ALBERT

Description: Infectious and inflammatory diseases have repeatedly shown strong genetic associations within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC); however, the basis for these associations remains elusive. To define host genetic effects on the outcome of a chronic viral infection, we performed genome-wide association analysis in a multiethnic cohort of HIV-1 controllers and progressors, and we analyzed the effects of individual amino acids within the classical human leukocyte antigen (HLA) proteins. We identified 〉300 genome-wide significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the MHC and none elsewhere. Specific amino acids in the HLA-B peptide binding groove, as well as an independent HLA-C effect, explain the SNP associations and reconcile both protective and risk HLA alleles. These results implicate the nature of the HLA-viral peptide interaction as the major factor modulating durable control of HIV infection.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3235490/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3235490/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉International HIV Controllers Study -- Pereyra, Florencia -- Jia, Xiaoming -- McLaren, Paul J -- Telenti, Amalio -- de Bakker, Paul I W -- Walker, Bruce D -- Ripke, Stephan -- Brumme, Chanson J -- Pulit, Sara L -- Carrington, Mary -- Kadie, Carl M -- Carlson, Jonathan M -- Heckerman, David -- Graham, Robert R -- Plenge, Robert M -- Deeks, Steven G -- Gianniny, Lauren -- Crawford, Gabriel -- Sullivan, Jordan -- Gonzalez, Elena -- Davies, Leela -- Camargo, Amy -- Moore, Jamie M -- Beattie, Nicole -- Gupta, Supriya -- Crenshaw, Andrew -- Burtt, Noel P -- Guiducci, Candace -- Gupta, Namrata -- Gao, Xiaojiang -- Qi, Ying -- Yuki, Yuko -- Piechocka-Trocha, Alicja -- Cutrell, Emily -- Rosenberg, Rachel -- Moss, Kristin L -- Lemay, Paul -- O'Leary, Jessica -- Schaefer, Todd -- Verma, Pranshu -- Toth, Ildiko -- Block, Brian -- Baker, Brett -- Rothchild, Alissa -- Lian, Jeffrey -- Proudfoot, Jacqueline -- Alvino, Donna Marie L -- Vine, Seanna -- Addo, Marylyn M -- Allen, Todd M -- Altfeld, Marcus -- Henn, Matthew R -- Le Gall, Sylvie -- Streeck, Hendrik -- Haas, David W -- Kuritzkes, Daniel R -- Robbins, Gregory K -- Shafer, Robert W -- Gulick, Roy M -- Shikuma, Cecilia M -- Haubrich, Richard -- Riddler, Sharon -- Sax, Paul E -- Daar, Eric S -- Ribaudo, Heather J -- Agan, Brian -- Agarwal, Shanu -- Ahern, Richard L -- Allen, Brady L -- Altidor, Sherly -- Altschuler, Eric L -- Ambardar, Sujata -- Anastos, Kathryn -- Anderson, Ben -- Anderson, Val -- Andrady, Ushan -- Antoniskis, Diana -- Bangsberg, David -- Barbaro, Daniel -- Barrie, William -- Bartczak, J -- Barton, Simon -- Basden, Patricia -- Basgoz, Nesli -- Bazner, Suzane -- Bellos, Nicholaos C -- Benson, Anne M -- Berger, Judith -- Bernard, Nicole F -- Bernard, Annette M -- Birch, Christopher -- Bodner, Stanley J -- Bolan, Robert K -- Boudreaux, Emilie T -- Bradley, Meg -- Braun, James F -- Brndjar, Jon E -- Brown, Stephen J -- Brown, Katherine -- Brown, Sheldon T -- Burack, Jedidiah -- Bush, Larry M -- Cafaro, Virginia -- Campbell, Omobolaji -- Campbell, John -- Carlson, Robert H -- Carmichael, J Kevin -- Casey, Kathleen K -- Cavacuiti, Chris -- Celestin, Gregory -- Chambers, Steven T -- Chez, Nancy -- Chirch, Lisa M -- Cimoch, Paul J -- Cohen, Daniel -- Cohn, Lillian E -- Conway, Brian -- Cooper, David A -- Cornelson, Brian -- Cox, David T -- Cristofano, Michael V -- Cuchural, George Jr -- Czartoski, Julie L -- Dahman, Joseph M -- Daly, Jennifer S -- Davis, Benjamin T -- Davis, Kristine -- Davod, Sheila M -- DeJesus, Edwin -- Dietz, Craig A -- Dunham, Eleanor -- Dunn, Michael E -- Ellerin, Todd B -- Eron, Joseph J -- Fangman, John J W -- Farel, Claire E -- Ferlazzo, Helen -- Fidler, Sarah -- Fleenor-Ford, Anita -- Frankel, Renee -- Freedberg, Kenneth A -- French, Neel K -- Fuchs, Jonathan D -- Fuller, Jon D -- Gaberman, Jonna -- Gallant, Joel E -- Gandhi, Rajesh T -- Garcia, Efrain -- Garmon, Donald -- Gathe, Joseph C Jr -- Gaultier, Cyril R -- Gebre, Wondwoosen -- Gilman, Frank D -- Gilson, Ian -- Goepfert, Paul A -- Gottlieb, Michael S -- Goulston, Claudia -- Groger, Richard K -- Gurley, T Douglas -- Haber, Stuart -- Hardwicke, Robin -- Hardy, W David -- Harrigan, P Richard -- Hawkins, Trevor N -- Heath, Sonya -- Hecht, Frederick M -- Henry, W Keith -- Hladek, Melissa -- Hoffman, Robert P -- Horton, James M -- Hsu, Ricky K -- Huhn, Gregory D -- Hunt, Peter -- Hupert, Mark J -- Illeman, Mark L -- Jaeger, Hans -- Jellinger, Robert M -- John, Mina -- Johnson, Jennifer A -- Johnson, Kristin L -- Johnson, Heather -- Johnson, Kay -- Joly, Jennifer -- Jordan, Wilbert C -- Kauffman, Carol A -- Khanlou, Homayoon -- Killian, Robert K -- Kim, Arthur Y -- Kim, David D -- Kinder, Clifford A -- Kirchner, Jeffrey T -- Kogelman, Laura -- Kojic, Erna Milunka -- Korthuis, P Todd -- Kurisu, Wayne -- Kwon, Douglas S -- LaMar, Melissa -- Lampiris, Harry -- Lanzafame, Massimiliano -- Lederman, Michael M -- Lee, David M -- Lee, Jean M L -- Lee, Marah J -- Lee, Edward T Y -- Lemoine, Janice -- Levy, Jay A -- Llibre, Josep M -- Liguori, Michael A -- Little, Susan J -- Liu, Anne Y -- Lopez, Alvaro J -- Loutfy, Mono R -- Loy, Dawn -- Mohammed, Debbie Y -- Man, Alan -- Mansour, Michael K -- Marconi, Vincent C -- Markowitz, Martin -- Marques, Rui -- Martin, Jeffrey N -- Martin, Harold L Jr -- Mayer, Kenneth Hugh -- McElrath, M Juliana -- McGhee, Theresa A -- McGovern, Barbara H -- McGowan, Katherine -- McIntyre, Dawn -- Mcleod, Gavin X -- Menezes, Prema -- Mesa, Greg -- Metroka, Craig E -- Meyer-Olson, Dirk -- Miller, Andy O -- Montgomery, Kate -- Mounzer, Karam C -- Nagami, Ellen H -- Nagin, Iris -- Nahass, Ronald G -- Nelson, Margret O -- Nielsen, Craig -- Norene, David L -- O'Connor, David H -- Ojikutu, Bisola O -- Okulicz, Jason -- Oladehin, Olakunle O -- Oldfield, Edward C 3rd -- Olender, Susan A -- Ostrowski, Mario -- Owen, William F Jr -- Pae, Eunice -- Parsonnet, Jeffrey -- Pavlatos, Andrew M -- Perlmutter, Aaron M -- Pierce, Michael N -- Pincus, Jonathan M -- Pisani, Leandro -- Price, Lawrence Jay -- Proia, Laurie -- Prokesch, Richard C -- Pujet, Heather Calderon -- Ramgopal, Moti -- Rathod, Almas -- Rausch, Michael -- Ravishankar, J -- Rhame, Frank S -- Richards, Constance Shamuyarira -- Richman, Douglas D -- Rodes, Berta -- Rodriguez, Milagros -- Rose, Richard C 3rd -- Rosenberg, Eric S -- Rosenthal, Daniel -- Ross, Polly E -- Rubin, David S -- Rumbaugh, Elease -- Saenz, Luis -- Salvaggio, Michelle R -- Sanchez, William C -- Sanjana, Veeraf M -- Santiago, Steven -- Schmidt, Wolfgang -- Schuitemaker, Hanneke -- Sestak, Philip M -- Shalit, Peter -- Shay, William -- Shirvani, Vivian N -- Silebi, Vanessa I -- Sizemore, James M Jr -- Skolnik, Paul R -- Sokol-Anderson, Marcia -- Sosman, James M -- Stabile, Paul -- Stapleton, Jack T -- Starrett, Sheree -- Stein, Francine -- Stellbrink, Hans-Jurgen -- Sterman, F Lisa -- Stone, Valerie E -- Stone, David R -- Tambussi, Giuseppe -- Taplitz, Randy A -- Tedaldi, Ellen M -- Theisen, William -- Torres, Richard -- Tosiello, Lorraine -- Tremblay, Cecile -- Tribble, Marc A -- Trinh, Phuong D -- Tsao, Alice -- Ueda, Peggy -- Vaccaro, Anthony -- Valadas, Emilia -- Vanig, Thanes J -- Vecino, Isabel -- Vega, Vilma M -- Veikley, Wenoah -- Wade, Barbara H -- Walworth, Charles -- Wanidworanun, Chingchai -- Ward, Douglas J -- Warner, Daniel A -- Weber, Robert D -- Webster, Duncan -- Weis, Steve -- Wheeler, David A -- White, David J -- Wilkins, Ed -- Winston, Alan -- Wlodaver, Clifford G -- van't Wout, Angelique -- Wright, David P -- Yang, Otto O -- Yurdin, David L -- Zabukovic, Brandon W -- Zachary, Kimon C -- Zeeman, Beth -- Zhao, Meng -- AI030914/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI068636/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069415/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069419/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069423/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069424/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069428/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069432/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069434/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069450/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069452/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069465/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069471/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069472/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069474/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069477/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069484/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069495/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069501/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069502/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069511/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069513/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069532/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI069556/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI077505/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI087145/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI25859/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI27661/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI28568/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI30914/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI34835/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI34853/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI38844/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI46370/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI68634/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AI69467/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- AL32782/PHS HHS/ -- HHSN261200800001E/PHS HHS/ -- K23 DA019809/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- K24 AI051966/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- K24 AI064086/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- K24 AI064086-05/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- K24 AI069994/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- K24 AI069994-04/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- K24 AI069994-05/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- K24AI069994/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- KL2 RR024977/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- MH071205/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- MH085520/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- P-30 AI27763/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- P-30-AI060354/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- P30 AI027763/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- P30 AI027763-19/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- P30 AI027763-20/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- P30 AI050410/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- P30 AI060354/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- P30 AI060354-08/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- P30 AI060354-09/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- 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HHS/ -- U01 AI069484-06/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069495/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069495-05/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069495-06/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069501/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069501-05/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069501-06/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069502/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069502-05/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069502-06/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069511/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069511-05/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069511-06/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069513-05/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069513-06/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069532/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069532-05/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069532-06/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069556-05/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 AI069556-06/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U01 MH085520/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- U01 MH085520-01/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- UL1 RR024131/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- UL1 RR024131-06/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- UL1 RR024131-07/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- UL1 RR024975/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- UL1 RR024975-04/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- UL1 RR024975-05/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- UM1 AI068634/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- UM1 AI068634-06/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- UM1 AI068634-07/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- UM1 AI068636-06/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- UM1 AI068636-07/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- UM1 AI069477/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- Intramural NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2010 Dec 10;330(6010):1551-7. doi: 10.1126/science.1195271. Epub 2010 Nov 4.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard, Boston, MA, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21051598" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Japan's chief cabinet secretary called it “the devil's scenario.” Two weeks after the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami devastated the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, causing three nuclear reactors to melt down and release radioactive plumes, officials were bracing for even worse. They feared that spent fuel stored in pools in the reactor halls would catch fire and might send radioactive smoke across a much wider swath of eastern Japan, including Tokyo. Thanks to a lucky break detailed in a report released last week by the U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, Japan dodged that bullet. But the report warns that spent fuel accumulating at U.S. nuclear plants is also vulnerable. Unpublished modeling presents chilling scenarios for a hypothetical spent fuel fire at the Peach Bottom nuclear power plant in southeastern Pennsylvania. Author: Richard Stone

Description: Russian President Vladimir Putin has signaled that a day of reckoning has arrived for Russian science. Presiding over a meeting of the Presidential Council for Science and Education in the Kremlin on 21 January, Putin noted that 150 institutes in Russia account for a vast majority of the nation's scientific output. In the coming months, scores of weaker institutes are expected to be axed or merged. Russia's science leaders say that scientists who lose their jobs—the number will be in the thousands, sources say—will not simply be tossed out on the street. Some would go into early retirement, whereas others may receive severance pay or retraining. At the same time, the government is showering riches on a few research centers with sterling track records or more political clout. Author: Richard Stone

Description: In 2011, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology surprised many education observers by teaming up with Russia to found a new U.S.-style research university. Many Russian scientists looked on with envy as the federal government poured tens of millions of dollars into the Skolkovo Institute of Technology (Skoltech), part of a high-tech park on Moscow's outskirts that was a pet project of former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Skoltech is still seeking to live up to its promise. The university is a beacon for the Russian diaspora: Russian returnees comprise nearly half the faculty. But Russia's deteriorating relations with the West have hampered efforts to recruit non-Russian faculty, and its hobbled economy is pinching funding. Author: Richard Stone

Description: When Russia's Mars-96 exploration mission broke apart after launch in November 1996, the loss cast a pall over Russian space science. Now, Russia is hoping to dispel that pall with its biggest slate of lunar and planetary missions since the early 1970s. In January, the Russian government approved a 10-year, $20.5 billion plan crafted by Russia's space agency, RosCosmos, covering everything from contributions to the International Space Station to weather and navigation satellites and human space exploration. About 15% of the spending would go to basic physics in space. But Russia's economic woes are threatening to drag its space science revival back to Earth. Author: Richard Stone

Description: As the European Union and the United States imposed escalating sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Crimea in March 2014, science collaborations with institutions on the Black Sea peninsula foundered. Last year, the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences issued a decree barring its scientists from working with colleagues in Crimea. Scientists who remain in Crimea now face huge hurdles when seeking visas to the West—but they have received a warm embrace from Russia. For example, researchers at two institutes in Sevastopol are joining Russia-led marine expeditions. And the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory got Russian funding this year to purchase a pair of 70-centimeter telescopes that will search for dangerous near-Earth asteroids. Author: Richard Stone

Description: 〈p〉Operation Reinhard (1942–1943) was the largest single murder campaign of the Holocaust, during which some 1.7 million Jews from German-occupied Poland were murdered by the Nazis. Most perished in gas chambers at the death camps Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka. However, the tempo, kill rates, and spatial dynamics of these events were poorly documented. Using an unusual dataset originating from railway transportation records, this study identifies an extreme phase of hyperintense killing when 〉1.47 million Jews—more than 25% of the Jews killed in all 6 years of World War II—were murdered by the Nazis in an intense,100-day (~3-month) surge. Operation Reinhard is shown to be an extreme event, based on kill rate, number, and proportion (〉99.9%) of the population murdered in camps, highlighting its singularly violent character, even compared to other more recent genocides. The Holocaust kill rate is some 10 times higher than estimates suggested by authorities on comparative genocide.〈/p〉

Description: U.S. researchers have finally overcome a little-known legacy of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks: a dire shortage of helium-3 (He-3). The rare isotope has unique properties that make it invaluable for applications from cryogenics to detecting hidden nuclear bomb material. But in 2008, experts feared that the U.S. stockpile, managed by the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Isotope Program, would run out as early as 2010, as terrorism fears drove up demand for detectors of nuclear material. DOE curtailed He-3 sales while it and other agencies raced to find He-3 alternatives. Observers hail the effort as a remarkable success. A dozen alternatives are in the pipeline or already on the market, and the He-3 stockpile is out of danger. DOE's reserves will top 160,000 liters by 2040, according to a new projection the department provided to Science. Author: Richard Stone

Description: The Tehran Research Reactor is used mainly for producing medical radioisotopes, not weapons, but Iran's dogged effort to produce fuel for it sparked the latest international crisis over the nation's nuclear ambitions—and helped motivate the July 2015 nuclear deal to constrain them. The reactor came online in 1969, with a 25-year design life. Iran kept its nuclear jalopy running decades longer than expected by scrounging for spare parts and by finding ways around international sanctions. In 2009, when the reactor was running low on fuel, negotiations broke down over Iran's request to purchase low-enriched uranium fuel plates. Iran was soon producing its own fuel, thanks to a technological breakthrough: Its engineers had learned how to interconnect centrifuge cascades to enrich uranium to ever-higher levels. Author: Richard Stone

Description: A veritable army of outfits in Iran offer to write theses and scientific papers for a fee, advertising on the internet, through fliers, and via the placard-carrying touts who line the sidewalk outside the University of Tehran. It's unknown how many papers and theses are ginned up under false pretenses. In 2014, a member of Iran's Academy of Sciences estimated that each year as many as 5000 theses—roughly 10% of all master's and Ph.D. theses awarded in Iran—are bought from dealers. Such transactions may soon be illegal. This autumn, Iran's parliament is expected to take up work on a bill that would outlaw shady practices in scientific publishing. Author: Richard Stone