EU-wide baseline survey on the prevalence of Salmonella in holdings with breeding pigs, 2008 - prevalence and factors associated with Salmonella positivity

In order to reduce the incidence of human salmonellosis, European Union (EU) legislation foresees the setting of Salmonella reduction targets for food producing-animals including breeding pigs. To set such a target, an EU-wide baseline survey was conducted in 2008 to determine the prevalence and diversity of Salmonella in holldings with breeding pigs across Member States (MSs)

Information dynamics shape the networks of Internet-mediated prostitution

Like many other social phenomena, prostitution is increasingly coordinated over the Internet. The online behavior affects the offline activity; the reverse is also true. We investigated the reported sexual contacts between 6,624 anonymous escorts and 10,106 sex-buyers extracted from an online community from its beginning and six years on. These sexual encounters were also graded and categorized (in terms of the type of sexual activities performed) by the buyers. From the temporal, bipartite network of posts, we found a full feedback loop in which high grades on previous posts affect the future commercial success of the sex-worker, and vice versa. We also found a peculiar growth pattern in which the turnover of community members and sex workers causes a sublinear preferential attachment. There is, moreover, a strong geographic influence on network structure-the network is geographically clustered but still close to connected, the contacts consistent with the inverse-square law observed in trading patterns. We also found that the number of sellers scales sublinearly with city size, so this type of prostitution does not, comparatively speaking, benefit much from an increasing concentration of people

Stroke incidence and case fatality: a 9-year prospective population-based study in an elderly population of Bagheria, Italy

Background: The incidence of stroke in high-income countries has been on the decline; however, few epidemiological surveys have been conducted in recent years to specifically estimate the incidence along with outcome of stroke, in Italy. This study aimed to examine the incidence and case fatality rates of stroke in an elderly Italian population. Methods: A cohort of 2200 people > 65 years was randomly stratified from the total elderly population of Bagheria, Italy. A 9-year prospective population-based study was performed (19,800 person/years). Results: We identified 112 first-ever strokes, 53 females and 59 males: 82 (73.1%) ischemic, 13(11.6%) intracerebral haemorrhages, 6 (5.35%) subarachnoid haemorrhages, while 11(9.8%) were classified as undetermined strokes. The crude overall annual incidence was 5.65 per 1000 (95%CI: 4.61 to 6.70) for first-ever stroke. The overall crude incidence rates were 4.74 per 1000 (5.08 for males and 4.46 for females) for ischemic stroke, 0.65 (0.99 for males and 0.37 for females) for intracerebral haemorrhage, and 0.03 for subarachnoid haemorrhage. The incidence rate for first-ever stroke was 5.4 per 1000 (95% CI: 5.36 to 5.45) after adjustment for the 2015 World population and 5.56 (95% CI: 5.52 to 5.61), compared to the 2015 European population. Overall case fatality rates for first-ever stroke was 8.19% at 28 days and 24.1% at 1 year. Conclusion: Our study shows that in the elderly population investigated, stroke incidence and case fatality rates resulted being lower, compared to those from Italian and most European populations. Similar to previous studies, these rates increased linearly with age and were higher in males

Evolutionary game dynamics in phenotype space

Evolutionary dynamics can be studied in well-mixed or structured populations. Population structure typically arises from the heterogeneous distribution of individuals in physical space or on social networks. Here we introduce a new type of space to evolutionary game dynamics: phenotype space. The population is well-mixed in the sense that everyone is equally likely to interact with everyone else, but the behavioral strategies depend on distance in phenotype space. Individuals might behave differently towards those who look similar or dissimilar. Individuals mutate to nearby phenotypes. We study the `phenotypic space walk' of populations. We present analytic calculations that bring together ideas from coalescence theory and evolutionary game dynamics. As a particular example, we investigate the evolution of cooperation in phenotype space. We obtain a precise condition for natural selection to favor cooperators over defectors: for a one-dimensional phenotype space and large population size the critical benefit-to-cost ratio is given by b/c=1+2/sqrt{3}. We derive the fundamental condition for any evolutionary game and explore higher dimensional phenotype spaces.Comment: version 2: minor changes; equivalent to final published versio

Fragmenting Forests: The Double Edge of Effective Forest Monitoring

The link between ineffective forest monitoring and forest degradation is well known. Under REDD+, monitoring stands to become more important as a means of maintaining incentive. Little attention however has been paid to the possible adverse consequences of forest monitoring. Our research develops a spatially explicit, agent-based model (ABM) of timber extraction in a Congo Basin forest concession to investigate the potential conservation impact of more effective monitoring. We modeled the building of access roads, and logging of legal timber and illegal timber, where illegal timber may be interpreted broadly to include prohibited species, smaller trees, or trees in areas where cutting is not permitted. We investigated road building under (1) random spot monitoring of logging sites and (2) monitoring of logged trunks at checkpoints. Our findings indicate that although more effective monitoring can reduce illegal harvesting, it can also lead to construction of denser road networks and higher levels of forest fragmentation, with an implied loss of biodiversity. These insights are particularly relevant in the context of REDD+, as they suggest that some monitoring strategies may lead to more forest fragmentation, even as they help reduce emissions

Growth and Welfare Status of Giant Freshwater Prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) Post-Larvae Reared in Aquaponic Systems and Fed Diets including Enriched Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) Prepupae Meal

Due to the limited application of insect meal in giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) culture, the present study aimed to (i) produce spirulina-enriched full-fat black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) prepupae meal (HM) and (ii) test, for the first time, two experimental diets characterized by 3% or 20% of fish meal and fish oil replacement with full-fat HM (HM3 and HM20, respectively) on M. rosenbergii post-larvae during a 60-day feeding trial conducted in aquaponic systems. The experimental diets did not negatively affect survival rates or growth. The use of spirulina-enriched HM resulted in a progressive increase in α-tocopherol and carotenoids in HM3 and HM20 diets that possibly played a crucial role in preserving prawn muscle-quality traits. The massive presence of lipid droplets in R cells in all the experimental groups reflected a proper nutrient provision and evidenced the necessity to store energy for molting. The increased number of B cells in the HM3 and HM20 groups could be related to the different compositions of the lipid fraction among the experimental diets instead of a nutrient absorption impairment caused by chitin. Finally, the expression of the immune response and stress markers confirmed that the experimental diets did not affect the welfare status of M. rosenbergii post-larvae

Evolutionary instability of Zero Determinant strategies demonstrates that winning isn't everything

Zero Determinant (ZD) strategies are a new class of probabilistic and conditional strategies that are able to unilaterally set the expected payoff of an opponent in iterated plays of the Prisoner's Dilemma irrespective of the opponent's strategy, or else to set the ratio between a ZD player's and their opponent's expected payoff. Here we show that while ZD strategies are weakly dominant, they are not evolutionarily stable and will instead evolve into less coercive strategies. We show that ZD strategies with an informational advantage over other players that allows them to recognize other ZD strategies can be evolutionarily stable (and able to exploit other players). However, such an advantage is bound to be short-lived as opposing strategies evolve to counteract the recognition.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures. Change in title (again!) to comply with Nature Communications requirements. To appear in Nature Communication

Statistical Mechanics of Dilute Batch Minority Games with Random External Information

We study the dynamics and statics of a dilute batch minority game with random external information. We focus on the case in which the number of connections per agent is infinite in the thermodynamic limit. The dynamical scenario of ergodicity breaking in this model is different from the phase transition in the standard minority game and is characterised by the onset of long-term memory at finite integrated response. We demonstrate that finite memory appears at the AT-line obtained from the corresponding replica calculation, and compare the behaviour of the dilute model with the minority game with market impact correction, which is known to exhibit similar features.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, text modified, references updated and added, figure added, typos correcte

La sinistra:italiana una commedia in tre atti.

L’entrata nella seconda Repubblica è stata scandita dalla marcia trionfale della sinistra in predicato di vincere le elezioni politiche. I risultati elettorali più gratificanti della sinistra sono stati la traballante vittoria del 1996 e le non vittorie (sostanziali pareggi) del 2006 e del 2013, al contrario erano certe nelle previsioni e nei fatti le vittorie berlusconiane del 2001 e del 2008