ALBERT

Description: Fusion between membranes is mediated by specific SNARE complexes. Here we report that fibroblasts survive the absence of the trans-Golgi network/early endosomal SNARE vti1a and the late endosomal SNARE vti1b with intact organelle morphology and minor trafficking defects. Because vti1a and vti1b are the only members of their SNARE subclass and the yeast homolog Vti1p is essential for cell survival, these data suggest that more distantly related SNAREs acquired the ability to function in endosomal traffic during evolution. However, absence of vti1a and vti1b resulted in perinatal lethality. Major axon tracts were missing, reduced in size, or misrouted in Vti1a−/− Vti1b−/− embryos. Progressive neurodegeneration was observed in most Vti1a−/− Vti1b−/− peripheral ganglia. Neurons were reduced by more than 95% in Vti1a−/− Vti1b−/− dorsal root and geniculate ganglia at embryonic day 18.5. These data suggest that special demands for endosomal membrane traffic could not be met in Vti1a−/− Vti1b−/− neurons. Vti1a−/− and Vti1b−/− single deficient mice were viable without these neuronal defects, indicating that they can substitute for each other in these processes.

Description: Immunoglobulin (Ig) diversification by somatic hypermutation in germinal center B cells is instrumental for maturation of the humoral immune response, but also bears the risk of excessive or aberrant genetic changes. Thus, introduction of DNA damage by activation-induced cytidine deaminase as well as DNA repair by multiple pathways need to be tightly regulated during the germinal center response to prevent lymphomagenesis. In the present study, we show that DNA damage checkpoint signaling via checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) negatively regulates somatic hypermutation. Chk1 inhibition in human B cell lymphoma lines as well as inactivation of Chk1 alleles by gene targeting in DT40 B cells leads to increased somatic hypermutation. This is apparently due to changes in DNA repair pathways regulated by Chk1, such as a decreased homologous recombination efficiency that also leads to decreased Ig gene conversion in DT40. Our data show that Chk1 signaling plays a crucial role in regulation of Ig diversification and sheds unexpected light on potential origins of aberrant somatic hypermutation in B cell lymphomagenesis.

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Radulescu, Razvan T -- Fischer, Klaus -- Stange, Eduard -- Schulze, Johannes -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2010 Apr 16;328(5976):307. doi: 10.1126/science.328.5976.307-b.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20395494" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: A genome-wide association study (GWAS) of educational attainment was conducted in a discovery sample of 101,069 individuals and a replication sample of 25,490. Three independent single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are genome-wide significant (rs9320913, rs11584700, rs4851266), and all three replicate. Estimated effects sizes are small (coefficient of determination R(2) approximately 0.02%), approximately 1 month of schooling per allele. A linear polygenic score from all measured SNPs accounts for approximately 2% of the variance in both educational attainment and cognitive function. Genes in the region of the loci have previously been associated with health, cognitive, and central nervous system phenotypes, and bioinformatics analyses suggest the involvement of the anterior caudate nucleus. These findings provide promising candidate SNPs for follow-up work, and our effect size estimates can anchor power analyses in social-science genetics.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3751588/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3751588/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Rietveld, Cornelius A -- Medland, Sarah E -- Derringer, Jaime -- Yang, Jian -- Esko, Tonu -- Martin, Nicolas W -- Westra, Harm-Jan -- Shakhbazov, Konstantin -- Abdellaoui, Abdel -- Agrawal, Arpana -- Albrecht, Eva -- Alizadeh, Behrooz Z -- Amin, Najaf -- Barnard, John -- Baumeister, Sebastian E -- Benke, Kelly S -- Bielak, Lawrence F -- Boatman, Jeffrey A -- Boyle, Patricia A -- Davies, Gail -- de Leeuw, Christiaan -- Eklund, Niina -- Evans, Daniel S -- Ferhmann, Rudolf -- Fischer, Krista -- Gieger, Christian -- Gjessing, Hakon K -- Hagg, Sara -- Harris, Jennifer R -- Hayward, Caroline -- Holzapfel, Christina -- Ibrahim-Verbaas, Carla A -- Ingelsson, Erik -- Jacobsson, Bo -- Joshi, Peter K -- Jugessur, Astanand -- Kaakinen, Marika -- Kanoni, Stavroula -- Karjalainen, Juha -- Kolcic, Ivana -- Kristiansson, Kati -- Kutalik, Zoltan -- Lahti, Jari -- Lee, Sang H -- Lin, Peng -- Lind, Penelope A -- Liu, Yongmei -- Lohman, Kurt -- Loitfelder, Marisa -- McMahon, George -- Vidal, Pedro Marques -- Meirelles, Osorio -- Milani, Lili -- Myhre, Ronny -- Nuotio, Marja-Liisa -- Oldmeadow, Christopher J -- Petrovic, Katja E -- Peyrot, Wouter J -- Polasek, Ozren -- Quaye, Lydia -- Reinmaa, Eva -- Rice, John P -- Rizzi, Thais S -- Schmidt, Helena -- Schmidt, Reinhold -- Smith, Albert V -- Smith, Jennifer A -- Tanaka, Toshiko -- Terracciano, Antonio -- van der Loos, Matthijs J H M -- Vitart, Veronique -- Volzke, Henry -- Wellmann, Jurgen -- Yu, Lei -- Zhao, Wei -- Allik, Juri -- Attia, John R -- Bandinelli, Stefania -- Bastardot, Francois -- Beauchamp, Jonathan -- Bennett, David A -- Berger, Klaus -- Bierut, Laura J -- Boomsma, Dorret I -- Bultmann, Ute -- Campbell, Harry -- Chabris, Christopher F -- Cherkas, Lynn -- Chung, Mina K -- Cucca, Francesco -- de Andrade, Mariza -- De Jager, Philip L -- De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel -- Deary, Ian J -- Dedoussis, George V -- Deloukas, Panos -- Dimitriou, Maria -- Eiriksdottir, Guethny -- Elderson, Martin F -- Eriksson, Johan G -- Evans, David M -- Faul, Jessica D -- Ferrucci, Luigi -- Garcia, Melissa E -- Gronberg, Henrik -- Guethnason, Vilmundur -- Hall, Per -- Harris, Juliette M -- Harris, Tamara B -- Hastie, Nicholas D -- Heath, Andrew C -- Hernandez, Dena G -- Hoffmann, Wolfgang -- Hofman, Adriaan -- Holle, Rolf -- Holliday, Elizabeth G -- Hottenga, Jouke-Jan -- Iacono, William G -- Illig, Thomas -- Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta -- Kahonen, Mika -- Kaprio, Jaakko -- Kirkpatrick, Robert M -- Kowgier, Matthew -- Latvala, Antti -- Launer, Lenore J -- Lawlor, Debbie A -- Lehtimaki, Terho -- Li, Jingmei -- Lichtenstein, Paul -- Lichtner, Peter -- Liewald, David C -- Madden, Pamela A -- Magnusson, Patrik K E -- Makinen, Tomi E -- Masala, Marco -- McGue, Matt -- Metspalu, Andres -- Mielck, Andreas -- Miller, Michael B -- Montgomery, Grant W -- Mukherjee, Sutapa -- Nyholt, Dale R -- Oostra, Ben A -- Palmer, Lyle J -- Palotie, Aarno -- Penninx, Brenda W J H -- Perola, Markus -- Peyser, Patricia A -- Preisig, Martin -- Raikkonen, Katri -- Raitakari, Olli T -- Realo, Anu -- Ring, Susan M -- Ripatti, Samuli -- Rivadeneira, Fernando -- Rudan, Igor -- Rustichini, Aldo -- Salomaa, Veikko -- Sarin, Antti-Pekka -- Schlessinger, David -- Scott, Rodney J -- Snieder, Harold -- St Pourcain, Beate -- Starr, John M -- Sul, Jae Hoon -- Surakka, Ida -- Svento, Rauli -- Teumer, Alexander -- LifeLines Cohort Study -- Tiemeier, Henning -- van Rooij, Frank J A -- Van Wagoner, David R -- Vartiainen, Erkki -- Viikari, Jorma -- Vollenweider, Peter -- Vonk, Judith M -- Waeber, Gerard -- Weir, David R -- Wichmann, H-Erich -- Widen, Elisabeth -- Willemsen, Gonneke -- Wilson, James F -- Wright, Alan F -- Conley, Dalton -- Davey-Smith, George -- Franke, Lude -- Groenen, Patrick J F -- Hofman, Albert -- Johannesson, Magnus -- Kardia, Sharon L R -- Krueger, Robert F -- Laibson, David -- Martin, Nicholas G -- Meyer, Michelle N -- Posthuma, Danielle -- Thurik, A Roy -- Timpson, Nicholas J -- Uitterlinden, Andre G -- van Duijn, Cornelia M -- Visscher, Peter M -- Benjamin, Daniel J -- Cesarini, David -- Koellinger, Philipp D -- AA09367/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- AA11886/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- BB/F019394/1/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom -- CZB/4/710/Chief Scientist Office/United Kingdom -- DA024417/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- DA029377/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- DA05147/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- DA13240/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- ETM/55/Chief Scientist Office/United Kingdom -- F31 DA029377/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- G0600705/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- G0700704/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- G9815508/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- K05 AA017688/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- MC_PC_U127561128/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- MC_UU_12013/1/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- MC_UU_12013/3/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- MC_UU_12013/5/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- MH016880/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- MH066140/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- MR/K026992/1/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- P01 AG005842/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- P01 CA089392/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- P01 GM099568/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P01-AG005842/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- P01-AG005842-20S2/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- P30 AG012810/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- P30-AG012810/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AA009367/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AA011886/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- R01 DA013240/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL090620/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL105756/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL111314/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 MH066140/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R37 DA005147/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- T32 AG000186/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- T32 MH016880/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- T32-AG000186-23/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- U01 AG009740/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- U01 DA024417/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- Z01 AG001050-01/Intramural NIH HHS/ -- ZIA AG000196-03/Intramural NIH HHS/ -- ZIA AG000196-04/Intramural NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2013 Jun 21;340(6139):1467-71. doi: 10.1126/science.1235488. Epub 2013 May 30.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Applied Economics, Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23722424" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: There is evidence across several species for genetic control of phenotypic variation of complex traits, such that the variance among phenotypes is genotype dependent. Understanding genetic control of variability is important in evolutionary biology, agricultural selection programmes and human medicine, yet for complex traits, no individual genetic variants associated with variance, as opposed to the mean, have been identified. Here we perform a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of phenotypic variation using approximately 170,000 samples on height and body mass index (BMI) in human populations. We report evidence that the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs7202116 at the FTO gene locus, which is known to be associated with obesity (as measured by mean BMI for each rs7202116 genotype), is also associated with phenotypic variability. We show that the results are not due to scale effects or other artefacts, and find no other experiment-wise significant evidence for effects on variability, either at loci other than FTO for BMI or at any locus for height. The difference in variance for BMI among individuals with opposite homozygous genotypes at the FTO locus is approximately 7%, corresponding to a difference of approximately 0.5 kilograms in the standard deviation of weight. Our results indicate that genetic variants can be discovered that are associated with variability, and that between-person variability in obesity can partly be explained by the genotype at the FTO locus. The results are consistent with reported FTO by environment interactions for BMI, possibly mediated by DNA methylation. Our BMI results for other SNPs and our height results for all SNPs suggest that most genetic variants, including those that influence mean height or mean BMI, are not associated with phenotypic variance, or that their effects on variability are too small to detect even with samples sizes greater than 100,000.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3564953/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3564953/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Yang, Jian -- Loos, Ruth J F -- Powell, Joseph E -- Medland, Sarah E -- Speliotes, Elizabeth K -- Chasman, Daniel I -- Rose, Lynda M -- Thorleifsson, Gudmar -- Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur -- Magi, Reedik -- Waite, Lindsay -- Smith, Albert Vernon -- Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M -- Monda, Keri L -- Hadley, David -- Mahajan, Anubha -- Li, Guo -- Kapur, Karen -- Vitart, Veronique -- Huffman, Jennifer E -- Wang, Sophie R -- Palmer, Cameron -- Esko, Tonu -- Fischer, Krista -- Zhao, Jing Hua -- Demirkan, Ayse -- Isaacs, Aaron -- Feitosa, Mary F -- Luan, Jian'an -- Heard-Costa, Nancy L -- White, Charles -- Jackson, Anne U -- Preuss, Michael -- Ziegler, Andreas -- Eriksson, Joel -- Kutalik, Zoltan -- Frau, Francesca -- Nolte, Ilja M -- Van Vliet-Ostaptchouk, Jana V -- Hottenga, Jouke-Jan -- Jacobs, Kevin B -- Verweij, Niek -- Goel, Anuj -- Medina-Gomez, Carolina -- Estrada, Karol -- Bragg-Gresham, Jennifer Lynn -- Sanna, Serena -- Sidore, Carlo -- Tyrer, Jonathan -- Teumer, Alexander -- Prokopenko, Inga -- Mangino, Massimo -- Lindgren, Cecilia M -- Assimes, Themistocles L -- Shuldiner, Alan R -- Hui, Jennie -- Beilby, John P -- McArdle, Wendy L -- Hall, Per -- Haritunians, Talin -- Zgaga, Lina -- Kolcic, Ivana -- Polasek, Ozren -- Zemunik, Tatijana -- Oostra, Ben A -- Junttila, M Juhani -- Gronberg, Henrik -- Schreiber, Stefan -- Peters, Annette -- Hicks, Andrew A -- Stephens, Jonathan -- Foad, Nicola S -- Laitinen, Jaana -- Pouta, Anneli -- Kaakinen, Marika -- Willemsen, Gonneke -- Vink, Jacqueline M -- Wild, Sarah H -- Navis, Gerjan -- Asselbergs, Folkert W -- Homuth, Georg -- John, Ulrich -- Iribarren, Carlos -- Harris, Tamara -- Launer, Lenore -- Gudnason, Vilmundur -- O'Connell, Jeffrey R -- Boerwinkle, Eric -- Cadby, Gemma -- Palmer, Lyle J -- James, Alan L -- Musk, Arthur W -- Ingelsson, Erik -- Psaty, Bruce M -- Beckmann, Jacques S -- Waeber, Gerard -- Vollenweider, Peter -- Hayward, Caroline -- Wright, Alan F -- Rudan, Igor -- Groop, Leif C -- Metspalu, Andres -- Khaw, Kay Tee -- van Duijn, Cornelia M -- Borecki, Ingrid B -- Province, Michael A -- Wareham, Nicholas J -- Tardif, Jean-Claude -- Huikuri, Heikki V -- Cupples, L Adrienne -- Atwood, Larry D -- Fox, Caroline S -- Boehnke, Michael -- Collins, Francis S -- Mohlke, Karen L -- Erdmann, Jeanette -- Schunkert, Heribert -- Hengstenberg, Christian -- Stark, Klaus -- Lorentzon, Mattias -- Ohlsson, Claes -- Cusi, Daniele -- Staessen, Jan A -- Van der Klauw, Melanie M -- Pramstaller, Peter P -- Kathiresan, Sekar -- Jolley, Jennifer D -- Ripatti, Samuli -- Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta -- de Geus, Eco J C -- Boomsma, Dorret I -- Penninx, Brenda -- Wilson, James F -- Campbell, Harry -- Chanock, Stephen J -- van der Harst, Pim -- Hamsten, Anders -- Watkins, Hugh -- Hofman, Albert -- Witteman, Jacqueline C -- Zillikens, M Carola -- Uitterlinden, Andre G -- Rivadeneira, Fernando -- Kiemeney, Lambertus A -- Vermeulen, Sita H -- Abecasis, Goncalo R -- Schlessinger, David -- Schipf, Sabine -- Stumvoll, Michael -- Tonjes, Anke -- Spector, Tim D -- North, Kari E -- Lettre, Guillaume -- McCarthy, Mark I -- Berndt, Sonja I -- Heath, Andrew C -- Madden, Pamela A F -- Nyholt, Dale R -- Montgomery, Grant W -- Martin, Nicholas G -- McKnight, Barbara -- Strachan, David P -- Hill, William G -- Snieder, Harold -- Ridker, Paul M -- Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur -- Stefansson, Kari -- Frayling, Timothy M -- Hirschhorn, Joel N -- Goddard, Michael E -- Visscher, Peter M -- 090532/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 14136/Cancer Research UK/United Kingdom -- AA014041/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- AA07535/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- AA10248/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- AA13320/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- AA13321/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- AA13326/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- CZB/4/710/Chief Scientist Office/United Kingdom -- DA12854/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- F32 AR059469/AR/NIAMS NIH HHS/ -- F32 DK079466/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- G0601261/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- G1000143/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- GM057091/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- HHSN268201100005C/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HHSN268201100006C/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HHSN268201100007C/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HHSN268201100008C/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HHSN268201100009C/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HHSN268201100010C/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HHSN268201100011C/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HHSN268201100012C/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- K05 AA017688/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- K23 DK080145/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- MC_PC_U127561128/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- MC_U106179471/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- MC_U127561128/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- N01 AG012100/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- N01 HC015103/HC/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- N01 HC025195/HC/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- N01 HC035129/HC/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- N01 HC045133/HC/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- N01 HC055222/HC/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- N01 HC075150/HC/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- N01 HC085079/HC/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- N01 HG065403/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- N01HC85086/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- N02 HL64278/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- P30 DK063491/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- P30 DK072488/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 AA007535/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AA013320/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AA013321/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AA013326/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AA014041/AA/NIAAA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AG015928/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AG020098/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AG023629/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- R01 AG027058/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ -- R01 DA012854/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- R01 DK062370/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 DK072193/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 DK073490/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 DK075681/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 DK075787/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 HG002651/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL043851/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL059367/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL075366/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL080295/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL086694/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL087641/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL087647/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL087652/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL087676/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL087679/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL105756/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 LM010098/LM/NLM NIH HHS/ -- R01 MH063706/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- RL1 MH083268/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- U01 DK062418/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- U01 HG004402/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U01 HL054527/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- U01 HL069757/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- U01 HL072515/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- U01 HL084729/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- U01 HL084756/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- U54 RR020278/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- UL1 RR033176/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- Z01 HG000024-14/Intramural NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2012 Oct 11;490(7419):267-72. doi: 10.1038/nature11401. Epub 2012 Sep 16.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, The University of Queensland, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland 4102, Australia.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22982992" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Anaemia is a chief determinant of global ill health, contributing to cognitive impairment, growth retardation and impaired physical capacity. To understand further the genetic factors influencing red blood cells, we carried out a genome-wide association study of haemoglobin concentration and related parameters in up to 135,367 individuals. Here we identify 75 independent genetic loci associated with one or more red blood cell phenotypes at P 〈 10(-8), which together explain 4-9% of the phenotypic variance per trait. Using expression quantitative trait loci and bioinformatic strategies, we identify 121 candidate genes enriched in functions relevant to red blood cell biology. The candidate genes are expressed preferentially in red blood cell precursors, and 43 have haematopoietic phenotypes in Mus musculus or Drosophila melanogaster. Through open-chromatin and coding-variant analyses we identify potential causal genetic variants at 41 loci. Our findings provide extensive new insights into genetic mechanisms and biological pathways controlling red blood cell formation and function.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3623669/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3623669/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉van der Harst, Pim -- Zhang, Weihua -- Mateo Leach, Irene -- Rendon, Augusto -- Verweij, Niek -- Sehmi, Joban -- Paul, Dirk S -- Elling, Ulrich -- Allayee, Hooman -- Li, Xinzhong -- Radhakrishnan, Aparna -- Tan, Sian-Tsung -- Voss, Katrin -- Weichenberger, Christian X -- Albers, Cornelis A -- Al-Hussani, Abtehale -- Asselbergs, Folkert W -- Ciullo, Marina -- Danjou, Fabrice -- Dina, Christian -- Esko, Tonu -- Evans, David M -- Franke, Lude -- Gogele, Martin -- Hartiala, Jaana -- Hersch, Micha -- Holm, Hilma -- Hottenga, Jouke-Jan -- Kanoni, Stavroula -- Kleber, Marcus E -- Lagou, Vasiliki -- Langenberg, Claudia -- Lopez, Lorna M -- Lyytikainen, Leo-Pekka -- Melander, Olle -- Murgia, Federico -- Nolte, Ilja M -- O'Reilly, Paul F -- Padmanabhan, Sandosh -- Parsa, Afshin -- Pirastu, Nicola -- Porcu, Eleonora -- Portas, Laura -- Prokopenko, Inga -- Ried, Janina S -- Shin, So-Youn -- Tang, Clara S -- Teumer, Alexander -- Traglia, Michela -- Ulivi, Sheila -- Westra, Harm-Jan -- Yang, Jian -- Zhao, Jing Hua -- Anni, Franco -- Abdellaoui, Abdel -- Attwood, Antony -- Balkau, Beverley -- Bandinelli, Stefania -- Bastardot, Francois -- Benyamin, Beben -- Boehm, Bernhard O -- Cookson, William O -- Das, Debashish -- de Bakker, Paul I W -- de Boer, Rudolf A -- de Geus, Eco J C -- de Moor, Marleen H -- Dimitriou, Maria -- Domingues, Francisco S -- Doring, Angela -- Engstrom, Gunnar -- Eyjolfsson, Gudmundur Ingi -- Ferrucci, Luigi -- Fischer, Krista -- Galanello, Renzo -- Garner, Stephen F -- Genser, Bernd -- Gibson, Quince D -- Girotto, Giorgia -- Gudbjartsson, Daniel Fannar -- Harris, Sarah E -- Hartikainen, Anna-Liisa -- Hastie, Claire E -- Hedblad, Bo -- Illig, Thomas -- Jolley, Jennifer -- Kahonen, Mika -- Kema, Ido P -- Kemp, John P -- Liang, Liming -- Lloyd-Jones, Heather -- Loos, Ruth J F -- Meacham, Stuart -- Medland, Sarah E -- Meisinger, Christa -- Memari, Yasin -- Mihailov, Evelin -- Miller, Kathy -- Moffatt, Miriam F -- Nauck, Matthias -- Novatchkova, Maria -- Nutile, Teresa -- Olafsson, Isleifur -- Onundarson, Pall T -- Parracciani, Debora -- Penninx, Brenda W -- Perseu, Lucia -- Piga, Antonio -- Pistis, Giorgio -- Pouta, Anneli -- Puc, Ursula -- Raitakari, Olli -- Ring, Susan M -- Robino, Antonietta -- Ruggiero, Daniela -- Ruokonen, Aimo -- Saint-Pierre, Aude -- Sala, Cinzia -- Salumets, Andres -- Sambrook, Jennifer -- Schepers, Hein -- Schmidt, Carsten Oliver -- Sillje, Herman H W -- Sladek, Rob -- Smit, Johannes H -- Starr, John M -- Stephens, Jonathan -- Sulem, Patrick -- Tanaka, Toshiko -- Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur -- Tragante, Vinicius -- van Gilst, Wiek H -- van Pelt, L Joost -- van Veldhuisen, Dirk J -- Volker, Uwe -- Whitfield, John B -- Willemsen, Gonneke -- Winkelmann, Bernhard R -- Wirnsberger, Gerald -- Algra, Ale -- Cucca, Francesco -- d'Adamo, Adamo Pio -- Danesh, John -- Deary, Ian J -- Dominiczak, Anna F -- Elliott, Paul -- Fortina, Paolo -- Froguel, Philippe -- Gasparini, Paolo -- Greinacher, Andreas -- Hazen, Stanley L -- Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta -- Khaw, Kay Tee -- Lehtimaki, Terho -- Maerz, Winfried -- Martin, Nicholas G -- Metspalu, Andres -- Mitchell, Braxton D -- Montgomery, Grant W -- Moore, Carmel -- Navis, Gerjan -- Pirastu, Mario -- Pramstaller, Peter P -- Ramirez-Solis, Ramiro -- Schadt, Eric -- Scott, James -- Shuldiner, Alan R -- Smith, George Davey -- Smith, J Gustav -- Snieder, Harold -- Sorice, Rossella -- Spector, Tim D -- Stefansson, Kari -- 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Epub 2012 Dec 5.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Cardiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands. p.van.der.harst@umcg.nl〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23222517" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: microRNAs (miRNAs) are dysregulated in a variety of disease states, suggesting that this newly discovered class of gene expression repressors may be viable therapeutic targets. A microarray of miRNA changes in ALS-model superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) G93A rodents identified 12 miRNAs as significantly changed. Six miRNAs tested in human ALS tissues were confirmed increased. Specifically, miR-155 was increased 5-fold in mice and 2-fold in human spinal cords. To test miRNA inhibition in the central nervous system (CNS) as a potential novel therapeutic, we developed oligonucleotide-based miRNA inhibitors (anti-miRs) that could inhibit miRNAs throughout the CNS and in the periphery. Anti-miR-155 caused global derepression of targets in peritoneal macrophages and, following intraventricular delivery, demonstrated widespread functional distribution in the brain and spinal cord. After treating SOD1 G93A mice with anti-miR-155, we significantly extended survival by 10 days and disease duration by 15 days (38%) while a scrambled control anti-miR did not significantly improve survival or disease duration. Therefore, antisense oligonucleotides may be used to successfully inhibit miRNAs throughout the brain and spinal cord, and miR-155 is a promising new therapeutic target for human ALS.

Description: Hot temperatures in combination with high humidity cause human discomfort and may increase morbidity and mortality. A global climate model with an embedded urban model is used to explore the urban-rural contrast in the wet-bulb globe temperature, a heat stress index accounting for temperature and humidity. Wet-bulb globe temperatures are calculated at each model time step to resolve the heat stress diurnal cycle. The model simulates substantially higher heat stress in urban areas compared to neighbouring rural areas. Urban humidity deficit only weakly offsets the enhanced heat stress due to the large night-time urban heat island. The urban-rural contrast in heat stress is most pronounced at night and over mid-latitudes and subtropics. During heatwaves, the urban heat stress amplification is particularly pronounced. Heat stress strongly increases with doubled CO2 concentrations over both urban and rural surfaces. The tropics experience the greatest increase in number of high-heat-stress nights, despite a relatively weak ∼2°C warming. Given the lack of a distinct annual cycle and high relative humidity, the modest tropical warming leads to exceedance of the present-day record levels during more than half of the year in tropical regions, where adaptive capacity is often low. While the absolute urban and rural heat stress response to 2 × CO2 is similar, the occurrence of nights with extremely high heat stress increases more in cities than surrounding rural areas.