| viXra.org > Quantitative Biology > 2107 |
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| viXra.org > Quantitative Biology > 2107 |
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[3] viXra:2107.0159 [pdf] submitted on 2021-07-27 14:13:43
Authors: John F. McGowan, Tam Hunt, Josh Mittledorf
Comments: 26 Pages.
During the pandemic, millions of Americans have become acquainted with the CDC because its reports and the data it collects affect their day-to-day lives. But the methodology used and even some of the data collected by CDC remain opaque to the public and to the community of academic epidemiology. In this paper, we highlight areas in which CDC methodology might be improved and where greater transparency might lead to broad collaboration. (1) "Excess" deaths are routinely reported, but not "years of life lost", an easily-computed datum that is important for public policy. (2) What counts as an "excess death"? The method for computing the number of excess deaths does not include error bars and we show a substantial range of estimates is possible. (3) Pneumonia and influenza death data on different CDC pages is grossly contradictory. (4) The methodology for computing influenza deaths is not described in sufficient detail that an outside analyst might pursue the source of the discrepancy. (5) Guidelines for filling out death certificates have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, preventing the comparison of 2020-21 death profiles with any previous year. We conclude with a series of explicit recommendations for greater consistency and transparency, and ultimately to make CDC data more useful to outside epidemiologists.
Category: Quantitative Biology
[2] viXra:2107.0133 [pdf] submitted on 2021-07-23 19:23:00
Authors: Farha Naz, Sweety Nalwaya, Rahul Yadav, Kanan Saxena
Comments: 8 Pages. Published at online at: https://www.bpasjournals.com/zoology [Corrections made by viXra Admin to conform with the requirements on the Submission Form]
The present study conducted on Lake Pichhola
with regard to its insect diversity revealed a total of 24 species during the period from October
2019 to March 2020 and these 24 species of
insects belonged to 6 orders and 12 families.
Maximum insect species were recorded from the
littoral zone (vegetation rich site) and minimum
insect species from limnetic zone and disturbed
sites of the lake. A number of insect species and
their immature stages from orders Odonata,
Ephemeroptera, Diptera, Hemiptera, Coleoptera
and Trichoptera were observed. The insect fauna
from the order Odonata dominated over
Ephemeroptera and the second most dominant
order was Hemiptera. Aquatic insects are best
known for their ability to indicate the water
quality and monitoring of aquatic insect diversity
and abundance can expedite the conservation of
these lake ecosystems.
Category: Quantitative Biology
[1] viXra:2107.0055 [pdf] submitted on 2021-07-09 04:15:30
Authors: Jung Choi
Comments: 10 Pages. 10 p, Korean, CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0
In this research project, I promote research for the application of environmental DNA to investigate rare or introduced varieties. In particular, I have focused on the development of estimating biomass by environmental DNA concentration in reservoirs and streams, the estimation of the exotic varieties’ distribution and biomass, application of environmental DNA technique on introduced or rare water plants. In study A, I measured biomass at the whole reservoir by collection when the reservoir is fully dehydrated and compared the biomass and environmental DNA amount. As a result, there are explicit correlation between eDNA amount and biomass, and its behaviour was not related to where samples were collected such as shore or buffer. In study B, I have done the development of real-time PCR primer probe and outdoor investigation on Hydrilla verticillate of and Egeria densa which are submerged plants of Hydrocharitaceae to confirm usefulness of eDNA analysis as aquatic plant distribution estimation method. As consequence, it was found that there is a correlation between biomass and eDNA amount and there are more plant eDNAs in some particles where animal eDNAs aren’t. The eDNA technique developed in this study is expected to be an effective mean to estimate biomass in various species, investigate organism distribution, determine the invasion scale of exotic genotype quickly.
Category: Quantitative Biology
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