High prevalence of anelloviruses in vitreous fluid of children with seasonal hyperacute panuveitis.

Seasonal hyperacute panuveitis (SHAPU) is a potentially blinding ocular disease occurring in Nepal that principally affects young children. Random amplification of partially purified vitreous fluid (VF)-derived nucleic acid revealed the presence of human anelloviruses in VF of SHAPU patients. In a comparative study of patients with different ocular pathologies, SHAPU patients were at highest risk of harboring anelloviruses in their eyes. The majority of SHAPU patients had multiple anelloviruses in their VF. The ocular anellovirus load in SHAPU and non-SHAPU patients did not differ and no SHAPU-specific anellovirus variant was detected. Analysis of paired serum and VF samples from SHAPU and non-SHAPU patients showed that the anellovirus detected in VF samples most likely originated from the systemic viral pool during viremia, potentially through breakdown of the blood-ocular barrier. The detection of anelloviruses in VF samples of uveitis patients, profoundly so in SHAPU patients, is imperative and warrants elucidation of its clinical significance

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

Diversiteit in de lerarenopleiding:de transgender leraar

Waar men vroeger een of tweemaal per jaar de vraag kreeg bij intake gesprekken of een leraar zelf dyslectisch kon zijn, treffen we nu transgender studenten die bij de intake vragen of ze de lerarenopleiding zouden kunnen volgen. Het antwoord op de vraag is eenvoudig: docent zijn zit in je en heeft niets te maken met geslacht of uiterlijk. Het knaagt echter wel, zijn er zaken wezenlijk anders voor transgender leraren, waar wij hen in de lerarenopleiding op kunnen/moeten voorbereiden? Een korte rondgang onder de internationale literatuur leverde op dat scholen een meer dan 100% verwachting hebben ten aanzien van het gekozen geslacht, waardoor acceptatie in het lerarencorps voor transgenders een probleem kan zijn (Spade, 2006). Daarnaast is voor leidinggevenden de mate van discriminatie en de impact niet automatisch duidelijk bij een ongewenste gebeurtenis (McCarthy, 2003) Transgender leraren die op latere leeftijd van geslacht wisselen geven aan dat ze dit begin 20 hadden moeten doen (Wells, 2018), precies de leeftijd waarin wij nu transgender studenten binnen krijgen. Een keerpunt leeftijd blijkens de ervaringen uit de literatuur, waarop ze dan binnen een lerarenopleiding gaan reflecteren op wie ze zijn als docent en voor een klas gaan staan met alle indrukken die daar bij horen. Hoe vormen we als lerarenopleiding een goede intervisie die deze studenten biedt wat ze nodig hebben? Het meest voor de hand liggende onderwerp om algemeen aandacht aan te besteden in de lerarenopleiding is hoe om te gaan met LHBTIQ+ leerlingen en de fobieën die bij leerlingen kunnen bestaan voor deze geaardheden, inclusief reacties op de persoon voor de klas. Echter kunnen collega’s eveneens deze fobieën hebben en onze aanstaande leraren kunnen hierbij wat coaching gebruiken. In de internationale bibliotheek zijn boeken beschikbaar met ervaringen en aanbevelingen aan de LHBTIQ+ leraren om hen een hart onder de riem te steken (e.g. DeJean &amp; Sapp 2017). Onderzoek in Nederlandstalige landen en literatuur hierover is zeer beperkt, en beslaat vooral de klasomgeving en leerlingen die worstelen met hun identiteit. Wat kunnen we onze transgender leraren bieden aan informatie en handvatten?In een kampvuurgesprek zouden we graag ideeën er ervaringen willen uitwisselen voor het opleiden van de transgender leraar.<br/

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

Assembly of viral genomes from metagenomes

Viral infections remain a serious global health issue. Metagenomic approaches are increasingly used in the detection of novel viral pathogens but also to generate complete genomes of uncultivated viruses. In silico identification of complete viral genomes from sequence data would allow rapid phylogenetic characterization of these new viruses. Often, however, complete viral genomes are not recovered, but rather several distinct contigs derived from a single entity are, some of which have no sequence homology to any known proteins. De novo assembly of single viruses from a metagenome is challenging, not only because of the lack of a reference genome, but also because of intrapopulation variation and uneven or insufficient coverage. Here we explored different assembly algorithms, remote homology searches, genome-specific sequence motifs, k-mer frequency ranking, and coverage profile binning to detect and obtain viral target genomes from metagenomes. All methods were tested on 454-generated sequencing datasets containing three recently described RNA viruses with a relatively large genome which were divergent to previously known viruses from the viral families Rhabdoviridae and Coronaviridae. Depending on specific characteristics of the target virus and the metagenomic community, different assembly and in silico gap closure strategies were successful in obtaining near complete viral genomes.This work was partially funded by the Virgo Consortium, funded by the Dutch government project number FES0908, by Netherlands Genomics Initiative (NGI) project number 050-060-452 and ZonMW TOP project 91213058. 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 partially supported by the Research group on "Systematics, Biogeography and Population Dynamics" (Basque Government; Ref. IT317-10; GIC10/76)

No serological evidence that harbour porpoises are additional hosts of influenza B viruses

Influenza A and B viruses circulate among humans causing epidemics almost annually. While various hosts for influenza A viruses exist, influenza B viruses have been detected only in humans and seals. However, recurrent infections of seals in Dutch coastal waters with influenza B viruses that are antigenetically distinct from influenza B viruses circulating among humans suggest that influenza B viruses have been introduced into this seal population by another, non-human, host. Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) are sympatric with seals in these waters and are also occasion