Vitamin D Status in Women with a History of Infertility and Decreased Fecundability: A Population-Based Study.

Background: Infertility and fecundability problems have been linked with lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations, but studies conducted with small, heterogenous or selected populations have shown inconsistent results.

Methods: This study included women at age 31 from prospective population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966. Serum 25(OH)D concentrations were evaluated between women with or without previous infertility examinations or treatments (infertility group, = 375, reference group, = 2051) and time to pregnancy (TTP) of over 12 months (decreased fecundability group, = 338) with a wide range of confounders.

Sulphonamide inhibition studies of the β-carbonic anhydrase GsaCAβ present in the salmon platyhelminth parasite .

A β-class carbonic anhydrase (CA, EC 4.2.1.

Cloning, purification, kinetic and anion inhibition studies of a recombinant β-carbonic anhydrase from the Atlantic salmon parasite platyhelminth .

A β-class carbonic anhydrase (CA, EC 4.2.1.

The determinants and longitudinal changes in vitamin D status in middle-age: a Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 study.

Purpose: Populations living in the Nordic countries are at high risk for vitamin D (VitD) deficiency or insufficiency. To reduce the risk, nationwide interventions based on food fortification and supplementation are being implemented. However, there is limited evidence about the impact of such public health campaigns on target populations.

Early-onset climacterium is not associated with impaired vitamin D status: a population-based study.

Objective: To investigate vitamin D status in women with the onset of the climacteric phase by age 46 as both early menopause and inadequate vitamin D status may increase the risk of adverse health outcomes.

Methods: A cross-sectional study included 2,544, 46-year-old women from a birth cohort. Women were divided into the following two groups according to their menstrual history and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) concentration: 1) climacteric (FSH ≥25 IU/L and amenorrhea ≥4 mo, n = 351) and 2) preclimacteric women (FSH <25 IU/L and having regular/irregular menstrual cycles, n = 2,193).

New Salinity Tolerant Species of Gyrodactylus (Platyhelminthes, Monogenea) on Intertidal and Supratidal Fish Species from the Chilean Coast.

Purpose: The intertidal and supratidal coastal zone challenges the osmoregulatory capacity of aquatic inhabitants. Four new species of Gyrodactylus ectoparasites on two intertidal fishes from Chile are described based on molecular and morphological analyses.

Methods: Monogeneans were found from two fish species, the clingfish Sicyases sanguineus Müller & Troschel, 1843 and the combtooth blenny Scartichthys viridis Valenciennes, 1836.

Population genomics reveals repeated signals of adaptive divergence in the Atlantic salmon of north-eastern Europe.

Our ability to examine genetic variation across entire genomes has enabled many studies searching for the genetic basis of local adaptation. These studies have identified numerous loci as candidates for differential local selection; however, relatively few have examined the overlap among candidate loci identified from independent studies of the same species in different geographic areas or evolutionary lineages. We used an allelotyping approach with a 220K SNP array to characterize the population genetic structure of Atlantic salmon in north-eastern Europe and ask whether the same genomic segments emerged as outliers among populations in different geographic regions.

Vitamin D Levels in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Population-Based Study.

Background: Conflicting evidence supports a role for vitamin D in women with reproductive disorders such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) but studies on large, unselected populations have been lacking.

Methods: We conducted a general population-based study from the prospective Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (NFBC1966). Serum 25-hydroksyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels were evaluated in women with self-reported PCOS ( = 280) versus non-symptomatic controls ( = 1573) at the age of 31 with wide range of endocrine and metabolic confounders.

Horizontal transmission of the ectoparasite Gyrodactylus arcuatus (Monogenea: Gyrodactylidae) to the next generation of the three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus.

In the parthenogenetic monogeneans of the genus Gyrodactylus Nordmann, 1832, the genetic diversity within or between hosts is determined by the relative roles of lateral transmission and clonal propagation. Clonality and limited transmission lead to high-amplitude metapopulation dynamics and strong genetic drift. In Baltic populations of the three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus Linnaeus, the local mitochondrial diversity of Gyrodactylus arcuatus Bychowsky, 1933 is very high, and spatial differentiation weak.

Genomic signatures of parasite-driven natural selection in north European Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar).

Understanding the genomic basis of host-parasite adaptation is important for predicting the long-term viability of species and developing successful management practices. However, in wild populations, identifying specific signatures of parasite-driven selection often presents a challenge, as it is difficult to unravel the molecular signatures of selection driven by different, but correlated, environmental factors. Furthermore, separating parasite-mediated selection from similar signatures due to genetic drift and population history can also be difficult.

Increasing ambulatory pulse pressure predicts the development of left ventricular hypertrophy during long-term follow-up.

Ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) has been shown to have an association with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). We evaluated the association between ABP characteristics and the development of LVH during long-term follow-up (20 years) in 420 middle-aged subjects from OPERA cohort. ABP measurements (ABPM) were recorded and echocardiographic examinations were performed at baseline and revisit.

Ambulatory Pulse Pressure Predicts the Development of Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction in Over 20 Years of Follow-up.

Background: Ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) has been shown to have an association with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) in cross-sectional assessments. We evaluated the association between ABP measurement (ABPM) and the development of LVDD during over 20 years of follow up in 414 middle-aged subjects from OPERA cohort.

Methods: ABPM, clinical, and anthropometric measurements were performed in baseline.

Cardiac Remodeling from Middle Age to Senescence.

The data on cardiac remodeling outside the scope of myocardial infarction and heart failure are limited. A cohort of middle-aged hypertensive subjects with age- and gender-matched control subjects without hypertension ( = 1,045, aged 51 ± 6 years) were randomly selected for the OPERA study (Oulu Project Elucidating Risk of Atherosclerosis study). The majority of those who were still alive after more than 20 years of follow-up underwent thorough re-examinations.

Ancient and modern genome shuffling: Reticulate mito-nuclear phylogeny of four related allopatric species of Gyrodactylus von Nordmann, 1832 (Monogenea: Gyrodactylidae), ectoparasites on the Eurasian minnow Phoxinus phoxinus (L.) (Cyprinidae).

Phylogenetic analyses including four allopatric species of Gyrodactylus von Nordmann, 1832 on the Eurasian minnow Phoxinus phoxinus (L.) (Cyprinidae) revealed incongruence between the nuclear ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 and mitochondrial cox1 phylogenies due to ancient hybridisation.

Genetic gradient of a host-parasite pair along a river persisted ten years against physical mobility: Baltic Salmo salar vs. Gyrodactylus salaris.

The Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., in the Tornio River in the Northern Baltic Sea basin accommodates a monogenean ectoparasite, Gyrodactylus salaris. The aim of the study was to understand the population structure of apparently co-adapted host-parasite system: no parasite-associated mortality has been reported.

Displaced phylogeographic signals from Gyrodactylus arcuatus, a parasite of the three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus, suggest freshwater glacial refugia in Europe.

We examined the global mitochondrial phylogeography of Gyrodactylus arcuatus, a flatworm ectoparasite of three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus. In accordance with the suggested high divergence rate of 13%/million years, the genetic variation of the parasite was high: haplotype diversity h=0.985 and nucleotide diversity π=0.

Occurrence and morphogenetic characteristics of Gyrodactylus (Monogenea: Gyrodactylidae) from a rainbow trout farm (Lake Ladoga, Russia).

Gyrodactylus parasite infected juveniles on rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum, 1792) from a fish farm in Lake Ladoga were investigated. The observed cases of infection in fish featured a high prevalence, when almost all of the fish were infected. However, if an outbreak of the monogenean infection is observed in spring, the intensity of the infection may be low, and when the infection occurs in the ice-covered period (late autumn - winter), the number of parasites on the fins of a single fish may exceed 3000 specimens.

Predictors of Development of Echocardiographic Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction in the Subjects Aged 40 to 59 Years (from the Oulu Project Elucidating Risk of Atherosclerosis Study).

Factors in the middle age that are associated with the risk for development of diastolic dysfunction in long term are not fully established. The Oulu Project Elucidating Risk of Atherosclerosis OPERA study randomly selected middle-aged subjects with hypertension and age- and gender-matched control subjects (n = 1,045, age 51 ± 6 years, men 49.8%).

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D is associated with major cardiovascular risk factors and cardiac structure and function in patients with coronary artery disease.

Background And Aims: Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with increased risk for cardiovascular (CV) disease, but the possible effects of Vitamin D on cardiac structure and function are not well characterized.

Methods And Results: The correlation between 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and metabolic and cardiac echocardiographic parameters was studied in ARTEMIS study population including 831diabetic and 659 non-diabetic patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD). Low levels of Vitamin D were associated with high BMI (p < 0.

Footprints of directional selection in wild Atlantic salmon populations: evidence for parasite-driven evolution?

Mechanisms of host-parasite co-adaptation have long been of interest in evolutionary biology; however, determining the genetic basis of parasite resistance has been challenging. Current advances in genome technologies provide new opportunities for obtaining a genome-scale view of the action of parasite-driven natural selection in wild populations and thus facilitate the search for specific genomic regions underlying inter-population differences in pathogen response. European populations of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.

A new Gyrodactylus strain on brown trout (Salmo trutta) in Jänisjärvi, Russian Karelia, and a literature revision of salmonid parasites of the genus Gyrodactylus in North-Western Russia and adjacent areas.

A Gyrodactylus parasite infected juveniles of brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) in a hatchery in Lake Janisjarvi, Russian Karelia. Molecular identification by ITS1-5.

Temporal variation of genetic composition in Atlantic salmon populations from the Western White Sea Basin: influence of anthropogenic factors?

Background: Studies of the temporal patterns of population genetic structure assist in evaluating the consequences of demographic and environmental changes on population stability and persistence. In this study, we evaluated the level of temporal genetic variation in 16 anadromous and 2 freshwater salmon populations from the Western White Sea Basin (Russia) using samples collected between 1995 and 2008. To assess whether the genetic stability was affected by human activity, we also evaluated the effect of fishing pressure on the temporal genetic variation in this region.

A monogenean fish parasite, Gyrodactylus chileani n. sp., belonging to a novel marine species lineage found in the South-Eastern Pacific and the Mediterranean and North Seas.

Gyrodactylus chileani n. sp. is the first Gyrodactylus species reported from Chile.

High Gyrodactylus salaris infection rate in triploid Atlantic salmon Salmo salar.

We describe an unusually high infection rate of Gyrodactylus salaris Malmberg in juvenile Atlantic salmon Salmo salar L. of Baltic Sea origin, which are generally believed to be more resistant to G. salaris than East Atlantic salmon populations.