Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies with correlated individuals: application to the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL)

Investigators often meta-analyze multiple genome-wide association studies (GWASs) to increase the power to detect associations of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with a trait. Meta-analysis is also performed within a single cohort that is stratified by, e.g., sex or ancestry group. Having correlated individuals among the strata may complicate meta-analyses, limit power, and inflate Type 1 error. For example, in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL), sources of correlation include genetic relatedness, shared household, and shared community. We propose a novel mixed-effect model for meta-analysis, “MetaCor , which accounts for correlation between stratum-specific effect estimates. Simulations show that MetaCor controls inflation better than alternatives such as ignoring the correlation between the strata or analyzing all strata together in a “pooled GWAS, especially with different minor allele frequencies (MAF) between strata. We illustrate the benefits of MetaCor on two GWASs in the HCHS/SOL. Analysis of dental caries (tooth decay) stratified by ancestry group detected a genome-wide significant SNP (rs7791001, p-value=3.66x10-8, compared to 4.67x10-7 in pooled), with different MAF between strata. Stratified analysis of BMI by ancestry group and sex reduced over-all inflation from λGC=1.050 (pooled) to λGC=1.028 (MetaCor). Furthermore, even after removing close relatives to obtain nearly uncorrelated strata, a naïve stratified analysis resulted in λGC=1.058 compare to λGC=1.027 for MetaCor

The breach of professional code of ethics under the Legal Profession Act 1976 with specific reference to Criminal Breach of Trust (CBT) / Jayniesa Lavang Jarit … [et al.]

This research is conducted in order to study the breach of professional code of ethics in relation to criminal breach of trust (CBT) by legal practitioners. The research looks into the Legal Profession Act 1976 specifically Section 94 which is about professional misconduct. Other than that, this research will also look into the Solicitor Account Rules 1990 (SAR) which governs the lawyers in handling and managing the client's money. Apart from that, this research will also include the reason why lawyers committed CBT although being governed by LPA 1976 and SAR 1990 and also determine comprehensiveness of the Act to govern legal practitioners from committing CBT. In addition, comparison was made between the legal practice in United Kingdom and Singapore in handling CBT committed by legal practitioners. Thus, recommendations were made to deter the legal practitioners from committing CBT

Parents' Perception and Involvement in Their Children's Literacy Acquisition

This study aimed at finding out parents' perception of children's learning to read and write, the types of materials provided by parents that encourage literacy acquisition and the types of activities that parents are involved in promoting literacy acquisition in the home. A survey was carried out on one hundred and seventy eight parents with children enrolled in kindergarten X and kindergarten Y (pseudonyms are used to protect the identity of kindergarten and parents who participated). A questionnaire consisted of four main sections, namely, respondents' background profile, parents' perception of literacy acquisition, types of material and types of activities was employed as the method of data collection. Analysis of results revealed that parents' perceptions were consistent with their involvements in term of the types of materials and activities in encouraging literacy acquisition in the home. These findings argued for more effort of shared goals in order to build stronger school-home communication and collaboration between parents and teachers

Association between Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice on Dietary Fiber Intake and Body Mass Index among Undergraduate Students in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Background: A fiber-rich diet lowers the risk of various diseases by increasing fecal bulk, shortening intestinal transit time, and stimulating intestinal flora. This study examines the association between knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) regarding dietary fiber intake and body mass index (BMI) among Dentistry and Software Engineering undergraduates. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 95 Dentistry and 92 Software Engineering students at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. The KAP questionnaire was analyzed for its reliability using Cronbach’s alpha and distributed through email. Results: Most respondents had normal weight. The Software Engineering students had a higher percentage of overweight and obese individuals than the Dentistry students. KAP measurements for both groups were moderate across all variables. No differences were found in attitude and practice levels between both groups. However, the Software Engineering students had higher knowledge of dietary fiber intake. KAP did not influence BMI in both groups. Factor analysis showed a high association between KAP on dietary fiber intake and BMI status among Software Engineering students compared to dentistry students. Conclusions: The level of KAP on dietary fiber intake is associated with BMI status among undergraduate students