Israel was supposed to be letting in more aid. But a move to seize the Rafah Crossing on the Gaza side and shut down all aid flowing into the strip indicates otherwise, as the crossing was a key pipeline for humanitarian assistance. Until now, it was the only crossing not controlled by Israel — it's supposed to be under the control of Egypt, per a 2007 agreement. According to an Israeli official, the operation "involved special ground troops and the Israeli air force" and "resulted in the killing of 20 Gazan combatants, as well as the discovery of Hamas infrastructure that included three operational tunnels." The official added that the operation is ongoing.The seizure of the crossing comes hours after reports that Hamas accepted the latest deal on the table for a ceasefire. There are actually pictures of Palestinians celebrating in the streets. The Washington Post reported that upon the news, Israeli negotiators were headed to Cairo to hammer out details. However, reflecting remarks from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli officials said they would press on with the Rafah attacks, which began Monday with airstrikes, anyway. In addition, they indicated that Hamas was asking for more than the deal the Israelis and U.S. had put on the table."Even though Hamas' proposal is far from Israel's requirements, Israel will send a delegation of mediators to exhaust the possibility of reaching an agreement under conditions that would be acceptable to Israel," Netanyahu's office said late Monday.The Egyptian Foreign Ministry, for its part, said the Israeli military operation in Rafah threatens efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza. "This dangerous escalation threatens the lives of more than a million Palestinians who depend primarily on this crossing, as it is the main lifeline of the Gaza Strip," it said in a statement Tuesday.The EU's top foreign diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Israel's much awaited ground invasion of Rafah had begun. "The land offensive against Rafah has started again, despite all the requests of the international community, the U.S., European Union member states, everybody asking Netanyahu not to attack Rafah," he told reporters in Brussels. "I am afraid that this is going to cause again a lot of casualties, civilian casualties, whatever they say."With the closing of the Rafah crossing, in addition to the shutdown of the nearby Karem Abu Salem crossing, the aid issue just got more dire, say UNRWA officials, as tens of thousands of Gazans have been told to evacuate Rafah city and are headed to evacuation zones in the coastal area of al-Mawasi. There is speculation about where the U.S. military may be setting up its humanitarian causeway, which is supposed to surge aid into Gaza from the beach, but questions abound about the safety and capacity of this mission. One report said it would be south of the IDF corridor bisecting the strip near the evacuation zone above al-Mawasi. Either way, it will also bring U.S. troops perilously close to a live combat zone.Story is developing
Mención Internacional en el título de doctor ; Desde mediados del siglo pasado Colombia se ha visto inmersa en una intrincada espiral de violencia. Dos han sido las principales voces que se han enfrentado en la construcción de consensos de reflexión y memoria hacia el interior de la sociedad. Por un lado, los medios de comunicación, que se han encargado de difundir y respaldar las versiones acordadas por el poder. En contraparte, las narrativas documentales canónicas, que han actuado como movimientos de oposición y ejercido la crítica, situándose del lado de los más afectados por la violencia y el poder hegemónico. Es en ese entorno que esta tesis propone la existencia de otro relato de lo real, un cine que no se enmarca en ninguno de los bandos arriba mencionados. Son propuestas que desarticulan la norma consensual y generan discordia, este cine opera desde la emancipación del orden establecido en tres frentes: estético, político y de la representación. Se trata de documentales que proponen un cambio de paradigma desde un giro subjetivo y conceptual, creando espacios de resistencia no configurados en las grietas que existen entre el poder y la oposición. A pesar de que están compuestas por una gama de estéticas y narrativas diferentes entre sí, estas películas logran constituir con cierta cohesión y sentido de progresión un relato que genera criterios estético-políticos no convencionales acerca de la realidad violenta de Colombia de los últimos veinte años. En la presente investigación este tipo de cine se ha denominado documental del disenso. ; Since the middle of the last century, Colombia has been immersed in a complex spiral of violence. Two main voices have battled each other in an attempt to construct a consensus of thought and memory within society. On the one hand, the media have assumed the responsibility for disseminating and supporting the versions issued by those in power. Canonical documentary narratives, on the other hand, have served as opposition movements and exercised criticism, placing themselves on the side of those most affected by violence and hegemonic power. It is within this context that this thesis proposes the existence of another narration of the real, a cinema framed by neither of the aforementioned sides. With proposals that dismantle the consensual norm and create discord, this cinema is based on an emancipation from established aesthetic, political, and representational orders. These documentaries propose a paradigm shift based on a subjective and conceptual change of direction, creating unconfigured spaces of resistance in the cracks between power and opposition. Although composed of a range of aesthetics and narratives that are different from each other, these films manage to constitute, with some cohesion and sense of progression, a story that generates unconventional aesthetic-political criteria about Colombia's violent reality of the past twenty years (Kuéllar, 2017). In the present investigation this type of cinema has been called documentary of dissent. ; Programa de Doctorado en Investigación en Medios de Comunicación por la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid ; Presidente: Josep M. Català Domènech.- Secretario: Miguel Fernández-Rodríguez Labayen.- Vocal: Julie Amiot Guillouet
INTRODUCTION: Mammographic density (MD) is one of the strongest determinants of sporadic breast cancer (BC). In this study, we compared MD in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers and non-carriers from BRCA1/2 mutation-positive families and investigated the association between MD and BC among BRCA1/2 mutation carriers per type of mutation and tumor subtype. METHODS: The study was carried out in 1039 female members of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation-positive families followed at 16 Spanish Genetic Counseling Units. Participants' density was scored retrospectively from available mammograms by a single blinded radiologist using a 5-category scale (75 %). In BC cases, we selected mammograms taken prior to diagnosis or from the contralateral breast, whereas, in non-cases, the last screening mammogram was evaluated. MD distribution in carriers and non-carriers was compared using ordinal logistic models, and the association between MD and BC in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers was studied using logistic regression. Huber-White robust estimators of variance were used to take into account correlations between family members. A similar multinomial model was used to explore this association by BC subtype. RESULTS: We identified and scored mammograms from 341 BRCA1, 350 BRCA2 mutation carriers and 229 non-carriers. Compared to non-carriers, MD was significantly lower among BRCA2 mutation carriers (odds ratio (OR) =0.71; P-value=0.04), but not among BRCA1 carriers (OR=0.84; P-value=0.33). MD was associated with subsequent development BC (OR per category of MD=1.45; 95 % confidence interval=1.18-1.78, P-value<0.001), with no significant differences between BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers (P-value=0.48). Finally, no statistically significant differences were observed in the association of MD with specific BC subtypes. CONCLUSIONS: Our study, the largest to date on this issue, confirms that MD is an independent risk factor for all BC subtypes in either BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers, and should be considered a phenotype risk marker in this context. ; This work was supported by three research grants, PS09/01006, PS09/01024 and PS09/01721, from Spain's Health Research Fund (Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria); and a grant from the Spanish Federation of Breast Cancer Patients (Federación Española de Cáncer de Mama) (FECMA 485 EPY 1170–10). The authors also acknowledge the contribution of the Asociación Española contra el Cáncer (AECC), Carlos III Health Institute; RTICC; and the Catalan Health Institute and Autonomous Government of Catalonia (grant numbers: RD06/0020/1051, RD06/0020/1050, RD12/0036/0008, RD12/0036/0031, PI10/01422, PI13/00285, PIE13/00022 and SGR290). This project was approved by the following ethical boards: Comité de Ética de la Investigación y de Bienestar Animal CEIyBA, Instituto de Salud Carlos III; Comité de Ética de la Investigación Clínica Hospital de la Santa Creu y Sant Pau, Barcelona; Comité de Ética de la Investigación Clínica Hospital Universitari de Girona Doctor Josep Trueta, Girona; Comité de Ética de la Fundación INCLIVA, Hospital Clínico Universitario, Valencia; Comité de Ética de la Investigación Clínica del Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, and Comité de Ética de la Investigación Clínica del Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Madrid. ; Sí
The European University Institute (EUI) and the Wharton Financial Institution Center (FIC) organized a conference entitled 'Life in the Eurozone With or Without Sovereign Default?' The event, which was held at the EUI in Florence, Italy, on 14 April 2011, was financed by the PEGGED project (Politics, Economics and Global Governance: The European Dimension) and a Sloan Foundation grant to the FIC. The conference brought together leading economists, historians, lawyers and policy makers to discuss the current economic situation in the Eurozone with particular emphasis on the issue of sovereign default. The aim was to have an open discussion on this timely and important topic to achieve a better understanding of the future development of the Eurozone. ; The European University Institute and the Wharton Financial Institutions Center held a conference in Florence, Italy in April 2011 that brought together leading economists, lawyers, historians and policy makers to discuss the current economic situation in the Eurozone with particular emphasis on the issue of sovereign default. This book summarizes the views presented there. The first part considers the current situation including the situations in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, the German constitution, EU law, the constraints on the ECB to buy up Eurozone government debt, and the European Financial Stability Fund. The second part covers how Eurozone sovereign bankruptcy might work, including collective action clauses, banking regulation given risky sovereign debt, the prevention of banking crises, and the sovereign equivalent of debtor-in-possession financing. The final part considers alternatives to sovereign bankruptcy including the possibility of leaving the Eurozone temporarily, an historical comparison of suspension of the Gold Standard, Argentina and other recent defaults, and the long run solution of Eurozone wide bonds and fiscal authority. ; The Contributors vii Acknowledgments xvii FOREWORD xix by Josep Borrell Fontelles PREFACE xxiii by Franklin Allen, Elena Carletti & Giancarlo Corsetti 1 The Current Situation: The Euro Crisis: A Crisis of PIGS? 1 Ramon Marimon 2 Life in the Eurozone With or Without Sovereign Default? 9 Fabio Panetta 3 Life in the Eurozone With or Without Sovereign Default? —The Current Situation— 13 Helmut Siekmann 4 Ireland's Sovereign Debt Crisis 41 Karl Whelan 5 Quo vadis, Euroland? European Monetary Union Between Crisis and Reform 59 Martin Hellwig 6 Sovereign Debt and Banks: Need for a Fundamental View on the Structure of the Banking Industry 77 Arnoud W.A. Boot vi Contents 7 Greek Debt -- The Endgame Scenarios 83 Lee C. Buchheit & Mitu Gulati 8 Rules-Based Restructuring and the Eurozone Crisis 97 David A. Skeel, Jr. 9 The Economic Consequences of the Euro Pact 103 Edmond Alphandéry 10 Exiting the Euro Crisis 115 Charles W. Calomiris 11 Life With and Without Sovereign Defaults: Some Historical Reflections 125 Youssef Cassis 12 The European Crisis: A View from the Market 133 Erik F. Nielsen 13 How the EU Wants to Solve the Crisis – and Why This is Not Going to Work 139 Wolfgang Münchau POSTSCRIPT The EU in 2013: Debt Defaults and More? 145 Janet Kersnar
DE LA GRATSJA, José Luis, REIG TAPIA, Alberto y MIRALLES, Ricardo (eds.) Tuñón de Lara y la historiografía española. Siglo XXI. Madrid, 1999. CUENCA TORIBIO, José Manuel. Catolicismo contemporáneo de España y Europa. Encuentros y divergencias. Encuentro. Madrid, 1999. MARTÍN, Luis R (ed.) Les francs-maçons dans la cité. Les cultures politiques de la Franc-maçonnerie en Europe. xixe-xxe siècle. Presses Universitaires. Rennes, 2000. CATROGA, Fernando. O Céu da Memoria. Cemitério Romántico e Culto Cívico dos Morios. Minerva. Coimbra, 1999. NARBAYEV, Nazym B. Russia and Eurasia: the Problem of the State Systems. Second Half of the Nineteenth-Early Twentieth Century. Nauka. Moscú, 1999. ESTEBAN DE VEGA, Mariano y MORALES MOYA, Antonio (eds.) Los fines de siglo en España y Portugal. II Encuentro de Historia Comparada. Universidad. Jaén, 1999. BOSWELL, Laird. Rural Communism in France, 1920-1939. Cornell University Press. Ithaca y Londres, 1998. DENÉCHÈRE, Yves. La politique espagnole de la France de 1931 à 1936. Une pratique française de rapports inégaux. L'Harmattan. Paris, 1999. AYMES, Jean-René y SAIAÜN, Serge (eds.) Être espagnol. Presses de la Sorbonne Nouvelle. Paris, 2000. SHUBERT, Adrian. Death and Money in the Afternoon: A History of the Spanish Bullfight. Oxford University Press. New York, 1999. RISQUES, Manel (dir.), DUARTE, Ángel, RIQUER, Borja de, y ROIG ROSICH, Josep M. Historia de la Catalunya Contemporània. Portic-Biblioteca Universitaria. Barcelona, 1999. VV. AA. Clásicos sociales contemporáneos. Servicio Editorial de la Universidad del País Vasco. Bilbao, 2000. DIAZ HERNANDEZ, Onésimo. Los Marqueses de Urquijo. El apogeo de una saga poderosa y los inicios del Banco Urquijo, 1870-1931 Eunsa. Pamplona, 1999. DUARTE, Ángel. La república del emigrante. La cultura política de los españoles en Argentina (1875-1910). Milenio. Lleida, 1998. LARRÍNAGA, Carlos. Actividad económica y cambio estructural en San Sebastián durante la Restauración (1875-1914). Fundación Caja Guipúzcoa-Kutxa. San Sebastián, 1999. ARIAS GONZÁLEZ, Luis y LUIS MARTÍN, Francisco. La narrativa breve socialista en España. Antología (1890-1936) UGT/Centro de Estudios Históricos. Madrid, 1998. LUIS MARTÍN, Francisco de y ARIAS GONZÁLEZ, Luis. Catálogo de la Biblioteca de la Casa del Pueblo de Madrid (1908-1939) [Estudio histórico]. Comunidad de Madrid-Fundación Largo Caballero. Madrid, 1998. RICHARDS, Michael. Un tiempo de silencio. La Guerra Civil y la cultura de la represión en la España de Franco. Crítica. Barcelona, 1999. MORENO FONSERET, Roque y SEVILLANO CALERO, Francisco (eds.) El franquismo. Visiones y balances. Universidad de Alicante. Alicante, 1999. SANZ ALBEROLA, Daniel. La implantación del franquismo en Alicante. El papel del Gobierno Civil (1939-1946). Universidad de Alicante. Alicante, 1999. CUESTA BUSTELLO, Josefina (ed.) Retornos (De exilios y migraciones). Fundación Francisco Largo Caballero. Madrid, 1999. LUIS MARTÍN, Francisco de y ARIAS GONZÁLEZ Luis. De O Grove a Cuba (1937-1964). Memorias de Juan Aguiño: pescador y exiliado. Edicions do Castro. A Coruña, 2000. SARTORIUS, Nicolás y ALFAYA, Javier. La memoria insumisa. Sobre la dictadura de Franco. Espasa. Madrid, 1999. UGARTE, Javier (ed.) La transición en el País Vasco y España. Historia y memoria. UPV/EHU. Bilbao, 1998.
[spa] Joan Brotat (Barcelona, 1920-1990) fue un artista destacado en el proceso de recuperación de la modernidad pictórica durante los años de la postguerra española, aunque luego cayó progresivamente en el olvido. Esta tesis estudia y establece su trayectoria profesional vinculada a su biografía personal (contexto familiar y social), a los factores inducidos por el sistema artístico local y en relación con en el contexto nacional e internacional (fortuna crítica, evolución artística y comercial). Brotat fue uno de los máximos exponentes de una tendencia que podríamos denominar como figuración primitivista. Definimos aquí las características de esta tendencia, su lugar frente a otras opciones de vanguardia de la época como la abstracción y apuntamos sus variantes y principales representantes. Abordamos también las razones de su declive a partir del análisis de la carrera profesional de Brotat. Descubrimos, gracias al estudio de su archivo familiar, la participación de Brotat en la guerra civil como parte de la Quinta del biberón republicana, hecho que escondió toda su vida y cuyo trauma influyó de toda evidencia en su obra. El análisis iconográfico y evolutivo del ingenuismo nos muestra una dimensión trágica y existencial. Así, su etapa expresionista, singular síntesis entre ingenuismo e informalismo, parece responder a una genuina necesidad psicológica. La comparación de su obra artística son sus proyectos profesionales en el campo de la ilustración infantil nos permiten hacer la diferencia entre naif el ingenuismo, que tanto preocupó a la crítica de la época. Un aspecto fundamental es el descubrimiento de una etapa abstracta a finales de los años cuarenta que contradice la jerarquía evolucionista que explica la figuración esquemática como un paso previo a la abstracción. El primitivismo ingenuista fue una opción consciente y deliberada. En su período de madurez, la obra de Brotat muestra una tendencia al amaneramiento y entra en decadencia, que se puede describir por la perdida de refinamiento y el estancamiento de los argumentos críticos que la apoyaron. La relación con los marchantes (Maurice Bonnefoy y Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún particularmente) se revela ambivalente en sus resultados. Lo mismo sucede con el aprovechamiento de la política artística franquista, dirigida por Luis González Robles. El primitivismo figurativo catalán de postguerra es una combinación coherente (aunque intuitiva y sin programa militante) de medievalismo e ingenuismo. El ingenuismo de vanguardia de postguerra tiene dos manifestaciones, a veces coincidentes y otras divergentes: la radical y la nostálgica. El primitivismo se apoyó en un discurso crítico específico y ocupó un lugar, móvil, en el debate artístico. Estudiamos las diversas fuentes de este primitivismo y constatamos la influencia fundamental de Joan Miró. De entre los referentes internacionales destaca Massimo Campigli. Asimismo, se encuentran paralelos y vínculos con artistas españoles como Rafael Zabaleta, Benjamín Palencia y el núcleo valenciano con Manuel Gil y Salvador Faus. Un caso especialmente interesante es el de Manolo Millares, quien tuvo una relación significativa con Cataluña en esos años. Entre los artistas catalanes, el primitivismo tuvo gran protagonismo y adoptó diversas formas. De Sucre o Joan Ponç representan la vertiente más radical y atormentada, Albert Ràfols Casamada o Joan Vilacasas la opción más ingenua y afrancesada. Se observa una clara tendencia a la politización (Francesc Todó, Josep Guinovart, Estampa Popular). La opción lírica o poética, representada especialmente por Brotat, fue dejada progresivamente de lado. A menudo teñido de nostalgia y religiosidad, coincidente con cierta moda franciscanista, el discurso teórico al respecto del primitivismo fue ambivalente y pasó de la modernidad al conservadurismo. La constatación de una corriente primitivista, de la cual Brotat sería la figura paradigmática en su éxito y su fracaso, obliga a repensar el canon del arte catalán de postguerra. El primitivismo no fue un estadio inmaduro de la modernidad en el camino hacia la abstracción sino que responde al contexto histórico particular de la España de postguerra con soluciones originales.Joan Brotat (Barcelona, 1920-1990) fue un artista destacado en el proceso de recuperación de la modernidad pictórica durante los años de la postguerra española, aunque luego cayó progresivamente en el olvido. Esta tesis estudia y establece su trayectoria profesional vinculada a su biografía personal (contexto familiar y social), a los factores inducidos por el sistema artístico local y en relación con en el contexto nacional e internacional (fortuna crítica, evolución artística y comercial). Brotat fue uno de los máximos exponentes de una tendencia que podríamos denominar como figuración primitivista. Definimos aquí las características de esta tendencia, su lugar frente a otras opciones de vanguardia de la época como la abstracción y apuntamos sus variantes y principales representantes. Abordamos también las razones de su declive a partir del análisis de la carrera profesional de Brotat. Descubrimos, gracias al estudio de su archivo familiar, la participación de Brotat en la guerra civil como parte de la Quinta del biberón republicana, hecho que escondió toda su vida y cuyo trauma influyó de toda evidencia en su obra. El análisis iconográfico y evolutivo del ingenuismo nos muestra una dimensión trágica y existencial. Así, su etapa expresionista, singular síntesis entre ingenuismo e informalismo, parece responder a una genuina necesidad psicológica. La comparación de su obra artística son sus proyectos profesionales en el campo de la ilustración infantil nos permiten hacer la diferencia entre naif el ingenuismo, que tanto preocupó a la crítica de la época. Un aspecto fundamental es el descubrimiento de una etapa abstracta a finales de los años cuarenta que contradice la jerarquía evolucionista que explica la figuración esquemática como un paso previo a la abstracción. El primitivismo ingenuista fue una opción consciente y deliberada. En su período de madurez, la obra de Brotat muestra una tendencia al amaneramiento y entra en decadencia, que se puede describir por la perdida de refinamiento y el estancamiento de los argumentos críticos que la apoyaron. La relación con los marchantes (Maurice Bonnefoy y Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún particularmente) se revela ambivalente en sus resultados. Lo mismo sucede con el aprovechamiento de la política artística franquista, dirigida por Luis González Robles. El primitivismo figurativo catalán de postguerra es una combinación coherente (aunque intuitiva y sin programa militante) de medievalismo e ingenuismo. El ingenuismo de vanguardia de postguerra tiene dos manifestaciones, a veces coincidentes y otras divergentes: la radical y la nostálgica. El primitivismo se apoyó en un discurso crítico específico y ocupó un lugar, móvil, en el debate artístico. Estudiamos las diversas fuentes de este primitivismo y constatamos la influencia fundamental de Joan Miró. De entre los referentes internacionales destaca Massimo Campigli. Asimismo, se encuentran paralelos y vínculos con artistas españoles como Rafael Zabaleta, Benjamín Palencia y el núcleo valenciano con Manuel Gil y Salvador Faus. Un caso especialmente interesante es el de Manolo Millares, quien tuvo una relación significativa con Cataluña en esos años. Entre los artistas catalanes, el primitivismo tuvo gran protagonismo y adoptó diversas formas. De Sucre o Joan Ponç representan la vertiente más radical y atormentada, Albert Ràfols Casamada o Joan Vilacasas la opción más ingenua y afrancesada. Se observa una clara tendencia a la politización (Francesc Todó, Josep Guinovart, Estampa Popular). La opción lírica o poética, representada especialmente por Brotat, fue dejada progresivamente de lado. A menudo teñido de nostalgia y religiosidad, coincidente con cierta moda franciscanista, el discurso teórico al respecto del primitivismo fue ambivalente y pasó de la modernidad al conservadurismo. La constatación de una corriente primitivista, de la cual Brotat sería la figura paradigmática en su éxito y su fracaso, obliga a repensar el canon del arte catalán de postguerra. El primitivismo no fue un estadio inmaduro de la modernidad en el camino hacia la abstracción sino que responde al contexto histórico particular de la España de postguerra con soluciones originales. ; [eng] Joan Brotat (Barcelona, 1920-1990) was a prominente artist in the process of recovery of pictorial modernity in Spain after the Civil War, but then his work gradually fell into oblivion. This thesis studies his professional career, in relation to his personal biography (family and social context), the local art system, and the national and international context (critical fortune, artistic and commercial development). The thesis proposes that Brotat was in fact a paradigmatic figure of a primitivist tendency. Primitivism was not an immature stage of modernity on the way toward abstraction, but responded to the particular historical context of Postwar Spain with original solutions. The success and then failure of Brotat and Primitivism invites to reconsider the canon of Postwar Catalan art. Untill his death, Brotat did hide his involvement in the Civil War, a trauma that marked his work and existence. The iconographic analysis and the evolution of his modern naif style shows a tragic and existential undertones. A key aspect is the discovery of an abstract stage in the late forties contradicting the evolutionary hierarchy that explains schematic figuration as a step toward abstraction. On the contrary, naive primitivism was a conscious and deliberate option. Postwar Catalan Figurative Primitivism was a coherent mix of medievalism and naiveté(although without a declarated program). The naiveté of postwar art has two aspects : the radical and nostalgic, which sometimes appear together and sometimes separately. Among Catalan artists, primitivism had great prominence and took various forms. De Sucre or Joan Ponç represent the more radical and tormented side, Albert Rafols Casamada or Joan Vilacasas the most naive and influenced by French modernism. There is, later, a clear trend towards politization (Francesc Todó Josep Guinovart, Estampa Popular). We studied the various sources of this primitivism and found the fundamental influence of Joan Miró and Massimo Campigli. Likewise, there are links to Spanish artists such as Rafael Zabaleta, Benjamín Palencia, the valencians Manuel Gil and Salvador Faus or Manuel Millares. Often tinged with nostalgia and religiosity, in sinthony with a Franciscan fashion, the theoretical discourse about primitivism was ambivalent and evolved from modernity to conservatism.
The reanalysis of existing GWAS data represents a powerful and cost-effective opportunity to gain insights into the genetics of complex diseases. By reanalyzing publicly available type 2 diabetes (T2D) genome-wide association studies (GWAS) data for 70,127 subjects, we identify seven novel associated regions, five driven by common variants (LYPLAL1, NEUROG3, CAMKK2, ABO, and GIP genes), one by a low-frequency (EHMT2), and one driven by a rare variant in chromosome Xq23, rs146662057, associated with a twofold increased risk for T2D in males. rs146662057 is located within an active enhancer associated with the expression of Angiotensin II Receptor type 2 gene (AGTR2), a modulator of insulin sensitivity, and exhibits allelic specific activity in muscle cells. Beyond providing insights into the genetics and pathophysiology of T2D, these results also underscore the value of reanalyzing publicly available data using novel genetic resources and analytical approaches. ; This work has been sponsored by the grant SEV-2011-00067 of Severo Ochoa Program, awarded by the Spanish Government. This work was supported by an EFSD/Lilly research fellowship. Josep M. Mercader was supported by Sara Borrell Fellowship from the Instituto Carlos III and Beatriu de Pinós fellowship from the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR). Sílvia Bonàs was FI-DGR Fellowship from FI-DGR 2013 from Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR, Generalitat de Catalunya). This study makes use of data generated by the WTCCC. A full list of the investigators who contributed to the generation of the data is available from www.wtccc.org.uk. Funding for the project was provided by the Wellcome Trust under award 076113. This study also makes use of data generated by the UK10K Consortium, derived from samples from UK10K COHORT IMPUTATION (EGAS00001000713). A full list of the investigators who contributed to the generation of the data is available in www.UK10K.org. Funding for UK10K was provided by the Wellcome Trust under award WT091310. We acknowledge PRACE for awarding us to access MareNostrum supercomputer, based in Spain at Barcelona. The technical support group, particularly Pablo Ródenas and Jorge Rodríguez, from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center is gratefully acknowledged. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 667191. Mercè Planas-Fèlix is funded by the Obra Social Fundación la Caixa fellowship under the Severo Ochoa 2013 program. Work from Irene Miguel-Escalada, Ignasi Moran, Goutham Atla, and Jorge Ferrer was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, the Wellcome Trust (WT101033), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (BFU2014-54284-R) and Horizon 2020 (667191). Irene Miguel-Escalada has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska–Curie grant agreement No 658145. We acknowledge Prof. Giulio Cossu (Institute of Inflammation and Repair, University of Manchester) for providing the muscle myoblast cell line. We also acknowledge the InterAct and SIGMA Type 2 Diabetes Consortia for access to the data to replicate the rs146662075 variant. A full list of the investigators of the SIGMA Type 2 Diabetes and the InterAct consortia is provided in Supplementary Notes 3 and 4. The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research is an independent research center at the University of Copenhagen partially funded by an unrestricted donation from the Novo Nordisk Foundation (www.metabol.ku.dk). This research has been conducted using the UK Biobank Resource (application number 16803). We also acknowledge Bianca C. Porneala, MS for his technical assistance in the collection and curation of the genotype and phenotype data from Partners Biobank. We also thank Marcin von Grotthuss for their support for uploading the summary statistics data to the Type 2 Diabetes Genetic Portal (AMP-T2D portal). Finally, we thank all the Computational Genomics group at the BSC for their helpful discussions and valuable comments on the manuscript. ; Peer Reviewed ; Postprint (published version)
The reanalysis of existing GWAS data represents a powerful and cost-effective opportunity to gain insights into the genetics of complex diseases. By reanalyzing publicly available type 2 diabetes (T2D) genome-wide association studies (GWAS) data for 70,127 subjects, we identify seven novel associated regions, five driven by common variants (LYPLAL1, NEUROG3, CAMKK2, ABO, and GIP genes), one by a low-frequency (EHMT2), and one driven by a rare variant in chromosome Xq23, rs146662057, associated with a twofold increased risk for T2D in males. rs146662057 is located within an active enhancer associated with the expression of Angiotensin II Receptor type 2 gene (AGTR2), a modulator of insulin sensitivity, and exhibits allelic specific activity in muscle cells. Beyond providing insights into the genetics and pathophysiology of T2D, these results also underscore the value of reanalyzing publicly available data using novel genetic resources and analytical approaches. ; This work has been sponsored by the grant SEV-2011-00067 of Severo Ochoa Program, awarded by the Spanish Government. This work was supported by an EFSD/Lilly research fellowship. Josep M. Mercader was supported by Sara Borrell Fellowship from the Instituto Carlos III and Beatriu de Pinós fellowship from the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR). Sílvia Bonàs was FI-DGR Fellowship from FI-DGR 2013 from Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR, Generalitat de Catalunya). This study makes use of data generated by the WTCCC. A full list of the investigators who contributed to the generation of the data is available from www.wtccc.org.uk. Funding for the project was provided by the Wellcome Trust under award 076113. This study also makes use of data generated by the UK10K Consortium, derived from samples from UK10K COHORT IMPUTATION (EGAS00001000713). A full list of the investigators who contributed to the generation of the data is available in www.UK10K.org. Funding for UK10K was provided by the Wellcome Trust under award WT091310. We acknowledge PRACE for awarding us to access MareNostrum supercomputer, based in Spain at Barcelona. The technical support group, particularly Pablo Ródenas and Jorge Rodríguez, from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center is gratefully acknowledged. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 667191. Mercè Planas-Fèlix is funded by the Obra Social Fundación la Caixa fellowship under the Severo Ochoa 2013 program. Work from Irene Miguel-Escalada, Ignasi Moran, Goutham Atla, and Jorge Ferrer was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, the Wellcome Trust (WT101033), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (BFU2014-54284-R) and Horizon 2020 (667191). Irene Miguel-Escalada has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska–Curie grant agreement No 658145. We acknowledge Prof. Giulio Cossu (Institute of Inflammation and Repair, University of Manchester) for providing the muscle myoblast cell line. We also acknowledge the InterAct and SIGMA Type 2 Diabetes Consortia for access to the data to replicate the rs146662075 variant. A full list of the investigators of the SIGMA Type 2 Diabetes and the InterAct consortia is provided in Supplementary Notes 3 and 4. The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research is an independent research center at the University of Copenhagen partially funded by an unrestricted donation from the Novo Nordisk Foundation (www.metabol.ku.dk). This research has been conducted using the UK Biobank Resource (application number 16803). We also acknowledge Bianca C. Porneala, MS for his technical assistance in the collection and curation of the genotype and phenotype data from Partners Biobank. We also thank Marcin von Grotthuss for their support for uploading the summary statistics data to the Type 2 Diabetes Genetic Portal (AMP-T2D portal). Finally, we thank all the Computational Genomics group at the BSC for their helpful discussions and valuable comments on the manuscript. ; Peer Reviewed ; Postprint (published version)
The reanalysis of existing GWAS data represents a powerful and cost-effective opportunity to gain insights into the genetics of complex diseases. By reanalyzing publicly available type 2 diabetes (T2D) genome-wide association studies (GWAS) data for 70,127 subjects, we identify seven novel associated regions, five driven by common variants (LYPLAL1, NEUROG3, CAMKK2, ABO, and GIP genes), one by a low-frequency (EHMT2), and one driven by a rare variant in chromosome Xq23, rs146662057, associated with a twofold increased risk for T2D in males. rs146662057 is located within an active enhancer associated with the expression of Angiotensin II Receptor type 2 gene (AGTR2), a modulator of insulin sensitivity, and exhibits allelic specific activity in muscle cells. Beyond providing insights into the genetics and pathophysiology of T2D, these results also underscore the value of reanalyzing publicly available data using novel genetic resources and analytical approaches. ; This work has been sponsored by the grant SEV-2011-00067 of Severo Ochoa Program, awarded by the Spanish Government. This work was supported by an EFSD/Lilly research fellowship. Josep M. Mercader was supported by Sara Borrell Fellowship from the Instituto Carlos III and Beatriu de Pinós fellowship from the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR). Sílvia Bonàs was FI-DGR Fellowship from FI-DGR 2013 from Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR, Generalitat de Catalunya). This study makes use of data generated by the WTCCC. A full list of the investigators who contributed to the generation of the data is available from www.wtccc.org.uk. Funding for the project was provided by the Wellcome Trust under award 076113. This study also makes use of data generated by the UK10K Consortium, derived from samples from UK10K COHORT IMPUTATION (EGAS00001000713). A full list of the investigators who contributed to the generation of the data is available in www.UK10K.org. Funding for UK10K was provided by the Wellcome Trust under award WT091310. We acknowledge PRACE for awarding us to access MareNostrum supercomputer, based in Spain at Barcelona. The technical support group, particularly Pablo Ródenas and Jorge Rodríguez, from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center is gratefully acknowledged. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 667191. Mercè Planas-Fèlix is funded by the Obra Social Fundación la Caixa fellowship under the Severo Ochoa 2013 program. Work from Irene Miguel-Escalada, Ignasi Moran, Goutham Atla, and Jorge Ferrer was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, the Wellcome Trust (WT101033), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (BFU2014-54284-R) and Horizon 2020 (667191). Irene Miguel-Escalada has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska–Curie grant agreement No 658145. We acknowledge Prof. Giulio Cossu (Institute of Inflammation and Repair, University of Manchester) for providing the muscle myoblast cell line. We also acknowledge the InterAct and SIGMA Type 2 Diabetes Consortia for access to the data to replicate the rs146662075 variant. A full list of the investigators of the SIGMA Type 2 Diabetes and the InterAct consortia is provided in Supplementary Notes 3 and 4. The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research is an independent research center at the University of Copenhagen partially funded by an unrestricted donation from the Novo Nordisk Foundation (www.metabol.ku.dk). This research has been conducted using the UK Biobank Resource (application number 16803). We also acknowledge Bianca C. Porneala, MS for his technical assistance in the collection and curation of the genotype and phenotype data from Partners Biobank. We also thank Marcin von Grotthuss for their support for uploading the summary statistics data to the Type 2 Diabetes Genetic Portal (AMP-T2D portal). Finally, we thank all the Computational Genomics group at the BSC for their helpful discussions and valuable comments on the manuscript. ; Peer reviewed
Publisher's version (útgefin grein) ; Background: Previous studies have reported an association between weight increase and excess lung function decline in young adults followed for short periods. We aimed to estimate lung function trajectories during adulthood from 20-year weight change profiles using data from the population-based European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS). Methods: We included 3673 participants recruited at age 20-44 years with repeated measurements of weight and lung function (forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV 1)) in three study waves (1991-93, 1999-2003, 2010-14) until they were 39-67 years of age. We classified subjects into weight change profiles according to baseline body mass index (BMI) categories and weight change over 20 years. We estimated trajectories of lung function over time as a function of weight change profiles using population-averaged generalised estimating equations. Results: In individuals with normal BMI, overweight and obesity at baseline, moderate (0.25-1 kg/year) and high weight gain (>1 kg/year) during follow-up were associated with accelerated FVC and FEV 1 declines. Compared with participants with baseline normal BMI and stable weight (±0.25 kg/year), obese individuals with high weight gain during follow-up had -1011 mL (95% CI -1.259 to -763) lower estimated FVC at 65 years despite similar estimated FVC levels at 25 years. Obese individuals at baseline who lost weight (<-0.25 kg/year) exhibited an attenuation of FVC and FEV 1 declines. We found no association between weight change profiles and FEV 1 /FVC decline. Conclusion: Moderate and high weight gain over 20 years was associated with accelerated lung function decline, while weight loss was related to its attenuation. Control of weight gain is important for maintaining good lung function in adult life. ; Funding The present analyses are part of the ageing lungs in european cohorts (alec) study (www.alecstudy.org), which has received funding from the european Union's horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 633212. The local investigators and funding agencies for the european community respiratory health survey are reported in the online supplement. isglobal is a member of the cerca Programme, generalitat de catalunya. ; Peer Reviewed
After four months of war in Gaza, the European Union, or at least its High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, seems determined to talk about peace. Borrell is even saying that the international community will have to "impose" it. But in such an asymmetrical conflict, how can peace be imagined? The Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023 in which more than 1,100 Israelis, mostly civilians, were killed and some 240 people were taken hostage, unleashed a devastating war with a direct impact on regional stability. The Israeli response has resulted in the deaths of more than more than 30,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, and the forced displacement of more than one and a half million Palestinians who are living in subhuman conditions without shelter, food, or water, and still threatened by Israeli army bombing attacks.With growing international pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is still persisting in its military campaign in pursuance of its goals: eradication of Hamas, freeing the hostages, and ensuring that Gaza will never again pose a threat to Israel. However, increasing numbers of international and regional actors are beginning to talk about peace. For the European Union and the international community, this peace entails the two-state solution, which goes back to the original formula put forth by the United Nations in 1947.The EU's advocacy of the two-state solution is nothing new. What has changed is that since the beginning of the year, EU institutions have tried to resume a certain impartiality in the conflict and are beginning to speak out in favour of peace. First, in Lisbon, the High Representative, Josep Borrell, stated: "Peace will only be achieved in a lasting manner if the international community gets involved intensely to achieve it and imposes a solution". Later, at the University of Valladolid, in his speech on being invested with an Honorary Doctorate, the head of EU diplomacy pointed out that Israel has financed Hamas with the aim of weakening the Palestinian National Authority.Even more ambitiously, at the end of January, Borrell presented to the foreign ministers of the EU 27 and representatives from Israel and the Arab countries a 10-point plan for the creation of two states. This plan envisages a "Preparatory Peace Conference" and talks until it is possible for the parties to agree on a solution. Always wary of idealism, Borrell did not speak of "peace" but of "solutions": "We have to stop talking about the 'peace' process and start talking more concretely about the 'two-state solution' process".Despite international consensus on the formula presented by the United Nations, and Borrell's determination to move closer to the inevitable horizon of peace, there are obstacles that will be difficult to overcome.First, how could peace that entails the creation of a Palestinian state be "imposed" when Israel vehemently opposes this? The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu recently declared that in any future arrangement, "the state of Israel has to control the entire area from the river to the sea". Heavy external pressure would be needed to convince the Israeli government, and this seems impossible in view of the unconditional support that it has had—and continues to have—from Washington, regardless of the war crimes the Israeli army is committing. As yet, there is no sign that either Moscow or Beijing intends to be involved in any peace initiative. Key regional stakeholders like Egypt, Turkey, and the Gulf states are concentrating all their diplomatic efforts on achieving a ceasefire in Gaza. As long as the Gaza Strip is being bombed and regionalisation of the conflict continues, the Arab countries see as unrealistic any peace-making effort that does not start with achieving an end to the war, and that does not include official recognition of a Palestinian state.Despite its economic power, the European Union—Israel's main trading partner and largest provider of foreign aid to the Palestinians—has been unable to make any progress towards achieving peace between the two sides. The initial reluctance of Brussels, like Washington, to pressure Israel to end its military campaign has "shredded" EU credibility in Palestine and a good part of the Middle East. However, in order to redress this situation, Brussels could promote EU-wide recognition of a Palestinian state in accordance with the 1999 Berlin Declaration, which stated its readiness to consider this "in due course".The second stumbling block builds upon the question: who would sign a peace agreement? Even if peace could be imposed from the outside, the Israeli and Palestinian stakeholders have diametrically opposed positions. The Israeli government wants total control of all territories it occupies, including Gaza, and rather than any intention to put an end to colonisation, it aims to keep encouraging it. The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) opposes any kind of solution that does not include an end to the occupation and creation of a Palestinian state with the 1967 borders. Notwithstanding the PNA's crisis of diminished legitimacy, Palestinians do agree that ending the Israeli occupation is the first step towards the creation of a Palestinian state.It is estimated that more than 700,000 Jewish settlers are living illegally in occupied Palestinian territories. Moreover, since 7 October, eviction of Palestinians from their homes and colonisation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem have intensified with Israeli government and military support, as expanding the illegal settlements was already a priority of the Netanyahu government. It is a gradual but implacable strategy. In the words of the BBC, one day a motorhome moves in, the next a few houses are built, and then an urban centre is established. In these circumstances, any proposal for negotiation that does not envisage an end to the occupation is, perforce, doomed to failure.An even thornier matter is the role of Hamas in future negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. This militant Palestinian group which committed the atrocities of 7 October is a stakeholder that Israel wishes to eradicate and that the United States and the European Union have labelled as a terrorist group. Hence the dilemma is the following: on the one hand, any attempt at negotiation that includes Hamas will be used by Israel as an argument not to engage and, on the other hand, excluding Hamas—which is supported by part of the population of Gaza and, in growing numbers, by the population in the West Bank—will only increase the division within the Palestinian leadership.Talking about peace is as necessary as it is easy to see an infinite number of obstacles. Imposing peace would seem unviable without a more powerful and more credible Europe, without a more impartial United States, and without other legitimate stakeholders who are able to bring Israeli and Palestinian positions closer together. In such a lopsided conflict, the most likely scenario is that Israel will keep rejecting any solution that involves the creation of a Palestinian state, that Hamas will survive the current war and the international community will continue to back the two-state solution without taking any real measures to end the occupation. Keywords: Israel, Palestine, negotiation, peace, Gaza, EU, Washington, Netanyahu, PNA, Hamas, Middle East All the publications express the opinions of their individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of CIDOB as an institution
After four months of war in Gaza, the European Union, or at least its High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, seems determined to talk about peace. Borrell is even saying that the international community will have to "impose" it. But in such an asymmetrical conflict, how can peace be imagined? The Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023 in which more than 1,100 Israelis, mostly civilians, were killed and some 240 people were taken hostage, unleashed a devastating war with a direct impact on regional stability. The Israeli response has resulted in the deaths of more than more than 30,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, and the forced displacement of more than one and a half million Palestinians who are living in subhuman conditions without shelter, food, or water, and still threatened by Israeli army bombing attacks.With growing international pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is still persisting in its military campaign in pursuance of its goals: eradication of Hamas, freeing the hostages, and ensuring that Gaza will never again pose a threat to Israel. However, increasing numbers of international and regional actors are beginning to talk about peace. For the European Union and the international community, this peace entails the two-state solution, which goes back to the original formula put forth by the United Nations in 1947.The EU's advocacy of the two-state solution is nothing new. What has changed is that since the beginning of the year, EU institutions have tried to resume a certain impartiality in the conflict and are beginning to speak out in favour of peace. First, in Lisbon, the High Representative, Josep Borrell, stated: "Peace will only be achieved in a lasting manner if the international community gets involved intensely to achieve it and imposes a solution". Later, at the University of Valladolid, in his speech on being invested with an Honorary Doctorate, the head of EU diplomacy pointed out that Israel has financed Hamas with the aim of weakening the Palestinian National Authority.Even more ambitiously, at the end of January, Borrell presented to the foreign ministers of the EU 27 and representatives from Israel and the Arab countries a 10-point plan for the creation of two states. This plan envisages a "Preparatory Peace Conference" and talks until it is possible for the parties to agree on a solution. Always wary of idealism, Borrell did not speak of "peace" but of "solutions": "We have to stop talking about the 'peace' process and start talking more concretely about the 'two-state solution' process".Despite international consensus on the formula presented by the United Nations, and Borrell's determination to move closer to the inevitable horizon of peace, there are obstacles that will be difficult to overcome.First, how could peace that entails the creation of a Palestinian state be "imposed" when Israel vehemently opposes this? The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu recently declared that in any future arrangement, "the state of Israel has to control the entire area from the river to the sea". Heavy external pressure would be needed to convince the Israeli government, and this seems impossible in view of the unconditional support that it has had—and continues to have—from Washington, regardless of the war crimes the Israeli army is committing. As yet, there is no sign that either Moscow or Beijing intends to be involved in any peace initiative. Key regional stakeholders like Egypt, Turkey, and the Gulf states are concentrating all their diplomatic efforts on achieving a ceasefire in Gaza. As long as the Gaza Strip is being bombed and regionalisation of the conflict continues, the Arab countries see as unrealistic any peace-making effort that does not start with achieving an end to the war, and that does not include official recognition of a Palestinian state.Despite its economic power, the European Union—Israel's main trading partner and largest provider of foreign aid to the Palestinians—has been unable to make any progress towards achieving peace between the two sides. The initial reluctance of Brussels, like Washington, to pressure Israel to end its military campaign has "shredded" EU credibility in Palestine and a good part of the Middle East. However, in order to redress this situation, Brussels could promote EU-wide recognition of a Palestinian state in accordance with the 1999 Berlin Declaration, which stated its readiness to consider this "in due course".The second stumbling block builds upon the question: who would sign a peace agreement? Even if peace could be imposed from the outside, the Israeli and Palestinian stakeholders have diametrically opposed positions. The Israeli government wants total control of all territories it occupies, including Gaza, and rather than any intention to put an end to colonisation, it aims to keep encouraging it. The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) opposes any kind of solution that does not include an end to the occupation and creation of a Palestinian state with the 1967 borders. Notwithstanding the PNA's crisis of diminished legitimacy, Palestinians do agree that ending the Israeli occupation is the first step towards the creation of a Palestinian state.It is estimated that more than 700,000 Jewish settlers are living illegally in occupied Palestinian territories. Moreover, since 7 October, eviction of Palestinians from their homes and colonisation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem have intensified with Israeli government and military support, as expanding the illegal settlements was already a priority of the Netanyahu government. It is a gradual but implacable strategy. In the words of the BBC, one day a motorhome moves in, the next a few houses are built, and then an urban centre is established. In these circumstances, any proposal for negotiation that does not envisage an end to the occupation is, perforce, doomed to failure.An even thornier matter is the role of Hamas in future negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. This militant Palestinian group which committed the atrocities of 7 October is a stakeholder that Israel wishes to eradicate and that the United States and the European Union have labelled as a terrorist group. Hence the dilemma is the following: on the one hand, any attempt at negotiation that includes Hamas will be used by Israel as an argument not to engage and, on the other hand, excluding Hamas—which is supported by part of the population of Gaza and, in growing numbers, by the population in the West Bank—will only increase the division within the Palestinian leadership.Talking about peace is as necessary as it is easy to see an infinite number of obstacles. Imposing peace would seem unviable without a more powerful and more credible Europe, without a more impartial United States, and without other legitimate stakeholders who are able to bring Israeli and Palestinian positions closer together. In such a lopsided conflict, the most likely scenario is that Israel will keep rejecting any solution that involves the creation of a Palestinian state, that Hamas will survive the current war and the international community will continue to back the two-state solution without taking any real measures to end the occupation.Keywords: Israel, Palestine, negotiation, peace, Gaza, EU, Washington, Netanyahu, PNA, Hamas, Middle East All the publications express the opinions of their individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of CIDOB as an institution
BACKGROUND: Asthma, rhinitis and eczema often co-occur in children, but their interrelationships at the population level have been poorly addressed. We assessed co-occurrence of childhood asthma, rhinitis and eczema using unsupervised statistical techniques. METHODS: We included 17 209 children at 4 years and 14 585 at 8 years from seven European population-based birth cohorts (MeDALL project). At each age period, children were grouped, using partitioning cluster analysis, according to the distribution of 23 variables covering symptoms 'ever' and 'in the last 12 months', doctor diagnosis, age of onset and treatments of asthma, rhinitis and eczema; immunoglobulin E sensitization; weight; and height. We tested the sensitivity of our estimates to subject and variable selections, and to different statistical approaches, including latent class analysis and self-organizing maps. RESULTS: Two groups were identified as the optimal way to cluster the data at both age periods and in all sensitivity analyses. The first (reference) group at 4 and 8 years (including 70% and 79% of children, respectively) was characterized by a low prevalence of symptoms and sensitization, whereas the second (symptomatic) group exhibited more frequent symptoms and sensitization. Ninety-nine percentage of children with comorbidities (co-occurrence of asthma, rhinitis and/or eczema) were included in the symptomatic group at both ages. The children's characteristics in both groups were consistent in all sensitivity analyses.CONCLUSION:At 4 and 8 years, at the population level, asthma, rhinitis and eczema can be classified together as an allergic comorbidity cluster. Future research including time-repeated assessments and biological data will help understanding the interrelationships between these diseases. ; This work was supported by Mechanisms of the Develop-ment of ALLergy (MeDALL), a collaborative project con-ducted within the European Union under the HealthCooperation Work Programme of the 7th Framework pro-gramme (grant agreement No. 261357)
Key stakeholders from the cancer research continuum met in May 2021 at the European Cancer Research Summit in Porto to discuss priorities and specific action points required for the successful implementation of the European Cancer Mission and Europe's Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP). Speakers presented a unified view about the need to establish high‐quality, networked infrastructures to decrease cancer incidence, increase the cure rate, improve patient's survival and quality of life, and deal with research and care inequalities across the European Union (EU). These infrastructures, featuring Comprehensive Cancer Centres (CCCs) as key components, will integrate care, prevention and research across the entire cancer continuum to support the development of personalized/precision cancer medicine in Europe. The three pillars of the recommended European infrastructures – namely translational research, clinical/prevention trials and outcomes research – were pondered at length. Speakers addressing the future needs of translational research focused on the prospects of multiomics assisted preclinical research, progress in Molecular and Digital Pathology, immunotherapy, liquid biopsy and science data. The clinical/prevention trial session presented the requirements for next‐generation, multicentric trials entailing unified strategies for patient stratification, imaging, and biospecimen acquisition and storage. The third session highlighted the need for establishing outcomes research infrastructures to cover primary prevention, early detection, clinical effectiveness of innovations, health‐related quality‐of‐life assessment, survivorship research and health economics. An important outcome of the Summit was the presentation of the Porto Declaration, which called for a collective and committed action throughout Europe to develop the cancer research infrastructures indispensable for fostering innovation and decreasing inequalities within and between member states. Moreover, the Summit guidelines will assist decision making in the ...
