Epidemiology and economic loss of fasciolosis and dicrocoeliosis in Arak, Iran

Aim: Fasciolosis and dicrocoeliosis are important parasitic diseases worldwide, causing significant financial losses due to decrease in production and viscera condemnation in animals. We performed the current research to assess the epidemiology of these infections and determine their significance from an economic perspective in Arak, Iran. Materials and Methods: In total, we evaluated 118,463 sheep, 207,652 goats, and 43,675 cattle through necropsic analysis at the slaughterhouses. The average weight of sheep, goat, and cattle liver was 1000, 900, and 5000 g, respectively. The average price of liver in the market was 8 USD/kg. Moreover, the elimination of fundamental nutrients and vitamins was evaluated in infected livers. The prevalence of fasciolosis and dicrocoeliosis was determined. Analysis of variance test was applied for the statistical analysis, and the significance level was <0.05. Results: In total, Fasciola hepatica and Dicrocoelium dendriticum were detected in 0.56 (confidence interval CI, 0.54-0.59) and 0.77 (CI, 0.75-0.81) of the animals, respectively (p=0.1). The annual economic loss attributed to fasciolosis and dicrocoeliosis was 26698.4 and 30479.2 USD, respectively. The total economic loss was 10,880, 9079.2, and 10,520 dollars in sheep, cattle, and goats, respectively. On the other hand, financial loss resulting from fasciolosis was 7160, 6098.4, and 13,440 dollars in sheep, goats, and cattle, respectively. In addition, economic loss due to dicroceliasis was 10,880, 9079.2, and 10,520 dollars, respectively. Conclusion: Overall, fasciolosis and dicrocoeliosis in Iran always remain common in sheep, goats, and cattle that afford major economic loss of all the country also exist in Arak province. The present study could provide basic information for further examination of liver fluke infections in Iran. © 2018 Veterinary World. All Rights Reserved

SMOTEC: An Edge Computing Testbed for Adaptive Smart Mobility Experimentation

Smart mobility becomes paramount for meeting net-zero targets. However, autonomous, self-driving and electric vehicles require more than ever before an efficient, resilient and trustworthy computational offloading backbone that expands throughout the edge-to-cloud continuum. Utilizing on-demand heterogeneous computational resources for smart mobility is challenging and often cost-ineffective. This paper introduces SMOTEC, a novel open-source testbed for adaptive smart mobility experimentation with edge computing. SMOTEC provides for the first time a modular end-to-end instrumentation for prototyping and optimizing placement of intelligence services on edge devices such as augmented reality and real-time traffic monitoring. SMOTEC supports a plug-and-play Docker container integration of the SUMO simulator for urban mobility, Raspberry Pi edge devices communicating via ZeroMQ and EPOS for an AI-based decentralized load balancing across edge-to-cloud. All components are orchestrated by the K3s lightweight Kubernetes. A proof-of-concept of self-optimized service placements for traffic monitoring from Munich demonstrates in practice the applicability and cost-effectiveness of SMOTEC

Decentralized Edge-to-Cloud Load-balancing: Service Placement for the Internet of Things.

The Internet of Things (IoT) requires a new processing paradigm that inherits the scalability of the cloud while minimizing network latency using resources closer to the network edge. On the one hand, building up such flexibility within the edge-to-cloud continuum consisting of a distributed networked ecosystem of heterogeneous computing resources is challenging. On the other hand, IoT traffic dynamics and the rising demand for low-latency services foster the need for minimizing the response time and a balanced service placement. Load-balancing for fog computing becomes a cornerstone for cost-effective system management and operations. This paper studies two optimization objectives and formulates a decentralized load-balancing problem for IoT service placement: (global) IoT workload balance and (local) quality of service (QoS), in terms of minimizing the cost of deadline violation, service deployment, and unhosted services. The proposed solution, EPOS Fog, introduces a decentralized multi-agent system for collective learning that utilizes edge-to-cloud nodes to jointly balance the input workload across the network and minimize the costs involved in service execution. The agents locally generate possible assignments of requests to resources and then cooperatively select an assignment such that their combination maximizes edge utilization while minimizes service execution cost. Extensive experimental evaluation with realistic Google cluster workloads on various networks demonstrates the superior performance of EPOS Fog in terms of workload balance and QoS, compared to approaches such as First Fit and exclusively Cloud-based. The results confirm that EPOS Fog reduces service execution delay up to 25% and the load-balance of network nodes up to 90%. The findings also demonstrate how distributed computational resources on the edge can be utilized more cost-effectively by harvesting collective intelligence

Short-time dynamics of a packing of polyhedral grains under horizontal vibrations

We analyze the dynamics of a 3D granular packing composed of particles of irregular polyhedral shape confined inside a rectangular box with a retaining wall sub jected to horizontal harmonic forcing. The simulations are performed by means of the contact dynamics method for a broad set of loading parameters. We explore the vibrational dynamics of the packing, the evolution of solid fraction and the scaling of dy- namics with the loading parameters. We show that the motion of the retaining wall is strongly anharmonic as a result of jamming and grain rearrangements. It is found that the mean particle displacement scales with inverse square of frequency, the inverse of the force amplitude and the square of gravity. The short- time compaction rate grows in proportion to frequency up to a characteristic frequency, corresponding to collective particle rearrangements between equilibrium states, and then it declines in inverse proportion to frequency

The effect of self-efficacy on behavior and weight in a behavioral weight-loss intervention.

To determine whether eating self-efficacy and physical activity self-efficacy are predictive of dietary intake, physical activity, and weight change within a behavioral weight loss intervention, and whether dietary intake and physical activity mediate relationships between self-efficacy and weight change

The formin FHOD1 and the small GTPase Rac1 promote vaccinia virus actin-based motility

Vaccinia virus dissemination relies on the N-WASP– ARP2/3 pathway, which mediates actin tail formation underneath cell-associated extracellular viruses (CEVs). Here, we uncover a previously unappreciated role for the formin FHOD1 and the small GTPase Rac1 in vaccinia actin tail formation. FHOD1 depletion decreased the number of CEVs forming actin tails and impaired the elongation rate of the formed actin tails. Recruitment of FHOD1 to actin tails relied on its GTPase binding domain in addition to its FH2 domain. In agreement with previous studies showing that FHOD1 is activated by the small GTPase Rac1, Rac1 was enriched and activated at the membrane surrounding actin tails. Rac1 depletion or expression of dominant-negative Rac1 phenocopied the effects of FHOD1 depletion and impaired the recruitment of FHOD1 to actin tails. FHOD1 overexpression rescued the actin tail formation defects observed in cells overexpressing dominant-negative Rac1. Altogether, our results indicate that, to display robust actin-based motility, vaccinia virus integrates the activity of the N-WASP– ARP2/3 and Rac1–FHOD1 pathways.Fil: Alvarez, Diego Ezequiel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. University of Yale. School of Medicine; Estados UnidosFil: Agaisse, Herve. University of Yale. School of Medicine; Estados Unido

Randomized trial comparing group size of periodic in-person sessions in a remotely delivered weight loss intervention

Abstract Background Few randomized studies have examined differential effects of group size in behavioral weight control, especially in hybrid programs that include Internet treatment approaches. Methods Randomized controlled trial (n = 195) comparing a 4 month hybrid internet weight loss program coupled with monthly face to face groups of 100 persons (Large Group, LG; 1 group) or to the same approach with monthly groups of 20 persons (Small Group, SG; 4 groups). Repeated-measures mixed-model analysis with age and race as covariates were used to estimate primary (weight) and secondary outcomes, and to test group differences in change over time. Results The sample was 46.3 years old ±10.4, 90.3% female, and 51.9% non-white, with BMI 37.9 ± 8.4 kg/m2. Participants in the LG were more likely to return for the 4-month assessment visit than those in the SG (p = 0.04). Participants randomized to both the LG and SG conditions experienced significant WL over time (no between group difference: −4.1 kg and −3.7 kg, respectively) and weight loss was positively associated with attendance at monthly meetings and logins to the website. Satisfaction with the program was high and similar in both groups (94.4% reported that they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied”). Conclusions Using a hybrid approach of in-person and online weight loss interventions may be an effective way to reach larger and more diverse populations. Delivering the face to face component of the intervention in groups larger than those traditionally delivered (20–25 people) could increase the cost-effectiveness of group-based behavioral weight loss interventions. Clinical trials registration number NCT01615471 . Registered June 6, 2012. Registered retrospectively

“My wellbeing-their wellbeing “– An eHealth intervention for managing obesity in early care and education: Protocol for the Go NAPSACC Cares cluster randomized control trial

Background To fully leverage the potential of the early care and education (ECE) setting for childhood obesity prevention, initiatives must not intervene solely at the organizational level, but rather they should also address the health needs of the ECE workers. Workers suffer disproportionately high rates of obesity, and have reported low confidence in modeling and promoting healthy eating and activity behaviors. However, information regarding the effectiveness of improving ECE workers’ health behaviors or whether such improvements elicit meaningful change in the ECE environment and/or the children in their care is limited. Method The proposed study will integrate a staff wellness intervention into a nationally recognized, ECE obesity prevention initiative (Go NAPSACC). Go NAPSACC+ Staff Wellness program will be assessed using a clustered randomized controlled trial including 84 ECE centers, 168 workers, and 672 2–5-year-old children. Centers will be randomly assigned to 1) standard “Go NAPSACC” or 2) Go NAPSACC+ Staff Wellness. Outcome measures will assess impact on dietary intake and PA behaviors of 2-5-year-old children at 6 months (primary aim) and 12 months. Secondarily, we will compare the impact of the intervention on centers’ implementation of healthy weight practices and the effect on ECE workers’ diet quality and PA at 6- and 12 months. Discussion This trial expects to increase our understanding of how ECE worker’s personal health behaviors impact the health behaviors of the children in their care and the ECE environment. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05656807, registered on 19 December 2022. Protocol version 1.0, 22 March 2023

Bacteriophage biodistribution and infectivity from honeybee to bee larvae using a T7 phage model

Bacteriophages (phages) or viruses that specifically infect bacteria have widely been studied as biocontrol agents against animal and plant bacterial diseases. They offer many advantages compared to antibiotics. The American Foulbrood (AFB) is a bacterial disease affecting honeybee larvae caused by Paenibacillus larvae. Phages can be very significant in fighting it mostly due to European restrictions to the use of antibiotics in beekeeping. New phages able to control P. larvae in hives have already been reported with satisfactory results. However, the efficacy and feasibility of administering phages indirectly to larvae through their adult workers only by providing phages in bees feeders has never been evaluated. This strategy is considered herein the most feasible as far as hive management is concerned. This in vivo study investigated the ability of a phage to reach larvae in an infective state after oral administration to honeybees. The screening (by direct PFU count) and quantification (by quantitative PCR) of the phage in bee organs and in larvae after ingestion allowed us to conclude that despite 104 phages reaching larvae only an average of 32 were available to control the spread of the disease. The fast inactivation of many phages in royal jelly could compromise this therapeutic approach. The protection of phages from hive-derived conditions should be thus considered in further developments for AFB treatment.This study was supported by the project APILYSE, PTDC/CVT-EPI/4008/2014 - POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016598, - funded by FEDER through COMPETE 2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) and by national funds trough FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. The work was also supported by the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145FEDER-006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004), funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. HR was supported by FCT through the grant SFRH/BD/128859/2017. RC was founded by FCT and FEDER (POCI-010145-FEDER-007274).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio