Improving our understanding of demographic monitoring: avian breeding productivity in a tropical dry forest

The ratio of juvenile to adult birds in mist‐net samples is used to monitor avian productivity, but whether it is a “true” estimate of per capita productivity or an index proportional to productivity depends on whether capture probability is not age‐dependent (true estimate) or age difference in capture probability is consistent among years (index). Better understanding of the processes affecting age‐ and year‐specific capture probabilities is needed to advance the application of constant‐effort mist‐netting for monitoring and conservation, particularly in many tropical settings where capture rates are often low. We ranked members of the avian community by capture frequencies, determined if temporary emigration influenced the availability of birds to be captured, and assessed the distribution of birds relative to mist‐nets and the parity between capture‐based productivity estimates and number of fledglings in nest plots in a tropical dry forest in Puerto Rico in 2009 and 2010. Few captures characterized the community of 25 resident species and, when estimable, capture probabilities were low, particularly for juveniles (typically \u3c 0.1). Negative trends in capture probability, temporary emigration, and the distribution of birds suggest that avoidance of mist‐nets influenced capture rates in our study. Increasing mist‐net coverage or moving mist‐nets between sampling periods could increase capture rates. The number of fledglings observed in nest plots (25 ha/plot) did not correlate well with capture‐derived estimates (20 ha/net stations), suggesting the presence of immigrants or failure to find all nests. Our results suggest that indices of breeding productivity from mist‐netting data may track temporal changes in productivity, but such data likely do not reflect “true” productivity in most cases unless age‐specific differences in capture probability are incorporated into estimates. Pilot studies should be conducted to evaluate capture rates and the spatial extent sampled by mist‐nets to improve sampling design and inferences before informing decisions

A Strategy for Container Lifecycle Management

Virtualization has been around much of the history of computing from the introduction of virtual memory to virtualization at the operating system level and containers. The use of containers as a deployment tool has boomed since the release of Docker as free software in 2013. Docker includes a large set of tools ranging from building and executing containers on a single node to managing multiple containers in clusters. However, the distribution of deployment descriptors and of maintenance scripts is not properly addressed. This work introduces the mechanisms provided by Docker and describes a practice developed by the Bitlogic team for the deployment and management of the container lifecycle.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

A Strategy for Container Lifecycle Management

Virtualization has been around much of the history of computing -from the introduction of virtual memory to virtualization at the operating system level and containers. The use of containers as a deployment tool has boomed since the release of Docker as free software in 2013. Docker includes a large set of tools ranging from building and executing containers on a single node to managing multiple containers in clusters. However, the distribution of deployment descriptors and of maintenance scripts is not properly addressed. This work introduces the mechanisms provided by Docker and describes a practice developed by the Bitlogic team for the deployment and management of the container lifecycle.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Epilepsy and the inflammasome: targeting inflammation as a novel therapeutic strategy for seizure disorders

Epilepsy is the most common serious brain disorder worldwide. Recent evidence from experimental models of epilepsy and clinical brain tissue from epilepsy surgery suggests inflammation may play a pathological role in this disorder. Activation of a multimolecular protein complex termed the ‘inflammasome’ occurs during inflammation to drive the innate immune response. Inflammasome activation, with release of inflammatory mediators including interleukin-1β and high-mobility group box-1, may play a crucial role in the development of epilepsy (epileptogenesis) after brain insult. Immunomodulatory drugs targeting the inflammasome pathway may represent a novel antiepileptogenic treatment strategy for epilepsy. This review summarises the current literature surrounding inflammasome activation and epilepsy

A Strategy for Container Lifecycle Management

Virtualization has been around much of the history of computing -from the introduction of virtual memory to virtualization at the operating system level and containers. The use of containers as a deployment tool has boomed since the release of Docker as free software in 2013. Docker includes a large set of tools ranging from building and executing containers on a single node to managing multiple containers in clusters. However, the distribution of deployment descriptors and of maintenance scripts is not properly addressed. This work introduces the mechanisms provided by Docker and describes a practice developed by the Bitlogic team for the deployment and management of the container lifecycle.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

A Strategy for Container Lifecycle Management

Virtualization has been around much of the history of computing -from the introduction of virtual memory to virtualization at the operating system level and containers. The use of containers as a deployment tool has boomed since the release of Docker as free software in 2013. Docker includes a large set of tools ranging from building and executing containers on a single node to managing multiple containers in clusters. However, the distribution of deployment descriptors and of maintenance scripts is not properly addressed. This work introduces the mechanisms provided by Docker and describes a practice developed by the Bitlogic team for the deployment and management of the container lifecycle.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

A series of three cases of severe Clostridium difficile infection in Australia associated with a binary toxin producing clade 2 ribotype 251 strain

Three patients with severe Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) caused by an unusual strain of C. difficile, PCR ribotype (RT) 251, were identified in New South Wales, Australia. All cases presented with severe diarrhoea, two had multiple recurrences and one died following a colectomy. C. difficile RT251 strains were isolated by toxigenic culture. Genetic characterisation was performed using techniques including toxin gene profiling, PCR ribotyping, whole genome sequencing (WGS), in-silico multi-locus-sequence-typing (MLST) and core-genome single nucleotide variant (SNV) analyses. Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined using an agar incorporation method. In vitro toxin production was confirmed by Vero cell cytotoxicity assay and pathogenicity was assessed in a murine model of CDI. All RT251 isolates contained toxin A (tcdA), toxin B (tcdB) and binary toxin (cdtA and cdtB) genes. Core-genome analyses revealed the RT251 strains were clonal, with 0–5 SNVs between isolates. WGS and MLST clustered RT251 in the same evolutionary clade (clade 2) as RT027. Despite comparatively lower levels of in vitro toxin production, in the murine model RT251 infection resembled RT027 infection. Mice showed marked weight loss, severe disease within 48 h post-infection and death. All isolates were susceptible to metronidazole and vancomycin. Our observations suggest C. difficile RT251 causes severe disease and emphasise the importance of ongoing surveillance for new and emerging strains of C. difficile with enhanced virulence

Acidosis Potentiates the Host Proinflammatory Interleukin-1β Response to Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Infection

Infection by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and bacteria in general, frequently promotes acidification of the local microenvironment, and this is reinforced by pulmonary exertion and exacerbation. However, the consequence of an acidic environment on the host inflammatory response to P. aeruginosa infection is poorly understood. Here we report that the pivotal cellular and host proinflammatory interleukin-1β (IL-1β) response, which enables host clearance of the infection but can produce collateral inflammatory damage, is increased in response to P. aeruginosa infection within an acidic environment. Synergistic mechanisms that promote increased IL-1β release in response to P. aeruginosa infection in an acidic environment are increased pro-IL-1β induction and increased caspase-1 activity, the latter being dependent upon a functional type III secretion system of the bacteria and the NLRC4 inflammasome of the host. Using an in vivo peritonitis model, we have validated that the IL-1β inflammatory response is increased in mice in response to P. aeruginosa infection within an acidic microenvironment. These data reveal novel insights into the regulation and exacerbation of inflammatory responses to P. aeruginosa