Unexpectedly high burden of rotavirus gastroenteritis in very young infants

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The highest incidence of rotavirus gastroenteritis has generally been reported in children 6-24 months of age. Young infants are thought to be partially protected by maternal antibodies acquired transplacentally or via breast milk. The purpose of our study was to assess the age distribution of children with confirmed community-acquired rotavirus gastroenteritis presenting to an urban referral hospital.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Children presenting to The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia with acute gastroenteritis have been monitored for the presence of rotavirus antigen in the stool by ELISA (followed by genotyping if ELISA-positive) since the 1994-95 epidemic season.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Over the last 12 rotavirus seasons prior to the introduction of the pentavalent rotavirus vaccine in 2006, stool specimens from 1646 patients tested positive for community-acquired rotavirus infection. Gender or age was not recorded in 6 and 5 cases, respectively. Overall, 58% of the cases occurred in boys. G1 was the predominant VP7 serotype, accounting for 72% of cases. The median (IQR) age was 11 (5-21) months. A total of 790 (48%) cases occurred in children outside the commonly quoted peak age range, with 27% in infants <6 months of age and 21% in children >24 months of age. A total of 220 (13%) cases occurred during the first 3 months of life, and the highest number of episodes per month of age [97 (6%)] was observed during the second month of life.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The incidence of community-acquired rotavirus gastroenteritis monitored over 12 seasons in the prevaccine era at a major university hospital was nearly constant for each month of age during the first year of life, revealing an unexpectedly high incidence of symptomatic rotavirus disease in infants <3 months old. A sizeable fraction of cases occurred in children too young to have been vaccinated according to current recommendations.</p

Predicted genetic gains weighted by selection pressures for grain quality in irrigated rice.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar componentes de variâncias e herdabilidades, estimar o ganho de seleção e avaliar as diferentes pressões de seleção para atributos físicos de qualidade de grãos de famílias de gerações segregantes de arroz (Oryza sativa) irrigado, por meio da metodologia REML/BLUP. O experimento foi conduzido no Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, onde foram realizadas seleções nas gerações segregantes F3, F4 e F5, nas safras 2015/2016, 2016/2017 e 2017/2018, em oito populações segregantes (famílias) oriundas de diferentes cruzamentos. Foram avaliados atributos físicos de qualidade intrínsecos, parâmetros genéticos e resposta à seleção, tendo-se utilizado diferentes pressões de seleção. Foram obtidas estimativas que apresentaram ganhos genéticos para os caracteres de qualidade dos grãos, principalmente para área calcárea total, alvura vítrea, alvura total, relação entre alvura vítrea e alvura total, e percentual de grãos inteiros e quebrados, em seleções nas primeiras gerações. As famílias utilizadas apresentam resultados satisfatórios, sendo superiores às cultivares-controle. Para a maioria dos caracteres, as estimativasde herdabilidade em sentido amplo são consideradas intermediárias, junto com os demais parâmetros, o que mostra a possibilidade de seleção genética para os atributos de qualidade do grão. A resposta à seleção com pressão de 10% é muito promissora para os atributos de qualidade de grãos de arroz.Título em português: Ganhos genéticos previstos ponderados por pressões de seleção para qualidade de grãos em arroz irrigado

BRS A701 CL: nova cultivar de arroz irrigado para o sistema Clearfield no Rio Grande do Sul.

A Embrapa apresenta seu novo lançamento comercial, a BRS A701 CL, fonte de tolerância aos herbicidas do grupo das imidazolinonas, sendo considerada de segunda geração. A BRS A701CL foi desenvolvida utilizando gene que confere resistência a herbicidas da classe das imidazolinonas, identificado na própria espécie Oryza sativa L., não havendo necessidade de ?importação? de genes de outras espécies para a composição do genoma da nova cultivar. Os testes de campo foram iniciados em 2010/11 e, em 27/10/2015 o Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (MAPA) concedeu o registro nº 34460 para cultivo no Rio Grande do Sul

Hypoxia determines survival outcomes of bacterial infection through HIF-1alpha dependent re-programming of leukocyte metabolism.

Hypoxia and bacterial infection frequently co-exist, in both acute and chronic clinical settings, and typically result in adverse clinical outcomes. To ameliorate this morbidity, we investigated the interaction between hypoxia and the host response. In the context of acute hypoxia, both S. aureus and S. pneumoniae infections rapidly induced progressive neutrophil mediated morbidity and mortality, with associated hypothermia and cardiovascular compromise. Preconditioning animals through longer exposures to hypoxia, prior to infection, prevented these pathophysiological responses and profoundly dampened the transcriptome of circulating leukocytes. Specifically, perturbation of HIF pathway and glycolysis genes by hypoxic preconditioning was associated with reduced leukocyte glucose utilisation, resulting in systemic rescue from a global negative energy state and myocardial protection. Thus we demonstrate that hypoxia preconditions the innate immune response and determines survival outcomes following bacterial infection through suppression of HIF-1α and neutrophil metabolism. The therapeutic implications of this work are that in the context of systemic or tissue hypoxia therapies that target the host response could improve infection associated morbidity and mortality.This work was supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC) Clinical Training Fellowship (awards G0802255 and MR/K023845/1 to A.A.R.T. and R.S.D., respectively), a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Lectureship and an Academy of Medical Sciences starter grant (to A.A.R.T.), a Wellcome Trust postdoctoral clinical fellowship (110086 to A.M.), a Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Fellowship award (098516 to S.R.W.), a Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Fellowship award (076945 to D.H.D.), a British Lung Foundation Fellowship (F05/7 to H.M.M.), a Wellcome Trust New Investigator Award (WT100981MA to N.M.M.), and a British Heart Foundation Senior Basic Science Research Fellowship (FS/13/48/30453 to A.L.). E.R.C. and A.S.C. are supported by the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. R.H.S. is supported by the MRC. R.R.M. is supported by MRC (MC_PC_U127574433), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, and European Chemical Industry Council grants. M.M. is supported by the European Research Council (OxyMO). The MRC/University of Edinburgh Centre for Inflammation Research is supported by an MRC Centre Grant

Dynamics and heterogeneity of Pb(II) binding by SiO 2 nanoparticles in an aqueous dispersion

ABSTRACT: Pb(II) binding by SiO2 nanoparticles in an aqueous dispersion was investigated under conditions where the concentrations of Pb2þ ions and nanoparticles are of similar magnitude. Conditional stability constants (log K) obtained at different values of pH and ionic strength varied from 4.4 at pH 5.5 and I = 0.1Mto 6.4 at pH 6.5 and I = 0.0015 M. In the range of metal to nanoparticle ratios from 1.6 to 0.3, log K strongly increases, which is shown to be due to heterogeneity in Pb(II) binding. For an ionic strength of 0.1 M the Pb2þ/SiO2 nanoparticle system is labile, whereas for lower ionic strengths there is loss of lability with increasing pH and decreasing ionic strength. Theoretical calculations on the basis of Eigen-type complex formation kinetics seem to support the loss of lability. This is related to the nanoparticulate nature of the system, where complexation rate constants become increasingly diffusion controlled. The ion binding heterogeneity and chemodynamics of oxidic nanoparticles clearly need further detailed research

Implementing new health interventions in developing countries: why do we lose a decade or more?

BACKGROUND: It is unclear how long it takes for health interventions to transition from research and development (R&D) to being used against diseases prevalent in resource-poor countries. We undertook an analysis of the time required to begin implementation of four vaccines and three malaria interventions. We evaluated five milestones for each intervention, and assessed if the milestones were associated with beginning implementation. METHODS: The authors screened WHO databases to determine the number of years between first regulatory approval of interventions, and countries beginning implementation. Descriptive analyses of temporal patterns and statistical analyses using logistic regression and Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate associations between five milestones and the beginning of implementation for each intervention. The milestones were: (A) presence of a coordinating group focused on the intervention; (B) availability of an intervention tailored to developing country health systems; (C) international financing commitment, and; (D) initial and (E) comprehensive WHO recommendations. Countries were categorized by World Bank income criteria. RESULTS: Five years after regulatory approval, no low-income countries (LICs) had begun implementing any of the vaccines, increasing to an average of only 4% of LICs after 10 years. Each malaria intervention was used by an average of 7% of LICs after five years and 37% after 10 years. Four of the interventions had similar implementation rates to HepB, while one was slower and one was faster than HepB. A financing commitment and initial WHO recommendation appeared to be temporally associated with the beginning of implementation. The initial recommendation from WHO was the only milestone associated in all statistical analyses with countries beginning implementation (relative rate = 1.97, P > 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Although possible that four milestones were not associated with countries beginning implementation, we propose an alternative interpretation; that the milestones were not realized early enough in each intervention's development to shorten the time to beginning implementation. We discuss a framework built upon existing literature for consideration during the development of future interventions. Identifying critical milestones and their timing relative to R&D, promises to help new interventions realize their intended public health impact more rapidly