Global survey of genetic variation in CCR5, RANTES, and MIP-1α: Impact on the epidemiology of the HIV-1 pandemic

Expression of CC chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5), the major coreceptor for HIV-1 cell entry, and its ligands (e.g., RANTES and MIP-1α) is widely regarded as central to the pathogenesis of HIV-1 infection. By surveying nearly 3,000 HIV+ and HIV− individuals from worldwide populations for polymorphisms in the genes encoding RANTES, MIP-1α, and CCR5, we show that the evolutionary histories of human populations have had a significant impact on the distribution of variation in these genes, and that this may be responsible, in part, for the heterogeneous nature of the epidemiology of the HIV-1 pandemic. The varied distribution of RANTES haplotypes (AC, GC, and AG) associated with population-specific HIV-1 transmission- and disease-modifying effects is a striking example. Homozygosity for the AC haplotype was associated with an increased risk of acquiring HIV-1 as well as accelerated disease progression in European Americans, but not in African Americans. Yet, the prevalence of the ancestral AC haplotype is high in individuals of African origin, but substantially lower in non-Africans. In a Japanese cohort, AG-containing RANTES haplotype pairs were associated with a delay in disease progression; however, we now show that their contribution to HIV-1 pathogenesis and epidemiology in other parts of the world is negligible because the AG haplotype is infrequent in non-Far East Asians. Thus, the varied distribution of RANTES, MIP-1α, and CCR5 haplotype pairs and their population-specific phenotypic effects on HIV-1 susceptibility and disease progression results in a complex pattern of biological determinants of HIV-1 epidemiology. These findings have important implications for the design, assessment, and implementation of effective HIV-1 intervention and prevention strategies.

A brief survey of symmetry in mathematics

This paper presents a brief survey of the idea of symmetry in mathematics, as exemplified by some particular developments in algebra, differential equations, topology, and number theory.

The Gaia-ESO Survey: processing FLAMES-UVES spectra

The Gaia-ESO Survey is a large public spectroscopic survey that aims to derive radial velocities and fundamental parameters of about 105 Milky Way stars in the field and in clusters. Observations are carried out with the multi-object optical spectrograph FLAMES, using simultaneously the medium-resolution (R ~ 20 000) GIRAFFE spectrograph and the high-resolution (R ~ 47 000) UVES spectrograph. In this paper we describe the methods and the software used for the data reduction, the derivation of the radial velocities, and the quality control of the FLAMES-UVES spectra. Data reduction has been performed using a workflow specifically developed for this project. This workflow runs the ESO public pipeline optimizing the data reduction for the Gaia-ESO Survey, automatically performs sky subtraction, barycentric correction and normalisation, and calculates radial velocities and a first guess of the rotational velocities. The quality control is performed using the output parameters from the ESO pipeline, by a visual inspection of the spectra and by the analysis of the signal-to-noise ratio of the spectra. Using the observations of the first 18 months, specifically targets observed multiple times at different epochs, stars observed with both GIRAFFE and UVES, and observations of radial velocity standards, we estimated the precision and the accuracy of the radial velocities. The statistical error on the radial velocities is σ ~ 0.4 km s-1 and is mainly due to uncertainties in the zero point of the wavelength calibration. However, we found a systematic bias with respect to the GIRAFFE spectra (~0.9 km s-1) and to the radial velocities of the standard stars (~0.5 km s-1) retrieved from the literature. This bias will be corrected in the future data releases, when a common zero point for all the set-ups and instruments used for the survey is be established.

The Gaia-ESO Survey: radial metallicity gradients and age-metallicity relation of stars in the Milky Way disk

We study the relationship between age, metallicity, and α-enhancement of FGK stars in the Galactic disk. The results are based upon the analysis of high-resolution UVES spectra from the Gaia-ESO large stellar survey. We explore the limitations of the observed dataset, i.e. the accuracy of stellar parameters and the selection effects that are caused by the photometric target preselection. We find that the colour and magnitude cuts in the survey suppress old metal-rich stars and young metal-poor stars. This suppression may be as high as 97% in some regions of the age-metallicity relationship. The dataset consists of 144 stars with a wide range of ages from 0.5 Gyr to 13.5 Gyr, Galactocentric distances from 6 kpcto 9.5 kpc, and vertical distances from the plane 0 < |Z| < 1.5 kpc. On this basis, we find that i) the observed age-metallicity relation is nearly flat in the range of ages between 0 Gyr and 8 Gyr; ii) at ages older than 9 Gyr, we see a decrease in [Fe/H] and a clear absence of metal-rich stars; this cannot be explained by the survey selection functions; iii) there is a significant scatter of [Fe/H] at any age; and iv) [Mg/Fe] increases with age, but the dispersion of [Mg/Fe] at ages >9 Gyr is not as small as advocated by some other studies. In agreement with earlier work, we find that radial abundance gradients change as a function of vertical distance from the plane. The [Mg/Fe] gradient steepens and becomes negative. In addition, we show that the inner disk is not only more α-rich compared to the outer disk, but also older, as traced independently by the ages and Mg abundances of stars.

Self-rated health and hospital services use in the Spanish National Health System: a longitudinal study

Background: Self-rated health is a subjective measure that has been related to indicators such as mortality, morbidity, functional capacity, and the use of health services. In Spain, there are few longitudinal studies associating self-rated health with hospital services use. The purpose of this study is to analyze the association between self-rated health and socioeconomic, demographic, and health variables, and the use of hospital services among the general population in the Region of Valencia, Spain. Methods: Longitudinal study of 5,275 adults who were included in the 2005 Region of Valencia Health Survey and linked to the Minimum Hospital Data Set between 2006 and 2009. Logistic regression models were used to calculate the odds ratios between use of hospital services and self-rated health, sex, age, educational level, employment status, income, country of birth, chronic conditions, disability and previous use of hospital services. Results: By the end of a 4-year follow-up period, 1,184 participants (22.4 %) had used hospital services. Use of hospital services was associated with poor self-rated health among both men and women. In men, it was also associated with unemployment, low income, and the presence of a chronic disease. In women, it was associated with low educational level, the presence of a disability, previous hospital services use, and the presence of chronic disease. Interactions were detected between self-rated health and chronic disease in men and between self-rated health and educational level in women. Conclusions: Self-rated health acts as a predictor of hospital services use. Various health and socioeconomic variables provide additional predictive capacity. Interactions were detected between self-rated health and other variables that may reflect different complex predictive models, by gender.

Ichthyoplankton and station data for California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations survey cruises in ...

no.81 (1987:Sept.)

Ichthyoplankton and station data for California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations survey cruises in ...

no.84 (1987:Sept.)

Ichthyoplankton and station data for California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations survey cruises in ...

no.112 (1988)

Ichthyoplankton and station data for California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations survey cruises in ...

no.99 (1988:Jan.)

The distribution of debt across euro area countries : The role of individual characteristics, institutions and credit conditions. National Bank of Belgium Working Paper No. 252, December 2013

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we present an up-to-date assessment of the differences across euro area countries in the distributions of various measures of debt conditional on household characteristics. We consider three different outcomes: the probability of holding debt, the amount of debt held and, in the case of secured debt, the interest rate paid on the main mortgage. Second, we examine the role of legal and economic institutions in accounting for these differences. We use data from the first wave of a new survey of household finances, the Household Finance and Consumption Survey, to achieve these aims. We find that the patterns of secured and unsecured debt outcomes vary markedly across countries. Among all the institutions considered, the length of asset repossession periods best accounts for the features of the distribution of secured debt. In countries with longer repossession periods, the fraction of people who borrow is smaller, the youngest group of households borrow lower amounts (conditional on borrowing), and the mortgage interest rates paid by low-income households are higher. Regulatory loan-to-value ratios, the taxation of mortgages and the prevalence of interest-only or fixed-rate mortgages deliver less robust results.

Macroeconomics, economic crisis and electoral outcomes: A national European pool

An abundance of comparative survey research argues the presence of economic voting as an individual force in European elections, thereby refuting a possible ecological fallacy. But the hypothesis of economic voting at the aggregate level, with macroeconomics influencing overall electoral outcomes, seems less sure. Indeed, there might be a micrological fallacy at work, with the supposed individual economic vote effect not adding up to a national electoral effect after all. Certainly that would account for the spotty evidence linking macroeconomics and national election outcomes. We examine the possibility of a micrological fallacy through rigorous analysis of a large time-series cross-sectional dataset of European nations. From these results, it becomes clear that the macroeconomy strongly moves national election outcomes, with hard times punishing governing parties, and good times rewarding them. Further, this economy-election connection appears asymmetric, altering under economic crisis. Indeed, we show that economic crisis, defined as negative growth, has much greater electoral effects than positive economic growth. Hard times clearly make governments more accountable to their electorates.

Searching for solutions: a policy discussion series. Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey Symposium. Proceedings.

Federal Highway Administration, Office of Highway Policy Information, Washington, D.C.

The urban noise survey /

Mode of access: Internet.

1993-94 schools and staffing survey : sample design and estimation /

"NCES 96-089."

NELS:88 survey item evaluation report /

"NCES 97-052."