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100
Natural Killer Cells Promote Early CD8 T Cell Responses against Cytomegalovirus
Understanding the mechanisms that help promote protective immune responses to pathogens is a major challenge in biomedical research and an important goal for the design of innovative therapeutic or vaccination strategies. While natural killer (NK) cells can directly contribute to the control of viral replication, wheth...
101
The Trojan Chicken Study, Minnesota
We conducted a study in the summer of 2004 at county fairs in the Midwest to investigate the role poultry exhibits have in spreading avian pathogens to humans. A nearly invisible powder (pathogen surrogate) that fluoresces under UV light was surreptitiously sprinkled each day on 1 show bird at each of 2 fairs. A UV lig...
102
The Restriction of Zoonotic PERV Transmission by Human APOBEC3G
The human APOBEC3G protein is an innate anti-viral factor that can dominantly inhibit the replication of some endogenous and exogenous retroviruses. The prospects of purposefully harnessing such an anti-viral defense are under investigation. Here, long-term co-culture experiments were used to show that porcine endogeno...
103
Experimental infection of H5N1 HPAI in BALB/c mice
BACKGROUND: In 2005 huge epizooty of H5N1 HPAI occurred in Russia. It had been clear that territory of Russia becoming endemic for H5N1 HPAI. In 2006 several outbreaks have occurred. To develop new vaccines and antiviral therapies, animal models had to be investigated. We choose highly pathogenic strain for these studi...
104
Prediction of RNA Pseudoknots Using Heuristic Modeling with Mapping and Sequential Folding
Predicting RNA secondary structure is often the first step to determining the structure of RNA. Prediction approaches have historically avoided searching for pseudoknots because of the extreme combinatorial and time complexity of the problem. Yet neglecting pseudoknots limits the utility of such approaches. Here, an al...
105
Cell-penetrating peptides as transporters for morpholino oligomers: effects of amino acid composition on intracellular delivery and cytotoxicity
Arginine-rich cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are promising transporters for intracellular delivery of antisense morpholino oligomers (PMO). Here, we determined the effect of L-arginine, D-arginine and non-α amino acids on cellular uptake, splice-correction activity, cellular toxicity and serum binding for 24 CPP−PMOs...
106
Lost in the World of Functional Genomics, Systems Biology, and Translational Research: Is There Life after the Milstein Award?
We've always wanted to save the world from the scourges of virus infection by developing better drugs and vaccines. But fully understanding the intricacies of virus-host interactions, the first step in achieving this goal, requires the ability to view the process on a grand scale. The advent of high-throughput technolo...
107
Electrospray ionisation-cleavable tandem nucleic acid mass tag–peptide nucleic acid conjugates: synthesis and applications to quantitative genomic analysis using electrospray ionisation-MS/MS
The synthesis and characterization of isotopomer tandem nucleic acid mass tag–peptide nucleic acid (TNT–PNA) conjugates is described along with their use as electrospray ionisation-cleavable (ESI-Cleavable) hybridization probes for the detection and quantification of target DNA sequences by electrospray ionisation tand...
108
Hairpin structure within the 3′UTR of DNA polymerase β mRNA acts as a post-transcriptional regulatory element and interacts with Hax-1
Aberrant expression of DNA polymerase β, a key enzyme involved in base excision repair, leads to genetic instability and carcinogenesis. Pol β expression has been previously shown to be regulated at the level of transcription, but there is also evidence of post-transcriptional regulation, since rat transcripts undergo ...
109
Global public goods and the global health agenda: problems, priorities and potential
The 'global public good' (GPG) concept has gained increasing attention, in health as well as development circles. However, it has suffered in finding currency as a general tool for global resource mobilisation, and is at risk of being attached to almost anything promoting development. This overstretches and devalues th...
110
Outcome of paediatric intensive care survivors
The development of paediatric intensive care has contributed to the improved survival of critically ill children. Physical and psychological sequelae and consequences for quality of life (QoL) in survivors might be significant, as has been determined in adult intensive care unit (ICU) survivors. Awareness of sequelae d...
111
An evaluation of Comparative Genome Sequencing (CGS) by comparing two previously-sequenced bacterial genomes
BACKGROUND: With the development of new technology, it has recently become practical to resequence the genome of a bacterium after experimental manipulation. It is critical though to know the accuracy of the technique used, and to establish confidence that all of the mutations were detected. RESULTS: In order to evalua...
112
Antibody-Based HIV-1 Vaccines: Recent Developments and Future Directions: A summary report from a Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise Working Group
The authors discuss humoral immune responses to HIV and approaches to designing vaccines that induce viral neutralizing and other potentially protective antibodies.
113
Host Gene Expression Profiling of Dengue Virus Infection in Cell Lines and Patients
BACKGROUND: Despite the seriousness of dengue-related disease, with an estimated 50–100 million cases of dengue fever and 250,000–500,000 cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome each year, a clear understanding of dengue pathogenesis remains elusive. Because of the lack of a disease model in animals and...
114
Species-specific evolution of immune receptor tyrosine based activation motif-containing CEACAM1-related immune receptors in the dog
BACKGROUND: Although the impact of pathogens on the evolution of the mammalian immune system is still under debate, proteins, which both regulate immune responses and serve as cellular receptors for pathogens should be at the forefront of pathogen-driven host evolution. The CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen) gene family co...
115
Nucleolus: the fascinating nuclear body
Nucleoli are the prominent contrasted structures of the cell nucleus. In the nucleolus, ribosomal RNAs are synthesized, processed and assembled with ribosomal proteins. RNA polymerase I synthesizes the ribosomal RNAs and this activity is cell cycle regulated. The nucleolus reveals the functional organization of the nuc...
116
Antidiabetes and Anti-obesity Activity of Lagerstroemia speciosa
The leaves of Lagerstroemia speciosa (Lythraceae), a Southeast Asian tree more commonly known as banaba, have been traditionally consumed in various forms by Philippinos for treatment of diabetes and kidney related diseases. In the 1990s, the popularity of this herbal medicine began to attract the attention of scientis...
117
Transmissibility of the Influenza Virus in the 1918 Pandemic
BACKGROUND: With a heightened increase in concern for an influenza pandemic we sought to better understand the 1918 Influenza pandemic, the most devastating epidemic of the previous century. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We use data from several communities in Maryland, USA as well as two ships that experienced well-...
118
Surfactant therapy for acute respiratory failure in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis
INTRODUCTION: Exogenous surfactant is used to treat acute respiratory failure in children, although the benefits and harms in this setting are not clear. The objective of the present systematic review is to assess the effect of exogenous pulmonary surfactant on all-cause mortality in children mechanically ventilated fo...
119
Clinical review: Update of avian influenza A infections in humans
Influenza A viruses have a wide host range for infection, from wild waterfowl to poultry to humans. Recently, the cross-species transmission of avian influenza A, particularly subtype H5N1, has highlighted the importance of the non-human subtypes and their incidence in the human population has increased over the past d...
120
Clinical review: Mass casualty triage – pandemic influenza and critical care
Worst case scenarios for pandemic influenza planning in the US involve over 700,000 patients requiring mechanical ventilation. UK planning predicts a 231% occupancy of current level 3 (intensive care unit) bed capacity. Critical care planners need to recognise that mortality is likely to be high and the risk to healthc...
121
Avian influenza outbreak in Turkey through health personnel's views: a qualitative study
BACKGROUND: Avian influenza threatens public health worldwide because it is usually associated with severe illness and, consequently, a higher risk of death. During the first months of 2006, Turkey experienced its first human avian influenza epidemic. A total of 21 human cases were identified, 12 of which were confirme...
122
Influenza activity in Europe during eight seasons (1999–2007): an evaluation of the indicators used to measure activity and an assessment of the timing, length and course of peak activity (spread) across Europe
BACKGROUND: The European Influenza Surveillance Scheme (EISS) has collected clinical and virological data on influenza since 1996 in an increasing number of countries. The EISS dataset was used to characterise important epidemiological features of influenza activity in Europe during eight winters (1999–2007). The follo...
123
Diagnosis and treatment of severe sepsis
The burden of infection in industrialized countries has prompted considerable effort to improve the outcomes of patients with sepsis. This has been formalized through the Surviving Sepsis Campaign 'bundles', derived from the recommendations of 11 professional societies, which have promoted global improvement in those p...
124
Simian virus 40 vectors for pulmonary gene therapy
BACKGROUND: Sepsis remains the leading cause of death in critically ill patients. One of the primary organs affected by sepsis is the lung, presenting as the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Organ damage in sepsis involves an alteration in gene expression, making gene transfer a potential therapeutic modalit...
125
Role of receptor polymorphism and glycosylation in syncytium induction and host range variation of ecotropic mouse gammaretroviruses
BACKGROUND: We previously identified unusual variants of Moloney and Friend ecotropic mouse gammaretroviruses that have altered host range and are cytopathic in cells of the wild mouse species Mus dunni. Cytopathicity was attributed to different amino acid substitutions at the same critical env residue involved in rece...
126
The presence of the TAR RNA structure alters the programmed -1 ribosomal frameshift efficiency of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) by modifying the rate of translation initiation
HIV-1 uses a programmed -1 ribosomal frameshift to synthesize the precursor of its enzymes, Gag-Pol. The frameshift efficiency that is critical for the virus replication, is controlled by an interaction between the ribosome and a specific structure on the viral mRNA, the frameshift stimulatory signal. The rate of cap-d...
127
Establishing a nationwide emergency department-based syndromic surveillance system for better public health responses in Taiwan
BACKGROUND: With international concern over emerging infectious diseases (EID) and bioterrorist attacks, public health is being required to have early outbreak detection systems. A disease surveillance team was organized to establish a hospital emergency department-based syndromic surveillance system (ED-SSS) capable o...
128
Amino Acid Similarity Accounts for T Cell Cross-Reactivity and for “Holes” in the T Cell Repertoire
BACKGROUND: Cytotoxic T cell (CTL) cross-reactivity is believed to play a pivotal role in generating immune responses but the extent and mechanisms of CTL cross-reactivity remain largely unknown. Several studies suggest that CTL clones can recognize highly diverse peptides, some sharing no obvious sequence identity. Th...
129
Distinguishing Molecular Features and Clinical Characteristics of a Putative New Rhinovirus Species, Human Rhinovirus C (HRV C)
BACKGROUND: Human rhinoviruses (HRVs) are the most frequently detected pathogens in acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) and yet little is known about the prevalence, recurrence, structure and clinical impact of individual members. During 2007, the complete coding sequences of six previously unknown and highly di...
130
Epithelial Cell Apoptosis and Neutrophil Recruitment in Acute Lung Injury—A Unifying Hypothesis? What We Have Learned from Small Interfering RNAs
In spite of protective ventilatory strategies, Acute Lung Injury (ALI) remains associated with high morbidity and mortality. One reason for the lack of therapeutic options might be that ALI is a co-morbid event associated with a diverse family of diseases and, thus, may be the result of distinct pathological processes....
131
The cucumovirus 2b gene drives selection of inter-viral recombinants affecting the crossover site, the acceptor RNA and the rate of selection
RNA–RNA recombination is an important pathway in virus evolution and has been described for many viruses. However, the factors driving recombination or promoting the selection of recombinants are still unclear. Here, we show that the small movement protein (2b) was able to promote selection of RNA 1/2–RNA 3 recombinant...
132
Epigrass: a tool to study disease spread in complex networks
BACKGROUND: The construction of complex spatial simulation models such as those used in network epidemiology, is a daunting task due to the large amount of data involved in their parameterization. Such data, which frequently resides on large geo-referenced databases, has to be processed and assigned to the various comp...
133
Autoimmune Cholangitis in the SJL/J Mouse is Antigen Non-specific
Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is an autoimmune disease characterized by intrahepatic bile duct destruction and the production of anti-mitochondrial antibodies (AMA). The absence of an animal model has been a striking impedance in defining the molecular basis of disease. Previous work has suggested that SJL/J mice imm...
134
La Crosse virus infectivity, pathogenesis, and immunogenicity in mice and monkeys
BACKGROUND: La Crosse virus (LACV), family Bunyaviridae, was first identified as a human pathogen in 1960 after its isolation from a 4 year-old girl with fatal encephalitis in La Crosse, Wisconsin. LACV is a major cause of pediatric encephalitis in North America and infects up to 300,000 persons each year of which 70–1...
135
The intrinsically disordered C‐terminal domain of the measles virus nucleoprotein interacts with the C‐terminal domain of the phosphoprotein via two distinct sites and remains predominantly unfolded
Measles virus is a negative‐sense, single‐stranded RNA virus within theMononegavirales order,which includes several human pathogens, including rabies, Ebola, Nipah, and Hendra viruses. Themeasles virus nucleoprotein consists of a structured N‐terminal domain, and of an intrinsically disordered C‐terminal domain, N(TAIL...
136
A survey of knowledge, attitudes and practices towards avian influenza in an adult population of Italy
BACKGROUND: Several public health strategic interventions are required for effective prevention and control of avian influenza (AI) and it is necessary to create a communication plan to keep families adequately informed on how to avoid or reduce exposure. This investigation determined the knowledge, attitudes, and beha...
137
The evolution of human influenza A viruses from 1999 to 2006: A complete genome study
BACKGROUND: Knowledge about the complete genome constellation of seasonal influenza A viruses from different countries is valuable for monitoring and understanding of the evolution and migration of strains. Few complete genome sequences of influenza A viruses from Europe are publicly available at the present time and t...
138
Can "presumed consent" justify the duty to treat infectious diseases? An analysis
BACKGROUND: AIDS, SARS, and the recent epidemics of the avian-flu have all served to remind us the debate over the limits of the moral duty to care. It is important to first consider the question of whether or not the "duty to treat" might be subject to contextual constraints. The purpose of this study was to investiga...
139
Improved production of human type II procollagen in the yeast Pichia pastoris in shake flasks by a wireless-controlled fed-batch system
BACKGROUND: Here we describe a new technical solution for optimization of Pichia pastoris shake flask cultures with the example of production of stable human type II collagen. Production of recombinant proteins in P. pastoris is usually performed by controlling gene expression with the strong AOX1 promoter, which is in...
140
HMGB1: Endogenous Danger Signaling
While foreign pathogens and their products have long been known to activate the innate immune system, the recent recognition of a group of endogenous molecules that serve a similar function has provided a framework for understanding the overlap between the inflammatory responses activated by pathogens and injury. These...
141
Quantitative measurement of thyroglobulin mRNA in peripheral blood of patients after total thyroidectomy
Previous studies have reported the clinical usefulness of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) detection of thyroglobulin (TG) mRNA in the peripheral blood of patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma. To evaluate this usefulness, we measured TG mRNA in the peripheral blood of patients diagnose...
142
Functional Analysis of the 5′ Genomic Sequence of a Bovine Norovirus
BACKGROUND: Jena Virus (JV), a bovine Norovirus, causes enteric disease in cattle and represents a potential model for the study of enteric norovirus infection and pathogenesis. The positive sense RNA genome of JV is organised into ORF1 (non-structural proteins), ORF2 (major capsid protein) and ORF3 (minor capsid prote...
143
Preliminary Findings of a Randomized Trial of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions to Prevent Influenza Transmission in Households
BACKGROUND: There are sparse data on whether non-pharmaceutical interventions can reduce the spread of influenza. We implemented a study of the feasibility and efficacy of face masks and hand hygiene to reduce influenza transmission among Hong Kong household members. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We conducted a clust...
144
Real Time Bayesian Estimation of the Epidemic Potential of Emerging Infectious Diseases
BACKGROUND: Fast changes in human demographics worldwide, coupled with increased mobility, and modified land uses make the threat of emerging infectious diseases increasingly important. Currently there is worldwide alert for H5N1 avian influenza becoming as transmissible in humans as seasonal influenza, and potentially...
145
DetectiV: visualization, normalization and significance testing for pathogen-detection microarray data
DNA microarrays offer the possibility of testing for the presence of thousands of micro-organisms in a single experiment. However, there is a lack of reliable bioinformatics tools for the analysis of such data. We have developed DetectiV, a package for the statistical software R. DetectiV offers powerful yet simple vis...
146
Expression of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Capsid Proteins in Silkworm-Baculovirus Expression System and Its Utilization as a Subunit Vaccine
BACKGROUND: Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious disease of livestock that causes severe economic loss in susceptible cloven-hoofed animals. Although the traditional inactivated vaccine has been proved effective, it may lead to a new outbreak of FMD because of either incomplete inactivation of FMDV or th...
147
The effect of network mixing patterns on epidemic dynamics and the efficacy of disease contact tracing
In networks, nodes may preferentially contact other nodes with similar (assortatively mixed) or dissimilar (disassortatively mixed) numbers of contacts. Different patterns of contact support different epidemic dynamics, potentially affecting the efficacy of control measures such as contact tracing, which aims to identi...
148
General Practice and Pandemic Influenza: A Framework for Planning and Comparison of Plans in Five Countries
BACKGROUND: Although primary health care, and in particular, general practice will be at the frontline in the response to pandemic influenza, there are no frameworks to guide systematic planning for this task or to appraise available plans for their relevance to general practice. We aimed to develop a framework that wi...
149
Apoptotic signals induce specific degradation of ribosomal RNA in yeast
Organisms exposed to reactive oxygen species, generated endogenously during respiration or by environmental conditions, undergo oxidative stress. Stress response can either repair the damage or activate one of the programmed cell death (PCD) mechanisms, for example apoptosis, and finally end in cell death. One striking...
150
Virus Adaptation by Manipulation of Host's Gene Expression
Viruses adapt to their hosts by evading defense mechanisms and taking over cellular metabolism for their own benefit. Alterations in cell metabolism as well as side-effects of antiviral responses contribute to symptoms development and virulence. Sometimes, a virus may spill over from its usual host species into a novel...
151
Deletion of human metapneumovirus M2-2 increases mutation frequency and attenuates growth in hamsters
BACKGROUND: Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) infection can cause acute lower respiratory tract illness in infants, the immunocompromised, and the elderly. Currently there are no licensed preventative measures for hMPV infections. Using a variant of hMPV/NL/1/00 that does not require trypsin supplementation for growth in ti...
152
No Longer an Innocent Bystander: Epithelial Toll-Like Receptor Signaling in the Development of Mucosal Inflammation
Diseases of mucosal inflammation represent important causes of morbidity and mortality, and have led to intense research efforts to understand the factors that lead to their development. It is well accepted that a breakdown of the normally impermeant epithelial barrier of the intestine, the lung, and the kidney is asso...
153
Ubiquitination Is Required for Effective Replication of Coxsackievirus B3
BACKGROUND: Protein ubiquitination and/or degradation by the ubiquitin/proteasome system (UPS) have been recognized as critical mechanisms in the regulation of numerous essential cellular functions. The importance of the UPS in viral pathogenesis has become increasingly apparent. Using murine cardiomyocytes, we have pr...
154
Professional and Home-Made Face Masks Reduce Exposure to Respiratory Infections among the General Population
BACKGROUND: Governments are preparing for a potential influenza pandemic. Therefore they need data to assess the possible impact of interventions. Face-masks worn by the general population could be an accessible and affordable intervention, if effective when worn under routine circumstances. METHODOLOGY: We assessed tr...
155
Oct-4 Expression Maintained Cancer Stem-Like Properties in Lung Cancer-Derived CD133-Positive Cells
CD133 (prominin-1), a 5-transmembrane glycoprotein, has recently been considered to be an important marker that represents the subset population of cancer stem-like cells. Herein we report the isolation of CD133-positive cells (LC-CD133(+)) and CD133-negative cells (LC-CD133(−)) from tissue samples of ten patients with...
156
Early transcriptional response in the jejunum of germ-free piglets after oral infection with virulent rotavirus
Germ-free piglets were orally infected with virulent rotavirus to collect jejunal mucosal scrapings at 12 and 18 hours post infection (two piglets per time point). IFN-gamma mRNA expression was stimulated in the mucosa of all four infected piglets, indicating that they all responded to the rotavirus infection. RNA pool...
157
Gatekeepers of health: A qualitative assessment of child care centre staff's perspectives, practices and challenges to enteric illness prevention and management in child care centres
BACKGROUND: Enteric outbreaks associated with child care centres (CCC) have been well documented internationally and in Canada. The current literature focuses on identifying potential risk factors for introduction and transmission of enteric disease, but does not examine why these risk factors happen, how the risk is u...
158
Dating the time of viral subtype divergence
Precise dating of viral subtype divergence enables researchers to correlate divergence with geographic and demographic occurrences. When historical data are absent (that is, the overwhelming majority), viral sequence sampling on a time scale commensurate with the rate of substitution permits the inference of the times ...
159
Discovery and Development of Toll-Like Receptor 4 (TLR4) Antagonists: A New Paradigm for Treating Sepsis and Other Diseases
Sepsis remains the most common cause of death in intensive care units in the USA, with a current estimate of at least 750,000 cases per year, and 215,000 deaths annually. Despite extensive research still we do not quite understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms that are involved in triggering and propagation of ...
160
Multiplex cytokine profile from dengue patients: MIP-1beta and IFN-gamma as predictive factors for severity
BACKGROUND: Dengue virus pathogenesis is not yet fully understood and the identification of patients at high risk for developing severe disease forms is still a great challenge in dengue patient care. During the present study, we evaluated prospectively the potential of cytokines present in plasma from patients with de...
161
Temporal trends in the discovery of human viruses
On average, more than two new species of human virus are reported every year. We constructed the cumulative species discovery curve for human viruses going back to 1901. We fitted a statistical model to these data; the shape of the curve strongly suggests that the process of virus discovery is far from complete. We gen...
162
Investigating selection on viruses: a statistical alignment approach
BACKGROUND: Two problems complicate the study of selection in viral genomes: Firstly, the presence of genes in overlapping reading frames implies that selection in one reading frame can bias our estimates of neutral mutation rates in another reading frame. Secondly, the high mutation rates we are likely to encounter co...
163
Seasonality of Influenza A(H3N2) Virus: A Hong Kong Perspective (1997–2006)
BACKGROUND: The underlying basis for the seasonality of influenza A viruses is still uncertain. Phylogenetic studies investigated this phenomenon but have lacked sequences from more subtropical and tropical regions, particularly from Southeast Asia. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: 281 complete hemagglutinin (HA) and ne...
164
H5N1 and 1918 Pandemic Influenza Virus Infection Results in Early and Excessive Infiltration of Macrophages and Neutrophils in the Lungs of Mice
Fatal human respiratory disease associated with the 1918 pandemic influenza virus and potentially pandemic H5N1 viruses is characterized by severe lung pathology, including pulmonary edema and extensive inflammatory infiltrate. Here, we quantified the cellular immune response to infection in the mouse lung by flow cyto...
165
Patterns of Positive Selection in Six Mammalian Genomes
Genome-wide scans for positively selected genes (PSGs) in mammals have provided insight into the dynamics of genome evolution, the genetic basis of differences between species, and the functions of individual genes. However, previous scans have been limited in power and accuracy owing to small numbers of available geno...
166
Mathematical Analysis of Copy Number Variation in a DNA Sample Using Digital PCR on a Nanofluidic Device
Copy Number Variations (CNVs) of regions of the human genome have been associated with multiple diseases. We present an algorithm which is mathematically sound and computationally efficient to accurately analyze CNV in a DNA sample utilizing a nanofluidic device, known as the digital array. This numerical algorithm is ...
167
The geosimulation of West Nile virus propagation: a multi-agent and climate sensitive tool for risk management in public health
BACKGROUND: Since 1999, the expansion of the West Nile virus (WNV) epizooty has led public health authorities to build and operate surveillance systems in North America. These systems are very useful to collect data, but cannot be used to forecast the probable spread of the virus in coming years. Such forecasts, if pro...
168
Alternative medicines for AIDS in resource-poor settings: Insights from exploratory anthropological studies in Asia and Africa
The emergence of alternative medicines for AIDS in Asia and Africa was discussed at a satellite symposium and the parallel session on alternative and traditional treatments of the AIDSImpact meeting, held in Marseille, in July 2007. These medicines are heterogeneous, both in their presentation and in their geographic a...
169
Evolutionary and Transmission Dynamics of Reassortant H5N1 Influenza Virus in Indonesia
H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses have seriously affected the Asian poultry industry since their recurrence in 2003. The viruses pose a threat of emergence of a global pandemic influenza through point mutation or reassortment leading to a strain that can effectively transmit among humans. In this st...
170
Endothelial Cells Support Persistent Gammaherpesvirus 68 Infection
A variety of human diseases are associated with gammaherpesviruses, including neoplasms of lymphocytes (e.g. Burkitt's lymphoma) and endothelial cells (e.g. Kaposi's sarcoma). Gammaherpesvirus infections usually result in either a productive lytic infection, characterized by expression of all viral genes and rapid cell...
171
Analysis of synonymous codon usage and evolution of begomoviruses
Begomoviruses are single-stranded DNA viruses and cause severe diseases in major crop plants worldwide. Based on current genome sequence analyses, we found that synonymous codon usage variations in the protein-coding genes of begomoviruses are mainly influenced by mutation bias. Base composition analysis suggested that...
172
Animal models of acute lung injury
Acute lung injury in humans is characterized histopathologically by neutrophilic alveolitis, injury of the alveolar epithelium and endothelium, hyaline membrane formation, and microvascular thrombi. Different animal models of experimental lung injury have been used to investigate mechanisms of lung injury. Most are bas...
173
Intrapulmonary administration of recombinant activated factor VII in diffuse alveolar haemorrhage: a report of two case stories
BACKGROUND: Diffuse alveolar haemorrhage (DAH) is a serious pulmonary complication characterised by a high mortality rate and the absence of specific treatment. The intrapulmonary administration of activated recombinant factor VII (rFVIIa) in DAH was recently published in six patients by Heslet et al with an efficient ...
174
Activation of the Unfolded Protein Response Is Required for Defenses against Bacterial Pore-Forming Toxin In Vivo
Pore-forming toxins (PFTs) constitute the single largest class of proteinaceous bacterial virulence factors and are made by many of the most important bacterial pathogens. Host responses to these toxins are complex and poorly understood. We find that the endoplasmic reticulum unfolded protein response (UPR) is activate...
175
Composition and Function of Haemolymphatic Tissues in the European Common Shrew
BACKGROUND: Studies of wild animals responding to their native parasites are essential if we are to understand how the immune system functions in the natural environment. While immune defence may bring increased survival, this may come at a resource cost to other physiological traits, including reproduction. Here, we t...
176
Prevention of Cytotoxic T Cell Escape Using a Heteroclitic Subdominant Viral T Cell Determinant
High affinity antigen-specific T cells play a critical role during protective immune responses. Epitope enhancement can elicit more potent T cell responses and can subsequently lead to a stronger memory pool; however, the molecular basis of such enhancement is unclear. We used the consensus peptide-binding motif for th...
177
HIV-Specific T-Cells Accumulate in the Liver in HCV/HIV Co-Infection
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)-related liver disease progresses more rapidly in individuals co-infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV), although the underlying immunologic mechanisms are unknown. We examined whether HIV-specific T-cells are identified in the liver of HCV/HIV co-infected individ...
178
Multiorgan failure due to hemophagocytic syndrome: A case report
INTRODUCTION: Hemophagocytic syndrome (HFS) is a potentially lethal disorder due to an uncontrolled immune response to a triggering agent. Our objective is to raise the importance of HFS early diagnosis by presenting a representative case. CASE PRESENTATION: A sixteen-year-old girl with Still disease diagnosis develope...
179
Studying copy number variations using a nanofluidic platform
Copy number variations (CNVs) in the human genome are conventionally detected using high-throughput scanning technologies, such as comparative genomic hybridization and high-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) microarrays, or relatively low-throughput techniques, such as quantitative polymerase chain reaction ...
180
An analysis of hospital preparedness capacity for public health emergency in four regions of China: Beijing, Shandong, Guangxi, and Hainan
BACKGROUND: Hospital preparedness is critical for the early detection and management of public health emergency (PHE). Understanding the current status of PHE preparedness is the first step in planning to enhance hospitals' capacities for emergency response. The objective of this study is to understand the current stat...
181
Molecular evidence for the evolution of ichnoviruses from ascoviruses by symbiogenesis
BACKGROUND: Female endoparasitic ichneumonid wasps inject virus-like particles into their caterpillar hosts to suppress immunity. These particles are classified as ichnovirus virions and resemble ascovirus virions, which are also transmitted by parasitic wasps and attack caterpillars. Ascoviruses replicate DNA and prod...
182
Nasal Delivery of an Adenovirus-Based Vaccine Bypasses Pre-Existing Immunity to the Vaccine Carrier and Improves the Immune Response in Mice
Pre-existing immunity to human adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5) is common in the general population. Bypassing pre-existing immunity could maximize Ad5 vaccine efficacy. Vaccination by the intramuscular (I.M.), nasal (I.N.) or oral (P.O.) route with Ad5 expressing Ebola Zaire glycoprotein (Ad5-ZGP) fully protected naïve mic...
183
Screening Pneumonia Patients for Mimivirus
Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus (APM), a virus of free-living amebae, has reportedly caused human respiratory disease. Using 2 newly developed real-time PCR assays, we screened 496 respiratory specimens from 9 pneumonia-patient populations for APM. This virus was not detected in any specimen, which suggests it is not ...
184
Resource Allocation during an Influenza Pandemic
Resource Allocation during an Influenza Pandemic
185
Factors influencing psychological distress during a disease epidemic: Data from Australia's first outbreak of equine influenza
BACKGROUND: In 2007 Australia experienced its first outbreak of highly infectious equine influenza. Government disease control measures were put in place to control, contain, and eradicate the disease; these measures included movement restrictions and quarantining of properties. This study was conducted to assess the p...
186
Influenza A Virus Inhibits Type I IFN Signaling via NF-κB-Dependent Induction of SOCS-3 Expression
The type I interferon (IFN) system is a first line of defense against viral infections. Viruses have developed various mechanisms to counteract this response. So far, the interferon antagonistic activity of influenza A viruses was mainly observed on the level of IFNβ gene induction via action of the viral non-structura...
187
Biodefense versus bioterrorism
Genomics was essential for identifying the source of the deadly anthrax strain released after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US. The same research that is needed to combat low-probability bioterror attacks is needed to combat high-probability natural infectious agents.
188
Key Role of Splenic Myeloid DCs in the IFN-αβ Response to Adenoviruses In Vivo
The early systemic production of interferon (IFN)-αβ is an essential component of the antiviral host defense mechanisms, but is also thought to contribute to the toxic side effects accompanying gene therapy with adenoviral vectors. Here we investigated the IFN-αβ response to human adenoviruses (Ads) in mice. By compari...
189
Hemorrhagic shock and encephalopathy syndrome – the markers for an early HSES diagnosis
BACKGROUND: The hemorrhagic shock and encephalopathy syndrome (HSES) is a devastating disease that affects young children. The outcomes of HSES patients are often fatal or manifesting severe neurological sequelae. We reviewed the markers for an early diagnosis of HSES. METHODS: We examined the clinical, biological and ...
190
Unifying evolutionary and thermodynamic information for RNA folding of multiple alignments
Computational methods for determining the secondary structure of RNA sequences from given alignments are currently either based on thermodynamic folding, compensatory base pair substitutions or both. However, there is currently no approach that combines both sources of information in a single optimization problem. Here...
191
A sensitive array-based assay for identifying multiple TMPRSS2:ERG fusion gene variants
Studies of gene fusions in solid tumors are not as extensive as in hematological malignancies due to several technical and analytical problems associated with tumor heterogeneity. Nevertheless, there is a growing interest in the role of fusion genes in common epithelial tumors after the discovery of recurrent TMPRSS2:E...
192
Delivery of steric block morpholino oligomers by (R-X-R)(4) peptides: structure–activity studies
Redirecting the splicing machinery through the hybridization of high affinity, RNase H- incompetent oligonucleotide analogs such as phosphoramidate morpholino oligonucleotides (PMO) might lead to important clinical applications. Chemical conjugation of PMO to arginine-rich cell penetrating peptides (CPP) such as (R-Ahx...
193
Immune Mechanisms Responsible for Vaccination against and Clearance of Mucosal and Lymphatic Norovirus Infection
Two cardinal manifestations of viral immunity are efficient clearance of acute infection and the capacity to vaccinate against secondary viral exposure. For noroviruses, the contributions of T cells to viral clearance and vaccination have not been elucidated. We report here that both CD4 and CD8 T cells are required fo...
194
Self-Interest versus Group-Interest in Antiviral Control
Antiviral agents have been hailed to hold considerable promise for the treatment and prevention of emerging viral diseases like H5N1 avian influenza and SARS. However, antiviral drugs are not completely harmless, and the conditions under which individuals are willing to participate in a large-scale antiviral drug treat...
195
Cross-subtype Immunity against Avian Influenza in Persons Recently Vaccinated for Influenza
Avian influenza virus (H5N1) can be transmitted to humans, resulting in a severe or fatal disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the immune cross-reactivity between human and avian influenza (H5N1) strains in healthy donors vaccinated for seasonal influenza A (H1N1)/(H3N2). A small frequency of CD4 T cells spec...
196
Human Bocavirus Infections in Hospitalized Children and Adults
Studies have reported human bocavirus (HBoV) in children with respiratory tract infections (RTIs), but only occasionally in adults. We searched for HBoV DNA in nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPAs) from adults with exacerbations of chronic bronchitis or pneumonia, from children hospitalized for acute RTIs, and from asymptoma...
197
Pandemic Influenza Planning in the United States from a Health Disparities Perspective
We explored how different socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups in the United States might fare in an influenza pandemic on the basis of social factors that shape exposure, vulnerability to influenza virus, and timeliness and adequacy of treatment. We discuss policies that might differentially affect social groups’ ri...
198
Global Distribution of Novel Rhinovirus Genotype
Global surveillance for a novel rhinovirus genotype indicated its association with community outbreaks and pediatric respiratory disease in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. Molecular dating indicates that these viruses have been circulating for at least 250 years.
199
Cost effective strategies for completing the Interactome
Comprehensive protein interaction mapping projects are underway for many model species and humans. A key step in these projects is estimating the time, cost, and personnel required for obtaining an accurate and complete map. Here, we model the cost of interaction map completion across a spectrum of experimental designs...