Novel genetic susceptibility loci for diabetic end-stage renal disease identified through robust naive Bayes classification

Aims/hypothesis: Diabetic nephropathy is a major diabetic complication, and diabetes is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Family studies suggest a hereditary component for diabetic nephropathy. However, only a few genes have been associated with diabetic nephropathy or ESRD in diabetic patients. Our aim was to detect novel genetic variants associated with diabetic nephropathy and ESRD. Methods: We exploited a novel algorithm, ‘Bag of Naive Bayes’, whose marker selection strategy is complementary to that of conventional genome-wide association models based on univariate association tests. The analysis was performed on a genome-wide association study of 3,464 patients with type 1 diabetes from the Finnish Diabetic Nephropathy (FinnDiane) Study and subsequently replicated with 4,263 type 1 diabetes patients from the Steno Diabetes Centre, the All Ireland-Warren 3-Genetics of Kidneys in Diabetes UK collection (UK–Republic of Ireland) and the Genetics of Kidneys in Diabetes US Study (GoKinD US). Results: Five genetic loci (WNT4/ZBTB40-rs12137135, RGMA/MCTP2-rs17709344, MAPRE1P2-rs1670754, SEMA6D/SLC24A5-rs12917114 and SIK1-rs2838302) were associated with ESRD in the FinnDiane study. An association between ESRD and rs17709344, tagging the previously identified rs12437854 and located between the RGMA and MCTP2 genes, was replicated in independent case–control cohorts. rs12917114 near SEMA6D was associated with ESRD in the replication cohorts under the genotypic model (p < 0.05), and rs12137135 upstream of WNT4 was associated with ESRD in Steno. Conclusions/interpretation: This study supports the previously identified findings on the RGMA/MCTP2 region and suggests novel susceptibility loci for ESRD. This highlights the importance of applying complementary statistical methods to detect novel genetic variants in diabetic nephropathy and, in general, in complex diseases.

The Complete Works of John Milton: Volume III: The Shorter Poems (826pp.)

Stephen B. Dobranski, Milton Quarterly 49.3 (October, 2015), 181-4:

'By addressing classical and neo-Latin works with which Milton's poems appear to engage, Haan has pursued something unattempted yet. Her erudite and engaging commentary on the Poemata is the most extensive and impressive that I have encountered in any edition ... Haan's discussion of Milton's Poemata - including the Testimonia, the one Italian and four Latin encomia by the poet's acquaintances published in 1645 and 1673 - is remarkably detailed and well-researched. In these sections, readers learn, for example, how Milton's Epitaphium Damonis borrows from both classical writers (Theocritus, Moschus) and contemporary models (Castiglione, Zanchi) while transcending all of them through a pattern of resurrection motifs. Or, readers can discover affinities between Milton's lament on the death of the Bishop of Ely and a poem by the Italian humanist Hieronymo Aleander, Jr., or learn about the connections between Milton's Elegia Quinta and George Buchanan's Maiae Calendae ... The Shorter Poems is a scholarly achievement of the highest order.'

Noam Reisner, Review of English Studies 65 (2014), 744-5:
‘Haan shines with her Neo-Latinist expertise by offering a vivid separate introduction to the Latin poems, which sets up Milton’s poemata specifically within the Neo-Latin contexts of the seventeenth century, thereby dispelling any remaining view of these poems as juvenilia (a view which results from reading the poems chronologically). … The present volume will instantly establish itself as the definitive resource for any reader interested in Milton’s shorter poems, and it is scarcely imaginable that it will ever be eclipsed or be in need of replacing. Its contribution is important in all areas, especially in providing for the first time in a single volume truly valuable documents which can teach us a lot more about Milton’s poetic development than simply reading the poems in chronological sequence. But perhaps, this edition’s greatest achievement is the way in which it succeeds in giving Milton’s Latin poems the pride of place they have long deserved as fully integral to Milton’s complete poetic imagination. Haan’s specific achievement in this regard is less in updating the translations than in providing a different context through which to look at the Latin poems themselves. Haan’s detailed commentaries set the Latin poems in a completely fresh light which looks beyond the obvious classical references and allusions, noted by Carey and many other editors, to Milton’s complex engagement with the Neo-Latin literary culture of his time. It is this aspect of the volume, more than anything else, which vindicates its essentialness.'

Simultaneous cellulose conversion and hydrogen production assisted by cellulose decomposition under UV-light photocatalysis

Photocatalytic conversion of cellulose to sugars and carbon dioxide with simultaneous production of hydrogen assisted by cellulose decomposition under UV or solar light irradiation was achieved upon immobilization of cellulose onto a TiO2 photocatalyst. This approach enables production of hydrogen from water without using valuable sacrificial agents, and provides the possibility for recovering sugars as liquid fuels.