Mathematical modeling of the parasitism and hyperparasitism increase on eggs in a five-year survey in Northern Italy.

The invasive stink bug has become an important pest of many crops, causing severe economic losses to farmers. Control of the pest mainly relies on multiple applications of broad-spectrum insecticides, undermining the integrated pest management programs and causing secondary pest outbreaks. In the native area, egg parasitoids are the main natural enemies of , among which is considered the predominant species.

A discrete two time scales model of a size-structured population of parasitized trees.

The work presented a general discrete-time model of a population of trees affected by a parasite. The tree population was considered size-structured, and the parasite was represented by a single scalar variable. Parasite dynamics were assumed to act on a faster timescale than tree dynamics.

Vulvar Inspection During Cervical Cancer Screening Procedures: The Ugly Reality.

Vulvar examination during procedures for cervical carcinoma screening (CCS) can be a valid chance for early diagnosis of vulvar diseases and precancerous lesions. With this aim an online questionnaire was sent to the members of the Italian Cervical Carcinoma Screening Group (GISCi) from either first level group (FLG, Pap/human papillomavirus test sampling) or second level group (SLG, colposcopy and treatments) to assess if and how vulvar examination was performed. 86% of FLG and 90.

A model for voles interference in cultivated orchards.

We consider a dynamical system involving seven populations to model the presence of voles in a cultivated orchard. The plant population is stratified by age (three groups) and by health status (being damaged or not). The last equation models the voles with a modified logistic equation with Allee effect, where the modification takes into account the disturbance provided by the human activity on the orchard.

The Consensus Project: Participation in cervical cancer screening by the first cohorts of girls offered HPV vaccination at age 15-16 years in Italy.

Objective: To evaluate the association between human papillomavirus vaccination status and participation in cervical cancer screening (at age 25) by the first cohorts of girls who were offered vaccination at the age of 15 to 16 years in Italy.

Methods: Women born in 1993, 1994 and 1995 were invited to participate in cervical cancer screening between 2018 and 2020. We report participation in screening by vaccination status in three large areas, Florence province, Piedmont region and Savona province, where the Consensus Project was carried out.

A rare case of syncronous solitary para-pharyngeal metastasis of clear cell carcinoma in a patient with small renal mass.

Introduction: Unusual metastatic sites of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are not infrequent. We report a rare case of solitary pharyngeal metastasis as first presentation of RCC.

Case Description: A 74 years-old man was referred to our hospital due to rapidly progressive dyspnoea and dysphagia.

A Mathematical Model Supporting a Hyperpredation Effect in the Apparent Competition Between Invasive Eastern Cottontail and Native European Hare.

In this work a mathematical model is built in order to validate on theoretical grounds field study results on a three-species system made of two prey, of which one is native and another one invasive, together with a native predator. Specifically, our results mathematically describe the negative effect on the native European hare after the introduction of the invasive Eastern cottontail, mediated by an increased predation rate by foxes. Two nonexclusive assumptions can be made: an increase in cottontail abundance would lead to a larger fox population, magnifying their predatory impact ("hyperpredation") on hares; alternatively, cottontails attract foxes in patches where they live, which are also important resting sites for hares and consequently the increased presence of foxes results in a higher predation rates on hares.

Impact of social media advertisements on the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 pandemic in India.

In this paper, we propose a mathematical model to assess the impact of social media advertisements in combating the coronavirus pandemic in India. We assume that dissemination of awareness among susceptible individuals modifies public attitudes and behaviours towards this contagious disease which results in reducing the chance of contact with the coronavirus and hence decreasing the disease transmission. Moreover, the individual's behavioral response in the presence of global information campaigns accelerate the rate of hospitalization of symptomatic individuals and also encourage the asymptomatic individuals for conducting health protocols, such as self-isolation, social distancing, etc.

Cancer Diagnostic Delay in Northern and Central Italy During the 2020 Lockdown Due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic.

Objectives: We performed data collection concerning the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic-related delay in the diagnosis of cancers to individuate proper corrective procedures.

Methods: A comparison was made among the number of first pathologic diagnoses of malignancy made from weeks 11 to 20 of 2018, 2019, and 2020 at seven anatomic pathology units serving secondary care hospitals in northern-central Italy.

Results: Cancer diagnoses fell in 2020 by 44.

Dynamics of HSV-2 infection with a therapeutic vaccine.

Herpes-Simplex Virus type 2 (HSV-2) is a lifelong infection, which has infected over 400 million individuals aged 15-49 years, worldwide. While the disease can be treated with episodic and suppressive antiviral drugs to reduce the rate of recurrence (i.e.

Modelling the Effect of Incubation and Latent Periods on the Dynamics of Vector-Borne Plant Viral Diseases.

Most of the plant viral diseases spread through vectors. In case of the persistently transmitted disease, there is a latent time of infection inside the vector after acquisition of the virus from the infected plant. Again, the plant after getting infectious agent shows an incubation time after the interaction with an infected vector before it becomes diseased.

A Metaecoepidemic Model of Grassland Ecosystem with Only Consumers' Migration.

Metaecoepidemic models generalize metapopulation systems, combining local population dynamics with inter-patch migration coupled with an epidemic proliferation. A resource-consumer model is introduced with an ecosystem composed by two patches, in which consumers can freely move. A disease affects resources of the second patch.

Modeling the avoidance behavior of zooplankton on phytoplankton infected by free viruses.

In any ecosystem, chaotic situations may arise from equilibrium state for different reasons. To overcome these chaotic situations, sometimes the system itself exhibits some mechanisms of self-adaptability. In this paper, we explore an eco-epidemiological model consisting of three aquatic groups: phytoplankton, zooplankton, and marine free viruses.

On the role of vector modeling in a minimalistic epidemic model.

The motivation for the research reported in this paper comes from modeling the spread of vector-borne virus diseases. To study the role of the host versus vector dynamics and their interaction we use the susceptible-infected-removed (SIR) host model and the susceptible-infected (SI) vector model. When the vector dynamical processes occur at a faster scale than those in the host-epidemics dynamics, we can use a time-scale argument to reduce the dimension of the model.

Quantifying fairness to overcome selfishness: A behavioural model to describe the evolution and stabilization of inter-group bias using the Ultimatum Game.

The ability to form groups to overcome problems has been crucial for the evolution of human beings. To favour the formation of cooperating groups, one of the mechanisms developed is the inter-group bias, namely the tendency of individuals to favour members of their group and hinder the external ones. It is the cognitive equivalent of the "green beard effect" in evolutionary biology, introduced by Hamilton and popularized by Dawkins, for which a group can profit of the altruistic be-haviour of its members.

Effects of limited volatiles release by plants in tritrophic interactions.

We introduce a mathematical model to describe the tritrophic interaction between crop,pest and the pest natural enemy where the release of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) by crop istaken into account. The VOCs may be considered as an indirect defence mechanism of the plant asthey attract the pest natural enemies toward the attacked plants. The model dynamics is studied throughqualitative analysis and numerical simulations.

An effective management strategy for the control of two lentiviruses in goat breedings.

Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis is an endemic disease in goat breedings, caused by viral strains belonging to the Small Ruminant Lentivirus group and characterized by a progressive chronic course. Its clinical signs are not immediately recognizable and can only be detected via costly serological tests. No vaccine is available.

Dynamical model for sympatric speciation in an ecological niche.

The speciation phenomenon is the process used by the evolution to allow populations to become distinct species. The speciation is the primary cause of the complexity of the ecological network. Sympatric speciation concerns the rise of a new species from a surviving ancestral species while both continue to inhabit the same ecological niche or geographical region.

Modeling the interactions among phythopatogens and phyllosphere microorganisms for the biological disease control of Olea europaea L.

In this paper we formulate a model for assessing the interaction between the phytopathogen Spilocaea oleaginea and the phyllosphere microorganisms that are present in the olive tree leaves. The model describes the evolution in time of the foliage of the olive tree and the two different microorganisms, the phytopathogen fungi, that negatively affect the plant causing spots in the leaves, and the beneficial phyllosphere microorganisms, that help in keeping in check the invasion of the former. The system possesses five equilibria that are suitably analysed for feasibility and stability.

Correction to: Diseased Social Predators.

In the original article, the second author's family name was misspelled. The correct name is Marta Paliaga.

Effects of Host Interspecific Interaction in the Maculinea-Myrmica Parasite-Host System.

A model of interspecific host competition in a system with one parasite (butterfly-Maculinea) and multiple potential hosts (ants-Myrmica) is presented. Results indicate that host interspecific competition increases the occurrence of multiple host behaviour in Maculinea natural populations but decreases the ability of the parasite populations to adapt to the most abundant host species. These qualitative predictions were compared with data on host specificity, with good agreement.

a two-predator one-prey model of population dynamics influenced by herd behaviour of the prey.

We construct a mathematical model considering the populations of multiple predators and one prey, with herd defense by the prey modelled by modifying the law of mass action with a single parameter. This modification introduces a novel bifurcation in the case where all the predators are specialists. When some predators may be generalists, the analysis is more complicated and we consider only the case of two predators of which one or two may be generalists.

A TB model: Is disease eradication possible in India?

Tuberculosis (TB) is returning to be a worldwide global public health threat. It is estimated that 9.6 million cases occurred in 2014, of which just two-thirds notified to public health authorities.