Combining Asian and European genome-wide association studies of colorectal cancer improves risk prediction across racial and ethnic populations

Polygenic risk scores (PRS) have great potential to guide precision colorectal cancer (CRC) prevention by identifying those at higher risk to undertake targeted screening. However, current PRS using European ancestry data have sub-optimal performance in non-European ancestry populations, limiting their utility among these populations. Towards addressing this deficiency, we expand PRS development for CRC by incorporating Asian ancestry data (21,731 cases; 47,444 controls) into European ancestry training datasets (78,473 cases; 107,143 controls). The AUC estimates (95% CI) of PRS are 0.63(0.62-0.64), 0.59(0.57-0.61), 0.62(0.60-0.63), and 0.65(0.63-0.66) in independent datasets including 1681-3651 cases and 8696-115,105 controls of Asian, Black/African American, Latinx/Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White, respectively. They are significantly better than the European-centric PRS in all four major US racial and ethnic groups (p-values < 0.05). Further inclusion of non-European ancestry populations, especially Black/African American and Latinx/Hispanic, is needed to improve the risk prediction and enhance equity in applying PRS in clinical practice

Combining Asian and European genome-wide association studies of colorectal cancer improves risk prediction across racial and ethnic populations

Polygenic risk scores (PRS) have great potential to guide precision colorectal cancer (CRC) prevention by identifying those at higher risk to undertake targeted screening. However, current PRS using European ancestry data have sub-optimal performance in non-European ancestry populations, limiting their utility among these populations. Towards addressing this deficiency, we expand PRS development for CRC by incorporating Asian ancestry data (21,731 cases; 47,444 controls) into European ancestry training datasets (78,473 cases; 107,143 controls). The AUC estimates (95% CI) of PRS are 0.63(0.62-0.64), 0.59(0.57-0.61), 0.62(0.60-0.63), and 0.65(0.63-0.66) in independent datasets including 1681-3651 cases and 8696-115,105 controls of Asian, Black/African American, Latinx/Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White, respectively. They are significantly better than the European-centric PRS in all four major US racial and ethnic groups (p-values < 0.05). Further inclusion of non-European ancestry populations, especially Black/African American and Latinx/Hispanic, is needed to improve the risk prediction and enhance equity in applying PRS in clinical practice

INNOVATIONS IN RUSSIA

The article deals with the level of innovation development in Russia. The main reasons hindering the introduction of innovations and development of innovative business in the country, as well as the solutions proposed, in which an active participation from the government

Customer-Oriented Aggregators of Massive Open Online Courses: Opportunities and Prospects

In recent years, the number of online courses known as massive open online courses (MOOC) has increased significantly. Such courses are available on online providers’ sites, such as edX and Coursera. As a result, there is a notable reduction of clarity in terms of various course offerings, and this causes a need to change the MOOC description schemes to help inform potential applicants. The article is aimed at identifying the capabilities of customer-oriented MOOC aggregators and the prospects for their further improvement. The article presents approaches to the concept of customer focus, based on which the definition of a customer-oriented aggregator is formulated. The article analyses course descriptions used by MOOC providers and aggregators for their potential students. Based on this analysis, the authors develop a set of categories describing MOOC, used for the creation of a new MOOC description according to the customer-oriented criteria. The authors conclude that the optimal descriptive MOOC scheme on the MOOC aggregator should satisfy both the academic environment and the customer-oriented criteria that correspond to students’ interests when choosing a MOOC. © 202

Long-term survival after ischemic stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation

OBJECTIVES: While the short-term impact of atrial fibrillation–related stroke has been well studied, surprisingly little is known about its long-term effect on survival. METHODS: We followed 13,559 patients with atrial fibrillation for a median of 6 years, identifying ischemic strokes through computerized databases and validating 1,025 events. Stroke severity was determined from hospital records. We compared survival of stroke patients with comparator nonstroke patients (matched for age, sex, race, comorbid conditions, and time of entry into the cohort) using proportional hazard models controlling for warfarin use and compared survival by degree of discharge deficit. RESULTS: Median survival after stroke was 1.8 years compared with 5.7 years for matched nonstroke comparators (hazard ratio [HR] 2.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.5–3.2). This increased risk of all-cause death persisted even after restricting the analysis to the 576 stroke patients who survived 6 months after the initial stroke event (HR 2.0, 95% CI 1.7–2.5, adjusting for warfarin use). Risk of death was strongly associated with stroke severity: HR 2.9 (95% CI 2.3–3.5) for strokes resulting in major deficits and HR 8.3 (95% CI 5.2–13.2) for strokes resulting in severe deficits compared with matched comparators without stroke. CONCLUSIONS: Ischemic stroke approximately triples the mortality rate in patients with atrial fibrillation. This effect persists well beyond the immediate period poststroke and is strongly associated with disability after stroke. Stroke prevention by anticoagulation has even greater beneficial effects on survival than usually considered when focusing solely on 30-day mortality rates

A new risk scheme to predict ischemic stroke and other thromboembolism in atrial fibrillation: The ATRIA study stroke risk score

Background-More accurate and reliable stroke risk prediction tools are needed to optimize anticoagulation decision making in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). We developed a new AF stroke prediction model using the original Anticoagulation and Risk

Experience in using computer bronchophonography in paediatric practice

Thanks to the innovations in the information technology field, computer acoustic diagnosis is beginning to be used in the clinical practice. Computer bronchophonography is one of the promising domestic innovations in the field of methods of measuring the functional state of the respiratory system. This method can be used at any stage of medical care to identify bronchial obstruction, monitor the effectiveness of treatment and preventive measures in patients with bronchopulmonary diseases, which is especially important in early and preschool years. However, further research is required in this current field, both from research and practical perspectives. In the article, the authors present their own experience in using and interpreting the results of bronchophonography in children