Structural conservation of Lassa virus glycoproteins and recognition by neutralizing antibodies

Lassa fever is an acute hemorrhagic fever caused by the zoonotic Lassa virus (LASV). The LASV glycoprotein complex (GPC) mediates viral entry and is the sole target for neutralizing antibodies. Immunogen design is complicated by the metastable nature of recombinant GPCs and the antigenic differences among phylogenetically distinct LASV lineages. Despite the sequence diversity of the GPC, structures of most lineages are lacking. We present the development and characterization of prefusion-stabilized, trimeric GPCs of LASV lineages II, V, and VII, revealing structural conservation despite sequence diversity. High-resolution structures and biophysical characterization of the GPC in complex with GP1-A-specific antibodies suggest their neutralization mechanisms. Finally, we present the isolation and characterization of a trimer-preferring neutralizing antibody belonging to the GPC-B competition group with an epitope that spans adjacent protomers and includes the fusion peptide. Our work provides molecular detail information on LASV antigenic diversity and will guide efforts to design pan-LASV vaccines

Web 2.0 Social Networks: The Role of Trust

online social networks, privacy, security, social capital, social networking, sources of trust, trust, value, Web 2.0 environment,

Cascades on online social networks: a chronological account

Online social network platforms have served as a substantial venue for research, offering a plethora of data that can be analysed to cultivate insights about the way humans behave and interact within the virtual borders of these platforms. In addition to generating content, these platforms provide the means to spread content via built-in functionalities. The traces of the spreading content and the individuals’ incentives behind such behaviour are all parts of a phenomenon known as information diffusion. This phenomenon has been extensively studied in the literature from different perspectives, one of which is cascades: the traces of the spreading content. These traces form structures that link users to each other, where these links represent the direction of information flow between the users. In fact, cascades have served as an artefact to study the information diffusion processes on online social networks. In this paper, we present a survey of cascades; we consider their definitions and significance. We then look into their topology and what information is used to construct them and how the type of content and the platform can consequently affect cascades’ networks. Additionally, we present a survey of the structural and temporal features of cascades; we categorise them, define them and explain their significance, as these features serve as quantifiers to understand and overcome the complex nature of cascades