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PubMed1999

Three major G6PD-deficient polymorphic variants identified among the Mauritian population.

We report the results of the first epidemiological study investigating glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency among the heterogenous Mauritian population. Mauritius has a population of approximately 1 million, and of these 66.8% are Indo-Mauritian (of Indian origin), 27.9% are Creoles (of African ancestry) and 2.1% are Sino-Mauritian, predominantly of Chinese origin. Of the 1435 Mauritian males tested, 73 (5.1%) were G6PD deficient. However, the prevalence varied considerably between the two major ethnic groups: 35/1157 (3.0%) for Indo-Mauritians and 37/267 (13.9%) for Creoles. Molecular analysis revealed three major deficient polymorphic variants; G6PD Orissa, G6PD Mediterranean and G6PD A-. G6PD Orissa (nt 131 G-->C; residue 44 Ala-->Gly) was found to be the most common variant among Indo-Mauritians: this deficient variant was recently identified to be highly characteristic of the tribal groups in central India. In Creoles the most common deficient variant was G6PD A- (27/37). These data are consistent with the different ancestral contributions to the present gene pool of the Mauritian population. This study has provided further information as to the precise nature of G6PD deficiency at the molecular level among Indians, about whom previously there was scant information. The data presented suggest that G6PD Orissa is widespread in central and southern states of India. Additionally, the identification and frequency of G6PD-deficient alleles in Mauritius is of public-health importance.

Electrophoresis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The prevalence of hepatitis-B antigen (HB S Ag) and its antibody (Anti-HB S) among London hemophiliacs and blood donors from London and two tropical areas.

The prevalence of hepatitis-B antigen (HB s AG) and its antibody (anti-HBs) among 49 London hemophiliacs was compared with that among women attending an antenatal clinic and healthy blood donors from London and from two parts of the tropics (Mauritius and Zambia). The prevalence of HBsAG and anti-HBs was low in antenatal patients, London blood donors and blood donors from Mauritius. However, a high proportion of hemophiliacs (59%) were anti-HBs positive, this being comparable with Zambian blood donors (53%), although anti-HBs titers in hemophiliacs were much higher (GMT 1:342) than in Zambian blood donors (GMT 1:36). In contrast, HBsAG was detected in 29 of 250 (12%) Zambian donors but in only 3 of 49 (6%) hemophiliacs. Clinically overt hepatitis occurred in only two hemophiliacs. However, the presence of HBsAG-specific IgM in 7 of 29 (24%) anti-HBs-positive hemophiliacs suggests that a proportion of these patients recently experienced subclinical infection by hepatitis-B virus, Anti-HBs-positive hemophiliacs received a significantly higher number of- cryoprecipitate units than did those without anti-HBs(P less than 0.01). Five of seven hemophiliacs with high titers of anti-HBs (greater than 1:4,096) showed a decline in titer after 1972 which may have been associated with the introduction of screening of cryoprecipitate for HBsAG.

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMed2005

A four-country investigation of factors facilitating student internet use.

Education and national culture may influence Internet use. The present study explored factors that might facilitate college students' use of the Internet across samples in four countries: India, Mauritius, Reunion Island (an overseas Department of France), and the United States. Questionnaire data was collected on students' extent and frequency of Internet use. Also, structured items asked about the factors that would help them to use the Internet more. Data was analyzed using dummy-coded multiple regression so as to compare responses across the country groups. The U.S. sample was coded as the reference group so that the regression coefficients in the equation provided a comparison between the U.S. sample and each other country represented. Further country comparisons were made using t-tests for differences between the regression coefficients. Results suggested that there was more Internet use in the U.S. sample compared to the others. The Non-Western samples also reported greater desire for Internet access and non-English web sites. Training on how to use the Internet and course requirements for Internet use were reported as helpful by the India and Mauritius groups to a greater extent than by those in Reunion and the United States. Implications of the present exploratory results are discussed for applications of theoretical models across cultures.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Mutation analysis of a Mauritian hereditary breast cancer family reveals the BRCA2 6503deITT mutation previously found to recur in different ethnic populations.

Mauritius, a small island some 855 km off the east coast of Madagascar, has a multiethnic population of about 1.2 million with a high population density of about 611 per km(2). The recent industrialization of the island seems to have been accompanied, in less than 10 years, by an increase of at least 30% in breast cancer incidence. We have detected the BRCA2 6503delTT mutation in two sisters of the same family of Indian origin but living in Mauritius for at least five generations. This mutation has been found to recur in geographically diverse populations and haplotype analysis has shown a common ancestry. The haplotype of the mutation found in the Mauritian family differs from that found in other populations harbouring the same mutation, suggesting that the BRCA2 6503delTT mutation most likely arose independently.

BRCA2 Protein↗
PubMed1991

Abdominal obesity and physical inactivity as risk factors for NIDDM and impaired glucose tolerance in Indian, Creole, and Chinese Mauritians.

OBJECTIVE: We wanted to determine whether obesity, abdominal fat distribution, and physical inactivity act similarly and independently as risk factors for noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) in Hindu and Muslim Asian Indians, African-origin Creoles, and Chinese Mauritians. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We examined a population-based random cluster sample of 5080 adult subjects from the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Glucose tolerance was assessed with a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test and World Health Organization criteria. RESULTS: Univariate data and multiple logistic regression models indicated that age, family history of diabetes, body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (WHR), and physical inactivity conveyed similar risk for NIDDM (and IGT) in each ethnic group. After adjusting for all other factors, Hindu ethnicity conferred additional risk for NIDDM (but not IGT) in men, but in women there were no clear ethnic differences. Although BMI and WHR were independently significant risk factors, WHR conveyed relatively stronger risk for NIDDM than BMI in women, whereas the converse was true in men. For ethnic groups combined, the independent odds ratios for IGT associated with moderate and low physical activity scores (relative to high) were 1.56 and 1.71 (P less than 0.05), respectively, in men and 1.32 and 1.69 (P less than 0.05) in women. In subjects with asymptomatic NIDDM diagnosed during the survey, the independent odds ratios were 1.96 and 2.00 (P less than 0.05) in men and 1.73 and 2.70 (P less than 0.05) in women. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that BMI, abdominally distributed fat, and physical inactivity are important independent risk factors for both IGT and NIDDM in diverse ethnic groups. Attributable risk fractions for Mauritius suggest that populationwide modification of levels of these risk factors could potentially result in substantially lower occurrence of NIDDM (and IGT). Such interventions should be attempted in high-risk populations.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2003

[Marie Francois Eloy de Beauvais and veterinary education in France, 1784].

Born in Méricourt-l'Abbé (France,) 1744, Marie-François de Beauvais entered the veterinary school in Lyon in 1762 where he was granted. In 1766, he is appointed professor at Alfort where he worked in anatomy with Fragonard. On 1771, he is sent to lle de France (today Isle Mauritius) where he studied cattle diseases. In 1784, he founded on the isle the 3rd French Royal Veterinary School. He was director until the occupation of the isle by British troops in 1810. He died in 1815 in Mauritius.

Education, Veterinary↗
PubMed2006

[Epidemiology and prevention of malaria in the southwestern islands of the Indian Ocean].

Malaria epidemiology differs greatly in the geographically close islands of the southwestern Indian Ocean. In Madagascar and the Comoros Union malaria is still a major public health problem. In Mayotte indigenous transmission resumed in 1995 and is currently high in some communities. In the Mascarene Islands (Reunion and Mauritius), indigenous transmission has been eradicated (Reunion) or become rare (Mauritius). The Seychelles Islands are malaria-free since local conditions are unfavorable for Anopheles mosquitoes. The level of resistance to antimalarials also differs from one island to another. Resistance to chloroquine ranges from moderate in Madagascar to high in the Comoros Union. Health recommendations for travelers must be adapted to the epidemiological features on each island.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

[Former observations of urinary bilharziasis and wuchereriosis].

On the occasion of a book near completion on the great clinician Pierre Rayer (1793-1867), a pioneer of infectious pathology, are presented here two of his works concerning parasitic tropical pathology. The first (1838) signed by Rayer alone deals with an hematuria observed in patients from Mauritius. He distinguished several forms of the disease and described 15 observations which he compared to Egyptian hematuria of which the parasitic agent (Bilharzia (= Schistosoma) haematobium) will not be described before 1852 by Th. Bilharz. A very recent paper by Julvez (1992) confirms the persistence of this parasitic disease in Mauritius. The second paper published in 1850 with his disciple Casimir Davaine (1812-1882) concerns a case of elephantiasis of the Arabs (wuchereriosis) occurring in Guadeloupe (French West Indies). The authors describe carefully the anatomo-pathological features of the amputated hand and forearm of the patient. They could not be aware of the parasitic etiology of the disease which although suspected by J. Hendy (1784) will be demonstrated only during the second half of last century (Demarquay, 1863; Wucherer, 1866; Lewis, 1870 and Bancroft 1876 who observed microfilariae and filariae of the Nematode presently named Wuchereria bancrofti in the blood and lymph of the patients). Its transmission by mosquitoes (Aedes, Culex) will be demonstrated by P. Manson (1878). These little-known observations are examples of clinical descriptions of tropical parasitic disease before the discovery of the parasites involved. As such they deserved to be recalled here.

Animals↗
PubMed2007

Mitochondrial DNA variation within and among regional populations of longtail macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in relation to other species of the fascicularis group of macaques.

An 835 base pair (bp) fragment of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was sequenced to characterize genetic variation within and among 1,053 samples comprising five regional populations each of longtail macaques (Macaca fascicularis) and rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), and one sample each of Japanese (M. fuscata) and Taiwanese (M. cyclopis) macaques. The mtDNA haplotypes of longtail macaques clustered in two large highly structured clades (Fas1 and Fas2) of a neighbor-joining tree that were reciprocally monophyletic with respect to those representing rhesus macaques, Japanese macaques, and Taiwanese macaques. Both clades exhibited haplotypes of Indonesian and Malaysian longtail macaques widely dispersed throughout them; however, longtail macaques from Indochina, Philippines, and Mauritius each clustered in a separate well-defined clade together with one or a few Malaysian and/or Indonesian longtail macaques, suggesting origins on the Sunda shelf. Longtail macaques from Malaysia and Indonesia were far more genetically diverse, and those from Mauritius were far less diverse than any other population studied. Nucleotide diversity between mtDNA sequences of longtail macaques from different geographic regions is, in some cases, greater than that between Indian and Chinese rhesus macaques. Approximately equal amounts of genetic diversity are due to differences among animals in the same regional population, different regional populations, and different species. A greater proportion of genetic variance was explained by interspecies differences when Japanese and Taiwanese macaques were regarded as regional populations of rhesus macaques than when they were treated as separate species. Rhesus macaques from China were more closely related to both Taiwanese and Japanese macaques than to their own conspecifics from India.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Nucleotide sequence evidence for three distinct sugarcane streak mastreviruses.

The complete sequences of four clones of sugarcane streak virus (SSV) isolates from Egypt and one SSV clone from Reunion island were determined. The four Egyptian genomes were highly similar to one another (97-99% nt identity) and were considered as variants of the same virus. The Egyptian SSV was genetically different from all other mastreviruses, the closest virus being SSV from South-Africa (60% nt identity), and defined as a new mastrevirus species named SSEV. The SSV clone from Reunion was highly related to the SSV from Mauritius and SSV from Nigeria, for which only partial sequences were available, indicating that the three sugarcane streak isolates from Mauritius, Reunion and Nigeria were strains of the same virus tentatively named SSMV. This work further confirms that SSMV is a distinct viral species compared to other mastreviruses, including the SSEV (59% nt identity) and SSV (66% nt identity). By comparing two clones from the Mascarene islands, we correlated substitutions in the C-terminal end of the coat protein with a different response to a monoclonal antibody, providing data on the mapping of a specific epitope. Agroinoculations experiments demonstrated that an SSEV clone induced more severe symptoms on maize than two clones from the Mascarene. Inside the African streak virus cluster, the sugarcane mastrevirus isolates were gathered in a sub-cluster of three viruses, SSEV, SSV and SSMV. The diversity of the SSVs is discussed in relation to its host, sugarcane, an imported crop in Africa.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed2006

Charles-Edouard Brown-Séquard: an eventful life and a significant contribution to the study of the nervous system.

This is an account of the life of a 19th-century physiologist who was born in 1817 in Port-Louis (Mauritius Island, formerly 'Ile de France') and died in Paris in 1894. His mother tongue, education and medical training were French, but as the 'Ile de France' had become British a few years before his birth, he was a British citizen and therefore ineligible for a permanent position in a French institution. This explains, partly at least, his eventful life, during which he restlessly wandered during several decades between France, the United States, Great Britain and Mauritius, without ever finding a position that would satisfy him. This difficult period lasted until 1879 when, having finally acquired French nationality, he succeeded Claude Bernard in the chair of experimental medicine at the 'Collège de France'. Some of his contributions to the physiology of the nervous system are analysed: sensory pathways in the spinal cord, vasoconstrictor innervation, nervous inhibition and experimental epilepsy.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

A review of background findings in cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) from three different geographical origins.

This review was performed to assess variations in background observations in cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis) originating from three breeding centres located in Mauritius, The Philippines and Vietnam. The data and tissue samples from 90 cynomolgus monkeys (approximately evenly distributed between the three sources) comprising the control groups from 11 regulatory toxicology studies were used for this investigation. Clinical data--age, body weight, organ weights, haematology and serum biochemistry--were analyzed. Samples of stomach, colon, kidney, heart, liver, spleen and lung were examined microscopically and graded to characterize the degree of lymphoplasmacytic cell infiltration. The main microscopic origin-related variations concerned the digestive tract, where the lymphoplasmacytic cell infiltration grade was significantly lower (p0.001) in cynomolgus monkeys from Mauritius when compared with those from Asia. Generally, only the antral mucosa of the stomach was infiltrated in cynomolgus monkeys from The Philippines, whereas both the fundic and antral regions were infiltrated in those from Vietnam. The digestive tract infiltration grade was strongly correlated with the mean white blood cell count in monkeys from all three sources. Spiral-shaped bacteria were observed in the stomach of monkeys from all three sources, but their presence did not correlate with the severity of the gastric infiltrate. Helicobacter heilmannii-type bacteria were almost always seen in the fundus, Helicobacter pylori-type bacteria were only occasionally seen in the antral region. The incidences of other microscopic findings, such as urothelial cytoplasmic inclusions or Balantidium coli in the caecum, also varied according to the source of the monkeys. Some variations in relative organ weights, haematology and serum biochemistry were also related to the origin of the monkeys, but these did not correlate with the microscopic findings.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Molecular phylogeny and morphological change in the Psittacula parakeets.

We reconstruct a phylogeny of the African and Asian Psittacula parakeets using approximately 800bp of mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence to examine their evolutionary relationships in reference to their head plumage and major morphological tail innovations. Our phylogeny identifies three groups, whose distinctiveness is also apparent from their possession of three different head plumage characters: a neck ring, a distinctive colouration of the head, and a 'moustache'-shaped pattern that extends from the chin to the cheek. We examine the extent of sexual dimorphism in tail length across the phylogeny and reveal large differences between closely related forms. We apply a range of published avian cytochrome b substitution rates to our data, as an alternative to internal calibration of a molecular clock arising from incomplete paleontological information. An ancestral Psittacula form appears to have evolved during the late Miocene-early Pliocene (3.4-9.7MYA), a time when regional geological processes on the Asian continent may have promoted subsequent diversity at the species level, and many forms diverged relatively early on in the evolutionary history of Psittacula (between 2.5 and 7.7MYA). However, others, such as the derbyan and moustached parakeets, diverged as recently as 0.2MYA. Our phylogeny also suggests that the echo parakeet from Mauritius diverged from the Indian ringneck parakeet as opposed to the African ringneck, and may have done so relatively recently. The molecular results indicate support for a southwards radiation from India across the Indian Ocean to Mauritius, where the arrival-date of the echo parakeet appears consistent with the island's volcanic formation.

Africa↗
PubMed2002

Anti-pig antibody levels in naïve baboons and cynomolgus monkeys.

Anti-pig antibodies (APA) were analysed in serum from 28 naïve wild-caught baboons (originating from Kenya) and 31 naïve captive-bred cynomolgus monkeys (13 from the Philippines and 18 from Mauritius), using a haemolytic assay with pig erythrocytes (APA), flow cytometry on the porcine lymphoma T-cell cell line L35, and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using alpha-Gal type II and type VI antigen. This was extended in baboon samples by the evaluation in two laboratories (Imutran, Cambridge, UK and Immerge, Boston, USA), and by antibody absorption using either immobilized alpha-Gal type II or alpha-Gal type VI. Anti-porcine antibodies were demonstrated in all assays with substantial variability within and between the three non-human primate groups. Immunoglobulin (Ig)M antibody levels tended to be similar to or higher than those in a pooled normal human standard serum while IgG levels tended to be lower. Highest antibody levels were recorded in Mauritius cynomolgus monkeys. There were statistically significant correlations between assays for IgM or IgG class anti-Gal antibodies using either alpha-Gal type II or alpha-Gal type VI as antigen, both for different assays and two laboratories involved. Also, significant correlations were observed between the anti-Gal and L35 binding assays. Baboon sera before and after absorption to immobilized alpha-Gal type II or type VI were analysed for anti-Gal type VI or type II antibody: levels were almost undetectable indicating that most anti-Gal antibodies react to epitopes shared between alpha-Gal type II and type VI oligosaccharides. Finally, the relation between APA and outcome of porcine heart xenotransplantation in cynomolgus monkeys and baboons showed no apparent relation between pre-transplant APA levels and the occurrence of hyperacute rejection (HAR) when compared with non-immunological cause of organ/recipient dysfunction or acute humoral xenograft rejection during the first 4 days post-transplantation or survival exceeding 4 days post-transplantation.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Is leptin sensitivity the link between smoking cessation and weight gain?

The known association between smoking cessation and weight gain, and the suggested role of leptin in the control of body weight, led to the present study which examined the association between smoking and serum leptin concentrations. Mean serum leptin levels, independent of body mass index (BMI), were calculated in male smokers and non-smokers from Nauru, Western Samoa and Mauritius. Smokers were generally leaner than non-smokers, and of similar ages. Levels of physical activity and glucose tolerance status were similar for smokers and non-smokers in Nauru and Western Samoa, while in Mauritius smokers were more active and less likely to be diabetic. Leptin concentrations in smokers were significantly lower than in non-smokers, even after adjusting for BMI, waist/hip ratio (WHR) or waist girth (P < or = 0.04). This association was independent of diabetes status. Smoking, via nicotinic mechanisms, may modify the sensitivity of hypothalamic leptin receptors and consequently modulate leptin synthesis and reduce body weight.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Comparison of genetic diversity of the invasive weed Rubus alceifolius poir. (Rosaceae) in its native range and in areas of introduction, using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers.

Theory predicts that colonization of new areas will be associated with population bottlenecks that reduce within-population genetic diversity and increase genetic differentiation among populations. This should be especially true for weedy plant species, which are often characterized by self-compatible breeding systems and vegetative propagation. To test this prediction, and to evaluate alternative scenarios for the history of introduction, the genetic diversity of Rubus alceifolius was studied with amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers in its native range in southeast Asia and in several areas where this plant has been introduced and is now a serious weed (Indian Ocean islands, Australia). In its native range, R. alceifolius showed great genetic variability within populations and among geographically close populations (populations sampled ranging from northern Vietnam to Java). In Madagascar, genetic variability was somewhat lower than in its native range, but still considerable. Each population sampled in the other Indian Ocean islands (Mayotte, La Réunion, Mauritius) was characterized by a single different genotype of R. alceifolius for the markers studied, and closely related to individuals from Madagascar. Queensland populations also included only a single genotype, identical to that found in Mauritius. These results suggest that R. alceifolius was first introduced into Madagascar, perhaps on multiple occasions, and that Madagascan individuals were the immediate source of plants that colonized other areas of introduction. Successive nested founder events appear to have resulted in cumulative reduction in genetic diversity. Possible explanations for the monoclonality of R. alceifolius in many areas of introduction are discussed.

Genetic Markers↗
PubMed2000

Genetic polymorphism in Xanthomonas albilineans strains originating from 11 geographical locations, revealed by two DNA probes.

Two DNA fragments from Xanthomonas albilineans were used as probes to study the molecular diversity among strains of this pathogen. Two serologically distinct groups, serovars I and II, could be differentiated by hybridization to the probes. These probes, designated 830 and 838, were cloned after subtractive DNA hybridization of common sequences of Xanthomonas campestris pv. vasculorum from a serovar I strain of X. albilineans. They did not hybridize to the DNA of several other xanthomonads or to sugarcane DNA under the conditions of hybridization used. Faint bands were observed upon hybridization of probe 830 with one strain of X. campestris pv. phaseoli. The same banding patterns were obtained with a strain of X. albilineans from Burkina Faso and the serovar II strains of Mauritius. The serovar I strains from Mauritius and two other strains each from Reunion and South Africa had similar pattern.

Africa↗
PubMed2003

Spontaneous squamous cysts and squamous epithelial plaques in the heart of cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis).

Squamous cysts and squamous epithelial plaques were observed in a total of seventeen cynomolgus monkeys. Eleven monkeys had squamous cysts, three of them also revealed squamous plaques and six revealed squamous plaques exclusively. At necropsy, cysts were recognized as yellow-white nodules with a smooth surface, that were located superficially along the interventricular septum, on the surface of the left ventricle or the apex of the heart. Microscopically, cysts were lined by a flattened epithelium and filled with keratin. Occasionally the epithelium was multi-layered or replaced by a rim of foreign body-type multinucleated giant cells. All animals with squamous cysts came from Mauritius, while those with squamous plaques came from Mauritius, China and Vietnam. As discussed in man, squamous cysts and plaques in cynomolgus monkeys are considered to represent displaced foregut epithelium, that was sequestered in the dorsal mesocardium prior to closure of the pleuropericardial fold during early embryologic development.

Animals↗