Little is known about global variation in early epidemic growth rates and effective reproduction numbers (Re) of seasonal influenza. We aimed to estimate global variation in Re of influenza type A ...and B during a single period.
Country influenza detection time series from September 2017 through January 2019 were obtained from an international database. Type A and B epidemics by country were selected on the basis of Re estimates for a five-week moving window, advanced by week. Associations of Re with absolute latitude, human development index, percent of the population aged <15 years, and percent of those living in rural areas in each country were assessed.
Time series were included for 119 of 169 available countries. There were 100 countries with influenza A and 79 with B epidemics. Median Re for both influenza A and B epidemics was 1.23 (ranges: A 1.10, 1.60; B 1.06, 1.58). Re of influenza B but not A was independently associated with absolute latitude, increasing by 0.022 (95% confidence interval 0.002, 0.043) per 10 degrees.
The Re of influenza A and B were similar. Only the Re of influenza B was associated with country characteristics, which was increasing with distance from the equator. The approach may be suitable for continuous Re surveillance.
The haplosporidian parasites
(BO) and
(BE) are serious oyster pathogens. Two independent laboratories evaluated fluorescence real-time loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assays for rapidly ...detecting these parasites. Specific LAMP assays were designed on the BO
and BE
genes. A further generic assay was conceived on a conserved region of the
gene to detect both
species. The optimal reaction temperature varied from 65 to 67 °C depending on the test and instrument. Melting temperatures were 89.8-90.2 °C, 87.0-87.6 °C, and 86.2-86.6 °C for each of the BO, BE, and generic assays. The analytical sensitivity of these assays was 50 copies/µL in a 30 min run. The BO and BE test sensitivity was ~1 log lower than a real-time PCR, while the generic test sensitivity was similar to the real-time PCR. Both the BO and BE assays were shown to be specific; however, the generic assay potentially cross-reacts with
. The performance of the LAMP assays evaluated on samples of known status detected positives within 7-20 min with a test accuracy of 100% for the BO and generic tests and a 95.8% accuracy for BE. The ease of use, rapidity and affordability of these tests allow for field deployment.
Fluorescence real-time LAMP assays were designed for the
gene of CyHV-3 European genotype and the
gene of the CEV genogroup I. A third LAMP assay to detect the
gene of the host common carp was ...designed as an internal control. The limit of detection was 10
and 10
viral copies under 25 min for CyHV-3 and CEV, respectively. The specificity of the CyHV-3 LAMP assay was 95.6% of 72 fish herpesviruses tested. Sixty-three non-lethal common carp mucus swabs were collected across 16 sites during disease investigations. DNA extractions were performed in under 10 min using the QuickExtract™ digestion buffer. The LAMP amplification of CyHV-3 DNA in mucus swabs from clinical cases was detected from 4 to 13 min in 13 sites, while a co-infection of CyHV-3 and CEV was confirmed by LAMP in a single site. The LAMP results agreed with the results of the reference laboratory. The common carp
was amplified only in 61% of the mucus swabs collected, preventing its use as a robust internal control to distinguish false negatives from invalid tests. After further optimization, these tests could be implemented for border inspection posts surveillance and decentralizing testing during disease outbreaks.
This article seeks to understand how Emilia Pardo Bazán engaged with and utilized two iterations of creative writing - the folletín and the didactic novel - repudiated by her male peers in Spain's ...Restoration literary scene. It does so by engaging closely with La dama joven through publication history and close reading of the novella itself. It does likewise with the later novella, Mujer, while situating the discussion with a broad field of recent criticism on both the period and Pardo Bazán herself.
This is the first record of a fish nidovirus isolated from a consignment of goldfish at the United Kingdom (UK) border. The full-length viral genome was 25,985 nt, sharing a 97.9% nucleotide identity ...with the Chinook salmon bafinivirus (CSBV) NIDO with two deletions of 537 and 480 nt on the ORF Ia protein. To assess the potential impact on UK fish species, Atlantic salmon, common carp and goldfish were exposed to the virus via an intraperitoneal (IP) injection and bath challenge. Moribundity was recorded in only 8% of IP-injected goldfish. A high viral load, ≈10
of the CSBV
gene, was measured in the kidney of moribund goldfish. Mild histopathological changes were observed in the kidneys of challenged carps. Ultrastructural observations in renal tubule epithelial cells of goldfish showed cylindrical tubes (≈15 nm in diameter) and tubular structures budding spherical virions (≈200 nm in diameter) with external spike-like structures. Negative staining showed both circular and bacilliform virions. Seroconversion was measured in common carp and goldfish but not in Atlantic salmon. This study reinforces the potential risk of novel and emerging pathogens being introduced to recipient countries via the international ornamental fish trade and the importance of regular full health screens at the border inspection posts to reduce this risk.
This article explores the hitherto ignored intertextual link between Galdos's novel Tormento and Shakespeare's Othello. Drawing on Galdos's critical observations concerning Shakespeare and the ...galley-proofs of Tormento, the article argues that Galdos had Othello much in mind when characterizing the protagonists of his novel as well as shaping key scenes. The cultural, ethnic, and social tensions underpinning Shakespeare's Venice offer parallels with Galdos's pre-revolutionary Madrid. The article shows how Galdos uses Othello as a counterpoint to prurient responses to female sexual transgression that typified his contemporaries and argues against critics who have seen Tormento as a novel about female duplicity. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
This article offers an appraisal of Lucía Etxebarria's debut novel Amor, curiosidad, prozac y dudas as well as of the author's contentious position within the Spanish publishing industry. A case is ...made for Etxebarria's work to be seen as an inheritance of Spanish Naturalism and the anxieties that movement awoke in late nineteenth-century Spain over the medicalization and objectification of human beings. It is argued that Etxebarria's novel displays a similar concern over the degree to which the discourses of psychology and medical science make damaging claims to 'comprehend' women's experiences. This article also examines the novel's honest and sensitive treatment of the potential for sexual abuse to shape sexual and personal development in adverse ways. Focusing on Etxebarria's prose in creating three coherent and distinct female narrators, this article seeks to highlight the qualities of her debut novel; qualities that have not always been recognized in the polarized discussions surrounding her work.
Este artículo ofrece un análisis de la primera novela de Lucía Etxebarria, Amor, curiosidad, prozac y dudas y, además, de la posición un tanto polémica ocupada por la autora en el mundo editorial español. Se arguye aquí que la novela de Etxebarria se puede interpretar como heredera del Naturalismo español y de la preocupación suscitada por aquel movimiento literario a finales del siglo XIX. Tanto en aquel entonces como en la novela de Etxebarria se da a conocer una serie de preocupaciones sobre hasta qué punto los discursos psicológicos y medicales pueden encerrar una peligrosa tendencia a querer 'comprender' por entero la experiencia femenina. En este artículo también se examina la representación honesta y sensible del abuso sexual presente en la novela. Enfocándonos en la prosa de Etxebarria y en su capacidad de crear tres voces femeninas coherentes y diferenciadas, este artículo intenta mostrar la calidad de su primera novela; una calidad que no siempre ha sido reconocida gracias a la polémica que rodea a la autora.
This article establishes how the pioneering feminist Emilia Pardo Bazán sought to introduce to the Spanish public John Stuart Mill's polemic The Subjection of Women. It does so by examining the ...Biblioteca de la Mujer series, the publishing project Pardo Bazán established in 1892 to spread awareness of the growing moves towards female emancipation in Europe. It looks at the frame provided by the other volumes in that series and their efforts to re-establish the claims of Spanish women to prominence in the nation's cultural imaginary. The discussion then focuses in detail on the text of La esclavitud femenina, the title given to Mill's tract in Spanish, and on the questions of authorship that surround the text. Particular attention is paid to the subtle amendments incorporated into the translation to strengthen its feminist case and also to attenuate its potentially controversial aspects.
A lo largo de los últimos sesenta años los críticos de Galdós han mantenido una discusión sobre cómo interpretar la novela Tormento. Por un lado, algunos estudiosos han sostenido que ésta narra la ...historia de una mujer perspicaz, seductora y egoísta que consigue hacerse de forma deshonesta con un marido riquísimo pero ingenuo. Por otro lado, hay estudiosos de la novela que han argumentado que su protagonista, Amparo Sánchez Calderón, es la víctima de una sociedad cruel e injusta que logra salvarse milagrosamente de un futuro empobrecido. Hasta la fecha y pese a la existencia de varias ediciones críticas de Tormento no se han mirado las pruebas de imprenta de la novela para determinar si ofrecen pruebas a favor o en contra de una interpretación u otra. Por lo tanto, en este trabajo se argumenta que los cambios que el propio autor incorporó a su texto a la hora de corregir las pruebas de imprenta demuestran de forma significativa que Galdós no veía en su protagonista a una mujer interesada e inmoral, sino todo lo contrario.
A lo largo de los últimos sesenta años los críticos de Galdós han mantenido una discusión sobre cómo interpretar la novela Tormento. Por un lado, algunos estudiosos han sostenido que ésta narra la ...historia de una mujer perspicaz, seductora y egoísta que consigue hacerse de forma deshonesta con un marido riquísimo pero ingenuo. Por otro lado, hay estudiosos de la novela que han argumentado que su protagonista, Amparo Sánchez Calderón, es la víctima de una sociedad cruel e injusta que logra salvarse milagrosamente de un futuro empobrecido. Hasta la fecha y pese a la existencia de varias ediciones críticas de Tormento no se han mirado las pruebas de imprenta de la novela para determinar si ofrecen pruebas a favor o en contra de una interpretación u otra. Por lo tanto, en este trabajo se argumenta que los cambios que el propio autor incorporó a su texto a la hora de corregir las pruebas de imprenta demuestran de forma significativa que Galdós no veía en su protagonista a una mujer interesada e inmoral, sino todo lo contrario.
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