Cryotomography of budding influenza a virus reveals filaments with diverse morphologies that mostly do not bear a genome at their distal end

Influenza viruses exhibit striking variations in particle morphology between strains. Clinical isolates of influenza A virus have been shown to produce long filamentous particles while laboratory-adapted strains are predominantly spherical. However, the role of the filamentous phenotype in the influenza virus infectious cycle remains undetermined. We used cryo-electron tomography to conduct the first three-dimensional study of filamentous virus ultrastructure in particles budding from infected cells. Filaments were often longer than 10 microns and sometimes had bulbous heads at their leading ends, some of which contained tubules we attribute to M1 while none had recognisable ribonucleoprotein (RNP) and hence genome segments. Long filaments that did not have bulbs were infrequently seen to bear an ordered complement of RNPs at their distal ends. Imaging of purified virus also revealed diverse filament morphologies; short rods (bacilliform virions) and longer filaments. Bacilliform virions contained an ordered complement of RNPs while longer filamentous particles were narrower and mostly appeared to lack this feature, but often contained fibrillar material along their entire length. The important ultrastructural differences between these diverse classes of particles raise the possibility of distinct morphogenetic pathways and functions during the infectious process

The burden of diabetes mellitus during pregnancy in low- and middle-income countries : a systematic review

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Review of Large Carnivore Conservation: Integrating Science and Policy in the North American West

The management and conservation of large carnivores is of worldwide concern and is as much about human values, interactions, and governance as carnivore biology. Susan Clark and Murray Rutherford continue their work on coexisting with large carnivores ( Clark et al. 2005 ) with a new edited volume Large Carnivore Conservation: Integrating Science and Policy in the North American West . Large Carnivore Conservation that expands on the same themes as their previous work with case studies from Arizona to the Yukon. While focusing on the North American West, Clark and Rutherford hope to provide a holistic approach to carnivore management in general

Constructing public health policies in post crisis countries: lessons to learn from the associations between free-sugars consumption and diabetes, obesity and dental caries before, during and after sanctions in Iraq.

BACKGROUND: This article aims to provide evidence for an informed public health policy on free-sugar consumption in post-crisis countries. METHODS: Iraq was selected as a case study. A systematic search for published data on the prevalence/incidence of type-2 diabetes, overweight/obesity, dental caries and free-sugar consumption levels in Iraq was conducted using MEDLINE, the Iraqi Academic Scientific journals and relevant international organisations' websites. Comparable data before (1980-1990), during (1991-2002) and after (2003-2015) the United Nations sanctions (UNS) were included. RESULTS: Ten studies were included. Quality scores ranged between 3 and 7/8. Free-sugar consumption decreased dramatically during the UNS (from 50 to 16.3 kg/person/year) and started increasing afterwards (24.1 kg/person/year). Changes in type-2 diabetes, overweight/obesity and caries levels mirrored those of free-sugar consumption. Caries declined markedly during UNS and started increasing afterwards. Comparable data on diabetes and overweight/obesity were only available for the periods during and after the UNS. Both of these conditions started increasing with increased free-sugar consumption after lifting the UNS. CONCLUSIONS: There is a need to develop a public health policy in post-crisis countries to maintain the reduction in free-sugar consumption, and hence promote both general and dental health, by integrating the common risk factor approach into the social determinant framework

Wakefield Generation in Hydrogen and Lithium Plasmas at FACET-II: Diagnostics and First Beam-Plasma Interaction Results

Plasma Wakefield Acceleration (PWFA) provides ultrahigh acceleration gradients of 10s of GeV/m, providing a novel path towards efficient, compact, TeV-scale linear colliders and high brightness free electron lasers. Critical to the success of these applications is demonstrating simultaneously high gradient acceleration, high energy transfer efficiency, and preservation of emittance, charge, and energy spread. Experiments at the FACET-II National User Facility at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory aim to achieve all of these milestones in a single stage plasma wakefield accelerator, providing a 10 GeV energy gain in a <1 m plasma with high energy transfer efficiency. Such a demonstration depends critically on diagnostics able to measure emittance with mm-mrad accuracy, energy spectra to determine both %-level energy spread and broadband energy gain and loss, incoming longitudinal phase space, and matching dynamics. This paper discusses the experimental setup at FACET-II, including the incoming beam parameters from the FACET-II linac, plasma sources, and diagnostics developed to meet this challenge. Initial progress on the generation of beam ionized wakes in meter-scale hydrogen gas is discussed, as well as commissioning of the plasma sources and diagnostics

Cryo-Electron Tomography of Marburg Virus Particles and Their Morphogenesis within Infected Cells

Ultrastructural analysis of a filovirus assembling within infected eukaryotic cells reveals differences in structure and assembly mechanisms between related RNA viruses

Psychopathic Traits of Dutch Adolescents in Residential Care: Identifying Subgroups

The present study examined whether a sample of 214 (52.8% male, M age = 15.76, SD = 1.29) institutionalized adolescents could be classified into subgroups based on psychopathic traits. Confirmatory Factor Analyses revealed a relationship between the subscales of the Youth Psychopathic traits Inventory (YPI) and the three latent constructs of the original model on which it is based. Latent Class Analyses showed that adolescents showing psychopathic traits could be classified into three subgroups. The first group showed low scores on the grandiose/manipulative dimension, the callous/unemotional dimension, and the impulsive/irresponsible dimension (normal group). The second group scored moderate on the grandiose/manipulative dimension and the callous/unemotional dimension and high on the impulsive/irresponsible dimension (impulsive, non-psychopathic-like group). The third group scored high on all three dimensions (psychopathy-like group). The findings revealed that the impulsive, non-psychopathic like group scored significantly higher on internalizing problem behavior compared to the normal group, while the psychopathy-like and the impulsive, non-psychopathic-like group both scored higher on externalizing problem behavior compared to the normal group. Based on a self-report delinquency measure, it appeared that the psychopathy-like group had the highest delinquency rates, except for vandalism. Both the impulsive and psychopathy-like group had the highest scores on the use of soft drugs

MRSA prevalence in european healthcare settings: a review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>During the past two decades, methicillin-resistant <it>Staphylococcus aureus </it>(MRSA) has become increasingly common as a source of nosocomial infections. Most studies of MRSA surveillance were performed during outbreaks, so that results are not applicable to settings in which MRSA is endemic. This paper gives an overview of MRSA prevalence in hospitals and other healthcare institutions in non-outbreak situations in Western Europe.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A keyword search was conducted in the Medline database (2000 through June 2010). Titles and abstracts were screened to identify studies on MRSA prevalence in patients in non-outbreak situations in European healthcare facilities. Each study was assessed using seven quality criteria (outcome definition, time unit, target population, participants, observer bias, screening procedure, swabbing sites) and categorized as 'good', 'fair', or 'poor'.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>31 observational studies were included in the review. Four of the studies were of good quality. Surveillance screening of MRSA was performed in long-term care (11 studies) and acute care (20 studies). Prevalence rates varied over a wide range, from less than 1% to greater than 20%. Prevalence in the acute care and long-term care settings was comparable. The prevalence of MRSA was expressed in various ways - the percentage of MRSA among patients (range between 1% and 24%), the percentage of MRSA among <it>S. aureus </it>isolates (range between 5% and 54%), and as the prevalence density (range between 0.4 and 4 MRSA cases per 1,000 patient days). The screening policy differed with respect to time points (on admission or during hospital stay), selection criteria (all admissions or patients at high risk for MRSA) and anatomical sampling sites.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This review underlines the methodological differences between studies of MRSA surveillance. For comparisons between different healthcare settings, surveillance methods and outcome calculations should be standardized.</p