BACKGROUND Despite the significant disease burden of the influenza virus in humans, our understanding of the basis for its pronounced seasonality remains incomplete. Past observations that influenza epidemics occur in the winter across temperate climates, combined with insufficient knowledge about the epidemiology of influenza in the tropics, led to the perception that cool and dry conditions w...

Strongyloidiasis is an infectious parasitic disease caused by the intestinal nematode Strongyloides stercoralis. This infection is prevalent worldwide except in the Antarctica and with predominance in the warm and humid climates of tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. Human infection with S stercoralis was first discovered in French soldiers returning from Indochina borders and is ca...

A n alarming annual average deforestation rate of 22,500 km2 in the Brazilian Amazon (1) from 2000 to 2005 has focused international attention on Brazil because of the destruction of this high-biodiversity biome (2) and its globally significant contribution to carbon emissions (3). Deforestation has already converted 680,000 km2 of pristine forests to other land covers, accounting for 75% of Br...

A wireless communication system utilizing wideband point-to-point link is proposed in this paper. The system provides transmission of telemedicine information for an ambulance attending an accident or emergency scene where different types of information related to the patient can be received by the hospital prior to the patient's arrival so that necessary preparations can be made. The system's ...

Several bacteria from the islands of Puerto Rico, Vieques and Trinidad were isolated for their carbohydrate degrading activities. These terrestrial and marine bacterium were collected from pineapple agricultural lands, tropical rain forests, coastlands and mangrove swamps. Organisms were screened for activity using chromogenic substrates (AZCL Megazyme International Ltd., Ireland). The media co...

Epilepsy is a frequent chronic neurologic disorder that affects nearly 70 million people worldwide. The majority of people with epilepsy live in developing countries, where epilepsy remains a major public health problem. Wide prevalence differences exist among various populations across sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia. In particular, prevalence is lower in Southeast Asia than in sub...

Introduction Conclusions References

The size distribution of moist regions in the tropical atmosphere exhibits two modes of organization, one at synoptic scales and the other at planetary scales. We show the existence of these two modes in two data sets: columnintegrated precipitable water and outgoing long-wave radiation. A simple two-column model of radiation and convection in the Tropics helps interpret the presence of these t...