Ancestral diversity improves discovery and fine-mapping of genetic loci for anthropometric traits - the Hispanic/Latino Anthropometry Consortium

Hispanic/Latinos have been underrepresented in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for anthropometric traits despite their notable anthropometric variability, ancestry proportions, and high burden of growth stunting and overweight/obesity. To address this knowledge gap, we analyzed densely-imputed genetic data in a sample of Hispanic/Latino adults to identify and fine-map genetic variants associated with body mass index (BMI), height, and BMI-adjusted waist-to-hip ratio (WHRadjBMI). We conducted a GWAS of 18 studies/consortia as part of the Hispanic/Latino Anthropometry (HISLA) Consortium (Stage 1, n=59,771) and generalized our findings in 9 additional studies (HISLA Stage 2, n=10,538). We conducted a trans-ancestral GWAS with summary statistics from HISLA Stage 1 and existing consortia of European and African ancestries. In our HISLA Stage 1+2 analyses, we discovered one BMI locus, as well as two BMI signals and another height signal each within established anthropometric loci. In our trans-ancestral meta-analysis, we discovered three BMI loci, one height locus, and one WHRadjBMI locus. We also identified three secondary signals for BMI, 28 for height, and two for WHRadjBMI in established loci. We show that 336 known BMI, 1,177 known height, and 143 known WHRadjBMI (combined) SNPs demonstrated suggestive transferability (nominal significance and effect estimate directional consistency) in Hispanic/Latino adults. Of these, 36 BMI, 124 height, and 11 WHRadjBMI SNPs were significant after trait-specific Bonferroni correction. Trans-ancestral meta-analysis of the three ancestries showed a small-to-moderate impact of uncorrected population stratification on the resulting effect size estimates. Our findings demonstrate that future studies may also benefit from leveraging diverse ancestries and differences in linkage disequilibrium patterns to discover novel loci and additional signals with less residual population stratification

Universal Design as a Way of Thinking About Mobility

The concept of universal design in reference to a strategy to counter social exclusion was first coined by the architect Ronald Mace. He defined Universal design (UD) as “the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design”. This paper will look into the use of UD as a policy objective for transport policy, using Norwegian experience as an example. UD was adopted as one of the four major policy objectives in Norwegian transport policy in 2009. However, from 2018 onwards UD is no longer a main policy objective. This experience with UD as a policy objective is used as an empirical backdrop for a more principal discussion on the usefulness of UD in transport and mobility. I conclude by pointing at UD as a useful vision, but difficult policy objective

The expanding urban fringe: impacts on peri-urban areas, Melbourne, Australia

The resources of peripheral urban areas are under unprecedented threat because of the rapid conversion of rural land for urban purposes. Yet these resources offer significant long-term advantages to cities by increasing their resilience in times of rapid change. Cities which retain the values of their hinterlands may be those which survive best this century. The fate of the peri-urban area of Melbourne, Australia, and associated decision making processes, provide a case study of the pressures on peri-urban regions and the common inadequacy of government responses. Australian cities are characterised by two co-existing city types. Dense, nineteenth century mixed use inner urban areas characteristic of European cities are becoming denser. Yet new outer urban development continues the detached housing model and separated land uses typical of North America and adopted in Australia early in the twentieth century at some of the world’s lowest housing and population densities. Spatial difference is matched to social inequity. Higher income, tertiary educated, professionally employed households are concentrated in service rich inner and middle ring suburbs and selected outer urban areas, while lower income households without tertiary qualifications are concentrated primarily in service poor outer urban areas. Australian cities consume land at one of the world’s highest per capita rates, continually transforming nearby rural areas with high natural resource values to urban uses. These cities also affect broader non-urban areas. People are attracted to semi-rural lifestyles within commuting distance of metropolitan areas. Unless governments intervene, land is subdivided into rural-residential lots and agricultural pursuits relocate further from cities. Tourism and recreational developments are constructed on rural land and a range of other urban related land uses gradually emerge until the rural nature of these areas is irrevocably altered. Every Australian capital city adopted a metropolitan strategic spatial plan after 2000 which attempted to limit further outer growth into urban hinterlands through a range of urban containment policies. However, none of these plans succeeded in containing the urban sprawl or in radically changing the dominant model of outer urban development from detached housing with little variation in lot size or house types, large average lot sizes and separated land uses. Every State strategic plan has been substantially modified or abandoned. This chapter describes the impacts of metropolitan centres on peripheral urban areas, examines development pressures on these areas, why they are important to cities and why Australian cities continue to spread despite stated policies to the contrary. The city of Melbourne, Australia, is used as a case study, but broader conclusions are drawn for other cities