Social contacts and depression in middle and advanced adulthood: findings from a US national survey, 2005-2008.

Aim: Empirical evidence has linked social contacts with mental stability. The aim is to assess how social contacts are associated with depression among the general population.

Methods: We analysed the data of 5,681 adults aged 40 or older, who completed a depression screening as a part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005-2008.

Ectoparasites and other epifaunistic arthropods of sympatric cotton mice and golden mice: comparisons and implications for vector-borne zoonotic diseases.

Ectoparasite and epifaunistic arthropod biodiversity and infestation parameters were compared between 2 sympatric small rodent species, the cotton mouse (Peromyscus gossypinus (Le Conte)) and golden mouse (Ochrotomys nuttalli (Harlan)), in southern Georgia from 1992 to 2003. Because the cotton mouse is known to be a reservoir of more vector-borne zoonotic pathogens than the golden mouse, we hypothesized that it would be parasitized by more ectoparasites that are known to be vectors of these pathogens. Cotton mice (n = 202) were parasitized by 19 species of arthropods, whereas golden mice (n = 46) were parasitized by 12 species.