Childhood deaths from external causes in Estonia, 2001–2005

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In 2000, the overall rate of injury deaths in children aged 0–14 was 28.7 per 100000 in Estonia, which is more than 5 times higher than the corresponding rate in neighbouring Finland. This paper describes childhood injury mortality in Estonia by cause and age groups, and validates registration of these deaths in the Statistical Office of Estonia against the autopsy data.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The data on causes of all child deaths in Estonia in 2001–2005 were abstracted from the autopsy protocols at the Estonian Bureau of Forensic Medicine. Average annual mortality rates per 100,000 were calculated. Coverage (proportion of the reported injury deaths from the total number of injury deaths) and accuracy (proportion of correctly classified injury deaths) of the registration of causes of death in Statistical Office of Estonia were assessed by comparing the Statistical Office of Estonia data with the data from Estonian Bureau of Forensic Medicine.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Average annual mortality from external causes in 0–14 years-old children in Estonia was 19.1 per 100,000. Asphyxia and transport accidents were the major killers followed by poisoning and suicides. Relative contribution of these causes varied greatly between age groups. Intent of death was unknown for more than 10% of injury deaths. Coverage and accuracy of registration of injury deaths by Statistical Office of Estonia were 91.5% and 95.3%, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Childhood mortality from injuries in Estonia is among the highest in the EU. The number of injury deaths in Statistical Office of Estonia is slightly underestimated mostly due to misclassification for deaths from diseases. Accuracy of the Statistical Office of Estonia data was high with some underestimation of intentional deaths. Moreover, high proportion of death with unknown intent suggests underestimation of intentional deaths.</p> <p>Reduction of injury deaths should be given a high priority in Estonia. More information on circumstances around death is needed to enable establishing the intent of death.</p

Children at danger: injury fatalities among children in San Diego County

External causes of death are important in the pediatric population worldwide. We performed an analysis of all injury-fatalities in children between ages zero and 17 years, between January 2000 and December 2006, in San Diego County, California, United States of America. Information was obtained from the County of San Diego Medical Examiner’s database. External causes were selected and grouped by intent and mechanism. Demographics, location of death and relation between the injury mechanism and time of death were described. There were 884 medico-legal examinations, of which 480 deaths were due to external causes. There majority were males (328, 68.3%) and whites (190, 39.6%). The most prevalent mechanism of injury leading to death was road traffic accidents (40.2%), followed by asphyxia (22.7%) and penetrating trauma (17.7%). Unintentional injuries occurred in 65.8% and intentional injuries, including homicide and suicide, occurred in 24.2 and 9.4%, respectively. Death occurred at the scene in 196 cases (40.9%). Most deaths occurred in highways (35.3%) and at home (28%). One hundred forty-six patients (30.4%) died in the first 24 h. Seven percent died 1 week after the initial injury. Among the cases that died at the scene, 48.3% were motor vehicle accidents, 20.9% were victims of firearms, 6.5% died from poisoning, 5% from hanging, and 4% from drowning. External causes remain an important cause of death in children in San Diego County. Specific strategies to decrease road-traffic accidents and homicides must be developed and implemented to reduce the burden of injury-related deaths in children

Tests of multiple molecular markers for the identification of Great Spotted and Syrian Woodpeckers and their hybrids

Great Spotted and Syrian Woodpeckers (Dendrocopos major and D. syriacus) are known to hybridize in nature; however, the extent of this phenomenon is not known due to difficulties in hybrid detection based on plumage analyses. Here, we tested five markers (one mitochondrial and four nuclear) and a set of six microsatellite loci for the identification of these two Woodpeckers and their hybrids. Sequencing of DNA from 26 individuals of both Woodpeckers from different parts of their ranges: one allopatric (D. major; Norway) and two sympatric (Poland and Bulgaria) showed that both species can be clearly separated based on all sequence markers. The highest number of fixed nucleotide sites were found in the mtDNA control region and intron 5 of the transforming growth factor. Analyses of microsatellite data distinguished the two species, but all loci showed a large number of common alleles and their utility in identifying hybrids is therefore doubtful. According to the DNA sequence analyses, 2 out of 18 specimens within the sympatric range in Poland were identified as possible hybrids, most probably paternal backcrosses. Moreover, both hybrids are from synantropic populations (settled in cities), whereas none of the D. major sampled in forests and in its allopatric range (Norway) showed signs of an intermixed genotype. Further research on hybridization and introgression in woodpeckers is undoubtedly needed and could be useful for understanding ecological and ethological interactions among these species, particularly for D. syriacus, which is relatively rare in Europe

A sequence-based genetic linkage map as a reference for Brassica rapa pseudochromosome assembly

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Brassica rapa </it>is an economically important crop and a model plant for studies concerning polyploidization and the evolution of extreme morphology. The multinational <it>B. rapa </it>Genome Sequencing Project (BrGSP) was launched in 2003. In 2008, next generation sequencing technology was used to sequence the <it>B. rapa </it>genome. Several maps concerning <it>B. rapa </it>pseudochromosome assembly have been published but their coverage of the genome is incomplete, anchoring approximately 73.6% of the scaffolds on to chromosomes. Therefore, a new genetic map to aid pseudochromosome assembly is required.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This study concerns the construction of a reference genetic linkage map for <it>Brassica rapa</it>, forming the backbone for anchoring sequence scaffolds of the <it>B. rapa </it>genome resulting from recent sequencing efforts. One hundred and nineteen doubled haploid (DH) lines derived from microspore cultures of an F1 cross between a Chinese cabbage (<it>B. rapa </it>ssp. <it>pekinensis</it>) DH line (Z16) and a rapid cycling inbred line (L144) were used to construct the linkage map. PCR-based insertion/deletion (InDel) markers were developed by re-sequencing the two parental lines. The map comprises a total of 507 markers including 415 InDels and 92 SSRs. Alignment and orientation using SSR markers in common with existing <it>B. rapa </it>linkage maps allowed ten linkage groups to be identified, designated A01-A10. The total length of the linkage map was 1234.2 cM, with an average distance of 2.43 cM between adjacent marker loci. The lengths of linkage groups ranged from 71.5 cM to 188.5 cM for A08 and A09, respectively. Using the developed linkage map, 152 scaffolds were anchored on to the chromosomes, encompassing more than 82.9% of the <it>B. rapa </it>genome. Taken together with the previously available linkage maps, 183 scaffolds were anchored on to the chromosomes and the total coverage of the genome was 88.9%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The development of this linkage map is vital for the integration of genome sequences and genetic information, and provides a useful resource for the international <it>Brassica </it>research community.</p

Insights into the Complex Associations Between MHC Class II DRB Polymorphism and Multiple Gastrointestinal Parasite Infestations in the Striped Mouse

Differences in host susceptibility to different parasite types are largely based on the degree of matching between immune genes and parasite antigens. Specifically the variable genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) play a major role in the defence of parasites. However, underlying genetic mechanisms in wild populations are still not well understood because there is a lack of studies which deal with multiple parasite infections and their competition within. To gain insights into these complex associations, we implemented the full record of gastrointestinal nematodes from 439 genotyped individuals of the striped mouse, Rhabdomys pumilio. We used two different multivariate approaches to test for associations between MHC class II DRB genotype and multiple nematodes with regard to the main pathogen-driven selection hypotheses maintaining MHC diversity and parasite species-specific co-evolutionary effects. The former includes investigations of a ‘heterozygote advantage’, or its specific form a ‘divergent-allele advantage’ caused by highly dissimilar alleles as well as possible effects of specific MHC-alleles selected by a ‘rare allele advantage’ ( = negative ‘frequency-dependent selection’). A combination of generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) and co-inertia (COIA) analyses made it possible to consider multiple parasite species despite the risk of type I errors on the population and on the individual level. We could not find any evidence for a ‘heterozygote’ advantage but support for ‘divergent-allele’ advantage and infection intensity. In addition, both approaches demonstrated high concordance of positive as well as negative associations between specific MHC alleles and certain parasite species. Furthermore, certain MHC alleles were associated with more than one parasite species, suggesting a many-to-many gene-parasite co-evolution. The most frequent allele Rhpu-DRB*38 revealed a pleiotropic effect, involving three nematode species. Our study demonstrates the co-existence of specialist and generalist MHC alleles in terms of parasite detection which may be an important feature in the maintenance of MHC polymorphism