A variety of platforms exist for RNA-Seq, including Illumina Solexa, Roche 454, Life Technology SOLID, and others. Identification of host genetic factors resistance to APEC is of great significance for poultry breeding and production. With use of Illumina deep sequencing of APECchallenged birds, this study aims to investigate the genetic architecture of the spleen transcriptome, and to discover genes/ transcripts and genetic markers for resistance to APEC infection in the chicken. Therefore, improved risk stratification is needed. Established risk factors for coronary heart disease predispose to SCD, including: advanced age, male sex, elevated blood pressure or serum cholesterol, reduced pulmonary vital capacity, lack of physical activity, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, high body mass index, diabetes, rapid heart rate, and electrocardiographic abnormalities. In addition to the well established clinical risk factors, a family history of SCD confers additional risk but the genetic variants underlying the inherited risk component of SCD are largely unknown. Rare mutations in potassium and sodium channel genes cause long QT syndrome, marked by delayed ventricular repolarization and increased risk of ventricular tachycardia and SCD. CT99021 common variants in these LQTS genes are associated with electrocardiographic QT prolongation, which has been associated with SCD in the general population. QT-interval prolongation predisposes the myocardium to early afterdepolarizations, which may trigger ventricular arrhythmias, ventricular fibrillation, and ultimately SCD. Since QT interval is highly heritable, it may provide an intermediate, continuous trait suitable for exploring the genetics of SCD. Other potential candidate variants to influence SCD risk include common variants associated with electrocardiographic PR interval, prolongation of which has been shown to be associated with all-cause mortality, and common variants associated with nonfatal arrhythmia such as atrial fibrillation, which has been reported to predispose to SCD after acute myocardial infarction. The present study investigated the role of common genetic variants with recently reported associations with arrhythmiarelated phenotypes, including atrial fibrillation, QT interval and PR interval, as potential modifiers of SCD risk. We have previously reported a study focused principally on the genetic components of QT interval. The previous study analyzed 14 QT-interval-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms in 6,808 individuals from Health 2000, experiencing only 116 SCD events. The current study examined 28 SNPs in a total of 28,323 individuals, experiencing 716 SCD events, and identified two novel SNPs associated with increased risk of SCD. In addition, an analysis of cardiovascular risk factors associated with SCD was carried out in four population cohorts including a total of 27,629 individuals. We studied the association of 28 common candidate SNPs with SCD in four large population-based cohorts and two forensic autopsy studies, altogether comprising 716 SCD cases among 28,323 individuals, and performed a meta-analysis combining the results of individual studies. Two SNPs were significantly associated with risk of SCD after correction for multiple testing: rs41312391 in the SCN5A sodium channel gene and rs2200733 in 4q25, which has been associated with atrial fibrillation. In addition, this study replicates the association of rs2383207 in 9p21 with SCD. Previously reported associations of SCD risk with male gender, higher systolic blood pressure, prevalent diabetes, current and former cigarette smoking, leisure-time physical activity, prevalent CHD, and Eastern Finnish residency were replicated.