Factors affecting infestation by Triatoma infestans in a rural area of the humid Chaco in Argentina: a multi-model inference approach

Background

Transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi by Triatoma infestans remains a major public health problem in the Gran Chaco ecoregion, where understanding of the determinants of house infestation is limited. We conducted a cross-sectional study to model factors affecting bug presence and abundance at sites within house compounds in a well-defined rural area in the humid Argentine Chaco.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Triatoma infestans bugs were found in 45.9% of 327 inhabited house compounds but only in 7.4% of the 2,584 sites inspected systematically on these compounds, even though the last insecticide spraying campaign was conducted 12 years before. Infested sites were significantly aggregated at distances of 0.8–2.5 km. The most frequently infested ecotopes were domiciles, kitchens, storerooms, chicken coops and nests; corrals were rarely infested. Domiciles with mud walls and roofs of thatch or corrugated tarred cardboard were more often infested (32.2%) than domiciles with brick-and-cement walls and corrugated metal-sheet roofs (15.1%). A multi-model inference approach using Akaike''s information criterion was applied to assess the relative importance of each variable by running all possible (17,406) models resulting from all combinations of variables. Availability of refuges for bugs, construction with tarred cardboard, and host abundance (humans, dogs, cats, and poultry) per site were positively associated with infestation and abundance, whereas reported insecticide use showed a negative association. Ethnic background (Creole or Toba) adjusted for other factors showed little or no association.

Conclusions/Significance

Promotion and effective implementation of housing improvement (including key peridomestic structures) combined with appropriate insecticide use and host management practices are needed to eliminate infestations. Fewer refuges are likely to result in fewer residual foci after insecticide spraying, and will facilitate community-based vector surveillance. A more integrated perspective that considers simultaneously social, economic and biological processes at local and regional scales is needed to attain effective, sustainable vector and disease control.     

Fire as a key driver of Earth's biodiversity

Many terrestrial ecosystems are fire prone, such that their composition and structure are largely due to their fire regime. Regions subject to regular fire have exceptionally high levels of species richness and endemism, and fire has been proposed as a major driver of their diversity, within the context of climate, resource availability and environmental heterogeneity. However, current fire‐management practices rarely take into account the ecological and evolutionary roles of fire in maintaining biodiversity. Here, we focus on the mechanisms that enable fire to act as a major ecological and evolutionary force that promotes and maintains biodiversity over numerous spatiotemporal scales. From an ecological perspective, the vegetation, topography and local weather conditions during a fire generate a landscape with spatial and temporal variation in fire‐related patches (pyrodiversity), and these produce the biotic and environmental heterogeneity that drives biodiversity across local and regional scales. There have been few empirical tests of the proposition that ‘pyrodiversity begets biodiversity’ but we show that biodiversity should peak at moderately high levels of pyrodiversity. Overall species richness is greatest immediately after fire and declines monotonically over time, with postfire successional pathways dictated by animal habitat preferences and varying lifespans among resident plants. Theory and data support the ‘intermediate disturbance hypothesis’ when mean patch species diversity is correlated with mean fire intervals. Postfire persistence, recruitment and immigration allow species with different life histories to coexist. From an evolutionary perspective, fire drives population turnover and diversification by promoting a wide range of adaptive responses to particular fire regimes. Among 39 comparisons, the number of species in 26 fire‐prone lineages is much higher than that in their non‐fire‐prone sister lineages. Fire and its byproducts may have direct mutagenic effects, producing novel genotypes that can lead to trait innovation and even speciation. A paradigm shift aimed at restoring biodiversity‐maintaining fire regimes across broad landscapes is required among the fire research and management communities. This will require ecologists and other professionals to spread the burgeoning fire‐science knowledge beyond scientific publications to the broader public, politicians and media.     

Lipid profile: causal relationship on cognitive performance in multiple sclerosis?

Molecular Biology Reports - Although cognitive impairment (CI) is classically associated with aging, it has been proposed that neurological pathologies may increase the risk to suffer CI. Despite...     

Sexually dimorphic SCAMP1 expression in the forebrain motor pathway for song production of juvenile zebra finches

Mechanisms regulating sexual differentiation of the zebra finch song system are not well understood. The present study was designed to more fully characterize secretory carrier membrane protein 1 (SCAMP1), which was identified in a cDNA microarray screen as showing increased expression in the forebrains of developing male compared with female zebra finches. We completed the sequence of the open reading frame and used in situ hybridization to compare mRNA in song control regions of juvenile (25-day-old) individuals. Expression was significantly greater in the HVC (used as a proper name) and robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA) in males than in females. Immunohistochemistry revealed that SCAMP1 protein is also expressed in these two brain regions, and qualitatively appears greater in males. Western analysis confirmed that the protein is increased in the telencephalon of males when compared with females at 25 days of age. These results are consistent with the idea that SCAMP1 is involved in masculinization of these brain areas, perhaps facilitating the survival of cells within them.     

Alterations of gene expression profiles induced by sulfur dioxide in rat lungs

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is a ubiquitous air pollutant presents in low concentrations in urban air and in higher concentrations in working environment.Few data are avail-able on the effects of being exposed to this pollutant on the molecular mechanism,although some biochemical changes in lipid metabolism,intermediary metabolism and oxidative stress have been detected.The present investigation aimed at analyzing the gene expression profiles of the lungs of Wistar rats short-term (20 ppm,6 h/day,for seven days) and long.term (5 ppm,1 h/day,for 30 days) exposed to SO2 by Affymetrix GeneChip (RAE230A) analysis.It was found that 31 genes,containing 18 known genes and 13 novel genes were up-regulated,and 31 genes,containing 20 known genes and 11 novel genes,were down-regulated in rats short-term exposed to SO2 compared with control rats.While there were 176 genes,containing 82 known genes and 94 novel genes were up-regulated,and 85 genes,containing 46 known genes and 39 novel genes,were down-regulated in rats long-term exposed to SO2 compared with control rats.It is suggested that:(1) SO2 exerts its effects by different mechanisms in vivo at high-dose short-term inhalation and at low-dose long-term inhalation;(2) a notable feature of the gene expression profile was the decreased expression of genes related to oxidative phosphorylation in lungs of rats short-term exposed to SO2,which shows high-dose short-term exposed to SO2 may cause the deterioration of mitochondrial functions;(3)discriminating genes in lungs of rats long-term exposed to SO2 included those involved in fatty acid metabolism,immune,inflammatory,oxidative stress,oncogene,tumor suppresser and extracellular matrix.The mechanism of low-dose long-term exposed to SO2 is more complex.     

The colonization history of Juniperus brevifolia (Cupressaceae) in the Azores Islands

Background

A central aim of island biogeography is to understand the colonization history of insular species using current distributions, fossil records and genetic diversity. Here, we analyze five plastid DNA regions of the endangered Juniperus brevifolia, which is endemic to the Azores archipelago.

Methodology/Principal Findings

The phylogeny of the section Juniperus and the phylogeographic analyses of J. brevifolia based on the coalescence theory of allele (plastid) diversity suggest that: (1) a single introduction event likely occurred from Europe; (2) genetic diversification and inter-island dispersal postdated the emergence of the oldest island (Santa Maria, 8.12 Ma); (3) the genetic differentiation found in populations on the islands with higher age and smaller distance to the continent is significantly higher than that on the younger, more remote ones; (4) the high number of haplotypes observed (16), and the widespread distribution of the most frequent and ancestral ones across the archipelago, are indicating early diversification, demographic expansion, and recurrent dispersal. In contrast, restriction of six of the seven derived haplotypes to single islands is construed as reflecting significant isolation time prior to colonization.

Conclusions/Significance

Our phylogeographic reconstruction points to the sequence of island emergence as the key factor to explain the distribution of plastid DNA variation. The reproductive traits of this juniper species (anemophily, ornithochory, multi-seeded cones), together with its broad ecological range, appear to be largely responsible for recurrent inter-island colonization of ancestral haplotypes. In contrast, certain delay in colonization of new haplotypes may reflect intraspecific habitat competition on islands where this juniper was already present.     

Cytotoxicity of quinone drugs on highly proliferative human leukemia T cells: reactive oxygen species generation and inactive shortened SOD1 isoform implications

Drugs containing the quinone group were tested on hyperproliferative leukemia T cells (HLTC: Jhp and Jws) and parental Jurkat cells. Doxorubicin, menadione and adaphostin produced different effects on these cell lines. Rapid doxorubicin-induced cell death in Jurkat cells was mediated by caspase activation. Doxorubicin-induced cell death of HLTCs was delayed due to the absence of caspase-3 and -8 expression. Delayed HLTC cell death was mediated and triggered by the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Other drugs containing quinone groups, such as menadione and adaphostin, were also tested on HLTC and both were toxic by a caspase-independent mechanism. The toxicity of these drugs correlated with the generation of the superoxide anion, which increased and was more effective in HLTCs than in parental Jurkat cells. Accordingly, SOD1 activity was much lower in HLTCs than in Jurkat cells. This lower SOD1 activity in HLTCs was associated not only with the absence of the wild-type (16 kDa) SOD1 monomer but also with the presence of a shortened (14 kDa) SOD1 monomer isoform. Moreover, the cytotoxicity of drugs containing the quinone group was prevented by incubation with manganese(III) tetrakis (4-benzoic acid) porphyrin (MnTBAP), a cell-permeable superoxide dismutase mimetic and a potent inhibitor of oxidation. These findings could explain the sensitivity of HLTCs to drugs containing the quinone group using a mechanism dependent on oxidative stress. These observations can also be useful to target hyperproliferative leukemias that are resistant to the classical caspase-dependent apoptotic pathway.     

Is livestock grazing compatible with amphibian diversity in the High Mountains of Córdoba, Argentina?

The High Mountains of Córdoba, Argentina have a long evolutionary history of grazing by large herbivores. However, about 400?years ago, European livestock were introduced and gradually replaced native herbivores. Since the 1920s, domestic herbivores have been the only large herbivores present in the area, causing severe soil erosion and a threat to the system diversity. The endemic fauna of the region includes four amphibian species. We evaluated the effect of livestock rearing on amphibian diversity and water bodies in woodlands and grasslands of the High Mountains of Córdoba. The work was conducted on stream stretches and ponds in two contrasting grazing situations: an area with livestock presence and another area where livestock was excluded 14?years ago. The following variables were recorded at each sampling site: amphibian richness and abundance, percentage of emergent, submerged and peripheral vegetation in areas surrounding the water bodies, water pH, and water dissolved O₂. No significant differences were detected in amphibian diversity between streams of both grazing situations, whereas a greater diversity (p?<?0.01) was observed in ponds in grazed grasslands. Our results suggest that livestock rearing, qualitatively measured as grazing and 14?years of livestock exclusion, in the study area would not have negative effects on amphibian diversity. This finding might be due to the long evolutionary grazing history of the area, large-scale livestock exclusion exhibiting a novel scenario. The ongoing reintroduction of native grazers may provide the benefits of grazing without the consequent soil erosion and habitat degradation associated with domestic livestock.     

SpectraClassifier 1.0: a user friendly,automated MRS-based classifier-development system

Background  

SpectraClassifier (SC) is a Java solution for designing and implementing Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS)-based classifiers. The main goal of SC is to allow users with minimum background knowledge of multivariate statistics to perform a fully automated pattern recognition analysis. SC incorporates feature selection (greedy stepwise approach, either forward or backward), and feature extraction (PCA). Fisher Linear Discriminant Analysis is the method of choice for classification. Classifier evaluation is performed through various methods: display of the confusion matrix of the training and testing datasets; K-fold cross-validation, leave-one-out and bootstrapping as well as Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves.