Please be advised that this information was generated on 2018-05-11 and may be subject to change. letters to natureSequences (MIPS) databases were reconciled. Ty elements and dubious open reading frames (ORFs) were excluded. The data set (5,790 proteins) and search results can be viewed at the URL http://acer.gen.tcd.ie/~khwolfe/yeast. Repetitive regions within proteins were masked using the SEG filter in BLAST.Statistical analysis. Chi-square tests (data not shown) indicate that duplicated genes in yeast are distributed in a highly non-random manner with regard to both the order in which homologous genes occur on pairs of chromosomes and the transcriptional orientations of those genes. A simultaneous origin of duplicate regions, as opposed to 55 independent duplications, is supported by a chi-square test on block orientations and by the lack of triplicated regions. The Poisson expectation if blocks were duplicated sequentially is for approximately 40 duplicated blocks, and 7 blocks that are replicated more than once (mainly triplicated). There is only one possible candidate for a triplicated region: the genes YDR474Q YDR492W10 inferred substitutions on branch A. One gene pair, ORC1/SÏR3, was omitted because one of the yeast genes appeared more similar to its human homologue than to its duplicate.

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Chronic helminth infections induce strong type 2 and regulatory immune responses and are known to influence immune activity to other antigens such as allergens and vaccines. Since malaria and helminth infections often coincide geographically in the same tropical regions, the question arises whether helminth infections modulate the immune responses towards the malaria parasite and affect its course of disease. Here, we will review studies on co-infections in both animal models and in human populations, and discuss the changes in the immune system seen. Furthermore, the implications of helminth infection for the efficacy of malaria vaccines will be discussed.

In the detection of parasitic infection, the traditional methods based on microscopy often have low sensitivity and/or specificity compared with the newer, molecular tests. An assay based on real-time PCR and a reagent strip test for detecting circulating cathodic antigen (CCA) have both now been compared with urine filtration and microscopy, in the detection of Schistosoma haematobium infections. Urine samples, obtained from 74 'cases' in areas of Ghana with endemic S. haematobium and 79 'controls' from non-endemic areas, were each checked using the three methods. With the results of the filtration and microscopy taken as the 'gold standard', real-time PCR was found to be 100% specific and 89% sensitive whereas the CCA strips were 91% specific and 41% sensitive. With the samples found to contain > or =50 eggs/10 ml (indicating relatively intense infections), the sensitivities of the PCR and CCA were higher, at 100% and 62%, respectively. As expected, egg counts were negatively correlated with the number of amplification cycles needed, in the PCR, to give a signal that exceeded the background (r=-0.38; P<0.01). Although the real-time PCR and CCA strip tests are very different, both show promise in the detection of S. haematobium infections. The PCR has optimal specificity and high sensitivity but the specificity of the CCA strips and the sensitivity of both tools could still be improved. A more thorough re-evaluation of the sensitivity and specificity of microscopy and these newer diagnostic methods, with an estimation of the cost-effectiveness of each technique, is recommended.