Author
Declan Butler
Bio: Declan Butler is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Agency (sociology) & Malaria. The author has an hindex of 36, co-authored 790 publications receiving 7573 citations.
Topics: Agency (sociology), Malaria, The Internet, Government, Genome
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
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TL;DR: A chasm has opened up between biomedical researchers and the patients who need their discoveries and whether the US National Institutes of Health can bridge the gap.
Abstract: A chasm has opened up between biomedical researchers and the patients who need their discoveries. Declan Butler asks how the ground shifted and whether the US National Institutes of Health can bridge the gap.
575 citations
TL;DR: It is found that online tools, led by the Google Earth virtual globe, are changing the way the authors interact with spatial data, and will have far reaching implications for the way that scientists use spatial data.
Abstract: Life happens in three dimensions, so why doesn't science? Declan Butler discovers that online tools, led by the Google Earth virtual globe, are changing the way we interact with spatial data.
383 citations
273 citations
TL;DR: Fears rise for Latin American industry as devastating disease hits leading variety in Africa and Middle East as discussed by the authors, and a number of companies are reported to be affected by the disease in the region.
Abstract: Fears rise for Latin American industry as devastating disease hits leading variety in Africa and Middle East
156 citations
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TL;DR: A new, multifunctional phylogenetics package, phytools, for the R statistical computing environment is presented, with a focus on phylogenetic tree-building in 2.1.
Abstract: Summary
1. Here, I present a new, multifunctional phylogenetics package, phytools, for the R statistical computing environment.
2. The focus of the package is on methods for phylogenetic comparative biology; however, it also includes tools for tree inference, phylogeny input/output, plotting, manipulation and several other tasks.
3. I describe and tabulate the major methods implemented in phytools, and in addition provide some demonstration of its use in the form of two illustrative examples.
4. Finally, I conclude by briefly describing an active web-log that I use to document present and future developments for phytools. I also note other web resources for phylogenetics in the R computational environment.
6,404 citations
TL;DR: Mendelian randomization provides new opportunities to test causality and demonstrates how investment in the human genome project may contribute to understanding and preventing the adverse effects on human health of modifiable exposures.
Abstract: Associations between modifiable exposures and disease seen in observational epidemiology are sometimes confounded and thus misleading, despite our best efforts to improve the design and analysis of studies. Mendelian randomization-the random assortment of genes from parents to offspring that occurs during gamete formation and conception-provides one method for assessing the causal nature of some environmental exposures. The association between a disease and a polymorphism that mimics the biological link between a proposed exposure and disease is not generally susceptible to the reverse causation or confounding that may distort interpretations of conventional observational studies. Several examples where the phenotypic effects of polymorphisms are well documented provide encouraging evidence of the explanatory power of Mendelian randomization and are described. The limitations of the approach include confounding by polymorphisms in linkage disequilibrium with the polymorphism under study, that polymorphisms may have several phenotypic effects associated with disease, the lack of suitable polymorphisms for studying modifiable exposures of interest, and canalization-the buffering of the effects of genetic variation during development. Nevertheless, Mendelian randomization provides new opportunities to test causality and demonstrates how investment in the human genome project may contribute to understanding and preventing the adverse effects on human health of modifiable exposures.
3,646 citations
TL;DR: In recent months, there has been an explosion of interest in using the Web to create, assemble, and disseminate geographic information provided voluntarily by individuals as mentioned in this paper, and the role of the amateur in geographic observation has been discussed.
Abstract: In recent months there has been an explosion of interest in using the Web to create, assemble, and disseminate geographic information provided voluntarily by individuals. Sites such as Wikimapia and OpenStreetMap are empowering citizens to create a global patchwork of geographic information, while Google Earth and other virtual globes are encouraging volunteers to develop inter- esting applications using their own data. I review this phenomenon, and examine associated issues: what drives people to do this, how accurate are the results, will they threaten individual privacy, and how can they augment more conventional sources? I compare this new phenomenon to more traditional citizen science and the role of the amateur in geographic observation.
3,633 citations
TL;DR: The recent rapid progress in the statistical physics of evolving networks is reviewed, and how growing networks self-organize into scale-free structures is discussed, and the role of the mechanism of preferential linking is investigated.
Abstract: We review the recent rapid progress in the statistical physics of evolving networks. Interest has focused mainly on the structural properties of complex networks in communications, biology, social sciences and economics. A number of giant artificial networks of this kind have recently been created, which opens a wide field for the study of their topology, evolution, and the complex processes which occur in them. Such networks possess a rich set of scaling properties. A number of them are scale-free and show striking resilience against random breakdowns. In spite of the large sizes of these networks, the distances between most of their vertices are short - a feature known as the 'small-world' effect. We discuss how growing networks self-organize into scale-free structures, and investigate the role of the mechanism of preferential linking. We consider the topological and structural properties of evolving networks, and percolation and disease spread on these networks. We present a number of models demonstrat...
3,368 citations
TL;DR: This poster presents a poster presenting a poster presented at the 2016 International Conference of the Association for the Study of Viral Influenza and its Disruption in China, where it was presented for the first time.
Abstract: Yuelong Shu1, John McCauley2 1. WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Influenza, Chinese National Influenza Center, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China 2. WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza, Crick Worldwide Influenza Centre, the Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom
2,306 citations