Exploring Molecular Mechanisms Within Biomedical Literature.

Text mining of the biomedical literature enables vast quantities of information to be extracted and summarised. Here we describe an updated and improved version of previous methodology for the analysis of gene and protein biomarkers that enables the use of the newer Pubtator Central annotations, based in full text, improving the performance using a local SQLite database, that reduces the running time and resources required to perform the analyses facilitating its use in any computer, and expands its capabilities to enable the retrieval and analysis of chemical and metabolic biomarkers.

Particle Size Distributions for Cellulose Nanocrystals Measured by Transmission Electron Microscopy: An Interlaboratory Comparison.

Particle size is a key parameter that must be measured to ensure reproducible production of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and to achieve reliable performance metrics for specific CNC applications. Nevertheless, size measurements for CNCs are challenging due to their broad size distribution, irregular rod-shaped particles, and propensity to aggregate and agglomerate. We report an interlaboratory comparison (ILC) that tests transmission electron microscopy (TEM) protocols for image acquisition and analysis.

Pathogens in ticks collected from dogs in Berlin/Brandenburg, Germany.

Background: Tick-borne diseases are a major health risk for humans and dogs. In addition to collection and analysis of questing ticks, analysis of host-associated ticks for the presence of pathogens is a valuable method to gain insight into transmission patterns of tick-borne diseases.

Methods: Ticks were collected from dogs living in the Berlin/Brandenburg area.

Tick infestation and prophylaxis of dogs in northeastern Germany: a prospective study.

Ticks transmit various important pathogens to humans and animals, and dogs are frequently exposed to tick infestation. The objective of this study was to examine tick infestation and the characteristics of tick prophylaxis of dogs in the Berlin/Brandenburg area. A total of 441 dogs (392 owners) was examined from March 2010 to April 2011.

[Tick infestation and tick prophylaxis in dogs in the area of Berlin/Brandenburg--results of a questionnaire study].

Ticks can transmit different pathogens to humans and animals. Dogs are frequently exposed to tick infestation, which underscores the importance of tick control measures. The objective of this study was to examine the awareness of dog owners regarding tick infestation and tick prophylaxis by a questionnaire survey.

Beyond the medical home: Special Care Family Academy for children and youth.

Children and youth with special health care needs require more health care and related services and consequently incur more costs than other individuals. Implementation of the "medical home" concept has benefitted children with special needs, resulting in fewer unmet medical needs and more consistent health care delivery. As advances in health care have enabled an increasingly higher percentage of children with special needs to live far into adulthood, the transition from adolescence to adulthood poses new challenges in obtaining medical care, education, job training, and employment opportunities.

Dispersibility in water of dried nanocrystalline cellulose.

Dispersibility is important for nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) because recovering the unique suspension and particle properties is essential after the product has been dried for storage or transport. It is our goal to produce dried NCC that redisperses in water to yield colloidal suspensions without the use of additives or a large energy input. In contrast with the as-prepared acidic form of NCC (H-NCC), suspensions of neutral sodium-form NCC (Na-NCC) dried by evaporation, lyophilization, or spray-drying are readily dispersible in water.

Controlling the reflection wavelength of iridescent solid films of nanocrystalline cellulose.

Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) self-assembles in suspension to form iridescent chiral nematic films upon drying that can reflect circularly polarized light at specific wavelengths. Ultrasound treatment has now been found to increase the chiral nematic pitch in suspension and red-shift the reflection wavelength of NCC films as the applied energy increases. Sonication and electrolyte addition combined allow the reflective properties of the film to be predictably tuned.

Specific combinations of HLA-DR2 and DR3 class II haplotypes contribute graded risk for disease susceptibility and autoantibodies in human SLE.

The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) Class II antigen presentation alleles DR and DQ are associated with susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and the production of lupus-related autoantibodies. Here, we explore the effect of different combinations of Class II risk haplotypes in a large, multi-center collection of 780 SLE families. Haplotypes bearing the DRB1*1501/DQB1*0602 (DR2) and DRB1*0301/DQB1*0201 (DR3) alleles were present in nearly two-thirds of SLE cases and were significantly associated with disease susceptibility in both family-based and case-control study designs.

Heritability and expression of C-reactive protein in type 2 diabetes in the Diabetes Heart Study.

Elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) levels are associated with both prevalent and incident cardiovascular disease. In this study, familial aggregation was estimated, and we tested for association between serum CRP levels and polymorphisms within the CRP and APOE genes in sib-ships with type 2 diabetes mellitus, a population at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. CRP levels were determined in 461 diabetes-affected subjects from 224 sibships from the Diabetes Heart Study (DHS).

Surface forces measurements of spin-coated cellulose thin films with different crystallinity.

A systematic study of the surface forces between a cellulose sphere and cellulose thin films of varying crystallinity has been conducted as a function of ionic strength and pH. Semicrystalline cellulose II surfaces and amorphous cellulose films were prepared by spin-coating of the precursor cellulose solutions onto oxidized silicon wafers before regeneration in water. Crystalline cellulose I surfaces were prepared by spin-coating wafers with aqueous suspensions of sulfate-stabilized cellulose I nanocrystals.

Variants of the CD40 gene but not of the CD40L gene are associated with coronary artery calcification in the Diabetes Heart Study (DHS).

Background: CD40/CD40L signaling is known to play an important role in immune response. The proteins are expressed in a variety of cell types and ligation causes cells to produce inflammatory cytokines and cellular adhesion molecules. These processes are implicated in the development and progression of atherosclerosis.

A genome-wide search for quantitative trait loci contributing to variation in seasonal pollen reactivity.

Background: Asthma and atopy represent complex traits for which genetic predisposition has been demonstrated. Pollen sensitivity, whether seasonal or chronic, appears to be a major contributor to the asthmatic phenotype.

Objective: Regions of the genome contributing to skin test reactivity to 5 seasonal allergens are to be identified in a genome-wide scan.

The impact of pedigree structure on heritability estimates for pulse pressure in three studies.

Objectives: Pulse pressure (PP) is a measure of large artery stiffness and has been shown to be an important predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The aims of the present study were to investigate the heritability of PP in three studies, the Diabetes Heart Study (DHS), the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Family Study (IRAS FS), and the NHLBI Family Heart Study (FHS), to estimate the residual heritability after inclusion of a common set of covariates, and to investigate the impact of pedigree structure on estimating heritability.

Methods And Results: DHS is primarily a sibling pair nuclear family study design, while both IRAS FS and FHS have large pedigrees.

P-selectin gene haplotype associations with albuminuria in the Diabetes Heart Study.

Background: Adhesion molecules, such as P-selectin, play a pivotal role in leukocyte adhesion to the endothelium during inflammation. We investigated the relationship between P-selectin gene polymorphisms and albuminuria in 565 European American siblings (84% with type 2 diabetes) from 227 families participating in the Diabetes Heart Study (DHS).

Methods: Three common missense P-selectin polymorphisms (S290N, N562D, and T715P) were genotyped.

T-786C polymorphism of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene is associated with albuminuria in the diabetes heart study.

Albuminuria demonstrates significant heritability in multiply affected hypertensive and diabetic families. The role of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene variants as risk factors for albuminuria was investigated in 590 European American siblings from 230 families in the Diabetes Heart Study. Two polymorphisms in the eNOS gene (T-786C in the promoter region and Glu298Asp in exon 7) were genotyped.

Pericardial and visceral adipose tissues measured volumetrically with computed tomography are highly associated in type 2 diabetic families.

Rationale And Objectives: Pericardial and visceral adipose tissue volumes can provide new insight into the complex relation between obesity, adult-onset diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. We describe a new method for quantifying pericardial adipose tissue volumes with computed tomography (CT), and present its precision and relation to established measures of adiposity.

Methods: Eighty subjects randomly selected from a family study of sibling pairs concordant for type 2 diabetes and unaffected siblings, 69 with diabetes, had 2 cardiac CT scans with electrocardiographic gating and 1 abdominal scan as part of an examination designed to measure calcified atherosclerotic plaque.

A genome scan for ESRD in black families enriched for nondiabetic nephropathy.

Nephropathy is a complex disorder, with predisposition influenced by the interplay of both genetic and environmental factors. As part of an effort to map genes that predispose to ESRD, a genome scan was performed in 264 black pedigrees that contained 296 ESRD-affected sibling pairs using multipoint nonparametric linkage analysis methods. The cause of ESRD in index cases was consistent with hypertension-associated ESRD.

Heritability of GFR and albuminuria in Caucasians with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Background: Elevated urinary albumin excretion and decreased glomerular filtration rate (GFR) are risk factors for cardiovascular death and end-stage renal disease in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM).

Methods: To determine the extent of familial aggregation of GFR and urine albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR), we calculated heritability (h2) estimates by using a variance component approach.

Results: Among 662 participants with DM from 310 families (422 DM-concordant sibling pairs), 51.

A genome-wide scan for type 2 diabetes in African-American families reveals evidence for a locus on chromosome 6q.

African Americans are at increased risk of type 2 diabetes and many diabetes complications. We have carried out a genome-wide scan for African American type 2 diabetes using 638 affected sibling pairs (ASPs) from 247 families ascertained through impaired renal function to identify type 2 diabetes loci in this high-risk population. Of the 638 ASPs, 210 were concordant for diabetes with impaired renal function.

Age-stratified heritability estimation in the Framingham Heart Study families.

The Framingham Heart Study provides a unique source of longitudinal family data related to CVD risk factors. Age-stratified heritability estimates were obtained over three age groups (31-49 years, 50-60 years, and 61-79 years), reflecting the longitudinal nature of the data, for four quantitative traits. Age-adjusted heritability estimates were obtained at a single common time point for the same four quantitative traits.

Age-stratified QTL genome scan analyses for anthropometric measures.

With the availability of longitudinal data, age-specific (stratified) or age-adjusted genetic analyses have the potential to localize different putative trait influencing loci. If age does not influence the locus-specific penetrance function within the range examined, age-stratified analyses will tend to yield comparable results for an individual trait. However, age-stratified results should vary across age strata when the locus-specific penetrance function is age dependent.

Measurement of trabecular bone mineral density in the thoracic spine using cardiac gated quantitative computed tomography.

Objectives: To develop a method and evaluate the performance of thoracic bone mineral density (BMD) measurement using cardiac gated quantitative computed tomography (QCT).

Methods: A total of 762 participants (57% female) with a mean age of 61 years had a CT examination of the heart using prospective cardiac gating. A subset of 443 participants had replicate CT examinations of the heart.

A genome-wide scan for urinary albumin excretion in hypertensive families.

Albuminuria increases the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with essential hypertension and diabetic subjects. The heritability (h2) of albuminuria in multiplex hypertensive families is unknown. We calculated the familial aggregation of urine albumin:creatinine ratio (ACR) and performed a genome-wide scan to assess for loci contributing to ACR in participants enrolled in the Hypertension Genetic Epidemiology Network (HyperGEN).