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The objective of this study was to evaluate the antifungal effects of Zataria multiflora (ZEO) and Cinnamomum zeylanicum (CEO) essential oils in the vapor phase against Aspergillus flavus and Penicillium citrinum in vitro and cheese. The antifungal activities of the vapors of ZEO and CEO were assessed by determining the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) index, and inhibition zone diameters. Thymol (51.10%) and cinnamaldehyde (77.82%) were the main constituents of ZEO and CEO, respectively. The MIC values of the vapors of ZEO and CEO against A. flavus were 25 and 12.5 μL/L and against P. citrinum were 800 and 400 μL/L, respectively. The in vitro results showed that the combination of the vapor phases of ZEO and CEO could synergistically inhibit the growth of A. flavus (FIC index = 0.75). In the cheese, the growth of P. citrinum was entirely inhibited by the combination of ZEO and CEO vapors, even at very low concentrations (1/16 MIC). In conclusion, the vapor phases of ZEO and CEO showed the potential to be applied as effective natural antifungals and alternatives to synthetic preservatives in cheese., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Food Science & Nutrition published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Higher milk intake has been associated with a lower stroke risk, but not with risk of CHD. Residual confounding or reverse causation cannot be excluded. Therefore, we estimated the causal association of milk consumption with stroke and CHD risk through instrumental variable (IV) and gene-outcome analyses. IV analysis included 29 328 participants (4611 stroke; 9828 CHD) of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-CVD (eight European countries) and European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Netherlands (EPIC-NL) case-cohort studies. rs4988235, a lactase persistence (LP) SNP which enables digestion of lactose in adulthood was used as genetic instrument. Intake of milk was first regressed on rs4988235 in a linear regression model. Next, associations of genetically predicted milk consumption with stroke and CHD were estimated using Prentice-weighted Cox regression. Gene-outcome analysis included 777 024 participants (50 804 cases) from MEGASTROKE (including EPIC-CVD), UK Biobank and EPIC-NL for stroke, and 483 966 participants (61 612 cases) from CARDIoGRAM, UK Biobank, EPIC-CVD and EPIC-NL for CHD. In IV analyses, each additional LP allele was associated with a higher intake of milk in EPIC-CVD ( β = 13·7 g/d; 95 % CI 8·4, 19·1) and EPIC-NL (36·8 g/d; 95 % CI 20·0, 53·5). Genetically predicted milk intake was not associated with stroke (HR per 25 g/d 1·05; 95 % CI 0·94, 1·16) or CHD (1·02; 95 % CI 0·96, 1·08). In gene-outcome analyses, there was no association of rs4988235 with risk of stroke (OR 1·02; 95 % CI 0·99, 1·05) or CHD (OR 0·99; 95 % CI 0·95, 1·03). Current Mendelian randomisation analysis does not provide evidence for a causal inverse relationship between milk consumption and stroke or CHD risk.

Background: Tobacco exposure causes 8 of 10 lung cancers, and identifying additional risk factors is challenging due to confounding introduced by smoking in traditional observational studies., Materials and Methods: We used Mendelian randomization (MR) to screen 207 metabolites for their role in lung cancer predisposition using independent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of blood metabolite levels (n = 7,824) and lung cancer risk (n = 29,266 cases/56,450 controls). A nested case-control study (656 cases and 1,296 matched controls) was subsequently performed using prediagnostic blood samples to validate MR association with lung cancer incidence data from population-based cohorts (EPIC and NSHDS)., Results: An MR-based scan of 207 circulating metabolites for lung cancer risk identified that blood isovalerylcarnitine (IVC) was associated with a decreased odds of lung cancer after accounting for multiple testing (log10-OR = 0.43; 95% CI, 0.29-0.63). Molar measurement of IVC in prediagnostic blood found similar results (log10-OR = 0.39; 95% CI, 0.21-0.72). Results were consistent across lung cancer subtypes., Conclusions: Independent lines of evidence support an inverse association of elevated circulating IVC with lung cancer risk through a novel methodologic approach that integrates genetic and traditional epidemiology to efficiently identify novel cancer biomarkers., Impact: Our results find compelling evidence in favor of a protective role for a circulating metabolite, IVC, in lung cancer etiology. From the treatment of a Mendelian disease, isovaleric acidemia, we know that circulating IVC is modifiable through a restricted protein diet or glycine and L-carnatine supplementation. IVC may represent a modifiable and inversely associated biomarker for lung cancer., (©2022 The Authors; Published by the American Association for Cancer Research.)

Background: Accelerated reproductive aging, in women indicated by early natural menopause, is associated with increased coronary heart disease (CHD) risk in observational studies. Conversely, an adverse CHD risk profile has been suggested to accelerate menopause., Objectives: To study the direction and evidence for causality of the relationship between reproductive aging and (non-)fatal CHD and CHD risk factors in a bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) approach, using age at natural menopause (ANM) genetic variants as a measure for genetically determined reproductive aging in women. We also studied the association of these variants with CHD risk (factors) in men., Design: Two-sample MR, using both cohort data as well as summary statistics, with 4 methods: simple and weighted median-based, standard inverse-variance weighted (IVW) regression, and MR-Egger regression., Participants: Data from EPIC-CVD and summary statistics from UK Biobank and publicly available genome-wide association studies were pooled for the different analyses., Main Outcome Measures: CHD, CHD risk factors, and ANM., Results: Across different methods of MR, no association was found between genetically determined reproductive aging and CHD risk in women (relative risk estimateIVW = 0.99; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.97-1.01), or any of the CHD risk factors. Similarly, no associations were found in men. Neither did the reversed analyses show evidence for an association between CHD (risk factors) and reproductive aging., Conclusion: Genetically determined reproductive aging is not causally associated with CHD risk (factors) in women, nor were the genetic variants associated in men. We found no evidence for a reverse association in a combined sample of women and men., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Endocrine Society.)

Objective: To investigate the association of estimated all-day and evening whole-brain radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) doses with sleep disturbances and objective sleep measures in preadolescents., Methods: We included preadolescents aged 9-12 years from two population-based birth cohorts, the Dutch Generation R Study (n = 974) and the Spanish INfancia y Medio Ambiente Project (n = 868). All-day and evening overall whole-brain RF-EMF doses (mJ/kg/day) were estimated for several RF-EMF sources including mobile and Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) phone calls (named phone calls), other mobile phone uses, tablet use, laptop use (named screen activities), and far-field sources. We also estimated all-day and evening whole-brain RF-EMF doses in these three groups separately (i.e. phone calls, screen activities, and far-field). The Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children was completed by mothers to assess sleep disturbances. Wrist accelerometers together with sleep diaries were used to measure sleep characteristics objectively for 7 consecutive days., Results: All-day whole-brain RF-EMF doses were not associated with self-reported sleep disturbances and objective sleep measures. Regarding evening doses, preadolescents with high evening whole-brain RF-EMF dose from phone calls had a shorter total sleep time compared to preadolescents with zero evening whole-brain RF-EMF dose from phone calls [-11.9 min (95%CI -21.2; -2.5)]., Conclusions: Our findings suggest the evening as a potentially relevant window of RF-EMF exposure for sleep. However, we cannot exclude that observed associations are due to the activities or reasons motivating the phone calls rather than the RF-EMF exposure itself or due to chance finding., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background There is controversy about associations between total dietary fatty acids, their classes (saturated fatty acids [SFAs], monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids), and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Specifically, the relevance of food sources of SFAs to CHD associations is uncertain. Methods and Results We conducted a case-cohort study involving 10 529 incident CHD cases and a random subcohort of 16 730 adults selected from a cohort of 385 747 participants in 9 countries of the EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) study. We estimated multivariable adjusted country-specific hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs per 5% of energy intake from dietary fatty acids, with and without isocaloric macronutrient substitutions, using Prentice-weighted Cox regression models and pooled results using random-effects meta-analysis. We found no evidence for associations of the consumption of total or fatty acid classes with CHD, regardless of macronutrient substitutions. In analyses considering food sources, CHD incidence was lower per 1% higher energy intake of SFAs from yogurt (HR, 0.93 [95% CI, 0.88-0.99]), cheese (HR, 0.98 [95% CI, 0.96-1.00]), and fish (HR, 0.87 [95% CI, 0.75-1.00]), but higher for SFAs from red meat (HR, 1.07 [95% CI, 1.02-1.12]) and butter (HR, 1.02 [95% CI, 1.00-1.04]). Conclusions This observational study found no strong associations of total fatty acids, SFAs, monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, with incident CHD. By contrast, we found associations of SFAs with CHD in opposite directions dependent on the food source. These findings should be further confirmed, but support public health recommendations to consider food sources alongside the macronutrients they contain, and suggest the importance of the overall food matrix.

Objective: An understanding of the etiologic heterogeneity of colorectal cancer (CRC) is critical for improving precision prevention, including individualized screening recommendations and the discovery of novel drug targets and repurposable drug candidates for chemoprevention. Known differences in molecular characteristics and environmental risk factors among tumors arising in different locations of the colorectum suggest partly distinct mechanisms of carcinogenesis. The extent to which the contribution of inherited genetic risk factors for CRC differs by anatomical subsite of the primary tumor has not been examined., Design: To identify new anatomical subsite-specific risk loci, we performed genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analyses including data of 48 214 CRC cases and 64 159 controls of European ancestry. We characterised effect heterogeneity at CRC risk loci using multinomial modelling., Results: We identified 13 loci that reached genome-wide significance (p<5×10 -8 ) and that were not reported by previous GWASs for overall CRC risk. Multiple lines of evidence support candidate genes at several of these loci. We detected substantial heterogeneity between anatomical subsites. Just over half (61) of 109 known and new risk variants showed no evidence for heterogeneity. In contrast, 22 variants showed association with distal CRC (including rectal cancer), but no evidence for association or an attenuated association with proximal CRC. For two loci, there was strong evidence for effects confined to proximal colon cancer., Conclusion: Genetic architectures of proximal and distal CRC are partly distinct. Studies of risk factors and mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and precision prevention strategies should take into consideration the anatomical subsite of the tumour., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objective: The first and second rounds of the Basque programme for organised colorectal cancer screening were implemented between 2009 and 2014. Our objective was to measure the changes in incidence, tumour, node, metastasis staging distribution and tumour, node, metastasis-adjusted survival of patients with colorectal cancer from 2003 to 2014., Method: Colorectal cancer cases with screening (patients <70 years old) and without screening (patients ≥70 years old) were compared during three four-year periods: 2003-2006, 2007-2010 and 2011-2014 (fully implemented phase). Cox regression, five-year relative survival and cancer probability of death were calculated for each four-year period, age group and tumour, node, metastasis stage. Adjusted incidence rates were analysed by joinpoint regression., Results: In an analysis of 23,301 cases of colorectal cancer, the incidence in patients younger than 70 years in 2013 showed a 17% annual decrease. The survival hazard ratios for stages I, II and III for 2003-2006 and 2007-2010 were compared to those for 2011-2014. From the first to the third period, diagnosis in the early stages (I and II) rose from 45.1% to 50.9% in the younger patient group and remained stable in the older group (49.6% and 49.4%). Additionally, the five-year relative survival rate increased significantly from 0.67 to 0.82 in those patients younger than 70 years, whereas in patients 70 years or older the rate did not change significantly (0.61 and 0.65)., Conclusion: The screening reduced incidence and improved survival by anticipating the diagnosis and by reducing mortality for each tumour, node, metastasis stage in the target population. The effect on survival could also be due to lead-time bias.

(1) Background: Both cerebral vascular disorders and cognitive decline increase in incidence with age. The role of cerebral vascular disease and hemodynamic changes in the development of cognitive deficits is controversial. The objective of this study was to assess the cardiovascular response during cardiac stress testing in neurologically asymptomatic individuals who developed cognitive impairment several years after previous cardiac stress testing. (2) Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients who underwent cardiac stress testing between January 2001 and December 2010. Patients were followed up until May 2015, and we selected those who developed cognitive dysfunction including dementia, mild cognitive impairment, and subjective cognitive decline, after the stress test. Heart rate and blood pressure both at rest and at peak exercise, and the mean R-R interval at rest were recorded. For each patient who developed cognitive impairment, we selected one matched control who did not show cognitive decline by the end of the follow-up period. (3) Results: From the cohort of 7224 patients, 371 developed cognitive impairment; of these, 186 (124 men) met the inclusion criteria, and 186 of the other patients were selected as matched controls. During follow-up, cognitive impairment appeared 6.2 ± 4.7 years after the cardiac stress test. These patients who had subsequently developed cognitive impairment had significantly lower at-rest systolic, diastolic, and mean blood pressure than controls ( p < 0.05). Further, compared with controls, their maximum heart rate was significantly higher at peak exercise. (4) Conclusion: The results from this study suggest that differences in cardiovascular response to stress might be present in individuals who develop cognitive decline. These findings challenge the possibility of assessing blood pressure and heart rate variability at rest and during cardiac stress as potential risk factors associated with cognitive impairment.

Background: Epidemiological evidence indicates that diets rich in plant foods are associated with a lower risk of ischaemic heart disease (IHD), but there is sparse information on fruit and vegetable subtypes and sources of dietary fibre. This study examined the associations of major plant foods, their subtypes and dietary fibre with risk of IHD in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)., Methods: We conducted a prospective analysis of 490 311 men and women without a history of myocardial infarction or stroke at recruitment (12.6 years of follow-up, n cases = 8504), in 10 European countries. Dietary intake was assessed using validated questionnaires, calibrated with 24-h recalls. Multivariable Cox regressions were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) of IHD., Results: There was a lower risk of IHD with a higher intake of fruit and vegetables combined [HR per 200 g/day higher intake 0.94, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.90-0.99, P-trend = 0.009], and with total fruits (per 100 g/day 0.97, 0.95-1.00, P-trend = 0.021). There was no evidence for a reduced risk for fruit subtypes, except for bananas. Risk was lower with higher intakes of nuts and seeds (per 10 g/day 0.90, 0.82-0.98, P-trend = 0.020), total fibre (per 10 g/day 0.91, 0.85-0.98, P-trend = 0.015), fruit and vegetable fibre (per 4 g/day 0.95, 0.91-0.99, P-trend = 0.022) and fruit fibre (per 2 g/day 0.97, 0.95-1.00, P-trend = 0.045). No associations were observed between vegetables, vegetables subtypes, legumes, cereals and IHD risk., Conclusions: In this large prospective study, we found some small inverse associations between plant foods and IHD risk, with fruit and vegetables combined being the most strongly inversely associated with risk. Whether these small associations are causal remains unclear., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association.)

Background: The nutritional determinants of stroke and, more specifically, the association of frying with the risk of incident stroke have rarely been studied., Objectives: Our aim was to evaluate prospectively the association between the consumption of fried food and the risk of incident stroke in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study using the Spanish cohort., Methods: Participants included 40,328 healthy adults (62% women) aged 29-69 y at study entry who were enrolled between 1992 and 1996. Participants were followed up until 31 December, 2017, at which time incident stroke (the main outcome) was measured. The main exposure measure was the percentage of energy obtained from fried-food consumption. Sex-specific quintiles were calculated., Results: During a follow-up period of 23.5 y, 975 cases of stroke occurred (750 ischemic, 185 hemorrhagic, and 40 undetermined). Compared with those in the first (lowest) quintile of fried-food consumption, the multivariate HRs (95% CIs) of incident stroke in the consecutive quintiles were 1.05 (0.86, 1.30), 1.11 (0.90, 1.36), 1.05 (0.84, 1.31), and 0.91 (0.72, 1.15; P-trend = 0.45). There were no differences identified when subtypes of stroke were considered., Conclusions: In this Spanish cohort, whose participants mainly used olive oil or sunflower oil when frying, the consumption of fried food was not associated with an increased risk of incident stroke., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society for Nutrition.)

Ferritin status during prenatal brain development may influence the risk of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in childhood. We investigated the association of maternal ferritin in pregnancy and ADHD-like symptoms in offspring. A total of 1095 mother-child pairs from three birth cohorts of the INMA Project (Spain) were studied. Maternal plasma ferritin in pregnancy was measured at 11.57 weeks of gestation. Children's ADHD-like symptoms at ages 4-5 years were assessed using the ADHD Rating Scale-IV. The count model of the zero-inflated Poisson regression model showed a significant inverse association between ferritin (continuous variable) and inattention, β = -0.19 (-0.32, -0.07), for boys. Comparing ferritin level by tertiles, significant differences were observed between the first tertile ([1.98, 20.92]) and the second ([20.92, 38.79]) and third tertiles ([38.79, 216.5]) (mg/L).The number of symptoms was lower for those in the third tertile, β = -0.3 (-0.55, -0.5), and for those in the second one, β = -0.37 (-0.6, -0.14). The model stratification by sex also showed this inverse association for boys only, β = -0.21 (-0.34, -0.08). No associations were found between ferritin level and hyperactivity or total ADHD symptoms. High ferritin levels during pregnancy show a protective association with child inattentive-type ADHD symptoms.

Aim: To investigate the associations between major foods and dietary fibre with subtypes of stroke in a large prospective cohort., Methods and Results: We analysed data on 418 329 men and women from nine European countries, with an average of 12.7 years of follow-up. Diet was assessed using validated country-specific questionnaires which asked about habitual intake over the past year, calibrated using 24-h recalls. Multivariable-adjusted Cox regressions were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke associated with consumption of red and processed meat, poultry, fish, dairy foods, eggs, cereals, fruit and vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds, and dietary fibre. For ischaemic stroke (4281 cases), lower risks were observed with higher consumption of fruit and vegetables combined (HR; 95% CI per 200 g/day higher intake, 0.87; 0.82-0.93, P-trend < 0.001), dietary fibre (per 10 g/day, 0.77; 0.69-0.86, P-trend < 0.001), milk (per 200 g/day, 0.95; 0.91-0.99, P-trend = 0.02), yogurt (per 100 g/day, 0.91; 0.85-0.97, P-trend = 0.004), and cheese (per 30 g/day, 0.88; 0.81-0.97, P-trend = 0.008), while higher risk was observed with higher red meat consumption which attenuated when adjusted for the other statistically significant foods (per 50 g/day, 1.07; 0.96-1.20, P-trend = 0.20). For haemorrhagic stroke (1430 cases), higher risk was associated with higher egg consumption (per 20 g/day, 1.25; 1.09-1.43, P-trend = 0.002)., Conclusion: Risk of ischaemic stroke was inversely associated with consumption of fruit and vegetables, dietary fibre, and dairy foods, while risk of haemorrhagic stroke was positively associated with egg consumption. The apparent differences in the associations highlight the importance of examining ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke subtypes separately., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.)

Background: While Helicobacter pylori ( H. pylori ) is the major cause of gastric cancer, it has also been suggested to be involved in colorectal cancer development. However, prospective studies addressing H. pylori and colorectal cancer are sparse and inconclusive. We assessed the association of antibody responses to H. pylori proteins with colorectal cancer in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort., Methods: We applied H. pylori multiplex serology to measure antibody responses to 13 H. pylori proteins in prediagnostic serum samples from 485 colorectal cancer cases and 485 matched controls nested within the EPIC study. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using multivariable conditional logistic regression to estimate the association of H. pylori overall and protein-specific seropositivity with odds of developing colorectal cancer., Results: Fifty-one percent of colorectal cancer cases were H. pylori seropositive compared with 44% of controls, resulting in an OR of 1.36 (95% CI, 1.00-1.85). Among the 13 individual H. pylori proteins, the association was driven mostly by seropositivity to Helicobacter cysteine-rich protein C (HcpC; OR: 1.66; 95% CI, 1.19-2.30) and Vacuolating cytotoxin A (VacA) (OR: 1.34; 95% CI, 0.99-1.82), the latter being nonstatistically significant only in the fully adjusted model., Conclusions: In this prospective multicenter European study, antibody responses to H. pylori proteins, specifically HcpC and VacA, were associated with an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer., Impact: Biological mechanisms for a potential causal role of H. pylori in colorectal carcinogenesis need to be elucidated, and subsequently whether H. pylori eradication may decrease colorectal cancer incidence., (©2020 American Association for Cancer Research.)

Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a heritable biomarker of genomic aging. In this study, we perform a genome-wide meta-analysis of LTL by pooling densely genotyped and imputed association results across large-scale European-descent studies including up to 78,592 individuals. We identify 49 genomic regions at a false dicovery rate (FDR) < 0.05 threshold and prioritize genes at 31, with five highlighting nucleotide metabolism as an important regulator of LTL. We report six genome-wide significant loci in or near SENP7, MOB1B, CARMIL1, PRRC2A, TERF2, and RFWD3, and our results support recently identified PARP1, POT1, ATM, and MPHOSPH6 loci. Phenome-wide analyses in >350,000 UK Biobank participants suggest that genetically shorter telomere length increases the risk of hypothyroidism and decreases the risk of thyroid cancer, lymphoma, and a range of proliferative conditions. Our results replicate previously reported associations with increased risk of coronary artery disease and lower risk for multiple cancer types. Our findings substantially expand current knowledge on genes that regulate LTL and their impact on human health and disease., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

PET using 18F-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG-PET) has been gradually introduced in the diagnostic clinical criteria of the most prevalent neurodegenerative diseases. Moreover, an increasing amount of literature has shown that the information provided by FDG-PET enhances the sensitivity of standard imaging biomarkers in less frequent disorders in which an early differential diagnosis can be of paramount relevance for patient management and outcome. Therefore emerging uses of FDG-PET may be important in prion diseases, autoimmune encephalitis (AE) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Interestingly, FDG-PET findings can also be observed in the early phases of these conditions, even in the presence of normal magnetic resonance imaging scans. Thalamic hypometabolism is a common finding in sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease and fatal familiar insomnia patients, with further cortical synaptic dysfunction in the former. Limbic and extra-limbic metabolic abnormalities (more often hypermetabolism) can be observed in AE, although specific patterns may be seen within different syndromes associated with antibodies that target neuronal surface or synaptic antigens. FDG-PET shows its usefulness by discriminating patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis associated to upper motor neuron onset that evolve to frontotemporal dementia. Besides visual and voxel based image analysis, multivariate analysis as interregional correlation analysis and independent/principal component analysis have been successfully implemented to PET images increasing the accuracy of the discrimination of neurodegenerative diseases. The clinical presentation and current diagnostic criteria of these neurologic disorders as well as the emerging usefulness of FDG-PET in the diagnostic workup are presented and discussed in this review.

A recent study reported that Basques do not constitute a genetically distinct population, and that Basques from Spanish and French provinces do not show significant genetic similarity. These conclusions disagree with numerous previous studies, and are not consistent with the historical and linguistic evidence that supports the distinctiveness of Basques. In order to further investigate this controversy, we have genotyped 83 Spanish Basque individuals and used these data to infer population structure based on more than 60,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms of several European populations. Here, we present the first high-throughput analysis including Basques from Spanish and French provinces, and show that all Basques constitute a homogeneous group that can be clearly differentiated from other European populations.