A case for systematic quality management in mosquito control programmes in Europe

The recent spread of invasive mosquito species, such as Aedes albopictus and the seasonal sporadic transmission of autochthonous cases of arboviral diseases (e.g., dengue, chikungunya, Zika) in temperate areas, such as Europe and North America, highlight the importance of effective mosquito-control interventions to reduce not only nuisance, but also major threats for public health. Local, regional, and even national mosquito control programs have been established in many countries and are executed on a seasonal basis by either public or private bodies. In order for these interventions to be worthwhile, funding authorities should ensure that mosquito control is (a) planned by competent scientific institutions addressing the local demands, (b) executed following the plan that is based on recommended and effective methods and strategies, (c) monitored regularly by checking the efficacy of the implemented actions, (d) evaluated against the set of targets, and (e) regularly improved according to the results of the monitoring. Adherence to these conditions can only be assured if a formal quality management system is adopted and enforced that ensures the transparency of effectiveness of the control operation. The current paper aims at defining the two components of this quality management system, quality assurance and quality control for mosquito control programs with special emphasis on Europe, but applicable over temperate areas

A case for systematic quality management in mosquito control programmes in Europe

The recent spread of invasive mosquito species, such as Aedes albopictus and the seasonal sporadic transmission of autochthonous cases of arboviral diseases (e.g., dengue, chikungunya, Zika) in temperate areas, such as Europe and North America, highlight the importance of effective mosquito-control interventions to reduce not only nuisance, but also major threats for public health. Local, regional, and even national mosquito control programs have been established in many countries and are executed on a seasonal basis by either public or private bodies. In order for these interventions to be worthwhile, funding authorities should ensure that mosquito control is (a) planned by competent scientific institutions addressing the local demands, (b) executed following the plan that is based on recommended and effective methods and strategies, (c) monitored regularly by checking the efficacy of the implemented actions, (d) evaluated against the set of targets, and (e) regularly improved according to the results of the monitoring. Adherence to these conditions can only be assured if a formal quality management system is adopted and enforced that ensures the transparency of effectiveness of the control operation. The current paper aims at defining the two components of this quality management system, quality assurance and quality control for mosquito control programs with special emphasis on Europe, but applicable over temperate areas

Sexual regional dimorphism of post-adolescent and middle age brain maturation. A multi-center 3T MRI study

Sex-related differences are tied into neurodevelopmental and lifespan processes, beginning early in the perinatal and developmental phases and continue into adulthood. The present study was designed to investigate sexual dimorphism of changes in gray matter (GM) volume in post-adolescence, with a focus on early and middle-adulthood using a structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) dataset of healthy controls from the European Network on Psychosis, Affective disorders and Cognitive Trajectory (ENPACT). Three hundred and seventy three subjects underwent a 3.0 T MRI session across four European Centers. Age by sex effects on GM volumes were investigated using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and the Automated Anatomical Labeling atlas regions (ROI). Females and males showed overlapping and non-overlapping patterns of GM volume changes during aging. Overlapping age-related changes emerged in bilateral frontal and temporal cortices, insula and thalamus. Both VBM and ROI analyses revealed non-overlapping changes in multiple regions, including cerebellum and vermis, bilateral mid frontal, mid occipital cortices, left inferior temporal and precentral gyri. These findings highlight the importance of accounting for sex differences in cross-sectional analyses, not only in the study of normative changes, but particularly in the context of psychiatric and neurologic disorders, wherein sex effects may be confounded with disease-related changes

Status of ART-XC/SRG Instrument

Spectrum Roentgen Gamma (SRG) is an X-ray astrophysical observatory, developed by Russia in collaboration with Germany. The mission will be launched in March 2016 from Baikonur, by a Zenit rocket with a Fregat booster and placed in a 6-month-period halo orbit around L2. The scientific payload consists of two independent telescopes - a soft-x-ray survey instrument, eROSITA, being provided by Germany and a medium-x-ray-energy survey instrument ART-XC being developed by Russia. ART-XC will consist of seven independent, but co-aligned, telescope modules. The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is fabricating the flight mirror modules for the ART-XC/SRG. Each mirror module will be aligned with a focal plane CdTe double-sided strip detectors which will operate over the energy range of 6-30 keV, with an angular resolution of less than 1, a field of view of approximately 34 and an expected energy resolution of about 10 percent at 14 keV

The ART-XC telescope on board the SRG observatory

ART-XC (Astronomical Roentgen Telescope - X-ray Concentrator) is the hard X-ray instrument with grazing incidence imaging optics on board the Spektr-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) observatory. The SRG observatory is the flagship astrophysical mission of the Russian Federal Space Program, which was successively launched into orbit around the second Lagrangian point (L2) of the Earth-Sun system with a Proton rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome on 13 July 2019. The ART-XC telescope will provide the first ever true imaging all-sky survey performed with grazing incidence optics in the 4-30 keV energy band and will obtain the deepest and sharpest map of the sky in the energy range of 4-12 keV. Observations performed during the early calibration and performance verification phase as well as during the on-going all-sky survey that started on 12 Dec. 2019 have demonstrated that the in-flight characteristics of the ART-XC telescope are very close to expectations based on the results of ground calibrations. Upon completion of its 4-year all-sky survey, ART-XC is expected to detect ~5000 sources (~3000 active galactic nuclei, including heavily obscured ones, several hundred clusters of galaxies, ~1000 cataclysmic variables and other Galactic sources), and to provide a high-quality map of the Galactic background emission in the 4-12 keV energy band. ART-XC is also well suited for discovering transient X-ray sources. In this paper, we describe the telescope, results of its ground calibrations, major aspects of the mission, the in-flight performance of ART-XC and first scientific results.Comment: 19 pages, 30 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Incident acute coronary syndromes in chronic dialysis patients in the United States11The opinions are solely those of the authors and do not represent an endorsement by the Department of Defense or the National Institutes of Health. This is a U.S. Government work. There are no restrictions on its use.

Incident acute coronary syndromes in chronic dialysis patients in the United States.BackgroundPatients on dialysis have a disproportionately high rate of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the incidence and risk factors for incident acute coronary syndromes (ACS) have not been previously assessed in dialysis patients.MethodsWe analyzed the United States Renal Data System (USRDS) Dialysis Morbidity and Mortality Study (DMMS) Wave II in a historical cohort study of ACS. Data from 3374 patients who started dialysis in 1996 with valid follow-up times were available for analysis, censored at the time of renal transplantation and followed until March 2000. Cox regression analysis was used to model factors associated with time to first hospitalization for ACS (ICD9 code 410.x or 411.x) adjusted for comorbidities, demographic factors, baseline laboratory values, blood pressures and cholesterol levels, type of vascular access, dialysis adequacy, and cardioprotective medications (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins), beta blockers, and aspirin). Follow-up was 2.19 ± 1.14 years.ResultsThe incidence of ACS was 29/1000 person-years. Factors associated with ACS were older age, the extreme high and low ranges of serum cholesterol level, history of coronary heart disease (CHD), male gender, and diabetes. No cardioprotective medications including statins had a significant association with ACS in this study. However, medications known to reduce mortality after ACS were used in less than 50% of patients with known CHD at the start of the study, and statins were used in less than 10% of patients with CHD.ConclusionsDialysis patients had similar risk factors for ACS compared to the general population. Cardioprotective medications were not associated with a significant benefit, possibly due to their striking underutilization in this at-risk population

Genomic Fossils Calibrate the Long-Term Evolution of Hepadnaviruses

Ancient hepadnavirus sequences found in bird genomes reveal that this family of viruses, which includes the human hepatitis B virus, is much older than previously thought

Reduced Gray to White Matter Tissue Intensity Contrast in Schizophrenia

BACKGROUND: While numerous structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies revealed changes of brain volume or density, cortical thickness and fibre integrity in schizophrenia, the effect of tissue alterations on the contrast properties of neural structures has so far remained mostly unexplored. METHODS: Whole brain high-resolution MRI at 3 Tesla was used to investigate tissue contrast and cortical thickness in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls. RESULTS: Patients showed significantly decreased gray to white matter contrast in large portions throughout the cortical mantle with preponderance in inferior, middle, superior and medial temporal areas as well as in lateral and medial frontal regions. The extent of these intensity contrast changes exceeded the extent of cortical thinning. Further, contrast changes remained significant after controlling for cortical thickness measurements. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings clearly emphasize the presence of schizophrenia related brain tissue changes that alter the imaging properties of brain structures. Intensity contrast measurements might not only serve as a highly sensitive metric but also as a potential indicator of a distinct pathological process that might be independent from volume or thickness alterations

Giant tortoise genomes provide insights into longevity and age-related disease

© 2018, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited. Giant tortoises are among the longest-lived vertebrate animals and, as such, provide an excellent model to study traits like longevity and age-related diseases. However, genomic and molecular evolutionary information on giant tortoises is scarce. Here, we describe a global analysis of the genomes of Lonesome George—the iconic last member of Chelonoidis abingdonii—and the Aldabra giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea). Comparison of these genomes with those of related species, using both unsupervised and supervised analyses, led us to detect lineage-specific variants affecting DNA repair genes, inflammatory mediators and genes related to cancer development. Our study also hints at specific evolutionary strategies linked to increased lifespan, and expands our understanding of the genomic determinants of ageing. These new genome sequences also provide important resources to help the efforts for restoration of giant tortoise populations