A novel alphaherpesvirus and concurrent respiratory cryptococcosis in a captive koala (Phascolarctos cinereus)

A novel alphaherpesvirus was detected in a captive adult, lactating, female koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) admitted to James Cook University Veterinary Emergency Teaching & Clinical Hospital in March 2019, showing signs of anorexia and severe respiratory disease. Postmortem examination revealed gross pathology indicative of pneumonia. Histopathology demonstrated a chronic interstitial pneumonia, multifocal necrotising adrenalitis and hepatitis. Intranuclear inclusion bodies were detected by light microscopy in the respiratory epithelium of the bronchi, bronchioles, alveoli, and hepatocytes, biliary epithelium and adrenal gland associated with foci of necrosis. Cryptococcus gattii was isolated from fresh lung on necropsy, positively identified by PCR, and detected histologically by light microscopy, only in the lung tissue. A universal viral family-level PCR indicated that the virus was a member of the Herpesviruses. Sequence analysis in comparison to other known and published herpesviruses, indicated the virus was a novel alphaherpesvirus, with 97% nucleotide identity to macropodid alphaherpesvirus 1. We provisionally name the novel virus phascolarctid alphaherpesvirus 3 (PhaHV-3). Further research is needed to determine the distribution of this novel alphaherpesvirus in koala populations and establish associations with disease in this host species

The Anorexia Nervosa Genetics Initiative (ANGI): Overview and methods

Background: Genetic factors contribute to anorexia nervosa (AN); and the first genome-wide significant locus has been identified. We describe methods and procedures for the Anorexia Nervosa Genetics Initiative (ANGI), an international collaboration designed to rapidly recruit 13,000 individuals with AN and ancestrally matched controls. We present sample characteristics and the utility of an online eating disorder diagnostic questionnaire suitable for large-scale genetic and population research. Methods: ANGI recruited from the United States (US), Australia/New Zealand (ANZ), Sweden (SE), and Denmark (DK). Recruitment was via national registers (SE, DK); treatment centers (US, ANZ, SE, DK); and social and traditional media (US, ANZ, SE). All cases had a lifetime AN diagnosis based on DSM-IV or ICD-10 criteria (excluding amenorrhea). Recruited controls had no lifetime history of disordered eating behaviors. To assess the positive and negative predictive validity of the online eating disorder questionnaire (ED100K-v1), 109 women also completed the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID), Module H. Results: Blood samples and clinical information were collected from 13,363 individuals with lifetime AN and from controls. Online diagnostic phenotyping was effective and efficient; the validity of the questionnaire was acceptable. Conclusions: Our multi-pronged recruitment approach was highly effective for rapid recruitment and can be used as a model for efforts by other groups. High online presence of individuals with AN rendered the Internet/social media a remarkably effective recruitment tool in some countries. ANGI has substantially augmented Psychiatric Genomics Consortium AN sample collection. ANGI is a registered clinical trial: clinicaltrials.govNCT01916538; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01916538?cond=Anorexia+Nervosa&draw=1&rank=3

Chikungunya

Chikungunya is an acute viral disease characterised by fever and painful arthralgia. The arthritic symptoms associated with chikungunya can be debilitating and may persist for months or even years in some patients. Severe neurological complications such as encephalitis have also been reported during recent large outbreaks. The disease is caused by chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a mosquito-borne alphavirus from the Togaviridae family, which has recently emerged to become one of the most important exotic viral threats worldwide. Chikungunya is endemic throughout Africa, and over the past decade, it has also spread throughout the Indian Ocean, Asia, the South Pacific, southern Europe, the Caribbean and Central America. The rapid emergence of CHIKV has been linked to expansion of the mosquito vector species, Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus, throughout most tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Furthermore, mutations in some strains of CHIKV have been associated with increased transmissibility of the virus. The lack of a commercial vaccine and the failure of vector control strategies to limit the expansion of chikungunya have prompted the need for further options to prevent the spread of this disease

Aiding diagnosis and risk stratification for carotid atherosclerosis using mobility and strain patterns of the arterial wall

Σε αυτή την εργασία προσεγγίστηκε μια σπουδαία κλινική πρόκληση, η υποστήριξη της διάγνωσης της καρωτιδικής αθηρωμάτωσης, που ευθύνεται για την πλειονότητα των εγκεφαλικών επεισοδίων. Σε αυτή τη κατεύθυνση εξετάστηκε η δυνατότητα διάκρισης μεταξύ ασταθών και μη, αθηρωματικών πλακών στη καρωτίδα αρτηρία, μέσω της ανάλυσης ακολουθιών εικόνων υπερήχου. Έχοντας στη διάθεση μας έναν εκτιμητή κίνησης, που είχε ήδη υλοποιηθεί, βελτιστοποιηθεί και αξιολογηθεί για την εκτίμηση της κίνησης του αρτηριακού τοιχώματος, εφαρμόστηκε σε ακολουθίες εικόνων υπερήχου Β-σάρωσης για ένα σύνολο 96 ασθενών που πάσχουν από καρωτιδική αθηρωμάτωση. Τα αποτελέσματα από την εκτίμηση κίνησης για τον κάθε ασθενή χρησιμοποιήθηκαν για την παραγωγή 146 κατηγοριών κυματομορφών κίνησης, που αναπαριστούν μοτίβα κινήσεων και παραμορφώσεων σε σχέση με : (α) κινήσεις της αθηρωματικής πλάκας και των υγιών μερών του αρτηριακού τοιχώματος πλησίον της πλάκας, όπως και (β) τοπικές παραμορφώσεις και σχετικές κινήσεις του αρτηριακού τοιχώματος, αντίστοιχα. Αυτές οι κυματομορφές κίνησης τροφοδότησαν τα Κρυφά Μαρκοβιανά Μοντέλα (HMMs), που έχουν χρησιμοποιηθεί με μεγάλη επιτυχία στην αναγνώριση φωνής αλλά και σε πολλές άλλες εφαρμογές μηχανικής μάθησης. Στην περίπτωσή μας, τα HMMs χρησιμοποιήθηκαν για να αναγνωρίσουν περιπτώσεις κυματομορφών συμπτωματικών και ασυμπτωματικών ασθενών, με την αναλογία του ότι ο εκάστοτε ασθενής συνεισφέρει με τη δική του καρωτιδική αρτηριακή "προφορά" στο μοντέλο. Η απόδοση (ακρίβεια κατηγοριοποίησης) στα HMMs κυμάνθηκε μεταξύ 57.05% και 81.44% για τις 146 κατηγορίες κυματομορφών, με μέση απόδοση 69.95%. Τα αποτελέσματα αυτά επαληθεύτηκαν με την χρήση Μηχανών Διανυσμάτων Υποστήριξης (SVMs) στο ίδιο σύνολο δεδομένων, που κατηγοριοποιήθηκαν με μέση απόδοση 59%. Στην περίπτωση που επιλέχθηκαν, μονάχα, αυτές οι κατηγορίες κυματομορφών που παρουσίασαν τα υψηλότερα ποσοστά απόδοσης, τα HMMs μπόρεσαν να διακρίνουν ασυμπτωματικούς και συμπτωματικούς ασθενείς με απόδοση 75.81% και 73.91% αντίστοιχα, ενώ τα SVMs έφεραν αποτελέσματα 78.66% και 69.84% αντίστοιχα. Με δεδομένη την υπεροχή των SVMs, επιλέχθηκαν από αυτό το μοντέλο, οι συγκεκριμένες κατηγορίες κυματομορφών και δημιουργήθηκε ένα σύστημα πλειοψηφίας, για την υποστήριξη της διάγνωσης της ασθένειας. Η πλήρης δυναμική του συστήματος μένει να αποδειχθεί στο πλαίσιο μελλοντικών μελετών, σε μεγάλο πλήθος ασθενών με καρωτιδική αθηρωμάτωση οι οποίοι θα υποβληθούν σε συχνούς επανελέγχους, ενώ το σύστημα μπορεί να εμπλουτιστεί με πρόσθετα χαρακτηριστικά με χρονική εξέλιξη, όπως η αρτηριακή πίεση και ο καρδιακός ρυθμός.This thesis addressed a major clinical challenge, namely valid risk stratification for carotid atherosclerosis, which constitutes the most common cause of stroke. Toward this direction, we investigated the potential of spatiotemporal ultrasound image analysis in discriminating between stable and vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques of the carotid artery. To this end, a motion estimator, which has previously been designed, optimized and evaluated for arterial wall motion estimation, was applied to B-mode ultrasound image sequences of 96 patients with carotid atherosclerosis. The results of motion estimation for each patient were used to produce 146 types of motion waveforms, which represented mobility and strain patterns that express: (a) the movements of the atherosclerotic lesion (plaque) and the healthy parts of the arterial wall adjacent to the plaque, and (b) local deformations and relative movements in the arterial wall, respectively. These sets of motion waveforms were fed to Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), which have been successfully used in voice recognition and several other tasks of machine learning. In this case, HMMs were used to recognize motion waveforms of symptomatic and asymptomatic cases, intuitively considering that, for each patient, a motion waveform represents the "accent" of the carotid-artery wall. The performance (classification accuracy) of HMMs ranged between 57.05% and 81.44% for the 146 types of motion waveforms, while the average performance was 69.95%. These results were cross-validated using Support Vector Machines (SVMs) on the same dataset, which reached, an average of 59% classification accuracy. In the case that only the motion waveforms with the highest discrimination power were used, the HMMs could identify asymptomatic and symptomatic patients with 75.81% and 73.91% accuracy, respectively; the corresponding results for SVMs were 78.66% and 69.84%, respectively. Given the high performance in the latter case, those motion waveforms and their incorporation in SVMs were used to create a majority voting system for risk stratification for the disease. The full potential of the system will be revealed on future prospective studies with frequent patient follow-ups, while the system could be further enriched with other temporal features, such as the arterial pressure and heart rate.Μαρίνος Δ. Πρεβένιο

Lipolytic enzymes and hydrolytic rancidity

Lipolysis, the enzymic hydrolysis of milk lipids to free fatty acids and partial glycerides, is a constant concern to the dairy industry because of the detrimental effcts it can have on the flvor and other properties of milk and milk products. However, free fatty acids also contribute to the desirable flavor of milk and milk products when present at low concentrations and, in some cheeses, when present at high concentrations. The enzymes responsible for the detrimental effects of lipolysis are of two main types: those indigenous to milk, and those of microbial origin. The major indigenous milk enzyme is lipoprotein lipase. It is active on the fat in natural milk fat globules only after their disruption by physical treatments or if certain blood serum lipoproteins are present. The major microbial lipases are produced by psychrotrophic bacteria. Many of these enzymes are heat stable and are particularly significant in stored products. Human milk differs from cows' milk in that it contains two lipases, a lipoprotein lipase and a bile salt-stimulated lipase. The ability of the latter to cause considerable hydrolysis of ingested milk lipids has important nutritional implications

Genome-wide association study identifies eight risk loci and implicates metabo-psychiatric origins for anorexia nervosa

Characterized primarily by a low body-mass index, anorexia nervosa is a complex and serious illness1, affecting 0.9–4% of women and 0.3% of men2–4, with twin-based heritability estimates of 50–60%5. Mortality rates are higher than those in other psychiatric disorders6, and outcomes are unacceptably poor7. Here we combine data from the Anorexia Nervosa Genetics Initiative (ANGI)8,9 and the Eating Disorders Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC-ED) and conduct a genome-wide association study of 16,992 cases of anorexia nervosa and 55,525 controls, identifying eight significant loci. The genetic architecture of anorexia nervosa mirrors its clinical presentation, showing significant genetic correlations with psychiatric disorders, physical activity, and metabolic (including glycemic), lipid and anthropometric traits, independent of the effects of common variants associated with body-mass index. These results further encourage a reconceptualization of anorexia nervosa as a metabo-psychiatric disorder. Elucidating the metabolic component is a critical direction for future research, and paying attention to both psychiatric and metabolic components may be key to improving outcomes. © 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc

Genome-wide association study identifies eight risk loci and implicates metabo-psychiatric origins for anorexia nervosa.

Characterized primarily by a low body-mass index, anorexia nervosa is a complex and serious illness <sup>1</sup> , affecting 0.9-4% of women and 0.3% of men <sup>2-4</sup> , with twin-based heritability estimates of 50-60% <sup>5</sup> . Mortality rates are higher than those in other psychiatric disorders <sup>6</sup> , and outcomes are unacceptably poor <sup>7</sup> . Here we combine data from the Anorexia Nervosa Genetics Initiative (ANGI) <sup>8,9</sup> and the Eating Disorders Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC-ED) and conduct a genome-wide association study of 16,992 cases of anorexia nervosa and 55,525 controls, identifying eight significant loci. The genetic architecture of anorexia nervosa mirrors its clinical presentation, showing significant genetic correlations with psychiatric disorders, physical activity, and metabolic (including glycemic), lipid and anthropometric traits, independent of the effects of common variants associated with body-mass index. These results further encourage a reconceptualization of anorexia nervosa as a metabo-psychiatric disorder. Elucidating the metabolic component is a critical direction for future research, and paying attention to both psychiatric and metabolic components may be key to improving outcomes