BackgroundThe vaginal microbiota (VMB) plays a key role in women’s reproductive health. VMB composition varies with ethnicity, making it necessary to characterize the VMB of the target population before interventions to maintain and/or improve the vaginal health are undertaken. Information on the VMB of Thai women is currently unavailable. We therefore characterized the VMB in normal Thai women.MethodsVaginal samples derived from 25 Thai women were subjected to 16S rRNA gene next-generation sequencing (NGS) on the Ion Torrent PGM platform.ResultsTwo groups of VMB were detected, lactobacilli-dominated (LD) and non-lactobacilli dominated (NLD) groups. Lactobacillus iners was the most common species found in the LD group while Gardnerella vaginalis followed by Atopobium vaginae and Pseudumonas stutzeri were commonly found in the NLD group.ConclusionsThe VMB patterns present in normal Thai women is essential information to further determine the factors associated with VMB patterns in vaginal health and disease and to develop proper management of reproductive health of Thai women.
c PCR amplification coupled with pyrosequencing was used to measure molecular markers that could be used to detect and differentiate Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax in human blood samples. The detection rates were in agreement with the results of Giemsa-stained film microscopy, which is the current gold standard for detection. This method provides an exciting alternative for malaria diagnosis.
BackgroundGenetic involvement of Killer Immunoglobulin-like Receptor (KIR) polymorphisms and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-exposed seronegative (HESN) compared to HIV-infected (HIVI) individuals has been reported. However, inconsistency of the outcomes reduces precision of the estimates. A meta-analysis was applied to obtain more precise estimates of association.MethodsA multi-database literature search yielded thirteen case-control studies. Risks were expressed as odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) with significance set at a two-tailed P-value of ≤ 0.05. We used two levels of analyses: (1) gene content that included 13 KIR polymorphisms (2DL1-3, 2DL5A, 2DL5B, 2DS1-3, 2DS4F, 2DS4D, 2DS5, 3DL1 and 3DS1); and (2) 3DL1/S1 genotypes. Subgroup analysis was ethnicity-based (Caucasians, Asians and Africans). Outlier treatment was applied to heterogeneous effects which dichotomized the outcomes into pre-outlier (PRO) and post-outlier (PSO). Multiple comparisons were addressed with the Bonferroni correction.ResultsWe generated 52 and 18 comparisons from gene content and genotype analyses, respectively. Of the 70 comparisons, 13 yielded significant outcomes, two (indicating reduced risk) of which survived the Bonferroni correction (Pc). These protective effects pointed to the Caucasian subgroup in 2DL3 (OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.09, 0.40, Pc < 10−3) and 3DS1S1 (OR 0.37, 95% CI 0.24, 0.56, Pc < 10−3). These two PSO outcomes yielded effects of increased magnitude and precision, as well as raised significance and deemed robust by sensitivity analysis. Of the two, the 2DL3 effect was improved with a test of interaction (Pc interaction < 10−4).ConclusionMultiple meta-analytical treatments presented strong evidence of the protective effect (up to 81%) of the KIR polymorphisms (2DL3 and 3DS1S1) among Caucasians. The Asian and African outcomes were inconclusive due to the low number of studies.
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