Serological evidence of single and mixed infections of Rift Valley fever virus,Brucella spp. and Coxiella burnetii in dromedary camels in Kenya

Camels are increasingly becoming the livestock of choice for pastoralists reeling from effects of climate change in semi-arid and arid parts of Kenya. As the population of camels rises, better understanding of their role in the epidemiology of zoonotic diseases in Kenya is a public health priority. Rift Valley fever (RVF), brucellosis and Q fever are three of the top priority diseases in the country but the involvement of camels in the transmission dynamics of these diseases is poorly understood. We analyzed 120 camel serum samples from northern Kenya to establish seropositivity rates of the three pathogens and to characterize the infecting Brucella species using molecular assays. We found seropositivity of 24.2% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 16.5–31.8%) for Brucella, 20.8% (95% CI: 13.6–28.1%) and 14.2% (95% CI: 7.9–20.4%) for Coxiella burnetii and Rift valley fever virus respectively. We found 27.5% (95% CI: 19.5–35.5%) of the animals were seropositive for at least one pathogen and 13.3% (95% CI: 7.2–19.4%) were seropositive for at least two pathogens. B. melitensis was the only Brucella spp. detected. The high sero-positivity rates are indicative of the endemicity of these pathogens among camel populations and the possible role the species has in the epidemiology of zoonotic diseases. Considering the strong association between human infection and contact with livestock for most zoonotic infections in Kenya, there is immediate need to conduct further research to determine the role of camels in transmission of these zoonoses to other livestock species and humans. This information will be useful for designing more effective surveillance systems and intervention measures.     

Gender Differences in the Motivational Processing of Babies Are Determined by Their Facial Attractiveness

Background

This study sought to determine how esthetic appearance of babies may affect their motivational processing by the adults.

Methodology and Principal Findings

Healthy men and women were administered two laboratory-based tasks: a) key pressing to change the viewing time of normal-looking babies and of those with abnormal facial features (e.g., cleft palate, strabismus, skin disorders, Down''s syndrome and fetal alcohol syndrome) and b) attractiveness ratings of these images. Exposure to the babies'' images produced two different response patterns: for normal babies, there was a similar effort by the two groups to extend the visual processing with lower attractiveness ratings by men; for abnormal babies, women exerted greater effort to shorten the viewing time despite attractiveness ratings comparable to the men.

Conclusions

These results indicate that gender differences in the motivational processing of babies include excessive (relative to the esthetic valuation) motivation to extend the viewing time of normal babies by men vs. shortening the exposure to the abnormal babies by women. Such gender-specific incentive sensitization phenomenon may reflect an evolutionary-derived need for diversion of limited resources to the nurturance of healthy offspring.     

Yohimbine-induced amygdala activation in pathological gamblers: a pilot study

Rationale and Objectives

There is evidence that drug addiction is associated with increased physiological and psychological responses to stress. In this pilot functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study we assessed whether a prototype behavioral addiction, pathological gambling (PG), is likewise associated with an enhanced response to stress.

Methods

We induced stress by injecting yohimbine (0.2–0.3 mg/kg, IV), an alpha-2 adrenoceptor antagonist that elicits stress-like physiological and psychological effects in humans and in laboratory animals, to four subjects with PG and to five non-gamblers mentally healthy control subjects. Their fMRI brain responses were assessed along with subjective stress and gambling urges ratings.

Results

Voxelwise analyses of data sets from individual subjects, utilizing generalized linear model approach, revealed significant left amygdala activation in response to yohimbine across all PG subjects. This amygdala effect was not observed in the five control individuals. Yohimbine elicited subjective stress ratings in both groups with greater (albeit not statically significantly) average response in the PG subjects. On the other hand, yohimbine did not induce urges to gamble.

Conclusions

The present data support the hypothesis of brain sensitization to pharmacologically-induced stress in PG.