Aspirationen i irsk : en sproghistorisk undersogelse. Forste del. Med et tilleg: theser til den indoevropaeske sproghistorie.

Thesis (doctoral)--Kobenhavn.

The epidemiology and genetics of smoking initiation and persistence: Crosscultural comparisons of twin study results

We examined whether there are crosscultural differences in the magnitude of genetic and environmental contributions to risk of becoming a regular smoker and of persistence in smoking in men and women. Standard methods of epidemiologic and genetic analysis were applied to questionnaire data on history of cigarette use obtained from large samples of male and female like-sex twins from three different countries: Australia (N = 2284 pairs), Sweden (N = 8651 pairs), and Finland (N = 10,948 pairs). Samples were subdivided into three age groups (AG), 18-25 years, 26-35 years, and 36-46 years of age. The magnitude of genetic influence for lifetime smoking was found to be consistent across country and AG for women (46%) and men (57%), and estimates of the contribution from environmental influences shared by twin and co-twin could be equated across all countries by AG for the women (from youngest to oldest AG: 45%, 35%, and 26%), but not for men, with separate estimates obtained for the Scandinavian (33%, 29%, and 19%) and the Australian men (26%, 9%, and 11 %). There was no evidence for an important role for shared environmental influences on persistent smoking, and the genetic contribution was found to be consistent in magnitude in men and women, and the same across country and AG (52%). There are strong genetic influences on smoking behavior, and that risk of becoming a smoker (but not persistence in smoking) may be modified by experiences shared by twins that differ by AG and, at least for men, cultural background.

Sequence variation in the proximity of IDE may impact age at onset of both Parkinson disease and Alzheimer disease

We recently reported that a linkage disequilibrium (LD) block on chromosome 10q encompassing the gene encoding insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE) harbors sequence variants that associate with Alzheimer disease (AD). Evidence also indicated effects upon a number of quantitative indices of AD severity, including age-at-onset (AAO). Since linkage of this immediate region to AAO has been shown in both AD and Parkinson disease (PD), we have explored the possibility that polymorphism within this LD block might also influence PD. Utilizing single nucleotide polymorphisms that delineate common haplotypes from this region, we observed significant evidence of association with AAO in an Australian PD case-control sample. Analyses were complemented with AAO data from two independent Swedish AD case samples, for which previously reported findings were replicated. Results were consistent between AD and PD, suggesting the presence of equivalent detrimental and protective alleles. These data highlight a genomic region in the proximity of IDE that may contribute to AD and PD in a similar manner.

Clinical practice guidelines for the psychosocial care of adults with cancer

Clinical practice guidelines are increasingly being developed in medical settings to provide evidence-based recommendations to guide the clinical care of patients. The development of Clinical practice guidelines for the psychosocial care of patients with medical illness is a newer initiative, and more complex as the target audience includes health care professionals from diverse backgrounds. In Australia, the National Breast Cancer Centre and National Cancer Control Initiative have collaborated to develop Clinical practice guidelines for the psychosocial care of adults with cancer, funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. This paper outlines the development of these guidelines in the international context, gives an overview of their content, and describes strategies for their implementation and evaluation. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley C Sons, Ltd.

Purification and partial characterisation of recombinant human hepcidin

Hepcidin is a liver-expressed antimicrobial and iron regulatory peptide. A number of studies have indicated that hepcidin is important for the correct regulation of body iron homeostasis. The aims of this study were to analyse the expression, trafficking and regulation of human hepcidin in an in vitro cell culture system. Human hepcidin was transfected into human embryonic kidney cells. Immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy analysis revealed that recombinant hepcidin localised to the Golgi complex. Recombinant hepcidin is secreted from the cell within 1 h of its synthesis. Recombinant hepcidin was purified from the cell culture medium using ion-exchange and metal-affinity chromatography and was active in antimicrobial assays. Amino-terminal sequence analysis of the secreted peptide revealed that it was the mature 25 amino acid form of hepcidin. Our results show that recombinant myc-His tagged human hepcidin was expressed, processed and secreted correctly and biologically active in antimicrobial assays. (C) 2005 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

Genetic Influences on Exercise Participation in 37.051 Twin Pairs from Seven Countries

Background A sedentary lifestyle remains a major threat to health in contemporary societies. To get more insight in the relative contribution of genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in exercise participation, twin samples from seven countries participating in the GenomEUtwin project were used. Methodology Self-reported data on leisure time exercise behavior from Australia, Denmark, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and United Kingdom were used to create a comparable index of exercise participation in each country (60 minutes weekly at a minimum intensity of four metabolic equivalents). Principal Findings Modest geographical variation in exercise participation was revealed in 85,198 subjects, aged 19–40 years. Modeling of monozygotic and dizygotic twin resemblance showed that genetic effects play an important role in explaining individual differences in exercise participation in each country. Shared environmental effects played no role except for Norwegian males. Heritability of exercise participation in males and females was similar and ranged from 48% to 71% (excluding Norwegian males). Conclusions Genetic variation is important in individual exercise behavior and may involve genes influencing the acute mood effects of exercise, high exercise ability, high weight loss ability, and personality. This collaborative study suggests that attempts to find genes influencing exercise participation can pool exercise data across multiple countries and different instruments

Parsing Arabic relative clauses: A paninian dependency grammar approach

We present an approach to parsing rehive clauses in Arabic in the tradition of the Paninian Grammar Frumework/2] which leads to deriving U common logicul form for equivalent sentences. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of resumptive pronouns in the retrieval of syntuctico-semantic relationships. The analysis arises from the development of a lexicalised dependency grammar for Arabic that has application for machine translation.

Does nuclear tissue infected with bacteria following disc herniations lead to Modic changes in the adjacent vertebrae?

Purpose To investigate the prevalence of infected herniated nucleus material in lumbar disc herniations and to determine if patients with an anaerobic infected disc are more likely to develop Modic change (MC) (bone oedema) in the adjacent vertebrae after the disc herniation. MCs (bone oedema) in vertebrae are observed in 6 % of the general population and in 35-40 % of people with low back pain. These changes are strongly associated with low back pain. There are probably a mechanical cause and an infective cause that causes MC. Several studies on nuclear tissue from herniated discs have demonstrated the presence of low virulent anaerobic microorganisms, predominantly Propionibacterium acnes, in 7-53 % of patients. At the time of a herniation these low virulent anaerobic bacteria may enter the disc and give rise to an insidious infection. Local inflammation in the adjacent bone may be a secondary effect due to cytokine and propionic acid production. Methods Patients undergoing primary surgery at a single spinal level for lumbar disc herniation with an MRI-confirmed lumbar disc herniation, where the annular fibres were penetrated by visible nuclear tissue, had the nucleus material removed. Stringent antiseptic sterile protocols were followed. Results Sixty-one patients were included, mean age 46.4 years (SD 9.7), 27 % female. All patients were immunocompetent. No patient had received a previous epidural steroid injection or undergone previous back surgery. In total, microbiological cultures were positive in 28 (46 %) patients. Anaerobic cultures were positive in 26 (43 %) patients, and of these 4 (7 %) had dual microbial infections, containing both one aerobic and one anaerobic culture. No tissue specimens had more than two types of bacteria identified. Two (3 %) cultures only had aerobic bacteria isolated. In the discs with a nucleus with anaerobic bacteria, 80 % developed new MC in the vertebrae adjacent to the previous disc herniation. In contrast, none of those with aerobic bacteria and only 44 % of patients with negative cultures developed new MC. The association between an anaerobic culture and new MCs is highly statistically significant (P = 0.0038), with an odds ratio of 5.60 (95 % CI 1.51-21.95). Conclusion These findings support the theory that the occurrence of MCs Type 1 in the vertebrae adjacent to a previously herniated disc may be due to oedema surrounding an infected disc. The discs infected with anaerobic bacteria were more likely (P<0.0038) to develop MCs in the adjacent vertebrae than those in which no bacteria were found or those in which aerobic bacteria were found. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.