Distinct and shared genetic architectures of Gestational diabetes mellitus and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) affects more than 16 million pregnancies annually worldwide and is related to an increased lifetime risk of Type 2 diabetes (T2D). The diseases are hypothesized to share a genetic predisposition, but there are few GWAS studies of GDM and none of them is sufficiently powered to assess whether any variants or biological pathways are specific to GDM. We conducted the largest genome-wide association study of GDM to date in 12,332 cases and 131,109 parous female controls in the FinnGen Study and identified 13 GDM-associated loci including 8 novel loci. Genetic features distinct from T2D were identified both at the locus and genomic scale. Our results suggest that the genetics of GDM risk falls into two distinct categories - one part conventional T2D polygenic risk and one part predominantly influencing mechanisms disrupted in pregnancy. Loci with GDM-predominant effects map to genes related to islet cells, central glucose homeostasis, steroidogenesis, and placental expression. These results pave the way for an improved biological understanding of GDM pathophysiology and its role in the development and course of T2D.

Mono- and biallelic variant effects on disease at biobank scale

Identifying causal factors for Mendelian and common diseases is an ongoing challenge in medical genetics¹. Population bottleneck events, such as those that occurred in the history of the Finnish population, enrich some homozygous variants to higher frequencies, which facilitates the identification of variants that cause diseases with recessive inheritance^2,3. Here we examine the homozygous and heterozygous effects of 44,370 coding variants on 2,444 disease phenotypes using data from the nationwide electronic health records of 176,899 Finnish individuals. We find associations for homozygous genotypes across a broad spectrum of phenotypes, including known associations with retinal dystrophy and novel associations with adult-onset cataract and female infertility. Of the recessive disease associations that we identify, 13 out of 20 would have been missed by the additive model that is typically used in genome-wide association studies. We use these results to find many known Mendelian variants whose inheritance cannot be adequately described by a conventional definition of dominant or recessive. In particular, we find variants that are known to cause diseases with recessive inheritance with significant heterozygous phenotypic effects. Similarly, we find presumed benign variants with disease effects. Our results show how biobanks, particularly in founder populations, can broaden our understanding of complex dosage effects of Mendelian variants on disease.

Economic evidence of preventive interventions for anxiety disorders in children and adolescents – a systematic review

Introduction

Anxiety disorders are common in children and youth. Also, in prevention, be it universal, selective or indicated, economic evaluation supports decision-making in the allocation of scarce resources.

Objectives

This review identified and summarised the existing evidence of economic evaluations for the prevention of anxiety disorders in children and adolescents.

Methods

A systematic search was conducted on the EBSCO, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, Cochrane and PubMed databases. We included studies that focused on children and adolescents under 18 years of age, aimed to prevent anxiety disorders, and presented an incremental analysis of costs and effectiveness. A registered checklist was used that assessed the quality of the included articles.

Results

The search yielded 1,697 articles. Five articles were included in this review. Three were RCT-based and two were model-based studies. Out of five included interventions, one was a universal school-based intervention, two selective interventions and two indicated interventions. Universal school-based prevention of anxiety was not cost-effective compared to usual teaching. Selective parent training and indicative child- and parent-focused CBT prevention were likely cost-effective compared to usual care or doing nothing.

Conclusions

Parent education and cognitive behaviour therapy interventions can be cautiously interpreted as being a cost-effective way of preventing anxiety in children and adolescents. However, the evidence is weak related to cost-effectiveness as there are only a few studies, with relatively small sample sizes and short follow-ups.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Usefulness of internet in adolescent mental health outpatient care

Internet has become increasingly common in adolescents' daily lives and also in health care. However, there is still need to explore how nurses perceive its use as a part of adolescents' treatment. This explorative qualitative study aim was to explore how nurses perceive the usefulness of Internet in adolescents' outpatient care in mental health. The data were collected among nurses (n=12) working in two psychiatric adolescent outpatient clinics in university central hospitals in Finland. The data were collected in focus group interviews and analysed using inductive content analysis. The analysis showed that Internet use could promote the care process of adolescents with depression by supporting their self-reflection and self-management, enhancing nurses' understanding of adolescents' daily lives and facilitating nurse-adolescent interaction. Disadvantages identified among nurses were fear of role changes in the nurse-adolescent interaction, changes in the intervention, when Internet might be a third party in the face-to-face interaction and negative effects of Internet on adolescents. Facilitators in the use of Internet were nurses' positive attitude to Internet, knowledge and experiences of Internet usage. Nurses' negative attitude to Internet and lack of training and instructions were seen as barriers in promoting the successful utilization of Internet among adolescents with depression in outpatient care.

Waterborne outbreak of Campylobacter enteritis after outdoors infantry drill in Utti, Finland

Diarrhoea, abdominal pain, malaise and fever affected 75 of the 88 conscript soldiers in Utti, Finland after an outdoors infantry drill. Campylobacter jejuni, heat-stable serotype 3/43/59, was isolated from 37 out of 63 men investigated. A clear serological response was evident in the risk group and negligible in the control group. The entire population at risk was interviewed. The outbreak was associated with the consumption of untreated surface water. C. jejuni, heat-stable serotype 3/43/59, was isolated on two occasions from the water source.