Genetics of self-reported risk-taking behaviour, trans-ethnic consistency and relevance to brain gene expression

Risk-taking behaviour is an important component of several psychiatric disorders, including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Previously, two genetic loci have been associated with self-reported risk taking and significant genetic overlap with psychiatric disorders was identified within a subsample of UK Biobank. Using the white British participants of the full UK Biobank cohort (n = 83,677 risk takers versus 244,662 controls) for our primary analysis, we conducted a genome-wide association study of self-reported risk-taking behaviour. In secondary analyses, we assessed sex-specific effects, trans-ethnic heterogeneity and genetic overlap with psychiatric traits. We also investigated the impact of risk-taking-associated SNPs on both gene expression and structural brain imaging. We identified 10 independent loci for risk-taking behaviour, of which eight were novel and two replicated previous findings. In addition, we found two further sex-specific risk-taking loci. There were strong positive genetic correlations between risk-taking and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Index genetic variants demonstrated effects generally consistent with the discovery analysis in individuals of non-British White, South Asian, African-Caribbean or mixed ethnicity. Polygenic risk scores comprising alleles associated with increased risk taking were associated with lower white matter integrity. Genotype-specific expression pattern analyses highlighted DPYSL5, CGREF1 and C15orf59 as plausible candidate genes. Overall, our findings substantially advance our understanding of the biology of risk-taking behaviour, including the possibility of sex-specific contributions, and reveal consistency across ethnicities. We further highlight several putative novel candidate genes, which may mediate these genetic effects

Recreational and occupational field exposure to freshwater cyanobacteria – a review of anecdotal and case reports, epidemiological studies and the challenges for epidemiologic assessment

Cyanobacteria are common inhabitants of freshwater lakes and reservoirs throughout the world. Under favourable conditions, certain cyanobacteria can dominate the phytoplankton within a waterbody and form nuisance blooms. Case reports and anecdotal references dating from 1949 describe a range of illnesses associated with recreational exposure to cyanobacteria: hay fever-like symptoms, pruritic skin rashes and gastro-intestinal symptoms are most frequently reported. Some papers give convincing descriptions of allergic reactions while others describe more serious acute illnesses, with symptoms such as severe headache, pneumonia, fever, myalgia, vertigo and blistering in the mouth. A coroner in the United States found that a teenage boy died as a result of accidentally ingesting a neurotoxic cyanotoxin from a golf course pond. This death is the first recorded human fatality attributed to recreational exposure to cyanobacteria, although uncertainties surround the forensic identification of the suspected cyanotoxin in this case. We systematically reviewed the literature on recreational exposure to freshwater cyanobacteria. Epidemiological data are limited, with six studies conducted since 1990. Statistically significant increases in symptoms were reported in individuals exposed to cyanobacteria compared to unexposed counterparts in two Australian cohort studies, though minor morbidity appeared to be the main finding. The four other small studies (three from the UK, one Australian) did not report any significant association. However, the potential for serious injury or death remains, as freshwater cyanobacteria under bloom conditions are capable of producing potent toxins that cause specific and severe dysfunction to hepatic or central nervous systems. The exposure route for these toxins is oral, from ingestion of recreational water, and possibly by inhalation. A range of freshwater microbial agents may cause acute conditions that present with features that resemble illnesses attributed to contact with cyanobacteria and, conversely, acute illness resulting from exposure to cyanobacteria or cyanotoxins in recreational waters could be misdiagnosed. Accurately assessing exposure to cyanobacteria in recreational waters is difficult and unreliable at present, as specific biomarkers are unavailable. However, diagnosis of cyanobacteria-related illness should be considered for individuals presenting with acute illness following freshwater contact if a description is given of a waterbody visibly affected by planktonic mass development

Online extraction coupled to liquid chromatography analysis (OLELC): eliminating traditional sample preparation steps in the investigation of solid complex matrices

Current methods employed for the analysis of the chemical composition of solid matrices (such as plant, animal, or human tissues; soil; etc.) often require many sample treatment steps, including an extraction step with exclusively dedicated solvents. This work describes an optimized analytical setup in which the extraction of a solid sample is directly coupled to its analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography. This approach avoids (i) the use of pumps and valves other than those comprising the HPLC instrument, (ii) the use of solvents other than those of the mobile phase, and (iii) the need to stop the mobile phase flow at any time during the full analytical procedure. The compatibility of this approach with the direct analysis of fresh tissues (leaves, stems, and seeds of four plant species with dissimilar chemical compositions) was successfully demonstrated, leading to the elimination of sample preparation steps such as drying, grinding, concentration, dilution, and filtration, among others. This work describes a new, simple, and efficient green approach to minimize or eliminate sample treatment procedures. It could be easily applied for quality control of plant materials and their derived products through chromatographic fingerprints and for untargeted metabolomic investigations of solid matrices, among other applications

On Track for a Truly Green Propolis-Fingerprinting Propolis Samples from Seven Countries by Means of a Fully Green Approach

The production of quality bee products, as well as bee survival itself, depends on the health conditions of the environment, but ironically, harmful solvents are often employed by scientists and traders to monitor the quality of these products. Many types of propolis have been recognized around the world, but specific biological activities can be expected for specific types of propolis. This work aimed to develop a new and green ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography method for the identification of green propolis type. The method was able to discern this type of propolis in a set of samples from seven countries as well as to cluster these samples by fingerprint similarity based on principal component analysis and partial least squares-discriminant analysis. This proved to be efficient, reproducible, and greener than methods previously reported in the literature for similar purposes and compatible with the cheap, largely available food grade ethanol produced from sugar cane