Macroinvertebrate assemblages in rivers of Nuku-Hiva, French Polynesia, before and after antisimuliid treatments

Author(s):  
Odile Fossati ◽  
Pierre Vallier ◽  
Merrí Mosseron
eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alasdair D Henderson ◽  
Maite Aubry ◽  
Mike Kama ◽  
Jessica Vanhomwegen ◽  
Anita Teissier ◽  
...  

It has been commonly assumed that Zika virus (ZIKV) infection confers long-term protection against reinfection, preventing ZIKV from re-emerging in previously affected areas for several years. However, the long-term immune response to ZIKV following an outbreak remains poorly documented. We compared results from eight serological surveys before and after known ZIKV outbreaks in French Polynesia and Fiji, including cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. We found evidence of a decline in seroprevalence in both countries over a two-year period following first reported ZIKV transmission. This decline was concentrated in adults, while high seroprevalence persisted in children. In the Fiji cohort, there was also a significant decline in neutralizing antibody titres against ZIKV, but not against dengue viruses that circulated during the same period.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alasdair D Henderson ◽  
Maite Aubry ◽  
Mike Kama ◽  
Jessica Vanhomwegen ◽  
Anita Teissier ◽  
...  

SUMMARYBackgroundSerosurveys published following major outbreaks of Zika virus (ZIKV) have so far shown a high level of seroprevalence from samples collected within 12 months of the first confirmed case. A common assumption is that ZIKV infection confers long-term protection against reinfection, preventing ZIKV from re-emerging in previously affected areas for many years. However, the long-term immune response to ZIKV following an outbreak remains poorly documented.MethodsWe compared results from eight serological surveys, with sample sizes ranging from 49 to 700, before and after known ZIKV outbreaks in the Pacific region: five from cross-sectional studies of schoolchildren and the general population in French Polynesia over a seven-year period; and three from a longitudinal cohort in Fiji over a four-year period.FindingsWe found strong evidence of a decline in seroprevalence in both countries over a two-year period following first reported ZIKV transmission. In the cohort in Fiji, there was also a significant decline in antibody titres against ZIKV. However, the decline in seroprevalence was concentrated in adults, while high seroprevalence persisted in children.InterpretationThe observed patterns of long-term anti-ZIKV antibody levels following outbreaks in the Pacific could be an early indication of the dynamics of population immunity in Latin America. Given that ZIKV antibody levels can wane substantially over time, follow-up seroprevalence studies and prospective clinical trial designs in Latin America may need to be revised, and assumptions about the potential for ZIKV to re-emerge may need to be revisited.FundingPacific Funds, ANR, MRC, Wellcome, Royal Society.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Izumi Katano ◽  
Junjiro N. Negishi ◽  
Tomoko Minagawa ◽  
Hideyuki Doi ◽  
Yôichi Kawaguchi ◽  
...  

AbstractRiverbeds downstream of dams are starved of sediment, impacting habitat structure and ecological function. Despite the implementation of sediment management techniques, there has been no evaluation of their conservational effectiveness; the impacts on high trophic level organisms remain unknown. This study examined the effects of sediment replenishment on riverbeds and macroinvertebrates in a dammed river before and after sediment replenishment. We evaluated the particle sizes of replenished sediments and the case material of a case-bearing caddisfly. We observed significant changes in macroinvertebrate assemblages before and after sediment replenishment, and between the upstream and tributary references and downstream of the dam. The percentages of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera, and the number of inorganic case-bearing caddisflies downstream of the dam following sediment replenishment, were significantly higher than the upstream and tributary reference sites. The particle size of case materials used by case-bearing caddisfly corresponded to the size of the replenished sediment. Dissimilarity results after replenishment showed that assemblages downstream of the dam differed from upstream sites, although they were similar to the tributary sites. The dissimilarity between the tributary and downstream of the dam was the same as that between the upstream and tributary. Sediment replenishment was observed to reduce the harmful effects of the dam, and partly restore benefits such as increasing species diversity and altering community assemblages, similar to the effects of tributary inflows.


Author(s):  
J. Temple Black

Tool materials used in ultramicrotomy are glass, developed by Latta and Hartmann (1) and diamond, introduced by Fernandez-Moran (2). While diamonds produce more good sections per knife edge than glass, they are expensive; require careful mounting and handling; and are time consuming to clean before and after usage, purchase from vendors (3-6 months waiting time), and regrind. Glass offers an easily accessible, inexpensive material ($0.04 per knife) with very high compressive strength (3) that can be employed in microtomy of metals (4) as well as biological materials. When the orthogonal machining process is being studied, glass offers additional advantages. Sections of metal or plastic can be dried down on the rake face, coated with Au-Pd, and examined directly in the SEM with no additional handling (5). Figure 1 shows aluminum chips microtomed with a 75° glass knife at a cutting speed of 1 mm/sec with a depth of cut of 1000 Å lying on the rake face of the knife.


Author(s):  
R. F. Bils ◽  
W. F. Diller ◽  
F. Huth

Phosgene still plays an important role as a toxic substance in the chemical industry. Thiess (1968) recently reported observations on numerous cases of phosgene poisoning. A serious difficulty in the clinical handling of phosgene poisoning cases is a relatively long latent period, up to 12 hours, with no obvious signs of severity. At about 12 hours heavy lung edema appears suddenly, however changes can be seen in routine X-rays taken after only a few hours' exposure (Diller et al., 1969). This study was undertaken to correlate these early changes seen by the roengenologist with morphological alterations in the lungs seen in the'light and electron microscopes.Forty-two adult male and female Beagle dogs were selected for these exposure experiments. Treated animals were exposed to 94.5-107-5 ppm phosgene for 10 min. in a 15 m3 chamber. Roentgenograms were made of the thorax of each animal before and after exposure, up to 24 hrs.


Author(s):  
M. H. Wheeler ◽  
W. J. Tolmsoff ◽  
A. A. Bell

(+)-Scytalone [3,4-dihydro-3,6,8-trihydroxy-l-(2Hj-naphthalenone] and 1,8-di- hydroxynaphthalene (DHN) have been proposed as intermediates of melanin synthesis in the fungi Verticillium dahliae (1, 2, 3, 4) and Thielaviopsis basicola (4, 5). Scytalone is enzymatically dehydrated by V. dahliae to 1,3,8-trihydroxynaphthalene which is then reduced to (-)-vermelone [(-)-3,4- dihydro-3,8-dihydroxy-1(2H)-naphthalenone]. Vermelone is subsequently dehydrated to DHN which is enzymatically polymerized to melanin.Melanin formation in Curvularia sp., Alternaria sp., and Drechslera soro- kiniana was examined by light and electron-transmission microscopy. Wild-type isolates of each fungus were compared with albino mutants before and after treatment with 1 mM scytalone or 0.1 mM DHN in 50 mM potassium phosphate buffer, pH 7.0. Both chemicals were converted to dark pigments in the walls of hyphae and conidia of the albino mutants. The darkened cells were similar in appearance to corresponding cells of the wild types under the light microscope.


Author(s):  
T. Gulik-Krzywicki ◽  
M.J. Costello

Freeze-etching electron microscopy is currently one of the best methods for studying molecular organization of biological materials. Its application, however, is still limited by our imprecise knowledge about the perturbations of the original organization which may occur during quenching and fracturing of the samples and during the replication of fractured surfaces. Although it is well known that the preservation of the molecular organization of biological materials is critically dependent on the rate of freezing of the samples, little information is presently available concerning the nature and the extent of freezing-rate dependent perturbations of the original organizations. In order to obtain this information, we have developed a method based on the comparison of x-ray diffraction patterns of samples before and after freezing, prior to fracturing and replication.Our experimental set-up is shown in Fig. 1. The sample to be quenched is placed on its holder which is then mounted on a small metal holder (O) fixed on a glass capillary (p), whose position is controlled by a micromanipulator.


Author(s):  
R. M. Anderson

Aluminum-copper-silicon thin films have been considered as an interconnection metallurgy for integrated circuit applications. Various schemes have been proposed to incorporate small percent-ages of silicon into films that typically contain two to five percent copper. We undertook a study of the total effect of silicon on the aluminum copper film as revealed by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction and ion microprobe techniques as a function of the various deposition methods.X-ray investigations noted a change in solid solution concentration as a function of Si content before and after heat-treatment. The amount of solid solution in the Al increased with heat-treatment for films with ≥2% silicon and decreased for films <2% silicon.


Author(s):  
T. C. Tisone ◽  
S. Lau

In a study of the properties of a Ta-Au metallization system for thin film technology application, the interdiffusion between Ta(bcc)-Au, βTa-Au and Ta2M-Au films was studied. Considered here is a discussion of the use of the transmission electron microscope(TEM) in the identification of phases formed and characterization of the film microstructures before and after annealing.The films were deposited by sputtering onto silicon wafers with 5000 Å of thermally grown oxide. The film thicknesses were 2000 Å of Ta and 2000 Å of Au. Samples for TEM observation were prepared by ultrasonically cutting 3mm disks from the wafers. The disks were first chemically etched from the silicon side using a HNO3 :HF(19:5) solution followed by ion milling to perforation of the Au side.


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