The effects of cannabis use on physical health: A co-twin control study.

Background: Research on the influence of cannabis use on anthropometrics, cardiovascular and pulmonary function, and other indicators of physical health has reported mixed results. We examined whether cannabis frequency is associated with physical health outcomes phenotypically and after controlling for shared genetic and environmental factors via a longitudinal co-twin control design.

Methods: We tested the phenotypic associations of adolescent, young adult, and adult cannabis frequency with adult physical health.

A characterization of cis- and trans-heritability of RNA-Seq-based gene expression.

Insights into individual differences in gene expression and its heritability (h) can help in understanding pathways from DNA to phenotype. We estimated the heritability of gene expression of 52,844 genes measured in whole blood in the largest twin RNA-Seq sample to date (1497 individuals including 459 monozygotic twin pairs and 150 dizygotic twin pairs) from classical twin modeling and identity-by-state-based approaches. We estimated for each gene h, composed of cis-heritability (h, the variance explained by single nucleotide polymorphisms in the cis-window of the gene), and trans-heritability (h, the residual variance explained by all other genome-wide variants).

Behavioral impact of return of genetic test results for complex disease: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: Advances in genomewide association studies have made possible the return of genetic risk results for complex diseases. Two concerns about these results are (a) negative psychological consequences and (b) viewing probabilistic results as deterministic, leading to misinterpretation and inappropriate decisions. The present study evaluates these concerns through a meta-analytic review of existing literature.