| 1. |
- Ademuyiwa, Adesoji O., et al.
(författare)
-
Determinants of morbidity and mortality following emergency abdominal surgery in children in low-income and middle-income countries
- 2016
-
Ingår i: BMJ Global Health. - : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 2059-7908. ; 1:4
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Child health is a key priority on the global health agenda, yet the provision of essential and emergency surgery in children is patchy in resource-poor regions. This study was aimed to determine the mortality risk for emergency abdominal paediatric surgery in low-income countries globally.Methods: Multicentre, international, prospective, cohort study. Self-selected surgical units performing emergency abdominal surgery submitted prespecified data for consecutive children aged <16 years during a 2-week period between July and December 2014. The United Nation's Human Development Index (HDI) was used to stratify countries. The main outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality, analysed by multilevel logistic regression.Results: This study included 1409 patients from 253 centres in 43 countries; 282 children were under 2 years of age. Among them, 265 (18.8%) were from low-HDI, 450 (31.9%) from middle-HDI and 694 (49.3%) from high-HDI countries. The most common operations performed were appendectomy, small bowel resection, pyloromyotomy and correction of intussusception. After adjustment for patient and hospital risk factors, child mortality at 30 days was significantly higher in low-HDI (adjusted OR 7.14 (95% CI 2.52 to 20.23), p<0.001) and middle-HDI (4.42 (1.44 to 13.56), p=0.009) countries compared with high-HDI countries, translating to 40 excess deaths per 1000 procedures performed.Conclusions: Adjusted mortality in children following emergency abdominal surgery may be as high as 7 times greater in low-HDI and middle-HDI countries compared with high-HDI countries. Effective provision of emergency essential surgery should be a key priority for global child health agendas.
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
- McWhinney, Sean R, et al.
(författare)
-
Association between body mass index and subcortical brain volumes in bipolar disorders-ENIGMA study in 2735 individuals.
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Molecular psychiatry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-5578 .- 1359-4184. ; 26:11, s. 6806-6819
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Individuals with bipolar disorders (BD) frequently suffer from obesity, which is often associated with neurostructural alterations. Yet, the effects of obesity on brain structure in BD are under-researched. We obtained MRI-derived brain subcortical volumes and body mass index (BMI) from 1134 BD and 1601 control individuals from 17 independent research sites within the ENIGMA-BD Working Group. We jointly modeled the effects of BD and BMI on subcortical volumes using mixed-effects modeling and tested for mediation of group differences by obesity using nonparametric bootstrapping. All models controlled for age, sex, hemisphere, total intracranial volume, and data collection site. Relative to controls, individuals with BD had significantly higher BMI, larger lateral ventricular volume, and smaller volumes of amygdala, hippocampus, pallidum, caudate, and thalamus. BMI was positively associated with ventricular and amygdala and negatively with pallidal volumes. When analyzed jointly, both BD and BMI remained associated with volumes of lateral ventricles and amygdala. Adjusting for BMI decreased the BD vs control differences in ventricular volume. Specifically, 18.41% of the association between BD and ventricular volume was mediatedby BMI (Z=2.73, p=0.006). BMI was associated with similar regional brain volumes as BD, including lateral ventricles, amygdala, and pallidum. Higher BMI may in part account for larger ventricles, one of the most replicated findings in BD. Comorbidity with obesity could explain why neurostructural alterations are more pronounced in some individuals with BD. Future prospective brain imaging studies should investigate whether obesity could be a modifiable risk factor for neuroprogression.
|
|
| 4. |
- McWhinney, Sean R, et al.
(författare)
-
Diagnosis of bipolar disorders and body mass index predict clustering based on similarities in cortical thickness-ENIGMA study in 2436 individuals.
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Bipolar disorders. - : Wiley. - 1399-5618 .- 1398-5647. ; 24:5, s. 509-520
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Rates of obesity have reached epidemic proportions, especially among people with psychiatric disorders. While the effects of obesity on the brain are of major interest in medicine, they remain markedly under-researched in psychiatry.We obtained body mass index (BMI) and magnetic resonance imaging-derived regional cortical thickness, surface area from 836 bipolar disorders (BD) and 1600 control individuals from 14sites within the ENIGMA-BD Working Group. We identified regionally specific profiles of cortical thickness using K-means clustering and studied clinical characteristics associated with individual cortical profiles.We detected two clusters based on similarities among participants in cortical thickness. The lower thickness cluster (46.8% of the sample) showed thinner cortex, especially in the frontal and temporal lobes and was associated with diagnosis of BD, higher BMI, and older age. BD individuals in the low thickness cluster were more likely to have the diagnosis of bipolar disorder I and less likely to be treated with lithium. In contrast, clustering based on similarities in the cortical surface area was unrelated to BD or BMI and only tracked age and sex.We provide evidence that both BD and obesity are associated with similar alterations in cortical thickness, but not surface area. The fact that obesity increased the chance of having low cortical thickness could explain differences in cortical measures among people with BD. The thinner cortex in individuals with higher BMI, which was additive and similar to the BD-associated alterations, may suggest that treating obesity could lower the extent of cortical thinning in BD.
|
|
| 5. |
- McWhinney, Sean R, et al.
(författare)
-
Mega-analysis of association between obesity and cortical morphology in bipolar disorders: ENIGMA study in 2832 participants.
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Psychological medicine. - 1469-8978. ; 53:14, s. 6743-6753
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Obesity is highly prevalent and disabling, especially in individuals with severe mental illness including bipolar disorders (BD). The brain is a target organ for both obesity and BD. Yet, we do not understand how cortical brain alterations in BD and obesity interact.We obtained body mass index (BMI) and MRI-derived regional cortical thickness, surface area from 1231 BD and 1601 control individuals from 13 countries within the ENIGMA-BD Working Group. We jointly modeled the statistical effects of BD and BMI on brain structure using mixed effects and tested for interaction and mediation. We also investigated the impact of medications on the BMI-related associations.BMI and BD additively impacted the structure of many of the same brain regions. Both BMI and BD were negatively associated with cortical thickness, but not surface area. In most regions the number of jointly used psychiatric medication classes remained associated with lower cortical thickness when controlling for BMI. In a single region, fusiform gyrus, about a third of the negative association between number of jointly used psychiatric medications and cortical thickness was mediated by association between the number of medications and higher BMI.We confirmed consistent associations between higher BMI and lower cortical thickness, but not surface area, across the cerebral mantle, in regions which were also associated with BD. Higher BMI in people with BD indicated more pronounced brain alterations. BMI is important for understanding the neuroanatomical changes in BD and the effects of psychiatric medications on the brain.
|
|
| 6. |
- McWhinney, Sean R, et al.
(författare)
-
Principal component analysis as an efficient method for capturing multivariate brain signatures of complex disorders-ENIGMA study in people with bipolar disorders and obesity.
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Human brain mapping. - 1097-0193 .- 1097-0193. ; 45:8
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Multivariate techniques better fit the anatomy of complex neuropsychiatric disorders which are characterized not by alterations in a single region, but rather by variations across distributed brain networks. Here, we used principal component analysis (PCA) to identify patterns of covariance across brain regions and relate them to clinical and demographic variables in a large generalizable dataset of individuals with bipolar disorders and controls. We then compared performance of PCA and clustering on identical sample to identify which methodology was better in capturing links between brain and clinical measures. Using data from the ENIGMA-BD working group, we investigated T1-weighted structural MRI data from 2436 participants with BD and healthy controls, and applied PCA to cortical thickness and surface area measures. We then studied the association of principal components with clinical and demographic variables using mixed regression models. We compared the PCA model with our prior clustering analyses of the same data and also tested it in a replication sample of 327 participants with BD or schizophrenia and healthy controls. The first principal component, which indexed a greater cortical thickness across all 68 cortical regions, was negatively associated with BD, BMI, antipsychotic medications, and age and was positively associated with Li treatment. PCA demonstrated superior goodness of fit to clustering when predicting diagnosis and BMI. Moreover, applying the PCA model to the replication sample yielded significant differences in cortical thickness between healthy controls and individuals with BD or schizophrenia. Cortical thickness in the same widespread regional network as determined by PCA was negatively associated with different clinical and demographic variables, including diagnosis, age, BMI, and treatment with antipsychotic medications or lithium. PCA outperformed clustering and provided an easy-to-use and interpret method to study multivariate associations between brain structure and system-level variables. PRACTITIONER POINTS: In this study of 2770 Individuals, we confirmed that cortical thickness in widespread regional networks as determined by principal component analysis (PCA) was negatively associated with relevant clinical and demographic variables, including diagnosis, age, BMI, and treatment with antipsychotic medications or lithium. Significant associations of many different system-level variables with the same brain network suggest a lack of one-to-one mapping of individual clinical and demographic factors to specific patterns of brain changes. PCA outperformed clustering analysis in the same data set when predicting group or BMI, providing a superior method for studying multivariate associations between brain structure and system-level variables.
|
|
| 7. |
|
|
| 8. |
- Cornish, Alex J., et al.
(författare)
-
The genomic landscape of 2,023 colorectal cancers
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Nature. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 633:8028, s. 127-136
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is a common cause of mortality1, but a comprehensive description of its genomic landscape is lacking2–9. Here we perform whole-genome sequencing of 2,023 CRC samples from participants in the UK 100,000 Genomes Project, thereby providing a highly detailed somatic mutational landscape of this cancer. Integrated analyses identify more than 250 putative CRC driver genes, many not previously implicated in CRC or other cancers, including several recurrent changes outside the coding genome. We extend the molecular pathways involved in CRC development, define four new common subgroups of microsatellite-stable CRC based on genomic features and show that these groups have independent prognostic associations. We also characterize several rare molecular CRC subgroups, some with potential clinical relevance, including cancers with both microsatellite and chromosomal instability. We demonstrate a spectrum of mutational profiles across the colorectum, which reflect aetiological differences. These include the role of Escherichiacolipks+ colibactin in rectal cancers10 and the importance of the SBS93 signature11–13, which suggests that diet or smoking is a risk factor. Immune-escape driver mutations14 are near-ubiquitous in hypermutant tumours and occur in about half of microsatellite-stable CRCs, often in the form of HLA copy number changes. Many driver mutations are actionable, including those associated with rare subgroups (for example, BRCA1 and IDH1), highlighting the role of whole-genome sequencing in optimizing patient care.
|
|
| 9. |
- Portal, Benjamin, et al.
(författare)
-
Astroglial Connexins Inactivation Increases Relapse of Depressive-like Phenotype after Antidepressant Withdrawal
- 2022
-
Ingår i: International Journal of Molecular Sciences. - : MDPI. - 1661-6596 .- 1422-0067. ; 23:21
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Studies suggest that astrocytic connexins (Cx) have an important role in the regulation of high brain functions through their ability to establish fine-tuned communication with neurons within the tripartite synapse. In light of these properties, growing evidence suggests a role of Cx in psychiatric disorders such as major depression but also in the therapeutic activity of antidepressant drugs. However, the real impact of Cx on treatment response and the underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain yet to be clarified. On this ground, the present study was designed to evaluate the functional activity of Cx in a mouse model of depression based on chronic corticosterone exposure and to determine to which extent their pharmacological inactivation influences the antidepressantlike activity of venlafaxine (VENLA). On the one hand, our results indicate that depressed mice have impaired Cx-based gap-junction and hemichannel activities. On the other hand, while VENLA exerts robust antidepressant-like activity in depressed mice; this effect is abolished by the pharmacological inhibition of Cx with carbenoxolone (CBX). Interestingly, the combination of VENLA and CBX is also associated with a higher rate of relapse after treatment withdrawal. To our knowledge, this study is one of the first to develop a model of relapse, and our results reveal that Cx-mediated dynamic neuroglial interactions play a critical role in the efficacy of monoaminergic antidepressant drugs, thus providing new targets for the treatment of depression.
|
|
| 10. |
- Tinetti, Giovanna, et al.
(författare)
-
The EChO science case
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Experimental astronomy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0922-6435 .- 1572-9508. ; 40:2-3, s. 329-391
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The discovery of almost two thousand exoplanets has revealed an unexpectedly diverse planet population. We see gas giants in few-day orbits, whole multi-planet systems within the orbit of Mercury, and new populations of planets with masses between that of the Earth and Neptune-all unknown in the Solar System. Observations to date have shown that our Solar System is certainly not representative of the general population of planets in our Milky Way. The key science questions that urgently need addressing are therefore: What are exoplanets made of? Why are planets as they are? How do planetary systems work and what causes the exceptional diversity observed as compared to the Solar System? The EChO (Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory) space mission was conceived to take up the challenge to explain this diversity in terms of formation, evolution, internal structure and planet and atmospheric composition. This requires in-depth spectroscopic knowledge of the atmospheres of a large and well-defined planet sample for which precise physical, chemical and dynamical information can be obtained. In order to fulfil this ambitious scientific program, EChO was designed as a dedicated survey mission for transit and eclipse spectroscopy capable of observing a large, diverse and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. The transit and eclipse spectroscopy method, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allows us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of at least 10(-4) relative to the star. This can only be achieved in conjunction with a carefully designed stable payload and satellite platform. It is also necessary to provide broad instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect as many molecular species as possible, to probe the thermal structure of the planetary atmospheres and to correct for the contaminating effects of the stellar photosphere. This requires wavelength coverage of at least 0.55 to 11 mu m with a goal of covering from 0.4 to 16 mu m. Only modest spectral resolving power is needed, with R similar to 300 for wavelengths less than 5 mu m and R similar to 30 for wavelengths greater than this. The transit spectroscopy technique means that no spatial resolution is required. A telescope collecting area of about 1 m(2) is sufficiently large to achieve the necessary spectro-photometric precision: for the Phase A study a 1.13 m(2) telescope, diffraction limited at 3 mu m has been adopted. Placing the satellite at L2 provides a cold and stable thermal environment as well as a large field of regard to allow efficient time-critical observation of targets randomly distributed over the sky. EChO has been conceived to achieve a single goal: exoplanet spectroscopy. The spectral coverage and signal-to-noise to be achieved by EChO, thanks to its high stability and dedicated design, would be a game changer by allowing atmospheric composition to be measured with unparalleled exactness: at least a factor 10 more precise and a factor 10 to 1000 more accurate than current observations. This would enable the detection of molecular abundances three orders of magnitude lower than currently possible and a fourfold increase from the handful of molecules detected to date. Combining these data with estimates of planetary bulk compositions from accurate measurements of their radii and masses would allow degeneracies associated with planetary interior modelling to be broken, giving unique insight into the interior structure and elemental abundances of these alien worlds. EChO would allow scientists to study exoplanets both as a population and as individuals. The mission can target super-Earths, Neptune-like, and Jupiter-like planets, in the very hot to temperate zones (planet temperatures of 300-3000 K) of F to M-type host stars. The EChO core science would be delivered by a three-tier survey. The EChO Chemical Census: This is a broad survey of a few-hundred exoplanets, which allows us to explore the spectroscopic and chemical diversity of the exoplanet population as a whole. The EChO Origin: This is a deep survey of a subsample of tens of exoplanets for which significantly higher signal to noise and spectral resolution spectra can be obtained to explain the origin of the exoplanet diversity (such as formation mechanisms, chemical processes, atmospheric escape). The EChO Rosetta Stones: This is an ultra-high accuracy survey targeting a subsample of select exoplanets. These will be the bright "benchmark" cases for which a large number of measurements would be taken to explore temporal variations, and to obtain two and three dimensional spatial information on the atmospheric conditions through eclipse-mapping techniques. If EChO were launched today, the exoplanets currently observed are sufficient to provide a large and diverse sample. The Chemical Census survey would consist of > 160 exoplanets with a range of planetary sizes, temperatures, orbital parameters and stellar host properties. Additionally, over the next 10 years, several new ground- and space-based transit photometric surveys and missions will come on-line (e.g. NGTS, CHEOPS, TESS, PLATO), which will specifically focus on finding bright, nearby systems. The current rapid rate of discovery would allow the target list to be further optimised in the years prior to EChO's launch and enable the atmospheric characterisation of hundreds of planets.
|
|
