Mcwilliamstherkildsen8674

This suggests that the geographical range of ZIKV is wider than indicated from static R0 models, underscoring the importance of climate dynamics and variation in the context of broader climate change on emerging infectious diseases.Non-pharmaceutical interventions are crucial to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic and contain re-emergence phenomena. Targeted measures such as case isolation and contact tracing can alleviate the societal cost of lock-downs by containing the spread where and when it occurs. To assess the relative and combined impact of manual contact tracing (MCT) and digital (app-based) contact tracing, we feed a compartmental model for COVID-19 with high-resolution datasets describing contacts between individuals in several contexts. We show that the benefit (epidemic size reduction) is generically linear in the fraction of contacts recalled during MCT and quadratic in the app adoption, with no threshold effect. The cost (number of quarantines) versus benefit curve has a characteristic parabolic shape, independent of the type of tracing, with a potentially high benefit and low cost if app adoption and MCT efficiency are high enough. Benefits are higher and the cost lower if the epidemic reproductive number is lower, showing the importance of combining tracing with additional mitigation measures. The observed phenomenology is qualitatively robust across datasets and parameters. We moreover obtain analytically similar results on simplified models.Restenosis is one of the main adverse effects of the treatment of atherosclerosis through balloon angioplasty or stenting. During the intervention, the arterial wall is overstretched, causing a cascade of cellular events and subsequent neointima formation. This mechanical stimulus and its mechanobiological effects can be reproduced in biomechanical simulations. The aim of these models is to predict the long-term outcome of these procedures, to help increase the understanding of restenosis formation and to allow for in silico optimization of the treatment. We propose a predictive finite-element model of restenosis, using the homogenized constrained mixture modelling framework designed to model growth and remodelling in soft tissues. We compare the results with clinical observations in human coronary arteries and experimental findings in non-human primate models. We also explore the model's clinical relevance by testing its response to different balloon loads and to the use of drug-eluting balloons. The comparison of the results with experimental data shows the relevance of the model. We show its ability to predict both inward and outward remodelling as observed in vivo and we show the importance of an improved understanding of restenosis formation from a biomechanical point of view.Termites inhabit complex underground mounds of intricate stigmergic labyrinthine designs with multiple functions as nursery, food storage and refuge, while maintaining a homeostatic microclimate. Past research studied termite building activities rather than the actual material structure. Yet, prior to understanding how multi-functionality shaped termite building, a thorough grasp of submillimetre mechanistic architecture of mounds is required. Zileuton Here, we identify for Nasutitermes exitiosus via granulometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis, preferential particle sizes related to coarse silts and unknown mixtures of organic/inorganic components. High-resolution micro-computed X-ray tomography and microindentation tests reveal wall patterns of filigree laminated layers and sub-millimetre porosity wrapped around a coarse-grained inner scaffold. The scaffold geometry, which is designed of a lignin-based composite and densely biocementitious stercoral mortar, resembles that of trabecula cancellous bones. Fractal dimension estimates indicate multi-scaled porosity, important for enhanced evaporative cooling and structural stability. The indentation moduli increase from the outer to the inner wall parts to values higher than those found in loose clays and which exceed locally the properties of anthropogenic cementitious materials. Termites engineer intricately layered biocementitious composites of high elasticity. The multiple-scales and porosity of the structure indicate a potential to pioneer bio-architected lightweight and high-strength materials.The airborne dynamics of respiratory droplets, and the transmission routes of pathogens embedded within them, are governed primarily by the diameter of the particles. These particles are composed of the fluid which lines the respiratory tract, and is primarily mucins and salts, which will interact with the atmosphere and evaporate to reach an equilibrium diameter. Measuring organic volume fraction (OVF) of cough aerosol has proved challenging due to large variability and low material volume produced after coughing. Here, the diametric hygroscopic growth factors (GF) of the cough aerosol produced by healthy participants were measured in situ using a rotating aerosol suspension chamber and a humidification tandem differential mobility analyser. Using hygroscopicity models, it was estimated that the average OVF in the evaporated cough aerosol was 0.88 ± 0.07 and the average GF at 90% relative humidity (RH) was 1.31 ± 0.03. To reach equilibrium in dry air the droplets will reduce in diameter by a factor of approximately 2.8 with an evaporation factor of 0.36 ± 0.05. Hysteresis was observed in cough aerosol at RH = ∼35% and RH = ∼65% for efflorescence and deliquescence, respectively, and may depend on the OVF. The same behaviour and GF were observed in nebulized bovine bronchoalveolar lavage fluid.A widespread and popular belief posits that humans possess a cognitive capacity that is limited to keeping track of and maintaining stable relationships with approximately 150 people. This influential number, 'Dunbar's number', originates from an extrapolation of a regression line describing the relationship between relative neocortex size and group size in primates. Here, we test if there is statistical support for this idea. Our analyses on complementary datasets using different methods yield wildly different numbers. Bayesian and generalized least-squares phylogenetic methods generate approximations of average group sizes between 69-109 and 16-42, respectively. However, enormous 95% confidence intervals (4-520 and 2-336, respectively) imply that specifying any one number is futile. A cognitive limit on human group size cannot be derived in this manner.