The Correlation between Rates of Cancer and Autism: An Exploratory Ecological Investigation

Autism is associated with high rates of genomic aberrations, including chromosomal rearrangements and de novo copy-number variations. These observations are reminiscent of cancer, a disease where genomic rearrangements also play a role. We undertook a correlative epidemiological study to explore the possibility that shared risk factors might exist for autism and specific types of cancer.To determine if significant correlations exist between the prevalence of autism and the incidence of cancer, we obtained and analyzed state-wide data reported by age and gender throughout the United States. Autism data were obtained from the U.S. Department of Education via the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (2000-2007, reported annually by age group) and cancer incidence data were obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (1999-2005). IDEA data were further subdivided depending on the method used to diagnose autism (DSM IV or the Code of Federal Regulations, using strict or expanded criteria). Spearman rank correlations were calculated for all possible pairwise combinations of annual autism rates and the incidence of specific cancers. Following this, Bonferroni's correction was applied to significance values. Two independent methods for determining an overall combined p-value based on dependent correlations were obtained for each set of calculations. High correlations were found between autism rates and the incidence of in situ breast cancer (p < or = 10(-10), modified inverse chi square, n = 16) using data from states that adhere strictly to the Code of Federal Regulations for diagnosing autism. By contrast, few significant correlations were observed between autism prevalence and the incidence of 23 other female and 22 male cancers.These findings suggest that there may be an association between autism and specific forms of cancer

MIR137 polygenic risk for schizophrenia and ephrin-regulated pathway:Role in lateral ventricles and corpus callosum volume

Background/Objective:Enlarged lateral ventricle (LV) volume and decreased volume in the corpus callosum (CC) are hallmarks of schizophrenia (SZ). We previously showed an inverse correlation between LV and CC volumes in SZ, with global functioning decreasing with increased LV volume. This study investigates the relationship between LV volume, CC abnormalities, and the microRNA MIR137 and its regulated genes in SZ, because of MIR137’s essential role in neurodevelopment. Methods:Participants were 1224 SZ probands and 1466 unaffected controls from the GENUS Consortium. Brain MRI scans, genotype, and clinical data were harmonized across cohorts and employed in the analyses. Results:Increased LV volumes and decreased CC central, mid-anterior, and mid-posterior volumes were observed in SZ probands. The MIR137-regulated ephrin pathway was significantly associated with CC:LV ratio, explaining a significant proportion (3.42 %) of CC:LV variance, and more than for LV and CC separately. Other pathways explained variance in either CC or LV, but not both. CC:LV ratio was also positively correlated with Global Assessment of Functioning, supporting previous subsample findings. SNP-based heritability estimates were higher for CC central:LV ratio (0.79) compared to CC or LV separately.Discussion:Our results indicate that the CC:LV ratio is highly heritable, influenced in part by variation in the MIR137-regulated ephrin pathway. Findings suggest that the CC:LV ratio may be a risk indicator in SZ that correlates with global functioning.</p

MIR137 polygenic risk for schizophrenia and ephrin-regulated pathway:Role in lateral ventricles and corpus callosum volume

Background/Objective:Enlarged lateral ventricle (LV) volume and decreased volume in the corpus callosum (CC) are hallmarks of schizophrenia (SZ). We previously showed an inverse correlation between LV and CC volumes in SZ, with global functioning decreasing with increased LV volume. This study investigates the relationship between LV volume, CC abnormalities, and the microRNA MIR137 and its regulated genes in SZ, because of MIR137’s essential role in neurodevelopment. Methods:Participants were 1224 SZ probands and 1466 unaffected controls from the GENUS Consortium. Brain MRI scans, genotype, and clinical data were harmonized across cohorts and employed in the analyses. Results:Increased LV volumes and decreased CC central, mid-anterior, and mid-posterior volumes were observed in SZ probands. The MIR137-regulated ephrin pathway was significantly associated with CC:LV ratio, explaining a significant proportion (3.42 %) of CC:LV variance, and more than for LV and CC separately. Other pathways explained variance in either CC or LV, but not both. CC:LV ratio was also positively correlated with Global Assessment of Functioning, supporting previous subsample findings. SNP-based heritability estimates were higher for CC central:LV ratio (0.79) compared to CC or LV separately.Discussion:Our results indicate that the CC:LV ratio is highly heritable, influenced in part by variation in the MIR137-regulated ephrin pathway. Findings suggest that the CC:LV ratio may be a risk indicator in SZ that correlates with global functioning.</p

The impact of residential change and housing stability on recidivism: pilot results from the Maryland Opportunities through Vouchers Experiment (MOVE)

Objectives: This article provides a description and preliminary assessment of the Maryland Opportunities through Vouchers Experiment (MOVE), a randomized housing mobility program for former prisoners designed to test whether residential relocation far away from former neighborhoods, incentivized through the provision of a housing subsidy, can yield reductions in recidivism. Methods: The MOVE program was implemented as a randomized controlled trial. Participants were recruited from four different Maryland prisons and randomly assigned to experimental groups. In the first iteration of the experiment, treatment group participants received six months of free housing away from their home jurisdiction and control group participants received free housing back in their home jurisdiction. In the second iteration of the experiment, the treatment group remained the same and the control condition was redesigned to represent the status quo and did not receive free housing. Analyses were conducted of one-year rearrest rates. Results: With respect to reductions in recidivism, pilot results suggest that there is some benefit to moving and a benefit to receiving free housing. Rearrest was lower among the treatment group of movers than the non-movers, and was also lower for non-movers who received free housing versus non-movers who did not receive housing. Conclusions: To the extent that pilot results can be validated and replicated in a full-scale implementation of the MOVE program, policies that provide greater access to housing assistance for formerly incarcerated individuals may yield substantial public safety benefits, particularly housing opportunities located far away from former neighborhoods

The Genetics of Endophenotypes of Neurofunction to Understand Schizophrenia (GENUS) consortium: A collaborative cognitive and neuroimaging genetics project

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia has a large genetic component, and the pathways from genes to illness manifestation are beginning to be identified. The Genetics of Endophenotypes of Neurofunction to Understand Schizophrenia (GENUS) Consortium aims to clarify the role of genetic variation in brain abnormalities underlying schizophrenia. This article describes the GENUS Consortium sample collection. METHODS: We identified existing samples collected for schizophrenia studies consisting of patients, controls, and/or individuals at familial high-risk (FHR) for schizophrenia. Samples had single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array data or genomic DNA, clinical and demographic data, and neuropsychological and/or brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. Data were subjected to quality control procedures at a central site. RESULTS: Sixteen research groups contributed data from 5199 psychosis patients, 4877 controls, and 725 FHR individuals. All participants have relevant demographic data and all patients have relevant clinical data. The sex ratio is 56.5% male and 43.5% female. Significant differences exist between diagnostic groups for premorbid and current IQ (both p10,000 participants. The breadth of data across clinical, genetic, neuropsychological, and MRI modalities provides an important opportunity for elucidating the genetic basis of neural processes underlying schizophrenia

The Changes of the Tumor Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Expression and the Density CD8+ Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes after Neoadjuvant Chemoradiation in Patients with Rectal Adenocarcinoma

Rectum adenocarcinoma is one of the most frequent tumour diseases in the Czech Republic. Therefore any progress in therapy or prevention of this disease can have a significant impact on mortality and morbidity of major amount of oncological patients. Within therapy the neoadjuvant concomitant radiochemotherapy or the sole radiotherapy is used before surgical resection in one third to half of all newly diagnosed cases. The goal is to achieve tumor downstaging and local relaps probability decrease. There is a large amount of processes on molecular and cellular level in organism reaction to neoplasia genesis, whose understanding can have a substantial impact on therapy's success rate or on therapy's efficiency prediction. One of these processes is angiogenesis induced by high production of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). As per immunohistochemical studies VEGF is not expressed in typical colorectum mucous membrane. However it is strongly expressed in case of adenocarcinoma. Another important process of organism's malignancy response is tumour tissue infiltration by CD8+ T lymphocytes (TIL), which are one of the important components of cellular immunity against tumour and which significantly contribute to tumour cells elimination. Potential of CD8+ T lymphocytes is considerable not just in..

Impact of legislative changes on traffic accidents frequency in Czech Republic, 1990-2007

The theme of my thesis on the impact of legislative changes traffic accident rate in the CR in the period 1990-2007, I chose because of a particular socio-propletenosti legislative field rules and laws with the consequences of their existence in the form injured, permanently disabled or dead persons in the Czech roads. Their numbers reach values that are often mnohasetkrát greater than if many a seemingly dangerous grateful to the media problem. Every year comes Czech Republic of town with about a thousand inhabitants, and in most cases of working age who die on Czech roads. Tens of thousands of others must be longer or shorter time to heal consequences of these accidents. Many of them never fully recover. Certainly interesting to know whether changing laws and rules can be affect the amount of such tragedies, and of course best to lower values. From the simple premise that the mildest the consequences of the accident which happens, it is clear that direct the effort to reduce the number of accidents to prevent their formationplays. Looking back to the passed legislative changes relating to transport and for prevention programs, along with the history ofstatistics traffic accidents will give us a picture of what impact the changes should, and will give us guidance as to what further changes to implement for..