RESUMO
Many plant pathogenic fungi have a global distribution across diverse ecological zones and agricultural production systems. Puccinia triticina, the wheat leaf rust fungus, is a major pathogen in many wheat production areas of the world. The objective of this research was to determine the genetic relatedness of P. triticina in different worldwide regions. A total of 831 single-uredinial isolates collected from 11 regions were characterized for multilocus genotype at 23 simple sequence repeat loci and for virulence to 20 lines of wheat with single genes for leaf rust resistance. A total of 424 multilocus genotypes and 497 virulence phenotypes were found. All populations had high heterozygosity and significant correlation between virulence and molecular variation, which indicated clonal reproduction. The populations from North America and South America, Central Asia and Russia, and the Middle East and Europe were closely related for multilocus genotypes and many individual isolates from other continental regions were closely related. Twenty-seven multilocus genotypes were found in more than one continental region, and 13 of these had isolates with identical virulence phenotypes. The wide geographic distribution of identical and highly related multilocus genotypes of P. triticina indicated past and more recent migration events facilitated by the spread of clonally produced urediniospores.
Assuntos
Doenças das Plantas , Triticum , Ásia Central , Europa (Continente) , Genótipo , Oriente Médio , América do Norte , Doenças das Plantas/microbiologia , Federação Russa , América do Sul , Triticum/microbiologiaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: The emergence of resistance to anti-tuberculosis (DR-TB) drugs and the HIV epidemic represent a serious threat for reducing the global burden of TB. Although data on HIV-negative DR-TB treatment outcomes are well published, few data on DR-TB outcomes among HIV co-infected people is available despite the great public health importance. METHODS: We retrospectively reported and compared the DR-TB treatment outcomes of HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients treated with an individualized regimen based on WHO guidelines in seven countries: Abkhazia, Armenia, Colombia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Swaziland and Uzbekistan. RESULTS: Of the 1,369 patients started DRTB treatment, 809 (59.1%) were multi-drug resistant (MDR-TB) and 418 (30.5%) were HIV-positive. HIV-positive patients were mainly from African countries (90.1%) while HIV-negative originated from Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries. Despite a higher case fatality rate (19.0% vs 9.4%), HIV-positive MDR-TB patients had a 10% higher success rate than HIV-negative patients (64.0% vs 53.2%, p = 0.007). No difference in treatment success was found among polydrug-resistant (PDR-TB) patients. Overall, lost to follow-up rate was much higher among HIV-negative (22.0% vs. 8.4%). Older age and not receiving ART were the only factors associated with unfavorable treatment outcome among HIV-positive patients. CONCLUSIONS: As already known for HIV-negative patients, success rate of DR-TB HIV-positive patients remains low and requires more effective DR-TB regimen using new drugs also suitable to HIV-infected patients on ART. The study also confirms the need of ART introduction in HIV co-infected patients.
Assuntos
Antituberculosos/uso terapêutico , Coinfecção/tratamento farmacológico , Infecções por HIV/complicações , Infecções por HIV/tratamento farmacológico , Tuberculose Resistente a Múltiplos Medicamentos/complicações , Tuberculose Resistente a Múltiplos Medicamentos/tratamento farmacológico , Adulto , África/epidemiologia , Ásia Central/epidemiologia , Coinfecção/epidemiologia , Colômbia/epidemiologia , Feminino , Seguimentos , Infecções por HIV/epidemiologia , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Estudos Retrospectivos , Fatores de Risco , Análise de Sobrevida , Transcaucásia/epidemiologia , Resultado do Tratamento , Tuberculose Resistente a Múltiplos Medicamentos/epidemiologiaRESUMO
Collections of Puccinia triticina, the wheat leaf rust pathogen, were obtained from Pakistan in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014. Collections were also obtained from Bhutan in 2013. Single uredinial isolates were derived and tested for virulence phenotype to 20 lines of Thatcher wheat that differ for single leaf rust resistance genes, and for molecular genotype with 23 simple-sequence repeat (SSR) primers. Twenty-four virulence phenotypes were described among the 89 isolates tested for virulence. None of the isolates had virulence to Thatcher lines with Lr9, Lr24, or Lr18. Virulence to most of the other Thatcher lines was over 50%. The two most common virulence phenotypes, FHPSQ and KHPQQ, had virulence to Lr16, Lr17, and Lr26. Twenty-seven SSR genotypes were found among the 38 isolates tested for molecular variation. The SSR genotypes had high levels of observed heterozygosity and significant correlation with virulence phenotype, which indicated clonal reproduction. Cluster analysis and principal component plots indicated three groups of SSR genotypes that also varied significantly for virulence. Isolates with MBDSS and MCDSS virulence phenotypes from Pakistan and Bhutan were highly related for SSR genotype and virulence to isolates from Turkey, Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, North America and South America, indicating the possible migration of the rust fungus between continental regions.
Assuntos
Basidiomycota/genética , Doenças das Plantas/microbiologia , Triticum/microbiologia , Ásia Central , Basidiomycota/isolamento & purificação , Basidiomycota/patogenicidade , Europa (Continente) , Genótipo , Repetições de Microssatélites/genética , Oriente Médio , América do Norte , Paquistão , Fenótipo , Folhas de Planta/microbiologia , América do Sul , VirulênciaRESUMO
Antibiotic resistance genes are biologically transmitted from microorganism to microorganism in particular micro-environments where dense microbial communities are often exposed to an intensive use of antibiotics, such as intestinal microflora, and the soil microflora of agricultural fields. However, recent studies have detected antibiotic-resistant bacteria and/or antibiotic resistance genes in the natural environment geographically isolated from such areas. Here we sought to examine the prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes in 54 snow and ice samples collected from the Arctic, Antarctic, Central Asia, North and South America and Africa, to evaluate the level of these genes in environments supposedly not affected by anthropogenic factors. We observed a widespread distribution of antibiotic resistance genes in samples from various glaciers in Central Asia, North and South America, Greenland and Africa. In contrast, Antarctic glaciers were virtually free from these genes. Antibiotic resistance genes, of both clinical (i.e. aac(3), blaIMP) and agricultural (i.e. strA and tetW) origin, were detected. Our results show regional geographical distribution of antibiotic resistance genes, with the most plausible modes of transmission through airborne bacteria and migrating birds.
Assuntos
Bactérias/genética , Bactérias/isolamento & purificação , Resistência Microbiana a Medicamentos/genética , Genes Bacterianos , Camada de Gelo/microbiologia , África , Regiões Antárticas , Ásia Central , Meio Ambiente , Groenlândia , Testes de Sensibilidade Microbiana , América do Norte , Microbiologia do Solo , América do SulRESUMO
Leishmaniasis due to Leishmania infantum (syn. L. chagasi) infection is a zoonotic disease present mainly in Mediterranean basin, central Asia and Brazil. Besides a limited number of human cases of clinical visceral leishmaniasis, a great number of infections remains asymptomatic. In this review, the prevalence of asymptomatic carriers of L. infantum was evaluated worldwide using parasitological methods or indirect testing such as a skin test or serology. The consequences of the presence of asymptomatic carriers on parasite transmission by blood donation or the development of clinical visceral leishmaniasis in immunocompromised individuals and its possible role as reservoir are discussed.
Assuntos
Infecções Assintomáticas/epidemiologia , Portador Sadio/epidemiologia , Leishmania infantum/isolamento & purificação , Leishmaniose Visceral/epidemiologia , Ásia Central/epidemiologia , Brasil/epidemiologia , Portador Sadio/transmissão , Reservatórios de Doenças , Humanos , Leishmaniose Visceral/transmissão , Região do Mediterrâneo/epidemiologia , PrevalênciaRESUMO
Using isotopic screens, phylogenetic assessments, and 45 years of physiological data, it is now possible to identify most of the evolutionary lineages expressing the C(4) photosynthetic pathway. Here, 62 recognizable lineages of C(4) photosynthesis are listed. Thirty-six lineages (60%) occur in the eudicots. Monocots account for 26 lineages, with a minimum of 18 lineages being present in the grass family and six in the sedge family. Species exhibiting the C(3)-C(4) intermediate type of photosynthesis correspond to 21 lineages. Of these, 9 are not immediately associated with any C(4) lineage, indicating that they did not share common C(3)-C(4) ancestors with C(4) species and are instead an independent line. The geographic centre of origin for 47 of the lineages could be estimated. These centres tend to cluster in areas corresponding to what are now arid to semi-arid regions of southwestern North America, south-central South America, central Asia, northeastern and southern Africa, and inland Australia. With 62 independent lineages, C(4) photosynthesis has to be considered one of the most convergent of the complex evolutionary phenomena on planet Earth, and is thus an outstanding system to study the mechanisms of evolutionary adaptation.
Assuntos
Magnoliopsida/classificação , Magnoliopsida/genética , Fotossíntese/genética , África Oriental , África Austral , Ásia Central , Austrália , Evolução Biológica , Dióxido de Carbono/metabolismo , Respiração Celular , Isótopos/análise , Magnoliopsida/fisiologia , América do Norte , Filogenia , América do SulRESUMO
Paleoneurosurgery represents a comparatively new developing direction of neurosurgery dealing with archaeological skull and spine finds and studying their neurosurgical aspects. Artificial skull deformation, as a bone artifact, naturally has been one of the main paleoneurosurgical research topics. Traditionally, the relevant neurosurgical literature has analyzed in detail the intentional skull deformations in South America's tribes. However, little is known about the artificial skull deformations of the Proto-Bulgarians, and what information exists is mostly due to anthropological studies. The Proto-Bulgarians originated from Central Asia, and distributed their skull deformation ritual on the Balkan Peninsula by their migration and domination. Proto-Bulgarian artificial skull deformation was an erect or oblique form of the anular type, and was achieved by 1 or 2 pressure bandages that were tightened around a newborn's head for a sufficiently long period. The intentional skull deformation in Proto-Bulgarians was not associated with neurological deficits and/or mental retardation. No indirect signs of chronic elevated intracranial pressure were found on the 3D CT reconstruction of the artificially deformed skulls.
Assuntos
Modificação Corporal não Terapêutica/história , Neurocirurgia , Plagiocefalia/história , Crânio/patologia , Arqueologia , Ásia Central/etnologia , Bulgária/etnologia , Emigração e Imigração/história , História Antiga , História Medieval , Humanos , Imageamento Tridimensional , Paleopatologia/história , Crânio/diagnóstico por imagem , América do Sul , Tomografia por Raios XRESUMO
This article examines the work of the German-Peruvian physician Max Kuczynski/Máxime Kuczynski-Godard (Berlin 1890-Lima 1967) in rural areas of Central Asia (1924-26) and Peru (1938-48). The main focus of the text is on the scientific approach behind the specific interest of this pathologist in disease and health issues among native populations. Kuczynski's theoretical considerations are analyzed in the context of the wide controversies within the German medical community around a "crisis in medicine" when he was professor at Berlin University during the interwar years. Accordingly, his determination to leave the laboratory and to shift research and healthcare practice closer to rural populations proves to be the expression of profound epistemological and ethical considerations.
Assuntos
Antropologia/história , Patologia/história , Grupos Populacionais/história , População Rural/história , Ásia Central , Alemanha , História do Século XX , Humanos , Literatura Moderna/história , Peru , Universidades/históriaRESUMO
This paper discusses the user side of harm reduction, focusing to some extent on the early responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in each of four sets of localities-New York City, Rotterdam, Buenos Aires, and sites in Central Asia. Using available qualitative and quantitative information, we present a series of vignettes about user activities in four different localities in behalf of reducing drug-related harm. Some of these activities have been micro-social (small group) activities; others have been conducted by formal organizations of users that the users organized at their own initiative. In spite of the limitations of the methodology, the data suggest that users' activities have helped limit HIV spread. These activities are shaped by broader social contexts, such as the extent to which drug scenes are integrated with broader social networks and the way the political and economic systems impinge on drug users' lives. Drug users are active agents in their own individual and collective behalf, and in helping to protect wider communities. Harm reduction activities and research should take note of and draw upon both the micro-social and formal organizations of users. Finally, both researchers and policy makers should help develop ways to enable and support both micro-social and formally organized action by users.
Assuntos
Infecções por HIV/prevenção & controle , Redução do Dano , Participação do Paciente , Grupos de Autoajuda/organização & administração , Abuso de Substâncias por Via Intravenosa/prevenção & controle , Síndrome da Imunodeficiência Adquirida/epidemiologia , Síndrome da Imunodeficiência Adquirida/prevenção & controle , Síndrome da Imunodeficiência Adquirida/transmissão , Argentina/epidemiologia , Ásia Central/epidemiologia , Características Culturais , Surtos de Doenças , Estrutura de Grupo , Infecções por HIV/epidemiologia , Infecções por HIV/transmissão , Humanos , Programas de Troca de Agulhas , Países Baixos/epidemiologia , Cidade de Nova Iorque/epidemiologia , Apoio Social , Fatores Socioeconômicos , Abuso de Substâncias por Via Intravenosa/psicologiaAssuntos
Neoplasias do Colo do Útero/mortalidade , África Oriental/epidemiologia , Ásia Central/epidemiologia , Sudeste Asiático/epidemiologia , América Central/epidemiologia , Europa (Continente)/epidemiologia , Ásia Oriental/epidemiologia , Feminino , Saúde Global , Humanos , América do Norte/epidemiologia , América do Sul/epidemiologiaRESUMO
A total of 616 chromosomes from control individuals of all major continental groups, and six individuals affected by either Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) or fatal familial insomnia (FFI), were typed with a new single-reaction protocol method and were also sequenced, with total reproducibility to screen variation at important positions (385A>G: M129V and 655G>A: E219K) in the human prion protein gene (PRNP). We have found, for the first time, that 129V allele is highly represented in some populations from the Americas, and that 129M and 129V are in similar frequencies in Africa. The 129M susceptibility allele was found at high frequencies in Old World populations, very high in the Pacific ( approximately 81%) and up to 93% in Central and East Asia, but at a low frequency (approximately 30%) in Native Americans. The protective 219L allele was restricted to Asian and Pacific populations. Susceptibility alleles exhibit marked geographic differences in frequency, and thus, differences in probability to develop prion diseases.
Assuntos
Alelos , Síndrome de Creutzfeldt-Jakob/genética , Genética Populacional/métodos , Insônia Familiar Fatal/genética , Príons/genética , Príons/patogenicidade , África/epidemiologia , África Subsaariana/epidemiologia , Ásia/epidemiologia , Ásia Central/epidemiologia , América Central/epidemiologia , Códon/genética , Síndrome de Creutzfeldt-Jakob/epidemiologia , Europa (Continente)/epidemiologia , Predisposição Genética para Doença/epidemiologia , Predisposição Genética para Doença/genética , Humanos , Insônia Familiar Fatal/epidemiologia , América do Norte/epidemiologia , Ilhas do Pacífico/epidemiologia , América do Sul/epidemiologiaRESUMO
The familiarity with the ancient disease anthrax from the second millennium B.C. through the second millennium A.D. is reviewed, providing the backdrop to the modern understanding of this disease as covered in the remainder of the volume. By means of an overview of the aetiology, ecology, epidemiology, clinical manifestations, pathology and bacteriology of the naturally acquired disease, this opening chapter also lays down the groundwork for the subsequent state-of-the-art chapters.
Assuntos
Antraz , Bacillus anthracis , África Subsaariana/epidemiologia , Animais , Antraz/diagnóstico , Antraz/epidemiologia , Antraz/transmissão , Antraz/veterinária , Ásia Central/epidemiologia , Sudeste Asiático/epidemiologia , China/epidemiologia , Transmissão de Doença Infecciosa , Ecologia , Doenças Endêmicas/veterinária , Haiti/epidemiologia , Humanos , Insetos Vetores , Doenças Profissionais/diagnóstico , Doenças Profissionais/microbiologia , ZoonosesRESUMO
Different molecular-genetic methods were used to identify a cohort of Leishmania strains from natural foci of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis located in Central Asia, on the former USSR territory. The results obtained using isoenzymes, PCR, restriction fragment length polymorphisms of kDNA and molecular hybridization techniques are discussed in terms of their applicability, discrimination power and feasibility for answering questions related to molecular epidemiological research and for detecting mixed Leishmania infections.
Assuntos
Leishmania major/isolamento & purificação , Leishmaniose Cutânea/parasitologia , Animais , Ásia Central , Leishmania major/genética , Leishmaniose Cutânea/epidemiologia , Biologia Molecular/métodos , Phlebotomus/parasitologia , Zoonoses/epidemiologia , Zoonoses/parasitologiaRESUMO
Data from published sources and unpublished surveys in the U.K. show that average alcohol consumption is lower in Afro-Caribbean men and women than in native British men and women. The proportion of heavy drinkers is also low in Afro-Caribbeans. Consistent with these consumption data, hospital admission rates for alcohol-related problems are lower in Afro-Caribbeans than in the general population. Among South Asians (Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis) average alcohol consumption is lower than in the native British population but alcohol-related morbidity rates for some South Asian communities are higher than for the general population. The reasons for these high morbidity rates are not clear. Consumption is higher in Sikhs than in Hindus or Muslims, and heavy spirit drinking appears to be especially common among Sikh men. Alcohol-related psychiatric admission rates for South Asians have risen since 1971, and appear to be especially high in Sikh men. The high alcohol-related morbidity rates in this group are a priority for further research and efforts at prevention.
Assuntos
Consumo de Bebidas Alcoólicas/epidemiologia , Alcoolismo/epidemiologia , Negro ou Afro-Americano/estatística & dados numéricos , Comparação Transcultural , Etnicidade/estatística & dados numéricos , Negro ou Afro-Americano/psicologia , Consumo de Bebidas Alcoólicas/psicologia , Alcoolismo/psicologia , Ásia Central/etnologia , População Negra , Etnicidade/psicologia , Humanos , Reino Unido , Índias Ocidentais/etnologiaRESUMO
Infestations with helminths of non-European travellers--results of stool examinations 1973-1981 in the region of Leipzig (GDR). In the years 1973-1981 6,530 foreigners from 98 non-European nations were examined helminthologically by means of 15,288 koproovoscopic samples of stool. Altogether 52% of the examined persons were found to be infected with helminths. 15 species or groups of species were found. 38% of the examined persons were infested with Trichuris trichiura, 21% with "Ancylostomatidae" and 17% with Ascaris lumbricoides. Travellers from South and Southeast Asia showed the highest rate of infestation--93% on average (Vietnamese: 98%). The smallest rate of infestation (12%) was found with persons from Central and East Asia (Mongolians: 0.4%). Multiinfestations were frequent (Laos 67.4%, Vietnam 65.3% of the examined persons).