About 14, 000 years ago, Lake Victoria contained 500 species. Of these original species, 200 have become extinct and 200 are on the endangered species list (DuHamel, 2004). Predation coupled with poor harvesting methods has caused a big economic loss on most Ugandan lakes in particular and the world at large. In this study, we formulate a model based on a standard Lotka-Volterra prey-predator m...

The neuron-glia cell adhesion molecule (Ng-CAM) has been identified in mammalian brain tissue and PC12 pheochromocytoma cells as Mr 200,000 and Mr 230,000 species, respectively. When PC12 cells were treated with nerve growth factor (NGF), the amount of Ng-CAM at the cell surface was increased approximately threefold, whereas the amount of the neural cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM) remained uncha...

This paper uses over 700 years of Nile ‡ood data and a novel data set on the tenure of Egyptian political and religious leaders to investigate how economic shocks a¤ected the balance of power between “church”and “state” in pre-modern Egypt. Results suggest that while deviant Nile ‡oods increased political instability, such ‡oods decreased the likelihood of a change in the highest ranking religi...

West Nile virus and dengue virus are mosquito-borne flaviviruses that cause a large number of human infections each year. No vaccines or chemotherapeutics are currently available. These viruses encode a serine protease that is essential for polyprotein processing, a required step in the viral replication cycle. In this study, a high-throughput screening assay for the West Nile virus protease wa...

We report that the dye nile red, 9-diethylamino-5H-benzo[alpha]phenoxazine-5-one, is an excellent vital stain for the detection of intracellular lipid droplets by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytofluorometry. The specificity of the dye for lipid droplets was assessed on cultured aortic smooth muscle cells and on cultured peritoneal macrophages that were incubated with acetylated low density...

Nile virus ranges from 3 to 14 days. Two serosurveys have shown that approximately 1 in 150 infections resulted in meningitis or encephalitis, but most human infections remain subclinical. The reported symptoms and signs associated with West Nile virus infection include fever, malaise, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, headache, myalgia, rash, and lymphadenopathy. The frequencies of various symptoms ...

BACKGROUND The two-component NS2B-NS3 proteases of West Nile and dengue viruses are essential for viral replication and established targets for drug development. In all crystal structures of the proteases to date, the NS2B cofactor is located far from the substrate binding site (open conformation) in the absence of inhibitor and lining the substrate binding site (closed conformation) in the pre...

The case report is presented of a patient with West Nile virus infection and ventilator dependent respiratory failure in whom bilateral diaphragmatic paralysis developed. If the prevalence of West Nile virus infection continues to rise, recognition of diaphragmatic paralysis and related respiratory complications will become increasingly important to the pulmonary/critical care physician.

We conducted an epidemiologic analysis to document West Nile virus infections among humans in Texas, USA, during 2002-2011. West Nile virus has become endemic to Texas; the number of reported cases increased every 3 years. Risk for infection was greatest in rural northwestern Texas, where Culex tarsalis mosquitoes are the predominant mosquito species.

A kinetic method developed for the determination of ultra-trace amounts of nitrite based on its catalytic effect on the reaction between potassium bromate and Nile blue A in strongly acidic media is reported. The reaction was monitored spectrophotometrically by measuring the decrease in absorbance of Nile blue A at 645 nm by the fixed-time method. The decrease in absorbance during the first...