The Oriental Red Mite, Eutetranychus orientalis (Klein) (Acarina: Tetranychidae), in Australia

The oriental red mite, Eutetranychus orientalis, an important pest of citrus and other crops in many parts of the world, has been in Queensland for at least 30 years. We review Australian collections of oriental red mite, clarify confusion over its name and pest status, discuss its potential biological control agents, and provide a key to differentiate known Australian species of Eutetranychus and the African red mite, E. africanus (Tucker)

Structural identifiability analyses of candidate models for in vitro Pitavastatin hepatic uptake

In this paper a review of the application of four different techniques (a version of the similarity transformation approach for autonomous uncontrolled systems, a non-differential input/output observable normal form approach, the characteristic set differential algebra and a recent algebraic input/output relationship approach) to determine the structural identifiability of certain in vitro nonlinear pharmacokinetic models is provided. The Organic Anion Transporting Polypeptide (OATP) substrate, Pitavastatin, is used as a probe on freshly isolated animal and human hepatocytes. Candidate pharmacokinetic non-linear compartmental models have been derived to characterise the uptake process of Pitavastatin. As a prerequisite to parameter estimation, structural identifiability analyses are performed to establish that all unknown parameters can be identified from the experimental observations available

Branch-and-lift algorithm for deterministic global optimization in nonlinear optimal control

This paper presents a branch-and-lift algorithm for solving optimal control problems with smooth nonlinear dynamics and potentially nonconvex objective and constraint functionals to guaranteed global optimality. This algorithm features a direct sequential method and builds upon a generic, spatial branch-and-bound algorithm. A new operation, called lifting, is introduced, which refines the control parameterization via a Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization process, while simultaneously eliminating control subregions that are either infeasible or that provably cannot contain any global optima. Conditions are given under which the image of the control parameterization error in the state space contracts exponentially as the parameterization order is increased, thereby making the lifting operation efficient. A computational technique based on ellipsoidal calculus is also developed that satisfies these conditions. The practical applicability of branch-and-lift is illustrated in a numerical example. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

Resonance saturation for four-nucleon operators

In the modern description of nuclear forces based on chiral effective field theory, four-nucleon operators with unknown coupling constants appear. These couplings can be fixed by a fit to the low partial waves of neutron-proton scattering. We show that the so determined numerical values can be understood on the basis of phenomenological one-boson-exchange models. We also extract these values from various modern high accuracy nucleon-nucleon potentials and demonstrate their consistency and remarkable agreement with the values in the chiral effective field theory approach. This paves the way for estimating the low-energy constants of operators with more nucleon fields and/or external probes.Comment: 16 pp, REVTeX, 3 figure

PHP48 COST SENSITIVENESS AND PHYSICIAN TREATMENT CHOICES

Objectives To explore the relationship between nodule count and lung cancer probability in baseline low-dose CT lung cancer screening. Materials and Methods Included were participants from the NELSON trial with at least one baseline nodule (3392 participants [45% of screen-group], 7258 nodules). We determined nodule count per participant. Malignancy was confirmed by histology. Nodules not diagnosed as screen-detected or interval cancer until the end of the fourth screening round were regarded as benign. We compared lung cancer probability per nodule count category. Results 1746 (51.5%) participants had one nodule, 800 (23.6%) had two nodules, 354 (10.4%) had three nodules, 191 (5.6%) had four nodules, and 301 (8.9%) had > 4 nodules. Lung cancer in a baseline nodule was diagnosed in 134 participants (139 cancers; 4.0%). Median nodule count in participants with only benign nodules was 1 (Inter-quartile range [IQR]: 1–2), and 2 (IQR 1–3) in participants with lung cancer (p = NS). At baseline, malignancy was detected mostly in the largest nodule (64/66 cancers). Lung cancer probability was 62/1746 (3.6%) in case a participant had one nodule, 33/800 (4.1%) for two nodules, 17/354 (4.8%) for three nodules, 12/191 (6.3%) for four nodules and 10/301 (3.3%) for > 4 nodules (p = NS). Conclusion In baseline lung cancer CT screening, half of participants with lung nodules have more than one nodule. Lung cancer probability does not significantly change with the number of nodules. Baseline nodule count will not help to differentiate between benign and malignant nodules. Each nodule found in lung cancer screening should be assessed separately independent of the presence of other nodules

Sociocultural considerations in aging men's health: implications and recommendations for the clinician

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jomh.2009.07.00

Primeiro registro de epidemias causadas pelo vírus Oropouche nos Estados do Maranhão e Goiás, Brasil

Os autores descrevem a ocorrência de epidemias causadas pelo vírus Oropouche (ORO) nos Estados do Maranhão (MA) e Goiás (GO) em 1988. 36 amostras de vírus foram obtidas a partir da inoculação do sangue de 120 pacientes em camundongos recém nascidos. A doença foi caracterizada por febre, cefaléia, dores musculares, articulares, fotofobia, dor retro ocular, náuseas e tontura. 128 das 197 pessoas examinadas em Porto Franco, MA, tinham anticorpos inibidores da hemaglutinação (IH) para o agente e, em 106 foram detectados anticorpos IgM por MAC ELISA. Todos os grupos etários foram infectados, embora a incidência tenha sido mais elevada entre aqueles com 10 a 19 anos de idade. Quanto ao sexo, a infecção ocorreu igualmente em ambos os sexos. Recorrência dos sintomas foi observada em 56% dos casos positivos estudados. A inoculação em camundongos Swiss recém nascidos de 3.624 Culicoides paraensis (Ceratopogonidae) e 1.970 Culex (Culex) quinquefasciatus (Culicidae), coletados em Porto Franco-MA, resultou em um único isolamento do vírus ORO a partir dos Culicoides. Essa é a primeira descrição de casos confirmados de infecção pelo vírus Oropouche nos Estados do Maranhão e Goiás, Brasil