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The Ccr2+ Monocyte Subsets Increase In Obese Boys But Not Girls With Abnormally High Carotid Intima-Media Thickness: A Pilot Study, María José Garcés-Hernández, Karen Pedraza-Escudero, Nayely Garibay-Nieto, Joselin Hernández-Ruiz, Jessica Lakshmi Prieto-Chávez, Lourdes Andrea Arriaga-Pizano, Eréndira Villanueva-Ortega, Galileo Escobedo, Aaron Noe Manjarrez-Reyna, Juan C. Lopez-Alvarenga

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

The differential contribution of monocyte subsets expressing the C-C chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2) to subclinical atherosclerosis in girls and boys is unclear. In this pilot study, we compared classical, intermediate, and nonclassical monocyte subsets expressing CCR2 in 33 obese children of both sexes aged 8 to 16 divided by carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), considering values above the 75th percentile (p75) as abnormally high IMT. Obesity was defined as body mass index above the 95th percentile according to age and sex. Flow cytometry analyses revealed that boys but not girls with IMT ≥ p75 displayed increased CCR2⁺ cell percentage and …

Association Of Hiv-1 Infection And Antiretroviral Therapy With Type 2 Diabetes In The Hispanic Population Of The Rio Grande Valley, Texas, Usa, Juan Carlos Lopez Alvarenga, Dora A. Martinez, Alvaro Diaz-Badillo, Liza D. Morales, Rector Arya, Christopher Jenkinson, Joanne E. Curran, John Blangero, Ravi Duggirala, Srinivas Mummidi, Ruben D. Martinez

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) in South Texas has one of the highest prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) in the United States (US). We report for the first time the T2D prevalence in persons with HIV (PWH) in the RGV and the interrelationship between T2D, cardiometabolic risk factors, HIV-related indices, and antiretroviral therapies (ART). The PWH in this study received medical care at Valley AIDS Council (VAC) clinic sites located in Harlingen and McAllen, Texas. Henceforth, this cohort will be referred to as Valley AIDS Council Cohort (VACC). Cross-sectional analyses were conducted using retrospective data obtained from …

Gender-Specific Differences In Clinical And Metabolic Variables Associated With Nafld In A Mexican Pediatric Population, Eréndira Villanueva-Ortega, María José Garcés-Hernández, Arturo Herrera-Rosas, Juan Carlos Lopez Alvarenga, Estibalitz Laresgoiti-Servitje, Galileo Escobedo, Gloria Queipo, Sergio Cuevas-Covarrubias, Guadalupe Nayely Garibay-Nieto

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Introduction and objectives: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease in children and it is more prevalent in Hispanic males. The gender differences can be explained by body fat distribution, lifestyle, or sex hormone metabolism. We evaluated anthropometric and metabolic differences by gender in children with and without NAFLD.

Methods: We included 194 participants (eutrophic, overweight, and individuals with obesity). The presence of NAFLD was determined using ultrasonography, and we evaluated the association between this disease with metabolic and anthropometric variables by gender.

Results: The mean age was 10.64±2.54 years. The frequency of NAFLD in boys …

Genetic Architecture Of Human Obesity Traits In The Rhesus Macaque, Michael J. Raboin, John Letaw, Asia D. Mitchell, David Toffey, Jessica Mckelvey, Charles T. Roberts Jr, Joanne E. Curran, Amanda Vinson

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Objective: Whereas the metabolic consequences of obesity have been studied extensively in the rhesus macaque, corollary genetic studies of obesity are nonexistent. This study assessed genetic contributions to spontaneous adiposity in this species.

Methods: Phenotypic variation by age class and sex for BMI, waist to height ratio, waist to thigh ratio, and waist circumference was assessed in 583 macaques. Total and sex-specific heritability for all traits was estimated, including waist to thigh ratio adjusted for BMI, as well as genotypic and phenotypic correlations. In addition, functional genetic variation at BDNF, FTO, LEP, LEPR, MC4R, PCSK1, POMC, and SIM1 was assessed …

Genome-Wide Meta-Analysis Of 241,258 Adults Accounting For Smoking Behaviour Identifies Novel Loci For Obesity Traits, Anne E. Justice, Thomas W. Winkler, Mary F. Feitosa, Misa Graff, Virginia A. Fisher, Kristin Leonard, Kristin Young, Llilda Barata, Xuan Deng, John Blangero, Joanne E. Curran

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Few genome-wide association studies (GWAS) account for environmental exposures, like smoking, potentially impacting the overall trait variance when investigating the genetic contribution to obesity-related traits. Here, we use GWAS data from 51,080 current smokers and 190,178 nonsmokers (87% European descent) to identify loci influencing BMI and central adiposity, measured as waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio both adjusted for BMI. We identify 23 novel genetic loci, and 9 loci with convincing evidence of gene-smoking interaction (GxSMK) on obesity-related traits. We show consistent direction of effect for all identified loci and significance for 18 novel and for 5 interaction loci in an …

Multiethnic Genome-Wide Meta-Analysis Of Ectopic Fat Depots Identifies Loci Associated With Adipocyte Development And Differentiation, Audrey Y. Chu, Xuan Deng, Virginia A. Fisher, Alexander Drong, Yang Zhang, Mary F. Feitosa, Ching-Ti Liu, Olivia Weeks, Audrey C. Choh, Qing Duan, Thomas D. Dyer

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Variation in body fat distribution contributes to the metabolic sequelae of obesity. The genetic determinants of body fat distribution are poorly understood. The goal of this study was to gain new insights into the underlying genetics of body fat distribution by conducting sample-size weighted fixed-effects genome-wide association meta-analyses in up to 9,594 women and 8,738 men for six ectopic fat traits in European, African, Hispanic, and Chinese ancestry populations, with and without sex stratification. In total, 7 new loci were identified in association with ectopic fat traits (ATXN1, UBE2E2, EBF1, RREB1, GSDMB, GRAMD3 and ENSA; PATXN1 and UBE2E2 …

Shared Genetic Variance Between Obesity And White Matter Integrity In Mexican Americans, Elena A. Spieker, Peter Kochunov, Laura M. Rowland, Emma Sprooten, Anderson M. Winkler, Rene L. Olvera, Laura Almasy, Ravi Duggirala, Peter T. Fox, John Blangero, David C. Glahn, Joanne E. Curran

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Obesity is a chronic metabolic disorder that may also lead to reduced white matter integrity, potentially due to shared genetic risk factors. Genetic correlation analyses were conducted in a large cohort of Mexican American families in San Antonio (N = 761, 58% females, ages 18–81 years; 41.3 ± 14.5) from the Genetics of Brain Structure and Function Study. Shared genetic variance was calculated between measures of adiposity [(body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) and waist circumference (WC; in)] and whole-brain and regional measurements of cerebral white matter integrity (fractional anisotropy). Whole-brain average and regional fractional anisotropy values for 10 major …