Neurophysiological and Behavioral Responses of Ixodes scapularis to host odors

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanya Josek ◽  
Jared Sperrazza ◽  
Marianne Alleyne ◽  
Zainulabeuddin Syed
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Ixodes Scapularis ◽  
Land Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biologically Active ◽  
Impact Factors ◽  
Sensory Physiology ◽  
Olfactory Sensilla ◽  
Haller's Organ ◽  
Different Doses

ABSTRACTThe black-legged tick, Ixodes scapularis (Ixodida, Ixodidae), is one of the major disease vectors in the United States and due to multiple human impact factors, such as decreasing forest size for land development and climate change, it has expanded its range and established across the United States. Throughout the life cycle, ticks locate hosts for their blood-meal and although the ecologies of this tick and their hosts have been studied in depth, the sensory physiology behind host location largely remains unexplored. Here we report establishing a robust paradigm to isolate and identify odors from the natural milieu for I. scapularis. We performed single sensillum recordings (SSR) from the olfactory sensilla on the tick tarsi, and used the SSR system as biological detector to isolate natural compounds that elicited biological activity. The SSR setup was further tested in tandem with gas chromatography (GC) wherein the ticks’ olfactory sensillum activity served as a biological detector. The GC-SSR recordings from the wall pore sensilla in the Haller’s organ, and further identification of the biologically active deer glad constituents by GC-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) revealed methyl substituted phenols as strong chemostimuli, as compared to ethyl or propyl substitutions. Strongest electrophysiological activity was elicited by meta-cresol followed by para-cresol. Ethyl- and propylphenols with any of the three, ortho, meta or para substitutions, did not induce any neurophysiological activity. Finally, a behavioral analysis in a dual-choice olfactometer of all these phenols at three different doses revealed no significant behavioral response, except for p-cresol at −3 dilution Overall, this study contributes to our understanding of I. scapularis tick’s neurophysiology and provides a robust platform to isolate and identify natural attractants and repellents.

scholarly journals Human Coinfection withBorrelia burgdorferiandBabesia microtiin the United States

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen L. Knapp ◽  
Nancy A. Rice
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Lyme Disease ◽  
Causative Agent ◽  
Ixodes Scapularis ◽  
Immunological Response ◽  
The United States ◽  
Babesia Microti ◽  
Current State ◽  
Tick Borne Disease ◽  
Multiple Pathogens

Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, andBabesia microti, a causative agent of babesiosis, are increasingly implicated in the growing tick-borne disease burden in the northeastern United States. These pathogens are transmitted via the bite of an infected tick vector,Ixodes scapularis, which is capable of harboring and inoculating a host with multiple pathogens simultaneously. Clinical presentation of the diseases is heterogeneous and ranges from mild flu-like symptoms to near-fatal cardiac arrhythmias. While the reason for the variability is not known, the possibility exists that concomitant infection with bothB. burgdorferiandB. microtimay synergistically increase disease severity. In an effort to clarify the current state of understanding regarding coinfection withB. burgdorferiandB. microti, in this review, we discuss the geographical distribution and pathogenesis of Lyme disease and babesiosis in the United States, the immunological response of humans toB. burgdorferiorB. microtiinfection, the existing knowledge regarding coinfection disease pathology, and critical factors that have led to ambiguity in the literature regarding coinfection, in order to eliminate confusion in future experimental design and investigation.

scholarly journals Fine-grained, spatio-temporal datasets measuring 200 years of land development in the United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes H. Uhl ◽  
Stefan Leyk ◽  
Caitlin M. McShane ◽  
Anna E. Braswell ◽  
Dylan S. Connor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Temporal Resolution ◽  
Data Extraction ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Spatio Temporal

Abstract. The collection, processing and analysis of remote sensing data since the early 1970s has rapidly improved our understanding of change on the Earth’s surface. While satellite-based earth observation has proven to be of vast scientific value, these data are typically confined to recent decades of observation and often lack important thematic detail. Here, we advance in this arena by constructing new spatially-explicit settlement data for the United States that extend back to the early nineteenth century, and is consistently enumerated at fine spatial and temporal granularity (i.e., 250 m spatial, and 5 a temporal resolution). We create these time series using a large, novel building stock database to extract and map retrospective, fine-grained spatial distributions of built-up properties in the conterminous United States from 1810 to 2015. From our data extraction, we analyse and publish a series of gridded geospatial datasets that enable novel retrospective historical analysis of the built environment at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. The datasets are available at https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/hisdacus (Uhl and Leyk, 2020a, b, c, d).

Global trends in population, energy use and climate: implications for policy development, rangeland management and rangeland users

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry L. Holechek
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Fresh Water ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Land Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Production Costs

Increasing world human population, declining reserves of cheaply extracted fossil fuels, scarcity of supplies of fresh water and climatic instability will put tremendous pressure on world rangelands as the 21st century progresses. It is expected that the human population of the world will increase by 40% by 2050 but fossil fuel and reserves of fresh water will be drastically reduced. Avoiding food shortages and famine could be a major world challenge within the next 10 years. Under these conditions, major changes in policies relating to economic growth and use of natural resources seem essential. Stabilisation of the human population, development of clean and renewable energy, enhanced supplies of water and its quality, increased livestock production, and changed land-use policies, that minimise agricultural land losses to development and fragmentation, will all be needed to avoid declining living conditions at the global level. The health and productivity of rangelands will need to receive much more emphasis as they are a primary source of vital ecosystem services and products essential to human life. Changes in tax policies by developed, affluent countries, such as the United States, Australia and Canada, are needed that emphasise saving and conservation as opposed to excessive material consumption and land development. Extreme levels of debt and chronic deficits in trade by the United States and European Union countries need to be moderated to avoid a devastating collision of debt, depletion of natural resources, and environmental degradation. Over the next 10 years, livestock producers of the rangelands will benefit from a major increase in demand and prices for meat. Rapidly increasing demand for meat in China and other Asian countries is driving this trend. Rangeland managers, however, will also likely encounter greater climatic, financial, biological and political risks. Higher interest rates, higher production costs and higher annual variability in forage resources are major challenges that will confront rangeland managers in the years ahead. Under these conditions, a low risk approach to livestock production from rangelands is recommended that involves conservative stocking, use of highly adapted livestock, and application of behavioural knowledge of livestock to efficiently use forage resources.

scholarly journals Spatiotemporal Patterns of Host-Seeking Ixodes scapularis Nymphs (Acari: Ixodidae) in the United States

2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Diuk-Wasser ◽  
A. G. Gatewood ◽  
M. R. Cortinas ◽  
S. Yaremych-Hamer ◽  
J. Tsao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Ixodes Scapularis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spatiotemporal Patterns ◽  
Host Seeking

scholarly journals From Standing Rock to flint and beyond

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-89
Author(s):  
Faye V. Harrison
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Indigenous Sovereignty

Protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline led by water protectors from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota have brought human rights violations related to Indigenous sovereignty, environmental justice, and sustainable development into the foreground of political debate in the United States. The struggle at Standing Rock has been strengthened by a coalition formed with activists from other Indigenous Nations, including representatives from the Amazon Basin, and from non-Indigenous movements and political organizations such as the Green Party and #BlackLivesMatter. This article reflects upon the centrality of Indigenous Sovereignty within the broader struggle for human rights and democracy in their most inclusive and substantive senses, especially in societies whose development has been built upon the violence of colonial expansion, white supremacy, and heteropatriarchy. The article also situates Indigenous rights within regimes of multiple articulated alterities in which the subjugation and dispossession of Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples have been historically differentiated yet intertwined in the Americas. The article offers a multi-sited framework for understanding the convergent and divergent points of reference in the logics of Indigenous and Afro-descendant identity, the relationship with the State and Market, and connections to the material and spiritual resources of land. Attention is directed to cases in the United States, Honduras, and Suriname (including those of communities that define themselves as “Afro-Indigenous”) in which some notion of common ground, affinity, or alliance with past or present-day Indigenous peoples has been mobilized in Afro-descendants’ collective claims on rights to land, development, and cultural resources.

The Status of Acellular Pertussis Vaccines: Current Perspective

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 401-405
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Pertussis Toxin ◽  
Recombinant Dna ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biologically Active ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Chemical Agent ◽  
Protein Antigens ◽  
Recombinant Dna Technology ◽  
Acellular Vaccines

Clinical studies of component ("acellular") pertussis vaccines have been undertaken in recent years, and several acellular vaccines have been used in Japan for 10 years. The Committee has reviewed these trials and related data and herein provides its assessment regarding the current status of the acellular vaccines and their possible use in the United States. The pertussis vaccines in current use in the United States are prepared from whole cells of a strain of Bordetella pertussis that is grown in broth medium, harvested by centrifugation, and killed or partially detoxified by heat or by the addition of a chemical agent, such as thimerosal, or by a combination of these methods. In contrast, the acellular vaccines developed in Japan and used in that country since 1981 contain one or more antigens derived from biologically active components of the B pertussis organism.1 An inactivated form of lymphocytosis promoting factor (LPF), also known as pertussis toxin and a variety of other synonyms, is a frequent component of acellular pertussis vaccines, as are filamentous hemagglutinins (FHA). Other constituents included in acellular vaccines are agglutinogens, a term denoting a variety of protein antigens on the surface of the B pertussis organism. Of the agglutinogens, a 69-kd outer membrane protein, when injected into neonatal mice, protects against B pertussis challenge.2 Acellular vaccines also have recently been derived from mutant pertussis toxin molecules prepared with recombinant DNA technology.3 The acellular vaccines produced in Japan have been classified into two types: B type, which contains LPF and FHA in roughly equal amounts; and T type, which contains mostly FHA but some LPF and agglutinogens.1,4

scholarly journals An Ixodes scapularis protein required for survival of Anaplasma phagocytophilum in tick salivary glands

2006 ◽  
Vol 203 (6) ◽  
pp. 1507-1517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bindu Sukumaran ◽  
Sukanya Narasimhan ◽  
John F. Anderson ◽  
Kathleen DePonte ◽  
Nancy Marcantonio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
United States ◽  
Salivary Glands ◽  
Anaplasma Phagocytophilum ◽  
Ixodes Scapularis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Salivary Protein ◽  
Specific Requirement ◽  
Obligate Intracellular ◽  
Tick Salivary Glands

Anaplasma phagocytophilum is the agent of human anaplasmosis, the second most common tick-borne illness in the United States. This pathogen, which is closely related to obligate intracellular organisms in the genera Rickettsia, Ehrlichia, and Anaplasma, persists in ticks and mammalian hosts; however, the mechanisms for survival in the arthropod are not known. We now show that A. phagocytophilum induces expression of the Ixodes scapularis salp16 gene in the arthropod salivary glands during vector engorgement. RNA interference–mediated silencing of salp16 gene expression interfered with the survival of A. phagocytophilum that entered ticks fed on A. phagocytophilum–infected mice. A. phagocytophilum migrated normally from A. phagocytophilum–infected mice to the gut of engorging salp16-deficient ticks, but up to 90% of the bacteria that entered the ticks were not able to successfully infect I. scapularis salivary glands. These data demonstrate the specific requirement of a pathogen for a tick salivary protein to persist within the arthropod and provide a paradigm for understanding how Rickettsia-like pathogens are maintained within vectors.

Significance of Ecohydraulics in Aquatic Ecosystem Protection

2013 ◽  
Vol 864-867 ◽  
pp. 2413-2417
Author(s):  
Hong Tao Wang ◽  
Jin Yong Zhao ◽  
Gai Ling Wang ◽  
Qing Hong Huangfu
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Aquatic Ecosystem ◽  
Digital Simulation ◽  
Hydrodynamic Characteristic ◽  
Aquatic Organism ◽  
The United States ◽  
Impact Factors ◽  
United States Geological Survey ◽  
Main Research ◽  
The Impact

Ecohydraulics is an emerging interdisciplinary science and mainstream engineering researching on the interaction relationship between hydrodynamic characteristic and aquatic ecosystem, it integrates biology, geology, hydrology, morphology, ecology, engineering and other disciplines. Based on the collection of literature on ecohydraulics from Web of Science database, the bibliometric analysis on 563 literatures from the year 1991 to 2012 has been conducted, including publication year, author, country, institution, subject, source journal and keyword analysis. Some conclusions have been made that these literatures on ecohydraulics are growing exponentially year by year; these literature involves a lot of authors and forms three research groups which scattered in Britain, the United States and New Zealand, the result clearly shows a positive correlation between the number of published literatures and the length of the research history in this subject; the main institutions of these literature include United States Geological Survey, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Lyon and University of Birmingham; and the subjects of these literature include environmental sciences & ecology, water resources, marine & freshwater biology, engineering and other subjects; more than 40% of the literature published in journals with the impact factors greater than 2.0. The main research contents are as follow: biological characteristics of aquatic organism, the impact of hydrodynamics on river habitats and aquatic organisms and, the feedback of the organism on flow. Theoretical analysis, system testing, statistical analysis and hybrid analog-digital simulation are primary research techniques and applications of the research concentrate on environmental flow requirement, habitat assessment, eco-engineering design and flow field control.

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