Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy and DNA Methylation in Newborns Findings From the Pregnancy and Childhood Epigenetics Consortium

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are associated with low birth weight, shorter gestational age, and increased risk of maternal and offspring cardiovascular diseases later in life. The mechanisms involved are poorly understood, but epigenetic regulation of gene expression may play a part. We performed meta-analyses in the Pregnancy and Childhood Epigenetics Consortium to test the association between either maternal HDP (10 cohorts; n=5242 [cases=476]) or preeclampsia (3 cohorts; n=2219 [cases=135]) and epigenome-wide DNA methylation in cord blood using the Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip. In models adjusted for confounders, and with Bonferroni correction, HDP and preeclampsia were associated with DNA methylation at 43 and 26 CpG sites, respectively. HDP was associated with higher methylation at 27 (63%) of the 43 sites, and across all 43 sites, the mean absolute difference in methylation was between 0.6% and 2.6%. Epigenome-wide associations of HDP with offspring DNA methylation were modestly consistent with the equivalent epigenome-wide associations of preeclampsia with offspring DNA methylation (R2=0.26). In longitudinal analyses conducted in 1 study (n=108 HDP cases; 550 controls), there were similar changes in DNA methylation in offspring of those with and without HDP up to adolescence. Pathway analysis suggested that genes located at/near HDP-associated sites may be involved in developmental, embryogenesis, or neurological pathways. HDP is associated with offspring DNA methylation with potential relevance to development

Tandpasta? Dat maak je toch zelf?

Volledig op de hoogte van de gevaren van fluoride en uitgerust met de perfecte tandenborstel (zie eerdere artikelen in deze reeks) kan de beste tandpasta natuurlijk niet uitblijven. Volgens de fabrikant is het niet nodig tandpasta te gebruiken bij de ionische tandenborstel, maar je gelooft natuurlijk niet alles wat je leest. Door zelf uitgevoerd onderzoek weten we ondertussen dat tandpastafabrikanten ook niet te vertrouwen zijn, met hun schadelijke fluoride. Rest ons niet anders dan onze eigen tandpasta te maken

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Individual Differences in Sedentary Behavior During Adolescence

Objective: To investigate the degree to which genetic and environmental influences affect individual differences in sedentary behavior throughout adolescence. Design: Cross-sectional twin-family design. Setting: Data on self-reported sedentary behavior from Dutch twins and their nontwin siblings. Participants: The total sample consisted of 5074 adolescent twins (aged 13-19 years) and 937 siblings (aged 12-20 years) from 2777 families. Main Outcome Measures: Screen-viewing sedentary behavior was assessed with survey items about weekly frequency of television viewing, playing electronic games, and computer/Internet use. Based on these items, an overall score for screen-viewing sedentary behavior was computed. Results: The genetic architecture of screen-viewing sedentary behavior differed by age. Variation in sedentary behavior among 12-year-olds was accounted for by genetic (boys: 35%; girls: 19%), shared environmental (boys: 29%; girls: 48%), and nonshared environmental (boys: 36%; girls: 34%) factors. Variation in sedentary behavior among 20-year-olds was accounted for by genetic (boys: 48%; girls: 34%) and nonshared environmental (boys: 52%; girls: 66%) factors. Conclusion: The shift from shared environmental factors in the etiology of sedentary behavior among younger adolescents to genetic and nonshared environmental factors among older adolescents requires age-specific tailoring of intervention programs