Comparison of two birnavirus-rhabdovirus coinfections in fish cell lines

Aquabirnaviruses, such as the infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV), Novirhabdoviruses, such as the infectious hematopoiteic necrosis virus (IHNV) and the viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV), cause considerable losses to the salmonid industry worldwide. Coinfections of 2 viruses have been described, but the interactions between rhabdoviruses and birnaviruses have not been examined closely. Using virus titration, flow cytometry and RT-PCR assays, we compared the effect of IPNV on the replication of IHNV and VHSV in tissue culture cells. RT-PCR assays indicated that simultaneous infection of IPNV with VHSV does not affect the replication of the rhabdovirus either in the first or successive passages; the infective titers were similar in single and double infections. In contrast, coinfection of IPNV with IHNV induced a fall in infectivity, with reduced expression of IHNV viral antigens in BF-2 cells from Lepomis macrochirus and a loss of 4.5 log10 units of the infective titer after 3 successive passages. It was possible to stimulate BF-2 cells to produce significant interferon-like activity against IHNV but not against VHSV.

Therapy with insulin glargine (Lantus) in toddlers, children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes

OBJECTIVE

To determine the efficacy and safety of insulin glargine (IG) in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. In a prospective, 6-month study, 80 patients, aged 2-19 years, received IG once daily plus insulin regular or rapid analogue before meals. The data of body mass index, frequency of severe hypoglycaemia, daily mean blood glucose, fasting blood glucose, haemoglobin A1c and total daily insulin dosage before and after institution of glargine therapy were collected.

RESULTS

After 6 months, the average HbA1c level in the entire cohort dropped from 7.63+/-0.81 to 7.14+/-0.70% (p<0.001). Fasting blood glucose decreased from 161+/-37 to 150+/-35 mg/dl (p<0.05) in the total group. Severe hypoglycaemic episodes were reduced from 0.18 events per patient in the 6 months before IG therapy to 0.11 events per patient in the 6 months after IG therapy. The total daily insulin dose was reduced in the entire group from 0.90+/-0.32 to 0.83+/-0.29 u/kg/day (p<0.05). Body mass index (BMI) remained unchanged. In the 14 preschooler children, the HbA1c dropped from 7.54+/-0.60 to 6.96+/-0.57% (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Insulin glargine is an efficacious treatment to improve metabolic control in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. It also improved the metabolic control in preschool-age children, without increasing the number of hypoglycaemic events.

Inhibition of infectious haematopoietic necrosis virus in cell cultures with peptide-conjugated morpholino oligomers

Delivery of phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMO) into fish cells in vitro and tissues in vivo was examined. Uptake was evaluated by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry after treating cultured cells or live rainbow trout with 3' fluorescein-tagged PMO. Arginine-rich peptide conjugated to the 5' end of the PMO markedly enhanced cellular uptake in culture by 8- to 20-fold compared with non-peptide-conjugated PMO as determined by flow cytometry. Enhanced uptake of PMO conjugated to peptide was also observed in tissues of fish treated by immersion. The efficacy of PMO as inhibitors of infectious haematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) replication was determined in vitro. Peptide-conjugated PMOs targeting sequences within the IHNV genomic RNA (negative polarity) or antigenomic RNA (positive polarity) significantly inhibited replication in a dose-dependent and sequence-specific manner. A PMO complementary to sequence near the 5' end of IHNV genomic RNA was the most effective, diminishing titre by 97%, as measured by plaque assay and Western blot. These data demonstrate that replication of a negative-stranded non-segmented RNA virus can be inhibited by antisense compounds that target positive polarity viral RNA, or by a compound that targets negative polarity viral RNA.

Description of transport mechanism during the elimination of copper(II) from wastewaters using supported liquid membranes and Acorga M5640 as carrier

The kinetics of copper facilitated transport through a flat-sheet supported liquid membrane is investigated, using the commercially available oxime Acorga M5640 as ionophore, as a function of hydrodynamic conditions, stripping phase composition, concentration of copper(II), and pH of the source phase and carrier concentration in the membrane phase. The performance of the system is also compared using organic diluents of different nature (aliphatic or aromatic) and against other available oxime extractants (LIX 860, LIX 622, LIX 973N and LIX 84-I). A model is presented that describes the transport mechanism, consisting of diffusion through source side aqueous diffusion layer, a fast interfacial chemical reaction, and diffusion carrier and its metal complex through the organic membrane. The organic membrane diffusional resistance (delta(org)) and aqueous diffusional resistances (delta(aq)) were calculated from the proposed model, and their values were 9.3 x 10(-7) and 46565 s/cm, respectively. It was observed that the copper flux across the membrane tends to reach a plateau at high concentration of copper or low concentration of H+ owing to carrier saturation within the membrane and leads to a diffusion-controlled process. The values of the apparent diffusion coefficient (Dorg(a)) and limiting metal flux (Jlim) were calculated from the limiting conditions and found to be 5.2 x 10(-11) and 1.9 x 10(-9) mmol/cm2 s, respectively. The values of the bulk diffusion coefficient (Db,org) and diffusion coefficient (Dorg) calculated from the model were 4.8 x 10(-10) and 1.3 x 10(-10) cm2/s,respectively. The method had proven its feasibility to recover copper(II) from wastewaters.

[Positron emission tomography in the diagnosis of orbital relapse of choroidal melanoma]

CASE REPORT

A 72-year-old man with a large choroidal melanoma was treated with enucleation. Three years later MRI demonstrated images compatible with recurrent tumor in the orbit. PET studies showed no focal hypermetabolic abnormalities.

DISCUSSION

In patients after enucleation of choroidal melanoma, conventional imaging techniques can fail to establish differentiation between malignant from post-surgery and benign anatomic abnormalities in orbital tissue that can be detected by PET scanning.

Diabetes mellitus tipo 2 en la edad pediátrica

In the past two decades, type 2 diabetes mellitus has increased in children and adolescents, especially within certain ethnic groups. This increase has been parallel to the rising prevalence of obesity. Because of the overlap between some clinical characteristics, the differential diagnosis between type 1 and 2 diabetes is difficult. Of 300 diabetic patients in our diabetes section, only three (1 %) had type 2 diabetes. Two patients were obese adolescents with a positive family history of type 2 diabetes mellitus; the third patient was a prepubertal, overweight girl with no family history of this disorder. The diagnosis was incidental in two patients and one patient presented with ketoacidosis. The differences between the three patients reveal the great clinical variability of this disorder and suggest that various underlying factors are involved in the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes.

Self-assembled particles of an elastin-like polymer as vehicles for controlled drug release

Elastin-like polymers (ELPs) are a new kind of protein-based polymers showing interesting properties in the biomaterial field. This work explored the use of self-assembled poly(VPAVG) micro- and nanoparticles as vehicles for the controlled release of the model drug dexamethasone phosphate (DMP). Poly(VPAVG) has shown to form stable particles with a size below 3 mum as a water or PBS polymer solution was warmed above its transition temperature ( approximately 30 degrees C). Due to the peculiar composition of the monomer, the formation and redissolution of the self-assembled microparticles shows an interesting hysteresis behaviour by which the particles are formed at this temperature but do not redissolve until a strong undercooling of approximately 12-15 degrees C is achieved. Therefore, the particles, once formed, are stable either at room or body temperature. These self-assembled particles are able to encapsulate significant amounts of the model drug when self-assembling was carried out in a co-solution polymer-DMP. The release profiles showed a sustained DMP release for about 30 days. Being the potential of this new polymeric carrier high, further research is being conducted to functionalise the poly(VPAVG) base as a way to induce a stronger polymer-drug binding and, accordingly, a more sustained release.

3D electron microscopy of the interaction of kinesin with tubulin

We have studied the structure of microtubules decorated with kinesin motor domains in different nucleotide states by 3D electron microscopy. Having docked the atomic coordinates of both dimeric ADP.kinesin and tubulin heterodimer into a map of kinesin dimers bound to microtubules in the presence of ADP, we try to predict which regions of the proteins interact in the weakly binding state. When either the presence of 5'-adenylyimidodiphosphate (AMP-PNP) or an absence of nucleotides puts motor domains into a strongly-bound state, the 3D maps show changes in the motor domains which modify their interaction with beta-tubulin. The maps also show differences in beta-tubulin conformation compared with undecorated microtubules or those decorated with weakly-bound motors. Strongly-bound ncd appears to produce an identical change.

GSK-3 inhibitors: discoveries and developments

Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3) in the 21(st) century emerged as one of the most attractive therapeutic target for the development of selective inhibitors as new promising drugs for unmet pathologies including Alzheimer's disease, stroke, bipolar disorders, chronic inflammatory processes, cancer and diabetes type II. The full potential of GSK-3 inhibitors is just starting to be realized but the number of candidates in development provided by both academic centres and pharmaceutical companies have increased exponentially in the last two years. This review discloses recent discoveries and developments on peptides and small molecules targeting GSK-3. Focusing attention on this exciting target could thus reap considerable clinical and economic rewards.

Virulence of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus and Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus coinfection in rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss) and nucleotide sequence analysis of the IHNV glycoprotein gene

The outcomes of a coinfection of rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss) with Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) strain S46 and Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) strain S46 was determined after waterborne infection. Trout infected with the IHNV/IPNV.S46 sample, (a mixed sample containing equal infectious titers of the viruses) showed 50% less mortality than fish infected with either of the reference viruses alone. Forty-five days after the coinfection, IPNV antigens were detected by flow cytometry in 49 to 63% of the leukocytes from the surviving trout; whereas, only 9-15.6% of the leukocytes expressed IHNV viral antigens. IPNV was easily detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), whereas, for IHNV, a second step of amplification of a 753 bp fragment corresponding to the internal sequences of the IHNV G gene was necessary to optimize viral detection. The sequence of the IHNV gene involved in virulence, the glycoprotein (G) gene, was determined for the IHNV.S46 and compared with other sequences available in the GenBank. Changes found were not located in the antigenic domains of the glycoprotein and were considered not significant.