Browsing by Author "Muñoz, César"

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    Gallbladder Cancer Risk and Indigenous South American Mapuche Ancestry: Instrumental Variable Analysis Using Ancestry-Informative Markers
    (2023) Zollner, Linda; Boekstegers, Felix; Barahona Ponce, Carol; Scherer, Dominique; Marcelain, Katherine; Gárate-Calderón, Valentina; Waldenberger, Melanie; Morales Mejías, Erik; Rojas, Armando; Muñoz, César; Retamales, Javier; Toro, Gonzalo De; Vera Kortmann, Allan; Barajas, Olga; Rivera, María Teresa; Cortés, Analía; Loader, Denisse; Saavedra, Javiera; Gutiérrez, Lorena; Ortega, Alejandro; Bertrán, María Enriqueta; Bartolotti, Leonardo; Gabler, Fernando; Campos, Mónica; Alvarado, Juan; Moisán, Fabricio; Spencer, María Loreto; Nervi Nattero, Bruno; Carvajal-Hausdorf, Daniel; Losada, Héctor; Almau, Mauricio; Fernández, Plinio; Olloquequi, Jordi; Carter, Alice R.; Miquel P., Juan Francisco; Bustos, Bernabé I.; Fuentes Guajardo, Macarena; Gonzalez-Jose, Rolando; Bortolini, Maria Cátira; Acuña-Alonzo, Victor; Gallo, Carla; Ruiz Linares, Andrés; Rothhammer, Francisco; Bermejo, Justo Lorenzo
    A strong association between the proportion of indigenous South American Mapuche ancestry and the risk of gallbladder cancer (GBC) has been reported in observational studies. Chileans show the highest incidence of GBC worldwide, and the Mapuche are the largest indigenous people in Chile. We set out to assess the confounding-free effect of the individual proportion of Mapuche ancestry on GBC risk and to investigate the mediating effects of gallstone disease and body mass index (BMI) on this association. Genetic markers of Mapuche ancestry were selected based on the informativeness for assignment measure, and then used as instrumental variables in two-sample Mendelian randomization analyses and complementary sensitivity analyses. Results suggested a putatively causal effect of Mapuche ancestry on GBC risk (inverse variance-weighted (IVW) risk increase of 0.8% per 1% increase in Mapuche ancestry proportion, 95% CI 0.4% to 1.2%, p = 6.7 × 10−5) and also on gallstone disease (3.6% IVW risk increase, 95% CI 3.1% to 4.0%), pointing to a mediating effect of gallstones on the association between Mapuche ancestry and GBC. In contrast, the proportion of Mapuche ancestry showed a negative effect on BMI (IVW estimate −0.006 kg/m2, 95% CI −0.009 to −0.003). The results presented here may have significant implications for GBC prevention and are important for future admixture mapping studies. Given that the association between the individual proportion of Mapuche ancestry and GBC risk previously noted in observational studies appears to be free of confounding, primary and secondary prevention strategies that consider genetic ancestry could be particularly efficient.
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    The CHIMERA Survey: The first CO detection in Leo T, the lowest mass known galaxy still hosting cold molecular gas
    (2025) Villanueva, Vicente; Blaña Díaz, Matías; Bolatto, Alberto D.; Rubio, Mónica; Tarantino, Elizabeth; Herrera Camus, Rodrigo Ignacio; Burkert, Andreas; Vaz, Daniel; Read, Justin I.; Galaz Lladser, Gaspar; Muñoz, César; Calderón Espinoza, Diego Nicolas; Behrendt, Manuel; Carballo Bello, Julio A.; Gray, Emily; Fellhauer, Michael
    We report the first CO detection in Leo T, representing the most extreme observation of carbon monoxide molecules in the lowest stellar mass gas-rich dwarf galaxy (M⋆ ∼ 105 M⊙) known to date. We acquired and present new Atacama Compact Array (ACA) 12CO(J = 1–0) data within our CHIMERA Survey project for the central region of Leo T, a metal-poor ([M/H] ∼ ‑1.7) dwarf in the Milky Way (MW) outskirts. We identified three compact molecular clouds (< 13 pc) with estimated upper limit virial masses of Mmol ∼ 5 × 103 M⊙ each and a total of 1.4 ± 0.4 × 104 M⊙, corresponding to ∼3% of the total gas mass. We obtained CO-to-H2 conversion factors (αCO) as high as ∼ 155 M⊙(K km s‑1 pc2)‑1 and mean molecular gas surface densities of Σmol ∼ 9 M⊙ pc‑2 that are consistent with values found in dwarf galaxies with extremely low metal content. All CO clouds are shifted (∼60 pc) from the stellar population centers, and only one cloud appears within the densest HI region. Two clouds have velocity offsets with the HI of Δvlos ∼ + 13 km s‑1 being within twice the velocity dispersion (Δvlos/σHI, los ∼ 2) and probably bound. However, the northern cloud is faster (Δvlos ∼ + 57 km s‑1); our models with low halo masses (Mh ≲ 109 M⊙) result in unbound orbits, suggesting that this material is likely being expelled from the dwarf, providing evidence for molecular gas depletion. These properties reveal a perturbed dynamics intertwined with star formation processes in low-mass dwarf galaxies, supporting a scenario of episodic bursts until they are fully quenched by the MW environment....