University of Copenhagen

About: University of Copenhagen is a education organization based out in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Galaxy. The organization has 57645 authors who have published 149740 publications receiving 5903093 citations. The organization is also known as: Copenhagen University & Københavns Universitet.

The oyster genome reveals stress adaptation and complexity of shell formation

Abstract: The Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas belongs to one of the most species-rich but genomically poorly explored phyla, the Mollusca. Here we report the sequencing and assembly of the oyster genome using short reads and a fosmid-pooling strategy, along with transcriptomes of development and stress response and the proteome of the shell. The oyster genome is highly polymorphic and rich in repetitive sequences, with some transposable elements still actively shaping variation. Transcriptome studies reveal an extensive set of genes responding to environmental stress. The expansion of genes coding for heat shock protein 70 and inhibitors of apoptosis is probably central to the oyster's adaptation to sessile life in the highly stressful intertidal zone. Our analyses also show that shell formation in molluscs is more complex than currently understood and involves extensive participation of cells and their exosomes. The oyster genome sequence fills a void in our understanding of the Lophotrochozoa.

ANGSD: Analysis of Next Generation Sequencing Data

Abstract: High-throughput DNA sequencing technologies are generating vast amounts of data. Fast, flexible and memory efficient implementations are needed in order to facilitate analyses of thousands of samples simultaneously. We present a multithreaded program suite called ANGSD. This program can calculate various summary statistics, and perform association mapping and population genetic analyses utilizing the full information in next generation sequencing data by working directly on the raw sequencing data or by using genotype likelihoods. The open source c/c++ program ANGSD is available at http://www.popgen.dk/angsd . The program is tested and validated on GNU/Linux systems. The program facilitates multiple input formats including BAM and imputed beagle genotype probability files. The program allow the user to choose between combinations of existing methods and can perform analysis that is not implemented elsewhere.

Muscle as an endocrine organ: focus on muscle-derived interleukin-6.

Abstract: Skeletal muscle has recently been identified as an endocrine organ. It has, therefore, been suggested that cytokines and other peptides that are produced, expressed, and released by muscle fibers and exert paracrine, autocrine, or endocrine effects should be classified as "myokines." Recent research demonstrates that skeletal muscles can produce and express cytokines belonging to distinctly different families. However, the first identified and most studied myokine is the gp130 receptor cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6). IL-6 was discovered as a myokine because of the observation that it increases up to 100-fold in the circulation during physical exercise. Identification of IL-6 production by skeletal muscle during physical activity generated renewed interest in the metabolic role of IL-6 because it created a paradox. On one hand, IL-6 is markedly produced and released in the postexercise period when insulin action is enhanced but, on the other hand, IL-6 has been associated with obesity and reduced insulin action. This review focuses on the myokine IL-6, its regulation by exercise, its signaling pathways in skeletal muscle, and its role in metabolism in both health and disease.

A new Greenland ice core chronology for the last glacial termination

Abstract: [1] We present a new common stratigraphic timescale for the North Greenland Ice Core Project (NGRIP) and GRIP ice cores. The timescale covers the period 7.9–14.8 kyr before present and includes the Bolling, Allerod, Younger Dryas, and early Holocene periods. We use a combination of new and previously published data, the most prominent being new high-resolution Continuous Flow Analysis (CFA) impurity records from the NGRIP ice core. Several investigators have identified and counted annual layers using a multiparameter approach, and the maximum counting error is estimated to be up to 2% in the Holocene part and about 3% for the older parts. These counting error estimates reflect the number of annual layers that were hard to interpret, but not a possible bias in the set of rules used for annual layer identification. As the GRIP and NGRIP ice cores are not optimal for annual layer counting in the middle and late Holocene, the timescale is tied to a prominent volcanic event inside the 8.2 kyr cold event, recently dated in the DYE-3 ice core to 8236 years before A. D. 2000 (b2k) with a maximum counting error of 47 years. The new timescale dates the Younger Dryas-Preboreal transition to 11,703 b2k, which is 100–150 years older than according to the present GRIP and NGRIP timescales. The age of the transition matches the GISP2 timescale within a few years, but viewed over the entire 7.9–14.8 kyr section, there are significant differences between the new timescale and the GISP2 timescale. The transition from the glacial into the Bolling interstadial is dated to 14,692 b2k. The presented timescale is a part of a new Greenland ice core chronology common to the DYE-3, GRIP, and NGRIP ice cores, named the Greenland Ice Core Chronology 2005 (GICC05). The annual layer thicknesses are observed to be log-normally distributed with good approximation, and compared to the early Holocene, the mean accumulation rates in the Younger Dryas and Bolling periods are found to be 47 ± 2% and 88 ± 2%, respectively.

Rosuvastatin and cardiovascular events in patients undergoing hemodialysis

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Statins reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events in patients at high cardiovascular risk. However, a benefit of statins in such patients who are undergoing hemodialysis has not bee ...