scholarly journals Cumulative Effects of Resting-state Connectivity Across All Brain Networks Significantly Correlate with ADHD Symptoms

Author(s):  
Michael A. Mooney ◽  
Robert J.M. Hermosillo ◽  
Eric Feczko ◽  
Oscar Miranda-Dominguez ◽  
Lucille A. Moore ◽  
...  

Background The clinical utility of MRI neuroimaging studies of psychopathology has been limited by a constellation of factors—small sample sizes, small effect sizes, and heterogeneity of methods and samples across studies—that hinder generalizability and specific replication. An analogy is early genomics studies of complex traits, wherein a move to large, multi-site samples and a focus on cumulative effects (polygenic scores) led to reproducible and clinically applicable effects from genome-wide association studies. A similar logic in MRI may provide a way to improve reproducibility, precision, and clinical utility for brain-wide MRI association studies. Methods Polyneuro scores (PNS) represent the cumulative effect of brain-wide measures—in the present case, resting-state functional connectivity (rs-fcMRI) associated with ADHD symptoms. These scores were constructed and validated using baseline data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD, N=5666) study, with a reproducible matched subset as the discovery cohort (N=2801). Association between the PNS and ADHD symptoms was further tested in an independent case-control cohort, the Oregon-ADHD-1000 (N=533). Results The ADHD PNS was significantly associated with ADHD symptoms in both the ABCD and Oregon cohorts after accounting for relevant covariates (p-values < 0.001). While the strongest effects contributing to the PNS were concentrated among connections involving the default mode and cingulo-opercular networks, the most predictive PNS involved connectivity across all brain networks. These findings were robust to stringent motion thresholds. In the longitudinal Oregon-ADHD-1000, non-ADHD comparison youth had significantly lower ADHD PNS (β=-0.309, p=0.00142) than children with persistent ADHD (met diagnostic criteria at two or more time points from age 7 to 19). The ADHD PNS, however, did not reliably mediate polygenic risk for ADHD. Instead, the PNS and an ADHD polygenic score were independently associated with ADHD symptoms. Conclusions A polyneuro risk score representing cumulative ADHD-associated resting-state connectivity was robustly associated with ADHD symptoms in two independent cohorts using distinct sampling designs, yet was independent of polygenic liability for ADHD, suggesting the need to examine environmental influences. The polyneuro score approach holds promise for improving the reproducibility of neuroimaging studies, identifying their clinical utility, and unraveling the complex relationships between brain connectivity and the etiology of behavioral disorders.

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Germán D. Carrasquilla ◽  
Malene Revsbech Christiansen ◽  
Tuomas O. Kilpeläinen

Abstract Purpose of Review Hypertriglyceridemia is a common dyslipidemia associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and pancreatitis. Severe hypertriglyceridemia may sometimes be a monogenic condition. However, in the vast majority of patients, hypertriglyceridemia is due to the cumulative effect of multiple genetic risk variants along with lifestyle factors, medications, and disease conditions that elevate triglyceride levels. In this review, we will summarize recent progress in the understanding of the genetic basis of hypertriglyceridemia. Recent Findings More than 300 genetic loci have been identified for association with triglyceride levels in large genome-wide association studies. Studies combining the loci into polygenic scores have demonstrated that some hypertriglyceridemia phenotypes previously attributed to monogenic inheritance have a polygenic basis. The new genetic discoveries have opened avenues for the development of more effective triglyceride-lowering treatments and raised interest towards genetic screening and tailored treatments against hypertriglyceridemia. Summary The discovery of multiple genetic loci associated with elevated triglyceride levels has led to improved understanding of the genetic basis of hypertriglyceridemia and opened new translational opportunities.


Circulation ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 133 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James S Floyd ◽  
Colleen Sitlani ◽  
Christy L Avery ◽  
Eric A Whitsel ◽  
Leslie Lange ◽  
...  

Introduction: Sulfonylureas are a commonly-used class of diabetes medication that can prolong the QT-interval, which is a leading cause of drug withdrawals from the market given the possible risk of life-threatening arrhythmias. Previously, we conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of sulfonylurea-genetic interactions on QT interval among 9 European-ancestry (EA) cohorts using cross-sectional data, with null results. To improve our power to identify novel drug-gene interactions, we have included repeated measures of medication use and QT interval and expanded our study to include several additional cohorts, including African-American (AA) and Hispanic-ancestry (HA) cohorts with a high prevalence of sulfonylurea use. To identify potentially differential effects on cardiac depolarization and repolarization, we have also added two phenotypes - the JT and QRS intervals, which together comprise the QT interval. Hypothesis: The use of repeated measures and expansion of our meta-analysis to include diverse ancestry populations will allow us to identify novel pharmacogenomic interactions for sulfonylureas on the ECG phenotypes QT, JT, and QRS. Methods: Cohorts with unrelated individuals used generalized estimating equations to estimate interactions; cohorts with related individuals used mixed effect models clustered on family. For each ECG phenotype (QT, JT, QRS), we conducted ancestry-specific (EA, AA, HA) inverse variance weighted meta-analyses using standard errors based on the t-distribution to correct for small sample inflation in the test statistic. Ancestry-specific summary estimates were combined using MANTRA, an analytic method that accounts for differences in local linkage disequilibrium between ethnic groups. Results: Our study included 65,997 participants from 21 cohorts, including 4,020 (6%) sulfonylurea users, a substantial increase from the 26,986 participants and 846 sulfonylureas users in the previous meta-analysis. Preliminary ancestry-specific meta-analyses have identified genome-wide significant associations (P < 5х10–8) for each ECG phenotype, and analyses with MANTRA are in progress. Conclusions: In the setting of the largest collection of pharmacogenomic studies to date, we used repeated measurements and leveraged diverse ancestry populations to identify new pharmacogenomic loci for ECG traits associated with cardiovascular risk.


Psych ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davide Piffer

Genetic variants identified by three large genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of educational attainment (EA) were used to test a polygenic selection model. Weighted and unweighted polygenic scores (PGS) were calculated and compared across populations using data from the 1000 Genomes (n = 26), HGDP-CEPH (n = 52) and gnomAD (n = 8) datasets. The PGS from the largest EA GWAS was highly correlated to two previously published PGSs (r = 0.96–0.97, N = 26). These factors are both highly predictive of average population IQ (r = 0.9, N = 23) and Learning index (r = 0.8, N = 22) and are robust to tests of spatial autocorrelation. Monte Carlo simulations yielded highly significant p values. In the gnomAD samples, the correlation between PGS and IQ was almost perfect (r = 0.98, N = 8), and ANOVA showed significant population differences in allele frequencies with positive effect. Socioeconomic variables slightly improved the prediction accuracy of the model (from 78–80% to 85–89%), but the PGS explained twice as much of the variance in IQ compared to socioeconomic variables. In both 1000 Genomes and gnomAD, there was a weak trend for lower GWAS significance SNPs to be less predictive of population IQ. Additionally, a subset of SNPs were found in the HGDP-CEPH sample (N = 127). The analysis of this sample yielded a positive correlation with latitude and a low negative correlation with distance from East Africa. This study provides robust results after accounting for spatial autocorrelation with Fst distances and random noise via an empirical Monte Carlo simulation using null SNPs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel W. Belsky ◽  
K. Paige Harden

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified specific genetic variants associated with complex human traits and behaviors, such as educational attainment, mental disorders, and personality. However, small effect sizes for individual variants, uncertainty regarding the biological function of discovered genotypes, and potential “outside-the-skin” environmental mechanisms leave a translational gulf between GWAS results and scientific understanding that will improve human health and well-being. We propose a set of social, behavioral, and brain-science research activities that map discovered genotypes to neural, developmental, and social mechanisms and call this research program phenotypic annotation. Phenotypic annotation involves (a) elaborating the nomological network surrounding discovered genotypes, (b) shifting focus from individual genes to whole genomes, and (c) testing how discovered genotypes affect life-span development. Phenotypic-annotation research is already advancing the understanding of GWAS discoveries for educational attainment and schizophrenia. We review examples and discuss methodological considerations for psychologists taking up the phenotypic-annotation approach.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 553-581 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda C. Mills ◽  
Felix C. Tropf

Recent years have seen the birth of sociogenomics via the infusion of molecular genetic data. We chronicle the history of genetics, focusing particularly on post-2005 genome-wide association studies, the post-2015 big data era, and the emergence of polygenic scores. We argue that understanding polygenic scores, including their genetic correlations with each other, causation, and underlying biological architecture, is vital. We show how genetics can be introduced to understand a myriad of topics such as fertility, educational attainment, intergenerational social mobility, well-being, addiction, risky behavior, and longevity. Although models of gene-environment interaction and correlation mirror agency and structure models in sociology, genetics is yet to be fully discovered by this discipline. We conclude with a critical reflection on the lack of diversity, nonrepresentative samples, precision policy applications, ethics, and genetic determinism. We argue that sociogenomics can speak to long-standing sociological questions and that sociologists can offer innovative theoretical, measurement, and methodological innovations to genetic research.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingling Cui ◽  
Xiaohong Gong ◽  
Yanqing Tang ◽  
Lingtao Kong ◽  
Miao Chang ◽  
...  

A single-nucleotide polymorphism at the LHPP gene (rs35936514) has been reported in genome-wide association studies to be associated with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the neural system effects of rs35936514 that mediate the association are unknown. The present work explores whether the LHPP rs35936514 polymorphism moderates brain regional activity in MDD. A total of 160 subjects were studied: a CC group homozygous for the C allele (23 individuals with MDD and 57 controls) and a T-carrier group carrying the high risk T allele (CT/TT genotypes; 22 MDD and 58 controls). All participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scanning. Brain activity was assessed using the amplitudes of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF). MDD patients showed a significant increased ALFF in the left middle temporal gyrus and occipital cortex. The T-carrier group showed increased ALFF in the left superior temporal gyrus. Significant diagnosis × genotype interaction was noted in the bilateral lingual gyri, bilateral dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), and left medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) (P<0.05, corrected). Results demonstrated that MDD patients with LHPP rs35936514 CT/TT genotype may influence the regional brain activity. These findings implicate the effects of the rs35936514 variation on the neural system in MDD.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Hübel ◽  
Mohamed Abdulkadir ◽  
Moritz Herle ◽  
Ruth J.F. Loos ◽  
Gerome Breen ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectiveGenome-wide association studies have identified multiple genomic regions associated with anorexia nervosa. Relatively few or no genome-wide studies of other eating disorders, such as bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder, have been performed, despite their substantial heritability. Exploratively, we aimed to identify traits that are genetically associated with binge-type eating disorders.MethodWe calculated genome-wide polygenic scores for 269 trait and disease outcomes using PRSice v2.2 and their association with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder in up to 640 cases and 17,050 controls from the UK Biobank. Significant associations were tested for replication in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (up to 217 cases and 3018 controls).ResultsIndividuals with binge-type eating disorders had higher polygenic scores than controls for other psychiatric disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and higher polygenic scores for body mass index.DiscussionOur findings replicate some of the known comorbidities of eating disorders on a genomic level and motivate a deeper investigation of shared and unique genomic factors across the three primary eating disorders.


Author(s):  
Arslan A. Zaidi ◽  
Iain Mathieson

AbstractLarge genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified many loci exhibiting small but statistically significant associations with complex traits and disease risk. However, control of population stratification continues to be a limiting factor, particularly when calculating polygenic scores where subtle biases can cumulatively lead to large errors. We simulated GWAS under realistic models of demographic history to study the effect of residual stratification in large GWAS. We show that when population structure is recent, it cannot be fully corrected using principal components based on common variants—the standard approach—because common variants are uninformative about recent demographic history. Consequently, polygenic scores calculated from such GWAS results are biased in that they recapitulate non-genetic environmental structure. Principal components calculated from rare variants or identity-by-descent segments largely correct for this structure if environmental effects are smooth. However, even these corrections are not effective for local or batch effects. While sibling-based association tests are immune to stratification, the hybrid approach of ascertaining variants in a standard GWAS and then re-estimating effect sizes in siblings reduces but does not eliminate bias. Finally, we show that rare variant burden tests are relatively robust to stratification. Our results demonstrate that the effect of population stratification on GWAS and polygenic scores depends not only on the frequencies of tested variants and the distribution of environmental effects but also on the demographic history of the population.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (19) ◽  
pp. 4322
Author(s):  
Shu-Hsien Chu ◽  
Keshab K. Parhi ◽  
Melinda Westlund Schreiner ◽  
Christophe Lenglet ◽  
Bryon A. Mueller ◽  
...  

Investigation of brain changes in functional connectivity and functional network topology from receiving 8-week selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) treatments is conducted in 12 unmedicated adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) by using wavelet-filtered resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Changes are observed in frontal-limbic, temporal, and default mode networks. In particular, topological analysis shows, at the global scale and in the 0.12–0.25 Hz band, that the normalized clustering coefficient and smallworldness of brain networks decreased after treatment. Regional changes in clustering coefficient and efficiency were observed in the bilateral caudal middle frontal gyrus, rostral middle frontal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, left pars triangularis, putamen, and right superior frontal gyrus. Furthermore, changes of nodal centrality and changes of connectivity associated with these frontal and temporal regions confirm the global topological alternations. Moreover, frequency dependence is observed from FDR-controlled subnetworks for the limbic-cortical connectivity change. In the high-frequency band, the altered connections involve mostly frontal regions, while the altered connections in the low-frequency bands spread to parietal and temporal areas. Due to the limitation of small sample sizes and lack of placebo control, these preliminary findings require confirmation with future work using larger samples. Confirmation of biomarkers associated with treatment could suggest potential avenues for clinical applications such as tracking treatment response and neurobiologically informed treatment optimization.


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