Relative importance of individual and social factors in improving adolescent health.

In 2010, the English Department of Health launched a radical new public health strategy, which sees individual factors, such as self-esteem, as the key to improving all aspects of young people's health. This article compares the strength of association between key adolescent health outcomes and a range of individual and social factor

Development and evaluation of real time RT-PCR assays for detection and typing of Bluetongue virus

Bluetongue virus is the type species of the genus Orbivirus, family Reoviridae. Bluetongue viruses (BTV) are transmitted between their vertebrate hosts primarily by biting midges (Culicoides spp.) in which they also replicate. Consequently BTV distribution is dependent on the activity, geographic distribution, and seasonal abundance of Culicoides spp. The virus can also be transmitted vertically in vertebrate hosts, and some strains/serotypes can be transmitted horizontally in the absence of insect vectors. The BTV genome is composed of ten linear segments of double-stranded (ds) RNA, numbered in order of decreasing size (Seg-1 to Seg-10). Genome segment 2 (Seg-2) encodes outer-capsid protein VP2, the most variable BTV protein and the primary target for neutralising antibodies. Consequently VP2 (and Seg-2) determine the identity of the twenty seven serotypes and two additional putative BTV serotypes that have been recognised so far. Current BTV vaccines are serotype specific and typing of outbreak strains is required in order to deploy appropriate vaccines. We report development and evaluation of multiple ‘TaqMan’ fluorescence-probe based quantitative real-time type-specific RT-PCR assays targeting Seg-2 of the 27+1 BTV types. The assays were evaluated using orbivirus isolates from the ‘Orbivirus Reference Collection’ (ORC) held at The Pirbright Institute. The assays are BTV-type specific and can be used for rapid, sensitive and reliable detection / identification (typing) of BTV RNA from samples of infected blood, tissues, homogenised Culicoides, or tissue culture supernatants. None of the assays amplified cDNAs from closely related but heterologous orbiviruses, or from uninfected host animals or cell cultures

Single Dose Novel Salmonella Vaccine Enhances Resistance against Visceralizing L. major and L. donovani Infection in Susceptible BALB/c Mice

Visceral leishmaniasis is a major neglected tropical disease, with an estimated 500,000 new cases and more than 50,000 deaths attributable to this disease every year. Drug therapy is available but costly and resistance against several drug classes has evolved. Despite all efforts, no commercial, let alone affordable, vaccine is available to date. Thus, the development of cost effective, needle-independent vaccines is a high priority. Here, we have continued efforts to develop live vaccine carriers based on recombinant Salmonella. We used an in silico approach to select novel Leishmania parasite antigens from proteomic data sets, with selection criteria based on protein abundance, conservation across Leishmania species and low homology to host species. Five chosen antigens were differentially expressed on the surface or in the cytosol of Salmonella typhimurium SL3261. A two-step procedure was developed to select optimal Salmonella vaccine strains for each antigen, based on bacterial fitness and antigen expression levels. We show that vaccine strains of Salmonella expressing the novel Leishmania antigens LinJ08.1190 and LinJ23.0410 significantly reduced visceralisation of L. major and enhanced systemic resistance against L. donovani in susceptible BALB/c mice. The results show that Salmonella are valid vaccine carriers for inducing resistance against visceral leishmaniasis but that their use may not be suitable for all antigens

Heterochromatic Genome Stability Requires Regulators of Histone H3 K9 Methylation

Heterochromatin contains many repetitive DNA elements and few protein-encoding genes, yet it is essential for chromosome organization and inheritance. Here, we show that Drosophila that lack the Su(var)3-9 H3K9 methyltransferase display significantly elevated frequencies of spontaneous DNA damage in heterochromatin, in both somatic and germ-line cells. Accumulated DNA damage in these mutants correlates with chromosomal defects, such as translocations and loss of heterozygosity. DNA repair and mitotic checkpoints are also activated in mutant animals and are required for their viability. Similar effects of lower magnitude were observed in animals that lack the RNA interference pathway component Dcr2. These results suggest that the H3K9 methylation and RNAi pathways ensure heterochromatin stability

Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles 2018 (MISEV2018): a position statement of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles and update of the MISEV2014 guidelines

The last decade has seen a sharp increase in the number of scientific publications describing physiological and pathological functions of extracellular vesicles (EVs), a collective term covering various subtypes of cell-released, membranous structures, called exosomes, microvesicles, microparticles, ectosomes, oncosomes, apoptotic bodies, and many other names. However, specific issues arise when working with these entities, whose size and amount often make them difficult to obtain as relatively pure preparations, and to characterize properly. The International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) proposed Minimal Information for Studies of Extracellular Vesicles (“MISEV”) guidelines for the field in 2014. We now update these “MISEV2014” guidelines based on evolution of the collective knowledge in the last four years. An important point to consider is that ascribing a specific function to EVs in general, or to subtypes of EVs, requires reporting of specific information beyond mere description of function in a crude, potentially contaminated, and heterogeneous preparation. For example, claims that exosomes are endowed with exquisite and specific activities remain difficult to support experimentally, given our still limited knowledge of their specific molecular machineries of biogenesis and release, as compared with other biophysically similar EVs. The MISEV2018 guidelines include tables and outlines of suggested protocols and steps to follow to document specific EV-associated functional activities. Finally, a checklist is provided with summaries of key points