Invasive dental treatment is suggested to be associated with an increased risk for the development of cardiovascular events. We tested the hypothesis that the incidence of a first myocardial ...infarction (MI) within 4 wk after invasive dental treatments is increased. A registry-based case-control study within nationwide health care and population registries in Sweden was performed. The case patients included 51,880 individuals with a first fatal or nonfatal MI between January 2011 and December 2013. For each case, 5 control subjects, free from prior MI and matched for age, sex, and geographic area of residence, were randomly selected from the national population registry through risk set sampling with replacement, resulting in 246,978 control subjects. Information on dental treatments was obtained from the Dental Health Register, and the procedures were categorized into invasive dental treatments or other dental treatments. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for MI with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). In addition to the matching variables, adjustments were made for the following confounders: diabetes, previous cardiovascular disease (CVD), CVD drug treatment, education, and income. The mean age for case patients and controls subjects was 72.6 ± 13.0 y and 72.3 ± 13.0 y, respectively. Case patients more often had previous CVD (49% vs. 23%; P < 0.001) and diabetes (19% vs. 11%; P < 0.001) and received more treatment with CVD drugs (68% vs. 56%; P < 0.001) than control subjects. There was no association between invasive dental treatments during the 4 wk preceding the MI index date (crude OR = 0.99; 95% CI, 0.92 to 1.06; adjusted for confounders OR = 0.98; 95% CI, 0.91 to 1.06). This study did not support the hypothesis of an increased incidence of MI after recent invasive dental treatment.
Summary
Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) possesses a large and highly repetitive genome of 5.1 Gb that has hindered the development of a complete sequence. In 2012, the International Barley Sequencing ...Consortium released a resource integrating whole‐genome shotgun sequences with a physical and genetic framework. However, because only 6278 bacterial artificial chromosome (BACs) in the physical map were sequenced, fine structure was limited. To gain access to the gene‐containing portion of the barley genome at high resolution, we identified and sequenced 15 622 BACs representing the minimal tiling path of 72 052 physical‐mapped gene‐bearing BACs. This generated ~1.7 Gb of genomic sequence containing an estimated 2/3 of all Morex barley genes. Exploration of these sequenced BACs revealed that although distal ends of chromosomes contain most of the gene‐enriched BACs and are characterized by high recombination rates, there are also gene‐dense regions with suppressed recombination. We made use of published map‐anchored sequence data from Aegilops tauschii to develop a synteny viewer between barley and the ancestor of the wheat D‐genome. Except for some notable inversions, there is a high level of collinearity between the two species. The software HarvEST:Barley provides facile access to BAC sequences and their annotations, along with the barley–Ae. tauschii synteny viewer. These BAC sequences constitute a resource to improve the efficiency of marker development, map‐based cloning, and comparative genomics in barley and related crops. Additional knowledge about regions of the barley genome that are gene‐dense but low recombination is particularly relevant.
Significance Statement
We provide new genome sequence resources for barley and related species, to improve the efficiency of marker development, map‐based cloning, comparative genomics studies, and to provide insights into genome architecture. Notably, some of the gene‐rich islands in the barley genome deviate markedly from assumption that gene density and high recombination frequency are correlated.
Dehydrins are a family of proteins that accumulate in response to abiotic stresses. Little is known about the biochemical functions of these proteins. It is known that the Arabidopsis dehydrin, ...ERD14, is activated by phosphorylation to bind calcium and other ions. To begin to categorize the Arabidopsis dehydrins into functional families, we determined whether representative members of the dehydrin sub families share the properties of ERD14. When phosphorylated in vitro with casein kinase II; recombinant COR47, and ERD10 (and ERD14) become activated to bind calcium. ERD14 exhibited the highest calcium-binding activity followed by ERD10 and COR47. These dehydrins, when isolated from cold-treated Arabidopsis plants were also shown to have phosphorylation-dependent, calcium-binding activity. RAB18 showed very little calcium binding activity, even though it was phosphorylated by casein kinase II. XERO2 was not phosphorylated with CKII and did not bind calcium. Competition studies suggest that other divalent cations may bind to the dehydrins COR47, ERD10, and ERD14. Utilizing matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization - time of flight mass spectroscopy (MALDI-TOF), we determined that the poly serine region located in all three calcium-binding family members (COR47, ERD10, and ERD14) is the most likely phosphorylation site responsible for the activation of calcium binding. These results are consistent with a distinct biochemical function for the acidic subclass of dehydrins (COR47, ERD10, and ERD14) as ion (calcium)-interacting proteins.
Low temperature and drought have major influences on plant growth and productivity. To identify barley genes involved in responses to these stresses and to specifically test the hypothesis that the ...dehydrin (
Dhn
) multigene family can serve as an indicator of the entire transcriptome response, we investigated the response of barley cv. Morex to: (1) gradual drought over 21 days and (2) low temperature including chilling, freeze–thaw cycles, and deacclimation over 33 days. We found 4,153 genes that responded to at least one component of these two stress regimes, about one fourth of all genes called “present” under any condition. About 44% (1,822 of 4,153) responded specifically to drought, whereas only 3.8% (158 of 4,153) were chilling specific and 2.8% (119 of 4,153) freeze–thaw specific, with 34.1% responsive to freeze–thaw and drought. The intersection between chilling and drought (31.9%) was somewhat smaller than the intersection between freeze–thaw and drought, implying an element of osmotic stress response to freeze–thaw. About 82.4% of the responsive genes were similar to
Arabidopsis
genes. The expression of 13 barley
Dhn
genes mirrored the global clustering of all transcripts, with specific combinations of
Dhn
genes providing an excellent indicator of each stress response. Data from these studies provide a robust reference data set for abiotic stress.
Abstract Background Ovarian cancer is a severe disease with a peak incidence in the older age groups where concurrent morbidity is common and could potentially influence mortality rates. Objectives ...The aim was to study the influence of common comorbidity diagnoses on mortality in ovarian cancer patients. Methods The study population was patients with ovarian cancer in Sweden 1993–2006 (n = 11.139) identified in the national Cancer Register. Comorbidity data was obtained from the Patient Register and mortality from Cause of Death Register. Mortality was analyzed with Cox' proportional hazards models and subgroup analyses were performed by age and tumor histology. Results Almost all of the assessed comorbidities increased mortality in ovarian cancer patients. Thromboembolism was the most hazardous comorbidity (HR = 1.95, < 1 year after cancer diagnosis and HR = 7.83, 1–5 years after cancer diagnosis) followed by hematologic complications (HR = 1.84 and 7.11 respectively) and infectious disease (HR = 1.48 and 5.28 respectively). The occurrence of diabetes mellitus and hypertension had less impact on mortality. Conclusion Thromboembolism, hematologic complications and infections had a pronounced effect on mortality rates in women with ovarian cancer. The impact of comorbidity was mainly apparent among those with a more prosperous prognosis, such as longer time since cancer diagnosis, less aggressive tumors and younger age.
Objective
To investigate whether psoriasis is affected by the use of serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
Design
A population‐based cohort study.
Setting
The general adult population with plaque ...psoriasis in Sweden between 1997 and 2006.
Subjects
A total of 69 830 patients with plaque psoriasis were identified in the National Patient Register. Whether study subjects were exposed to SSRIs was identified through the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register. The SSRI‐exposed subjects (n = 1282) had a prescription for SSRIs dispensed twice during 6 months at a Swedish pharmacy between 1 July 2006 and 1 April 2008, with a wash‐out period of 1 year or longer. The reference subjects (n = 1282), who were not exposed to SSRIs, were matched for age, county of residence, sex, psoriasis severity and seasonal variation.
Main outcome measure
Change in psoriasis severity defined by switching between nonsystemic and systemic psoriasis treatments 6 months after exposure to SSRIs.
Results
The risk of switching from nonsystemic to systemic psoriasis treatments was significantly decreased in the SSRI‐exposed group (odds ratio 0.44, 95% confidence interval 0.28–0.68).
Conclusion
SSRI use in patients with psoriasis is associated with a decreased need for systemic psoriasis treatment.
Increasing evidence suggests that maternal stress during pregnancy may influence pregnancy outcomes. In a nationwide Swedish study including almost 3 million births taking place during 1973-2006, we ...investigated whether maternal bereavement during pregnancy is associated with stillbirth risk. Through individual record linkage between several population-based registers, we obtained information on demographic, health-related, and pregnancy-related factors and deaths of mothers' first-degree relatives. There were 11,071 stillbirths (3.8 per 1,000 births) in the cohort. After adjustment for potential confounders, infants of mothers who had lost any first-degree relative the year before or during pregnancy had an 18% higher risk of stillbirth than unexposed offspring (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06, 1.31). Corresponding hazard ratios were 1.67 (95% CI: 1.18, 2.36) for maternal loss of an older child, 2.06 (95% CI: 1.44, 2.94) for loss of a sibling, and 1.07 (95% CI: 0.95, 1.21) for loss of a parent. The relationship between maternal bereavement and stillbirth did not vary by time of death or by whether the relative's death was expected or unexpected. Death of a close relative is one of the most severe sources of stress, and future studies need to investigate whether less severe but more common stressors also increase stillbirth risk.
Wall collision broadening of absorption lines of gases confined in porous media is a recently opened domain of high-resolution spectroscopy. Here, we present an experimental investigation of its ...application for pore size assessment. We report on the manufacturing of nanoporous zirconia ceramics with well-defined pore sizes fine-tuned from 50 to 150 nm. The resulting pore structure is characterized using mercury intrusion porosimetry, and the optical properties of these strongly scattering materials are measured using femtosecond photon time-of-flight spectroscopy (transport mean free paths found to be tuned from 2.3 to 1.2 μm as the pore size increase). Wall collision line broadening is studied by performing near-infrared (760 nm) high-resolution diode laser spectroscopy of confined oxygen molecules. A simple method for quantitative estimation of the pore size is outlined and shown to produce results in agreement with mercury intrusion porosimetry. At the same time, the need for improved understanding of wall collision broadening is emphasized.
Recent advances in high-throughput genotyping have made it easier to combine information from different mapping populations into consensus genetic maps, which provide increased marker density and ...genome coverage compared to individual maps. Previously, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based genotyping platform was developed and used to genotype 373 individuals in four barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) mapping populations. This led to a 2943 SNP consensus genetic map with 975 unique positions. In this work, we add data from six additional populations and more individuals from one of the original populations to develop an improved consensus map from 1133 individuals. A stringent and systematic analysis of each of the 10 populations was performed to achieve uniformity. This involved reexamination of the four populations included in the previous map. As a consequence, we present a robust consensus genetic map that contains 2994 SNP loci mapped to 1163 unique positions. The map spans 1137.3 cM with an average density of one marker bin per 0.99 cM. A novel application of the genotyping platform for gene detection allowed the assignment of 2930 genes to flow-sorted chromosomes or arms, confirmed the position of 2545 SNP-mapped loci, added chromosome or arm allocations to an additional 370 SNP loci, and delineated pericentromeric regions for chromosomes 2H to 7H. Marker order has been improved and map resolution has been increased by almost 20%. These increased precision outcomes enable more optimized SNP selection for markerassisted breeding and support association genetic analysis and map-based cloning. It will also improve the anchoring of DNA sequence scaffolds and the barley physical map to the genetic map.
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