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The association between cannabis and psychosis is established, but the role of underlying genetics is unclear. We used data from the EU-GEI case-control study and UK Biobank to examine the independent and combined effect of heavy cannabis use and schizophrenia polygenic risk score (PRS) on risk for psychosis.
Methods
Genome-wide association study summary statistics from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and the Genomic Psychiatry Cohort were used to calculate schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder (CUD) PRS for 1098 participants from the EU-GEI study and 143600 from the UK Biobank. Both datasets had information on cannabis use.
Results
In both samples, schizophrenia PRS and cannabis use independently increased risk of psychosis. Schizophrenia PRS was not associated with patterns of cannabis use in the EU-GEI cases or controls or UK Biobank cases. It was associated with lifetime and daily cannabis use among UK Biobank participants without psychosis, but the effect was substantially reduced when CUD PRS was included in the model. In the EU-GEI sample, regular users of high-potency cannabis had the highest odds of being a case independently of schizophrenia PRS (OR daily use high-potency cannabis adjusted for PRS = 5.09, 95% CI 3.08–8.43, p = 3.21 × 10−10). We found no evidence of interaction between schizophrenia PRS and patterns of cannabis use.
Conclusions
Regular use of high-potency cannabis remains a strong predictor of psychotic disorder independently of schizophrenia PRS, which does not seem to be associated with heavy cannabis use. These are important findings at a time of increasing use and potency of cannabis worldwide.
An anomalous origin of the right coronary artery from the pulmonary artery case report. The diagnosis was made by angiotomography. Reimplantation of the right coronary artery into the ascending aorta and reconstruction of the pulmonary artery were conducted.
We consider the concept of poverty from the asset-accumulation approach and propose an integrated framework, building upon existing theories, to describe how the interconnected factors of trust (or lack thereof) and social distance can reinforce poverty traps. Social distance is influenced by choice, while trust is the symptom that defines the strength of social ties on a group. We look at how an absence of trust influences how households make decisions about the use and accumulation of assets in ways that could perpetuate poverty. Weak trust also affects how groups interact with each other in a society, creating “trust clusters” within homogeneous groups and antagonism across groups, which in turn affects aspirations and leads to an erosion of the basis of a social contract. For more effective and sustainable poverty reduction, we need to understand these linkages and address them systematically.
OBJECTIVES/GOALS: To summarize baseline characteristics and risk factors for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) and develop a prediction model by testing the association between genetic variants and MACEs in Caribbean Hispanic patients on clopidogrel using machine-learning (ML) techniques. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: This is a secondary analysis of available clinical and genomic data from an existing database of 600 Caribbean Hispanic cardiovascular (CV) patients on clopidogrel. MACEs is defined as the composite of all-cause death, myocardial infarction, stroke and stent thrombosis over 6 months. Dataset is divided into training (60%) and testing (40%) sets, respectively. Two different supervised ML approaches (i.e. multiclass classification and regression algorithms) are applied to the study dataset using Python v3.5 and WEKA, and tested by receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis. A case-control association analysis between MACEs at 6 months and genotypes is performed by using chi-squared test. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Average age of participants was 68 years-old, 55% males, with high prevalence of risk factors (i.e., overweight: 28.4 kg/m2; hypertension: 83.8%; hypercholesterolemia: 71.9% and diabetes: 54.8%). MACEs rate is 13.8%, with 33.5% resistant to clopidogrel. Logistic regression, KNN and gradient boosting showed the best performance, as suggested by ROC analysis and AUC CV scores of 0.6-0.7. A significant association between MACE occurrence and ≥3 risk alleles was found (OR=8.17; p=0.041). We anticipate that these genetic variants (CYP2C19*2, rs12777823, PON1-rs662, ABCB1-rs2032582, PEAR1-rs12041331) will uniquely contribute to clopidogrel resistance and MACEs in Caribbean Hispanics. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings help address in part the long-standing problem of excluding minorities from research, which entails a gap of knowledge about clopidogrel pharmacogenomics in Puerto Ricans. This study provides a possible ML model that integrates clinical and pharmacogenomics for MACE risk estimation.
A history of childhood adversity is associated with psychotic disorder, with an increase in risk according to the number of exposures. However, it is not known why only some exposed individuals go on to develop psychosis. One possibility is pre-existing polygenic vulnerability. Here, we investigated, in the largest sample of first-episode psychosis (FEP) cases to date, whether childhood adversity and high polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia (SZ-PRS) combine synergistically to increase the risk of psychosis, over and above the effect of each alone.
Methods
We assigned a schizophrenia-polygenic risk score (SZ-PRS), calculated from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC2), to all participants in a sample of 384 FEP patients and 690 controls from the case–control component of the EU-GEI study. Only participants of European ancestry were included in the study. A history of childhood adversity was collected using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Synergistic effects were estimated using the interaction contrast ratio (ICR) [odds ratio (OR)exposure and PRS − ORexposure − ORPRS + 1] with adjustment for potential confounders.
Results
There was some evidence that the combined effect of childhood adversities and polygenic risk was greater than the sum of each alone, as indicated by an ICR greater than zero [i.e. ICR 1.28, 95% confidence interval (CI) −1.29 to 3.85]. Examining subtypes of childhood adversities, the strongest synergetic effect was observed for physical abuse (ICR 6.25, 95% CI −6.25 to 20.88).
Conclusions
Our findings suggest possible synergistic effects of genetic liability and childhood adversity experiences in the onset of FEP, but larger samples are needed to increase precision of estimates.
Recent studies have led to suggest that the multifunctional protein clusterin could be envisaged as a potential diagnostic biomarker of addictive behaviours. However, this hypothesis has not been yet tested in nicotine addicts.
Aims
We have studied possible associations between clusterin levels in saliva from smokers under cessation treatment and variables related to tobacco consumption, dependence and addiction.
Methods
Eighty-one patients were included in an ambulatory smoking cessation programme that involved the use of pharmacological and behavioural therapy. The participants underwent psychological assessment of addiction and dependence (DAST-20, ASSIST, Fagerström tests) and provided saliva samples at the onset of the intervention and 6 months after smoking discontinuation to study the evolution of clusterin levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.
Results
Clusterin concentration did not correlate with nicotine addiction/dependence scores but was significantly elevated in smokers with prolonged tobacco use and high intensity of tobacco consumption. Moreover, the levels of the protein significantly decreased 6 months after smoking cessation.
Conclusions
The results obtained provide strong evidence of a close association between tobacco use and salivary clusterin, a protein that emerges as a biomarker of tobacco toxicity with potential interest to monitor the beneficial effects of smoking cessation.
In cases of mass-casualty incidents (MCIs), triage represents a fundamental tool for the management of and assistance to the wounded, which helps discriminate not only the priority of attention, but also the priority of referral to the most suitable center.
Hypothesis/Problem:
The objective of this study was to evaluate the capacity of different prehospital triage systems based on physiological parameters (Shock Index [SI], Glasgow-Age-Pressure Score [GAP], Revised Trauma Score [RTS], and National Early Warning Score 2 [NEWS2]) to predict early mortality (within 48 hours) from the index event for use in MCIs.
Methods:
This was a longitudinal prospective observational multi-center study on patients who were attended by Advanced Life Support (ALS) units and transferred to the emergency department (ED) of their reference hospital. Collected were: demographic, physiological, and clinical variables; main diagnosis; and data on early mortality. The main outcome variable was mortality from any cause within 48 hours.
Results:
From April 1, 2018 through February 28, 2019, a total of 1,288 patients were included in this study. Of these, 262 (20.3%) participants required assistance for trauma and injuries by external agents. Early mortality within the first 48 hours due to any cause affected 69 patients (5.4%). The system with the best predictive capacity was the NEWS2 with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.891 (95% CI, 0.84-0.94); a sensitivity of 79.7% (95% CI, 68.8-87.5); and a specificity of 84.5% (95% CI, 82.4-86.4) for a cut-off point of nine points, with a positive likelihood ratio of 5.14 (95% CI, 4.31-6.14) and a negative predictive value of 98.7% (95% CI, 97.8-99.2).
Conclusion:
Prehospital scores of the NEWS2 are easy to obtain and represent a reliable test, which make it an ideal system to help in the initial assessment of high-risk patients, and to determine their level of triage effectively and efficiently. The Prehospital Emergency Medical System (PhEMS) should evaluate the inclusion of the NEWS2 as a triage system, which is especially useful for the second triage (evacuation priority).
Trichomonas vaginalis induces cellular damage to the host cells (cytotoxicity) through the proteolytic activity of multiple proteinases of the cysteine type (CPs). Some CPs are modulated by environmental factors such as iron, zinc, polyamines, etc. Thus, the goal of this study was to assess the effect of glucose on T. vaginalis cytotoxicity, proteolytic activity and the particular role of TvCP2 (TVAG_057000) during cellular damage. Cytotoxicity assays showed that glucose-restriction (GR) promotes the highest HeLa cell monolayers destruction (~95%) by trichomonads compared to those grown under high glucose (~44%) condition. Zymography and Western blot using different primary antibodies showed that GR increased the proteolytic activity, amount and secretion of certain CPs, including TvCP2. We further characterized the effect of glucose on TvCP2. TvCP2 increases in GR, localized in vesicles close to the plasma membrane and on the surface of T. vaginalis. Furthermore, pretreatment of GR-trichomonads with an anti-TvCP2r polyclonal antibody specifically reduced the levels of cytotoxicity and apoptosis induction to HeLa cells in a concentration-dependent manner. In conclusion, our data show that GR, as a nutritional stress condition, promotes trichomonal cytotoxicity to the host cells, increases trichomonad proteolytic activity and amount of CPs, such as TvCP2 involved in cellular damage.
In this work, we study the optical properties of 58 CSS/GPS radio sources selected from the literature in order to determine the impact of the radio-jet in the circumnuclear environment of these objects. We obtained optical spectra for all sources from SDSS-DR12 and performed a stellar population synthesis using the Starlight code. Our results indicate that the sample is dominated by intermediate to old stellar populations and there is no strong correlation between optical and radio properties of these sources.
American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) is a complex disease with a rich diversity of animal host species. This diversity imposes a challenge, since understanding ACL transmission requires the adequate identification of reservoir hosts, those species able to be a source of additional infections. In this study we present results from an ACL cross-sectional serological survey of 51 dogs (Canis familiaris), where we used diagnostic tests that measure dog's exposure to Leishmania spp. parasites. We did our research in Panamá, at a village that has undergone significant ecosystem level transformations. We found an ACL seroprevalence of 47% among dogs, and their exposure was positively associated with dog age and abundance of sand fly vectors in the houses of dog owners. Using mathematical models, which were fitted to data on the proportion of positive tests as function of dog age, we estimated a basic reproductive number (R0 ± s.e.) of 1·22 ± 0·09 that indicates the disease is endemically established in the dogs. Nevertheless, this information by itself is insufficient to incriminate dogs as ACL reservoirs, given the inability to find parasites (or their DNA) in seropositive dogs and previously reported failures to experimentally infect vectors feeding on dogs with ACL parasites.
The taxonomy of pedunculate cirripedes belonging to the genus Pollicipes has essentially remained unchanged since Charles Darwin described them in his exhaustive work on the Cirripedia. This genus includes three species of stalked barnacles: Pollicipes pollicipes in the north-eastern Atlantic, P. polymerus in the north-eastern Pacific and P. elegans in the central-eastern Pacific. However, a population genetics analysis of P. pollicipes suggested the presence of a putative cryptic species collected from the Cape Verde Islands in the central-eastern Atlantic. This study examines the morphology of these genetically divergent specimens and compares them with that of representative Atlantic samples of the biogeographically closely related P. pollicipes and with the poorly described P. elegans. Molecular data, including mitochondrial COX1 and nuclear ribosomal interspaces sequences, were obtained for all species of the genus Pollicipes. Morphological distinctiveness, diagnostic characters, congruent divergence level and monophyletic clustering, at both nuclear and mitochondrial loci support the taxonomic status of this new species, Pollicipes darwini.
The formation of low mass stars takes place with the assistance of an accretion disk that transports gas and dust from the envelope of the system to the star, and a jet that removes angular momentum and allows accretion to proceed. In the radio, these ionized jets can be studied very close to the star via the thermal (free-free) emission they produce and at larger scales by the molecular outflows that result from their interaction with the surrounding medium. Is the same disk-jet process responsible for the formation of massive stars? I will review recent evidence for the presence of collimated jets and accretion disks in association with forming massive stars. The jets in massive protostars have large velocities that could produce a synchrotron component and I discuss the evidence for the presence of this non-thermal process in the jet associated with the HH 80-81 system.
The business meeting of Division X in the IAU 2009GA took place in three sessions during the day of August 6, 2009. The meeting, being well attended, started with the approval for the meeting agenda. Then the triennium reports were made in the first session by the president of Division X, Ren-Dong Nan, and by the chairs of three working groups: “Historic Radio Astronomy WG” by Wayne Orchiston, “Astrophysically Important Lines WG” by Masatoshi Ohishi, and “Global VLBI WG” by Tasso Tzioumis (proxy chair appointed by Steven Tingay). Afterwards, a dozen reports from observatories and worldwide significant projects have been presented in the second session. Business meeting of “Interference Mitigation WG” was located in the third session.
The growth of a forming star takes place by accretion from the surrounding dense medium, facilitated by a circumstellar disk. But at the same time the forming system produces collimated outflows of gas that remove excess angular momentum and magnetic flux. A key question in the field is whether we can extend the disk/jet model to stars of the largest masses or if other ingredients are present. In this note, I review recent observations from the Very Large Array and the Submillimeter Array, of IRAS 16547-4247, a massive young stellar object that exhibits evidence for both a disk and an outflow.
The fields of millimeter and sub-millimeter interferometry have been developing for more than 30 years. At millimeter wavelengths the most important interferometers are the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy (CARMA), the Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI), and the Nobeyama Millimeter Array (NMA). At sub-millimeter wavelenghts, the most powerful interferometer is the SubMillimeter Array (SMA, for a detailed description, see Ho et al. 2004).
This R&D project implements a new way of perception of the three-dimensional surrounding space, based exclusively in sounds and thus especially useful for the blind. The innate capability of locating sounds, the externalization of sounds played with headphones and the machine capture of the 3D environment are the technological pillars used for this purpose. They are analysed and a summary of their main requirements are presented. A number of laboratory facilities and portable prototypes are described, together with their main characteristics.
Division X provides a common theme for astronomers using radio techniques to study a vast range of phenomena in the Universe, from exploring the Earth's ionosphere or making radar measurements in the Solar System, via mapping the distribution of gas and molecules in our own Galaxy and in other galaxies, to study the vast explosive processes in radio galaxies and QSOs and the faint afterglow of the Big Bang itself.
Division X provides a common theme for astronomers using radio techniques to study a vast range of phenomena in the Universe, from exploring the Earth's ionosphere or making radar measurements in the Solar System, via mapping the distribution of gas and molecules in our own Galaxy and in other galaxies, to study the vast explosive processes in radio galaxies and QSOs and the faint afterglow of the Big Bang itself.
Discordant atrioventricular connections associated with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome increase the challenge of radiofrequency ablation. We report the results and techniques of radiofrequency ablation in three patients with discordant atrioventricular connections, including one patient having double outlet right ventricle with atrioventricular reentry tachycardias. There were two males and one female, aged 14 and 22 years old. We found four accessory pathways during our electrophysiological studies, with two of them manifest on the electrocardiogram, corresponding to left paraseptal and right midseptal regions. The electrophysiological study confirmed this localization, and showed two concealed accessory pathways in the right and left paraseptal regions. Radiofrequency ablation was successful in all cases without recurrence at a mean follow-up of 18.6 months. No complications were observed during the procedures. We conclude that radiofrequency ablation is feasible and effective in the ablation of accessory pathways in patients with discordant atrioventricular connections.