Prevalence of gastrointestinal helminthes eggs of public health importance in house-hold dogs presented to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State

Dogs have a close association with humans providing companionship, security and a source of dietary protein. However, dogs are also potential carriers of zoonotic pathogens. To determine the prevalence of gastrointestinal helminths eggs in faeces of house-hold dogs presented to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, ninety-eight (98) faecal samples were collected and processed by formol-ether concentration technique and examined for helminths eggs. The overall prevalence of gastrointestinal helminths eggs in dogs presented was 22.4% (22/98). The Gastrointestinal helminths eggs observed from the study comprises of Ancylostoma caninum (4.1%), Strongyloides stercoralis (2.0%), Toxocara canis (8.2%) and Dipylidium caninum (8.2%). Higher prevalence of gastrointestinal helminths eggs was observed in male dogs (31.0%) than in female dogs (10.0%). Also, higher prevalence was observed in dogs less than six (6) months of age (23.1%) than in dogs of at least six (6) months (22.2%). The prevalence of gastrointestinal helminths eggs was 26.7% and 23.1% for local and exotic breeds of dogs respectively. Higher prevalence was observed in dogs with diarrhoeic faeces (25.0%) and in dogs non-confined (33.3%). This study has shown the presence of zoonotic gastrointestinal helminths eggs in dogs presented to the VTH ABU, Zaria which is of public health significance. Therefore, clinicians, pet owners, animal handlers and laboratory technicians need to be aware of the risk of contracting an infection in the course of handling dogs or their faecal samples.Keywords: Dogs, eggs, faeces, formol-ether, Gastrointestinal helminths, zoonotic helminth

Ab initio calculations for bromine adlayers on the Ag(100) and Au(100) surfaces: the c(2x2) structure

Ab initio total-energy density-functional methods with supercell models have been employed to calculate the c(2x2) structure of the Br-adsorbed Ag(100) and Au(100) surfaces. The atomic geometries of the surfaces and the preferred bonding sites of the bromine have been determined. The bonding character of bromine with the substrates has also been studied by analyzing the electronic density of states and the charge transfer. The calculations show that while the four-fold hollow-site configuration is more stable than the two-fold bridge-site topology on the Ag(100) surface, bromine prefers the bridge site on the Au(100) surface. The one-fold on-top configuration is the least stable configuration on both surfaces. It is also observed that the second layer of the Ag substrate undergoes a small buckling as a consequence of the adsorption of Br. Our results provide a theoretical explanation for the experimental observations that the adsorption of bromine on the Ag(100) and Au(100) surfaces results in different bonding configurations.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure, 5 tables, Phys. Rev. B, in pres

Excited-state calculations with quantum Monte Carlo

Quantum Monte Carlo methods are first-principle approaches that approximately solve the Schr\"odinger equation stochastically. As compared to traditional quantum chemistry methods, they offer important advantages such as the ability to handle a large variety of many-body wave functions, the favorable scaling with the number of particles, and the intrinsic parallelism of the algorithms which are particularly suitable to modern massively parallel computers. In this chapter, we focus on the two quantum Monte Carlo approaches most widely used for electronic structure problems, namely, the variational and diffusion Monte Carlo methods. We give particular attention to the recent progress in the techniques for the optimization of the wave function, a challenging and important step to achieve accurate results in both the ground and the excited state. We conclude with an overview of the current status of excited-state calculations for molecular systems, demonstrating the potential of quantum Monte Carlo methods in this field of applications

Maternal plasma folate impacts differential DNA methylation in an epigenome-wide meta-analysis of newborns

Folate is vital for fetal development. Periconceptional folic acid supplementation and food fortification are recommended to prevent neural tube defects. Mechanisms whereby periconceptional folate influences normal development and disease are poorly understood: epigenetics may be involved. We examine the association between maternal plasma folate during pregnancy and epigenome-wide DNA methylation using Illumina" s HumanMethyl450 Beadchip in 1,988 newborns from two European cohorts. Here we report the combined covariate-adjusted results using meta-analysis and employ pathway and gene expression analyses. Four-hundred forty-three CpGs (320 genes) are significantly associated with maternal plasma folate levels during pregnancy (false discovery rate 5%); 48 are significant after Bonferroni correction. Most genes are not known for folate biology, including APC2, GRM8, SLC16A12, OPCML, PRPH, LHX1, KLK4 and PRSS21. Some relate to birth defects other than neural tube defects, neurological functions or varied aspects of embryonic development. These findings may inform how maternal folate impacts the developing epigenome and health outcomes in offspring

Transethnic meta-analysis of rare coding variants in PLCG2, ABI3, and TREM2 supports their general contribution to Alzheimer's disease

Rare coding variants in TREM2, PLCG2, and ABI3 were recently associated with the susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease (AD) in Caucasians. Frequencies and AD-associated effects of variants differ across ethnicities. To start filling the gap on AD genetics in South America and assess the impact of these variants across ethnicity, we studied these variants in Argentinian population in association with ancestry. TREM2 (rs143332484 and rs75932628), PLCG2 (rs72824905), and ABI3 (rs616338) were genotyped in 419 AD cases and 486 controls. Meta-analysis with European population was performed. Ancestry was estimated from genome-wide genotyping results. All variants show similar frequencies and odds ratios to those previously reported. Their association with AD reach statistical significance by meta-analysis. Although the Argentinian population is an admixture, variant carriers presented mainly Caucasian ancestry. Rare coding variants in TREM2, PLCG2, and ABI3 also modulate susceptibility to AD in populations from Argentina, and they may have a European heritage.Acknowledgements: This work was supported by grants from the International Society for Neurochemistry (ISN) and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (to M.C.D.); Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (PBIT/09 2013, PICT-2015-0285 and PICT-2016-4647 to L.M.; PICT-2014-1537 to M.C.D.); GENMED Labex and JPND PERADES grant; and JPND EADB grant (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF: 01ED1619A)

Melanocortin-1 receptor, skin cancer and phenotypic characteristics (M-SKIP) project

Background: For complex diseases like cancer, pooled-analysis of individual data represents a powerful tool to investigate the joint contribution of genetic, phenotypic and environmental factors to the development of a disease. Pooled-analysis of epidemiological studies has many advantages over meta-analysis, and preliminary results may be obtained faster and with lower costs than with prospective consortia. Design and methods. Based on our experience with the study design of the Melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene, SKin cancer and Phenotypic characteristics (M-SKIP) project, we describe the most important steps in planning and conducting a pooled-analysis of genetic epidemiological studies. We then present the statistical analysis plan that we are going to apply, giving particular attention to methods of analysis recently proposed to account for between-study heterogeneity and to explore the joint contribution of genetic, phenotypic and environmental factors in the development of a disease. Within the M-SKIP project, data on 10,959 skin cancer cases and 14,785 controls from 31 international investigators were checked for quality and recoded for standardization. We first proposed to fit the aggregated data with random-effects logistic regression models. However, for the M-SKIP project, a two-stage analysis will be preferred to overcome the problem regarding the availability of different study covariates. The joint contribution of MC1R variants and phenotypic characteristics to skin cancer dev

Gene × dietary pattern interactions in obesity: Analysis of up to 68 317 adults of European ancestry

Obesity is highly heritable. Genetic variants showing robust associations with obesity traits have been identified through genome-wide association studies. We investigated whether a composite score representing healthy diet modifies associations of these variants with obesity traits. Totally, 32 body mass index (BMI)- and 14 waist-hip ratio (WHR)-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms were genotyped, and genetic risk scores (GRS) were calculated in 18 cohorts of European ancestry (n = 68 317). Diet score was calculated based on self-reported intakes of whole grains, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts/seeds (favorable) and red/processed meats, sweets, sugar-sweetened beverages and fried potatoes (unfavorable). Multivariable adjusted, linear regression within each cohort followed by inverse variance-weighted, fixed-effects meta-analysis was used to characterize: (a) associations of each GR

Genetic predisposition to ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast

Background: Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a non-invasive form of breast cancer. It is often associated with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), and is considered to be a non-obligate precursor of IDC. It is not clear to what extent these two forms of cancer share low-risk susceptibility loci, or whether there are differences in the strength of association for shared loci. Methods: To identify genetic polymorphisms that predispose to DCIS, we pooled data from 38 studies comprising 5,067 cases of DCIS, 24,584 cases of IDC and 37,467 controls, all genotyped using the iCOGS chip. Results: Most (67 %) of the 76 known breast cancer predisposition loci showed an association with DCIS in the same direction as previously reported for invasive breast cancer. Case-only analysis showed no evidence for differences between associations for IDC and DCIS after considering multiple testing. Analysis by estrogen receptor (ER) status confirmed that loci associated with ER positive IDC were also associated with ER positive DCIS. Analysis of DCIS by grade suggested that two independent SNPs at 11q13.3 near CCND1 were specific to low/intermediate grade DCIS (rs75915166, rs554219). These associations with grade remained after adjusting for ER status and were also found in IDC. We found no novel DCIS-specific loci at a genome wide significance level of P < 5.0x10-8. Conclusion: In conclusion, this study provides the strongest evidence to date of a shared genetic susceptibility for IDC and DCIS. Studies with larger numbers of DCIS are needed to determine if IDC or DCIS specific loci exist

Vitamin D and risk of pregnancy related hypertensive disorders: Mendelian randomisation study

Objective To use mendelian randomisation to investigate whether 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration has a causal effect on gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia. Design One and two sample mendelian randomisation analyses. Setting Two European pregnancy cohorts (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, and Generation R Study), and two case-control studies (subgroup nested within the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study, and the UK Genet