Lower Attack Rate Research Articles

A randomized controlled trial evaluating prophylactic treatment of Artemisia pollinosis using azelastine hydrochloride and fluticasone propionate nasal spray.

Prophylactic treatment for pollinosis is advantageous for managing nasal symptoms in patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis. Inadequate control of rhinitis symptoms increases the risk of acute asthma attacks. Nevertheless, there is limited research on the use of nasal glucocorticoids and antihistamines for the preventive treatment of pollinosis. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of prophylactic treatment for nasal symptoms and acute asthma attacks by enrolling patients with Artemisia pollinosis to use a combined device of azelastine hydrochloride and fluticasone nasal spray prior to the pollen season. The study was registered at Chictr.org.cn (ChiCTR2300073758). A total of 120 patients with Artemisia pollinosis were randomly assigned to either a prophylactic treatment group or a control group at a 1:1 ratio. In the prophylactic treatment group, the nasal spray was initiated approximately two weeks before the onset of the pollen season. During both the pollen season and the concurrent medication period, the prophylactic treatment group presented significantly lower total nasal symptom scores (TNSS) (means of 5.97 and 5.94) than the control group (means of 7.86 and 7.80) (P = 0.015 and 0.016). Although the prophylactic treatment group had a lower asthma attack rate than the control group, the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.284). Prophylactic treatment with azelastine hydrochloride and fluticasone propionate nasal sprays can alleviate nasal symptoms and may reduce acute asthma attacks during the pollen season. [Chictr.org.cn], identifier (ChiCTR2300073758).

Epidemiological characteristics of infectious disease outbreaks in schools in Zhejiang province, China, from 2013 to 2021

BackgroundSchools are special and important places where susceptible groups of infectious diseases congregate, providing conditions for infectious disease outbreaks. A retrospective analysis of school outbreaks was conducted to explore the epidemiological characteristics of school outbreaks in Zhejiang Province, China.MethodsData on school infectious disease outbreaks reported in Zhejiang Province from 2013 to 2021 were collected. The characteristics of the temporal and spatial distributions, attack rates, identification durations, outbreak durations and influencing factors were studied using descriptive epidemiological methods.ResultsA total of 1248 school outbreaks of 20 infectious causes were reported, for an overall attack rate of 2.97%. Among intestinal and respiratory infections, norovirus acute gastroenteritis and varicella, respectively, were the most common causes. May and December presented the greatest number of causes of school outbreaks, whereas November to January presented the peak number of school outbreaks. The three causes of outbreaks with the highest attack rates were herpeticangina (7.76%), influenza-like illness (7.48%), and influenza (6.37%) outbreaks. The three most common causes with the longest median identification duration and median outbreak duration were tuberculosis, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and mumps. Kindergartens (5.54%), by school closures (3.44%), and rural schools (4.02%) presented higher attack rates, whereas reporting outbreaks within two days yielded a lower attack rate (2.09%). The median duration of outbreaks in kindergartens (4.00 days), by school closures (7.00 days), and reporting outbreaks within two days (3.00 days) was shorter, whereas that in rural schools was longer (10.50 days).ConclusionKindergartens and rural schools are the key units for preventing and controlling school outbreaks. May and November–January should receive more attention. Timely reporting and school closures could be implemented to reduce the attack rate, outbreak duration, and impact of infectious diseases on students’ health.

Time Series Analysis Neural Networks for Detecting False Data Injection Attacks of Different Rates on Power Grid State Estimation

False Data Injection Attacks (FDIAs) that target the state estimation pose an immense threat to the security of power grids. Deep Neural Network (DNN) based methods have shown promising results in detecting such FDIAs. Among existing state-of-the-art DNN models, time series analysis DNNs have demonstrated superior FDIA detection capability. This paper discusses the challenges associated with applying time series analysis DNNs for detecting FDIAs and emphasizes the impact of the attack rate on the detection rate of attacks. We demonstrate that existing time series analysis DNNs are highly vulnerable to FDIAs executed at low attack rates. This paper presents various alternative implementations for time series classifiers and time series predictors to improve the FDIA detection rate. A novel method is proposed to train time series classification neural networks to detect FDIAs of any attack rate with high efficiency. Subsequently, an enhanced FDIA detection framework that includes a time series classifier and multiple predictors is presented. Furthermore, an analytical criterion is derived to estimate the FDIA detection rate of time series analysis DNNs under any attack rate. Experimental results obtained on IEEE bus systems using state-of-the-art DNN architectures support the effectiveness of the proposed training method and the proposed framework. The proposed training method significantly improved the detection rate of FDIAs at low attack rates. Up to a 48% improvement in the FDIA detection rate was observed in the proposed framework when compared to the state-of-the-art.

How Resilient Are Kolmogorov–Arnold Networks in Classification Tasks? A Robustness Investigation

Kolmogorov–Arnold Networks (KANs) are a novel class of neural network architectures based on the Kolmogorov–Arnold representation theorem, which has demonstrated potential advantages in accuracy and interpretability over Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) models. This paper comprehensively evaluates the robustness of various KAN architectures—including KAN, KAN-Mixer, KANConv_KAN, and KANConv_MLP—against adversarial attacks, which constitute a critical aspect that has been underexplored in current research. We compare these models with MLP-based architectures such as MLP, MLP-Mixer, and ConvNet_MLP across three traffic sign classification datasets: GTSRB, BTSD, and CTSD. The models were subjected to various adversarial attacks (FGSM, PGD, CW, and BIM) with varying perturbation levels and were trained under different strategies, including standard training, adversarial training, and Randomized Smoothing. Our experimental results demonstrate that KAN-based models, particularly the KAN-Mixer, exhibit superior robustness to adversarial attacks compared to their MLP counterparts. Specifically, the KAN-Mixer consistently achieved lower Success Attack Rates (SARs) and Degrees of Change (DoCs) across most attack types and datasets while maintaining high accuracy on clean data. For instance, under FGSM attacks with ϵ=0.01, the KAN-Mixer outperformed the MLP-Mixer by maintaining higher accuracy and lower SARs. Adversarial training and Randomized Smoothing further enhanced the robustness of KAN-based models, with t-SNE visualizations revealing more stable latent space representations under adversarial perturbations. These findings underscore the potential of KAN architectures to improve neural network security and reliability in adversarial settings.

Cholera outbreak in diyala province

Background: Vibrio cholerae is a primary cause of severe dehydrating diarrhea and remains a serious public health problem in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with insufficient water, sanitation, and hygiene. Cholera remains a public health threat the worldwide, mainly in countries with poor access to safe water and sanitation facilities. According to estimates, there are 21,000–143,000 deaths and 1.3–4 million cases of cholera annual. Objective: This study aims to carry out an analysis of the available information on cholera outbreaks in Diyala province, 2022. Patients and Methods: A descriptive study conducted in the department of public health using the data of cases reported from eight sectors in province. The data was collected from the surveillance unit, communicable control division of the public health department in Diyala province, IRAQ in 2022. Results: The total number of confirmed cases of cholera was (n = 139), female (72) 52 % and male (67) 48%, death reported for two of these cases. According to the date of onset, the registration of cases began from July 19 to October 25, 2022. However, the case fatality ratio (CFR) was 1.4%, while the attack rate in the governorate is 7.6 per 100,000 populations during 2022, the highest attack rate in Khanaqin district was (77 cases) 46, while the lowest attack rate in Baldruze, Al-Mansuria, and Al-Khalis districts was (1 case) 0.3,0.6, and 0.8 respectively. The age mean of patients was (38.7 ± 17.14 years) and the occurrence of the disease is more incidence in the age group 30-44 and females more than males. Conclusion: Occurrence Cholera outbreak during year 2022 without confirmed cases recorded since 2015 and the occurrence of cholera cases in governorate is greater during the months of August and September and most of the cases were from Khanaqin district.

Quantifying age-specific household contacts in Aotearoa New Zealand for infectious disease modelling.

Accounting for population age structure and age-specific contact patterns is crucial for accurate modelling of human infectious disease dynamics and impact. A common approach is to use contact matrices, which estimate the number of contacts between individuals of different ages. These contact matrices are frequently based on data collected from populations with very different demographic and socio-economic characteristics from the population of interest. Here we use a comprehensive household composition dataset based on Aotearoa New Zealand census and administrative data to construct a household contact matrix and a synthetic population that can be used for modelling. We investigate the behaviour of a compartment-based and an agent-based epidemic model parametrized using these data, compared with a commonly used contact matrix that was constructed by projecting international data onto New Zealand's population. We find that using the New Zealand household data, either in a compartment-based model or in an agent-based model, leads to lower attack rates in older age groups compared with using the projected contact matrix. This difference becomes larger when household transmission is more dominant relative to non-household transmission. We provide electronic versions of the synthetic population and household contact matrix for other researchers to use in infectious disease models.

DETEKSI DAN IDENTIFIKASI PATOGEN CENDAWAN PADA UMBI KENTANG DI SULAWESI SELATAN

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is an important horticultural commodity in Indonesia and the world, but its production has decreased due to attacks by Plant Pest Organisms including fungal pathogens. This study aims to detect and identify fungal pathogens found in potato tubers in potato-producing centers in South Sulawesi. Isolation of the fungus was carried out by the Blotter test method, namely incubating potato tubers on moist filter paper, then the fungal pathogens that appeared were identified. The results showed that the detection and identification of fungal pathogens found in potato tubers in South Sulawesi included the fungal Fusarium sp., Alternaria solani and Aspergillus sp. The percentage of fungal pathogens on potato tubers was dominated by the attack of the fungus Fusarium sp. with an average percentage of 57.5% (medium) in the Enrekang Potato sample, Gowa 62.5% (medium), 52.5% (medium) in the Bantaeng potato tuber sample. Then it was dominated by the fungus Aspergillus sp, on potato tubers Enrekang 47.5% (medium), Gowa 45% (medium) and Bantaeng 42.5% (medium) and the lowest attack rate was the attack of the fungus Alternaria solani (22.5 %) of potato samples from Bantaeng.

Spatiotemporal Epidemiological Trends of Mpox in Mainland China: Spatiotemporal Ecological Comparison Study

BackgroundThe World Health Organization declared mpox an international public health emergency. Since January 1, 2022, China has been ranked among the top 10 countries most affected by the mpox outbreak globally. However, there is a lack of spatial epidemiological studies on mpox, which are crucial for accurately mapping the spatial distribution and clustering of the disease.ObjectiveThis study aims to provide geographically accurate visual evidence to determine priority areas for mpox prevention and control.MethodsLocally confirmed mpox cases were collected between June and November 2023 from 31 provinces of mainland China excluding Taiwan, Macao, and Hong Kong. Spatiotemporal epidemiological analyses, including spatial autocorrelation and regression analyses, were conducted to identify the spatiotemporal characteristics and clustering patterns of mpox attack rate and its spatial relationship with sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors.ResultsFrom June to November 2023, a total of 1610 locally confirmed mpox cases were reported in 30 provinces in mainland China, resulting in an attack rate of 11.40 per 10 million people. Global spatial autocorrelation analysis showed that in July (Moran I=0.0938; P=.08), August (Moran I=0.1276; P=.08), and September (Moran I=0.0934; P=.07), the attack rates of mpox exhibited a clustered pattern and positive spatial autocorrelation. The Getis-Ord Gi* statistics identified hot spots of mpox attack rates in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Hainan. Beijing and Tianjin were consistent hot spots from June to October. No cold spots with low mpox attack rates were detected by the Getis-Ord Gi* statistics. Local Moran I statistics identified a high-high (HH) clustering of mpox attack rates in Guangdong, Beijing, and Tianjin. Guangdong province consistently exhibited HH clustering from June to November, while Beijing and Tianjin were identified as HH clusters from July to September. Low-low clusters were mainly located in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Xizang, Qinghai, and Gansu. Ordinary least squares regression models showed that the cumulative mpox attack rates were significantly and positively associated with the proportion of the urban population (t0.05/2,1=2.4041 P=.02), per capita gross domestic product (t0.05/2,1=2.6955; P=.01), per capita disposable income (t0.05/2,1=2.8303; P=.008), per capita consumption expenditure (PCCE; t0.05/2,1=2.7452; P=.01), and PCCE for health care (t0.05/2,1=2.5924; P=.01). The geographically weighted regression models indicated a positive association and spatial heterogeneity between cumulative mpox attack rates and the proportion of the urban population, per capita gross domestic product, per capita disposable income, and PCCE, with high R2 values in north and northeast China.ConclusionsHot spots and HH clustering of mpox attack rates identified by local spatial autocorrelation analysis should be considered key areas for precision prevention and control of mpox. Specifically, Guangdong, Beijing, and Tianjin provinces should be prioritized for mpox prevention and control. These findings provide geographically precise and visualized evidence to assist in identifying key areas for targeted prevention and control.

Ratio-dependent competitions between a Wolbachia-uninfected bisexual strain and Wolbachia-infected thelytokous strain of the egg parasitoid, Trichogramma dendrolimi Matsumura (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae)

BackgroundWolbachia-infected thelytokous Trichogramma wasps have been considered as potential effective biocontrol agents against lepidopteran pests in agriculture and forests. However, intra-specific competition may arise when Wolbachia-infected thelytokous Trichogramma coexist with their uninfected bisexual counterparts in fields or during mass-rearing procedures. This competition could potentially impact the efficacy of Trichogramma females in biological control programs.ResultsThis study examined the parasitic capacities of bisexual (TdB) and Wolbachia-infected thelytokous (TdT) strains of Trichogramma dendrolimi as influenced by host density (ranging from 5 to 70 host eggs) and wasp density (two, four, and six females per arena). The experiments involved inter-strain competition between TdB and TdT strains (Inter-Td) as well as intra-strain competition within the TdT (Intra-TdT) or TdB (Intra-TdB) strains. Results revealed that females in the Inter-Td group exhibited a higher attack rate compared to those in the Intra-TdT and Intra-TdB groups, irrespective of wasp density. Specifically, when six females were present, the Inter-Td group showed significantly shorter host handling times than the Intra-TdT group. Within intra-strain cohorts, TdT females displayed a lower attack rate than TdB females when four or six females were present, and longer host handling times when six females were present. Mutual interference between individuals was not affected by competition types. Females of the Inter-Td group exhibited a higher probability of superparasitism than those of the Intra-TdB group or Inter-Td group. When both strains coexisted, the proportion of TdT offspring with six females was higher than that with two females or four females. Male ratios of bisexual offspring in Inter-Td groups were higher than those in Intra-TdB groups. The male ratio of bisexual offspring in the Inter-Td group increased with wasp density.ConclusionsOur study highlights the negative impact of Wolbachia on parasitic capacity of Trichogramma females, increasing the likelihood of superparasitism. The coexistence of both strains enhances total parasitic efficacy, albeit resulting in a higher proportion of male offspring compared to scenarios with only uninfected females. The results will provide the reference for the usage of Wolbachia-infected thelytokous strain of T. dendrolimi in augmentative biological control programs.

Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Kakuma Refugee Camp Complex, Kenya, 2020-20211.

Understanding SARS-CoV-2 infection in populations at increased risk for poor health is critical to reducing disease. We describe the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Kakuma Refugee Camp Complex, Kenya. We performed descriptive analyses of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the camp and surrounding community during March 16, 2020‒December 31, 2021. We identified cases in accordance with national guidelines.We estimated fatality ratios and attack rates over time using locally weighted scatterplot smoothing for refugees, host community members, and national population. Of the 18,864 SARS-CoV-2 tests performed, 1,024 were positive, collected from 664 refugees and 360 host community members. Attack rates were 325.0/100,000 population (CFR 2.9%) for refugees,150.2/100,000 population (CFR 1.11%) for community, and 628.8/100,000 population (CFR 1.83%) nationwide. During 2020-2021, refugees experienced a lower attack rate but higher CFR than the national population, underscoring the need to prioritize SARS-CoV-2 mitigation measures, including vaccination.

Real-time investigation of an influenza A(H3N2) virus outbreak in a refugee community, November 2022

ObjectivesTo report epidemiological and virological results of an outbreak investigation of influenza-like illness (ILI) among refugees in Northern Italy. Study designOutbreak investigation of ILI cases observed among nearly 100 refugees in Northern Italy unvaccinated for influenza. MethodsAn epidemiological investigation matched with a differential diagnosis was carried out for each sample collected from ILI cases to identify 10 viral pathogens (SARS-CoV-2, influenza virus type A and B, respiratory syncytial virus, metapneumovirus, parainfluenza viruses, rhinovirus, enterovirus, parechovirus, and adenovirus) by using specific real-time PCR assays according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) protocols. In cases where the influenza virus type was identified, complete hemagglutinin (HA) gene sequencing and the related phylogenetic analysis were conducted. ResultsThe outbreak was caused by influenza A(H3N2): the attack rate was 83.3% in children aged 9–14 years, 84.6% in those aged 15–24 years, and 28.6% in adults ≥25 years. Phylogenetic analyses uncovered that A(H3N2) strains were closely related since they segregated in the same cluster, showing both a high mean nucleotide identity (100%), all belonging to the genetic sub-group 3C.2a1b.2a.2, as those mainly circulating into the general population in the same period. ConclusionsThe fact that influenza outbreak strains as well as the community strains were genetically related to the seasonal vaccine strain suggests that if an influenza prevention by vaccination strategy had been implemented, a lower attack rate of A(H3N2) and ILI cases might have been achieved.

Epidemic control by social distancing and vaccination: Optimal strategies and remarks on the COVID-19 Italian response policy.

After the many failures in the control of the COVID-19 pandemic, identifying robust principles of epidemic control will be key in future preparedness. In this work, we propose an optimal control model of an age-of-infection transmission model under a two-phase control regime where social distancing is the only available control tool in the first phase, while the second phase also benefits from the arrival of vaccines. We analyzed the problem by an ad-hoc numerical algorithm under a strong hypothesis implying a high degree of prioritization to the protection of health from the epidemic attack, which we termed the "low attack rate" hypothesis. The outputs of the model were also compared with the data from the Italian COVID-19 experience to provide a crude assessment of the goodness of the enacted interventions prior to the onset of the Omicron variant.

Does the COVID-19 Vaccination Reduce the Risk to Transmit SARS-CoV-2 to Others?

It has been assumed that the COVID-19 vaccination reduces the risk of transmission to others. Results during the delta predominance show that the viral load in thevaccinated population is not consistently lower compared to the unvaccinated, and during the omicron predominance, the viral load was even somewhat higher. Levels of infectious SARS-CoV-2 were partly lower in the vaccinated population. Viral loads were mostly lower in re-infections compared to breakthrough infections. Viral clearance including the detection of infectious virus has mostly been described to be faster in the vaccinated population suggesting a shorter duration as a possible source for transmission. The epidemiological relevance of this finding remains uncertain. Approximately half of the transmission studies found lower secondary attack rates from the fully vaccinated population, but the results are probably best explained by the vaccination status of the contact population. Public health data from the UK show that the number of COVID-19 cases is higher among the fully vaccinated and boosted population who might be possible sources, in contrast to lower case numbers within the first three monthsamong the vaccinated obtained in phase 3 trials on symptomatic cases. Overall, there is no convincing evidence that the COVID-19 vaccination significantly reduces the risk to transmit SARS-CoV-2 to others.

Mpox in UK households: estimating secondary attack rates and factors associated with transmission, May–November 2022

We aimed to estimate the secondary attack rate of mpox among UK household contacts and determine factors associated with transmission to inform public health management of contacts, during the global outbreak in 2022. Information was collected via NHS and public health services and included age, gender, place of residence, setting, and type of contact. Aggregate information was summarized for the UK. Record level data was combined for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and multivariable logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with transmission. The secondary attack rate among UK household mpox contacts was 4% (60/1 526). Sexual contact with the index case was associated with a 11-fold increase in adjusted odds of becoming a case in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland (95% CI 5.5–22, p < 0.001). Household contacts outside of London had increased odds compared to London residents (adjusted OR 2.9, 95%CI 1.6–5.4, p < 0.001), while female contacts had reduced odds of becoming a case (aOR: 0.41, 95% CI: 0.15–0.95). We found a low overall secondary attack rate among household mpox contacts with strong evidence of increased transmission risk associated with sexual contact. This evidence will inform the risk assessment of contacts and support prioritization of those with close intimate contact for follow up.

Effectiveness of contact tracing for COVID-19 in Belgium

Contact tracing and investigation can prevent infectious disease transmission when carried out promptly. Data obtained from contact tracing also provides unique information on transmission dynamics that can be useful for policy making. The proportion of secondary infections arising from index cases that were previously identified as a close contact, hence “known index cases”, has been indicated by ECDC as a key performance indicator for contact tracing. Few empirical studies have been published on the effectiveness of contact tracing and investigation during the COVID-19 pandemic.&#x0D; Using data from the Belgian COVID-19 contact tracing (Sept 2020 – Dec 2021), we investigated the impact of contact tracing on onward transmission. Known index cases were compared to those not previously identified as close contact. More specifically, we compared their traced contacts and secondary cases as well as the serial interval, representing the time from illness onset in the primary case to illness onset in the secondary case. In addition, we investigated contact and transmission characteristics by age.&#x0D; Known index cases, previously informed about their exposure, were linked to fewer high-risk contacts and secondary infections. In addition, they presented a lower secondary attack rate compared to those not previously identified by contact investigation, suggesting behavioural changes. Also, a shorter serial interval was observed for known index cases. In addition to breaking transmission chains, contact tracing provides important information on transmission characteristics. When exploring age-specific data, we observed increased transmission rates from children to adults during the circulation of Delta and Omicron variants without an increase in contact rates between these age groups.&#x0D; The lower secondary attack rates for known index cases suggest that contact tracing in Belgium has been effective in reducing onward transmission. Their lower number of traced contacts and shorter serial interval are indicative that individuals aware of their exposure to SARS-CoV-2 were more reserved in their social contact behaviour. This reflects the mandatory quarantine for high-risk contacts. Our study also shows that in times of high burden on the healthcare system, key performance indicators of contact tracing should be interpreted with caution in light of changing intervention strategies. Many external factors influence the effectiveness of contact tracing like testing policy and compliance, the cooperation of index cases, and the imposed and adopted quarantine and isolation policies.&#x0D;

Health surveillance for SARS-CoV-2: infection spread and vaccination coverage in the schools of Modena province, Italy.

In Italy, over 4.8 million individuals aged 0-19 years have been infected with SARS-CoV-2. This study aims to evaluate the spread of SARS-CoV-2 within schools in Modena province and the influence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination coverage. We performed a survey in the period 1 September-15 December 2021, involving student population aged 0-19 years and related teachers screened for SARS-CoV-2 infection using nasopharyngeal swab after the detection of an index case within their class. During the study period, vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 was actively offered to all subjects aged ≥12 years. A total of 13,934 subjects were tested, 12,534 students and 1,400 teachers (594 classes). We identified a total of 594 and 779 index and secondary cases, respectively. We found that 9.8% of students and 10.6% of teachers were positive for SARS-CoV-2. Overall at the test time, 32.5% were vaccinated with at least one dose of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Among secondary cases, 7.8% were vaccinated compared to 34.9% among negative tested subjects. A higher secondary attack rate was for non-vaccinated subjects rather than vaccinated ones (8.1% vs. 1.4%). Higher secondary attack rates were reported for subjects attending infant and primary school (5.9 and 9.6%, respectively). Lower secondary attack rates were for those who attended middle school (4.9%) and especially high school (1.7%). Our results highlight the differential spread of the infection within various educational settings and that the vaccination, available in the study period for the population aged ≥12, have mitigated SARS-CoV-2 spread in high and middle schools.

Predation risk by largemouth bass modulates feeding functional responses of native and non-native crayfish

Context-dependency is prevalent in nature, challenging our understanding and prediction of the potential ecological impacts of non-native species (NNS). The presence of a top predator, for example, can modify the foraging behaviour of an intermediate consumer, by means of non-consumptive effects. This raises the question of whether the fear of predation might modulate consumption rates of NNS, thus shaping the magnitude of ecological impacts. Here, we quantified the functional feeding responses of three non-native crayfish species – red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii, rusty crayfish Faxonius rusticus and virile crayfish Faxonius virilis – compared to the native analogue signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus, considering the predation risk imposed by a top fish predator, the globally invasive largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides. We applied the comparative functional response (FR) approach using snails as prey and exposing crayfish to water containing predator and dietary chemical cues or not. All crayfish species presented a destabilising Type II FR, regardless of the presence of chemical cues. Predation risk resulted in significantly longer handling times or lower attack rates in non-native crayfish; however, no significant differences were observed in signal crayfish. We estimated per capita impacts for each species using the functional response ratio (FRR; attack rate divided by handling time). The FRR metric was lower for all crayfish species when exposed to predation risk. Rusty crayfish demonstrated the highest FRR in the absence of chemical cues, followed by signal crayfish, virile crayfish and red swamp crayfish. By contrast, the FRR of signal crayfish was nearly twice that of rusty crayfish and virile crayfish and ten times greater than red swamp crayfish when chemical cues were present. The latter result agrees with the well-recognised ecological impacts of signal crayfish throughout its globally-introduced range. This study demonstrates the importance of considering the non-consumptive effects of predators when quantifying the ecological impacts of intermediate non-native consumers on prey. The direction and magnitude of the modulating effects of predators have clear implications for our understanding of NNS impacts and the prioritisation of management actions.

The Population and Level of Attack By Pod-Destroying Pests on Several Soybean Varieties as Information for The General Public and Especially Biology Education Students

Soybean productivity in Jambi province is lower than national soybean productivity. One of the problems in increasing soybean production is pest attacks. This research aims to determine the population and level of attack by pod-destroying pests on several soybean varieties (Glycine max (L) Merrill). The research design used was a Randomized Block Design (RAK) which consisted of 5 treatments with 5 groups. Each treatment was repeated 5 (five) times, so that the total experiment consisted of 25 experimental units. The data analysis technique used is the analysis of variance technique and is followed by Duncan's multiple distance test (DNMRT) at the α = 5% level. The research results show that there are 3 types of pod destroying pests on soybean plants, namely E. zinkenella, R. linearis and N. viridula. Pod sucking attacks were seen in the five soybean varieties, attacks began to appear at 73 days after planting and 80 days after planting. The attack rate was observed at 73 HST with an attack rate of 9.69 - 5.04%. At 80 DAT observations, it was seen that the attack rate was increasing, the highest attack rate occurred on the Anjasmoro variety at 26.22% and the lowest attack rate was on the Jayawijaya variety at 7.43%&#x0D; &#x0D;

Symptom prevalence and secondary attack rate of SARS-CoV-2 in rural Kenyan households: A prospective cohort study.

We estimated the secondary attack rate of SARS-CoV-2 among household contacts of PCR-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in rural Kenya and analysed risk factors for transmission. We enrolled incident PCR-confirmed cases and their household members. At baseline, a questionnaire, a blood sample, and naso-oropharyngeal swabs were collected. Household members were followed 4, 7, 10, 14, 21 and 28 days after the date of the first PCR-positive in the household; naso-oropharyngeal swabs were collected at each visit and used to define secondary cases. Blood samples were collected every 1-2weeks. Symptoms were collected in a daily symptom diary. We used binomial regression to estimate secondary attack rates and survival analysis to analyse risk factors for transmission. A total of 119 households with at least one positive household member were enrolled between October 2020 and September 2022, comprising 503 household members; 226 remained in follow-up at day 14 (45%). A total of 43 secondary cases arose within 14 days of identification of the primary case, and 81 household members remained negative. The 7-day secondary attack rate was 4% (95% CI 1%-10%), the 14-day secondary attack rate was 28% (95% CI 17%-40%). Of 38 secondary cases with data, eight reported symptoms (21%, 95% CI 8%-34%). Antibody to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein at enrolment was not associated with risk of becoming a secondary case. Households in our setting experienced a lower 7-day attack rate than a recent meta-analysis indicated as the global average (23%-43% depending on variant), and infection is mostly asymptomatic in our setting.

PeakSAX: Real-Time Monitoring and Mitigation System for LDoS Attack in SDN

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is a new paradigm that facilitates network management by enabling programmability and disassociating the control plane from the data plane. SDN places the control plane into one or more controllers that take charge of the entire network. However, the logically centralized controller of SDN makes it subject to some security issues. Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks are the main threat to SDN that can lead to impaired performance of the entire network. Low-rate Denial-of-Service (LDoS) attack is a variant of DoS attacks with a lower average attack rate and high concealability which is difficult to identify with traditional DDoS/DoS attack detection mechanisms. Additionally, existing LDoS attack detection and defense mechanisms often have weak real-time performance. To address this issue, we propose in this paper PeakSAX, a novel framework that can protect SDN against LDoS attacks in real-time by (1) Attack monitoring, (2) Traffic symbolization, (3) Malicious traffic identifying, (4) Attacker location, and (5) Mitigation strategy deployment. Simulation results show that PeakSAX can quickly identify and mitigate the impact of LDoS attacks about 4s, which improves over 70% compared to existing solutions.