Detection of Usutu virus infection in wild birds in the United Kingdom, 2020

In August 2020, as part of a long-term disease surveillance programme, Usutu virus was detected in five Eurasian blackbirds (Turdus merula) and one house sparrow (Passer domesticus) from Greater London, England. This was initially detected by reverse transcription-PCR and was confirmed by virus isolation and by immunohistochemical detection of flavivirus in tissues. Phylogenetic analysis identified Usutu virus African 3.2 lineage, which is prevalent in the Netherlands and Belgium, suggesting a potential incursion from mainland Europe

Identification of novel subgroup a variants with enhanced receptor binding and replicative capacity in primary isolates of anaemogenic strains of feline leukaemia virus

<b>BACKGROUND:</b> The development of anaemia in feline leukaemia virus (FeLV)-infected cats is associated with the emergence of a novel viral subgroup, FeLV-C. FeLV-C arises from the subgroup that is transmitted, FeLV-A, through alterations in the amino acid sequence of the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the envelope glycoprotein that result in a shift in the receptor usage and the cell tropism of the virus. The factors that influence the transition from subgroup A to subgroup C remain unclear, one possibility is that a selective pressure in the host drives the acquisition of mutations in the RBD, creating A/C intermediates with enhanced abilities to interact with the FeLV-C receptor, FLVCR. In order to understand further the emergence of FeLV-C in the infected cat, we examined primary isolates of FeLV-C for evidence of FeLV-A variants that bore mutations consistent with a gradual evolution from FeLV-A to FeLV-C.<p></p> <b>RESULTS:</b> Within each isolate of FeLV-C, we identified variants that were ostensibly subgroup A by nucleic acid sequence comparisons, but which bore mutations in the RBD. One such mutation, N91D, was present in multiple isolates and when engineered into a molecular clone of the prototypic FeLV-A (Glasgow-1), enhanced replication was noted in feline cells. Expression of the N91D Env on murine leukaemia virus (MLV) pseudotypes enhanced viral entry mediated by the FeLV-A receptor THTR1 while soluble FeLV-A Env bearing the N91D mutation bound more efficiently to mouse or guinea pig cells bearing the FeLV-A and -C receptors. Long-term in vitro culture of variants bearing the N91D substitution in the presence of anti-FeLV gp70 antibodies did not result in the emergence of FeLV-C variants, suggesting that additional selective pressures in the infected cat may drive the subsequent evolution from subgroup A to subgroup C.<p></p> <b>CONCLUSIONS:</b> Our data support a model in which variants of FeLV-A, bearing subtle differences in the RBD of Env, may be predisposed towards enhanced replication in vivo and subsequent conversion to FeLV-C. The selection pressures in vivo that drive the emergence of FeLV-C in a proportion of infected cats remain to be established

Detecting sulphate aerosol geoengineering with different methods

Sulphate aerosol injection has been widely discussed as a possible way to engineer future climate. Monitoring it would require detecting its effects amidst internal variability and in the presence of other external forcings. We investigate how the use of different detection methods and filtering techniques affects the detectability of sulphate aerosol geoengineering in annual-mean global-mean near-surface air temperature. This is done by assuming a future scenario that injects 5 Tg yr−1 of sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere and cross-comparing simulations from 5 climate models. 64% of the studied comparisons would require 25 years or more for detection when no filter and the multi-variate method that has been extensively used for attributing climate change are used, while 66% of the same comparisons would require fewer than 10 years for detection using a trend-based filter. This highlights the high sensitivity of sulphate aerosol geoengineering detectability to the choice of filter. With the same trend-based filter but a non-stationary method, 80% of the comparisons would require fewer than 10 years for detection. This does not imply sulphate aerosol geoengineering should be deployed, but suggests that both detection methods could be used for monitoring geoengineering in global, annual mean temperature should it be needed

Spatially explicit poisoning risk affects survival rates of an obligate scavenger

Obligate scavengers such as vultures provide critical ecosystem services and their populations have undergone severe declines in Asia and Africa. Intentional poisoning is a major threat to vultures in Africa, yet the impact on vulture populations of where poisoned carcasses are positioned is not known. We used re-sightings of 183 African white-backed vultures captured and tagged in two regions of South Africa, some 200 km apart, to estimate spatial differences in relative survival rates across life stages. Juvenile survival rates were similar in the two regions, whilst subadult and adult survival rates differed significantly. Using agent-based modelling, we show that this pattern of relative survival rates is consistent between regions that differ in intensity of poisoning, despite the proximity of the two regions. This may have important consequences for vulture conservation and the targeting of conservation efforts, particularly with regard to the efficacy of “vulture safe zones” around vulture breeding populations

Temporal profile of body temperature in acute ischemic stroke: relation to stroke severity and outcome

BACKGROUND: Pyrexia after stroke (temperature ≥37.5°C) is associated with poor prognosis, but information on timing of body temperature changes and relationship to stroke severity and subtypes varies. METHODS: We recruited patients with acute ischemic stroke, measured stroke severity, stroke subtype and recorded four-hourly tympanic (body) temperature readings from admission to 120 hours after stroke. We sought causes of pyrexia and measured functional outcome at 90 days. We systematically summarised all relevant previous studies. RESULTS: Amongst 44 patients (21 males, mean age 72 years SD 11) with median National Institute of Health Stroke Score (NIHSS) 7 (range 0–28), 14 had total anterior circulation strokes (TACS). On admission all patients, both TACS and non-TACS, were normothermic (median 36.3°C vs 36.5°C, p=0.382 respectively) at median 4 hours (interquartile range, IQR, 2–8) after stroke; admission temperature and NIHSS were not associated (r(2)=0.0, p=0.353). Peak temperature, occurring at 35.5 (IQR 19.0 to 53.8) hours after stroke, was higher in TACS (37.7°C) than non-TACS (37.1°C, p<0.001) and was associated with admission NIHSS (r(2)=0.20, p=0.002). Poor outcome (modified Rankin Scale ≥3) at 90 days was associated with higher admission (36.6°C vs. 36.2°C p=0.031) and peak (37.4°C vs. 37.0°C, p=0.016) temperatures. Sixteen (36%) patients became pyrexial, in seven (44%) of whom we found no cause other than the stroke. CONCLUSIONS: Normothermia is usual within the first 4 hours of stroke. Peak temperature occurs at 1.5 to 2 days after stroke, and is related to stroke severity/subtype and more closely associated with poor outcome than admission temperature. Temperature-outcome associations after stroke are complex, but normothermia on admission should not preclude randomisation of patients into trials of therapeutic hypothermia

A retrospective observational study of the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with the risk of developing Colorectal cancer and survival

Background: There is variability in clinical outcome for patients with apparently the same stage colorectal cancer (CRC). Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) mapping to chromosomes 1q41, 3q26.2, 6p21, 8q23.3, 8q24.21, 10p14, 11q13, 11q23.1, 12q13.13, 14q22, 14q22.2, 15q13.3, 16q22.1, 18q21.1, 19q13.11, 20p12, 20p12.3, 20q13.33 and Xp22 have robustly been shown to be associated with the risk of developing CRC. Since germline variation can also influence patient outcome the relationship between these SNPs and patient survivorship from CRC was examined. Methods: All enrolled into the National Study of Colorectal Cancer Genetics (NSCCG) were genotyped for 1q41, 3q26.2, 6p21, 8q23.3, 8q24.21, 10p14, 11q13, 11q23.1, 12q13.13, 14q22, 14q22.2, 15q13.3, 16q22.1, 18q21.1, 19q13.11, 20p12, 20p12.3, 20q13.33 and xp22 SNPs. Linking this information to the National Cancer Data Repository allowed patient genotype to be related to survival. Results: The linked dataset consisted of 4,327 individuals. 14q22.22 genotype defined by the SNP rs4444235 showed a significant association with overall survival. Specifically, the C allele was associated with poorer observed survival (per allele hazard ratio 1.13, 95% confidence interval 1.05-1.22, P = 0.0015). Conclusion: The CRC susceptibility SNP rs4444235 also appears to exert an influence in modulating patient survival and warrants further evaluation as a potential prognostic marker

Analyzing GPCR-Ligand Interactions with the Fragment Molecular Orbital (FMO) Method

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) have enormous physiological and biomedical importance, and therefore it is not surprising that they are the targets of many prescribed drugs. Further progress in GPCR drug discovery is highly dependent on the availability of protein structural information. However, the ability of X-ray crystallography to guide the drug discovery process for GPCR targets is limited by the availability of accurate tools to explore receptor-ligand interactions. Visual inspection and molecular mechanics approaches cannot explain the full complexity of molecular interactions. Quantum mechanics (QM) approaches are often too computationally expensive to be of practical use in time-sensitive situations, but the fragment molecular orbital (FMO) method offers an excellent solution that combines accuracy, speed, and the ability to reveal key interactions that would otherwise be hard to detect. Integration of GPCR crystallography or homology modelling with FMO reveals atomistic details of the individual contributions of each residue and water molecule toward ligand binding, including an analysis of their chemical nature. Such information is essential for an efficient structure-based drug design (SBDD) process. In this chapter, we describe how to use FMO in the characterization of GPCR-ligand interactions

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente