Demographic patterns of human antibody levels to Simulium damnosum s.l. saliva in onchocerciasis-endemic areas: An indicator of exposure to vector bites

Background In onchocerciasis endemic areas in Africa, heterogenous biting rates by blackfly vectors on humans are assumed to partially explain age- and sex-dependent infection patterns with Onchocerca volvulus. To underpin these assumptions and further improve predictions made by onchocerciasis transmission models, demographic patterns in antibody responses to salivary antigens of Simulium damnosum s.l. are evaluated as a measure of blackfly exposure. Methodology/Principal findings Recently developed IgG and IgM anti-saliva immunoassays for S. damnosum s.l. were applied to blood samples collected from residents in four onchocerciasis endemic villages in Ghana. Demographic patterns in antibody levels according to village, sex and age were explored by fitting generalized linear models. Antibody levels varied between villages but showed consistent patterns with age and sex. Both IgG and IgM responses declined with increasing age. IgG responses were generally lower in males than in females and exhibited a steeper decline in adult males than in adult females. No sex-specific difference was observed in IgM responses. Conclusions/Significance The decline in age-specific antibody patterns suggested development of immunotolerance or desensitization to blackfly saliva antigen in response to persistent exposure. The variation between sexes, and between adults and youngsters may reflect differences in behaviour influencing cumulative exposure. These measures of antibody acquisition and decay could be incorporated into onchocerciasis transmission models towards informing onchocerciasis control, elimination, and surveillance.

Valuing the Benefits and Enhancing Access: Community and Allotment Gardens in Urban Melbourne, Australia

The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of the benefits and challenges experienced by community and allotment gardens utilising a broad theoretical analysis, pertaining to the case study of Melbourne, a city in Australia that until recently has been experiencing significant population growth and urban densification. The study involved qualitative, semi-structured interviews with 23 participants from six urban community and allotment gardens. Interviews identified the perceived benefits of community and allotment gardening, perceived demographic patterns of engagement, challenges faced in relation to secure land access, and the potential offered by community and allotment gardens for social and environmental wellbeing. Findings revealed a range of perceived benefits, perceived demographic patterns, highlighted challenges posed to participation due to insecurity around ongoing land access, and detailed the perceived capacity community and allotment gardens have to contribute to social and environmental wellbeing. This study contributes to existing literature focused on the benefits and potential of community and allotment gardening for personal, social and environmental wellbeing, by offering an original theoretical contribution through carrying out an analysis informed by urban geography, phenomenology, political economy and ecology, and to literature focused on issues of access to land for these amenities.

The Human Tide: A Review Essay

The Human Tide: How Population Shaped the Modern World, by Paul Morland, argues for the importance of demography in both historical events and our current situation. Intended for a general audience, the book traces demographic developments from the late eighteenth century, arguing that the timing and pace of demographic change helps to explain why some countries became powerful and others did not. The author continues the story into the twentieth century, discussing the changes in age structure and internal ethno-religious balances that are consequences of demographic patterns. Many readers will find the questions and themes in The Human Tide interesting. Unfortunately, the book misrepresents some research findings and is confused about important demographic concepts. The Human Tide deals with fundamental changes in human society over the past two centuries, but for a clear account of those changes, readers will have to go elsewhere. (JEL I12, J11, J13, J15, K37, N30)

Phylogeography and population genetics of a widespread cold-adapted ant, Prenolepis imparis

Historical climate fluctuations have left genetic signatures on species and populations across North America. Here, we used phylogenetic and population genetic analyses from 1,402 orthologous sequences of 75 individuals obtained through sequencing of Ultraconserved Elements (UCEs) to identify population genetic structure and historical demographic patterns across the range of a widespread, cold-adapted ant, the winter ant, Prenolepis imparis. We relate the genomic patterns to those expected as a result of in situ diversification, maintained connectivity, or recent migration. We recovered five well-supported, genetically isolated clades across the distribution: 1) a basal lineage located in Florida, 2) populations across the southern United States, 3) populations that span the midwestern and northeastern United States, 4) populations from the western United States, and 5) populations in southwestern Arizona and Mexico. Using Bayesian clustering analysis in STRUCTURE and k-means clustering in ADEGENET, we investigated gene flow between these major genetic clades and did not find evidence of gene flow between clades. We did find evidence of localized structure with migration in the western United States clade. High support for five major geographic lineages and lack of evidence of contemporary gene flow indicate in situ diversification across the species’ range, probably influenced by glacial cycles of the late Quaternary.

Data deciphered: A visual migration of VFX

<p>The visual effects industry is an interconnected network of migratory professionals that is in an on-going state of dynamism. The transient nature of industry contracts and the resultant economic impact of studio ebb and flow is a largely uncharted, yet highly phenomenological subject, within design discourse. In the absence of a reliable metric to quantify employee migration, previous theories in this field have been speculative and conjectural. However, the wealth of data inherent in employment-oriented social-media profiles and online crowd-sourced databases provides a new way in which to identify and analyse collective trends in industry migration. Data Deciphered: A Visual Migration of VFX reveals the geographical and demographic patterns in the postproduction services industry through the data visualization medium. Furthermore, it investigates the optimal way to comprehend, filter and relate the large volume of information that is the sector’s migration patterns. This thesis first amassed a dataset of 82,711 migratory employment records specific to professionals within the visual effects industry over the previous 35 years. It drew this information from the public-facing pages of both the LinkedIn and Internet Movie Database (IMDB) online Internet platforms. This collection has been subsequently used to drive a 3D visualization tool that was constructed within the Unity5 game engine. This study has revealed that, despite claims to the contrary, California continues to function as the central hub of the visual effects world and that the majority of industry professionals have been located there at some point throughout their employment histories. Furthermore, environment and matte-painting roles have been identified as the most migratory, while technician and code professions tend to be more static. Finally, skills analysis demonstrates that while proficiency in software packages and coding languages is prevalent within the industry, ultimately, the possession of these abilities has negligible impact upon migration frequency.</p>

Fecal Carriage and Molecular Characterization of Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacterales in the Pediatric Population in Qatar

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study addressing the molecular characteristics of CPE in a pediatric population in Qatar using whole-genome sequencing. Since several countries in the Arabian Peninsula share relatively similar demographic patterns and international links, it is plausible that the molecular characteristics of CPE in children, at least in the middle and eastern parts of the region, are similar to those observed in our study.

Old and ancient trees are life history lottery winners and act as evolutionary buffers against long-term environmental change

Trees can live many centuries with sustained fecundity and death is largely stochastic. We use a neutral stochastic model to examine the demographic patterns that emerge over time, across a range of population sizes and empirically observed mortality rates. A small proportion of trees (~1% at 1.5% mortality) are life-history lottery winners, achieving ages >10-20x median age. Maximum age increases with bigger populations and lower mortality rates. One quarter of trees (~24%) achieve ages that are 3-4 times greater than median age. Three age classes (Mature, Old, and Ancient) contribute unique historical diversity across complex environmental cycles. Ancient trees are an emergent property of forests that requires many centuries to generate. They radically change generation time variance and population fitness, bridging infrequent environmental cycles. These life-history lottery winners are vital to future forest dynamics and invaluable data about environmental history and individual longevity. Old-growth forests contain trees that cannot be replaced through restoration or regeneration in the near future. They simply must be protected to preserve their unique diversity.

Does mosque location matter? Mosque and Islamic shops in the European context

Purpose Mosques influence the surrounding neighborhoods’ demographic patterns and motivate investors to establish new businesses and commercial activities. This study aims to explore the impact of the mosque on the emergence of new businesses. Furthermore, this study examines the demography of neighborhoods in which mosques are located. Design/methodology/approach This study opts for an exploratory study using a retrospective analysis approach to explore the mosque’s impact on the social and functional aspects of neighborhoods. The emerging shops around mosques in the city of Liège (Belgium) are analyzed using a logistic regression model. The criterion for the location of Islamic shops was cross-referenced with other variables, such as distance from the center, proximity to supermarkets and shopping malls, distance from the mosque, socio-economic variables (immigration, income nationalities, etc.) and bus accessibility data. Several zones around mosques, ranging from 100 to 1000 m, are established to examine the correlation between types of businesses and distance to the mosque. Five types of businesses are identified: regular trade, light semi-regular trade, heavy semi-regular trade, Horeca and services. Islamic shops are identified based on on-site observations and interviews and classified by type. Findings The results show that mosques significantly impact the establishment of new businesses in the surrounding urban space (especially Islamic shops). In terms of the types of Islamic shops surrounding the mosques, this study found a strong presence of “Horeca” (cafes, restaurants and snack bars), and “light semi-regular trade” (mainly personal care). Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the few studies that fulfill the need to understand the role of the mosque location in European cities, focusing on its impact on Islamic shops.

The Louisiana Amphibian Monitoring Program from 1997 to 2017: Results, analyses, and lessons learned

To determine trends in either frog distribution or abundance in the State of Louisiana, we reviewed and analyzed frog call data from the Louisiana Amphibian Monitoring Program (LAMP). The data were collected between 1997 and 2017 using North American Amphibian Monitoring Program protocols. Louisiana was divided into three survey regions for administration and analysis: the Florida Parishes, and 2 areas west of the Florida parishes called North and South. Fifty-four routes were surveyed with over 12,792 stops and 1,066 hours of observation. Observers heard 26 species of the 31 species reported to be in Louisiana. Three of the species not heard were natives with ranges that did not overlap with survey routes. The other two species were introduced species, the Rio Grande Chirping Frog (Eleutherodactylus cystignathoides) and the Cuban Treefrog (Osteopilus septentrionalis). Both seem to be limited to urban areas with little to no route coverage. The 15 most commonly occurring species were examined in detail using the percentage of stops at which they observed along a given survey and their call indices. Most species exhibited a multimodal, concave, or convex pattern of abundance over a 15-year period. Among LAMP survey regions, none of the species had synchronous population trends. Only one group of species, winter callers, regularly co-occur. Based on the species lists, the North region could be seen as a subset of the South. However, based on relative abundance, the North was more similar to Florida parishes for both the winter and summer survey runs. Our analyses demonstrate that long-term monitoring (10 years or more) may be necessary to determine population and occupancy trends, and that frog species may have different local demographic patterns across large geographic areas.