Prevalence of Trypanosoma evansi in horses (Equus caballus) and donkeys (Equus asinus) in El-Bayadh district, southwestern Algeria

NO ABSTRACT AVAILABLETrypanosoma evansi is a parasite that causes surra in a variety of wild and domestic animals and is mainly transmitted by biting flies in Africa, Asia and Latin-America. Horses infected by Trypanosoma evansi present a chronic weight loss, icterus, oedema, anemia, abortions and neurological troubles. Due to this parasite, cases of human trypanosomiosis have been reported in different countries by contacting with infected animals. In this study, 206 healthy equines (177 horses and 29 donkeys) from El-Bayadh district, located in southwest Algeria, were tested for the presence of parasites in blood using Giemsa-stained blood films and for the presence of antibodies against T. evansi using CATT /T. evansi. While none of the equines showed detectable parasites in the blood, the individual seroprevalence of T. evansi was found to be 46.6% (CI 95%, 40.7-54.4%). Out of 98 positives samples, 56.1% (55/98) were shown at level 1 (+), 27.5% (27/98) at level 2 (++) and 16.3% (16/98) at level 3 (+++). The results show that out of 177 tested horses, 80 were seropositive to T. evansi, 45.2% (CI 95%, 37.8-52.5%) and out of 29 tested donkeys, 18 were seropositive to T. evansi, 62.1% (CI 95%, 44.4-79.7%). A questionnaire for the owners, targeted to associate risk factors for surra in horses, showed that environmental factors that are favorable for Tabanids, such as water and vegetation, but also promiscuity with dromedaries were positively associated with the seroprevalence rate in the horses. El-Bayadh district is a highly endemic region for surra in Algeria

Letter from Madeleine K. Albright to M. Cherif Bassiouni

Letter thanks Professor Bassiouni for previous letter, and comments on her pleasure at Bassiouni remaining Chairman of the Commissionhttps://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/documents_780/1019/thumbnail.jp

Analiza oborine (1923-2004) u Ataru-Mauretaniji

The shortage of water resources in Adrar region, especially in Atar (Capital city of Adrar prefecture) and the surrounding villages along Seguelli watershed has been taken the concern of the policy maker and populations of this region since long time. This area had been suffering from recurrent droughts and faced water crises many times. Several attempts have been made to overcome these problems. Meanwhile the risk is still endangering the life and agricultural activities in one of the most important oasis areas. This study analyzed Atar rainfall time series periodicity, trends, and its relationship with Sea Surface Temperature (SST). The nonparametric Spearman test was used for trend analysis and the serial autocorrelation for persistency. Also, power spectrum and Fourier fit were deployed for analysis of frequency and periodicity. The tendency of Atar rainfall time series shows rainy periods in 1920’s and 1950’s and decreased rainfall since the late of 1950s. On the other hand, the prolonged drought periods appeared during 1970’s in contemporaneous with the Sahelian drought. The persistency analysis indicated the presence of biennial components in the annual and bimonthly rainfall in last three decades. SSTs of Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean were modulating Atar rainfall during 1923–1992 period.U području Adrara, posebno u Ataru (glavnom gradu pokrajine Adrar) i okolnim selima duž Seguelli sliva proučavao se manjak vodenih resursa u odnosu na političke odnose i stanovništvo tog područja kroz duže vrijeme. To je područje karakterizirano čestim periodičnim sušama i nedostacima vode. Usprkos pokušajima da se taj problem prebrodi, život i poljoprivreda su i dalje ugroženi u jednoj od najvažnijih oaza u tom području. Ova studija analizira periodičnost vremenskog niza oborine u Ataru, trendove niza i njegov međuodnos s površinskom temperaturom mora. Pri analizi trenda koristio se neparametarski Spearman-ov test, dok je perzistencija analizirana putem autokorelacije. Također se koristio i spektar snage i harmonijska analiza za određivanje frekvencija i periodičnosti. Tendencija vremenskog niza oborina u Ataru pokazuje kišne periode u dvadesetim i pedesetim godinama 20. stoljeća i smanjenje oborine od kasnih pedesetih godina 20. stoljeća. Dugotrajni periodi suše pojavljuju se tijekom 70-tih istovremeno sa sušom u Sahelu. Analiza perzistencije ukazala je na postojanje dvogodišnjih komponenti u godišnjoj i dvomjesečnoj oborini u zadnje tri dekade. Površinske temperature mora Atlantika, Indijskog i Pacifičkog oceana utjecale su na količinu oborine u Ataru u razdoblju od 1923. do 1992. godine

Gamma-D crystallin gene (CRYGD) mutation causes autosomal dominant congenital cerulean cataracts

Congenital cataracts are a major cause of bilateral visual impairment in childhood. We mapped the gene responsible for autosomal congenital cerulean cataracts to chromosome 2q33-35 in a four generation family of Moroccan descent. The maximum lod score (7.19 at recombination fraction theta=0) was obtained for marker D2S2208 near the g-crystallin gene (CRYG) cluster. Sequencing of the coding regions of the CRYGA, B, C, and D genes showed the presence of a heterozygous C>A transversion in exon 2 of CRYGD that is associated with cataracts in this family. This mutation resulted in a proline to threonine substitution at amino acid 23 of the protein in the first of the four Greek key motifs that characterise this protein. We show that although the x ray crystallography modelling does not indicate any change of the backbone conformation, the mutation affects a region of the Greek key motif that is important for determining the topology of this protein fold. Our data suggest strongly that the proline to threonine substitution may alter the protein folding or decrease the thermodynamic stability or solubility of the protein. Furthermore, this is the first report of a mutation in this gene resulting in autosomal dominant congenital cerulean cataracts

Experimental Validation of Contact Dynamics for In-Hand Manipulation

This paper evaluates state-of-the-art contact models at predicting the motions and forces involved in simple in-hand robotic manipulations. In particular it focuses on three primitive actions --linear sliding, pivoting, and rolling-- that involve contacts between a gripper, a rigid object, and their environment. The evaluation is done through thousands of controlled experiments designed to capture the motion of object and gripper, and all contact forces and torques at 250Hz. We demonstrate that a contact modeling approach based on Coulomb's friction law and maximum energy principle is effective at reasoning about interaction to first order, but limited for making accurate predictions. We attribute the major limitations to 1) the non-uniqueness of force resolution inherent to grasps with multiple hard contacts of complex geometries, 2) unmodeled dynamics due to contact compliance, and 3) unmodeled geometries dueto manufacturing defects.Comment: International Symposium on Experimental Robotics, ISER 2016, Tokyo, Japa

Diverticule de Zenker à propos de 6 observations

Introduction : Le diverticule de Zenker est une pathologie acquise rare qui touche surtout le sujet âgé. Il peut être à l’origine de sérieuses complications pulmonaires.Matériel et méthodes : il s’agit d’une étude rétrospective à propos de 6 patients opérés pour diverticule de Zenker au service d’ORL Farhat Hached de Sousse sur une période de 15 ans (1996-2010).Résultats : Le symptôme majeur était la dysphagie. L’âge moyen était de 64 ans. Les six patients étaient opérés par voie de cervicotomie. Les suites opératoires immédiates étaient bonnes. Un seul patient a  développé une sténose oesophagienne.Conclusion : Le diverticule de Zenker est une pathologie rare qui touche le sujet âgé. Le tableau clinique est peu spécifique. Son diagnostic positif est confirmé par le transit pharyngo-oesophagien. La cervicotomie ainsi que l’endoscopie représentent les deux modalités thérapeutiques possibles. La diverticulectomie avec myotomie trans-muqueuse reste le traitement de choix pour le sujet jeune. Cependant le traitement endoscopique reste une bonne alternative chez le sujet âgé à haut risque chirurgical.Mots clés : diverticule de Zenker, dysphagie, myotomie

Nonlinear optical properties of selected natural pigments extracted from spinach: Carotenoids

They are report here, for the first time in authors knowledge, results on third order nonlinear optical susceptibilities from a series of natural pigments extracted from spinach. The measurements were performed in-situ at 532 nm wavelength using degenerate four wave mixing technique (DFWM). For comparison third order nonlinear optical susceptibilities of the same pigments were also evaluated using third harmonic generation (THG) set up at 1064 nm. The electronic contribution to the observed properties was also deduced. The measurements were performed on thin films deposited on a thick glass substrate. These pigments were also identified by UV–VIS spectral analysis. All these results were in good agreement with the literature data