| 1. |
- Anwar, Wagida A, et al.
(författare)
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Consanguinity and genetic diseases in North Africa and immigrants to Europe.
- 2014
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Ingår i: European Journal of Public Health. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1101-1262 .- 1464-360X. ; 24 Suppl 1, s. 57-63
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Endemic diseases are caused by environmental and genetic factors. While in this special issue several chapters deal with environmental factors, including infections, the present focus is on genetic causes of disease clustering due to inbreeding and recessive disease mechanisms. Consanguinity is implying sharing of genetic heritage because of marriage between close relatives originating from a common ancestor. With limited natural selection, recessive genes may become more frequent in an inbred compared with an outbred population. Consanguinity is common in North Africa (NA), and the estimates range from 40 to 49% of all marriages in Tunisia and 29-33% in Morocco. As a consequence, recessive disorders are common in the NA region, and we give some examples. Thalassaemia and sickle cell disease/anaemia constitute the most common inherited recessive disorders globally and they are common in NA, but with immigration they have spread to Europe and to other parts of the world. Another example is familial Mediterranean fever, which is common in the Eastern Mediterranean area. With immigrantion from that area to Sweden, it has become the most common hereditary autoinflammatory disease in that country, and there is no evidence that any native Swede would have been diagnosed with this disease. The examples discussed in this chapter show that the historic movement of populations and current immigration are influencing the concept of 'endemic' disease.
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| 2. |
- Hemminki, Kari, et al.
(författare)
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Cancer in immigrants as a pointer to the causes of cancer.
- 2014
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Ingår i: European Journal of Public Health. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1101-1262 .- 1464-360X. ; 24 Suppl 1, s. 64-71
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The early cancer studies on immigrants, which started to appear some 50 years ago, showed that the incidence in cancers changes to the level of the new host country in one or two generations. These findings were fundamental to the understanding of the environmental etiology of human cancer. Many immigrant groups originate from countries with no cancer registration, and, hence, the immigrant studies may provide estimates on the indigenous cancer rates. The Swedish Family-Cancer Database has been an important source of data for immigrant studies on various diseases. The Database covers the Swedish population of the past 100 years, and it records the country of birth for each subject. A total of 1.79 million individuals were foreign born, Finns and other Scandinavians being the largest immigrant groups. Over the course of years, some 30 publications have appeared relating to cancer in immigrants. In the present article, we will review more recent immigrant studies, mainly among Swedish immigrants, on all cancers and emphasize the differences between ethnic groups. In the second part, we discuss the problem of reliable registration of cancer and compare cancer incidence among non-European immigrants with cancer incidence in countries of origin, as these have now active cancer registries. We discuss the experiences in cancer registration in Morocco and Egypt. We show the usefulness and limitations in predicting cancer incidence in the countries of origin.
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| 3. |
- Kassar, Hassène, et al.
(författare)
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Emigration flows from North Africa to Europe.
- 2014
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Ingår i: European Journal of Public Health. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1101-1262 .- 1464-360X. ; 24 Suppl 1, s. 2-5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The region of North Africa (NA) represents a striking locality regarding migration with several migration patterns, namely emigration in the form of labour export to Europe and North America and, to a lesser extent, to the Arab Gulf area. The latter has increased enormously in the last decade because of the political instability in most of the NA countries. The aim of the present chapter was to explore the patterns of migration stocks and flows in NA countries, based on several websites, systematic review of journals, comparable data available by the United Nations and by the International Organization of Migration. The NA region has become an area of transit migration and labour migration. Emigrant flows from NA countries towards Europe and North America are increasing this decade more than towards the Arab Gulf countries after being replaced by Asian labour. The recent increase in the proportion of women among the migrant population is remarkable. Remittances sent by African migrants have become an important source of external finance for countries of origin. Transient and irregular migration to Egypt originates at the borders with Sudan, Palestine and Libya with destination to the Euro Mediterranean countries. In Tunisia and Morocco, irregular migrants originate from Sub-Saharan Africa to the northern borders. The NA countries serve as departure rather than destination countries, and migration flows to the Euro-Mediterranean countries through legal or illegal routes.
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| 4. |
- Marzouk, Diaa, et al.
(författare)
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Overview on health research ethics in Egypt and North Africa.
- 2014
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Ingår i: European Journal of Public Health. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1101-1262 .- 1464-360X. ; 24 Suppl 1, s. 87-91
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Developing countries, including Egypt and North African countries, need to improve their quality of research by enhancing international cooperation and exchanges of scientific information, as well as competing for obtaining international funds to support research activities. Research must comply with laws and other requirements for research that involves human subjects. The purpose of this article is to overview the status of health research ethics in Egypt and North African countries, with reference to other Middle Eastern countries. The EU and North African Migrants: Health and Health Systems project (EUNAM) has supported the revision of the status of health research ethics in Egypt and North African countries, by holding meetings and discussions to collect information about research ethics committees in Egypt, and revising the structure and guidelines of the committees, as well as reviewing the literature concerning ethics activities in the concerned countries. This overview has revealed that noticeable efforts have been made to regulate research ethics in certain countries in the Middle East. This can be seen in the new regulations, which contain the majority of protections mentioned in the international guidelines related to research ethics. For most of the internationally registered research ethics committees in North African countries, the composition and functionality reflect the international guidelines. There is growing awareness of research ethics in these countries, which extends to teaching efforts to undergraduate and postgraduate medical students.
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| 5. |
- Moumad, Khalid, et al.
(författare)
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Genetic Polymorphisms in Host Innate Immune Sensor Genes and the Risk of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma in North Africa
- 2013
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Ingår i: G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2160-1836. ; 3:6, s. 971-977
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a rare malignancy in most parts of the world. It is an Epstein-Barr virus-associated malignancy with an unusual racial and geographical distribution. The host innate immune sensor genes play an important role in infection recognition and immune response against viruses. Therefore, we examined the association between polymorphisms in genes within a group of pattern recognition receptors (including families of Toll-like receptors, C-type lectin receptors, and retinoic acid-inducible gene I-like receptors) and NPC susceptibility. Twenty-six single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in five pattern-recognition genes were genotyped in 492 North African NPC cases and 373 frequency-matched controls. TLR3_rs3775291 was the most significantly associated SNP (odds ratio [OR] 1.49; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.11-2.00; P = 0.008; dominant model). The analysis showed also that CD209_rs7248637 (OR 0.69; 95% CI 0.52-0.93; P = 0.02; dominant model) and DDX58_rs56309110 (OR 0.70; 95% CI 0.51-0.98; P = 0.04) were associated with the risk of NPC. An 18% increased risk per allele was observed for the five most significantly associated SNPs, TLR3_rs3775291, CD209_rs7248637, DDX58_rs56309110, CD209_rs4804800, and MBL2_rs10824792, (p(trend) = 8.2 x 10(-4)). Our results suggest that genetic variation in pattern-recognition genes is associated with the risk of NPC. These preliminary findings require replication in larger studies.
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| 6. |
- Toselli, Stefania, et al.
(författare)
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Prevalence of overweight and obesity in adults from North Africa.
- 2014
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Ingår i: European Journal of Public Health. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1101-1262 .- 1464-360X. ; 24 Suppl 1, s. 31-39
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The share of North African immigrants in Europe is growing continuously. In this review, we aimed to systematically analyse and describe the literature on weight status and physical activity in North African adults, both in their home country and after immigration to Europe. Existing data on North African residents and on North African immigrants in Europe were analysed by a systematic search on PUBMED. There is a wide variation among countries in the prevalence of overweight/obesity, with immigrants showing higher values. The overall results revealed a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity in females than in males in North African residents. Females also show higher levels of obesity among immigrants. In particular, literature reports indicate that 1.3-47.8% of North African residents and 3.6-49.4% of North African immigrants in adult age are overweight or obese. Physical inactivity is higher than 20% in males and 40% in females in North African residents. The highest frequency of physically inactive or lightly active people among immigrants was observed in first-generation Sudanese and Moroccans in Amsterdam (males: 57.1%; females: 74.2%), with increasing rates in second-generation females. The results underline a higher health risk in North African immigrants than in residents. Specific public health strategies should be adopted in various populations of North African origin to control the obesity epidemic.
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