Not yet another digital identity

in Nature Human Behaviour (2021)

Inflammation regulates long non-coding RNA-PTTG1-1:1 in myeloid leukemia

in Haematologica (2020), 105(6), 280-284

[No abstract available]

Intestinal-Cell Kinase and Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy.

in New England Journal of Medicine (2019), 380(16), 24

With regard to the article by Bailey et al. (March 15, 2018, issue) on the potential role of variants in the gene encoding intestinal cell kinase (ICK) in genetic generalized epilepsies, including ... [more ▼]

With regard to the article by Bailey et al. (March 15, 2018, issue) on the potential role of variants in the gene encoding intestinal cell kinase (ICK) in genetic generalized epilepsies, including juvenile myoclonic epilepsy: We attempted replication by rechecking for enrichment of ICK variants in two previously published analyses of mainly familial cases of genetic generalized epilepsy, which included a total of 1149 cases of genetic generalized epilepsy and 5911 ethnically matched controls. We analyzed the burden of single-gene rare variants with the use of whole exome sequencing data, applying population stratification and both sample and variant quality control. We found no evidence of an enrichment of ICK variants in genetic generalized epilepsies or juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. Specifically, we did not detect a nonsynonymous variant in 357 persons with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy at a minor allele frequency at or below 0.1%. Although we cannot exclude the possibility that ICK variants may be population-specific risk factors for juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, the lack of validation in our cohorts does not support a true disease association but rather suggests that the authors’ results may be due to chance, possibly owing to methodologic issues (see the Supplementary Appendix, available with the full text of this letter at NEJM.org). [less ▲]

Does “forced abstinence” from gaming lead to pornography use? Insight from the April 2018 crash of Fortnite’s servers

in Journal of Behavioral Addictions (2018), 7(3), 501-502

In April 2018, the servers of the popular video game “Fortnite” crashed for 24 hr. During this period, Pornhub (a popular pornographic website) analyzed trends in pornography access, finding that: (a) the ... [more ▼]

In April 2018, the servers of the popular video game “Fortnite” crashed for 24 hr. During this period, Pornhub (a popular pornographic website) analyzed trends in pornography access, finding that: (a) the percentage of gamers accessing Pornhub increased by 10% and (b) the searches of pornographic videos using the key term “Fortnite” increased by 60%. In this letter, we discuss these observations in the context of ongoing debate regarding the validity of “withdrawal” when applied to problematic involvement in video gaming and the potential use of pornography as a “compensation behavior” during the periods of “forced abstinence” from gaming. [less ▲]

Materials science in Luxembourg

in Nature Materials (2014), 13

With its strategic location and firm commitment to investing in research, Luxembourg has ambitious plans to become a significant player in the international research arena.

On the approximation in the smoothed finite element method (SFEM)

in International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering (2010), 81(5), 660-670

This letter aims at resolving the issues raised in the recent short communication (Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng 2008; 76(8):1285-1295. DOI: 10.1002/nme.2460) and answered by (Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng 2009 ... [more ▼]

This letter aims at resolving the issues raised in the recent short communication (Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng 2008; 76(8):1285-1295. DOI: 10.1002/nme.2460) and answered by (Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng 2009; DOI: 10.1002/nme.2587) by proposing a systematic approximation scheme based on non-mapped shape functions, which both allows to fully exploit the unique advantages of the smoothed finite element method (SFEM) (Comput. Mech. 2007; 39(6):859-877. DOI: 10.1007/s00466-006-0075-4; Commun. Numer. Meth. Engng 2009; 25(1):19-34. DOI: 10.1002/cnm.1098; Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng 2007; 71(8):902-930; Comput. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engng 2008; 198(2):165-177. DOI: 10.1016/j.cma.2008.05.029; Comput. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engng 2007; submitted; Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng 2008; 74(2):175-208. DOI: 10.1002/nme.2146; Comput. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engng 2008; 197 (13-16):1184-1203. DOI: 10.1016/j.cma.2007.10.008) and resolve the existence, linearity and positivity deficiencies pointed out in (Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng 2008; 76(8):1285-1295). We show that Wachspress interpolants (A Rational Basis for Function Approximation. Academic Press, Inc.: New York, 1975) computed in the physical coordinate system are very well suited to the SFEM, especially when elements are heavily distorted (obtuse interior angles). The proposed approximation leads to results that are almost identical to those of the SFEM initially proposed in (Comput. Mech. 2007; 39(6):859-877. DOI: 10.1007/s00466-006-0075-4). These results suggest that the proposed approximation scheme forms a strong and rigorous basis for the construction of SFEMs. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [less ▲]

Identification of novel and recurrent glucokinase mutations in Belgian and Luxembourg maturity onset diabetes of the young patients [1]

in Clinical Genetics (2006), 70(4), 355-359

[No abstract available]