Author: "Cross, Simon" - Searchworks@Jio Institute Digital Library Search Results

Your search keyword '"Cross, Simon"' showing total 1,895 results

Start Over Author "Cross, Simon"

1,895 results on '"Cross, Simon"'

1. The Impact of Online Exams on the Quality of Distance Learners' Exam and Exam Revision Experience: Perspectives from the Open University UK

Author: Cross, Simon, Aristeidou, Maria, Rossade, Klaus-Dieter, Wood, Carlton, and Brasher, Andrew
Abstract: This paper reports findings from a research study at The Open University, UK into the quality of distance learners' online exam experience and the differences in experience between online (pandemic) and in-person (pre-pandemic) modes of examination. Our research responds to the ongoing need for greater insight into the exam experience and is?uniquely positioned in two ways. First, we made use of a robust reference dataset collected before the COVID-19 pandemic and compared this with a second survey administered a year after the pandemic started; second, we asked students about their experience preparing and revising for the exam as well as the exam itself. Exam revision represents an important transitional period for learners. Our results show that, overall, the shift to online remote exams did not impact the quality of distance learners' experience of revising for exams or taking the exam itself. We found no significant change in the revision experience across six of eight measures, including the learning benefits of learning while revising, enjoyment, and support. However, students reported feeling less anxious when revising for online exams. The quality of the exam experience itself was largely unaffected by the move from in-person to online remote exams. No significant differences were found for seven of the nine measures of exam experience. However, we found satisfaction with the exam environment was significantly higher for online exams and that learners felt the online exam was harder than they expected. Age and gender differences are also explored.
Published: 2023

2. Evaluation of European-based polygenic risk score for breast cancer in Ashkenazi Jewish women in Israel

Author: Levi, Hagai, Carmi, Shai, Rosset, Saharon, Yerushalmi, Rinat, Zick, Aviad, Yablonski-Peretz, Tamar, Consortium, The BCAC, Wang, Qin, Bolla, Manjeet K, Dennis, Joe, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Lush, Michael, Ahearn, Thomas, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Antoniou, Antonis C, Arndt, Volker, Augustinsson, Annelie, Auvinen, Päivi, Freeman, Laura Beane, Beckmann, Matthias, Behrens, Sabine, Bermisheva, Marina, Bodelon, Clara, Bogdanova, Natalia V, Bojesen, Stig E, Brenner, Hermann, Byers, Helen, Camp, Nicola, Castelao, Jose, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Chirlaque, María-Dolores, Chung, Wendy, Clarke, Christine, Collaborators, NBCS, Collee, Margriet J, Colonna, Sarah, Consortium, CTS, Couch, Fergus, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary, Devilee, Peter, Dork, Thilo, Dossus, Laure, Eccles, Diana M, Eliassen, A Heather, Eriksson, Mikael, Evans, Gareth, Fasching, Peter, Fletcher, Olivia, Flyger, Henrik, Fritschi, Lin, Gabrielson, Marike, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, García-Closas, Montserrat, Garcia-Saenz, Jose Angel, Genkinger, Jeanine, Giles, Graham G, Goldberg, Mark, Guénel, Pascal, Hall, Per, Hamann, Ute, He, Wei, Hillemanns, Peter, Hollestelle, Antoinette, Hoppe, Reiner, Hopper, John, Investigators, ABCTB, Jakovchevska, Simona, Jakubowska, Anna, Jernström, Helena, John, Esther, Johnson, Nichola, Jones, Michael, Vijai, Joseph, Kaaks, Rudolf, Khusnutdinova, Elza, Kitahara, Cari, Koutros, Stella, Kristensen, Vessela, Kurian, Allison W, Lacey, James, Lambrechts, Diether, Le Marchand, Loic, Lejbkowicz, Flavio, Lindblom, Annika, Loibl, Sibylle, Lori, Adriana, Lubinski, Jan, Mannermaa, Arto, Manoochehri, Mehdi, Mavroudis, Dimitrios, Menon, Usha, Mulligan, AnnaMarie, Murphy, Rachel, Nevelsteen, Ines, Newman, William G, and Obi, Nadia
Subjects: Biological Sciences, Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Genetics, Oncology and Carcinogenesis, Breast Cancer, Prevention, Cancer, Humans, Female, Breast Neoplasms, Genome-Wide Association Study, Jews, Israel, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Risk Factors, Multifactorial Inheritance, Transcription Factors, Genomics, Polymorphism, Genetic, BCAC Consortium, NBCS Collaborators, CTS Consortium, ABCTB Investigators, Polymorphism, Genetic, Medical and Health Sciences, Genetics & Heredity, Clinical sciences
Abstract: BackgroundPolygenic risk score (PRS), calculated based on genome-wide association studies (GWASs), can improve breast cancer (BC) risk assessment. To date, most BC GWASs have been performed in individuals of European (EUR) ancestry, and the generalisation of EUR-based PRS to other populations is a major challenge. In this study, we examined the performance of EUR-based BC PRS models in Ashkenazi Jewish (AJ) women.MethodsWe generated PRSs based on data on EUR women from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC). We tested the performance of the PRSs in a cohort of 2161 AJ women from Israel (1437 cases and 724 controls) from BCAC (BCAC cohort from Israel (BCAC-IL)). In addition, we tested the performance of these EUR-based BC PRSs, as well as the established 313-SNP EUR BC PRS, in an independent cohort of 181 AJ women from Hadassah Medical Center (HMC) in Israel.ResultsIn the BCAC-IL cohort, the highest OR per 1 SD was 1.56 (±0.09). The OR for AJ women at the top 10% of the PRS distribution compared with the middle quintile was 2.10 (±0.24). In the HMC cohort, the OR per 1 SD of the EUR-based PRS that performed best in the BCAC-IL cohort was 1.58±0.27. The OR per 1 SD of the commonly used 313-SNP BC PRS was 1.64 (±0.28).ConclusionsExtant EUR GWAS data can be used for generating PRSs that identify AJ women with markedly elevated risk of BC and therefore hold promise for improving BC risk assessment in AJ women.
Published: 2023

3. HierarchicalEOM.jl: An efficient Julia framework for hierarchical equations of motion in open quantum systems

Author: Huang, Yi-Te, Kuo, Po-Chen, Lambert, Neill, Cirio, Mauro, Cross, Simon, Yang, Shen-Liang, Nori, Franco, and Chen, Yueh-Nan
Subjects: Quantum Physics, Physics - Chemical Physics, Physics - Computational Physics
Abstract: The hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) approach can describe the reduced dynamics of a system simultaneously coupled to multiple bosonic and fermionic environments. The complexity of exactly describing the system-environment interaction with the HEOM method usually results in time-consuming calculations and a large memory cost. Here, we introduce an open-source software package called HierarchicalEOM.jl: a Julia framework integrating the HEOM approach. HierarchicalEOM.jl features a collection of methods to compute bosonic and fermionic spectra, stationary states, and the full dynamics in the extended space of all auxiliary density operators (ADOs). The required handling of the ADOs multi-indexes is achieved through a user-friendly interface. We exemplify the functionalities of the package by analyzing a single impurity Anderson model, and an ultra-strongly coupled charge-cavity system interacting with bosonic and fermionic reservoirs. HierarchicalEOM.jl achieves a significant speedup with respect to the corresponding method in the Quantum Toolbox in Python (QuTiP), upon which this package is founded., Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables
Published: 2023
Full Text: View/download PDF

4. Association of the CHEK2 c.1100delC variant, radiotherapy, and systemic treatment with contralateral breast cancer risk and breast cancer‐specific survival

Author: Morra, Anna, Schreurs, Maartje AC, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton‐Culver, Hoda, Augustinsson, Annelie, Beckmann, Matthias W, Behrens, Sabine, Bojesen, Stig E, Bolla, Manjeet K, Brauch, Hiltrud, Broeks, Annegien, Buys, Saundra S, Camp, Nicola J, Castelao, Jose E, Cessna, Melissa H, Chang‐Claude, Jenny, Chung, Wendy K, Sahlberg, Kristine K, Børresen‐Dale, Anne‐Lise, Gram, Inger Torhild, Olsen, Karina Standahl, Engebråten, Olav, Naume, Bjørn, Geisler, Jürgen, OSBREAC, Alnæs, Grethe I Grenaker, Colonna, Sarah V, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary B, Dennis, Joe, Devilee, Peter, Dörk, Thilo, Dunning, Alison M, Dwek, Miriam, Easton, Douglas F, Eccles, Diana M, Eriksson, Mikael, Evans, D Gareth, Fasching, Peter A, Fehm, Tanja N, Figueroa, Jonine D, Flyger, Henrik, Gabrielson, Marike, Gago‐Dominguez, Manuela, García‐Closas, Montserrat, García‐Sáenz, José A, Genkinger, Jeanine, Grassmann, Felix, Gündert, Melanie, Hahnen, Eric, Haiman, Christopher A, Hamann, Ute, Harrington, Patricia A, Hartikainen, Jaana M, Hoppe, Reiner, Hopper, John L, Houlston, Richard S, Howell, Anthony, Clarke, Christine, Marsh, Deborah, Scott, Rodney, Baxter, Robert, Yip, Desmond, Carpenter, Jane, Davis, Alison, Pathmanathan, Nirmala, Simpson, Peter, Graham, J Dinny, Sachchithananthan, Mythily, Amor, David, Andrews, Lesley, Antill, Yoland, Balleine, Rosemary, Beesley, Jonathan, Bennett, Ian, Bogwitz, Michael, Botes, Leon, Brennan, Meagan, Brown, Melissa, Buckley, Michael, Burke, Jo, Butow, Phyllis, Caldon, Liz, Campbell, Ian, Cao, Michelle, Chakrabarti, Anannya, Chauhan, Deepa, Chauhan, Manisha, Chenevix‐Trench, Georgia, Christian, Alice, Cohen, Paul, Colley, Alison, Crook, Ashley, Cui, James, Courtney, Eliza, Cummings, Margaret, and Dawson, Sarah‐Jane
Subjects: Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Oncology and Carcinogenesis, Women's Health, Breast Cancer, Clinical Research, Prevention, Cancer, Female, Humans, Breast Neoplasms, Checkpoint Kinase 2, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Germ-Line Mutation, Heterozygote, Proportional Hazards Models, CHEK2 c.1100delC germline genetic variant, contralateral breast cancer risk, radiotherapy, survival, systemic treatment, NBCS Collaborators, ABCTB Investigators, kConFab Investigators, Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Oncology and carcinogenesis
Abstract: BackgroundBreast cancer (BC) patients with a germline CHEK2 c.1100delC variant have an increased risk of contralateral BC (CBC) and worse BC-specific survival (BCSS) compared to non-carriers.AimTo assessed the associations of CHEK2 c.1100delC, radiotherapy, and systemic treatment with CBC risk and BCSS.MethodsAnalyses were based on 82,701 women diagnosed with a first primary invasive BC including 963 CHEK2 c.1100delC carriers; median follow-up was 9.1 years. Differential associations with treatment by CHEK2 c.1100delC status were tested by including interaction terms in a multivariable Cox regression model. A multi-state model was used for further insight into the relation between CHEK2 c.1100delC status, treatment, CBC risk and death.ResultsThere was no evidence for differential associations of therapy with CBC risk by CHEK2 c.1100delC status. The strongest association with reduced CBC risk was observed for the combination of chemotherapy and endocrine therapy [HR (95% CI): 0.66 (0.55-0.78)]. No association was observed with radiotherapy. Results from the multi-state model showed shorter BCSS for CHEK2 c.1100delC carriers versus non-carriers also after accounting for CBC occurrence [HR (95% CI): 1.30 (1.09-1.56)].ConclusionSystemic therapy was associated with reduced CBC risk irrespective of CHEK2 c.1100delC status. Moreover, CHEK2 c.1100delC carriers had shorter BCSS, which appears not to be fully explained by their CBC risk.
Published: 2023

5. Empowering Assessors in Providing Quality Feedback with GenAI Assistance: A Preliminary Exploration

Author: Chen, Zexuan, Cross, Simon, Rienties, Bart, Li, Gang, Series Editor, Filipe, Joaquim, Series Editor, Xu, Zhiwei, Series Editor, Lee, Lap-Kei, editor, Poulova, Petra, editor, Chui, Kwok Tai, editor, Černá, Miloslava, editor, Wang, Fu Lee, editor, and Cheung, Simon K. S., editor
Published: 2024
Full Text: View/download PDF

6. Associations of a Breast Cancer Polygenic Risk Score With Tumor Characteristics and Survival

Author: Lopes Cardozo, Josephine MN, Andrulis, Irene L, Bojesen, Stig E, Dörk, Thilo, Eccles, Diana M, Fasching, Peter A, Hooning, Maartje J, Keeman, Renske, Nevanlinna, Heli, Rutgers, Emiel JT, Easton, Douglas F, Hall, Per, Pharoah, Paul DP, van 't Veer, Laura J, Schmidt, Marjanka K, Ahearn, Thomas U, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Arndt, Volker, Auer, Paul L, Augustinsson, Annelie, Beane Freeman, Laura E, Becher, Heiko, Beckmann, Matthias W, Behrens, Sabine, Benitez, Javier, Bermisheva, Marina, Blomqvist, Carl, Bolla, Manjeet K, Bonanni, Bernardo, Boyle, Terry, Brenner, Hermann, Brucker, Sara Y, Brüning, Thomas, Burwinkel, Barbara, Buys, Saundra S, Camp, Nicola J, Canzian, Federico, Cardoso, Fatima, Castelao, Jose E, Cessna, Melissa H, Chan, Tsun L, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Chenevix-Trench, Georgia, Choi, Ji-Yeob, Colonna, Sarah V, Copson, Ellen, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary B, Dennis, Joe, Devilee, Peter, Drukker, Caroline A, Dunning, Alison M, Dwek, Miriam, Eliassen, A Heather, Engel, Christoph, Evans, D Gareth, Figueroa, Jonine D, Fletcher, Olivia, Flyger, Henrik, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, García-Closas, Montserrat, García-Sáenz, José A, Genkinger, Jeanine, Giles, Graham G, González-Neira, Anna, Guénel, Pascal, Gündert, Melanie, Hahnen, Eric, Haiman, Christopher A, Håkansson, Niclas, Hamann, Ute, Hartman, Mikael, Heemskerk-Gerritsen, Bernadette AM, Hein, Alexander, Ho, Weang-Kee, Hoppe, Reiner, Hopper, John L, Houlston, Richard S, Howell, Anthony, Hunter, David J, Ito, Hidemi, Jakubowska, Anna, Jernström, Helena, John, Esther M, Johnson, Nichola, Jones, Michael E, Joseph, Vijai, Kaaks, Rudolf, Kang, Daehee, Kim, Sung-Won, Kitahara, Cari M, Koppert, Linetta B, Kosma, Veli-Matti, Kraft, Peter, Kristensen, Vessela N, Kubelka-Sabit, Katerina, and Koutros, Stella
Subjects: Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Oncology and Carcinogenesis, Breast Cancer, Cancer, Good Health and Well Being, Female, Humans, Breast Neoplasms, Risk Factors, Prognosis, Proportional Hazards Models, Breast, Breast Cancer Association Consortium and MINDACT Collaborators, Clinical Sciences, Oncology & Carcinogenesis, Oncology and carcinogenesis
Abstract: PurposeA polygenic risk score (PRS) consisting of 313 common genetic variants (PRS313) is associated with risk of breast cancer and contralateral breast cancer. This study aimed to evaluate the association of the PRS313 with clinicopathologic characteristics of, and survival following, breast cancer.MethodsWomen with invasive breast cancer were included, 98,397 of European ancestry and 12,920 of Asian ancestry, from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC), and 683 women from the European MINDACT trial. Associations between PRS313 and clinicopathologic characteristics, including the 70-gene signature for MINDACT, were evaluated using logistic regression analyses. Associations of PRS313 (continuous, per standard deviation) with overall survival (OS) and breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) were evaluated with Cox regression, adjusted for clinicopathologic characteristics and treatment.ResultsThe PRS313 was associated with more favorable tumor characteristics. In BCAC, increasing PRS313 was associated with lower grade, hormone receptor-positive status, and smaller tumor size. In MINDACT, PRS313 was associated with a low risk 70-gene signature. In European women from BCAC, higher PRS313 was associated with better OS and BCSS: hazard ratio (HR) 0.96 (95% CI, 0.94 to 0.97) and 0.96 (95% CI, 0.94 to 0.98), but the association disappeared after adjustment for clinicopathologic characteristics (and treatment): OS HR, 1.01 (95% CI, 0.98 to 1.05) and BCSS HR, 1.02 (95% CI, 0.98 to 1.07). The results in MINDACT and Asian women from BCAC were consistent.ConclusionAn increased PRS313 is associated with favorable tumor characteristics, but is not independently associated with prognosis. Thus, PRS313 has no role in the clinical management of primary breast cancer at the time of diagnosis. Nevertheless, breast cancer mortality rates will be higher for women with higher PRS313 as increasing PRS313 is associated with an increased risk of disease. This information is crucial for modeling effective stratified screening programs.
Published: 2023

7. A genome-wide gene-environment interaction study of breast cancer risk for women of European ancestry

Author: Middha, Pooja, Wang, Xiaoliang, Behrens, Sabine, Bolla, Manjeet K, Wang, Qin, Dennis, Joe, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Ahearn, Thomas U, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Arndt, Volker, Aronson, Kristan J, Auer, Paul L, Augustinsson, Annelie, Baert, Thaïs, Freeman, Laura E Beane, Becher, Heiko, Beckmann, Matthias W, Benitez, Javier, Bojesen, Stig E, Brauch, Hiltrud, Brenner, Hermann, Brooks-Wilson, Angela, Campa, Daniele, Canzian, Federico, Carracedo, Angel, Castelao, Jose E, Chanock, Stephen J, Chenevix-Trench, Georgia, Cordina-Duverger, Emilie, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Dossus, Laure, Dugué, Pierre-Antoine, Eliassen, A Heather, Eriksson, Mikael, Evans, D Gareth, Fasching, Peter A, Figueroa, Jonine D, Fletcher, Olivia, Flyger, Henrik, Gabrielson, Marike, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, Giles, Graham G, González-Neira, Anna, Grassmann, Felix, Grundy, Anne, Guénel, Pascal, Haiman, Christopher A, Håkansson, Niclas, Hall, Per, Hamann, Ute, Hankinson, Susan E, Harkness, Elaine F, Holleczek, Bernd, Hoppe, Reiner, Hopper, John L, Houlston, Richard S, Howell, Anthony, Hunter, David J, Ingvar, Christian, Isaksson, Karolin, Jernström, Helena, John, Esther M, Jones, Michael E, Kaaks, Rudolf, Keeman, Renske, Kitahara, Cari M, Ko, Yon-Dschun, Koutros, Stella, Kurian, Allison W, Lacey, James V, Lambrechts, Diether, Larson, Nicole L, Larsson, Susanna, Le Marchand, Loic, Lejbkowicz, Flavio, Li, Shuai, Linet, Martha, Lissowska, Jolanta, Martinez, Maria Elena, Maurer, Tabea, Mulligan, Anna Marie, Mulot, Claire, Murphy, Rachel A, Newman, William G, Nielsen, Sune F, Nordestgaard, Børge G, Norman, Aaron, O’Brien, Katie M, Olson, Janet E, Patel, Alpa V, Prentice, Ross, Rees-Punia, Erika, Rennert, Gad, Rhenius, Valerie, Ruddy, Kathryn J, and Sandler, Dale P
Subjects: Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Oncology and Carcinogenesis, Cancer Genomics, Human Genome, Estrogen, Cancer, Women's Health, Genetics, Prevention, Aging, Breast Cancer, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, Adult, Female, Humans, Gene-Environment Interaction, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Breast Neoplasms, Bayes Theorem, Genome-Wide Association Study, Risk Factors, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Case-Control Studies, Breast cancer, Gene-environment interactions, Genetic epidemiology, European ancestry, CTS Consortium, ABCTB Investigators, kConFab Investigators, Oncology & Carcinogenesis, Oncology and carcinogenesis
Abstract: BackgroundGenome-wide studies of gene-environment interactions (G×E) may identify variants associated with disease risk in conjunction with lifestyle/environmental exposures. We conducted a genome-wide G×E analysis of ~ 7.6 million common variants and seven lifestyle/environmental risk factors for breast cancer risk overall and for estrogen receptor positive (ER +) breast cancer.MethodsAnalyses were conducted using 72,285 breast cancer cases and 80,354 controls of European ancestry from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. Gene-environment interactions were evaluated using standard unconditional logistic regression models and likelihood ratio tests for breast cancer risk overall and for ER + breast cancer. Bayesian False Discovery Probability was employed to assess the noteworthiness of each SNP-risk factor pairs.ResultsAssuming a 1 × 10-5 prior probability of a true association for each SNP-risk factor pairs and a Bayesian False Discovery Probability
Published: 2023

8. Exploring teacher characteristics and participation in TPACK-related online teacher professional development in Assam, India

Author: Charania, Amina, Cross, Simon, Wolfenden, Freda, Sen, Sohini, and Adinolfi, Lina
Published: 2024
Full Text: View/download PDF

9. Physical activity, sedentary time and breast cancer risk: a Mendelian randomisation study

Author: Dixon-Suen, Suzanne C, Lewis, Sarah J, Martin, Richard M, English, Dallas R, Boyle, Terry, Giles, Graham G, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Bolla, Manjeet K, Wang, Qin, Dennis, Joe, Lush, Michael, Investigators, ABCTB, Ahearn, Thomas U, Ambrosone, Christine B, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Arndt, Volker, Aronson, Kristan J, Augustinsson, Annelie, Auvinen, Päivi, Freeman, Laura E Beane, Becher, Heiko, Beckmann, Matthias W, Behrens, Sabine, Bermisheva, Marina, Blomqvist, Carl, Bogdanova, Natalia V, Bojesen, Stig E, Bonanni, Bernardo, Brenner, Hermann, Brüning, Thomas, Buys, Saundra S, Camp, Nicola J, Campa, Daniele, Canzian, Federico, Castelao, Jose E, Cessna, Melissa H, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Chanock, Stephen J, Clarke, Christine L, Conroy, Don M, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary B, Devilee, Peter, Dörk, Thilo, Dwek, Miriam, Eccles, Diana M, Eliassen, A Heather, Engel, Christoph, Eriksson, Mikael, Evans, D Gareth, Fasching, Peter A, Fletcher, Olivia, Flyger, Henrik, Fritschi, Lin, Gabrielson, Marike, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, García-Closas, Montserrat, García-Sáenz, José A, Goldberg, Mark S, Guénel, Pascal, Gündert, Melanie, Hahnen, Eric, Haiman, Christopher A, Häberle, Lothar, Håkansson, Niclas, Hall, Per, Hamann, Ute, Hart, Steven N, Harvie, Michelle, Hillemanns, Peter, Hollestelle, Antoinette, Hooning, Maartje J, Hoppe, Reiner, Hopper, John, Howell, Anthony, Hunter, David J, Jakubowska, Anna, Janni, Wolfgang, John, Esther M, Jung, Audrey, Kaaks, Rudolf, Keeman, Renske, Kitahara, Cari M, Koutros, Stella, Kraft, Peter, Kristensen, Vessela N, Kubelka-Sabit, Katerina, Kurian, Allison W, Lacey, James V, Lambrechts, Diether, Le Marchand, Loic, Lindblom, Annika, Loibl, Sibylle, Lubiński, Jan, Mannermaa, Arto, and Manoochehri, Mehdi
Subjects: Aging, Genetics, Breast Cancer, Clinical Research, Cancer, Prevention, Female, Humans, Breast Neoplasms, Exercise, Mendelian Randomization Analysis, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk Factors, Sedentary Behavior, Breast Cancer Association Consortium, Breast, Physical activity, Sedentary Behaviour, Engineering, Medical and Health Sciences, Education, Sport Sciences
Abstract: ObjectivesPhysical inactivity and sedentary behaviour are associated with higher breast cancer risk in observational studies, but ascribing causality is difficult. Mendelian randomisation (MR) assesses causality by simulating randomised trial groups using genotype. We assessed whether lifelong physical activity or sedentary time, assessed using genotype, may be causally associated with breast cancer risk overall, pre/post-menopause, and by case-groups defined by tumour characteristics.MethodsWe performed two-sample inverse-variance-weighted MR using individual-level Breast Cancer Association Consortium case-control data from 130 957 European-ancestry women (69 838 invasive cases), and published UK Biobank data (n=91 105-377 234). Genetic instruments were single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated in UK Biobank with wrist-worn accelerometer-measured overall physical activity (nsnps=5) or sedentary time (nsnps=6), or accelerometer-measured (nsnps=1) or self-reported (nsnps=5) vigorous physical activity.ResultsGreater genetically-predicted overall activity was associated with lower breast cancer overall risk (OR=0.59; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.42 to 0.83 per-standard deviation (SD;~8 milligravities acceleration)) and for most case-groups. Genetically-predicted vigorous activity was associated with lower risk of pre/perimenopausal breast cancer (OR=0.62; 95% CI 0.45 to 0.87,≥3 vs. 0 self-reported days/week), with consistent estimates for most case-groups. Greater genetically-predicted sedentary time was associated with higher hormone-receptor-negative tumour risk (OR=1.77; 95% CI 1.07 to 2.92 per-SD (~7% time spent sedentary)), with elevated estimates for most case-groups. Results were robust to sensitivity analyses examining pleiotropy (including weighted-median-MR, MR-Egger).ConclusionOur study provides strong evidence that greater overall physical activity, greater vigorous activity, and lower sedentary time are likely to reduce breast cancer risk. More widespread adoption of active lifestyles may reduce the burden from the most common cancer in women.
Published: 2022

10. Polymorphisms in genes of melatonin biosynthesis and signaling support the light-at-night hypothesis for breast cancer

Author: Wichert, Katharina, Hoppe, Reiner, Ickstadt, Katja, Behrens, Thomas, Winter, Stefan, Herold, Robert, Terschüren, Claudia, Lo, Wing-Yee, Guénel, Pascal, Truong, Thérèse, Bolla, Manjeet K., Wang, Qin, Dennis, Joe, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Lush, Michael, Andrulis, Irene L., Brenner, Hermann, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S., Czene, Kamila, Eriksson, Mikael, Figueroa, Jonine D., García-Closas, Montserrat, Goldberg, Mark S., Hamann, Ute, He, Wei, Holleczek, Bernd, Hopper, John L., Jakubowska, Anna, Ko, Yon-Dschun, Lubiński, Jan, Mulligan, Anna Marie, Obi, Nadia, Rhenius, Valerie, Shah, Mitul, Shu, Xiao-Ou, Simard, Jacques, Southey, Melissa C., Zheng, Wei, Dunning, Alison M., Pharoah, Paul D. P., Hall, Per, Easton, Douglas F., Brüning, Thomas, Brauch, Hiltrud, Harth, Volker, and Rabstein, Sylvia
Published: 2023
Full Text: View/download PDF

11. Incorporating progesterone receptor expression into the PREDICT breast prognostic model

Author: Grootes, Isabelle, Keeman, Renske, Blows, Fiona M, Milne, Roger L, Giles, Graham G, Swerdlow, Anthony J, Fasching, Peter A, Abubakar, Mustapha, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Beckmann, Matthias W, Blomqvist, Carl, Bojesen, Stig E, Bolla, Manjeet K, Bonanni, Bernardo, Briceno, Ignacio, Burwinkel, Barbara, Camp, Nicola J, Castelao, Jose E, Choi, Ji-Yeob, Clarke, Christine L, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Devilee, Peter, Dörk, Thilo, Dunning, Alison M, Dwek, Miriam, Easton, Douglas F, Eccles, Diana M, Eriksson, Mikael, Ernst, Kristina, Evans, D Gareth, Figueroa, Jonine D, Fink, Visnja, Floris, Giuseppe, Fox, Stephen, Gabrielson, Marike, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, García-Sáenz, José A, González-Neira, Anna, Haeberle, Lothar, Haiman, Christopher A, Hall, Per, Hamann, Ute, Harkness, Elaine F, Hartman, Mikael, Hein, Alexander, Hooning, Maartje J, Hou, Ming-Feng, Howell, Sacha J, Investigators, ABCTB, Investigators, kConFab, Ito, Hidemi, Jakubowska, Anna, Janni, Wolfgang, John, Esther M, Jung, Audrey, Kang, Daehee, Kristensen, Vessela N, Kwong, Ava, Lambrechts, Diether, Li, Jingmei, Lubiński, Jan, Manoochehri, Mehdi, Margolin, Sara, Matsuo, Keitaro, Taib, Nur Aishah Mohd, Mulligan, Anna Marie, Nevanlinna, Heli, Newman, William G, Offit, Kenneth, Osorio, Ana, Park, Sue K, Park-Simon, Tjoung-Won, Patel, Alpa V, Presneau, Nadege, Pylkäs, Katri, Rack, Brigitte, Radice, Paolo, Rennert, Gad, Romero, Atocha, Saloustros, Emmanouil, Sawyer, Elinor J, Schneeweiss, Andreas, Schochter, Fabienne, Schoemaker, Minouk J, Shen, Chen-Yang, Shibli, Rana, Sinn, Peter, Tapper, William J, Tawfiq, Essa, Teo, Soo Hwang, Teras, Lauren R, Torres, Diana, Vachon, Celine M, van Deurzen, Carolien HM, Wendt, Camilla, and Williams, Justin A
Subjects: Cancer, Breast Cancer, Breast Neoplasms, Female, Humans, Progesterone, Prognosis, Receptor, ErbB-2, Receptors, Progesterone, PREDICT Breast, breast cancer, Progesterone receptor, ABCTB Investigators, kConFab Investigators, Receptor, erbB-2, Oncology and Carcinogenesis, Public Health and Health Services, Oncology & Carcinogenesis
Abstract: BackgroundPredict Breast (www.predict.nhs.uk) is an online prognostication and treatment benefit tool for early invasive breast cancer. The aim of this study was to incorporate the prognostic effect of progesterone receptor (PR) status into a new version of PREDICT and to compare its performance to the current version (2.2).MethodThe prognostic effect of PR status was based on the analysis of data from 45,088 European patients with breast cancer from 49 studies in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the hazard ratio for PR status. Data from a New Zealand study of 11,365 patients with early invasive breast cancer were used for external validation. Model calibration and discrimination were used to test the model performance.ResultsHaving a PR-positive tumour was associated with a 23% and 28% lower risk of dying from breast cancer for women with oestrogen receptor (ER)-negative and ER-positive breast cancer, respectively. The area under the ROC curve increased with the addition of PR status from 0.807 to 0.809 for patients with ER-negative tumours (p = 0.023) and from 0.898 to 0.902 for patients with ER-positive tumours (p = 2.3 × 10-6) in the New Zealand cohort. Model calibration was modest with 940 observed deaths compared to 1151 predicted.ConclusionThe inclusion of the prognostic effect of PR status to PREDICT Breast has led to an improvement of model performance and more accurate absolute treatment benefit predictions for individual patients. Further studies should determine whether the baseline hazard function requires recalibration.
Published: 2022

12. Exploring Open Digital Badges in Teacher Education: A Case Study from India

Author: Wolfenden, Freda, Adinolfi, Lina, and Cross, Simon
Abstract: This case study concerns findings from a workshop with senior teacher educators from three Indian states as part of the TESS-India teacher professional development initiative. The workshop explored how open digital badges might be used to support, capture and validate changes in teachers' classroom practice. Workshop participants drew on the TESS-India OER to design short online in-service teacher professional development courses to support movement towards the more participatory approach advocated in education policy. As part of this course design process, participants were encouraged to propose digital badges to recognise changes in teachers' pedagogic practice. Analysis of the workshop discussions and outputs indicated enthusiasm for digital badges, while also revealing that the process of defining digital badges may be helpful in prompting disruption of deeply embedded cultural scripts about ways of being and knowing that shape teacher educators' practice and helping them to recognise what the work of quality teaching entails.
Published: 2020

13. Experience(s) of spiritual capital : towards a process perspective on embodiment and enculturation

Author: Cross, Simon, Dearey, Paul, and Ornella, Alexander D.
Subjects: Theology
Abstract: This project interrogates notions of spiritual through a lens of process theology and asks how it might be developed. The project offers a practical theology which draws from Bourdieu's theory of practise to conceive of spiritual capital as necessary for the development of 'orthopraxis' (right behaviour) which is characterised by loving and caring for other people, and being in solidarity with the marginalised and oppressed. The project seeks to articulate a means by which this capital may be developed beyond the walls of the Church. It further proposes process theology as a suitable and helpful framework for this examination. Research was carried out by a mixture of surveys and then further interviews of a purposive sample of participants who engage in works for, or on behalf of, the 'common good' in order to examine the role and development of spiritual capital in their lives. The data from both the survey and interview stages were then analysed using categories derived from process thought. Thematic analysis highlighted the importance of positive childhood (formative) experiences, as well as the apparent importance of negative adult experiences in the development of their practice. Particular attention was paid to ideas of becoming and perishing, the 'lure' of God, and the nature of divine power - in particular the sense of the divine as co-sufferer. Summative observations were made concerning the nature of the spiritual capital that was observed in participants, and the way this may be understood in the light of process theology. Notably, spiritual capital is developed in response to experience of suffering, which should be understood sociologically as the field of spiritual struggle and theologically as an act of communion with the divine. The project challenges the Church in North America and Western Europe to avoid the distraction of concern about perceived diminishing power and numerical decline, recognising the pattern of perishing and becoming in all things. The Church should instead develop a sharp focus on the 'high hope of adventure' which is a persistent and uncompromising practise that depends on the 'weak' power of persuasion, advancing unconditional love where possible and creating opportunities for others to do the same, actively encouraging the becoming of the new.
Published: 2022

14. Accuracy of the No-Biopsy Approach for the Diagnosis of Celiac Disease in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Author: Shiha, Mohamed G., Nandi, Nicoletta, Raju, Suneil A., Wild, Graeme, Cross, Simon S., Singh, Prashant, Elli, Luca, Makharia, Govind K., Sanders, David S., and Penny, Hugo A.
Published: 2024
Full Text: View/download PDF

15. Common variants in breast cancer risk loci predispose to distinct tumor subtypes

Author: Ahearn, Thomas U, Zhang, Haoyu, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Milne, Roger L, Bolla, Manjeet K, Dennis, Joe, Dunning, Alison M, Lush, Michael, Wang, Qin, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Arndt, Volker, Aronson, Kristan J, Auer, Paul L, Augustinsson, Annelie, Baten, Adinda, Becher, Heiko, Behrens, Sabine, Benitez, Javier, Bermisheva, Marina, Blomqvist, Carl, Bojesen, Stig E, Bonanni, Bernardo, Børresen-Dale, Anne-Lise, Brauch, Hiltrud, Brenner, Hermann, Brooks-Wilson, Angela, Brüning, Thomas, Burwinkel, Barbara, Buys, Saundra S, Canzian, Federico, Castelao, Jose E, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Chanock, Stephen J, Chenevix-Trench, Georgia, Clarke, Christine L, Collée, J Margriet, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary B, Devilee, Peter, Dörk, Thilo, Dwek, Miriam, Eccles, Diana M, Evans, D Gareth, Fasching, Peter A, Figueroa, Jonine, Floris, Giuseppe, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, Gapstur, Susan M, García-Sáenz, José A, Gaudet, Mia M, Giles, Graham G, Goldberg, Mark S, González-Neira, Anna, Alnæs, Grethe I Grenaker, Grip, Mervi, Guénel, Pascal, Haiman, Christopher A, Hall, Per, Hamann, Ute, Harkness, Elaine F, Heemskerk-Gerritsen, Bernadette AM, Holleczek, Bernd, Hollestelle, Antoinette, Hooning, Maartje J, Hoover, Robert N, Hopper, John L, Howell, Anthony, Jakimovska, Milena, Jakubowska, Anna, John, Esther M, Jones, Michael E, Jung, Audrey, Kaaks, Rudolf, Kauppila, Saila, Keeman, Renske, Khusnutdinova, Elza, Kitahara, Cari M, Ko, Yon-Dschun, Koutros, Stella, Kristensen, Vessela N, Krüger, Ute, Kubelka-Sabit, Katerina, Kurian, Allison W, Kyriacou, Kyriacos, Lambrechts, Diether, Lee, Derrick G, Lindblom, Annika, Linet, Martha, Lissowska, Jolanta, Llaneza, Ana, Lo, Wing-Yee, MacInnis, Robert J, Mannermaa, Arto, Manoochehri, Mehdi, Margolin, Sara, Martinez, Maria Elena, and McLean, Catriona
Subjects: Human Genome, Cancer, Genetics, Clinical Research, Breast Cancer, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, Aetiology, Biomarkers, Tumor, Breast Neoplasms, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Receptor, ErbB-2, Receptors, Estrogen, Receptors, Progesterone, Risk, Breast cancer, Etiologic heterogeneity, Genetic predisposition, Common breast cancer susceptibility variants, NBCS Collaborators, ABCTB Investigators, kConFab/AOCS Investigators, Receptor, erbB-2, Oncology and Carcinogenesis, Oncology & Carcinogenesis
Abstract: BackgroundGenome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified multiple common breast cancer susceptibility variants. Many of these variants have differential associations by estrogen receptor (ER) status, but how these variants relate with other tumor features and intrinsic molecular subtypes is unclear.MethodsAmong 106,571 invasive breast cancer cases and 95,762 controls of European ancestry with data on 173 breast cancer variants identified in previous GWAS, we used novel two-stage polytomous logistic regression models to evaluate variants in relation to multiple tumor features (ER, progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and grade) adjusting for each other, and to intrinsic-like subtypes.ResultsEighty-five of 173 variants were associated with at least one tumor feature (false discovery rate
Published: 2022

16. Rare germline copy number variants (CNVs) and breast cancer risk

Author: Dennis, Joe, Tyrer, Jonathan P, Walker, Logan C, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Dorling, Leila, Bolla, Manjeet K, Wang, Qin, Ahearn, Thomas U, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Antonenkova, Natalia N, Arndt, Volker, Aronson, Kristan J, Freeman, Laura E Beane, Beckmann, Matthias W, Behrens, Sabine, Benitez, Javier, Bermisheva, Marina, Bogdanova, Natalia V, Bojesen, Stig E, Brenner, Hermann, Castelao, Jose E, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Chenevix-Trench, Georgia, Clarke, Christine L, Collée, J Margriet, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Devilee, Peter, Dörk, Thilo, Dossus, Laure, Eliassen, A Heather, Eriksson, Mikael, Evans, D Gareth, Fasching, Peter A, Figueroa, Jonine, Fletcher, Olivia, Flyger, Henrik, Fritschi, Lin, Gabrielson, Marike, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, García-Closas, Montserrat, Giles, Graham G, González-Neira, Anna, Guénel, Pascal, Hahnen, Eric, Haiman, Christopher A, Hall, Per, Hollestelle, Antoinette, Hoppe, Reiner, Hopper, John L, Howell, Anthony, Jager, Agnes, Jakubowska, Anna, John, Esther M, Johnson, Nichola, Jones, Michael E, Jung, Audrey, Kaaks, Rudolf, Keeman, Renske, Khusnutdinova, Elza, Kitahara, Cari M, Ko, Yon-Dschun, Kosma, Veli-Matti, Koutros, Stella, Kraft, Peter, Kristensen, Vessela N, Kubelka-Sabit, Katerina, Kurian, Allison W, Lacey, James V, Lambrechts, Diether, Larson, Nicole L, Linet, Martha, Ogrodniczak, Alicja, Mannermaa, Arto, Manoukian, Siranoush, Margolin, Sara, Mavroudis, Dimitrios, Milne, Roger L, Muranen, Taru A, Murphy, Rachel A, Nevanlinna, Heli, Olson, Janet E, Olsson, Håkan, Park-Simon, Tjoung-Won, Perou, Charles M, Peterlongo, Paolo, Plaseska-Karanfilska, Dijana, Pylkäs, Katri, Rennert, Gad, Saloustros, Emmanouil, Sandler, Dale P, Sawyer, Elinor J, Schmidt, Marjanka K, Schmutzler, Rita K, Shibli, Rana, Smeets, Ann, and Soucy, Penny
Subjects: Human Genome, Breast Cancer, Genetics, Clinical Research, Cancer, Prevention, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, Aetiology, Breast Neoplasms, Case-Control Studies, DNA Copy Number Variations, Female, Genome, Human, Genome-Wide Association Study, Germ Cells, Humans, Risk Factors, NBCS Collaborators, CTS Consortium, ABCTB Investigators, kConFab/AOCS Investigators
Abstract: Germline copy number variants (CNVs) are pervasive in the human genome but potential disease associations with rare CNVs have not been comprehensively assessed in large datasets. We analysed rare CNVs in genes and non-coding regions for 86,788 breast cancer cases and 76,122 controls of European ancestry with genome-wide array data. Gene burden tests detected the strongest association for deletions in BRCA1 (P = 3.7E-18). Nine other genes were associated with a p-value
Published: 2022

17. Association of germline genetic variants with breast cancer-specific survival in patient subgroups defined by clinic-pathological variables related to tumor biology and type of systemic treatment

Author: Morra, Anna, Escala-Garcia, Maria, Beesley, Jonathan, Keeman, Renske, Canisius, Sander, Ahearn, Thomas U, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Arndt, Volker, Auer, Paul L, Augustinsson, Annelie, Beane Freeman, Laura E, Becher, Heiko, Beckmann, Matthias W, Behrens, Sabine, Bojesen, Stig E, Bolla, Manjeet K, Brenner, Hermann, Brüning, Thomas, Buys, Saundra S, Caan, Bette, Campa, Daniele, Canzian, Federico, Castelao, Jose E, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Chanock, Stephen J, Cheng, Ting-Yuan David, Clarke, Christine L, Colonna, Sarah V, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary B, Dennis, Joe, Dörk, Thilo, Dossus, Laure, Dunning, Alison M, Dwek, Miriam, Eccles, Diana M, Ekici, Arif B, Eliassen, A Heather, Eriksson, Mikael, Evans, D Gareth, Fasching, Peter A, Flyger, Henrik, Fritschi, Lin, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, García-Sáenz, José A, Giles, Graham G, Grip, Mervi, Guénel, Pascal, Gündert, Melanie, Hahnen, Eric, Haiman, Christopher A, Håkansson, Niclas, Hall, Per, Hamann, Ute, Hart, Steven N, Hartikainen, Jaana M, Hartmann, Arndt, He, Wei, Hooning, Maartje J, Hoppe, Reiner, Hopper, John L, Howell, Anthony, Hunter, David J, Jager, Agnes, Jakubowska, Anna, Janni, Wolfgang, John, Esther M, Jung, Audrey Y, Kaaks, Rudolf, Keupers, Machteld, Kitahara, Cari M, Koutros, Stella, Kraft, Peter, Kristensen, Vessela N, Kurian, Allison W, Lacey, James V, Lambrechts, Diether, Le Marchand, Loic, Lindblom, Annika, Linet, Martha, Luben, Robert N, Lubiński, Jan, Lush, Michael, Mannermaa, Arto, Manoochehri, Mehdi, Margolin, Sara, Martens, John WM, Martinez, Maria Elena, Mavroudis, Dimitrios, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Milne, Roger L, Mulligan, Anna Marie, Muranen, Taru A, Nevanlinna, Heli, Newman, William G, and Nielsen, Sune F
Subjects: Clinical Research, Cancer, Breast Cancer, Human Genome, Genetics, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, Aetiology, Breast Neoplasms, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Germ-Line Mutation, Humans, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Prognosis, Survival Analysis, Common germline genetic variants, Breast cancer-specific survival, Patient subgroups, Tumor biology, Systemic treatment, NBCS Collaborators, ABCTB Investigators, kConFab Investigators, Oncology and Carcinogenesis, Oncology & Carcinogenesis
Abstract: BackgroundGiven the high heterogeneity among breast tumors, associations between common germline genetic variants and survival that may exist within specific subgroups could go undetected in an unstratified set of breast cancer patients.MethodsWe performed genome-wide association analyses within 15 subgroups of breast cancer patients based on prognostic factors, including hormone receptors, tumor grade, age, and type of systemic treatment. Analyses were based on 91,686 female patients of European ancestry from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium, including 7531 breast cancer-specific deaths over a median follow-up of 8.1 years. Cox regression was used to assess associations of common germline variants with 15-year and 5-year breast cancer-specific survival. We assessed the probability of these associations being true positives via the Bayesian false discovery probability (BFDP
Published: 2021

18. Mendelian randomisation study of smoking exposure in relation to breast cancer risk

Author: Park, Hanla A, Neumeyer, Sonja, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Bolla, Manjeet K, Wang, Qin, Dennis, Joe, Ahearn, Thomas U, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Antonenkova, Natalia N, Arndt, Volker, Aronson, Kristan J, Augustinsson, Annelie, Baten, Adinda, Beane Freeman, Laura E, Becher, Heiko, Beckmann, Matthias W, Behrens, Sabine, Benitez, Javier, Bermisheva, Marina, Bogdanova, Natalia V, Bojesen, Stig E, Brauch, Hiltrud, Brenner, Hermann, Brucker, Sara Y, Burwinkel, Barbara, Campa, Daniele, Canzian, Federico, Castelao, Jose E, Chanock, Stephen J, Chenevix-Trench, Georgia, Clarke, Christine L, Conroy, Don M, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary B, Devilee, Peter, Dörk, Thilo, dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel, Dwek, Miriam, Eccles, Diana M, Eliassen, A Heather, Engel, Christoph, Eriksson, Mikael, Evans, D Gareth, Fasching, Peter A, Flyger, Henrik, Fritschi, Lin, García-Closas, Montserrat, García-Sáenz, José A, Gaudet, Mia M, Giles, Graham G, Glendon, Gord, Goldberg, Mark S, Goldgar, David E, González-Neira, Anna, Grip, Mervi, Guénel, Pascal, Hahnen, Eric, Haiman, Christopher A, Håkansson, Niclas, Hall, Per, Hamann, Ute, Han, Sileny, Harkness, Elaine F, Hart, Steven N, He, Wei, Heemskerk-Gerritsen, Bernadette AM, Hopper, John L, Hunter, David J, Jager, Agnes, Jakubowska, Anna, John, Esther M, Jung, Audrey, Kaaks, Rudolf, Kapoor, Pooja Middha, Keeman, Renske, Khusnutdinova, Elza, Kitahara, Cari M, Koppert, Linetta B, Koutros, Stella, Kristensen, Vessela N, Kurian, Allison W, Lacey, James, Lambrechts, Diether, Le Marchand, Loic, Lo, Wing-Yee, Lubiński, Jan, Mannermaa, Arto, Manoochehri, Mehdi, Margolin, Sara, Martinez, Maria Elena, Mavroudis, Dimitrios, Meindl, Alfons, Menon, Usha, Milne, Roger L, Muranen, Taru A, and Nevanlinna, Heli
Subjects: Genetics, Cancer, Substance Misuse, Clinical Research, Human Genome, Prevention, Drug Abuse (NIDA only), Breast Cancer, Tobacco, Tobacco Smoke and Health, Aetiology, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, Good Health and Well Being, Breast Neoplasms, Case-Control Studies, Cigarette Smoking, Female, Genetic Pleiotropy, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotyping Techniques, Humans, Mendelian Randomization Analysis, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, NBCS Collaborators, ABCTB Investigators, kConFab Investigators, Oncology and Carcinogenesis, Public Health and Health Services, Oncology & Carcinogenesis
Abstract: BackgroundDespite a modest association between tobacco smoking and breast cancer risk reported by recent epidemiological studies, it is still equivocal whether smoking is causally related to breast cancer risk.MethodsWe applied Mendelian randomisation (MR) to evaluate a potential causal effect of cigarette smoking on breast cancer risk. Both individual-level data as well as summary statistics for 164 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) reported in genome-wide association studies of lifetime smoking index (LSI) or cigarette per day (CPD) were used to obtain MR effect estimates. Data from 108,420 invasive breast cancer cases and 87,681 controls were used for the LSI analysis and for the CPD analysis conducted among ever-smokers from 26,147 cancer cases and 26,072 controls. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to address pleiotropy.ResultsGenetically predicted LSI was associated with increased breast cancer risk (OR 1.18 per SD, 95% CI: 1.07-1.30, P = 0.11 × 10-2), but there was no evidence of association for genetically predicted CPD (OR 1.02, 95% CI: 0.78-1.19, P = 0.85). The sensitivity analyses yielded similar results and showed no strong evidence of pleiotropic effect.ConclusionOur MR study provides supportive evidence for a potential causal association with breast cancer risk for lifetime smoking exposure but not cigarettes per day among smokers.
Published: 2021

19. Distance Learners' Use of Handheld Technologies: Mobile Learning Activity, Changing Study Habits, and the 'Place' of Anywhere Learning

Author: Cross, Simon, Sharples, Mike, Healing, Graham, and Ellis, Jim
Abstract: This study investigates how and where distance learners use handheld devices and the impact this has on learning habits, access to learning content and quality of work. It analyses the spatial dimension of anytime-anywhere learning and, with a focus on anywhere learning, it explores students' ongoing negotiation of the flow between and across study locations. The study concludes by proposing two new concepts: the "flow of places" and "place of space." These should help direct the framing of future studies into the places, spaces, and mobility of formal and informal seamless learning. A dataset comprising 446 responses from undergraduate students enrolled at the UK's largest distance learning university was analysed in respect to three research questions. All age groups, study levels, and disciplines were represented. Five key findings are: most students now use handheld devices for study-related learning; the distribution of study-related learning tasks was similar in all seven study places; there is a strong, statistically-significant correlation between the number of study places in which handheld devices are used and the number of study task types performed; two fifths of students using a handheld device for learning have noticed a change in study habit and benefit to learning; and multiple regression analysis shows three variables (number of study places, number of study tasks, and change in study habits) are predictors of finding it easier to access learning materials and improved quality of learners' work.
Published: 2019

20. A Multicenter Study Validates the WHO 2022 Classification for Conjunctival Melanocytic Intraepithelial Lesions With Clinical and Prognostic Relevance

Author: Mudhar, Hardeep Singh, Krishna, Yamini, Cross, Simon, Auw-Haedrich, Claudia, Barnhill, Raymond, Cherepanoff, Svetlana, Eagle, Ralph, Farmer, James, Folberg, Robert, Grossniklaus, Hans, Herwig-Carl, Martina C., Hyrcza, Martin, Lassalle, Sandra, Loeffler, Karin U., Moulin, Alexandre, Milman, Tatyana, Verdijk, Robert M., Heegaard, Steffen, and Coupland, Sarah E.
Published: 2024
Full Text: View/download PDF

21. QuTiP-BoFiN: A bosonic and fermionic numerical hierarchical-equations-of-motion library with applications in light-harvesting, quantum control, and single-molecule electronics

Author: Lambert, Neill, Raheja, Tarun, Cross, Simon, Menczel, Paul, Ahmed, Shahnawaz, Pitchford, Alexander, Burgarth, Daniel, and Nori, Franco
Subjects: Quantum Physics, Physics - Chemical Physics
Abstract: The "hierarchical equations of motion" (HEOM) method is a powerful exact numerical approach to solve the dynamics and find the steady-state of a quantum system coupled to a non-Markovian and non-perturbative environment. Originally developed in the context of physical chemistry, it has also been extended and applied to problems in solid-state physics, optics, single-molecule electronics, and biological physics. Here we present a numerical library in Python, integrated with the powerful QuTiP platform, which implements the HEOM for both bosonic and fermionic environments. We demonstrate its utility with a series of examples. For the bosonic case, we include demonstrations of fitting arbitrary spectral densities, and an example of the dynamics of energy transfer in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson photosynthetic complex, showing how a suitable non-Markovian environment can protect against pure dephasing. We also demonstrate how the HEOM can be used to benchmark different strategies for dynamical decoupling of a spin from its environment, and show that the Uhrig pulse-spacing scheme is less optimal than equally spaced pulses when the environment's spectral density is very broad. For the fermionic case, we present an integrable single-impurity example, used as a benchmark of the code, and a more complex example of an impurity strongly coupled to a single vibronic mode, with applications to single-molecule electronics., Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures. Updated to describe package inclusion in QuTiP v4.7 (www.qutip.org), new examples (optimal pulse spacing in dynamical decoupling, quantum heat transport), and inclusion of additional contributors in author list. Further updates to expand examples, clarify content and summarize existing packages
Published: 2020
Full Text: View/download PDF

22. An efficient Julia framework for hierarchical equations of motion in open quantum systems

Author: Huang, Yi-Te, Kuo, Po-Chen, Lambert, Neill, Cirio, Mauro, Cross, Simon, Yang, Shen-Liang, Nori, Franco, and Chen, Yueh-Nan
Published: 2023
Full Text: View/download PDF

23. Genetic insights into biological mechanisms governing human ovarian ageing

Author: Ruth, Katherine S, Day, Felix R, Hussain, Jazib, Martínez-Marchal, Ana, Aiken, Catherine E, Azad, Ajuna, Thompson, Deborah J, Knoblochova, Lucie, Abe, Hironori, Tarry-Adkins, Jane L, Gonzalez, Javier Martin, Fontanillas, Pierre, Claringbould, Annique, Bakker, Olivier B, Sulem, Patrick, Walters, Robin G, Terao, Chikashi, Turon, Sandra, Horikoshi, Momoko, Lin, Kuang, Onland-Moret, N Charlotte, Sankar, Aditya, Hertz, Emil Peter Thrane, Timshel, Pascal N, Shukla, Vallari, Borup, Rehannah, Olsen, Kristina W, Aguilera, Paula, Ferrer-Roda, Mònica, Huang, Yan, Stankovic, Stasa, Timmers, Paul RHJ, Ahearn, Thomas U, Alizadeh, Behrooz Z, Naderi, Elnaz, Andrulis, Irene L, Arnold, Alice M, Aronson, Kristan J, Augustinsson, Annelie, Bandinelli, Stefania, Barbieri, Caterina M, Beaumont, Robin N, Becher, Heiko, Beckmann, Matthias W, Benonisdottir, Stefania, Bergmann, Sven, Bochud, Murielle, Boerwinkle, Eric, Bojesen, Stig E, Bolla, Manjeet K, Boomsma, Dorret I, Bowker, Nicholas, Brody, Jennifer A, Broer, Linda, Buring, Julie E, Campbell, Archie, Campbell, Harry, Castelao, Jose E, Catamo, Eulalia, Chanock, Stephen J, Chenevix-Trench, Georgia, Ciullo, Marina, Corre, Tanguy, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Crisponi, Laura, Cross, Simon S, Cucca, Francesco, Czene, Kamila, Smith, George Davey, de Geus, Eco JCN, de Mutsert, Renée, De Vivo, Immaculata, Demerath, Ellen W, Dennis, Joe, Dunning, Alison M, Dwek, Miriam, Eriksson, Mikael, Esko, Tõnu, Fasching, Peter A, Faul, Jessica D, Ferrucci, Luigi, Franceschini, Nora, Frayling, Timothy M, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, Mezzavilla, Massimo, García-Closas, Montserrat, Gieger, Christian, Giles, Graham G, Grallert, Harald, Gudbjartsson, Daniel F, Gudnason, Vilmundur, Guénel, Pascal, Haiman, Christopher A, Håkansson, Niclas, Hall, Per, Hayward, Caroline, He, Chunyan, He, Wei, and Heiss, Gerardo
Subjects: Biological Sciences, Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Genetics, Estrogen, Prevention, Women's Health, Contraception/Reproduction, Aging, Infertility, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, 1.1 Normal biological development and functioning, Good Health and Well Being, Adult, Alleles, Animals, Bone and Bones, Checkpoint Kinase 1, Checkpoint Kinase 2, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Diet, Europe, Asia, Eastern, Female, Fertility, Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Healthy Aging, Humans, Longevity, Menopause, Menopause, Premature, Mice, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Middle Aged, Ovary, Primary Ovarian Insufficiency, Uterus, Biobank-based Integrative Omics Study (BIOS) Consortium, eQTLGen Consortium, Biobank Japan Project, China Kadoorie Biobank Collaborative Group, kConFab Investigators, LifeLines Cohort Study, InterAct consortium, 23andMe Research Team, General Science & Technology
Abstract: Reproductive longevity is essential for fertility and influences healthy ageing in women1,2, but insights into its underlying biological mechanisms and treatments to preserve it are limited. Here we identify 290 genetic determinants of ovarian ageing, assessed using normal variation in age at natural menopause (ANM) in about 200,000 women of European ancestry. These common alleles were associated with clinical extremes of ANM; women in the top 1% of genetic susceptibility have an equivalent risk of premature ovarian insufficiency to those carrying monogenic FMR1 premutations3. The identified loci implicate a broad range of DNA damage response (DDR) processes and include loss-of-function variants in key DDR-associated genes. Integration with experimental models demonstrates that these DDR processes act across the life-course to shape the ovarian reserve and its rate of depletion. Furthermore, we demonstrate that experimental manipulation of DDR pathways highlighted by human genetics increases fertility and extends reproductive life in mice. Causal inference analyses using the identified genetic variants indicate that extending reproductive life in women improves bone health and reduces risk of type 2 diabetes, but increases the risk of hormone-sensitive cancers. These findings provide insight into the mechanisms that govern ovarian ageing, when they act, and how they might be targeted by therapeutic approaches to extend fertility and prevent disease.
Published: 2021

24. Functional annotation of the 2q35 breast cancer risk locus implicates a structural variant in influencing activity of a long-range enhancer element

Author: Baxter, Joseph S, Johnson, Nichola, Tomczyk, Katarzyna, Gillespie, Andrea, Maguire, Sarah, Brough, Rachel, Fachal, Laura, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Bolla, Manjeet K, Wang, Qin, Dennis, Joe, Ahearn, Thomas U, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Antonenkova, Natalia N, Arndt, Volker, Aronson, Kristan J, Augustinsson, Annelie, Becher, Heiko, Beckmann, Matthias W, Behrens, Sabine, Benitez, Javier, Bermisheva, Marina, Bogdanova, Natalia V, Bojesen, Stig E, Brenner, Hermann, Brucker, Sara Y, Cai, Qiuyin, Campa, Daniele, Canzian, Federico, Castelao, Jose E, Chan, Tsun L, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Chanock, Stephen J, Chenevix-Trench, Georgia, Choi, Ji-Yeob, Clarke, Christine L, Collaborators, NBCS, Colonna, Sarah, Conroy, Don M, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary B, Devilee, Peter, Dörk, Thilo, Dossus, Laure, Dwek, Miriam, Eccles, Diana M, Ekici, Arif B, Eliassen, A Heather, Engel, Christoph, Fasching, Peter A, Figueroa, Jonine, Flyger, Henrik, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, Gao, Chi, García-Closas, Montserrat, García-Sáenz, José A, Ghoussaini, Maya, Giles, Graham G, Goldberg, Mark S, González-Neira, Anna, Guénel, Pascal, Gündert, Melanie, Haeberle, Lothar, Hahnen, Eric, Haiman, Christopher A, Hall, Per, Hamann, Ute, Hartman, Mikael, Hatse, Sigrid, Hauke, Jan, Hollestelle, Antoinette, Hoppe, Reiner, Hopper, John L, Hou, Ming-Feng, Investigators, kConFab, Investigators, ABCTB, Ito, Hidemi, Iwasaki, Motoki, Jager, Agnes, Jakubowska, Anna, Janni, Wolfgang, John, Esther M, Joseph, Vijai, Jung, Audrey, Kaaks, Rudolf, Kang, Daehee, Keeman, Renske, Khusnutdinova, Elza, Kim, Sung-Won, Kosma, Veli-Matti, Kraft, Peter, Kristensen, Vessela N, Kubelka-Sabit, Katerina, Kurian, Allison W, Kwong, Ava, and Lacey, James V
Subjects: Human Genome, Genetics, Cancer, Estrogen, Prevention, Breast Cancer, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, Aetiology, Breast Neoplasms, CRISPR-Cas Systems, Cell Line, Chromosome Mapping, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 2, Female, Genetic Association Studies, Genetic Variation, Humans, Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 5, Molecular Sequence Annotation, Promoter Regions, Genetic, Risk Factors, Sequence Deletion, NBCS Collaborators, kConFab Investigators, ABCTB Investigators, breast cancer risk, functional annotation, risk locus, Biological Sciences, Medical and Health Sciences, Genetics & Heredity
Abstract: A combination of genetic and functional approaches has identified three independent breast cancer risk loci at 2q35. A recent fine-scale mapping analysis to refine these associations resulted in 1 (signal 1), 5 (signal 2), and 42 (signal 3) credible causal variants at these loci. We used publicly available in silico DNase I and ChIP-seq data with in vitro reporter gene and CRISPR assays to annotate signals 2 and 3. We identified putative regulatory elements that enhanced cell-type-specific transcription from the IGFBP5 promoter at both signals (30- to 40-fold increased expression by the putative regulatory element at signal 2, 2- to 3-fold by the putative regulatory element at signal 3). We further identified one of the five credible causal variants at signal 2, a 1.4 kb deletion (esv3594306), as the likely causal variant; the deletion allele of this variant was associated with an average additional increase in IGFBP5 expression of 1.3-fold (MCF-7) and 2.2-fold (T-47D). We propose a model in which the deletion allele of esv3594306 juxtaposes two transcription factor binding regions (annotated by estrogen receptor alpha ChIP-seq peaks) to generate a single extended regulatory element. This regulatory element increases cell-type-specific expression of the tumor suppressor gene IGFBP5 and, thereby, reduces risk of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer (odds ratio = 0.77, 95% CI 0.74-0.81, p = 3.1 × 10-31).
Published: 2021

25. Breast Cancer Risk Factors and Survival by Tumor Subtype: Pooled Analyses from the Breast Cancer Association ConsortiumBreast Cancer Risk Factors and Survival By Tumor Subtype

Author: Morra, Anna, Jung, Audrey Y, Behrens, Sabine, Keeman, Renske, Ahearn, Thomas U, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Arndt, Volker, Augustinsson, Annelie, Auvinen, Päivi K, Freeman, Laura E Beane, Becher, Heiko, Beckmann, Matthias W, Blomqvist, Carl, Bojesen, Stig E, Bolla, Manjeet K, Brenner, Hermann, Briceno, Ignacio, Brucker, Sara Y, Camp, Nicola J, Campa, Daniele, Canzian, Federico, Castelao, Jose E, Chanock, Stephen J, Choi, Ji-Yeob, Clarke, Christine L, Investigators, for the ABCTB, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Dörk, Thilo, Dunning, Alison M, Dwek, Miriam, Easton, Douglas F, Eccles, Diana M, Egan, Kathleen M, Evans, D Gareth, Fasching, Peter A, Flyger, Henrik, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, Gapstur, Susan M, García-Sáenz, José A, Gaudet, Mia M, Giles, Graham G, Grip, Mervi, Guénel, Pascal, Haiman, Christopher A, Håkansson, Niclas, Hall, Per, Hamann, Ute, Han, Sileny N, Hart, Steven N, Hartman, Mikael, Heyworth, Jane S, Hoppe, Reiner, Hopper, John L, Hunter, David J, Ito, Hidemi, Jager, Agnes, Jakimovska, Milena, Jakubowska, Anna, Janni, Wolfgang, Kaaks, Rudolf, Kang, Daehee, Kapoor, Pooja Middha, Kitahara, Cari M, Koutros, Stella, Kraft, Peter, Kristensen, Vessela N, Collaborators, for the NBCS, Lacey, James V, Lambrechts, Diether, Le Marchand, Loic, Li, Jingmei, Lindblom, Annika, Lubiński, Jan, Lush, Michael, Mannermaa, Arto, Manoochehri, Mehdi, Margolin, Sara, Mariapun, Shivaani, Matsuo, Keitaro, Mavroudis, Dimitrios, Milne, Roger L, Muranen, Taru A, Newman, William G, Noh, Dong-Young, Nordestgaard, Børge G, Obi, Nadia, Olshan, Andrew F, Olsson, Håkan, Park-Simon, Tjoung-Won, Petridis, Christos, Pharoah, Paul DP, Plaseska-Karanfilska, Dijana, Presneau, Nadege, Rashid, Muhammad U, Rennert, Gad, Rennert, Hedy S, and Rhenius, Valerie
Subjects: Health Services and Systems, Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Health Sciences, Oncology and Carcinogenesis, Clinical Research, Aging, Estrogen, Cancer, Prevention, Breast Cancer, Good Health and Well Being, Adult, Aged, Breast Neoplasms, Cause of Death, Female, Humans, Life Style, Middle Aged, Neoplasm Invasiveness, Neoplasm Staging, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Survival Analysis, ABCTB Investigators, NBCS Collaborators, Medical and Health Sciences, Epidemiology, Biomedical and clinical sciences, Health sciences
Abstract: BackgroundIt is not known whether modifiable lifestyle factors that predict survival after invasive breast cancer differ by subtype.MethodsWe analyzed data for 121,435 women diagnosed with breast cancer from 67 studies in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium with 16,890 deaths (8,554 breast cancer specific) over 10 years. Cox regression was used to estimate associations between risk factors and 10-year all-cause mortality and breast cancer-specific mortality overall, by estrogen receptor (ER) status, and by intrinsic-like subtype.ResultsThere was no evidence of heterogeneous associations between risk factors and mortality by subtype (P adj > 0.30). The strongest associations were between all-cause mortality and BMI ≥30 versus 18.5-25 kg/m2 [HR (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.19 (1.06-1.34)]; current versus never smoking [1.37 (1.27-1.47)], high versus low physical activity [0.43 (0.21-0.86)], age ≥30 years versus 0-
Published: 2021

26. Combined Associations of a Polygenic Risk Score and Classical Risk Factors With Breast Cancer Risk.

Author: Kapoor, Pooja Middha, Mavaddat, Nasim, Choudhury, Parichoy Pal, Wilcox, Amber N, Lindström, Sara, Behrens, Sabine, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Dennis, Joe, Bolla, Manjeet K, Wang, Qin, Jung, Audrey, Abu-Ful, Zomoroda, Ahearn, Thomas, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Arndt, Volker, Aronson, Kristan J, Auer, Paul L, Freeman, Laura E Beane, Becher, Heiko, Beckmann, Matthias W, Beeghly-Fadiel, Alicia, Benitez, Javier, Bernstein, Leslie, Bojesen, Stig E, Brauch, Hiltrud, Brenner, Hermann, Brüning, Thomas, Cai, Qiuyin, Campa, Daniele, Canzian, Federico, Carracedo, Angel, Carter, Brian D, Castelao, Jose E, Chanock, Stephen J, Chatterjee, Nilanjan, Chenevix-Trench, Georgia, Clarke, Christine L, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Dai, James Y, Earp, H Shelton, Ekici, Arif B, Eliassen, A Heather, Eriksson, Mikael, Evans, D Gareth, Fasching, Peter A, Figueroa, Jonine, Fritschi, Lin, Gabrielson, Marike, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, Gao, Chi, Gapstur, Susan M, Gaudet, Mia M, Giles, Graham G, González-Neira, Anna, Guénel, Pascal, Haeberle, Lothar, Haiman, Christopher A, Håkansson, Niclas, Hall, Per, Hamann, Ute, Hatse, Sigrid, Heyworth, Jane, Holleczek, Bernd, Hoover, Robert N, Hopper, John L, Howell, Anthony, Hunter, David J, ABCTB Investigators, kConFab/AOCS Investigators, John, Esther M, Jones, Michael E, Kaaks, Rudolf, Keeman, Renske, Kitahara, Cari M, Ko, Yon-Dschun, Koutros, Stella, Kurian, Allison W, Lambrechts, Diether, Le Marchand, Loic, Lee, Eunjung, Lejbkowicz, Flavio, Linet, Martha, Lissowska, Jolanta, Llaneza, Ana, MacInnis, Robert J, Martinez, Maria Elena, Maurer, Tabea, McLean, Catriona, Neuhausen, Susan L, Newman, William G, Norman, Aaron, O'Brien, Katie M, Olshan, Andrew F, Olson, Janet E, Olsson, Håkan, and Orr, Nick
Subjects: ABCTB Investigators, kConFab/AOCS Investigators, Oncology & Carcinogenesis, Oncology and Carcinogenesis
Abstract: We evaluated the joint associations between a new 313-variant PRS (PRS313) and questionnaire-based breast cancer risk factors for women of European ancestry, using 72 284 cases and 80 354 controls from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. Interactions were evaluated using standard logistic regression and a newly developed case-only method for breast cancer risk overall and by estrogen receptor status. After accounting for multiple testing, we did not find evidence that per-standard deviation PRS313 odds ratio differed across strata defined by individual risk factors. Goodness-of-fit tests did not reject the assumption of a multiplicative model between PRS313 and each risk factor. Variation in projected absolute lifetime risk of breast cancer associated with classical risk factors was greater for women with higher genetic risk (PRS313 and family history) and, on average, 17.5% higher in the highest vs lowest deciles of genetic risk. These findings have implications for risk prevention for women at increased risk of breast cancer.
Published: 2021

27. CYP3A7*1C allele: linking premenopausal oestrone and progesterone levels with risk of hormone receptor-positive breast cancers

Author: Johnson, Nichola, Maguire, Sarah, Morra, Anna, Kapoor, Pooja Middha, Tomczyk, Katarzyna, Jones, Michael E, Schoemaker, Minouk J, Gilham, Clare, Bolla, Manjeet K, Wang, Qin, Dennis, Joe, Ahearn, Thomas U, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Antonenkova, Natalia N, Arndt, Volker, Aronson, Kristan J, Augustinsson, Annelie, Baynes, Caroline, Freeman, Laura E Beane, Beckmann, Matthias W, Benitez, Javier, Bermisheva, Marina, Blomqvist, Carl, Boeckx, Bram, Bogdanova, Natalia V, Bojesen, Stig E, Brauch, Hiltrud, Brenner, Hermann, Burwinkel, Barbara, Campa, Daniele, Canzian, Federico, Castelao, Jose E, Chanock, Stephen J, Chenevix-Trench, Georgia, Clarke, Christine L, Conroy, Don M, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Dörk, Thilo, Eliassen, A Heather, Engel, Christoph, Evans, D Gareth, Fasching, Peter A, Figueroa, Jonine, Floris, Giuseppe, Flyger, Henrik, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, Gapstur, Susan M, García-Closas, Montserrat, Gaudet, Mia M, Giles, Graham G, Goldberg, Mark S, González-Neira, Anna, Guénel, Pascal, Hahnen, Eric, Haiman, Christopher A, Håkansson, Niclas, Hall, Per, Hamann, Ute, Harrington, Patricia A, Hart, Steven N, Hooning, Maartje J, Hopper, John L, Howell, Anthony, Hunter, David J, Jager, Agnes, Jakubowska, Anna, John, Esther M, Kaaks, Rudolf, Keeman, Renske, Khusnutdinova, Elza, Kitahara, Cari M, Kosma, Veli-Matti, Koutros, Stella, Kraft, Peter, Kristensen, Vessela N, Kurian, Allison W, Lambrechts, Diether, Le Marchand, Loic, Linet, Martha, Lubiński, Jan, Mannermaa, Arto, Manoukian, Siranoush, Margolin, Sara, Martens, John WM, Mavroudis, Dimitrios, Mayes, Rebecca, Meindl, Alfons, Milne, Roger L, Neuhausen, Susan L, Nevanlinna, Heli, Newman, William G, Nielsen, Sune F, Nordestgaard, Børge G, Obi, Nadia, Olshan, Andrew F, and Olson, Janet E
Subjects: Estrogen, Human Genome, Clinical Research, Cancer, Aging, Breast Cancer, Genetics, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, Aetiology, Alleles, Breast Neoplasms, Case-Control Studies, Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A, Estrone, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Pregnanediol, Premenopause, Progesterone, Receptors, Estrogen, Receptors, Progesterone, NBCS Collaborators, AOCS Group, ABCTB Investigators, kConFab Investigators, Oncology and Carcinogenesis, Public Health and Health Services, Oncology & Carcinogenesis
Abstract: BackgroundEpidemiological studies provide strong evidence for a role of endogenous sex hormones in the aetiology of breast cancer. The aim of this analysis was to identify genetic variants that are associated with urinary sex-hormone levels and breast cancer risk.MethodsWe carried out a genome-wide association study of urinary oestrone-3-glucuronide and pregnanediol-3-glucuronide levels in 560 premenopausal women, with additional analysis of progesterone levels in 298 premenopausal women. To test for the association with breast cancer risk, we carried out follow-up genotyping in 90,916 cases and 89,893 controls from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. All women were of European ancestry.ResultsFor pregnanediol-3-glucuronide, there were no genome-wide significant associations; for oestrone-3-glucuronide, we identified a single peak mapping to the CYP3A locus, annotated by rs45446698. The minor rs45446698-C allele was associated with lower oestrone-3-glucuronide (-49.2%, 95% CI -56.1% to -41.1%, P = 3.1 × 10-18); in follow-up analyses, rs45446698-C was also associated with lower progesterone (-26.7%, 95% CI -39.4% to -11.6%, P = 0.001) and reduced risk of oestrogen and progesterone receptor-positive breast cancer (OR = 0.86, 95% CI 0.82-0.91, P = 6.9 × 10-8).ConclusionsThe CYP3A7*1C allele is associated with reduced risk of hormone receptor-positive breast cancer possibly mediated via an effect on the metabolism of endogenous sex hormones in premenopausal women.
Published: 2021

28. Gene-Environment Interactions Relevant to Estrogen and Risk of Breast Cancer: Can Gene-Environment Interactions Be Detected Only among Candidate SNPs from Genome-Wide Association Studies?

Author: Park, JooYong, Choi, Ji-Yeob, Choi, Jaesung, Chung, Seokang, Song, Nan, Park, Sue K, Han, Wonshik, Noh, Dong-Young, Ahn, Sei-Hyun, Lee, Jong Won, Kim, Mi Kyung, Jee, Sun Ha, Wen, Wanqing, Bolla, Manjeet K, Wang, Qin, Dennis, Joe, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Shah, Mitul, Conroy, Don M, Harrington, Patricia A, Mayes, Rebecca, Czene, Kamila, Hall, Per, Teras, Lauren R, Patel, Alpa V, Couch, Fergus J, Olson, Janet E, Sawyer, Elinor J, Roylance, Rebecca, Bojesen, Stig E, Flyger, Henrik, Lambrechts, Diether, Baten, Adinda, Matsuo, Keitaro, Ito, Hidemi, Guénel, Pascal, Truong, Thérèse, Keeman, Renske, Schmidt, Marjanka K, Wu, Anna H, Tseng, Chiu-Chen, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, kConFab Investigators, Andrulis, Irene L, Hopper, John L, Southey, Melissa C, Wu, Pei-Ei, Shen, Chen-Yang, Fasching, Peter A, Ekici, Arif B, Muir, Kenneth, Lophatananon, Artitaya, Brenner, Hermann, Arndt, Volker, Jones, Michael E, Swerdlow, Anthony J, Hoppe, Reiner, Ko, Yon-Dschun, Hartman, Mikael, Li, Jingmei, Mannermaa, Arto, Hartikainen, Jaana M, Benitez, Javier, González-Neira, Anna, Haiman, Christopher A, Dörk, Thilo, Bogdanova, Natalia V, Teo, Soo Hwang, Mohd Taib, Nur Aishah, Fletcher, Olivia, Johnson, Nichola, Grip, Mervi, Winqvist, Robert, Blomqvist, Carl, Nevanlinna, Heli, Lindblom, Annika, Wendt, Camilla, Kristensen, Vessela N, Nbcs Collaborators, Tollenaar, Rob AEM, Heemskerk-Gerritsen, Bernadette AM, Radice, Paolo, Bonanni, Bernardo, Hamann, Ute, Manoochehri, Mehdi, Lacey, James V, Martinez, Maria Elena, Dunning, Alison M, Pharoah, Paul DP, Easton, Douglas F, Yoo, Keun-Young, and Kang, Daehee
Subjects: Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Oncology and Carcinogenesis, Women's Health, Clinical Research, Cancer, Estrogen, Breast Cancer, Human Genome, Genetics, Prevention, Aging, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, breast cancer, estrogen, gene-environment interaction, Oncology and carcinogenesis
Abstract: In this study we aim to examine gene-environment interactions (GxEs) between genes involved with estrogen metabolism and environmental factors related to estrogen exposure. GxE analyses were conducted with 1970 Korean breast cancer cases and 2052 controls in the case-control study, the Seoul Breast Cancer Study (SEBCS). A total of 11,555 SNPs from the 137 candidate genes were included in the GxE analyses with eight established environmental factors. A replication test was conducted by using an independent population from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC), with 62,485 Europeans and 9047 Asians. The GxE tests were performed by using two-step methods in GxEScan software. Two interactions were found in the SEBCS. The first interaction was shown between rs13035764 of NCOA1 and age at menarche in the GE|2df model (p-2df = 1.2 × 10-3). The age at menarche before 14 years old was associated with the high risk of breast cancer, and the risk was higher when subjects had homozygous minor allele G. The second GxE was shown between rs851998 near ESR1 and height in the GE|2df model (p-2df = 1.1 × 10-4). Height taller than 160 cm was associated with a high risk of breast cancer, and the risk increased when the minor allele was added. The findings were not replicated in the BCAC. These results would suggest specificity in Koreans for breast cancer risk.
Published: 2021

29. Breast Cancer Polygenic Risk Score and Contralateral Breast Cancer Risk

Author: Kramer, Iris, Hooning, Maartje J, Mavaddat, Nasim, Hauptmann, Michael, Keeman, Renske, Steyerberg, Ewout W, Giardiello, Daniele, Antoniou, Antonis C, Pharoah, Paul DP, Canisius, Sander, Abu-Ful, Zumuruda, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Aronson, Kristan J, Augustinsson, Annelie, Becher, Heiko, Beckmann, Matthias W, Behrens, Sabine, Benitez, Javier, Bermisheva, Marina, Bogdanova, Natalia V, Bojesen, Stig E, Bolla, Manjeet K, Bonanni, Bernardo, Brauch, Hiltrud, Bremer, Michael, Brucker, Sara Y, Burwinkel, Barbara, Castelao, Jose E, Chan, Tsun L, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Chanock, Stephen J, Chenevix-Trench, Georgia, Choi, Ji-Yeob, Clarke, Christine L, Collée, J Margriet, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary B, Devilee, Peter, Dörk, Thilo, dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel, Dunning, Alison M, Dwek, Miriam, Eccles, Diana M, Evans, D Gareth, Fasching, Peter A, Flyger, Henrik, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, García-Closas, Montserrat, García-Sáenz, José A, Giles, Graham G, Goldgar, David E, González-Neira, Anna, Haiman, Christopher A, Håkansson, Niclas, Hamann, Ute, Hartman, Mikael, Heemskerk-Gerritsen, Bernadette AM, Hollestelle, Antoinette, Hopper, John L, Hou, Ming-Feng, Howell, Anthony, Ito, Hidemi, Jakimovska, Milena, Jakubowska, Anna, Janni, Wolfgang, John, Esther M, Jung, Audrey, Kang, Daehee, Kets, C Marleen, Khusnutdinova, Elza, Ko, Yon-Dschun, Kristensen, Vessela N, Kurian, Allison W, Kwong, Ava, Lambrechts, Diether, Le Marchand, Loic, Li, Jingmei, Lindblom, Annika, Lubiński, Jan, Mannermaa, Arto, Manoochehri, Mehdi, Margolin, Sara, Matsuo, Keitaro, Mavroudis, Dimitrios, Meindl, Alfons, Milne, Roger, Mulligan, Anna Marie, Muranen, Taru A, Neuhausen, Susan L, Nevanlinna, Heli, Newman, William G, Olshan, Andrew F, Olson, Janet E, Olsson, Håkan, Park-Simon, Tjoung-Won, and Peto, Julian
Subjects: Breast Cancer, Prevention, Cancer, Adult, Aged, Asian People, Breast Neoplasms, Cohort Studies, Estrogen Receptor alpha, Female, Gene Expression, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome, Human, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Middle Aged, Multifactorial Inheritance, Neoadjuvant Therapy, Neoplasms, Second Primary, Prognosis, Proportional Hazards Models, Receptor, ErbB-2, Receptors, Progesterone, Risk Assessment, White People, NBCS Collaborators, ABCTB Investigators, kConFab Investigators, Receptor, erbB-2, contralateral breast cancer, epidemiology, genetic, polygenic risk score, Biological Sciences, Medical and Health Sciences, Genetics & Heredity
Abstract: Previous research has shown that polygenic risk scores (PRSs) can be used to stratify women according to their risk of developing primary invasive breast cancer. This study aimed to evaluate the association between a recently validated PRS of 313 germline variants (PRS313) and contralateral breast cancer (CBC) risk. We included 56,068 women of European ancestry diagnosed with first invasive breast cancer from 1990 onward with follow-up from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. Metachronous CBC risk (N = 1,027) according to the distribution of PRS313 was quantified using Cox regression analyses. We assessed PRS313 interaction with age at first diagnosis, family history, morphology, ER status, PR status, and HER2 status, and (neo)adjuvant therapy. In studies of Asian women, with limited follow-up, CBC risk associated with PRS313 was assessed using logistic regression for 340 women with CBC compared with 12,133 women with unilateral breast cancer. Higher PRS313 was associated with increased CBC risk: hazard ratio per standard deviation (SD) = 1.25 (95%CI = 1.18-1.33) for Europeans, and an OR per SD = 1.15 (95%CI = 1.02-1.29) for Asians. The absolute lifetime risks of CBC, accounting for death as competing risk, were 12.4% for European women at the 10th percentile and 20.5% at the 90th percentile of PRS313. We found no evidence of confounding by or interaction with individual characteristics, characteristics of the primary tumor, or treatment. The C-index for the PRS313 alone was 0.563 (95%CI = 0.547-0.586). In conclusion, PRS313 is an independent factor associated with CBC risk and can be incorporated into CBC risk prediction models to help improve stratification and optimize surveillance and treatment strategies.
Published: 2020

30. Transcriptome‐wide association study of breast cancer risk by estrogen‐receptor status

Author: Feng, Helian, Gusev, Alexander, Pasaniuc, Bogdan, Wu, Lang, Long, Jirong, Abu‐full, Zomoroda, Aittomäki, Kristiina, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton‐Culver, Hoda, Antoniou, Antonis C, Arason, Adalgeir, Arndt, Volker, Aronson, Kristan J, Arun, Banu K, Asseryanis, Ella, Auer, Paul L, Azzollini, Jacopo, Balmaña, Judith, Barkardottir, Rosa B, Barnes, Daniel R, Barrowdale, Daniel, Beckmann, Matthias W, Behrens, Sabine, Benitez, Javier, Bermisheva, Marina, Białkowska, Katarzyna, Blanco, Ana, Blomqvist, Carl, Boeckx, Bram, Bogdanova, Natalia V, Bojesen, Stig E, Bolla, Manjeet K, Bonanni, Bernardo, Borg, Ake, Brauch, Hiltrud, Brenner, Hermann, Briceno, Ignacio, Broeks, Annegien, Brüning, Thomas, Burwinkel, Barbara, Cai, Qiuyin, Caldés, Trinidad, Caligo, Maria A, Campbell, Ian, Canisius, Sander, Campa, Daniele, Carter, Brian D, Carter, Jonathan, Castelao, Jose E, Chang‐Claude, Jenny, Chanock, Stephen J, Christiansen, Hans, Chung, Wendy K, Claes, Kathleen BM, Clarke, Christine L, Collaborators, GEMO Study, Collaborators, EMBRACE, Collaborators, GC‐HBOC study, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Cybulski, Cezary, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary B, de la Hoya, Miguel, De Leeneer, Kim, Dennis, Joe, Devilee, Peter, Diez, Orland, Domchek, Susan M, Dörk, Thilo, dos‐Santos‐Silva, Isabel, Dunning, Alison M, Dwek, Miriam, Eccles, Diana M, Ejlertsen, Bent, Ellberg, Carolina, Engel, Christoph, Eriksson, Mikael, Fasching, Peter A, Fletcher, Olivia, Flyger, Henrik, Fostira, Florentia, Friedman, Eitan, Fritschi, Lin, Frost, Debra, Gabrielson, Marike, Ganz, Patricia A, Gapstur, Susan M, Garber, Judy, García‐Closas, Montserrat, García‐Sáenz, José A, Gaudet, Mia M, Giles, Graham G, Glendon, Gord, Godwin, Andrew K, Goldberg, Mark S, Goldgar, David E, González‐Neira, Anna, and Greene, Mark H
Subjects: Biological Sciences, Health Sciences, Genetics, Cancer, Biotechnology, Prevention, Clinical Research, Human Genome, Estrogen, Breast Cancer, Aetiology, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, Breast Neoplasms, Estrogens, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genomics, Humans, Receptors, Estrogen, Risk Assessment, Transcriptome, Vesicular Transport Proteins, breast cancer subtype, causal gene, GWAS, TWAS, GEMO Study Collaborators, EMBRACE Collaborators, GC-HBOC study Collaborators, ABCTB Investigators, HEBON Investigators, BCFR Investigators, OCGN Investigators, Public Health and Health Services, Epidemiology
Abstract: Previous transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) have identified breast cancer risk genes by integrating data from expression quantitative loci and genome-wide association studies (GWAS), but analyses of breast cancer subtype-specific associations have been limited. In this study, we conducted a TWAS using gene expression data from GTEx and summary statistics from the hitherto largest GWAS meta-analysis conducted for breast cancer overall, and by estrogen receptor subtypes (ER+ and ER-). We further compared associations with ER+ and ER- subtypes, using a case-only TWAS approach. We also conducted multigene conditional analyses in regions with multiple TWAS associations. Two genes, STXBP4 and HIST2H2BA, were specifically associated with ER+ but not with ER- breast cancer. We further identified 30 TWAS-significant genes associated with overall breast cancer risk, including four that were not identified in previous studies. Conditional analyses identified single independent breast-cancer gene in three of six regions harboring multiple TWAS-significant genes. Our study provides new information on breast cancer genetics and biology, particularly about genomic differences between ER+ and ER- breast cancer.
Published: 2020

31. Genome-wide association study identifies 32 novel breast cancer susceptibility loci from overall and subtype-specific analyses.

Author: Zhang, Haoyu, Ahearn, Thomas U, Lecarpentier, Julie, Barnes, Daniel, Beesley, Jonathan, Qi, Guanghao, Jiang, Xia, O'Mara, Tracy A, Zhao, Ni, Bolla, Manjeet K, Dunning, Alison M, Dennis, Joe, Wang, Qin, Ful, Zumuruda Abu, Aittomäki, Kristiina, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Arndt, Volker, Aronson, Kristan J, Arun, Banu K, Auer, Paul L, Azzollini, Jacopo, Barrowdale, Daniel, Becher, Heiko, Beckmann, Matthias W, Behrens, Sabine, Benitez, Javier, Bermisheva, Marina, Bialkowska, Katarzyna, Blanco, Ana, Blomqvist, Carl, Bogdanova, Natalia V, Bojesen, Stig E, Bonanni, Bernardo, Bondavalli, Davide, Borg, Ake, Brauch, Hiltrud, Brenner, Hermann, Briceno, Ignacio, Broeks, Annegien, Brucker, Sara Y, Brüning, Thomas, Burwinkel, Barbara, Buys, Saundra S, Byers, Helen, Caldés, Trinidad, Caligo, Maria A, Calvello, Mariarosaria, Campa, Daniele, Castelao, Jose E, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Chanock, Stephen J, Christiaens, Melissa, Christiansen, Hans, Chung, Wendy K, Claes, Kathleen BM, Clarke, Christine L, Cornelissen, Sten, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary B, Devilee, Peter, Diez, Orland, Domchek, Susan M, Dörk, Thilo, Dwek, Miriam, Eccles, Diana M, Ekici, Arif B, Evans, D Gareth, Fasching, Peter A, Figueroa, Jonine, Foretova, Lenka, Fostira, Florentia, Friedman, Eitan, Frost, Debra, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, Gapstur, Susan M, Garber, Judy, García-Sáenz, José A, Gaudet, Mia M, Gayther, Simon A, Giles, Graham G, Godwin, Andrew K, Goldberg, Mark S, Goldgar, David E, González-Neira, Anna, Greene, Mark H, Gronwald, Jacek, Guénel, Pascal, Häberle, Lothar, Hahnen, Eric, Haiman, Christopher A, Hake, Christopher R, Hall, Per, Hamann, Ute, Harkness, Elaine F, Heemskerk-Gerritsen, Bernadette AM, and Hillemanns, Peter
Subjects: kConFab Investigators, ABCTB Investigators, EMBRACE Study, GEMO Study Collaborators, Humans, Breast Neoplasms, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, BRCA1 Protein, Case-Control Studies, Linkage Disequilibrium, Mutation, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms, Human Genome, Cancer, Prevention, Genetics, Breast Cancer, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, Developmental Biology, Biological Sciences, Medical and Health Sciences
Abstract: Breast cancer susceptibility variants frequently show heterogeneity in associations by tumor subtype1-3. To identify novel loci, we performed a genome-wide association study including 133,384 breast cancer cases and 113,789 controls, plus 18,908 BRCA1 mutation carriers (9,414 with breast cancer) of European ancestry, using both standard and novel methodologies that account for underlying tumor heterogeneity by estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 status and tumor grade. We identified 32 novel susceptibility loci (P
Published: 2020

32. Assessment of interactions between 205 breast cancer susceptibility loci and 13 established risk factors in relation to breast cancer risk, in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium

Author: Kapoor, Pooja Middha, Lindström, Sara, Behrens, Sabine, Wang, Xiaoliang, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Bolla, Manjeet K, Wang, Qin, Dennis, Joe, Dunning, Alison M, Pharoah, Paul DP, Schmidt, Marjanka K, Kraft, Peter, García-Closas, Montserrat, Easton, Douglas F, Milne, Roger L, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Ahearn, Thomas, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Arndt, Volker, Aronson, Kristan J, Auer, Paul L, Augustinsson, Annelie, Freeman, Laura E Beane, Beckmann, Matthias W, Benitez, Javier, Bernstein, Leslie, Berrandou, Takiy, Bojesen, Stig E, Brauch, Hiltrud, Brenner, Hermann, Brock, Ian W, Broeks, Annegien, Brooks-Wilson, Angela, Butterbach, Katja, Cai, Qiuyin, Campa, Daniele, Canzian, Federico, Carter, Brian D, Castelao, Jose E, Chanock, Stephen J, Chenevix-Trench, Georgia, Cheng, Ting-Yuan David, Clarke, Christine L, Cordina-Duverger, Emilie, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Dai, James Y, Dite, Gillian S, Earp, H Shelton, Eliassen, A Heather, Eriksson, Mikael, Evans, D Gareth, Fasching, Peter A, Figueroa, Jonine, Flyger, Henrik, Fritschi, Lin, Gabrielson, Marike, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, Gapstur, Susan M, Gaudet, Mia M, Giles, Graham G, González-Neira, Anna, Grundy, Anne, Guénel, Pascal, Haeberle, Lothar, Haiman, Christopher A, Håkansson, Niclas, Hall, Per, Hamann, Ute, Hankinson, Susan E, Harkness, Elaine F, Harstad, Tricia, He, Wei, Heyworth, Jane, Hoover, Robert N, Hopper, John L, Humphreys, Keith, Hunter, David J, Marrón, Pablo Isidro, John, Esther M, Jones, Michael E, Jung, Audrey, Kaaks, Rudolf, Keeman, Renske, Kitahara, Cari M, Ko, Yon-Dschun, Koutros, Stella, Krüger, Ute, Lambrechts, Diether, Le Marchand, Loic, Lee, Eunjung, Lejbkowicz, Flavio, Linet, Martha, Lissowska, Jolanta, Llaneza, Ana, Lo, Wing-Yee, and Makalic, Enes
Subjects: Genetics, Estrogen, Clinical Research, Cancer, Breast Cancer, Prevention, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, Aetiology, Alleles, Breast Neoplasms, Case-Control Studies, Europe, Factor XIII, Female, Gene-Environment Interaction, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Receptors, Estrogen, Risk Factors, White People, Breast Cancer Association Consortium, Europeans, Gene-environment interaction, breast cancer, epidemiology, risk factors, single nucleotide polymorphism, Statistics, Public Health and Health Services, Epidemiology
Abstract: BackgroundPrevious gene-environment interaction studies of breast cancer risk have provided sparse evidence of interactions. Using the largest available dataset to date, we performed a comprehensive assessment of potential effect modification of 205 common susceptibility variants by 13 established breast cancer risk factors, including replication of previously reported interactions.MethodsAnalyses were performed using 28 176 cases and 32 209 controls genotyped with iCOGS array and 44 109 cases and 48 145 controls genotyped using OncoArray from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC). Gene-environment interactions were assessed using unconditional logistic regression and likelihood ratio tests for breast cancer risk overall and by estrogen-receptor (ER) status. Bayesian false discovery probability was used to assess the noteworthiness of the meta-analysed array-specific interactions.ResultsNoteworthy evidence of interaction at ≤1% prior probability was observed for three single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-risk factor pairs. SNP rs4442975 was associated with a greater reduction of risk of ER-positive breast cancer [odds ratio (OR)int = 0.85 (0.78-0.93), Pint = 2.8 x 10-4] and overall breast cancer [ORint = 0.85 (0.78-0.92), Pint = 7.4 x 10-5) in current users of estrogen-progesterone therapy compared with non-users. This finding was supported by replication using OncoArray data of the previously reported interaction between rs13387042 (r2 = 0.93 with rs4442975) and current estrogen-progesterone therapy for overall disease (Pint = 0.004). The two other interactions suggested stronger associations between SNP rs6596100 and ER-negative breast cancer with increasing parity and younger age at first birth.ConclusionsOverall, our study does not suggest strong effect modification of common breast cancer susceptibility variants by established risk factors.
Published: 2020

33. A network analysis to identify mediators of germline-driven differences in breast cancer prognosis.

Author: Escala-Garcia, Maria, Abraham, Jean, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Arndt, Volker, Ashworth, Alan, Auer, Paul L, Auvinen, Päivi, Beckmann, Matthias W, Beesley, Jonathan, Behrens, Sabine, Benitez, Javier, Bermisheva, Marina, Blomqvist, Carl, Blot, William, Bogdanova, Natalia V, Bojesen, Stig E, Bolla, Manjeet K, Børresen-Dale, Anne-Lise, Brauch, Hiltrud, Brenner, Hermann, Brucker, Sara Y, Burwinkel, Barbara, Caldas, Carlos, Canzian, Federico, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Chanock, Stephen J, Chin, Suet-Feung, Clarke, Christine L, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary B, Dennis, Joe, Devilee, Peter, Dunn, Janet A, Dunning, Alison M, Dwek, Miriam, Earl, Helena M, Eccles, Diana M, Eliassen, A Heather, Ellberg, Carolina, Evans, D Gareth, Fasching, Peter A, Figueroa, Jonine, Flyger, Henrik, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, Gapstur, Susan M, García-Closas, Montserrat, García-Sáenz, José A, Gaudet, Mia M, George, Angela, Giles, Graham G, Goldgar, David E, González-Neira, Anna, Grip, Mervi, Guénel, Pascal, Guo, Qi, Haiman, Christopher A, Håkansson, Niclas, Hamann, Ute, Harrington, Patricia A, Hiller, Louise, Hooning, Maartje J, Hopper, John L, Howell, Anthony, Huang, Chiun-Sheng, Huang, Guanmengqian, Hunter, David J, Jakubowska, Anna, John, Esther M, Kaaks, Rudolf, Kapoor, Pooja Middha, Keeman, Renske, Kitahara, Cari M, Koppert, Linetta B, Kraft, Peter, Kristensen, Vessela N, Lambrechts, Diether, Le Marchand, Loic, Lejbkowicz, Flavio, Lindblom, Annika, Lubiński, Jan, Mannermaa, Arto, Manoochehri, Mehdi, Manoukian, Siranoush, Margolin, Sara, Martinez, Maria Elena, Maurer, Tabea, Mavroudis, Dimitrios, Meindl, Alfons, Milne, Roger L, Mulligan, Anna Marie, Neuhausen, Susan L, Nevanlinna, Heli, Newman, William G, Olshan, Andrew F, Olson, Janet E, and Olsson, Håkan
Subjects: Germ Cells, Humans, Breast Neoplasms, GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunits, GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunits, Gq-G11, Receptors, Estrogen, Prognosis, Computational Biology, Signal Transduction, Apoptosis, Genotype, Female, Gene Regulatory Networks, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Circadian Clocks, Gq-G11, Receptors, Estrogen, Cancer, Breast Cancer, Genetics, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, 4.1 Discovery and preclinical testing of markers and technologies
Abstract: Identifying the underlying genetic drivers of the heritability of breast cancer prognosis remains elusive. We adapt a network-based approach to handle underpowered complex datasets to provide new insights into the potential function of germline variants in breast cancer prognosis. This network-based analysis studies ~7.3 million variants in 84,457 breast cancer patients in relation to breast cancer survival and confirms the results on 12,381 independent patients. Aggregating the prognostic effects of genetic variants across multiple genes, we identify four gene modules associated with survival in estrogen receptor (ER)-negative and one in ER-positive disease. The modules show biological enrichment for cancer-related processes such as G-alpha signaling, circadian clock, angiogenesis, and Rho-GTPases in apoptosis.
Published: 2020

34. Fine-mapping of 150 breast cancer risk regions identifies 191 likely target genes.

Author: Fachal, Laura, Aschard, Hugues, Beesley, Jonathan, Barnes, Daniel R, Allen, Jamie, Kar, Siddhartha, Pooley, Karen A, Dennis, Joe, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Turman, Constance, Soucy, Penny, Lemaçon, Audrey, Lush, Michael, Tyrer, Jonathan P, Ghoussaini, Maya, Moradi Marjaneh, Mahdi, Jiang, Xia, Agata, Simona, Aittomäki, Kristiina, Alonso, M Rosario, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Antonenkova, Natalia N, Arason, Adalgeir, Arndt, Volker, Aronson, Kristan J, Arun, Banu K, Auber, Bernd, Auer, Paul L, Azzollini, Jacopo, Balmaña, Judith, Barkardottir, Rosa B, Barrowdale, Daniel, Beeghly-Fadiel, Alicia, Benitez, Javier, Bermisheva, Marina, Białkowska, Katarzyna, Blanco, Amie M, Blomqvist, Carl, Blot, William, Bogdanova, Natalia V, Bojesen, Stig E, Bolla, Manjeet K, Bonanni, Bernardo, Borg, Ake, Bosse, Kristin, Brauch, Hiltrud, Brenner, Hermann, Briceno, Ignacio, Brock, Ian W, Brooks-Wilson, Angela, Brüning, Thomas, Burwinkel, Barbara, Buys, Saundra S, Cai, Qiuyin, Caldés, Trinidad, Caligo, Maria A, Camp, Nicola J, Campbell, Ian, Canzian, Federico, Carroll, Jason S, Carter, Brian D, Castelao, Jose E, Chiquette, Jocelyne, Christiansen, Hans, Chung, Wendy K, Claes, Kathleen BM, Clarke, Christine L, GEMO Study Collaborators, EMBRACE Collaborators, Collée, J Margriet, Cornelissen, Sten, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Cybulski, Cezary, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary B, de la Hoya, Miguel, Devilee, Peter, Diez, Orland, Ding, Yuan Chun, Dite, Gillian S, Domchek, Susan M, Dörk, Thilo, Dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel, Droit, Arnaud, Dubois, Stéphane, Dumont, Martine, Duran, Mercedes, Durcan, Lorraine, Dwek, Miriam, Eccles, Diana M, Engel, Christoph, Eriksson, Mikael, Evans, D Gareth, Fasching, Peter A, Fletcher, Olivia, Floris, Giuseppe, and Flyger, Henrik
Subjects: GEMO Study Collaborators, EMBRACE Collaborators, KConFab Investigators, HEBON Investigators, ABCTB Investigators, Humans, Breast Neoplasms, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Bayes Theorem, Risk Factors, Chromosome Mapping, Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid, Linkage Disequilibrium, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Quantitative Trait Loci, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Biomarkers, Tumor, Genetic Testing, Prevention, Genetics, Cancer, Breast Cancer, Human Genome, Biotechnology, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, Developmental Biology, Biological Sciences, Medical and Health Sciences
Abstract: Genome-wide association studies have identified breast cancer risk variants in over 150 genomic regions, but the mechanisms underlying risk remain largely unknown. These regions were explored by combining association analysis with in silico genomic feature annotations. We defined 205 independent risk-associated signals with the set of credible causal variants in each one. In parallel, we used a Bayesian approach (PAINTOR) that combines genetic association, linkage disequilibrium and enriched genomic features to determine variants with high posterior probabilities of being causal. Potentially causal variants were significantly over-represented in active gene regulatory regions and transcription factor binding sites. We applied our INQUSIT pipeline for prioritizing genes as targets of those potentially causal variants, using gene expression (expression quantitative trait loci), chromatin interaction and functional annotations. Known cancer drivers, transcription factors and genes in the developmental, apoptosis, immune system and DNA integrity checkpoint gene ontology pathways were over-represented among the highest-confidence target genes.
Published: 2020

35. Postdigital Theologies: A Closer Inspection of the Way Language Is Employed in Digital Discourses

Author: Cross, Simon, Jandrić, Petar, Series Editor, Escaño González, Carlos, Editorial Board Member, Ford, Derek R., Editorial Board Member, Hayes, Sarah, Editorial Board Member, Kerres, Michael, Editorial Board Member, Knox, Jeremy, Editorial Board Member, Peters, Michael A., Editorial Board Member, Tesar, Marek, Editorial Board Member, Savin-Baden, Maggi, editor, and Reader, John, editor
Published: 2022
Full Text: View/download PDF

36. MOOC Adaptation and Translation to Improve Equity in Participation

Author: Wolfenden, Freda, Cross, Simon, and Henry, Fiona
Abstract: There is an urgent need to improve elementary and secondary school classroom practices across India and the scale of this challenge is argued to demand new approaches to teacher professional learning. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) represent one such approach and one that, in the context of this study, is considered to provide a means by which to transcend traditional training processes and disrupt conventional pedagogic practices. This paper offers a critical review of a large-scale MOOC deployed in English, and then in Hindi, to support targeted sustainable capacity building within an education development initiative (TESS-India) across seven states in India. The study draws on multiple sources of participant data to identify and examine features, which stimulated a buzz around the MOOCs, leading to over 40,000 registrations and a completion rate of approximately 50% for each of the two MOOCs.
Published: 2017

37. Associations of obesity and circulating insulin and glucose with breast cancer risk: a Mendelian randomization analysis.

Author: Shu, Xiang, Wu, Lang, Khankari, Nikhil K, Shu, Xiao-Ou, Wang, Thomas J, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Bolla, Manjeet K, Wang, Qin, Dennis, Joe, Milne, Roger L, Schmidt, Marjanka K, Pharoah, Paul DP, Andrulis, Irene L, Hunter, David J, Simard, Jacques, Easton, Douglas F, Zheng, Wei, Alicia, Beeghly-Fadiel J, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Antonenkova, Natalia N, Arndt, Volker, Aronson, Kristan J, Auer, Paul L, Barrdahl, Myrto, Baynes, Caroline, Beane Freeman, Laura E, Beckmann, Matthias W, Behrens, Sabine, Benitez, Javier, Bermisheva, Marina, Blomqvist, Carl, Bogdanova, Natalia V, Bojesen, Stig E, Brauch, Hiltrud, Brenner, Hermann, Brinton, Louise, Broberg, Per, Brucker, Sara Y, Brüning, Thomas, Burwinkel, Barbara, Cai, Qiuyin, Caldés, Trinidad, Canzian, Federico, Carter, Brian D, Castelao, Jose E, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Chenevix-Trench, Georgia, David Cheng, Ting-Yuan, Clarke, Christine L, Conroy, Don M, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, David G, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Cunningham, Julie M, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary B, Doheny, Kimberly F, Dörk, Thilo, dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel, Dumont, Martine, Dunning, Alison M, Dwek, Miriam, Earp, H Shelton, Eccles, Diana M, Heather Eliassen, A, Engel, Christoph, Eriksson, Mikael, Gareth Evans, D, Fachal, Laura, Fasching, Peter A, Figueroa, Jonine, Fletcher, Olivia, Flyger, Henrik, Fritschi, Lin, Gabrielson, Marike, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, Gapstur, Susan M, García-Closas, Montserrat, Gaudet, Mia M, Ghoussaini, Maya, Giles, Graham G, Goldberg, Mark S, Goldgar, David E, González-Neira, Anna, Guénel, Pascal, Hahnen, Eric, Haiman, Christopher A, Håkansson, Niclas, Hall, Per, Hallberg, Emily, Hamann, Ute, Harrington, Patricia, He, Wei, Hein, Alexander, Hicks, Belynda, Hillemanns, Peter, Hogervorst, Frans B, Hollestelle, Antoinette, and Hoover, Robert N
Subjects: Clinical Research, Diabetes, Prevention, Nutrition, Obesity, Cancer, Aging, Breast Cancer, Genetics, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, Aetiology, Metabolic and endocrine, Adult, Aged, Blood Glucose, Body Mass Index, Breast Neoplasms, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Female, Humans, Insulin, Mendelian Randomization Analysis, Middle Aged, Obesity, Abdominal, Waist-Hip Ratio, Breast cancer, insulin, glucose, obesity, genetics, Mendelian randomization analysis, Breast Cancer Association Consortium, Statistics, Public Health and Health Services, Epidemiology
Abstract: BackgroundIn addition to the established association between general obesity and breast cancer risk, central obesity and circulating fasting insulin and glucose have been linked to the development of this common malignancy. Findings from previous studies, however, have been inconsistent, and the nature of the associations is unclear.MethodsWe conducted Mendelian randomization analyses to evaluate the association of breast cancer risk, using genetic instruments, with fasting insulin, fasting glucose, 2-h glucose, body mass index (BMI) and BMI-adjusted waist-hip-ratio (WHRadj BMI). We first confirmed the association of these instruments with type 2 diabetes risk in a large diabetes genome-wide association study consortium. We then investigated their associations with breast cancer risk using individual-level data obtained from 98 842 cases and 83 464 controls of European descent in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium.ResultsAll sets of instruments were associated with risk of type 2 diabetes. Associations with breast cancer risk were found for genetically predicted fasting insulin [odds ratio (OR) = 1.71 per standard deviation (SD) increase, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.26-2.31, p = 5.09 × 10-4], 2-h glucose (OR = 1.80 per SD increase, 95% CI = 1.3 0-2.49, p = 4.02 × 10-4), BMI (OR = 0.70 per 5-unit increase, 95% CI = 0.65-0.76, p = 5.05 × 10-19) and WHRadj BMI (OR = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.79-0.91, p = 9.22 × 10-6). Stratified analyses showed that genetically predicted fasting insulin was more closely related to risk of estrogen-receptor [ER]-positive cancer, whereas the associations with instruments of 2-h glucose, BMI and WHRadj BMI were consistent regardless of age, menopausal status, estrogen receptor status and family history of breast cancer.ConclusionsWe confirmed the previously reported inverse association of genetically predicted BMI with breast cancer risk, and showed a positive association of genetically predicted fasting insulin and 2-h glucose and an inverse association of WHRadj BMI with breast cancer risk. Our study suggests that genetically determined obesity and glucose/insulin-related traits have an important role in the aetiology of breast cancer.
Published: 2019

38. Genome-wide association and transcriptome studies identify target genes and risk loci for breast cancer.

Author: Ferreira, Manuel A, Gamazon, Eric R, Al-Ejeh, Fares, Aittomäki, Kristiina, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Arason, Adalgeir, Arndt, Volker, Aronson, Kristan J, Arun, Banu K, Asseryanis, Ella, Azzollini, Jacopo, Balmaña, Judith, Barnes, Daniel R, Barrowdale, Daniel, Beckmann, Matthias W, Behrens, Sabine, Benitez, Javier, Bermisheva, Marina, Białkowska, Katarzyna, Blomqvist, Carl, Bogdanova, Natalia V, Bojesen, Stig E, Bolla, Manjeet K, Borg, Ake, Brauch, Hiltrud, Brenner, Hermann, Broeks, Annegien, Burwinkel, Barbara, Caldés, Trinidad, Caligo, Maria A, Campa, Daniele, Campbell, Ian, Canzian, Federico, Carter, Jonathan, Carter, Brian D, Castelao, Jose E, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Chanock, Stephen J, Christiansen, Hans, Chung, Wendy K, Claes, Kathleen BM, Clarke, Christine L, EMBRACE Collaborators, GC-HBOC Study Collaborators, GEMO Study Collaborators, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary B, de la Hoya, Miguel, Dennis, Joe, Devilee, Peter, Diez, Orland, Dörk, Thilo, Dunning, Alison M, Dwek, Miriam, Eccles, Diana M, Ejlertsen, Bent, Ellberg, Carolina, Engel, Christoph, Eriksson, Mikael, Fasching, Peter A, Fletcher, Olivia, Flyger, Henrik, Friedman, Eitan, Frost, Debra, Gabrielson, Marike, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, Ganz, Patricia A, Gapstur, Susan M, Garber, Judy, García-Closas, Montserrat, García-Sáenz, José A, Gaudet, Mia M, Giles, Graham G, Glendon, Gord, Godwin, Andrew K, Goldberg, Mark S, Goldgar, David E, González-Neira, Anna, Greene, Mark H, Gronwald, Jacek, Guénel, Pascal, Haiman, Christopher A, Hall, Per, Hamann, Ute, He, Wei, Heyworth, Jane, Hogervorst, Frans BL, Hollestelle, Antoinette, Hoover, Robert N, Hopper, John L, Hulick, Peter J, Humphreys, Keith, Imyanitov, Evgeny N, ABCTB Investigators, HEBON Investigators, and BCFR Investigators
Subjects: EMBRACE Collaborators, GC-HBOC Study Collaborators, GEMO Study Collaborators, ABCTB Investigators, HEBON Investigators, BCFR Investigators, Humans, Breast Neoplasms, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Gene Expression Profiling, Quantitative Trait Loci, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Prevention, Cancer, Human Genome, Aging, Breast Cancer, Genetics, Biotechnology, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors
Abstract: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 170 breast cancer susceptibility loci. Here we hypothesize that some risk-associated variants might act in non-breast tissues, specifically adipose tissue and immune cells from blood and spleen. Using expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) reported in these tissues, we identify 26 previously unreported, likely target genes of overall breast cancer risk variants, and 17 for estrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer, several with a known immune function. We determine the directional effect of gene expression on disease risk measured based on single and multiple eQTL. In addition, using a gene-based test of association that considers eQTL from multiple tissues, we identify seven (and four) regions with variants associated with overall (and ER-negative) breast cancer risk, which were not reported in previous GWAS. Further investigation of the function of the implicated genes in breast and immune cells may provide insights into the etiology of breast cancer.
Published: 2019

39. Genome-wide association study of germline variants and breast cancer-specific mortality.

Author: Escala-Garcia, Maria, Guo, Qi, Dörk, Thilo, Canisius, Sander, Keeman, Renske, Dennis, Joe, Beesley, Jonathan, Lecarpentier, Julie, Bolla, Manjeet K, Wang, Qin, Abraham, Jean, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Arndt, Volker, Auer, Paul L, Beckmann, Matthias W, Behrens, Sabine, Benitez, Javier, Bermisheva, Marina, Bernstein, Leslie, Blomqvist, Carl, Boeckx, Bram, Bojesen, Stig E, Bonanni, Bernardo, Børresen-Dale, Anne-Lise, Brauch, Hiltrud, Brenner, Hermann, Brentnall, Adam, Brinton, Louise, Broberg, Per, Brock, Ian W, Brucker, Sara Y, Burwinkel, Barbara, Caldas, Carlos, Caldés, Trinidad, Campa, Daniele, Canzian, Federico, Carracedo, Angel, Carter, Brian D, Castelao, Jose E, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Chanock, Stephen J, Chenevix-Trench, Georgia, Cheng, Ting-Yuan David, Chin, Suet-Feung, Clarke, Christine L, NBCS Collaborators, Cordina-Duverger, Emilie, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, David G, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary B, Devilee, Peter, Dunn, Janet A, Dunning, Alison M, Durcan, Lorraine, Dwek, Miriam, Earl, Helena M, Ekici, Arif B, Eliassen, A Heather, Ellberg, Carolina, Engel, Christoph, Eriksson, Mikael, Evans, D Gareth, Figueroa, Jonine, Flesch-Janys, Dieter, Flyger, Henrik, Gabrielson, Marike, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, Galle, Eva, Gapstur, Susan M, García-Closas, Montserrat, García-Sáenz, José A, Gaudet, Mia M, George, Angela, Georgoulias, Vassilios, Giles, Graham G, Glendon, Gord, Goldgar, David E, González-Neira, Anna, Alnæs, Grethe I Grenaker, Grip, Mervi, Guénel, Pascal, Haeberle, Lothar, Hahnen, Eric, Haiman, Christopher A, Håkansson, Niclas, Hall, Per, Hamann, Ute, Hankinson, Susan, Harkness, Elaine F, Harrington, Patricia A, Hart, Steven N, Hartikainen, Jaana M, Hein, Alexander, Hillemanns, Peter, Hiller, Louise, and Holleczek, Bernd
Subjects: NBCS Collaborators, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 7, Humans, Breast Neoplasms, Receptors, Estrogen, Prognosis, Proportional Hazards Models, Bayes Theorem, Female, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, White People, Genetics, Breast Cancer, Human Genome, Cancer, Aetiology, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, Good Health and Well Being, Oncology and Carcinogenesis, Public Health and Health Services, Oncology & Carcinogenesis
Abstract: BackgroundWe examined the associations between germline variants and breast cancer mortality using a large meta-analysis of women of European ancestry.MethodsMeta-analyses included summary estimates based on Cox models of twelve datasets using ~10.4 million variants for 96,661 women with breast cancer and 7697 events (breast cancer-specific deaths). Oestrogen receptor (ER)-specific analyses were based on 64,171 ER-positive (4116) and 16,172 ER-negative (2125) patients. We evaluated the probability of a signal to be a true positive using the Bayesian false discovery probability (BFDP).ResultsWe did not find any variant associated with breast cancer-specific mortality at P
Published: 2019

40. Polygenic Risk Scores for Prediction of Breast Cancer and Breast Cancer Subtypes.

Author: Mavaddat, Nasim, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Dennis, Joe, Lush, Michael, Fachal, Laura, Lee, Andrew, Tyrer, Jonathan P, Chen, Ting-Huei, Wang, Qin, Bolla, Manjeet K, Yang, Xin, Adank, Muriel A, Ahearn, Thomas, Aittomäki, Kristiina, Allen, Jamie, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Antonenkova, Natalia N, Arndt, Volker, Aronson, Kristan J, Auer, Paul L, Auvinen, Päivi, Barrdahl, Myrto, Beane Freeman, Laura E, Beckmann, Matthias W, Behrens, Sabine, Benitez, Javier, Bermisheva, Marina, Bernstein, Leslie, Blomqvist, Carl, Bogdanova, Natalia V, Bojesen, Stig E, Bonanni, Bernardo, Børresen-Dale, Anne-Lise, Brauch, Hiltrud, Bremer, Michael, Brenner, Hermann, Brentnall, Adam, Brock, Ian W, Brooks-Wilson, Angela, Brucker, Sara Y, Brüning, Thomas, Burwinkel, Barbara, Campa, Daniele, Carter, Brian D, Castelao, Jose E, Chanock, Stephen J, Chlebowski, Rowan, Christiansen, Hans, Clarke, Christine L, Collée, J Margriet, Cordina-Duverger, Emilie, Cornelissen, Sten, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary B, Devilee, Peter, Dörk, Thilo, Dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel, Dumont, Martine, Durcan, Lorraine, Dwek, Miriam, Eccles, Diana M, Ekici, Arif B, Eliassen, A Heather, Ellberg, Carolina, Engel, Christoph, Eriksson, Mikael, Evans, D Gareth, Fasching, Peter A, Figueroa, Jonine, Fletcher, Olivia, Flyger, Henrik, Försti, Asta, Fritschi, Lin, Gabrielson, Marike, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, Gapstur, Susan M, García-Sáenz, José A, Gaudet, Mia M, Georgoulias, Vassilios, Giles, Graham G, Gilyazova, Irina R, Glendon, Gord, Goldberg, Mark S, Goldgar, David E, González-Neira, Anna, Grenaker Alnæs, Grethe I, Grip, Mervi, Gronwald, Jacek, Grundy, Anne, Guénel, Pascal, Haeberle, Lothar, Hahnen, Eric, Haiman, Christopher A, Håkansson, Niclas, Hamann, Ute, and Hankinson, Susan E
Subjects: ABCTB Investigators, kConFab/AOCS Investigators, NBCS Collaborators, Humans, Breast Neoplasms, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Receptors, Estrogen, Medical History Taking, Risk Assessment, Reproducibility of Results, Age Factors, Multifactorial Inheritance, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Middle Aged, Female, breast, cancer, epidemiology, genetic, polygenic, prediction, risk, score, screening, stratification, Human Genome, Cancer, Genetics, Clinical Research, Prevention, Breast Cancer, Good Health and Well Being, Biological Sciences, Medical and Health Sciences, Genetics & Heredity
Abstract: Stratification of women according to their risk of breast cancer based on polygenic risk scores (PRSs) could improve screening and prevention strategies. Our aim was to develop PRSs, optimized for prediction of estrogen receptor (ER)-specific disease, from the largest available genome-wide association dataset and to empirically validate the PRSs in prospective studies. The development dataset comprised 94,075 case subjects and 75,017 control subjects of European ancestry from 69 studies, divided into training and validation sets. Samples were genotyped using genome-wide arrays, and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were selected by stepwise regression or lasso penalized regression. The best performing PRSs were validated in an independent test set comprising 11,428 case subjects and 18,323 control subjects from 10 prospective studies and 190,040 women from UK Biobank (3,215 incident breast cancers). For the best PRSs (313 SNPs), the odds ratio for overall disease per 1 standard deviation in ten prospective studies was 1.61 (95%CI: 1.57-1.65) with area under receiver-operator curve (AUC) = 0.630 (95%CI: 0.628-0.651). The lifetime risk of overall breast cancer in the top centile of the PRSs was 32.6%. Compared with women in the middle quintile, those in the highest 1% of risk had 4.37- and 2.78-fold risks, and those in the lowest 1% of risk had 0.16- and 0.27-fold risks, of developing ER-positive and ER-negative disease, respectively. Goodness-of-fit tests indicated that this PRS was well calibrated and predicts disease risk accurately in the tails of the distribution. This PRS is a powerful and reliable predictor of breast cancer risk that may improve breast cancer prevention programs.
Published: 2019

41. Disrupted Distance Learning: The Impact of COVID-19 on Study Habits of Distance Learning University Students

Author: Aristeidou, Maria and Cross, Simon
Abstract: Despite a growing body of work on understanding how students perceived the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects on existing distance learning universities have received less attention. This study aimed to understand changes in distance learning students' study habits (learning, assessment and social activities) and assess the factors associated with negative impacts. An online survey collected information on demographics, study-related information, COVID-19 personal circumstances and changes in study habits from 555 undergraduate students at The Open University, UK. Of the study population, an average of 36% reported negative impacts on their study activities and 15% positive impacts. Logistic regression analysis (n = 269) demonstrated that negative impacts on study habits overall were associated with difficulties in managing workload and limited interaction with other students. Other factors, such as socioeconomic background, study level, limited interaction with tutors, age, personal health, employment issues, and childcare and caring responsibilities, relate to particular study habits. Our findings have implications for how universities with new and existing distance learning practices address these factors and better support ongoing learning activity during COVID-19 and other similar disruptions.
Published: 2021
Full Text: View/download PDF

42. Comparative Study of Allosteric GPCR Binding Sites and Their Ligandability Potential.

Author: Peter, Sonja, Siragusa, Lydia, Thomas, Morgan, Palomba, Tommaso, Cross, Simon, O'Boyle, Noel M., Bajusz, Dávid, Ferenczy, György G., Keserű, György M., Bottegoni, Giovanni, Bender, Brian, Chen, Ijen, and De Graaf, Chris
Published: 2024
Full Text: View/download PDF

43. Analytics4Action Evaluation Framework: A Review of Evidence-Based Learning Analytics Interventions at the Open University UK

Author: Rienties, Bart, Boroowa, Avinash, Cross, Simon, Kubiak, Chris, Mayles, Kevin, and Murphy, Sam
Abstract: There is an urgent need to develop an evidence-based framework for learning analytics whereby stakeholders can manage, evaluate, and make decisions about which types of interventions work well and under which conditions. In this article, we will work towards developing a foundation of an Analytics4Action Evaluation Framework (A4AEF) that is currently being tested and validated at the Open University UK. By working with 18 introductory large-scale modules for a period of two years across the five faculties and disciplines within the OU, Analytics4Action provides a bottom-up-approach for working together with key stakeholders within their respective contexts. A holistic A4AEF has been developed to unpack, understand and map the six key steps in the evidence-based intervention process. By means of an exemplar in health and social science, a practical illustration of A4AEF is provided. In the next 3-5 years, we hope that a rich, robust evidence-base will be presented to show how learning analytics can help teachers to make informed, timely and successful interventions that will help each learner to achieve the module's learning outcomes.
Published: 2016

44. Friends in High Places: Sexual Abuse, Power and the Corruptions of Jimmy Savile

Author: Cross, Simon, Brown, Michelle, Series Editor, Carrabine, Eamonn, Series Editor, Ewen, Neil, editor, Grattan, Alan, editor, Leaning, Marcus, editor, and Manning, Paul, editor
Published: 2021
Full Text: View/download PDF

45. Taking in the complete picture: Framing the use of 360-degree video for teacher education practice and research

Author: Cross, Simon, Wolfenden, Freda, and Adinolfi, Lina
Published: 2022
Full Text: View/download PDF

46. A transcriptome-wide association study of 229,000 women identifies new candidate susceptibility genes for breast cancer

Author: Wu, Lang, Shi, Wei, Long, Jirong, Guo, Xingyi, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Beesley, Jonathan, Bolla, Manjeet K, Shu, Xiao-Ou, Lu, Yingchang, Cai, Qiuyin, Al-Ejeh, Fares, Rozali, Esdy, Wang, Qin, Dennis, Joe, Li, Bingshan, Zeng, Chenjie, Feng, Helian, Gusev, Alexander, Barfield, Richard T, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton-Culver, Hoda, Arndt, Volker, Aronson, Kristan J, Auer, Paul L, Barrdahl, Myrto, Baynes, Caroline, Beckmann, Matthias W, Benitez, Javier, Bermisheva, Marina, Blomqvist, Carl, Bogdanova, Natalia V, Bojesen, Stig E, Brauch, Hiltrud, Brenner, Hermann, Brinton, Louise, Broberg, Per, Brucker, Sara Y, Burwinkel, Barbara, Caldés, Trinidad, Canzian, Federico, Carter, Brian D, Castelao, J Esteban, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Chen, Xiaoqing, Cheng, Ting-Yuan David, Christiansen, Hans, Clarke, Christine L, NBCS Collaborators, Collée, Margriet, Cornelissen, Sten, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, David, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Cunningham, Julie M, Czene, Kamila, Daly, Mary B, Devilee, Peter, Doheny, Kimberly F, Dörk, Thilo, dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel, Dumont, Martine, Dwek, Miriam, Eccles, Diana M, Eilber, Ursula, Eliassen, A Heather, Engel, Christoph, Eriksson, Mikael, Fachal, Laura, Fasching, Peter A, Figueroa, Jonine, Flesch-Janys, Dieter, Fletcher, Olivia, Flyger, Henrik, Fritschi, Lin, Gabrielson, Marike, Gago-Dominguez, Manuela, Gapstur, Susan M, García-Closas, Montserrat, Gaudet, Mia M, Ghoussaini, Maya, Giles, Graham G, Goldberg, Mark S, Goldgar, David E, González-Neira, Anna, Guénel, Pascal, Hahnen, Eric, Haiman, Christopher A, Håkansson, Niclas, Hall, Per, Hallberg, Emily, Hamann, Ute, Harrington, Patricia, Hein, Alexander, Hicks, Belynda, Hillemanns, Peter, Hollestelle, Antoinette, Hoover, Robert N, Hopper, John L, and Huang, Guanmengqian
Subjects: Biological Sciences, Genetics, Human Genome, Biotechnology, Prevention, Breast Cancer, Women's Health, Cancer Genomics, Cancer, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, Generic health relevance, Breast Neoplasms, Case-Control Studies, Female, Gene Expression, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk, Transcriptome, NBCS Collaborators, kConFab/AOCS Investigators, Medical and Health Sciences, Developmental Biology, Agricultural biotechnology, Bioinformatics and computational biology
Abstract: The breast cancer risk variants identified in genome-wide association studies explain only a small fraction of the familial relative risk, and the genes responsible for these associations remain largely unknown. To identify novel risk loci and likely causal genes, we performed a transcriptome-wide association study evaluating associations of genetically predicted gene expression with breast cancer risk in 122,977 cases and 105,974 controls of European ancestry. We used data from the Genotype-Tissue Expression Project to establish genetic models to predict gene expression in breast tissue and evaluated model performance using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Of the 8,597 genes evaluated, significant associations were identified for 48 at a Bonferroni-corrected threshold of P
Published: 2018

47. The BRCA2 c.68‐7T > A variant is not pathogenic: A model for clinical calibration of spliceogenicity

Author: Colombo, Mara, Lòpez‐Perolio, Irene, Meeks, Huong D, Caleca, Laura, Parsons, Michael T, Li, Hongyan, Vecchi, Giovanna, Tudini, Emma, Foglia, Claudia, Mondini, Patrizia, Manoukian, Siranoush, Behar, Raquel, Garcia, Encarna B Gómez, Meindl, Alfons, Montagna, Marco, Niederacher, Dieter, Schmidt, Ane Y, Varesco, Liliana, Wappenschmidt, Barbara, Bolla, Manjeet K, Dennis, Joe, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Wang, Qin, Aittomäki, Kristiina, Andrulis, Irene L, Anton‐Culver, Hoda, Arndt, Volker, Beckmann, Matthias W, Beeghly‐Fadel, Alicia, Benitez, Javier, Boeckx, Bram, Bogdanova, Natalia V, Bojesen, Stig E, Bonanni, Bernardo, Brauch, Hiltrud, Brenner, Hermann, Burwinkel, Barbara, Chang‐Claude, Jenny, Conroy, Don M, Couch, Fergus J, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Czene, Kamila, Devilee, Peter, Dörk, Thilo, Eriksson, Mikael, Fasching, Peter A, Figueroa, Jonine, Fletcher, Olivia, Flyger, Henrik, Gabrielson, Marike, García‐Closas, Montserrat, Giles, Graham G, González‐Neira, Anna, Guénel, Pascal, Haiman, Christopher A, Hall, Per, Hamann, Ute, Hartman, Mikael, Hauke, Jan, Hollestelle, Antoinette, Hopper, John L, Jakubowska, Anna, Jung, Audrey, Kosma, Veli‐Matti, Lambrechts, Diether, Le Marchand, Loid, Lindblom, Annika, Lubinski, Jan, Mannermaa, Arto, Margolin, Sara, Miao, Hui, Milne, Roger L, Neuhausen, Susan L, Nevanlinna, Heli, Olson, Janet E, Peterlongo, Paolo, Peto, Julian, Pylkäs, Katri, Sawyer, Elinor J, Schmidt, Marjanka K, Schmutzler, Rita K, Schneeweiss, Andreas, Schoemaker, Minouk J, See, Mee Hoong, Southey, Melissa C, Swerdlow, Anthony, Teo, Soo H, Toland, Amanda E, Tomlinson, Ian, Truong, Thérèse, Asperen, Christi J, Ouweland, Ans MW den, der Kolk, Lizet E, Winqvist, Robert, Yannoukakos, Drakoulis, Zheng, Wei, Investigators, kConFab AOCS, Dunning, Alison M, and Easton, Douglas F
Subjects: Cancer, Genetics, Clinical Research, Prevention, Breast Cancer, Aetiology, 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors, BRCA2 Protein, Base Sequence, Calibration, Cell Line, Exons, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Variation, Humans, Mitomycin, Models, Genetic, RNA Splicing, RNA, Messenger, kConFab/AOCS Investigators, BRCA2, digital PCR, multifactorial likelihood analysis, quantitative real-time PCR, spliceogenic variants, Clinical Sciences, Genetics & Heredity
Abstract: Although the spliceogenic nature of the BRCA2 c.68-7T > A variant has been demonstrated, its association with cancer risk remains controversial. In this study, we accurately quantified by real-time PCR and digital PCR (dPCR), the BRCA2 isoforms retaining or missing exon 3. In addition, the combined odds ratio for causality of the variant was estimated using genetic and clinical data, and its associated cancer risk was estimated by case-control analysis in 83,636 individuals. Co-occurrence in trans with pathogenic BRCA2 variants was assessed in 5,382 families. Exon 3 exclusion rate was 4.5-fold higher in variant carriers (13%) than controls (3%), indicating an exclusion rate for the c.68-7T > A allele of approximately 20%. The posterior probability of pathogenicity was 7.44 × 10-115 . There was neither evidence for increased risk of breast cancer (OR 1.03; 95% CI 0.86-1.24) nor for a deleterious effect of the variant when co-occurring with pathogenic variants. Our data provide for the first time robust evidence of the nonpathogenicity of the BRCA2 c.68-7T > A. Genetic and quantitative transcript analyses together inform the threshold for the ratio between functional and altered BRCA2 isoforms compatible with normal cell function. These findings might be exploited to assess the relevance for cancer risk of other BRCA2 spliceogenic variants.
Published: 2018

48. Publisher Correction: Evidence that breast cancer risk at the 2q35 locus is mediated through IGFBP5 regulation.

Author: Ghoussaini, Maya, Edwards, Stacey L, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Nord, Silje, Cowper-Sal Lari, Richard, Desai, Kinjal, Kar, Siddhartha, Hillman, Kristine M, Kaufmann, Susanne, Glubb, Dylan M, Beesley, Jonathan, Dennis, Joe, Bolla, Manjeet K, Wang, Qin, Dicks, Ed, Guo, Qi, Schmidt, Marjanka K, Shah, Mitul, Luben, Robert, Brown, Judith, Czene, Kamila, Darabi, Hatef, Eriksson, Mikael, Klevebring, Daniel, Bojesen, Stig E, Nordestgaard, Børge G, Nielsen, Sune F, Flyger, Henrik, Lambrechts, Diether, Thienpont, Bernard, Neven, Patrick, Wildiers, Hans, Broeks, Annegien, Van't Veer, Laura J, Rutgers, Emiel J Th, Couch, Fergus J, Olson, Janet E, Hallberg, Emily, Vachon, Celine, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Rudolph, Anja, Seibold, Petra, Flesch-Janys, Dieter, Peto, Julian, Dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel, Gibson, Lorna, Nevanlinna, Heli, Muranen, Taru A, Aittomäki, Kristiina, Blomqvist, Carl, Hall, Per, Li, Jingmei, Liu, Jianjun, Humphreys, Keith, Kang, Daehee, Choi, Ji-Yeob, Park, Sue K, Noh, Dong-Young, Matsuo, Keitaro, Ito, Hidemi, Iwata, Hiroji, Yatabe, Yasushi, Guénel, Pascal, Truong, Thérèse, Menegaux, Florence, Sanchez, Marie, Burwinkel, Barbara, Marme, Frederik, Schneeweiss, Andreas, Sohn, Christof, Wu, Anna H, Tseng, Chiu-Chen, Van Den Berg, David, Stram, Daniel O, Benitez, Javier, Pilar Zamora, M, Perez, Jose Ignacio Arias, Menéndez, Primitiva, Shu, Xiao-Ou, Lu, Wei, Gao, Yu-Tang, Cai, Qiuyin, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Reed, Malcolm WR, Andrulis, Irene L, Knight, Julia A, Glendon, Gord, Tchatchou, Sandrine, Sawyer, Elinor J, Tomlinson, Ian, Kerin, Michael J, Miller, Nicola, Haiman, Christopher A, Henderson, Brian E, Schumacher, Fredrick, Le Marchand, Loic, Lindblom, Annika, Margolin, Sara, and Teo, Soo Hwang
Abstract: This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5999.
Published: 2018

49. Correction: Publisher Correction: Evidence that breast cancer risk at the 2q35 locus is mediated through IGFBP5 regulation

Author: Ghoussaini, Maya, Edwards, Stacey L, Michailidou, Kyriaki, Nord, Silje, Cowper-Sal·lari, Richard, Desai, Kinjal, Kar, Siddhartha, Hillman, Kristine M, Kaufmann, Susanne, Glubb, Dylan M, Beesley, Jonathan, Dennis, Joe, Bolla, Manjeet K, Wang, Qin, Dicks, Ed, Guo, Qi, Schmidt, Marjanka K, Shah, Mitul, Luben, Robert, Brown, Judith, Czene, Kamila, Darabi, Hatef, Eriksson, Mikael, Klevebring, Daniel, Bojesen, Stig E, Nordestgaard, Børge G, Nielsen, Sune F, Flyger, Henrik, Lambrechts, Diether, Thienpont, Bernard, Neven, Patrick, Wildiers, Hans, Broeks, Annegien, Van’t Veer, Laura J, Rutgers, Emiel J Th, Couch, Fergus J, Olson, Janet E, Hallberg, Emily, Vachon, Celine, Chang-Claude, Jenny, Rudolph, Anja, Seibold, Petra, Flesch-Janys, Dieter, Peto, Julian, dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel, Gibson, Lorna, Nevanlinna, Heli, Muranen, Taru A, Aittomäki, Kristiina, Blomqvist, Carl, Hall, Per, Li, Jingmei, Liu, Jianjun, Humphreys, Keith, Kang, Daehee, Choi, Ji-Yeob, Park, Sue K, Noh, Dong-Young, Matsuo, Keitaro, Ito, Hidemi, Iwata, Hiroji, Yatabe, Yasushi, Guénel, Pascal, Truong, Thérèse, Menegaux, Florence, Sanchez, Marie, Burwinkel, Barbara, Marme, Frederik, Schneeweiss, Andreas, Sohn, Christof, Wu, Anna H, Tseng, Chiu-chen, Van Den Berg, David, Stram, Daniel O, Benitez, Javier, Pilar Zamora, M, Perez, Jose Ignacio Arias, Menéndez, Primitiva, Shu, Xiao-Ou, Lu, Wei, Gao, Yu-Tang, Cai, Qiuyin, Cox, Angela, Cross, Simon S, Reed, Malcolm WR, Andrulis, Irene L, Knight, Julia A, Glendon, Gord, Tchatchou, Sandrine, Sawyer, Elinor J, Tomlinson, Ian, Kerin, Michael J, Miller, Nicola, Haiman, Christopher A, Henderson, Brian E, Schumacher, Fredrick, Le Marchand, Loic, Lindblom, Annika, Margolin, Sara, and Teo, Soo Hwang
Subjects: Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Oncology and Carcinogenesis, Breast Cancer, Cancer
Abstract: This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5999.
Published: 2018

50. Perspectives on divine action : reflections on the theological legitimacy of approaches to divine action in the V.O./C.T.N.S. series 'Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action'

Author: Cross, Simon, Wilkinson, David, and McGrath, Alister
Subjects: 230, Doctrine
Abstract: This thesis critically appraises the theological legitimacy of theories of divine action (TDAs) posited by four principal contributors to the VO/CTNS series "Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action." Wesley Wildman is chosen for his staunch apophaticism; Robert Russell because of his appeal to objective and noninterventionist divine action and his ontology of quantum indeterminism; John Polkinghorne because of his reliance on kenotic theology to underpin free-process theodicy and his ontology of chaotic systems; and William Stoeger for his interpretation of primary/secondary cause. This engagement broadly matches what Philip Clayton, in the series' final volume, labels an "evangelical-theist or orthodoxtheist" (e-t/o-t) theological perspective. This is a perspective Clayton argues the project otherwise lacks. The thesis proposes that, from this (e-t/o-t) perspective, each of these individuals' contributions to the series proves theologically difficult in some degree. It argues that Wildman's apophatic rejection of Revelation and personal analogy and his reliance on the anthropology of the Modern Secular Interpretation of Humanity (MSIH) is too stark and, ultimately, too anthropocentric. Russell's theory of noninterventionist objective special divine action (NIODA) is theologically difficult in the context of creatio ex nihilo, because it rests on the problematic distinction between 'general' and 'special' divine action (GDA/SDA), and a problematic ontology of quantum indeterminism. John Polkinghorne might be expected to provide the kind of theological perspective Clayton says is absent, but aspects of his approach rest on a theologically problematic interpretation of kenosis and a 'free-process' analogy that entails a developmentalist and process-theological metaphysical interpretation of evil. This thesis determines that conflicts at the heart of the VO/CTNS series' debate revolve around two primary tensions. The first tension concerns the scope of 'methodological-naturalism'. The second tension concerns the philosophical nature of 'cause'. Mapping the linguistic, historical, philosophical, and sociological background influences that impact all theological perspectives in the VO/CTNS series at an intentionally broad scale provides the deep context needed to establish not only 'how?' but also 'why?' these tensions culminated in the series' marginalisation of the traditional (e-t/o-t) perspective on divine action. The thesis therefore concludes that Clayton is correct to assert that the (e-t/o-t) theological perspective is missing from the VO/CTNS series. The thesis also concludes, however, that when these tensions are adequately contextualised, that marginalisation proves philosophically unnecessary as well as theologically undesirable and that Clayton's own demand for theological 'traction' through scientific constraint is too metaphysically restrictive. Methodological-naturalism prohibits, at least in practice, a 'theology of nature', permitting only a 'natural theology' in some key respects. This much broader background context also allows us to recognise the influences of what Charles Taylor calls "cross pressures" that have driven secularisation. These tensions clash conspicuously in the "problem of evil" which cannot be bracketed off from the task of theological reflection on the series. Contextualising these tensions in relation to both 'evil' and the VO/CTNS series' methodological ambitions, highlights the significance of sociological as well as rational influences on individual choices of theological perspective. The meaning of 'cause' and the scope of methodological-naturalism together form a philosophical and theological locus for the series. Closer investigation of this locus reveals that Russell's and Polkinghorne's contributions to the VO/CTNS series suggest a univocal interpretation of 'cause' and 'freedom' that departs from both the "two languages" perspective of Stoeger's Catholicism and Protestant neo-Orthodoxy. This, raises the important question whether some perspectives in the series represent what, by Nancey Murphy's criteria, represents an ipso facto change of theological tradition. A change that marks an important distinction between Russell's and Polkinghorne's perspective on divine action and the (e-t/o-t) theological perspective that Polkinghorne, especially, might be thought by some to have represented. Having demonstrated that Clayton is, in fact, correct to argue that the (e-t/o-t) theological perspective is indeed missing in the VO/CTNS series, the thesis seeks a more overtly theological perspective on divine action by engaging positively with Vernon White. In view of the various demands for any theologically adequate (e-t/o-t) TDA; now more fully clarified in the broad perspective provided by earlier chapters; it finds White's TDA of universal special divine action (USDA) theologically credible and convincing. That is because White's perspective embodies the three elements that this thesis concludes are vital for any adequate theological perspective on divine action: the need to mind three kinds of gap; the ontological gap between immanent creation and the transcendent Creator; the immanent gap between methodologicalnatural 'data' and the full gamut of human experience; and, finally, the gaps that exist, as Rowan Williams so evocatively phrases things, at "the edge of words". Discussion of divine action demands a careful accounting of the way we use language. Neither univocal nor equivocal speech can disclose divine action "well". What is required instead, is careful and painstaking attention to the work we are asking words to perform in representing divine action truthfully. Attention to the meaning of words like 'model', 'cause', 'methodological-natural', and 'freedom'. The thesis concludes that, with these three elements in place and correctly aligned, the strengths and weaknesses of the VO/CTNS series come more clearly into view and that, far from signalling a "crisis" for contemporary theology, this broader context shows the route to a credible TDA from the (e-t/o-t) perspective, if navigated with proper methodological care, remains navigable for anyone wishing, still, to travel that way. Chapter Outline Since we cannot map what cannot be recognised or represented, chapter 1 queries the role of language per se for representing, truthfully, Divinity and transcendence. Tensions prove to be inherent to the way we use words, and their capacity to intimate transcendence is illustrated by juxtaposing Rowan Williams' exploration of "the edge of words" with Nicholas Saunders bleak assessment that the VO/CTNS signifies a "crisis" for contemporary theology. This chapter suggests why Saunders may have been driven to such a bold, if negative, viewpoint, concluding that, however unavoidably provisional and partial language remains, it is metaphysically possible to ground the claim that speech about God can be truthful. It then tentatively explores how best to frame that speech, investigating the role of certain tropes and a tension that resides in the semantic fluidity of "critical-realism". This flexibility means that the apparently univocal use of the word 'model' may mask differing epistemologies of the word for the scientist and the theologian. The ambiguity in the relationship between model and metaphor is then employed to evaluate the role that "causal joint" plays in framing the science-theology debate over divine action.
Published: 2017

Catalog

Books, media, physical & digital resources

See catalog results

Searchworks

Select search scope, currently: Articles Catalog books, media & more in Jio Institute collections Articles journal articles & other e-resources

Search

Search Constraints

Refine your results

Search Limiters

Topic

Publication Year Range

Language

Publication Type

Journal

Region

Database

Publisher

1,895 results on '"Cross, Simon"'

Search Results

Catalog

Select search scope, currently: Articles

Catalog

books, media & more in Jio Institute collections

Articles

journal articles & other e-resources