scholarly journals Distribution of Phlebotomine Sandflies in the Cave Area of Satun Province, Thailand

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 174
Author(s):  
Suwich Thammapalo ◽  
Aulia Rahmi Pawestri ◽  
Kamal Kolaeh ◽  
Patcharida Boondej ◽  
Rittiporn Benarlee ◽  
...  

Leishmaniasis, a sandfly-transmitted protozoan infection, is a neglected health threat in Thailand and the information on its vector is scarce. This study aimed to identify sandfly distribution, abundance, and environmental conditions of natural breeding sites in the cave areas of Satun Province, where previous cases of leishmaniasis were reported. Sandflies were collected during a six-month period using CDC light traps and modified emergence traps. Species distribution, relative abundance, and environmental conditions of potential breeding sites were determined. Our survey of 12,790 sandflies found the highest female abundance in April–May. We identified six known species, the most prevalent being Sergentomyia anodontis. We also found S. barraudi, a potential Leishmania spp. vector, distributing in this area. Most male sandflies had partially rotated genitalia, indicating the breeding site proximity to our trap locations. Potential resting/breeding sites were discovered outside the cave during February–March, and inside during May–June. The environmental parameters showed warm climate, moderate humidity, moderately alkaline pH, moderate-to-high macronutrients, and low-to-high organic matters. In summary, our study provided the spatiotemporal distribution and environmental condition of sandfly potential breeding sites in the cave areas of Satun Province. This data may contribute to more effective vector surveillance programs in the future.

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 100-107
Author(s):  
Marina Camargo de Sousa ◽  
◽  
Julia Ronzani Vial ◽  
Rodrigo Hidalgo Friciello Teixeira ◽  
Andrea Cristina Higa Nakaghi ◽  
...  

Birds of the psittaciform order, composed by the Psittacidae and Loridae family have several characteristics making them more frequently kept as companion animals, promoting the increase of breeding sites in Brazil. The present study aimed to analyze the specificity and sensitivity of three different coproparasitological tests, Willis, Hoffman and Direto de feces, through statistical tests: Chi-Square and Kappa. 70 fecal samples of exotic parrots were collected from a commercial breeding site and these were submitted to the three tests, totaling 210 coproparasitological exams. Among the tests performed, 29,5% were positive for nematode eggs, cestodes and oocysts. Coproparasitological exams are inexpensive, have clinical importance, indicating the population of endoparasites and therapeutic treatments.


Author(s):  
Rasol Murtadha Najah

This article discusses the application of methods to enhance the knowledge of experts to build a decision-making model based on the processing of physical data on the real state of the environment. Environmental parameters determine its ecological state. To carry out research in the field of expert assessment of environmental conditions, the analysis of known works in this field is carried out. The results of the analysis made it possible to justify the relevance of the application of analytical, stochastic models and models based on methods of enhancing the knowledge of experts — experts. It is concluded that the results of using analytical and stochastic objects are inaccurate, due to the complexity and poor mathematical description of the objects. The relevance of developing information support for an expert assessment of environmental conditions is substantiated. The difference of this article is that based on the analysis of the application of expert methods for assessing the state of the environment, a fuzzy logic adoption model and information support for assessing the environmental state of the environment are proposed. The formalization of the parameters of decision-making models using linguistic and fuzzy variables is considered. The formalization of parameters of decision-making models using linguistic and fuzzy variables was considered. The model’s description of fuzzy inference is given. The use of information support for environment state assessment is shown on the example of experts assessing of the land desertification stage.


Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 585
Author(s):  
Yunjia Li ◽  
Weitao Dou ◽  
Chenyuan Zhou ◽  
Xinyi Wang ◽  
Aijun Yang ◽  
...  

A miniaturized reliability test system for microdevices with controlled environmental parameters is presented. The system is capable of measuring key electrical parameters of the microdevices while controlling the environmental conditions around the microdevices. The test system is compact and thus can be integrated with standard test equipment for microdevices. By using a feed-forward decoupling algorithm, the presented test system is capable of generating a temperature range of 0–120 °C and a humidity range of 20–90% RH (0–55 °C), within a small footprint and weight. The accuracy for temperature and humidity control is ±0.1 °C and ±1% RH (30 °C), respectively. The functionality of the proposed test system is verified by integrating it with a piezo shaker to test the environmental reliability of an electromagnetic vibration energy harvester. The proposed system can be used as a proof-of-technology platform for characterizing the performance of microdevices with controlled environmental parameters.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane C. Miller ◽  
Diana P Baumann ◽  
M. Shane Merryman

The starlet sea anemone (Nematostella vectensis) is an emerging model organism, and we have maintained a colony at the Stowers Institute since 2007. Nematostella are known as a simple sea anemone, related to other cnidarians such as jellyfish and corals. Native to estuarine environments across the Atlantic coast of North America, from Novia Scotia to Florida, they encounter a variety of environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, salinity). Acknowledging that husbandry conditions and environmental parameters can impact research results we provide information about the housing, nutrition, maintenance, and health for our colony of Nematostella. This information will be applicable to any Nematostella housed in the facility in 2021.


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