Biofertilizers in the control of Pratylenchus brachyurus in soybean crop

Nematodes are of great importance in soybean cultivation, especially the Pratylenchus brachyurus known as root lesion nematode. Its attack on plant roots causes less efficiency in the absorption of water and nutrients, in addition to damaging the plant's development. There is still no fully efficient method to control this phytopathogen, however, some products are available on the market, including biological control. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate commercial biological products in the efficiency of reducing the nematode population in soybean crop in Goiás, Brazil. The design was completely randomized in a 2x4 factorial scheme, the first factor being two soybean genotypes (Brasmax Bônus and Nidera NS 8383) and the second factor the treatments consisting of different dosages in an association of three commercial products: No-Estio®, Bio-fertility® and Radic®. The treatments used were: T1 control - without application of the products; T2 half the recommended dose; T3 the recommended dose and T4 a dose and a half that recommended by the manufacturer. Plant evaluation was carried out after 75 days of nematode inoculation. The results obtained showed that both cultivars hosted P. brachyurus, however, the treatments using the products had a lower population density of this nematode. It was concluded that the two soybean cultivars are hosts of Pratylenchus brachyurus. The agronomic character plant height was more affected when there was no application by the biological method. The association of No-Estio®, Bio-fertility® and Radic® products reduced the population density of nematodes in infected plants.

Spatial Clustering of Vaccine Exemptions on the Risk of a Measles Outbreak

OBJECTIVES Areas of increased school-entry vaccination exemptions play a key role in epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases in the United States. California eliminated nonmedical exemptions in 2016, which increased overall vaccine coverage but also rates of medical exemptions. We examine how spatial clustering of exemptions contributed to measles outbreak potential pre- and postpolicy change. METHODS We modeled measles transmission in an empirically calibrated hypothetical population of youth aged 0 to 17 years in California and compared outbreak sizes under the observed spatial clustering of exemptions in schools pre- and postpolicy change with counterfactual scenarios of no postpolicy change increase in medical exemptions, no clustering of exemptions, and lower population immunization levels. RESULTS The elimination of nonmedical exemptions significantly reduced both average and maximal outbreak sizes, although increases in medical exemptions resulted in more than twice as many infections, on average, than if medical exemptions were maintained at prepolicy change levels. Spatial clustering of nonmedical exemptions provided some initial protection against random introduction of measles infections; however, it ultimately allowed outbreaks with thousands more infections than when exemptions were randomly distributed. The large-scale outbreaks produced by exemption clusters could not be reproduced when exemptions were distributed randomly until population vaccination was lowered by >6 percentage points. CONCLUSIONS Despite the high overall vaccinate rate, the spatial clustering of exemptions in schools was sufficient to threaten local herd immunity and reduce protection from measles outbreaks. Policies strengthening vaccine requirements may be less effective if alternative forms of exemptions (eg, medical) are concentrated in existing low-immunization areas.

Epidemiology of Animal Poisonings in the Canary Islands (Spain) during the Period 2014–2021

Animal poisoning is one of the greatest conservation threats facing wildlife. In a preliminary study in the oceanic archipelago of the Canary Islands, we showed that the degree of threat from this circumstance was very high-even higher than that reported in other regions of continental Europe. Consequently, a legal framework for the effective prosecution of the crime of wildlife poisoning came into force in 2014 in this region. We present the results of the investigation of 961 animals and 84 baits sent to our laboratory for the diagnosis of animal poisonings during the period 2014–2021. We were able to identify poison as the cause of death in 251 animals and 61 baits. Carbofuran stands out as the main agent used in this archipelago. We have also detected an increasing tendency to use mixtures of several pesticides in the preparation of baits. The entry into operation of two canine patrols has led to the detection of more dead animals in the wild and a greater number of poisoned animals. The percentage of poison positives is significantly higher in areas with lower population density, corresponding to rural environments, as well as in areas with greater agricultural and livestock activity.

Privacy-preserving storage of sequenced genomic data

Background The current and future applications of genomic data may raise ethical and privacy concerns. Processing and storing of this data introduce a risk of abuse by potential offenders since the human genome contains sensitive personal information. For this reason, we have developed a privacy-preserving method, named Varlock providing secure storage of sequenced genomic data. We used a public set of population allele frequencies to mask the personal alleles detected in genomic reads. Each personal allele described by the public set is masked by a randomly selected population allele with respect to its frequency. Masked alleles are preserved in an encrypted confidential file that can be shared in whole or in part using public-key cryptography. Results Our method masked the personal variants and introduced new variants detected in a personal masked genome. Alternative alleles with lower population frequency were masked and introduced more often. We performed a joint PCA analysis of personal and masked VCFs, showing that the VCFs between the two groups cannot be trivially mapped. Moreover, the method is reversible and personal alleles in specific genomic regions can be unmasked on demand. Conclusion Our method masks personal alleles within genomic reads while preserving valuable non-sensitive properties of sequenced DNA fragments for further research. Personal alleles in the desired genomic regions may be restored and shared with patients, clinics, and researchers. We suggest that the method can provide an additional security layer for storing and sharing of the raw aligned reads.

Staple Products, Linkages, and Development: Evidence from Argentina

We investigate how historical patterns of primary production influenced development across local economies in Argentina. Our identification strategy exploits exogenous variation in the composition of primary production induced by climatic features. We find that locations specializing in ranching had weaker linkages with other activities, higher concentration in land ownership, lower population density, and less immigration than cereal-producing areas. Over time, ranching localities continued to exhibit lower population density, and they experienced relatively sluggish industrialization. Ultimately, ranching specialization had large negative effects on long-run levels of income per capita and human capital.

Molecular analysis revealed genetic decline in hatchery-produced Cyprinus carpio

Population genetic structure of cultured fish species is vital for improving the fisheries management and stock enhancement programs. The genetic variability and population genetic structure at fourteen microsatellite loci of a total 210 individuals of Cyprinus carpio from six selected hatcheries were analyzed. The data obtained through microsatellite markers showed a low- to-moderate level of genetic diversity in terms of allele numbers (Na), allelic richness (Ar), effective allele numbers (Nae) and observed heterozygosity (Ho) in all the populations. At the examined loci, 32 out of 84 possible tests were observed to be significantly (P<0.05) deviated from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Maximal gene flow (Nm) and lower population differentiation (FST) was experienced among populations. However, significant (P<0.05) differentiation was observed among some populations. An analysis of the distribution of genetic variation indicated within individual was very high (69.07%), while, among individuals within populations and among populations was low (29.56% and 1.37%, respectively). Recent bottleneck was detected with the shifted mode. Phylogenetic neighbor joining tree analysis showed the two distinct clusters. The inferences of this study would be helpful for setting up effective management strategies for the better conservation of genetic integrity in the hatchery stocks of C. carpio.

Cardinium inhibits Wolbachia in its mite host, Tyrophagus putrescentiae, and affects host fitness

ABSTRACT Interactions among endosymbiotic bacteria inside their eukaryotic hosts are poorly understood, particularly in mites. The mite Tyrophagus putrescentiae is a common, medically important generalist species that has many intracellular and gut bacterial symbionts. In the experiments, we examined bacterial abundances and composition in mite populations obtained by controlled mixing of stock mite populations that differed in the presence/absence of the major intracellular bacteria Wolbachia and Cardinium. Changes in microbial communities were characterized using 16S ribosomal RNA high-throughput sequencing (pooled mite individuals) and quantitative PCR for key microbial taxa (individual mites). Mite fitness was estimated as a parameter of population growth. We detected that in mixed mite populations, Cardinium and Wolbachia can co-occur in the same mite individual. The presence of Cardinium was negatively correlated with the presence of Wolbachia and Bartonella, while the Bartonella and Wolbachia were positively correlated in individual level samples. Since mixed populations had lower abundances of Wolbachia, while the abundance of Cardinium did not change, we suggest that the presence of Cardinium inhibits the growth of Wolbachia. The mixed mite populations had lower population growth than parental populations. The possible effect of symbionts on the fitness of mixed population is discussed.

Understanding the Temporal, Regional, Demographic, and Policy Factors Influencing Counties’ Daily Traffic Volume Reductions in Response to COVID-19

This research aims to understand temporal, regional, demographic, and policy factors that influenced travel reduction within the contiguous United States during the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Particularly, this research combines U.S. Census data, infection rates, and state-level mandates to determine their effects on daily, county-level vehicle miles traveled (VMT) estimations from March 1, 2020 to April 21, 2020. Specifically, this work generates metrics of VMT per capita, daily change in VMT, and VMT immediate reaction rates for every county in the U.S.A. and develops regression models to determine how these factors influence VMT rates over time. Results show that state-mandated orders were deployed in a pattern relative to their expected economic impact. Model results showed infection rates may have had a greater influence on forcing state policy adoption, ensuring reduced VMT, rather than the number of cases directly influencing individual travel to a significant degree. Additionally, counties with higher populations or labeled as urban counties saw a greater reduction in VMT across all three models compared with lower population and rural counties. Planners and policy makers in the future can utilize the results of this research to make better informed responses as well as to know the expected results of their actions.

Are Mobility and COVID-19 Related? A Dynamic Analysis for Portuguese Districts

In this research work, we propose to assess the dynamic correlation between different mobility indices, measured on a daily basis, and the new cases of COVID-19 in the different Portuguese districts. The analysis is based on global correlation measures, which capture linear and non-linear relationships in time series, in a robust and dynamic way, in a period without significant changes of non-pharmacological measures. The results show that mobility in retail and recreation, grocery and pharmacy, and public transport shows a higher correlation with new COVID-19 cases than mobility in parks, workplaces or residences. It should also be noted that this relationship is lower in districts with lower population density, which leads to the need for differentiated confinement policies in order to minimize the impacts of a terrible economic and social crisis.

Non-vertical cultural transmission, assortment and the evolution of cooperation

Cultural evolution of cooperation under vertical and non-vertical cultural transmission is studied, and conditions are found for fixation and coexistence of cooperation and defection. The evolution of cooperation is facilitated by its horizontal transmission and by an association between social interactions and horizontal transmission. The effect of oblique transmission depends on the horizontal transmission bias. Stable polymorphism of cooperation and defection can occur, and when it does, reduced association between social interactions and horizontal transmission evolves, which leads to a decreased frequency of cooperation and lower population mean fitness. The deterministic conditions are compared to outcomes of stochastic simulations of structured populations. Parallels are drawn with Hamilton’s rule incorporating relatedness and assortment.