RESULTS: In addition to the Kinabatangan River, a known barrier for dispersal in tree shrews, the heterogeneous landscape along the riverbanks affected the genetic structure in this species. Specifically, while in larger connected forest fragments along the northern riverbank genetic connectivity was relatively undisturbed, patterns of genetic differentiation and the distribution of mitochondrial haplotypes in a local scale indicated reduced migration on the strongly fragmented southern riverside. Especially, oil palm plantations seem to negatively affect dispersal in T. longipes. Clear sex-biased dispersal was not detected based on relatedness, assignment tests, and haplotype diversity.
CONCLUSION: This study revealed the importance of landscape connectivity to maintain migration and gene flow between fragmented populations, and to ensure the long-term persistence of species in anthropogenically disturbed landscapes.
METHODS: Illumina whole genome sequencing was performed on eight carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae isolated from a Malaysian hospital. Genetic diversity was inferred from the assembled genomes based on in silico multilocus sequence typing (MLST). In addition, plasmid-derived and chromosome-derived contigs were predicted using the machine learning approach. After genome annotation, genes associated with carbapenem resistance were identified based on similarity searched against the ResFinder database.
RESULTS: The eight K. pneumoniae isolates were grouped into six different sequence types, some of which were represented by a single isolate in the MLST database. Genomic potential for carbapenem-resistance was attributed to the presence of plasmid-localised blaNDM (blaNDM-1/blaNDM-5) or blaKPC (blaKPC-2/blaKPC-6) in these sequenced strains. The majority of these carbapenem resistance genes was flanked by repetitive (transposase or integrase) sequences, suggesting their potential mobility. This study also reported the first blaKPC-6-harbouring plasmid contig to be assembled for K. pneumoniae, and the second for the genus Klebsiella.
CONCLUSION: This study reported the first genomic resources for carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae from Malaysia. The high diversity of carbapenem resistance genes and sequence types uncovered from eight isolates from the same hospital is worrying and indicates an urgent need to improve the genomic surveillance of clinical K. pneumoniae in Malaysia.
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the combined effect of FTO rs9930501, rs9930506, and rs9932754 and ADRB2 rs1042713 and rs1042714 using PRS on (1) the odds of obesity and (2) post-intervention differences in dietary, anthropometric, and cardiometabolic parameters in response to high-protein calorie-restricted, high-vitamin E, high-fiber (Hipcref) diet intervention in Malaysian adults.
METHODS: Both a cross-sectional study (n = 178) and a randomized controlled trial (RCT) (n = 128) were conducted to test the aforementioned objectives. PRS was computed as the weighted sum of the risk alleles possessed by each individual participant. Participants were stratified into first (PRS 0-0.64), second (PRS 0.65-3.59), and third (PRS 3.60-8.18) tertiles.
RESULTS: The third tertile of PRS was associated with significantly higher odds of obesity: 2.29 (95% CI = 1.11-4.72, adjusted p = 0.025) compared to the first tertile. Indians (3.9 ± 0.3) had significantly higher PRS compared to Chinese (2.1 ± 0.4) (p = 0.010). In the RCT, a greater reduction in high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels was found in second and third tertiles after Hipcref diet intervention compared to the control diet (p interaction = 0.048).
CONCLUSION: Higher PRS was significantly associated with increased odds of obesity. Individuals with higher PRS had a significantly greater reduction in hsCRP levels after Hipcref diet compared to the control diet.