University of Basel

About: University of Basel is a education organization based out in Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Gene. The organization has 25084 authors who have published 52975 publications receiving 2388002 citations. The organization is also known as: Universität Basel & Basel University.

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 quantitative proteome of a human cell line

Abstract: The generation of mathematical models of biological processes, the simulation of these processes under different conditions, and the comparison and integration of multiple data sets are explicit goals of systems biology that require the knowledge of the absolute quantity of the system's components. To date, systematic estimates of cellular protein concentrations have been exceptionally scarce. Here, we provide a quantitative description of the proteome of a commonly used human cell line in two functional states, interphase and mitosis. We show that these human cultured cells express at least ∼10 000 proteins and that the quantified proteins span a concentration range of seven orders of magnitude up to 20 000 000 copies per cell. We discuss how protein abundance is linked to function and evolution.

r-Process in Neutron Star Mergers

Abstract: The production site of the neutron-rich heavy elements that are formed by rapid neutron capture (the r-process) is still unknown despite intensive research. Here we show detailed studies of a scenario that has been proposed earlier by Lattimer & Schramm, Symbalisty & Schramm, Eichler et al., and Davies et al., namely the merger of two neutron stars. The results of hydrodynamic and full network calculations are combined in order to investigate the relevance of this scenario for r-process nucleosynthesis. Sufficient material is ejected to explain the amount of r-process nuclei in the Galaxy by decompression of neutron star material. Provided that the ejecta consist of matter with a proton-to-nucleon ratio of Ye approximately 0.1, the calculated abundances fit the observed solar r-pattern excellently for nuclei that include and are heavier than the A approximately 130 peak.

State of the art: using natriuretic peptide levels in clinical practice.

Abstract: Natriuretic peptide (NP) levels (B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal proBNP) are now widely used in clinical practice and cardiovascular research throughout the world and have been incorporated into most national and international cardiovascular guidelines for heart failure. The role of NP levels in state-of-the-art clinical practice is evolving rapidly. This paper reviews and highlights ten key messages to clinicians: 1) NP levels are quantitative plasma biomarkers of heart failure (HF). 2) NP levels are accurate in the diagnosis of HF. 3) NP levels may help risk stratify emergency department (ED) patients with regard to the need for hospital admission or direct ED discharge. 4) NP levels help improve patient management and reduce total treatment costs in patients with acute dyspnoea. 5) NP levels at the time of admission are powerful predictors of outcome in predicting death and re-hospitalisation in HF patients. 6) NP levels at discharge aid in risk stratification of the HF patient. 7) NP-guided therapy may improve morbidity and/or mortality in chronic HF. 8) The combination of NP levels together with symptoms, signs and weight gain assists in the assessment of clinical decompensation in HF. 9) NP levels can accelerate accurate diagnosis of heart failure presenting in primary care. 10) NP levels may be helpful to screen for asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction in high-risk patients.

Clinical risk assessment of organ manifestations in systemic sclerosis: a report from the EULAR Scleroderma Trials And Research group database

Abstract: Background: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a multisystem autoimmune disease which is classified into a diffuse cutaneous (dcSSc) and a limited cutaneous (lcSSc) subset according to the skin involvement. In order to better understand the vascular, immunological and fibrotic processes of SSc and to guide its treatment the EULAR Scleroderma Trials And Research (EUSTAR) group was formed in June 2004. Aims and Methods: EUSTAR collects prospectively the Minimal Essential Data Set (MEDS) on all sequential patients fulfilling the ACR diagnostic criteria in participating centres. We aimed to characterize demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics of disease presentation in SSc and analysed EUSTAR baseline visits. Results: In April 2006, a total of 3656 patients (1349 with dcSSc and 2101 with lcSSc) were enrolled in 102 centres and 30 countries. 1330 individuals had autoantibodies against Scl70 and 1106 against anticentromere antibodies. 87% of patients were female. On multivariate analysis, scleroderma subsets (dcSSc vs. lcSSc), antibody status and age at onset of Raynaud’s phenomenon, but not gender were independently associated with the prevalence of organ manifestations. Autoantibody status in this analysis appeared more closely associated with clinical manifestations than were SSc subsets. Conclusion: dcSSc and lcSSc subsets are associated with particular organ manifestations, but in this analysis the clinical distinction appeared superseded by an antibody based classification in predicting some scleroderma complications. The EUSTAR MEDS data base facilitates the analysis of clinical patterns in SSc and contributes to the standardised assessment and monitoring of SSc internationally.