scholarly journals Longitudinal monitoring in Cambodia suggests higher circulation of alpha and betacoronaviruses in juvenile and immature bats of three species

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Cappelle ◽  
Neil Furey ◽  
Thavry Hoem ◽  
Tey Putita Ou ◽  
Thona Lim ◽  
...  

AbstractRecent studies suggest that coronaviruses circulate widely in Southeast Asian bat species and that the progenitors of the SARS-Cov-2 virus could have originated in rhinolophid bats in the region. Our objective was to assess the diversity and circulation patterns of coronavirus in several bat species in Southeast Asia. We undertook monthly live-capture sessions and sampling in Cambodia over 17 months to cover all phases of the annual reproduction cycle of bats and test specifically the association between their age and CoV infection status. We additionally examined current information on the reproductive phenology of Rhinolophus and other bat species presently known to occur in mainland southeast China, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Results from our longitudinal monitoring (573 bats belonging to 8 species) showed an overall proportion of positive PCR tests for CoV of 4.2% (24/573) in cave-dwelling bats from Kampot and 4.75% (22/463) in flying-foxes from Kandal. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the PCR amplicon sequences of CoVs (n = 46) obtained clustered in Alphacoronavirus and Betacoronavirus. Interestingly, Hipposideros larvatus sensu lato harbored viruses from both genera. Our results suggest an association between positive detections of coronaviruses and juvenile and immature bats in Cambodia (OR = 3.24 [1.46–7.76], p = 0.005). Since the limited data presently available from literature review indicates that reproduction is largely synchronized among rhinolophid and hipposiderid bats in our study region, particularly in its more seasonal portions (above 16° N), this may lead to seasonal patterns in CoV circulation. Overall, our study suggests that surveillance of CoV in insectivorous bat species in Southeast Asia, including SARS-CoV-related coronaviruses in rhinolophid bats, could be targeted from June to October for species exhibiting high proportions of juveniles and immatures during these months. It also highlights the need to develop long-term longitudinal surveys of bats and improve our understanding of their ecology in the region, for both biodiversity conservation and public health reasons.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 483
Author(s):  
Marwa Saadaoui ◽  
Manoj Kumar ◽  
Souhaila Al Khodor

The COVID-19 pandemic is a worldwide, critical public health challenge and is considered one of the most communicable diseases that the world had faced so far. Response and symptoms associated with COVID-19 vary between the different cases recorded, but it is amply described that symptoms become more aggressive in subjects with a weaker immune system. This includes older subjects, patients with chronic diseases, patients with immunosuppression treatment, and pregnant women. Pregnant women are receiving more attention not only because of their altered physiological and immunological function but also for the potential risk of viral vertical transmission to the fetus or infant. However, very limited data about the impact of maternal infection during pregnancy, such as the possibility of vertical transmission in utero, during birth, or via breastfeeding, is available. Moreover, the impact of infection on the newborn in the short and long term remains poorly understood. Therefore, it is vital to collect and analyze data from pregnant women infected with COVID-19 to understand the viral pathophysiology during pregnancy and its effects on the offspring. In this article, we review the current knowledge about pre-and post-natal COVID-19 infection, and we discuss whether vertical transmission takes place in pregnant women infected with the virus and what are the current recommendations that pregnant women should follow in order to be protected from the virus.


2015 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 227-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy E. Riedel ◽  
Vanessa Thulsiraj ◽  
Amity G. Zimmer-Faust ◽  
Rosi Dagit ◽  
Jenna Krug ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 615 ◽  
pp. 177-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusheng Shi ◽  
Tsuneo Matsunaga ◽  
Yasushi Yamaguchi ◽  
Zhengqiang Li ◽  
Xingfa Gu ◽  
...  

2002 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 385-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Keuneman ◽  
Rajiv Weerasundera ◽  
David Castle

Objective: To review the place of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the treatment of schizophrenia. Conclusions: ECT is as effective, if not more so, than the antipsychotic drugs in certain clinical settings. It can be rapidly effective in acute episodes. When used alone, antipsychotics have comparable or superior efficacy to ECT alone in the short term. However, ECT possibly confers better long-term outcome. Combination treatment with antipsychotic medications and ECT is superior to either treatment alone, and is safe and effective, notably in medication resistant schizophrenia. Benefits of acute courses of ECT may be short-lived unless maintenance ECT is instituted, although there are limited data on the subject. Clinically, patients with acute onset, shorter episodes are more likely to respond to ECT. Catatonia, preoccupation with delusions and hallucinations, and a relative absence of premorbid schizoid and paranoid personality traits, are other clinical factors less strongly predictive of positive response. The presence of affective symptoms is often thought to be predictive of clinical response. However, there is little research evidence for this. While medications remain the mainstay of treatment in schizophrenia, ECT does have a clear and increasingly recognised role which requires further evaluation.


Western Birds ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 270-292
Author(s):  
W. David Shuford ◽  
Kathy C. Molina ◽  
John P. Kelly ◽  
T. Emiko Condeso ◽  
Daniel S. Cooper ◽  
...  

As part of an 11-state inventory, we censused the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) in the interior of California from 2009 to 2012, using a combination of aerial, ground, and boat surveys. An estimated 8791 pairs breeding in the interior of the state in 2009–2012 exceeded the 7170 pairs estimated in 1998–1999. In both periods, cormorants were breeding in 9 of 11 ecoregions, but three-fourths were at one site—Mullet Island at the Salton Sea in the Sonoran Desert ecoregion (abandoned in 2014). The ecoregions with the next highest proportions were the Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, and Modoc Plateau. The apparent increase in numbers and colony sites since 1999—consistent with the pattern through much of western North America—reflects the (short-lived) increase in numbers at the Salton Sea, an increasing number of colonies and breeding pairs in the Central Valley, and slightly better coverage on the recent surveys. Because of practical survey constraints and limited data to date, evidence of change in numbers of Doublecrested Cormorants breeding in the interior of California between 1998–1999 and 2009–2012 is inconclusive. Plans for monitoring will need to take into account the effects of substantial annual variation in numbers, which may be associated with large fluctuations in cormorants’ prey base, short-term cycles of drought and flood, shifts of nesting cormorants into or out of the interior of California, and the expectation of greater environmental fluctuations with continuing climate change. The factors most likely to limit the number of cormorants breeding in the interior of the state are habitat loss or alteration (particularly from reallocation of water for human needs), disease, human disturbance, and the long-term effects of climate change.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamad Reza Mohamed Afla

This article focuses on the subject of burial practices which are performed by the Muslim population and the management at public cemeteries within the metropolitan areas of Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta. This research examines specifically, the conventional way of burial practice by the majority of the Muslim population. Unlike other major religions in Southeast Asia which are more open and flexible in the disposal of corpses, full body burial is mandatory in Islam. In response to the escalating issue of lack of space and land shortage for Muslim cemetery, local authorities of the two metropolitan areas have identified alternatives and solutions in handling these alarming situations. This research has recognised factors that lead to these problems, as well as discussing available methods to overcome these issues. The finding exhibits Muslim cemetery’s layout to be problematic due to abundance of burial practices accumulated by patrons which led to disorganisation of space and claustrophobia. This article concludes by providing proposals and design guidelines at the terrain level, together with recommendations that emphasise the long-term usage of the grave plots.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  

Delirium is defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Fifth edition (DSM-V) as a “disturbance and change in attention and awareness from baseline that develops over a short period of time, with fluctuating course” [1]. Delirium occurs as a result of factors related to primary illness, the treatment of that illness, and stressful and disorientating environment of the hospital [2]. There are limited data to describe the incidence of delirium in children hospitalized with cancer [3]. Delirium occurs frequently in adults and is an independent predictor of mortality, increased length of stay, and increased risk for long-term cognitive deficits [3]. The prevalence of delirium in hospitalized adults ages 18-56 with cancer ranges from 18%-44% [4]. Most pediatric studies on delirium focus on the critically ill child in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). It is estimated that the incidence of delirium in this population is as high as 29% [5].


Author(s):  
Ulbe Bosma

Many books have been written about the incorporation of the Caribbean region, South Asia, Africa and Latin America into the global economy. Remarkably, few have dealt with Island Southeast Asia or Maritime Southeast Asia as a macro-region. For the Caribbean nations, it has been amply discussed how the legacies of the plantation economies consisted of meagre economic growth and massive unemployment. Conversely, scant attention has been given to the question how societies in Island Southeast Asia were turned into providers of cheap commodities and how this impacted their long-term development prospects. This silence is even more remarkable considering some striking parallels with Caribbean socio-economic trajectories. Today, emigration of millions is the fate of Island Southeast Asia, as it is for the Caribbean region. To break the silence and to invite further discussion I wrote The Making of a Periphery: How Island Southeast Asia Became a Mass Exporter. After reading the review by Dr Aguilar on this book in a previous issue of this journal, I felt that it could be worthwhile to highlight some of the main points of my argument about the peripheral integration of Island Southeast Asia in the global economy. I am grateful to the editors of the International Journal of Asian Studies for granting me the opportunity to do so.


1983 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leszek Buszynski

Southeast Asia in United States policy fell from a region of high priority during the Vietnam war to become, after the fall of Indochina, an area of relatively minor interest. For the United States, Southeast Asia evoked memories of misperception, intensified over-commitment, and simplistic assumptions that characterized the American effort to defeat local Vietnamese national communism. Since the formulation of the Nixon doctrine of disengagement in 1969, United States policy towards Southeast Asia has been undergoing a process of long-term readjustment in recognition of the exaggerated significance that the region had assumed in American thinking. The fall of Saigon in April 1975 was a major stimulus to this readjustment as it gave the Americans compelling reasons to anticipate a reassertion of Soviet influence in the region. Successive American administrations attempted to place the region in a wider global context to avoid the dangers of extreme reaction to local national communism while developing the flexibility to coordinate a response to the Soviet Union at a global level. The main concern of American policy was to remove the basis for direct United States involvement in the region in a way that would satisfy post-Vietnam war public and congressional opinion and the demands of strategic planners for greater freedom of manoeuvre against the Soviet Union.


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