Predicting potential Alzheimer medical condition in elderly using IOT sensors - Case study

National Development and National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore under the Land and Liveability National Innovation Challenge (L2NIC

Association analyses of East Asian individuals and trans-ancestry analyses with European individuals reveal new loci associated with cholesterol and triglyceride levels

Large-scale meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified >175 loci associated with fasting cholesterol levels, including total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and triglycerides (TG). With differences in linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure and allele frequencies between ancestry groups, studies in additional large samples may detect new associations. We conducted staged GWAS meta-analyses in up to 69,414 East Asian individuals from 24 studies with participants from Japan, the Philippines, Korea, China, Singapore, and Taiwan. These meta-analyses identified (P < 5 × 10-8) three novel loci associated with HDL-C near CD163-APOBEC1 (P = 7.4 × 10-9), NCOA2 (P = 1.6 × 10-8), and NID2-PTGDR (P = 4.2 × 10-8), and one novel locus associated with TG near WDR11-FGFR2 (P = 2.7 × 10-10). Conditional analyses identified a second signal near CD163-APOBEC1. We then combined results from the East Asian meta-analysis with association results from up to 187,365 European individuals from the Global Lipids Genetics Consortium in a trans-ancestry meta-analysis. This analysis identified (log10Bayes Factor ≥6.1) eight additional novel lipid loci. Among the twelve total loci identified, the index variants at eight loci have demonstrated at least nominal significance with other metabolic traits in prior studies, and two loci exhibited coincident eQTLs (P < 1 × 10-5) in subcutaneous adipose tissue for BPTF and PDGFC. Taken together, these analyses identified multiple novel lipid loci, providing new potential therapeutic targets

Repositioning of the global epicentre of non-optimal cholesterol

High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries(1,2). However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world(3) and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, which have different effects on human health(4,5). However, the trends of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol levels over time have not been previously reported in a global analysis. Here we pooled 1,127 population-based studies that measured blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and older to estimate trends from 1980 to 2018 in mean total, non-HDL and HDL cholesterol levels for 200 countries. Globally, there was little change in total or non-HDL cholesterol from 1980 to 2018. This was a net effect of increases in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreases in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. As a result, countries with the highest level of non-HDL cholesterol-which is a marker of cardiovascular riskchanged from those in western Europe such as Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Malta in 1980 to those in Asia and the Pacific, such as Tokelau, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. In 2017, high non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million (95% credible interval 3.7 million-4.2 million) worldwide deaths, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia. The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, with non-optimal cholesterol shifting from a distinct feature of high-income countries in northwestern Europe, north America and Australasia to one that affects countries in east and southeast Asia and Oceania should motivate the use of population-based policies and personal interventions to improve nutrition and enhance access to treatment throughout the world.Peer reviewe

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Work-life profiling : exploring profiles and subgroups via multidimensional scaling

This exploratory research examines the combinative impact of an individual’s job, comparative perceptions, demographics, dispositional factors, and their preferred worklife benefits. Specifically we examined its impact on the popular work-life belief that greater job flexibility leads to better work-life balance. 261 employees from different companies participated in an online survey, and data obtained were analyzed using Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS). PAMS revealed two latent dimensions (profile patterns), from which we developed a nine box matrix for post-hoc analysis and discussion. Results revealed job flexibility does not positively affect all subgroups identified. We propose a new approach understand employees’ unique characteristics that may offer explanations to the numerous mixed and divergent findings in the work-life literature, and argue that an ecological approach, supported by statistical advances, can help enhance and expand current knowledge of work-life

The impact of self-concept on destination preference.

This study takes a multidimensional perspective in enhancing the understanding of how Destination-Self-Congruity (DSC) determines Singaporean tourists’ preferences to visit Japan and Australia. The application of self-concept has received little attention from tourism researchers, especially in the Asian context. For a more holistic explanation of factors affecting Singaporeans’ destination preferences, we considered not only DSC, but also the utilitarian attributes of a destination and the demographics of tourists to that destination. We used a survey instrument to collect data for our study. We conducted a pilot test and a pre-test to develop our survey questionnaire, then conducted the self-administered survey among Singaporean respondents, from which we obtained 128 usable responses. We used various multiple regression models to analyze how the relationship between DSC and preference is moderated by other determinants such as physical attributes and demographics. Our findings show that ideal self-congruity is the most important determinant of preference among the four self-concept dimensions, whereas, actual self-congruity comes in more strongly when the utilitarian determinants of the destination and demographics are considered. Destination-Self-Congruity also impacts preference to Japan and Australia to different extents, suggesting that the application of DSC in its marketing efforts may be more effective for Australia. Among all the determinants considered, Singaporeans see the attractiveness of a destination as the most important factor affecting their preferences. The application of our model will benefit marketers of the tourism industry in strategizing communications, promotion and destination branding, and possibly using self-concept as an alternative base for segmenting the market.BUSINES

Indirect calorimetry directed feeding and cycling in the older ICU population: a pilot randomised controlled trial

10.1186/s12871-024-02507-8BMC Anesthesiology24

Cell-Derived Vesicles as TRPC1 Channel Delivery Systems for the Recovery of Cellular Respiratory and Proliferative Capacities

10.1002/adbi.202000146ADVANCED BIOSYSTEMS411complete

Cell-Derived Vesicles as TRPC1 Channel Delivery Systems for the Recovery of Cellular Respiratory and Proliferative Capacities

10.1101/2020.05.16.09928

Ambient and supplemental magnetic fields promote myogenesis via a TRPC1-mitochondrial axis: evidence of a magnetic mitohormetic mechanism

10.1096/fj.201900057RFASEB JOURNAL331112853-1287