Seven outbreaks involving increasing numbers of banded mongoose troops and high death rates have been documented. We identified a Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex pathogen, M. mungi sp. nov., as the causative agent among banded mongooses that live near humans in Chobe District, Botswana. Host spectrum and transmission dynamics remain unknown.

The turbidity of lakes is generally considered to be a smooth function of their nutrient status. However, recent results suggest that over a range of nutrient concentrations, shallow l&es can have two alternative equilibria: a clear state dominated by nquatic vegetation, and a turbid state characterized by high algal biomass. This bi-stability has important implications for the possibilities of...

We present decay bounds for a broad class of Hermitian matrix functions where the matrix argument is banded or a Kronecker sum of banded matrices. Besides being significantly tighter than previous estimates, the new bounds closely capture the actual (non-monotonic) decay behavior of the entries of functions of matrices with Kronecker sum structure. We also discuss extensions to more general spa...

Rapid palatal expansion (RPE) is widely used in the treatment of transverse maxillary deficiencies. Generally, there are two types of RPE appliances: banded and bonded expanders. The purpose of this prospective study was to compare the dental effects of banded and bonded appliances. The study consisted of 23 patients (13 females and 10 males) with a bilateral maxillary deficiency. Twelve patien...

BACKGROUND Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) is the most effective treatment for morbid obesity. The additional benefit of placing a nonadjustable band around the pouch remains to be determined. The objective of this study was to compare outcomes between banded and nonbanded LRYGB patients in a single bariatric center. METHODS A matched cohort analysis was performed between patien...

To study the effect of left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy on force and Ca2+handling in isolated rat myocardium, LV hypertrophy was induced in rats by banding of the abdominal aorta. After 16 wk, arterial pressure was assessed by catheterization. LV trabeculae were isolated and loaded with indo 1 salt by iontophoretic injection. Isometric force and intracellular free Ca2+concentration ([Ca2+]i) w...

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) was first diagnosed in the Kruger National Park (KNP) in 1990. Research has since focused on the maintenance host, the African buffalo ( Syncerus caffer ) and clinically affected lion ( Panthera leo ). However, little is known about the role of small predators in tuberculosis epidemiology. During 2011-12, we screened banded mongooses ( Mungos mungo ) in the bTB high-pr...