Anopheles drivers of persisting malaria transmission in Guna Yala, Panamá: an operational investigation

Background Though most of Panamá is free from malaria, localized foci of transmission persist, including in the Guna Yala region. Government-led entomological surveillance using an entomological surveillance planning tool (ESPT) sought to answer programmatically-relevant questions that would enhance the understanding of both local entomological drivers of transmission and gaps in protection that result in persisting malaria transmission to guide local vector control decision-making. Methods The ESPT was used to design a sampling plan centered around the collection of minimum essential indicators to investigate the relevance of LLINs and IRS in the communities of Permé and Puerto Obaldía, Guna Yala, as well as to pinpoint any remaining spaces and times where humans are exposed to Anopheles bites (gaps in protection). Adult Anopheles were collected at three time points via human landing catches (HLCs), CDC Light Traps (LT), and pyrethrum spray catches (PSCs) during the rainy and dry seasons. Mosquitoes were identified to species via molecular methods. Insecticide susceptibility testing of the main vector species to fenitrothion was conducted. Results In total, 7537 adult Anopheles were collected from both sites. Of the 493 specimens molecularly confirmed to species, two thirds (n = 340) were identified as Nyssorhynchus albimanus, followed by Anopheles aquasalis. Overall Anopheles human biting rates (HBRs) were higher outdoors than indoors, and were higher in Permé than in Puerto Obaldía: nightly outdoor HBR ranged from 2.71 bites per person per night (bpn) (Puerto Obaldía), to 221.00 bpn (Permé), whereas indoor nightly HBR ranged from 0.70 bpn (Puerto Obaldía) to 81.90 bpn (Permé). Generally, peak biting occurred during the early evening. The CDC LT trap yields were significantly lower than that of HLCs and this collection method was dropped after the first collection. Pyrethrum spray catches resulted in only three indoor resting Anopheles collected. Insecticide resistance (IR) of Ny. albimanus to fenitrothion was confirmed, with only 65.5% mortality at the diagnostic time. Conclusion The early evening exophagic behaviour of Anopheles vectors, the absence of indoor resting behaviours, and the presence of resistance to the primary intervention insecticide demonstrate limitations of the current malaria strategy, including indoor residual spraying (IRS) and long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs), and point to both gaps in protection and to the drivers of persisting malaria transmission in Guna Yala. These findings highlight the need for continued and directed entomological surveillance, based on programmatic questions, that generates entomological evidence to inform an adaptive malaria elimination strategy.

Asymptomatic Plasmodium vivax malaria in the Brazilian Amazon: Submicroscopic parasitemic blood infects Nyssorhynchus darlingi

Individuals with asymptomatic infection due to Plasmodium vivax are posited to be important reservoirs of malaria transmission in endemic regions. Here we studied a cohort of P. vivax malaria patients in a suburban area in the Brazilian Amazon. Overall 1,120 individuals were screened for P. vivax infection and 108 (9.6%) had parasitemia detected by qPCR but not by microscopy. Asymptomatic individuals had higher levels of antibodies against P. vivax and similar hematological and biochemical parameters compared to uninfected controls. Blood from asymptomatic individuals with very low parasitemia transmitted P. vivax to the main local vector, Nyssorhynchus darlingi. Lower mosquito infectivity rates were observed when blood from asymptomatic individuals was used in the membrane feeding assay. While blood from symptomatic patients infected 43.4% (199/458) of the mosquitoes, blood from asymptomatic infected 2.5% (43/1,719). However, several asymptomatic individuals maintained parasitemia for several weeks indicating their potential role as an infectious reservoir. These results suggest that asymptomatic individuals are an important source of malaria parasites and Science and Technology for Vaccines granted by Conselho Nacional de may contribute to the transmission of P. vivax in low-endemicity areas of malaria.

A unified mechanism for innate and learned visual landmark guidance in the insect central complex

Insects can navigate efficiently in both novel and familiar environments, and this requires flexiblity in how they are guided by sensory cues. A prominent landmark, for example, can elicit strong innate behaviours (attraction or menotaxis) but can also be used, after learning, as a specific directional cue as part of a navigation memory. However, the mechanisms that allow both pathways to co-exist, interact or override each other are largely unknown. Here we propose a model for the behavioural integration of innate and learned guidance based on the neuroanatomy of the central complex (CX), adapted to control landmark guided behaviours. We consider a reward signal provided either by an innate attraction to landmarks or a long-term visual memory in the mushroom bodies (MB) that modulates the formation of a local vector memory in the CX. Using an operant strategy for a simulated agent exploring a simple world containing a single visual cue, we show how the generated short-term memory can support both innate and learned steering behaviour. In addition, we show how this architecture is consistent with the observed effects of unilateral MB lesions in ants that cause a reversion to innate behaviour. We suggest the formation of a directional memory in the CX can be interpreted as transforming rewarding (positive or negative) sensory signals into a mapping of the environment that describes the geometrical attractiveness (or repulsion). We discuss how this scheme might represent an ideal way to combine multisensory information gathered during the exploration of an environment and support optimal cue integration.

A Characterization of a Local Vector Valued Bollobás Theorem

In this paper, we are interested in giving two characterizations for the so-called property L$$_{o,o}$$ o , o , a local vector valued Bollobás type theorem. We say that (X, Y) has this property whenever given $$\varepsilon > 0$$ ε > 0 and an operador $$T: X \rightarrow Y$$ T : X → Y , there is $$\eta = \eta (\varepsilon , T)$$ η = η ( ε , T ) such that if x satisfies $$\Vert T(x)\Vert > 1 - \eta $$ ‖ T ( x ) ‖ > 1 - η , then there exists $$x_0 \in S_X$$ x 0 ∈ S X such that $$x_0 \approx x$$ x 0 ≈ x and T itself attains its norm at $$x_0$$ x 0 . This can be seen as a strong (although local) Bollobás theorem for operators. We prove that the pair (X, Y) has the L$$_{o,o}$$ o , o for compact operators if and only if so does $$(X, \mathbb {K})$$ ( X , K ) for linear functionals. This generalizes at once some results due to D. Sain and J. Talponen. Moreover, we present a complete characterization for when $$(X \widehat{\otimes }_\pi Y, \mathbb {K})$$ ( X ⊗ ^ π Y , K ) satisfies the L$$_{o,o}$$ o , o for linear functionals under strict convexity or Kadec–Klee property assumptions in one of the spaces. As a consequence, we generalize some results in the literature related to the strongly subdifferentiability of the projective tensor product and show that $$(L_p(\mu ) \times L_q(\nu ); \mathbb {K})$$ ( L p ( μ ) × L q ( ν ) ; K ) cannot satisfy the L$$_{o,o}$$ o , o for bilinear forms.

ORNAMENTAL BROMELIADS OF LOCAL BOTANICAL GARDENS SERVE AS PRODUCTION SITES FOR PYRETHROID-RESISTANT CULEX QUINQUEFASCIATUS (SAY) IN COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA

The Naples Botanical Garden, located in Collier County, Florida, attracts over 220,000 visitors each year. The gardens house a collection of plants from around the world, including a featured area for over 100 species of exotic and native bromeliads. Ornamental bromeliads have previously been investigated to define their “tank” structure as a haven for mosquito eggs and larvae. The Naples Botanical Gardens was investigated for the presence of juvenile mosquitoes inhabiting large-tanked bromeliads. A survey of mosquito species inhabiting bromeliads in the gardens indicated that the most abundant species was Culex quinquefasciatus. With the ongoing threat of vector borne diseases such as West Nile virus, the abundance of vector mosquitoes and heavy tourist traffic in the gardens, insecticide resistance testing was performed on Cx. quinquefasciatus originating in the gardens in order to assess the ability of pyrethroid-based insecticides used by the local vector control agency to successfully target this species in the event of a disease outbreak. We identified pyrethroid resistance in Cx. quinquefasciatus collected from Naples Botanical Gardens, and that oxidase activity was the primary mechanism responsible for its pyrethroid resistance status.

La Crosse virus spread within the mosquito population in Knox County, TN

In Appalachia, La Crosse virus (LACV) is a leading pediatric arbovirus and public health concern for children under 16 years. LACV is transmitted via the bite of an infected Aedes mosquito. Thus, it is imperative to understand the dynamics of the local vector population in order to assess risk and transmission. Using entomological data collected from Knox County, Tennessee in 2013, we formulate an environmentally-driven system of ordinary differential equations to model mosquito population dynamics over a single season. Further, we include infected compartments to represent LACV transmission within the mosquito population. Findings suggest that the model, with dependence on degree days and accumulated precipitation, can closely describe field data. This model confirms the need to include these environmental variables when planning control strategies.

The renormalised $$\mathrm{O}(a)$$ improved vector current in three-flavour lattice QCD with Wilson quarks

We present the results of a non-perturbative determination of the improvement coefficient $$c_\mathrm{V}$$ c V and the renormalisation factor $$Z_\mathrm{V}$$ Z V , which define the renormalised vector current in three-flavour $$\mathrm{O}(a)$$ O ( a ) improved lattice QCD with Wilson quarks and tree-level Symanzik-improved gauge action. In case of the improvement coefficient, we consider both lattice descriptions of the vector current, the local as well as the conserved (i.e., point-split) one. Our improvement and normalisation conditions are based on massive chiral Ward identities and numerically evaluated in the Schrödinger functional setup, which allows to eliminate finite quark mass effects in a controlled way. In order to ensure a smooth dependence of the renormalisation constant and improvement coefficients on the bare gauge coupling, our computation proceeds along a line of constant physics, covering the typical range of lattice spacings $$0.04\,\mathrm{fm}\lesssim a\lesssim 0.1\,\mathrm{fm}$$ 0.04 fm ≲ a ≲ 0.1 fm that is useful for phenomenological applications. Especially for the improvement coefficient of the local vector current, we report significant differences between the one-loop perturbative estimates and our non-perturbative results.

A unified mechanism to support innate and learned use of visual landmark guidance in insects

Insects can navigate efficiently in both novel and familiar environments, and this requires flexiblity in how they are guided by sensory cues. A prominent landmark, for example, can ellicit strong innate behaviours (attraction or menotaxis) but can also be used through learning as a specific directional cue to sustain navigation memory. However, the mechanisms that allow both pathways to co-exist, interact or override each other are largely unknown. Here we propose a model for behavioural integration based on the neuroanatomy of the central complex (CX) and adapted to control landmark guided behaviours. We consider a reward signal provided either by an innate attraction to landmarks or a long-term visual memory that modulates the formation of a local vector memory in the CX. Using an operant strategy for a simulated agent exploring a simple arena world with a single cue, we show how the short-term memory generated can support both innate and learned steering behaviour. In addition, we show how this architecture is consistent with observed effects of unilateral mushroom bodies (MB) lesions in ants that cause a reversion to innate behaviour. We suggest the formation of a directional memory in the CX can be interpreted as transforming rewarding (positive or negative) sensory signals into a geometrical attractiveness (or repulsion) mapping of the environment. We discuss how this scheme might represent an ideal way to combine multisensory information gathered during the exploration of an environment and support optimized cue integration.

Local Derivative Vector Pattern: Hybrid Pattern for Content-Based Medical Image Retrieval

This paper examines a hybrid pattern i.e. Local derivative Vector pattern and comparasion of this pattern over other different patterns for content-based medical image retrieval. In recent years Pattern-based texture analysis has significant popularity for a variety of tasks like image recognition, image and texture classification, and object detection, etc. In literature, different patterns exist for texture analysis. This paper aims at forming a hybrid pattern compared in terms of precision, recall and F1-score with different patterns like Local Binary Pattern (LBP), Local Derivative Pattern (LDP), Completed Local Binary Pattern (CLBP), Local Tetra Pattern (LTrP), Local Vector Pattern (LVP) and Local Anisotropic Pattern (LAP) which were applied on medical images for image retrieval. The proposed method is evaluated on different modalities of medical images. The results of the proposed hybrid pattern show biased performance compared to the state-of-the-art. So this can further extended with other pattern to form a hybrid pattern.