β-Herpesviruses in Febrile Children with Cancer

These viruses should be included in the differential diagnosis of febrile disease

Evaluation of the Osteogenic Potential of Growth Factorâ Rich Demineralized Bone Matrix In Vivo

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141502/1/jper0036.pd

Mailed Human Papillomavirus Self-Collection With Papanicolaou Test Referral for Infrequently Screened Women in the United States

Testing for high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection using mailed, self-collected samples is a promising approach to increase screening in women who do not attend clinic screening at recommended intervals

Assessment of Cytomegalovirus-Specific Cell-Mediated Immunity for the Prediction of Cytomegalovirus Disease in High-Risk Solid-Organ Transplant Recipients: A Multicenter Cohort Study

In high-risk solid-organ transplant recipients receiving antiviral prophylaxis, the measurement of specific cell-mediated immunity using the Quantiferon assay appropriately stratified the individual risk of developing subsequent cytomegalovirus diseas

Effect of the influenza A (H1N1) live attenuated intranasal vaccine on nitric oxide (FENO) and other volatiles in exhaled breath

For the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic, vaccination and infection control were the main modes of prevention. A live attenuated H1N1 vaccine mimics natural infection and works by evoking a host immune response, but currently there are no easy methods to measure such a response. To determine if an immune response could be measured in exhaled breath, exhaled nitric oxide (FE NO) and other exhaled breath volatiles using selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) were measured before and daily for seven days after administering the H1N1 2009 monovalent live intranasal vaccine (FluMist®, MedImmune LLC) in nine healthy healthcare workers (age 35 ± 7 years; five females). On day 3 after H1N1 FluMist® administration there were increases in FENO (MEAN±SEM: day 0 15 ± 3 ppb, day 3 19 ± 3 ppb; p < 0.001) and breath isoprene (MEAN±SEM: day 0 59 ± 15 ppb, day 3 99 ± 17 ppb; p = 0.02). MS analysis identified the greatest number of changes in exhaled breath on day 3 with 137 product ion masses that changed from baseline. The exhaled breath changes on day 3 after H1N1 vaccination may reflect the underlying host immune response. However, further work to elucidate the sources of the exhaled breath changes is necessary

CMV infection of liver transplant recipients: comparison of antigenemia and molecular biology assays

BACKGROUND: CMV is a major clinical problem in transplant recipients. Thus, it is important to use sensitive and specific diagnostic techniques to rapidly and accurately detect CMV infection and identify patients at risk of developing CMV disease. In the present study, CMV infection after liver transplantation was monitored retrospectively by two molecular biology assays - a quantitative PCR assay and a qualitative NASBA assay. The results were compared with those obtained by prospective pp65 antigenemia determinations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 87 consecutive samples from 10 liver transplanted patients were tested for CMV by pp65 antigenemia, and CMV monitor and NASBA pp67 mRNA assay. RESULTS: CMV infection was detected in all patients by antigenemia and CMV monitor, whereas NASBA assay identified only 8/10 patients with viremia. Furthermore, CMV infection was never detected earlier by molecular biology assays than by antigenemia. Only 5/10 patients with CMV infection developed CMV disease. Using a cut off value of 8 cells/50,000, antigenemia was found to be the assay that better identified patients at risk of developing CMV disease. However, the kinetics of the onset of infection detected by NASBA and CMV monitor seemed to have better identified patients at risk of developing CMV disease. Furthermore, before onset of disease, CMV pp67 mRNA was found to have similar or better negative and positive predictive values for the development of CMV disease. CONCLUSIONS: The present data, suggests that the concomitant use of antigenemia and pp67 mRNA assay gives the best identification of patients at risk of developing CMV disease

Characterization of a repertoire of tomato fruit genetic variants in the San Marzano genetic background

[EN] San Marzano (SM) is a worldwide famous tomato Italian traditional landrace characterized by elongated fruits with a dual-purpose use in the fresh and processing market. A repertoire of mutations affecting the fruit and of interest for commercial breeding were introduced into the SM genetic background following backcross schemes. The lines generated included 13 genotypes each carrying a single mutation in genes controlling a) the content of all pigments (hp-1, hp-2, pd), b) of carotenoids (r, t, at, B, B_mo(B)), c) of chlorophyll (gf), d) of flavonoids (y) or e) the ripening process (Nr, rin, Gr). Five lines carrying a combination of two mutations were also included. Analysis of SNP polymorphisms showed that the genetic distance of the lines from the recurrent parent was very variable and not well predicted by the number of backcrosses because it was also a function of the dissimilarity of the donor parent. All the genotypes, together with an SM control, were grown in two consecutive years and characterized for vegetative, reproductive and fruit quality traits. Overall, the studied lines reproduced the SM typical phenotypes, but several differences also emerged as both possible negative or advantageous pleiotropic traits for fresh or processing uses and peeling. High pigment mutations confirmed the negative pleiotropic effects on plant fertility and fruit development described earlier and also negatively affected fruit post-harvest life. These latter defects were also reported in the carotenoid mutant tangerine. In contrast, absence of peel pigmentation in the y mutant was associated with positive postharvest properties as those fruit presented higher resistance to wrinkling and dehydration. Delayed ripening mutants showed positive post-harvest phenotypes, as expected. In conclusion, the study of the present repertoire of fruit variations in an elongated tomato genotype represents a contribution to expand the study of fruit physiology to unusual fruit types and to breed innovative tomato lines with valuable nutritional and technological properties.This work was supported by the Latium Region FILAS project "MIGLIORA", by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture (MiPAAF) under the AGROENER project (D.D. n. 26329, 1 april 2016) - http://agroener.crea.gov.it/and by the European Commission through-H2020 SFS-7a-2014 TRADITOM (634561).Dono, G.; Picarella, ME.; Pons Puig, C.; Santangelo, E.; Monforte Gilabert, AJ.; Granell Richart, A.; Mazzucato, A. (2020). Characterization of a repertoire of tomato fruit genetic variants in the San Marzano genetic background. Scientia horticulturae (Online). 261:1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2019.108927S11026

Assessment of cytomegalovirus-specific cell-mediated immunity for the prediction of cytomegalovirus disease in high-risk solid-organ transplant recipients: a multicenter cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease remains an important problem in solid-organ transplant recipients, with the greatest risk among donor CMV-seropositive, recipient-seronegative (D(+)/R(-)) patients. CMV-specific cell-mediated immunity may be able to predict which patients will develop CMV disease. METHODS: We prospectively included D(+)/R(-) patients who received antiviral prophylaxis. We used the Quantiferon-CMV assay to measure interferon-γ levels following in vitro stimulation with CMV antigens. The test was performed at the end of prophylaxis and 1 and 2 months later. The primary outcome was the incidence of CMV disease at 12 months after transplant. We calculated positive and negative predictive values of the assay for protection from CMV disease. RESULTS: Overall, 28 of 127 (22%) patients developed CMV disease. Of 124 evaluable patients, 31 (25%) had a positive result, 81 (65.3%) had a negative result, and 12 (9.7%) had an indeterminate result (negative mitogen and CMV antigen) with the Quantiferon-CMV assay. At 12 months, patients with a positive result had a subsequent lower incidence of CMV disease than patients with a negative and an indeterminate result (6.4% vs 22.2% vs 58.3%, respectively; P &lt; .001). Positive and negative predictive values of the assay for protection from CMV disease were 0.90 (95% confidence interval [CI], .74-.98) and 0.27 (95% CI, .18-.37), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This assay may be useful to predict if patients are at low, intermediate, or high risk for the development of subsequent CMV disease after prophylaxis. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION: NCT00817908

Qualifying Ontology-Based Visual Query Formulation

Abstract. This paper elaborates on ontology-based end-user visual query formulation, particularly for users who otherwise cannot/do not desire to use formal textual query languages to retrieve data due to the lack of technical knowledge and skills. Then, it provides a set of quality attributes and features, primarily elicited via a series of industrial end-user workshops and user studies carried out in the course of an industrial EU project, to guide the design and development of successor visual query systems