•We documented the highest infective rate by Leishmania in anthropophilic sand flies so far reported in Mexico.•Based on the biting rate and the infective biting rate of Phlebotomine sandflies, the ...potential increase in entomological and epidemiological exposure to L. (L.) mexicana continues to be associated primarily with conserved forests.•Our study also detected that, albeit to a lesser extent, human exposure to Leishmania is occurring in environments with intermediate and high disturbance.•Change in land use did not influence the pattern of nocturnal exposition to anthropophilic Phlebotomine sand fly.•Although temperature and humidity vary between sites with different land uses, these variables are not related to the biting rate or the infective biting rate of Phlebotomine sand flies.
Could tropical forest conversion shape sand fly (Diptera: Phlebotominae) biting rhythms and Leishmania infection rates? Using a Shannon trap, we estimated the bite rate and infection prevalence among anthropophilic sand flies at sites with different land use in southern Mexico. We estimated the expected monthly infection rate of the Leishmania parasite along the gradient and generated information on the biting rhythm of sand flies in a poorly characterized cutaneous leishmaniasis endemic region. We used generalized mixed linear and mixed additives models to evaluate differences in the biting rate, nocturnal activity, and inoculation rate of female sand flies, as well as their relationship with the loss of forest cover and environmental disparities recorded throughout the study area. Our results show that the loss of forest cover influences the biting rhythm of sand fly species and the potential number of infectious bites with Leishmania, but the greatest entomological and potential epidemiological risk continues to be associated with sylvatic areas (amplification events). Despite this, we detected that the effect of forest cover (%) on the entomological exposure seems to be also dependent on the sand fly species, and that, albeit to a lesser extent, Leishmania parasite is circulating in disturbed landscapes through generalist and competent sand fly vector species. We also found that land use change did not affect the nocturnal activity, however we detected that important vector species were active most of the time. Contrary to our expectation, temperature and humidity did not shape the biting rhythm of sand fly species. We discuss the limitations and epidemiological implications of our findings regarding the risk of contracting leishmaniasis in southern Mexico.
The deer ked Lipoptena mazamae (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) (Róndani), is a blood‐feeding obligate ectoparasite of several species of deer and brocket. However, at present little information is available ...about its role as a vector of hemoparasites. Nonetheless, it is considered a competent vector for the transmission of Bartonella species. The aim of this study was performing the morphological and molecular identification of ked flies and to carry out the detection of Bartonella. We collected specimens from Chiná, Campeche, Mexico associated with white‐tailed deer. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), of COI, gltA and rpoB genes, we were able to obtain the first barcode for L. mazamae from Mexico and identified a new species of Bartonella which was found with a prevalence of 73%. The data obtained in this study confirmed the presence of L. mazamae associated with white‐tailed deer and its possible role as vector of Candidatus Bartonella odocoilei n. sp. in Mexico and we considered that it may also be present in white‐tailed deer populations in the U.S.A. Additional investigations into Bartonella species associated with deer ked could provide further insight into their pathogenicity and its role as a zoonotic agent.
The deer ked Lipoptena mazamae was identified using the COI gene for the first time for Mexico.
Bartonella sp. was detected in deer ked in Campeche; using rpoB and gltA genes, we detected a new linage temporarily named as Candidatus Bartonella odocoilei.
The role of Lipoptena mazamae in the transmission of Candidatus Bartonella odocoilei, in Campeche is very probable, however, additional entomological surveys are necessary.
To compare anatomical and functional outcomes for 546 phakic and pseudophakic primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachments (RDs) treated by pars plana vitrectomy or scleral buckling.
Prospective, ...non-randomised, interventional study in 15 centres in Spain and Portugal, with data from RDs consecutively treated from January 2005 to May 2007. Cases with preoperative proliferative vitreoretinopathy grade C-1 or higher and perforating trauma were excluded. Minimum follow-up was 3 months. Twenty-seven pre-, intra- and post-surgical variables for each patient were analysed. Multivariate analysis was carried out by logistic regression analysis with stepwise selection of variables.
Data from 546 patients were analysed. Global anatomical success was 94.7%. Logistic regression analysis showed that only the development of postoperative proliferative vitreoretinopathy was associated with a poor anatomical outcome. The poorest functional results were associated with macular involvement, extension of RD, previous RD surgery, time of evolution of RD, and age of patient. Hierarchical log-linear analysis showed no effect of the lens status (phakic versus pseudophakic) on the functional results. However, pars plana vitrectomy was most often performed in pseudophakic eyes and resulted in a worse final visual acuity (p<0.001).
No differences in anatomical success between phakic and pseudophakic eyes were found in this series. Pars plana vitrectomy was most often performed in pseudophakic eyes and had a greater probability of a worse final visual acuity than scleral buckling.
An important NK-cell inhibition with reduced TNF-α, IFN-γ and TLR2 expression had previously been identified in patients with diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis (DCL) infected with Leishmania mexicana. ...In an attempt to pinpoint alterations in the signaling pathways responsible for the NK-cell dysfunction in patients with DCL, this study aimed at identifying differences in the NK-cell response towards Leishmania mexicana lipophosphoglycan (LPG) between patients with localized and diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis through gene expression profiling. Our results indicate that important genes involved in the innate immune response to Leishmania are down-regulated in NK cells from DCL patients, particularly TLR and JAK/STAT signaling pathways. This down-regulation showed to be independent of LPG stimulation. The study sheds new light for understanding the mechanisms that undermine the correct effector functions of NK cells in patients with diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis contributing to a better understanding of the pathobiology of leishmaniasis.
Gap junctional communication is mainly mediated by connexin36 and connexin43 in neurons and astrocytes, respectively. It has been suggested that connexin36 allows electrical coupling between neurons ...whereas connexin43 participates in several process including release of ATP. It was recently reported that blockage of gap junctional communication mediated by connexin36 can disrupt the sleep architecture of the rat. However, there is no experimental approach about effects of sleep deprivation on connexins expression. Therefore, we examined in adult male Wistar rats whether protein levels of connexin36 and connexin43 change in pons, hypothalamus, and frontal cortex after 24 h of total sleep deprivation and 4 h of sleep recovery. Western blot revealed that total sleep deprivation significantly decreases the levels of connexin36 in the hypothalamus and this decrease maintains after sleep recovery. Meanwhile, connexin43 is not altered by total sleep deprivation but interestingly the sleep recovery period induces an increase of this connexin. These results suggest that electrical coupling between hypothalamic neurons could be altered by sleep deprivation and that sleep recovery drives changes in connexin43 expression probably as a mechanism related to ATP release and energy regulation during sleep.
Abstract
The deer ked
Lipoptena mazamae
(Diptera: Hippoboscidae) (Róndani), is a blood‐feeding obligate ectoparasite of several species of deer and brocket. However, at present little information is ...available about its role as a vector of hemoparasites. Nonetheless, it is considered a competent vector for the transmission of
Bartonella
species. The aim of this study was performing the morphological and molecular identification of ked flies and to carry out the detection of
Bartonella
. We collected specimens from Chiná, Campeche, Mexico associated with white‐tailed deer. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), of
COI
,
gltA
and
rpoB
genes, we were able to obtain the first barcode for
L. mazamae
from Mexico and identified a new species of
Bartonella
which was found with a prevalence of 73%. The data obtained in this study confirmed the presence of
L. mazamae
associated with white‐tailed deer and its possible role as vector of
Candidatus
Bartonella odocoilei n. sp. in Mexico and we considered that it may also be present in white‐tailed deer populations in the U.S.A. Additional investigations into
Bartonella
species associated with deer ked could provide further insight into their pathogenicity and its role as a zoonotic agent.
This book presents the NeOn Methodology Framework, which includes nine scenarios for collaboratively building ontologies and ontology networks. It provides the reader with a description of the key ...activities relevant to the ontology engineering life-cycle.
Ethanol is a biofuel widely consumed in Brazil, which functions as a substitute for gasoline since the late 1970s. Due to several fluctuations in the characteristics of the Brazilian vehicle fleet ...and the political-economic conditions of the country, forecasting ethanol consumption has become a difficult task to perform. Under this scenario, the aim of this paper was to forecast ethanol consumption in Brazil using an approach of Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) and Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models. The above, taking into consideration univariate and multivariate models for each case. Likewise, single-layer and multi-layer topologies of LSTM RNN were explored in this study. The results show that LSTM models overperformed ARIMA models even working with a relatively small training dataset of just 180 instances. This, for both univariate and multivariate models. A novel approach for searching suitable LSTM Neural Network topologies is proposed in this paper.
A series of carbon supported PtAu electrocatalysts has been prepared. The performance of the samples in the methanol oxidation reaction and in the oxygen reduction reaction has been investigated by ...means of electrochemical techniques. The combined process, oxygen reduction reaction in the presence of methanol, has also been studied by electrochemical methods and in a single-cell. Irrespective of the performance of the samples in the oxygen reduction reaction, the ones displaying poor activity in the methanol oxidation reaction are the optimum cathode electrocatalysts for direct methanol fuel cell applications. The role of Au was found to be dependent on the actual nature of the catalyst. When alloyed, the role of Au on the methanol oxidation reaction is negligible. This is the first time that Au is being proposed as a component of methanol resistant cathode electrocatalysts.
The use of antimicrobial growth promoters (AGPs) in sub-therapeutic doses for long periods promotes the selection of resistant microorganisms and the subsequent risk of spreading this resistance to ...the human population and the environment. Global concern about antimicrobial resistance development and transference of resistance genes from animal to human has been rising. The goal of our research was to evaluate the susceptibility pattern to different classes of antimicrobials of colistin-resistant
from poultry production systems that use AGPs, and characterize the resistance determinants associated to transferable platforms.
strains (
= 41) were obtained from fecal samples collected from typical Argentine commercial broiler farms and susceptibility for 23 antimicrobials, relevant for human or veterinary medicine, was determined. Isolates were tested by PCR for the presence of
, extended spectrum β-lactamase encoding genes and plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) coding genes. Conjugation and susceptibility patterns of the transconjugant studies were performed. ERIC-PCR and REP-PCR analysis showed a high diversity of the isolates. Resistance to several antimicrobials was determined and all colistin-resistant isolates harbored the
gene. CTX-M-2 cefotaximase was the main mechanism responsible for third generation cephalosporins resistance, and PMQR determinants were also identified. In addition, co-transference of the
determinant on the
-positive transconjugants was corroborated, which suggests that these resistance genes are likely to be located in the same plasmid. In this work a wide range of antimicrobial resistance mechanisms were identified in
strains isolated from the environment of healthy chickens highlighting the risk of antimicrobial abuse/misuse in animals under intensive production systems and its consequences for public health.
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