Labor Anticommunism in the United States of America and the United Kingdom, 1920–49

Why did domestic anticommunism convulse the United States of America during the early Cold War but barely ripple in the United Kingdom? Contemporaries and historians have puzzled over the dramatic difference in domestic politics between the USA and the UK, given the countries’ broad alignment on foreign policy toward Communism and the Soviet Union in that era. This article reflects upon the role played by trade unions in the USA and the UK in the development of each country's culture and politics of anticommunism during the interwar years. Trade unions were key sites of Communist organizing, and also of anticommunism, in both the USA and the UK, but their respective labor movements developed distinctively different political approaches to domestic and international communism. Comparing labor anticommunist politics in the interwar years helps explain sharp divergences in the politics of anticommunism in the USA and the UK during the Cold War

Unlocking the role of a genital herpesvirus, otarine herpesvirus 1, in California sea lion cervical cancer

This research was funded by the Geoffrey Hughes Research Fellowship and The Marine Mammal Center.Urogenital carcinoma in California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) is the most common cancer of marine mammals. Primary tumors occur in the cervix, vagina, penis, or prepuce and aggressively metastasize resulting in death. This cancer has been strongly associated with a sexually transmitted herpesvirus, otarine herpesvirus 1 (OtHV1), but the virus has been detected in genital tracts of sea lions without cancer and a causative link has not been established. To determine if OtHV1 has a role in causing urogenital carcinoma we sequenced the viral genome, quantified viral load from cervical tissue from sea lions with (n = 95) and without (n = 163) urogenital carcinoma, and measured viral mRNA expression using in situ mRNA hybridization (Basescope®) to quantify and identify the location of OtHV1 mRNA expression. Of the 95 sea lions diagnosed with urogenital carcinoma, 100% were qPCR positive for OtHV1, and 36% of the sea lions with a normal cervix were positive for the virus. The non-cancer OtHV1 positive cases had significantly lower viral loads in their cervix compared to the cervices from sea lions with urogenital carcinoma. The OtHV1 genome had several genes similar to the known oncogenes, and RNA in situ hybridization demonstrated high OtHV1 mRNA expression within the carcinoma lesions but not in normal cervical epithelium. The high viral loads, high mRNA expression of OtHV1 in the cervical tumors, and the presence of suspected OtHV1 oncogenes support the hypothesis that OtHV1 plays a significant role in the development of sea lion urogenital carcinoma.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Novel Amdovirus in Gray Foxes

We used viral metagenomics to identify a novel parvovirus in tissues of a gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). Nearly full genome characterization and phylogenetic analyses showed this parvovirus (provisionally named gray fox amdovirus) to be distantly related to Aleutian mink disease virus, representing the second viral species in the Amdovirus genus

Labor Anticommunism in the United States of America and the United Kingdom, 1920–49

Why did domestic anticommunism convulse the United States of America during the early Cold War but barely ripple in the United Kingdom? Contemporaries and historians have puzzled over the dramatic difference in domestic politics between the USA and the UK, given the countries’ broad alignment on foreign policy toward Communism and the Soviet Union in that era. This article reflects upon the role played by trade unions in the USA and the UK in the development of each country's culture and politics of anticommunism during the interwar years. Trade unions were key sites of Communist organizing, and also of anticommunism, in both the USA and the UK, but their respective labor movements developed distinctively different political approaches to domestic and international communism. Comparing labor anticommunist politics in the interwar years helps explain sharp divergences in the politics of anticommunism in the USA and the UK during the Cold War