Search

Le projet TCP/MLI/3402 FAO intitulé « Appui à la lutte contre la mouche tsé-tsé et les trypanosomoses dans les cercles de Sikasso et Kadiolo, au Mali » a été crée pour appuyer le Projet de Lutte contre la Mouche tsé-tsé et les trypanosomoses (PLMT) dans ses efforts de contrôle des tsé-tsé et trypanosomes. Son objectif était de créer les conditions amenant l’état, les collectivités territoriales et les communautés villageoises à prendre en charge la lutte contre la trypanosomose et ses vecteurs de façon durable. Dans les cercles de Kadiolo (20 villages) et Sikasso (15 villages) 35 villages ont été prospectés. Pour cette étude 350 pièges biconiques Challier – Laveissière ont été posés dans les galeries et au niveau des points de contact des différents cours d’eau et géo référencés à l’aide de GPS. La prospection entomologique dans la zone de l’étude a permis la capture de deux espèces de glossines : Glossina palpalis gambiensis et Glossina tachinoïdes. Le nombre total de glossines capturées est 786 dont 405 mâles et 381 femelles. Parmi les glossines capturées, il ya 691 Glossina palpalis gambiensis dont 349 mâles et 342 femelles, 95 Glossina tachinoïdes dont 56 mâles et 39 femelles. Le sexe ratio est de 1,12, donc légèrement en faveur des mâles. Le taux d’infection des glossines qui concerne le cercle de Kadiolo seulement est 0%. La Densité Apparente de glossines par Piège et par jour (DAP) dans la zone du projet est 2,2.

Human population growth, climate change and economic development are causing major environmental modifications in Western Africa, which will have important repercussions on the epidemiology of sleeping sickness. A new initiative, the Atlas of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), aims at assembling and geo-referencing all epidemiological data derived from both active screening activities and passive surveillance. A geographic database enables to generate up-to-date disease maps at a range of scales and of unprecedented spatial accuracy. We present preliminary results for seven West African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali and Togo) and briefly discuss the relevance of the Atlas for future monitoring, control and research activities.

Biocrusts are key biotic components of arid and semi-arid ecosystems worldwide. In the semi-arid ecosystems of north-eastern Patagonia, the moss biocrust is present both beneath shrubs and in intershrub spaces. In this study we ran a series of field and greenhouse trials aimed at quantifying the moss biocrust cover at sites that differed in grazing and/or shrub mechanical (chaining) disturbance and evaluating its seed entrapping capacity, and its effect on the superficial water balance and grass seedling growth. Grazing or the combined effect of grazing and chaining impacted negatively on the moss biocrust cover. The presence of moss biocrust facilitated seed entrapment and increased the seed density of perennial grasses in the soil seed bank, improved the superficial water balance, and enhanced grass seedling growth. In conclusion, in the semi-arid shrublands in north-eastern Patagonia, the moss biocrust appeared vulnerable to grazing and shrub mechanical disturbance, and it showed functional roles that may facilitate seedling establishment for perennial grasses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pesticides can help reduce yield losses caused by pests, pathogens, and weeds, but their overuse causes serious environmental pollution. They are persistent in the environment and are biomagnified through the food chain, becoming a serious health hazard for humankind. Bioremediation, where microbes are used to degrade pesticides in situ, is a useful technology. This review summarizes data on the fungi involved in the biodegradation of chemical pesticides and their application in soil and water bioremediation. Indications for future studies in this field are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Trypanocidal drugs have been used to control African animal trypanosomosis for several decades. In Ethiopia, these drugs are available from both authorized (legal) and unauthorized (illegal) sources but documentation on utilization practices and quality of circulating products is scanty. This study looked at the practices of trypanocidal drug utilization by farmers and the integrity of active ingredient in trypanocides sold in Gurage zone, south western Ethiopia. The surveys were based on a structured questionnaire and drug quality determination of commonly used brands originating from European and Asian companies and sold at both authorized and unauthorized markets. One hundred farmers were interviewed and 50 drug samples were collected in 2013 (Diminazene aceturate = 33 and Isometamidium chloride = 17; 25 from authorized and 25 from unauthorized sources). Samples were tested at the OIE-certified Veterinary Drug Control Laboratory (LACOMEV) in Dakar, Senegal, by using galenic standards and high performance liquid chromatography. Results: Trypanosomosis was found to be a major threat according to all interviewed livestock keepers in the study area. Diminazene aceturate and isometamidium chloride were preferred by 79% and 21% of the respondents respectively, and 85% of them indicated that an animal receives more than six treatments per year. About 60% of these treatments were reported to be administered by untrained farmers. Trypanocidal drug sources included both unauthorized outlets (56%) and authorized government and private sources (44%). A wide availability and usage of substandard quality drugs was revealed. Twenty eight percent of trypanocidal drugs tested failed to comply with quality requirements. There was no significant difference in the frequency of non-compliance between diminazene-based and isometamidium chloride products (P = 0.87) irrespective of the marketing channel (official and unofficial). However, higher rates of non-compliant trypanocides were detected for drugs originating from Asia than from Europe (P = 0.029). Conclusion: The findings revealed the presence of risk factors for the development of drug resistance, i.e. wide distribution of poor quality drugs as well as substandard administration practices. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to enforce regulatory measures for quality control of veterinary drugs, to expand and strengthen veterinary services and to undertake trypanocidal drug efficacy studies of wider coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aspergillus sydowii is a cosmopolitan fungus that has been responsible for the mass destruction of coral in the Caribbean Sea over the last 15 years. To our knowledge, this study has found the first case of A. sydowii in the Mediterranean Sea, in marine-bottom sediments, water and calcareous shells of bivalve molluscs sampled during a campaign to characterise the mycobiota in the Port of Genoa (Italy). The area is characterised by adverse environmental conditions (high turbidity, organic pollution and high concentrations of phosphorus and nitrogen compounds). These parameters, in combination with a rising temperature, could contribute to A. sydowii bloom and dispersal. This fungal strain may have been imported into the Port of Genoa in the bilge water of vessels or by torrent input. This work represents the first step in the implementation of a monitoring programme to safeguard calcareous sponges and sea fan corals endemic in the Mediterranean Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key points Actomyosin ATP hydrolysis occurring during muscle contraction releases inorganic phosphate [Pi] in the myoplasm. High [Pi] reduces force and affects force kinetics in skinned muscle fibres at low temperature. These effects decrease at high temperature, raising the question of their importance under physiological conditions., This study provides the first analysis of the effects of Pi on muscle performance in intact mammalian fibres at physiological temperature. Myoplasmic [Pi] was raised by fatiguing the fibres with a series of tetanic contractions., [Pi] increase reduces muscular force mainly by decreasing the force of the single molecular motor, the crossbridge, and alters the crossbridge response to fast length perturbation indicating faster kinetics., These results are in agreement with schemes of actomyosin ATPase and the crossbridge cycle including a low- or no-force state and show that fibre length changes perturb the Pi-sensitive force generation of the crossbridge cycle., Abstract Actomyosin ATP hydrolysis during muscle contraction releases inorganic phosphate, increasing [Pi] in the myoplasm. Experiments in skinned fibres at low temperature (10-12°C) have shown that [Pi] increase depresses isometric force and alters the kinetics of actomyosin interaction. However, the effects of Pi decrease with temperature and this raises the question of the role of Pi under physiological conditions. The present experiments were performed to investigate this point. Intact fibre bundles isolated from the flexor digitorum brevis of C57BL/6 mice were stimulated with a series of tetanic contractions at 1.5 s intervals at 33°C. As show previously the most significant change induced by a bout of contractile activity similar to the initial 10 tetani of the series was an increase of [Pi] without significant Ca2+ or pH changes. Measurements of force, stiffness and responses to fast stretches and releases were therefore made on the 10th tetanus of the series and compared with control. We found that (i) tetanic force at the 10th tetanus was ∼20% smaller than control without a significant decrease of crossbridge stiffness; and (ii) the force recovery following quick stretches and releases was faster than in control. These results indicate that at physiological temperature the increase of [Pi] occurring during early fatigue reduces tetanic force mainly by depressing the individual crossbridge force and accelerating crossbridge kinetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fungi include a vast group of eukaryotic organisms able to colonise different natural, anthropised and extreme environments, including marine areas contaminated by metals. The present study aims to give a first multidisciplinary characterisation of marine bottom sediments contaminated by metals (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn), originating in the water leakage from an abandoned Fe-Cu sulphide mine (Libiola, north-western Italy), and evaluate how the chemical and physical parameters of water and sediments may affect the benthic fungal communities. Our preliminary results showed the high mycodiversity of the marine sediments studied (13 genera and 23 species of marine fungi isolated), and the great physiological adaptability that this mycobiota evolved in reaction to the effects of the ecotoxic bottom sediment contamination, and associated changes in the seawater parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discovering brain activity patterns associated with specific stimuli, behaviors, or mental disorders is a primary objective of many neuroimaging studies. In particular, functional magnetic resonance imaging analyses are often concerned with finding brain areas "most relevant" to a mental state of interest. In this paper, we consider the predictive accuracy of a subset of voxels (smallest units of a threedimensional image) identified by multivariate sparse regression as a better relevance measure than the commonly used mass-univariate correlations between the task and individual voxels. Sparse regression detects synergistic multivoxel interactions missed by univariate techniques. Moreover, when invoked iteratively, it allows us to discover novel patterns of information distribution through the brain. Indeed, unlike univariate techniques that typically imply a sharp transition from task-relevant to task-irrelevant brain areas, our approach reveals that for some tasks, task-relevant information is distributed rather "holographically" through the entire brain, yielding multiple relevant subsets of voxels, with gradually declining predictive accuracy, and without any clear separation between taskrelevant and task-irrelevant ones. Interestingly, as our preliminary results show, such phenomena occur in certain "complex" experiences such as pain perception, but not in relatively "simple" tasks such as finger tapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe recent preliminary studies demonstrating that computational analysis of spoken and written language can provide for highly accurate diagnostics over a wide variety of psychiatric and neurologic conditions, including psychosis, drug abuse, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's. These results are based on the mathematical formalization of psychiatric qualitative knowledge related to the characterization of the conditions (e.g., "derailment" in psychosis) and drug effects (e.g., increased intimacy/affection with the use of the recreational drug ecstasy), as well as novel linguistic feature extraction approaches. Moreover, we show novel results using publicly available text sources suggesting that 1) it is possible to define an embedding space that allows modeling of the vast language dimension into a smaller space to map and compare different conditions, and 2) computational studies of a public personality (Ronald Reagan) can likely yield novel insights into normal aging and neurodegenerative disorders. Finally, we discuss the implications for mental health (and possibly, computer science) of a systematic application of this methodology, extended to include similar readily available behavioral data such as voice and video. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundLanguage use is of increasing interest in the study of mental illness. Analytical approaches range from phenomenological and qualitative to formal computational quantitative methods. Practically, the approach may have utility in predicting clinical outcomes. We harnessed a real-world sample (blog entries) from groups with psychosis, strong beliefs, odd beliefs, illness, mental illness and/or social isolation to validate and extend laboratory findings about lexical differences between psychosis and control subjects.MethodWe describe the results of two experiments using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software to assess word category frequencies. In experiment 1, we compared word use in psychosis and control subjects in the laboratory (23 per group), and related results to subject symptoms. In experiment 2, we examined lexical patterns in blog entries written by people with psychosis and eight comparison groups. In addition to between-group comparisons, we used factor analysis followed by clustering to discern the contributions of strong belief, odd belief and illness identity to lexical patterns.ResultsConsistent with others’ work, we found that first-person pronouns, biological process words and negative emotion words were more frequent in psychosis language. We tested lexical differences between bloggers with psychosis and multiple relevant comparison groups. Clustering analysis revealed that word use frequencies did not group individuals with strong or odd beliefs, but instead grouped individuals with any illness (mental or physical).ConclusionsPairing of laboratory and real-world samples reveals that lexical markers previously identified as specific language changes in depression and psychosis are probably markers of illness in general. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

BackgroundFacial expressions require the complex coordination of 43 different facial muscles. Parkinson disease (PD) affects facial musculature leading to “hypomimia” or “masked facies.” ObjectiveWe aimed to determine whether modern computer vision techniques can be applied to detect masked facies and quantify drug states in PD. MethodsWe trained a convolutional neural network on images extracted from videos of 107 self-identified people with PD, along with 1595 videos of controls, in order to detect PD hypomimia cues. This trained model was applied to clinical interviews of 35 PD patients in their on and off drug motor states, and seven journalist interviews of the actor Alan Alda obtained before and after he was diagnosed with PD. ResultsThe algorithm achieved a test set area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.71 on 54 subjects to detect PD hypomimia, compared to a value of 0.75 for trained neurologists using the United Parkinson Disease Rating Scale-III Facial Expression score. Additionally, the model accuracy to classify the on and off drug states in the clinical samples was 63% (22/35), in contrast to an accuracy of 46% (16/35) when using clinical rater scores. Finally, each of Alan Alda’s seven interviews were successfully classified as occurring before (versus after) his diagnosis, with 100% accuracy (7/7). ConclusionsThis proof-of-principle pilot study demonstrated that computer vision holds promise as a valuable tool for PD hypomimia and for monitoring a patient’s motor state in an objective and noninvasive way, particularly given the increasing importance of telemedicine.