Viral metagenomic analysis of feces of wild small carnivores

Background: Recent studies have clearly demonstrated the enormous virus diversity that exists among wild animals. This exemplifies the required expansion of our knowledge of the virus diversity present in wildlife, as well as the potential transmission of these viruses to domestic animals or humans. Methods: In the present study we evaluated the viral diversity of fecal samples (n = 42) collected from 10 different species of wild small carnivores inhabiting the northern part of Spain using random PCR in combination with next-generation sequencing. Samples were collected from American mink (Neovison vison), European mink (Mustela lutreola), European polecat (Mustela putorius), European pine marten (Martes martes), stone marten (Martes foina), Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) and Eurasian badger (Meles meles) of the family of Mustelidae; common genet (Genetta genetta) of the family of Viverridae; red fox (Vulpes vulpes) of the family of Canidae and European wild cat (Felis silvestris) of the family of Felidae. Results: A number of sequences of possible novel viruses or virus variants were detected, including a theilovirus, phleboviruses, an amdovirus, a kobuvirus and picobirnaviruses. Conclusions: Using random PCR in combination with next generation sequencing, sequences of various novel viruses or virus variants were detected in fecal samples collected from Spanish carnivores. Detected novel viruses highlight the viral diversity that is present in fecal material of wild carnivores.The authors would like to thank Peter van Run for excellent technical assistance. In addition, the authors wish to thank all the following researchers and institutions for their invaluable help during sampling and for providing the specimens used in this study, specially to Patricia Lizarraga, Ricardo Gutierrez, and Laura Elorza (Martioda Wildlife Rescue Centre-Alava Regional Council), Luis Javier Chueca (UPV-EHU), Asun Gomez (TRAGSATEC), Maddis Podra (European mink Association) and the technical staff and rangers from La Rioja Government and Alava regional council. We would like to thank also La Rioja Government (Agriculture, Livestock and Environmental Council. General Direction of Natural Environment. Nature Conservation and Planning Service) and Alava Regional Council (Department of Environment. Biodiversity Section) for providing the legal permissions required to develop this study. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007 -2013) under the project "European Management Platform for Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious disease Entities" (EMPERIE) EC grant agreement number 223498, the VIRGO Consortium and the Niedersachsen-Research Network on Neuroinfectiology (N-RENNT) of the Ministry of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony. In addition, this research has been partially funded by the Basque Government through the Research group on "Systematics, Biogeography and Population Dynamics" (Ref. IT317-10; GIC10/76). A. Ruiz-Gonzalez holds a Post doc fellowship awarded by the Department of Education, Universities and Research of the Basque Government (Ref. DKR-2012-64) and was awarded by a short visit Research grant from the ConGenOmics Research networking programme of the European Science Foundation (ESF) in order to visit the Department of Viroscience, Erasmus Medical Centre and develop the current research project

Recent unrest (2002–2015) imaged by space geodesy at the highest risk Chilean volcanoes: Villarrica, Llaima, and Calbuco (Southern Andes)

Villarrica, Llaima, and Calbuco volcanoes are the most active and dangerous volcanoes in the Southern Andes, and we use Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) observations from multiple satellites (ERS-2, ENVISAT, ALOS, RADARSAT-2, COSMO-SkyMed, TerraSAR-X, Sentinel-1A and ALOS-2) to constrain ground deformation that spans episodes of unrest and eruption at all three volcanoes between 2002 and 2015. We find episodes of ground deformation at each volcano, which we invert using analytic elastic half space models to make some of the first geophysical inferences about the source depths of potential magma chambers. At Llaima, we interpret that the VEI 2 April 3, 2009 eruption was preceded by 6–15 cm of precursory ground uplift one month before from a source 5 km below the surface on the western side of the edifice. The VEI 2 March 3, 2015 Villarrica eruption was followed by a short lived uplift of 5 cm in the SE part of the volcano from a source depth of 6 km. The VEI 4 April 22–23, 2015 Calbuco eruption produced 12 cm of coeruptive subsidence from a source depth 8–11 km and offset 2 km S from the summit. Importantly, we do not find clear evidence that the January 1, 2008, the March 3, 2015 and April 22, 2015 eruptions at Llaima, Villarrica and Calbuco volcanoes were preceded by either transient or continuous ground uplift. There are several possible explanations for the lack of precursory deformation at each volcano – it is possible that any precursory deformation occurred only hours before the eruption (e.g., at Calbuco), pre-eruptive inflation was canceled by co-eruptive subsidence (as we inferred happened during the April 2009 Llaima eruption), the pre-eruptive deformation was too small to be detectable in areas with persistent topography correlated phase delays, pressurized source are deep, or that open-vent volcanoes like Villarrica and Llaima do not pressurize. At all three volcanoes, X and C band interferograms decorrelate in a few weeks due to vegetation, snow and ice, and have persistent atmospheric phase delays that we find cannot be reliably removed with available global weather models. The low number of SAR acquisitions therefore makes it challenging to reliably measure unaliased deformation. We recommend a multi-satellite observing strategy with short repeat periods, frequently acquired high-resolution digital elevation models, and with acquisitions during every satellite overflight that may improve the temporal resolution of measurements

Recent unrest (2002–2015) imaged by space geodesy at the highest risk Chilean volcanoes: Villarrica, Llaima, and Calbuco (Southern Andes)

Villarrica, Llaima, and Calbuco volcanoes are the most active and dangerous volcanoes in the Southern Andes, and we use Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) observations from multiple satellites (ERS-2, ENVISAT, ALOS, RADARSAT-2, COSMO-SkyMed, TerraSAR-X, Sentinel-1A and ALOS-2) to constrain ground deformation that spans episodes of unrest and eruption at all three volcanoes between 2002 and 2015. We find episodes of ground deformation at each volcano, which we invert using analytic elastic half space models to make some of the first geophysical inferences about the source depths of potential magma chambers. At Llaima, we interpret that the VEI 2 April 3, 2009 eruption was preceded by 6–15 cm of precursory ground uplift one month before from a source 5 km below the surface on the western side of the edifice. The VEI 2 March 3, 2015 Villarrica eruption was followed by a short lived uplift of 5 cm in the SE part of the volcano from a source depth of 6 km. The VEI 4 April 22–23, 2015 Calbuco eruption produced 12 cm of coeruptive subsidence from a source depth 8–11 km and offset 2 km S from the summit. Importantly, we do not find clear evidence that the January 1, 2008, the March 3, 2015 and April 22, 2015 eruptions at Llaima, Villarrica and Calbuco volcanoes were preceded by either transient or continuous ground uplift. There are several possible explanations for the lack of precursory deformation at each volcano – it is possible that any precursory deformation occurred only hours before the eruption (e.g., at Calbuco), pre-eruptive inflation was canceled by co-eruptive subsidence (as we inferred happened during the April 2009 Llaima eruption), the pre-eruptive deformation was too small to be detectable in areas with persistent topography correlated phase delays, pressurized source are deep, or that open-vent volcanoes like Villarrica and Llaima do not pressurize. At all three volcanoes, X and C band interferograms decorrelate in a few weeks due to vegetation, snow and ice, and have persistent atmospheric phase delays that we find cannot be reliably removed with available global weather models. The low number of SAR acquisitions therefore makes it challenging to reliably measure unaliased deformation. We recommend a multi-satellite observing strategy with short repeat periods, frequently acquired high-resolution digital elevation models, and with acquisitions during every satellite overflight that may improve the temporal resolution of measurements

Implications of the Molybdenum Coordination Environment in MFI Zeolites on Methane Dehydroaromatisation Performance

The structure and activity of Mo/Silicalite‐1 (MFI, Si/Al=∞) were compared to Mo/H‐ZSM‐5 (MFI, Si/Al=15), a widely studied catalyst for methane dehydroaromatisation (MDA). The anchoring mode of Mo was evaluated by in situ X‐ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and density functional theory (DFT). The results showed that in Mo/Silicalite‐1, calcination leads to dispersion of MoO3 precursor into tetrahedral Mo‐oxo species in close proximity to the microporous framework. A weaker interaction of the Mo‐oxo species with the Silicalite‐1 was determined by XAS and DFT. While both catalysts are active for MDA, Mo/Silicalite‐1 undergoes rapid deactivation which was attributed to a faster sintering of Mo species leading to the accumulation of carbon deposits on the zeolite outer surface. The results shed light onto the nature of the Mo structure(s) while evidencing the importance of framework Al in stabilising active Mo species under MDA conditions

Utility of Gene Panels for the Diagnosis of Inborn Errors of Metabolism in a Metabolic Reference Center

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have been proposed as a first-line test for the diagnosis of inborn errors of metabolism (IEM), a group of genetically heterogeneous disorders with overlapping or nonspecific phenotypes. Over a 3-year period, we prospectively analyzed 311 pediatric patients with a suspected IEM using four targeted gene panels. The rate of positive diagnosis was 61.86% for intermediary metabolism defects, 32.84% for complex molecular defects, 19% for hypoglycemic/hyperglycemic events, and 17% for mitochondrial diseases, and a conclusive molecular diagnosis was established in 2-4 weeks. Forty-one patients for whom negative results were obtained with the mitochondrial diseases panel underwent subsequent analyses using the NeuroSeq panel, which groups all genes from the individual panels together with genes associated with neurological disorders (1870 genes in total). This achieved a diagnostic rate of 32%. We next evaluated the utility of a tool, Phenomizer, for differential diagnosis, and established a correlation between phenotype and molecular findings in 39.3% of patients. Finally, we evaluated the mutational architecture of the genes analyzed by determining z-scores, loss-of-function observed/expected upper bound fraction (LOEUF), and haploinsufficiency (HI) scores. In summary, targeted gene panels for specific groups of IEMs enabled rapid and effective diagnosis, which is critical for the therapeutic management of IEM patients.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Spatiotemporal correlations of handset-based service usages

We study spatiotemporal correlations and temporal diversities of handset-based service usages by analyzing a dataset that includes detailed information about locations and service usages of 124 users over 16 months. By constructing the spatiotemporal trajectories of the users we detect several meaningful places or contexts for each one of them and show how the context affects the service usage patterns. We find that temporal patterns of service usages are bound to the typical weekly cycles of humans, yet they show maximal activities at different times. We first discuss their temporal correlations and then investigate the time-ordering behavior of communication services like calls being followed by the non-communication services like applications. We also find that the behavioral overlap network based on the clustering of temporal patterns is comparable to the communication network of users. Our approach provides a useful framework for handset-based data analysis and helps us to understand the complexities of information and communications technology enabled human behavior.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figure

Understanding the Deactivation Phenomena of Small-Pore Mo/H-SSZ-13 during Methane Dehydroaromatisation

Small pore zeolites have shown great potential in a number of catalytic reactions. While Mo-containing medium pore zeolites have been widely studied for methane dehydroaromatisation (MDA), the use of small pore supports has drawn limited attention due to the fast deactivation of the catalyst. This work investigates the structure of the small pore Mo/H-SSZ-13 during catalyst preparation and reaction by operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), in situ synchrotron powder diffraction (SPD), and electron microscopy; then, the results are compared with the medium pore Mo/H-ZSM-5. While SPD suggests that during catalyst preparation, part of the MoOx anchors inside the pores, Mo dispersion and subsequent ion exchange was less effective in the small pore catalyst, resulting in the formation of mesopores and Al2(MOO4)3 particles. Unlike Mo/H-ZSM-5, part of the Mo species in Mo/H-SSZ-13 undergoes full reduction to Mo0 during MDA, whereas characterisation of the spent catalyst indicates that differences also exist in the nature of the formed carbon deposits. Hence, the different Mo speciation and the low performance on small pore zeolites can be attributed to mesopores formation during calcination and the ineffective ion exchange into well dispersed Mo-oxo sites. The results open the scope for the optimisation of synthetic routes to explore the potential of small pore topologies

The Cochrane Skin Group: a vanguard for developing and promoting evidence-based dermatology

Aim The Cochrane Skin Group (CSG) is part of the international Cochrane Collaboration (http://www.cochrane.org/). The CSG prepares, maintains and disseminates high quality evidence-based summaries on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of skin diseases. We present a synopsis of the history, scope and priorities of the CSG. In addition, we report outcomes of CSG reviews and critically assess clinical value. Methods Descriptive analysis of systematic reviews published by the CSG since its inception including output, impact factor, associated methodological studies, and influence in clinical guidelines, promoting patient and public engagement and in triggering new primary research. Results The CSG started in 1997, and has published 61 reviews, 34 protocols and 31 registered titles by August 2013. The CSG scope includes 1000 skin diseases; 80% of reviews cover the top ten diagnoses and 40% of reviews provide clear guidance for clinical practice. CSG reviews had an impact factor of 6.1 in 2011 which places it alongside top dermatology journals. CSG reviews are typically broad in focus and have been shown to be of better quality than non-Cochrane reviews. They are highly cited in clinical guidelines. Several reviews have identified evidence gaps that have led to better primary research. Conclusions The CSG has emerged as a vanguard of evidence-based dermatology by growing a community interested in applying best external evidence to the care of skin patients and by identifying topics for research. CSG reviews are high impact, clinically relevant and have tangibly influenced international dermatology clinical practice guidelines and new research

Comparative serology techniques for the diagnosis of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in a rural population from the state of Querétaro, Mexico

Immunological diagnostic methods for Trypanosoma cruzi depend specifically on the presence of antibodies and parasitological methods lack sensitivity during the chronic and “indeterminate” stages of the disease. This study performed a serological survey of 1,033 subjects from 52 rural communities in 12 of the 18 municipalities in the state of Querétaro, Mexico. We detected anti-T. cruzi antibodies using the following tests: indirect haemagglutination assay (IHA), indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA), ELISA and recombinant ELISA (rELISA). We also performed Western blot (WB) analysis using iron superoxide dismutase (FeSOD), a detoxifying enzyme excreted by the parasite, as the antigen. Positive test results were distributed as follows: ELISA 8%, rELISA 6.2%, IFA and IHA 5.4% in both cases and FeSOD 8%. A comparative study of the five tests was undertaken. Sensitivity levels, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, concordance percentage and kappa index were considered. Living with animals, trips to other communities, gender, age, type of housing and symptomatology at the time of the survey were statistically analysed using SPSS software v.11.5. Detection of the FeSOD enzyme that was secreted by the parasite and used as an antigenic fraction in WBs showed a 100% correlation with traditional ELISA tests