scholarly journals The Influence of Habitat on Viral Diversity in Neotropical Rodent Hosts

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1690
Author(s):  
Sourakhata Tirera ◽  
Benoit de Thoisy ◽  
Damien Donato ◽  
Christiane Bouchier ◽  
Vincent Lacoste ◽  
...  

Rodents are important reservoirs of numerous viruses, some of which have significant impacts on public health. Ecosystem disturbances and decreased host species richness have been associated with the emergence of zoonotic diseases. In this study, we aimed at (a) characterizing the viral diversity in seven neotropical rodent species living in four types of habitats and (b) exploring how the extent of environmental disturbance influences this diversity. Through a metagenomic approach, we identified 77,767 viral sequences from spleen, kidney, and serum samples. These viral sequences were attributed to 27 viral families known to infect vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, and amoeba. Viral diversities were greater in pristine habitats compared with disturbed ones, and lowest in peri-urban areas. High viral richness was observed in savannah areas. Differences in these diversities were explained by rare viruses that were generally more frequent in pristine forest and savannah habitats. Moreover, changes in the ecology and behavior of rodent hosts, in a given habitat, such as modifications to the diet in disturbed vs. pristine forests, are major determinants of viral composition. Lastly, the phylogenetic relationships of four vertebrate-related viral families (Polyomaviridae, Flaviviridae, Togaviridae, and Phenuiviridae) highlighted the wide diversity of these viral families, and in some cases, a potential risk of transmission to humans. All these findings provide significant insights into the diversity of rodent viruses in Amazonia, and emphasize that habitats and the host’s dietary ecology may drive viral diversity. Linking viral richness and abundance to the ecology of their hosts and their responses to habitat disturbance could be the starting point for a better understanding of viral emergence and for future management of ecosystems.

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Abd Rachim AF,

One of the environmental problems in urban areas is the pollution caused by garbage. The waste problem is caused by various factors such as population growth, living standards changes, lifestyles and behavior, as well as how the waste management system. This study aims to determine how the role of society to levy payments garbage in Samarinda. This research was descriptive; where the data is collected then compiled, described and analyzed used relative frequency analysis. The participation of the public to pay a "levy junk", which stated to pay 96.67%, for each month and the rates stated society cheap, moderate and fairly, respectively 46.08%, 21.21%, 21.04%. Base on the data , the role of the community to pay "levy junk" quite high.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 84
Author(s):  
Dyah Ayu Widiasih ◽  
Johanna Frida Lindahl ◽  
Wayan T. Artama ◽  
Adi Heru Sutomo ◽  
Pande Made Kutanegara ◽  
...  

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease occurring worldwide with reproductive symptoms and production losses in livestock, while humans can suffer fatal renal failure. In Yogyakarta Special Province, Indonesia, there have been several outbreaks with high case fatality, demonstrating the public health importance, but there is limited understanding of the epidemiology. This study used an EcoHealth approach to ensure transdisciplinarity and community participation. Seroprevalence of Leptospira in animals was studied between October 2011 and May 2013 in 15 villages. Serum samples from 1404 cattle and 60 small ruminants were screened by a Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT), first in pools, and then the individual positive samples were identified. Focus group discussions including farmers, village officials, and official stakeholders were used to explore knowledge and behavior of zoonotic diseases, particularly leptospirosis. Two small ruminants were seropositive for Leptospira icterohemorrhagiae. From the cattle, 3.7% were seropositive, and the most common serovars were Leptospira hardjo, followed by L. icterohemorrhagiae. Out of all farms, 5.6% had at least one positive cattle. Risk factor analyses showed that the risk of the farm being seropositive increased if the farmer used water from an open source, or if farming was not the main occupation. This study showed the presence of Leptospira spp. in ruminants in Yogyakarta and identified use of open water as a risk factor for the livestock. We also observed that the knowledge related to leptospirosis was low, and risky farm management practices were commonly employed.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. e42147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huiquan Liu ◽  
Yanping Fu ◽  
Jiatao Xie ◽  
Jiasen Cheng ◽  
Said A. Ghabrial ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Dongsheng Li

Abstract A new tool, macrotexture map, was developed to represent and visualize texture heterogeneity in polycrystalline aggregate. This is a critical tool for microstructure representation, useful in risk analysis, performance simulation, and hotspot identification. In contrast to orientation imaging microscope (OIM) map where each color represents a crystal orientation, each color in this macrotexture map represents a texture. Different color represent different texture and similar texture shall have similar color. Macrotexture map provide a unique function to quantitatively evaluate texture heterogeneity of large components, leading to a first-hand understanding of property heterogeneity and anisotropy. For an experienced user, these maps serve the same purpose in identifying high risk locations in the investigated component as medical imaging maps do for diagnosis purpose. This method will also serve as a starting point in mesoscale simulation with meshing sensitivity based on the texture heterogeneity. It will provide a bridge between texture characterization and behavior simulation of components with texture heterogeneity. Macrotexture map will offer a linkage between crystal plasticity simulation in small length scale and finite element/difference simulation in large length scale.


2021 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lizeth Paola Naranjo Jiménez ◽  
Myriam Adriana Muñoz Briceño ◽  
Ángela Suárez Castillo ◽  
Claudia Patricia Lamby Tovar ◽  
Sandra Janeth Gutierrez Prieto

Background: Amelogenesis imperfecta (AI) is a hereditary condition that affects the structure of tooth enamel and causes sensitivity, predisposition to cavities, and psychological problems. In Colombia, its frequency, magnitude, distribution, and behavior are unknown, so it is necessary to carry out prevalence studies to implement preventive actions. Purpose: To determine the prevalence of AI in patients who have attended the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana clinics in Bogotá. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional observational study was carried out, whose sample included 1,394 medical records of patients who attended between January 2015 and December 2017. Results: The prevalence of AI was 0.6 %, corresponding to 8 people affected, 4 men and 4 women between the ages of 9 and 10 years. The most frequent phenotype was hypoplastic in 7 patients (87.5 %) and one person had a hypocalcified phenotype (12.5 %). Taurodontism was the most frequent anomaly in the 8 patients (100 %). Seven of the eight patients (87.5 %) had a family history of AI. All the individuals had a lower-middle socioeconomic level and came from urban areas. Conclusions: This study is the first approximation to determine the prevalence of AI in a group of the Colombian population. Although the prevalence was low, it is comparable with the findings of other studies.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spiro Jorga ◽  
Kalliopi Florou ◽  
Christos Kaltsonoudis ◽  
John Kodros ◽  
Christina Vasilakopoulou ◽  
...  

<p>Biomass burning including residential heating, agricultural fires, prescribed burning, and wildfires is a major source of gaseous and particulate pollutants in the atmosphere. Although, important changes in the size distributions and the chemical composition of the biomass burning aerosol during daytime chemistry have been observed, the corresponding changes at nighttime or in winter where photochemistry is slow, have received relatively little attention. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that nightime chemistry in biomass burning plumes can be rapid in urban areas using a dual smog chamber system.</p><p> </p><p>Ambient urban air during winter nighttime periods with high concentrations of ambient biomass burning organic aerosol is used as the starting point. Ozone was added in the perturbed chamber to simulate mixing with background air (and subsequent NO<sub>3</sub> production and aging) while the second chamber was used as a reference. Following the injection of ozone rapid organic aerosol (OA) formation was observed in all experiments leading to increases of the OA concentration by 20-70%. The oxygen to carbon ratio of the OA increased by 50% on average and the mass spectra of the produced OA was quite similar to that of the oxidized OA mass spectra reported during winter in urban areas. Good correlation was also observed with the produced mass spectra from nocturnal aging of laboratory biomass burning emissions showing the strong contribution of biomass burning emissions in the SOA formation during cold nights with high biomass burning activities. Concentrations of NO<sub>3</sub> radicals as high as 25 ppt were measured in the perturbed chamber with an accompanying production of 0.2-1.2 μg m<sup>-3</sup> of organic nitrate. These results strongly indicate that the OA in biomass burning plumes can evolve rapidly even during wintertime periods with low photochemical activity.</p>


2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (suppl.) ◽  
pp. 79-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogdana Vujic ◽  
Srdjan Vukmirovic ◽  
Goran Vujic ◽  
Nebojsa Jovicic ◽  
Gordana Jovicic ◽  
...  

In the recent years, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been used to predict the concentrations of various gaseous pollutants in ambient air, mainly to forecast mean daily particle concentrations. The data on traffic air pollution, irrespective of whether they are obtained by measuring or modelling, represent an important starting point for planning effective measures to improve air quality in urban areas. The aim of this study was to develop a mathematical model for predicting daily concentrations of air pollution caused by the traffic in urban areas. For the model development, experimental data have been collected for 10 months, covering all four seasons. The data about hourly concentration levels of suspended particles with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 ?m (PM10) and meteorological data (temperature, air humidity, speed and direction of wind), measured at the measuring station in the town of Subotica from June 2008 to March 2009, served as the basis for developing an ANN-based model for forecasting mean daily concentrations of PM10. The quality of the ANN model was assessed on the basis of the statistical parameters, such as RMSE, MAE, MAPE, and r.


2021 ◽  
Vol In Press (In Press) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sedigheh Salavati ◽  
Hamid Shokri ◽  
Asghar Tanomand ◽  
Maryam Shirvani ◽  
Ali Soleimani ◽  
...  

Background: The awareness of people’s health knowledge and behavior on COVID-19 has helped guide education and health promotion policies, and examination of people’s opinions on governance measures against this disease will guide policymakers in making more decisions and responsiveness. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate people’s knowledge and behaviors toward COVID-19 and their views on adopted public policies against this disease in Maragheh, a city in the Northwest of Iran. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional, analytical study that was done in urban areas of Maragheh from 13 November to 20 December 2020. The sample size was estimated at 672 participants, and the sampling method was stratified random. The data collection instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire that consisted of four sections: demographic information, health behaviors, respondent’s knowledge of COVID-19, and their viewpoints on adopted public policies against this disease and was shared online. The one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression were used to analyze data with SPSS version 23. Results: The mean scores of people’s knowledge (6.42 ± 1.2) out of 9 and health behaviors (34.8 ± 3.9) of 36 were moderate. The majority of respondents had high levels of knowledge and also behavior about keeping the physical distance (98.5%) and proper handwashing (97.9%). Knowledge (β = 0.23) and male (β = -0.27) were the predictors of health behaviors (p < 0.001, F = 12.47). The investigation of myths on COVID-19 indicated that 17% and 41.1% of the respondents believed that alcohol consumption and using garlic and herbal drinks are effective in the prevention and 57.7% of them believed that holding the breath for 10 seconds is a sign of being healthy. People’s views on the COVID-19 control policies were assessed to be at the medium level (48.2 ± 7.5) of 65. The most effective policies against COVID-19 from the people’s opinions consisted of lockdown policies (96.4%), schools’ closure (95.9%), and constraints on intercity trips (91.3%). Conclusions: It seems necessary to strengthen measures on health knowledge promotion and implementation of health education interventions on protective behaviors of COVID-19 in such a way that right beliefs are replaced with wrong ones. Based on positive public opinions on Lockdown interventions, re-applying these policies is recommended to get the cities out of the high-risk situation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-78
Author(s):  
Camelia Ionescu ◽  
Mădălina Adriana Malița ◽  
Viorel Ștefan Perieanu ◽  
Mihai Burlibașa ◽  
Magdalena Natalia Dina ◽  
...  

Abstract When talking about dental assistance we actually refer to the prevention, detection and treatment of diseases of the oral and maxillo-facial region which, in most cases, have as a starting point or interest the dento-maxillary system. In this material, we tried to present a comparative study on the typology and complexity of different stages of dental treatments that can be performed in urban areas, compared to various stages of dental treatments that are performed and / or could be made in rural dental offices from in Romania.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-78
Author(s):  
Sławomir Palicki

Abstract Polish cities have been at the stage of a dynamic suburban development for over a decade (which has led to the phenomenon of urban sprawl beyond any control). The population of big urban areas, together with their agglomerations is continuously increasing; however, migration tendencies towards suburban areas are strong as well. In such a situation, the question arises regarding the possibilities and the methods of suppressing the outflow of people to the neighboring communities, and once again, making the city an attractive place to live. The attempt to explain such an issue requires research into both the housing infrastructure and its inhabitants. Poznan has been severely affected by suburbanization. The diagnosis and assessment of Poznan housing resources and the preferences of its inhabitants are the starting point for taking further steps in making the housing conditions more attractive. The article shows the initial results of widespread research regarding housing in the capital city of the Wielkopolska Province (comprising over 2,500 households). A similar study for the entire agglomeration (Poznan County) is due to be completed soon. It will allow for a comparative analysis and formulating recommendations regarding the conditions and the direction of changes on the real estate market which would increase the attractiveness of central cities suffering from suburbanization. In a wider context, the publication might be seen as an analysis of one of the elements of modern urban changes, such as either market driven, or free and spontaneous processes of urban sprawl, and conscious actions taken by local governments (together with developers) regarding the integrated urban revitalization policy.


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