«The castor bean tick (Ixodes ricinus) and its role in the transmission of diseases among domestic animals and humans in Norway»

Skogflåtten - Ixodes ricinus - er en parasitt som finnes utbredt i mange deler av Norge, hovedsakelig i de sørlige kystområder. Den trives best i varme og fuktige biotoper med mye vegetasjon i form av lyng, busker og kratt. Mye vegetasjon gir den en større mulighet for å feste seg på en vert. I. ricinus går igjennom fire ulike stadier i sin livssyklus: egg, larve, nymfe og voksen. Etter at flåtten har kommet ut av egget er den parasittisk i resterende livsstadier, og må suge blod fra en vert for å overleve. Smitte skjer når virus, bakterier eller parasitter får mulighet til å infisere blodet hos verten ved bitt. Dette gjør flåtten til en viktig vektor i overføring av sykdommer blant dyr og mennesker. De vanligste flåttbårne sykdommene i Norge er louping ill, flåttbåren encefalitt (TBE), anaplasmose, borreliose og babesiose. Disse sykdommene rammer både mennesker og dyr. De mest effektive måtene for å unngå disse sykdommene er profylaktisk behandling og tiltak for å redusere flåttbestanden på beiteområder gjennom rydding av vegetasjon

From near and far: Stone procurement and exchange at Çukuriçi Höyük in Western Anatolia

The focus of this paper are the stone tools of Çukuriçi Höyük, a prehistoric site situated at the central Aegean coast of Anatolia. The settlement was inhabited from the Neolithic, through the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age 1 periods, a period lasting from the early 7th to the early 3rd millennium BCE. A long-term interdisciplinary study of the excavated lithics with different scientific methods on various stone materials (thin section analysis, pXRF, NAA, LA-ICP-MS) offer new primary data about the procurement strategies of prehistoric societies from a diachronic perspective. The results will be presented for the first time with an overview of all source materials and their distinct use through time. The lithic assemblages from Çukuriçi Höyük consist of a considerable variety of small finds, grinding stones and chipped stone tools. The high variability of raw materials within the different categories of tools is remarkable. In addition to stone tools manufactured from sources in the immediate vicinity of the settlement (i.e., mica-schist, limestone, marble, amphibolite, serpentinite), others are of rock types such as chert, which indicate an origin within the broader region. Moreover, volcanic rocks, notably the exceptionally high amount of Melian obsidian found at Çukuriçi Höyük, attest to the supra-regional procurement of distinct rock types. Small stone axes made of jadeite presumably from the Greek island of Syros, also indicate these far-reaching procurement strategies. The systematic and diachronic analyses of the stone tools found at Çukuriçi Höyük has demonstrated that as early as the Neolithic period extensive efforts were made to supply the settlement with carefully selected raw materials or finished goods procured from distinct rock sources.   Erratum:• This article was submitted and initially published with only the following authors listed: Christoph Schwall, Michael Brandl, Tatjana M. Gluhak, Bogdana Milić, Lisa Betina, Lasse Sørensen, Danilo Wolf, and Barbara Horejs. After publication of the article, the authors observed that they had forgotten to include Maria M. Martinez as an author and requested that she be added to the list of authors. The current version of the article includes Maria M. Martinez. She should be considered an author also for earlier versions of the article that might be in circulation. &nbsp

Common microRNA regulated pathways in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs involved in gene regulation. Recently, miRNA dysregulation has been found in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). The diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s is currently challenging, mainly occurring when pathology is already present, and although treatments are available for both diseases, the role of treatment is primarily to prevent or delay the progress of the diseases instead of fully overcoming the diseases. Therefore, the challenge in the near future will be to determine effective drugs to tackle the dysregulated biological pathways in neurodegenerative diseases. In the present study, we describe the dysregulation of miRNAs in blood of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients with the aim to identify common mechanisms between the 2 pathologies and potentially to identify common therapeutic targets which can stop or delay the progression of two most frequent neuropathologies. Two independent systematic reviews, bioinformatic analysis, and experiment validation were performed to identify whether AD and PD share common pathways. A total of 15 common miRNAs were found in the literature and 13 common KEGG pathways. Among the common miRNAs, two were selected for validation in a small cohort of AD and PD patients. Let-7f-5p and miR-29b-3p showed to be good predictors in blood of PD patients

Self-Reported Cancer Prevalence among Hispanics in the US: Results from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos

Cancer has surpassed heart disease as the leading cause of death among Hispanics in the U.S., yet data on cancer prevalence and risk factors in Hispanics in regard to ancestry remain scarce. This study sought to describe (a) the prevalence of cancer among Hispanics from four major U.S. metropolitan areas, (b) cancer prevalence across Hispanic ancestry, and (c) identify correlates of self-reported cancer prevalence. Participants were 16,415 individuals from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL), who self-identified as Cuban, Dominican, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Central or South American. All data were collected at a single time point during the HCHS/SOL baseline clinic visit. The overall self-reported prevalence rate of cancer for the population was 4%. The rates varied by Hispanic ancestry group, with individuals of Cuban and Puerto Rican ancestry reporting the highest cancer prevalence. For the entire population, older age (OR = 1.47, p < .001, 95% CI, 1.26–1.71) and having health insurance (OR = 1.93, p < .001, 95% CI, 1.42–2.62) were all significantly associated with greater prevalence, whereas male sex was associated with lower prevalence (OR = 0.56, p < .01, 95% CI, .40-.79). Associations between study covariates and cancer prevalence also varied by Hispanic ancestry. Findings underscore the importance of sociodemographic factors and health insurance in relation to cancer prevalence for Hispanics and highlight variations in cancer prevalence across Hispanic ancestry groups. Characterizing differences in cancer prevalence rates and their correlates is critical to the development and implementation of effective prevention strategies across distinct Hispanic ancestry groups

The trans-ancestral genomic architecture of glycemic traits

Glycemic traits are used to diagnose and monitor type 2 diabetes and cardiometabolic health. To date, most genetic studies of glycemic traits have focused on individuals of European ancestry. Here we aggregated genome-wide association studies comprising up to 281,416 individuals without diabetes (30% non-European ancestry) for whom fasting glucose, 2-h glucose after an oral glucose challenge, glycated hemoglobin and fasting insulin data were available. Trans-ancestry and single-ancestry meta-analyses identified 242 loci (99 novel; P < 5 x 10(-8)), 80% of which had no significant evidence of between-ancestry heterogeneity. Analyses restricted to individuals of European ancestry with equivalent sample size would have led to 24 fewer new loci. Compared with single-ancestry analyses, equivalent-sized trans-ancestry fine-mapping reduced the number of estimated variants in 99% credible sets by a median of 37.5%. Genomic-feature, gene-expression and gene-set analyses revealed distinct biological signatures for each trait, highlighting different underlying biological pathways. Our results increase our understanding of diabetes pathophysiology by using trans-ancestry studies for improved power and resolution. A trans-ancestry meta-analysis of GWAS of glycemic traits in up to 281,416 individuals identifies 99 novel loci, of which one quarter was found due to the multi-ancestry approach, which also improves fine-mapping of credible variant sets.Peer reviewe

Skogflåtten (Ixodes ricinus) og dens betydning for overføring av sykdommer hos husdyr og mennesker i Norge

Skogflåtten - Ixodes ricinus - er en parasitt som finnes utbredt i mange deler av Norge, hovedsakelig i de sørlige kystområder. Den trives best i varme og fuktige biotoper med mye vegetasjon i form av lyng, busker og kratt. Mye vegetasjon gir den en større mulighet for å feste seg på en vert. I. ricinus går igjennom fire ulike stadier i sin livssyklus: egg, larve, nymfe og voksen. Etter at flåtten har kommet ut av egget er den parasittisk i resterende livsstadier, og må suge blod fra en vert for å overleve. Smitte skjer når virus, bakterier eller parasitter får mulighet til å infisere blodet hos verten ved bitt. Dette gjør flåtten til en viktig vektor i overføring av sykdommer blant dyr og mennesker. De vanligste flåttbårne sykdommene i Norge er louping ill, flåttbåren encefalitt (TBE), anaplasmose, borreliose og babesiose. Disse sykdommene rammer både mennesker og dyr. De mest effektive måtene for å unngå disse sykdommene er profylaktisk behandling og tiltak for å redusere flåttbestanden på beiteområder gjennom rydding av vegetasjon