Hodgkin's disease in Hong Kong Chinese Liang, R; Choi, P; Todd, D ...
Hematological oncology,
November/December 1989, Letnik:
7, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
A lower incidence of Hodgkin's disease in Orientals has been recognized. Although most Hong Kong Chinese came from the Guandong province of China, the incidence of Hodgkin's disease in Hong Kong ...Chinese is 9.2 per cent which is more comparable to the low figure of 6 per cent in Japan than the 32 per cent incidence in Guangdong. If this discrepancy in the ethnically similar populations is confirmed, other etiological or promoting factors must be considered. Ninety-two Hong Kong Chinese patients (54 males and 38 females) with Hodgkin's disease were reviewed. The median age was 34 years (range 5-79 years). The histology was lymphocyte predominant in nine (10 per cent), nodular sclerosing in 34 (37 per cent), mixed cellularity in 29 (31 per cent), lymphocyte depleted in nine (10 per cent) and unclassified in 11 (12 per cent). Seventeen per cent had stage Ia disease, 2 per cent Ib, 15 per cent IIa, 11 per cent IIb, 11 per cent IIIa, 9 per cent IIIb, 11 per cent IVa and 24 per cent IVb. Twenty-five of them (27 per cent) were staged by laparotomy. Twelve patients (13 per cent) had bulky disease. Identical to the pattern observed in Caucasians, our patients had an apparent biomodal age distribution, a male predominance and similar distribution of histological subtypes according to the Rye classification. The absence of an early peak in young adulthood and the lower incidence of the nodular sclerosing subtype reported in the Japanese was not observed in our patients. A variety of treatments were given to the 92 patients. Most of the patients with stage I-II disease received radiotherapy except for those with B symptoms, bulky disease or lymphocyte depleted histology, who received chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy. All patients with stage III-IV disease received chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy except for two patients with stage IIIa disease who had total nodal irradiation only. The multivariate analysis revealed that Ann Arbor staging was a significant independent factor determining the disease-free survival of patients in complete remission and the overall survival of all patients. Age was the other independent variable significantly determining the overall survival.
Eleven PAHs were monitored at two urban sites in Hong Kong during 2000, and the partitioning of gaseous and particulate PAH phases was studied in 2001. The sum of the 11 PAHs was in the 6.46-38.8 ...ng/m super(3) range, and the annual mean levels recorded at the two urban sites were comparable to those documented in the past 2 yr and were within reported ranges for other Asian cities. Fluoranthene and pyrene were the most abundant, accounting for about 80% of the total PAHs. Diesel and gasoline vehicular exhausts were the major local emission sources of PAHs.
Integrating genetic data from families with highly penetrant forms of disease together with genetic data from outbred populations represents a promising strategy to uncover the complete frequency ...spectrum of risk alleles for complex traits such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Here, we demonstrate that rare, low-frequency and common alleles at one gene locus, phospholipase B1 (PLB1), might contribute to risk of RA in a 4-generation consanguineous pedigree (Middle Eastern ancestry) and also in unrelated individuals from the general population (European ancestry). Through identity-by-descent (IBD) mapping and whole-exome sequencing, we identified a non-synonymous c.2263G. C (p.G755R) mutation at the PLB1 gene on 2q23, which significantly co-segregated with RA in family members with a dominant mode of inheritance (P = 0.009). We further evaluated PLB1 variants and risk of RA using a GWAS meta-analysis of 8,875 RA cases and 29,367 controls of European ancestry. We identified significant contributions of two independent non-coding variants near PLB1 with risk of RA (rs116018341 MAF = 0.042 and rs116541814 MAF = 0.021, combined P = 3.26 x 10(-6)). Finally, we performed deep exon sequencing of PLB1 in 1,088 RA cases and 1,088 controls (European ancestry), and identified suggestive dispersion of rare protein-coding variant frequencies between cases and controls (P = 0.049 for C-alpha test and P = 0.055 for SKAT). Together, these data suggest that PLB1 is a candidate risk gene for RA. Future studies to characterize the full spectrum of genetic risk in the PLB1 genetic locus are warranted.
Integrating genetic data from families with highly penetrant forms of disease together with genetic data from outbred populations represents a promising strategy to uncover the complete frequency ...spectrum of risk alleles for complex traits such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Here, we demonstrate that rare, low-frequency and common alleles at one gene locus, phospholipase B1 (PLB1), might contribute to risk of RA in a 4-generation consanguineous pedigree (Middle Eastern ancestry) and also in unrelated individuals from the general population (European ancestry). Through identity-by-descent (IBD) mapping and whole-exome sequencing, we identified a non-synonymous c.2263G. C (p.G755R) mutation at the PLB1 gene on 2q23, which significantly co-segregated with RA in family members with a dominant mode of inheritance (P = 0.009). We further evaluated PLB1 variants and risk of RA using a GWAS meta-analysis of 8,875 RA cases and 29,367 controls of European ancestry. We identified significant contributions of two independent non-coding variants near PLB1 with risk of RA (rs116018341 MAF = 0.042 and rs116541814 MAF = 0.021, combined P = 3.26 x 10(-6)). Finally, we performed deep exon sequencing of PLB1 in 1,088 RA cases and 1,088 controls (European ancestry), and identified suggestive dispersion of rare protein-coding variant frequencies between cases and controls (P = 0.049 for C-alpha test and P = 0.055 for SKAT). Together, these data suggest that PLB1 is a candidate risk gene for RA. Future studies to characterize the full spectrum of genetic risk in the PLB1 genetic locus are warranted.
We report the effects of n-type doping by Si and p-type doping by Zn in the GaAs substrate on the thermal intermixing of undoped GaAs/Al/sub 0.24/Ga/sub 0.76/As single quantum well (QW) structures. ...For comparison, semi-insulating GaAs substrate was also used. The samples with Si-doped GaAs substrate and semi-insulating GaAs substrate show blue shifts that are in agreement with thermal stability studies by other workers. The sample with Zn-doped GaAs substrate, however, shows clear evidence of suppressed intermixing by Zn diffusion from the substrate into the QW structure. The enhanced thermal stability of the GaAs/Al/sub 0.24/Ga/sub 0.76/As QW structure is attributed to a Zn-diffusion induced reduction in the number of column-III vacancies in the QW structure.
Diatoms are photosynthetic secondary endosymbionts found throughout marine and freshwater environments, and are believed to be responsible for around one-fifth of the primary productivity on Earth1, ...2. The genome sequence of the marine centric diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana was recently reported, revealing a wealth of information about diatom biology3, 4, 5. Here we report the complete genome sequence of the pennate diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum and compare it with that of T. pseudonana to clarify evolutionary origins, functional significance and ubiquity of these features throughout diatoms. In spite of the fact that the pennate and centric lineages have only been diverging for 90 million years, their genome structures are dramatically different and a substantial fraction of genes (40%) are not shared by these representatives of the two lineages. Analysis of molecular divergence compared with yeasts and metazoans reveals rapid rates of gene diversification in diatoms. Contributing factors include selective gene family expansions, differential losses and gains of genes and introns, and differential mobilization of transposable elements. Most significantly, we document the presence of hundreds of genes from bacteria. More than 300 of these gene transfers are found in both diatoms, attesting to their ancient origins, and many are likely to provide novel possibilities for metabolite management and for perception of environmental signals. These findings go a long way towards explaining the incredible diversity and success of the diatoms in contemporary oceans.
The Jitney Parallel Optical Interconnect Crow, J.D.; Joong-Ho Choi; Cohen, M.S. ...
1996 Proceedings 46th Electronic Components and Technology Conference,
1996
Conference Proceeding
The Jitney Parallel Optical Interconnect consists of a transmitter module, a receiver module, and a cable capable of sending 1 GigaByte/sec over 1-100 meter spans. This technology has been developed ...to be cost competitive with copper bus technology, while still offering all the features of optical interconnects. Jitney has a two Byte wide interface with extra lines for clocking and flow control, each line supporting 500 Mb/sec. The modules use a standard logic level (LVDS) and power supply (+3.3 v), and mount on standard PC cards using standard vapor phase soldering processes. The ribbon cable connector plugs directly to the module. The transmitter module contains a VCSEL array chip with 20 emitters, driven by a 20 channel CMOS driver IC. The receiver module contains a 20 channel GaAs MESFET receiver array OEIC. Each module also contains a 20 channel plastic molded optical coupler to transfer light to and from the chips to the fibers in a fiber array connector. The modules themselves are plastic molded leadframes, with the optical alignment features for the optical coupler and the array connector molded into the module housing. The cable consists of a 20 fiber ribbon of a 200 /spl mu/m core fiber of either step or graded index of refraction profile. The entire package has assembly tolerances in the /spl plusmn/50 /spl mu/m range, and thus is assembled using passive alignment techniques. Test vehicle driver and receiver chips indicate the necessary speed, sensitivity, and uniformity for optical bus operation.
Diatoms are photosynthetic secondary endosymbionts found throughout marine and freshwater environments, and are believed to be responsible for around one-fifth of the primary productivity on Earth. ...The genome sequence of the marine centric diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana was recently reported, revealing a wealth of information about diatom biology. Here we report the complete genome sequence of the pennate diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum and compare it with that of T. pseudonana to clarify evolutionary origins, functional significance and ubiquity of these features throughout diatoms. In spite of the fact that the pennate and centric lineages have only been diverging for 90 million years, their genome structures are dramatically different and a substantial fraction of genes (40%) are not shared by these representatives of the two lineages. Analysis of molecular divergence compared with yeasts and metazoans reveals rapid rates of gene diversification in diatoms. Contributing factors include selective gene family expansions, differential losses and gains of genes and introns, and differential mobilization of transposable elements. Most significantly, we document the presence of hundreds of genes from bacteria. More than 300 of these gene transfers are found in both diatoms, attesting to their ancient origins, and many are likely to provide novel possibilities for metabolite management and for perception of environmental signals. These findings go a long way towards explaining the incredible diversity and success of the diatoms in contemporary oceans.
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