Suchergebnisse

Context Domestic cats (Felis catus) hold an important place in human society but can negatively impact ecosystems when roaming freely outdoors. Aims Specific research goals included identifying factors associated with cat abundance over the year. Methods We deployed trail cameras in Wellington County, Ontario, Canada to estimate what habitat characteristics were associated with cats in the spring/summer and the fall/winter. Within a subset of our study area, we also compared these findings to a previous study that used walking surveys. Key results In the spring/summer, cat abundance was positively related to proximity to buildings and negatively related to distance to agriculture. In the fall/winter, cat abundance was negatively related to the presence of coyotes (Canis latrans) and positively related to proximity to major roads. Overall, cat abundance was higher in urban than rural locations, and higher in spring/summer compared to fall/winter. Both our results from trail cameras and walking surveys from a previous study identified that median income, woodlots, and major roads were important habitat characteristics associated with cats during the summer, and we discuss the costs and benefits associated with both approaches. Conclusions Free-roaming cats are associated with different habitat characteristics in spring/summer versus fall/winter and vary in abundance across landscape type and season. Implications The development of management strategies aimed at reducing free-roaming cats in temperate areas should incorporate seasonal and landscape patterns.

The RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine encompasses the central repeats and C-terminal of Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein (PfCSP). Although no Phase II clinical trial studies observed evidence of strain-specific immunity, recent studies show a decrease in vaccine efficacy against nonvaccine strain parasites. In light of goals to reduce malaria morbidity, anticipating the effectiveness of RTS,S/AS01 is critical to planning widespread vaccine introduction. We deep sequenced C-terminal Pfcsp from 77 individuals living along the international border in Luapula Province, Zambia and Haut- Katanga Province, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and compared translated amino acid haplotypes to the 3D7 vaccine strain. Only 5.2% of the 193 PfCSP sequences from the Zambia-DRC border region matched 3D7 at all 84 amino acids. To further contextualize the genetic diversity sampled in this study with global PfCSP diversity, we analyzed an additional 3,809 Pfcsp sequences from the Pf3k database and constructed a haplotype network representing 15 countries from Africa and Asia. The diversity observed in our samples was similar to the diversity observed in the global haplotype network. These observations underscore the need for additional research assessing genetic diversity in P. falciparum and the impact of PfCSP diversity on RTS,S/AS01 efficacy.