HostSeq: a Canadian whole genome sequencing and clinical data resource.

HostSeq was launched in April 2020 as a national initiative to integrate whole genome sequencing data from 10,000 Canadians infected with SARS-CoV-2 with clinical information related to their disease experience. The mandate of HostSeq is to support the Canadian and international research communities in their efforts to understand the risk factors for disease and associated health outcomes and support the development of interventions such as vaccines and therapeutics. HostSeq is a collaboration among 13 independent epidemiological studies of SARS-CoV-2 across five provinces in Canada. Aggregated data collected by HostSeq are made available to the public through two data portals: a phenotype portal showing summaries of major variables and their distributions, and a variant search portal enabling queries in a genomic region. Individual-level data is available to the global research community for health research through a Data Access Agreement and Data Access Compliance Office approval. Here we provide an overview of the collective project design along with summary level information for HostSeq. We highlight several statistical considerations for researchers using the HostSeq platform regarding data aggregation, sampling mechanism, covariate adjustment, and X chromosome analysis. In addition to serving as a rich data source, the diversity of study designs, sample sizes, and research objectives among the participating studies provides unique opportunities for the research community.

The Impact of Government Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic and Brexit on the UK Financial Market: A Behavioural Perspective

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the Governor of the Bank of England, while granting an interview, described the pandemic as an unprecedented economic emergency and said that the Bank could go as far as radical money-printing operations. In reaction, the UK financial market, particularly the FTSE 100 and pound sterling, witnessed record-breaking losses. Considering this evidence, we hypothesized that the emotions and moods of investors towards the financial market might have been impacted by the information they obtained from frequent government policy announcements. Furthermore, we proposed that the United Kingdom's final exit from the European Union (Brexit), which coincided with the pandemic, could have worsened the outlook of the UK financial market, as investors began to diversify their portfolios. Consequently, we examined the impact of government's policy announcements on investors' reactions to the concurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit. Our findings reveal that the psychology of investors during the pandemic was significantly shaped by frequent policy announcements, which in turn affected overall market behaviour.

Characterisation of liver USS findings in pre-school children with cystic fibrosis

Objectives: European consensus guidelines recommend annual screening for cystic fibrosis-related liver disease (CFLD) with annual clinical, biochemical and ultrasound (USS) evaluation. Abdominal USS is initiated from age 5 in many centres across the UK;however, it has been our practice to initiate from age 2. In this study we aim to determine the incidence of liver abnormalities in young children as recent reduced access to radiological services due to the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted us to re-evaluate our practice. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated abdominal USS reports of consecutive children aged 2–5 years with confirmed diagnosis of CF attending the NI regional CF centre between 2012 and 2020, along with relevant demographic and clinical data and liver function tests. All data was retrieved from the Northern Ireland Electronic Care record (NIECR). Results: Seventy 2–5-year-olds underwent a total of 199 scans between 2012 and 2020. In 2-year-olds, 43% of scans detected an abnormality, increasing to 70% in 5-year-olds, RR 1.61, 95% CI 1.03, 2.65, p = 0.03. 107 (53.4%) scans had one or more abnormality reported. Increased echogenicity of liver and/or pancreas was the most common abnormality identified in 72 of 107 scans (67.2%);hepatomegaly in 46 (42.9%);coarse heterogeneous echotexture in 24 (22.4%);increased periportal echogenicity in 6 (5.6%) and other incidental findings in 10 (9.3%) of scans, including cholelithiasis, splenic cyst, renal scarring, renal stones, and micro gallbladder. Conclusion: Abnormalities are present in over half of abdominal ultrasound scans in 2–5-year-olds. Increased echogenicity, liver enlargement and coarsened echotexture are indicative of hepatic steatosis, which has unclear significance in this age group. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine the role of early USS in detection of liver disease, and whether any particular abnormalities may identify those at risk of development of severe CFLD.