Susceptibility to corticosteroid-induced adrenal suppression: a genome-wide association study

\ua9 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licenseBackground: A serious adverse effect of corticosteroid therapy is adrenal suppression. Our aim was to identify genetic variants affecting susceptibility to corticosteroid-induced adrenal suppression. Methods: We enrolled children with asthma who used inhaled corticosteroids as part of their treatment from 25 sites across the UK (discovery cohort), as part of the Pharmacogenetics of Adrenal Suppression with Inhaled Steroids (PASS) study. We included two validation cohorts, one comprising children with asthma (PASS study) and the other consisting of adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) who were recruited from two UK centres for the Pharmacogenomics of Adrenal Suppression in COPD (PASIC) study. Participants underwent a low-dose short synacthen test. Adrenal suppression was defined as peak cortisol less than 350 nmol/L (in children) and less than 500 nmol/L (in adults). A case-control genome-wide association study was done with the control subset augmented by Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 2 (WTCCC2) participants. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that fulfilled criteria to be advanced to replication were tested by a random-effects inverse variance meta-analysis. This report presents the primary analysis. The PASS study is registered in the European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA). The PASS study is complete whereas the PASIC study is ongoing. Findings: Between November, 2008, and September, 2011, 499 children were enrolled to the discovery cohort. Between October, 2011, and December, 2012, 81 children were enrolled to the paediatric validation cohort, and from February, 2010, to June, 2015, 78 adults were enrolled to the adult validation cohort. Adrenal suppression was present in 35 (7%) children in the discovery cohort and six (7%) children and 17 (22%) adults in the validation cohorts. In the discovery cohort, 40 SNPs were found to be associated with adrenal suppression (genome-wide significance p<1 7 10−6), including an intronic SNP within the PDGFD gene locus (rs591118; odds ratio [OR] 7\ub732, 95% CI 3\ub715–16\ub799; p=5\ub78 7 10−8). This finding for rs591118 was validated successfully in both the paediatric asthma (OR 3\ub786, 95% CI 1\ub719–12\ub750; p=0\ub702) and adult COPD (2\ub741, 1\ub710–5\ub728; p=0\ub703) cohorts. The proportions of patients with adrenal suppression by rs591118 genotype were six (3%) of 214 patients with the GG genotype, 15 (6%) of 244 with the AG genotype, and 22 (25%) of 87 with the AA genotype. Meta-analysis of the paediatric cohorts (discovery and validation) and all three cohorts showed genome-wide significance of rs591118 (respectively, OR 5\ub789, 95% CI 2\ub797–11\ub768; p=4\ub73 7 10−9; and 4\ub705, 2\ub700–8\ub721; p=3\ub75 7 10−10). Interpretation: Our findings suggest that genetic variation in the PDGFD gene locus increases the risk of adrenal suppression in children and adults who use corticosteroids to treat asthma and COPD, respectively. Funding: Department of Health Chair in Pharmacogenetics

The Relationship between Physical Growth and Infant Behavioral Development in Rural Guatemala

The present study investigated the relationship between a number of anthropometric indices and behavioral development during the first 2 years of life in rural Guatemala. Length and weight were the indices most strongly correlated with behavioral development. If the effect of the infant\u27s length and weight was statistically controlled for, none of the other anthropometric variables explained a significant proportion of the variance in behavioral development. Con- trolling for length (or weight) assessed at the same age as the behavioral assessment, length (or weight) for younger ages was not significantly correlated with behavioral development. Changes in length or weight over time were correlated with changes in behavioral performance. We were unable to explain the association between physical growth and behavioral development by a number of variables including gestational age, nutrient intake, prevalence of disease, and familial characteristics

The genomes of two key bumblebee species with primitive eusocial organization

Background: The shift from solitary to social behavior is one of the major evolutionary transitions. Primitively eusocial bumblebees are uniquely placed to illuminate the evolution of highly eusocial insect societies. Bumblebees are also invaluable natural and agricultural pollinators, and there is widespread concern over recent population declines in some species. High-quality genomic data will inform key aspects of bumblebee biology, including susceptibility to implicated population viability threats. Results: We report the high quality draft genome sequences of Bombus terrestris and Bombus impatiens, two ecologically dominant bumblebees and widely utilized study species. Comparing these new genomes to those of the highly eusocial honeybee Apis mellifera and other Hymenoptera, we identify deeply conserved similarities, as well as novelties key to the biology of these organisms. Some honeybee genome features thought to underpin advanced eusociality are also present in bumblebees, indicating an earlier evolution in the bee lineage. Xenobiotic detoxification and immune genes are similarly depauperate in bumblebees and honeybees, and multiple categories of genes linked to social organization, including development and behavior, show high conservation. Key differences identified include a bias in bumblebee chemoreception towards gustation from olfaction, and striking differences in microRNAs, potentially responsible for gene regulation underlying social and other traits. Conclusions: These two bumblebee genomes provide a foundation for post-genomic research on these key pollinators and insect societies. Overall, gene repertoires suggest that the route to advanced eusociality in bees was mediated by many small changes in many genes and processes, and not by notable expansion or depauperation

Protective effect of breastfeeding with regard to children’s behavioral and cognitive problems

BACKGROUND: Breastfeeding has been associated with a lower risk for behavioral problems in childhood. However, it is uncertain whether these associations are mediated by the mother’s or child’s IQ. We examined the association between breastfeeding and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other behavioral problems in childhood and assessed the role of the child’s IQ and the mother’s IQ in generating this association. FINDINGS: The current study included 874 children (8-11 years) recruited from schools in five Korean cities. Mothers were asked about nursing, and the prevalence of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and behavioral problems were compared between children who were breastfed and those who were not breastfed. After adjusting for age, gender, area of residence, and yearly family income, a lack of breastfeeding was associated with increased internalizing, externalizing, and overall behavioral problems as well as the diagnosis of ADHD. These associations weakened but mostly remained significant after adjusting for child’s IQ and maternal IQ. In addition, a lack of breastfeeding was associated with low child’s IQ and this association weakened, but remained significant even after adjusting for maternal IQ and the diagnosis of ADHD. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that there is a protective effect of breastfeeding on childhood behavioral outcomes with a partial mediation of this effect by the child’s IQ, and there is a positive effect of breastfeeding on childhood intelligence with a partial mediation of this effect by the child’s attention problem

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

X-ray emission from the Sombrero galaxy: discrete sources

We present a study of discrete X-ray sources in and around the bulge-dominated, massive Sa galaxy, Sombrero (M104), based on new and archival Chandra observations with a total exposure of ~200 ks. With a detection limit of L_X = 1E37 erg/s and a field of view covering a galactocentric radius of ~30 kpc (11.5 arcminute), 383 sources are detected. Cross-correlation with Spitler et al.'s catalogue of Sombrero globular clusters (GCs) identified from HST/ACS observations reveals 41 X-rays sources in GCs, presumably low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). We quantify the differential luminosity functions (LFs) for both the detected GC and field LMXBs, whose power-low indices (~1.1 for the GC-LF and ~1.6 for field-LF) are consistent with previous studies for elliptical galaxies. With precise sky positions of the GCs without a detected X-ray source, we further quantify, through a fluctuation analysis, the GC LF at fainter luminosities down to 1E35 erg/s. The derived index rules out a faint-end slope flatter than 1.1 at a 2 sigma significance, contrary to recent findings in several elliptical galaxies and the bulge of M31. On the other hand, the 2-6 keV unresolved emission places a tight constraint on the field LF, implying a flattened index of ~1.0 below 1E37 erg/s. We also detect 101 sources in the halo of Sombrero. The presence of these sources cannot be interpreted as galactic LMXBs whose spatial distribution empirically follows the starlight. Their number is also higher than the expected number of cosmic AGNs (52+/-11 [1 sigma]) whose surface density is constrained by deep X-ray surveys. We suggest that either the cosmic X-ray background is unusually high in the direction of Sombrero, or a distinct population of X-ray sources is present in the halo of Sombrero.Comment: 11 figures, 5 tables, ApJ in pres

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles at high transverse momenta in PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

The azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles in PbPb collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV is measured with the CMS detector at the LHC over an extended transverse momentum (pt) range up to approximately 60 GeV. The data cover both the low-pt region associated with hydrodynamic flow phenomena and the high-pt region where the anisotropies may reflect the path-length dependence of parton energy loss in the created medium. The anisotropy parameter (v2) of the particles is extracted by correlating charged tracks with respect to the event-plane reconstructed by using the energy deposited in forward-angle calorimeters. For the six bins of collision centrality studied, spanning the range of 0-60% most-central events, the observed v2 values are found to first increase with pt, reaching a maximum around pt = 3 GeV, and then to gradually decrease to almost zero, with the decline persisting up to at least pt = 40 GeV over the full centrality range measured.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of the Forward-Backward Asymmetry in the B -> K(*) mu+ mu- Decay and First Observation of the Bs -> phi mu+ mu- Decay

We reconstruct the rare decays $B^+ \to K^+\mu^+\mu^-$, $B^0 \to K^{*}(892)^0\mu^+\mu^-$, and $B^0_s \to \phi(1020)\mu^+\mu^-$ in a data sample corresponding to $4.4 {\rm fb^{-1}}$ collected in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96 {\rm TeV}$ by the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. Using $121 \pm 16$ $B^+ \to K^+\mu^+\mu^-$ and $101 \pm 12$ $B^0 \to K^{*0}\mu^+\mu^-$ decays we report the branching ratios. In addition, we report the measurement of the differential branching ratio and the muon forward-backward asymmetry in the $B^+$ and $B^0$ decay modes, and the $K^{*0}$ longitudinal polarization in the $B^0$ decay mode with respect to the squared dimuon mass. These are consistent with the theoretical prediction from the standard model, and most recent determinations from other experiments and of comparable accuracy. We also report the first observation of the $B^0_s \to \phi\mu^+\mu^- decay and measure its branching ratio${\mathcal{B}}(B^0_s \to \phi\mu^+\mu^-) = [1.44 \pm 0.33 \pm 0.46] \times 10^{-6}$using$27 \pm 6$signal events. This is currently the most rare$B^0_s$ decay observed.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let