Genetic Architectures of Childhood- and Adult-Onset Asthma Are Partly Distinct.

The extent to which genetic risk factors are shared between childhood-onset (COA) and adult-onset (AOA) asthma has not been estimated. On the basis of data from the UK Biobank study (n = 447,628), we found that the variance in disease liability explained by common variants is higher for COA (onset at ages between 0 and 19 years; h = 25.6%) than for AOA (onset at ages between 20 and 60 years; h = 10.

Limited overlap in significant hits between genome-wide association studies on two airflow obstruction definitions in the same population.

Background: Airflow obstruction is a hallmark of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and is defined as either the ratio between forced expiratory volume in one second and forced vital capacity (FEV/FVC) < 70% or < lower limit of normal (LLN). This study aimed to assess the overlap between genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on airflow obstruction using these two definitions in the same population stratified by smoking.

Methods: GWASes were performed in the LifeLines Cohort Study for both airflow obstruction definitions in never-smokers (NS = 5071) and ever-smokers (ES = 4855).

Genetic landscape of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease identifies heterogeneous cell-type and phenotype associations.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the leading cause of respiratory mortality worldwide. Genetic risk loci provide new insights into disease pathogenesis. We performed a genome-wide association study in 35,735 cases and 222,076 controls from the UK Biobank and additional studies from the International COPD Genetics Consortium.

Associations of AMP and adenosine induced dyspnea sensation to large and small airways dysfunction in asthma.

Background: Bronchial provocation is often used to confirm asthma. Dyspnea sensation, however, associates poorly with the evoked drop in FEV. Provocation tests only use the large airways parameter FEV, although dyspnea is associated with both large- and small airways dysfunction.

Levels of Abstractness in Semantic Noun and Verb Processing: The Role of Sensory-Perceptual and Sensory-Motor Information.

Effects of concreteness and grammatical class on lexical-semantic processing are well-documented, but the role of sensory-perceptual and sensory-motor features of concepts in underlying mechanisms producing these effects is relatively unknown. We hypothesized that processing dissimilarities in accuracy and response time performance in nouns versus verbs, concrete versus abstract words, and their interaction can be explained by differences in semantic weight-the combined amount of sensory-perceptual and sensory-motor information to conceptual representations-across those grammatical and semantic categories. We assessed performance on concrete and abstract subcategories of nouns and verbs with a semantic similarity judgment task.

DNA methylation in nasal epithelium, atopy, and atopic asthma in children: a genome-wide study.

Background: Epigenetic mechanisms could alter the airway epithelial barrier and ultimately lead to atopic diseases such as asthma. We aimed to identify DNA methylation profiles that are associated with-and could accurately classify-atopy and atopic asthma in school-aged children.

Methods: We did a genome-wide study of DNA methylation in nasal epithelium and atopy or atopic asthma in 483 Puerto Rican children aged 9-20 years, recruited using multistage probability sampling.

Epigenome-wide meta-analysis of DNA methylation and childhood asthma.

Background: Epigenetic mechanisms, including methylation, can contribute to childhood asthma. Identifying DNA methylation profiles in asthmatic patients can inform disease pathogenesis.

Objective: We sought to identify differential DNA methylation in newborns and children related to childhood asthma.

Predictors of clinical response to extrafine and non-extrafine particle inhaled corticosteroids in smokers and ex-smokers with asthma.

We performed a post-hoc analysis of the OLiVIA-study investigating whether current and ex-smoking asthmatics with small airways dysfunction (SAD) show a better response in airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) to small particle adenosine after treatment with extrafine compared to non-extrafine particle inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), and to investigate which clinical parameters predict a favorable response to both treatments. We show that smoking and ex-smoking asthmatics with and without SAD have a similar treatment response with either extrafine or non-extrafine particle ICS. We also found that lower blood neutrophils are associated with a smaller ICS-response in smokers and ex-smokers with asthma, independent from the level of blood eosinophils.

Semantic network function captured by word frequency in nondemented APOE ε4 carriers.

Objective: Accurate identification of the earliest cognitive changes associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) is critically needed. Item-level information within tests of category fluency, such as lexical frequency, harbors valuable information about the integrity of semantic networks affected early in AD. To determine the potential of lexical frequency as a cognitive marker of AD risk, we investigated whether lexical frequency of animal fluency output differentiated ε4 carriers from noncarriers in a cross-sectional design among older African-American adults without dementia.

Improvement in hypercapnia does not predict survival in COPD patients on chronic noninvasive ventilation.

Purpose: It has recently been shown that chronic noninvasive ventilation (NIV) improves a number of outcomes including survival, in patients with stable hypercapnic COPD. However, the mechanisms responsible for these improved outcomes are still unknown. The aim of the present study was to identify parameters associated with: 1) an improved arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO) and 2) survival, in a cohort of hypercapnic COPD patients treated with chronic NIV.

Genome-wide interaction study of gene-by-occupational exposures on respiratory symptoms.

Respiratory symptoms are important indicators of respiratory diseases. Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to respiratory symptoms development but less is known about gene-environment interactions. We aimed to assess interactions between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and occupational exposures on respiratory symptoms cough, dyspnea and phlegm.

From blood to lung tissue: effect of cigarette smoke on DNA methylation and lung function.

Background: Genetic and environmental factors play a role in the development of COPD. The epigenome, and more specifically DNA methylation, is recognized as important link between these factors. We postulate that DNA methylation is one of the routes by which cigarette smoke influences the development of COPD.

Effect of adjuvant radiotherapy on the local recurrence of oral squamous cell carcinoma with perineural invasion: A systematic review.

Objectives Of The Review: The decision whether to include postoperative radiotherapy on patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma depends on the risk of local recurrence. The objectives of this study were to systematically review literature on whether perineural invasion in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients is associated with higher local recurrence rates and whether local recurrence is influenced by the administration of postoperative radiotherapy in patients presenting with perineural invasion.

Type Of Review: Systematic review.

Air pollution exposure and lung function until age 16 years: the PIAMA birth cohort study.

Evidence for the effects of air pollution exposure on lung function growth into adolescence is scarce. We investigated associations of air pollution exposure with lung function and lung function growth until age 16.We conducted both longitudinal (n=915) and cross-sectional (n=721) analyses of associations of air pollution exposure with forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV) and forced vital capacity (FVC) growth from ages eight to 16 and FEV and FVC at age 16.

Multiethnic meta-analysis identifies ancestry-specific and cross-ancestry loci for pulmonary function.

Nearly 100 loci have been identified for pulmonary function, almost exclusively in studies of European ancestry populations. We extend previous research by meta-analyzing genome-wide association studies of 1000 Genomes imputed variants in relation to pulmonary function in a multiethnic population of 90,715 individuals of European (N = 60,552), African (N = 8429), Asian (N = 9959), and Hispanic/Latino (N = 11,775) ethnicities. We identify over 50 additional loci at genome-wide significance in ancestry-specific or multiethnic meta-analyses.

No association between DNA methylation and COPD in never and current smokers.

Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive inflammatory lung disease with cigarette smoke as the main risk factor for its development. Since not every smoker develops COPD, other factors likely underlie differences in susceptibility to develop COPD. Here, we tested if DNA methylation may be such a factor by assessing the association between DNA methylation levels and COPD in never and current smokers from the general population.

Air pollution and airway resistance at age 8 years - the PIAMA birth cohort study.

Background: Air pollution has been found to adversely affect children's lung function. Forced expiratory volume in 1 s and forced vital capacity from spirometry have been studied most frequently, but measurements of airway resistance may provide additional information. We assessed associations of long-term air pollution exposure with airway resistance.

Repeated vital sign measurements in the emergency department predict patient deterioration within 72 hours: a prospective observational study.

Background: More than one in five patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with (suspected) infection or sepsis deteriorate within 72 h from admission. Surprisingly little is known about vital signs in relation to deterioration, especially in the ED. The aim of our study was to determine whether repeated vital sign measurements in the ED can differentiate between patients who will deteriorate within 72 h and patients who will not deteriorate.

Young Children's Theory of Mind Predicts More Sharing With Friends Over Time.

Children (predominantly white and middle class) between 3 and 6 years (M = 55.12 months, N = 145 at Time 1, N = 102 at Time 2) participated in the prosocial choice test at two time points approximately 10 months apart. Children could share with strangers, close friends, nonfriends, and in a control, no recipient condition.

Letter and Category Fluency Performance Correlates with Distinct Patterns of Cortical Thickness in Older Adults.

Verbal fluency tasks are generally thought to be mediated by frontal brain regions for letter fluency and temporal regions for category fluency. This idea, however, is primarily based on lesion studies and adapted versions of the fluency tasks in functional neuroimaging, without fundamental evidence from structural neuroimaging in healthy individuals. We investigated the cortical structural correlates of letter and category fluency, including overlapping and different regions, in 505 individuals who participated in a community-based study of healthy aging.

Healthcare utilisation and expenditure of overweight and non-overweight children.

Background: Quantification of the burden of overweight on the healthcare system is becoming increasingly urgent for health policy, but accurate estimates are hard to obtain.

Methods: In order to assess healthcare utilisation and expenditure of overweight and non-overweight children, we linked, on an individual basis, data on body mass index from a birth cohort study with administrative health insurance claims data. In children aged 14-15 years, we compared utilisation and expenditure on general practice care, dental care, hospital/specialist care, prescribed medication, allied healthcare and mental healthcare of overweight children (overweight at age 11 and 14, n=80) and non-overweight children (no overweight at age 11 and 14, n=1253).

Are chimpanzees "stuck" on their "selves" in video?

Hirata, Fuwa, and Myowa (Royal Society Open Science, 4; 170370, 2017) extended to chimpanzee subjects a paradigm that had been developed by Povinelli and colleagues (Povinelli, Landau, Child Development, 67; 1540-1554, 1996; Perilloux, Povinelli & Simon, Developmental Psychology, 34, 188-194, 1998) to demonstrate the concept of self-continuity in young children. However, Hirata and colleagues lacked critical controls that would have allowed the conclusion that some of their chimpanzees recognized themselves in the time-delayed videos.