]). AML was not associated with caesarean delivery (all indications OR 0·99 [95% CI 0·84-1·17]; prelabour caesarean delivery 0·83 [0·54-1·26]; and emergency caesarean delivery 1·05 [0·63-1·77]). Our results suggest an increased risk of childhood ALL after prelabour caesarean delivery. If this association is causal, maladaptive immune activation due to an absence of stress response before birth in children born by prelabour caesarean delivery could be considered as a potential mechanism. National Cancer Institute. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An overview of the genetic dissection of complex traits.

PubMed

Rao, D C

2008-01-01

Thanks to the recent revolutionary genomic advances such as the International HapMap consortium, resolution of the genetic architecture of common complex traits is beginning to look hopeful. While demonstrating the feasibility of genome-wide association (GWA) studies, the pathbreaking Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) study also serves to underscore the critical importance of very large sample sizes and draws attention to potential problems, which need to be addressed as part of the study design. Even the large WTCCC study had vastly inadequate power for several of the associations reported (and confirmed) and, therefore, most of the regions harboring relevant associations may not be identified anytime soon. This chapter provides an overview of some of the key developments in the methodological approaches to genetic dissection of common complex traits. Constrained Bayesian networks are suggested as especially useful for analysis of pathway-based SNPs. Likewise, composite likelihood is suggested as a promising method for modeling complex systems. It discusses the key steps in a study design, with an emphasis on GWA studies. Potential limitations highlighted by the WTCCC GWA study are discussed, including problems associated with massive genotype imputation, analysis of pooled national samples, shared controls, and the critical role of interactions. GWA studies clearly need massive sample sizes that are only possible through genuine collaborations. After all, for common complex traits, the question is not whether we can find some pieces of the puzzle, but how large and what kind of a sample we need to (nearly) solve the genetic puzzle.

The Lunar Source Disk: Old Lunar Datasets on a New CD-ROM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hiesinger, H.

1998-01-01

A compilation of previously published datasets on CD-ROM is presented. This Lunar Source Disk is intended to be a first step in the improvement/expansion of the Lunar Consortium Disk, in order to create an "image-cube"-like data pool that can be easily accessed and might be useful for a variety of future lunar investigations. All datasets were transformed to a standard map projection that allows direct comparison of different types of information on a pixel-by pixel basis. Lunar observations have a long history and have been important to mankind for centuries, notably since the work of Plutarch and Galileo. As a consequence of centuries of lunar investigations, knowledge of the characteristics and properties of the Moon has accumulated over time. However, a side effect of this accumulation is that it has become more and more complicated for scientists to review all the datasets obtained through different techniques, to interpret them properly, to recognize their weaknesses and strengths in detail, and to combine them synoptically in geologic interpretations. Such synoptic geologic interpretations are crucial for the study of planetary bodies through remote-sensing data in order to avoid misinterpretation. In addition, many of the modem datasets, derived from Earth-based telescopes as well as from spacecraft missions, are acquired at different geometric and radiometric conditions. These differences make it challenging to compare or combine datasets directly or to extract information from different datasets on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Also, as there is no convention for the presentation of lunar datasets, different authors choose different map projections, depending on the location of the investigated areas and their personal interests. Insufficient or incomplete information on the map parameters used by different authors further complicates the reprojection of these datasets to a standard geometry. The goal of our efforts was to transfer previously published lunar datasets to a selected standard geometry in order to create an "image-cube"-like data pool for further interpretation. The starting point was a number of datasets on a CD-ROM published by the Lunar Consortium. The task of creating an uniform data pool was further complicated by some missing or wrong references and keys on the Lunar Consortium CD as well as erroneous reproduction of some datasets in the literature.

Cigarette smoking is associated with adverse survival among women with ovarian cancer: Results from a pooled analysis of 19 studies.

PubMed

Praestegaard, Camilla; Jensen, Allan; Jensen, Signe M; Nielsen, Thor S S; Webb, Penelope M; Nagle, Christina M; DeFazio, Anna; Høgdall, Estrid; Rossing, Mary Anne; Doherty, Jennifer A; Wicklund, Kristine G; Goodman, Marc T; Modugno, Francesmary; Moysich, Kirsten; Ness, Roberta B; Edwards, Robert; Matsuo, Keitaro; Hosono, Satoyo; Goode, Ellen L; Winham, Stacey J; Fridley, Brooke L; Cramer, Daniel W; Terry, Kathryn L; Schildkraut, Joellen M; Berchuck, Andrew; Bandera, Elisa V; Paddock, Lisa E; Massuger, Leon F; Wentzensen, Nicolas; Pharoah, Paul; Song, Honglin; Whittemore, Alice; McGuire, Valerie; Sieh, Weiva; Rothstein, Joseph; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Ziogas, Argyrios; Menon, Usha; Gayther, Simon A; Ramus, Susan J; Gentry-Maharaj, Alexandra; Wu, Anna H; Pearce, Celeste L; Pike, Malcolm; Lee, Alice W; Sutphen, Rebecca; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Risch, Harvey A; Kjaer, Susanne K

2017-06-01

Cigarette smoking is associated with an increased risk of developing mucinous ovarian tumors but whether it is associated with ovarian cancer survival overall or for the different histotypes is unestablished. Furthermore, it is unknown whether the association between cigarette smoking and survival differs according to strata of ovarian cancer stage at diagnosis. In a large pooled analysis, we evaluated the association between various measures of cigarette smoking and survival among women with epithelial ovarian cancer. We obtained data from 19 case-control studies in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC), including 9,114 women diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Cox regression models were used to estimate adjusted study-specific hazard ratios (HRs), which were combined into pooled hazard ratios (pHR) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) under random effects models. Overall, 5,149 (57%) women died during a median follow-up period of 7.0 years. Among women diagnosed with ovarian cancer, both current (pHR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.08-1.28) and former smokers (pHR = 1.10, 95% CI: 1.02-1.18) had worse survival compared with never smoking women. In histotype-stratified analyses, associations were observed for mucinous (current smoking: pHR = 1.91, 95% CI: 1.01-3.65) and serous histotypes (current smoking: pHR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.00-1.23; former smoking: pHR = 1.12, 95% CI: 1.04-1.20). Further, our results suggested that current smoking has a greater impact on survival among women with localized than disseminated disease. The identification of cigarette smoking as a modifiable factor associated with survival has potential clinical importance as a focus area to improve ovarian cancer prognosis. © 2017 UICC.

Cigarette smoking is associated with adverse survival among women with ovarian cancer: Results from a pooled analysis of 19 studies

PubMed Central

Præstegaard, Camilla; Jensen, Allan; Jensen, Signe M.; Nielsen, Thor S. S.; Webb, Penelope M.; Nagle, Christina M.; DeFazio, Anna; Høgdall, Estrid; Rossing, Mary Anne; Doherty, Jennifer A.; Wicklund, Kristine G.; Goodman, Marc T.; Modugno, Francesmary; Moysich, Kirsten; Ness, Roberta B.; Edwards, Robert; Matsuo, Keitaro; Hosono, Satoyo; Goode, Ellen L.; Winham, Stacey J; Fridley, Brooke L.; Cramer, Daniel W.; Terry, Kathryn L.; Schildkraut, Joellen M.; Berchuck, Andrew; Bandera, Elisa V.; Paddock, Lisa E.; Massuger, Leon F.; Wentzensen, Nicolas; Pharoah, Paul; Song, Honglin; Whittemore, Alice; McGuire, Valerie; Sieh, Weiva; Rothstein, Joseph; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Ziogas, Argyrios; Menon, Usha; Gayther, Simon A.; Ramus, Susan J.; Gentry-Maharaj, Alexandra; Wu, Anna H.; Pearce, Celeste L.; Pike, Malcolm; Lee, Alice W.; Sutphen, Rebecca; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Risch, Harvey A.; Kjaer, Susanne K.

2017-01-01

Cigarette smoking is associated with an increased risk of developing mucinous ovarian tumors but whether it is associated with ovarian cancer survival overall or for the different histotypes is unestablished. Furthermore, it is unknown whether the association between cigarette smoking and survival differs according to strata of ovarian cancer stage at diagnosis. In a large pooled analysis, we evaluated the association between various measures of cigarette smoking and survival among women with epithelial ovarian cancer. We obtained data from 19 case-control studies in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC), including 9,114 women diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Cox regression models were used to estimate adjusted study-specific hazard ratios (HRs), which were combined into pooled hazard ratios (pHR) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) under random effects models. Overall, 5,149 (57%) women died during a median follow-up period of 7.0 years. Among women diagnosed with ovarian cancer, both current (pHR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.08–1.28) and former smokers (pHR = 1.10, 95% CI: 1.02–1.18) had worse survival compared with never smoking women. In histotype-stratified analyses, associations were observed for mucinous (current smoking: pHR = 1.91, 95% CI: 1.01–3.65) and serous histotypes (current smoking: pHR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.00–1.23; former smoking: pHR = 1.12, 95% CI: 1.04–1.20). Further, our results suggested that current smoking has a greater impact on survival among women with localized than disseminated disease. The identification of cigarette smoking as a modifiable factor associated with survival has potential clinical importance as a focus area to improve ovarian cancer prognosis. PMID:28063166

Infertility and incident endometrial cancer risk: a pooled analysis from the epidemiology of endometrial cancer consortium (E2C2)

PubMed Central

Yang, H P; Cook, L S; Weiderpass, E; Adami, H-O; Anderson, K E; Cai, H; Cerhan, J R; Clendenen, T V; Felix, A S; Friedenreich, C M; Garcia-Closas, M; Goodman, M T; Liang, X; Lissowska, J; Lu, L; Magliocco, A M; McCann, S E; Moysich, K B; Olson, S H; Petruzella, S; Pike, M C; Polidoro, S; Ricceri, F; Risch, H A; Sacerdote, C; Setiawan, V W; Shu, X O; Spurdle, A B; Trabert, B; Webb, P M; Wentzensen, N; Xiang, Y-B; Xu, Y; Yu, H; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, A; Brinton, L A

2015-01-01

Background: Nulliparity is an endometrial cancer risk factor, but whether or not this association is due to infertility is unclear. Although there are many underlying infertility causes, few studies have assessed risk relations by specific causes. Methods: We conducted a pooled analysis of 8153 cases and 11 713 controls from 2 cohort and 12 case-control studies. All studies provided self-reported infertility and its causes, except for one study that relied on data from national registries. Logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Nulliparous women had an elevated endometrial cancer risk compared with parous women, even after adjusting for infertility (OR=1.76; 95% CI: 1.59–1.94). Women who reported infertility had an increased risk compared with those without infertility concerns, even after adjusting for nulliparity (OR=1.22; 95% CI: 1.13–1.33). Among women who reported infertility, none of the individual infertility causes were substantially related to endometrial cancer. Conclusions: Based on mainly self-reported infertility data that used study-specific definitions of infertility, nulliparity and infertility appeared to independently contribute to endometrial cancer risk. Understanding residual endometrial cancer risk related to infertility, its causes and its treatments may benefit from large studies involving detailed data on various infertility parameters. PMID:25688738

Pelvic Inflammatory Disease and the Risk of Ovarian Cancer and Borderline Ovarian Tumors: A Pooled Analysis of 13 Case-Control Studies.

PubMed

Rasmussen, Christina B; Kjaer, Susanne K; Albieri, Vanna; Bandera, Elisa V; Doherty, Jennifer A; Høgdall, Estrid; Webb, Penelope M; Jordan, Susan J; Rossing, Mary Anne; Wicklund, Kristine G; Goodman, Marc T; Modugno, Francesmary; Moysich, Kirsten B; Ness, Roberta B; Edwards, Robert P; Schildkraut, Joellen M; Berchuck, Andrew; Olson, Sara H; Kiemeney, Lambertus A; Massuger, Leon F A G; Narod, Steven A; Phelan, Catherine M; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Ziogas, Argyrios; Wu, Anna H; Pearce, Celeste L; Risch, Harvey A; Jensen, Allan

2017-01-01

Inflammation has been implicated in ovarian carcinogenesis. However, studies investigating the association between pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and ovarian cancer risk are few and inconsistent. We investigated the association between PID and the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer according to tumor behavior and histotype. We pooled data from 13 case-control studies, conducted between 1989 and 2009, from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC), including 9,162 women with ovarian cancers, 2,354 women with borderline tumors, and 14,736 control participants. Study-specific odds ratios were estimated and subsequently combined into a pooled odds ratio using a random-effects model. A history of PID was associated with an increased risk of borderline tumors (pooled odds ratio (pOR) = 1.32, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.10, 1.58). Women with at least 2 episodes of PID had a 2-fold increased risk of borderline tumors (pOR = 2.14, 95% CI: 1.08, 4.24). No association was observed between PID and ovarian cancer risk overall (pOR = 0.99, 95% CI: 0.83, 1.19); however, a statistically nonsignificantly increased risk of low-grade serous tumors (pOR = 1.48, 95% CI: 0.92, 2.38) was noted. In conclusion, PID was associated with an increased risk of borderline ovarian tumors, particularly among women who had had multiple episodes of PID. Although our results indicated a histotype-specific association with PID, the association of PID with ovarian cancer risk is still somewhat uncertain and requires further investigation. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Ovarian cancer risk, ALDH2 polymorphism and alcohol drinking: Asian data from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium.

PubMed

Ugai, Tomotaka; Kelemen, Linda E; Mizuno, Mika; Ong, Jue-Sheng; Webb, Penelope M; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Wicklund, Kristine G; Doherty, Jennifer Anne; Rossing, Mary Anne; Thompson, Pamela J; Wilkens, Lynne R; Carney, Michael E; Goodman, Marc T; Schildkraut, Joellen M; Berchuck, Andrew; Cramer, Daniel W; Terry, Kathryn L; Cai, Hui; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Gao, Yu-Tang; Xiang, Yong-Bing; Van Den Berg, David; Pike, Malcom C; Wu, Anna H; Pearce, Celeste Leigh; Matsuo, Keitaro

2018-02-01

The aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) polymorphism rs671 (Glu504Lys) causes ALDH2 inactivation and adverse acetaldehyde exposure among Asians, but little is known of the association between alcohol consumption and rs671 and ovarian cancer (OvCa) in Asians. We conducted a pooled analysis of Asian ancestry participants in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. We included seven case-control studies and one cohort study comprising 460 invasive OvCa cases, 37 borderline mucinous OvCa and 1274 controls of Asian descent with information on recent alcohol consumption. Pooled odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for OvCa risk associated with alcohol consumption, rs671 and their interaction were estimated using logistic regression models adjusted for potential confounders. No significant association was observed for daily alcohol intake with invasive OvCa (OR comparing any consumption to none = 0.83; 95% CI = 0.58-1.18) or with individual histotypes. A significant decreased risk was seen for carriers of one or both Lys alleles of rs671 for invasive mucinous OvCa (OR = 0.44; 95% CI = 0.20-0.97) and for invasive and borderline mucinous tumors combined (OR = 0.48; 95% CI = 0.26-0.89). No significant interaction was observed between alcohol consumption and rs671 genotypes. In conclusion, self-reported alcohol consumption at the quantities estimated was not associated with OvCa risk among Asians. Because the rs671 Lys allele causes ALDH2 inactivation leading to increased acetaldehyde exposure, the observed inverse genetic association with mucinous ovarian cancer is inferred to mean that alcohol intake may be a risk factor for this histotype. This association will require replication in a larger sample. © 2017 The Authors. Cancer Science published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Japanese Cancer Association.

Correlates of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D: Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers.

PubMed

McCullough, Marjorie L; Weinstein, Stephanie J; Freedman, D Michal; Helzlsouer, Kathy; Flanders, W Dana; Koenig, Karen; Kolonel, Laurence; Laden, Francine; Le Marchand, Loic; Purdue, Mark; Snyder, Kirk; Stevens, Victoria L; Stolzenberg-Solomon, Rachael; Virtamo, Jarmo; Yang, Gong; Yu, Kai; Zheng, Wei; Albanes, Demetrius; Ashby, Jason; Bertrand, Kimberly; Cai, Hui; Chen, Yu; Gallicchio, Lisa; Giovannucci, Edward; Jacobs, Eric J; Hankinson, Susan E; Hartge, Patricia; Hartmuller, Virginia; Harvey, Chinonye; Hayes, Richard B; Horst, Ronald L; Shu, Xiao-Ou

2010-07-01

Low vitamin D status is common globally and is associated with multiple disease outcomes. Understanding the correlates of vitamin D status will help guide clinical practice, research, and interpretation of studies. Correlates of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations measured in a single laboratory were examined in 4,723 cancer-free men and women from 10 cohorts participating in the Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers, which covers a worldwide geographic area. Demographic and lifestyle characteristics were examined in relation to 25(OH)D using stepwise linear regression and polytomous logistic regression. The prevalence of 25(OH)D concentrations less than 25 nmol/L ranged from 3% to 36% across cohorts, and the prevalence of 25(OH)D concentrations less than 50 nmol/L ranged from 29% to 82%. Seasonal differences in circulating 25(OH)D were most marked among whites from northern latitudes. Statistically significant positive correlates of 25(OH)D included male sex, summer blood draw, vigorous physical activity, vitamin D intake, fish intake, multivitamin use, and calcium supplement use. Significant inverse correlates were body mass index, winter and spring blood draw, history of diabetes, sedentary behavior, smoking, and black race/ethnicity. Correlates varied somewhat within season, race/ethnicity, and sex. These findings help identify persons at risk for low vitamin D status for both clinical and research purposes.

Alcohol and cigarette consumption predict mortality in patients with head and neck cancer: a pooled analysis within the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) Consortium

PubMed Central

Giraldi, L; Leoncini, E; Pastorino, R; Wünsch-Filho, V; de Carvalho, M; Lopez, R; Cadoni, G; Arzani, D; Petrelli, L; Bosetti, C; La Vecchia, C; Garavello, W; Polesel, J; Serraino, D; Simonato, L; Canova, C; Richiardi, L; Boffetta, P; Hashibe, M; Lee, Y C A; Boccia, S

2017-01-01

Abstract Background This study evaluated whether demographics, pre-diagnosis lifestyle habits and clinical data are associated with the overall survival (OS) and head and neck cancer (HNC)-specific survival in patients with HNC. Patients and methods We conducted a pooled analysis, including 4759 HNC patients from five studies within the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) Consortium. Cox proportional hazard ratios (HRs) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated including terms reported significantly associated with the survival in the univariate analysis. Results Five-year OS was 51.4% for all HNC sites combined: 50.3% for oral cavity, 41.1% for oropharynx, 35.0% for hypopharynx and 63.9% for larynx. When we considered HNC-specific survival, 5-year survival rates were 57.4% for all HNC combined: 54.6% for oral cavity, 45.4% for oropharynx, 37.1% for hypopharynx and 72.3% for larynx. Older ages at diagnosis and advanced tumour staging were unfavourable predictors of OS and HNC-specific survival. In laryngeal cancer, low educational level was an unfavourable prognostic factor for OS (HR = 2.54, 95% CI 1.01–6.38, for high school or lower versus college graduate), and status and intensity of alcohol drinking were prognostic factors both of the OS (current drinkers HR = 1.73, 95% CI 1.16–2.58) and HNC-specific survival (current drinkers HR = 2.11, 95% CI 1.22–3.66). In oropharyngeal cancer, smoking status was an independent prognostic factors for OS. Smoking intensity (>20 cigarettes/day HR = 1.41, 95% CI 1.03–1.92) was also an independent prognostic factor for OS in patients with cancer of the oral cavity. Conclusions OS and HNC-specific survival differ among HNC sites. Pre-diagnosis cigarette smoking is a prognostic factor of the OS for patients with cancer of the oral cavity and oropharynx, whereas pre-diagnosis alcohol drinking is a prognostic factor of OS and HNC-specific survival for patients with cancer of the larynx. Low educational level is an unfavourable prognostic factor for OS in laryngeal cancer patients. PMID:28945835

NASA Systems Engineering Research Consortium: Defining the Path to Elegance in Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watson, Michael D.; Farrington, Phillip A.

2016-01-01

The NASA Systems Engineering Research Consortium was formed at the end of 2010 to study the approaches to producing elegant systems on a consistent basis. This has been a transformative study looking at the engineering and organizational basis of systems engineering. The consortium has engaged in a variety of research topics to determine the path to elegant systems. In the second year of the consortium, a systems engineering framework emerged which structured the approach to systems engineering and guided our research. This led in the third year to set of systems engineering postulates that the consortium is continuing to refine. The consortium has conducted several research projects that have contributed significantly to the understanding of systems engineering. The consortium has surveyed the application of the NASA 17 systems engineering processes, explored the physics and statistics of systems integration, and considered organizational aspects of systems engineering discipline integration. The systems integration methods have included system exergy analysis, Akaike Information Criteria (AIC), State Variable Analysis, Multidisciplinary Coupling Analysis (MCA), Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO), System Cost Modelling, System Robustness, and Value Modelling. Organizational studies have included the variability of processes in change evaluations, margin management within the organization, information theory of board structures, social categorization of unintended consequences, and initial looks at applying cognitive science to systems engineering. Consortium members have also studied the bidirectional influence of policy and law with systems engineering.

NASA Systems Engineering Research Consortium: Defining the Path to Elegance in Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watson, Michael D.; Farrington, Phillip A.

2016-01-01

The NASA Systems Engineering Research Consortium was formed at the end of 2010 to study the approaches to producing elegant systems on a consistent basis. This has been a transformative study looking at the engineering and organizational basis of systems engineering. The consortium has engaged in a variety of research topics to determine the path to elegant systems. In the second year of the consortium, a systems engineering framework emerged which structured the approach to systems engineering and guided our research. This led in the third year to set of systems engineering postulates that the consortium is continuing to refine. The consortium has conducted several research projects that have contributed significantly to the understanding of systems engineering. The consortium has surveyed the application of the NASA 17 systems engineering processes, explored the physics and statistics of systems integration, and considered organizational aspects of systems engineering discipline integration. The systems integration methods have included system energy analysis, Akaike Information Criteria (AIC), State Variable Analysis, Multidisciplinary Coupling Analysis (MCA), Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO), System Cost Modeling, System Robustness, and Value Modeling. Organizational studies have included the variability of processes in change evaluations, margin management within the organization, information theory of board structures, social categorization of unintended consequences, and initial looks at applying cognitive science to systems engineering. Consortium members have also studied the bidirectional influence of policy and law with systems engineering.

The Activities of the European Consortium on Nuclear Data Development and Analysis for Fusion

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fischer, U., E-mail: ulrich.fischer@kit.edu; Avrigeanu, M.; Avrigeanu, V.

This paper presents an overview of the activities of the European Consortium on Nuclear Data Development and Analysis for Fusion. The Consortium combines available European expertise to provide services for the generation, maintenance, and validation of nuclear data evaluations and data files relevant for ITER, IFMIF and DEMO, as well as codes and software tools required for related nuclear calculations.

Young Adult and Usual Adult Body Mass Index and Multiple Myeloma Risk: A Pooled Analysis in the International Multiple Myeloma Consortium (IMMC).

PubMed

Birmann, Brenda M; Andreotti, Gabriella; De Roos, Anneclaire J; Camp, Nicola J; Chiu, Brian C H; Spinelli, John J; Becker, Nikolaus; Benhaim-Luzon, Véronique; Bhatti, Parveen; Boffetta, Paolo; Brennan, Paul; Brown, Elizabeth E; Cocco, Pierluigi; Costas, Laura; Cozen, Wendy; de Sanjosé, Silvia; Foretová, Lenka; Giles, Graham G; Maynadié, Marc; Moysich, Kirsten; Nieters, Alexandra; Staines, Anthony; Tricot, Guido; Weisenburger, Dennis; Zhang, Yawei; Baris, Dalsu; Purdue, Mark P

2017-06-01

Background: Multiple myeloma risk increases with higher adult body mass index (BMI). Emerging evidence also supports an association of young adult BMI with multiple myeloma. We undertook a pooled analysis of eight case-control studies to further evaluate anthropometric multiple myeloma risk factors, including young adult BMI. Methods: We conducted multivariable logistic regression analysis of usual adult anthropometric measures of 2,318 multiple myeloma cases and 9,609 controls, and of young adult BMI (age 25 or 30 years) for 1,164 cases and 3,629 controls. Results: In the pooled sample, multiple myeloma risk was positively associated with usual adult BMI; risk increased 9% per 5-kg/m 2 increase in BMI [OR, 1.09; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.04-1.14; P = 0.007]. We observed significant heterogeneity by study design ( P = 0.04), noting the BMI-multiple myeloma association only for population-based studies ( P trend = 0.0003). Young adult BMI was also positively associated with multiple myeloma (per 5-kg/m 2 ; OR, 1.2; 95% CI, 1.1-1.3; P = 0.0002). Furthermore, we observed strong evidence of interaction between younger and usual adult BMI ( P interaction <0.0001); we noted statistically significant associations with multiple myeloma for persons overweight (25-<30 kg/m 2 ) or obese (30+ kg/m 2 ) in both younger and usual adulthood (vs. individuals consistently <25 kg/m 2 ), but not for those overweight or obese at only one time period. Conclusions: BMI-associated increases in multiple myeloma risk were highest for individuals who were overweight or obese throughout adulthood. Impact: These findings provide the strongest evidence to date that earlier and later adult BMI may increase multiple myeloma risk and suggest that healthy BMI maintenance throughout life may confer an added benefit of multiple myeloma prevention. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 26(6); 876-85. ©2017 AACR . ©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.

Common germline polymorphisms associated with breast cancer-specific survival.

PubMed

Pirie, Ailith; Guo, Qi; Kraft, Peter; Canisius, Sander; Eccles, Diana M; Rahman, Nazneen; Nevanlinna, Heli; Chen, Constance; Khan, Sofia; Tyrer, Jonathan; Bolla, Manjeet K; Wang, Qin; Dennis, Joe; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Lush, Michael; Dunning, Alison M; Shah, Mitul; Czene, Kamila; Darabi, Hatef; Eriksson, Mikael; Lambrechts, Dieter; Weltens, Caroline; Leunen, Karin; van Ongeval, Chantal; Nordestgaard, Børge G; Nielsen, Sune F; Flyger, Henrik; Rudolph, Anja; Seibold, Petra; Flesch-Janys, Dieter; Blomqvist, Carl; Aittomäki, Kristiina; Fagerholm, Rainer; Muranen, Taru A; Olsen, Janet E; Hallberg, Emily; Vachon, Celine; Knight, Julia A; Glendon, Gord; Mulligan, Anna Marie; Broeks, Annegien; Cornelissen, Sten; Haiman, Christopher A; Henderson, Brian E; Schumacher, Frederick; Le Marchand, Loic; Hopper, John L; Tsimiklis, Helen; Apicella, Carmel; Southey, Melissa C; Cross, Simon S; Reed, Malcolm Wr; Giles, Graham G; Milne, Roger L; McLean, Catriona; Winqvist, Robert; Pylkäs, Katri; Jukkola-Vuorinen, Arja; Grip, Mervi; Hooning, Maartje J; Hollestelle, Antoinette; Martens, John Wm; van den Ouweland, Ans Mw; Marme, Federick; Schneeweiss, Andreas; Yang, Rongxi; Burwinkel, Barbara; Figueroa, Jonine; Chanock, Stephen J; Lissowska, Jolanta; Sawyer, Elinor J; Tomlinson, Ian; Kerin, Michael J; Miller, Nicola; Brenner, Hermann; Butterbach, Katja; Holleczek, Bernd; Kataja, Vesa; Kosma, Veli-Matti; Hartikainen, Jaana M; Li, Jingmei; Brand, Judith S; Humphreys, Keith; Devilee, Peter; Tollenaar, Robert Aem; Seynaeve, Caroline; Radice, Paolo; Peterlongo, Paolo; Manoukian, Siranoush; Ficarazzi, Filomena; Beckmann, Matthias W; Hein, Alexander; Ekici, Arif B; Balleine, Rosemary; Phillips, Kelly-Anne; Benitez, Javier; Zamora, M Pilar; Perez, Jose Ignacio Arias; Menéndez, Primitiva; Jakubowska, Anna; Lubinski, Jan; Gronwald, Jacek; Durda, Katarzyna; Hamann, Ute; Kabisch, Maria; Ulmer, Hans Ulrich; Rüdiger, Thomas; Margolin, Sara; Kristensen, Vessela; Nord, Siljie; Evans, D Gareth; Abraham, Jean; Earl, Helena; Poole, Christopher J; Hiller, Louise; Dunn, Janet A; Bowden, Sarah; Yang, Rose; Campa, Daniele; Diver, W Ryan; Gapstur, Susan M; Gaudet, Mia M; Hankinson, Susan; Hoover, Robert N; Hüsing, Anika; Kaaks, Rudolf; Machiela, Mitchell J; Willett, Walter; Barrdahl, Myrto; Canzian, Federico; Chin, Suet-Feung; Caldas, Carlos; Hunter, David J; Lindstrom, Sara; Garcia-Closas, Montserrat; Couch, Fergus J; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Mannermaa, Arto; Andrulis, Irene L; Hall, Per; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Easton, Douglas F; Bojesen, Stig E; Cox, Angela; Fasching, Peter A; Pharoah, Paul Dp; Schmidt, Marjanka K

2015-04-22

Previous studies have identified common germline variants nominally associated with breast cancer survival. These associations have not been widely replicated in further studies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of previously reported SNPs with breast cancer-specific survival using data from a pooled analysis of eight breast cancer survival genome-wide association studies (GWAS) from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. A literature review was conducted of all previously published associations between common germline variants and three survival outcomes: breast cancer-specific survival, overall survival and disease-free survival. All associations that reached the nominal significance level of P value <0.05 were included. Single nucleotide polymorphisms that had been previously reported as nominally associated with at least one survival outcome were evaluated in the pooled analysis of over 37,000 breast cancer cases for association with breast cancer-specific survival. Previous associations were evaluated using a one-sided test based on the reported direction of effect. Fifty-six variants from 45 previous publications were evaluated in the meta-analysis. Fifty-four of these were evaluated in the full set of 37,954 breast cancer cases with 2,900 events and the two additional variants were evaluated in a reduced sample size of 30,000 samples in order to ensure independence from the previously published studies. Five variants reached nominal significance (P <0.05) in the pooled GWAS data compared to 2.8 expected under the null hypothesis. Seven additional variants were associated (P <0.05) with ER-positive disease. Although no variants reached genome-wide significance (P <5 x 10(-8)), these results suggest that there is some evidence of association between candidate common germline variants and breast cancer prognosis. Larger studies from multinational collaborations are necessary to increase the power to detect associations, between common variants and prognosis, at more stringent significance levels.

Multimodal neuroimaging of male and female brain structure in health and disease across the life span.

PubMed

Jahanshad, Neda; Thompson, Paul M

2017-01-02

Sex differences in brain development and aging are important to identify, as they may help to understand risk factors and outcomes in brain disorders that are more prevalent in one sex compared with the other. Brain imaging techniques have advanced rapidly in recent years, yielding detailed structural and functional maps of the living brain. Even so, studies are often limited in sample size, and inconsistent findings emerge, one example being varying findings regarding sex differences in the size of the corpus callosum. More recently, large-scale neuroimaging consortia such as the Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta Analysis Consortium have formed, pooling together expertise, data, and resources from hundreds of institutions around the world to ensure adequate power and reproducibility. These initiatives are helping us to better understand how brain structure is affected by development, disease, and potential modulators of these effects, including sex. This review highlights some established and disputed sex differences in brain structure across the life span, as well as pitfalls related to interpreting sex differences in health and disease. We also describe sex-related findings from the ENIGMA consortium, and ongoing efforts to better understand sex differences in brain circuitry. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Neuroscience Research Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Neuroscience Research Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Notice of Pre-Application Webinar (RFA-CA-15-021, RFA-CA-15-022, RFA-CA-15-023) | Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research

Cancer.gov

The National Cancer Institute will hold a public pre-application webinar on Friday, December 11 at 12:00 p.m. (EST) for the Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) RFA-CA-15-021 entitled “Proteome Characterization Centers for Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (U24), RFA-CA-15-022 entitled “Proteogenomic Translational Research Centers for Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (U01)”, and RFA-CA-15-023 entitled “Proteogenomic Data Analysis Centers for Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (U24)”.

Benefits of mock oral examinations in a multi-institutional consortium for board certification in general surgery training.

PubMed

Subhas, Gokulakkrishna; Yoo, Stephen; Chang, Yeon-Jeen; Peiper, David; Frikker, Mark J; Bouwman, David L; Silbergleit, Allen; Lloyd, Larry R; Mittal, Vijay K

2009-09-01

The Southeast Michigan Center for Medical Education (SEMCME) is a consortium of teaching hospitals in the Greater Detroit metropolitan area. SEMCME pools its resources for several educational means, including mock oral board examinations. The educational and cost benefits to mock oral examinations on a multi-institutional basis in preparation for the American Board of Surgery (ABS) certifying examination were analyzed. Ten-year multi-institution data from the mock oral examinations were correlated with ABS certifying examination pass rates. Mock oral examination scores were available for 107 of 147 graduates, which included 12 candidates who failed their certifying examination on the first attempt (pass rate = 89%). Four of 31 examinees who had a low score (4.9 or less) in their mock oral exams failed their certifying examination in their first attempt. The cost of running the mock examination was low (approximately $35/resident for 50 residents). When graduates from the last 10 years were surveyed, the majority of respondents believed that the mock oral examination helped in their success and with their preparation for the certifying examination. Thus, the many benefits of administering the examination with the resources of a consortium of hospitals result in the accurate reproduction of real-life testing conditions with reasonable overall costs per resident.

Standardized data sharing in a paediatric oncology research network--a proof-of-concept study.

PubMed

Hochedlinger, Nina; Nitzlnader, Michael; Falgenhauer, Markus; Welte, Stefan; Hayn, Dieter; Koumakis, Lefteris; Potamias, George; Tsiknakis, Manolis; Saraceno, Davide; Rinaldi, Eugenia; Ladenstein, Ruth; Schreier, Günter

2015-01-01

Data that has been collected in the course of clinical trials are potentially valuable for additional scientific research questions in so called secondary use scenarios. This is of particular importance in rare disease areas like paediatric oncology. If data from several research projects need to be connected, so called Core Datasets can be used to define which information needs to be extracted from every involved source system. In this work, the utility of the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) Operational Data Model (ODM) as a format for Core Datasets was evaluated and a web tool was developed which received Source ODM XML files and--via Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT)--generated standardized Core Dataset ODM XML files. Using this tool, data from different source systems were extracted and pooled for joined analysis in a proof-of-concept study, facilitating both, basic syntactic and semantic interoperability.

Voxel-based morphometric multisite collaborative study on schizophrenia.

PubMed

Segall, Judith M; Turner, Jessica A; van Erp, Theo G M; White, Tonya; Bockholt, H Jeremy; Gollub, Randy L; Ho, Beng C; Magnotta, Vince; Jung, Rex E; McCarley, Robert W; Schulz, S Charles; Lauriello, John; Clark, Vince P; Voyvodic, James T; Diaz, Michele T; Calhoun, Vince D

2009-01-01

Regional gray matter (GM) abnormalities are well known to exist in patients with chronic schizophrenia. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) has been previously used on structural magnetic resonance images (MRI) data to characterize these abnormalities. Two multisite schizophrenia studies, the Functional Biomedical Informatics Research Network and the Mind Clinical Imaging Consortium, which include 9 data collection sites, are evaluating the efficacy of pooling structural imaging data across imaging centers. Such a pooling of data could yield the increased statistical power needed to elucidate effects that may not be seen with smaller samples. VBM analyses were performed to evaluate the consistency of patient versus control gray matter concentration (GMC) differences across the study sites, as well as the effects of combining multisite data. Integration of data from both studies yielded a large sample of 503 subjects, including 266 controls and 237 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizoaffective or schizophreniform disorder. The data were analyzed using the combined sample, as well as analyzing each of the 2 multisite studies separately. A consistent pattern of reduced relative GMC in schizophrenia patients compared with controls was found across all study sites. Imaging center-specific effects were evaluated using a region of interest analysis. Overall, the findings support the use of VBM in combined multisite studies. This analysis of schizophrenics and controls from around the United States provides continued supporting evidence for GM deficits in the temporal lobes, anterior cingulate, and frontal regions in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Completed | Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research

Cancer.gov

Prior to the current Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC), previously funded initiatives associated with clinical proteomics research included: Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC 2.0) Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer Initiative (CPTC) Mouse Proteomic Technologies Initiative

Pooled analysis of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy for primary renal cell carcinoma: A report from the International Radiosurgery Oncology Consortium for Kidney (IROCK).

PubMed

Siva, Shankar; Louie, Alexander V; Warner, Andrew; Muacevic, Alexander; Gandhidasan, Senthilkumar; Ponsky, Lee; Ellis, Rodney; Kaplan, Irving; Mahadevan, Anand; Chu, William; Swaminath, Anand; Onishi, Hiroshi; Teh, Bin; Correa, Rohann J; Lo, Simon S; Staehler, Michael

2018-03-01

Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) is an emerging therapy for primary renal cell carcinoma. The authors assessed safety, efficacy, and survival in a multi-institutional setting. Outcomes between single-fraction and multifraction SABR were compared. Individual patient data sets from 9 International Radiosurgery Oncology Consortium for Kidney institutions across Germany, Australia, the United States, Canada, and Japan were pooled. Toxicities were recorded using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 4.0. Patient, tumor, and treatment characteristics were stratified according to the number of radiotherapy fractions (single vs multiple). Survival outcomes were examined using Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox proportional-hazards regression. Of 223 patients, 118 received single-fraction SABR, and 105 received multifraction SABR. The mean patient age was 72 years, and 69.5% of patients were men. There were 83 patients with grade 1 and 2 toxicity (35.6%) and 3 with grade 3 and 4 toxicities (1.3%). The rates of local control, cancer-specific survival, and progression-free survival were 97.8%, 95.7%, and 77.4%, respectively, at 2 years; and they were 97.8%, 91.9%, and 65.4%, respectively, at 4 years. On multivariable analysis, tumors with a larger maximum dimension and the receipt of multifraction SABR were associated with poorer progression-free survival (hazard ratio, 1.16 [P < .01] and 1.13 [P = .02], respectively) and poorer cancer-specific survival (hazard ratio, 1.28 [P < .01] and 1.33 [P = .01], respectively). There were no differences in local failure between the single-fraction cohort (n = 1) and the multifraction cohort (n = 2; P = .60). The mean ( ± standard deviation) estimated glomerular filtration rate at baseline was 59.9 ± 21.9 mL per minute, and it decreased by 5.5 ± 13.3 mL per minute (P < .01). SABR is well tolerated and locally effective for treating patients who have primary renal cell carcinoma and has an acceptable impact on renal function. An interesting observation is that patients who receive single-fraction SABR appear to be less likely to progress distantly or to die of cancer. Cancer 2018;124:934-42. © 2017 American Cancer Society. © 2017 American Cancer Society.

Metagenomic Analysis of a Biphenyl-Degrading Soil Bacterial Consortium Reveals the Metabolic Roles of Specific Populations

PubMed Central

Garrido-Sanz, Daniel; Manzano, Javier; Martín, Marta; Redondo-Nieto, Miguel; Rivilla, Rafael

2018-01-01

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are widespread persistent pollutants that cause several adverse health effects. Aerobic bioremediation of PCBs involves the activity of either one bacterial species or a microbial consortium. Using multiple species will enhance the range of PCB congeners co-metabolized since different PCB-degrading microorganisms exhibit different substrate specificity. We have isolated a bacterial consortium by successive enrichment culture using biphenyl (analog of PCBs) as the sole carbon and energy source. This consortium is able to grow on biphenyl, benzoate, and protocatechuate. Whole-community DNA extracted from the consortium was used to analyze biodiversity by Illumina sequencing of a 16S rRNA gene amplicon library and to determine the metagenome by whole-genome shotgun Illumina sequencing. Biodiversity analysis shows that the consortium consists of 24 operational taxonomic units (≥97% identity). The consortium is dominated by strains belonging to the genus Pseudomonas, but also contains betaproteobacteria and Rhodococcus strains. whole-genome shotgun (WGS) analysis resulted in contigs containing 78.3 Mbp of sequenced DNA, representing around 65% of the expected DNA in the consortium. Bioinformatic analysis of this metagenome has identified the genes encoding the enzymes implicated in three pathways for the conversion of biphenyl to benzoate and five pathways from benzoate to tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates, allowing us to model the whole biodegradation network. By genus assignment of coding sequences, we have also been able to determine that the three biphenyl to benzoate pathways are carried out by Rhodococcus strains. In turn, strains belonging to Pseudomonas and Bordetella are the main responsible of three of the benzoate to TCA pathways while the benzoate conversion into TCA cycle intermediates via benzoyl-CoA and the catechol meta-cleavage pathways are carried out by beta proteobacteria belonging to genera such as Achromobacter and Variovorax. We have isolated a Rhodococcus strain WAY2 from the consortium which contains the genes encoding the three biphenyl to benzoate pathways indicating that this strain is responsible for all the biphenyl to benzoate transformations. The presented results show that metagenomic analysis of consortia allows the identification of bacteria active in biodegradation processes and the assignment of specific reactions and pathways to specific bacterial groups. PMID:29497412

An exome-wide analysis of low frequency and rare variants in relation to risk of breast cancer in African American Women: the AMBER Consortium

PubMed Central

Haddad, Stephen A.; Ruiz-Narváez, Edward A.; Haiman, Christopher A.; Sucheston-Campbell, Lara E.; Bensen, Jeannette T.; Zhu, Qianqian; Liu, Song; Yao, Song; Bandera, Elisa V.; Rosenberg, Lynn; Olshan, Andrew F.; Ambrosone, Christine B.; Palmer, Julie R.; Lunetta, Kathryn L.

2016-01-01

A large percentage of breast cancer heritability remains unaccounted for, and most of the known susceptibility loci have been established in European and Asian populations. Rare variants may contribute to the unexplained heritability of this disease, including in women of African ancestry (AA). We conducted an exome-wide analysis of rare variants in relation to risk of overall and subtype-specific breast cancer in the African American Breast Cancer Epidemiology and Risk (AMBER) Consortium, which includes data from four large studies of AA women. Genotyping on the Illumina Human Exome Beadchip yielded data for 170 812 SNPs and 8287 subjects: 3629 cases (1093 estrogen receptor negative (ER−), 1968 ER+, 568 ER unknown) and 4658 controls, the largest exome chip study to date for AA breast cancer. Pooled gene-based association analyses were performed using the unified optimal sequence kernel association test (SKAT-O) for variants with minor allele frequency (MAF) ≤ 5%. In addition, each variant with MAF >0.5% was tested for association using logistic regression. There were no significant associations with overall breast cancer. However, a novel gene, FBXL22 (P = 8.2×10–6), and a gene previously identified in GWAS of European ancestry populations, PDE4D (P = 1.2×10–6), were significantly associated with ER− breast cancer after correction for multiple testing. Cases with the associated rare variants were also negative for progesterone and human epidermal growth factor receptors—thus, triple-negative cancer. Replication is required to confirm these gene-level associations, which are based on very small counts at extremely rare SNPs. PMID:27267999

E-cadherin breast tumor expression, risk factors and survival: Pooled analysis of 5,933 cases from 12 studies in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium.

PubMed

Horne, Hisani N; Oh, Hannah; Sherman, Mark E; Palakal, Maya; Hewitt, Stephen M; Schmidt, Marjanka K; Milne, Roger L; Hardisson, David; Benitez, Javier; Blomqvist, Carl; Bolla, Manjeet K; Brenner, Hermann; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Cora, Renata; Couch, Fergus J; Cuk, Katarina; Devilee, Peter; Easton, Douglas F; Eccles, Diana M; Eilber, Ursula; Hartikainen, Jaana M; Heikkilä, Päivi; Holleczek, Bernd; Hooning, Maartje J; Jones, Michael; Keeman, Renske; Mannermaa, Arto; Martens, John W M; Muranen, Taru A; Nevanlinna, Heli; Olson, Janet E; Orr, Nick; Perez, Jose I A; Pharoah, Paul D P; Ruddy, Kathryn J; Saum, Kai-Uwe; Schoemaker, Minouk J; Seynaeve, Caroline; Sironen, Reijo; Smit, Vincent T H B M; Swerdlow, Anthony J; Tengström, Maria; Thomas, Abigail S; Timmermans, A Mieke; Tollenaar, Rob A E M; Troester, Melissa A; van Asperen, Christi J; van Deurzen, Carolien H M; Van Leeuwen, Flora F; Van't Veer, Laura J; García-Closas, Montserrat; Figueroa, Jonine D

2018-04-26

E-cadherin (CDH1) is a putative tumor suppressor gene implicated in breast carcinogenesis. Yet, whether risk factors or survival differ by E-cadherin tumor expression is unclear. We evaluated E-cadherin tumor immunohistochemistry expression using tissue microarrays of 5,933 female invasive breast cancers from 12 studies from the Breast Cancer Consortium. H-scores were calculated and case-case odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using logistic regression. Survival analyses were performed using Cox regression models. All analyses were stratified by estrogen receptor (ER) status and histologic subtype. E-cadherin low cases (N = 1191, 20%) were more frequently of lobular histology, low grade, >2 cm, and HER2-negative. Loss of E-cadherin expression (score < 100) was associated with menopausal hormone use among ER-positive tumors (ever compared to never users, OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 0.97-1.59), which was stronger when we evaluated complete loss of E-cadherin (i.e. H-score = 0), OR = 1.57, 95% CI = 1.06-2.33. Breast cancer specific mortality was unrelated to E-cadherin expression in multivariable models. E-cadherin low expression is associated with lobular histology, tumor characteristics and menopausal hormone use, with no evidence of an association with breast cancer specific survival. These data support loss of E-cadherin expression as an important marker of tumor subtypes.

No evidence that GATA3 rs570613 SNP modifies breast cancer risk

PubMed Central

Johnatty, Sharon E.; Couch, Fergus J.; Fredericksen, Zachary; Tarrell, Robert; Spurdle, Amanda B.; Beesley, Jonathan; Chen, Xiaoqing; Gschwantler-Kaulich, Daphne; Singer, Christian F.; Fuerhauser, Christine; Fink-Retter, Anneliese; Domchek, Susan M.; Nathanson, Katherine L.; Pankratz, Vernon S.; Lindor, Noralane M.; Godwin, Andrew K.; Caligo, Maria A.; Hopper, John; Southey, Melissa C.; Giles, Graham G.; Justenhoven, Christina; Brauch, Hiltrud; Hamann, Ute; Ko, Yon-Dschun; Heikkinen, Tuomas; Aaltonen, Kirsimari; Aittomäki, Kristiina; Blomqvist, Carl; Nevanlinna, Heli; Hall, Per; Czene, Kamila; Liu, Jianjun; Peock, Susan; Cook, Margaret; Platte, Radka; Evans, D. Gareth; Lalloo, Fiona; Eeles, Rosalind; Pichert, Gabriella; Eccles, Diana; Davidson, Rosemarie; Cole, Trevor; Cook, Jackie; Douglas, Fiona; Chu, Carol; Hodgson, Shirley; Paterson, Joan; Hogervorst, Frans B.L.; Rookus, Matti A.; Seynaeve, Caroline; Wijnen, Juul; Vreeswijk, Maaike; Ligtenberg, Marjolijn; Luijt, Rob B. van der; van Os, Theo A.M.; Gille, Hans J.P.; Blok, Marinus J.; Issacs, Claudine; Humphreys, Manjeet K.; McGuffog, Lesley; Healey, Sue; Sinilnikova, Olga; Antoniou, Antonis C.; Easton, Douglas F.; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia

2009-01-01

GATA-binding protein 3 (GATA3) is a transcription factor that is crucial to mammary gland morphogenesis and differentiation of progenitor cells, and has been suggested to have a tumor suppressor function. The rs570613 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in intron 4 of GATA3 was previously found to be associated with a reduction in breast cancer risk in the Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility project and in pooled analysis of two case-control studies from Norway and Poland (Ptrend =0.004), with some evidence for a stronger association with estrogen receptor (ER) negative tumours [1]. We genotyped GATA3 rs570613 in 6,388 cases and 4,995 controls from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) and 5,617 BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers from the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA). We found no association between this SNP and breast cancer risk in BCAC cases overall (ORper-allele = 1.00, 95% CI 0.94 − 1.05), in ER negative BCAC cases (ORper-allele = 1.02, 95% CI 0.91−1.13), in BRCA1 mutation carriers RRper-allele = 0.99, 95% CI 0.90−1.09) or BRCA2 mutation carriers (RRper-allele = 0.93, 95% CI 0.80−1.07). We conclude that there is no evidence that either GATA3 rs570613, or any variant in strong linkage disequilibrium with it, is associated with breast cancer risk in women. PMID:19082709

Spatial and temporal dynamics of organohalide-respiring bacteria in a heterogeneous PCE-DNAPL source zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cápiro, Natalie L.; Löffler, Frank E.; Pennell, Kurt D.

2015-11-01

Effective treatment of sites contaminated with dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) requires detailed understanding of the microbial community responses to changes in source zone strength and architecture. Changes in the spatial and temporal distributions of the organohalide-respiring Dehalococcoides mccartyi (Dhc) strains and Geobacter lovleyi strain SZ (GeoSZ) were examined in a heterogeneous tetrachloroethene- (PCE-) DNAPL source zone within a two-dimensional laboratory-scale aquifer flow cell. As part of a combined remedy approach, flushing with 2.3 pore volumes (PVs) of 4% (w/w) solution of the nonionic, biodegradable surfactant Tween® 80 removed 55% of the initial contaminant mass, and resulted in a PCE-DNAPL distribution that contained 51% discrete ganglia and 49% pools (ganglia-to-pool ratio of 1.06). Subsequent bioaugmentation with the PCE-to-ethene-dechlorinating consortium BDI-SZ resulted in cis-1,2-dichloroethene (cis-DCE) formation after 1 PV (ca. 7 days), while vinyl chloride (VC) and ethene were detected 10 PVs after bioaugmentation. Maximum ethene yields (ca. 90 μM) within DNAPL pool and ganglia regions coincided with the detection of the vcrA reductive dehalogenase (RDase) gene that exceeded the Dhc 16S rRNA genes by 2.0 ± 1.3 and 4.0 ± 1.7 fold in the pool and ganglia regions, respectively. Dhc and GeoSZ cell abundance increased by up to 4 orders-of-magnitude after 28 PVs of steady-state operation, with 1 to 2 orders-of-magnitude increases observed in close proximity to residual PCE-DNAPL. These observations suggest the involvement of these dechlorinators the in observed PCE dissolution enhancements of up to 2.3 and 6.0-fold within pool and ganglia regions, respectively. Analysis of the solid and aqueous samples at the conclusion of the experiment revealed that the highest VC (≥ 155 μM) and ethene (≥ 65 μM) concentrations were measured in zones where Dhc and GeoSZ were predominately attached to the solids. These findings demonstrate dynamic responses of organohalide-respiring bacteria in a heterogeneous DNAPL source zone, and emphasize the influence of source zone architecture on bioremediation performance.

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, body mass index and cytokine polymorphisms: a pooled analysis from the InterLymph consortium

PubMed Central

Kane, Eleanor; Skibola, Christine F.; Bracci, Paige M.; Cerhan, James R.; Costas, Laura; Smedby, Karin Ekström; Holly, Elizabeth A.; Maynadié, Marc; Novak, Anne J.; Lightfoot, Tracy J.; Ansell, Stephen M.; Smith, Alex G.; Liebow, Mark; Melbye, Mads; Morton, Lindsay; de Sanjosé, Silvia; Slager, Susan L.; Wang, Sophia S.; Zhang, Yawei; Zheng, Tongzhang; Roman, Eve

2015-01-01

Background Excess adiposity has been associated with lymphomagenesis, possibly mediated by increased cytokine production causing a chronic inflammatory state. The relationship between obesity, cytokine polymorphisms and selected mature B-cell neoplasms is reported. Method Data on 4979 cases and 4752 controls from nine American/European studies from the InterLymph consortium (1988–2008) were pooled. For diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), follicular lymphoma (FL) and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL), joint associations of body mass index (from self-reported height and weight) and 12 polymorphisms in cytokines IL1A (rs1800587), IL1B (rs16944, rs1143627), IL1RN (rs454078), IL2 (rs2069762), IL6 (rs1800795, rs1800797), IL10 (rs1800890, rs1800896), TNF (rs1800629), LTA (rs909253), and CARD15 (rs2066847) were investigated using unconditional logistic regression. BMI-polymorphism interaction effects were estimated using the relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI). Results Obesity (BMI≥30kg m−2) was associated with DLBCL risk (OR=1.33, 95%CI 1.02–1.73), as was TNF-308GA+AA (OR=1.24, 95%CI 1.07–1.44). Together, being obese and TNF-308GA+AA increased DLBCL risk almost two-fold relative to those of normal weight and TNF-308GG (OR=1.93 95%CI 1.27–2.94), with a RERI of 0.41 (95%CI −0.05,0.84, P(interaction)=0.13). For FL and CLL/SLL, no associations with obesity or TNF-308GA+AA, either singly or jointly, were observed. No evidence of interactions between obesity and the other polymorphisms were detected. Conclusions Our results suggest that cytokine polymorphisms do not generally interact with BMI to increase lymphoma risk but obesity and TNF-308GA+AA may interact to increase DLBCL risk. Impact Studies using better measures of adiposity are needed to further investigate the interactions between obesity and TNF-308G>A in the pathogenesis of lymphoma. PMID:25962811

New Technology Changing The Face of Mobile Seismic Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brisbourne, A.; Denton, P.; Seis-Uk

SEIS-UK, a seismic equipment pool and data management facility run by a consortium of four UK universities (Leicester, Leeds, Cambridge and Royal Holloway, London) completed its second phase in 2001. To compliment the existing broadband equipment pool, which has been deployed to full capacity to date, the consortium undertook a tender evaluation process for low-power, lightweight sensors and recorders, for use on both controlled source and passive seismic experiments. The preferred option, selected by the consortium, was the Guralp CMG-6TD system, with 150 systems ordered. The CMG-6TD system is a new concept in temporary seismic equipment. A 30s- 100Hz force-feedback sensor, integral 24bit digitiser and 3-4Gbyte of solid-state memory are all housed in a single unit. Use of the most recent technologies has kept the power consumption to below 1W and the weight to 3.5Kg per unit. The concept of the disk-swap procedure for obtaining data from the field has been usurped by a fast data download technique using firewire technology. This allows for rapid station servicing, essential when 150 stations are in use, and also ensures the environmental integrity of the system by removing the requirement for a disk access port and envi- ronmentally exposed data disk. The system therefore meets the criteria for controlled source and passive seismic experiments: (1) the single unit concept and low-weight is designed for rapid deployment on short-term projects; (2) the low power consumption reduces the power-supply requirements facilitating deployment; (3) the low self-noise and bandwidth of the sensor make it applicable to passive experiments involving nat- ural sources. Further to this acquisition process, in collaboration with external groups, the SEIS- UK data management procedures have been streamlined with the integration of the Guralp GCF format data into the PASSCAL PDB software. This allows for rapid dissemination of field data and the production of archive-ready datasets, reducing the time between field recording and data archive. The archiving procedure for SEIS- UK datasets has been established, with data from experiments carried out with the broadband equipment already on the permanent continuous data archive at IRIS DMC.

An Analysis of the Processes of Developing a Consortium.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sagan, Edgar L.

This report provides some basic guidelines for planning and establishing a consortium. Systems analysis was used to study 5 consortia, determine their objectives, identify applicable system variables, and ascertain the contribution each variable must make to achieve organizational objectives. The consortia were the Central States College…

Multi-site study of additive genetic effects on fractional anisotropy of cerebral white matter: Comparing meta and megaanalytical approaches for data pooling.

PubMed

Kochunov, Peter; Jahanshad, Neda; Sprooten, Emma; Nichols, Thomas E; Mandl, René C; Almasy, Laura; Booth, Tom; Brouwer, Rachel M; Curran, Joanne E; de Zubicaray, Greig I; Dimitrova, Rali; Duggirala, Ravi; Fox, Peter T; Hong, L Elliot; Landman, Bennett A; Lemaitre, Hervé; Lopez, Lorna M; Martin, Nicholas G; McMahon, Katie L; Mitchell, Braxton D; Olvera, Rene L; Peterson, Charles P; Starr, John M; Sussmann, Jessika E; Toga, Arthur W; Wardlaw, Joanna M; Wright, Margaret J; Wright, Susan N; Bastin, Mark E; McIntosh, Andrew M; Boomsma, Dorret I; Kahn, René S; den Braber, Anouk; de Geus, Eco J C; Deary, Ian J; Hulshoff Pol, Hilleke E; Williamson, Douglas E; Blangero, John; van 't Ent, Dennis; Thompson, Paul M; Glahn, David C

2014-07-15

Combining datasets across independent studies can boost statistical power by increasing the numbers of observations and can achieve more accurate estimates of effect sizes. This is especially important for genetic studies where a large number of observations are required to obtain sufficient power to detect and replicate genetic effects. There is a need to develop and evaluate methods for joint-analytical analyses of rich datasets collected in imaging genetics studies. The ENIGMA-DTI consortium is developing and evaluating approaches for obtaining pooled estimates of heritability through meta-and mega-genetic analytical approaches, to estimate the general additive genetic contributions to the intersubject variance in fractional anisotropy (FA) measured from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). We used the ENIGMA-DTI data harmonization protocol for uniform processing of DTI data from multiple sites. We evaluated this protocol in five family-based cohorts providing data from a total of 2248 children and adults (ages: 9-85) collected with various imaging protocols. We used the imaging genetics analysis tool, SOLAR-Eclipse, to combine twin and family data from Dutch, Australian and Mexican-American cohorts into one large "mega-family". We showed that heritability estimates may vary from one cohort to another. We used two meta-analytical (the sample-size and standard-error weighted) approaches and a mega-genetic analysis to calculate heritability estimates across-population. We performed leave-one-out analysis of the joint estimates of heritability, removing a different cohort each time to understand the estimate variability. Overall, meta- and mega-genetic analyses of heritability produced robust estimates of heritability. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

ENIGMA and the individual: Predicting factors that affect the brain in 35 countries worldwide☆☆☆★

PubMed Central

Thompson, Paul M.; Andreassen, Ole A.; Arias-Vasquez, Alejandro; Bearden, Carrie E.; Boedhoe, Premika S.; Brouwer, Rachel M.; Buckner, Randy L.; Buitelaar, Jan K.; Bulayeva, Kazima B.; Cannon, Dara M.; Cohen, Ronald A.; Conrod, Patricia J.; Dale, Anders M.; Deary, Ian J.; Dennis, Emily L.; de Reus, Marcel A.; Desrivieres, Sylvane; Dima, Danai; Donohoe, Gary; Fisher, Simon E.; Fouche, Jean-Paul; Francks, Clyde; Frangou, Sophia; Franke, Barbara; Ganjgahi, Habib; Garavan, Hugh; Glahn, David C.; Grabe, Hans J.; Guadalupe, Tulio; Gutman, Boris A.; Hashimoto, Ryota; Hibar, Derrek P.; Holland, Dominic; Hoogman, Martine; Pol, Hilleke E. Hulshoff; Hosten, Norbert; Jahanshad, Neda; Kelly, Sinead; Kochunov, Peter; Kremen, William S.; Lee, Phil H.; Mackey, Scott; Martin, Nicholas G.; Mazoyer, Bernard; McDonald, Colm; Medland, Sarah E.; Morey, Rajendra A.; Nichols, Thomas E.; Paus, Tomas; Pausova, Zdenka; Schmaal, Lianne; Schumann, Gunter; Shen, Li; Sisodiya, Sanjay M.; Smit, Dirk J.A.; Smoller, Jordan W.; Stein, Dan J.; Stein, Jason L.; Toro, Roberto; Turner, Jessica A.; van den Heuvel, Martijn P.; van den Heuvel, Odile L.; van Erp, Theo G.M.; van Rooij, Daan; Veltman, Dick J.; Walter, Henrik; Wang, Yalin; Wardlaw, Joanna M.; Whelan, Christopher D.; Wright, Margaret J.; Ye, Jieping

2016-01-01

In this review, we discuss recent work by the ENIGMA Consortium (http://enigma.ini.usc.edu) – a global alliance of over 500 scientists spread across 200 institutions in 35 countries collectively analyzing brain imaging, clinical, and genetic data. Initially formed to detect genetic influences on brain measures, ENIGMA has grown to over 30 working groups studying 12 major brain diseases by pooling and comparing brain data. In some of the largest neuroimaging studies to date – of schizophrenia and major depression – ENIGMA has found replicable disease effects on the brain that are consistent worldwide, as well as factors that modulate disease effects. In partnership with other consortia including ADNI, CHARGE, IMAGEN and others1, ENIGMA's genomic screens – now numbering over 30,000 MRI scans – have revealed at least 8 genetic loci that affect brain volumes. Downstream of gene findings, ENIGMA has revealed how these individual variants – and genetic variants in general – may affect both the brain and risk for a range of diseases. The ENIGMA consortium is discovering factors that consistently affect brain structure and function that will serve as future predictors linking individual brain scans and genomic data. It is generating vast pools of normative data on brain measures – from tens of thousands of people – that may help detect deviations from normal development or aging in specific groups of subjects. We discuss challenges and opportunities in applying these predictors to individual subjects and new cohorts, as well as lessons we have learned in ENIGMA's efforts so far. PMID:26658930

Parental occupational pesticide exposure and the risk of childhood leukemia in the offspring: Findings from the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium

PubMed Central

Bailey, Helen D; Fritschi, Lin; Infante-Rivard, Claire; Glass, Deborah C; Miligi, Lucia; Dockerty, John D; Lightfoot, Tracy; Clavel, Jacqueline; Roman, Eve; Spector, Logan G; Kaatsch, Peter; Metayer, Catherine; Magnani, Corrado; Milne, Elizabeth; Polychronopoulou, Sophia; Simpson, Jill; Rudant, Jérémie; Sidi, Vasiliki; Rondelli, Roberto; Orsi, Laurent; Kang, Alice; Petridou, Eleni; Schüz, Joachim

2014-01-01

Maternal occupational pesticide exposure during pregnancy and/or paternal occupational pesticide exposure around conception have been suggested to increase risk of leukemia in the offspring. With a view to providing insight in this area we pooled individual level data from 13 case-control studies participating in the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium (CLIC). Occupational data were harmonized to a compatible format. Pooled individual analyses were undertaken using unconditional logistic regression. Using exposure data from mothers of 8,236 cases, and 14,850 controls, and from fathers of 8,169 cases and 14,201 controls the odds ratio (OR) for maternal exposure during pregnancy and the risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was 1.01 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.78, 1.30) and for paternal exposure around conception 1.20 (95% 1.06, 1.38). For acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the OR for maternal exposure during pregnancy was 1.94 (CI 1.19, 3.18) and for paternal exposure around conception 0.91 (CI 0.66, 1.24.) based on data from 1,329 case and 12,141 control mothers, and 1,231 case and 11,383 control fathers. Our finding of a significantly increased risk of AML in the offspring with maternal exposure to pesticides during pregnancy is consistent with previous reports. We also found a slight increase in risk of ALL with paternal exposure around conception which appeared to be more evident in children diagnosed at the age of five years or more and those with T cell ALL which raises interesting questions on possible mechanisms. PMID:24700406

Associations between unprocessed red and processed meat, poultry, seafood and egg intake and the risk of prostate cancer: A pooled analysis of 15 prospective cohort studies.

PubMed

Wu, Kana; Spiegelman, Donna; Hou, Tao; Albanes, Demetrius; Allen, Naomi E; Berndt, Sonja I; van den Brandt, Piet A; Giles, Graham G; Giovannucci, Edward; Alexandra Goldbohm, R; Goodman, Gary G; Goodman, Phyllis J; Håkansson, Niclas; Inoue, Manami; Key, Timothy J; Kolonel, Laurence N; Männistö, Satu; McCullough, Marjorie L; Neuhouser, Marian L; Park, Yikyung; Platz, Elizabeth A; Schenk, Jeannette M; Sinha, Rashmi; Stampfer, Meir J; Stevens, Victoria L; Tsugane, Shoichiro; Visvanathan, Kala; Wilkens, Lynne R; Wolk, Alicja; Ziegler, Regina G; Smith-Warner, Stephanie A

2016-05-15

Reports relating meat intake to prostate cancer risk are inconsistent. Associations between these dietary factors and prostate cancer were examined in a consortium of 15 cohort studies. During follow-up, 52,683 incident prostate cancer cases, including 4,924 advanced cases, were identified among 842,149 men. Cox proportional hazard models were used to calculate study-specific relative risks (RR) and then pooled using random effects models. Results do not support a substantial effect of total red, unprocessed red and processed meat for all prostate cancer outcomes, except for a modest positive association for tumors identified as advanced stage at diagnosis (advanced(r)). For seafood, no substantial effect was observed for prostate cancer regardless of stage or grade. Poultry intake was inversely associated with risk of advanced and fatal cancers (pooled multivariable RR [MVRR], 95% confidence interval, comparing ≥ 45 vs. <5 g/day: advanced 0.83, 0.70-0.99; trend test p value 0.29), fatal, 0.69, 0.59-0.82, trend test p value 0.16). Participants who ate ≥ 25 versus <5 g/day of eggs (1 egg ∼ 50 g) had a significant 14% increased risk of advanced and fatal cancers (advanced 1.14, 1.01-1.28, trend test p value 0.01; fatal 1.14, 1.00-1.30, trend test p value 0.01). When associations were analyzed separately by geographical region (North America vs. other continents), positive associations between unprocessed red meat and egg intake, and inverse associations between poultry intake and advanced, advanced(r) and fatal cancers were limited to North American studies. However, differences were only statistically significant for eggs. Observed differences in associations by geographical region warrant further investigation. © 2015 UICC.

Quality, quantity and harmony: the DataSHaPER approach to integrating data across bioclinical studies

PubMed Central

Fortier, Isabel; Burton, Paul R; Robson, Paula J; Ferretti, Vincent; Little, Julian; L’Heureux, Francois; Deschênes, Mylène; Knoppers, Bartha M; Doiron, Dany; Keers, Joost C; Linksted, Pamela; Harris, Jennifer R; Lachance, Geneviève; Boileau, Catherine; Pedersen, Nancy L; Hamilton, Carol M; Hveem, Kristian; Borugian, Marilyn J; Gallagher, Richard P; McLaughlin, John; Parker, Louise; Potter, John D; Gallacher, John; Kaaks, Rudolf; Liu, Bette; Sprosen, Tim; Vilain, Anne; Atkinson, Susan A; Rengifo, Andrea; Morton, Robin; Metspalu, Andres; Wichmann, H Erich; Tremblay, Mark; Chisholm, Rex L; Garcia-Montero, Andrés; Hillege, Hans; Litton, Jan-Eric; Palmer, Lyle J; Perola, Markus; Wolffenbuttel, Bruce HR; Peltonen, Leena; Hudson, Thomas J

2010-01-01

Background Vast sample sizes are often essential in the quest to disentangle the complex interplay of the genetic, lifestyle, environmental and social factors that determine the aetiology and progression of chronic diseases. The pooling of information between studies is therefore of central importance to contemporary bioscience. However, there are many technical, ethico-legal and scientific challenges to be overcome if an effective, valid, pooled analysis is to be achieved. Perhaps most critically, any data that are to be analysed in this way must be adequately ‘harmonized’. This implies that the collection and recording of information and data must be done in a manner that is sufficiently similar in the different studies to allow valid synthesis to take place. Methods This conceptual article describes the origins, purpose and scientific foundations of the DataSHaPER (DataSchema and Harmonization Platform for Epidemiological Research; http://www.datashaper.org), which has been created by a multidisciplinary consortium of experts that was pulled together and coordinated by three international organizations: P3G (Public Population Project in Genomics), PHOEBE (Promoting Harmonization of Epidemiological Biobanks in Europe) and CPT (Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project). Results The DataSHaPER provides a flexible, structured approach to the harmonization and pooling of information between studies. Its two primary components, the ‘DataSchema’ and ‘Harmonization Platforms’, together support the preparation of effective data-collection protocols and provide a central reference to facilitate harmonization. The DataSHaPER supports both ‘prospective’ and ‘retrospective’ harmonization. Conclusion It is hoped that this article will encourage readers to investigate the project further: the more the research groups and studies are actively involved, the more effective the DataSHaPER programme will ultimately be. PMID:20813861

Circulating 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and Risk of Pancreatic Cancer

PubMed Central

Stolzenberg-Solomon, Rachael Z.; Jacobs, Eric J.; Arslan, Alan A.; Qi, Dai; Patel, Alpa V.; Helzlsouer, Kathy J.; Weinstein, Stephanie J.; McCullough, Marjorie L.; Purdue, Mark P.; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Snyder, Kirk; Virtamo, Jarmo; Wilkins, Lynn R.; Yu, Kai; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Anne; Zheng, Wei; Albanes, Demetrius; Cai, Qiuyin; Harvey, Chinonye; Hayes, Richard; Clipp, Sandra; Horst, Ronald L.; Irish, Lonn; Koenig, Karen; Le Marchand, Loic; Kolonel, Laurence N.

2010-01-01

Results from epidemiologic studies examining pancreatic cancer risk and vitamin D intake or 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations (the best indicator of vitamin D derived from diet and sun) have been inconsistent. Therefore, the authors conducted a pooled nested case-control study of participants from 8 cohorts within the Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers (VDPP) (1974–2006) to evaluate whether prediagnostic circulating 25(OH)D concentrations were associated with the development of pancreatic cancer. In total, 952 incident pancreatic adenocarcinoma cases occurred among participants (median follow-up, 6.5 years). Controls (n = 1,333) were matched to each case by cohort, age, sex, race/ethnicity, date of blood draw, and follow-up time. Conditional logistic regression analysis was used to calculate smoking-, body mass index-, and diabetes-adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for pancreatic cancer. Clinically relevant 25(OH)D cutpoints were compared with a referent category of 50–<75 nmol/L. No significant associations were observed for participants with lower 25(OH)D status. However, a high 25(OH)D concentration (≥100 nmol/L) was associated with a statistically significant 2-fold increase in pancreatic cancer risk overall (odds ratio = 2.12, 95% confidence interval: 1.23, 3.64). Given this result, recommendations to increase vitamin D concentrations in healthy persons for the prevention of cancer should be carefully considered. PMID:20562185

Legacy System Engineering, VPERC Consortium

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-09-01

REPORT Legacy System Engineering, VPERC Consortium, Final Report, University of Utah for Work Ending Joly 15, 2009. 14. ABSTRACT 16. SECURITY...Engineering, VPERC Consortium, Final Report, University of Utah for Work Ending Joly 15, 2009. Report Title ABSTRACT This paper is one of three...Sons, 1995. [3] Turner MJ, Clough RW, Martin HC, Topp LJ. “Stiffness and deflection analysis of complex structures.” Journal of the Aeronautical

Genome-wide Association Study for Ovarian Cancer Susceptibility using Pooled DNA

PubMed Central

Lu, Yi; Chen, Xiaoqing; Beesley, Jonathan; Johnatty, Sharon E.; deFazio, Anna; Lambrechts, Sandrina; Lambrechts, Diether; Despierre, Evelyn; Vergotes, Ignace; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Hein, Rebecca; Nickels, Stefan; Wang-Gohrke, Shan; Dörk, Thilo; Dürst, Matthias; Antonenkova, Natalia; Bogdanova, Natalia; Goodman, Marc T.; Lurie, Galina; Wilkens, Lynne R.; Carney, Michael E.; Butzow, Ralf; Nevanlinna, Heli; Heikkinen, Tuomas; Leminen, Arto; Kiemeney, Lambertus A.; Massuger, Leon F.A.G.; van Altena, Anne M.; Aben, Katja K.; Kjaer, Susanne Krüger; Høgdall, Estrid; Jensen, Allan; Brooks-Wilson, Angela; Le, Nhu; Cook, Linda; Earp, Madalene; Kelemen, Linda; Easton, Douglas; Pharoah, Paul; Song, Honglin; Tyrer, Jonathan; Ramus, Susan; Menon, Usha; Gentry-Maharaj, Alexandra; Gayther, Simon A.; Bandera, Elisa V.; Olson, Sara H.; Orlow, Irene; Rodriguez-Rodriguez, Lorna

2013-01-01

Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified four low-penetrance ovarian cancer susceptibility loci. We hypothesized that further moderate or low penetrance variants exist among the subset of SNPs not well tagged by the genotyping arrays used in the previous studies which would account for some of the remaining risk. We therefore conducted a time- and cost-effective stage 1 GWAS on 342 invasive serous cases and 643 controls genotyped on pooled DNA using the high density Illumina 1M-Duo array. We followed up 20 of the most significantly associated SNPs, which are not well tagged by the lower density arrays used by the published GWAS, and genotyping them on individual DNA. Most of the top 20 SNPs were clearly validated by individually genotyping the samples used in the pools. However, none of the 20 SNPs replicated when tested for association in a much larger stage 2 set of 4,651 cases and 6,966 controls from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. Given that most of the top 20 SNPs from pooling were validated in the same samples by individual genotyping, the lack of replication is likely to be due to the relatively small sample size in our stage 1 GWAS rather than due to problems with the pooling approach. We conclude that there are unlikely to be any moderate or large effects on ovarian cancer risk untagged by the less dense arrays. However our study lacked power to make clear statements on the existence of hitherto untagged small effect variants. PMID:22794196

Clinical Management of Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome: Part I—Psychiatric and Behavioral Interventions

PubMed Central

Murphy, Tanya; Leckman, James; Shaw, Richard; Williams, Kyle; Kapphahn, Cynthia; Frankovich, Jennifer; Geller, Daniel; Bernstein, Gail; Chang, Kiki; Elia, Josephine; Swedo, Susan

2017-01-01

Abstract Objective: This article outlines the consensus guidelines for symptomatic treatment for children with Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) and Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Syndrome Associated with Streptococcal Infection (PANDAS). Methods: Extant literature on behavioral, psychotherapeutic, and psychopharmacologic treatments for PANS and PANDAS was reviewed. Members of the PANS Research Consortium pooled their clinical experiences to find agreement on treatment of PANS and PANDAS symptoms. Results: Current guidelines result from consensus among the Consortium members. Conclusion: While underlying infectious and inflammatory processes in PANS and PANDAS patients are treated, psychiatric and behavioral symptoms need simultaneous treatment to decrease suffering and improve adherence to therapeutic intervention. Psychological, behavioral, and psychopharmacologic interventions tailored to each child's presentation can provide symptom improvement and improve functioning during both the acute and chronic stages of illness. In general, typical evidence-based interventions are appropriate for the varied symptoms of PANS and PANDAS. Individual differences in expected response to psychotropic medication may require marked reduction of initial treatment dose. Antimicrobials and immunomodulatory therapies may be indicated, as discussed in Parts 2 and 3 of this guideline series. PMID:28722481

16S metagenomic analysis reveals adaptability of a mixed-PAH-degrading consortium isolated from crude oil-contaminated seawater to changing environmental conditions.

PubMed

Muangchinda, Chanokporn; Rungsihiranrut, Adisan; Prombutara, Pinidphon; Soonglerdsongpha, Suwat; Pinyakong, Onruthai

2018-05-29

A bacterial consortium, named SWO, was enriched from crude oil-contaminated seawater from Phrao Bay in Rayong Province, Thailand, after a large oil spill in 2013. The bacterial consortium degraded a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) mixture consisting of phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, and pyrene (50 mg L -1 each) by approximately 73%, 69%, 52%, and 48%, respectively, within 21 days. This consortium exhibited excellent adaptation to a wide range of environmental conditions. It could degrade a mixture of four PAHs under a range of pH values (4.0-9.0), temperatures (25 °C-37 °C), and salinities (0-10 g L -1 with NaCl). In addition, this consortium degraded 20-30% of benzo[a]pyrene and perylene (10 mg L -1 each), high molecular weight PAHs, in the presence of other PAHs within 35 days, and degraded 40% of 2% (v/v) crude oil within 20 days. The 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing analysis demonstrated that Pseudomonas and Methylophaga were the dominant genera of consortium SWO in almost all treatments, while Pseudidiomarina, Thalassospira and Alcanivorax were predominant under higher salt concentrations. Moreover, Pseudomonas and Alcanivorax were dominant in the crude oil-degradation treatment. Our results suggest that the consortium SWO maintained its biodegradation ability by altering the bacterial community profile upon encountering changes in the environmental conditions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Analysis of hydrological processes across the Northern Eurasia with recently re-developed online informational system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shiklomanov, A. I.; Proussevitch, A. A.; Gordov, E. P.; Okladnikov, I.; Titov, A. G.

2016-12-01

The volume of georeferenced datasets used for hydrology and climate research is growing immensely due to recent advances in modeling, high performance computers, and sensor networks, as well as initiation of a set of large scale complex global and regional monitoring experiments. To facilitate the management and analysis of these extensive data pools we developed Web-based data management, visualization, and analysis system - RIMS - http://earthatlas.sr.unh.edu/ (Rapid Integrated Mapping and Analysis System) with a focus on hydrological applications. Recently, under collaboration with Russian colleagues from the Institute of Monitoring of Climatic and Ecological Systems SB RAS, Russia, we significantly re-designed the RIMS to include the latest Web and GIS technologies in compliance with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards. An upgraded RIMS can be successfully applied to address multiple research problems using an extensive data archive and embedded tools for data computations, visualizations and distributions. We will demonstrate current possibility of the system providing several results of applied data analysis fulfilled for territory of the Northern Eurasia. These results will include the analysis of historical, contemporary and future changes in climate and hydrology based on station and gridded data, investigations of recent extreme hydrological events, their anomalies, causes and potential impacts, and creation and analysis of new data sets through integration of social and geophysical data.

New Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs): Reissuance of Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) | Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research

Cancer.gov

The National Cancer Institute is soliciting applications for the reissuance of its Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) program.   CPTAC will support broad efforts focused on several cancer types to explore further the complexities of cancer proteomes and their connections to abnormalities in cancer genomes.

Monitoring Consortiums: A Cost-Effective Means to Enhancing Watershed Data Collection and Analysis

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Monitoring is essential for tracking overall watershed health, but monitoring costs are a limiting factor. As demonstrated in the four case studies, consortiums can reduce costs and improve cooperation among partners.

Biodegradation of crude oil by a defined co-culture of indigenous bacterial consortium and exogenous Bacillus subtilis.

PubMed

Tao, Kaiyun; Liu, Xiaoyan; Chen, Xueping; Hu, Xiaoxin; Cao, Liya; Yuan, Xiaoyu

2017-01-01

The aim of this work was to study biodegradation of crude oil by defined co-cultures of indigenous bacterial consortium and exogenous Bacillus subtilis. Through residual oil analysis, it is apparent that the defined co-culture displayed a degradation ratio (85.01%) superior to indigenous bacterial consortium (71.32%) after 7days of incubation when ratio of inoculation size of indigenous bacterial consortium and Bacillus subtilis was 2:1. Long-chain n-alkanes could be degraded markedly by Bacillus subtilis. Result analysis of the bacterial community showed that a decrease in bacterial diversity in the defined co-culture and the enrichment of Burkholderiales order (98.1%) degrading hydrocarbons. The research results revealed that the promising potential of the defined co-culture for application to degradation of crude oil. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mechanism of uranium (VI) removal by two anaerobic bacterial communities.

PubMed

Martins, Mónica; Faleiro, Maria Leonor; da Costa, Ana M Rosa; Chaves, Sandra; Tenreiro, Rogério; Matos, António Pedro; Costa, Maria Clara

2010-12-15

The mechanism of uranium (VI) removal by two anaerobic bacterial consortia, recovered from an uncontaminated site (consortium A) and other from an uranium mine (consortium U), was investigated. The highest efficiency of U (VI) removal by both consortia (97%) occurred at room temperature and at pH 7.2. Furthermore, it was found that U (VI) removal by consortium A occurred by enzymatic reduction and bioaccumulation, while the enzymatic process was the only mechanism involved in metal removal by consortium U. FTIR analysis suggested that after U (VI) reduction, U (IV) could be bound to carboxyl, phosphate and amide groups of bacterial cells. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA showed that community A was mainly composed by bacteria closely related to Sporotalea genus and Rhodocyclaceae family, while community U was mainly composed by bacteria related to Clostridium genus and Rhodocyclaceae family. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Biostimulation of metal-resistant microbial consortium to remove zinc from contaminated environments.

PubMed

Mejias Carpio, Isis E; Franco, Diego Castillo; Zanoli Sato, Maria Inês; Sakata, Solange; Pellizari, Vivian H; Seckler Ferreira Filho, Sidney; Frigi Rodrigues, Debora

2016-04-15

Understanding the diversity and metal removal ability of microorganisms associated to contaminated aquatic environments is essential to develop metal remediation technologies in engineered environments. This study investigates through 16S rRNA deep sequencing the composition of a biostimulated microbial consortium obtained from the polluted Tietê River in São Paulo, Brazil. The bacterial diversity of the biostimulated consortium obtained from the contaminated water and sediment was compared to the original sample. The results of the comparative sequencing analyses showed that the biostimulated consortium and the natural environment had γ-Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and uncultured bacteria as the major classes of microorganisms. The consortium optimum zinc removal capacity, evaluated in batch experiments, was achieved at pH=5 with equilibrium contact time of 120min, and a higher Zn-biomass affinity (KF=1.81) than most pure cultures previously investigated. Analysis of the functional groups found in the consortium demonstrated that amine, carboxyl, hydroxyl, and phosphate groups present in the consortium cells were responsible for zinc uptake. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Home pesticide exposures and risk of childhood leukemia: Findings from the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium

PubMed Central

Bailey, Helen D; Infante-Rivard, Claire; Metayer, Catherine; Clavel, Jacqueline; Lightfoot, Tracy; Kaatsch, Peter; Roman, Eve; Magnani, Corrado; Spector, Logan G; Petridou, Eleni; Milne, Elizabeth; Dockerty, John D; Miligi, Lucia; Armstrong, Bruce K; Rudant, Jérémie; Fritschi, Lin; Simpson, Jill; Zhang, Luoping; Rondelli, Roberto; Baka, Margarita; Orsi, Laurent; Moschovi, Maria; Kang, Alice Y; Schüz, Joachim

2015-01-01

Some previous studies have suggested that home pesticide exposure before birth and during a child's early years may increase the risk of childhood leukemia. To further investigate this, we pooled individual level data from 12 case-control studies in the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium (CLIC). Exposure data were harmonized into compatible formats. Pooled analyses were undertaken using multivariable unconditional logistic regression. The odds ratio (ORs) for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) associated with any pesticide exposure shortly before conception, during pregnancy and after birth were 1.39 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25, 1.55) (using (2,785 cases, 3635 controls), 1.43 (95% CI 1.32, 1.54) (5,055 cases, 7,370 controls) and 1.36 (95% CI 1.23, 1.51) (4,162 cases 5,179 controls), respectively. Corresponding ORs for risk of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) were 1.49 (95% CI 1.02, 2.16) (173 cases, 1,789 controls), 1.55 (95% CI 1.21, 1.99) (344 cases, 4,666 controls) and 1.08 (95% CI 0.76, 1.53) (198 cases, 2,655 controls) respectively. There was little difference by type of pesticide used. The relative similarity in ORs between leukaemia types, time periods and pesticide types may be explained by similar exposure patterns and effects across the time periods in ALL and AML, participants’ exposure to multiple pesticides, or recall bias. Although some recall bias is likely, until a better study design can be found to investigate associations between home pesticide use and childhood leukaemia in an equally large sample, it would appear prudent to limit the use of home pesticides before and during pregnancy, and during childhood. PMID:26061779

A low-cost wheat bran medium for biodegradation of the benzidine-based carcinogenic dye Trypan Blue using a microbial consortium.

PubMed

Lade, Harshad; Kadam, Avinash; Paul, Diby; Govindwar, Sanjay

2015-03-25

Environmental release of benzidine-based dyes is a matter of health concern. Here, a microbial consortium was enriched from textile dye contaminated soils and investigated for biodegradation of the carcinogenic benzidine-based dye Trypan Blue using wheat bran (WB) as growth medium. The PCR-DGGE analysis of enriched microbial consortium revealed the presence of 15 different bacteria. Decolorization studies suggested that the microbial consortium has high metabolic activity towards Trypan Blue as complete removal of 50 mg∙L-1 dye was observed within 24 h at 30 ± 0.2 °C and pH 7. Significant reduction in TOC (64%) and COD (88%) of dye decolorized broths confirmed mineralization. Induction in azoreductase (500%), NADH-DCIP reductase (264%) and laccase (275%) proved enzymatic decolorization of dye. HPLC analysis of dye decolorized products showed the formation of six metabolites while the FTIR spectrum indicated removal of diazo bonds at 1612.30 and 1581.34 cm-1. The proposed dye degradation pathway based on GC-MS and enzyme analysis suggested the formation of two low molecular weight intermediates. Phytotoxicity and acute toxicity studies revealed the less toxic nature of the dye degradation products. These results provide experimental evidence for the utilization of agricultural waste as a novel low-cost growth medium for biodegradation of benzidine-based dyes, and suggested the potential of the microbial consortium in detoxification.

A Low-Cost Wheat Bran Medium for Biodegradation of the Benzidine-Based Carcinogenic Dye Trypan Blue Using a Microbial Consortium

PubMed Central

Lade, Harshad; Kadam, Avinash; Paul, Diby; Govindwar, Sanjay

2015-01-01

Environmental release of benzidine-based dyes is a matter of health concern. Here, a microbial consortium was enriched from textile dye contaminated soils and investigated for biodegradation of the carcinogenic benzidine-based dye Trypan Blue using wheat bran (WB) as growth medium. The PCR-DGGE analysis of enriched microbial consortium revealed the presence of 15 different bacteria. Decolorization studies suggested that the microbial consortium has high metabolic activity towards Trypan Blue as complete removal of 50 mg∙L−1 dye was observed within 24 h at 30 ± 0.2 °C and pH 7. Significant reduction in TOC (64%) and COD (88%) of dye decolorized broths confirmed mineralization. Induction in azoreductase (500%), NADH-DCIP reductase (264%) and laccase (275%) proved enzymatic decolorization of dye. HPLC analysis of dye decolorized products showed the formation of six metabolites while the FTIR spectrum indicated removal of diazo bonds at 1612.30 and 1581.34 cm−1. The proposed dye degradation pathway based on GC-MS and enzyme analysis suggested the formation of two low molecular weight intermediates. Phytotoxicity and acute toxicity studies revealed the less toxic nature of the dye degradation products. These results provide experimental evidence for the utilization of agricultural waste as a novel low-cost growth medium for biodegradation of benzidine-based dyes, and suggested the potential of the microbial consortium in detoxification. PMID:25815522

Spatial and temporal dynamics of organohalide-respiring bacteria in a heterogeneous PCE-DNAPL source zone.

PubMed

Cápiro, Natalie L; Löffler, Frank E; Pennell, Kurt D

2015-11-01

Effective treatment of sites contaminated with dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) requires detailed understanding of the microbial community responses to changes in source zone strength and architecture. Changes in the spatial and temporal distributions of the organohalide-respiring Dehalococcoides mccartyi (Dhc) strains and Geobacter lovleyi strain SZ (GeoSZ) were examined in a heterogeneous tetrachloroethene- (PCE-) DNAPL source zone within a two-dimensional laboratory-scale aquifer flow cell. As part of a combined remedy approach, flushing with 2.3 pore volumes (PVs) of 4% (w/w) solution of the nonionic, biodegradable surfactant Tween® 80 removed 55% of the initial contaminant mass, and resulted in a PCE-DNAPL distribution that contained 51% discrete ganglia and 49% pools (ganglia-to-pool ratio of 1.06). Subsequent bioaugmentation with the PCE-to-ethene-dechlorinating consortium BDI-SZ resulted in cis-1,2-dichloroethene (cis-DCE) formation after 1 PV (ca. 7 days), while vinyl chloride (VC) and ethene were detected 10 PVs after bioaugmentation. Maximum ethene yields (ca. 90 μM) within DNAPL pool and ganglia regions coincided with the detection of the vcrA reductive dehalogenase (RDase) gene that exceeded the Dhc 16S rRNA genes by 2.0±1.3 and 4.0±1.7 fold in the pool and ganglia regions, respectively. Dhc and GeoSZ cell abundance increased by up to 4 orders-of-magnitude after 28 PVs of steady-state operation, with 1 to 2 orders-of-magnitude increases observed in close proximity to residual PCE-DNAPL. These observations suggest the involvement of these dechlorinators the in observed PCE dissolution enhancements of up to 2.3 and 6.0-fold within pool and ganglia regions, respectively. Analysis of the solid and aqueous samples at the conclusion of the experiment revealed that the highest VC (≥155 μM) and ethene (≥65 μM) concentrations were measured in zones where Dhc and GeoSZ were predominately attached to the solids. These findings demonstrate dynamic responses of organohalide-respiring bacteria in a heterogeneous DNAPL source zone, and emphasize the influence of source zone architecture on bioremediation performance. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D and risk of epithelial ovarian cancer: Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers.

PubMed

Zheng, Wei; Danforth, Kim N; Tworoger, Shelley S; Goodman, Marc T; Arslan, Alan A; Patel, Alpa V; McCullough, Marjorie L; Weinstein, Stephanie J; Kolonel, Laurence N; Purdue, Mark P; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Snyder, Kirk; Steplowski, Emily; Visvanathan, Kala; Yu, Kai; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Anne; Gao, Yu-Tang; Hankinson, Susan E; Harvey, Chinonye; Hayes, Richard B; Henderson, Brian E; Horst, Ronald L; Helzlsouer, Kathy J

2010-07-01

A role for vitamin D in ovarian cancer etiology is supported by ecologic studies of sunlight exposure, experimental mechanism studies, and some studies of dietary vitamin D intake and genetic polymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor. However, few studies have examined the association of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), an integrated measure of vitamin D status, with ovarian cancer risk. A nested case-control study was conducted among 7 prospective studies to evaluate the circulating 25(OH)D concentration in relation to epithelial ovarian cancer risk. Logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals among 516 cases and 770 matched controls. Compared with 25(OH)D concentrations of 50-<75 nmol/L, no statistically significant associations were observed for <37.5 (odds ratio (OR) = 1.21, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.87, 1.70), 37.5-<50 (OR = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.75, 1.41), or > or =75 (OR = 1.11, 95% CI: 0.79, 1.55) nmol/L. Analyses stratified by tumor subtype, age, body mass index, and other variables were generally null but suggested an inverse association between 25(OH)D and ovarian cancer risk among women with a body mass index of > or =25 kg/m(2) (P(interaction) < 0.01). In conclusion, this large pooled analysis did not support an overall association between circulating 25(OH)D and ovarian cancer risk, except possibly among overweight women.

Polymorphisms in Genes of Relevance for Oestrogen and Oxytocin Pathways and Risk of Barrett's Oesophagus and Oesophageal Adenocarcinoma: A Pooled Analysis from the BEACON Consortium.

PubMed

Lagergren, Katarina; Ek, Weronica E; Levine, David; Chow, Wong-Ho; Bernstein, Leslie; Casson, Alan G; Risch, Harvey A; Shaheen, Nicholas J; Bird, Nigel C; Reid, Brian J; Corley, Douglas A; Hardie, Laura J; Wu, Anna H; Fitzgerald, Rebecca C; Pharoah, Paul; Caldas, Carlos; Romero, Yvonne; Vaughan, Thomas L; MacGregor, Stuart; Whiteman, David; Westberg, Lars; Nyren, Olof; Lagergren, Jesper

2015-01-01

The strong male predominance in oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) and Barrett's oesophagus (BO) continues to puzzle. Hormonal influence, e.g. oestrogen or oxytocin, might contribute. This genetic-epidemiological study pooled 14 studies from three continents, Australia, Europe, and North America. Polymorphisms in 3 key genes coding for the oestrogen pathway (receptor alpha (ESR1), receptor beta (ESR2), and aromatase (CYP19A1)), and 3 key genes of the oxytocin pathway (the oxytocin receptor (OXTR), oxytocin protein (OXT), and cyclic ADP ribose hydrolase glycoprotein (CD38)), were analysed using a gene-based approach, versatile gene-based test association study (VEGAS). Among 1508 OAC patients, 2383 BO patients, and 2170 controls, genetic variants within ESR1 were associated with BO in males (p = 0.0058) and an increased risk of OAC and BO combined in males (p = 0.0023). Genetic variants within OXTR were associated with an increased risk of BO in both sexes combined (p = 0.0035) and in males (p = 0.0012). We followed up these suggestive findings in a further smaller data set, but found no replication. There were no significant associations between the other 4 genes studied and risk of OAC, BO, separately on in combination, in males and females combined or in males only. Genetic variants in the oestrogen receptor alpha and the oxytocin receptor may be associated with an increased risk of BO or OAC, but replication in other large samples are needed.

GWAS meta-analysis and replication identifies three new susceptibility loci for ovarian cancer

PubMed Central

Pharoah, Paul D. P.; Tsai, Ya-Yu; Ramus, Susan J.; Phelan, Catherine M.; Goode, Ellen L.; Lawrenson, Kate; Price, Melissa; Fridley, Brooke L.; Tyrer, Jonathan P.; Shen, Howard; Weber, Rachel; Karevan, Rod; Larson, Melissa C.; Song, Honglin; Tessier, Daniel C.; Bacot, François; Vincent, Daniel; Cunningham, Julie M.; Dennis, Joe; Dicks, Ed; Aben, Katja K.; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Antonenkova, Natalia; Armasu, Sebastian M.; Baglietto, Laura; Bandera, Elisa V.; Beckmann, Matthias W.; Birrer, Michael J.; Bloom, Greg; Bogdanova, Natalia; Brenton, James D.; Brinton, Louise A.; Brooks-Wilson, Angela; Brown, Robert; Butzow, Ralf; Campbell, Ian; Carney, Michael E; Carvalho, Renato S.; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Chen, Y. Anne; Chen, Zhihua; Chow, Wong-Ho; Cicek, Mine S.; Coetzee, Gerhard; Cook, Linda S.; Cramer, Daniel W.; Cybulski, Cezary; Dansonka-Mieszkowska, Agnieszka; Despierre, Evelyn; Doherty, Jennifer A; Dörk, Thilo; du Bois, Andreas; Dürst, Matthias; Eccles, Diana; Edwards, Robert; Ekici, Arif B.; Fasching, Peter A.; Fenstermacher, David; Flanagan, James; Gao, Yu-Tang; Garcia-Closas, Montserrat; Gentry-Maharaj, Aleksandra; Giles, Graham; Gjyshi, Anxhela; Gore, Martin; Gronwald, Jacek; Guo, Qi; Halle, Mari K; Harter, Philipp; Hein, Alexander; Heitz, Florian; Hillemanns, Peter; Hoatlin, Maureen; Høgdall, Estrid; Høgdall, Claus K.; Hosono, Satoyo; Jakubowska, Anna; Jensen, Allan; Kalli, Kimberly R.; Karlan, Beth Y.; Kelemen, Linda E.; Kiemeney, Lambertus A.; Kjaer, Susanne Krüger; Konecny, Gottfried E.; Krakstad, Camilla; Kupryjanczyk, Jolanta; Lambrechts, Diether; Lambrechts, Sandrina; Le, Nhu D.; Lee, Nathan; Lee, Janet; Leminen, Arto; Lim, Boon Kiong; Lissowska, Jolanta; Lubiński, Jan; Lundvall, Lene; Lurie, Galina; Massuger, Leon F.A.G.; Matsuo, Keitaro; McGuire, Valerie; McLaughlin, John R; Menon, Usha; Modugno, Francesmary; Moysich, Kirsten B.; Nakanishi, Toru; Narod, Steven A.; Ness, Roberta B.; Nevanlinna, Heli; Nickels, Stefan; Noushmehr, Houtan; Odunsi, Kunle; Olson, Sara; Orlow, Irene; Paul, James; Pejovic, Tanja; Pelttari, Liisa M; Permuth-Wey, Jenny; Pike, Malcolm C; Poole, Elizabeth M; Qu, Xiaotao; Risch, Harvey A.; Rodriguez-Rodriguez, Lorna; Rossing, Mary Anne; Rudolph, Anja; Runnebaum, Ingo; Rzepecka, Iwona K; Salvesen, Helga B.; Schwaab, Ira; Severi, Gianluca; Shen, Hui; Shridhar, Vijayalakshmi; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Sieh, Weiva; Southey, Melissa C.; Spellman, Paul; Tajima, Kazuo; Teo, Soo-Hwang; Terry, Kathryn L.; Thompson, Pamela J; Timorek, Agnieszka; Tworoger, Shelley S.; van Altena, Anne M.; Berg, David Van Den; Vergote, Ignace; Vierkant, Robert A.; Vitonis, Allison F.; Wang-Gohrke, Shan; Wentzensen, Nicolas; Whittemore, Alice S.; Wik, Elisabeth; Winterhoff, Boris; Woo, Yin Ling; Wu, Anna H; Yang, Hannah P.; Zheng, Wei; Ziogas, Argyrios; Zulkifli, Famida; Goodman, Marc T.; Hall, Per; Easton, Douglas F; Pearce, Celeste L; Berchuck, Andrew; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Iversen, Edwin; Monteiro, Alvaro N.A.; Gayther, Simon A.; Schildkraut, Joellen M.; Sellers, Thomas A.

2013-01-01

Genome wide association studies (GWAS) have identified four susceptibility loci for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) with another two loci being close to genome-wide significance. We pooled data from a GWAS conducted in North America with another GWAS from the United Kingdom. We selected the top 24,551 SNPs for inclusion on the iCOGS custom genotyping array. Follow-up genotyping was carried out in 18,174 cases and 26,134 controls from 43 studies from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. We validated the two loci at 3q25 and 17q21 previously near genome-wide significance and identified three novel loci associated with risk; two loci associated with all EOC subtypes, at 8q21 (rs11782652, P=5.5×10-9) and 10p12 (rs1243180; P=1.8×10-8), and another locus specific to the serous subtype at 17q12 (rs757210; P=8.1×10-10). An integrated molecular analysis of genes and regulatory regions at these loci provided evidence for functional mechanisms underlying susceptibility that implicates CHMP4C in the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer. PMID:23535730

GWAS meta-analysis and replication identifies three new susceptibility loci for ovarian cancer.

PubMed

Pharoah, Paul D P; Tsai, Ya-Yu; Ramus, Susan J; Phelan, Catherine M; Goode, Ellen L; Lawrenson, Kate; Buckley, Melissa; Fridley, Brooke L; Tyrer, Jonathan P; Shen, Howard; Weber, Rachel; Karevan, Rod; Larson, Melissa C; Song, Honglin; Tessier, Daniel C; Bacot, François; Vincent, Daniel; Cunningham, Julie M; Dennis, Joe; Dicks, Ed; Aben, Katja K; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Antonenkova, Natalia; Armasu, Sebastian M; Baglietto, Laura; Bandera, Elisa V; Beckmann, Matthias W; Birrer, Michael J; Bloom, Greg; Bogdanova, Natalia; Brenton, James D; Brinton, Louise A; Brooks-Wilson, Angela; Brown, Robert; Butzow, Ralf; Campbell, Ian; Carney, Michael E; Carvalho, Renato S; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Chen, Y Anne; Chen, Zhihua; Chow, Wong-Ho; Cicek, Mine S; Coetzee, Gerhard; Cook, Linda S; Cramer, Daniel W; Cybulski, Cezary; Dansonka-Mieszkowska, Agnieszka; Despierre, Evelyn; Doherty, Jennifer A; Dörk, Thilo; du Bois, Andreas; Dürst, Matthias; Eccles, Diana; Edwards, Robert; Ekici, Arif B; Fasching, Peter A; Fenstermacher, David; Flanagan, James; Gao, Yu-Tang; Garcia-Closas, Montserrat; Gentry-Maharaj, Aleksandra; Giles, Graham; Gjyshi, Anxhela; Gore, Martin; Gronwald, Jacek; Guo, Qi; Halle, Mari K; Harter, Philipp; Hein, Alexander; Heitz, Florian; Hillemanns, Peter; Hoatlin, Maureen; Høgdall, Estrid; Høgdall, Claus K; Hosono, Satoyo; Jakubowska, Anna; Jensen, Allan; Kalli, Kimberly R; Karlan, Beth Y; Kelemen, Linda E; Kiemeney, Lambertus A; Kjaer, Susanne Krüger; Konecny, Gottfried E; Krakstad, Camilla; Kupryjanczyk, Jolanta; Lambrechts, Diether; Lambrechts, Sandrina; Le, Nhu D; Lee, Nathan; Lee, Janet; Leminen, Arto; Lim, Boon Kiong; Lissowska, Jolanta; Lubiński, Jan; Lundvall, Lene; Lurie, Galina; Massuger, Leon F A G; Matsuo, Keitaro; McGuire, Valerie; McLaughlin, John R; Menon, Usha; Modugno, Francesmary; Moysich, Kirsten B; Nakanishi, Toru; Narod, Steven A; Ness, Roberta B; Nevanlinna, Heli; Nickels, Stefan; Noushmehr, Houtan; Odunsi, Kunle; Olson, Sara; Orlow, Irene; Paul, James; Pejovic, Tanja; Pelttari, Liisa M; Permuth-Wey, Jenny; Pike, Malcolm C; Poole, Elizabeth M; Qu, Xiaotao; Risch, Harvey A; Rodriguez-Rodriguez, Lorna; Rossing, Mary Anne; Rudolph, Anja; Runnebaum, Ingo; Rzepecka, Iwona K; Salvesen, Helga B; Schwaab, Ira; Severi, Gianluca; Shen, Hui; Shridhar, Vijayalakshmi; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Sieh, Weiva; Southey, Melissa C; Spellman, Paul; Tajima, Kazuo; Teo, Soo-Hwang; Terry, Kathryn L; Thompson, Pamela J; Timorek, Agnieszka; Tworoger, Shelley S; van Altena, Anne M; van den Berg, David; Vergote, Ignace; Vierkant, Robert A; Vitonis, Allison F; Wang-Gohrke, Shan; Wentzensen, Nicolas; Whittemore, Alice S; Wik, Elisabeth; Winterhoff, Boris; Woo, Yin Ling; Wu, Anna H; Yang, Hannah P; Zheng, Wei; Ziogas, Argyrios; Zulkifli, Famida; Goodman, Marc T; Hall, Per; Easton, Douglas F; Pearce, Celeste L; Berchuck, Andrew; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Iversen, Edwin; Monteiro, Alvaro N A; Gayther, Simon A; Schildkraut, Joellen M; Sellers, Thomas A

2013-04-01

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified four susceptibility loci for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), with another two suggestive loci reaching near genome-wide significance. We pooled data from a GWAS conducted in North America with another GWAS from the UK. We selected the top 24,551 SNPs for inclusion on the iCOGS custom genotyping array. We performed follow-up genotyping in 18,174 individuals with EOC (cases) and 26,134 controls from 43 studies from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. We validated the two loci at 3q25 and 17q21 that were previously found to have associations close to genome-wide significance and identified three loci newly associated with risk: two loci associated with all EOC subtypes at 8q21 (rs11782652, P = 5.5 × 10(-9)) and 10p12 (rs1243180, P = 1.8 × 10(-8)) and another locus specific to the serous subtype at 17q12 (rs757210, P = 8.1 × 10(-10)). An integrated molecular analysis of genes and regulatory regions at these loci provided evidence for functional mechanisms underlying susceptibility and implicated CHMP4C in the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer.

Using genetics to test the causal relationship of total adiposity and periodontitis: Mendelian randomization analyses in the Gene-Lifestyle Interactions and Dental Endpoints (GLIDE) Consortium

PubMed Central

Shungin, Dmitry; Cornelis, Marilyn C; Divaris, Kimon; Holtfreter, Birte; Shaffer, John R; Yu, Yau-Hua; Barros, Silvana P; Beck, James D; Biffar, Reiner; Boerwinkle, Eric A; Crout, Richard J.; Ganna, Andrea; Hallmans, Goran; Hindy, George; Hu, Frank B; Kraft, Peter; McNeil, Daniel W; Melander, Olle; Moss, Kevin L; North, Kari E; Orho-Melander, Marju; Pedersen, Nancy L; Ridker, Paul M; Rimm, Eric B; Rose, Lynda M; Rukh, Gull; Teumer, Alexander; Weyant, Robert J; Chasman, Daniel I; Joshipura, Kaumudi; Kocher, Thomas; Magnusson, Patrik KE; Marazita, Mary L; Nilsson, Peter; Offenbacher, Steve; Davey Smith, George; Lundberg, Pernilla; Palmer, Tom M; Timpson, Nicholas J; Johansson, Ingegerd; Franks, Paul W

2015-01-01

Background: The observational relationship between obesity and periodontitis is widely known, yet causal evidence is lacking. Our objective was to investigate causal associations between periodontitis and body mass index (BMI). Methods: We performed Mendelian randomization analyses with BMI-associated loci combined in a genetic risk score (GRS) as the instrument for BMI. All analyses were conducted within the Gene-Lifestyle Interactions and Dental Endpoints (GLIDE) Consortium in 13 studies from Europe and the USA, including 49 066 participants with clinically assessed (seven studies, 42.1% of participants) and self-reported (six studies, 57.9% of participants) periodontitis and genotype data (17 672/31 394 with/without periodontitis); 68 761 participants with BMI and genotype data; and 57 871 participants (18 881/38 990 with/without periodontitis) with data on BMI and periodontitis. Results: In the observational meta-analysis of all participants, the pooled crude observational odds ratio (OR) for periodontitis was 1.13 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.03, 1.24] per standard deviation increase of BMI. Controlling for potential confounders attenuated this estimate (OR = 1.08; 95% CI:1.03, 1.12). For clinically assessed periodontitis, corresponding ORs were 1.25 (95% CI: 1.10, 1.42) and 1.13 (95% CI: 1.10, 1.17), respectively. In the genetic association meta-analysis, the OR for periodontitis was 1.01 (95% CI: 0.99, 1.03) per GRS unit (per one effect allele) in all participants and 1.00 (95% CI: 0.97, 1.03) in participants with clinically assessed periodontitis. The instrumental variable meta-analysis of all participants yielded an OR of 1.05 (95% CI: 0.80, 1.38) per BMI standard deviation, and 0.90 (95% CI: 0.56, 1.46) in participants with clinical data. Conclusions: Our study does not support total adiposity as a causal risk factor for periodontitis, as the point estimate is very close to the null in the causal inference analysis, with wide confidence intervals. PMID:26050256

Rates of central line-associated bloodstream infection in tertiary care hospitals in 3 Arabian gulf countries: 6-year surveillance study.

PubMed

Balkhy, Hanan H; El-Saed, Aiman; Al-Abri, Seif S; Alsalman, Jameela; Alansari, Huda; Al Maskari, Zaina; El Gammal, Ayman; Al Nasser, Wafa; AlJardani, Amina; Althaqafi, Abdulhakeem

2017-05-01

The objective of this study was to compare central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rates in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states with those of the U.S. National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) and International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) using pooled data from 6 hospitals in 3 GCC countries. The overall CLABSI rate was 3.1 per 1,000 central line days. After adjusting for differences in intensive care unit types, the risk of CLABSI in GCC hospitals was 146% higher than NHSN hospitals but 33% lower than INICC hospitals. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Anthropometric and hormonal risk factors for male breast cancer: male breast cancer pooling project results.

PubMed

Brinton, Louise A; Cook, Michael B; McCormack, Valerie; Johnson, Kenneth C; Olsson, Håkan; Casagrande, John T; Cooke, Rosie; Falk, Roni T; Gapstur, Susan M; Gaudet, Mia M; Gaziano, J Michael; Gkiokas, Georgios; Guénel, Pascal; Henderson, Brian E; Hollenbeck, Albert; Hsing, Ann W; Kolonel, Laurence N; Isaacs, Claudine; Lubin, Jay H; Michels, Karin B; Negri, Eva; Parisi, Dominick; Petridou, Eleni Th; Pike, Malcolm C; Riboli, Elio; Sesso, Howard D; Snyder, Kirk; Swerdlow, Anthony J; Trichopoulos, Dimitrios; Ursin, Giske; van den Brandt, Piet A; Van Den Eeden, Stephen K; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Willett, Walter C; Ewertz, Marianne; Thomas, David B

2014-03-01

The etiology of male breast cancer is poorly understood, partly because of its relative rarity. Although genetic factors are involved, less is known regarding the role of anthropometric and hormonally related risk factors. In the Male Breast Cancer Pooling Project, a consortium of 11 case-control and 10 cohort investigations involving 2405 case patients (n = 1190 from case-control and n = 1215 from cohort studies) and 52013 control subjects, individual participant data were harmonized and pooled. Unconditional logistic regression generated study design-specific (case-control/cohort) odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), with exposure estimates combined using fixed effects meta-analysis. All statistical tests were two-sided. Risk was statistically significantly associated with weight (highest/lowest tertile: OR = 1.36; 95% CI = 1.18 to 1.57), height (OR = 1.18; 95% CI = 1.01 to 1.38), and body mass index (BMI; OR = 1.30; 95% CI = 1.12 to 1.51), with evidence that recent rather than distant BMI was the strongest predictor. Klinefelter syndrome (OR = 24.7; 95% CI = 8.94 to 68.4) and gynecomastia (OR = 9.78; 95% CI = 7.52 to 12.7) were also statistically significantly associated with risk, relations that were independent of BMI. Diabetes also emerged as an independent risk factor (OR = 1.19; 95% CI = 1.04 to 1.37). There were also suggestive relations with cryptorchidism (OR = 2.18; 95% CI = 0.96 to 4.94) and orchitis (OR = 1.43; 95% CI = 1.02 to 1.99). Although age at onset of puberty and histories of infertility were unrelated to risk, never having had children was statistically significantly related (OR = 1.29; 95% CI = 1.01 to 1.66). Among individuals diagnosed at older ages, a history of fractures was statistically significantly related (OR = 1.41; 95% CI = 1.07 to 1.86). Consistent findings across case-control and cohort investigations, complemented by pooled analyses, indicated important roles for anthropometric and hormonal risk factors in the etiology of male breast cancer. Further investigation should focus on potential roles of endogenous hormones.

International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) report, data summary of 36 countries, for 2004-2009.

PubMed

Rosenthal, Victor D; Bijie, Hu; Maki, Dennis G; Mehta, Yatin; Apisarnthanarak, Anucha; Medeiros, Eduardo A; Leblebicioglu, Hakan; Fisher, Dale; Álvarez-Moreno, Carlos; Khader, Ilham Abu; Del Rocío González Martínez, Marisela; Cuellar, Luis E; Navoa-Ng, Josephine Anne; Abouqal, Rédouane; Guanche Garcell, Humberto; Mitrev, Zan; Pirez García, María Catalina; Hamdi, Asma; Dueñas, Lourdes; Cancel, Elsie; Gurskis, Vaidotas; Rasslan, Ossama; Ahmed, Altaf; Kanj, Souha S; Ugalde, Olber Chavarría; Mapp, Trudell; Raka, Lul; Yuet Meng, Cheong; Thu, Le Thi Anh; Ghazal, Sameeh; Gikas, Achilleas; Narváez, Leonardo Pazmiño; Mejía, Nepomuceno; Hadjieva, Nassya; Gamar Elanbya, May Osman; Guzmán Siritt, María Eugenia; Jayatilleke, Kushlani

2012-06-01

The results of a surveillance study conducted by the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) from January 2004 through December 2009 in 422 intensive care units (ICUs) of 36 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe are reported. During the 6-year study period, using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN; formerly the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance system [NNIS]) definitions for device-associated health care-associated infections, we gathered prospective data from 313,008 patients hospitalized in the consortium's ICUs for an aggregate of 2,194,897 ICU bed-days. Despite the fact that the use of devices in the developing countries' ICUs was remarkably similar to that reported in US ICUs in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were significantly higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals; the pooled rate of central line-associated bloodstream infection in the INICC ICUs of 6.8 per 1,000 central line-days was more than 3-fold higher than the 2.0 per 1,000 central line-days reported in comparable US ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia also was far higher (15.8 vs 3.3 per 1,000 ventilator-days), as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (6.3 vs. 3.3 per 1,000 catheter-days). Notably, the frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates to imipenem (47.2% vs 23.0%), Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (76.3% vs 27.1%), Escherichia coli isolates to ceftazidime (66.7% vs 8.1%), Staphylococcus aureus isolates to methicillin (84.4% vs 56.8%), were also higher in the consortium's ICUs, and the crude unadjusted excess mortalities of device-related infections ranged from 7.3% (for catheter-associated urinary tract infection) to 15.2% (for ventilator-associated pneumonia). Copyright © 2012 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Associations of breast cancer risk factors with tumor subtypes: a pooled analysis from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium studies.

PubMed

Yang, Xiaohong R; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Goode, Ellen L; Couch, Fergus J; Nevanlinna, Heli; Milne, Roger L; Gaudet, Mia; Schmidt, Marjanka K; Broeks, Annegien; Cox, Angela; Fasching, Peter A; Hein, Rebecca; Spurdle, Amanda B; Blows, Fiona; Driver, Kristy; Flesch-Janys, Dieter; Heinz, Judith; Sinn, Peter; Vrieling, Alina; Heikkinen, Tuomas; Aittomäki, Kristiina; Heikkilä, Päivi; Blomqvist, Carl; Lissowska, Jolanta; Peplonska, Beata; Chanock, Stephen; Figueroa, Jonine; Brinton, Louise; Hall, Per; Czene, Kamila; Humphreys, Keith; Darabi, Hatef; Liu, Jianjun; Van 't Veer, Laura J; van Leeuwen, Flora E; Andrulis, Irene L; Glendon, Gord; Knight, Julia A; Mulligan, Anna Marie; O'Malley, Frances P; Weerasooriya, Nayana; John, Esther M; Beckmann, Matthias W; Hartmann, Arndt; Weihbrecht, Sebastian B; Wachter, David L; Jud, Sebastian M; Loehberg, Christian R; Baglietto, Laura; English, Dallas R; Giles, Graham G; McLean, Catriona A; Severi, Gianluca; Lambrechts, Diether; Vandorpe, Thijs; Weltens, Caroline; Paridaens, Robert; Smeets, Ann; Neven, Patrick; Wildiers, Hans; Wang, Xianshu; Olson, Janet E; Cafourek, Victoria; Fredericksen, Zachary; Kosel, Matthew; Vachon, Celine; Cramp, Helen E; Connley, Daniel; Cross, Simon S; Balasubramanian, Sabapathy P; Reed, Malcolm W R; Dörk, Thilo; Bremer, Michael; Meyer, Andreas; Karstens, Johann H; Ay, Aysun; Park-Simon, Tjoung-Won; Hillemanns, Peter; Arias Pérez, Jose Ignacio; Menéndez Rodríguez, Primitiva; Zamora, Pilar; Benítez, Javier; Ko, Yon-Dschun; Fischer, Hans-Peter; Hamann, Ute; Pesch, Beate; Brüning, Thomas; Justenhoven, Christina; Brauch, Hiltrud; Eccles, Diana M; Tapper, William J; Gerty, Sue M; Sawyer, Elinor J; Tomlinson, Ian P; Jones, Angela; Kerin, Michael; Miller, Nicola; McInerney, Niall; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Ziogas, Argyrios; Shen, Chen-Yang; Hsiung, Chia-Ni; Wu, Pei-Ei; Yang, Show-Lin; Yu, Jyh-Cherng; Chen, Shou-Tung; Hsu, Giu-Cheng; Haiman, Christopher A; Henderson, Brian E; Le Marchand, Loic; Kolonel, Laurence N; Lindblom, Annika; Margolin, Sara; Jakubowska, Anna; Lubiński, Jan; Huzarski, Tomasz; Byrski, Tomasz; Górski, Bohdan; Gronwald, Jacek; Hooning, Maartje J; Hollestelle, Antoinette; van den Ouweland, Ans M W; Jager, Agnes; Kriege, Mieke; Tilanus-Linthorst, Madeleine M A; Collée, Margriet; Wang-Gohrke, Shan; Pylkäs, Katri; Jukkola-Vuorinen, Arja; Mononen, Kari; Grip, Mervi; Hirvikoski, Pasi; Winqvist, Robert; Mannermaa, Arto; Kosma, Veli-Matti; Kauppinen, Jaana; Kataja, Vesa; Auvinen, Päivi; Soini, Ylermi; Sironen, Reijo; Bojesen, Stig E; Ørsted, David Dynnes; Kaur-Knudsen, Diljit; Flyger, Henrik; Nordestgaard, Børge G; Holland, Helene; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Manoukian, Siranoush; Barile, Monica; Radice, Paolo; Hankinson, Susan E; Hunter, David J; Tamimi, Rulla; Sangrajrang, Suleeporn; Brennan, Paul; McKay, James; Odefrey, Fabrice; Gaborieau, Valerie; Devilee, Peter; Huijts, P E A; Tollenaar, R A E M; Seynaeve, C; Dite, Gillian S; Apicella, Carmel; Hopper, John L; Hammet, Fleur; Tsimiklis, Helen; Smith, Letitia D; Southey, Melissa C; Humphreys, Manjeet K; Easton, Douglas; Pharoah, Paul; Sherman, Mark E; Garcia-Closas, Montserrat

2011-02-02

Previous studies have suggested that breast cancer risk factors are associated with estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) expression status of the tumors. We pooled tumor marker and epidemiological risk factor data from 35,568 invasive breast cancer case patients from 34 studies participating in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. Logistic regression models were used in case-case analyses to estimate associations between epidemiological risk factors and tumor subtypes, and case-control analyses to estimate associations between epidemiological risk factors and the risk of developing specific tumor subtypes in 12 population-based studies. All statistical tests were two-sided. In case-case analyses, of the epidemiological risk factors examined, early age at menarche (≤12 years) was less frequent in case patients with PR(-) than PR(+) tumors (P = .001). Nulliparity (P = 3 × 10(-6)) and increasing age at first birth (P = 2 × 10(-9)) were less frequent in ER(-) than in ER(+) tumors. Obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 30 kg/m(2)) in younger women (≤50 years) was more frequent in ER(-)/PR(-) than in ER(+)/PR(+) tumors (P = 1 × 10(-7)), whereas obesity in older women (>50 years) was less frequent in PR(-) than in PR(+) tumors (P = 6 × 10(-4)). The triple-negative (ER(-)/PR(-)/HER2(-)) or core basal phenotype (CBP; triple-negative and cytokeratins [CK]5/6(+) and/or epidermal growth factor receptor [EGFR](+)) accounted for much of the heterogeneity in parity-related variables and BMI in younger women. Case-control analyses showed that nulliparity, increasing age at first birth, and obesity in younger women showed the expected associations with the risk of ER(+) or PR(+) tumors but not triple-negative (nulliparity vs parity, odds ratio [OR] = 0.94, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.75 to 1.19, P = .61; 5-year increase in age at first full-term birth, OR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.86 to 1.05, P = .34; obesity in younger women, OR = 1.36, 95% CI = 0.95 to 1.94, P = .09) or CBP tumors. This study shows that reproductive factors and BMI are most clearly associated with hormone receptor-positive tumors and suggest that triple-negative or CBP tumors may have distinct etiology.

Associations of Breast Cancer Risk Factors With Tumor Subtypes: A Pooled Analysis From the Breast Cancer Association Consortium Studies

PubMed Central

Chang-Claude, Jenny; Goode, Ellen L.; Couch, Fergus J.; Nevanlinna, Heli; Milne, Roger L.; Gaudet, Mia; Schmidt, Marjanka K.; Broeks, Annegien; Cox, Angela; Fasching, Peter A.; Hein, Rebecca; Spurdle, Amanda B.; Blows, Fiona; Driver, Kristy; Flesch-Janys, Dieter; Heinz, Judith; Sinn, Peter; Vrieling, Alina; Heikkinen, Tuomas; Aittomäki, Kristiina; Heikkilä, Päivi; Blomqvist, Carl; Lissowska, Jolanta; Peplonska, Beata; Chanock, Stephen; Figueroa, Jonine; Brinton, Louise; Hall, Per; Czene, Kamila; Humphreys, Keith; Darabi, Hatef; Liu, Jianjun; Van ‘t Veer, Laura J.; van Leeuwen, Flora E.; Andrulis, Irene L.; Glendon, Gord; Knight, Julia A.; Mulligan, Anna Marie; O’Malley, Frances P.; Weerasooriya, Nayana; John, Esther M.; Beckmann, Matthias W.; Hartmann, Arndt; Weihbrecht, Sebastian B.; Wachter, David L.; Jud, Sebastian M.; Loehberg, Christian R.; Baglietto, Laura; English, Dallas R.; Giles, Graham G.; McLean, Catriona A.; Severi, Gianluca; Lambrechts, Diether; Vandorpe, Thijs; Weltens, Caroline; Paridaens, Robert; Smeets, Ann; Neven, Patrick; Wildiers, Hans; Wang, Xianshu; Olson, Janet E.; Cafourek, Victoria; Fredericksen, Zachary; Kosel, Matthew; Vachon, Celine; Cramp, Helen E.; Connley, Daniel; Cross, Simon S.; Balasubramanian, Sabapathy P.; Reed, Malcolm W. R.; Dörk, Thilo; Bremer, Michael; Meyer, Andreas; Karstens, Johann H.; Ay, Aysun; Park-Simon, Tjoung-Won; Hillemanns, Peter; Arias Pérez, Jose Ignacio; Rodríguez, Primitiva Menéndez; Zamora, Pilar; Benítez, Javier; Ko, Yon-Dschun; Fischer, Hans-Peter; Hamann, Ute; Pesch, Beate; Brüning, Thomas; Justenhoven, Christina; Brauch, Hiltrud; Eccles, Diana M.; Tapper, William J.; Gerty, Sue M.; Sawyer, Elinor J.; Tomlinson, Ian P.; Jones, Angela; Kerin, Michael; Miller, Nicola; McInerney, Niall; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Ziogas, Argyrios; Shen, Chen-Yang; Hsiung, Chia-Ni; Wu, Pei-Ei; Yu, Jyh-Cherng; Chen, Shou-Tung; Hsu, Giu-Cheng; Haiman, Christopher A.; Henderson, Brian E.; Le Marchand, Loic; Kolonel, Laurence N.; Lindblom, Annika; Margolin, Sara; Jakubowska, Anna; Lubiński, Jan; Huzarski, Tomasz; Byrski, Tomasz; Górski, Bohdan; Gronwald, Jacek; Hooning, Maartje J.; Hollestelle, Antoinette; van den Ouweland, Ans M. W.; Jager, Agnes; Kriege, Mieke; Tilanus-Linthorst, Madeleine M. A.; Collée, Margriet; Wang-Gohrke, Shan; Pylkäs, Katri; Jukkola-Vuorinen, Arja; Mononen, Kari; Grip, Mervi; Hirvikoski, Pasi; Winqvist, Robert; Mannermaa, Arto; Kosma, Veli-Matti; Kauppinen, Jaana; Kataja, Vesa; Auvinen, Päivi; Soini, Ylermi; Sironen, Reijo; Bojesen, Stig E.; Dynnes Ørsted, David; Kaur-Knudsen, Diljit; Flyger, Henrik; Nordestgaard, Børge G.; Holland, Helene; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Manoukian, Siranoush; Barile, Monica; Radice, Paolo; Hankinson, Susan E.; Hunter, David J.; Tamimi, Rulla; Sangrajrang, Suleeporn; Brennan, Paul; McKay, James; Odefrey, Fabrice; Gaborieau, Valerie; Devilee, Peter; Huijts, P.E.A.; Tollenaar, RAEM.; Seynaeve, C.; Dite, Gillian S.; Apicella, Carmel; Hopper, John L.; Hammet, Fleur; Tsimiklis, Helen; Smith, Letitia D.; Southey, Melissa C.; Humphreys, Manjeet K.; Easton, Douglas; Pharoah, Paul; Sherman, Mark E.; Garcia-Closas, Montserrat

2011-01-01

Background Previous studies have suggested that breast cancer risk factors are associated with estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) expression status of the tumors. Methods We pooled tumor marker and epidemiological risk factor data from 35 568 invasive breast cancer case patients from 34 studies participating in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. Logistic regression models were used in case–case analyses to estimate associations between epidemiological risk factors and tumor subtypes, and case–control analyses to estimate associations between epidemiological risk factors and the risk of developing specific tumor subtypes in 12 population-based studies. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results In case–case analyses, of the epidemiological risk factors examined, early age at menarche (≤12 years) was less frequent in case patients with PR− than PR+ tumors (P = .001). Nulliparity (P = 3 × 10−6) and increasing age at first birth (P = 2 × 10−9) were less frequent in ER− than in ER+ tumors. Obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 30 kg/m2) in younger women (≤50 years) was more frequent in ER−/PR− than in ER+/PR+ tumors (P = 1 × 10−7), whereas obesity in older women (>50 years) was less frequent in PR− than in PR+ tumors (P = 6 × 10−4). The triple-negative (ER−/PR−/HER2−) or core basal phenotype (CBP; triple-negative and cytokeratins [CK]5/6+ and/or epidermal growth factor receptor [EGFR]+) accounted for much of the heterogeneity in parity-related variables and BMI in younger women. Case–control analyses showed that nulliparity, increasing age at first birth, and obesity in younger women showed the expected associations with the risk of ER+ or PR+ tumors but not triple-negative (nulliparity vs parity, odds ratio [OR] = 0.94, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.75 to 1.19, P = .61; 5-year increase in age at first full-term birth, OR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.86 to 1.05, P = .34; obesity in younger women, OR = 1.36, 95% CI = 0.95 to 1.94, P = .09) or CBP tumors. Conclusions This study shows that reproductive factors and BMI are most clearly associated with hormone receptor–positive tumors and suggest that triple-negative or CBP tumors may have distinct etiology. PMID:21191117

From Start-up to Sustainability: A Decade of Collaboration to Shape the Future of Nursing.

PubMed

Gubrud, Paula; Spencer, Angela G; Wagner, Linda

This article describes progress the Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education has made toward addressing the academic progression goals provided by the 2011 Institute of Medicine's Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health report. The history of the consortium's development is described, emphasizing the creation of an efficient and sustainable organization infrastructure that supports a shared curriculum provided through a community college/university partnership. Data and analysis describing progress and challenges related to supporting a shared curriculum and increasing access and affordability for nursing education across the state are presented. We identified four crucial attributes of maintaining collaborative community that have been cultivated to assure the consortium continues to make progress toward reaching the Institute of Medicine's Future of Nursing goals. Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education provides important lessons learned for other statewide consortiums to consider when developing plans for sustainability.

Formulation of bacterial consortium as whole cell biocatalyst for degradation of oil compounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yetti, Elvi; A'la, Amalia; Luthfiyah, Nailul; Wijaya, Hans; Thontowi, Ahmad; Yopi

2017-11-01

In this research, weaim to investigateformulation of bacterial consortium as whole cell biocatalyst for degradation of oil compounds. We constructed microbial consortium from 4 (four) selected marine oil bacteria to become 15 (twelve) combination culture. Those bacteria were from collection of Laboratory of Biocatalyst and Fermentation, Research Center for Biotechnology, Indonesian Institutes of Sciences and designated as Labrenzia sp. MBTDCMFRIMab26, Labrenzia aggregata strasin HQB397, Novosphingobium pentaromativorans strain PQ-3 16S, and Novosphingobium pentaromativorans strain US6-1. The mixture or bacteria consortia, denoted as F1, F2, …F15 consisted of 1, 2, 3 and 4 bacterial strains, respectively. The strains were selected based on the criteria that they were able to display good growth in crude oil containing media. Five bacterialformulationsshowed good potentialas candidates for microbial consortium. We will optimize these consortium with carrier matrix choosed from biomass materials and also carry out oil content analysis.

Leisure Time Physical Activity of Moderate to Vigorous Intensity and Mortality: A Large Pooled Cohort Analysis

PubMed Central

Moore, Steven C.; Patel, Alpa V.; Matthews, Charles E.; Berrington de Gonzalez, Amy; Park, Yikyung; Katki, Hormuzd A.; Linet, Martha S.; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Visvanathan, Kala; Helzlsouer, Kathy J.; Thun, Michael; Gapstur, Susan M.; Hartge, Patricia; Lee, I-Min

2012-01-01

Background Leisure time physical activity reduces the risk of premature mortality, but the years of life expectancy gained at different levels remains unclear. Our objective was to determine the years of life gained after age 40 associated with various levels of physical activity, both overall and according to body mass index (BMI) groups, in a large pooled analysis. Methods and Findings We examined the association of leisure time physical activity with mortality during follow-up in pooled data from six prospective cohort studies in the National Cancer Institute Cohort Consortium, comprising 654,827 individuals, 21–90 y of age. Physical activity was categorized by metabolic equivalent hours per week (MET-h/wk). Life expectancies and years of life gained/lost were calculated using direct adjusted survival curves (for participants 40+ years of age), with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) derived by bootstrap. The study includes a median 10 y of follow-up and 82,465 deaths. A physical activity level of 0.1–3.74 MET-h/wk, equivalent to brisk walking for up to 75 min/wk, was associated with a gain of 1.8 (95% CI: 1.6–2.0) y in life expectancy relative to no leisure time activity (0 MET-h/wk). Higher levels of physical activity were associated with greater gains in life expectancy, with a gain of 4.5 (95% CI: 4.3–4.7) y at the highest level (22.5+ MET-h/wk, equivalent to brisk walking for 450+ min/wk). Substantial gains were also observed in each BMI group. In joint analyses, being active (7.5+ MET-h/wk) and normal weight (BMI 18.5–24.9) was associated with a gain of 7.2 (95% CI: 6.5–7.9) y of life compared to being inactive (0 MET-h/wk) and obese (BMI 35.0+). A limitation was that physical activity and BMI were ascertained by self report. Conclusions More leisure time physical activity was associated with longer life expectancy across a range of activity levels and BMI groups. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary PMID:23139642

SU-E-P-26: Oncospace: A Shared Radiation Oncology Database System Designed for Personalized Medicine, Decision Support, and Research

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bowers, M; Robertson, S; Moore, J

Purpose: Advancement in Radiation Oncology (RO) practice develops through evidence based medicine and clinical trial. Knowledge usable for treatment planning, decision support and research is contained in our clinical data, stored in an Oncospace database. This data store and the tools for populating and analyzing it are compatible with standard RO practice and are shared with collaborating institutions. The question is - what protocol for system development and data sharing within an Oncospace Consortium? We focus our example on the technology and data meaning necessary to share across the Consortium. Methods: Oncospace consists of a database schema, planning and outcomemore » data import and web based analysis tools.1) Database: The Consortium implements a federated data store; each member collects and maintains its own data within an Oncospace schema. For privacy, PHI is contained within a single table, accessible to the database owner.2) Import: Spatial dose data from treatment plans (Pinnacle or DICOM) is imported via Oncolink. Treatment outcomes are imported from an OIS (MOSAIQ).3) Analysis: JHU has built a number of webpages to answer analysis questions. Oncospace data can also be analyzed via MATLAB or SAS queries.These materials are available to Consortium members, who contribute enhancements and improvements. Results: 1) The Oncospace Consortium now consists of RO centers at JHU, UVA, UW and the University of Toronto. These members have successfully installed and populated Oncospace databases with over 1000 patients collectively.2) Members contributing code and getting updates via SVN repository. Errors are reported and tracked via Redmine. Teleconferences include strategizing design and code reviews.3) Successfully remotely queried federated databases to combine multiple institutions’ DVH data for dose-toxicity analysis (see below – data combined from JHU and UW Oncospace). Conclusion: RO data sharing can and has been effected according to the Oncospace Consortium model: http://oncospace.radonc.jhmi.edu/ . John Wong - SRA from Elekta; Todd McNutt - SRA from Elekta; Michael Bowers - funded by Elekta.« less

Promoting Academic Development: A History of the International Consortium for Educational Development (ICED)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mason O'Connor, Kristine

2016-01-01

This essay traces the history of the International Consortium for Educational Development (ICED) through document analysis and email interviews with founding and prominent ICED members. It also provides a summary of the themes and locations of all the ICED conferences.

Phylogenetic characterization of a corrosive consortium isolated from a sour gas pipeline.

PubMed

Jan-Roblero, J; Romero, J M; Amaya, M; Le Borgne, S

2004-06-01

Biocorrosion is a common problem in oil and gas industry facilities. Characterization of the microbial populations responsible for biocorrosion and the interactions between different microorganisms with metallic surfaces is required in order to implement efficient monitoring and control strategies. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis was used to separate PCR products and sequence analysis revealed the bacterial composition of a consortium obtained from a sour gas pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico. Only one species of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) was detected in this consortium. The rest of the population consisted of enteric bacteria with different characteristics and metabolic capabilities potentially related to biocorrosion. Therefore, several types of bacteria may be involved in biocorrosion arising from natural biofilms that develop in industrial facilities. The low abundance of the detected SRB was evidenced by environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM). In addition, the localized corrosion of pipeline steel in the presence of the consortium was clearly observed by ESEM after removing the adhered bacteria.

Verification and Validation Process for Progressive Damage and Failure Analysis Methods in the NASA Advanced Composites Consortium

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wanthal, Steven; Schaefer, Joseph; Justusson, Brian; Hyder, Imran; Engelstad, Stephen; Rose, Cheryl

2017-01-01

The Advanced Composites Consortium is a US Government/Industry partnership supporting technologies to enable timeline and cost reduction in the development of certified composite aerospace structures. A key component of the consortium's approach is the development and validation of improved progressive damage and failure analysis methods for composite structures. These methods will enable increased use of simulations in design trade studies and detailed design development, and thereby enable more targeted physical test programs to validate designs. To accomplish this goal with confidence, a rigorous verification and validation process was developed. The process was used to evaluate analysis methods and associated implementation requirements to ensure calculation accuracy and to gage predictability for composite failure modes of interest. This paper introduces the verification and validation process developed by the consortium during the Phase I effort of the Advanced Composites Project. Specific structural failure modes of interest are first identified, and a subset of standard composite test articles are proposed to interrogate a progressive damage analysis method's ability to predict each failure mode of interest. Test articles are designed to capture the underlying composite material constitutive response as well as the interaction of failure modes representing typical failure patterns observed in aerospace structures.

Genetic variation in the immunosuppression pathway genes and breast cancer susceptibility: a pooled analysis of 42,510 cases and 40,577 controls from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium.

PubMed

Lei, Jieping; Rudolph, Anja; Moysich, Kirsten B; Behrens, Sabine; Goode, Ellen L; Bolla, Manjeet K; Dennis, Joe; Dunning, Alison M; Easton, Douglas F; Wang, Qin; Benitez, Javier; Hopper, John L; Southey, Melissa C; Schmidt, Marjanka K; Broeks, Annegien; Fasching, Peter A; Haeberle, Lothar; Peto, Julian; Dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel; Sawyer, Elinor J; Tomlinson, Ian; Burwinkel, Barbara; Marmé, Frederik; Guénel, Pascal; Truong, Thérèse; Bojesen, Stig E; Flyger, Henrik; Nielsen, Sune F; Nordestgaard, Børge G; González-Neira, Anna; Menéndez, Primitiva; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Neuhausen, Susan L; Brenner, Hermann; Arndt, Volker; Meindl, Alfons; Schmutzler, Rita K; Brauch, Hiltrud; Hamann, Ute; Nevanlinna, Heli; Fagerholm, Rainer; Dörk, Thilo; Bogdanova, Natalia V; Mannermaa, Arto; Hartikainen, Jaana M; Van Dijck, Laurien; Smeets, Ann; Flesch-Janys, Dieter; Eilber, Ursula; Radice, Paolo; Peterlongo, Paolo; Couch, Fergus J; Hallberg, Emily; Giles, Graham G; Milne, Roger L; Haiman, Christopher A; Schumacher, Fredrick; Simard, Jacques; Goldberg, Mark S; Kristensen, Vessela; Borresen-Dale, Anne-Lise; Zheng, Wei; Beeghly-Fadiel, Alicia; Winqvist, Robert; Grip, Mervi; Andrulis, Irene L; Glendon, Gord; García-Closas, Montserrat; Figueroa, Jonine; Czene, Kamila; Brand, Judith S; Darabi, Hatef; Eriksson, Mikael; Hall, Per; Li, Jingmei; Cox, Angela; Cross, Simon S; Pharoah, Paul D P; Shah, Mitul; Kabisch, Maria; Torres, Diana; Jakubowska, Anna; Lubinski, Jan; Ademuyiwa, Foluso; Ambrosone, Christine B; Swerdlow, Anthony; Jones, Michael; Chang-Claude, Jenny

2016-01-01

Immunosuppression plays a pivotal role in assisting tumors to evade immune destruction and promoting tumor development. We hypothesized that genetic variation in the immunosuppression pathway genes may be implicated in breast cancer tumorigenesis. We included 42,510 female breast cancer cases and 40,577 controls of European ancestry from 37 studies in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (2015) with available genotype data for 3595 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 133 candidate genes. Associations between genotyped SNPs and overall breast cancer risk, and secondarily according to estrogen receptor (ER) status, were assessed using multiple logistic regression models. Gene-level associations were assessed based on principal component analysis. Gene expression analyses were conducted using RNA sequencing level 3 data from The Cancer Genome Atlas for 989 breast tumor samples and 113 matched normal tissue samples. SNP rs1905339 (A>G) in the STAT3 region was associated with an increased breast cancer risk (per allele odds ratio 1.05, 95 % confidence interval 1.03-1.08; p value = 1.4 × 10(-6)). The association did not differ significantly by ER status. On the gene level, in addition to TGFBR2 and CCND1, IL5 and GM-CSF showed the strongest associations with overall breast cancer risk (p value = 1.0 × 10(-3) and 7.0 × 10(-3), respectively). Furthermore, STAT3 and IL5 but not GM-CSF were differentially expressed between breast tumor tissue and normal tissue (p value = 2.5 × 10(-3), 4.5 × 10(-4) and 0.63, respectively). Our data provide evidence that the immunosuppression pathway genes STAT3, IL5, and GM-CSF may be novel susceptibility loci for breast cancer in women of European ancestry.

History of thyroid disease and survival of ovarian cancer patients: results from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium, a brief report.

PubMed

Minlikeeva, Albina N; Freudenheim, Jo L; Cannioto, Rikki A; Eng, Kevin H; Szender, J Brian; Mayor, Paul; Etter, John L; Cramer, Daniel W; Diergaarde, Brenda; Doherty, Jennifer A; Dörk, Thilo; Edwards, Robert; deFazio, Anna; Friel, Grace; Goodman, Marc T; Hillemanns, Peter; Høgdall, Estrid; Jensen, Allan; Jordan, Susan J; Karlan, Beth Y; Kjær, Susanne K; Klapdor, Rüdiger; Matsuo, Keitaro; Mizuno, Mika; Nagle, Christina M; Odunsi, Kunle; Paddock, Lisa; Rossing, Mary Anne; Schildkraut, Joellen M; Schmalfeldt, Barbara; Segal, Brahm H; Starbuck, Kristen; Terry, Kathryn L; Webb, Penelope M; Zsiros, Emese; Ness, Roberta B; Modugno, Francesmary; Bandera, Elisa V; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Moysich, Kirsten B

2017-09-26

Findings from in vitro studies suggest that increased exposure to thyroid hormones can influence progression of ovarian tumours. However, epidemiologic evidence on this topic is limited. We pooled data from 11 studies from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium. Using multivariate Cox proportional hazards models, we estimated associations between hyper- and hypothyroidism and medications prescribed for these conditions with 5-year all-cause survival among women diagnosed with invasive ovarian cancer. Overall, there was a nonsignificant association with history of hyperthyroidism (n=160 cases) and mortality (HR=1.22; 95% CI=0.97-1.53). Furthermore, diagnosis of hyperthyroidism within the 5 years before ovarian cancer diagnosis was associated with an increased risk of death (HR=1.94; 95% CI=1.19-3.18). A more modest association was observed with history of hypothyroidism (n=624 cases) and mortality (HR=1.16; 95% CI=1.03-1.31). Neither duration of hypothyroidism nor use of thyroid medications was associated with survival. In this large study of women with ovarian cancer, we found that recent history of hyperthyroidism and overall history of hypothyroidism were associated with worse 5-year survival.

Circulating 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and Risk of Kidney Cancer

PubMed Central

Gallicchio, Lisa; Moore, Lee E.; Stevens, Victoria L.; Ahn, Jiyoung; Albanes, Demetrius; Hartmuller, Virginia; Setiawan, V. Wendy; Helzlsouer, Kathy J.; Yang, Gong; Xiang, Yong-Bing; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Snyder, Kirk; Weinstein, Stephanie J.; Yu, Kai; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Anne; Zheng, Wei; Cai, Qiuyin; Campbell, David S.; Chen, Yu; Chow, Wong-Ho; Horst, Ronald L.; Kolonel, Laurence N.; McCullough, Marjorie L.; Purdue, Mark P.; Koenig, Karen L.

2010-01-01

Although the kidney is a major organ for vitamin D metabolism, activity, and calcium-related homeostasis, little is known about whether this nutrient plays a role in the development or the inhibition of kidney cancer. To address this gap in knowledge, the authors examined the association between circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and kidney cancer within a large, nested case-control study developed as part of the Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers. Concentrations of 25(OH)D were measured from 775 kidney cancer cases and 775 age-, sex-, race-, and season-matched controls from 8 prospective cohort studies. Overall, neither low nor high concentrations of circulating 25(OH)D were significantly associated with kidney cancer risk. Although the data showed a statistically significant decreased risk for females (odds ratio = 0.31, 95% confidence interval: 0.12, 0.85) with 25(OH)D concentrations of ≥75 nmol/L, the linear trend was not statistically significant and the number of cases in this category was small (n = 14). The findings from this consortium-based study do not support the hypothesis that vitamin D is inversely associated with the risk of kidney cancer overall or with renal cell carcinoma specifically. PMID:20562187

Identification and characterization of an anaerobic ethanol-producing cellulolytic bacterial consortium from Great Basin hot springs with agricultural residues and energy crops.

PubMed

Zhao, Chao; Deng, Yunjin; Wang, Xingna; Li, Qiuzhe; Huang, Yifan; Liu, Bin

2014-09-01

In order to obtain the cellulolytic bacterial consortia, sediments from Great Basin hot springs (Nevada, USA) were sampled and enriched with cellulosic biomass as the sole carbon source. The bacterial composition of the resulting anaerobic ethanol-producing celluloytic bacterial consortium, named SV79, was analyzed. With methods of the full-length 16S rRNA librarybased analysis and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, 21 bacteria belonging to eight genera were detected from this consortium. Clones with closest relation to the genera Acetivibrio, Clostridium, Cellulosilyticum, Ruminococcus, and Sporomusa were predominant. The cellulase activities and ethanol productions of consortium SV79 using different agricultural residues (sugarcane bagasse and spent mushroom substrate) and energy crops (Spartina anglica, Miscanthus floridulus, and Pennisetum sinese Roxb) were studied. During cultivation, consortium SV79 produced the maximum filter paper activity (FPase, 9.41 U/ml), carboxymethylcellulase activity (CMCase, 6.35 U/ml), and xylanase activity (4.28 U/ml) with sugarcane bagasse, spent mushroom substrate, and S. anglica, respectively. The ethanol production using M. floridulus as substrate was up to 2.63 mM ethanol/g using gas chromatography analysis. It has high potential to be a new candidate for producing ethanol with cellulosic biomass under anoxic conditions in natural environments.

Common Breast Cancer Susceptibility Variants in LSP1 and RAD51L1 Are Associated with Mammographic Density Measures that Predict Breast Cancer Risk

PubMed Central

Vachon, Celine M.; Scott, Christopher G.; Fasching, Peter A.; Hall, Per; Tamimi, Rulla M.; Li, Jingmei; Stone, Jennifer; Apicella, Carmel; Odefrey, Fabrice; Gierach, Gretchen L.; Jud, Sebastian M.; Heusinger, Katharina; Beckmann, Matthias W.; Pollan, Marina; Fernández-Navarro, Pablo; González-Neira, Anna; Benítez, Javier; van Gils, Carla H.; Lokate, Mariëtte; Onland-Moret, N. Charlotte; Peeters, Petra H.M.; Brown, Judith; Leyland, Jean; Varghese, Jajini S.; Easton, Douglas F.; Thompson, Deborah J.; Luben, Robert N.; Warren, Ruth ML; Wareham, Nicholas J.; Loos, Ruth JF; Khaw, Kay-Tee; Ursin, Giske; Lee, Eunjung; Gayther, Simon A.; Ramus, Susan J.; Eeles, Rosalind A.; Leach, Martin O.; Kwan-Lim, Gek; Couch, Fergus J.; Giles, Graham G.; Baglietto, Laura; Krishnan, Kavitha; Southey, Melissa C.; Le Marchand, Loic; Kolonel, Laurence N.; Woolcott, Christy; Maskarinec, Gertraud; Haiman, Christopher A; Walker, Kate; Johnson, Nichola; McCormack, Valerie A.; Biong, Margarethe; Alnæs, Grethe I.G.; Gram, Inger Torhild; Kristensen, Vessela N.; Børresen-Dale, Anne-Lise; Lindström, Sara; Hankinson, Susan E.; Hunter, David J.; Andrulis, Irene L.; Knight, Julia A.; Boyd, Norman F.; Figueroa, Jonine D.; Lissowska, Jolanta; Wesolowska, Ewa; Peplonska, Beata; Bukowska, Agnieszka; Reszka, Edyta; Liu, JianJun; Eriksson, Louise; Czene, Kamila; Audley, Tina; Wu, Anna H.; Pankratz, V. Shane; Hopper, John L.; dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel

2013-01-01

Background Mammographic density adjusted for age and body mass index (BMI) is a heritable marker of breast cancer susceptibility. Little is known about the biological mechanisms underlying the association between mammographic density and breast cancer risk. We examined whether common low-penetrance breast cancer susceptibility variants contribute to inter-individual differences in mammographic density measures. Methods We established an international consortium (DENSNP) of 19 studies from 10 countries, comprising 16,895 Caucasian women, to conduct a pooled cross-sectional analysis of common breast cancer susceptibility variants in 14 independent loci and mammographic density measures. Dense and non-dense areas, and percent density, were measured using interactive-thresholding techniques. Mixed linear models were used to assess the association between genetic variants and the square roots of mammographic density measures adjusted for study, age, case status, body mass index (BMI) and menopausal status. Results Consistent with their breast cancer associations, the C-allele of rs3817198 in LSP1 was positively associated with both adjusted dense area (p=0.00005) and adjusted percent density (p=0.001) whereas the A-allele of rs10483813 in RAD51L1 was inversely associated with adjusted percent density (p=0.003), but not with adjusted dense area (p=0.07). Conclusion We identified two common breast cancer susceptibility variants associated with mammographic measures of radio-dense tissue in the breast gland. Impact We examined the association of 14 established breast cancer susceptibility loci with mammographic density phenotypes within a large genetic consortium and identified two breast cancer susceptibility variants, LSP1-rs3817198 and RAD51L1-rs10483813, associated with mammographic measures and in the same direction as the breast cancer association. PMID:22454379

The role of oral hygiene in head and neck cancer: results from International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium

PubMed Central

Hashim, D.; Sartori, S.; Brennan, P.; Curado, M. P.; Wünsch-Filho, V.; Divaris, K.; Olshan, A. F.; Zevallos, J. P.; Winn, D. M.; Franceschi, S.; Castellsagué, X.; Lissowska, J.; Rudnai, P.; Matsuo, K.; Morgenstern, H.; Chen, C.; Vaughan, T. L.; Hofmann, J. N.; D'Souza, G.; Haddad, R. I.; Wu, H.; Lee, Y.-C.; Hashibe, M.; Vecchia, C. La; Boffetta, P.

2016-01-01

Background Poor oral hygiene has been proposed to contribute to head and neck cancer (HNC) risk, although causality and independency of some indicators are uncertain. This study investigates the relationship of five oral hygiene indicators with incident HNCs. Methods In a pooled analysis of 8925 HNC cases and 12 527 controls from 13 studies participating in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium, comparable data on good oral hygiene indicators were harmonized. These included: no denture wear, no gum disease (or bleeding), <5 missing teeth, tooth brushing at least daily, and visiting a dentist ≥once a year. Logistic regression was used to estimate the effects of each oral hygiene indicator and cumulative score on HNC risk, adjusting for tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption. Results Inverse associations with any HNC, in the hypothesized direction, were observed for <5 missing teeth [odds ratio (OR) = 0.78; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.74, 0.82], annual dentist visit (OR = 0.82; 95% CI 0.78, 0.87), daily tooth brushing (OR = 0.83, 95% CI 0.79, 0.88), and no gum disease (OR = 0.94; 95% CI 0.89, 0.99), and no association was observed for wearing dentures. These associations were relatively consistent across specific cancer sites, especially for tooth brushing and dentist visits. The population attributable fraction for ≤ 2 out of 5 good oral hygiene indicators was 8.9% (95% CI 3.3%, 14%) for oral cavity cancer. Conclusion Good oral hygiene, as characterized by few missing teeth, annual dentist visits, and daily tooth brushing, may modestly reduce the risk of HNC. PMID:27234641

Family history of cancer and risk of Pancreatic Cancer: A Pooled Analysis from the Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium (PanScan)

PubMed Central

Jacobs, Eric J.; Chanock, Stephen J.; Fuchs, Charles S.; LaCroix, Andrea; McWilliams, Robert R.; Steplowski, Emily; Stolzenberg-Solomon, Rachael Z.; Arslan, Alan A.; Bueno-de-Mesquita, H. Bas; Gross, Myron; Helzlsouer, Kathy; Petersen, Gloria; Zheng, Wei; Agalliu, Ilir; Allen, Naomi E.; Amundadottir, Laufey; Boutron-Ruault, Marie-Christine; Buring, Julie E.; Canzian, Federico; Clipp, Sandra; Dorronsoro, Miren; Gaziano, J. Michael; Giovannucci, Edward L.; Hankinson, Susan E.; Hartge, Patricia; Hoover, Robert N.; Hunter, David J.; Jacobs, Kevin B.; Jenab, Mazda; Kraft, Peter; Kooperberg, Charles; Lynch, Shannon M.; Sund, Malin; Mendelsohn, Julie B.; Mouw, Tracy; Newton, Christina C.; Overvad, Kim; Palli, Domenico; Peeters, Petra H.M.; Rajkovic, Aleksandar; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Thomas, Gilles; Tobias, Geoffrey S.; Trichopoulos, Dimitrios; Virtamo, Jarmo; Wactawski-Wende, Jean; Wolpin, Brian M.; Yu, Kai; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Anne

2010-01-01

A family history of pancreatic cancer has consistently been associated with increased risk of pancreatic cancer. However, uncertainty remains about the strength of this association. Results from previous studies suggest a family history of select cancers (i.e. ovarian, breast, and colorectal) could also be associated, although not as strongly, with increased risk of pancreatic cancer. We examined the association between a family history of five types of cancer (pancreas, prostate, ovarian, breast, and colorectal) and risk of pancreatic cancer using data from a collaborative nested case-control study conducted by the Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium. Cases and controls were from cohort studies from the United States, Europe, and China, and a case-control study from the Mayo Clinic. Analyses of family history of pancreatic cancer included 1,183 cases and 1,205 controls. A family history of pancreatic cancer in a parent, sibling, or child was associated with increased risk of pancreatic cancer (multivariate-adjusted OR = 1.76, 95% CI 1.19–2.61). A family history of prostate cancer was also associated with increased risk (OR = 1.45, 95% CI 1.12–1.89). There were no statistically significant associations with a family history of ovarian cancer (OR = 0.82, 95% CI 0.52–1.31), breast cancer (OR = 1.21, 95% CI 0.97–1.51), or colorectal cancer (OR = 1.17, 95% CI 0.93–1.47). Our results confirm a moderate sized association between a family history of pancreatic cancer and risk of pancreatic cancer and also provide evidence for an association with a family history of prostate cancer worth further study. PMID:20049842

The role of oral hygiene in head and neck cancer: results from International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium.

PubMed

Hashim, D; Sartori, S; Brennan, P; Curado, M P; Wünsch-Filho, V; Divaris, K; Olshan, A F; Zevallos, J P; Winn, D M; Franceschi, S; Castellsagué, X; Lissowska, J; Rudnai, P; Matsuo, K; Morgenstern, H; Chen, C; Vaughan, T L; Hofmann, J N; D'Souza, G; Haddad, R I; Wu, H; Lee, Y-C; Hashibe, M; Vecchia, C La; Boffetta, P

2016-08-01

Poor oral hygiene has been proposed to contribute to head and neck cancer (HNC) risk, although causality and independency of some indicators are uncertain. This study investigates the relationship of five oral hygiene indicators with incident HNCs. In a pooled analysis of 8925 HNC cases and 12 527 controls from 13 studies participating in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium, comparable data on good oral hygiene indicators were harmonized. These included: no denture wear, no gum disease (or bleeding), <5 missing teeth, tooth brushing at least daily, and visiting a dentist ≥once a year. Logistic regression was used to estimate the effects of each oral hygiene indicator and cumulative score on HNC risk, adjusting for tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption. Inverse associations with any HNC, in the hypothesized direction, were observed for <5 missing teeth [odds ratio (OR) = 0.78; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.74, 0.82], annual dentist visit (OR = 0.82; 95% CI 0.78, 0.87), daily tooth brushing (OR = 0.83, 95% CI 0.79, 0.88), and no gum disease (OR = 0.94; 95% CI 0.89, 0.99), and no association was observed for wearing dentures. These associations were relatively consistent across specific cancer sites, especially for tooth brushing and dentist visits. The population attributable fraction for ≤ 2 out of 5 good oral hygiene indicators was 8.9% (95% CI 3.3%, 14%) for oral cavity cancer. Good oral hygiene, as characterized by few missing teeth, annual dentist visits, and daily tooth brushing, may modestly reduce the risk of HNC. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Variation in worldwide incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Marin, Benoît; Boumédiene, Farid; Logroscino, Giancarlo; Couratier, Philippe; Babron, Marie-Claude; Leutenegger, Anne Louise; Copetti, Massimilano; Preux, Pierre-Marie; Beghi, Ettore

2017-02-01

To assess the worldwide variation of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) incidence, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of population-based data published to date. We reviewed Medline and Embase up to June 2015 and included all population-based studies of newly diagnosed ALS cases, using multiple sources for case ascertainment. ALS crude and standardized incidence (on age and sex using the US 2010 population) were calculated. Random effect meta-analysis and meta-regression were performed using the subcontinent as the main study level covariate. Sources of heterogeneity related to the characteristics of the study population and the study methodology were investigated. Among 3216 records, 44 studies were selected, covering 45 geographical areas in 11 sub-continents. A total of 13 146 ALS cases and 825 million person-years of follow-up (PYFU) were co-nsidered. The overall pooled worldwide crude ALS incidence was at 1.75 (1.55-1.96)/100 000 PYFU; 1.68 (1.50-1.85)/100 000 PYFU after standardization. Heterogeneity was identified in ALS standardized incidence between North Europe [1.89 (1.46-2.32)/100 000 PYFU] and East Asia [0.83 (0.42-1.24)/100 000 PYFU, China and Japan P = 0.001] or South Asia [0.73 (0.58-0.89)/100 000/PYFU Iran, P = 0.02]. Conversely, homogeneous rates have been reported in populations from Europe, North America and New Zealand [pooled ALS standardized incidence of 1.81 (1.66-1.97)/100 000 PYFU for those areas]. This review confirms a heterogeneous distribution worldwide of ALS, and sets the scene to sustain a collaborative study involving a wide international consortium to investigate the link between ancestry, environment and ALS incidence. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association

The project office of the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mercier, E.; Els, S.; Gracia, G.; O'Mullane, W.; Lock, T.; Comoretto, G.

2010-07-01

Gaia is Europe's future astrometry satellite which is currently under development. The data collected by Gaia will be treated and analyzed by the "Data Processing and Analysis Consortium" (DPAC). DPAC consists of over 400 scientists in more than 22 countries, which are currently developing the required data reduction, analysis and handling algorithms and routines. DPAC is organized in Coordination Units (CU's) and Data Processing Centres (DPCs). Each of these entities is individually responsible for the development of software for the processing of the different data. In 2008, the DPAC Project Office (PO) has been set-up with the task to manage the day-to-day activities of the consortium including implementation, development and operations. This paper describes the tasks DPAC faces and the role of the DPAC PO in the Gaia framework and how it supports the DPAC entities in their effort to fulfill the Gaia promise.

Stable carbon isotope fractionation of chlorinated ethenes by a microbial consortium containing multiple dechlorinating genes.

PubMed

Liu, Na; Ding, Longzhen; Li, Haijun; Zhang, Pengpeng; Zheng, Jixing; Weng, Chih-Huang

2018-08-01

The study aimed to determine the possible contribution of specific growth conditions and community structures to variable carbon enrichment factors (Ɛ- carbon ) values for the degradation of chlorinated ethenes (CEs) by a bacterial consortium with multiple dechlorinating genes. Ɛ- carbon values for trichloroethylene, cis-1,2-dichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride were -7.24% ± 0.59%, -14.6% ± 1.71%, and -21.1% ± 1.14%, respectively, during their degradation by a microbial consortium containing multiple dechlorinating genes including tceA and vcrA. The Ɛ- carbon values of all CEs were not greatly affected by changes in growth conditions and community structures, which directly or indirectly affected reductive dechlorination of CEs by this consortium. Stability analysis provided evidence that the presence of multiple dechlorinating genes within a microbial consortium had little effect on carbon isotope fractionation, as long as the genes have definite, non-overlapping functions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Association of Rare and Common Variation in the Lipoprotein Lipase Gene with Coronary Artery Disease

PubMed Central

Khera, Amit V.; Won, Hong-Hee; Peloso, Gina M.; O’Dushlaine, Colm; Liu, Dajiang; Stitziel, Nathan O.; Natarajan, Pradeep; Nomura, Akihiro; Emdin, Connor A.; Gupta, Namrata; Borecki, Ingrid B.; Asselta, Rosanna; Duga, Stefano; Merlini, Piera Angelica; Correa, Adolfo; Kessler, Thorsten; Wilson, James G.; Bown, Matthew J.; Hall, Alistair S.; Braund, Peter S.; Carey, David J.; Murray, Michael F.; Kirchner, H. Lester; Leader, Joseph B.; Lavage, Daniel R.; Manus, J. Neil; Hartzel, Dustin N.; Samani, Nilesh J.; Schunkert, Heribert; Marrugat, Jaume; Elosua, Roberto; McPherson, Ruth; Farrall, Martin; Watkins, Hugh; Lander, Eric S.; Rader, Daniel J.; Danesh, John; Ardissino, Diego; Gabriel, Stacey; Willer, Cristen; Abecasis, Gonçalo R.; Saleheen, Danish; Dewey, Frederick E.; Kathiresan, Sekar

2017-01-01

Importance The activity of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) is the rate-determining step in clearing triglyceride-rich lipoproteins from the circulation. Mutations that damage the LPL gene lead to lifelong deficiency in enzymatic activity and can provide insight into the relationship of LPL to human disease. Objective Determine if rare and/or common variants in the LPL gene are associated with early-onset coronary artery disease (CAD). Design, Setting, and Participants Cross-sectional study. The LPL gene was sequenced in 10 CAD case-control cohorts of the multinational Myocardial Infarction Genetics Consortium and a nested CAD case-control cohort of the Geisinger Health System DiscovEHR cohort between 2010 and 2015. Common variants were genotyped in up to 305,699 individuals of the Global Lipids Genetics Consortium and up to 120,600 individuals of the CARDIoGRAM Exome Consortium between 2012 and 2014. Study-specific estimates were pooled via meta-analysis. Exposure Rare damaging mutations in LPL included loss-of-function variants and missense variants annotated as pathogenic in a human genetics database or predicted to be damaging by computer prediction algorithms trained to identify mutations that impair protein function. Common variants in the LPL gene region included those independently associated with circulating triglyceride levels. Main Outcomes and Measures Circulating lipid levels and CAD. Results Among 46,891 individuals with LPL gene sequencing data available, mean age was 50 years (SD 12.6) and 51% were female. 188 participants (0.40%; 95%CI 0.35–0.46) carried a damaging mutation in the LPL gene – 105 of 32,646 control participants (0.32%) and 83 of 14,245 (0.58%) early-onset CAD cases. Compared to 46,703 non-carriers, the 188 heterozygous carriers of a LPL damaging mutation displayed higher plasma triglycerides (Beta coefficient= +19.6 mg/dL; 95%CI 4.6–34.6) and higher odds of CAD (odds ratio 1.84; 95%CI 1.35–2.51; P<0.001). An analysis of 6 common LPL variants noted an odds ratio for CAD of 1.51 (95%CI 1.39–1.64; P=1.1×10−22) per standard deviation increase in triglycerides. Conclusions and Relevance The presence of rare damaging mutations in the LPL gene was significantly associated with higher triglyceride levels and presence of CAD. However, further research is needed to assess causal mechanisms by which heterozygous LPL deficiency could lead to CAD. PMID:28267856

Predicting OptimaL cAncer RehabIlitation and Supportive care (POLARIS): rationale and design for meta-analyses of individual patient data of randomized controlled trials that evaluate the effect of physical activity and psychosocial interventions on health-related quality of life in cancer survivors

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Effective interventions to improve quality of life of cancer survivors are essential. Numerous randomized controlled trials have evaluated the effects of physical activity or psychosocial interventions on health-related quality of life of cancer survivors, with generally small sample sizes and modest effects. Better targeted interventions may result in larger effects. To realize such targeted interventions, we must determine which interventions that are presently available work for which patients, and what the underlying mechanisms are (that is, the moderators and mediators of physical activity and psychosocial interventions). Individual patient data meta-analysis has been described as the ‘gold standard’ of systematic review methodology. Instead of extracting aggregate data from study reports or from authors, the original research data are sought directly from the investigators. Individual patient data meta-analyses allow for adequate statistical analysis of intervention effects and moderators of such effects. Here, we report the rationale and design of the Predicting OptimaL cAncer RehabIlitation and Supportive care (POLARIS) Consortium. The primary aim of POLARIS is 1) to conduct meta-analyses based on individual patient data to evaluate the effect of physical activity and psychosocial interventions on the health-related quality of life of cancer survivors; 2) to identify important demographic, clinical, personal, or intervention-related moderators of the effect; and 3) to build and validate clinical prediction models identifying the most relevant predictors of intervention success. Methods/Design We will invite investigators of randomized controlled trials that evaluate the effects of physical activity and/or psychosocial interventions on health-related quality of life compared with a wait-list, usual care or attention control group among adult cancer survivors to join the POLARIS consortium and share their data for use in pooled analyses that will address the proposed aims. We are in the process of identifying eligible randomized controlled trials through literature searches in four databases. To date, we have identified 132 eligible and unique trials. Discussion The POLARIS consortium will conduct the first individual patient data meta-analyses in order to generate evidence essential to targeting physical activity and psychosocial programs to the individual survivor’s characteristics, capabilities, and preferences. Registration PROSPERO: International prospective register of systematic reviews, CRD42013003805 PMID:24034173

A genome wide association study links glutamate receptor pathway to sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease risk.

PubMed

Sanchez-Juan, Pascual; Bishop, Matthew T; Kovacs, Gabor G; Calero, Miguel; Aulchenko, Yurii S; Ladogana, Anna; Boyd, Alison; Lewis, Victoria; Ponto, Claudia; Calero, Olga; Poleggi, Anna; Carracedo, Ángel; van der Lee, Sven J; Ströbel, Thomas; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Hofman, Albert; Haïk, Stéphane; Combarros, Onofre; Berciano, José; Uitterlinden, Andre G; Collins, Steven J; Budka, Herbert; Brandel, Jean-Philippe; Laplanche, Jean Louis; Pocchiari, Maurizio; Zerr, Inga; Knight, Richard S G; Will, Robert G; van Duijn, Cornelia M

2014-01-01

We performed a genome-wide association (GWA) study in 434 sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) patients and 1939 controls from the United Kingdom, Germany and The Netherlands. The findings were replicated in an independent sample of 1109 sCJD and 2264 controls provided by a multinational consortium. From the initial GWA analysis we selected 23 SNPs for further genotyping in 1109 sCJD cases from seven different countries. Five SNPs were significantly associated with sCJD after correction for multiple testing. Subsequently these five SNPs were genotyped in 2264 controls. The pooled analysis, including 1543 sCJD cases and 4203 controls, yielded two genome wide significant results: rs6107516 (p-value=7.62x10-9) a variant tagging the prion protein gene (PRNP); and rs6951643 (p-value=1.66x10-8) tagging the Glutamate Receptor Metabotropic 8 gene (GRM8). Next we analysed the data stratifying by country of origin combining samples from the pooled analysis with genotypes from the 1000 Genomes Project and imputed genotypes from the Rotterdam Study (Total n=12967). The meta-analysis of the results showed that rs6107516 (p-value=3.00x10-8) and rs6951643 (p-value=3.91x10-5) remained as the two most significantly associated SNPs. Rs6951643 is located in an intronic region of GRM8, a gene that was additionally tagged by a cluster of 12 SNPs within our top100 ranked results. GRM8 encodes for mGluR8, a protein which belongs to the metabotropic glutamate receptor family, recently shown to be involved in the transduction of cellular signals triggered by the prion protein. Pathway enrichment analyses performed with both Ingenuity Pathway Analysis and ALIGATOR postulates glutamate receptor signalling as one of the main pathways associated with sCJD. In summary, we have detected GRM8 as a novel, non-PRNP, genome-wide significant marker associated with heightened disease risk, providing additional evidence supporting a role of glutamate receptors in sCJD pathogenesis.

Codon usage bias reveals genomic adaptations to environmental conditions in an acidophilic consortium.

PubMed

Hart, Andrew; Cortés, María Paz; Latorre, Mauricio; Martinez, Servet

2018-01-01

The analysis of codon usage bias has been widely used to characterize different communities of microorganisms. In this context, the aim of this work was to study the codon usage bias in a natural consortium of five acidophilic bacteria used for biomining. The codon usage bias of the consortium was contrasted with genes from an alternative collection of acidophilic reference strains and metagenome samples. Results indicate that acidophilic bacteria preferentially have low codon usage bias, consistent with both their capacity to live in a wide range of habitats and their slow growth rate, a characteristic probably acquired independently from their phylogenetic relationships. In addition, the analysis showed significant differences in the unique sets of genes from the autotrophic species of the consortium in relation to other acidophilic organisms, principally in genes which code for proteins involved in metal and oxidative stress resistance. The lower values of codon usage bias obtained in this unique set of genes suggest higher transcriptional adaptation to living in extreme conditions, which was probably acquired as a measure for resisting the elevated metal conditions present in the mine.

Biodegradation of low and high molecular weight hydrocarbons in petroleum refinery wastewater by a thermophilic bacterial consortium.

PubMed

Pugazhendi, Arulazhagan; Abbad Wazin, Hadeel; Qari, Huda; Basahi, Jalal Mohammad Al-Badry; Godon, Jean Jacques; Dhavamani, Jeyakumar

2017-10-01

Clean-up of contaminated wastewater remains to be a major challenge in petroleum refinery. Here, we describe the capacity of a bacterial consortium enriched from crude oil drilling site in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia, to utilize polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as sole carbon source at 60°C. The consortium reduced low molecular weight (LMW; naphthalene, phenanthrene, fluorene and anthracene) and high molecular weight (HMW; pyrene, benzo(e)pyrene and benzo(k)fluoranthene) PAH loads of up to 1.5 g/L with removal efficiencies of 90% and 80% within 10 days. PAH biodegradation was verified by the presence of PAH metabolites and evolution of carbon dioxide (90 ± 3%). Biodegradation led to a reduction of the surface tension to 34 ± 1 mN/m thus suggesting biosurfactant production by the consortium. Phylogenetic analysis of the consortium revealed the presence of the thermophilic PAH degrader Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain CEES1 (KU664514) and Bacillus thermosaudia (KU664515) strain CEES2. The consortium was further found to treat petroleum wastewater in continuous stirred tank reactor with 96 ± 2% chemical oxygen demand removal and complete PAH degradation in 24 days.

Causal relationship between obesity and vitamin D status: bi-directional Mendelian randomization analysis of multiple cohorts.

PubMed

Vimaleswaran, Karani S; Berry, Diane J; Lu, Chen; Tikkanen, Emmi; Pilz, Stefan; Hiraki, Linda T; Cooper, Jason D; Dastani, Zari; Li, Rui; Houston, Denise K; Wood, Andrew R; Michaëlsson, Karl; Vandenput, Liesbeth; Zgaga, Lina; Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M; McCarthy, Mark I; Dupuis, Josée; Kaakinen, Marika; Kleber, Marcus E; Jameson, Karen; Arden, Nigel; Raitakari, Olli; Viikari, Jorma; Lohman, Kurt K; Ferrucci, Luigi; Melhus, Håkan; Ingelsson, Erik; Byberg, Liisa; Lind, Lars; Lorentzon, Mattias; Salomaa, Veikko; Campbell, Harry; Dunlop, Malcolm; Mitchell, Braxton D; Herzig, Karl-Heinz; Pouta, Anneli; Hartikainen, Anna-Liisa; Streeten, Elizabeth A; Theodoratou, Evropi; Jula, Antti; Wareham, Nicholas J; Ohlsson, Claes; Frayling, Timothy M; Kritchevsky, Stephen B; Spector, Timothy D; Richards, J Brent; Lehtimäki, Terho; Ouwehand, Willem H; Kraft, Peter; Cooper, Cyrus; März, Winfried; Power, Chris; Loos, Ruth J F; Wang, Thomas J; Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta; Whittaker, John C; Hingorani, Aroon D; Hyppönen, Elina

2013-01-01

Obesity is associated with vitamin D deficiency, and both are areas of active public health concern. We explored the causality and direction of the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] using genetic markers as instrumental variables (IVs) in bi-directional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. We used information from 21 adult cohorts (up to 42,024 participants) with 12 BMI-related SNPs (combined in an allelic score) to produce an instrument for BMI and four SNPs associated with 25(OH)D (combined in two allelic scores, separately for genes encoding its synthesis or metabolism) as an instrument for vitamin D. Regression estimates for the IVs (allele scores) were generated within-study and pooled by meta-analysis to generate summary effects. Associations between vitamin D scores and BMI were confirmed in the Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits (GIANT) consortium (n = 123,864). Each 1 kg/m(2) higher BMI was associated with 1.15% lower 25(OH)D (p = 6.52×10⁻²⁷). The BMI allele score was associated both with BMI (p = 6.30×10⁻⁶²) and 25(OH)D (-0.06% [95% CI -0.10 to -0.02], p = 0.004) in the cohorts that underwent meta-analysis. The two vitamin D allele scores were strongly associated with 25(OH)D (p≤8.07×10⁻⁵⁷ for both scores) but not with BMI (synthesis score, p = 0.88; metabolism score, p = 0.08) in the meta-analysis. A 10% higher genetically instrumented BMI was associated with 4.2% lower 25(OH)D concentrations (IV ratio: -4.2 [95% CI -7.1 to -1.3], p = 0.005). No association was seen for genetically instrumented 25(OH)D with BMI, a finding that was confirmed using data from the GIANT consortium (p≥0.57 for both vitamin D scores). On the basis of a bi-directional genetic approach that limits confounding, our study suggests that a higher BMI leads to lower 25(OH)D, while any effects of lower 25(OH)D increasing BMI are likely to be small. Population level interventions to reduce BMI are expected to decrease the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency.

ENT COBRA (Consortium for Brachytherapy Data Analysis): interdisciplinary standardized data collection system for head and neck patients treated with interventional radiotherapy (brachytherapy).

PubMed

Tagliaferri, Luca; Kovács, György; Autorino, Rosa; Budrukkar, Ashwini; Guinot, Jose Luis; Hildebrand, Guido; Johansson, Bengt; Monge, Rafael Martìnez; Meyer, Jens E; Niehoff, Peter; Rovirosa, Angeles; Takàcsi-Nagy, Zoltàn; Dinapoli, Nicola; Lanzotti, Vito; Damiani, Andrea; Soror, Tamer; Valentini, Vincenzo

2016-08-01

Aim of the COBRA (Consortium for Brachytherapy Data Analysis) project is to create a multicenter group (consortium) and a web-based system for standardized data collection. GEC-ESTRO (Groupe Européen de Curiethérapie - European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology) Head and Neck (H&N) Working Group participated in the project and in the implementation of the consortium agreement, the ontology (data-set) and the necessary COBRA software services as well as the peer reviewing of the general anatomic site-specific COBRA protocol. The ontology was defined by a multicenter task-group. Eleven centers from 6 countries signed an agreement and the consortium approved the ontology. We identified 3 tiers for the data set: Registry (epidemiology analysis), Procedures (prediction models and DSS), and Research (radiomics). The COBRA-Storage System (C-SS) is not time-consuming as, thanks to the use of "brokers", data can be extracted directly from the single center's storage systems through a connection with "structured query language database" (SQL-DB), Microsoft Access(®), FileMaker Pro(®), or Microsoft Excel(®). The system is also structured to perform automatic archiving directly from the treatment planning system or afterloading machine. The architecture is based on the concept of "on-purpose data projection". The C-SS architecture is privacy protecting because it will never make visible data that could identify an individual patient. This C-SS can also benefit from the so called "distributed learning" approaches, in which data never leave the collecting institution, while learning algorithms and proposed predictive models are commonly shared. Setting up a consortium is a feasible and practicable tool in the creation of an international and multi-system data sharing system. COBRA C-SS seems to be well accepted by all involved parties, primarily because it does not influence the center's own data storing technologies, procedures, and habits. Furthermore, the method preserves the privacy of all patients.

Type I and II Endometrial Cancers: Have They Different Risk Factors?

PubMed Central

Setiawan, Veronica Wendy; Yang, Hannah P.; Pike, Malcolm C.; McCann, Susan E.; Yu, Herbert; Xiang, Yong-Bing; Wolk, Alicja; Wentzensen, Nicolas; Weiss, Noel S.; Webb, Penelope M.; van den Brandt, Piet A.; van de Vijver, Koen; Thompson, Pamela J.; Strom, Brian L.; Spurdle, Amanda B.; Soslow, Robert A.; Shu, Xiao-ou; Schairer, Catherine; Sacerdote, Carlotta; Rohan, Thomas E.; Robien, Kim; Risch, Harvey A.; Ricceri, Fulvio; Rebbeck, Timothy R.; Rastogi, Radhai; Prescott, Jennifer; Polidoro, Silvia; Park, Yikyung; Olson, Sara H.; Moysich, Kirsten B.; Miller, Anthony B.; McCullough, Marjorie L.; Matsuno, Rayna K.; Magliocco, Anthony M.; Lurie, Galina; Lu, Lingeng; Lissowska, Jolanta; Liang, Xiaolin; Lacey, James V.; Kolonel, Laurence N.; Henderson, Brian E.; Hankinson, Susan E.; Håkansson, Niclas; Goodman, Marc T.; Gaudet, Mia M.; Garcia-Closas, Montserrat; Friedenreich, Christine M.; Freudenheim, Jo L.; Doherty, Jennifer; De Vivo, Immaculata; Courneya, Kerry S.; Cook, Linda S.; Chen, Chu; Cerhan, James R.; Cai, Hui; Brinton, Louise A.; Bernstein, Leslie; Anderson, Kristin E.; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Schouten, Leo J.; Horn-Ross, Pamela L.

2013-01-01

Purpose Endometrial cancers have long been divided into estrogen-dependent type I and the less common clinically aggressive estrogen-independent type II. Little is known about risk factors for type II tumors because most studies lack sufficient cases to study these much less common tumors separately. We examined whether so-called classical endometrial cancer risk factors also influence the risk of type II tumors. Patients and Methods Individual-level data from 10 cohort and 14 case-control studies from the Epidemiology of Endometrial Cancer Consortium were pooled. A total of 14,069 endometrial cancer cases and 35,312 controls were included. We classified endometrioid (n = 7,246), adenocarcinoma not otherwise specified (n = 4,830), and adenocarcinoma with squamous differentiation (n = 777) as type I tumors and serous (n = 508) and mixed cell (n = 346) as type II tumors. Results Parity, oral contraceptive use, cigarette smoking, age at menarche, and diabetes were associated with type I and type II tumors to similar extents. Body mass index, however, had a greater effect on type I tumors than on type II tumors: odds ratio (OR) per 2 kg/m2 increase was 1.20 (95% CI, 1.19 to 1.21) for type I and 1.12 (95% CI, 1.09 to 1.14) for type II tumors (Pheterogeneity < .0001). Risk factor patterns for high-grade endometrioid tumors and type II tumors were similar. Conclusion The results of this pooled analysis suggest that the two endometrial cancer types share many common etiologic factors. The etiology of type II tumors may, therefore, not be completely estrogen independent, as previously believed. PMID:23733771

Library Services Funding Assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lorig, Jonathan A.

2004-01-01

The Glenn Technical Library is a science and engineering library that primarily supports research activities at the Glenn Research Center, and provides selected services to researchers at all of the NASA research centers. Resources available in the library include books, journals, CD-ROMs, and access to various online sources, as well as live reference and inter-library loan services. The collection contains over 77,000 books, 800,000 research reports, and print or online access to over 1,400 journals. Currently the library operates within the Logistics and Technical Information Division, and is funded as an open-access resource within the GRC. Some of the research units at the GRC have recently requested that the library convert to a "pay-for-services" model, in which individual research units could fund only those journal subscriptions for which they have a specific need. Under this model, the library would always maintain a certain minimum level of pooled-expense services, including the ready reference and book collections, and inter-library loan services. Theoretically the "pay-for-services" model would encourage efficient financial allocation, and minimize the extent to which paid journal subscriptions go unused. However, this model also could potentially negate the benefits of group purchases for journal subscriptions and access. All of the major journal publishers offer package subscriptions that compare favorably in cost with the sum of individual subscription costs for a similar selection of titles. Furthermore, some of these subscription packages are "consortium" purchases that are funded collectively by the libraries at multiple NASA research centers; such consortia1 memberships would be difficult for the library to pay, if enough GRC research units were to withdraw their pooled contributions. cost of collectively-funded journal access with the cost of individual subscriptions. My primary task this summer is to create the cost dataset framework, and collect as much of the relevant data as possible. Hopefully this dataset will permit the research units at the GRC, and library administration as well, to make informed decisions about future library funding. Prior to the creation of the actual dataset, I established a comprehensive list of the library s print and online journal subscriptions. This list will be useful outside the context of the cost analysis project, as an addition to the library website. The cost analysis dataset s primary fields are: journal name, vendor, publisher, ISSN (International Standard Serial Number, to uniquely identify the titles), stand-alone price, and indication as to the presence of the journal in current GRC Technical Library consortium membership subscriptions. The dataset will hopefully facilitate comparisons between the stand-alone journal prices and the cost of shared journal subscriptions for groups of titles.

A Critical Analysis of a New Model for Occupational Therapy Education: Its Applicability for Other Occupations and Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Committee on Employment of Youth, New York, NY.

The symposium report focuses on an upgrading program (designed by the Consortium for Occupational Therapy Education) to develop alternate routes to credentialled education and training, resulting in opening up occupational therapy career opportunities to young people. The consortium was composed of four New York State hospitals, two academic…

Analysis of the Gulf Coast Consortium Student Perceptions of College Services Spring 2001 Survey.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Austin Community Coll., TX. Office of Institutional Effectiveness.

This is a report from Austin Community College (Texas) on a student satisfaction survey developed and administered by the Gulf Coast Consortium of Institutional Research (GCAIR). The survey includes student response data from four community colleges: Austin, Houston, North Harris Montgomery, and San Jacinto. A total of 3,267 students responded to…

Response Surface Analysis. National Consortium for Humanizing Education, Interim Report No. 3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roebuck, Flora N.; Aspy, D. N.

One of the major studies conducted by the Consortium involved examining the inter-relationships of various aspects of teacher and student classroom functioning to determine what happens to a particular class of teacher or student behavior as the quantity and/or quality of other aspects of classroom interaction change. This examination occurred in…

Chemometric formulation of bacterial consortium-AVS for improved decolorization of resonance-stabilized and heteropolyaromatic dyes.

PubMed

Kumar, Madhava Anil; Kumar, Vaidyanathan Vinoth; Premkumar, Manickam Periyaraman; Baskaralingam, Palanichamy; Thiruvengadaravi, Kadathur Varathachary; Dhanasekaran, Anuradha; Sivanesan, Subramanian

2012-11-01

A bacterial consortium-AVS, consisting of Pseudomonas desmolyticum NCIM 2112, Kocuria rosea MTCC 1532 and Micrococcus glutamicus NCIM 2168 was formulated chemometrically, using the mixture design matrix based on the design of experiments methodology. The formulated consortium-AVS decolorized acid blue 15 and methylene blue with a higher average decolorization rate, which is more rapid than that of the pure cultures. The UV-vis spectrophotometric, Fourier transform infra red spectrophotometric and high performance liquid chromatographic analysis confirm that the decolorization was due to biodegradation by oxido-reductive enzymes, produced by the consortium-AVS. The toxicological assessment of plant growth parameters and the chlorophyll pigment concentrations of Phaseolus mungo and Triticum aestivum seedlings revealed the reduced toxic nature of the biodegraded products. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Association of polygenic risk score with the risk of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis.

PubMed

Kleinstern, Geffen; Camp, Nicola J; Goldin, Lynn R; Vachon, Celine M; Vajdic, Claire M; de Sanjose, Silvia; Weinberg, J Brice; Benavente, Yolanda; Casabonne, Delphine; Liebow, Mark; Nieters, Alexandra; Hjalgrim, Henrik; Melbye, Mads; Glimelius, Bengt; Adami, Hans-Olov; Boffetta, Paolo; Brennan, Paul; Maynadie, Marc; McKay, James; Cocco, Pier Luigi; Shanafelt, Tait D; Call, Timothy G; Norman, Aaron D; Hanson, Curtis; Robinson, Dennis; Chaffee, Kari G; Brooks-Wilson, Angela R; Monnereau, Alain; Clavel, Jacqueline; Glenn, Martha; Curtin, Karen; Conde, Lucia; Bracci, Paige M; Morton, Lindsay M; Cozen, Wendy; Severson, Richard K; Chanock, Stephen J; Spinelli, John J; Johnston, James B; Rothman, Nathaniel; Skibola, Christine F; Leis, Jose F; Kay, Neil E; Smedby, Karin E; Berndt, Sonja I; Cerhan, James R; Caporaso, Neil; Slager, Susan L

2018-06-07

Inherited loci have been found to be associated with risk of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). A combined polygenic risk score (PRS) of representative single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from these loci may improve risk prediction over individual SNPs. Herein, we evaluated the association of a PRS with CLL risk and its precursor, monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis (MBL). We assessed its validity and discriminative ability in an independent sample and evaluated effect modification and confounding by family history (FH) of hematological cancers. For discovery, we pooled genotype data on 41 representative SNPs from 1499 CLL and 2459 controls from the InterLymph Consortium. For validation, we used data from 1267 controls from Mayo Clinic and 201 CLL, 95 MBL, and 144 controls with a FH of CLL from the Genetic Epidemiology of CLL Consortium. We used odds ratios (ORs) to estimate disease associations with PRS and c-statistics to assess discriminatory accuracy. In InterLymph, the continuous PRS was strongly associated with CLL risk (OR, 2.49; P = 4.4 × 10 -94 ). We replicated these findings in the Genetic Epidemiology of CLL Consortium and Mayo controls (OR, 3.02; P = 7.8 × 10 -30 ) and observed high discrimination (c-statistic = 0.78). When jointly modeled with FH, PRS retained its significance, along with FH status. Finally, we found a highly significant association of the continuous PRS with MBL risk (OR, 2.81; P = 9.8 × 10 -16 ). In conclusion, our validated PRS was strongly associated with CLL risk, adding information beyond FH. The PRS provides a means of identifying those individuals at greater risk for CLL as well as those at increased risk of MBL, a condition that has potential clinical impact beyond CLL.

Pooling academic resources for public health.

PubMed

Michael, J M; Hayakawa, J M

1994-01-01

In January 1984, the Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health (APACPH) was established, bringing together 5 schools of public health with the objectives: to raise the quality of professional education in public health; to enhance the knowledge and skills of health workers through joint projects; to solve health problems through closer links with each other and with ministries of health; to increase opportunities for graduate students through curriculum development; and to make child survival a major priority. The Consortium now comprises 31 academic institutions or units in 16 countries, and is supported by UNICEF, The World Health Organization, the China Medical Board of New York, and the governments of Japan and Malaysia. During 1985-1992, it also received major support from the United States through the US Agency for International Development and the University of Hawaii. During the past 10 years, APACPH has carried out such activities as setting up a data bank on the programs of its members, assessing public health problems, designing new curriculum and systems for service delivery, facilitating information and faculty exchanges, and running workshops for academic administrators. It has also organized conferences on the impact of urbanization on health, aging, child survival, AIDS, and occupational health. Since 1987 it has published the Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, the only English language journal on public health issues in the Asia and Pacific region, which will feature work being done by non-English-speaking researchers. Emphasis in the coming years will be placed on setting common standards for teaching and research, so that members can make more use of each other's programs. It is hoped that membership of the Consortium will continue to expand. A particular concern will be to focus more resources on preventive care rather than curative.

Changing the picture of Earth's earliest fossils (3.5-1.9 Ga) with new approaches and new discoveries.

PubMed

Brasier, Martin D; Antcliffe, Jonathan; Saunders, Martin; Wacey, David

2015-04-21

New analytical approaches and discoveries are demanding fresh thinking about the early fossil record. The 1.88-Ga Gunflint chert provides an important benchmark for the analysis of early fossil preservation. High-resolution analysis of Gunflintia shows that microtaphonomy can help to resolve long-standing paleobiological questions. Novel 3D nanoscale reconstructions of the most ancient complex fossil Eosphaera reveal features hitherto unmatched in any crown-group microbe. While Eosphaera may preserve a symbiotic consortium, a stronger conclusion is that multicellular morphospace was differently occupied in the Paleoproterozoic. The 3.46-Ga Apex chert provides a test bed for claims of biogenicity of cell-like structures. Mapping plus focused ion beam milling combined with transmission electron microscopy data demonstrate that microfossil-like taxa, including species of Archaeoscillatoriopsis and Primaevifilum, are pseudofossils formed from vermiform phyllosilicate grains during hydrothermal alteration events. The 3.43-Ga Strelley Pool Formation shows that plausible early fossil candidates are turning up in unexpected environmental settings. Our data reveal how cellular clusters of unexpectedly large coccoids and tubular sheath-like envelopes were trapped between sand grains and entombed within coatings of dripstone beach-rock silica cement. These fossils come from Earth's earliest known intertidal to supratidal shoreline deposit, accumulated under aerated but oxygen poor conditions.

Changing the picture of Earth's earliest fossils (3.5–1.9 Ga) with new approaches and new discoveries

PubMed Central

Brasier, Martin D.; Antcliffe, Jonathan; Saunders, Martin; Wacey, David

2015-01-01

New analytical approaches and discoveries are demanding fresh thinking about the early fossil record. The 1.88-Ga Gunflint chert provides an important benchmark for the analysis of early fossil preservation. High-resolution analysis of Gunflintia shows that microtaphonomy can help to resolve long-standing paleobiological questions. Novel 3D nanoscale reconstructions of the most ancient complex fossil Eosphaera reveal features hitherto unmatched in any crown-group microbe. While Eosphaera may preserve a symbiotic consortium, a stronger conclusion is that multicellular morphospace was differently occupied in the Paleoproterozoic. The 3.46-Ga Apex chert provides a test bed for claims of biogenicity of cell-like structures. Mapping plus focused ion beam milling combined with transmission electron microscopy data demonstrate that microfossil-like taxa, including species of Archaeoscillatoriopsis and Primaevifilum, are pseudofossils formed from vermiform phyllosilicate grains during hydrothermal alteration events. The 3.43-Ga Strelley Pool Formation shows that plausible early fossil candidates are turning up in unexpected environmental settings. Our data reveal how cellular clusters of unexpectedly large coccoids and tubular sheath-like envelopes were trapped between sand grains and entombed within coatings of dripstone beach-rock silica cement. These fossils come from Earth’s earliest known intertidal to supratidal shoreline deposit, accumulated under aerated but oxygen poor conditions. PMID:25901305

Surmounting the unique challenges in health disparities education: a multi-institution qualitative study.

PubMed

Carter-Pokras, Olivia; Bereknyei, Sylvia; Lie, Desiree; Braddock, Clarence H

2010-05-01

The National Consortium for Multicultural Education for Health Professionals (Consortium) comprises educators representing 18 US medical schools, funded by the National Institutes of Health. Collective lessons learned from curriculum implementation by principal investigators (PIs) have the potential to guide similar educational endeavors. Describe Consortium PI's self-reported challenges with curricular development, solutions and their new curricular products. Information was collected from PIs over 2 months using a 53-question structured three-part questionnaire. The questionnaire addressed PI demographics, curriculum implementation challenges and solutions, and newly created curricular products. Study participants were 18 Consortium PIs. Descriptive analysis was used for quantitative data. Narrative responses were analyzed and interpreted using qualitative thematic coding. Response rate was 100%. Common barriers and challenges identified by PIs were: finding administrative and leadership support, sustaining the momentum, continued funding, finding curricular space, accessing and engaging communities, and lack of education research methodology skills. Solutions identified included engaging stakeholders, project-sharing across schools, advocacy and active participation in committees and community, and seeking sustainable funding. All Consortium PIs reported new curricular products and extensive dissemination efforts outside their own institutions. The Consortium model has added benefits for curricular innovation and dissemination for cultural competence education to address health disparities. Lessons learned may be applicable to other educational innovation efforts.

Consortia for Engineering, Science and Technology Libraries in India: A Case Study of INDEST Consortium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pathak, S. K.; Deshpande, N. J.

2007-10-01

The present scenario of the INDEST Consortium among engineering, science and technology (including astronomy and astrophysics) libraries in India is discussed. The Indian National Digital Library in Engineering Sciences & Technology (INDEST) Consortium is a major initiative of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. The INDEST Consortium provides access to 16 full text e-resources and 7 bibliographic databases for 166 institutions as members who are taking advantage of cost effective access to premier resources in engineering, science and technology, including astronomy and astrophysics. Member institutions can access over 6500 e-journals from 1092 publishers. Out of these, over 150 e-journals are exclusively for the astronomy and physics community. The current study also presents a comparative analysis of the key features of nine major services, viz. ACM Digital Library, ASCE Journals, ASME Journals, EBSCO Databases (Business Source Premier), Elsevier's Science Direct, Emerald Full Text, IEEE/IEE Electronic Library Online (IEL), ProQuest ABI/INFORM and Springer Verlag's Link. In this paper, the limitations of this consortium are also discussed.

Nonylphenol biodegradation characterizations and bacterial composition analysis of an effective consortium NP-M2.

PubMed

Bai, Naling; Abuduaini, Rexiding; Wang, Sheng; Zhang, Meinan; Zhu, Xufen; Zhao, Yuhua

2017-01-01

Nonylphenol (NP), ubiquitously detected as the degradation product of nonionic surfactants nonylphenol polyethoxylates, has been reported as an endocrine disrupter. However, most pure microorganisms can degrade only limited species of NP with low degradation efficiencies. To establish a microbial consortium that can effectively degrade different forms of NP, in this study, we isolated a facultative microbial consortium NP-M2 and characterized the biodegradation of NP by it. NP-M2 could degrade 75.61% and 89.75% of 1000 mg/L NP within 48 h and 8 days, respectively; an efficiency higher than that of any other consortium or pure microorganism reported so far. The addition of yeast extract promoted the biodegradation more significantly than that of glucose. Moreover, surface-active compounds secreted into the extracellular environment were hypothesized to promote high-efficiency metabolism of NP. The detoxification of NP by this consortium was determined. The degradation pathway was hypothesized to be initiated by oxidization of the benzene ring, followed by step-wise side-chain biodegradation. The bacterial composition of NP-M2 was determined using 16S rDNA library, and the consortium was found to mainly comprise members of the Sphingomonas, Pseudomonas, Alicycliphilus, and Acidovorax genera, with the former two accounting for 86.86% of the consortium. The high degradation efficiency of NP-M2 indicated that it could be a promising candidate for NP bioremediation in situ. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Final Technical Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rasure, John, et. al.

Through past DOE funding, the MIND Research network has funded a national consortium effort that used multi-modal neuroimaging, genetics, and clinical assessment of subjects to study schizophrenia in both first episode and persistently ill patients. Although active recruitment of research participants is complete, this consortium remains active and productive in terms of analysis of this unique multi-modal data collected on over 320 subjects.

Deconstructing Hub Drag. Part 2. Computational Development and Anaysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-30

leveraged a Vertical Lift Consortium ( VLC )-funded hub drag scaling research effort. To confirm this objective, correlations are performed with the...Technology™ Demonstrator aircraft using an unstructured computational solver. These simpler faired elliptical geome- tries can prove to be challenging ...possible. However, additional funding was obtained from the Vertical Lift Consortium ( VLC ) to perform this study. This analysis is documented in

Duchenne Regulatory Science Consortium Meeting on Disease Progression Modeling for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

PubMed

Larkindale, Jane; Abresch, Richard; Aviles, Enrique; Bronson, Abby; Chin, Janice; Furlong, Pat; Gordish-Dressman, Heather; Habeeb-Louks, Elizabeth; Henricson, Erik; Kroger, Hans; Lynn, Charles; Lynn, Stephen; Martin, Dana; Nuckolls, Glen; Rooney, William; Romero, Klaus; Sweeney, Lee; Vandenborne, Krista; Walter, Glenn; Wolff, Jodi; Wong, Brenda; McDonald, Craig M; Duchenne Regulatory Science Consortium Imaging-Dmd Consortium And The Cinrg Investigators, Members Of The

2017-01-12

The Duchenne Regulatory Science Consortium (D-RSC) was established to develop tools to accelerate drug development for DMD.  The resulting tools are anticipated to meet validity requirements outlined by qualification/endorsement pathways at both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Administration (EMA), and will be made available to the drug development community. The initial goals of the consortium include the development of a disease progression model, with the goal of creating a model that would be used to forecast changes in clinically meaningful endpoints, which would inform clinical trial protocol development and data analysis.  Methods: In April of 2016 the consortium and other experts met to formulate plans for the development of the model.  Conclusions: Here we report the results of the meeting, and discussion as to the form of the model that we plan to move forward to develop, after input from the regulatory authorities.

The 2011 PHARMINE report on pharmacy and pharmacy education in the European Union

PubMed Central

Atkinson, Jeffrey; Rombaut, Bart

The PHARMINE consortium consists of 50 universities from European Union member states or other European countries that are members of the European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy (EAFP). EU partner associations representing community (PGEU), hospital (EAHP) and industrial pharmacy (EIPG), together with the European Pharmacy Students’ Association (EPSA) are also part of the consortium. The consortium surveyed pharmacies and pharmacists in different settings: community, hospital, industry and other sectors. The consortium also looked at how European Union higher education institutions and courses are organised. The PHARMINE survey of pharmacy and pharmacy education in Europe produced country profiles with extensive information for EU member states and several other European countries. These data are available at: http://www.pharmine.org/losse_paginas/Country_Profiles/. This 2011 PHARMINE report presents the project and data, and some preliminary analysis on the basic question of how pharmacy education is adapted to pharmacy practice in the EU. PMID:24198854

Optimization of a Centrifugal Impeller Design Through CFD Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, W. C.; Eastland, A. H.; Chan, D. C.; Garcia, Roberto

1993-01-01

This paper discusses the procedure, approach and Rocketdyne CFD results for the optimization of the NASA consortium impeller design. Two different approaches have been investigated. The first one is to use a tandem blade arrangement, the main impeller blade is split into two separate rows with the second blade row offset circumferentially with respect to the first row. The second approach is to control the high losses related to secondary flows within the impeller passage. Many key parameters have been identified and each consortium team member involved will optimize a specific parameter using 3-D CFD analysis. Rocketdyne has provided a series of CFD grids for the consortium team members. SECA will complete the tandem blade study, SRA will study the effect of the splitter blade solidity change, NASA LeRC will evaluate the effect of circumferential position of the splitter blade, VPI will work on the hub to shroud blade loading distribution, NASA Ames will examine the impeller discharge leakage flow impacts and Rocketdyne will continue to work on the meridional contour and the blade leading to trailing edge work distribution. This paper will also present Rocketdyne results from the tandem blade study and from the blade loading distribution study. It is the ultimate goal of this consortium team to integrate the available CFD analysis to design an advanced technology impeller that is suitable for use in the NASA Space Transportation Main Engine (STME) fuel turbopump.

Aspirin, Nonaspirin Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drug, and Acetaminophen Use and Risk of Invasive Epithelial Ovarian Cancer: A Pooled Analysis in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Regular aspirin use is associated with reduced risk of several malignancies. Epidemiologic studies analyzing aspirin, nonaspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), and acetaminophen use and ovarian cancer risk have been inconclusive. Methods We analyzed pooled data from 12 population-based case–control studies of ovarian cancer, including 7776 case patients and 11843 control subjects accrued between 1992 and 2007. Odds ratios (ORs) for associations of medication use with invasive epithelial ovarian cancer were estimated in individual studies using logistic regression and combined using random effects meta-analysis. Associations between frequency, dose, and duration of analgesic use and risk of ovarian cancer were also assessed. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results Aspirin use was associated with a reduced risk of ovarian cancer (OR = 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.84 to 0.99). Results were similar but not statistically significant for nonaspirin NSAIDs, and there was no association with acetaminophen. In seven studies with frequency data, the reduced risk was strongest among daily aspirin users (OR = 0.80; 95% CI = 0.67 to 0.96). In three studies with dose information, the reduced risk was strongest among users of low dose (<100mg) aspirin (OR = 0.66; 95% CI = 0.53 to 0.83), whereas for nonaspirin NSAIDs, the reduced risk was strongest for high dose (≥500mg) usage (OR = 0.76; 95% CI = 0.64 to 0.91). Conclusions Aspirin use was associated with a reduced risk of ovarian cancer, especially among daily users of low-dose aspirin. These findings suggest that the same aspirin regimen proven to protect against cardiovascular events and several cancers could reduce the risk of ovarian cancer 20% to 34% depending on frequency and dose of use. PMID:24503200

Meta-Analysis of Survival Curve Data Using Distributed Health Data Networks: Application to Hip Arthroplasty Studies of the International Consortium of Orthopaedic Registries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cafri, Guy; Banerjee, Samprit; Sedrakyan, Art; Paxton, Liz; Furnes, Ove; Graves, Stephen; Marinac-Dabic, Danica

2015-01-01

The motivating example for this paper comes from a distributed health data network, the International Consortium of Orthopaedic Registries (ICOR), which aims to examine risk factors for orthopedic device failure for registries around the world. Unfortunately, regulatory, privacy, and propriety concerns made sharing of raw data impossible, even if…

CPTAC Launches Proteomics Data Portal | Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research

Cancer.gov

The National Cancer Institute’s Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) announces the launch of the CPTAC Data Portal. The Data Portal hosts all the data that is currently being produced by the consortium with additional historic data from CPTAC 1. The total amount of hosted data exceeds over 500 GB of RAW data in over 800 files.

Multinational Assessment of Accuracy of Equations for Predicting Risk of Kidney Failure: A Meta-analysis.

PubMed

Tangri, Navdeep; Grams, Morgan E; Levey, Andrew S; Coresh, Josef; Appel, Lawrence J; Astor, Brad C; Chodick, Gabriel; Collins, Allan J; Djurdjev, Ognjenka; Elley, C Raina; Evans, Marie; Garg, Amit X; Hallan, Stein I; Inker, Lesley A; Ito, Sadayoshi; Jee, Sun Ha; Kovesdy, Csaba P; Kronenberg, Florian; Heerspink, Hiddo J Lambers; Marks, Angharad; Nadkarni, Girish N; Navaneethan, Sankar D; Nelson, Robert G; Titze, Stephanie; Sarnak, Mark J; Stengel, Benedicte; Woodward, Mark; Iseki, Kunitoshi

2016-01-12

Identifying patients at risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression may facilitate more optimal nephrology care. Kidney failure risk equations, including such factors as age, sex, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and calcium and phosphate concentrations, were previously developed and validated in 2 Canadian cohorts. Validation in other regions and in CKD populations not under the care of a nephrologist is needed. To evaluate the accuracy of the risk equations across different geographic regions and patient populations through individual participant data meta-analysis. Thirty-one cohorts, including 721,357 participants with CKD stages 3 to 5 in more than 30 countries spanning 4 continents, were studied. These cohorts collected data from 1982 through 2014. Cohorts participating in the CKD Prognosis Consortium with data on end-stage renal disease. Data were obtained and statistical analyses were performed between July 2012 and June 2015. Using the risk factors from the original risk equations, cohort-specific hazard ratios were estimated and combined using random-effects meta-analysis to form new pooled kidney failure risk equations. Original and pooled kidney failure risk equation performance was compared, and the need for regional calibration factors was assessed. Kidney failure (treatment by dialysis or kidney transplant). During a median follow-up of 4 years of 721,357 participants with CKD, 23,829 cases kidney failure were observed. The original risk equations achieved excellent discrimination (ability to differentiate those who developed kidney failure from those who did not) across all cohorts (overall C statistic, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.89-0.92 at 2 years; C statistic at 5 years, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.86-0.90); discrimination in subgroups by age, race, and diabetes status was similar. There was no improvement with the pooled equations. Calibration (the difference between observed and predicted risk) was adequate in North American cohorts, but the original risk equations overestimated risk in some non-North American cohorts. Addition of a calibration factor that lowered the baseline risk by 32.9% at 2 years and 16.5% at 5 years improved the calibration in 12 of 15 and 10 of 13 non-North American cohorts at 2 and 5 years, respectively (P = .04 and P = .02). Kidney failure risk equations developed in a Canadian population showed high discrimination and adequate calibration when validated in 31 multinational cohorts. However, in some regions the addition of a calibration factor may be necessary.

Bioremediation and reclamation of soil contaminated with petroleum oil hydrocarbons by exogenously seeded bacterial consortium: a pilot-scale study.

PubMed

Mukherjee, Ashis K; Bordoloi, Naba K

2011-03-01

Spillage of petroleum hydrocarbons causes significant environmental pollution. Bioremediation is an effective process to remediate petroleum oil contaminant from the ecosystem. The aim of the present study was to reclaim a petroleum oil-contaminated soil which was unsuitable for the cultivation of crop plants by using petroleum oil hydrocarbon-degrading microbial consortium. Bacterial consortium consisting of Bacillus subtilis DM-04 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa M and NM strains were seeded to 20% (v/w) petroleum oil-contaminated soil, and bioremediation experiment was carried out for 180 days under laboratory condition. The kinetics of hydrocarbon degradation was analyzed using biochemical and gas chromatographic (GC) techniques. The ecotoxicity of the elutriates obtained from petroleum oil-contaminated soil before and post-treatment with microbial consortium was tested on germination and growth of Bengal gram (Cicer aretinum) and green gram (Phaseolus mungo) seeds. Bacterial consortium showed a significant reduction in total petroleum hydrocarbon level in contaminated soil (76% degradation) as compared to the control soil (3.6% degradation) 180 days post-inoculation. The GC analysis confirmed that bacterial consortium was more effective in degrading the alkane fraction compared to aromatic fraction of crude petroleum oil hydrocarbons in soil. The nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen compounds fraction was least degraded. The reclaimed soil supported the germination and growth of crop plants (C. aretinum and P. mungo). In contrast, seeds could not be germinated in petroleum oil-contaminated soil. The present study reinforces the application of bacterial consortium rather than individual bacterium for the effective bioremediation and reclamation of soil contaminated with petroleum oil.

Decolorization of adsorbed textile dyes by developed consortium of Pseudomonas sp. SUK1 and Aspergillus ochraceus NCIM-1146 under solid state fermentation.

PubMed

Kadam, Avinash A; Telke, Amar A; Jagtap, Sujit S; Govindwar, Sanjay P

2011-05-15

The objective of this study was to develop consortium using Pseudomonas sp. SUK1 and Aspergillus ochraceus NCIM-1146 to decolorize adsorbed dyes from textile effluent wastewater under solid state fermentation. Among various agricultural wastes rice bran showed dye adsorption up to 90, 62 and 80% from textile dye reactive navy blue HE2R (RNB HE2R) solution, mixture of textile dyes and textile industry wastewater, respectively. Pseudomonas sp. SUK1 and A. ochraceus NCIM-1146 showed 62 and 38% decolorization of RNB HE2R adsorbed on rice bran in 24h under solid state fermentation. However, the consortium of Pseudomonas sp. SUK1 and A. ochraceus NCIM-1146 (consortium-PA) showed 80% decolorization in 24h. The consortium-PA showed effective ADMI removal ratio of adsorbed dyes from textile industry wastewater (77%), mixture of textile dyes (82%) and chemical precipitate of textile dye effluent (CPTDE) (86%). Secretion of extracellular enzymes such as laccase, azoreductase, tyrosinase and NADH-DCIP reductase and their significant induction in the presence of adsorbed dye suggests their role in the decolorization of RNB HE2R. GCMS and HPLC analysis of product suggests the different fates of biodegradation of RNB HE2R when used Pseudomonas sp. SUK1, A. ochraceus NCIM-1146 and consortium PA. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Characterization of a di-n-butyl phthalate-degrading bacterial consortium and its application in contaminated soil.

PubMed

Yang, Jing; Guo, Chuling; Liu, Shasha; Liu, Weiting; Wang, Han; Dang, Zhi; Lu, Guining

2018-04-17

Dibutyl phthalate (DBP), as a plasticizer, is widely used in China, and it is easily released into diverse environments. In this study, we have obtained a stable bacterial consortium (B1) enriched from municipal sewage treatment plant activated sludge. The obtained bacterial consortium B1 was capable of degrading DBP and was mainly composed of Pandoraea sp. and Microbacterium sp. From the initial concentrations of 35-500 mg L -1 , DBP was efficiently degraded by the consortium, with the degradation rates above 92% within 3 days. The optimal temperature for DBP degradation was 30 °C and consortium B1 could adapt to a wide range of pH (5.5-8.5). The analysis of Illumina sequencing further showed that the relative abundance of Pandoraea was increased at the beginning of the degradation, while Microbacterium was decreased. In the later stage of the degradation, the change of the relative abundance of Pandoraea and Microbacterium was opposite. Apart from DBP, consortium B1 could also utilize dimethyl phthalate (DMP), di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), and phthalic acid (PA) as the sole carbon. Moreover, adding B1 to DBP-contaminated soil could greatly improve the removal rate of DBP, suggesting that B1 has a great potential for the bioremediation of DBP-contaminated environments.

Surmounting the Unique Challenges in Health Disparities Education: A Multi-Institution Qualitative Study

PubMed Central

Bereknyei, Sylvia; Lie, Desiree; Braddock, Clarence H.

2010-01-01

Background The National Consortium for Multicultural Education for Health Professionals (Consortium) comprises educators representing 18 US medical schools, funded by the National Institutes of Health. Collective lessons learned from curriculum implementation by principal investigators (PIs) have the potential to guide similar educational endeavors. Objective Describe Consortium PI’s self-reported challenges with curricular development, solutions and their new curricular products. Methods Information was collected from PIs over 2 months using a 53-question structured three-part questionnaire. The questionnaire addressed PI demographics, curriculum implementation challenges and solutions, and newly created curricular products. Study participants were 18 Consortium PIs. Descriptive analysis was used for quantitative data. Narrative responses were analyzed and interpreted using qualitative thematic coding. Results Response rate was 100%. Common barriers and challenges identified by PIs were: finding administrative and leadership support, sustaining the momentum, continued funding, finding curricular space, accessing and engaging communities, and lack of education research methodology skills. Solutions identified included engaging stakeholders, project-sharing across schools, advocacy and active participation in committees and community, and seeking sustainable funding. All Consortium PIs reported new curricular products and extensive dissemination efforts outside their own institutions. Conclusion The Consortium model has added benefits for curricular innovation and dissemination for cultural competence education to address health disparities. Lessons learned may be applicable to other educational innovation efforts. PMID:20352503

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kuykendall, Tommie G.; Allsop, Jacob Lee; Anderson, Benjamin Robert

The cybersecurity consortium, which was established by DOE/NNSA’s Minority Serving Institutions Partnerships Program (MSIPP), allows students from any of the partner schools (13 HBCUs, two national laboratories, and a public school district) to have all consortia options available to them, to create career paths and to open doors to DOE sites and facilities to student members of the consortium. As a part of this year consortium activities, Sandia National Laboratories and the University of Virgin Islands conducted a week long cyber workshop that consisted of three courses; Digital Forensics and Malware Analysis, Python Programming, and ThunderBird Cup. These courses aremore » designed to enhance cyber defense skills and promote learning within STEM related fields.« less

Job Strain as a Risk Factor for Type 2 Diabetes: A Pooled Analysis of 124,808 Men and Women

PubMed Central

Fransson, Eleonor I.; Heikkilä, Katriina; Ahola, Kirsi; Alfredsson, Lars; Bjorner, Jakob B.; Borritz, Marianne; Burr, Hermann; Dragano, Nico; Goldberg, Marcel; Hamer, Mark; Jokela, Markus; Knutsson, Anders; Koskenvuo, Markku; Koskinen, Aki; Kouvonen, Anne; Leineweber, Constanze; Madsen, Ida E.H.; Magnusson Hanson, Linda L.; Marmot, Michael G.; Nielsen, Martin L.; Nordin, Maria; Oksanen, Tuula; Pejtersen, Jan H.; Pentti, Jaana; Rugulies, Reiner; Salo, Paula; Siegrist, Johannes; Steptoe, Andrew; Suominen, Sakari; Theorell, Töres; Väänänen, Ari; Vahtera, Jussi; Virtanen, Marianna; Westerholm, Peter J.M.; Westerlund, Hugo; Zins, Marie; Batty, G. David; Brunner, Eric J.; Ferrie, Jane E.; Singh-Manoux, Archana

2014-01-01

OBJECTIVE The status of psychosocial stress at work as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes is unclear because existing evidence is based on small studies and is subject to confounding by lifestyle factors, such as obesity and physical inactivity. This collaborative study examined whether stress at work, defined as “job strain,” is associated with incident type 2 diabetes independent of lifestyle factors. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We extracted individual-level data for 124,808 diabetes-free adults from 13 European cohort studies participating in the IPD-Work Consortium. We measured job strain with baseline questionnaires. Incident type 2 diabetes at follow-up was ascertained using national health registers, clinical screening, and self-reports. We analyzed data for each study using Cox regression and pooled the study-specific estimates in fixed-effect meta-analyses. RESULTS There were 3,703 cases of incident diabetes during a mean follow-up of 10.3 years. After adjustment for age, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES), the hazard ratio (HR) for job strain compared with no job strain was 1.15 (95% CI 1.06–1.25) with no difference between men and women (1.19 [1.06–1.34] and 1.13 [1.00–1.28], respectively). In stratified analyses, job strain was associated with an increased risk of diabetes among those with healthy and unhealthy lifestyle habits. In a multivariable model adjusted for age, sex, SES, and lifestyle habits, the HR was 1.11 (1.00–1.23). CONCLUSIONS Findings from a large pan-European dataset suggest that job strain is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes in men and women independent of lifestyle factors. PMID:25061139

Red meat intake, NAT2, and risk of colorectal cancer: A pooled analysis of 11 studies

PubMed Central

Ananthakrishnan, Ashwin N.; Du, Mengmeng; Berndt, Sonja I.; Brenner, Hermann; Caan, Bette J.; Casey, Graham; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Duggan, David; Fuchs, Charles S.; Gallinger, Steven; Giovannucci, Edward L.; Harrison, Tabitha A.; Hayes, Richard B.; Hoffmeister, Michael; Hopper, John L.; Hou, Lifang; Hsu, Li; Jenkins, Mark A.; Kraft, Peter; Ma, Jing; Nan, Hongmei; Newcomb, Polly A.; Ogino, Shuji; Potter, John D.; Seminara, Daniela; Slattery, Martha L.; Thornquist, Mark; White, Emily; Wu, Kana; Peters, Ulrike; Chan, Andrew T.

2014-01-01

Background Red meat intake has been associated with risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), potentially mediated through heterocyclic amines. The metabolic efficiency of N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) required for the metabolic activation of such amines is influenced by genetic variation. The interaction between red meat intake, NAT2 genotype, and CRC has been inconsistently reported. Methods We used pooled individual-level data from the Colon Cancer Family Registry (CCFR) and the Genetics and Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer Consortium (GECCO). Red meat intake was collected by each study. We inferred NAT2 phenotype based on polymorphism at rs1495741, highly predictive of enzyme activity. Interaction was assessed using multiplicative interaction terms in multivariate-adjusted models. Results From 11 studies, 8,290 CRC cases and 9,115 controls were included. The highest quartile of red meat intake was associated with increased risk of CRC compared to the lowest quartile (OR 1.41, 95%CI 1.29 – 1.55). However, a significant association was observed only for studies with retrospective diet data, not for studies with diet prospectively assessed before cancer diagnosis. Combining all studies, high red meat intake was similarly associated with CRC in those with a rapid/intermediate NAT2 genotype (OR 1.38, 95%CI 1.20 – 1.59) as with a slow genotype (OR 1.43, 95%CI 1.28 – 1.61) (p- interaction=0.9). Conclusion We found that high red meat intake was associated with increased risk of CRC only from retrospective case-control studies and not modified by NAT2 enzyme activity. Impact Our results suggest no interaction between NAT2 genotype and red-meat intake in mediating risk of CRC. PMID:25342387

Estimating and explaining the effect of education and income on head and neck cancer risk: INHANCE consortium pooled analysis of 31 case-control studies from 27 countries

PubMed Central

Conway, David I.; Brenner, Darren R.; McMahon, Alex D.; Macpherson, Lorna M.D.; Agudo, Antonio; Ahrens, Wolfgang; Bosetti, Cristina; Brenner, Hermann; Castellsague, Xavier; Chen, Chu; Curado, Maria Paula; Curioni, Otávio A.; Maso, Luigino Dal; Daudt, Alexander W.; de Gois Filho, José F.; D'Souza, Gypsyamber; Edefonti, Valeria; Fabianova, Eleonora; Fernandez, Leticia; Franceschi, Silvia; Gillison, Maura; Hayes, Richard B.; Healy, Claire M.; Herrero, Rolando; Holcatova, Ivana; Jayaprakash, Vijayvel; Kelsey, Karl; Kjaerheim, Kristina; Koifman, Sergio; La Vecchia, Carlo; Lagiou, Pagona; Lazarus, Philip; Levi, Fabio; Lissowska, Jolanta; Luce, Daniele; Macfarlane, Tatiana V.; Mates, Dana; Matos, Elena; McClean, Michael; Menezes, Ana M; Menvielle, Gwenn; Merletti, Franco; Morgenstern, Hal; Moysich, Kirsten; Müller, Heiko; Muscat, Joshua; Olshan, Andrew F.; Purdue, Mark P.; Ramroth, Heribert; Richiardi, Lorenzo; Rudnai, Peter; Schantz, Stimson; Schwartz, Stephen M.; Shangina, Oxana; Simonato, Lorenzo; Smith, Elaine; Stucker, Isabelle; Sturgis, Erich M.; Szeszenia-Dabrowska, Neonila; Talamini, Renato; Thomson, Peter; Vaughan, Thomas L.; Wei, Qingyi; Winn, Deborah M.; Wunsch-Filho, Victor; Yu, Guo-Pei; Zhang, Zuo-Feng; Zheng, Tongzhang; Znaor, Ariana; Boffetta, Paolo; Chuang, Shu-Chun; Ghodrat, Marianoosh; Lee, Yuan-Chin Amy; Hashibe, Mia; Brennan, Paul

2015-01-01

Low socioeconomic status has been reported to be associated with head and neck cancer risk. However, previous studies have been too small to examine the associations by cancer subsite, age, sex, global region and calendar time and to explain the association in terms of behavioral risk factors. Individual participant data of 23,964 cases with head and neck cancer and 31,954 controls from 31 studies in 27 countries pooled with random effects models. Overall, low education was associated with an increased risk of head and neck cancer (OR = 2.50; 95% CI = 2.02 – 3.09). Overall one-third of the increased risk was not explained by differences in the distribution of cigarette smoking and alcohol behaviors; and it remained elevated among never users of tobacco and nondrinkers (OR = 1.61; 95% CI = 1.13 – 2.31). More of the estimated education effect was not explained by cigarette smoking and alcohol behaviors: in women than in men, in older than younger groups, in the oropharynx than in other sites, in South/Central America than in Europe/North America and was strongest in countries with greater income inequality. Similar findings were observed for the estimated effect of low versus high household income. The lowest levels of income and educational attainment were associated with more than 2-fold increased risk of head and neck cancer, which is not entirely explained by differences in the distributions of behavioral risk factors for these cancers and which varies across cancer sites, sexes, countries and country income inequality levels. PMID:24996155

Construction and Characterization of a Cellulolytic Consortium Enriched from the Hindgut of Holotrichia parallela Larvae.

PubMed

Sheng, Ping; Huang, Jiangli; Zhang, Zhihong; Wang, Dongsheng; Tian, Xiaojuan; Ding, Jiannan

2016-09-30

Degradation of rice straw by cooperative microbial activities is at present the most attractive alternative to fuels and provides a basis for biomass conversion. The use of microbial consortia in the biodegradation of lignocelluloses could reduce problems such as incomplete synergistic enzymes, end-product inhibition, and so on. In this study, a cellulolytic microbial consortium was enriched from the hindgut of Holotrichia parallela larvae via continuous subcultivation (20 subcultures in total) under static conditions. The degradation ratio for rice straw was about 83.1% after three days of cultivation, indicating its strong cellulolytic activity. The diversity analysis results showed that the bacterial diversity and richness decreased during the consortium enrichment process, and the consortium enrichment process could lead to a significant enrichment of phyla Proteobacteria and Spirochaetes, classes Clostridia, Epsilonproteobacteria, and Betaproteobacteria, and genera Arcobacter , Treponema , Comamonas , and Clostridium . Some of these are well known as typical cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic microorganisms. Our results revealed that the microbial consortium identified herein is a potential candidate for use in the degradation of waste lignocellulosic biomass and further highlights the hindgut of the larvae as a reservoir of extensive and specific cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic microbes.

Birth order and risk of non-hodgkin lymphoma--true association or bias?

PubMed

Grulich, Andrew E; Vajdic, Claire M; Falster, Michael O; Kane, Eleanor; Smedby, Karin Ekstrom; Bracci, Paige M; de Sanjose, Silvia; Becker, Nikolaus; Turner, Jenny; Martinez-Maza, Otoniel; Melbye, Mads; Engels, Eric A; Vineis, Paolo; Costantini, Adele Seniori; Holly, Elizabeth A; Spinelli, John J; La Vecchia, Carlo; Zheng, Tongzhang; Chiu, Brian C H; Franceschi, Silvia; Cocco, Pierluigi; Maynadié, Marc; Foretova, Lenka; Staines, Anthony; Brennan, Paul; Davis, Scott; Severson, Richard K; Cerhan, James R; Breen, Elizabeth C; Birmann, Brenda; Cozen, Wendy

2010-09-15

There is inconsistent evidence that increasing birth order may be associated with risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The authors examined the association between birth order and related variables and NHL risk in a pooled analysis (1983-2005) of 13,535 cases and 16,427 controls from 18 case-control studies within the International Lymphoma Epidemiology Consortium (InterLymph). Overall, the authors found no significant association between increasing birth order and risk of NHL (P-trend = 0.082) and significant heterogeneity. However, a significant association was present for a number of B- and T-cell NHL subtypes. There was considerable variation in the study-specific risks which was partly explained by study design and participant characteristics. In particular, a significant positive association was present in population-based studies, which had lower response rates in cases and controls, but not in hospital-based studies. A significant positive association was present in higher-socioeconomic-status (SES) participants only. Results were very similar for the related variable of sibship size. The known correlation of high birth order with low SES suggests that selection bias related to SES may be responsible for the association between birth order and NHL.

Large Scale Assessment of Radio Frequency Interference Signatures in L-band SAR Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer, F. J.; Nicoll, J.

2011-12-01

Imagery of L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems such as the PALSAR sensor on board the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) has proven to be a valuable tool for observing environmental changes around the globe. Besides offering 24/7 operability, the L-band frequency provides improved interferometric coherence, and L-band polarimetric data has shown great potential for vegetation monitoring, sea ice classification, and the observation of glaciers and ice sheets. To maximize the benefit of missions such as ALOS PALSAR for environmental monitoring, data consistency and calibration are vital. Unfortunately, radio frequency interference (RFI) signatures from ground-based radar systems regularly impair L-band SAR data quality and consistency. With this study we present a large-scale analysis of typical RFI signatures that are regularly observed in L-band SAR data over the Americas. Through a study of the vast archive of L-band SAR data in the US Government Research Consortium (USGRC) data pool at the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) we were able to address the following research goals: 1. Assessment of RFI Signatures in L-band SAR data and their Effects on SAR Data Quality: An analysis of time-frequency properties of RFI signatures in L-band SAR data of the USGRC data pool is presented. It is shown that RFI-filtering algorithms implemented in the operational ALOS PALSAR processor are not sufficient to remove all RFI-related artifacts. In examples, the deleterious effects of RFI on SAR image quality, polarimetric signature, SAR phase, and interferometric coherence are presented. 2. Large-Scale Assessment of Severity, Spatial Distribution, and Temporal Variation of RFI Signatures in L-band SAR data: L-band SAR data in the USGRC data pool were screened for RFI using a custom algorithm. Per SAR frame, the algorithm creates geocoded frame bounding boxes that are color-coded according to RFI intensity and converted to KML files for analysis in Google Earth. From the screening results, parameters such as RFI severity and spatial distribution of RFI were derived. Through a comparison of RFI signatures in older SAR data from JAXA's Japanese Earth Resources Satellite (JERS-1) and recent ALOS PALSAR data, changes in RFI signatures in the Americas were derived, indicating a strong increase of L-band signal contamination over time. 3. An Optimized RFI Filter and its Performance in Data Restoration: An optimized RFI filter has been developed and tested at ASF. The algorithm has proven to be effective in detecting and removing RFI signatures in L-band SAR data and restoring the advertised quality of SAR imagery, polarization, and interferometric phase. The properties of the RFI filter will be described and its performance will be demonstrated in examples. The presented work is a prime example of large-scale research that is made possible by the availability of SAR data through the extensive data archive of the USGRC data pool at ASF.

Analysis pipelines and packages for Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip (450k) data

PubMed Central

Morris, Tiffany J.; Beck, Stephan

2015-01-01

The Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip has become a popular platform for interrogating DNA methylation in epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) and related projects as well as resource efforts such as the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and the International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC). This has resulted in an exponential increase of 450k data in recent years and triggered the development of numerous integrated analysis pipelines and stand-alone packages. This review will introduce and discuss the currently most popular pipelines and packages and is particularly aimed at new 450k users. PMID:25233806

Ability of sea-water bacterial consortium to produce electricity and denitrify water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maruvada, Nagasamrat V. V.; Tommasi, Tonia; Kaza, Kesava Rao; Ruggeri, Bernardo

Sea is a store house for varied types of microbes with an ability to reduce and oxidize substances like iron, sulphur, carbon dioxide, etc. Most of these processes happen in the sea water environment, but can be applied for purification of wastewater. In the present paper, we discuss the use of a consortium of seawater bacteria in a fuel cell to produce electricity by oxidizing organic matter and reducing nitrates. We also discuss how the growth of the bacterial consortium can lead to an increased electricity production and decreased diffusional resistance in the cell. The analysis was done using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). Here, we use bicarbonate buffered solution, which is the natural buffering agent found in sea. We show that the seawater bacterial consortium can be used in both the anode and cathode parts of the cell. The results confirm the adaptability of the seawater bacteria to different environments and can be used for various applications. Heritage, Erasmus Mundus Programme, European Commission.

[Determination of sugars, organic acids and alcohols in microbial consortium fermentation broth from cellulose using high performance liquid chromatography].

PubMed

Jiang, Yan; Fan, Guifang; Du, Ran; Li, Peipei; Jiang, Li

2015-08-01

A high performance liquid chromatographic method was established for the determination of metabolites (sugars, organic acids and alcohols) in microbial consortium fermentation broth from cellulose. Sulfate was first added in the samples to precipitate calcium ions in microbial consortium culture medium and lower the pH of the solution to avoid the dissociation of organic acids, then the filtrates were effectively separated using high performance liquid chromatography. Cellobiose, glucose, ethanol, butanol, glycerol, acetic acid and butyric acid were quantitatively analyzed. The detection limits were in the range of 0.10-2.00 mg/L. The linear correlation coefficients were greater than 0.999 6 in the range of 0.020 to 1.000 g/L. The recoveries were in the range of 85.41%-115.60% with the relative standard deviations of 0.22% -4.62% (n = 6). This method is accurate for the quantitative analysis of the alcohols, organic acids and saccharides in microbial consortium fermentation broth from cellulose.

Duchenne Regulatory Science Consortium Meeting on Disease Progression Modeling for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

PubMed Central

Larkindale, Jane; Abresch, Richard; Aviles, Enrique; Bronson, Abby; Chin, Janice; Furlong, Pat; Gordish-Dressman, Heather; Habeeb-Louks, Elizabeth; Henricson, Erik; Kroger, Hans; Lynn, Charles; Lynn, Stephen; Martin, Dana; Nuckolls, Glen; Rooney, William; Romero, Klaus; Sweeney, Lee; Vandenborne, Krista; Walter, Glenn; Wolff, Jodi; Wong, Brenda; McDonald, Craig M.; Duchenne Regulatory Science Consortium, Imaging-DMD Consortium and the CINRG Investigators, members of the

2017-01-01

Introduction: The Duchenne Regulatory Science Consortium (D-RSC) was established to develop tools to accelerate drug development for DMD.  The resulting tools are anticipated to meet validity requirements outlined by qualification/endorsement pathways at both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Administration (EMA), and will be made available to the drug development community. The initial goals of the consortium include the development of a disease progression model, with the goal of creating a model that would be used to forecast changes in clinically meaningful endpoints, which would inform clinical trial protocol development and data analysis.  Methods: In April of 2016 the consortium and other experts met to formulate plans for the development of the model.  Conclusions: Here we report the results of the meeting, and discussion as to the form of the model that we plan to move forward to develop, after input from the regulatory authorities. PMID:28228973

Simultaneous biodegradation of three mononitrophenol isomers by a tailor-made microbial consortium immobilized in sequential batch reactors.

PubMed

Fu, H; Zhang, J-J; Xu, Y; Chao, H-J; Zhou, N-Y

2017-03-01

The ortho-nitrophenol (ONP)-utilizing Alcaligenes sp. strain NyZ215, meta-nitrophenol (MNP)-utilizing Cupriavidus necator JMP134 and para-nitrophenol (PNP)-utilizing Pseudomonas sp. strain WBC-3 were assembled as a consortium to degrade three nitrophenol isomers in sequential batch reactors. Pilot test was conducted in flasks to demonstrate that a mixture of three mononitrophenols at 0·5 mol l -1 each could be mineralized by this microbial consortium within 84 h. Interestingly, neither ONP nor MNP was degraded until PNP was almost consumed by strain WBC-3. By immobilizing this consortium into polyurethane cubes, all three mononitrophenols were continuously degraded in lab-scale sequential reactors for six batch cycles over 18 days. Total concentrations of ONP, MMP and PNP that were degraded were 2·8, 1·5 and 2·3 mol l -1 during this time course respectively. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that each member in the microbial consortium was relatively stable during the entire degradation process. This study provides a novel approach to treat polluted water, particularly with a mixture of co-existing isomers. Nitroaromatic compounds are readily spread in the environment and pose great potential toxicity concerns. Here, we report the simultaneous degradation of three isomers of mononitrophenol in a single system by employing a consortium of three bacteria, both in flasks and lab-scale sequential batch reactors. The results demonstrate that simultaneous biodegradation of three mononitrophenol isomers can be achieved by a tailor-made microbial consortium immobilized in sequential batch reactors, providing a pilot study for a novel approach for the bioremediation of mixed pollutants, especially isomers present in wastewater. © 2016 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

Bioleaching of multiple metals from contaminated sediment by moderate thermophiles.

PubMed

Gan, Min; Jie, Shiqi; Li, Mingming; Zhu, Jianyu; Liu, Xinxing

2015-08-15

A moderately thermophilic consortium was applied in bioleaching multiple metals from contaminated sediment. The consortium got higher acidification and metals soubilization efficiency than that of the pure strains. The synergistic effect of the thermophilic consortium accelerated substrates utilization. The utilization of substrate started with sulfur in the early stage, and then the pH declined, giving rise to making use of the pyrite. Community dynamic showed that A. caldus was the predominant bacteria during the whole bioleaching process while the abundance of S. thermotolerans increased together with pyrite utilization. Solubilization efficiency of Zn, Cu, Mn and Cd reached 98%, 94%, 95%, and 89% respectively, while As, Hg, Pb was only 45%, 34%, 22%. Logistic model was used to simulate the bioleaching process, whose fitting degree was higher than 90%. Correlation analysis revealed that metal leaching was mainly an acid solubilization process. Fraction analysis revealed that metals decreased in mobility and bioavailability. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Successive changes in community structure of an ethylbenzene-degrading sulfate-reducing consortium.

PubMed

Nakagawa, Tatsunori; Sato, Shinya; Yamamoto, Yoko; Fukui, Manabu

2002-06-01

The microbial community structure and successive changes in a mesophilic ethylbenzene-degrading sulfate-reducing consortium were for the first time clarified by the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of the PCR amplified 16S rRNA gene fragments. At least ten bands on the DGGE gel were detected in the stationary phase. Phylogenetic analysis of the DGGE bands revealed that the consortium consisted of different eubacterial phyla including the delta subgroup of Proteobacteria, the order Sphingobacteriales, the order Spirochaetales, and the unknown bacterium. The most abundant band C was closely related to strain mXyS1, an m-xylene-degrading sulfate-reducing bacterium (SRB), and occurred as a sole band on DGGE gels in the logarithmic growth phase that 40% ethylbenzene was consumed accompanied by sulfide production. During further prolonged incubation, the dominancy of band C did not change. These results suggest that SRB corresponds to the most abundant band C and contributes mainly to the degradation of ethylbenzene coupled with sulfate reduction.

Clinical utilization of genomics data produced by the international Pseudomonas aeruginosa consortium

PubMed Central

Freschi, Luca; Jeukens, Julie; Kukavica-Ibrulj, Irena; Boyle, Brian; Dupont, Marie-Josée; Laroche, Jérôme; Larose, Stéphane; Maaroufi, Halim; Fothergill, Joanne L.; Moore, Matthew; Winsor, Geoffrey L.; Aaron, Shawn D.; Barbeau, Jean; Bell, Scott C.; Burns, Jane L.; Camara, Miguel; Cantin, André; Charette, Steve J.; Dewar, Ken; Déziel, Éric; Grimwood, Keith; Hancock, Robert E. W.; Harrison, Joe J.; Heeb, Stephan; Jelsbak, Lars; Jia, Baofeng; Kenna, Dervla T.; Kidd, Timothy J.; Klockgether, Jens; Lam, Joseph S.; Lamont, Iain L.; Lewenza, Shawn; Loman, Nick; Malouin, François; Manos, Jim; McArthur, Andrew G.; McKeown, Josie; Milot, Julie; Naghra, Hardeep; Nguyen, Dao; Pereira, Sheldon K.; Perron, Gabriel G.; Pirnay, Jean-Paul; Rainey, Paul B.; Rousseau, Simon; Santos, Pedro M.; Stephenson, Anne; Taylor, Véronique; Turton, Jane F.; Waglechner, Nicholas; Williams, Paul; Thrane, Sandra W.; Wright, Gerard D.; Brinkman, Fiona S. L.; Tucker, Nicholas P.; Tümmler, Burkhard; Winstanley, Craig; Levesque, Roger C.

2015-01-01

The International Pseudomonas aeruginosa Consortium is sequencing over 1000 genomes and building an analysis pipeline for the study of Pseudomonas genome evolution, antibiotic resistance and virulence genes. Metadata, including genomic and phenotypic data for each isolate of the collection, are available through the International Pseudomonas Consortium Database (http://ipcd.ibis.ulaval.ca/). Here, we present our strategy and the results that emerged from the analysis of the first 389 genomes. With as yet unmatched resolution, our results confirm that P. aeruginosa strains can be divided into three major groups that are further divided into subgroups, some not previously reported in the literature. We also provide the first snapshot of P. aeruginosa strain diversity with respect to antibiotic resistance. Our approach will allow us to draw potential links between environmental strains and those implicated in human and animal infections, understand how patients become infected and how the infection evolves over time as well as identify prognostic markers for better evidence-based decisions on patient care. PMID:26483767

Genetic diversity of the forage peanut in the Jequitinhonha, São Francisco, and Paranã River valleys of Brazil.

PubMed

Azêvedo, H S F S; Sousa, A C B; Martins, K; Oliveira, J C; Yomura, R B T; Silva, L M; Valls, J F M; Assis, G M L; Campos, T

2016-09-09

Arachis pintoi and A. repens are legumes with a high forage value that are used to feed ruminants in consortium systems. Not only do they increase the persistence and quality of pastures, they are also used for ornamental and green cover. The objective of this study was to analyze microsatellite markers in order to access the genetic diversity of 65 forage peanut germplasm accessions in the section Caulorrhizae of the genus Arachis in the Jequitinhonha, São Francisco and Paranã River valleys of Brazil. Fifty-seven accessions of A. pintoi and eight of A. repens were analyzed using 17 microsatellites, and the observed heterozygosity (H O ), expected heterozygosity (H E ), number of alleles per locus, discriminatory power, and polymorphism information content were all estimated. Ten loci (58.8%) were polymorphic, and 125 alleles were found in total. The H E ranged from 0.30 to 0.94, and H O values ranged from 0.03 to 0.88. By using Bayesian analysis, the accessions were genetically differentiated into three gene pools. Neither the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean nor a neighbor-joining analysis clustered samples into species, origin, or collection area. These results reveal a very weak genetic structure that does not form defined clusters, and that there is a high degree of similarity between the two species.

Comparison of alternative versions of the job demand-control scales in 17 European cohort studies: the IPD-Work consortium.

PubMed

Fransson, Eleonor I; Nyberg, Solja T; Heikkilä, Katriina; Alfredsson, Lars; Bacquer, De Dirk; Batty, G David; Bonenfant, Sébastien; Casini, Annalisa; Clays, Els; Goldberg, Marcel; Kittel, France; Koskenvuo, Markku; Knutsson, Anders; Leineweber, Constanze; Magnusson Hanson, Linda L; Nordin, Maria; Singh-Manoux, Archana; Suominen, Sakari; Vahtera, Jussi; Westerholm, Peter; Westerlund, Hugo; Zins, Marie; Theorell, Töres; Kivimäki, Mika

2012-01-20

Job strain (i.e., high job demands combined with low job control) is a frequently used indicator of harmful work stress, but studies have often used partial versions of the complete multi-item job demands and control scales. Understanding whether the different instruments assess the same underlying concepts has crucial implications for the interpretation of findings across studies, harmonisation of multi-cohort data for pooled analyses, and design of future studies. As part of the 'IPD-Work' (Individual-participant-data meta-analysis in working populations) consortium, we compared different versions of the demands and control scales available in 17 European cohort studies. Six of the 17 studies had information on the complete scales and 11 on partial scales. Here, we analyse individual level data from 70 751 participants of the studies which had complete scales (5 demand items, 6 job control items). We found high Pearson correlation coefficients between complete scales of job demands and control relative to scales with at least three items (r > 0.90) and for partial scales with two items only (r = 0.76-0.88). In comparison with scores from the complete scales, the agreement between job strain definitions was very good when only one item was missing in either the demands or the control scale (kappa > 0.80); good for job strain assessed with three demand items and all six control items (kappa > 0.68) and moderate to good when items were missing from both scales (kappa = 0.54-0.76). The sensitivity was > 0.80 when only one item was missing from either scale, decreasing when several items were missing in one or both job strain subscales. Partial job demand and job control scales with at least half of the items of the complete scales, and job strain indices based on one complete and one partial scale, seemed to assess the same underlying concepts as the complete survey instruments.

Comparison of alternative versions of the job demand-control scales in 17 European cohort studies: the IPD-Work consortium

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Job strain (i.e., high job demands combined with low job control) is a frequently used indicator of harmful work stress, but studies have often used partial versions of the complete multi-item job demands and control scales. Understanding whether the different instruments assess the same underlying concepts has crucial implications for the interpretation of findings across studies, harmonisation of multi-cohort data for pooled analyses, and design of future studies. As part of the 'IPD-Work' (Individual-participant-data meta-analysis in working populations) consortium, we compared different versions of the demands and control scales available in 17 European cohort studies. Methods Six of the 17 studies had information on the complete scales and 11 on partial scales. Here, we analyse individual level data from 70 751 participants of the studies which had complete scales (5 demand items, 6 job control items). Results We found high Pearson correlation coefficients between complete scales of job demands and control relative to scales with at least three items (r > 0.90) and for partial scales with two items only (r = 0.76-0.88). In comparison with scores from the complete scales, the agreement between job strain definitions was very good when only one item was missing in either the demands or the control scale (kappa > 0.80); good for job strain assessed with three demand items and all six control items (kappa > 0.68) and moderate to good when items were missing from both scales (kappa = 0.54-0.76). The sensitivity was > 0.80 when only one item was missing from either scale, decreasing when several items were missing in one or both job strain subscales. Conclusions Partial job demand and job control scales with at least half of the items of the complete scales, and job strain indices based on one complete and one partial scale, seemed to assess the same underlying concepts as the complete survey instruments. PMID:22264402

Consortium for Verification Technology Fellowship Report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sadler, Lorraine E.

2017-06-01

As one recipient of the Consortium for Verification Technology (CVT) Fellowship, I spent eight days as a visiting scientist at the University of Michigan, Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences (NERS). During this time, I participated in multiple department and research group meetings and presentations, met with individual faculty and students, toured multiple laboratories, and taught one-half of a one-unit class on Risk Analysis in Nuclear Arms control (six 1.5 hour lectures). The following report describes some of the interactions that I had during my time as well as a brief discussion of the impact of this fellowship onmore » members of the consortium and on me/my laboratory’s technical knowledge and network.« less

Assessment 2.0: "Next-Generation" Comprehensive Assessment Systems. An Analysis of Proposals by the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tamayo, Joaquin R., Jr.

2010-01-01

On September 2, 2010, the U.S. Department of Education announced the winners of the $350 million Race to the Top Comprehensive Assessment Systems Competition: the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SMARTER). In his announcement, Secretary of Education Arne…

Biogeography of a human oral microbiome at the micron scale

PubMed Central

Mark Welch, Jessica L.; Rossetti, Blair J.; Rieken, Christopher W.; Dewhirst, Floyd E.; Borisy, Gary G.

2016-01-01

The spatial organization of complex natural microbiomes is critical to understanding the interactions of the individual taxa that comprise a community. Although the revolution in DNA sequencing has provided an abundance of genomic-level information, the biogeography of microbiomes is almost entirely uncharted at the micron scale. Using spectral imaging fluorescence in situ hybridization as guided by metagenomic sequence analysis, we have discovered a distinctive, multigenus consortium in the microbiome of supragingival dental plaque. The consortium consists of a radially arranged, nine-taxon structure organized around cells of filamentous corynebacteria. The consortium ranges in size from a few tens to a few hundreds of microns in radius and is spatially differentiated. Within the structure, individual taxa are localized at the micron scale in ways suggestive of their functional niche in the consortium. For example, anaerobic taxa tend to be in the interior, whereas facultative or obligate aerobes tend to be at the periphery of the consortium. Consumers and producers of certain metabolites, such as lactate, tend to be near each other. Based on our observations and the literature, we propose a model for plaque microbiome development and maintenance consistent with known metabolic, adherence, and environmental considerations. The consortium illustrates how complex structural organization can emerge from the micron-scale interactions of its constituent organisms. The understanding that plaque community organization is an emergent phenomenon offers a perspective that is general in nature and applicable to other microbiomes. PMID:26811460

Classification of upper Mississippi River pools based on contiguous aquatic/geomorphic habitats

USGS Publications Warehouse

Koel, Todd M.

2001-01-01

Navigation pools of the upper Mississippi River (UMR) vary greatly in terms of available contiguous aquatic/geomorphic habitats. These habitats are critical for the biotic diversity and overall productivity of the floodplain corridor of each pool. In this study, similarities among pools 4-26 and an open river reach (river kilometer 47-129) of the UMR were determined from multivariate analysis of eleven habitat types that were hydrologically-contiguous (non-leveed). Isolated floodplain habitats were not included in final analyses because this isolation limits their contribution to overall riverine productivity, in part due to a lack of hydrological connectivity to the main channel during the flood pulse. Cluster analysis based on simple Euclidean distance was used to produce two major pool groups and five pool subgroups. Important habitat variables in defining pool groups, as interpreted from principal components analysis (PCA) axis 1, were contiguous floodplain shallow aquatic area and contiguous impounded area. The habitat variable most important in defining pool subgroups, as interpreted from PCA axis 2, was tertiary channel. Most notably, pool 6 was more similar to pools 14-24 than other upper pools, and pools 19 and 25 were more similar to pools 4-13 than other lower pools. These results were quite different from those of two previous investigators, primarily because only areas of non-isolated aquatic habitat were considered.

CSP Manufacturing Challenges and Assembly Reliability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ghaffarian, Reza

2000-01-01

Although the expression of CSP is widely used by industry from suppliers to users, its implied definition had evolved as the technology has matured. There are "expert definition"- package that is up to 1.5 time die- or "interim definition". CSPs are miniature new packages that industry is starting to implement and there are many unresolved technical issues associated with their implementation. For example, in early 1997, packages with 1 mm pitch and lower were the dominant CSPs, whereas in early 1998 packages with 0.8 mm and lower became the norm for CSPs. Other changes included the use of flip chip die rather than wire bond in CSP. Nonetheless the emerging CSPs are competing with bare die assemblies and are becoming the package of choice for size reduction applications. These packages provide the benefits of small size and performance of the bare die or flip chip, with the advantage of standard die packages. The JPL-led MicrotypeBGA Consortium of enterprises representing government agencies and private companies have jointed together to pool in-kind resources for developing the quality and reliability of chip scale packages (CSPs) for a variety of projects. This talk will cover specifically the experience of our consortium on technology implementation challenges, including design and build of both standard and microvia boards, assembly of two types of test vehicles, and the most current environmental thermal cycling test results.

A priori collaboration in population imaging: The Uniform Neuro-Imaging of Virchow-Robin Spaces Enlargement consortium.

PubMed

Adams, Hieab H H; Hilal, Saima; Schwingenschuh, Petra; Wittfeld, Katharina; van der Lee, Sven J; DeCarli, Charles; Vernooij, Meike W; Katschnig-Winter, Petra; Habes, Mohamad; Chen, Christopher; Seshadri, Sudha; van Duijn, Cornelia M; Ikram, M Kamran; Grabe, Hans J; Schmidt, Reinhold; Ikram, M Arfan

2015-12-01

Virchow-Robin spaces (VRS), or perivascular spaces, are compartments of interstitial fluid enclosing cerebral blood vessels and are potential imaging markers of various underlying brain pathologies. Despite a growing interest in the study of enlarged VRS, the heterogeneity in rating and quantification methods combined with small sample sizes have so far hampered advancement in the field. The Uniform Neuro-Imaging of Virchow-Robin Spaces Enlargement (UNIVRSE) consortium was established with primary aims to harmonize rating and analysis (www.uconsortium.org). The UNIVRSE consortium brings together 13 (sub)cohorts from five countries, totaling 16,000 subjects and over 25,000 scans. Eight different magnetic resonance imaging protocols were used in the consortium. VRS rating was harmonized using a validated protocol that was developed by the two founding members, with high reliability independent of scanner type, rater experience, or concomitant brain pathology. Initial analyses revealed risk factors for enlarged VRS including increased age, sex, high blood pressure, brain infarcts, and white matter lesions, but this varied by brain region. Early collaborative efforts between cohort studies with respect to data harmonization and joint analyses can advance the field of population (neuro)imaging. The UNIVRSE consortium will focus efforts on other potential correlates of enlarged VRS, including genetics, cognition, stroke, and dementia.

Cohort profile: the chronic kidney disease prognosis consortium.

PubMed

Matsushita, Kunihiro; Ballew, Shoshana H; Astor, Brad C; Jong, Paul E de; Gansevoort, Ron T; Hemmelgarn, Brenda R; Levey, Andrew S; Levin, Adeera; Wen, Chi-Pang; Woodward, Mark; Coresh, Josef

2013-12-01

The Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium (CKD-PC) was established in 2009 to provide comprehensive evidence about the prognostic impact of two key kidney measures that are used to define and stage CKD, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and albuminuria, on mortality and kidney outcomes. CKD-PC currently consists of 46 cohorts with data on these kidney measures and outcomes from >2 million participants spanning across 40 countries/regions all over the world. CKD-PC published four meta-analysis articles in 2010-11, providing key evidence for an international consensus on the definition and staging of CKD and an update for CKD clinical practice guidelines. The consortium continues to work on more detailed analysis (subgroups, different eGFR equations, other exposures and outcomes, and risk prediction). CKD-PC preferably collects individual participant data but also applies a novel distributed analysis model, in which each cohort runs statistical analysis locally and shares only analysed outputs for meta-analyses. This distributed model allows inclusion of cohorts which cannot share individual participant level data. According to agreement with cohorts, CKD-PC will not share data with third parties, but is open to including further eligible cohorts. Each cohort can opt in/out for each topic. CKD-PC has established a productive and effective collaboration, allowing flexible participation and complex meta-analyses for studying CKD.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia rates in critical care units in 3 Arabian Gulf countries: A 6-year surveillance study.

PubMed

El-Saed, Aiman; Al-Jardani, Amina; Althaqafi, Abdulhakeem; Alansari, Huda; Alsalman, Jameela; Al Maskari, Zaina; El Gammal, Ayman; Al Nasser, Wafa; Al-Abri, Seif S; Balkhy, Hanan H

2016-07-01

Data estimating the rates of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in critical patients in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are very limited. The aim of this study was to estimate VAP rates in GCC hospitals and to compare rates with published reports of the U.S. National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) and International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC). VAP rates and ventilator utilization between 2008 and 2013 were calculated from aggregate VAP surveillance data using NHSN methodology pooled from 6 hospitals in 3 GCC countries: Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Bahrain. The standardized infection ratios of VAP in GCC hospitals were compared with published reports of the NHSN and INICC. A total of 368 VAP events were diagnosed during a 6-year period covering 76,749 ventilator days and 134,994 patient days. The overall VAP rate was 4.8 per 1,000 ventilator days (95% confidence interval, 4.3-5.3), with an overall ventilator utilization of 0.57. The VAP rates showed a wide variability between different types of intensive care units (ICUs) and were decreasing over time. After adjusting for the differences in ICU type, the risk of VAP in GCC hospitals was 217% higher than NHSN hospitals and 69% lower than INICC hospitals. The risk of VAP in ICU patients in GCC countries is higher than pooled U.S. VAP rates but lower than pooled rates from developing countries participating in the INICC. Copyright © 2016 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Connecting genomic alterations to cancer biology with proteomics: the NCI Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium.

PubMed

Ellis, Matthew J; Gillette, Michael; Carr, Steven A; Paulovich, Amanda G; Smith, Richard D; Rodland, Karin K; Townsend, R Reid; Kinsinger, Christopher; Mesri, Mehdi; Rodriguez, Henry; Liebler, Daniel C

2013-10-01

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium is applying the latest generation of proteomic technologies to genomically annotated tumors from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program, a joint initiative of the NCI and the National Human Genome Research Institute. By providing a fully integrated accounting of DNA, RNA, and protein abnormalities in individual tumors, these datasets will illuminate the complex relationship between genomic abnormalities and cancer phenotypes, thus producing biologic insights as well as a wave of novel candidate biomarkers and therapeutic targets amenable to verification using targeted mass spectrometry methods. ©2013 AACR.

Building a Prototype of LHC Analysis Oriented Computing Centers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bagliesi, G.; Boccali, T.; Della Ricca, G.; Donvito, G.; Paganoni, M.

2012-12-01

A Consortium between four LHC Computing Centers (Bari, Milano, Pisa and Trieste) has been formed in 2010 to prototype Analysis-oriented facilities for CMS data analysis, profiting from a grant from the Italian Ministry of Research. The Consortium aims to realize an ad-hoc infrastructure to ease the analysis activities on the huge data set collected at the LHC Collider. While “Tier2” Computing Centres, specialized in organized processing tasks like Monte Carlo simulation, are nowadays a well established concept, with years of running experience, site specialized towards end user chaotic analysis activities do not yet have a defacto standard implementation. In our effort, we focus on all the aspects that can make the analysis tasks easier for a physics user not expert in computing. On the storage side, we are experimenting on storage techniques allowing for remote data access and on storage optimization on the typical analysis access patterns. On the networking side, we are studying the differences between flat and tiered LAN architecture, also using virtual partitioning of the same physical networking for the different use patterns. Finally, on the user side, we are developing tools and instruments to allow for an exhaustive monitoring of their processes at the site, and for an efficient support system in case of problems. We will report about the results of the test executed on different subsystem and give a description of the layout of the infrastructure in place at the site participating to the consortium.

A computational proposal for designing structured RNA pools for in vitro selection of RNAs.

PubMed

Kim, Namhee; Gan, Hin Hark; Schlick, Tamar

2007-04-01

Although in vitro selection technology is a versatile experimental tool for discovering novel synthetic RNA molecules, finding complex RNA molecules is difficult because most RNAs identified from random sequence pools are simple motifs, consistent with recent computational analysis of such sequence pools. Thus, enriching in vitro selection pools with complex structures could increase the probability of discovering novel RNAs. Here we develop an approach for engineering sequence pools that links RNA sequence space regions with corresponding structural distributions via a "mixing matrix" approach combined with a graph theory analysis. We define five classes of mixing matrices motivated by covariance mutations in RNA; these constructs define nucleotide transition rates and are applied to chosen starting sequences to yield specific nonrandom pools. We examine the coverage of sequence space as a function of the mixing matrix and starting sequence via clustering analysis. We show that, in contrast to random sequences, which are associated only with a local region of sequence space, our designed pools, including a structured pool for GTP aptamers, can target specific motifs. It follows that experimental synthesis of designed pools can benefit from using optimized starting sequences, mixing matrices, and pool fractions associated with each of our constructed pools as a guide. Automation of our approach could provide practical tools for pool design applications for in vitro selection of RNAs and related problems.

Stroke Treatment Academic Industry Roundtable Recommendations for Individual Data Pooling Analyses in Stroke.

PubMed

Lees, Kennedy R; Khatri, Pooja

2016-08-01

Pooled analysis of individual patient data from stroke trials can deliver more precise estimates of treatment effect, enhance power to examine prespecified subgroups, and facilitate exploration of treatment-modifying influences. Analysis plans should be declared, and preferably published, before trial results are known. For pooling trials that used diverse analytic approaches, an ordinal analysis is favored, with justification for considering deaths and severe disability jointly. Because trial pooling is an incremental process, analyses should follow a sequential approach, with statistical adjustment for iterations. Updated analyses should be published when revised conclusions have a clinical implication. However, caution is recommended in declaring pooled findings that may prejudice ongoing trials, unless clinical implications are compelling. All contributing trial teams should contribute to leadership, data verification, and authorship of pooled analyses. Development work is needed to enable reliable inferences to be drawn about individual drug or device effects that contribute to a pooled analysis, versus a class effect, if the treatment strategy combines ≥2 such drugs or devices. Despite the practical challenges, pooled analyses are powerful and essential tools in interpreting clinical trial findings and advancing clinical care. © 2016 American Heart Association, Inc.

Laboratory scale bioremediation of diesel hydrocarbon in soil by indigenous bacterial consortium.

PubMed

Sharma, Anjana; Rehman, Meenal Budholia

2009-09-01

In vitro experiment was performed by taking petrol pump soils and diesel in flasks with the micronutrients and macronutrients supplements. Cemented bioreactors having sterilized soil and diesel was used for in vivo analysis of diesel hydrocarbon degradation. There were two sets of experiments, first having three bioreactors (1) inoculated by KI. pneumoniae subsp. aerogenes with soil and diesel; (2) with addition of NH4NO3; and (3) served as control. In second set, one bioreactor was inoculated by bacterial consortium containing Moraxella saccharolytica, Alteromonas putrefaciens, KI. pneumoniae subsp. aerogenes and Pseudomonas fragi along with soil and diesel. The remaining two bioreactors (having NH4NO3 and control) were similar to the first set. The experiments were incubated for 30 days. Ability of bacterial inoculum to degrade diesel was analyzed through GC-MS. Smaller chain compounds were obtained after experimental period of 30 days. Rate of diesel degradation was better with the present bacterial consortium than individual bacteria. Present bacterial consortium can be a better choice for faster and complete remediation of contaminated hydrocarbon soils.

Northeast Artificial Intelligence Consortium Annual Report 1987. Volume 2, Part B. Discussing, Using, and Recognizing Plans

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-03-01

1978. Williams. B.C. Qualitative Analysis of MOS Circuits. Artificial Inteligence . 1984. 24.. Wilson. K. From Association to Structure. Amsterdam:North...D-A208 378 RADC-TR-88-324, Vol II (of nine), Part B Interim Report March 1969 4. NORTHEAST ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CONSORTIUM ANNUAL REPORT 1987...II (of nine), Part B 6a. NAME OF PERFORMING ORGANIZATION 6b. OFFICE SYMBOL 7a. NAME OF MONITORING ORGANIZATION Northeast Artificial (ff ’aolicbl

Seals Research at AlliedSignal

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ullah, M. Rifat

1996-01-01

A consortium has been formed to address seal problems in the Aerospace sector of Allied Signal, Inc. The consortium is represented by makers of Propulsion Engines, Auxiliary Power Units, Gas Turbine Starters, etc. The goal is to improve Face Seal reliability, since Face Seals have become reliability drivers in many of our product lines. Several research programs are being implemented simultaneously this year. They include: Face Seal Modeling and Analysis Methodology; Oil Cooling of Seals; Seal Tracking Dynamics; Coking Formation & Prevention; and Seal Reliability Methods.

Q14 - Standards Development Plan, Ada Interfaces to X Window System, Analysis and Recommendations

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-03-20

portability and reusability. -, . /- , ... ’ 4t. I-,: 2 Introduction Two major thrusts of the STARS program, and industry as a whole, are application...and IEEE, and in industry consortiums to show the directions X is taking and the opportunities for Ada to utilize this work. X is not the only window...and actually prohibit portability, but to avoid this the X developers formed the X Consortium, consisting of industry and academic members, who define

Replication of Lung Cancer Susceptibility Loci at Chromosomes 15q25, 5p15, and 6p21: A Pooled Analysis From the International Lung Cancer Consortium

PubMed Central

Truong, Therese; Hung, Rayjean J.; Amos, Christopher I.; Wu, Xifeng; Bickeböller, Heike; Rosenberger, Albert; Sauter, Wiebke; Illig, Thomas; Wichmann, H.-Erich; Risch, Angela; Dienemann, Hendrik; Kaaks, Rudolph; Yang, Ping; Jiang, Ruoxiang; Wiencke, John K.; Wrensch, Margaret; Hansen, Helen; Kelsey, Karl T.; Matsuo, Keitaro; Tajima, Kazuo; Schwartz, Ann G.; Wenzlaff, Angie; Seow, Adeline; Ying, Chen; Staratschek-Jox, Andrea; Nürnberg, Peter; Stoelben, Erich; Wolf, Jürgen; Lazarus, Philip; Muscat, Joshua E.; Gallagher, Carla J.; Zienolddiny, Shanbeh; Haugen, Aage; van der Heijden, Henricus F. M.; Kiemeney, Lambertus A.; Isla, Dolores; Mayordomo, Jose Ignacio; Rafnar, Thorunn; Stefansson, Kari; Zhang, Zuo-Feng; Chang, Shen-Chih; Kim, Jin Hee; Hong, Yun-Chul; Duell, Eric J.; Andrew, Angeline S.; Lejbkowicz, Flavio; Rennert, Gad; Müller, Heiko; Brenner, Hermann; Le Marchand, Loïc; Benhamou, Simone; Bouchardy, Christine; Teare, M. Dawn; Xue, Xiaoyan; McLaughlin, John; Liu, Geoffrey; McKay, James D.; Spitz, Margaret R.

2010-01-01

Background Genome-wide association studies have identified three chromosomal regions at 15q25, 5p15, and 6p21 as being associated with the risk of lung cancer. To confirm these associations in independent studies and investigate heterogeneity of these associations within specific subgroups, we conducted a coordinated genotyping study within the International Lung Cancer Consortium based on independent studies that were not included in previous genome-wide association studies. Methods Genotype data for single-nucleotide polymorphisms at chromosomes 15q25 (rs16969968, rs8034191), 5p15 (rs2736100, rs402710), and 6p21 (rs2256543, rs4324798) from 21 case–control studies for 11 645 lung cancer case patients and 14 954 control subjects, of whom 85% were white and 15% were Asian, were pooled. Associations between the variants and the risk of lung cancer were estimated by logistic regression models. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results Associations between 15q25 and the risk of lung cancer were replicated in white ever-smokers (rs16969968: odds ratio [OR] = 1.26, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.21 to 1.32, Ptrend = 2 × 10−26), and this association was stronger for those diagnosed at younger ages. There was no association in never-smokers or in Asians between either of the 15q25 variants and the risk of lung cancer. For the chromosome 5p15 region, we confirmed statistically significant associations in whites for both rs2736100 (OR = 1.15, 95% CI = 1.10 to 1.20, Ptrend = 1 × 10−10) and rs402710 (OR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.09 to 1.19, Ptrend = 5 × 10−8) and identified similar associations in Asians (rs2736100: OR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.12 to 1.35, Ptrend = 2 × 10−5; rs402710: OR = 1.15, 95% CI = 1.04 to 1.27, Ptrend = .007). The associations between the 5p15 variants and lung cancer differed by histology; odds ratios for rs2736100 were highest in adenocarcinoma and for rs402710 were highest in adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinomas. This pattern was observed in both ethnic groups. Neither of the two variants on chromosome 6p21 was associated with the risk of lung cancer. Conclusions In this international genetic association study of lung cancer, previous associations found in white populations were replicated and new associations were identified in Asian populations. Future genetic studies of lung cancer should include detailed stratification by histology. PMID:20548021

Efficient degradation of lube oil by a mixed bacterial consortium.

PubMed

Wang, Haifeng; Xu, Ran; Li, Fengting; Qiao, Junlian; Zhang, Bingru

2010-01-01

A laboratory study was performed to assess the biodegradation of lube oil in bio-reactor with 304# stainless steel as a biofilm carrier. Among 164 oil degrading bacterial cultures isolated from oil contaminated soil samples, Commaonas acidovorans Pxl, Bacillus sp. Px2, Pseudomonas sp. Px3 were selected to prepare a mixed consortium for the study based on the efficiency of lube oil utilization. The percentage of oil degraded by the mixed bacterial consortium decreased slightly from 99% to 97.2% as the concentration of lube oil was increased from 2000 to 10,000 mg/L. The degradation of TDOC (total dissolved organic carbon) showed a similar tendency compared with lube oil removal, which indicated that the intermediates in degradation process hardly accumulated. Selected mixed bacterial consortium showed their edge compared to activated sludge. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) photos showed that biofilms on stainless steel were robust and with a dimensional framework constructed by EPS (extracellular polymeric substances), which could promote the biodegradation of hydrocarbons. The increase of biofilm followed first-order kinetics with rate of 0.216 microg glucose/(cm2-day) in logarithm phase. With analysis of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) combined with removal of lube oil and TDOC, mixed bacterial consortium could degrade benzene and its derivatives, aromatic ring organic matters with a percentage over 97%.

Rapid Mineralization of Benzo[a]pyrene by a Microbial Consortium Growing on Diesel Fuel

PubMed Central

Kanaly, Robert A.; Bartha, Richard; Watanabe, Kazuya; Harayama, Shigeaki

2000-01-01

A microbial consortium which rapidly mineralized the environmentally persistent pollutant benzo[a]pyrene was recovered from soil. The consortium cometabolically converted [7-14C]benzo[a]pyrene to 14CO2 when it was grown on diesel fuel, and the extent of benzo[a]pyrene mineralization was dependent on both diesel fuel and benzo[a]pyrene concentrations. Addition of diesel fuel at concentrations ranging from 0.007 to 0.2% (wt/vol) stimulated the mineralization of 10 mg of benzo[a]pyrene per liter 33 to 65% during a 2-week incubation period. When the benzo[a]pyrene concentration was 10 to 100 mg liter−1 and the diesel fuel concentration was 0.1% (wt/vol), an inoculum containing 1 mg of cell protein per liter (small inoculum) resulted in mineralization of up to 17.2 mg of benzo[a]pyrene per liter in 16 days. This corresponded to 35% of the added radiolabel when the concentration of benzo[a]pyrene was 50 mg liter−1. A radiocarbon mass balance analysis recovered 25% of the added benzo[a]pyrene solubilized in the culture suspension prior to mineralization. Populations growing on diesel fuel most likely promoted emulsification of benzo[a]pyrene through the production of surface-active compounds. The consortium was also analyzed by PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of 16S rRNA gene fragments, and 12 dominant bands, representing different sequence types, were detected during a 19-day incubation period. The onset of benzo[a]pyrene mineralization was compared to changes in the consortium community structure and was found to correlate with the emergence of at least four sequence types. DNA from 10 sequence types were successfully purified and sequenced, and that data revealed that eight of the consortium members were related to the class Proteobacteria but that the consortium also included members which were related to the genera Mycobacterium and Sphingobacterium. PMID:11010861

Analysis pipelines and packages for Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip (450k) data.

PubMed

Morris, Tiffany J; Beck, Stephan

2015-01-15

The Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip has become a popular platform for interrogating DNA methylation in epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) and related projects as well as resource efforts such as the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and the International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC). This has resulted in an exponential increase of 450k data in recent years and triggered the development of numerous integrated analysis pipelines and stand-alone packages. This review will introduce and discuss the currently most popular pipelines and packages and is particularly aimed at new 450k users. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

25 CFR 1000.73 - Once a Tribe/Consortium has been awarded a grant, may the Tribe/Consortium obtain information...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Once a Tribe/Consortium has been awarded a grant, may the Tribe/Consortium obtain information from a non-BIA bureau? 1000.73 Section 1000.73 Indians OFFICE OF THE... § 1000.73 Once a Tribe/Consortium has been awarded a grant, may the Tribe/Consortium obtain information...

Comparison of two commonly used clinical cognitive screening tests to diagnose mild cognitive impairment in heart failure with the golden standard European Consortium Criteria.

PubMed

Alagiakrishnan, Kannayiram; Mah, Darren; Dyck, Jason R B; Senthilselvan, Ambikaipakan; Ezekowitz, Justin

2017-02-01

This study on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in heart failure (HF) compares the utility of Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to the Mini-Mental Status Exam (MMSE) for diagnosing MCI in a HF population when compared to the golden standard European Consortium Criteria (ECC). Participants were recruited from the Alberta HEART study at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute in Edmonton and St. Mary's hospital in Camrose. This study enrolled 53 community adults aged>50years: 33 HF and 20 controls. Participants were assessed using both the MMSE and MoCA for MCI. MCI was diagnosed using the golden standard, European Consortium Criteria. Sensitivity and specificity analysis, positive and negative predictive values, likelihood ratios and kappa statistic were calculated. The mean age was 72.8years (SD 8.4), 60.4% were females and 34% had underlying ischemic heart disease. Overall, two thirds of patients (22/33, 66%) with HF had MCI. In comparison to European Consortium Criteria, the sensitivity and specificity of MoCA were 82% and 91% in identifying individuals with MCI, and MMSE were 9% and 91%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values for MoCA were 95% and 71%, and for MMSE were 67% and 33%, respectively. Kappa statistics showed good agreement between MoCA and consortium criteria (kappa=0.68) and a low agreement between MMSE and consortium criteria (kappa=0.07). Cognitive dysfunction is common in patients with HF. Overall, the MoCA seems to be a better screening tool than MMSE for MCI in HF patients. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

CPTAC | Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research

Cancer.gov

The National Cancer Institute’s Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) is a national effort to accelerate the understanding of the molecular basis of cancer through the application of large-scale proteome and genome analysis, or proteogenomics.

Sample pooling for real-time PCR detection and virulence determination of the footrot pathogen Dichelobacter nodosus.

PubMed

Frosth, Sara; König, Ulrika; Nyman, Ann-Kristin; Aspán, Anna

2017-09-01

Dichelobacter nodosus is the principal cause of ovine footrot and strain virulence is an important factor in disease severity. Therefore, detection and virulence determination of D. nodosus is important for proper diagnosis of the disease. Today this is possible by real-time PCR analysis. Analysis of large numbers of samples is costly and laborious; therefore, pooling of individual samples is common in surveillance programs. However, pooling can reduce the sensitivity of the method. The aim of this study was to develop a pooling method for real-time PCR analysis that would allow sensitive detection and simultaneous virulence determination of D. nodosus. A total of 225 sheep from 17 flocks were sampled using ESwabs within the Swedish Footrot Control Program in 2014. Samples were first analysed individually and then in pools of five by real-time PCR assays targeting the 16S rRNA and aprV2/B2 genes of D. nodosus. Each pool consisted of four negative and one positive D. nodosus samples with varying amounts of the bacterium. In the individual analysis, 61 (27.1%) samples were positive in the 16S rRNA and the aprV2/B2 PCR assays and 164 (72.9%) samples were negative. All samples positive in the aprV2/B2 PCR-assay were of aprB2 variant. The pooled analysis showed that all 41 pools were also positive for D. nodosus 16S rRNA and the aprB2 variant. The diagnostic sensitivity for pooled and individual samples was therefore similar. Our method includes concentration of the bacteria before DNA-extraction. This may account for the maintenance of diagnostic sensitivity. Diagnostic sensitivity in the real-time PCR assays of the pooled samples were comparable to the sensitivity obtained for individually analysed samples. Even sub-clinical infections were able to be detected in the pooled PCR samples which is important for control of the disease. This method may therefore be implemented in footrot control programs where it can replace analysis of individual samples.

Microbiological Analysis in Three Diverse Natural Geothermal Bathing Pools in Iceland

PubMed Central

Thorolfsdottir, Berglind Osk Th.; Marteinsson, Viggo Thor

2013-01-01

Natural thermal bathing pools contain geothermal water that is very popular to bathe in but the water is not sterilized, irradiated or treated in any way. Increasing tourism in Iceland will lead to increasing numbers of bath guests, which can in turn affect the microbial flora in the pools and therefore user safety. Today, there is no legislation that applies to natural geothermal pools in Iceland, as the water is not used for consumption and the pools are not defined as public swimming pools. In this study, we conducted a microbiological analysis on three popular but different natural pools in Iceland, located at Lýsuhóll, Hveravellir and Landmannalaugar. Total bacterial counts were performed by flow cytometry, and with plate count at 22 °C, 37 °C and 50 °C. The presence of viable coliforms, Enterococcus spp. and pseudomonads were investigated by growth experiments on selective media. All samples were screened for noroviruses by real time PCR. The results indicate higher fecal contamination in the geothermal pools where the geothermal water flow was low and bathing guest count was high during the day. The number of cultivated Pseudomonas spp. was high (13,000–40,000 cfu/100 mL) in the natural pools, and several strains were isolated and classified as opportunistic pathogens. Norovirus was not detected in the three pools. DNA was extracted from one-liter samples in each pool and analyzed by partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Microbial diversity analysis revealed different microbial communities between the pools and they were primarily composed of alpha-, beta- and gammaproteobacteria. PMID:23493033

Fruit and vegetable consumption, Helicobacter pylori antibodies, and gastric cancer risk: A pooled analysis of prospective studies in China, Japan, and Korea.

PubMed

Wang, Tianyi; Cai, Hui; Sasazuki, Shizuka; Tsugane, Shoichiro; Zheng, Wei; Cho, Eo Rin; Jee, Sun Ha; Michel, Angelika; Pawlita, Michael; Xiang, Yong-Bing; Gao, Yu-Tang; Shu, Xiao-Ou; You, Wei-Cheng; Epplein, Meira

2017-02-01

Epidemiological findings on the association between fruit and vegetable consumption and gastric cancer risk remain inconsistent. The present analysis included 810 prospectively ascertained non-cardia gastric cancer cases and 1,160 matched controls from the Helicobacter pylori Biomarker Cohort Consortium, which collected blood samples, demographic, lifestyle, and dietary data at baseline. Conditional logistic regression adjusting for total energy intake, smoking, and H. pylori status, was applied to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for gastric cancer risk across cohort- and sex-specific quartiles of fruit and vegetable intake. Increasing fruit intake was associated with decreasing risk of non-cardia gastric cancer (OR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.52-0.95, p trend = 0.02). Compared to low-fruit consumers infected with CagA-positive H. pylori, high-fruit consumers without evidence of H. pylori antibodies had the lowest odds for gastric cancer incidence (OR = 0.12, 95% CI: 0.06-0.25), whereby the inverse association with high-fruit consumption was attenuated among individuals infected with CagA-positive H. pylori (OR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.66-1.03). To note, the small number of H. pylori negative individuals does influence this finding. We observed a weaker, nondose-response suggestion of an inverse association of vegetable intake with non-cardia gastric cancer risk. High fruit intake may play a role in decreasing risk of non-cardia gastric cancer in Asia. © 2016 UICC.

Coffee consumption and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma by sex: The Liver Cancer Pooling Project

PubMed Central

Petrick, Jessica L.; Freedman, Neal D.; Graubard, Barry I.; Sahasrabuddhe, Vikrant V.; Lai, Gabriel Y.; Alavanja, Michael C.; Beane-Freeman, Laura E.; Boggs, Deborah A.; Buring, Julie E.; Chan, Andrew T.; Chong, Dawn Q.; Fuchs, Charles S.; Gapstur, Susan M.; Gaziano, John Michael; Giovannucci, Edward L.; Hollenbeck, Albert R.; King, Lindsay Y.; Koshiol, Jill; Lee, I-Min; Linet, Martha S.; Palmer, Julie R.; Poynter, Jenny N.; Purdue, Mark P.; Robien, Kim; Schairer, Catherine; Sesso, Howard D.; Sigurdson, Alice J.; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Anne; Wactawski-Wende, Jean; Campbell, Peter T.; McGlynn, Katherine A.

2015-01-01

Background Coffee consumption has been reported to be inversely associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of liver cancer. Caffeine has chemopreventive properties, but whether caffeine is responsible for the coffee-HCC association is not well studied. In addition, few studies have examined the relationship by sex, and no studies have examined whether there is an association between coffee and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), the second most common type of liver cancer. Methods In the Liver Cancer Pooling Project, a consortium of U.S.-based cohort studies, data from 1,212,893 individuals (HCC n=860, ICC n=260) in nine cohorts were pooled. Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using proportional hazards regression. Results Higher coffee consumption was associated with lower risk of HCC (HR>3 cups/day vs. non-drinker, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.53-0.99; ptrend cups/day=<0.0001). More notable reduced risk was seen among women than men (pinteraction=0.07). Women who consumed more than three cups of coffee per day were at a 54% lower risk of HCC (HR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.26-0.81), whereas men had more modest reduced risk of HCC (HR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.63-1.37). The associations were stronger for caffeinated coffee (HR>3 cups/day vs. non-drinker, 0.71, 95% CI, 0.50-1.01) than decaffeinated coffee (HR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.55-1.54). There was no relationship between coffee consumption and ICC. Conclusions These findings suggest that, in a U.S. population, coffee consumption is associated with reduced risk of HCC. Impact Further research into specific coffee compounds and mechanisms that may account for these associations is needed. PMID:26126626

Prevalence of transactive response DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) proteinopathy in cognitively normal older adults: systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Nascimento, C; Di Lorenzo Alho, A T; Bazan Conceição Amaral, C; Leite, R E P; Nitrini, R; Jacob-Filho, W; Pasqualucci, C A; Hokkanen, S R K; Hunter, S; Keage, H; Kovacs, G G; Grinberg, L T; Suemoto, C K

2018-04-01

To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis on the prevalence of transactive response DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) proteinopathy in cognitively normal older adults. We systematically reviewed and performed a meta-analysis on the prevalence of TDP-43 proteinopathy in older adults with normal cognition, evaluated by the Mini-Mental State Examination or the Clinical Dementia Rating. We estimated the overall prevalence of TDP-43 using random-effect models, and stratified by age, sex, sample size, study quality, antibody used to assess TDP-43 aggregates, analysed brain regions, Braak stage, Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease score, hippocampal sclerosis and geographic location. A total of 505 articles were identified in the systematic review, and 7 were included in the meta-analysis with 1196 cognitively normal older adults. We found an overall prevalence of TDP-43 proteinopathy of 24%. Prevalence of TDP-43 proteinopathy varied widely across geographic location (North America: 37%, Asia: 29%, Europe: 14%, and Latin America: 11%). Estimated prevalence of TDP-43 proteinopathy also varied according to study quality (quality score >7: 22% vs. quality score <7: 42%), antibody used to assess TDP-43 proteinopathy (native: 18% vs. hyperphosphorylated: 24%) and presence of hippocampal sclerosis (without 24% vs. with hippocampal sclerosis: 48%). Other stratified analyses by age, sex, analysed brain regions, sample size and severity of AD neuropathology showed similar pooled TDP-43 prevalence. Different methodology to access TDP-43, and also differences in lifestyle and genetic factors across different populations could explain our results. Standardization of TDP-43 measurement, and future studies about the impact of genetic and lifestyle characteristics on the development of neurodegenerative diseases are needed. © 2017 British Neuropathological Society.

The NIH Roadmap Epigenomics Program data resource

PubMed Central

Chadwick, Lisa Helbling

2012-01-01

The NIH Roadmap Reference Epigenome Mapping Consortium is developing a community resource of genome-wide epigenetic maps in a broad range of human primary cells and tissues. There are large amounts of data already available, and a number of different options for viewing and analyzing the data. This report will describe key features of the websites where users will find data, protocols and analysis tools developed by the consortium, and provide a perspective on how this unique resource will facilitate and inform human disease research, both immediately and in the future. PMID:22690667

The NIH Roadmap Epigenomics Program data resource.

PubMed

Chadwick, Lisa Helbling

2012-06-01

The NIH Roadmap Reference Epigenome Mapping Consortium is developing a community resource of genome-wide epigenetic maps in a broad range of human primary cells and tissues. There are large amounts of data already available, and a number of different options for viewing and analyzing the data. This report will describe key features of the websites where users will find data, protocols and analysis tools developed by the consortium, and provide a perspective on how this unique resource will facilitate and inform human disease research, both immediately and in the future.

The ENIGMA Consortium: large-scale collaborative analyses of neuroimaging and genetic data.

PubMed

Thompson, Paul M; Stein, Jason L; Medland, Sarah E; Hibar, Derrek P; Vasquez, Alejandro Arias; Renteria, Miguel E; Toro, Roberto; Jahanshad, Neda; Schumann, Gunter; Franke, Barbara; Wright, Margaret J; Martin, Nicholas G; Agartz, Ingrid; Alda, Martin; Alhusaini, Saud; Almasy, Laura; Almeida, Jorge; Alpert, Kathryn; Andreasen, Nancy C; Andreassen, Ole A; Apostolova, Liana G; Appel, Katja; Armstrong, Nicola J; Aribisala, Benjamin; Bastin, Mark E; Bauer, Michael; Bearden, Carrie E; Bergmann, Orjan; Binder, Elisabeth B; Blangero, John; Bockholt, Henry J; Bøen, Erlend; Bois, Catherine; Boomsma, Dorret I; Booth, Tom; Bowman, Ian J; Bralten, Janita; Brouwer, Rachel M; Brunner, Han G; Brohawn, David G; Buckner, Randy L; Buitelaar, Jan; Bulayeva, Kazima; Bustillo, Juan R; Calhoun, Vince D; Cannon, Dara M; Cantor, Rita M; Carless, Melanie A; Caseras, Xavier; Cavalleri, Gianpiero L; Chakravarty, M Mallar; Chang, Kiki D; Ching, Christopher R K; Christoforou, Andrea; Cichon, Sven; Clark, Vincent P; Conrod, Patricia; Coppola, Giovanni; Crespo-Facorro, Benedicto; Curran, Joanne E; Czisch, Michael; Deary, Ian J; de Geus, Eco J C; den Braber, Anouk; Delvecchio, Giuseppe; Depondt, Chantal; de Haan, Lieuwe; de Zubicaray, Greig I; Dima, Danai; Dimitrova, Rali; Djurovic, Srdjan; Dong, Hongwei; Donohoe, Gary; Duggirala, Ravindranath; Dyer, Thomas D; Ehrlich, Stefan; Ekman, Carl Johan; Elvsåshagen, Torbjørn; Emsell, Louise; Erk, Susanne; Espeseth, Thomas; Fagerness, Jesen; Fears, Scott; Fedko, Iryna; Fernández, Guillén; Fisher, Simon E; Foroud, Tatiana; Fox, Peter T; Francks, Clyde; Frangou, Sophia; Frey, Eva Maria; Frodl, Thomas; Frouin, Vincent; Garavan, Hugh; Giddaluru, Sudheer; Glahn, David C; Godlewska, Beata; Goldstein, Rita Z; Gollub, Randy L; Grabe, Hans J; Grimm, Oliver; Gruber, Oliver; Guadalupe, Tulio; Gur, Raquel E; Gur, Ruben C; Göring, Harald H H; Hagenaars, Saskia; Hajek, Tomas; Hall, Geoffrey B; Hall, Jeremy; Hardy, John; Hartman, Catharina A; Hass, Johanna; Hatton, Sean N; Haukvik, Unn K; Hegenscheid, Katrin; Heinz, Andreas; Hickie, Ian B; Ho, Beng-Choon; Hoehn, David; Hoekstra, Pieter J; Hollinshead, Marisa; Holmes, Avram J; Homuth, Georg; Hoogman, Martine; Hong, L Elliot; Hosten, Norbert; Hottenga, Jouke-Jan; Hulshoff Pol, Hilleke E; Hwang, Kristy S; Jack, Clifford R; Jenkinson, Mark; Johnston, Caroline; Jönsson, Erik G; Kahn, René S; Kasperaviciute, Dalia; Kelly, Sinead; Kim, Sungeun; Kochunov, Peter; Koenders, Laura; Krämer, Bernd; Kwok, John B J; Lagopoulos, Jim; Laje, Gonzalo; Landen, Mikael; Landman, Bennett A; Lauriello, John; Lawrie, Stephen M; Lee, Phil H; Le Hellard, Stephanie; Lemaître, Herve; Leonardo, Cassandra D; Li, Chiang-Shan; Liberg, Benny; Liewald, David C; Liu, Xinmin; Lopez, Lorna M; Loth, Eva; Lourdusamy, Anbarasu; Luciano, Michelle; Macciardi, Fabio; Machielsen, Marise W J; Macqueen, Glenda M; Malt, Ulrik F; Mandl, René; Manoach, Dara S; Martinot, Jean-Luc; Matarin, Mar; Mather, Karen A; Mattheisen, Manuel; Mattingsdal, Morten; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas; McDonald, Colm; McIntosh, Andrew M; McMahon, Francis J; McMahon, Katie L; Meisenzahl, Eva; Melle, Ingrid; Milaneschi, Yuri; Mohnke, Sebastian; Montgomery, Grant W; Morris, Derek W; Moses, Eric K; Mueller, Bryon A; Muñoz Maniega, Susana; Mühleisen, Thomas W; Müller-Myhsok, Bertram; Mwangi, Benson; Nauck, Matthias; Nho, Kwangsik; Nichols, Thomas E; Nilsson, Lars-Göran; Nugent, Allison C; Nyberg, Lars; Olvera, Rene L; Oosterlaan, Jaap; Ophoff, Roel A; Pandolfo, Massimo; Papalampropoulou-Tsiridou, Melina; Papmeyer, Martina; Paus, Tomas; Pausova, Zdenka; Pearlson, Godfrey D; Penninx, Brenda W; Peterson, Charles P; Pfennig, Andrea; Phillips, Mary; Pike, G Bruce; Poline, Jean-Baptiste; Potkin, Steven G; Pütz, Benno; Ramasamy, Adaikalavan; Rasmussen, Jerod; Rietschel, Marcella; Rijpkema, Mark; Risacher, Shannon L; Roffman, Joshua L; Roiz-Santiañez, Roberto; Romanczuk-Seiferth, Nina; Rose, Emma J; Royle, Natalie A; Rujescu, Dan; Ryten, Mina; Sachdev, Perminder S; Salami, Alireza; Satterthwaite, Theodore D; Savitz, Jonathan; Saykin, Andrew J; Scanlon, Cathy; Schmaal, Lianne; Schnack, Hugo G; Schork, Andrew J; Schulz, S Charles; Schür, Remmelt; Seidman, Larry; Shen, Li; Shoemaker, Jody M; Simmons, Andrew; Sisodiya, Sanjay M; Smith, Colin; Smoller, Jordan W; Soares, Jair C; Sponheim, Scott R; Sprooten, Emma; Starr, John M; Steen, Vidar M; Strakowski, Stephen; Strike, Lachlan; Sussmann, Jessika; Sämann, Philipp G; Teumer, Alexander; Toga, Arthur W; Tordesillas-Gutierrez, Diana; Trabzuni, Daniah; Trost, Sarah; Turner, Jessica; Van den Heuvel, Martijn; van der Wee, Nic J; van Eijk, Kristel; van Erp, Theo G M; van Haren, Neeltje E M; van 't Ent, Dennis; van Tol, Marie-Jose; Valdés Hernández, Maria C; Veltman, Dick J; Versace, Amelia; Völzke, Henry; Walker, Robert; Walter, Henrik; Wang, Lei; Wardlaw, Joanna M; Weale, Michael E; Weiner, Michael W; Wen, Wei; Westlye, Lars T; Whalley, Heather C; Whelan, Christopher D; White, Tonya; Winkler, Anderson M; Wittfeld, Katharina; Woldehawariat, Girma; Wolf, Christiane; Zilles, David; Zwiers, Marcel P; Thalamuthu, Anbupalam; Schofield, Peter R; Freimer, Nelson B; Lawrence, Natalia S; Drevets, Wayne

2014-06-01

The Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium is a collaborative network of researchers working together on a range of large-scale studies that integrate data from 70 institutions worldwide. Organized into Working Groups that tackle questions in neuroscience, genetics, and medicine, ENIGMA studies have analyzed neuroimaging data from over 12,826 subjects. In addition, data from 12,171 individuals were provided by the CHARGE consortium for replication of findings, in a total of 24,997 subjects. By meta-analyzing results from many sites, ENIGMA has detected factors that affect the brain that no individual site could detect on its own, and that require larger numbers of subjects than any individual neuroimaging study has currently collected. ENIGMA's first project was a genome-wide association study identifying common variants in the genome associated with hippocampal volume or intracranial volume. Continuing work is exploring genetic associations with subcortical volumes (ENIGMA2) and white matter microstructure (ENIGMA-DTI). Working groups also focus on understanding how schizophrenia, bipolar illness, major depression and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affect the brain. We review the current progress of the ENIGMA Consortium, along with challenges and unexpected discoveries made on the way.

Addressing data privacy in matched studies via virtual pooling.

PubMed

Saha-Chaudhuri, P; Weinberg, C R

2017-09-07

Data confidentiality and shared use of research data are two desirable but sometimes conflicting goals in research with multi-center studies and distributed data. While ideal for straightforward analysis, confidentiality restrictions forbid creation of a single dataset that includes covariate information of all participants. Current approaches such as aggregate data sharing, distributed regression, meta-analysis and score-based methods can have important limitations. We propose a novel application of an existing epidemiologic tool, specimen pooling, to enable confidentiality-preserving analysis of data arising from a matched case-control, multi-center design. Instead of pooling specimens prior to assay, we apply the methodology to virtually pool (aggregate) covariates within nodes. Such virtual pooling retains most of the information used in an analysis with individual data and since individual participant data is not shared externally, within-node virtual pooling preserves data confidentiality. We show that aggregated covariate levels can be used in a conditional logistic regression model to estimate individual-level odds ratios of interest. The parameter estimates from the standard conditional logistic regression are compared to the estimates based on a conditional logistic regression model with aggregated data. The parameter estimates are shown to be similar to those without pooling and to have comparable standard errors and confidence interval coverage. Virtual data pooling can be used to maintain confidentiality of data from multi-center study and can be particularly useful in research with large-scale distributed data.

Column bioleaching of uranium embedded in granite porphyry by a mesophilic acidophilic consortium.

PubMed

Qiu, Guanzhou; Li, Qian; Yu, Runlan; Sun, Zhanxue; Liu, Yajie; Chen, Miao; Yin, Huaqun; Zhang, Yage; Liang, Yili; Xu, Lingling; Sun, Limin; Liu, Xueduan

2011-04-01

A mesophilic acidophilic consortium was enriched from acid mine drainage samples collected from several uranium mines in China. The performance of the consortium in column bioleaching of low-grade uranium embedded in granite porphyry was investigated. The influences of several chemical parameters on uranium extraction in column reactor were also investigated. A uranium recovery of 96.82% was achieved in 97 days column leaching process including 33 days acid pre-leaching stage and 64 days bioleaching stage. It was reflected that indirect leaching mechanism took precedence over direct. Furthermore, the bacterial community structure was analyzed by using Amplified Ribosomal DNA Restriction Analysis. The results showed that microorganisms on the residual surface were more diverse than that in the solution. Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans was the dominant species in the solution and Leptospirillum ferriphilum on the residual surface. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quality control and conduct of genome-wide association meta-analyses.

PubMed

Winkler, Thomas W; Day, Felix R; Croteau-Chonka, Damien C; Wood, Andrew R; Locke, Adam E; Mägi, Reedik; Ferreira, Teresa; Fall, Tove; Graff, Mariaelisa; Justice, Anne E; Luan, Jian'an; Gustafsson, Stefan; Randall, Joshua C; Vedantam, Sailaja; Workalemahu, Tsegaselassie; Kilpeläinen, Tuomas O; Scherag, André; Esko, Tonu; Kutalik, Zoltán; Heid, Iris M; Loos, Ruth J F

2014-05-01

Rigorous organization and quality control (QC) are necessary to facilitate successful genome-wide association meta-analyses (GWAMAs) of statistics aggregated across multiple genome-wide association studies. This protocol provides guidelines for (i) organizational aspects of GWAMAs, and for (ii) QC at the study file level, the meta-level across studies and the meta-analysis output level. Real-world examples highlight issues experienced and solutions developed by the GIANT Consortium that has conducted meta-analyses including data from 125 studies comprising more than 330,000 individuals. We provide a general protocol for conducting GWAMAs and carrying out QC to minimize errors and to guarantee maximum use of the data. We also include details for the use of a powerful and flexible software package called EasyQC. Precise timings will be greatly influenced by consortium size. For consortia of comparable size to the GIANT Consortium, this protocol takes a minimum of about 10 months to complete.

The metabolic pathway of metamifop degradation by consortium ME-1 and its bacterial community structure.

PubMed

Dong, Weiliang; Liu, Kuan; Wang, Fei; Xin, Fengxue; Zhang, Wenming; Zhang, Min; Wu, Hao; Ma, Jiangfeng; Jiang, Min

2017-06-01

Metamifop is universally used in agriculture as a post-emergence aryloxyphenoxy propionate herbicide (AOPP), however its microbial degradation mechanism remains unclear. Consortium ME-1 isolated from AOPP-contaminated soil can degrade metamifop completely after 6 days and utilize it as the carbon source for bacterial growth. Meanwhile, consortium ME-1 possessed the ability to degrade metamifop stably under a wide range of pH (6.0-10.0) or temperature (20-42 °C). HPLC-MS analysis shows that N-(2-fluorophenyl)-2-(4-hydroxyphenoxy)-N-methyl propionamide, 2-(4-hydroxyphenoxy)-propionic acid, 6-chloro-2-benzoxazolinone and N-methyl-2-fluoroaniline, were detected and identified as four intermediate metabolites. Based on the metabolites identified, a putative metabolic pathway of metamifop was proposed for the first time. In addition, the consortium ME-1 was also able to transform or degrade other AOPP such as fenoxaprop-p-ethyl, clodinafop-propargyl, quizalofop-p-ethyl and cyhalofop-butyl. Moreover, the community structure of ME-1 with lower microbial diversity compared with the initial soil sample was investigated by high throughput sequencing. β-Proteobacteria and Sphingobacteria were the largest class with sequence percentages of 46.6% and 27.55% at the class level. In addition, 50 genera were classified in consortium ME-1, of which Methylobacillus, Sphingobacterium, Bordetella and Flavobacterium were the dominant genera with sequence percentages of 25.79, 25.61, 14.68 and 9.55%, respectively.

Biodegradation of diesel oil by a novel microbial consortium: comparison between co-inoculation with biosurfactant-producing strain and exogenously added biosurfactants.

PubMed

Mnif, Inès; Mnif, Sami; Sahnoun, Rihab; Maktouf, Sameh; Ayedi, Younes; Ellouze-Chaabouni, Semia; Ghribi, Dhouha

2015-10-01

Bioremediation, involving the use of microorganisms to detoxify or remove pollutants, is the most interesting strategy for hydrocarbon remediation. In this aim, four hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria were isolated from oil-contaminated soil in Tunisia. They were identified by the 16S rDNA sequence analysis, as Lysinibacillus bronitolerans RI18 (KF964487), Bacillus thuringiensis RI16 (KM111604), Bacillus weihenstephanensis RI12 (KM094930), and Acinetobacter radioresistens RI7 (KJ829530). Moreover, a lipopeptide biosurfactant produced by Bacillus subtilis SPB1, confirmed to increase diesel solubility, was tested to increase diesel biodegradation along with co-inoculation with two biosurfactant-producing strains. Culture studies revealed the enhancement of diesel biodegradation by the selected consortium with the addition of SPB1 lipopeptide and in the cases of co-inoculation by biosurfactant-producing strain. In fact, an improvement of about 38.42 and 49.65 % of diesel degradation was registered in the presence of 0.1 % lipopeptide biosurfactant and when culturing B. subtilis SPB1 strain with the isolated consortium, respectively. Furthermore, the best improvement, evaluated to about 55.4 %, was recorded when using the consortium cultured with B. subtilis SPB1 and A. radioresistens RI7 strains. Gas chromatography analyses were correlated with the gravimetric evaluation of the residual hydrocarbons. Results suggested the potential applicability of the selected consortium along with the ex situ- and in situ-added biosurfactant for the effective bioremediation of diesel-contaminated water and soil.

[The gene pool of Belgorod oblast population: study of biochemical gene markers in populations of Ukraine and Belarus and the position of the Belgorod population in the Eastern Slavic gene pool system].

PubMed

Lependina, I N; Churnosov, M I; Artamentova, L A; Ishchuk, M A; Tegako, O V; Balanovskaia, E V

2008-04-01

The characteristics of the gene pools of indigenous populations of Ukraine and Belarus have been studied using 28 alleles of 10 loci of biochemical gene markers (HP, GC, TF, PI, C'3, ACP1, GLO1, PGM1, ESD, and 6-PGD). The gene pools of the Russian and Ukrainian indigenous populations of Belgorod oblast (Russia) and the indigenous populations of Ukraine and Belarus have been compared. Cluster analysis, multidimensional scaling, and factor analysis of the obtained data have been used to determine the position of the Belgorod population gene pool in the Eastern Slavic gene pool system.

New England salt marsh pools: A quantitative analysis of geomorphic and geographic features

USGS Publications Warehouse

Adamowicz, S.C.; Roman, C.T.

2005-01-01

New England salt marsh pools provide important wildlife habitat and are the object of on-going salt marsh restoration projects; however, they have not been quantified in terms of their basic geomorphic and geographic traits. An examination of 32 ditched and unditched salt marshes from the Connecticut shore of Long Island Sound to southern Maine, USA, revealed that pools from ditched and unditched marshes had similar average sizes of about 200 m2, averaged 29 cm in depth, and were located about 11 m from the nearest tidal flow. Unditched marshes had 3 times the density (13 pools/ha), 2.5 times the pool coverage (83 m pool/km transect), and 4 times the total pool surface area per hectare (913 m2 pool/ha salt marsh) of ditched sites. Linear regression analysis demonstrated that an increasing density of ditches (m ditch/ha salt marsh) was negatively correlated with pool density and total pool surface area per hectare. Creek density was positively correlated with these variables. Thus, it was not the mere presence of drainage channels that were associated with low numbers of pools, but their type (ditch versus creek) and abundance. Tidal range was not correlated with pool density or total pool surface area, while marsh latitude had only a weak relationship to total pool surface area per hectare. Pools should be incorporated into salt marsh restoration planning, and the parameters quantified here may be used as initial design targets.

Multinational assessment of accuracy of equations for predicting risk of kidney failure: a meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Tangri, Navdeep; Grams, Morgan E.; Levey, Andrew S.; Coresh, Josef; Appel, Lawrence; Astor, Brad C.; Chodick, Gabriel; Collins, Allan J.; Djurdjev, Ognjenka; Elley, C. Raina; Evans, Marie; Garg, Amit X.; Hallan, Stein I.; Inker, Lesley; Ito, Sadayoshi; Jee, Sun Ha; Kovesdy, Csaba P.; Kronenberg, Florian; Lambers Heerspink, Hiddo J.; Marks, Angharad; Nadkarni, Girish N.; Navaneethan, Sankar D.; Nelson, Robert G.; Titze, Stephanie; Sarnak, Mark J.; Stengel, Benedicte; Woodward, Mark; Iseki, Kunitoshi

2016-01-01

Importance Identifying patients at risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression may facilitate more optimal nephrology care. Kidney failure risk equations (KFREs) were previously developed and validated in two Canadian cohorts. Validation in other regions and in CKD populations not under the care of a nephrologist is needed. Objective To evaluate the accuracy of the KFREs across different geographic regions and patient populations through individual-participant data meta-analysis. Data Sources Thirty-one cohorts, including 721,357 participants with CKD Stages 3–5 in over 30 countries spanning 4 continents, were studied. These cohorts collected data from 1982 through 2014. Study Selection Cohorts participating in the CKD Prognosis Consortium with data on end-stage renal disease. Data Extraction and Synthesis Data were obtained and statistical analyses were performed between July 2012 and June 2015. Using the risk factors from the original KFREs, cohort-specific hazard ratios were estimated, and combined in meta-analysis to form new “pooled” KFREs. Original and pooled equation performance was compared, and the need for regional calibration factors was assessed. Main Outcome and Measure Kidney failure (treatment by dialysis or kidney transplantation). Results During a median follow-up of 4 years, 23,829 cases of kidney failure were observed. The original KFREs achieved excellent discrimination (ability to differentiate those who developed kidney failure from those who did not) across all cohorts (overall C statistic, 0.90 (95% CI 0.89–0.92) at 2 years and 0.88 (95% CI 0.86–0.90) at 5 years); discrimination in subgroups by age, race, and diabetes status was similar. There was no improvement with the pooled equations. Calibration (the difference between observed and predicted risk) was adequate in North American cohorts, but the original KFREs overestimated risk in some non-North American cohorts. Addition of a calibration factor that lowered the baseline risk by 32.9% at 2 years and 16.5% at 5 years improved the calibration in 12/15 and 10/13 non-North American cohorts at 2 and 5 years, respectively (p=0.04 and p=0.02). Conclusions and Relevance KFREs developed in a Canadian population showed high discrimination and adequate calibration when validated in 31 multinational cohorts. However, in some regions the addition of a calibration factor may be necessary. PMID:26757465

The effects of portfolio purchasing on a specialized subject collection.

PubMed

Murphy, Sarah Anne

2007-01-01

To examine the impact of portfolio purchasing on a small, highly specialized medical collection at The Ohio State University. In this citation analysis, cited references for articles published by faculty in the College of Veterinary Medicine between 2000 and 2004 were collected and analyzed to determine whether The Ohio State University Libraries provided print or electronic access to the publications cited or the publishers of the cited journals, and whether the university purchased a subscription to each journal or received the subscription through a consortium-sponsored portfolio purchasing agreement. Of the 419 journals veterinary faculty cited more than 10 times, only 13 (3.1%) were in Zone 1, and 63 (15.0%) were in Zone 2 of the Bradford distribution, a citation analysis model which demonstrates that a small number of journals account for the bulk of literature utilized in any established field. Of these, only 23 (5.5%) were procured through an OhioLINK or other consortium portfolio purchasing agreement. The costs of acquiring a publisher's portfolio, even through a consortium, should be balanced with the costs of purchasing content required to provide a balanced collection for all user populations.

Humin as an electron donor for enhancement of multiple microbial reduction reactions with different redox potentials in a consortium.

PubMed

Zhang, Dongdong; Zhang, Chunfang; Xiao, Zhixing; Suzuki, Daisuke; Katayama, Arata

2015-02-01

A solid-phase humin, acting as an electron donor, was able to enhance multiple reductive biotransformations, including dechlorination of pentachlorophenol (PCP), dissimilatory reduction of amorphous Fe (III) oxide (FeOOH), and reduction of nitrate, in a consortium. Humin that was chemically reduced by NaBH4 served as an electron donor for these microbial reducing reactions, with electron donating capacities of 0.013 mmol e(-)/g for PCP dechlorination, 0.15 mmol e(-)/g for iron reduction, and 0.30 mmol e(-)/g for nitrate reduction. Two pairs of oxidation and reduction peaks within the humin were detected by cyclic voltammetry analysis. 16S rRNA gene sequencing-based microbial community analysis of the consortium incubated with different terminal electron acceptors, suggested that Dehalobacter sp., Bacteroides sp., and Sulfurospirillum sp. were involved in the PCP dechlorination, dissimilatory iron reduction, and nitrate reduction, respectively. These findings suggested that humin functioned as a versatile redox mediator, donating electrons for multiple respiration reactions with different redox potentials. Copyright © 2014 The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effects of portfolio purchasing on a specialized subject collection

PubMed Central

Murphy, Sarah Anne

2007-01-01

Objective: To examine the impact of portfolio purchasing on a small, highly specialized medical collection at The Ohio State University. Methodology: In this citation analysis, cited references for articles published by faculty in the College of Veterinary Medicine between 2000 and 2004 were collected and analyzed to determine whether The Ohio State University Libraries provided print or electronic access to the publications cited or the publishers of the cited journals, and whether the university purchased a subscription to each journal or received the subscription through a consortium-sponsored portfolio purchasing agreement. Results: Of the 419 journals veterinary faculty cited more than 10 times, only 13 (3.1%) were in Zone 1, and 63 (15.0%) were in Zone 2 of the Bradford distribution, a citation analysis model which demonstrates that a small number of journals account for the bulk of literature utilized in any established field. Of these, only 23 (5.5%) were procured through an OhioLINK or other consortium portfolio purchasing agreement. Discussion/Conclusion: The costs of acquiring a publisher's portfolio, even through a consortium, should be balanced with the costs of purchasing content required to provide a balanced collection for all user populations. PMID:17252061

Meta-analysis of human genome-microbiome association studies: the MiBioGen consortium initiative.

PubMed

Wang, Jun; Kurilshikov, Alexander; Radjabzadeh, Djawad; Turpin, Williams; Croitoru, Kenneth; Bonder, Marc Jan; Jackson, Matthew A; Medina-Gomez, Carolina; Frost, Fabian; Homuth, Georg; Rühlemann, Malte; Hughes, David; Kim, Han-Na; Spector, Tim D; Bell, Jordana T; Steves, Claire J; Timpson, Nicolas; Franke, Andre; Wijmenga, Cisca; Meyer, Katie; Kacprowski, Tim; Franke, Lude; Paterson, Andrew D; Raes, Jeroen; Kraaij, Robert; Zhernakova, Alexandra

2018-06-08

In recent years, human microbiota, especially gut microbiota, have emerged as an important yet complex trait influencing human metabolism, immunology, and diseases. Many studies are investigating the forces underlying the observed variation, including the human genetic variants that shape human microbiota. Several preliminary genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been completed, but more are necessary to achieve a fuller picture. Here, we announce the MiBioGen consortium initiative, which has assembled 18 population-level cohorts and some 19,000 participants. Its aim is to generate new knowledge for the rapidly developing field of microbiota research. Each cohort has surveyed the gut microbiome via 16S rRNA sequencing and genotyped their participants with full-genome SNP arrays. We have standardized the analytical pipelines for both the microbiota phenotypes and genotypes, and all the data have been processed using identical approaches. Our analysis of microbiome composition shows that we can reduce the potential artifacts introduced by technical differences in generating microbiota data. We are now in the process of benchmarking the association tests and performing meta-analyses of genome-wide associations. All pipeline and summary statistics results will be shared using public data repositories. We present the largest consortium to date devoted to microbiota-GWAS. We have adapted our analytical pipelines to suit multi-cohort analyses and expect to gain insight into host-microbiota cross-talk at the genome-wide level. And, as an open consortium, we invite more cohorts to join us (by contacting one of the corresponding authors) and to follow the analytical pipeline we have developed.

Multiple incentives in encouraging car pool formation on a university campus

PubMed Central

Jacobs, Harvey E.; Fairbanks, David; Poche, Cheryl E.; Bailey, Jon S.

1982-01-01

The effects of a combined token economy and reserved parking program were evaluated as a means of increasing car pooling among students on a university campus. Following a baseline period, students in two experimental parking lots were notified of the availability of reserved parking and coupons redeemable for 25 cents in merchandise for each occupant of automobiles containing two or more people. Two control lots also were monitored for a comparison of treatment effects. Results indicated variable increases in car pooling in the two experimental lots and no increase in the control lots. Removal of the 25-cent coupons from one treatment lot (reserved parking only) did not adversely affect rates of car pooling. An analysis of individual automobile occupancy rates among car poolers indicated distinct patterns of car pooling and underscored the importance of individual subject data analysis in the present situation. A cost-benefit analysis indicated that even moderately effective car pool programs can be cost-effective on both a public and personal level. PMID:16795653

Smaller Hippocampal Volume in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Multisite ENIGMA-PGC Study: Subcortical Volumetry Results From Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Consortia.

PubMed

Logue, Mark W; van Rooij, Sanne J H; Dennis, Emily L; Davis, Sarah L; Hayes, Jasmeet P; Stevens, Jennifer S; Densmore, Maria; Haswell, Courtney C; Ipser, Jonathan; Koch, Saskia B J; Korgaonkar, Mayuresh; Lebois, Lauren A M; Peverill, Matthew; Baker, Justin T; Boedhoe, Premika S W; Frijling, Jessie L; Gruber, Staci A; Harpaz-Rotem, Ilan; Jahanshad, Neda; Koopowitz, Sheri; Levy, Ifat; Nawijn, Laura; O'Connor, Lauren; Olff, Miranda; Salat, David H; Sheridan, Margaret A; Spielberg, Jeffrey M; van Zuiden, Mirjam; Winternitz, Sherry R; Wolff, Jonathan D; Wolf, Erika J; Wang, Xin; Wrocklage, Kristen; Abdallah, Chadi G; Bryant, Richard A; Geuze, Elbert; Jovanovic, Tanja; Kaufman, Milissa L; King, Anthony P; Krystal, John H; Lagopoulos, Jim; Bennett, Maxwell; Lanius, Ruth; Liberzon, Israel; McGlinchey, Regina E; McLaughlin, Katie A; Milberg, William P; Miller, Mark W; Ressler, Kerry J; Veltman, Dick J; Stein, Dan J; Thomaes, Kathleen; Thompson, Paul M; Morey, Rajendra A

2018-02-01

Many studies report smaller hippocampal and amygdala volumes in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but findings have not always been consistent. Here, we present the results of a large-scale neuroimaging consortium study on PTSD conducted by the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC)-Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) PTSD Working Group. We analyzed neuroimaging and clinical data from 1868 subjects (794 PTSD patients) contributed by 16 cohorts, representing the largest neuroimaging study of PTSD to date. We assessed the volumes of eight subcortical structures (nucleus accumbens, amygdala, caudate, hippocampus, pallidum, putamen, thalamus, and lateral ventricle). We used a standardized image-analysis and quality-control pipeline established by the ENIGMA consortium. In a meta-analysis of all samples, we found significantly smaller hippocampi in subjects with current PTSD compared with trauma-exposed control subjects (Cohen's d = -0.17, p = .00054), and smaller amygdalae (d = -0.11, p = .025), although the amygdala finding did not survive a significance level that was Bonferroni corrected for multiple subcortical region comparisons (p < .0063). Our study is not subject to the biases of meta-analyses of published data, and it represents an important milestone in an ongoing collaborative effort to examine the neurobiological underpinnings of PTSD and the brain's response to trauma. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Smaller Hippocampal Volume in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Multisite ENIGMA-PGC Study: Subcortical Volumetry Results From Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Consortia

PubMed Central

Logue, Mark W.; van Rooij, Sanne J.H.; Dennis, Emily L.; Davis, Sarah L.; Hayes, Jasmeet P.; Stevens, Jennifer S.; Densmore, Maria; Haswell, Courtney C.; Ipser, Jonathan; Koch, Saskia B.J.; Korgaonkar, Mayuresh; Lebois, Lauren A.M.; Peverill, Matthew; Baker, Justin T.; Boedhoe, Premika S.W.; Frijling, Jessie L.; Gruber, Staci A.; Harpaz-Rotem, Ilan; Jahanshad, Neda; Koopowitz, Sheri; Levy, Ifat; Nawijn, Laura; O’Connor, Lauren; Olff, Miranda; Salat, David H.; Sheridan, Margaret A.; Spielberg, Jeffrey M.; van Zuiden, Mirjam; Winternitz, Sherry R.; Wolff, Jonathan D.; Wolf, Erika J.; Wang, Xin; Wrocklage, Kristen; Abdallah, Chadi G.; Bryant, Richard A.; Geuze, Elbert; Jovanovic, Tanja; Kaufman, Milissa L.; King, Anthony P.; Krystal, John H.; Lagopoulos, Jim; Bennett, Maxwell; Lanius, Ruth; Liberzon, Israel; McGlinchey, Regina E.; McLaughlin, Katie A.; Milberg, William P.; Miller, Mark W.; Ressler, Kerry J.; Veltman, Dick J.; Stein, Dan J.; Thomaes, Kathleen; Thompson, Paul M.; Morey, Rajendra A.

2018-01-01

BACKGROUND Many studies report smaller hippocampal and amygdala volumes in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but findings have not always been consistent. Here, we present the results of a large-scale neuroimaging consortium study on PTSD conducted by the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC)–Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) PTSD Working Group. METHODS We analyzed neuroimaging and clinical data from 1868 subjects (794 PTSD patients) contributed by 16 cohorts, representing the largest neuroimaging study of PTSD to date. We assessed the volumes of eight subcortical structures (nucleus accumbens, amygdala, caudate, hippocampus, pallidum, putamen, thalamus, and lateral ventricle). We used a standardized image-analysis and quality-control pipeline established by the ENIGMA consortium. RESULTS In a meta-analysis of all samples, we found significantly smaller hippocampi in subjects with current PTSD compared with trauma-exposed control subjects (Cohen’s d = −0.17, p = .00054), and smaller amygdalae (d = −0.11, p = .025), although the amygdala finding did not survive a significance level that was Bonferroni corrected for multiple subcortical region comparisons (p < .0063). CONCLUSIONS Our study is not subject to the biases of meta-analyses of published data, and it represents an important milestone in an ongoing collaborative effort to examine the neurobiological underpinnings of PTSD and the brain’s response to trauma. PMID:29217296

Proteome Characterization Centers - TCGA

Cancer.gov

The centers, a component of NCI’s Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium, will analyze a subset of TCGA samples to define proteins translated from cancer genomes and their related biological processes.

The Generation Challenge Programme Platform: Semantic Standards and Workbench for Crop Science

PubMed Central

Bruskiewich, Richard; Senger, Martin; Davenport, Guy; Ruiz, Manuel; Rouard, Mathieu; Hazekamp, Tom; Takeya, Masaru; Doi, Koji; Satoh, Kouji; Costa, Marcos; Simon, Reinhard; Balaji, Jayashree; Akintunde, Akinnola; Mauleon, Ramil; Wanchana, Samart; Shah, Trushar; Anacleto, Mylah; Portugal, Arllet; Ulat, Victor Jun; Thongjuea, Supat; Braak, Kyle; Ritter, Sebastian; Dereeper, Alexis; Skofic, Milko; Rojas, Edwin; Martins, Natalia; Pappas, Georgios; Alamban, Ryan; Almodiel, Roque; Barboza, Lord Hendrix; Detras, Jeffrey; Manansala, Kevin; Mendoza, Michael Jonathan; Morales, Jeffrey; Peralta, Barry; Valerio, Rowena; Zhang, Yi; Gregorio, Sergio; Hermocilla, Joseph; Echavez, Michael; Yap, Jan Michael; Farmer, Andrew; Schiltz, Gary; Lee, Jennifer; Casstevens, Terry; Jaiswal, Pankaj; Meintjes, Ayton; Wilkinson, Mark; Good, Benjamin; Wagner, James; Morris, Jane; Marshall, David; Collins, Anthony; Kikuchi, Shoshi; Metz, Thomas; McLaren, Graham; van Hintum, Theo

2008-01-01

The Generation Challenge programme (GCP) is a global crop research consortium directed toward crop improvement through the application of comparative biology and genetic resources characterization to plant breeding. A key consortium research activity is the development of a GCP crop bioinformatics platform to support GCP research. This platform includes the following: (i) shared, public platform-independent domain models, ontology, and data formats to enable interoperability of data and analysis flows within the platform; (ii) web service and registry technologies to identify, share, and integrate information across diverse, globally dispersed data sources, as well as to access high-performance computational (HPC) facilities for computationally intensive, high-throughput analyses of project data; (iii) platform-specific middleware reference implementations of the domain model integrating a suite of public (largely open-access/-source) databases and software tools into a workbench to facilitate biodiversity analysis, comparative analysis of crop genomic data, and plant breeding decision making. PMID:18483570

Job insecurity and risk of diabetes: a meta-analysis of individual participant data.

PubMed

Ferrie, Jane E; Virtanen, Marianna; Jokela, Markus; Madsen, Ida E H; Heikkilä, Katriina; Alfredsson, Lars; Batty, G David; Bjorner, Jakob B; Borritz, Marianne; Burr, Hermann; Dragano, Nico; Elovainio, Marko; Fransson, Eleonor I; Knutsson, Anders; Koskenvuo, Markku; Koskinen, Aki; Kouvonen, Anne; Kumari, Meena; Nielsen, Martin L; Nordin, Maria; Oksanen, Tuula; Pahkin, Krista; Pejtersen, Jan H; Pentti, Jaana; Salo, Paula; Shipley, Martin J; Suominen, Sakari B; Tabák, Adam; Theorell, Töres; Väänänen, Ari; Vahtera, Jussi; Westerholm, Peter J M; Westerlund, Hugo; Rugulies, Reiner; Nyberg, Solja T; Kivimäki, Mika

2016-12-06

Job insecurity has been associated with certain health outcomes. We examined the role of job insecurity as a risk factor for incident diabetes. We used individual participant data from 8 cohort studies identified in 2 open-access data archives and 11 cohort studies participating in the Individual-Participant-Data Meta-analysis in Working Populations Consortium. We calculated study-specific estimates of the association between job insecurity reported at baseline and incident diabetes over the follow-up period. We pooled the estimates in a meta-analysis to produce a summary risk estimate. The 19 studies involved 140 825 participants from Australia, Europe and the United States, with a mean follow-up of 9.4 years and 3954 incident cases of diabetes. In the preliminary analysis adjusted for age and sex, high job insecurity was associated with an increased risk of incident diabetes compared with low job insecurity (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09-1.30). In the multivariable-adjusted analysis restricted to 15 studies with baseline data for all covariates (age, sex, socioeconomic status, obesity, physical activity, alcohol and smoking), the association was slightly attenuated (adjusted OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.01-1.24). Heterogeneity between the studies was low to moderate (age- and sex-adjusted model: I 2 = 24%, p = 0.2; multivariable-adjusted model: I 2 = 27%, p = 0.2). In the multivariable-adjusted analysis restricted to high-quality studies, in which the diabetes diagnosis was ascertained from electronic medical records or clinical examination, the association was similar to that in the main analysis (adjusted OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.04-1.35). Our findings suggest that self-reported job insecurity is associated with a modest increased risk of incident diabetes. Health care personnel should be aware of this association among workers reporting job insecurity. © 2016 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors.

Outcomes of using wet pooling to detect STEC and Salmonella

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Objective: The objective of this work was to examine the reliability of wet pooling sample broths. Experimental Design & Analysis: Fresh sample enrichment broths (n=737) were used to prepare 148 wet pools of 5 broths each. The initial broths and the pools were screened for STEC and Salmonella. ...

EMSO ERIC - Ocean Consortium Facility for Europe and the World

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Best, Mairi

2017-04-01

EMSO is forging ahead through the next challenge in Earth-Ocean Science: How to co-ordinate ocean data acquisition, analysis and response across provincial, national, regional, and global scales. EMSO provides power, communications, sensors, and data infrastructure for continuous, high resolution, real-time, interactive ocean observations across a truly multi- and interdisciplinary range of research areas including biology, geology, chemistry, physics, engineering, and computer science; from polar to tropical environments, through the water column down to the abyss. 11 deep sea and 4 shallow nodes span from Arctic through the Atlantic and Mediterranean, to the Black Sea. The EMSO Preparatory Phase (FP7) project led to the Interim phase (involving 13 countries) of forming the legal entity: the EMSO European Research Infrastructure Consortium (EMSO-ERIC)-officially created by the EC in 2016. The open user community, originally developed through ESONET (European Seafloor Observatory NETwork), follows on scientific community planning contributions of the ESONET-NoE (FP6) project. Further progress made through the FixO3 project (FP7) also contributes to this shared infrastructure. Coordination among nodes is being strengthened through the EMSOdev project (H2020) which is producing the EMSO Generic Instrument Module (EGIM) - standardised observations of temperature, pressure, salinity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, chlorophyll fluorescence, currents, passive acoustics, pH, pCO2, and nutrients. Early installations are now being upgraded; in October 2015 EMSO-France deployed a second cable and junction box serving the Ligurian Sea Node in order to monitor slope stability offshore Nice; in 2016 the EMSO Azores Node receives a major upgrade that will double its observing capacity; for EMSO-Italia the Capo Passero site is being installed and the Catania site is being upgraded. EMSOLINK will continue the expansion work. EMSO is a key player in international coordination projects such as CoopEUS/Coop+, ENVRI/ENVRIplus, GOOS/EOOS - as such EMSO not only brings together countries and disciplines, but allows the pooling of resources and coordination to assemble harmonised data into a comprehensive regional ocean picture which it will then make available to researchers and stakeholders worldwide on an open and interoperable access basis.

PanScan, the Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium, and the Pancreatic Cancer Case-Control Consortium

Cancer.gov

The Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium consists of more than a dozen prospective epidemiologic cohort studies within the NCI Cohort Consortium, whose leaders work together to investigate the etiology and natural history of pancreatic cancer.

Northern New Jersey Nursing Education Consortium: a partnership for graduate nursing education.

PubMed

Quinless, F W; Levin, R F

1998-01-01

The purpose of this article is to describe the evolution and implementation of the Northern New Jersey Nursing Education consortium--a consortium of seven member institutions established in 1992. Details regarding the specific functions of the consortium relative to cross-registration of students in graduate courses, financial disbursement of revenue, faculty development activities, student services, library privileges, and institutional research review board mechanisms are described. The authors also review the administrative organizational structure through which the work conducted by the consortium occurs. Both the advantages and disadvantages of such a graduate consortium are explored, and specific examples of recent potential and real conflicts are fully discussed. The authors detail governance and structure of the consortium as a potential model for replication in other environments.

The conception of administrators regarding the formation of a healthcare consortium in Pernambuco, Brazil: a case study.

PubMed

e Silva, Keila S Brito; Bezerra, Adriana Falangola B

2011-01-01

The formation of healthcare consortia is a management strategy adopted by a number of cities in Brazil in order to minimize the difficulties the population has in access to services of greater technological complexity. As administrators are the main governmental actors in the promotion of this strategy, the aim of the present study was to identify the motives, expectations and difficulties faced by the mayors, and secretaries of health that make up a healthcare consortium undergoing a formation process in the rural, coastal zone of the state of Pernambuco. A descriptive, qualitative, case study was conducted. Data collection was carried out through semi-structured interviews held with mayors and secretaries of health of the municipalities participating in the consortium. Data were analyzed by means of content analysis, using the NVivo 2.0 software program. The administrators cited difficulty in access to specialized services and the high cost of transporting patients to distant locations for treatment as motives for the formation of the consortium. With the implantation of this healthcare strategy, the expectations are a reduction in costs regarding patient transportation, an increase in access to services of greater complexity, and negotiations with other spheres of government. The main difficulties faced are political-partisan conflicts and excessive bureaucracy. Although there were no considerable divergences in the administrators' perceptions, it was evident that those who initiated the formation of the consortium offered a deeper, more detailed discourse, thereby demonstrating greater involvement when compared to those who offered continuity to the process. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Biodegradation of bilge water: Batch test under anaerobic and aerobic conditions and performance of three pilot aerobic Moving Bed Biofilm Reactors (MBBRs) at different filling fractions.

PubMed

Vyrides, Ioannis; Drakou, Efi-Maria; Ioannou, Stavros; Michael, Fotoula; Gatidou, Georgia; Stasinakis, Athanasios S

2018-07-01

The bilge water that is stored at the bottom of the ships is saline and greasy wastewater with a high Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) fluctuations (2-12 g COD L -1 ). The aim of this study was to examine at a laboratory scale the biodegradation of bilge water using first anaerobic granular sludge followed by aerobic microbial consortium (consisted of 5 strains) and vice versa and then based on this to implement a pilot scale study. Batch results showed that granular sludge and aerobic consortium can remove up to 28% of COD in 13 days and 65% of COD removal in 4 days, respectively. The post treatment of anaerobic and aerobic effluent with aerobic consortium and granular sludge resulted in further 35% and 5% COD removal, respectively. The addition of glycine betaine or nitrates to the aerobic consortium did not enhance significantly its ability to remove COD from bilge water. The aerobic microbial consortium was inoculated in 3 pilot (200 L) Moving Bed Biofilm Reactors (MBBRs) under filling fractions of 10%, 20% and 40% and treated real bilge water for 165 days under 36 h HRT. The MBBR with a filling fraction of 40% resulted in the highest COD decrease (60%) compared to the operation of the MBBRs with a filling fraction of 10% and 20%. GC-MS analysis on 165 day pointed out the main organic compounds presence in the influent and in the MBBR (10% filling fraction) effluent. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multiplexed resequencing analysis to identify rare variants in pooled DNA with barcode indexing using next-generation sequencer.

PubMed

Mitsui, Jun; Fukuda, Yoko; Azuma, Kyo; Tozaki, Hirokazu; Ishiura, Hiroyuki; Takahashi, Yuji; Goto, Jun; Tsuji, Shoji

2010-07-01

We have recently found that multiple rare variants of the glucocerebrosidase gene (GBA) confer a robust risk for Parkinson disease, supporting the 'common disease-multiple rare variants' hypothesis. To develop an efficient method of identifying rare variants in a large number of samples, we applied multiplexed resequencing using a next-generation sequencer to identification of rare variants of GBA. Sixteen sets of pooled DNAs from six pooled DNA samples were prepared. Each set of pooled DNAs was subjected to polymerase chain reaction to amplify the target gene (GBA) covering 6.5 kb, pooled into one tube with barcode indexing, and then subjected to extensive sequence analysis using the SOLiD System. Individual samples were also subjected to direct nucleotide sequence analysis. With the optimization of data processing, we were able to extract all the variants from 96 samples with acceptable rates of false-positive single-nucleotide variants.

10 CFR 603.515 - Qualification of a consortium.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (CONTINUED) ASSISTANCE REGULATIONS TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS Pre-Award Business Evaluation Recipient Qualification § 603.515 Qualification of a consortium. (a) A consortium that... under the agreement. (b) If the prospective recipient of a TIA is a consortium that is not formally...

10 CFR 603.515 - Qualification of a consortium.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (CONTINUED) ASSISTANCE REGULATIONS TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS Pre-Award Business Evaluation Recipient Qualification § 603.515 Qualification of a consortium. (a) A consortium that... under the agreement. (b) If the prospective recipient of a TIA is a consortium that is not formally...

10 CFR 603.515 - Qualification of a consortium.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (CONTINUED) ASSISTANCE REGULATIONS TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS Pre-Award Business Evaluation Recipient Qualification § 603.515 Qualification of a consortium. (a) A consortium that... under the agreement. (b) If the prospective recipient of a TIA is a consortium that is not formally...

25 CFR 1000.33 - What amount of funding is to be removed from the Consortium's AFA for the withdrawing Tribe?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... Participation in Tribal Self-Governance Withdrawal from A Consortium Annual Funding Agreement § 1000.33 What... the Consortium agreement is reduced if: (1) The Consortium, Tribe, OSG, and bureau agree it is...

Influence of the arc plasma parameters on the weld pool profile in TIG welding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toropchin, A.; Frolov, V.; Pipa, A. V.; Kozakov, R.; Uhrlandt, D.

2014-11-01

Magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of the arc and fluid simulations of the weld pool can be beneficial in the analysis and further development of arc welding processes and welding machines. However, the appropriate coupling of arc and weld pool simulations needs further improvement. The tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding process is investigated by simulations including the weld pool. Experiments with optical diagnostics are used for the validation. A coupled computational model of the arc and the weld pool is developed using the software ANSYS CFX. The weld pool model considers the forces acting on the motion of the melt inside and on the surface of the pool, such as Marangoni, drag, electromagnetic forces and buoyancy. The experimental work includes analysis of cross-sections of the workpieces, highspeed video images and spectroscopic measurements. Experiments and calculations have been performed for various currents, distances between electrode and workpiece and nozzle diameters. The studies show the significant impact of material properties like surface tension dependence on temperature as well as of the arc structure on the weld pool behaviour and finally the weld seam depth. The experimental weld pool profiles and plasma temperatures are in good agreement with computational results.

Non-stationary Drainage Flows and Cold Pools in Gentle Terrain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahrt, L.

2015-12-01

Previous studies have concentrated on organized topography with well-defined slopes or valleys in an effort to understand the flow dynamics. However, most of the Earth's land surface consists of gentle terrain that is quasi three dimensional. Different scenarios are briefly classified. A network of measurements are analyzed to examine shallow cold pools and drainage flow down the valley which develop for weak ambient wind and relatively clear skies. However, transient modes constantly modulate or intermittently eliminate the cold pool, which makes extraction and analysis of the horizontal structure of the cold pool difficult with traditional analysis methods. Singular value decomposition successfully isolates the effects of large-scale flow from local down-valley cold air drainage within the cold pool in spite of the intermittent nature of this local flow. The traditional concept of a cold pool must be generalized to include cold pool intermittency, complex variation of temperature related to some three-dimensionality and a diffuse cold pool top. Different types of cold pools are classified in terms of the stratification and gradient of potential temperature along the slope. The strength of the cold pool is related to a forcing temperature scale proportional to the net radiative cooling divided by the wind speed above the valley. The scatter is large partly due to nonstationarity of the marginal cold pool in this shallow valley

Validation of the CMT Pediatric Scale as an outcome measure of disability

PubMed Central

Burns, Joshua; Ouvrier, Robert; Estilow, Tim; Shy, Rosemary; Laurá, Matilde; Pallant, Julie F.; Lek, Monkol; Muntoni, Francesco; Reilly, Mary M.; Pareyson, Davide; Acsadi, Gyula; Shy, Michael E.; Finkel, Richard S.

2012-01-01

Objective Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) is a common heritable peripheral neuropathy. There is no treatment for any form of CMT although clinical trials are increasingly occurring. Patients usually develop symptoms during the first two decades of life but there are no established outcome measures of disease severity or response to treatment. We identified a set of items that represent a range of impairment levels and conducted a series of validation studies to build a patient-centered multi-item rating scale of disability for children with CMT. Methods As part of the Inherited Neuropathies Consortium, patients aged 3–20 years with a variety of CMT types were recruited from the USA, UK, Italy and Australia. Initial development stages involved: definition of the construct, item pool generation, peer review and pilot testing. Based on data from 172 patients, a series of validation studies were conducted, including: item and factor analysis, reliability testing, Rasch modeling and sensitivity analysis. Results Seven areas for measurement were identified (strength, dexterity, sensation, gait, balance, power, endurance), and a psychometrically robust 11-item scale constructed (Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease Pediatric Scale: CMTPedS). Rasch analysis supported the viability of the CMTPedS as a unidimensional measure of disability in children with CMT. It showed good overall model fit, no evidence of misfitting items, no person misfit and it was well targeted for children with CMT. Interpretation The CMTPedS is a well-tolerated outcome measure that can be completed in 25-minutes. It is a reliable, valid and sensitive global measure of disability for children with CMT from the age of 3 years. PMID:22522479

Hospital Resource Use with Donation after Cardiac Death Allografts in Liver Transplantation: A Matched Controlled Analysis from 2007 to 2011.

PubMed

Singhal, Ashish; Wima, Koffi; Hoehn, Richard S; Quillin, R Cutler; Woodle, E Steve; Paquette, Ian M; Paterno, Flavio; Abbott, Daniel E; Shah, Shimul A

2015-05-01

Although donation after cardiac death (DCD) liver allografts have been used to expand the donor pool, concerns exist regarding primary nonfunction and biliary complications. Our aim was to compare resource use and outcomes of DCD allografts with donation after brain death (DBD) liver allografts. Using a linkage between the University HealthSystem Consortium and Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients databases, we identified 11,856 patients who underwent deceased donor liver transplantation (LT) from 2007 to 2011. Patients were divided into 2 cohorts based on type of allograft (DCD vs DBD). Matched pair analysis (n = 613 in each group) was used to compare outcomes of the 2 donor types. Donation after cardiac death allografts comprised 5.2% (n = 613) of all LTs in the studied cohort; DCD allograft recipients were healthier and had lower median Model of End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score (17 vs 19; p < 0.0001). Post LT, there was no significant difference in length of stay, perioperative mortality, and discharge to home rates. However, DCD allografts were associated with higher direct cost ($110,414 vs $99,543; p < 0.0001) and 30-day readmission rates (46.4% vs 37.1%; p < 0.0001). Matched analysis revealed that DCD allografts were associated with higher direct cost, readmission rates, and inferior graft survival. While confirming the previous reports of inferior graft survival associated with DCD allografts, this is the first national report to show increased financial and resource use associated with DCD compared with DBD allografts in a matched recipient cohort. Copyright © 2015 American College of Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impact and quantification of the sources of error in DNA pooling designs.

PubMed

Jawaid, A; Sham, P

2009-01-01

The analysis of genome wide variation offers the possibility of unravelling the genes involved in the pathogenesis of disease. Genome wide association studies are also particularly useful for identifying and validating targets for therapeutic intervention as well as for detecting markers for drug efficacy and side effects. The cost of such large-scale genetic association studies may be reduced substantially by the analysis of pooled DNA from multiple individuals. However, experimental errors inherent in pooling studies lead to a potential increase in the false positive rate and a loss in power compared to individual genotyping. Here we quantify various sources of experimental error using empirical data from typical pooling experiments and corresponding individual genotyping counts using two statistical methods. We provide analytical formulas for calculating these different errors in the absence of complete information, such as replicate pool formation, and for adjusting for the errors in the statistical analysis. We demonstrate that DNA pooling has the potential of estimating allele frequencies accurately, and adjusting the pooled allele frequency estimates for differential allelic amplification considerably improves accuracy. Estimates of the components of error show that differential allelic amplification is the most important contributor to the error variance in absolute allele frequency estimation, followed by allele frequency measurement and pool formation errors. Our results emphasise the importance of minimising experimental errors and obtaining correct error estimates in genetic association studies.

Swimming attendance during childhood and development of asthma: Meta-analysis.

PubMed

Valeriani, Federica; Protano, Carmela; Vitali, Matteo; Romano Spica, Vincenzo

2017-05-01

The association between asthma and swimming pool attendance has not been demonstrated and currently there are conflicting results. In order to clarify the association between asthma diagnosis in children and swimming pool attendance, and to assess the consistency of the available epidemiological studies, we completed a literature analysis on the relationship between the exposure to disinfection by-products in indoor swimming pools during childhood and asthma diagnosis. Following the Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria, a systematic review and meta-analysis was performed by searching MEDLINE via PubMed, TOXNET, and Scopus databases (from inception to 20 April 2015) using the key word "Asthma" together with "swimming pool", "disinfection by-products", "indoor air pollution" and "children". Inclusion criteria were: English language, a complete analytic study design involving a cohort of children (0-16 years), a well-defined definition of exposure, and the presence of data on effect and variance. Studies on in vivo, in vitro or professional and accidental exposure were excluded. After a screening process, seven reports (n = 5851 subjects) were included out of a total of 2928 references. The reported OR of the association between swimming pool attendance and asthma prevalence ranged from 0.58 to 2.30. The present meta-analysis failed to identify a significant difference in asthma development between children attending swimming pools and controls (OR, 1.084; 95% CI: 0.89-1.31). Swimming in childhood does not increase the likelihood of doctor-diagnosed asthma. Based on this meta-analysis review, the association of the disease with indoor pool attendance is still unclear. © 2016 Japan Pediatric Society.

Multiple myeloma and family history of lymphohaematopoietic cancers: Results from the International Multiple Myeloma Consortium.

PubMed

Schinasi, Leah H; Brown, Elizabeth E; Camp, Nicola J; Wang, Sophia S; Hofmann, Jonathan N; Chiu, Brian C; Miligi, Lucia; Beane Freeman, Laura E; de Sanjose, Silvia; Bernstein, Leslie; Monnereau, Alain; Clavel, Jacqueline; Tricot, Guido J; Atanackovic, Djordje; Cocco, Pierluigi; Orsi, Laurent; Dosman, James A; McLaughlin, John R; Purdue, Mark P; Cozen, Wendy; Spinelli, John J; de Roos, Anneclaire J

2016-10-01

Family clusters of multiple myeloma (MM) suggest disease heritability. Nevertheless, patterns of inheritance and the importance of genetic versus environmental risk factors in MM aetiology remain unclear. We pooled data from eleven case-control studies from the International Multiple Myeloma Consortium to characterize the association of MM risk with having a first-degree relative with a history of a lympho-haematapoietic cancer. Unconditional logistic regression models, adjusted for study, sex, age and education level, were used to estimate associations between MM risk and having a first-degree relative with a history of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, leukaemia or MM. Sex, African American race/ethnicity and age were explored as effect modifiers. A total of 2843 cases and 11 470 controls were included. MM risk was elevated in association with having a first-degree relative with any lympho-haematapoietic cancer (Odds Ratio (OR) = 1·29, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1·08-1·55). The association was particularly strong for having a first-degree relative with MM (OR = 1·90, 95% CI: 1·26-2·87), especially among men (OR = 4·13, 95% CI: 2·17-7·85) and African Americans (OR = 5·52, 95% CI: 1·87-16·27).These results support the hypothesis that genetic inheritance plays a role in MM aetiology. Future studies are warranted to characterize interactions of genetic markers with environmental exposures. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

25 CFR 1000.310 - What information must the Tribe's/Consortium's response contain?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false What information must the Tribe's/Consortium's response... INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Reassumption § 1000.310 What information must the Tribe's/Consortium's response contain? (a) The Tribe's/Consortium's response must indicate the specific measures that...

25 CFR 1000.255 - May a Tribe/Consortium reallocate funds among construction programs?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false May a Tribe/Consortium reallocate funds among... INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Construction § 1000.255 May a Tribe/Consortium reallocate funds among construction programs? Yes, a Tribe/Consortium may reallocate funds among construction...

25 CFR 1000.310 - What information must the Tribe's/Consortium's response contain?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false What information must the Tribe's/Consortium's response... INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Reassumption § 1000.310 What information must the Tribe's/Consortium's response contain? (a) The Tribe's/Consortium's response must indicate the specific measures that...

25 CFR 1000.255 - May a Tribe/Consortium reallocate funds among construction programs?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false May a Tribe/Consortium reallocate funds among... INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Construction § 1000.255 May a Tribe/Consortium reallocate funds among construction programs? Yes, a Tribe/Consortium may reallocate funds among construction...

24 CFR 943.124 - What elements must a consortium agreement contain?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false What elements must a consortium agreement contain? 943.124 Section 943.124 Housing and Urban Development Regulations Relating to Housing and... elements must a consortium agreement contain? (a) The consortium agreement among the participating PHAs...

24 CFR 943.124 - What elements must a consortium agreement contain?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false What elements must a consortium agreement contain? 943.124 Section 943.124 Housing and Urban Development REGULATIONS RELATING TO HOUSING AND... elements must a consortium agreement contain? (a) The consortium agreement among the participating PHAs...

24 CFR 943.124 - What elements must a consortium agreement contain?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false What elements must a consortium agreement contain? 943.124 Section 943.124 Housing and Urban Development REGULATIONS RELATING TO HOUSING AND... elements must a consortium agreement contain? (a) The consortium agreement among the participating PHAs...

24 CFR 943.124 - What elements must a consortium agreement contain?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false What elements must a consortium agreement contain? 943.124 Section 943.124 Housing and Urban Development REGULATIONS RELATING TO HOUSING AND... elements must a consortium agreement contain? (a) The consortium agreement among the participating PHAs...

24 CFR 943.124 - What elements must a consortium agreement contain?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false What elements must a consortium agreement contain? 943.124 Section 943.124 Housing and Urban Development REGULATIONS RELATING TO HOUSING AND... elements must a consortium agreement contain? (a) The consortium agreement among the participating PHAs...

Geodesy and the UNAVCO Consortium: Three Decades of Innovations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rowan, L. R.; Miller, M. M.; Meertens, C. M.; Mattioli, G. S.

2015-12-01

UNAVCO, a non-profit, university consortium that supports geoscience research using geodesy, began with the ingenious recognition that the nascent Global Positioning System constellation (GPS) could be used to investigate earth processes. The consortium purchased one of the first commercially available GPS receivers, Texas Instrument's TI-4100 NAVSTAR Navigator, in 1984 to measure plate deformation. This early work was highlighted in a technology magazine, GPSWorld, in 1990. Over a 30-year period, UNAVCO and the community have helped advance instrument design for mobility, flexibility, efficiency and interoperability, so research could proceed with higher precision and under ever challenging conditions. Other innovations have been made in data collection, processing, analysis, management and archiving. These innovations in tools, methods and data have had broader impacts as they have found greater utility beyond research for timing, precise positioning, safety, communication, navigation, surveying, engineering and recreation. Innovations in research have expanded the utility of geodetic tools beyond the solid earth science through creative analysis of the data and the methods. For example, GPS sounding of the atmosphere is now used for atmospheric and space sciences. GPS reflectrometry, another critical advance, supports soil science, snow science and ecological research. Some research advances have had broader impacts for society by driving innovations in hazards risk reduction, hazards response, resource management, land use planning, surveying, engineering and other uses. Furthermore, the geodetic data is vital for the design of space missions, testing and advancing communications, and testing and dealing with interference and GPS jamming. We will discuss three decades (and counting) of advances by the National Science Foundation's premiere geodetic facility, consortium and some of the many geoscience principal investigators that have driven innovations in research, instrumentation, data management, cyberinfrastructure and other applications.

Application of Endophytic Pseudomonas fluorescens and a Bacterial Consortium to Brassica napus Can Increase Plant Height and Biomass under Greenhouse and Field Conditions

PubMed Central

Lally, Richard D.; Galbally, Paul; Moreira, António S.; Spink, John; Ryan, David; Germaine, Kieran J.; Dowling, David N.

2017-01-01

Plant associated bacteria with plant growth promotion (PGP) properties have been proposed for use as environmentally friendly biofertilizers for sustainable agriculture; however, analysis of their efficacy in the field is often limited. In this study, greenhouse and field trials were carried out using individual endophytic Pseudomonas fluorescens strains, the well characterized rhizospheric P. fluorescens F113 and an endophytic microbial consortium of 10 different strains. These bacteria had been previously characterized with respect to their PGP properties in vitro and had been shown to harbor a range of traits associated with PGP including siderophore production, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase activity, and inorganic phosphate solubilization. In greenhouse experiments individual strains tagged with gfp and Kmr were applied to Brassica napus as a seed coat and were shown to effectively colonize the rhizosphere and root of B. napus and in addition they demonstrated a significant increase in plant biomass compared with the non-inoculated control. In the field experiment, the bacteria (individual and consortium) were spray inoculated to winter oilseed rape B. napus var. Compass which was grown under standard North Western European agronomic conditions. Analysis of the data provides evidence that the application of the live bacterial biofertilizers can enhance aspects of crop development in B. napus at field scale. The field data demonstrated statistically significant increases in crop height, stem/leaf, and pod biomass, particularly, in the case of the consortium inoculated treatment. However, although seed and oil yield were increased in the field in response to inoculation, these data were not statistically significant under the experimental conditions tested. Future field trials will investigate the effectiveness of the inoculants under different agronomic conditions. PMID:29312422

Synergistic degradation of crude oil by indigenous bacterial consortium and exogenous fungus Scedosporium boydii.

PubMed

Yuan, Xiaoyu; Zhang, Xinying; Chen, Xueping; Kong, Dewen; Liu, Xiaoyan; Shen, Siyuan

2018-05-19

The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of defined co-culture of indigenous bacterial consortium and exogenous fungus Scedosporium boydii for biodegradation of crude oil. After 7 days of incubation, residual oil, n-alkanes and aromatic fraction were analyzed. The degradation rate of crude oil was increased from 61.06% to 81.45% by the defined co-culture according to the 3:1 inoculation ratio of bacteria to fungi. The microbial activity was enhanced markedly and the formation of biofilms was accelerated after suitable inoculation of Scedosporium boydii. High throughput analysis showed that bacterial evenness and diversity were increased and the relative abundance of Paraburkholderia tropica was increased observably from 7.67% to 56.13% in the defined co-culture. These results indicated that synergistic degradation of crude oil in the bacteria-fungi consortium may be advantageous for bioremediation of petroleum-contaminated site. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Biotechnological potential of microbial consortia and future perspectives.

PubMed

Bhatia, Shashi Kant; Bhatia, Ravi Kant; Choi, Yong-Keun; Kan, Eunsung; Kim, Yun-Gon; Yang, Yung-Hun

2018-05-15

Design of a microbial consortium is a newly emerging field that enables researchers to extend the frontiers of biotechnology from a pure culture to mixed cultures. A microbial consortium enables microbes to use a broad range of carbon sources. It provides microbes with robustness in response to environmental stress factors. Microbes in a consortium can perform complex functions that are impossible for a single organism. With advancement of technology, it is now possible to understand microbial interaction mechanism and construct consortia. Microbial consortia can be classified in terms of their construction, modes of interaction, and functions. Here we discuss different trends in the study of microbial functions and interactions, including single-cell genomics (SCG), microfluidics, fluorescent imaging, and membrane separation. Community profile studies using polymerase chain-reaction denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE), amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA), and terminal restriction fragment-length polymorphism (T-RFLP) are also reviewed. We also provide a few examples of their possible applications in areas of biopolymers, bioenergy, biochemicals, and bioremediation.

Comparative Metagenomics of the Polymicrobial Black Band Disease of Corals

PubMed Central

Meyer, Julie L.; Paul, Valerie J.; Raymundo, Laurie J.; Teplitski, Max

2017-01-01

Black Band Disease (BBD), the destructive microbial consortium dominated by the cyanobacterium Roseofilum reptotaenium, affects corals worldwide. While the taxonomic composition of BBD consortia has been well-characterized, substantially less is known about its functional repertoire. We sequenced the metagenomes of Caribbean and Pacific black band mats and cultured Roseofilum and obtained five metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) of Roseofilum, nine of Proteobacteria, and 12 of Bacteroidetes. Genomic content analysis suggests that Roseofilum is a source of organic carbon and nitrogen, as well as natural products that may influence interactions between microbes. Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes members of the disease consortium are suited to the degradation of amino acids, proteins, and carbohydrates. The accumulation of sulfide underneath the black band mat, in part due to a lack of sulfur oxidizers, contributes to the lethality of the disease. The presence of sulfide:quinone oxidoreductase genes in all five Roseofilum MAGs and in the MAGs of several heterotrophs demonstrates that resistance to sulfide is an important characteristic for members of the BBD consortium. PMID:28458657

Genome-Centric Analysis of a Thermophilic and Cellulolytic Bacterial Consortium Derived from Composting

PubMed Central

Lemos, Leandro N.; Pereira, Roberta V.; Quaggio, Ronaldo B.; Martins, Layla F.; Moura, Livia M. S.; da Silva, Amanda R.; Antunes, Luciana P.; da Silva, Aline M.; Setubal, João C.

2017-01-01

Microbial consortia selected from complex lignocellulolytic microbial communities are promising alternatives to deconstruct plant waste, since synergistic action of different enzymes is required for full degradation of plant biomass in biorefining applications. Culture enrichment also facilitates the study of interactions among consortium members, and can be a good source of novel microbial species. Here, we used a sample from a plant waste composting operation in the São Paulo Zoo (Brazil) as inoculum to obtain a thermophilic aerobic consortium enriched through multiple passages at 60°C in carboxymethylcellulose as sole carbon source. The microbial community composition of this consortium was investigated by shotgun metagenomics and genome-centric analysis. Six near-complete (over 90%) genomes were reconstructed. Similarity and phylogenetic analyses show that four of these six genomes are novel, with the following hypothesized identifications: a new Thermobacillus species; the first Bacillus thermozeamaize genome (for which currently only 16S sequences are available) or else the first representative of a new family in the Bacillales order; the first representative of a new genus in the Paenibacillaceae family; and the first representative of a new deep-branching family in the Clostridia class. The reconstructed genomes from known species were identified as Geobacillus thermoglucosidasius and Caldibacillus debilis. The metabolic potential of these recovered genomes based on COG and CAZy analyses show that these genomes encode several glycoside hydrolases (GHs) as well as other genes related to lignocellulose breakdown. The new Thermobacillus species stands out for being the richest in diversity and abundance of GHs, possessing the greatest potential for biomass degradation among the six recovered genomes. We also investigated the presence and activity of the organisms corresponding to these genomes in the composting operation from which the consortium was built, using compost metagenome and metatranscriptome datasets generated in a previous study. We obtained strong evidence that five of the six recovered genomes are indeed present and active in that composting process. We have thus discovered three (perhaps four) new thermophillic bacterial species that add to the increasing repertoire of known lignocellulose degraders, whose biotechnological potential can now be investigated in further studies. PMID:28469608

Proteogenomic Analysis of a Thermophilic Bacterial Consortium Adapted to Deconstruct Switchgrass

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

D'haeseleer, Patrik; Gladden, John M.; Allgaier, Martin

2013-07-19

Thermophilic bacteria are a potential source of enzymes for the deconstruction of lignocellulosic biomass. However, the complement of proteins used to deconstruct biomass and the specific roles of different microbial groups in thermophilic biomass deconstruction are not well-explored. Here we report on the metagenomic and proteogenomic analyses of a compost-derived bacterial consortium adapted to switchgrass at elevated temperature with high levels of glycoside hydrolase activities. Near-complete genomes were reconstructed for the most abundant populations, which included composite genomes for populations closely related to sequenced strains of Thermus thermophilus and Rhodothermus marinus, and for novel populations that are related to thermophilicmore » Paenibacilli and an uncultivated subdivision of the littlestudied Gemmatimonadetes phylum. Partial genomes were also reconstructed for a number of lower abundance thermophilic Chloroflexi populations. Identification of genes for lignocellulose processing and metabolic reconstructions suggested Rhodothermus, Paenibacillus and Gemmatimonadetes as key groups for deconstructing biomass, and Thermus as a group that may primarily metabolize low molecular weight compounds. Mass spectrometry-based proteomic analysis of the consortium was used to identify .3000 proteins in fractionated samples from the cultures, and confirmed the importance of Paenibacillus and Gemmatimonadetes to biomass deconstruction. These studies also indicate that there are unexplored proteins with important roles in bacterial lignocellulose deconstruction.« less

Multi-ethnic fine-mapping of 14 central adiposity loci.

PubMed

Liu, Ching-Ti; Buchkovich, Martin L; Winkler, Thomas W; Heid, Iris M; Borecki, Ingrid B; Fox, Caroline S; Mohlke, Karen L; North, Kari E; Adrienne Cupples, L

2014-09-01

The Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits (GIANT) consortium identified 14 loci in European Ancestry (EA) individuals associated with waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) adjusted for body mass index. These loci are wide and narrowing the signals remains necessary. Twelve of 14 loci identified in GIANT EA samples retained strong associations with WHR in our joint EA/individuals of African Ancestry (AA) analysis (log-Bayes factor >6.1). Trans-ethnic analyses at five loci (TBX15-WARS2, LYPLAL1, ADAMTS9, LY86 and ITPR2-SSPN) substantially narrowed the signals to smaller sets of variants, some of which are in regions that have evidence of regulatory activity. By leveraging varying linkage disequilibrium structures across different populations, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with strong signals and narrower credible sets from trans-ethnic meta-analysis of central obesity provide more precise localizations of potential functional variants and suggest a possible regulatory role. Meta-analysis results for WHR were obtained from 77 167 EA participants from GIANT and 23 564 AA participants from the African Ancestry Anthropometry Genetics Consortium. For fine mapping we interrogated SNPs within ± 250 kb flanking regions of 14 previously reported index SNPs from loci discovered in EA populations by performing trans-ethnic meta-analysis of results from the EA and AA meta-analyses. We applied a Bayesian approach that leverages allelic heterogeneity across populations to combine meta-analysis results and aids in fine-mapping shared variants at these locations. We annotated variants using information from the ENCODE Consortium and Roadmap Epigenomics Project to prioritize variants for possible functionality. Published by Oxford University Press 2014. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.

The NINDS Parkinson's disease biomarkers program: The Ninds Parkinson's Disease Biomarkers Program

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rosenthal, Liana S.; Drake, Daniel; Alcalay, Roy N.

Background: Neuroprotection for Parkinson Disease (PD) remains elusive. Biomarkers hold the promise of removing roadblocks to therapy development. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) has therefore established the Parkinson’s Disease Biomarkers Program (PDBP) to promote discovery of biomarkers for use in phase II-III clinical trials in PD. Methods: The PDBP facilitates biomarker development to improve neuroprotective clinical trial design, essential for advancing therapeutics for PD. To date, eleven consortium projects in the PDBP are focused on the development of clinical and laboratory-based PD biomarkers for diagnosis, progression tracking, and/or the prediction of prognosis. Seven of these projectsmore » also provide detailed longitudinal data and biospecimens from PD patients and controls, as a resource for all PD researchers. Standardized operating procedures and pooled reference samples have been created in order to allow cross-project comparisons and assessment of batch effects. A web-based Data Management Resource facilitates rapid sharing of data and biosamples across the entire PD research community for additional biomarker projects. Results: Here we describe the PDBP, highlight standard operating procedures for the collection of biospecimens and data, and provide an interim report with quality control analysis on the first 1082 participants and 1033 samples with quality control analysis collected as of October 2014. Conclusions: By making samples and data available to academics and industry, encouraging the adoption of existing standards, and providing a resource which complements existing programs, the PDBP will accelerate the pace of PD biomarker research, with the goal of improving diagnostic methods and treatment.« less

Long-Term Survival and Local Relapse Following Surgery Without Radiotherapy for Locally Advanced Upper Rectal Cancer

PubMed Central

Park, Jun Seok; Sakai, Yoshiharu; Simon, NG Siu Man; Law, Wai Lun; Kim, Hyeong Rok; Oh, Jae Hwan; Shan, Hester Cheung Yui; Kwak, Sang Gyu; Choi, Gyu-Seog

2016-01-01

Abstract Controversy remains regarding whether preoperative chemoradiation protocol should be applied uniformly to all rectal cancer patients regardless of tumor height. This pooled analysis was designed to evaluate whether preoperative chemoradiation can be safely omitted in higher rectal cancer. An international consortium of 7 institutions was established. A review of the database that was collected from January 2004 to May 2008 identified a series of 2102 patients with stage II/III rectal or sigmoid cancer (control arm) without concurrent chemoradiation. Data regarding patient demographics, recurrence pattern, and oncological outcomes were analyzed. The primary end point was the 5-year local recurrence rate. The local relapse rate of the sigmoid colon cancer (SC) and upper rectal cancer (UR) cohorts was significantly lower than that of the mid/low rectal cancer group (M-LR), with 5-year estimates of 2.5% for the SC group, 3.5% for the UR group, and 11.1% for the M-LR group, respectively. A multivariate analysis showed that tumor depth, nodal metastasis, venous invasion, and lower tumor level were strongly associated with local recurrence. The cumulative incidence rate of local failure was 90.6%, 92.5%, and 94.4% for tumors located within 5, 7, and 9 cm from the anal verge, respectively. Routine use of preoperative chemoradiation for stage II/III rectal tumors located more than 8 to 9 cm above the anal verge would be excessive. The integration of a more individualized approach focused on systemic control is warranted to improve survival in patients with upper rectal cancer. PMID:27258487

25 CFR 1000.396 - Does a Tribe/Consortium have additional ongoing requirements to maintain minimum standards for...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... requirements to maintain minimum standards for Tribe/Consortium management systems? 1000.396 Section 1000.396... AGREEMENTS UNDER THE TRIBAL SELF-GOVERNMENT ACT AMENDMENTS TO THE INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT... minimum standards for Tribe/Consortium management systems? Yes, the Tribe/Consortium must maintain...

25 CFR 1000.169 - How does a Tribe/Consortium initiate the information phase?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false How does a Tribe/Consortium initiate the information... of Initial Annual Funding Agreements § 1000.169 How does a Tribe/Consortium initiate the information phase? A Tribe/Consortium initiates the information phase by submitting a letter of interest to the...

25 CFR 1000.169 - How does a Tribe/Consortium initiate the information phase?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false How does a Tribe/Consortium initiate the information... of Initial Annual Funding Agreements § 1000.169 How does a Tribe/Consortium initiate the information phase? A Tribe/Consortium initiates the information phase by submitting a letter of interest to the...

77 FR 8252 - The International Consortium of Energy Managers; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-14

... International Consortium of Energy Managers; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and... Consortium of Energy Managers filed an application, pursuant to section 4(f) of the Federal Power Act (FPA...: Rexford Wait, International Consortium of Energy Managers, 2416 Cades Way, Vista, CA 92083; (760) 599-0086...

Biodegradation of phenanthrene in bioaugmented microcosm by consortium ASP developed from coastal sediment of Alang-Sosiya ship breaking yard.

PubMed

Patel, Vilas; Patel, Janki; Madamwar, Datta

2013-09-15

A phenanthrene-degrading bacterial consortium (ASP) was developed using sediment from the Alang-Sosiya shipbreaking yard at Gujarat, India. 16S rRNA gene-based molecular analyses revealed that the bacterial consortium consisted of six bacterial strains: Bacillus sp. ASP1, Pseudomonas sp. ASP2, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia strain ASP3, Staphylococcus sp. ASP4, Geobacillus sp. ASP5 and Alcaligenes sp. ASP6. The consortium was able to degrade 300 ppm of phenanthrene and 1000 ppm of naphthalene within 120 h and 48 h, respectively. Tween 80 showed a positive effect on phenanthrene degradation. The consortium was able to consume maximum phenanthrene at the rate of 46 mg/h/l and degrade phenanthrene in the presence of other petroleum hydrocarbons. A microcosm study was conducted to test the consortium's bioremediation potential. Phenanthrene degradation increased from 61% to 94% in sediment bioaugmented with the consortium. Simultaneously, bacterial counts and dehydrogenase activities also increased in the bioaugmented sediment. These results suggest that microbial consortium bioaugmentation may be a promising technology for bioremediation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Widening access to UK medical education for under-represented socioeconomic groups: modelling the impact of the UKCAT in the 2009 cohort

PubMed Central

Dowell, Jonathan S; McLachlan, John C

2012-01-01

Objective To determine whether the use of the UK clinical aptitude test (UKCAT) in the medical schools admissions process reduces the relative disadvantage encountered by certain sociodemographic groups. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Applicants to 22 UK medical schools in 2009 that were members of the consortium of institutions utilising the UKCAT as a component of their admissions process. Participants 8459 applicants (24 844 applications) to UKCAT consortium member medical schools where data were available on advanced qualifications and socioeconomic background. Main outcome measures The probability of an application resulting in an offer of a place on a medicine course according to seven educational and sociodemographic variables depending on how the UKCAT was used by the medical school (in borderline cases, as a factor in admissions, or as a threshold). Results On univariate analysis all educational and sociodemographic variables were significantly associated with the relative odds of an application being successful. The multilevel multiple logistic regression models, however, varied between medical schools according to the way that the UKCAT was used. For example, a candidate from a non-professional background was much less likely to receive a conditional offer of a place compared with an applicant from a higher social class when applying to an institution using the test only in borderline cases (odds ratio 0.51, 95% confidence interval 0.45 to 0.60). No such effect was observed for such candidates applying to medical schools using the threshold approach (1.27, 0.84 to 1.91). These differences were generally reflected in the interactions observed when the analysis was repeated, pooling the data. Notably, candidates from several under-represented groups applying to medical schools that used a threshold approach to the UKCAT were less disadvantaged than those applying to the other institutions in the consortium. These effects were partially reflected in significant differences in the absolute proportion of such candidates finally taking up places in the different types of medical schools; stronger use of the test score (as a factor or threshold) was associated with a significantly increased odds of entrants being male (1.74, 1.25 to 2.41) and from a low socioeconomic background (3.57, 1.03 to 12.39). There was a non-significant trend towards entrants being from a state (non-grammar) school (1.60, 0.97 to 2.62) where a stronger use of the test was employed. Use of the test only in borderline cases was associated with increased odds of entrants having relatively low academic attainment (5.19, 2.02 to 13.33) and English as a second language (2.15, 1.03 to 4.48). Conclusions The use of the UKCAT may lead to more equitable provision of offers to those applying to medical school from under-represented sociodemographic groups. This may translate into higher numbers of some, but not all, relatively disadvantaged students entering the UK medical profession. PMID:22511300

A Pooled Analysis on Crizotinib in Treating Chinese Patients with EML4-ALK Positive Non-small-cell Lung Cancer.

PubMed

Li, Yang; Huang, Xin-En

2015-01-01

This analysis was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of crizotinib based regimens in treating Chinese patients with EML4-ALK positive non-small-cell lung cancer. Clinical studies evaluating the efficacy and safety of crizotinib based regimens on response and safety for Chinese patients with EML4-ALK positive non-small-cell lung cancer were identified by using a predefined search strategy. Pooled response rate (RR) of treatment were calculated. In crizotinib based regimens, 3 clinical studies which including 128 Chinese patients with EML4-ALK positive non-small-cell lung cancer and treated with crizotinib based regimen were considered eligible for inclusion. Pooled analysis suggested that, in all patients, the pooled RR was 59.3% (76/128) in crizotinib based regimens. ALT/AST mild visual disturbances, nausea, and vomiting were the main side effects. No treatment related death occurred in these crizotinib based treatments. This pooled analysis suggests that crizotinib based regimens are associated with good response rate and accepted toxicities in treating Chinese patients with EML4-ALK positive non-small-cell lung cancer.

Effect of obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome on lipid profile: a meta-regression analysis.

PubMed

Nadeem, Rashid; Singh, Mukesh; Nida, Mahwish; Waheed, Irfan; Khan, Adnan; Ahmed, Saeed; Naseem, Jawed; Champeau, Daniel

2014-05-15

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with obesity, metabolic syndrome, and dyslipidemia, which may be related to decrease androgen levels found in OSA patients. Dyslipidemia may contribute to atherosclerosis leading to increasing risk of heart disease. Systematic review was conducted using PubMed and Cochrane library by utilizing different combinations of key words; sleep apnea, obstructive sleep apnea, serum lipids, dyslipidemia, cholesterol, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), and triglyceride (TG). Inclusion criteria were: English articles, and studies with adult population in 2 groups of patients (patients with OSA and without OSA). A total 96 studies were reviewed for inclusion, with 25 studies pooled for analysis. Sixty-four studies were pooled for analysis; since some studies have more than one dataset, there were 107 datasets with 18,116 patients pooled for meta-analysis. All studies measured serum lipids. Total cholesterol pooled standardized difference in means was 0.267 (p = 0.001). LDL cholesterol pooled standardized difference in means was 0.296 (p = 0.001). HDL cholesterol pooled standardized difference in means was -0.433 (p = 0.001). Triglyceride pooled standardized difference in means was 0.603 (p = 0.001). Meta-regression for age, BMI, and AHI showed that age has significant effect for TC, LDL, and HDL. BMI had significant effect for LDL and HDL, while AHI had significant effect for LDL and TG. Patients with OSA appear to have increased dyslipidemia (high total cholesterol, LDL, TG, and low HDL).

Integrative Analysis of “-Omics” Data Using Penalty Functions

PubMed Central

Zhao, Qing; Shi, Xingjie; Huang, Jian; Liu, Jin; Li, Yang; Ma, Shuangge

2014-01-01

In the analysis of omics data, integrative analysis provides an effective way of pooling information across multiple datasets or multiple correlated responses, and can be more effective than single-dataset (response) analysis. Multiple families of integrative analysis methods have been proposed in the literature. The current review focuses on the penalization methods. Special attention is paid to sparse meta-analysis methods that pool summary statistics across datasets, and integrative analysis methods that pool raw data across datasets. We discuss their formulation and rationale. Beyond “standard” penalized selection, we also review contrasted penalization and Laplacian penalization which accommodate finer data structures. The computational aspects, including computational algorithms and tuning parameter selection, are examined. This review concludes with possible limitations and extensions. PMID:25691921

CPTAC Prospective Biospecimen Collection Solicitation | Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research

Cancer.gov

A new funding opportunity in support of the National Cancer Institute’s Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) seeks to prospectively procure tumor samples, collected for proteomics investigation.

Technology Outlook for Australian Tertiary Education 2013-2018: An NMC Horizon Project Regional Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, L.; Adams Becker, S.; Cummins, M.; Freeman, A.; Ifenthaler, D.; Vardaxis, N.

2013-01-01

The "Technology Outlook Australian Tertiary Education 2013-2018: An NMC Horizon Project Regional Analysis" reflects a collaborative research effort between the New Media Consortium (NMC) and Open Universities Australia to help inform Australian educational leaders about significant developments in technologies supporting teaching,…

State-Space Analysis of Working Memory in Schizophrenia: An FBIRN Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Janoos, Firdaus; Brown, Gregory; Morocz, Istvan A.; Wells, William M., III

2013-01-01

The neural correlates of "working memory" (WM) in schizophrenia (SZ) have been extensively studied using the multisite fMRI data acquired by the Functional Biomedical Informatics Research Network (fBIRN) consortium. Although univariate and multivariate analysis methods have been variously employed to localize brain responses under differing task…

Consortium Purchases: Case Study for a Cost-Benefit Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scigliano, Marisa

2002-01-01

Discusses library cooperation and academic library consortia and presents a case study of a Canadian consortia that conducted a cost-benefit analysis for purchasing an electronic resource. Reports on member library subscription costs, external economic factors, value of patron time saved, costs and benefits for patrons, and net savings. (LRW)

Biodegradation of BOD and ammonia-free using bacterial consortium in aerated fixed film bioreactor (AF2B)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prayitno, Rulianah, Sri; Saroso, Hadi; Meilany, Diah

2017-06-01

BOD and Ammonia-free (NH3-N) are pollutants of hospital wastewater which often exceed the quality standards. It is because biological processes in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) have not been effective in degrading BOD and NH3-N. Therefore, a study on factors that influence the biodegradation of BOD and NH3-N by choosing the type of bacteria to improve the mechanisms of biodegradation processes is required. Bacterial consortium is a collection of several types of bacteria obtained from isolation process, which is known to be more effective than a single bacterial in degrading pollutants. On the other hand, AF2B is a type of reactor in wastewater treatment system. The AF2B contains a filter media that has a large surface area so that the biodegradation process of pollutants by microorganism can be improved. The objective of this research is to determine the effect of volume of starter and air supplies on decreasing BOD and NH3-N in hospital wastewater using bacterial consortium in the AF2B on batch process. The research was conducted in three stages: the making of the growth curve of the bacterial consortium, bacterial consortium acclimatization, and hospital wastewater treatment in the AF2B with batch process. The variables used are the volume of starter (65%, 75%, and 85% in volume) and air supplies (2.5, 5, and 7.5 L/min). Meanwhile, the materials used are hospital wastewater, bacterial consortium (Pseudomonas diminuta, Pseudomonas capica, Bacillius sp, and Nitrobacter sp), blower, and AF2B. AF2B is a plastic basin containing a filter media with a wasp-nest shape used as a medium for growing the bacterial consortium. In the process of making the growth curve, a solid form of bacterial consortium was dissolved in sterilized water, then grown in a nutrient broth (NB). Then, shaking and sampling were done at any time to determine the path growth of bacterial consortium. In the acclimatization process, bacterial isolates were grown using hospital wastewater as a media that was added gradually, followed by the addition of nutrients and aeration. Furthermore, in the biodegradation process of AF2B, the result of acclimatization (as a starter) was fed into the AF2B, then added to the hospital wastewater at a certain volume (as variables), and followed by aeration at a certain flow rate (as variables). Sampling was done at any time to determine the decrease of the concentration of BOD, NH3-N, and MLSS (Mixed Liqour Suspended Solid). BOD and Ammonia-free analyses were conducted using winkler bottle titration and spectrophotometry method. MLSS analysis used gravimetric methods. The results of the research shos that the volume of starter 85% (v) and air supplies of 7.5 L/min can reduce BOD and NH3-N of 92% and 76% respectively. Besides that, AF2B and bacterial consortium have a great ability and are very fast in degrading BOD and NH3-N.

Consortium biology in immunology: the perspective from the Immunological Genome Project.

PubMed

Benoist, Christophe; Lanier, Lewis; Merad, Miriam; Mathis, Diane

2012-10-01

Although the field has a long collaborative tradition, immunology has made less use than genetics of 'consortium biology', wherein groups of investigators together tackle large integrated questions or problems. However, immunology is naturally suited to large-scale integrative and systems-level approaches, owing to the multicellular and adaptive nature of the cells it encompasses. Here, we discuss the value and drawbacks of this organization of research, in the context of the long-running 'big science' debate, and consider the opportunities that may exist for the immunology community. We position this analysis in light of our own experience, both positive and negative, as participants of the Immunological Genome Project.

ViPAR: a software platform for the Virtual Pooling and Analysis of Research Data.

PubMed

Carter, Kim W; Francis, Richard W; Carter, K W; Francis, R W; Bresnahan, M; Gissler, M; Grønborg, T K; Gross, R; Gunnes, N; Hammond, G; Hornig, M; Hultman, C M; Huttunen, J; Langridge, A; Leonard, H; Newman, S; Parner, E T; Petersson, G; Reichenberg, A; Sandin, S; Schendel, D E; Schalkwyk, L; Sourander, A; Steadman, C; Stoltenberg, C; Suominen, A; Surén, P; Susser, E; Sylvester Vethanayagam, A; Yusof, Z

2016-04-01

Research studies exploring the determinants of disease require sufficient statistical power to detect meaningful effects. Sample size is often increased through centralized pooling of disparately located datasets, though ethical, privacy and data ownership issues can often hamper this process. Methods that facilitate the sharing of research data that are sympathetic with these issues and which allow flexible and detailed statistical analyses are therefore in critical need. We have created a software platform for the Virtual Pooling and Analysis of Research data (ViPAR), which employs free and open source methods to provide researchers with a web-based platform to analyse datasets housed in disparate locations. Database federation permits controlled access to remotely located datasets from a central location. The Secure Shell protocol allows data to be securely exchanged between devices over an insecure network. ViPAR combines these free technologies into a solution that facilitates 'virtual pooling' where data can be temporarily pooled into computer memory and made available for analysis without the need for permanent central storage. Within the ViPAR infrastructure, remote sites manage their own harmonized research dataset in a database hosted at their site, while a central server hosts the data federation component and a secure analysis portal. When an analysis is initiated, requested data are retrieved from each remote site and virtually pooled at the central site. The data are then analysed by statistical software and, on completion, results of the analysis are returned to the user and the virtually pooled data are removed from memory. ViPAR is a secure, flexible and powerful analysis platform built on open source technology that is currently in use by large international consortia, and is made publicly available at [http://bioinformatics.childhealthresearch.org.au/software/vipar/]. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association.

25 CFR 1000.425 - How does a Tribe/Consortium request an informal conference?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false How does a Tribe/Consortium request an informal... INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Appeals § 1000.425 How does a Tribe/Consortium request an informal conference? The Tribe/Consortium shall file its request for an informal conference with the office...

25 CFR 1000.396 - Does a Tribe/Consortium have additional ongoing requirements to maintain minimum standards for...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Does a Tribe/Consortium have additional ongoing requirements to maintain minimum standards for Tribe/Consortium management systems? 1000.396 Section 1000.396... Miscellaneous Provisions § 1000.396 Does a Tribe/Consortium have additional ongoing requirements to maintain...

25 CFR 1000.222 - How does a Tribe/Consortium obtain a waiver?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false How does a Tribe/Consortium obtain a waiver? 1000.222...-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Waiver of Regulations § 1000.222 How does a Tribe/Consortium obtain a waiver? To obtain a waiver, the Tribe/Consortium must: (a) Submit a written request from the designated Tribal...

25 CFR 1000.333 - How does a Tribe/Consortium retrocede a program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false How does a Tribe/Consortium retrocede a program? 1000.333...-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Retrocession § 1000.333 How does a Tribe/Consortium retrocede a program? The Tribe/Consortium must submit: (a) A written notice to: (1) The Office of Self-Governance for BIA...

25 CFR 1000.425 - How does a Tribe/Consortium request an informal conference?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false How does a Tribe/Consortium request an informal... INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Appeals § 1000.425 How does a Tribe/Consortium request an informal conference? The Tribe/Consortium shall file its request for an informal conference with the office...

25 CFR 1000.400 - Can a Tribe/Consortium retain savings from programs?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Can a Tribe/Consortium retain savings from programs? 1000...-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Miscellaneous Provisions § 1000.400 Can a Tribe/Consortium retain savings from programs? Yes, for BIA programs, the Tribe/Consortium may retain savings for each fiscal year during which...

25 CFR 1000.315 - When must the Tribe/Consortium return funds to the Department?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false When must the Tribe/Consortium return funds to the... INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Reassumption § 1000.315 When must the Tribe/Consortium return funds to the Department? The Tribe/Consortium must repay funds to the Department as soon as practical...

25 CFR 1000.333 - How does a Tribe/Consortium retrocede a program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false How does a Tribe/Consortium retrocede a program? 1000.333...-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Retrocession § 1000.333 How does a Tribe/Consortium retrocede a program? The Tribe/Consortium must submit: (a) A written notice to: (1) The Office of Self-Governance for BIA...

25 CFR 1000.315 - When must the Tribe/Consortium return funds to the Department?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false When must the Tribe/Consortium return funds to the... INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION AND EDUCATION ACT Reassumption § 1000.315 When must the Tribe/Consortium return funds to the Department? The Tribe/Consortium must repay funds to the Department as soon as practical...

Metro-Minnesota Community Clinical Oncology Program (MM-CCOP) | Division of Cancer Prevention

Cancer.gov

The Metro-Minnesota Community Clinical Oncology (MMCCOP) program has a long-standing history which clearly demonstrates the success of the consortium, as demonstrated by both the ongoing commitment of the original consortium members and the growth of the consortium from 1979 through 2014. The MMCCOP consortium represents an established community program base which began in

Caspian games: A dynamic bargaining game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michaud, Dennis Wright

This Dissertation was written under the direction of Professor P.Terrence Hopmann. In this work, the author seeks to identify the independent variables affecting the outcome of three key decisions required of the international consortiums constructing Caspian oil export pipelines. The first of involves whether or not the enterprises developing the pipelines to export Kazakh oil, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium ("CPC"), and Azeri oil, the Azerbaijan International Operating Consortium ("CPC"), cooperate by utilizing the same route or utilize separate energy export corridors. Second, I analyzed how the actual Main Export Pipeline route ("MEP") for Azeri oil was selected by the AIOC. Finally, I tried to understand the factors driving the residual equity positions in each consortium. I was particularly interested in the equity position of Russian state and commercial interests in each consortium. I approached the puzzle as a multilevel bargaining problem. Hence, the preferences of each relevant actor (state and corporate levels) were assessed. The covering theory utilized was rational choice. An application of game theoretic modeling, particularly Bayesian analysis (used as a metaphor), accounted for the learning process resulting from the strategic interaction between actors. I sought to understand greater the refinement of each actor's perception of counterpart preferences. Additionally, the Gordon Constant Growth Model ("CGM") and the Sharp's Capital Asset Pricing Model ("CAPM") were utilized to relate multinational actors preferences, achieving a cost of capital based hurdle rate, to political risk. My end findings demonstrate this interrelationship and provide a clear argument for great power states to persuade newly developing Caspian states to adopt a more transparent, and credible approach to corporate governance. This revised state strategy will reduce multinationals' perception of political risk, lower firms' cost of capital (hurdle rate), and increase the funding of major energy development projects, which will stimulate economic and political development.

Development of an Efficient Bacterial Consortium for the Potential Remediation of Hydrocarbons from Contaminated Sites

PubMed Central

Patowary, Kaustuvmani; Patowary, Rupshikha; Kalita, Mohan C.; Deka, Suresh

2016-01-01

The intrinsic biodegradability of hydrocarbons and the distribution of proficient degrading microorganisms in the environment are very crucial for the implementation of bioremediation practices. Among others, one of the most favorable methods that can enhance the effectiveness of bioremediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated environment is the application of biosurfactant producing microbes. In the present study, the biodegradation capacities of native bacterial consortia toward total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) with special emphasis to poly aromatic hydrocarbons were determined. The purpose of the study was to isolate TPH degrading bacterial strains from various petroleum contaminated soil of Assam, India and develop a robust bacterial consortium for bioremediation of crude oil of this native land. From a total of 23 bacterial isolates obtained from three different hydrocarbons contaminated samples five isolates, namely KS2, PG1, PG5, R1, and R2 were selected as efficient crude oil degraders with respect to their growth on crude oil enriched samples. Isolates KS2, PG1, and R2 are biosurfactant producers and PG5, R1 are non-producers. Fourteen different consortia were designed involving both biosurfactant producing and non-producing isolates. Consortium 10, which comprises two Bacillus strains namely, Bacillus pumilus KS2 and B. cereus R2 (identified by 16s rRNA sequencing) has shown the best result in the desired degradation of crude oil. The consortium showed degradation up to 84.15% of TPH after 5 weeks of incubation, as revealed from gravimetric analysis. FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) and GCMS (Gas chromatography-mass spectrometer) analyses were correlated with gravimetric data which reveals that the consortium has removed a wide range of petroleum hydrocarbons in comparison with abiotic control including different aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. PMID:27471499

International Lymphoma Epidemiology Consortium

Cancer.gov

The InterLymph Consortium, or formally the International Consortium of Investigators Working on Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Epidemiologic Studies, is an open scientific forum for epidemiologic research in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Refining the phylum Chlorobi by resolving the phylogeny and metabolic potential of the representative of a deeply branching, uncultivated lineage

DOE PAGES

Hiras, Jennifer; Wu, Yu-Wei; Eichorst, Stephanie A.; ...

2015-09-01

Recent studies have expanded the phylum Chlorobi, demonstrating that the green sulfur bacteria (GSB), the original cultured representatives of the phylum, are a part of a larger lineage whose members have more diverse metabolic capabilities that overlap with members of the phylum Bacteroidetes. The 16S rRNA gene of an uncultivated clone, OPB56, distantly related to the phyla Chlorobi and Bacteroidetes, was recovered from Obsidian Pool in Yellowstone National Park; however, the detailed phylogeny and function of OPB56 and related clones have remained unknown. Culturing of thermophilic bacterial consortia from compost by adaptation to grow on ionic-liquid pretreated switchgrass provided amore » consortium in which one of the most abundant members, NICIL-2, clustered with OPB56-related clones. Phylogenetic analysis using the full-length 16S rRNA gene from NICIL-2 demonstrated that it was part of a monophyletic clade, referred to as OPB56, distinct from the Bacteroidetes and Chlorobi. A near complete draft genome ( > 95% complete) was recovered from metagenomic data from the culture adapted to grow on ionic-liquid pretreated switchgrass using an automated binning algorithm, and this genome was used for marker gene-based phylogenetic analysis and metabolic reconstruction. Six additional genomes related to NICIL-2 were reconstructed from metagenomic data sets obtained from thermal springs at Yellowstone National Park and Nevada Great Boiling Spring. In contrast to the 16S rRNA gene phylogenetic analysis, protein phylogenetic analysis was most consistent with the clustering of the Chlorobea, Ignavibacteria and OPB56 into a single phylum level clade. Metabolic reconstruction of NICIL-2 demonstrated a close linkage with the class Ignavibacteria and the family Rhodothermaceae, a deeply branching Bacteroidetes lineage. The combined phylogenetic and functional analysis of the NICIL-2 genome has refined the membership in the phylum Chlorobi and emphasized the close evolutionary and metabolic relationship between the phyla Chlorobi and the Bacteroidetes.« less

Refining the phylum Chlorobi by resolving the phylogeny and metabolic potential of the representative of a deeply branching, uncultivated lineage.

PubMed

Hiras, Jennifer; Wu, Yu-Wei; Eichorst, Stephanie A; Simmons, Blake A; Singer, Steven W

2016-04-01

Recent studies have expanded the phylum Chlorobi, demonstrating that the green sulfur bacteria (GSB), the original cultured representatives of the phylum, are a part of a broader lineage whose members have more diverse metabolic capabilities that overlap with members of the phylum Bacteroidetes. The 16S rRNA gene of an uncultivated clone, OPB56, distantly related to the phyla Chlorobi and Bacteroidetes, was recovered from Obsidian Pool in Yellowstone National Park; however, the detailed phylogeny and function of OPB56 and related clones have remained unknown. Culturing of thermophilic bacterial consortia from compost by adaptation to grow on ionic-liquid pretreated switchgrass provided a consortium in which one of the most abundant members, NICIL-2, clustered with OPB56-related clones. Phylogenetic analysis using the full-length 16S rRNA gene from NICIL-2 demonstrated that it was part of a monophyletic clade, referred to as OPB56, distinct from the Bacteroidetes and Chlorobi. A near complete draft genome (>95% complete) was recovered from metagenomic data from the culture adapted to grow on ionic-liquid pretreated switchgrass using an automated binning algorithm, and this genome was used for marker gene-based phylogenetic analysis and metabolic reconstruction. Six additional genomes related to NICIL-2 were reconstructed from metagenomic data sets obtained from thermal springs at Yellowstone National Park and Nevada Great Boiling Spring. In contrast to the 16S rRNA gene phylogenetic analysis, protein phylogenetic analysis was most consistent with the clustering of the Chlorobea, Ignavibacteria and OPB56 into a single phylum level clade. Metabolic reconstruction of NICIL-2 demonstrated a close linkage with the class Ignavibacteria and the family Rhodothermaceae, a deeply branching Bacteroidetes lineage. The combined phylogenetic and functional analysis of the NICIL-2 genome has refined the membership in the phylum Chlorobi and emphasized the close evolutionary and metabolic relationship between the phyla Chlorobi and the Bacteroidetes.

Seasonal and Cyclical Changes in Genetic Composition of the Marine Intertidal Rock Pool Copepod Tigriopus brevicornis.

PubMed

Van Wormhoudt, Alain

2015-06-01

Tigriopus brevicornis is a marine rock pool copepod widely distributed along Atlantic coasts. Due to the absence of a known dispersal mechanism by free swimming stages, exchanges between populations over long distances are questionable. In order to analyse the evolution of an isolated supralittoral rock pool population, sampling of the copepod was performed monthly during 1 year and compared to samplings over 5 years in the same rock pool, as well as from other rock pools. Using ITS1 analysis, cyclical changes in genetic composition were detected. Our results give clear indications concerning the segregation of the rock pool population and a lack of gene flow among outside populations. A network analysis shows the presence of several shared dominant haplotypes and also singletons differing by one mutation point. F(st) analyses indicate that the main changes occur in autumn and winter. The few analogies of ITS1 sequences with nearby populations may indicate that new migrants must re-colonise the pools from surrounding rock crevices in the intertidal habitat where they may have found a refuge after bad weather conditions.

The performance of magnetic resonance imaging in the detection of triangular fibrocartilage complex injury: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Wang, Z X; Chen, S L; Wang, Q Q; Liu, B; Zhu, J; Shen, J

2015-06-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging in the detection of triangular fibrocartilage complex injury through a meta-analysis. A comprehensive literature search was conducted before 1 April 2014. All studies comparing magnetic resonance imaging results with arthroscopy or open surgery findings were reviewed, and 25 studies that satisfied the eligibility criteria were included. Data were pooled to yield pooled sensitivity and specificity, which were respectively 0.83 and 0.82. In detection of central and peripheral tears, magnetic resonance imaging had respectively a pooled sensitivity of 0.90 and 0.88 and a pooled specificity of 0.97 and 0.97. Six high-quality studies using Ringler's recommended magnetic resonance imaging parameters were selected for analysis to determine whether optimal imaging protocols yielded better results. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of these six studies were 0.92 and 0.82, respectively. The overall accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging was acceptable. For peripheral tears, the pooled data showed a relatively high accuracy. Magnetic resonance imaging with appropriate parameters are an ideal method for diagnosing different types of triangular fibrocartilage complex tears. © The Author(s) 2015.

Get on Board the Cost Effective Way: A Tech Prep Replication Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Wayne A.; Szul, Linda F.; Rivosecchi, Karen

1997-01-01

The Northwestern Pennsylvania Tech Prep Consortium model for replicating tech prep programs includes these steps: fact finding, local industry analysis, curriculum development, detailed description, marketing strategies, implementation, and program evaluation. (SK)

CPTAC Establishes Formal Relationships with Two Academic Institutions in Taiwan | Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research

Cancer.gov

The National Cancer Institute's Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) has entered into memorandum of understandings (MOUs) with Chang Gung University and Academia Sinica, in Taipei, Taiwan.

Establishment of a Multi-State Experiential Pharmacy Program Consortium

PubMed Central

Unterwagner, Whitney L.; Byrd, Debbie C.

2008-01-01

In 2002, a regional consortium was created for schools and colleges of pharmacy in Georgia and Alabama to assist experiential education faculty and staff members in streamlining administrative processes, providing required preceptor development, establishing a professional network, and conducting scholarly endeavors. Five schools and colleges of pharmacy with many shared experiential practice sites formed a consortium to help experiential faculty and staff members identify, discuss, and solve common experience program issues and challenges. During its 5 years in existence, the Southeastern Pharmacy Experiential Education Consortium has coordinated experiential schedules, developed and implemented uniform evaluation tools, coordinated site and preceptor development activities, established a work group for educational research and scholarship, and provided opportunities for networking and professional development. Several consortium members have received national recognition for their individual experiential education accomplishments. Through the activities of a regional consortium, members have successfully developed programs and initiatives that have streamlined administrative processes and have the potential to improve overall quality of experiential education programs. Professionally, consortium activities have resulted in 5 national presentations. PMID:18698386

Comparative Metabolomic Analysis of the Green Microalga Chlorella sorokiniana Cultivated in the Single Culture and a Consortium with Bacteria for Wastewater Remediation.

PubMed

Chen, Taojing; Zhao, Quanyu; Wang, Liang; Xu, Yunfeng; Wei, Wei

2017-11-01

Co-culture of microalgae with many types of bacteria usually comes out with significant different treatment efficiencies for COD, nitrogen, and phosphorus in wastewater remediation, compared with the single culture. In order to understand the mechanism behind, a comparative experiment was designed in this study, using the green microalgae species Chlorella sorokiniana in the single culture and a consortium with a bacterium, Pseudomonas H4, for nutrient removal. Comparative metabolome profile analysis was conducted to reveal the Chlorella cell responses to the synergistic growth with the bacteria, and possible relations between the metabolic regulation of microalgae and the nutrient degradation were discussed. The detectable differential metabolites of Chlorella belonged to several classes, including carbohydrates, fatty acids, amino acids, phosphates, polyols, etc. The orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) model of the identified metabolites suggests the metabolism in this alga was significantly affected by the bacteria, corresponding to different treatment behaviors.

Sarcopenia as a predictor of all-cause mortality among community-dwelling older people: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Liu, Ping; Hao, Qiukui; Hai, Shan; Wang, Hui; Cao, Li; Dong, Birong

2017-09-01

The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine the association between sarcopenia and all-cause mortality among community-dwelling older people. A systematic review was performed using three electronic databases (EMBASE, MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library) to identify prospective cohort studies from January 2009 to February 2017 examining sarcopenia as a predictor of all-cause mortality among community-dwelling older people. We conducted a pooled analysis of mortality associated with sarcopenia, and subgroup analyses based on measurements of muscle mass and length of follow-up by employing a random-effects model. Sensitivity analyses were performed evaluate the cause of high heterogeneity. In addition, methodological quality, heterogeneity and publication bias were evaluated. Of 1703 studies identified, 6 studies incorporating 7367 individuals were included in the meta-analysis for all-cause mortality. The pooled hazard ratios (HRs) of all-cause mortality from the combination of included studies suggested participants with sarcopenia had a significantly higher rate of mortality (pooled HR 1.60, 95%CI 1.24-2.06, I 2 =27.8%, p=0.216) than participants without sarcopenia. The subgroup analysis for length of follow-up suggested studies with a follow-up period of less than 5 years found a higher risk of all-cause mortality (pooled HR 2.09, 95%CI 1.21-3.60) than studies with a follow-up period of 5 years or more (pooled HR 1.52, 95%CI 1.14-2.01). A subgroup of anthropometric measures was found to identify higher mortality risks (pooled HR 2.26, 95%CI 1.30-3.92) than a subgroup of dual-energy x-ray (DXA) absorptiometry (pooled HR 1.82, 95%CI 1.04-3.18) factors or a subgroup of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) factors (pooled HR 1.31, 95%CI 1.15-1.49). Sarcopenia is a predictor of all-cause mortality among community-dwelling older people. Therefore, it is important to diagnose sarcopenia and to intervene, in order to reduce mortality rates in the elderly. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

A general framework for the regression analysis of pooled biomarker assessments.

PubMed

Liu, Yan; McMahan, Christopher; Gallagher, Colin

2017-07-10

As a cost-efficient data collection mechanism, the process of assaying pooled biospecimens is becoming increasingly common in epidemiological research; for example, pooling has been proposed for the purpose of evaluating the diagnostic efficacy of biological markers (biomarkers). To this end, several authors have proposed techniques that allow for the analysis of continuous pooled biomarker assessments. Regretfully, most of these techniques proceed under restrictive assumptions, are unable to account for the effects of measurement error, and fail to control for confounding variables. These limitations are understandably attributable to the complex structure that is inherent to measurements taken on pooled specimens. Consequently, in order to provide practitioners with the tools necessary to accurately and efficiently analyze pooled biomarker assessments, herein, a general Monte Carlo maximum likelihood-based procedure is presented. The proposed approach allows for the regression analysis of pooled data under practically all parametric models and can be used to directly account for the effects of measurement error. Through simulation, it is shown that the proposed approach can accurately and efficiently estimate all unknown parameters and is more computational efficient than existing techniques. This new methodology is further illustrated using monocyte chemotactic protein-1 data collected by the Collaborative Perinatal Project in an effort to assess the relationship between this chemokine and the risk of miscarriage. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Southeast Clinical Oncology Research Consortium, Inc. (SCOR) | Division of Cancer Prevention

Cancer.gov

The SCCC-Upstate is a merger of two successful legacy CCOPs known as Southeast Cancer Control Consortium, Inc. (SCCC) and Upstate Carolina (hereafter the Consortium) comprised of 23 components and 63 sub-components, located in a five-state area of the Southeast US (GA, NC, SC, TN, and VA) with a nonclinical Administrative Office (AO) in Winston-Salem, NC. The Consortium

25 CFR 1000.390 - How can a Tribe/Consortium hire a Federal employee to help implement an AFA?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false How can a Tribe/Consortium hire a Federal employee to help implement an AFA? 1000.390 Section 1000.390 Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN... Tribe/Consortium hire a Federal employee to help implement an AFA? If a Tribe/Consortium chooses to hire...

25 CFR 1000.390 - How can a Tribe/Consortium hire a Federal employee to help implement an AFA?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false How can a Tribe/Consortium hire a Federal employee to help implement an AFA? 1000.390 Section 1000.390 Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN... Tribe/Consortium hire a Federal employee to help implement an AFA? If a Tribe/Consortium chooses to hire...

45 CFR 287.25 - May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW Program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 2 2014-10-01 2012-10-01 true May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW... SERVICES THE NATIVE EMPLOYMENT WORKS (NEW) PROGRAM Eligible Tribes § 287.25 May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW Program? (a) Yes, as long as each Tribe forming the consortium is an “eligible Indian tribe...

45 CFR 287.25 - May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW Program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 2 2013-10-01 2012-10-01 true May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW... SERVICES THE NATIVE EMPLOYMENT WORKS (NEW) PROGRAM Eligible Tribes § 287.25 May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW Program? (a) Yes, as long as each Tribe forming the consortium is an “eligible Indian tribe...

45 CFR 287.25 - May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW Program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 2 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW... SERVICES THE NATIVE EMPLOYMENT WORKS (NEW) PROGRAM Eligible Tribes § 287.25 May Tribes form a consortium to operate a NEW Program? (a) Yes, as long as each Tribe forming the consortium is an “eligible Indian tribe...

AFT-QuEST Consortium Yearbook. Proceedings of the QuEST Consortium (April 2-6, 1972).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Federation of Teachers, Washington, DC.

This book contains the proceedings from the QuEST Consortium held on April 2-6, 1972, which focused on problems of method and technique in teaching as well as on resource organization. The program schedule for the Consortium is presented with the following goals: (a) investigation of educational policy issues, action programs, and projects and (b)…

Semi-Professional Rugby League Players have Higher Concussion Risk than Professional or Amateur Participants: A Pooled Analysis.

PubMed

King, Doug; Hume, Patria; Gissane, Conor; Clark, Trevor

2017-02-01

A combined estimate of injuries within a specific sport through pooled analysis provides more precise evidence and meaningful information about the sport, whilst controlling for between-study variation due to individual sub-cohort characteristics. The objective of this analysis was to review all published rugby league studies reporting injuries from match and training participation and report the pooled data estimates for rugby league concussion injury epidemiology. A systematic literature analysis of concussion in rugby league was performed on published studies from January 1990 to October 2015. Data were extracted and pooled from 25 studies that reported the number and incidence of concussions in rugby league match and training activities. Amateur rugby league players had the highest incidence of concussive injuries in match activities (19.1 per 1000 match hours) while semi-professional players had the highest incidence of concussive injuries in training activities (3.1 per 1000 training hours). This pooled analysis showed that, during match participation activities, amateur rugby league participants had a higher reported concussion injury rate than professional and semi-professional participants. Semi-professional participants had nearly a threefold greater concussion injury risk than amateur rugby league participants during match participation. They also had nearly a 600-fold greater concussion injury risk than professional rugby league participants during training participation.

Rifaximin for the prevention of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis and hepatorenal syndrome in cirrhosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Kamal, Faisal; Khan, Muhammad Ali; Khan, Zubair; Cholankeril, George; Hammad, Tariq A; Lee, Wade M; Ahmed, Aijaz; Waters, Bradford; Howden, Colin W; Nair, Satheesh; Satapathy, Sanjaya K

2017-10-01

Prophylactic antibiotics have been recommended in patients with a previous history of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP). Recently, there has been interest in the use of rifaximin for the prevention of SBP and hepatorenal syndrome (HRS). We conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate this association of rifaximin. We searched several databases from inception through 24 January 2017, to identify comparative studies evaluating the effect of rifaximin on the occurrence of SBP and HRS. We performed predetermined subgroup analyses based on the type of control group, design of the study, and type of prophylaxis. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) were calculated using a random effects model. We included 13 studies with 1703 patients in the meta-analysis of SBP prevention. Pooled OR [95% confidence interval (CI)] was 0.40 (95% CI: 0.22-0.73) (I=58%). On sensitivity analysis, adjusted OR was 0.29 (95% CI: 0.20-0.44) (I=0%). The results of the subgroup analysis based on type of control was as follows: in the quinolone group, pooled OR was 0.42 (95% CI: 0.14-1.25) (I=55%), and in the no antibiotic group, pooled OR was 0.40 (95% CI: 0.18-0.86) (I=64%). However, with sensitivity analysis, benefit of rifaximin was demonstrable; pooled ORs were 0.32 (95% CI: 0.17-0.63) (I=0%) and 0.28 (95% CI: 0.17-0.45) (I=0%) for the comparison with quinolones and no antibiotics, respectively. Pooled OR based on randomized controlled trials was 0.41 (95% CI: 0.22-0.75) (I=13%). For the prevention of HRS, the pooled OR was 0.25 (95% CI: 0.13-0.50) (I=0%). Rifaximin has a protective effect against the development of SBP in cirrhosis. However, the quality of the evidence as per the GRADE framework was very low. Rifaximin appeared effective for the prevention of HRS.

Mammographic density and ageing: A collaborative pooled analysis of cross-sectional data from 22 countries worldwide

PubMed Central

Maskarinec, Gertraud; Perez-Gomez, Beatriz; Vachon, Celine; Miao, Hui; Lajous, Martín; López-Ridaura, Ruy; Rice, Megan; Pereira, Ana; Garmendia, Maria Luisa; Tamimi, Rulla M.; Bertrand, Kimberly; Kwong, Ava; Ursin, Giske; Lee, Eunjung; Qureshi, Samera A.; Ma, Huiyan; Moss, Sue; Allen, Steve; Ndumia, Rose; Vinayak, Sudhir; Teo, Soo-Hwang; Mariapun, Shivaani; Fadzli, Farhana; Bukowska, Agnieszka; Nagata, Chisato; Stone, Jennifer; Ozmen, Vahit; Aribal, Mustafa Erkin; Schüz, Joachim; Wanders, Johanna O. P.; Sirous, Reza; Sirous, Mehri; Kim, Jisun; Lee, Jong Won; Dickens, Caroline; Hartman, Mikael; Chia, Kee-Seng; Chiarelli, Anna M.; Linton, Linda; Pollan, Marina; Flugelman, Anath Arzee; Salem, Dorria; Kamal, Rasha; Boyd, Norman; dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel; McCormack, Valerie

2017-01-01

Background Mammographic density (MD) is one of the strongest breast cancer risk factors. Its age-related characteristics have been studied in women in western countries, but whether these associations apply to women worldwide is not known. Methods and findings We examined cross-sectional differences in MD by age and menopausal status in over 11,000 breast-cancer-free women aged 35–85 years, from 40 ethnicity- and location-specific population groups across 22 countries in the International Consortium on Mammographic Density (ICMD). MD was read centrally using a quantitative method (Cumulus) and its square-root metrics were analysed using meta-analysis of group-level estimates and linear regression models of pooled data, adjusted for body mass index, reproductive factors, mammogram view, image type, and reader. In all, 4,534 women were premenopausal, and 6,481 postmenopausal, at the time of mammography. A large age-adjusted difference in percent MD (PD) between post- and premenopausal women was apparent (–0.46 cm [95% CI: −0.53, −0.39]) and appeared greater in women with lower breast cancer risk profiles; variation across population groups due to heterogeneity (I2) was 16.5%. Among premenopausal women, the √PD difference per 10-year increase in age was −0.24 cm (95% CI: −0.34, −0.14; I2 = 30%), reflecting a compositional change (lower dense area and higher non-dense area, with no difference in breast area). In postmenopausal women, the corresponding difference in √PD (−0.38 cm [95% CI: −0.44, −0.33]; I2 = 30%) was additionally driven by increasing breast area. The study is limited by different mammography systems and its cross-sectional rather than longitudinal nature. Conclusions Declines in MD with increasing age are present premenopausally, continue postmenopausally, and are most pronounced over the menopausal transition. These effects were highly consistent across diverse groups of women worldwide, suggesting that they result from an intrinsic biological, likely hormonal, mechanism common to women. If cumulative breast density is a key determinant of breast cancer risk, younger ages may be the more critical periods for lifestyle modifications aimed at breast density and breast cancer risk reduction. PMID:28666001

The Factor Structure of the English Language Development Assessment: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuriakose, Anju

2011-01-01

This study investigated the internal factor structure of the English language development Assessment (ELDA) using confirmatory factor analysis. ELDA is an English language proficiency test developed by a consortium of multiple states and is used to identify and reclassify English language learners in kindergarten to grade 12. Scores on item…

CPTAC Releases Largest-Ever Breast Cancer Proteome Dataset from Previously Genome Characterized Tumors | Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research

Cancer.gov

National Cancer Institute (NCI) Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) scientists have released a dataset of proteins and  phosphopeptides identified through deep proteomic and phosphoproteomic analysis of breast tumor samples, previously genomically analyzed by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).

Genome-wide Analysis of Genetic Loci Associated with Alzheimer’s Disease

PubMed Central

Seshadri, Sudha; Fitzpatrick, Annette L.; Arfan Ikram, M; DeStefano, Anita L.; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Boada, Merce; Bis, Joshua C.; Smith, Albert V.; Carassquillo, Minerva M.; Charles Lambert, Jean; Harold, Denise; Schrijvers, Elisabeth M. C.; Ramirez-Lorca, Reposo; Debette, Stephanie; Longstreth, W.T.; Janssens, A. Cecile J.W.; Shane Pankratz, V.; Dartigues, Jean François; Hollingworth, Paul; Aspelund, Thor; Hernandez, Isabel; Beiser, Alexa; Kuller, Lewis H.; Koudstaal, Peter J.; Dickson, Dennis W.; Tzourio, Christophe; Abraham, Richard; Antunez, Carmen; Du, Yangchun; Rotter, Jerome I.; Aulchenko, Yurii S.; Harris, Tamara B.; Petersen, Ronald C.; Berr, Claudine; Owen, Michael J.; Lopez-Arrieta, Jesus; Varadarajan, Badri N.; Becker, James T.; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Nalls, Michael A.; Graff-Radford, Neill R.; Campion, Dominique; Auerbach, Sanford; Rice, Kenneth; Hofman, Albert; Jonsson, Palmi V.; Schmidt, Helena; Lathrop, Mark; Mosley, Thomas H.; Au, Rhoda; Psaty, Bruce M.; Uitterlinden, Andre G.; Farrer, Lindsay A.; Lumley, Thomas; Ruiz, Agustin; Williams, Julie; Amouyel, Philippe; Younkin, Steve G.; Wolf, Philip A.; Launer, Lenore J.; Lopez, Oscar L.; van Duijn, Cornelia M.; Breteler, Monique M. B.

2010-01-01

Context Genome wide association studies (GWAS) have recently identified CLU, PICALM and CR1 as novel genes for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Objective In a three-stage analysis of new and previously published GWAS on over 35000 persons (8371 AD cases), we sought to identify and strengthen additional loci associated with AD and confirm these in an independent sample. We also examined the contribution of recently identified genes to AD risk prediction. Design, Setting, and Participants We identified strong genetic associations (p<10−3) in a Stage 1 sample of 3006 AD cases and 14642 controls by combining new data from the population-based Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium (1367 AD cases (973 incident)) with previously reported results from the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGEN) and Mayo AD GWAS. We identified 2708 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with p-values<10−3, and in Stage 2 pooled results for these SNPs with the European AD Initiative (2032 cases, 5328 controls) to identify ten loci with p-values<10−5. In Stage 3, we combined data for these ten loci with data from the Genetic and Environmental Risk in AD consortium (3333 cases, 6995 controls) to identify four SNPs with a p-value<1.7×10−8. These four SNPs were replicated in an independent Spanish sample (1140 AD cases and 1209 controls). Main outcome measure Alzheimer’s Disease. Results We showed genome-wide significance for two new loci: rs744373 near BIN1 (OR:1.13; 95%CI:1.06–1.21 per copy of the minor allele; p=1.6×10−11) and rs597668 near EXOC3L2/BLOC1S3/MARK4 (OR:1.18; 95%CI1.07–1.29; p=6.5×10−9). Associations of CLU, PICALM, BIN1 and EXOC3L2 with AD were confirmed in the Spanish sample (p<0.05). However, CLU and PICALM did not improve incident AD prediction beyond age, sex, and APOE (improvement in area under receiver-operating-characteristic curve <0.003). Conclusions Two novel genetic loci for AD are reported that for the first time reach genome-wide statistical significance; these findings were replicated in an independent population. Two recently reported associations were also confirmed, but these loci did not improve AD risk prediction, although they implicate biological pathways that may be useful targets for potential interventions. PMID:20460622

Computational Astrophysics Consortium 3 - Supernovae, Gamma-Ray Bursts and Nucleosynthesis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Woosley, Stan

Final project report for UCSC's participation in the Computational Astrophysics Consortium - Supernovae, Gamma-Ray Bursts and Nucleosynthesis. As an appendix, the report of the entire Consortium is also appended.

Femur-sparing pattern of abnormal fetal growth in pregnant women from New York City after maternal Zika virus infection.

PubMed

Walker, Christie L; Merriam, Audrey A; Ohuma, Eric O; Dighe, Manjiri K; Gale, Michael; Rajagopal, Lakshmi; Papageorghiou, Aris T; Gyamfi-Bannerman, Cynthia; Adams Waldorf, Kristina M

2018-05-05

Zika virus is a mosquito-transmitted flavivirus, which can induce fetal brain injury and growth restriction following maternal infection during pregnancy. Prenatal diagnosis of Zika virus-associated fetal injury in the absence of microcephaly is challenging due to an incomplete understanding of how maternal Zika virus infection affects fetal growth and the use of different sonographic reference standards around the world. We hypothesized that skeletal growth is unaffected by Zika virus infection and that the femur length can represent an internal standard to detect growth deceleration of the fetal head and/or abdomen by ultrasound. We sought to determine if maternal Zika virus infection is associated with a femur-sparing pattern of intrauterine growth restriction through analysis of fetal biometric measures and/or body ratios using the 2014 International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century Project and World Health Organization Fetal Growth Chart sonographic references. Pregnant women diagnosed with a possible recent Zika virus infection at Columbia University Medical Center after traveling to an endemic area were retrospectively identified and included if a fetal ultrasound was performed. Data were collected regarding Zika virus testing, fetal biometry, pregnancy, and neonatal outcomes. The 2014 International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century Project and World Health Organization Fetal Growth Chart sonographic standards were applied to obtain Z-scores and/or percentiles for fetal head circumference, abdominal circumference, and femur length specific for each gestational week. A novel 2014 International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century Project standard was also developed to generate Z-scores for fetal body ratios with respect to femur length (head circumference:femur length, abdominal circumference:femur length). Data were then grouped within clinically relevant gestational age strata (<24, 24-27 6/7, 28-33 6/7, >34 weeks) to analyze time-dependent effects of Zika virus infection on fetal size. Statistical analysis was performed using Wilcoxon signed-rank test on paired data, comparing either abdominal circumference or head circumference to femur length. A total of 56 pregnant women were included in the study with laboratory evidence of a confirmed or possible recent Zika virus infection. Based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definition for microcephaly after congenital Zika virus exposure, microcephaly was diagnosed in 5% (3/56) by both the 2014 International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century Project and World Health Organization Fetal Growth Chart standards (head circumference Z-score ≤-2 or ≤2.3%). Using 2014 International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century Project, intrauterine fetal growth restriction was diagnosed in 18% of pregnancies (10/56; abdominal circumference Z-score ≤-1.3, <10%). Analysis of fetal size using the last ultrasound scan for all subjects revealed a significantly abnormal skewing of fetal biometrics with a smaller abdominal circumference vs femur length by either 2014 International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century Project or World Health Organization Fetal Growth Chart (P < .001 for both). A difference in distribution of fetal abdominal circumference compared to femur length was first apparent in the 24-27 6/7 week strata (2014 International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century Project, P = .002; World Health Organization Fetal Growth Chart, P = .001). A significantly smaller head circumference compared to femur length was also observed by 2014 International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century Project as early as the 28-33 6/7 week strata (2014 International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century Project, P = .007). Overall, a femur-sparing pattern of growth restriction was detected in 52% of pregnancies with either head circumference:femur length or abdominal circumference:femur length fetal body ratio <10th percentile (2014 International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century Project Z-score ≤-1.3). An unusual femur-sparing pattern of fetal growth restriction was detected in the majority of fetuses with congenital Zika virus exposure. Fetal body ratios may represent a more sensitive ultrasound biomarker to detect viral injury in nonmicrocephalic fetuses that could impart long-term risk for complications of congenital Zika virus infection. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Role of Prostatitis in Prostate Cancer: Meta-Analysis

PubMed Central

Yunxia, Zhang; Zhu, Hong; Liu, Junjiang; Pumill, Chris

2013-01-01

Objective Use systematic review methods to quantify the association between prostatitis and prostate cancer, under both fixed and random effects model. Evidence Acquisition Case control studies of prostate cancer with information on prostatitis history. All studies published between 1990-2012, were collected to calculate a pooled odds ratio. Selection criteria: the selection criteria are as follows: human case control studies; published from May 1990 to July 2012; containing number of prostatitis, and prostate cancer cases. Evidence Synthesis In total, 20 case control studies were included. A significant association between prostatitis and prostate cancer was found, under both fixed effect model (pooled OR=1.50, 95%CI: 1.39-1.62), and random effects model (OR=1.64, 95%CI: 1.36-1.98). Personal interview based case control studies showed a high level of association (fixed effect model: pooled OR=1.59, 95%CI: 1.47-1.73, random effects model: pooled OR= 1.87, 95%CI: 1.52-2.29), compared with clinical based studies (fixed effect model: pooled OR=1.05, 95%CI: 0.86-1.28, random effects model: pooled OR= 0.98, 95%CI: 0.67-1.45). Additionally, pooled ORs, were calculated for each decade. In a fixed effect model: 1990’s: OR=1.58, 95% CI: 1.35-1.84; 2000’s: OR=1.59, 95% CI: 1.40-1.79; 2010’s: OR=1.37, 95% CI: 1.22-1.56. In a random effects model: 1990’s: OR=1.98, 95% CI: 1.08-3.62; 2000’s: OR=1.64, 95% CI: 1.23-2.19; 2010’s: OR=1.34, 95% CI: 1.03-1.73. Finally a meta-analysis stratified by each country was conducted. In fixed effect models, U.S: pooled OR =1.45, 95%CI: 1.34-1.57; China: pooled OR =4.67, 95%CI: 3.08-7.07; Cuba: pooled OR =1.43, 95%CI: 1.00-2.04; Italy: pooled OR =0.61, 95%CI: 0.13-2.90. In random effects model, U.S: pooled OR=1.50, 95%CI: 1.25-1.80; China: pooled OR =4.67, 95%CI: 3.08-7.07; Cuba: pooled OR =1.43, 95%CI: 1.00-2.04; Italy: pooled OR =0.61, 95%CI: 0.13-2.90.CONCLUSIONS: the present meta-analysis provides the statistical evidence that the association between prostatitis and prostate cancer is significant. PMID:24391995

Design of the Coronary ARtery DIsease Genome-Wide Replication And Meta-Analysis (CARDIoGRAM) Study: A Genome-wide association meta-analysis involving more than 22 000 cases and 60 000 controls.

PubMed

Preuss, Michael; König, Inke R; Thompson, John R; Erdmann, Jeanette; Absher, Devin; Assimes, Themistocles L; Blankenberg, Stefan; Boerwinkle, Eric; Chen, Li; Cupples, L Adrienne; Hall, Alistair S; Halperin, Eran; Hengstenberg, Christian; Holm, Hilma; Laaksonen, Reijo; Li, Mingyao; März, Winfried; McPherson, Ruth; Musunuru, Kiran; Nelson, Christopher P; Burnett, Mary Susan; Epstein, Stephen E; O'Donnell, Christopher J; Quertermous, Thomas; Rader, Daniel J; Roberts, Robert; Schillert, Arne; Stefansson, Kari; Stewart, Alexandre F R; Thorleifsson, Gudmar; Voight, Benjamin F; Wells, George A; Ziegler, Andreas; Kathiresan, Sekar; Reilly, Muredach P; Samani, Nilesh J; Schunkert, Heribert

2010-10-01

Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of myocardial infarction (MI) and other forms of coronary artery disease (CAD) have led to the discovery of at least 13 genetic loci. In addition to the effect size, power to detect associations is largely driven by sample size. Therefore, to maximize the chance of finding novel susceptibility loci for CAD and MI, the Coronary ARtery DIsease Genome-wide Replication And Meta-analysis (CARDIoGRAM) consortium was formed. CARDIoGRAM combines data from all published and several unpublished GWAS in individuals with European ancestry; includes >22 000 cases with CAD, MI, or both and >60 000 controls; and unifies samples from the Atherosclerotic Disease VAscular functioN and genetiC Epidemiology study, CADomics, Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology, deCODE, the German Myocardial Infarction Family Studies I, II, and III, Ludwigshafen Risk and Cardiovascular Heath Study/AtheroRemo, MedStar, Myocardial Infarction Genetics Consortium, Ottawa Heart Genomics Study, PennCath, and the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. Genotyping was carried out on Affymetrix or Illumina platforms followed by imputation of genotypes in most studies. On average, 2.2 million single nucleotide polymorphisms were generated per study. The results from each study are combined using meta-analysis. As proof of principle, we meta-analyzed risk variants at 9p21 and found that rs1333049 confers a 29% increase in risk for MI per copy (P=2×10⁻²⁰). CARDIoGRAM is poised to contribute to our understanding of the role of common genetic variation on risk for CAD and MI.

77 FR 43237 - Genome in a Bottle Consortium-Work Plan Review Workshop

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-24

... in human whole genome variant calls. A principal motivation for this consortium is to enable... principal motivation for this consortium is to enable science-based regulatory oversight of clinical...

Midwest Transportation Consortium : 2003-2004 annual report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-01-01

Introduction: The Midwest Transportation Consortium (MTC) recently completed its fifth year : of operation. In doing so, the consortium has established itself as an effective : network that promotes the education of future transportation professional...

Consortium for military LCD display procurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Echols, Gregg

2002-08-01

International Display Consortium (IDC) is the joining together of display companies to combined their buying power and obtained favorable terms with a major LCD manufacturer. Consolidating the buying power and grouping the demand enables the rugged display industry of avionics, ground vehicles, and ship based display manufacturers to have unencumbered access to high performance AMLCDs while greatly reducing risk and lowering cost. With an unrestricted supply of AMLCD displays, the consortium members have total control of their risk, cost, deliveries and added value partners. Every display manufacturer desires a very close relationship with a display vender. With IDC each consortium member achieves a close relationship. Consortium members enjoy cost effective access to high performance, industry standard sized LCD panels, and modified commercial displays with 100 degree C clearing points and portrait configurations. Consortium members also enjoy proposal support, technical support and long-term support.

Biodegradability of fluoxetine, mefenamic acid, and metoprolol using different microbial consortiums.

PubMed

Velázquez, Yolanda Flores; Nacheva, Petia Mijaylova

2017-03-01

The biodegradation of fluoxetine, mefenamic acid, and metoprolol using ammonium-nitrite-oxidizing consortium, nitrite-oxidizing consortium, and heterotrophic biomass was evaluated in batch tests applying different retention times. The ammonium-nitrite-oxidizing consortium presented the highest biodegradation percentages for mefenamic acid and metoprolol, of 85 and 64% respectively. This consortium was also capable to biodegrade 79% of fluoxetine. The heterotrophic consortium showed the highest ability to biodegrade fluoxetine reaching 85%, and it also had a high potential for biodegrading mefenamic acid and metoprolol, of 66 and 58% respectively. The nitrite-oxidizing consortium presented the lowest biodegradation of the three pharmaceuticals, of less than 48%. The determination of the selected pharmaceuticals in the dissolved phase and in the biomass indicated that biodegradation was the major removal mechanism of the three compounds. Based on the obtained results, the biodegradation kinetics was adjusted to pseudo-first-order for the three pharmaceuticals. The values of k biol for fluoxetine, mefenamic acid, and metoprolol determined with the three consortiums indicated that ammonium-nitrite-oxidizing and heterotrophic biomass allow a partial biodegradation of the compounds, while no substantial biodegradation can be expected using nitrite-oxidizing consortium. Metoprolol was the less biodegradable compound. The sorption of fluoxetine and mefenamic acid onto biomass had a significant contribution for their removal (6-14%). The lowest sorption coefficients were obtained for metoprolol indicating that the sorption onto biomass is poor (3-4%), and the contribution of this process to the global removal can be neglected.

ICONE: An International Consortium of Neuro Endovascular Centres.

PubMed

Raymond, J; White, P; Kallmes, D F; Spears, J; Marotta, T; Roy, D; Guilbert, F; Weill, A; Nguyen, T; Molyneux, A J; Cloft, H; Cekirge, S; Saatci, I; Bracard, S; Meder, J F; Moret, J; Cognard, C; Qureshi, A I; Turk, A S; Berenstein, A

2008-06-30

The proliferation of new endovascular devices and therapeutic strategies calls for a prudentand rational evaluation of their clinical benefit. This evaluation must be done in an effective manner and in collaboration with industry. Such research initiative requires organisation a land methodological support to survive and thrive in a competitive environment. We propose the formation of an international consortium, an academic alliance committed to the pursuit of effective neurovascular therapies. Such a consortium would be dedicated to the designand execution of basic science, device developmentand clinical trials. The Consortium is owned and operated by its members. Members are international leaders in neurointerventional research and clinical practice. The Consortium brings competency, knowledge, and expertise to industry as well as to its membership across aspectrum of research initiatives such as: expedited review of clinical trials, protocol development, surveys and systematic reviews; laboratory expertise and support for research design and grant applications to public agencies. Once objectives and protocols are approved, the Consortium provides a stable network of centers capable of timely realization of clinical trials or pre clinical investigations in an optimal environment. The Consortium is a non-profit organization. The potential revenue generated from clientsponsored financial agreements will be redirected to the academic and research objectives of the organization. The Consortium wishes to work inconcert with industry, to support emerging trends in neurovascular therapeutic development. The Consortium is a realistic endeavour optimally structured to promote excellence through scientific appraisal of our treatments, and to accelerate technical progress while maximizing patients' safety and welfare.

The Human Microbiome Project (HMP) and the Data Analysis and Coordination Center (DAAC) Portal to the HMP (GSC8 Meeting)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Weinstock, George; Wortman, Jennifer

The Genomic Standards Consortium was formed in September 2005. It is an international, open-membership working body which promotes standardization in the description of genomes and the exchange and integration of genomic data. The 2009 meeting was an activity of a five-year funding Research Coordination Network from the National Science Foundation and was organized held at the DOE Joint Genome Institute with organizational support provided by the JGI and by the University of California - San Diego. George Weinstock from Washington University School of Medicine talks about the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) followed briefly by Jennifer Wortman from the University ofmore » Maryland School of Medicine on the Data Analysis and Coordination Center (DACC) portal to the HMP at the Genomic Standards Consortium's 8th meeting at the DOE JGI in Walnut Creek, CA on Sept. 9, 2009.« less

The Human Microbiome Project (HMP) and the Data Analysis and Coordination Center (DAAC) Portal to the HMP (GSC8 Meeting)

ScienceCinema

Weinstock, George; Wortman, Jennifer

2018-01-22

The Genomic Standards Consortium was formed in September 2005. It is an international, open-membership working body which promotes standardization in the description of genomes and the exchange and integration of genomic data. The 2009 meeting was an activity of a five-year funding Research Coordination Network from the National Science Foundation and was organized held at the DOE Joint Genome Institute with organizational support provided by the JGI and by the University of California - San Diego. George Weinstock from Washington University School of Medicine talks about the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) followed briefly by Jennifer Wortman from the University of Maryland School of Medicine on the Data Analysis and Coordination Center (DACC) portal to the HMP at the Genomic Standards Consortium's 8th meeting at the DOE JGI in Walnut Creek, CA on Sept. 9, 2009.

The International Human Epigenome Consortium Data Portal.

PubMed

Bujold, David; Morais, David Anderson de Lima; Gauthier, Carol; Côté, Catherine; Caron, Maxime; Kwan, Tony; Chen, Kuang Chung; Laperle, Jonathan; Markovits, Alexei Nordell; Pastinen, Tomi; Caron, Bryan; Veilleux, Alain; Jacques, Pierre-Étienne; Bourque, Guillaume

2016-11-23

The International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC) coordinates the production of reference epigenome maps through the characterization of the regulome, methylome, and transcriptome from a wide range of tissues and cell types. To define conventions ensuring the compatibility of datasets and establish an infrastructure enabling data integration, analysis, and sharing, we developed the IHEC Data Portal (http://epigenomesportal.ca/ihec). The portal provides access to >7,000 reference epigenomic datasets, generated from >600 tissues, which have been contributed by seven international consortia: ENCODE, NIH Roadmap, CEEHRC, Blueprint, DEEP, AMED-CREST, and KNIH. The portal enhances the utility of these reference maps by facilitating the discovery, visualization, analysis, download, and sharing of epigenomics data. The IHEC Data Portal is the official source to navigate through IHEC datasets and represents a strategy for unifying the distributed data produced by international research consortia. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Localization of an Ataxia-Telangiectasia Gene to an −500-kb Interval on Chromosome 11q23.1: Linkage Analysis of 176 Families by an International Consortium

PubMed Central

Lange, Ethan; Borresen, Anna-Lise; Chen, Xiaoguang; Chessa, Luciana; Chiplunkar, Sujata; Concannon, Patrick; Dandekar, Sugandha; Gerken, Steven; Lange, Kenneth; Liang, Teresa; McConville, Carmel; Polakow, Jeff; Porras, Oscar; Rotman, Galit; Sanal, Ozden; Sheikhavandi, Sepideh; Shiloh, Yosef; Sobel, Eric; Taylor, Malcolm; Telatar, Milhan; Teraoka, Sharon; Tolun, Aslihan; Udar, Nitin; Uhrhammer, Nancy; Vanagaite, Lina; Wang, Zhijun; Wapelhorst, Beth; Wright, Jocyndra; Yang, Huan-Ming; Yang, Lan; Ziv, Yael; Gatti, Richard A.

1995-01-01

We describe a 20-point linkage analysis map of chromosome 11q22-23 that is based on genotyping 249 families (59 CEPH and 190 A-T). Monte Carlo linkage analyses of 176 ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) families localizes the major A-T locus to the region between S1819(A4) and S1818(A2). When seven nonlinking families were excluded from subsequent analyses, a 2-lod support interval of ∼500 kb was identified between S1819(A4) and S1294. No recombinants were observed between A-T and markers S384, B7, S535, or S1294. Only 17 of the international consortium families have been assigned to complementation groups. The available evidence favors either a cluster of A-T genes on chromosome 11 or intragenic defects in a single gene. PMID:7611279

Analysis of mammalian gene function through broad based phenotypic screens across a consortium of mouse clinics

PubMed Central

Adams, David J; Adams, Niels C; Adler, Thure; Aguilar-Pimentel, Antonio; Ali-Hadji, Dalila; Amann, Gregory; André, Philippe; Atkins, Sarah; Auburtin, Aurelie; Ayadi, Abdel; Becker, Julien; Becker, Lore; Bedu, Elodie; Bekeredjian, Raffi; Birling, Marie-Christine; Blake, Andrew; Bottomley, Joanna; Bowl, Mike; Brault, Véronique; Busch, Dirk H; Bussell, James N; Calzada-Wack, Julia; Cater, Heather; Champy, Marie-France; Charles, Philippe; Chevalier, Claire; Chiani, Francesco; Codner, Gemma F; Combe, Roy; Cox, Roger; Dalloneau, Emilie; Dierich, André; Di Fenza, Armida; Doe, Brendan; Duchon, Arnaud; Eickelberg, Oliver; Esapa, Chris T; El Fertak, Lahcen; Feigel, Tanja; Emelyanova, Irina; Estabel, Jeanne; Favor, Jack; Flenniken, Ann; Gambadoro, Alessia; Garrett, Lilian; Gates, Hilary; Gerdin, Anna-Karin; Gkoutos, George; Greenaway, Simon; Glasl, Lisa; Goetz, Patrice; Da Cruz, Isabelle Goncalves; Götz, Alexander; Graw, Jochen; Guimond, Alain; Hans, Wolfgang; Hicks, Geoff; Hölter, Sabine M; Höfler, Heinz; Hancock, John M; Hoehndorf, Robert; Hough, Tertius; Houghton, Richard; Hurt, Anja; Ivandic, Boris; Jacobs, Hughes; Jacquot, Sylvie; Jones, Nora; Karp, Natasha A; Katus, Hugo A; Kitchen, Sharon; Klein-Rodewald, Tanja; Klingenspor, Martin; Klopstock, Thomas; Lalanne, Valerie; Leblanc, Sophie; Lengger, Christoph; le Marchand, Elise; Ludwig, Tonia; Lux, Aline; McKerlie, Colin; Maier, Holger; Mandel, Jean-Louis; Marschall, Susan; Mark, Manuel; Melvin, David G; Meziane, Hamid; Micklich, Kateryna; Mittelhauser, Christophe; Monassier, Laurent; Moulaert, David; Muller, Stéphanie; Naton, Beatrix; Neff, Frauke; Nolan, Patrick M; Nutter, Lauryl MJ; Ollert, Markus; Pavlovic, Guillaume; Pellegata, Natalia S; Peter, Emilie; Petit-Demoulière, Benoit; Pickard, Amanda; Podrini, Christine; Potter, Paul; Pouilly, Laurent; Puk, Oliver; Richardson, David; Rousseau, Stephane; Quintanilla-Fend, Leticia; Quwailid, Mohamed M; Racz, Ildiko; Rathkolb, Birgit; Riet, Fabrice; Rossant, Janet; Roux, Michel; Rozman, Jan; Ryder, Ed; Salisbury, Jennifer; Santos, Luis; Schäble, Karl-Heinz; Schiller, Evelyn; Schrewe, Anja; Schulz, Holger; Steinkamp, Ralf; Simon, Michelle; Stewart, Michelle; Stöger, Claudia; Stöger, Tobias; Sun, Minxuan; Sunter, David; Teboul, Lydia; Tilly, Isabelle; Tocchini-Valentini, Glauco P; Tost, Monica; Treise, Irina; Vasseur, Laurent; Velot, Emilie; Vogt-Weisenhorn, Daniela; Wagner, Christelle; Walling, Alison; Weber, Bruno; Wendling, Olivia; Westerberg, Henrik; Willershäuser, Monja; Wolf, Eckhard; Wolter, Anne; Wood, Joe; Wurst, Wolfgang; Yildirim, Ali Önder; Zeh, Ramona; Zimmer, Andreas; Zimprich, Annemarie

2015-01-01

The function of the majority of genes in the mouse and human genomes remains unknown. The mouse ES cell knockout resource provides a basis for characterisation of relationships between gene and phenotype. The EUMODIC consortium developed and validated robust methodologies for broad-based phenotyping of knockouts through a pipeline comprising 20 disease-orientated platforms. We developed novel statistical methods for pipeline design and data analysis aimed at detecting reproducible phenotypes with high power. We acquired phenotype data from 449 mutant alleles, representing 320 unique genes, of which half had no prior functional annotation. We captured data from over 27,000 mice finding that 83% of the mutant lines are phenodeviant, with 65% demonstrating pleiotropy. Surprisingly, we found significant differences in phenotype annotation according to zygosity. Novel phenotypes were uncovered for many genes with unknown function providing a powerful basis for hypothesis generation and further investigation in diverse systems. PMID:26214591

25 CFR 1000.54 - How will a Tribe/Consortium know whether or not it has been selected to receive an advance...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

...) Planning and Negotiation Grants Advance Planning Grant Funding § 1000.54 How will a Tribe/Consortium know... Director will notify the Tribe/Consortium by letter whether it has been selected to receive an advance... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false How will a Tribe/Consortium know whether or not it has...

Low-Load Space Conditioning Needs Assessment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Puttagunta, Srikanth

Heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment must be right-sized to ensure energy performance and comfort. With limited low-load options in the HVAC market, many new-construction housing units are being fitted with oversized equipment that creates system efficiency, comfort, and cost penalties. To bridge the gap between currently available HVAC equipment that is oversized or inefficient and the rising demand for low-load HVAC equipment in the marketplace, HVAC equipment manufacturers need to be fully aware of the needs of the multifamily building and attached single-family (duplex and townhouse) home market. Over the past decade, Steven Winter Associates, Inc. (SWA) has providedmore » certification and consulting services for hundreds of housing projects and has accrued a large pool of data that describe multifamily and attached single-family home characteristics. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America research team Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB) compiled and analyzed these data to outline the characteristics of low-load dwellings such as the heating and cooling design loads.« less

An update on enzymatic cocktails for lignocellulose breakdown.

PubMed

de Mello Lopes, Andreza; Ferreira Filho, Edivaldo Ximenes; de Souza Moreira, Leonora Rios

2018-05-22

Alternative energy sources have received increasing attention in recent years. The possibility of adding value to agricultural wastes, by producing biofuels and other products with economic value from lignocellulosic biomass by enzymatic hydrolysis, has been widely explored. Lignocellulosic biomass, as well as being an abundant residue, is a complex recalcitrant structure that requires a consortium of enzymes for its complete degradation. Pools of enzymes with different specificities acting together usually produce an increase in hydrolysis yield. Enzymatic cocktails have been widely studied due to their potential industrial application for the bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass. This review presents an overview of enzymes required to degrade the plant cell wall, paying particular attention to the latest advances in enzymatic cocktail production and the main results obtained with cocktails used to degrade a variety of types of biomass, as well as some future perspectives within this field. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium: 20 years of development and integration of USA national land cover data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wickham, James D.; Homer, Collin G.; Vogelmann, James E.; McKerrow, Alexa; Mueller, Rick; Herold, Nate; Coluston, John

2014-01-01

The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium demonstrates the national benefits of USA Federal collaboration. Starting in the mid-1990s as a small group with the straightforward goal of compiling a comprehensive national Landsat dataset that could be used to meet agencies’ needs, MRLC has grown into a group of 10 USA Federal Agencies that coordinate the production of five different products, including the National Land Cover Database (NLCD), the Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP), the Cropland Data Layer (CDL), the Gap Analysis Program (GAP), and the Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools (LANDFIRE). As a set, the products include almost every aspect of land cover from impervious surface to detailed crop and vegetation types to fire fuel classes. Some products can be used for land cover change assessments because they cover multiple time periods. The MRLC Consortium has become a collaborative forum, where members share research, methodological approaches, and data to produce products using established protocols, and we believe it is a model for the production of integrated land cover products at national to continental scales. We provide a brief overview of each of the main products produced by MRLC and examples of how each product has been used. We follow that with a discussion of the impact of the MRLC program and a brief overview of future plans.

Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies five new susceptibility loci for pancreatic cancer.

PubMed

Klein, Alison P; Wolpin, Brian M; Risch, Harvey A; Stolzenberg-Solomon, Rachael Z; Mocci, Evelina; Zhang, Mingfeng; Canzian, Federico; Childs, Erica J; Hoskins, Jason W; Jermusyk, Ashley; Zhong, Jun; Chen, Fei; Albanes, Demetrius; Andreotti, Gabriella; Arslan, Alan A; Babic, Ana; Bamlet, William R; Beane-Freeman, Laura; Berndt, Sonja I; Blackford, Amanda; Borges, Michael; Borgida, Ayelet; Bracci, Paige M; Brais, Lauren; Brennan, Paul; Brenner, Hermann; Bueno-de-Mesquita, Bas; Buring, Julie; Campa, Daniele; Capurso, Gabriele; Cavestro, Giulia Martina; Chaffee, Kari G; Chung, Charles C; Cleary, Sean; Cotterchio, Michelle; Dijk, Frederike; Duell, Eric J; Foretova, Lenka; Fuchs, Charles; Funel, Niccola; Gallinger, Steven; M Gaziano, J Michael; Gazouli, Maria; Giles, Graham G; Giovannucci, Edward; Goggins, Michael; Goodman, Gary E; Goodman, Phyllis J; Hackert, Thilo; Haiman, Christopher; Hartge, Patricia; Hasan, Manal; Hegyi, Peter; Helzlsouer, Kathy J; Herman, Joseph; Holcatova, Ivana; Holly, Elizabeth A; Hoover, Robert; Hung, Rayjean J; Jacobs, Eric J; Jamroziak, Krzysztof; Janout, Vladimir; Kaaks, Rudolf; Khaw, Kay-Tee; Klein, Eric A; Kogevinas, Manolis; Kooperberg, Charles; Kulke, Matthew H; Kupcinskas, Juozas; Kurtz, Robert J; Laheru, Daniel; Landi, Stefano; Lawlor, Rita T; Lee, I-Min; LeMarchand, Loic; Lu, Lingeng; Malats, Núria; Mambrini, Andrea; Mannisto, Satu; Milne, Roger L; Mohelníková-Duchoňová, Beatrice; Neale, Rachel E; Neoptolemos, John P; Oberg, Ann L; Olson, Sara H; Orlow, Irene; Pasquali, Claudio; Patel, Alpa V; Peters, Ulrike; Pezzilli, Raffaele; Porta, Miquel; Real, Francisco X; Rothman, Nathaniel; Scelo, Ghislaine; Sesso, Howard D; Severi, Gianluca; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Silverman, Debra; Smith, Jill P; Soucek, Pavel; Sund, Malin; Talar-Wojnarowska, Renata; Tavano, Francesca; Thornquist, Mark D; Tobias, Geoffrey S; Van Den Eeden, Stephen K; Vashist, Yogesh; Visvanathan, Kala; Vodicka, Pavel; Wactawski-Wende, Jean; Wang, Zhaoming; Wentzensen, Nicolas; White, Emily; Yu, Herbert; Yu, Kai; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Anne; Zheng, Wei; Kraft, Peter; Li, Donghui; Chanock, Stephen; Obazee, Ofure; Petersen, Gloria M; Amundadottir, Laufey T

2018-02-08

In 2020, 146,063 deaths due to pancreatic cancer are estimated to occur in Europe and the United States combined. To identify common susceptibility alleles, we performed the largest pancreatic cancer GWAS to date, including 9040 patients and 12,496 controls of European ancestry from the Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium (PanScan) and the Pancreatic Cancer Case-Control Consortium (PanC4). Here, we find significant evidence of a novel association at rs78417682 (7p12/TNS3, P = 4.35 × 10 -8 ). Replication of 10 promising signals in up to 2737 patients and 4752 controls from the PANcreatic Disease ReseArch (PANDoRA) consortium yields new genome-wide significant loci: rs13303010 at 1p36.33 (NOC2L, P = 8.36 × 10 -14 ), rs2941471 at 8q21.11 (HNF4G, P = 6.60 × 10 -10 ), rs4795218 at 17q12 (HNF1B, P = 1.32 × 10 -8 ), and rs1517037 at 18q21.32 (GRP, P = 3.28 × 10 -8 ). rs78417682 is not statistically significantly associated with pancreatic cancer in PANDoRA. Expression quantitative trait locus analysis in three independent pancreatic data sets provides molecular support of NOC2L as a pancreatic cancer susceptibility gene.

Standardizing Flow Cytometry Immunophenotyping Analysis from the Human ImmunoPhenotyping Consortium

PubMed Central

Finak, Greg; Langweiler, Marc; Jaimes, Maria; Malek, Mehrnoush; Taghiyar, Jafar; Korin, Yael; Raddassi, Khadir; Devine, Lesley; Obermoser, Gerlinde; Pekalski, Marcin L.; Pontikos, Nikolas; Diaz, Alain; Heck, Susanne; Villanova, Federica; Terrazzini, Nadia; Kern, Florian; Qian, Yu; Stanton, Rick; Wang, Kui; Brandes, Aaron; Ramey, John; Aghaeepour, Nima; Mosmann, Tim; Scheuermann, Richard H.; Reed, Elaine; Palucka, Karolina; Pascual, Virginia; Blomberg, Bonnie B.; Nestle, Frank; Nussenblatt, Robert B.; Brinkman, Ryan Remy; Gottardo, Raphael; Maecker, Holden; McCoy, J Philip

2016-01-01

Standardization of immunophenotyping requires careful attention to reagents, sample handling, instrument setup, and data analysis, and is essential for successful cross-study and cross-center comparison of data. Experts developed five standardized, eight-color panels for identification of major immune cell subsets in peripheral blood. These were produced as pre-configured, lyophilized, reagents in 96-well plates. We present the results of a coordinated analysis of samples across nine laboratories using these panels with standardized operating procedures (SOPs). Manual gating was performed by each site and by a central site. Automated gating algorithms were developed and tested by the FlowCAP consortium. Centralized manual gating can reduce cross-center variability, and we sought to determine whether automated methods could streamline and standardize the analysis. Within-site variability was low in all experiments, but cross-site variability was lower when central analysis was performed in comparison with site-specific analysis. It was also lower for clearly defined cell subsets than those based on dim markers and for rare populations. Automated gating was able to match the performance of central manual analysis for all tested panels, exhibiting little to no bias and comparable variability. Standardized staining, data collection, and automated gating can increase power, reduce variability, and streamline analysis for immunophenotyping. PMID:26861911

Physical and chemical differences between natural and artificial pools in blanket peatlands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turner, Ed; Baird, Andy; Billett, Mike; Chapman, Pippa; Dinsmore, Kerry; Holden, Joseph

2014-05-01

Natural pools are common features of many northern peatlands. Numerous artificial pools are being created behind dams installed during drain-blocking, a common peatland restoration technique, significantly increasing the area of open water. Natural pools are known to be major sources of GHGs (e.g. Hamilton et al. 1994), but the reasons they are such 'hotspots' is poorly understood. We hypothesize that pools act as 'biochemical reactors' of particulate and dissolved organic carbon (POC and DOC) transported from surrounding peat that is processed into a range of products including CH4 and CO2. Therefore, understanding the processes operating in both natural and artificial pool systems is fundamental to elucidating this hypothesis. Water levels and temperature have been continuously monitored at six natural and six artificial pools within the 'Flow Country' blanket peatland in northern Scotland since May 2013. Bi-weekly sampling of waters from pools, peat matrix through-flow (via piezometers) and surface flow has been conducted for analysis of DOC, POC, DIC, CH4diss and CO2diss, together with GHG flux measurements from pool surfaces and adjacent peat. We show that, to date, pool water levels rapidly respond to rainfall, although artificial pools appear to respond with greater magnitude. For example, over the course of same rainfall event (20-23 June 2013), natural and artificial pool levels increased between 5.3 and 9.8 cm, and 12.5 and 22.6 cm respectively. Temperature measured at c. 5 cm from the base of each pool shows distinct diurnal fluctuations, which are of greater magnitude in all but one of the natural pools compared to the artificial pools: over the same period (20-23 July 2013), the maximum diurnal variation at the artificial pool site was 5.1 °C compared to 9.2 °C within the natural pools. Vegetation cover is generally higher in artificial pools and may have a moderating effect on variations in pool temperature. Results of pool-water DOC analysis from regular sampling at the study site and a wider regional survey indicate DOC concentrations are consistently higher in artificial pools. The implications of these preliminary results in relation to the carbon cycle and GHGs of blanket peatlands are briefly discussed. Hamilton, J. D., Kelly, C. A., Rudd, J. W. M., Hesslein, R. H. and Roulet, N. T. (1994) Flux to the atmosphere of CH4 and CO2 from wetland ponds on the Hudson Bay lowlands (HBLs). Journal of Geophysical Research 99, 1495-1510.

Oil Production by a Consortium of Oleaginous Microorganisms grown on primary effluent wastewater

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hall, Jacqueline; Hetrick, Mary; French, Todd

Municipal wastewater could be a potential growth medium that has not been considered for cultivating oleaginous microorganisms. This study is designed to determine if a consortium of oleaginous microorganism can successfully compete for carbon and other nutrients with the indigenous microorganisms contained in primary effluent wastewater. RESULTS: The oleaginous consortium inoculated with indigenous microorganisms reached stationary phase within 24 h, reaching a maximum cell concentration of 0.58 g L -1. Water quality post-oleaginous consortium growth reached a maximum chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction of approximately 81%, supporting the consumption of the glucose within 8 h. The oleaginous consortium increased themore » amount of oil produced per gram by 13% compared with indigenous microorganisms in raw wastewater. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) results show a substantial population increase in bacteria within the first 24 h when the consortium is inoculated into raw wastewater. This result, along with the fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) results, suggests that conditions tested were not sufficient for the oleaginous consortium to compete with the indigenous microorganisms.« less

Biodegradation of marine crude oil pollution using a salt-tolerant bacterial consortium isolated from Bohai Bay, China.

PubMed

Li, Xinfei; Zhao, Lin; Adam, Mohamed

2016-04-15

This study aims at constructing an efficient bacterial consortium to biodegrade crude oil spilled in China's Bohai Sea. In this study, TCOB-1 (Ochrobactrum), TCOB-2 (Brevundimonas), TCOB-3 (Brevundimonas), TCOB-4 (Bacillus) and TCOB-5 (Castellaniella) were isolated from Bohai Bay. Through the analysis of hydrocarbon biodegradation, TCOB-4 was found to biodegrade more middle-chain n-alkanes (from C17 to C23) and long-chain n-alkanes (C31-C36). TCOB-5 capable to degrade more n-alkanes including C24-C30 and aromatics. On the basis of complementary advantages, TCOB-4 and TCOB-5 were chosen to construct a consortium which was capable of degrading about 51.87% of crude oil (2% w/v) after 1week of incubation in saline MSM (3% NaCl). It is more efficient compared with single strain. In order to biodegrade crude oil, the construction of bacterial consortia is essential and the principle of complementary advantages could reduce competition between microbes. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Metrics for Operator Situation Awareness, Workload, and Performance in Automated Separation Assurance Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Strybel, Thomas Z.; Vu, Kim-Phuong L.; Battiste, Vernol; Dao, Arik-Quang; Dwyer, John P.; Landry, Steven; Johnson, Walter; Ho, Nhut

2011-01-01

A research consortium of scientists and engineers from California State University Long Beach (CSULB), San Jose State University Foundation (SJSUF), California State University Northridge (CSUN), Purdue University, and The Boeing Company was assembled to evaluate the impact of changes in roles and responsibilities and new automated technologies, being introduced in the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), on operator situation awareness (SA) and workload. To meet these goals, consortium members performed systems analyses of NextGen concepts and airspace scenarios, and concurrently evaluated SA, workload, and performance measures to assess their appropriateness for evaluations of NextGen concepts and tools. The following activities and accomplishments were supported by the NRA: a distributed simulation, metric development, systems analysis, part-task simulations, and large-scale simulations. As a result of this NRA, we have gained a greater understanding of situation awareness and its measurement, and have shared our knowledge with the scientific community. This network provides a mechanism for consortium members, colleagues, and students to pursue research on other topics in air traffic management and aviation, thus enabling them to make greater contributions to the field

Solubilization of municipal sewage waste activated sludge by novel lytic bacterial strains.

PubMed

Lakshmi, M Veera; Merrylin, J; Kavitha, S; Kumar, S Adish; Banu, J Rajesh; Yeom, Ick-Tae

2014-02-01

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are an extracellular matrix found in sludge which plays a crucial role in flocculation by interacting with the organic solids. Therefore, to enhance pretreatment of sludge, EPS have to be removed. In this study, EPS were removed with a chemical extractant, NaOH, to enhance the bacterial pretreatment. A lysozyme secreting bacterial consortium was isolated from the waste activated sludge (WAS). The result of density gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis revealed that the isolated consortium consists of two strains. The two novel strains isolated were named as Jerish03 (NCBI accession number KC597266) and Jerish 04 (NCBI accession number KC597267) and they belong to the genus Bacillus. Pretreatment with these novel strains enhances the efficiency of the aerobic digestion of sludge. Sludge treated with the lysozyme secreting bacterial consortium produced 29 % and 28.5 % increase in suspended solids (SS) reduction and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal compared to the raw activated sludge (without pretreatment) during aerobic digestion. It is specified that these two novel strains had a high potential to enhance WAS degradation efficiency in aerobic digestion.

The FaceBase Consortium: A comprehensive program to facilitate craniofacial research

PubMed Central

Hochheiser, Harry; Aronow, Bruce J.; Artinger, Kristin; Beaty, Terri H.; Brinkley, James F.; Chai, Yang; Clouthier, David; Cunningham, Michael L.; Dixon, Michael; Donahue, Leah Rae; Fraser, Scott E.; Hallgrimsson, Benedikt; Iwata, Junichi; Klein, Ophir; Marazita, Mary L.; Murray, Jeffrey C.; Murray, Stephen; de Villena, Fernando Pardo-Manuel; Postlethwait, John; Potter, Steven; Shapiro, Linda; Spritz, Richard; Visel, Axel; Weinberg, Seth M.; Trainor, Paul A.

2012-01-01

The FaceBase Consortium consists of ten interlinked research and technology projects whose goal is to generate craniofacial research data and technology for use by the research community through a central data management and integrated bioinformatics hub. Funded by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) and currently focused on studying the development of the middle region of the face, the Consortium will produce comprehensive datasets of global gene expression patterns, regulatory elements and sequencing; will generate anatomical and molecular atlases; will provide human normative facial data and other phenotypes; conduct follow up studies of a completed genome-wide association study; generate independent data on the genetics of craniofacial development, build repositories of animal models and of human samples and data for community access and analysis; and will develop software tools and animal models for analyzing and functionally testing and integrating these data. The FaceBase website (http://www.facebase.org) will serve as a web home for these efforts, providing interactive tools for exploring these datasets, together with discussion forums and other services to support and foster collaboration within the craniofacial research community. PMID:21458441

Legal Agreements and the Governance of Research Commons: Lessons from Materials Sharing in Mouse Genomics

PubMed Central

Mishra, Amrita

2014-01-01

Abstract Omics research infrastructure such as databases and bio-repositories requires effective governance to support pre-competitive research. Governance includes the use of legal agreements, such as Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs). We analyze the use of such agreements in the mouse research commons, including by two large-scale resource development projects: the International Knockout Mouse Consortium (IKMC) and International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC). We combine an analysis of legal agreements and semi-structured interviews with 87 members of the mouse model research community to examine legal agreements in four contexts: (1) between researchers; (2) deposit into repositories; (3) distribution by repositories; and (4) exchanges between repositories, especially those that are consortium members of the IKMC and IMPC. We conclude that legal agreements for the deposit and distribution of research reagents should be kept as simple and standard as possible, especially when minimal enforcement capacity and resources exist. Simple and standardized legal agreements reduce transactional bottlenecks and facilitate the creation of a vibrant and sustainable research commons, supported by repositories and databases. PMID:24552652

Development of a microbial process for the recovery of petroleum oil from depleted reservoirs at 91-96°C.

PubMed

Arora, Preeti; Ranade, Dilip R; Dhakephalkar, Prashant K

2014-08-01

A consortium of bacteria growing at 91°C and above (optimally at 96°C) was developed for the recovery of crude oil from declining/depleted oil reservoirs having temperature of more than 91°C. PCR-DGGE-Sequencing analysis of 16S rRNA gene fragments of NJS-4 consortium revealed the presence of four strains identified as members of the genus Clostridium. The metabolites produced by NJS-4 consortium included volatile fatty acids, organic acids, surfactants, exopolysaccarides and CO2, which reduced viscosity, emulsified crude oil and increased the pressure that facilitated displacement of emulsified oil towards the surface. NJS-4 enhanced oil recovery by 26.7% and 10.1% in sand pack trials and core flood studies respectively in optimized nutrient medium comprised of sucrose and sodium acetate as carbon/energy source and urea as nitrogen source (pH 7-9, 96°C, and 4% salinity). Nutrient medium for MEOR was constituted using commercial grade cheap nutrients to improve the economic viability of MEOR process. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Glycan array data management at Consortium for Functional Glycomics.

PubMed

Venkataraman, Maha; Sasisekharan, Ram; Raman, Rahul

2015-01-01

Glycomics or the study of structure-function relationships of complex glycans has reshaped post-genomics biology. Glycans mediate fundamental biological functions via their specific interactions with a variety of proteins. Recognizing the importance of glycomics, large-scale research initiatives such as the Consortium for Functional Glycomics (CFG) were established to address these challenges. Over the past decade, the Consortium for Functional Glycomics (CFG) has generated novel reagents and technologies for glycomics analyses, which in turn have led to generation of diverse datasets. These datasets have contributed to understanding glycan diversity and structure-function relationships at molecular (glycan-protein interactions), cellular (gene expression and glycan analysis), and whole organism (mouse phenotyping) levels. Among these analyses and datasets, screening of glycan-protein interactions on glycan array platforms has gained much prominence and has contributed to cross-disciplinary realization of the importance of glycomics in areas such as immunology, infectious diseases, cancer biomarkers, etc. This manuscript outlines methodologies for capturing data from glycan array experiments and online tools to access and visualize glycan array data implemented at the CFG.

The importance of exposure rate on odds ratios by cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption for esophageal adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma in the Barrett's Esophagus and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Consortium.

PubMed

Lubin, Jay H; Cook, Michael B; Pandeya, Nirmala; Vaughan, Thomas L; Abnet, Christian C; Giffen, Carol; Webb, Penelope M; Murray, Liam J; Casson, Alan G; Risch, Harvey A; Ye, Weimin; Kamangar, Farin; Bernstein, Leslie; Sharp, Linda; Nyrén, Olof; Gammon, Marilie D; Corley, Douglas A; Wu, Anna H; Brown, Linda M; Chow, Wong-Ho; Ward, Mary H; Freedman, Neal D; Whiteman, David C

2012-06-01

Cigarette smoking is associated with esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), esophagogastric junctional adenocarcinoma (EGJA) and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), and alcohol consumption with ESCC. However, no analyses have examined how delivery rate modifies the strength of odds ratio (OR) trends with total exposure, i.e., the impact on the OR for a fixed total exposure of high exposure rate for short duration compared with low exposure rate for long duration. The authors pooled data from 12 case-control studies from the Barrett's Esophagus and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Consortium (BEACON), including 1242 (EAC), 1263 (EGJA) and 954 (ESCC) cases and 7053 controls, modeled joint ORs for cumulative exposure and exposure rate for cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption, and evaluated effect modification by sex, body mass index (BMI), age and self-reported acid reflux. For smoking, all sites exhibited inverse delivery rate effects, whereby ORs with pack-years increased, but trends weakened with increasing cigarettes/day. None of the examined factors modified associations, except for ESCC where younger ages at diagnosis enhanced smoking effects (P<0.01). For EAC and EGJA, ORs with drink-years exhibited inverse associations in <5 drinks/day consumers and no association in heavier consumers. For ESCC, ORs with drink-years increased, with trends strengthening with greater drinks/day. There was no significant effect modification, except for EAC and EGJA where acid reflux mitigated the inverse associations (P=0.02). For ESCC, younger ages at diagnosis enhanced drinking-related ORs (P<0.01). Patterns of ORs by pack-years and drink-years, delivery rate effects and effect modifiers revealed common as well as distinct etiologic elements for these diseases. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) report, data summary of 43 countries for 2007-2012. Device-associated module.

PubMed

Rosenthal, Víctor Daniel; Maki, Dennis George; Mehta, Yatin; Leblebicioglu, Hakan; Memish, Ziad Ahmed; Al-Mousa, Haifaa Hassan; Balkhy, Hanan; Hu, Bijie; Alvarez-Moreno, Carlos; Medeiros, Eduardo Alexandrino; Apisarnthanarak, Anucha; Raka, Lul; Cuellar, Luis E; Ahmed, Altaf; Navoa-Ng, Josephine Anne; El-Kholy, Amani Ali; Kanj, Souha Sami; Bat-Erdene, Ider; Duszynska, Wieslawa; Van Truong, Nguyen; Pazmino, Leonardo N; See-Lum, Lucy Chai; Fernández-Hidalgo, Rosalia; Di-Silvestre, Gabriela; Zand, Farid; Hlinkova, Sona; Belskiy, Vladislav; Al-Rahma, Hussain; Luque-Torres, Marco Tulio; Bayraktar, Nesil; Mitrev, Zan; Gurskis, Vaidotas; Fisher, Dale; Abu-Khader, Ilham Bulos; Berechid, Kamal; Rodríguez-Sánchez, Arnaldo; Horhat, Florin George; Requejo-Pino, Osiel; Hadjieva, Nassya; Ben-Jaballah, Nejla; García-Mayorca, Elías; Kushner-Dávalos, Luis; Pasic, Srdjan; Pedrozo-Ortiz, Luis E; Apostolopoulou, Eleni; Mejía, Nepomuceno; Gamar-Elanbya, May Osman; Jayatilleke, Kushlani; de Lourdes-Dueñas, Miriam; Aguirre-Avalos, Guadalupe

2014-09-01

We report the results of an International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) surveillance study from January 2007-December 2012 in 503 intensive care units (ICUs) in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. During the 6-year study using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) U.S. National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definitions for device-associated health care-associated infection (DA-HAI), we collected prospective data from 605,310 patients hospitalized in the INICC's ICUs for an aggregate of 3,338,396 days. Although device utilization in the INICC's ICUs was similar to that reported from ICUs in the U.S. in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals: the pooled rate of central line-associated bloodstream infection in the INICC's ICUs, 4.9 per 1,000 central line days, is nearly 5-fold higher than the 0.9 per 1,000 central line days reported from comparable U.S. ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia was also higher (16.8 vs 1.1 per 1,000 ventilator days) as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (5.5 vs 1.3 per 1,000 catheter days). Frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas isolates to amikacin (42.8% vs 10%) and imipenem (42.4% vs 26.1%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (71.2% vs 28.8%) and imipenem (19.6% vs 12.8%) were also higher in the INICC's ICUs compared with the ICUs of the CDC's NHSN. Copyright © 2014 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Childhood Leukemia International Consortium

PubMed Central

Metayer, Catherine; Milne, Elizabeth; Clavel, Jacqueline; Infante-Rivard, Claire; Petridou, Eleni; Taylor, Malcolm; Schüz, Joachim; Spector, Logan G.; Dockerty, John D.; Magnani, Corrado; Pombo-de-Oliveira, Maria S.; Sinnett, Daniel; Murphy, Michael; Roman, Eve; Monge, Patricia; Ezzat, Sameera; Mueller, Beth A.; Scheurer, Michael E.; Armstrong, Bruce K.; Birch, Jill; Kaatsch, Peter; Koifman, Sergio; Lightfoot, Tracy; Bhatti, Parveen; Bondy, Melissa L.; Rudant, Jérémie; O’Neill, Kate; Miligi, Lucia; Dessypris, Nick; Kang, Alice Y.; Buffler, Patricia A.

2013-01-01

Background Acute leukemia is the most common cancer in children under 15 years of age; 80% are acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and 17% are acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Childhood leukemia shows further diversity based on cytogenetic and molecular characteristics, which may relate to distinct etiologies. Case–control studies conducted worldwide, particularly of ALL, have collected a wealth of data on potential risk factors and in some studies, biospecimens. There is growing evidence for the role of infectious/immunologic factors, fetal growth, and several environmental factors in the etiology of childhood ALL. The risk of childhood leukemia, like other complex diseases, is likely to be influenced both by independent and interactive effects of genes and environmental exposures. While some studies have analyzed the role of genetic variants, few have been sufficiently powered to investigate gene–environment interactions. Objectives The Childhood Leukemia International Consortium (CLIC) was established in 2007 to promote investigations of rarer exposures, gene–environment interactions and subtype-specific associations through the pooling of data from independent studies. Methods By September 2012, CLIC included 22 studies (recruitment period: 1962–present) from 12 countries, totaling approximately 31 000 cases and 50 000 controls. Of these, 19 case–control studies have collected detailed epidemiologic data, and DNA samples have been collected from children and child–parent trios in 15 and 13 of these studies, respectively. Two registry-based studies and one study comprising hospital records routinely obtained at birth and/or diagnosis have limited interview data or biospecimens. Conclusions CLIC provides a unique opportunity to fill gaps in knowledge about the role of environmental and genetic risk factors, critical windows of exposure, the effects of gene–environment interactions and associations among specific leukemia subtypes in different ethnic groups. PMID:23403126

Charting a Roadmap for Heart Failure Biomarker Studies

PubMed Central

Ahmad, Tariq; Fiuzat, Mona; Pencina, Michael J.; Geller, Nancy L.; Zannad, Faiez; Cleland, John G. F.; Snider, James V.; Blankenberg, Stephan; Adams, Kirkwood F.; Redberg, Rita F.; Kim, Jae B.; Mascette, Alice; Mentz, Robert J.; O'Connor, Christopher M.; Felker, G. Michael; Januzzi, James L.

2014-01-01

Heart failure is a syndrome with a pathophysiological basis that can be traced to dysfunction in several interconnected molecular pathways. Identification of biomarkers of heart failure that allow measurement of the disease on a molecular level has resulted in enthusiasm for their use in prognostication and selection of appropriate therapies. However, despite considerable amounts of information available on numerous biomarkers, inconsistent research methodologies and lack of clinical correlations have made bench-to-bedside translations rare and left the literature with countless publications of varied quality. There is a need for a systematic and collaborative approach aimed at definitively studying the clinical benefits of novel biomarkers. In this review, on the basis of input from academia, industry, and governmental agencies, we propose a systematized approach based on adherence to specific quality measures for studies looking to augment current prediction model or use biomarkers to tailor therapeutics. We suggest that study quality, rather than results, should determine publication and propose a system for grading biomarker studies. We outline the need for collaboration between clinical investigators and statisticians to introduce more advanced statistical methodologies into the field of biomarkers that would allow for data from a large number of variables to be distilled into clinically actionable information. Lastly, we propose the creation of a heart failure biomarker consortium that would allow for a comprehensive list of biomarkers to be concomitantly analyzed in a pooled sample of randomized clinical trials and hypotheses to be generated for testing in biomarker-guided trials. Such a consortium could collaborate in sharing samples to identify biomarkers, undertake meta- analyses on completed trials, and spearhead clinical trials to test the clinical utility of new biomarkers. PMID:24929535

Maternal Supplementation with Folic Acid and Other Vitamins and Risk of Leukemia in the Offspring: a Childhood Leukemia International Consortium Study

PubMed Central

Metayer, Catherine; Milne, Elizabeth; Dockerty, John D.; Clavel, Jacqueline; Pombo-de-Oliveira, Maria S.; Wesseling, Catharina; Spector, Logan G.; Schüz, Joachim; Eleni, Petridou; Sameera, Ezzat; Armstrong, Bruce K.; Jérémie, Rudant; Koifman, Sergio; Kaatsch, Peter; Moschovi, Maria; Rashed, Wafaa M.; Selvin, Steve; McCauley, Kathryn; Hung, Rayjean J.; Kang, Alice Y.; Infante-Rivard, Claire

2018-01-01

Background Maternal prenatal supplementation with folic acid and other vitamins has been inconsistently associated with a reduced risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Little is known regarding the association with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a rarer subtype. Methods We obtained original data on prenatal use of folic acid and vitamins from 12 case-control studies participating in the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium (enrollment period: 1980-2012), including 6,963 cases of ALL, 585 cases of AML, and 11,635 controls. Logistic regression was used to estimate pooled odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), adjusted for child's age, sex, ethnicity, parental education, and study center. Results Maternal supplements taken any time preconception and/or during pregnancy were associated with a reduced risk of childhood ALL; ORs for vitamin and folic acid use were 0.85 (95% CI: 0.78-0.92) and 0.80 (95% CI: 0.71-0.89) respectively. The reduced risk was more pronounced in children whose parents' education was below tertiary level. The analyses for AML led to somewhat unstable estimates; ORs= 0.92 (95% CI: 0.75-1.14) and 0.68 (95% CI: 0.48-0.96) for prenatal vitamins and folic acid, respectively. There was no strong evidence that risks of ALL or AML varied by period of supplementation (preconception, pregnancy, or trimester). Conclusions Our results, based on the largest number of childhood leukemia cases to date, suggest that maternal prenatal use of vitamins and folic acid reduces the risk of ALL and AML, and that the observed association with ALL varies by parental education, a surrogate for lifestyle and socio-demographic characteristics. PMID:25207954

The OncoArray Consortium: A Network for Understanding the Genetic Architecture of Common Cancers.

PubMed

Amos, Christopher I; Dennis, Joe; Wang, Zhaoming; Byun, Jinyoung; Schumacher, Fredrick R; Gayther, Simon A; Casey, Graham; Hunter, David J; Sellers, Thomas A; Gruber, Stephen B; Dunning, Alison M; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Fachal, Laura; Doheny, Kimberly; Spurdle, Amanda B; Li, Yafang; Xiao, Xiangjun; Romm, Jane; Pugh, Elizabeth; Coetzee, Gerhard A; Hazelett, Dennis J; Bojesen, Stig E; Caga-Anan, Charlisse; Haiman, Christopher A; Kamal, Ahsan; Luccarini, Craig; Tessier, Daniel; Vincent, Daniel; Bacot, François; Van Den Berg, David J; Nelson, Stefanie; Demetriades, Stephen; Goldgar, David E; Couch, Fergus J; Forman, Judith L; Giles, Graham G; Conti, David V; Bickeböller, Heike; Risch, Angela; Waldenberger, Melanie; Brüske-Hohlfeld, Irene; Hicks, Belynda D; Ling, Hua; McGuffog, Lesley; Lee, Andrew; Kuchenbaecker, Karoline; Soucy, Penny; Manz, Judith; Cunningham, Julie M; Butterbach, Katja; Kote-Jarai, Zsofia; Kraft, Peter; FitzGerald, Liesel; Lindström, Sara; Adams, Marcia; McKay, James D; Phelan, Catherine M; Benlloch, Sara; Kelemen, Linda E; Brennan, Paul; Riggan, Marjorie; O'Mara, Tracy A; Shen, Hongbing; Shi, Yongyong; Thompson, Deborah J; Goodman, Marc T; Nielsen, Sune F; Berchuck, Andrew; Laboissiere, Sylvie; Schmit, Stephanie L; Shelford, Tameka; Edlund, Christopher K; Taylor, Jack A; Field, John K; Park, Sue K; Offit, Kenneth; Thomassen, Mads; Schmutzler, Rita; Ottini, Laura; Hung, Rayjean J; Marchini, Jonathan; Amin Al Olama, Ali; Peters, Ulrike; Eeles, Rosalind A; Seldin, Michael F; Gillanders, Elizabeth; Seminara, Daniela; Antoniou, Antonis C; Pharoah, Paul D P; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Chanock, Stephen J; Simard, Jacques; Easton, Douglas F

2017-01-01

Common cancers develop through a multistep process often including inherited susceptibility. Collaboration among multiple institutions, and funding from multiple sources, has allowed the development of an inexpensive genotyping microarray, the OncoArray. The array includes a genome-wide backbone, comprising 230,000 SNPs tagging most common genetic variants, together with dense mapping of known susceptibility regions, rare variants from sequencing experiments, pharmacogenetic markers, and cancer-related traits. The OncoArray can be genotyped using a novel technology developed by Illumina to facilitate efficient genotyping. The consortium developed standard approaches for selecting SNPs for study, for quality control of markers, and for ancestry analysis. The array was genotyped at selected sites and with prespecified replicate samples to permit evaluation of genotyping accuracy among centers and by ethnic background. The OncoArray consortium genotyped 447,705 samples. A total of 494,763 SNPs passed quality control steps with a sample success rate of 97% of the samples. Participating sites performed ancestry analysis using a common set of markers and a scoring algorithm based on principal components analysis. Results from these analyses will enable researchers to identify new susceptibility loci, perform fine-mapping of new or known loci associated with either single or multiple cancers, assess the degree of overlap in cancer causation and pleiotropic effects of loci that have been identified for disease-specific risk, and jointly model genetic, environmental, and lifestyle-related exposures. Ongoing analyses will shed light on etiology and risk assessment for many types of cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 26(1); 126-35. ©2016 AACR. ©2016 American Association for Cancer Research.

The OncoArray Consortium: a Network for Understanding the Genetic Architecture of Common Cancers

PubMed Central

Amos, Christopher I.; Dennis, Joe; Wang, Zhaoming; Byun, Jinyoung; Schumacher, Fredrick R.; Gayther, Simon A.; Casey, Graham; Hunter, David J.; Sellers, Thomas A.; Gruber, Stephen B.; Dunning, Alison M.; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Fachal, Laura; Doheny, Kimberly; Spurdle, Amanda B.; Li, Yafang; Xiao, Xiangjun; Romm, Jane; Pugh, Elizabeth; Coetzee, Gerhard A.; Hazelett, Dennis J.; Bojesen, Stig E.; Caga-Anan, Charlisse; Haiman, Christopher A.; Kamal, Ahsan; Luccarini, Craig; Tessier, Daniel; Vincent, Daniel; Bacot, François; Van Den Berg, David J.; Nelson, Stefanie; Demetriades, Stephen; Goldgar, David E.; Couch, Fergus J.; Forman, Judith L.; Giles, Graham G.; Conti, David V.; Bickeböller, Heike; Risch, Angela; Waldenberger, Melanie; Brüske, Irene; Hicks, Belynda D.; Ling, Hua; McGuffog, Lesley; Lee, Andrew; Kuchenbaecker, Karoline B.; Soucy, Penny; Manz, Judith; Cunningham, Julie M.; Butterbach, Katja; Kote-Jarai, Zsofia; Kraft, Peter; FitzGerald, Liesel M.; Lindström, Sara; Adams, Marcia; McKay, James D.; Phelan, Catherine M.; Benlloch, Sara; Kelemen, Linda E.; Brennan, Paul; Riggan, Marjorie; O’Mara, Tracy A.; Shen, Hongbin; Shi, Yongyong; Thompson, Deborah J.; Goodman, Marc T.; Nielsen, Sune F.; Berchuck, Andrew; Laboissiere, Sylvie; Schmit, Stephanie L.; Shelford, Tameka; Edlund, Christopher K.; Taylor, Jack A.; Field, John K.; Park, Sue K.; Offit, Kenneth; Thomassen, Mads; Schmutzler, Rita; Ottini, Laura; Hung, Rayjean J.; Marchini, Jonathan; Al Olama, Ali Amin; Peters, Ulrike; Eeles, Rosalind A.; Seldin, Michael F.; Gillanders, Elizabeth; Seminara, Daniela; Antoniou, Antonis C.; Pharoah, Paul D.; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Chanock, Stephen J.; Simard, Jacques; Easton, Douglas F.

2016-01-01

Background Common cancers develop through a multistep process often including inherited susceptibility. Collaboration among multiple institutions, and funding from multiple sources, has allowed the development of an inexpensive genotyping microarray, the OncoArray. The array includes a genome-wide backbone, comprising 230,000 SNPs tagging most common genetic variants, together with dense mapping of known susceptibility regions, rare variants from sequencing experiments, pharmacogenetic markers and cancer related traits. Methods The OncoArray can be genotyped using a novel technology developed by Illumina to facilitate efficient genotyping. The consortium developed standard approaches for selecting SNPs for study, for quality control of markers and for ancestry analysis. The array was genotyped at selected sites and with prespecified replicate samples to permit evaluation of genotyping accuracy among centers and by ethnic background. Results The OncoArray consortium genotyped 447,705 samples. A total of 494,763 SNPs passed quality control steps with a sample success rate of 97% of the samples. Participating sites performed ancestry analysis using a common set of markers and a scoring algorithm based on principal components analysis. Conclusions Results from these analyses will enable researchers to identify new susceptibility loci, perform fine mapping of new or known loci associated with either single or multiple cancers, assess the degree of overlap in cancer causation and pleiotropic effects of loci that have been identified for disease-specific risk, and jointly model genetic, environmental and lifestyle related exposures. Impact Ongoing analyses will shed light on etiology and risk assessment for many types of cancer. PMID:27697780

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and risk of injuries: A systematic review and meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Amiri, Shahrokh; Sadeghi-Bazargani, Homayoun; Nazari, Soulmaz; Ranjbar, Fatemeh; Abdi, Salman

2017-01-01

Abstract: Background: This study systematically reviewed the literature in order to determine the effect of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) on injuries and assessed the magnitude of the potential association. Methods: A systematic review of the studies examining the association of ADHD and injuries was carried out across multiple databases. Odds ratios and standardized mean differences were pooled. Results: A total of 35 studies were selected for quantitative analysis. The association of ADHD and injuries was confirmed over the meta-analysis of eligible studies. The odds ratio pooled over all comparative studies was 1.96(95% CI: 1.6-2.4) using random effects model. Pooled odds ratio of 2.1 and 2.17 were calculated respectively when cohort and case-control studies or just cohort studies were included. The pooled odds ratio reduced to 1.8(CI:1.45-2.3) when studies on specific injuries were removed. For studies comparing scores of rating scales, the pooled standardized mean difference was 0.61(95% CI: 0.03-1.2). Conclusions: Those with ADHD are nearly two times more likely to be injured. PMID:28554188

Iris-Claw Intraocular Lens and Scleral-Fixated Posterior Chamber Intraocular Lens Implantations in Correcting Aphakia: A Meta-Analysis.

PubMed

Jing, Wu; Guanlu, Liang; Qianyin, Zheng; Shuyi, Li; Fengying, He; Jian, Liu; Wen, Xu

2017-07-01

A meta-analysis to compare iris-claw intraocular lens (IC-IOL) and scleral-fixated posterior chamber intraocular lens (SF-PCIOL) implantations in correcting aphakia without sufficient capsular support. Eligible studies were collected through PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and the Cochrane library. The pooled relative risks (RR), pooled standardized mean difference (SMD), and their 95% confidence interval of the eligible studies were then calculated. Seven studies met our inclusion criteria, involving 232 and 158 eyes in IC-IOL and SF-PCIOL groups, respectively. The pooled SMD of the mean postoperative corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) (logMAR) was -0.25. The pooled RR of the eyes achieving 20/40 or better postoperatively was 1.16. The pooled SMD of the surgical time was -2.97. The pooled RR of the surgical complications was 0.86. The pooled RR of IOL dislocation, retinal detachment (RD), and cystoid macular edema (CME) between the two groups were 0.22, 0.63, and 0.64. Implantation of IC-IOL has a more simple procedure and shorter learning curve than SF-PCIOL implantation in correcting aphakia without sufficient capsular support.

Salmonella testing of pooled pre-enrichment broth cultures for screening multiple food samples.

PubMed

Price, W R; Olsen, R A; Hunter, J E

1972-04-01

A method has been described for testing multiple food samples for Salmonella without loss in sensitivity. The method pools multiple pre-enrichment broth cultures into single enrichment broths. The subsequent stages of the Salmonella analysis are not altered. The method was found applicable to several dry food materials including nonfat dry milk, dried egg albumin, cocoa, cottonseed flour, wheat flour, and shredded coconut. As many as 25 pre-enrichment broth cultures were pooled without apparent loss in the sensitivity of Salmonella detection as compared to individual sample analysis. The procedure offers a simple, yet effective, way to increase sample capacity in the Salmonella testing of foods, particularly where a large proportion of samples ordinarily is negative. It also permits small portions of pre-enrichment broth cultures to be retained for subsequent individual analysis if positive tests are found. Salmonella testing of pooled pre-enrichment broths provides increased consumer protection for a given amount of analytical effort as compared to individual sample analysis.

Midwest Transportation Consortium : 2006-2007 annual report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-01-01

Introduction: The Midwest Transportation Consortium (MTC) began year 8 by having the funding it receives from the Research and Innovative Technology Administration doubled, and by losing its regional grant to a consortium led by the University of Neb...

Establishing a Consortium for the Study of Rare Diseases: The Urea Cycle Disorders Consortium

PubMed Central

Seminara, Jennifer; Tuchman, Mendel; Krivitzky, Lauren; Krischer, Jeffrey; Lee, Hye-Seung; LeMons, Cynthia; Baumgartner, Matthias; Cederbaum, Stephen; Diaz, George A.; Feigenbaum, Annette; Gallagher, Renata C.; Harding, Cary O.; Kerr, Douglas S.; Lanpher, Brendan; Lee, Brendan; Lichter-Konecki, Uta; McCandless, Shawn E.; Merritt, J. Lawrence; Oster-Granite, Mary Lou; Seashore, Margretta R.; Stricker, Tamar; Summar, Marshall; Waisbren, Susan; Yudkoff, Marc; Batshaw, Mark L.

2010-01-01

The Urea Cycle Disorders Consortium (UCDC) was created as part of a larger network established by the National Institutes of Health to study rare diseases. This paper reviews the UCDC’s accomplishments over the first six years, including how the Consortium was developed and organized, clinical research studies initiated, and the importance of creating partnerships with patient advocacy groups, philanthropic foundations and biotech and pharmaceutical companies. PMID:20188616

Northeast Artificial Intelligence Consortium (NAIC) Review of Technical Tasks. Volume 2, Part 2.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-07-01

A-A19 774 NORTHEAST ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CONSORTIUN (MIC) 1/5 YVIEN OF TEOICR. T.. (U) NORTHEAST ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CONSORTIUM SYRACUSE MY J...NORTHEAST ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CONSORTIUM (NAIC) *p,* ~ Review of Technical Tasks ,.. 12 PERSONAL AUTHOR(S) (See reverse) . P VI J.F. Allen, P.B. Berra...See reverse) /" I ABSTRACT (Coninue on ’.wrse if necessary and identify by block number) % .. *. -. ’ The Northeast Artificial Intelligence Consortium

Northeast Artificial Intelligence Consortium Annual Report. 1988 Interference Techniques for Knowledge Base Maintenance Using Logic Programming Methodologies. Volume 11

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-10-01

Northeast Aritificial Intelligence Consortium (NAIC). i Table of Contents Execu tive Sum m ary...o g~nIl ’vLr COPY o~ T- RADC-TR-89-259, Vol XI (of twelve) N Interim Report SOctober 1989 NORTHEAST ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CONSORTIUM ANNUAL REPORT...ORGANIZATION 6b. OFFICE SYMBOL 7a. NAME OF MONITORING ORGANIZATION Northeast Artificial (If applicable) Intelligence Consortium (NAIC) . Rome Air Development

A new national mosaic of state landcover data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Thomas, I.; Handley, Lawrence R.; D'Erchia, Frank J.; Charron, Tammy M.

2000-01-01

This presentation reviewed current landcover mapping efforts and presented a new preliminary, national mosaic of Gap Analysis Program (GAP) and Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC) landcover data with a discussion of techniques, problems faced, and future refinements.

Childhood adiposity and risk of type 1 diabetes: A Mendelian randomization study

PubMed Central

Todd, John A.

2017-01-01

Background The incidence of type 1 diabetes (T1D) is increasing globally. One hypothesis is that increasing childhood obesity rates may explain part of this increase, but, as T1D is rare, intervention studies are challenging to perform. The aim of this study was to assess this hypothesis with a Mendelian randomization approach that uses genetic variants as instrumental variables to test for causal associations. Methods and findings We created a genetic instrument of 23 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with childhood adiposity in children aged 2–10 years. Summary-level association results for these 23 SNPs with childhood-onset (<17 years) T1D were extracted from a meta-analysis of genome-wide association study with 5,913 T1D cases and 8,828 reference samples. Using inverse-variance weighted Mendelian randomization analysis, we found support for an effect of childhood adiposity on T1D risk (odds ratio 1.32, 95% CI 1.06–1.64 per standard deviation score in body mass index [SDS-BMI]). A sensitivity analysis provided evidence of horizontal pleiotropy bias (p = 0.04) diluting the estimates towards the null. We therefore applied Egger regression and multivariable Mendelian randomization methods to control for this type of bias and found evidence in support of a role of childhood adiposity in T1D (odds ratio in Egger regression, 2.76, 95% CI 1.40–5.44). Limitations of our study include that underlying genes and their mechanisms for most of the genetic variants included in the score are not known. Mendelian randomization requires large sample sizes, and power was limited to provide precise estimates. This research has been conducted using data from the Early Growth Genetics (EGG) Consortium, the Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits (GIANT) Consortium, the Tobacco and Genetics (TAG) Consortium, and the Social Science Genetic Association Consortium (SSGAC), as well as meta-analysis results from a T1D genome-wide association study. Conclusions This study provides genetic support for a link between childhood adiposity and T1D risk. Together with evidence from observational studies, our findings further emphasize the importance of measures to reduce the global epidemic of childhood obesity and encourage mechanistic studies. PMID:28763444

Traditional Chinese medicine research in the post-genomic era: good practice, priorities, challenges and opportunities.

PubMed

Uzuner, Halil; Bauer, Rudolf; Fan, Tai-Ping; Guo, De-An; Dias, Alberto; El-Nezami, Hani; Efferth, Thomas; Williamson, Elizabeth M; Heinrich, Michael; Robinson, Nicola; Hylands, Peter J; Hendry, Bruce M; Cheng, Yung-Chi; Xu, Qihe

2012-04-10

GP-TCM is the 1st EU-funded Coordination Action consortium dedicated to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) research. This paper aims to summarise the objectives, structure and activities of the consortium and introduces the position of the consortium regarding good practice, priorities, challenges and opportunities in TCM research. Serving as the introductory paper for the GP-TCM Journal of Ethnopharmacology special issue, this paper describes the roadmap of this special issue and reports how the main outputs of the ten GP-TCM work packages are integrated, and have led to consortium-wide conclusions. Literature studies, opinion polls and discussions among consortium members and stakeholders. By January 2012, through 3 years of team building, the GP-TCM consortium had grown into a large collaborative network involving ∼200 scientists from 24 countries and 107 institutions. Consortium members had worked closely to address good practice issues related to various aspects of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) and acupuncture research, the focus of this Journal of Ethnopharmacology special issue, leading to state-of-the-art reports, guidelines and consensus on the application of omics technologies in TCM research. In addition, through an online survey open to GP-TCM members and non-members, we polled opinions on grand priorities, challenges and opportunities in TCM research. Based on the poll, although consortium members and non-members had diverse opinions on the major challenges in the field, both groups agreed that high-quality efficacy/effectiveness and mechanistic studies are grand priorities and that the TCM legacy in general and its management of chronic diseases in particular represent grand opportunities. Consortium members cast their votes of confidence in omics and systems biology approaches to TCM research and believed that quality and pharmacovigilance of TCM products are not only grand priorities, but also grand challenges. Non-members, however, gave priority to integrative medicine, concerned on the impact of regulation of TCM practitioners and emphasised intersectoral collaborations in funding TCM research, especially clinical trials. The GP-TCM consortium made great efforts to address some fundamental issues in TCM research, including developing guidelines, as well as identifying priorities, challenges and opportunities. These consortium guidelines and consensus will need dissemination, validation and further development through continued interregional, interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaborations. To promote this, a new consortium, known as the GP-TCM Research Association, is being established to succeed the 3-year fixed term FP7 GP-TCM consortium and will be officially launched at the Final GP-TCM Congress in Leiden, the Netherlands, in April 2012. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evolution of the pilot infrastructure of CMS: towards a single glideinWMS pool

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Belforte, S.; Gutsche, O.; Letts, J.

2014-01-01

CMS production and analysis job submission is based largely on glideinWMS and pilot submissions. The transition from multiple different submission solutions like gLite WMS and HTCondor-based implementations was carried out over years and is coming now to a conclusion. The historically explained separate glideinWMS pools for different types of production jobs and analysis jobs are being unified into a single global pool. This enables CMS to benefit from global prioritization and scheduling possibilities. It also presents the sites with only one kind of pilots and eliminates the need of having to make scheduling decisions on the CE level. This papermore » provides an analysis of the benefits of a unified resource pool, as well as a description of the resulting global policy. It will explain the technical challenges moving forward and present solutions to some of them.« less

A Highly Efficient Design Strategy for Regression with Outcome Pooling

PubMed Central

Mitchell, Emily M.; Lyles, Robert H.; Manatunga, Amita K.; Perkins, Neil J.; Schisterman, Enrique F.

2014-01-01

The potential for research involving biospecimens can be hindered by the prohibitive cost of performing laboratory assays on individual samples. To mitigate this cost, strategies such as randomly selecting a portion of specimens for analysis or randomly pooling specimens prior to performing laboratory assays may be employed. These techniques, while effective in reducing cost, are often accompanied by a considerable loss of statistical efficiency. We propose a novel pooling strategy based on the k-means clustering algorithm to reduce laboratory costs while maintaining a high level of statistical efficiency when predictor variables are measured on all subjects, but the outcome of interest is assessed in pools. We perform simulations motivated by the BioCycle study to compare this k-means pooling strategy with current pooling and selection techniques under simple and multiple linear regression models. While all of the methods considered produce unbiased estimates and confidence intervals with appropriate coverage, pooling under k-means clustering provides the most precise estimates, closely approximating results from the full data and losing minimal precision as the total number of pools decreases. The benefits of k-means clustering evident in the simulation study are then applied to an analysis of the BioCycle dataset. In conclusion, when the number of lab tests is limited by budget, pooling specimens based on k-means clustering prior to performing lab assays can be an effective way to save money with minimal information loss in a regression setting. PMID:25220822

A highly efficient design strategy for regression with outcome pooling.

PubMed

Mitchell, Emily M; Lyles, Robert H; Manatunga, Amita K; Perkins, Neil J; Schisterman, Enrique F

2014-12-10

The potential for research involving biospecimens can be hindered by the prohibitive cost of performing laboratory assays on individual samples. To mitigate this cost, strategies such as randomly selecting a portion of specimens for analysis or randomly pooling specimens prior to performing laboratory assays may be employed. These techniques, while effective in reducing cost, are often accompanied by a considerable loss of statistical efficiency. We propose a novel pooling strategy based on the k-means clustering algorithm to reduce laboratory costs while maintaining a high level of statistical efficiency when predictor variables are measured on all subjects, but the outcome of interest is assessed in pools. We perform simulations motivated by the BioCycle study to compare this k-means pooling strategy with current pooling and selection techniques under simple and multiple linear regression models. While all of the methods considered produce unbiased estimates and confidence intervals with appropriate coverage, pooling under k-means clustering provides the most precise estimates, closely approximating results from the full data and losing minimal precision as the total number of pools decreases. The benefits of k-means clustering evident in the simulation study are then applied to an analysis of the BioCycle dataset. In conclusion, when the number of lab tests is limited by budget, pooling specimens based on k-means clustering prior to performing lab assays can be an effective way to save money with minimal information loss in a regression setting. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A Biosignature Suite from Cave Pool Precipitates, Cottonwood Cave, New Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melim, L. A.; Liescheidt, R.; Northup, D. E.; Spilde, M. N.; Boston, P. J.; Queen, J. M.

2009-11-01

Calcite cave pool precipitates often display a variety of potential biosignatures from the macroscopic to the submicroscopic. A fossil cave pool in Cottonwood Cave, New Mexico, exhibits older stalactites and stalagmites that are completely coated in brown, laminated calcitic crust that extends down as pool fingers and u-loops. The pool fingers and u-loops are mainly micrite to clotted micrite, some recrystallized to microspar, with some isopachous spar layers. Micrite, particularly clotted micrite, is usually interpreted by carbonate workers as microbial in origin. Scanning electron microscopy examination of etched pool fingers, u-loops, and the brown crust revealed abundant calcified microbial filaments and biofilm. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis showed that these features have excess carbon, above that found in pure calcite. Independent carbon analysis indicated that these same samples contain up to 0.2% organic carbon. Since pool fingers hang down but form underwater, we hypothesize they are biogenic with hanging microbial filaments or biofilm acting as nuclei for calcite precipitation. Because of the abundance of micrite and fossil filaments, we further hypothesize that these pendant features formed during a period of plentiful nutrients and active hydrological activity when the pool was literally dripping with microbial slime. Although each of these lines of evidence could be interpreted in other ways, their combined weight strongly suggests the cave pool precipitates in Cottonwood Cave are biogenic. These investigations can be used to help inform extraterrestrial life-detection studies.

A biosignature suite from cave pool precipitates, Cottonwood Cave, New Mexico.

PubMed

Melim, L A; Liescheidt, R; Northup, D E; Spilde, M N; Boston, P J; Queen, J M

2009-11-01

Calcite cave pool precipitates often display a variety of potential biosignatures from the macroscopic to the submicroscopic. A fossil cave pool in Cottonwood Cave, New Mexico, exhibits older stalactites and stalagmites that are completely coated in brown, laminated calcitic crust that extends down as pool fingers and u-loops. The pool fingers and u-loops are mainly micrite to clotted micrite, some recrystallized to microspar, with some isopachous spar layers. Micrite, particularly clotted micrite, is usually interpreted by carbonate workers as microbial in origin. Scanning electron microscopy examination of etched pool fingers, u-loops, and the brown crust revealed abundant calcified microbial filaments and biofilm. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis showed that these features have excess carbon, above that found in pure calcite. Independent carbon analysis indicated that these same samples contain up to 0.2% organic carbon. Since pool fingers hang down but form underwater, we hypothesize they are biogenic with hanging microbial filaments or biofilm acting as nuclei for calcite precipitation. Because of the abundance of micrite and fossil filaments, we further hypothesize that these pendant features formed during a period of plentiful nutrients and active hydrological activity when the pool was literally dripping with microbial slime. Although each of these lines of evidence could be interpreted in other ways, their combined weight strongly suggests the cave pool precipitates in Cottonwood Cave are biogenic. These investigations can be used to help inform extraterrestrial life-detection studies.

Ecotoxicological effects of enrofloxacin and its removal by monoculture of microalgal species and their consortium.

PubMed

Xiong, Jiu-Qiang; Kurade, Mayur B; Jeon, Byong-Hun

2017-07-01

Enrofloxacin (ENR), a fluoroquinolone antibiotic, has gained big scientific concern due to its ecotoxicity on aquatic microbiota. The ecotoxicity and removal of ENR by five individual microalgae species and their consortium were studied to correlate the behavior and interaction of ENR in natural systems. The individual microalgal species (Scenedesmus obliquus, Chlamydomonas mexicana, Chlorella vulgaris, Ourococcus multisporus, Micractinium resseri) and their consortium could withstand high doses of ENR (≤1 mg L -1 ). Growth inhibition (68-81%) of the individual microalgae species and their consortium was observed in ENR (100 mg L -1 ) compared to control after 11 days of cultivation. The calculated 96 h EC 50 of ENR for individual microalgae species and microalgae consortium was 9.6-15.0 mg ENR L -1 . All the microalgae could recover from the toxicity of high concentrations of ENR during cultivation. The biochemical characteristics (total chlorophyll, carotenoid, and malondialdehyde) were significantly influenced by ENR (1-100 mg L -1 ) stress. The individual microalgae species and microalgae consortium removed 18-26% ENR at day 11. Although the microalgae consortium showed a higher sensitivity (with lower EC 50 ) toward ENR than the individual microalgae species, the removal efficiency of ENR by the constructed microalgae consortium was comparable to that of the most effective microalgal species. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparison of variance estimators for meta-analysis of instrumental variable estimates

PubMed Central

Schmidt, AF; Hingorani, AD; Jefferis, BJ; White, J; Groenwold, RHH; Dudbridge, F

2016-01-01

Abstract Background: Mendelian randomization studies perform instrumental variable (IV) analysis using genetic IVs. Results of individual Mendelian randomization studies can be pooled through meta-analysis. We explored how different variance estimators influence the meta-analysed IV estimate. Methods: Two versions of the delta method (IV before or after pooling), four bootstrap estimators, a jack-knife estimator and a heteroscedasticity-consistent (HC) variance estimator were compared using simulation. Two types of meta-analyses were compared, a two-stage meta-analysis pooling results, and a one-stage meta-analysis pooling datasets. Results: Using a two-stage meta-analysis, coverage of the point estimate using bootstrapped estimators deviated from nominal levels at weak instrument settings and/or outcome probabilities ≤ 0.10. The jack-knife estimator was the least biased resampling method, the HC estimator often failed at outcome probabilities ≤ 0.50 and overall the delta method estimators were the least biased. In the presence of between-study heterogeneity, the delta method before meta-analysis performed best. Using a one-stage meta-analysis all methods performed equally well and better than two-stage meta-analysis of greater or equal size. Conclusions: In the presence of between-study heterogeneity, two-stage meta-analyses should preferentially use the delta method before meta-analysis. Weak instrument bias can be reduced by performing a one-stage meta-analysis. PMID:27591262

Behavior of R-Square for Pooled Data Sets.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Arthur J.; Shiffler, Ronald E.

1989-01-01

New methods of analysis--equations and graphs for iso-r(sup 2) contours--were introduced and used to illustrate location effects for pooled data sets. The "r(sup 2)" is the coefficient of determination. Results are used to highlight imprecise statements in the literature about the behavior of the correlation coefficient for pooled data…

Early repositioning through compound set enrichment analysis: a knowledge-recycling strategy.

PubMed

Temesi, Gergely; Bolgár, Bence; Arany, Adám; Szalai, Csaba; Antal, Péter; Mátyus, Péter

2014-04-01

Despite famous serendipitous drug repositioning success stories, systematic projects have not yet delivered the expected results. However, repositioning technologies are gaining ground in different phases of routine drug development, together with new adaptive strategies. We demonstrate the power of the compound information pool, the ever-growing heterogeneous information repertoire of approved drugs and candidates as an invaluable catalyzer in this transition. Systematic, computational utilization of this information pool for candidates in early phases is an open research problem; we propose a novel application of the enrichment analysis statistical framework for fusion of this information pool, specifically for the prediction of indications. Pharmaceutical consequences are formulated for a systematic and continuous knowledge recycling strategy, utilizing this information pool throughout the drug-discovery pipeline.

25 CFR 1000.283 - If the Tribe/Consortium or Tribe's/Consortium's employee receives a summons and/or a complaint...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

.../Consortium should immediately: (a) Inform the Assistant Solicitor, Procurement and Patents, Office of the...? 1000.283 Section 1000.283 Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE...

24 CFR 943.128 - How does a consortium carry out planning and reporting functions?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... HOUSING, DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCY CONSORTIA AND JOINT VENTURES... the consortium agreement, the consortium must submit joint five-year Plans and joint Annual Plans for... the joint PHA Plan. ...

THE FEDERAL INTEGRATED BIOTREATMENT RESEARCH CONSORTIUM (FLASK TO FIELD)

EPA Science Inventory

The Federal Integrated Biotreatment Research Consortium (Flask to Field) represented a 7-year concerted effort by several research laboratories to develop bioremediation technologies for contaminated DoD sites. The consortium structure consisted of a director and four thrust are...

25 CFR 1000.283 - If the Tribe/Consortium or Tribe's/Consortium's employee receives a summons and/or a complaint...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

.../Consortium should immediately: (a) Inform the Assistant Solicitor, Procurement and Patents, Office of the...? 1000.283 Section 1000.283 Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE...

25 CFR 1000.283 - If the Tribe/Consortium or Tribe's/Consortium's employee receives a summons and/or a complaint...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

.../Consortium should immediately: (a) Inform the Assistant Solicitor, Procurement and Patents, Office of the...? 1000.283 Section 1000.283 Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE...

25 CFR 1000.283 - If the Tribe/Consortium or Tribe's/Consortium's employee receives a summons and/or a complaint...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

.../Consortium should immediately: (a) Inform the Assistant Solicitor, Procurement and Patents, Office of the...? 1000.283 Section 1000.283 Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE...

25 CFR 1000.283 - If the Tribe/Consortium or Tribe's/Consortium's employee receives a summons and/or a complaint...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

.../Consortium should immediately: (a) Inform the Assistant Solicitor, Procurement and Patents, Office of the...? 1000.283 Section 1000.283 Indians OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY, INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE...

Design of inventory pools in spare part support operation systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mo, Daniel Y.; Tseng, Mitchell M.; Cheung, Raymond K.

2014-06-01

The objective of a spare part support operation is to fulfill the part request order with different service contracts in the agreed response time. With this objective to achieve different service targets for multiple service contracts and the considerations of inventory investment, it is not only important to determine the inventory policy but also to design the structure of inventory pools and the order fulfilment strategies. In this research, we focused on two types of inventory pools: multiple inventory pool (MIP) and consolidated inventory pool (CIP). The idea of MIP is to maintain separated inventory pools based on the types of service contract, while CIP solely maintains a single inventory pool regardless of service contract. Our research aims to design the inventory pool analytically and propose reserve strategies to manage the order fulfilment risks in CIP. Mathematical models and simulation experiments would be applied for analysis and evaluation.

Hospital hydrotherapy pools treated with ultra violet light: bad bacteriological quality and presence of thermophilic Naegleria.

PubMed Central

De Jonckheere, J. F.

1982-01-01

The microbiological quality of eight halogenated and two u.v.-treated hydrotherapy pools in hospitals was investigated. The microbiological quality of halogenated hydrotherapy pools was comparable to halogenated public swimming pools, although in some Pseudomonas aeruginosa and faecal pollution indicators were more frequent due to bad management. On the other hand u.v.-treated hydrotherapy pools had very bad microbiological quality. Apart from faecal pollution indicators, P. aeruginosa was present in very high numbers. Halogenated hydrotherapy pools were not highly contaminated with amoebae, and Naegleria spp. were never detected. On the other hand u.v.-treated pools contained very high numbers of thermophilic Naegleria. The Naegleria isolated were identified as N. lovaniensis, a species commonly found in association with N. fowleri. Isoenzyme analysis showed a different type of N. lovaniensis was present in each of two u.v.-treated pools. Images Plate 1 PMID:7061835

Disease Risk Analysis and Post-Release Health Surveillance for a Reintroduction Programme: the Pool Frog Pelophylax lessonae.

PubMed

Sainsbury, A W; Yu-Mei, R; Ågren, E; Vaughan-Higgins, R J; Mcgill, I S; Molenaar, F; Peniche, G; Foster, J

2017-10-01

There are risks from disease in undertaking wild animal reintroduction programmes. Methods of disease risk analysis have been advocated to assess and mitigate these risks, and post-release health and disease surveillance can be used to assess the effectiveness of the disease risk analysis, but results for a reintroduction programme have not to date been recorded. We carried out a disease risk analysis for the reintroduction of pool frogs (Pelophylax lessonae) to England, using information gained from the literature and from diagnostic testing of Swedish pool frogs and native amphibians. Ranavirus and Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis were considered high-risk disease threats for pool frogs at the destination site. Quarantine was used to manage risks from disease due to these two agents at the reintroduction site: the quarantine barrier surrounded the reintroduced pool frogs. Post-release health surveillance was carried out through regular health examinations of amphibians in the field at the reintroduction site and collection and examination of dead amphibians. No significant health or disease problems were detected, but the detection rate of dead amphibians was very low. Methods to detect a higher proportion of dead reintroduced animals and closely related species are required to better assess the effects of reintroduction on health and disease. © 2016 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Assessment of the cardiovascular safety of saxagliptin in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: pooled analysis of 20 clinical trials.

PubMed

Iqbal, Nayyar; Parker, Artist; Frederich, Robert; Donovan, Mark; Hirshberg, Boaz

2014-02-04

It is important to establish the cardiovascular (CV) safety profile of novel antidiabetic drugs. Pooled analyses were performed of 20 randomized controlled studies (N = 9156) of saxagliptin as monotherapy or add-on therapy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) as well as a subset of 11 saxagliptin + metformin studies. Adjudicated major adverse CV events (MACE; CV death, myocardial infarction [MI], and stroke) and investigator-reported heart failure were assessed, and incidence rates (IRs; events/100 patient-years) and IR ratios (IRRs; saxagliptin/control) were calculated (Mantel-Haenszel method). In pooled datasets, the IR point estimates for MACE and individual components of CV death, MI, and stroke favored saxagliptin, but the 95% CI included 1. IRR (95% CI) for MACE in the 20-study pool was 0.74 (0.45, 1.25). The Cox proportional hazard ratio (95% CI) was 0.75 (0.46, 1.21), suggesting no increased risk of MACE in the 20-study pool. In the 11-study saxagliptin + metformin pool, the IRR for MACE was 0.93 (0.44, 1.99). In the 20-study pool, the IRR for heart failure was 0.55 (0.27, 1.12). Analysis of pooled data from 20 clinical trials in patients with T2DM suggests that saxagliptin is not associated with an increased CV risk.

Development of Taiwan Undergraduates' Volunteer Service Motivation Scale

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ho-Tang, Wu; Chin-Tang, Tu; Mei-Ju, Chou; Jing-Fang, Hou; Meng-Shan, Lei

2016-01-01

This study aims to develop Taiwan undergraduates' volunteer service motivation scale. To begin with, item pool was proposed on the basis of literature. After discussing with three Taiwan undergraduates, item pool, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (N = 150) was proceeded, where three tests were conducted EFA: 1. Item analysis: comparisons of…

Evaluating robustness of a diesel-degrading bacterial consortium isolated from contaminated soil.

PubMed

Sydow, Mateusz; Owsianiak, Mikołaj; Szczepaniak, Zuzanna; Framski, Grzegorz; Smets, Barth F; Ławniczak, Łukasz; Lisiecki, Piotr; Szulc, Alicja; Cyplik, Paweł; Chrzanowski, Łukasz

2016-12-25

It is not known whether diesel-degrading bacterial communities are structurally and functionally robust when exposed to different hydrocarbon types. Here, we exposed a diesel-degrading consortium to model either alkanes, cycloalkanes or aromatic hydrocarbons as carbon sources to study its structural resistance. The structural resistance was low, with changes in relative abundances of up to four orders of magnitude, depending on hydrocarbon type and bacterial taxon. This low resistance is explained by the presence of hydrocarbon-degrading specialists in the consortium and differences in growth kinetics on individual hydrocarbons. However, despite this low resistance, structural and functional resilience were high, as verified by re-exposing the hydrocarbon-perturbed consortium to diesel fuel. The high resilience is either due to the short exposure time, insufficient for permanent changes in consortium structure and function, or the ability of some consortium members to be maintained during exposure on degradation intermediates produced by other members. Thus, the consortium is expected to cope with short-term exposures to narrow carbon feeds, while maintaining its structural and functional integrity, which remains an advantage over biodegradation approaches using single species cultures. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Prebiotics Mediate Microbial Interactions in a Consortium of the Infant Gut Microbiome.

PubMed

Medina, Daniel A; Pinto, Francisco; Ovalle, Aline; Thomson, Pamela; Garrido, Daniel

2017-10-04

Composition of the gut microbiome is influenced by diet. Milk or formula oligosaccharides act as prebiotics, bioactives that promote the growth of beneficial gut microbes. The influence of prebiotics on microbial interactions is not well understood. Here we investigated the transformation of prebiotics by a consortium of four representative species of the infant gut microbiome, and how their interactions changed with dietary substrates. First, we optimized a culture medium resembling certain infant gut parameters. A consortium containing Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis , Bacteroides vulgatus , Escherichia coli and Lactobacillus acidophilus was grown on fructooligosaccharides (FOS) or 2'-fucosyllactose (2FL) in mono- or co-culture. While Bi. infantis and Ba. vulgatus dominated growth on 2FL, their combined growth was reduced. Besides, interaction coefficients indicated strong competition, especially on FOS. While FOS was rapidly consumed by the consortium, B. infantis was the only microbe displaying significant consumption of 2FL. Acid production by the consortium resembled the metabolism of microorganisms dominating growth in each substrate. Finally, the consortium was tested in a bioreactor, observing similar predominance but more pronounced acid production and substrate consumption. This study indicates that the chemical nature of prebiotics modulate microbial interactions in a consortium of infant gut species.

Connecticut nutmeg fuel cell bus project : first analysis report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-07-01

This report summarizes the experience and early results from a fuel cell bus demonstration funded by the Federal Transit Administra-tion (FTA) under the National Fuel Cell Bus Program (NFCBP). A team led by the Northeast Advanced Vehicle Consortium a...

Microbes mediate carbon and nitrogen retention in shallow photic sediments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hardison, A.; Anderson, I.; Canuel, E. A.; Tobias, C.; Veuger, B.

2009-12-01

Sediments in shallow coastal bays are sites of intense biogeochemical cycling facilitated by a complex microbial consortium. Unlike deeper coastal environments, much of the benthos is illuminated by sunlight in these bays. As a result, benthic autotrophs such as benthic microalgae (BMA) and macroalgae play an integral role in nutrient cycling. Investigating pathways of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) flow through individual compartments within the sediment microbial community has previously proved challenging due to methodological difficulties. However, it is now possible using stable isotopes and microbial biomarkers such as fatty acids and amino acids to track C and N flow through individual microbial pools. We investigated the uptake and retention of C and N by bacteria and BMA in a shallow subtidal system. Using bulk and compound specific isotopic analysis, we traced the pathways of dissolved inorganic 13C and 15N under various treatments: 1) in ambient light or dark, 2) from porewater or water column sources, and 3) in the presence or absence of bloom forming nuisance macroalgae. Excess 13C and 15N in THAAs and excess 13C in total PLFAs showed a strong dependence on light. Enrichment of these pools represents uptake by the microbial community, which can include both autotrophic and heterotrophic components. Higher excess 13C in benthic microalgal fatty acids (C20, C22 PUFAs) provides evidence that benthic microalgae were fixing 13C. Aditionally, the ratio of excess 13C in branched fatty acids to microbial fatty acids (BAR) and excess 13C and 15N in D-Ala to L-Ala (D/L-Ala) were low, suggesting dominance by benthic microalgae over bacteria to total label incorporation. Our results support uptake and retention of C and N by the sediment microbial community and indicate a tight coupling between BMA and bacteria in shallow illuminated systems. This uptake is diminished in the presence of macroalgae, likely due to shading and/or nutrient competition. Therefore, macroalgae reduce the retention of C and N within surface sediments, diminishing the role of the microbial community in nutrient cycling processes.

Vascular tone pathway polymorphisms in relation to primary open-angle glaucoma.

PubMed

Kang, J H; Loomis, S J; Yaspan, B L; Bailey, J C; Weinreb, R N; Lee, R K; Lichter, P R; Budenz, D L; Liu, Y; Realini, T; Gaasterland, D; Gaasterland, T; Friedman, D S; McCarty, C A; Moroi, S E; Olson, L; Schuman, J S; Singh, K; Vollrath, D; Wollstein, G; Zack, D J; Brilliant, M; Sit, A J; Christen, W G; Fingert, J; Forman, J P; Buys, E S; Kraft, P; Zhang, K; Allingham, R R; Pericak-Vance, M A; Richards, J E; Hauser, M A; Haines, J L; Wiggs, J L; Pasquale, L R

2014-06-01

Vascular perfusion may be impaired in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG); thus, we evaluated a panel of markers in vascular tone-regulating genes in relation to POAG. We used Illumina 660W-Quad array genotype data and pooled P-values from 3108 POAG cases and 3430 controls from the combined National Eye Institute Glaucoma Human Genetics Collaboration consortium and Glaucoma Genes and Environment studies. Using information from previous literature and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways, we compiled single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 186 vascular tone-regulating genes. We used the 'Pathway Analysis by Randomization Incorporating Structure' analysis software, which performed 1000 permutations to compare the overall pathway and selected genes with comparable randomly generated pathways and genes in their association with POAG. The vascular tone pathway was not associated with POAG overall or POAG subtypes, defined by the type of visual field loss (early paracentral loss (n=224 cases) or only peripheral loss (n=993 cases)) (permuted P≥0.20). In gene-based analyses, eight were associated with POAG overall at permuted P<0.001: PRKAA1, CAV1, ITPR3, EDNRB, GNB2, DNM2, HFE, and MYL9. Notably, six of these eight (the first six listed) code for factors involved in the endothelial nitric oxide synthase activity, and three of these six (CAV1, ITPR3, and EDNRB) were also associated with early paracentral loss at P<0.001, whereas none of the six genes reached P<0.001 for peripheral loss only. Although the assembled vascular tone SNP set was not associated with POAG, genes that code for local factors involved in setting vascular tone were associated with POAG.

Structural covariance of neostriatal and limbic regions in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

PubMed

Subirà, Marta; Cano, Marta; de Wit, Stella J; Alonso, Pino; Cardoner, Narcís; Hoexter, Marcelo Q; Kwon, Jun Soo; Nakamae, Takashi; Lochner, Christine; Sato, João R; Jung, Wi Hoon; Narumoto, Jin; Stein, Dan J; Pujol, Jesus; Mataix-Cols, David; Veltman, Dick J; Menchón, José M; van den Heuvel, Odile A; Soriano-Mas, Carles

2016-03-01

Frontostriatal and frontoamygdalar connectivity alterations in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have been typically described in functional neuroimaging studies. However, structural covariance, or volumetric correlations across distant brain regions, also provides network-level information. Altered structural covariance has been described in patients with different psychiatric disorders, including OCD, but to our knowledge, alterations within frontostriatal and frontoamygdalar circuits have not been explored. We performed a mega-analysis pooling structural MRI scans from the Obsessive-compulsive Brain Imaging Consortium and assessed whole-brain voxel-wise structural covariance of 4 striatal regions (dorsal and ventral caudate nucleus, and dorsal-caudal and ventral-rostral putamen) and 2 amygdalar nuclei (basolateral and centromedial-superficial). Images were preprocessed with the standard pipeline of voxel-based morphometry studies using Statistical Parametric Mapping software. Our analyses involved 329 patients with OCD and 316 healthy controls. Patients showed increased structural covariance between the left ventral-rostral putamen and the left inferior frontal gyrus/frontal operculum region. This finding had a significant interaction with age; the association held only in the subgroup of older participants. Patients with OCD also showed increased structural covariance between the right centromedial-superficial amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. This was a cross-sectional study. Because this is a multisite data set analysis, participant recruitment and image acquisition were performed in different centres. Most patients were taking medication, and treatment protocols differed across centres. Our results provide evidence for structural network-level alterations in patients with OCD involving 2 frontosubcortical circuits of relevance for the disorder and indicate that structural covariance contributes to fully characterizing brain alterations in patients with psychiatric disorders.

Systematic review with meta-analysis: online psychological interventions for mental and physical health outcomes in gastrointestinal disorders including irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease.

PubMed

Hanlon, I; Hewitt, C; Bell, K; Phillips, A; Mikocka-Walus, A

2018-06-14

Online psychotherapy has been successfully used as supportive treatment in many chronic illnesses. However, there is a lack of evidence on its role in the management of gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. To examine whether online psychological interventions improve mental and physical outcomes in gastrointestinal diseases. We searched CINAHL Plus, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Health Management Information Consortium, PsycINFO, British Nursing Index, Cochrane Library, a specialised register of the IBD/FBD Cochrane Group, MEDLINE (PubMed) WHO International Clinical Trial Registry, ClinicalTrials.gov, and reference lists of all papers included in the review. The Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool was used to assess internal validity. Where possible, data were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. We identified 11 publications (encompassing nine studies) meeting inclusion criteria. One study had a high risk of selection bias (allocation concealment), all studies had a high risk of performance and detection bias. Eight studies were included in the meta-analyses (6 on irritable bowel syndrome [IBS] and two on inflammatory bowel disease [IBD]). Online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) was shown to significantly improve gastrointestinal symptom-specific anxiety (MD: -8.51, 95% CI -12.99 to -4.04, P = 0.0002) and lessen symptom-induced disability (MD: -2.78, 95% CI -5.43 to -0.12, P = 0.04) in IBS post intervention. There was no significant effect of online CBT on any other outcomes in IBS. No significant effect of online psychotherapy was demonstrated in IBD. There is insufficient evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of online CBT to manage mental and physical outcomes in gastrointestinal diseases. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Impact of bodyweight/body mass index on the effectiveness of emergency contraception with levonorgestrel: a pooled-analysis of three randomized controlled trials.

PubMed

Gemzell-Danielsson, K; Kardos, L; von Hertzen, H

2015-12-01

A pooled analysis of two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) suggested that increased bodyweight and body mass index (BMI) may be associated with a greater probability of pregnancy. To address this issue we investigated whether higher bodyweight and/or BMI negatively impacted the risk of pregnancy in women receiving LNG-EC (levonorgestrel - emergency contraception) after unprotected sexual intercourse in a pooled analysis of three large multinational RCTs conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO). A pooled analysis of three double-blind, multinational RCTs conducted by the WHO to investigate the efficacy of LNG-EC in the general population. All analyses were done on the per-protocol set (PPS) which included 5812 women who received LNG-EC within 72 hours following unprotected sexual intercourse. The analysis was based on logistic regression, with pregnancy as the outcome. BMI and weight were represented in the same model. A total of 56 pregnancies were available for analysis in the PPS. Increasing bodyweight and BMI were not correlated with an increased risk of pregnancy in the studied population. A limitation of this study is that despite the large study population in the pooled analysis there were relatively small numbers of women in the high-BMI and high-bodyweight subgroups. LNG-EC is effective for preventing pregnancy after unprotected intercourse or contraceptive failure and no evidence was found to support the hypothesis of a loss of EC efficacy in subjects with high BMI or bodyweight. Therefore, access to LNG-EC should not be limited only to women of lower bodyweight or BMI.

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities/Minority Institutions Environmental Technology Consortium annual report, 1991--1992

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1992-12-31

The member institutions of the Consortium continue to play a significant role in increasing the number of African Americans who enter the environmental professions through the implementation of the Consortium`s RETT Plan for Research, Education, and Technology Transfer. The four major program areas identified in the RETT Plan are as follows: (1) minority outreach and precollege education; (2) undergraduate education and postsecondary training; (3) graduate and postgraduate education and research; and (4) technology transfer.

25 CFR 1000.84 - Does a Tribe/Consortium have the right to include provisions of Title I of Pub. L. 93-638 in an AFA?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Does a Tribe/Consortium have the right to include.../Consortium have the right to include provisions of Title I of Pub. L. 93-638 in an AFA? Yes, under Pub. L. 104-109, a Tribe/Consortium has the right to include any provision of Title I of Pub. L. 93-638 in an...

Migrating from Informal to Formal Consortium — COSTLI Issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Birdie, C.; Patil, Y. M.

2010-10-01

There are many models of library consortia which have come into existence due to various reasons and compulsions. FORSA (Forum for Resource Sharing in Astronomy) is an informal consortium born from the links between academic institutions specializing in astronomy in India. FORSA is a cooperative venture initiated by library professionals. Though this consortium was formed mainly for inter-lending activities and bibliographic access, it has matured over the years to adopt the consortium approach on cooperative acquisitions, due to increased requirements.

A collaborative approach to investigating the risk of thrombocytopenic purpura after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination in England and Denmark.

PubMed

Andrews, Nick; Stowe, Julia; Miller, Elizabeth; Svanström, Henrik; Johansen, Kari; Bonhoeffer, Jan; Hviid, Anders

2012-04-19

The assessment of rare adverse events following vaccination may not be possible within a single country due to an insufficiently large denominator population. In 2008 a European consortium (VAESCO) was funded to perform collaborative vaccine safety studies. To help assess the feasibility of multi-country collaboration England and Denmark, who have established vaccine safety research infrastructures, undertook to work to a common protocol and share results and data to estimate the risk of a known true adverse event, thrombocytopenic purpura (TP) following measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination. TP is a known rare reaction to MMR and therefore provided an opportunity to assess whether two countries would produce similar results when working collaboratively. Despite some initial problems with ensuring data were comparable, the two countries gave very similar estimates of the relative incidence in the 6 weeks after vaccination and a pooled relative incidence estimate of 2.13 (95% confidence interval 1.55-2.94) and attributable risk of 1 in 50,000 doses. Both countries used hospital admissions for TP and the analysis was performed using the self controlled case series method which is particularly suited to collaborative studies because of its implicit control for individual level confounding. The study therefore shows the potential for vaccine safety collaborations across Europe to detect true associations through use of common protocols and sharing of results or data. Copyright © 2011 Brighton Collaboration. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Waardenberg syndrome (WS) type I is caused by defects at multiple loci, one of which is near ALPP on chromosome 2: First report of the WS consortium

PubMed Central

Farrer, Lindsay A.; Grundfast, Kenneth M.; Amos, Jean; Arnos, Kathleen S.; Asher, James H.; Beighton, Peter; Diehl, Scott R.; Fex, Jörgen; Foy, Carole; Friedman, Thomas B.; Greenberg, Jacquie; Hoth, Christopher; Marazita, Mary; Milunsky, Aubrey; Morell, Robert; Nance, Walter; Newton, Valerie; Ramesar, Rajkumar; Agustin, Theresa B. San; Skare, James; Stevens, Cathy A.; Wagner, Ronald G.; Wilcox, Edward R.; Winship, Ingrid; Read, Andrew P.

1992-01-01

Previous studies have localized the gene for Waardenburg syndrome (WS) type I to the distal portion of chromosome 2q, near the ALPP locus. We pooled linkage data obtained from 41 WS type I and 3 WS type II families which were typed for six polymorphic loci on chromosome 2q in order to refine the location of the WS locus (WS1) and evaluate the extent of genetic heterogeneity. In the course of this work, we developed diagnostic criteria for genetic and phenotypic studies. Our findings, based on two-locus and multilocus analysis using a linkage map established from reference pedigrees, suggest that there are two or more mutations causing WS, one of which (i.e., WS1) is located on chromosome 2q, between the ALPP and FN1 loci, at distances of 7.8 cM and 11.2 cM for each marker, respectively. The results also indicate that WS1 is responsible for the illness in approximately 45% of all families in this sample. However, the odds favoring this position over a location between ALPP and SAG are only 2:1 when alternate assumptions about the proportion of linked families are considered. We conclude that a more saturated map of this region of chromosome 2q, including highly polymorphic markers, will be needed to accurately distinguish linked families and, ultimately, isolate the mutant gene. PMID:1349198

Lupus-related single nucleotide polymorphisms and risk of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

PubMed Central

Bernatsky, Sasha; Velásquez García, Héctor A; Spinelli, John J; Gaffney, Patrick; Smedby, Karin E; Ramsey-Goldman, Rosalind; Wang, Sophia S; Adami, Hans-Olov; Albanes, Demetrius; Angelucci, Emanuele; Ansell, Stephen M; Asmann, Yan W; Becker, Nikolaus; Benavente, Yolanda; Berndt, Sonja I; Bertrand, Kimberly A; Birmann, Brenda M; Boeing, Heiner; Boffetta, Paolo; Bracci, Paige M; Brennan, Paul; Brooks-Wilson, Angela R; Cerhan, James R; Chanock, Stephen J; Clavel, Jacqueline; Conde, Lucia; Cotenbader, Karen H; Cox, David G; Cozen, Wendy; Crouch, Simon; De Roos, Anneclaire J; de Sanjose, Silvia; Di Lollo, Simonetta; Diver, W Ryan; Dogan, Ahmet; Foretova, Lenka; Ghesquières, Hervé; Giles, Graham G; Glimelius, Bengt; Habermann, Thomas M; Haioun, Corinne; Hartge, Patricia; Hjalgrim, Henrik; Holford, Theodore R; Holly, Elizabeth A; Jackson, Rebecca D; Kaaks, Rudolph; Kane, Eleanor; Kelly, Rachel S; Klein, Robert J; Kraft, Peter; Kricker, Anne; Lan, Qing; Lawrence, Charles; Liebow, Mark; Lightfoot, Tracy; Link, Brian K; Maynadie, Marc; McKay, James; Melbye, Mads; Molina, Thierry J; Monnereau, Alain; Morton, Lindsay M; Nieters, Alexandra; North, Kari E; Novak, Anne J; Offit, Kenneth; Purdue, Mark P; Rais, Marco; Riby, Jacques; Roman, Eve; Rothman, Nathaniel; Salles, Gilles; Severi, Gianluca; Severson, Richard K; Skibola, Christine F; Slager, Susan L; Smith, Alex; Smith, Martyn T; Southey, Melissa C; Staines, Anthony; Teras, Lauren R; Thompson, Carrie A; Tilly, Hervé; Tinker, Lesley F; Tjonneland, Anne; Turner, Jenny; Vajdic, Claire M; Vermeulen, Roel C H; Vijai, Joseph; Vineis, Paolo; Virtamo, Jarmo; Wang, Zhaoming; Weinstein, Stephanie; Witzig, Thomas E; Zelenetz, Andrew; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Anne; Zhang, Yawei; Zheng, Tongzhang; Zucca, Mariagrazia; Clarke, Ann E

2017-01-01

Objective Determinants of the increased risk of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in SLE are unclear. Using data from a recent lymphoma genome-wide association study (GWAS), we assessed whether certain lupus-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were also associated with DLBCL. Methods GWAS data on European Caucasians from the International Lymphoma Epidemiology Consortium (InterLymph) provided a total of 3857 DLBCL cases and 7666 general-population controls. Data were pooled in a random-effects meta-analysis. Results Among the 28 SLE-related SNPs investigated, the two most convincingly associated with risk of DLBCL included the CD40 SLE risk allele rs4810485 on chromosome 20q13 (OR per risk allele=1.09, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.16, p=0.0134), and the HLA SLE risk allele rs1270942 on chromosome 6p21.33 (OR per risk allele=1.17, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.36, p=0.0362). Of additional possible interest were rs2205960 and rs12537284. The rs2205960 SNP, related to a cytokine of the tumour necrosis factor superfamily TNFSF4, was associated with an OR per risk allele of 1.07, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.16, p=0.0549. The OR for the rs12537284 (chromosome 7q32, IRF5 gene) risk allele was 1.08, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.18, p=0.0765. Conclusions These data suggest several plausible genetic links between DLBCL and SLE. PMID:29214033

Increasing Sales by Developing Production Consortiums.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Christopher A.; Russo, Robert

Intended to help rehabilitation facility administrators increase organizational income from manufacturing and/or contracted service sources, this document provides a decision-making model for the development of a production consortium. The document consists of five chapters and two appendices. Chapter 1 defines the consortium concept, explains…

14 CFR 1274.205 - Consortia as recipients.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... agreement with a consortium is the consortium's Articles of Collaboration, which is a definitive description of the roles and responsibilities of the consortium's members. The Articles of Collaboration must... the Articles of Collaboration only if they are inclusive of all of the required information. (e) An...

10 CFR 603.515 - Qualification of a consortium.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... is not formally incorporated must provide a collaboration agreement, commonly referred to as the articles of collaboration, which sets out the rights and responsibilities of each consortium member. This... the consortium's collaboration agreement to ensure that the management plan is sound and that it...

10 CFR 603.515 - Qualification of a consortium.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... is not formally incorporated must provide a collaboration agreement, commonly referred to as the articles of collaboration, which sets out the rights and responsibilities of each consortium member. This... the consortium's collaboration agreement to ensure that the management plan is sound and that it...

14 CFR 1274.205 - Consortia as recipients.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... agreement with a consortium is the consortium's Articles of Collaboration, which is a definitive description of the roles and responsibilities of the consortium's members. The Articles of Collaboration must... the Articles of Collaboration only if they are inclusive of all of the required information. (e) An...

25 CFR 1000.21 - When does a Tribe/Consortium have a “material audit exception”?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

...-Governance Eligibility § 1000.21 When does a Tribe/Consortium have a “material audit exception”? A Tribe/Consortium has a material audit exception if any of the audits that it submitted under § 1000.17(c...

Consortium List of African-American Materials.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jordan, Casper L., Ed.

A bibliography is provided of the materials identified by the consortium participating in the African-American Materials Project. Members of the consortium include: Atlanta University, Fisk University, Hampton Institute, North Carolina Central University, South Carolina State College, and Tuskegee Institute. The materials listed were located in…

76 FR 66040 - Announcement of Meeting To Explore Feasibility of Establishing a NIST/Industry Consortium on...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-25

... Explore Feasibility of Establishing a NIST/Industry Consortium on ``Concrete Rheology: Enabling Metrology... meeting. SUMMARY: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) invites interested parties to attend a pre-consortium meeting on November 8, [[Page 66041

Recovery of valuable metals from polymetallic mine tailings by natural microbial consortium.

PubMed

Vardanyan, Narine; Sevoyan, Garegin; Navasardyan, Taron; Vardanyan, Arevik

2018-05-28

Possibilities for the recovery of non-ferrous and precious metals from Kapan polymetallic mine tailings (Armenia) were studied. The aim of this paper was to study the possibilities of bioleaching of samples of concentrated tailings by the natural microbial consortium of drainage water. The extent of extraction of metals from the samples of concentrated tailings by natural microbial consortium reached 41-55% and 53-73% for copper and zinc, respectively. Metal leaching efficiencies of pure culture Leptospirillum ferrooxidans Teg were higher, namely 47-93% and 73-81% for copper and zinc, respectively. The content of gold in solid phase of tailings increased about 7-16% and 2-9% after bio-oxidation process by L. ferrooxidans Teg and natural microbial consortium, respectively. It was shown that bioleaching of the samples of tailings could be performed using the natural consortium of drainage water. However, to increase the intensity of the recovery of valuable metals, natural consortium of drainage water combined with iron-oxidizing L. ferrooxidans Teg has been proposed.

Pretreatment of piggery wastewater by a stable constructed microbial consortium for improving the methane production.

PubMed

Cai, Jian; Mo, Xiwei; Cheng, Guojun; Du, Dongyun

2015-01-01

A stable aerobic microbial consortium, established by successive subcultivation, was employed to solubilize the solid organic fraction in swine wastewater. In the 30 days' successive biological pretreatments, 30-38% of volatile solids and 19-28% total solids in raw slurry were solubilized after 10 hours at 37 °C. Meanwhile, soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) and volatile fatty acid increased by 48%-56% and 600%-750%, respectively. Furthermore, the molecular microbial profile of the consortium in successive pretreatment was conducted by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). The results indicated that bacterial species of the consortium rapidly overgrew the indigenous microbial community of raw water, and showed a stable predominance at the long-term treatment. As a consequence of biological pretreatment, pretreatment shortened digestion time by 50% and increased biogas production by 45% compared to raw water in the anaerobic process. The microbial consortium constructed herein is a potential candidate consortium for biological pretreatment of swine wastewater to enhance biogas production.

10 CFR 36.59 - Detection of leaking sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... alarm set-point to a higher level if necessary to operate the pool water purification system to clean up... certificate from a transferor that leak test has been done within the 6 months before the transfer. Water from... either by using a radiation monitor on a pool water circulating system or by analysis of a sample of pool...

10 CFR 36.59 - Detection of leaking sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... alarm set-point to a higher level if necessary to operate the pool water purification system to clean up... certificate from a transferor that leak test has been done within the 6 months before the transfer. Water from... either by using a radiation monitor on a pool water circulating system or by analysis of a sample of pool...

10 CFR 36.59 - Detection of leaking sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... alarm set-point to a higher level if necessary to operate the pool water purification system to clean up... certificate from a transferor that leak test has been done within the 6 months before the transfer. Water from... either by using a radiation monitor on a pool water circulating system or by analysis of a sample of pool...

10 CFR 36.59 - Detection of leaking sources.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... alarm set-point to a higher level if necessary to operate the pool water purification system to clean up... certificate from a transferor that leak test has been done within the 6 months before the transfer. Water from... either by using a radiation monitor on a pool water circulating system or by analysis of a sample of pool...

Bayesian Analysis of Silica Exposure and Lung Cancer Using Human and Animal Studies.

PubMed

Bartell, Scott M; Hamra, Ghassan Badri; Steenland, Kyle

2017-03-01

Bayesian methods can be used to incorporate external information into epidemiologic exposure-response analyses of silica and lung cancer. We used data from a pooled mortality analysis of silica and lung cancer (n = 65,980), using untransformed and log-transformed cumulative exposure. Animal data came from chronic silica inhalation studies using rats. We conducted Bayesian analyses with informative priors based on the animal data and different cross-species extrapolation factors. We also conducted analyses with exposure measurement error corrections in the absence of a gold standard, assuming Berkson-type error that increased with increasing exposure. The pooled animal data exposure-response coefficient was markedly higher (log exposure) or lower (untransformed exposure) than the coefficient for the pooled human data. With 10-fold uncertainty, the animal prior had little effect on results for pooled analyses and only modest effects in some individual studies. One-fold uncertainty produced markedly different results for both pooled and individual studies. Measurement error correction had little effect in pooled analyses using log exposure. Using untransformed exposure, measurement error correction caused a 5% decrease in the exposure-response coefficient for the pooled analysis and marked changes in some individual studies. The animal prior had more impact for smaller human studies and for one-fold versus three- or 10-fold uncertainty. Adjustment for Berkson error using Bayesian methods had little effect on the exposure-response coefficient when exposure was log transformed or when the sample size was large. See video abstract at, http://links.lww.com/EDE/B160.

[Activity of NTDs Drug-discovery Research Consortium].

PubMed

Namatame, Ichiji

2016-01-01

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are an extremely important issue facing global health care. To improve "access to health" where people are unable to access adequate medical care due to poverty and weak healthcare systems, we have established two consortiums: the NTD drug discovery research consortium, and the pediatric praziquantel consortium. The NTD drug discovery research consortium, which involves six institutions from industry, government, and academia, as well as an international non-profit organization, is committed to developing anti-protozoan active compounds for three NTDs (Leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and African sleeping sickness). Each participating institute will contribute their efforts to accomplish the following: selection of drug targets based on information technology, and drug discovery by three different approaches (in silico drug discovery, "fragment evolution" which is a unique drug designing method of Astellas Pharma, and phenotypic screening with Astellas' compound library). The consortium has established a brand new database (Integrated Neglected Tropical Disease Database; iNTRODB), and has selected target proteins for the in silico and fragment evolution drug discovery approaches. Thus far, we have identified a number of promising compounds that inhibit the target protein, and we are currently trying to improve the anti-protozoan activity of these compounds. The pediatric praziquantel consortium was founded in July 2012 to develop and register a new praziquantel pediatric formulation for the treatment of schistosomiasis. Astellas Pharma has been a core member in this consortium since its establishment, and has provided expertise and technology in the area of pediatric formulation development and clinical development.

Biodegradation of 2-nitrotoluene by Micrococcus sp. strain SMN-1.

PubMed

Mulla, Sikandar I; Hoskeri, Robertcyril S; Shouche, Yogesh S; Ninnekar, Harichandra Z

2011-02-01

A bacterial consortium capable of degrading nitroaromatic compounds was isolated from pesticide-contaminated soil samples by selective enrichment on 2-nitrotoluene as a sole source of carbon and energy. The three different bacterial isolates obtained from bacterial consortium were identified as Bacillus sp. (A and C), Bacillus flexus (B) and Micrococcus sp. (D) on the basis of their morphological and biochemical characteristics and by phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. The pathway for the degradation of 2-nitrotoluene by Micrococcus sp. strain SMN-1 was elucidated by the isolation and identification of metabolites, growth and enzymatic studies. The organism degraded 2-nitrotoluene through 3-methylcatechol by a meta-cleavage pathway, with release of nitrite.

Workplace Education Guide, 1999.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Massachusetts State Dept. of Education, Boston.

These eight chapters share diverse experiences, lessons, and tips gleaned by the Massachusetts Workplace Literacy Consortium. "Workplace Needs Analysis (WNA)" (Harneen Chernow, Emily Singer, Jenny Lee Utech) focuses on the Worker Education Program's (WEP's) strategy, including tools, access, interviews and focus groups, presenting findings to the…

40 CFR 35.6010 - Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium eligibility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium... for Superfund Response Actions General § 35.6010 Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium eligibility. (a) Indian Tribes are eligible to receive Superfund Cooperative Agreements only when they are...

40 CFR 35.6010 - Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium eligibility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium... for Superfund Response Actions General § 35.6010 Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium eligibility. (a) Indian Tribes are eligible to receive Superfund Cooperative Agreements only when they are...

40 CFR 35.6010 - Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium eligibility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium... for Superfund Response Actions General § 35.6010 Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium eligibility. (a) Indian Tribes are eligible to receive Superfund Cooperative Agreements only when they are...

40 CFR 35.6010 - Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium eligibility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium... for Superfund Response Actions General § 35.6010 Indian Tribe and intertribal consortium eligibility. (a) Indian Tribes are eligible to receive Superfund Cooperative Agreements only when they are...

Identifying sexual orientation health disparities in adolescents: analysis of pooled data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2005 and 2007.

PubMed

Mustanski, Brian; Van Wagenen, Aimee; Birkett, Michelle; Eyster, Sandra; Corliss, Heather L

2014-02-01

We studied sexual orientation disparities in health outcomes among US adolescents by pooling multiple Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data sets from 2005 and 2007 for 14 jurisdictions. Here we describe the methodology for pooling and analyzing these data sets. Sexual orientation-related items assessed sexual orientation identity, gender of sexual contacts, sexual attractions, and harassment regarding sexual orientation. Wording of items varied across jurisdictions, so we created parallel variables and composite sexual minority variables. We used a variety of statistical approaches to address issues with the analysis of pooled data and to meet the aims of individual articles, which focused on a range of health outcomes and behaviors related to cancer, substance use, sexual health, mental health, violence, and injury.

Identifying Sexual Orientation Health Disparities in Adolescents: Analysis of Pooled Data From the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2005 and 2007

PubMed Central

Van Wagenen, Aimee; Birkett, Michelle; Eyster, Sandra; Corliss, Heather L.

2014-01-01

We studied sexual orientation disparities in health outcomes among US adolescents by pooling multiple Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data sets from 2005 and 2007 for 14 jurisdictions. Here we describe the methodology for pooling and analyzing these data sets. Sexual orientation–related items assessed sexual orientation identity, gender of sexual contacts, sexual attractions, and harassment regarding sexual orientation. Wording of items varied across jurisdictions, so we created parallel variables and composite sexual minority variables. We used a variety of statistical approaches to address issues with the analysis of pooled data and to meet the aims of individual articles, which focused on a range of health outcomes and behaviors related to cancer, substance use, sexual health, mental health, violence, and injury. PMID:24328640

Gaia DR2 documentation Chapter 1: Introduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Bruijne, J. H. J.; Abreu, A.; Brown, A. G. A.; Castañeda, J.; Cheek, N.; Crowley, C.; De Angeli, F.; Drimmel, R.; Fabricius, C.; Fleitas, J.; Gracia-Abril, G.; Guerra, R.; Hutton, A.; Messineo, R.; Mora, A.; Nienartowicz, K.; Panem, C.; Siddiqui, H.

2018-04-01

This chapter of the Gaia DR2 documentation describes the Gaia mission, the Gaia spacecraft, and the organisation of the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC), which is responsible for the processing and analysis of the Gaia data. Furthermore, various properties of the data release are summarised, including statistical properties, object statistics, completeness, selection and filtering criteria, and limitations of the data.

Pinnacle: The Army’s Effort to Reform Its Accession Process

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-02-24

Philip Kotler emphasizes the importance of market conditions on organization design and strategy. According to Kotler , “Companies need to give the...Leadership, interview by author, December 6, 2010. 68 Philip Kotler , Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Control...2010. 75 U.S. Army Recruiting Command, Pinnacle Army Research Consortium, September 1, 2009. 76 Philip Kotler , Marketing Management: Analysis

Large-scale linkage analysis of 1302 affected relative pairs with rheumatoid arthritis

PubMed Central

Hamshere, Marian L; Segurado, Ricardo; Moskvina, Valentina; Nikolov, Ivan; Glaser, Beate; Holmans, Peter A

2007-01-01

Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common systematic autoimmune disease and its etiology is believed to have both strong genetic and environmental components. We demonstrate the utility of including genetic and clinical phenotypes as covariates within a linkage analysis framework to search for rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility loci. The raw genotypes of 1302 affected relative pairs were combined from four large family-based samples (North American Rheumatoid Arthritis Consortium, United Kingdom, European Consortium on Rheumatoid Arthritis Families, and Canada). The familiality of the clinical phenotypes was assessed. The affected relative pairs were subjected to autosomal multipoint affected relative-pair linkage analysis. Covariates were included in the linkage analysis to take account of heterogeneity within the sample. Evidence of familiality was observed with age at onset (p << 0.001) and rheumatoid factor (RF) IgM (p << 0.001), but not definite erosions (p = 0.21). Genome-wide significant evidence for linkage was observed on chromosome 6. Genome-wide suggestive evidence for linkage was observed on chromosomes 13 and 20 when conditioning on age at onset, chromosome 15 conditional on gender, and chromosome 19 conditional on RF IgM after allowing for multiple testing of covariates. PMID:18466440

Determinism and Contingency Shape Metabolic Complementation in an Endosymbiotic Consortium

PubMed Central

Ponce-de-Leon, Miguel; Tamarit, Daniel; Calle-Espinosa, Jorge; Mori, Matteo; Latorre, Amparo; Montero, Francisco; Pereto, Juli

2017-01-01

Bacterial endosymbionts and their insect hosts establish an intimate metabolic relationship. Bacteria offer a variety of essential nutrients to their hosts, whereas insect cells provide the necessary sources of matter and energy to their tiny metabolic allies. These nutritional complementations sustain themselves on a diversity of metabolite exchanges between the cell host and the reduced yet highly specialized bacterial metabolism—which, for instance, overproduces a small set of essential amino acids and vitamins. A well-known case of metabolic complementation is provided by the cedar aphid Cinara cedri that harbors two co-primary endosymbionts, Buchnera aphidicola BCc and Ca. Serratia symbiotica SCc, and in which some metabolic pathways are partitioned between different partners. Here we present a genome-scale metabolic network (GEM) for the bacterial consortium from the cedar aphid iBSCc. The analysis of this GEM allows us the confirmation of cases of metabolic complementation previously described by genome analysis (i.e., tryptophan and biotin biosynthesis) and the redefinition of an event of metabolic pathway sharing between the two endosymbionts, namely the biosynthesis of tetrahydrofolate. In silico knock-out experiments with iBSCc showed that the consortium metabolism is a highly integrated yet fragile network. We also have explored the evolutionary pathways leading to the emergence of metabolic complementation between reduced metabolisms starting from individual, complete networks. Our results suggest that, during the establishment of metabolic complementation in endosymbionts, adaptive evolution is significant in the case of tryptophan biosynthesis, whereas vitamin production pathways seem to adopt suboptimal solutions. PMID:29213256

Determinism and Contingency Shape Metabolic Complementation in an Endosymbiotic Consortium.

PubMed

Ponce-de-Leon, Miguel; Tamarit, Daniel; Calle-Espinosa, Jorge; Mori, Matteo; Latorre, Amparo; Montero, Francisco; Pereto, Juli

2017-01-01

Bacterial endosymbionts and their insect hosts establish an intimate metabolic relationship. Bacteria offer a variety of essential nutrients to their hosts, whereas insect cells provide the necessary sources of matter and energy to their tiny metabolic allies. These nutritional complementations sustain themselves on a diversity of metabolite exchanges between the cell host and the reduced yet highly specialized bacterial metabolism-which, for instance, overproduces a small set of essential amino acids and vitamins. A well-known case of metabolic complementation is provided by the cedar aphid Cinara cedri that harbors two co-primary endosymbionts, Buchnera aphidicola BCc and Ca . Serratia symbiotica SCc, and in which some metabolic pathways are partitioned between different partners. Here we present a genome-scale metabolic network (GEM) for the bacterial consortium from the cedar aphid i BSCc. The analysis of this GEM allows us the confirmation of cases of metabolic complementation previously described by genome analysis (i.e., tryptophan and biotin biosynthesis) and the redefinition of an event of metabolic pathway sharing between the two endosymbionts, namely the biosynthesis of tetrahydrofolate. In silico knock-out experiments with i BSCc showed that the consortium metabolism is a highly integrated yet fragile network. We also have explored the evolutionary pathways leading to the emergence of metabolic complementation between reduced metabolisms starting from individual, complete networks. Our results suggest that, during the establishment of metabolic complementation in endosymbionts, adaptive evolution is significant in the case of tryptophan biosynthesis, whereas vitamin production pathways seem to adopt suboptimal solutions.

Oscillation Baselining and Analysis Tool

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

PNNL developed a new tool for oscillation analysis and baselining. This tool has been developed under a new DOE Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC) Project (GM0072 - “Suite of open-source applications and models for advanced synchrophasor analysis”) and it is based on the open platform for PMU analysis. The Oscillation Baselining and Analysis Tool (OBAT) performs the oscillation analysis and identifies modes of oscillations (frequency, damping, energy, and shape). The tool also does oscillation event baselining (fining correlation between oscillations characteristics and system operating conditions).

Consortium genome-wide meta-analysis for childhood dental caries traits.

PubMed

Haworth, Simon; Shungin, Dmitry; van der Tas, Justin T; Vucic, Strahinja; Medina-Gomez, Carolina; Yakimov, Victor; Feenstra, Bjarke; Shaffer, John R; Lee, Myoung Keun; Standl, Marie; Thiering, Elisabeth; Wang, Carol; Bønnelykke, Klaus; Waage, Johannes; Eyrich Jessen, Leon; Nørrisgaard, Pia Elisabeth; Joro, Raimo; Seppälä, Ilkka; Raitakari, Olli; Dudding, Tom; Grgic, Olja; Ongkosuwito, Edwin; Vierola, Anu; Eloranta, Aino-Maija; West, Nicola X; Thomas, Steven J; McNeil, Daniel W; Levy, Steven M; Slayton, Rebecca; Nohr, Ellen A; Lehtimäki, Terho; Lakka, Timo; Bisgaard, Hans; Pennell, Craig; Kühnisch, Jan; Marazita, Mary L; Melbye, Mads; Geller, Frank; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Wolvius, Eppo B; Franks, Paul W; Johansson, Ingegerd; Timpson, Nicholas J

2018-06-20

Prior studies suggest dental caries traits in children and adolescents are partially heritable, but there has been no large-scale consortium genome-wide association study (GWAS) to date. We therefore performed GWAS for caries in participants aged 2.5-18.0 years from 9 contributing centres. Phenotype definitions were created for the presence or absence of treated or untreated caries, stratified by primary and permanent dentition. All studies tested for association between caries and genotype dosage and results were combined using fixed-effects meta-analysis. Analysis included up to 19,003 individuals (7,530 affected) for primary teeth and 13,353 individuals (5,875 affected) for permanent teeth. Evidence for association with caries status was observed at rs1594318-C for primary teeth (intronic within ALLC, Odds Ratio (OR) 0.85, Effect Allele Frequency (EAF) 0.60, p 4.13e-8) and rs7738851-A (intronic within NEDD9, OR 1.28, EAF 0.85, p 1.63e-8) for permanent teeth. Consortium-wide estimated heritability of caries was low (h2 of 1% [95% CI: 0%:7%] and 6% [95% CI 0%:13%] for primary and permanent dentitions, respectively) compared to corresponding within-study estimates (h2 of 28%, [95% CI: 9%:48%] and 17% [95% CI:2%:31%]) or previously published estimates. This study was designed to identify common genetic variants with modest effects which are consistent across different populations. We found few single variants associated with caries status under these assumptions. Phenotypic heterogeneity between cohorts and limited statistical power will have contributed; these findings could also reflect complexity not captured by our study design, such as genetic effects which are conditional on environmental exposure.

Bacterial community analysis in chlorpyrifos enrichment cultures via DGGE and use of bacterial consortium for CP biodegradation.

PubMed

Akbar, Shamsa; Sultan, Sikander; Kertesz, Michael

2014-10-01

The organophosphate pesticide chlorpyrifos (CP) has been used extensively since the 1960s for insect control. However, its toxic effects on mammals and persistence in environment necessitate its removal from contaminated sites, biodegradation studies of CP-degrading microbes are therefore of immense importance. Samples from a Pakistani agricultural soil with an extensive history of CP application were used to prepare enrichment cultures using CP as sole carbon source for bacterial community analysis and isolation of CP metabolizing bacteria. Bacterial community analysis (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis) revealed that the dominant genera enriched under these conditions were Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter and Stenotrophomonas, along with lower numbers of Sphingomonas, Agrobacterium and Burkholderia. Furthermore, it revealed that members of Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, α- and γ-Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were present at initial steps of enrichment whereas β-Proteobacteria appeared in later steps and only Proteobacteria were selected by enrichment culturing. However, when CP-degrading strains were isolated from this enrichment culture, the most active organisms were strains of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, Pseudomonas mendocina and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These strains degraded 6-7.4 mg L(-1) day(-1) of CP when cultivated in mineral medium, while the consortium of all four strains degraded 9.2 mg L(-1) day(-1) of CP (100 mg L(-1)). Addition of glucose as an additional C source increased the degradation capacity by 8-14 %. After inoculation of contaminated soil with CP (200 mg kg(-1)) disappearance rates were 3.83-4.30 mg kg(-1) day(-1) for individual strains and 4.76 mg kg(-1) day(-1) for the consortium. These results indicate that these organisms are involved in the degradation of CP in soil and represent valuable candidates for in situ bioremediation of contaminated soils and waters.

Design of the Coronary ARtery DIsease Genome-Wide Replication And Meta-Analysis (CARDIoGRAM) Study

PubMed Central

Preuss, Michael; König, Inke R.; Thompson, John R.; Erdmann, Jeanette; Absher, Devin; Assimes, Themistocles L.; Blankenberg, Stefan; Boerwinkle, Eric; Chen, Li; Cupples, L. Adrienne; Hall, Alistair S.; Halperin, Eran; Hengstenberg, Christian; Holm, Hilma; Laaksonen, Reijo; Li, Mingyao; März, Winfried; McPherson, Ruth; Musunuru, Kiran; Nelson, Christopher P.; Burnett, Mary Susan; Epstein, Stephen E.; O’Donnell, Christopher J.; Quertermous, Thomas; Rader, Daniel J.; Roberts, Robert; Schillert, Arne; Stefansson, Kari; Stewart, Alexandre F.R.; Thorleifsson, Gudmar; Voight, Benjamin F.; Wells, George A.; Ziegler, Andreas; Kathiresan, Sekar; Reilly, Muredach P.; Samani, Nilesh J.; Schunkert, Heribert

2011-01-01

Background Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of myocardial infarction (MI) and other forms of coronary artery disease (CAD) have led to the discovery of at least 13 genetic loci. In addition to the effect size, power to detect associations is largely driven by sample size. Therefore, to maximize the chance of finding novel susceptibility loci for CAD and MI, the Coronary ARtery DIsease Genome-wide Replication And Meta-analysis (CARDIoGRAM) consortium was formed. Methods and Results CARDIoGRAM combines data from all published and several unpublished GWAS in individuals with European ancestry; includes >22 000 cases with CAD, MI, or both and >60 000 controls; and unifies samples from the Atherosclerotic Disease VAscular functioN and genetiC Epidemiology study, CADomics, Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology, deCODE, the German Myocardial Infarction Family Studies I, II, and III, Ludwigshafen Risk and Cardiovascular Heath Study/AtheroRemo, MedStar, Myocardial Infarction Genetics Consortium, Ottawa Heart Genomics Study, PennCath, and the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. Genotyping was carried out on Affymetrix or Illumina platforms followed by imputation of genotypes in most studies. On average, 2.2 million single nucleotide polymorphisms were generated per study. The results from each study are combined using meta-analysis. As proof of principle, we meta-analyzed risk variants at 9p21 and found that rs1333049 confers a 29% increase in risk for MI per copy (P=2×10−20). Conclusion CARDIoGRAM is poised to contribute to our understanding of the role of common genetic variation on risk for CAD and MI. PMID:20923989

An analysis of the relationship of seven selected variables to State Board Test Pool Examination performance of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Nursing.

PubMed

Sharp, T G

1984-02-01

The study was designed to determine whether any one of seven selected variables or a combination of the variables is predictive of performance on the State Board Test Pool Examination. The selected variables studied were: high school grade point average (HSGPA), The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Nursing grade point average (GPA), and American College Test Assessment (ACT) standard scores (English, ENG; mathematics, MA; social studies, SS; natural sciences, NSC; composite, COMP). Data utilized were from graduates of the baccalaureate program of The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Nursing from 1974 through 1979. The sample of 322 was selected from a total population of 572. The Statistical Analysis System (SAS) was designed to accomplish analysis of the predictive relationship of each of the seven selected variables to State Board Test Pool Examination performance (result of pass or fail), a stepwise discriminant analysis was designed for determining the predictive relationship of the strongest combination of the independent variables to overall State Board Test Pool Examination performance (result of pass or fail), and stepwise multiple regression analysis was designed to determine the strongest predictive combination of selected variables for each of the five subexams of the State Board Test Pool Examination. The selected variables were each found to be predictive of SBTPE performance (result of pass or fail). The strongest combination for predicting SBTPE performance (result of pass or fail) was found to be GPA, MA, and NSC.

15 CFR 918.5 - Eligibility, qualifications, and responsibilities-Sea Grant Regional Consortia.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... qualifying areas which are pertinent to the Consortium's program: (1) Leadership. The Sea Grant Regional... Consortium candidate must have created the management organization to carry on a viable and productive... assistance as the consortium may offer, and (iii) to assist others in developing research and management...

International Arid Lands Consortium: A synopsis of accomplishments

Treesearch

Peter F. Ffolliott; Jeffrey O. Dawson; James T. Fisher; Itshack Moshe; Timothy E. Fulbright; W. Carter Johnson; Paul Verburg; Muhammad Shatanawi; Jim P. M. Chamie

2003-01-01

The International Arid Lands Consortium (IALC) was established in 1990 to promote research, education, and training activities related to the development, management, and reclamation of arid and semiarid lands in the Southwestern United States, the Middle East, and elsewhere in the world. The Consortium supports the ecological sustainability and environmentally sound...

32 CFR 37.515 - Must I do anything additional to determine the qualification of a consortium?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DoD GRANT AND AGREEMENT REGULATIONS TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS Pre-Award Business... relationship is essential to increase the research project's chances of success. (b) The collaboration... things, the consortium's: (1) Management structure. (2) Method of making payments to consortium members...

Consortia: A Challenge to Institutional Autonomy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood, Herbert H.

The kinds of impact a consortium might have on the operations of its member institutions are presented following an overview of the consortium's challenge to institutional autonomy. Ten attitudinal forms of consortium impact challenging autonomy include: (1) the rest are going ahead so do it anyway, (2) infiltration and multiple loyalities of…

The Neuroscience Peer Review Consortium

PubMed Central

Saper, Clifford B; Maunsell, John HR

2009-01-01

As the Neuroscience Peer Review Consortium (NPRC) ends its first year, it is worth looking back to see how the experiment has worked. In order to encourage dissemination of the details outlined in this Editorial, it will also be published in other journals in the Neuroscience Peer Review Consortium. PMID:19284614

Policy Report of the Physician Consortium on Substance Abuse Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, David C.; Faggett, Walter L.

This report contains the recommendations of the Physician Consortium for significantly improving medical education and training to enhance the physician's role in early identification, treatment, and prevention of substance abuse. In addition, the consortium subcommittees report on their examination of substance abuse treatment needs of ethnic and…

77 FR 38770 - Notice of Consortium on “nSoft Consortium”

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-29

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Institute of Standards and Technology Notice of Consortium on ``n...: NIST will form the ``nSoft Consortium'' to advance and transfer neutron based measurement methods for soft materials manufacturing. The goals of nSoft are to develop neutron- based measurements that...

78 FR 47674 - Genome in a Bottle Consortium-Progress and Planning Workshop

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-06

... quantitative performance metrics for confidence in variant calling. These standards and quantitative..., reproducible research and regulated applications in the clinic. On April 13, 2012, NIST convened the workshop... consortium. No proprietary information will be shared as part of the consortium, and all research results...

Targets of Opportunity: Strategies for Managing a Staff Development Consortium.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parsons, Michael H.

The Appalachian Staff Development Consortium, comprised of three community colleges and the state college located in Appalachian Maryland, attempts to integrate staff development activities into the operational framework of the sponsoring agencies. The consortium, which is managed by a steering committee composed of one teaching faculty member and…

Assessment of the cardiovascular safety of saxagliptin in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: pooled analysis of 20 clinical trials

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background It is important to establish the cardiovascular (CV) safety profile of novel antidiabetic drugs. Methods Pooled analyses were performed of 20 randomized controlled studies (N = 9156) of saxagliptin as monotherapy or add-on therapy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) as well as a subset of 11 saxagliptin + metformin studies. Adjudicated major adverse CV events (MACE; CV death, myocardial infarction [MI], and stroke) and investigator-reported heart failure were assessed, and incidence rates (IRs; events/100 patient-years) and IR ratios (IRRs; saxagliptin/control) were calculated (Mantel-Haenszel method). Results In pooled datasets, the IR point estimates for MACE and individual components of CV death, MI, and stroke favored saxagliptin, but the 95% CI included 1. IRR (95% CI) for MACE in the 20-study pool was 0.74 (0.45, 1.25). The Cox proportional hazard ratio (95% CI) was 0.75 (0.46, 1.21), suggesting no increased risk of MACE in the 20-study pool. In the 11-study saxagliptin + metformin pool, the IRR for MACE was 0.93 (0.44, 1.99). In the 20-study pool, the IRR for heart failure was 0.55 (0.27, 1.12). Conclusions Analysis of pooled data from 20 clinical trials in patients with T2DM suggests that saxagliptin is not associated with an increased CV risk. PMID:24490835

Sediment transport through self-adjusting, bedrock-walled waterfall plunge pools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scheingross, Joel S.; Lamb, Michael P.

2016-05-01

Many waterfalls have deep plunge pools that are often partially or fully filled with sediment. Sediment fill may control plunge-pool bedrock erosion rates, partially determine habitat availability for aquatic organisms, and affect sediment routing and debris flow initiation. Currently, there exists no mechanistic model to describe sediment transport through waterfall plunge pools. Here we develop an analytical model to predict steady-state plunge-pool depth and sediment-transport capacity by combining existing jet theory with sediment transport mechanics. Our model predicts plunge-pool sediment-transport capacity increases with increasing river discharge, flow velocity, and waterfall drop height and decreases with increasing plunge-pool depth, radius, and grain size. We tested the model using flume experiments under varying waterfall and plunge-pool geometries, flow hydraulics, and sediment size. The model and experiments show that through morphodynamic feedbacks, plunge pools aggrade to reach shallower equilibrium pool depths in response to increases in imposed sediment supply. Our theory for steady-state pool depth matches the experiments with an R2 value of 0.8, with discrepancies likely due to model simplifications of the hydraulics and sediment transport. Analysis of 75 waterfalls suggests that the water depths in natural plunge pools are strongly influenced by upstream sediment supply, and our model provides a mass-conserving framework to predict sediment and water storage in waterfall plunge pools for sediment routing, habitat assessment, and bedrock erosion modeling.

National Institutes of Health-Sponsored Clinical Islet Transplantation Consortium Phase 3 Trial: Manufacture of a Complex Cellular Product at Eight Processing Facilities.

PubMed

Ricordi, Camillo; Goldstein, Julia S; Balamurugan, A N; Szot, Gregory L; Kin, Tatsuya; Liu, Chengyang; Czarniecki, Christine W; Barbaro, Barbara; Bridges, Nancy D; Cano, Jose; Clarke, William R; Eggerman, Thomas L; Hunsicker, Lawrence G; Kaufman, Dixon B; Khan, Aisha; Lafontant, David-Erick; Linetsky, Elina; Luo, Xunrong; Markmann, James F; Naji, Ali; Korsgren, Olle; Oberholzer, Jose; Turgeon, Nicole A; Brandhorst, Daniel; Chen, Xiaojuan; Friberg, Andrew S; Lei, Ji; Wang, Ling-Jia; Wilhelm, Joshua J; Willits, Jamie; Zhang, Xiaomin; Hering, Bernhard J; Posselt, Andrew M; Stock, Peter G; Shapiro, A M James; Chen, Xiaojuan

2016-11-01

Eight manufacturing facilities participating in the National Institutes of Health-sponsored Clinical Islet Transplantation (CIT) Consortium jointly developed and implemented a harmonized process for the manufacture of allogeneic purified human pancreatic islet (PHPI) product evaluated in a phase 3 trial in subjects with type 1 diabetes. Manufacturing was controlled by a common master production batch record, standard operating procedures that included acceptance criteria for deceased donor organ pancreata and critical raw materials, PHPI product specifications, certificate of analysis, and test methods. The process was compliant with Current Good Manufacturing Practices and Current Good Tissue Practices. This report describes the manufacturing process for 75 PHPI clinical lots and summarizes the results, including lot release. The results demonstrate the feasibility of implementing a harmonized process at multiple facilities for the manufacture of a complex cellular product. The quality systems and regulatory and operational strategies developed by the CIT Consortium yielded product lots that met the prespecified characteristics of safety, purity, potency, and identity and were successfully transplanted into 48 subjects. No adverse events attributable to the product and no cases of primary nonfunction were observed. © 2016 by the American Diabetes Association.

National Institutes of Health–Sponsored Clinical Islet Transplantation Consortium Phase 3 Trial: Manufacture of a Complex Cellular Product at Eight Processing Facilities

PubMed Central

Balamurugan, A.N.; Szot, Gregory L.; Kin, Tatsuya; Liu, Chengyang; Czarniecki, Christine W.; Barbaro, Barbara; Bridges, Nancy D.; Cano, Jose; Clarke, William R.; Eggerman, Thomas L.; Hunsicker, Lawrence G.; Kaufman, Dixon B.; Khan, Aisha; Lafontant, David-Erick; Linetsky, Elina; Luo, Xunrong; Markmann, James F.; Naji, Ali; Korsgren, Olle; Oberholzer, Jose; Turgeon, Nicole A.; Brandhorst, Daniel; Chen, Xiaojuan; Friberg, Andrew S.; Lei, Ji; Wang, Ling-jia; Wilhelm, Joshua J.; Willits, Jamie; Zhang, Xiaomin; Hering, Bernhard J.; Posselt, Andrew M.; Stock, Peter G.; Shapiro, A.M. James

2016-01-01

Eight manufacturing facilities participating in the National Institutes of Health–sponsored Clinical Islet Transplantation (CIT) Consortium jointly developed and implemented a harmonized process for the manufacture of allogeneic purified human pancreatic islet (PHPI) product evaluated in a phase 3 trial in subjects with type 1 diabetes. Manufacturing was controlled by a common master production batch record, standard operating procedures that included acceptance criteria for deceased donor organ pancreata and critical raw materials, PHPI product specifications, certificate of analysis, and test methods. The process was compliant with Current Good Manufacturing Practices and Current Good Tissue Practices. This report describes the manufacturing process for 75 PHPI clinical lots and summarizes the results, including lot release. The results demonstrate the feasibility of implementing a harmonized process at multiple facilities for the manufacture of a complex cellular product. The quality systems and regulatory and operational strategies developed by the CIT Consortium yielded product lots that met the prespecified characteristics of safety, purity, potency, and identity and were successfully transplanted into 48 subjects. No adverse events attributable to the product and no cases of primary nonfunction were observed. PMID:27465220

Comparative biodegradation of HDPE and LDPE using an indigenously developed microbial consortium.

PubMed

Satlewal, Alok; Soni, Ravindra; Zaidi, Mgh; Shouche, Yogesh; Goel, Reeta

2008-03-01

A variety of bacterial strains were isolated from waste disposal sites of Uttaranchal, India, and some from artificially developed soil beds containing maleic anhydride, glucose, and small pieces of polyethylene. Primary screening of isolates was done based on their ability to utilize high- and low-density polyethylenes (HDPE/LDPE) as a primary carbon source. Thereafter, a consortium was developed using potential strains. Furthermore, a biodegradation assay was carried out in 500-ml flasks containing minimal broth (250 ml) and HDPE/ LDPE at 5 mg/ml concentration. After incubation for two weeks, degraded samples were recovered through filtration and subsequent evaporation. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and simultaneous thermogravimetric-differential thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis TG-DTG-DTA) were used to analyze these samples. Results showed that consortium-treated HDPE (considered to be more inert relative to LDPE) was degraded to a greater extent 22.41% weight loss) in comparison with LDPE (21.70% weight loss), whereas, in the case of untreated samples, weight loss was more for LDPE than HDPE (4.5% and 2.5%, respectively) at 400 degrees . Therefore, this study suggests that polyethylene could be degraded by utilizing microbial consortia in an eco-friendly manner.

Measuring emotional intelligence of medical school applicants.

PubMed

Carrothers, R M; Gregory, S W; Gallagher, T J

2000-05-01

To discuss the development, pilot testing, and analysis of a 34-item semantic differential instrument for measuring medical school applicants' emotional intelligence (the EI instrument). The authors analyzed data from the admission interviews of 147 1997 applicants to a six-year BS/MD program that is composed of three consortium universities. They compared the applicants' scores on traditional admission criteria (e.g., GPA and traditional interview assessments) with their scores on the EI instrument (which comprised five dimensions of emotional intelligence), breaking the data out by consortium university (each of which has its own educational ethos) and gender. They assessed the EI instrument's reliability and validity for assessing noncognitive personal and interpersonal qualities of medical school applicants. The five dimensions of emotional intelligence (maturity, compassion, morality, sociability, and calm disposition) indicated fair to excellent internal consistency: reliability coefficients were .66 to .95. Emotional intelligence as measured by the instrument was related to both being female and matriculating at the consortium university that has an educational ethos that values the social sciences and humanities. Based on this pilot study, the 34-item EI instrument demonstrates the ability to measure attributes that indicate desirable personal and interpersonal skills in medical school applicants.

The Latin American Consortium of Studies in Obesity (LASO)

PubMed Central

Bautista, L. E.; Casas, J. P.; Herrera, V. M.; Miranda, J. J.; Perel, P.; Pichardo, R.; González, A.; Sanchez, J. R.; Ferreccio, C.; Aguilera, X.; Silva, E.; Oróstegui, M.; Gómez, L. F.; Chirinos, J. A.; Medina-Lezama, J.; Pérez, C. M.; Suárez, E.; Ortiz, A. P.; Rosero, L.; Schapochnik, N.; Ortiz, Z.; Ferrante, D.

2009-01-01

Summary Current, high-quality data are needed to evaluate the health impact of the epidemic of obesity in Latin America. The Latin American Consortium of Studies of Obesity (LASO) has been established, with the objectives of (i) Accurately estimating the prevalence of obesity and its distribution by sociodemographic characteristics; (ii) Identifying ethnic, socioeconomic and behavioural determinants of obesity; (iii) Estimating the association between various anthropometric indicators or obesity and major cardiovascular risk factors and (iv) Quantifying the validity of standard definitions of the various indexes of obesity in Latin American population. To achieve these objectives, LASO makes use of individual data from existing studies. To date, the LASO consortium includes data from 11 studies from eight countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Peru, Puerto Rico and Venezuela), including a total of 32 462 subjects. This article describes the overall organization of LASO, the individual studies involved and the overall strategy for data analysis. LASO will foster the development of collaborative obesity research among Latin American investigators. More important, results from LASO will be instrumental to inform health policies aiming to curtail the epidemic of obesity in the region. PMID:19438980

Melanocortin-1 receptor, skin cancer and phenotypic characteristics (M-SKIP) project: study design and methods for pooling results of genetic epidemiological studies

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background For complex diseases like cancer, pooled-analysis of individual data represents a powerful tool to investigate the joint contribution of genetic, phenotypic and environmental factors to the development of a disease. Pooled-analysis of epidemiological studies has many advantages over meta-analysis, and preliminary results may be obtained faster and with lower costs than with prospective consortia. Design and methods Based on our experience with the study design of the Melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene, SKin cancer and Phenotypic characteristics (M-SKIP) project, we describe the most important steps in planning and conducting a pooled-analysis of genetic epidemiological studies. We then present the statistical analysis plan that we are going to apply, giving particular attention to methods of analysis recently proposed to account for between-study heterogeneity and to explore the joint contribution of genetic, phenotypic and environmental factors in the development of a disease. Within the M-SKIP project, data on 10,959 skin cancer cases and 14,785 controls from 31 international investigators were checked for quality and recoded for standardization. We first proposed to fit the aggregated data with random-effects logistic regression models. However, for the M-SKIP project, a two-stage analysis will be preferred to overcome the problem regarding the availability of different study covariates. The joint contribution of MC1R variants and phenotypic characteristics to skin cancer development will be studied via logic regression modeling. Discussion Methodological guidelines to correctly design and conduct pooled-analyses are needed to facilitate application of such methods, thus providing a better summary of the actual findings on specific fields. PMID:22862891

In vivo insertion pool sequencing identifies virulence factors in a complex fungal–host interaction

PubMed Central

Uhse, Simon; Pflug, Florian G.; Stirnberg, Alexandra; Ehrlinger, Klaus; von Haeseler, Arndt

2018-01-01

Large-scale insertional mutagenesis screens can be powerful genome-wide tools if they are streamlined with efficient downstream analysis, which is a serious bottleneck in complex biological systems. A major impediment to the success of next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based screens for virulence factors is that the genetic material of pathogens is often underrepresented within the eukaryotic host, making detection extremely challenging. We therefore established insertion Pool-Sequencing (iPool-Seq) on maize infected with the biotrophic fungus U. maydis. iPool-Seq features tagmentation, unique molecular barcodes, and affinity purification of pathogen insertion mutant DNA from in vivo-infected tissues. In a proof of concept using iPool-Seq, we identified 28 virulence factors, including 23 that were previously uncharacterized, from an initial pool of 195 candidate effector mutants. Because of its sensitivity and quantitative nature, iPool-Seq can be applied to any insertional mutagenesis library and is especially suitable for genetically complex setups like pooled infections of eukaryotic hosts. PMID:29684023