30-Year Trends in Stroke Rates and Outcome in Auckland,New Zealand (1981-2012): A Multi-Ethnic Population-Based Series of Studies

Background

Insufficient data exist on population-based trends in morbidity and mortality to determine the success of prevention strategies and improvements in health care delivery in stroke. The aim of this study was to determine trends in incidence and outcome (1-year mortality, 28-day case-fatality) in relation to management and risk factors for stroke in the multi-ethnic population of Auckland, New Zealand (NZ) over 30-years.

Methods

Four stroke incidence population-based register studies were undertaken in adult residents (aged ≥15 years) of Auckland NZ in 1981–1982, 1991–1992, 2002–2003 and 2011–2012. All used standard World Health Organization (WHO) diagnostic criteria and multiple overlapping sources of case-ascertainment for hospitalised and non-hospitalised, fatal and non-fatal, new stroke events. Ethnicity was consistently self-identified into four major groups. Crude and age-adjusted (WHO world population standard) annual incidence and mortality with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated per 100,000 people, assuming a Poisson distribution.

Results

5400 new stroke patients were registered in four 12 month recruitment phases over the 30-year study period; 79% were NZ/European, 6% Māori, 8% Pacific people, and 7% were of Asian or other origin. Overall stroke incidence and 1-year mortality decreased by 23% (95% CI 5%-31%) and 62% (95% CI 36%-86%), respectively, from 1981 to 2012. Whilst stroke incidence and mortality declined across all groups in NZ from 1991, Māori and Pacific groups had the slowest rate of decline and continue to experience stroke at a significantly younger age (mean ages 60 and 62 years, respectively) compared with NZ/Europeans (mean age 75 years). There was also a decline in 28-day stroke case fatality (overall by 14%, 95% CI 11%-17%) across all ethnic groups from 1981 to 2012. However, there were significant increases in the frequencies of pre-morbid hypertension, myocardial infarction, and diabetes mellitus, but a reduction in frequency of current smoking among stroke patients.

Conclusions

In this unique temporal series of studies spanning 30 years, stroke incidence, early case-fatality and 1-year mortality have declined, but ethnic disparities in risk and outcome for stroke persisted suggesting that primary stroke prevention remains crucial to reducing the burden of this disease.     

Functional characterization of 5′-regulatory region of flavonoid 3′,5′-hydroxylase-1 gene of banana plants

Protoplasma - Generation of crops with broad-spectrum tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress conditions depends upon availability of genetic elements suitable for varied situations and diverse...     

Biocontrol potential of two novel grapevine associated Bacillus strains for management of anthracnose disease caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides

A study was conducted to identify bacterial antagonists for biological control of anthracnose which is one of the economically important diseases of grapes. In India, it is caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. Two hundred and ninety-three bacteria were isolated from the grape ecosystem of 43 spatially distant vineyards in peninsular India. Of these, 25 bacteria substantially inhibited the radial growth of C. gloeosporioides in in vitro studies and 18 bacteria significantly reduced infections in vivo. Of these 18 bacteria, 5 and 3 bacteria also significantly reduced percent disease index (PDI) of downy and powdery mildew diseases, respectively. These bacteria were labelled as strains, DR-38, DR-39, TL-171, DRo-198, TS-204, TS-205, and DR-219, and were identified as Bacillus species based on morphological and molecular characterisation. Aqueous suspensions of all these strains applied as foliar sprays at 1×10⁸ cfu/ml on field grown vines significantly lowered the PDI and the AUDPC (area under disease progress curve) of anthracnose when compared with the untreated control, except DRo-198. Strains TS-204 and TL-171 recorded lower PDIs and AUDPC when compared with the other five strains, and TS-204 could effectively suppress ripe rot of berries, too, in vivo. Strains TS-204 and TL-171 are identified for biocontrol of anthracnose in grapes.     

Human sodium iodide symporter (hNIS) in fibroadenoma breast--a immunohistochemical study

Human sodium iodide symporter (hNIS), responsible for the active transport of iodine is an integral plasma membrane glycoprotein present in the thyroid cells and extrathyroid tissues like breast and salivary glands. If its functional form is unequivocally shown in benign or malignant breast tissues, then it may serve as a basis for diagnosis and treatment using radioactive iodine. With an aim to analyze the hNIS expression in a distinct benign breast condition of fibroadenoma, biopsy proven fibroadenoma tissues, normal non-lactating breast tissue and biopsy proven infiltrating duct carcinoma tissues were examined for hNIS expression using immunohistochemistry. Out of 20 biopsy proven fibroadenoma tissues, 19 (95%) showed positivity for hNIS protein and only one was negative. Of these 10% were mildly positive, 50% cases were moderately positive and 35% showed intense positivity. None of the control tissue obtained from reduction mammoplasty specimens or normal breast tissues samples (5 cms away from the tumor) were positive, hNIS was also intensely positive in 9 out of 10 (90%) infiltrating duct carcinoma tissues and moderately positive in one case. These preliminary results show that hNIS was present in high frequency as demonstrated by immunohistochemistry in fibroadenoma breast.     

Bacterial <Emphasis Type="Italic">mer</Emphasis> operon-mediated detoxification of mercurial compounds: a short review

Mercury pollution has emerged as a major problem in industrialized zones and presents a serious threat to environment and health of local communities. Effectiveness and wide distribution of mer operon by horizontal and vertical gene transfer in its various forms among large community of microbe reflect importance and compatibility of this mechanism in nature. This review specifically describes mer operon and its generic molecular mechanism with reference to the central role played by merA gene and its related gene products. The combinatorial action of merA and merB together maintains broad spectrum mercury detoxification system for substantial detoxification of mercurial compounds. Feasibility of mer operon to coexist with antibiotic resistance gene (amp ^r , kan ^r , tet ^r ) clusters enables extensive adaptation of bacterial species to adverse environment. Flexibility of the mer genes to exist as intricate part of chromosome, plasmids, transposons, and integrons enables high distribution of these genes in wider microbial gene pool. Unique ability of this system to manipulate oligodynamic property of mercurial compounds for volatilization of mercuric ions (Hg²⁺) makes it possible for a wide range of microbes to tolerate mercury-mediated toxicity.     

A genome-wide analysis of Cas9 binding specificity using ChIP-seq and targeted sequence capture

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) RNA-guided nucleases have gathered considerable excitement as a tool for genome engineering. However, questions remain about the specificity of target site recognition. Cleavage specificity is typically evaluated by low throughput assays (T7 endonuclease I assay, target amplification followed by high-throughput sequencing), which are limited to a subset of potential off-target sites. Here, we used ChIP-seq to examine genome-wide CRISPR binding specificity at gRNA-specific and gRNA-independent sites for two guide RNAs. RNA-guided Cas9 binding was highly specific to the target site while off-target binding occurred at much lower intensities. Cas9-bound regions were highly enriched in NGG sites, a sequence required for target site recognition by Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9. To determine the relationship between Cas9 binding and endonuclease activity, we applied targeted sequence capture, which allowed us to survey 1200 genomic loci simultaneously including potential off-target sites identified by ChIP-seq and by computational prediction. A high frequency of indels was observed at both target sites and one off-target site, while no cleavage activity could be detected at other ChIP-bound regions. Our results confirm the high-specificity of CRISPR endonucleases and demonstrate that sequence capture can be used as a high-throughput genome-wide approach to identify off-target activity.     

Sulfation of N-acetylglucosamine by chondroitin 6-sulfotransferase 2 (GST-5)

Based on sequence homology with a previously cloned human GlcNAc 6-O-sulfotransferase, we have identified an open reading frame (ORF) encoding a novel member of the Gal/GalNAc/GlcNAc 6-O-sulfotransferase (GST) family termed GST-5 on the human X chromosome (band Xp11). GST-5 has recently been characterized as a novel GalNAc 6-O-sulfotransferase termed chondroitin 6-sulfotransferase-2 (Kitagawa, H., Fujita, M., Itio, N., and Sugahara K. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275, 21075-21080). We have coexpressed a human GST-5 cDNA with a GlyCAM-1/IgG fusion protein in COS-7 cells and observed four-fold enhanced [(35)S]sulfate incorporation into this mucin acceptor. All mucin-associated [(35)S]sulfate was incorporated as GlcNAc-6-sulfate or Galbeta1-->4GlcNAc-6-sulfate. GST-5 was also expressed in soluble epitope-tagged form and found to catalyze 6-O-sulfation of GlcNAc residues in synthetic acceptor structures. In particular, GST-5 was found to catalyze 6-O-sulfation of beta-benzyl GlcNAc but not alpha- or beta-benzyl GalNAc. In the mouse genome we have found a homologous ORF that predicts a novel murine GlcNAc 6-O-sulfotransferase with 88% identity to the human enzyme. This gene was mapped to mouse chromosome X at band XA3.1-3.2. GST-5 is the newest member of an emerging family of carbohydrate 6-O-sulfotransferases that includes chondroitin 6-sulfotransferase (GST-0), keratan-sulfate galactose 6-O-sulfotransferase (GST-1), the ubiquitously expressed GlcNAc 6-O-sulfotransferase (GST-2), high endothelial cell GlcNAc 6-O-sulfotransferase (GST-3), and intestinal GlcNAc 6-O-sulfotransferase (GST-4).     

"Plasmo2D": an ancillary proteomic tool to aid identification of proteins from Plasmodium falciparum

Bioinformatics tools to aid gene and protein sequence analysis have become an integral part of biology in the post-genomic era. Release of the Plasmodium falciparum genome sequence has allowed biologists to define the gene and the predicted protein content as well as their sequences in the parasite. Using pI and molecular weight as characteristics unique to each protein, we have developed a bioinformatics tool to aid identification of proteins from Plasmodium falciparum. The tool makes use of a Virtual 2-DE generated by plotting all of the proteins from the Plasmodium database on a pI versus molecular weight scale. Proteins are identified by comparing the position of migration of desired protein spots from an experimental 2-DE and that on a virtual 2-DE. The procedure has been automated in the form of user-friendly software called "Plasmo2D". The tool can be downloaded from http://144.16.89.25/Plasmo2D.zip.     

High-performance liquid chromatography method for the determination and quantitation of arabinosylguanine triphosphate and fludarabine triphosphate in human cells

A gradient anion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatographic assay was developed for the simultaneous determination and quantitation of the cytotoxic triphosphates of arabinosylguanine (ara-GTP) and fludarabine (F-ara-ATP). The method was validated with respect to selectivity, recovery, linearity, precision, and accuracy using authentic standards. To test this assay in a more complex biological matrix, perchloric acid extracts of circulating human leukemia cells spiked with known concentrations of ara-GTP and F-ara-ATP were examined. Finally, to assess the clinical utility of our method, perchloric acid extracts of circulating human leukemia cells isolated from patients treated with fludarabine and nelarabine were analyzed. The range of quantitation was 0.0125–10 nmol for the ara- and native NTPs in cellular extracts. This assay should be helpful in establishing the mechanistic rationales for drug scheduling and combinations of nelarabine and fludarabine, and for correlating the therapeutic efficacy and levels of the cytotoxic triphosphates in target cells.     

An annotated checklist of the orchids of Nepal

An annotated checklist comprised of 458 taxa of orchids known from Nepal is provided, including 104 genera, 437 species, 16 varieties, 3 subspecies and 2 forma and 18 endemic species. In Nepal, orchid species are distributed from 60–5200 m a.s.l. In the checklist, notes on altitudinal ranges, habit, habitat, global distribution, phenology, etc. are presented.