Identification of a Protein in Several Borrelia Species which is Related to OspC of the Lyme Disease Spirochetes.

Using oligonucleotide probes which have previously been shown to be specific for the ospC gene found in the Lyme disease spirochete species Borrelia burgdorferi, B. garinii, and group VS461, we detected an ospC homolog in other Borrelia species including B. coriaceae, B. hermsii, B. anserina, B. turicatae, and B. parkeri. In contrast to the Lyme disease spirochetes, which carry the ospC gene on a 26-kb circular plasmid, we mapped the gene in other Borrelia species to linear plasmids which varied in size among the isolates tested. Some isolates carry multiple copies of the gene residing on linear plasmids of different sizes. The analyses conducted here also demonstrate that these Borrelia species contain a linear chromosome. Northern (RNA) blot analyses demonstrated that the gene is transcriptionally expressed in all species examined. High levels of transcriptional expression were observed in some B. hermsii isolates. Transcriptional start site analyses revealed that the length of the untranslated leader sequence was identical to that observed in the Lyme disease spirochete species. By Western blotting (immunoblotting) with antiserum (polyclonal) raised against the OspC protein of B. burgdorferi, we detected an immunoreactive protein of the same molecular weight as the OspC found in Lyme disease spirochete species. The results presented here demonstrate the presence of a protein that is genetically and antigenically related to OspC which is expressed in all species of the genus Borrelia tested

Analysis of the Distribution and Molecular Heterogeneity of the ospD Gene among the Lyme Disease Spirochetes: Evidence for Lateral Gene Exchange

Analysis of the ospD gene has revealed that this gene is not universal among Lyme disease spirochete isolates. The gene was found to be carried by 90, 50, and 24% of the Borrelia garinii, B. afzelii, and B. burgdorferi isolates tested. Size variability in the ospD-encoding plasmid was also observed. Sequence analysis has demonstrated the presence of various numbers of a 17-bp repeated sequence in the upstream control (promoter) region of the gene. In addition, a region within the coding sequence where various insertions, deletions, and direct repeats occur was identified. ospD gene sequences from 31 different isolates were determined and utilized in pairwise sequence comparisons and construction of a gene tree. These analyses suggest that the ospD gene was the target of several recombinational events and that the gene was recently acquired by Lyme disease spirochetes and laterally transferred between species

Radio Galaxy Zoo: The Distortion of Radio Galaxies by Galaxy Clusters

We study the impact of cluster environment on the morphology of a sample of 4304 extended radio galaxies from Radio Galaxy Zoo. A total of 87% of the sample lies within a projected 15 Mpc of an optically identified cluster. Brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) are more likely than other cluster members to be radio sources, and are also moderately bent. The surface density as a function of separation from cluster center of non-BCG radio galaxies follows a power law with index $-1.10\pm 0.03$ out to $10~r_{500}$ ($\sim 7~$Mpc), which is steeper than the corresponding distribution for optically selected galaxies. Non-BCG radio galaxies are statistically more bent the closer they are to the cluster center. Within the inner $1.5~r_{500}$ ($\sim 1~$Mpc) of a cluster, non-BCG radio galaxies are statistically more bent in high-mass clusters than in low-mass clusters. Together, we find that non-BCG sources are statistically more bent in environments that exert greater ram pressure. We use the orientation of bent radio galaxies as an indicator of galaxy orbits and find that they are preferentially in radial orbits. Away from clusters, there is a large population of bent radio galaxies, limiting their use as cluster locators; however, they are still located within statistically overdense regions. We investigate the asymmetry in the tail length of sources that have their tails aligned along the radius vector from the cluster center, and find that the length of the inward-pointing tail is weakly suppressed for sources close to the center of the cluster.Comment: 23 pages, 17 figures, 2 tables. Supplemental data files available in The Astronomical Journal or contact autho

Radio Galaxy Zoo: CLARAN - A deep learning classifier for radio morphologies

The upcoming next-generation large area radio continuum surveys can expect tens of millions of radio sources, rendering the traditional method for radio morphology classification through visual inspection unfeasible.We present CLARAN-Classifying Radio sources Automatically with Neural networks - a proof-of-concept radio source morphology classifier based upon the Faster Region-based Convolutional Neutral Networks method. Specifically, we train and test CLARAN on the FIRST and WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) images from the Radio Galaxy Zoo Data Release 1 catalogue. CLARAN provides end users with automated identification of radio source morphology classifications from a simple input of a radio image and a counterpart infrared image of the same region. CLARAN is the first open-source, endto- end radio source morphology classifier that is capable of locating and associating discrete and extended components of radio sources in a fast (<200 ms per image) and accurate (=90 per cent) fashion. Future work will improve CLARAN's relatively lower success rates in dealing with multisource fields and will enable CLARAN to identify sources on much larger fields without loss in classification accuracy

Effects of gestational age at birth on cognitive performance : a function of cognitive workload demands

Objective: Cognitive deficits have been inconsistently described for late or moderately preterm children but are consistently found in very preterm children. This study investigates the association between cognitive workload demands of tasks and cognitive performance in relation to gestational age at birth. Methods: Data were collected as part of a prospective geographically defined whole-population study of neonatal at-risk children in Southern Bavaria. At 8;5 years, n = 1326 children (gestation range: 23–41 weeks) were assessed with the K-ABC and a Mathematics Test. Results: Cognitive scores of preterm children decreased as cognitive workload demands of tasks increased. The relationship between gestation and task workload was curvilinear and more pronounced the higher the cognitive workload: GA2 (quadratic term) on low cognitive workload: R2 = .02, p<0.001; moderate cognitive workload: R2 = .09, p<0.001; and high cognitive workload tasks: R2 = .14, p<0.001. Specifically, disproportionally lower scores were found for very (<32 weeks gestation) and moderately (32–33 weeks gestation) preterm children the higher the cognitive workload of the tasks. Early biological factors such as gestation and neonatal complications explained more of the variance in high (12.5%) compared with moderate (8.1%) and low cognitive workload tasks (1.7%). Conclusions: The cognitive workload model may help to explain variations of findings on the relationship of gestational age with cognitive performance in the literature. The findings have implications for routine cognitive follow-up, educational intervention, and basic research into neuro-plasticity and brain reorganization after preterm birth

973MO KEYNOTE-189 5-year update: First-line pembrolizumab (pembro) + pemetrexed (pem) and platinum vs placebo (pbo) + pem and platinum for metastatic nonsquamous NSCLC

Background: Pembro + pem-platinum significantly improved survival vs pbo + pem-platinum in patients (pts) with previously untreated, metastatic nonsquamous NSCLC without sensitizing EGFR/ALK alterations, regardless of PD-L1 TPS, in the phase III KEYNOTE-189 study (NCT02578680). We report updated results with ∼5 y of follow-up. Methods: Pts were randomized 2:1 to receive pembro 200 mg or pbo Q3W for up to 35 cycles (2y). All pts also received pem and investigator’s choice of carboplatin/cisplatin for 4 cycles, followed by maintenance pem until PD/unacceptable toxicity. Crossover from the pbo + pem-platinum group to pembro monotherapy was permitted after PD. Primary endpoints were OS and PFS. Results: Among 616 pts randomized (pembro + pem-platinum, n = 410; pbo + pem-platinum, n = 206), median time from randomization to data cutoff (Mar 8, 2022) was 64.6 (range, 60.1–72.4) mo. 116/202 (57.4%) treated pts crossed over from pbo + pem-platinum to anti–PD-(L)1 therapy during/outside the study. Median (95% CI) OS was 22.0 (19.5‒24.5) mo vs 10.6 (8.7‒13.6) mo with pembro + pem-platinum vs pbo + pem-platinum (HR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.50‒0.72) and 5-y OS rates were 19.4% vs 11.3%, respectively. Median (95% CI) PFS was 9.0 (8.1‒10.4) mo vs 4.9 (4.7‒5.5) mo (HR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.42‒0.60). Additional efficacy results are in the table. Among pts with ≥1 dose of assigned treatment, grade 3‒5 AEs occurred in 295/405 (72.8%) vs 136/202 (67.3%) of pts. Among 57 pts who completed 35 cycles of pembro, ORR was 86.0% (CR, n = 8; PR, n = 41); 3-y OS rate after completion of 35 cycles of pembro was 71.9%. Conclusions: First-line pembro + pem-platinum continued to show OS and PFS benefits with manageable toxicity vs pbo + pem-platinum, irrespective of PD-L1 expression. Pts who completed 35 cycles of pembro experienced durable responses. These data further support pembro + pem-platinum as a standard of care for metastatic nonsquamous NSCLC without sensitizing EGFR/ALK alterations