Search results for "Servo"
showing 10 items of 283 documents
Patterns in Size and Shedding of Fasciola hepatica Eggs by Naturally and Experimentally Infected Murid Rodents
2002
Using samples collected on the island of Corsica, a comparative study was done of the morphometry of Fasciola hepatica eggs shed by cattle and by naturally and experimentally infected murid rodents (wild Mus musculus and Rattus rattus and Rattus norvegicus Wistar laboratory strain). Eggs shed by murids are smaller in size than those shed by naturally infected cattle. A second study analyzed the number of F. hepatica eggs shed in murid feces at different time intervals, i.e., months, days, and 6-hr periods, by the Kato-Katz technique. Both experimentally and naturally infected black rats (R. rattus) were used, and Wistar rats were experimentally infected and included for comparison. The pres…
High temperature and bacteriophages can indirectly select for bacterial pathogenicity in environmental reservoirs
2010
The coincidental evolution hypothesis predicts that traits connected to bacterial pathogenicity could be indirectly selected outside the host as a correlated response to abiotic environmental conditions or different biotic species interactions. To investigate this, an opportunistic bacterial pathogen, Serratia marcescens, was cultured in the absence and presence of the lytic bacteriophage PPV (Podoviridae) at 25°C and 37°C for four weeks (N = 5). At the end, we measured changes in bacterial phage-resistance and potential virulence traits, and determined the pathogenicity of all bacterial selection lines in the Parasemia plantaginis insect model in vivo. Selection at 37°C increased bacterial…
Decreased presence of Langerhans cells is a critical determinant for Indian Post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis.
2015
Post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) is the dermal sequel of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and occurs after apparent cure or alongside with VL. It is confined to South Asia (India, Nepal and Bangladesh) and East Africa (mainly Sudan), the incidence being 5-10% and 50-60% respectively. In South Asia, as the transmission of VL is anthroponotic, PKDL patients are the proposed disease reservoir, thus assuming epidemiological significance, its eradication being linked to the control of leishmaniasis. In the absence of an animal model and its low incidence, factors contributing towards the immunopathogenesis of PKDL remain an open-ended, yet pertinent question. This study delineated the lesio…
Paleoclimate and bubonic plague: a forewarning of future risk?
2010
Background Human cases of plague (Yersinia pestis) infection originate, ultimately, in the bacterium's wildlife host populations. The epidemiological dynamics of the wildlife reservoir therefore determine the abundance, distribution and evolution of the pathogen, which in turn shape the frequency, distribution and virulence of human cases. Earlier studies have shown clear evidence of climatic forcing on contemporary plague abundance in rodents and humans. Results We find that high-resolution palaeoclimatic indices correlate with plague prevalence and population density in a major plague host species, the great gerbil (Rhombomys opimus), over 1949-1995. Climate-driven models trained on these…
Intracerebral Borna Disease Virus Infection of Bank Voles Leading to Peripheral Spread and Reverse Transcription of Viral RNA
2011
Bornaviruses, which chronically infect many species, can cause severe neurological diseases in some animal species; their association with human neuropsychiatric disorders is, however, debatable. The epidemiology of Borna disease virus (BDV), as for other members of the family Bornaviridae, is largely unknown, although evidence exists for a reservoir in small mammals, for example bank voles (Myodes glareolus). In addition to the current exogenous infections and despite the fact that bornaviruses have an RNA genome, bornavirus sequences integrated into the genomes of several vertebrates millions of years ago. Our hypothesis is that the bank vole, a common wild rodent species in traditional B…
Potential implementation of reservoir computing models based on magnetic skyrmions
2018
Reservoir Computing is a type of recursive neural network commonly used for recognizing and predicting spatio-temporal events relying on a complex hierarchy of nested feedback loops to generate a memory functionality. The Reservoir Computing paradigm does not require any knowledge of the reservoir topology or node weights for training purposes and can therefore utilize naturally existing networks formed by a wide variety of physical processes. Most efforts prior to this have focused on utilizing memristor techniques to implement recursive neural networks. This paper examines the potential of skyrmion fabrics formed in magnets with broken inversion symmetry that may provide an attractive phy…
Artificial dam lakes as suitable habitats for exotic invertebrates: Ostracoda ecology and distribution in reservoirs of the Eastern Iberian Peninsula
2014
Reservoirs are the most common deep lakes in Spain, as a consequence of water needs and dry climate. Although these aquatic systems can play an important ecological role in such an area with few large natural lakes, they can also provide new habitats for exotic species, which can colonize ecosystems that native species have not explored yet. Here we present our results for a biannual survey of the ostracod fauna from 24 reservoirs in Xuquer River basin. We check which variables affect ostracod presence, test for differences between winter and summer assemblages, and compare our data with previous available ostracod records from the same river drainage network. Our results reveal that ostrac…
Perspiration versus saliva--basic aspects concerning their use in roadside drug testing.
1999
Various aspects concerning the practical application and forensic interpretation of data obtained by saliva drug testing and drug monitoring from the skin surface are discussed. Basic information on the composition of saliva and skin secretions and their particular transport mechanisms, as far as known, are given. For drugs of abuse secretion into saliva is suggested to be by passive diffusion and to depend on lipid solubility, pKa, plasma protein binding and on the pH of saliva. Drug molecules from blood are considered to reach the skin surface by various routes such as by sweat and sebum as well as by inter- and/or transcellular diffusion. The role of the stratum corneum as a temporary dr…
Dynamical decoupling efficiency versus quantum non-Markovianity
2015
We investigate the relationship between non-Markovianity and the effectiveness of a dynamical decoupling protocol for qubits undergoing pure dephasing. We consider an exact model in which dephasing arises due to a bosonic environment with a spectral density of the Ohmic class. This is parametrised by an Ohmicity parameter by changing which we can model both Markovian and non-Markovian environments. Interestingly, we find that engineering a non-Markovian environment is detrimental to the efficiency of the dynamical decoupling scheme, leading to a worse coherence preservation. We show that each dynamical decoupling pulse reverses the flow of quantum information and, on this basis, we investig…
Algorithms for skiascopy measurement automatization
2014
Automatic dynamic infrared retinoscope was developed, which allows to run procedure at a much higher rate. Our system uses a USB image sensor with up to 180 Hz refresh rate equipped with a long focus objective and 850 nm infrared light emitting diode as light source. Two servo motors driven by microprocessor control the rotation of semitransparent mirror and motion of retinoscope chassis. Image of eye pupil reflex is captured via software and analyzed along the horizontal plane. Algorithm for automatic accommodative state analysis is developed based on the intensity changes of the fundus reflex.