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Not AvailableBackground- Ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) an economically important waterfowl for meat, eggs and feathers; is also a natural reservoir for influenza A viruses. The emergence of novel viruses is attributed to the status of co-existence of multiple types and subtypes of viruses in the reservoir hosts. For effective prediction of future viral epidemic or pandemic an in-depth understanding of the virome status in the key reservoir species is highly essential. Methods- To obtain an unbiased measure of viral diversity in the enteric tract of ducks by viral metagenomic approach, we deep sequenced the viral nucleic acid extracted from cloacal swabs collected from the flock of 23 ducks which shared the water bodies with wild migratory birds. Result- In total 7,455,180 reads with average length of 146 bases were generated of which 7,354,300 reads were de novo assembled into 24,945 contigs with an average length of 220 bases and the remaining 100,880 reads were singletons. The duck virome were identified by sequence similarity comparisons of contigs and singletons (BLASTx E score, <10−3) against viral reference database. Numerous duck virome sequences were homologous to the animal virus of the Papillomaviridae family; and phages of the Caudovirales, Inoviridae, Tectiviridae, Microviridae families and unclassified phages. Further, several duck virome sequences had homologous with the insect viruses of the Poxviridae, Alphatetraviridae, Baculoviridae, Densovirinae, Iflaviridae and Dicistroviridae families; and plant viruses of the Secoviridae, Virgaviridae, Tombusviridae and Partitiviridae families, which reflects the diet and habitation of ducks. Conclusion- This study increases our understanding of the viral diversity and expands the knowledge about the spectrum of viruses harboured in the enteric tract of ducks.Not Availabl

Relapse and Disease-Free Survival in Patients With Myelodysplastic Syndrome Undergoing Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Using Older Matched Sibling Donors vs Younger Matched Unrelated Donors

IMPORTANCE Matched sibling donors (MSDs) are preferred for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) inmyelodysplastic syndrome even if they are older. However, whether older MSDs or younger human leukocyte antigen-matched unrelated donors (MUDs) are associated with better outcomes remains unclear.OBJECTIVE To investigate whether allo-HCT formyelodysplastic syndrome using younger MUDs would be associated with improved disease-free survival and less relapse compared with older MSDs.DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This retrospective cohort study assessed data reported to the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research database from 1761 adults 50 years or older withmyelodysplastic syndrome who underwent allo-HCT using an older MSD or younger MUD between January 1, 2011, and December 31, 2017, with a median follow-up of 48 months. Data analysis was performed from January 8, 2019, to December 30, 2020.INTERVENTIONS/EXPOSURES Allo-HCT from an older MSD (donor age >= 50 years) or a younger MUD (donor age <= 35 years).MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcomewas disease-free survival. Secondary outcomes were overall survival, relapse, nonrelapse mortality, acute graft-vs-host disease (GVHD), chronic GVHD, and GVHD-free relapse-free survival.RESULTS Of 1761 patients (1162 [66%] male; median [range] age, 64.9 [50.2-77.6] years in the MSD cohort and 66.5 [50.4-80.9] years in MUD cohort), 646 underwent allo-HCT with an older MSD and 1115 with a younger MUD. In multivariable analysis, the rate of disease-free survival was significantly lower in allo-HCTs with older MSDs compared with younger MUDs (hazard ratio [HR], 1.17; 95% CI, 1.02-1.34; P=.02), whereas the difference in overall survival rate of allo-HCT with younger MUDs vs older MSDs was not statistically significant (HR, 1.13; 95% CI, 0.98-1.29; P=.07). Allo-HCT with older MSDs was associated with significantly higher relapse (HR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.32-1.97; P <.001), lower nonrelapse mortality (HR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.59-0.96; P=.02), lower acute GVHD (HR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.42-0.65; <.001), chronic GVHD (HR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.64-0.92; P=.005), and a lower rate of GVHD-free relapse-free survival beyond 12 months after allo-HCT (HR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.02-1.98; P=.04).CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE This cohort study found higher disease-free survival and lower relapse for allo-HCT inmyelodysplastic syndrome using younger MUDs compared with older MSDs. The risk of nonrelapse mortality and GVHD was lower with older MSDs. These results suggest that the use of younger MUDs should be considered in the donor selection algorithm formyelodysplastic syndrome, in which it is pivotal to minimize relapse given limited treatment options for managing relapsed disease