Transcriptional variation of sensory-related genes in natural populations of Aedes albopictus

BACKGROUND: The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, is a highly dangerous invasive vector of numerous medically important arboviruses including dengue, chikungunya and Zika. In four decades it has spread from tropical Southeast Asia to many parts of the world in both tropical and temperate climes. The rapid invasion process of this mosquito is supported by its high ecological and genetic plasticity across different life history traits. Our aim was to investigate whether wild populations, both native and adventive, also display transcriptional genetic variability for functions that may impact their biology, behaviour and ability to transmit arboviruses, such as sensory perception. RESULTS: Antennal transcriptome data were derived from mosquitoes from a native population from Ban Rai, Thailand and from three adventive Mediterranean populations: Athens, Greece and Arco and Trento from Italy. Clear inter-population differential transcriptional activity was observed in different gene categories related to sound perception, olfaction and viral infection. The greatest differences were detected between the native Thai and the Mediterranean populations. The two Italian populations were the most similar. Nearly one million quality filtered SNP loci were identified. CONCLUSION: The ability to express this great inter-population transcriptional variability highlights, at the functional level, the remarkable genetic flexibility of this mosquito species. We can hypothesize that the differential expression of genes, including those involved in sensory perception, in different populations may enable Ae. albopictus to exploit different environments and hosts, thus contributing to its status as a global vector of arboviruses of public health importance. The large number of SNP loci present in these transcripts represents a useful addition to the arsenal of high-resolution molecular markers and a resource that can be used to detect selective pressure and adaptive changes that may have occurred during the colonization process

Identifying delirium in Parkinson's disease: a pilot study

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is avaialble from Wiley via the DOI in this recordData Availability Statement: Unidentifiable data may be shared on request.Introduction People with Parkinson's disease (PD) may be at increased risk of delirium and associated adverse outcomes. Delirium is an acute neuropsychiatric syndrome defined by confusion and inattention and is common in older adults. Previous studies may have underestimated the prevalence of delirium in PD due to overlapping symptoms, lack of awareness and poorly defined criteria. We aimed to identify the prevalence and incidence of delirium in inpatients with PD. Measurements Participants were inpatients with PD admitted over a four‐month period. Delirium prevalence was classified using a standardised assessment at a single visit based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition (DSM‐5) criteria. To capture remaining time in hospital, incident delirium was diagnosed using detailed clinical vignettes and a validated consensus method. Results Forty‐four PD patients consented to take part in the study, accounting for 53 admissions. Delirium prevalence was 34.0% (n=18); reviewing participants over the duration of their hospital stay identified 30 (56.6%) incident delirium cases. The admitting team screened 24.5% for delirium and delirium was documented in eight (14.8%) cases' medical notes. Cases with delirium were significantly older, had higher frailty scores and a longer hospital stay (p<0.05 for all). Conclusions Delirium is common in PD inpatients at admission and incidence increases during hospital stay, but delirium commonly missed. Our results highlight the importance of screening for delirium throughout patients' stay in hospital. Future studies should consider frequent evaluation over the duration of hospital stay to identify emergent delirium during the admission.Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustParkinson’s UKNational Institute for Health Research (NIHR

Detection of Usutu virus infection in wild birds in the United Kingdom, 2020

In August 2020, as part of a long-term disease surveillance programme, Usutu virus was detected in five Eurasian blackbirds (Turdus merula) and one house sparrow (Passer domesticus) from Greater London, England. This was initially detected by reverse transcription-PCR and was confirmed by virus isolation and by immunohistochemical detection of flavivirus in tissues. Phylogenetic analysis identified Usutu virus African 3.2 lineage, which is prevalent in the Netherlands and Belgium, suggesting a potential incursion from mainland Europe

Hospitalisation without delirium is not associated with cognitive decline in a population-based sample of older people-results from a nested, longitudinal cohort study

Background: Acute hospitalisation and delirium have individually been shown to adversely affect trajectories of cognitive decline but have not previously been considered together. This work aimed to explore the impact on cognition of hospital admission with and without delirium, compared to a control group with no hospital admissions. // Methods: The Delirium and Cognitive Impact in Dementia (DECIDE) study was nested within the Cognitive Function and Ageing Study II (CFAS II)–Newcastle cohort. CFAS II participants completed two baseline interviews, including the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). During 2016, surviving participants from CFAS II–Newcastle were recruited to DECIDE on admission to hospital. Participants were reviewed daily to determine delirium status. During 2017, all DECIDE participants and age, sex and years of education matched controls without hospital admissions during 2016 were invited to repeat the CFAS II interview. Delirium was excluded in the control group using the Informant Assessment of Geriatric Delirium Scale (i-AGeD). Linear mixed effects modelling determined predictors of cognitive decline. // Results: During 2016, 82 of 205 (40%) DECIDE participants had at least one episode of delirium. At 1 year, 135 of 205 hospitalised participants completed an interview along with 100 controls. No controls experienced delirium (i-AGeD>4). Delirium was associated with a faster rate of cognitive decline compared to those without delirium (β = −2.2, P < 0.001), but number of hospital admissions was not (P = 0.447). // Conclusions: These results suggest that delirium during hospitalisation rather than hospitalisation per se is a risk factor for future cognitive decline, emphasising the need for dementia prevention studies that focus on delirium intervention

Morbidite Et Mortalite Dans Un Service D’hepato- Gastroenterologie En Milieu Tropical

Aims: This study aims at studying the key parameters of our patients such as morbidity and mortality. Knowing these parameters will enable to objectively assess the epidemiological profile of the patients, the terms of their care taking as well as the efficiency and the profitability of our service. Method: This is a descriptive retrospective study over a year (from January 1st to December 31st, 2015). We included in the study patients of both sexes hospitalized and examined in the unit. Results: The hospitalization rate was 33.5 %. It was about 564 men (57.3 %) and 420 women (42.7 %) accounting for a sex ratio of 1.3. The patients’ average age was 48.1 years old (extremes: 22-80 years old). Chronic liver diseases were the first main cause of hospitalization with 43 % of cases. We noticed 26% of cirrhosis and 17% of hepatocellular carcinoma. The average hospital stay was 6.48 ± 5.45 days with some extremes of 1 and 57 days. The Co-morbidities found were mostly hypertension (10.8 %), HIV (6.1 %), and diabetes (1.3 %). The overall mortality rate was 14.8 % and was higher in men (p = 0.006). The specific mortality was higher in cirrhotic patients (6.6 %) and those with HCC (4.7 %). The highest lethally rates were those of colon cancers (100%) and pancreas (42.8 %). Conclusion: This study has enabled us to inventory the major causes of morbidity and mortality in our department. Mortality is influenced by gender, co-morbidities and tobacco. Digestive cancers are the most lethal diseases in our department

La Pathologie Anorectale Au Chu Campus De Lome (Togo)

Objective: To describe the clinical and endoscopic presentation of anorectal pathologies in the gastroenterology department of the CHU campus of Lomé. Patients and methods: Retrospective study based on reports of low digestive endoscopy carried out at the university teaching hospital Campus of Lome. We collected the age of the patients, their sex, the indications of the examination and the different anorectal lesions encountered. Results: The mean age was 41.8 ± 14.3 years. There was a predominance of 30-40 years (38.8%). There was also a male predominance with a sex ratio of 1.6. The most frequent indication was rectal bleeding (64.1%). Anal pain was found in 40.8% of cases. The most frequent lesions were hemorrhoids (69.9%) and anal fistula in 8.7% of cases. Cancer of the anus was rarely observed (1.9%) as was the rectal polyp (0.1%). Conclusion: Anorectal pathologies are relatively frequent in our department, especially in young patients and are dominated by hemorrhoidal disease

Ranks of ideals in inverse semigroups of difunctional binary relations

The set Dn of all difunctional relations on an n element set is an inverse semigroup under a variation of the usual composition operation. We solve an open problem of Kudryavtseva and Maltcev (Publ Math Debrecen 78(2):253–282, 2011), which asks: What is the rank (smallest size of a generating set) of Dn? Specifically, we show that the rank of Dn is B(n)+n, where B(n) is the nth Bell number. We also give the rank of an arbitrary ideal of Dn. Although Dn bears many similarities with families such as the full transformation semigroups and symmetric inverse semigroups (all contain the symmetric group and have a chain of J-classes), we note that the fast growth of rank(Dn) as a function of n is a property not shared with these other families

The Dynamics of EBV Shedding Implicate a Central Role for Epithelial Cells in Amplifying Viral Output

To develop more detailed models of EBV persistence we have studied the dynamics of virus shedding in healthy carriers. We demonstrate that EBV shedding into saliva is continuous and rapid such that the virus level is replaced in ≤2 minutes, the average time that a normal individual swallows. Thus, the mouth is not a reservoir of virus but a conduit through which a continuous flow stream of virus passes in saliva. Consequently, virus is being shed at a much higher rate than previously thought, a level too high to be accounted for by replication in B cells in Waldeyer's ring alone. Virus shedding is relatively stable over short periods (hours-days) but varies through 3.5 to 5.5 logs over longer periods, a degree of variation that also cannot be accounted for solely by replication in B cells. This variation means, contrary to what is generally believed, that the definition of high and low shedder is not so much a function of variation between individuals but within individuals over time. The dynamics of shedding describe a process governing virus production that is occurring independently ≤3 times at any moment. This process grows exponentially and is then randomly terminated. We propose that these dynamics are best explained by a model where single B cells sporadically release virus that infects anywhere from 1 to 5 epithelial cells. This infection spreads at a constant exponential rate and is terminated randomly, resulting in infected plaques of epithelial cells ranging in size from 1 to 105 cells. At any one time there are a very small number (≤3) of plaques. We suggest that the final size of these plaques is a function of the rate of infectious spread within the lymphoepithelium which may be governed by the structural complexity of the tissue but is ultimately limited by the immune response

Plant structural changes due to herbivory: Do changes in Aceria-infested coconut fruits allow predatory mites to move under the perianth?

Being minute in size, eriophyoid mites can reach places that are small enough to be inaccessible to their predators. The coconut mite, Aceria guerreronis, is a typical example; it finds partial refuge under the perianth of the coconut fruit. However, some predators can move under the perianth of the coconut fruits and attack the coconut mite. In Sri Lanka, the phytoseiid mite Neoseiulus baraki, is the most common predatory mite found in association with the coconut mite. The cross-diameter of this predatory mite is c. 3 times larger than that of the coconut mite. Nevertheless, taking this predator’s flat body and elongated idiosoma into account, it is—relative to many other phytoseiid mites—better able to reach the narrow space under the perianth of infested coconut fruits. On uninfested coconut fruits, however, they are hardly ever observed under the perianth. Prompted by earlier work on the accessibility of tulip bulbs to another eriophyoid mite and its predators, we hypothesized that the structure of the coconut fruit perianth is changed in response to damage by eriophyoid mites and as a result predatory mites are better able to enter under the perianth of infested coconut fruits. This was tested in an experiment where we measured the gap between the rim of the perianth and the coconut fruit surface in three cultivars (‘Sri Lanka Tall’, ‘Sri Lanka Dwarf Green’ and ‘Sri Lanka Dwarf Green × Sri Lanka Tall’ hybrid) that are cultivated extensively in Sri Lanka. It was found that the perianth-fruit gap in uninfested coconut fruits was significantly different between cultivars: the cultivar ‘Sri Lanka Dwarf Green’ with its smaller and more elongated coconut fruits had a larger perianth-fruit gap. In the uninfested coconut fruits this gap was large enough for the coconut mite to creep under the perianth, yet too small for its predator N. baraki. However, when the coconut fruits were infested by coconut mites, the perianth-rim-fruit gap was not different among cultivars and had increased to such an extent that the space under the perianth became accessible to the predatory mites