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In southern African transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs), people, livestock and wildlife share space and resources in semi-arid landscapes. One consequence of the coexistence of wild and domestic herbivores is the risk of pathogen transmission. This risk threatens local livelihoods relying on animal production, public health in the case of zoonoses, national economies in the context of transboundary animal diseases, and the success of integrated conservation and development initiatives. The level of interaction between sympatric wild and domestic hosts, defining different wildlife/livestock interfaces, characterizes opportunities of pathogen transmission between host populations. Exploring the relationship between infection burden and different types of wildlife/domestic interfaces is therefore necessary to manage the sanitary risk in animal populations through control options adapted to these multi-host systems. Here, we assessed the infection burdens of sympatric domestic cattle (Bos taurus/Bos indicus) and African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) at an unfenced interface and compared the infection burdens of cattle populations at different wildlife/livestock interfaces in the Great Limpopo TFCA. Patterns of infection in ungulate populations varied between wild and domestic hosts and between cattle populations at different wildlife/livestock interfaces. Foot-and-mouth disease, Rift Valley fever and theileriosis infections were detected in buffalo and cattle at unfenced interfaces; bovine tuberculosis was only present in buffalo; and brucellosis and lumpy skin disease only in cattle. At unfenced interfaces, cattle populations presented significantly higher Theileria parva and brucellosis prevalence. We hypothesize that cattle populations at wildlife/livestock interfaces face an increased risk of infection compared to those isolated from wildlife, and that the type of interface could influence the diversity and quantity of pathogens shared. Additional host behavioural and molecular epidemiological studies need to be conducted to support this hypothesis. If it is confirmed, the management of wildlife/livestock interfaces will need to be considered through the prism of livestock and public health.

Background and aims: Treatment with infliximab induces remission in about 70% of patients with steroid refractory Crohn's disease. Because Crohn's disease is considered to be mediated by uncontrolled activation of mucosal T lymphocytes, we hypothesised that infliximab could induce apoptosis of T lymphocytes. Methods: Induction of apoptosis in vivo was studied in 10 patients with therapy refractory Crohn's disease. In vitro, resting or stimulated Jurkat T cells were incubated with infliximab. Results: Infusion of infliximab (5 mg/kg) in steroid refractory patients with Crohn's disease induced a clinical response in 9/10 patients but did not influence expression of activation markers, homing receptors, memory cells, Fas expression, or Bax/Bcl-2 expression on peripheral blood T lymphocytes. In contrast, a significant increase in CD3 and TUNEL positive cells within colonic biopsies was detected 24 hours after infusion of infliximab, suggesting that infliximab stimulates apoptosis of activated T lymphocytes but not of resting T cells. To test this hypothesis, the effects of infliximab on Jurkat T cells were investigated. We observed that infliximab induced apoptosis and an increase in the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio of CD3/CD28 stimulated Jurkat T cells but not of unstimulated Jurkat cells. Conclusions: Our data indicate that infliximab treatment causes a rapid and specific increase in apoptosis of T lymphocytes in the gut mucosa. These findings may explain the rapid and sustained therapeutic effects of infliximab in Crohn's disease.

The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Scanning Raman Lidar (SRL) participated in the International H2O Project (IHOP), which occurred in May and June 2002 in the midwestern part of the United States. The SRL received extensive optical modifications prior to and during the IHOP campaign that added new measurement capabilities and enabled unprecedented daytime water vapor measurements by a Raman lidar system. Improvements were also realized in nighttime upper-tropospheric water vapor measurements. The other new measurements that were added to the SRL for the IHOP deployment included rotational Raman temperature, depolarization, cloud liquid water, and cirrus cloud ice water content. In this first of two parts, the details of the operational configuration of the SRL during IHOP are provided along with a description of the analysis and calibration procedures for water vapor mixing ratio, aerosol depolarization, and cirrus cloud extinction-to-backscatter ratio. For the first time, a Raman water vapor lidar calibration is performed, taking full account of the temperature sensitivity of water vapor and nitrogen Raman scattering. Part II presents case studies that permit the daytime and nighttime error statistics to be quantified.

Background: Crohn's disease is characterised by a chronic relapsing inflammation of the bowel in which proinflammatory cytokines play an important perpetuating role. Mitogen activated protein kinase p38 (p38 MAPK) has been established as a major regulator of the inflammatory response, especially with regard to production of proinflammatory cytokines, but its role in inflammatory bowel disease is unexplored. In this paper we describe the effects of a specific p38 MAPK inhibitor, SB 203580, in trinitrobenzene sulphonic acid (TNBS) induced colitis in mice. Results: SB 203580 had a dichotomal effect in TNBS mice. Weight loss of TNBS mice treated with SB 203580 was significantly worse and colon weight on sacrifice was significantly increased in MAPK inhibitor treated TNBS mice (229.2 mg and 289.1 mg, respectively). However, the total number of cells in the caudal lymph node decreased to 188.8×104 cells in SB 203580 treated TNBS mice compared with 334×104 cells in vehicle treated mice. CD3/CD28 double stimulated caudal lymph node cells of SB 203580 treated mice showed decreased interferon γ production but increased tumour necrosis factor α production. The concentration of interleukin 12p70 in colon homogenates was significantly decreased in SB 203580 treated mice whereas concentrations of interleukin 12p40, tumour necrosis factor α, and interleukin 10 were similar in vehicle and SB 203580 treated TNBS mice. Conclusion: Our results reveal a dichotomy in p38 MAPK action during experimental colitis.

Joubert syndrome is characterized by episodic hyperpnea and apnea, developmental delay, hypotonia, truncal ataxia, ophthalmologic abnormalities, and vermian dysgenesis. We studied 15 patients with the diagnosis of Joubert syndrome to (1) more fully define the syndrome's clinical features, and (2) correlate the clinical features with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. Eight of 15 patients had a history of episodic hyperpnea and apnea. All patients had developmental delay and hypotonia. Of the 13 patients receiving detailed neuro-ophthalmologic evaluations, three had optic nerve dysplasia, pendular nystagmus, and gaze-holding nystagmus. All 13 patients had a normal vestibulo-ocular reflex based on head thrust, but had absent to poor ability to cancel the vestibulo-ocular reflex horizontally and vertically. Twelve of 13 patients had impaired smooth pursuit. Twelve of 13 patients had defects in initiation of saccades and quick phases. Two of the most consistent radiologic features were absent or hypoplastic posterior cerebellar vermis, and deformed midbrain and pontomesencephalic junction, which based on ocular motor physiology correlate with the vestibulo-ocular reflex cancellation/pursuit defect and saccade initiation defect, respectively As a result of midbrain, vermian, and superior cerebellar peduncle abnormalities, axial neuroimaging showed a unique \"molar tooth\" appearance of these structures. These results indicate that Joubert syndrome results from maldevelopment of the midbrain and cerebellar vermis, producing a pathognomonic sign on MRI. (J Child Neurol 1997;12:423-430).

A series of water vapor intensive observation periods (WVIOPs) were conducted at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) site in Oklahoma between 1996 and 2000. The goals of these WVIOPs are to characterize the accuracy of the operational water vapor observations and to develop techniques to improve the accuracy of these measurements. The initial focus of these experiments was on the lower atmosphere, for which the goal is an absolute accuracy of better than 2% in total column water vapor, corresponding to ~1 W m-2 of infrared radiation at the surface. To complement the operational water vapor instruments during the WVIOPs, additional instrumentation including a scanning Raman lidar, microwave radiometers, chilled-mirror hygrometers, a differential absorption lidar, and ground-based solar radiometers were deployed at the ARM site. The unique datasets from the 1996, 1997, and 1999 experiments have led to many results, including the discovery and characterization of a large (> 25%) sonde-to-sonde variability in the water vapor profiles from Vaisala RS-80H radiosondes that acts like a height-independent calibration factor error. However, the microwave observations provide a stable reference that can be used to remove a large part of the sonde-to-sonde calibration variability. In situ capacitive water vapor sensors demonstrated agreement within 2% of chilled-mirror hygrometers at the surface and on an instrumented tower. Water vapor profiles retrieved from two Raman lidars, which have both been calibrated to the ARM microwave radiometer, showed agreement to within 5% for all altitudes below 8 km during two WVIOPs. The mean agreement of the total precipitable water vapor from different techniques has converged significantly from early analysis that originally showed differences up to 15%. Retrievals of total precipitable water vapor (PWV) from the ARM microwave radiometer are now found to be only 3% moister than PWV derived from new GPS results, and about 2% drier than the mean of radiosonde data after a recently defined sonde dry-bias correction is applied. Raman lidar profiles calibrated using tower-mounted chilled-mirror hygrometers confirm the expected sensitivity of microwave radiometer data to water vapor changes, but is drier than the microwave radiometer (MWR) by 0.95 mm for all PWV amounts. However, observations from different collocated microwave radiometers have shown larger differences than expected and attempts to resolve the remaining inconsistencies (in both calibration and forward modeling) are continuing. The paper concludes by outlining the objectives of the recent 2000 WVIOP and the ARM-First International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Regional Experiment (FIRE) Water Vapor Experiment (AFWEX), the latter of which switched the focus to characterizing upper-tropospheric humidity measurements.

Serum samples from 474 domestic pigs (Sus scrofa) from Zimbabwe were tested for anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgG antibodies using the indirect fluorescent antibody test. The results showed that T. gondii infection is widespread in Zimbabwean pigs. Seroprevalence was lowest in fattening pigs from large and small-scale commercial farms that practise good hygiene (19.75 % of 238) and highest in backyard scavenging pigs (35.71 % of 70). Only 11.7 % (11) of the 127 positive samples had titres of > 1:400 and nine (81.82 %) of these 11 originated from pigs reared under poor hygienic conditions. A prevalence of 3.51 % was found in the same group of fattening pigs using an indirect IgG enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay at the single serum dilution of 1:400. The serosurvey shows the importance of modern intensive husbandry systems in reducing the prevalences of T. gondii infection in domestic pigs.

Seroprevalence rates of Toxoplasma gondii anti-antibodies in adult goats and sheep from different parts of Zimbabwe were determined. A total of 225 (67.9 %) of the 335 serum samples tested were positive for anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies with the indirect fluorescent antibody test. There were differences in antibody seroprevalences among communal land goats from the different agro-ecological zones (Natural regions IIb and III: 80 and 96.7 %, respectively; Natural region IV: 65.9 %; Natural region V: 45 %; and Natural region III had a significantly higher seroprevalence than IV and V. The highest seroprevalences found in Natural regions II b and III are likely to be linked to the existence of more households and hence the possibility of a higher concentration of domestic cats that increases the chances of environmental contamination with their faeces harbouring T. gondii oocysts. The seroprevalence rate in sheep from a large commercial farm (10 %) was significantly lower than that of sheep reared under the communal grazing system (80 %). Overall, significantly higher proportions of seropositive animals had antibody titres of 1:50 (34.2 % of 225) and 1:100 (44 % of 225) as compared to the 9.8 % and 12 % with antibody titres of 1:200 and > 1:400, respectively.

Abstract Introduction Despite regulations that forbid cigarette packages from displaying messages such as “mild,” “low-tar,” and “light,” many smokers still have misperceptions about “light” or “low-tar” cigarettes. One reason may be that tar amount displays continue to be permitted. This study examines whether removing tar delivery information from packaging reduces consumer misperceptions about “low-tar” cigarettes. Methods An online experiment was conducted in South Korea among 531 smokers who were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: with and without tar information on cigarette packages. Participants evaluated which type of cigarette was mildest, least harmful, easiest for nonsmokers to start smoking, and easiest for smokers to quit. Results Ten out of 12 chi-square tests showed that people judged the lowest reported tar delivery cigarette to be the mildest (p < .01), least harmful (p < .05), easiest to start (p < .05), and easiest to quit (p < .05)—less so in the “no-tar” condition than the “tar” condition. A higher level of misbeliefs about supposed low-tar cigarettes were found in the “tar” condition compared to the “no-tar” condition for all three brands (t = 5.85, 4.07, 3.82, respectively, p < .001). Regression analyses showed that the “no-tar” condition negatively predicted the level of misbeliefs after controlling for demographic and smoking-related variables (B [SE] = −.72 (.12), −.50 (.12), −.48 (.13), respectively, p < .001). Conclusions Banning reported tar deliveries from cigarette packages is likely to reduce smokers’ misconceptions about “low-tar” cigarettes. When reported tar deliveries are absent, smokers have inconsistent judgments about differently packaged cigarettes. Implications When cigarette packages depict lower reported tar number deliveries, participants erroneously perceive them to be less harmful than packages displaying higher tar numbers. These misperceptions of harm may prompt smokers who might otherwise attempt to quit smoking to instead consume cigarettes with lower tar deliveries due to the mistaken belief that they will reduce their risk.

The upper-air sounding network for Dynamics of the Madden–Julian Oscillation (DYNAMO) has provided an unprecedented set of observations for studying the MJO over the Indian Ocean, where coupling of this oscillation with deep convection first occurs. With 72 rawinsonde sites and dropsonde data from 13 aircraft missions, the sounding network covers the tropics from eastern Africa to the western Pacific. In total nearly 26 000 soundings were collected from this network during the experiment’s 6-month extended observing period (from October 2011 to March 2012). Slightly more than half of the soundings, collected from 33 sites, are at high vertical resolution. Rigorous post–field phase processing of the sonde data included several levels of quality checks and a variety of corrections that address a number of issues (e.g., daytime dry bias, baseline surface data errors, ship deck heating effects, and artificial dry spikes in slow-ascent soundings). Because of the importance of an accurate description of the moisture field in meeting the scientific goals of the experiment, particular attention is given to humidity correction and its validation. The humidity corrections, though small relative to some previous field campaigns, produced high-fidelity moisture analyses in which sonde precipitable water compared well with independent estimates. An assessment of operational model moisture analyses using corrected sonde data shows an overall good agreement with the exception at upper levels, where model moisture and clouds are more abundant than the sonde data would indicate.