Maintaining the healthy body: Blood management and hepatitis C prevention among men who inject performance and image-enhancing drugs

Australia's ambitious aim to 'eliminate' hepatitis C as a public health concern by 2030 requires researchers, policy makers and health practitioners to engage with populations rarely identified as a priority. Men who inject performance and image-enhancing drugs (PIEDs) are one such population, yet research suggests they have low rates of knowledge about hepatitis C. Although rates of needle-sharing in this group are thought to be low, other risks of blood-to-blood contact exist due to the use of large-gauge needles, intramuscular injecting, hard-to-reach injection sites, repeated injecting and peer-to-peer injecting. How should health initiatives engage people who might not customarily consider themselves vulnerable to hepatitis C? Drawing on the work of body theorist Margrit Shildrick, this article considers how men who inject PIEDs understand their bodies, with a particular focus on injecting practices, blood awareness and infection control, in order to inform hepatitis C prevention efforts. In our analysis, we draw on qualitative interviews with 60 men who inject PIEDs, which we conducted for an Australian Research Council-funded project focused on better understanding PIED injecting to improve health and minimise hepatitis C transmission. The interviews suggest that men who inject PIEDs closely monitor potential external infection risks, such as dirt and bacteria that might intrude upon the 'purity and security' of the body. However, less attention appears to be paid to what might be transferred out of the body and potentially to others, such as blood. Notions of trust and cleanliness, and normative perceptions of intravenous drug use, also shaped injecting practices and cursory attention to blood management. While environmental transmission poses a smaller transmission risk than needle-sharing, educating PIED consumers about it is nevertheless warranted. Focusing targeted health promotion materials on environmental blood as a potential route of hepatitis C transmission may help engage this population in prevention, and encourage more frequent hepatitis C testing.

Light regulation of coccolithophore host-virus interactions

Viruses that infect photoautotrophs have a fundamental relationship with light, given the need for host resources. We investigated the role of light on Coccolithovirus (EhV) infection of the globally distributed coccolithophore, Emiliania huxleyi. Light was required for EhV adsorption, and viral production was highest when host cultures were maintained in continuous light or at irradiance levels of 150-300 μmol m^-2  s^-1 . During the early stages of infection, photosynthetic electron transport remained high, while RuBisCO expression decreased concomitant with an induction of the pentose phosphate pathway, the primary source of de novo nucleotides. A mathematical model developed and fitted to the laboratory data supported the hypothesis that EhV replication was controlled by a trade-off between host nucleotide recycling and de novo synthesis, and that photoperiod and photon flux could toggle this switch. Laboratory results supported field observations that light was the most robust driver of EhV replication within E. huxleyi populations collected across a 2000 nautical mile transect in the North Atlantic. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that light can drive host-virus interactions through a mechanistic interplay between host metabolic processes, which serve to structure infection and phytoplankton mortality in the upper ocean.

Understanding the experiences and needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans Australians living with dementia, and their partners

AIM

To outline the experiences and needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) Australians living with dementia - and their partners.

METHODS

In-depth interviews were conducted with LGBT people, their partners and service providers.

RESULTS

LGBT people living with dementia experience unique challenges including the failure of some families of origin and service providers to understand and value their sexual orientation or gender identity. The fear of discrimination by service providers results in greater reliance on intimate partners for care and compounds social isolation.

CONCLUSIONS

The unique experiences of LGBT people with dementia are not well understood. There is a need to recognise historical experiences, including familial relationships, and provide advocacy to ensure sexual and gender rights are not violated. There is also a need to ensure that the experiences and perspectives of LGBT people living with dementia inform the development of services.

It is more than sex and clothes: Culturally safe services for older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people

This paper outlines the development of culturally safe services for older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people. It draws on a framework for cultural safety, developed in New Zealand which incorporates an understanding of how history, culture and power imbalances influence the relationship between service providers and Maori people. This has been adapted to the needs of older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex Australians.

Transcriptional analysis of the virion-sense genes of the geminivirus beet curly top virus

The genome of the geminivirus beet curly top virus (BCTV) consists of a single circular DNA containing overlapping open reading frames (ORFs) located on both the virion-sense and complementary-sense DNA strands. To investigate the expression of these ORFs, RNA extracted from infected Nicotiana benthamiana and Beta vulgaris has been examined for the presence of viral transcripts. An abundant 1.1-kb virion-sense polyadenylated RNA and four complementary-sense polyadenylated RNAs of 1.7, 1.5, 1.3, and 0.7 kb have been identified by northern blot hybridization, confirming the bidirectional transcription strategy implied by the arrangement of ORFs. We previously demonstrated that two overlapping virion-sense ORFs are involved in coat protein synthesis (ORF V1) and viral single-stranded DNA accumulation (ORF V2). Mutants of a third virion-sense ORF (ORF V3), located upstream and overlapping ORFs V1 and V2, retain the ability to replicate efficiently in N. benthamiana leaf discs but produce an asymptomatic infection in N. benthamiana and B. vulgaris at low frequency, associated with reduced levels of viral DNA compared to wild-type infection. Our data support the recent suggestion that ORF V3 participates in virus movement. The 1.1 kb virion-sense RNA comprises a population of overlapping transcripts with 5' termini suitably positioned for the expression of ORFs V1, V2, and V3. The overlapping arrangement of the transcripts and juxtaposition of putative regulatory elements could provide a means for the temporal control of virion-sense gene expression.

Mutational analysis of the monopartite geminivirus beet curly top virus

Mutants of the monopartite geminivirus beet curly top virus have been screened for infectivity and symptom development in Nicotiana benthamiana and Beta vulgaris, for replication competence in N. benthamiana leaf discs, and for transmission by the leafhopper Circulifer tenellus. Disruption of open reading frame (ORF) V2 by the introduction of a termination codon resulted in symptomless infection of N. benthamiana associated with low levels of virus and reduced single-stranded (ss) DNA and prevented systemic infection of B. vulgaris. Reduced levels of ssDNA were produced by the mutant in N. benthamiana leaf discs, suggesting that V2 affects the synthesis or accumulation of this viral DNA form. Mutants in which ORF C2 had been truncated by the introduction of termination codons or by frame-shifting remained highly infectious and induced severe symptoms in both N. benthamiana and B. vulgaris. Similarly, a mutant containing a termination codon within ORF C3 was highly infectious and induced severe symptoms in N. benthamiana although infectivity in B. vulgaris was greatly reduced, symptoms were extremely mild, and virus levels were low. A synergistic effect of a double mutation in ORFs C2 and C3, manifested by the inability of mutants to systemically infect N. benthamiana and the production of reduced amounts of ssDNA in N. benthamiana leaf discs, suggests that both ORFs are functional in this host. A mutant containing a termination codon within the 5' terminus of ORF C4 produced severe symptoms in both N. benthamiana and B. vulgaris resembling those induced by wild-type virus. Comparison with the phenotypes of previously characterized ORF C4 mutants suggests that a conserved core sequence of this ORF is an important symptom determinant. ORF C2, C3, and C4 mutants produced virus particles and were transmitted by C. tenellus, eliminating agroinoculation as a contributory factor to the mutant phenotypes. Our results are compared with those derived from mutagenesis studies on related bipartite geminiviruses.

A symptom variant of beet curly top geminivirus produced by mutation of open reading frame C4

Two beet curly top virus (BCTV) mutants have been constructed in vitro that contain G-to-T transversions either at nucleotide 2682 or at nucleotide 2802 within the overlapping open reading frames (ORFs) C1 and C4. The mutations introduce termination codons in ORF C4 without affecting the amino acids encoded by ORF C1. When agroinoculated into Nicotiana benthamiana the mutants caused stunting and yellowing of the plant and downward leaf curl but not the vein swelling and upward leaf curl symptoms that are characteristic of wild-type BCTV infection in this host. Levels of viral single- and double-stranded DNA forms were similar in mutant and wild-type infections. Symptoms induced by one such mutant in Nicotiana clevelandii and Datura stramonium were less severe than those in wild-type infections and were again qualitatively distinct. The mutants caused symptomless infections in Beta vulgaris, contrasting with stunting, severe leaf curl, and vein swelling symptoms associated with wild-type infection of this host. The levels of mutant DNA in newly expanding asymptomatic leaves frequently reached those of wild-type virus in leaves showing severe symptoms. The results suggest that ORF C4 encodes a protein that is a major determinant of pathogenesis that might affect the hyperplastic response of the host to BCTV infection.