Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) lacks known causal biomarkers. Plasma concentrations of sRAGE (soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products) strongly associate with ARDS risk. However, whether plasma sRAGE contributes causally to ARDS remains unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLimited studies have focused on developing prognostic models with trans-omics biomarkers for early-stage lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). We performed integrative analysis of clinical information, DNA methylation, and gene expression data using 825 early-stage LUAD patients from 5 cohorts. Ranger algorithm was used to screen prognosis-associated biomarkers, which were confirmed with a validation phase.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Most of the global burden of pollution-related morbidity and mortality is believed to occur in resource-limited settings, where HIV serostatus and sex may influence the relationship between air pollution exposure and respiratory morbidity. The lack of air quality monitoring networks in these settings limits progress in measuring global disparities in pollution-related health. Personal carbon monoxide monitoring may identify sub-populations at heightened risk for air pollution-associated respiratory morbidity in regions of the world where the financial cost of air quality monitoring networks is prohibitive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQuantile regression links the whole distribution of an outcome to the covariates of interest and has become an important alternative to commonly used regression models. However, the presence of censored data such as survival time, often the main endpoint in cancer studies, has hampered the use of quantile regression techniques because of the incompleteness of data. With the advent of the precision medicine era and availability of high throughput data, quantile regression with high-dimensional predictors has attracted much attention and provided added insight compared to traditional regression approaches.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Genetic variation has an important role in the development of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, genetic factors for lung cancer have not been fully identified, especially in Chinese populations, which limits the use of existing polygenic risk scores (PRS) to identify subpopulations at high risk of lung cancer for prevention. We therefore aimed to identify novel loci associated with NSCLC risk, and generate a PRS and evaluate its utility and effectiveness in the prediction of lung cancer risk in Chinese populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLow-dose CT has shown promise in detecting early stage lung cancer. However, concerns about the adverse health effects of radiation and high cost prevent its use as a population-wide screening tool. Effective and feasible screening methods to triage suspicious patients to CT are needed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev
July 2019
Background: Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer mortality with relatively few prognostic biomarkers. We investigated associations with overall survival for telomere length (TL) and genetic variation in chromosome 5p15.33, an established telomere maintenance locus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The link between use of solid biomass fuel (wood, charcoal, coal, dung, and crop residues) for cooking and/or heating and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is inconclusive.
Objective: We systematically reviewed the literature and performed a meta-analysis to determine whether cooking fuel type influences esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Knowledge and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews for studies investigating cooking fuel and ESCC from 2000 until March 2019.
Background: The global burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) disproportionately affects resource-limited settings such as sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), but population-based prevalence estimates in SSA are rare. We aimed to estimate the population prevalence of COPD and chronic respiratory symptoms in rural southwestern Uganda.
Methods: Adults at least 18 years of age who participated in a population-wide census in rural southwestern Uganda completed respiratory questionnaires and lung function testing with bronchodilator challenge at health screening events in June 2015.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev
September 2019
Background: Few epidemiologic studies have investigated trace element exposure and skin cancer risk.
Methods: Toenail levels of mercury, selenium, chromium, iron, and zinc were measured from 6,708 women in the Nurses' Health Study (1984-2012) and 3,730 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986-2012) with data from prior nested case-control studies. Participants were free of skin cancer at toenail collection and followed for incident basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and melanoma.
Clinical and research training opportunities in global health are of increasing interest to medical trainees, but little is known about such opportunities in U.S.-based pulmonary and pulmonary/critical care medicine (PCCM) fellowship programs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev
August 2019
Background: Higher levels of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] are associated with longer survival in several cancers, but the results have differed across cancer sites. The association between serum 25(OH)D levels and overall survival (OS) time in esophageal adenocarcinoma remains unclear.
Methods: We utilized serum samples from 476 patients with primary esophageal adenocarcinoma, recruited from Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA) between 1999 and 2015.
Introduction: The relationships between morbid obesity, changes in body mass index (BMI) before cancer diagnosis, and lung cancer outcomes by histology (SCLC and NSCLC) have not been well studied.
Methods: Individual level data analysis was performed on 25,430 patients with NSCLC and 2787 patients with SCLC from 16 studies of the International Lung Cancer Consortium evaluating the association between various BMI variables and lung cancer overall survival, reported as adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) from Cox proportional hazards models and adjusted penalized smoothing spline plots.
Results: Overall survival of NSCLC had putative U-shaped hazard ratio relationships with BMI based on spline plots: being underweight (BMI < 18.
Semin Respir Crit Care Med
February 2019
Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) have been hampered by the heterogeneity of the clinical phenotypes and the large sample size requirement. As the limitations of these studies to uncover the complex genetic architecture of ARDS are evident, new approaches intended to reduce data complexity need to be applied. Intermediate phenotypes are mechanism-related manifestations of the disease, located closer to the genetic substrate than to disease phenotype, and therefore able to reflect more directly and more strongly the effect of causal genes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Arsenic can impair immune function. Timing of exposure can influence potential immunotoxicity of arsenic exposure. We examined the association between drinking water arsenic concentrations (W-As) measured repeatedly during different exposure windows in early life and serum concentrations of IgG antibodies against diphtheria and tetanus toxoids (diphtheria and tetanus antibody).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cigarette smoke contains microbes and microbial toxins, such as endotoxin and [Formula: see text], that may have adverse respiratory effects. To our knowledge, the potential for contamination of electronic cigarette (EC) products sold in the United States has not been investigated.
Objectives: We aimed to determine whether popular cartridge and e-liquid EC products were contaminated with endotoxin or glucan and to examine differences according to the type and flavor of products.
Introduction: Inherited susceptibility to lung cancer risk in never-smokers is poorly understood. The major reason for this gap in knowledge is that this disease is relatively uncommon (except in Asians), making it difficult to assemble an adequate study sample. In this study we conducted a genome-wide association study on the largest, to date, set of European-descent never-smokers with lung cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Mothers need a nutrient-rich diet for healthy neural tube development. Neural tube defect risk can be reduced through fortifying grain products with folic acid and taking folic acid supplements. Fortification is not required in Bangladesh.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe tumor necrosis factor (TNF)/TNF receptor (TNFR) pathway is known to influence survival of patients with cancer. We hypothesize that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the TNF/TNFR pathway genes related to apoptosis are associated with survival of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We used 1185 patients with NSCLC in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial and 984 patients with NSCLC in the Harvard Lung Cancer Susceptibility Study as the discovery and validation datasets, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe development of cancer is driven by the accumulation of many oncogenesis-related genetic alterations and tumorigenesis is triggered by complex networks of involved genes rather than independent actions. To explore the epistasis existing among oncogenesis-related genes in lung cancer development, we conducted pairwise genetic interaction analyses among 35,031 SNPs from 2027 oncogenesis-related genes. The genotypes from three independent genome-wide association studies including a total of 24,037 lung cancer patients and 20,401 healthy controls with Caucasian ancestry were analyzed in the study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: A growing number of studies clearly demonstrate a substantial association between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD), although little is known about the shared genetics that contribute to this association.
Methods: We conducted a large-scale cross-trait genome-wide association study to investigate genetic overlap between COPD (N = 12,550, N = 46,368) from the International COPD Genetics Consortium and four primary cardiac traits: resting heart rate (RHR) (N = 458,969), high blood pressure (HBP) (N = 144,793, N = 313,761), coronary artery disease (CAD)(N = 60,801, N = 123,504), and stroke (N = 40,585, N = 406,111) from UK Biobank, CARDIoGRAMplusC4D Consortium, and International Stroke Genetics Consortium data.
Results: RHR and HBP had modest genetic correlation, and CAD had borderline evidence with COPD at a genome-wide level.
Background: Chronic exposures to particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 μm (PM) and ozone pollution can affect respiratory function. ARDS, an often lethal respiratory failure, is most common among older adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSmoking cessation prolongs survival and decreases mortality of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In addition, epigenetic alterations of some genes are associated with survival. However, potential interactions between smoking cessation and epigenetics have not been assessed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: Critically ill patients with worsening AKI are at high risk for poor outcomes. Predicting which patients will experience progression of AKI remains elusive. We sought to develop and validate a risk model for predicting severe AKI within 72 hours after intensive care unit admission.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: China and other developing countries in Asia follow similar economic growth patterns described by the flying geese (FG) model, which explains the "catching-up" process of industrialization in latecomer economies. Japan, newly industrialized economies, and China have followed this path, with similar economic development trajectories. Based on the FG model, we postulated a "flying S" hypothesis stating that if a country is located within an FG region and its energy matrix is relatively constant, its per capita CO emission curve will mirror that of "leading geese" countries in the same FG group.
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