Identification of Leptospira and Bartonella among rodents collected across a habitat disturbance gradient along the Inter-Oceanic Highway in the southern Amazon Basin of Peru.

BACKGROUND: The southern Amazon Basin in the Madre de Dios region of Peru has undergone rapid deforestation and habitat disruption, leading to an unknown zoonotic risk to the growing communities in the area. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We surveyed the prevalence of rodent-borne Leptospira and Bartonella, as well as potential environmental sources of human exposure to Leptospira, in 4 communities along the Inter-Oceanic Highway in Madre de Dios. During the rainy and dry seasons of 2014-2015, we captured a total of 97 rodents representing 8 genera in areas that had experienced different degrees of habitat disturbance. Primarily by using 16S metagenomic sequencing, we found that most of the rodents (78%) tested positive for Bartonella, whereas 24% were positive for Leptospira; however, the patterns differed across seasons and the extent of habitat disruption. A high prevalence of Bartonella was identified in animals captured across both trapping seasons (72%-83%) and the relative abundance was correlated with increasing level of land disturbance. Leptospira-positive animals were more than twice as prevalent during the rainy season (37%) as during the dry season (14%). A seasonal fluctuation across the rainy, dry, and mid seasons was also apparent in environmental samples tested for Leptospira (range, 55%-89% of samples testing positive), and there was a high prevalence of this bacteria across all sites that were sampled in the communities. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These data indicate the need for increased awareness of rodent-borne disease and the potential for environmental spread along the communities in areas undergoing significant land-use change

Nasal lymphomas in Peru: High incidence of T-cell immunophenotype and Epstein-Barr virus infection

The incidence of non-Hodgkin\u27s lymphoma of the nasal region is much higher in Peru than in the United States and is similar to the incidence of sinonasal lymphomas in Asian countries. To characterize these lymphomas, we evaluated the clinical, morphologic, and immunohistochemical features of 14 cases and also analyzed the cases for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) RNA using a sensitive and specific in situ hybridization method. Morphologically, the cases consisted of nine large cell immunoblastic lymphomas, one diffuse mixed cell lymphoma, one diffuse small cleaved lymphoma, one small noncleaved lymphoma, and two cases unclassifiable in the Working Formulation. Eleven cases demonstrated evidence of T lineage, two were of B lineage and one of indeterminate immunophenotype. In 13 of the lymphoma cases including all of the T-cell lymphomas, EBV RNA was detected in a high percentage of cells. Double-labeling immunohistochemical and in situ hybridization studies identified CD43 positivity in the cells labeling for EBV RNA. Much smaller amounts of EBV RNA were detectable in six of eight control benign nasopharyngeal biopsy specimens, and two were completely negative. These findings are similar to the prevalence of EBV-positive T-cell lymphomas in Asian countries and differ from the findings of the more common EBV-negative B-cell nasal lymphomas in the United States. These findings suggest that EBV plays a role in the development of nasal T-cell lymphomas and that the incidence of EBV infection may explain the reported \u27East-West\u27 difference in the incidence of nasal T-cell lymphomas

High prevalence of Epstein-Barr virus in the Reed-Sternberg cells of Hodgkin\u27s disease occurring in Peru

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Hodgkin\u27s disease (HD). This study was undertaken to determine whether the association of EBV with HD showed geographical variation, as in Burkitt\u27s lymphoma. We studied 32 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded cases of HD occurring in Peru. EBV DNA-RNA in situ hybridization was performed using a 30-base biotinylated antisense oligonucleotide complementary to the EBER1 gene of EBV. EBV immunohistochemistry was also performed, using a monoclonal antibody (MoAb) to the latent membrane protein (LMP1) of EBV. Identification of the precise cellular subset staining with EBV was accomplished via double- labeling with MoAbs directed against Reed-Sternberg cells (LeuM1/CD15) and B cells (L26/CD20). EBV RNA was identified in all or virtually all of the Reed- Sternberg cells and variants in 30 of the 32 (94%) cases of HD by in situ hybridization. LMP1 expression was identified in 83% of the EBER1-positive cases. Double-labeling studies confirmed the localization of EBV RNA to CD15- expressing Hodgkin\u27s cells. This study found an extremely high prevalence of EBV in Peruvian HD, in contrast to the much lower percentage of EBV- associated cases of HD occurring in \u27Western\u27 patients

Identification of Leptospira and Bartonella among rodents collected across a habitat disturbance gradient along the Inter-Oceanic Highway in the southern Amazon Basin of Peru.

BackgroundThe southern Amazon Basin in the Madre de Dios region of Peru has undergone rapid deforestation and habitat disruption, leading to an unknown zoonotic risk to the growing communities in the area.Methodology/principal findingsWe surveyed the prevalence of rodent-borne Leptospira and Bartonella, as well as potential environmental sources of human exposure to Leptospira, in 4 communities along the Inter-Oceanic Highway in Madre de Dios. During the rainy and dry seasons of 2014-2015, we captured a total of 97 rodents representing 8 genera in areas that had experienced different degrees of habitat disturbance. Primarily by using 16S metagenomic sequencing, we found that most of the rodents (78%) tested positive for Bartonella, whereas 24% were positive for Leptospira; however, the patterns differed across seasons and the extent of habitat disruption. A high prevalence of Bartonella was identified in animals captured across both trapping seasons (72%-83%) and the relative abundance was correlated with increasing level of land disturbance. Leptospira-positive animals were more than twice as prevalent during the rainy season (37%) as during the dry season (14%). A seasonal fluctuation across the rainy, dry, and mid seasons was also apparent in environmental samples tested for Leptospira (range, 55%-89% of samples testing positive), and there was a high prevalence of this bacteria across all sites that were sampled in the communities.Conclusions/significanceThese data indicate the need for increased awareness of rodent-borne disease and the potential for environmental spread along the communities in areas undergoing significant land-use change

Hate groups targeting unauthorized immigrants in the US: discourses, narratives and subjectivation practices on their websites

The narratives and images on websites of US hate groups that oppose undocumented immigrants represent and reproduce discourses that contribute to the subject formation of group members, who feel ethically obliged to counter unauthorized immigration. Left alone by the government, which is seen as unreliable and uncaring of patriotic values, they position themselves as heroic saviours of the nation. We argue that these hate groups’ ‘games of truth’ develop in response to the perception that irregular immigration threatens specific social orders and values, for instance about citizenship, national identity and otherness. This article helps to understand the ways in which anti-immigrant narratives serve the functions of countering these threats and of asserting the group members’ ethical obligation as a form of care of the self. In other words, from a Foucaultian viewpoint, we interpret the problematizations of ‘illegal’ immigration as discursive practices for the subject formation of hate group members

Creative methods: anonymity, visibility and ethical re-representation

Researchers employ creativity in their studies when designing, conducting, and presenting their data; in this way creativity is central to academic practice. Within this more general sense of being creative, “creative methods,” as presented in this chapter, refer to creativity in the literal sense, where researchers and participants are involved in producing visual images, artefacts, or other representations, through a range of arts-based or performative techniques. This creative and novel “making” is often associated with the field of creative methods in visual studies, particularly in relation to photography and film. The recognizability of people and places in these photographic modes has invoked tensions between revealing and concealing the visual images we produce in social research, in relation to confidentiality and anonymity. This becomes more problematic in a climate where the burgeoning use of new technologies means that images are more easily shared, disseminated, and distorted. Accordingly, once a visual image is created, it becomes very difficult to control its use or remove it from public view if participants decide that they no longer want to be represented in a fixed visual trope for time immemorial or if they decide to withdraw their data from a study. Arguments around anonymity and participant visibility are most closely related to photographs and film. However, it remains important to explore the ethical issues around other creative practices where researchers and participants make something new and understand that such issues can also be contentious. This chapter focuses on techniques of data production, including drawing, collaging, and sandboxing, where participants are involved in creating some form of artefact to represent aspects of their lives and experiences. It examines how these creative approaches generate a number of uncertainties around voice, confidentiality, informed consent, avoidance of harm, and future use. The chapter also explores the opportunities that creative approaches, which produce novel outputs, can offer in re-representing and revisualizing research data, engaging audiences in nontraditional formats, and increasing the impact of research studies. In this way, the chapter offers an insight into the ethical risks and potentialities of creative methods as tools of both data production and dissemination