Pubertal development and prostate cancer risk: Mendelian randomization study in a population-based cohort.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies have observed a positive association between an earlier age at sexual development and prostate cancer, but markers of sexual maturation in boys are imprecise and observational estimates are likely to suffer from a degree of uncontrolled confounding. To obtain causal estimates, we examined the role of pubertal development in prostate cancer using genetic polymorphisms associated with Tanner stage in adolescent boys in a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach. METHODS: We derived a weighted genetic risk score for pubertal development, combining 13 SNPs associated with male Tanner stage. A higher score indicated a later puberty onset. We examined the association of this score with prostate cancer risk, stage and grade in the UK-based ProtecT case-control study (n = 2,927), and used the PRACTICAL consortium (n = 43,737) as a replication sample. RESULTS: In ProtecT, the puberty genetic score was inversely associated with prostate cancer grade (odds ratio (OR) of high- vs. low-grade cancer, per tertile of the score: 0.76; 95 % CI, 0.64-0.89). In an instrumental variable estimation of the causal OR, later physical development in adolescence (equivalent to a difference of one Tanner stage between pubertal boys of the same age) was associated with a 77 % (95 % CI, 43-91 %) reduced odds of high Gleason prostate cancer. In PRACTICAL, the puberty genetic score was associated with prostate cancer stage (OR of advanced vs. localized cancer, per tertile: 0.95; 95 % CI, 0.91-1.00) and prostate cancer-specific mortality (hazard ratio amongst cases, per tertile: 0.94; 95 % CI, 0.90-0.98), but not with disease grade. CONCLUSIONS: Older age at sexual maturation is causally linked to a reduced risk of later prostate cancer, especially aggressive disease.This work was supported by the World Cancer Research Fund (2011/419) and Cancer Research UK (C18281/A19169). The Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) is supported by the MRC and the University of Bristol (G0600705, MC_UU_12013/19), and the Integrative Cancer Epidemiology Programme is supported by Cancer Research UK programme grant C18281/A19169. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Bristol Nutrition Biomedical Research Unit is funded by the NIHR and is a partnership between University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Bristol. The ProtecT study is supported by the UK NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme (HTA 96/20/99; ISRCTN20141297). Funding for PRACTICAL and the iCOGS infrastructure came from: the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement n° 223175 (HEALTH-F2-2009-223175) (COGS), Cancer Research UK (C1287/A10118, C1287/A 10710, C12292/A11174, C1281/A12014, C5047/A8384, C5047/A15007, C5047/A10692, C8197/ A16565), the National Institutes of Health (CA128978), and Post-Cancer GWAS initiative (1U19 CA148537, 1U19 CA148065 and 1U19 CA148112 – the GAME-ON initiative), the Department of Defence (W81XWH-10-1-0341), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for the CIHR Team in Familial Risks of Breast Cancer, Komen Foundation for the Cure, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. We acknowledge support from the NIHR to the Biomedical Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from BioMed Central via http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12916-016-0602-

A novel unequal error protection scheme for 3-D video transmission over cooperative MIMO-OFDM systems

Currently, there has been intensive research to drive three-dimensional (3-D) video technology over mobile devices. Most recently, multiple input multiple output (MIMO) with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and cooperative diversity have been major candidates for the fourth-generation mobile TV systems. This article presents a novel unequal error protection (UEP) scheme for 3-D video transmission over cooperative MIMO-OFDM systems. Several 3-D video coding techniques are investigated to find the best method for 3-D video transmission over the error-prone wireless channels. View plus depth (VpD) has been found the best technique over other techniques such as simulcast coding (SC) and mixed-resolution stereo coding (MRSC) in terms of the performance. Various UEP schemes are proposed to protect the VpD signals with different importance levels. Seven video transmission schemes for VpD are proposed depending on partitioning the video packets or sending them directly with different levels of protection. An adaptive technique based on a classified group of pictures (GoP) packets according to their protection priority is adopted in the proposed UEP schemes. The adaptive method depends on dividing GoP to many packet groups (PG's). Each PG is classified to high-priority (HP) and low-priority (LP) packets. This classification depends on the current signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the wireless channels. A concatenating form of the rate-variable low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes and the MIMO system based on diversity of space-time block codes (STBC) is employed for protecting the prioritized video packets unequally with different channel code rates. For channel adaptation, the switching operations between the proposed schemes are employed to achieve a tradeoff between complexity and performance of the proposed system. Finally, three protocols for 3-D video transmission are proposed to achieve high video quality at different SNRs with the lowest possible bandwidth

Finnish Bachelor's Graduate Survey 2017

Kandipalaute-kysely kartoittaa opiskelijoiden kokemuksia yliopistossa opiskelusta. Kysymykset koskevat suoritettuja opintoja kokonaisuudessaan ja niiden avulla selvitetään opiskelijoiden kokemuksia opintojen sujuvuudesta, omasta hyvinvoinnista, opintojen yhdistämisestä muuhun elämään sekä opintojen antamista työelämävalmiuksista. Kysely perustuu oppimista, opiskelua ja opetusta koskevaan tieteelliseen tutkimukseen, ja sen pohjalta kehitettyyn Helsingin yliopiston HowULearn-kyselyyn. Taustamuuttujina ovat vastaajan yliopisto, pohjakoulutus, tutkintoala, ikäryhmä ja sukupuoli.The Bachelor's Graduate Survey charts student experiences of studying at a university. Themes of the survey include, among others, progress with studies, the working life skills provided by studies, well-being, and balance between studies and other aspects of life. The survey is based on scientific research on learning, studying and teaching, and the HowULearn questionnaire developed on the basis of it by the University of Helsinki. Background variables included the respondent's university, field of degree, age, and gender

Survey of Foreign Students in Five Finnish Universities 2005: Partial Data

Aineisto on osa lomakeaineistoa, jossa on kysytty ulkomaalaisten perustutkinto-opiskelijoiden maahanmuuton syitä, sopeutumista suomalaiseen yhteiskuntaan ja yliopistomaailmaan sekä toimeentuloa ja tulevaisuudensuunnitelmia. Aineisto on muodostettu kyselylomakkeen viimeisen kysymyksen avovastauksista, joissa vastaajat kertoivat omin sanoin kokemuksistaan ja käsityksistään, jotka ovat muodostuneet heidän opiskellessaan ja asuessaan Suomessa. Kysymysteksti on ollut "What else do you wish to say as a foreign student?". Kustakin vastaajasta kerrotaan taustatietona ikä, sukupuoli, kansallisuus, tiedekunta ja Suomessa olo vuosina. Aineisto koostuu 288 ulkomaalaisen opiskelijan kommenteista, joissa käsitellään muiden muassa näkemyksiä Suomesta, suomalaisuudesta ja suomalaisten suhtautumisesta ulkomaalaisiin. Vastaajilla on kokemuksia suomalaisten peloista ja ennakkoluuloista, mutta osa kertoo myös vuolaasti kokemastaan avuliaisuudesta ja vieraanvaraisuudesta. Erityisen paljon vastaajat kertovat yliopisto-opiskelun hyvistä ja huonoista puolista. Paljon kerrotaan myös mielipiteitä suunnitelmista kohdentaa lukukausimaksuja erityisesti ulkomaalaisille opiskelijoille. Työnhakua ja suomalaisten työmarkkinoiden toimintaa kommentoidaan myös. Kirjoitukset vaihtelevat pituudeltaan muutamasta rivistä muutamaan kymmeneen riviin. Aineisto soveltuu erityisesti kvalitatiivisten analyysimenetelmien opetuksen englanninkieliseksi harjoitusaineistoksi. Aineisto toimitetaan sekä excel- että teksti (rtf) -tiedostona. Excel-taulukon avulla aineistoa voi jakaa tarkoituksenmukaisiin kokonaisuuksiin käyttäen apuna vaikkapa vastaajien taustatietoja (ikä, sukupuoli, kansallisuus, tiedekunta ja Suomessa olo vuosina).The archived data consist of responses to an open-ended question in the Survey of Foreign Students in Five Finnish Universities 2005 (FSD2100) charting various aspects in the lives of foreign degree students in five Finnish universities. The open-ended question was "What else do you wish to say as a foreign student?" Responses covered, among others, reasons for immigrating to Finland, adjustment to Finnish society and university life, basic income and future plans. The respondents also shared their experiences and views of Finland and the Finnish society as well as fear and prejudice they had faced, but also kindness and hospitality shown to them. Some of the respondents also shared their views on employment and job-seeking in Finland, the plans to introduce tuition fees for foreign students, and quality of university studies. Background information included the respondent's age, gender, nationality, faculty and years spent in Finland. The data contain 288 responses and is especially suitable for practice material in teaching methods for qualitative analysis in English. This data is only available in English

Survey of Foreign Students in Five Finnish Universities 2005

Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin ulkomaalaisten perustutkinto-opiskelijoiden maahanmuuton syitä, sopeutumista suomalaiseen yhteiskuntaan ja yliopistomaailmaan sekä toimeentuloa ja tulevaisuudensuunnitelmia. Aluksi kysyttiin, miksi vastaajat hakeutuivat Suomeen ja valitsemaansa korkeakouluun. Korkeakouluopiskeluun liittyen kysyttiin, ovatko vastaajat tyytyväisiä opetukseen ja erilaisiin tukipalveluihin (kuten kirjastoihin, atk-palveluihin ja opiskelijaterveydenhuoltoon), saamaansa akateemiseen ohjaukseen sekä opintojensa edistymiseen. Lisäksi kysyttiin muun muuassa, miten opiskelijat ovat integroituneet Suomeen, miten he tulevat taloudellisesti toimeen, ovatko he valmiita maksamaan opinnoistaan ja suunnittelevatko he jäävänsä Suomeen valmistuttuaan. Lopuksi kysyttiin suurimpia esteitä Suomessa työllistymiselle. Taustamuuttujina olivat muun muassa ikä, sukupuoli, kansallisuus ja tutkinnot.The survey charted reasons for immigration to Finland, adjustment to Finnish society and university life, basic income and future plans among foreign degree students. First, it was studied why respondents had chosen Finland and the university in question. In relation to higher education, respondents were asked whether they were satisfied with the quality of education, various student support services (e.g. libraries and student health services), educational guidance and the progress of their studies. Respondents' integration into Finland, basic income, willingness to pay educational fees and plans to stay in Finland were queried on. Finally, respondents were asked about the biggest obstacles to their employment in Finland. Background variables included respondent's age, gender, nationality and previous degrees

Source of luminescence of water lower energy than the Cerenkov-light threshold during irradiation of carbon-ion

Although luminescence of water during irradiations of proton and carbon-ion lower energy than the Cerenkov-light threshold were found recently, the sources of the luminescence were not yet obvious. To estimate the sources of the luminescence, we measured the light spectrum of the luminescence of water during carbon-ion irradiations and estimated the sources of the luminescence. Using an ultraviolet (UV) light sensitive charge coupled device (CCD) camera, we measured the luminescence images of water during carbon-ion beam irradiations by changing optical filters, derived the light spectra of the luminescence of water and compared with the calculated results. The intensity of the measured light spectrum of the luminescence of water at the Bragg peak region was decreased as the wavelength of light proportional to ~ λ to the -2.0th power where λ is the wavelength of the light, indicating the source of the luminescence of water can be electromagnetic pulse produced by the dipole displacement inside the water molecules. In the shallow part of the water prior to the Bragg peak, where the Cerenkov-light is included, the spectrum showed steeper curve that is proportional to ~ λ to the -2.6th power, which was similar to the calculated spectrum of Cerenkov-light including the refractive index changes of water with the wavelength of light. From these results, the luminescence of water is thought to be mainly come from electromagnetic pulse produced by the dipole displacement inside the water molecules

Crawling-induced floor dust resuspension affects the microbiota of the infant breathing zone

Abstract Background Floor dust is commonly used for microbial determinations in epidemiological studies to estimate early-life indoor microbial exposures. Resuspension of floor dust and its impact on infant microbial exposure is, however, little explored. The aim of our study was to investigate how floor dust resuspension induced by an infant’s crawling motion and an adult walking affects infant inhalation exposure to microbes. Results We conducted controlled chamber experiments with a simplified mechanical crawling infant robot and an adult volunteer walking over carpeted flooring. We applied bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequencing and quantitative PCR to monitor the infant breathing zone microbial content and compared that to the adult breathing zone and the carpet dust as the source. During crawling, fungal and bacterial levels were, on average, 8- to 21-fold higher in the infant breathing zone compared to measurements from the adult breathing zone. During walking experiments, the increase in microbial levels in the infant breathing zone was far less pronounced. The correlation in rank orders of microbial levels in the carpet dust and the corresponding infant breathing zone sample varied between different microbial groups but was mostly moderate. The relative abundance of bacterial taxa was characteristically distinct in carpet dust and infant and adult breathing zones during the infant crawling experiments. Bacterial diversity in carpet dust and the infant breathing zone did not correlate significantly. Conclusions The microbiota in the infant breathing zone differ in absolute quantitative and compositional terms from that of the adult breathing zone and of floor dust. Crawling induces resuspension of floor dust from carpeted flooring, creating a concentrated and localized cloud of microbial content around the infant. Thus, the microbial exposure of infants following dust resuspension is difficult to predict based on common house dust or bulk air measurements. Improved approaches for the assessment of infant microbial exposure, such as sampling at the infant breathing zone level, are needed

Crawling-induced floor dust resuspension affects the microbiota of the infant breathing zone

Abstract Background Floor dust is commonly used for microbial determinations in epidemiological studies to estimate early-life indoor microbial exposures. Resuspension of floor dust and its impact on infant microbial exposure is, however, little explored. The aim of our study was to investigate how floor dust resuspension induced by an infant’s crawling motion and an adult walking affects infant inhalation exposure to microbes. Results We conducted controlled chamber experiments with a simplified mechanical crawling infant robot and an adult volunteer walking over carpeted flooring. We applied bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequencing and quantitative PCR to monitor the infant breathing zone microbial content and compared that to the adult breathing zone and the carpet dust as the source. During crawling, fungal and bacterial levels were, on average, 8- to 21-fold higher in the infant breathing zone compared to measurements from the adult breathing zone. During walking experiments, the increase in microbial levels in the infant breathing zone was far less pronounced. The correlation in rank orders of microbial levels in the carpet dust and the corresponding infant breathing zone sample varied between different microbial groups but was mostly moderate. The relative abundance of bacterial taxa was characteristically distinct in carpet dust and infant and adult breathing zones during the infant crawling experiments. Bacterial diversity in carpet dust and the infant breathing zone did not correlate significantly. Conclusions The microbiota in the infant breathing zone differ in absolute quantitative and compositional terms from that of the adult breathing zone and of floor dust. Crawling induces resuspension of floor dust from carpeted flooring, creating a concentrated and localized cloud of microbial content around the infant. Thus, the microbial exposure of infants following dust resuspension is difficult to predict based on common house dust or bulk air measurements. Improved approaches for the assessment of infant microbial exposure, such as sampling at the infant breathing zone level, are needed