A5068756985- Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals
- Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
- Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock
- Birth, Development, and Health
- Bioinformatics and Genomic Networks
- Health, Environment, Cognitive Aging
- Neonatal Respiratory Health Research
- Nutrition, Genetics, and Disease
- Gene expression and cancer classification
- Health disparities and outcomes
- Statistical Methods and Inference
- Bayesian Methods and Mixture Models
- Genetic Syndromes and Imprinting
- Venous Thromboembolism Diagnosis and Management
- Gestational Diabetes Research and Management
- Traffic and Road Safety
- Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment
- Prenatal Screening and Diagnostics
- Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Genomics and Rare Diseases
- Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors
- Breastfeeding Practices and Influences
- Cardiac Arrhythmias and Treatments
McMaster University
2011-2025
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton
2021-2025
Population Health Research Institute
2011-2024
Sichuan University
2023
West China Hospital of Sichuan University
2023
University of Toronto
2012-2021
Hunan Xiangdian Test Research Institute (China)
2021
Southeast University
2018
Cliniques du Sud Luxembourg
2014
Medical University of South Carolina
2014
Background— Among patients with implantable pacemakers and defibrillators, subclinical atrial fibrillation (SCAF) is associated an increased risk of stroke; however, there limited understanding their temporal relationship. Methods Results— The Asymptomatic Atrial Fibrillation Stroke Evaluation in Pacemaker Patients the Reduction Pacing Trial (ASSERT) enrolled 2580 pacemaker defibrillator aged ≥65 years a history hypertension but without fibrillation. Pacemakers cardioverter-defibrillators...
Machine-learning techniques have helped solve a broad range of prediction problems, yet are not widely used to build polygenic risk scores for the complex traits. We propose novel heuristic based on machine-learning (GraBLD) boost predictive performance scores. Gradient boosted regression trees were first optimize weights SNPs included in score, followed by regional adjustment linkage disequilibrium. A calibration set with sample size ~200 individuals was sufficient optimal performance....
Abstract It has been postulated that rare coding variants (RVs; MAF < 0.01) contribute to the “missing” heritability of complex traits. We developed a framework, Rare variant (RARity) estimator, assess RV ( h 2 ) without assuming particular genetic architecture. applied RARity 31 traits in UK Biobank n = 167,348) and showed gene-level aggregation suffers from 79% (95% CI: 68-93%) loss . Using unaggregated variants, 27 had > 5%, with height having highest at 21.9% 19.0-24.8%). The total...
Importance Measures of childhood adiposity merit investigation, particularly in individuals South Asian descent. Objective To investigate prenatal and factors associated with the trajectory children, cumulative contribution modifiable factors, such as diet physical activity, on this trajectory. Design, Setting, Participants This cohort study was a prospective analysis Birth Cohort (START; 2011-2015) for discovery; Family Atherosclerosis Monitoring In Early Life (FAMILY; 2002-2009) Ontario,...
Abstract Impulsivity refers to a number of conceptually related phenotypes reflecting self‐regulatory capacity that are considered promising endophenotypes for mental and physical health. Measures impulsivity can be broadly grouped into three domains, namely, impulsive choice, action, personality traits. In community‐based sample ancestral Europeans ( n = 1534), we conducted genome‐wide association studies (GWASs) choice (delay discounting), action (behavioral inhibition), traits (UPPS‐P),...
Detection of gene-environment interactions using an exhaustive search necessarily raises the multiple hypothesis problem. While frequently used to control for experiment-wise type I error, Bonferroni correction is overly conservative and results in reduced statistical power. We have previously shown that prioritizing SNPs on basis heterogeneity quantitative trait variance per genotype leads increased power detect genetic interactions. Our proposed method, prioritization (VP), selects having...
Abstract Genotype‐stratified variance of a quantitative trait could differ in the presence gene–gene or gene–environment interactions. Genetic markers associated with phenotypic are thus considered promising candidates for follow‐up interaction joint location‐scale analyses. However, as studies main effects, X‐chromosome is routinely excluded from “whole‐genome” scans due to analytical challenges. Specifically, males carry only one copy X‐chromosome, inherent sex‐genotype dependency bias...
The fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene has been implicated with dietary intake predominantly in European populations. We assessed the association between FTO rs9939609 variant body distribution a multi-ethnic population. Aboriginal, Chinese, South Asian participants living Canada (n = 706) were for inner-abdominal using imaging techniques, genotyped variant. Linear regression was used to study associations minor allele of measures adiposity intake. Minor frequencies were: Aboriginals...
A polygenic model of inheritance, whereby hundreds or thousands weakly associated variants contribute to a trait's heritability, has been proposed underlie the genetic architecture complex traits. However, relatively few have positively identified so far and they collectively explain only small fraction predicted heritability. We hypothesized that joint association multiple over large chromosomal regions contributes traits variance. Confirmation such regional associations can help identify...
Maternal smoking has been linked to adverse health outcomes in newborns but the extent which it impacts newborn not quantified through an aggregated cord blood DNA methylation (DNAm) score. Here, we examine feasibility of using DNAm scores leveraging large external studies as discovery samples capture epigenetic signature maternal and its influence on White European South Asian populations. We first examined association between individual CpGs cigarette during pregnancy, exposure two birth...
Abstract Aims This study uses a high-resolution phenome-wide approach to evaluate the motivational mechanisms of polygenic risk scores (PRSs) that have been robustly associated with coarse alcohol phenotypes in large-scale studies. Methods In community-based sample 1534 Europeans, we examined genome-wide PRSs for Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), drinks per week, use disorder (AUD), problematic (PAU), and general addiction, relation 42 curated phenotypes. The were seven...
Epigenetic modifications, particularly DNA methylation (DNAm) in cord blood, are an important biological marker of how external exposures during gestation can influence the in-utero environment and subsequent offspring development. Despite recognized importance DNAm gestation, comparative studies to determine consistency these epigenetic signals across different ethnic groups largely absent. To address this gap, we first performed epigenome-wide association (EWAS) gestational age (GA) using...
Maternal smoking has been linked to adverse health outcomes in newborns but the extent which it impacts newborn not quantified through an aggregated cord blood DNA methylation (DNAm) score. Here we examine feasibility of using DNAm scores leveraging large external studies as discovery samples capture epigenetic signature maternal and its influence on White European South Asian populations. We first examined association between individual CpGs cigarette during pregnancy, exposure two birth...
Despite considerable efforts, known genetic associations only explain a small fraction of predicted heritability. Regional combine information from multiple contiguous variants and can improve variance explained at established association loci. However, regional are not easily amenable to estimation using summary statistics because sensitivity linkage disequilibrium (LD). We now propose novel method, LD Adjusted Genetic Variance (LARGV), estimate phenotypic by while accounting for LD. Our...
Abstract Machine-learning techniques have helped solve a broad range of prediction problems, yet are not widely used to build polygenic risk scores for the complex traits. We propose novel heuristic based on machine-learning (GraBLD) boost predictive performance scores. Gradient boosted regression trees were first optimize weights SNPs included in score, followed by regional adjustment linkage disequilibrium. A calibration set with sample size ~200 individuals was sufficient optimal...
Establishing a low-dimensional representation of the data leads to efficient learning strategies. In many cases, reduced dimension needs be explicitly stated and estimated from data. We explore estimation in finite samples as constrained optimization problem, where is maximizer penalized profile likelihood criterion within framework probabilistic principal components analysis. Unlike other maximization problems that require an 'optimal' penalty tuning parameter, we propose data-averaging...
Abstract Complex traits can share a substantial proportion of their polygenic heritability. However, genome‐wide correlations between pairs mask heterogeneity in shared effects across loci. We propose novel method (weighted maximum likelihood‐regional correlation [RPC]) to evaluate two complex small genomic regions using summary association statistics. Our tests for evidence that the effect at given region affects concurrently. show through simulations our is well calibrated, powerful, and...
The aim of this paper was to investigate contributory factors severe traffic accidents (with more than 10 fatalities each accident) and their interdependence. Association rule mining techniques were applied identify sets that often occur together in accidents. results show occurrences are a result the complex interactions road user behavior, vehicle factors, geometric characteristics, environmental factors. reasons for occurrence different circumstances discussed, potential implications...