A nutrigenetic approach to investigate the relationship between metabolic traits and vitamin D status in an Asian Indian population

Studies in Asian Indians have examined the association of metabolic traits with vitamin D status. However, findings have been quite inconsistent. Hence, we aimed to explore the relationship between metabolic traits and 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations. We investigate whether this relationship was modified by lifestyle factors using a nutrigenetic approach in 545 Asian Indians randomly selected from the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (219 normal glucose tolerant individuals, 151 with pre-diabetes and 175 individuals with type 2 diabetes). A metabolic genetic risk score (GRS) was developed using five common metabolic disease-related genetic variants. There was a significant interaction between metabolic GRS and carbohydrate intake (energy%) on 25(OH)D (Pinteraction = 0.047). Individuals consuming a low carbohydrate diet (≤62%) and those having lesser number of metabolic risk alleles (GRS ≤ 1) had significantly higher levels of 25(OH)D (p = 0.033). Conversely, individuals consuming a high carbohydrate diet despite having lesser number of risk alleles did not show a significant increase in 25(OH)D (p = 0.662). In summary, our findings show that individuals carrying a smaller number of metabolic risk alleles are likely to have higher 25(OH)D levels if they consume a low carbohydrate diet. These data support the current dietary carbohydrate recommendations of 50%–60% energy suggesting that reduced metabolic genetic risk increases 25(OH)D

A genetic approach to study the relationship between maternal Vitamin D status and newborn anthropometry measurements: the Vitamin D pregnant mother (VDPM) cohort study

Purpose Adverse effects of maternal vitamin D deficiency have been linked to adverse pregnancy outcomes. We investigated the relationship between maternal vitamin D status and newborn anthropometry measurements using a genetic approach and examined the interaction between genetic variations in involved in vitamin D synthesis and metabolism and maternal vitamin D concentrations on newborn anthropometry. Methods The study was conducted in 183 pregnant Indonesian Minangkabau women. Genetic risk scores (GRSs) were created using six vitamin D–related single nucleotide polymorphisms and their association with 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels and newborn anthropometry (183 infants) were investigated. Results There was no significant association between maternal 25(OH)D concentrations and newborn anthropometry measurements (P > 0.05, for all comparisons). After correction for multiple testing using Bonferroni correction, GRS was significantly associated with 25(OH)D in the third trimester (P = 0.004). There was no association between GRS and newborn anthropometric measurements; however, there was an interaction between GRS and 25(OH)D on head circumference (P = 0.030), where mothers of neonates with head circumference < 35 cm had significantly lower 25(OH)D if they carried ≥4 risk alleles compared to those who carried ≤3 risk alleles. Conclusion Our findings demonstrate the impact of vitamin D-related GRS on 25(OH)D and provides evidence for the effect of vitamin D-related GRS on newborn anthropometry through the influence of serum 25(OH)D levels among Indonesian pregnant women. Even though our study is a prospective cohort, before the implementation of vitamin D supplementation programs in Indonesia to prevent adverse pregnancy outcomes, further large studies are required to confirm our findings

Analysis of microbial communities associated with Tilapia Aquaculture in Malawi

Aquaculture is of major and increasing importance to global food security, particularly in Low Income, Food Deficit Countries (LIFDCs), where it also serves as a significant contribution to poverty alleviation. Disease is widely acknowledged as the prominent bottleneck to achieving global food security and poverty alleviation targets relating to aquaculture, with annual losses exceeding >$6bn (Food and Agriculture Organization 2014). Outbreaks of disease caused by endemic and emerging pathogens impact directly on farmer income and their nutritional security. Avoidance of yield-limiting disease outbreaks is a fundamental requirement for future growth and resilience of aquaculture in LIFDCs. Advances in molecular techniques coupled with next-generation sequencing have provided a step-change in understanding the role of host-associated bacteria, archaea, protists and viruses (the microbiome) in host homeostasis. Shifts in microbiome communities under stressful conditions can contribute to disease states. However, the role of microbiomes in the emergence of diseases in aquaculture, where stressors include feeding, antibiotic and disinfectant use and over-stocking, is poorly studied. Here our study presents an evaluation of the microbiomes (bacteria and viruses) associated with tilapia and their pond environments in aquaculture, using 16S rRNA community profiling techniques and viral amplicon sequencing. Samples investigated in this project were collected from Malawi tilapia fish farms; their skin community composition and diversity were examined across geographical scales. The high variability observed of the microbial communities in small geographic regions, showed that future sampling to detect shifts due to dysbiosis will require time-resolved sampling of ponds under study. Nanopore sequencing of full length 16S rRNA genes, using MinION, allowed us to examine the microbial communities at higher taxonomic resolution than short read sequencing techniques. Its success lays the foundation for in-situ microbial profiling of aquaculture ponds for disease, and offers independence to farmers to monitor their own ponds. Successful amplification of the T4-like Myoviridae phylogenetic markers from one rearing water sample was achieved, although the required degeneracy of the primers inhibited multiplexing. Therefore, our findings suggest that inclusion of bacteriophages in microbiome studies is better served using shotgun metagenomic methods, rather than amplicon sequencing. Finally, we investigated the use of skin swabbing as an alternative to bucket incubations to minimise animal stress when categorising the fish skin microbiome. Skin swabbing successfully captured similar microbial communities in comparison to bucket incubations, with greater diversity and variance between fish

Using the Object Mapping Approach from Analysis to Implementation for Developing Student Registration System

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is the effective standard language of an object-oriented based system analysis and design. The using of object-oriented approach based on UML specification can offer an understandable model, which can reduce the system's complexity. The use-case diagram, class diagram and sequence diagram are important models of the system development during early stages. The object mapping approach between UML class diagram in the analysis phase and source code in the implementation phase is a significant process in the software development life cycle. In order to ensure the consistency of system requirements from analysis to implementation. This paper presents the student registration system by using object mapping based on UML. The UML specification and the generation of Java source code influenced by specific features of class in object-oriented such as inheritance and the association between the classes

An integration of uml use case diagram and activity diagram with Z language for formalization of library management system

Unified Modeling Language (UML) is the effective standard for modeling object-oriented software systems. However, the ambiguity of semantics and the absence of consistency among UML diagrams lead to lack of precisely defining the requirements of a system. On the other hand, formal methods are techniques and tools use the mathematical notations, and they involve the precise syntax and semantics of the unambiguous software requirements specification. It applied in early stages of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Therefore, an integrated between UML specification and formal specification is required to reduce the requirements' ambiguity and error, and to improve the quality and security of software systems. This paper proposes an approach involves the combining UML use-case diagram and activity diagrams with Z language for formalization of Library Management System (LMS). The focus of this paper is on consistency between the UML diagrams to Z Schema, and then verified by using the Z / EVEs tool

Solar Car Chassis Design and Optimization Using PBL and Design of Experiment

A beneficial project is defined and implemented for the senior project of bachelor students of mechanical engineering program in the school of engineering at American University of The Middle East (AUM). Students need to design, analysis, and optimize a solar car chassis using Design of Experiment (DOE). It is required that the design process and DOE implementation are conducted in 14 weeks based on Problem Based Learning (PBL) method. The main elements of PBL for this project are the ability to understand the project, analyze and resolve problems, and have a teamwork and leadership ability in addition to independent responsibility. The design of the chassis and an analysis of the stress loads are conducted using SolidWorks. Four designs are proposed to obtain an optimum design using DOE and PBL. By optimizing the chassis design, students determined the factor of safety of 10.8 and the weight of 56.4 kg

A framework implementation of surveillance tracking system based on PIR motion sensors

A motion tracking system made from affordable hardware components is implemented to be used inside the University of Kufa (UoK) buildings to track and detect any suspicious activities. The current research objectives are to automatically monitor, track intruders using sensors, servo, and camera that occurs around the system using Arduino microcontroller. The mounted camera track, capture the moving object and sending a live broadcast to a receiving host which could be a desktop computer, laptop, tablet or a smartphone. In this study, we consider the problem of automated position estimation using the electronic circuit of inexpensive binary motion sensors. We present simulation and experiments with Passive Infrared (PIR) motion sensors that suggest our current estimator. Fritzing software simulator is used to test and draw the circuits of the system. The proposed design worked efficiently during the experiments and shown high performance with 360 degrees of detection for the sensing environments

Relationships between pond water and tilapia skin microbiomes in aquaculture ponds in Malawi

Intensification of fish farming practices is being driven by the demand for increased food production to support a rapidly growing global human population, particularly in lower-middle income countries. Intensification of production, however, increases the risk of disease outbreaks and thus the likelihood for crop losses. The microbial communities that colonise the skin mucosal surface of fish are poorly understood, but are important in maintaining fish health and resistance against disease. This skin microbial community is susceptible to disruption through stressors associated with transport, handling and the environment of intensive practices, and this risks the propagation of disease-causing pathogens. In this study, we characterised the microbial assemblages found on tilapia skin — the most widely farmed finfish globally — and in the surrounding water of seven earthen aquaculture ponds from two pond systems in distinct geographic regions in Malawi. Metabarcoding approaches were used to sequence the prokaryotic and microeukaryotic communities. We found 92% of prokaryotic amplicon sequence variants were common to both skin and water samples. Differentially enriched and core taxa, however, differed between the skin and water samples. In tilapia skin, Cetobacterium, Paucibacter, Pseudomonas and Comamonadaceae were enriched, whereas, the cyanobacteria Cyanobium, Microcystis and/or Synechocystis, and the diatom Cyclotella, were most prevalent in pond water. Ponds that clustered together according to their water prokaryotic communities also had similar microeukaryotic communities indicating strong environmental influences on prokaryotic and microeukaryotic community structures. While strong site-specific clustering was observed in pond water, the grouping of tilapia skin prokaryotes by pond site was less distinct, suggesting fish microbiota have a greater buffering capacity against environmental influences. The characterised diversity, structure and variance of microbial communities associated with tilapia culture in Malawi provide the baseline for studies on how future intensification practices may lead to microbial dysbiosis and disease onset

Interaction between dietary fat intake and metabolic genetic risk score on 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations in a Turkish adult population

Previous studies have pointed out a link between vitamin D status and metabolic traits, however, consistent evidence has not been provided yet. This cross-sectional study has used a nutrigenetic approach to investigate the interaction between metabolic-genetic risk score (GRS) and dietary intake on serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations in 396 unrelated Turkish adults, aged 24–50 years. Serum 25(OH)D concentration was significantly lower in those with a metabolic-GRS ≥ 1 risk allele than those with a metabolic-GRS < 1 risk allele (p = 0.020). A significant interaction between metabolic-GRS and dietary fat intake (energy%) on serum 25(OH)D levels was identified (Pinteraction = 0.040). Participants carrying a metabolic-GRS ≥ 1 risk allele and consuming a high fat diet (≥38% of energy = 122.3 ± 52.51 g/day) had significantly lower serum 25(OH)D concentration (p = 0.006) in comparison to those consuming a low-fat diet (<38% of energy = 82.5 ± 37.36 g/d). In conclusion, our study suggests a novel interaction between metabolic-GRS and dietary fat intake on serum 25(OH)D level, which emphasises that following the current dietary fat intake recommendation (<35% total fat) could be important in reducing the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in this Turkish population. Nevertheless, further larger studies are needed to verify this interaction, before implementing personalized dietary recommendations for the maintenance of optimal vitamin D status