Risk of Infection with Leishmania spp. in the Canine Population in the Netherlands

The dog is the main reservoir of Leishmania infantum, the causative agent of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in humans in Southern Europe. In order to identify the risk of dogs from a Leishmania non-endemic area traveling to a Leishmania -endemic area becoming infected and the risk of transmitting infection to humans in non-endemic areas an investigation was performed, in which the results of a questionnaire were combined with the results of a serologic survey.     

Experimental Infection of Dogs with Leishmania and Saliva as a Model to Study Canine Visceral Leishmaniasis

Background

Canine Visceral Leishmaniasis (CVL) is a zoonotic disease caused by Leishmania infantum, transmitted by the bite of Lutzomyia longipalpis sand flies. Dogs are the main domestic reservoir of the parasite. The establishment of an experimental model that partially reproduces natural infection in dogs is very important to test vaccine candidates, mainly regarding those that use salivary proteins from the vector and new therapeutical approaches.

Methodology/Principal Findings

In this report, we describe an experimental infection in dogs, using intradermal injection of Leishmania infantum plus salivary gland homogenate (SGH) of Lutzomyia longipalpis. Thirty-five dogs were infected with 1×10⁷ parasites combined with five pairs of Lutzomyia longipalpis salivary glands and followed for 450 days after infection and clinical, immunological and parasitological parameters were evaluated. Two hundred and ten days after infection we observed that 31,4% of dogs did not display detectable levels of anti-Leishmania antibodies but all presented different numbers of parasites in the lymph nodes. Animals with a positive xenodiagnosis had at least 3,35×10⁵ parasites in their lymph nodes. An increase of IFN-γ and IL-10 levels was detected during infection. Twenty two percent of dogs developed symptoms of CVL during infection.

Conclusion

The infection model described here shows some degree of similarity when compared with naturally infected dogs opening new perspectives for the study of CVL using an experimental model that employs the combination of parasites and sand fly saliva both present during natural transmission.     

Adaptations of Certain Mediterranean Mollusks to Living in the Littoral Zone

Morphological and biochemical adaptations of two Mediterranean mollusks Gastrana fragilis and Monodonta turbinata to living in the littoral zone which is most exposed to abiotic factors are analyzed. Hemoglobin favoring to a certain extent their survival under constantly changing environmental conditions was quantified in the mollusks.     

Microcystins in Cyanobacterial Biofilms from the Littoral Zone of Lake Baikal

Some species of cyanobacteria synthesize toxins whose concentration during water bloom can reach values dangerous for human and animal health. Planktonic cyanobacteria are the most common and well-studied microcystins producers, hepatotoxic cyclic heptapeptides, whereas microcystin-producing benthic cyanobacteria are less known. In recent years, the mass development of benthic cyanobacteria forming extensive fouling on different substrates has been detected in the littoral zone of Lake Baikal. We found microcystins produced by benthic cyanobacteria in the biofouling on different natural and artificial substrates, including diseased and dead endemic sponges Lubomirskia baicalensis and Baikalospongia spp. collected from the littoral area of Lake Baikal. Microscopic analysis of the biofouling revealed prevalence of representatives of Nostocales and Oscillatoriales with predominance of Tolypothrix distorta that is likely the main microcystin producer in Lake Baikal. According to enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), microcystin concentrations in biofouling were 29.8–3050 μg/kg dry weight. We identified eight microcystin variants using MALDI-TOF/TOF; [Dha7]MC-YR was detected in most samples. The presence of microcystins in biofilms formed on the surface of the artificial substrate by Phormidium autumnale was also recorded. The data obtained demonstrated the necessity to monitor potentially toxic species and concentrations of cyanotoxins in plankton and benthos in the littoral zone of Lake Baikal, especially in the regions with intense tourist and recreational activities.     

云南高原湖泊沿岸带底栖藻类群落的分布

对云南6个高原湖泊沿岸带底栖藻类的群落结构、现存量等进行了调查,研究期间发现底栖藻类群落主要由绿藻门的刚毛藻(Cladophora spp.)和硅藻门的一些附植种类组成,除硅藻群落在泸沽湖占优势外,其它湖泊中绿藻群落的相对比率高于硅藻.底栖藻类现存量(chl a)以星云湖最高(24 μg·cm-2);底栖硅藻密度以泸沽湖的鸟岛最高,为9.3×106 cells·cm-2.分析不同湖泊底栖硅藻的群落结构发现:底栖硅藻Epithemia sorex和Cocconeis klamathensis分别是泸沽湖和抚仙湖的绝对优势种,Amphora pediculus是阳宗海和滇池金宝的绝对优势种,洱海、星云湖和滇池又一村的优势种类较多,其中相对丰富度较高的主要是一些附植性种类.结果表明沿岸带的光照、营养水平和基质类型可能是影响底栖藻类群落分布的主要环境因子.     

Estimation of Coast-Wide Population Trends of Marbled Murrelets in Canada Using a Bayesian Hierarchical Model

Species at risk with secretive breeding behaviours, low densities, and wide geographic range pose a significant challenge to conservation actions because population trends are difficult to detect. Such is the case with the Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus), a seabird listed as ‘Threatened’ by the Species at Risk Act in Canada largely due to the loss of its old growth forest nesting habitat. We report the first estimates of population trend of Marbled Murrelets in Canada derived from a monitoring program that uses marine radar to detect birds as they enter forest watersheds during 923 dawn surveys at 58 radar monitoring stations within the six Marbled Murrelet Conservation Regions on coastal British Columbia, Canada, 1996–2013. Temporal trends in radar counts were analyzed with a hierarchical Bayesian multivariate modeling approach that controlled for variation in tilt of the radar unit and day of year, included year-specific deviations from the overall trend (‘year effects’), and allowed for trends to be estimated at three spatial scales. A negative overall trend of -1.6%/yr (95% credibility interval: -3.2%, 0.01%) indicated moderate evidence for a coast-wide decline, although trends varied strongly among the six conservation regions. Negative annual trends were detected in East Vancouver Island (-9%/yr) and South Mainland Coast (-3%/yr) Conservation Regions. Over a quarter of the year effects were significantly different from zero, and the estimated standard deviation in common-shared year effects between sites within each region was about 50% per year. This large common-shared interannual variation in counts may have been caused by regional movements of birds related to changes in marine conditions that affect the availability of prey.     

Habitat Use by YOY in the Littoral Zone of an Artificially Heated Reservoir

Both temporal and spatial distributions of a young of the year (YOY) fish community were studied in the littoral zone of a French reservoir. The time survey indicated that littoral occupation highly depends on YOY time of appearance. During late spring and summer, the smallest white bream YOY (L_T < 20 mm) were restricted to complex habitats whereas those of pumpkinseed occupied all available habitats. Growing white bream progressively migrated to open water areas. At that time, pumpkinseed was the only species sampled in abundance in the littoral zone and was still collected in all habitats. The success of the introduction of pumpkinseed might be explained by both its late hatching and its opportunistic strategy in habitat selection enabling it to exploit physical spaces left vacant. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Use of a Recombinant Cysteine Proteinase from Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum chagasi for the Immunotherapy of Canine Visceral Leishmaniasis

Background

A recombinant cysteine proteinase from Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum chagasi (rLdccys1) was previously shown to induce protective immune responses against murine and canine visceral leishmaniasis. These findings encouraged us to use rLdccys1 in the immunotherapy of naturally infected dogs from Teresina, Piauí, a region of high incidence of visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Thirty naturally infected mongrel dogs displaying clinical signs of visceral leishmaniasis were randomly divided in three groups: one group received three doses of rLdccys1 in combination with the adjuvant Propionibacterium acnes at one month interval between each dose; a second group received three doses of P. acnes alone; a third group received saline. The main findings were: 1) dogs that received rLdccys1 with P. acnes did not display increase of the following clinical signs: weight loss, alopecia, onychogryphosis, cachexia, anorexia, apathy, skin lesions, hyperkeratosis, ocular secretion, and enlarged lymph nodes; they also exhibited a significant reduction in the spleen parasite load in comparison to the control dogs; 2) rLdccys1-treated dogs exhibited a significant delayed type cutaneous hypersensitivity elicited by the recombinant antigen, as well as high IgG2 serum titers and low IgG1 serum titers; sera from rLdccys1-treated dogs also contained high IFN-γ and low IL-10 concentrations; 3) control dogs exhibited all of the clinical signs of visceral leishmaniasis and had low serum IgG2 and IFN-γ levels and high concentrations of IgG1 and IL-10; 4) all of the dogs treated with rLdccys1 were alive 12 months after treatment, whereas dogs which received either saline or P. acnes alone died within 3 to 7 months.

Conclusions/Significance

These findings illustrate the potential use of rLdccys1 as an additional tool for the immunotherapy of canine visceral leishmaniasis and support further studies designed to improve the efficacy of this recombinant antigen for the treatment of this neglected disease.     

The Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Paramecium bursaria in the Littoral Zone1

The spatial and seasonal distribution of Paramecium bursaria in two small Indiana ponds was studied using a sampling grid. Very small (5.0 ml) samples were taken so that the individual microhabitats could be studied. The results were evaluated in comparison to the data collected for the P. aurelia complex collected in the same manner and at the same sites. It was found that P. bursaria exist in a clumped distribution, but that the distribution was not very different from random. Paramecium bursaria also exist at the surface and at the mud-water interface. Temperature does not seem to play a statistically significant role in determining population size. The breeding system of P. bursaria is optimized for an outbreeding population of low density. In comparison, the species of the P. aurelia complex exist in a very clumped distribution, are found only at the mud-water interface, and are inbreeders. The evolutionary strategies of the two types of paramecia are discussed.     

Dissection of a Complex Disease Susceptibility Region Using a Bayesian Stochastic Search Approach to Fine Mapping

Identification of candidate causal variants in regions associated with risk of common diseases is complicated by linkage disequilibrium (LD) and multiple association signals. Nonetheless, accurate maps of these variants are needed, both to fully exploit detailed cell specific chromatin annotation data to highlight disease causal mechanisms and cells, and for design of the functional studies that will ultimately be required to confirm causal mechanisms. We adapted a Bayesian evolutionary stochastic search algorithm to the fine mapping problem, and demonstrated its improved performance over conventional stepwise and regularised regression through simulation studies. We then applied it to fine map the established multiple sclerosis (MS) and type 1 diabetes (T1D) associations in the IL-2RA (CD25) gene region. For T1D, both stepwise and stochastic search approaches identified four T1D association signals, with the major effect tagged by the single nucleotide polymorphism, rs12722496. In contrast, for MS, the stochastic search found two distinct competing models: a single candidate causal variant, tagged by rs2104286 and reported previously using stepwise analysis; and a more complex model with two association signals, one of which was tagged by the major T1D associated rs12722496 and the other by rs56382813. There is low to moderate LD between rs2104286 and both rs12722496 and rs56382813 (r² ≃ 0:3) and our two SNP model could not be recovered through a forward stepwise search after conditioning on rs2104286. Both signals in the two variant model for MS affect CD25 expression on distinct subpopulations of CD4⁺ T cells, which are key cells in the autoimmune process. The results support a shared causal variant for T1D and MS. Our study illustrates the benefit of using a purposely designed model search strategy for fine mapping and the advantage of combining disease and protein expression data.     

Simultaneous Discovery,Estimation and Prediction Analysis of Complex Traits Using a Bayesian Mixture Model

Gene discovery, estimation of heritability captured by SNP arrays, inference on genetic architecture and prediction analyses of complex traits are usually performed using different statistical models and methods, leading to inefficiency and loss of power. Here we use a Bayesian mixture model that simultaneously allows variant discovery, estimation of genetic variance explained by all variants and prediction of unobserved phenotypes in new samples. We apply the method to simulated data of quantitative traits and Welcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) data on disease and show that it provides accurate estimates of SNP-based heritability, produces unbiased estimators of risk in new samples, and that it can estimate genetic architecture by partitioning variation across hundreds to thousands of SNPs. We estimated that, depending on the trait, 2,633 to 9,411 SNPs explain all of the SNP-based heritability in the WTCCC diseases. The majority of those SNPs (>96%) had small effects, confirming a substantial polygenic component to common diseases. The proportion of the SNP-based variance explained by large effects (each SNP explaining 1% of the variance) varied markedly between diseases, ranging from almost zero for bipolar disorder to 72% for type 1 diabetes. Prediction analyses demonstrate that for diseases with major loci, such as type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, Bayesian methods outperform profile scoring or mixed model approaches.     

Bayesian Estimation of the Active Concentration and Affinity Constants Using Surface Plasmon Resonance Technology

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) has previously been employed to measure the active concentration of analyte in addition to the kinetic rate constants in molecular binding reactions. Those approaches, however, have a few restrictions. In this work, a Bayesian approach is developed to determine both active concentration and affinity constants using SPR technology. With the appropriate prior probabilities on the parameters and a derived likelihood function, a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm is applied to compute the posterior probability densities of both the active concentration and kinetic rate constants based on the collected SPR data. Compared with previous approaches, ours exploits information from the duration of the process in its entirety, including both association and dissociation phases, under partial mass transport conditions; do not depend on calibration data; multiple injections of analyte at varying flow rates are not necessary. Finally the method is validated by analyzing both simulated and experimental datasets. A software package implementing our approach is developed with a user-friendly interface and made freely available.     

三峡库区消落带4种典型草本植物的生态化学计量特征

为研究三峡水库消落带优势植物的养分利用特征及其对生境的适应策略,选择消落带分布最多的4种草本植物为研究对象,分析了植物根、茎、叶的碳(C)、氮(N)、磷(P)、钾(K)含量和化学计量比特征。结果表明:(1)相比陆地系统和自然湿地系统,消落带植物具有较低的C含量和较高的N、P、K含量,C/N、C/P、C/K均较低,表明植物具有低固碳和高养分积累、低养分利用效率和高生长速率的特征;(2)4种植物的养分含量和计量比存在一定差异,其中狗牙根具有较低的N、P、K含量和较高的C/N、C/P、C/K,且变异系数均低于其他3种植物,其低养分需求、高养分利用效率以及较强的内稳性可能是其在库区分布最广的重要机制;(3)4种植物在不同器官的养分分配策略相似,均表现为叶片C含量低于根和茎,而N、P、K含量则显著高于根、茎;同时,与根、茎相比,叶片C/N、C/P、C/K较低,N/P、N/K较高,且在不同生境条件下变异系数较小,表现出相对较高的稳定性;(4)落消带植物的养分含量及计量比从全库区上游至下游的空间变异性较强,其中N、C/N、N/P变异性较大,而C、P、K变异性较小,表明植物N含量受生境变化的影响较大,...     

Under-Ice Microalgae and Algae of the Interstitial Icy Water Functioning in Lake Baikal Littoral Zone

Microbiology - The results of field studies of the species composition and productive parameters (biomass, photosynthesis rate, chlorophyll a content, and assimilation numbers) of microalgae in the...     

High Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus Genotype 1b Infection in a Small Town of Argentina. Phylogenetic and Bayesian Coalescent Analysis

Previous studies in Argentina have documented a general prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection close to 2%. In addition, a high prevalence of HCV has been recently reported in different Argentinean small rural communities. In this work, we performed a study aimed at analyzing the origins and diversification patterns of an HCV outbreak in Wheelwright, a small rural town located in Santa Fe province (Argentina).A total of 89 out of 1814 blood samples collected from people living in Wheelwright, were positive for HCV infection. The highest prevalence (4.9%) was observed in people older than 50 years, with the highest level for the group aged between 70–79 years (22%). The RFLP analyses showed that 91% of the positive samples belonged to the HCV-1b genotype. The E1/E2 and NS5B genes were sequenced, and their phylogenetic analysis showed that the HCV-1b sequences from Wheelwright were monophyletic. Bayesian coalescent-based methods were used to estimate substitution rates and time of the most recent common ancestor (tMRCA). The mean estimated substitution rates and the tMRCA for E1/E2 with and without HVR1 and NS5B were 7.41E-03 s/s/y and 61 years, 5.05E-03 s/s/y and 58 years and 3.24E-03 s/s/y and 53 years, respectively. In summary, the tMRCA values, the demographic model with constant population size, and the fact that the highest prevalence of infection was observed in elder people support the hypothesis that the HCV-1b introduction in Wheelwright initially occurred at least five decades ago and that the early epidemic was characterized by a fast rate of virus transmission. The epidemic seems to have been controlled later on down to the standard transmission rates observed elsewhere.     

Diversity of Denitrifying Bacteria in Biofilms Formed on Stony Substrates of the Lake Baikal Littoral Zone

Microbiology - Denitrification is the major process of nitrate reduction to dinitrogen (N2). This is the first report on detection of the nirK type denitrifying bacteria in the epilithic biofilms...     

Bayesian Analysis Using a Simple Likelihood Model Outperforms Parsimony for Estimation of Phylogeny from Discrete Morphological Data

Despite the introduction of likelihood-based methods for estimating phylogenetic trees from phenotypic data, parsimony remains the most widely-used optimality criterion for building trees from discrete morphological data. However, it has been known for decades that there are regions of solution space in which parsimony is a poor estimator of tree topology. Numerous software implementations of likelihood-based models for the estimation of phylogeny from discrete morphological data exist, especially for the Mk model of discrete character evolution. Here we explore the efficacy of Bayesian estimation of phylogeny, using the Mk model, under conditions that are commonly encountered in paleontological studies. Using simulated data, we describe the relative performances of parsimony and the Mk model under a range of realistic conditions that include common scenarios of missing data and rate heterogeneity.