ORCID Profile
0000-0002-2938-2191
Current Organisations
King's College London
,
Economic and Social Research Council
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Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 28-10-2023
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 03-02-2022
DOI: 10.1017/S0954579421001632
Abstract: The present study examined patterns of stability and change in loneliness across adolescence. Data were drawn from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a UK population-representative cohort of 2,232 in iduals born in 1994 and 1995. Loneliness was assessed when participants were aged 12 and 18. Loneliness showed modest stability across these ages ( r = .25). Behavioral genetic modeling indicated that stability in loneliness was explained largely by genetic influences (66%), while change was explained by nonshared environmental effects (58%). In iduals who reported loneliness at both ages were broadly similar to in iduals who only reported it at age 18, with both groups at elevated risk of mental health problems, physical health risk behaviors, and education and employment difficulties. In iduals who were lonely only at age 12 generally fared better however, they were still more likely to finish school with lower qualifications. Positive family influences in childhood predicted reduced risk of loneliness at age 12, while negative peer experiences increased the risk. Together, the findings show that while early adolescent loneliness does not appear to exert a cumulative burden when it persists, it is nonetheless a risk for a range of concomitant impairments, some of which can endure.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 02-09-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.08.30.21262858
Abstract: Measures to quantify changes in the pace of biological aging in response to intervention are needed to evaluate geroprotective interventions for humans. We used data from the Dunedin Study 1972-3 birth cohort tracking within-in idual decline in 19 indicators of organ-system integrity across four time points spanning two decades to model Pace of Aging. We distilled this two-decade Pace of Aging into a single-time-point DNA-methylation blood-test using elastic-net regression and a DNA-methylation dataset restricted to exclude probes with low test-retest reliability. We evaluated the resulting measure, named DunedinPACE, in five additional datasets. DunedinPACE showed high test-retest reliability, was associated with morbidity, disability, and mortality, and indicated faster aging in young adults with childhood adversity. DunedinPACE effect-sizes were similar to GrimAge Clock effect-sizes. In analysis of morbidity, disability, and mortality, DunedinPACE and added incremental prediction beyond GrimAge. DunedinPACE is a novel blood biomarker of the pace of aging for gerontology and geroscience.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 30-07-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41398-021-01480-X
Abstract: Childhood aggressive behavior (AGG) has a substantial heritability of around 50%. Here we present a genome-wide association meta-analysis (GWAMA) of childhood AGG, in which all phenotype measures across childhood ages from multiple assessors were included. We analyzed phenotype assessments for a total of 328 935 observations from 87 485 children aged between 1.5 and 18 years, while accounting for s le overlap. We also meta-analyzed within subsets of the data, i.e., within rater, instrument and age. SNP-heritability for the overall meta-analysis (AGG overall ) was 3.31% (SE = 0.0038). We found no genome-wide significant SNPs for AGG overall . The gene-based analysis returned three significant genes: ST3GAL3 ( P = 1.6E–06), PCDH7 ( P = 2.0E–06), and IPO13 ( P = 2.5E–06). All three genes have previously been associated with educational traits. Polygenic scores based on our GWAMA significantly predicted aggression in a holdout s le of children (variance explained = 0.44%) and in retrospectively assessed childhood aggression (variance explained = 0.20%). Genetic correlations ( r g ) among rater-specific assessment of AGG ranged from r g = 0.46 between self- and teacher-assessment to r g = 0.81 between mother- and teacher-assessment. We obtained moderate-to-strong r g s with selected phenotypes from multiple domains, but hardly with any of the classical biomarkers thought to be associated with AGG. Significant genetic correlations were observed with most psychiatric and psychological traits (range $$\left| {r_g} \right|$$ r g : 0.19–1.00), except for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Aggression had a negative genetic correlation ( r g = ~−0.5) with cognitive traits and age at first birth. Aggression was strongly genetically correlated with smoking phenotypes (range $$\left| {r_g} \right|$$ r g : 0.46–0.60). The genetic correlations between aggression and psychiatric disorders were weaker for teacher-reported AGG than for mother- and self-reported AGG. The current GWAMA of childhood aggression provides a powerful tool to interrogate the rater-specific genetic etiology of AGG.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-05-2022
DOI: 10.1002/JCV2.12073
Abstract: This study examined early life antecedents of childhood social isolation, whether these factors accounted for poor outcomes of isolated children, and how these associations varied according to patterns of stability and change in childhood isolation. Participants included 2232 children from the Environmental Risk (E‐Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study. We conducted growth mixture modelling (GMM) on combined parent and teacher reports of children's social isolation when children were 5, 7, 10 and 12 years, and we assessed associations with age‐5 antecedents and age‐18 outcomes using regression analyses. We identified three linear developmental trajectories of increasing (4.75%), decreasing (5.25%) and low stable (90.00%) social isolation. Age‐5 attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, emotional problems, prosocial behaviours, maternal personality (openness) and size of school were associated with the decreasing trajectory of social isolation. When controlling for these antecedents, increasingly isolated children were still more likely to experience ADHD symptoms, loneliness, lower job optimism and lower physical activity at age 18. Isolated children follow distinct patterns of change over childhood and isolation seems most detrimental to health at the time it is experienced. Social isolation can be a valuable indicator of co‐occurring problems and provide targets for mental health intervention in young people.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 09-2021
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 12-03-0044
DOI: 10.1101/2021.03.10.21253201
Abstract: The environment and events that we are exposed to in utero, during birth and in early childhood influence our future physical and mental health. The underlying mechanisms that lead to these outcomes in adulthood are unclear, but long-term changes in epigenetic marks, such as DNA methylation, could act as a mediating factor or biomarker. DNA methylation data was assayed at 713,522 CpG sites from 9,537 participants of the Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study, a family-based cohort with extensive data on genetic, medical, family history and lifestyle information. Methylome-wide association studies of eight early life environment phenotypes and two adult mental health phenotypes were conducted using DNA methylation data collected from adult whole blood s les. Two genes involved with different developmental pathways (PRICKLE2 and ABI1) were annotated to CpG sites associated with preterm birth (P 1.27 × 10 −9 ). A further two genes important to the development of sensory pathways (SOBP and RPGRIP1) were annotated to sites associated with low birth weight (P 4.35 × 10 −8 ). Genes and gene-sets annotated from associated CpGs sites and methylation profile scores were then used to quantify any overlap between the early life environment and mental health traits. However, there was no evidence of any overlap after applying a correction for multiple testing. Time of year of birth was found to be associated with a significant difference in estimated lymphocyte and neutrophil counts. Early life environments influence the risk of developing mental health disorders later in life however, this study provides no evidence that this is mediated by stable changes to the methylome detectable in peripheral blood.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2021
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2023
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-01-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41380-020-00987-X
Abstract: DNA methylation profiles of aggressive behavior may capture lifetime cumulative effects of genetic, stochastic, and environmental influences associated with aggression. Here, we report the first large meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) of aggressive behavior ( N = 15,324 participants). In peripheral blood s les of 14,434 participants from 18 cohorts with mean ages ranging from 7 to 68 years, 13 methylation sites were significantly associated with aggression (alpha = 1.2 × 10 −7 Bonferroni correction). In cord blood s les of 2425 children from five cohorts with aggression assessed at mean ages ranging from 4 to 7 years, 83% of these sites showed the same direction of association with childhood aggression ( r = 0.74, p = 0.006) but no epigenome-wide significant sites were found. Top-sites (48 at a false discovery rate of 5% in the peripheral blood meta-analysis or in a combined meta-analysis of peripheral blood and cord blood) have been associated with chemical exposures, smoking, cognition, metabolic traits, and genetic variation (mQTLs). Three genes whose expression levels were associated with top-sites were previously linked to schizophrenia and general risk tolerance. At six CpGs, DNA methylation variation in blood mirrors variation in the brain. On average 44% (range = 3–82%) of the aggression–methylation association was explained by current and former smoking and BMI. These findings point at loci that are sensitive to chemical exposures with potential implications for neuronal functions. We hope these results to be a starting point for studies leading to applications as peripheral biomarkers and to reveal causal relationships with aggression and related traits.
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 24-01-2011
Abstract: Policy-makers are considering large-scale programs aimed at self-control to improve citizens’ health and wealth and reduce crime. Experimental and economic studies suggest such programs could reap benefits. Yet, is self-control important for the health, wealth, and public safety of the population? Following a cohort of 1,000 children from birth to the age of 32 y, we show that childhood self-control predicts physical health, substance dependence, personal finances, and criminal offending outcomes, following a gradient of self-control. Effects of children's self-control could be disentangled from their intelligence and social class as well as from mistakes they made as adolescents. In another cohort of 500 sibling-pairs, the sibling with lower self-control had poorer outcomes, despite shared family background. Interventions addressing self-control might reduce a panoply of societal costs, save taxpayers money, and promote prosperity.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-06-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S42003-021-02144-8
Abstract: Soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) is a chronic inflammation marker associated with the development of a range of diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular disease. The genetics of suPAR remain unexplored but may shed light on the biology of the marker and its connection to outcomes. We report a heritability estimate of 60% for the variation in suPAR and performed a genome-wide association meta-analysis on suPAR levels measured in Iceland ( N = 35,559) and in Denmark ( N = 12,177). We identified 13 independently genome-wide significant sequence variants associated with suPAR across 11 distinct loci. Associated variants were found in and around genes encoding uPAR ( PLAUR ), its ligand uPA ( PLAU ), the kidney-disease-associated gene PLA2R1 as well as genes with relations to glycosylation, glycoprotein biosynthesis, and the immune response. These findings provide new insight into the causes of variation in suPAR plasma levels, which may clarify suPAR’s potential role in associated diseases, as well as the underlying mechanisms that give suPAR its prognostic value as a unique marker of chronic inflammation.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2021
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 05-01-2021
Abstract: The present study used quantitative and qualitative methods to explore how lonely young people are seen from others’ perspectives, in terms of their personality, behavior, and life circumstances. Data were drawn from the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study, a cohort of 2,232 in iduals born in the U.K. in the mid-1990s. When participants were aged 18, they provided self-reports of loneliness, and informant ratings of loneliness were provided by interviewers, as well as participants’ parents and siblings. Interviewers further provided Big Five personality ratings and detailed written notes in which they documented their perceptions of the participants and their reflections on the content of the interview. In the quantitative section of the article, regression analyses were used to examine the perceptibility of loneliness and how participants’ loneliness related to their perceived personality traits. The informant ratings of participants’ loneliness showed good agreement with self-reports. Furthermore, loneliness was associated with lower perceived conscientiousness, agreeableness, and extroversion and higher perceived neuroticism. Within-twin pair analyses indicated that these associations were partly explained by common underlying genetic influences. In the qualitative section of the study, the loneliest 5% of study participants ( N = 108) were selected, and thematic analysis was applied to the study interviewers’ notes about those participants. Three themes were identified and named: “uncomfortable in own skin,” “clustering of risk,” and “difficulties accessing social resources.” These results add depth to the current conceptualization of loneliness and emphasize the complexity and intersectional nature of the circumstances severely lonely young adults live in.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Louise Arseneault.