Displaying all 12 publications

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  1. Luo XS, Imai N, Dorigatti I
    Travel Med Infect Dis, 2020 01 26;33:101562.
    PMID: 31996323 DOI: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2020.101562
    BACKGROUND: No large-scale Zika epidemic has been observed to date in Southeast Asia following the 2015-16 Latin American and the Caribbean epidemic. One hypothesis is Southeast Asian populations' partial immunity to Zika.

    METHOD: We estimated the two conditions for a Zika outbreak emergence in Southeast Asia: (i) the risk of Zika introduction from Latin America and the Caribbean and, (ii) the risk of autochthonous transmission under varying assumptions on population immunity. We also validated the model used to estimate the risk of introduction by comparing the estimated number of Zika seeds introduced into the United States with case counts reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    RESULTS: There was good agreement between our estimates and case counts reported by the CDC. We thus applied the model to Southeast Asia and estimated that, on average, 1-10 seeds were introduced into Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. We also found increasing population immunity levels from 0 to 90% reduced probability of autochthonous transmission by 40% and increasing individual variation in transmission further reduced the outbreak probability.

    CONCLUSIONS: Population immunity, combined with heterogeneity in transmission, can explain why no large-scale outbreak was observed in Southeast Asia during the 2015-16 epidemic.

    Matched MeSH terms: Caribbean Region/epidemiology
  2. Ord TJ, Klomp DA
    Oecologia, 2014 Jun;175(2):651-66.
    PMID: 24658764
    Sympatric species that initially overlap in resource use are expected to partition the environment in ways that will minimize interspecific competition. This shift in resource use can in turn prompt evolutionary changes in morphology. A classic example of habitat partitioning and morphological differentiation are the Caribbean Anolis lizards. Less well studied, but nevertheless striking analogues to the Anolis are the Southeast Asian Draco lizards. Draco and Anolis have evolved independently of each other for at least 80 million years. Their comparison subsequently offers a special opportunity to examine mechanisms of phenotypic differentiation between two ecologically diverse, but phylogenetically distinct groups. We tested whether Draco shared ecological axes of differentiation with Anolis (e.g., habitat use), whether this differentiation reflected interspecific competition, and to what extent adaptive change in morphology has occurred along these ecological axes. Using existing data on Anolis, we compared the habitat use and morphology of Draco in a field study of allopatric and sympatric species on the Malay Peninsula, Borneo and in the Philippines. Sympatric Draco lizards partitioned the environment along common resource axes to the Anolis lizards, especially in perch use. Furthermore, the morphology of Draco was correlated with perch use in the same way as it was in Anolis: species that used wider perches exhibited longer limb lengths. These results provide an important illustration of how interspecific competition can occur along common ecological axes in different animal groups, and how natural selection along these axes can generate the same type of adaptive change in morphology.
    Matched MeSH terms: Caribbean Region
  3. Diez Roux AV, Slesinski SC, Alazraqui M, Caiaffa WT, Frenz P, Jordán Fuchs R, et al.
    Glob Chall, 2019 Apr;3(4):1800013.
    PMID: 31565372 DOI: 10.1002/gch2.201800013
    This article describes the origins and characteristics of an interdisciplinary multinational collaboration aimed at promoting and disseminating actionable evidence on the drivers of health in cities in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Network for Urban Health in Latin America and the Caribbean and the Wellcome Trust funded SALURBAL (Salud Urbana en América Latina, or Urban Health in Latin America) Project. Both initiatives have the goals of supporting urban policies that promote health and health equity in cities of the region while at the same time generating generalizable knowledge for urban areas across the globe. The processes, challenges, as well as the lessons learned to date in launching and implementing these collaborations, are described. By leveraging the unique features of the Latin American region (one of the most urbanized areas of the world with some of the most innovative urban policies), the aim is to produce generalizable knowledge about the links between urbanization, health, and environments and to identify effective ways to organize, design, and govern cities to improve health, reduce health inequalities, and maximize environmental sustainability in cities all over the world.
    Matched MeSH terms: Caribbean Region
  4. Beau De Rochars VM, Lednicky J, White S, Loeb J, Elbadry MA, Telisma T, et al.
    Am J Trop Med Hyg, 2017 Jan 11;96(1):144-147.
    PMID: 27799635 DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.16-0585
    Human coronavirus (HCoV) NL63 is recognized as a common cause of upper respiratory infections and influenza-like illness. In screening children with acute undifferentiated febrile illness in a school cohort in rural Haiti, we identified HCoV-NL63 in blood samples from four children. Cases clustered over an 11-day period; children did not have respiratory symptoms, but two had gastrointestinal complaints. On phylogenetic analysis, the Haitian HCoV-NL63 strains cluster together in a highly supported monophyletic clade linked most closely with recently reported strains from Malaysia; two respiratory HCoV-NL63 strains identified in north Florida in the same general period form a separate clade, albeit again with close linkages with the Malaysian strains. Our data highlight the variety of presentations that may be seen with HCoV-NL63, and underscore the apparent ease with which CoV strains move among countries, with our data consistent with recurrent introduction of strains into the Caribbean (Haiti and Florida) from Asia.
    Matched MeSH terms: Caribbean Region
  5. Huang R, Pimm SL, Giri C
    Conserv Biol, 2020 02;34(1):266-275.
    PMID: 31183898 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13364
    As a landscape becomes increasingly fragmented through habitat loss, the individual patches become smaller and more isolated and thus less likely to sustain a local population. Metapopulation theory is appropriate for analyzing fragmented landscapes because it combines empirical landscape features with species-specific information to produce direct information on population extinction risks. This approach contrasts with descriptions of habitat fragments, which provide only indirect information on risk. Combining a spatially explicit metapopulation model with empirical data on endemic species' ranges and maps of habitat cover, we calculated the metapopulation capacity-a measure of a landscape's ability to sustain a metapopulation. Mangroves provide an ideal model landscape because they are of conservation concern and their patch boundaries are easily delineated. For 2000-20015, we calculated global metapopulation capacity for 99 metapopulations of 32 different bird species endemic to mangroves. Northern Australia and Southeast Asia had the highest richness of mangrove endemic birds. The Caribbean, Pacific coast of Central America, Madagascar, Borneo, and isolated patches in Southeast Asia in Myanmar and Malaysia had the highest metapopulation losses. Regions with the highest loss of habitat area were not necessarily those with the highest loss of metapopulation capacity. Often, it was not a matter of how much, but how the habitat was lost. Our method can be used by managers to evaluate and prioritize a landscape for metapopulation persistence.
    Matched MeSH terms: Caribbean Region
  6. Ablashi D, Chatlynne L, Cooper H, Thomas D, Yadav M, Norhanom AW, et al.
    Br. J. Cancer, 1999 Nov;81(5):893-7.
    PMID: 10555764
    Seroprevalence of HHV-8 has been studied in Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Trinidad, Jamaica and the USA, in both healthy individuals and those infected with HIV. Seroprevalence was found to be low in these countries in both the healthy and the HIV-infected populations. This correlates with the fact that hardly any AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma has been reported in these countries. In contrast, the African countries of Ghana, Uganda and Zambia showed high seroprevalences in both healthy and HIV-infected populations. This suggests that human herpes virus-8 (HHV-8) may be either a recently introduced virus or one that has extremely low infectivity. Nasopharyngeal and oral carcinoma patients from Malaysia, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka who have very high EBV titres show that only 3/82 (3.7%) have antibody to HHV-8, demonstrating that there is little, if any, cross-reactivity between antibodies to these two gamma viruses.
    Matched MeSH terms: Caribbean Region/epidemiology
  7. Sreeramareddy CT, Pradhan PM
    PLoS One, 2015;10(7):e0130104.
    PMID: 26131888 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130104
    BACKGROUND: Article 20 of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control calls for a cross-country surveillance of tobacco use through population-based surveys. We aimed to provide country-level prevalence estimates for current smoking and current smokeless tobacco use and to assess social determinants of smoking.
    METHODS: Data from Demographic and Health Surveys done between 2005 and 2012, among men and women from nine North African, Central and West Asian countries and six Latin American and Caribbean countries were analyzed. Weighted country-level prevalence rates were estimated for 'current smoking' and 'current use of smokeless tobacco (SLT) products' among men and women. In each country, social determinants of smoking among men and women were assessed by binary logistic regression analyses by including men's and women's sampling weights to account for the complex survey design.
    FINDINGS: Prevalence of smoking among men was higher than 40% in Armenia (63.1%), Moldova (51.1%), Ukraine (52%), Azerbaijan (49.8 %), Kyrgyz Republic (44.3 %) and Albania (42.52%) but the prevalence of smoking among women was less than 10% in most countries except Ukraine (14.81%) and Jordan (17.96%). The prevalence of smokeless tobacco use among men and women was less than 5% in all countries except among men in the Kyrgyz Republic (10.6 %). Smoking was associated with older age, lower education and poverty among men and higher education and higher wealth among women. Smoking among both men and women was associated with unskilled work, living in urban areas and being single.
    CONCLUSION: Smoking among men was very high in Central and West Asian countries. Social pattern of smoking among women that was different from men in education and wealth should be considered while formulating tobacco control policies in some Central and West Asian countries.
    Matched MeSH terms: Caribbean Region
  8. Traub RJ, Irwin P, Dantas-Torres F, Tort GP, Labarthe NV, Inpankaew T, et al.
    Parasit Vectors, 2015 May 13;8:271.
    PMID: 25963851 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-015-0884-4
    This letter advises the imminent formation of the Companion Animal Parasites Council for the Tropics (CAPCT). The CAPCT consists of region-specific (e.g., Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Caribbean, Africa) experts comprising academics, veterinarians, parasitologists, physicians and allied industry partners that will work together to inform, guide and develop best-practice recommendations for the optimal diagnosis, treatment and control of companion animal parasites in the tropics, with the aim of protecting the health of pets and that of the public.
    Matched MeSH terms: Caribbean Region
  9. Lu TS, Holmes A, Noone C, Flaherty GT
    Trop Dis Travel Med Vaccines, 2020 Nov 27;6(1):24.
    PMID: 33292661 DOI: 10.1186/s40794-020-00124-0
    BACKGROUND: Sex tourism is defined as travel planned specifically for the purpose of sex, generally to a country where prostitution is legal. While much of the literature on sex tourism relates to the commercial sex worker industry, sex tourism also finds expression in non-transactional sexual encounters. This narrative review explores current concepts related to travel and sex, with a focus on trans-national sex tourism.

    METHODS: The PubMed database was accessed to source relevant literature, using combinations of pertinent search terms. Only articles published in the English language were selected. Reference lists of published articles were also examined for relevant articles.

    RESULTS: With regard to preferred destinations, South/Central America and the Caribbean were more likely to receive tourists looking for casual sex. Longer duration of travel, travelling alone or with friends, alcohol or drug use, being younger and being single were factors associated with higher levels of casual sex overseas. The majority of literature retrieved on sex workers focused on risk behaviours, sexually transmitted infections (STI), mobility of sex workers and how these factors affected their lives. Sex tourists require better access to effective methods of preventing HIV, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis, and better education on HIV prevention. Drugs and alcohol play a major role as risk factors for and cofactors in casual sexual behaviour while abroad.

    CONCLUSIONS: Travellers need to be informed of the increased risks of STI before travel. They should be aware of the local prevalence of STIs and the risks associated with their sexual practices when they travel, including engaging with commercial sex workers, having unprotected sexual intercourse and becoming victims of sexual violence.

    Matched MeSH terms: Caribbean Region
  10. Séne S, Selosse MA, Forget M, Lambourdière J, Cissé K, Diédhiou AG, et al.
    ISME J, 2018 06;12(7):1806-1816.
    PMID: 29535364 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-018-0088-y
    Global trade increases plant introductions, but joint introduction of associated microbes is overlooked. We analyzed the ectomycorrhizal fungi of a Caribbean beach tree, seagrape (Coccoloba uvifera, Polygonacaeae), introduced pantropically to stabilize coastal soils and produce edible fruits. Seagrape displays a limited symbiont diversity in the Caribbean. In five regions of introduction (Brazil, Japan, Malaysia, Réunion and Senegal), molecular barcoding showed that seagrape mostly or exclusively associates with Scleroderma species (Basidiomycota) that were hitherto only known from Caribbean seagrape stands. An unknown Scleroderma species dominates in Brazil, Japan and Malaysia, while Scleroderma bermudense exclusively occurs in Réunion and Senegal. Population genetics analysis of S. bermudense did not detect any demographic bottleneck associated with a possible founder effect, but fungal populations from regions where seagrape is introduced are little differentiated from the Caribbean ones, separated by thousands of kilometers, consistently with relatively recent introduction. Moreover, dry seagrape fruits carry Scleroderma spores, probably because, when drying on beach sand, they aggregate spores from the spore bank accumulated by semi-hypogeous Scleroderma sporocarps. Aggregated spores inoculate seedlings, and their abundance may limit the founder effect after seagrape introduction. This rare pseudo-vertical transmission of mycorrhizal fungi likely contributed to efficient and repeated seagrape/Scleroderma co-introductions.
    Matched MeSH terms: Caribbean Region
  11. Sankaran S
    Finance Dev, 1973 Dec;10(4):18-21.
    PMID: 12257161
    Matched MeSH terms: Caribbean Region
  12. Lombardo E
    Genus, 1983 Jan-Dec;39(1-4):167-73.
    PMID: 12266118
    "A tentative approximation of the expectation of life at 60-65 years, for populations with defective demographic statistics, is explored and expounded on the basis of a recent Horiuchi and [Coale] paper." The method is applied to data for El Salvador, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Peninsular Malaysia, and it is shown that the method can be used on actual data, although it requires some drastic rounding off. (summary in ENG, FRE)
    Matched MeSH terms: Caribbean Region
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