Over and Under-utilization of Cyclooxygenase-2 Selective Inhibitors by Primary Care Physicians and Specialists: The Tortoise and the Hare Revisited

To compare prescribing trends and appropriateness of use of traditional and cyclooxygenase-2 selective (COX-2) nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) by primary care physicians (PCPs) and specialists. DESIGN : Retrospective cohort study. PATIENTS : One thousand five hundred and seventy-six adult patients continuously enrolled for at least 1 year with an independent practice association of a University-associated managed care plan who were started on a traditional NSAID or a COX-2 inhibitor from 1999 to 2002 and received at least 3 separate medication fills. MEASUREMENTS : Physician specialty was identified from office visits. Appropriateness of utilization was based on gastrointestinal risk characteristics. RESULTS : Primary care patients were younger and less likely to have comorbid conditions. Despite similar GI risk, COX-2 use among patients seen by PCPs was half that of patients seen by specialists (21% vs 44%, P <.001). While PCPs overused cyclooxygenase-2-specific inhibitors (COX-2s) less often than specialists (19% vs 41%, P <.001), they also tended to underuse COX-2s in patients who were at increased GI risk (46% vs 32%, P =.063). This represents a 3-fold and 8-fold difference in overuse versus underuse for PCPs and specialists, respectively. CONCLUSIONS : Using COX-2s as a model for physician adoption of new therapeutic agents, specialists were more likely to use these new medications for patients likely to benefit but were also significantly more likely to use them for patients without a clear indication. This study demonstrates the tension between appropriate adoption of innovative therapies for those individuals who would benefit from their use and those individuals who would receive no added clinical benefit but would incur added cost and be placed at increased risk.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75173/1/j.1525-1497.2006.00463.x.pd

ENIGMA and global neuroscience: A decade of large-scale studies of the brain in health and disease across more than 40 countries.

This review summarizes the last decade of work by the ENIGMA (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta Analysis) Consortium, a global alliance of over 1400 scientists across 43 countries, studying the human brain in health and disease. Building on large-scale genetic studies that discovered the first robustly replicated genetic loci associated with brain metrics, ENIGMA has diversified into over 50 working groups (WGs), pooling worldwide data and expertise to answer fundamental questions in neuroscience, psychiatry, neurology, and genetics. Most ENIGMA WGs focus on specific psychiatric and neurological conditions, other WGs study normal variation due to sex and gender differences, or development and aging; still other WGs develop methodological pipelines and tools to facilitate harmonized analyses of "big data" (i.e., genetic and epigenetic data, multimodal MRI, and electroencephalography data). These international efforts have yielded the largest neuroimaging studies to date in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, and 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. More recent ENIGMA WGs have formed to study anxiety disorders, suicidal thoughts and behavior, sleep and insomnia, eating disorders, irritability, brain injury, antisocial personality and conduct disorder, and dissociative identity disorder. Here, we summarize the first decade of ENIGMA's activities and ongoing projects, and describe the successes and challenges encountered along the way. We highlight the advantages of collaborative large-scale coordinated data analyses for testing reproducibility and robustness of findings, offering the opportunity to identify brain systems involved in clinical syndromes across diverse samples and associated genetic, environmental, demographic, cognitive, and psychosocial factors

Antagonism between DNA and H3K27 Methylation at the Imprinted Rasgrf1 Locus

At the imprinted Rasgrf1 locus in mouse, a cis-acting sequence controls DNA methylation at a differentially methylated domain (DMD). While characterizing epigenetic marks over the DMD, we observed that DNA and H3K27 trimethylation are mutually exclusive, with DNA and H3K27 methylation limited to the paternal and maternal sequences, respectively. The mutual exclusion arises because one mark prevents placement of the other. We demonstrated this in five ways: using 5-azacytidine treatments and mutations at the endogenous locus that disrupt DNA methylation; using a transgenic model in which the maternal DMD inappropriately acquired DNA methylation; and by analyzing materials from cells and embryos lacking SUZ12 and YY1. SUZ12 is part of the PRC2 complex, which is needed for placing H3K27me3, and YY1 recruits PRC2 to sites of action. Results from each experimental system consistently demonstrated antagonism between H3K27me3 and DNA methylation. When DNA methylation was lost, H3K27me3 encroached into sites where it had not been before; inappropriate acquisition of DNA methylation excluded normal placement of H3K27me3, and loss of factors needed for H3K27 methylation enabled DNA methylation to appear where it had been excluded. These data reveal the previously unknown antagonism between H3K27 and DNA methylation and identify a means by which epigenetic states may change during disease and development

Effects of the neurogranin variant rs12807809 on thalamocortical morphology in schizophrenia

10.1371/journal.pone.0085603PLoS ONE812-POLN

Role of Mitofusin 2 in the Renal Stress Response

The role of mitofusin 2 (MFN2), a key regulator of mitochondrial morphology and function in the renal stress response is unknown. To assess its role, the MFN2 floxed gene was conditionally deleted in the kidney of mice (MFN2 cKO) by Pax2 promoter driven Cre expression (Pax2Cre). MFN2 cKO caused severe mitochondrial fragmentation in renal epithelial cells that are critical for normal kidney tubular function. However, despite a small (20%) decrease in nephron number, newborn cKO pups had organ or tubular function that did not differ from littermate Cre-negative pups. MFN2 deficiency in proximal tubule epithelial cells in primary culture induced mitochondrial fragmentation but did not significantly alter ATP turnover, maximal mitochondrial oxidative reserve capacity, or the low level of oxygen consumption during cyanide exposure. MFN2 deficiency also did not increase apoptosis of tubule epithelial cells under non-stress conditions. In contrast, metabolic stress caused by ATP depletion exacerbated mitochondrial outer membrane injury and increased apoptosis by 80% in MFN2 deficient vs. control cells. Despite similar stress-induced Bax 6A7 epitope exposure in MFN2 deficient and control cells, MFN2 deficiency significantly increased mitochondrial Bax accumulation and was associated with greater release of both apoptosis inducing factor and cytochrome c. In conclusion, MFN2 deficiency in the kidney causes mitochondrial fragmentation but does not affect kidney or tubular function during development or under non-stress conditions. However, MFN2 deficiency exacerbates renal epithelial cell injury by promoting Bax-mediated mitochondrial outer membrane injury and apoptosis

Genome-wide identification of FoxO-dependent gene networks in skeletal muscle during C26 cancer cachexia

BACKGROUND: Evidence from cachectic cancer patients and animal models of cancer cachexia supports the involvement of Forkhead box O (FoxO) transcription factors in driving cancer-induced skeletal muscle wasting. However, the genome-wide gene networks and associated biological processes regulated by FoxO during cancer cachexia are unknown. We hypothesize that FoxO is a central upstream regulator of diverse gene networks in skeletal muscle during cancer that may act coordinately to promote the wasting phenotype. METHODS: To inhibit endogenous FoxO DNA-binding, we transduced limb and diaphragm muscles of mice with AAV9 containing the cDNA for a dominant negative (d.n.) FoxO protein (or GFP control). The d.n.FoxO construct consists of only the FoxO3a DNA-binding domain that is highly homologous to that of FoxO1 and FoxO4, and which outcompetes and blocks endogenous FoxO DNA binding. Mice were subsequently inoculated with Colon-26 (C26) cells and muscles harvested 26 days later. RESULTS: Blocking FoxO prevented C26-induced muscle fiber atrophy of both locomotor muscles and the diaphragm and significantly spared force deficits. This sparing of muscle size and function was associated with the differential regulation of 543 transcripts (out of 2,093) which changed in response to C26. Bioinformatics analysis of upregulated gene transcripts that required FoxO revealed enrichment of the proteasome, AP-1 and IL-6 pathways, and included several atrophy-related transcription factors, including Stat3, Fos, and Cebpb. FoxO was also necessary for the cancer-induced downregulation of several gene transcripts that were enriched for extracellular matrix and sarcomere protein-encoding genes. We validated these findings in limb muscles and the diaphragm through qRT-PCR, and further demonstrate that FoxO1 and/or FoxO3a are sufficient to increase Stat3, Fos, Cebpb, and the C/EBPβ target gene, Ubr2. Analysis of the Cebpb proximal promoter revealed two bona fide FoxO binding elements, which we further establish are necessary for Cebpb promoter activation in response to IL-6, a predominant cytokine in the C26 cancer model. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide new evidence that FoxO-dependent transcription is a central node controlling diverse gene networks in skeletal muscle during cancer cachexia, and identifies novel candidate genes and networks for further investigation as causative factors in cancer-induced wasting.R01 AR060217 - NIAMS NIH HHS; R01 AR060209 - NIAMS NIH HHS; T32 HD043730 - NICHD NIH HHS; R00 HL098453 - NHLBI NIH HHS; R00HL098453 - NHLBI NIH HHS; R01AR060209 - NIAMS NIH HHS; R01AR060217 - NIAMS NIH HH

Evidence for Genetic Overlap Between Schizophrenia and Age at First Birth in Women

IMPORTANCE: A recently published study of national data by McGrath et al in 2014 showed increased risk of schizophrenia (SCZ) in offspring associated with both early and delayed parental age, consistent with a U-shaped relationship. However, it remains unclear if the risk to the child is due to psychosocial factors associated with parental age or if those at higher risk for SCZ tend to have children at an earlier or later age. OBJECTIVE: To determine if there is a genetic association between SCZ and age at first birth (AFB) using genetically informative but independently ascertained data sets. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This investigation used multiple independent genome-wide association study data sets. The SCZ sample comprised 18 957 SCZ cases and 22 673 controls in a genome-wide association study from the second phase of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, and the AFB sample comprised 12 247 genotyped women measured for AFB from the following 4 community cohorts: Estonia (Estonian Genome Center Biobank, University of Tartu), the Netherlands (LifeLines Cohort Study), Sweden (Swedish Twin Registry), and the United Kingdom (TwinsUK). Schizophrenia genetic risk for each woman in the AFB community sample was estimated using genetic effects inferred from the SCZ genome-wide association study. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: We tested if SCZ genetic risk was a significant predictor of response variables based on published polynomial functions that described the relationship between maternal age and SCZ risk in offspring in Denmark. We substituted AFB for maternal age in these functions, one of which was corrected for the age of the father, and found that the fit was superior for the model without adjustment for the father's age. RESULTS: We observed a U-shaped relationship between SCZ risk and AFB in the community cohorts, consistent with the previously reported relationship between SCZ risk in offspring and maternal age when not adjusted for the age of the father. We confirmed that SCZ risk profile scores significantly predicted the response variables (coefficient of determination R2 = 1.1E-03, P = 4.1E-04), reflecting the published relationship between maternal age and SCZ risk in offspring by McGrath et al in 2014. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This study provides evidence for a significant overlap between genetic factors associated with risk of SCZ and genetic factors associated with AFB. It has been reported that SCZ risk associated with increased maternal age is explained by the age of the father and that de novo mutations that occur more frequently in the germline of older men are the underlying causal mechanism. This explanation may need to be revised if, as suggested herein and if replicated in future studies, there is also increased genetic risk of SCZ in older mothers

Comparative analysis of the ATRX promoter and 5' regulatory region reveals conserved regulatory elements which are linked to roles in neurodevelopment, alpha-globin regulation and testicular function

BACKGROUND ATRX is a tightly-regulated multifunctional protein with crucial roles in mammalian development. Mutations in the ATRX gene cause ATR-X syndrome, an X-linked recessive developmental disorder resulting in severe mental retardation and mild alpha-thalassemia with facial, skeletal and genital abnormalities. Although ubiquitously expressed the clinical features of the syndrome indicate that ATRX is not likely to be a global regulator of gene expression but involved in regulating specific target genes. The regulation of ATRX expression is not well understood and this is reflected by the current lack of identified upstream regulators. The availability of genomic data from a range of species and the very highly conserved 5' regulatory regions of the ATRX gene has allowed us to investigate putative transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) in evolutionarily conserved regions of the mammalian ATRX promoter. RESULTS We identified 12 highly conserved TFBSs of key gene regulators involved in biologically relevant processes such as neural and testis development and alpha-globin regulation. CONCLUSIONS Our results reveal potentially important regulatory elements in the ATRX gene which may lead to the identification of upstream regulators of ATRX and aid in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms that underlie ATR-X syndrome.This work was supported by Department of Zoology research grants

Identifying nootropic drug targets via large-scale cognitive GWAS and transcriptomics

Broad-based cognitive deficits are an enduring and disabling symptom for many patients with severe mental illness, and these impairments are inadequately addressed by current medications. While novel drug targets for schizophrenia and depression have emerged from recent large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of these psychiatric disorders, GWAS of general cognitive ability can suggest potential targets for nootropic drug repurposing. Here, we (1) meta-analyze results from two recent cognitive GWAS to further enhance power for locus discovery; (2) employ several complementary transcriptomic methods to identify genes in these loci that are credibly associated with cognition; and (3) further annotate the resulting genes using multiple chemoinformatic databases to identify “druggable” targets. Using our meta-analytic data set (N = 373,617), we identified 241 independent cognition-associated loci (29 novel), and 76 genes were identified by 2 or more methods of gene identification. Actin and chromatin binding gene sets were identified as novel pathways that could be targeted via drug repurposing. Leveraging our transcriptomic and chemoinformatic databases, we identified 16 putative genes targeted by existing drugs potentially available for cognitive repurposing