We present here the results of the Analysis of HLA Population Data (AHPD) project of the 16th International HLA and Immunogenetics Workshop (16IHIW) held in Liverpool in May-June 2012. Thanks to the ...collaboration of 25 laboratories from 18 different countries, HLA genotypic data for 59 new population samples (either well-defined populations or donor registry samples) were gathered and 55 were analysed statistically following HLA-NET recommendations. The new data included, among others, large sets of well-defined populations from north-east Europe and West Asia, as well as many donor registry data from European countries. The Generate computer tools were combined to create a Generate computer pipeline to automatically (i) estimate allele frequencies by an expectation-maximization algorithm accommodating ambiguities, (ii) estimate heterozygosity, (iii) test for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE), (iv) test for selective neutrality, (v) generate frequency graphs and summary statistics for each sample at each locus and (vi) plot multidimensional scaling (MDS) analyses comparing the new samples with previous IHIW data. Intrapopulation analyses show that HWE is rarely rejected, while neutrality tests often indicate a significant excess of heterozygotes compared with neutral expectations. The comparison of the 16IHIW AHPD data with data collected during previous workshops (12th-15th) shows that geography is an excellent predictor of HLA genetic differentiations for HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 loci but not for HLA-DQ, whose patterns are probably more influenced by natural selection. In Europe, HLA genetic variation clearly follows a north to south-east axis despite a low level of differentiation between European, North African and West Asian populations. Pacific populations are genetically close to Austronesian-speaking South-East Asian and Taiwanese populations, in agreement with current theories on the peopling of Oceania. Thanks to this project, HLA genetic variation is more clearly defined worldwide and better interpreted in relation to human peopling history and HLA molecular evolution.
Summary
We present here the results of the Analysis of HLA Population Data (AHPD) project of the 16th International HLA and Immunogenetics Workshop (16IHIW) held in Liverpool in May–June 2012. Thanks ...to the collaboration of 25 laboratories from 18 different countries, HLA genotypic data for 59 new population samples (either well‐defined populations or donor registry samples) were gathered and 55 were analysed statistically following HLA‐NET recommendations. The new data included, among others, large sets of well‐defined populations from north‐east Europe and West Asia, as well as many donor registry data from European countries. The Generate computer tools were combined to create a Generate computer pipeline to automatically (i) estimate allele frequencies by an expectation‐maximization algorithm accommodating ambiguities, (ii) estimate heterozygosity, (iii) test for Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE), (iv) test for selective neutrality, (v) generate frequency graphs and summary statistics for each sample at each locus and (vi) plot multidimensional scaling (MDS) analyses comparing the new samples with previous IHIW data. Intrapopulation analyses show that HWE is rarely rejected, while neutrality tests often indicate a significant excess of heterozygotes compared with neutral expectations. The comparison of the 16IHIW AHPD data with data collected during previous workshops (12th–15th) shows that geography is an excellent predictor of HLA genetic differentiations for HLA‐A, ‐B and ‐DRB1 loci but not for HLA‐DQ, whose patterns are probably more influenced by natural selection. In Europe, HLA genetic variation clearly follows a north to south‐east axis despite a low level of differentiation between European, North African and West Asian populations. Pacific populations are genetically close to Austronesian‐speaking South‐East Asian and Taiwanese populations, in agreement with current theories on the peopling of Oceania. Thanks to this project, HLA genetic variation is more clearly defined worldwide and better interpreted in relation to human peopling history and HLA molecular evolution.
Motor impairments associated with cerebral palsy (CP) induce abnormal gait in children. The improvement of walking is an essential objective and the use of treadmill for walking analysis and training ...may offer several advantages. However, a controversy still exists regarding the similarity between treadmill and overground walking. The aim of this study was to compare the mechanics of these two types of gait modalities at standard and preferred walking speeds in hemiplegic cerebral palsy (HCP) and typically developing (TD) children matched on age, height and body mass.
Abstract The wild-type canine distemper virus (CDV) strain A75/17 induces a non-cytocidal infection in cultures of canine footpad keratinocytes (CFKs) but produces very little progeny virus. After ...only three passages in CFKs, the virus produced 100-fold more progeny and induced a limited cytopathic effect. Sequence analysis of the CFK-adapted virus revealed only three amino acid differences, of which one was located in each the P/V/C, M and H proteins. In order to assess which amino acid changes were responsible for the increase of infectious virus production and altered phenotype of infection, we generated a series of recombinant viruses. Their analysis showed that the altered P/V/C proteins were responsible for the higher levels of virus progeny formation and that the amino acid change in the cytoplasmic tail of the H protein was the major determinant of cytopathogenicity.
The experimental data on incommensurate phase versus temperature, as they have been obtained by high resolution inelastic neutron scattering, are compared to theoretical models. In the experiments ...reported we have set out to examine the phonon dispersion surface to verify that the charge-density wave (CDW) state is present continuously at temperature even above TCDW. The position of the phonon minimum (qmin = qCDW), as well as the detailed shape of the dispersion surface of phonon modes over an extended areas in the (E, q) space, is important in view of the debate on the origin of the CDW at the Peierls transition (2nd_order phase) and gives rise to a further modulation of the structure. This work confirms that the CDW state has precursor effects before the phase transition, there is a strong coupling between phonon and electronic states and that a 'soft-mode transition' occurs at TCDW. This result is compared to theories discussing the origin of the CDW state.
Magnetization, transport and inelastic neutron scattering experiments were performed on single crystals of the half metallic ferromagnet NiMnSb. A change in behaviour is observed near 80 K in the ...temperature dependence of magnetization and resistivity. Magnons were followed up to excitation energies of 70 meV, where they become overdamped due to the crossing of a Stoner mode. The magnetic behaviour seems to evolve from Heisenberg-like at low energies and low temperatures to itinerant magnetism at high temperatures and high excitation energies.
Summary
Background: Blood sampling is a frequent medical procedure, very often considered as a stressful experience by children. Local anesthetics have been developed, but are expensive and not ...reimbursed by insurance companies in our country. We wanted to assess parents’ willingness to pay (WTP) for this kind of drug.
Patients and methods: Over 6 months, all parents of children presenting for general (GV) or specialized visit (SV) with blood sampling. WTP was assessed through three scenarios avoiding blood sampling (ABS), using the drug on prescription (PD), or over the counter (OTC), with a payment card system randomized to ascending or descending order of prices (AO or DO).
Results: Fifty‐six responses were collected (34 GV, 22 SV, 27 AO and 29 DO), response rate 40%. Response distribution was wide, with median WTP of €40 for ABS, €25 for PD, €10 for OTC, which is close to the drug's real price. Responses were similar for GV and SV. Median WTP amounted to 0.71, 0.67, 0.20% of respondents’ monthly income for the three scenarios, respectively, with a maximum at 10%.
Conclusions: Assessing parents’ WTP in an outpatient setting is difficult, with wide result distribution, but median WTP is close to the real drug price. This finding could be used to promote insurance coverage for this drug.
We present a coherent x-ray diffraction study of the antiferrodistortive displacive transition of SrTiO{sub 3}, a prototypical example of a phase transition for which the critical fluctuations ...exhibit two length scales and two time scales. From the microbeam x-ray coherent diffraction patterns, we show that the broad (short-length scale) and the narrow (long-length scale) components can be spatially disentangled, due to 100-{mu}m-scale spatial variations of the latter. Moreover, both components exhibit a speckle pattern, which is static on a {approx}10 mn time scale. This gives evidence that the narrow component corresponds to static ordered domains. We interpret the speckles in the broad component as due to a very slow dynamical process, corresponding to the well-known central peak seen in inelastic neutron scattering.
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