Molecular characterisation of protist parasites in human-habituated mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), humans and livestock, from Bwindi impenetrable National Park, Uganda

Over 60 % of human emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, and there is growing evidence of the zooanthroponotic transmission of diseases from humans to livestock and wildlife species, with major implications for public health, economics, and conservation. Zooanthroponoses are of relevance to critically endangered species; amongst these is the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) of Uganda. Here, we assess the occurrence of Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora, Giardia, and Entamoeba infecting mountain gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP), Uganda, using molecular methods. We also assess the occurrence of these parasites in humans and livestock species living in overlapping/adjacent geographical regions

Species identification of adult African blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) of forensic importance:

Necrophagous blowflies can provide an excellent source of evidence for forensic entomologists and are also relevant to problems in public health, medicine, and animal health. However, access to useful information about these blowflies is constrained by the need to correctly identify the flies, and the poor availability of reliable, accessible identification tools is a serious obstacle to the development of forensic entomology in the majority of African countries. In response to this need, a high-quality key to the adults of all species of forensically relevant blowflies of Africa has been prepared, drawing on high-quality entomological materials and modern focus-stacking photomicroscopy. This new key can be easily applied by investigators inexperienced in the taxonomy of blowflies and is made available through a highly accessible online platform. Problematic diagnostic characters used in previous keys are discussed

Inflammatory resolution: New opportunities for drug discovery

Treatment of inflammatory diseases today is largely based on interrupting the synthesis or action of mediators that drive the host’s response to injury. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, steroids and antihistamines, for instance, were developed on this basis. Although such small-molecule inhibitors have provided the main treatment for inflammatory arthropathies and asthma, they are not without their shortcomings. This review offers an alternative approach to the development of novel therapeutics based on the endogenous mediators and mechanisms that switch off acute inflammation and bring about its resolution. It is thought that this strategy will open up new avenues for the future management of inflammation-based diseases

SLYRB measures:natural invariant measures for chaotic systems

In many applications it is useful to consider not only the set that constitutes an attractor but also (if it exists) the asymptotic distribution of a typical trajectory converging to the attractor. Indeed, in the physics literature such a distribution is often assumed to exist. When it exists, it is called a "natural invariant measure". The results by Lasota and Yorke, and by Sinai, Ruelle and Bowen represent two approaches both of which establish the existence of an invariant measure. The goal of this paper is to relate the "Lasota-Yorke measure" for chaotic attractors in one-dimensional maps and the "Sinai-Ruelle-Bowen measure" for chaotic attractors in higher-dimensional dynamical systems. We introduce the notion of "SLYRB measure". (We pronounce the term "SLYRB" as a single word "slurb".) The SRB concept of measure can be motivated by asking how a trajectory from a typical initial point is distributed asymptotically. Similarly the SLYRB concept of measure can be motivated by asking what the average distribution is for trajectories of a large collection of initial points in some region not necessarily restricted to a single basin. The latter is analogous to ask where all the rain drops from a rain storm go and the former asks about where a single rain drop goes, perhaps winding up distributed throughout a particular lake. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved