Publications

Commun Med (Lond). 2026 Mar 3. doi: 10.1038/s43856-026-01482-0. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: The urbanization of African populations adopting Westernized lifestyles might be connected to changes in microbial exposure and immune system activity that are harmful to health and increase the risk of non-communicable diseases, such as immune-mediated diseases.

J Nutr. 2026 Feb 28:101456. doi: 10.1016/j.tjnut.2026.101456. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LCPUFA) have anti-inflammatory effects that may influence immune-mediated diseases. OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether higher maternal pregnancy intake of n-3 LCPUFA is associated with a lower infection incidence in young children. METHODS:…

Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2026 Feb 25:S2451-9022(26)00048-0. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2026.02.004. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Maternal mental health during pregnancy has been linked to early neurodevelopment, but the unique contributions of maternal and paternal psychosocial risk and protective factors to neonatal brain structure remain unclear. This study examined associations…

J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2026 Feb 20:S0091-6749(26)00093-X. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2026.02.012. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Food allergies (FA) arise from a complex interplay between an individual’s genetic predisposition and environmental factors and their prevalence is increasing. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to date have been hindered by small sample sizes and…

Sci Total Environ. 2026 Feb 19;1020:181552. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2026.181552. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: Whether early-life exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) associates with adult cognitive function is unknown. We examined the association of childhood serum POPs levels with cognitive function in midlife. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study…

Epigenomics. 2026 Feb 17:1-11. doi: 10.1080/17501911.2026.2630841. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT AIM: Tobacco smoking induces persistent DNA methylation (DNAm) changes in blood that can serve as long-term biomarkers for smoking exposure. We aimed to develop and validate a DNAm classifier of smoking status using Illumina EPIC array data. METHODS: We…

Int J Cardiol. 2026 Feb 2:134216. doi: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2026.134216. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage correlates with cardiovascular disease risk. However, its relationship with subclinical atherosclerosis from childhood to midlife is not well-defined. We examined whether cumulative neighbourhood disadvantage is associated with carotid artery plaques, a measure of…

Compr Psychoneuroendocrinol. 2025 Nov 4;24:100325. doi: 10.1016/j.cpnec.2025.100325. eCollection 2025 Nov. ABSTRACT OBJECTIVES: Retirement is a significant life event involving removal of work stress and changes in other psychological factors. These changes may induce physiological responses in the body, such as changes in levels of the stress hormone cortisol, but no…

Elife. 2026 Feb 2;12:RP89068. doi: 10.7554/eLife.89068. ABSTRACT Polymorphisms in genes in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II region comprise the most important inherited risk factors for many autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes (T1D) and celiac disease (CD): both diseases are positively associated with the HLA-DR3 haplotype (DRB1*03:01-DQA1*05:01-DQB1*02:01). Studies…

Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2026 Jan 9;78:101672. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2026.101672. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Early executive function (EF) development is crucial for later cognitive and socioemotional outcomes, yet the role of environmental unpredictability, particularly in patterns of maternal sensory signals, remains underexplored. In this longitudinal study, we investigated the associations between…