Genetic diversity measures of local European beef cattle breeds for conservation purposes.
(25/873)
This study was undertaken to determine the genetic structure, evolutionary relationships, and the genetic diversity among 18 local cattle breeds from Spain, Portugal, and France using 16 microsatellites. Heterozygosities, estimates of Fst, genetic distances, multivariate and diversity analyses, and assignment tests were performed. Heterozygosities ranged from 0.54 in the Pirenaica breed to 0.72 in the Barrosa breed. Seven percent of the total genetic variability can be attributed to differences among breeds (mean F(st) = 0.07; P<0.01). Five different genetic distances were computed and compared with no correlation found to be significantly different from 0 between distances based on the effective size of the population and those which use the size of the alleles. The Weitzman recursive approach and a multivariate analysis were used to measure the contribution of the breeds diversity. The Weitzman approach suggests that the most important breeds to be preserved are those grouped into two clusters: the cluster formed by the Mirandesa and Alistana breeds and that of the Sayaguesa and Tudanca breeds. The hypothetical extinction of one of those clusters represents a 17% loss of diversity. A correspondence analysis not only distinguished four breed groups but also confirmed results of previous studies classifying the important breeds contributing to diversity. In addition, the variation between breeds was sufficiently high so as to allow individuals to be assigned to their breed of origin with a probability of 99% for simulated samples. (+info)
Automated detection of malaria pigment in white blood cells for the diagnosis of malaria in Portugal.
(26/873)
A novel automated method (Cell-Dyn 3500) allows malaria diagnosis by detecting malaria pigment in white blood cells during routine full blood counts. In Portugal, 174 samples from 148 patients who presented to the emergency department were analyzed. Compared with microscopy the sensitivity was 95% and the specificity was 88%. In 5 cases, false-positive Cell-Dyn 3500 results were from patients who had a recent history of treated malaria, indicating that the method may remain positive during convalescence. Six patients were diagnosed due to the changes observed with the automated method only, because clinicians had not requested malaria smears. This instrument appears to provide a promising method for the diagnosis of malaria, especially where automated full blood counts are routine in the work-up of febrile patients. (+info)
MUC1 gene polymorphism in the gastric carcinogenesis pathway.
(27/873)
MUC1 like most mucin genes shows extensive length polymorphism in the central core region. In a previous study it was shown that individuals with small MUC1 alleles/genotypes have an increased risk for development of gastric carcinoma. Our aim was to see if MUC1 gene polymorphism was involved in susceptibility for the development of conditions that precede gastric carcinoma: chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) and intestinal metaplasia (IM). We evaluated MUC1 polymorphism in a population of 174 individuals with chronic gastritis (CG) displaying (CAG) and/or intestinal metaplasia (IM). The population of patients with CG shows MUC1 allele frequencies significantly different from the gastric carcinoma patients and blood donors population. A significantly lower frequency of CAG and IM was observed in MUC1 VNTR heterozygotic patients. Within the group of patients with IM, MUC1 large VNTR homozygotes show a significantly higher frequency of complete IM while small VNTR homozygotes show a significantly higher frequency of incomplete IM. These findings show that MUC1 polymorphism may define different susceptibility backgrounds for the development of conditions that precede gastric carcinoma: chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) and intestinal metaplasia (IM). (+info)
Characterisation of the somatic evolution of Portuguese children with Trisomy 21--preliminary results.
(28/873)
We present preliminary results of a cross-sectional study which had the following objectives: 1--to develop percentile curves of weight, height and head circumference of Portuguese children with Trisomy 21 from 0 to 48 months of age; 2--a comparison of the growth of children with Trisomy 21 with a control population of their siblings, and 3--a comparison between the growth of Portuguese and American children with Trisomy 21 (based on the data of Cronk et al). We conclude that: 1--there is growth delay (weight, height, head circumference) in the Portuguese children with Trisomy 21, in all of the parameters evaluated and in all age groups; 2--Portuguese children with Trisomy 21 present values similar to those obtained by Cronk et al until 24 months of age; 3--from the age of 30 months onward Portuguese children with Trisomy 21 were heavier and taller than American children with Trisomy 21. This supports the usefulness of percentile curves specifically for Portuguese children with Trisomy 21. (+info)
Impact of interpreter services on delivery of health care to limited-English-proficient patients.
(29/873)
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether professional interpreter services increase the delivery of health care to limited-English-proficient patients. DESIGN: Two-year retrospective cohort study during which professional interpreter services for Portuguese and Spanish-speaking patients were instituted between years one and two. Preventive and clinical service information was extracted from computerized medical records. SETTING: A large HMO in New England. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 4,380 adults continuously enrolled in a staff model health maintenance organization for the two years of the study, who either used the comprehensive interpreter services (interpreter service group [ISG]; N = 327) or were randomly selected into a 10% comparison group of all other eligible adults (comparison group [CG]; N = 4,053). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The measures were change in receipt of clinical services and preventive service use. Clinical service use and receipt of preventive services increased in both groups from year one to year two. Clinical service use increased significantly in the ISG compared to the CG for office visits (1.80 vs. 0.70; P <.01), prescriptions written (1.76 vs 0.53; P <.01), and prescriptions filled (2.33 vs. 0.86; P<.01). Rectal examinations increased significantly more in the ISG compared to the CG (0.26 vs. 0.02; P =.05) and disparities in rates of fecal occult blood testing, rectal exams, and flu immunization between Portuguese and Spanish-speaking patients and a comparison group were significantly reduced after the implementation of professional interpreter services. CONCLUSION: Professional interpreter services can increase delivery of health care to limited-English-speaking patients. (+info)
Prevalence and risk factors of clinical diabetic polyneuropathy in a Portuguese primary health care population.
(30/873)
OBJECTIVE: Distal symmetrical polyneuropathy in diabetics (DPN) has a variable prevalence around 30% and increases the risk for foot ulcers and amputations. We aimed at evaluating the prevalence of clinical DPN and associated risk factors in patients followed in primary care centers. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 101 type 2 diabetics were evaluated and 8 were excluded due to the presence of other causes of neuropathy. The remaining 93 had a mean age of 65.4 +/- 10.1 years and a mean diabetes duration of 10.1 +/- 11.1 years, 60.2% were women and 39.8% men. DPN was defined as the presence of both altered sensitivities and reflexes, regardless of symptoms. RESULTS: Seventy-two (80%) patients had symptoms of polyneuropathy, but DPN was present only in 29 (32.2%). Calluses (37.8%) and trophic skin (74.4%) and nail (75.6%) changes were found in both feet. There was a significant positive association of DPN with age (69.0 +/- 9.1 vs 63.3 +/- 9.9 years, p=0.01), disease duration (15.7 +/- 13.5 vs 7.2 +/- 8.8 years, p=0.001), feet skin changes (38.8 vs 13.0%, p=0.04) and myocardial infarction/ischemia (14.8 vs 1.7%, p=0.03). CONCLUSIONS: This sample of diabetic patients cared by family doctors presented a high prevalence of DPN. Aging, disease duration, the presence of feet skin changes and myocardial infarction/ischemia are factors that increase the prevalence of the disease. Primary care doctors awareness of the problem might help to decrease the associated morbidity. (+info)
Multilocus sequence typing of Streptococcus pneumoniae clones with unusual drug resistance patterns: genetic backgrounds and relatedness to other epidemic clones.
(31/873)
Six drug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae clones were previously identified from day care centers in Portugal, primarily on the basis of common pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns. These clones were susceptible to penicillin or had only very low-level resistance to it (most MICs, < or =0.25 microg/mL) and accounted for a large proportion (35%) of all drug-resistant pneumococci colonizing the nasopharynx of healthy children attending day care. Five of the 6 clones were identified among pneumococcal clinical isolates collected in other countries. In this study, we applied multilocus sequence typing (MLST) to describe the genetic background of these clones. MLST confirmed previous findings obtained by PFGE and allowed for the extension of the international clonal relationships by showing that each of the 6 clones was internationally disseminated and was able to cause pneumococcal disease. (+info)
Stationary distributions of microsatellite loci between divergent population groups of the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus).
(32/873)
Previous analysis of mitochondrial DNA polymorphism in the native range of the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) demonstrated the occurrence of two highly divergent (2 Myr) maternal lineages with a well-defined geographical distribution. Analysis of both protein and immunoglobulin polymorphisms are highly concordant with this pattern of differentiation. However, the present analysis of nine polymorphic microsatellite loci (with a total of 169 alleles) in 24 wild populations reveals severe allele-size homoplasy which vastly underestimates divergence between the main groups of populations in Iberia. Nonetheless, when applied to more recent historical phenomena, this same data set not only confirms the occurrence of a strong bottleneck associated with the colonization of Mediterranean France but also suggests a two-step dispersal scenario that began with gene flow from northern Spain through the Pyrenean barrier and subsequent range expansion into northern France. The strength and appropriateness of applying microsatellites to more recent evolutionary questions is highlighted by the fact that both mtDNA and protein markers lacked the allelic diversity necessary to properly evaluate the colonization of France. The well-documented natural history of European rabbit populations provides an unusually comprehensive framework within which one can appraise the advantages and limitations of microsatellite markers in revealing patterns of genetic differentiation that have occurred across varying degrees of evolutionary time. The degree of size homoplasy presented in our data should serve as a warning to those drawing conclusions from microsatellite data sets which lack a set of complementary comparative markers, or involve long periods of evolutionary history, even within a single species. (+info)