Culicoides
midges are abundant hematophagous flies that vector arboviruses of veterinary and medical importance. Dramatic changes in the epidemiology of
Culicoides
-borne arboviruses have occurred ...since 1998, including the emergence of exotic viruses in northern temperate regions, increases in global disease incidence, and enhanced virus diversity in tropical zones. Drivers may include changes in climate, land use, trade, and animal husbandry. New
Culicoides
species and new wild reservoir hosts have been implicated in transmission, highlighting the dynamic nature of pathogen-vector-host interactions. Focusing on potential vector species worldwide and key elements of vectorial capacity, we review the sensitivity of
Culicoides
life cycles to abiotic and biotic factors. We consider implications for designing control measures and understanding impacts of environmental change in different ecological contexts. Critical geographical, biological, and taxonomic knowledge gaps are prioritized. Recent developments in genomics and mathematical modeling may enhance ecological understanding of these complex arbovirus systems.
Many global environmental agendas, including halting biodiversity loss, reversing land degradation, and limiting climate change, depend upon retaining forests with high ecological integrity, yet the ...scale and degree of forest modification remain poorly quantified and mapped. By integrating data on observed and inferred human pressures and an index of lost connectivity, we generate a globally consistent, continuous index of forest condition as determined by the degree of anthropogenic modification. Globally, only 17.4 million km
of forest (40.5%) has high landscape-level integrity (mostly found in Canada, Russia, the Amazon, Central Africa, and New Guinea) and only 27% of this area is found in nationally designated protected areas. Of the forest inside protected areas, only 56% has high landscape-level integrity. Ambitious policies that prioritize the retention of forest integrity, especially in the most intact areas, are now urgently needed alongside current efforts aimed at halting deforestation and restoring the integrity of forests globally.
The optimising and standardisation of in vitro blood feeding protocols for field‐collected Culicoides species (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) will be of essence for the comparison of the vector ...competencies of various populations of viruses of veterinary importance and the establishment of laboratory colonies of putative vector species. A custom‐made feeding chamber to accommodate the small size of Culicoides imicola Kieffer was designed for the commercially available Hemotek® system and compared to existing membrane and cotton pledge feeding methods. High feeding rates coupled to higher mean blood meal volume than that of the existing OVI device indicated that the Hemotek system will be suitable for the feeding of field‐collected Culicoides. The Hemotek system was subsequently used to identify factors that may affect feeding success in the laboratory. Evaluated factors were the source (host) and temperature of the blood meal, time of the day of feeding, the position of the blood reservoir in relation to the midges and exposure time to the blood. While only feeding orientation and the temperature of the blood source seems to significantly affect the feeding rate, all the factors did influence the volume of blood consumed.
Feeding rate and the volume of blood consumed were higher in the Hemotek®‐ than in the OVI‐ or Cotton pledge systems, survival was, however, the highest in the latter.
The Hemotek system can be used for the artificial blood feeding of field collected livestock‐associated South African Culicoides species.
The volume of the blood ingested by C. imicola is more rigorously influenced by external factors, especially the temperature of the blood, compared to the number of females that feed.
We have identified new genomic alterations in the breast cancer cell line HCC1954, using high-throughput transcriptome sequencing. With 120 Mb of cDNA sequences, we were able to identify genomic ...rearrangement events leading to fusions or truncations of genes including MRE11 and NSD1, genes already implicated in oncogenesis, and 7 rearrangements involving other additional genes. This approach demonstrates that high-throughput transcriptome sequencing is an effective strategy for the characterization of genomic rearrangements in cancers.
It is now clear that tyrosine kinases represent attractive targets for therapeutic intervention in cancer. Recent advances in DNA sequencing technology now provide the opportunity to survey ...mutational changes in cancer in a high-throughput and comprehensive manner. Here we report on the sequence analysis of members of the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) gene family in the genomes of glioblastoma brain tumors. Previous studies have identified a number of molecular alterations in glioblastoma, including amplification of the RTK epidermal growth factor receptor. We have identified mutations in two other RTKs: (i) fibroblast growth receptor 1, including the first mutations in the kinase domain in this gene observed in any cancer, and (ii) a frameshift mutation in the platelet-derived growth factor receptor-α gene. Fibroblast growth receptor 1, platelet-derived growth factor receptor-α, and epidermal growth factor receptor are all potential entry points to the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and mitogen-activated protein kinase intracellular signaling pathways already known to be important for neoplasia. Our results demonstrate the utility of applying DNA sequencing technology to systematically assess the coding sequence of genes within cancer genomes.
Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) are involved in the transmission of a variety of pathogens, the economically most important being the orbiviruses that cause bluetongue and African ...horse sickness; both of which have been shown to be multi-vector diseases. The identification of all potential vectors will be crucial for the implementation of integrated control measures and disease risk analysis. The primary monitoring tools used for the collection of
Culicoides midges are various models of suction light traps. In order to facilitate comparison of data between laboratories the efficiency of five traps (Onderstepoort, Rieb, mini-CDC, Pirbright, BG-sentinel), used at present and in the past in Europe, was compared in the field in South Africa. Comparisons were done either in three replicates of a 4
×
4 or two replicates of a 5
×
5 randomized Latin square design. The Onderstepoort trap collected significantly more
Culicoides midges than the other traps. Relatively small but statistically significant differences were found in the species composition, parous rates, sex ratios as well as the ratio of
Culicoides midges to other insects, as determined by the different traps. It will be important to determine the significance and underlying causes for these differences.
Risk analysis of pathogens transmitted by Culicoides (Diptera; Ceratopogonidae) depends on the ability to detect all potential vectors attacking livestock in an area. Onderstepoort 220‐V ultraviolet ...(UV) down‐draught light traps are considered the gold standard for this purpose. To improve the flexibility of this trap in the field, in the absence of 220‐V power, the possibility of using low‐energy light emitting diodes (LEDs) was assessed. The efficiency of a standard 220‐V Onderstepoort trap (30 cm 8 W fluorescent UV light tube) was compared to that of 220‐V Onderstepoort traps fitted with either two, four or eight individual white LEDs. The Onderstepoort 220‐V trap was also compared to a 12‐V Onderstepoort trap fitted with an 8 W fluorescent UV light tube, a 12‐V Onderstepoort trap with 12 individual white LEDs and 12‐V and 220‐V Onderstepoort traps fitted with 12 individual UV LEDs. Higher numbers of Culicoides as well as species diversity were collected with a brighter light source. The use of UV LEDs in both the 12‐V and 220‐V combinations was comparable to the Onderstepoort 220‐V light trap with ration to species diversity collected. The Onderstepoort 220‐V light trap is recommended if large numbers of Culicoides need to be collected.
Higher numbers of Culicoides as well as species diversity were collected with a brighter light source.
12‐V and 220‐V UV LEDs combination was comparable to the Onderstepoort 220‐V light trap with ration to species diversity collected.
To collect large numbers of Culicoides the Onderstepoort 220‐V light trap is recommended.
Comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography (LC × LC) and ion mobility spectrometry–mass spectrometry (IMS–MS) are increasingly being used to address challenges associated with the analysis ...of highly complex samples. In this work, we evaluate the potential of the combination of these techniques in the form of a comprehensive three-dimensional LC × LC × IMS separation system. As application, hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) × reversed phase LC (RP-LC) × IMS–high-resolution MS (HR-MS) was used to analyze a range of phenolic compounds, including hydrolyzable and condensed tannins, flavonoids, and phenolic acids in several natural products. A protocol for the extraction and visualization of the four-dimensional data obtained using this approach was developed. We show that the combination of HILIC, RP-LC, and IMS offers excellent separation of complex phenolic samples in three dimensions. Benefits associated with the incorporation of IMS include improved MS sensitivity and mass-spectral data quality. IMS also provided separation of trimeric procyanidin isomeric species that could not be differentiated by HILIC × RP-LC or HR-MS. On the traveling wave IMS (TWIMS) system used here, both IMS separation performance and the extent of second dimension (2D) undersampling depend on the upper mass scan limit, which might present a limitation for the analysis of larger molecular ions. The performance of the LC × LC × IMS system was characterized in terms of practical peak capacity and separation power, using established theory and taking undersampling and orthogonality into account. An average increase in separation performance by a factor of 13 was found for the samples analyzed here when IMS was incorporated into the HILIC × RP-LC–MS workflow.
Comparative monitoring of the abundance and distribution of Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), the biological vectors of the causative agents of several diseases of global ...veterinary importance, will be crucial in determining the risk of disease outbreak and spread. Ultraviolet (UV) suction traps have become the most frequent method used for the monitoring of Culicoides diversity and abundance. The current study compared the trapping efficiency of the two most used UV suction light traps, i.e., the Onderstepoort (OP)‐ and the Centres for Disease Control trap, for the collection of livestock associated Culicoides species in South Africa. The study confirmed the superiority of the OP trap and indicated a correlation in species composition and age grading results as determine with the two trap types. Substantial variations in the comparative trap efficiency, as found between areas and sites within an area, suggest that a universal conversion factor between the two trap types may not be advisable as it is unclear to what extent species composition and environmental factors may influence the conversion factor. Light traps, independent of trap model, can be considered acceptable for determining the serial comparison of population numbers for seasonal fluctuation and species abundance in distribution surveys.
The superiority of the Onderstepoort (OP) trap was confirmed.
A correlation in species composition results as determine with the two trap types was found.
Both traps can be considered acceptable for determining the serial comparison of population numbers for seasonal fluctuation and species abundance in distribution surveys.
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