INTRODUCTION The majority of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITDs) are characterized by a striking female predominance superimposed on a predisposing genetic background. The role of extremely skewed X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) has been questioned in the pathogenesis of several autoimmune diseases. METHODS We examined XCI profiles of ...

A panel of five multiallelic and highly informative dinucleotide CA repeat markers flanking the APC gene was used for presymptomatic diagnosis of familial adenomatous polyposis coli (FAP). Marker regions were amplified by PCR. DNA fragments were separated by electrophoresis in denaturing polyacrylamide gels and visualised by ethidium bromide staining. Two or more markers were found to be inform...

We study social comparisons and status seeking in an interconnected society. Individuals take costly actions that have direct benefits and also confer social status. A new measure of interconnectedness—cohesion—captures the intensity of incentives for seeking status. Equilibria stratify players into social classes, with each class’s action pinned down by cohesion. A network decomposition algori...

This paper develops an informative column generation and decomposition method for a capacitated multi-item lot sizing and facility location problem with backlogging. The method hybridizes column generation to achieve a relaxed linear solution and a decomposition method (i.e., relax-and-fix) to achieve a feasible solution. The two solutions are used for a neighborhood search procedure that fixes...

Polymorphic malcode remains one of the most troubling threats for information security and intrusion defense systems. The ability for malcode to be automatically transformed into to a semantically equivalent variant frustrates attempts to construct a single, simple, easily verifiable representation. We present a quantitative analysis of the strengths and limitations of shellcode polymorphism an...

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) is an economically important leafy vegetable crop in many countries. This is the first case study of using SRAP markers to analyze genetic diversity of Iranian spinach accessions. Eight SRAP primer combinations generated 88 scorable bands ranging from 50 to 1000 bp, among which 73 were polymorphic, with an average of 82.9 polymorphic bands per primer combination a...

In recent years, the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) has increased its efforts to use its annual conference to inform and educate the public about kidney disease. Social media, including Twitter, has been one method used by the Society to accomplish this goal. Twitter is a popular microblogging service that serves as a potent tool for disseminating information. It allows for short messages...