Institution
Mahidol University
Education•Bangkok, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand•
About: Mahidol University is a education organization based out in Bangkok, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Malaria. The organization has 23758 authors who have published 39761 publications receiving 878781 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
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TL;DR: High-dose halofantrine is better tolerated and more effective than mefloquine for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in this area, however, evidence of possible cardiotoxicity will need to be investigated fully before a role can be established for hal ofantrine in the treatmentof multidrug-resistant malaria.
164 citations
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Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute1, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics2, Charles Darwin University3, Mahidol University4, University of Oxford5, National Institutes of Health6, Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology7, Divine Word University8, Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research9, University of Melbourne10, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research11, University of São Paulo12, University of Colombo13, Pasteur Institute14
TL;DR: A dynamic landscape of local evolutionary adaptation in the parasite population is demonstrated and will provide a foundation for genomic surveillance to guide effective strategies for control and elimination of P. vivax.
Abstract: The widespread distribution and relapsing nature of Plasmodium vivax infection present major challenges for the elimination of malaria. To characterize the genetic diversity of this parasite in individual infections and across the population, we performed deep genome sequencing of >200 clinical samples collected across the Asia-Pacific region and analyzed data on >300,000 SNPs and nine regions of the genome with large copy number variations. Individual infections showed complex patterns of genetic structure, with variation not only in the number of dominant clones but also in their level of relatedness and inbreeding. At the population level, we observed strong signals of recent evolutionary selection both in known drug resistance genes and at new loci, and these varied markedly between geographical locations. These findings demonstrate a dynamic landscape of local evolutionary adaptation in the parasite population and provide a foundation for genomic surveillance to guide effective strategies for control and elimination of P. vivax.
164 citations
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TL;DR: A reorientation of priorities in drug development and health policy is needed as discussed by the authors, which requires political will, a strong commitment to prioritize health considerations over economic interests, and the enforcement of regulations and other mechanisms to stimulate essential drug development.
Abstract: Infectious diseases cause the suffering of hundreds of millions of people, especially in tropical and subtropical areas. Effective, affordable and easy-to-use medicines to fight these diseases are nearly absent. Although science and technology are sufficiently advanced to provide the necessary medicines, very few new drugs are being developed. However, drug discovery is not the major bottleneck. Today's R&D-based pharmaceutical industry is reluctant to invest in the development of drugs to treat the major diseases of the poor, because return on investment cannot be guaranteed. With national and international politics supporting a free market-based world order, financial opportunities rather than global health needs guide the direction of new drug development. Can we accept that the dearth of effective drugs for diseases that mainly affect the poor is simply the sad but inevitable consequence of a global market economy? Or is it a massive public health failure, and a failure to direct economic development for the benefit of society? An urgent reorientation of priorities in drug development and health policy is needed. The pharmaceutical industry must contribute to this effort, but national and international policies need to direct the global economy to address the true health needs of society. This requires political will, a strong commitment to prioritize health considerations over economic interests, and the enforcement of regulations and other mechanisms to stimulate essential drug development. New and creative strategies involving both the public and the private sector are needed to ensure that affordable medicines for today's neglected diseases are developed. Priority action areas include advocating an essential medicines R&D agenda, capacity-building in and technology transfer to developing countries, elaborating an adapted legal and regulatory framework, prioritizing funding for essential drug development and securing availability, accessibility, distribution and rational use of these drugs.
163 citations
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TL;DR: Despite induction of a vigorous HBsAg-specific lymphoproliferative response, cytokine production and anti-HBs antibodies, therapeutic vaccination with an adjuvanted HBs Ag vaccine administered concomitantly with lamivUDine did not demonstrate superior clinical efficacy in HBeAg positive CHB patients as compared to lamivudine therapy alone.
163 citations
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TL;DR: An example of such a "soft" selective sweep in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum that involves adaptive genome rearrangements is described and statistical methods based on diversity reduction may be inefficient at detecting evidence for selection in genome-wide marker screens.
Abstract: When selection is strong and beneficial alleles have a single origin, local reductions in genetic diversity are expected. However, when beneficial alleles have multiple origins or were segregating in the population prior to a change in selection regime, the impact on genetic diversity may be less clear. We describe an example of such a "soft" selective sweep in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum that involves adaptive genome rearrangements. Amplification in copy number of genome regions containing the pfmdr1 gene on chromosome 5 confer resistance to mefloquine and spread rapidly in the 1990s. Using flanking microsatellite data and real-time polymerase chain reaction determination of copy number, we show that 5-15 independent amplification events have occurred in parasites on the Thailand/Burma border. The amplified genome regions (amplicons) range in size from 14.7 to 49 kb and contain 2-11 genes, with 2-4 copies arranged in tandem. To examine the impact of drug selection on flanking variation, we genotyped 48 microsatellites on chromosome 5 in 326 parasites from a single Thai location. Diversity was reduced in a 170- to 250-kb (10-15 cM) region of chromosomes containing multiple copies of pfmdr1, consistent with hitchhiking resulting from the rapid recent spread of selected chromosomes. However, diversity immediately flanking pfmdr1 is reduced by only 42% on chromosomes bearing multiple amplicons relative to chromosomes carrying a single copy. We highlight 2 features of these results: 1) All amplicon break points occur in monomeric A/T tracts (9-45 bp). Given the abundance of these tracts in P. falciparum, we expect that duplications will occur frequently at multiple genomic locations and have been underestimated as drivers of phenotypic evolution in this pathogen. 2) The signature left by the spread of amplified genome segments is broad, but results in only limited reduction in diversity. If such "soft" sweeps are common in nature, statistical methods based on diversity reduction may be inefficient at detecting evidence for selection in genome-wide marker screens. This may be particularly likely when mutation rate is high, as appears to be the case for gene duplications, and in pathogen populations where effective population sizes are typically very large.
163 citations
Authors
Showing all 23819 results
Name | H-index | Papers | Citations |
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Nicholas J. White | 161 | 1352 | 104539 |
Pete Smith | 156 | 2464 | 138819 |
Randal J. Kaufman | 140 | 491 | 79527 |
Kevin Marsh | 128 | 567 | 55356 |
Barry M. Trost | 124 | 1635 | 79501 |
John R. Perfect | 119 | 573 | 52325 |
Jon Clardy | 116 | 983 | 56617 |
François Nosten | 114 | 777 | 50823 |
Paul Turner | 114 | 1099 | 61390 |
Paul Kubes | 109 | 393 | 41022 |
Ian M. Adcock | 107 | 660 | 42380 |
Peter H. Verburg | 107 | 464 | 34254 |
Guozhong Cao | 104 | 694 | 41625 |
Carol L. Shields | 102 | 1424 | 46800 |
Nicholas P. J. Day | 102 | 708 | 50588 |