Family Carabodidae (Acari: Oribatida) V. The genus Congocepheus Balogh, 1958 (second part), with a redescription of Congocepheus involutus Mahunka, 1997, and descriptions of two new species

The species Congocepheus involutus Mahunka, 1997 is redescribed, and two newspecies are described, Congocepheus gabonensis n. sp. and Congocepheus ektactesin. sp., using optical and scanning electron microscopy.La Famille Carabodidae (Acari: Oribatida) V. Le genre Congocepheus, Balogh, 1958 (deuxième partie) avec la redescription de Congocepheus involutus Mahunka, 1997 et les descriptions de deux nouvelles espèces. L'espèce Congocepheus involutus Mahunka, 1997 est redécrite et deux espèces nouvelles sont décrites Congocepheus gabonensis n. sp. et Congocepheus ektactesi n. sp. sur la base d'observations en microscopie optique et électronique à balayage.Fil: Fernandez, Nestor Alfredo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Rioja; ArgentinaFil: Theron, Pieter. North-West University; SudáfricaFil: Rollard, Christine. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Francia. Museum National D; FranciaFil: Tiedt, Louvrens. North-West University; Sudáfric

The relative fitness of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis: a modelling study of household transmission in Peru.

The relative fitness of drug-resistant versus susceptible bacteria in an environment dictates resistance prevalence. Estimates for the relative fitness of resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) strains are highly heterogeneous and mostly derived from in vitro experiments. Measuring fitness in the field allows us to determine how the environment influences the spread of resistance. We designed a household structured, stochastic mathematical model to estimate the fitness costs associated with multidrug resistance (MDR) carriage in Mtb in Lima, Peru during 2010-2013. By fitting the model to data from a large prospective cohort study of TB disease in household contacts, we estimated the fitness, relative to susceptible strains with a fitness of 1, of MDR-Mtb to be 0.32 (95% credible interval: 0.15-0.62) or 0.38 (0.24-0.61), if only transmission or progression to disease, respectively, was affected. The relative fitness of MDR-Mtb increased to 0.56 (0.42-0.72) when the fitness cost influenced both transmission and progression to disease equally. We found the average relative fitness of MDR-Mtb circulating within households in Lima, Peru during 2010-2013 to be significantly lower than concurrent susceptible Mtb If these fitness levels do not change, then existing TB control programmes are likely to keep MDR-TB prevalence at current levels in Lima, Peru

Cavity-enhanced optical Hall effect in two-dimensional free charge carrier gases detected at terahertz frequencies

The effect of a tunable, externally coupled Fabry-P\'{e}rot cavity to resonantly enhance the optical Hall effect signatures at terahertz frequencies produced by a traditional Drude-like two-dimensional electron gas is shown and discussed in this communication. As a result, the detection of optical Hall effect signatures at conveniently obtainable magnetic fields, for example by neodymium permanent magnets, is demonstrated. An AlInN/GaN-based high electron mobility transistor structure grown on a sapphire substrate is used for the experiment. The optical Hall effect signatures and their dispersions, which are governed by the frequency and the reflectance minima and maxima of the externally coupled Fabry-P\'{e}rot cavity, are presented and discussed. Tuning the externally coupled Fabry-P\'{e}rot cavity strongly modifies the optical Hall effect signatures, which provides a new degree of freedom for optical Hall effect experiments in addition to frequency, angle of incidence and magnetic field direction and strength

On the Kelvin Electrostatic Generator

The Kelvin generator is an amazing electrostatic device which poses many questions. The authors report the results of their investigations of this device under various controlled conditions with both nonpolar and polar liquids and a sodium chloride aqueous solution. They have found that the generator works well even if the two liquid streams originate from different electrically insulated reservoirs. In addition they propose a model in which the electric charge results from the separation of the hydrogen and hydroxyl ions as the water droplets form

Socio-demographic correlates, HIV/AIDS related cofactors, and measures of same-sex sexual behaviour among Northern Thai male soldiers

We use data from an anonymous self-administered 1991 survey of military personnel in northern Thailand to estimate overall levels of and socio-demographic differentials in same-sex sexual behaviour in this population. Additionally, we examine the relationship between sexual experience with another male and a variety of outcomes relevant to HIV prevention and policy. Overall, 16.3 per cent of the sexually active soldiers report ever having had anal or oral sex with other males. Same-sex sexual behaviour in this sample is positively associated with several indicators of higher socio-economic status. All of the men who report having had sex with other men report having had vaginal intercourse with females as well. Comparison of our estimate of same-sex sexual behaviour with those obtained from two similar samples drawn in 1991 suggests that the lower estimates observed in the other two studies are largely due to differences in data collection methods. Regarding the HIV/AIDS-related outcomes we examined, men who have had sex with other men are significantly more likely than those who have not to have ever injected drugs, to personally know someone with HIV/AIDS, to have had sex with a female prostitute in the last six months, and to have had a sexually transmitted disease in the last six months. In this sample, men who have had sex with other men are also less knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS than are men who have not. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for HIV-prevention policy in Thailand

Heart Rate Variability Responses to Exercise in Mid-Spectrum Chronic Kidney Disease

Heart rate variability (HRV) is a measure of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity, and decreased HRV is associated with many cardiovascular conditions. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is characterized by a decrease in renal function and may be associated with ANS imbalances in the renal vasculature. Low HRV is associated with CKD incidence. Exercise is able to alter HRV by modulating the ANS. The effect of exercise on HRV in mid-spectrum CKD patients remains understudied. PURPOSE: To determine the effect of steady-state exercise (SSE) and high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) on post-exercise HRV in patients with stage 3 or 4 CKD. METHODS: Twenty participants with stage 3 or 4 CKD (n = 6 men; n = 14 women; age 62.0 ± 9.9 yr; weight 80.9 ± 16.2 kg; body fat 37.3 ± 8.5% of weight; VO2max 19.4 ± 4.7 ml/kg/min, eGFR 51.5 ± 6.82). On separate days, each participant completed 30 minutes of aerobic exercise on the treadmill with exercise intensities set at 65% VO2reserve for SSE and 90% and 20% of VO2reserve in 3:2 min ratio for HIIE in a randomized crossover design. Both conditions averaged ~ 65% VO2reserve. HRV was measured at baseline, immediately post-exercise (IPE), 1-hr post-exercise, and 24-hr post-exercise. HRV was measured for 5 mins in the supine position using an elastic belt and Bluetooth monitor (Polar H7). CardioMood software was used to process HRV variables high frequency (HF), low frequency (LF), and standard deviation of all NN intervals (SDNN). Data were analyzed using 2 (condition) by 4 (time) repeated-measures ANOVAs. Data violated normality and were natural log (ln) transformed prior to analysis. Significant main effects were followed up using pairwise comparisons using a Bonferroni adjustment for multiple comparisons. All analyses were performed using SPSS (v.26). RESULTS: For ln LF/HF there were no significant main effects for exercise condition, time, or their interaction (p \u3e 0.05). For ln HF (F = 3.507, p \u3c 0.05, ηp2 = 0.156), ln LF (F = 3.093, p \u3c 0.05, ηp2 = 0.140), and ln SDNN (F = 3.761, p \u3c 0.05, ηp2 = 0.165) there was a significant main effect for time. Post-hoc comparisons revealed that HF, LF, and SDNN were lower IPE than for all other time points. CONCLUSION: Thirty minutes of aerobic exercise transiently decreases HRV in mid-spectrum CKD patients. This response was not modified by exercise condition

Talking in Fury: The Cortico-Subcortical Network Underlying Angry Vocalizations

Although the neural basis for the perception of vocal emotions has been described extensively, the neural basis for the expression of vocal emotions is almost unknown. Here, we asked participants both to repeat and to express high-arousing angry vocalizations to command (i.e., evoked expressions). First, repeated expressions elicited activity in the left middle superior temporal gyrus (STG), pointing to a short auditory memory trace for the repetition of vocal expressions. Evoked expressions activated the left hippocampus, suggesting the retrieval of long-term stored scripts. Secondly, angry compared with neutral expressions elicited activity in the inferior frontal cortex IFC and the dorsal basal ganglia (BG), specifically during evoked expressions. Angry expressions also activated the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and the latter correlated with pupil size as an indicator of bodily arousal during emotional output behavior. Though uncorrelated, both ACC activity and pupil diameter were also increased during repetition trials indicating increased control demands during the more constraint production type of precisely repeating prosodic intonations. Finally, different acoustic measures of angry expressions were associated with activity in the left STG, bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, and dorsal B

Bell inequalities for three systems and arbitrarily many measurement outcomes

We present a family of Bell inequalities for three parties and arbitrarily many outcomes, which can be seen as a natural generalization of the Mermin Bell inequality. For a small number of outcomes, we verify that our inequalities define facets of the polytope of local correlations. We investigate the quantum violations of these inequalities, in particular with respect to the Hilbert space dimension. We provide strong evidence that the maximal quantum violation can only be reached using systems with local Hilbert space dimension exceeding the number of measurement outcomes. This suggests that our inequalities can be used as multipartite dimension witnesses.Comment: v1 6 pages, 4 tables; v2 Published version with minor typos correcte