Environmental mismatch and obesity in humans: The Jerusalem Perinatal Family Follow-Up Study.

BACKGROUND: According to the hypothesis of Gluckman and Hanson, mismatch between the developmental and postdevelopmental environments may lead to detrimental health impacts such as obesity. While several animal studies support the mismatch theory, there is a scarcity of evidence from human-based studies. OBJECTIVES: Our study aims to examine whether a mismatch between the developmental and young-adult environments affect obesity in young adults of the Jerusalem Perinatal Family Follow-Up Study. METHODS: Data from The Jerusalem Perinatal Family Follow-Up Study birth cohort was used to characterize early and late environments using offspring and parental sociodemographic and lifestyle information at birth, age 32 (n = 1140) and 42 (n = 404). Scores characterizing the early and late environments were constructed using factor analysis. To assess associations of mismatch with obesity, regression models were fitted using the first factor of each environment and adiposity measures at age 32 and 42. RESULTS: Having a stable non-beneficial environment at birth and young-adulthood was most strongly associated with increased adiposity, while a stable beneficial environment was most favorable. The transition from a beneficial environment at birth to a less beneficial environment at young-adulthood was associated with higher obesity measures, including higher BMI (ß = 0.979; 95% CI: 0.029, 1.929), waist circumference (ß = 2.729; 95% CI: 0.317, 5.140) and waist-hip ratio (ß = 0.017; 95% CI: 0.004, 0.029) compared with those experiencing a beneficial environment at both time points. Transition from a less beneficial environment at birth to a beneficial environment at adulthood was also associated with higher obesity measurements (BMI -ß = 1.116; 95% CI: 0.085, 2.148; waist circumference -ß = 2.736; 95% CI: 0.215, 5.256). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides some support for the mismatch hypothesis. While there is indication that an accumulation of the effects of the non-beneficial environment has the strongest detrimental impact on obesity outcomes, our results also indicate that a mismatch between the developmental and later environments may result in maladaptation of the individual leading to obesity.

Drug-gene interactions and the search for missing heritability: a cross-sectional pharmacogenomics study of the QT interval.

Variability in response to drug use is common and heritable, suggesting that genome-wide pharmacogenomics studies may help explain the 'missing heritability' of complex traits. Here, we describe four independent analyses in 33 781 participants of European ancestry from 10 cohorts that were designed to identify genetic variants modifying the effects of drugs on QT interval duration (QT). Each analysis cross-sectionally examined four therapeutic classes: thiazide diuretics (prevalence of use=13.0%), tri/tetracyclic antidepressants (2.6%), sulfonylurea hypoglycemic agents (2.9%) and QT-prolonging drugs as classified by the University of Arizona Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics (4.4%). Drug-gene interactions were estimated using covariable-adjusted linear regression and results were combined with fixed-effects meta-analysis. Although drug-single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) interactions were biologically plausible and variables were well-measured, findings from the four cross-sectional meta-analyses were null (Pinteraction>5.0 × 10(-8)). Simulations suggested that additional efforts, including longitudinal modeling to increase statistical power, are likely needed to identify potentially important pharmacogenomic effects.

The UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase/N-acetylmannosamine kinase gene is mutated in recessive hereditary inclusion body myopathy.

Hereditary inclusion body myopathy (HIBM; OMIM 600737) is a unique group of neuromuscular disorders characterized by adult onset, slowly progressive distal and proximal weakness and a typical muscle pathology including rimmed vacuoles and filamentous inclusions. The autosomal recessive form described in Jews of Persian descent is the HIBM prototype. This myopathy affects mainly leg muscles, but with an unusual distribution that spares the quadriceps. This particular pattern of weakness distribution, termed quadriceps-sparing myopathy (QSM), was later found in Jews originating from other Middle Eastern countries as well as in non-Jews. We previously localized the gene causing HIBM in Middle Eastern Jews on chromosome 9p12-13 (ref. 5) within a genomic interval of about 700 kb (ref. 6). Haplotype analysis around the HIBM gene region of 104 affected people from 47 Middle Eastern families indicates one unique ancestral founder chromosome in this community. By contrast, single non-Jewish families from India, Georgia (USA) and the Bahamas, with QSM and linkage to the same 9p12-13 region, show three distinct haplotypes. After excluding other potential candidate genes, we eventually identified mutations in the UDP-N-acetylglucosamine-2-epimerase/N-acetylmannosamine kinase (GNE) gene in the HIBM families: all patients from Middle Eastern descent shared a single homozygous missense mutation, whereas distinct compound heterozygotes were identified in affected individuals of families of other ethnic origins. Our findings indicate that GNE is the gene responsible for recessive HIBM.

Associations of socioeconomic position in childhood and young adulthood with cardiometabolic risk factors: the Jerusalem Perinatal Family Follow-Up Study.

BACKGROUND: Several stages in the life course have been identified as important to the development of cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to assess the associations of childhood and adulthood socioeconomic position (SEP) and social mobility with cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRs) later in life. METHODS: We conducted follow-up examinations of 1132 offspring, aged 32, within a population-based cohort of all births in Jerusalem from 1974 to 1976. SEP was indicated by parents' occupation and education, and adulthood SEP was based on offspring's occupation and education recorded at age 32. Linear regression models were used to investigate the associations of SEP and social mobility with CMRs. RESULTS: Childhood-occupational SEP was negatively associated with body mass index (BMI; ß=-0.29, p=0.031), fat percentage (fat%; ß=-0.58, p=0.005), insulin (ß=-0.01, p=0.031), triglycerides (ß=-0.02, p=0.024) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C; ß=-1.91, p=0.015), independent of adulthood SEP. Adulthood-occupational SEP was negatively associated with waist-to-hip ratio (WHR; ß=-0.01, p=0.002), and positively with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C; ß=0.87, p=0.030). Results remained similar after adjustment for smoking and inactivity. Childhood-educational SEP was associated with decreased WHR and LDL-C level (p=0.0002), and adulthood-educational SEP was inversely associated with BMI (p=0.001), waist circumference (p=0.008), WHR (p=0.001) and fat% (p=0.0002) and positively associated with HDL-C (p=0.030). Additionally, social mobility (mainly upward) was shown to have adverse cardiometabolic outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Both childhood and adulthood SEP contribute independently to CMR. The match-mismatch hypothesis may explain the elevated CMRs among participants experiencing social mobility. Identification of life-course SEP-related aspects that translate into social inequality in cardiovascular risk may facilitate efforts for improving health and for reducing disparities in cardiovascular disease.

Physical and transcriptional map of the hereditary inclusion body myopathy locus on chromosome 9p12-p13.

Hereditary inclusion body myopathy (HIBM) is a group of neuromuscular disorders characterised by adult-onset, slowly progressive distal and proximal muscle weakness and typical muscle pathology. Previously, we have mapped the gene responsible for a recessive form of HIBM to chromosome 9p1 and narrowed the interval to one single YAC clone of 1 Mb in size. As a further step towards the identification of the HIBM gene, we have constructed a detailed physical and transcriptional map of this region. A high resolution BAC contig that includes the HIBM critical region, flanked by marker 327GT4 and D9S1859, was constructed. This contig allowed the precise localisation of 25 genes and ESTs to the proximal region of chromosome 9. The expression pattern of those mapped genes and ESTs was established by Northern blot analysis. In the process of refining the HIBM interval, 13 new polymorphic markers were identified, of which 11 are CA-repeats, and two are single nucleotide polymorphisms. Certainly, this map provides an important integration of physical and transcriptional information corresponding to chromosome 9p12-p13, which is expected to facilitate the cloning and identification not only of the HIBM gene, but also other disease genes which map to this region.

Establishment of the genomic structure and identification of thirteen single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the human RECK gene.

The human RECK gene, mapped at 9p13-->p12, is known as a tumor suppressor gene and as a key regulator of extracellular matrix integrity and angiogenesis. We have established the entire genomic structure of this gene, which spans more than 87 kb and consists of 21 exons and 20 introns, and identified thirteen single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Four SNPs were identified in the coding region of the gene (exons 1, 9, 13 and 15), and the remaining nine in introns 5, 8, 10, 12, 15 and 17. The availability of the genomic organization of the RECK gene and the identification of polymorphisms throughout its entire genome will facilitate the evaluation of its role in several disorders and also contribute to the assignment of genes to the several diseases mapped to this chromosomal region.