Publications

Publication: British Journal of Nutrition

L.E.T. Vissers, I. Sluijs, S. Burgess, N.G. Forouhi,H. Freisling, F. Imamura, T.K. Nilsson, F. Renström, E. Weiderpass, K. Aleksandrova, C.C. Dahm, A. Perez-Cornago, M.B. Schulze, T.Y.N. Tong, D. Aune, C. Bonet, J.M.A. Boer, H. Boeing, M.D. Chirlaque, M.I. Conchi, L. Imaz, S. Jäger, V. Krogh, C. Kyrø, G. Masala,O. Melander, K. Overvad, S. Panico, M.J. Sánches, E. Sonestedt, A. Tjønneland, I. Tzoulaki, W.M.M. Verschuren, E. Riboli, N.J. Wareham, J. Danesh, A.S. Butterworth, Y.T. van der Schouw

21 October 2021

Higher milk intake has been associated with a lower stroke risk, but not with risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Residual confounding or reverse causation cannot be excluded. Therefore, we estimated the causal association of milk consumption with stroke and CHD risk through instrumental variable (IV) and gene-outcome analyses.

Publication: Journal of the American Heart Association

Marinka Steur, Laura Johnson, Stephen J. Sharp, Fumiaki Imamura, Ivonne Sluijs, Timothy J. Key, Angela Wood, Rajiv Chowdhury, Marcela Guevara, Marianne U. Jakobsen, Ingegerd Johansson, Albert Koulman, Kim Overvad, Maria‐José Sánchez, Yvonne T. van der Schouw, Antonia Trichopoulou, Elisabete Weiderpass, Maria Wennberg, Ju‐Sheng Zheng, Heiner Boeing, Jolanda M. A. Boer, Marie‐Christine Boutron‐Ruault, Ulrika Ericson, Alicia K. Heath, Inge Huybrechts, Liher Imaz, Rudolf Kaaks, Vittorio Krogh, Tilman Kühn, Cecilie Kyrø, Giovanna Masala, Olle Melander, Conchi Moreno‐Iribas, Salvatore Panico, José R. Quirós, Miguel Rodríguez‐Barranco, Carlotta Sacerdote, Carmen Santiuste, Guri Skeie, Anne Tjønneland, Rosario Tumino, W. M. Monique Verschuren, Raul Zamora‐Ros, Christina C. Dahm, Aurora Perez‐Cornago, Matthias B. Schulze, Tammy Y. N. Tong, Elio Riboli, Nicholas J.Wareham, John Danesh, Adam S. Butterworth, and Nita G. Forouhi

7 December 2021

Summary

Once thought to be the best dietary advice for the prevention of heart attacks, reducing saturated fat in the diet is increasingly questioned as a strategy for improving heart health. This change, which is evident in the increasing popularity of low carbohydrate, not low fat diets, is happening for a variety of reasons.

Researchers conducted research across nine countries of Europe testing the link between different types of dietary fats and the future risk of developing heart disease. This study involved 10,529 people who developed heart disease over time and compared them with 16,730 people who did not develop heart disease, who were randomly selected from 385,747 European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC) study volunteers in the EPIC-CVD Study.

Publication: Lancet Regional Health Europe

Tessa Strain, Stephen  J.Sharp, Andrew Spiers, Helen Price, Ciara Williams, Carol Fraser, Søren Brage, Katrien Wijndaele, Paul Kelly

29 November 2021

Summary

To limit the spread of COVID-19 in March 2020, the population of England was instructed to stay home, leaving only for essential shopping, health-care, work, or exercise. The impact on population activity behaviours is not clear. Researchers describe changes in duration and types of activity undertaken by adults ≥16 years in England between March and May 2016 and 2020, by socio-demographic strata. Restrictions introduced in Spring 2020 likely reduced physical activity levels in England. The magnitude of the declines were not uniform by demographic groups or by activity type, which future policies should consider.

Publication: The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism

Ulla Sovio, Neil Goulding, Nancy McBride, Emma Cook, Francesca Gaccioli,  Stephen Charnock-Jones, Deborah A Lawlor, Gordon C S Smith, 

19 November 2021

Summary

Large size at birth is associated with complications in the mother and the baby. Alongside work in fetal growth restriction (FGR), researchers analysed their previously developed metabolite ratio in relation to large for gestational age (LGA) infants born at term.

They found that the metabolite ratio predictive of FGR was inversely associated with both LGA and birth weight z score as a continuous trait. These findings, obtained from the Pregnancy Outcome Prediction study, were externally validated in the Born in Bradford study.

Publication: Nature

Stephen-John Sammut, Mireia Crispin-Ortuzar, Suet-Feung Chin, Elena Provenzano, Helen A. Bardwell, Wenxin Ma, Wei Cope, Ali Dariush, Sarah-Jane Dawson, Jean E. Abraham, Janet Dunn, Louise Hiller, Jeremy Thomas, David A. Cameron, John M. S. Bartlett, Larry Hayward, Paul D. Pharoah, Florian Markowetz, Oscar M. Rueda, Helena M. Earl & Carlos Caldas

7 December 2021

Summary

Breast cancers are complex ecosystems of malignant cells and tumour microenvironment.

The composition of these tumour ecosystems and interactions within them contribute to cytotoxic therapy response. Researchers collected clinical, digital pathology, genomic and transcriptomic profiles of pre-treatment biopsies of breast tumours from 168 patients treated with chemotherapy +/- HER2-targeted therapy prior to surgery.

Publication: npj Schizophrenia

Banerjee S, Liò P, Jones PB, Cardinal RN

8 December 2021

Summary

Machine learning (ML), one aspect of artificial intelligence (AI), involves computer algorithms that train themselves. They have been widely applied in the healthcare domain. However, many trained ML algorithms operate as ‘black boxes’, producing a prediction from input data without a clear explanation of their workings.

Researchers apply class-contrastive counterfactual reasoning to ML to demonstrate how specific changes in inputs lead to different predictions of mortality in people with severe mental illness (SMI).

Researchers produce predictions accompanied by visual and textual explanations as to how the prediction would have differed given specific changes to the input.

Publication: Nature Metabolism

Scott C. Ritchie, Samuel A. Lambert, Matthew Arnold, Shu Mei Teo, Sol Lim, Petar Scepanovic, Jonathan Marten, Sohail Zahid, Mark Chaffin, Yingying Liu, Gad Abraham, Willem H. Ouwehand, David J. Roberts, Nicholas A. Watkins, Brian G. Drew, Anna C. Calkin, Emanuele Di Angelantonio, Nicole Soranzo, Stephen Burgess, Michael Chapman, Sekar Kathiresan, Amit V. Khera, John Danesh, Adam S. Butterworth & Michael Inouye

8 November 2021

Summary

For the first time, scientists have used polygenic scoring to identify molecular drivers of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, which could be targeted to help prevent or treat some of these conditions.

Publication: NEJM Evidence

Tian X. Zhao, Rouchelle S. Sriranjan, Zewen Kelvin Tuong, Yuning Lu, Andrew P. Sage, Meritxell Nus, Annette Hubsch, Fotini Kaloyirou, Evangelia Vamvaka, Joanna Helmy, Michalis Kostapanos, Navazh Jalaludeen, David Klatzmann, Alain Tedgui, James H.F. Rudd, Sarah J. Horton, Brian J.P. Huntly, Stephen P. Hoole, Simon P. Bond,  Menna R. Clatworthy, Joseph Cheriyan, and Ziad Mallat,

22 November 2021

Summary

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the artery wall. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) limit inflammation and promote tissue healing. Low doses of interleukin (IL)-2 have the potential to increase Tregs, but its use is contraindicated for patients with ischemic heart disease.

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation trial, researchers tested low-dose subcutaneous aldesleukin (recombinant IL-2), given once daily for 5 consecutive days.

Publication: Journal of Nuclear Medicine

Maura Malpetti, Sanne S Kaalund, Kamen A Tsvetanov, Timothy Rittman, Mayen Briggs, Kieren Allinson, Luca Passamonti, Negin Holland, P Simon Jones, Tim D Fryer, Young T Hong, Antonina Kouli, Richard Bevan-Jones, Elijah Mak, George Savulich, Maria Grazia Spillantini, Franklin Aigbirhio, Caroline H Williams-Gray, John T O’Brien and James B Rowe

18 November 2021

Summary

Progressive brain diseases like dementia and Parkinson’s disease move through stages. A new system to stage the dementia-parkinsonian disease known as Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) has been developed in 2020.  In 2021, researchers validated the new scheme at the Cambridge Brain Bank, looking at the disease severity at the end of life. Researchers wanted to know how the disease progresses and to stop it.

Researchers used a PET scan with a chemical “dye” called 18F-flortaucipi to measure PSP. Despite high hopes for PET using this dye to measure the burden of PSP, when the study began, the results of the study are clear – it does not support the staging of disease, either in lifetime or in terms of outcomes of the illness. 18F-Flortaucipir PET is successfully used in other diseases, like Alzheimer’s, but it cannot be used for PSP staging.

Publication: BMJ

Katherine R Schon, Rita Horvath, Wei Wei, Claudia Calabrese, Arianna Tucci, Kristina Ibañez, Thiloka Ratnaike, Robert D S Pitceathly, Enrico Bugiardini, Rosaline Quinlivan, Michael G Hanna, Emma Clement, Emma Ashton, John A Sayer, Paul Brennan, Dragana Josifova, Louise Izatt, Carl Fratter, consultant Victoria Nesbitt, Timothy Barrett, Dominic J McMullen, Audrey Smith, Charulata Deshpande, Sarah F Smithson, Richard Festenstein, Natalie Canham, Mark Caulfield, Henry Houlden, Shamima Rahman, Patrick F Chinnery

4 November 2021

Summary

Mitochondrial disorders affect around 1 in 4,300 people and cause progressive, incurable diseases. They are amongst the most common inherited diseases but are difficult for clinicians to diagnose, standard tests can fail to diagnose some patients. A new study has been able to find using WGS can help provide a diagnosis for up to 31% more  patients with a rare genetic disorder which will ultimately help them begin the right treatment pathway.

Publication: Journal of Affective Disorders

Shanquan Chen, Athina R.Aruldass, Rudolf N.Cardinal

11 November 2021

Summary

In the first half of 2021, people in the USA who had had the COVID-19 vaccine were in general less likely to have anxiety and depressive symptoms (which might be a cause or a consequence). This effect varied with age, marital status, level of education, ethnicity, and income, but not gender.

Publication: BJPsych Open

Shanquan Chen, Emilio Fernandez-Egea, Peter B. Jones, Jonathan R. Lewis and Rudolf N. Cardinal

2 November 2021

Summary

In people with severe mental illness such as schizophrenia, an elevated risk of death after COVID-19 infection persists to about 60 days.

Publication: The American Journal of the Medical Sciences

Sarah L. Cowan, Martin Wiegand, Jacobus Preller, Robert J.B. Goudie

August 23 2021

Summary

Using data extracted from CUH Epic on all patients admitted to CUH with COVID-19 between August 27, 2020 and April 16, 2021, researchers assessed the accuracy of the 4C Deterioration model (Gupta et al, Lancet Respir Med, 2021), a point-of-admission tool for predicting in-hospital clinical deterioration in these patients.

Publication: Pediatric Obesity

Inge A.L.P. van Beijsterveldt, Stuart G. Snowden, Pernille Neve Myers, Kirsten S. de Fluiter, Bert van de Heijning, Susanne Brix, Ken K. Ong, David B. Dunger, Anita C.S. Hokken-Koelega, Albert Koulman

13 October 2021

Summary

Early life is a critical window for adiposity (the quality or state of fat) programming. Metabolic-profile in early life may reflect this programming and correlate with later life adiposity. Researchers investigated if metabolic-profile at 3 months of age is predictive for body composition at 2 years and if there are differences between boys and girls and between infant feeding types.

Publication: British Journal of Radiology

Martin John Graves

10 November 2021

Summary

This research reviews the advantages and disadvantages of magnetic resonance imaging at a field strength of 3 tesla in comparison to lower field strengths.

Publication: Tropical Medicine and International Health

Sophie E. Kastberg, Helene S. Lund, Emanuella de Lucia-Rolfe, Lydia U. Kaduka, Michael K. Boit, Eva Corpeleijn, Henrik Friis, Sophie Bernard, Martine Paquette, Alexis Baas,

26 October 2021

Summary

Liver fat accumulation (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) is associated with obesity, especially abdominal obesity. It is also associated with risk factors for cardiovascular disease such as diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol levels in the blood.  In sub-Saharan Africa, little is known about liver fat accumulation, and the association with obesity levels and risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Researchers studied 750 adults from different ethnic groups in rural and urban Kenya using ultrasound scanning in order to determine liver fat accumulation and its association with cardiovascular disease risk factors.

Publication: PLoS One

Campbell Foubister, Esther M. F. van Sluijs, Anna Vignoles, Paul Wilkinson, Edward C. F. Wilson, Caroline H. D. Croxson, Helen Elizabeth Brown, Kirsten Corder 

8 April 2021

Summary

Researchers examined the association between the school policy, social and physical environment and change in adolescent physical activity (PA) and explored how sex and socioeconomic status modified potential associations. The school social environment is associated with PA during adolescence. Further exploration of how friendships during adolescence may be leveraged to support effective PA promotion in schools is warranted.

Publication: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Kenneth H Brown, Sophie E Moore, Sonja Y Hess, Christine M McDonald, Kerry S Jones, Sarah R Meadows, Mari S Manger, Jennifer Coates, Silvia Alayon, Saskia J M Osendarp

1 September 2021

Summary

Micronutrient (MN) deficiencies can produce a broad range of adverse health problems. Young, preschool children and women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries are most affected by these deficiencies, but the true magnitude of the problems and their related disease burdens remain uncertain because of lack of reliable biomarker information on population MN status.

This report describes the current situation with regard to data availability, the reasons for the lack of relevant information, and the steps needed to correct this situation, including implementation of a multi-component MN Data Generation Initiative to advocate for critical data collection and provide related technical assistance, laboratory services, professional training, and financial support.

Publication: Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine

Danielle E. Haslam, Gina M. Peloso, Melanie Guirette, Fumiaki Imamura, Traci M. Bartz, Achilleas N. Pitsillides, Carol A. Wang, Ruifang Li-Gao, Jason M. Westra, Niina Pitkänen, Kristin L. Young, Mariaelisa Graff, Alexis C. Wood, Kim V.E. Braun, Jian’an Luan, Mika Kähönen, Jessica C. Kiefte-de Jong, Mohsen Ghanbari, Nathan Tintle,  Rozenn N. Lemaitre, Dennis O. Mook-Kanamori, Kari North, Mika Helminen, Yasmin Mossavar-Rahmani, Linda Snetselaar, Lisa W. Martin, Jorma S. Viikari, Wendy H. Oddy, Craig E. Pennell, Frits R. Rosendall, M. Arfan Ikram, Andre G Uitterlinden, Bruce M. Psaty, Dariush Mozaffarian, Jerome I. Rotter, Kent D. Taylor, Terho Lehtimäki, Olli T. Raitakari, Kara A. Livingston, Trudy Voortman, Nita G. Forouhi, Nick J. Wareham, Renée de Mutsert, Steven S. Rich, JoAnn E. Manson, Samia Mora, Paul M. Ridker, Jordi Merino, James B. Meigs, Hassan S. Dashti, Daniel I. Chasman, Alice H. Lichtenstein, Caren E. Smith, Josée Dupuis, Mark A. Herman, Nicola M.McKeown

16 July 2021

Summary

ChREBP (carbohydrate responsive element binding protein) is a transcription factor that responds to sugar consumption. Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption and genetic variants in the CHREBP locus have separately been linked to HDL-C (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol) and triglyceride concentrations. Researchers investigated  that SSB consumption would modify the association between genetic variants in the CHREBP locus and dyslipidemia (an abnormal level of cholesterol and other lipids, also called fats, in the blood).

Publication: Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Ghadeer S. Aljuraiban, Rachel Gibson, Leenah Al-Freeh, Sara Al-Musharaf, Nitin Shivappa, James R. Hébert, Linda M. Oude Griep, Queenie Chan,

1 September 2021

Summary

Saudi Arabian diets are transitioning to more Western dietary patterns that have been associated with higher levels of inflammation. Emerging evidence suggests plant-based diets are related to lower levels of inflammation; however, the definition of plant-based diets varies.

Researchers aimed to identify the extent to which an overall Plant-Based Diet Index (PDI), Healthy-PDI (hPDI), and Unhealthy-PDI (uPDI) vs Energy-Adjusted Dietary Inflammatory Index correlate with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) level.

Although all indexes had a small or moderate correlation with hs-CRP, only E-DII score was positively associated with hs-CRP level. Future research can examine PDI-based interventions for lowering inflammation.