Association of genetic variation with systolic and diastolic blood pressure among African Americans: the Candidate Gene Association Resource study.

The prevalence of hypertension in African Americans (AAs) is higher than in other US groups; yet, few have performed genome-wide association studies (GWASs) in AA. Among people of European descent, GWASs have identified genetic variants at 13 loci that are associated with blood pressure. It is unknown if these variants confer susceptibility in people of African ancestry. Here, we examined genome-wide and candidate gene associations with systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) using the Candidate Gene Association Resource (CARe) consortium consisting of 8591 AAs. Genotypes included genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data utilizing the Affymetrix 6.0 array with imputation to 2.5 million HapMap SNPs and candidate gene SNP data utilizing a 50K cardiovascular gene-centric array (ITMAT-Broad-CARe [IBC] array). For Affymetrix data, the strongest signal for DBP was rs10474346 (P= 3.6 × 10(-8)) located near GPR98 and ARRDC3. For SBP, the strongest signal was rs2258119 in C21orf91 (P= 4.7 × 10(-8)). The top IBC association for SBP was rs2012318 (P= 6.4 × 10(-6)) near SLC25A42 and for DBP was rs2523586 (P= 1.3 × 10(-6)) near HLA-B. None of the top variants replicated in additional AA (n = 11 882) or European-American (n = 69 899) cohorts. We replicated previously reported European-American blood pressure SNPs in our AA samples (SH2B3, P= 0.009; TBX3-TBX5, P= 0.03; and CSK-ULK3, P= 0.0004). These genetic loci represent the best evidence of genetic influences on SBP and DBP in AAs to date. More broadly, this work supports that notion that blood pressure among AAs is a trait with genetic underpinnings but also with significant complexity.

Taide on aina poliittista : ajatuksia taiteesta ja politiikasta Sergei Belbelin näytelmän Kuolemia valossa

Tämä opinnäytetyöni käsittelee provokatiivista väittämää: taide on aina poliittista. Kerron työssä omasta taidekäsityksestäni, sekä omasta maailmankatsomuksestani. Kaikessa kirjoittamassani rinnalla kulkee koko työn läpi oma taiteellinen työni, eli tulkintani Sergi Belbelin näytelmästä Kuolemia, jonka ohjasin Helsingin Kellariteatteriin keväällä 2006. Opinnäytetyöni on filosofista pohdintaa siitä, mitä taide on. Se ei näin ollen esitä minkäänlaista kiistämätöntä faktatietoa, vaan lähinnä omia ajatuksiani ja mielipiteitäni. Tämä työ ei käsittele poliittista taidetta, vaan taiteen tekemistä sinänsä poliittisena toimintana. Työni tarkoitus on hahmottaa omaa taidekäsitystäni kokemusteni, sekä lähdekirjallisuuden pohjalta. Taiteellisen työn tekemisen lisäksi ajatteluuni on vaikuttanut Teemu Mäen esseekokoelma Näkyvä Pimeys (2005). Toivon, että tämä työ provosoi ajattelemaan ja keskustelemaan.

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Summary: Skill and competence requirements in decentralized working environments

GWAS of 126,559 individuals identifies genetic variants associated with educational attainment.

A genome-wide association study (GWAS) of educational attainment was conducted in a discovery sample of 101,069 individuals and a replication sample of 25,490. Three independent single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are genome-wide significant (rs9320913, rs11584700, rs4851266), and all three replicate. Estimated effects sizes are small (coefficient of determination R(2) ≈ 0.02%), approximately 1 month of schooling per allele. A linear polygenic score from all measured SNPs accounts for ≈2% of the variance in both educational attainment and cognitive function. Genes in the region of the loci have previously been associated with health, cognitive, and central nervous system phenotypes, and bioinformatics analyses suggest the involvement of the anterior caudate nucleus. These findings provide promising candidate SNPs for follow-up work, and our effect size estimates can anchor power analyses in social-science genetics.