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Objectives: Correct scientific image analysis is crucial for counting, grading, scoring or staging but is often hampered by subjectivity and bias. Therefore, image analysis should be performed by multiple blinded observers and in a randomized and anonymized manner. In addition, observers from other [for full text, please go to the a.m. URL]

Indian Ocean islands are endemic areas for human and animal leptospirosis. Maintenance host species for Leptospira spp. have still not been completely elucidated, and recently the role of cats (Felis catus) has been questioned. This cross-sectional study aims to determine whether cats are part of the maintenance community of different strains of Leptospira spp. in Reunion Island. The prevalence of Leptospira infection in an opportunistic sample of stray and domestic cats (n = 92) from Reunion Island has been studied using serological (microagglutination test) and molecular detection (polymerase chain reaction (PCR)). The results revealed a seroprevalence of 37.0% (34/92) (cut-off 1:40) without a significant difference in the living conditions of animals. The predominant serogroup was Icterohaemorrhagiae, but Ballum, Cynopteri and Australis were also detected. Using PCR, 28.6% (12/42) of stray cats were tested positive. Leptospiral DNA was detected in renal tissue, urine and blood of respectively 14.3% (6/42), 10.3% (4/39) and 11.9% (5/42) of stray cats, but 0% (0/3), 0% (0/50) and 0% (0/36) of domestic cats (P = non-applicable, P = 0,038, P = 0,058 respectively). Partial rrs gene (16S rRNA) sequencing identified Leptospira interrogans in all PCR-positive samples. Our study confirms that renal carriage and urinary shedding are possible, positioning cats, and especially stray cats as potential actors within the maintenance community of L. interrogans in Reunion Island.

With 450,000 km

Inspector Computer is a real world application based on Grid technologies helping users to find stolen goods in the internet. All the user has to provide is a reference image and a short, textual description of the items he is searching for. After initialization Inspector Computer queries several existing search engines in the Internet to get the necessary data. From the results of the query the images are extracted and compared to the reference image. The sophisticated comparison methods score images by their content, i.e. if two images contain the same object. Even comparison of two images needs a lot of computing power and in general thousands of comparisons have to be done. So it is obvious that only a Grid provides the necessary resources for Inspector Computer. Finally a sorted list of the most likely hits is delivered.