Collaborative meta-analysis finds no evidence of a strong interaction between stress and 5-HTTLPR genotype contributing to the development of depression

The hypothesis that the S allele of the 5-HTTLPR serotonin transporter promoter region is associated with increased risk of depression, but only in individuals exposed to stressful situations, has generated much interest, research, and controversy since first proposed in 2003. Multiple meta-analyses combining results from heterogeneous analyses have not settled the issue. To determine the magnitude of the interaction and the conditions under which it might be observed, we performed new analyses on 31 datasets containing 38 802 European-ancestry subjects genotyped for 5-HTTLPR and assessed for depression and childhood maltreatment or other stressful life events, and meta-analyzed the results. Analyses targeted two stressors (narrow, broad) and two depression outcomes (current, lifetime). All groups that published on this topic prior to the initiation of our study and met the assessment and sample size criteria were invited to participate. Additional groups, identified by consortium members or self-identified in response to our protocol (published prior to the start of analysis1) with qualifying unpublished data were also invited to participate. A uniform data analysis script implementing the protocol was executed by each of the consortium members. Our findings do not support the interaction hypothesis. We found no subgroups or variable definitions for which an interaction between stress and 5-HTTLPR genotype was statistically significant. In contrast, our findings for the main effects of life stressors (strong risk factor) and 5-HTTLPR genotype (no impact on risk) are strikingly consistent across our contributing studies, the original study reporting the interaction, and subsequent meta-analyses. Our conclusion is that if an interaction exists in which the S allele of 5-HTTLPR increases risk of depression only in stressed individuals, then it is not broadly generalizable, but must be of modest effect size and only observable in limited situations

THE NOETHERIAN PROPERTY IN SOME QUADRATIC ALGEBRAS

Abstract. We introduce a new class of noncommutative rings called pseudopolynomial rings and give sufficient conditions for such a ring to be Noetherian. Pseudopolynomial rings are standard finitely presented algebras over a field with some additional restrictions on their defining relations—namely that the polynomials in a Gröbner basis for the ideal of relations must be homogeneous of degree 2—and on the Ufnarovskii graph Γ(A). The class of pseudopolynomial rings properly includes the generalized skew polynomial rings introduced by M. Artin and W. Schelter. We use the graph Γ(A) todefine a weaker notion of almost commutative, which we call almost commutative on cycles. We show as our main result that a pseudopolynomial ring which is almost commutative on cycles is Noetherian. A counterexample shows that a Noetherian pseudopolynomial ring need not be almost commutative on cycles. 1