Geospatial water quality assessment system for the Sg. Buloh river basin in Malaysia

Assessment of pollution risk requires the assimilation of spatiotemporally variable data on water quality parameters. This paper describes a GIS user-interface program coupled with a water quality index (WQI) model that was developed and built to assess water quality in the Sg. Buloh river basin. Fifty-two water sampling stations were selected for this study, and the WQI model considers parameters such as pH, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids and ammonia nitrogen, as used by the Department of Environment in Malaysia. The spatial pattern of each parameter was analysed, and WQI values were calculated, ranging from 4.48 to 76.8 on a scale with 100 representing the highest pristine quality. A map of WQI is provided, which will help planners and decision makers to develop water pollution control strategies, and the model is capable of extension with further data to address pollution risk

Trans-ethnic and Ancestry-Specific Blood-Cell Genetics in 746,667 Individuals from 5 Global Populations

Most loci identified by GWASs have been found in populations of European ancestry (EUR). In trans-ethnic meta-analyses for 15 hematological traits in 746,667 participants, including 184,535 non-EUR individuals, we identified 5,552 trait-variant associations at p < 5 × 10−9, including 71 novel associations not found in EUR populations. We also identified 28 additional novel variants in ancestry-specific, non-EUR meta-analyses, including an IL7 missense variant in South Asians associated with lymphocyte count in vivo and IL-7 secretion levels in vitro. Fine-mapping prioritized variants annotated as functional and generated 95% credible sets that were 30% smaller when using the trans-ethnic as opposed to the EUR-only results. We explored the clinical significance and predictive value of trans-ethnic variants in multiple populations and compared genetic architecture and the effect of natural selection on these blood phenotypes between populations. Altogether, our results for hematological traits highlight the value of a more global representation of populations in genetic studies. Delineation of the genetic architecture of hematological traits in a multi-ethnic dataset allows identification of rare variants with strong effects specific to non-European populations and improved fine mapping of GWAS variants using the trans-ethnic approach