Prevalence study of yaws in the Democratic Republic of Congo using the lot quality assurance sampling method.

BACKGROUND: Until the 1970s the prevalence of non-venereal trepanomatosis, including yaws, was greatly reduced after worldwide mass treatment. In 2005, cases were again reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We carried out a survey to estimate the village-level prevalence of yaws in the region of Equator in the north of the country in order to define appropriate strategies to effectively treat the affected population. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We designed a community-based survey using the Lot Quality Assurance Sampling method to classify the prevalence of active yaws in 14 groups of villages (lots). The classification into high, moderate, or low yaws prevalence corresponded to World Health Organization prevalence thresholds for identifying appropriate operational treatment strategies. Active yaws cases were defined by suggestive clinical signs and positive rapid plasma reagin and Treponema pallidum hemagglutination serological tests. The overall prevalence in the study area was 4.7% (95% confidence interval: 3.4-6.0). Two of 14 lots had high prevalence (>10%), three moderate prevalence (5-10%) and nine low prevalence (<5%.). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Although yaws is no longer a World Health Organization priority disease, the presence of yaws in a region where it was supposed to be eradicated demonstrates the importance of continued surveillance and control efforts. Yaws should remain a public health priority in countries where previously it was known to be endemic. The integration of sensitive surveillance systems together with free access to effective treatment is recommended. As a consequence of our study results, more than 16,000 people received free treatment against yaws

Grooming-at-a-distance by exchanging calls in non-human primates

International audienceThe 'social bonding hypothesis' predicts that, in large social groups, functions of gestural grooming should be partially transferred to vocal interactions. Hence, vocal exchanges would have evolved in primates to play the role of grooming-at-a-distance in order to facilitate the maintenance of social cohesion. However, there are few empirical studies testing this hypothesis. To address this point, we compared the rate of contact call exchanges between females in two captive groups of Japanese macaques as a function of female age, dominance rank, genetic relatedness and social affinity measured by spatial proximity and grooming interactions. We found a significant positive relationship between the time spent on grooming by two females and the frequency with which they exchanged calls. Our results conform to the predictions of the social bonding hypothesis, i.e. vocal exchanges can be interpreted as grooming-at-a-distanc

Beyond cAMP: The Regulation of Akt and GSK3 by Dopamine Receptors

Brain dopamine receptors have been preferred targets for numerous pharmacological compounds developed for the treatment of various neuropsychiatric disorders. Recent discovery that D2 dopamine receptors, in addition to cAMP pathways, can engage also in Akt/GSK3 signaling cascade provided a new framework to understand intracellular signaling mechanisms involved in dopamine-related behaviors and pathologies. Here we review a recent progress in understanding the role of Akt, GSK3, and related signaling molecules in dopamine receptor signaling and functions. Particularly, we focus on the molecular mechanisms involved, interacting partners, role of these signaling events in the action of antipsychotics, psychostimulants, and antidepressants as well as involvement in pathophysiology of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and Parkinson’s disease. Further understanding of the role of Akt/GSK3 signaling in dopamine receptor functions could provide novel targets for pharmacological interventions in dopamine-related disorders

Spectroscopy of 35^{35}P using the one-proton knockout reaction

The structure of $^{35}$P was studied with a one-proton knockout reaction at88~MeV/u from a $^{36}$S projectile beam at NSCL. The $\gamma$ rays from thedepopulation of excited states in $^{35}$P were detected with GRETINA, whilethe $^{35}$P nuclei were identified event-by-event in the focal plane of theS800 spectrograph. The level scheme of $^{35}$P was deduced up to 7.5 MeV using$\gamma-\gamma$ coincidences. The observed levels were attributed to protonremovals from the $sd$-shell and also from the deeply-bound $p\_{1/2}$ orbital.The orbital angular momentum of each state was derived from the comparisonbetween experimental and calculated shapes of individual ($\gamma$-gated)parallel momentum distributions. Despite the use of different reactions andtheir associate models, spectroscopic factors, $C^2S$, derived from the$^{36}$S $(-1p)$ knockout reaction agree with those obtained earlier from$^{36}$S($d$,\nuc{3}{He}) transfer, if a reduction factor $R\_s$, as deducedfrom inclusive one-nucleon removal cross sections, is applied to the knockout transitions.In addition to the expected proton-hole configurations, other states were observedwith individual cross sections of the order of 0.5~mb. Based on their shiftedparallel momentum distributions, their decay modes to negative parity states,their high excitation energy (around 4.7~MeV) and the fact that they were notobserved in the ($d$,\nuc{3}{He}) reaction, we propose that they may resultfrom a two-step mechanism or a nucleon-exchange reaction with subsequent neutronevaporation. Regardless of the mechanism, that could not yet be clarified, thesestates likely correspond to neutron core excitations in \nuc{35}{P}. Thisnewly-identified pathway, although weak, offers the possibility to selectivelypopulate certain intruder configurations that are otherwise hard to produceand identify.Comment: 5 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Mirror Energy Differences at Large Isospin Studied through Direct Two-Nucleon Knockout

The first spectroscopy of excited states in 52Ni (Tz=2) and 51Co (Tz=-3/2) has been obtained using the highly selective two-neutron knockout reaction. Mirror energy differences between isobaric analogue states in these nuclei and their mirror partners are interpreted in terms of isospin nonconserving effects. A comparison between large scale shell-model calculations and data provides the most compelling evidence to date that both electromagnetic and an additional isospin nonconserving interactions for J=2 couplings, of unknown origin, are required to obtain good agreement.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Development of a multiparametric voxel-based magnetic resonance imaging biomarker for early cancer therapeutic response assessment

Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based biomarkers, which capture physiological and functional tumor processes, were evaluated as imaging surrogates of early tumor response following chemoradiotherapy in glioma patients. A multiparametric extension of a voxel-based analysis, referred as the parametric response map (PRM), was applied to quantitative MRI maps to test the predictive potential of this metric for detecting response. Fifty-six subjects with newly diagnosed high-grade gliomas treated with radiation and concurrent temozolomide were enrolled in a single-site prospective institutional review board-approved MRI study. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) maps were acquired before therapy and 3 weeks after therapy was initiated. Multiparametric PRM (mPRM) was applied to both physiological MRI maps and evaluated as an imaging biomarker of patient survival. For comparison, single-biomarker PRMs were also evaluated in this study. The simultaneous analysis of ADC and rCBV by the mPRM approach was found to improve the predictive potential for patient survival over single PRM measures. With an array of quantitative imaging parameters being evaluated as biomarkers of therapeutic response, mPRM shows promise as a new methodology for consolidating physiologically distinct imaging parameters into a single interpretable and quantitative metric

StdpC: a modern dynamic clamp

With the advancement of computer technology many novel uses of dynamic clamp have become possible. We have added new features to our dynamic clamp software StdpC (“Spike timing-dependent plasticity Clamp”) allowing such new applications while conserving the ease of use and installation of the popular earlier Dynclamp 2/4 package. Here, we introduce the new features of a waveform generator, freely programmable Hodgkin–Huxley conductances, learning synapses, graphic data displays, and a powerful scripting mechanism and discuss examples of experiments using these features. In the first example we built and ‘voltage clamped’ a conductance based model cell from a passive resistor–capacitor (RC) circuit using the dynamic clamp software to generate the voltage-dependent currents. In the second example we coupled our new spike generator through a burst detection/burst generation mechanism in a phase-dependent way to a neuron in a central pattern generator and dissected the subtle interaction between neurons, which seems to implement an information transfer through intraburst spike patterns. In the third example, making use of the new plasticity mechanism for simulated synapses, we analyzed the effect of spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) on synchronization revealing considerable enhancement of the entrainment of a post-synaptic neuron by a periodic spike train. These examples illustrate that with modern dynamic clamp software like StdpC, the dynamic clamp has developed beyond the mere introduction of artificial synapses or ionic conductances into neurons to a universal research tool, which might well become a standard instrument of modern electrophysiology