Present-day people from England and Wales have more ancestry derived from early European farmers (EEF) than did people of the Early Bronze Age(1). To understand this, here we generated genome-wide... Show morePresent-day people from England and Wales have more ancestry derived from early European farmers (EEF) than did people of the Early Bronze Age(1). To understand this, here we generated genome-wide data from 793 individuals, increasing data from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age in Britain by 12-fold, and western and central Europe by 3.5-fold. Between 1000 and 875 bc, EEF ancestry increased in southern Britain (England and Wales) but not northern Britain (Scotland) due to incorporation of migrants who arrived at this time and over previous centuries, and who were genetically most similar to ancient individuals from France. These migrants contributed about half the ancestry of people of England and Wales from the Iron Age, thereby creating a plausible vector for the spread of early Celtic languages into Britain. These patterns are part of a broader trend of EEF ancestry becoming more similar across central and western Europe in the Middle to the Late Bronze Age, coincident with archaeological evidence of intensified cultural exchange(2-6). There was comparatively less gene flow from continental Europe during the Iron Age, and the independent genetic trajectory in Britain is also reflected in the rise of the allele conferring lactase persistence to approximately 50% by this time compared to approximately 7% in central Europe where it rose rapidly in frequency only a millennium later. This suggests that dairy products were used in qualitatively different ways in Britain and in central Europe over this period. Show less
Patterson, N.; Isakov, M.; Booth, T.; Büster, L.; Fischer, C.; Olalde, I.; ... ; Reich, D. 2021
Present-day people from England and Wales harbour more ancestry derived from Early European Farmers (EEF) than people of the Early Bronze Age1. To understand this, we generated genome-wide data... Show morePresent-day people from England and Wales harbour more ancestry derived from Early European Farmers (EEF) than people of the Early Bronze Age1. To understand this, we generated genome-wide data from 793 individuals, increasing data from the Middle to Late Bronze and Iron Age in Britain by 12-fold, and Western and Central Europe by 3.5-fold. Between 1000 and 875 BC, EEF ancestry increased in southern Britain (England and Wales) but not northern Britain (Scotland) due to incorporation of migrants who arrived at this time and over previous centuries, and who were genetically most similar to ancient individuals from France. These migrants contributed about half the ancestry of Iron Age people of England and Wales, thereby creating a plausible vector for the spread of early Celtic languages into Britain. These patterns are part of a broader trend of EEF ancestry becoming more similar across central and western Europe in the Middle to Late Bronze Age, coincident with archaeological evidence of intensified cultural exchange2-6. There was comparatively less gene flow from continental Europe during the Iron Age, and Britain's independent genetic trajectory is also reflected in the rise of the allele conferring lactase persistence to ~50% by this time compared to ~7% in central Europe where it rose rapidly in frequency only a millennium later. This suggests that dairy products were used in qualitatively different ways in Britain and in central Europe over this period. Show less
Bioimaging data have significant potential for reuse, but unlocking this potential requires systematic archiving of data and metadata in public databases. We propose draft metadata guidelines to... Show moreBioimaging data have significant potential for reuse, but unlocking this potential requires systematic archiving of data and metadata in public databases. We propose draft metadata guidelines to begin addressing the needs of diverse communities within light and electron microscopy. We hope this publication and the proposed Recommended Metadata for Biological Images (REMBI) will stimulate discussions about their implementation and future extension. Show less
Snowden, J.A.; Saccardi, R.; Orchard, K.; Ljungman, P.; Duarte, R.F.; Labopin, M.; ... ; Putter, H. 2020
In many healthcare settings, benchmarking for complex procedures has become a mandatory requirement by competent authorities, regulators, payers and patients to assure clinical performance, cost... Show moreIn many healthcare settings, benchmarking for complex procedures has become a mandatory requirement by competent authorities, regulators, payers and patients to assure clinical performance, cost-effectiveness and safe care of patients. In several countries inside and outside Europe, benchmarking systems have been established for haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), but access is not universal. As benchmarking is now integrated into the FACT-JACIE standards, the EBMT and JACIE established a Clinical Outcomes Group (COG) to develop and introduce a universal system accessible across EBMT members. Established systems from seven European countries (United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland), USA and Australia were appraised, revealing similarities in process, but wide variations in selection criteria and statistical methods. In tandem, the COG developed the first phase of a bespoke risk-adapted international benchmarking model for one-year survival following allogeneic and autologous HSCT based on current capabilities within the EBMT registry core dataset. Data completeness, which has a critical impact on validity of centre comparisons, is also assessed. Ongoing development will include further scientific validation of the model, incorporation of further variables (when appropriate) alongside implementation of systems for clinically meaningful interpretation and governance aiming to maximise acceptance to centres, clinicians, payers and patients across EBMT. Show less
These updated EBMT guidelines review the clinical evidence, registry activity and mechanisms of action of haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in multiple sclerosis (MS) and other immune... Show moreThese updated EBMT guidelines review the clinical evidence, registry activity and mechanisms of action of haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in multiple sclerosis (MS) and other immune-mediated neurological diseases and provide recommendations for patient selection, transplant technique, follow-up and future development. The major focus is on autologous HSCT (aHSCT), used in MS for over two decades and currently the fastest growing indication for this treatment in Europe, with increasing evidence to support its use in highly active relapsing remitting MS failing to respond to disease modifying therapies. aHSCT may have a potential role in the treatment of the progressive forms of MS with a significant inflammatory component and other immune-mediated neurological diseases, including chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, neuromyelitis optica, myasthenia gravis and stiff person syndrome. Allogeneic HSCT should only be considered where potential risks are justified. Compared with other immunomodulatory treatments, HSCT is associated with greater short-term risks and requires close interspeciality collaboration between transplant physicians and neurologists with a special interest in these neurological conditions before, during and after treatment in accredited HSCT centres. Other experimental cell therapies are developmental for these diseases and patients should only be treated on clinical trials. Show less
Cell migration research has become a high-content field. However, the quantitative information encapsulated in these complex and high-dimensional datasets is not fully exploited due to the... Show moreCell migration research has become a high-content field. However, the quantitative information encapsulated in these complex and high-dimensional datasets is not fully exploited due to the diversity of experimental protocols and non-standardised output formats. In addition, typically the datasets are not open for reuse. Making the data open and Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) will enable meta-analysis, data integration, and data mining. Standardised data formats and controlled vocabularies are essential for building a suitable infrastructure for that purpose but are not available in the cell migration domain. We here present standardisation efforts by the Cell Migration Standardisation Organization, CMSO, an open community-driven organisation to facilitate the development of standards for cell migration data. This work will foster the development of improved algorithms and tools, and enable secondary analysis of public datasets, ultimately unlocking new knowledge of the complex biological process of cell migration. Show less
Motivation: The BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity... Show moreMotivation: The BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community-led open-source database of biodiversity time series. Our goal is to accelerate and facilitate quantitative analysis of temporal patterns of biodiversity in the Anthropocene.Main types of variables included: The database contains 8,777,413 species abundance records, from assemblages consistently sampled for a minimum of 2 years, which need not necessarily be consecutive. In addition, the database contains metadata relating to sampling methodology and contextual information about each record.Spatial location and grain: BioTIME is a global database of 547,161 unique sampling locations spanning the marine, freshwater and terrestrial realms. Grain size varies across datasets from 0.0000000158 km(2) (158 cm(2)) to 100 km(2) (1,000,000,000,000 cm(2)).Time period and grainBio: TIME records span from 1874 to 2016. The minimal temporal grain across all datasets in BioTIME is a year.Major taxa and level of measurement: BioTIME includes data from 44,440 species across the plant and animal kingdoms, ranging from plants, plankton and terrestrial invertebrates to small and large vertebrates. Show less
Cossarizza, A.; Chang, H.D.; Radbruch, A.; Akdis, M.; Andra, I.; Annunziato, F.; ... ; Zimmermann, J. 2017