Local chromatin context regulates the genetic requirements of the heterochromatin spreading reaction.

Heterochromatin spreading, the expansion of repressive chromatin structure from sequence-specific nucleation sites, is critical for stable gene silencing. Spreading re-establishes gene-poor constitutive heterochromatin across cell cycles but can also invade gene-rich euchromatin de novo to steer cell fate decisions. How chromatin context (i.

Hepatitis B, C and D virus prevalence in children and adults in Mbeya Region, Tanzania: results from a cohort study 2002 - 2009.

Introduction: sub-Saharan Africa bears a high prevalence for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. This analysis aims at elucidating the exposure to HBV across different age groups in Mbeya Region in Tanzania and determines prevalences of hepatitis C (HCV) and hepatitis delta antigen (HDV) infections.

Methods: plasma samples from children and adults with defined HIV status were analysed for HBV, HCV and HDV markers.

Novel loci for childhood body mass index and shared heritability with adult cardiometabolic traits.

The genetic background of childhood body mass index (BMI), and the extent to which the well-known associations of childhood BMI with adult diseases are explained by shared genetic factors, are largely unknown. We performed a genome-wide association study meta-analysis of BMI in 61,111 children aged between 2 and 10 years. Twenty-five independent loci reached genome-wide significance in the combined discovery and replication analyses.

Effectiveness of symptom-based diagnostic HIV testing versus targeted and blanket provider-initiated testing and counseling among children and adolescents in Cameroon.

Objectives: The concurrent implementation of targeted (tPITC) and blanket provider-initiated testing and counselling (bPITC) is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for HIV case-finding in generalized HIV epidemics. This study assessed the effectiveness of this intervention compared to symptom-based diagnostic HIV testing (DHT) in terms of HIV testing uptake, case detection and antiretroviral therapy (ART) enrollment among children and adolescents in Cameroon, where estimated HIV prevalence is relatively low at 3.7%.

Critical age windows in the impact of lifetime smoking exposure on respiratory symptoms and disease among ever smokers.

Background: Despite extensive knowledge of smoking effects on respiratory disease, there is no study including all age windows of exposure among ever smokers. The objective of this study was to assess the effects from smoking exposure in utero, early childhood, adolescence and adulthood on respiratory health outcomes in adult male and female ever smokers.

Methods: Respiratory health outcomes were assessed in 10,610 participants of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) I who reported a history of ever smoking by questionnaire.

Absolute values of lung function explain the sex difference in breathlessness in the general population.

Activity-related breathlessness is twice as common among females as males in the general population and is associated with adverse health outcomes. We tested whether this sex difference is explained by the lower absolute forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV) or forced vital capacity (FVC) in females.This was a cross-sectional analysis of 3250 subjects (51% female) aged 38-67 years across 13 countries in the population-based third European Community Respiratory Health Survey.

Microbes and asthma: Opportunities for intervention.

The worldwide incidence and prevalence of asthma continues to increase. Asthma is now understood as an umbrella term for different phenotypes or endotypes, which arise through different pathophysiologic pathways. Understanding the many factors contributing to development of the disease is important for the identification of novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of certain asthma phenotypes.

Probability Elicitation Under Severe Time Pressure: A Rank-Based Method.

Probability elicitation protocols are used to assess and incorporate subjective probabilities in risk and decision analysis. While most of these protocols use methods that have focused on the precision of the elicited probabilities, the speed of the elicitation process has often been neglected. However, speed is also important, particularly when experts need to examine a large number of events on a recurrent basis.

Investigating the prediction ability of survival models based on both clinical and omics data: two case studies.

In biomedical literature, numerous prediction models for clinical outcomes have been developed based either on clinical data or, more recently, on high-throughput molecular data (omics data). Prediction models based on both types of data, however, are less common, although some recent studies suggest that a suitable combination of clinical and molecular information may lead to models with better predictive abilities. This is probably due to the fact that it is not straightforward to combine data with different characteristics and dimensions (poorly characterized high-dimensional omics data, well-investigated low-dimensional clinical data).

Selective pressure-regulated retroinfusion of coronary veins as an alternative access of ischemic myocardium: implications for myocardial protection, myocardial gene transfer and angiogenesis.

There is renewed interest in the coronary venous system as an alternative access to ischemic myocardium. Selective pressure-regulated retroinfusion is a catheter-based approach which has been shown to increase the efficacy of retrograde oxygen delivery and drugs in experimental and clinical studies. Selective pressure-regulated retroinfusion may also target retrograde delivery of angiogenic growth factors and gene vectors to ischemic myocardium.

Interobserver agreement in defecography.

Purpose: This study was designed to test the reproducibility of the diagnostic assessment of defecographies in patients with a suspected disorder of defecation.

Methods: To evaluate interobserver agreement, 100 defecographic series of patients with complaints suggesting a disordered defecation were evaluated independently by three observers with a standardized questionnaire. After six weeks, a random sample of 35 of 100 defecographies was evaluated a second time with clinical data provided (history, proctologic examination).

Effect of phospholipids and bile acids on cholesterol nucleation time and vesicular/micellar cholesterol in gallbladder bile of patients with cholesterol stones.

Supersaturation and rapid nucleation of cholesterol in bile are of key importance in the pathogenesis of cholesterol gallstones. While the effects of bile acids and phospholipids on cholesterol saturation of bile have been extensively studied, their influence on the cholesterol nucleation time has not been compared. We, therefore, investigated whether increases of bile acid or phospholipid concentrations in bile by in vitro supplementation affect the cholesterol nucleation time.