ORCID Profile
0000-0001-5463-2212
Current Organisations
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
,
Duke University School of Medicine
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Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 11-07-2018
DOI: 10.1101/367326
Abstract: Evaluation of biological age, as opposed to chronological age, is of high relevance for interventions to increase healthy aging. Highly reproducible age-associated DNA methylation (DNAm) changes can be integrated into algorithms for epigenetic age predictions. These predictors have mostly been trained to correlate with chronological age, but they are also indicative for biological aging. For ex le accelerated epigenetic age of blood is associated with higher risk of all-cause mortality in later life. The perceived age of facial images (face-age) is also associated with all-cause mortality and other aging-associated traits. In this study, we therefore tested the hypothesis that an epigenetic predictor for biological age might be trained on face-age as surrogate for biological age, rather than on chronological age. Our data demonstrate that facial aging and DNAm changes in blood provide two independent measures for biological aging.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-06-2021
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-01-2015
DOI: 10.1002/PAM.21811
Abstract: Early interventions are a preferred method for addressing behavioral problems in high-risk children, but often have only modest effects. Identifying sources of variation in intervention effects can suggest means to improve efficiency. One potential source of such variation is the genome. We conducted a genetic analysis of the Fast Track randomized control trial, a 10-year-long intervention to prevent high-risk kindergarteners from developing adult externalizing problems including substance abuse and antisocial behavior. We tested whether variants of the glucocorticoid receptor gene NR3C1 were associated with differences in response to the Fast Track intervention. We found that in European-American children, a variant of NR3C1 identified by the single-nucleotide polymorphism rs10482672 was associated with increased risk for externalizing psychopathology in control group children and decreased risk for externalizing psychopathology in intervention group children. Variation in NR3C1 measured in this study was not associated with differential intervention response in African-American children. We discuss implications for efforts to prevent externalizing problems in high-risk children and for public policy in the genomic era.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 03-2014
DOI: 10.1037/A0035687
Publisher: American Psychiatric Association Publishing
Date: 12-2013
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: 10-12-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41380-019-0626-7
Abstract: An in idual’s brainAGE is the difference between chronological age and age predicted from machine-learning models of brain-imaging data. BrainAGE has been proposed as a biomarker of age-related deterioration of the brain. Having an older brainAGE has been linked to Alzheimer’s, dementia, and mortality. However, these findings are largely based on cross-sectional associations which can confuse age differences with cohort differences. To illuminate the validity of brainAGE as a biomarker of accelerated brain aging, a study is needed of a large cohort all born in the same year who nevertheless vary on brainAGE. In the Dunedin Study, a population-representative 1972–73 birth cohort, we measured brainAGE at age 45 years, as well as the pace of biological aging and cognitive decline in longitudinal data from childhood to midlife ( N = 869). In this cohort, all chronological age 45 years, brainAGE was measured reliably (ICC = 0.81) and ranged from 24 to 72 years. Those with older midlife brainAGEs tended to have poorer cognitive function in both adulthood and childhood, as well as impaired brain health at age 3. Furthermore, those with older brainAGEs had an accelerated pace of biological aging, older facial appearance, and early signs of cognitive decline from childhood to midlife. These findings help to validate brainAGE as a potential surrogate biomarker for midlife intervention studies that seek to measure dementia-prevention efforts in midlife. However, the findings also caution against the assumption that brainAGE scores represent only age-related deterioration of the brain as they may also index central nervous system variation present since childhood.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-02-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41398-019-0430-9
Abstract: Large-scale epigenome-wide association meta-analyses have identified multiple ‘signatures’’ of smoking. Drawing on these findings, we describe the construction of a polyepigenetic DNA methylation score that indexes smoking behavior and that can be utilized for multiple purposes in population health research. To validate the score, we use data from two birth cohort studies: The Dunedin Longitudinal Study, followed to age-38 years, and the Environmental Risk Study, followed to age-18 years. Longitudinal data show that changes in DNA methylation accumulate with increased exposure to tobacco smoking and attenuate with quitting. Data from twins discordant for smoking behavior show that smoking influences DNA methylation independently of genetic and environmental risk factors. Physiological data show that changes in DNA methylation track smoking-related changes in lung function and gum health over time. Moreover, DNA methylation changes predict corresponding changes in gene expression in pathways related to inflammation, immune response, and cellular trafficking. Finally, we present prospective data about the link between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and epigenetic modifications these findings document the importance of controlling for smoking-related DNA methylation changes when studying biological embedding of stress in life-course research. We introduce the polyepigenetic DNA methylation score as a tool both for discovery and theory-guided research in epigenetic epidemiology.
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: 08-11-2018
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 02-2015
DOI: 10.1017/S095457941400131X
Abstract: We conducted a developmental analysis of genetic moderation of the effect of the Fast Track intervention on adult externalizing psychopathology. The Fast Track intervention enrolled 891 children at high risk to develop externalizing behavior problems when they were in kindergarten. Half of the enrolled children were randomly assigned to receive 10 years of treatment, with a range of services and resources provided to the children and their families, and the other half to usual care (controls). We previously showed that the effect of the Fast Track intervention on participants' risk of externalizing psychopathology at age 25 years was moderated by a variant in the glucocorticoid receptor gene. Children who carried copies of the A allele of the single nucleotide polymorphism rs10482672 had the highest risk of externalizing psychopathology if they were in the control arm of the trial and the lowest risk of externalizing psychopathology if they were in the treatment arm. In this study, we test a developmental hypothesis about the origins of this for better and for worse Gene × Intervention interaction (G × I): that the observed G × I effect on adult psychopathology is mediated by the proximal impact of intervention on childhood externalizing problems and adolescent substance use and delinquency. We analyzed longitudinal data tracking the 270 European American children in the Fast Track randomized control trial with available genetic information (129 intervention children, 141 control group peers, 69% male) from kindergarten through age 25 years. Results show that the same pattern of for better and for worse susceptibility to intervention observed at the age 25 follow-up was evident already during childhood. At the elementary school follow-ups and at the middle/high school follow-ups, rs10482672 predicted better adjustment among children receiving the Fast Track intervention and worse adjustment among children in the control condition. In turn, these proximal G × I effects early in development mediated the ultimate G × I effect on externalizing psychopathology at age 25 years. We discuss the contribution of these findings to the growing literature on genetic susceptibility to environmental intervention.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2021
Location: United States of America
Location: No location found
Location: United States of America
Location: United States of America
No related grants have been discovered for Daniel Belsky.