The pathogenicity of norovirus is definitively established. However, norovirus is frequently detected in the stool of healthy individuals. To gain understanding of the apparent high prevalence of asymptomatic infection, we analyzed a dynamic transmission model of norovirus infection, disease, and immunity. We simulated norovirus epidemiology in low- and high-transmission settings by varying the...

As classically defined by Macdonald in the early 1950s, for the case of diseases with one vector and one host, the Basic Reproduction Number, R0, is defined as the number of secondary infections caused by a single infective of the same type (vector or host) during its infectiousness period in an entirely susceptible population. In the case of a disease which has one vector and one host, it is e...

We investigated the hypothesis that muscles of different oxidative potential would display differences in sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ handling responses to repetitive contractile activity and recovery. Repetitive activity was induced in two muscles of high oxidative potential, namely, soleus (SOL) and red gastrocnemius (RG), and in white gastrocnemius (WG), a muscle of low oxidative potent...

The basic reproduction number R0--the number of individuals directly infected by an infectious person in an otherwise susceptible population--is arguably the most widely used estimator of how severe an epidemic outbreak can be. This severity can be more directly measured as the fraction of people infected once the outbreak is over, Ω. In traditional mathematical epidemiology and common formulat...

BACKGROUND Surgery is still the standard treatment for aggressive fibromatosis (AF); however, local control remains a significant problem and the impact of R0 surgery on cumulative recurrence (CR) is objective of contradictory reports. METHODS This is a single-institution study of 62 consecutive patients affected by extra-abdominal and intra-abdominal AF who received macroscopically radical s...

In the present work we have evaluated the acute toxicity of two anionic surfactants, alkyl benzene sulphonate (ABS) and sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) to eggs of gilthead Sparus aurata. At each surfactant concentration, we determined the exposure time required for 50% mortality of the eggs (LT50), surface tension and volume of oil globule in gilthead eggs. Clear dose-response relationships for m...

The white grub Laniifera cyclades Druce of prickly pear cactus or nopal is a pest that limits the commercial production of Opuntia . The gregarious larvae perforate the cladodes devouring the inner part, thereby forming large galleries until reaching the central axis of the plant; during their movement through the inner part of the cactus, the larvae make orifices to the exterior to expel their...

Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. has been described as a freezing-tolerant species based on freezing-resistance assays. Nonetheless, this type of experiment does not discriminate between freezing-tolerance and freezing-avoidance mechanisms. The purpose of this paper was to determine which of these two freezing-resistance mechanisms is responsible for freezing resistance in A. thaliana. This was...