Combating SARS-CoV-2: Leveraging microbicidal experiences with other emerging/re-emerging viruses

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Wuhan City, China, late in December 2019 is another example of an emerging zoonotic virus that threatens public health and international travel and commerce. When such a virus emerges, there is often insufficient specific information available on mechanisms of virus dissemination from animal to human or from person to person, on the level or route of infection transmissibility or of viral release in body secretions/excretions, and on the survival of virus in aerosols or on surfaces. The effectiveness of available virucidal agents and hygiene practices as interventions for disrupting the spread of infection and the associated diseases may not be clear for the emergent virus. In the present review, we recommend approaches for infection prevention and control for SARS-CoV-2 which can be invoked based on pre-existing data on microbicidal and hygiene effectiveness for related and unrelated enveloped viruse

Insulin, Ascorbate, and Glucose Have a Much Greater Influence Than Transferrin and Selenous Acid on the In Vitro Growth of Engineered Cartilage in Chondrogenic Media

The primary goal of this study was to characterize the response of chondrocyte-seeded agarose constructs to varying concentrations of several key nutrients in a chondrogenic medium, within the overall context of optimizing the key nutrients and the placement of nutrient channels for successful growth of cartilage tissue constructs large enough to be clinically relevant in the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA). To this end, chondrocyte-agarose constructs (phi4x2.34 mm, 30x106 cells/mL) were subjected to varying supplementation levels of insulin (0× to 30× relative to standard supplementation), transferrin (0x to 30x), selenous acid (0x to 10x), ascorbate (0x to 30x), and glucose (0x to 3x). The quality of resulting engineered tissue constructs was evaluated by their compressive modulus (E-Y), tensile modulus (E+Y), hydraulic permeability (k), and content of sulfated glycosaminoglycans (sGAG) and collagen (COL); DNA content was also quantified. Three control groups from two separate castings of constructs (1x concentrations of all medium constituents) were used. After 42 days of culture, values in each of these controls were, respectively, E-Y=518 plus or minus 78, 401 plus or minus 113, 236 plus or minus 67 kPa; E+Y=1420 plus or minus 430, 1140 plus or minus 490, 1240 plus or minus 280 kPa; k=2.3 plus or minus 0.8x10-3, 5.4 plus or minus 7.0x10-3, 3.3 plus or minus 1.3x10-3 mm4/N times s; sGAG=7.8 plus or minus 0.3, 6.3 plus or minus 0.4, 4.1 plus or minus 0.5%/ww; COL=1.3 plus or minus 0.2, 1.1 plus or minus 0.3, 1.4 plus or minus 0.4%/ww; and DNA=11.5 plus or minus 2.2, 12.1 plus or minus 0.6, 5.2 plus or minus 2.8 μg/disk. The presence of insulin and ascorbate was essential, but their concentrations may drop as low as 0.3x without detrimental effects on any of the measured properties; excessive supplementation of ascorbate (up to 30x) was detrimental to E-Y, and 30x insulin was detrimental to both E+Y and E-Y. The presence of glucose was similarly essential, and matrix elaboration was significantly dependent on its concentration (p less than 10-6), with loss of functional properties, composition, and cellularity observed at less than or equal to 0.3x; excessive glucose supplementation (up to 3x) showed no detrimental effects. In contrast, transferrin and selenous acid had no influence on matrix elaboration. These findings suggest that adequate distributions of insulin, ascorbate, and glucose, but not necessarily of transferrin and selenous acid, must be ensured within large engineered cartilage constructs to produce a viable substitute for joint tissue lost due to OA

Resection of the liver for colorectal carcinoma metastases - A multi-institutional study of long-term survivors

In this review of a collected series of patients undergoing hepatic resection for colorectal metastases, 100 patients were found to have survived greater than five years from the time of resection. Of these 100 long-term survivors, 71 remain disease-free through the last follow-up, 19 recurred prior to five years, and ten recurred after five years. Patient characteristics that may have contributed to survival were examined. Procedures performed included five trisegmentectomies, 32 lobectomies, 16 left lateral segmentectomies, and 45 wedge resections. The margin of resection was recorded in 27 patients, one of whom had a positive margin, nine of whom had a less than or equal to 1-cm margin, and 17 of whom had a greater than 1-cm margin. Eighty-one patients had a solitary metastasis to the liver, 11 patients had two metastases, one patient had three metastases, and four patients had four metastases. Thirty patients had Stage C primary carcinoma, 40 had Stage B primary carcinoma, and one had Stage A primarycarcinoma. The disease-free interval from the time of colon resection to the time of liver resection was less than one year in 65 patients, and greater than one year in 34 patients. Three patients had bilobar metastases. Four of the patients had extrahepatic disease resected simultaneously with the liver resection. Though several contraindications to hepatic resection have been proposed in the past, five-year survival has been found in patients with extrahepatic disease resected simultaneously, patients with bilobar metastases, patients with multiple metastases, and patients with positive margins. Five-year disease-free survivors are also present in each of these subsets. It is concluded that five-year survival is possible in the presence of reported contraindications to resection, and therefore that the decision to resect the liver must be individualized. © 1988 American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons

Star formation in quasar hosts and the origin of radio emission in radio-quiet quasars

This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society following peer review. The version of record [Nadia L. Zakamska, et al., 'Star formation in quasar hosts and the origin of radio emission in radio-quiet quasars', MNRAS, 455(4): 4191-4211, first published online December 4, 2015, is available online via doi: 10.1093/mnras/stv2571 Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. Copyright 2015 The AuthorsRadio emission from radio-quiet quasars may be due to star formation in the quasar host galaxy, to a jet launched by the supermassive black hole, or to relativistic particles accelerated in a wide-angle radiatively driven outflow. In this paper, we examine whether radio emission from radio-quiet quasars is a byproduct of star formation in their hosts. To this end, we use infrared spectroscopy and photometry from Spitzer and Herschel to estimate or place upper limits on star formation rates in hosts of ∼300 obscured and unobscured quasars at z < 1. We find that low-ionization forbidden emission lines such as [Ne II] and [Ne III] are likely dominated by quasar ionization and do not provide reliable star formation diagnostics in quasar hosts, while polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission features may be suppressed due to the destruction of PAH molecules by the quasar radiation field. While the bolometric luminosities of our sources are dominated by the quasars, the 160 μm fluxes are likely dominated by star formation, but they too should be used with caution. We estimate median star formation rates to be 6–29 M yr−1, with obscured quasars at the high end of this range. This star formation rate is insufficient to explain the observed radio emission from quasars by an order of magnitude, with log (Lradio, obs/Lradio, SF) = 0.6–1.3 depending on quasar type and star formation estimator. Although radio-quiet quasars in our sample lie close to the 8–1000 μm infrared/radio correlation characteristic of the star-forming galaxies, both their infrared emission and their radio emission are dominated by the quasar activity, not by the host galaxy.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Co-activation: its association with weakness and specific neurological pathology

BACKGROUND: Net agonist muscle strength is in part determined by the degree of antagonist co-activation. The level of co-activation might vary in different neurological disorders causing weakness or might vary with agonist strength. AIM: This study investigated whether antagonist co-activation changed a) with the degree of muscle weakness and b) with the nature of the neurological lesion causing weakness. METHODS: Measures of isometric quadriceps and hamstrings strength were obtained. Antagonist (hamstring) co-activation during knee extension was calculated as a ratio of hamstrings over quadriceps activity both during an isometric and during a functional sit to stand (STS) task (using kinematics) in groups of patients with extrapyramidal (n = 15), upper motor neuron (UMN) (n = 12), lower motor neuron (LMN) with (n = 18) or without (n = 12) sensory loss, primary muscle or neuromuscular junction disorder (n = 17) and in healthy matched controls (n = 32). Independent t-tests or Mann Witney U tests were used to compare between the groups. Correlations between variables were also investigated. RESULTS: In healthy subjects mean (SD) co-activation of hamstrings during isometric knee extension was 11.8 (6.2)% and during STS was 20.5 (12.9)%. In patients, co-activation ranged from 7 to 17% during isometric knee extension and 15 to 25% during STS. Only the extrapyramidal group had lower co-activation levels than healthy matched controls (p < 0.05). Agonist isometric muscle strength and co-activation correlated only in muscle disease (r = -0.6, p < 0.05) and during STS in UMN disorders (r = -0.7, p < 0.5). CONCLUSION: It is concluded that antagonist co-activation does not systematically vary with the site of neurological pathology when compared to healthy matched controls or, in most patient groups, with strength. The lower co-activation levels found in the extrapyramidal group require confirmation and further investigation. Co-activation may be relevant to individuals with muscle weakness. Within patient serial studies in the presence of changing muscle strength may help to understand these relationships more clearly

Lichen flora of Žumberak-Samoborsko gorje Nature Park, NW Croatia

During 2007 and 2008 epiphytic and terrestrial lichen communities were surveyed in the Žumberak-Samoborsko gorje Nature Park (NW Croatia); 84 taxa were recorded including, Lecanora thysanophora, which was new to Croatia, and four, Bryoria fuscescens, Lobaria pulmonaria, Usnea subfloridana and Usnea hirta, which are red data species in Croatia

Protein Phosphatase-1α Interacts with and Dephosphorylates Polycystin-1

Polycystin signaling is likely to be regulated by phosphorylation. While a number of potential protein kinases and their target phosphorylation sites on polycystin-1 have been identified, the corresponding phosphatases have not been extensively studied. We have now determined that polycystin-1 is a regulatory subunit for protein phosphatase-1α (PP1α). Sequence analysis has revealed the presence of a highly conserved PP1-interaction motif in the cytosolic, C-terminal tail of polycystin-1; and we have shown that transfected PP1α specifically co-immunoprecipitates with a polycystin-1 C-tail construct. To determine whether PP1α dephosphorylates polycystin-1, a PKA-phosphorylated GST-polycystin-1 fusion protein was shown to be dephosphorylated by PP1α but not by PP2B (calcineurin). Mutations within the PP1-binding motif of polycystin-1, including an autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD)-associated mutation, significantly reduced PP1α-mediated dephosphorylation of polycystin-1. The results suggest that polycystin-1 forms a holoenzyme complex with PP1α via a conserved PP1-binding motif within the polycystin-1 C-tail, and that PKA-phosphorylated polycystin-1 serves as a substrate for the holoenzyme

Vascular clamping in liver surgery: physiology, indications and techniques

This article reviews the historical evolution of hepatic vascular clamping and their indications. The anatomic basis for partial and complete vascular clamping will be discussed, as will the rationales of continuous and intermittent vascular clamping

Extremely Low Genetic Diversity Indicating the Endangered Status of Ranodon sibiricus (Amphibia: Caudata) and Implications for Phylogeography

Background: The Siberian salamander (Ranodon sibiricus), distributed in geographically isolated areas of Central Asia, is an ideal alpine species for studies of conservation and phylogeography. However, there are few data regarding the genetic diversity in R. sibiricus populations. Methodology/Principal Findings: We used two genetic markers (mtDNA and microsatellites) to survey all six populations of R. sibiricus in China. Both of the markers revealed extreme genetic uniformity among these populations. There were only three haplotypes in the mtDNA, and the overall nucleotide diversity in the mtDNA was 0.00064, ranging from 0.00000 to 0.00091 for the six populations. Although we recovered 70 sequences containing microsatellite repeats, there were only two loci that displayed polymorphism. We used the approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) method to study the demographic history of the populations. This analysis suggested that the extant populations diverged from the ancestral population approximately 120 years ago and that the historical population size was much larger than the present population size; i.e., R. sibiricus has experienced dramatic population declines. Conclusion/Significance: Our findings suggest that the genetic diversity in the R. sibiricus populations is the lowest among all investigated amphibians. We conclude that the isolation of R. sibiricus populations occurred recently and was a result of recent human activity and/or climatic changes. The Pleistocene glaciation oscillations may have facilitated intraspecie