2,210 research outputs found
Natural history of Plasmodium odocoilei malaria infection in farmed white-tailed deer
ABSTRACT White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), an ecologically and economically important species, are the most widely distributed large animals in North America. A recent study indicated that up to 25% of all white-tailed deer may be infected with Plasmodium odocoilei, a malaria parasite belonging to the distinct clade of ungulate-infecting Plasmodium spp. Because the clinical impact of P. odocoilei on deer health and survival is unknown, we undertook a retrospective longitudinal study of farmed Floridian O. virginianus fawns. We found that a substantial proportion (21%) of fawns acquire malaria infection during the first 8 months of life. Some animals naturally clear P. odocoilei infection, while other animals remain persistently positive. Importantly, we found that animals that acquire malaria parasites very early in life have poor survival compared to animals that remain uninfected. Our report thus provides the first evidence of a clinically significant impact of malaria infection in young deer. IMPORTANCE Malaria parasites of the genus Plasmodium are known to infect a variety of vertebrate hosts, including ungulates (hoofed mammals). A recent study found that up to a quarter of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in North America are infected with the parasite Plasmodium odocoilei. In addition to occupying an important ecological niche, white-tailed deer are popular game animals and deer farming represents a rapidly growing industry. However, the effect of P. odocoilei infection in this ecologically and economically important ungulate species is unknown. Our work is significant because (i) we identified a high prevalence of P. odocoilei in farmed deer and (ii) we found evidence for both cleared and persistent infection, as well as an association with decreased survival of young fawns
Eradication of Exotic Weeds in Australia: Comparing Effort and Expenditure
Weeds have many adverse impacts on agriculture and the environment and therefore are often targets of eradication attempts. Eradication attempts involve large commitments of labour and financial resources over significant periods of time. Using data from 12 Australian weed eradication attempts the authors compare work hours and expenditure on each attempt for various initial-infestation sizes. Analysis of a limited data set shows: (1) that while the eradication effort increases with the initial area of infestation, the effort applied per hectare actually decreases; (2) that application of a greater work effort was not the reason why completed eradications were successful; and (3) that the larger the initial infestation size, the smaller the amount of resources applied per hectare for eradication.weeds, eradication, work effort, expenditure, infestation size, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
The multiple ionospheric probe Auroral ionospheric report
Multiple impedance and resonance probe payload for ionospheric property observation in Nike- Apache rocke
Electronic states of metallic and semiconducting carbon nanotubes with bond and site disorder
Disorder effects on the density of states in carbon nanotubes are analyzed by
a tight binding model with Gaussian bond or site disorder. Metallic armchair
and semiconducting zigzag nanotubes are investigated. In the strong disorder
limit, the conduction and valence band states merge, and a finite density of
states appears at the Fermi energy in both of metallic and semiconducting
carbon nanotubes. The bond disorder gives rise to a huge density of states at
the Fermi energy differently from that of the site disorder case. Consequences
for experiments are discussed.Comment: Phys. Rev. B: Brief Reports (to be published). Related preprints can
be found at http://www.etl.go.jp/~harigaya/NEW.htm
Subband population in a single-wall carbon nanotube diode
We observe current rectification in a molecular diode consisting of a
semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotube and an impurity. One half of the
nanotube has no impurity, and it has a current-voltage (I-V) charcteristic of a
typical semiconducting nanotube. The other half of the nanotube has the
impurity on it, and its I-V characteristic is that of a diode. Current in the
nanotube diode is carried by holes transported through the molecule's
one-dimensional subbands. At 77 Kelvin we observe a step-wise increase in the
current through the diode as a function of gate voltage, showing that we can
control the number of occupied one-dimensional subbands through electrostatic
doping.Comment: to appear in Physical Review Letters. 4 pages & 3 figure
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