Accidental Nasal Myiasis Caused by Megaselia rufipes (Diptera: Phoridae) in a Child

A case of a nasal myiasis in a 3-yr-old Italian girl who was referred to Bambino Gesù Hospital in Rome, Italy, is reported. Larvae discharged with the nasal mucus were microscopically identified as Megaselia spp.; DNA barcoding analysis showed that they belonged to the 'scuttle fly' species Megaselia rufipes (Meigen). Based on the patient's history, she became infected when she played outside. This is the first report of myiasis in humans due to M. rufipes (Diptera: Phoridae)

Metamorphosis Induction of the Dog Conch Strombus canarium (Gastropoda: Strombidae) Using Cues Associated with Conch Nursery Habitat

Strombus canarium is a commercially important gastropod that has great potential for advancement into aquaculture. In this study, the metamorphosis response of Strombus canarium larvae to various metamorphosis cues associated with conch nursery habitat and to KCl and GABA, were tested. Bioassays were run as static, no choice experiment and adopting a continuous exposure approach. Strombus canarium larvae showed strong metamorphosis responses when sediment (i.e., conch nursery habitat sediment/SD-NU) and detrital substrata (i.e., Thalassia detritus leachate/T-LC) from their nursery habitat were used (p<0.05). There was no metamorphosis in treatments using sterilized conch nursery habitat sediment (SD-ST) and sediment taken from outside conch nursery habitat (SD-OT). Experiments using fresh macrophyte blades of Enhalus acoroides (EA), Thalassia hemprichii (TH), Halophila ovalis (HA) and Ulva (UL) and adult conditioned seawater (SD-SW) also showed negative respond. Conch larvae demonstrate active habitat selection during metamorphosis and no spontaneous metamorphosis was observed. Settlement in S. canarium is associative in nature where epibionts associated with conch nursery habitat could be the cue for the metamorphosis. However, the specific epibionts/inducers and mechanisms underlining the process were not studied and therefore are subjected to more detailed investigation. The use of KCl was comparable with treatments using natural inducers (SD-NU and T-LC), thus was suggested for application in hatchery spat production of the species

Effectiveness of natural coagulant in coagulation process: A review

Natural coagulants have been increasingly popular in the past few years due to its benefits and the fact that it resolves mos t of the associated problems when using chemical coagulants. Plant-based natural coagulants perform coagulation either by polymer bridging or charge neutralization, it can be extracted from various plant components. Concerted research and development efforts have been conducted in discovering new plant species and constituents that can be used as natural coagulants, which further boosting the effectiveness of existing plant-based natural coagulants. The objective of this paper is to provide a mini review on studies done over the span of ten years regarding plant-based natural coagulants. This paper also includes advantages and disadvantages of natural coagulants prior to identify sever al potential research gaps to provide platform towards the need of further study

The empirical approach to strengthen coordinated cadastral database accuracy

The coordinated cadastral database in Malaysia is known as National Digital Cadastral Database (NDCDB) with an expected accuracy of ±10cm in rural and ±5cm in urban area. Till date, there are approximately 7.8 million land parcels and 22 million boundary markers in the NDCDB for the whole of Peninsular Malaysia and Federal Territory of Labuan covering total area of 132,183 km2. Since 2010, NDCDB block adjustment has been carried out continuously without giving prime concern to eliminate gross errors in the adjustment's input data. This approach aims to propose a methodology to improve the positional accuracy of the existing NDCDB through utilisation of the current eKadaster application. A comprehensive investigation in the office and field processes has been carried out to prove the efficiency of the methodology introduced. This investigation was focused on the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) right of way (ROW) survey from Dungun to Besut where displacement of 1 to 6 meters relative to the NDCDB coordinates, as shown in the Land Acquisition (LA) Plan, have been identified. Areas involved are coded as Block T10701, T1100101 and T1100102 which are located in Lubuk Kawah and Pelagat Sub-districts, in the state of Terengganu. Positional accuracy of the NDCDB after adjustment was further verified by comparing the coordinates of randomly picked ground proofing points in the field using Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) observation. This will determine the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of the respective NDCDB Block based on actual observations and adjusted coordinate values. With that, it can be concluded that the proposed approach is reasonably practical and capable to improve and strengthen the positional accuracy of existing coordinated cadastral database used in Malaysia

Generation Y employees and their perceptions of work-life balance practices

The objective of this study is to identify the perceptions of Generation Y employees regarding work-life balance practices. As increasing numbers of Generation Y enter the workforce, questions regarding how they perceive work, family and self-related issues, challenges and coping strategies in balancing personal and professional commitments became issues of interests for employers. This study uses interviews to collect data from six informants in Generation Y and the data were analyzed through content analysis. The results indicate that Generation Y employees do indeed have issues and challenges with balancing work and family. However, unlike the older generation of employees, Generation Y employees perceive managing work-life balance only through segmentation or separation strategies. This particular finding indicates that if organizations want to attract and retain these employees they should adapt a strategy specifically designed to target this employee group

Different Innate and Adaptive Immune Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Infection of Asymptomatic, Mild, and Severe Cases

SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus, not encountered before by humans. The wide spectrum of clinical expression of SARS-CoV-2 illness suggests that individual immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 play a crucial role in determining the clinical course after first infection. Immunological studies have focused on patients with moderate to severe disease, demonstrating excessive inflammation in tissues and organ damage. In order to understand the basis of the protective immune response in COVID-19, we performed a longitudinal follow-up, flow-cytometric and serological analysis of innate and adaptive immunity in 64 adults with a spectrum of clinical presentations: 28 healthy SARS-CoV-2-negative contacts of COVID-19 cases; 20 asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2-infected cases; eight patients with Mild COVID-19 disease and eight cases of Severe COVID-19 disease. Our data show that high frequency of NK cells and early and transient increase of specific IgA, IgM and, to a lower extent, IgG are associated with asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. By contrast, monocyte expansion and high and persistent levels of IgA and IgG, produced relatively late in the course of the infection, characterize severe disease. Modest increase of monocytes and different kinetics of antibodies are detected in mild COVID-19. The importance of innate NK cells and the short-lived antibody response of asymptomatic individuals and patients with mild disease suggest that only severe COVID-19 may result in protective memory established by the adaptive immune response

Different Innate and Adaptive Immune Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Infection of Asymptomatic, Mild, and Severe Cases

SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus, not encountered before by humans. The wide spectrum of clinical expression of SARS-CoV-2 illness suggests that individual immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 play a crucial role in determining the clinical course after first infection. Immunological studies have focused on patients with moderate to severe disease, demonstrating excessive inflammation in tissues and organ damage. In order to understand the basis of the protective immune response in COVID-19, we performed a longitudinal follow-up, flow-cytometric and serological analysis of innate and adaptive immunity in 64 adults with a spectrum of clinical presentations: 28 healthy SARS-CoV-2-negative contacts of COVID-19 cases; 20 asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2-infected cases; eight patients with Mild COVID-19 disease and eight cases of Severe COVID-19 disease. Our data show that high frequency of NK cells and early and transient increase of specific IgA, IgM and, to a lower extent, IgG are associated with asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. By contrast, monocyte expansion and high and persistent levels of IgA and IgG, produced relatively late in the course of the infection, characterize severe disease. Modest increase of monocytes and different kinetics of antibodies are detected in mild COVID-19. The importance of innate NK cells and the short-lived antibody response of asymptomatic individuals and patients with mild disease suggest that only severe COVID-19 may result in protective memory established by the adaptive immune response

Characterization of a Human Cell Line Stably Over-Expressing the Candidate Oncogene, Dual Specificity Phosphatase 12

Analysis of chromosomal rearrangements within primary tumors has been influential in the identification of novel oncogenes. Identification of the "driver" gene(s) within cancer-derived amplicons is, however, hampered by the fact that most amplicons contain many gene products. Amplification of 1q21-1q23 is strongly associated with liposarcomas and microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization narrowed down the likely candidate oncogenes to two: the activating transcription factor 6 (atf6) and the dual specificity phosphatase 12 (dusp12). While atf6 is an established transcriptional regulator of the unfolded protein response, the potential role of dusp12 in cancer remains uncharacterized.To evaluate the oncogenic potential of dusp12, we established stable cell lines that ectopically over-express dusp12 in isolation and determined whether this cell line acquired properties frequently associated with transformed cells. Here, we demonstrate that cells over-expressing dusp12 display increased cell motility and resistance to apoptosis. Additionally, over-expression of dusp12 promoted increased expression of the c-met proto-oncogene and the collagen and laminin receptor intergrin alpha 1 (itga1) which is implicated in metastasis.Collectively, these results suggest that dusp12 is oncologically relevant and exposes a potential association between dusp12 and established oncogenes that could be therapeutically targeted