Publications

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.

Publication: Nature Genetics

Chris Eijsbouts, Tenghao Zheng, Nicholas A. Kennedy, Ferdinando Bonfiglio, Carl A. Anderson, Loukas Moutsianas, Joanne Holliday, Jingchunzi Shi, Suyash Shringarpure, 23andMe Research Team, Alexandru-Ioan Voda, The Bellygenes Initiative, Gianrico Farrugia, Andre Franke, Matthias Hübenthal, Gonçalo Abecasis, Matthew Zawistowski, Anne Heidi Skogholt, Eivind Ness-Jensen, Kristian Hveem, Tõnu Esko, Maris Teder-Laving, Alexandra Zhernakova, Michael Camilleri, Guy Boeckxstaens, Peter J. Whorwell, Robin Spiller, Gil McVean, Mauro D’Amato, Luke Jostins & Miles Parkes

05 November 2021

Summary

An international study of more than 50,000 people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) has revealed that IBS symptoms may be caused by the same biological processes as conditions such as anxiety.

The research team, including more than 40 institutions showed that overall, heritability of IBS (how much your genes influence the likelihood of developing a particular condition) is quite low, indicating the importance of environmental factors such as diet, stress and patterns of behaviour that may also be shared in the family environment.

However, 6 genetic differences were more common in people with IBS than in controls. Researchers found most of the altered genes appear to have more clear-cut roles in the brain and possibly the nerves which supply the gut, rather than the gut itself.

The team also looked for overlap between susceptibility to IBS and other physical and mental health conditions.  They found that the same genetic make-up that puts people at increased risk of IBS also increases the risk for common mood and anxiety disorders such as anxiety, depression, and neuroticism, as well as insomnia. However,  this doesn’t mean that anxiety causes IBS symptoms or vice versa.

Read the full story. 

Publication: The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology

Christiane Drechsler, Mark J Bolland, Ian Reid, Johann Willeit, Georg Schett, Peter Santer, Reecha Sofat, Julie Taylor, Caroline Dale, Richard L Prince, Yoav Ben-Shlomo, John Gallacher, Gorm B Jensen, Ruth Frikke-Schmidt, Stig Egil Bojesen, Marianne Benn, Anders B Wulff, Signe V Krogh, Louise Lind Schierbeck, Stephen Kaptoge, Nicholas Wareham, Ben Schöttker, Anna Zhu, Bernd Holleczek, Elaine Dennison, Karen Jameson, Stefanie Schulze Schleithoff, Sabine Frisch, Allan Linneberg, Tea Skaaby, Line Lund Kårhus, Renate T de Jongh, Marjolein Visser, Harald Dobnig, Cassianne Robinson-Cohen, David S Siscovick, Bryan R Kestenbaum, Alex McConnachie, Naveed Sattar, David Morrison, Annamari Lundqvist, Peggy M Cawthon, Juan R Albertorio, J Wouter Jukema, Stella Trompet, Patricia Kearney, Marcus Dörr, Henry Völzke, Matthias Nauck, Peggy M Cawthon, Peter Rossing, Frederik Persson, Jukka Marniemi, Victoria Vazquez, Johan Sundström, Ulf Risérus, Karl Michaëlsson, Jonathan Emberson, David Leon, Mika Kivimäki

27 October 2021

Summary

Research has shown a link between higher vitamin D levels and lower mortality risk. However, the link was only observed in people who are vitamin D deficient.

Participants were compared based on their genetic make-up, suggest that taking vitamin D supplements will reduce mortality risk for those with low levels of vitamin D.

Publication: Therapeutic Advances in Musculoskeletal Disease

Michael Barnes, Sarah Brockbank, Ian N Bruce, Coziana Ciurtin, Andrew P. Cop, Michael R. Ehrenstein, Paul Emery, Benjamin A. Fisher, John Isaacs, Ruth Matthews, Iain B. McInnes, Hayley Noble, Ayako Wakatsuki Pedersen, Costantino Pitzalis, Karim Raza, Anthony Rowe, Gemma Simpson, Dominic Stringer, Peter C. Taylor, Brian Tom, Yujie Zhong

Publication: The Lancet Oncology

Elizabeth K Bancroft, Elizabeth C Page, Mark N Brook, Sarah Thomas, Natalie Taylor, Jennifer Pope, Jana McHugh, Ann-Britt Jones, Questa Karlsson, Susan Merson, Kai Ren Ong, Jonathan Hoffman, Camilla Huber, Lovise Maehle, Eli Marie Grindedal, Astrid Stormorken, D Gareth Evans, Jeanette Rothwell, Fiona Lalloo, Angela F Brady, Marion Bartlett, Katie Snape, Helen Hanson, Paul James, Joanne McKinley, Lyon Mascarenhas, Sapna Syngal, Chinedu Ukaegbu, Lucy Side, Tessy Thomas, Julian Barwell, Manuel R Teixeira, Louise Izatt, Mohnish Suri, Finlay A Macrae, Nicola Poplawski,  Rakefet Chen-Shtoyerman, Munaza Ahmed, Hannah Musgrave, Nicola Nicolai, Lynn Greenhalgh,  Carole Brewer, Nicholas Pachter, Allan D Spigelman, Ashraf Azzabi, Brian T Helfand, Dorothy Halliday, Saundra Buys, Teresa Ramon y Cajal, Alan Donaldson, Kathleen A Cooney, Marion Harris, John McGrath, Rosemarie Davidson, Amy Taylor, Peter Cooke, Kathryn Myhill, Matthew Hogben, Neil K Aaronson, Audrey Ardern-Jones, Chris H Bangma,  Elena Castro, David Dearnaley, Alexander Dias, Tim Dudderidge, Diana M Eccles, Kate Green, Jorunn Eyfjord, Alison Falconer, Christopher S Foster, Henrik Gronberg, Freddie C Ha y, Oskar Johannsson, Vincent Khoo, Hans Lilja, Geoffrey J Lindeman, Jan Lubinski, Karol Axcrona, Christos Mikropoulos, Anita V Mitra, Clare Moynihan, Holly Ni Raghallaigh, Gad Rennert, Rebecca Collier, Judith Offman, Zsofia Kote-Jarai, Rosalind A Eeles,

19 October 2021

Summary

Lynch syndrome is a rare familial cancer syndrome caused by pathogenic variants in the mismatch repair genes MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, or PMS2, that cause predisposition to various cancers, predominantly colorectal and endometrial cancer. Data are emerging that pathogenic variants in mismatch repair genes increase the risk of early-onset aggressive prostate cancer. The IMPACT study is prospectively assessing prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening in men with germline mismatch repair pathogenic variants.

Publication: Cancer Research

Ramona Woitek, Mary McLean , Stephan Ursprung, Oscar M Ruedae, Raquel Manzano Garcia, Matthew Locke, Lucian Beer, Gabrielle Baxter, Leonardo Rundo, Elena Provenzano , Joshua Kaggie , Andrew Patterson, Amy Frarya, Johanna Field-Raynera,b , Vasiliki Papalouka , Justine Kaneg, Arnold Benjamin, Andrew B Gill , Andrew Priest , David Lewis, Roslin Russell, Ashley Grimmera, , Brian Whitea , Beth Latimer-Bowmana, , Ilse Patterson, Amy Schiller , Bruno Carmo , Rhys Slough , Titus Lanzk , James Wason, Rolf Schultel, Suet-Feung Chine, Martin J Graves, Fiona J Gilbert, Jean E Abraham, Carlos Caldase, Kevin M Brindle , Evis Sala Ferdia A Gallagher

8 October 2021

Summary

Hyperpolarised carbon-13 MRI was used to detect response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with early breast cancer around one week after the start of treatment.

Publication: International Journal of Obesity

Tim Lindsay, Katrien Wijndaele, Kate Westgate, Paddy Dempsey, Tessa Strain, Emanuella De Lucia Rolfe, Nita G. Forouhi, Simon Griffin, Nick J. Wareham & Søren Brage

30 September 2021

Summary

Physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE) represents the total volume of all physical activity. Although volume and intensity have been studied in isolation, less is known about their joint association with health.

Researchers examined this association with body fatness in a population-based sample of middle-aged British adults in a large population-based cohort study with objective measures, PAEE was inversely associated with body fatness.

Publication: New England Journal of Medicine

Edson Mendes de Oliveira, Julia M. Keogh, Fleur Talbot, Elana Henning, Rachel Ahmed, Aliki Perdikari, Rebecca Bounds, Natalia Wasiluk, Vikram Ayinampudi, Inês Barroso, Jacek Mokrosiński,  Deepthi Jyothish, Sharon Lim, Sanjay Gupta, Melanie Kershaw, Cristina Matei,  Praveen Partha, Tabitha Randell, Antoinette McAulay, Louise C. Wilson, Tim Cheetham, Elizabeth C. Crowne, Peter Clayton, and I. Sadaf Farooqi,

06 October 2021

Summary

Single-gene disorders that involve mendelian inheritance are individually rare, but collectively they account for 1 in 100 births. Although genetic testing has traditionally been informed by clinical characteristics, next-generation sequencing now permits the unbiased testing of multiple genes.

This study involved a subgroup of patients with severe obesity and in whom mutations in known obesity genes had been ruled out. Researchers performed exome sequencing and targeted resequencing.

Publication: BMC Infectious Diseases

Yogini V. Chudasama, Francesco Zaccardi, Clare L. Gillies, Cameron Razieh, Thomas Yates, David E. Kloecker, Alex V. Rowlands, Melanie J. Davies, Nazrul Islam, Samuel Seidu, Nita G. Forouhi & Kamlesh Khunti

4 September 2021

Summary

Pre-existing comorbidities (presence of one or more additional conditions usually occurring with a main health condition) have been linked to SARS-CoV-2 infection but evidence is sparse on the importance and pattern of multimorbidity (2 or more conditions) and severity of infection indicated by hospitalisation or mortality.

Researchers aimed to use a multimorbidity index developed specifically for COVID-19 to investigate the association between multimorbidity and risk of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. The multimorbidity index may help identify individuals at higher risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes and provide guidance for tailoring effective treatment.

Publication: Nature Medicine

Ittai Dayan, Holger R. Roth, Aoxiao Zhong, Ahmed Harouni, Amilcare Gentili, Anas Z. Abidin, Andrew Liu, Anthony Beardsworth Costa, Bradford J. Wood, Chien-Sung Tsai, Chih-Hung Wang, Chun-Nan Hsu, C. K. Lee, Peiying Ruan, Daguang Xu, Dufan Wu, Eddie Huang, Felipe Campos Kitamura, Griffin Lacey, Gustavo César de Antônio Corradi, Gustavo Nino, Hao-Hsin Shin, Hirofumi Obinata, Hui Ren, Jason C. Crane, Jesse Tetreault, Jiahui Guan, John W. Garrett, Joshua D. Kaggie, Jung Gil Park, Keith Dreyer, Krishna Juluru, Kristopher Kersten, Marcio Aloisio Bezerra Cavalcanti Rockenbach, Marius George Linguraru, Masoom A. Haider, Meena AbdelMaseeh, Nicola Rieke, Pablo F. Damasceno, Pedro Mario Cruz e Silva, Pochuan Wang, Sheng Xu, Shuichi Kawano, Sira Sriswasdi, Soo Young Park, Thomas M. Grist, Varun Buch, Watsamon Jantarabenjakul, Weichung Wang, Won Young Tak, Xiang Li, Xihong Lin, Young Joon Kwon, Abood Quraini, Andrew Feng, Andrew N. Priest, Baris Turkbey, Benjamin Glicksberg, Bernardo Bizzo, Byung Seok Kim, Carlos Tor-Díez, Chia-Cheng Lee, Chia-Jung Hsu, Chin Lin, Chiu-Ling Lai, Christopher P. Hess, Colin Compas, Deepeksha Bhatia, Eric K. Oermann, Evan Leibovitz, Hisashi Sasaki, Hitoshi Mori, Isaac Yang, Jae Ho Sohn, Krishna Nand Keshava Murthy, Li-Chen Fu, Matheus Ribeiro Furtado de Mendonça, Mike Fralick, Min Kyu Kang, Mohammad Adil, Natalie Gangai, Peerapon Vateekul, Pierre Elnajjar, Sarah Hickman, Sharmila Majumdar, Shelley L. McLeod, Sheridan Reed, Stefan Gräf, Stephanie Harmon, Tatsuya Kodama, Thanyawee Puthanakit, Tony Mazzulli, Vitor Lima de Lavor, Yothin Rakvongthai, Yu Rim Lee, Yuhong Wen, Fiona J. Gilbert, Mona G. Flores & Quanzheng Li

15 September 2021

Summary

In collaboration with 20 centres across the world, including Harvard and Nvidia, researchers ‘federate’ machine learning to improve the prediction of covid based on chest x-rays. This method allows use to show results without sharing patient data. Read the full press release.

Publication: European Urology

David Thurtle, Val Jenkins, Alex Freeman, Mike Pearson, Gabriel Recchia, Priya Tamer, Kelly Leonard, Paul Pharoah, Jonathan Aning, Sanjeev Madaanh, Chee Goh,  Serena Hilman, Stuart McCracken, Petre Cristian, lie, Henry Lazarowicz, Vincent Gnanapragasam

4 September 2021

Summary

Predict Prostate is a Cambridge developed and validated risk communication tool for men with a new prostate cancer diagnosis. It is a CE marked web tool and endorsed by NICE. In this multicentre RCT national study, researchers assessed the impact of this individualised risk communication tool, on patient decision-making after a diagnosis of localised prostate cancer.

Men were randomly assigned to two groups, which received either standard counselling and information, or this in addition to a structured presentation of the Predict Prostate tool. Men who saw the tool were less conflicted and uncertain in their decision-making, and recommended the tool highly. Those who saw the tool had more realistic perception about their long-term survival and the potential impact of treatment upon this.

Publication: Journal of Parkinson's Disease

Roger Barker, Danielle Daft, Emma Cutting

01 April 2021

Summary

This is an opinion article on the use of advanced therapy medicinal products in Parkinson’s disease, and how they can be taken into the clinic.