Small-scale field evaluation of the efficacy and residual effect of Fludora® Fusion (mixture of clothianidin and deltamethrin) against susceptible and resistant Anopheles gambiae populations from Benin,West Africa

The emergence of mosquitoes that can avoid indoor-deployed interventions, such as treated bed nets and indoor residual spraying, threatens the mainstay of malaria control in Zambia. Furthermore, the requirement for high coverage of these tools poses operational challenges. Spatial repellents are being assessed to supplement these vector control tools, but limitations exist in the residual effect of the repellent and the need for external power or heat for diffusion of the volatiles. A semi-field evaluation of a novel controlled release spatial repellent device (CRD) was conducted in Macha, Zambia. These devices emanate metofluthrin with no need for external power. Devices were deployed in huts within the semi-field system (SFS). Female Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto released within the SFS were trapped overnight by light traps and collected by aspiration the next morning inside and outside of huts to determine the extent of mosquito repellency and the impact on host-seeking and survival. Experiments studied the impact of number of devices as well as the presence of hut occupants. The study was complemented with numerical methods based on computational fluid dynamics to simulate spatial distribution of metofluthrin. Presence of CRDs was associated with significant reductions in indoor counts of mosquitoes, regardless of whether huts were occupied or not. Repellency ranged from 15 to 60% compared to huts with no devices. Reducing the number of devices from 16 to 4 had little impact on repellency. When huts were occupied, indoor mosquito host-seeking was higher in the presence of CRDs, whilst survival was significantly reduced. This study demonstrated that deployment of as few as four CRDs within a hut was associated with reduced indoor mosquito densities. As would be expected, presence of occupants within huts, resulted in greater indoor catches (both with and without devices). The increased indoor mosquito host-seeking and mortality in huts when devices were present may be explained by the excito-repellency activity of metofluthrin. These semi-field experiments provide preliminary data on the utility of CRD spatial repellents to reduce indoor densities of An. gambiae mosquitoes. Studies will further investigate the impact of CRDs on mosquito behaviour as well as epidemiological protective efficacy.     

Promotion of sustainable capture fisheries and aquaculture in Asian reservoirs and lakes

A collaborative international project funded by the European Union's INCO-DC programme is undertaking limnological, fish biological, environmental and socio-economic research in five tropical lakes and reservoirs in Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Philippines over the period 1998–2001. The aim is to determine their trophic structure and their capacity to sustain both their existing fisheries and present and future aquaculture. In some cases, these activities could potentially be expanded for the benefit of rural communities and of the local market within the bounds of social and environmental sustainability. This paper describes the concepts and methods involved in this innovative multidisciplinary project which aims to integrate limnological, fisheries and socio-economic issues in a comparative approach involving Asian and European research teams.Deceased.     

Spectral trees as a robust annotation tool in LC–MS based metabolomics

The identification of large series of metabolites detectable by mass spectrometry (MS) in crude extracts is a challenging task. In order to test and apply the so-called multistage mass spectrometry (MS ⁿ ) spectral tree approach as tool in metabolite identification in complex sample extracts, we firstly performed liquid chromatography (LC) with online electrospray ionization (ESI)?CMS ⁿ , using crude extracts from both tomato fruit and Arabidopsis leaf. Secondly, the extracts were automatically fractionated by a NanoMate LC-fraction collector/injection robot (Advion) and selected LC-fractions were subsequently analyzed using nanospray-direct infusion to generate offline in-depth MS ⁿ spectral trees at high mass resolution. Characterization and subsequent annotation of metabolites was achieved by detailed analysis of the MS ⁿ spectral trees, thereby focusing on two major plant secondary metabolite classes: phenolics and glucosinolates. Following this approach, we were able to discriminate all selected flavonoid glycosides, based on their unique MS ⁿ fragmentation patterns in either negative or positive ionization mode. As a proof of principle, we report here 127 annotated metabolites in the tomato and Arabidopsis extracts, including 21 novel metabolites. Our results indicate that online LC?CMS ⁿ fragmentation in combination with databases of in-depth spectral trees generated offline can provide a fast and reliable characterization and annotation of metabolites present in complex crude extracts such as those from plants.     

RLIP mediates downstream signalling from RalB to the actin cytoskeleton during Xenopus early development

The Ras protein activates at least three different pathways during early development. Two of them regulate mesodermal gene expression and the third is thought to participate in the control of actin cytoskeleton dynamics via the Ral protein. From a yeast two-hybrid screen of a Xenopus maternal cDNA library, we identified the Xenopus orthologue of the Ral interacting protein (RLIP, RIP1 or RalBP1), a putative effector of small G protein Ral. Previously, we observed that a constitutively activated form of Ral GTPase (XralB G23V) induced bleaching of the animal hemisphere and disruption of the cortical actin cytoskeleton. To demonstrate that RLIP is the effector of RalB in early development, we show that the artificial targeting of RLIP to the membrane induces a similar phenotype to that of activated RalB. We show that overexpression of the Ral binding domain (RalBD) of XRLIP, which binds to the effector site of Ral, acts in competition with the endogenous effector of Ral and protects against the destructive effect of XralB G23V on the actin cytoskeleton. In contrast, the XRLIP has a synergistic effect on the activated form of XralB, which is dependent on the RalBD of RLIP. We provide evidence for the involvement of RLIP by way of its RalBD on the dynamics of the actin cytoskeleton and propose that signalling from Ral to RLIP is required for gastrulation.     

Pendrin: the thyrocyte apical membrane iodide transporter?

In the thyroid, the transport of iodide from the extracellular space to the follicular lumen requires two steps: the transport in the cell at the basal side and in the lumen at the apical side. The first step is mediated by the Na(+)/I(-) symporter (NIS). In most reviews and textbooks, the second step is presented as mediated by pendrin. In this review, we analyze this assumption. There are several arguments supporting the concept that indeed pendrin plays an important role in thyroid physiology. However, biochemical, clinical and histological data on the thyroid of a patient with Pendred syndrome do not suggest an essential role in iodide transport, which is corroborated by the lack of a thyroid phenotype in pendrin knockout mice. Experiments in vivo and in vitro on polarized and unpolarized cells show that iodide is transported transport of iodide at the apex of the thyroid cell. Moreover, ectopic expression of pendrin in transfected non-thyroid cells is capable of mediating iodide efflux. It is concluded that pendrin may participate in the iodide efflux into thyroid lumen but not as the unique transporter. Moreover, another role of pendrin in mediating Cl(-)/HCO(3)(-) exchange and controlling luminal pH is suggested.     

Prions in Milk from Ewes Incubating Natural Scrapie

Since prion infectivity had never been reported in milk, dairy products originating from transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE)-affected ruminant flocks currently enter unrestricted into the animal and human food chain. However, a recently published study brought the first evidence of the presence of prions in mammary secretions from scrapie-affected ewes. Here we report the detection of consistent levels of infectivity in colostrum and milk from sheep incubating natural scrapie, several months prior to clinical onset. Additionally, abnormal PrP was detected, by immunohistochemistry and PET blot, in lacteal ducts and mammary acini. This PrP^Sc accumulation was detected only in ewes harbouring mammary ectopic lymphoid follicles that developed consequent to Maedi lentivirus infection. However, bioassay revealed that prion infectivity was present in milk and colostrum, not only from ewes with such lympho-proliferative chronic mastitis, but also from those displaying lesion-free mammary glands. In milk and colostrum, infectivity could be recovered in the cellular, cream, and casein-whey fractions. In our samples, using a Tg 338 mouse model, the highest per ml infectious titre measured was found to be equivalent to that contained in 6 µg of a posterior brain stem from a terminally scrapie-affected ewe. These findings indicate that both colostrum and milk from small ruminants incubating TSE could contribute to the animal TSE transmission process, either directly or through the presence of milk-derived material in animal feedstuffs. It also raises some concern with regard to the risk to humans of TSE exposure associated with milk products from ovine and other TSE-susceptible dairy species.