Sexual Dimorphisms of Adrenal Steroids, Sex Hormones, and Immunological Biomarkers and Possible Risk Factors for Developing Rheumatoid Arthritis

Innate immunity and immunological biomarkers are believed to be interrelated with sex hormones and other neuroendocrine factors. Sexual dimorphism mechanisms may be operating in certain rheumatic and inflammatory diseases which occur more frequently in women than men, as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Less data have been available on altered interrelations of the combined neuroendocrine and immune (NEI) systems as risk factors for development of certain diseases. In this study, serological interrelations of NEI biomarkers are analyzed before symptomatic onset of RA (pre-RA) versus control (CN) subjects, stratified by sex. Sexual dimorphism was found in serum levels of acute serum amyloid A (ASAA), soluble interleukin-2 receptor alpha (sIL-2Rα), and soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (sTNF-R1). Multiple steroidal and hormonal (neuroendocrine) factors also showed highly (p<0.001) significant sexual dimorphism in their assayed values, but less for cortisol (p=0.012), and not for 17-hydroxyprogesterone (p=0.176). After stratification by sex and risk of developing RA, differential NEI correlational patterns were observed in the interplay of the NEI systems between the pre-RA and CN groups, which deserve further investigation

Do Corporate Tax Cuts Increase Investments?

This paper studies the effect of corporate taxes on investment. Using firm-level data on German corporations, we investigate the 2008 tax reform that cut corporate taxes by 10 percentage points. We expect heterogeneous investment responses across firms, since firms with a foreign parent have more cross-country profit shifting opportunities than domestically owned firms. Using a matching difference-in-differences approach, we show that, following the corporate tax cut, domestically owned firms increased investments to a larger extent than foreign-owned firms. Our results imply that corporate tax changes can increase corporate investment but have heterogeneous investment responses across firms

Probing the metallicity and ionization state of the circumgalactic medium at z~6 and beyond with OI absorption

Low-ionization metal absorption due to O I has been identified as an important probe of the physical state of the intergalactic/circumgalactic medium at the tail end of reionization. We use here high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations to interpret the incidence rate of O I absorbers at z ∼ 6 as observed by Becker et al. We infer weak O I absorbers (EW ≳ 0.1 Å) to have typical H I column densities in the range of sub-damped Lyman α systems, densities of 80 times the mean baryonic density and metallicities of about 1/500th solar. This is similar to the metallicity inferred at similar overdensities at z ∼ 3, suggesting that the metal enrichment of the circumgalactic medium around low-mass galaxies has already progressed considerably by z ∼ 6. The apparently rapid evolution of the incidence rates for O I absorption over the redshift range 5 ≲ z ≲ 6 mirrors that of self-shielded Lyman-limit systems at lower redshift and is mainly due to the rapid decrease of the metagalactic photoionization rate at z ≳ 5. We predict the incidence rate of O I absorbers to continue to rise rapidly with increasing redshift as the IGM becomes more neutral. If the distribution of metals extends to lower density regions, O I absorbers will allow the metal enrichment of the increasingly neutral filamentary structures of the cosmic web to be probed

Genetic diversity fuels gene discovery for tobacco and alcohol use

Tobacco and alcohol use are heritable behaviours associated with 15% and 5.3% of worldwide deaths, respectively, due largely to broad increased risk for disease and injury(1-4). These substances are used across the globe, yet genome-wide association studies have focused largely on individuals of European ancestries(5). Here we leveraged global genetic diversity across 3.4 million individuals from four major clines of global ancestry (approximately 21% non-European) to power the discovery and fine-mapping of genomic loci associated with tobacco and alcohol use, to inform function of these loci via ancestry-aware transcriptome-wide association studies, and to evaluate the genetic architecture and predictive power of polygenic risk within and across populations. We found that increases in sample size and genetic diversity improved locus identification and fine-mapping resolution, and that a large majority of the 3,823 associated variants (from 2,143 loci) showed consistent effect sizes across ancestry dimensions. However, polygenic risk scores developed in one ancestry performed poorly in others, highlighting the continued need to increase sample sizes of diverse ancestries to realize any potential benefit of polygenic prediction.Peer reviewe

Association studies of up to 1.2 million individuals yield new insights into the genetic etiology of tobacco and alcohol use

Tobacco and alcohol use are leading causes of mortality that influence risk for many complex diseases and disorders 1 . They are heritable 2,3 and etiologically related 4,5 behaviors that have been resistant to gene discovery efforts 6–11 . In sample sizes up to 1.2 million individuals, we discovered 566 genetic variants in 406 loci associated with multiple stages of tobacco use (initiation, cessation, and heaviness) as well as alcohol use, with 150 loci evidencing pleiotropic association. Smoking phenotypes were positively genetically correlated with many health conditions, whereas alcohol use was negatively correlated with these conditions, such that increased genetic risk for alcohol use is associated with lower disease risk. We report evidence for the involvement of many systems in tobacco and alcohol use, including genes involved in nicotinic, dopaminergic, and glutamatergic neurotransmission. The results provide a solid starting point to evaluate the effects of these loci in model organisms and more precise substance use measures

The Polygenic and Monogenic Basis of Blood Traits and Diseases

Blood cells play essential roles in human health, underpinning physiological processes such as immunity, oxygen transport, and clotting, which when perturbed cause a significant global health burden. Here we integrate data from UK Biobank and a large-scale international collaborative effort, including data for 563,085 European ancestry participants, and discover 5,106 new genetic variants independently associated with 29 blood cell phenotypes covering a range of variation impacting hematopoiesis. We holistically characterize the genetic architecture of hematopoiesis, assess the relevance of the omnigenic model to blood cell phenotypes, delineate relevant hematopoietic cell states influenced by regulatory genetic variants and gene networks, identify novel splice-altering variants mediating the associations, and assess the polygenic prediction potential for blood traits and clinical disorders at the interface of complex and Mendelian genetics. These results show the power of large-scale blood cell trait GWAS to interrogate clinically meaningful variants across a wide allelic spectrum of human variation. Analysis of blood cell traits in the UK Biobank and other cohorts illuminates the full genetic architecture of hematopoietic phenotypes, with evidence supporting the omnigenic model for complex traits and linking polygenic burden with monogenic blood diseases

Hair Cortisol in Twins : Heritability and Genetic Overlap with Psychological Variables and Stress-System Genes

A. Palotie on työryhmän jäsen.Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) is a promising measure of long-term hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity. Previous research has suggested an association between HCC and psychological variables, and initial studies of inter-individual variance in HCC have implicated genetic factors. However, whether HCC and psychological variables share genetic risk factors remains unclear. The aims of the present twin study were to: (i) assess the heritability of HCC; (ii) estimate the phenotypic and genetic correlation between HPA axis activity and the psychological variables perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism; using formal genetic twin models and molecular genetic methods, i.e. polygenic risk scores (PRS). HCC was measured in 671 adolescents and young adults. These included 115 monozygotic and 183 dizygotic twin-pairs. For 432 subjects PRS scores for plasma cortisol, major depression, and neuroticism were calculated using data from large genome wide association studies. The twin model revealed a heritability for HCC of 72%. No significant phenotypic or genetic correlation was found between HCC and the three psychological variables of interest. PRS did not explain variance in HCC. The present data suggest that HCC is highly heritable. However, the data do not support a strong biological link between HCC and any of the investigated psychological variables.Peer reviewe

Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors

Background Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, and nonfatal suicide attempts, which occur far more frequently, are a major source of disability and social and economic burden. Both have substantial genetic etiology, which is partially shared and partially distinct from that of related psychiatric disorders. Methods We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 29,782 suicide attempt (SA) cases and 519,961 controls in the International Suicide Genetics Consortium (ISGC). The GWAS of SA was conditioned on psychiatric disorders using GWAS summary statistics via multitrait-based conditional and joint analysis, to remove genetic effects on SA mediated by psychiatric disorders. We investigated the shared and divergent genetic architectures of SA, psychiatric disorders, and other known risk factors. Results Two loci reached genome-wide significance for SA: the major histocompatibility complex and an intergenic locus on chromosome 7, the latter of which remained associated with SA after conditioning on psychiatric disorders and replicated in an independent cohort from the Million Veteran Program. This locus has been implicated in risk-taking behavior, smoking, and insomnia. SA showed strong genetic correlation with psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression, and also with smoking, pain, risk-taking behavior, sleep disturbances, lower educational attainment, reproductive traits, lower socioeconomic status, and poorer general health. After conditioning on psychiatric disorders, the genetic correlations between SA and psychiatric disorders decreased, whereas those with nonpsychiatric traits remained largely unchanged. Conclusions Our results identify a risk locus that contributes more strongly to SA than other phenotypes and suggest a shared underlying biology between SA and known risk factors that is not mediated by psychiatric disorders.Peer reviewe

The Polygenic and Monogenic Basis of Blood Traits and Diseases

Blood cells play essential roles in human health, underpinning physiological processes such as immunity, oxygen transport, and clotting, which when perturbed cause a significant global health burden. Here we integrate data from UK Biobank and a large-scale international collaborative effort, including data for 563,085 European ancestry participants, and discover 5,106 new genetic variants independently associated with 29 blood cell phenotypes covering a range of variation impacting hematopoiesis. We holistically characterize the genetic architecture of hematopoiesis, assess the relevance of the omnigenic model to blood cell phenotypes, delineate relevant hematopoietic cell states influenced by regulatory genetic variants and gene networks, identify novel splice-altering variants mediating the associations, and assess the polygenic prediction potential for blood traits and clinical disorders at the interface of complex and Mendelian genetics. These results show the power of large-scale blood cell trait GWAS to interrogate clinically meaningful variants across a wide allelic spectrum of human variation.</p

Evidence for Increased Genetic Risk Load for Major Depression in Patients Assigned to Electroconvulsive Therapy

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the treatment of choice for severe and treatment-resistant depression; disorder severity and unfavorable treatment outcomes are shown to be influenced by an increased genetic burden for major depression (MD). Here, we tested whether ECT assignment and response/nonresponse are associated with an increased genetic burden for major depression (MD) using polygenic risk score (PRS), which summarize the contribution of diseaserelated common risk variants. Fifty-one psychiatric inpatients suffering from a major depressive episode underwent ECT. MD-PRS were calculated for these inpatients and a separate population-based sample (n = 3,547 healthy; n = 426 self-reported depression) based on summary statistics from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium MDD-working group (Cases: n = 59,851; Controls: n = 113,154). MD-PRS explained a significant proportion of disease status between ECT patients and healthy controls (p = .022, R2 = 1.173%); patients showed higher MD-PRS. MD-PRS in population-based depression self-reporters were intermediate between ECT patients and controls (n.s.). Significant associations between MD-PRS and ECT response (50% reduction in Hamilton depression rating scale scores) were not observed. Our findings indicate that ECT cohorts show an increased genetic burden for MD and are consistent with the hypothesis that treatment-resistant MD patients represent a subgroup with an increased genetic risk for MD. Larger samples are needed to better substantiate these findings