University of Antwerp

About: University of Antwerp is a education organization based out in Antwerp, Belgium. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Large Hadron Collider. The organization has 16682 authors who have published 48837 publications receiving 1689748 citations. The organization is also known as: Universiteit Antwerpen & UAntwerp.

Presenile dementia and cerebral haemorrhage linked to a mutation at codon 692 of the β–amyloid precursor protein gene

Abstract: Several families with an early-onset form of familial Alzheimer's disease have been found to harbour mutations at a specific codon (717) of the gene for the beta-amyloid precursor protein (APP) on chromosome 21. We now report, a novel base mutation in the same exon of the APP gene which co-segregates in one family with presenile dementia and cerebral haemorrhage due to cerebral amyloid angiopathy. The mutation results in the substitution of alanine into glycine at codon 692. These results suggest that the clinically distinct entities, presenile dementia and cerebral amyloid angiopathy, can be caused by the same mutation in the APP gene.

Contribution of copy number variants to schizophrenia from a genome-wide study of 41,321 subjects

Abstract: Copy number variants (CNVs) have been strongly implicated in the genetic etiology of schizophrenia (SCZ). However, genome-wide investigation of the contribution of CNV to risk has been hampered by limited sample sizes. We sought to address this obstacle by applying a centralized analysis pipeline to a SCZ cohort of 21,094 cases and 20,227 controls. A global enrichment of CNV burden was observed in cases (odds ratio (OR) = 1.11, P = 5.7 × 10-15), which persisted after excluding loci implicated in previous studies (OR = 1.07, P = 1.7 × 10-6). CNV burden was enriched for genes associated with synaptic function (OR = 1.68, P = 2.8 × 10-11) and neurobehavioral phenotypes in mouse (OR = 1.18, P = 7.3 × 10-5). Genome-wide significant evidence was obtained for eight loci, including 1q21.1, 2p16.3 (NRXN1), 3q29, 7q11.2, 15q13.3, distal 16p11.2, proximal 16p11.2 and 22q11.2. Suggestive support was found for eight additional candidate susceptibility and protective loci, which consisted predominantly of CNVs mediated by nonallelic homologous recombination.

The MOORA method and its application to privatization in a transition economy

Abstract: Abstract: A new method is proposed for multi-objective optimization with discrete alternatives: MOORA (Multi-Objective Optimization on the basis of Ratio Analysis). This method refers to a matrix of responses of alternatives to objectives, to which ratios are applied. A well established other method for multi-objective optimization is used for comparison, namely the reference point method. Later on, it is demonstrated that this is the best choice among the different competing methods. In MOORA the set of ratios has the square roots of the sum of squared responses as denominators. These ratios, as dimensionless, seem to be the best choice among different ratios. These dimensionless ratios, situated between zero and one, are added in the case of maximization or subtracted in case of minimization. Finally, all alternatives are ranked, according to the obtained ratios. Eventually, to give more importance to an objective, an objective can be replaced by different sub-objectives or a coefficient of importance can be specified. An example on privatization in a transition economy illustrates the application of the method. If application is situated originally in a “welfare” economy, centered on production, MOORA becomes even more significant in a “wellbeing economy”, where consumer sovereignty is assumed.

Tree responses to rising CO2 in field experiments: implications for the future forest

Abstract: The need to assess the role of forests in the global cycling of carbon and how that role will change as the atmospheric concentration of CO2 increases has spawned many experiments over a range of scales. Experiments using open-top chambers have been established at many sites to test whether the short-term responses of tree seedlings described in controlled environments would be sustained over several growing seasons under field conditions. Here we review the results of those experiments, using the framework of the interacting cycles of carbon, water and nutrients, because that is the framework of the ecosystem models that are being used to address the decades-long response of forests. Our analysis suggests that most of what was learned in seedling studies was qualitatively correct. The evidence from field-grown trees suggests a continued and consistent stimulation of photosynthesis of about 60% for a 300 p.p.m. increase in [CO2], and there is little evidence of the long-term loss of sensitivity to CO2 that was suggested by earlier experiments with tree seedlings in pots. Despite the importance of respiration to a tree's carbon budget, no strong scientific consensus has yet emerged concerning the potential direct or acclimation response of woody plant respiration to CO2 enrichment. The relative effect of CO2 on above-ground dry mass was highly variable and greater than that indicated by most syntheses of seedling studies. Effects of CO2 concentration on static measures of response are confounded with the acceleration of ontogeny observed in elevated CO2. The trees in these open-top chamber experiments were in an exponential growth phase, and the large growth responses to elevated CO2 resulted from the compound interest associated with an increasing leaf area. This effect cannot be expected to persist in a closed-canopy forest where growth potential is constrained by a steady-state leaf area index. A more robust and informative measure of tree growth in these experiments is the annual increment in wood mass per unit leaf area, which increased 27% in elevated CO2. There is no support for the conclusion from many studies of seedlings that root-to-shoot ratio is increased by elevated CO2; the production of fine roots may be enhanced, but it is not clear that this response would persist in a forest. Foliar nitrogen concentrations were lower in CO2-enriched trees, but to a lesser extent than was indicated in seedling studies and only when expressed on a leaf mass basis. The prediction that leaf litter C/N ratio would increase was not supported in field experiments. Also contrasting with seedling studies, there is little evidence from the field studies that stomatal conductance is consistently affected by CO2; however, this is a topic that demands more study. Experiments with trees in open-top chambers under field conditions have provided data on longer-term, larger-scale responses of trees to elevated CO2 under field conditions, confirmed some of the conclusions from previous seedling studies, and challenged other conclusions. There remain important obstacles to using these experimental results to predict forest responses to rising CO2, but the studies are valuable nonetheless for guiding ecosystem model development and revealing the critical questions that must be addressed in new, larger-scale CO2 experiments.