Fatty liver incidence and predictive variables.

Although fatty liver predicts ischemic heart disease, the incidence and predictors of fatty liver need examination. The objective of this study was to determine fatty liver incidence and predictive variables. Using abdominal ultrasonography, we followed biennially through 2007 (mean follow-up, 11.6+/-4.6 years) 1635 Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors (606 men) without fatty liver at baseline (November 1990 through October 1992). We examined potential predictive variables with the Cox proportional hazard model and longitudinal trends with the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. In all, 323 (124 men) new fatty liver cases were diagnosed. The incidence was 19.9/1000 person-years (22.3 for men, 18.6 for women) and peaked in the sixth decade of life. After controlling for age, sex, and smoking and drinking habits, obesity (relative risk (RR), 2.93; 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.33-3.69, P<0.001), low high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (RR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.42-2.47; P<0.001), hypertriglyceridemia (RR, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.96-3.15; P<0.001), glucose intolerance (RR, 1.51; 95% CI, 1.09-2.10; P=0.013) and hypertension (RR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.30-2.04; P<0.001) were predictive of fatty liver. In multivariate analysis including all variables, obesity (RR, 2.55; 95% CI, 1.93-3.38; P<0.001), hypertriglyceridemia (RR, 1.92; 95% CI, 1.41-2.62; P<0.001) and hypertension (RR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.01-1.71; P=0.046) remained predictive. In fatty liver cases, body mass index and serum triglycerides, but not systolic or diastolic blood pressure, increased significantly and steadily up to the time of the diagnosis. Obesity, hypertriglyceridemia and, to a lesser extent, hypertension might serve as predictive variables for fatty liver

Identification of novel schizophrenia loci by homozygosity mapping using DNA microarray analysis.

The recent development of high-resolution DNA microarrays, in which hundreds of thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are genotyped, enables the rapid identification of susceptibility genes for complex diseases. Clusters of these SNPs may show runs of homozygosity (ROHs) that can be analyzed for association with disease. An analysis of patients whose parents were first cousins enables the search for autozygous segments in their offspring. Here, using the Affymetrix® Genome-Wide Human SNP Array 5.0 to determine ROHs, we genotyped 9 individuals with schizophrenia (SCZ) whose parents were first cousins. We identified overlapping ROHs on chromosomes 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20, and 21 in at least 3 individuals. Only the locus on chromosome 5 has been reported previously. The ROHs on chromosome 5q23.3-q31.1 include the candidate genes histidine triad nucleotide binding protein 1 (HINT1) and acyl-CoA synthetase long-chain family member 6 (ACSL6). Other overlapping ROHs may contain novel rare recessive variants that affect SCZ specifically in our samples, given the highly heterozygous nature of SCZ. Analysis of patients whose parents are first cousins may provide new insights for the genetic analysis of psychiatric diseases

Phase-Responsive Fourier Nanotransducers for Probing 2D Materials and Functional Interfaces

International audienc