Characterisation of endogenous retroviruses in the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)

Amanda CHONG Characterisation of endogenous retroviruses in the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are a diverse group of vertebrate transposable elements, and are derived from germline infections by exogenous retroviruses. Very few studies have been carried out investigating the diversity of ERVs in non-mammalian vertebrates despite evidence that these species harbour a diverse and divergent ERV complement. This project constitutes the first comprehensive investigation of endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) in crocodilians. The research presented herein encompasses the characterisation of crocodilian ERVs from key crocodilian species, and explores the evolutionary dynamics of these ERVs within their host genomes. It also offers insights into the evolution of ERVs and exogenous retroviruses. Overall, this project has demonstrated that crocodilians, and likely other non-mammalian vertebrates, are a rich source of novel ERV diversity, and may provide unique insights into the evolution of modern exogenous retroviruses and their hosts. It has also highlighted the relative merits of a wide variety of ERV detection techniques, both molecular and bioinformatic, and how these may be adapted for studies of previously uncharacterised taxa. This project will provide a useful resource to facilitate further investigations into the significance of ERVs in crocodilian biology, and offers insights into how these approaches may be translated to studies of other vertebrate taxa

Abnormal Placentation with Placenta Accreta in a Post Ablation Pregnancy

Placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) is a rare complication of pregnancy in which the placenta abnormally implants into, and in rarer cases, through the uterine wall which leads to increased maternal morbidity with risk of maternal mortality. PAS diagnosed at the time of delivery is associated with severe maternal morbidity largely due to elevated blood loss which can result in complications such as DIC and even maternal death. We present a case of a woman with PAS to reiterate the importance of close antepartum monitoring along with having a high suspicion for placenta accreta in a patient with risk factors, specifically with a history of endometrial ablation along with low lying placenta

Parenting Styles and Self-Efficacy of Adolescents: Malaysian Scenario

Parenting styles and its impact on adolescents psychosocial development has been an area of interest in the field of psychology Previous studies have revealed that parenting styles are correlated with adolescents self-esteem drug and alcohol use delinquency and academic performance This study aimed to investigate the effect of parenting styles namely authoritative authoritarian and permissive on adolescents self-efficacy level A hundred and twenty students served as participants for this study The mean age for the entire sample was 18 441 and had an equal number of males and females A single survey was administered and data on perceived parenting styles and ratings on self-efficacy were collected Correlation was carried out and results indicated that authoritative parenting style is highly associated with self-efficacy Regression result showed that authoritative parenting style contributes 12 8 towards student s self-efficacy However authoritarian and permissive parenting styles do not produce any significant relationship when associated with self-efficacy T-test comparison revealed a significant difference of self-efficacy among the males and females The male students demonstrated higher level of self-efficacy as compared to the females This study is significant because it allows helping professionals to gain a better understanding on the relationship between parenting styles and self-efficac

Genetic variation in the MHC of the Collared peccary: A potential model for the effects of captive breeding on the MHC

The Collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) is an environmentally and economically significant animal distributed across the southern United States to South America. There is a growing interest in the commercial farming of the Collared peccary to supply a growing demand for local meats. The Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) plays a significant role in the susceptibility and resistance of individuals and populations to novel parasite and pathogen challenges. Changing the environmental pressures on a population can alter the levels of diversity and the alleles present in such a population. While the importance of maintaining MHC diversity in limited populations is understood, there is little information about the effects of captivity and captive breeding on such populations, and the different selection pressures that captive populations may be exposed to. Further research is required into the different selection pressures exerted on captive populations, the effects these pressures may have on the genetic diversity in the MHC, and on the fitness of these populations. With the increased interest in the commercial breeding of the Collared peccary, this species offers a unique opportunity to study the effects of captivity and selection for commercial traits on immune function and provide an insight into the pressures placed on the MHC in wild and captive populations

Medication Reconciliation Limitations: Observation of the Medication Reconciliation Process in the Emergency Department by Two Immersion Pharmacy Students

Multiple medical records may exist for a particular individual based on the various health services he or she receives. Maintaining updated, accurate records remains the responsibility of both practitioners and patients. Medication reconciliation, defined as the process to accurately depict the patient’s current orders and medications, 2 seeks to avoid errors in duplicity, interactions and dosing errors. Medication histories at Moses Cone Hospital are currently recorded by pharmacy technicians who follow specific standards, for instance they cannot remove “house meds”, which are prescribed medications with an active prescription attached. Technicians instead mark these medications for removal, leaving reconciliation to the physician. The physicians in the emergency department are not required to complete a full reconciliation for patient's profiles as this is a task left for the admitting physician. This leads to the question whether the reconciliation process in the emergency department (ED) needs to be re-evaluated. Patients’ “After Visit Summary” reports were used to analyze patient profiles in determining medication reconciliation statuses (whether fully reconciled, partially reconciled, or unreconciled). 280 patients’ profiles were used. 243 records (86.79%) were found unreconciled, 18 (6.43%) were partially reconciled, and 19 (6.79%) were fully reconciled. Conflict of Interest We declare no conflicts of interest or financial interests that the authors or members of their immediate families have in any product or service discussed in the manuscript, including grants (pending or received), employment, gifts, stock holdings or options, honoraria, consultancies, expert testimony, patents and royalties   Type: Student Projec

PCSF: An R-package for network-based interpretation of high-throughput data

With the recent technological developments a vast amount of high-throughput data has been profiled to understand the mechanism of complex diseases. The current bioinformatics challenge is to interpret the data and underlying biology, where efficient algorithms for analyzing heterogeneous high-throughput data using biological networks are becoming increasingly valuable. In this paper, we propose a software package based on the Prize-collecting Steiner Forest graph optimization approach. The PCSF package performs fast and user-friendly network analysis of high-throughput data by mapping the data onto a biological networks such as protein-protein interaction, gene-gene interaction or any other correlation or coexpression based networks. Using the interaction networks as a template, it determines high-confidence subnetworks relevant to the data, which potentially leads to predictions of functional units. It also interactively visualizes the resulting subnetwork with functional enrichment analysis

Genetic Analyses of Common Infections in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children Cohort

The burden of infections on an individual and public health is profound. Many observational studies have shown a link between infections and the pathogenesis of disease; however a greater understanding of the role of host genetics is essential. Children from the longitudinal birth cohort, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, had 14 antibodies measured in plasma at age 7: Alpha-casein protein, beta-casein protein, cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, feline herpes virus, Helicobacter pylori, herpes simplex virus 1, influenza virus subtype H1N1, influenza virus subtype H3N2, measles virus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Theiler’s virus, Toxoplasma gondii, and SAG1 protein domain, a surface antigen of Toxoplasma gondii measured for greater precision. We performed genome-wide association analyses of antibody levels against these 14 infections (N = 357 – 5010) and identified three genome-wide signals (P < 5×10-8), two associated with measles virus antibodies and one with Toxoplasma gondii antibodies. In an association analysis focused on the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region of the genome, we further detected 15 HLA alleles at a two-digit resolution and 23 HLA alleles at a four-digit resolution associated with five antibodies, with eight HLA alleles associated with Epstein-Barr virus antibodies showing strong evidence of replication in UK Biobank. We discuss how our findings from antibody levels complement other studies using self-reported phenotypes in understanding the architecture of host genetics related to infections