BACKGROUND Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a vector-borne disease transmitted by Phlebotomus argentipes. To understand the VL seasonality, annual and monthly variations of VL incidence and its relationship to meteorological variables, the numbers of VL cases reported in Muzaffarpur district, Bihar, India from 1990 to 2008 were studied. METHODS Annual VL incidence per 10,000 and the total numbe...

Soil temperature and moisture are widely-recognized controlling factors on heterotrophic soil respiration (Rh), although they often explain only a portion of Rh variability. How other soil physicochemical and microbial properties may contribute to Rh variability has been less studied. We conducted field measurements on Rh half-monthly and associated soil properties monthly for two years in four...

BACKGROUND Although modest seasonal variations in blood biochemical composition have been reported in end-stage renal disease patients treated with haemodialysis, there have been no adequate explanations. The current study aimed to explore whether these phenomena are present in peritoneal dialysis patients and to discuss these variations. METHODS This was a retrospective study with an enrollm...

The agro-climatic environments in subtropical islands around Japan were analyzed by using meteorological data (average for 1971–2000). This study found that the horizontal distribution of monthly mean temperatures in both the subtropical islands and Japan’s main islands can be expressed accurately as a function of latitude for all seasons. These relationships cannot be applied to the monthly me...

Monitoring of isotope distribution in the atmosphere included isotopes 2H, 3H and 18O in precipitation, and 13C and 14C in atmospheric CO2. This paper presents the results of atmospheric monitoring over Croatia and Slovenia overt the last few years. Monthly precipitations in Zagreb and Ljubljana had been collected since 1976 and 1981, respectively. Between 2000 and 2003 monitoring also included...

A reproductive analysis of 1225 specimens of Poeciliopsis gracilis obtained through monthly samples from Coatetelco, a tropical shallow lake in Central Mexico, was made. There was an evident sexual dimorphism, including a difference in body size at the onset of reproduction. Sex ratio deviated significantly from unity. Monthly variations in gonadosomatic (GSI), hepatosomatic (HSI) indexes and o...

An extended reconstruction of monthly mean oceanic historical sea level pressure (SLP) based on Comprehensive Ocean–Atmosphere Data Set (COADS) release-2 observations is produced for the 1854–1997 period. The COADS data are first screened using an adaptive quality-control procedure. Land SLP data from coastal and island stations are used to supplement the COADS data. The SLP anomalies are analy...