Studies of the Suitability of Fowlpox as a Decontamination and Thermal Stability Simulant for Variola Major

Variola major, the causative agent of smallpox, has been eradicated from nature. However, stocks still exist; thus, there is a need for relevant decontamination studies, preferably with nonpathogenic simulants. Previous studies have shown a similarity in response of vaccinia virus and variola major to various decontaminants and thermal inactivation. This study compared vaccinia and fowlpox viruses under similar conditions, using disinfectants and temperatures for which variola major data already existed. Most disinfectants showed similar efficacy against vaccinia and fowlpox, suggesting the utility of fowlpox as a decontamination simulant. Inactivation kinetics studies showed that fowlpox behaved similarly to variola major when treated with 0.1% iodine and 5.7% polyethyleneglycol nonylphenyl ether, 0.025% sodium hypochlorite, 0.05% sodium hypochlorite, and 0.1% cetyltrimethylammonium chloride and 0.05% benzalkonium chloride, but differed in its response to 0.05% iodine and 0.3% polyethyleneglycol nonylphenyl ether and 40% ethanol. Thermal inactivation studies demonstrated that fowlpox is a suitable thermal simulant for variola major between 40°C and 55°C

Survival of Viral Biowarfare Agents in Disinfected Waters

Protecting civilian and military water supplies has received more attention since the United States began its war on terror in 2001. Both chlorine and bromine are used by branches of the U.S. military for disinfecting water supplies; however, limited data exists as to the effectiveness of these additives when used against viral biowarfare agents. The present study sought to evaluate the survival of selected viral biothreat agents in disinfected water. Disinfected water samples were spiked with vaccinia virus strain WR and Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) virus strain TC-83 each separately to a final concentration of approximately 1 × 106 PFU/mL, and survival was assessed by plaque assay. Both viruses were inactivated by 1 mg/L free available chlorine (FAC) and 2mg/L total bromine within one hour. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that both chlorine and bromine are effective disinfectants against vaccinia virus and VEE strain TC-83 at the concentrations tested

Transitioning HIV-infected adolescents to adult care at 14 clinics across the United States: Using adolescent and adult providers’ insights to create multi-level solutions to address transition barriers

HIV-infected adolescents have disproportionately low rates of care retention and viral suppression. Approximately half disengage from care while transitioning to adult clinics, in part due to fragmented care systems and lack of streamlined protocols. We conducted 58 qualitative interviews with social service and health care providers across 14 Adolescent Trials Network clinics (n=28) and 20 adult clinics that receive transitioning adolescents (n=30) from August 2015 – June 2016. We used the constant comparative approach to examine processes, barriers, and facilitators of adult care transition. Transition barriers coalesced around three levels. Structural: insurance eligibility, transportation, and HIV-related stigma; Clinical: inter-clinic communication, differences in care cultures, and resource/personnel limitations; and Individual: adolescents’ transition readiness and developmental capacity. Staff-initiated solutions (e.g., grant-funded transportation) were often unsustainable and applied individual-level solutions to structural-level barriers. Comprehensive initiatives, which develop collaborative policies and protocols that support providers’ ability to match the solution and barrier level (i.e., structural-to-structural), are sorely needed. These initiatives should also support local systematic planning to facilitate inter-clinic structures and communication. Such approaches will help HIV-infected adolescents transition to adult care and improve long-term health outcomes

Design and Characterisation of a Randomized Food Intervention That Mimics Exposure to a Typical UK Diet to Provide Urine Samples for Identification and Validation of Metabolite Biomarkers of Food Intake

Poor dietary choices are major risk factors for obesity and non-communicable diseases, which places an increasing burden on healthcare systems worldwide. To monitor the effectiveness of healthy eating guidelines and strategies, there is a need for objective measures of dietary intake in community settings. Metabolites derived from specific foods present in urine samples can provide objective biomarkers of food intake (BFIs). Whilst the majority of biomarker discovery/validation studies have investigated potential biomarkers for single foods only, this study considered the whole diet by using menus that delivered a wide range of foods in meals that emulated conventional UK eating patterns. Fifty-one healthy participants (range 19–77 years; 57% female) followed a uniquely designed, randomized controlled dietary intervention, and provided spot urine samples suitable for discovery of BFIs within a real-world context. Free-living participants prepared and consumed all foods and drinks in their own homes and were asked to follow the protocols for meal consumption and home urine sample collection. This study also assessed the robustness, and impact on data quality, of a minimally invasive urine collection protocol. Overall the study design was well-accepted by participants and concluded successfully without any drop outs. Compliance for urine collection, adherence to menu plans, and observance of recommended meal timings, was shown to be very high. Metabolome analysis using mass spectrometry coupled with data mining demonstrated that the study protocol was well-suited for BFI discovery and validation. Novel, putative biomarkers for an extended range of foods were identified including legumes, curry, strongly-heated products, and artificially sweetened, low calorie beverages. In conclusion, aspects of this study design would help to overcome several current challenges in the development of BFI technology. One specific attribute was the examination of BFI generalizability across related food groups and across different preparations and cooking methods of foods. Furthermore, the collection of urine samples at multiple time points helped to determine which spot sample was optimal for identification and validation of BFIs in free-living individuals. A further valuable design feature centered on the comprehensiveness of the menu design which allowed the testing of biomarker specificity within a biobank of urine samples

Integrated and Open Interpreter Education: The Open Educational Resource Reader and Workbook for Interpreters

https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/facbooks/1001/thumbnail.jp

Branding and a child’s brain: an fMRI study of neural responses to logos

Branding and advertising have a powerful effect on both familiarity and preference for products, yet no neuroimaging studies have examined neural response to logos in children. Food advertising is particularly pervasive and effective in manipulating choices in children. The purpose of this study was to examine how healthy children’s brains respond to common food and other logos. A pilot validation study was first conducted with 32 children to select the most culturally familiar logos, and to match food and non-food logos on valence and intensity. A new sample of 17 healthy weight children were then scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Food logos compared to baseline were associated with increased activation in orbitofrontal cortex and inferior prefrontal cortex. Compared to non-food logos, food logos elicited increased activation in posterior cingulate cortex. Results confirmed that food logos activate some brain regions in children known to be associated with motivation. This marks the first study in children to examine brain responses to culturally familiar logos. Considering the pervasiveness of advertising, research should further investigate how children respond at the neural level to marketing

Mapping a Plasmodium transmission spatial suitability index in Solomon Islands: a malaria monitoring and control tool

Following publication of the original article [1], one of the authors flagged that the images for Figs. 2 and 3 were swapped in the published article-Fig. 2 had the image meant for Fig. 3 and vice versa

Cumulative effects of bullying and racial discrimination on adolescent health in Australia

This study examined how cumulative exposure to racial discrimination and bullying victimization influences the health of Australian adolescents (n=2802) aged 10-11 years (19.3% visible ethnic minorities (non-White, non-Indigenous); 2.6% Indigenous) using data from 3 waves (2010-2014) of the nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). Cumulative exposure to racial discrimination and bullying victimization had incremental negative effects on socioemotional difficulties. Higher accumulated exposure to both stressors across time was associated with increased BMI z-scores, and risk of overweight/obesity. Studies that examine exposure to single risk factors such as bullying victimization or racial discrimination at 1 time point only are likely to miss key determinants of health for adolescents from stigmatized racial/ethnic backgrounds and under-estimate their stressor burden

Protein-coding variants implicate novel genes related to lipid homeostasis contributing to body-fat distribution.

Body-fat distribution is a risk factor for adverse cardiovascular health consequences. We analyzed the association of body-fat distribution, assessed by waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index, with 228,985 predicted coding and splice site variants available on exome arrays in up to 344,369 individuals from five major ancestries (discovery) and 132,177 European-ancestry individuals (validation). We identified 15 common (minor allele frequency, MAF ≥5%) and nine low-frequency or rare (MAF <5%) coding novel variants. Pathway/gene set enrichment analyses identified lipid particle, adiponectin, abnormal white adipose tissue physiology and bone development and morphology as important contributors to fat distribution, while cross-trait associations highlight cardiometabolic traits. In functional follow-up analyses, specifically in Drosophila RNAi-knockdowns, we observed a significant increase in the total body triglyceride levels for two genes (DNAH10 and PLXND1). We implicate novel genes in fat distribution, stressing the importance of interrogating low-frequency and protein-coding variants