The Indian islands of Lakshadweep in the Arabian sea are known to be endemic for bancroftian filariasis. However, malaria endemicity was reported to be associated with the invasion of vector species Anopheles tessellatus from Maldives. Indigenous transmission of malaria was recorded during 1972. Thereafter the National Anti-Malaria Programme (NAMP) brought these islands under DDT spray. Since 1...

We studied electronic states in nanoscale Cu2N islands on Cu(100) using scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory. Tunneling spectra indicate a state at ∼2 V in large islands (>20 nm2), which shifts due to quantum confinement in smaller islands. This state is not observed for islands with fewer than ∼50 atoms. In contrast, a 4 V state persists down to 12 atom islands, but it d...

The focus of trusted computing efforts to date has been to create islands of trust in a sea of distrust, identifying these islands as dependable domains with a solid base that can be used for building applications upon which critical services depend. The aim of our work is to extend this solid base by building “bridges” among trusted islands, with such goals as enabling meaningful trade agreeme...

The primary target for DNA methylation in mammalian genomes is cytosine in the dinucleotide CpG. High densities of CpG dinucleotides are found in CpG islands, but paradoxically CpG islands are normally in a non-methylated state. Here, we speculate why CpG islands are immune to methylation and why they are so rich in guanine and cytosine relative to the surrounding DNA. We propose that CpG islan...

Groundwater resources of small coral islands are threatened due to short-term and long-term changes in climate. A significant short-term threat is El Niño events, which typically induce a severe months-long drought for many atoll nations in the western and central Pacific regions that exhausts rainwater supply and necessitates the use of groundwater. This study quantifies fresh groundwater reso...

Classic island biogeography theory predicts that very small islands, near the extreme lower end of the species area relationship, should support very few species. At times no species may be present, however, due to randomness in the immigration extinction dynamics. Alternatively, a lack of vegetation on very small islands may indicate that such islands do not contain the appropriate habitat for...

The gobiid genus Trimma currently contains 75 valid species, with another 20-30 known but undescribed species. There are 29 species in Australian waters (six undescribed). This paper describes the six new species, and provides redescriptions of most of the 23 previously described species known from the region, as well as a key for all the species. The six new species are: T. insularum (endemic ...

1 National Vector Borne Disease Control Division, Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Solomon Islands 2 Queensland Institute of Medical Research, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia 3 Reproductive and Child Health Division, Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Solomon Islands 4 Division of Health Promotion, Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Solomon Islands 5 Department...

Virulence factors of pathogenic bacteria (adhesins, toxins, invasins, protein secretion systems, iron uptake systems, and others) may be encoded by particular regions of the prokaryotic genome termed pathogenicity islands. Pathogenicity islands were first described in human pathogens of the species Escherichia coli, but have recently been found in the genomes of various pathogens of humans, ani...