Bmc Med
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Numerous intrauterine factors may affect the offspring's growth during childhood. We aimed to explore if maternal and paternal prenatal lipid, apolipoprotein (apo)B and apoA1 levels are associated with offspring weight, length, and body mass index from 6 weeks to eight years of age. This has previously been studied to a limited extent. ⋯ Maternal compared to paternal TC, HDL-C, and apoA1 levels were more strongly and consistently associated with offspring body weight during childhood, supporting a direct intrauterine effect.
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The ability of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) to decrease certain microvascular events has called for the investigation of GLP-1 RAs against diabetic retinopathy (DR), but the evidence is limited. By combining data from observational and Mendelian randomization (MR) studies, we aimed to investigate whether GLP-1 RAs decrease the risk of DR. ⋯ Both observational and mendelian randomization analyses showed a significantly lower risk of DR for patients treated with GLP-1 RAs, which calls for further studies to validate these findings.
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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder that is accompanied by muscle weakness and muscle atrophy, typically resulting in death within 3-5 years from the disease occurrence. Though the cause of ALS remains unclear, increasing evidence has suggested that inflammation is involved in the pathogenesis of ALS. Thus, we performed two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses to estimate the associations of circulating levels of cytokines and growth factors with the risk of ALS. ⋯ Our systematic MR analyses provided suggestive evidence to support causal associations of circulating FGF-basic and IP-10 with the risk of ALS. More studies are warranted to explore how these cytokines may affect the development of ALS.
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Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a widespread disease transmitted to humans and livestock animals through the bite of infected ticks or close contact with infected persons' blood, organs, or other bodily fluids. The virus is responsible for severe viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks, with a case fatality rate of up to 40%. Despite having the highest fatality rate of the virus, a suitable treatment option or vaccination has not been developed yet. Therefore, this study aimed to formulate a multiepitope vaccine against CCHF through computational vaccine design approaches. ⋯ Finally, we concluded that the formulated multiepitope vaccine candidates would provide excellent prophylactic properties against CCHF.
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Extensive evidence links higher body mass index (BMI) to higher odds of depression in people of European ancestry. However, our understanding of the relationship across different settings and ancestries is limited. Here, we test the relationship between body composition and depression in people of East Asian ancestry. ⋯ This study provides the first MR evidence for an inverse relationship between BMI and depression in people of East Asian ancestry. This contrasts with previous findings in European populations and therefore the public health response to obesity and depression is likely to need to differ based on sociocultural factors for example, ancestry and place of residence. This highlights the importance of setting-specific causality when using genetic causal inference approaches and data from diverse populations to test hypotheses. This is especially important when the relationship tested is not purely biological and may involve sociocultural factors.