1World Health Organization, Polio Eradication Initiative, Islamabad, Pakistan (Consultant, 2001). 2World Health Organization, Islamabad, Pakistan. 3National Institutes of Health, Expanded Programme on Immunization, Islamabad, Pakistan, Received: 31/03/03; accepted: 14/01/04 ABSTRACT We sought to identify factors associated with being a reservoir district for wild poliovirus in Pakistan. Differe...

In this study, we simulated the expansion of the São Paulo Metropolitan Area (SPMA)— the largest metropolitan area in Brazil — by the year 2030 using the Dinamica EGO software with data extracted from Landsat TM 7 (orbit point 219 076, resolution 30 × 30 m). Based on the urban area in 2008, we used an urban growth scenario to analyze urban expansion up to 2030. Subsequently, we used ArcGIS to i...

Uptake of L-proline and glycine by rat renal brushborder membrane vesicles was seen to be osmotically sensitive, pH dependent,and occurred in the absence of proline and glycine metabolism. The uptake system for proline was Na+ gradient dependent, and exhibited a dual system for entry, Km1 = 0.067 mM and Km2 = 5.26 mM. The uptake of glycine was also Na+ gradient dependent, and exhibited a two Km...

In this paper we present what kind of human impacted changes can be found in dwarf birch (Betula nana) dominated shrub tundra vegetation around the large industrial complex of Vorkuta in the north-European Russian tundra. Using fieldwork data and Landsat TM satellite image we could identify two impact zones: (1) Pollution zone (150-200 km2). In this zone most of the lichen species are absent. C...

West Nile virus has undergone an unprecedented rate of infection in North America, sweeping from New York to California in four years. It attacked an exceptionally broad range of hosts/vectors over a broad geographic area. In 2004, the California Department of Health Services received approximately 98,000 reports of dead birds, representing tens of millions of birds killed by West Nile virus in...

Background Calathotarsus simoni Schiapelli & Gerschman 1975 is the only species of Migidae in Argentina. It is a rare and endemic spider only found in relict grassland of mountain systems in the province of Buenos Aires. This species is a habitat specialist spider occupying specific areas with certain microclimatic conditions on hilly and rocky grassland areas at about 500-1500 meters above sea...

Study on landscape spatial pattern in the center of Chengdu City is based on the Landsat-8 image by using 3S technique and spatial pattern analysis software Fragstats 3.3. The results showed that there covered an area of 193.92 km2 in the center of Chengdu City. 55.24% of the total area was made up of buildings, covering an area of 107.12 km2, and the overall landscape of impervious ground-base...