Prevalence of Physician-Reported Food Allergy in Canadian Children.

BACKGROUND: Food allergy prevalence data have largely been derived from self-report, and estimates vary. OBJECTIVE: Determine the prevalence of physician-reported food allergy in children using electronic medical record data from the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPSSN). METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study using the CPCSSN repository, Canada's only primary care practice-based surveillance system. Machine learning algorithms were applied to assess for food allergy documentation. Demographic information, chronic diseases of interest, prescribed medications, and health behaviors from the CPCSSN repository were identified. RESULTS: The prevalence of physician-reported food allergy in Canadian children was 2.53% (95% CI, 2.48%-2.59%). The most common food allergies documented were peanut (0.8% of children), tree nut (0.6%), cow's milk (0.4%), egg (0.3%), fruit (0.2%), finned fish (0.2%), and shellfish (0.2%). Among children with food allergy, only 33.7% had an epinephrine autoinjector prescription. In logistic regression analysis, children with food allergy were more likely to have an atopic comorbidity (odds ratio [OR], 2.20; 95% CI, 2.06-2.35) and less likely to be obese than children without food allergies (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.78-0.90). In the age- and sex-adjusted models, patients with food allergy were significantly more likely to have a psychiatric morbidity, specifically: attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (OR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.66-1.96), autism (OR, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.63-2.19), and depression (OR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.02-1.35). CONCLUSIONS: Our study is the first to estimate national physician-reported prevalence of food allergy, and demonstrates a lower rate than that based on self-report. Further studies into the association of food allergy and psychiatric comorbidities (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, depression) and the association of food allergy and obesity are needed.

Transcriptome, proteome and draft genome of Euglena gracilis.

BACKGROUND: Photosynthetic euglenids are major contributors to fresh water ecosystems. Euglena gracilis in particular has noted metabolic flexibility, reflected by an ability to thrive in a range of harsh environments. E. gracilis has been a popular model organism and of considerable biotechnological interest, but the absence of a gene catalogue has hampered both basic research and translational efforts. RESULTS: We report a detailed transcriptome and partial genome for E. gracilis Z1. The nuclear genome is estimated to be around 500 Mb in size, and the transcriptome encodes over 36,000 proteins and the genome possesses less than 1% coding sequence. Annotation of coding sequences indicates a highly sophisticated endomembrane system, RNA processing mechanisms and nuclear genome contributions from several photosynthetic lineages. Multiple gene families, including likely signal transduction components, have been massively expanded. Alterations in protein abundance are controlled post-transcriptionally between light and dark conditions, surprisingly similar to trypanosomatids. CONCLUSIONS: Our data provide evidence that a range of photosynthetic eukaryotes contributed to the Euglena nuclear genome, evidence in support of the 'shopping bag' hypothesis for plastid acquisition. We also suggest that euglenids possess unique regulatory mechanisms for achieving extreme adaptability, through mechanisms of paralog expansion and gene acquisition.

Evolution of the endomembrane systems of trypanosomatids - conservation and specialisation.

Parasite surfaces support multiple functions required for survival within their hosts, and maintenance and functionality of the surface depends on membrane trafficking. To understand the evolutionary history of trypanosomatid trafficking, where multiple lifestyles and mechanisms of host interactions are known, we examined protein families central to defining intracellular compartments and mediating transport, namely Rabs, SNAREs and RabGAPs, across all available Euglenozoa genomes. Bodonids possess a large trafficking repertoire, which is mainly retained by the Trypanosoma cruzi group, with extensive losses in other lineages, particularly African trypanosomes and phytomonads. There are no large-scale expansions or contractions from an inferred ancestor, excluding direct associations between parasitism or host range. However, we observe stepwise secondary losses within Rab and SNARE cohorts (but not RabGAPs). Major changes are associated with endosomal and late exocytic pathways, consistent with the diversity in surface proteomes between trypanosomatids and mechanisms of interaction with the host. Along with the conserved core family proteins, several lineage-specific members of the Rab (but not SNARE) family were found. Significantly, testing predictions of SNARE complex composition by proteomics confirms generalised retention of function across eukaryotes.