ALBERT

Description: Multiple sclerosis is a common disease of the central nervous system in which the interplay between inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes typically results in intermittent neurological disturbance followed by progressive accumulation of disability. Epidemiological studies have shown that genetic factors are primarily responsible for the substantially increased frequency of the disease seen in the relatives of affected individuals, and systematic attempts to identify linkage in multiplex families have confirmed that variation within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) exerts the greatest individual effect on risk. Modestly powered genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled more than 20 additional risk loci to be identified and have shown that multiple variants exerting modest individual effects have a key role in disease susceptibility. Most of the genetic architecture underlying susceptibility to the disease remains to be defined and is anticipated to require the analysis of sample sizes that are beyond the numbers currently available to individual research groups. In a collaborative GWAS involving 9,772 cases of European descent collected by 23 research groups working in 15 different countries, we have replicated almost all of the previously suggested associations and identified at least a further 29 novel susceptibility loci. Within the MHC we have refined the identity of the HLA-DRB1 risk alleles and confirmed that variation in the HLA-A gene underlies the independent protective effect attributable to the class I region. Immunologically relevant genes are significantly overrepresented among those mapping close to the identified loci and particularly implicate T-helper-cell differentiation in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3182531/" 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/PMC3182531/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium -- Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 2 -- Sawcer, Stephen -- Hellenthal, Garrett -- Pirinen, Matti -- Spencer, Chris C A -- Patsopoulos, Nikolaos A -- Moutsianas, Loukas -- Dilthey, Alexander -- Su, Zhan -- Freeman, Colin -- Hunt, Sarah E -- Edkins, Sarah -- Gray, Emma -- Booth, David R -- Potter, Simon C -- Goris, An -- Band, Gavin -- Oturai, Annette Bang -- Strange, Amy -- Saarela, Janna -- Bellenguez, Celine -- Fontaine, Bertrand -- Gillman, Matthew -- Hemmer, Bernhard -- Gwilliam, Rhian -- Zipp, Frauke -- Jayakumar, Alagurevathi -- Martin, Roland -- Leslie, Stephen -- Hawkins, Stanley -- Giannoulatou, Eleni -- D'alfonso, Sandra -- Blackburn, Hannah -- Martinelli Boneschi, Filippo -- Liddle, Jennifer -- Harbo, Hanne F -- Perez, Marc L -- Spurkland, Anne -- Waller, Matthew J -- Mycko, Marcin P -- Ricketts, Michelle -- Comabella, Manuel -- Hammond, Naomi -- Kockum, Ingrid -- McCann, Owen T -- Ban, Maria -- Whittaker, Pamela -- Kemppinen, Anu -- Weston, Paul -- Hawkins, Clive -- Widaa, Sara -- Zajicek, John -- Dronov, Serge -- Robertson, Neil -- Bumpstead, Suzannah J -- Barcellos, Lisa F -- Ravindrarajah, Rathi -- Abraham, Roby -- Alfredsson, Lars -- Ardlie, Kristin -- Aubin, Cristin -- Baker, Amie -- Baker, Katharine -- Baranzini, Sergio E -- Bergamaschi, Laura -- Bergamaschi, Roberto -- Bernstein, Allan -- Berthele, Achim -- Boggild, Mike -- Bradfield, Jonathan P -- Brassat, David -- Broadley, Simon A -- Buck, Dorothea -- Butzkueven, Helmut -- Capra, Ruggero -- Carroll, William M -- Cavalla, Paola -- Celius, Elisabeth G -- Cepok, Sabine -- Chiavacci, Rosetta -- Clerget-Darpoux, Francoise -- Clysters, Katleen -- Comi, Giancarlo -- Cossburn, Mark -- Cournu-Rebeix, Isabelle -- Cox, Mathew B -- Cozen, Wendy -- Cree, Bruce A C -- Cross, Anne H -- Cusi, Daniele -- Daly, Mark J -- Davis, Emma -- de Bakker, Paul I W -- Debouverie, Marc -- D'hooghe, Marie Beatrice -- Dixon, Katherine -- Dobosi, Rita -- Dubois, Benedicte -- Ellinghaus, David -- Elovaara, Irina -- Esposito, Federica -- Fontenille, Claire -- Foote, Simon -- Franke, Andre -- Galimberti, Daniela -- Ghezzi, Angelo -- Glessner, Joseph -- Gomez, Refujia -- Gout, Olivier -- Graham, Colin -- Grant, Struan F A -- Guerini, Franca Rosa -- Hakonarson, Hakon -- Hall, Per -- Hamsten, Anders -- Hartung, Hans-Peter -- Heard, Rob N -- Heath, Simon -- Hobart, Jeremy -- Hoshi, Muna -- Infante-Duarte, Carmen -- Ingram, Gillian -- Ingram, Wendy -- Islam, Talat -- Jagodic, Maja -- Kabesch, Michael -- Kermode, Allan G -- Kilpatrick, Trevor J -- Kim, Cecilia -- Klopp, Norman -- Koivisto, Keijo -- Larsson, Malin -- Lathrop, Mark -- Lechner-Scott, Jeannette S -- Leone, Maurizio A -- Leppa, Virpi -- Liljedahl, Ulrika -- Bomfim, Izaura Lima -- Lincoln, Robin R -- Link, Jenny -- Liu, Jianjun -- Lorentzen, Aslaug R -- Lupoli, Sara -- Macciardi, Fabio -- Mack, Thomas -- Marriott, Mark -- Martinelli, Vittorio -- Mason, Deborah -- McCauley, Jacob L -- Mentch, Frank -- Mero, Inger-Lise -- Mihalova, Tania -- Montalban, Xavier -- Mottershead, John -- Myhr, Kjell-Morten -- Naldi, Paola -- Ollier, William -- Page, Alison -- Palotie, Aarno -- Pelletier, Jean -- Piccio, Laura -- Pickersgill, Trevor -- Piehl, Fredrik -- Pobywajlo, Susan -- Quach, Hong L -- Ramsay, Patricia P -- Reunanen, Mauri -- Reynolds, Richard -- Rioux, John D -- Rodegher, Mariaemma -- Roesner, Sabine -- Rubio, Justin P -- Ruckert, Ina-Maria -- Salvetti, Marco -- Salvi, Erika -- Santaniello, Adam -- Schaefer, Catherine A -- Schreiber, Stefan -- Schulze, Christian -- Scott, Rodney J -- Sellebjerg, Finn -- Selmaj, Krzysztof W -- Sexton, David -- Shen, Ling -- Simms-Acuna, Brigid -- Skidmore, Sheila -- Sleiman, Patrick M A -- Smestad, Cathrine -- Sorensen, Per Soelberg -- Sondergaard, Helle Bach -- Stankovich, Jim -- Strange, Richard C -- Sulonen, Anna-Maija -- Sundqvist, Emilie -- Syvanen, Ann-Christine -- Taddeo, Francesca -- Taylor, Bruce -- Blackwell, Jenefer M -- Tienari, Pentti -- Bramon, Elvira -- Tourbah, Ayman -- Brown, Matthew A -- Tronczynska, Ewa -- Casas, Juan P -- Tubridy, Niall -- Corvin, Aiden -- Vickery, Jane -- Jankowski, Janusz -- Villoslada, Pablo -- Markus, Hugh S -- Wang, Kai -- Mathew, Christopher G -- Wason, James -- Palmer, Colin N A -- Wichmann, H-Erich -- Plomin, Robert -- Willoughby, Ernest -- Rautanen, Anna -- Winkelmann, Juliane -- Wittig, Michael -- Trembath, Richard C -- Yaouanq, Jacqueline -- Viswanathan, Ananth C -- Zhang, Haitao -- Wood, Nicholas W -- Zuvich, Rebecca -- Deloukas, Panos -- Langford, Cordelia -- Duncanson, Audrey -- Oksenberg, Jorge R -- Pericak-Vance, Margaret A -- Haines, Jonathan L -- Olsson, Tomas -- Hillert, Jan -- Ivinson, Adrian J -- De Jager, Philip L -- Peltonen, Leena -- Stewart, Graeme J -- Hafler, David A -- Hauser, Stephen L -- McVean, Gil -- Donnelly, Peter -- Compston, Alastair -- 068545/Z/02/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 075491/Z/04/Z/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 084702/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 085475/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 085475/B/08/Z/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 085475/Z/08/Z/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 090532/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 898/Multiple Sclerosis Society/United Kingdom -- AI076544/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- CA104021/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- G0100594/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- G0400017/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- G0700061/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- G0901310/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- G0901461/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- G19/2/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- K23N/S048869/PHS HHS/ -- NS032830/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- NS049477/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- NS049510/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- NS067305/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- NS19142/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- NS26799/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- NS43559/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- PDA/02/06/016/Department of Health/United Kingdom -- R01 NS026799/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS049477/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS049477-06A1/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- RR020092/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- RR024992/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- UL1 TR000448/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/ -- Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- England -- Nature. 2011 Aug 10;476(7359):214-9. doi: 10.1038/nature10251.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21833088" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Human presence in space, whether permanent or temporary, is accompanied by the presence of microbes. However, the extent of microbial changes in response to spaceflight conditions and the corresponding changes to infectious disease risk is unclear. Previous studies have indicated that spaceflight weakens the immune system in humans and animals. In addition, preflight and in-flight monitoring of the International Space Station (ISS) and other spacecraft indicates the presence of opportunistic pathogens and the potential of obligate pathogens. Altered antibiotic resistance of microbes in flight has also been shown. As astronauts and cosmonauts live for longer periods in a closed environment, especially one using recycled water and air, there is an increased risk to crewmembers of infectious disease events occurring in-flight. Therefore, understanding how the space environment affects microorganisms and their disease potential is critically important for spaceflight missions and requires further study. The goal of this flight experiment, operationally called MICROBE, is to utilize three model microbial pathogens, Salmonella typhimurium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Candida albicans to examine the global effects of spaceflight on microbial gene expression and virulence attributes. Specifically, the aims are (1) to perform microarray-mediated gene expression profiling of S. typhimurium, P. aeruginosa, and C. albicans, in response to spaceflight in comparison to ground controls and (2) to determine the effect of spaceflight on the virulence potential of these microorganisms immediately following their return from spaceflight using murine models. The model microorganisms were selected as they have been isolated from preflight or in-flight monitoring, represent different degrees of pathogenic behavior, are well characterized, and have sequenced genomes with available microarrays. In particular, extensive studies of S. typhimurium by the Principal Investigator, Dr. Nickerson, using ground-based analog systems demonstrate important changes in the genotypic, phenotypic, and virulence characteristics of this pathogen resulting from exposure to a flight-like environment (i.e. modeled microgravity).

Description: People exert large amounts of problem-solving effort playing computer games. Simple image- and text-recognition tasks have been successfully 'crowd-sourced' through games, but it is not clear if more complex scientific problems can be solved with human-directed computing. Protein structure prediction is one such problem: locating the biologically relevant native conformation of a protein is a formidable computational challenge given the very large size of the search space. Here we describe Foldit, a multiplayer online game that engages non-scientists in solving hard prediction problems. Foldit players interact with protein structures using direct manipulation tools and user-friendly versions of algorithms from the Rosetta structure prediction methodology, while they compete and collaborate to optimize the computed energy. We show that top-ranked Foldit players excel at solving challenging structure refinement problems in which substantial backbone rearrangements are necessary to achieve the burial of hydrophobic residues. Players working collaboratively develop a rich assortment of new strategies and algorithms; unlike computational approaches, they explore not only the conformational space but also the space of possible search strategies. The integration of human visual problem-solving and strategy development capabilities with traditional computational algorithms through interactive multiplayer games is a powerful new approach to solving computationally-limited scientific problems.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2956414/" 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/PMC2956414/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Cooper, Seth -- Khatib, Firas -- Treuille, Adrien -- Barbero, Janos -- Lee, Jeehyung -- Beenen, Michael -- Leaver-Fay, Andrew -- Baker, David -- Popovic, Zoran -- Players, Foldit -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2010 Aug 5;466(7307):756-60. doi: 10.1038/nature09304.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Box 352350, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20686574" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉