Heterogeneities in leishmania infantum infection : using skin parasite burdens to identify highly infectious dogs

Background: The relationships between heterogeneities in host infection and infectiousness (transmission to arthropod vectors) can provide important insights for disease management. Here, we quantify heterogeneities in Leishmania infantum parasite numbers in reservoir and non-reservoir host populations, and relate this to their infectiousness during natural infection. Tissue parasite number was evaluated as a potential surrogate marker of host transmission potential. Methods: Parasite numbers were measured by qPCR in bone marrow and ear skin biopsies of 82 dogs and 34 crab-eating foxes collected during a longitudinal study in Amazon Brazil, for which previous data was available on infectiousness (by xenodiagnosis) and severity of infection. Results: Parasite numbers were highly aggregated both between samples and between individuals. In dogs, total parasite abundance and relative numbers in ear skin compared to bone marrow increased with the duration and severity of infection. Infectiousness to the sandfly vector was associated with high parasite numbers; parasite number in skin was the best predictor of being infectious. Crab-eating foxes, which typically present asymptomatic infection and are non-infectious, had parasite numbers comparable to those of non-infectious dogs. Conclusions: Skin parasite number provides an indirect marker of infectiousness, and could allow targeted control particularly of highly infectious dogs

Inimigos naturais em horta agroecológica no município de Parnaíba, Piauí, Brasil.

Para alternativas mais sustentáveis de manejo de pragas é preciso incorporar outros níveis hierárquicos de análise, tais como as comunidades de insetos e seu papel ecológico, havendo necessidade de treinamento de técnicos e estudantes dentro deste novo paradigma. Para tanto foi implementada uma horta agroecológica com corredores de vegetação natural na Embrapa Meio-Norte/UEP Parnaíba para estudos envolvendo caracterização de plantas espontâneas e inimigos naturais, visando compreender o papel da biodiversidade local no manejo de pragas. Foram registrados potenciais predadores pertencentes às famílias Reduviidae (Hemiptera), Syrphidae (Diptera), Vespidae (Hymenoptera), Coccinelidae e Carabidae (Coleoptera). Em relação às aranhas, foram registradas espécies das famílias Araneidae, Salticidae, Oxyopidae e Thomisidae. Embora os dados refiram-se a um número muito pequeno de coletas, restritas a um período curto de tempo, observou-se ausência de inimigos naturais da família Staphylinidae e parasitóides da Ordem Hymenoptera, registrados para cultivo de alface no sul do Brasil, onde, por outro lado, não foi registrada presença de reduvídeos e vespídeos.Edição dos Resumos do 5º Congresso Brasileiro de Agroecologia Guarapari, ES, 2007

Relativistic transition wavelenghts and probabilities for spectral lines of Ne II

Transition wavelengths and probabilities for several 2p4 3p - 2p4 3s and 2p4 3d - 2p4 3p lines in fuorine-like neon ion (NeII) have been calculated within the multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock (MCDF) method with quantum electrodynamics (QED) corrections. The results are compared with all existing experimental and theoretical data

Overlapping political budget cycles in the legislative and the executive

We advance the literature on political budget cycles by testing separately for cycles in expenditures for elections in the legislative and the executive. Using municipal data, we can separately identify these cycles and account for general year effects. For the executive branch, we show that it is important whether the incumbent re-runs. To account for the potential endogeneity associated with this decision, we apply a unique instrumental variables approach based on age and pension eligibility rules. We find sizable and significant effects in expenditures before council elections and before joint elections when the incumbent re-runs