Mapping and monitoring tick (Acari,Ixodida) distribution,seasonality, and host associations in the United Kingdom between 2017 and 2020

Tick-borne disease risk is intrinsically linked to the distribution of tick vector species. To assess risk and anticipate disease emergence, an understanding of tick distribution, host associations, and seasonality is needed. This can be achieved, to some extent, using passive surveillance supported by engagement with the public, animal health, and public health experts. The Tick Surveillance Scheme (TSS) collects data and maps tick distribution across the United Kingdom (UK). Between 2017 and 2020, 3720 tick records were received and 39 tick species were detected. Most records were acquired in the UK, with a subset associated with recent overseas travel. The dominant UK acquired species was Ixodes ricinus (Ixodida: Ixodidae, Linnaeus), the main vector of Lyme borreliosis. Records peaked during May and June, highlighting a key risk period for tick bites. Other key UK species were detected, including Dermacentor reticulatus (Ixodida: Ixodidae, Fabricius) and Haemaphysalis punctata (Ixodida: Ixodidae, Canestrini & Fanzago) as well as several rarer species that may present novel tick-borne disease risk to humans and other animals. Updated tick distribution maps highlight areas in the UK where tick exposure has occurred. There is evidence of increasing human tick exposure over time, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, but seasonal patterns remain unchanged.     

Ixodes ricinus and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in the Royal Parks of London,UK

Experimental and Applied Acarology - Assessing the risk of tick-borne disease in areas with high visitor numbers is important from a public health perspective. Evidence suggests that tick presence,...     

A newly-discovered early depiction of the Dodo (Aves: Columbidae: Raphus cucullatus) by Roelandt Savery,with a note on another previously unnoticed Savery Dodo

Abstract

The aim of this note is to bring to wider attention a painting, entitled The Temptation of Saint Anthony, by Roelandt Savery sold at Sotheby’s London on 7th December 2016. This work of c.1611–1613 includes a depiction of the head of a dodo (Raphus cucullatus), here argued to be probably his earliest depiction of the dodo and apparently one based upon a preserved specimen. The date of the other putatively early Savery dodo (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Berlin, Inv. No. 717a), cited as 1611 by some, is also discussed, and shown to be almost certainly a late work. In addition, another depiction of the dodo by Savery, in the National Museum of Warsaw, also previously unnoticed in the ornithological literature, is documented.     

Nest covering in plovers: How modifying the visual environment influences egg camouflage

Camouflage is one of the most widespread antipredator defences, and its mechanistic basis has attracted considerable interest in recent years. The effectiveness of camouflage depends on the interaction between an animal's appearance and its background. Concealment can therefore be improved by changes to an animal's own appearance, by behaviorally selecting an optimal background, or by modifying the background to better match the animal's own appearance. Research to date has largely focussed on the first of these mechanisms, whereas there has been little work on the second and almost none on the third. Even though a number of animal species may potentially modify their environment to improve individual‐specific camouflage, this has rarely if ever been quantitatively investigated, or its adaptive value tested. Kittlitz's plovers (Charadrius pecuarius) use material (stones and vegetation) to cover their nests when predators approach, providing concealment that is independent of the inflexible appearance of the adult or eggs, and that can be adjusted to suit the local surrounding background. We used digital imaging and predator vision modeling to investigate the camouflage properties of covered nests, and whether their camouflage affected their survival. The plovers' nest‐covering materials were consistent with a trade‐off between selecting materials that matched the color of the eggs, while resulting in poorer nest pattern and contrast matching to the nest surroundings. Alternatively, the systematic use of materials with high‐contrast and small‐pattern grain sizes could reflect a deliberate disruptive coloration strategy, whereby high‐contrast material breaks up the telltale outline of the clutch. No camouflage variables predicted nest survival. Our study highlights the potential for camouflage to be enhanced by background modification. This provides a flexible system for modifying an animal's conspicuousness, to which the main limitation may be the available materials rather than the animal's appearance.     

Lack of Correlation between Stem-Cell Proliferation and Radiation- or Smoking-Associated Cancer Risk

Background

A recent paper by Tomasetti and Vogelstein (Science 2015 347 78–81) suggested that the variation in natural cancer risk was largely explained by the total number of stem-cell divisions, and that most cancers arose by chance. They proposed an extra-risk score as way of distinguishing the effects of the stochastic, replicative component of cancer risk from other causative factors, specifically those due to the external environment and inherited mutations.

Objectives

We tested the hypothesis raised by Tomasetti and Vogelstein by assessing the degree of correlation of stem cell divisions and their extra-risk score with radiation- and tobacco-associated cancer risk.

Methods

We fitted a variety of linear and log-linear models to data on stem cell divisions per year and cumulative stem cell divisions over lifetime and natural cancer risk, some taken from the paper of Tomasetti and Vogelstein, augmented using current US lifetime cancer risk data, and also radiation- and tobacco-associated cancer risk.

Results

The data assembled by Tomasetti and Vogelstein, as augmented here, are inconsistent with the power-of-age relationship commonly observed for cancer incidence and the predictions of a multistage carcinogenesis model, if one makes the strong assumption of homogeneity of numbers of driver mutations across cancer sites. Analysis of the extra-risk score and various other measures (number of stem cell divisions per year, cumulative number of stem cell divisions over life) considered by Tomasetti and Vogelstein suggests that these are poorly predictive of currently available estimates of radiation- or smoking-associated cancer risk–for only one out of 37 measures or logarithmic transformations thereof is there a statistically significant correlation (p<0.05) with radiation- or smoking-associated risk.

Conclusions

The data used by Tomasetti and Vogelstein are in conflict with predictions of a multistage model of carcinogenesis, under the assumption of homogeneity of numbers of driver mutations across most cancer sites. Their hypothesis that if the extra-risk score for a tissue type is high then one would expect that environmental factors would play a relatively more important role in that cancer’s risk is in conflict with the lack of correlation between the extra-risk score and other stem-cell proliferation indices and radiation- or smoking-related cancer risk.     

Analysis of the potential for survival and seasonal activity of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) in the United Kingdom.

The international trade in used tires, coupled with the ability to lay non-desiccating eggs, has enabled Aedes albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera: Culicidae) to travel and establish on new continents, including North, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, Australasia, Africa, and Europe. Concerns have been raised over its potential role in the transmission of arboviruses and Dirofilaria nematodes. Following importation into northerly latitudes, photoperiodically-induced egg diapause enables establishment of Ae. albopictus, and a number of abiotic factors determine the subsequent seasonal activity. The United Kingdom (U.K.) imports over 5 million used tires annually, and this seems the most likely route by which Ae. albopictus would be imported. The anthropophilic and container-breeding nature of Ae. albopictus could cause an urban human biting nuisance and the potential for involvement in (human and veterinary) disease transmission cycles needs to be assessed. This paper addresses the likelihood for importation of Ae. albopictus into the U.K. and assesses, using a Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based model, the ability for Ae. albopictus to establish, and the likely seasonal activity. It also reviews its possible role as a potential disease vector in the U.K. The model predicts that abiotic risk factors would permit establishment of Ae. albopictus throughout large parts of lowland U.K., with at least four to five months of adult activity (May-September), being more prolonged in the urban centers around London and the southern coastal ports. Pre-emptive surveillance of possible imported Ae. albopictus, through a targeted approach, could prevent the establishment of this exotic mosquito and mitigate any subsequent human and animal health implications for the U.K., either now or in the future.     

Two‐state conformational equilibrium in the Par‐4 leucine zipper domain

Prostate apoptosis response factor‐4 (Par‐4) is a pro‐apoptotic and tumor‐suppressive protein. A highly conserved heptad repeat sequence at the Par‐4 C‐terminus suggests the presence of a leucine zipper (LZ). This C‐terminal region is essential for Par‐4 self‐association and interaction with various effector proteins. We have used nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to fully assign the chemical shift resonances of a peptide comprising the LZ domain of Par‐4 at neutral pH. Further, we have investigated the properties of the Par‐4 LZ domain and two point mutants under a variety of conditions using NMR, circular dichroism (CD), light scattering, and bioinformatics. Results indicate an environment‐dependent conformational equilibrium between a partially ordered monomer (POM) and a predominantly coiled coil dimer (CCD). The combination of techniques used allows the time scales of the equilibrium to be probed and also helps to identify features of the amino acid sequence that may influence the equilibrium. Proteins 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.