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The protracted conflict in Aceh has inflicted significant damage upon the region's social and educational infrastructure, engendering an urgent imperative for the integration of peace education within educational institutions. This article aims to discuss the urgency of peace education in Aceh's educational institutions. A qualitative research methodology, employing a literature study approach, was adopted, gathering and analyzing data from various relevant sources to gain a comprehensive understanding. This study showed that peace education is not only critical for post-conflict recovery but also essential in shaping the attitudes of tolerance and conflict understanding among the youth. This need is underscored by Aceh's conflict history and its enduring impact on society. The article concludes that peace education is an urgent requirement in Aceh's schools, with the potential to equip students with knowledge and attitudes supportive of sustained peace and future violence prevention. Investment in peace education in Aceh is vital for regional stability and serves as a potential global model for post-conflict peacebuilding.

This article aims to describe the education bureaucracy as a tool to achieve the objectives of education through a qualitative approach to the literature study model. The data in this paper is sourced from relevant literature and the author's experience while active in educational activities. The results of this study indicate that the bureaucracy in the form of educational administration has changed to an iron cage that shackles the educational activity itself. The delivery of education loses its orientation and turns into ceremonial routines to meet the demands of the bureaucracy. Various training, capacity building, and teacher competence have been done, but they have not significantly changed the face of education. Iron cage bureaucracy makes teachers "appear" to be developing their competence, but in fact, they are meeting the demands of the bureaucracy. Education must come out of the iron cage bureaucracy by reducing all administrative aspects that bind the noble activities of education. Bureaucracy is a human creation, so bureaucracy should be subject to humans and not humans who are subject to the will of the bureaucracy. Artikel ini bertujuan mendeskripsikan birokrasi pendidikan sebagai alat untuk mencapai tujuan penyelenggaraan pendidikan melalui pendekatan kualitatif dengan model studi literatur. Data dalam tulisan ini bersumber dari literatur yang relevan dan pengalaman penulis selama aktif dalam aktivitas pendidikan. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahwa birokrasi dalam bentuk administrasi pendidikan berubah menjadi “kerangkeng besi” yang membelenggu aktivitas pendidikan itu sendiri. Penyelenggaraan pendidikan kehilangan orientasinya dan berubah menjadi rutinitas seremonial demi memenuhi tuntutan birokrasi. Beragam pelatihan dan peningkatan kapasitas maupun kompetensi guru dalam dunia pendidikan telah dilakukan, namun belum mampu mengubah wajah pendidikan secara signifikan. Kontrol birokrasi membuat para guru “terlihat” sedang mengembangkan kompetensinya, padahal sejatinya sedang memenuhi tuntutan birokrasi. Untuk itu, pendidikan harus keluar dari “jerat birokrasi” dengan cara mereduksi semua aspek administratif yang membelenggu aktivitas mulia pendidikan. Birokrasi adalah hasil ciptaan manusia, maka seharusnya birokrasi tunduk pada manusia dan bukan manusia yang tunduk pada kehendak birokrasi.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is an airborne disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). The world is currently facing challenges due to the spread of anti-tuberculosis drug-resistant of M. tuberculosis. Isoniazid-resistant (INH), is one of the first-line anti-tuberculosis agents that has a high resistance case. This study used Multiplex allele-specific Polymerase Chain Reaction (MAS-PCR) to detect the most common mutations associated with isoniazid resistance on inhA, katG, and ahpC gene., Methods: This study used samples from clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis which had been tested for their antibiotic sensitivity of first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs. The DNA extraction process was carried out using the boiling method and then amplified with specific primers for inhA, katG, and ahpC genes using the MAS-PCR method. The results are then read on the electrophoretic gel with an interpretation of the mutation gene when the target gene DNA bands were absent according to the allele-specific fragments target., Results: A total of 200 isolates were tested in this study consisting of isoniazid-resistant and susceptible with the largest distribution of Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) isolates with a total of 146 isolates (73%). The most significant gene mutation was on the ahpC gene in 61 isolates (30,5%) and the combination mutation of the katG + ahpC gene in 52 isolates (26%) with sensitivity and specificity of the test reaching 87% and 42% for the detection of INH-resistant., Conclusion: Mutation on the ahpC gene has the highest percentage in this study. AhpC gene can be considered one of the essential genes to be tested for the cause of isoniazid-resistant. Using MAS-PCR for detecting gene mutation in isoniazid-resistant was simple and easy, it has the potential to be widely used as a rapid screening molecular test., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: Iron deficiency can impair immune function, increasing tuberculosis (TB) susceptibility and severity. The research aimed to investigate iron deficiency anemia in TB patients and household contacts and its association with natural resistance-associated macrophage protein 1 (NRAMP1) polymorphism and expression., Methods: The levels of iron, ferritin, and transferrin were measured in the serum by ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay). NRAMP1 polymorphisms were determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing. NRAMP1 gene expression was measured by real-time PCR. Interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) checked on household contacts to screen household contacts with positive IGRA as the control., Results: This study involved 35 TB cases and 35 TB contacts. The results showed that the serum Fe levels were found to be lower in the TB case group (median 149.6 μmol/L) than in the positive IGRA household contacts group (median 628.53 μmol/L) with a p-value <0.001. Meanwhile, ferritin levels in TB cases tended to be higher, in contrast to transferrin, which was found to tend to be lower in TB cases than household contacts but did not show a significant difference. This study found no association between the polymorphism of exon 15 D543 and active TB. However, NRAMP1 gene expression was lower in TB cases than in positive IGRA household contacts (p = 0.011). Besides, there was a positive correlation between NRAMP1 gene expression and serum Fe levels (r = 0.367, p = 0.006). TB was associated with decreased NRAMP1 gene expression (OR 0.086 95% CI 0.02-0.366, p = 0.001). Besides, TB was associated with low Fe levels (OR 0.533 95% CI 0.453-0.629, p < 0.001)., Conclusion: Comparing the TB case to the household contacts group, decreased serum Fe levels were discovered in the TB case group. This study also shows a correlation of NRAMP1 gene expression to Fe levels in TB patients and household contacts and describes that TB may lead to decreased Fe levels by downregulating NRAMP1 expression., (© 2023 The Authors. The Clinical Respiratory Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Studies on miRNA highlight its significance as an immunomarker for several diseases, including tuberculosis. This study aimed to determine the difference between miR-425-5p and miR-4523 expressions in patients with active pulmonary TB (PTB), latent TB infection (LTBI), and lymph node TB (LNTB), whose diagnosis remains challenging., Methods: This case-control study was performed on blood samples obtained from 23 patients with PTB, 21 with LTBI, 21 with LNTB, and 25 healthy controls (HC). miRNA hsa-miR-425-5p and hsa-miR-4523 expression levels were measured by RT-qPCR. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 25.0., Results: RT-qPCR showed that hsa-mir-425-5p and hsa-mir-4523 expression levels were significantly different among the four groups (PTB, LTBI, LNTB, and HCs). The hsa-mir-425-5p miRNA expression level in LNTB was higher than that in LTBI (p = 0.003). Meanwhile, the hsa-mir-4523 miRNA expression was downregulated in PTB and LNTB than in LTBI (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.015, respectively). The ROC analysis of a single sample showed that only mir-4523 could discriminate LTBI and HCs, with an AUC of 0.829 (p < 0.001). The ROC curve of each miRNA was further analyzed after logistic regression by adjusting for sex and age. The combination of both miRNAs was also analyzed. The model that analyzed the combination of both miRNAs after adjusting for age had the best performance in differentiating LNTB from LTBI, with an AUC of 0.97 (p < 0.001) ., Conclusion: miRNA hsa-mir-425-5p was upregulated and miRNA hsa-mir-4523 was downregulated in PTB and LNTB than in LTBI., Competing Interests: All authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is an inflammatory mediator in several diseases, including tuberculosis (TB). However, the role of MIF in each stage of TB remains to be further elucidated. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the differences in plasma MIF protein levels in patients with active pulmonary TB, positive and negative interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) household contacts (HHCs), and healthy controls (HCs). Plasma MIF concentration was significantly higher in patients with active-new pulmonary tuberculosis (ATB) and HHCs compared with HCs (mean ± standard deviation: 17.32 ± 16.85, 16.29 ± 14.21, and 7.29 ± 5.39 ng/mL, respectively; P  = 0.002). The plasma MIF concentration was not statistically different when compared between patients with ATB, IGRA-positive HHCs (17.44 ± 16.6 ng/mL), and IGRA-negative HHCs (14.34 ± 8.7 ng/mL) ( P  = 0.897). In conclusion, ATB patients, IGRA-positive HHCs, and IGRA-negative HHCs have a higher MIF concentration than HCs. This shows the involvement of MIF in each stage of TB, starting from TB exposure and infection, but not symptomatic, to the active stage.

Introduction: This study aimed to perform mutation and phylogenetic analyses of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Delta variants and analyze the characteristic signs and symptoms of patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant originated from Makassar during the Delta outbreak.Methods: We collected samples from patients who were infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) between June and October 2021. We selected the Quantitative Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-positive samples with a cycle threshold value of <30 for whole genome sequencing. Total viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) was isolated from 34 PCR-positive nasopharyngeal swab samples, and whole genome sequencing was performed using the Oxford Nanopore GridlON sequencer. Phylogenetic and maximum clade credibility analyses were performed using the Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo method., Results: It was found that 33 patients were infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in this cohort study, among whom 63.6% (21) patients were female. According to the clinical data, 24 (72.7%), 7 (21.2%), and 2 (6.1%) patients had mild, moderate, and severe COVID-19 infections. Phylogenetic analysis based on the spike and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) genes showed that the collected samples were clustered in the main lineage of B.1.617.2 (Delta variant). The Delta variants had a high frequency of distinct mutations in the spike protein region, including T19R (94.12%), L452R (88.23%), T478K (91.17%), D614G (97%), P681R (97%), and D950 N (97%). Other unique mutations found in a smaller frequency in our samples were present in the N-terminal domain, including A27T (2.94%) and A222V (14.70%), and in the receptor-binding domain, including Q414K (5.88%), G446V (2.94%), and T470 N (2.94%)., Conclusion: This study revealed the unique mutations in the S protein region of Delta variants. T19R, L452R, T478K/T478R, D614G, P681R, and D950 N were the most common substitutions in Makassar's Delta variant., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2023 The Authors.)

The impact of SARS-CoV-2 infections upon Indonesian health care workers (HCWs) is unknown due to the lack of systematic collection and analysis of mortality data specific to HCWs in this setting. This report details the results of a systematic compilation, abstraction and analysis of HCW fatalities in Indonesia during the first 18 months of COVID-19. HCW who passed away between March 2020 and July 2021 were identified using Pusara Digital, a community-based digital cemetery database dedicated to HCW. We calculated the mortality rates and death risk ratio of HCWs versus the general population. The analysis indicates that at least 1,545 HCWs died during the study period. Death rates among males and females HCWs were nearly equivalent (51% vs. 49%). The majority were physicians and specialists (535, 35%), nurses (428, 28%), and midwives (359, 23%). Most deaths occurred between the ages of 40 to 59 years old, with the median age being 50 years (IQR: 39-59). At least 322 deaths (21%) occurred with pre-existing conditions, including 45 pregnant women. During the first 18 months of COVID-19 in Indonesia, we estimated a minimum HCW mortality rate of 1.707 deaths per 1,000 HCWs. The provincial rates of HCW mortality ranged from 0.136 (West Sulawesi) to 5.32 HCW deaths per 1,000 HCWs (East Java). The HCW mortality rate was significantly higher than that of the general population (RR = 4.92, 95% CI 4.67-5.17). The COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia resulted in the loss of many hundreds of HCWs, the majority of whom were senior healthcare workers. The HCW mortality rate is five times that of the general population. A national systematic surveillance of occupational mortality is urgently needed in this setting., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2022 Ekawati et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: Diagnosis and management of latent tuberculosis (TB) infections are one of the challenges of eradicating pulmonary TB. A critical aspect of controlling pulmonary TB spread is early diagnosis. One TB biological marker type under evaluation is microRNAs (miRNAs). Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection causes epigenetic changes. The upregulation of miRNA-29a-3p suppresses the immune response by post-transcriptionally inhibiting interferon ( INF )- γ expression in T cells, increasing susceptibility to pulmonary TB. This study aimed to assess miRNA-29a-3p expression as a biomarker of active and latent pulmonary TB infection., Methods: This case-control study included 50 individuals with active TB, 33 household contacts with a positive IFN- γ release assay (IGRA), and 30 healthy controls. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-based IGRA was used to determine latent pulmonary TB infection in household contacts. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to quantify miRNA-29a-3p expression. Data analysis used analyses of variance and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves., Results: miRNA-29a-3p expression differed significantly between active TB, latent TB, and healthy participants (controls; p = <0.001. ROC curve analysis showed that miRNA-29a-3p expression had 86% sensitivity and 73% specificity with an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.763 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.668-0.858). The miRNA-29a-3p ROC curve had 84.8% sensitivity and 70% specificity with an AUC of 0.808 (95% CI: 0.698-0.919) for latent TB. Additionally, miRNA-29a-3p expression was significantly correlated with active ( p  < 0.0001) and latent ( p  < 0.0001) pulmonary TB. However, miRNA-29a-3p expression was not significantly correlated with INF-γ levels in patients with active (R = 0.005; p  = 0.62) and latent (R = 0.010; p  = 0.38) pulmonary TB or healthy controls (R = 0.060; p  = 0.19)., Conclusion: miRNA-29a-3p expression was increased in patients with active and latent pulmonary TB. Therefore, miRNA-29a-3p represents a potential biomarker for latent and active pulmonary TB. However, IFN-γ levels were not correlated with miR-29a-3p expression., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of IJS Publishing Group Ltd.)

Introduction: A global surge in SARS-CoV-2 cases is occurring due to the emergence of new disease variants, and requires continuous adjustment of public health measures. This study aims to continuously monitor and mitigate the impact of SARS-CoV-2 through genomic surveillance, to determine the emergence of variants and their impact on public health., Methods: Data were collected from 50 full-genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 isolates from Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Mutation and phylogenetic analysis was performed of SARS-CoV-2 from Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia., Results: Phylogenetic analysis showed that two samples (4%) were of the B.1.319 lineage, while the others (96%) were of the B.1.466.2 lineage. Mutation analysis of the spike (S) protein region showed that the most common mutation was D614G (found in 100% of the sequenced isolates), followed by N439K (98%) and P681R (76%). Several mutations were also identified in other genomes with a high frequency, including P323L (nsp12), Q57H (ns3-orf3a), and T205I (nucleoprotein)., Conclusion: Our findings highlight the importance of continuous genomic surveillance to identify new viral mutations and variants with possible impacts on public health., Competing Interests: The authors declare there are no competing interests, (©2022 Massi et al.)

Background: Diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) in the era of technological sophistication requires accuracy and speed to provide as much information as possible so that TB treatment can be carried out quickly and precisely. New studies have also begun to be carried out to diagnose TB, one of which is by examining genes, either by looking at polymorphisms, mutations, or expressions. Several previous studies have confirmed the association of MC3R and TB genes with polymorphisms; MC3R is a gene that participates in the regulation of the inflammatory process and is also found in macrophages; therefore, we tried to analyze gene expression in the active TB group, household contacts, and healthy controls for looked at the differences between the three groups and confirmed the correlation of MC3R with TB by seeing which group's gene expression increased the most expression of the three groups so that the results can be considered as a TB diagnostic biomarker in the future., Methods: This study included 122 people, 49 patients with confirmed TB, 46 close relatives of patients, and 27 healthy controls. This study used a real-time PCR technique to analyze MC3R gene expression in the three groups, and all data were analyzed using Bio-Rad CFXTM software version 3.1 and one-way ANOVA using SPSS 21.0., Results: The value of MC3R gene expression in the active TB group increased 3.6-fold in the healthy group ( p  = 0.143), and that of gene expression in the healthy control group increased 1.09-fold in the healthy group ( p  = 0.007)., Conclusion: There is a relationship between MC3R and TB based on the results of gene expression analysis that increased in the active TB group compared to the household contact group and healthy controls., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© The Author(s) 2022.)

We analzyed the hollow ratio of tree trunks, tree hole parameters, and its distribution characteristics among different DBH and tree height classes in a long-term monitoring plots of Populus euphratica forest at the Argan section in the lower reaches of Tarim River. The results showed that P. euphratica in the study area had a high hollow ratio, in that trees with hollowness accounted for 56% of the total individuals, with a absolute value of 159 tree·hm -2 . The hollow ratio of P. euphratica showed significant difference among different DBH classes and tree height classes. The hollow ratio was positively correlated with DBH, and negatively correlated with tree height. The density of P. euphratica with hollowness was 560 ind·hm -2 and 2 ind·tree -1 . Most of tree holes appeared on the tree trunk (57.1%) and mainly in the middle of the trunk (31.3%). The hole with a diameter of 5-15 cm accounted for the largest proportion (38.2%). The total number of tree holes, the number of tree holes per tree, and the diameter of holes were positively correlated with DBH and negatively correlated with tree height. The distribution of different tree hole types among different DBH classes and tree height classes was different, with inconsistent changing trends. The distribution of tree holes showed significant difference acorss orientations, with most of which mainly toward the west. The occurrence rate of tree hollow in P. euphratica desert riparian forest was more serious. The larger the DBH of poplar tree was, the more obvious the degree of hollow. Therefore, it is of great significance to strengthen the conservation of young poplar trees and to restore degraded desert riparian forests.

Background: In recent years, accumulating studies have found that circular RNA (circRNA) exerts a great effect on tumor progression. Circ&#95;0000215, a novel circRNA, remains largely unknown in terms of its effect and mechanism in glioma., Method: Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was carried out to detect the expressions of circ&#95;0000215, miR-495-3p and CXCR2 in human glial cell line HEB and glioma cell lines (A172, U251, U87, SHG-44, LN-18), human glioma tissues and adjacent healthy tissues. Gain- and loss-assays of circ&#95;0000215 were conducted. Cell proliferation ability was detected via the CCK8 assay, and cell invasion ability was examined by Transwell assay. CXCR2 expression was evaluated via RT-PCR and Western blot. Moreover, bioinformatics was applied to analyze the targeting molecules of circ&#95;0000215 and CXCR2. Verification of the relationship between these molecules were supported through the dual-luciferase reporter gene and RNA immunocoprecipitation (RIP) assay., Results: Circ&#95;0000215 and CXCR2 were remarkably upregulated in glioma tissues and cells. Overexpression of circ&#95;0000215 notably promoted the proliferation, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) but inhibited apoptosis of glioma cells, while knocking down circ&#95;0000215 had the opposite effects. Additionally, miR-495-3p, a sponge RNA of circ&#95;0000215, inhibited the growth, invasion and EMT of glioma cells. Mechanistically, miR-495-3p targeted CXCR2 and negatively regulated CXCR2/PI3K/Akt pathway. However, the effects of miR-495-3p were all dampened by overexpression of circ&#95;0000215., Conclusion: These data demonstrated that circ&#95;0000215 functions as a competitive endogenous RNA by sponging miR-495-3p, thus accelerating glioma progression through CXCR2 axis.

Ethylene-Responsive Factors (ERFs) are plant-specific transcription factors (TFs) involved in multiple biological processes, especially in abiotic stress tolerance. However, the ERFs from woody halophytes that are involved in salt stress have been little studied. In the present investigation, we characterized a subfamily member of ERF TFs from Tamarix hispida, ThCRF1, which responds to salt stress. ThCRF1 is a nuclear protein that binds to the motifs including TTG, DRE and GCC-box. Transient transformation was performed to generate T. hispida overexpressing ThCRF1 and RNA interference (RNAi)-silenced ThCRF1 to analyze its function using gain- and loss-of-function methods. Overexpression of ThCRF1 in T. hispida significantly improved tolerance to salt-shock-induced stress; by contrast, RNAi-silence of ThCRF1 significantly decreased tolerance to salt-shock-induced stress. Further experiments showed that ThCRF1 induces the expression of genes including those encoding pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase (P5CS), trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TPS), trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase (TPP), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD), which lead to enhanced proline and trehalose levels and increased SOD and POD activities. These results were further confirmed by studying transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing ThCRF1. Therefore, the results suggested that ThCRF1 improves tolerance to salt-shock-induced stress by enhancing trehalose and proline biosynthesis to adjust the osmotic potential, and by improving SOD and POD activities to increase reactive oxygen species scavenging capability., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this paper, topsoil salinity data gathered from 24 sampling sites in the Yutian Oasis were used, nine different kinds of environmental variables closely related to soil salinity were selec-ted as influencing factors, then, the spatial distribution characteristics of topsoil salinity and spatial heterogeneity of influencing factors were analyzed by combining the spatial autocorrelation with traditional regression analysis and geographically weighted regression model. Results showed that the topsoil salinity in Yutian Oasis was not of random distribution but had strong spatial dependence, and the spatial autocorrelation index for topsoil salinity was 0.479. Groundwater salinity, groundwater depth, elevation and temperature were the main factors influencing topsoil salt accumulation in arid land oases and they were spatially heterogeneous. The nine selected environmental variables except soil pH had significant influences on topsoil salinity with spatial disparity. GWR model was superior to the OLS model on interpretation and estimation of spatial non-stationary data, also had a remarkable advantage in visualization of modeling parameters.

Setting: Patients with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) visiting government TB diagnostic and treatment centres in Makassar City, South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia, from February to October 2008 were included in the study., Objective: To determine the distribution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis genotypes in Makassar., Design: Cross-sectional study. Spoligotyping, mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units-variable number of tandem repeats (MIRU-VNTR) and principal genetic grouping (PGG) were used to genotype the M. tuberculosis clinical isolates., Results: Among 179 isolates derived from pulmonary TB patients, distribution of spoligotypes comprised the East Africa-Indian (30.2%), T (17.9%), H (12.3%) and Beijing (9.5%) lineages. Other lineages found in smaller proportions were the Latin American-Mediterranean, MANU, S and X lineages. Nineteen isolates (10.6%) could not be grouped into any of the reported lineages or shared types. Single nucleotide polymorphism analysis of katG(463) and gyrA(95) grouped these isolates primarily into PGG1 (9/19, 47%)., Conclusion: Only a few genetically identical clustered isolates were identified within the 9-month study period, and most isolates were genetically diverse. Furthermore, 15 spoligopatterns identified in our study have not been reported previously. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study describing genotypes of M. tuberculosis clinical isolates in Sulawesi.

Setting: Government tuberculosis (TB) diagnostic and treatment centres, Makassar, Indonesia., Objective: To determine the proportions and patterns of resistance to commonly used TB drugs (isoniazid [INH], rifampicin, ethambutol and streptomycin) among pulmonary TB patients and assess potential risk factors for drug resistance., Design: Cross-sectional study., Results: Of 657 recruited patients, 234 were culture-positive. Drug susceptibility testing (DST) results were available for 216 patients. Among these, 197 were infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (145 new and 52 previously treated). Isolates from 89 new (61.4%) and 31 previously treated (59.6%) patients were susceptible to all four drugs. Resistance to INH was high among both patient groups (28.3% of new vs. 34.6% of previously treated). Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) cases accounted for respectively 4.1% and 19.2% of these patients. Resistance to >2 drugs was high among previously treated patients (19.2%). MDR-TB cases were more likely to have a history of excess alcohol use (adjusted OR 4.01, 95%CI 1.28-12.53) and previous TB treatment (adjusted OR 6.28, 95%CI 2.01-19.64)., Conclusions: Regardless of previous treatment history, many culture-positive TB patients were infected with INH-resistant isolates, and a significant proportion of previously treated patients were infected with MDR-TB. Treating culture-positive TB patients, especially previously treated patients, based on DST results should therefore be considered.

Y chromosome acts as a single nonrecombining unit that is male specific and in effect haploid, thus ensuring the preservation of mutational events as a single haplotype via male lines. In this study, 6 Y chromosome-specific microsatellites (SSR) were tested for the patrilineal genetic variations of 573 male samples from Chinese domestic horse (30 breeds), Przewalski's horse, and donkey. All the 6 loci appeared as a haplotype block in Przewalski's horse and the domestic donkey. There were notable differences, however, at Y chromosome markers between horse and donkey. There were 2 haplotypes of Eca.YA16 in the domestic horse breeds, Haplotype A (Allele A: 156 bp) and Haplotype B (Allele B: 152 bp). Allele A was the common allele among 30 horse breeds, and Allele B was found in 11 horse breeds. This is the first description of a Y chromosome variant for horses. The 2 haplotypes of Y chromosome discovered in the domestic horse breeds in China could be helpful in unveiling their intricate genetic genealogy.

To illustrate phylogeography of red deer (Cervus elaphus) populations of Xinjiang, we determined their mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences, and then investigated geographic variations and phylogenetic relationships between Xinjiang populations and other populations from Asia, Europe, and North America. The C. elaphus mtDNA control region shared different copy numbers of tandem repeats of 38 to 43-bp motifs which clearly distinguished the Western lineage from the Eastern lineage of this species in Eurasia. The western lineage comprised the Tarim populations from southern Xinjiang and the European populations, all of which had four copies of the motifs. By contrast, the Eastern lineage consisted of populations from northern Xinjiang (Tianshan and Altai Mountains), other Asian areas (Alashan, Gansu, Tibet, Mongolia, and northeastern China), and North America, all of which shared six copies of the motifs. MtDNA phylogenetic trees showed that there are two major clusters of haplotypes which referred to the Western and Eastern lineages, and that subgroupings of haplotypes in each cluster were congruent with their geographic distributions. The present study revealed that a boundary separating the Western lineage from the Eastern lineage occurs between Tarim Basin and Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang. Meanwhile, North American populations were genetically closer to those of northern Xinjiang, northeastern China, and Mongolia, supporting that C. elaphus immigrated from northeastern Eurasia to North America through the glacier-induced land-bridge (Beringia) which had formed between the two continents after Late Pleistocene.