@article{SadovnickTraboulseeBernalesetal.2016, author = {Sadovnick, A. Dessa and Traboulsee, Anthony L. and Bernales, Cecily Q. and Ross, Jay P. and Forwell, Amanda L. and Yee, Irene M. and Guillot-Noel, Lena and Fontaine, Bertrand and Cournu-Rebeix, Isabelle and Alcina, Antonio and Fedetz, Maria and Izquierdo, Guillermo and Matesanz, Fuencisla and Hilven, Kelly and Dubois, B{\´e}n{\´e}dicte and Goris, An and Astobiza, Ianire and Alloza, Iraide and Antig{\"u}edad, Alfredo and Vandenbroeck, Koen and Akkad, Denis A. and Aktas, Orhan and Blaschke, Paul and Buttmann, Mathias and Chan, Andrew and Epplen, Joerg T. and Gerdes, Lisa-Ann and Kroner, Antje and Kubisch, Christian and K{\"u}mpfel, Tania and Lohse, Peter and Rieckmann, Peter and Zettl, Uwe K. and Zipp, Frauke and Bertram, Lars and Lill, Christina M. and Fernandez, Oscar and Urbaneja, Patricia and Leyva, Laura and Alvarez-Cerme{\~n}o, Jose Carlos and Arroyo, Rafael and Garagorri, Aroa M. and Garc{\´i}a-Mart{\´i}nez, Angel and Villar, Luisa M. and Urcelay, Elena and Malhotra, Sunny and Montalban, Xavier and Comabella, Manuel and Berger, Thomas and Fazekas, Franz and Reindl, Markus and Schmied, Mascha C. and Zimprich, Alexander and Vilari{\~n}o-G{\"u}ell, Carles}, title = {Analysis of Plasminogen Genetic Variants in Multiple Sclerosis Patients}, series = {G3: Genes Genomes Genetics}, volume = {6}, journal = {G3: Genes Genomes Genetics}, number = {7}, doi = {10.1534/g3.116.030841}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-165405}, pages = {2073-2079}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a prevalent neurological disease of complex etiology. Here, we describe the characterization of a multi-incident MS family that nominated a rare missense variant (p.G420D) in plasminogen (PLG) as a putative genetic risk factor for MS. Genotyping of PLG p.G420D (rs139071351) in 2160 MS patients, and 886 controls from Canada, identified 10 additional probands, two sporadic patients and one control with the variant. Segregation in families harboring the rs139071351 variant, identified p.G420D in 26 out of 30 family members diagnosed with MS, 14 unaffected parents, and 12 out of 30 family members not diagnosed with disease. Despite considerably reduced penetrance, linkage analysis supports cosegregation of PLG p.G420D and disease. Genotyping of PLG p.G420D in 14446 patients, and 8797 controls from Canada, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, and Austria failed to identify significant association with disease (P = 0.117), despite an overall higher prevalence in patients (OR = 1.32; 95\% CI = 0.93-1.87). To assess whether additional rare variants have an effect on MS risk, we sequenced PLG in 293 probands, and genotyped all rare variants in cases and controls. This analysis identified nine rare missense variants, and although three of them were exclusively observed in MS patients, segregation does not support pathogenicity. PLG is a plausible biological candidate for MS owing to its involvement in immune system response, blood-brain barrier permeability, and myelin degradation. Moreover, components of its activation cascade have been shown to present increased activity or expression in MS patients compared to controls; further studies are needed to clarify whether PLG is involved in MS susceptibility.}, language = {en} } @article{WeiBlaschke2018, author = {Wei, Chunzhu and Blaschke, Thomas}, title = {Pixel-wise vs. object-based impervious surface analysis from remote sensing: correlations with land surface temperature and population density}, series = {Urban Science}, volume = {2}, journal = {Urban Science}, number = {1}, issn = {2413-8851}, doi = {10.3390/urbansci2010002}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-197829}, pages = {2}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Impervious surface areas (ISA) are heavily influenced by urban structure and related structural features. We examined the effects of object-based impervious surface spatial pattern analysis on land surface temperature and population density in Guangzhou, China, in comparison to classic per-pixel analyses. An object-based support vector machine (SVM) and a linear spectral mixture analysis (LSMA) were integrated to estimate ISA fraction using images from the Chinese HJ-1B satellite for 2009 to 2011. The results revealed that the integrated object-based SVM-LSMA algorithm outperformed the traditional pixel-wise LSMA algorithm in classifying ISA fraction. More specifically, the object-based ISA spatial patterns extracted were more suitable than pixel-wise patterns for urban heat island (UHI) studies, in which the UHI areas (landscape surface temperature >37 °C) generally feature high ISA fraction values (ISA fraction >50\%). In addition, the object-based spatial patterns enable us to quantify the relationship of ISA with population density (correlation coefficient >0.2 in general), with global human settlement density (correlation coefficient >0.2), and with night-time light map (correlation coefficient >0.4), and, whereas pixel-wise ISA did not yield significant correlations. These results indicate that object-based spatial patterns have a high potential for UHI detection and urbanization monitoring. Planning measures that aim to reduce the urbanization impacts and UHI intensities can be better supported.}, language = {en} } @article{WeidemannMaierStoerketal.2016, author = {Weidemann, Frank and Maier, Sebastian K. G. and St{\"o}rk, Stefan and Brunner, Thomas and Liu, Dan and Hu, Kai and Seydelmann, Nora and Schneider, Andreas and Becher, Jan and Canan-K{\"u}hl, Sima and Blaschke, Daniela and Bijnens, Bart and Ertl, Georg and Wanner, Christoph and Nordbeck, Peter}, title = {Usefulness of an implantable loop recorder to detect clinically relevant arrhythmias in patients with advanced fabry cardiomyopathy}, series = {The American Journal of Cardiology}, volume = {118}, journal = {The American Journal of Cardiology}, number = {2}, doi = {10.1016/j.amjcard.2016.04.033}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-188093}, pages = {264-274}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Patients with genetic cardiomyopathy that involves myocardial hypertrophy often develop clinically relevant arrhythmias that increase the risk of sudden death. Consequently, guidelines for medical device therapy were established for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, but not for conditions with only anecdotal evidence of arrhythmias, like Fabry cardiomyopathy. Patients with Fabry cardiomyopathy progressively develop myocardial fibrosis, and sudden cardiac death occurs regularly. Because 24-hour Holier electrocardiograms (ECGs) might not detect clinically important arrhythmias, we tested an implanted loop recorder for continuous heart rhythm surveillance and determined its impact on therapy. This prospective study included 16 patients (12 men) with advanced Fabry cardiomyopathy, relevant hypertrophy, and replacement fibrosis in "loco typico." No patients previously exhibited clinically relevant arrhythmias on Holier ECGs. Patients received an implantable loop recorder and were prospectively followed with telemedicine for a median of 1.2 years (range 0.3 to 2.0 years). The primary end point was a clinically meaningful event, which required a therapy change, captured with the loop recorder. Patients submitted data regularly (14 +/- 11 times per month). During follow-up, 21 events were detected (including 4 asystole, i.e., ECG pauses >= 3 seconds) and 7 bradycardia events; 5 episodes of intermittent atrial fibrillation (>3 minutes) and 5 episodes of ventricular tachycardia (3 sustained and 2 nonsustained). Subsequently, as defined in the primary end point, 15 events leaded to a change of therapy. These patients required therapy with a pacemaker or cardioverter defibrillator implantation and/or anticoagulation therapy for atrial fibrillation. In conclusion, clinically relevant arrhythmias that require further device and/or medical therapy are often missed with Holier ECGs in patients with advanced stage Fabry cardiomyopathy, but they can be detected by telemonitoring with an implantable loop recorder.}, language = {en} } @article{LendersWeidemannKurschatetal.2016, author = {Lenders, Malte and Weidemann, Frank and Kurschat, Christine and Canaan-K{\"u}hl, Sima and Duning, Thomas and Stypmann, J{\"o}rg and Schmitz, Boris and Reiermann, Stefanie and Kr{\"a}mer, Johannes and Blaschke, Daniela and Wanner, Christoph and Brand, Stefan-Martin and Brand, Eva}, title = {Alpha-Galactosidase A p.A143T, a non-Fabry disease-causing variant}, series = {Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases}, volume = {11}, journal = {Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases}, number = {54}, doi = {10.1186/s13023-016-0441-z}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-166559}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Background Fabry disease (FD) is an X-linked multisystemic disorder with a heterogeneous phenotype. Especially atypical or late-onset type 2 phenotypes present a therapeutical dilemma. Methods To determine the clinical impact of the alpha-Galactosidase A (GLA) p.A143T/ c.427G > A variation, we retrospectively analyzed 25 p.A143T patients in comparison to 58 FD patients with other missense mutations. Results p.A143T patients suffering from stroke/ transient ischemic attacks had slightly decreased residual GLA activities, and/or increased lyso-Gb3 levels, suspecting FD. However, most male p.A143T patients presented with significant residual GLA activity (~50 \% of reference), which was associated with normal lyso-Gb3 levels. Additionally, p.A143T patients showed less severe FD-typical symptoms and absent FD-typical renal and cardiac involvement in comparison to FD patients with other missense mutations. Two tested female p.A143T patients with stroke/TIA did not show skewed X chromosome inactivation. No accumulation of neurologic events in family members of p.A143T patients with stroke/transient ischemic attacks was observed. Conclusions We conclude that GLA p.A143T seems to be most likely a neutral variant or a possible modifier instead of a disease-causing mutation. Therefore, we suggest that p.A143T patients with stroke/transient ischemic attacks of unknown etiology should be further evaluated, since the diagnosis of FD is not probable and subsequent ERT or chaperone treatment should not be an unreflected option.}, language = {en} }