Measles is Back - Considerations for laboratory diagnosis

Measles is a highly contagious viral illness that continues to cause significant mortality among young children worldwide despite the availability of a safe and effective vaccine. During the first half of 2019, over 182 countries reported more than 300,000 measles cases; greater than double the number from the same period in 2018. Timely recognition and laboratory confirmation of infected individuals as well as appropriate infection prevention measures are crucial to avert further transmission. This review highlights the importance of early recognition of the signs and symptoms of measles and provides details on the laboratory methods commonly employed to confirm cases, investigate outbreaks and characterize the virus. It's critical that clinicians, laboratorians and public health administrations work together to rapidly identify, confirm and contain the spread of measles globally.

Hydrogen positions in single nanocrystals revealed by electron diffraction

The localization of hydrogen atoms is an essential part of crystal structure analysis, but it is difficult because of their small scattering power. We report the direct localization of hydrogen atoms in nanocrystalline materials, achieved using the recently developed approach of dynamical refinement of precession electron diffraction tomography data. We used this method to locate hydrogen atoms in both an organic (paracetamol) and an inorganic (framework cobalt aluminophosphate) material. The results demonstrate that the technique can reliably reveal fine structural details, including the positions of hydrogen atoms in single crystals with micro- to nanosized dimensions.

Preconscious Prediction of a Driver's Decision Using Intracranial Recordings

While driving, we make numerous conscious decisions such as route and turn direction selection. Although drivers are held responsible, the neural processes that govern such decisions are not clear. We recorded intracranial EEG signals from six patients engaged in a computer-based driving simulator. Patients decided which way to turn (left/right) and subsequently reported the time of the decision. We show that power modulations of gamma band oscillations (30–100 Hz) preceding the reported time of decision (up to 5.5 sec) allow prediction of decision content with high accuracy (up to 82.4%) on a trial-by-trial basis, irrespective of subsequent motor output. Moreover, these modulations exhibited a spatiotemporal gradient, differentiating left/right decisions earliest in premotor cortices and later in more anterior and lateral regions. Our results suggest a preconscious role for the premotor cortices in early stages of decision-making, which permits foreseeing and perhaps modifying the content of real-life human choices before they are consciously made.

Transfer of Inner Cell Mass Cells Derived from Bovine Nuclear Transfer Embryos into the Trophoblast of BovineIn Vitro–Produced Embryos

Presence of placental tissues from more normal noncloned embryos could reduce the pregnancy failure of somatic cloning in cattle. In this study, inner cell mass (ICM) cells of in vitro-produced (IVP) embryos was replaced with those of nuclear transfer (NT) embryos to reconstruct bovine blastocysts with ICM and trophoblast cells from NT and IVP embryos, respectively. A total of 65 of these reconstructed embryos were nonsurgically transferred to 20 recipient beef females. Of those, two females were diagnosed pregnant by ultrasonography on day 30 of gestation. One pregnancy was lost at 60-90 days of gestation, and the other recipient cow remained pregnant at day 240 of gestation; however, this female died on day 252 of gestation. Gross pathology of the internal organs of the recipient female, a large fetus, and a large placental tissue mass suggested the massive size of the fetus and placental tissue were likely involved in terminating the life of the recipient female. Biopsy samples were harvested from the skin of the dead recipient cow, the fetus and from cotyledonary tissue. Microsatellite DNA analysis of these samples revealed that the genotype of the fetus was the same as that of the NT donor cells and different from that of the recipient cow. Correspondingly, neither the fetus nor recipient cow had the same genotype with that of the fetal cotyledonary tissue. These results present the first known documented case of a bovine somatic NT pregnancy with nonclone placental tissues after transfer of a blastocyst reconstructed by a microsurgical method to exchange of ICM cells and trophoblast tissue between NT and IVP blastocysts.

Characterization of a vaccinia virus strain used to produce smallpox vaccine in Argentina between 1937 and 1970

Due to recent political developments, smallpox has re-emerged as a serious threat. We recovered and characterized an old batch of smallpox vaccine, Malbrán strain, produced between 1945 and 1949. The virus was re-isolated and characterized by sequence analysis and biological activity in animals. Phylogenetic analysis using the hemagglutinin and A45R genes showed that the Malbrán strain was closely related to the Lister strain of vaccinia virus. In animals, the Malbrán strain exhibited low pathogenicity, confirming historical records. Mice immunized with the Malbrán strain survived a lethal challenge with cowpox virus. Thus, this strain of vaccinia virus remains a viable candidate as a smallpox vaccine.

Transvaginal ultrasound-guided oocyte aspiration for production of embryos <i>in vitro</i>

Abstract. reproductive potential in genetically valuable animals (BEAL et al., 1992). Now that repeatable oocyte retrieval methods are being fine-tuned, it is likely these procedures will become routinely used to obtain oocytes for further gamete and embryo research and also by seedstock producers for in vitro embryo production from farm animals in the commercial sector. The use of transvaginal ultrasound-guided oocyte aspiration and IVF procedure does offer an alternative to cattle producers who have genetically valuable cows that for some reason are unable to produce viable embryos through standard embryo collection procedures. This technology can be used on oocytes harvested from older ovulating or nonovulating cows, females with physical injuries (e.g., fractured leg) and problem cows having an abnormal cervix. Good success has been reported using IVF procedures on oocytes obtained from supplemental follicles of cows with cystic ovarian disease. With IVF the potential exists for more embryos to be produced in a shorter period of time, since the procedure can be repeated on the same cow 3 to 4 times or more a month. At this station, we are harvesting oocytes from early postpartum (< 40 days) beef and dairy cattle, before the female begins cyclic activity. The approach allows the opportunity to produce one or more extra calves from the cow before she is mated for a natural pregnancy. Currently, transvaginal ultrasound-guided oocyte aspiration is now being used to harvest valuable oocytes from minor farm animal breeds, from domestic females representing rare bloodlines, clinically infertile females and reproductively senescent cows. Research continues to find applications for this technology, including harvesting oocytes from young prepubertal heifers and early postpartum beef cows for in vitro embryo production. The use of ultrasound-guided oocyte aspiration should not be overlooked to obtain oocytes for in vitro embryo production and to aid in germplasm preservation of endangered exotic species.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of myoseverin derivatives: microtubule assembly inhibitors

Myoseverin, a trisubstituted purine, inhibits microtubule assembly in vitro, interferes with normal mitotic spindle assembly, and arrests the cell cycle in mitosis in U937 cells. We synthesized a variety of myoseverin derivatives and screened them for inhibition of spindle assembly in Xenopus egg extracts and for microtubule disassembly in vitro. Selected compounds were tested against 60 cancer cell lines at the National Cancer Institute as possible anticancer drug candidates.

Myoseverin, a microtubule-binding molecule with novel cellular effects

A new microtubule-binding molecule, myoseverin, was identified from a library of 2,6,9-trisubstituted purines in a morphological differentiation screen. Myoseverin induces the reversible fission of multinucleated myotubes into mononucleated fragments. Myotube fission promotes DNA synthesis and cell proliferation after removal of the compound and transfer of the cells to fresh growth medium. Transcriptional profiling and biochemical analysis indicate that myoseverin alone does not reverse the biochemical differentiation process. Instead, myoseverin affects the expression of a variety of growth factor, immunomodulatory, extracellular matrix-remodeling, and stress response genes, consistent with the activation of pathways involved in wound healing and tissue regeneration.

Preprocessed multiobject joint transform correlator

The performance of a joint transform correlator (JTC) in a multiobject environment is improved by the use of a Roberts operator to preprocess the input joint image. This technique yields significantly better results than the classical JTC, and it also avoids the false alarms and reduces the overall computation overhead required in a binary JTC.

Materno-fetal transmission of pregnancy malaria: an immunoparasitological study on 202 parturients in Maputo

A total of 202 delivering mothers and their newborns were studied with the intention to follow the materno-fetal transmission of malaria. Malaria infection was encountered in 35 cases (17.3%) in which Plasmodium falciparum predominated in peripheral blood while P. malariae predominated on the placental surface. In cord blood P. falciparum was encountered in 1.5% of the cases. There was slightly more maternal infection in rural (23%) than in suburban areas (19%). Less malaria infection was encountered in primiparas than in multiparas and there was similar antibody response in both mothers and their newborns. Anaemia was encountered in 70% of the mothers and in 93% of the newborns. There was no significant correlation between low birthweight of the newborn and malaria parasitaemia in the mother.

Angiostrongylus cantonensis: role of eosinophils in the neurotoxic syndrome (Gordon-like phenomenon)

The role of eosinophils in the pathophysiology of Angiostrongylus cantonensis infections was investigated in nonpermissive (guinea pig) and permissive (rat) hosts. Neurological symptoms similar to the Gordon phenomenon (ataxia, tremor, paralysis) together with a loss of Purkinje cells in the cerebellum were observed after intracraneal injection of human eosinophil extracts or after infection with A. cantonensis, only in guinea pigs and not in rats. Blood eosinophilia as well as eosinophil numbers present in the cerebellum and in the cerebrospinal fluid were higher in guinea pigs than in rats, at all times after infection with A. cantonensis. Increased levels of cytotoxicity toward L3 larvae in vitro were obtained in the presence of guinea pig eosinophils and IgE antibodies, rather than with the corresponding rat effector system. The detection of one eosinophil granule component, the eosinophil peroxidase, in the cerebrospinal fluid from infected guinea pigs but not from rats suggested that in nonpermissive hosts, neurological disorders, similar to the previously described Gordon phenomenon, might be due to eosinophil neurotoxins released after interaction of eosinophils with the parasites.

Brugia malayi microfilariae share epitopes with Aedes aegypti

Shared antigens between Brugia malayi and Aedes aegypti were studied. The experiments carried out with sera from infected Mastomys natalensis indicated that an immunological response against A. aegypti antigens (Mr 185, 35, 32 kDa) appeared often when animals became microfilaraemic and increased progressively in intensity during the time-course of infection. Sera of animals immunized with B. malayi reacted with the crude extract of mosquitoes and conversely, antibodies from animals immunized with A. aegypti reacted with the surface of B. malayi microfilariae. The implications of these findings of the natural history of B. malayi infection are discussed.