Diagnosing marine diseases

2020 ◽  
pp. 213-232
Author(s):  
Salvatore Frasca, Jr ◽  
Rebecca J. Gast ◽  
Andrea L. Bogomolni ◽  
Steven M. Szczepanek
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Nucleic Acid ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Metagenomic Data ◽  
Marine Environments ◽  
Tissue Samples ◽  
Molecular Approaches ◽  
Molecular Features ◽  
The World ◽  
Effective Use

Infectious disease concerns are paramount when considering the health of the oceans and seas of the world. Understanding the ecology of disease in marine environments requires knowledge of diagnostic principles and techniques. Morphologic and molecular approaches exist that allow for the detection of infectious agents from marine life and from the marine environment. However, detection of infection may not be the equivalent of a diagnosis of disease. Disease determination requires recognition of anatomic, biochemical, and molecular features that are characteristic of the disease state and that identify pathogenic organisms. Disease investigations in marine scenarios can be complex and may engage concurrently a wide variety of techniques including microbiological culture and isolation, histotechnological procedures performed on arrays of tissue samples, immunohistochemical methodologies, and nucleic acid-based techniques that make use of genetic, genomic, transcriptomic, and metagenomic data. Effective use of these techniques requires knowledge of their capabilities and limitations so that appropriate selection, proper application, and accurate interpretation can be made.

scholarly journals Portable sequencer in the fight against infectious disease

2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur Elia Mongan ◽  
Josef Sem Berth Tuda ◽  
Lucky Ronald Runtuwene
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽  
Nucleic Acid ◽  
Disease Management ◽  
Acid Composition ◽  
Molecular Techniques ◽  
Chain Reaction ◽  
Major Threat ◽  
The World ◽  
Polymerase Chain

Abstract Infectious disease is still a major threat in the world today. Five decades ago, it was considered soon to be eradicated, but the adaptation of pathogens to environmental pressure, such as antimicrobials, encouraged the emergence and reemergence of infectious disease. The fight with infectious disease starts with prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Diagnosis can be upheld by observing the cause of disease under the microscope or detecting the presence of nucleic acid and proteins of the pathogens. The molecular techniques span from classical polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to sequencing the nucleic acid composition. Here, we are reviewing the works have been undertaken to utilize a portable sequencer, MinION, in various aspects of infectious disease management.

Wildlife–Watching in Marine Environments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Professor John Swarbrooke
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Leisure Activity ◽  
Scuba Diving ◽  
Marine Environments ◽  
The World ◽  
Selling Point ◽  
Marine Wildlife

If one looks at destination guide books from as late as the 1990s, very few would have had much to say about watching marine wildlife, except perhaps a few sentences about scuba-diving and the opportunity it gave the tourist to see interesting and beautiful fish as an added bonus for participating in this leisure activity. Otherwise, the tourist may have been recommended to visit a certain place because of the opportunities to fish for huge specimens that could be displayed as trophies and photographed to impress the folks back home. Yet, a few years later, marine wildlife-watching has become a major selling point for many coastal destinations around the world, from Australia to California, Sri Lanka to Alaska, South Africa to Scotland. Interestingly, it is also an activity, out of all of the ways in which tourism and the marine environment interacts, that has attracted perhaps the most attention by tourism researchers. In this chapter we will look at how and why this change occurred together with a look at the impacts of the rise of marine wildlife-watching in its many forms. However, first we need to be clear what we are talking about by looking at several typologies of marine wildlife-watching.

scholarly journals HOLOCENE FORAMINIFERAL FAUNA AT THE REGION OF PHAN VINH ISLAND, TRUONG SA ARCHIPELAGO AND SOME RELATED PROBLEMS

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-51
Author(s):  
Nguyen Ngoc
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Taxonomic Composition ◽  
Marine Environments ◽  
The World ◽  
Coral Reef Ecosystems ◽  
Initial Research

Holocene Foraminiferal fauna at the area of Phan Vinh island, Truong Sa archipelago is relatively abundant and diverse in both taxonomic composition and ecological characteristics. The initial research results have identified 69 species (excluding several ones unidentified) belonging to 42 genera, 25 families and 6 orders. Among them, the representatives of the genera of Calcarina, Amphistegina, Heterostegina, Elphidium, Amphisorus, Marginopora, Sorites, Parasorites, Peneroplis, Archaias, Siphonipheroides, Septotextularia are predominant. They characterized by the shallow, transparent and warm marine environments of the region of Truong Sa archipelago during Holocene. Some problems related to this fauna at the area of Phan Vinh island such as biodiversity of coral-reef ecosystems, stratigraphic and paleogeographical significances, and its role of reef - building are also mentioned in this article. In addition, for the modern Foraminifera in the world, today they are being used as ‘biomarkers’ (bioindicators) in assessing and monitoring environmental quality of coral reef ecosystems in particular and marine environment in general. In Vietnam, this method has not been applied, but in the future, this is one of the methods that should be concerned. In addition, in aquaculture the Foraminifera is also a source of nutrition that should not be ignored.

Designing an Outer Membrane Protein (Omp-W) Based Vaccine for Immunization against Vibrio and Salmonella: An in silico Approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 312-324
Author(s):  
Sadra S. Tehrani ◽  
Abolfazl Jahangiri ◽  
Mortaza Taheri-Anganeh ◽  
Hossein Maghsoudi ◽  
Saeed Khalili ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Vibrio Cholerae ◽  
Gram Negative Bacteria ◽  
B Cell Epitopes ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Beta Barrel ◽  
The World ◽  
Cd4 Cell ◽  
Stimulating Factor ◽  
Topology Prediction

Background: Cholera triggered by Vibrio cholerae remains the main reason for morbidity and mortality all over the world. In addition, salmonellosis is regarded as an infectious disease that makes it essential for the identification and detection of Salmonella. With a beta-barrel structure consisting of eight non-parallel beta strands, OmpW family is widely distributed among gram-negative bacteria. Moreover, OmpW isolated from S. typhimurium and Vibrio cholerae can be used in vaccine design. Methods: Topology prediction was determined. T-cell and B-cell epitopes were selected from exposed areas, and sequence conservancy was evaluated. The remaining loops and inaccessible residues were removed to prepare OmpW-1. High antigenicity peptides were detected to replace inappropriate residues to obtain OmpW-2. Physicochemical properties were assessed, and antigenicity, hydrophobicity, flexibility, and accessibility were compared to the native Omp-W structure. Low score areas were removed from the designed structure for preparing the OmpW-3. To construct OmpW-4, TTFrC was used as T-CD4+ cell-stimulating factor and CTB as adjuvant to the end of the C-terminal of this sequence, which can increase the antigenicity and sequence density. The sequences were re-analyzed to delete the unfavorable residues. Besides, the solubility of the mature OmpW and the designed structure were predicted while overexpressed in E. coli. Results: The designed vaccine is a stable protein which has immune cells recognizing epitopes and is considered as an antigen. The construct can be overexpressed in a E. coli. Conclusion: The multi-epitope vaccine is a suitable stimulator for immune system and would be a candidate for experimental research. Recent patents describing numerous inventions related to the clinical facets of vaccine peptide against human infectious disease.

scholarly journals Infectious disease outbreaks in the African region: overview of events reported to the World Health Organization in 2018

2019 ◽  
Vol 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Mboussou ◽  
P. Ndumbi ◽  
R. Ngom ◽  
Z. Kassamali ◽  
O. Ogundiran ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Disease Onset ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Case Fatality ◽  
World Health ◽  
African Region ◽  
Regional Office ◽  
Member States ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
The World

Abstract The WHO African region is characterised by the largest infectious disease burden in the world. We conducted a retrospective descriptive analysis using records of all infectious disease outbreaks formally reported to the WHO in 2018 by Member States of the African region. We analysed the spatio-temporal distribution, the notification delay as well as the morbidity and mortality associated with these outbreaks. In 2018, 96 new disease outbreaks were reported across 36 of the 47 Member States. The most commonly reported disease outbreak was cholera which accounted for 20.8% (n = 20) of all events, followed by measles (n = 11, 11.5%) and Yellow fever (n = 7, 7.3%). About a quarter of the outbreaks (n = 23) were reported following signals detected through media monitoring conducted at the WHO regional office for Africa. The median delay between the disease onset and WHO notification was 16 days (range: 0–184). A total of 107 167 people were directly affected including 1221 deaths (mean case fatality ratio (CFR): 1.14% (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07%–1.20%)). The highest CFR was observed for diseases targeted for eradication or elimination: 3.45% (95% CI 0.89%–10.45%). The African region remains prone to outbreaks of infectious diseases. It is therefore critical that Member States improve their capacities to rapidly detect, report and respond to public health events.

scholarly journals New Approaches for the Observation of Transient Phenomena in Critical Marine Environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 578
Author(s):  
Roberta Ferretti ◽  
Massimo Caccia ◽  
Massimo Coltorti ◽  
Roberta Ivaldi
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Marine Environments ◽  
Transient Phenomena ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Marine Vehicles ◽  
New Methodologies ◽  
Biogeochemical Parameters ◽  
Very High

This paper focuses on the development of new approaches to observe transient phenomena in critical marine environments using autonomous marine vehicles (AMVs) for the acquisition of physical and biogeochemical parameters of water and seabed characterization. The connection with metrological principles, together with the adoption of observing methodologies adjustable according to the specific marine environment being studied, allows researchers to obtain results that are reliable, reproducible, and comparable with those obtained through the classic monitoring methodologies. Tests were executed in dramatically dynamic, sensitive, and fragile areas, where the study and application of new methodologies is required to observe phenomena strongly localized in space and requiring very high resolutions, in time. Moreover, the harsh environmental conditions may present risks not only for the quality and quantity of the acquired data but also for the instrumentation and the operators. This is the case, for instance, in polar marine environments in proximity of tidal glaciers and in the Mediterranean Sea in areas characterized by seabed degassing activities, where AMV-supported monitoring procedures can allow for the safe observation of not repeatable and not completely predictable events.

Assessment of copper accumulation in archived liver specimens from cats

2020 ◽  
pp. 1098612X2096135
Author(s):  
Punyamanee Yamkate ◽  
Randi M Gold ◽  
Panagiotis G Xenoulis ◽  
Katja Steiger ◽  
David C Twedt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Hepatic Steatosis ◽  
Dry Weight ◽  
Reference Interval ◽  
Copper Accumulation ◽  
Zonal Distribution ◽  
Tissue Samples ◽  
Hepatic Copper ◽  
Liver Copper ◽  
Flame Atomic Absorption

Objectives The aim of this study was to assess hepatic copper concentrations and zonal distribution in cat liver specimens. Methods For this study, 121 archived, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded liver specimens from cats were used. Tissue sections were stained for copper with rhodanine and scored from 0 (no copper accumulation) to 5 (panlobular copper accumulation). The tissue specimens were then deparaffinized and hepatic copper concentrations were measured using flame atomic absorption spectroscopy. Results Tissue samples were categorized into four groups based on histopathologic findings: (1) no significant histopathologic hepatic changes (n = 66); (2) hepatic steatosis (n = 18); (3) inflammatory or infectious disease (n = 24); and (4) neoplasia (n = 13). Of the 121 specimens, 13 (11%) stained positive for copper, with three having a score ⩾3. Thirty-seven specimens (31%) had copper concentrations above the reference interval ([RI] <180 µg/g dry weight liver). Copper concentrations in cats with hepatic inflammatory or infectious disease were significantly higher than cats with hepatic steatosis ( P = 0.03). Copper-staining score and concentration were positively correlated ( rs = 0.46, P <0.001). Conclusions and relevance Despite the fact that 31% of specimens had copper concentrations above the RI, only 11% showed positive copper staining and only 2.5% had a score ⩾3. Our findings suggest that hepatic copper concentrations greater than the upper limit of the RI are relatively common in cats. Further studies to determine the factors that influence hepatic copper staining in cats and to establish contemporary RIs for hepatic copper in healthy cats are warranted.

Effective Use of the World Wide Web (WWW) for HF/E Consultants

1998 ◽  
Vol 42 (10) ◽  
pp. 714-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony D. Andre
Keyword(s):  
World Wide Web ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
World Wide ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Human Factors And Ergonomics ◽  
The World ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
The Web

This paper provides an overview of the various human factors and ergonomics (HF/E) resources on the World Wide Web (WWW). A list of the most popular and useful HF/E sites will be provided, along with several critical guidelines relevant to using the WWW. The reader will gain a clear understanding of how to find HF/E information on the Web and how to successfully use the Web towards various HF/E professional consulting activities. Finally, we consider the ergonomic implications of surfing the Web.

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