Genetic determinants of telomere length from 109,122 ancestrally diverse whole-genome sequences in TOPMed

Genetic studies on telomere length are important for understanding age-related diseases. Prior GWASs for leukocyte TL have been limited to European and Asian populations. Here, we report the first sequencing-based association study for TL across ancestrally diverse individuals (European, African, Asian, and Hispanic/Latino) from the NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program. We used whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of whole blood for variant genotype calling and the bioinformatic estimation of telomere length in n = 109,122 individuals. We identified 59 sentinel variants (p < 5 × 10−9) in 36 loci associated with telomere length, including 20 newly associated loci (13 were replicated in external datasets). There was little evidence of effect size heterogeneity across populations. Fine-mapping at OBFC1 indicated that the independent signals colocalized with cell-type-specific eQTLs for OBFC1 (STN1). Using a multi-variant gene-based approach, we identified two genes newly implicated in telomere length, DCLRE1B (SNM1B) and PARN. In PheWAS, we demonstrated that our TL polygenic trait scores (PTSs) were associated with an increased risk of cancer-related phenotypes

E-Loyalty Building in Competitive E-Service Market of SNS: Resources, Habit, Satisfaction and Switching Costs

Part 1: Digital ServicesInternational audienceDespite considerable efforts have been devoted to study consumer loyalty, there is a lack of knowledge concerning how online service loyalty is or can be established in a competitive e-service market, in which several major service providers coexist to compete for customers. In this study, we attempt to explore the industry environment of Chinese social networking service (SNS), and examine the association between consumer satisfaction and switching costs in building service loyalty. From a resource-based view, unique service resources of SNS (critical mass and supplemental entertainment) are examined regarding their potentials in enhancing consumer satisfaction, habit and switching costs. The results show that habit and the interaction effect of satisfaction and switching cost are the key determinants of SNS loyalty. Critical mass and supplemental entertainment directly or indirectly affect habit and switching costs. This study attempts to bring the thought of competitive environment into e-service loyalty research while new insights for e-service loyalty building in different market environments are discussed