フィリピンの小児デングウイルス感染症の重症化に、HLA-A*33:01アレルは防御的に働く

Dengue virus infection is a leading cause of morbidity among children in the Philippines in recent years. In order to investigate the association of HLA Class I and II alleles and dengue disease severity in a cohort of Filipino children, we performed a case control study in 2 hospitals in Metro Manila from June 2008 to December 2009. A total of 250 laboratory confirmed dengue patients and 300 healthy individuals aged 5 to 15 years old were typed for HLA-A, B and DRB1 alleles. The frequency of HLA-A*33:01 was significantly decreased in severe dengue (DHF/ DSS; Pc = 0.0016)) and DSS (Pc = 0.0032) compared to the background population. These findings support a previous study that this allele may confer protection against the severe form of dengue and provide the first evidence of HLA association with dengue in the Philippines. Future studies should be directed in investigating the possible mechanisms of protection.長崎大学学位論文 学位記番号:博(医歯薬)乙第39号 学位授与年月日:平成27年6月3日Author: Edelwisa Segubre Mercado, Fe Esperanza Espino, Ma. Lucila M. Perez, Josie M. Bilar, Jemimah Dawn P. Bajaro, Nguyen Tien Huy, Benilda Q Baello, Mihoko Kikuchi, Kenji HirayamaCitation: PLOS ONE, 10(2), e0115619; 2015Nagasaki University (長崎大学)論文博

Regional-scale spatial heterogeneity in the late Paleocene paratropical forests of the U.S. Gulf Coast

The study of spatial patterns in biotic compositional variability in deep time is key to understanding the macroecological response of species assemblages to global change. Globally warm climatic phases are marked by the expansion of megathermal climates into currently extra-tropical areas. However, there is currently little information on whether vegetation in these ‘‘paratropical’’ regions resembled spatially modern tropical or extra-tropical biomes. In this paper we explore spatial heterogeneity in extra-tropical megathermal vegetation, using sporomorph (pollen and spore) data from the late Paleocene Calvert Bluff and Tuscahoma Formations of the formerly paratropical U.S. Gulf Coast (Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama). The data set comprises 139 sporomorph taxa recorded from 56 samples. Additive diversity partitioning, nonmetric multidimensional scaling, and cluster analysis show compositional heterogeneity both spatially and lithologically within the U.S. Gulf Coastal Plain (GCP) microflora. We then use sporomorph data from Holocene lake cores to compare spatial patterns in the late Paleocene GCP with modern tropical and extra-tropical biomes. Distance decay analysis of the Holocene data reveals a higher rate of spatial turnover in tropical versus extratropical vegetation types, consistent with a latitudinal gradient in floral compositional heterogeneity. The specific combination of rate and scale dependency of distance decay in the Holocene assemblages prevented us from associating the late Paleocene GCP with any particular modern biome. Our results demonstrate the importance of spatial scale, taphonomy, and lithology in determining patterns of spatial heterogeneity, and show the potential of the fossil sporomorph record for studying spatial patterns and processes in deep time