“There was a great mortality in Rome, more serious than is recalled in the time of any other pontiff”. Plagues and diseases in the "Liber Pontificalis"

The aim of this article was to describe how were plagues and illnesses perceived by the authors of the Liber Pontificalis. In the first part circumstances in which the first draft of the Liber Pontificalis was composed were analysed. Attention was given particularly to disadvantages that affected the population of Italy in the 6th century. The second part was devoted to plagues recorded in the Liber Pontificalis. When dealing with the plague the authors of the Liber Pontificalis used several terms like: pestilentia, clades, mors. Usually plagues were presented as caused by natural factors, but there was also a fragment attributing the eruption of the pestilence to divine disfavor. The third part was concerned with diseases that had affected individuals. The majority of cases where diseases were mentioned in the Liber Pontificalis referred to the health of the popes. In the collection of papal biographies there were also descriptions of diseases that had affected other people: an emperor, bishop, soldier, clerk. Some of the illnesses appeared terminal but all of them affected the person`s life.

La mortelega grande, czyli „wielkie umieranie”. Zaraza jako katastrofa (w) wyobraźni

Artykuł omawia dwa literackie przykłady reprezentacji epidemii: libretto młodopolskiego pisarza i krytyka Karola Irzykowskiego Zaraza w Bergamo (1897) oraz utwór przedstawiciela polskiego futuryzmu – Brunona Jasieńskiego Palę Paryż (1928), które ukazują tendencje do pesymistycznego ujmowania rzeczywistości poprzez metaforę zarazy. Autorka wskazuje, iż zainteresowanie twórców chorobą i epidemią jako tematem literackim powraca w momentach przełomów i kryzysów. Narracje o zarazie, pladze czy innym powszechnym zagrożeniu będą w literaturze modernistycznej i międzywojennej reprezentowały właśnie narracje katastroficzne. Twórczość polskich modernistów i awangardzistów ujmuje bowiem całe spektrum katastroficznych tematów, nawet jeśli katastrofę zawęzić do plagi: morowa zaraza, zadżumione miasta i szalejące śmiertelne grypy goszczą na kartach literatury XIX i XX wieku. La Mortelega Grande or the “Great Mortality:” Pestilence as a Disaster for/in the Imagination The present paper discusses two examples of literary depictions of epidemics: the libretto Zaraza w Bergamo (1897) by Young Poland writer and critic Karol Irzykowski and the novel Palę Paryż (1928) by Polish futurist author Bruno Jasieński, with both works exemplifying the trend to use the metaphor of pestilence to create a pessimistic image of reality. The author points out that interest in disease and epidemic as a literary subject often grows in the times of radical change and crises. The narratives of pestilence, plague or other collective threat in modernist and interwar literature were examples of apocalyptic narratives. The output of Polish modernist and avant-garde writers encompassed the entire spectrum of catastrophic themes, even if the range of disasters was limited only to plagues: the Black Death, cities ravaged by the bubonic plague, and raging epidemics of deathly flu strains frequently featured on the pages of literary works produced in the 19th and the 20th century.

Isolation and risk assessment of Geotrichum spp. in the white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei Boone, 1931) from culture ponds

The present study was done in order to identify the fungus invading some of the supralittoral ponds used for shrimp aquaculture in the CIBNOR facilities in La Paz, Baja California Sur (BCS), México during the summer season. From the walls and bottoms of the ponds, two strains of Geotrichum spp. were isolated and morphologically identified. Fungal adhesion towards hemocytes and primary cultures of various white shrimp (Litopeneaus vannamei) tissues (gill, tegument, and gut) was analyzed to determine infectivity. Extracellular protease, lipase, and amylase activity were evaluated as virulence factors. Survival of shrimp postlarvae (PL8) exposed to fungal culture supernatant or to their filaments was also investigated. The results showed that shrimp tegument cells and hemocytes were very susceptible to Geotrichum spp. invasion, and that this fungus provokes great mortality of post-larvae. Hence, Geotrichum spp. could be considered an opportunistic pathogen that might represent a serious health risk to shrimp in culture.

Longevity and survival curves of Rhinella icterica (Anura, Bufonidae) under laboratory conditions

Life tables and survival curves of tadpoles from Rhinella icterica species were studied in the laboratory, under abiotic conditions controlled by a purification filter, a timer and a chiller. The survival curve for larval stage confirms a great mortality trend in the initial stages, which decreases when reaching the mature morphological condition (r = –0.94). Stages 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41 showed gradual values for their age structures, while stages 42, 43 and 44 presented high variations. Based on the results under laboratory conditions, it can be concluded that the maturity of R. icterica tadpoles development between 37 and 44 stages has a negative correlation and their predicted life expectancy is a logarithmic growth curve (y=–761.96Ln(x)+5298.5).

Regional disparities in Canadian adult and old-age mortality: A comparative study based on smoothed mortality ratio surfaces and age at death distributions

This paper examines adult and old-age mortality differentials in Canada between 1930 and 2007 at the provincial level, using theCanadian Human Mortality Database and the flexible smoothing P-spline method in two-dimensions well-suited to the study of smallpopulations. Our analysis reveals that provincial disparities in adult mortality in general, and among the elderly population in particular,are substantial in Canada. Moreover, based on the modal age at death and the standard deviation of ages at death above the mode,provincial disparities at older ages have barely reduced over time, despite the great mortality improvements in all provinces since the early 20th century. In the last few years studied, evidence of the shifting mortality regime was found among females in most Western and Central provinces, while all males were still undergoing an old-age mortality compression regime.

KEMAMPUAN PREDASI TUNGAU PREDATOR Amblyseius sp. RESISTEN TEMPERATUR TERHADAP Tetranychus urticae

he predation ability of temperature resistant Amblyseius sp. to Tetranychus urticae. Global warming and climate changes have caused great mortality of the predatory mites Amblyseius sp. that disrupts the natural control of Tetranychus urticae. In contrast, the low humidity and high temperature led to an increase in the population of T. urticae. The purposes of this study were to determine the effect of temperature on population of the predatory mites Amblyseius sp. and to determine the predation ability of temperature resistant Amblyseius sp. on T. urticae. The selection of Amblyseius sp. was conducted at temperatures of 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 0C. The parental predatory mite Amblyseius sp., and subsequent descendants were exposed to the temperature range until the values of the LT50 fiducial limits (FL) of a certain generation did not overlap with that of the previous one. The effectiveness of Amblyseius sp. predation ability was studied using an experimental method i.e. completely randomized design with four treatments and ten replications . For this purpose, each stage of T. urticae, i.e. egg, larvae, nymph and adult was set as treatment and was given to any type of temperature resistant predatory mite Amblyseius sp. The results showed that by using the temperature gradient, we managed to select temperature-resistant individuals from their population. These individuals formed a population that was resistant to temperature of up to 33.3oC without losing their predatory capacity, especially on the egg stage of T.urticae.

Susceptibility of Aedes aegypti (L) to the insect growth regulators diflubenzuron and methoprene in Uberlândia, State of Minas Gerais

Aedes aegypti (L) (Diptera: Culicidae) was reared in several concentrations of diflubenzuron and methoprene under laboratory conditions in Uberlândia, State of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. Characteristics such as LC50 and LC95, the susceptibility of immature stages of different ages to these insect growth regulators and their residual effects were studied. The LC50 and LC95 of diflubenzuron and methoprene were 5.19 and 12.24 ppb; 19.95 and 72.08 ppb, respectively. While diflubenzuron caused great mortality in all larval instars, methoprene was more effective when the mosquito was exposed from the start of the fourth larval instar onwards. Commercial concentrations of these two insect growth regulators close to LC95 presented greater residual activity than did their respective technical formulations. The parameters were compared with those obtained elsewhere. The characteristics investigated here indicate that these insect growth regulators are effective alternatives for controlling the dengue vector in the Uberlândia region.