A UCLA-led research team has developed a faster and more accurate way to determine where the many bacteria that live in, and on, humans come from. Broadly, the tool can deduce the origins of any microbiome, a localized and diverse community of microscopic organisms. The new computational tool, called “FEAST,”…
New framework helps gauge impact of mosquito control programs
Effective methods of controlling mosquito populations are needed to help lower the worldwide burden of mosquito-borne diseases including Zika, chikungunya, and dengue. Now, researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have described a new statistical framework that can be used to assess mosquito control programs over broad time and space…
For its health and yours, keep the cat indoors
Pet cats allowed outdoors, in fact, are nearly three times as likely to become infected with pathogens or parasites than those confined to quarters, they reported in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. At least one running argument among cat lovers is now over: Whiskers, Lucy and Tigger are definitely…
For first time, researchers can measure insecticide on surface of mosquito nets
Insecticide-infused mosquito netting is in widespread use around the world to limit the spread of mosquito-borne diseases, such as malaria. Researchers from North Carolina State University and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have now come up with a technique that actually measures how much insecticide is…