Genetic Covariance Structure of Reading, Intelligence and Memory in Children

This study investigates the genetic relationship among reading performance, IQ, verbal and visuospatial working memory (WM) and short-term memory (STM) in a sample of 112, 9-year-old twin pairs and their older siblings. The relationship between reading performance and the other traits was explained by a common genetic factor for reading performance, IQ, WM and STM and a genetic factor that only influenced reading performance and verbal memory. Genetic variation explained 83% of the variation in reading performance; most of this genetic variance was explained by variation in IQ and memory performance. We hypothesize, based on these results, that children with reading problems possibly can be divided into three groups: (1) children low in IQ and with reading problems; (2) children with average IQ but a STM deficit and with reading problems; (3) children with low IQ and STM deficits; this group may experience more reading problems than the other two

High-efficiency and air-stable P3HT-based polymer solar cells with a new non-fullerene acceptor

We thank BASF for partial financial support, as well as EPSRC Projects EP/G037515/1 and EP/M023532/1, EC FP7 Project SC2 (610115), EC FP7 Project ArtESun (604397), EC FP7 Project POLYMED (612538), Project Synthetic carbon allotropes project SFB 953 and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)

Lifelong socioeconomic position and physical performance in midlife: results from the British 1946 birth cohort

Socioeconomic position (SEP) across life is found to be related to adult physical performance, but the underlying pathways are not well characterized. Using a British birth cohort (N = 2956), the associations of SEP from childhood into midlife with objective physical performance measures in midlife were examined, adjusting for possible confounders or mediators, including indicators of muscle development and central nervous system function. Childhood and adulthood SEP were positively related to standing balance and chair rise performance, but not to grip strength after basic adjustments. When both father’s occupation and mother’s education were included in the same model, having a mother with low education was associated with 0.6 standard deviations (SD) (95% confidence interval (CI: 0.3, 0.8)) poorer standing balance time compared with having a mother with the highest educational level, and having a father in the lowest occupational group was associated with a 0.3 SD (95% CI: 0.1, 0.6) lower chair rise score compared with having a father in the highest occupational group. These associations were maintained, albeit attenuated, after adjustment. In contrast, the associations of own education and adult occupation with physical performance were generally not maintained after adjustment. SEP across life impacts on midlife physical performance, and thereby the ageing process

The stability of educational achievement across school years is largely explained by genetic factors.

Little is known about the etiology of developmental change and continuity in educational achievement. Here, we study achievement from primary school to the end of compulsory education for 6000 twin pairs in the UK-representative Twins Early Development Study sample. Results showed that educational achievement is highly heritable across school years and across subjects studied at school (twin heritability ~60%; SNP heritability ~30%); achievement is highly stable (phenotypic correlations ~0.70 from ages 7 to 16). Twin analyses, applying simplex and common pathway models, showed that genetic factors accounted for most of this stability (70%), even after controlling for intelligence (60%). Shared environmental factors also contributed to the stability, while change was mostly accounted for by individual-specific environmental factors. Polygenic scores, derived from a genome-wide association analysis of adult years of education, also showed stable effects on school achievement. We conclude that the remarkable stability of achievement is largely driven genetically even after accounting for intelligence

Does a SLAP lesion affect shoulder muscle recruitment as measured by EMG activity during a rugby tackle?

Background: The study objective was to assess the influence of a SLAP lesion on onset of EMG activity in shoulder muscles during a front on rugby football tackle within professional rugby players. Methods: Mixed cross-sectional study evaluating between and within group differences in EMG onset times. Testing was carried out within the physiotherapy department of a university sports medicine clinic. The test group consisted of 7 players with clinically diagnosed SLAP lesions, later verified on arthroscopy. The reference group consisted of 15 uninjured and full time professional rugby players from within the same playing squad. Controlled tackles were performed against a tackle dummy. Onset of EMG activity was assessed from surface EMG of Pectorialis Major, Biceps Brachii, Latissimus Dorsi, Serratus Anterior and Infraspinatus muscles relative to time of impact. Analysis of differences in activation timing between muscles and limbs (injured versus non-injured side and non injured side versus matched reference group). Results: Serratus Anterior was activated prior to all other muscles in all (P = 0.001-0.03) subjects. In the SLAP injured shoulder Biceps was activated later than in the non-injured side. Onset times of all muscles of the noninjured shoulder in the injured player were consistently earlier compared with the reference group. Whereas, within the injured shoulder, all muscle activation timings were later than in the reference group. Conclusions: This study shows that in shoulders with a SLAP lesion there is a trend towards delay in activation time of Biceps and other muscles with the exception of an associated earlier onset of activation of Serratus anterior, possibly due to a coping strategy to protect glenohumeral stability and thoraco-scapular stability. This trend was not statistically significant in all cases

Dietary calcium and vitamin D intakes in childhood and throughout adulthood and mammographic density in a British birth cohort

We examined the role of dietary calcium and vitamin D intakes in childhood and throughout adulthood in relation to mammographic density using data from a nationally representative cohort of 1161 women followed up since their birth in 1946. Dietary intakes at the age of 4 years were determined by 24-h recalls and at the ages of 36, 43 and 53 years by 5-day food records. After adjusting for known risk factors and confounders, no evidence of a relationship between dietary calcium or vitamin D intakes and mammographic density approximately at the age of 50 years was found, except for a cross-sectional relationship between dietary calcium intake at the age of 53 years and breast density in women who were post-menopausal at the time of mammography, with those in the top fifth of the distribution of calcium intake having a 0.53 s.d. lower percent breast density than those in the lowest fifth (P-value <0.01 for linear trend)

Can big data solve a big problem? Reporting the obesity data landscape in line with the Foresight obesity system map.

BACKGROUND: Obesity research at a population level is multifaceted and complex. This has been characterised in the UK by the Foresight obesity systems map, identifying over 100 variables, across seven domain areas which are thought to influence energy balance, and subsequent obesity. Availability of data to consider the whole obesity system is traditionally lacking. However, in an era of big data, new possibilities are emerging. Understanding what data are available can be the first challenge, followed by an inconsistency in data reporting to enable adequate use in the obesity context. In this study we map data sources against the Foresight obesity system map domains and nodes and develop a framework to report big data for obesity research. Opportunities and challenges associated with this new data approach to whole systems obesity research are discussed. METHODS: Expert opinion from the ESRC Strategic Network for Obesity was harnessed in order to develop a data source reporting framework for obesity research. The framework was then tested on a range of data sources. In order to assess availability of data sources relevant to obesity research, a data mapping exercise against the Foresight obesity systems map domains and nodes was carried out. RESULTS: A reporting framework was developed to recommend the reporting of key information in line with these headings: Background; Elements; Exemplars; Content; Ownership; Aggregation; Sharing; Temporality (BEE-COAST). The new BEE-COAST framework was successfully applied to eight exemplar data sources from the UK. 80% coverage of the Foresight obesity systems map is possible using a wide range of big data sources. The remaining 20% were primarily biological measurements often captured by more traditional laboratory based research. CONCLUSIONS: Big data offer great potential across many domains of obesity research and need to be leveraged in conjunction with traditional data for societal benefit and health promotion

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Chinese Language and Reading Abilities

This study investigated the etiology of individual differences in Chinese language and reading skills in 312 typically developing Chinese twin pairs aged from 3 to 11 years (228 pairs of monozygotic twins and 84 pairs of dizygotic twins; 166 male pairs and 146 female pairs). Children were individually given tasks of Chinese word reading, receptive vocabulary, phonological memory, tone awareness, syllable and rhyme awareness, rapid automatized naming, morphological awareness and orthographic skills, and Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices. All analyses controlled for the effects of age. There were moderate to substantial genetic influences on word reading, tone awareness, phonological memory, morphological awareness and rapid automatized naming (estimates ranged from .42 to .73), while shared environment exerted moderate to strong effects on receptive vocabulary, syllable and rhyme awareness and orthographic skills (estimates ranged from .35 to .63). Results were largely unchanged when scores were adjusted for nonverbal reasoning as well as age. Findings of this study are mostly similar to those found for English, a language with very different characteristics, and suggest the universality of genetic and environmental influences across languages

Alcohol intake and risk of colorectal cancer: results from the UK Dietary Cohort Consortium.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies have suggested that excessive alcohol intake increases colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. However, findings regarding tumour subsites and sex differences have been inconsistent. METHODS: We investigated the prospective associations between alcohol intake on overall and site- and sex-specific CRC risk. Analyses were conducted on 579 CRC cases and 1996 matched controls nested within the UK Dietary Cohort Consortium using standardised data obtained from food diaries as a main nutritional method and repeated using data from food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). RESULTS: Compared with individuals in the lightest category of drinkers (>0-or=45 g per day. No clear associations were observed between site-specific CRC risk and alcohol intake in either sex. Analyses using FFQ showed similar results. CONCLUSION: We found no significantly increased risk of CRC up to 30 g per day of alcohol intake within the UK Dietary Cohort Consortium

Transmission characteristics of heterozygous cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease with variable abnormal prion protein allotypes

In the human prion disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), different CJD neuropathological subtypes are defined by the presence in normal prion protein (PrPC) of a methionine or valine at residue 129, by the molecular mass of the infectious prion protein PrPSc, by the pattern of PrPSc deposition, and by the distribution of spongiform change in the brain. Heterozygous cases of CJD potentially add another layer of complexity to defining CJD subtypes since PrPSc can have either a methionine (PrPSc-M129) or valine (PrPSc-V129) at residue 129. We have recently demonstrated that the relative amount of PrPSc-M129 versus PrPSc-V129, i.e. the PrPSc allotype ratio, varies between heterozygous CJD cases. In order to determine if differences in PrPSc allotype correlated with different disease phenotypes, we have inoculated 10 cases of heterozygous CJD (7 sporadic and 3 iatrogenic) into two transgenic mouse lines overexpressing PrPC with a methionine at codon 129. In one case, brain-region specific differences in PrPSc allotype appeared to correlate with differences in prion disease transmission and phenotype. In the other 9 cases inoculated, the presence of PrPSc-V129 was associated with plaque formation but differences in PrPSc allotype did not consistently correlate with disease incubation time or neuropathology. Thus, while the PrPSc allotype ratio may contribute to diverse prion phenotypes within a single brain, it does not appear to be a primary determinative factor of disease phenotype