Publications by authors named "C L Lowenstein"
Diverging mental health trends in the postpandemic era: results from the HUNT Study, Norway.
J Epidemiol Community Health
October 2024
Background: The purpose of this report is to examine to what extent the COVID-19 pandemic affected pre-existing trends in mental health, with a focus on subgroup differences across age, gender and socioeconomic status.
Methods: Our analysis uses data from two survey periods (HUNT4: 2017-2019 and HUNT-COVID: 2021-2023) from the Trøndelag Health Study in Norway. We estimate overall and stratified (by age, sex and educational attainment) prevalence values for above-threshold (≥8) anxiety and depression scores using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.
Article Synopsis
- Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) occurs when genetically identical blood cells expand, often influenced by genetic mutations linked to blood cancers; however, many cases happen without known driver mutations.
- Researchers analyzed 51,399 genomes to study a specific type of CH (CH-LPMneg) without detectable leukemia-related mutations, developing a new method (GEM rate) to estimate mutation burden without paired samples.
- Through their study, they identified seven genes linked to CH-LPMneg and found that alterations in hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) behavior may drive this mutation burden, while a broader analysis revealed relationships between GEM and the expression of 404 genes.
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. VTE is caused by genetic and acquired conditions, but the genetic variants that increase the risk of VTE are not fully characterized. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have discovered novel genetic loci linked to VTE.
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- Increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a critical concern for individuals using oral contraceptives (OCs) or hormone therapy (HT), prompting research into genetic factors that may increase this risk.
- A gene-by-environment case-only meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) examined genetic predispositions in OC and HT users, identifying potential risk variants associated with VTE events.
- While primary GWAS results did not find significant genetic variants, the analysis of 138 candidate variants revealed two noteworthy associations: F5 rs6025 (previously noted) and F11 rs2036914 (newly identified), offering insight into genetic risks related to OC and HT use.