Doganulriksen6119

The main cause of rainfall-induced red-bed shallow landslides is the tendency of red-bed weathered soil to expand when it meets water. However, studies on the expansion mechanism of expansive soil have not considered the effects of hydration and particle orientation. In this study, the hydration force of soil was determined according to the electric double-layer theory, the particle direction of soil was determined by analyzing images of soil obtained by scanning electron microscopy, and, finally, a microscopic model of the electrical double layer of red-bed weathered expansive soil was established in which the hydration force and soil-particle orientation were taken into account. The results showed that the expansion of red-bed weathered expansive soil is the result of hydration forces and repulsive forces in the electric double layer. The grain orientation of the soil strongly influenced the microscopic model. The unloading expansion rate of red-bed weathered expansive soil decreased with an increase in cation concentration and a decrease in pH value. It increased with an increase in the hydration cation radius. These experiments indicate the reliability of the microscopic model and provide a theoretical basis for the prevention and control of rainfall-induced red-bed shallow landslides.[This corrects the article DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0239198.].The protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi almost invariably establishes life-long infections in humans and other mammals, despite the development of potent host immune responses that constrain parasite numbers. The consistent, decades-long persistence of T. cruzi in human hosts arises at least in part from the remarkable level of genetic diversity in multiple families of genes encoding the primary target antigens of anti-parasite immune responses. However, the highly repetitive nature of the genome-largely a result of these same extensive families of genes-have prevented a full understanding of the extent of gene diversity and its maintenance in T. cruzi. In this study, we have combined long-read sequencing and proximity ligation mapping to generate very high-quality assemblies of two T. cruzi strains representing the apparent ancestral lineages of the species. These assemblies reveal not only the full repertoire of the members of large gene families in the two strains, demonstrating extreme diversity within and between isolates, but also provide evidence of the processes that generate and maintain that diversity, including extensive gene amplification, dispersion of copies throughout the genome and diversification via recombination and in situ mutations. Gene amplification events also yield significant copy number variations in a substantial number of genes presumably not required for or involved in immune evasion, thus forming a second level of strain-dependent variation in this species. The extreme genome flexibility evident in T. cruzi also appears to create unique challenges with respect to preserving core genome functions and gene expression that sets this species apart from related kinetoplastids.Ocean acidification driven by anthropogenic climate change is causing a global decrease in pH, which is projected to be 0.4 units lower in coastal shallow waters by the year 2100. Previous studies have shown that seaweeds grown under such conditions may alter their growth and photosynthetic capacity. It is not clear how such alterations might impact interactions between seaweed and herbivores, e.g. through changes in feeding rates, nutritional value, or defense levels. Changes in seaweeds are particularly important for coastal food webs, as they are key primary producers and often habitat-forming species. We cultured the habitat-forming brown seaweed Fucus vesiculosus for 30 days in projected future pCO2 (1100 μatm) with genetically identical controls in ambient pCO2 (400 μatm). Thereafter the macroalgae were exposed to grazing by Littorina littorea, acclimated to the relevant pCO2-treatment. We found increased growth (measured as surface area increase), decreased tissue strength in a tensile strength test, and decreased chemical defense (phlorotannins) levels in seaweeds exposed to high pCO2-levels. The herbivores exposed to elevated pCO2-levels showed improved condition index, decreased consumption, but no significant change in feeding preference. Fucoid seaweeds such as F. vesiculosus play important ecological roles in coastal habitats and are often foundation species, with a key role for ecosystem structure and function. The change in surface area and associated decrease in breaking force, as demonstrated by our results, indicate that F. vesiculosus grown under elevated levels of pCO2 may acquire an altered morphology and reduced tissue strength. This, together with increased wave energy in coastal ecosystems due to climate change, could have detrimental effects by reducing both habitat and food availability for herbivores.Visualizing actin filaments in fixed cells is of great interest for a variety of topics in cell biology such as cell division, cell movement, and cell signaling. We investigated the possibility of replacing phalloidin, the standard reagent for super-resolution imaging of F-actin in fixed cells, with the actin binding peptide 'lifeact'. Lonidamine in vivo We compared the labels for use in single molecule based super-resolution microscopy, where AlexaFluor 647 labeled phalloidin was used in a dSTORM modality and Atto 655 labeled lifeact was used in a single molecule imaging, reversible binding modality. We found that imaging with lifeact had a comparable resolution in reconstructed images and provided several advantages over phalloidin including lower costs, the ability to image multiple regions of interest on a coverslip without degradation, simplified sequential super-resolution imaging, and more continuous labeling of thin filaments.

Human embryo is well protected in the uterus by the embryonic membrane, although teratogens may cause developmental disruptions after maternal exposure to them during early pregnancy. Most of the risk factors contributing to the development of congenital anomalies are uncertain; however, genetic factors, environmental factors and multifactorial inheritance are found to be risk factors. Regardless of their clinical importance, there are little/no studies conducted directly related to predisposing risk factors in southwestern Ethiopia.

The study aimed to determine the associated risk factors with congenital anomalies among newborns in southwestern Ethiopia.

Case-control study was conducted on newborns and their mothers in six purposively selected hospitals in southwestern Ethiopia from May 2016 to May 2018. Data was collected after evaluation of the neonates for the presence of congenital anomalies using the standard pretested checklist. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. P <0.01 was set as with congenital anomalies. There is a need to continuously provide health information for the community on how to prevent and control predisposing risk factors.Light microscopy and rapid diagnostic tests are the two commonly used methods for malaria diagnosis that rely on the direct use of unprocessed blood samples. However, both methods do not have the level of sensitivity required for malaria diagnosis in cases of low density parasitaemia. We report here the diagnostic performance of a whole blood-based reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification method for Plasmodium falciparum malaria diagnosis in apparently healthy blood donors and febrile neonates in Cameroon. The presence of malaria parasites in whole blood samples was determined by light microscopy, antigen-based rapid diagnostic test (RDT), and by RT-LAMP using a "lyse and amplify" experimental protocol. Of the 256 blood donors tested, 36 (14.1%) were positive for malaria parasites by light microscopy, 38 (14.8%) were positive by RDT whereas 78 (30.5%) were positive by RT-LAMP. Only light microscopy and RT-LAMP detected infection among the febrile neonates (279 neonates, median age 2 days, range 1-9 days), with positivity rates of 8.6% and 12.2%, respectively. The overall concordance between the three methods were 75.9% for RT-LAMP and light microscopy, 75.1% for RT-LAMP and RDT, and 83.9% for light microscopy and RDT. link2 Blood parasite densities were significantly lower in the neonates (mean 97.6, range 61-192 parasites/μL) compared to the blood donors (mean 447.8, range 63-11 000 parasites/μL). Together, the study demonstrates the usefulness of whole blood RT-LAMP for use in rapid pre-screening of blood donors and suspected neonates to avert severe consequences of P. falciparum infections.

Syphilis is a common infectious disease worldwide. Serological monitoring is important for syphilis management. We currently know little about the characteristics of this seronegative response. The aim of this study was to explore the factors associated with serological cure after treatment of early syphilis.

A retrospective cohort study was conducted and the data of patients with early syphilis in a clinic in Shenzhen from 2011 to 2019 were retrieved. Univariable and multiple Cox proportional hazard regression models were utilized to identify factors associated with a serological cure state among syphilis patients with early syphilis two years after treatment.

A total of 346 (85.9%) syphilis patients achieved serological cure. The multivariate analysis results revealed that having a baseline TRUST titer >18 was associated with an increased probability of serological cure, compared with having a baseline TRUST titer ≤18 (HR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.10-1.85, P<0.01); primary syphilis was positively associated with serological cure, compared with participants with latent early syphilis (HR = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.27-2.33, P<0.001).

Two years after treatment, a higher percentage of early syphilis patients achieved serological cure. The study indicated that the syphilis stage and baseline serum titer were crucial factors associated with serological cure.

Two years after treatment, a higher percentage of early syphilis patients achieved serological cure. The study indicated that the syphilis stage and baseline serum titer were crucial factors associated with serological cure.Diarrhoeal diseases remain a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly in poor urban communities in the Global South. Studies on food access and safety have however not considered the sources of discrete food categories and their propensity to harbour and transmit diarrhoeal disease pathogens in poor urban settings. link3 We sought to contribute to knowledge on urban food environment and enteric infections by interrogating the sources and categories of common foods and their tendency to transmit diarrhoea in low-income communities in Accra. We modelled the likelihood of diarrhoea transmission through specific food categories sourced from home or out of home after controlling for alternate transmission pathways and barriers. We used structured interviews where households that participated in the study were selected through a multi-stage systematic sampling approach. We utilized data on 506 households from 3 low-income settlements in Accra. These settlements have socio-economic characteristics mimicking typical low-income communities in the Global South.