Predicting Distribution of Aedes Aegypti and Culex Pipiens Complex, Potential Vectors of Rift Valley Fever Virus in Relation to Disease Epidemics in East Africa.

The East African region has experienced several Rift Valley fever (RVF) outbreaks since the 1930s. The objective of this study was to identify distributions of potential disease vectors in relation to disease epidemics. Understanding disease vector potential distributions is a major concern for disease transmission dynamics. DIVERSE ECOLOGICAL NICHE MODELLING TECHNIQUES HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED FOR THIS PURPOSE: we present a maximum entropy (Maxent) approach for estimating distributions of potential RVF vectors in un-sampled areas in East Africa. We modelled the distribution of two species of mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti and Culex pipiens complex) responsible for potential maintenance and amplification of the virus, respectively. Predicted distributions of environmentally suitable areas in East Africa were based on the presence-only occurrence data derived from our entomological study in Ngorongoro District in northern Tanzania. Our model predicted potential suitable areas with high success rates of 90.9% for A. aegypti and 91.6% for C. pipiens complex. Model performance was statistically significantly better than random for both species. Most suitable sites for the two vectors were predicted in central and northwestern Tanzania with previous disease epidemics. Other important risk areas include western Lake Victoria, northern parts of Lake Malawi, and the Rift Valley region of Kenya. Findings from this study show distributions of vectors had biological and epidemiological significance in relation to disease outbreak hotspots, and hence provide guidance for the selection of sampling areas for RVF vectors during inter-epidemic periods

Interactions between the Nse3 and Nse4 Components of the SMC5-6 Complex Identify Evolutionarily Conserved Interactions between MAGE and EID Families

The SMC5-6 protein complex is involved in the cellular response to DNA damage. It is composed of 6-8 polypeptides, of which Nse1, Nse3 and Nse4 form a tight sub-complex. MAGEG1, the mammalian ortholog of Nse3, is the founding member of the MAGE (melanoma-associated antigen) protein family and Nse4 is related to the EID (E1A-like inhibitor of differentiation) family of transcriptional repressors.Using site-directed mutagenesis, protein-protein interaction analyses and molecular modelling, we have identified a conserved hydrophobic surface on the C-terminal domain of Nse3 that interacts with Nse4 and identified residues in its N-terminal domain that are essential for interaction with Nse1. We show that these interactions are conserved in the human orthologs. Furthermore, interaction of MAGEG1, the mammalian ortholog of Nse3, with NSE4b, one of the mammalian orthologs of Nse4, results in transcriptional co-activation of the nuclear receptor, steroidogenic factor 1 (SF1). In an examination of the evolutionary conservation of the Nse3-Nse4 interactions, we find that several MAGE proteins can interact with at least one of the NSE4/EID proteins.We have found that, despite the evolutionary diversification of the MAGE family, the characteristic hydrophobic surface shared by all MAGE proteins from yeast to humans mediates its binding to NSE4/EID proteins. Our work provides new insights into the interactions, evolution and functions of the enigmatic MAGE proteins

Collider and Dark Matter Phenomenology of Models with Mirage Unification

We examine supersymmetric models with mixed modulus-anomaly mediated SUSY breaking (MM-AMSB) soft terms which get comparable contributions to SUSY breaking from moduli-mediation and anomaly-mediation. The apparent (mirage) unification of soft SUSY breaking terms at Q=mu_mir not associated with any physical threshold is the hallmark of this scenario. The MM-AMSB structure of soft terms arises in models of string compactification with fluxes, where the addition of an anti-brane leads to an uplifting potential and a de Sitter universe, as first constructed by Kachru {\it et al.}. The phenomenology mainly depends on the relative strength of moduli- and anomaly-mediated SUSY breaking contributions, and on the Higgs and matter field modular weights, which are determined by the location of these fields in the extra dimensions. We delineate the allowed parameter space for a low and high value of tan(beta), for a wide range of modular weight choices. We calculate the neutralino relic density and display the WMAP-allowed regions. We show the reach of the CERN LHC and of the International Linear Collider. We discuss aspects of MM-AMSB models for Tevatron, LHC and ILC searches, muon g-2 and b->s \gamma branching fraction. We also calculate direct and indirect dark matter detection rates, and show that almost all WMAP-allowed models should be accessible to a ton-scale noble gas detector. Finally, we comment on the potential of colliders to measure the mirage unification scale and modular weights in the difficult case where mu_mir>>M_GUT.Comment: 34 pages plus 42 EPS figures; version with high resolution figures is at http://www.hep.fsu.edu/~bae

Large-scale associations between the leukocyte transcriptome and BOLD responses to speech differ in autism early language outcome subtypes.

Heterogeneity in early language development in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is clinically important and may reflect neurobiologically distinct subtypes. Here, we identified a large-scale association between multiple coordinated blood leukocyte gene coexpression modules and the multivariate functional neuroimaging (fMRI) response to speech. Gene coexpression modules associated with the multivariate fMRI response to speech were different for all pairwise comparisons between typically developing toddlers and toddlers with ASD and poor versus good early language outcome. Associated coexpression modules were enriched in genes that are broadly expressed in the brain and many other tissues. These coexpression modules were also enriched in ASD-associated, prenatal, human-specific, and language-relevant genes. This work highlights distinctive neurobiology in ASD subtypes with different early language outcomes that is present well before such outcomes are known. Associations between neuroimaging measures and gene expression levels in blood leukocytes may offer a unique in vivo window into identifying brain-relevant molecular mechanisms in ASD

Cervantes' Epic Novel: Empire, Religion, and the Dream Life of Heroes in Persiles [Review]

Michael Armstrong-Roche quite correctly points out that most critics view The Labors of Persiles and Sigismunda as a “turning away from modernity” (3), an example of Cervantes’ late-life embrace of the Counter-Reformation. Some even consider the byzantine novel a misstep by the author of Don Quixote while, ironically, Cervantes himself saw his last book as his crowning achievement. In this percep¬tive monograph, Armstrong-Roche makes the case that Persiles can best be appreciated if, instead of looking forward toward the novel, we look back to the epic

Ut pictura non poesis: Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda and the Construction of Memory

Painting and literature in Early Modern Spain were powerful tools used to educate the population in a theocratic and absolutist ideology. Although the resolutions of the Council of Trent did not create a new style, they did provide a corpus of rules that shaped the artistic and literary production of the Catholic nations. Among the most important consequences of these resolutions may have been the necessity of controlling the different expressions of human creativity in order to maintain the country's dominant ideology. The next logical step for art and literature was to break with the intellectual elitism of the Renaissance and Mannerism in order to become more appealing to the senses of the population (Portús 21). Spain, the champion of the Catholic Reformation, developed a theory of the art of painting based on its "usefulness" in narrating stories to the faithful using strategies such as compositio loci or in illustrating complicated concepts with the rhetorical help of the demonstratio ad oculos. The seductive power of images was considered key to teaching the appropriate behaviors. (1) Francisco Pacheco established this importance in his Arte de la pintura (1649), in which he considers the aim of the Christian painter to "persuadir al pueblo, y llevarlo, por medio de la pintura, a abrazar alguna cosa conveniente a la religión" (I, 11; 252)

Dignidad real y acción mayestática en La farsa de las galeras de Luis Milá

La farsa de las galeras es uno de los muchos textos escritos por Luis Milán hacia 1535 que vieron finalmente la luz dentro del Libro intitulado el Cortesano publicado en 1561, una vez que la corte de los duques de Calabria ha sido disuelta y sus señores –los propios duques y virreyes valencianos Fernando de Aragón y Germana de Foix– han fallecido. Mi intención aquí es demostrar cómo mediante este fasto dramático Luis Milán pretendía no únicamente halagar o entretener a su mecenas, sino poner de manifiesto la verdadera condición natural de éste como ‘rey’ y, por tanto, no sujeta a la contingencia política que lo apartaría del trono de Nápoles que había jurado en su infancia. Con este propósito, el músico y escritor valenciano desarrolla una trama dramática en la cual se pueden observar algunas de las cualidades que se atribuyen típicamente a los monarcas, fundamentalmente la de ser rey por específica elección de Dios

Ovid in the Age of Cervantes [Review]

This book is the first comprehensive study of Ovid’s influence during early modern Spain since Rudolph Schevill’s Ovid and the Renascence in Spain (1913). This time, fifteen specialists have contributed to a volume with a great variety of perspectives and surprising cohesiveness

Courting Don Quixote. An Aulic Frame of Reading

Despite the current success of aulic studies in early modern history, the court did not exist as a research topic on its own until well into the 1980s. Before then, historians tried to compile all the information they could with the hope of being able to reconstruct a "perfect" narration of their national history. In the twentieth century, it was argued that a collection of data reflects not only objective information, but also the personality, interests, goals, and beliefs of the collector and his or her society. The ideal of "Total History"--the aspiration to write an indisputable and objective narration of cultures and nations has disintegrated. Historical studies have since diversified into multiple circumstantial, inapprehensible and sub-theoretical pieces. It is in this context that the subfield of "court history" has been able to grow in recent decades. In many instances, court history studies what happens behind the scenes of major historical events, and therefore its findings and achievements were often neglected of diminished by the traditional notion of history. In court history, secrets and rumors, games, friendships, and personal preferences are more important than facts, battles, and offices