In sub-Saharan Africa’s endemic areas for urogenital schistosomiasis, male genital schistosomiasis (MGS) can cause significant morbidity. As part of the Hybridization in UroGenital Schistosomiasis investigation, an MGS sub-study examined a cohort of adult men over a calendar year to better ascertain general infection dynamics and putative zoonotic schistosome transmission. During follow-up, demographic, health and socio-economic data were collected through individual questionnaire interviews. Collected urine and semen were analysed using urine filtration, urine and semen microscopy and molecular DNA analyses of semen. Ten participants with reported MGS-associated symptoms had Schistosoma eggs in their urine and semen at 6-month follow-up, with seven at 12 months. Ten out of 11 participants with Schistosoma haematobium eggs on semen microscopy at baseline had persistent infection at 6-month follow-up, together with 6 new participants, giving an MGS prevalence of 84·2% (n = 19). Two also had Schistosoma mattheei eggs co-infection. Four of the 13 participants at 12-month follow-up had S. haematobium eggs in their semen which were persistent at all the time points. Using semen PCR, 14 participants (73·7%) had Schistosoma infection at 6 months, with only 2 participants being infected for first time. Upon DNA analysis, three participants also had hybrid co-infection at this time point. At 12 months, only 6 participants had Schistosoma infection with no hybrids detected. In summary, like S. haematobium and despite praziquantel treatment, both zoonotic and hybrid schistosomes can continue to cause MGS, which pose a further tangible challenge in future management and control measures.

Urogenital schistosomiasis (UGS) caused by zoonotic or hybrid schistosome infection(s) is an emerging public health concern in Malawi, and we describe a 1-year clinical sub-study with 3 inspection time points for female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) upon selecting 86 women with proven UGS. This sub-study was set within a broader 2-year longitudinal ‘Hybridization in UroGenital Schistosomiasis (HUGS)’ investigation. A detailed cervicovaginal examination with a portable colposcope was conducted, examining cervicovaginal lavage (CVL), cervical swab, cervical biopsy and urine with traditional parasitological and molecular diagnostic methods. At baseline, overt FGS by colposcopy was 72.1%, 64.3% by CVL real-time PCR and 51.2% by both colposcopy and CVL-PCR, noting urine-microscopy could often be negative. Human papillomavirus was detected in 31.0% of the cervical swabs, with 8.3% women also FGS positive by colposcopy and real-time PCR. Over the year, FGS prevalence by colposcopy increased by 32.7% during the study to 84.6%, homogenous yellow and grainy sandy patches being very common in the youngest 18–25 age group, where 51.9% were positive. FGS appears widespread locally and we discuss difficulties in its detection without invasive sampling. In addition to the presence of S. haematobium, S. mattheei was noted alongside key concurrent sexually transmitted infections. From our findings, we point out that improved prevention and management of FGS is required, foremost, better availability and regular accessibility to praziquantel treatment is needed. Furthermore, targeted health education, raised community awareness and dovetailing synergistic public health activities within Sexual and Reproductive Health services and local HIV/AIDS programmes could develop an appropriate holistic health intervention package.

In this paper, we propose a hybrid sparse array design utilizing Delaunay Triangulation algorithm for element positioning and Convex algorithm for element excitation optimization. This Delaunay Triangulation algorithm yields a radiation pattern devoid of grating lobes. Then Convex algorithm is used to optimize the element excitations to further decrease side-lobe-level. The minimum inter-element distance is as large as 8 times of wavelength. The peak-side-lobe-level can be −17.3 dB. Furthermore, beam steering can be achieved with good performance within 80° field-of-view range.

Vallisneria × pseudorosulata S. Fujii & M. Maki is an invasive aquatic weed that has recently become a major issue within the U.S. Southeast. Vallisneria × pseudorosulata is a hybrid between two nonnative eelgrass species (Vallisneria spiralis L. and Vallisneria denseserrulata Makino) and has rapidly overtaken water bodies in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. This hybrid can reproduce rapidly through offshoot formation and floating propagules capable of drifting large distances before establishing. Vallisneria × pseudorosulata has been previously found in Japan and is thought to have been introduced in the United States by the aquarium trade or through dumping.

Use of diverse germplasm for generating heterotic hybrids is the foremost requirement in maize. The present study was conducted by using a diverse set of inbred lines and the line × tester method was applied to identify best performing lines and to group QPM inbred lines into different heterotic groups. The test crosses, developed by following line (66) × tester (CML 161 and CML 165) mating design, were evaluated during winter 2013, rainy 2014 and 2015 seasons at Begusarai and Ludhiana, respectively. Based on the specific combining ability, the lines were categorized into two heterotic groups. Out of 66 novel inbreds, 18 lines with significant SCA with CML165 were classified in group A, 16 inbreds with significant SCA with CML161 were classified in group B and 20 inbreds with significant GCA were classified in group (AB). Nine inbred lines were selected based on their positive GCA values and pedigree crosses were developed in rainy season in 2017. Three crosses were made in heterotic group A and four crosses were in group B for synthesizing new inbred lines by using pedigree method. Heterotic grouping based inbred evaluation trial and biochemical analysis were carried out to estimate per se yield potential of developed lines and to estimate tryptophan content. QIL-4-2491 (Group-A) and QIL-4-2401 (Group-B) were the top yielders. A total of 25 crosses were made among the heterotic groups (A and B) by using 22 lines from groups A and B and three best performing hybrids were identified.

This paper details the design and development of a planar switched beam network using 4 × 4 Butler matrix (BM) over a thin and flexible type biocompatible substrate. Four mils thick liquid crystal polymer (LCP) is used as a substrate here (ϵr = 2.92, tanδ = 0.002). The proposed design is centered at 28 GHz, targeting commercial millimeter-wave applications. Floral-shaped antenna with defective ground structures has been implemented as basic radiating elements. The whole structure is based on microstrip line configuration. The architecture occupies an area of 23.85 × 19.20 mm2 over the LCP substrate. Individual components of the BM are detailed here, followed by a system analysis of the whole integrated structure. The present work also covers the electrical equivalent circuit modeling of the whole beam-forming network. The fabricated prototype offers better than 18 dB return losses at each input port for the desired frequency band with 6 dBi (max.) peak gain and 500 MHz bandwidth around the center frequency. Port-to-port isolation of better than 15 dB is achieved with this topology. Experimental and simulated results are in good agreement in all aspects. A comparative study is also chalked out to highlight the significance of the current research work with respect to alike earlier reported structures.

Nile × blue tilapia hybrid (Oreochromis niloticus × O. aureus) has become an important food fish in intensive freshwater aquaculture. Recently, the parasite Myxobolus bejeranoi (Cnidaria: Myxozoa) was found to infect hybrid tilapia gills at high prevalence, causing immune suppression and high mortality. Here, we explored additional characteristics of M. bejeranoi–tilapia interaction, which enable efficient proliferation of this parasite inside its specific host. Highly sensitive quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and in situ hybridization analyses of fry collected from fertilization ponds provided evidence to an early-life infection of fish by a myxozoan parasite, occurring less than 3 weeks post-fertilization. Because Myxobolus species are highly host-specific, we next compared infection rates in hybrid tilapia and in both its parental species following a 1-week exposure to infectious pond water. Analysis by qPCR and histological sections showed that while blue tilapia was as susceptible to M. bejeranoi as the hybrid, Nile tilapia appeared to be resistant. This is the first report of differential susceptibility of a hybrid fish vs its parental purebreds to a myxozoan parasite. These findings advance our understanding of the relationship between M. bejeranoi and tilapia fish and raise important questions regarding the mechanisms that allow the parasite to distinguish between very closely related species and to infect a specific organ at very early-life stages.

The occurrence of felt earthquakes due to gas production in Groningen has initiated numerous studies and model attempts to understand and quantify induced seismicity in this region. The whole bandwidth of available models spans the range from fully deterministic models to purely empirical and stochastic models. In this article, we summarise the most important model approaches, describing their main achievements and limitations. In addition, we discuss remaining open questions and potential future directions of development.