Most people in the UK and US have a moderately mixed and pluralist ‘news diet’

Few areas of social life have attracted as much commentary as the alleged rise of ‘news bubbles’ and their supposed contribution to escalating political polarization in the USA under Trump or Brexit in the UK. Yet by examining the relatively small amount of research on what news sources people use – their ‘news diets’ – Ken Newton argues for a much more optimistic view. Most citizens still use different and diverse sources to gain political news

Early production of the passive in two Eastern Bantu languages

The passive construction is acquired relatively late by children learning to speak many languages, with verbal passives not fully acquired till age 6 in English. In other languages it appears earlier, around age 3 or before. Use of passive construction in young children was examined in two Eastern Bantu languages spoken in Kenya (Kiswahili and Kigiriama), both with frequent use of passive. The passive was used productively very early (2;1) in these languages, regardless of the method used to measure productivity. In addition non-actional passives, particularly rare in English and some other European languages, were seen at these early ages. The proportion of verbs that were passive varied between individuals, both in children's speech and in the input to children. Pragmatic and grammatical features of the passive in some languages have previously been suggested to drive early passive acquisition, but these features are not found consistently in the two languages studied here. Findings suggest that the relatively high frequency of input found in these languages is the most plausible reason for early productive use of the passive

Epidemiologija virusa influence konja: patogenost i prenosivost

A large-scale outbreak caused by equine influenza virus of the H3N8 subtype has occurred in each decade since an H3N8 virus was first isolated from horses in 1963. Each epidemic, and some minor outbreaks, has influenced equine influenza surveillance and vaccination policies in the UK and elsewhere. The latest widespread outbreak of equine influenza occurred in 2003. The possible reasons for infection of horses despite intensive vaccination are currently being investigated and may shed new light on the epidemiology of equine influenza.Podtip H3N8 virusa influence konja uzrokovao je velik broj epizootija svakog desetljeća otkako je 1963. godine prvi put bio izdvojen iz konja. Svaka epizootija, a i neke manje pojave, utjecale su na mjere nadzora i cijepljenja u Velikoj Britaniji i drugdje. Posljednja velika epizootija influence konja zabilježena je 2003. Mogući razlozi prijemljivosti konja usprkos stalnog cijepljenja još se istražuju i mogli bi dati novo svjetlo na epidemiologiju influence konja

Epidemiologija virusa influence konja: patogenost i prenosivost

A large-scale outbreak caused by equine influenza virus of the H3N8 subtype has occurred in each decade since an H3N8 virus was first isolated from horses in 1963. Each epidemic, and some minor outbreaks, has influenced equine influenza surveillance and vaccination policies in the UK and elsewhere. The latest widespread outbreak of equine influenza occurred in 2003. The possible reasons for infection of horses despite intensive vaccination are currently being investigated and may shed new light on the epidemiology of equine influenza.Podtip H3N8 virusa influence konja uzrokovao je velik broj epizootija svakog desetljeća otkako je 1963. godine prvi put bio izdvojen iz konja. Svaka epizootija, a i neke manje pojave, utjecale su na mjere nadzora i cijepljenja u Velikoj Britaniji i drugdje. Posljednja velika epizootija influence konja zabilježena je 2003. Mogući razlozi prijemljivosti konja usprkos stalnog cijepljenja još se istražuju i mogli bi dati novo svjetlo na epidemiologiju influence konja

Transmission of Equine Influenza Virus to English Foxhounds

We retrospectively demonstrated that an outbreak of severe respiratory disease in a pack of English foxhounds in the United Kingdom in September 2002 was caused by an equine influenza A virus (H3N8). We also demonstrated that canine respiratory tissue possesses the relevant receptors for infection with equine influenza virus

Confined Mobility of TonB and FepA in Escherichia coli Membranes

The important process of nutrient uptake in Escherichia coli, in many cases, involves transit of the nutrient through a class of beta-barrel proteins in the outer membrane known as TonB-dependent transporters (TBDTs) and requires interaction with the inner membrane protein TonB. Here we have imaged the mobility of the ferric enterobactin transporter FepA and TonB by tracking them in the membranes of live E. coli with single-molecule resolution at time-scales ranging from milliseconds to seconds. We employed simple simulations to model/analyze the lateral diffusion in the membranes of E.coli, to take into account both the highly curved geometry of the cell and artifactual effects expected due to finite exposure time imaging. We find that both molecules perform confined lateral diffusion in their respective membranes in the absence of ligand with FepA confined to a region 0.180−0.007+0.006 μm in radius in the outer membrane and TonB confined to a region 0.266−0.009+0.007 μm in radius in the inner membrane. The diffusion coefficient of these molecules on millisecond time-scales was estimated to be 21−5+9 μm2/s and 5.4−0.8+1.5 μm2/s for FepA and TonB, respectively, implying that each molecule is free to diffuse within its domain. Disruption of the inner membrane potential, deletion of ExbB/D from the inner membrane, presence of ligand or antibody to FepA and disruption of the MreB cytoskeleton was all found to further restrict the mobility of both molecules. Results are analyzed in terms of changes in confinement size and interactions between the two proteins.Yeshttp://www.plosone.org/static/editorial#pee

Age, Spatial, and Temporal Variations in Hospital Admissions with Malaria in Kilifi County, Kenya: A 25-Year Longitudinal Observational Study

Background Encouraging progress has been seen with reductions in Plasmodium falciparum malaria transmission in some parts of Africa. Reduced transmission might lead to increasing susceptibility to malaria among older children, which has implications for ongoing control strategies. Methods and findings We conducted a longitudinal observational study of children admitted to Kilifi County Hospital in Kenya and linked to data on residence and Insecticide Treated Net (ITN) ownership. This included data from 69,104 children admitted to Kilifi County Hospital aged from 3 months to 13 years between 1st January 1990 and 31st December 2014. The variation in malaria slide positivity among admissions was examined in logistic regression models using the predictors; location of residence, calendar time, child’s age, ITN use and Enhanced Vegetation Index (a proxy for soil moisture). The proportion of malaria slide positive admissions declined from 0.56 with 95% confidence interval (95%CI) 0.54 to 0.58 in 1998 to 0.07 95%CI 0.06 to 0.08 in 2009, but then increased again through to 0.24 95%CI 0.22 to 0.25 in 2014. Older children accounted for most of the increase after 2009 (0.035 95%CI (0.030 to 0.040) among young children compared to 0.22 95%CI 0.21 to 0.23 in older children). There was a non-linear relationship between malaria risk and prevalence of ITN use within a 2km radius of an admitted child’s residence such that the predicted malaria positive fraction varied from ~0.4 to <0.1 as the prevalence of ITN use varied from 20% to 80%. In this observational analysis we were unable to determine the cause of the decline in malaria between 1998 and 2009, which pre-dated the dramatic scale-up in ITN distribution and use. Conclusion Following a period of reduced transmission a cohort of older children emerged who have increased susceptibility to malaria. Further reductions in malaria transmission are needed to mitigate against the increasing burden among older children and universal ITN coverage is a promising strategy to achieve this

Anthropogenic natal environmental effects on life histories in a wild bird population

Recent work suggests that the environment experienced in early life can alter life histories in wild populations [1, 2, 3, 4 and 5], but our understanding of the processes involved remains limited [6 and 7]. Since anthropogenic environmental change is currently having a major impact on wild populations [8], this raises the possibility that life histories may be influenced by human activities that alter environmental conditions in early life. Whether this is the case and the processes involved remain unexplored in wild populations. Using 23 years of longitudinal data on the Mauritius kestrel (Falco punctatus), a tropical forest specialist, we found that females born in territories affected by anthropogenic habitat change shifted investment in reproduction to earlier in life at the expense of late life performance. They also had lower survival rates as young adults. This shift in life history strategy appears to be adaptive, because fitness was comparable to that of other females experiencing less anthropogenic modification in their natal environment. Our results suggest that human activities can leave a legacy on wild birds through natal environmental effects. Whether these legacies have a detrimental effect on populations will depend on life history responses and the extent to which these reduce individual fitness