BACKGROUND: Contagious and economically devastating, peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a viral disease affecting goats and sheep, causing significant losses in livestock productivity and posing a threat to food security and rural livelihoods worldwide.
OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to assess the status of goat farmer\'s knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) about PPR disease at Sylhet district of Bangladesh.
METHODS: A comprehensive cross-sectional survey, conducted over 11 weeks, targeted 130 goat owners. Following a pilot study with 20 farmers, a set of 17 validated questions on PPR KAP was validated. Data collection was performed through face-to-face interviews by a trained team using KOBO Toolbox, with interpretation of responses based on established thresholds for knowledge (>65%), attitude (>75%) and practice (>70%).
RESULTS: Overall, 67.7% of participants demonstrated a good level of knowledge about PPR disease. Males exhibited 1.42 times higher odds of knowledge compared to females (odds ratio = 1.42). The middle age group (31-45 years) showed significantly higher knowledge levels (83.3%, p < 0.001). Within this age group, positive practice levels were also notably higher (54.8%). Those with a higher secondary education background exhibited the most positive practice levels (>80%). Participants whose additional income came from non-governmental organization employment showed a higher positive practice level (71.4%), 1.46 times higher than other income sources.
CONCLUSIONS: Strategic interventions should prioritize female farmers, educational empowerment and collaboration with non-governmental organizations to bolster livestock health and rural livelihoods in Bangladesh as part of national PPR control strategy to fulfil the goals of Office International des Epizooties/World Organization for Animal Health (OIE/WOAH) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) PPR eradication by 2030.

The face serves as a crucial cue for self-identification, while the sense of agency plays a significant role in determining our influence through actions in the environment. The current study investigates how self-identification through facial recognition may influence the perception of control via motion. We propose that self-identification might engender a belief in having control over one\'s own face, leading to a more acute detection and greater emphasis on discrepancies between their actions and the sensory feedback in control judgments. We refer to the condition governed by the belief in having control as the exploitation mode. Conversely, when manipulating another individual\'s face, the belief in personal control is absent. In such cases, individuals are likely to rely on the regularity between actions and sensory input for control judgments, exhibiting behaviors that are exploratory in nature to glean such information. This condition is termed the explorative mode. The study utilized a face-motion mixing paradigm, employing a deep generative model to enable participants to interact with either their own or another person\'s face through facial and head movements. During the experiment, participants observed either their own face or someone else\'s face (self-face vs. other-face) on the screen. The motion of the face was driven either purely by their own facial and head motion or by an average of the participant\'s and the experimenter\'s motion (full control vs. partial control). The results showed that participants reported a higher sense of agency over the other-face than the self-face, while their self-identification rating was significantly higher for the self-face. More importantly, controlling someone else\'s face resulted in more movement diversity than controlling one\'s own face. These findings support our exploration-exploitation theory: When participants had a strong belief in control triggered by the self-face, they became highly sensitive to any sensorimotor prediction errors, leading to a lower sense of agency. In contrast, when the belief of control was absent, the exploration mode triggered more explorative behaviors, allowing participants to efficiently gather information to establish a sense of agency.

The treatment of flue gases has become a crucial area of interest with the increasing air emissions into the atmosphere from industries involved in combustion of fossil fuels in their operations. In essence, there is a critical need for effective methods of treatment more than ever. Treatment and separation are now a demand for the overall industrial operations to control the rate of flue gas emissions. The major culprit in this wise is power generating industry. The major associated air pollutants are carbon dioxide, sulfur oxides, trace metals, volatile organic compounds, particulate matters, and nitrogen oxides. However, the choice of technologies to be utilized requires more than just knowledge of the separation process, but also a good understanding of the properties of the pollutants. This review explored and evaluated the various separation processes and technologies for the treatment of industrial flue gases for the control of the associated air pollutants. It also analyzed the performance with references to cost and efficiency, the advantages and disadvantages, principles for selection, research direction, and/or potential opportunities in existing separation processes and technologies.

Control of the porous structure and particle size is essential for improving the properties of polysilsesquioxane (PSQ) microspheres. Herein, using the strategy combining inverse suspension polymerization, two-step sol-gel- and polymerization-induced phase separation processes, micron-sized thiol-containing macroporous PSQ (TMPSQ) microspheres with controllable morphologies, adjustable particle diameters (4.9-17.3 μm), and pore sizes (40-3774 nm) were prepared. The morphology and size of the TMPSQ microspheres were characterized by SEM. The mercury intrusion method was employed to analyze the porous structure of the microspheres. The effects of the composition of the sol-gel disperse phase, the mass ratio of the sol-gel disperse phase to the oil continuous phase (WRW/O), and the Span 80 mass content in the oil continuous phase on the morphology, particle diameter and pore size of the TMPSQ microspheres were investigated. Results indicated that the composition of the sol-gel disperse phase determines the morphology and porous structure of the microspheres, and WRW/O and Span 80 content have remarkable impacts on the morphology and particle size of the microspheres. This study is beneficial to the design and fabrication of functional PSQ microspheres with desired properties and promising application prospects.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) is still one of the most relevant animal diseases and remains of global concern. The World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) has specified two sanitary statuses that assure freedom from FMD: a country or zone can be free from FMD either with or without vaccination. To obtain either of the two statuses, absence of virus circulation must be shown. The standards set by WOAH are used for trade negotiations. During recent decades, different tools and approaches were developed to control FMD, including vaccines, diagnostics, and the Progressive Control Pathway for FMD. These tools improved over time, and nowadays high-quality, reliable vaccines and specific diagnostics are available to efficiently control and detect the infection, even in vaccinated populations. Due to these improvements, it is no longer justifiable to treat the two FMD-free statuses differently. The distinction between the statuses provides wrong incentives and tempts countries to take increased risks by stopping vaccination to improve their trade conditions, which can have potentially devastating consequences. The decision to stop vaccination should only be made on the basis of a careful and comprehensive analysis of the local and regional epidemiological situation. This paper presents the perspective that member countries and WOAH should recognize the two FMD-free statuses as equivalent.

In the realm of cardiac research, the control of spiral waves and turbulent states has been a persistent focus for scholars. Among various avenues of investigation, the modulation of ion currents represents a crucial direction. It has been proved that the methods involving combined control of currents are superior to singular approaches. While previous studies have proposed some combination strategies, further reinforcement and supplementation are required, particularly in the context of controlling arrhythmias through the combined regulation of two potassium ion currents. This study employs the Luo-Rudy phase I cardiac model, modulating the maximum conductance of the time-dependent potassium current and the time-independent potassium current, to investigate the effects of this combined modulation on spiral waves and turbulent states. Numerical simulation results indicate that, compared to modulating a single current, combining reductions in the conductance of two potassium ion currents can rapidly control spiral waves and turbulent states in a short duration. This implies that employing blockers for both potassium ion currents concurrently represents a more efficient control strategy. The control outcomes of this study represent a novel and effective combination for antiarrhythmic interventions, offering potential avenues for new antiarrhythmic drug targets.

In the quest to model neuronal function amid gaps in physiological data, a promising strategy is to develop a normative theory that interprets neuronal physiology as optimizing a computational objective. This study extends current normative models, which primarily optimize prediction, by conceptualizing neurons as optimal feedback controllers. We posit that neurons, especially those beyond early sensory areas, steer their environment toward a specific desired state through their output. This environment comprises both synaptically interlinked neurons and external motor sensory feedback loops, enabling neurons to evaluate the effectiveness of their control via synaptic feedback. To model neurons as biologically feasible controllers which implicitly identify loop dynamics, infer latent states, and optimize control we utilize the contemporary direct data-driven control (DD-DC) framework. Our DD-DC neuron model explains various neurophysiological phenomena: the shift from potentiation to depression in spike-timing-dependent plasticity with its asymmetry, the duration and adaptive nature of feedforward and feedback neuronal filters, the imprecision in spike generation under constant stimulation, and the characteristic operational variability and noise in the brain. Our model presents a significant departure from the traditional, feedforward, instant-response McCulloch-Pitts-Rosenblatt neuron, offering a modern, biologically informed fundamental unit for constructing neural networks.

Sosnowski hogweed is an invasive weed in eastern-middle Europe that is dangerous to human health and the environment. The efficacy of its control using chemical and mechanical methods is limited. Electromagnetic radiation (microwaves) could be an environmentally friendly alternative for controlling this species. This study aims to: (1) Determine the effect of varying microwave treatment (MWT) durations on the control of S. hogweed using a device emitting microwaves at 2.45 GHz, 32.8 kW/m2; (2) Evaluate the impact of MWT on soil by an ecotoxicological bioassays; (3) Analyze biochemical changes occurring in the roots during the process. A field study was performed to assess the efficacy of S. hogweed control using MWT in times from 2.5 to 15 min. The MWT-treated soil was collected immediately after treatment (AT) and tested using bioassays (Phytotoxkit, Ostracodtoxkit, and Microtox). Fourteen days AT, the MWT hogweed roots were dug out, air-dried, and analyzed for the content and composition of essential oil, sugars, and fatty acids. According to the ecotoxicological biotests, the MWT soils were classified as non-toxic or low-toxic. The regeneration of hogweed was observed only in non-treated plants (control). Hogweed MWT for 2.5-15 min did not regenerate up to 14 days AT. The average weight of roots in hogweed MWT for 15.0 min was ca. two times smaller than the control plants. Those roots contained significantly higher amounts of sugars and saturated fatty acids than the control. We did not find a correlation between S. hogweed root essential oil content and composition and MWT time. The main compounds of essential oil were p‑cymene and myristicin. No highly photosensitizing compounds were identified in the tested root oil. We conclude that MWT of S. hogweed could be an environmentally safe and prospective control method, but more studies are needed.

Magnetic resonance (MR) conditional actuators and encoders are the key components for MR-guided robotic systems. In this article, we present the modeling and control of our MR-safe pneumatic radial inflow motor and encoder. A comprehensive model is developed that considers the primary dynamic elements of the system, including: 1) motor dynamics, 2) pneumatic transmission line dynamics, and 3) valve dynamics. After model validation, we present a simplified third order model that facilitates design of a first order sliding mode controller (TO-SMC). Finally, the motor hardware is tested in a 7T MRI. No image distortion or artifacts were observed. We posit the MR-safe motor and dynamic model will lower the entry barriers for researchers interested in MR-guided robots and promote wider adoption of MR-guided robotic systems.

BACKGROUND: Schistosomiasis is a debilitating neglected tropical disease endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. The role of health facilities in the prevention, diagnosis, control, and elimination of schistosomiasis is poorly documented. In a setting targeted for schistosomiasis elimination in Zanzibar, we assessed the prevalence of Schistosoma haematobium among patients seeking care in a health facility and investigated schistosomiasis-related knowledge of staff, and health facilities\' capacities and needs for schistosomiasis diagnosis and management.
METHODS: We conducted a health facility-based mixed-method study on Pemba Island from June to August 2023. Patients aged ≥ 4 years seeking care in four health facilities were screened for S. haematobium infection using urine filtration and reagent strips. Those patients aged ≥ 10 years were additionally interviewed about signs and symptoms. Staff from 23 health facilities responded to a questionnaire assessing knowledge and practices. Ten staff participated in a focus group discussion (FGD) about capacities and needs for schistosomiasis diagnosis and management.
RESULTS: The prevalence of S. haematobium infection in patients attending the health facilities, as determined by the presence of eggs in urine, was 1.1% (8/712). Microhaematuria was detected in 13.3% (95/712) of the patients using reagent strips. Among patients responding to the questionnaire, pelvic pain, pain during sex, and painful urination were reported by 38.0% (237/623), 6.3% (39/623), and 3.2% (20/623), respectively. Among the health facility staff, 90.0% (44/49) and 87.8% (43/49) identified blood in urine and pelvic pain, respectively, as symptoms of urogenital schistosomiasis, 81.6% (40/49) and 93.9% (46/49) reported collecting a urine sample and pursuing a reagent strip test, respectively, for diagnosis, and 87.8% (43/49) administered praziquantel for treatment. The most reoccurring themes in the FGD were the need for more staff training about schistosomiasis, requests for diagnostic equipment, and the need to improve community response to schistosomiasis services in health facilities.
CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of S. haematobium infection in patients seeking care in health facilities in Pemba is very low and similar to what has been reported from recent community-based cross-sectional surveys. The health facility staff had good schistosomiasis-related knowledge and practices. However, to integrate schistosomiasis patient management more durably into routine health facility activities, scalable screening pathways need to be identified and capacities need to be improved by regular staff training, and an unbroken supply of accurate point-of-care diagnostics and praziquantel for the treatment of cases.