Dynamics of nonautonomous eco-pidemiological models

We consider a general eco-epidemiological model which includes a large variety of eco-epidemiological models available in the literature. We assume that the parameters are time dependent and we consider general functions for the predation on infected and uninfected prey and also for the vital dynamics of uninfected prey and predator populations. We studied this model in four scenarios: non-autonomous, periodic, discrete and random. In the non-autonomous and discrete case we discussed the uniform strong persistence and extinction of the disease, in the periodic case, we studied the existence of an endemic periodic orbit, and nally, in the random case we studied the existence of random global attractors.Nesta tese consideramos um modelo eco-epidemiológico geral que inclui uma grande variedade de modelos eco-epidemiológicos presentes na literatura. Assumimos que os parâmetros dependem do tempo e consideramos funções gerais para a predação de presas infectadas e não infectadas e também para a dinâmica vital de presas não infectadas e da população de predadores. Estudamos estes modelos em quatro cenários: não-autónomo geral, periódico, discreto e aleatório. Nos casos não-autónomo geral e discreto analisamos a persistência forte e extinção da doença, no caso periódico estudamos as condições para a existência de uma órbita periódica endémica e, finalmente, no caso aleatório estudamos a existência de atratores globais aleatórios

Viral genetic clustering and transmission dynamics of the 2022 mpox outbreak in Portugal

Pathogen genome sequencing during epidemics enhances our ability to identify and understand suspected clusters and investigate their relationships. Here, we combine genomic and epidemiological data of the 2022 mpox outbreak to better understand early viral spread, diversification and transmission dynamics. By sequencing 52% of the confirmed cases in Portugal, we identified the mpox virus sublineages with the highest impact on case numbers and fitted them into a global context, finding evidence that several international sublineages probably emerged or spread early in Portugal. We estimated a 62% infection reporting rate and that 1.3% of the population of men who have sex with men in Portugal were infected. We infer the critical role played by sexual networks and superspreader gatherings, such as sauna attendance, in the dissemination of mpox virus. Overall, our findings highlight genomic epidemiology as a tool for the real-time monitoring and control of mpox epidemics, and can guide future vaccine policy in a highly susceptible population.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

SARS-CoV-2 introductions and early dynamics of the epidemic in Portugal

Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal was rapidly implemented by the National Institute of Health in the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic, in collaboration with more than 50 laboratories distributed nationwide. Methods By applying recent phylodynamic models that allow integration of individual-based travel history, we reconstructed and characterized the spatio-temporal dynamics of SARSCoV-2 introductions and early dissemination in Portugal. Results We detected at least 277 independent SARS-CoV-2 introductions, mostly from European countries (namely the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, and Switzerland), which were consistent with the countries with the highest connectivity with Portugal. Although most introductions were estimated to have occurred during early March 2020, it is likely that SARS-CoV-2 was silently circulating in Portugal throughout February, before the first cases were confirmed. Conclusions Here we conclude that the earlier implementation of measures could have minimized the number of introductions and subsequent virus expansion in Portugal. This study lays the foundation for genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal, and highlights the need for systematic and geographically-representative genomic surveillance.We gratefully acknowledge to Sara Hill and Nuno Faria (University of Oxford) and Joshua Quick and Nick Loman (University of Birmingham) for kindly providing us with the initial sets of Artic Network primers for NGS; Rafael Mamede (MRamirez team, IMM, Lisbon) for developing and sharing a bioinformatics script for sequence curation (https://github.com/rfm-targa/BioinfUtils); Philippe Lemey (KU Leuven) for providing guidance on the implementation of the phylodynamic models; Joshua L. Cherry (National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health) for providing guidance with the subsampling strategies; and all authors, originating and submitting laboratories who have contributed genome data on GISAID (https://www.gisaid.org/) on which part of this research is based. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the view of the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the United States government. This study is co-funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Agência de Investigação Clínica e Inovação Biomédica (234_596874175) on behalf of the Research 4 COVID-19 call. Some infrastructural resources used in this study come from the GenomePT project (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022184), supported by COMPETE 2020 - Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Lisboa Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa2020), Algarve Portugal Regional Operational Programme (CRESC Algarve2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Preconcentration and Determination of Copper and Zinc in Natural Water Samples by ICP-AES After Complexation and Sorption on Amberlite XAD-2

The present paper describes a procedure for separation, preconcentration and sequential determination of trace amounts of copper and zinc in natural water samples, by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES). The proposed method is based on the complexation of copper(II) and zinc(II) ions by 1-(2-thiazolylazo)-2-naphthol (TAN) and sorption on to Amberlite XAD-2 resin. Parameters such as: TAN amount, pH effect on the complexation and sorption of TAN complexes, agitation time for complete sorption, concentration of metal ion, mass of Amberlite XAD-2, desorption of metal ions from XAD-2 resin and sample volume were studied. The results demonstrated that the copper(II) and zinc(II) ions, in the range of 0.10 to 100.00 mug, contained in a solution sample volume of 400 mL, in the pH range of 5.7 to 8.3, on the form of TAN complexes had been quantitatively retained on to XAD-2 resin. The shaking time required for sorption is 1 h using a resin mass of 1.4 g. The solution for determination of copper and zinc by ICP-AES is obtained, after desorption of the ions from the XAD-2 resin, using 5 mL of 2 mol L-1 hydrochloric acid and shaking the system for 5 min. The procedure was applied to the determination of copper and zinc in several natural water samples. The standard addition technique was applied and the obtained recoveries revealed that the proposed procedure has a good accuracy. A high enrichment factor (80) and simplicity are the main advantages in this analytical protocol

Analytical Methods

p. 508-512A procedure for separation of platinum from ferrous matrices was developed using platinum sorption as chloride complexes on polyurethane foam, with subsequent determination by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES). The procedure was optimized using a two-level full factorial and Doehlert designs. Four variables (foam mass, shaking time, stannous chloride concentration and hydrochloric acid concentration) were regarded as factors in the extraction optimization. Results of the two-level full factorial design, 24 with 16 runs based on Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed that only two factors (foam mass and shaking time) are statistically significant. Doehlert design was applied in order to determine the optimum conditions for platinum separation. The proposed procedure allowed platinum determination with a detection limit of 66 μg L−1 and a precision, calculated as relative standard deviation (RSD), of 1.2% in a set of 10 measurements for a platinum concentration of 10.0 μg L−1. The studied procedure was applied to platinum determination in several ferrous matrices (iron ores, pure iron and catalysts). Spike tests on iron ores and pure iron showed good performance in platinum recovery. The good accuracy of the proposed procedure was confirmed by analysis of an ore platinum standard reference material (SARM-7)

Preconcentration and Determination of Copper and Zinc in Natural Water Samples by ICP-AES After Complexation and Sorption on Amberlite XAD-2

The present paper describes a procedure for separation, preconcentration and sequential determination of trace amounts of copper and zinc in natural water samples, by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES). The proposed method is based on the complexation of copper(II) and zinc(II) ions by 1-(2-thiazolylazo)-2-naphthol (TAN) and sorption on to Amberlite XAD-2 resin. Parameters such as: TAN amount, pH effect on the complexation and sorption of TAN complexes, agitation time for complete sorption, concentration of metal ion, mass of Amberlite XAD-2, desorption of metal ions from XAD-2 resin and sample volume were studied. The results demonstrated that the copper(II) and zinc(II) ions, in the range of 0.10 to 100.00 mug, contained in a solution sample volume of 400 mL, in the pH range of 5.7 to 8.3, on the form of TAN complexes had been quantitatively retained on to XAD-2 resin. The shaking time required for sorption is 1 h using a resin mass of 1.4 g. The solution for determination of copper and zinc by ICP-AES is obtained, after desorption of the ions from the XAD-2 resin, using 5 mL of 2 mol L-1 hydrochloric acid and shaking the system for 5 min. The procedure was applied to the determination of copper and zinc in several natural water samples. The standard addition technique was applied and the obtained recoveries revealed that the proposed procedure has a good accuracy. A high enrichment factor (80) and simplicity are the main advantages in this analytical protocol

Correction: High accuracy of an ELISA test based in a flagella antigen of Leishmania in serodiagnosis of canine visceral leishmaniasis with potential to improve the control measures in Brazil-A Phase II study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0006871.]

High accuracy of an ELISA test based in a flagella antigen of Leishmania in serodiagnosis of canine visceral leishmaniasis with potential to improve the control measures in Brazil - A Phase II study.

BACKGROUND:Canine Visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) is a serious public health problem, thus for its control, the Ministry of Health in Brazil recommends the rapid diagnosis and euthanasia of seropositive dogs in endemic areas. Therefore, our group had previously selected six recombinant proteins (rLci1, rLci2, rLci4, rLci5, rLci8, and rLci12) due to their high potential for CVL diagnostic testing. The present study aims to produce an immunodiagnostic test using the aforementioned antigens, to improve the performance of the diagnosis of CVL recommended by Brazilian Ministry of Health. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:To evaluate the recombinant proteins in the serological assays, positive and negative samples were selected based on parasitological test (culture) and molecular test (qPCR) of splenic aspirate. Initially, we selected 135 dog serum samples, 73 positives (symptomatic and asymptomatic) and 62 negatives to screen recombinant proteins on ELISA platform. Then, for rLci5 ELISA validation, 361 serum samples collected in a cross-sectional study were selected, being 183 positives (symptomatic and asymptomatic) and 178 negatives. In the screening of the recombinant proteins, rLci5 was the only protein to present a performance statistically higher than the performance presented by EIE-LVC test, presenting 96% (IC 95%; 85-99%) vs. 83% (IC 95%; 69-92%) of sensitivity for symptomatic dogs, 71% (IC 95%; 49-97%) vs. 54% (IC 95%; 33-74%) for asymptomatic dogs and 94% (IC 95%; 83-99%) vs, 88% (IC 95%; 76-95% of specificity. Thus, the rLci5 protein was selected to compose a final ELISA test. Validation of rLci5 ELISA showed 87% (IC 81-91%) of sensitivity, 94% (IC 95%; 90-97%) of specificity and 90% accuracy. Testing the EIE-LVC with the same validation panel, we observed a lower performance when compared to ELISA rLci5 (sensitivity of 67% (IC 95%; 59-74%), specificity of 87% (IC 95%; 81-92%), and accuracy of 77%). Finally, the performance of current CVL diagnostic protocol recommended by Brazilian Ministry of Health, using DPP-LVC as screening test and EIE-LVC as confirmatory test, was compared with a modified protocol, replacing EIE-LVC by rLci5 ELISA. The current protocol presented a sensitivity of 59% (IC 95%; 52-66%), specificity of 98% (IC 95%; 95-99%) and accuracy of 80% (IC 95%; 76-84%), while the modified protocol presented a sensitivity of 71% (IC 95%; 63-77%), specificity of 99% (IC 95%; 97-100%) and accuracy of 86% (IC 95%; 83-89%). CONCLUSION:Thus, we concluded that rLci5 ELISA is a promising test to replace EIE-LVC test and increase the diagnostic performance of CVL in Brazil