Engineered mosquitoes to fight mosquito borne diseases: not a merely technical issue

Malaria, dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases pose dramatic problems of public health, particularly in tropical and sub-tropical countries. Historically, vector control has been one of the most successfully strategies to eradicate some mosquito-borne diseases, as witnessed by malaria eradication in Mediterranean regions such as Italy and Greece. Vector control through insecticides has been used worldwide; unfortunately, it is losing effectiveness due to spread of resistances. Control of mosquito-borne diseases through field-releases of genetically engineered mosquitoes is an innovative and now feasible approach. Genetically modified mosquitoes have already been released into the wild in some regions, and protocols for this release are on hand in others. Local authorities are vigilant that transgenic insects in the field are safe for human and animal populations, and the public engagement in every control program is assuming a central role

The PS 10 MHz High Level RF System Upgrade

In view of the upgrade of the injectors for the High Luminosity LHC, significantly higher bunch intensity is required for LHC-type beams. In this context an upgrade of the main accelerating RF system of the Proton Synchrotron (PS) is necessary, aiming at reducing the cavity impedance which is the source of longitudinal coupled-bunch oscillations. These instabilities pose as a major limitation for the increase of the beam intensity as planned after LS2. The 10 MHz RF system consists in 11 ferrite loaded cavities, driven by tube-based power amplifiers for reasons of radiation hardness. The cavity-amplifier system is equipped with a wide-band feedback that reduces the beam induced voltage. A further reduction of the beam loading is foreseen by upgrading the feedback system, which can be reasonably achieved by increasing the loop gain of the existing amplification chain. This paper describes the progress of the design of the upgraded feedback system and shows the results of the tests on the new amplifier prototype, installed in the PS during the 2015-16 technical stop. It also reports the first results of its performance with beam, observed in the beginning of the 2016 run

Study of the beam-cavity interaction in the PS 10 MHz RF system

The eleven main accelerating cavities of the Proton Synchrotron (PS) at CERN consist of two ferrite-loaded coaxial lambda/4 resonators each. Both resonators oscillate in phase, as their gaps are electrically connected by short bars. They are in addition magnetically coupled via the bias loop used for cavity tuning. The cavities are equipped with a wide-band feedback system, limiting the beam loading, and a further reduction of the beam induced voltage is achieved by relays which short-circuit each half-resonator gap when the cavity is not in use. Asymmetries of the beam induced voltage observed in the two half-cavities indicate that the coupling between the two resonators is not as tight as expected. The total cavity impedance coupling to the beam may be affected differently by the contributions of both resonators. A dedicated measurement campaign with high-intensity proton beam and numerical simulation have been performed to investigate the beam-cavity interaction. This paper reports the result of the study and the work aiming at the development of a model of the system, including the wide-band feedback, which reproduces this interaction

Microbial symbionts : a resource for the management of insect-related problems

Microorganisms establish with their animal hosts close interactions. They are involved in many aspects of the host life, physiology and evolution, including nutrition, reproduction, immune homeostasis, defence and speciation. Thus, the manipulation and the exploitation the microbiota could result in important practical applications for the development of strategies for the management of insect-related problems. This approach, defined as Microbial Resource Management (MRM), has been applied successfully in various environments and ecosystems, as wastewater treatments, prebiotics in humans, anaerobic digestion and so on. MRM foresees the proper management of the microbial resource present in a given ecosystem in order to solve practical problems through the use of microorganisms. In this review we present an interesting field for application for MRM concept, i.e. the microbial communities associated with arthropods and nematodes. Several examples related to this field of applications are presented. Insect microbiota can be manipulated: (i) to control insect pests for agriculture; (ii) to control pathogens transmitted by insects to humans, animals and plants; (iii) to protect beneficial insects from diseases and stresses. Besides, we prospect further studies aimed to verify, improve and apply MRM by using the insectsymbiont ecosystem as a model

Molecular evidence of incipient speciation within Anopheles gambiae s.s. in West Africa

We karyotyped and identified by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis Anopheles gambiae s.s. samples collected in several African countries. The data show the existence of two non-panmictic molecular forms, named S and M, whose distribution extended from forest to savannahs, Mosquitoes of the S and M forms are homosequential standard for chromosome-2 inversions in forest areas. In dry savannahs, S is characterized mainly by inversion polymorphisms typical of Savanna and Bamako chromosomal forms, while M shows chromosome-2 arrangements typical of Mopti and/or Savanna and/or Bissau, depending on its geographical origin. Chromosome-2 inversions therefore seem to be involved in ecotypic adaptation rather than in mate-recognition systems. Strong support for the reproductive isolation of S and M in Ivory Coast comes from the observation that the kdr allele is found at high frequencies in S specimens and not at all in chromosomal identical M specimens. However, the kdr allele does not segregate with molecular forms in Benin

Oral lichen planus in children: an italian case series with literature review

Objectives. Oral lichen planus is a chronic mucous inflammatory disease. The prevalence in adults ranges between 0.5% and 2%, whereas children are involved just in 0.03% of cases. The purpose of this paper is to review the current literature and to present six Italian cases of Oral Lichen Planus in children (OLPc). Methods. We reported the data about a retrospective study on 6 cases of oral lichen planus in children. A detailed history was retrieved from clinical notes of each patient. Patients younger than 18 years old were enrolled in the study. All of them had the OLP diagnosis confirmed by clinical findings, history, and histopathology. Results. The family history for lichen planus was negative in all patients, the mean age was 11 years (range 6-14); there was no cutaneous involvement, whereas 2 patients had concomitant autoimmune diseases. Topical corticosteroids was the only treatment used in 66.67% of patients with good response in a mean time of 4.75 weeks. Conclusions. The rarity of OLPc may be due to the lack of symptoms that prevents the patient or his family from noticing the presence of the condition, but also to misdiagnosis of the dentist or the paediatrician. Thus, though LP in children is uncommon and oral mucosal involvement extremely rare, clinicians should be aware of its existence and management, and this diagnosis should be taken into account in children presenting oral white lesions

Intra-instar larval cannibalism in Anopheles gambiae (s.s.) and Anopheles stephensi (Diptera: Culicidae)

BACKGROUND: Cannibalism has been observed in a wide range of animal taxa and its importance in persistence and stability of populations has been documented. In anopheline malaria vectors the inter-instar cannibalism between fourth- and first-instar larvae (L4-L1) has been shown in several species, while intra-instar cannibalism remains poorly investigated. In this study we tested the occurrence of intra-instar cannibalism within larvae of second-, third- and fourth-instar (L2, L3 and L4) of Anopheles gambiae (s.s.) and An. stephensi. Experiments were set up under laboratory conditions and the effects of larval density, duration of the contact period among larvae and the presence of an older larva (i.e. a potential cannibal of bigger size) on cannibalism rate were analysed. Cannibalism was assessed by computing the number of missing larvae after 24 and 48 h from the beginning of the experiments and further documented by records with a GoPro videocamera. RESULTS: Intra-instar cannibalism was observed in all larval instars of both species with higher frequency in An. gambiae (s.s.) than in An. stephensi. In both species the total number of cannibalistic events increased from 0-24 to 0-48 h. The density affected the cannibalism rate, but its effect was related to the larval instar and to the presence of older larvae. Interestingly, the lower cannibalism rate between L4 larvae was observed at the highest density and the cannibalism rate between L3 larvae decreased when one L4 was added. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides experimental evidence of intra-instar cannibalism in the malaria vectors An. gambiae (s.s.) and An. stephensi and highlights the possible occurrence of complex interactions between all larval instars potentially present in the breeding sites. We hypothesize that the high density and the presence of a potential cannibal of bigger size could affect the readiness to attack conspecifics, resulting into low risk larval behavior and lower cannibalism rate. The understanding of cannibalistic behavior and the factors affecting it is of utmost importance for malaria vectors, as nutrition during larval development can strongly affect the fitness of adult female mosquitoes and ultimately their vector ability

Plasma Modification of PCL Porous Scaffolds Fabricated by Solvent Casting/Particulate Leaching for Tissue Engineering

This study points out how the plasma modification of PCL porous scaffolds, produced by Solvent Casting/Particulate Leaching, may enhance their biocompatibility. A C2H4/N2 plasma deposition followed by a H2 plasma treatment was used to increase the hydrophilicity of the whole scaffold to support osteoblast cell proliferation, both outside and inside the scaffold. A better cell growth was obtained on plasma modified scaffolds.JRC.I.4-Nanobioscience