Complete genome sequence of an emergent recombinant GII. P16-GII. 2 norovirus strain associated with an epidemic spread in the winter of 2016-2017 in Hong Kong, China

A new recombinant norovirus, GII.P16-GII.2, emerged in the winter of 2016-2017. Here, we report the complete genome of this strain (Hu/GII/HK/2016/GII.P16-GII.2/CUHK-NS-1082), which was collected from a patient hospitalized with gastroenteritis in September 2016 in Hong Kong, China, and sequenced using next-generation sequencing. This genome had a 95.2% nucleotide identity to the closest sequence in GenBank

A Thiazole Orange Derivative Targeting the Bacterial Protein FtsZ Shows Potent Antibacterial Activity.

The prevalence of multidrug resistance among clinically significant bacteria calls for the urgent development of new antibiotics with novel mechanisms of action. In this study, a new small molecule exhibiting excellent inhibition of bacterial cell division with potent antibacterial activity was discovered through cell-based screening. The compound exhibits a broad spectrum of bactericidal activity, including the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus and NDM-1 Escherichia coli. The in vitro and in vivo results suggested that this compound disrupts the dynamic assembly of FtsZ protein and Z-ring formation through stimulating FtsZ polymerization. Moreover, this compound exhibits no activity on mammalian tubulin polymerization and shows low cytotoxicity on mammalian cells. Taken together, these findings could provide a new chemotype for development of antibacterials with FtsZ as the target

Increased Detection of Emergent Recombinant Norovirus GII.P16-GII.2 Strains in Young Adults, Hong Kong, China, 2016–2017

A new recombinant norovirus GII.P16-GII.2 outnumbered pandemic GII.4 as the predominant GII genotype in the winter of 2016–2017 in Hong Kong, China. Half of hospitalized case-patients were older children and adults, including 13 young adults. This emergent norovirus targets a wider age population compared with circulating pandemic GII.4 strains

An expert consensus for the management of chronic hepatitis B in Asian Americans.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is common with major clinical consequences. In Asian Americans, the HBsAg carrier rate ranges from 2% to 16% which approximates the rates from their countries of origin. Similarly, HBV is the most important cause of cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver related deaths in HBsAg positive Asians worldwide. AIM: To generate recommendations for the management of Asian Americans infected with HBV. METHODS: These guidelines are based on relevant data derived from medical reports on HBV from Asian countries as well as from studies in the HBsAg positive Asian Americans. The guidelines herein differ from other recommendations in the treatment of both HBeAg positive and negative chronic hepatitis B (CHB), in the approach to HCC surveillance, and in the management of HBV in pregnant women. RESULTS: Asian American patients, HBeAg positive or negative, with HBV DNA levels \u3e2000 IU/mL (\u3e10 CONCLUSIONS: Application of the recommendations made based on a review of the relevant literature and the opinion of a panel of Asian American physicians with expertise in HBV treatment will inform physicians and improve patient outcomes

Update on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of chronic hepatitis B: AASLD 2018 hepatitis B guidance

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142904/1/hep29800.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142904/2/hep29800_am.pd

Identification of microbial community in the urban environment: The concordance between conventional culture and nanopore 16S rRNA sequencing

IntroductionMicrobes in the built environment have been implicated as a source of infectious diseases. Bacterial culture is the standard method for assessing the risk of exposure to pathogens in urban environments, but this method only accounts for <1% of the diversity of bacteria. Recently, full-length 16S rRNA gene analysis using nanopore sequencing has been applied for microbial evaluations, resulting in a rise in the development of long-read taxonomic tools for species-level classification. Regarding their comparative performance, there is, however, a lack of information.MethodsHere, we aim to analyze the concordance of the microbial community in the urban environment inferred by multiple taxonomic classifiers, including ARGpore2, Emu, Kraken2/Bracken and NanoCLUST, using our 16S-nanopore dataset generated by MegaBLAST, as well as assess their abilities to identify culturable species based on the conventional culture results.ResultsAccording to our results, NanoCLUST was preferred for 16S microbial profiling because it had a high concordance of dominant species and a similar microbial profile to MegaBLAST, whereas Kraken2/Bracken, which had similar clustering results as NanoCLUST, was also desirable. Second, for culturable species identification, Emu with the highest accuracy (81.2%) and F1 score (29%) for the detection of culturable species was suggested.DiscussionIn addition to generating datasets in complex communities for future benchmarking studies, our comprehensive evaluation of the taxonomic classifiers offers recommendations for ongoing microbial community research, particularly for complex communities using nanopore 16S rRNA sequencing

Large Fragment Pre-S Deletion and High Viral Load Independently Predict Hepatitis B Relapse after Liver Transplantation

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) associated end-stage liver diseases are the leading causes of liver transplantation (LT) in Taiwan. Relapse of hepatitis B occurs after LT, raising the risk of graft failure and reducing patient survival. Although several oral antiviral agents have been approved for anti-HBV treatment, lamivudine (LAM) remained to be the most widely used preventive regimen in Taiwan. While several clinical predictors have been identified for hepatitis B relapse, the predictive roles of the histopathological characteristics in liver explants as well as the genotypic features of the viruses in pre-LT serum samples have not been assessed. Between September 2002 and August 2009, 150 consecutive hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive patients undergoing LT were included for outcome analysis following assessment of the clinicopathological and virological factors prior to LT. Kaplan-Meier analyses discovered that pre-operative LAM treatment ≤3 months; membranous distribution and higher expression of tissue HBsAg in liver explants; preoperative viral load ≧106 copies/ml; and presence of large fragment (>100 base pairs) pre-S deletion (LFpreSDel) correlated significantly with hepatitis B relapse. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the presence of LFpreSDel (P = 0.001) and viral load ≧106 copies/mL (P = 0.023) were independent predictors for hepatitis B relapse. In conclusion, besides high viral load, LFpreSDel mutation is an important independent predictor for hepatitis B relapse after LT. More aggressive preventive strategies should be applied for patients carrying these risk factors

A human PrM antibody that recognizes a novel cryptic epitope on dengue E glycoprotein

10.1371/journal.pone.0033451PLoS ONE74

Mitochondrial Uncoupling Protein-2 (UCP2) Mediates Leptin Protection Against MPP+ Toxicity in Neuronal Cells

Mitochondrial dysfunction is involved in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease (PD). Uncoupling proteins (UCPs) delink ATP production from biofuel oxidation in mitochondria to reduce oxidative stress. UCP2 is expressed in brain, and has neuroprotective effects under various toxic insults. We observed induction of UCP2 expression by leptin in neuronal cultures, and hypothesize that leptin may preserve neuronal survival via UCP2. We showed that leptin preserved cell survival in neuronal SH-SY5Y cells against MPP+ toxicity (widely used in experimental Parkinsonian models) by maintaining ATP levels and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP); these effects were accompanied by increased UCP2 expression. Leptin had no effect in modulating reactive oxygen species levels. Stable knockdown of UCP2 expression reduced ATP levels, and abolished leptin protection against MPP+-induced mitochondrial depolarization, ATP deficiency, and cell death, indicating that UCP2 is critical in mediating these neuroprotective effects of leptin against MPP+ toxicity. Interestingly, UCP2 knockdown increased UCP4 expression, but not of UCP5. Our findings show that leptin preserves cell survival by maintaining MMP and ATP levels mediated through UCP2 in MPP+-induced toxicity

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data