Neuraminidase Inhibitor Susceptibility Testing in Human Influenza Viruses: A Laboratory Surveillance Perspective

Neuraminidase inhibitors (NAIs) are vital in managing seasonal and pandemic influenza infections. NAI susceptibilities of virus isolates (n = 5540) collected during the 2008–2009 influenza season were assessed in the chemiluminescent neuraminidase inhibition (NI) assay. Box-and-whisker plot analyses of log-transformed IC50s were performed for each virus type/subtype and NAI to identify outliers which were characterized based on a statistical cutoff of IC50 >3 interquartile ranges (IQR) from the 75th percentile. Among 1533 seasonal H1N1 viruses tested, 1431 (93.3%) were outliers for oseltamivir; they all harbored the H275Y mutation in the neuraminidase (NA) and were reported as oseltamivir-resistant. Only 15 (0.7%) of pandemic 2009 H1N1 viruses tested (n = 2259) were resistant to oseltamivir. All influenza A(H3N2) (n = 834) and B (n = 914) viruses were sensitive to oseltamivir, except for one A(H3N2) and one B virus, with D151V and D197E (D198E in N2 numbering) mutations in the NA, respectively. All viruses tested were sensitive to zanamivir, except for six seasonal A(H1N1) and several A(H3N2) outliers (n = 22) which exhibited cell culture induced mutations at residue D151 of the NA. A subset of viruses (n = 1058) tested for peramivir were sensitive to the drug, with exception of H275Y variants that exhibited reduced susceptibility to this NAI. This study summarizes baseline susceptibility patterns of seasonal and pandemic influenza viruses, and seeks to contribute towards criteria for defining NAI resistance

Radiation monitoring network in Poland

In Poland the radioactive contamination of the environment and food has been controlled since the early sixties by the Service for Measurements of Radioactive Contamination (SPSP). The Service comprises a network of measuring stations and the Centre of Radioactive Contamination Measurements (COPSP). Actually, there are 100 measurement stations. The main task of such station is systematic measurement of radioactivity level in samples of environment components and food. Nine stations of SPSP acting within meteorological stations, ten stations of low level air radioactivity measurements (Aerosols Sampling Stations ASS-500) and eleven permanent monitoring stations (PMS) form the radiation monitoring warning system in Poland

Hydrocarbon Renewable and Synthetic Diesel Fuel Blendstocks: Composition and Properties

We examined the chemical composition and properties of several diesel fuels and blendstocks derived from Fischer–Tropsch (FT) synthesis, hydroisomerization of lipids, and fermentation of sugar via the terpenoid metabolic pathway. Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatographic analysis with nonpolar and polar columns, ¹³C NMR, GC-MS, and elemental analysis were used to assess fuel chemistry. Performance properties included density, heat of combustion, cetane number, and cloud point, as well as other properties. The fuels consisted almost entirely of normal and iso-paraffins. Three samples contained residual oxygen below 0.1 mass %. All of the renewable and synthetic diesel fuels have significantly lower density than is typical for a petroleum-derived diesel fuel. As a result, they have slightly higher net heat of combustion on a mass basis (2%–3% higher), but lower heat of combustion on a volume basis (3%–7% lower). Two critical diesel performance properties, cetane number and cloud point, were correlated with iso-paraffin content and chain length. The results confirm that properties of hydroisomerized fats and oils, as well as FT diesel, can be tuned by increasing the degree of isomerization to lower cloud point which also lowers the cetane number. In spite of this trade-off between cloud point, and cetane number, the cetane numbers were still over 70 for fuels with cloud points as low as −27 °C. The terpenoid biofuel exhibited a cloud point below −70 °C and a cetane number of 58