Reinstatement of rhipicephalus (Boophilus) australis (Acari: Ixodidae) with redescription of the adult and larval stages

Rhipicephalus australis Fuller, the Australian cattle tick, is reinstated and the adults and larvae redescribed from material collected in Australia. This long ignored boophilid was previously known as R. microplus Canestrini for specimens reported in Australia and New Caledonia. The adults of R. australis are easily recognized by a combination of characters, such as the ventro-medial spurs in the palpal segments of the male, and the abundant, plumose, pale white setae on the dorsum of the female. Other details, such as coxal and adanal shields are more variable among different populations and may lead to incorrect determinations. Larvae of R. australis are clearly smaller than those of R. microplus. The use of principal components analysis on body measurements leads to a clear separation of larvae of both taxa. A phylogenetic analysis based on 12S- and 16S-rDNA gene sequences supports the conspecificity of the neotype material on which the reinstatement of the species is proposed, and of the specimens used for previous interspecific crosses. R. australis is now known to be present in Australia, New Caledonia, the island of Borneo, Philippines, Sumatra, Java, New Guinea, Cambodia, and Tahiti. Both R. microplus and R. australis coexist in some countries in southeastern Asia. Given the extreme importance of these ticks for the cattle industry, field data on their distribution in the region are required to know the actual range of these species and to understand the evolution of the group.Fil: Estrada Peña, Agustín. Universidad de Zaragoza; EspañaFil: Venzal, José M.. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Nava, Santiago. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Santa Fe. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Rafaela; ArgentinaFil: Mangold, Atilio Jose. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Santa Fe. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Rafaela; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Guglielmone, Alberto Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Santa Fe. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Rafaela; ArgentinaFil: Labruna, Marcelo B.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: de la Fuente, José. Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos; Españ

Fiabilidad y validez de la versión española del "Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory" (CHEXI)

Background: The Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI) was designed to identify EF deficits in daily life contexts. The aim of the present study was to validate the Spanish version of the CHEXI in 4-5-year-old children. Method: Parents’ ratings of the CHEXI and laboratory tests of EF were investigated in two large samples of 445 children aged 4 years (196 girls, 249 boys) and 459 children aged 5 years (208 girls, 251 boys). CHEXI ratings were collected again after one-year. Results: The two-factor structure of the CHEXI (i.e., Working Memory and Inhibition) was replicated, showing high internal consistency and temporal stability. The 4-year-olds were reported to have higher EF deficits than 5-year-olds have. Boys were rated as having higher EF deficits than girls were. However, gender differences were not significant contrasting performance on EF tasks. Finally, associations between CHEXI ratings and EF tests were weak, suggesting that EF tests and EF ratings capture different aspects of EF. Conclusions: The Spanish CHEXI provides a suitable instrument to assess EF in 4-5-year-old children.Contexto: El Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI) se diseñó para detectar déficit de Funciones Ejecutivas (FE) en contextos de la vida diaria. El propósito del presente estudio era validar la versión española del CHEXI para niños de 4 y 5 años. Método: Se obtuvieron las valoraciones de los padres y las puntuaciones en test de laboratorio en una muestra de 445 niños de 4 años (196 niñas, 249niños) y otra de 459 niños de 5 años (208 niñas, 251 niños). Un año más tarde se volvieron a recoger las valoraciones de los padres en CHEXI. Resultados: Se replicó la estructura de dos factores de CHEXI (Memoria de Trabajo e Inhibición), obteniendo una alta consistencia interna y estabilidad temporal. Los niños de 4 años eran valorados con mayor déficit en FE que los niños de 5 años. Los niños alcanzaban puntuaciones más elevadas de déficit de FE. Sin embargo, no aparecieron diferencias significativas de género en las pruebas conductuales. Finalmente, se encontró una baja asociación entre las valoraciones de CHEXI y las puntuaciones de las pruebas conductuales. Este resultado sugiere que los inventarios y las medidas conductuales evalúan diferentes aspectos de las FE. Conclusiones: La versión española de CHEXI ofrece un instrumento válido para evaluar las FE en niños de 4 y 5 años

Quantum free energy differences from non-equilibrium path integrals: I. Methods and numerical application

The imaginary-time path integral representation of the canonical partition function of a quantum system and non-equilibrium work fluctuation relations are combined to yield methods for computing free energy differences in quantum systems using non-equilibrium processes. The path integral representation is isomorphic to the configurational partition function of a classical field theory, to which a natural but fictitious Hamiltonian dynamics is associated. It is shown that if this system is prepared in an equilibrium state, after which a control parameter in the fictitious Hamiltonian is changed in a finite time, then formally the Jarzynski non-equilibrium work relation and the Crooks fluctuation relation are shown to hold, where work is defined as the change in the energy as given by the fictitious Hamiltonian. Since the energy diverges for the classical field theory in canonical equilibrium, two regularization methods are introduced which limit the number of degrees of freedom to be finite. The numerical applicability of the methods is demonstrated for a quartic double-well potential with varying asymmetry. A general parameter-free smoothing procedure for the work distribution functions is useful in this context.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures. Added clarifying remarks and fixed typo

Uniform Consistency of Nonstationary Kernel-Weighted Sample Covariances for Nonparametric Regression

We obtain uniform consistency results for kernel-weighted sample covariances in a nonstationary multiple regression framework that allows for both fixed design and random design coefficient variation. In the fixed design case these nonparametric sample covariances have different uniform asymptotic rates depending on direction, a result that differs fundamentally from the random design and stationary cases. The uniform asymptotic rates derived exceed the corresponding rates in the stationary case and confirm the existence of uniform super-consistency. The modelling framework and convergence rates allow for endogeneity and thus broaden the practical econometric import of these results. As a specific application, we establish uniform consistency of nonparametric kernel estimators of the coefficient functions in nonlinear cointegration models with time varying coefficients or functional coefficients, and provide sharp convergence rates. For the fixed design models, in particular, there are two uniform convergence rates that apply in two different directions, both rates exceeding the usual rate in the stationary case

Brownian Entanglement

We show that for two classical brownian particles there exists an analog of continuous-variable quantum entanglement: The common probability distribution of the two coordinates and the corresponding coarse-grained velocities cannot be prepared via mixing of any factorized distributions referring to the two particles in separate. This is possible for particles which interacted in the past, but do not interact in the present. Three factors are crucial for the effect: 1) separation of time-scales of coordinate and momentum which motivates the definition of coarse-grained velocities; 2) the resulting uncertainty relations between the coordinate of the brownian particle and the change of its coarse-grained velocity; 3) the fact that the coarse-grained velocity, though pertaining to a single brownian particle, is defined on a common context of two particles. The brownian entanglement is a consequence of a coarse-grained description and disappears for a finer resolution of the brownian motion. We discuss possibilities of its experimental realizations in examples of macroscopic brownian motion.Comment: 18 pages, no figure

Diabetes Mellitus and Depression as Risk Factors for Dementia: SADEM Study

Aim: 3Evidence indicates that the comorbidity of dementia with diabetes and depression may affect most cognitive functions. Our chief interest was to examine the patterns of cognitive functioning in individuals diagnosed with dementia, diabetes, and depression as compared with dementia plus diabetes (DDM), or dementia plus depression (DD) and healthy controls

Functional and Immunological Relevance of Anaplasma marginale Major Surface Protein 1a Sequence and Structural Analysis.

Bovine anaplasmosis is caused by cattle infection with the tick-borne bacterium, Anaplasma marginale. The major surface protein 1a (MSP1a) has been used as a genetic marker for identifying A. marginale strains based on N-terminal tandem repeats and a 5'-UTR microsatellite located in the msp1a gene. The MSP1a tandem repeats contain immune relevant elements and functional domains that bind to bovine erythrocytes and tick cells, thus providing information about the evolution of host-pathogen and vector-pathogen interactions. Here we propose one nomenclature for A. marginale strain classification based on MSP1a. All tandem repeats among A. marginale strains were classified and the amino acid variability/frequency in each position was determined. The sequence variation at immunodominant B cell epitopes was determined and the secondary (2D) structure of the tandem repeats was modeled. A total of 224 different strains of A. marginale were classified, showing 11 genotypes based on the 5'-UTR microsatellite and 193 different tandem repeats with high amino acid variability per position. Our results showed phylogenetic correlation between MSP1a sequence, secondary structure, B-cell epitope composition and tick transmissibility of A. marginale strains. The analysis of MSP1a sequences provides relevant information about the biology of A. marginale to design vaccines with a cross-protective capacity based on MSP1a B-cell epitopes

Effects of Al doping on the structural and electronic properties of Mg(1-x)Al(x)B2

We have studied the structural and electronic properties of Mg(1-x)Al(x)B2 within the Virtual Crystal Approximation (VCA) by means of first-principles total-energy calculations. Results for the lattice parameters, the electronic band structure, and the Fermi surface as a function of Al doping for 0<x<0.6 are presented. The ab initio VCA calculations are in excellent agreement with the experimentally observed change in the lattice parameters of Al doped MgB2. The calculations show that the Fermi surface associated with holes a the boron planes collapses gradually with aluminum doping and vanishes for x=0.56. In addition, an abrupt topological change in the sigma-band Fermi surface was found for x=0.3. The calculated hole density correlates closely with existing experimental data for Tc(x), indicating that the observed loss of superconductivity in Mg(1-x)Al(x)B2 is a result of hole bands filling.Comment: 4 pages (revtex) and 4 figures (postscript

Allopatric speciation in ticks: genetic and reproductive divergence between geographic strains of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus

12 pages, 5 figures.-- PMID: 19243585 [PubMed].-- PMCID: PMC2656471.-- Supporting information (Microsatellite genotypes of individual tick crosses, XLS file) available at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/supplementary/1471-2148-9-46-s1.xls.-- et al.[Background]: The cattle tick, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, economically impact cattle industry in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The morphological and genetic differences among R. microplus strains have been documented in the literature, suggesting that biogeographical and ecological separation may have resulted in boophilid ticks from America/Africa and those from Australia being different species. To test the hypothesis of the presence of different boophilid species, herein we performed a series of experiments to characterize the reproductive performance of crosses between R. microplus from Australia, Africa and America and the genetic diversity of strains from Australia, Asia, Africa and America.[Results]: The results showed that the crosses between Australian and Argentinean or Mozambican strains of boophilid ticks are infertile while crosses between Argentinean and Mozambican strains are fertile. These results showed that tick strains from Africa (Mozambique) and America (Argentina) are the same species, while ticks from Australia may actually represent a separate species. The genetic analysis of mitochondrial 12S and 16S rDNA and microsatellite loci were not conclusive when taken separately, but provided evidence that Australian tick strains were genetically different from Asian, African and American strains.[Conclusion]: The results reported herein support the hypothesis that at least two different species share the name R. microplus. These species could be redefined as R. microplus (Canestrini, 1887) (for American and African strains) and probably the old R. australis Fuller, 1899 (for Australian strains), which needs to be redescribed. However, experiments with a larger number of tick strains from different geographic locations are needed to corroborate these results.This work was supported by ICTTD-3, financed by the International Cooperation Program of the European Union, coordination action project No. 510561, the Consejería de Educación y Ciencia, JCCM, Spain (project PAI06-0046-5285) (to JF), the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq (to MBL), the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientícas y Técnicas de Argentina (PIP 2058) and INTA Rafaela (TCP 426100) (to AJM, AAG and CT). V. Naranjo was funded by Junta de Comunidades de Castilla–La Mancha (JCCM), Spain.Peer reviewe