Prevalence and resemblance between twins for asthma-related phenotypes at age 3 years.

<p>MZ =  monozygotic, DZ =  dizygotic.</p><p>*584 subjects with zygosity confirmed by DNA testing were used in this analysis.</p

ACE model for calculating genetic and environmental influence from twin correlations.[<b>23</b>]

<p>ACE model for calculating genetic and environmental influence from twin correlations.<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0068473#pone.0068473-Neale1" target="_blank">[<b>23</b>]</a></p

Study design of the Puerto Rico Neo-Natal Twin Registry.

<p>Study design of the Puerto Rico Neo-Natal Twin Registry.</p

Characteristics of participants at ages 1 and 3 years.

<p>Values are reported as number (%) or mean (SD).</p><p>*By DNA testing available for 584 subjects (292 twin pairs)); prevalence per parental report for 678 subjects at 1yo was the same (240 (35.4%)).</p><p>∧Defined as cigarette smoke exposure ≥2 times/week in first year of life.</p

Variance component analysis of asthma-related phenotypes at age 3 years.

<p>584 subjects with zygosity confirmed by DNA testing were used in these models.</p>#<p>A =  additive genetic variance, C =  shared environmental variance, E =  non-shared environmental variance.<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0068473#pone.0068473-Neale1" target="_blank">[23]</a>.</p><p>*P-value for likelihood ratio χ2 test comparing adjusted model to univariate model.</p><p>∧Early-life environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) defined as intrauterine smoke exposure or cigarette exposure ≥2×/week during the first year of life.</p

Variance component analysis of asthma-related phenotypes at age 1 year.

<p>584 subjects with zygosity confirmed by DNA testing were used in these models.</p>#<p>A =  additive genetic variance, C =  shared environmental variance, E =  non-shared environmental variance <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0068473#pone.0068473-Neale1" target="_blank">[23]</a>.</p><p>*P-value for likelihood ratio χ2 test comparing adjusted to univariate model.</p><p>∧Early-life environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) defined as intrauterine smoke exposure or cigarette exposure ≥2×/week during the first year of life.</p

Prevalence and resemblance between twins for asthma-related phenotypes at age 1 year.

<p>MZ =  monozygotic, DZ =  dizygotic.</p><p>*584 subjects with zygosity confirmed by DNA testing were used in this analysis.</p

The Role of Vitamin D in the Transcriptional Program of Human Pregnancy

<div><p>Background</p><p>Patterns of gene expression of human pregnancy are poorly understood. In a trial of vitamin D supplementation in pregnant women, peripheral blood transcriptomes were measured longitudinally on 30 women and used to characterize gene co-expression networks.</p><p>Objective</p><p>Studies suggest that increased maternal Vitamin D levels may reduce the risk of asthma in early life, yet the underlying mechanisms have not been examined. In this study, we used a network-based approach to examine changes in gene expression profiles during the course of normal pregnancy and evaluated their association with maternal Vitamin D levels.</p><p>Design</p><p>The VDAART study is a randomized clinical trial of vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy for reduction of pediatric asthma risk. The trial enrolled 881 women at 10–18 weeks of gestation. Longitudinal gene expression measures were obtained on thirty pregnant women, using RNA isolated from peripheral blood samples obtained in the first and third trimesters. Differentially expressed genes were identified using significance of analysis of microarrays (SAM), and clustered using a weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Gene-set enrichment was performed to identify major biological pathways.</p><p>Results</p><p>Comparison of transcriptional profiles between first and third trimesters of pregnancy identified 5839 significantly differentially expressed genes (FDR<0.05). Weighted gene co-expression network analysis clustered these transcripts into 14 co-expression modules of which two showed significant correlation with maternal vitamin D levels. Pathway analysis of these two modules revealed genes enriched in immune defense pathways and extracellular matrix reorganization as well as genes enriched in notch signaling and transcription factor networks.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>Our data show that gene expression profiles of healthy pregnant women change during the course of pregnancy and suggest that maternal Vitamin D levels influence transcriptional profiles. These alterations of the maternal transcriptome may contribute to fetal immune imprinting and reduce allergic sensitization in early life.</p><p>Trial Registration</p><p>clinicaltrials.gov <a href="http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=NCT00920621" target="_blank">NCT00920621</a></p></div

Population Characteristics of the VDAART women, EXCLUDING the 30 women.

<p>Population Characteristics of the VDAART women, EXCLUDING the 30 women.</p

Population Characteristics of 30 pregnant women.

<p>Population Characteristics of 30 pregnant women.</p