Search

The results of a parasitological study of uninhabited nests of the common vole Microtus arvalis s.l., collected on territory of the Dukhovnitsky district of the Saratov Region in April 2019 are presented. We identifi ed nine species of gamasid mites associated with nests of the common vole. For the fi rst time, Laelaps algericus Hirst., 1925, was recorded for the fauna of the Dukhovnitsky district of the Saratov Region. We found two new to Saratov region genera of free-living mites (without species identifi cation): Laelaspis A. Berlese, 1903 (Laelapidae) and Neoseiulus A. M. Hughes, 1948 (Phytoseiidae). The study has shown that facultative hematophages dominate numerically, and free-living forms predominate in terms of species composition. All hematophagous species found belong to the typical ectoparasites of the common vole, they have wide distribution and are common species for the fauna of the Saratov region.

This study investigated the morphology of the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) response to speech sounds measured from 16 sleeping infants and how it changes with repeated stimulus presentation. We observed a positive peak followed by a wide negative trough, with the latter being most evident in early epochs. We argue that the overall response morphology captures the effects of two simultaneous, but independent, response mechanisms that are both activated at the stimulus onset: one being the obligatory response to a sound stimulus by the auditory system, and the other being a neural suppression effect induced by the arousal system. Because the two effects behave differently with repeated epochs, it is possible to mathematically separate them and use fNIRS to study factors that affect the development and activation of the arousal system in infants. The results also imply that standard fNIRS analysis techniques need to be adjusted to take into account the possibilities of multiple simultaneous brain systems being activated and that the response to a stimulus is not necessarily stationary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2018, a new species of the genus Ebolavirus (family Filoviridae), Bombali virus (BOMV), was discovered in Sierra Leone (1). The virus was detected in oral and rectal swab specimens [...]