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0 | Clinical features of culture-proven Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia | OBJECTIVE: This retrospective chart review describes the epidemiology and clinical features of 40 patients with culture-proven Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. METHODS: Patients with positive M. pneumoniae cultures from respiratory specimens from January 1997... | Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a common cause of upper and lower respiratory tract infections. It remains one of the most frequent causes of atypical pneumonia particu-larly among young adults. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] Although it is highly transmissible, most infections caused by this organism are relatively minor and include pharyn... |
1 | Nitric oxide: a pro-inflammatory mediator in lung disease? | Inflammatory diseases of the respiratory tract are commonly associated with elevated production of nitric oxide (NO•) and increased indices of NO• -dependent oxidative stress. Although NO• is known to have anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties, various lines of evidence support the contribution ... | Since its discovery as a biological messenger molecule more than 10 years ago, the gaseous molecule nitric oxide (NO • ) is now well recognized for its involvement in diverse biological processes, including vasodilation, bronchodilation, neurotransmission, tumor surveillance, antimicrobial defense and regulation of inf... |
2 | Surfactant protein-D and pulmonary host defense | Surfactant protein-D (SP-D) participates in the innate response to inhaled microorganisms and organic antigens, and contributes to immune and inflammatory regulation within the lung. SP-D is synthesized and secreted by alveolar and bronchiolar epithelial cells, but is also expressed by epithelial cells lining various e... | Surfactant protein-D (SP-D) is a member of the collagenous subfamily of calcium-dependent lectins (collectins) that includes pulmonary surfactant protein A (SP-A) and the serum mannose-binding lectin [1] [2] [3] . Collectins inter-act with a wide variety of microorganisms, lipids, and organic particulate antigens, and ... |
3 | Role of endothelin-1 in lung disease | Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a 21 amino acid peptide with diverse biological activity that has been implicated in numerous diseases. ET-1 is a potent mitogen regulator of smooth muscle tone, and inflammatory mediator that may play a key role in diseases of the airways, pulmonary circulation, and inflammatory lung diseases, b... | from Xenopus laevis [16] . ETA receptors in normal lung are found in greatest abundance on vascular and airway smooth muscle, whereas ETB receptors are most often found on the endothelium. Clearance of ET-1 from the circulation is mediated by the ETB receptor primarily in the lung, but also in the kidney and liver [17]... |
4 | Gene expression in epithelial cells in response to pneumovirus infection | Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and pneumonia virus of mice (PVM) are viruses of the family Paramyxoviridae, subfamily pneumovirus, which cause clinically important respiratory infections in humans and rodents, respectively. The respiratory epithelial target cells respond to viral infection with specific alterations ... | RSV and PVM are viruses of the family Paramyxoviridae, subfamily pneumovirus; they are enveloped, singlestranded, nonsegmented RNA viruses that can cause intense viral bronchiolitis in humans and mice, respectively. In its most severe form, the lower respiratory tract infection caused by pneumoviruses is associated wit... |
5 | Sequence requirements for RNA strand transfer during nidovirus discontinuous subgenomic RNA synthesis | Nidovirus subgenomic mRNAs contain a leader sequence derived from the 5′ end of the genome fused to different sequences (‘bodies’) derived from the 3′ end. Their generation involves a unique mechanism of discontinuous subgenomic RNA synthesis that resembles copy-choice RNA recombination. During this process, the nascen... | The genetic information of RNA viruses is organized very ef®ciently. Practically every nucleotide of their genome is utilized, either as protein-coding sequence or as cis-acting signals for translation, RNA synthesis or RNA encapsidation. As part of their genome expression strategy, several groups of positive-strand RN... |
6 | Debate: Transfusing to normal haemoglobin levels will not improve outcome | Recent evidence suggests that critically ill patients are able to tolerate lower levels of haemoglobin than was previously believed. It is our goal to show that transfusing to a level of 100 g/l does not improve mortality and other clinically important outcomes in a critical care setting. Although many questions remain... | Anaemia is a common condition in critically ill patients, and RBC transfusions are often used in the treatment and management of this patient population. In fact, one study [1] reported that 25% of all critically ill patients received RBC transfusions. Many laboratory studies [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] have examined t... |
7 | The 21st International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Brussels, Belgium, 20-23 March 2001 | The 21st International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine was dominated by the results of recent clinical trials in sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The promise of extracorporeal liver replacement therapy and noninvasive ventilation were other areas of interest. Ethical issues also... | This year's symposium was dominated by the results of recent clinical trials. After 10 years of 'magic bullet' trials in sepsis, a number of successful therapeutic options are now emerging. In addition, recent advances in our understanding of the soup of mediators observed in sepsis offer yet more tantalizing targets f... |
8 | Heme oxygenase-1 and carbon monoxide in pulmonary medicine | Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), an inducible stress protein, confers cytoprotection against oxidative stress in vitro and in vivo. In addition to its physiological role in heme degradation, HO-1 may influence a number of cellular processes, including growth, inflammation, and apoptosis. By virtue of anti-inflammatory effects,... | The heme oxygenase-1/carbon monoxide (HO-1/CO) system has recently seen an explosion of research interest due to its newly discovered physiological effects. This metabolic pathway, first characterized by Tenhunen et al. [1, 2] , has only recently revealed its surprising cytoprotective properties [3, 4] . Research in HO... |
9 | Technical Description of RODS: A Real-time Public Health Surveillance System | This report describes the design and implementation of the Real-time Outbreak and Disease Surveillance (RODS) system, a computer-based public health surveillance system for early detection of disease outbreaks. Hospitals send RODS data from clinical encounters over virtual private networks and leased lines using the He... | Unfortunately, conventional public health disease surveillance-which relies on physician and laboratory reporting and manual analysis of surveillance data-is ill equipped for timely detection of such threats. 3 The reportable disease system relies on health care professionals to recognize, diagnose, and report cases an... |
10 | Conservation of polyamine regulation by translational frameshifting from yeast to mammals | Regulation of ornithine decarboxylase in vertebrates involves a negative feedback mechanism requiring the protein antizyme. Here we show that a similar mechanism exists in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. The expression of mammalian antizyme genes requires a specific +1 translational frameshift. The efficie... | The ef®ciency of +1 ribosomal frameshifting at a speci®c codon is used as a sensor to regulate polyamine levels in mammalian cells. The frameshifting occurs in decoding the gene antizyme 1, which has two partially overlapping open reading frames (ORFs). Protein sequencing showed that the reading-frame shift occurs at t... |
11 | Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A1 regulates RNA synthesis of a cytoplasmic virus | Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP A1) is involved in pre-mRNA splicing in the nucleus and translational regulation in the cytoplasm. In the present study, we demonstrate that hnRNP A1 also participates in the transcription and replication of a cytoplasmic RNA virus, mouse hepatitis virus (MHV). Overexpress... | Introduction hnRNP A1 is an RNA-binding protein that contains two RNA-binding domains (RBDs) and a glycine-rich domain responsible for protein±protein interaction. It is involved in pre-mRNA splicing and transport of cellular RNAs (reviewed by Dreyfuss et al., 1993) . It is predominantly located in the nucleus, but als... |
12 | A Method to Identify p62's UBA Domain Interacting Proteins | The UBA domain is a conserved sequence motif among polyubiquitin binding proteins. For the first time, we demonstrate a systematic, high throughput approach to identification of UBA domain-interacting proteins from a proteome-wide perspective. Using the rabbit reticulocyte lysate in vitro expression cloning system, we ... | p62 is a novel cellular protein which was initially identified in humans as a phosphotyrosine independent ligand of the src homology 2 (SH2) domain of p56 lck (1, 2) . p56 lck is a member of the c-src family of cytoplasmic tyrosine kinases that is found predominantly in cells of lymphoid origin (3, 4) . In addition to ... |
13 | Vaccinia virus infection disrupts microtubule organization and centrosome function | We examined the role of the microtubule cytoskeleton during vaccinia virus infection. We found that newly assembled virus particles accumulate in the vicinity of the microtubule-organizing centre in a microtubule- and dynein–dynactin complex-dependent fashion. Microtubules are required for efficient intracellular matur... | Intracellular bacterial and viral pathogens have evolved numerous mechanisms to appropriate and exploit different systems of the host during their life cycles in order to facilitate their spread during entry and exit from the host (Cudmore et al., 1997; Finlay and Cossart, 1997; Dramsi and Cossart, 1998) . In the case ... |
14 | Multi-faceted, multi-versatile microarray: simultaneous detection of many viruses and their expression profiles | There are hundreds of viruses that infect different human organs and cause diseases. Some fatal emerging viral infections have become serious public health issues worldwide. Early diagnosis and subsequent treatment are therefore essential for fighting viral infections. Current diagnostic techniques frequently employ po... | There are hundreds of viruses that infect different human organs and cause diseases. Some fatal emerging viral infections have become serious public health issues worldwide. Early diagnosis and subsequent treatment are therefore essential for fighting viral infections. Current diagnostic techniques frequently employ po... |
15 | Herpes simplex virus type 1 and normal protein permeability in the lungs of critically ill patients: a case for low pathogenicity? | INTRODUCTION: The pathogenicity of late respiratory infections with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) in the critically ill is unclear. METHODS: In four critically ill patients with persistent pulmonary infiltrates of unknown origin and isolation of HSV-1 from tracheal aspirate or bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, at 7 (... | In some critically ill patients herpes simplex virus (HSV)-1 is isolated from the upper or lower respiratory tract [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] . Immunodepressed patients may be susceptible to transmission and acquisition of viral diseases; alternatively, viral reactivation may occu... |
16 | Logistics of community smallpox control through contact tracing and ring vaccination: a stochastic network model | BACKGROUND: Previous smallpox ring vaccination models based on contact tracing over a network suggest that ring vaccination would be effective, but have not explicitly included response logistics and limited numbers of vaccinators. METHODS: We developed a continuous-time stochastic simulation of smallpox transmission, ... | Concerns about intentional releases of smallpox have prompted extensive preparations to improve our ability to detect and respond to an outbreak of smallpox [1, 3, 4, 2] . Many factors contribute to the public health challenge of understanding and preparing for smallpox, including the age and quality of epidemiological... |
17 | Protection of pulmonary epithelial cells from oxidative stress by hMYH adenine glycosylase | BACKGROUND: Oxygen toxicity is a major cause of lung injury. The base excision repair pathway is one of the most important cellular protection mechanisms that responds to oxidative DNA damage. Lesion-specific DNA repair enzymes include hOgg1, hMYH, hNTH and hMTH. METHODS: The above lesion-specific DNA repair enzymes we... | Oxidative stress leading to the overproduction of free radicals in the lungs is present in many clinical situations. Such clinical settings include acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), infants of prematurity going on to develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disea... |
18 | Bioinformatic mapping of AlkB homology domains in viruses | BACKGROUND: AlkB-like proteins are members of the 2-oxoglutarate- and Fe(II)-dependent oxygenase superfamily. In Escherichia coli the protein protects RNA and DNA against damage from methylating agents. 1-methyladenine and 3-methylcytosine are repaired by oxidative demethylation and direct reversal of the methylated ba... | The purpose of this study has been to identify domains with homology to AlkB in viral genomes, in order to get a better understanding of distribution and possible function of such domains. The AlkB protein of E. coli, and probably most of its homologues, is involved in repair of alkylation damage in DNA and RNA. It rep... |
19 | Managing emerging infectious diseases: Is a federal system an impediment to effective laws? | In the 1980's and 1990's HIV/AIDS was the emerging infectious disease. In 2003–2004 we saw the emergence of SARS, Avian influenza and Anthrax in a man made form used for bioterrorism. Emergency powers legislation in Australia is a patchwork of Commonwealth quarantine laws and State and Territory based emergency powers ... | The management of infectious diseases in an increasingly complex world of mass international travel, globalization and terrorism heightens challenges for Federal, State and Territory Governments in ensuring that Australia's laws are sufficiently flexible to address the types of problems that may emerge.
In the 1980's a... |
20 | Protein secretion in Lactococcus lactis : an efficient way to increase the overall heterologous protein production | Lactococcus lactis, the model lactic acid bacterium (LAB), is a food grade and well-characterized Gram positive bacterium. It is a good candidate for heterologous protein delivery in foodstuff or in the digestive tract. L. lactis can also be used as a protein producer in fermentor. Many heterologous proteins have alrea... | Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) are anaerobic Gram positive bacteria with a GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe) status. They are also food grade bacteria, and therefore, they can be used for the delivery of proteins of interest in foodstuff or in the digestive tract. A last advantage compared to other well-known protein produ... |
21 | Detection and characterization of horizontal transfers in prokaryotes using genomic signature | Horizontal DNA transfer is an important factor of evolution and participates in biological diversity. Unfortunately, the location and length of horizontal transfers (HTs) are known for very few species. The usage of short oligonucleotides in a sequence (the so-called genomic signature) has been shown to be species-spec... | It is now widely admitted that actual genomes have a common ancestor (LUCA, Last Universal Common Ancestor). Their current diversity results from events that have modified genomes during evolution. While some of these events happen at the nucleotide level (point mutation, indel of few nucleotides), others [strand inver... |
22 | Comparisons of substitution, insertion and deletion probes for resequencing and mutational analysis using oligonucleotide microarrays | Although oligonucleotide probes complementary to single nucleotide substitutions are commonly used in microarray-based screens for genetic variation, little is known about the hybridization properties of probes complementary to small insertions and deletions. It is necessary to define the hybridization properties of th... | Oligonucleotide microarrays are a powerful technological platform for large-scale screens of common genetic variation and disease-causing mutations (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) . In most published studies (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) , oligonucleotide microarrays are designed to sc... |
23 | A Gene Encoding Sialic-Acid-Specific 9-O-Acetylesterase Found in Human Adult Testis | Using differential display RT-PCR, we identified a gene of 2750 bp from human adult testis, named H-Lse, which encoded a putative protein of 523 amino acids and molecular weight of 58 kd with structural characteristics similar to that of mouse lysosome sialic-acid-specific 9-O-acetylesterase. Northern blot analysis sho... | Sialic acids are a diverse family of acidic nine-carbon sugars that are frequently found as terminal units of oligosaccharide chains on different glycoconjugates in higher invertebrates and vertebrates [1, 2] . As a part of determinants in many glycoproteins [3, 4] , sialic acids play an important role in intercellular... |
24 | The role of mast cells in the pathogenesis of pain in chronic pancreatitis | BACKGROUND: The biological basis of pain in chronic pancreatitis is poorly understood. Mast cells have been implicated in the pathogenesis of pain in other conditions. We hypothesized that mast cells play a role in the pain of chronic pancreatitis. We examined the association of pain with mast cells in autopsy specimen... | Although pain is the presenting symptom of most patients with chronic pancreatitis, its neurobiological basis remains poorly understood [1] . In the past, investigators have focused on the role of anatomical abnormalities such as a strictured pancreatic duct or narrowed intraparenchymal ducts. However, mechanical decom... |
25 | Recombination Every Day: Abundant Recombination in a Virus during a Single Multi-Cellular Host Infection | Viral recombination can dramatically impact evolution and epidemiology. In viruses, the recombination rate depends on the frequency of genetic exchange between different viral genomes within an infected host cell and on the frequency at which such co-infections occur. While the recombination rate has been recently eval... | As increasing numbers of full-length viral sequences become available, recombinant or mosaic viruses are being recognized more frequently [1, 2, 3] . Recombination events have been demonstrated to be associated with viruses expanding their host range [4, 5, 6, 7] or increasing their virulence [8, 9] , thus accompanying... |
26 | Torsional restraint: a new twist on frameshifting pseudoknots | mRNA pseudoknots have a stimulatory function in programmed −1 ribosomal frameshifting (−1 PRF). Though we previously presented a model for how mRNA pseudoknots might activate the mechanism for −1 PRF, it did not address the question of the role that they may play in positioning the mRNA relative to the ribosome in this... | The structure of an RNA molecule is widely recognized to play a role in many processes, including structurally organizing complex RNAs, the assembly of ribonucleoprotein complexes, and in translational recoding and regulation [reviewed in (1) ]. One common RNA folding motifs is a pseudoknot, the folding back of a singl... |
27 | Correcting errors in synthetic DNA through consensus shuffling | Although efficient methods exist to assemble synthetic oligonucleotides into genes and genomes, these suffer from the presence of 1–3 random errors/kb of DNA. Here, we introduce a new method termed consensus shuffling and demonstrate its use to significantly reduce random errors in synthetic DNA. In this method, errors... | Methods for the automated chemical synthesis of oligonucleotides (1, 2) and their assembly into long double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) sequences by PCR (3, 4) and LCR (5) have enabled the chemical synthesis of genes and even entire viral genomes (6, 7) . These technological advances have helped spur the formation of the new ... |
28 | Towards standardization of RNA quality assessment using user-independent classifiers of microcapillary electrophoresis traces | While it is universally accepted that intact RNA constitutes the best representation of the steady-state of transcription, there is no gold standard to define RNA quality prior to gene expression analysis. In this report, we evaluated the reliability of conventional methods for RNA quality assessment including UV spect... | Purity and integrity of RNA are critical elements for the overall success of RNA-based analyses, including gene expression profiling methods to assess the expression levels of thousands of genes in a single assay. Starting with low quality RNA may strongly compromise the results of downstream applications which are oft... |
29 | Factors affecting translation at the programmed −1 ribosomal frameshifting site of Cocksfoot mottle virus RNA in vivo | The ratio between proteins P27 and replicase of Cocksfoot mottle virus (CfMV) is regulated via a −1 programmed ribosomal frameshift (−1 PRF). A minimal frameshift signal with a slippery U UUA AAC heptamer and a downstream stem–loop structure was inserted into a dual reporter vector and directed −1 PRF with an efficienc... | The principal mechanism of translation is the accurate decoding of the triplet codon sequences in one reading frame of mRNA. Specific signals built into the mRNA sequences can cause deviations from this rule. Viruses exploit several translational 'recoding' mechanisms, including translational hopping, stop codon readth... |
30 | Australian public health policy in 2003 – 2004 | In Australia, compared with other developed countries the many and varied programs which comprise public health have continued to be funded poorly and unsystematically, particularly given the amount of publicly voiced political support. In 2003, the major public health policy developments in communicable disease contro... | Public health is a small component of the health system, both in terms of budgetary allocation at either state or national level and in terms of the number of practitioners. It incorporates a myriad of activities; legislation and regulation for health protection, preventive services directed at specific diseases and po... |
31 | GIDEON: a comprehensive Web-based resource for geographic medicine | GIDEON (Global Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology Network) is a web-based computer program designed for decision support and informatics in the field of Geographic Medicine. The first of four interactive modules generates a ranked differential diagnosis based on patient signs, symptoms, exposure history and country o... | As of 2005, the world is confronted by 338 generic infectious diseases, scattered in a complex fashion across over 220 countries and regions. Each new day confronts health care workers with unexpected outbreaks, epidemics and heretofore unknown pathogens. Over 2,000 named bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites are know... |
32 | Globalization and Health | This debut editorial of Globalization and Health introduces the journal, briefly delineating its goals and objectives and outlines its scope of subject matter. 'Open Access' publishing is expected to become an increasingly important format for peer reviewed academic journals and that Globalization and Health is 'Open A... | Secondly: Understanding globalization as a subject matter itself needs certain benchmarks and barometers of its successes and failings. Health is one such barometer. It is a marker of social infrastructure and social welfare and as such can be used to either sound an alarm or give a victory cheer as our interconnectedn... |
33 | The 'polysemous' codon--a codon with multiple amino acid assignment caused by dual specificity of tRNA identity. | In some Candida species, the universal CUG leucine codon is translated as serine. However, in most cases, the serine tRNAs responsible for this non-universal decoding (tRNA(Ser)CAG) accept in vitro not only serine, but also, to some extent, leucine. Nucleotide replacement experiments indicated that m1G37 is critical fo... | (termed tRNA Ser CAG), and revealed its decoding mechan-Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, ism by means of an in vitro translational assay system Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama 227, Japan (Yokogawa et al., 1992; Suzuki et al., 1994) . Furthermore, 2 Corresponding authors when we investigated t... |
34 | A universal BMV-based RNA recombination system—how to search for general rules in RNA recombination | At present, there is no doubt that RNA recombination is one of the major factors responsible for the generation of new RNA viruses and retroviruses. Numerous experimental systems have been created to investigate this complex phenomenon. Consequently, specific RNA structural motifs mediating recombination have been iden... | RNA recombination is a very common phenomenon. It has been observed in all types of viruses using RNA as a carrier of genetic information: in positive-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses (1) (2) (3) (4) , in negative-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses (5, 6) , in double-stranded RNA viruses (7, 8) and in retroviruses (9... |
35 | Neutrophil elastase, an acid-independent serine protease, facilitates reovirus uncoating and infection in U937 promonocyte cells | BACKGROUND: Mammalian reoviruses naturally infect their hosts through the enteric and respiratory tracts. During enteric infections, proteolysis of the reovirus outer capsid protein σ3 is mediated by pancreatic serine proteases. In contrast, the proteases critical for reovirus replication in the lung are unknown. Neutr... | Mammalian reoviruses are the prototypic members of the Reoviridae family, which also includes the pathogenic rotaviruses, coltiviruses, seadornaviruses and orbiviruses. These viruses share elements of their replication cycle as well as structural features, including a non-enveloped multi-layered capsid that surrounds a... |
36 | The influence of locked nucleic acid residues on the thermodynamic properties of 2′-O-methyl RNA/RNA heteroduplexes | The influence of locked nucleic acid (LNA) residues on the thermodynamic properties of 2′-O-methyl RNA/RNA heteroduplexes is reported. Optical melting studies indicate that LNA incorporated into an otherwise 2′-O-methyl RNA oligonucleotide usually, but not always, enhances the stabilities of complementary duplexes form... | Understanding the thermodynamics of nucleic acid duplexes is important for many reasons. For example, such knowledge facilitates design of ribozymes (1), antisense and RNAi oligonucleotides (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) , diagnostic probes including those employed on microarrays (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17... |
37 | Draft versus finished sequence data for DNA and protein diagnostic signature development | Sequencing pathogen genomes is costly, demanding careful allocation of limited sequencing resources. We built a computational Sequencing Analysis Pipeline (SAP) to guide decisions regarding the amount of genomic sequencing necessary to develop high-quality diagnostic DNA and protein signatures. SAP uses simulations to ... | Draft sequencing requires that the order of base pairs in cloned fragments of a genome be determined usually at least four times (4· depth of coverage) at each position for a minimum degree of draft accuracy. This information is assembled into contigs, or fragments of the genome that cannot be joined further due to lac... |
38 | An ontology for immune epitopes: application to the design of a broad scope database of immune reactivities | BACKGROUND: Epitopes can be defined as the molecular structures bound by specific receptors, which are recognized during immune responses. The Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resource (IEDB) project will catalog and organize information regarding antibody and T cell epitopes from infectious pathogens, experimental... | An epitope can be defined as the molecular structure recognized by the products of immune responses. According to this definition, epitopes are the specific molecular entities engaged in binding to antibody molecules or specific T cell receptors. An extended definition also includes the specific molecules binding in th... |
39 | Evaluation of potential reference genes in real-time RT-PCR studies of Atlantic salmon | BACKGROUND: Salmonid fishes are among the most widely studied model fish species but reports on systematic evaluation of reference genes in qRT-PCR studies is lacking. RESULTS: The stability of six potential reference genes was examined in eight tissues of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), to determine the most suitable g... | In real-time RT-PCR, the expression levels of the target genes of interest are estimated on the basis of endogenous controls. Various housekeeping genes, ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and total RNA are most commonly used as references in gene expression analysis today. The purpose of these controls is to remove or reduce differ... |
40 | Relevance of human metapneumovirus in exacerbations of COPD | BACKGROUND AND METHODS: Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a recently discovered respiratory virus associated with bronchiolitis, pneumonia, croup and exacerbations of asthma. Since respiratory viruses are frequently detected in patients with acute exacerbations of COPD (AE-COPD) it was our aim to investigate the frequenc... | Respiratory viruses play an important role in exacerbations of COPD and this has been increasingly recognised since the application of molecular detection methods [1, 2] . The most prevalent viruses detected by polymerase chain reaction so far were respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), Influenza A, Rhinovirus and Parainfl... |
41 | Bioethical Implications of Globalization: An International Consortium Project of the European Commission | The BIG project looks at some of the ethical concerns surrounding globalization and health. | T he term "globalization" was popularized by Marshall McLuhan in War and Peace in the Global Village . In the book, McLuhan described how the global media shaped current events surrounding the Vietnam War [1] and also predicted how modern information and communication technologies would accelerate world progress throug... |
42 | Public awareness of risk factors for cancer among the Japanese general population: A population-based survey | BACKGROUND: The present study aimed to provide information on awareness of the attributable fraction of cancer causes among the Japanese general population. METHODS: A nationwide representative sample of 2,000 Japanese aged 20 or older was asked about their perception and level of concern about various environmental an... | In Japan, cancer has been recognized as a major component of the overall pattern of disease for decades. Thus, the importance of cancer prevention by lifestyle modification should now be strongly acknowledged.
Internationally, several studies have estimated the proportion of total cancer deaths attributable to various ... |
43 | Sequence specific visual detection of LAMP reactions by addition of cationic polymers | BACKGROUND: Development of a practical gene point-of-care testing device (g-POCT device) requires innovative detection methods for demonstrating the results of the gene amplification reaction without the use of expensive equipment. We have studied a new method for the sequence-specific visual detection of minute amount... | Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a unique gene amplification method in which DNA can be isothermally amplified using only one enzyme [1] [2] [3] .
Since the advent of the LAMP method, many researchers have been engaged in basic research from a variety of perspectives. As a result, it is currently being ... |
44 | Injection drug use and HIV/AIDS in China: Review of current situation, prevention and policy implications | Illicit drug abuse and HIV/AIDS have increased rapidly in the past 10 to 20 years in China. This paper reviews drug abuse in China, the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its association with injection drug use (IDU), and Chinese policies on illicit drug abuse and prevention of HIV/AIDS based on published literature and unpublished... | Illicit drug abuse has become an increasing public health and social concern in the past decades worldwide. Drug abuse causes many problems both to individuals and to societies, including loss of productivity, transmission of infectious diseases, crime, family and social disorder, and excessive health care expenditures... |
45 | Development of a humanized monoclonal antibody with therapeutic potential against West Nile virus | Neutralization of West Nile virus (WNV) in vivo correlates with the development of an antibody response against the viral envelope (E) protein. Using random mutagenesis and yeast surface display, we defined individual contact residues of 14 newly generated monoclonal antibodies against domain III of the WNV E protein. ... | Development of a humanized monoclonal antibody with therapeutic potential against West Nile virus E protein by nickel-affinity chromatography (data not shown). After immunization and screening 2,000 hybridomas, we isolated 46 new monoclonal antibodies that recognized WNV E protein (Supplementary Table 1 online).
We eva... |
46 | Local public health workers' perceptions toward responding to an influenza pandemic | BACKGROUND: Current national preparedness plans require local health departments to play an integral role in responding to an influenza pandemic, a major public health threat that the World Health Organization has described as "inevitable and possibly imminent". To understand local public health workers' perceptions to... | Local health departments are considered the backbone of public health response plans for any and all infectious disease outbreaks. An influenza pandemic is considered increasingly likely, and is now considered one of the most significant and urgent threats to the nation's public health preparedness infrastructure. It h... |
47 | On pandemics and the duty to care: whose duty? who cares? | BACKGROUND: As a number of commentators have noted, SARS exposed the vulnerabilities of our health care systems and governance structures. Health care professionals (HCPs) and hospital systems that bore the brunt of the SARS outbreak continue to struggle with the aftermath of the crisis. Indeed, HCPs – both in clinical... | In 2003, the world witnessed the spread of a novel and deadly virus, namely SARS CoV. The health care workers (HCWs) and hospital systems that bore the brunt of the SARS outbreak continue to struggle with the aftermath of the crisis. Indeed, HCWs -both in clinical care and in public health -were severely tested by SARS... |
48 | Epicatechins Purified from Green Tea (Camellia sinensis) Differentially Suppress Growth of Gender-Dependent Human Cancer Cell Lines | The anticancer potential of catechins derived from green tea is not well understood, in part because catechin-related growth suppression and/or apoptosis appears to vary with the type and stage of malignancy as well as with the type of catechin. This in vitro study examined the biological effects of epicatechin (EC), e... | There is accruing evidence that green tea may have anticancer activity (1) , but the mechanisms for this action are poorly understood. Green tea is produced from the shrub Camellia sinensis (Fig. 1) ; leaves are dried but not fermented so that the green coloration attributed to polyphenols is retained. Commercially pre... |
49 | Markers of exacerbation severity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | BACKGROUND: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can experience 'exacerbations' of their conditions. An exacerbation is an event defined in terms of subjective descriptors or symptoms, namely dyspnoea, cough and sputum that worsen sufficiently to warrant a change in medical management. There is a ... | Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a respiratory disease characterized by an airflow limitation and inflammation of the lower airways [1] . As the disease worsens, some patients experience 'exacerbations' of their principal symptoms of dyspnoea, cough and sputum. These exacerbations frequently result in a ... |
50 | Differentially profiling the low-expression transcriptomes of human hepatoma using a novel SSH/microarray approach | BACKGROUND: The main limitation in performing genome-wide gene-expression profiling is the assay of low-expression genes. Approaches with high throughput and high sensitivity for assaying low-expression transcripts are urgently needed for functional genomic studies. Combination of the suppressive subtractive hybridizat... | Microarray is a powerful technique for simultaneously determining the expression of thousands of genes [1] [2] [3] . Such studies can quickly yield a genome-wide description of mRNA expression, called transcriptomes, in a given cell or tissue at a given physiologic or pathologic condition [4] . Even though, one of the ... |
51 | From Functional Genomics to Functional Immunomics: New Challenges, Old Problems, Big Rewards | The development of DNA microarray technology a decade ago led to the establishment of functional genomics as one of the most active and successful scientific disciplines today. With the ongoing development of immunomic microarray technology—a spatially addressable, large-scale technology for measurement of specific imm... | During the past decade, the highly successful field of functional genomics experienced huge growth as a result of the development of DNA microarray technology [1] [2] [3] [4] , which made it possible for the first time to measure the RNA expression of thousands of genes in parallel, in a single assay. Immune responses ... |
52 | Transmission patterns of smallpox: systematic review of natural outbreaks in Europe and North America since World War II | BACKGROUND: Because smallpox (variola major) may be used as a biological weapon, we reviewed outbreaks in post-World War II Europe and North America in order to understand smallpox transmission patterns. METHODS: A systematic review was used to identify papers from the National Library of Medicine, Embase, Biosis, Coch... | The anthrax attacks that followed the events of September 11th, 2001 focused attention on the threat of terrorism with biological agents including variola major, the causative agent of smallpox [1] . There is concern that an attack with smallpox could result in many deaths because of the susceptibility of the U.S. popu... |
53 | Reliability of case definitions for public health surveillance assessed by Round-Robin test methodology | BACKGROUND: Case definitions have been recognized to be important elements of public health surveillance systems. They are to assure comparability and consistency of surveillance data and have crucial impact on the sensitivity and the positive predictive value of a surveillance system. The reliability of case definitio... | between countries. One of the first case definitions used for national disease reporting was the case definition for AIDS published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1982 [2] . In 1985 Sacks published a survey among all 50 US states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC, that revealed important vari... |
54 | Ventilator associated pneumonia and infection control | Ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in intensive care units. The incidence of VAP varies from 7% to 70% in different studies and the mortality rates are 20–75% according to the study population. Aspiration of colonized pathogenic microorganisms on the oropharynx and gas... | Nosocomial pneumonia (NP) is defined as parenchymal lung infection, occurring after the first 48 hours of hospital admission [1] . It accounts for 13-18% of all hospitalacquired infections, but leading cause of death from nosocomial infections [2] . It is a major threat to patients admitted intensive care units (ICU) a... |
55 | Sentinel surveillance for human enterovirus 71 in Sarawak, Malaysia: lessons from the first 7 years | BACKGROUND: A major outbreak of human enterovirus 71-associated hand, foot and mouth disease in Sarawak in 1997 marked the beginning of a series of outbreaks in the Asia Pacific region. Some of these outbreaks had unusually high numbers of fatalities and this generated much fear and anxiety in the region. METHODS: We e... | Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common acute viral illness that primarily affects infants and young children, and often occurs in clusters or outbreaks. It is characterized by rapid onset of fever and sore throat, accompanied by vesicles and ulcers on the gums, tongue, buccal mucosa and palate. Punctate and us... |
56 | Model-Based Design of Growth-Attenuated Viruses | Live-virus vaccines activate both humoral and cell-mediated immunity, require only a single boosting, and generally provide longer immune protection than killed or subunit vaccines. However, growth of live-virus vaccines must be attenuated to minimize their potential pathogenic effects, and mechanisms of attenuation by... | Infections caused by viruses persistently threaten human health. For example, 40 million, 350 million, and 170 million people in the world are carrying human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV), respectively [1] [2] [3] . Annually 5% to 15% of the global populatio... |
57 | Delivery Systems for the Direct Application of siRNAs to Induce RNA Interference (RNAi) In Vivo | RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful method for specific gene silencing which may also lead to promising novel therapeutic strategies. It is mediated through small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) which sequence-specifically trigger the cleavage and subsequent degradation of their target mRNA. One critical factor is the abil... | Altered expression levels of certain genes play a pivotal role in several pathological conditions. For example, in many cancers the upregulation of certain growth factors or growth factor receptors, or the deregulation of intracellular signal transduction pathways, represents key elements in the process of malignant tr... |
58 | Identification of new participants in the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) oocyte maturation and ovulation processes using cDNA microarrays | BACKGROUND: The hormonal control of oocyte maturation and ovulation as well as the molecular mechanisms of nuclear maturation have been thoroughly studied in fish. In contrast, the other molecular events occurring in the ovary during post-vitellogenesis have received far less attention. METHODS: Nylon microarrays displ... | In fish, as in other lower vertebrates, the post-vitellogenic period is very important for the completion of the oogenetic process. During this step, the follicle-enclosed postvitellogenic oocyte undergoes several key events such as the final acquisition of the ability to resume meiosis in response to the maturation-in... |
59 | An object simulation model for modeling hypothetical disease epidemics – EpiFlex | BACKGROUND: EpiFlex is a flexible, easy to use computer model for a single computer, intended to be operated by one user who need not be an expert. Its purpose is to study in-silico the epidemic behavior of a wide variety of diseases, both known and theoretical, by simulating their spread at the level of individuals co... | The most commonly used measure in public health, R 0 , is estimated from historical data and derived from SIS/SIR type models (and descendents) for forward projection [14, 15] R 0 is the basic reproductive ratio for how many individuals each infected person is going to infect [16] R 0 is often used on its own in public... |
60 | Multiplexed Genetic Analysis Using an Expanded Genetic Alphabet | BACKGROUND: All states require some kind of testing for newborns, but the policies are far from standardized. In some states, newborn screening may include genetic tests for a wide range of targets, but the costs and complexities of the newer genetic tests inhibit expansion of newborn screening. We describe the develop... | Few multiplexed technologies with sufficient specificity to identify small changes within the human genome are available for clinical use. Line probe or linear array technology uses nitrocellulose paper strips as the support matrix (1 ) . A benefit of the line probe is that expensive instrumentation is not required. A ... |
61 | Antisense-induced ribosomal frameshifting | Programmed ribosomal frameshifting provides a mechanism to decode information located in two overlapping reading frames by diverting a proportion of translating ribosomes into a second open reading frame (ORF). The result is the production of two proteins: the product of standard translation from ORF1 and an ORF1–ORF2 ... | The standard triplet readout of the genetic code can be reprogrammed by signals in the mRNA to induce ribosomal frameshifting [reviewed in (1) (2) (3) ]. Generally, the resulting trans-frame protein product is functional and may in some cases be expressed in equal amounts to the product of standard translation. This el... |
62 | The gene of an archaeal α-l-fucosidase is expressed by translational frameshifting | The standard rules of genetic translational decoding are altered in specific genes by different events that are globally termed recoding. In Archaea recoding has been unequivocally determined so far only for termination codon readthrough events. We study here the mechanism of expression of a gene encoding for a α-l-fuc... | Translation is optimally accurate and the correspondence between the nucleotide and the protein sequences are often considered as an immutable dogma. However, the genetic code is not quite universal: in certain organelles and in a small number of organisms the meaning of different codons has been reassigned and all the... |
63 | Role of RNA helicases in HIV-1 replication | Viruses are replication competent genomes which are relatively gene-poor. Even the largest viruses (i.e. Herpesviruses) encode only slightly >200 open reading frames (ORFs). However, because viruses replicate obligatorily inside cells, and considering that evolution may be driven by a principle of economy of scale, it ... | Helicases are enzymes that separate in an energy-dependent manner stretches of duplexed DNA and/or RNA into singlestranded components. Currently, based on characteristic motifs and the sequence comparisons, three superfamilies (SF1 through 3) and two smaller families (F4, F5) of helicases have been identified (1) . Sup... |
64 | MIMOX: a web tool for phage display based epitope mapping | BACKGROUND: Phage display is widely used in basic research such as the exploration of protein-protein interaction sites and networks, and applied research such as the development of new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics. It has also become a promising method for epitope mapping. Research on new algorithms that assist an... | Since the pioneering work of Smith and co-workers [1] [2] [3] , phage display technology has been widely used in both basic research such as the exploration of protein-protein interaction sites and networks [2] [3] [4] [5] , and applied research such as the development of new drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines [6] [7] [8... |
65 | Endogenous Cell Repair of Chronic Demyelination | In multiple sclerosis lesions, remyelination typically fails with repeated or chronic demyelinating episodes and results in neurologic disability. Acute demyelination models in rodents typically exhibit robust spontaneous remyelination that prevents appropriate evaluation of strategies for improving conditions of insuf... | In central nervous system (CNS) demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), myelin damage impairs impulse conduction along denuded axons. Limited remyelination occurs in MS lesions (1Y3) but is typically insufficient to prevent long-term neurologic disability. After a demyelinating event, improved remyelina... |
66 | Automated identification of multiple micro-organisms from resequencing DNA microarrays | There is an increasing recognition that detailed nucleic acid sequence information will be useful and even required in the diagnosis, treatment and surveillance of many significant pathogens. Because generating detailed information about pathogens leads to significantly larger amounts of data, it is necessary to develo... | For both surveillance and diagnostic applications, fine-scale pathogen identification and near-neighbor discrimination is important; therefore, an assay that monitors at this very specific level is desirable for many types of samples such as clinical and environmental (1) (2) (3) . To successfully use any method based ... |
67 | Molecular dynamics simulations of human [Formula: see text]: the role of modified bases in mRNA recognition | Accuracy in translation of the genetic code into proteins depends upon correct tRNA–mRNA recognition in the context of the ribosome. In human [Formula: see text] three modified bases are present in the anticodon stem–loop—2-methylthio-N6-threonylcarbamoyladenosine at position 37 (ms(2)t(6)A37), 5-methoxycarbonylmethyl-... | Ditchfield, R., Hehre |
68 | A novel endonuclease IV post-PCR genotyping system | Here we describe a novel endonuclease IV (Endo IV) based assay utilizing a substrate that mimics the abasic lesions that normally occur in double-stranded DNA. The three component substrate is characterized by single-stranded DNA target, an oligonucleotide probe, separated from a helper oligonucleotide by a one base ga... | Nucleic acid assays utilizing cleavage enzymes to generate a fluorescent signal from dual-dye-labeled oligonucleotide probes have been extensively used in diagnostics (1) (2) (3) . In these assays, the ability of fluorescent dyes to transfer energy absorbed from light to nearby molecules forms the basis of homogeneous ... |
69 | Pandemic influenza preparedness: an ethical framework to guide decision-making | BACKGROUND: Planning for the next pandemic influenza outbreak is underway in hospitals across the world. The global SARS experience has taught us that ethical frameworks to guide decision-making may help to reduce collateral damage and increase trust and solidarity within and between health care organisations. Good pan... | In this paper, we present an ethical framework for pandemic influenza planning. The ethical framework was developed with expertise from clinical, organisational and public health ethics and validated through a stakeholder engagement process. The ethical framework includes both substantive and procedural elements for et... |
70 | Open lung biopsy in early-stage acute respiratory distress syndrome | INTRODUCTION: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) has heterogeneous etiologies, rapid progressive change and a high mortality rate. To improve the outcome of ARDS, accurate diagnosis is essential to the application of effective early treatment. The present study investigated the clinical effects and safety of op... | The clinical definition of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) includes the acute onset of bilateral pulmonary infiltrates, a ratio of arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO 2 ) to fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO 2 ) of 200 mmHg or less, and no evidence of left atrial hypertension [1] . Many risk factors, suc... |
71 | Association and Host Selectivity in Multi-Host Pathogens | The distribution of multi-host pathogens over their host range conditions their population dynamics and structure. Also, host co-infection by different pathogens may have important consequences for the evolution of hosts and pathogens, and host-pathogen co-evolution. Hence it is of interest to know if the distribution ... | Pathogens have highly variable host ranges: in natural conditions some infect only one or a few related species (i.e., specialist pathogens) while other can infect a wide range of hosts belonging to different taxonomic groups (i.e., multi-host or generalist pathogens). A large fraction of described pathogens of humans,... |
72 | The Effectiveness of Contact Tracing in Emerging Epidemics | BACKGROUND: Contact tracing plays an important role in the control of emerging infectious diseases, but little is known yet about its effectiveness. Here we deduce from a generic mathematical model how effectiveness of tracing relates to various aspects of time, such as the course of individual infectivity, the (variab... | Control of epidemics of (emerging) infectious diseases, such as SARS, pandemic influenza, or foot-and-mouth disease, always faces the difficulty that some infectives are not yet observed. By concentrating control measures only on observed cases (treatment, isolation, culling), resources are used efficiently but control... |
73 | The Waiting Time for Inter-Country Spread of Pandemic Influenza | BACKGROUND: The time delay between the start of an influenza pandemic and its subsequent initiation in other countries is highly relevant to preparedness planning. We quantify the distribution of this random time in terms of the separate components of this delay, and assess how the delay may be extended by non-pharmace... | The emergence of a pandemic strain of influenza is considered inevitable [1] . Provided the emerged strain is not too virulent, it may be possible to eliminate a nascent influenza pandemic in the source region via various combinations of targeted antiviral prophylaxis, pre-vaccination, social distancing and quarantine ... |
74 | Neutralizing Antibody Fails to Impact the Course of Ebola Virus Infection in Monkeys | Prophylaxis with high doses of neutralizing antibody typically offers protection against challenge with viruses producing acute infections. In this study, we have investigated the ability of the neutralizing human monoclonal antibody, KZ52, to protect against Ebola virus in rhesus macaques. This antibody was previously... | Editor's note: The potential efficacy of pre-and post-exposure prophylaxis against Ebola virus infection, as well as the fundamentally important question of whether neutralizing bodies are important for Ebola virus resistance, is addressed by a related manuscript in this issue of PLoS Pathogens. Please see doi: 10 .137... |
75 | Public health preparedness in Alberta: a systems-level study | BACKGROUND: Recent international and national events have brought critical attention to the Canadian public health system and how prepared the system is to respond to various types of contemporary public health threats. This article describes the study design and methods being used to conduct a systems-level analysis o... | International and national events have brought critical attention to the Canadian public health system and how prepared the system is to respond to various types of con-temporary public health threats. Whether those threats result from emerging infectious diseases or bioterrorism, the public health system is responsibl... |
76 | The immunoregulatory and allergy-associated cytokines in the aetiology of the otitis media with effusion. | Inflammation in the middle ear mucosa, which can be provoked by different primary factors such as bacterial and viral infection, local allergic reactions and reflux, is the crucial event in the pathogenesis of otitis media with effusion (OME). Unresolved acute inflammatory responses or defective immunoregulation of mid... | The immunoregulatory cytokines [interleukin (IL)-2, IL-10, transforming growth factor (TGF)-b] and allergy-associated cytokines [IL-4, IL-5, granulocyte Á/ macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF)] are mediators of the immune system, which are actively involved in regulation of molecular and cellular processes acc... |
77 | Bench-to-bedside review: Critical illness-associated cognitive dysfunction – mechanisms, markers, and emerging therapeutics | Cognitive dysfunction is common in critically ill patients, not only during the acute illness but also long after its resolution. A large number of pathophysiologic mechanisms are thought to underlie critical illness-associated cognitive dysfunction, including neuro-transmitter abnormalities and occult diffuse brain in... | Since its advent more than 40 years ago, the specialty of critical care has made remarkable advances in the care of severely ill patients. Mortality rates for many commonly encountered critical illnesses such as severe sepsis [1] and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) [2] have declined sharply over the past 2 d... |
78 | ProCAT: a data analysis approach for protein microarrays | Protein microarrays provide a versatile method for the analysis of many protein biochemical activities. Existing DNA microarray analytical methods do not translate to protein microarrays due to differences between the technologies. Here we report a new approach, ProCAT, which corrects for background bias and spatial ar... | DNA microarray technologies have proven to be extremely valuable for probing biological processes by measuring mRNA expression profiles. However, studies at the protein level have the potential to provide more direct information since most genes function through their protein products. Traditional investigations focus ... |
79 | Positional clustering improves computational binding site detection and identifies novel cis-regulatory sites in mammalian GABA(A) receptor subunit genes | Understanding transcription factor (TF) mediated control of gene expression remains a major challenge at the interface of computational and experimental biology. Computational techniques predicting TF-binding site specificity are frequently unreliable. On the other hand, comprehensive experimental validation is difficu... | Understanding transcription factor (TF) mediated control of gene expression remains a major challenge at the interface of computational and experimental biology. Computational techniques predicting TF-binding site specificity are frequently unreliable. On the other hand, comprehensive experimental validation is difficu... |
80 | The Transmissibility of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Commercial Poultry in Industrialised Countries | BACKGROUND: With the increased occurrence of outbreaks of H5N1 worldwide there is concern that the virus could enter commercial poultry farms with severe economic consequences. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We analyse data from four recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in commercial poultry to... | A new highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza, H5N1, emerged in the poultry markets of Hong Kong in 1997 and subsequently re-emerged in Vietnam in 2003. From this time onwards it has rapidly spread across the globe and is likely to be endemic in poultry in many parts of the world. Although onward transmission to hu... |
81 | The influenza pandemic preparedness planning tool InfluSim | BACKGROUND: Planning public health responses against pandemic influenza relies on predictive models by which the impact of different intervention strategies can be evaluated. Research has to date rather focused on producing predictions for certain localities or under specific conditions, than on designing a publicly av... | Preparedness against pandemic influenza has become a high priority public health issue and many countries that have pandemic preparedness plans [1] . For the design of such plans, mathematical models and computer simulations play an essential role because they allow to predict and compare the effects of different inter... |
82 | Immune pathways and defence mechanisms in honey bees Apis mellifera | Social insects are able to mount both group-level and individual defences against pathogens. Here we focus on individual defences, by presenting a genome-wide analysis of immunity in a social insect, the honey bee Apis mellifera. We present honey bee models for each of four signalling pathways associated with immunity,... | While evident in social organisms ranging from humans to birds (Brown & Brown, 2004; Masuda et al ., 2004) , the impacts of sociality on disease are especially vivid within social insect colonies. Here, typically thousands of individuals interact in close quarters, at densities far exceeding those of even the most crow... |
83 | ElaD, a Deubiquitinating Protease Expressed by E. coli | BACKGROUND: Ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like proteins (Ubl) are designed to modify polypeptides in eukaryotes. Covalent binding of ubiquitin or Ubls to substrate proteins can be reversed by specific hydrolases. One particular set of cysteine proteases, the CE clan, which targets ubiquitin and Ubls, has homologs in eukaryot... | Ubiquitin, as well as Ubls such as Nedd8 and SUMO, are proteins (almost) exclusively expressed by eukaryotes [1] . Ubiquitination controls many cellular processes, including degradation of proteins by the proteasome and intracellular trafficking. Nedd8 is a ubiquitin-like modifier that regulates the rate or extent of u... |
84 | Mutational analysis of human CEACAM1: the potential of receptor polymorphism in increasing host susceptibility to bacterial infection | A common overlapping site on the N-terminal IgV-like domain of human carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)-related cell adhesion molecules (CEACAMs) is targeted by several important human respiratory pathogens. These include Neisseria meningitidis (Nm) and Haemophilus influenzae (Hi) that can cause disseminated or persistent ... | The bacterial pathogens Neisseria meningitidis (Nm) and Haemophilus influenzae (Hi) are frequently found in the nasopharynx of a substantial proportion of the healthy population but are capable of causing serious infections in susceptible individuals (Turk, 1984; Foxwell et al., 1998) . Nm and typable Hi (THi) can inva... |
85 | Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS): review of common infectious manifestations and treatment options | The immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) in HIV-infected patients initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) results from restored immunity to specific infectious or non-infectious antigens. A paradoxical clinical worsening of a known condition or the appearance of a new condition after initiating therapy ch... | Since its introduction, ART has led to significant declines in AIDS-associated morbidity and mortality [1] . These benefits are, in part, a result of partial recovery of the immune system, manifested by increases in CD4 + T-lymphocyte counts and decreases in plasma HIV-1 viral loads [2] . After initiation of ART, oppor... |
86 | Global Surveillance of Emerging Influenza Virus Genotypes by Mass Spectrometry | BACKGROUND: Effective influenza surveillance requires new methods capable of rapid and inexpensive genomic analysis of evolving viral species for pandemic preparedness, to understand the evolution of circulating viral species, and for vaccine strain selection. We have developed one such approach based on previously des... | Influenza viruses cause serious global economic and public health burdens. Annual influenza epidemics resulted in more than 30,000 deaths a year in the United States during 1990-1999 [1, 2] . Periodic pandemics result in significantly higher death tolls. Emergence of new influenza A virus strains can be caused by ''ant... |
87 | Transmission Parameters of the 2001 Foot and Mouth Epidemic in Great Britain | Despite intensive ongoing research, key aspects of the spatial-temporal evolution of the 2001 foot and mouth disease (FMD) epidemic in Great Britain (GB) remain unexplained. Here we develop a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method for estimating epidemiological parameters of the 2001 outbreak for a range of simple tran... | The 2001 FMD epidemic in the UK had a substantial cost in human, animal health and economic terms (Alexandersen et al. [1] , Kao [2] ). Understanding the risk factors underlying the transmission dynamics of that epidemic and evaluating the effectiveness of the control measures are essential to minimise the scale and co... |
88 | Efficient replication of pneumonia virus of mice (PVM) in a mouse macrophage cell line | Pneumonia virus of mice (PVM; family Paramyxoviridae, subfamily Pneumovirinae) is a natural respiratory pathogen of rodent species and an important new model for the study of severe viral bronchiolitis and pneumonia. However, despite high virus titers typically detected in infected mouse lung tissue in vivo, cell lines... | Pneumonia virus of mice (PVM) infection in mice was originally described by Horsfall and colleagues [1, 2] , but until relatively recently, the sole interest in this virus was as a pathogen of laboratory rodent colonies [3] [4] [5] . Over the past several years, we and others have built on Horsfall's early studies, and... |
89 | Designing and conducting tabletop exercises to assess public health preparedness for manmade and naturally occurring biological threats | BACKGROUND: Since 2001, state and local health departments in the United States (US) have accelerated efforts to prepare for high-impact public health emergencies. One component of these activities has been the development and conduct of exercise programs to assess capabilities, train staff and build relationships. Thi... | Since 2001, state and local health departments in the US have accelerated efforts to prepare for bioterrorism and other high-impact public health emergencies. These activities have been spurred by federal funding and guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Health Resources and Serv... |
90 | Transcript-level annotation of Affymetrix probesets improves the interpretation of gene expression data | BACKGROUND: The wide use of Affymetrix microarray in broadened fields of biological research has made the probeset annotation an important issue. Standard Affymetrix probeset annotation is at gene level, i.e. a probeset is precisely linked to a gene, and probeset intensity is interpreted as gene expression. The increas... | Microarray technology was invented to rapidly profile the quantities of mRNA transcripts in a particular cellular context [1] [2] [3] . Its application has become universal in biomedical researches. Although it is mRNA that is actually detected by microarray experiments, and it is mRNA that has the direct relationship ... |
91 | Selective redox regulation of cytokine receptor signaling by extracellular thioredoxin-1 | The thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase thioredoxin-1 (Trx1) is known to be secreted by leukocytes and to exhibit cytokine-like properties. Extracellular effects of Trx1 require a functional active site, suggesting a redox-based mechanism of action. However, specific cell surface proteins and pathways coupling extracellular... | Disulfide bonds have long been recognized as structural elements stabilizing proteins in harsh extracellular environments. More recently, an additional concept has emerged: some disulfide bonds operate as dynamic scaffolds capable of regulated rearrangement into a variety of functional forms (Jordan and Gibbins, 2006) ... |
92 | Screen for ISG15-crossreactive Deubiquitinases | BACKGROUND: The family of ubiquitin-like molecules (UbLs) comprises several members, each of which has sequence, structural, or functional similarity to ubiquitin. ISG15 is a homolog of ubiquitin in vertebrates and is strongly upregulated following induction by type I interferon. ISG15 can be covalently attached to pro... | Posttranslational modification by ubiquitin regulates processes such as proteasomal degradation, intracellular trafficking, and transcription. Ubiquitin is attached to substrates in covalent isopeptide linkage or as an N-terminal fusion [1] [2] [3] . Ubiquitination, however, is reversible: the ubiquitin moiety can be r... |
93 | s-RT-MELT for rapid mutation scanning using enzymatic selection and real time DNA-melting: new potential for multiplex genetic analysis | The rapidly growing understanding of human genetic pathways, including those that mediate cancer biology and drug response, leads to an increasing need for extensive and reliable mutation screening on a population or on a single patient basis. Here we describe s-RT-MELT, a novel technology that enables highly expanded ... | Screening for genetic changes to unveil molecular attributes of human specimens is important for a variety of medical applications, including genotyping for inherited disorders, prediction of the pathologic behavior of malignancies, identification of cancer biomarkers and can affect treatment decisions for individual p... |
94 | Rapid Identification of Malaria Vaccine Candidates Based on α-Helical Coiled Coil Protein Motif | To identify malaria antigens for vaccine development, we selected α-helical coiled coil domains of proteins predicted to be present in the parasite erythrocytic stage. The corresponding synthetic peptides are expected to mimic structurally “native” epitopes. Indeed the 95 chemically synthesized peptides were all specif... | Human Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) infection is a dramatic public health problem. Today approximately forty percent of the world's population is at risk of malaria. Malaria causes more than 300 million acute clinical cases, and at least one million deaths annually. Ninety percent of malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Af... |
95 | FluGenome: a web tool for genotyping influenza A virus | Influenza A viruses are hosted by numerous avian and mammalian species, which have shaped their evolution into distinct lineages worldwide. The viral genome consists of eight RNA segments that are frequently exchanged between different viruses via a process known as genetic reassortment. A complete genotype nomenclatur... | Infections with influenza A viruses continue to be a public health problem, causing seasonal epidemics and sporadic but devastating pandemics. Each year in the US, influenza epidemics cause more than 200 000 hospitalizations and result in over 30 000 influenza-related deaths (1) . Influenza pandemics are infrequent but... |
96 | Influenza pandemic intervention planning using InfluSim: pharmaceutical and non- pharmaceutical interventions | BACKGROUND: Influenza pandemic preparedness plans are currently developed and refined on national and international levels. Much attention has been given to the administration of antiviral drugs, but contact reduction can also be an effective part of mitigation strategies and has the advantage to be not limited per se.... | The recent spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza from Asia to Europe and the transmission to humans has intensified concerns over the emergence of a novel strain of influenza with pandemic potential. While still being in an inter-pandemic stage, nations plan for pandemic contingency following recommendations of t... |
97 | DNA Vaccines against Protozoan Parasites: Advances and Challenges | Over the past 15 years, DNA vaccines have gone from a scientific curiosity to one of the most dynamic research field and may offer new alternatives for the control of parasitic diseases such as leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. We review here some of the advances and challenges for the development of DNA vaccines again... | In spite of the success of vaccines in public health, there are still numerous pathogens, and in particular protozoan parasites such as Plasmodium falciparum, Trypanosoma sp., or Leishmania sp. against which there are still no effective vaccine. However, the discovery that the direct injection of plasmid DNA encoding f... |
98 | Estimating Individual and Household Reproduction Numbers in an Emerging Epidemic | Reproduction numbers, defined as averages of the number of people infected by a typical case, play a central role in tracking infectious disease outbreaks. The aim of this paper is to develop methods for estimating reproduction numbers which are simple enough that they could be applied with limited data or in real time... | The household is a fundamental unit of transmission for many directly transmitted infections. In addition, the household provides a ''laboratory'' within which key measures of transmission such as infectiousness, generation time and the effect of immunity or vaccination can be studied [1] . In recent years considerable... |
99 | 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... | The development of antiviral immune responses involves the orchestration of a complex network of innate and adaptive immune cells to promote health over disease. Natural killer (NK) cells, plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), CD11b and CD8a conventional dendritic cells (cDCs), B cells, and CD8 T cells have all been dem... |
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