Anopheline salivary protein genes and gene families: an evolutionary overview after the whole genome sequence of sixteen Anopheles species

Background: Mosquito saliva is a complex cocktail whose pharmacological properties play an essential role in blood feeding by counteracting host physiological response to tissue injury. Moreover, vector borne pathogens are transmitted to vertebrates and exposed to their immune system in the context of mosquito saliva which, in virtue of its immunomodulatory properties, can modify the local environment at the feeding site and eventually affect pathogen transmission. In addition, the host antibody response to salivary proteins may be used to assess human exposure to mosquito vectors. Even though the role of quite a few mosquito salivary proteins has been clarified in the last decade, we still completely ignore the physiological role of many of them as well as the extent of their involvement in the complex interactions taking place between the mosquito vectors, the pathogens they transmit and the vertebrate host. The recent release of the genomes of 16 Anopheles species offered the opportunity to get insights into function and evolution of salivary protein families in anopheline mosquitoes. Results: Orthologues of fifty three Anopheles gambiae salivary proteins were retrieved and annotated from 18 additional anopheline species belonging to the three subgenera Cellia, Anopheles, and Nyssorhynchus. Our analysis included 824 full-length salivary proteins from 24 different families and allowed the identification of 79 novel salivary genes and re-annotation of 379 wrong predictions. The comparative, structural and phylogenetic analyses yielded an unprecedented view of the anopheline salivary repertoires and of their evolution over 100 million years of anopheline radiation shedding light on mechanisms and evolutionary forces that contributed shaping the anopheline sialomes. Conclusions: We provide here a comprehensive description, classification and evolutionary overview of the main anopheline salivary protein families and identify two novel candidate markers of human exposure to malaria vectors worldwide. This anopheline sialome catalogue, which is easily accessible as hyperlinked spreadsheet, is expected to be useful to the vector biology community and to improve the capacity to gain a deeper understanding of mosquito salivary proteins facilitating their possible exploitation for epidemiological and/or pathogen-vector-host interaction studies

Smart testing and critical care bed sharing for COVID-19 control

During the early months of the current COVID-19 pandemic, social-distancing measures effectively slowed disease transmission in many countries in Europe and Asia, but the same benefits have not been observed in some developing countries such as Brazil. In part, this is due to a failure to organise systematic testing campaigns at nationwide or even regional levels. To gain effective control of the pandemic, decision-makers in developing countries, particularly those with large populations, must overcome difficulties posed by an unequal distribution of wealth combined with low daily testing capacities. The economic infrastructure of the country, often concentrated in a few cities, forces workers to travel from commuter cities and rural areas, which induces strong nonlinear effects on disease transmission. In the present study, we develop a smart testing strategy to identify geographic regions where COVID-19 testing could most effectively be deployed to limit further disease transmission. The strategy uses readily available anonymised mobility and demographic data integrated with intensive care unit (ICU) occupancy data and city-specific social-distancing measures. Taking into account the heterogeneity of ICU bed occupancy in differing regions and the stages of disease evolution, we use a data-driven study of the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo as an example to show that smart testing strategies can rapidly limit transmission while reducing the need for social-distancing measures, thus returning life to a so-called new normal, even when testing capacity is limited

Modelling the effect of a dengue vaccine on reducing the evolution of resistance against antibiotic due to misuse in dengue cases.

BACKGROUND: This paper intends to check whether and how a hypothetical dengue vaccine could contribute to issue of evolution of bacteria resistance against antibiotics by reducing the number of patients that would inappropriately being treated with antibiotics. METHODS: We use a new mathematical model that combines, in a novel way, two previously published papers, one on the evolution of resistance against antibiotics and one classical Ross-Macdonald model for dengue transmission. RESULTS: The model is simulated numerically and reproduces a real case of evolution of resistance against antibiotics. In addition the model shows that the use of a hypothetical dengue vaccine could help to curb the evolution of resistance against an antibiotic inappropriately used in dengue patients. Both the increase in the proportion of resistant bacteria due to the misuse of antibiotics in dengue cases as a function of the fraction of treated patients and the reduction of that proportion as a function of vaccination coverage occur in a highly non-linear fashion. CONCLUSION: The use of a dengue vaccine is helpful in reducing the rate of evolution of antibiotic resistance in a scenario of misuse of the antibiotics in dengue patients

Zika is not a reason for missing the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro: response to the open letter of Dr Attaran and colleagues to Dr Margaret Chan, Director - General, WHO, on the Zika threat to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Attaran and colleagues in an open letter to WHO expressed their concern about the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and the threat posed by the Zika epidemic (Attaran 2016). We agree that Zika virus is of great public health concern and much remains to be known about this disease. Care should be taken to reduce the risk of infection, especially to pregnant women. However, we argue that this is not sufficient reason for changing the original plans for the Games, in particular because of the time of the year when they will take place. The present article outlines several scientific results related to Zika and mosquito-borne infectious diseases dynamics that we believe ratify the current position of WHO in not endorsing the postponing or relocation of the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games (WHO 2016)

Analisis Keberhasilan Penggunaan Perangkat Lunak Akuntansi Ditinjau Dari Persepsi Pemakai (Studi Implementasi Model Keberhasilan Sistem Informasi)

The purpose o f this study is to examine the information system (IS) success o f the accounting software based on the user perception. The model used to examine the IS success is the modified IS success model ofSeddon (1997). The model employed in this study is applied on data collected through 204 questionnaires distributed to the users o f accounting software who work at the variety o f companies in Indonesia. In examining the model, we employ the Structural Equation Model (SEM) with the use o f LISREL 8.72 sojH>are. The results o f the study show that system quality significantly affects the perceived usefulness and the user satisfaction. Furthermore, the results show that informc\tion quality significantly affects the perceived usefulness and user satisfaction. On the other hand, the study finds that user satisfaction does not affect the system use