Publications by authors named "James Gauderman"

Unlabelled: A polygenic risk score (PRS) is used to quantify the combined disease risk of many genetic variants. For complex human traits there is interest in determining whether the PRS modifies, i.e.

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Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common type of cancer among children. Tobacco exposure during gestation has been investigated as a potential risk factor, but its role remains undefined. Given tobacco's toxicologic profile as a DNA-damaging agent, we examined the impact of DNA repair gene variability as a source of vulnerability to tobacco exposure risk for ALL.

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Background: Little is known about how childhood exposure to traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) and stress interact to affect adults' cardiometabolic health. We examined this interaction and assessed the impact of over 10 years of childhood TRAP exposure on cardiometabolic health.

Methods: From 2018 to 2023, 313 young adults from the Southern California Children's Health Study were enrolled in a follow-up assessment.

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  • Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major health concern, and understanding how genetic and environmental factors interact can help identify at-risk groups.
  • This study analyzed data from over 45,000 CRC cases to assess both multiplicative and additive interactions between genetic risk scores and various environmental factors, finding no multiplicative interactions but significant additive ones for high genetic susceptibility individuals.
  • Results suggest that individuals with high genetic risk could benefit more from lifestyle interventions like reducing alcohol intake or increasing fruit and fiber consumption, emphasizing the need for targeted prevention strategies in CRC care.
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  • * We found 17 genetic loci associated with sleep duration impacting lipid levels, with 10 of them being newly identified and linked to sleep-related disturbances in lipid metabolism.
  • * The research points to potential drug targets that could lead to new treatments for lipid-related issues in individuals with sleep problems, highlighting the connection between sleep patterns and cardiovascular health.
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Background: The Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), introduced in Central London in April 2019, aims to enhance air quality and improve public health. The Children's Health in London and Luton (CHILL) study evaluates the impact of the ULEZ on children's health. This analysis focuses on the one-year impacts on the shift towards active travel to school.

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  • The study investigates the relationship between serum calcium levels and ventricular repolarization time, specifically the QT and JT intervals, which are important for heart health.
  • Researchers conducted large-scale genome-wide analyses to explore potential interactions between calcium levels and genetic variants associated with QT and JT intervals, using over 122,000 participants.
  • The results showed limited evidence for the hypothesized calcium interaction effects, suggesting that other factors, such as rare genetic variations or environmental influences, likely play a larger role in the unexplained heritability of QT and JT intervals.
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  • Echogenicity of the carotid arterial wall, indicated by IM-GSM values, is a new marker for subclinical atherosclerosis, where lower values suggest more lipid buildup; our study tracked these values from childhood into adulthood.
  • In our research involving 240 participants, IM-GSM decreased significantly from an average of 108.2 in childhood to 75.6 in adulthood, with various factors such as weight, blood pressure, and parental education influencing these levels.
  • The study concludes that a decrease in IM-GSM with age highlights the importance of maintaining a healthy weight and blood pressure in children to possibly prevent future atherosclerosis.
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Background: Air pollution is ubiquitous, yet questions remain regarding its impact on the developing brain. Large changes occur in white matter microstructure across adolescence, with notable differences by sex.

Methods: We investigate sex-stratified effects of annual exposure to fine particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO), and ozone (O) at ages 9-10 years on longitudinal patterns of white matter microstructure over a 2-year period.

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Background: This study investigated the association of American Heart Association's cardiovascular health guidelines Life's Essential 8 (LE8) and Life's Simple 7 (LS7) with carotid artery outcomes among young adults.

Methods And Results: This cross-sectional study included 240 young adults (age 24.2±1.

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  • * Researchers analyzed data from 52 studies, including nearly 31,000 CRC cases and over 41,000 controls, to explore the genetic interactions with regular aspirin/NSAID use.
  • * They found significant interactions with genetic variants in two specific regions (6q24.1 and 5p13.1), which could help uncover new targets for understanding how aspirin provides its protective effects against colorectal cancer.
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  • Consumption of fiber, fruits, and vegetables may lower the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), but genetic factors might influence this connection.
  • A large study involving nearly 70,000 participants identified two significant genetic variants linked to dietary intake and CRC risk using advanced statistical methods.
  • The findings suggest specific genetic loci (SLC26A3 and NEGR1) may affect how fiber and fruit consumption interacts with CRC risk, highlighting the need for more research on the underlying mechanisms.
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Background: Extreme heat and air pollution is associated with increased mortality. Recent evidence suggests the combined effects of both is greater than the effects of each individual exposure. Low neighborhood socioeconomic status ("socioeconomic burden") has also been associated with increased exposure and vulnerability to both heat and air pollution.

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Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 200 common genetic variants independently associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) risk, but the causal variants and target genes are mostly unknown. We sought to fine-map all known CRC risk loci using GWAS data from 100,204 cases and 154,587 controls of East Asian and European ancestry. Our stepwise conditional analyses revealed 238 independent association signals of CRC risk, each with a set of credible causal variants (CCVs), of which 28 signals had a single CCV.

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There is a long-standing debate about the magnitude of the contribution of gene-environment interactions to phenotypic variations of complex traits owing to the low statistical power and few reported interactions to date. To address this issue, the Gene-Lifestyle Interactions Working Group within the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genetic Epidemiology Consortium has been spearheading efforts to investigate G × E in large and diverse samples through meta-analysis. Here, we present a powerful new approach to screen for interactions across the genome, an approach that shares substantial similarity to the Mendelian randomization framework.

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  • Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) may lower the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), especially in women with a higher genetic predisposition to the disease.
  • In a study of nearly 30,000 postmenopausal women, those in the highest genetic risk quartile saw a significantly greater reduction in CRC risk when using MHT compared to those in the lowest quartile.
  • The findings suggest that integrating genetic risk information could improve CRC risk predictions and inform the assessment of MHT benefits in postmenopausal women.
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Although both short and long sleep duration are associated with elevated hypertension risk, our understanding of their interplay with biological pathways governing blood pressure remains limited. To address this, we carried out genome-wide cross-population gene-by-short-sleep and long-sleep duration interaction analyses for three blood pressure traits (systolic, diastolic, and pulse pressure) in 811,405 individuals from diverse population groups. We discover 22 novel gene-sleep duration interaction loci for blood pressure, mapped to genes involved in neurological, thyroidal, bone metabolism, and hematopoietic pathways.

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  • This study explored how perceived stress from childhood to adulthood impacts cardiometabolic health in young adults, using data from 276 participants.
  • Participants were categorized based on their stress patterns—consistently high, decreasing, increasing, and consistently low—assessing their heart health and risk factors.
  • Findings indicated that higher stress levels were linked to greater cardiometabolic risks, with those experiencing consistently high stress being at the highest risk for obesity and other health issues in adulthood.
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  • - This study explores how growth patterns during puberty relate to future health outcomes by analyzing height data from about 56,000 individuals across various ancestries using a technique called SITAR.
  • - The researchers identified 26 significant genetic loci linked to height growth during puberty and found that different growth rates are associated with various health risks, like type 2 diabetes and heart conditions.
  • - The findings suggest that there are multiple growth trajectories during puberty, each influencing adult health differently, indicating that no single growth pattern is the "best" for lifelong health outcomes.
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  • - The study investigates how the DASH diet score influences systolic blood pressure (BP) in relation to genetic factors, analyzing data from over 127,000 participants from different population groups, primarily European.
  • - Researchers identified several genetic loci associated with interactions between an individual's genetics and their response to the DASH diet, particularly focusing on the variant rs117878928 at chromosomal location 15q25.1.
  • - Results suggest significant gene-DASH diet interactions affecting systolic BP, highlighting the need for further research in larger, more diverse populations to confirm these findings.
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  • High consumption of red and processed meats is linked to an increased risk of colorectal cancer, with a study analyzing data from over 29,000 cancer cases and 39,000 control subjects confirming this association.
  • The research identified two significant genetic markers (SNPs) that interact with meat consumption levels, suggesting that certain genetic variants can influence individual cancer risk based on dietary habits.
  • These findings highlight the potential for using genetic information to better understand colorectal cancer risks related to diet, which may lead to personalized dietary recommendations for specific population subgroups.
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  • Educational attainment is linked to cardiovascular health, and a large genomic study examined how it interacts with cholesterol and triglyceride levels in nearly 226,315 individuals across five population groups.
  • The study identified 18 new genetic variations related to lipid levels—nine for low-density lipoprotein (LDL), seven for high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and two for triglycerides (TG)—some of which interact with educational attainment.
  • Researchers also found five gene targets that potentially interact with FDA-approved drugs, suggesting a connection between genetics and drug responses related to lipid metabolism and overall health.
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  • The study investigated how genetic variations (genotype) interact with dietary habits (specifically the DASH diet score) to influence systolic blood pressure (SBP).
  • Researchers analyzed a massive dataset of genetic information from over 127,000 individuals to identify specific genetic locations (loci) that may play a role in this interaction.
  • They found significant genetic interactions with the DASH diet score, especially at a specific gene location (rs117878928), indicating that diet can affect blood pressure differently based on an individual's genetic makeup, which highlights the need for further research with more diverse populations.
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  • The CHARGE Gene-Lifestyle Interactions Working Group is exploring how gene-environment interactions affect complex traits and has initiated large-scale studies to enhance statistical power and findings.
  • A new screening method, akin to Mendelian randomization, has been developed to identify genomic interactions related to lifestyle factors like smoking and alcohol consumption on serum lipid levels.
  • The research found that such interactions contribute significantly to genetic variation, estimating that they account for 1.76% to 14.05% of the heritability of serum lipids, enhancing our understanding of genetic and environmental influences on complex traits.
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