208 research outputs found

    Comparative analysis of the L, M, and S RNA segments of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus isolates from southern Africa

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    Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) is a member of the Bunyaviridae family with a tripartite, negative sense RNA genome. This study used predictive software to analyse the L (large), M (medium), and S (small) segments of 14 southern African CCHFV isolates. The OTU-like cysteine protease domain and the RdRp domain of the L segment are highly conserved among southern African CCHFV isolates. The M segment encodes the structural glycoproteins, GN and GC, and the non-structural glycoproteins which are post-translationally cleaved at highly conserved furin and subtilase SKI-1 cleavage sites. All of the sites previously identified were shown to be conserved among southern African CCHFV isolates. The heavily O-glycosylated N-terminal variable mucin-like domain of the M segment shows the highest sequence variability of the CCHFV proteins. Five transmembrane domains are predicted in the M segment polyprotein resulting in three regions internal to and three regions external to the membrane across the GN, NSM and GC glycoproteins. The corroboration of conserved genome domains and sequence identity among geographically diverse isolates may assist in the identification of protein function and pathogenic mechanisms, as well as the identification of potential targets for antiviral therapy and vaccine design. As detailed functional studies are lacking for many of the CCHFV proteins, identification of functional domains by prediction of protein structure, and identification of amino acid level similarity to functionally characterised proteins of related viruses or viruses with similar pathogenic mechanisms are a necessary step for selection of areas for further study.National Health Laboratory Service Research Trust, the Polio Research Foundation, South Africa and University of the Free State Cluster funding.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1096-90712016-05-31hb201

    The Effects of Sugars Intake and Frequency of Ingestion on Dental Caries Increment in a Three-year Longitudinal Study

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    A three-year longitudinal study was carried out with a group of children, initially aged 11-15, residing in non-fluoridated rural communities in south-central Michigan. This report analyzes the relation between caries increment and consumption of sugars from all sources to see if accepted relationships have changed with the caries decline in the United States. There were 499 children who provided three or more 24-hour dietary recall interviews, and who received dental examinations at baseline and after three years. Caries increment averaged 2.91 DMFS over the three years, with 81 % of new lesions on pit-and-fissure surfaces. Consumption of sugars from all sources averaged 156 g per day for males and 127 g per day for females, an average of 52 kg per person per year. Sugars constituted one-quarter of total caloric intake for both boys and girls, and the average number of eating occasions per day was 4.3. Children who consumed a higher proportion of their total energy intake as sugars had a higher increment of approximal caries, though there was little relation to pit-and-fissure caries. The average number of daily eating occasions was not related to caries increment, nor was the average number of sugary snacks (defined as foods with 15% or more of sugars) consumed between meals, but the average consumption of between-meal sugars was related to the approximal caries increment. When children were categorized by high caries increment compared with no caries increment, a tendency toward more frequent snacks was seen in the high-caries children. In an age of generally declining caries, it was concluded that higher average daily consumption of sugars, and higher between-meal consumption of sugars, was still a risk factor for children susceptible to approximal caries. Overall frequency of eating and frequency of ingestion of sugary foods between meals, however, were both poorly related to approximal caries increment. Pit-and-fissure caries could not be related to any aspect of sugars consumption.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67206/2/10.1177_00220345880670111201.pd

    Measurement of the Z boson differential cross section in transverse momentum and rapidity in proton-proton collisions at 8 TeV

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    We present a measurement of the Z boson differential cross section in rapidity and transverse momentum using a data sample of pp collision events at a centre-of-mass energy s=8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb-1. The Z boson is identified via its decay to a pair of muons. The measurement provides a precision test of quantum chromodynamics over a large region of phase space. In addition, due to the small experimental uncertainties in the measurement the data has the potential to constrain the gluon parton distribution function in the kinematic regime important for Higgs boson production via gluon fusion. The results agree with the next-to-next-to-leading-order predictions computed with the fewz program. The results are also compared to the commonly used leading-order MadGraph and next-to-leading-order powheg generators. © 2015 CERN for the benefit of the CMS Collaboration

    Identification techniques for highly boosted W bosons that decay into hadrons

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    Search for a low-mass pseudoscalar Higgs boson produced in association with a bb⁻ pair in pp collisions at √s=8 TeV

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    A search is reported for a light pseudoscalar Higgs boson decaying to a pair of tau leptons, produced in association with a b (b) over bar pair, in the context of two-Higgs-doublet models. The results are based on pp collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb(-1). Pseudoscalar boson masses between 25 and 80 GeV are probed. No evidence for a pseudoscalar boson is found and upper limits are set on the product of cross section and branching fraction to tau pairs between 7 and 39 pb at the 95% confidence level. This excludes pseudoscalar A bosons with masses between 25 and 80 GeV, with SM-like Higgs boson negative couplings to down-type fermions, produced in association with bb pairs, in Type II, two-Higgs-doublet models. (C) 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommonnorg/licensesiby/4.01)

    Forward-backward asymmetry of Drell-Yan lepton pairs in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

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    Search for single production of scalar leptoquarks in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV

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    Correction DOI:10.1103/PhysRevD.95.039906Peer reviewe

    Search for pair production of third-generation scalar leptoquarks and top squarks in proton–proton collisions at

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    Search for new phenomena in monophoton final states in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV

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