Publications by authors named "U Broms"
Background: The aims of this study were to analyze associations of dopamine receptor genes (DRD1-5) with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and nicotine dependence (ND), and to investigate whether ND moderates genetic influences on MDD.
Methods: The sample was ascertained from the Finnish Twin Cohort. Twin pairs concordant for smoking history were recruited along with their family members, as part of the multisite Nicotine Addiction Genetics consortium.
Article Synopsis
- Mega-analytic studies in behavior genetics often face challenges in harmonizing different measures of personality traits, necessary for effective analysis.
- This research, conducted by the Genetics of Personality Consortium, utilized Item-Response Theory (IRT) to align data from over 160,000 individuals across 23 cohorts assessing Neuroticism and Extraversion through nine different inventories.
- The findings revealed that IRT successfully standardized measurements, confirmed heritability of these traits, and suggested that genetic influences show differences based on sex, highlighting the method's potential for enhancing statistical power in similar studies.
Introduction: Low socio-economic status (SES) is strongly related to smoking, but studies examining the association of SES with nicotine dependence (ND) are scarce. The aim of this study was to examine the associations of SES and marital status with smoking, multiple measures of ND, and cotinine as a nicotine intake biomarker.
Methods: The sample comprised 1746 ever smokers, sampled from the National FINRISK 2007 Study, who had completed a tobacco specific questionnaire in addition to the standard clinical examination.
Article Synopsis
- This meta-analysis investigates if specific genetic markers (SNPs) are associated with early smoking behaviors, focusing on two key aspects: age of tobacco initiation (AOI) and age of first regular tobacco use (AOS).
- Findings revealed significant associations between certain SNPs and AOS, indicating protective effects, while the well-known SNP rs16969968 did not correlate with either AOI or AOS, suggesting different genetic influences on early smoking compared to established nicotine dependence traits.
Diurnal type (chronotype) differentiates individuals on an axis between the extremes of evening type to morning type. These diurnal-type preferences are thought to be relatively stable, but follow-up studies are sparse. The study aims were (1) to compare cross-sectional studies of diurnal type preferences between two decades and (2) to analyze the consistency of diurnal-type preferences using a longitudinal dataset.
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