Objective To use genetic variants as unconfounded proxies of C reactive protein concentration to study its causal role in coronary heart disease. Design Mendelian randomisation meta-analysis of individual participant data from 47 epidemiological studies in 15 countries. Participants 194 418 participants, including 46 557 patients with prevalent or incident coronary heart disease. Information was available on four CRP gene tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs3093077, rs1205, rs1130864, rs1800947), concentration of C reactive protein, and levels of other risk factors. Main outcome measures Risk ratios for coronary heart disease associated with genetically raised C reactive protein versus risk ratios with equivalent differences in C reactive protein concentration itself, adjusted for conventional risk factors and variability in risk factor levels within individuals. Results CRP variants were each associated with up to 30% per allele difference in concentration of C reactive protein (P<10 −34) and were unrelated to other risk factors. Risk ratios for coronary heart disease per additional copy of an allele associated with raised C reactive protein were 0.93 (95% confidence interval 0.87 to 1.00) for rs3093077; 1.00 (0.98 to 1.02) for rs1205; 0.98 (0.96 to 1.00) for rs1130864; and 0.99 (0.94 to 1.03) for rs1800947. In a combined analysis, the risk ratio for coronary heart disease was 1.00 (0.90 to 1.13) per 1 SD higher genetically raised natural log (ln) concentration of C reactive protein. The genetic findings were discordant with the risk ratio observed for coronary heart disease of 1.33 (1.23 to 1.43) per 1 SD higher circulating ln concentration of C reactive protein in prospective studies (P=0.001 for difference). Conclusion Human genetic data indicate that C reactive protein concentration itself is unlikely to be even a modest causal factor in coronary heart disease.

, which describes a framework for task level control on the Steady Hand Robot at JHU and which reports demonstrations of several representative tasks, including retinal cannulation, on dry lab and ex-vivo phantoms. The Publisher also refers to Figure 5 of the Article and wishes to reference the depiction of retinal cannulation in Dr. Kumar's thesis, which reflects a task sequence that was performed for Dr. Kumar's thesis and is depicted in the thesis as Figure 5.13.

Lipid overload, associated with obesity, occurs when saturated fatty acids (SFAs) accumulate in non‐adipose tissues. Cells of these tissues use major histocompatibility (MHC) class I molecules to present antigen to cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in order to eliminate pathogens. Since obesity is associated with impaired immune responses, we tested if lipid overload with SFAs could affect MHC class I antigen presentation to CTLs. Antigen presenting cells (APCs) were fed either the saturated fatty acid palmitic acid (PA) or the monounsaturated oleic acid (OA), which are respectively major components of the high fat Western or Mediterranean diets. PA‐feeding lowered APC lysis by activated CTLs and inhibited the ability of APCs to stimulate naïve T cells. Inhibition of immune responses with PA was due to lowered MHC class I surface expression and inhibition in the rate of APC‐CTL conjugation. These changes were associated with a modification of plasma membrane acyl chain structure and F‐actin levels, which could modify the immunological synapse. OA‐treatment had no effect on antigen presentation and when fed together with PA, blocked the effects of PA. This block with OA correlated with its distinct cellular metabolic fate. OA‐treatment conferred protection by accumulating fatty acids into triglyceride‐rich lipid droplets of APCs. Our findings establish a link between lipid overload and antigen presentation and suggest that dietary SFAs in non‐adipose cells of obese individuals could impair immunity by affecting MHC I‐mediated antigen presentation; this could be prevented by accumulation of triglycerides rich in monounsaturated fatty acids.

We present a new method for fabricating magnetic tunnel junction nanopillars that uses polystyrene nanospheres as a lithographic template. Unlike the common approaches, which depend on electron beam lithography to sequentially fabricate each nanopillar, this method is capable of patterning a large number of nanopillars simultaneously. Both random and ordered nanosphere patterns have been explored for fabricating high quality tunneling junctions with magnetoresistance in excess of 100%, employing ferromagnetic layers with both out-of-plane and in-plane easy axis. Novel voltage induced switching has been observed in these structures. This method provides a cost-effective way of rapidly fabricating a large number of tunnel junction nanopillars in parallel.