Single Ae Research Articles

Properties of Amplitude Distributions of Acoustic Emission Signals Generated in Pressure Vessel During Testing

In the paper, the results of investigations on the properties of acoustic emission signals generated in a tested pressure vessel are presented. The investigations were performed by repeating several times the following procedure: an increase in pressure, maintaining a given pressure level, a further increase in pressure, and then maintaining the pressure at new determined level. During the tests the acoustic emission signals were recorded by the measuring system 8AE-PD with piezoelectric sensors D9241A. The used eight-channel measuring system 8AE-PD enables the monitoring, recording and then basic and advanced analysis of signals. The results of basic analysis carried out in domain of time and the results of advanced analysis carried out in the discrimination threshold domain of the recorded acoustic emission signals are presented in the paper. In the framework of the advanced analysis, results are described by the defined by the author descriptors with acronyms ADC, ADP and ADNC. Such description is based on identifying the properties of amplitude distributions of acoustic emission signals by assigning them the level of advancement. It is shown that for signals including continoues AE or single burst AE signals descriptions of such registered signals by means of ADC, ADP and ADNC descriptors and by Upp and Urms descriptors provide identical ordering of registered acoustic emission signals. For complex signals, the description using ADC, ADP and ADNC descriptors based on the analysis of amplitude distributions of recorded signals gives the order of signals with more accurate connection with deformational processes being sources of acoustic emission signals.

Detection of La Crosse Virus In Situ and in Individual Progeny to Assess the Vertical Transmission Potential in Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti.

La Crosse virus (LACV) is circulating in the midwestern and southeastern states of the United States and can cause human encephalitis. The main vector of the virus is the eastern tree-hole mosquito, Aedes triseriatus. Ae. albopictus has been also described as a natural LACV vector, while Ae. aegypti has been infected with the virus under laboratory conditions. Here, we compare the vertical transmission potential of LACV in Ae. albopictus and Ae. aegypti, with emphasis given to the ovarian infection patterns that the virus generates in both species. Both mosquito species received artificial bloodmeals containing LACV. At defined time points post-infection/bloodmeal, midguts, head tissue, and ovaries were analyzed for the presence of virus. Viral infection patterns in the ovaries were visualized via immunofluorescence confocal microscopy and immunohistopathology assays using an LACV-specific monoclonal antibody. In Ae. aegypti, LACV was confronted with midgut infection and escape barriers, which were much less pronounced in Ae. albopictus, resulting in a significantly higher prevalence of infection in the latter. Following the ingestion of a single virus-containing bloodmeal, no progeny larvae were found to be virus-infected. Regardless, females of both species showed the presence of LACV antigen in their ovariole sheaths. Furthermore, in a single Ae. albopictus female, viral antigen was associated with the nurse cells inside the primary follicles. Following the ingestion of a second non-infectious bloodmeal at 7- or 10-days post-ingestion of an LACV-containing bloodmeal, more progeny larvae of Ae. albopictus than of Ae. aegypti were virus-infected. LACV antigen was detected in the egg chambers and ovariole sheaths of both mosquito species. Traces of viral antigen were also detected in a few oocytes from Ae. albopictus. The low level of vertical transmission and the majority of the ovarian infection patterns suggested the transovum rather than transovarial transmission (TOT) of the virus in both vector species. However, based on the detection of LACV antigen in follicular tissue and oocytes, there was the potential for TOT among several Ae. albopictus females. Thus, TOT is not a general feature of LACV infection in mosquitoes. Instead, the TOT of LACV seems to be dependent on its particular interaction with the reproductive tissues of a female.

A High-Throughput Hardware Implementation of NAT Traversal For IPSEC VPN

In this paper, we present a high-throughput FPGA implementation of IPSec core. The core supports both NAT and non-NAT mode and can be used in high speed security gateway devices. Although IPSec ESP is very computing intensive for its cryptography process, our implementation shows that it can achieve high throughput and low lantency. The system is realized on the Zynq XC7Z045 from Xilinx and was verified and tested in practice. Results show that the design can gives a peak throughput of 5.721 Gbps for the IPSec ESP tunnel mode in NAT mode and 7.753 Gbps in non-NAT mode using one single AES encrypt core. We also compare the performance of the core when running in other mode of encryption.

Temporal Correlation Between Urban Microclimate, Vector Mosquito Abundance, and Dengue Cases.

Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) is a major mosquito-borne viral disease. Studies have reported a strong correlation between weather, the abundance of Aedes aegypti, the vector of DHF virus, and dengue incidence. However, this conclusion has been based on the general climate pattern of wide regions. In general, however, the human population, level of infrastructure, and land-use change in rural and urban areas often produce localized climate patterns that may influence the interaction between climate, vector abundance, and dengue incidence. Thoroughly understanding this correlation will allow the development of a customized and precise local early warning system. To achieve this purpose, we conducted a cohort study, during January-December 2017, in 16 districts in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. In the selected areas, local weather stations and modified light mosquito traps were set up to obtain data regarding daily weather and the abundance of adult female Ae. aegypti. A generalized linear model was applied to analyze the effect of local weather and female adult Ae. aegypti on the number of dengue cases. The result showed a significant non-linear correlation among mosquito abundance, maximum temperature, and dengue cases. Using our model, the data showed that the addition of a single adult Ae. aegypti mosquito increased the risk of dengue infection by 1.8%, while increasing the maximum temperature by one degree decreased the risk by 17%. This finding suggests specific actionable insights needed to supplement existing mosquito eradication programs.

Reproductive and genetic roles of the maternal progenitor in the origin of common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

Common wheat (Triticum aestivum L., AABBDD genome) is thought to have emerged through natural hybridization between Triticum turgidum L. (AABB genome) and Aegilops tauschii Coss. (DD genome). Hybridization barriers and doubling of the trihaploid F1 hybrids’ genome (ABD) via unreduced gamete fusion had key roles in the process. However, how T. turgidum, the maternal progenitor, was involved in these mechanisms remains unknown. An artificial cross‐experiment using 46 cultivated and 31 wild T. turgidum accessions and a single Ae. tauschii tester with a very short genetic distance to the common wheat D genome was conducted. Cytological and quantitative trait locus analyses of F1 hybrid genome doubling were performed. The crossability and ability to cause hybrid inviability did not greatly differ between the cultivars and wild accessions. The ability to cause hybrid genome doubling was higher in the cultivars. Three novel T. turgidum loci for hybrid genome doubling, which influenced unreduced gamete production in F1 hybrids, were identified. Cultivated T. turgidum might have increased the probability of the emergence of common wheat through its enhanced ability to cause genome doubling in F1 hybrids with Ae. tauschii. The ability enhancement might have involved alterations at a relatively small number of loci.

Dose Reductions and Discontinuations with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) Patients Receiving Ibrutinib in Community and Academic Settings

Introduction: Since its approval in 2014, ibrutinib has replaced chemotherapy to become a preferred therapy for CLL patients. Real-world studies of ibrutinib in CLL patients have shown higher rates of discontinuations due to adverse events (AEs; 14-23%) compared with data from the early clinical trials of ibrutinib (4-9%). Similarly, dose reduction rates due to AEs in the real-world studies were 22-28%, vs 9% in the ibrutinib package insert. These real-world studies have been mostly focused on the academic setting or based on registry data. This study was part of an initiative to collect chart-review data from an academic practice and broader community networks, using an identical protocol to describe ibrutinib dose reductions and discontinuations in CLL patients. Methods: This was a multicenter, retrospective, chart review study of CLL patients and treated with ibrutinib. De-identified data were pooled from 2 community networks and 1 academic practice. Each community network agreed to contribute 50 patients on ibrutinib to the pooled data. To minimize potential bias, the patients were randomly selected from all the ibrutinib-treated patients in each network. All patients meeting inclusion criteria from the academic site were included. Inclusion criteria were: confirmed diagnosis of CLL, initiation of ibrutinib between March 2014 and June 2019, and ≥18 years of age at the initiation of therapy. Patients were excluded if they were actively receiving therapy for other primary cancers or were enrolled in a clinical trial of ibrutinib during the study period. Index date was defined as the date of ibrutinib initiation, and patients were followed for a minimum of 6 months. Variables collected included: patient demographics, clinical and treatment characteristics, molecular profiles, and reasons for dose reduction and discontinuation. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the results. Results: 180 CLL Patients were included in this analysis. Of these, 56 (31%) patients received ibrutinib in the first line (1L) and 124 (69%) patients received ibrutinib in a relapsed/refractory (R/R) line. Over half (56%) of patients were treated in a community setting. Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics are shown in Table 1. 1L Ibrutinib patients had a median follow-up of 26 months. Twenty-five percent of patients (n=14) experienced at least one dose reduction, mainly due to AEs (n=11, 79%) (Figure 1). There was no single AE primarily responsible for dose reduction (Table 2). Treatment discontinuations were reported in 20% of patients, and they were more commonly due to AEs (73%) than disease progression (9%). Similarly, a variety of AEs led to discontinuations (Table 2). Median time to the first dose reduction for 1L patients was 9.9 months. Among patients who discontinued ibrutinib, median duration of treatment (DOT) was 15 months; with median DOT of 6 months for those who discontinued because of AEs and 28.9 months for those who discontinued because of progression. R/R Ibrutinib patients had a median follow up of 28.5 months. About a quarter (27.5%, n=34) of patients experienced at least 1 dose reduction, mainly due to AEs (n=30 [88%]) (Figure 1). The most common AEs leading to the first dose reductions were gastrointestinal (GI) disorder (43%), fatigue (23%), , and arthralgia/myalgia/musculoskeletal pain (17%) (Table 2). Treatment discontinuation was reported in 40% of patients, with over half due to AEs (58%) rather than disease progression (18%). The most common AEs leading to discontinuation were GI disorders (31%), atrial fibrillation (24%), and infections (21%) (Table 2). Median time to the first dose reduction in R/R patients was 3.1 months. Among patients who discontinued ibrutinib, median DOT was 9 months; with median DOT of 6 months for those who discontinued because of AEs and 30.2 months for those who discontinued because of progression. Conclusions: Dose reductions and discontinuations were frequent in CLL patients receiving ibrutinib in routine clinical practice. Compared with ibrutinib clinical trial data at a similar follow-up time, AEs were the most common reasons leading to discontinuation of ibrutinib rather than disease progression. The rates of dose reduction and discontinuations due to AEs in our study were higher than in clinical trials and were consistent with other real-world studies, indicating similar patterns in both community and academic settings. Disclosures Hou: Verastem: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Genentech: Consultancy, Other: PI; AbbVie: Consultancy, Other: PI; AstraZeneca: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding. Ryan:AstraZeneca: Current Employment, Current equity holder in private company. Du:AstraZeneca: Other: Grant. Fang:AstraZeneca: Other: Grant. Marks:Sanofi: Research Funding. Page:AstraZeneca: Other: Grants. Peng:AstraZeneca: Other: Grant. Szymanski:AstraZeneca: Current Employment, Other: Stockholder. Le:AstraZeneca: Current Employment, Current equity holder in private company.

Effects of a Fiber-Rich Nutritional Supplement on Postprandial Glycemic Response and Lipid Parameters in Overweight Adults with and without Impaired Fasting Glucose in India

Objectives: This study evaluated the effects of a fiber-rich nutritional supplement on postprandial glycemic response and lipid parameters in overweight adults with and without impaired fasting glucose (IFG) in India. An ad-hoc analysis assessed the supplement’s effects on glycemic and lipid parameters in overweight adults with and without IFG. Methods: This was a randomized, double-blind, single-center study including 96 subjects. Among them, 26 subjects had IFG (100-125 mg/dL). After an overnight fast and a high-fat standardized breakfast, subjects were stratified according to IFG status and randomized to a fiber-rich drink or an energy-matched non-fiber control drink. Blood was drawn at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 75, 90, 105, 120, 150, 180, 210- and 240-min following treatment administration to assess postprandial blood glucose, triglycerides, remnant-like particle-cholesterol (RLP-C) and insulin peaks. There was a 3-day washout period between treatments. Results: Subjects with IFG displayed significantly lowered Cmax for postprandial glucose with the fiber-rich supplement versus control (difference -4.64 mg/dL; p=0.0487). A lower postprandial triglyceride peak was also reported with the fiber-rich supplement; however, this difference was not statistically significant (difference -6.79 mg/dL; p=0.6116). In an ad-hoc analysis, in subjects without IFG, the fiber-rich drink had a larger effect than the control drink on the Cmax for postprandial glucose (difference-4.75 mg/dL [95% CI -7.37, -2.14]), RLP-C (-0.18 mmol/L [-0.35, -0.02] and insulin (-23.33 μIU/mL [-36.54, -10.13]). A single AE, that is mild diarrhea was reported but was not related to the experimental treatment. Conclusion: The fiber-rich nutritional supplement reduced maximum concentrations of postprandial blood glucose levels in overweight subjects with IFG without much influence on postprandial triglycerides.

Levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone for the treatment of early Parkinson’s disease: a meta-analysis

Treatment of Parkinson's disease with levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone (LCE) has been studied for a long time. However, the efficacy and safety of LCE in the treatment of early Parkinson's disease (PD) still need to be assessed. Our objective was to do a meta-analysis of relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the efficacy and safety of LCE for early PD. PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and the Web of Science were searched for RCTs with "levodopa/carbidopa/entacapone" and "Parkinson's disease" as keywords. The search period was from inception to October 2018. The quality of included studies was strictly evaluated. We evaluated the quality of included studies strictly and six studies met all inclusion criteria. The results showed that LCE could improve activities of daily living and motor function in PD patients. However, LCE therapy was associated with higher risks of total AEs and single AEs compared with traditional therapy.

A LAMP-based colorimetric assay to expedite field surveillance of the invasive mosquito speciesAedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus.

BackgroundYellow fever, dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses are responsible for considerable morbidity and mortality in humans. Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are the most important mosquito vectors involved in their transmission. Accurate identification of these species is essential for the implementation of control programs to limit arbovirus transmission, during suspected detections at ports of first entry, to delimit incursions or during presence/absence surveillance programs in regions vulnerable to invasion. We developed and evaluated simple and rapid colorimetric isothermal tests to detect these two mosquito species based on loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) targeting the ribosomal RNA internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1).Methodology/Principal findingsSamples were prepared by homogenizing and heating at 99 oC for 10 min before an aliquot was added to the LAMP reaction. After 40 min incubation at 65 oC, a colour change indicated a positive result. The tests were 100% sensitive and species-specific, and demonstrated a limit of detection comparable with PCR-based detection (TaqMan chemistry). The LAMP assays were able to detect target species for various life stages tested (adult, 1st instar larva, 4th instar larva and pupa), and body components, such as legs, wings and pupal exuviae. Importantly, the LAMP assays could detect Ae. aegypti DNA in mosquitoes stored in Biogents Sentinel traps deployed in the field for 14 d. A single 1st instar Ae. aegypti larva could also be detected in a pool of 1,000 non-target 1st instar Aedes notoscriptus, thus expediting processing of ovitrap collections obtained during presence/absence surveys. A simple syringe-sponge protocol facilitated the concentration and collection of larvae from the ovitrap water post-hatch.Conclusions/SignificanceWe describe the development of LAMP assays for species identification and demonstrate their direct application for surveillance in different field contexts. The LAMP assays described herein are useful adjuncts to laboratory diagnostic testing or could be employed as standalone tests. Their speed, ease-of-use, low cost and need for minimal equipment and training make the LAMP assays ideal for adoption in low-resource settings without the need to access diagnostic laboratory services.

Recombination between homoeologous chromosomes induced in durum wheat by the Aegilops speltoides Su1-Ph1 suppressor

Su1-Ph1, which we previously introgressed into wheat from Aegilops speltoides, is a potent suppressor of Ph1 and a valuable tool for gene introgression in tetraploid wheat. We previously introgressed Su1-Ph1, a suppressor of the wheat Ph1 gene, from Aegilops speltoides into durum wheat cv Langdon (LDN). Here, we evaluated the utility of the introgressed suppressor for inducing introgression of alien germplasm into durum wheat. We built LDN plants heterozygous for Su1-Ph1 that simultaneously contained a single LDN chromosome 5B and a single Ae. searsii chromosome 5Sse, which targeted them for recombination. We genotyped 28 BC1F1 and 84 F2 progeny with the wheat 90-K Illumina single-nucleotide polymorphism assay and detected extensive recombination between the two chromosomes, which we confirmed by non-denaturing fluorescence in situ hybridization (ND-FISH). We constructed BC1F1 and F2 genetic maps that were 65.31 and 63.71cM long, respectively. Recombination rates between the 5B and 5Sse chromosomes were double the expected rate computed from their meiotic pairing, which we attributed to selection against aneuploid gametes. Recombination rate between 5B and 5Sse was depressed compared to that between 5B chromosomes in the proximal region of the long arm. We integrated ND-FISH signals into the genetic map and constructed a physical map, which we used to map a 172,188,453-bp Ph1 region. Despite the location of the region in a low-recombination region of the 5B chromosome, we detected three crossovers in it. Our data show that Su1-Ph1 is a valuable tool for gene introgression and gene mapping based on recombination between homoeologous chromosomes in wheat.

Voltage-gated sodium channel intron polymorphism and four mutations comprise six haplotypes in an Aedes aegypti population in Taiwan.

BackgroundKnockdown resistance (kdr) to dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and pyrethroids is known to link amino acid substitutions in the voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) in Aedes aegypti. Dengue fever primarily transmitted by Ae. aegypti is an annual public health issue in Taiwan. Accordingly, pyrethroid insecticides have been heavily used for decades to control mosquito populations in the summer and autumn. In Taiwan, an Ae. aegypti population with two VGSC mutations, V1016G and D1763Y, was described previously.Methodology/Principal findingAedes aegypti (G0) were collected in Tainan and Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan. The VGSC gene polymorphisms of the kdr mutations and the intron flanked by exons 20 and 21 were verified. The first generation offspring (G1) were used to measure the resistance level to cypermethrin, a pyrethroid insecticide currently used in Taiwan. In addition to V1016G and D1763Y, we describe two new mutations, S989P and F1534C, which have not been reported in Taiwan. Moreover, we also identify two types (groups A and B) of introns between exons 20 and 21. Intriguingly, the kdr mutations S989P, V1016G and D1763Y are strictly located on the haplotype harboring the group A intron, whereas F1534C links to the group B intron. When those data were taken together, we proposed the following six haplotypes for VGSC genes in Taiwan today: (i)S989-intron A-V1016-F1534-D1763, (ii)S989-intron A-V1016G-F1534-D1763, (iii)S989P-intron A-V1016G-F1534-D1763, (iv)S989-intron A-V1016G-F1534-D1763Y, (v)S989-intron B-V1016-F1534-D1763 and (vi)S989-intron B-V1016-F1534C-D1763. Triple heterozygous mutations of either S989P/V1016G/F1534C or V1016G/F1534C/D1763Y can be found in one single Ae. aegypti mosquito. The proportions of the VGSC mutations were relevant to cypermethrin resistance. Notably, the presence of S989P and V1016G in the population could be a helpful reference to predict the resistance level to cypermethrin. This is the first study to demonstrate the coexistence of four kdr mutations in a population of Ae. aegypti.Conclusions/SignificanceFour kdr mutations (S989P, V1016G, F1534C and D1763Y) and two intron forms (Group A and B) were commonly found in local Ae. aegypti populations in Taiwan.

New County Records of Aedes aegypti and Aedes epactius in Colorado.

In August and September 2017, we conducted mosquito surveillance in southeastern Colorado by using ovitraps and larval sampling. The aim was to determine if there were established populations of Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus in the region. A single female Ae. aegypti was reared from eggs collected in La Junta, CO, but Ae. albopictus was not detected. Three other species were reared from eggs and/or larvae: Ae. epactius, Culex restuans, and Cx. pipiens. Aedes aegypti and Ae. epactius were detected for the 1st time in Otero and Baca counties, respectively, and these became new county records for Colorado. Both species were detected in very low numbers, suggesting extremely low population density or sporadic introductions into southeastern Colorado.

Adiantum: length-preserving encryption for entry-level processors

We present HBSH, a simple construction for tweakable length-preserving encryption which supports the fastest options for hashing and stream encryption for processors without AES or other crypto instructions, with a provable quadratic advantage bound. Our composition Adiantum uses NH, Poly1305, XChaCha12, and a single AES invocation. On an ARM Cortex-A7 processor, Adiantum decrypts 4096-byte messages at 10.6 cycles per byte, over five times faster than AES-256-XTS, with a constant-time implementation. We also define HPolyC which is simpler and has excellent key agility at 13.6 cycles per byte.

A Low Area, Low Power 8-bit AES-CCM Authenticated Encryption Core in 180nm CMOS Process

This paper presents a low area, low power AES-CCM authenticated encryption IP core with silicon demonstration in 180nm standard CMOS process. The proposed AES-CCM core combines a low area 8-bit single S-box AES encryption core, improved iterative structure and other optimized circuits. The implementation results show that the proposed AES-CCM core achieves very high resource efficiency with 6.5 kgates GE and the low power consumption of 11.6 µW/MHz while meeting the requirement of the operation speed for many applications including IEEE 802.15.6 WBANs. The detail implementation and optimization results are also presented and discussed.

Preparation and High Temperature Resistance of a Novel Aqueous Foam for Fire Extinguishing

In order to effectively prevent the fire, the experiment on the preparation of aqueous foam with high stability was carried out based on the analysis of the current characteristics of the foaming agent. When the SDS and AES solutions were added with RPP, PAM and LA, the foaming heights all higher than the single SDS or AES solution. But the half-time changed up and down. Based on the FCI, the biggest value of FCI is 10762.50, and its corresponding compound solution is composed of 2.5g/L AES+1.5g/L PAM+4.0g/L SAP. The formation mechanism of the novel aqueous foam consist of the PAM particles irreversibly adsorb at the gas-liquid interface, PAM can associate with micelles to result in an increase in the charge of PAM macromolecules and an increase in system viscosity, AES ionization of Na+ further increased the Na+ concentration in the SAP grid and promoted the water absorption. When the temperature is 135℃, it began to have a small amount of water evaporation and the foaming height began to decline. The water evaporation rate increased with the temperature. Through the change of viscosity, it is concluded that the prepared aqueous foam can still maintain the foam form at 220℃.

A Comparison of NaOH, Fenton, and Their Combined Pretreatments for Improving Saccharification of Corn Stalks

In this study, the effectiveness of NaOH extraction (AE), Fenton oxidation (FO), and synergistic pretreatment using AE and FO for enzymatic saccharification of corn stalks (CS) was compared by statistical analyses. The results showed that AE-FO treatment resulted in statistically higher enzymolysis efficiency and glucose yield than single AE and single FO treatments. Compared with single AE and FO treatments, AE-FO resulted in statistically significant higher lignin removal and xylan removal, consequently improving the cellulose accessibility to cellulase. Among various synergistic pretreatment parameters, utilizing Plackett–Burman design determined the most effective factor improving cellulose accessibility to cellulase was NaOH loading. The results that we obtained could be extended to help further improve the synergistic pretreatment process by using CS for the production of biofuels and sugar-based chemicals.

Zika virus transmission to mouse ear by mosquito bite: a laboratory model that replicates the natural transmission process

BackgroundZika disease has transformed into a serious global health problem due to the rapid spread of the arbovirus and alarming severity including congenital complications, microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Zika virus (ZIKV) is primarily transmitted to humans through the bite of an infective mosquito, with Aedes aegypti being the main vector.MethodsWe successfully developed a ZIKV experimental transmission model by single infectious Ae. aegypti bite to a laboratory mouse using circulating Brazilian strains of both arbovirus and vector. Mosquitoes were orally infected and single Ae. aegypti were allowed to feed on mouse ears 14 days post-infection. Additionally, salivary gland (SG) homogenates from infected mosquitoes were intrathoracically inoculated into naïve Ae. aegypti. Mosquito and mouse tissue samples were cultured in C6/36 cells and processed by quantitative real-time PCR.ResultsA total of 26 Ae. aegypti were allowed to feed individually on mouse ears. Of these, 17 mosquitoes fed, all to full engorgement. The transmission rate of ZIKV by bite from these engorged mosquitoes to mouse ears was 100%. The amount of virus inoculated into the ears by bites ranged from 2 × 102–2.1 × 1010 ZIKV cDNA copies and was positively correlated with ZIKV cDNA quantified from SGs dissected from mosquitoes post-feeding. Replicating ZIKV was confirmed in macerated SGs (2.45 × 107 cDNA copies), mouse ear tissue (1.15 × 103 cDNA copies, and mosquitoes 14 days post-intrathoracic inoculation (1.49 × 107 cDNA copies) by cytopathic effect in C6/36 cell culture and qPCR.ConclusionsOur model illustrates successful transmission of ZIKV by an infectious mosquito bite to a live vertebrate host. This approach offers a comprehensive tool for evaluating the development of infection in and transmission from mosquitoes, and the vertebrate-ZIKV interaction and progression of infection following a natural transmission process.

Discovery of a single male Aedes aegypti (L.) in Merseyside, England

BackgroundThe mosquito Aedes aegypti (L.) is found in tropical and sub-tropical regions where it is the major vector of dengue fever, yellow fever, chikungunya and more recently Zika virus. Given its importance as a vector of arboviruses and its propensity to be transported to new regions, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has placed Ae. aegypti on a list of potentially invasive mosquito species. It was previously reported in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1865 and 1919 but did not establish on either occasion. It is now beginning to reappear in European countries and has been recorded in the Netherlands (not established) and Madeira (Portugal), as well as southern Russia, Georgia and Turkey.ResultsDuring summer 2014, a single male Ae. aegypti was captured during mosquito collections in north-western England using a sweep net. Morphological identification complimented by sequencing of the ITS2 rDNA, and cox1 mtDNA regions, confirmed the species. Following confirmation, a programme of targeted surveillance was implemented around the collection site by first identifying potential larval habitats in greenhouses, a cemetery, a farm and industrial units. Despite intensive surveillance around the location, no other Ae. aegypti specimens were collected using a combination of sweep netting, larval dipping, mosquito magnets, BG sentinel traps and ovitraps. All species collected were native to the UK.ConclusionThe finding of the single male Ae. aegypti, while significant, presents no apparent disease risk to public health, and the follow-up survey suggests that there was no established population. However, this report does highlight the need for vigilance and robust surveillance, and the requirement for procedures to be in place to investigate such findings.

Analysis of chitosan/tripolyphosphate micro- and nanogel yields is key to understanding their protein uptake performance

Chitosan/tripolyphosphate (TPP) micro- and nanogels are widely explored as vehicles for protein drug and vaccine delivery. Yet, aside from the consensus that protein uptake into these particles is enhanced by stronger protein/particle binding, factors that control their uptake performance, such as differences in the chitosan, TPP and protein concentrations, remain poorly understood. Here, we show that many of the differences in the reported association efficiencies (AE-values) for protein uptake likely reflect the largely-ignored variability in the particle yield (XAgg), which is the fraction of the added chitosan that self-assembles into particles and (like the AE) varies with the chitosan, TPP and protein concentrations. Factors affecting XAgg are first systematically explored. The AE is then shown to scale almost linearly with the XAgg (which increases with the TPP and protein-to-chitosan ratios) until all chitosan aggregates into particles. Remarkably, the data collected at variable TPP and protein concentrations collapses onto a single AE∝XAgg curve for each protein type. Further analysis of protein/particle binding reveals this rise in AE with XAgg to reflect: (1) an increase in binding sites within the particles; and (2) a decrease in soluble (non-particulate) chitosan molecules, which form soluble protein/chitosan complexes and compete with the chitosan/TPP particles for the unassociated protein. These findings highlight the need to carefully analyze the effects of formulation parameters on chitosan/TPP particle yields and can likely be extended to other ionically crosslinked colloidal drug carriers.

Efficient Server-Aided 2PC for Mobile Phones

Abstract Secure Two-Party Computation (2PC) protocols allow two parties to compute a function of their private inputs without revealing any information besides the output of the computation. There exist low cost general-purpose protocols for semi-honest parties that can be efficiently executed even on smartphones. However, for the case of malicious parties, current 2PC protocols are significantly less efficient, limiting their use to more resourceful devices. In this work we present an efficient 2PC protocol that is secure against malicious parties and is light enough to be used on mobile phones. The protocol is an adaptation of the protocol of Nielsen et al. (Crypto, 2012) to the Server-Aided setting, a natural relaxation of the plain model for secure computation that allows the parties to interact with a server (e.g., a cloud) who is assumed not to collude with any of the parties. Our protocol has two stages: In an offline stage - where no party knows which function is to be computed, nor who else is participating - each party interacts with the server and downloads a file. Later, in the online stage, when two parties decide to execute a 2PC together, they can use the files they have downloaded earlier to execute the computation with cost that is lower than the currently best semi-honest 2PC protocols. We show an implementation of our protocol for Android mobile phones, discuss several optimizations and report on its evaluation for various circuits. For example, the online stage for evaluating a single AES circuit requires only 2.5 seconds and can be further reduced to 1 second (amortized time) with multiple executions.