Virus Sharing, Genetic Sequencing, and Global Health Security

The WHO’s Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework was a milestone global agreement designed to promote the international sharing of biological samples to develop vaccines, while that ensuring poorer countries would have access to those vaccines. Since the PIP Framework was negotiated, scientists have developed the capacity to use genetic sequencing data (GSD) to develop synthetic viruses rapidly for product development of life-saving technologies in a time-sensitive global emergency—threatening to unravel the Framework. Access to GSD may also have major implications for biosecurity, biosafety, and intellectual property (IP). By rendering the physical transfer of viruses antiquated, GSD may also undermine the effectiveness of the PIP Framework itself, with disproportionate impacts on poorer countries. We examine the changes that need to be made to the PIP Framework to address the growing likelihood that GSD might be shared instead of physical virus samples. We also propose that the international community harness this opportunity to expand the scope of the PIP Framework beyond only influenza viruses with pandemic potential. In light of non-influenza pandemic threats such as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Ebola, we call for an international agreement on the sharing of the benefits of research – such as vaccines and treatments – for other infectious diseases to ensure not only a more secure and healthy world, but also a more just world, for humanity

Monopoly power of the medical school market and high incomes of U.S. physicians

We expect the incomes of physicians to remain high in the next decades. Using the latest published physician income data (2015) we calculated the weighted median income of U.S. physicians and the net present value (NPV) of an investment in physician education. We estimated the NPV assuming that the physicians training began in 2007 and their practice would commence in 2015. We estimated the NPV of the lifetime earnings of a physician based on the median income of all physicians in the sample to be between $7.1 and$7.3 million. This finding of high NPV’s is consistent with almost all earlier studies of this kind. Physicians continue to experience relatively high incomes and very slow increases in the number of new graduates. We expect an excess demand for positions in medical colleges to continue. Our findings with respect to the incomes of non-primary physicians (surgeons, radiologist and cardiologists), indicate will continue to be much higher than those of primary physicians. There are strong evidence suggesting this is because of blockages in physician residency openings in these non-primary fields of medicine.peer-reviewe

Genetic risk of obesity as a modifier of associations between neighbourhood environment and body mass index. An observational study of 335 046 UK Biobank participants

Background There is growing recognition that recent global increases in obesity are the product of a complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors. However, in gene-environment studies of obesity, ‘environment’ usually refers to individual behavioural factors that influence energy balance, whereas more upstream environmental factors are overlooked. We examined gene-environment interactions between genetic risk of obesity and two neighbourhood characteristics likely to be associated with obesity (proximity to takeaway/ fast-food outlets and availability of physical activity facilities). Methods We used data from 335 046 adults aged 40–70 in the UK Biobank cohort to conduct a populationbased cross-sectional study of interactions between neighbourhood characteristics and genetic risk of obesity, in relation to body mass index (BMI). Proximity to a fast-food outlet was defined as distance from home address to nearest takeaway/fast-food outlet, and availability of physical activity facilities as the number of formal physical activity facilities within 1 km of home address. Genetic risk of obesity was operationalised by weighted Genetic Risk Scores of 91 or 69 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), and by six individual SNPs considered separately. Multivariable, mixed-effects models with product terms for the gene-environment interactions were estimated. Results After accounting for likely confounding, the association between proximity to takeaway/fast-food outlets and BMI was stronger among those at increased genetic risk of obesity, with evidence of an interaction with polygenic risk scores (p=0.018 and p=0.028 for 69- SNP and 91-SNP scores, respectively) and in particular with a SNP linked to MC4R (p=0.009), a gene known to regulate food intake. We found very little evidence of geneenvironment interaction for the availability of physical activity facilities. Conclusions Individuals at an increased genetic risk of obesity may be more sensitive to exposure to the local fast-food environment. Ensuring that neighbourhood residential environments are designed to promote a healthy weight may be particularly important for those with greater genetic susceptibility to obesity

fastlin: an ultra-fast program for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex lineage typing

SUMMARY: Fastlin is a bioinformatics tool designed for rapid Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) lineage typing. It utilizes an ultra-fast alignment-free approach to detect previously identified barcode single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with specific MTBC lineages. In a comprehensive benchmarking against existing tools, fastlin demonstrated high accuracy and significantly faster running times. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: fastlin is freely available at https://github.com/rderelle/fastlin and can easily be installed using Conda

SPECIES COMPOSITION, FOOD HABITS, AND THE ECONOMIC AND ECOLOGIC IMPACT OF WINTER BLACKBIRD FLOCKS

Crop depredation by blackbirds (Icteridae) and Starlings (sturnus vulgaris) in North America has long prompted experimentation with control techniques. These efforts have been centered in the northeast and northcentral United States where concentrated cultivation of vulnerable crops coincides with the location where flocks of blackbirds congregate in the fall prior to their migration south (Stone, et al., 1972; Wiens and Dyer, 1975). In these areas the high cost and logistic impracticality of implementing widespread controls has suggested the need for modifying agricultural practices instead (Wiens and Dyer, 1975). More recently, attention has been focused farther south, particularly in Kentucky and Tennessee where winter roosts of mixed flocks of blackbirds and Starlings commonly number over several million birds. These highly localized concentrations have prompted concern for both agricultural damage and danger to human health (Department of Army, 1975). A major difference between the problem in the South and that farther north is that in the South the birds present themselves as much more accessible targets for control measures. By virtue of their tremendous concentrations they make the potential for large scale extermination very real. It is quite conceivable that a significant proportion of the entire North American populations of these birds could be eliminated if extermination efforts were maintained for several years at the major winter roosts. Before such extermination is allowed to proceed, a number of questions must be answered. These can be divided into two areas. The first area deals with whether or not the control measures are actually justified--how much agricultural damage is done by the birds and how real is their threat to human health? The second area of questioning concerns the environmental impact of both the control measures themselves as well as the effect of suddenly removing such large numbers of birds from the ecosystem. This paper presents the results of a preliminary study aimed not at answering these questions so much as providing some insight into the factors which must be considered if accurate answers are to be obtained

Nano-magnetic droplets and implications to orbital ordering in La1-xSrxCoO3

Inelastic cold neutron scattering on LaCoO3 provided evidence for a distinct low energy excitation at 0.6 meV coincident with the thermally induced magnetic transition. Coexisting strong ferromagnetic (FM) and weaker antiferromagnetic (AFM) correlations that are dynamic follow the activation to the excited state, identified as the intermediate S=1 spin triplet. This is indicative of dynamical orbital ordering favoring the observed magnetic interactions. With hole doping as in La1-xSrxCoO3, the FM correlations between Co spins become static and isotropically distributed due to the formation of FM droplets. The correlation length and condensation temperature of these droplets increase rapidly with metallicity due to the double exchange mechanism.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. Let

SPECIES COMPOSITION, FOOD HABITS, AND THE ECONOMIC AND ECOLOGIC IMPACT OF WINTER BLACKBIRD FLOCKS

Crop depredation by blackbirds (Icteridae) and Starlings (sturnus vulgaris) in North America has long prompted experimentation with control techniques. These efforts have been centered in the northeast and northcentral United States where concentrated cultivation of vulnerable crops coincides with the location where flocks of blackbirds congregate in the fall prior to their migration south (Stone, et al., 1972; Wiens and Dyer, 1975). In these areas the high cost and logistic impracticality of implementing widespread controls has suggested the need for modifying agricultural practices instead (Wiens and Dyer, 1975). More recently, attention has been focused farther south, particularly in Kentucky and Tennessee where winter roosts of mixed flocks of blackbirds and Starlings commonly number over several million birds. These highly localized concentrations have prompted concern for both agricultural damage and danger to human health (Department of Army, 1975). A major difference between the problem in the South and that farther north is that in the South the birds present themselves as much more accessible targets for control measures. By virtue of their tremendous concentrations they make the potential for large scale extermination very real. It is quite conceivable that a significant proportion of the entire North American populations of these birds could be eliminated if extermination efforts were maintained for several years at the major winter roosts. Before such extermination is allowed to proceed, a number of questions must be answered. These can be divided into two areas. The first area deals with whether or not the control measures are actually justified--how much agricultural damage is done by the birds and how real is their threat to human health? The second area of questioning concerns the environmental impact of both the control measures themselves as well as the effect of suddenly removing such large numbers of birds from the ecosystem. This paper presents the results of a preliminary study aimed not at answering these questions so much as providing some insight into the factors which must be considered if accurate answers are to be obtained

Ageism and sexuality

Sexuality remains important throughout a person’s life, but sexual behavior does not receive the same levels of acceptance at all ages. Older people are challenged by ageist attitudes and perceptions that hinder their sexual expression. They are stereotyped as non-sexual beings who should not, cannot, and do not want to have sexual relationships. Expressing sexuality or engaging in sexual activity in later life is considered by many in society as immoral or perverted. False expectations for older people also stem from ideals of beauty, centralization of the biomedical perspective on sexuality of older adults, and the association of sex with reproduction. Unfortunately, older people internalize many ageist attitudes towards sexuality in later life and become less interested in sex and less sexually active. The following chapter explores attitudes towards sexuality in later life among the media, young people, older people themselves, and care providers. In order to enable older people to express their sexuality and sexual identity freely and fully, awareness of ageist perceptions must be raised and defeated

TRIATHLON CYCLE-RUN TRANSITION: SEATED VERSUS ALTERNATING SEATED AND STANDING CYCLING

Nine experienced triathletes completed two trials of a cycle to run transition. During the last three minutes of a 30 minute cycling bout (at power output equal to lactate threshold) subjects either remained seated (SEAT), or alternated seated and standing cycling (30 s at a time) (ALT). Minimum and maximum knee angle and stride frequency were obtained at the end of a three minute control run (C) and at minutes 0, 2, & 4, of running after cycling transition. The only difference found by Two-Way Repeated Measures ANOVA (condition X minute) was that C was significantly different than minute 0 of the transition for stride frequency (