Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Joint Effect Of Genetic And Lifestyle Risk Factors On Type 2 Diabetes Risk Among Chinese Men And Women, Raquel Villegas, Ryan Delahanty, Yu-Tang Gao, Jirong Long, Scott M. Williams, Yong-Bing Xiang, Hui Cai, Hong-Lan Li, Frank Hu, Qiuyin Cai, Wei Zheng, Xiao-Ou Shu

Dartmouth Scholarship

More than 40 genetic susceptibility loci have been reported for type 2 diabetes (T2D). Recently, the combined effect of genetic variants has been investigated by calculating a genetic risk score. We evaluated 36 genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified SNPs in 2,679 T2D cases and 3322 controls in middle-age Han Chinese. Fourteen SNPs were significantly associated with T2D in analysis adjusted for age, sex and BMI. We calculated two genetic risk scores (GRS) (GRS1 with all the 36 SNPs and GRS2 with the 14 SNPs significantly associated with T2D). The odds ratio for T2D with each GRS point (per risk allele) …

Measuring Infertility In Populations: Constructing A Standard Definition For Use With Demographic And Reproductive Health Surveys, Maya N. Mascarenhas, Hoiwan Cheung, Colin D. Mathers, Gretchen A. Stevens

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: Infertility is a significant disability, yet there are no reliable estimates of its global prevalence. Studies on infertility prevalence define the condition inconsistently, rendering the comparison of studies or quantitative summaries of the literature difficult. This study analyzed key components of infertility to develop a definition that can be consistently applied to globally available household survey data.

Methods: We proposed a standard definition of infertility and used it to generate prevalence estimates using 53 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). The analysis was restricted to the subset of DHS that contained detailed fertility information collected through the reproductive health calendar. …

Refining The Global Spatial Limits Of Dengue Virus Transmission By Evidence-Based Consensus, Oliver J. Brady, Peter W. Gething, Samir Bhatt, Jane P. Messina, John S. Brownstein, Anne G. Hoen

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: Dengue is a growing problem both in its geographical spread and in its intensity, and yet current global distribution remains highly uncertain. Challenges in diagnosis and diagnostic methods as well as highly variable national health systems mean no single data source can reliably estimate the distribution of this disease. As such, there is a lack of agreement on national dengue status among international health organisations. Here we bring together all available information on dengue occurrence using a novel approach to produce an evidence consensus map of the disease range that highlights nations with an uncertain dengue status.

Methods/Principle Findings: …

Prevalence Of Streptococci And Increased Polymicrobial Diversity Associated With Cystic Fibrosis Patient Stability, L. M. Filkins, T. H. Hampton, A. H. Gifford, M. J. Gross, D. A. Hogan, M. L. Sogin, H. G. Morrison, B. J. Paster, G. A. O'Toole

Dartmouth Scholarship

Diverse microbial communities chronically colonize the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients. Pyrosequencing of amplicons for hypervariable regions in the 16S rRNA gene generated taxonomic profiles of bacterial communities for sputum genomic DNA samples from 22 patients during a state of clinical stability (outpatients) and 13 patients during acute exacerbation (inpatients). We employed quantitative PCR (qPCR) to confirm the detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Streptococcus by the pyrosequencing data and human oral microbe identification microarray (HOMIM) analysis to determine the species of the streptococci identified by pyrosequencing. We show that outpatient sputum samples have significantly higher bacterial diversity than inpatients, but …

Two Boundaries Separate Borrelia Burgdorferi Populations In North America, Gabriele Margos, Jean I. Tsao, Santiago Castillo-Ramirez, Yvette A. Girard, Anne G. Hoen

Dartmouth Scholarship

Understanding the spread of infectious diseases is crucial for implementing effective control measures. For this, it is important to obtain information on the contemporary population structure of a disease agent and to infer the evolutionary processes that may have shaped it. Here, we investigate on a continental scale the population structure of Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme borreliosis (LB), a tick-borne disease, in North America. We test the hypothesis that the observed d population structure is congruent with recent population expansions and that these were preceded by bottlenecks mostly likely caused by the near extirpation in the 1900s …

Evidence On The Human Health Effects Of Low-Level Methylmercury Exposure, Margaret R. Karagas, Anna L. Choi, Emily Oken, Milena Horvat, Rita Schoeny, Elizabeth Kamai, Whitney Cowell, Philippe Grandjean, Susan Korrick

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: Methylmercury (MeHg) is a known neuro-toxicant. Emerging evidence indicates it may have adverse effects on the neuro-logic and other body systems at common low levels of exposure. Impacts of MeHg exposure could vary by individual susceptibility or be confounded by bene-ficial nutrients in fish containing MeHg. Despite its global relevance, synthesis of the available literature on low-level MeHg exposure has been limited.

Objectives: We undertook a synthesis of the current knowledge on the human health effects of low-level MeHg exposure to provide a basis for future research efforts, risk assessment, and exposure remediation policies worldwide.

Data sources and extraction: …