APOE polymorphism and its effect on plasma C-reactive protein levels in a large general population sample

The literature on association between apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene variations and plasma levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) remains inconsistent, mainly due to low statistical power of previous studies. To clarify this question, we analysed data from large population sample of randomly selected individuals from 7 Czech towns (2886 males and 3344 females, the HAPIEE study). In both males and females, the lowest levels of plasma hsCRP were observed in the carriers of the APOE ε4ε4 and ε4ε3 genotypes. The median (inter-quartile range, IQR) concentration of hsCRP in carriers of the most common APOE ε3ε3 genotype (two thirds of participants) was 1.13 (IQR 0.56; 2.33) mg/l in men and 1.23 (IQR 0.61; 2.65) mg/l in women, compared with 0.72 (IQR 0.61; 0.86) mg/l in male and 0.72 (IQR 0.61-0.85) mg/l in female carriers of APOE ε4ε3/ε4ε4 genotypes; the differences were statistically significant (p<0.001). The association between APOE and CRP was not materially affected by adjustment for age, sex, history of cardiovascular disease or cardiovascular risk factors. This study, the largest to date, provides robust evidence of an association between plasma hsCRP and the APOE genotype, an association not explained by history of cardiovascular disease nor its risk factors

still a concern in patients with haematological malignancies and stem cell transplant recipients-authors' response

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Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements