Age at first birth in women is genetically associated with increased risk of schizophrenia

Prof. Paunio on PGC:n jäsenPrevious studies have shown an increased risk for mental health problems in children born to both younger and older parents compared to children of average-aged parents. We previously used a novel design to reveal a latent mechanism of genetic association between schizophrenia and age at first birth in women (AFB). Here, we use independent data from the UK Biobank (N = 38,892) to replicate the finding of an association between predicted genetic risk of schizophrenia and AFB in women, and to estimate the genetic correlation between schizophrenia and AFB in women stratified into younger and older groups. We find evidence for an association between predicted genetic risk of schizophrenia and AFB in women (P-value = 1.12E-05), and we show genetic heterogeneity between younger and older AFB groups (P-value = 3.45E-03). The genetic correlation between schizophrenia and AFB in the younger AFB group is -0.16 (SE = 0.04) while that between schizophrenia and AFB in the older AFB group is 0.14 (SE = 0.08). Our results suggest that early, and perhaps also late, age at first birth in women is associated with increased genetic risk for schizophrenia in the UK Biobank sample. These findings contribute new insights into factors contributing to the complex bio-social risk architecture underpinning the association between parental age and offspring mental health.Peer reviewe

Common variants in SOX-2 and congenital cataract genes contribute to age-related nuclear cataract

Nuclear cataract is the most common type of age-related cataract and a leading cause of blindness worldwide. Age-related nuclear cataract is heritable (h2 = 0.48), but little is known about specific genetic factors underlying this condition. Here we report findings from the largest to date multi-ethnic meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (discovery cohort N = 14,151 and replication N = 5299) of the International Cataract Genetics Consortium. We confirmed the known genetic association of CRYAA (rs7278468, P = 2.8 × 10−16) with nuclear cataract and identified five new loci associated with this disease: SOX2-OT (rs9842371, P = 1.7 × 1

A century of trends in adult human height

Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.5-22.7) and 16.5 cm (13.3-19.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8-144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries

Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities 1,2 . This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity 3�6 . Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55 of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017�and more than 80 in some low- and middle-income regions�was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing�and in some countries reversal�of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories. © 2019, The Author(s)

Catalytic performance of La0.8Sr0.2FeMn1.5Al9.5O19-delta hexaaluminate-typed aerosol catalysts

La0.8Sr0.2FeMn1.5Al9.5O19-delta (LSFMAO) hexaaluminate aerosol was prepared by co-precipitation combined with supercritical drying and high temperature calcinations. XRD, SEM, BET, TPR characterizations as well as methane catalytic combustion were performed to investigate the effects of supercritical drying and high temperature calcinations on the structure and reactivity of the catalysts. The results indicated that the plate-like LSFMAO hexaaluminate aerosol was formed after calcination of the aerosol precursors at 1200 degrees C. The as-prepared LSFMAO hexaaluminate possesses large specific surface area (16 m(2)center dot g(-1)) and excellent catalytic combustion activity at high gas space velocity. However, further calcinations of the LSFMAO hexaaluminate at 1300 degrees C and 1400 degrees C resulted in severe sintering and reduction of catalytic activity. These results revealed that supercritical drying was helpful to promote the combustion activity and resist sintering of the LSFMAO hexaaluminate up to 1200 degrees C above which the sintering resistance and redox performance of LSFMAO hexaaluminates were mainly determined by the components and intrinsic properties

Preparation and formation mechanism of mesoporous CuO-CeO2 mixed oxides with excellent catalytic performance for removal of VOCs

A simple route has been developed to synthesize mesoporous CuO–CeO2 mixed oxides. X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption and desorption isotherms, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy have been used to characterize the obtained mesoporous CuO–CeO2 mixed oxides. The results revealed that the as-prepared CuO–CeO2 mixed oxides possessed a high BET surface area and pores in the range of 1–10 nm after calcination at 600 °C for 4 h. In order to understand the formation mechanism of the mesoporous structure, the precursor before calcination was characterized by FTIR and TG-DSC. The results showed that the formation of the mesoporous structure with the high BET surface area was ascribed to the decomposition of ammonia nitrate. Further experimental investigations revealed that the amount of ammonia nitrate in the precursor greatly influenced the BET surface area and the pore size of the final product. Furthermore, the method could be extended to the synthesis of other mixed oxides with the mesoporous structures, such as ZrO2–CeO2 and ZrO2–Y2O3. The as-prepared mesoporous CuO–CeO2 sample with the high surface area exhibited highly reducible features as compared to the sample with a low surface area. The mesoporous CuO–CeO2 powder showed excellent catalytic activity for the complete oxidation of benzene

Observation of structural superlubricity in graphite flakes assembled under ambient condition

International audienc

Prise en compte de la fissuration des milieux poreux satures dans le calcul des grands ouvrages hydrauliques

SIGLEAvailable at INIST (FR), Document Supply Service, under shelf-number : AR 14617 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc