Perspectives of people in Mali toward genetically-modified mosquitoes for malaria control

Background: Genetically-modified (GM) mosquitoes have been proposed as part of an integrated vector control strategy for malaria control. Public acceptance is essential prior to field trials, particularly since mosquitoes are a vector of human disease and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) face strong scepticism in developed and developing nations. Despite this, in sub-Saharan Africa, where the GM mosquito effort is primarily directed, very little data is available on perspectives to GMOs. Here, results are presented of a qualitative survey of public attitudes to GM mosquitoes for malaria control in rural and urban areas of Mali, West Africa between the months of October 2008 and June 2009. Methods: The sample consisted of 80 individuals - 30 living in rural communities, 30 living in urban suburbs of Bamako, and 20 Western-trained and traditional health professionals working in Bamako and Bandiagara. Questions were asked about the cause of malaria, heredity and selective breeding. This led to questions about genetic alterations, and acceptable conditions for a release of pest-resistant GM corn and malaria-refractory GM mosquitoes. Finally, participants were asked about the decision-making process in their community. Interviews were transcribed and responses were categorized according to general themes. Results: Most participants cited mosquitoes as one of several causes of malaria. The concept of the gene was not widely understood; however selective breeding was understood, allowing limited communication of the concept of genetic modification. Participants were open to a release of pest-resistant GM corn, often wanting to conduct a trial themselves. The concept of a trial was reapplied to GM mosquitoes, although less frequently. Participants wanted to see evidence that GM mosquitoes can reduce malaria prevalence without negative consequences for human health and the environment. For several participants, a mosquito control programme was preferred; however a transgenic release that satisfied certain requirements was usually acceptable. Conclusions: Although there were some dissenters, the majority of participants were pragmatic towards a release of GM mosquitoes. An array of social and cultural issues associated with malaria, mosquitoes and genetic engineering became apparent. If these can be successfully addressed, then social acceptance among the populations surveyed seems promising

LABOCA mapping of the infrared dark cloud MSXDC G304.74+01.32

Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) likely represent very early stages of high-mass star/star cluster formation. In this study, we aim to determine the physical properties and spatial distribution of dense clumps in the IRDC MSXDC G304.74+01.32 (G304.74), and bring these characteristics into relation to theories concerning the origin of IRDCs and their fragmentation into clumps and star-forming cores. G304.74 was mapped in the 870 $\mu$m dust continuum with the LABOCA bolometer on APEX. Archival MSX and IRAS infrared data were used to study the nature and properties of the submillimetre clumps within the cloud. There are 8 clumps within G304.74 which are not associated with mid-infrared (MIR) emission. Some of them are candidates for being/harbouring high-mass starless cores (HMSCs). We compared the clump masses and their spatial distribution in G304.74 with those in several other recently studied IRDCs. There is a high likelihood that the clump mass distributions in G304.74 and in several other IRDCs represent the samples of the same parent distribution. In most cases the spatial distributions of clumps in IRDCs do not deviate significantly from random distributions. This is consistent with the idea that the origin of IRDCs, and their further sub-fragmentation down to scales of clumps is caused by supersonic turbulence in accordance with results from giant molecular clouds.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Flux Density Variations at 3.6 cm in the Massive Star-Forming Region W49A

A number of ultracompact H II regions in Galactic star forming environments have been observed to vary significantly in radio flux density on timescales of 10-20 years. Theory predicted that such variations should occur when the accretion flow that feeds a young massive star becomes unstable and clumpy. We have targeted the massive star-forming region W49A with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) for observations at 3.6 cm with the B-configuration at 0.8'' resolution, to compare to nearly identical observations taken almost 21 years earlier (February 2015 and August 1994). Most of the sources in the crowded field of ultracompact and hypercompact H II regions exhibit no significant changes over this time period. However, one source, W49A/G2, decreased by 20% in peak intensity (from 71+/-4 mJy/beam to 57+/-3 mJy/beam), and 40% in integrated flux (from 0.109+/-0.011 Jy to 0.067+/-0.007 Jy), where we cite 5 sigma errors in peak intensity, and 10% errors in integrated flux. We present the radio images of the W49A region at the two epochs, the difference image that indicates the location of the flux density decrease, and discuss explanations for the flux density decrease near the position of W49A/G2.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication, The Astrophysical Journal Letters, July 26, 201

Facial expression recognition in dynamic sequences: An integrated approach

Automatic facial expression analysis aims to analyse human facial expressions and classify them into discrete categories. Methods based on existing work are reliant on extracting information from video sequences and employ either some form of subjective thresholding of dynamic information or attempt to identify the particular individual frames in which the expected behaviour occurs. These methods are inefficient as they require either additional subjective information, tedious manual work or fail to take advantage of the information contained in the dynamic signature from facial movements for the task of expression recognition. In this paper, a novel framework is proposed for automatic facial expression analysis which extracts salient information from video sequences but does not rely on any subjective preprocessing or additional user-supplied information to select frames with peak expressions. The experimental framework demonstrates that the proposed method outperforms static expression recognition systems in terms of recognition rate. The approach does not rely on action units (AUs) and therefore, eliminates errors which are otherwise propagated to the final result due to incorrect initial identification of AUs. The proposed framework explores a parametric space of over 300 dimensions and is tested with six state-of-the-art machine learning techniques. Such robust and extensive experimentation provides an important foundation for the assessment of the performance for future work. A further contribution of the paper is offered in the form of a user study. This was conducted in order to investigate the correlation between human cognitive systems and the proposed framework for the understanding of human emotion classification and the reliability of public databases

Metallicity in the merger Seyfert galaxy NGC 6240

We have calculated the physical conditions throughout the NLR of the merger Seyfert galaxy NGC 6240 by modelling the observed optical and infrared line ratios. We have found that the optical spectra are emitted by clouds photoionised by the power-law radiation flux from the AGN (or AGNs), and heated mainly by the shock accompanying the propagation of the clouds outwards. The infrared line ratios are emitted from clouds ejected from a starburst which photoionises the gas by the black-body radiation flux corresponding to a stellar colour temperature of about 50,000 K. Both the flux from the AGN and the ionization parameters are low. The most characteristic physical parameters are the relatively high shock velocities (>400 km/s) and low preshock densities (about 40-60 cm-3) of the gas. The C/H, N/H, O/H relative abundances are higher than solar by a factor lower or about 1.5. We suggest that those high relative abundances indicate trapping of H into H2 molecules rather than high metallicities. Adopting an initial grain radius of 1 micron, the dust temperatures calculated in the clouds reached by the power-law radiation flux and by the black-body radiation flux are 81 K and 68 K, respectively.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Modeling recursive RNA interference.

An important application of the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway is its use as a small RNA-based regulatory system commonly exploited to suppress expression of target genes to test their function in vivo. In several published experiments, RNAi has been used to inactivate components of the RNAi pathway itself, a procedure termed recursive RNAi in this report. The theoretical basis of recursive RNAi is unclear since the procedure could potentially be self-defeating, and in practice the effectiveness of recursive RNAi in published experiments is highly variable. A mathematical model for recursive RNAi was developed and used to investigate the range of conditions under which the procedure should be effective. The model predicts that the effectiveness of recursive RNAi is strongly dependent on the efficacy of RNAi at knocking down target gene expression. This efficacy is known to vary highly between different cell types, and comparison of the model predictions to published experimental data suggests that variation in RNAi efficacy may be the main cause of discrepancies between published recursive RNAi experiments in different organisms. The model suggests potential ways to optimize the effectiveness of recursive RNAi both for screening of RNAi components as well as for improved temporal control of gene expression in switch off-switch on experiments

'Moralising' welfare and migration in austerity Britain: a backdrop to Brexit

This article begins by examining UK government discourse on welfare and migration for the period 2010-2016, viewed here as the expression of a distinctive process of moralisation. This discourse is characterised by claims to fairness, responsibility, and austerity, and explicitly sets domestic welfare dependency and migration in opposition to each other. Its operationalisation is traced through a formal mapping of civic stratification in relation to both domestic welfare and freedom of movement within the European Union, while also noting the absence of supporting empirical evidence. The article then looks to the informal aspect of civic stratification, and the role of political discourse in negatively shaping the moral standing of both domestic welfare recipients and EU migrants. Together with the uneven impact of welfare reform, their discursive opposition provides an important amplification of common understandings of the Brexit vote as delivered by the ‘left behind’ (Goodwin and Heath, 2016)

Postural development in school children: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Little information on quantitative sagittal plane postural alignment and evolution in children exists. The objectives of this study are to document the evolution of upright, static, sagittal posture in children and to identify possible critical phases of postural evolution (maturation). METHODS: A total of 1084 children (aged 4–12 years) received a sagittal postural evaluation with the Biotonix postural analysis system. Data were retrieved from the Biotonix internet database. Children were stratified and analyzed by years of age with n = 36 in the youngest age group (4 years) and n = 184 in the oldest age group (12 years). Children were analyzed in the neutral upright posture. Variables measured were sagittal translation distances in millimeters of: the knee relative to the tarsal joint, pelvis relative to the tarsal joint, shoulder relative to the tarsal joint, and head relative to the tarsal joint. A two-way factorial ANOVA was used to test for age and gender effects on posture, while polynomial trend analyses were used to test for increased postural displacements with years of age. RESULTS: Two-way ANOVA yielded a significant main effect of age for all 4 sagittal postural variables and gender for all variables except head translation. No age × gender interaction was found. Polynomial trend analyses showed a significant linear association between child age and all four postural variables: anterior head translation (p < 0.001), anterior shoulder translation (p < 0.001), anterior pelvic translation (p < 0.001), anterior knee translation (p < 0.001). Between the ages of 11 and 12 years, for anterior knee translation, T-test post hoc analysis revealed only one significant rough break in the continuity of the age related trend. CONCLUSION: A significant linear trend for increasing sagittal plane postural translations of the head, thorax, pelvis, and knee was found as children age from 4 years to 12 years. These postural translations provide preliminary normative data for the alignment of a child's sagittal plane posture