Evidence-based guidance for the reporting of gene-disease association studies will greatly facilitate the synthesis of evidence and the investigation of potential biases. This approach is modeled on development of the CONSORT guidance for reporting clinical trials, which has been effective.

This workshop, held in Ottawa, Canada, June 15-16, 2006, utilized the experience of the Human Genome Epidemiology Network (HuGENet™) and the work conducted by the Working Group on STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE, http://www.strobe-statement.org/index.html) to develop evidence-based guidelines to promote the clear reporting of genetic association studies. A group of around thirty epidemiologists, geneticists, statisticians and journal editors participated in the workshop. An initial set of guidelines was agreed and will be refined over the coming months by workshop participants and the broader community of researchers, journal editors and stakeholders interested in developing evidence-based policy. Later this year, these draft guidelines will be posted on the Canadian HuGENet Co-ordinating Centre website (http://www.hugenet.ca) , and comments solicited.

• Learn more about the STREGA Conference
• Read about other HuGE Workshops

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

The Public Library of Science (PLoS, www.plos.org) is a nonprofit organization committed to making the world's scientific & medical literature a freely available public resource. Later this year, PLoS will launch PLoS ONE, a new concept in open access publishing. 

PLoS ONE will employ peer review to identify papers that are rigorously and technically sound 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. See www.plosone.org for more information. 

For a recent comment on the value of online scientific communities, see: 
Leveraging the Knowledge of Our Peers: Online Communities Hold the Promise to Enhance Scientific Research (last accessed 2/2008) from Thomas Sharpton and Arpan Jhaveri, recently published in PLoS Biology.
 

Genetic epidemiological studies of preterm birth: Guidelines for research
Pennell C, et al.
Am Jour Obstet Gyn 2006 June

• View all HuGENet™ Publications and learn how to submit a paper for the HuGENet™ website

A new HuGE Review was proposed in June:
The association between HLA-DRB1 and SLE in the mainland in China—a mini Meta-analysis
Zhenglun Pan  (Shandong provincial hospital, China)

• 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.

As of July 1, 2006, the HuGENet™ website contains 22,042 research studies indexed in the HuGE Published Literature database, referencing 2,404 genes, 803 factors (personal or environmental), and 2,651 health outcomes/diseases.  Both epidemiologic studies and review articles can be found in the database which includes 287 meta-analyses and 94 pooled 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.

Provides link to non-governmental sites and does not necessarily represent the views of the  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.