Control, elimination, and eradication of malaria is one of the world's greatest public health cha... more Control, elimination, and eradication of malaria is one of the world's greatest public health challenges, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. While there has been an impressive gain in malaria control with decreased mortality rate over the years, eradication and elimination seem to be elusive in Sub-Saharan Africa. Control and elimination of malarial parasites was previously achieved in Europe and America using insecticides and manipulation of environmental and ecological characteristics. The emergence of drug-resistant parasites coupled with environments that support the breeding of mosquito vector and the need for caution with insecticides, such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, has slowed down control efforts, making elimination and eradication an uphill task in Sub-Saharan Africa. The expectation of producing an effective vaccine has been on for .40 years, but the recent breakthrough announcement of a malaria vaccine showing some level of protection among infants and children 3–4 years post vaccination seems like an excellent starting point. The globally accepted strategy for the control of malaria rely on chemotherapy, but unfortunately the overreliance on chemotherapy without proper control of drug usage and diagnosis has encouraged the selection of drug-resistant parasites, significantly contributing to the problem. Therefore, the prospects of malaria eradication rest heavily on integrated approaches that would include chemotherapy, vector control, manipulation of environmental and ecological characteristics, and vaccination. This article reviews the current state of malaria control and elimination and the need for an multistrategic integrated approach in order to achieve malaria eradication if the challenges faced by elimination are addressed.
Pigmentation plays important adaptation and physiological efficiency roles in animals. In the seq... more Pigmentation plays important adaptation and physiological efficiency roles in animals. In the sequence of a 648 bp fragment representing intron 1, exon 2, and part of intron 2 of the MLPH mammalian pigmentation gene, we identified a novel g.469C > G mutation in intron 2, and genotyped it in 266 Nigerian goats using PCR-RFLP analysis. The C allele had frequencies of 0.9625, 0.9804 and 0.97405 in West African Dwarf (WAD), Sahel (SH) and Red Sokoto (RS) breeds, respectively. The G allele was the highest in WAD (0.0375), followed by RS (0.02595), and then SH (0.0196). Overall low FIS and FST and high Nm values demonstrate little differentiation within and among the goat breeds at this intronic locus. This g.469C > G polymorphism in MLPH gene is the first in any goat breed and also first in Nigerian goats. Our results suggest that this intronic SNP locus is maintained at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P < 0.05) and the lack of association of this SNP with coat color may indicate its neutrality in goats.
Sickle cell disease has been shown to demonstrate extensive variability in disease severity among... more Sickle cell disease has been shown to demonstrate extensive variability in disease severity among and between individuals, the variability highlighted by differing genetic haplo-types. Despite the abundance of reports of functional significance due to polymorphisms of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) genes, the role of these poly-morphisms in mediating sickle cell disease pathophysiology among African Americans is presently unclear. To deconvolute their potential significance among African Americans with sickle cell disease, we examined the genetic diversity and haplotype frequency of eNOS and ET-1 polymorphisms in disease (n Z 331) and control (n Z 379) groups, with a polymerase echain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. We report that genotypic and allelic frequencies of eNOS variants are not significantly different between groups. eNOS homozygote mutants, which had been shown to have clinical significance elsewhere, showed no statistical significance in our study. On the other hand, and contrary to previous report among Africans with sickle cell disease, the endothelin-1 homozygous mutant variant showed significant difference in genotypic (p Z 2.84E-12) and allelic frequencies (p Z 2.20E-16) between groups. The most common haplotype is the combination of T786C homozygote wild-type variant with homozygote mutant variants of G5665T (ET-1) and Glu298Asp (eNOS). These results show that endothelin-1 (rs5370) polymorphism, rather than endothelial nitric oxide synthase polymorphism might play a significant role in disease severity or individual clinical outcomes among African Americans with sickle cell disease. This would have profound
contributed equally to this work. Here, we report the isolation, identification, whole-genome seq... more contributed equally to this work. Here, we report the isolation, identification, whole-genome sequencing, and annotation of four Bacillus species from internal stem tissue of the insulin plant Costus igneus, grown in Puerto Rico. The plant is of medicinal importance, as extracts from its leaves have been shown to lower blood sugar levels of hyperglycemic rats.
Control, elimination, and eradication of malaria is one of the world's greatest public health cha... more Control, elimination, and eradication of malaria is one of the world's greatest public health challenges, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. While there has been an impressive gain in malaria control with decreased mortality rate over the years, eradication and elimination seem to be elusive in Sub-Saharan Africa. Control and elimination of malarial parasites was previously achieved in Europe and America using insecticides and manipulation of environmental and ecological characteristics. The emergence of drug-resistant parasites coupled with environments that support the breeding of mosquito vector and the need for caution with insecticides, such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, has slowed down control efforts, making elimination and eradication an uphill task in Sub-Saharan Africa. The expectation of producing an effective vaccine has been on for .40 years, but the recent breakthrough announcement of a malaria vaccine showing some level of protection among infants and children 3–4 years post vaccination seems like an excellent starting point. The globally accepted strategy for the control of malaria rely on chemotherapy, but unfortunately the overreliance on chemotherapy without proper control of drug usage and diagnosis has encouraged the selection of drug-resistant parasites, significantly contributing to the problem. Therefore, the prospects of malaria eradication rest heavily on integrated approaches that would include chemotherapy, vector control, manipulation of environmental and ecological characteristics, and vaccination. This article reviews the current state of malaria control and elimination and the need for an multistrategic integrated approach in order to achieve malaria eradication if the challenges faced by elimination are addressed.
Pigmentation plays important adaptation and physiological efficiency roles in animals. In the seq... more Pigmentation plays important adaptation and physiological efficiency roles in animals. In the sequence of a 648 bp fragment representing intron 1, exon 2, and part of intron 2 of the MLPH mammalian pigmentation gene, we identified a novel g.469C > G mutation in intron 2, and genotyped it in 266 Nigerian goats using PCR-RFLP analysis. The C allele had frequencies of 0.9625, 0.9804 and 0.97405 in West African Dwarf (WAD), Sahel (SH) and Red Sokoto (RS) breeds, respectively. The G allele was the highest in WAD (0.0375), followed by RS (0.02595), and then SH (0.0196). Overall low FIS and FST and high Nm values demonstrate little differentiation within and among the goat breeds at this intronic locus. This g.469C > G polymorphism in MLPH gene is the first in any goat breed and also first in Nigerian goats. Our results suggest that this intronic SNP locus is maintained at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P < 0.05) and the lack of association of this SNP with coat color may indicate its neutrality in goats.
Sickle cell disease has been shown to demonstrate extensive variability in disease severity among... more Sickle cell disease has been shown to demonstrate extensive variability in disease severity among and between individuals, the variability highlighted by differing genetic haplo-types. Despite the abundance of reports of functional significance due to polymorphisms of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) genes, the role of these poly-morphisms in mediating sickle cell disease pathophysiology among African Americans is presently unclear. To deconvolute their potential significance among African Americans with sickle cell disease, we examined the genetic diversity and haplotype frequency of eNOS and ET-1 polymorphisms in disease (n Z 331) and control (n Z 379) groups, with a polymerase echain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. We report that genotypic and allelic frequencies of eNOS variants are not significantly different between groups. eNOS homozygote mutants, which had been shown to have clinical significance elsewhere, showed no statistical significance in our study. On the other hand, and contrary to previous report among Africans with sickle cell disease, the endothelin-1 homozygous mutant variant showed significant difference in genotypic (p Z 2.84E-12) and allelic frequencies (p Z 2.20E-16) between groups. The most common haplotype is the combination of T786C homozygote wild-type variant with homozygote mutant variants of G5665T (ET-1) and Glu298Asp (eNOS). These results show that endothelin-1 (rs5370) polymorphism, rather than endothelial nitric oxide synthase polymorphism might play a significant role in disease severity or individual clinical outcomes among African Americans with sickle cell disease. This would have profound
contributed equally to this work. Here, we report the isolation, identification, whole-genome seq... more contributed equally to this work. Here, we report the isolation, identification, whole-genome sequencing, and annotation of four Bacillus species from internal stem tissue of the insulin plant Costus igneus, grown in Puerto Rico. The plant is of medicinal importance, as extracts from its leaves have been shown to lower blood sugar levels of hyperglycemic rats.
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Papers by Bolaji Thomas