The Disease Burden of Taenia solium Cysticercosis in Cameroon

Taenia solium cysticercosis is a zoonotic disease occurring in many developing countries. A relatively high prevalence in humans and pigs has been reported in several parts of the world, but insufficient data are available on the disease burden. Disease impact assessment needs detailed information on well-defined epidemiological and economic parameters. Our work conducted in West Cameroon over several years allowed us to collect the necessary information to estimate the impact of the parasite on the human and animal populations in this area using both cost and Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY) estimations. This study identified the professional inactivity caused by the disease as the major loss factor in comparison to the cost of health care and losses due to infected pigs. These findings should allow a simpler estimation of the global disease burden based on information on salary levels and human cysticercosis prevalence in endemic areas of the world. In addition, the number of DALYs lost was higher than estimates already available for some other neglected tropical diseases in sub-Saharan Africa

Tractography dissection variability: What happens when 42 groups dissect 14 white matter bundles on the same dataset?

White matter bundle segmentation using diffusion MRI fiber tractography has become the method of choice to identify white matter fiber pathways in vivo in human brains. However, like other analyses of complex data, there is considerable variability in segmentation protocols and techniques. This can result in different reconstructions of the same intended white matter pathways, which directly affects tractography results, quantification, and interpretation. In this study, we aim to evaluate and quantify the variability that arises from different protocols for bundle segmentation. Through an open call to users of fiber tractography, including anatomists, clinicians, and algorithm developers, 42 independent teams were given processed sets of human whole-brain streamlines and asked to segment 14 white matter fascicles on six subjects. In total, we received 57 different bundle segmentation protocols, which enabled detailed volume-based and streamline-based analyses of agreement and disagreement among protocols for each fiber pathway. Results show that even when given the exact same sets of underlying streamlines, the variability across protocols for bundle segmentation is greater than all other sources of variability in the virtual dissection process, including variability within protocols and variability across subjects. In order to foster the use of tractography bundle dissection in routine clinical settings, and as a fundamental analytical tool, future endeavors must aim to resolve and reduce this heterogeneity. Although external validation is needed to verify the anatomical accuracy of bundle dissections, reducing heterogeneity is a step towards reproducible research and may be achieved through the use of standard nomenclature and definitions of white matter bundles and well-chosen constraints and decisions in the dissection process

Demographic, clinical and antibody characteristics of patients with digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis: data from the DUO Registry

OBJECTIVES: The Digital Ulcers Outcome (DUO) Registry was designed to describe the clinical and antibody characteristics, disease course and outcomes of patients with digital ulcers associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS: The DUO Registry is a European, prospective, multicentre, observational, registry of SSc patients with ongoing digital ulcer disease, irrespective of treatment regimen. Data collected included demographics, SSc duration, SSc subset, internal organ manifestations, autoantibodies, previous and ongoing interventions and complications related to digital ulcers. RESULTS: Up to 19 November 2010 a total of 2439 patients had enrolled into the registry. Most were classified as either limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc; 52.2%) or diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc; 36.9%). Digital ulcers developed earlier in patients with dcSSc compared with lcSSc. Almost all patients (95.7%) tested positive for antinuclear antibodies, 45.2% for anti-scleroderma-70 and 43.6% for anticentromere antibodies (ACA). The first digital ulcer in the anti-scleroderma-70-positive patient cohort occurred approximately 5 years earlier than the ACA-positive patient group. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides data from a large cohort of SSc patients with a history of digital ulcers. The early occurrence and high frequency of digital ulcer complications are especially seen in patients with dcSSc and/or anti-scleroderma-70 antibodies

Site and age condition the growth responses to climate and drought of relict Pinus nigra subsp. salzmannii populations in Southern Spain

To assess if tree age may modulate the main climatic drivers of radial growth, two relict Pinus nigra subsp. salzmannii populations (María, most xeric site; Mágina, least xeric site) were sampled in southern Spain near the limits of the species range. Tree-ring width residual chronologies for two age groups (mature trees, age ≤ 100 years (minimum 40 years); old trees, age > 100 years) were built to evaluate their responses to climate by relating them to monthly precipitation and temperature and a drought index (DRI) using correlation and response functions. We found that drought is the main driver of growth of relict P. nigra populations, but differences between sites and age classes were also observed. First, growth in the most xeric site depends on the drought severity during the previous autumn and the spring of the year of tree-ring formation, whereas in the relatively more mesic site growth is mainly enhanced by warm and wet conditions in spring. Second, growth of mature trees responded more to drought severity than that of old trees. Our findings indicate that drought severity will mainly affect growth of relict P. nigra populations dominated by mature trees in xeric sites. This conclusion may also apply to similar mountain Mediterranean conifer relicts.This project was funded through DIVERBOS (CGL2011-30285-C02-02) and INIA-RTA (RTA2010-00065-00-00). R. Sánchez-Salguero acknowledges a FPU (Formación de Profesorado Universitario) grant (AP2007-04747) (Ministerio de Educación, Spain). We also acknowledge the financial support from University of Córdoba-Campus de Excelencia CEIA3 and AEMET (Agencia Estatal de Meteorologia) for providing meteorological data. We thank Francisca de la Hoz and Angela Merino for their support during field works, and R. Arias for his assistance in the laboratory. J. J. Camarero thanks the support of ARAID and Globimed.Peer reviewe

Fagus sylvatica seedlings show provenance differentiation rather than adaptation to soil in a transplant experiment

Abstract Background Understanding and predicting the response of tree populations to climate change requires understanding the pattern and scale of their adaptation. Climate is often considered the major driver of local adaptation but, although biotic factors such as soil pathogens or mutualists could be as important, their role has typically been neglected. Biotic drivers might also interact with climate to affect performance and mycorrhizae, in particular, are likely to play a key role in determining drought resistance, which is important in the context of adaptation to future environmental change. To address these questions, we performed a fully reciprocal soil–plant transplant experiment using Fagus sylvatica seedlings and soils from three regions in Germany. To separate the biotic and abiotic effects of inoculation, half of the plants were inoculated with natural soil from the different origins, while the rest were grown on sterilized substrate. We also imposed a drought stress treatment to test for interactions between soil biota and climate. After 1 year of growth, we measured aboveground biomass of all seedlings, and quantified mycorrhizal colonization for a subset of the seedlings, which included all soil–plant combinations, to disentangle the effect of mycorrhiza from other agents. Results We found that plant origin had the strongest effect on plant performance, but this interacted with soil origin. In general, trees showed a slight tendency to produce less aboveground biomass on local soils, suggesting soil antagonists could be causing trees to be maladapted to their local soils. Consistently, we found lower mycorrhizal colonization rate under local soil conditions. Across all soils, seedlings from low elevations produced more annual biomass than middle (+ 290%) and high (+ 97%) elevations. Interestingly, mycorrhizal colonization increased with drought in the two provenances that showed higher drought tolerance, which supports previous results showing that mycorrhizae can increase drought resistance. Conclusions Our findings suggest that soil communities play a role in affecting early performance of temperate trees, although this role may be smaller than that of seed origin. Also, other effects, such as the positive response to generalists or negative interactions with soil biota may be as important as the highly specialized mycorrhizal associations

Growth response to climate and drought change along an aridity gradient in the southernmost Pinus nigra relict forests

Context: Tree populations at the rear edge of species distribution are sensitive to climate stress and drought. However, growth responses of these tree populations to those stressors may vary along climatic gradients. Aims: To analyze growth responses to climate and drought using dendrochronology in rear-edge Pinus nigra populations located along an aridity gradient. Methods: Tree-ring width chronologies were built for the twentieth century and related to monthly climatic variables, a drought index (Standardized Precipitation- Evapotranspiration Index), and two atmospheric circulation patterns (North Atlantic and Western Mediterranean Oscillations). Results: Growth was enhanced by wet and cold previous autumns and warm late winters before tree-ring formation. The influence of the previous year conditions on growth increased during the past century. Growth was significantly related to North Atlantic and Western Mediterranean Oscillations in two out of five sites. The strongest responses of growth to the drought index were observed in the most xeric sites. Conclusion: Dry conditions before tree-ring formation constrain growth in rear-edge P. nigra populations. The comparisons of climate-growth responses along aridity gradients allow characterizing the sensitivity of relict stands to climate warming. © 2013 INRA and Springer-Verlag France.This project was funded through a Junta de Andalucía and projects DIVERBOS (CGL2011-30285-C02-02) and XILVA (CGL2011-26654), through the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain. RSS acknowledges a FPU grant (AP2007-04747) (Science Ministry, Spain), also the financial support from CEXTREME-FP7-ENV-2008-1-226701 and INIA-RTA (RTA2010-00065-00-00) projects. We also acknowledge the financial support from University of Córdoba-Campus de Excelencia ceiA3 and CRU and S.M. Vicente-Serrano for providing meteorological and drought data. JJC thanks the support of ARAID and collaborative efforts within the Globimed network (www.​globimed.​net). We thank the editors and reviewers for improving the manuscript.Peer Reviewe