We examined common variation in asthma risk by conducting a meta-analysis of worldwide asthma genome-wide association studies (23,948 cases, 118,538 controls) from ethnically-diverse populations. We identified five new asthma loci, uncovered two additional novel associations at two known asthma loci, established asthma associations at two loci implicated previously in comorbidity of asthma plus hay fever, and confirmed nine known loci. Investigation of pleiotropy showed large overlaps in genetic variants with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Enrichment of asthma risk loci in enhancer marks, especially in immune cells, suggests a major role of these loci in the regulation of immune-related mechanisms.

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Background The liver fluke, Opisthorchis felineus, is widely distributed throughout Europe and large parts of the Russian Federation. In Western Siberia, information about opisthorchiasis is lacking although infection may lead to severe liver and bile duct diseases. We aimed to assess the current prevalence of O. felineus infection along with associated risk factors and morbidity in rural Western Siberia. Methods We conducted a community-based, cross-sectional study in the rural Shegarskiy district, Tomsk Oblast, Russian Federation. All household members (� 7 years) present on the survey day were enrolled (n = 600). Two stool samples per person were examined for helminth eggs, using PARASEP (DiaSys Ltd, UK). The number of eggs per gram (EPG) of feces was recorded. Each study participant was interviewed to determine risk factors, using a pretested questionnaire. An abdominal ultrasonography examination of liver and bile ducts was performed with a mobile, high resolution ultrasound device. In total, 488 persons completed assessments (two stool samples, completed questionnaires); of those, 436 individuals had an ultrasonography (US) examination. Results We observed a prevalence of O. felineus infection of 60.2%. Significant risk factors for infection were the consumption of river fish (odds ratio from adjusted analysis [aOR] 2.4, 95% CI

BackgroundOpisthorchiasis is a parasitic infection caused by the liver flukes of the Opisthorchiidae family. Both experimental and epidemiological data strongly support a role of these parasites in the etiology of the hepatobiliary pathologies and an increased risk of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. Understanding a functional link between the infection and hepatobiliary pathologies requires a detailed description a host-parasite interaction on different levels of biological regulation including the metabolic response on the infection. The last one, however, remains practically undocumented. Here we are describing a host response on Opisthorchiidae infection using a metabolomics approach and present the first exploratory metabolomics study of an experimental model of O. felineus infection.Methodology and Principal findingsWe conducted a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) based longitudinal metabolomics study involving a cohort of 30 animals with two degrees of infection and a control group. An exploratory analysis shows that the most noticeable trend (30% of total variance) in the data was related to the gender differences. Therefore further analysis was done of each gender group separately applying a multivariate extension of the ANOVA—ASCA (ANOVA simultaneous component analysis). We show that in the males the infection specific time trends are present in the main component (43.5% variance), while in the females it is presented only in the second component and covers 24% of the variance. We have selected and annotated 24 metabolites associated with the observed effects and provided a physiological interpretation of the findings.ConclusionsThe first exploratory metabolomics study an experimental model of O. felineus infection is presented. Our data show that at early stage of infection a response of an organism unfolds in a gender specific manner. Also main physiological mechanisms affected appear rather nonspecific (a status of the metabolic stress) the data provides a set of the hypothesis for a search of the more specific metabolic markers of the Opisthorchiidae infection.

Magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles (MNPs) are often used to design agents enhancing contrast in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that can be considered as one of the efficient methods for cancer diagnostics. At present, increasing the specificity of the MRI contrast agent accumulation in tumor tissues remains an open question and attracts the attention of a wide range of researchers. One of the modern methods for enhancing the efficiency of contrast agents is the use of molecules for tumor acidic microenvironment targeting, for example, pH-low insertion peptide (pHLIP). We designed novel organosilicon MNPs covered with poly­(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and covalently modified by pHLIP. To study the specific features of the binding of pHLIP-modified MNPs to cells, we also obtained nanoconjugates with Cy5 fluorescent dye embedded in the SiO2 shell. The nanoconjugates obtained were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), attenuated total reflection (ATR), diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS), dynamic light scattering (DLS), UV and fluorescence spectrometry, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), CHN elemental analyses, and vibrating sample magnetometry. Low cytotoxicity and high specificity of cellular uptake of pHLIP-modified MNPs at pH 6.4 versus 7.4 (up to 23-fold) were demonstrated in vitro. The dynamics of the nanoconjugate accumulation in the 4T1 breast cancer orthotopically grown in BALB/c mice and MDA-MB231 xenografts was evaluated in MRI experiments. Biodistribution and biocompatibility studies of the obtained nanoconjugate showed no pathological change in organs and in the blood biochemical parameters of mice after MNP administration. A high accumulation rate of pHLIP-modified MNPs in tumor compared with PEGylated MNPs after their intravenous administration was demonstrated. Thus, we propose a promising approach to design an MRI agent with the tumor acidic microenvironment targeting ability.