0000000000343150
AUTHOR
Bert Brunekreef
Mechanisms of the Development of Allergy (MeDALL) : Introducing novel concepts in allergy phenotypes
Asthma, rhinitis, and eczema are complex diseases with multiple genetic and environmental factors interlinked through IgE-associated and non–IgE-associated mechanisms. Mechanisms of the Development of ALLergy (MeDALL; EU FP7-CP-IP; project no: 261357; 2010-2015) studied the complex links of allergic diseases at the clinical and mechanistic levels by linking epidemiologic, clinical, and mechanistic research, including in vivo and in vitro models. MeDALL integrated 14 European birth cohorts, including 44,010 participants and 160 cohort follow-ups between pregnancy and age 20 years. Thirteen thousand children were prospectively followed after puberty by using a newly standardized MeDALL Core Q…
DNA methylation in childhood asthma
Background: DNA methylation profiles associated with childhood asthma might provide novel insights into disease pathogenesis. We did an epigenome-wide association study to assess methylation profiles associated with childhood asthma. Methods: We did a large-scale epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) within the Mechanisms of the Development of ALLergy (MeDALL) project. We examined epigenome-wide methylation using Illumina Infinium Human Methylation450 BeadChips (450K) in whole blood in 207 children with asthma and 610 controls at age 4–5 years, and 185 children with asthma and 546 controls at age 8 years using a cross-sectional case-control design. After identification of differentially m…
Air Pollution During Pregnancy and Childhood Cognitive and Psychomotor Development: Six European Birth Cohorts
Background: Accumulating evidence from laboratory animal and human studies suggests that air pollution exposure during pregnancy affects cognitive and psychomotor development in childhood. Methods: We analyzed data from 6 European population-based birth cohorts-GENERATI ON R (The Netherlands), DUISBURG (Germany), EDEN (France), GASPII (Italy), RHEA (Greece), and INMA (Spain)-that recruited mother-infant pairs from 1997 to 2008. Air pollution levels-nitrogen oxides (NO2, NOx) in all regions and particulate matter (PM) with diameters of <2.5, <10, and 2.5-10 mu m (PM2.5, PM10, and PMcoarse, respectively) and PM2.5 absorbance in a subgroup-at birth addresses were estimated by land-use regressi…
Paving the way of systems biology and precision medicine in allergic diseases: the Me DALL success story
MeDALL (Mechanisms of the Development of ALLergy; EU FP7-CP-IP; Project No: 261357; 2010-2015) has proposed an innovative approach to develop early indicators for the prediction, diagnosis, prevention and targets for therapy. MeDALL has linked epidemiological, clinical and basic research using a stepwise, large-scale and integrative approach: MeDALL data of precisely phenotyped children followed in 14 birth cohorts spread across Europe were combined with systems biology (omics, IgE measurement using microarrays) and environmental data. Multimorbidity in the same child is more common than expected by chance alone, suggesting that these diseases share causal mechanisms irrespective of IgE sen…
Air pollution exposure during pregnancy and childhood autistic traits in four European population-based cohort studies: The ESCAPE Project
Background: Prenatal exposure to air pollutants has been suggested as a possible etiologic factor for the occurrence of autism spectrum disorder. Objectives: We aimed to assess whether prenatal air pollution exposure is associated with childhood autistic traits in the general population. Methods: Ours was a collaborative study of four European population-based birth/child cohorts—CATSS (Sweden), Generation R (the Netherlands), GASPII (Italy), and INMA (Spain). Nitrogen oxides (NO2, NOx) and particulate matter (PM) with diameters of ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5), ≤ 10 μm (PM10), and between 2.5 and 10 μm (PMcoarse), and PM2.5 absorbance were estimated for birth addresses by land-use regression models bas…
Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks in 188 countries, 1990-2013
Summary Background The Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor study 2013 (GBD 2013) is the first of a series of annual updates of the GBD. Risk factor quantification, particularly of modifiable risk factors, can help to identify emerging threats to population health and opportunities for prevention. The GBD 2013 provides a timely opportunity to update the comparative risk assessment with new data for exposure, relative risks, and evidence on the appropriate counterfactual risk distribution. Methods Attributable deaths, years of life lost, years lived with disability, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) have been estimated for 79 risks or clusters of risks using the GBD 2…