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Among the existing applications of wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs), a wearable health monitoring system (WHMS) is the most important. In a typical WHMS, miniature wireless biosensors, attached to or implanted in the human body, collect bio-signals such as the electrocardiogram (ECG), blood pressure or electromyogram (EMG) to provide real time and continuous health monitoring. In this paper, we present a compressed sensing (CS)-based approach to compress and recover the sensed bio-signals from the wireless biosensors of a WBSN. The CS encoding process has a low computational complexity and is suitable for use in power-constrained systems such as WHMS. We propose a simple deterministic measurement matrix, which is easy to implement in hardware. We design a digital CS encoder implementing the proposed measurement matrix and use it to compress the bio-signals in EMG and ECG wireless biosensors. The simulations and experimental results have shown that the EMG and ECG signals are compressed and recovered without perceptible loss if the compression ratios are, respectively, less than or equal to 75 and 87.5%. The obtained results have also confirmed the simplicity of the proposed measurement matrix since the CS encoder does not affect the memory usage or the processing time of the microcontrollers embedded in the wireless biosensors. Additionally, the CS encoder decreases by up to 75 and 87.5% the energy consumption of the transceivers for the EMG and ECG wireless biosensors.

The genus Henipavirus (family Paramyxoviridae) is currently comprised of seven viruses, four of which have demonstrated prior evidence of zoonotic capacity. These include the biosafety level 4 agents Hendra (HeV) and Nipah (NiV) viruses, which circulate naturally in pteropodid fruit bats. Here, we describe and characterize Angavokely virus (AngV), a divergent henipavirus identified in urine samples from wild, Madagascar fruit bats. We report the near-complete 16,740 nt genome of AngV, which encodes the six major henipavirus structural proteins (nucleocapsid, phosphoprotein, matrix, fusion, glycoprotein, and L polymerase). Within the phosphoprotein (P) gene, we identify an alternative start codon encoding the AngV C protein and a putative mRNA editing site where the insertion of one or two guanine residues encodes, respectively, additional V and W proteins. In other paramyxovirus systems, C, V, and W are accessory proteins involved in antagonism of host immune responses during infection. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that AngV is ancestral to all four previously described bat henipaviruses--HeV, NiV, Cedar virus (CedV), and Ghanaian bat virus (GhV)--but evolved more recently than rodent- and shrew-derived henipaviruses, Mojiang (MojV), Gamak (GAKV), and Daeryong (DARV) viruses. Predictive structure-based alignments suggest that AngV is unlikely to bind ephrin receptors, which mediate cell entry for all other known bat henipaviruses. Identification of the AngV receptor is needed to clarify the virus's potential host range. The presence of V and W proteins in the AngV genome suggest that the virus could be pathogenic following zoonotic spillover. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Footnotes * We edited figure 3 to include a putative CedV mRNA edit site and demonstrate the lack of conserved cysteine residues in the 3' end of CedV's resulting V protein--showing that this virus does not encode a viable V protein, while our AngV does. * https://github.com/brooklabteam/angavokely-virus

The island nation of Madagascar is home to three endemic species of Old World Fruit Bat in the family Pteropodidae: Pteropus rufus, Eidolon dupreanum, and Rousettus madagascariensis, all three of which are IUCN Red Listed under some category of threat. To inform conservation efforts to model population viability for these threatened species, as well understand the mechanisms underpinning persistence of several potentially zoonotic pathogens hosted by these bats, we here define the seasonal limits of a staggered annual birth pulse across the three species. Our field studies in central-eastern Madagascar indicate that this annual birth pulse takes place in September/October for P. rufus, November for E. dupreanum, and December for R. madagascariensis. Juvenile development periods vary across the three Malagasy pteropodids, resulting in near-synchronous weaning of pups for all species in late January-February at the height of the fruiting season for Madagascar, a pattern characteristic of most mammalian frugivores on the island. We here document the size range in morphological traits for the three Malagasy fruit bat species; these traits span the range of those known for pteropodids more broadly, with P. rufus and E. dupreanum among the larger of recorded species and R. madagascariensis among the smaller. All three species demonstrate subtle sexual dimorphism in observed traits with larger-bodied males vs. females. We explore seasonal variation in adult body condition by comparing observed body mass with body mass predicted by forearm length, demonstrating that pregnant females add weight during staggered gestation periods and males lose weight during the nutritionally-deficit Malagasy winter. Finally, we quantify forearm, tibia, and ear length growth rates in juvenile bats, demonstrating both faster growth and more protracted development times for the largest P. rufus species. The longer development period for the already-threatened P. rufus further jeopardizes this species’ conservation status as human hunting of bats for subsistence is particularly detrimental to population viability during reproductive periods. The more extreme seasonal variation in the mass to forearm relationship for P. rufus may also modulate immune function, an important consideration given these bats’ roles as reservoir hosts for several high profile viral families known to cause severe disease in humans. Our work highlights the importance of longitudinal field studies in collecting critical data for mammalian conservation efforts and human public health alike.

Bats are natural reservoirs for both Alpha- and Betacoronaviruses and the hypothesized original hosts of five of seven known zoonotic coronaviruses. To date, the vast majority of bat coronavirus research has been concentrated in Asia, though coronaviruses are globally distributed; indeed, SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2-related Betacoronaviruses in the subgenus Sarbecovirus have been identified circulating in Rhinolophid bats in both Africa and Europe, despite the relative dearth of surveillance in these regions. As part of a long-term study examining the dynamics of potentially zoonotic viruses in three species of endemic Madagascar fruit bat (Pteropus rufus, Eidolon dupreanum, Rousettus madagascariensis), we carried out metagenomic Next Generation Sequencing (mNGS) on urine, throat, and fecal samples obtained from wild-caught individuals. We report detection of RNA derived from Betacoronavirus subgenus Nobecovirus in fecal samples from all three species and describe full genome sequences of novel Nobecoviruses in P. rufus and R. madagascariensis. Phylogenetic analysis indicates the existence of five distinct Nobecovirus clades, one of which is defined by the highly divergent sequence reported here from P. rufus bats. Madagascar Nobecoviruses derived from P. rufus and R. madagascariensis demonstrate, respectively, Asian and African phylogeographic origins, mirroring those of their fruit bat hosts. Bootscan recombination analysis indicates significant selection has taken place in the spike, nucleocapsid, and NS7 accessory protein regions of the genome for viruses derived from both bat hosts. Madagascar offers a unique phylogeographic nexus of bats and viruses with both Asian and African phylogeographic origins, providing opportunities for unprecedented mixing of viral groups and, potentially, recombination. As fruit bats are handled and consumed widely across Madagascar for subsistence, understanding the landscape of potentially zoonotic coronavirus circulation is essential for mitigation of future zoonotic threats. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Footnotes * https://github.com/brooklabteam/Mada-Bat-CoV/.