Genomics-driven integrative analysis highlights immune-related plasma proteins for psychiatric disorders.

Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous variants associated with psychiatric disorders. However, it remains largely unknown on how GWAS risk variants contribute to psychiatric disorders.

Methods: Through integrating two largest, publicly available, independent protein quantitative trait loci datasets of plasma protein and nine large-scale GWAS summary statistics of psychiatric disorders, we first performed proteome-wide association study (PWAS) to identify psychiatric disorders-associated plasma proteins, followed by enrichment analysis to reveal the underlying biological processes and pathways.

Pinpointing Novel Plasma and Brain Proteins for Common Ocular Diseases: A Comprehensive Cross-Omics Integration Analysis.

The pathogenesis of ocular diseases (ODs) remains unclear, although genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous associated genetic risk loci. We integrated protein quantitative trait loci (pQTL) datasets and five large-scale GWAS summary statistics of ODs under a cutting-edge systematic analytic framework. Proteome-wide association studies (PWAS) identified plasma and brain proteins associated with ODs, and 11 plasma proteins were identified by Mendelian randomization (MR) and colocalization (COLOC) analyses as being potentially causally associated with ODs.

Multi-Omics Integration Analysis Pinpoint Proteins Influencing Brain Structure and Function: Toward Drug Targets and Neuroimaging Biomarkers for Neuropsychiatric Disorders.

Integrating protein quantitative trait loci (pQTL) data and summary statistics from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of brain image-derived phenotypes (IDPs) can benefit in identifying IDP-related proteins. Here, we developed a systematic omics-integration analytic framework by sequentially using proteome-wide association study (PWAS), Mendelian randomization (MR), and colocalization (COLOC) analyses to identify the potentially causal brain and plasma proteins for IDPs, followed by pleiotropy analysis, mediation analysis, and drug exploration analysis to investigate potential mediation pathways of pleiotropic proteins to neuropsychiatric disorders (NDs) as well as candidate drug targets. A total of 201 plasma proteins and 398 brain proteins were significantly associated with IDPs from PWAS analysis.

Protein-centric omics integration analysis identifies candidate plasma proteins for multiple autoimmune diseases.

It remains challenging to translate the findings from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of autoimmune diseases (AIDs) into interventional targets, presumably due to the lack of knowledge on how the GWAS risk variants contribute to AIDs. In addition, current immunomodulatory drugs for AIDs are broad in action rather than disease-specific. We performed a comprehensive protein-centric omics integration analysis to identify AIDs-associated plasma proteins through integrating protein quantitative trait loci datasets of plasma protein (1348 proteins and 7213 individuals) and totally ten large-scale GWAS summary statistics of AIDs under a cutting-edge systematic analytic framework.

Association between rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune thyroid disease: evidence from complementary genetic methods.

Objectives: To assess the causal association of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) with Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD).

Method: Complementary genetic approaches, including genetic correlation, Mendelian randomization (MR) and colocalization analysis, were conducted to assess the potential causal association between RA and AITD using summary statistics from large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWASs). Various sensitivity analyses had been conducted to assess the robustness and the consistency of the findings.

CoNet: Efficient Network Regression for Survival Analysis in Transcriptome-Wide Association Studies-With Applications to Studies of Breast Cancer.

Transcriptome-wide association studies (TWASs) aim to detect associations between genetically predicted gene expression and complex diseases or traits through integrating genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) mapping studies. Most current TWAS methods analyze one gene at a time, ignoring the correlations between multiple genes. Few of the existing TWAS methods focus on survival outcomes.

Role of the Gut-Brain Axis in the Shared Genetic Etiology Between Gastrointestinal Tract Diseases and Psychiatric Disorders: A Genome-Wide Pleiotropic Analysis.

Importance: Comorbidities and genetic correlations between gastrointestinal tract diseases and psychiatric disorders have been widely reported, with the gut-brain axis (GBA) hypothesized as a potential biological basis. However, the degree to which the shared genetic determinants are involved in these associations underlying the GBA is unclear.

Objective: To investigate the shared genetic etiology between gastrointestinal tract diseases and psychiatric disorders and to identify shared genomic loci, genes, and pathways.

Integrative Analysis of Transcriptome-Wide Association Study and Gene-Based Association Analysis Identifies In Silico Candidate Genes Associated with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis.

Genome-wide association study (GWAS) of Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) suffers from low power due to limited sample size and the interpretation challenge due to most signals located in non-coding regions. Gene-level analysis could alleviate these issues. Using GWAS summary statistics, we performed two typical gene-level analysis of JIA, transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) using FUnctional Summary-based ImputatiON (FUSION) and gene-based analysis using eQTL Multi-marker Analysis of GenoMic Annotation (eMAGMA), followed by comprehensive enrichment analysis.

A Mendelian Randomization Study of the Effect of Tea Intake on Type 2 Diabetes.

The association reported between tea intake and type 2 diabetes (T2D) is inconsistent in previous studies and remains controversial. We aimed to explore the causal relationship between tea intake, T2D, and glycemic traits including hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), fasting serum insulin (FSI), and homeostasis model of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) levels. A 2-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) was performed using summary statistics from large-scale genome-wide association studies of tea intake from the UK Biobank, T2D from the DIAGRAM consortium, and glycemic traits from the Magic consortium.

Regular Physical Activities and Related Factors among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in Jinan, China: A Cross-Sectional Study.

The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of regular physical activity (RPA) among middle-aged and older adults in urban communities in Jinan, China, and to identify the factors related to RPA. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among middle-aged and elderly urban residents. A total of 1406 participants were included in the final data analysis.

Relationship between Lipid Profiles and Glycemic Control Among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in Qingdao, China.

Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was the best indicator of glycemic control, which did not show the dynamic relationship between glycemic control and lipid profiles. In order to guide the health management of Type 2 diabetes (T2D), we assessed the levels of lipid profiles and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and displayed the relationship between FPG control and lipid profiles. We conducted a cross-sectional study that included 5822 participants.

Trajectories of Haemoglobin and incident stroke risk: a longitudinal cohort study.

Background: Studies have demonstrated that high or low haemoglobin increases the risk of stroke. Previous studies, however, performed only a limited number of haemoglobin measurements, while there are dynamic haemoglobin changes over the course of a lifetime. This longitudinal cohort study aimed to classify the long-term trajectory of haemoglobin and examine its association with stroke incidence.

A Cross Sectional Examination of the Relation Between Depression and Frequency of Leisure Time Physical Exercise among the Elderly in Jinan, China.

Depression has become a major global public health problem. Many studies have shown the positive effects of physical exercise on depression. However, few studies have examined the relationship between frequency of leisure time physical exercise and depression without considering the time and intensity of exercise among middle-aged and elderly people of urban communities in northern China.

Genetic polymorphisms of IL-18 rs1946518 and IL-1β rs16944 are associated with prognosis and survival of acute myeloid leukemia.

Background: Though the pathogenesis of AML is still unknown, accumulating evidence revealed that immune response plays a vital part in it. NLRP3 inflammasome as a component of immune system has been found related to several cancers. The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of NLRP3 inflammasome genes may be related to pathogenesis and prognosis of AML.

Association between obesity indices and type 2 diabetes mellitus among middle-aged and elderly people in Jinan, China: a cross-sectional study.

Background: The relationship between obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) varies with geographical area and race.

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of T2DM and the proportion of subjects with undiagnosed T2DM. In addition, to compare the associations between different obesity indices and T2DM for middle-aged and elderly people from six communities in Jinan, China.

Cholecystectomy is associated with higher risk of early recurrence and poorer survival after curative resection for early stage hepatocellular carcinoma.

Although cholecystectomy has been reported to be associated with increased risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the association between cholecystectomy and prognosis of HCC patients underwent curative resection has never been examined. Through retrospective analysis of the data of 3933 patients underwent curative resection for HCC, we found that cholecystectomy was an independent prognostic factor for recurrence-free survival (RFS) of patients at early stage (BCLC stage 0/A) (p = 0.020, HR: 1.

Association between white blood cell count and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in urban Han Chinese: a prospective cohort study.

Objectives: The white blood cell (WBC) count is a simple and convenient marker of inflammation for use in medical practice; however, its association with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has not been determined. We examined the relationship between WBC and NAFLD to provide a convenient and useful marker for the prediction of NAFLD.

Setting: A longitudinal cohort participating in a large health check-up programme for the Chinese population was selected and followed up from 2005 to 2011.

Positive HBcAb is associated with higher risk of early recurrence and poorer survival after curative resection of HBV-related HCC.

Background & Aims: Previous studies predicted the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) mainly based on tumour-related factors, whereas the impacts of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related factors are usually ignored. The objective of this exploratory study was to investigate the prognostic role of hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb) on post-operative survival and recurrence of HCC.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of 3388 HBsAg positive (HBV-related) HCC patients treated by curative resection was performed.

A novel quantitative body shape score for detecting association between obesity and hypertension in China.

Background: Obesity is a major independent risk factor for chronic diseases such as hypertension and coronary diseases, it might not be only related to the amount of body fat but its distribution. The single body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist to hip ratio (WHR) or waist to stature ratio (WSR) provides limited information on fat distribution, and the debate about which one is the best remained. On the other hand, the current classification of body shape is qualitative rather than quantitative, and only crudely measure fat distribution.

Obesity and its relationship with hypertension among adults 50 years and older in Jinan, China.

Background: The relationship between obesity and hypertension varies with geographical area, race and definitions of obesity. Our study aimed to investigate the prevalence of obesity using standard Chinese criteria based on the body mass index (BMI) and the waist circumference (WC) and to examine the association between obesity and hypertension among middle-aged and elderly people in Jinan city.

Methods: This cross-sectional study examined 1,870 subjects from the blocks randomly selected from among the 6 communities of Jinan, China in 2011-2012.

Chronic diseases knowledge and related factors among the elderly in Jinan, China.

Background: It has been reported that the prevalence of chronic diseases is high among old people and they have poor chronic diseases knowledge. This study was therefore designed to evaluate the awareness rate of chronic diseases knowledge among people aged over 60 years, to explore its related factors and to provide evidence for future health education.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from April to August in 2011.

[Chromosomal aberrations in chronic lymphocytic leukemia by interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization and their association with clinical features].

This study was aimed to investigate the common chromosomal aberrations in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and to explore the relationship between these chromosomal aberrations and clinical features of CLL. Sequence-specific DNA probes (D13S25, RB1, p53, ATM) and one centromeric probe CSP12 were applied to detect del(13q14), del(17p13), del(11q22-q23) and trisomy 12 by using interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (I-FISH). 9 CLL patients with negative conventional cytogenetics or without mitotic figure were enrolled in this study.

Seroprevalence and risk factors of human cytomegalovirus infection in the eastern Chinese population.

Epidemiology and clinical outcomes of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection are known to vary between countries and are associated with socio-economic background. So far, few data are available from developing countries, where the overall burden of infectious diseases is frequently higher. Therefore, we analyzed the seroprevalence in a population of 3,740 individuals selected randomly from eastern China, aiming to determine the seroprevalence of and risk factors for HCMV infection.

[Meta-analysis on the relationship of chlamydia pneumonia infection and coronary heart disease].

Objective: To determine the relationship of chlamydia pneumonia (CP) infection and coronary heart disease (CHD).

Methods: Studies published before 2004 that had reported on correlations between CHD and CP were collected. Studies were sorted into four sorts according to different testing methods.