I am trying to study in a meta-analyses technique the association between some SNPs for a TCF7L2 gene and diabetes in two ethnicities namely Arabs and Caucasians, and in my criteria i have chosen to have at least 4 published paper to be able to statistically measure the combinability and comparability of the data.
After searching for some good papers that match the criteria, i found four good papers for Caucasians each of them explores the association between TCF7L2 and Diabetes in four different populations (French, Polish, German, Finnish ). Whereas for Arabs, i was not able to find those four studies, instead i found one study that studies this association in four different Arabs population (Moroccan, Tunisian, Saudi, Emirati).
My question is, can i compare this one paper (for Arabs) with the four papers (Caucasian). What came to my mind is to deal with each population in the Arabs' paper as a separated paper or study. Is it valid at all doing this?
Hello Fareed, Welcome to Biostar! In order for the members of the forum to help you, you should define your problem better. Here are a few tips for writing better questions. 1) Describe what you are doing. For people to help you, they must have a good understanding of what you are trying to accomplish. 2) Describe what you have tried so far, so that you don't get answers that tell you to do stuff you have already done. 3) Ask a specific question, avoid asking everything at the same time. 4) In order to get informative answers, you must write informative and well formated questions. Cheers!
when studying genetic variables on several samples one must have in mind that some of those variables are affected by sample origin or population. allele frequencies, for instance, do have a great dependency on populations, and for that reason the populations of the studied samples have to be determined in advance, in order to deal with possible admixture or stratification present among the samples which may alter the values you obtain.
I don't exactly know what you mean with "studying a gene" (maybe if you clarify this point you may obtain more precise help from this forum), but if for instance you are looking for variations on that gene on several samples from 3 different populations and you want to associate those variations to a risk factor for a particular disease (an association study) you will definitely need to consider the population origin. you may process all the samples in a single study, but you will have to use software like Structure to determine the internal populations underlying those samples (in case you are not sure of them) or split your results by the samples' origins.
Thanks very much for your help. I am trying to study in a meta-analyses technique the association between some SNPs for a TCF7L2 gene and diabetes in two ethnicities namely Arabs and Caucasians, and in my criteria i have chosen to have at least 4 published paper to be able to statistically measure the combinability and comparability of the data.
After searching for some good papers that match the criteria, i found four good papers for Caucasians each of them explores the association between TCF7L2 and Diabetes in four different populations (French, Polish, German, Finnish ). Whereas for Arabs, i was not able to find those four studies, instead i found one study that studies this association in four different Arabs population (Moroccan, Tunisian, Saudi, Emirati).
My question is, can i compare this one paper (for Arabs) with the four papers (Caucasian). What came to my mind is to deal with each population in the Arabs' paper as a separated paper or study. Is it valid at all doing this?
Hello Fareed, Welcome to Biostar! In order for the members of the forum to help you, you should define your problem better. Here are a few tips for writing better questions. 1) Describe what you are doing. For people to help you, they must have a good understanding of what you are trying to accomplish. 2) Describe what you have tried so far, so that you don't get answers that tell you to do stuff you have already done. 3) Ask a specific question, avoid asking everything at the same time. 4) In order to get informative answers, you must write informative and well formated questions. Cheers!