A Global Meta-analysis of the Immigrant Mortality Advantage

2021 ◽  
pp. 019791832199634
Author(s):  
Eran Shor ◽  
David Roelfs
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Selection Effects ◽  
Healthy Immigrant Effect ◽  
Migration Literature ◽  
Working Age ◽  
Contradictory Evidence ◽  
Immigrant Effect

A large body of research on the “Healthy Immigrant Effect” (or “Paradox”) has reported an immigrant mortality advantage. However, other studies do not find such significant effects, and some even present contradictory evidence. This article is the first systematic meta-analysis that investigates the immigration-mortality relationship from a global perspective, examining 1,933 all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risk estimates from 103 publications. Our comprehensive analysis allows us to assess interactions between origin and destination regions and to reexamine, on a global scale, some of the most notable explanations for the immigrant mortality advantage, including suggestions that this paradox may be primarily the result of selection effects. We find evidence for the existence of a mild immigrant mortality advantage for working-age individuals. However, the relationship holds only for immigrants who moved between certain world regions, particularly those who immigrated from Northern Africa, Asia, and Southern Europe to richer countries. The results highlight the need in the broader migration literature for an increased focus on selection effects and on outcomes for people who chose not to migrate or who were denied entry into their planned destination country.

scholarly journals Independent evolution towards larger body size in the distinctive Faroe Island mice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Wilches ◽  
William H Beluch ◽  
Ellen McConnell ◽  
Diethard Tautz ◽  
Yingguang Frank Chan
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Laboratory Mouse ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Island Population ◽  
Multiple Loci

Abstract Most phenotypic traits in nature involve the collective action of many genes. Traits that evolve repeatedly are particularly useful for understanding how selection may act on changing trait values. In mice, large body size has evolved repeatedly on islands and under artificial selection in the laboratory. Identifying the loci and genes involved in this process may shed light on the evolution of complex, polygenic traits. Here, we have mapped the genetic basis of body size variation by making a genetic cross between mice from the Faroe Islands, which are among the largest and most distinctive natural populations of mice in the world, and a laboratory mouse strain selected for small body size, SM/J. Using this F2 intercross of 841 animals, we have identified 111 loci controlling various aspects of body size, weight and growth hormone levels. By comparing against other studies, including the use of a joint meta-analysis, we found that the loci involved in the evolution of large size in the Faroese mice were largely independent from those of a different island population or other laboratory strains. We hypothesize that colonization bottleneck, historical hybridization, or the redundancy between multiple loci have resulted in the Faroese mice achieving an outwardly similar phenotype through a distinct evolutionary path.

Economic Development of Origin-countries, Life-stage at Immigration, and Length of Residence Effects on Psychological Distress

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 583-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirin Montazer
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Healthy Immigrant Effect ◽  
Length Of Residence ◽  
Chronic Stressors ◽  
Level Of Economic Development ◽  
Immigrant Effect

This article reexamines the healthy immigrant effect in mental health—as measured by psychological distress—by incorporating the modifying roles of the level of economic development of origin-country and life-stage at arrival among a sample of immigrants to Toronto, Canada—as compared to the native-born. The analytic sample included 2,157 adults, of which 31 percent were immigrants. Multivariate results point to a healthy immigrant effect in distress, but only among immigrants from less developed origin-countries who migrated to Canada in mid-adulthood (between 25 and 34 years of age). Further, this health advantage deteriorates with increase in length of residence only among this group of migrants, in large part because of an increase in chronic stressors. Immigrants from more developed origin-countries do not experience a healthy immigrant effect, as compared to the native-born, nor an increase in distress with tenure in Canada, irrespective of the life-stage at immigration.

scholarly journals The unique coding sequence ofpmoCABoperon from type Ia methanotrophs simultaneously optimizes transcription and translation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan C. Villada ◽  
Maria F. Duran ◽  
Patrick K. H. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Methane Oxidation ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Nucleotide Composition ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Translation Efficiency ◽  
Coding Sequences ◽  
Coding Sequence ◽  
Conserved Sequence ◽  
Type Ia ◽  
Optimal Resource

Understanding the interplay between genotype and phenotype is a fundamental goal of functional genomics. Methane oxidation is a microbial phenotype with global-scale significance as part of the carbon biogeochemical cycle, and is a sink for greenhouse gas. Microorganisms that oxidize methane (methanotrophs) are taxonomically diverse and widespread around the globe. Recent reports have suggested that type Ia methanotrophs are the most prevalent methane-oxidizing bacteria in different environments. In methanotrophic bacteria, complete methane oxidation is encoded in four operons (pmoCAB, mmoXYZBCD, mxaFI, andxoxF), but how evolution has shaped these genes to execute methane oxidation remains poorly understood. Here, we used a genomic meta-analysis to investigate the coding sequences that encode methane oxidation. By analyzing isolate and metagenome-assembled genomes from phylogenetically and geographically diverse sources, we detected an anomalous nucleotide composition bias in the coding sequences of particulate methane monooxygenase genes (pmoCAB) from type Ia methanotrophs around the globe. We found that this was a highly conserved sequence that optimizes codon usage in order to maximize translation efficiency and accuracy, while minimizing the synthesis cost of transcripts and proteins. We show that among the seven types of methanotrophs, only type Ia methanotrophs possess a unique coding sequence of thepmoCABoperon that is under positive selection for optimal resource allocation and efficient synthesis of transcripts and proteins in environmental counter gradients with high oxygen and low methane concentrations. This adaptive trait possibly enables type Ia methanotrophs to respond robustly to fluctuating methane availability and explains their global prevalence.

scholarly journals Comorbid Chronic Diseases and Acute Organ Injuries Are Strongly Correlated with Disease Severity and Mortality among COVID-19 Patients: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis

Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinhui Wang ◽  
Xuexian Fang ◽  
Zhaoxian Cai ◽  
Xiaotian Wu ◽  
Xiaotong Gao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Disease Severity ◽  
Clinical Data ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Cardiac Injury ◽  
Supportive Therapy ◽  
Kidney Injury ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Systemic Review ◽  
Increased Risk

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has been rapidly spreading on a global scale. To date, there is no specific vaccine against the causative virus, SARS-CoV-2, nor is there an effective medicine for treating COVID-19, thus raising concerns with respect to the effect of risk factors such as clinical course and pathophysiological parameters on disease severity and outcome in patients with COVID-19. By extracting and analyzing all available published clinical data, we identified several major clinical characteristics associated with increased disease severity and mortality among patients with COVID-19. Specifically, preexisting chronic conditions such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes are strongly associated with an increased risk of developing severe COVID-19; surprisingly, however, we found no correlation between chronic liver disease and increased disease severity. In addition, we found that both acute cardiac injury and acute kidney injury are highly correlated with an increased risk of COVID-19-related mortality. Given the high risk of comorbidity and the high mortality rate associated with tissue damage, organ function should be monitored closely in patients diagnosed with COVID-19, and this approach should be included when establishing new guidelines for managing these high-risk patients. Moreover, additional clinical data are needed in order to determine whether a supportive therapy can help mitigate the development of severe, potentially fatal complications, and further studies are needed to identify the pathophysiology and the mechanism underlying this novel coronavirus-associated infectious disease. Taken together, these findings provide new insights regarding clinical strategies for improving the management and outcome of patients with COVID-19.

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