Field assessment of dog as sentinel animal for plague in endemic foci of Madagascar

Funding Information: Sincere thanks to Mrs. L Angeltine Ralafiarisoa for technical assistance and the staff of the Plague Unit for their assistance during sample collections. This work was funded by an internal research grant (Ref: PA 14.25) from the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar. This research was also funded in part by the Wellcome Trust [095171/Z/10/Z]. For the purpose of Open Access, the authors have applied a CC BY public copyright license to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Modelling Transmission of Vector-Borne Pathogens Shows Complex Dynamics When Vector Feeding Sites Are Limited

The relationship between species richness and the prevalence of vector-borne disease has been widely studied with a range of outcomes. Increasing the number of host species for a pathogen may decrease infection prevalence (dilution effect), increase it (amplification), or have no effect. We derive a general model, and a specific implementation, which show that when the number of vector feeding sites on each host is limiting, the effects on pathogen dynamics of host population size are more complex than previously thought. The model examines vector-borne disease in the presence of different host species that are either competent or incompetent (i.e. that cannot transmit the pathogen to vectors) as reservoirs for the pathogen. With a single host species present, the basic reproduction ratio R0 is a non-monotonic function of the population size of host individuals (H), i.e. a value exists that maximises R0. Surprisingly, if a reduction in host population size may actually increase R0. Extending this model to a two-host species system, incompetent individuals from the second host species can alter the value of which may reverse the effect on pathogen prevalence of host population reduction. We argue that when vector-feeding sites on hosts are limiting, the net effect of increasing host diversity might not be correctly predicted using simple frequency-dependent epidemiological models

Precise determination of the mass of the Higgs boson and tests of compatibility of its couplings with the standard model predictions using proton collisions at 7 and 8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with a top-quark pair in pp collisions at the LHC

This is the pre-print version of the final published paper that is available from the link below.A search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with a top-quark pair is presented using data samples corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb-1 (5.1 fb-1) collected in pp collisions at the center-of-mass energy of 7TeV (8TeV). Events are considered where the top-quark pair decays to either one lepton+jets (tt→lvqq’bb) or dileptons [tt→l(+)vl(-)vbb], l being an electron or a muon. The search is optimized for the decay mode H → bb. The largest background to the ttH signal is top-quark pair production with additional jets. Artificial neural networks are used to discriminate between signal and background events. Combining the results from the 7TeV and 8TeV samples, the observed (expected) limit on the cross section for Higgs boson production in association with top quark pairs for a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV is 5.8 (5.2) times the standard model expectatio

Empiric antibiotic treatment of erythema migrans-like skin lesions as a function of geography: a clinical and cost effectiveness modeling study.

The skin lesion of early Lyme disease, erythema migrans (EM), is so characteristic that routine practice is to treat all such patients with antibiotics. Because other skin lesions may resemble EM, it is not known whether presumptive treatment of EM is appropriate in regions where Lyme disease is rare. We constructed a decision model to compare the cost and clinical effectiveness of three strategies for the management of EM: Treat All, Observe, and Serology as a function of the probability that an EM-like lesion is Lyme disease. Treat All was found to be the preferred strategy in regions that are endemic for Lyme disease. Where Lyme disease is rare, Observe is the preferred strategy, as presumptive treatment would be expected to produce excessive harm and increased costs. Where Lyme disease is rare, clinicians and public health officials should consider observing patients with EM-like lesions who lack travel to Lyme disease-endemic areas