Public Health for Young Adults Day: Recruiting the Next Generation

Background: Public Health for Young Adults Day (PHYA Day) is a one-day program designed to educate high school-age students about the principles and values of the five core areas of public health. The goal of PHYA Day is to foster interest and ultimately increase recruitment into the field of public health. This goal is essential due to the impact of the economic recession of 2008. It was estimated that the local public health workforce decreased from 191,000 to 168,000 across the nation between 2008 and 2013. In spite of 2008’s recession, a well-trained, competent public health workforce remains an imperative component of effective public health service delivery. The researchers believe that PHYA Day encourages young people to explore the idea of a public health-focused career by increasing their knowledge of the field as a whole. Methods: A pre- and post-test survey was used to evaluate this program, determine if participants gained an interest in joining the public health workforce, and measure the learning outcomes of those participants. After gaining proper Institutional Review Board approval the evaluation was completed in April 2015. Results: When the averages of the post-test were compared to those of the pre-test the results showed that there was a significant gain in knowledge among participants. Conclusions: Based off of their findings the researchers were able to conclude that PHYA Day is effective in educating high school age students about the options that the public health field have to offer and therefore may increase the number of young adults choosing public health as a career

Severe Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis, Australia

We report 3 cases of spotted fever group rickettsial infection (presumed Queensland tick typhus) in residents of northern Queensland, Australia, who had unusually severe clinical manifestations. Complications included renal failure, purpura fulminans, and severe pneumonia. Clinical illness caused by Rickettsia australis may not be as benign as previously described

NanoBiT System and Hydrofurimazine for Optimized Detection of Viral Infection in Mice-A Novel in Vivo Imaging Platform.

Reporter genes are used to visualize intracellular biological phenomena, including viral infection. Here we demonstrate bioluminescent imaging of viral infection using the NanoBiT system in combination with intraperitoneal injection of a furimazine analogue, hydrofurimazine. This recently developed substrate has enhanced aqueous solubility allowing delivery of higher doses for in vivo imaging. The small high-affinity peptide tag (HiBiT), which is only 11 amino-acids in length, was engineered into a clinically used oncolytic adenovirus, and the complementary large protein (LgBiT) was constitutively expressed in tumor cells. Infection of the LgBiT expressing cells with the HiBiT oncolytic virus will reconstitute NanoLuc in the cytosol of the cell, providing strong bioluminescence upon treatment with substrate. This new bioluminescent system served as an early stage quantitative viral transduction reporter in vitro and also in vivo in mice, for longitudinal monitoring of oncolytic viral persistence in infected tumor cells. This platform provides novel opportunities for studying the biology of viruses in animal models

Full Genome Characterization of the Culicoides-Borne Marsupial Orbiviruses: Wallal Virus, Mudjinbarry Virus and Warrego Viruses

Viruses belonging to the species Wallal virus and Warrego virus of the genus Orbivirus were identified as causative agents of blindness in marsupials in Australia during 1994/5. Recent comparisons of nucleotide (nt) and amino acid (aa) sequences have provided a basis for the grouping and classification of orbivirus isolates. However, full-genome sequence data are not available for representatives of all Orbivirus species. We report full-genome sequence data for three additional orbiviruses: Wallal virus (WALV); Mudjinabarry virus (MUDV) and Warrego virus (WARV). Comparisons of conserved polymerase (Pol), sub-core-shell 'T2' and core-surface 'T13' proteins show that these viruses group with other Culicoides borne orbiviruses, clustering with Eubenangee virus (EUBV), another orbivirus infecting marsupials. WARV shares <70% aa identity in all three conserved proteins (Pol, T2 and T13) with other orbiviruses, consistent with its classification within a distinct Orbivirus species. Although WALV and MUDV share <72.86%/67.93% aa/nt identity with other orbiviruses in Pol, T2 and T13, they share >99%/90% aa/nt identities with each other (consistent with membership of the same virus species - Wallal virus). However, WALV and MUDV share <68% aa identity in their larger outer capsid protein VP2(OC1), consistent with membership of different serotypes within the species - WALV-1 and WALV-2 respectively

Evaluation of NanoLuc substrates for bioluminescence imaging of transferred cells in mice

NanoLuc luciferase recently gained popularity due to its small size and superior bioluminescence performance. For in vivo imaging applications, NanoLuc has been limited by its substrate furimazine, which has low solubility and bioavailability. Herein, we compared the performances of recently reported NanoLuc luciferase substrates for in vivo imaging in mice. Two substrates with improved aqueous solubility, hydrofurimazine and fluorofurimazine, were evaluated along with three stabilized O-acetylated furimazine analogues, the hikarazines. All 5 analogues, when tested in vitro, displayed greater signal intensity and reaction duration, in comparison to the standard NanoLuc substrate, furimazine. The two best-performing analogues from the in vitro study were selected for further in vivo testing. The NanoLuc/f

Crustal reworking and orogenic styles inferred from zircon Hf isotopes: Proterozoic examples from the North Atlantic region

Zircon Hf evolutionary patterns are powerful tools to investiage magma petrogenesis and crustal evolution. The 176Hf/177Hf isotopic signature of a rock is particularly informative and can be used to derive an estimation of the time when mantle extraction and diagnose closed system reworking where successive samples through time define an Hf evolution array dependant on the source Lu/Hf ratio. However, many magmatic events require new mantle addition as the thermal impetus for melting pre-existing crust. In this situation, rather than simply reflecting reworking, the isotopic signature indicates mixing with contributions from both reworked crust and new radiogenic input. Different geodynamic settings have different propensities for either reworking or addition of new mantle-derived magma. Hence, Hf-time trends carry within them a record, albeit cryptic, of the evolving geodynamic environment as different tectonic configurations recycle and add new crust at different rates, magnitudes, and from different sources. As an example of the difference in apparent Hf evolution slopes, we present Hf-time compilations from three geographically distinct Meso- to Neoproterozoic orogenic belts in the North Atlantic Region whose geodynamic configurations remain a subject of debate. We use the ɛHf/Ma trajectory to assist in understanding their evolution. The ɛHf/Ma trajectory of the Sveconorwegian Orogen corresponds to a 176Lu/177Hf ratio of 0.012, which implies a process driven primarily by reworking of pre-existing crust that is balanced with input from the depleted mantle resulting in a relatively shallow ɛHf/Ma slope. The Valhalla Orogen reveals a similar comparatively shallow ɛHf/Ma path. In stark contrast to these patterns is the steep ɛHf/Ma trajectory of the Grenville Orogen that requires a mixing process involving a greater contribution of old crust of at least ∼1.8 Ga age. The degree of reworking required to produce the ɛHf/Ma trend of the Grenville Orogen is consistent with a continent–continent collisional orogeny whereas both Sveconorwegian and Valhalla orogens appear more consistent with accretionary margins

Imaging of concentration distributions and hydrogen evolution on corroding magnesium exposed to aqueous environments using scanning electrochemical microscopy

Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy (SECM) is presented as an essential tool for the local characterization of the still uncertain mechanism for magnesium corrosion. The reaction leading to magnesium release and hydrogen evolution from separated magnesium cathodes and anodes has been imaged using an adequate combination of the operation modes available in SECM. Magnesium ion selective microelectrodes (Mg-ISME’s) were used for the visualization of the heterogeneously distributed release of magnesium (II) species. Antimony microelectrodes detected the pH gradients in the adjacent electrolyte resulting from either water or magnesium electrolysis, whereas platinum microdiscs were used to monitor the concomitant local evolution of hydrogen. Alkalization and H2 generation were observed over the magnesium strip polarized as cathode, whereas a small local acidification was observed above the strip polarized anodically, at which extensive heterogeneous magnesium release was also image

Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: Defining New Risk Assessment Approaches Based on Perturbation of Intracellular Toxicity Pathways

The approaches to quantitatively assessing the health risks of chemical exposure have not changed appreciably in the past 50 to 80 years, the focus remaining on high-dose studies that measure adverse outcomes in homogeneous animal populations. This expensive, low-throughput approach relies on conservative extrapolations to relate animal studies to much lower-dose human exposures and is of questionable relevance to predicting risks to humans at their typical low exposures. It makes little use of a mechanistic understanding of the mode of action by which chemicals perturb biological processes in human cells and tissues. An alternative vision, proposed by the U.S. National Research Council (NRC) report Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: A Vision and a Strategy, called for moving away from traditional high-dose animal studies to an approach based on perturbation of cellular responses using well-designed in vitro assays. Central to this vision are (a) “toxicity pathways” (the innate cellular pathways that may be perturbed by chemicals) and (b) the determination of chemical concentration ranges where those perturbations are likely to be excessive, thereby leading to adverse health effects if present for a prolonged duration in an intact organism. In this paper we briefly review the original NRC report and responses to that report over the past 3 years, and discuss how the change in testing might be achieved in the U.S. and in the European Union (EU). EU initiatives in developing alternatives to animal testing of cosmetic ingredients have run very much in parallel with the NRC report. Moving from current practice to the NRC vision would require using prototype toxicity pathways to develop case studies showing the new vision in action. In this vein, we also discuss how the proposed strategy for toxicity testing might be applied to the toxicity pathways associated with DNA damage and repair