25 research outputs found
Tracking the spatial diffusion of influenza and norovirus using telehealth data: A spatiotemporal analysis of syndromic data
Background: Telehealth systems have a large potential for informing public health authorities in
an early stage of outbreaks of communicable disease. Influenza and norovirus are common viruses
that cause significant respiratory and gastrointestinal disease worldwide. Data about these viruses
are not routinely mapped for surveillance purposes in the UK, so the spatial diffusion of national
outbreaks and epidemics is not known as such incidents occur. We aim to describe the
geographical origin and diffusion of rises in fever and vomiting calls to a national telehealth system,
and consider the usefulness of these findings for influenza and norovirus surveillance.
Methods: Data about fever calls (5- to 14-year-old age group) and vomiting calls (â„ 5-year-old age
group) in school-age children, proxies for influenza and norovirus, respectively, were extracted
from the NHS Direct national telehealth database for the period June 2005 to May 2006. The
SaTScan space-time permutation model was used to retrospectively detect statistically significant
clusters of calls on a week-by-week basis. These syndromic results were validated against existing
laboratory and clinical surveillance data.
Results: We identified two distinct periods of elevated fever calls. The first originated in the
North-West of England during November 2005 and spread in a south-east direction, the second
began in Central England during January 2006 and moved southwards. The timing, geographical
location, and age structure of these rises in fever calls were similar to a national influenza B
outbreak that occurred during winter 2005â2006. We also identified significantly elevated levels of
vomiting calls in South-East England during winter 2005â2006.
Conclusion: Spatiotemporal analyses of telehealth data, specifically fever calls, provided a timely
and unique description of the evolution of a national influenza outbreak. In a similar way the tool
may be useful for tracking norovirus, although the lack of consistent comparison data makes this
more difficult to assess. In interpreting these results, care must be taken to consider other
infectious and non-infectious causes of fever and vomiting. The scan statistic should be considered
for spatial analyses of telehealth data elsewhere and will be used to initiate prospective geographical
surveillance of influenza in England.
Metabolic and evolutionary insights into the closely-related species Streptomyces coelicolor and Streptomyces lividans deduced from high-resolution comparative genomic hybridization
Whilst being closely related to the model actinomycete Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2), S. lividans 66 differs from it in several significant and phenotypically observable ways, including antibiotic production. Previous comparative gene hybridization studies investigating such differences have used low-density (one probe per gene) PCR-based spotted arrays. Here we use new experimentally optimised 104,000 Ă 60-mer probe arrays to characterize in detail the genomic differences between wild-type S. lividans 66, a derivative industrial strain, TK24, and S. coelicolor M145
Isolation and Characterization of EstC, a New Cold-Active Esterase from Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2)
The genome sequence of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) contains more than 50 genes coding for putative lipolytic enzymes. Many studies have shown the capacity of this actinomycete to store important reserves of intracellular triacylglycerols in nutrient depletion situations. In the present study, we used genome mining of S. coelicolor to identify genes coding for putative, non-secreted esterases/lipases. Two genes were cloned and successfully overexpressed in E. coli as His-tagged fusion proteins. One of the recombinant enzymes, EstC, showed interesting cold-active esterase activity with a strong potential for the production of valuable esters. The purified enzyme displayed optimal activity at 35°C and was cold-active with retention of 25% relative activity at 10°C. Its optimal pH was 8.5â9 but the enzyme kept more than 75% of its maximal activity between pH 7.5 and 10. EstC also showed remarkable tolerance over a wide range of pH values, retaining almost full residual activity between pH 6â11. The enzyme was active toward short-chain p-nitrophenyl esters (C2âC12), displaying optimal activity with the valerate (C5) ester (kcat/Kmâ=â737±77 sâ1 mMâ1). The enzyme was also very active toward short chain triglycerides such as triacetin (C2:0) and tributyrin (C4:0), in addition to showing good primary alcohol and organic solvent tolerance, suggesting it could function as an interesting candidate for organic synthesis of short-chain esters such as flavors
Climate simulations for 1880-2003 with GISS modelE
We carry out climate simulations for 1880-2003 with GISS modelE driven by ten
measured or estimated climate forcings. An ensemble of climate model runs is
carried out for each forcing acting individually and for all forcing mechanisms
acting together. We compare side-by-side simulated climate change for each
forcing, all forcings, observations, unforced variability among model ensemble
members, and, if available, observed variability. Discrepancies between
observations and simulations with all forcings are due to model deficiencies,
inaccurate or incomplete forcings, and imperfect observations. Although there
are notable discrepancies between model and observations, the fidelity is
sufficient to encourage use of the model for simulations of future climate
change. By using a fixed well-documented model and accurately defining the
1880-2003 forcings, we aim to provide a benchmark against which the effect of
improvements in the model, climate forcings, and observations can be tested.
Principal model deficiencies include unrealistically weak tropical El Nino-like
variability and a poor distribution of sea ice, with too much sea ice in the
Northern Hemisphere and too little in the Southern Hemisphere. The greatest
uncertainties in the forcings are the temporal and spatial variations of
anthropogenic aerosols and their indirect effects on clouds.Comment: 44 pages; 19 figures; Final text accepted by Climate Dynamic