University of Iceland

About: University of Iceland is a education organization based out in Reykjavik, Suðurnes, Iceland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Genome-wide association study. The organization has 5423 authors who have published 16199 publications receiving 694762 citations. The organization is also known as: Háskóli Íslands.

Variants with large effects on blood lipids and the role of cholesterol and triglycerides in coronary disease

Abstract: Sequence variants affecting blood lipids and coronary artery disease (CAD) may enhance understanding of the atherogenicity of lipid fractions. Using a large resource of whole-genome sequence data, we examined rare and low-frequency variants for association with non-HDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides in up to 119,146 Icelanders. We discovered 13 variants with large effects (within ANGPTL3, APOB, ABCA1, NR1H3, APOA1, LIPC, CETP, LDLR, and APOC1) and replicated 14 variants. Five variants within PCSK9, APOA1, ANGPTL4, and LDLR associate with CAD (33,090 cases and 236,254 controls). We used genetic risk scores for the lipid fractions to examine their causal relationship with CAD. The non-HDL cholesterol genetic risk score associates most strongly with CAD (P = 2.7 × 10(-28)), and no other genetic risk score associates with CAD after accounting for non-HDL cholesterol. The genetic risk score for non-HDL cholesterol confers CAD risk beyond that of LDL cholesterol (P = 5.5 × 10(-8)), suggesting that targeting atherogenic remnant cholesterol may reduce cardiovascular risk.

Genome-wide association study identifies a sequence variant within the DAB2IP gene conferring susceptibility to abdominal aortic aneurysm

Abstract: We performed a genome-wide association study on 1,292 individuals with abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) and 30,503 controls from Iceland and The Netherlands, with a follow-up of top markers in up to 3,267 individuals with AAAs and 7,451 controls. The A allele of rs7025486 on 9q33 was found to associate with AAA, with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.21 and P = 4.6 x 10(-10). In tests for association with other vascular diseases, we found that rs7025486[A] is associated with early onset myocardial infarction (OR = 1.18, P = 3.1 x 10(-5)), peripheral arterial disease (OR = 1.14, P = 3.9 x 10(-5)) and pulmonary embolism (OR = 1.20, P = 0.00030), but not with intracranial aneurysm or ischemic stroke. No association was observed between rs7025486[A] and common risk factors for arterial and venous diseases-that is, smoking, lipid levels, obesity, type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Rs7025486 is located within DAB2IP, which encodes an inhibitor of cell growth and survival.

Impact of surfactant properties on oxidative stability of beta-carotene encapsulated within solid lipid nanoparticles.

Abstract: The impact of surfactant type on the physical and chemical stability of solid lipid nanoparticle (SLN) suspensions containing encapsulated beta-carotene was investigated. Oil-in-water emulsions were formed by homogenizing 10% w/w lipid phase (1 mg/g beta-carotene in carrier lipid) and 90% w/w aqueous phase (surfactant + cosurfactant) at pH 7 and 75 degrees C and then cooling to 20 degrees C. The impact of surfactant type was investigated using aqueous phases containing different water-soluble surfactants [2.4% w/w high-melting (HM) lecithin, 2.4% w/w low-melting (LM) lecithin, and 1.4% w/w Tween 60 or 1.4% w/w Tween 80] and a cosurfactant (0.6% taurodeoxycholate). The impact of the physical state of the carrier lipid was investigated by using either a high melting point lipid (tripalmitin) to form solid particles or a low melting point lipid (medium chain triglycerides, MCT) to form liquid droplets. A higher fraction of alpha-crystals was detected in solid particles prepared with high-melting surfactants (HM-lecithin and Tween 60) than with low-melting surfactants (LM-lecithin and Tween 80). With the exception of the HM-lecithin-coated solid particles, the suspensions were stable to particle aggregation during 21 days of storage. beta-Carotene degradation after 21 days of storage was 11, 97, 100, and 91% in the solid particles (tripalmitin) and 16, 21, 95, and 90% in the liquid droplets (MCT) for HM-lecithin, LM-lecithin, Tween 80, and Tween 60, respectively. These results suggest that beta-carotene may be stabilized by (1) LM- or HM-lecithin when liquid carrier lipids are used and (2) HM-lecithin when solid carrier lipids are used. The origin of this latter effect is attributed to the impact of the surfactant tails on the generation of a crystal structure better suited to maintain the chemical stability of the encapsulated bioactive.