295 research outputs found

    SSGAC Risk Tolerance: GWAS and MTAG Polygenic Scores (Ver 1.0)

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    Introduction. Karlsson Linnér et al.1 conducted genome-wide association analyses of general risk tolerance (n = 975,353), adventurousness and risky behaviors in the driving, drinking, smoking and sexual domains. In separate hold-out cohorts, they analyzed the predictive power of polygenic scores derived from the genome-wide association study (GWAS) estimates. Due to data access restrictions, it is not possible to release summary statistics for more than 10,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Therefore, researchers with access to the individual-level genotype data cannot reproduce the polygenic scores that were used in the paper from publicly available summary statistics (https://www.thessgac.org/data). As a partial remedy, we are releasing the polygenic scores that were used in the paper’s prediction analyses in the Add Health and UKB-siblings cohorts to researchers (but due to the restrictions, we cannot release the underlying SNP-level weights themselves)

    Dynamics of Myoblast Transplantation Reveal a Discrete Minority of Precursors with Stem Cell–like Properties as the Myogenic Source

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    Myoblasts, the precursors of skeletal muscle fibers, can be induced to withdraw from the cell cycle and differentiate in vitro. Recent studies have also identified undifferentiated subpopulations that can self-renew and generate myogenic cells (Baroffio, A., M. Hamann, L. Bernheim, M.-L. Bochaton-Pillat, G. Gabbiani, and C.R. Bader. 1996. Differentiation. 60:47–57; Yoshida, N., S. Yoshida, K. Koishi, K. Masuda, and Y. Nabeshima. 1998. J. Cell Sci. 111:769–779). Cultured myoblasts can also differentiate and contribute to repair and new muscle formation in vivo, a capacity exploited in attempts to develop myoblast transplantation (MT) for genetic modification of adult muscle. Our studies of the dynamics of MT demonstrate that cultures of myoblasts contain distinct subpopulations defined by their behavior in vitro and divergent responses to grafting. By comparing a genomic and a semiconserved marker, we have followed the fate of myoblasts transplanted into muscles of dystrophic mice, finding that the majority of the grafted cells quickly die and only a minority are responsible for new muscle formation. This minority is behaviorally distinct, slowly dividing in tissue culture, but rapidly proliferative after grafting, suggesting a subpopulation with stem cell–like characteristics

    Focus on the Future: A Plan for the HOPE Village Initiative Area

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    http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110953/1/focusonthefuture2010.pd

    Incidence of cardiovascular risk factors by education level 2000-2005 : the Australian diabetes, obesity and lifestyle (AusDiab) cohort study

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    Lower socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with a higher prevalence of major risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, few longitudinal studies have examined the association between SES and CVD risk factors over time. We aimed to determine whether SES, using education as a proxy, is associated with the onset of CVD risk factors over 5 years in an Australian adult cohort study. Participants in the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study (AusDiab) study aged 25 years and over who attended both baseline and 5-year follow-up examinations (n=5 967) were categorised according to educational attainment. Cardiovascular risk factor data at both time points were ascertained through questionnaire and physical measurement. Women with lower education had a greater risk of progressing from normal weight to overweight or obesity than those with higher education (age-adjusted OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.06-2.31). Both men and women with lower education were more likely to develop diabetes (age-adjusted OR from higher education 1.75, 95% CI 1.14-2.71 and 3.01, 95% CI 1.26-7.20, respectively). A lower level of education was associated with a greater number of risk factors accumulated over time in women (OR of progressing from having two or less risk factors at baseline to three or more at follow up, 2.04, 95% 1.32-3.14). In this Australian population-based study, lower educational attainment was associated with an increased risk of developing both individual and total CVD risk factors over a 5-year period. These findings suggest that SES inequalities in CVD will persist into the future.<br /

    Muscle satellite cells adopt divergent fates: a mechanism for self-renewal?

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    Growth, repair, and regeneration of adult skeletal muscle depends on the persistence of satellite cells: muscle stem cells resident beneath the basal lamina that surrounds each myofiber. However, how the satellite cell compartment is maintained is unclear. Here, we use cultured myofibers to model muscle regeneration and show that satellite cells adopt divergent fates. Quiescent satellite cells are synchronously activated to coexpress the transcription factors Pax7 and MyoD. Most then proliferate, down-regulate Pax7, and differentiate. In contrast, other proliferating cells maintain Pax7 but lose MyoD and withdraw from immediate differentiation. These cells are typically located in clusters, together with Pax7-ve progeny destined for differentiation. Some of the Pax7+ve/MyoD-ve cells then leave the cell cycle, thus regaining the quiescent satellite cell phenotype. Significantly, noncycling cells contained within a cluster can be stimulated to proliferate again. These observations suggest that satellite cells either differentiate or switch from terminal myogenesis to maintain the satellite cell pool

    IL23R (Interleukin 23 Receptor) variants protective against inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) display loss of functiondue to impaired protein stability and intracellular trafficking

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    Genome-wide association studies as well as murine models have shown that the interleukin 23 receptor (IL23R) pathway plays a pivotal role in chronic inflammatory diseases such as Crohn disease (CD), ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, and type 1 diabetes. Genome-wide association studies and targeted re-sequencing studies have revealed the presence of multiple potentially causal variants of the IL23R. Specifically the G149R, V362I, and R381Q IL23R chain variants are linked to protection against the development of Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis in humans. Moreover, the exact mechanism of action of these receptor variants has not been elucidated. We show that all three of these IL23R variants cause a reduction in IL23 receptor activation-mediated phosphorylation of the signaltransducing activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) and phosphorylation of signal transducing activator of transcription 4 (STAT4). The reduction in signaling is due to lower levels of cell surface receptor expression. For G149R, the receptor retention in the endoplasmic reticulum is due to an impairment of receptor maturation, whereas the R381Q and V362I variants have reduced protein stability. Finally, we demonstrate that the endogenous expression of IL23R protein from V362I and R381Q variants in human lymphoblastoid cell lines exhibited lower expression levels relative to susceptibility alleles. Our results suggest a convergent cause of IL23R variant protection against chronic inflammatory disease
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