Barking up the same tree: a comparison of ethnomedicine and canine ethnoveterinary medicine among the Aguaruna

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This work focuses on plant-based preparations that the Aguaruna Jivaro of Peru give to hunting dogs. Many plants are considered to improve dogs' sense of smell or stimulate them to hunt better, while others treat common illnesses that prevent dogs from hunting. This work places canine ethnoveterinary medicine within the larger context of Aguaruna ethnomedicine, by testing the following hypotheses: H1 -- Plants that the Aguaruna use to treat dogs will be the same plants that they use to treat people and H2 -- Plants that are used to treat both people and dogs will be used for the same illnesses in both cases.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Structured interviews with nine key informants were carried out in 2007, in Aguaruna communities in the Peruvian department of Amazonas. Informants provided freelists of plants given to dogs and explained the purpose, preparation and route of administration used. For each plant, informants also described any uses for treating people. Botanical voucher specimens were collected and additional informal observations were made, accompanying people on hunting trips.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Out of 35 plant species given to dogs, 29 (83%) are also given to humans for some medicinal purpose, while five are used only for dogs. However, the same plant is used to treat the same illness in both humans and dogs in only 53% of the cases. Forty-three percent of plants used to treat a particular illness for both dogs and people are administered in the same manner for both.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Results suggest that Aguaruna canine ethnoveterinary medicine is, at least partly, an independent cognitive domain. Some of the difference in plant use between dogs and people can be explained by the fact that certain diseases mentioned only apply to dogs. Although reports of canine ethnoveterinary medicine are very sparse in the literature, Aguaruna practices show some similarities with a few trends reported for other Amazonian societies, particularly, in the prevalence of the nasal route of administration, the use of plant-based psychoactives and in the importance of ants and wasps, in some form, for training dogs.</p

Exploring the Free Energy Landscape: From Dynamics to Networks and Back

The knowledge of the Free Energy Landscape topology is the essential key to understand many biochemical processes. The determination of the conformers of a protein and their basins of attraction takes a central role for studying molecular isomerization reactions. In this work, we present a novel framework to unveil the features of a Free Energy Landscape answering questions such as how many meta-stable conformers are, how the hierarchical relationship among them is, or what the structure and kinetics of the transition paths are. Exploring the landscape by molecular dynamics simulations, the microscopic data of the trajectory are encoded into a Conformational Markov Network. The structure of this graph reveals the regions of the conformational space corresponding to the basins of attraction. In addition, handling the Conformational Markov Network, relevant kinetic magnitudes as dwell times or rate constants, and the hierarchical relationship among basins, complete the global picture of the landscape. We show the power of the analysis studying a toy model of a funnel-like potential and computing efficiently the conformers of a short peptide, the dialanine, paving the way to a systematic study of the Free Energy Landscape in large peptides.Comment: PLoS Computational Biology (in press

Providing alcohol-related screening and brief interventions to adolescents through health care systems: Obstacles and solutions

Duncan Clark and Howard Moss identify obstacles to alcohol-related screening and treatment for adolescents and propose policy solutions

Local Renyi entropic profiles of DNA sequences

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In a recent report the authors presented a new measure of continuous entropy for DNA sequences, which allows the estimation of their randomness level. The definition therein explored was based on the Rényi entropy of probability density estimation (pdf) using the Parzen's window method and applied to Chaos Game Representation/Universal Sequence Maps (CGR/USM). Subsequent work proposed a fractal pdf kernel as a more exact solution for the iterated map representation. This report extends the concepts of continuous entropy by defining DNA sequence entropic profiles using the new pdf estimations to refine the density estimation of motifs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The new methodology enables two results. On the one hand it shows that the entropic profiles are directly related with the statistical significance of motifs, allowing the study of under and over-representation of segments. On the other hand, by spanning the parameters of the kernel function it is possible to extract important information about the scale of each conserved DNA region. The computational applications, developed in Matlab m-code, the corresponding binary executables and additional material and examples are made publicly available at <url>http://kdbio.inesc-id.pt/~svinga/ep/</url>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The ability to detect local conservation from a scale-independent representation of symbolic sequences is particularly relevant for biological applications where conserved motifs occur in multiple, overlapping scales, with significant future applications in the recognition of foreign genomic material and inference of motif structures.</p

The influence of socioeconomic environment on the effectiveness of alcohol prevention among European students: a cluster randomized controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although social environments may influence alcohol-related behaviours in youth, the relationship between neighbourhood socioeconomic context and effectiveness of school-based prevention against underage drinking has been insufficiently investigated. We study whether the social environment affects the impact of a new school-based prevention programme on alcohol use among European students.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>During the school year 2004-2005, 7079 students 12-14 years of age from 143 schools in nine European centres participated in this cluster randomised controlled trial. Schools were randomly assigned to either control or a 12-session standardised curriculum based on the comprehensive social influence model. Randomisation was blocked within socioeconomic levels of the school environment. Alcohol use and alcohol-related problem behaviours were investigated through a self-completed anonymous questionnaire at baseline and 18 months thereafter. Data were analysed using multilevel models, separately by socioeconomic level.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>At baseline, adolescents in schools of low socioeconomic level were more likely to report problem drinking than other students. Participation in the programme was associated in this group with a decreased odds of reporting episodes of drunkenness (OR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.44-0.83), intention to get drunk (OR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.45-0.79), and marginally alcohol-related problem behaviours (OR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.46-1.06). No significant programme's effects emerged for students in schools of medium or high socioeconomic level. Effects on frequency of alcohol consumption were also stronger among students in disadvantaged schools, although the estimates did not attain statistical significance in any subgroup.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>It is plausible that comprehensive social influence programmes have a more favourable effect on problematic drinking among students in underprivileged social environments.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ISRCTN: <a href="http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN18092805">ISRCTN18092805</a></p

The effect of alcohol advertising, marketing and portrayal on drinking behaviour in young people: systematic review of prospective cohort studies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The effect of alcohol portrayals and advertising on the drinking behaviour of young people is a matter of much debate. We evaluated the relationship between exposure to alcohol advertising, marketing and portrayal on subsequent drinking behaviour in young people by systematic review of cohort (longitudinal) studies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>studies were identified in October 2006 by searches of electronic databases, with no date restriction, supplemented with hand searches of reference lists of retrieved articles. Cohort studies that evaluated exposure to advertising or marketing or alcohol portrayals and drinking at baseline and assessed drinking behaviour at follow-up in young people were selected and reviewed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>seven cohort studies that followed up more than 13,000 young people aged 10 to 26 years old were reviewed. The studies evaluated a range of different alcohol advertisement and marketing exposures including print and broadcast media. Two studies measured the hours of TV and music video viewing. All measured drinking behaviour using a variety of outcome measures. Two studies evaluated drinkers and non-drinkers separately. Baseline non-drinkers were significantly more likely to have become a drinker at follow-up with greater exposure to alcohol advertisements. There was little difference in drinking frequency at follow-up in baseline drinkers. In studies that included drinkers and non-drinkers, increased exposure at baseline led to significant increased risk of drinking at follow-up. The strength of the relationship varied between studies but effect sizes were generally modest. All studies controlled for age and gender, however potential confounding factors adjusted for in analyses varied from study to study. Important risk factors such as peer drinking and parental attitudes and behaviour were not adequately accounted for in some studies.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>data from prospective cohort studies suggest there is an association between exposure to alcohol advertising or promotional activity and subsequent alcohol consumption in young people. Inferences about the modest effect sizes found are limited by the potential influence of residual or unmeasured confounding.</p

Mainstreams of Horizontal Gene Exchange in Enterobacteria: Consideration of the Outbreak of Enterohemorrhagic E. coli O104:H4 in Germany in 2011

Escherichia coli O104:H4 caused a severe outbreak in Europe in 2011. The strain TY-2482 sequenced from this outbreak allowed the discovery of its closest relatives but failed to resolve ways in which it originated and evolved. On account of the previous statement, may we expect similar upcoming outbreaks to occur recurrently or spontaneously in the future? The inability to answer these questions shows limitations of the current comparative and evolutionary genomics methods.status: publishe

Cognitive Neuropsychology of HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders

Advances in the treatment of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have dramatically improved survival rates over the past 10 years, but HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) remain highly prevalent and continue to represent a significant public health problem. This review provides an update on the nature, extent, and diagnosis of HAND. Particular emphasis is placed on critically evaluating research within the realm of cognitive neuropsychology that aims to elucidate the component processes of HAND across the domains of executive functions, motor skills, speeded information processing, episodic memory, attention/working memory, language, and visuoperception. In addition to clarifying the cognitive mechanisms of HAND (e.g., impaired cognitive control), the cognitive neuropsychology approach may enhance the ecological validity of neuroAIDS research and inform the development of much needed novel, targeted cognitive and behavioral therapies