Environmental attitudes among students at the University of Madeira, Portugal

In the face of the present ecological crisis, improving environmental attitudes is crucial to encourage a cultural transformation that can rebalance the equilibrium between human activities and the planet. The New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale was used to measure the environmental attitudes of students at the University of Madeira, Portugal, and to unveil the challenges that need to be addressed at the local and global level through an environmental education effort. This article presents two dimensions of the NEP scale: the high levels of the ecocentric world view and the rejection of anthropocentrism. It also points out some inconsistencies in the NEP scale. For example, the belief in human ingenuity to properly manage natural resources and keep the planet habitable should be seen as supporting our ability to move towards sustainability, and not the opposite. However, the lack of concern about human population growth requires this to be brought to the centre of the environmental education effort

Allele Polymorphism and Haplotype Diversity of HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 Loci in Sequence-Based Typing for Chinese Uyghur Ethnic Group

Previous studies indicate that the frequency distributions of HLA alleles and haplotypes vary from one ethnic group to another or between the members of the same ethnic group living in different geographic areas. It is necessary and meaningful to study the high-resolution allelic and haplotypic distributions of HLA loci in different groups.High-resolution HLA typing for the Uyghur ethnic minority group using polymerase chain reaction-sequence-based-typing method was first reported. HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 allelic distributions were determined in 104 unrelated healthy Uyghur individuals and haplotypic frequencies and linkage disequilibrium parameters for HLA loci were estimated using the maximum-likelihood method. A total of 35 HLA-A, 51 HLA-B and 33 HLA-DRB1 alleles were identified at the four-digit level in the population. High frequency alleles were HLA-A*1101 (13.46%), A*0201 (12.50%), A*0301 (10.10%); HLA-B*5101(8.17%), B*3501(6.73%), B*5001 (6.25%); HLA-DRB1*0701 (16.35%), DRB1*1501 (8.65%) and DRB1*0301 (7.69%). The two-locus haplotypes at the highest frequency were HLA-A*3001-B*1302 (2.88%), A*2402-B*5101 (2.86%); HLA-B*5001-DRB1*0701 (4.14%) and B*0702-DRB1*1501 (3.37%). The three-locus haplotype at the highest frequency was HLA-A*3001-B*1302-DRB1*0701(2.40%). Significantly high linkage disequilibrium was observed in six two-locus haplotypes, with their corresponding relative linkage disequilibrium parameters equal to 1. Neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree between the Uyghur group and other previously reported populations was constructed on the basis of standard genetic distances among the populations calculated using the four-digit sequence-level allelic frequencies at HLA-A, HLA-B and HLA-DRB1 loci. The phylogenetic analyses reveal that the Uyghur group belongs to the northwestern Chinese populations and is most closely related to the Xibe group, and then to Kirgiz, Hui, Mongolian and Northern Han.The present findings could be useful to elucidate the genetic background of the population and to provide valuable data for HLA matching in clinical bone marrow transplantation, HLA-linked disease-association studies, population genetics, human identification and paternity tests in forensic sciences

7th Drug hypersensitivity meeting: part two

No abstract availabl

HLA‐A polymorphisms in four ethnic groups from Guinea‐Bissau (West Africa) inferred from sequence‐based typing

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A locus polymorphisms were examined at highresolution level, using sequence-based typing, in the four most representative Guinea-Bissau(NorthwestAfrica)ethnicgroups:Balanta,Bijago´ s,FulaandPapel. DespitetheFulagrouphavingsignificantdifferenceswhencomparedwiththeother three ethnic groups, all four groups most likely received a genetic input from non sub-Saharans. The Bijago´ s and Papel groups showed similarities to neighboring populations from Mali and Senegal. The Balanta, despite their oral tradition of an East Africa origin, show affinities to Cameroon populations, highly influenced by Bantu migrations. These results are congruent with historical sources and other genetic studies that support the finding that the Guinea-Bissau genetic pool was influenced by several migrations from North Africa, Sahara and East Africa.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

HLA genes in Portugal inferred from sequence-based typing: in the crossroad between Europe and Africa

The human leukocyte antigen-A (HLA-A), -B and -DRB1 polymorphism was examined in the Portuguese population, discriminating between North, Centre and South inhabitants. All data were obtained at high-resolution level, using sequence-based typing. The most frequent allele at each locus was A* 020101 (26%), B* 440301 and B* 510101 (12% each) and DRB1* 070101 (15%). The predominant three-locus haplotype was A*020101B*440301-DRB1*070101 (3.1%), highly frequent in North Portugal (5.4%), lower in Centre (2%) and absent in the South. The present study demonstrates that the Portuguese population has been genetically influenced by Europeans and North Africans, via several historic immigrations. North Portugal seems to concentrate, probably due to the pressure of Arab expansion, an ancient genetic pool originated from several North Africans and Europeans, influences throughout millenniums. South Portugal shows a North African genetic influence, probably of recent origin by means of Berbers accompanying Arab expansion. We found that Centre Portugal is the distribution limit of some alleles and haplotypes that characterize the North or the South of the country. Despite North, Centre and South Portugal not being significantly different in allele frequencies, this study shows that HLA allele and haplotype frequencies are not homogeneous in the country. North and South Portugal show more similarity to North Africans in opposition to Centre which appears closer to Europeans.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 alleles in populations from Madeira, Cabo Verde and three other regions of Portugal

Population from Portugal North (Latitude 41N, Longitude 8W) Portugal South (Latitude 37N, Longitude 8W) Portugal Centre (Latitude 39N, Longitude 8W) Cabo Verde (Latitude 16N, Longitude 24W) Madeira (Latitude 32N, Longitude 17W) consisted of 46 Caucasians, 49 Caucasians, 50 Caucasians, 64 Black and 185 Caucasians respectively. All individuals were from an urban and rural environment and in all populations the grandparents had also lived in the same area. HLA alleles were determined by sequence specific oligonucleotide probes. The results have previously been published in Annuals of Human Geriatrics 66, 285–296, 2002. It was not possible to distinguish DRB1*15 from DRB1*16 and the results are given under DRB1*15.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio