Pathological findings in a mouse model for Coxsackievirus A16 infection

Coxsackievirus A16 (CV-A16) is the leading cause of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD), which usually presents as mild and self-limiting symptoms in young children. Rarely, CV-A16 has been reported to cause severe and fatal neurological complications but little is known about these complications. In the present study, 1-day and 7-day old mouse models of CV-A16 were developed using a clinical strain via subcutaneous inoculation. All infected mice exhibited clinical signs of infection, including reduced mobility, limb weakness and paralysis between 3 to 6 days post-infection. Pathologically, the main organs involved were the central nervous system (CNS), skeletal muscles and brown fat. In the CNS, viral antigens as demonstrated by immunohistochemistry, were localized mainly to neurons in the brain stem and spinal cord, suggesting that CV-A16 is neurotropic although inflammation is very mild. The skeletal muscles showed necrosis and myositis due to viral infection as evidenced by the dense viral antigens. Focal viral antigens were also detected in the brown fat. These preliminary pathological findings indicate that our mouse models can be further developed to be useful models for pathogenesis studies, and vaccine and anti-viral drug evaluation

Assessment parameters for coal-fired generation plant site selection

In order to meet future demand for electricity, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) is committed to the long-term strategic planning in locating statable sites for future development of power stations. Site selection is an important process in the early planning stage of any power plant development as it will have significant implications on the capital investment, operational as well as the environment and socio-economic costs of the power plant. The aim of this presentation is to briefly describe the ten (10) main assessment parameters having the most profound effects on the selection of potential coal-fired generation plant sites.: These assessment parameters were derived based on a survey of approximately 40 experts, comprising from various specialists such as engineers from TNB, senior officers from Department Of Environment Malaysia (DOE), scientist from University Malaya (UM) and a number of other independent consultants