Experimental evaluation of infection, dissemination, and transmission rates for two West Nile virus strains in European Aedes japonicus under a fluctuating temperature regime

West Nile virus (WNV) is continuously spreading in Eastern and Southern Europe. However, the extent of vector competence of Aedes japonicus (Theobald, 1901) is controversial. In this work, we elucidated the dynamics of virus growth in this invasive mosquito species. Females of Ae. japonicus were reared from eggs collected in the field in Switzerland and fed on bovine blood spiked with two WNV lineage 1 strains (FIN, Italy; NY99, USA). Fully engorged females were incubated for 14 days under a fluctuating temperature regime of 24 ± 7 °C (average 24 °C), 45–90% relative humidity, which is realistic for a Central European mid-summer day. Infection, dissemination, and transmission rates were assessed from individual mosquitoes by analyzing the abdomen, legs and wings, and saliva for the presence of viral RNA. Saliva was also investigated for the presence of infectious virus particles. Overall, 302 females were exposed to WNV strain FIN and 293 to strain NY99. A higher infection rate was observed for NY99 (57.4%) compared to FIN (30.4%) (p = 0.003). There was no statistical evidence that the dissemination rate (viral RNA in legs and wings) was different between females infected with FIN (57.1%) compared to NY99 (35.5%) (p = 0.16). Viral RNA load of FIN compared to NY99 was significantly higher in the hemocoel (p = 0.031) of exposed females but not at other sites (legs and wings, saliva). This is the first study describing the vector competence parameters for two WNV strains in a European population of Ae. japonicus. The high dissemination and transmission rates for WNV under a realistic temperature regime in Ae. japonicus together with recent findings on its opportunistic feeding behavior (mammals and birds) indicate its potential role in WNV transmission in Central Europe where it is highly abundant

Modelo para la evaluación de ontologías. Aplicación en Onto-Satcol

This paper analyzes the conceptual and theoretical framework for the evaluation of ontologies, in order to understand the procedures used in the evaluation of these systems and to establish new guidelines for evaluating the system employed by the ontological program, SATCOL, that specializes in Port and Coastal Engineering. This paper describes the characteristics of the Onto-SATCOL ontology and evaluates it by using several indicators (lexical, information retrieval, and syntactic structure). Through an experiment conducted by six experts aided by the tool, Protex, semantic and structural inconsistencies are identified, as are errors in the ontology’s organization of knowledge.<br><br>Se analizan los referentes teóricos y conceptuales de la evaluación de ontologías para conocer los procedimientos utilizados en la evaluación de estos sistemas y establecer nuevas pautas para calibrar el sistema ontológico empleado por el programa Satcol, especializado en Ingeniería de Puertos y Costas. En el trabajo se describen las características de la ontología Onto-Satcol y se evalúa la misma mediante el uso de varios indicadores (léxicos, de recuperación de información y de la estructura sintáctica). Mediante un experimento llevado a cabo por 6 expertos, y con la ayuda de la herramienta Protex, se identifican inconsistencias semánticas, estructurales y errores en la organización del conocimiento de dicha ontología

Clinico-pathological features and molecular background of oligodendrogliomas: A single centre retrospective study

Background: Diffuse gliomas are the most frequent primary central nervous system (CNS) neoplasms, originating from the parenchyma itself, oligodendrogliomas accounting for approximately 10% of cerebral gliomas. For the past 20 years, the study of genetic/molecular mechanisms of glioma genesis and progression has gradually come into focus. However, the biological and clinical significance of these mutations are still to be completely characterized. The purpose of this article is to describe our clinical experience with oligodendrogliomas and to review the current literature, in order to better describe the characteristics of the molecular/genetic oligodendroglioma subgroups. Methods: We performed a single-institution retrospective study that included 66 patients with oligodendrogliomas operated in our department between January 2011 and December 2018. Results: Our study included 26 female patients (39%) and 40 male patients (59%). The mean age at presentation was 39.9year-old (range 26-59year-old). The tumours were located predominantly in the right hemisphere (53%), the majority being situated in the frontal lobe (59%). 64% of the patients had signs of mass effect on the imaging studies, 13% presented with brain herniation syndromes, and 16 % of the surgically treated patients had a relapse with regrowth and malignant transformation of the tumour. The most common complaint that the patients had at admission was a headache. Seizures were the second most common symptom that determined the patients to seek medical attention. Conclusion: The expanding knowledge regarding the genetic alterations of oligodendroglial tumours could lead to significant changes in treatment strategies. However, the utility of each particular marker in planning the treatment has yet to be established. Emerging data will, most likely, improve outcome prediction and adjuvant therapy strategies by identifying the patients most likely to benefit from a particular treatment

Creating ontologies for content representation - the OntoSeed suite

Bontas Simperl EP, Schlangen D. Creating ontologies for content representation - the OntoSeed suite. In: Spaccapietra S, ed. Journal on Data Semantics 9 (u.a.: 4th International Conference on Ontologies, DataBases, and Applications of Semantics (ODBASE 2005). Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 4601. Berlin u.a.: Springer; 2007: 141-166

Field evaluation of baited traps for surveillance of Aedes japonicus japonicus in Switzerland

The efficacy of Centers for Disease Control (CDC) miniature light traps and ovitraps was tested in the outskirts of the city of Zurich in Switzerland for their use in the surveillance of Aedes (Hulecoeteomyia) japonicus japonicus (Theobald) (Diptera: Culicidae), the invasive Asian bush mosquito. Sets of single CDC traps were run overnight (n = 18) in three different environments (forest, suburban and urban) in 3 × 3 Latin square experimental designs. Traps were baited with: (a) carbon dioxide (CO2); (b) CO2 plus light, or (c) CO2 plus lure blend [Combi FRC 3003 (iGu®)]. At the same locations, mosquito eggs were collected weekly using standard ovitraps baited with different infusions (oak, hay or tap water) and equipped with different oviposition substrates (a block of extruded polystyrene, a germination paper strip or a wooden stick). Data were analysed using Poisson and negative binomial general linear models. The use of light (P 0.05), and extruded polystyrene blocks were preferred as an oviposition substrate over wooden sticks (P < 0.05) and seed germination paper (P < 0.05). Carbon dioxide-baited CDC miniature light traps complemented with light or iGu® lure and ovitraps containing standing tap water and polystyrene oviposition blocks can be considered as efficient and simple tools for use in Ae. j. japonicus surveillance programmes

ONTOCOM revisited: towards accurate cost predictions for ontology development projects

Reliable methods to assess the costs and benefits of ontologies are an important instrument to demonstrate the tangible business value of semantic technologies within enterprises, as an argument to encourage their wide-scale adoption. The economic aspects of ontologies have been investigated in previous work of ours. With ONTOCOM we proposed a cost estimation model for ontologies and ontology development projects. This paper revisits this model and presents its latest achievements. We report on a comprehensive calibration of ONTOCOM based on a considerably larger data set of 148 ontology development projects. The calibration used a combination of statistical methods, ranging from preliminary data analysis to regression and Bayes analysis, and resulted a significant improvement of the prediction quality of up to 50%. In addition, the availability of a representative data set allowed us to identify meaningful directions for customizing the generic cost model along particular types of ontologies, and ontology-like structures as those specific to the emerging Web 3.0. Last but not least, we developed a software tool that allows ontology development project managers to easily use and adapt and to systematically calibrate the model, thus facilitating its adoption in real-world projects