Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are the next big thing in the electric transportation market. While much work has been done to detail what economic costs and benefits PHEVs will have on ...consumers and producers alike, it seems that it is also important to understand what impact PHEVs will have on distribution networks nationwide. This paper finds that the impact of PHEVs on the distribution network can be determined using the following aspects of PHEVs: driving patterns, charging characteristics, charge timing, and vehicle penetration. The impacts that these aspects of PHEVs will have on distribution networks have been measured and calculated by multiple authors in different locations using many different tools that range from analytical techniques to simulations and beyond. While much work has already been completed in this area, there is still much to do. Areas left for improvement and future work will include adding more stochasticity into models as well as computing and analyzing reliability indices with respect to distribution networks.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Clinical use of polygenic risk scores (PRS) will look very different to the more familiar monogenic testing. Here we argue that despite these differences, most of the ethical, legal, and social ...issues (ELSI) raised in the monogenic setting, such as the relevance of results to family members, the approach to secondary and incidental findings, and the role of expert mediators, continue to be relevant in the polygenic context, albeit in modified form. In addition, PRS will reanimate other old debates. Their use has been proposed both in the practice of clinical medicine and of public health, two contexts with differing norms. In each of these domains, it is unclear what endpoints clinical use of PRS should aim to maximize and under what constraints. Reducing health disparities is a key value for public health, but clinical use of PRS could exacerbate race-based health disparities owing to differences in predictive power across ancestry groups. Finally, PRS will force a reckoning with pre-existing questions concerning biomarkers, namely the relevance of self-reported race, ethnicity and ancestry, and the relationship of risk factors to disease diagnoses. In this Opinion, we argue that despite the parallels to the monogenic setting, new work is urgently needed to gather data, consider normative implications, and develop best practices around this emerging branch of genomics.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
The use of clinical genome and exome sequencing for genetic diagnosis has grown substantially. This review provides guidance for clinicians seeking diagnostic confirmation of a disease suspected to ...be genetic in origin.
Sequencing of the genome or exome for clinical applications, hereafter referred to as clinical genome and exome sequencing (CGES), has now entered medical practice.
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Several thousand CGES tests have already been ordered for patients, with the goal of establishing diagnoses for rare, clinically unrecognizable, or puzzling disorders that are suspected to be genetic in origin. We anticipate increases in the use of CGES, the key attribute of which — its breadth — distinguishes it from other forms of laboratory testing. The interrogation of variation in about 20,000 genes simultaneously can be a powerful and effective diagnostic method.
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CGES has been . . .
Land plants associate with a root microbiota distinct from the complex microbial community present in surrounding soil. The microbiota colonizing the rhizosphere (immediately surrounding the root) ...and the endophytic compartment (within the root) contribute to plant growth, productivity, carbon sequestration and phytoremediation. Colonization of the root occurs despite a sophisticated plant immune system, suggesting finely tuned discrimination of mutualists and commensals from pathogens. Genetic principles governing the derivation of host-specific endophyte communities from soil communities are poorly understood. Here we report the pyrosequencing of the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene of more than 600 Arabidopsis thaliana plants to test the hypotheses that the root rhizosphere and endophytic compartment microbiota of plants grown under controlled conditions in natural soils are sufficiently dependent on the host to remain consistent across different soil types and developmental stages, and sufficiently dependent on host genotype to vary between inbred Arabidopsis accessions. We describe different bacterial communities in two geochemically distinct bulk soils and in rhizosphere and endophytic compartments prepared from roots grown in these soils. The communities in each compartment are strongly influenced by soil type. Endophytic compartments from both soils feature overlapping, low-complexity communities that are markedly enriched in Actinobacteria and specific families from other phyla, notably Proteobacteria. Some bacteria vary quantitatively between plants of different developmental stage and genotype. Our rigorous definition of an endophytic compartment microbiome should facilitate controlled dissection of plant-microbe interactions derived from complex soil communities.
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DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Has the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act succeeded in its twin missions of preventing discrimination and alleviating public fears about the potential for discrimination on the basis of ...genetic test results? That's a difficult question to answer.
In 2008, after 13 years of advocacy by the genetics community and U.S. lawmakers, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) was signed into law. GINA is the first U.S. federal antidiscrimination statute crafted to address an area where there was no well-documented history of widespread discrimination and no stigmatized group to protect. The statute's language is unusual, proposing not only “to fully protect the public from discrimination” but also to “allay their concerns about the potential for discrimination, thereby allowing individuals to take advantage of genetic testing, technologies, research and new therapies.”
GINA was initially lauded as a huge legislative . . .
Solar energy: Trends and enabling technologies Devabhaktuni, Vijay; Alam, Mansoor; Shekara Sreenadh Reddy Depuru, Soma ...
Renewable & sustainable energy reviews,
03/2013, Volume:
19
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The global demand for energy is currently growing beyond the limits of installable generation capacity. To meet future energy demands efficiently, energy security and reliability must be improved and ...alternative energy sources must be investigated aggressively. An effective energy solution should be able to address long-term issues by utilizing alternative and renewable energy sources. Of the many available renewable sources of energy, solar energy is clearly a promising option as it is extensively available. Solar power, especially as it reaches more competitive levels with other energy sources in terms of cost, may serve to sustain the lives of millions of underprivileged people in developing countries. Furthermore, solar energy devices can benefit the environment and economy of developing countries. This paper illustrates the need for the utilization of alternative energy sources, evaluates the global scenario of installed generation systems, reviews technologies underlying various solar powered devices, and discusses several applications and challenges in this area. In addition, this paper addresses the costs of deployment, maintenance, and operation, as well as economic policies that promote installation of solar energy systems.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
In clinical exome and genome sequencing, there is a potential for the recognition and reporting of incidental or secondary findings unrelated to the indication for ordering the sequencing but of ...medical value for patient care. The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) recently published a policy statement on clinical sequencing that emphasized the importance of alerting the patient to the possibility of such results in pretest patient discussions, clinical testing, and reporting of results. The ACMG appointed a Working Group on Incidental Findings in Clinical Exome and Genome Sequencing to make recommendations about responsible management of incidental findings when patients undergo exome or genome sequencing. This Working Group conducted a year-long consensus process, including an open forum at the 2012 Annual Meeting and review by outside experts, and produced recommendations that have been approved by the ACMG Board. Specific and detailed recommendations, and the background and rationale for these recommendations, are described herein. The ACMG recommends that laboratories performing clinical sequencing seek and report mutations of the specified classes or types in the genes listed here. This evaluation and reporting should be performed for all clinical germline (constitutional) exome and genome sequencing, including the "normal" of tumor-normal subtractive analyses in all subjects, irrespective of age but excluding fetal samples. We recognize that there are insufficient data on penetrance and clinical utility to fully support these recommendations, and we encourage the creation of an ongoing process for updating these recommendations at least annually as further data are collected.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Abstract Introduction The overall goal of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) is to validate biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD) clinical trials. ADNI-3, which began on August ...1, 2016, is a 5-year renewal of the current ADNI-2 study. Methods ADNI-3 will follow current and additional subjects with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment, and AD using innovative technologies such as tau imaging, magnetic resonance imaging sequences for connectivity analyses, and a highly automated immunoassay platform and mass spectroscopy approach for cerebrospinal fluid biomarker analysis. A Systems Biology/pathway approach will be used to identify genetic factors for subject selection/enrichment. Amyloid positron emission tomography scanning will be standardized using the Centiloid method. The Brain Health Registry will help recruit subjects and monitor subject cognition. Results Multimodal analyses will provide insight into AD pathophysiology and disease progression. Discussion ADNI-3 will aim to inform AD treatment trials and facilitate development of AD disease-modifying treatments.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
Molecular phylogenies have yielded strong support for many parts of the amphibian Tree of Life, but poor support for the resolution of deeper nodes, including relationships among families ...and orders. To clarify these relationships, we provide a phylogenomic perspective on amphibian relationships by developing a taxon-specific Anchored Hybrid Enrichment protocol targeting hundreds of conserved exons which are effective across the class. After obtaining data from 220 loci for 286 species (representing 94% of the families and 44% of the genera), we estimate a phylogeny for extant amphibians and identify gene tree–species tree conflict across the deepest branches of the amphibian phylogeny. We perform locus-by-locus genealogical interrogation of alternative topological hypotheses for amphibian monophyly, focusing on interordinal relationships. We find that phylogenetic signal deep in the amphibian phylogeny varies greatly across loci in a manner that is consistent with incomplete lineage sorting in the ancestral lineage of extant amphibians. Our results overwhelmingly support amphibian monophyly and a sister relationship between frogs and salamanders, consistent with the Batrachia hypothesis. Species tree analyses converge on a small set of topological hypotheses for the relationships among extant amphibian families. These results clarify several contentious portions of the amphibian Tree of Life, which in conjunction with a set of vetted fossil calibrations, support a surprisingly younger timescale for crown and ordinal amphibian diversification than previously reported. More broadly, our study provides insight into the sources, magnitudes, and heterogeneity of support across loci in phylogenomic data sets.AIC; Amphibia; Batrachia; Phylogeny; gene tree–species tree discordance; genomics; information theory.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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