•A 8-year integrated program to control CE was implemented in southern Italy.•New strategies have been developed and applied for animal-centered interventions.•The control programme resulted in a ...noteworthy reduction of CE in livestock.•The new strategies developed could be extended to other endemic Mediterranean areas.
Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a severe zoonosis, caused by the larval stage of the tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus. This helminth infection is of increasing public health and socio-economic concern due to the considerable morbidity rates that cause economic losses both in the public health sector and in the livestock industry. Control programmes against E. granulosus are considered long-term actions which require an integrated approach and high expenditure of time and financial resources. Since 2010, an integrated approach to control CE has been implemented in a highly endemic area of continental southern Italy (Campania region). Innovative procedures and tools have been developed and exploited during the control programme based on the following strategies: i) active and passive surveillance in livestock (using geospatial tools for georeferencing), ii) diagnosis in dogs (using the FLOTAC techniques and molecular analysis), iii) targeted treatment of farm dogs (using purpose-built confinement cages), iv) early diagnosis in livestock (by ultrasonography), v) surveillance in humans (through hospital discharge records analysis), vi) monitoring the food chain (analysing raw vegetables), vii) outreach activities to the general public (through dissemination material, e.g. brochures, gadgets, videos, virtual reality). Over eight years, the integrated approach and the new strategies developed have resulted in a noteworthy reduction of the parasite infection rates in livestock (e.g. up to 30 % in sheep). The results obtained so far highlight that using a one health multidisciplinary and multi-institution effort is of pivotal importance in preparing CE control programmes at regional level and could be extended to other endemic Mediterranean areas.
STREGA (STRucture and Evolution of the GAlaxy) is a guaranteed time survey being performed at the VST (the ESO Very Large Telescope Survey Telescope) to map about 150 square degrees in the Galactic ...halo, in order to constrain the mechanisms of galactic formation and evolution. The survey is built as a 5 yr project, organized in two parts: a core programme to explore the surrounding regions of selected stellar systems and a second complementary part to map the southern portion of the Fornax orbit and extend the observations of the core programme. The adopted stellar tracers are mainly variable stars (RR Lyraes and long-period variables) and main-sequence turn-off stars for which observations in the g, r, i bands are obtained. We present an overview of the survey and some preliminary results for three observing runs that have been completed. For the region centred on ω Cen (37 deg2), covering about three tidal radii, we also discuss the detected stellar density radial profile and angular distribution, leading to the identification of extratidal cluster stars. We also conclude that the cluster tidal radius is about 1.2 deg, in agreement with values in the literature based on the Wilson model.
The second-generation of gravitational-wave detectors are just starting operation, and have already yielding their first detections. Research is now concentrated on how to maximize the scientific ...potential of gravitational-wave astronomy. To support this effort, we present here design targets for a new generation of detectors, which will be capable of observing compact binary sources with high signal-to-noise ratio throughout the Universe.
Prospects for fundamental physics with LISA Barausse, Enrico; Hertog, Thomas; Hughes, Scott A. ...
General relativity and gravitation,
2020, Letnik:
52, Številka:
8
Journal Article
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In this paper, which is of programmatic rather than quantitative nature, we aim to further delineate and sharpen the future potential of the LISA mission in the area of fundamental physics. Given the ...very broad range of topics that might be relevant to LISA,we present here a sample of what we view as particularly promising fundamental physics directions. We organize these directions through a “science-first” approach that allows us to classify how LISA data can inform theoretical physics in a variety of areas. For each of these theoretical physics classes, we identify the sources that are currently expected to provide the principal contribution to our knowledge, and the areas that need further development. The classification presented here should not be thought of as cast in stone, but rather as a fluid framework that is amenable to change with the flow of new insights in theoretical physics.
We present new intermediate-band Stromgren photometry based on more than 300 u, v, b, y images of the Galactic globular cluster omega Cen. Optical data were supplemented with new multiband ...near-infrared (NIR) photometry (350 J, H, Ks images). The final optical-NIR catalog covers a region of more than 20 X 20 arcmin squared across the cluster center. We use different optical-NIR color-color planes together with proper-motion data available in the literature to identify candidate cluster red-giant (RG) stars. By adopting different Stromgren metallicity indices, we estimate the photometric metallicity for 4000 RGs, the largest sample ever collected. The metallicity distributions show multiple peaks (Fe/Hphot = -1.73 +/- 0.08, -1.29 +/- 0.03, -1.05 +/- 0.02, -0.80 +/- 0.04, -0.42 +/- 0.12, and -0.07 +/- 0.08 dex) and a sharp cutoff in the metal-poor (MP) tail (Fe/Hphot -2 dex) that agree quite well with spectroscopic measurements. We identify four distinct subpopulations, namely, MP (Fe/H < = -1.49), metal-intermediate (MI; -1.49 < Fe/H < = -0.93), metal-rich (MR; -0.95 < Fe/H < = -0.15), and solar metallicity (Fe/H 0). The last group includes only a small fraction of stars (~8% +/- 5%) and should be confirmed spectroscopically. Moreover, using the difference in metallicity based on different photometric indices, we find that the 19% +/- 1% of RGs are candidate CN-strong stars. This fraction agrees quite well with recent spectroscopic estimates and could imply a large fraction of binary stars. The Stromgren metallicity indices display a robust correlation with alpha-elements (Ca+Si/H) when moving from the MI to the MR regime (Fe/H -1.7 dex).
We present precise optical and near-infrared ground-based photometry of two globular clusters (GCs): omega Cen and 47 Tuc. These photometric catalogs are unbiased in the red giant branch (RGB) region ...close to the tip. We provide new estimates of the RGB tip (TRGB) magnitudes-image, omega Cen; image, 47 Tuc-and use these to determine the relative distances of the two GCs. We find that distance ratios based on different calibrations of the TRGB, the RR Lyrae stars, and kinematic distances agree with each other within 1 capital sigma . Absolute TRGB and RR Lyrae distance moduli agree within 0.10- 0.15 mag, while absolute kinematic distance moduli are 0.2-0.3 mag smaller. Absolute distances to 47 Tuc based on the zero-age horizontal branch and on the white dwarf fitting agree within 0.1 mag, but they are 0.1-0.3 mag smaller than TRGB and RR Lyrae distances.
ABSTRACT
New accurate and homogeneous optical
UBVRI
photometry has been obtained for variable stars in the Galactic globular cluster
ω
Cen (NGC 5139). We secured 8202 CCD images covering a time ...interval of 24 years and a sky area of 84 × 48 arcmin. The current data were complemented with data available in the literature and provided new, homogeneous pulsation parameters (mean magnitudes, luminosity amplitudes, periods) for 187 candidate
ω
Cen RR Lyrae (RRLs). Among them we have 101 RRc (first overtone) and 85 RRab (fundamental) variables, and a single candidate RRd (double-mode) variable. Candidate Blazhko RRLs show periods and colors that are intermediate between the RRc and RRab variables, suggesting that they are transitional objects. A comparison of the period distribution and the Bailey diagram indicates that RRLs in
ω
Cen show a long-period tail not present in typical Oosterhoff II (OoII) globulars. The RRLs in dwarf spheroidals and in ultra-faint dwarfs have properties between Oosterhoff intermediate and OoII clusters. Metallicity plays a key role in shaping the above evidence. These findings do not support the hypothesis that
ω
Cen is the core remnant of a spoiled dwarf galaxy. Using optical period–Wesenheit relations that are reddening-free and minimally dependent on metallicity we find a mean distance to
ω
Cen of 13.71 ± 0.08 ± 0.01 mag (semi-empirical and theoretical calibrations). Finally, we invert the
I
-band period–luminosity–metallicity relation to estimate individual RRLs’ metal abundances. The metallicity distribution agrees quite well with spectroscopic and photometric metallicity estimates available in the literature.
Potentiation by cyclothiazide of recombinant glutamate receptor responses in Xenopus oocytes showed absolute selectivity for AMPA versus kainate receptors. In contrast, concanavalin A strongly ...potentiated responses at kainate but not AMPA receptors. Rapid desensitization in HEK 293 cells transfected with AMPA receptors was blocked by cyclothiazide, but only weakly attenuated by concanavalin A. Desensitization at kainate receptors was blocked by concanavalin A but unaffected by cyclothiazide. Selective effects of these modulators following coexpression of subunits from different families suggest independent assembly of functional AMPA and kainate receptors. Northern blot analysis of mRNA for dorsal root ganglia revealed a predominant expression of GluR5, indicating that modulation of desensitization by concanavalin A but not cyclothiazide in sensory neurons accurately predicts subunit expression for native glutamate receptors.
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