Prevalence and public health relevance of micronutrient deficiencies and undernutrition in pre-school children and women of reproductive age in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa

Abstract Objective To provide nationally representative data on the prevalence of anaemia, vitamin A and Fe deficiencies among pre-school age children (pre-SAC) and non-pregnant women of reproductive age (WRA), and on vitamin B12 and folate deficiencies in WRA, and the influence of inflammation on their interpretation. Design A cross-sectional survey to measure anthropometry, malaria parasitaemia and micronutrient status. Specifically, blood samples were analysed for Hb, plasma ferritin, soluble transferrin receptors, C-reactive protein, α1-acid glycoprotein, retinol-binding protein, vitamin B12 and folate. Setting Côte d'Ivoire in 2007. Subjects Nine hundred and twenty-eight WRA and 879 pre-SAC. Results In WRA, prevalence of Plasmodium parasitaemia (5 %) was low, but inflammation (34 %) was higher. Anaemia was a severe public health problem and prevalence differed by residency and eco-region. Inflammation-adjusted Fe deficiency was highest in urban areas (20 %). Nationally, folate deficiency was 86 %, higher in urban areas and varied by eco-region. Prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency was low but higher in the rural areas and the north. Inflammation-adjusted vitamin A deficiency was very low (1 %). In pre-SAC, prevalence of inflammation (67 %) and Plasmodium parasites (25 %) was high; the latter was associated with poverty, rural residency and higher ferritin concentrations. Anaemia was classified as a severe public health problem (72 %), and was higher in rural areas (76 %) and the north (87 %). A quarter of pre-SAC suffered from vitamin A deficiency (inflammation-adjusted) and prevalence of undernutrition was high. Conclusions Prevalence of inflammation, Plasmodium parasitaemia and micronutrient deficiencies were high in Côte d'Ivoire, particularly in pre-SAC. Nutritional interventions should be accompanied by strategies to reduce exposure to infection

Educational Homogamy Lowers the Odds of Reproductive Failure

Assortative mating based on education is a common phenomenon. We investigated whether it affected parameters of reproductive performance such as childlessness, offspring number and age at first marriage. On the basis of the US census from 1980 (n = 670,631 married US couples), we find that the proportion of childless individuals is usually minimal in women married to a husband of the same educational level. This holds particularly true in the highest and the lowest educated women. Educational homogamy is also associated with a lower average age at first marriage. No obvious effect of educational homogamy on a woman's average offspring number is found, where mean offspring number generally increases both with decreasing woman's and decreasing husband's educational attainment. We conclude that educational homogamy reduces the likelihood of reproductive failure

The light skin allele of SLC24A5 in South Asians and Europeans shares identity by descent.

Skin pigmentation is one of the most variable phenotypic traits in humans. A non-synonymous substitution (rs1426654) in the third exon of SLC24A5 accounts for lighter skin in Europeans but not in East Asians. A previous genome-wide association study carried out in a heterogeneous sample of UK immigrants of South Asian descent suggested that this gene also contributes significantly to skin pigmentation variation among South Asians. In the present study, we have quantitatively assessed skin pigmentation for a largely homogeneous cohort of 1228 individuals from the Southern region of the Indian subcontinent. Our data confirm significant association of rs1426654 SNP with skin pigmentation, explaining about 27% of total phenotypic variation in the cohort studied. Our extensive survey of the polymorphism in 1573 individuals from 54 ethnic populations across the Indian subcontinent reveals wide presence of the derived-A allele, although the frequencies vary substantially among populations. We also show that the geospatial pattern of this allele is complex, but most importantly, reflects strong influence of language, geography and demographic history of the populations. Sequencing 11.74 kb of SLC24A5 in 95 individuals worldwide reveals that the rs1426654-A alleles in South Asian and West Eurasian populations are monophyletic and occur on the background of a common haplotype that is characterized by low genetic diversity. We date the coalescence of the light skin associated allele at 22-28 KYA. Both our sequence and genome-wide genotype data confirm that this gene has been a target for positive selection among Europeans. However, the latter also shows additional evidence of selection in populations of the Middle East, Central Asia, Pakistan and North India but not in South India

Reconsidering the Heritability of Intelligence in Adulthood: Taking Assortative Mating and Cultural Transmission into Account

Heritability estimates of general intelligence in adulthood generally range from 75 to 85%, with all heritability due to additive genetic influences, while genetic dominance and shared environmental factors are absent, or too small to be detected. These estimates are derived from studies based on the classical twin design and are based on the assumption of random mating. Yet, considerable positive assortative mating has been reported for general intelligence. Unmodeled assortative mating may lead to biased estimates of the relative magnitude of genetic and environmental factors. To investigate the effects of assortative mating on the estimates of the variance components of intelligence, we employed an extended twin-family design. Psychometric IQ data were available for adult monozygotic and dizygotic twins, their siblings, the partners of the twins and siblings, and either the parents or the adult offspring of the twins and siblings (N = 1314). Two underlying processes of assortment were considered: phenotypic assortment and social homogamy. The phenotypic assortment model was slightly preferred over the social homogamy model, suggesting that assortment for intelligence is mostly due to a selection of mates on similarity in intelligence. Under the preferred phenotypic assortment model, the variance of intelligence in adulthood was not only due to non-shared environmental (18%) and additive genetic factors (44%) but also to non-additive genetic factors (27%) and phenotypic assortment (11%).This non-additive nature of genetic influences on intelligence needs to be accommodated in future GWAS studies for intelligence

Regional variation in weight-for-height z-scores and surface area/body mass ratio of Chilean children from birth to 3 years of age.

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of the study were to see how much of the variation in weight-for-height z-scores (WHZ) and surface area/body mass ratio (SA/mass) were associated with regional (county) differences including mean temperature. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Longitudinal data were obtained from routine medical check-ups on 8,373 children from nine counties across Chile. WHZ and SA/mass were calculated from weight and height from birth to 3-years old at 6 monthly intervals. County of birth was used as an independent variable after controlling for sociodemographic factors. Sequential repeated-measures ANOVAs were used to analyze the changes in WHZ and SA/mass over the seven measurements from birth to 3 years of age. Simple and partial Pearson correlations were calculated between WHZ and annual mean temperature and between SA/mass and annual mean temperature after controlling for socioeconomic factors. RESULTS: County of birth was significantly (p  0.821) were found with the annual mean temperature from 18 months of age onwards and in the overall mean age. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that WHZ and SA/mass variation may be influenced by ecogeographical factors in this Chilean sample

Association of vitamin D receptor genotype with leprosy type.

Host genetic factors including major histocompatibility complex (MHC) polymorphisms influence both susceptibility to leprosy per se and also to leprosy type. Non-MHC genes may play an important role, but such genes remain undefined. The influence of two non-MHC candidate genes was assessed in a case-control study of Bengali leprosy patients from Calcutta. Recent studies have implicated variation in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene in susceptibility to several diseases, including osteoporosis and pulmonary tuberculosis. In this population, homozygotes for the alternate alleles of the VDR polymorphism are associated, respectively, with lepromatous and tuberculoid leprosy. The NRAMP1 (natural resistance associated macrophage protein 1) gene may influence human mycobacterial disease susceptibility based on studies with the murine homologue Nramp1. However, no significant association was found between NRAMP1 and leprosy susceptibility. This study suggests that the VDR polymorphism may influence susceptibility to some diseases by affecting the type and the strength of the host immune response