The impact of COVID-19 mobility restrictions on dengue transmission in urban areas.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments have been forced to implement mobility restrictions to slow down the spread of SARS-CoV-2. These restrictions have also played a significant role in controlling the spread of other diseases, including those that do not require direct contact between individuals for transmission, such as dengue. In this study, we investigate the impact of human mobility on the dynamics of dengue transmission in a large metropolis.

Tunable disorder on the S-state majority-voter model.

We investigate the nonequilibrium phase transition in the S-state majority-vote model for S=2,3, and 4. Each site, k, is characterized by a distinct noise threshold, qk, which indicates its resistance to adopting the majority state of its Nv nearest neighbors. Precisely, this noise threshold is governed by a hyperbolic distribution, P(k)∼1/k, bounded within the limits e-α/2 View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Ising-like model replicating time-averaged spiking behaviour of in vitro neuronal networks.

We analyze time-averaged experimental data from in vitro activities of neuronal networks. Through a Pairwise Maximum-Entropy method, we identify through an inverse binary Ising-like model the local fields and interaction couplings which best reproduce the average activities of each neuron as well as the statistical correlations between the activities of each pair of neurons in the system. The specific information about the type of neurons is mainly stored in the local fields, while a symmetric distribution of interaction constants seems generic.

Neuroprotective effects of platinum nanoparticle-based microreactors in bicuculline-induced seizures.

Epilepsy designates a group of chronic brain disorders, characterized by the recurrence of hypersynchronous, repetitive activity, of neuronal clusters. Epileptic seizures are the hallmark of epilepsy. The primary goal of epilepsy treatment is to eliminate seizures with minimal side effects.

Impact of CoronaVac on Covid-19 outcomes of elderly adults in a large and socially unequal Brazilian city: A target trial emulation study.

Background: Although CoronaVac was the only Covid-19 vaccine adopted in the first months of the Brazilian vaccination campaign, randomized clinical trials to evaluate its efficacy in elderly adults were limited. In this study, we use routinely collected surveillance and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and testing data comprising the population of the fifth largest city of Brazil to evaluate the effectiveness of CoronaVac in adults 60+ years old against severe outcomes.

Methods: Using large observational databases on vaccination and surveillance data from the city of Fortaleza, Brazil, we defined a retrospective cohort including 324,302 eligible adults aged ≥60 years to evaluate the effectiveness of the CoronaVac vaccine.

Prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex impairment by 5-HT2A receptor activation in the inferior colliculus is prevented by GABAA receptor blockade in the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus.

The relationship between serotonin dysfunction and schizophrenia commenced with the discovery of the effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) that has high affinity for 5-HT receptors. Activation of these receptors produces perceptual and behavioural changes such as illusions, visual hallucinations and locomotor hyperactivity. Using prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle, which is impaired in schizophrenia,we aimed to investigate:i) the existence of a direct and potentially inhibitory neural pathway between the inferior colliculus (IC) and the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPTg) involved in the mediation of PPI responses by a neural tract tracing procedure;ii) if the microinjection of the 5-HT receptors agonist DOI in IC would activate neurons in this structure and in the PPTg by a c-Fos protein immunohistochemistry study;iii) whether the deficits in PPI responses, observed after the administration of DOI in the IC, could be prevented by the concomitant microinjection of the GABA receptor antagonist bicuculline in the PPTg.

Unveiling the paths of COVID-19 in a large city based on public transportation data.

Human mobility plays a key role in the dissemination of infectious diseases around the world. However, the complexity introduced by commuting patterns in the daily life of cities makes such a role unclear, especially at the intracity scale. Here, we propose a multiplex network fed with 9 months of mobility data with more than 107 million public bus validations in order to understand the relation between urban mobility and the spreading of COVID-19 within a large city, namely, Fortaleza in the northeast of Brazil.

Platinum nanoparticle-based microreactors protect against the behavioral and neurobiological consequences of chronic stress exposure.

Excitotoxicity is described as the exacerbated activation of glutamate AMPA and NMDA receptors that leads to neuronal damage, and ultimately to cell death. Astrocytes are responsible for the clearance of 80-90% of synaptically released glutamate, preventing excitotoxicity. Chronic stress renders neurons vulnerable to excitotoxicity and has been associated to neuropsychiatric disorders, i.

Digital contact tracing and network theory to stop the spread of COVID-19 using big-data on human mobility geolocalization.

The spread of COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has become a worldwide problem with devastating consequences. Here, we implement a comprehensive contact tracing and network analysis to find an optimized quarantine protocol to dismantle the chain of transmission of coronavirus with minimal disruptions to society. We track billions of anonymized GPS human mobility datapoints to monitor the evolution of the contact network of disease transmission before and after mass quarantines.

Fast algorithm to identify minimal patterns of synchrony through fibration symmetries in large directed networks.

Recent studies have revealed the interplay between the structure of network circuits with fibration symmetries and the functionality of biological networks within which they have been identified. The presence of these symmetries in complex networks predicts the phenomenon of cluster synchronization, which produces patterns of a synchronized group of nodes. Here, we present a fast, and memory efficient, algorithm to identify fibration symmetries in networks.

Self-similar but not conformally invariant traces obtained by modified Loewner forces.

The two-dimensional Loewner exploration process is generalized to the case where the random force is self-similar with positively correlated increments. We model this random force by a fractional Brownian motion with Hurst exponent H≥1/2≡H_{BM}, where H_{BM} stands for the one-dimensional Brownian motion. By manipulating the deterministic force, we design a scale-invariant equation describing self-similar traces which lack conformal invariance.

Clozapine prevented social interaction deficits and reduced c-Fos immunoreactivity expression in several brain areas of rats exposed to acute restraint stress.

In the present study, we evaluate the effect of acute restraint stress (15 min) of male Wistar rats on social interaction measurements and c-Fos immunoreactivity (c-Fos-ir) expression, a marker of neuronal activity, in areas involved with the modulation of acute physical restraint in rats, i.e., the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), median raphe nucleus (MnR), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), cingulate prefrontal cortex (cPFC), nucleus accumbens (NaC), hippocampus (CA3), lateral septum (LS) and medial amygdala (MeA).

Tracing contacts to evaluate the transmission of COVID-19 from highly exposed individuals in public transportation.

We investigate, through a data-driven contact tracing model, the transmission of COVID-19 inside buses during distinct phases of the pandemic in a large Brazilian city. From this microscopic approach, we recover the networks of close contacts within consecutive time windows. A longitudinal comparison is then performed by upscaling the traced contacts with the transmission computed from a mean-field compartmental model for the entire city.

Eye-tracking as a proxy for coherence and complexity of texts.

Reading is a complex cognitive process that involves primary oculomotor function and high-level activities like attention focus and language processing. When we read, our eyes move by primary physiological functions while responding to language-processing demands. In fact, the eyes perform discontinuous twofold movements, namely, successive long jumps (saccades) interposed by small steps (fixations) in which the gaze "scans" confined locations.

Morphological Transition between Patterns Formed by Threads of Magnetic Beads.

Magnetic beads attract each other, forming chains. We push such chains into an inclined Hele-Shaw cell and discover that they spontaneously form self-similar patterns. Depending on the angle of inclination of the cell, two completely different situations emerge; namely, above the static friction angle the patterns resemble the stacking of a rope and below they look similar to a fortress from above.

Repeated crack cocaine administration alters panic-related responses and delta FosB immunoreactivity in panic-modulating brain regions.

Crack cocaine is the crystal form of cocaine, produced by adding sodium bicarbonate to cocaine base paste. Brazil is the largest consumer of crack cocaine in the world. Users of crack cocaine show important physiological and behavioral alterations, including neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as anxiety-related symptoms.

Predicting dengue outbreaks at neighbourhood level using human mobility in urban areas.

Dengue is a vector-borne disease transmitted by the genus mosquito. It causes financial burdens on public health systems and considerable morbidity and mortality. Tropical regions in the Americas and Asia are the areas most affected by the virus.

Circuits with broken fibration symmetries perform core logic computations in biological networks.

We show that logic computational circuits in gene regulatory networks arise from a fibration symmetry breaking in the network structure. From this idea we implement a constructive procedure that reveals a hierarchy of genetic circuits, ubiquitous across species, that are surprising analogues to the emblematic circuits of solid-state electronics: starting from the transistor and progressing to ring oscillators, current-mirror circuits to toggle switches and flip-flops. These canonical variants serve fundamental operations of synchronization and clocks (in their symmetric states) and memory storage (in their broken symmetry states).

Time evolution of the behaviour of Brazilian legislative Representatives using a complex network approach.

The follow up of Representative behavior after elections is imperative for a democratic Representative system, at the very least to punish betrayal with no re-election. Our goal was to show how to follow Representatives' and how to show behavior in real situations and observe trends in political crises including the onset of game changing political instabilities. We used correlation and correlation distance matrices of Brazilian Representative votes during four presidential terms.

Fundraising and vote distribution: A non-equilibrium statistical approach.

The number of votes correlates strongly with the money spent in a campaign, but the relation between the two is not straightforward. Among other factors, the output of a ballot depends on the number of candidates, voters, and available resources. Here, we develop a conceptual framework based on Shannon entropy maximization and Superstatistics to establish a relation between the distributions of money spent by candidates and their votes.

A universal approach for drainage basins.

Drainage basins are essential to Geohydrology and Biodiversity. Defining those regions in a simple, robust and efficient way is a constant challenge in Earth Science. Here, we introduce a model to delineate multiple drainage basins through an extension of the Invasion Percolation-Based Algorithm (IPBA).

Anxiolytic and panicolytic-like effects of environmental enrichment seem to be modulated by serotonin neurons located in the dorsal subnucleus of the dorsal raphe.

In a previous study, we showed that exposure of rats to a one-week environmental enrichment (EE) protocol decreases elevated T-maze (ETM) avoidance responses, an anxiolytic-like effect, without altering escape reactions, in clinical terms related to panic disorder. These anxiolytic-like effects were followed by decreased delta FosB-immunoreactivity (delta FosB-ir) in the cingulate cortex, dorsolateral and intermediate lateral septum, hippocampus (cornus of Ammon), anterior and dorsomedial hypothalamus, medial and basolateral amygdala and ventral region of the dorsal raphe nucleus. The purpose of the present study was to further investigate behavioral and neurophysiological alterations induced by EE exposure.

Correction: Dynamics in the Fitness-Income plane: Brazilian states vs World countries.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

The price of a vote: Diseconomy in proportional elections.

The increasing cost of electoral campaigns raises the need for effective campaign planning and a precise understanding of the return of such investment. Interestingly, despite the strong impact of elections on our daily lives, how this investment is translated into votes is still unknown. By performing data analysis and modeling, we show that top candidates spend more money per vote than the less successful and poorer candidates, a relation that discloses a diseconomy of scale.