Publications by authors named "Coombes B"

Bipolar disorder is a leading contributor to the global burden of disease. Despite high heritability (60-80%), the majority of the underlying genetic determinants remain unknown. We analysed data from participants of European, East Asian, African American and Latino ancestries (n = 158,036 cases with bipolar disorder, 2.

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Objective: Epidemiological studies suggest that patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) treated with amphetamines have an increased risk of newly diagnosed psychosis. This risk in youth is poorly understood. This investigation studied the potential risk of newly diagnosed psychotic symptoms associated with exposure to 4 classes of ADHD medications.

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Lasso peptides, biologically active molecules with a distinct structurally constrained knotted fold, are natural products belonging to the class of ribosomally-synthesized and posttranslationally modified peptides (RiPPs). Lasso peptides act upon several bacterial targets, but none have been reported to inhibit the ribosome, one of the main antibiotic targets in the bacterial cell. Here, we report the identification and characterization of the lasso peptide antibiotic, lariocidin (LAR), and its internally cyclized derivative, lariocidin B (LAR-B), produced by .

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  • Treatment resistance in major depressive disorder (MDD) is common, but its clinical risk factors are not well understood, prompting this study using data from electronic health records.
  • The researchers conducted phenome-wide association studies (PheWAS) to identify factors linked to treatment resistance, revealing 180 significant phecodes in a large sample, with 71 replicated in a second group.
  • They found that the number of unique antidepressants prescribed correlates with various clinical conditions, suggesting both clinical and genetic factors affect treatment resistance, which could enhance future research and clinical practices.
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Due to its dynamic nature, lower limb injuries are common in badminton. Overuse injuries of the knee, including tendon related conditions, are the most common. During jumping and landing, force transference and dissipation through the trunk is required, with the trunk muscles playing a vital role.

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Background: Many patients with bipolar disorder (BD) do not respond to or have difficulties tolerating lithium and/or other mood stabilizing agents. There is a need for personalized treatments based on biomarkers in guiding treatment options. The calcium voltage-gated channel CACNA1C is a promising candidate for developing personalized treatments.

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  • Micronutrient deficiencies, especially in zinc and iron, are common in sub-Saharan Africa due to low dietary intake, with wheat often lacking these nutrients.
  • The study involved developing Malawian wheat introgression lines that were tested for higher concentrations of zinc and iron in low-nutrient soils, revealing that 98% of these lines had better zinc levels compared to established varieties.
  • Among these lines, 23% achieved both high yields and increased grain zinc, with some also showing improvements in iron, indicating the potential for enhanced nutritional quality in wheat for regions affected by MNDs.
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  • To address stability issues in the distal radioulnar joint after a TFCC injury, foveal repair surgery may be necessary, but there's no standard rehabilitation protocol afterward.
  • A study surveyed Australian hand and wrist surgeons about their postoperative rehabilitation recommendations, focusing on immobilization, exercise timeframes, and experience with TFCC injuries.
  • Results showed a wide range of immobilization recommendations (0 to 8 weeks, with 6 weeks being the most common) and initiation of range of motion exercises (immediately to after 8 weeks, also favoring 6 weeks); however, more research is needed to link rehabilitation choices to patient recovery outcomes.
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Aim: To investigate the feasibility of testing exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH) in a field setting. The effect of knee pain on EIH was also explored.

Design: Within-group pre-post design.

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Acamprosate is a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved medication for the treatment of alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, only a subset of patients achieves optimal treatment outcomes. Currently, no biological measures are utilized to predict response to acamprosate treatment.

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  • The review highlights a lack of standardized reporting on exercise adherence in studies focusing on lateral elbow tendinopathy (LET), making it difficult to understand the effectiveness of exercise in treatment.
  • Out of 104 studies analyzed, 71% did not report any information on exercise adherence, and the definitions of adherence varied widely, often measured only through self-reported diaries.
  • The authors recommend improvements in how future studies document and analyze exercise adherence to enhance the quality and consistency of research on LET.
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Background: Many patients with bipolar disorder (BD) do not respond to or have difficulties tolerating lithium and/or other mood stabilizing agents. There is a need for personalized treatments based on biomarkers in guiding treatment options. The calcium voltage-gated channel CACNA1C is a promising candidate for developing personalized treatments.

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  • PTSD genetics have been difficult to study compared to other psychiatric disorders, limiting our biological understanding of the condition.
  • A large-scale meta-analysis involving over 1.2 million individuals identified 95 genome-wide significant loci, with 80 being new discoveries related to PTSD.
  • Researchers identified 43 potential causal genes linked to neurotransmitter activity, developmental processes, synaptic function, and immune regulation, enhancing our knowledge of the neurobiological systems involved in PTSD.
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Tobacco use disorder (TUD) is the most prevalent substance use disorder in the world. Genetic factors influence smoking behaviours and although strides have been made using genome-wide association studies to identify risk variants, most variants identified have been for nicotine consumption, rather than TUD. Here we leveraged four US biobanks to perform a multi-ancestral meta-analysis of TUD (derived via electronic health records) in 653,790 individuals (495,005 European, 114,420 African American and 44,365 Latin American) and data from UK Biobank (n = 898,680).

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  • Bipolar disorder is a complicated illness that affects people in different ways and can happen alongside other medical issues.
  • A study looked at the health records of 53,386 participants to find out what other conditions are linked to bipolar disorder and its genetic risks.
  • The results showed that people diagnosed with bipolar disorder often have more psychiatric problems and injuries, while their genetic risk didn’t seem to connect with other general health issues as much.
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Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is the most prevalent substance use disorder worldwide. Acamprosate and naltrexone are anti-craving drugs used in AUD pharmacotherapy. However, molecular mechanisms underlying their anti-craving effect remain unclear.

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Tendon xanthoma and altered mechanical properties have been demonstrated in people with familial hypercholesterolaemia. However, it is unclear whether mild, untreated hypercholesterolaemia alters musculotendinous mechanical properties and muscle architecture. We conducted a case-control study of adults aged 50 years and over, without lower limb injury or history of statin medication.

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In this report, we provide a follow-up analysis of a previously published genome-wide association study of host genetic variants associated with inter-individual variations in cellular immune responses to mumps vaccine. Here we report the results of a polygenic score (PGS) analysis showing how common variants can predict mumps vaccine response. We found higher PGS for IFNγ, IL-2, and TNFα were predictive of higher post-vaccine IFNγ (p-value = 2e-6), IL-2 (p = 2e-7), and TNFα (p = 0.

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Background: RNA-seq is a fundamental technique in genomics, yet reference bias, where transcripts derived from non-reference alleles are quantified less accurately, can undermine the accuracy of RNA-seq quantification and thus the conclusions made downstream. Reference bias in RNA-seq analysis has yet to be explored in complex polyploid genomes despite evidence that they are often a complex mosaic of wild relative introgressions, which introduce blocks of highly divergent genes.

Results: Here we use hexaploid wheat as a model complex polyploid, using both simulated and experimental data to show that RNA-seq alignment in wheat suffers from widespread reference bias which is largely driven by divergent introgressed genes.

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Background And Objectives: People with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) report fluctuating foot symptoms. This study used ecological momentary assessment to: (1) compare foot symptoms between days, time points and periods with/without preceding physical activity or pain medication; and (2) determine relationships between symptoms and endogenous pain modulation.

Method: Ten low-active Australian adults with probable DPN underwent temporal summation of pain (TSP) and conditioned pain modulation (CPM) then completed mobile phone surveys five times daily for seven days, where they recorded the intensity of six foot symptoms and whether they performed physical activity or consumed pain medication in the preceding three hours.

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Bipolar disorder (BD) is a heritable mental illness with complex etiology. While the largest published genome-wide association study identified 64 BD risk loci, the causal SNPs and genes within these loci remain unknown. We applied a suite of statistical and functional fine-mapping methods to these loci, and prioritized 17 likely causal SNPs for BD.

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Methicillin-resistant (MRSA) is associated with high levels of morbidity and is considered a difficult-to-treat infection, often requiring nonstandard treatment regimens and antibiotics. Since over 40% of the emerging antibiotic compounds have insufficient solubility that limits their bioavailability and thus efficacy through oral or intravenous administration, it is crucial that alternative drug delivery products be developed for wound care applications. Existing effective treatments for soft tissue MRSA infections, such as fusidic acid (FA), which is typically administered orally, could also benefit from alternative routes of administration to improve local efficacy and bioavailability while reducing the required therapeutic dose.

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There is increasing interest in individualizing treatment selection for more than 25 regulatory approved treatments for major depressive disorder (MDD). Despite an inconclusive efficacy evidence base, antidepressants (ADs) are prescribed for the depressive phase of bipolar disorder (BD) with oftentimes, an inadequate treatment response and or clinical concern for mood destabilization. This study explored the relationship between antidepressant response in MDD and antidepressant-associated treatment emergent mania (TEM) in BD.

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