ECNIS (Environmental Cancer Risk, Nutrition and Individual Susceptibility) Network of Excellence is sponsoring a HuGENet Workshop on the assessment of cumulative evidence on genetic associations.  The workshop will be held in Venice, Italy, on November 9-10, coinciding with a meeting of the Italian Society of Human Genetics (November 8-11).

The workshop will focus on methods for developing cumulative evidence on genetic associations and related interactions. For background, see the recent commentary by Ioannidis, et al., published in Nature Genetics (see below).

For further information, please contact:
Sabrina Bertinetti at ISI Torino
E-mail: Contact
Website: http://www.ecnis.org

This November, HuGENet UK will host a short course on how to undertake a HuGE systematic review. For more information, including a list of the faculty and topics to be covered, visit the HuGENet short course web page. Please contact:

Jane Lane
HuGENet UK Coordinating Centre
Public Health Genetics Unit
Strangeways Research Laboratory
Worts Causeway
Cambridge CB1 8RN

Tel: +44 1223 742003
Email: jane.lane@srl.cam.ac.uk

Two new HuGE Reviews have been posted on the HuGENet™ website since the last issue of ‘What's New':

1. Meta- and Pooled Analyses of the Cytochrome P-450 1B1 Val432Leu Polymorphism and Breast Cancer: A HuGE-GSEC Review (161KB)
   Valentina Paracchini, et al., from the International Collaborative study on genetic susceptibility to environmental carcinogens (GSEC)
   (American Journal of Epidemiology, Advance Access)
   
   
2. Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR) Genetic Polymorphisms and Psychiatric Disorders: A HuGE Review (156KB)
   Simon Gilbody, et al., from the University of York, UK
   (American Journal of Epidemiology, Advance Access)

• List of completed HuGE Reviews
• List of HuGE Review topics under development

HuGENet™ released the first edition of the HuGENet™ Handbook of Systematic Reviews  in March 2006. All new HuGE reviews should follow the guidance in this document.

PLoS ONE is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication from the Public Library of Science (PLoS), now calling for reports of primary research from all disciplines within science and medicine.

PLoS ONE employs peer review to identify scientifically rigorous papers without judging their novelty. PLoS ONE creates new potential for HuGE by promoting more complete publication of sound research, including null findings, tools for research synthesis, and a medium for better interdisciplinary communication. For more information, see http://www.plosone.org.

Please help us inform fellow members of any HuGE activities that may be of interest. Let us know about any upcoming research projects or meetings that pertain to the prevalence of gene variants, gene-disease association or similar HuGE topics. Please e-mail your comments to HuGE@cdc.gov. The information you send will be compiled and posted in a future edition of “What’s New?” 

As of November 1, 2006, the HuGENet™ website contains 23,854 research studies indexed in the HuGE Published Literature database, referencing 2,544 genes, 859 factors (personal or environmental), and 2,911 health outcomes/diseases.  Both epidemiologic studies and review articles can be found in the database which includes 54 HuGE Reviews and 402 meta-analyses.  Please see the GDPInfo Summary of Contents for more details.

Note: The count of health outcomes indexed in the database is based on a query that groups similar outcomes according to ICD-9 codes.  This figure is different from the total numbers of records listed in the Genomics and Disease Prevention Information system (GDPInfo) portal Health Topics A-Z.

Search for specific HuGENet™ content using the Advanced Search feature in the GDPInfo query tool.

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