Evolutionary History of Rabies in Ghana

Rabies virus (RABV) is enzootic throughout Africa, with the domestic dog (Canis familiaris) being the principal vector. Dog rabies is estimated to cause 24,000 human deaths per year in Africa, however, this estimate is still considered to be conservative. Two sub-Saharan African RABV lineages have been detected in West Africa. Lineage 2 is present throughout West Africa, whereas Africa 1a dominates in northern and eastern Africa, but has been detected in Nigeria and Gabon, and Africa 1b was previously absent from West Africa. We confirmed the presence of RABV in a cohort of 76 brain samples obtained from rabid animals in Ghana collected over an eighteen-month period (2007–2009). Phylogenetic analysis of the sequences obtained confirmed all viruses to be RABV, belonging to lineages previously detected in sub-Saharan Africa. However, unlike earlier reported studies that suggested a single lineage (Africa 2) circulates in West Africa, we identified viruses belonging to the Africa 2 lineage and both Africa 1 (a and b) sub-lineages. Phylogeographic Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis of a 405 bp fragment of the RABV nucleoprotein gene from the 76 new sequences derived from Ghanaian animals suggest that within the Africa 2 lineage three clades co-circulate with their origins in other West African countries. Africa 1a is probably a western extension of a clade circulating in central Africa and the Africa 1b virus a probable recent introduction from eastern Africa. We also developed and tested a novel reverse-transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) assay for the detection of RABV in African laboratories. This RT-LAMP was shown to detect both Africa 1 and 2 viruses, including its adaptation to a lateral flow device format for product visualization. These data suggest that RABV epidemiology is more complex than previously thought in West Africa and that there have been repeated introductions of RABV into Ghana. This analysis highlights the potential problems of individual developing nations implementing rabies control programmes in the absence of a regional programme

Influência da composição do substrato no desempenho morfofisiológico das mudas de Trema micrantha (L.) Blume.

O uso de biossólidos na produção de mudas de espécies nativas é uma alternativa na gestão dos resíduos orgânicos. O sucesso no estabelecimento das mudas no campo depende de vários fatores com destaque para a qualidade do seu meio de crescimento. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar o desempenho morfofisiológico de mudas de Trema micrantha (L.) Blume produzidas em biossólidos obtidos da vermicompostagem de lodo de esgoto (LE) e capim napier triturado (NT). Foram utilizados os substratos V1= 40%LE + 60%NT, V2= 50%LE + 50%NT; V3= 60%LE + 40%NT e V4 (substrato comercial), considerado tratamento controle. Após 120 dias da semeadura, foram avaliados os dados do crescimento em altura das mudas, de temperatura das folhas, condutância estomática (Gs) e fluorescência da clorofila-a. Um maior desempenho morfológico foi observado nas mudas produzidas nos biossólidos, sendo que, as alturas médias foram influenciadas pela composição dos biossólidos. As análises dos dados de condutância estomática, dos parâmetros fenomenológicos da fluorescência da clorofila-a e das curvas do transiente OJIP permitiram detectar possível ocorrência de danos reversíveis no fotossistema II, no caso das mudas produzidas com V2; essas mudanças não foram suficientes para levar o sistema a uma fotoinibição. Palavras-chave: biossólido, fluorescência da clorofila-a, condutância estomática

Recirculating Flows Involving Short Fiber Suspensions: Numerical Difficulties and Efficient Advanced Micro-Macro Solvers

Numerical modelling of non-Newtonian flows usually involves the coupling between equations of motion characterized by an elliptic character, and the fluid constitutive equation, which defines an advection problem linked to the fluid history. There are different numerical techniques to treat the hyperbolic advection equations. In non-recirculating flows, Eulerian discretizations can give a convergent solution within a short computing time. However, the existence of steady recirculating flow areas induces additional difficulties. Actually, in these flows neither boundary conditions nor initial conditions are known. In this paper we compares different advanced strategies (some of them recently proposed and extended here for addressing complex flows) when they are applied to the solution of the kinetic theory description of a short fiber suspension fluid flows

Providing connectivity to implanted electronics devices:experimental results on optical communications over biological tissues with comparisons against UWB

Abstract Radio and acoustic waves have been conventionally used for transmitting information through biological tissues. However, some radio-based communications often suffer from several drawbacks like security, safety, privacy, and interference. In this paper, we demonstrate that optical wireless communications can be practically used for communications through biological tissues, particularly to transmit information to and from implanted devices. In the experiment, ex vivo samples of pork meat were used as the optical channel. Initial results show that information can be optically transmitted through biological tissues to distances of several centimeters, a range of practical interest as many implants today are placed within this extent. Optical links are inherently secure, and interference to and from other equipment is not an issue. With numerous potential benefits, optical wireless communication can be considered as a complementary approach to the existing radio frequency (RF) communications. In this paper, a comparison between the measurement results of ultra-wideband (UWB) and optical communications through the biological tissues is presented. Both experiments have been taken place in a similar environment, with the same meat samples. We have also explored the effect of tissue temperature on successful communications through biological tissues. These initial results are very promising and indicate various potential benefits for in-body communication in the future

The 2nd Schizophrenia International Research Society Conference, 10-14 April 2010, Florence, Italy: Summaries of oral sessions

The 2nd Schizophrenia International Research Society Conference, was held in Florence, Italy, April 10-15, 2010. Student travel awardees served as rapporteurs of each oral session and focused their summaries on the most significant findings that emerged from each session and the discussions that followed. The following report is a composite of these reviews. It is hoped that it will provide an overview for those who were present, but could not participate in all sessions, and those who did not have the opportunity to attend, but who would be interested in an update on current investigations ongoing in the field of schizophrenia research. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.Articl