Branched-chain amino acids and type 2 diabetes: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization analysis.

Objective: Genetic studies have suggested that the branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) valine, leucine, and isoleucine have a causal association with type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, inferences are based on a limited number of genetic loci associated with BCAAs.

Methods: Instrumental variables (IVs) for each BCAA were constructed and validated using large well-powered data sets and their association with T2D was tested using a two-sample inverse-variance weighted Mendelian randomization approach.

Frequency of benign neutropenia among Black versus White individuals undergoing a bone marrow assessment.

Healthy individuals in the United States identified as having Black race have lower neutrophil counts, on average, than individuals identified as having White race, which could result in more negative diagnostic evaluations for neutropenia. To test this hypothesis, the proportion of evaluations where the final diagnosis was clinically insignificant neutropenia for Black and White individuals who underwent an evaluation by a haematologist that included a bone marrow (BM) biopsy to investigate neutropenia was assessed. 172 individuals without prior haematological diagnoses who underwent a haematological evaluation to investigate neutropenia.