Transmission of nuclear polyhedrosis virus in laboratory population of the armyworm, Mythimna (Pseudaletia) separata

Armyworm, Mythimna (Pseudaletia) separata, a serious pest of 12 agricultural crops, was artificially infected with its nuclear polyhedrosis virus to study the modes of virus transmission among the laboratory population. Virus transmitted by transovum and transovarial modes passed through polyhedra-fed moths to their progeny.     

乙型肝炎病毒的水平传播和围产期传播

在上海、河北、黑龙江和四川四省市调查了4 500名子女及其母亲的HBsAg阳性率。结果表明,HBsAg阳性母亲的子女,受水平和围产期传播的共同作用,其HBsAg阳性危险性显著高于单纯受水平传播作用的HBsAg阴性母亲的子女。HBsAg阴性母亲的74名HBsAg阳性子女,二年后11人转阴,年龄越大,阴转率呈越高的趋势,而HBsAg阳性母亲的31名阳性子女仅1例转阴,即后者的携带率(96.77％)高于前者(85.13％)。但就人群中HBsAg阳性和携带者的构成而言,仅32.25％的HBsAg的携带者,来源于受双重传播作用的HBsAg阳性母亲。换言之,水平传播的权重明显大于围产期传播,故阻断围产期传播的同时还应预防水平传播。     

Modeling Maternal-Infant HIV Transmission in the Presence of Breastfeeding with an Imperfect Test

An important public health question is to determine the probabilities of perinatal HIV transmission and when it occurs, whether antepartum, intrapartum, or postpartum through breastfeeding. However, this is a difficult problem because the presence of HIV infection in an infant can only be ascertained through viral assays in the postpartum period. We propose a model that simultaneously estimates the risks of antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum transmissions together with the sensitivity of the screening tests for HIV infection. The model allows estimating of infectivity through breast milk during postpartum periods. The methods are illustrated on a South African randomized clinical trial of extended AZT versus a short course of nevirapine in infants whose mothers had no access to antenatal antiretroviral therapy.     

甜菜夜蛾核型多角体病毒在宿主种群中的垂直传播研究

以两种浓度的病毒液感染甜菜夜蛾4龄、5龄幼虫,以研究甜菜夜蛾核型多角体病毒从亲代到子代垂直传递的方式和效率。实验结果表明,该病毒可通过母体介导(卵内、卵表)和父体介导等3种方式传递给子代,造成子代感染。幼虫经口感染后母体介导传递实验表明,病毒垂直传播可引起20%～48%的子代幼虫病死,并能使子代成虫产卵量下降;母体介导传播实验中,以5%福尔马林进行卵表面消毒证实仍有18.8%的幼虫感染病毒死亡,表明了该病毒可经卵内传播,并同时存在着附卵传播;母体介导传递实验还表明病毒对宿主有弱化作用,亲代免于病死的蛹重量减轻,羽化所得雌成虫的产卵量下降,产卵期延长。以交互配对将感染与未感染的雌雄成虫彼此交配,表明雄成虫精子也能垂直传递病毒(父体介导),引起20％～40%子代幼虫感病死亡。成虫经口感染,对所产卵块表面消毒后,仍导致28.6%的子代幼虫死于病毒感染,也表明存在卵内传播。     

The co-evolution of culturally inherited altruistic helping and cultural transmission under random group formation

Limited migration results in kin selective pressure on helping behaviors under a wide range of ecological, demographic and life-history situations. However, such genetically determined altruistic helping can evolve only when migration is not too strong and group size is not too large. Cultural inheritance of helping behaviors may allow altruistic helping to evolve in groups of larger size because cultural transmission has the potential to markedly decrease the variance within groups and augment the variance between groups. Here, we study the co-evolution of culturally inherited altruistic helping behaviors and two alternative cultural transmission rules for such behaviors. We find that conformist transmission, where individuals within groups tend to copy prevalent cultural variants (e.g., beliefs or values), has a strong adverse effect on the evolution of culturally inherited helping traits. This finding is at variance with the commonly held view that conformist transmission is a crucial factor favoring the evolution of altruistic helping in humans. By contrast, we find that under one-to-many transmission, where individuals within groups tend to copy a “leader” (or teacher), altruistic helping can evolve in groups of any size, although the cultural transmission rule itself hitchhikes rather weakly with a selected helping trait. Our results suggest that culturally determined helping behaviors are more likely to be driven by “leaders” than by popularity, but the emergence and stability of the cultural transmission rules themselves should be driven by some extrinsic factors.     

Transmission as a predictor of ecological host specificity with a focus on vertical transmission of microsporidia

Consideration of vertical transmission is particularly important for understanding the life cycles of entomopathogens that are naturally occurring in invertebrate populations, are a problem in beneficial insect colonies, or are under consideration as classical biological control agents. Empirical studies generally corroborate the evolutionary hypothesis that virulence should be relatively low for pathogen species that utilize vertical transmission as one mechanism for maintenance in the host population. Nevertheless, many entomopathogens with significant effects on host populations are vertically as well as horizontally transmitted. In addition to gaining a better understanding of pathogen-host interactions and population dynamics, studies of the host range and specificity of putative biological control agents can benefit by using transmission studies to better predict ecological host specificity from physiological data. Horizontal transmission requires a tightly organized host-pathogen relationship to succeed, but still involves, albeit restricted by host behavior and pathogen dosage, the physiological susceptibility of the nontarget host. Vertical transmission studies can provide increased stringency for determining the ecological host specificity of a species and may be one very accurate predictor of the ability of a pathogen to successfully host-switch when introduced into a na?ve population.     

Spatial simulation of malaria transmission and its control by malaria transmission blocking vaccination

A simple, visual representation of spatial aspects of malaria transmission in successive snap-shots in time, is presented. The spatial components of the simulation involve (i) the identification of mosquito vector breeding sites of defined shape and area, (ii) the identification of a zone of malaria transmission determined by the shapes and areas of the vector breeding sites and the distance from these sites that the mosquitoes disperse, (iii) a human population dispersed in relation to the malaria transmission zone, (iv) perimeters around each individual human within which his or her infection can be transmitted by the local vector mosquitoes. The intensity of transmission within a malaria transmission zone is given by a number which is the number of new cases of malaria that each existing case will distribute through the human population within the duration of an infection. The simulation has been used here to examine the effects of vaccination against malaria transmission. Different levels of vaccine coverage are represented under endemic and epidemic malaria. The consequences of full or partial coverage of a zone of malaria transmission are also examined. The results are numerically compatible with the predictions of previous simple mathematical simulations of malaria transmission and interventions. The present simulation allows the nature of malaria transmission and the effects of interventions to be communicated easily and directly to an audience. It could have practical value in discussions of malaria control strategies with health planners.     

Cytopathology, Mode of Aphid Transmission and Search for the Casual Agent of Cotton Bunchy Top Disease

The cytopathological effects of cotton bunchy top (CBT) disease and its mode of transmission by Aphis gossypii Glover (cotton aphid), were studied. CBT infection affected the leaf epidermal layer producing a loose, ruptured and rough surface morphology with many stomata closed and misshapen. Roots of CBT‐infected plants showed reduced growth, small knots and a dark brown appearance. A single aphid per plant was capable of transmitting CBT at 5%, whereas three aphids per plant transmitted CBT to 50% of the cotton seedlings and 20 aphids per plant transmitted the disease agent to 80% of the cotton seedlings. Aphis gossypii acquired CBT after a minimum acquisition access period of 5 min and transmitted the agent after a minimum inoculation access period of 1 h. Both alate and apterous aphids and nymph instars 2, 3 and 4 of A. gossypii transmitted CBT. This preliminary data suggest that A. gossypii transmits CBT in a semi‐persistent manner. Myzus persicae Sulz (green peach aphid) was unable to transmit CBT. A comprehensive attempt to isolate the CBT agent, using a range of virological techniques including double‐stranded RNA extraction, two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis for viroid, circular DNA test, nanovirus polymerase chain reaction (PCR), luteovirus PCR and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay, phytoplasma test, nucleoprotein purification and electron microscopy, was unsuccessful, raising the possibility that CBT may be caused by a unique new pathogen.     

乙型肝炎病毒携带孕妇母婴阻断的优化管理

我国是乙型肝炎病毒(Hepatitis B virus,HBV)感染的高流行区,HBV感染的育龄期女性是HBV传播的主要传染源,其中大多数育龄期的乙肝女性为乙型肝炎病毒携带状态,因此,乙型肝炎病毒携带孕妇的HBV母婴阻断成了临床愈发关注的问题。实践中,即使HBsAg阳性的孕妇分娩的新生儿接种乙肝疫苗和乙肝免疫球蛋白,仍有5%-10%的新生儿感染HBV,尤其母亲为HBe Ag阳性、高病毒载量者。因此,美国肝病研究学会(AASLD)、欧洲肝病学会(EASL)和英国国立优质卫生和保健研究所(NICE)指南推荐高病毒载量的孕妇在妊娠晚期口服抗病毒药物拉米夫定、替诺福韦、替比夫定进行母婴阻断,减少新生儿感染HBV的机率,但目前乙型肝炎病毒携带孕妇阻断HBV母婴传播的临床管理和预防策略尚未达成共识,尤其是母乳喂养和分娩方式等问题仍存在争议,本文谨从HBsAg筛查、垂直传播的危险因素、阻断方法、分娩方式、母乳喂养等方面进行综述,探讨如何优化管理乙型肝炎病毒携带孕妇,并对未来HBV母婴阻断的研究进行展望。     

Interference and the persistence of vertically transmitted parasites

Given their ubiquity in nature, understanding the factors that allow the persistence of multiple enemies and in particular vertically transmitted parasites (VTPs) is of considerable importance. Here a model that allows a virulent VTP to be maintained in a system containing a host and a horizontally transmitted parasite (HTP) is analysed. The method of persistence relies on the VTP offering the host a level of protection from the HTP. The VTP is assumed to reduce the HTPs ability to transmit to the host through ecological interference. We show that VTPs are more likely to persist with HTPs that prevent host reproduction than with those that allow it. The VTP persists more easily in r-selected hosts and with highly transmittable HTPs. As the level of protection through interference increases the densities of the host also increase. We also show that VTPs when they do persist tend to stabilise the host population cycles produced by free-living HTPs. The study raised questions about persistence of diseases through interactions with others, and also the stabilising effects of VTPs on dynamical systems in a biological control context.     

Father-to-Mother-to-Infant Transmission of HIV-1: Clonally Transmitted Isolate of Infant Mutates More Rapidly than That of the Mother and Rapidly Loses Reactivity with Neutralizing Antibody

The sequences of the V3 loop and surrounding regions of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 from a father-to-mother-to-infant trimmer were studied and the horizontal and vertical transmissions compared. The father's virus was variable for reactivity with neutralizing antibody and sequences of the V3 loop central core sequence. In contrast, the mother's viral sequences were much less diverse and reacted with a virus neutralizing antibody. The infant's viral sequences were also less diverse than those of the father, and N-glycosylation sites were conserved. By phylogenetic analysis, the major clone, of which V3-peptide reacted with the neutralizing antibody, was found to be transmitted from the mother to her infant; however, the mutated minor clones did not bind to the antibody. These findings suggest that both horizontal and vertical virus transmission were selective, and that the clonally transmitted virus in infants mutates more rapidly than viruses in the mother, to whom the virus was horizontally transmitted.     

The acheulean handaxe: More like a bird's song than a beatles' tune?

The goal of this paper is to provoke debate about the nature of an iconic artifact—the Acheulean handaxe. Specifically, we want to initiate a conversation about whether or not they are cultural objects. The vast majority of archeologists assume that the behaviors involved in the production of handaxes were acquired by social learning and that handaxes are therefore cultural. We will argue that this assumption is not warranted on the basis of the available evidence and that an alternative hypothesis should be given serious consideration. This alternative hypothesis is that the form of Acheulean handaxes was at least partly under genetic control.     

平菇病毒dsRNA传播途径的探究

通过对平菇孢子dsRNA检测、单双杂交和单单杂交,从垂直传播和水平传播2个方面来研究平菇病毒dsRNA的传播途径,结果表明：病毒dsRNA通过孢子垂直传播的几率很小,通过细胞融合的水平传播几率相对比较高,在实际生产中平菇病毒dsRNA的主要传播途径还有待进一步的研究。     

人免疫缺陷病毒母婴传播研究进展

随着抗逆转录病毒药物和抗蛋白酶抑制剂的联合应用,人免疫缺陷病毒(HIV)的垂直传播率可降至2%以下。尽管如此,据估计全世界每天仍有1600名婴儿感染HIV。因此,研究HIV母婴传播中的危险因素和干预措施,仍然是极为重要的防治垂直传播的课题。我们就HIV母婴传播的最新进展做简要综述。     

Venereal and vertical transmission of deformed wing virus in honeybees (Apis mellifera L.)

Deformed wing virus (DWV) infected semen was used for artificial insemination of DWV-free virgin queens. High titres of DWV could subsequently be detected not only in the spermatheca, but also in the ovaries, demonstrating venereal transmission of DWV in honey bees. Subsequent vertical transmission of the virus to the progeny of DWV infected queens was also demonstrated. Neither transmission route is 100% effective. Whether venereal transmission of DWV occurs during natural mating remains to be determined. The implications for the use, sale and transport of semen samples for artificial insemination are discussed.     

Transmission of Rickettsia massiliae in the tick, Rhipicephalus turanicus

Rickettsia massiliae, strain Bar29, was detected in engorged female ticks of the Rhiphicephalus sanguineus group collected in Corsica, a French Mediterranean island. Ticks were identified by molecular analysis as Rhipicephalus turanicus (Pomerantsev) (Acari: Ixodidae). Twenty larvae of the second generation obtained from a R. massiliae-infected, engorged female were tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and all were positive for R. massiliae. Larvae of the same cohort were fed on rabbits and specimens of subsequent stages of the second and third generation of ticks were tested by PCR. Both transovarial and transstadial transmission were demonstrated; the transovarial transmission rate was estimated at 100%. A high filial infection rate was demonstrated; 132 out of 134 larvae obtained from five infected females of the fourth generation were infected. When saliva samples from half-engorged Rh. turanicus of the second generation were tested by PCR, four out of five were positive. Rickettsia massiliae was detected in faeces of infected ticks by PCR and immunofluorescence assay, although no rickettsiae could be maintained in culture. Co-feeding/transsexual transmission of R. massiliae Bar29 was demonstrated by feeding male Rh. turanicus on a rabbit with Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille) (Acari: Ixodidae) females (the latter were the only uninfected ticks available). Infection was subsequently detected in nine out of the thirteen females (69.2%). These results suggest that Rh. turanicus ticks are potential vectors and reservoirs for R. massiliae Bar29.     

植物病毒昆虫介体传播的研究进展

本文综述了目前非循回型植物病素和循回型植物病毒昆虫介体传播机理的研究现状 。     

Foraging behaviour alters with social environment in a juvenile songbird

Early independence from parents is a critical period where social information acquired vertically may become outdated, or conflict with new information. However, across natural populations, it is unclear if newly independent young persist in using information from parents, or if group-level effects of conformity override previous behaviours. Here, we test if wild juvenile hihi (Notiomystis cincta, a New Zealand passerine) retain a foraging behaviour from parents, or if they change in response to the behaviour of peers. We provided feeding stations to parents during chick-rearing to seed alternative access routes, and then tracked their offspring''s behaviour. Once independent, juveniles formed mixed-treatment social groups, where they did not retain preferences from their time with parents. Instead, juvenile groups converged over time to use one access route­ per group, and juveniles that moved between groups switched to copy the locally favoured option. Juvenile hihi did not copy specific individuals, even if they were more familiar with the preceding bird. Our study shows that early social experiences with parents affect initial foraging decisions, but social environments encountered later on can update transmission of arbitrary behaviours. This suggests that conformity may be widespread in animal groups, with potential cultural, ecological and evolutionary consequences.     

The role of adaptations in two-strain competition for sylvatic Trypanosoma cruzi transmission

This study presents a continuous-time model for the sylvatic transmission dynamics of two strains of Trypanosoma cruzi enzootic in North America, in order to study the role that adaptations of each strain to distinct modes of transmission (classical stercorarian transmission on the one hand, and vertical and oral transmission on the other) may play in the competition between the two strains. A deterministic model incorporating contact process saturation predicts competitive exclusion, and reproductive numbers for the infection provide a framework for evaluating the competition in terms of adaptive trade-off between distinct transmission modes. Results highlight the importance of oral transmission in mediating the competition between horizontal (stercorarian) and vertical transmission; its presence as a competing contact process advantages vertical transmission even without adaptation to oral transmission, but such adaptation appears necessary to explain the persistence of (vertically-adapted) T. cruzi IV in raccoons and woodrats in the southeastern United States.