A study was conducted at General Hospital Ijebu Igbo antenatal section to investigate the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection and anemia in pregnant women. A questionnaire was administered to 42 pregnant women who attended the antenatal section of the clinic during the study period. Out of these 42 pregnant women, 18 (42.9%) provided both fecal and blood samples for parasitological and hematological analysis. 50% of the respondents fall within 16-25years age group, while those within 36-45years have the lowest percentage (22.2%). 50% have the knowledge of the helminth infection, out of the 9(50%) that have the knowledge, only 7(77.8%) have the knowledge of how the infection is being transmitted. Of 18 respondents, 13(72%) have the knowledge of anemia, and 5(28%) of them had no prior knowledge of it. The parasitological analysis revealed three intestinal parasite which are Ascaris lumbricoides (22.2%), Enterobius vermicularis (11.11%) and Entamoeba histolytica (5.56%). There were no reported cases of severe anaemic condition in this hospital based study. This suggests that the awareness level of anemia and parasitic infection is moderately high. Therefore, screening for intestinal parasites and deworming of infected pregnant women should be included in antenatal care.
Summary Parasitic plants have profound effects on the ecosystems in which they occur. They are represented by some 4000 species and can be found in most major biomes. They acquire some or all of their water, carbon and nutrients via the vascular tissue of the host's roots or shoots. Parasitism has major impacts on host growth, allometry and reproduction, which lead to changes in competitive balances between host and nonhost species and therefore affect community structure, vegetation zonation and population dynamics. Impacts on hosts may further affect herbivores, pollinators and seed vectors, and the behaviour and diversity of these is often closely linked to the presence and abundance of parasitic plants. Parasitic plants can therefore be considered as keystone species. Community impacts are mediated by the host range of the parasite (the diversity of species that can potentially act as hosts) and by their preference and selection of particular host species. Parasitic plants can also alter the physical environment around them – including soil water and nutrients, atmospheric CO 2 and temperature – and so may also be considered as ecosystem engineers. Such impacts can have further consequences in altering the resource supply to and behaviour of other organisms within parasitic plant communities. Contents Summary 737 I. Introduction 738 II. Parasitism: direct consequences 738 III. Dynamics of parasite–host interactions: host range, preference and selection 738 IV. Impacts of parasitic plants on the plant community 739 V. Impacts of the plant community on parasite populations 741 VI. Impacts of the parasite on other trophic levels 742 VII. Impacts of the parasite on the abiotic environment 747 VIII. Concluding remarks 748 References 748
BACKGROUND: Foodborne diseases are globally important, resulting in considerable morbidity and mortality. Parasitic diseases often result in high burdens of disease in low and middle income countries and are frequently transmitted to humans via contaminated food. This study presents the first estimates of the global and regional human disease burden of 10 helminth diseases and toxoplasmosis that may be attributed to contaminated food. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Data were abstracted from 16 systematic reviews or similar studies published between 2010 and 2015; from 5 disease data bases accessed in 2015; and from 79 reports, 73 of which have been published since 2000, 4 published between 1995 and 2000 and 2 published in 1986 and 1981. These included reports from national surveillance systems, journal articles, and national estimates of foodborne diseases. These data were used to estimate the number of infections, sequelae, deaths, and Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), by age and region for 2010. These parasitic diseases, resulted in 48.4 million cases (95% Uncertainty intervals [UI] of 43.4-79.0 million) and 59,724 (95% UI 48,017-83,616) deaths annually resulting in 8.78 million (95% UI 7.62-12.51 million) DALYs. We estimated that 48% (95% UI 38%-56%) of cases of these parasitic diseases were foodborne, resulting in 76% (95% UI 65%-81%) of the DALYs attributable to these diseases. Overall, foodborne parasitic disease, excluding enteric protozoa, caused an estimated 23.2 million (95% UI 18.2-38.1 million) cases and 45,927 (95% UI 34,763-59,933) deaths annually resulting in an estimated 6.64 million (95% UI 5.61-8.41 million) DALYs. Foodborne Ascaris infection (12.3 million cases, 95% UI 8.29-22.0 million) and foodborne toxoplasmosis (10.3 million cases, 95% UI 7.40-14.9 million) were the most common foodborne parasitic diseases. Human cysticercosis with 2.78 million DALYs (95% UI 2.14-3.61 million), foodborne trematodosis with 2.02 million DALYs (95% UI 1.65-2.48 million) and foodborne toxoplasmosis with 825,000 DALYs (95% UI 561,000-1.26 million) resulted in the highest burdens in terms of DALYs, mainly due to years lived with disability. Foodborne enteric protozoa, reported elsewhere, resulted in an additional 67.2 million illnesses or 492,000 DALYs. Major limitations of our study include often substantial data gaps that had to be filled by imputation and suffer from the uncertainties that surround such models. Due to resource limitations it was also not possible to consider all potentially foodborne parasites (for example Trypanosoma cruzi). CONCLUSIONS: Parasites are frequently transmitted to humans through contaminated food. These estimates represent an important step forward in understanding the impact of foodborne diseases globally and regionally. The disease burden due to most foodborne parasites is highly focal and results in significant morbidity and mortality among vulnerable populations.
This paper presents a comprehensive study on the influences of parasitic elements on the MOSFET switching performance. A circuit-level analytical model that takes MOSFET parasitic capacitances and inductances, circuit stray inductances, and reverse current of the freewheeling diode into consideration is given to evaluate the MOSFET switching characteristics. The equations derived for emulating MOSFET switching transients are assessed graphically, which, compared to results obtained merely from simulation or parametric study, can offer better insight into where the changes in switching performance lie when the parasitic elements are varied. The analysis has been successfully substantiated by the experimental results of a 400 V, 6 A test bench. A discussion on the physical meanings behind these parasitic effect phenomena is included. Knowledge about the effects of parasitic elements on the switching behavior serves as an important basis for the design guidelines of fast switching power converters.
Mutual coupling is a critical problem in the design of MIMO antennas because it deteriorates the performance of MIMO systems, which not only affects the antenna efficiency but also influences the correlation. Therefore, in this paper, using parasitic elements to reduce mutual coupling is studied. By adding parasitic elements a double-coupling path is introduced and it can create a reverse coupling to reduce mutual coupling. As an example, a dual-slot-element antenna with parasitic monopoles for mobile terminals is described. The discussion on channel capacity shows that the antenna can be considered as a good candidate for MIMO systems. Furthermore, based on the study of current distributions, it is concluded that the technique is sensitive to relative positions between parasitic elements, and relative positions between active element and parasitic element. Finally, we also extend the technique to a tri-element antenna.
Richard Wilson and colleagues report the genome sequence of Trichinella spiralis, a food-borne parasitic nematode that diverged early in the evolution of the phylum Nematoda. T. spiralis is the most common cause of human trichinellosis. Genome evolution studies for the phylum Nematoda have been limited by focusing on comparisons involving Caenorhabditis elegans. We report a draft genome sequence of Trichinella spiralis, a food-borne zoonotic parasite, which is the most common cause of human trichinellosis. This parasitic nematode is an extant member of a clade that diverged early in the evolution of the phylum, enabling identification of archetypical genes and molecular signatures exclusive to nematodes. We sequenced the 64-Mb nuclear genome, which is estimated to contain 15,808 protein-coding genes, at ∼35-fold coverage using whole-genome shotgun and hierarchal map–assisted sequencing. Comparative genome analyses support intrachromosomal rearrangements across the phylum, disproportionate numbers of protein family deaths over births in parasitic compared to a non-parasitic nematode and a preponderance of gene-loss and -gain events in nematodes relative to Drosophila melanogaster. This genome sequence and the identified pan-phylum characteristics will contribute to genome evolution studies of Nematoda as well as strategies to combat global parasites of humans, food animals and crops.
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