BackgroundSnail-borne parasitic diseases, such as angiostrongyliasis, clonorchiasis, fascioliasis, fasciolopsiasis, opisthorchiasis, paragonimiasis and schistosomiasis, pose risks to human health and cause major socioeconomic problems in many tropical and sub-tropical countries. In this review we summarize the core roles of snails in the life cycles of the parasites they host, their clinical manifestations and disease distributions, as well as snail control methods.Main bodySnails have four roles in the life cycles of the parasites they host: as an intermediate host infected by the first-stage larvae, as the only intermediate host infected by miracidia, as the first intermediate host that ingests the parasite eggs are ingested, and as the first intermediate host penetrated by miracidia with or without the second intermediate host being an aquatic animal. Snail-borne parasitic diseases target many organs, such as the lungs, liver, biliary tract, intestines, brain and kidneys, leading to overactive immune responses, cancers, organ failure, infertility and even death. Developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America have the highest incidences of these diseases, while some endemic parasites have developed into worldwide epidemics through the global spread of snails. Physical, chemical and biological methods have been introduced to control the host snail populations to prevent disease.ConclusionsIn this review, we summarize the roles of snails in the life cycles of the parasites they host, the worldwide distribution of parasite-transmitting snails, the epidemiology and pathogenesis of snail-transmitted parasitic diseases, and the existing snail control measures, which will contribute to further understanding the snail-parasite relationship and new strategies for controlling snail-borne parasitic diseases.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s40249-018-0414-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Magnetic microbubbles (MMBs) are microbubbles (MBs) coated with magnetic nanoparticles (NPs). MMBs not only maintain the acoustic properties of MBs, but also serve as an important contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging. Such dual-modality functionality makes MMBs particularly useful for a wide range of biomedical applications, such as localized drug/gene delivery. This article reports the ability of MMBs to release their particle cargo on demand under stable oscillation. When stimulated by ultrasound at resonant frequencies, MMBs of 450 nm to 200 μm oscillate in volume and surface modes. Above an oscillation threshold, NPs are released from the MMB shell and can travel hundreds of micrometers from the surface of the bubble. The migration of NPs from MMBs can be described with a force balance model. With this technology, we deliver doxorubicincontaining poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) particles across a physiological barrier both in vitro and in vivo, with a 18-fold and 5-fold increase in NP delivery to the heart tissue of zebrafish and tumor tissue of mouse, respectively. The penetration of released NPs in tissues is also improved. The ability to remotely control the release of NPs from MMBs suggests opportunities for targeted drug delivery through/into tissues that are not easily diffused through or penetrated. NPG Asia Materials (2016) 8, e260; doi:10.1038/am.2016.37; published online 8 April 2016 INTRODUCTIONTargeted drug delivery and controlled release is the 'holy grail' of nanomedicine. In this regard, one emerging strategy employs a localized stimulus to precisely deposit drug-containing nanoparticles (NPs) at the tissue/organ of interest. The deposited NPs then continuously release drug molecules in a localized and sustained manner. Current strategies trigger the release of NPs from carriers via enzymes, 1 magnetic fields 2 and shear stress. 3 However, these methods are limited to specific organs/tissues, such as blocked blood vessels. A more versatile technology is desired that allows the targeted delivery of NPs to any organ/tissue while maintaining traceability using a non-invasive imaging modality.The present paper reports a strategy toward this end. Magnetic microbubbles (MMBs), the combination of multi-modal contrastenhanced imaging (both magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound imaging) with targeted drug delivery (magnetic targeting) and controlled release (bubble cavitation) at any site of interest represents an emerging theranostic platform. However, the current formulations of MMBs, stabilized by a polymeric, lipid or silica shell, need a high acoustic energy field to trigger the release through bubble

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Understanding the wine tourism experience is indispensable to the development of a wine tourism destination. This study tested an integrated model to obtain a better understanding of the wine tourism experience. The proposed model included both perceived wine tourism facilitators and constraints to examine their effects on wine tourism experience and tested the moderating role of involvement in these effects. Using Chinese outbound wine tourists in Australia as the study sample, this study identified that winery fame, interpersonal facilitators, and local attractions are three facilitating factors, while personal language and transportation barriers and time and information barriers were the perceived constraining factors. Both interpersonal facilitators and local attractions positively affected wine tourism experience; however, winery fame negatively influenced wine tourism experience. The study found that involvement moderated the effects of facilitators/constraints on wine tourism experience. For high-involvement wine tourists, the effect of local attractions is pronounced, while interpersonal facilitator negatively influences their wine tourism experience. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

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