Twin Research and Human Genetics最新文献

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a frequent complication of pregnancy. The specific mechanisms underlying GDM have not yet been fully elucidated. Contemporary research indicates a potential association between liver enzyme irregularities and an increased risk of metabolic disorders, including diabetes. The alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level is recognized as a sensitive marker of liver injury. An increase in ALT levels is hypothesized to be linked to the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and diabetes. Nonetheless, the definitive causal link between ALT levels and GDM still needs to be determined. This investigation utilized two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) to examine the genetic causation between alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and GDM. We acquired alanine aminotransferase (ALT)-related GWAS summary data from the UK Biobank, Million Veteran Program, Rotterdam Study, and Lifeline Study. Gestational diabetes data were obtained from the FinnGen Consortium. We employed various MR analysis techniques, including inverse-variance weighted (IVW), MR Egger, weighted median, simple, and weighted weighting. In addition to MR-Egger intercepts, Cochrane’s Q test was also used to assess heterogeneity in the MR data, and the MR-PRESSO test was used to assess horizontal pleiotropy. To assess the association’s sensitivity, a leave-one-out approach was employed. The IVW results confirmed the independent risk factor for GDM development, as indicated by the ALT level (p = .011). As shown by leave-one-out analysis, horizontal pleiotrophy did not significantly skew the causative link (p > .05). Our dual-sample MR analysis provides substantiated evidence of a genetic causal relationship between alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels and gestational diabetes.

Between 2006 and 2021, the Hungarian Twin Registry (HTR) operated a volunteer twin registry of all age groups (50% monozygotic [MZ], 50% dizygotic [DZ], 70% female, average age 34 ± 22 years), including 1044 twin pairs, 24 triplets and one quadruplet set. In 2021, the HTR transformed from a volunteer registry into a population-based one, and it was established in the Medical Imaging Centre of Semmelweis University in Budapest. Semmelweis University's innovation fund supported the development of information technology, a phone bank and voicemail infrastructure, administrative materials, and a new website was established where twins and their relatives (parent, foster parent or caregiver) can register. The HTR's biobank was also established: 157,751 individuals with a likely twin-sibling living in Hungary (77,042 twins, 1194 triplets, 20 quadruplets, and one quintuplet) were contacted between February and March of 2021 via sealed letters. Until November 20, 2022, 12,001 twin individuals and their parents or guardians (6724 adult twins, 3009 parents/guardians and 5277 minor twins) registered, mostly online. Based on simple self-reports, 37.6% of the registered adults were MZ twins and 56.8% were DZ; 1.12% were triplets and 4.5% were unidentified. Of the registered children, 22.3% were MZ, 72.7% were DZ, 1.93% were triplets, and 3.05% were unidentified. Of the registered twins, 59.9% were female (including both the adult and minor twins). The registration questionnaire consists of eight parts, including socio-demographic and anthropometric data, smoking habits and medical questions (diseases, operations, therapies). Hungary's twin registry has become the sole and largest population-based twin registry in Central Eastern Europe. This new resource will facilitate performing world-class modern genetic research.

This Position Statement provides guidelines for health professionals who work with individuals and families seeking predictive genetic testing and laboratory staff conducting the tests. It presents the major practical, psychosocial and ethical considerations associated with presymptomatic and predictive genetic testing in adults who have the capacity to make a decision, children and young people who lack capacity, and adults living with reduced or fluctuating cognitive capacity.Predictive Testing Recommendations: (1) Predictive testing in adults, young people and children should only be offered with pretest genetic counseling, and the option of post-test genetic counseling. (2) An individual considering whether to have a predictive test should be supported to make an autonomous and informed decision. Regarding Children and Young People: (1) Predictive testing should only be offered to children and young people for conditions where there is likely to be a direct medical benefit to them through surveillance, use of prevention strategies, or other medical interventions in the immediate future. (2) Where symptoms are likely to develop in childhood, in the absence of direct medical benefit from this knowledge, genetic health professionals and parents/guardians should discuss whether undertaking predictive testing is the best course of action for the child and the family as a whole. (3) Where symptoms are likely to develop in adulthood, the default position should be to postpone predictive testing until the young person achieves the capacity to make an autonomous and informed decision. This is applicable regardless of whether there is some action that can be taken in adulthood.

A review of an unusual twin type—twins born to women with two uteri (uterus didelphys)—is presented. This review is followed by summaries of recent research and perspectives concerning prenatal aneuploidy screening for twin pregnancies, twin conceptions by same-sex male couples, legal personality of conjoined twins, and a twin study of cannabis use. Interesting information about twins that has appeared in the media is also presented, namely how being taken for twins saved a pair of sisters; twin children of a jailed Nobel Prize winner, British ‘biracial’ twins, triplets born at the start of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, and twins born in different years.

Women with twin pregnancies experience greater sleep disturbance compared to women with singleton pregnancies. The aims of this study were to explore the sleep quality in women with twin pregnancies and to compare their sleep dimensions with coetaneous single pregnancies. This was an observational study in which women were enrolled at the end of pregnancy in the Obstetric Service of Hospital La Paz (Spain). The women were classified as single (n = 143) or twin pregnancy (n = 62). Pregnant women responded to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index to evaluate sleep quality, latency, duration, efficiency, perturbance, use of medication, and daytime dysfunction. The higher the index, the greater the alteration of sleep quality. Without statistical differences, a poor sleep quality was higher in women with single (66.7%) than women with twin pregnancies (22.8%). The good sleeper slept 6.8 h/day in single pregnancy and 7.3 h/day in twin pregnancy. The sleep perturbation and dysfunctionality were higher in women with twin than single pregnancies. The use of medication to sleep was significantly lower in women with twin than single pregnancies. In women with twin pregnancy, the body weight gain during first trimester had a positive correlation with worse sleep quality and sleep perturbations. Twin pregnancy needed more than 7 h/day to have a high sleep quality, showing greater sleep perturbations and daytime dysfunction than single pregnancies. The control of gestational body weight can improve the sleep quality, disturbances, and duration in twin gestations. Sleep screening during pregnancy would be necessary to handle sleep issues and increase benefits in twin gestational outcomes.

This study starts with a simple model by which Hardy-Weinberg proportions are attained in a single generation while maintaining gene frequencies. The question of differentiating between random and non-random mating is explored by simulation. Sample mating proportions are generated using the model as base. The difficulty of differentiating between random and non-random mating is illustrated.

This study assessed the trends in twin births and their survival in Bangladesh by analyzing over a quarter million live births during 1970-2018, pooled from all eight rounds of the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. In these five decades, the twinning rate increased by 1.5 times, from 5.8 to 8.6 twins per 1000 maternities. The decadal twinning rates varied across maternal age, parity, body mass index, household wealth index, and geographic region. The gap in decadal neonatal, infant, and under-five cumulative survival probability between singleton and multiple births was found to be closing, using Kaplan-Meier curves. Child mortality decreased by 80% and 60% in singleton and multiple births respectively. However, the absolute size of child mortality in multiple births remained six times higher than in singletons and was concentrated in the neonatal period. The share of multiple births surged in all types of child mortality. We predict a further and faster rise in multiple births in the coming decades in the face of upward trends in maternal age overlapping with higher parities, education, career prospects, contraceptive use, and the future demand-supply of assisted reproductive technology. A particular focus on the improvement of perinatal and neonatal care with wider availability is warranted. Otherwise, increased multiple births might raise child mortality and create public health challenges.