The Production of Antibody by Invading B Cells Is Required for the Clearance of Rabies Virus from the Central Nervous System

Every year over 50,000 people die from rabies worldwide, primarily due to the poor availability of rabies vaccine in developing countries. However, even when vaccines are available, human deaths from rabies occur if exposure to the causative virus is not recognized and vaccination is not sought in time. This is because rabies virus immunity induced by the natural infection or current vaccines is generally not effective at removing disease-causing rabies virus from brain tissues. Our studies provide insight into why this is the case and how vaccination can be changed so that the immune response can clear the virus from brain tissues. We show that the type of immune response induced by a live-attenuated rabies virus vaccine may be the key. In animal models, live-attenuated rabies virus vaccines are effective at delivering the immune cells capable of clearing the virus into CNS tissues and promote recovery from a rabies virus infection that has spread to the brain while conventional vaccines based on killed rabies virus do not. The production of rabies-specific antibody by B cells that invade the CNS tissues is important for complete elimination of the virus. We hypothesize that similar mechanisms may promote rabies virus clearance from individuals who are diagnosed after the virus has reached, but not extensively spread, through the CNS

Automated Defect Detection For Masonry Arch Bridges

The condition of masonry arch bridges is predominantly monitored with manual visual inspection. This process has been found to be subjective, relying on an inspection engineer’s interpretation of the condition of the structure. This paper initially presents a workflow that has been developed that can be used by a future automated bridge monitoring system to determine underlying faults in a bridge and suggest appropriate remedial action based on a set of detectable symptoms. This workflow has been used to identify the main classes of defects that an automated visual detection system for masonry should be capable of detecting. Subsequently, a convolutional neural network is used to classify these identified defect classes from images of masonry. As the mortar joints in the masonry are more distinctive than the defects being sought, their effect on the performance of an automated defect classifier is investigated. Compared to classifying all the regions of the masonry with a single classifier, it is found that where the mortar and brick regions have been classified separately, defect and defect free areas of the masonry have been predicted both with more confidence and with better accuracy

Invasive Group B Streptococcal Disease in the Elderly, Minnesota, USA, 2003–2007

In Minnesota, incidence of invasive group B streptococcal disease was 3 times greater in older adults in long-term care facilities than in older adults in community settings (67.7/100,000 vs. 21.4/100,000) during 2003–2007. The overall case-fatality rate was 6.8%, and concurrent conditions were common among both groups

Characterization of invasive and colonizing isolates of Streptococcus agalactiae in East African adults

Ninety-five colonizing isolates and 74 invasive isolates of Streptococcus agalactiae from Kenyan adults were characterized by using capsular serotyping and multilocus sequence typing. Twenty-two sequence types clustering into five clonal complexes were found. Data support the view that S. agalactiae isolates belonging to a limited number of clonal complexes are invasive in adults worldwide

A comparison of particle mass spectrometers during the 1999 Atlanta Supersite Project

During the Atlanta Supersite Project, four particle mass spectrometers were operated together for the first time: NOAA's Particle Analysis by Laser Mass Spectrometer (PALMS), University of California at Riverside's Aerosol Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (ATOFMS), University of Delaware's Rapid Single-Particle Mass Spectrometer II (RSMS-II), and Aerodyne's Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS). Although these mass spectrometers are generally classified as similar instruments, they clearly have different characteristics due to their unique designs. One primary difference is related to the volatilization/ionization method: PALMS, ATOFMS, and RSMS-II utilize laser desorption/ionization, whereas particles in the AMS instrument are volatilized by impaction onto a heated surface with the resulting components ionized by electron impact. Thus mass spectral data from the AMS are representative of the ensemble of particles sampled, and those from the laser-based instruments are representative of individual particles. In addition, the AMS instrument cannot analyze refractory material such as soot, sodium chloride, and crustal elements, and some sulfate or water-rich particles may not always be analyzed with every laser-based instrument. A main difference among the laser-based mass spectrometers is that the RSMS-II instrument can obtain size-resolved single particle composition information for particles with aerodynamic diameters as small as 15 nm. The minimum sizes analyzed by ATOFMS and PALMS are 0.2 and about 0.35 μm, respectively, in aerodynamic diameter. Furthermore, PALMS, ATOFMS, and RSMS-II use different laser ionization conditions. Despite these differences the laser-based instruments found similar individual particle classifications, and their relative fractions among comparable sized particles from Atlanta were broadly consistent. Finally, the AMS measurements of the nitrate/sulfate mole ratio were highly correlated with composite measurements (r^2 = 0.93). In contrast, the PALMS nitrate/sulfate ion ratios were only moderately correlated (r^2 ∼ 0.7)

Reducing conflict-related employee strain: The benefits of an internal locus of control and a problem-solving conflict management strategy

Workplace conflict is a potent stressor, but most previous research has focused on its effect on productivity and performance rather than on individual well-being. This paper examines the moderating roles of an individual's internal locus of control and a problem-solving conflict management strategy. In the cross-sectional study, among 774 health care workers in the Netherlands, employees' internal locus of control did moderate the relationship between experienced conflict at work and psychological strain, which was measured using a 13-item Dutch adaptation of the Occupational Stress Indicator. In addition, this moderation was mediated by the active conflict management strategy of problem solving; people with a more internal locus of control use a problem-solving conflict management strategy more often and, as a result, experience less psychological strain in cases of workplace conflict. Implications for conflict theory, for future research, and for practice are discussed

Understanding the sex difference in vulnerability to adolescent depression: an examination of child and parent characteristics

This study examined sex differences in risk factors associated with adolescent depression in a large sample of boys and girls. Moderation and mediation explanatory models of the sex difference in likelihood of depression were examined. Findings indicate that the factors associated with depression in adolescent boys and girls are quite similar. All of the variables considered were associated with depression, but sex did not moderate the impact of vulnerability factors on likelihood of depression diagnosis. However, negative self-perceptions in the domains of achievement, global self-worth, and physical appearance partially mediated the relationship between sex and depression. Further, girls had higher levels of positive self-perceptions in interpersonal domains that acted as suppressors and reduced the likelihood of depression in girls. These findings suggest that girls' higher incidence of depression is due in part to their higher levels of negative self-perceptions, whereas positive interpersonal factors serve to protect them from depressive episodes

Computational Bacterial Genome-Wide Analysis of Phylogenetic Profiles Reveals Potential Virulence Genes of Streptococcus agalactiae

The phylogenetic profile of a gene is a reflection of its evolutionary history and can be defined as the differential presence or absence of a gene in a set of reference genomes. It has been employed to facilitate the prediction of gene functions. However, the hypothesis that the application of this concept can also facilitate the discovery of bacterial virulence factors has not been fully examined. In this paper, we test this hypothesis and report a computational pipeline designed to identify previously unknown bacterial virulence genes using group B streptococcus (GBS) as an example. Phylogenetic profiles of all GBS genes across 467 bacterial reference genomes were determined by candidate-against-all BLAST searches,which were then used to identify candidate virulence genes by machine learning models. Evaluation experiments with known GBS virulence genes suggested good functional and model consistency in cross-validation analyses (areas under ROC curve, 0.80 and 0.98 respectively). Inspection of the top-10 genes in each of the 15 virulence functional groups revealed at least 15 (of 119) homologous genes implicated in virulence in other human pathogens but previously unrecognized as potential virulence genes in GBS. Among these highly-ranked genes, many encode hypothetical proteins with possible roles in GBS virulence. Thus, our approach has led to the identification of a set of genes potentially affecting the virulence potential of GBS, which are potential candidates for further in vitro and in vivo investigations. This computational pipeline can also be extended to in silico analysis of virulence determinants of other bacterial pathogens

Forensic child and Adolescent Psychiatry and mental health in Europe

Background When faced with the discovery of their child’s self-harm, mothers and fathers may re-evaluate their parenting strategies. This can include changes to the amount of support they provide their child and changes to the degree to which they control and monitor their child. Methods We conducted an in-depth qualitative study with 37 parents of young people who had self-harmed in which we explored how and why their parenting changed after the discovery of self-harm. Results Early on, parents often found themselves “walking on eggshells” so as not to upset their child, but later they felt more able to take some control. Parents’ reactions to the self-harm often depended on how they conceptualised it: as part of adolescence, as a mental health issue or as “naughty behaviour”. Parenting of other children in the family could also be affected, with parents worrying about less of their time being available for siblings. Many parents developed specific strategies they felt helped them to be more effective parents, such as learning to avoid blaming themselves or their child for the self-harm and developing new ways to communicate with their child. Parents were generally eager to pass their knowledge on to other people in the same situation. Conclusions Parents reported changes in their parenting behaviours after the discovery of a child’s self-harm. Professionals involved in the care of young people who self-harm might use this information in supporting and advising parents.</p